my life

Life is Good. Busy but Good.

2008-05-22T17:58:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy spring! We are settling into our new home and getting involved in the community here. Spring has been beautiful here on the coast, so we're trying to enjoy all the new beaches and hiking trails that we can.

One of our most exciting developments is our involvement with a local non-profit, Noyo Food Forest. They're an organization that promotes local and sustainable food to build community. Seneca has been taking a class from them since we moved here at their Learning Garden (which is at the high school - they provide fresh produce for school lunches and teach workshops and classes there). Shortly after he started the class, I contacted them about possibly doing some design work. They were really excited about it and they've since become my first local client! I am working on a logo design and web site for them, and there will probably be lots more work to come. We've also gotten involved in one of their new projects: starting a community garden in Fort Bragg. Seneca is now the co-coordinator for the community garden, which we've worked on all spring to prepare for planting. We now have a plot full of organic veggies going as we work on getting the garden up and running. Eventually, we'll have communal garden beds that feed the hungry, compost piles and worm bins, rainwater collection, and several beds for local families to rent. It's been a great experience helping bring this vision to life, and our veggies are already growing!

We are meeting more and more people and really starting to feel at home here. Every Friday we attend a drum circle on the beach, where we can play as loud as we want. We've been hiking and visiting beaches and state parks, and having BBQs and dinner parties with the handful of friends that we knew before moving here. We're even brewing our own organic beer! This seems like it will be a great place to launch my sustainable design studio, since there is a high level of eco-consciousness here, and California is at the forefront of green living.

Speaking of business, I am slowly planning an "official" business for my freelance design work called Ahimsa Creative. Ahimsa is Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence and doing no harm. It perfectly embodies the work I hope to do. Now I'm working on a business plan and getting the paperwork in order, which is coming along quite slowly since I've been so busy!

Busy with what? Well, I went back to work for the PETA Foundation part-time. I am doing web design while saving the animals, and it's good to be back. I've also had plenty of freelance projects to keep me busy. Recent highlights include completing a web site for Moscow CommUNITY Walk, an event in Moscow that I helped plan and start last year, and that we visited to attend this year. I also designed logos, flyers, posters, t-shirts, and other graphics for the event, which were all updated this year. I recently finished business cards, promotional post cards, and gift certificates for a non-toxic and green nail spa in Scottsdale, AZ called Organicures. I've been writing for Green Options each week, mostly about starting a green business on their Ecopreneurist blog. I will soon be starting on a collection of essays on a sustainable future for the Palouse region with a professor at my alma matter, University of Idaho. A couple other projects are in the works as well, so I'm definitely keeping busy!

Please visit my photo blog, which I'm trying to keep updated despite the fact that my camera screen is broken, to see pictures of our new home. I write new articles for Green Options every Friday, and you can see my archive here. I'm also trying to keep the unplug blog up to date. And of course, watch for more news on Ahimsa Creative, and its own web site, in the future. Ciao for now!

A Change of Scenery

2008-03-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

There's nothing quite like a change of scenery to inspire you. Traveling in the volksvegan for the last half of 2007 has given me with a change of scenery every few days or weeks. I grew very fond of life on the road, despite not knowing where we would camp each night or how long the ol' bus would hold up... and I learned a lot from the experience. I am so grateful for having the opportunity and for everyone who made our trip possible.

After the epic journey in our volksvegan, we finally parked the bus and settled into a new home. A house is quite an upgrade from a small van, let me tell ya! Of all the places we visited, we felt especially drawn to the coast, especially in Northern California. Seneca and I went on our first epic journey together in Redwood National Park, where we fell in love with the giant trees and lush landscape. So it's no wonder that we were compelled to return. We now live in Fort Bragg, California, a small town on the beautiful Mendocino county coastline. There are redwood trees right outside my back door and so far we have made some great connections with the community. We feel at home here, and I'm loving life on the coast - being landlocked all my life got to me I guess.

You can see photos of our journey in this photo collection and be sure to visit our new home, too! I am keeping busy but hope to keep updating this site. You can read more on my unplug magazine blog, or read my green-tinged articles on the Green Options network. I've got a pretty good mix of projects going, so stay tuned!

What can I say, I like variety. Change is good, too. :)

Change is Good

2008-01-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well, the volksvegan adventure of 2007 has come to a close as we settle into our new place in Fort Bragg, CA. After traveling the western US and Canada, we decided to make Mendocino county our home. There are many reasons we're already falling in love with the area...

1. We've never lived by the ocean before. It's amazing to be able to watch sunsets at the coast, find shells at the beach, and run barefoot in the sand (even in January!).
2. Mendocino county recently made it illegal to produce Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). We hate Monsanto, too, so we think that rocks. Organic, locally grown food abounds here.
3. We live among redwood trees - my favorite ancient giants to hug!
4. California is the epicenter of all things green living. Sustainability is big here, and we like that.
5. There are plenty of great breweries nearby, and even a raw/vegan cafe and culinary arts school in our new town.

We're hoping to get our business going in the near future, which means this site will evolve into more of my personal site, and I'll be starting a new design-centered one for the biz. Stay tuned!

It's Official: We're Hittin' the Road

2007-05-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Seneca and I have a dream. It involves a VW bus that runs on bio-fuels, a happy pooch, and the two of us. And we're officially making our dream a reality.

We have been trying to decide where to move since we graduated two years ago. We love Moscow, but we've both grown up in Idaho and want to expand our horizons a bit. Speicifcally, we're looking for a small, sustainable co-housing community where we can own our own home while being part of a thriving group of like-minded people. Many of the communities we're looking at feature sustainable buildings, off-grid energy systems, organic gardens and community classes. We have to visit the ones we're considering (many offer workshops so we'll try to go to some) and find a place that feels like home before we can make a decision. We're also interested in visiting cities we'd like to live in like Eugene, Mendocino, Portland, Bend, Arcata, or Willits... there's a lot of possibilities and a lot to see, so we're going to see as much as possible this summer!

