Employed at last!

2 weeks ago I was at an AmeriCorps VISTA training in San Diego...and I gotta say, the highlight of the trip had nothing to do with the event, but getting to see a childhood best friend (and her baby!). Janny and I lived just a few blocks apart until 8th grade, when she moved away. It had been about 10 years since I'd seen her, and it was just like the good old days...here we are, and me with baby Navana...



Next up: my new job! So far so good...I had a few hesitations my first day, and was a little nervous about some of the events, but everything went great in the end. We worked at a Mariners' baseball game, helped staff a corporate gardening "voluntourism" event, celebrated Earth Day co-leading a Hot Project on Marra Farm (an urban organic farm), then led a solo project painting at a daycare facility for children affected by neglect and abuse...a busy week! I think it was good to just be thrown in the mix. And oops, I forgot to mention the database entry. Oh joy! I guess this brings me back to my initial hesitations...I worry about the position's lack of visual creativity. As much as I try to ignore it, I'm a designer at heart :) Give me art! Here I am at the game, with my co-VISTA Kym. We laugh a lot, and are very thankful to have one another to share in the year's experiences/challenges/triumphs, etc...much to my not-surprise, I find myself getting bursts of uncontrollable enthusiasm for what Seattle Works does. I wish I didn't have to work there so I could take part in all their events and programs! I guess someone's got to do the behind-the-scenes grunt work...



Moving on to the newest renewed love of my life: swing dancing!! We went for the first time in Seattle on my birthday last year, and have now gone the past 2 weekends. So. Much. Fun!!! I really want to take lessons or just keep practicing so I can be awesome at it...particularly at Lindy, a more complicated style of steps I want to master...here I am with Aaron and Gina after a night of swinging...(and p.s. you recall me mentioning in my blog a favorite ice cream shop called Molly Moon's? Salted caramel anyone?? Well they just opened another store RIGHT next door to the dance place...meant to be...)


Another thing occupying my time these days...a big project for the Krista Foundation. It's still very rough from a design standpoint, but below is a preview of what I'm working on. It's a big project, but it is a lot of fun. And just like Seattle Works, the more I learn about the Krista Foundation, the more enthused I get! Such inspiring organizations to be a part of. I can't wait to have money some day so I can support them...


That's what's happening in my exciting life :) And coming up...this Friday my friend Sibyl arrives for a weekend of apartment hunting (then she moves officially in June). And in a few weeks my friend John from Iowa moves out to the Olympic Peninsula for an internship. Hopefully we'll get to cross paths a few times this summer and do some mountains/river/coast exploring!! Also in May, my AWESOME friend Nick from ISU will be coming out for a visit. Can't wait to show him around, take a day off work to hike, and then drive to Portland for a concert. In fact a big group of about 9 of us will drive down to see the Avett Brothers! That will be a lot of fun....mmmm, Avett Brothers...

And I'll leave you with that! Sweet days and dreams of music, and laughing, and ice cream...

it's about time!

so, i haven't updated in a while...that must mean i'm no longer spending my days lounging around, unemployed. yep, my new job has started! between the whole 9-5 thing, working evening events, and designing a big project for the krista foundation, i haven't had much down time the past few weeks. still a bit more suspense before i'll share stories about the new gig, but for this evening...

i'm famous!! got my picture in the paper :) check out this quick clipping of an article that used a picture of me from last year. yay for earthcorps! i get to work a volunteer event for them in may, so that will be fun, just like the old days...LOVE! (okay, i know, way too many exclamation points, but i can't help it!!!)

Spring has sprung!....kind of....

After weeks and weeks of cloudy/rainy 50 degree weather, we had 4 amazing warm and sunny days last week!! I know I go on and on about loving cold and rain, but now I will say I love the sun :) Here is the killer view of the Olympics from Carkeek Park, on Pudget Sound, and then a model shot with Isa from sun-tanning day at Golden Gardens...



Now I must say a huge "I love you!"..."thanks for coming to see me!"..."you're the best!" to my mom, who came for a visit this weekend...


Of course time flew by too fast, but we squeezed in plenty-o-fun :) ...she got in Thursday night, and we took off the next morning for Lummi Island, near Bellingham, a couple hours north. We stayed in a cute B & B called Willows Inn, on the beach with a view of the San Juan Islands. The weather was less than stellar, but the company was top notch! We played lots of Scrabble, explored the beach, and ate at the only cafe on the island...amazing food + great atmosphere + friendly locals...I ordered a delicious pizza--with feta, red onion, artichoke hearts, peppers, garlic, chicken--but unfortunately I forgot my leftovers at the Inn...so sad...but then of course our stay included a huge breakfast, which was made fresh from ingredients on their farm! On the way back we did a little shopping (okay, maybe a lot of shopping) then joined Isabelle and Gina for Thai food at Araya's!!

Now that my mom is headed back to WI, and the weather is back to rainy and cold, I am packing my bags to head south to sunny San Diego! My AmeriCorps training is Mon-Thurs, then it's back to being employed....yay, paycheck! :) I'll report back on how the trip goes...here are a few more pictures! Happy Easter, happy Spring, and LOVE to everyone...

good news day!!

My best mates Gina and Isabelle have been desperately job hunting for months now, and yesterday they confessed to me they were both considering moving back home, in order to live rent-free. This was the saddest thought ever, as the 3 of us have become nearly inseparable, and had so many more plans for summer adventures together...so the GREAT NEWS is they both got jobs that will start Tuesday!! YAAAAAAAAY! I am so excited, today will definitely be spent celebrating!! Let the good times roll on...

