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Chelan Summer

Off for some good times with my b-school girlfriends in Lake Chelan for a few days. Tales and photos when I return. Have a great weekend!

Workfree Zone

Today was the exact day I imagined when I learned, back in February, that I was going to enjoy the entire summer off.

I woke up, no alarm necessary. Browsed the internet until my phone rang. I chatted with a girlfriend for a few minutes before she began work for the day and then I began my own work - a super cute sewing project. I took a break to zip to the fabric store to get a few supplies and run a few errands. I returned home to make a delicious little lunch  followed by a trip to the farmers market with some girlfriends for fruits and veggies. The sun was shining while we caught up on our lives and made plans for the rest of the week. 

Lovely.

Relaxing.

Completely void of responsibility.

Hot & sunny.

What more can you ask for during a summer of leisure?

 

 

The Wednesday Covet

Just a few things I'm drooling over this week.

 

I love my good ole' Specialized Allez, but these wheels are just so pretty.

I'm on a bit of a jewelry kick lately & this is almost too lovely to pass up.

So beautiful it makes me want to read the classics again.

Home Sweet Home

It's so nice to be back home. Today I had a late breakfast with a lovely friend from b-school, worked all day on a little sewing project (can't share more info about it yet because it's a surprise for someone), enjoyed some happy hour beers with a future co-worker and then spent the evening on the phone catching up with friends who live too far away. You know life has been busy when it takes nearly an hour to just get through the basics of the past few months.

Unfortunately, the one thing I didn't do today was fit in some exercise. My interest in exercise has nearly disappeared entirely. I know it's important and I'm thoroughly aware that I always feel better for doing some, yet I just can't find the motivation. I'm much more interested in nesting, creating, cleaning.

Wish I could be more like this lady...

The Ashland Routine

I've gone from living out of a 1990 VW Vanagon to living out of a very fancy hotel with afternoon tea service and bright white robes hanging in the closet. It's a study in contrasts.

I'm back in Ashland, Oregon enjoying some lazy days while the TMF has a photography gig for a large corporate client located here. I've developed a pretty regular routine in this town. I get up in the morning and walk the TMF out to his car after a small hotel breakfast, then head out to exercise before the temps hit 100 degrees at mid-day.

Yesterday I went on the worst run of my life - following a greenbelt out of town, as the TMF suggested, I experienced one uncomfortable situation after another. I was a little nervous on the path as there were long stretches of secluded nature without another person in sight. And then, around the corner would come a sketchy looking dude. Finally, with short lived relief, I reached the end of the path. At this point it disappears under a bridge and circles around up toward the road. As I was approaching from one side of the path I could see an unkempt, homeless man heading down the path from the opposite side of the road... carrying a baseball bat. I wasn't psyched at the fact that he was walking toward me and I was walking toward him, destined to meet directly under this sketchy bridge. So I turned around, found a different route to the road and decided to head to the main street that heads back into town rather than taking the deserted path back the way I had come. I quickly learned that this very busy four lane road didn't have a sidewalk, nor much of a shoulder for the three miles back to town. Awesome. 

I jogged, already tired but wanting to get this run over with as quickly as possible. I ran in the dirt on the other side of the guard rails. The best part of the trek back? Coming to an underpass (imagine something like this) where there was no way to climb over it thanks to some fencing. Therefore, I had to go through it, against traffic, where there was absolutely no shoulder. Stupid. Really really stupid. But the only other option was to head back the couple miles I had already run to return to the path occupied by a baseball bat yeilding vagabond.

Like I said... Worst. Run. Ever.

So I tried to peak through, but due to a slight curve in the road I wasn't really able to see if any cars were coming. I did my best reconnaissance and then sprinted my ass off through that thing, fortunately not scaring the shit out of any drivers headed through at the same time. I have never been so happy to see a sidewalk in my life. Needless to say, after that run yesterday, I headed out this morning on a residential street I know. No more surprises. No more sketchy paths. No more near death experiences.

