No title can sum up my life in the past month

Well, it has been a bit crazy in the past month...there was a birth (welcome Axl), death (thinking of you Shannon), wedding, job offer, and a move. And I spent many hours crying about how much I was going to miss Humboldt...

My life has completely changed, and I am currently living in Oakland. I got a call last month on a Friday afternoon, drove down Oakland that weekend, had an interview on Monday, got the official offer the next Friday, and spent the next 2 weeks hanging out with as many friends as I could. Andy and I drove down here last week and got me set up in my new house. I am working a few weeks before Andy comes down and we can get a house. I am subletting a room from a really great guy until Andy can move down here. The house is beautiful and right next to Piedmont, which is a beautiful city within the city limits of Oakland with all of these beautiful houses, hugh old trees, and lots of parks. I am also just uphill from Lake Merritt, which has a great trail to hike, bike, or run around. There are also 2 sweet kitties and 2 sweet greyhounds that live here...they all help me to not feel so lonely since I am without Andy or many friends in the area. My job seems really cool so far...I love the people I work for, and the company is in this amazing transistion period. They are growing so fast that they can barely keep up with hiring people. So that is good because I will have the opportunity to grow with them and work on some really neat environmental engineering projects. I am starting out working on groundwater & soil remediation sites in the northern CA area. And, we'll see where it goes from there...

Oh, it was hard to leave Humboldt! That drive to Blue Lake where I can see the Mad River and the mountains in the background, days at college cove, drinking in Jenkins 214, lasagna cookoffs, and all of our amazing friends...it was tough to not cry about that stuff everyday. But, it was time for us to move, no matter how hard it is. I hate going through this everytime I move to a new city, I make all these amazing friends and have such a great network...and then I have to do it all over again. But, I think I have a little gypsy spirit in me...because part of me loves the change.

As hard as it was to leave, it was sooooooooooooooooooooo amazing to move here. I love this area! I love all the different people and all the different things that are going on here. It just feels right! Well, I am off to have some dinner with my temporary roommate (Marc) and try not to think about missing Andy.

Not so bad afterall

Despite the fact that it has been so smoky and hot here...we have found new things to keep us occupied. We have been properly motivated to get out of the house and get down to the beach more frequently than we are used to, and that has been a lot of fun. Mad River Beach has been our spot of choice for the past couple of weeks; the picture of the sand dollars is just what we found in one day. What a treasure! Andy and I are like little kids down there every time we find something...and we get to see the seals every time we visit. They like to hang out right at the mouth of the river (that is where their dinner hangs out: fish). We have also been swimming a lot in the Mad River...upstream about 4 miles (right next to our house). So exercise and entertainment are not so bad a trade off for smoke and heat. Oh how I love summer...

I'm an aunt (again)

I forgot to mention that I am a proud new aunt of a baby bull mastiff, Baxter. Blake (bro) got a new little puppy to keep his and Christina's (girlfriend) Rottweiler's busy...well that isn't really why he got the new pup, but I am sure that is what he is doing. What a friggin' cute dog, but what puppy isn't. I have really been feeling the urge to get a dog myself, especially after this. But, I know that we can't really get any more animals until we move. We have set a date for that (the move) by the way. October 1st is the date we will be in the Bay Area regardless of the job situation. I cannot just sit here and wait for the right job to come along. I have begun the steps necessary to work for myself...we will see how it goes.

We're dying over here

Auuugggghhh...just when we thought the smoke had cleared, it came back. The fires have spread and are closer to the coast now; smoke is everywhere. Everything has this really strange orange glow because the sun is filtered through all the smoke. And to add to the misery of breathing in all that ash...we are having record breaking temperatures. For example, the previous record temperature for this area is 86 degrees back in 1985. It is already 76 today and fore casted to be 103 by this afternoon. The air quality people are suggesting that we keep all doors and windows closed to avoid the smoky air, but no one here has air conditioners because it doesn't usually get so freakin' hot...so how are we supposed to stay inside of a cooking house. We are going to sit down by the river next to our house in hopes of finding some fresh air; there is usually a breeze that blows up river from the ocean.

Here comes the sun...do, do, do, do

I am soooooooooooooo sick of reading all these articles about how we should slather ourselves in sunscreen if we are going to step outside just to get our mail. I understand the risk of skin cancer, and the link between it and sunburns...but come on. Do you really think that we cannot allow our skin to ever see the sunlight again? I have always felt that the warnings about the sun were over-exaggerated...party because I love to sit in the sun (it is on my list of top 5 favorite things in the world) and partly because we have been in the sun as a species for thousands of years (our bodies have to use it for something). As a matter of fact, it is unhealthy when we don't allow the sun to shine on your body. Did you know sunlight actually decreases the risk of certain cancers including: pancreatic, lung, breast, prostate, and ovarian? The Moores Cancer Center at the Univeristy of California, San Diego (UCSD) states that nearly 150,000 cases of cancer could be prevented in the US alone just by allowing more sun to kiss our skin. Not only that by sunlight helps us sleep better, provides mood-elevating effects, suppresses overactive immune system, and lessens Alzheimer's symptoms (Kotz, 2008). The FDA released their report on the skin cancer, skin aging, and sunscreen last and said, "FDA has tentatively concluded that the available evidence fails to show that sunscreen use alone helps prevent skin cancer o premature skin aging. Thus, the anti-aging, skin cancer, and sun damage claims proposed by the comments would be false or misleading due to lack of sufficient data in support of these claims." (FDA, 2007) Just search for yourself to see all the research that proves how beneficial the the sun is. While the Vitamin D (the beneficial vitamin we produce when being in the sun) can be taken in supplement form, it is possible to overdoes when taking it that way (weird), but certain food also have Vitamin D to help us during the less sunny winter months.

