Introducing my Photo of the Week! And following up on 2015 goals.

As hokey as it is I'm going to post at last one photo from the previous week.  I'm viewing this as a way to keep myself accountable for one of my 2015 goals.  I wanted to explore creative outlets, one being my photography, if I have a photo of the week, I have to be shooting and actively finding things that are intriguing to my eye.  This will also ensure I'm writing at least once a week as well, these posts will certainly be much shorter than my others, but I'm still writing, I'm never to concerned with length. So without further ado my first photo of the week.

Alright not the highest quality image, it was shot with my phone, and its edited a bit, but this was hands down my favorite photo from last week.  This of course is Champ, well being Champ.  He's the silliest horse I know and always give me a good laugh.  One of the great things about taking pictures of him is I never know what I got until I look at everything later,  these little nuggets of hilarity are always a surprise.  

Switching gears; here's an update on the little progress I've made on my 2015 goals.  I got a chance to climb outside this weekend! I went up to Lizards Mouth with a great group of friends and actually had a chance to work on my long term project, The King is Dead V6.  For how weak I've been feeling I certainly surprised myself.  Getting established to make the first move has never been super easy for me.  You have a thin slot for your right hand and a crimp for your left.  Get a high right foot and a barely there left heel hook and blast up right to a sharp gaston crimp.  I hit that move nearly every time I tried it this weekend.  Now its just re-establishing my feet for the next move. It felt really good to hop on that problem again.  I'm feeling more motivated to climb in the gym to train so I can finally tick this problem off my to-do list.  

I finally picked up one my antique books.  I chose William Shakespeare's As You Like It for my first read.  I was trying to pick a book and thought I should choose one of the less daunting books that stared back at me, ease into the harder ones. 

I still haven't started to pen my trip reports, so I'm lacking on that front, but overall I'm moving forward with the 2015 goals.  

The First Post

Let me begin by explaining how and why I chose the name of my blog. I decided not to long ago that I wanted to write my observations, commentary, musings, and trip logs down. I didn't want to just write in a journal and lock it away, I wanted my writings on a public forum. It makes you really think and process the things you're writing about because other eyes may read it, it also just feels like it means more. I started to think about all of this seriously as I was on a solo road trip from Santa Barbara, CA to Salt Lake City, UT with many detours. I was about 5 hours into my drive when I thought about what to name my blog. I wanted to incorporate the word adventure if possible because I hate feeling stuck. I feel most myself when I'm out on an adventure. So that part was pretty straight forward. I chose adventuress for the feminine flare. I do enjoy getting dressed up every now and again, in between being covered in dirt either at the ranch or out on a rock. 'Lone' took some thinking and has a much more deeply rooted tie to me. I chose lone because the majority of my most epic trips have been alone. Driving to Colorado from California, stopping at five national parks along the way, all done alone. My most recent trip previously mentioned, taking a week to drive to and from Santa Barbara to Salt Lake, all done alone. Being alone doesn't just connect to my travel, but also one of my fundemental views. I think finding happiness outside of human interaction is the most important thing for lasting happiness. To me people are inherently unreliable and fickle, I don't fault is for it, I just think it's in our nature. So being alone is not a negative to me, if I can find happiness by myself I can hold on to it much longer if I don't tie it to the people around me. I do enjoy people, we are supposed to be social creature, I just don't want to put all my happiness into people. In short the word lone carries a great importance to me. Hopefully this is only one of the few times I get philosophical, as my goal for this blog is not to make judgement (ok maybe sometimes), but to comment and make observations on the world around me. This blog is a place to just write my thoughts, but not my personal stories of pain and anguish about every failed relationship and friendship including every little detail. My personal emotions are for me, I feel no need to share every last detail. I will merely comment.

Now a basic intro, my name's Maggie, currently located in Santa Barbara, CA. I work as a horseback riding instructor in Santa Ynez, CA and a climbing coach and manager at the local climbing gym. I also occasionally work as an assistant to a local photographer and model a little on the side. I'm also trying to finish up college. 

Riding, climbing, photography, and outdoor adventures are my biggest passions. I have a crazy and inexplicably cute German shepherd, greyhound, and cattle dog mix, her name is Mila. Champ is a Belgian Warmblood (thats a breed of horse) and just like Mila is a bit nuts, but he's still managed to weave his way into my heart. Be prepared for many stories and photos of those two, they mean a great deal to me.  I also have a bit of an odd car.  I drive a 1986 Diesel Toyota Land Cruiser BJ70, it was imported from Japan and I'm the first US owner, besides the importer/dealer.  It happens to be right hand drive.

All of these passions, beings, and things shape who I am and influence my actions greatly. 

I also occasionally feel like I should just move to southern Utah and make a living off exploring. 

 Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. MMcDermut Photography. 

 Champ being himself.

 Model Champ.

 These two mean the world to me. 

 I have a smiling dog. 

 And a model dog.