rick chyme.

rick chyme was introduced to me when he was still better known as pat cleland and i was in the 8th grade. he was in the 10th. pat played basketball in high school and went on to play in college at western michigan. but beyond being a great athlete and a better friend, pat has an amazing way with words and the talent to put them into poetry and perform them on stage to music in front of hundreds of people.

recently pat — or, as he is better known now, rick — unveiled his new project titled YOUR SONG. YOUR SONG is the opportunity to submit your story to rick and have him translate it into music. check out his website here to learn more. it really is an amazing idea with the potential to put music and meaning into others lives.

5iveit.com

erica birkhold.

yes, my sister. i’ve known for a while now that she is a talented artist and has been painting and creating various forms of artwork for years. turns out, she’s better than i thought and her real talents lie in the digital art world.

she recently developed a new blog where you can see her photo collages, her works from school and hire her.

shownd.com/ebirkhold

hathbanger.

the first time i met andrew hathaway was four years ago in vermont. two hours later, he was getting airlifted to the hospital.

hath has a gift of boundless energy, athletic talent and musical acuteness all rolled into one. over the past couple of years, he has been creating mahes and whomping his face off under the stage name hathbanger. i love what he comes up with. it’s out of the box and always fun. some of my favorite stuff is the old stuff, and the new stuff continues to surprise and delight me.

hathbanger.com

ashley ritter-hansen.

ashley and i used to dress the same and go to school. that’s how long we’ve known each other. and while we’ve lost touch a little along the way of life, we have been able to stay abreast of each others lives via facebook and gossip.

i was surprised however, when i learned ashley had taken up photography. i had never known ashley to have an interest in the field. i was not surprised, though, to discover she was incredibly talented. ashley specializes in wedding, engagement and child photography and her style is so charming. she really captures the essence of her subject and i’m so proud of my friend.

ashleyphotographymichigan.com

tom bieszka.

our hometown isn’t big, although it does have more than one stoplight. but it’s not everyday someone from the little town of rockford, michigan makes it big. and that’s exactly what tom did.

tom is 23. and he is the most talented dancer i have ever known. not booty shake dancer, either, though he excels at that as well. but tom is a very accomplished ballet dancer and dances all over europe with his company in toulouse, france. look for him on the stages of paris soon.

i visited tom in toulouse last summer to see him dance and was recently graced with his presence and was able to watch his latest pieces on DVD. i wish i had video to do true justice to his art.

ifmyconversecouldconverse

Well, the blogging about Awesome for the year anyway. Please do not worry, I will continue to be as Awesome as possible throughout my existence. I owe it to you all.

But for day 30, the Awesomeest of Awesome went down on Mount Hood. I got to shred with two of the most Awesome girls I know. Lesley Betts and Jessica Werner. You may or may not know them from my many blog posts thus far.

Anyway, we got our shred on and it was great. Pretty much the best way to end our 30 days as the reason we all met in the first place is because of our respective careers that surround the ski and snowboard world.

It was a beautiful day. Full of sunshine and hangovers. No better way to end the Awesome adventure than doing what got us all into it in the first place.

So thank you all for following my exploits. I hope along the way you were inspired to get out and be Awesome as well. Stay tuned to 30daysofawesome.com for info on next year’s journey.

Until then…

xoxo.

]]> http://rhymeswithnog.com/2010/07/the-awesome-day-30-finale/feed/ 1 http://rhymeswithnog.com/2010/07/the-awesome-day-29-birthday/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://rhymeswithnog.com/2010/07/the-awesome-day-29-birthday/#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:12:40 +0000 nicole. http://rhymeswithnog.com/?p=1124 Yup. July 8th, 1982. I was born. Also, yup, that makes me old.

The good news? Keri was born August 16, 1982, so she feels my pain. And also almost as proficient as I am about lying about it. So it was only fitting that she was willing to kick it with me all day to celebrate by day of birth.

She biked over to pick me up at 10:00 AM and we went to the Brightwood Beach. A sandy spot on the bank of the Salmon River with roaring currents and rocks to jump off of. We drank Tecates, and Rainers (had to get the annual Viatmin R intake), flipped and dove off rocks, got super tan and had a GREAT time. Thanks, Keri!

We stayed at the beach until about 5:00, went to camp, kicked it, twisted at the Ark and peaced to Skyway for a necessary helping of the amazing macaroni and cheese. Scotty, Justin, Tanner, Spriggs, Dania, Bishop and others met us there for dinner and drinks and we ended the night at Justin’s house making s’mores and being drunk. Oh! And Dania got up on stage, played the piano and sang me happy birthday. Awesome!

Bishop drove me back to Scotty’s and I slept on the floor. Happy birthday to me.

xoxo.

I’ve never been to the Olympics and would love to go. I’m thinking maybe Russia. Can’t wait to try their vodka.

Anyway, the Whistler Village still has some statues up of the rings, the Inukshuk statue and various photos and statues littered around. Also touching was the memorial set up for the luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili from Georgia who passed away during a training run at the games when he flew over the side of the track. Tons of people from all over the country still leave mementos, write him notes in a notebook and pay tribute to his athleticism and country when they visit.

