Day at the mountain

It has been dumping up at Mount Ashland so I decided to take a trip up there to check it out. It's a really fun mountain. The best part about it is that I was able to sleep in, kick around a bit and was up skiing within 45 minutes of leaving the house :)! Ashland just keeps getting better and better!!!

Merry Christmas

Holly and I are here in Seattle. We have had a busy few days and tons of social time. We went to lunch with Drewski and Rebecca yesterday and they are expecting their 1st little one in March so Holly decided that we should make them a quilt. I watched her work madly on this project and I cooked dinner for the gang. I made flaming hot cajun meatloaf so we had to drink a lot of wine to squeltch the burn. Check out Holly's 24 hr project quilting skills. Impressive!

It is now Christmas day and it's snowing!!! It rarely snows here, or so Holly says. It snowed last year too... We went on a nice long run in the rain/ snow a while ago so now I'm drinking tea, listening to My Hump by the BEP and blogging as Holly slaves away in the kitchen. Make me a snack, woman!

Oh look, my snack is ready. Gotta eat. Merry Christmas!

winter...2 days early

It was a beautiful day here in the Rogue Valley. The mountain opened today, the pass was closed last night and the snow line is close to town! A beautiful view on the way to the office and an even better one when I get there.

cocktail party fun

Robyn and I had a joint b-day / cocktail party on Friday night. I was too busy having fun to take many pics, but I did capture this on film. Chad (on the right) has more flannel shirts than most people and Friday night he was sportin the sweater / jacket combo. I see college professor in his future. Alex (on the left) - wow - he's wearing a shirt! What a handsome lot.

I've been tagged

Sharon the Hammer tagged, so here goes with 5 things that most people probably don't know about me.

1.) When I really little I hid the last cherry popcycle in my drawer. I guess I didn't want to share with Holly - makes sense even now :)

2.) I don't like playing volleyball only because I suck at it.

3.) My favorite color is purple.

4.) I don't like strawberries or cauliflower.

5.) North Park is my favorite area in Colorado.

I don't have 5 blogger friends who haven't already been tagged, but I'll tag Brian, Carmellow and G-Dawg to keep this rolling.

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I had a great birthday this year. I woke up to blue skies, which held true for the entire day. (I was in dire need of a fog free day). I got to talk to a ton of people, finished my Christmas shopping and then went to Julie's for dinner. She made dinner for a small group of us a wonderful dinner (roasted chicken, broccoli, fresh, homemade cranberry walnut bread, and roasted pototoes - delicious!) and it was so nice to sit, relax, talk, listen, and laugh. I forgot to take my camera though- bummer! She made me the cutest icecream cake. It was a chocolate cake with peppermint icecream so it was pink :), and she decorated it with gingerbread men candles and rosemary spigs so it looked like the gingerbread men were haning out in the woods. It was awesome! and soooo tastey. We all had seconds, except for Leah who showed serious self constraint. Thanks, Julie!!!

Happy Birthday, Peter

I came down to San Fran to celebrate Peter's birthday with him. It's been a really fun few evenings. Last night we all dressed up and headed into the city to attend Peter's work party. It wasn't that exciting so we headed out. We ended up at the Top of the Mark for a night cap because the view of the city is incredible. We went out for a ride today. It was a beautiful, balmy day here in CA so we headed up Diablo and it offered a great view. Tonight, Melissa took us out to dinner for our b-days. We had a delicious Italian dinner and then went to the St. Francis to ride the glass elevator. I didn't really enjoy the elevator experience as much as I thought it would. It was kind of like one of those free fall rides. We all had an Irish coffee in the lobby and people watched for a bit. There were lots of people dressed to the nines for holiday parties so it was quite the show. There was also this huge gingerbread house in the lobby that has been under construction for 2 years now. The stats on it were quite impressive - 100 lbs of candy, 40 lbs of flour, etc - the total weight was 1200 lbs!


When we got home, Melissa suprised us with a peunut butter ice cream cake. Thanks, Melissa! Now we're hanging out on the couch with the cats watching the Soprano's. These cats are awesome - Casa and Mosi. There are sisters and super cute. It's nice because they let you pet them and they seem to like people - what a concept.

tis the season

To mark the beginning of December, I went out and bought a tree and decorated it. I think I found the perfect one for my space - tall and skinny. This is one of my favorite bike themed ornaments. I can't remember who gave me this one...anyone else remember?

