Cake Madness - Day 10

Cake of the Day: Basketball Cupcakes

I have to give a huge shout out to my husband for helping me with these cute little cupcakes. These were for a basketball tournament at my church's grade school. I needed an "outlet" for one of my weekend cakes, and when we were handed a flyer after church promoting the tournament, it included a section titled "Bakers Wanted" . . .I found my calling :) Since the tournament ran Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, I wanted to get these to the concession stand as soon as possible (I also didn't want them to have to compete with the yummy breakfast foods they were serving Saturday morning). That being said, I had to make them after work on Friday and deliver them the same night, so I was a little rushed, hence why my husband's help was needed.

I found the idea for these cupcakes from this picture: Basketball Cupcakes. I used a chocolate cake mix and this frosting recipe: Buttercream Icing. Usually allrecipes.com doesn't fail me, but I was quite disappointed with this recipe. It took a TON of powdered sugar and was a mix of shortening and butter. There were some buttercream recipes on there that didn't even include any butter, but I didn't think it could be buttercream without the butter, so I went for a half and half recipe. Perhaps if I had used butter flavored shortening it would have tasted better, but it was overpoweringly sweet, slightly grainy, and left a strange aftertaste in my mouth. Maybe I'm just being picky since most of my other cakes have turned out so well, but I wasn't a fan of the frosting . . .it wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. 

For the little basketballs, I couldn't find the orange wafer things used in the source picture, but I did find some mini Nilla wafers that I think worked just as well. My friend (the ganache queen) let me borrow her piping bag to make the pretty frosting swirls. I had my husband pipe the chocolate frosting (with a little black food coloring in it) into basketball designs on the cookies while I made the cupcakes. After they were cool, he also did the piping of the buttercream and I added the decorations because his fingers are too big to pick up the wafers and put them on the cupcakes without smearing the design. It worked out well, and I delivered them as soon as they were done. There were lots of people at the basketball tournament and I got quite a few "oohs" and "aahs" as I carried them to the concession stand. All in all, I think they were a success, but definitely not my favorite thing I've made so far. I guess they made the grade though, because one sold before I even had them all out on the table :) 

Cake Madness - Day 9

Cake of the Day: Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

I was a little desperate when I picked this cake. I've tried (in vain) to get all of my cakes planned out ahead of time so I know I always have all the ingredients I need, and have a sponsor for the cake so I'm not completely broke at the end of this month (I did eat a Fruit Roll-Up for dinner tonight, but that was more out of laziness than lack of food to be eaten). So when I realized at 3:30 that my cake sponsor for the cake I was planning on making was going to be on vacation the next day, I kind of panicked. I scoured my list of potential sponsors and cake ideas, but nothing seemed to be coming together. When I got home, I searched a few handy baking blogs, and this is the one that captured my fancy (and fit the criteria that I had everything I needed to make it (or at least close substitutions) and it wasn't crazily time-consuming). Unfortunately, I don't have those adorable little Bundt pans like Annie of Annie's Eats used: Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake. I do however have a large Bundt pan, so that had to do. The cake turned out rather short, so I guess it wasn't enough batter, but now I know. 

In other news, ganache is the bane of my existance. I could live with the cake being short and not that appealing, but the ganache was supposed to be the crowning glory of this cake, and that was not happening. How my friend made ganache in five minutes while I was struggling for two hours was beyond me (see Just A Cake, Cake Madness - Day 4). I think a lot of it had to do with my substitution for heavy cream. I had some evaporated milk I wanted to use up, and since I only have skim milk in the house, I figured this would be better in my heavy cream substitution anyways. So it was evaporated milk, water, and butter mixed with the chocolate over a double boiler to make the ganache. Well, I could see something weird happening to it, and sure enough, I "broke" the ganache. That's what it's really called. Broken. I found a fix online that told me to divide it in half, cool one half to 60 F and warm the other half to 130 F and then mix them together and that should fix it. I pulled out my trusty electronic thermometer and got to work warming and chilling and stirring until they were close to those temperatures and dumped them together. I mixed vigorously, but nothing happened . . .still broken. So I tried again, and this time got them to exactly 60 and 130 before combining . . .still broken-ish. There was just a little oil remaining on the surface, but it was bedtime, so I decided that was good enough and called it a night. In the morning, after it cooled, there were tons of white spots on my cake from the uncombined ganache . . .how frustrating. 

Partially separated, cooled ganache

Oh well, it was time to go, so a few seconds in the microwave to remelt, and tada, a beautiful, shiny, and rather good tasting ganache . . .what an experiment. Next time I will definitely have to try a different method for making ganache!

