Collected Adventures

I've got a year in a new place called Bozeman. Bozeman, Montana, USA. Im planning on doing a few fun things at least, and this is going to be a sum of some of them. Take a look!

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Kona + Koolie + sunsets and fall colours are definitely some of the things that make me super super happy. Peets hill is one of my favourite places, and kona has the sweetest disposition ever, whilst koolies energy is so wonderful and silly to behold. The fact that Kyle and CJ live next door, and are so so generous with their dogs is just lovely. I definitely had some super tough feeling moments recovering after surgery and then getting an infection but dog time made me happier for sure.

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#sosirius on the art front though. I had my wisdom teeth out and literally went into uni that night to do some work. I just love creating things, even when it means not getting at all enough sleep. I would much rather do something well, and maybe sometimes I don't value other things (like sleep, or people) enough, but I do love design and illustration and art. I do think I have learnt about balance whilst being here, and I've also learnt that in order to make good work you do need to take breaks, (to go climb and snowboard and walk lovely lovely dogs), because a mind with moments to rest and take a moment is the kind of mind that can then mull over ideas subconsciously and come up with better solutions. And you get to do all the things you love!

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People ask me what I've been doing and where I've been sometimes. I'm talking in a "where have you been for the last four weeks we thought you died" kinda way. I tell them I've become a design hermit and started sleeping in Haynes, which is pretty true. There's a coca cola vending machine, what else does a girl need? (Kona not being there is pretty much the only reason I leave, tbh)

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Going back a little bit, I got to do ten sleep, Wyoming, twice. Twice! The second time I climbed like a wee bitch (kinda) and woke up to a thick blanket of fog, and the first time I fell on this bolted crack and wrapped my leg and flipped, but, regardless of those things, it's the most gorgeous and majestic spot, and I felt like a very very lucky human being. Star watching at our first campspot by the water on the second trip was so pretty, and the whole rocks everywhere thing is gorgeous too.

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Sickness over, back in the game (it's decided), so I went and climbed the sparerib in the gallatin canyon with Evan on Halloween, the hike up was definitely a big physical factor after being convalescent for ever, but it was a gorgeously warm day, and despite how terrified I was feeling (weirdly) the climb was this beautiful and super fun climb up this exposed rib of rock, and oh was it just so pretty! Definitely so glad I got to do that one!

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—photoset!— Went to my first football game (I also went to the rei garage sale and got chacos, I promise I won't wear them to our coffee dates Georgia 😁, but, prime footwear for Africa, oh, I'm so excited), but football game! Woah. It was big and very American. Blue and gold on everything and everyone. Fireworks, school pride everywhere. Dean tried to explain the rules, and we got triple down(or whatever) the hand sign, but that was probably the extent of our understanding. There were cheerleaders and hotdogs and a marching band and stoke everywhere. EVERYWHERE. We went to that tailgate at half time and sat on the tailgate of a truck and drank beer. We found an Aussie and that was super exciting. Post game was an ABC party at Riley's, and that was also very fun, though I saw three too many penises for my liking, too many costume malfunctions for comfort! I ended up on music and one request that got me giggling was "do you know what ghetto means? I want that" hehe! I don't go out often but I do have fun when I do mostly, so despite staying up till four and not doing much on Sunday, it was super worthwhile.

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—photoset, click me— Kinda a rollercoaster week. We got to run our print, and letterpress being a dream thing I've wanted to try forever, that was rad. It snowed, and I dressed like the tie dye bohemian that I am sometimes. I pushed myself too hard climbing and hurt my arms, so frustration was a big part. I cried and missed home. I also had the best sunset walk with the best furry friend out, and loved Bozeman so much for it's ridiculous beauty.

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We rafted the Yellowstone, my second time, last weekend, and oh it was so fun! Few beers and a touch of wine, a play in the giant, a standing wave, amazingly good cheap burgers on the way home, and cute cute cute dogs. Can I have one please world?

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More of our ten sleep adventures, (photoset) best campground ever, cold swimming, injuries and even a bit of climbing. Let's go back!