It was a beautiful day yesterday but we are having gail force winds now and the clouds are rapidly moving in. It looks like a guarentee t o get wet, cold and blown off the bike so I think I'll head out for a hike in the park instead.

Thanksgiving weekend o' fun

What an eventful weekend! We skipped the Medford Turkey trot and went on the Heather Turkey trot trail run in the hills above town. The n we proceeded to eat a ton of food, play games and drink wine until the wee hours of the night. Dave brought Guitar Hero that game rocks! I want a playstation now just for that game.
We all went downtown for the big lighting of the plaza / seeing Santa Clause event. It inspired all of us to get ready for the holidays. Peter and Melissa were off to get a tree today, but I am going to wait until next weekend. A solid month is plenty of festivities and decoration time for me. We went to the Southern OR wine tasting and I was disappointed in the selection, but there were 2 choices that were ok. Then we went to the Brewery with Leah and her brother, who is a jewelry designer. He
designed these fairy ears...no more comment on that.

Peter was a trooper and went riding with me yesterday. It was sooooo cold, but not as cold as CO riding. Def. cold enough that I really wanted to take a nice long hot shower when I got home. To my horror, the shower wasa full of water and so was the toilet...and the water was moving in the wrong direction. Last night was uneventful because we sat around waiting for the plumber to arrive. Apparently there are old clay pipes here too and since he was pulling roots of my shower, I guess the cootonwoods have made their way into the pipe. Not good...



Today I went out mtn biking with the owner of Flywheel Bicylces. He did a great job of fixing up Julie after last weeks brake incident and was nice enough to volunteer to show me yet another amazing local ride. I was suprised he wanted to ride with me since the first thing out of his mouth was "you don't clean your bike do you." what could I say but NOPE! Anyway, we headed out to Applegate Res. It's a great ride - not too much climbing, hardly any technical stuff - just smooth, rippin fast single track that required a lot of peddling. Perfect for a chilly late Nov. ride.

calm before the storm

It was a beautiful weekend here in Ashland. It was well into the 70's on Sunday, which was a shocker because the weather forcast called for snow...which came in the middle of the night Sunday. My mountain bike is out of commission so I took the cross bike out instead. There was a great view of the valley from the Ashland loop road.

I am looking forward to a long weekend with cousin Peter, Melissa, Holly and Dave. I have all sorts of things planned for us, including the light parade, wine tasting, the art and wood carving festivals, a trail run turkey trot and a ride out to Jacksonville. I am so excited!

movie night

I picked up a movie on my way tonight called Conversations with God. I heard about this book a few years ago and the movie is just a glimpe into it. Come to find out - it's was filmed in Ashland.

Wagner Creek

Sorry for the lag in postings. This week was crazy at work because we had several deadlines and it is now dark after work, as you all know, so I've been sneaking out at lunch to run (which means I work late). It's all worth it though because the weather has been great this week. We were supposed to get rain starting late Friday afternoon, but it never came. Today I was recoverd from my bottle flu /food poisoning - what an evil evil combination!!! so I tore myself away from the porcelin throne and threw myself into the great outdoors. I finally went out with Bob on one of his 4 hr adventure rides. (Bob is the guy I met this summer who I had actually met when I lived in Ft. Collins). Anyway - he showed me this great ride up Wagner Creek. It was some tight single track! There were places that I thought my handles bars were going to hit trees and a few places they just scraped through. I can't believe we are still mountain biking in the middle of November! It was a cold, frosty, ice on the puddles kind of day, but great dirt.

what a weekend

It was a fun weekend here in SO OR. Art walk was Friday evening so I went out to that. I had a great time with a one of the new friends that I am making. Then I went road riding on Sat. I was disappointed by my inability to make a long loop on the road though. Lots of dirt roads that are more like 4-wheel drive roads so I guess the moutain biking is starting to pull ahead. Then I ended the day at a performance about the expression about the Human Spirit. Very impressive local talent and a great show! Todays ride was amazing too which is another plus for the mtn bike. I rode up to the boundary of Mt. Ashland Ski resort with a few more new people that I met. It is really easy to meet people here - it's quite amazing. It was nice to have people to ride with too. Once again I did not take pics though. Next time.

