changing seasons

it has been pretty foggy the past few days, especially at night. Today is a bright clear day, but the chill of Fall is definately in the air. It has been a very full summer and I am ready for the slowdown that Fall brings with it. The one downside to this is that I am not sure I can force myself to brave the icy cold water to surf, even with a wetsuit. I guess I will have to pursue a tropical destination soon!

Tourists say the darndest things

"When I grow up, I want to be a surf bum!" (start saving now kid!)

"Does the sun set like that every day?" (well, yeah - it sets everyday, but its kind of different each day...)

"Do you have a bowling alley or mini golf here?" (uhhh dude, look around, we barely have a town here)

"Why does the water come up so high sometimes, what makes it do that?" (that would be primarily the moon)

flickr pix & some updates

loaded some new pix up on Flickr - 1/2 were taken on a roadtrip I took with friends along the Big Sur coast Sunday which was a beautiful funny sunny day that left me with almost no voice at all from singing, rapping and generally yelling random crazy things at the top of my lungs for the heck of it and a stomach that ached from laughing so hard - the other half are random "U" shots I have taken here and there over the past few months. Most of the posted Big Sur pix are actually the handy work of a friend - who has a great photog eye, and who initially tried to help me up the gravelly hill to get the shots myself, but upon realizing it was me, who has been "miss graceful" this year, we just decided that he should take my camera and take them, good thing too, they are lovely and it is nice to have a different perspective.

I have been working a lot, trying to establish myself at the new job, there is just so much to learn and perhaps in my quest to insure diligence and attention, I have been a little too focused. I thought I would have all this extra time, and in some ways I do (catching up on laundry during the day, etc) but in some ways there is even less time. For example, I can't remember the last time I was able to log into and actually chat on IM, since my new job has an internal one they have us use and I don't really have personal chats with them, just business. I have also been doing a fair amount of side work and just trying to catch up on loose ends as possible, so hopefully I will find the right balance sooner than later. But it is still just WAY less stressful than the last place.

In the free time I have been able to create, it has been an incredible summer, full of so many fun random adventures that I often forgot to take pictures and sometimes didn't even know and/or remember to bring my camera, so there just haven't been that many pictures this year. We had a beach bonfire at least once almost every weekend this summer (excluding road trips to the bay area for work and family gatherings) I golfed a lot, spent a lot of time walking the beach and in the water surfing and boogie boarding, caught up with old friends from home, made treasured new ones unexpectedly, made peace with difficult things from the past and myself, learned so much, created a ton of artwork, attended many tasty BBQ's, just hung out, entertained many "framily" visitors and general tourists, tasted and consumed so much great wine my mouth might be permanently stained purple - essentially, whenever possible I have been outside and truly living my life. It feels full, rich, happy and I don't have the words to convey my gratitude.

As much as I am a sun girl and love the summer, I can just start to feel the stirrings of fall in the air and am looking forward to it, both because it is a beautiful time of year and because the tourists will finally go back to where they came from and give us our town back. But also because fall is the best time of year here for sunsets (and thus sunset pictures) they are gorgeous and set right into the ocean.

And, if I get the new house I just applied to rent, I will have an (only slightly obstructed) ocean view from the deck and will be only a short block to the pier, beach and heart of town. This would be epic for so many reasons...taking pictures, walking to town, (walking home if consuming adult beverages) a better set up for working from home, a kitchen I can actually cook in...so much goodness! I do love the little hobbit house on the creek, but honestly less so now that I am in it 10 hours a day working and have been in it for over 2 years. plus, I have already done the creek living, the mountain living, I can live that way and there are things about it that appeal to me, but I am kind of over it at the moment, I want electricity and plumming that work right regularly, I want a kitchen that allows me to create delicious meals, I want less spiders, less wild vegetation taking over my yard, less icky things that live in my laundry shed that i don't want to think about too much...ya know!?

I'll keep you posted =)

Happy Birthday MTV - 25 years!

