first comp of the series

I competed in an ABS (American Bouldering Series) competition today in Atlanta.

It was a lot of fun.

I ate an orange and a grapefruit for breakfast... and I was completely fueled on bananas during the comp. After the comp, I drank the water from a young coconut and then ate the meat. =)

I was carrying the young coconut through the climbing gym with a straw in the top... everyone was looking at me weird... strangers and friends, and then i answered their unasked questions (I knew they were curious) and I told them they should have a sip. There were a TON of people who had a sip, I was SO happy to share it with everyone!!!


Anyways, the comp was a lot of fun. I did pretty well.............. I got first. =)

Next weekend I'm heading out to North Carolina for the Triple crown series.... much harder, much more competition - but i hardly see Triple crown as a competition, it just a fun weekend outside climbing. I will still turn in my scorecard but I am definitely not going to stress over placing well.

How was your Saturday?

I haven't eaten tomatoes in a while... like... over a week.





And I haven't really even had the urge.








BUT





Today I came home and there is an OVERLOAD of tomatoes growing in our garden... so I ate one. And then another. And then another... and... one more after that. It really hit the spot. I am pretty sure they were the best tomatoes I have ever had!!! I might go eat one more! The tomatoes were not even calling my name, but I dug in anyway and after the first one I couldn't stop. They were DELICIOUS!!!! and BEAUTIFUL!

BY THE WAY,

Today my mom told me that she thinks I am deficient in calcium. She said that the reason was because my teeth are now separating the white from the off/white in bloches. I have no idea if that is valid, but she has told me that since I was a little girl. Any thoughts? Either way, I have been feeling like SOMETHING is missing in my diet, and it very well might be calcium. I will increase my calcium foods and calcium absorption foods and see if I feel more alive. Do you know any foods that are rich in calcium???

RAW FOODISTS ARRESTED

For posessing RAW CHOCOLATE...

You guys HAVE to read this article and spread the word:

http://www.naturalnews.com/024304.html


THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!! .......seriously!!!!!!!!!!?

PURPOSE of my vertical life

I don't remember if I have ever posted this on here, so I will now.

I wrote this about the purpose of my vertical life, which obviously means CLIMBING:

PURPOSE OF MY VERTICAL LIFE

I love the exhilarating, zen-like effect that climbing has on me. When scaling up a wall, it is as if all of the conflicts in my life temporarily disappear and the only thing that matters is a single movement of my body to hold on to a piece of rock. I love the intense focus, the perpetuating concentration, the endless trance. Climbing is truly meditation through movement. Everytime I climb, I feel like I understand myself and my purpose with extreme clarity. Every movement is inevitably turned into a tunnel-vision goal, which is achieved immediately almost every time, over and over and over again. I don’t know who, what, or where I would be without climbing. It is what I live for and what I will be doing for the rest of my life.

Passions and Obstacles

Sometimes I want to go ahead and leave.

I want to leave Nashville.

I want do drop out of school.

I want to go ahead and live my passion.

_____________________________________

As most of you know, my passion is rock climbing.

I live it and breathe it. It doesn't leave my mind. Climbing is all I talk about... it's all I think about... it's all I DO! I mean, even RAW FOOD is revolved around climbing --- I wanted to get healthier to climb stronger (it's working!). In general, Climbing is my PASSION. If you haven't read my post a while back about finally getting serious about my passion, check it out: http://badashclimber.blogspot.com/2008/07/getting-serious.html


So here I am. Stuck.


I have to memorize poems like "The Seafarer" to recite to my teacher for a grade. You know, just in case someday I get a job interview where I am required to recite it!? Meanwhile I am working out complicated Algebra problems and learning about Scientific Notation. WHAT!!? Why do I need to know this?

I just want to LIVE and CLIMB. I want to CLIMB to LIVE.


I don't give a crap about who was the leader of some crazy cult back in 1865. I don't care about the government. I don't care about reading "Beowulf" and I definitely don't care about busywork.


I don't need a degree to climb. I don't need a degree to live.



I am here. I am me. I am a climber. I am a lover. I am a friend.





Sometimes I really believe that "We don't need no education; We don't need no thought control."


____________________________________

I have to write a "senior career" paper for school this month. I have to pick a career and list things like the education/degree required and what the career involves.

GUESS WHAT? I am picking Professional Climbing! (which is pretty much equal to a climbing DIRTBAG who just happens to get free clothes, shoes, and maybe a small amount of money) But I like it like that. I get excited at the thought of living light. I think I will feel more ALIVE that way.

I really don't think I will worry about having enough money. I think worrying is a waste of time. If I keep up my positive mindset, I can do anything and everything I want... And I will.


I can't wait to write that senior paper. I can't wait to graduate. I can't wait to live in Chattanooga. I can't wait to climb outside all the time.




But I can't forget to be happy in this moment.

I am living and loving. I love my life right now. But I am even more excited for the future.



