soleilisme

It’s the first time I’ve seen Yosemite with snow… what a treat! We were there last weekend with friends and snowshoed to Dewey Point.

Justin and I rented a pimpin’ mini-van and took our friends Joy, Kyle and Marcia on the winter adventure. We totally took our time to get there, but were just in time to witness a beautiful sunset on Half Dome.
We stayed in one of the heated canvas cabins in Yosemite’s Curry Village.They were really fun, pretty warm and could fit all 5 of us (well, Kyle slept on the floor… but it seemed OK, I hope!).

The next day, we started the snowshoe adventure at Badger Pass (45 minutes away from Curry Village), went up Glacier road and took the “hard” trail to get to our destination. It went up and down and up and down. The landscape was beautiful, we stopped to take pictures (probably too many times because we ended up in a rush to head back and make it to the snowshoe rental return time).

Right before our destination, we stopped to have some lunch… Hot Dogs that Justin cooked on our little camping stove with buns, ketchup and all! Other people passing by looked jealous… hellz yeah we’re cooking in the snow! (Joy has some evidence!)
We were almost just going to turn around because we were pressed with time, but some cross-country skiers told us that Dewey Point was really just around the corner. Ok… we went the extra few yards.

Man it was worth it!!! It was like ending up on top of a cliff, covered with snow with no security railings whatsoever, with a view of all of Yosemite Valley. It was actually pretty scary and we made sure not to go too close to the edge where snow could have just decided to slide off its support and drag us into the mountain abyss. Seriously, I wonder if people ever fall? Anyway, let’s not get into dark and depressing things, we’re all alive and enriched by the stunning view.

Justin and I at Dewey Point (courtesy of Joy).

We then turned around and took an easier route (thank goodness!) to get back to the rental place. Gotta say, that chunk of the journey was the hardest! We were all tired, it got really cold, our joints were starting to hurt and muscles were quiting.
The clock was ticking, we had to get back in time and so we did! Well, we were 5-10 minutes late, but the shop was still open. Pheew!

All in all, it was a fantastic short little getaway, with great company, some physical challenges and a rewarding experience.

Here are the highlights…

A bigger version of this slide show is available here.

My favorite picture! Sabine in her all deep red outfit in contrast with the scenic ocre, grey and blue.

In this slide show you will see parts of Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Almanor, Clear Lake and roads in between. Such a nice little getaway we had!

What is Blog Action Day?On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

So, here’s the topic I’d like to bring up about the environment:

Smoking in National and State Parks

Justin and I just came back from a road trip in Utah, visiting many breathtaking National parks. We stopped at many overlooks and vista points, went on hikes, took pictures, sat down and had snacks, camped. Why did we do this? To appreciate the great works of nature. To feel like an ant in the middle of a giant rocky landscape. To remind ourselves how important, precious, delicate and strong nature is.

Apparently, intentions or appreciations weren’t the same for everyone. Practically in every short hike (or longer as a matter of fact), or highly trafficked vista point, there was someone smoking. Even while hiking! I thought to myself “How can anyone smoke in such a scenery?”

And I’m an ex-smoker. I smoked for 10 years! I know what it’s like to feel like you gotta light a cigarette as soon as you step outside the car, or while you’re waiting for anything. But never, NEVER would I have smoked in the wild or in obviously preserved lands. I have too much respect for nature to even pollute its air. Not even talking about polluting other people, just the air.

Ok so even if we skip the “polluting the air” part of the disgrace. Once you’re finished with the cigarette, where does go, huh? Where? That’s right, on the ground or flicked behind a bush. And what is that called? Littering, polluting!!! I don’t know any smoker who would put out the cigarette and save it for the next trash can. Why? Because the cold ash smell stinks too much even for a smoker to bear. Do you think the land and animals can bear it better than you? Grrr.

PLEASE NEVER SMOKE IN NATIONAL AND STATE PARKS. They are parks for a reason! And do yourself a favor… hike with clean air and keep the air clean for others.

I’m playing with a new tool… Picasa. So, here’s a mini-slide show of pictures I took of stage rehearsal in Salt Lake. I chose the blurriest ones, because I thought they actually were the most interesting.

We had an amazing time in Salt Lake City performing Human Nature.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the show, courtesy of Owen Donnelly and Sandy Lee.

(The team! …courtesy of Anna-Marie and a screenshot I took of her flickr stream)

More pictures to come!

This trip so far is such a success! Let me recap the events…

• Wednesday night: Get to Salt Lake

Justin Zipcared me to SFO (so nice!) for my evening flight to Salt Lake. Unlike many of our trips together, things went really smoothly (flight on time, no fuel leaks, no extreme weather, no turbulence, even landed a bit early). A free shuttle brought me to the hotel and I slept from 1:30am to 11:30am…needed it!

