A call from an old friend

Last week, I received a voice mail from my former teacher and coach Mr. Blackledge. He asked me and many other former cross country runners to write a letter about "how running has changed my life" for the 2009 High School Girls Cross Country STATE CHAMPS!
Back in 1993 was really the first year there was cross country, when I was a freshman in high school...and in 12 years, HH went from having NO team to having a state championship team.

To the team of 2009: Congratulations on your incredible achievement!!! To have nearly an entire team in the 19’s or below and 5 All-State runners is incredible and every one of you should be very proud of your victory! You all are such awesome runners and you have left your legacy for Hanover Horton High School. Younger runners will strive to have a team as good as yours! There are so many former runners who share this joy with you and I wish I could have been there to watch the race! My parents and sister (former runner Laura Rainey) went to the state meet and I got the phone call shortly after you won and the play by play of the race from my dad! I immediately emailed some of my former teammates to tell them the great news of your victory! Your win was celebrated by former runners all across the country! It’s been 12 years since I graduated high school and three “generations” of students have passed through Hanover Horton’s hallways since the class of 1997 graduated. And the cross country team has gone from winning a few meets to winning the ultimate meet; The State Meet. You build on each success as a team, first it was just getting individuals to the state meet, or winning the conference meet, now it’s knowing you *will* win the Conference Meet and gunning for the region or state. It has been a long journey to become number one in the state and I’d love to share with you how the Hanover Horton Cross Country Team got started on the path to success.

In the beginning:
My name is Jennifer Rainey (Jen) and I decided to run cross country my freshman year of high school way back in 1993. I was already in a lot of sports and band, and I didn’t really need another activity to participate in, but I had a huge crush on this cute boy on the team and I really wanted to join! Plus, I really liked running and figured it might be a fun new sport. I remember telling my parents that I wanted to join cross country. I expected them to be upset because I was already involved in so much, but they were supportive of the running; maybe because my dad and uncles were all marathon runners and they could see me following in their footsteps.
When I joined the team there was only one other girl runner, she was a senior named Susan Campbell; and she was really excited I was joining because she wouldn’t be the only girl on the team. Susan had trained all summer for this season and had high hopes of being an all conference runner and state qualifier. I still can remember my first day of cross country practice; I had to run one mile with Susan. It was a hot day in August and I had to run down Reynolds Road to the speed limit sign and come back. It was really hard, but my coach, Ms. Aldrich (Mrs. Richardson after she got married) was very impressed with my time (which I still remember was about 7:53ish) and that made me feel really good. It was great to impress Ms. Aldrich, she was so excited!
After a few weeks into the sport, I started to really enjoy it and began trying to recruit other runners for the team. Eventually I got two of my friends to join, one of them was my best friend Erin, and we had a whopping 4 girls on the team that year. I was hoping to get a whole team of runners or at least 5, but we had someone join and quit, and it was hard to get people to join a sport that no-one was in or even knew about.
As the season went on, I got better and better with each race! I started winning medals at some of the invitationals and started getting closer to Susan’s time each race. It was a lot of fun and motivated me to push myself even harder; ignorance was bliss as I got better with each race! Also, it was great to see my friend Erin enjoying a sport for the first time in her life and I was so glad that we could share a sport together after being friends for so many years! Erin wasn’t the best runner, but she was getting better and better each year and with each race, maybe she wasn’t running the greatest times, but she was achieving her own victories!
The night of the regional meet came; we all had dinner together as a team to talk about our goals and load up on carbs before the race. (We started the tradition of the regional meet dinner in 1993 and did it every year after that; do you still do team dinners the night of the regional meet?)
The day of regional’s came; we had all trained hard, done lots of intervals and ran many miles throughout the season. I was pretty nervous because I wanted to get my personal best time and I hoped to get into the 21’s but I didn’t even think about qualifying for the state meet, I just didn’t consider it to be possible.
During the regional race I felt really good; at the 1.5 mile mark at Ella Sharp Park I came up behind my teammate Susan. I couldn’t believe that I was up near the front with her; I ended up passing her and was shocked the whole race that she was behind me. As we rounded the trees at Ella Sharp Park for the long sprint to the finish line, my coach and teammates were jumping up and down and yelling at me to pass 2 people and I would qualify for the state meet, the top 20 would qualify and I was in 22nd place!!! I was shocked that I was this close to running in the state meet! I remember focusing my eyes on the girls ahead of me and I started sprinting as fast as I could. One girl I passed pretty easily; the second girl gave me a challenge, but I was going to beat her. And I did pass her, finishing in 20th place with a time of 21:11, my personal best by nearly 1 minute and the final qualifier for the 1993 State Meet.
It was at that regional meet, way back in 1993 that I really learned about mental toughness and what I could achieve if I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone. It was then, that I knew running was *my* sport and I looked forward to the years to come. My coach and inspiration, Mrs. Richardson, used to say to me running is “95% mental; 3% physical and 2% talent”. I definitely believe that to be true.
Over the next three years I trained year round, logged tens of thousands of miles and I ran everyday for nearly 1000 consecutive days. I can still remember every inch of those trails in the woods behind Hanover Horton School. (They have been changed a little since I graduated) I remember this stump that I used to hit with my shoes that would make me stumble and sometimes fall and we would crack up each time it happened, because I tripped on it *all* the time. And my favorite part of the course was coming out of the woods behind the track; there is that little dip in the ground and I would speed up there and loose any competitors behind me before going back into the woods.