The decision has been made and now we're quitting jobs (which was very hard for me, but I hope to go back), getting the bus ready to go, and planning the trip. A new engine is going in the bus this week, it's a Turbo Diesel with low miles that will actually be powerful enough for the bus (no more crawling up hills in second gear going 30!). Seneca and a couple of knowledgeable friends will be installing it, and then we'll finish up the interior - it needs a good cleaning and new upholstery. Sen is working on installing a second battery so we can have back-up power for things like the fan, fridge, and my laptop. I'll be taking a couple freelance projects on the way, and we hope to check in semi-regularly and document our trip on Our Volksvegan Adventure.

So now comes more crunch time: selling most of what we own and figuring out where to store the rest, packing, planning the trip, finding grease and bio-diesel fill-up spots, figuring out our budget, finding someone to move into our place, etc. etc... One great thing about this trip is that it will truly get me to simplify. I have always been a pack rat and it's time to de-clutter, find out what I truly need to be happy, and live more simply.

Along the journey (which is the most important - especially since we don't know the destination) we will be visiting friends who have moved away, doing some backpacking and hiking, promoting sustainable travel, and maybe even leafleting at KFCs in strange towns... we're leaving a lot of it open-ended. We're planning for a concert or two, my cousin's wedding in Portland, visiting our friends in Glacier National Park and Bozeman Montana, checking out Eugene and the surrounding area, and visiting the Redwoods and communities in Oregon and Northern California. Then, depending on how we like living on the road (and how much money we have), we'd love to go Southwest and visit friends, see the string of beautiful National Parks, and just experience the desert. This will probably have to wait until fall though, something tells me a husky doesn't belong in the Southwest in the summer!

The more I think about it and start planning the trip, the more it feels like the right decision. It's probably the craziest thing I've ever done, but I'm young and I might as well do it now! We are soooo excited and will keep you updated about the trip. We are hoping to be on the road by mid-June, experiencing the ultimate road trip. :)

Reflections on Spain...

2007-04-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of post-vacation catch-up and can't believe I returned from Spain almost a week ago! The trip went splendidly, and despite the rain that kept following us around, we managed to have a great time and see some amazing things. We went to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba. All were beautiful cities, but my favorite was Barcelona. It is on the Mediterranean coast and like a lot of coastal cities, it seemed to have a very laid-back vibe and LOTS of organic & vegetarian restaurants. I got my fill of great art and architecture on this trip: the Picasso museum and Gaudi's unique architecture in Barcelona, the Reina Sofia Modern Art Gallery and the Prado in Madrid, and even some intricate Muslim designs in Granada and Cordoba.

Rachel was a great tour guide and translator, she had planned the entire trip and somehow managed to navigate the busy metro stations, bus stations, train stations, and other places that would have confused the hell out of me. And I am happy to report that Spain DOES have vegetarian food! I had some great food over there—falafel kebap, veggie paella, potato croquettes, gazpacho—but my favorite thing was sangria! :)

I have all my photos up on Flickr in my Semana Santa in Spain set, but I still have some organizing, labeling, and weeding out to do. So give me a week or two if you want to know where all the pictures were taken. I am worse than a Japanese tourist and took a picture of darn near everything!

In this post are pictures of the Cathedral in Cordoba seen through a narrow "kissing lane" (above), and a view of La Alhambra in Granada (left), as seen from a very steep hill that we climbed in the rain. La Alhambra was beautiful inside, it is an old Muslim palace with a great view of Granada. Rachel has been studying there this semester, and it was great to see her and the country she's been calling home for the past few months. She even has a blog about her studying abroad experience, although she's not quite as much of a blog addict as her older sis...

Hola from Barcelona!

2007-04-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

I am in Barcelona! Woohoo! It is gorgeous here, despite the bit of rain we've had the last few days, and I have fallen in love with the work of the famous Barcelona architect Gaudi. We got here without any problems (no lost luggage this time, yay!) and despite the jet lag, we went to the Picasso museum and walked down Las Ramblas on our first day here. We even got to go to a market where I found organic vegetarian food. We went on a walk through the Gothic architectural part of town and had some dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. We went to bed early since we were so tired from all the traveling.

Today was Gaudi day - we saw Sagrada Familia, his famous unfinished cathedral (it was started in 1893 and won't be done until 2060!) which was amazing. Then we went to Casa Mila, an apartment building Gaudi designed with undulating balconies and a great view from the roof. (See the picture for a view from the top of Casa Mila with Sagrada Familia in the background). Then we went to Park Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. The park was gorgeous with beautiful tile work all over and a house Gaudi lived in for 20 years. Tonight we had some tapas (at a place that served little open-faced sandwiches, some of which were sin carne), juice from an excellent vegan restaurant called Juicy Jones, churros and chocolate, and of course, sangria. Very large glasses of it.

I'm not sure if I'll have internet for the rest of the trip, but tomorrow we are headed to Madrid, and then Granada, Cordoba, and Sevilla. It has been fun so far and happily there is actually vegan food in Spain! I'll be back home on April 10th. Until then, adios!

Crunch Time

2007-03-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Why is the week before you leave for vacation the week that really makes you need the vacation? Oy! I am leaving for Spain next week (going to Boise Wednesday night and Spain Thursday morning) and I have so much to finish before I go that I am going insane. I guess there must something about blogging that is therapeutic.

I've been trying to wrap up my projects for the last month or so, and of course they keep piling up. I have a web site, wedding invites, t-shirt graphics and posters for two different events, and a newsletter to finish and a week to do it. Bring on the caffeine!

