Sing us a tune or get into the holiday spirit with your original 3-line haiku. When you place your order online, by phone or shop at our stores, we’ll include an extra surprise gift for you in exchange for your tune or poem.
*You’ll be prompted to submit your haiku online as soon as you place your order.
I am off…
CTAM (Central Trans Antarctic Mountains) - A camp on the Beardmore Glacier.
I am off to camp tomorrow……I hope. The last several weeks we’ve been told we would be leaving before the end of the week. I think it is real this time though. I have been keeping busy in town. Trying to find work since I don’t really have a job here. I’ve shipped ice off pipes for plumbers, tested gear for the field camp gear issue, updated Excel spreadsheets and population graphs for other field camps, and put in countless bamboo flags and road markers on the ice roads outside of town. With a light wind loose snow blows over the roads surface and makes it almost impossible to see where the road is. Heavy equipments drivers compact the roads regularly and there is a never ending job of picking up dirt from the surface that falls off in clumps from town vehicles. Small rocks and dirt melt out large potholes in the 24 hour sunlight and ruin the surface of the snow roads. It has been a fun department to work with and has allowed me to get out of town for the past week. Lunch on those days is at the NASA balloon launch site and conversations are great.
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday and we all had two days off which has been great, a chance everyone needed to go out or to rest. The galley fed us in four shifts and the meal was truly wonderful. Fresh fruit from New Zealand and desserts covered every inch of tables that did not already host turkeys carved by volunteers from all over town, gravy pots, various stuffings, crab legs, beans, stuffed peppers, cheese and vegetable platters, rolls and so much more. The tables were spread with white tablecloths and we were allowed to bring drinks in. Wine and Scotch (very popular throughout history in Antarctica) drinkers laughed and shared stories and we all left full and happy. It felt very much like a holiday and games and bands played into the night.
C-130 in action.
Today I will ‘bag drag’, take all my gear up to cargo to be weighed in for my flight on a C-130 to camp in the morning. My list of last minute tasks is growing: laundry, one more hot shower, phone calls, emails, packing, sending gifts home for the holidays, saying good bye to friends in town, and who knows what else. Once I get to camp I will not have internet or phone until early February when we brake the camp down and return to McMurdo. I will have a text only email at one-third the speed of dial up. I will still blog when I can. Until then I wish everyone the best of holidays and fun filled winters.
It’s Good to be Bad Recipe Contest
Updated 12/1 – 9:29 AM
We’ve selected 30 recipes to make and taste here at Title Nine. We’ll be eating, eating and eating some more (then voting) next Monday, December 6th. Stay tuned for our lucky 9 winners!
Updated 11/29 – 3:43 PM
Thank you for submitting your awesome recipes! Stay tuned for winner selection details.
Submit your good to be bad (bad for you, but oh so delicious) recipe below for a chance to win one of nine Guilty Pleasures Gift Baskets. Plus, all of the winners will be featured in our very own T9 cookbook. Recipes must be submitted by Sunday, November 28th, 11:59pm Pacific to be eligible for a gift basket.
We’ve partnered with these fine folks:
(to bring you mouthwatering prize baskets)
Unchained MELody
Despite playing varsity basketball all four years in high school, in college Mel Alexander became, she says, “the polar opposite of athletic.” Coming from a family with a history of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease however, alarm bells really went off when she realized she’d reached 300 lbs. Something had to change.
The first shifts were mental. “I took a good look at some of my self-destructive behaviors and made a conscious decision about who I wanted to be and how I wanted to feel.” She also stopped making excuses. It wasn’t that she lacked the time to exercise, she saw, “I didn’t make the time.”.
But how does a full-time student with a full-time job and an eleven-year-old son even start doing that? Pretty much anywhere. “Even if it’s just walking for a certain time every day, we all can start somewhere. If you can’t block off an hour, you can take 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there.” She also plans family activities that get everyone’s hearts pumping, like evening walks or turning off the TV for a spontaneous dance party.
Eventually, Mel says, “I began to treat working out the same way I treated work: something that had a schedule I needed to stick with.” That meant waking up at 5am most days for about an hour of cardio. She sneaks in a midday CrossFit workout three times a week (“I’m completely obsessed with CrossFit.”). After work, there’s dinner with the family, homework with her son until 9pm, and her own schoolwork until midnight.
While that sort of schedule can be “painful at times,” Mel says that “being healthy gives me a sense of accomplishment that almost nothing can parallel.” And, after all those badass CrossFit workouts, “I have grown a mental tenacity that translates into my everyday life. I can now look in the mirror and appreciate the person I was, the person I have become, and the person I will be.”
Speaking of appreciation, did I mention that that full-time job Mel heads to after her morning workout is at Title Nine? Hope you’re as impressed by her as we are!
Home: San Pablo, CA
Occupation: Email Marketer
Education: BA
Partner: Yes
Children: 11 yr old boy
Age: 25
Height: 6’3
Sports, past and present: Basketball
Athletic accomplishments: 4 year Varsity Basketball (HS), Honorable mention All State (Jr/Sr years), 1st Team All League (Soph/Jr/Sr), MVP (Jr year)
Little known fact: I’m incredibly shy
Guilty pleasure: Pizza and Baked Goods
Most embarrassing moment: Running sprints with my co-workers for an outdoor workout (after it had rained) and falling at least 3 times flat on my butt!
Greatest triumph: Being able to run (and finish) a 10k Trail Race.
Favorite thing to do when not working or working out: Read, Write and listen to music.
Moment of Inspiration: Waking up and rolling out of bed at over 300 lbs.
Favorite Quote: Believing that anything is impossible is simply a misguided state of mind.
M-S 45-60 minutes of cardio
3 times/wk CrossFit (strength and conditioning),
Sat – 45 minutes strength training
Emily and Alice’s Favorite Winter Finds
Here are our in-house style experts’ must have winter picks.
Emily
1. Slipstream Jacket – Warmer than most jackets but without the weight of a heavy jacket on your shoulders. Plus, it looks super cool!
2. Singular Thermal LS Crew – A great baselayer for winter but, come summer I’ll be wearing this with a cami under it. Year round comfort!
3. & 4. One-Too-Many Hat and Scarf – Soft as a pony’s nose and puppy’s ears. My favorite cozy accessory for any outfit!
5. BK Pant – Casual pants with a feminine twist. I love the ties on the bottom so I can adjust the length to fit just right.
6. Outwit Boot – The perfect boot: Comfortable, rugged and cute. Wear them with pants or with a skirt and tights.
Alice
7. Diva Down Vest – The name says it all, warm and stylish w/ the shawl collar.
8. Either-Or Thermal Longsleeve – Love the thermal fabric for next to skin warmth, and it has a print so it’s sorta dressy.
9. Condi Watch – I’m a sucker for a watch with a red face.
10. Coldfront Legging – Great fabric that won’t bag out at the knees.
11. Twirling Girl Skirt – Swingy and cute with boots