We interrupt this burst of cooking...

...to drop your favorite Pfaltzgraff bowl full of polenta (corn grits) on the floor.

*Sigh*

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day.  You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
~ Emerson

My bike

Finally bought a bike yesterday! 

More importantly, I remember how to still ride a bike!!!

I look like a wobbly foal....I was trying to convince myself to put my feet on the pedals. 

 Think about it this way...the last time I rode a bike it didn't come with gears...

Success!! You can see Jayme in the background looking out for cars for me.

...and you braked by pedaling backwards.  Yes, its been that long.  And apparently yes, the adage is true - it is just like riding a bicycle.

I really wanted a helmet like this one.  Unfortunately there's no ventilation.  I got one that makes me look like a mushroom.

Now I just gotta learn the purpose of having gears. Oi.  Maybe that's why I live on a dead-end road.  Practice!

This is why I bought a bike, in case you missed it the first time.

Back to work this morning.  Double Oi.

If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives.
~ Lemony Snicket

Today

Spent the morning shopping.  Ended up with 16 canning jars and two pairs of shoes from Goodwill and 60 pounds of cement and tin snips from Ace Hardware.  I have projects in the works!

Its been overcast and threatening to drizzle all day.  A nice respite from the heat of yesterday.  I just hope it doesn't last too long.

It would be a nice day to take a nap before heading to the gym but I've been putzing around too long to make one worthwhile.

Oh, two things I want to do:

For the summer:  The Selflessness Project

For my birthday:  The Birthday Project.

If you can't access those links, let me know - I'm not sure if they're linked to my Facebook page at all.  Also, let me know if you want to join either.  Or have any ideas of what I can do for the birthday project!

Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

SUP

It was a beautiful evening for paddle boarding...

Calm water....

 

Sunny skies...

Victory!  :) 

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.
~ Mary Oliver

Today

The question is not how to survive, but how to thrive with passion, compassion, humor & style.
~ Maya Angelou

Tonight's goodness



Vegan sweet potato and pepper ravioli.  Not bad.  Took way too much effort though.  By the time I got to this picture I decided I didn't want to use rosemary (not a fan), and the thyme was popping in the oil so I didn't use very much spice.  Thats okay.  The pepper made up for a lot of it.



Berry sorbet - made with frozen raspberries and another berry which I forget the name.  I substituted coconut milk for yogurt, which makes it vegan friendly, although I still used honey.  I'm sure I could have substituted agave for that as well.  Oh yeah....delicious.

You can close your eyes to the things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't want to feel.
~ Johnny Depp

The angry sea

Went paddle boarding with Jayme tonight.  The weather has been crazy all day - sunny, cloudy, drizzly, sunny, etc.  Hot one minute and chilly the next.  We took our chances and headed north to Kingston.

It was extremely windy on the water, and the water was choppy.  You couldn't stop paddling for a second because the wind pushed you back out into open water.  It was kind of scary at times, I thought I was going to hit a sailboat once. 

But, we both eventually learned to control the boards better, and basically battled the wind and rough chop for 45 minutes trying to get back to the dock - the wind had pushed us out a lot farther than we wanted to be.

Although it was a great adventure, I would probably not go out again in those weather conditions.  I like calm seas.  I don't need the sun, but I really need the calm.

Don't tell Jayme I put this up....she didn't know I was taking her picture.  Those are our SUPs (Stand Up Paddleboards) in the background.

I worked so hard at paddling today I'm tired and sore.  And we weren't even out for that long.  The tiredness could also be my 2am wake-up and full day at work.  Hmmm. 

Our reward afterwards.  According to Jayme this pizza is being sold in a whole foods store so it must be healthy, right?  Ignore the grease piling up on top. 

2am is going to come way too early in the morning again. 

You must do the thing which you think you cannot.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

400

This will be my 400th blog post.

I feel like I should write something profound.  Instead, I will post pictures of beer.

Bremerton's second Annual Beer Fest!

This was the first year I've gone.  I actually had way more fun than I thought I would.  I went with my friend Jayme, and we ran into several people we knew, so we had fun standing around and chatting and catching up.  Before we knew it, three hours had passed.  We ditched our plans to paddle board afterwards, and instead had some food and sunbathed in my backyard, taking advantage of the sunshine. 

We're going to try for paddle boarding tomorrow.

My hair is super long.  And I look like a bug with aviators on.  Haha. 

Back to work tomorrow.  These two day weekends are for the birds.   How do normal people get anything done with just two days off?  I guess it didn't help that I had 3 12 hour shifts last week and didn't get a chance to do anything during the week. 

This coming week can only be better.  Last week was the pits.  I'm going to try *crosses fingers* to take a day off on Sunday and head to Portland for the Foam Run.  Probably won't happen, but I'll try anyway.  There's a 90 foot foam filled slip and slide at the end!!!!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. 

"Every girl is expected to have caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall butt, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, and the arms of Michelle Obama. The only person close to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes. Everyone else is struggling."
~ Tina Fey

Lavender Festival

Today was the Sequim Lavender Festival.  I finally figured after 9 years, I should probably go check it out.  It actually thunderstormed this morning (rare for around here), so I think that actually scared a lot of people away.  They estimate between 20,000-40,000 extra people influx the area, and there was barely anyone around.  No traffic problems, nothing.  It was great!

