driving, driving, driving.

SO SICK OF DRIVING. but i LOVE seeing the country. guess i just have to deal.

drove from tahoe to portland, or all day on thurs, but not before seeing emerald bay in tahoe. BEAUTIFUL. and the night before (weds night), went out and shuffle boarded it up at a local bar with marit and her friends. some fun pics...which i will post in a few.






drive to portland was LONG - 11 hours. and i was tired. mental note: never drive that long by myself again. it's dangerous. especially through the mountains of n. ca and s. oregon. in the dark. with lots of tractor trailer trucks. NOT fun. but i'm sure it's beautiful in the daytime.

hung out with sarah rigles and her husband robb before bed (12am ish). then had b-fast the next day with sarah. it was so much fun! we'd been friends in college, but, as she pointed out, mostly friends in a group. this must have been the first time we've ever hung out 1:1 and it was a lot of fun. she owns her own dance studio, and we chatted alot about the arts and education and community outreach. made me think - excited and a little scared, but it was really good brainstorming.

then 3 hrs north to seattle. but i stopped at mt. st. helens first - i'd done a report on the volcano when i was in elementary school, and remember being fascinated by the natural disaster. i was a serious/weird kid. i watched the 22 minute movie they showed at the visitor's center, all about the explosion in 1980. and the film ended with "now we must learn from the lessons of mt. st. helens" - communication was spotty, preparedness was low, coordination was lousy, and it all sounded like katrina. and i kept thinking - HAVE we learned anything? or are we so shortsighed that we never learn from these things? sheesh.

then made it to maddy yesterday (friday). hanging with maddy is good for my soul. honestly, she's a kindred spirit of the highest degree. we saw a show last night - bluegrass in seattle. this FABULOUS band called the clumsy lovers from vancouver, bc. their show was SO high energy, and they had a female fiddler who was whooping and kicking and dancing/fiddling on the bar. the whole place was jumping. a great, great show. i'm smiling just thinking about it.



(pics - maddy'n jess; maddy'n steph - a frisbee friend - and maddy'n jess again)

today has been pretty chill, BUT tonight we're going to a wedding party, and i WILL wear both a pink dress AND my pink cowboy boots. fashion rules be damned!