royal wedding

So I found myself being more excited about The Royal Wedding than I ever thought I would be. I didn't wake up early or anything, but I have to tell you that last night I felt like a kid going to bed on Christmas Eve. I knew that when I woke up I would get to spend my morning watching coverage and looking at photos while drinking my usual cup or two of coffee. I even had a dream that I was at the wedding, I think I was even a bridesmaid and I was hanging with Kate. I'm surprised at my sudden interest in this, but whatever.

I couldn't care less about what most of the guests wore or how they arrived, but I was so excited to see Kate's dress. It was lovely! Simple, elegant and just perfect. She seemed to handle the whole thing with such grace. Can you imagine knowing that you were being watching by an estimated two billion people all around the world?

While I thought my favorite part of the wedding would be the dress, it was actually this snippet I came across on the yahoo homepage:

Hopefully you didn't spend too much on your straightening iron. This is what celebrity hair dresser Andrew Barton said about the bride's hair, which was styled by James Pryce in a "demi-chignon": "Kate wearing her hair as she has is the death of the straightening iron."

THANK GOD! Mine died a few weeks ago and I really don't care to spend all the money on a new one!

day fifteen

A picture of something you want to do before you die. I want to be this good at snowboarding!

weekend

I had one of the best Sundays I've had in a long time yesterday and it didn't even involve yoga or snowboarding. I think the sunshine had a lot to do with it. I think I might have reached a point where I am willing to trade snowboarding for daily sunshine. But wouldn't it be nice if I could have both? If I moved somewhere else, I could! I also think I am ready for some warmth too, though.

Yesterday morning I talked to my mom for a bit, then I went to Mt Tabor with Julia and we hiked for at least an hour. It was lovely. I had only really been there once, last summer when we took our engagement photos. Hiking with a friend is so therapeutic. When you're done you just feel so renewed- physically and emotionally! Julia made us fruit and yogurt smoothies when we got back to her house. I wandered around (went to REI, did some grocery shopping, etc) for a few hours and then Keith and I went back to her house for dinner. We made tacos and had wine, followed by mango mochi for dessert. I had planned on helping Julia cork dot her coasters, but Keith had a headache and was ready to come home. I laid on the couch and watched an indie drama called The Joneses and then I went to bed. Nice day!

Saturday night Sarah and I went snowboarding when I got off at 6- err, at 5. I left a little early because I was super anxious to get up there! We had a great time but oh my gosh we got soaked. The snow was good but it was raining and oh so cold. I needed windshield wipers on my goggles. There were lots of crevices in the snow that made you bounce when you went over them, which is scary because it's pretty easy to lose control mid-air and face plant. If your knees aren't bent when you hit one of these things you just might go down. Here's the story- Sarah and I were cruising over to Multorpor and I was quite a ways ahead of her. I hit one of these things and it almost took me down, but didn't. It happened right under the lift line and I thought to myself, I bet that looked hilarious. My next thought was that Sarah was not far behind me so I should just stop and watch to see if she hit it too. I did, and she did. She didn't fall, but came close. I laughed so hard and she asked me why I didn't warn her. It wasn't so treacherous that I felt the need to wave my arms and yell stop, so I just watched. I repeated the story to Keith last night and again laughed so hard. He laughed too, but then mentioned something about compassion. Oh please. Nobody got hurt, nobody even fell, it was hilarious. And I'm sure I looked just as funny when I hit it! Also that night, we felt like we had the whole mountain to ourselves. Very few people were out braving the rainy slopes so at one point we thought we had the whole lift to ourselves. I felt the need to scream. Have you ever said, "I feel like screaming from a mountain top?" Have you ever actually done it? I have and it feels fantastic. Sarah yelled, "KA-KAAAWWWWWW". Of course, we laughed hysterically because why did she just yell that? What inspired her to yell ka-kaww? Not sure. Again, so funny. Right after our fit of loud laughter ended, we noticed a skier several chairs ahead of us. Oops! Guess we weren't alone. But we did have a great time.

I'm currently listening to Cat Power, drinking coffee and contemplating play lists for my classes today. This is my favorite time of day! Especially when the sun is shining!

ch-ch-changes

Changes are happening. I am building a life I love. A beautiful life filled with yoga, parking spots in front of my home, snowboarding, and never having to wake up at 5 am unless I'm taking a flight to somewhere fabulous.

From this day forward, I vow to take control of my life. Not that it's necessarily been out of control or whatever, but there have been things I've been tolerating for longer than I've needed to.

Happy times ahead!

weird dreams

I've been seeing an herbalist/acupuncturist recently to help me work through some issues. During our first visit, we worked on my immune system. This week he did an acupuncture treatment for my sleep issues and suggested that rather than stress out over my busy mind during sleep, I should embrace it and keep a pen and pad next to a bed so I can start scribbling down my thoughts as I have them. The first night I forgot. I knew I was having weird thoughts, but like always, I thought I would remember them in the morning. I was wrong. So last night, I forced myself to write things down. Here are some of the things I wrote:

• affair woman in small town is a painter
• small child in pink romper wanders alone. laughing. dark hair.
• red impala
• raccoon (I didn't write this part down but I remember that it was defecating and I had to walk past it)
• I am wearing a nude bra. And George Thorogood shirt. I take it off. Put it on again. Backwards this time. Take it off again and leave it off.
• I doubt she's been waiting 30 years for me to buy a pink criss cross dress from Ann Taylor.
• maybe I am skinny?

The other night I wrote- Kim Jong Il... does yoga?

I don't know what any of this means. But as I was telling my herbalist about Keith's recent award for his script he said, "Maybe it doesn't mean anything? Maybe you're just a writer, too."

Hmm... I don't know? I am curious, however, to keep writing things down and seeing what comes up.

upper bowl

I didn't take this photo, but this is Upper Bowl. So pretty! I want to be here every day.

snowboarding

Have I told you how much I love snowboarding? Oh, I haven't? Well let me tell you about it then! Keith and I went up to the mountain yesterday. We had our concerns because, being spring time in Portland, it was in the upper 50s and raining at home. Ski report looked okay so we decided to go anyway. Our days remaining this season are limited, after all! It was still rainy and gross when we got to Sandy, but once we got to Skibowl it had stopped precipitating and the snow was pretty awesome. It had snowed a lot during the week (a few feet). We got there at noon and didn't stop until they closed the lifts at four. We both brought our iPods and seriously had the best time ever. I love snowboarding so much! I was telling my friend Shannon a few days ago that at the beginning of this season, I stood in the base area, looked all the way to the top and said, "I want to do that." A few months later, I was doing it. When I first started this season, Keith could do two runs in the time it took me to do one, and no way on God's green Earth was I able to go all the way to the top. So yesterday, as I stood at the very tip-top of Skibowl and strapped by board to my feet, it felt so good to look over at Keith, turn on my iPod and say, "see you in a few minutes at the bottom!"

I just think it's so amazing the things you can accomplish when you put forth the effort.

(The picture is of Keith getting ready to unload at the top of Upper Bowl)

day fourteen

A picture of a person you could never imagine your life without.

day thirteen

A picture of your favorite band or artist. Trent Reznor. I took this photo at Sasquatch 2009.

day twelve

A picture of something you love. Mt. Hood!!!