Cake Night

Here in Georgia, I'm staying with Rich Stewart (canoeist) who lives with his older brother Tyler and Tyler's girlfriend, Jiffy. Today is Jiffy's 23rd birthday, and she happens to be the biggest sweetheart in the whole world. And I firmly believe that everyone deserves a cake on his/her birthday.

So there was only one thing to do: Rich and I made her a mocha cake! It was quite the labor of love. I called my parents 4 or 5 times in the process to get the recipe right. (I have a bit of a reputation for cooking disasters.) It was funny because my mom was all the way up on top of Bristol Mountain (literally in a cloud, she told me, it was so foggy) watching my little sister Anna race, and I had her reciting the ingredients to me over the phone while I was perusing the local grocery store trying to decide which buttermilk to buy.

After a fairly long/intensive day of workouts, it was fun to come back home to rainbow sprinkles, licking spatulas, lighting candles, and surprising Jiffy for her birthday. It also brought back fond memories of baking as kids with our mothers and grandmothers.

Writing legibly in frosting: no small task!

Man I'm good.

I Looooove Me Some Internet

...How’d I do? Do I sound southern yet?

Sundays are off-days; consequently, I treat them as the perfect opportunity for day-trips or all the fun stuff I wanted to do during the week.

(Somehow, ‘all the fun stuff I wanted to do during the week’ always turns into ‘laundry-errands-cleaning-and-a-mountain-of-schoolwork.’ Weird.)

Actually I’m kind of enjoying catching up on the busywork. I am excited because I found internet at Atlanta Bread. Now I’m camped out here, currently procrastinating on starting my homework by updating this blog with this entry about how I’m procrastinating on my homework. Life is good.

Some Press

Craig Potter of Messenger Post Newspapers (the Fairport-East Rochester Post) published this article in last week’s paper.

I was also featured in the Canandaguia Post’s Cheers Section, which can be found here.

Lastly, Scott Pitoniak will publish a column in Tuesday or Wednesday’s Democrat and Chronicle, and I’ll post the link when he does.

I made it to Georgia! The only time the drive was less-than-enjoyable was right about hour 11 of 13 on the first day. On Tuesday night, I stayed in Chapel Hill. It was absolutely lovely, and reiterated the fact that there are so many beautiful places in this country I haven’t seen yet.

Speaking of beautiful places, it was about 50 degrees and sunny yesterday and I went for a long paddle as soon as I got in. It felt good to get re-acquainted with my boat. The team is focusing on off-water training at this point in the year, but I’ll get to do some extra paddling with the two Canadians who are here training before their Florida camp.

All in all, things are running smoothly. It should be a solid 2 weeks of training before I get to California!

1,000 Miles of Fun

...Because ipod and books on tape never get old.

But let’s be serious for a minute here. The sole purpose of this entry is to confess that there’s one reason I’m so excited to get to Georgia... and it has everything to do with a certain Alan Jackson song.

In the Words of Chris McCandless

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man that a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” -Chris McCandless

The "Ah-ha!" Moment

Some people would call me idealistic (and I am), but I am a point in my life where the world is mine to explore. I would be foolish not to take that chance.

Thus, I am moving to Gainesville, Georgia next week to pursue my goal of giving myself the best possible shot to do well at Olympic Trials this year. This is a 10-week bout that will also see me briefly in San Diego, specifics pending.

I am so excited and pleasantly surprised by my "aha!" moment, that I have put together a step-by-step plan, should you be interested in having your own.

Femmy Emmy's Disgustingly Simplistic Get- What- You- Want Plan (repeat as necessary)

Step 1: Figure out exactly what it is that you want
Step 2: Figure out the necessary steps to give yourself the BEST shot at getting it
Step 3: Dive into the process without a backward glance

That's it. What could possibly be more satisfying? That is the life I want, and that is the life I'm going to have. Of course, it's not that easy. It’s scary, vulnerable, and lonely. Even more disquieting is that this avenue [of declaring your intent to achieve something difficult] leaves the failure door ajar, forcing you to confront the fact that the odds are absolutely stacked against you.

But I like challenges. And I love the process. So here we are. Packing the car... mapquesting the drive... tying down the boat....waving goodbye.

What else is there?