March has been flying by faster than I can keep up with it. We went to Moscow's Mardi Gras celebration at the beginning of the month, which basically meant bar hopping and really good live music (and an excuse to dress up). Last weekend was pretty packed between my friend Crystal's birthday party and a peace rally commemorating the 4th anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. (See my pictures of the peace rally and read more about it if you so desire). It was a beautiful sunny weekend, so we got some hiking in as well. And, of course, I got some work done.

I am pretty excited about going to Spain, it will be a much needed break! I am going with my parents to visit my sister who has been studying in Granada all semester. We're going to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba - all during "Santa Semana," Holy Week - which apparently is a big deal to Spaniards. It should be a lot of fun, and quite a culture shock. The only thing I am worried about is finding food I can eat in such a meat-based culture. I'm thinking of bringing some Spanish anti-bullfighting leaflets and maybe some Vegetarian Starter Kits in Spanish... can't pass up an opportunity for activism!

Anyway, I just wanted to forewarn everyone that I will be leaving the night of March 28th and returning the morning of April 10th, so if you try to contact me and I don't get back to you, my excuse is that I'm out of the country! I'm sure I will already have way too many e-mails to get through when I get back, so I won't be as punctual at returning them as I usually am. Oh, and I'm not taking my computer. I need a vacation from it the most! I will be taking as many pictures as humanly possible though and hopefully will get a chance to upload a few to my flickr page while I'm gone. If not, watch for a ton of Spain pictures when I get back.

Hasta luego, amigos!

Woah, what happened to February?

2007-02-22T13:22:00.000-08:00

February always catches me by surprise because it's a short month. I can't believe it's almost over already! It's been a busy month, and I have a feeling March will be even busier, since I'm trying to finish up a lot of projects before I leave for Spain. So, what did I do this month? Well, since Seneca and I don't normally do much for Valentine's Day (it's an over commercialized holiday and we prefer to celebrate our love all the time instead of one day a year), we decided to show some love for animals by protesting at KFC. We joined Compassion Speaks in a Valentine's Day themed protest (see picture). Seneca dressed up as a chicken and clucked angrily (which was quite hilarious) as people pulled into the KFC drive-thru, and I wore an evil Colonel Sanders mask and chased him around. Seneca carried a sign that said "KFC Broke My Heart (and My Legs)" and I made one that said "Have a Heart, Boycott KFC." It was lots of fun and we got a variety of different reactions as usual. We also went to the Compassion Speaks Vegan Potluck a couple days before V-day, which is always delicious and fun.

For President's Day weekend we went to McCall to visit my parents and go snowboarding. We have only gone snowboarding twice this entire season now, because of less-than-ideal snow conditions and lack of money, but thankfully my parents were kind enough to take us to Brundage in McCall (thanks Mom & Dad!). I can actually keep up with Seneca pretty well, although he likes to dart through the trees and I suck at that part. Juneau got to play in the snow, which he absolutely loved, since Moscow's snow has all melted. We went out to dinner and went on several walks to the frozen lake with the dogs. It was a nice little vacation and as always it was good to see my family.

I have been busy working on a site redesign at work, which is going smoothly now that the layout has been pretty well hammered out. As for freelance projects, I am finishing up the T & D Landscaping site, and have been keeping busy designing flyers and other promotional items for the Moscow CommUNITY Walk, a new event with the theme "Walking on Common Ground" that will be taking place in Moscow on April 28. I am also planning to design the graphics for the posters and t-shirts for Moscow's Hempfest again this year, so I recently began the brainstorming process for that. And of course, I still design the Moscow Food Co-op's monthly newsletter.

I have made quite a few posts about green art and design on Green Options (the link takes you directly to a list of my blog entries) and I am enjoying the opportunity to research and write about sustainable design. The site has really taken off and more content is added every day, it is a great resource for all things green. Now, if only we could get more people to start living more sustainably, maybe we'd stand a chance at combatting global warming...

This week is Jazz Fest in Moscow, and Seneca's dad, John, is visiting from Pennsylvania to check out all the great music. We'll probably be going to several jazz shows this week. John is a lot like Seneca: very progressive, vegetarian, and passionate about alternative energy and living sustainably. We certainly enjoy his visits, and are very glad to see that he is recovering from the colon cancer he had last year (he sends a warning to everyone: a lifetime of eating meat can lead to colon cancer!). Last time he was here we took him to a KFC protest and Seneca put him to work fixing the bus. This time around, they're playing lots of poker together and enjoying the jazz music (although I probably can't promise that Sen won't want some help with the bus this week).

And, some good news about the bus: SHE RUNS! Seneca fixed the starter switch and got the electrical problems all figured out, and just got it back from the shop, where they re-timed it and did some other minor repairs. We recently ordered some new upholstery for the interior walls and cabinets, so that's our next project. We haven't been collecting grease much this winter since she hasn't been running, so now we hope to get back to a regular grease-collecting schedule as well. Hopefully many trips await us in the grease bus!

And now, back to being busy busy busy and hopefully getting some work done. :)

I'm a professional blogger!

2007-01-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

Recently I was contacted by GreenOptions.com a new web site on "greening the good life." They are just forming and wanted me to be a part of the blogging team. I was a little surprised that my name had gotten out as a "green blogger" but apparently people do actually read my blogs, especially Our Volksvegan Adventure and unplug, which both have an environmental bent. I guess having a blog addiction can pay off!

Anyway, I will now be writing a weekly post on the Green Options blog about green/sustainable design, art, and culture. My weekly columns should appear on Friday, starting this week, so be sure to check out GreenOptions.com then! My first post is going to discuss the Greenpeace 'Green My Apple' campaign. There are quite a few talented writers on the team and the blog has been very interesting so far, and they're not even out of beta testing yet! The company looks very promising and I'm glad to be a part of it. I never imagined I could get paid for my tree-hugger opinions!