Our team grew from 4 runners my freshman year to a full team my sophomore year as we recruited more teammates, and by my junior year we had enough runners for a JV team! We started winning some meets and other runners started winning medals. We even won a team trophy! We continued to have team dinners the night before the regional meet, many at my house, and we all would go around the table and talk about our goals and personal bests that we planned to achieve. It was great to see my friends enjoying a sport that I loved and having a whole team to compete in meets was pretty awesome too! We weren’t very good compared to the *awesome* team of 2009, but we weren’t last either, and that was a big deal back then.
I continued to push myself more and more each year and got faster and more respected in the running community. I ended my high school cross country career with an All-State medal. I also earned all-conference, all-county, all-region and was a state qualifier all 4 years of cross country! Even though I wasn’t the best runner in the conference, region or state, I was the only runner in our conference and county that could list earning the above awards all 4 years of high school.

Now, how did all that change my life?
It’s been 12 years since I graduated from high school, but the lessons learned running have stuck with me.
After I graduated from High School, I really wanted to coach cross country and track. And what better place than to coach at Hanover Horton, the place where my love for running started? Mr. Blackledge was able to get me the job as head track coach for the middle school girls track team. They had lost every single meet the year prior and they were pretty defeated when I met them for the first day of the season.
The 7th grade team consisted of many talented runners such as; Betsy Adkins, my sister Laura Rainey, Jenny Phelan, and many other girls that you might have heard of. That year, and the next, the girls track team went from a 0-7, to winning 7-0 and all of the invitational’s that we participated in for 2 consecutive years! We didn’t even have a paved track back then! My girls broke numerous middle school track records, including the girls’ 1 mile record broken by Betsy Adkins that was 15 years old! Those girls learned a lot about being tough and pushing yourself beyond your limits from me during the two years I coached them, and they carried that attitude into high school…where Mr. Blackledge lead those same girls to take second place in the team cross country state meet, two years in a row!
Another milestone in my life happened while I was coaching track and a sophomore in college; I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. I asked my former HH cross country teammate, Robin Witherell if she wanted to join me. We trained all summer, logged many, many, many miles and ran our first marathon in East Lyme Connecticut, September 1999. Our former teammate and my best friend Erin even came from New York to watch us run the marathon and complete this goal in our life. Both Robin and I finished the marathon; and my time was 4 hours 30 minutes and 3 seconds. It was an incredible achievement and I hope to do another someday.

After college, I had a hard time finding a job in Michigan and decided to move to Colorado, a place that I have always wanted to live. I was sad to give up coaching and watching my sister's final years of high school cross country, but I needed to move on to new things in my life. It was about this time that I realized I needed something new to love in my life. I was kind of tired of running, but I liked doing something that required such toughness. I started reading more and more about the mountains of Colorado and learned that Colorado has 56 mountains that reach over 14,000 feet in elevation. They are called 14ers. I decided that I wanted to hike a 14er. Everything that I read made them sound really hard, but I knew I could do it. I mean, if I ran a marathon, and all those miles in high school, I could do anything, right?
I got all of my stuff together for the big hike, borrowed some gear from my friends and got new hiking boots. I remember standing in the parking lot that morning at the end of May, the mountain was so tall it was in the clouds and you couldn’t even see the top! This isn’t just a hike up a path, it’s a serious climb through snow, rocks and ice and you have to push yourself beyond your limits to make it to the top. You also have to deal with the lack of oxygen being so high up, the trail started at 10,500 feet in elevation.
I started the hike feeling pretty good, it was a 7 mile round trip hike, and I thought it should only take a few hours, boy was I wrong! It was about halfway up that I realized my water supply was compromised (long story) and if I was going to continue up the mountain, I would have no water. But there was no way I was going to turn back and I forged onward.
When hiking this high in elevation there is such little oxygen that walking 4 or 5 steps feels like sprinting 100 yards or the finish of a race. You breathe *really* hard. I started quoting cross country sayings in my head; “every day is a great day”, “pain is temporary, pride lasts forever”, “run hard when it’s hard to run”. “I feel like a million ducks**” (a team 1997 favorite quote by Erin Finnegan, see last page for reasoning)…… but I could barely walk, let alone run and I wasn’t sure if I would make it to the top.
I kept looking up at that peak in the distance, it seemed like it wasn’t getting any closer, I couldn’t believe it was less than 1 mile away…straight UP! I remember comparing my hike to the marathon that I ran, or one of my toughest cross country races, and I couldn’t decide which was harder.
Finally I reached the last difficult part, and then I would be at the top. I had to climb on my hands and knees up an icy slope of rock, with the wind howling, the snow coming down hard (and it was nearly June!), and to my right was a sheer cliff that dropped off hundreds of feet…but I finally made it to the top! After 5 hours of climbing I spent about 20 minutes checking out the incredible views in one of the highest places in the United States…then started my descent. Hiking down took about 3 hours, and the hike in total ended up taking 8 hours to hike just over 7 miles. I made it back to the car safely and proud that I had accomplished this goal.
There is no way I could have made it through that first climb in the snow without water if I hadn’t had cross country to fall back in when the going got tough, I just can’t quit anything, it’s not in my nature anymore. Since that first 14er, I have hiked 8 others, including one day when my group summited 3 peaks in one morning. I have gotten much faster at it too, my body as acclimated to the altitude and I feel right at home on the side of a mountain.
I am currently compiling content to write a Colorado hiking guide, and my newest goal is to hike Mt. Whitney in California the highest peak in the continental United States.

