Change in Direction.

It's amazing how quickly things can change based on a simple decision made in one's life. Sadly this is not a life decision that I have made but more of a physical one. On Monday night some of my roommates and myself play Ultimate Frisbee on campus. It is one of my highlights of the week. This last Monday we decided to ride our bikes like we normally do seeing as campus is only 2 blocks away. After finding adequate bikes to ride we were off. I brought my backpack with my water and stuffed Lynsey's frisbee between my back and pack as well. As we rounded the corner of 11th and Ralston I decided it would be safer to turn on my reflector so cars could see me. I attempted to turn it on while riding my bike, which resulted in me standing up on my road bike with one hand on the handle bars and the other fumbling with the light. It just so happens that this was the perfect recipe for disaster that evening. In my not so safe stance I hit a hole in the road. If anyone reading this has ever ridden a road bike they know what it feels like to hit a large bump on a skinny road bike. Well I was not expecting this to happen which resulted in my body being launched off the bike. The handle bars jackknifed and I flew off the right side of the bike, slamming all of my weight onto my right shoulder and skull (no helmet :( ). It was possibly the most pain I have ever experienced all at once. I swear six people stopped, and at least 5 more walked by. Anika with her ninja reflexes was kind enough to swerve out of the way to prevent the mountain bike she was on from T-boning into my spine. A girl walking home got a wet rag from her house to doctor up the wounds, another guy was relating some of his crashes on his bike to help me to feel better. A car full of people stopped as well while I was rolling in the middle of the road in pain. Another group of people walked by and were all like "Dang, is she ok?" Lucky for me there were 5 people there to answer for me. The random girl who was helping me happened to have some sanitizer as well, she put it on my leg and I starting yelling in pain, I no longer appreciated her presence as much. It was SO painful! I was still trying to get over the initial nausea from the pain of falling. Anika rode home to get her car, while Lynsey stayed and helped doctor up my wounds. I am so grateful that I was not by myself. They helped me tremendously. So now today I am just a little scabbed, sore, drugged and more aware of helmet usage. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to walk more effectively. Danielle thought it would be a great idea to take some pictures of me while I was drugged and half asleep.





I think I ruined my Shakespeare shirt though. Hopefully it doesn't scar. This is going to make my first week of school a little more interesting. Also it will be a while before I can play Rugby again which makes me a little sad.

Happy Birthdayssss.

Holy cow, I am so horrible and completly overwhelmed this week. It seems like everyone and their mom's birthday is this week. Well actually my mom's was haha. So because I am thinking about all of them I decided to list them all out.

Roselia, Papa Harry and Aunt Judy
July 19th

Mom
July 20th

Dad and Chelsea Warren
July 23rd


I ♥ them all!

Buck's Lake

I can see why Anika, my roomamate, calls it one of her favorite places ever. I had the privilege of going up to her family cabin for the Fourth of July holiday and I could not have asked for a better day off. The relaxation was much needed. Trevor, Danielle and I drove up on Thursday night, northern California is one of the prettiest places in this country. I ran around on the beach like a little kid, getting Anika and anyone else close by wet. Then we proceeded to rock and jump on the little dock floating off the beach. After my failed attempts at skipping rocks, I hucked a huge one off the end of the dock and then we walked back up "Cardiac Hill" to the cabin. We played Balderdash, laughed and enjoyed the company. You don't need plans at Bucks Lake, just being there is enough. That night we slept on the back porch, all 7 of us, curled up in our warm sleeping bags and blankets. I don't think I have ever seen so many stars in my entire life, definately a view that will be hard to beat. The next morning we woke up with the sun warming our faces, it was grand. I woke up while Ani was getting ready for work and just sat and read for a couple of hours until everyone decided to get up. After watching the ridiculous movie "Van Helsing", we decided or more I made Trevor ride with me down to Anika's work. Katie rode the extra bike we brought, the ride was short but we got to fly down this windey hill. I was going so fast my eyese started to water, and I think I frightened Katie when I passed by her. After helping Anika's place of employment with our purchases of Charleston Chews and Gatorade we went back to the cabin. Danielle, Jesse and myself decided to go down to the dock to read our books. We are all in love with Edward haha. Trevor and the other boys hung out on the dock for a while but soon got bored and left. At about 2:30ish Ani came home and we all decided to go swimming. Trevor and Danielle went to the other side of the lake for some activity, and the rest of us went to "the Rocks" to swim. Let me just tell you I am an expert at getting water lodged up my nostrils. We jumped off the rocks in shapes of letters and animals.
Jesse and I kayaked to the dam and ran into each other along the way. It would have been even more perfect if people in their boats didn't decide to share their foul taste in music with us. The even better news about the lake was I didn't even get sunburned one bit.
This is our sad attempt at a selfie on the beach. After dinner that night we sang patriotic songs in celebration of the holiday and then went on a walk/hike to work off our fabulous dinner. I even wore red, white and blue to celebrate our nations birthday.
Trevor trying to be sly while I use his nice camera. One day I will have my own.