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(photoset) So, the first week of Uni was pretty wild. Got some bouldering in. Got some classes in (too many actually, the standard art major load is 12ish credits, and a max of two studios, with internships and independent studies counting as studios. With me taking three standard 300 level 5 credit studios; letterpress, publication design and lithography, that put me at 15 credits. Taking an independent study on top of that and continuing my internship put me at 19 credits and five studio classes).  First week down, I went to ten sleep in wyoming for the labour day weekend. You could catch me working on projects in the car (major props to abe for his laptop charger car thing), working on projects early morning, and working on projects in the rain. I got everything done for tuesday morning though, and ending week two, I'm dropping one of my classes. Sleep is a necessity, and everything doesnt add up at the moment.

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(photoset, click me!) Last weekend of summer - Noooot too summery, though, epic as anything. We drove out to Natural Bridge, swinging past the boiling river for a dip. Had a wee climb in the arctic rain when we got there, in the foyer, so it wasn't toooo wet, and climbed into a hole in a cliff (yes, awesome). Partied at a cabin that night, ate venison and drank beer (thanks beer sponsorship), and then there was snow. Climbed the next day, and boy, cold. We absailed down a cliff, then got to the climbing (yes, pretty much the army) Rad times though.

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Bus drivers in Bozeman, oh my.

One of the things that really solidified me wanting to make this blog, was a bus driver being a unexpectedly lovely and generally nice human being, to a woman who's child wasn't waiting at the bus stop after school. I found this very impressive, given the general attitude of bus drivers in the sphere of imagination and talked about culture, and my experience with those in Wellington. So, yesterday I was running around, going to the dentist, going to the printery, and buying things which I needed — shirts for art purposes, and things I didn't really need — more active wear. I missed a bus by about five minutes, and they only come round every hour, but where I missed the bus was on a shopping center loop, where it drives past the stop I was at, on the other side of the road, five or six minutes later. I was just realising my misfortune, when the bus came back past, and the driver, the same driver, waved at me, and stopped then let me in, with a "hey! New Zealand right?!" As I gave him a very grateful "hello, thank you, yes!" Laughing reply. Also the same bus driver who went off route to drop me home when I was carrying three boxes of new snowboarding gear on a snowy January day. Opinion of the goodness of humanity, and especially bus drivers changed forvermore.

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(Photoset) because I pretty much live in a three bedroom studio where ghosts occasionally make dishes, I do lots of drawing, which is pretty lovely. Especially when the weather high drops to something ridiculous like 18 degrees, and I'm wearing jeans and ugg boots and mainlining tea. Yeah! (Kinda excited for snow though, we were talking about it in the office and josh was saying the cold snaps always made him so stoked for winter, and I think that is a contagious attitude for sure.

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Storm running, and it almost rained on me (not quite though, but I wish it had, I love wild weather). Feels so good to be getting back to the norm of doing things, despite not being as strong or fit as I was, getting outside is such a joy.

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(Photoset, click me!) Two sessions of climbing since I've somewhat recovered, and both times i definitely found my joy and determination on a challenging in the best way, awesome kinda climb. The first time was at spire, I did a couple of easy leads, and then top roped this super twisty 10c in the corner above the entrance to the bouldering room. The best climbs always seem to be right there. Abe did one of the best catches when I fell right after a low crux, and I ended up doing the climb twice, just because I liked it so much. Abe hustled some roof climb, which was so dope. Then yesterday we went to the pass, and my new gear performed absolutely beautifully, and I again, did an easy lead, then top roped a super fun 10b, slab climb, and the trickiness just made me more determined. Definitely felt good, though I'm still just feeling pretty flat.

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(photoset)  This has been my biggest project all summer, so much work, so much fun. its finally finally nearly finished, and now.. it'll be the best fridge poster ever.

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(Photoset) Despite the storm of the night before, it was a gorgeous sunrise, and we drove the road to the sun, which was another one of the most stunning drives of my life. Breakfast out of the pot at the top of the world, and then I read my book and took the most disorientating nap in the car, while the guys went and skied. Road home time, and time to sleep, then miss another week of work (I went in for three and a half hours on Monday, then went home and watched once upon a time and slept for the rest of the week).