Parents, friends and babies oh my!

A full week... It all started with two nights of couchsurfing followed by a trip to Chico to see the parents for TG. My friends Garnabus, Fuego, and their daughter EMj came for the day from Cow town. We spent the day hiking in upper bidwell park and returned to a wonderful feast prepared by my amazing parents.

The week also entailed getting to meet Twatter's baby boy, Pumpkin. Of course being the cool, psuedo hippie auntie-em that I am, I took Twatter and the pumpkin to the park too! Can't ever get enough of those beautiful oaks and sycamores.

I returned to my dwelling behind the redwood curtain to new friends, including Marmite. Marmite is responsible for the amazing seafood soup shown. Halibut, clams, shrimp with a yummy tomato sauce with veggies. To die for... really!

More photos of the week can be found here.

Couchsurfing...

I was recently introduced to a new and rapidly growing online forum > www.couchsurfing.com by my friend Tree.

As my friend Fuego put it, "It's like Myspace for treehuggers." Basically, people of all ages all across the world have profiles similar to Myspace. The website offers you the opportunity to have someone "surf" your couch (stay at your place) or you could just offer to meet someone for a coffee or show them around your area. The website is set up to be as safe as possible with different levels of verifications and references shown on your profile.

Within a week of signing up I've had 5 requests to surf my couch. I just finished hosting two great people, one from South Africa and one from Wales. Since I don't have the time or money to travel right now it was great having cultures come to me. I never realized how little I know about Wales!

So far it's been an amazing experience!

Getting closer to home...

I posted about my "return from mono land" a few months back when I was going through a massive increase in energy levels. It wasn't too long after that when I realized actually, I wasn't fully back.

It's amazing to think that my energy level is still increasing 8 months after having gotten sick. Even more incredible is how many times I truly believed, because I wanted to believe, that I was back to normal. When you start from ZERO energy every lit bit feels incredible.

I've been feeling great for the most part the last few months but every time I would really start to push myself both physically and mentally I would inevitably hit the wall and break down. The last couple of weeks have involved yet another massive spurt of energy and no walls have been met as of yet. I'm hopeful to begin training for the Spring Avenue of the Giants 1/2 marathon that I missed last year due to the need to sleep for 2 weeks straight.

With the increased energy I've also found an increased interest in dancing. This past week was "dance week" at my home with all the roomies involved. We attempted the C Walk, Justin Timberlake moves, our own specialty styles and even the Worm. I wish I had a video camera because I'd have you all rolling on the ground in serious "I can't breeth" laughing fits. Dance week also involved watching Save the Last Dance, Step Up, and Swing Kids.

New and exciting?...

Pet peeve #1: Cigarette smokers that just toss their butts about.

Pet peeve #2: The increasingly popular greeting phrase "Anything new and exciting with you?"

As soon as I'm asked this my brain basically farts as it attempts to think of something "exciting" to share only to discover that, no, there's nothing new or exciting in my life. But that just doesn't feel like an appropriate answer. And realizing there is nothing new or exciting in my life is kind of depressing. > Not to say I'm down on life. I'm generally happy, excited to begin each day and am thankful for the life I lead.

But what happened to simply asking, "how are you?" Or, "how is life treating you these days?" These questions are open ended and offer the opportunity to share new and exciting elements of my life if I feel possessed to do so.

thesis week...

Slurp... ahhhhhhhh (that's the sound of inhaling warm, strong coffee)

click click click click click click click click click (that's the sound of a busy keyboard)
click click click click click click click click click
click click click click click click click click click
click click click click click click click click click

Slurp... ahhhhhhhh

crunch... gulp... crunch crunch... gulp (that's the sound of snacking and drinking water)

click click click click click click click click click
click click click click click click click click click
click click click click click click click click click
Slurp... ahhhhhhhh Slurp... ahhhhhhhh Slurp... ahhhhhhhh

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... (that's the sound of frustration)

Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp... ahhhhhhhh Slurp... ahhhhhhhh Slurp... ahhhhhhhh
click click click click click click click click click
click click click click click click click click click
click click click click click click click click click

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... BANG... CRASH (the sound of quitting time)

Only two days left in thesis week...