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!

Visitors from DC!

Last weekend, our good friends, Bonnie and Joe, came to visit from DC. Bonnie and I went to law school together and Joe and Ryan used to be part of an informal "Beer and Ideas" inventing group along with another friend, Byron. Bonnie and I also went to law school with Byron's wife, Amy.

Actually, this could get confusing, so I'll break it down.

Law School Pals: Amy, Bonnie, and me

Beer and Ideas Geeks: Joe, Ryan, and Byron

Byron and Amy are married and Joe and Bonnie are married.

OK, now that we've got that straight, check out this movie that I made of a hiking adventure on the Snoqualmie River. But before you do, let me just say that record companies are LAME for many reasons one of which is the fact that they are now blocking all audio from home movies uploaded to YouTube that include clips of songs they own. As you will see, music is essential to a story and to convey emotion on film. Ugh!

And now, a clip from the garden.

Last fall, a friend shared a bunch of plants from her garden with me for my new house. For a couple years, I've admired her evening primroses, which open every night at dusk and have blooms that last only one day.

I took a video of the flower blooming and tried to make a movie out of it. Soma has a cameo at the end. Enjoy!

John and Ellie's Big Day!

Congratulations to John and Ellie! I'm happy to have yet another sister-in-law from the great state of Wisconsin.

To see the captions in the slide show below, click on the text bubble in the lower left corner of the pictures. You should only have to click on it once to see the captions for the rest of the pictures.

Montana Road Trip

Ryan and I just got back from a trip to Montana for my little brother's wedding. I will post pictures from the nuptials asap. In the meantime, here are some photos from our road trip and an afternoon float on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. We learned a few things from our trip: (1) Soma likes the car about as much as Ryan likes the Jonas brothers; (2) Soma likes rafting about as much as he likes the car; and (3) I've reached an age where wearing heels is about as fun as using a cheese grater as an exfoliant.

Soma losing his marbles after only a few hours in the car.
The drive from Seattle to Kalispell is about 9 hours including stops for the dog.

This is how Soma rolls.

The amazing color of a glacial-fed stream.

A beautiful view of the river.

More scenic beauty.
The Middle Fork of the Flathead meanders along the southern border of Glacier National Park.

Looking upstream toward Glacier Park.

Do you feel more relaxed just looking at this river?

As I said earlier, Soma didn't like the raft. He jumped out a couple of times. In this shot, I'm sure he's thinking about jumping again.

Soma may look relaxed but don't be fooled. He's ready to blow this popsicle stand.

Apologies to our blog followers (our parents and about 3 other people)

Clearly, I have not done the best job keeping the blog up-to-date and fresh for our legions of fans. My apologies. If you ever decide to start reading this blog again, I promise -- but don't hold me to it -- to provide more timely updates.

Next week, we head to Montana for my "little" brother's wedding. We should have some great pictures and stories since we plan to spend a day on the river (yes, Soma will be wearing a doggie life jacket), drink excessively, and hang with family that I don't get to see often enough.

Now for a June update. Summer has arrived to Seattle. In fact, we've tied a record for consecutive days without rain. Our garden, which is in its first year and isn't quite established, is looking great and growing like crazy. Here's a peek:

Woodland garden under a cedar in our backyard.
The grass is going to be a multi-year project. Ugh! I hate grass!

I'm sad to say that I don't know what kind of shrub/tree this is, but it's gorgeous and covered sounds like a beehive with all the honey bees flying from flower to flower.

First lily of the season!

Nasturtiums! Ready for salad!

Crocosmias just waiting to bloom!

Front garden with the path we put in last fall. Next year, the garden should be fuller and more established, but it looks pretty good already!

The garden path with mature roses along the house.

One of my favorite plants: Himalayan Honeysuckle

Allium and other plants around the bird bath.
In case you are wondering why the water is dirty, I change it every couple of days but the neighborhood crows keep using it like a toilet. So much for my nice urban habitat.

Allium close up.

Rhododendron bloom in the backyard (this picture was taken about a month ago).

One thing that I've learned about gardening is that vegetable gardening is hard. Unlike perennials and a few annuals, it requires thought and planning and continued maintenance. First Lady Obama makes it look so easy! I guess it is when you have a staff.

Anyway, we grew arugula, kale, and two different types of lettuce but without a ton of success (except for the arugula). Luckily, my tomato plants are doing well and some pepper plants are blooming already. We'll see how it goes, but I'm a little pessimistic about my chances of lowering our grocery bill by growing our own food.

Until next time!