After reading all of this, hopefully it’s easy to see how running has changed my life. It has given me the tools to be positive when life gets tough, and it’s helped shape the life I have created for myself. Thank you for reading this far, I know it’s a bit long winded, but it’s also been a long time since I graduated high school .
Congratulations to the team of 2009, you have left your legacy at Hanover Horton as the first team to win a state championship and your win will always be in my heart.
~ Love and Light ~
Jennifer Rainey Mason



Josh and I on Grays Peak

Girrrl Power, Heather and I summiting our 3rd peak!

Sisters! Laura Rainey and me :)

A call from an old friend

Last week, I received a voice mail from my former teacher and coach Mr. Blackledge. He asked me and many other former cross country runners to write a letter about "how running has changed my life" for the 2009 High School Girls Cross Country STATE CHAMPS!
Back in 1993 was really the first year there was cross country, when I was a freshman in high school...and in 12 years, HH went from having NO team to having a state championship team.

To the team of 2009: Congratulations on your incredible achievement!!! To have nearly an entire team in the 19’s or below and 5 All-State runners is incredible and every one of you should be very proud of your victory! You all are such awesome runners and you have left your legacy for Hanover Horton High School. Younger runners will strive to have a team as good as yours! There are so many former runners who share this joy with you and I wish I could have been there to watch the race! My parents and sister (former runner Laura Rainey) went to the state meet and I got the phone call shortly after you won and the play by play of the race from my dad! I immediately emailed some of my former teammates to tell them the great news of your victory! Your win was celebrated by former runners all across the country! It’s been 12 years since I graduated high school and three “generations” of students have passed through Hanover Horton’s hallways since the class of 1997 graduated. And the cross country team has gone from winning a few meets to winning the ultimate meet; The State Meet. You build on each success as a team, first it was just getting individuals to the state meet, or winning the conference meet, now it’s knowing you *will* win the Conference Meet and gunning for the region or state. It has been a long journey to become number one in the state and I’d love to share with you how the Hanover Horton Cross Country Team got started on the path to success.

In the beginning:
My name is Jennifer Rainey (Jen) and I decided to run cross country my freshman year of high school way back in 1993. I was already in a lot of sports and band, and I didn’t really need another activity to participate in, but I had a huge crush on this cute boy on the team and I really wanted to join! Plus, I really liked running and figured it might be a fun new sport. I remember telling my parents that I wanted to join cross country. I expected them to be upset because I was already involved in so much, but they were supportive of the running; maybe because my dad and uncles were all marathon runners and they could see me following in their footsteps.
When I joined the team there was only one other girl runner, she was a senior named Susan Campbell; and she was really excited I was joining because she wouldn’t be the only girl on the team. Susan had trained all summer for this season and had high hopes of being an all conference runner and state qualifier. I still can remember my first day of cross country practice; I had to run one mile with Susan. It was a hot day in August and I had to run down Reynolds Road to the speed limit sign and come back. It was really hard, but my coach, Ms. Aldrich (Mrs. Richardson after she got married) was very impressed with my time (which I still remember was about 7:53ish) and that made me feel really good. It was great to impress Ms. Aldrich, she was so excited!
After a few weeks into the sport, I started to really enjoy it and began trying to recruit other runners for the team. Eventually I got two of my friends to join, one of them was my best friend Erin, and we had a whopping 4 girls on the team that year. I was hoping to get a whole team of runners or at least 5, but we had someone join and quit, and it was hard to get people to join a sport that no-one was in or even knew about.
As the season went on, I got better and better with each race! I started winning medals at some of the invitationals and started getting closer to Susan’s time each race. It was a lot of fun and motivated me to push myself even harder; ignorance was bliss as I got better with each race! Also, it was great to see my friend Erin enjoying a sport for the first time in her life and I was so glad that we could share a sport together after being friends for so many years! Erin wasn’t the best runner, but she was getting better and better each year and with each race, maybe she wasn’t running the greatest times, but she was achieving her own victories!
The night of the regional meet came; we all had dinner together as a team to talk about our goals and load up on carbs before the race. (We started the tradition of the regional meet dinner in 1993 and did it every year after that; do you still do team dinners the night of the regional meet?)
The day of regional’s came; we had all trained hard, done lots of intervals and ran many miles throughout the season. I was pretty nervous because I wanted to get my personal best time and I hoped to get into the 21’s but I didn’t even think about qualifying for the state meet, I just didn’t consider it to be possible.
During the regional race I felt really good; at the 1.5 mile mark at Ella Sharp Park I came up behind my teammate Susan. I couldn’t believe that I was up near the front with her; I ended up passing her and was shocked the whole race that she was behind me. As we rounded the trees at Ella Sharp Park for the long sprint to the finish line, my coach and teammates were jumping up and down and yelling at me to pass 2 people and I would qualify for the state meet, the top 20 would qualify and I was in 22nd place!!! I was shocked that I was this close to running in the state meet! I remember focusing my eyes on the girls ahead of me and I started sprinting as fast as I could. One girl I passed pretty easily; the second girl gave me a challenge, but I was going to beat her. And I did pass her, finishing in 20th place with a time of 21:11, my personal best by nearly 1 minute and the final qualifier for the 1993 State Meet.
It was at that regional meet, way back in 1993 that I really learned about mental toughness and what I could achieve if I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone. It was then, that I knew running was *my* sport and I looked forward to the years to come. My coach and inspiration, Mrs. Richardson, used to say to me running is “95% mental; 3% physical and 2% talent”. I definitely believe that to be true.
Over the next three years I trained year round, logged tens of thousands of miles and I ran everyday for nearly 1000 consecutive days. I can still remember every inch of those trails in the woods behind Hanover Horton School. (They have been changed a little since I graduated) I remember this stump that I used to hit with my shoes that would make me stumble and sometimes fall and we would crack up each time it happened, because I tripped on it *all* the time. And my favorite part of the course was coming out of the woods behind the track; there is that little dip in the ground and I would speed up there and loose any competitors behind me before going back into the woods.

