Arizona in December

So I bought my plane ticket to Arizona for the second week in December. Bunni & I are going to fly down and meet in Phoenix for 4 days. I have been really drawn to a natural healing school in Tempe and want to check it out before I make my final decision.

I've had so many signs in the last 6 months that keep pointing to Arizona, so I figure I should listen. If all goes well, I will be moving after the first of the year. I just have this feeling that everything is going to work itself out and align just as it should.

You can check out the school at South West Institute of Healing.

New Copper Swirling Epiphany Earrings

This is the newest design I've been working on. I have made four pairs and they have all been swooped up already. My copper finally arrived, so I'm going to be bending away all night to get some ready to take to Bellissima on Friday and get some posted to my Etsy site WillowLily Creations this weekend. Do you like them?

I was digging through the pantry this morning and found a jar full of tea that I brought from Portland with me. I forgot how much I love Good Earth tea. It's all sweet and spicy and delicious. It's perfect for warming you up in the fall. It made me so happy, I almost forgot how cold I was, almost.

Pondering Portland

Originally written on Oct 18th and then forgotten about, but then rediscovered on accident and posted on Nov 2:

You know what I love about Portland? So many things, actually, I could write a book. Right now what I love the most is the people. The diversity, the polite NW demeanor, the open mindedness and acceptance of all things weird. How many places do you go and when you look even a little lost someone stops and asks if they can help find something? I mean, seriously, that is amazing. I am right now sitting in the park blocks writing this blog and in the last 15 minutes I had three strangers approach me and compliment me and start conversation. Why did I ever leave this place? People here love me and you know what, I LOVE them. I really truly love the people here.

Portland, is so alive. It hums with an energy that speaks to me and sitting here in the midst of downtown, with the leaves raining down around me, couples snuggling and walking their dogs, and the traffic buzzing by I have decided something. I’m not done with Portland. I will never be done with Portland. In all her green quirky yuppie beauty, Portland, will always be my home. I will find some way to always return to her, because she didn’t forget me while I was gone. She welcomed me home with open arms and never once asked why I would desert her without an explanation or barely a goodbye. She understands entirely and she’s just happy, may I dare say, even proud that I have returned to her in one piece, better actually.

Halloween

Halloween was a two day event this year. The first night took place at Win River Casino. They hosted an Hallows Eve Bash. Although, I had been planning to go, I bought my tickets online a few hours before the event and my costume even later(which really shouldn't surprise anyone). I basically, took the last costume they had in my size. It actually being my size is debatable. They don't really make costumes for elongated folks like myself. I was Medusa, as you can so obviously tell from my picture (or maybe it's not that obvious). My beautiful friend Jen was tinkerbell. Being the faerie lover that I am, I jumped at the chance to trade my gold snake for her wings part way through the night. Hence the snake faerie was born.

The next night took quite a bit of planning, begging, and a little magic. I have somehow acquired the nickname Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) amongst a handful of people in town. I'm not exactly sure why, but I decided to run with it. Trying to create this outfit was no easy feat, but I wanted it so bad, it kind of just fell together at the last minute. This seems to be a theme in my life. I got the dress from my step-mom, she had it hanging in her closet. She bought it several sizes too big for her so it was huge on me. After some desperate phone calls my step-dad's mom said she could alter it for me. I thought I was going to have get purple gloves online for $40, but a last chance phone call to a little bridal shop supplied them for $8. Score! Last, but not least was the hair. The only shade of red that would work was permanent, but there was no going back now, so I took the leap and decided to deal with the consequences later. This too seems to be a theme in my life. :) Luckily, it all worked out and voila! I'm Jessica Rabbit!

A big group of us went to the Exotic Ball, which by the way was not exotic at all and then all migrated to a bar down the street. The Joker in the picture above actually won a bunch of money for his costume. This last picture is of Lacey, me, my best friend Vito, Roman, and another lovely lady I can't remember the name of.

Heading Up to Portland

The drive to Portland went incredibly fast, in part to my ban on all liquids (Bunni has a pea-sized bladder) and also in part to my amazing time traveling skills. Time travel is relatively easy, you just have to have a lot of faith. Bunni thinks I’m such a good time traveler because I speed, but it is truly much more than that. There are rules to time travel. You can’t look at the clock, because your conscious mind will keep you from making the leap over the time continuum. You also have to set a time intention, mine was we will be to Bri’s apartment at 6:30. Then you just do your best to get there as fast as possible without doing anything terribly illegal. Driving 15 miles over the speed limit is not terribly illegal.

Even though there was a ban on bathroom stops, we did get out and take a few pictures of Mt Shasta. Apparently, Bunni and Mt Shasta are in the midst of long distance love affair. Although, I have a feeling it is terribly one sided.

Anyway, we had to get back on the road, because we were time traveling on a schedule and we had places to be and people to see.

Day in San Diego or The Beth Chronicles

I made my way down to San Diego to visit one of my funniest girlfriends ever, Bethy-Anne. I love every chance I get to spend with her, she's got a wicked sense of humor. Although, I could have lived without the fake dog poop she kept putting in my suitcase. We had a great afternoon together, shopping (minus the me getting stuck in a dress in the dressing room at H&M and nearly having a panic attack before I was able to free myself after 15 minutes of entrapment. My life flashed before my eyes!), going out to eat, and drinking mojitos.


We even got all bundled up and took a walk on the beach in the dark. It was Beth's idea to pretend we were walking in the snow and so we did. After that we sat and talked for a long time about what we want to do with our lives and how it was all so much easier when we were in junior high getting stalked by her creepy high school neighbor James. Life was good then, but I'm really glad I'm not in junior high anymore. Life is so much better now, harder at times, but so much better.


We went back to Beth's and made cranberry vodkas, finished the rest of the Stefanie cheesecake (it's even delicious as left-overs, see how excited I was), and stayed up late watching movies. I passed out until the trash truck in the alley woke me up and the maitenance people knocked on the door and told up they were shutting off the water. Good Morning to you too!