Good enough :) 

Here are the comments for today:

• Not liking this too much. OK - but chocolate was bitter (well, I did use bittersweet chocolate . . .)
• I liked the orange and chocolate flavors together. Never had a cake like that before. Really liked the chocolate frosting
• Yesterday's cake "Better than . . ." EXCELLENT (Better late than never ;))
• It was a hit. I like that you have a good variety of cake types

I think all of my work cakes are sponsored now, so that's good news. And to my surprise, a few were even sponsored by those who don't eat cake based purely on appearances, that they think this is a fun idea, or just because they are nice people . . . Thank you :) 

Cake Madness - Day 8

Cake of the Day: Better Than Almost Anything Cake

I want to start today's post with a note of thanks for all of the comments and ideas that I've been getting from my readers. I love comments, and you guys have had some really great ideas. So keep them coming...they are awesome :) 

Today's cake is by far the easiest cake I have made yet (which was a much needed break after my last two crazy cakes). This is not my favorite cake because it turns out kind of wet and mushy, but holy cow, the people at work sure seemed to like it . . .it was gone in under an hour and a half. That's a new record I think. Also, I got asked for one of my recipes for the first time. I didn't think that would take so long, but I'm glad this is the recipe I got asked for as it is so easy.

1 German Chocolate Cake mix

1 can Sweetened Condensed milk

1 jar Caramel ice cream sauce

1 8 oz. container frozen whipped topping

1 bag toffee bits

Bake cake according to box directions. Cool for 10 minutes. Poke lots of holes in it with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour milk over and let soak in. Pour caramel over, run knife around edges. Cover and refrigerate for two hours. Spread whipped topping on top and sprinkle on toffee bits. That's it. Done. 

Here are the comments this cake received: 

• Love it
• Splendido, awesome again! :) Moist, toffee-eeish (yummy). Not overpoweringly sweet, I like it that way. 
• Heath cake . . .*Drool*, frickin' awesome
• You are amazing!
• REALLY Good! Base cake looked dense and heavy to me, but tastes light and darkly chocolatey. Crunchy topping is lovely. 
• Very good. I love the toffee bits and topping

Another success :) 

Cake Madness - Day 7

Cake of the Day: Dragon Cake

Today cannot start with lots of words, it must start with a picture:

How ADORABLE is he??? I found the idea here: Fire Breathing Cake, and just had to make him. 

The day started out with a serious feeling of gratitude to my new best friend, my KitchenAid mixer. I knew this cake was going to take forever to decorate, so being able to whip up a chocolate cake in minutes was wonderful. The cake portion was not the star of this day anyways. He really wasn't too difficult to assemble, here was my set-up:

In my own words, I got too much "gickey" (yes I made that word up) on my computer from trying to wake up the monitor after it had gone to sleep so I could see the instructions time and time again, but my computer survived and the dragon came to life. It was hard to believe I could make that whole cake out of two 8 inch round cakes, but it wasn't too bad. I made a few alterations such as making my own chocolate covered graham crackers for the spikes:

I also dipped two Hershey's "Hugs" in chocolate for the nostrils since I didn't have any "Kisses" and omitted the wings because many reviews said they sagged quickly if not stored in the freezer, and I have about a 25 minute drive to work, so I didn't think they would make it. Plus, I figured he was cute enough without them. One helpful tip was to freeze the dragon after putting a crumb coat on, otherwise I never would have been able to cover him so well with frosting because the cake crumbled quite a bit. 

Needless to say, he created quite the stir when I brought him in to work. There were two pictures of him up on Facebook within five minutes of walking in the door. A little crowd gathered to look at him, and the sponsor of the cake (who I made cut into him because I didn't have the heart) took his sweet time getting around to cutting him. This cake has definitely made me believe that I am capable of more than I thought I was! 

Here are some of the many comments the Dragon Cake received:

• He was ADORABLE, and very tasty :) Awesome job on putting him together (yes, of course, it was a him, haha)
• Dinomite
• Very delicious cake (written in Chinese, perhaps they thought the Dragon was in celebration of the Chinese New Year, as it is the Year of the Dragon)
• I don't know how you make the cakes wilder and wilder each day but I am so impressed.
• It is like a real life version of 'Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs' (I don't recall a dragon in there, but perhaps they are referring to the abundance of cakes?) 

Okay, one last picture of him:

Awww

Cake Madness - Day 6

Cake of the Day: Funky Monkey Banana Cake

Okay, this project is getting a little out of hand. I was seriously so stressed today trying to get this cake done, you have no idea. I know I brought this upon myself by picking such tedious cakes, but honestly, I almost had a mental breakdown in Wal-Mart tonight. I was very close to bribing a small family to buy a "Child's Play" bag of candy so I didn't have to spend the $5 just to get the two Tootsie Rolls I needed, and I panicked a little when the check-out lady said she didn't think they made Runts anymore. Luckily a friend at work had advised me that the Dollar Tree had a good selection of candy and I made it there ten minutes before they closed. A big thank you to the Dollar Tree girl who was awesome and got me my Runts (you can't have a Funky Monkey cake without the little bananas). Then one last stop at a gas station to find some Cow Tails and finally, at 9 pm, I was ready to start my cake. You see why this challenge is more time consuming than rock climbing?

