Clouds and Husband

Things I love this Thursday?

I love when the clouds look so big that you could eat them.
I love when the sky is so blue you could drink it.

I love when my husband and I are on an adventure.
I love when all of these things happen at once, just as they are supposed to.

This is what I love....

edited to add:
oh and this quote is making me smile today...
"Shangri-La is in you mind, but your Buffalo is not." from an article that has my head spinning about words and language, communication and travel.

Were back...

from our trip to Mono/Inyo Counties (have you ever read Cadillac Desert?)
we put almost 1000 miles on the 4-runner,
took over 500 photos
and
needed a shower like you wouldn't believe when we got home.

It was a good trip... just me, the man and the dog.

photos from the trip are bing added out here

Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around...

Does anyone else remeber that song from a show on Nickelodeon?
~~~
I feel like I am spinning right now- a little dizzy from the work week and prep for our trip. A little dizzy from teaching 4 classes in 3 days. A little dizzy just because that is how I am feeling lately.

I am looking forward to the therma-rest pad and the camp stove. Looking forward to the hiking boots and the tank tops. The the colors of the desert and the sand dunes...
to the magical energy that death valley holds.


Taken last Sunday on April 1st while strolling around downtown with Urban Climber and Andy.

There were hundreds of pinwheels stuck in the grass outside the Pioneer Center. despite the shiny goodness of it all in person, this shadow shot is one of my favorites from the day.

The new camera came yesterday. A few things missing (wide angle lens, car charger, and extra battery, big tri-pod) according to "Tommy" the things are on their way. I had a sinking feeling that we just handed over a pile of cash and got hosed, but I am going to keep telling that feeling to hush and know that those goodies are on the way.

Anticipation & Waiting

The desert awaits

A big thanks for all the encouragement on my last post. And a HUGE over the top thank you to Pancakemama who has taken a bit of time to go through my Flickr stream and find her favorites. I thank you again and again for sorting through and givin' the support.


We are gearing up for a camp trip in the desert. Death Valley to be exact. It is looking to be warm one. Triple.digit.warm.

The house is getting cleaned, the camp gear organized, the car tuned up, and the cameras cleaned off... except for that new camera that we are waiting patiently to arrive on the door step. We ordered a Canon D30 this weekend and it is supposed to be in our hot little hands by Thursday. I am over the top excited about this new little gem. I have been hunting down photos tagged with Death Valley out on Flickr, look at the beauty that awaits us.

Interingness and Flexibility

"A flexible imagination is just as important as a flexible body"


this photo is one of the "least interesting" according to Flickr.

Photo Taken at the Kayak Rodeo, downtown Reno @ Wingfield Park/Truckee River summer, 2005

Heading towards the light...

when you get comments like I have been getting the past two posts I know that there is light. (thank you all for your amazing words and comments)


when you have a good walk and talk and dinner with your longest time friend and lunches at home with one of your newest friends, you know that there is light.


when you get up and go teach yoga at 7:30am to a 70-something year old woman who can still get into triangle pose, you know that there is light.

Thank you Thank you Thank you
For all the light in my life. You all have touched me and I feel the light coating my heart, I feel the light shining from within and I feel the light expanding across the skies, and the heavens.
Thank you Thank you Thank you

Sometimes.

Sometimes, you just need a closer look.
where you were,
where you are &
where you are going.
Not staying at anyone place,
but in the moment.

Daff

Things have been a bit weird over at the Noodle House. I can't quite pin point it but I feel that things are changing. There is something brewing inside me that I can't quite figure out right now. It is a mood perhaps, or just the change from winter to spring (and then back again depending on what the weather here in the Biggest Little City wants to do).

There is a bit of melancholy despite the sunshine, the garden playing and the random lunches with some fabulous women lately. I feel like the blog needs a break, but I also feel like writing here is really good for me. so there is a toss up... and that is exactly what the problems are- all these toss ups right now.
I am not quite this, nor quite that.

So where does that leave me? Taking in each day at a time. I might be sparse around here, but don't give up on me dear readers. Check in and say hello if you are in the area.

~~Today is Thursday and I am in love with the daffs that have popped up all over town.

so little..

there seems to be so little time to squeeze it all in, and yet what is time really? It is something we can manipulate just by turing the hands forward on a clcok if you really think about it.
The week after day light savings change happens always throws me. Plus I taught a yoga class at 615am on Thursday and so my internal clock is realy wacko.
Driving to class yesterday I saw the most beautiful cresent moon rising, huge and beautiful. That made it all worth it.

I have all sorts of amazing news this week.
there is a pumpkin seed growing in my best friend's belly, she has "ultrasonic" proof.
there is a diamond on my other bestfriend's finger, she has a tan line from Mexico as proof.

all this makes me want to cry. in a good way.
I am looking forward to a massage tonight, yoga tomorrow and sunday (three hours on sunday) and hopefully a walk with E to hear the proposal story and to get blinded by the new bling on her finger...

ahh, time...

Thursday I am loving...

an attempt at TtV.
Failed in that the photo didn't get taken "through the viewfinder" but rather reflected off the viewfinder...
- but I really like the what I got here just the same.

My mom keeps telling me how amazed my grandfather would be with all this digital photography technology. And how proud he would be that I am using his old camera in a new way. (He used to have a dark room "down the cellar", develop and roll his own film. This is my tribute to him. A reflection of new in the old... love you grampa~

holiday...

let the sun shine in!



we are planning our summer.

the time has been granted to be away from work and teaching and home.

hiking, backpacking, road tripping and exploring.

death valley
highway 1
rural nevada


just the man, the dog and me.
oh boy!

Tulips

I spent about half an hour to forty five minutes playing around with the "through the viewfinder" technique when I got home from work on Friday.

There is a bit of perfecting needed, but I really like these- they are a bit haunting. Check out the entire set.

Red...

Red has shown her moon face again.
She makes us wait another cycle
and
find forgiveness in each day,
until we can fertilize the garden
that would bloom in the cool of December;
if the roots take hold.