Our team grew from 4 runners my freshman year to a full team my sophomore year as we recruited more teammates, and by my junior year we had enough runners for a JV team! We started winning some meets and other runners started winning medals. We even won a team trophy! We continued to have team dinners the night before the regional meet, many at my house, and we all would go around the table and talk about our goals and personal bests that we planned to achieve. It was great to see my friends enjoying a sport that I loved and having a whole team to compete in meets was pretty awesome too! We weren’t very good compared to the *awesome* team of 2009, but we weren’t last either, and that was a big deal back then.
I continued to push myself more and more each year and got faster and more respected in the running community. I ended my high school cross country career with an All-State medal. I also earned all-conference, all-county, all-region and was a state qualifier all 4 years of cross country! Even though I wasn’t the best runner in the conference, region or state, I was the only runner in our conference and county that could list earning the above awards all 4 years of high school.

Now, how did all that change my life?
It’s been 12 years since I graduated from high school, but the lessons learned running have stuck with me.
After I graduated from High School, I really wanted to coach cross country and track. And what better place than to coach at Hanover Horton, the place where my love for running started? Mr. Blackledge was able to get me the job as head track coach for the middle school girls track team. They had lost every single meet the year prior and they were pretty defeated when I met them for the first day of the season.
The 7th grade team consisted of many talented runners such as; Betsy Adkins, my sister Laura Rainey, Jenny Phelan, and many other girls that you might have heard of. That year, and the next, the girls track team went from a 0-7, to winning 7-0 and all of the invitational’s that we participated in for 2 consecutive years! We didn’t even have a paved track back then! My girls broke numerous middle school track records, including the girls’ 1 mile record broken by Betsy Adkins that was 15 years old! Those girls learned a lot about being tough and pushing yourself beyond your limits from me during the two years I coached them, and they carried that attitude into high school…where Mr. Blackledge lead those same girls to take second place in the team cross country state meet, two years in a row!
Another milestone in my life happened while I was coaching track and a sophomore in college; I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. I asked my former HH cross country teammate, Robin Witherell if she wanted to join me. We trained all summer, logged many, many, many miles and ran our first marathon in East Lyme Connecticut, September 1999. Our former teammate and my best friend Erin even came from New York to watch us run the marathon and complete this goal in our life. Both Robin and I finished the marathon; and my time was 4 hours 30 minutes and 3 seconds. It was an incredible achievement and I hope to do another someday.

After college, I had a hard time finding a job in Michigan and decided to move to Colorado, a place that I have always wanted to live. I was sad to give up coaching and watching my sister's final years of high school cross country, but I needed to move on to new things in my life. It was about this time that I realized I needed something new to love in my life. I was kind of tired of running, but I liked doing something that required such toughness. I started reading more and more about the mountains of Colorado and learned that Colorado has 56 mountains that reach over 14,000 feet in elevation. They are called 14ers. I decided that I wanted to hike a 14er. Everything that I read made them sound really hard, but I knew I could do it. I mean, if I ran a marathon, and all those miles in high school, I could do anything, right?
I got all of my stuff together for the big hike, borrowed some gear from my friends and got new hiking boots. I remember standing in the parking lot that morning at the end of May, the mountain was so tall it was in the clouds and you couldn’t even see the top! This isn’t just a hike up a path, it’s a serious climb through snow, rocks and ice and you have to push yourself beyond your limits to make it to the top. You also have to deal with the lack of oxygen being so high up, the trail started at 10,500 feet in elevation.
I started the hike feeling pretty good, it was a 7 mile round trip hike, and I thought it should only take a few hours, boy was I wrong! It was about halfway up that I realized my water supply was compromised (long story) and if I was going to continue up the mountain, I would have no water. But there was no way I was going to turn back and I forged onward.
When hiking this high in elevation there is such little oxygen that walking 4 or 5 steps feels like sprinting 100 yards or the finish of a race. You breathe *really* hard. I started quoting cross country sayings in my head; “every day is a great day”, “pain is temporary, pride lasts forever”, “run hard when it’s hard to run”. “I feel like a million ducks**” (a team 1997 favorite quote by Erin Finnegan, see last page for reasoning)…… but I could barely walk, let alone run and I wasn’t sure if I would make it to the top.
I kept looking up at that peak in the distance, it seemed like it wasn’t getting any closer, I couldn’t believe it was less than 1 mile away…straight UP! I remember comparing my hike to the marathon that I ran, or one of my toughest cross country races, and I couldn’t decide which was harder.
Finally I reached the last difficult part, and then I would be at the top. I had to climb on my hands and knees up an icy slope of rock, with the wind howling, the snow coming down hard (and it was nearly June!), and to my right was a sheer cliff that dropped off hundreds of feet…but I finally made it to the top! After 5 hours of climbing I spent about 20 minutes checking out the incredible views in one of the highest places in the United States…then started my descent. Hiking down took about 3 hours, and the hike in total ended up taking 8 hours to hike just over 7 miles. I made it back to the car safely and proud that I had accomplished this goal.
There is no way I could have made it through that first climb in the snow without water if I hadn’t had cross country to fall back in when the going got tough, I just can’t quit anything, it’s not in my nature anymore. Since that first 14er, I have hiked 8 others, including one day when my group summited 3 peaks in one morning. I have gotten much faster at it too, my body as acclimated to the altitude and I feel right at home on the side of a mountain.
I am currently compiling content to write a Colorado hiking guide, and my newest goal is to hike Mt. Whitney in California the highest peak in the continental United States.

