fun fall stuff

i don't have all that much to report. i have been trying to get my house better organized. figure out all the financial malarkey in light of a serious economic crisis. and just kinda start livin' more normal again. with all the house stuff, i just kinda lost track of myself. i didn't exercise with any regularity and i didn't see very many friends. i just fell out of touch with lots of people i love. so i have been spending this fall re-connecting. it has been super fun.

first of all, there is facebook. which is such a trip. but i am connecting to friends from high school, college, grad school, mission. it is really fun! it is crazy to see how people grow up and change, and yet pretty much stay the same.

i have been spending more time with my friends here in dc and it is a delight. i am very blessed with wonderful, supportive friends. what i think is most impressive, is that they are the kind of friends that you can drop off the face of the earth and they will come after you, then give you space, and then when you reconnect it is like nothing ever happened. as i ride this crazy roller coaster of a changing life that this fall is bringing, i am so so so happy that i have friends who are so supportive, open armed, and loving.

unfortunately, most of the moments of late have been simple moments of friends over for dinner, watching debates together, canvassing for obama, making calls for obama, and just chillin out. it just isn't the kind of stuff you take photos of. but i am coming to realize that it really is the simple things that matter the most.

it seems so silly, but a trip to costco with a best friend is one of the best things the world has to offer. having regular biking buddies who you get to see consistently. that is the kind of stuff i really love most.

in relief society yesterday we talked about why life is so hard. why do bad things happen? where is God in all the struggles? it really hit me, that life is meant to be difficult. it is not supposed to be a cake walk, if it is, we miss out. we stop the process of "becoming". life is supposed to stretch us into better people. create more compassionate, loving, honest, pure people. i believe that life is really supposed to be lived. that we are to breathe in all the breathes with an element of gratitude and passion. that we should smell the smells, and taste the tastes, and love the loves, and hurt the hurts, and feel the feels, see the sees, and hear.

life will undoubtedly throw us some real doosies, which is good because it means that we are really living. loving is going to be painful at times, but it means that we really love. c.s. lewis wrote in surprised by joy that "the pain now is part of the joy then, and the joy then is part of the pain now". i love and hate that. i wish that life could be easier. that things didn't have to hurt so much. i sometimes find myself wishing that i was a person who felt life less. i think i feel things more intensely than some. and i wish that sometimes i could just chill/numb out and feel a bit less intensely. but i actually don't. when life hurts, i feel it. when life gives me love, i really love it. when things are fun, they are super fun. i am glad that i am a bit extreme. like maude says in harold and maude "if you don't, what else are you going to talk about in the locker room?"

there it is. i want to live a passionate life. i want to feel and grow. and though i want to really cherish the good times, i know that bad times are part of getting to good. and i would rather end at awesome, than settle for mediocre.

i guess i am trying accept the fact that life is difficult. and maybe i am hoping that writing on this blog will help others accept it and others will help me accept it.


here are a couple of photos. i know i owe the world a photo shoot of my finished house, but it is not yet finished so i am being all anal about waiting until it is done. i think i might have to just bite the bullet and get something up here soon.

this is the view from my deck of my over productive garden.
most of the tomatoes are getting pulled this weekend and being replaced with more fall stuff
though the kale, swiss chard, arugula, and shallots are in.
for some weird reason this stupid cat keeps digging up my shallots.
i think i might have to get a squirt gun or something.

you can get a bit of a feel for the ridiculousness of the size of my zucchini plants.
i have fed all my neighbors and myself,
dianna for the entire summer
and others who just happen to come by after i have been in the garden

i decided my soil needed more worm poop
but that making worm poop was easier if the worms were in the garden
so i bought a couple hundred worms from a couple gas stations in eastern maryland
we will see how it goes
supposedly you use nightcrawlers for in the garden
and red wigglers for the worm gin.
it will be interesting to see if it works...

then guess what happened...
a bike ride on the eastern shore with liz!


fields of gold

michelle, i just couldn't in good conscience kiss him.
i tried, but i was too nervous and started laughing
and i feared you would kick my butt!

waiting for the ferry

we had lunch here
it was super delicious
seriously worth a drive to st. michaels for the grub
the service was a little bit off
i think the kid server was new and didn't know what he was doing
and we were starving
so...
but it was über delish
they have some seriously amazing cheeses
and i had an oyster stew that made your eyes cross it was so good!