Other than that exciting news, I have been chugging along working on wrapping up a current project, the T & D Landscaping Web Site. It's still in testing and we're adding content constantly. I'm hoping to finish the site up by the end of February. It's been a long time coming since I've been so busy, but it would be nice to finish up some projects before I go to Spain this spring. I've been working on an identity system and marketing materials for the Moscow CommUNITY Walk, a walk celebrating unity and diversity here in Moscow, which will take place in late April. I'm also working on my cousin Joan's wedding invitations. I finished the Save the Date cards, which have been sent out, and now I'm working on the invitation part. Who knew wedding invitations could be so complicated?!? Joan and Jake are getting married in June, and my cousin Emily and her fiance Wes are getting married in October. Thankfully I am not doing both sets of invitations, but hopefully I can go to both weddings.

I have been practicing my Spanish lately in preparation for a family trip there for "Santa Semana" (Holy Week) at the beginning of April. My sister is studying in Granada this semester and my dad, mom, and I are flying out to visit. She's going to play tour guide (since she can actually speak the language!) and we're visiting Barcelona, Madrid, Grenada, Sevilla, and Cordoba. There are so many other places in Europe that I want to see, but one can only get so much time off of work... I'm looking forward to the trip and to visiting a new country. Now if only I could finish up some projects before then so I can have a stress-free vacation!

Well, time to get to work. Check out GreenOptions.com and my T & D Landscaping Web Site, and stay tuned. Hopefully I will have these recent projects up in my portfolio before too long! :)

Happy New Year!

2007-01-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays (and my paid time off) have come & gone, and it's a new year. Wow, that was fast. I went to Boise and then to Portland for Christmas, and got to see plenty of friends & family along the way. It was lots of fun and it was so nice to have two really long weekends in a row. Yay for paid holiday time!

We started a new family tradition last year when my cousins Emily and Aaron (that's them in the middle of that picture) moved to Boise. We do a White Elephant gift exchange every year, with ridiculous thrift-store gifts. This year I ended up with some strange clay figurine thingy and a ceramic cowboy boot. Oh joy. The funniest gag gift this year was a douche. And my mom is the one who bought it (at the dollar store), hahahaha!!! My cousins and uncle were sporting some sweet thrift store Chritmas vests and sweatshirts (my uncle brought them all the way from Kansas). In the picture is Wes (my cousin's fiancé as of Christmas day), Emily, Aaron, and Uncle Jerry. Yes, my family is silly, and we're damn proud of it!

I got to hang out with some friends from Boise (which at times felt like a mini-high school reunion), many of whom I haven't seen in forever. It's amazing where everyone is now & what they're doing, and we only graduated high school together 6 years ago... My friend Amy just bought & is moving into her first house of her own this week, CONGRATULATIONS AMY! :) Now I have another excuse to visit Boise more often and someone new to stay with. We went to Portland for Christmas Eve and Christmas, which was wonderful! I love seeing all my cousins, especially the little ones. We had some big family meals (and even still had a "kids table" which I sat at because we're too big for one table) and I got to play with my cousin Joan's son, Connor. Man, kids grow fast! I'll be uploading the rest of my Christmas pictures soon, they'll be on my flickr page.

On the way home to Moscow, my car decided to die on me! The battery light came on, then the stereo went out, and then I started losing power... I pulled over and then couldn't get it started again. :( Luckily my parents were about an hour behind me and I got a ride from a very nice person to the nearest town to call them (no cell coverage where I pulled over, dagnabbit!). I called my insurance & got a tow truck, then got picked up by my fam and we went back to the car. We towed it back to Boise where my cousin, Aaron, installed a new alternator and battery (after much hassle with getting the right alternator). My family saved the day, yay! And I totally owe Aaron for getting me back on the road the next day. ;)

It was good to finally be home, and Juneau was soooo excited to see me! He attacked me with kisses when I got home (and so did Seneca, although there was no jumping up & scratching involved). I made out like a bandit for Christmas as usual (thanks everyone!) and got mostly useful stuff (like a popcorn popper! and a DVD/VRC player! and rope sandals! and organic cotton towels!). My mom sent me home with presents for Seneca, Juneau, and Maya since they were in Moscow for Christmas. They all loved their gifts and so do I! :) I hope I spoiled my family just a little this year as well, they deserve it.

My sister, Rachel, is now studying abroad in Spain (she left New Year's Day for five months). I'm so jealous! Except that I am going to visit her there in March with my parents. It sure will be interesting finding vegetarian-friendly food in such a meat-centered culture. Rachel's gonna stake it out for me. I'm hoping Seneca can come meet me in Spain and we can go elsewhere in Europe (Paris! Amsterdam! Brussels to see my friend Nate! Prague to see our friend John!) but I have a feeling that would be too long & too expensive of a trip, so maybe we'll have to wait 'till next year... Until then, I will be practicing my español (Soy vegetariana, y tu? ¡Las corridas de toros son crueles!)...

Yup, good holidays. It was fun. And now, on with my way-too-many-to-keep New Years' Resolutions!

