My 2nd Taekwondo Tournament

I’ve been a student of taekwondo since 2018. I started because I had some sudden, unexplained weight gain after my youngest son turned two and I needed some sort of regular exercise. My oldest son was already a student, so I started going with him to the Saturday morning family classes and found I really enjoyed them. From there, I attended more and more because I enjoyed the variety in workouts and I suddenly found myself a red belt when Covid struck. By 2021, we could train in studio again and I tested for my black belt that fall. You can read more about my TKD journey: Pre-Black Belt Test, Post-Black Belt Test, Black Belt Graduation.

This April, I competed at the Utah State Taekwondo Championship. This was my second year doing black belt poomsae (forms), and what a difference a year makes.

I take photos at a lot of our tournaments, but my oldest was able step in and get some photos of me while I competed. Thank you, Tommy!

Last year, I was nervous as hell. This year? I felt calm, decently confident... and even took on a second challenge: competing in mixed pairs with Van, a fellow AMYS parent. There aren’t many of us over 40 still throwing kicks, so that felt extra special. We learned cheonkwon, the 7th dan form, in just a week and only practiced together three times. We also had no competitors, so we refused to put a ton of pressure on ourselves. Cheonkwon was fun to learn and getting a gold medal for it was even sweeter.

Next was individual poomsae: Pyeongwon and Sipjin. I love sipjin, but pyeongwon challenges my balance and strength big time. It's beautiful and looks simple, but it’s NOT. It's frustrating to watch myself knowing I can kick higher, but then I'd be stumbling.

I had a few moments of panic right before it was time for Jessie and I to compete when I realized I was missing a step in sipjin. My teammate/competitor Jessie quickly realized what move I was skipping and I was able to get it fixed, but damn, that was scary!

Lookie how high I can kick when the pants don’t try to break me! Photo by Master Samery

I know that taekwondo uniforms look like we’re just wearing PJs, but they are NOT designed for curvy girls. The fabric is stiff and has zero stretch. Poomsae uniforms specifically are even stiffer because they are expected to make snappy noises when we do poomsae, and when I sweat, the fabric sticks to my skin. I get it, but argh!! I had to drop some money to figure out a solution that didn’t give me major sensory issues. I bought a very-overpriced undershirt from Lululemon that helped with the sweat/sticky fabric issue.

THEN I bought a whole 2nd uniform two sizes bigger so the pants had more give in the hip and thigh area. I was suffering from knee pain after workouts because when I kicked, my knees would hyperextend because there was no give in the fabric at my hips. Of course, that meant they were too long, so I had to alter them at the cuff AND make the rise shorter. They are officially the most comfortable TKD pants I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately, no one allows us to buy the top and pants in different sizes. I’m always on the lookout for discounted uniforms now.

Jessie was the only competitor in my age division and I squeaked out gold by 0.33 points. It has been wonderful training along with her these last couple months.

It's very easy for me to watch videos of poomsae athletes who are younger than me; athletes who've probably done taekwondo since they were little kids, and compare myself. But then I remember:

  • I started taekwondo at 39.

  • I've had two kids.

  • I'm dealing with health challenges most people never see.

I'm showing up and I'm proud of my growth. The Wise and Inspiring Mirna Valerio once said something that I often replay in my head: "You start where you start, it's gonna be a journey no matter what it is. You can't compare yourself to your former self or anybody else. You have to be in the moment, and then you move from that moment forward." 

Now the big question... should I compete at USA Taekwondo Nationals?? It’ll be at the end of July and in Ontario, CA; where my sister lives. And they changed the format of poomsae competition for black belts and I won’t know what forms I’ll be competing in until MOMENTS before. Hmmm…

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My Dream Studio

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My 10yo was telling me what he would put in his dream bedroom the other day and he asked what I would want in my dream bedroom. I told him that my needs are really simple for my bedroom: an incredibly comfy bed with room to snuggle and some decent light during the day. Perhaps a little reading nook too. That’s it.

But what I’d REALLY have fun with would be creating a custom studio space for my art and design. He asked me what that would look like so we went onto Pinterest to play.

Of course, in this dream scenario, we have no budget. I told him I’d love a space that’s separate from my house so I could have a tiny feeling of “going” to work.

This structure with glass panels for two of the main walls looked especially wonderful with how much natural light I’d be able to get. Although, I don’t know how secure a room like this would be and I may not love having to get there when it’s snowing. I would also want to make sure it’s climate-controlled.

I would want a space that’s large enough so there’s a whole wall of desk space and a large table in the middle for picture framing, kinda like these:

This made me swoon a bit.

