Oh, hello, me!

I totally forgot about this blog until I visited www.apracticalwedding.com, and went to enter my own blogspot info to comment on a review of my own wedding. Bizarre. Fun. Exciting. 

So when I'm not full of leftover wedding champagne, and a crappy beer from band practice, and enthralled in "Dexter," I will absolutely return. I'm starting my new job at The Northbay Bohemian (www.bohemian.com) tomorrow. There's just so much to say. . . 

like sands

It's been over a year since I last posted anything on here. Wow. Sorry. Where to begin? I'm pretty sure that when I started this particular blog page, I was pretty upset about the state of things - everyone was doing their best to make each other's lives miserable. I couldn't be farther from that now. It's weird and exciting being in a place completely free of drama.

Currently, I'm in the midst of wedding planning, which is so draining, nerve-wracking, and super-exciting. Five months to go. 

Fred, our family dog of over ten years, is dead. Poor old Fred.

Ava is four, and awesome. She learned to tie her shoes while Anne went out for groceries. 

More later. . . . when Weeds isn't on. . . . 

just a lovely, lovely dream

I wish I could take photographs inside of my dreams, so that I could remember these images forever.

I drove way out by the river to look at a house that I was going to be living in. Oh my god. . .it was so beautiful, in a funky way. The spot by the river looked just like the Wellspring Renewal Center's riverbend on the Navarro River, but somehow I think it was supposed to be somewhere in the Rio Nido area, with fewer houses. The weirdest thing is that I had this dream twice, in two versions!

Version 1: Ona was moving out of the place, and it was more like our old cabin in Mendocino. It was more run down, dank, falling apart, tiny, cramped - it felt like home! But Ona was really slow to move out of there, so a lot of her furniture and random stuff was still everywhere. After I got settled, Brendan McGuigan was going to be my new housemate, which I was really happy about! While Ona moved, I realized that I had a "date" with my ex, Steve. The nice thing was, in my dream, it didn't feel like a date at all. It felt like it does now: He's ecstatic in his relationship with his girlfriend, adopted daughter, and daughter on the way, and I was completely secure in my relationship with Coalmine. We were just going to take a walk by the river and catch up. Somehow all of that fizzled into Version 2, which I prefer. . .

Version 2: I drove out a long dirt road along the river, to what was to be my new home. I remember the road and surrounding leaves were slightly moistened down from a heavy mist earlier that morning. I arrived at my cabin, thinking it was going to be falling apart like my old cabin in the woods, but Matt Rowland was out there working on it! Doug Nunn was moving out, and the cabin was to be ALL MINE! Matt was replacing parts of the house that were rotting away or falling apart, and the whole thing felt very solid, very insulated, and very redwood. It was lovely. The home had different levels, but not really different floors. There was a little platform area where there was a wood-burning stove, and a place to put a couch or throw pillows, or whatever. Like a little relaxing nook. Down a couple of steps was the main living area, with kitchen off to the side. I was surprised at how big the kitchen was for this tiny home! After Matt showed me the thermostat and some other dials, I was in for $700 per month! The most exciting thing was remembering that Coalmine was going to move in with me on November 1st. That gave me a whole month to enjoy it by myself, before sharing a life with Coalmine, in this amazing sanctuary by the river.

Soul

I was just driving to work, and Aretha Franklin came on the radio. My god, I haven't felt that high from music in a long time. I was just thinking my music collection needs a good dose of soul. It's a good day. . . I had a great weekend. I've been practicing for my big month of no alcohol, no meat, no dairy, no caffeine, and extra-limited refined sugar intake. So, sober for days now, I went on a great hike on Saturday, read a great book, enjoyed a book club meeting about it, watched "Lost," and built cozy fires while rain pounded down outside. I think the sugar part will be the most difficult, so I'm trying to generate some ideas about naturally sweetened treats; dates, maple syrup, hmmmm. I'm feeling damn good. We'll see what a week of work does to me.

right now, in the town of fulton,

a beach ball is rolling down the road in the rain.

oh, why, hello there

Why is it that I can think of nothing clever for the blogger blogs, but then I get onto the world's cheesiest and biggest waste of time (Myspace), and suddenly I'm writing these witty and profound commentaries? Perhaps it's just that after reading all of the other crap on there ("Rank my hot photos!" or "If you woke up next to the person above you on this list, what would you say?" or "check out my new pix"), my stuff just sounds more intelligent. On this little avenue, it's all mine, and it's a broad and empty canvas. So here's my graffiti.