Hectic Holidays

2006-12-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's December already. YIKES! This is a busy time of year, especially since I've barely started my Christmas shopping and I have tons of projects to wrap up before the end of the year, including a web site I'm designing for a landscaping company and my cousin Joan's wedding invitations (sorry Joan, I am a slacker with those Save-the-Date cards)! It's been busy at work as well, especially because we have a shortage of web designers but a surplus in projects. So I've been running around frantically, attempting to keep everything in order and trying to ward off the inevitable winter cold season.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, the Tofurky came out great, and I even got my dad to try some! We ate lots of great food and I even got to have pie twice. Mmm.... pie.... I arrived back in Moscow just after our first snow did, and it's been freezing and snowing ever since. We have about 6 inches or so on the ground, blanketing Moscow in sparkly white goodness. Unfortunately the roads have been very dangerous, and I heard the sad news after coming home that a wonderful Moscow friend, Stephanie, died in a car accident on icy roads. :( She was on the Hempfest committee with me and recently had a baby (who was also in the car and probably won't make it either, very sad). What a crappy way to start off the holiday season. Every winter there is news about people dying or getting hurt on the roads up here, mostly students, and this is the second time since I've lived here that I have known someone who died in an accident. Did I mention there are some very dangerous highways around here? Anyway, Stephanie inspired me to get new tires, so Sen & I took the car in and got some nice all-weather tires. They were damn expensive but well worth it, I feel much safer.

We've been enjoying the snow and even got a chance to go snowboarding at Silver Mountain this weekend. It was beautiful, the powder was awesome, and hardly anyone was there. I also did a little shopping in Spokane and replaced my camera at last. My old one had fallen into a glass of wine & was doomed, so I made sure to get the extra warranty that covers stuff like that on my new camera. I basically upgraded and got a very similar camera to the beloved one I lost - the Nikon Coolpix L6. As someone who carries a camera around everywhere, I had to get a replacement as soon as possible. It's much lighter, has a big huge screen, and takes the same memory card & batteries as the old camera. 6 Megapixels & 3x zoom should be just fine for my needs, and it had a higher ISO rating than most of the cameras I looked at. So I'm excited to try it out & take some snow pictures! :)

My house is decorated for the holidays (thanks to my mother's endless hand-me-down decorations) and I'm slowly getting some Christmas shopping done, but other than that, I am so not ready for the Holiday chaos. Can we just slow down the entire month of December?

Tofurky Day is coming!

2006-11-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

I am home in Boise for Thanksgiving and looking forward to the delicious Tofurky I'll be making on Thursday. If you've never tried this delicious vegan holiday roast, you gotta (even if you hate tofu, trust me, you'll love it)! It smells like turkey, tastes like turkey (well, from what I can remember anyway), but doesn't have that nasty side affect that comes with actual turkey - the DEATH of a sentient being. Don't forget to baste the Tofurky profusely and smother it in vegan gravy. Mmm, mmm good!

Of course, I'm looking forward to spending time with family even more than the Tofurky, but my mind gets kinda stuck on food sometimes. We'll be having a pretty simple Thanksgiving with my parents, sister, and cousins Emily (and her boyfriend Wes) and Aaron. There will be food, wine, and lots of good old-fashioned family togetherness. Oh joy! I can't believe it's already the holiday season and snow will be falling soon (well, it better be, cuz I want to get some snowboarding in). The fall has gone pretty fast, and as we head into winter I am reminded of how lucky I am and how much I have to be thankful for. I am awfully grateful to have such a loving & supporting family, a wonderful man to share life with, two adorable healthy fur-children, a good job with co-workers who rock, and many great friends. It's times like Thanksgiving that make me think, "ahhh, ain't life grand?"

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving - don't forget to count your blessings and be thankful for all you have. I know I will. Now, go get yourself a Tofurky & give it a try! You'll never go back to dead bird. ;)

Barter Fair & Other Fall Musings

2006-10-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy fall so far, and a fun one. I'm amazed at how quickly the cold weather snuck up on me! Our most recent fall adventure was our annual trek to the Okanogan Family Faire (OFF) near Tonasket, WA. We have been going to this event for the past 4 years or so, and wouldn't miss it for the world! It's the biggest barter fair (and the last) of the fall season, a miniature city the size of Moscow that springs up in the forest for a weekend. Barter fairs are hard to describe, but they're kind of a combination of a flea market with a campout - lots of people selling and trading homemade goods, really good food, and pretty much anything you could think of, and of course, there's a bit more nightlife than your average flea market with drum circles, bonfires & dancing, live music, and fire dancers. It was about a 5 hour drive from Moscow, and sadly our bus didn't make it. Seneca tried to get her ready to go and recently put in a new fuel injector, but then discovered that it wouldn't start and now we think it needs a new starter switch. :( So we piled in the car and took a mini-vacation, leaving on Wednesday night.

This year I volunteered for the barter fair (the whole event is run by volunteers) after hearing that they wanted to start banning dogs in a few years. I signed up to be a "dog patrol coordinator" and spent most of Thursday & Friday checking cars for dogs, explaining and publicizing dog rules, and generally watching out for dogs and preventing dog problems. I got a radio and everything, it was quite official! :) We got a good spot since we got there early, right by the main drum circle in the center of "town" and I set up my booth. I sold & bartered lots of soap, massage oil, and gemstone & hemp jewelry. I also handed out PETA stickers and leaflets (the kids love those stickers!) and shared the booth with friends who brought their handmade stuff to trade. We made some great trades over the weekend - I got a beautiful patchwork dress and fairy wings that look like leaves to wear for Halloween. I traded massage oil for a foot massage for both Seneca & I (which was awesome!) and we brought home a couple of new crystals and a case of homemade wine. We enjoyed meeting new people, checking out all the booths and shopping, eating some awesome veggie food (including a brick-oven pizza or two!), hiking up the nearby mountain, watching live music, and dancing by the fire. We had some friends come up from Boise, Albuquerque, and even Berkeley, as well as lots of Moscow friends that made the trip. It was a wonderful time with friends new & old and a beautiful weekend. Check out my pictures on my photo blog or even more on my flickr photo page - I took TONS as usual!