After reading all of this, hopefully it’s easy to see how running has changed my life. It has given me the tools to be positive when life gets tough, and it’s helped shape the life I have created for myself. Thank you for reading this far, I know it’s a bit long winded, but it’s also been a long time since I graduated high school .
Congratulations to the team of 2009, you have left your legacy at Hanover Horton as the first team to win a state championship and your win will always be in my heart.
~ Love and Light ~
Jennifer Rainey Mason



Josh and I on Grays Peak

Girrrl Power, Heather and I summiting our 3rd peak!

Sisters! Laura Rainey and me :)

A New Direction for Hip-Threads

I have been thinking a lot about hip-threads.com lately, and what sort of direction I want to take the website in. While I love making patchwork clothing, it doesn't sell as well as it used to and its time to make a change. (don't worry, I am not stopping patchwork forever, and will always take custom orders).
My friend Laura gave me a good piece of advise about a month ago that I have been thinking about constantly. "You have to find your niche" and then another piece of advise from my father given years ago, "make a decision and stick with it". Taking those together, my new mantra is; "Find your niche and stick with it". So what does that mean? I love to blog about hiking, sew patchwork, make cute accessories, knit, recycle vintage clothing, making soap, candles, etc, etc, how do I tie all that together and create my niche; and what do I eliminate in the process?
While I don't have my answer completely yet, I finally figured out the direction I'd like to go in! I'd really like to create a line of clothing and accessories for the outdoorsy girl made from organic or eco-friendly materials, and tie that together with my hiking blog.

One dream that I have always had is to write a book, and lately my mind wanders to writing a hiking book. The angle of the book I am still not sure, hiking in Colorado, hiking the Front Range, hiking Colorado 14ers, outdoor hiking/camping in Colorado, a womans guide to hiking/camping, hiking peaks in Colorado, or hiking with your dog in Colorado? Lots of ideas, no "niche" there yet.
Another idea to tie into my blog, is to write pamphlets for hikes which have little or no information on them, and sell them on my blog for $1-2. It would include a printable map with photos or directions, plus camping in the area around the hike, etc. Another idea from my brilliant and very successful entrepreneur friend Laura.
While I have been pondering all of these ideas lately, I stumbled across the TV show called Sharks a couple of nights ago. Entrepreneurs pitch their idea to zillionaires and they decide if they want to invest in the company or not. The investors said a couple of things that really made sense. 1. You can't put all of your time into an idea without knowing if people will buy it, you have to test the market first. 2. You can't have your hands in too many pots, first start with one thing that does well, then branch out to other similar things.
Duh! Seems obvious, right? But maybe I haven't considered these things like I should have. Maybe my idea of outdoorsy girl eco-clothes isn't a winner? I guess I should test the market first, and find out if people would buy an eco-friendly line of hiking and outdoorsy gear, and accessories. I'd love to hear some feedback from all of *you*.
I also consider selling all of these cute accessories you see at Farmers Markets in Denver this summer, but since I haven't sold very many online yet, maybe this is a dud idea, I don't know? But I am excited to take the chance on it, and give it a shot.
Any comments, suggestions, ideas, are *much* appreciated.

A New Direction for Hip-Threads

I have been thinking a lot about hip-threads.com lately, and what sort of direction I want to take the website in. While I love making patchwork clothing, it doesn't sell as well as it used to and its time to make a change. (don't worry, I am not stopping patchwork forever, and will always take custom orders).
My friend Laura gave me a good piece of advise about a month ago that I have been thinking about constantly. "You have to find your niche" and then another piece of advise from my father given years ago, "make a decision and stick with it". Taking those together, my new mantra is; "Find your niche and stick with it". So what does that mean? I love to blog about hiking, sew patchwork, make cute accessories, knit, recycle vintage clothing, making soap, candles, etc, etc, how do I tie all that together and create my niche; and what do I eliminate in the process?
While I don't have my answer completely yet, I finally figured out the direction I'd like to go in! I'd really like to create a line of clothing and accessories for the outdoorsy girl made from organic or eco-friendly materials, and tie that together with my hiking blog.

