This flower opened a few days ago.
Seemingly insignificant. And it is. Aside from this being the plant I bought when I moved into the apartment. This whole branch has since developed from the main stem, essentially from nothing, over the course of a few months sitting in front of the big window diffused by airy linen.
Before moving, I could never keep a houseplant alive, let alone an orchid.
It's so pretty.
Camping trip was most excellent.
We went with P's wing-it method, which is a little different than Little Miss Planner's methodology. Although I did some research online and had printouts and such, really, it all came down to getting in the car and driving. We looked at, and rejected, campgrounds along Lake Shasta. Too populated, too many RV's, too tourtisty for our tastes. We like our camping to be more remote and free of people close by.
We drove farther north, and headed out 89 East past McCloud. Saw more campgrounds. At about 6pm, we declared a winner. Algoma campground was on Forest Service land. No running water, and an unmaintained vault toilet. It was also free, and we scored a site on McCloud river, with no people in sight. It was awesome hearing the river at all times.
Spent two nights there, checking out the McCloud River waterfalls, the towns of Weed and Mt. Shasta, and having slow mornings. I now have a souvenir "Experience Weed, California" t-shirt to commemorate the trip.
We decided to do some road trippin'. Headed out 89 East again, to check out Burney Falls, drove through Lassen National Park (awesome! far less crowded than Yosemite, and some darn purty landscapes!) We had a snowball fight in August near Mt. Lassen peak; well, not so much as a snowball fight as I ambushed my traveling partner. Made a mental note that I'd love to hike up Lassen peak sometime, plus that place is so uncrowded it would be great for backpacking.
Kept on truckin' out of Lassen and decided to find our campsite for the night. We drove to Lake Almanor and found a nicely empty campground on the south shore of the Lake. It was blissfully quiet thanks to it being Sunday evening. P made a bean stew that even after cooking for, oh, about three hours and two cannisters of propane, the beans were still hard in the center. Go figure. Late and dark into the evening, we heard a noise that caused P to pause (note: only pause, because being a manly-man, he does not frighten. ha!). I recognized the screams as a pack of coyotes in the night. To those who've not experienced such a sounds, it sounds quite like a screaming child and something not-quite-human. Wild!
Next morning we tried to cook those damn beans some more in hopes of having breakfast, but after another hour they still were hard. (And even after two more hours at home that evening: still hard! what the hell?). Finally we gave up on the beans, and headed out. We took Highway 70 down the North Fork of the Feather River. Unbelievably gorgeous territory. Shocking to come into the Delta Towns that were utter shite. Made our way back home, relaxed and happy to have had a few days in nature.
This week has been more dental work, more errands, and then it's back to work for me on Monday! Two weeks off was great, not enough, but hey! That's all some staffers get all year. Ouch! Anyway, I have to wrap my brain around the idea of long hours and such again, but at least did my annual hourly rate increase, so I can't complain too much.
Except I'd like to live someplace more mellow and less crowded. Some day, perhaps.
Oh man, I've been a blogging slacker. Free time seems to avoid me; I am expert at squeezing 20 more things into a day. I never seem to have enough time, there's always something I "should" do or "want" to do.
I want some down time. And the good news is, I'm about to get it!
Yep, my freelancing gig ends Friday! I am excited by the possibility of wide open hours ahead of me. Sure I'll miss the dough (especially since I am about to incur some major expenses, but more on that later.) but I am into the game of Extreme Thrift: it's fun to see just how much one can cut expenses and purchases. But even more than my being into the fun of Thrift, I am more excited by reclaiming my own time. I am always very conscious of trading dollars for my life energy.
The ad agency I've been at for the past three months is a very busy place. I've met some cool people, but in general, ad people aren't My People. I am looking forward to not having my ass be the shape of an Aeron chair. To not be in a cube, on conference calls, in meetings, negotiating, producing, and juggling. Instead, I'm about to see freedom.
So while there are some freelancers who would start getting worried about not having work, I am very much looking forward to it. It's one of the main reasons I freelance. I've been lucky as a freelancer; I'm as busy as I'd like to be. But I require a couple months off a year.
Now that I've gloated, I'll whine. Those expenses I mentioned earlier? Yeah. Check this: I need a root canal, a crown, and new tires on my car. Ka-ching! That just ate into about a month's living expenses.
When I was told today that Friday definitely would be my last day, my first thought was: "YES! This means I can go for a long bike ride before my root canal on Monday!" I'm looking forward to getting back into the physical shape I was in a few months ago (car accident + day job with long hours = 5 pounds). I'd like to even try gym climbing again to see how the shoulder is doing. What can I say? I'll probably spend 3+ hours a day exercising. Some people think I exercise too much already. (Ha! Hardly!)
I'm also going camping in a week. A trip is in the works to go up to Lake Shasta area. Being in the outdoors like that is so therapeutic for me. It's unbelievable what it does for my soul. I got me one hell of a cute camp partner who also happens to be a fabulous cook.
Jeez, I feel like a lucky girl.