I've been busy with several projects this fall - I'm still working on a landscaping web site for a friend of my aunt's, I started work on my cousin Joan's wedding invitations, and I'm working on a logo, letterhead, t-shirt, posters, etc. for the Moscow CommUNITY walk. And of course I'm still working full-time as a web designer for PETA, and I design the Moscow Co-op's monthly newsletter. Yes, I am a workoholic, but I'm trying to save up for next spring when I go to Spain with mi familia, and Seneca is hoping to meet me there so we can check out some more of Europe as well (we're still planning that little trip). I'm so excited to go to Europe, hopefully everything works out and we can stay and go to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and wherever else we have time to visit. I'm especially excited for Paris and Amsterdam, and hopefully I can meet up with my friend Nate in Belgium and our friend Leonard if he's vacationing in Amsterdam at the same time. My main attraction to these two cities is their art museums (the Louvre in Paris and the Van Gogh museum, among others, in Amsterdam). I am an art nut - you should've seen me at the National Gallery in DC!

I have also been getting involved with the animal rights group at UI, "Compassion Speaks." They protest weekly at KFC so I've joined them a couple times for that, I helped table on campus for "Hug a Vegetarian Day" and handing out vegan cookies. And last night we had our first "Vegan Potluck" - which was fun and very well-attended. I ate waaaaayyyy to much, it was so good! Next week is Halloween and we're doing a KFC protest with the theme "We'd rather be zombies than eat at KFC" and we're all dressing up as zombies. We gotta have fun while we're saving the animals, right? :)

Well, back to work for now, I just figured it was time for an update! Things have been moving fast around here and we still haven't even begun to get ready for our big move to Oregon, which may end up happening next spring.

West meets East... Nofolk & DC

2006-09-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

Some people don't like to travel for work, but I gotta admit I love it. Possibly because I work from home, and strangely the office is a nice welcome escape. Or perhaps because my co-workers kick ass. :) On Saturday I got back from a week on the East Coast. I flew to Norfolk for the web dept. retreat, and got in early to go to Washington DC with my friend Jessica. We had an awesome time being tourists and seeing the monuments, and of course we went to the National Gallery of Art so I could squeal over the Picassos, Monets, Van Goghs, Braques, and even a Dali and a DaVinci! We even managed to accomplish my main goal for the DC trip: flipping off the white house. (Eating vegan food at tons of yummy veggie restaurants was a close second, and was also accomplished). Of course, I took tons of pictures!!!

Highlights

The working part was fun, too, we had a 2-day meeting/planning retreat, and I worked from the office for the rest of the week and hung out with all kinds of PETA people. Norfolk is quite used to vegans, so there were tons of delicious restaurants with vegetarian menus. We went to several on the DC trip as well, including a vegan bakery called Sticky Fingers. :) Hanging out with everyone at work was fun, and I got to stock up on stickers, vegetarian starter kits, posters, and goodies from the PETA Catalog. Good times.

So, I guess I'm a bit of a local celebrity...

2006-08-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, amazing how big controversies can be stirred up so easily in a small town... I hope you're in for a long story.

As many of my loyal blog readers (if there are any, lol) probably know, I work for PETA and I've become very interested and involved in the animal rights movement since going vegetarian over two years ago. I was sent a message from a Moscow e-mail list by someone who knew my interests, in which a local woman expressed that to her dismay, a local French restaurant was just opening up in Moscow that had foie gras on their menu, and that she would be boycotting said restaurant. Foie gras is a French delicacy, the words foie gras literally mean "fat liver" in French. The only way to produce it is to cruelly force-feed geese and ducks until their livers are 6-10 times their normal size and they contract a liver disease. So it's a pretty disgusting dish, and the cruelty behind it is equally disgusting. Undercover investigations into foie gras farms in the US and Europe show what goes on, it ain't pretty, but you can see it on PetaTV.

So, I got on the Moscow e-mail list and thanked my fellow Moscowian (Moscowvite, Muscovite or whatever) for mentioning that a local restaurant would be serving fatty diseased duck liver. I asked if anyone would be interested in participating in a protest and called for the owner to remove it from his menu, as well as provided information and my reasons for not wanting this cruelty to be supported in my town. A few days later the online menu changed and foie gras was removed from it. I contacted the owner to ask if the change was permanent and gave him some information on foie gras. He responded saying he was concerned with the welfare of animals and was looking for a more humane source of foie gras. Well, there's really no such thing. Ducks and geese raised for foie gras are force-fed and would never eat thatmuch food voluntarily. They often get sores in their throats from the metal feeding pipes that are shoved down them. All this torture just for a "delicacy" the mostly poor college student population of Moscow probably can't afford anyway doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, about the same time, I was contacted by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News about the planned protests and the foie gras debate in Moscow. In the article, the owner of the restaurant, called West of Paris, said that foie gras was removed from his menu because he ran out, and also said we had a point to object to foie gras. He insisted that there was a demand for it and that he would put it back on the menu once he found a more humane producer. I had mentioned this incident to PETA and they claimed it as a victory, since there's no such thing as a humane way to produce foie gras. The text of the Daily News article was:

Foie gras controversy hits Moscow

Activists up in arms over delicacy's inclusion on restaurant menu; item has
since been removed

By Alexis Bacharach Daily News staff writer
Published: 08-23-2006

Foie gras is no longer available at Moscow's West of Paris, but not for the
reasons one might think.

Restaurant owner Francis Foucachon sold out of the item his first week in
business.

He wants local activists, who got their hands on an outdated menu earlier
this week, to know their threats of protest mean nothing to him or his
staff.

"Here is the bottom line," he said. "I ordered a small amount just to see if
there was a demand in Moscow. It was such a huge success, we almost sold out
our first night."