Part of the festival are the free farm tours.  Only about 10 of the local farms participate (there's A LOT of lavender farms), and of those we only went to three.  They each have various lavender growing and lavender things for sale, and all the farms are in different stages of growth, so some are a lot larger or smaller.  This was a typical farm though - rows and rows of lavender.  Smells delicious. 

MMMM....this was pretty good.  I had lavender mint chocolate chip.  Just a hint of lavender flavor.

The other part of the festival is the street fair.  It was actually really big, I was impressed.  And it was ALL craft vendors.  Amazing.

I bought some "you-cut" lavender.  I have it hanging up to dry in 4 separate bunches. 

I also bought succulents from this old hippie at the street fair.  He only grows northwest varieties.  I learned a lot in a short amount of time.  These are already planted in my sunroom.  I hope I don't kill them off. 

I also bought 4 different types of lavender.  I bought based on their qualities - I was looking for culinary lavender and lavender that can be made into oil.  As soon as I clear out my side flowerbed I'll plant these outside.

And my FIRST CARROT!!!  Yes, I should have left it in the ground longer, but I couldn't wait.  And yes, it IS purple.  I wanted something different. :) 

When we make a change, it's so easy to interpret our unsettledness as unhappiness, and our unhappiness as the result of having made the wrong decision.  Our mental and emotional states fluctuate madly when we make big changes in our lives, and some days we could tight-rope across Manhattan, and other days we are too weary to clean our teeth.  This is normal.  This is natural.  This is change.
~ Jeanette Winterson

Wait, here's another picture of food!

Cherries and a berry trifecta.  Fresh from the farmers market.  Can't decide if I should make something or just eat them. 

TGIF.

"Every little thing, is gonna be alright."
~ Bob Marley

Lone cherry

8 hours of training today plus drive time etc chalks up my 3rd 12 hour shift in a row. 

Learning about child predators and hearing case after case of missing children with unhappy endings is a lot to take in though.  It made me desire peace and quiet and the company of my dog.

Too bad I get to do it all over again tomorrow.

The lone cherry I picked from my cherry tree.  Too bad it had a worm hole in it.

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my eyes and all is born again.
~ Sylvia Plath

Lets take another walk through my garden...

The squash has kinda taken over.  I'm cool with that though.

Baby squash!

Baby zucchini!!  (hopefully no one eats this one)

My best looking brussel sprout stalks.  I have high hopes for these guys.

Checking the size of my carrots.  Yes, they're purple!!  Should be ready to pull one or two shortly!!!

I've had a tough couple of days.  Two 12 hour days at work with 7 hours of sleep combined the last two nights.  Another 12 hour day tomorrow, training in Seattle.  I've had to take a step back and let a lot of plans and expectations go the past several days due to lack of sleep.  I don't want to accidentally blow up at the wrong person due to my inability to get a full 8 hours of sleep.  Can't wait for this week to be over.

Once in awhile it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.
~ Alan Keightley

Saying goodbye

Fancy toes...

Fancy food...

Fancy girls...

I will miss you, Jenni!

Walking, I am listening to a different way.  Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me.  Be still, they say.  Watch and listen.  You are the result of the love of thousands. 
~ Linda Hogan

Skydiving

I really wish I had the words to explain how incredibly amazing and fun skydiving was.  It was actually nothing like I expected at all. 

Watching the last set of people come down out of the sky before my jump...

I expected stomach rolling, nausea and a bunch of other stuff.  Nothing like that at all.  The worst part was actually the anticipation of it all....going up in the plane, getting strapped to your instructor, etc.  The second worst was standing at the door of an open plane and thinking.

Luckily that only lasted about three seconds.  Its probably why they tell you to hold onto the front of your harness and not the plane door.  Ha. 

We dropped from 13,500 feet, and parachuted the last 5000 feet.  The day was absolutely beautiful and the view was of course, amazing. 

There was absolutely no stomach churning feeling at all.  Freefalling was completely amazing.  I still can't get over it.

The instructor showed me a little how to control the parachute, and we got to float around in the air for awhile. 

It was over far too soon.

I went with two coworkers, which was out of the ordinary for me.  I usually don't hang out with anyone from work.

Afterwards.  I cut out the other guys because I'm not sure if they'd appreciate being posted.  Check out my facebook page if you want to see the full picture.

And yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

Check another one off the list.

The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
~ Charles Bukowski

Humbled

Today I've been humbled by things large, small and everywhere in between.

Some days life seems to pile it on.  Other days, there seems to be an endless supply of people in line, ready to take your burdens on for you.

Its really amazing, is what it is.

And humbling. 

Experience: that most brutal of all teachers.  But you learn, my God do you learn.
~ C.S. Lewis

Remember

Remember, Alicia, that you are blessed!!!

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.  ~ Henry Stanley Haskins

Outside

Have been trying to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

I was in a funk yesterday so I cancelled my plans to go to Seattle and to my friend's BBQ.  My car is also worrying me (is there such thing as a starter and can it go bad?), so I didn't want to be stranded 90 minutes away from home. 