The cake wasn't too bad to make, and my husband was a dear and made the cream cheese frosting for me, which left me time to figure out how to fashion monkeys out of Tootsie Rolls. I just had to make this cake, it looked so cute here: It's A Jungle Cake, and since there were monkeys on the cake, I thought a banana cake would be fitting. This recipe worked wonderfully: Banana Cake VI. Seriously, try this cake, it was like banana bread, but better.

I got tons of comments about this cake, and have been called the Cake Lady more frequently. Here are some of the best comments:

• Cake Lady, your kids are going to be so lucky
• Funky, most interesting. Your cakes rock. Please supply the Weight Watchers points values (ha - or not)
• Good balance of flavor, lots of banana flavor without being cloying. The frosting was just the right sweetness. The only problem is that I fear you may have made it too delicious.
• Nice banana base. Frosting smooth, blends with cake well.
• Excellent!!!!!
• Yummy! I love banana flavor so I thought the cake was really good and great flavor. But the cake looked so cute that people were trying to avoid cutting into the monkeys :) 
• Very cute, tastes great. Excellent job. 
• Looks too good to eat
• A+ Tasty and very creative
• One of the best decorated cakes I have ever seen, very cool. Also it tasted awesome!

So that makes all that stressful candy hunting worth it :) 

Cow tail and Tootsie Roll trees, Milk Dud coconuts, Tootsie roll monkeys, leaves of green apple licorice and watermelon Air Heads, banana Runts and a squished lemon Dot for the sun . . . fun

Cake Madness - Day 5

Cake of the Day: Yum Yum Cake

This cake has been a favorite of mine for many years, and honestly, how could a cake called "Yum Yum Cake" be bad? That being said, it is a relatively simple cake, and the cake is not the star of the show, the frosting is. The cake, as I like to call it, is merely a frosting delivery device :) 

Since this one was brought in to work again, I could use the amount of time it took for the cake to be demolished as a sign of it's quality . . .this one was gone in two and a half hours, so not quite as popular as the first cakes, but still pretty good. Oh, and I heard a comment about my German Chocolate Cake, I guess someone was literally ripping pieces off of it to eat, although I don't know who, all I know is that they must have really been hungry!

As for me, I may be going a little crazy trying to plan and make all these cakes. Cake generally consumes most of my waking thoughts at this point, I sure hope I can learn to relax pretty soon.

Here are some of the Yum Yum Cake comments:

• You are so evil (This was written by a weight loss challenge participant)
• Very good cake . . .visually very inviting - I very much like the frosting!! The cake could be slightly more moist, slightly. Love the frosting. I could see using this frosting over and over again - Tons of applications :) 
• Delicious

And my favorite comment:

• No words can describe the splendor of the yum yum cake, A+

Yum

Yum

Cake Madness - Day 4

Cake of the Day: "Just A Cake"

For my Saturday cake, one of my good friends (who is also an excellent baker) invited me over to her house to make a cake with her for a party she was having that night. She found this amazing looking recipe: Just A Cake (if you looked at the link, be warned, ours did not end up looking quite that nice). It was really my first time making buttercream frosting, so that was a good experience, and it's always fun baking with a friend :)

Yes, I did get laughed at for how precise I am when baking

 And since pictures are excellent, there will be many in this post. Doesn't this one look great?

Mini chocolate chips were mixed into the buttercream in the middle . . . so yummy, and it looks like a giant Oreo 

 We were running a little short on time as we had to meet up with others for the party (we went bowling) so the cake actually got it's crumb coat out in the garage (on the back of her husband's car) to keep the cake and frosting cool. The buttercream in the middle kept wanting to run out, but we contained it.

Frosted cake

 And now, for the ganache on top. She did such a nice job making it (even though she was a little nervous about it). You really can't go wrong with pouring chocolate over a cake though.

The moment of truth

 Unfortunately, since we were running so late, we didn't have enough time to let the ganache cool either, and it was much runnier than we had hoped and quite a bit formed a moat around the cake. So, not as pretty as the Bakerella version, but still super tasty (you really can't go wrong with a recipe that includes four sticks of butter).

The Moat Cake

Um, yum :) 

Cake Madness - Day 3

Cake of the Day: Rainbow Party Cake

My first two cakes had gone over wonderfully at work, but now was the tricky weekend schedule. The cake I made today (Friday) would be served Sunday at my Bible study group, and Saturday's cake would be served at a party Saturday, and the cake I make Sunday will be for work on Monday . . .it was quite a challenge to figure all this out, but it worked.