One dream that I have always had is to write a book, and lately my mind wanders to writing a hiking book. The angle of the book I am still not sure, hiking in Colorado, hiking the Front Range, hiking Colorado 14ers, outdoor hiking/camping in Colorado, a womans guide to hiking/camping, hiking peaks in Colorado, or hiking with your dog in Colorado? Lots of ideas, no "niche" there yet.
Another idea to tie into my blog, is to write pamphlets for hikes which have little or no information on them, and sell them on my blog for $1-2. It would include a printable map with photos or directions, plus camping in the area around the hike, etc. Another idea from my brilliant and very successful entrepreneur friend Laura.
While I have been pondering all of these ideas lately, I stumbled across the TV show called Sharks a couple of nights ago. Entrepreneurs pitch their idea to zillionaires and they decide if they want to invest in the company or not. The investors said a couple of things that really made sense. 1. You can't put all of your time into an idea without knowing if people will buy it, you have to test the market first. 2. You can't have your hands in too many pots, first start with one thing that does well, then branch out to other similar things.
Duh! Seems obvious, right? But maybe I haven't considered these things like I should have. Maybe my idea of outdoorsy girl eco-clothes isn't a winner? I guess I should test the market first, and find out if people would buy an eco-friendly line of hiking and outdoorsy gear, and accessories. I'd love to hear some feedback from all of *you*.
I also consider selling all of these cute accessories you see at Farmers Markets in Denver this summer, but since I haven't sold very many online yet, maybe this is a dud idea, I don't know? But I am excited to take the chance on it, and give it a shot.
Any comments, suggestions, ideas, are *much* appreciated.

Christmas 2009 and the 6 days of Christmas

At the last minute we were able to get tickets HOME for Christmas!!! We were so glad to be able to go home, but it was a short whirlwind trip to visit all the family and friends we could!

To the left is our little Charlie Brown tree, but if you put enough ornaments on it, it looks alright. And we were obviously packing for the upcoming trip to Michigan on the 21st when this was taken.

We woke up early on the 21st for our trip to take the dogs to Heather and Mary's houses and then drove to the airport to park. We actually made it to the airport early and had time to grab some breakfast before boarding the plane. Our flight was uneventful and we landed early in Detroit; we were not so lucky on the flight home.
We spent the remainder of the 21st and 22nd with Josh's family. We were so happy that some of our friends went out of their way to visit us at Peggy's house;Brian, Hosha and Erica. It was great to see everyone again, even thought we were just here in September for a visit.
Aleecia has grown even more and talks a lot more, she just turned 2. The rest of the nieces and nephews are getting big, some are teenagers, crazy! This makes us feel old. But Josh had a great time wrestling and playing with the kids, Josh is the biggest kid himself; we also went bowling at the persistence of Alex. That was a fun evening, it has been years since I last bowled, and I am just as bad as always. Josh beat all of us every game...argh the bragging he got to do.

The next morning we were up early to go to my parents house for the Maher Christmas. We arrived before 9am and helped my mom get things around (sort of) for the festivities later that evening. My good friend Robin and her two boys Gideon and Orien came to visit us, it has been over 2 years since I have seen her and I miss her so much!! My sister and Cody came around 3:30 and we sat around and talked with them until company started coming around 5. Laura didn't know we were staying until the 26th, and she thought this was the only day she was going to see us, tee hee!
The Maher Christmas was lots of fun, as always! My cousins get older and it's great to talk to them about their lives and accomplishments :) My cousin Amanda is talking about a backpacking trip through Europe and her brother Jim has a really awesome girlfriend Noc who I really enjoy talking to. Meghan, the closest cousin to me in age has two children Jenna and Kyson who are getting so big! Those two kiddos are hilarious; the last time we saw them was in 2007 when we were home and Kyson was an infant. And I am always impressed by my cousin Courtney who is a senior this year in high school considering going to school at WMU next year.

As always, the evening flew by and I barely got to talk to everyone for a few minutes. We said goodbye's and went to bed to get up and do it all over again on the 24th, Christmas Eve. The best part of the Maher Christmas was hanging with my sister, she gave me her gift to me that night because she didn't know that we were surprising her and staying through the 26th! So I was tickled the entire night we were going to surprise her.

We had breakfast at my parents house on the 24th and as always dad gave me a bunch of books to take with me, so I was stocked up for a few months. Mom made a great breakfast, we packed up and were on our way again.
Next we visited Steve's house, who is Josh's step-dad and his family Lori, DJ, and Kaylee. Kaylee had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and she had spent a lot of time in Bronson hospital in November. It was good to see her looking happy and healthy! I always enjoy going to their house; both Steve and Lori always make us feel at home and are so glad to see us.
We were able to spend a few hours at the Brenke house before we left to go to Peggy's for Christmas Eve, plus we wanted to stop at Josh's cousin, Gina's house on the way to Peg's... whew!

