Happy Birthday Bro

33! That's four years for you to prepare to be "a jerk" to me and 29 to follow through. It also means I've had 29 years to be the bratty li'l sis.

Even though you're in Thailand I know I can always count on you to make me feel younger. Thanks bro.

Hope you have a grand day, eat lots of food, win online scrabble, and don't make any babies cry.

P.S. These redwoods are awaiting your return to remove the spell that you've put upon them.

Almost Annual Valentine Making Party...

It was Valentine card making central at my place last night. Yep, it's true I enjoy being crafty and Valentine's Day happens to be a favorite holiday. What better thing to celebrate than love?

I enjoy a good potluck, but Valentine's making parties are the best. Tables of randomly collected crafty items, finger foods galore, and wine flowing to help inspire the creativity.

Of course when it comes down to it there's usually more talking, drinking, and eating than actually card making. So don't feel offended if you don't receive one. :)

i am a rubber ball...

i am a rubber ball
aiming for the sky
so if i give the ground my all
no need to wonder why

i am a rubber ball
you buy them for a dime
all i know is the harder i hit
the bottom the higher i fly

no need to be too good to be true
if i'm falling let me fall
let me do as i do
i'm a rubber ball

These fun lyrics that follow a wonderfully bouncy song seem to speak to me right now. I'm currently flying high and it's feeling good.

Oh, the band? Thamusemeant
The linked site above will not offer listening capabilities of this song, but if you go to itunes you can hear a portion of it. I've seen them perform several times, have a few of their albums and they only seem to get better.

I think it's a smile...

Okay, I'm sitting next to my bro and we're smiling. As shown in recent blogs I've been giving my brother a bit of a time. I'm just showing my love. It's true we didn't quite get along when we were younger, but somehow we lucked out and get along great these days.

never a smile on my face...

Okay, so I recently came across some of my favorite little me photos. Here I am again at 2.5 with my brother smiling as always. I believe he's smiling because he knows I'm freaked out. The only memory I have of being at Yellowstone is that everyone kept telling me not to touch the hot water or hot mud or my hand would get stuck or melt off or something. This was quite troublesome considering there was hot water, hot mud and hot geysers everywhere we went as tourists. I can even remember the pictures I created in my imagination of what would happen if I did accidentally fall in or touch any of the previously mentioned hot things. I hope to some day return to Yellowstone to see first hand what it was I was so scared of and to enjoy it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

home...

Just returned from a trip home to Chico. I was lucky to grow up one block away from Bidwell Park and the Chico Creek Nature Center. This photo was taken when I was 2.5

I remember being pushed in a stroller down a bumpy path of hodgepodge cement with a bag of stale bread in hand to go feed the deer that lived in the deer pens. The deer never really cared for my bread but the geese sure did, although they would nip at my little fingers. I'm sure the look on my face is not due to the psycho geese, but highly more likely from my brother pinching me. See how happy he is?

Anyways, I had a great time strolling down memory lane in lower bidwell park this visit. I did my best to remember what it was like as a child there. I bent down on the bridges crossing Chico creek to get a child's height view through the bars of the bridge. I like the view above the bars better. One thing that remains constant is the size of the trees. They have always been gigantic and always will be. Unlike my childhood, I opted not to attempt climbing any sycamore trees. I remember what happens.... I get stuck.

happy morning...

The simple pleasure of watching steam rise from fresh brewed coffee on a crisp, sunny morning.

brrrr....

I love the ice patterns on my car. It's like it's covered with icy fur.

Happy New Year Soon!

Hello to the very few yet very special people that peruse this blog. I have a good feeling about 2007. This hat upon my head has special powers. I've been instructed not to reveal all of its secrets but I'm gonna let a few loose.

If you visualize the color blue (any blue), wink your right eye once while looking at yourself in a mirror, and then jump off of a curb with a little hop when crossing the street at least once each day your life will be filled with joy and hopefully some really good salty food. The above things don't have to occur simultaneously.

Good luck and happy new year!

Rigdzin Ling

A few weeks back I went on a weekend Tibetan Buddhist retreat at Rigdzin Ling as part of a one unit class at HSU. This place is nestled in the trinity alps in Junction City, off of Hwy 299. As I pulled up in my car I felt I had been transported through some kind of warp and had arrived in Nepal. Well, as close as I've ever been to Nepal. A girls allowed to dream. There were prayer flags galore, stupas, fountains, shrines, and prayer wheels.

I've been looking to go on a retreat of this nature but have always been a little nervous to do so. Often there are so many rules to follow and I find myself nervous that I will wear the wrong thing or not bow at the appropriate time. Not the case at Rigdzin Ling. Here, you could wear whatever. Our teacher, Lama Zangpo, wore jeans the entire time. While many centers allow no drugs of any kind, here they had hot coffee prepared at all times and we could even bring our coffee into the shrine room where we sat to listen to teachings and meditate. Now that's my type of Buddhism.

inspiration

Oh madly the sea pushes upon the land,
With love, with love.
-Walt Whitman

My friend Tsky and I spent the afternoon at the beach today, enjoying the company of the sun and delighting in the beauty surrounding us. Inspired by the art of Andy Goldsworthy we created this heart of seashells with the intention that each piece spread love wherever it is placed next.

the view from my window this morning

After a week of solid rain the weatherperson calls for sun, but not until these clouds got a little more hail out of their system this morning.

Yesterday, was actually quite nice weather wise. I took a short 15 min. drive up to Trinidad to hang out at the beach with Zed and Mabel the dog. It was quite windy with large 20+ foot waves crashing upon sea stacks. I took my camera to capture the moment but alas I had left it on and the batteries were well... you know.