^^^ This image with the chairs made me think that a reading nook might be nice. Loving the under-the-stairs storage solutions.

Like THIS for a reading nook. ^^^ This low sofa-daybed-looking thing looks downright dreamy.

Really digging the long desk space.

Ultimately, I would want a designated space for all of the different artsy things I do. I’d want a designated space for my desktop computer, a space for my sewing machine, a space for my mat cutter, a space for my easel (if I ever paint on canvases again), and a space dedicated to watercolor painting. I’d prefer for my mat cutter to live on the edge of a large table that’s in the middle of the room to make picture framing easier.

Some creative storage for flat paintings and paper would be nice along with vertical storage for mat boards, foam boards, canvases, and more. I’d prefer drawers versus shelves for the flat storage to prefent dust from collecting.

I would love a big, sturdy table in the middle to hold my mat cutter, rolls of craft paper, picture framing supplies, tapes, and various other tools.

I also want a Fletcher 3000 Multi Material Cutter. It mounts on the wall and can cut mat board, foam board, glass, and plexiglass. It’s amazing how much easier it is to cut things to size when they are vertical versus trying to cut these items on the floor. It’s only $1800, a girl can dream.

Perhaps the most important of all would be the kind of light this dream studio space can get. I’d ideally love large, north-facing windows to get the most optimal light for most of each day. I’d love if these dream windows are still pretty easy to clean too.

This amazing studio with fantastic use of vertical space reminded me: I would love for this dream studio to have a big, industrial sink for the fabric dyeing projects I love to do but don’t really have the space for right now.

Large, deep, and most importantly, easy to clean.

Of course this space would be heavily climate-controlled and have its own toilet. Cuz, yeah.

BTW, I started a wishlist on Amazon for my little business if you’re interested. A few random art supplies, picture framing supplies, and photography gear.

What would you have in your dream studio space?

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Wolfpack Running Club Custom Trucker

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It has been a true pleasure to build the visual brand of Wolfpack Running Club. You can see lots of the stuff I’ve created for them here. Last year I made this painting of Lone Peak in watercolor, ink, and gouache. You can see photos of the painting and a link to a timelapse video here. All of Wolfpack’s trainings and most meets meets take place around Lone Peak; which is one of the prominent peaks along the Wasatch Front. Even most of Wolfpack’s trail runs are around its base, so it was only fitting that it we put Lone Peak somewhere on our merch.

Lone Peak Wasatch Mountains Watercolor

The folks at Boco Gear did an amazing job putting my artwork on their running trucker hats. They turned out SO good! If you’re ever looking to have custom hats made, check them out. You can order as few as 50 at a time (which is rare).

The first order we placed was for 50 hats. The imposter syndrome in me was terrified that no one would buy one. They would think the artwork was shit and our small club would be stuck trying to sell these hats. Wolfpack is a nonprofit, so they are hoping to make a few bucks from these hats and not selling them not cheap. To my surprise (and relief), we sold out of them and placed a second order a few months later. Whew!

Wolfpack Running Watercolor Trucker Hat

It also helps that the hats themselves are really nice quality and comfortable to wear when running. I purposely wanted hats that could be worn by both adults and kids. The velcro tab in the back makes them easy to adjust to little heads. They aren’t the common, stiff trucker hats that are often too big for anyone who has a smaller-than-average head. Check out the Reel I posted on Wolfpack’s Instagram about why we put Lone Peak on our merch here.

I adore my hat and wear it for most of the summer.

2025 Utah Taekwondo Championship

I had the privilege of creating a tournament poster for the Utah Taekwondo Association and their state championship tournament coming this spring. Since I was able to photograph a bunch at last year’s tournament, I used a handful of those photos for this year’s poster.

I even managed to use a photo of my youngest son. He’s the red belt on the right breaking a board with a tornado kick.

The fun challenge with these was color-correcting all of the reflected light on everyone’s white uniforms. It’s something most people don’t notice, but our white taekwondo uniforms reflect everything, and the mats at this tournament were bright blue along with very yellow fluorescent overhead lighting. Even when I look at the poster now, I see a few spots I wish I could go back and correct a little more.

Photographing these tournaments is a photography challenge all in itself with needing high speed in pretty low light.

Because I was on a roll when working on this, I went ahead and made versions that were social media-friendly for FB events, Instagram story, and more.

I’m really happy with how these turned out and I’m looking forward to being at this year’s tournament to take photos again. I am still deciding if I will compete again myself.