Today is Coalmine Day in Sebastopol. Apparently, Mr. Spooner, the old mayor of Sebastopol, granted my boyfriend his own day, in honor of him. Coalmine's charmed his way into owning a whole day. . . and VETERAN'S DAY at that. There is a BANK HOLIDAY in honor of Coalmine! I get paid to do nothing! So to celebrate, we're going to San Francisco to see my Mendocino friends' jug band, "Kerosene Kondors" play at The Knockout. Actually, I planned this already, but let's just say it's in honor of him. Really, I feel like we should stay in Sebastopol and have a parade with giant blue-haired cartoon balloons of Coalmine, and a blue-haired marching band, where people throw coffee at the crowd instead of candy. So, we'll be SPENDING THE NIGHT in San Francisco tonight, at his brother's house, and then celebrating his brother's birthday with the whole family at some fancy restaurant on Saturday. I'm hoping to get some holiday shopping in. I don't care WHAT we do; I'm just excited about getting to hang out down there for so long! I haven't done that since I was a teenager. I love San Francisco mornings. I'm gonna try to wake up early and wander through the fog, down to a coffee shop for an au lait and a bagel.

Other than that, things are the same. My sister, Lance, Nick, and Ava are trying to find a new place in Fort Bragg. The house they are living in is being sold, and apparently they have to be out in a week! They've found nothing, and haven't even started packing. Anne is trying for an extention under some provision stating that if you have a young child, you can get an extention until you secure a new home. We're keeping our fingers crossed - I know how stressed Anne and Lance can get. Ava's still cute as hell, but has taken to swearing. I still think it's cute as hell, but for the sake of relatives reading this, I'll pretend it's a bad thing. Even when Ava was sent to her room for swearing, she sat there whispering the "F" word over and over and over. So cute. . . I mean. . dirty. She's just at the stage where she's trying to test Anne as much as possible, and push the limits. She's just acting exactly like her mother used to act at Ava's age.

In closing. . .on track, stay the course, a thousand points of light. .. .and have a happy COALMINE DAY!! . . .and an adequate Thanksgiving.

about time

I've been hounding others to update their blogs, and entirely forgot about my own! I thought I should write something happy here, since the last one was so depressing. My coworker and her family are doing well now. I'm doing my best to buy all the magazines, wrapping paper, and carwashes I can for their school fundraisers, because their dad was normally the one to wrangle up the business for them.

Life with Coalmine is SO WONDERFUL. He has got to be one of the kindest, most amazing men on earth. I didn't think they made them like that anymore. . . but there he is. We've been together only 3 months, but it's looking really really good. We just went to the symphony and a sushi dinner yesterday, which was a little different for us. He was the only blue-haired one in the whole hall. . if you don't count all of the old ladies. Intermission was a trip. . . at one point, I was trapped in the middle of three canes and a walker. But the whole day was great. And this came the day after my girlfriends and I hung out at the new martini bar in town. . .where each drink is NINE DOLLARS!! That's enough class to last a year. Now it's back to taverns and cowtipping.

I'm really excited about Halloween. I'm working on 2 costumes, because I can't decide which one I want to be; a Mary Pickford-type damsel-in-distress, with TNT tied to my body, and a piece of railroad tracks on my back, OR a Clara Bow-style magician's assistant, with an apple on my head, but an arrow right through my forehead. Hmmm. . . life is tough. But I just got my bloomers in the mail, so I'm kind of excited about wearing them for the first option. But then again, there's a vintage genie-esque costume waiting for me.

Next weekend I'm going to Mendocino to visit Mom & Dad & Anne & Ava. Ava told me she's going to be a frog for Halloween. Cute. All right. . .there's your freakin blog. Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeen!!!