Snowshoeing in the Sawtooths

I have talked with different friends for a few years now about wanting to try snowshoeing, but never actually tried it out until last weekend.  I was super excited when Dave asked if I wanted to join him and his friend Jeremy for a day of snowshoeing in the Sawtooths.  I was a bit nervous, too... worried that it would be really hard and I might not be able to keep up.  It didn't end up being as difficult as I expected, although I never was the one to cut the trail!  It was definitely a good workout though and I was glad the guys didn't seem to care too much that I slowed us down a bit (except for the fact they didn't get to hike to the top of the mountain!).  The worst part was my hip flexers burned!  Even though I'm working out several times a week, I don't think I really have any exercise that works my hip flexers like snowshoeing did :-)

It was a gorgeous day... I started out with a base layer, long-sleeved shirt, thermal, coat, stocking cap, mittens, and hand warmers.  By the time we reached our first mile, I had taken off the thermal, coat, stocking cap, and mittens.  Dave was nice to help carry the extra clothing that wouldn't fit in my camelback!

We had to go a little out of our way at the beginning because of this stream... we weren't too excited about getting our feet wet so we found a bridge to cross.  Then we were off into the trees.  We did about 10 miles all together (I think), including walking on a couple frozen lakes - that was cool!  The scenery was beautiful.  It was so quiet out there too - we didn't anyone else our entire journey.  We finished off the day at Kirkham Hot Springs, which felt oh-so-good after a day of snowshoeing.

For the Love of Politics - Idaho State Budget

Last year I blogged about how much I enjoyed BYP's For the Love of Politics event.  Well, I am the lead person in charge of this year's panel!  It has been kind of stressful since I don't really have contacts in the political arena, but everything is finally coming together.  We're doing a panel on the Idaho state budget.  Here's what we've got planned:

• 5:15: Optional tour of the newly remodeled capitol building
• 6:00-6:15: Budget Overview by Shelby Kerns, Financial Management Analyst,Sr. with the Division of Financial Management
• 6:15-7:30: Panel Discussion and Q&A
• Moderator: Thanh Tan, Producer/Reporter/Host with Idaho Public Television
• Panelist: Representative Shirley Ringo
• Panelist: Roger Brown, Financial Management Analyst, Sr. with the Division of Financial Management, Special Assistant to the Governor
• Panelist: Representative Raul Labrador

I'm really hoping for a great event!  Anyone can come (it's on Feb. 24th), but we ask that you register so we can have an idea of numbers (it's free!).  Also, if you have any questions you think would be good to ask the panel members about the budget, let me know!

As a side note, I was at the Capitol last week... we got to go in the Ceremonial Governor's Office.  It was a really beautiful room!  Here's my picture sitting at the desk.

Beautiful Quilt

I got a wonderful surprise yesterday - this beautiful quilt from my Aunt Kathy!  I absolutely love everything about it... the colors, the fabric, and especially the fact that Kathy made it for me.  I snuggled up under it for quite a while today as I watched some of the Olympics that I TiVo'd (I'm loving my TiVo too!).  Thank you Kathy!!!

Happy Valentines Day to Me :-)

Who says you can't buy yourself presents for Valentine's Day (or any other holiday for that matter!)???  Well I fell in love with this Michael Kors watch while shopping at Macy's this week (the downtown Macy's is having a going out of business sale so everything is at least 40% off).  I love the white strap and the bling around the face of the watch.  And the fact that I got it on a good sale makes it even that much prettier.  Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!

TiVo Troubles

What do you do when you want to watch a show, but you won't be home to watch it?  Press record on the VCR of course!  Well, at least that's what I have always done :-)  The problem came if I wasn't going to be home all day before my favorite show (i.e. Chuck), then I had no way of recording it.  My fall back was to watch the show online later in the week.