Foie gras, French for fatty liver, is produced through a process of
force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers become saturated with fat.

Handlers insert tubes down the birds' throats and funnel pounds of cornmeal
into their stomachs several times a day.

Megan Prusynski, a local activist with People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals and the Humane Society of the United States, said consumption of
foie gras went down in areas that provided focused education and outreach
programs.

With that in mind, she's teaming with local and national groups, including
Compassion Speaks at Washington State University, to organize protests in
Friendship Square later this month.

"There are still a lot of people out there who don't know what foie gras is
or how it's made," she said. "When I heard there was a restaurant in Moscow
serving it, I started talking to people about doing some kind of protest to
raise people's awareness - maybe get it banned."

More than a dozen countries, including Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom,
Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland and Denmark, have
outlawed the French delicacy.

In the United States, lawmakers are proposing bans at the state and
municipal levels.

The California Legislature passed a phased ban last year on the production
and sale of foie gras. Earlier this month, city leaders in Chicago banned
the controversial item from all menus in the city.

"The people complaining about foie gras have a point," Foucachon said. "The
way the birds are being stuffed is questionable, and I do believe it's
important to treat animals humanely. I will put foie gras on my menu again
when I find a producer that doesn't engage in force feeding."

PETA spokesman Matt Prescott said that's a victory for animal rights,
because Foucachon will never find what he's looking for.

"There are producers in the industry who say their foie gras is produced
humanely, but such claims are unsubstantiated," he said. "Investigations at
every foie gras farm has uncovered incidents of sick, dead and abused
animals. We've seen birds with holes in their throats and bloody beaks.
We've seen farms where dead birds were dangling from wires, dripping blood
on the live birds."

Video footage and photo galleries on PETA's Web site provide images of birds
with gaping wounds, images of blood-soaked cages and buckets full of
feathered corpses.

"No animal should be subject to torture," Foucachon said. "But these things
they're complaining about, I would suggest American chickens are treated far
worse than the ducks and the geese. Why aren't people writing letters and
staging protests at the grocery stores and restaurants that sell chicken?"

Why stop there, he asked?

Foucachon suggested protests against restaurants that cook live lobsters.

"This is a group that was looking for something to use against my business
and they found something," he said. "While I believe there are some valid
concerns here, I'm not going to stop serving what people want. I will put
foie gras on my menu again."

Alexis Bacharach can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 238, or by e-mail at
abacharach@dnews.com

Well, the controversy pot stirs and I'm asked to appear on a radio show on KUOI, the University of Idaho's campus radio station. I immediately contact my friend Kelsey who was a PETA intern and organized an animal rights group on campus (I protested KFC with her last semester). She is also quite a bit more well-spoken on animal rights issues, so we both went into the station this morning for an interview. We discussed foie gras & the local controversy as well as animal rights, PETA, factory farming, vegetarianism, and a laundry list of related issues. It has been wonderful how much press the issue is getting locally, and the interview went very well despite a couple challenging and a bit hostile people calling in. Kelsey & I kicked some ass for the animals though; I must admit that activism is exciting!

So, I'm sure this saga isn't over, but maybe we opened a few eyes around here, maybe West of Paris will keep foie gras off the menu and we can move on to other activities & protests... or maybe we still have more work to do there. Several countries, the state of California, and the city of Chicago have recently passed laws banning the production and/or sale of foie gras. So it's possible to enable change on the local level, and I'm hopeful. If you'd like more information on foie gras, please check out this article on GoVeg.com, NoFoieGras.org by the Farm Sanctuary, or the aforementioned Undercover Investigation video from PETA. Thanks for caring, but watch out for the greusome video.

I will try to make the audio of our interview this morning available once I receive a copy of it. We discussed foie gras and animal rights for nearly an hour & a half! :) Stay tuned.

We be greasin'!

2006-08-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

We finally have a greasecar! After a lot of work (mostly on Seneca's part), we got our greasecar.com kit installed so the bus can run on Waste Vegetable Oil. We took her for the first veggie-fueled run on Friday. We had to be sure to smell the exhaust, which didn't smell like much of anything since we were running on virgin oil for the first trip, not used oil. We're very excited to have a more sustainable & less polluting form of transportation, and of course, now we're planning some trips in the bus! We've done a lot of upgrades on the bus since we got back from vacation: new headlights that are MUCH brighter and safer, a hemp/organic cotton pop-top canvas with 3 windows, fixed the sink with a hand-powered water pump so now all the camping equipment works, and we just got our new tires in today. So all that's left is to put the new tires & wheels on (we have an appointment scheduled tomorrow) and possibly get the engine checked out by a mechanic and the timing belt replaced. Then it's ready for road-tripping!

Seneca has been very dedicated to this project, making it his full-time job for the summer. His brother, Andy, also has a greasecar, an old Mercedes Benz. So now the "Bio-Brothers" are hoping to start up a business converting people's cars to run on veggie oil and installing conversion kits, using their own cars as models and as advertising. We have been trying to find sources of used fryer oil from various restaurants. We have one regular source, The Breakfast Club, who graciously provides us with about 5 gallons every week, which we then process (put baking soda in it so the animal fats & hydrogenation settles out), filter, and put in the veggie oil tank. We're on the lookout for more sources, and have a couple in the works (it sure helps knowing lots of people in this town, especially those that work at restaurants we want to get grease from). We just got a big storage barrel for the filtered grease, which we heat up a bit before putting into the tank. We're hoping once we move to Eugene (sometime later this fall) that we can get grease from the many vegetarian restaurants in town, to avoid having to separate the animal fats from the usable oil.