Tell me your passions. Are you living your dream? What obstacles are in your way? How are you going to get around them!?

college visit

COLLEGE VISIT

Yesterday I skipped school and drove to Chattanooga with my family.

I did a college visit at UTC --- University of Tennessee in Chattanooga --- which is where I am going...

Chattanooga really IS a nice city. I go to Chatty almost every weekend to climb, but I think I take the city for granted. IT'S AWESOME. Check out this picture of it -- It's a city with the mountain only 10 minutes away. PERFECT! It's pretty "green" as well, and the community is great!

They got the person in charge of the health/dietic/food and nutrition department to meet up with me to talk to me! It was awesome! (this is the area I want to study)


Sometimes I wonder, though... there are some people out there who call themselves "health freaks" and they do not look very healthy. Like... one of my teachers claims she is a health nut, but she can clearly lose many pounds. My friend claims she saw the same teacher eating oreos last year. I DONT UNDERSTAND!!! But that teacher isn't the only one, I see people all the time say they are health nuts, but then they are drinking something processed out of a bottle.

hmmm?!?????




anyways, I am still in Chatty and I'm climbing/bouldering today. BUT GUESS WHAT? Being the forgetful person I am, I left my climbing shoes at home. SOOOO I guess I will be climbing barefoot today!!!

How are you guys doing?



NO POO
p.s. I feel like the raw food lifestyle has made me eager to make other areas of my life more natural. NEXT STEP: no poo. (no shampoo) --- I have tried quitting shampoo before, and the longest I got was around 2 weeks. I couldn't stand the grease. I know it goes away.... i just need to be committed! I already stopped using deoderant back in May, and I stopped using soap (for the most part) a really long time ago. For those of you who don't know, anything that goes on your skin gets straight into your blood stream. Those chemicals and toxins that are in that soap are getting right into our bodies and polluting my insides with toxins... no so good. As far as shampoo goes, we are the only species who uses shampoo --- it strips our hair of its natural oils! That CANT be good.

If you have any tips and/or tricks, please share!!!

Nuts in Nature

I have been thinking about nuts a lot lately. I have gone through addictions with them. This weekend something hit me though... and it changed the way I look at them:

The other day when I was in Chattanooga, I went to the natural foods store...(as always) and I was in the produce section... (nothing new, haha) and I noticed that they had a new food item set out: raw nuts. Except these were nuts still in their shells.... raw nuts straight from nature. There were only a couple kinds.

The point is: it hit me. I have always known that nuts are incased in a shell, but I never really gave it much thought. I mean, I have eaten like... pistachios... but not really any other nut still encased in its hard outer shell. That means that if we lived in nature (which is the way of eating I am trying to resemble) it would be hard work to crack the shell of ONE SINGLE NUT!!!

SO... why the heck am I... (or... we!?...) taking HANDFULLS of nuts and throwing them down my throat.... well it's not really to that extreme but it's close!

Think about it --- we are living in nature. We have some nuts to eat. We have to use a hard rock and a hard surface or something to crack a nut. THATS ONE nut! I don't know about you, but after 6-7 times of doing that, especially with the harder shells, I'd get pretty sick of it!!!

So from this moment on, when I am eating nuts, I am going to remember how they originally came in nature. I am going to eat each nut slowly and respect it completely.

It has changed my mind about nuts --- I feel like I understand Dr. Doug Graham more now that I finally realize that humans probably ate VERY FEW NUTS!!!

This weekend I am going to Chattanooga again. I think I am going to buy some raw unshelled nuts... so I can experience it first hand... so I can finally grasp the principle of nuts in nature.

Check it out: shelled pecans!

Brazil nuts!!!

This raw food thing is a very slow process. Right when I feel like I am very knowledgable in the subject, something happens where I learn more.... and more... and MORE.

It's never ending!!!

p.s.
last week I found out that pickles are cucumbers. I just never really thought about it. Go ahead... laugh... it's kind of funny in a stupid way that I had no idea!!! I obviously don't eat pickles, but STILL, i never knew that. I never got the memo that apparently everyone else in the world got. HAHA.

raw food update

soooooo I feel the need to give a truly raw update.

...You know how I tried doing 80/10/10...... multiple times?! Everytime I do it, something goes wrong. I cheat and/or feel the need to eat fat. and then i OVEReat it - more than I would when I am not 80/10/10 --- it's totally mental, i've come to find out.

You see, when I don't put the 80/10/10 label on myself, and I just eat whatever naturally appeals to me, I truly AM 8/10/10 without realizing it!!!!!! Then when I "try" to eat that specific way and put the label on myself, I gorge on nuts because I am forever reminding myself that I can't eat many of them.

Now I don't have any labels on myself and I am doing much better. I guess the only label I can really take is "raw vegan" because that will never change.

I eat fruit for breakfast, fruit with romaine for lunch, and fruit or a salad for dinner....