I had made this cake twice before (once for Kenyan Independence Day since I work with a girl from Kenya, and once for a friend's birthday) but each cake has been a bit different. I knew I wanted to make this cake again because it is relatively simple to make (uses boxed cake mix and frosting) but looks really impressive. Also, when I realized that both Super Bowl teams had essentially the same team colors, making this colorful cake for a Super Bowl party I was attending made a lot of sense.

Here is where I first found the recipe: Amazing Halloween Rainbow Party Bundt Cake (the lady might be a little free with her decolletage, but she knows how to make a cool cake). I'm not really into Halloween, but I figured I could change the colors however I wanted and did so successfully (the Kenya cake was red, green, and black, and the birthday cake was black, white, and purple). To frost the cake, the frosting was put into baggies this time and used that way so it didn't leave large glops of frosting like it had when I made the Kenya cake. The finished product was not too bad, crazy looking, but good. I think many people at the party were impressed, especially the kids, and the best comment I got was: "If I were going to make a cake like that I wouldn't know where to start, oh yes I do, I'd talk to you" :)

Red, blue, white and black for the Patriots and Giants

Everyone is impressed with the surprise inside 

The cake wasn't completely eaten at the party (because a lovely couple celebrating their 7th anniversary brought in a huge cake made by the same baker who made their wedding cake; it was so good and beautiful), but one of my friend's hosting the party is a teacher and she took the leftovers in to the teacher's lounge the next day and I guess it was a hit there too. Yay :)

Cake Madness - Day 2

Cake of the day: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting. 

The recipes I found (Sam's Famous Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting) called for walnuts, coconut, pineapple and raisins in the cake, so if you are a carrot cake purist and think that is gross, please avoid this post. As my cake sponsor doesn't like raisins, they were omitted, but the rest was included, and I put a sign up about there being coconut and walnuts in the cake and I didn't get any nasty comments about coconut today, hooray.

It turns out that today (February 3rd) is National Carrot Cake Day . . .who knew? I was certainly not aware of it when I planned Carrot Cake for today, what a happy coincidence. Anyways, the cake and frosting were both easy to make and I think it turned out really tasty. Evidently my coworkers thought so too as it was gone in two hours again and landed me a few more cake sponsors :)

Not much to look at, but so moist underneath

Here are some of the comments this cake received:

• I have never had carrot cake, so this is the best that I've ever had :)
• Appearance is average as far as "all" cakes go . . .but good in terms of carrot cake. Cream cheese frosting is perfect for the cake . . .not too cheesy and not too sweet
• Moist cake. Interesting combination of flavors, nuts, fruit, don't pick up carrots. Creamy frosting.
• Very good! Plus, there is a healthy aspect: 1. carrots 2. coconut 3.nuts 4.dairy - cream cheese!
• Thanks for trying to sabotage the weight loss challenge :P (Yes, there is a weight loss challenge going on at my work right now . . .oops)
• Yummy! I like the walnuts and raisins (hmm, there are no raisins in my cake) though some feel them unorthodox. Could have done with more nutmeg IMHO (well, since I didn't have any nutmeg in there either, I agree)
• Best carrot cake that I've ever had! Thanks.
• Absolutely delicious!! The frosting was nice and creamy. Great texture. The cake itself was moist and had lots of flavor!!

Behold the yumminess

Cake Madness - Day 1

I know what you must be thinking: make a cake every day for a whole month? She is going to be so broke and so fat at the end of this challenge. Have no fear, I spent many hours before February even started trying to solve the many problems that could arise with baking every day. First of all, I knew I couldn't afford to make 29 cakes, so the idea of "cake sponsors" came up. A sponsor would give me $10 (or buy the supplies needed for their cake) and in return would get some say in what kind of cake I made and I would deliver a piece to them in the morning. This works well for the people at my work as they not only get a piece of their cake, but can partake in every other cake I bring in to work, if they so desire. It was a little bit of effort to find enough people, but that helped defray some of the costs at least, and since my coworkers will be eating the cakes, it keeps me and my husband from gaining 200 pounds this month. The other stipulation I had for my friends who came up with the Cake-A-Day challenge (and happen to work in the department I used to work in) was that they had to protect me from the people in the department I currently work in as I knew they would be irate and probably kill me if I made cakes for my old friends and not my new ones. This problem was solved by opening cake sponsorship up to everyone, and placing every cake in neutral territory . . .the lunchroom ;) So, now that most of those issues are settled, turn on the oven, it's time to bake.

