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