Work is tough!

Every year, my office goes on a river trip for a few days. For me, it's a chance to relive my days as a whitewater guide and get some incredible therapy. I know it sounds cliche, but when I get on a river, I'm reminded that I can't control everything and sometimes I have to "go with the flow" (pun intended). In my day to day life, I try to control everything. Ryan will gladly attest to this, and in fact, he deserves a lot of credit for putting up with my incessant questions about the basement remodel, his job, his bowel movements. Actually, I don't need to ask Ryan questions about his bowels, I'm all to aware of the health of Ryan's digestive system.

Anyway, when I get on the river, I immediately switch to a mode where I try to work with the river and not against it. For example, we were running Wapinitia Rapid, a class III rapid that has large waves and a couple of large boulders in the middle of the river that you have to get around or risk flipping or wrapping your boat, when I got pushed off my line going into the rapid. Usually, I like to scout class III rapids if I haven't seen them before, but that didn't happen in this case.

The river pushed our boat farther left than I wanted, and unfortunately, that put our boat in the perfect position to hit a massive boulder. I screamed a command to go left and quickly realized the river did not want me to go that way and we were seconds from hitting the threatening boulder. After I shouted an expletive that rhymes with "duck", I quickly realized what the river was doing and commanded my boat to work with the river instead of against it. It was an ugly run, but we made it and the river didn't punish me for trying to tell it what to do.

To see a few pictures of our boat in Wapintia Rapid, click here and look for photos 17-19. In case you are wondering what I'm wearing, we had a costume night and I'm borrowing a colleague's "Aunt Edna" costume from National Lampoon's Vacation with Chevy Chase. I'm wearing a housecoat over my life jacket and a pink curler in my hair. Classy!

Here's a link to another picture of us running Boxcar Rapid, another class III drop with a big juicy hole (the whitewater you see me hitting in the photo).

I love our annual trips on the river. Not only are they fun, but they are a great reminder that you can have the most rewarding experiences in life can happen when you aren't in control.

Ryan enjoying the view at our camp on night 3 of our trip.

River feet!

The beautiful Deschutes

Relinquishing control is probably easier when you've had a PBR.

Scouting Whitehorse Rapid

A momma dear that really needed a drink.

Our friend, Alex, likes to live dangerously!

A "trust" game for team building.

Decisions and Art Projects

The last month or so have been crazy for Ryan and I. In addition to hosting visitors from the east coast, putting in new duct work for our basement remodel, cheering on our new MLS soccer team (the Sounders), and managing the grounds of our estate, I have been dealing with some career-related questions.

Back in late June, I found out that my position was being reduced to 60% time starting in mid July. The economic downturn has been hard for lots of folks, so I consider myself lucky to still have a job at all. On the plus side, I have Thursdays and Fridays off, so I have more time to catch up on things like reading, painting, and projects around the house.

A few days after I received the news of my time cut, I was recruited for another position with another organization. It's been a long and hard decision, but today I decided to stay at my current job because of some very interesting longer term opportunities in policy work.

During the stressful job decision process and with extra time on my hands, I decided to transform a cheap piece of Ikea furniture into a sophisticated "antique." Here is the before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

I've learned a couple of things about myself this month. First, I have a clearer vision of what I want for my career in the near-term. Second, the fumes from painting projects are good for self medicating and reducing stress, which probably explains Martha Stewart's professional success. Finally, I've officially become "old" because antiquing furniture is more therapeutic than drinking with friends, dancing all night, and passing out just short of your front door. I can live with doing old lady things, but I'm a little disappointed that painting furniture leaves you just as dirty as drinking excessively and sleeping in or near your own bodily fluids.

Ryan and I are off to my organization's annual river trip this weekend. We're very excited to get on the river and for the traditional "Costume Night." This year's theme is a tribute to John Hughes and his movies. Ryan is dressing as Cousin Eddie from the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie (picture him in a robe because "the shitter's full"). I was planning on going as the principal from the movie "Uncle Buck" with a huge mole on her face, but tonight I found the same outfit that Cousin Eddie's wife, Catherine, wore at Christmas dinner at our local thrift store, so now we have a couple's costume.

Stay tuned for pictures!