One thing that kept repeating in my tour is the Inukshuk statues. These are statues of stone, made by humans of native descent taht were used for navigation. It is now serves as an Inuit cultural symbol. They are pretty cool structures that are steeped in historic tradition.

Also all over the place were the three mascots of the Olympics: Quatchi, a sasquatch; Miga, a young sea bear (part bear part killer whale) who loves to snowboard; and Sumi, the animal spirit who can transform. Not sure who came up with these mascots but I’m sure they were on acid.

Enjoy some photos, then go check out more awesomeness at 30daysofawesome.com.

xoxo.

Technically, yesterday started at midnight, and I rolled into yesterday in a heightened state of Awesome thanks to multiple factors including Whistler, Sake Margaritas and Sarah Burke.

What started as a mellow dinner at Earls with Steve rolled into an all-out bash in Whistler Village. From Earls, we went to Momentum staff dinner at Sushi Village which was highlighted by rounds of the boys singing Warren Zevon, taking their shirts off, slapping each other silly and Rory hiding their shirts in a tree.

From there, a mass exodus made their way to Garfinkles for a rap battle. It sucked. It’s Canada. Not much more can be said. I went to find the adults at Amsterdam per Sarah’s beckoning and was instantly treated to more double blueberry vodka sodas than one would deem healthy. Some shit talking, more drinking, shots and drunkeness later, Sarah, Elsa, Jess, Steve, Alex and more made our way to Moe Joes, ran out, went to a hotel party at Alex’s room (no gold medal, but lots of vodka) got progressively more drunk, Sarah donned bike shorts from someone in the room, stole a bike, rode it around the village for a while, ditched it in the trees and ran home.

It was right about this point that I ran into Luke VanValin, Chug, Schmuck, filmer Drew, Kyle from Salomon, AJ, Meg and who knows who else. Chug picked me up, carried me around much to my dismay and then dropped me on the ground, much to my greater dismay and the health of my elbow. Once recovered, a CATASTROPHE presented itself. My travel wallet had been stolen. Yes, big-time rookie mistake, I had taken everything out with me. Mind you, I had anticipated a mere dinner at Earls and my drivers license had recently been purloined by the Man. So, my passport was my only form of ID.

Someone said they saw whodunit, and we were in hot pursuit. I love my friends. More accurately, acquaintances who turn out to be friends in the most hairy of situations. Drew, Schmuck, Kyle, AJ and Steve would not rest until my wallet had been rescued, even if that meant beating the shit out of the dude who had it. After said dude sent us on a 20-minute wild goose chase (claiming he “knew who had it, it’s right over there.”) the boys came through and it was back in my possession. Holy wave of relief.

The only thing missing? My room key. fach.

AJ And Kyle patiently waited with me in the hallway until maintenance was able to come to the rescue. We all passed out promptly… around 5:00 am, after AJ had called everyone in my phone directory whom he knew, about 30 people. That will cost me about $100. No big deal. Still love that kid.

So, awesome night, but, to top off the day, we went to Splashdown. The first annual waterramp event hosted by Momentum, sponsored by Freeskier that had a KILLER turnout. Very stoked on the outcome.

The Whistler water ramps are where some of the first freeride tricks went down by the New Canadian Airforce including the D-Spin and the mute grab. Mike Douglas and JP Auclair were even here today to witness the further progression which included a 1620 double flat spin by Riddle and a triple front flip by Mike Henitiuk.

The boys crushed the water ramps, the sun was out, Luke was in short shorts and we all got a sun burn. Very Awesome. Check out the full story on freeskier.com.

I kicked it with the female campers and Corey while Steve crushed the coverage. Super proud of the new guy. Good work, buddy.

I have been at numerous events and facilities in the course of my life, mostly due to my job, and been presented with multiple opportunities to try something new. More often than not, I decline these opportunities under the guise of not wanting to get injured, not being skillful enough, etc…

I could have proceeded with this mentality out on the glacier the other day when some of the folks at Momentum Ski Camps were sessioning the air bag. Let me explain the air bag quickly. It is placed on snow to simulate the landing of a jump and is there for athletes and campers to try new tricks without fear of landing on snow and getting hurt. It’s a great invention and Trennon, head coach at Momentum, has it set up so there is a big air type jump and a pipe hit simulation as well.

My good friend Kristi was hitting the air bag and I was hanging out, taking photos, and being “media”, not an athlete.

But after some encouraging from her, Sarah and Roz, I decided to step up, be Awesome and hit the airbag. Something I would not have done had it not been for the idea in the back of my head that this could be my Awesome for the day, and it was something new I knew I could do. Basically, Awesome provided the last bit of motivation to get up there and do it.

The jump itself is rather intimidating. It is more like a very poppy BMX jump than your traditional terrain park hit. In that regard, you are BOOSTED into the air and provided with enough time to learn new tricks. But when approaching it, it looks like a wall of snow that is going to kick you straight into the stratosphere.