• Thursday… all day rehearsals
  • Had an awesome brunch at the Oasis cafe in Salt Lake City.
  • Went to meet the Rose Wagner theater at 2pm. It’s such a beautiful venue and the staff was exceptional!
    We had a tech rehearsal until 6:30pm, which involves lots of standing around on stage, adjusting placements and going through notes. We did a few pieces full out to actually know where we need to go for the pieces, but not the whole thing.
  • 6:30-7:30p dinner…too much of it, at the brewery across the street.
  • 7:30-11pm… notes and full dress rehearsal. It was the first time we ran the whole show without stopping, in our costumes, on stage with lights. It went pretty well, but we all ate too much.
• Friday…
  • Awesome brunch at the Oasis Cafe again… yum!
  • 2-5pm Marking (not danced full out) dress rehearsal again. We were so beat we couldn’t dance right and we were trying to save some energy for our show at night!!!!
  • 5-6:30pm I squeezed a little hot tub time, woo! Perfect to relax the body and get it ready for some awesomeness in a few hours. Also snacked a little.
  • Night: SHOW! Butterflies in stomach, pretending it’s just a dress rehearsal, just with more people watching. It turned out to be great! Apart some some little glitches that only us would notice, the whole show went really well. The Salt Lake audience was much more silent than what we’re used to, but they ended up loving it and standing up at the end. And yes, tears were dropping down my cheeks during our bow. It’s such an accomplishment!!!
  • Post show: Hot tub session #2 and we got to see the DVD of the show we just performed (because our videographer was that awesome!) And of all surprises, we all thought we ROCKED! Result: dreams about the show and the video all-night-long-non-stop.

• Saturday… 2nd round
  • Lovely lunch downtown Salt Lake (I can’t remember what the name of the grill was).
  • Checked in the new room, where Justin and I would spend the night.
  • Move my stuff from old room to new room.
  • Grab the shuttle to the airport and meet Justin for his arrival. Happy moment!
  • We look out the airport windows, and it snows. Yes, it SNOWED!!!! It was -2 degrees Celsius (don’t ask me how much that was in Fahrenheit) which is COLD and unexpected!… but pretty ra.
  • We rented our spankin’ shinny blue Mustang and drove back to the hotel and then to the theater a bit after.
  • Oh my goodness… at that point I thought I forgot the whole show and that I would screw up everything. So, I went through the entire choreography to keep it fresh in my mind…
  • …turns out it went just fine. Our energy was great, we had lots more glitches, but the audience was much more lively this time, yey! :)
  • Post show… some beer bang drinking and lots of pizza and nachos. Just what a dancer needs after such long stress and effort.
• Today (Sunday): prepping for the adventures
  • Slept in…oh yeah!
  • Ventured to REI for last minute camping stuff (like a little stove, some pots,…) and got on the road direction Moab, baby!
  • It took us about 4 hours (or a bit less) to get there, driving through some seriously beautiful landscapes and experienced the sun setting on those red rocks. Beautiful!
  • By the way, we drove through Provo, the city where I was born. Not much there, didn’t even bother going to the hospital where it all happened, but it was cool to finally feel like I’ve seen what the surroundings of where I was brought to life were like. It also occurred to me that my parents, at the same age, pretty much, were on the same roads as us, and went to Moab and all. Interesting!
  • We get to Moab, with no hotel reservation and cruised around the town to figure out what our sleeping options are. It turns out there is a skydiving festival, event and all the hotels seem to be booked. Yikes! We attempt Motel 6, hoping for vacancy. No one’s at the front desk and 2 couples are waiting, and on the phone with local hotels to find a room. Right when one of the couple leaves, the clerk comes out and announces he’s got only 2 rooms left!!! Yipee, we grabbed the LAST room available, which had wi-fi (but is a smoking room, aka stinks,…we got a scented candle). We high-fived many times after that and butted our chests like college best buds :) So much fun!

So here we are in Moab, planning to visit and camp in the Arches National Park tomorrow. I’m so excited, as it’s such a titanesque work of geology and it’s so grandiose.

I don’t know how much internet connection we’ll get in the next few days, so updates may be rare. But know that we are having lots of fun and packing in life at our fullest.

Hurray for Loose Change giving us a reason to be out here, and hurray for vacation!

I realized that prepping for this Salt Lake trip has started the day that I knew Loose Change was auditioning…that’s 4 months ago.

This last month was especially strenuous. We went from 3 rehearsals a week to 4 and 5 last week. As a matter of fact last Saturday was when I hit energy rock bottom. My body did NOT want to move anymore and my mind sort of gave out. But on Sunday, after good sleep, Justin’s sweetness, some personal time and a Naked energy drink, all went fine for our 3.5 hrs rehearsal. (BTW, it didn’t wire like it wired Justin!)

I surprised myself packing before hand (never before-seen in Stephanie’s packing habits), so all is left for me to get in the suitcase is my toothbrush. Nice!

So, right now, I feel excited, exhausted, inspired, numb, calm with butterflies in my stomach. Quite a weird mix to handle. But I’m just letting things go through me at this point.

Deep breath.