When we lived in Michigan, we spent a lot of time hanging out with Josh's cousin Gina and her husband Joe, but we haven't been very good at keeping in touch with them while living in Colorado. Mostly because Josh and I both don't often talk on the phone, and they didn't have email. Now they are on facebook and we were able to reconnect with them. I was really glad to see them both and their daughter Kailey, who we only saw once as an infant. They now live in Hillsdale, in a cute house they inherited from Joe's gramma. I think Kailey, Jenna and Aleecia would all be good friends, all three of those girls are very girlie and love princesses, dress up, shoes and all things girl :)

After a short visit with Joe and Gina we headed over to Josh's mom's house for their family Christmas, which is always celebrated on Christmas Eve. All of the Shawn Mason family was there, Josh and I, Miranda and Aleecia. There was a lot of Wii bowling, I wish I was as good at regular bowling as I am at Wii bowling . We got Peg a wireless print server for Christmas that Josh couldn't get to work. Josh spent hours on it, and it never connected to the router. That was a bummer! She had to send it back.
The Shawn Mason family said their goodbye's and all left early on Christmas Eve; we spent the rest of the evening with Aleecia, Miranda and Peggy playing Wii bowling. I am starting to like the Wii a bit, maybe someday we can get one.
On Christmas morning we had to get up early to drive to Kalamazoo to my sister's house for the Bob Rainey family Christmas, then drive to Newaygo for the entire Rainey family Christmas. We said our tearful goodbye's to Josh's mom and got in the car for the drive.
My sister didn't know that we were going to be at her house for Christmas, so it was really fun to surprise her!!! I love surprises! She was in the bathroom when we came into the house and when she opened the bathroom door and walked out she spotted Josh! yay! fun! It was great to have the whole family together on Christmas morning! Dad had tagged all of his gifts to mom with funny things like; To: Ma From: sled Jockey. It was pretty comical! She got lots of gifts from Rite Aid, haha! (they got a computer as their gift to each other).

After eating a yummy breakfast cooked by dad on Laura's new griddle, we got back into the car for the 2 hour drive to Newaygo. We arrived first at the Doug Rainey family house and shortly after us everyone else came too!
My grandparents also didn't know we were going to be here for Christmas and just before we walked in the door my sister did her best "shocked gramma" impression and it was spot on when Gramma walked in the door and saw Josh and I. The Rainey family is blessed with such wonderful roots, my grandparents are some of the most interesting & amazing people that I know and I love them so much! After everyone arrived the festivities started! Each time we are home with our family everything picks up where we left off and it feels like we see each other all the time, rather than just once per year. Again, we had great food, wine and conversation. My cousins are getting so big, and now there are two family dogs, Fred and Ella who celebrated Christmas with us. I love having dogs around, they make everything more fun! One of my favorite things about the Rainey Christmas's is hanging out on the deck outside with my uncles and sister and talking. This is a great photo of Tim and Laura outside! ---->
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and packed up to head to the airport. Due to the festivities the night before, the next day was pretty brutal for me, then our flight was delayed and eventually after being de-iced during the blizzard, took off and landed just fine. We didn't get home until 9pm after picking up two very excited dogs who were very glad to see us. It was such a great trip and we were so glad we made it home. Happy New Year! Here are a few more photos from the trip.

Christmas 2009 and the 6 days of Christmas

At the last minute we were able to get tickets HOME for Christmas!!! We were so glad to be able to go home, but it was a short whirlwind trip to visit all the family and friends we could!

To the left is our little Charlie Brown tree, but if you put enough ornaments on it, it looks alright. And we were obviously packing for the upcoming trip to Michigan on the 21st when this was taken.

We woke up early on the 21st for our trip to take the dogs to Heather and Mary's houses and then drove to the airport to park. We actually made it to the airport early and had time to grab some breakfast before boarding the plane. Our flight was uneventful and we landed early in Detroit; we were not so lucky on the flight home.
We spent the remainder of the 21st and 22nd with Josh's family. We were so happy that some of our friends went out of their way to visit us at Peggy's house;Brian, Hosha and Erica. It was great to see everyone again, even thought we were just here in September for a visit.
Aleecia has grown even more and talks a lot more, she just turned 2. The rest of the nieces and nephews are getting big, some are teenagers, crazy! This makes us feel old. But Josh had a great time wrestling and playing with the kids, Josh is the biggest kid himself; we also went bowling at the persistence of Alex. That was a fun evening, it has been years since I last bowled, and I am just as bad as always. Josh beat all of us every game...argh the bragging he got to do.

The next morning we were up early to go to my parents house for the Maher Christmas. We arrived before 9am and helped my mom get things around (sort of) for the festivities later that evening. My good friend Robin and her two boys Gideon and Orien came to visit us, it has been over 2 years since I have seen her and I miss her so much!! My sister and Cody came around 3:30 and we sat around and talked with them until company started coming around 5. Laura didn't know we were staying until the 26th, and she thought this was the only day she was going to see us, tee hee!
The Maher Christmas was lots of fun, as always! My cousins get older and it's great to talk to them about their lives and accomplishments :) My cousin Amanda is talking about a backpacking trip through Europe and her brother Jim has a really awesome girlfriend Noc who I really enjoy talking to. Meghan, the closest cousin to me in age has two children Jenna and Kyson who are getting so big! Those two kiddos are hilarious; the last time we saw them was in 2007 when we were home and Kyson was an infant. And I am always impressed by my cousin Courtney who is a senior this year in high school considering going to school at WMU next year.