As it were, I did it. With a couple 180 warm ups and a 360 to finish the session, I completed the goal, got Awesome and had a great time doing it.

Big thanks to Kristi and Roz for taking photos and Sarah and Kristi for coaching me through it and providing a non-intimidating atmosphere. I had a GREAT time at camp and can’t wait to go back again next year.

Maybe Jess, Lesley and Tawnya will come next year too to get even more Awesome.

xoxo.

I can, with conviction, say I have never had a manicure before. Not once. It has never been an appealing activity to me. But  I couldn’t say no and off we marched. Buddy system in tact.

It was a teenage movie in its entirety. Trashy celebrity magazines, gossiping about boys and arguments about who got to choose which color.

Our nail technicians were mildly drunk, not that I blame them, but it proved to be hilarious.

Me to the two mid-40 (50?) ish women: “How long have you two been friends?”

Lady 1: “Too fucking long.”

Lady 2: “In dog years or human years?”

Meg and I: “(silence paired with deer-in-headlights stare.)”

Mind you, the coaches went last, so we had been in the salon a couple of hours at this point and seen more than one bottle of wine go down.

Lady 1 to Sarah: “Oh that’s a nice ring. Let me see that thing. Are there thorns growing out of it yet?”

Sarah: “(nervous giggle)”

Lady 2: “There will be you know. And he’ll turn into your ball and chain before you know it.”

Me: “Easy ladies. It’s a rather recent addition to her finger.”

Lady 1: “Well she needs to learn. They all become ball and chains soon enough.”

Meg, Sarah, Roz, Chelsea and I: “(silence paired with deer-in-headlights stare.)”

All in all, it was a hilarious and Awesome time. Female bonding at his finest, I think…

I bond with Jess, Lesley and Tawnya as females all the time. I think…

xoxo.

I’ve long been a patron of the Boulder spectacle and all the hippiness the middle America has to offer. And when presented with the opportunity to check out the Whistler counterpart, I had to see for myself just who held the title of the Highest Order of Organic Hippidom.

Verdict?

While the Whistler fair might trump the one in Boulder for homemade crafts, the one in my current home town has far more in the way of edible, home grown delights. I couldn’t find a tomato to save my life in the Whistler tent village. But being able to see someone spin wool into yarn and having more tie-dye selections than Jerry Garcia’s closet is a pretty nice selling feature of the Canadian fair option. Not only that, but the setting — the plush greenery of the base of Blackcomb — in my mind trumps the hot desert like downtown Boulder. But, I’m jaded.

So, truth be told, one isn’t better than the other. They both beat the shit out of the Niwot Farmer’s Market, that’s for sure. I tried going there for day 16 of Awesome and there was no justifying it in any way.

But both Boulder and Whistler go full boar with the Farmer’s Market idea and the opportunity for local artisans and growers to peddle their wares is one to be traditioned.

Check out the local talent at the Whistler Farmer’s Market below.

Oh, and I know they have already posted day 24, but check out Tawnya, Lesley and Jess.

xoxo.

Here’s the scenario: You’re sitting at a bar in a random airport and you’re flying solo. Two gentlemen of mid age come in, sit down, start talking about riding bikes and laying pipe up in Wyoming. They’re from Oklahoma, one just got divorced and the other is on marriage number three, five kids, four adopted.

The next thing you know, they’re buying you crown and waters and you’re spilling your life story. About how you’re from the middle of Illinois, grew up milking cows and shucking corn with seven older brothers who all played football at the University of Illinois.

Oh wait, that has nothing to do with your real life. Exactly. It’s called making shit up. And it’s fun. And I do it all the time when traveling.

I’m not entirely sure Randy and Tony — the two mid-age gentlemen from Oklahoma — bought it hook line and sinker, but hey, no harm no foul.

This “make-shit-up” day was particularly Awesome because I got drunk and documented my new friends with a photo. Oh, and because I told them my name was Emma Lou. And my momma is totally going to look them up at Sturgis.

Even when I make shit up, though, I still talk about my three beezies, Lesley, Jess and Tawnya.

xoxo.

Tony, Emma Lou, and Randy.

Thanks to my buddy, @harvitronix, I was able to wear a Canadian flag pinned to my shirt all day. I was a little wary of the jankiness of the plan, but Harvey assured me the “ghettoer the better.” Being the only true Canadian I had to ask at that moment, I took his word for it.

The makeshift patriotism was good and all, but to truly celebrate Canadianism, I had to go further. And what screams Canada more than Poutine. So I concocted a batch for my co-workers. Harvey questioned the authenticity of it, but cheese curds are hard to find in Colorado. So, I did the best I could.

To go with this lovely french fry, gravy and cheese concoction, I had to invest in a case of Molson. How do you say “duh” in Canadian?

Thanks to the SMP crew for participating in Canadian Day with me. Since I’ll actually be in Canada for the 4th of July, my patriotic identity is bound to be in question soon, so stay tuned.

These chicks are not Canadian, but they are Awesome: Jess, Lesley and Tawnya.

xoxo.