And while I'm here, more things to be happy about:
• my mom visits in ONE WEEK!
• the weather forecast actually includes SUN and temps in the 60's!!
• Cupcake Royale makes salted caramel cupcakes now...
• my dad turned 58 on Wednesday, and he's a rockstar :)
• my trainers are successfully kicking my butt each week at the gym...
• today is free museum day in Seattle!
• spaghetti squash is good for you AND tastes amazing

a walk in the woods...

The supermodel silliness continued this week...went for a very pleasant hike on Little Si (the mini version of Mt. Si) and took advantage of the beautiful surroundings, taking lots of pictures! Here are a few top picks:








And then here is me and Isa being excited tourists! I like this picture, haha...


Okay, so other than pretending to be supermodels, I had the chance to go out with an EC crew on Monday. My friend Joe invited me out with his new crew, and we worked at a site that I was quite familiar with. It was probably my 7th or 8th time back?? It was fun to grub a little blackberry, pull up some scott's broom, but mostly entertain the others while they worked hard and, fed them candy and chips, lol...

Some exciting news in my life...my dear friend Sibyl, from high school, is moving to Seattle!!!! She was placed here for her 3 year med school residency, and I couldn't be more excited!! Also, my mom is coming to visit April 9 :) She has made sure to visit me over both Easter and Thanksgiving, wherever I happen to be living...over the years that's included Rome, Nashville, and now Seattle.

My first day of work is now just 2 weeks away, and it will kick off with a training in San Diego. I've never been before! In the mean time, I'm enjoying the last of my freedom, making new friends, hiking, and eating lots of delicious food! I hope you are happy and healthy. Much love!!!

rainy coastal hiking adventures!

So Wed-Fri I went on my first combo hiking/camping trip! Wooooooo! It was quite the adventure, as it rained the whole time :) I went with my friends Gina and Isabelle, as well as some of their new coworkers. We drove through the Olympic Peninsula to the Third Beach trailhead, near La Push, WA. Loaded up our packs and started the 7 mile hike to Toleak Point...awww, we look so happy and dry here :)

This was the most diverse hike I've done...we started in the forest, then made our way to the coast and walked along the Pacific...now see that cliff up ahead? Yes, we're about the climb up that mud-slide with nothing but a rope!

After making it to the top the hike continues through more beautiful forests...the rain didn't get us down (yet) but the trail was extremely muddy...

...back down to the beach, stunning views...

Now here we are after taking off our shoes to ford the creek! It was sooooooo cold, but I felt like quite a pioneer, lol. Thankfully our new friend Chris, on the right, saved our butts the entire trip! He was always the first to go ahead and lift, guide, or steady the rest of us along...

By the time we made it to our campsite I was quite exhausted, taking off my pack after 4+ hours I thought I would float away...Here is the view of the beach from our site. We set up camp and unsuccessfully attempted a fire. This was my first time using my new tent, and unfortunately we set it up wrong, lol, so that first night we couldn't even sit up inside. It rained the entire night and in the morning the tent was drooping down about a foot from our faces, dripping water, and the floor was wet. What a night...

Thankfully I did stay mostly dry though, and reasonably warm, but that next morning I woke up with absolutely no intentions of leaving my sleeping bag, lol. The rain always sounds much worse from inside the tent though, so eventually I got up and changed back into my damp clothes (yay!). We set out for a 5 mile day hike further down the beach, and back into the forest. The most scary part of the trip was definitely climbing this ladder up a vertical rock wall! The steps were slippery, and the rope was painful to hold with wet, numb hands...eek! The view from the top was worth it though...

The hike took us through lots of mud, over and around many downed trees, and ended at a waterfall. We debated trying to cross the river and continue along the trail, but after seeing what it would take to get across, the consensus was to head back and explore the beach. Turns out climbing down the rock wall was in fact much more frightening than the climb up...

After surviving the descent of doom and death, we booked it back to camp....okay, so I booked it back to camp, haha. We admired this eagle for quite a while, then attempted to explore some tide pools, but at this point the wind was really strong and my clothes were soaking wet....

This was probably the one moment during the trip that I thought, "this sucks"...the only dry clothes I had left were a pair of long johns, 2 shirts and a coat. So I peeled off the wet clothes and hid in my sleeping bag. Aaron had the same idea as me to head back to camp, so we ended up chatting from inside our two separate tents. It was pretty funny, thinking up games we could play to occupy ourselves for what we imagined would be the remainder of the afternoon and evening spent trapped in our somewhat dry and somewhat warm tents. While Aaron and I cracked ourselves up playing hangman, thankfully the rest of our friends were still on the beach braving the cold/wind/rain, filtering water from a nearby river, and discovering a stash of dry drift wood!! A fire was started, and we were able to partially dry some of our clothes and boots, as well as share stories, poetry, and s'mores around the fire! Ahhhh, this is why I love camping :) With my tent adjusted for night 2, we slept much better, but still awoke every few hours...amazed that the rain was not letting up! The entire night it continued...we made another fire that morning, changed into our damp clothes, then packed up camp and hiked back!

A few surprises on the way back included the mudslide being extra slippery after 3 days of rain...as well as the creek we walked through barefoot on the way there, being a raging river on the way back! We had to go further inland and find logs to walk/crawl across....no one fell in! But then walking back along the beach we had a couple close calls with the tide, lol.

I expected the hike out to be extra dreadful and long, but thankfully it went quick! And the rain was more of a mist after we got going...we had intended to go snowshoeing at Hurricane Ridge on our way back, but canceled that plan...no need to be over-achievers :) Instead we stopped at a diner in Forks (where the movie Twilight is set!) for some hot food, yum!...then made another pit-stop at DQ further down the road. It was a late night, and I had heaps of soaked camping gear to deal with....but now we're planning our next adventure! Looks like snowshoeing will be Thursday, and then camping trip #2, potentially to the Eastern Cascades, will be this weekend.

I love my life.