Yippee....we're home!

We are back in the "Blue Lake" and happy to be here...other than that earthquake that just happened a couple of minutes ago. I am pretty used to them by now; I always think someone is driving their truck into our house when they happen because our house makes such loud noises. But this last scared me enough to move from the back of my house closer to the front door in case I needed to get outside quickly. But, luckily I survived and we are now enjoying our house that is still standing.
Our trip down south was very exhausting for me...physically because we drove over 1300 miles in a couple of days, mentally because I had to confront a lot of beliefs that I have about SoCal, and emotionally because of the reunion of dad with the family. First, we drove down to Cortney and Dust's house in Oakland to see them before they go back to Vermont for the summer...which makes us very sad. We did get to rock out on the "Rock Band" and eat really good food with our friends and that makes us happy, but we will miss having our friends so close for the summer. Next we picked up Mom and headed down to the desert on a mission for dad. What a long friggin' drive down I-5! The entire right hand lane was filled with trucks and the entire desert was filled with food...more food than I could have ever imagined. The central valley provides one half of the nations fruits and vegetables in the summer and around 70% of the nations food in the winter. I mean can you even imagine that much food...all grown in one area that makes up approximately 10% of the state that is a desert? Well, it was an eye-opening experience for me because I have some serious issues with the transportaion of all that water to a desert in the first place, but after I saw the food production I had to rethink my beliefs about our whole food system here in the US. It was really hard seeing all the oil wells just sucking the earth dry, but I do drive and car and use electricity so I can't really complain much about that stuff...it was just really hard to see it all in person. It was a constant battle in my head between seeing our precious resources being used up so effortlessly and being aware of my own consumption in this world.
Enough about my environmental beliefs and onto the happy stuff...we picked up dad early Friday morning as the sun rose over the oils wells Taft, CA. What a reunion! He hadn't shaved or cut his hair the whole time he was in...he called it a "grizzly adams" beard, but Andy and I think he looked more like Andrew Weil. We quickly exited the facility and went on a hunt for breakfast. The drive back was nice and we had a great couple of days back at their home in Santa Rosa...sushi, beer, and ice cream! Yummy!! We drove back after the weekend and are glad to be home in Humboldt...even if it is a little cold. We are now preparing for our bacon party/holiday on Saturday. I will be making a savory bacon cake with cornbread, cheesy "icing" and of course bacon. I will post some pictures soon.

The bird has flown the coup...

We are leaving tomorrow morning to head south for the grand event of the year. Andy's dad will be released from prison on Friday morning at 7am, after 10.5 months! What a party we will have this weekend! Mom is so excited that she can barely talk, and Andy will get to eat bacon again. For those of you that don't know about this subject...Andy's dad was the doctor that got in trouble with all the NFL steroid crap about 2 years ago. Well, he got sentenced in a federal prison down in SoCal and finally gets to come home this weekend. As for the bacon story...well, Andy wanted to do something as an act of consolidarity while his father was locked up. His first idea was to grow a beard for the entire 10.5 months, but I explained that that would really be making me suffer also. Since I wasn't really ready for any acts of consolidarity that drastic, I mentioned that he should give up something he loves...bacon. And when I say my man loves bacon, I mean he LOVES bacon. So this chapter in life is coming to a close and we will be celebrating for the next couple of days.
PS-We will be having a bacon party at our house on Saturday the 3rd...potluck style, anything you want as long as bacon is an ingredient. I will be making a bacon cake and we will have a cheap beer taste test to go along...kinda like the Pepsi challenge with PBR, Miller, and Coors.

Video Game Extravaganza!

Remember when you were a kid, and you would play a video game for hours trying to beat it...well, Andy and I downloaded Super Mario Bros. (1985 version) and the 1st Zelda on our Wii. We couldn't stop playing last night, and now we both have the dreaded "Nintendo Thumb". That is when your left thumb is so sore from rolling around on the control to move you little man; we have to build up a callus for extended play times. Well, regardless of the pain we must endure, playing those games is a lot of fun! I am not the biggest fan of video games (except of course Smooth Moves, which is the best game ever), but the nostalgia of those games alone is worth playing...not to mention we are having a lot of fun bouncing on koopas!! Oh yeah, one other drawback...we constantly "sing" the theme to Super Mario Bros. even when the game isn't on.