~~~

$11 for the vintage children's rocker (second rocker in 2 1/2 weeks. Something about filling the house with things for a child. Thinking it will be a way to remind my body that the chairs need to be filled with little person.
It is my way of creating a "vision board" like in the Secret.)


Wide Leg Lounge Pants, Amy Butler pattern from In Stitches. Modified length (to fit my hobbit legs)
~~

Photobooth Friday 2-23--07

It has been awhile...


First, thanks everyone for such sweet Valentine's Day wishes. We had a nice one and we are gearing up for hubby's birthday next week now that the day of love has come and gone.

I decided to take a week off from blogging because I am trying to simplify- I am also really needing to stop checking and updating blog/flickr all the friggin' time. It is one of the worst habits I have ever gotten into- can you all just stop being so interesting for me? (do you like how I pushed that over to being all of your faults?). I am trying to really evaluate where I spend my time, how I spend my time and with whom I spend my time.

Looking to just cut back a little in all areas so that I feel a little more grounded is all I really need.

We spent the long weekend lounging around the house together. We got our new GI-NORMOUS television (42 inches of hd insanity people- I try not to watch, but there it is...) and a dish, and a receiver, and a ton of speakers that are all over the living room. I sat most of the weekend and enjoyed the spectacle that is cable. We have been living cable free for the past 5 years. We would watch anything that would come through via the rabbit ears and lots of coaxing of the "12 inch wonder" (no not that "wonder" tee hee)...

I made pancakes and ate lots of soup all weekend. (hubby was sick and I was trying to not become that way.)
This photo is my ode to 3191, cuz I get up early too...

I worked on some knitting (skateycakes, that hat I was working on with you has been ripped and re-ripped and finally re-rolled into a neat little ball for another project-)I also finished two pairs of "wide-legged lounge pants". A pair of crazy red and flowers for me (I will try and get a picture this weekend, since I am living in them I am sure it won't be hard to do) The second pair was given (sans pictures) to a dear friend who is about 3 1/2 months "with child" and is quickly finding that she hates to wear elastic pants or the pregnant woman option- these were prefect.

I did make it to the booth last Thursday after yoga class- I used the $ I had found in the parking lot the week previous... It was good fun. there was a family waiting on the other side of the booth, two little girls cracking up at the faces I was making while sitting solo. I wish I could have got them to jump in there with me.


