The stars aligned a few weeks ago when I got an email from my friend Jameson asking if I wanted to hike Half Dome.  Melissa's is in SLC this weekend, so the timing could not have been better.  I finished packing after work on Friday, picked Jameson up at 7:30 and we were off.  We drove through the night and finally made it to the trailhead around one o'clock in the morning.  We definitely took our time driving, but we were in no hurry. The hike itself was pretty brutal, mostly because it was steep and rocky and Jameson was feeling a little sick.  We hiked with headlamps despite the nearly full moon. We were too deep in the trees to hike by moonlight.  The trees also did a number on my GPS reception, so I couldn't record the lower part of the hike. The thin air started to get to me as we made the final approach.  I live at sea level, so 7,000 feet is rough on my lungs.  We dragged ourselves to the base of the dome just as the sun broke over the mountains and lit up the the summit. We eventually struggled up the cables in our oxygen-deprived state and discovered that the top of the dome had been overtaken by hippies.  Aren't hippies supposed to spurn physical exertion?  Why did they bring up the bongo drums?  Why is some guy playing his hippie tunes on battery powered speakers?  Why aren't the women wearing bras?  These were just a few of the question running through my head as we unfurled our sleeping bags and started into a two hour nap.
View Larger Map The sun got hotter and hotter on the top of the dome until I couldn't take it any longer and had to get out of the sleeping bag.  We had to get down eventually, so we took our time packing up and started down the cables.  Those cables are STEEP! Some lady at the bottom asked us to take a survey about the cables experience to help out "our park."  I liked how she made the park ours.  Whoever wrote the survey seemed set on gaining popular support for more park rangers on top and more regulation to keep crowds  of people from crowding up the cables.  I understand the need to keep the cables safe and uncrowded, but they don't need permits and rangers and time limits.  People just need a sign at the bottom telling them to keep plenty of space between climbers or someone might just fall off and die. We actually ran out of water midway through the descent.  Jameson had the forethought to pack a water purifier, so we were ok.  I have a feeling that lot of the people we passed were heading straight for dehydration with their lousy water supplies.  We hiked up ahead of the 90 degree heat, and I still had no problem burning through my 100 ounce Camelback.  Thank you Jameson for keeping me hydrated. We finally stumbled past the hordes of Yosemite tourists around three pm and took off.  I desperately wanted to take a shower and get some sleep, but I had to settle for a half hour nap to keep my eyelids open for the ride home.  We rolled in around 8 pm, over 24 hours after I pulled into Jameson's driveway. [Gallery=18]

For my "Handmade Christmas" last year, I made my brother a lunch bag. Just after completing Jake's lunch sack, I saw a similar lunch bag in a Pottery Barn Catalog which inspired me to make the changes in my most recent lunch sack attempt. I took photos all along the way, and am in the process of putting out a tutorial. Click here for instructions.

My brother is getting married. YES. My brother is getting married!!! I'm SO very excited for him and for his future woman. A couple of weeks ago, when Penelope was blessed (more on that later) I met Polly (Jake's Fiancée) in person for the first time. Polly is R-A-D. I'm so excited to get another sister-in-law, especially one that's as cool as her. I think they like each other, just a little bit. In all of the busy-ness that's been their engagement, Jake and Polly have put me to work. They were awesome enough to let me design their wedding invitations (which I LOVE to do) and just let me run wild with it. They've also let me make a wedding sign in book, which I'm super happy about. I just finished binding the book this morning. I just love the fuzzy brocade wallpaper that I found from FabMo. It's been such a long time since I've made a coptic book (well since my last bookbinding class). As I was sewing up the book, I remembered how much I miss doing it. For you folks that are in the bay area (or want to visit for 6 weeks), I will be teaching the Coptic bind and others through the Sequoia Adult School this fall. It's a really fun, low-key, evening community course. For class info, click here or submit a comment below.

I've had so much fun over the last three and a half months working on my photography skillz. I think I've made small improvements over that short amount of time. I think most of all I've improved on my focusing weaknesses and capturing Penelope in her "moments". Chris is also a photography enthusiast, which creates a really fun dynamic. We have very different aesthetics and set up each shot differently. I welcome our differences because it helps me to think a little bit more creatively. However, Chris believes that it's SO much better to walk closer to your subject rather than zoom in. I don't think so, Christopher. The other day I was trying to convince him that his ways are wrong (okay, I wasn't trying to convince him that he was wrong, I just decided to show him the difference of his method and mine). I thought I'd show him the results of our differing opinions: Christopher's method to walk close with your wide-angle lens: Melissa's Method to zoom in rather than walk super close (aka not-so-wide-angle Chris): I dunno, I think my way is superior. What do y'all think??

This Week for Dinner has saved my life. Jane Maynard's fabulous food blog has been a great source of culinary motivation. She posts her menu every week, and encourages readers to post their menus in the comments section. It's brilliant because it's a great way to get yummy dinner ideas whether you're in a food rut or not! I was so good with my weekly menu for nearly two months, but I've seriously slacked off. For the last two, maybe three weeks we've either gone out to eat, had sandwiches, or had family over (cooking for us, or with us). So, my menu planning has taken the back burner. Now that life is settling down a bit, I'd like to say that I'm back on board planning menus and making thoughtful, fast and healthy meals; but it might take me a while. Last night was great motivation to start cooking because we were scheduled to have the missionaries over for dinner. Since one of the missionaries has Celiac disease, anything with wheat or soy is right out. Hmmmm. . . I have ground beef, mint, cilantro, onion. . . what could I make with that? BEEF LAAB with STICKY RICE!! I found pretty simple recipes here, and here, and mashed the two together; it was delicious and fresh. This recipe is a great summer dish.

Beef Laab (serves 2 really hungry missionaries or 6 people)

• 3 lbs. lean ground beef (you can use a not-so-lean beef or ground chicken, turkey, pork, etc)
• 1 cup rice, roasted and ground in food processor*
• 2-3 Tbs. ground Thai chilis (depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1/4 c. sweet Thai chili sauce (optional)
• 1/4 c. fish sauce
• 1 cup thinly sliced shallots (I used torpedo onions because they were on hand)
• 1 cup diced green onions
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1 bunch mint, chopped
• 2-3 limes, juiced
• head of cabbage or iceberg lettuce
• sticky jasmine rice

If you have lean beef, cook beef in a little bit of water. If you bought the 80/20 ground beef like I did, don't cook it in water and drain fat halfway through. Add ground rice, chilis, chili sauce and fish sauce. After meat is fully cooked, add shallots, green onions, cilantro and mint and simmer for a bit. Remove from heat. Add lime juice. Serve with sticky rice and cabbage. *to roast rice, just put rice in a frying pan (no oil, butter, NOTHIN'), and let them toast for a couple of minutes. Be sure to stir rice around with a wooden spoon or spatula so rice doesn't burn and DO NOT leave rice in the pan unattended. It toasts quickly!