New Motivation

I just got a new burst of motivation this morning...our good friend called from the East Coast and informed us that he may be transferred to the Bay Area next month. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was just the push I needed to refuel my fire for "the great job search". I started the search again today, and found some really neat places that did environmental work in the area. And, as an added bonus, I ran into an friend that was visiting Humboldt who just finished the job hunt recently. He helped reassure me about the importance of the right fit between a company and and individual. (Thanks Micah) I know the right place for me to work will come along and I will be happy when I get to actually make my dent in this world.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

I always try to remind myself not to (judge a book by cover), but sometimes I forget. Like when I first heard of Vampire Weekend...all I could imagine was some teenage goth band (not that there is anything wrong with a teenage goth band, just not my favorite type of music). I kept hearing their name, and would cringe a little bit every time. I thought, "Who would go see that band, they are stupid". All this hostility based on a freakin' name. However, as I was flipping through the channels a couple of weeks ago, there was a video on that made me stop for a minute. Who was this band? I sat there and listened to the whole song, totally in love with whoever these people were. Then at the end of the video, the credits showed me that I was in love with Vampire Weekend. Needless to say, I felt bad and a little embarrassed that I made such a quick judgment on something like a name. It was a good little reminder to not be so judgmental about other things or people in my life. Here is the video that hooked me...we now own their album and listen to it about 2 times a day. I guess a better word to describe my feelings would be obsessed.

Yet another obsession

I just thought that I would share with you another obsession of mine, besides non-Newtonian fluid. It's called Amigurumi, and it is crocheted objects. For some reason I want a tea set, pirate, zombie, blue bird in nest, or candy (pretty much anything you can name) that has been crocheted. I don't really know what I would do with all of these things, as I don't really like to have random crap sitting around my house. All the crap sitting around my house serves a purpose at some point or another. Even though my floor is filled with shoes, magazines, laundry, flower bulbs, and weights...they are all useful objects at some point in the day. I just wouldn't fill right filling my rooms up with all of these weird little objects, but something deep inside of me wants to just a little. If only I didn't already have 14 million other craft/projects that I need to work on, I could learn to crochet and make some of these things. I better
just finish up some things that I have already started...like that strawberry embroidered dress that has been waiting for a zipper for 2 years.

I won, I won!

So, I entered a contest with my favorite shoe designer by sending in picture for a contest they were having...I just found out that I won! Yippee!! What girl doesn't love free shoes from their favorite store? Here is the pic that won it for me: My fluevog collection on top of our car. (Yes, I know that I have too many shoes.) If you have never heard of Fluevog before, you should peek inside his online store. Most of my collection is pretty tame compared to the styles that he conjures up.
For example, the second picture is a pair of red boots that I purchased to sell on ebay. They are covered in red pony hair, with a cloven hoof as the heel. I felt like a gazelle in these things. It took me about 10 minutes to put them on, and another minute to figure out how to stand up once I got them on.

Non-Newtonian Fluid

Oh how I love non-Newtonian fluids...I am just completely fascinated by the change between fluid and solid state of this stuff. This is one of my favorite videos on the web where some crazy people filled a tub with cornstarch and water; I have to do this one day!

To be or not to be

Well, another lazy day here at home...Andy and I walked around, and I took these pictures of all the things blooming in our yard. I think we will head to the garden store today and buy some veggie and herb plants to put in our garden (see our spiral herb garden above). We were originally planning on moving by next month, but my job search seems to be going a little slower than anticipated. So, since we will be here a little longer, we might as well plant a few things in the garden. I already filled the lower lever of the herb garden with strawberry plants, and we can enjoy lettuce in just a few weeks.
As for the job-search, it might help if I applied to more than just 4 places. I keep going back and forth between wanting to begin my career as an engineer and wanting to just travel. Maybe this is the world's way of telling me to go to Egypt or something...Andy and I really want to go visit so many places, that we do not even know where to begin.

As the birthday week comes to a close...

I celebrated my 32nd birthday this past week, and it was wonderful. Andy and I went to "Berk-a-ley" for my very first job interview and got to visit with our friends (one of which inspired me to create this amazing blog, thanks C-Dawg). We returned home just in time for the actual birthday-day and had a fabulous dinner with friends that ended in chocolate covered strawberries. Who doesn't love chocolate covered strawberries? For the wrap up, we went camping in a beautiful redwood forest on the Van Duzen River. Thank goodness spring has begun, because we got to lay out like lizards on the beach and soak up the first rays of the season. Happy Birthday, Me!!!