I look forward to another weekend home- this time friends from Portland coming down to see us.Wish me luck in not sending our guest in to an allergy attack due to a rouge gluten ingredient (ack!)...
Happy Friday everyone... for more booth action head on over here.

Release and non-photobooth friday

~~
I don't have a booth picture to share. I did find $6 in the parking lot yesterday (all ones) on my way in to teach yoga though. I think that is a sign that I need to get my booty to the boothy this weekend. Maybe I can drag the Mama in with me? what say you lady? (I know you read this).

I didn't have anyone show up for class last night(again). But I did take a bit of time to do my own practice while I was there. It felt wonderful. As I was in a posture that I have a love/hate relationship with I felt something shift. I felt myself let go. I went deeper into it than I have ever let myself- actually folding forward over my legs instead of just holding on and sweating out the sensation. When I did this the tears came. They were unaccompanied by sobs, just tears. As my mind shifted into being okay to be in the posture, I too became okay with something that I have been holding on to- I have no idea what that something was, but it was there and I felt not only my body shift but my emotions and my mind- THIS IS WHY I PRACTICE I heard myself say to myself.
The tears were refreshing and wonderful. I totally just let myself be in it.
~~~

I have all sorts of good intentions for the weekend:
* re-arrange the bedroom, feng-shui it, if you will
* spend some good time in the craft room
* make a mix cd
* practice yoga (at home or at a studio)
* get to the booth
* sweep/mop/vacuum
* walk the dog
* get to the post office, or at least get things prepped to go to the PO on Monday
* take a nap in the sun
* go see a movie, alone (eat popcorn)
* go to the craft store for some supplies
* hang up the photos I got from JesC
* not get hung up with the fact that this list is probably too long to actually complete in 48 hours...
~~~
"Waiting" PV Mexico- waiting for our stand by flight. Taken by Mr. Noodle prior to the Mr (actually we had just started dating at this point)

For some real photo booth love head on over to flickr (click)

Thursday Love

here we are, back to Thursday again. This week has been a bit of a roller coaster for me. I found myself at home sleeping most of the day on Monday- A bit of a mental holiday if you will. I needed some down and out time. A bit of time to sleep and snuggle with the dog. A bit of time to go sit on the couch with my mom and have some hot tea and talk and get my requisite hugs for the week.
On Tuesday I felt refreshed and ready to take on the world again. This weekend is promising to be filled with time in the craft room and some chores- which is okay because doing chores sometimes helps me re-group. I am also hoping for a bit of time in the yoga studio, as a student instead of a teacher. I have one more week of my Tues/Wed. classes and then a break. Which I think is much needed.

So what do I love this week? Hmmm, how bout some old pictures? but of something that makes me smile and dream?

I love the way the sky in Reno looks when the clouds are just right around the mountains and the sun plays with the the color spectrum. I love the way the desert smells after a good rain. All that sage and ozone.

These pictures weren't taken in Reno, but in a small little town near Tonopah (click the word for more), NV -which is about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.
At one point Belmont was the county seat for Nye County- there is still the jail house and a few really amazing buildings in the town along with the remnants of the mining days. It was a booming place at one point due to the mining industry. Today there are about 5 year round residents.

There is a bed and breakfast, a bar called Dirty Dick's, a fantastic jewelry shop called Sticks and Stones, and a few characters that will make you smile and laugh.

I head out to Belmont in the summer time with my mom for a week long class in painting(water color).

I love it. Being so far away from "everything" reminds me how small I am in the universe.

How many stars there are in the night sky, and just how good it feels to slow down because there is nothing to do but paint and take pictures and "see". (oh and maybe a little eating and drinking of good food too!)
These photos were taken with my much neglected film SLR. they are a bit grainy because of the transfer from film to digital format. It was also raining in a few of these shots, not to mention the fact that the light in the desert is intense- so all of that added to a really interesting color and feel.

love in an envelope

I think we all dig when there is something in the mail other than bills and adverts right?