Another thing that really pisses me off is the sunscreen industry...yes, I wear sunscreen when I know that I am going to be at the river all day because I don't want to burn up, but I feel really guilty when I get in the water and I see the toxic puddle of sunscreen that has come off of my body and is now in the water. Poor aquatic life...always having to deal with my choices of what I am putting in the water. And have you ever read the labels on a sunscreen bottle? I don't I even want to get started on that today...I am going to lay in the sun!

Californias a burnin'

Well kids, we are on fire over here in Cali! Last night a fire jumped the Trinity River and the South Fork to start even more fires that are threatening houses and closed Hwy 299 for a couple of days. The smoke is so bad at our house that we cannot see a couple of miles away...and we are expecting more lightening storms in the next couple of days that could start even more fires. I was interested in seeing just how many fires there were across the state and found this map from the Department of Forestry, along with some interesting statistics of resources being used to fight these fires. The really bad news is that we haven't even hit the peak of fire season yet, and this happens to be a very dry year...I hope we don't just burn away this summer.

Total Fires: 1,211

Acres: 193,470

Contained Fires: 266

Personnel Committed: 11,322

Fire Engines: 458

Hand Crews: 225

Dozers: 224

Water Tenders: 278

Helicopters: 68

Air Tankers: 14

Statistics Provided by Department of Forestry, California, June 27th, 2008.

So, Andy and I were looking through my baby pictures when we were in Arkansas...and it seemed like I really didn't look like a lot of my baby pictures. I was having a really hard time seeing "myself" in the pictures until we turned the page and saw this picture...we both just started laughing so hard because the look on my face is one that I still give when I am pissed or if I think you said something really stupid. Poor Andy has seen this look many times, and for those of you that have been my friends for a long time, you have also probably seen this look.
PS-Check out that 70's lamp and couch in the background.

Here is another one that is pretty funny...yes that is a Schlitz.

From one end to the other

Hmmm...I just skimmed over my last blog and realized how long ago that seemed; it is just that my thoughts have literally changed course so drastically. I guess that would have to do with our amazing trip to the city and the crazy shit happening here in Nor Cal. First, I will tell you a little about our trip. We got to visit with the parents, Noel, and Scott for a few days. The original plan for the weekend (which involved a beer festival and meeting up with Arkansas friends) ended up falling through at the last minute, so we ended up taking a walking/drinking tour of Chinatown, downtown, and the SOMA districts of San Francisco for Friday night...lots of fun until I woke up at 8 the next morning with a horrible hangover. All I could think was, "Please don't let it be noon, right now!" (Our check out time). Luckily it was only 8 and after a few more hours of sleep I was ready for the day. We hung out in Golden Gate park all day on Sunday...there was all kind of stuff going on and so many people out that day. We looked at lots of art exhibits, visited the Japanese Tea Garden, listened to a little symphony, played on the beach, and enjoyed some good beer at a brewery that is at the end of the park. We got to celebrate father's day late with the parents and enjoy lots of good roast beast (beef). It started to get kinda crazy from here...the night before there was this really crazy lightening storm that started 840 fires in the area. It was pretty hazy in Santa Rosa, but as we headed north the smoke just kept getting thicker. It got so bad at one point that you couldn't even see the hills surrounding 101; we just listened the the public radio station the whole way up listening for any road closures or evacuations. Luckily, we made it home safely only to find out that the D E A and the F B I have set up shop in our area for some crazy week long bust. It just feels kinda crazy here with everyone freaking out about the fires and the busts going on. I don't even remember what the hell I was worrying about last week...

Drama....

Why oh why do I get soooooo wrapped up in personal drama? I have been stressed out for the last week thinking about the relationships and drama that go on between myself and others (and drama between others and others). I am not sure why conflict between two human beings can consume my thoughts for so much of the day...I have found myself many times this week, doing really great stuff...but am still thinking about those conflicts. I never used to be this way; my motto for many years was "Fuck It". If you can't talk about it with the person or work on resolving it, then there is no point in wondering what he said/she said. Maybe I just have too much time on my hands right now. There is really not much going on my mind at this point in my life, so I must just be looking for some type of "entertainment" to keep myself from getting bored. Uggggg, that can't be good. I need to read a good book! Oh well, we are headed out of town tomorrow morning for a visit to Andy's parents. Noel is on his way here from Portland as I type this...and we will leave out of here soon. I am also hooking up with a friend of mine from Arkansas that just moved to the Bay Area this year. We were on the Pom-Pon squad together in high school (yes, I was on the Pom-Pon squad) and haven't seen each other since then (I think). Maybe I will be distracted enough to not even think about what other people are thinking.

War Pigs

Wow...we just got finished hearing the band next door play War Pigs! There is a fund raiser in the park right next to our house with live music all day, and the first band was this rock cover band that has been rockin' this neighborhood since noon. There are lots of festivals in the park, but usually the first band is a mellow or smaller band. Not this morning...hard rock first thing! We are going to grill some food and hang out with friends in our yard and listen to the live music all day. We are soooooooo thankful that it is a beautiful day here in Blue Lake!