I rented a few random movies from the library, one of which was Taxi Driver. I picked it out because it has a lot of big names in it and was nominated for many awards. I'm not sure why - times were different then I guess.

the Halloween parade

Ashland is a big Halloween town. This is the parade that heads through downtown, in the middle of the afternoon on a week day. Check out the video below. It's kind of neat how the whole town comes out, dresses up, and then goes out and gets crazy. I actually went out last night too. It was a fun night out on the town - lots and lots of nutty costumes. I do have to wonder though - when and why did it become appropriate to dress like a total slut? It was out of control.

Halloween

I finally went mtn biking

I went mountain biking today and I now I am torn - is the mountain biking better or the road riding? I feel like I live in a dream land. I rode up the mountain today - no driving required - climbed a fire road and then ripped down the funnest single track I've done all summer. Yesterday I headed up towards Mt. Ashland on the road bike, saw a hand full of cars, and was on a beautiful road. oh- the decisions.

critter damage

I ran over a squirrel on the bike path today. It darted in front of me and there was nowhere to go but right over it. I felt it crunch beneath my wheel, but amazingly the little dude got up and ran away. shhewww! However, the black widow that I found crawling around in my living room wasn't as lucky. She's smeared all over the sidewalk out front.

entry improvements

My front door was looking a little too bland. On my ride up Green Springs I saw tons and tons of roses so I was inspired to make a fall wreath. Thanks to Holly for tromping around in the mud with me to cut willow whips and rose hips!

weekend with Holly

Holly came down from Seattle to visit me this weekend. It was her b-day a month ago so I finally gave her her b-day present and I wrapped this up as a joke. I tried to keep a straight face, but I just couldn't hold it together, esp. when she started striking a pose.

Holly found Evos Coffee house - apparently all the hippies rubbed off on her because she got one of those hair deals when we went to the Gypsy Rose. It looks cute on her because there aren't nappy dreads oozing out of it. We had great weather so we went for a hike in the park. It was fun to have her here. She helped me a ton with my house too. I like it more now. I found some great madrone twigs tonight - can't wait to put them up. They smell really good!

labor of love

It is cold and rainy this week so I headed off to the Ashland farmer's market yesterday for chilies. I was disappointed that there weren't any roasted chilies there, but there was a very wide variety so I made a huge, delicious batch of green chili last night.

I wish I had my camera on my run last night. The light was so great - it was foggy, raining, but oddly very crisp and clear. Great run through Lithia Park. The rain brought a dusting of snow to the top of Grizzley Peak too. It's getting closer :)

another beautiful day in Ashland

Yesterday I went out on a locals favorite ride called the Green Springs Loop. I can see why it is a favorite. The fall color was great and the climbing was broken into 3 sections. I ended up decending the climb that I went up last week so it was nice to put some things together too.

I am getting settled and trying to get my apartment in order before Holly arrives this weekend. I am excited to see her! I have dug through all the boxes, unpacked everything and have most of it organized. It was a challenge due to the "mix up" with the movers. I have the kitchen in order and made 3 soups this weekend. It was so nice to be able to cook things that involved a bit more than a small sauce pan or or mini grill (although they weren't much more involved...baby steps ;)

job report

I just finished up my first week of work and happy to report that it was a lot of fun. This is the great view from my office - it's kind of distracting :) We had a few deadlines this week so I got to jump right into the thick of it. Interesting projects, two schools and residential redesign, at scales that I haven't worked on in a long time. Next week I"ll start working on a park project and another school project so I am looking forward to grading and getting the brain back into technical mode.