Here we go!

Ha! Ironic… I’m about to leave work from Sausalito and Justin just called me to tell me there’s a 3 car accident on the Golden Gate Bridge and it’s getting pretty backed up… It so happens I stumbled upon this site a few days ago and thought it was the appropriate time to blog about it.

Re-learn how to drive people!!!

Justin and I decided to buy a scooter (or more precisely a Vespa) right after he sold his car. That’s maybe…3 weeks ago. We were so excited that that same week, we decided to go through the DMV written test to get our permits, in order to legally be able to ride a scooter in the event we got one really soon. Yeah, well finding a scooter, figuring out which model we want, etc…takes time and lots, no I mean LOTS of thinking.

At 1st, we were almost going to get a Vespa GTS250 new, at Vespa SF because the people were so nice there, the Vespas were so shiny and we felt very excited. But then, we realized we would park it on the street, which would wear it a bit (weather, possible cars bumping into it, etc) so we decided to look for a used one. But hmm…not very many 250’s were on the Craigslist market.

Thinking about it we were wondering if we really needed a 250cc. We could probably get away with a 150cc just fine. But things we needed to consider were things like going uphill on an SF street… would the 150cc be enough power for 2 people on it? Would we get blown off Golden Gate bridge? Is there enough butt space for both of our nicely “cushioned” booties to fit comfortably? Would it be fast/powerful/comfortable enough to ride together up to Sonoma county?

Anyways, to cut the story a bit shorter…we realized we’re such independant individuals that we’ll probably want to ride solo and go where ever we please, when we please!!! Hmm…that changed the equation. We’re now talking about 2 Vespas. Therefore less load on each…we’re probably good with LX150s. And so right before we left for our motorcycle (aka scooter) training course in Santa Rosa this weekend (Justin’s post), I spotted a VERY cute blue 2006 LX150 available on craigslist, in excellent condition for a pretty good price. Heck yeah! So, a few emails later and kabaaam!…the magic is done.

Indeed, as of tonight, we present to you our brand “new” freakin’ sexy blue Vespa!
Oh! My! God! I can’t believe it, it’s true. It has 0 scratches, 836 miles on the odometer, it came with 2 cool white helmets (the perfect sizes for Justin and I), a cover that’s never been unfolded before and a Vespa key chain. Woohoo!

Are you ready for some blue Vespa porn? (well…maybe that sounds too dirty…let’s just say… mind blowing eye candy…how’s that? Yeah that sounds too conservative…whatever, just enjoy!)

A view from a bottom angle…Mmmm!

And who’s that newly very Hot babe? That’s me baby!

A little Justin play on mirrors…yep, that’s me you can see! What an artist!

Ok, here’s the “with the helmet” shot…not bad after all.

Oh shiny tires and chrome…take me places!

And on the road I go… riding it home was easy, smooth, comfy and it felt grrreeeaatt!

Now it’s Justin’s turn to find one…beware, he may have a lead. DUN Dun dun….

Here I am at 6:36 am on a Saturday morning blogging…What does that mean? Yep, you guessed it, I’m still jet lagged! And it’s been 6 days we’re back from France!!!! It normally takes me 2, to get back on track.

What’s going on? Am I getting older and my body just doesn’t react as quickly as before? Whatever the reason is, it’s very annoying. I did not got to bed later than 9:30pm all week because my whole being was being deprived of any energy left to stay awake past that time.
Thursday night, I went to a dance class thinking it would force me to stay awake longer and couldn’t even finish because I felt like I could fall on my face any time. It was time for me to sleep!

I don’t know what to do…maybe I should take naps whenever I want during the day so that I don’t feel as tired at night. I mean, all I’m asking is to go to bed at maybe 10 or 10:30, so I’m guaranteed to sleep until 7 or 8 on the weekends…NOT 6am!

Me voila a 6:36 du mat a blogger un Samedi matin… Et qu’est-ce que ca veut dire? Ouais, vous l’avez devinez, je suis toujours decalee! Et ca fait maintenant 6 jours qu’on et revenus de France!!! Normalement, ca me prends 2 jours pour m’en remettre.

Qu’est-ce qu’il se passe? Est-ce que je deviens vieille et mon corps ne se remets pas comme avant? Quoi qu’il arrive, c’est tres enervant. Je ne me suis pas couchee apres 21h30 de toute la semaine car mon etre entier etait prive de toute energie pour rester eveillee apres cette heure.
Jeudi soir, je suis allee a un cours de dance pensant que ca me forcerait a rester eveillee, mais meme pas pu le terminer car j’aurais pu tomber a tout moment. C’etait l’heure pour moi de dormir!

Je ne sais pas quoi faire… peut-etre des siestes n’importe quand dans la journee pour ne pas me sentir fatiguee le soir. tout ce que je demandes, c’est de coucher a 22h ou 22h30 pour guarantir le sommeil jusqu’a au moins 7 ou 8h un matin de weekend… pas 6h DU MAT!