As always, the evening flew by and I barely got to talk to everyone for a few minutes. We said goodbye's and went to bed to get up and do it all over again on the 24th, Christmas Eve. The best part of the Maher Christmas was hanging with my sister, she gave me her gift to me that night because she didn't know that we were surprising her and staying through the 26th! So I was tickled the entire night we were going to surprise her.

We had breakfast at my parents house on the 24th and as always dad gave me a bunch of books to take with me, so I was stocked up for a few months. Mom made a great breakfast, we packed up and were on our way again.
Next we visited Steve's house, who is Josh's step-dad and his family Lori, DJ, and Kaylee. Kaylee had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and she had spent a lot of time in Bronson hospital in November. It was good to see her looking happy and healthy! I always enjoy going to their house; both Steve and Lori always make us feel at home and are so glad to see us.
We were able to spend a few hours at the Brenke house before we left to go to Peggy's for Christmas Eve, plus we wanted to stop at Josh's cousin, Gina's house on the way to Peg's... whew!

When we lived in Michigan, we spent a lot of time hanging out with Josh's cousin Gina and her husband Joe, but we haven't been very good at keeping in touch with them while living in Colorado. Mostly because Josh and I both don't often talk on the phone, and they didn't have email. Now they are on facebook and we were able to reconnect with them. I was really glad to see them both and their daughter Kailey, who we only saw once as an infant. They now live in Hillsdale, in a cute house they inherited from Joe's gramma. I think Kailey, Jenna and Aleecia would all be good friends, all three of those girls are very girlie and love princesses, dress up, shoes and all things girl :)

After a short visit with Joe and Gina we headed over to Josh's mom's house for their family Christmas, which is always celebrated on Christmas Eve. All of the Shawn Mason family was there, Josh and I, Miranda and Aleecia. There was a lot of Wii bowling, I wish I was as good at regular bowling as I am at Wii bowling . We got Peg a wireless print server for Christmas that Josh couldn't get to work. Josh spent hours on it, and it never connected to the router. That was a bummer! She had to send it back.
The Shawn Mason family said their goodbye's and all left early on Christmas Eve; we spent the rest of the evening with Aleecia, Miranda and Peggy playing Wii bowling. I am starting to like the Wii a bit, maybe someday we can get one.
On Christmas morning we had to get up early to drive to Kalamazoo to my sister's house for the Bob Rainey family Christmas, then drive to Newaygo for the entire Rainey family Christmas. We said our tearful goodbye's to Josh's mom and got in the car for the drive.
My sister didn't know that we were going to be at her house for Christmas, so it was really fun to surprise her!!! I love surprises! She was in the bathroom when we came into the house and when she opened the bathroom door and walked out she spotted Josh! yay! fun! It was great to have the whole family together on Christmas morning! Dad had tagged all of his gifts to mom with funny things like; To: Ma From: sled Jockey. It was pretty comical! She got lots of gifts from Rite Aid, haha! (they got a computer as their gift to each other).

After eating a yummy breakfast cooked by dad on Laura's new griddle, we got back into the car for the 2 hour drive to Newaygo. We arrived first at the Doug Rainey family house and shortly after us everyone else came too!
My grandparents also didn't know we were going to be here for Christmas and just before we walked in the door my sister did her best "shocked gramma" impression and it was spot on when Gramma walked in the door and saw Josh and I. The Rainey family is blessed with such wonderful roots, my grandparents are some of the most interesting & amazing people that I know and I love them so much! After everyone arrived the festivities started! Each time we are home with our family everything picks up where we left off and it feels like we see each other all the time, rather than just once per year. Again, we had great food, wine and conversation. My cousins are getting so big, and now there are two family dogs, Fred and Ella who celebrated Christmas with us. I love having dogs around, they make everything more fun! One of my favorite things about the Rainey Christmas's is hanging out on the deck outside with my uncles and sister and talking. This is a great photo of Tim and Laura outside! ---->
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and packed up to head to the airport. Due to the festivities the night before, the next day was pretty brutal for me, then our flight was delayed and eventually after being de-iced during the blizzard, took off and landed just fine. We didn't get home until 9pm after picking up two very excited dogs who were very glad to see us. It was such a great trip and we were so glad we made it home. Happy New Year! Here are a few more photos from the trip.

Home for the Holidays

MMMM, Christmas cookies!!!
I did a lot of trees, my favorite, its my Christmas forest!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the last minute Josh and I were able to get tickets home for Christmas!! Both of our parents gave us some money to fund the ridiculously expensive flight home and with their donations we were able make it work!
Fortunately, we have some great friends who will dog sit for us this Christmas; we have watched their dogs many times over the holidays when we stayed here, its always been fun to add a "guest" to the mix on Christmas, fortunately they are staying here this year.
Rock can tell something is up since the suitcase is in the living room, and she is acting weird. Plus they both got much needed baths yesterday and that always keys her in that she is going to be left somewhere.
We will be leaving bright and sunny Colorado for cold Michigan winter weather; but at least it will be festive and a white Christmas :) I think the storms are over in the Midwest and I hope our plane lands on time. At least its a direct flight.
We will be surprising my grandparents this Christmas, and maybe some other family who doesn't have facebook and I cannot wait to see their reactions!!! I miss my grandparents SO much and am so grateful they are still happy and healthy at their age.

We are praying for a safe, healthy and fun trip home :)
Happy Holidays!