My preliminary cake supply set up (yes there are some cake mixes, I can't make them all from scratch)

Thank the Lord for KitchenAid mixers (and no, I didn't put the avocado in the cake)

My friend who was the instigator of the Cake-A-Day idea kindly volunteered to sponsor the first two cakes. He has a serious coconut tooth (as some people have a sweet tooth, he just loves coconut), so German Chocolate Cake was chosen as the first day. After scouring the internet, this is the recipe I decided on: Willard Family German Chocolate Cake. I've never made that recipe before so I was a little nervous about it, but I shouldn't have been, it turned out great.

"Yolky" was not too sure about this Cake-A-Day idea

My first cakes

I made the cake in two 8" x 8" pans since I don't have 9"x"9" pans without any problems. I stayed up way too late making this cake, but it was worth it. There was quite the buzz at work in the morning with lots of people wondering about the comment cards and the "Cake-A-Day" idea. The cake must have been good too, it was gone in under 2 hours. Without further ado, here are some of the highlights from the comment cards:

• All I can say is yum
• Fabulous job!
• You crazy!
• Great job!  Moist, rich, not over powering. Thanks for sharing.
• Very visually pleasing, thank you for making!
• Pretty, pretty, pretty good
• Dieser Kuchen ist so feucht und kostlich. Dies ist die beste Deutsch Schokoladenglasur, die ich je gegessen habe (which I think means "This cake is moist and delicious. This is the best German Chocolate cake/glaze that I have ever eaten." Although, the Google translate version was much more humorous: "This cake is moist and delicious. The chocolate glaze is the best German that I have ever eaten" . . .guess I work with cannibals ;))
• The only thing that could make it better is if your German Chocolate Cake was also Bavarian cream filled (amazing idea)
• Visually pleasing so much so it was difficult to cut into. Frosting is coconut heaven!
• Holy cow - I loved my Aunt Dolores' cake as a kid (bless her since departed soul) . . .but you bake one heck of a mean German chocolate cake - not even in the same league . . ."Sorry Aunt Dolores . . ." this cake is very good!!!!

Of course I knew not everyone would like the cakes, and I did get one negative comment:

• Don't like this kind because I don't like coconut - and the frosting looks disgusting.

But I also got this comment:

• BTW if you get any nasty comments by this method (meaning the anonymous comment cards) show me the paper and we'll figure out who to punish for their bad manners.

How kind :) Well, I took the criticism constructively and will warn people from now on if there is coconut (or something else I fear people might not like) in the cake, and as for the appearance, plenty of people said they like it, so I'm okay with it. That's what German Chocolate Cake is supposed to look like :)

Finished product . . . yum

February Reveal

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the great February reveal. Every time someone finds out about this 12 month challenge idea they are eager to know what the future months hold for me, but I like surprises, so I try not to give too much away. :)
Now I know quite a few of you already know my February challenge as I am a little behind on updating this blog, but for those of you who don't know, the wait is finally over. I've decided I'm going to floss my teeth every day for the month of February. WAIT! Don't go! I know it is really not that interesting of a blog topic, but have no fear, my work lunch buddies saved you and told me on no uncertain terms that I was not allowed to write about flossing for a whole month. They came up with many other ideas, but only one truly stuck. The idea was brainstormed for a few days and spread around to other coworkers to generate support. Although I will be flossing every day this month, the true challenge, the crazy, ridiculous, fun beyond belief challenge is going to be: bake a cake every day for a month. February is the month of Cake Madness! Enjoy :)

Rock Climbing - Day 31

On January 1st, this day seemed very far off, but here it is, my last day of rock climbing. I climbed for my usual 45 minutes but didn't end on quite as much of a high note as I would have liked. The gym was full of boulderers today so it was a little difficult finding routes to climb. I got many challenging V1s, but after many attempts, failed to get any V2s (even routes I'd finished on previous days). My side was sore, and my body was just ready to be done and have a break from climbing. Maybe it's better this way, if I would have been making tons of progress, I wouldn't have wanted to stop, but now I can walk away with my head held high knowing I accomplished more than I thought possible, but without feeling like I'm cutting myself off before I'm done. Looking back on this month I am so proud of myself for actually doing this, I give myself a gold star!

Rock Climbing - Day 30

January is not even over yet and I've already got my first "you're crazy" for my February task. I shared my idea with a few people at work and that was a pretty common response. But before I get ahead of myself, I should write about rock climbing.
Boulders was pretty empty at first, but filled up quickly with boulderers. There were a few girls there with some serious muscles. I didn't get any V2s today, but climbed plenty of V0s and V1s. The climbing was good, but there was so much talk about February at work today that I'm afraid I was thinking about that and was not very focused on climbing. That, and like I said yesterday, I've accomplished everything I wanted to so far, so I'm not very motivated to push myself any farther.
One more day of rock climbing, then on to February!

Rock Climbing - Day 29

Low, overhanging start

There were a ton of kids at Boulders today, but as they were all clip-in climbing, most of the bouldering routes were still wide open. I finally finished that V1 in the cave that I've been working on for so long. I've included a few pictures of me climbing it. It feels so good to get that one accomplished, I just knew it would be fun.