Dude! 25 years? I so remember the launch of MTV, it was like the greatest thing to ever happen, music television, music videos, a whole channel made just for me and my friends - and we watched it almost constantly, somehow at that age, it didn't get old seeing the same things over and over. I lived for martha and MTV news, news I cared about, again seemingly just for me. Those were the days...Happy Birthday MTV!

it all happened on willow creek

ok, seriously - the weirdest stuff happens at my house!

so about a month ago, very late one night, I had two friends over and as we were sitting around my livingroom chatting, I hear a womans voice cry out "please help me, I need help!" I leap out of my seat and go to the door to find this chick bawling and kind of freaking out. Turns out she lives in town but was driving from visiting family in the valley and her car broke down a little ways from my house. We get no cell signal on this road, so she couldn't reach her husband for help. I agreed to take her home and only realized when pulling back into my driveway that she left her car in the middle of the road! There are no streetlights and people hall ass on that road, someone is going to hurt. So, not knowing what else to do, we grabbed a super flashlight to shine on the car should someone drive up and called the police to have it towed out of harms way. Before the police could arrive the woman and her husband finally showed back up and we all helped to move the car off to the side of the road. - so random

then, I come home on a sunday evening about 2 weeks ago, after being at the beach all day and there are two sherrif cars blocking my driveway - my first thought is "uh-oh someone broke into my house again" then i notice a car pulled to the side of the road so I figure they are arresting someone for DUI or something. The officer (who is my neighbor and who helped me when I did get robbed) apologies profusely for blocking me and askes if I would mind parking down the road until they are done...2 hours later they finally left.

then today, as I am walking out to get my mail, this dude just walks up and says "excuse me maam, I am so sorry to bother you but my girlfriend and I are staying at the RV park down the street, trying to find a place to move here and we ran out of water, could we pull up the RV and borrow your hose, I will gladly pay you." I have to say this really goes down as one of the stranger requests I have ever received. It seemed the neighborly/good samaritan thing to do to say yes, so I did. And he and his girlfriend are out there now filling up the water tank.

Apparently there is a sign somewhere above my house that I can't see that says "hey, stop here." so random, so funny!

found

azhiaziam lost...wandering i wonder

the paths left behind - they had their time

but reminded, thick foggy memories shifted dimensions and destinations

for a moment the compass spun

i forgot to find the sun

those who love me let me see

those new trails we blaze by land and by sea

simple unexpected moments of joy

grains of sand thru the hand

mates of soul those in the know

eye to eye so much in the ride

in and out goes the tide

the right ones by my side

i am home

thank goodness for monday

I don't think I would survive an additional weekend day, I am worn out!

It began Friday evening with one of my friends calling and screaming my name into the phone with pure joy and following up with "i'm at 'the office' and we are having adult beverages, all our friends are here, you gotta come down!!" That is a hard invitation to pass up.

What he failed to mention was the tourist to local ratio (with this crazy heatwave we have been totally inundated with visitors trying to get cool - it is like we tripled our population -at least- overnight and it has been quite a challenge to get anywhere, to park, or even to be most places - we are a really small town and we just aren't set up for long term, large quantities of vistors) and our little bar just doesn't hold that many people well, so we didn't stay long.

Instead, we gathered a bunch of folks and created a pretty delicious impromptu BBQ - which included rice, salad, chicken and sausages. Yuuuuummmmmmmeeee! In fact, the only downside was that at some point my cellphone became a casualty, we still don't really know what happened, only that it worked fine up until around 9pm, and then later when I went to use it, none of the keys on the keypad would work except for the off and on switch. I can answer incoming calls, turn it off and on, but thats it - so it is being replaced with a working one ASAP.

Saturday morning, I met up with several friends and took my new surfboard out into the water for the first time - she is such a beautiful board, seafoam metallic underside and rails - 9 foot walden wahinie longboard with a beautiful hawaiian floral design on deck and I freakin' loved it. I got lots of pointers from the pro's which helped a lot. I can already catch my own waves and was already easily surfing on my knees, but I can't stand up just yet. Pretty epic! There were two other newbies in our group and they did awesome - one of them was standing by Sunday - it was such a beautiful 'family' surf day, followed by much merriment on the beach until we were all just too sunned and surfed out.

