Posted by Amelia on Mar 4, 2010 in
Travel,
Vacations 2010,
Working World So, two weeks ago, I started a job. A real job where I have to put on stockings and heels in the morning and stop at the coffee shop on my way into the office. It’s not bad. Pretty mundane really. But it is a means to an end. I want to use the money that I make through this job to be able to fund the remainder of my education, and possibly be able to set some aside for some travel and workshops this summer/fall.
The office world is one that I seem to have forgotten the ins and outs of, but I’m catching back on quickly. Remembering that I cannot get sidetracked, that I need to keep myself focused and organized. It’s hard for me to know that I can’t go on a two hour tangent of searching for information on something I find interesting when I have a deadline for the project I’m currently working on.
Last weekend we went to Milwaukee to celebrate a friend’s birthday. There were 8 of us in our little “party”. We managed to get hotel rooms in a beautiful hotel right in downtown for $40 a night, thanks to Priceline. We toured the wonderful Lakefront Brewery, which was much more fun than the Miller Brewery tour we took on our trip there in July. Beer flowed freely (at least by my standards, five beers over the course of a tour is freely), W got to reenact the infamous Lavern and Shirley Glove Scene as we all sang the theme music, and we get to yell Bung Hole. Glorious, truly. We had dinner at a bar/restaurant that delivered peanuts to us via a bomber on a metal track. Being the notorious international secret agents that we are, we had to pay a visit to the Safe House. Unfortunately, half way through the first day I started feeling a cold coming on. By the time we made it to the Safe House on Saturday night, I was exhausted, feverish, congested, and truly had hit my wall. I wandered back to the hotel along the Riverwalk and ordered room service. I love room service and it always makes me feel fancy. That kind of made up for being sick on vacation. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, even with the plague hitting me. Let’s just not mention the bartender. Ever.
The plague has continued since we got home late Sunday. I’ve been fighting it off, but it’s a slow process, which has lead to me being unable to hear much of anything from the clogged ears, unable to taste or smell anything due to the clogged nose, and essentially unable to move at anything more than a snail’s pace because I’ve been unable to breathe. I’ve been using my neti pot religiously, drinking Emergen-C, taking echinacea and golden seal. Nothing seems to be working. I’ve had to resort to NyQuil and AlkaSeltzer Cold. It’s that bad. The body aches are gone as of this morning, and it seems as though the congestion is starting to fade. Hopefully only a few more days of this.
I got on the computer this morning fully intending to write a post for my student midwifery blog. I was looking through sites and reading articles to formulate the post when I came across this beautiful little family:
Enchanted Gypsy
And the crazy little nomad that runs my brain started dreaming; dreaming of finding an old bus or van, converting it over to WVO (waste veggie oil), and traveling; dreaming of falling asleep surrounded by redwoods one night and next to the ocean the next night; dreaming of offering women’s health care at festivals and gatherings around the continent out of the back of my little house on wheels. It’s been my dream since 1996, when I was 19 years old and living on site at Hawkwood Fantasy Faire. I became pregnant with The Boy at that faire and wanted so badly to just stay ensconced in that beautiful little world inside a world. It felt safe and comfortable; cloistered, but instead of religious vows, vows of freedom and love and autonomy.
It’s idealistic. I know. There is no part of me that is delusional enough to believe that my dream is idealistic and romantic. The life I have created is not quite condensable to bus size, i.e there is no way on God’s green earthThe Boy or W would be willing to sell off everything and live in a bus.
But I won’t give up the dream all together. I will travel at some point. Most likely it will be after The Boy is gone on his own and it will only be for summer’s, or a month or two at a time. Most likely it will just be me and one of the dogs. But it will be my travels and my adventures and my dream.
Families On The Road
Live Lightly Tour
Happy Janssens
Building Luna
Wow, I’ve been out of touch. There is so much to update on.
Our trip to Saint Louis was fantastic. I was going to write out the entire trip, but really I think I can sum it up with the following photos.
I tend to hate posts that are all photos, but really I just don’t have it in me to write much more. Maybe some bullet points:
- I’ve been planning on buying a laptop for over a month now. We stopped in Peoria and I found the best deal I could imagine. Dell Inspiron, 250 gig hard drive, 3 gigs of RAM for $435. WOW. That’s twice as big as what I was looking at for the same price. Nice.