The view at the end of the hike was amazing! It made me sad that I had to go back to reality the next day. Seven brides for seven brothers is definitely a classic that must be seen while at the cabin if Trevor is around. The second night of sleeping outside was so great, I swear I didn't move the entire night. It was a bit colder but so amazing the next day. I think my favorite picture is the one Danielle took of Stacey and Ani all bundled up on the back porch.

I must say that if I ever have a day off again soon I would love to spend it there.

Las Vegas Midnight 7s Rugby Tournament

This weekend was my first time playing an official Rugby game. After driving down in the "herse mobile" which was actually a pretty nice car I might add we went out for a night on the town.

There was a registration party at the Silverton Casino that was pretty lame, so we ate some Mexican food and went and hung out at my brother's house. Later that night we met up with the rest of the group and they were all pretty trashed I guess according to Rugby standards it's a good way to prepare for a game the next day, but it was very entertaining. A couple of the team members and myself decided to leave because we were pretty tired from the long drive. It was nice to stay at my mom's because it was so close to the fields for the next day, but the A/C was not working which sucked bad. That goodness for swamp coolers or we would have died! After running lots of errands on Saturday and eating some pancakes and pasta together we got ready for the tournament. The games were played on some fields I played on when I was eight. The painted golf ball looked a lot shorter than I remembered, I guess I grew a foot or two. The tournament started at 5 PM which happened to be the hottest part of the day. I was no longer excited to wear my cotton jersey in 112 degree weather. I was so nervous for our first game, mainly because it was my first time playing. Once the game started though it was great I even got some tackles. Our team captain sprinted to score the first two tris and they had to be subbed out so she could throw up from the heat. In the end it paid off though because we won our first game together.
After each game we all just tried to find some shade and stay cool. Some girls soaked their shirts and wrapped them around their heads others lost their jerseys all together.
Whoever picked the time of day to play was crazy! It was hot I thought I was going to die, but it gives ruggers more time to get over their hang overs from the night before. There were three rookies on the team that played during the tournament Pam, Janine and myself.

Seriously I wish I could have been introduced to Rugby years ago, it is probably one of the most fun things I have done in my entire life. I mean I even like it more than soccer and I have played that my whole life. I guess its the whole being allowed to run at other girls full speed and just plowing into them. Also when the ball goes out we get to do line outs which are probably one of my favorite parts of the game. In this picture Janine and me lifted Linda into the air and I was so impressed at how high she got!!!

We ended up losing our second game which we should have one but we were all dying from heat stroke. Cory got a bloody lip.

The third game was at 8:20 PM which I was grateful for, because the sun had finally gone down. We ended up shutting that team out, they didn't not even come close to scoring.
I had a blast the whole time I was there even if I felt like I was hit by a truck. My cheering section was quite large which made it even more entertaining. It was my mom, stepdad, dad, stepmom, two brother, sister-in-law, two step siblings, Shannon and Franco, Shannon's parents and the baby in Sabrina's belly. It made me a little nervous knowing I had that many people watching me play.