The movers arrived on Tues. and I was glad to see them. I must say though - if ever you hire movers - I would NOT recomment Avalon Van Lines. Horrible experience! Most of my furniture was damaged and things had been "repacked", i.e. boxes dumed into very large boxes so things were completely jumbled and a nightmare of a mess. To make things even more interesting, when the movers got here they told me that a few things had been "mixed up" at the warehouse so they had me on the street going through boxes asking "is this one yours? how about this one?" Needless to say, I am missing quite a few things and I inherited some others. I am just so glad to have a home base though that I am beyond caring at this point. In fact - it's kind of scarey how well I am taking it all - just completely rolling with it, laughing when I find the random stuff and thinking, gee I wonder if I'll find this or that. It's just stuff - it comes and it goes.

inaugural ride

It has been cold and rainy the past few days, but today was a perfect fall day so I took Eddie out to explore a bit. The past few days of cold brought snow to Mt. Ashland and Shasta - bring on the skiing. I discovered that there is a cross country ski area only 15 miles out of town! I rode up there today - what a deal. I went out for a short ride but still got a 9 mile sustained climb in. I back in time to play soccer this afternoon, at which I managed to pull my quad. oops! more stretching next time. I did meet another female cyclist - a mountain biker no less - at soccer tonight. I'm excited to have someone to go mountain biking with.

I start work tomorrow and the movers should be here Tuesday so it's going to be an exciting week. I am looking forward to getting back to work and to sleeping in my bed.

I've arrived

I'm here in Ashland after two liong days on the road. The sunrise was beautiful, as was the sunset. The rest of the drive was boring boring boring. The wind across WY was hideous but I did see lots of snow. It seems like I missed fall. I got to Ashland and the rains have started too. I thought the most painful part of the drive was through eastern UT. Come to find out this vastness of ugly is the Bonneville Salt Flats. The movers haven't arrived yet, so I'm just hanging out here in my empty apartment watching the TV I bought today. I am so addicted to Grey's Anatomy...what can I say.

Iowa

Dad and I went back to Iowa this weekend to visit Gram and pick up Mom and Dad's new camper. They are going RVin'. Dad and I got to check it out last night too - we camped in the Wal-mart parking lot. I didn't realize that was allowed but there were a lot of people camping there in Kearney. It wasn't the typical camping trip, but it was the first time I've ever slept in a parking lot outside of a Wal-Mart so in some funny way it was an "adventure".

We had a nice visit with Gram too. It was so nice to spend some one on one time with her. Dad went to get the camper and Gram and I hung out and talked about travels and trips, her adventures with Jessie Hill (her 100 year old friend who passed away last week), etc.

After supper we went for a drive out to the cemetary to see the new angel. It was kind of weird so the Marys thought I should see it. It's small town living - what else can I say. The sunset was beautiful! Earlier in the day we went to the house where Johnny Carson was born. It's right up the street from where Gram lives and it's the big thing that Corning is "famous" for.

the Ashland update

Some have been asking for more detail about the move to the great northwest, so here goes. Last week while I was there interviewing I was offered and accepted the job that I really wanted, found a place to live and negotiated the start date to be October 8th. This allows time to make a weekend trip back to IA to see Gram before heading west so I am very happy about that. It will be a bit more of a challenge getting around from Ashland and the snow has already started to fly so I plan to hole up there, get settled a bit and enjoy some travel free time for a few months. I will be driving out there next week and plan to stop in ID to see A. Becky and the gang. I'm really looking forward to that as well. I should be in Ashland by next Thursday - WOW!

I hired movers to take the stuff from storage. Oddly enough it will end up costing me a bit less to have someone else move it than if I did it myself. I am ticked about that because I was dreading moving all the crap out of storage and driving a U-Haul cross country. The movers will be here tomorrow and I'll see them out in OR sometime in the next 2-1/2 weeks.

I found a place to live that is about 5 blocks from downtown and work. I will be working downtown and am looking forward to being back in the mix. I was lucky and found a decent sized apartment in a house that has been divived into 3 units. I am glad that I will get to live alone and in a house - best of both words. There is a big yard too so I'll have lots of chances to dig in the dirt, sit outside, bb-q, etc. It is in the neighborhood / area that I really wanted to be in too so I'll get to walk and ride my towny bike everywhere - woohoo!

