everyday is like sunday

Just milling around my apartment. Cleaning, cooking, reading, getting ready to scrimmage the Chicago Outfit. How ’bout you?

roller derby 101: with donuts

the meanest hunk ‘o woman anybody ever seen

So apparently there was some kind of race going on this weekend? I dunno. All I have on my mind is roller derby.

My third season kicked off this week and already I’ve garnered a new badge of honor:

We also got a small batch of fresh meat to add to the mix. Their first league practice was not unlike this.

So to all of you race fans sitting at home with a weekend’s worth of bad tan lines and bad decisions- take a deep breath. Roller derby season will be here sooner than you think.

dancing with dirt

last weekend, I was up at 4:30am. I packed my bag the night before. Here’s what it contained:

Our team assembled and packed a Jeep full of the day’s necessities.

What kinda trouble were we getting ourselves into? I’ll let the DWD website sum it up for me:

I’ll tell ya what it aint’, it aint’ no place for wimps and it aint a place for pansey, “don’t get my shoes dirty” runners afraid of a few roots and cliffs.

We got our hands dirty…

OK, so not just our hands.

By the end of the day, I was tuckered. out. Bruised, scraped, soaked to the bone… I’d run more miles in one day than ever before… up hills, down hills, through woods, mud, streams, rain and altogether treacherous terrain.

Was it worth it? Hell yes. The hardest things always are.

Noxious Donna: derby muse?

It must be the pink tights. I thought I’d share with you the adventures of my derby persona via kick-ass art. Thanks to the awesome artists who made my life-long dream of being a comic book heroine come true.

Here’s the latest one:

And of course, don’t forget this one by the lovely Danica McKiller:

And this bout poster from intrepid guest blogger Aaron:

travel plans

We are driving up to Chicago this weekend to see Atoms for Peace. Hell yeah.

But I haven’t really traveled anywhere since I went to L.A. for business a year ago. This summer I’ll be going to Philidelphia for ECE and Kyle and I are talking about planning a trip to Colorado while I’m on furlough in late June. I’ve never been there, but Kyle used to live there and it seems like a place I’d be totally into.

Denver art museum

beautiful scenery

can't be bad. they've got derby.

If you’ve been or lived there, I would love some advice on what to see while I’m there. The culture and active lifestyles of the people there really appeal to me.

FTW!

Belles and Sirens brought home a double victory from Columbus Ohio. I’m so proud of our league!

Here are some pics from Dr. X:

When we play away bouts, we wear white jerseys.

Look at that fierce pack!

Here it comes…

tornado sirens and storm troopers

Wow, what an intense and highly entertaining bout this weekend. NRG overcame Sioux Falls 100 to 89. A VERY close game and a sold out crowd.

Maiden America broke the NRG record with a 28 point jam! (That’s twice as many points as I’ve ever scored in a single jam.) That woman is a super hero!

And, the theme of the night was Star Wars. Great costumes.

Chewy! (photos via Marc L)

more grok talk

Well, today is day 6 of my veggie-paleo experiment. I feel slimmer around the middle, stronger, and overall have more energy. My skin and eyes are clearer. I’m not hungry all the time and I don’t ‘crash’ at some point during the day. In short, I feel f*cking amazing. So why am I still skeptical? Well, it was way too easy.

Hilary Swank (via weheartit)

On traditional Paleo, you eat meat, meat and more meat because that’s what our caveman ancestors did. Since I still can’t stomach eating anything with fur or feathers, I’ve instead upped my seafood and nut consumption. I’ve also (gasp) started using oil to cook with. This part was really hard for me… there’s still a nagging voice in the back of me head telling me ‘Fat is bad!’ ‘Fat makes you fat!’

Here’s what a typical day has been:

Breakfast: Veggie Scramble: Egg Whites plus what ever veggies I can find (kale, onions, peppers, tomato paste, spinach, asparagus)

Snack: Walnuts and Almonds

Lunch: Salad with shrimp or leftover breakfast scramble

Snack: Lara Bar*, apple or tangerine

Dinner: Salmon with lemon, garlic, shallots and kale or brocollini

I also grabbed some almond butter at Costco and coconut oil at Whole Foods. I don’t think I’d be able to do this with out Farm Fresh Delivery… otherwise I’d be driving to the grocery store twice a week to stock up.