I ♥ them all! The third and fourth games were my favorite, I didn't want them to end because we actually got some real rugby action going on. We won both those games, by the time we were done with the fourth game it was 10:30 PM. It turns out that first and second place in the tournament had scored 95 points and we had scored 94 points. For only having practiced together for a month third place was not bad at all! Turns out that after our 4th game we had to play the winners of the tournament 15 minutes later, our one sub had a concussion and our team captain ended up getting injured. So we played 6 on 7, until we randomly found a girl who could fill in the spot. That game was all about will power and technique and we just ran out. We were so drained from the game right before but still put up a good fight. If we could play like the Crazy Eights from Canada do we would have an amazing team. After this tournament I am perfectly content with the Dirty Hookers, they are so fun to play with. I hope fall season is just as fun!


After the tournament we were all starving so we went to get some grub wearing our cool jerseys we got from the tournament and it turned out that Pam's concussion was still pretty bad, so we had to take her to the emergency room. Janine and I were crazy in the waiting room ("check please") and Flip slept in the car while we waited. We finally left at 4:30 AM. Let's just say it made for an interesting drive home, people probably thought we were on drugs because of our lack of sleep. TRACTOR!! BROWN CHICKEN BROWN COW!!!!!!!

Scrum. Ruck. Tackle.

These are just a few new terms I have learned lately. Recently I have started playing on the UNR women's rugby team, and it is a bit more intense then anything I have ever done. Trial by error is one of the best ways to learn this sport and sometimes those errors hurt a lot.

This month we have a tournament in Las Vegas, hopefully I don't get pummeled too bad. This should be an interesting experience seeing as it the first sport I have ever played that required a mouth guard. It's a very attractive feature I must add. With practices like the one we had yesterday I have no doubt in my mind that I will be in shape by the end of this summer.

I just hope I don't pick up on some of the crude habits, I mean my dry sense of humor is bad enough as it is. But you can tell how awesome we are just by our team name, the "Dirty Hookers". I guess what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas well at least I hope this team name does. Hopefully next time the pictures will actually be of my victorious team.

Rock Climbing

To be a better at it is my new goal. I have just recently started learning how to rock climb and I love it. I don't think I will ever have to lift weights again. Instead I will go climb a wall. The first time I went I was so sore all over. Amber kicked my trash and climbed the wall at Lombardi like it was nothing, but then again I guess she does have 15 years of experience on me. On Monday the 17th I went over to Amber's house to go climbing again, because ironically enough they have a rock climbing wall. The only downside to the wall it was outside and a bit chilly. Amber was hardcore she climbed the wall to put the anchor rope up. A couple other people came over to try the wall. I felt that I had improved so much more, maybe it was the shoes or the fact that I used my legs instead of my arms this time. The Gonda's wall was fun, it even had real rocks as holds. My favorite were the skull shaped ones, they reminded me of the Goonies. I tried to climb in Amber's Ugg boots while she was getting ready to climb and well yeah it didn't go to well. Then we decided to race up to the line. Yeah I didn't last too long without shoes. I was even brave to try "bouldering" this time. I will just have to try out the wall at Lombardi again to see if I have improved at all. Maybe this summer I can even go climb a real rock.

Cabin in Tahoe. Everything included, even a fire pole.

A couple of weekends ago I was spoiled with a wonderful weekend stowed away in the forest of Tahoe at the Dyches cabin. It was possibly one of the best weekends of my life. I needed to get away from the world for a while, and well why not do it in Tahoe with people you don't even know. It was definitely an adventure just getting to the cabin, with all the delayed flights, snow and three random guys I didn't even know. Let's just say it made for interesting conversation in the mini-van. haha.
Once we finally met up with Emily in California to drive up the cabin the adventure continued. She pulled up in the Lexus, it was completely covered in a sheet of thick ice! We put all of our gear in the back and piled in, I grabbed the front seat because I ♥ seat warmers. I was so grateful that Emily was driving because let's just say the mini-van would not have made it up the road at 1 in the morning through the snow. In order to get to the cabin from where we stopped once again we had to take the Argo and the snowmobile. Let's just say I wasn't prepared for this, I quickly grabbed a beanie, my goggles and my warmer coat. I got to go with Emily on the snowmobile eventually once we got it started. All the guys piled onto the Argo with Ben who looked like Darth Vader with his giant black helmet.