Also, I got another V2 today . . .I amazed even myself. I may have fallen a few times while trying to finish the V2 that I got yesterday, but I've accomplished every rock climbing goal that I really had in mind for this month. Rock climbing is starting to feel like routine. I think I can legitimately call myself an indoor rock climber now :)

Hold on!

Rock Climbing - Day 28

Drum roll please . . .I'm happy and proud to announce that today I climbed my first V2 route. I think it might have something to do with climbing earlier in the day (since it's Saturday and I don't have to work), but apart from feeling weak and disoriented at first (probably due to wearing my contacts as I usually wear glasses) I had quite a few good climbs today. It just took me a little while to get into it.

I saw an interesting sight today. I usually enjoy watching more experienced climbers, so when a 30s-ish aged lady came in and starting climbing more fluidly than I'd see anyone else climb, I kept an eye on her. On my way to get a drink of water, I noticed that she'd sat down and was working on her nails. Then I looked closer. She had climbed a bit and had chalky hands and had a nail file, but she wasn't filing her nails, she was filing her palms . . .what?!? She must have some serious calluses; I just thought that was nuts.

In other news, while I was working on a fun, but as of yet unconquered, V1 in the cave area, a friendly girl who was about my height gave me some tips on how she finally finished it. It was towards the end of my hour of climbing though so I just didn't have the strength to finish it today, maybe tomorrow. Also, you remember that black V1 with the slippery hold near the end that I just couldn't finish? Yeah, I got it today . . .take that rocks!

I feel this calls for a celebratory cool picture of some rock climbing stuff, but alas, my brother got all the photography skills in the family (and the rock climbing skills as well). He is proud of me for doing all this climbing, but when we talked the other day, he lamented that he has never gotten into double digit bouldering . . .bah! I'm chuffed to bits that I got a V2! Anyways, it was a great climbing day :)

Rock Climbing - Day 27

I arrived at Boulders a little earlier today so I could go out for dinner with some friends tonight. I still managed to get 45 minutes of good climbing in. I'm trying to push myself, and I made a little progress on a V2, hooray. I got some of my usual V1s, but came to the sad realization that I don't think I'll finish all the V1s (or get a V2 for that matter) before Day 31 . . .this makes me sad. However, the topic of my February challenge surfaced in the lunch room today and I won't spoil the surprise, but I will tell you that it's going to be crazy and awesome . . .stay tuned!

Rock Climbing - Day 26

My husband was more of a fan of climbing with a rope

Today is the day I had been waiting for, the day my husband finally decided to come climbing with me and see what all the fuss was about. He had been climbing before, but not recently, so when I told him he had to come to be my photographer (he gets the credit for all of the pictures of me climbing that I've been posting), he was apprehensive, but agreed.

We ended up climbing for two and a half hours (he had to get his money's worth since he just paid for a day pass) doing both bouldering and clip-in top roping. It was fun to get to climb higher than I can while bouldering, but it was hard for me to remember that it was okay to fall because I had something to catch me. On one of the more difficult climbs later in the night, I started to slip and instead of just letting go and being okay, I scrambled to hold on to anything I could and ended up banging my shin pretty hard on one of the rocks. I finished the climb (although I didn't stay on the marked route for the last few holds since I was anxious to get down and inspect my shin) and then noticed that it was starting to swell up pretty quickly. It also was very squishy which I'm guessing meant that there was blood in there but luckily I hadn't broken the skin so there was no mess. I thought maybe I should sit down and not climb anymore, but after my husband climbed up another route I had to climb a few more times before we called it a night. My "battle wound" joined my scratch from Day 24 to give me one lovely shin.

Ouch

Funny that I got my most serious climbing injury while climbing with a buddy and a rope . . .go figure. Oh well, it was still a great night :)

Rock Climbing - Day 25

Well, it's nearing the end of the month, and my progress has slowed. I climbed for 45 minutes today, but didn't make any headway on most routes. There is one black V1 in particular that I haven't been able to get and it was causing another group of people some problems today too. After discussing it with them and assuring them that I was never going to be able to get it, of course I had to try because I had to prove myself wrong. But it was not to be today. I did get a little farther on it than usual, I'm just too scared to finish it. The second to the last hold is rather slippery and I always feel like I'm leaning away from the wall and usually just fall at that point . . .one of these days I'm going to get it. Mind over matter!