In my endeavors, here are some great (and cleverly written) blogs I’ve come across:

Melissa 'Melicious' Joulwan

• The Clothes Make the Girl
• The Label Says Paleo
• Whole 9 Life
• The Fresh Meat Beat: My derby sister Sookie Smackhouse is a friggin’ super hero. Read about her adventures in Paleo, Crossfit, roller derby, and the police academy.

I’m still looking for a catch… but to sum it all up again, here’s a clever video:

*I love Lara Bars because aside from being nummy, they only a handful of ingredients and not a sketchy one in the bunch.

sock off

I have a dirty, dirty secret: I stuff my skates.

(via flickr)

 

It was love at first site when I got my Riedells, but just like any new skater, it’s easy to be confused about fit. The first pair I ordered were FAR too big. Since they come in men’s sizes and not women’s, I was told to order a size to a size and half below what I normally wear.

So on my second attempt, I ordered a 5.5 (I normally wear a 6.5-7 shoe size). And when they fit ‘good enough’ I was far too excited to do anything but strap them on and skate.

So my dearest roller skates… we’ve been together almost two years now, and well.. you’ve gotten a little big. Don’t get me wrong, you still look GREAT- barely a day over one! But I’ve been overcompensating for your stretch… piling on up to six… yes SIX pairs of socks. Which may or may not be contributing to my sore feet, ankles and shin splints.

What’s a roller girl to do?

in deep

taken by yours truly in my college photojournalism class

Ugh. Sorry for the recent gap in posts. I’m in over my head this week. Things have been a little hectic in both my professional and derby lives, however, my personal life has been rather uneventful! (in a good way)…

We did have a nice little Valentine’s Day

I gave Kyle his awesome print (below), and he gave me a vintage pillbox hat (I’ll snap a photo soon)

I have a derby bout in Michigan this weekend, where I’ll be skating with the Tornado Sirens, YES! Wish me luck!

Guest blogger: Mr. Glorified Tracing

Please welcome my first guest blogger ever! I had the pleasure of working with local artist Aaron Scamihorn on the latest NRG bout poster. When I asked him about his process he humbly replied that it’s little more than ‘glorified tracing’. Whatever. Take just one look at his work and you’ll see Aaron’s got one hell of an artistic eye and an insanely creative mind. So, without further ado…

——-

My name’s Aaron. Kate asked me to write a short blog on my process for the latest Naptown bout poster’s illustration and design.

I first saw the tweet from @NaptownRG calling for illustrators back in December. My wife and I have been attending Naptown’s bouts consistently for a couple years now, and I’ve always loved the bout poster artwork. I was extremely excited about the potential of working on one. After a few concept sketches, the marketing director suggested Dora The Destroyer and Noxious Donna to model for the piece.

I took some reference shots and got to work. See my process below:

It was a blast and is hands-down my favorite project to date. I’m really excited to attend the bout Saturday. After consistently dominating in the last few bouts, this one is sure to not disappoint as well!

Geek out over this- here are the ‘tools’ Aaron used for this project:

- I shoot a canon 40d with canon 17-85is lens and Canon speedlite 420ex flash.

- I start by taking the reference shots and blowing out the contrast. This piece in particular utilized a few of the photos spliced together to get the right arm positions etc.

- I work primarily in illustrator for creating the lines and shapes in layers over the reference shot.

- I then bring the illustration into Photoshop where I’ll tweak the colors and texture the piece with layers of paper and grunge brushes.

- I work with a Wacom tablet on my iMac & Macbook Pro.

- I listened to a lot of Pomplamoose during this project.

- I drank a lot Iced Quad Venti Skinny lattes.

You can see more of Aaron’s work here: www.ronlewhorn.com

special delivery: fresh produce and victory

I had an eventful weekend to say the least. It kicked off with my very first farm fresh delivery. Eating organic and local is something I really want to do more of.

I already eat mostly vegan, but for too long I’ve favored saving money over buying organic. FFD is an (insanely) easy step in the right direction.

kale, pears, garlic, apples, and a blood orange

Saturday was derby, derby, derby. This was my first home bout as a Tornado Siren. I only jammed once, but I scored 14 points! (photos via Marc and Tom)

The final score: Sirens win 225 – 18 over Derby City (Louisville, KY) Go Team!

Were you at the bout? What did you think?

there’s no crying in derby

OK,  I was going to wait to blog about my new year’s resolutions, but I need to declare one right now: Stop ignoring little things until they become big things. nip.it.in.the.bud.

And leave it to derby to teach me this life lesson.