This thing is a beast and can pretty much drive through/over anything. The day before the guys at the cabin had made a path so it was not too bad on the way up. It was my first time on a snowmobile, I was a bit scared but had a blast. My hands started to freeze on the way up because I forgot to put my gloves on. Emily was nice enough to let me use her pockets. I was frozen by the time we drove the mile to the cabin. After almost running into the front door on the cabin and waking up Kyla I had some of the best hot cocoa ever! Apparently it was so cold I cut my nose and I didn't even feel it. I was so excited that I could hardly sleep that night even if by the time we got to the cabin it was 2 in the morning. The next morning we had awesome pancakes and eggs with some more fabulous hot cocoa. It was a gorgeous morning and its hard to complain when you wake up to a view of the gorgeous Tahoe area.

Emily had a hard core sledding accident the day before so she decided to stay in and take a nap. Everyone else decided to go and play in the snow. Eventually by the time we all got our gear on it had started to snow again, which just made it more fun. The path we had driven up on the night before had a slight downhill slope so everyone grabbed a sled, snowboard, or Argo to ride down. As I was riding down the path on my snowboard I would just stop and listen to the silence of the forest, it was nice. Then I would continue to ride down the path, until I caught my edge on the side of the snow bank and face planted into the powder. After spitting out a mouthful of fresh snow I attempted to finish the trail. After having to strap out of my board 3 times because of the flat parts on the trail I met up with the Argo. Sarah was driving and three of the guys were piled in the back. I hopped in the front with Sarah while Sid and Q got out. They took the two sleds with ropes tied them to the back of the Argo and were dragged back up the trail. It was very entertaining seeing as we were going 5 miles an hour up this path in a blizzard. After finally making it back to the cabin soaking wet, I was perfectly content with staying inside the warm cabin drinking hot chocolate.
Later on that evening there was some definate entertainment, I mean it's not everyday you see Sid in a fully body bright ORANGE Nasa space suit or anyone for that matter. Also that evening I was introduced to one of the BEST games ever, BOGGLE. I think Emily has the ability to intimidate anyone in a single round of boggle. In order to even compete one can't watch her write because you will have the desire to quickly give up. I got clammy hands, Sarah made up lots of random words, and Sid wrote so hard he carved his list into the wood table. But it is officially one of my new favorite games. The next day was Sunday and the fact that we even fathomed the idea that we, all 8 of us, could make it to 9 o'clock church makes me laugh. We only had the Argo to get everyone and everything down the mountain. So the first trip involved 4 of us (Ky, Q, Emily, myself) and the majority of the gear. I got to sit in the back of the Argo to make sure none of the stuff fell out. Emily wasn't sure we were going to make it seeing as a fresh two feet of snow had fallen the night before. When we tried to start the Argo on Sunday morning the key hole had frozen over, so Sid with his mad skills got a cup of hot water and spit it into the hole. He saved the day, but I was hoping we would get stuck another day I would not have minded at all. The trail which had been so convienent the entire weekend had disappeared completely beneath a fresh blanket of powder.
The road ahead.

But the Argo is hard-core and could totally handle it, well slowly it handled it.
The road behind.

It's fun to go riding in a blizzard with friends down a mountain. A little chilly though.

Once we got down the mountain we found the Lexus, it had become part of the wall.

It did awesome though and totally made it out fine. Ky and I were the lucky ones that got to go down to the van and wait for everyone else to come down from the cabin. We made good use of our time by creating a lion to guard the front gate.


It was so cool, but it eventually got covered from the blizzard. It was definitely an adventure I enjoyed and will remember.

Riding at Boreal.

Amber and I went night boarding/skiing at Boreal this Friday. It was my first time going riding at night, it was fun but a little icy. Amber is a pro even after 2 years of not skiing.

As for me I tried not to fall on the ice. My favorite part had to be watching the sun go down while riding the chair lift.

Pretty pink snow. The clouds parted just enough for us to watch the sun go down it was so gorgeous.


There were so many people there, but it is hard to beat a 15 dollar lift ticket. Riding still makes me smile everytime.

One of the best feelings ever: taking your boots off after riding for hours, it is liberating.

I like to call her ninja turtle toes.

As for me I fit right in with the saggy pants look, I don't understand how people ride this way. To top off our adventure we went to T's my favorite place in Tahoe.