Jason Lancaster

Last Saturday I began a project I’ve been planning on doing for a long time: I started building a home rock climbing wall.

My original plan was for an almost horizontal roof in the basement rafters but they have been unreachable due to the fact that I need a large workshop (for renovations) and the amount of crap Emily and I are storing in the basement. Saturdays are for brainstorming and working on house projects, so as I was organizing some stuff downstairs I realized I had a perfect start for the climbing wall under my stairwell due to my recent stair replacement project.

I started on the easiest to reach stair by cutting a piece of plywood and reinforcing it to the stair frame. Then, I attached a second plywood piece two stairs up. I opened my box of climbing holds [Thanks, Dave!] and decided on the optimum placement for each. Then I tested and played around until my hands lost most of their skin and I could no longer do a pull-up. Continue Reading

On Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to have an engagement photo session with Emily and our photographer, Stacy Richardson. We travelled to downtown Annapolis where we proceeded to change into some vintage inspired clothing and walk around town for about an hour. Then we changed into some more casual clothing (which I was very thankful for because it was 85 degrees out and I was HOT), went to a park, and goofed off for another hour. I love the teaser pictures that Stacy was kind enough to post on her website and can’t wait to see how the rest come out.

Emily looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress and heels. She spent a lot of time on that dress, trying to make everything just right. And I think she did. So well, in fact, that a few people actually thought we had just gotten married!

Doing this made me a lot more comfortable being around someone taking our pictures all day. At first I wasn’t sure what to do but by the end I felt really good at being myself. I can’t wait to do it again on our wedding day!

And it’s not. You wouldn’t believe how many people have sent me this image:

He’s fishing. That would be a fishing pole, and his hand, holding a fishing pole. D’oh! While a stripper would be the ultimate screw up ever for the person posted this on whitehouse.gov (and Cheney), it isn’t what you think it is. Too bad!

I went to Herrington Manor, a place I’ve been vacationing since I was a kid last weekend/early this week. In addition to biking in the mountains and fishing in the lake, I went white water rafting with my family in Ohiopyle on the Lower Yough. The rapids weren’t quite as dangerous as I expected but the trip was still quite thrilling. We did the touristy thing and had pictures taken:

White water rafting