Yesterday Atticus and I hung out together outside.  The day before I did all my yard work, which is where most of these pictures are from.

Today my landlord and his son are here scraping trim on the house, so its kind of weird having them hovering near every window.  My friend Jayme is coming over soon so we can sunbathe, make popsicles, and just forget about life for a couple of hours.

So you can see how long I put off mowing...the side closest to you has been mowed - Atticus is sitting on the unmowed side.  Yikes.

There's a several foot wide patch of grass behind my back fence that extends the entire length of the yard and meets the road.  I had elected not to mow it...partially because out of sight, out of mind, the other part was why mow when I don't even go back there?  My back gate is locked, so I can't even get there without some effort.  Well, I got guilted into mowing it....waist-high grass which took me about 2 hours to weed wack, mow with the blades on high, re-mow with the blades on low, then weed wack around the fence and next to the road.  What a pain.  In the process I cleaned out a lot of trash, rocks, and found this guy.  Random!

Cleaned out the sunroom and put soil in the rest of the planter boxes.  I planted garlic in this one...

And chocolate mint in this one (from my CSA!).  I now have a mint trifecta.

Since the weather was so nice I decided to give Atticus a bath.  Unfortunately, because his collar isn't on, he knows I can't pull him to where I want him so he runs away from me frequently.  What he hasn't realized yet is the hose will reach every corner of the yard, so I wait for him to get comfortable and then come after him again.

Baths take forever in this way, but hey...I'm not cleaning up a bathroom.  Its worth it to me.  This is Atticus covered in soap and hiding from me.  :)

Today I tried my hand at making home-made insecticide (garlic, oil, hot water, and dish soap.  Let me know if you want the recipe).  I sprayed it on my garden to discourage pests.  I have a bunch of new zucchini and other squash forming, and so I'm hoping that this will help.  We shall see.

In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
~ Von Goethe

Another photo dump of a life in progress

I started putting stuff on the walls.  To make the house seem less temporary. 

Last weekend I hosted a "make your own mojito" party.  Awesome.  We got to use a lot of fresh mint from my garden, and I am now proficient at making a pretty mean mojito.

We ate food too.  Made possible by my new dining room table.  Have I mentioned yet my old neighbor gave me her dining room table and chairs?  Makes the house seem more grownup and less bachelor-padish.

Last week a couple of us cashed in a Groupon for a wine & chocolate tasting in Hoodsport.  Very backwoods.  This was the setup in their backroom.  An interesting experience.

I was turning my african violets around the other day and saw these.

And these!  Never saw white flowers before.

This is Erin and Jenni - two friends who are leaving this month.  We celebrated together by going to Canlis, a super swanky restaurant in Seattle.  There's actually a dress code.

The meal was three hours long, and included a lot of fun stuff - like this cold strawberry soup.

We spared no expense, and even ordered a souffle at the end.  The wait staff asked us questions to get to know us, and had the chef put Congratulations on our dessert.  Overall, a really cool and unique experience, but its definately something I don't need to do all the time.  I enjoy jeans.  And tshirts.  And hamburgers.

This week I celebrated 4th of July with one of the few coworkers I like and trust.  It was a nice home-town type of barbecue, with fireworks after dark being set off all over the neighborhood.  A really nice time.

My garden is growing!!!!!!



But something ate my first zucchini.  I will have to research and then kill.  Haha...no...I will try to do my best to naturally repel the stinker that is going after my food.




Seattle Art Museum last night.  Here are some highlights...



Aboriginal art....

 

Afterwards we went to an Irish pub place.  This is Guinness stew.  Delicious.

Ferry ride back in the sunset.

I think FINALLY it might be summer here.  It only took til July 5th.  70-80 degree weather is predicted all week.  I'm excited for this weather.  So is Atticus - he likes to roam outside as much as possible.  In this weather I leave both backdoors open so he can come and go as he pleases.  This was my view a couple of minutes ago.  He comes to the door, checks on me, and then leaves again. :)

What else.....

I signed up for a charity ride in September.  Click here if you would like to donate.

I'm signed up to go paddle boarding tonight.  It will be my first time, so I'm super excited. 

Tomorrow I plan on going to the Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle, then I have a picnic at a friend's house in Olympia.  Sunday I might hang out with my board-gamers group.  I haven't decided.  I'm in the midst of a 4 day weekend and every day has been jam-packed.  I might spend the day just chilling out at home.

Next Thursday I signed up to sky-dive.  Just to cross it off my list of life experiences. :)

I'm trying to sign up for two more fun-runs (Hell Run, which I did last year, and Foam Run).  I don't know if they'll work out yet.

I think thats about it for now.  I'm staying busy, and trying to do new things and step out of my comfort zone.

Now that I've spent 2 hours on the internet, drinking coffee, looking at pinterest, and posting on here, I should get dressed and get outside.  Its beautiful, and my yard needs mowed!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend.

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.  I want to know what you ache for, and if you dream of meeting your heart's longing."
~ Oriah