I know that I still overeat. I can feel it. But I still am scared that i will be stuck somewhere with no food and I will be tempted to eat something raw. (which in reality i doubt that will ever happen!) but it's something I am working to get over ---- so in the meantime I eat too much so I don't get hungry.

and there you have it, my quick raw food update!

WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN!!! =)

BOULDERING
Bouldering is a type of climbing that I do the most. It is not about getting high, but rather about gymnastic moves on a piece of rock. It's where you find big boulders and find the hardest way to get up it. It's all about the movements... the power... the strength... and your connection with the rock. Here are a couple pics from the weekend:

busy week

I've had such a busy week with school and work... I hardly ever have the time to post.



Here are a couple pictures from 2 weekends ago that I meant to post.

Today I am headed to Chattanooga, TN for some outdoor climbing. I'm excited.


Tomorrow I am going apple picking! Then I'm going to my friends house and watching Raw for 30 days! THEN we are making delicious apple pies !!!! =)

amazing salad

I just ate an amazing salad and had to share it with you guys.... It does not happen often where I crave salad, but it happened today. I guess I havent been eating enough greens.

I am really busy right now and the rest of the week, but i will try to post Friday night or something to talk to you guys about how I am eating and stuff. For now, here is the salad I just ate, and it was probably the best EVER.

romaine
celery
cucumber
mango
avocado

lemon and lime juice to dress it

I was so excited to eat it that I totally forgot to add my homegrown (organic) tomatoes and red bell peppers, so I just ate those as a side near the end of my salad.

I AM STUFFED THOUGH. But it's a good feeling. I feel like I got many nutrients. You know that when you are full after a salad that it was a good one.

hot bouldering

This past weekend I went climbing outside in Chattanooga.

It was HOT!

But I still did a couple v7s, which is a hard grade for me. I had done both climbs before, but they felt really easy this time.... pretty cool!

My friend video taped me on both, so I will be posting those at a later time.

I was completely fueled on peaches. I had eaten a grapefruit and 2 oranges for breakfast, and then 2 peaches for the day. It was nice!

Thank you guys for all your comments on my not-so-daily-blogs... Sorry I hardly ever get back to you, but i PROMISE that I read them! My life has all of the sudden become extremely busy! I am doing schoolwork trying to keep really good grades to get exempt from my senior exams whillle I am also trying to train for the upcoming competition season and secretly wanting to become a professional athlete. AHHHHhhhhhhhh. I'll figure out this schedule..... someday....


Hope you are all doing well! I'm not doing so well on 80/10/10. Not right now. I'm going to figure out my busy schedule and then try to do it again. It's just so convenient to grab a handful of nuts to supress my hunger. But I still fully think that it's the way. I'll get there eventually.

spinach high

I feel like I never have time to post everything I want to say on here.

I always have so much to say and then when I sit down to type, I forget... everything...

SPINACH HIGH

The other day, my dad bought me a bunch of food. He must've been in a really good mood because he bought me EVERYTHING ORGANIC!!!!! I was totally psyched, considering I usually get by with convential produce.

Anyways, he bought me a HUUUUUGE box of spinach. Like... HUGE. The expiration date on it is TODAY... so for 3-4 days, I had to eat spinach with every meal. I ate ridiculous amounts of spinach. I made GINORMOUS green smoothies and ate big spinach salads.

...and you know what?! i still have most of it left. It was like whenever I picked up a couple handfulls from it, it looked like I didnt even touch it. It is never ending! ha ha!

A couple days ago I could swear I was high from spinach. I went to the climbing gym and I felt like I was floating. I was really light and it felt like all my senses were enhanced. Everything was bright, and everyone was like, "Man ash, you are HYPER! What did you eat!?" SPINACH! haha.

My friend told me I must've been on an iron high. ha ha!

POMEGRANATES AND STARFRUIT

POMEGRANATES ARE IN SEASON!

Well.... it's the VERRRRRRY beginning, anyway!

soo..... My friend bought me 3 pomegranates and a starfruit --- HOW NICE! He totally made my day.

like seriously, I WAS PSYCHED!


I always have so much to say when i sit down to type on blogger, but then i forget... everything...

oh well, I'm a little delirious - i have had a hard time getting to sleep at night.

LATER GATORS!

100 days!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST OFF,

sorry if I haven't replied to your comments in a while --- I was out of town this weekend having a BLAST and climbing outside, and didn't have access to the internet.

I hung out with my friends Dan Brayack (www.brayackmedia.com) and Brooke. I also met up with my climbing coach, Steve. Sunday I ate breakfast at the health food store with my raw mentors, Steve and Nicole. It was awesome!!! It was a fantastic weekend -- I'm sore!!! (which is a good thing -- makes me feel like I actually tried my hardest!)


SECONDLY,

TODAY IS MY 100th DAY OF BEING 100% RAW!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!