Anyway, I was told I was living in the dark ages by recording on my VCR.  Plus, my trusty old VHS tape was getting tired of being recorded on over and over and over again and was starting to give me fits.  So I finally broke down and got a TiVo.  I ordered a refurbished one from the TiVo website and got it for half the price I could buy it for at the store (hooray!).  It was delivered last weekend, and I tried to set it up after I got home from McCall.  It shouldn't be that difficult, right?  At first I tried to set up the TiVo through the VCR.  That didn't work so well.  So then I tried connecting the TiVo directly to my AV receiver.  I thought I had done everything right, but it still wasn't working.  Thanks to my friend Jared, I realized I just needed to push one button on the receiver to change a setting and, voila, it worked!  The next problem came with connecting to the internet.  I had purchased a wireless USB network adapter, but the TiVo just would not connect.  Come to find out, the software on my TiVo wasn't capable of connecting to a network with WPA security.  After I changed the security to WEP, it partially connected, but couldn't finish the connection by assigning an IP address.  I was so stinkin' frustrated!

I love Google.  I found out the steps that I could take to update the software on my TiVo to allow a WPA security connection.  This morning I decided to take a risk and temporarily turn off all security to my wireless network.  The TiVo connected perfectly.  Then (thanks to a forum online) I manually connected to the TiVo service two more times and restarted my entire system.  This upgraded my software version, and I was able to turn my WPA security back on and update my TiVo network settings.

So, to make a long story short, I FINALLY (after an entire week!!!) have my TiVo up and running!  I downgraded from Standard to Basic cable to balance out the cost of my TiVo service, but I'm thrilled.  I played around this morning and set up a pass to record all of the Olympics.  Hooray!

Super Bowl Sunday

I love college football.  I think the games are exciting because I have a local team to cheer on.  I love game days when everyone wears blue and orange and proudly displays their car flags and magnets.  So far, that love of college football hasn't carried over into a love of NFL football.  I watch one NFL game a year... the Super Bowl.  I hardly know the teams that are playing and usually don't have a clue who I really want to cheer for.

The funny thing is that I love Super Bowl Sunday.  I think it's a fun time to gather with family and friends and just hang out eating yummy food.  I hit two Super Bowl parties today (thanks Kim/Scott and Jared!) - and I think the scale will definitely take a hit tomorrow.  Someone mentioned that Super Bowl is like the Thanksgiving of junk food.  So true!  After an evening of triple chocolate truffle cheesecake, chips and guacamole, deep fried cheese, shrimp cocktail, etc, I'm completely stuffed (and not super excited to record my food consumption for my trainer).  I thought tonight's game was really fun to watch and was excited to see the Saints pull off the win.  Definitely a fun-filled evening.

McCall Winter Carnival

I have always loved the McCall Winter Carnival.  Each time I go, I am amazed at the detail on some of the snow sculptures.  I headed up to McCall this weekend with Jen & Jared to enjoy the festivities.  It was nice heading up on Friday because we missed a lot of the crowds.  It was fun to see the different artist's takes on  the theme "Wild Idaho".  Here are some of our favorites:

This bathroom wasn't the most beautiful sculpture, but it was fun for posing :-)

We also had fun taking turns tubing down a slide that was part of one of the sculptures.

 

After we had seen all the sculptures, we headed to dinner at Toll Station, and then wandered through the vendors, listened to a live band, and warmed up by the bonfire.  We decided to end the night with Bingo.  I forgot how much fun Bingo can be.  None of us won a single game (although we were close on a couple!), but Jared did make a haul on the raffle tickets he bought.  He only bought three tickets total, but won two of the three prizes - including cash and tickets to Roaring Springs and the movie theater.  Lucky guy!

We stayed the night in Shore Lodge, a beautiful old hotel on the lake... On Saturday morning we enjoyed a breakfast at Pancake House (where else do you eat breakfast in McCall???) and then headed back home.  What a fun little trip!

Taxes

I just filed my taxes... My return wasn't as high as it has been in past years, but I'm still looking forward to seeing a little extra money in my bank account!