Oh and I cannot forgot our beach bonfire Saturday night, we regrouped after a late afternoon respite and it was truly lovely. It was a warm evening for us, perfectly clear - the stargazing was delightful, there were lots of locals out that stopped for a while to say hello every now and again, and our little core group was out there for a good 4 hours. We really could have stayed there all night. We roasted marshmellows, melted glass in the bonfire, walked the starlit beach, made wishes on falling stars, laughed out loud a bizzilion times and talked about how much we cherish this place and each other.

However, despite all the 'cumbaya' lets be clear about one thing - every muscle in my body hurts right now and until I get back into true longboard surf shape and can comfortably carry my board from parking to beach and back - golf before surfing is going to be key, because golf after surfing: pretty damn painful. Yeah, a friend called for a spur of the moment golf game yesterday afternoon and of course I said yes, it was golf! But that first stroke - wow, all those muscles I worked surfing the day before are the same ones screaming while back swinging...It was not my best game, thats for sure, but still a blast.

Then after golf yesterday, we went to get some Thai food and grabbed a bottle of wine and headed to the beach for sunset. That too was just lovely, beautiful colors melting into the sky, delicious noodles, fabulous wine, and great company (in fact that pretty much sums up the whole weekend - fun, beauty, nature, and community) When the 20 scary cultlike people showed up, we decided to bail and take a motorcycle ride up the coast, hiked the bluffs and then stopped off at 'the office' to say hello to some friends. The ride was so much fun but when I went to dismount I hit my bare leg on the tailpipe (because apparently I am not capable of going a whole week without bruising or burning myself right now for some unknown reason - aack!!) that part was not so much fun, but it at least looks like it is going to heal nicely. Lesson learned : if you are going to go on a motorcycle wear freakin pants, not shorts - no matter how hot it is!

After all that, I managed to get home and asleep by midnight, but this morning it felt more like I had been up for 3 days straight! :O)

See why I am glad it's monday - a day of work but also a respite from the many weekend adventures! Seriously, I feel so blessed, I am so living the best dream!! :O) Happy Monday!!

Where is that girl? Many updates...

Well, I am still settling into the new job and trying to create some type of routine I can plan around. I have been to the bay area 4 times in the past month, which in some ways has been great but also I am a little sick of driving, being in the car generally and of not sleeping in my own bed.

This will be only my second full week of working at home. I do however, really like the new job, the team is made up of a group of very talented folks that have been really nice. I am struggling a little with learning all the new internal stuff, but feeling more competent as each day passes. Since making the transition, the reduction of day to day stress in my life is definately the biggest bonus.

In my free time when actually home I have been golfing like a doctor, surfing like I'm sponsored, walking the beach barefoot as often as possible and just started Tai Chi classes again. Always the busy girl, and now that I work at home, I have a strong urge to be out of the house in my off time.

4th of July here this year was beyond fabulous, although the thousands of people who came to visit for the occasion were a little hard to deal with. Tourists, we love them, and we don't...but seriously, the sand castle contest was really cool this year, lots of great entries, the parade had a great turn out, lots of parade folks and lots of spectators. I actually got to be in the parade this year, which was so much fun, a totally different perspective than watching it from the sides - mostly that there are so many people that come to watch and line the streets, it was amazing. I enjoyed throwing candy out to the many kids along the parade route and seeing so many people smiling and waving. The only drawback is that when you are in the parade, you don't get to see as much of the people parading, so I wouldn't want to do it every year. The fireworks were great this year too, and not as many people set off their illegal ones on the beach so there was a lot less smoke to deal with and a much better view.

The weather has been wacky - the first two weeks of June were gorgeous, no gloom in sight and then it came back with a vengence and has been pretty gloomy through the rest of June and most of July so far (it was pretty clear on the 4th though). Now we are having monsoon weather, so even though in the valley just an hour or so away it is over 100, it has been raining here off and on all day, mostly cloudy but not as chilly as it normally would be when raining, staying at about 70 degrees. It actually reminds me of Hawaii, now if the water would warm up so we didn't have to wear wetsuits, well that would be paradise!

Lastly, I did post a few new pictures on Flickr since my last blog post, so check them out if you haven't noticed yet, and would like to. I have'nt been taking as many pictures lately, but I do have a few I need to get onto the computer and out to Flickr, and will soon post those and start shutterbugging again.