Now, about the job. I will be working at a small landscape architecture firm called Covey Pardee that focuses on urban design and public works projects. Some of it will be new (the urban design, commercial type projects), but some if it will be old hat (the public sector parks, streetscapes, marketing, proposals, getting cut sheets set up, etc.) It should be a good mix and I am looking forward to the opportunity. I feel very fortunate to have found a good paying job with long term potential (quite possibly partnership if things go well), in an office that focuses on the work that I love to do and in a town that I want to live in :)! When I get there I will be working on a couple of school projects, creating a web site, and putting together marketing material. I'm not a big fan of chasing work, but since I love to talk and my new boss is a bit more laid back...looks like I'll be hammering the phone and making some contacts in neighboring communities. I am really excited to get started and back to "reality".

More really cool stuff about Ashland - I can mountain bike and trail run from my front door, skiing is 20 miles away, there are 3 organic grocery stores in town, there is a reservoir running distance away for a hot afternoon cool off swim, there is a ton of amazing road riding, there's salsa dancing twice a week at one of the local restaraunts, there is a lot of art and theatre, its only 5 hrs from San Fran and 7.5 hrs to Seattle. I will keep updating this list as I discover more.

I can't even begin to describe how I feel about this change. It feels so right and so natural and I am glad I was able to be open to it. Thanks for all the support so many of you have given me throughout this past year. It means the world to me!

I have a home!

I am happy to report that I have decided on Ashland. It's a great little town and I look forward to growing some roots. More later - it has been a very long week of intense interviewing and I am beat.

Ashland for the week

I am thrilled to be leaving for Ashland, OR this am. I have an interview this afternoon, one tomorrow and two on Wednesday, and am hoping to meet up with one more firm on Friday. It's going to be a crazy week, but hopefully when it is all said and done I will have a job and a place to live. I am so excited to move out of my car!

back to D town

I have been back in Denver for two days now and I can't seem to shake the nausea. It started when I saw the 50 miles to Denver sign on I-70 and progressed into an unescapable sensation of complete and utter anxiety. This can't be healthy. Due to the stomach situation, I can't say that it's good to be back, but it's good to see friends and to be out of the car for the time being. I am looking forward to getting settled and back into a routine, work and "normal" life. I am leaning more towards Ashland so I am going out there next week to interview and to find a place to live. I will keep you all posted on the happenings.

good times at the OK corral

good times out on the ranch

I met with Lauren in Tulsa and we headed out to see Alice and Glen in Leedey. We had a great time with them. We had some girly time with Alice, who is an amazing quilter. She has one of those fancy quilting machines so we went to her new shop to check it out. Glen took us out to do the boy things - we shot guns and went bass fishing. It was a great time!

Oklahoma...hi y'all

I picked up Lauren in Tulsa yesterday and now we are out in boonies watching the wind blow. Alice took us on a locals tour today and we met this very interesting couple who live close by. Joe, the man we met, makes all sorts of sculptures out of old farm tools and horse shoes. I would post a picture, but I screwed up and deleted all my pictures from my camera (thinking they had been down loaded - oops!) I lost a few weeks worth of photos so I am annoyed with myself. Honestly, most of the pictures I've taken in the past few weeks have just plain sucked because it has been so humid and as a result, hazey. There was one that I really wanted though - it was a street sign that said "Welcome Home".

Anyway - Lauren will be with me on the trip back to Denver. I am glad to have some company and to be a short 9 hrs away from a 2+ week break from the car.

Rock Hill to Savannah

I'm out here in South Carolina with Jan and Alan. I've been having a great time visiting them. Jan has been taking me around so I have seen quite a bit of the area. Jan took me to her master gardener course so I learned a few things about bugs - it was interesting. I am going to take that course so I can answer some of the questions that people are always asking me about their plant issues. Feebee, their little dog who is super cute, has been helping me knit and work on the computer. She's a cuddle bug. Last night we went Front Porch Home Cook'in and I had fried green tomatoes. They were good - tasted just like the typical food in the fried food category. Today Jan and I went to Savannah, GA because I wanted to check out the historic district. The city was designed around squares, which is a bit different than most cities so I wanted to see how it worked and walk around and get a feel for it. I was so thrilled that Jan voluntered to walk around w/o a plan and just see what we could find. What a sport! Thanks Jan!!!