I’ve been putting off getting new knee pads for weeks, despite two bruised knees. And apparently I’ve got some pent up emotions I’ve failed to deal with as well. I put a big ole crack in the dam when in the first jam of the night, I fell fully on one knee…and all those emotions (in the form of snot, tears and a few expletives) came gushing out right then.

No serious injuries, aside from a big fat bruised ego. At least I didn’t sit and sob. I got right back up, bottom lip quivering, and whimpered my way around the track. This is not the first or last time derby made me cry, but I need to get it together. I’ve got a bout coming up! First order of business is to buy new knee pads. After that? Ugh, who knows. I thought roller derby was supposed to help me get it all out.

back to da grind

last day of holiday vacation, and back to work tomorrow. I have a pretty good attitude about it, mostly because I’m in denial. Actually, I tend to fare better when I’m on a schedule (just ask Kyle)

Here are some pics from the last couple (fairly) lazy weeks!

I made multiple batches of these cookies. Mom's recipe...so good.

Raspberry preserves from Mom that came in cute drinkware

Kyle got me this cmd-Z (undo) necklace for Xmas

Tugger playing with red string

waiting for people to show up to our NYE party

NYE in the basement

Kyle DJing in our basement

some of my fave derby girls

we sure clean up well!

Oh, Becky

and we did get some snow... so over it

shred

I love a challenging workout, but I get bored really easily. I’m in pretty good shape, and I’m sure I could handle running  5-7 miles, but my mind is so over it after 2 or 3. I have exercise A.D.D.!

look at those guns

That’s why roller derby has been so good to me. The 2 hour practices fly by because we are constantly moving, jumping, racing, sprinting (because we’re being ordered to). On my days off, I like to jog or attend a yoga class (lactic acid be gone!). But since it’s so damn cold outside now, I’ve returned to an old standby- workout DVDs.

Yes, I have a treadmill in my living room… but like I said, I get bored really really easily, and I guess I like being told what to do.

I own one DVD that I discovered (by chance) before I ever started derby. I LOVE it, but it’s been around long enough that I need something else in the rotation. It’s a big deal to me that the only equipment you need for this are dumbbells. Hell, you could use soup cans or detergent bottles if you’re in a pinch.

So, I was looking for something challenging for those who are no stranger exercise, no fancy equipment required, and something short and efficient to keep my mind from wandering. Enter: Jillian Michaels.

Yeah, so I kind of just liked the name ‘Shred’, but I’m extremely happy with it. It’s VERY similar to the workouts we do in derby: walking planks and pushups,  TONS of plyometrics, and good old-fashioned calisthenics. Bonus points for squeezing a ton of exercising in to either  a 20 or 30 minute workout. I did both the first night and was so sore the next day.

So long as the weather sucks, I’ll be Netflixing more workout DVDs. Got any suggestions?

caption this photo

…more bout photos from Ribbons ‘n Blows here and here.

i have a bout this weekend…

are you coming?

one for the record books

I’ve been having an amazing weekend, derby and otherwise. Here are a few pics from Naptown vs. Bleeding Heartland. Best photography I’ve seen at a bout yet!!

First bout at Pepsi Coliseum!

First, I was the Pivot

Then, I was the Jammer!

...and back and forth...

I had a 14 point jam!

We won 124 - 33

My mom got to see me skate for the first time!

One of my favorite parts of the whole night was signing autographs

Check out even more pictures by Marc and Tom. For some commentary on the bout, check out the message boards. Way to go Belles and Sirens (Sirens won too!)

wanna derby?

for all you derby-curious people out there… learn everything you need to know in one day.

It’s a Hard Knock Life: Touretta Lynn and NRG Tryouts

Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page are doing it. So should you!

Your chance to join the ranks of Indy’s own roller derby superstars, the Tornado Sirens and Warning Belles, comes on Nov. 15, when the ladies of NRG invite any and all aspiring derby girls to lace up their skates and put their skills to the test in Naptown’s next round of tryouts.

Never even played the sport, you say? Don’t you worry.

To get you good and ready for the challenge, we’re throwing in a complimentary session of Touretta Lynn’s School of Hard Knocks. In two adrenalin-packed hours before tryouts, you’ll get individual instruction from one of Naptown’s leading ladies. You’ll find out how to execute a powerful crossover, how to run out of the turns, how to roll with the pack, and how it feels to get hit by 115 pounds of fishnet and fury.