Another issue I had today was that I couldn't get my wedding ring back on after climbing. Side note for any one considering climbing: make sure you take your jewelry off first . . .the first two days I climbed with my wedding ring on and it is all scratched up. So I remember to take it off, but my fingers didn't want to let it back on, I did get it eventually though. Speaking of my wedding ring, I'm looking forward to climbing tomorrow . . .I've finally convinced my husband to join me. Stay tuned for that epic adventure :)

Rock Climbing - Day 24

The wall won today. I got a rather large scrape on my right shin (see picture, taken 2 days after the fact, with the addition of a large "goose egg" bruise I got on Day 26). I did some usual V0s and V1s, but made no progress on any V2s and some other usual V1s were not happening . . .my body and especially my hands are just tired.

Rock Climbing - Days 22 & 23

Day 22
Not much to report today, I didn't get anything new, only climbed for 40 minutes, and did okay on most of my "usual" routes. Thankfully the gym was less crowded today, but my muscles, my fingers, and well, just me, are all tired.

Day 23
More people again today, which means I didn't get to climb some of my favorite routes. My fingers are still sore, but I climbed okay for 45 minutes. I came to a realization today that having an end date (end of the month) for these "challenges" kind of defeats the habit-forming aspect of them. Oh well, could you imagine what it would be like if I really did pick up one new habit every month? By the end of this year I'd be doing 12 additional things every day . . .I don't think there are enough hours in a day for that.

Rock Climbing - Day 21

Whew...the gym was SO crowded tonight, full of tons of kids, and they had actually run out of harnesses. Luckily I don't need one of those, and the majority of the people were top rope or clip in climbing, so there was still some open bouldering space. The original V0 that I had so many problems with (the "scary backwards reach route") has been replaced by a new V0 and I got that pretty easily. I climbed for a total of 45 minutes again. Here's a few pictures of me on that new V0:

Going up

Climbing back down (my right hand is on the finish hold . . .yet another "scary backwards reach one" but I wasn't scared of it any more)

Favorite quote of the night from a seasoned 20s-ish climber to a little boy trying to swing on the gymnast rings they have in the work out area: "Buddy, don't swing, do pull ups . . .get strong" :)

Rock Climbing - Day 20

It is winter-y again today . . .we got another four inches of very light, fluffy snow, which means the gym was relatively empty. I got to take my time and work on climbing back down some of the V1s using the same holds I used to get up, which is much more work than just letting myself fall once I get to the top (but also a little more graceful). My calluses are starting to peel, I don't know if that is a good thing or not, maybe I'm getting calluses on my calluses? This month is flying by, only eleven more days of climbing left!

Rock Climbing - Day 19

I shortened my climb time today to 30 minutes to give my right leg a little bit of a rest as my calf muscle is sore as is that same tendon (the one that helps me lift my leg up to higher footholds). You may think that my climbing was less productive due to this, but you would be wrong. I will again use pictures to illustrate my accomplishment today:

Brand new V1 in the "cave"

A group of other climbers was watching me attempt this for the first time, so the pressure was on

I felt a little like Spider Woman climbing very much upside down

And success on my first try! (This picture is tilted a little, the other pictures give a more accurate depiction of the orientation of this).

I'm pretty sure the group watching me was impressed :) That was a fun route, one of my favorites so far.

Rock Climbing - Day 18

Today was an ouch-y day. My right leg tendon was sore again, I banged my knee while climbing on the big boulder (which always seems to happen), and I also scraped my arm up a little bit. Oh well, I said "no pain, no gain" right?

Other than that, climbing wasn't too bad, most of the routes I got easily, but others are still a little scary. There was a girl about my size trying to get up the V1 that I just finished yesterday, so I got the opportunity to share my insights with her. She hadn't been able to get it either, so I hope my tip about forgetting the left foot and just reaching helped her.

Oh, one other note that I forgot to include the other day in my discussion about calluses. And yes, it is called a callus, not a callous, I had to check out the difference (callus is a noun (or verb), callous is an adjective (or sometimes a verb)). Anyways, for my geeky science friends, the Wikipedia article on calluses (Wikipedia "Callus") informs me that callouses are formed when keratinocytes (the most common type of cell in the epidermis, or outer layer of human skin) build up due to repetitive friction or pressure. These build ups of dead cells are resistant to further damage due to their "networks of cross-linked proteins and hydrophobic keratin intermediate filaments containing many disulfide bonds". Interesting huh?

Rock Climbing - Day 17

Today was a good climbing day. I will illustrate why, in 3 pictures:

The start of the blue V1 that I couldn't quite finish, but was determined to (see all the chalk dust in the air?)

On my way up . . .

I MADE IT :) It turns out all I needed to do was forget trying to find a foothold for my left foot, let it hang on the bare wall, and REACH . . .awesome.

 Oh, what a great day. I also finished another V1 that I thought I had gotten before, but I failed to see the last hold was one more than what I had done, so now it is officially conquered. I feel strong today :)

Rock Climbing - Day 16

Woohoo - I'm half done! This day felt far off on Day 1, that's for sure. Unfortunately, this milestone did not spur me on to climb today. I was not motivated, I was bored, and my fingers felt sore and swollen for the second or third day in a row, probably due to a combination of climbing and my cold. But, not being one to back out of a challenge, I knew I had to go, and I was glad I did.