So thats the latest public news. Hope you are all having a good summer! :O)

alive and well

What with leaving the old job, sneaking in a little R&R time and jumping head first into the new job, there hasn't been much "spare" time for anything, let alone blogging. So this is just a quick post to say hello and that I should be posting more regularly soon. Hope all of you are well! :O)

Multiple identities - memory lanes

Those of us in front of a computer all day with internet access most likely have at least one instant messenger client open at all times - in my case I often have at least 3 open - since I have needed IM to communicate with team members in meetings and located remotely and have never worked anywhere that there has been an enforced standard. Of course I also use it to chat with friends and family on occasion too. Typically, as soon as I start a new job I create IM accounts specific to that job, across mutiple applications - so I can stay focused on current work and keep the side chatting to a minimum.

Since I will be starting my new job soon, I began the process of creating new IM accounts and while doing so, realized that I already have an account that would be perfect for this role - I just had to remember the login info. I couldn't remember my password, or when I had used this account last, but once I got logged in, wow. It was created in 1999, for a job I had for barely 6 months during the dotbomb era and it still had all of my "contacts" from that time and account listed - (mostly old co-workers) some of them, because they are only "screen names" I can 't even remember...so many thoughts of things that haven't crossed my mind for years.

One screen name was a bit of a surprise though, I didn't realize it was still being used but it allowed me to say hello to an old friend, who was probably pretty surprised as well! :O)

My futures so bright...I have to wear shades

I received an incredible job offer yesterday and I have accepted. Although I will be working for a company in the bay area, I will be able to work from home 95% of the time, the work is good, the people are nice, the hours are reasonable, the money is fabulous and I am so excited. Now I just have to tender my resignation at my current job, something that feels a little scary to do...Hopefully they will recognize that this is a dream job offer, too good for anyone to pass up and wish me well. It has been a really challenging few years, I am extremely grateful for the good things that seem to be flowing my way. Wishing all of you, dreams come true! :O)

Addition to: my new baby

I forgot a few details:

The "new baby" has a black exterior with charcoal leather interior and it does look pretty damn good on me :O)

I am particularly excited about the fact that the seats that warm up because I am so often cold in the mornings and evenings here.

Giving up the little honda is a bit hard to do, although I was really ready for a new car, I did get attached to the old one, it is so full of memories, some of them very special and precious to me, but luckily I will have those always in my heart, so I can let the little honda go...I think :O)

priceless

brand new car - $27,000.00
replacing already lost brand new car key - $125.00
laughing at yourself with friends - priceless

meet my new baby

ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to my new baby, I am sooooo in love:



Cute, huh!?


the car I am replacing was a snap decision used car purchase, bought soley for practicality and was only ever supposed to be an 8 month commuter car just to help me save gas until I could move closer to the job I had at the time - that was 1998. The "little ghetto civic" as it is affectionately known, now has over 160,000 miles, has been broken into 3 times, was almost totalled in an accident, is full of memories, needs more work than I want to pay for at this point, and has an identity crisis trying to decide if it is a race car or a truck. It has been good to me but it is time to let it go. I already have a buyer for it, and I really love the new black beauty, but I still feel a little sad thinking about giving it up, but hey it is going to a really nice kid who will take good care of it.

The brand new car, although practical, is also somewhat of a luxury. I have never even really considered buying a brand new car, the whole losing value as soon as you drive off the car lot thing...but this is both form and function. I decided as long as I was going big, I might as well go huge, so I got the special edition with the extras, and since its new and interest rates are decent, it will end up costing about the same as a used one, so bonus for me.

Sunshine!

The drenching we have been getting is finally beginning to disappate, the proof is that I actually have a slight sunburn on my face! We have had something like 30 days straight with either little or no sun and plenty of rain, so I am just more than ready for a warm spring and hot summer. Bring it on!

Today is supposed to be 75 degrees and clear and it is doing wonders for my general disposition! I love the sunshine. I can see why people once worshipped the sun with all its golden glorious blazing. If I could, I would be playing on a beach somewhere sipping mimosa's and watching the waves, the surfers and the tourists and thinking how truly blessed I am to live here.

Wishing you bright sunny days ahead! :O)