- W’s little cousin, Clara Jane, is a delight! She’s smart and precocious, creative and sweet. The girl can talk your ear off, however. She decided over the week that she is going to be a photographer and W’s going to be her model.
- I adore W’s cousin, PoppyMom. She and I get along like gangbusters and I’m looking forward to the next time we can hang out.
- My first holiday without The Boy™ was among the hardest things I have ever done. After dinner on Thansgiving day, I spent some time hermitted in the basement bedroom trying to get it together. Eventually I jsut fell asleep, which helped some. Made the time go faster.
- The Gateway Arch is *amazing*. I knew it would be big, but I had no idea how big until I was getting dizzy standing under the massive structure.
- W’s little home town is adorable. It’s slightly smaller than the town that I grew up in, but much cuter. Her family was better than I expected. I was more than a little nervous, for alot of reasons I won’t talk about here, but it went alright.
- I will never again take on a massive freelance project that is due at the end of a vacation. Working through four days of my six day trip was just no fun.
Posted by Amelia on Aug 27, 2008 in
160 Lbs of Boxer Love,
Parenting,
Travel,
W I haven’t had alot of interesting things to talk about lately. Things have really just fallen into a nice little clip and life is as it should be.
We’re preparing for a weekend of camping in the great North East…that is North East of the Twin Cities near Taylor’s Falls. We’ll be heading out on Friday as soon as W finishes work, and sticking it out until sometime on either Sunday or Monday. We went camping within three weeks of meeting each other at the beginning of the summer, so this is a good way for us to close out this summer.
The most exciting part of it though is that I will get to take my dog! And he will finally be coming to live with us! I cannot wait to have my baby with me. The last month has been hell without seeing him on a regular basis.
The Boy™ is also scheduled to come home from visiting his grandmother this weekend. So, all in all, I’m getting everything that makes me happiest in the world! Camping with my girl, having my dog by my side, and my kiddo home safe and sound. All in one weekend.
Today I’ll be running errands to prepare for the weekend. I have a waxing appointment at 12:15 to get rid of the bear hair that has been growing on my legs for a couple weeks now. The last time I had them done was Pride week, so we’re looking at almost 8 weeks of growth. ICK! I need to make an appointment today before I *leave* the salon for six weeks, maximum! I always tell myself that I will call and make an appointment when I get home and then I put it off until I look and feel like big foot!
After that I have to run to SuperTarget to get groceries for the camping trip and possibly a stop at the car wash to vacuum out the car. We’ll see how far I go.
I love my trips to Detroit. Every time I go out there I find something more to love about the city. I find delicious places to eat, interesting places to visit, great things to see…. It really is a forgotten city and it’s kind of sad.
And once again, I have found a fantastic place that I want to visit…
Park West Art Gallery
There is some fabulous work there, and I definitely want to visit the next time I head out that way. Though honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to wait and I might be placing an order with them before that. They have a great selection of animation art, and I’m always keeping an eye on that stuff as gifts for my mom for the holidays. She loves the old Disney animation and there are a number of stills that I’m sure she would really love to add to her collection.
Posted by Amelia on May 12, 2008 in
Dating,
Friends,
Travel,
W I am a bad, bad blogger. I have been planning out my vacation post for over a week now, and putting off writing about anything else. But all of the posts that are composed in my head just wouldn’t do my trip justice without the photos that go along with them and since my camera is being an absolute bitch about giving up the photographic goodness….the Detroit posts must wait. And life/blog must go on.
I’m beginning to think that all the interesting things in my life consist of beer and the smoking patio at the Townhouse. Which I suppose atleast gives me a solid setting for blogging about. *smile*
Two weeks ago there was much drama on the patio, including a 3-time-loser DUI calling the police on us for “stealing” her car, which was parked on the street not five feet in front of us with the keys firmly in my pocket. The police woman was adorable and sweet and very supportive of our attempt at grand theft auto. Four hours after the bar closed, I finally got Ms. DUI into a cab and made it home to my own bed.
This last week, well…long story short….swollen chapped lips are fun!