The gym was rather crowded today, most likely due to the recent Groupon, but I still got 45 minutes of good climbing in. The Boulders route setting team didn't let me down, and there were two new V0s and one new V1 to stave off my impending route boredom. Lo and behold, I finished all of them on the first try. I think that means I have graduated to a level V0.5 climber ;) Some of those V0s are just too easy for me now, but there are still plenty of V1s that I can't do, so I just invented a new in-between V grade, just to give myself a sense of accomplishment, I think I can do that :)

Rock Climbing - Day 15

Favorite quote of the day: "Dude, be careful, there's a 7 year old girl on the top of the boulder. . .I'm serious" :)

Today was a day more for observation than anything else. I was feeling a little bored with the routes so while I still got a good work out in, I kept my eyes more open to what was going on around me. While putting my shoes on, a little girl shyly said "hi" to me. We then exchanged pleasantries about how we each thought each other had cool glasses, and we went off to climb. I was expecting her to be like any other kid who comes to Boulders and only top ropes up the easiest routes, but boy was I wrong. She was free climbing better than many adults I've seen. I should have known she was different when she brought her own climbing shoes complete with monkeys on them. She was in all senses of the word, a rock star.

The quote at the top came from a group of guys when their buddy was trying to muscle his way up the free standing boulder. I have noticed that guys, more than girls, tend to try and claw their way up instead of carefully thinking about the best foot placement and climbing strategy. One of the guys in the group even had a "Tough Mudder" shirt on. Now, I know a few guys who ran the "Tough Mudder" last year, and it did not sound easy, but their climbing skills just got majorly shown up by a little girl. . .I thought it was hilarious (any of you care to rethink your decisions of yesterday on whether or not I'm a bad person?)

Wow, what a day.

Rock Climbing - Day 14

I haven't shaken my cold yet, and I wasn't up for tons of climbing, but surprisingly, I did pretty well today. There was a new V1 that I got on my first try, I was shocked. Being a Saturday, the gym was pretty busy at 11 am when I got there. I climbed for 45 minutes, the norm.

I think I might be a bad person. I haven't been climbing for that long, but it gives me some sort of sick inner sense of accomplishment when I see athletically-built guys struggling with V0s. I would never laugh or anything like that because I know I was that person two weeks ago and they have nothing to be ashamed of . . .climbing is hard, but secretly it makes me feel a little better about my climbing skills (well, not so secretly now). I think perhaps this is because I'm usually so zoned in on my own climbing that my only measure of success is against myself and the wall and when I can see other people's triumphs (like the awesome group of guys and girls who practically floated up some V3s today) and failures it helps me rate my own? What do you think?

I'll let you ponder that one for a while but for now, I'll just sit here and try to forget how sore my fingers are.

Rock Climbing - Day 13

Sniffle, sniffle...yep, you guessed it, I caught a cold. I'm hoping that exercising every day has boosted my immune system enough to help me beat this quickly, but until then, it's not going to be as fun pushing myself to higher heights. There was another Boulders Groupon deal today (which may have reminded buyers of the previous Groupon to get out and use theirs) so the gym was pretty crowded. I only climbed for 40 minutes, and I had an overall feeling somewhere between boredom and relaxation . . .perhaps I'm settling into my climbing groove? I may have talked a friend at work into coming climbing with me, but for now, today was filled with little success, and just rather blah.

Rock Climbing - Day 12

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Winter has finally arrived, and much later than usual. This is our first real snowstorm of the season (January 12th), and it sure made driving interesting. Since my drive to Boulders took quite a bit longer than usual, I shortened my climb time (hmm that rhymes...I made a climb time rhyme :)) to 40 minutes. The gym was rather empty today, probably due to the snow.

Today I made a discovery, I figured out why I can't finish some of the V1s - the root cause goes back to me just not being gutsy enough to go for some of the long reaches that are required to finish them. On two V1s I can get to the penultimate hold (ooo I used a big word, but I will admit, I only know that word because of watching Top Gear), and no further. There is one route in particular that I can easily touch the final hold, but not quite reach the top of it to grab it, and I don't know how good of a hold it will be and it's rather high for a bouldering route. Basically, I'm afraid of falling. I get discouraged watching other people complete it (mostly guys since they have a longer reach than I do), but I am determined to get this one! The determination comes from the fact that the rest of the route is so fun and has really nice holds, I want to conquer this one . . .stay tuned for the stunning conclusion of "Vanessa vs. the rock" (at least I hope it will be stunning) :)

All I need to do is reach my right hand up to that blue V (not the blue & green V)...I can do it!