The rest of the routine is usually more danger free and uneventful - shower, reading in the park, a stop at the coffee shop to sit outside in the shade for some computing (like now), lunch from the salad bar at my favorite co-op ever, second hand clothes shopping (hello $20 James Perse dress and $12 Lacoste tank) and aimless wandering in the afternoon. Lastly, dinner with the TMF to wrap up the day.

Ashland is famous for its summer Shakespeare Festival. People come from all over the country to see the productions here and I failed miserably at getting tickets last month when we were in town. But, this time around I scored with two reasonably priced tickets to Henry IV on Sunday evening in the Elizabethan Theatre. It would have been a shame not to make it to one play after multiple visits to Ashland.

Well, the Co-op is calling me. More tomorrow.

Glacier National Park

Well we have survived ten days and nights, traveling over 1,200 miles, in what we can now call "the trusty Vanagon". The Vanagon is twenty years old, which is quite contemporary in Volkswagon bus terms, but frighteningly ancient when considering a long road trip through remote land and grizzly country. I've seen several Vanagons broken down on the side of the road or being towed away to VW graveyards. I've also seen one on fire in our neighborhood. Not great images to have when setting out on the first extensive adventure in the TMF's ride. But, it proved we had nothing to worry about. And the TMF's obsession over every little accoutrement and accessory proved to be quite worthwhile - screens to keep the mosquitoes out but fresh air in, specialty fridge so we didn't have to constantly be fishing our food out of 6 inches of melting ice. I no longer complain about the endless hours he spent on the internet researching the infinite ways to pimp the Van out. He chose wisely and I admittedly benefited greatly.

Some highlights of the trip:

The Food. The TMF obsessed over the Vanagon while I spent days planning dinners, creating spice rubs and marinades to take with us, cooking and prepping ingredients in an effort to make things as easy as possible while camping. I must say, we ate well. We ate the same thing for breakfast and lunch for the entire 10 days. Breakfast was yogurt, fresh fruit and the homemade granola pictured below. Lunch was a veggie filled sandwich (also pictured in the collection below). But dinner is where we got creative. Grilled caprese ((mozzarella, tomatoes, basil) paninis, fish tacos, dutch oven cod bake with leeks, potatoes & carrots, chicken satay with peanut sauce & grilled broccoli, carnitas tacos with grilled corn, on and on. I even made a peach cobbler in the dutch oven. Almost all attempts were a hit, but I'm looking forward to continuing to experiment with the food portion of camping.

The Wildlife. The plentifullness of wildlife in Glacier National Park is both a blessing and a curse. There is a large grizzly population in the park and it's impossible to forget. There are signs everywhere and at least one person is mauled per year inside the park. This led to a rather tense five hours as we hiked 15 miles through the forest and mountains of the park. In the end no grizzlies were spotted but we did get to watch a herd of mountain goats make their way across a snowy cliffside, seemingly defying gravity. It was amazing to watch them as the babies slid down the snow caps, eventually finding their footing rather than falling thousands of feet to their death. Later in the week we were paddling around Lake McDonald at dusk when we spotted a mountain lion (Otherwise known as a cougar. The kind of cougar that likes to eat 100 pound children or stalk hikers for miles and then attack the last in line because they are presumably the weakest. They are not dumb animals.) stalking us from the shore. It was pretty exciting at the time since they are pretty elusive animals, not often seen by humans. We also felt pretty safe in the water since they are a cat and not likely going to jump in the lake in pursuit of us.

The Views. Glacier is a feast for the eyes, no doubt about it. You should be able to tell from the pics below. We were consistently in awe of the views. The weather we enjoyed certainly helped that situation!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Montana or Bust

The TMF and I are headed out on a good ole' roadtrip within the hour. We're headed to Glacier National Park (pictured above) in Northern Montana via the North Cascades, perhaps Canada... it all depends on how the road and weather are treating us. Back in 10 days with gobs of photos and hopefully some good stories of life in the Vanagon.