Train tunnel hike...

Donner Lake is about 10 minutes away from our house. We bring the dogs swimming there pretty often, & have always seen these train tunnels up on the mountain. (see the lake on the far left & the straight boxy tunnel on right?)

Last weekend Colin found out they removed the tracks & trains don't run through there, so it's turned into a graffiti museum that anyone can hike through... And with the dogs in tow- we made our way up there.

The first tunnel was a little (okay, a lot) sketchy. Dark & very icy! We couldnt even walk in the center of the tunnel. There were mini lakes 3 feet deep Filled with chunky ice water. I learned my boots are NOT water proof :/ brrrr

There are a series of 6 or 7 tunnels that spam the entire length of Donner Lake- probably 5-6 miles if I had to guess. We made it through 3. After the first one, the rest were just dark & a little icy.

And once again, we found some views that don't suck

design inspirations...

thanksgiving & jenna...

hooray! i've been anxiously awaiting for this week to arrive: jenna's visiting and my favorite holiday :) and as usual, i went a little overboard...

the feast:

- roast turkey with pinot grigio gravy -

- mashed potatoes with garlic & chives -

- apple, celery, sourdough stuffing -

- butternut squash with browned butter & sage -

- green beans with garlic -

- cranberry orange relish -

- glazed carrots with mustard & brown sugar -

- pumpkin cheesecake -

more people should make room for dessert. jenna and i were the only ones able to stuff ourselves and now with colin out of town for the week, i'm left to eat the rest by myself. i've been trying to convince myself to freeze it or throw it out. neither of which have happened. pretty sure i'm going to have another piece after i post this *sigh* it's just so delicious and my will power is pretty weak...

good thing we snowboarded for 4 hours in the morning to work up an appetite... and 5 hours the day before to preemptively burn enough calories to justify all of it.

this reminds me of an old high school diving/ gymnastics photo

the lake in the background is where we take the dogs swimming sometimes

me, colin, jenna, and colin's friend frank (they play lacrosse together for the tahoe dawgs)

yoga boarding :) my new favorite photo.

yet another view that doesn't suck

hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving! miss you all!!!

casa de robinson...

 no more 70s jail bars!!! special thank you to colins dad :)

 with the chilly days and even colder nights, we are loving the wood burning fireplace! colin has become quite the fire master.

the closed door on the right (above) goes upstairs to the 2 bedrooms and 3rd bathroom.

 laundry room/ bathroom (above) our bedroom (below)

 the awful, awful drab blue bathroom. i like the color for a laundry room, but hated it in my bathroom. this does nothing good for your complexion. it had to go. i was craving something brighter, and more "me"

 i've been obsessing over orange for a few years now. i finally found the courage to paint an entire room bright, in your face, pumpkin orange. (appropriately completed right before halloween). it really wakes you up in the morning, just like the sun. i'll probably get sick of it in a year or two, but for right now- i love it.

a few of my favorite accents... owl sculpture (also a fairly new obsession of mine), diver fabric for my window treatment, and for course a touch of jenny sweeney's artwork: "you are beautiful" sign. i think every woman deserves this little reminder in morning :)

i passed!!!

finally! after months and months and months of on & off studying, notifications that my exam voucher was about to expire, and most recently the past few weeks of 5am wake up calls and limiting my social connections... i passed my personal training exam! i now have the knowledge to train individuals and small group fitness classes. really? i guess so :) and to celebrate: a gigantic 2000 calorie sangria swirl margarita and delicious mexican food.

pictures to follow- i can't get them to upload right now. boooo. and i know i need to post some pictures of my house, now that we've unpacked and i put window treatments up!

AcroYoga Slacktastic weekend...

well, i stepped out of my comfort zone and experienced my first yoga retreat. solo. it was a weekend filled with strangers and sharing. not my two favorite things. but there was also lots of acro yoga, beaches, slacklining and (surprisingly good!) healthy food.

saturday morning began with a little sunrise yoga. beautiful. and freezing. it may be in the 70s and 80s during the day, but at 6am it's in the 40s. and i wasn't wearing socks. bbbrrrrrrrrrr....

my favorite part: acro yoga. it's like if extreme yoga and gymnastics had a baby. perfect.

here we go. cartwheel on!

 

ps. the guy in the background is in his 50s

 

 look mom! no hands!

the slacklining part was ridiculously hard. It's a 1" wide piece of nylon suspended between 2 anchors (usually trees). i got to kneeling and standing. one time i was able to take 3 steps...

 whoa whoa whoa.... and down. this was a 30 second series..

 although the pros still fall too. splat!