Even though I use email probably more than I should to communicate with people in my life, I still LOVE to send out cards and goodies in the mail. (I even have a favorite post office and a favorite post lady who is a character right out of a movie. She is plumb and wears her hair in the wildest up-do ever. She wears buttons and "flair" and always lets you cut back in line if you didn't fill out a form correctly the first time)
I like to imagine what the person looks and feels like when they see an envelope, hand addressed sitting in the box. When I get mail that isn't bills or credit card offers I always try to guess who it is from just by the handwriting on the envelope. I have a few friends that I can guess immediately just by the way my name is scrawled across the middle of the paper.
I love that.


And because I love that, I want to give a little "woot-woot" to a few people. Beacuse they have filled my mail box with joy.

A little thanks out there to a few people who have sent me things in the past month or two. People who I have never seen or met in person. My name written in a handwriting that is unfamiliar, yet totally fits...has been showing up in my mail box. It is exhilerating and wonderful- mostly because these people are sharing part of themselves with me. There have been things like photography and music and art work.Things like "lobster egg" gum balls and fabric and sweet sweet words. And plans are brewing to even meet one of these people to do a west coast version of this...
These things in an envelope took time and creativity and love. And these woman headed out to the post office just because I said I liked something they did. They were nice enough to put my name on an envelope and lick a stamp (or stick a stamp, what ever the case might be.
But those ladies help to make my trips to the mail box so much fun.


So here is to JesC, I have these hanging in my living room.
Stilt Houses 1
Stilt Houses 2
Stilt Houses 3
Stilt Houses 4

So here is to LeSophie, I have this in my car stereo.

So here is to Angela, I have this (or a version of it anyway)waiting to be framed (and a few others waiting to be passed on in the mail to others)

Thank you ladies for making my life a little fuller, a little more creative and for the connections....

Almost as good as a photobooth Friday

We never made it to a photobooth last weekend. There were so many things to pick from to do with ourselves. We could have filled up a week with running around and site seeing and still not hit everything the 5 of us wanted to do.
I snapped this as we were headed up to the shoe department in Nordstrom's (can someone please explain to me the draw of this place? (not the shoe dept, Nordstrom's) I don't get it? Is there any other store that people will proclaim on their license plate holder as a place "they would rather be"? Isn't Nordi's just a glorified Macy's, and isn't Macy's just a glorified Ross?)
Any way, like I was saying- I snapped this shot as we were headed up to the shoe department. Someone noticed that we were reflecting nicely in the elevator doors.... I took the shot and there you have it.


I took a few more as well. (I made them shut the doors and go up and down a few times- aren't I nice?)


I kinda like the ones where no one is paying attention.
I have known these girls forever. I have been roommates with two of them and known one of them pretty much since birth. I feel really lucky that we continue to keep in touch. I am also pretty impressed that we didn't strangle each other while sharing one room, two beds and one bathroom for the weekend...Come on- that is a small space and lots of blowdryers-.

___
Now for some real booth action, go on over to the new Flickr group that Hula created...

Reflecting

What an amazing past two days... I didn't have my camera, and that was okay (although this photo was taken at Donner Lake and is a perfect example of what we saw while shoeing along the beach). There were moments where I wish I had the camera in my hands, but then again I can't always take in the moment when I am looking at the screen of my camera.


Saturday was Acro Yoga and laughter with the Canary*. Helping my mom with some condo related stuff (anyone out there want to buy a condo on Donner Lake?). Decompressing from the condo related stuff by snow shoeing around the park at the East end of Donner Lake with my mom, my man and the dog. And finally, a stop and impromptu dinner with family in Truckee- Surf, Turf, and Coop was on the menu along with roasted butternut squash, grilled sweet potatoes and grilled eggplant- MMMM!

On Sunday, teaching yoga one on one to one of the most amazing 70 somethings I have ever met. Then hanging out with one of my girls who is preggers- so amazing, always amazing what is going on in a body of a woman who is pregnant... napping on the couch with the kratins since the puppy was out and about with the man, and finally dinner with some more friends and more down to earth conversation ranging from dating to acupuncture to work to working out.... so real, so amazing, so alive today.
Thanks everyone for such an amazing recharge this weekend... Next weekend will not be as luxurious. I must get that tree down and out of the house, vacuum and all that goes with cleaning up the house after the holidays, can't someone do this for me?