So the process works a bit like this: the car has 2 tanks now, one for diesel (or bio-diesel when we can get it) for starting the car & warming up the lines. The second tank is the veggie oil tank, which is heated up so it flows well. After the car is warmed up & running, we flip a switch on the dash and it begins running off of the veggie oil tank. Seneca says the engine sounds quieter on veggie oil, since it's a natural engine lubricant. Once it's running on veggie oil, the exhaust smells like french fries (a big improvement over diesel exhaust), and we cruise at about the same miles per gallon as we get with diesel (for our car it's about 30MPG, not bad for such a heavy bus). About a minute before we stop, we have to purge the veggie oil from all the fuel lines since it can solidify when cool, and switch back to diesel. If we forget to purge it, we have a buzzer that alerts us when we turn off the car in veggie-oil mode, so then we can turn it back on & purge it. Pretty simple, and according to Seneca (well, he's an engineer, this stuff is way over my head), it was easy to install. The only problem we ran into was that our wire for the switch & gages wasn't long enough, so Seneca had to improvise and we'll re-wire it when we get the correct wire from greasecar.com. After that's done the wiring will be hidden and it won't look ghetto-rigged. :)

We're planning on going to several barter fairs this fall in the bus, and spreading the good word about a more sustainable method of travel. And of course now that we get free fuel (assuming we get some good sources soon), we'll be much more likely to take a lot of weekend road trips & camping trips!

I have been writing about our conversion process and bio-fuels in general on my new blog, Our Volksvegan Adventure. We'll also post pictures and stories of our hopefully many future veggie-fueled travels, information on collecting and filtering grease, and anything interesting about sustainable vehicle developments. Please check out the new blog and say hi to our new greasecar!

Ahhhhh.... vacation!

2006-07-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

I got back on Tuesday from a long-awaited (and much deserved) vacation. We took our bus on her maiden voyage and she ran wonderfully the entire time. We were heading to the Rainbow Family Gathering near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, but we made sure to stop at lots of fun places along the way...

Juneau, Seneca, the bus, and I embarked on our journey and first went to Jerry Johnson hot springs (in Idaho on the way to Montana). There we saw a mama & baby moose across the river, and several fellow Moscowvites in the hot springs. We hung out for a bit and then camped just after Lolo Pass in Montana. It's so nice that we can pull over and camp anywhere in the bus, all we do is pop the top, put our stuff on the top bunk, and sleep on the bottom (or the top). The fridge and stove work but we couldn't get the sink to work and probably need a new water pump.

We continued through Montana and into Yellowstone National Park's West entrance on day 2. Neither of us had been to Yellowstone since we were kids, so it was a great experience! We saw all sorts of geysers, elk, bison, hot springs, and of course the beautiful landscapes of Yellowstone, dotted with way too many tourists (remind me to steer clear of Yellowstone in early July next time!). Yellowstone is still recovering from a forest fire (I think it was in '88) so there are parts of the park full of skeletal trees and little baby trees below them. We saw Old Faithful erupt at sunset, what perfect timing! We walked around Geyser hill and camped in the park that night. We got up the next morning and headed to Grand Teton National Park, just below Yellowstone. I am in love with the Tetons, those mountains are beautiful! They rise out of nowhere and tower over everything around. After the tetons (and getting our National Parks pass so we could return), we drove through Wyoming and into Colorado. We got into the Gathering (with no cop intervention, despite lots of rumors about roadblocks and tickets) late at night.

When we awoke we were in Rainbow land (ok, well, the parking lot of it anyway), the area was absolutely beautiful! We hiked into the Gathering (a couple of miles from parking) and were greeted with calls of "Welcome Home!" and lots of good vibes and hug by the Rainbow Family. It did feel like home, a place where an alternative to society (and to capitalism) thrives and people genuinely care about one another. Seneca volunteered for a kitchen (grating ginger) and I walked around with Juneau. We ended up camping near Yoga Camp the first night.

The 4th of July is a big event at the Gathering. Everyone is silent in the morning, and gradually more and more people come to the main meadow and wait for noon. Around noon we all formed a giant circle around the meadow, joined hands, and prayed/wished/manifested world peace. Low, booming chants of "ooooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmmm" were all we could hear. Then the children came in from Kiddie Village and paraded into the center of the circle. Once they reached the middle everyone went crazy, cheering and celebrating. A drum circle began in the center of the meadow and musicians and dancers filled the valley. It felt much more patriotic to gather with my brothers and sisters and focus on peace, celebrate our freedom and our rights to gather, and make music than lighting fireworks and wearing red, white, and blue ever did. :) We also met up with our friend Jake at the main circle, and hung out with him for the rest of the Gathering.

The Gathering is a very unique place. There is no money involved (except donated "green energy" to help pay for food, supplies, and probably a few Rainbows' citation fees) and everything is done on a volunteer, donation, and bartering basis. The trade circle was awesome, I brought my homemade soaps, oils, and jewelry and traded for all kinds of awesome stuff, including some sweet patchwork pants, a shirt, and some beads. There are numerous kitchens serving mostly vegetarian & vegan food, and boy is it delicious! Every evening people gather in the main meadow and kitchens serve huge meals out of coolers on carts, 5 gallon buckets, and huge pots. There are lots of things to do as well, yoga classes, volunteering at kitchens, hiking, trading, and at night there are community fires with drum circles and fire dancers, and there's one camp that built a pirate ship stage for talent & variety shows. Nearby our camp was "Popcorner," a kitchen that served popcorn and tea all night. They got really creative with their popcorn, too, and the chai there was delicious.

Unfortunately there is always drama at the Gathering, since it draws in a very diverse crowd and the Forest Service & cops don't seem to like hippies. This year the Forest Service (we decided to call them the Fascist Service since the Bush Administration sent them to try to stop the Gathering, wasting millions of dollars on spying on, arresting, and harassing the Rainbows) actually set up road blocks and ticketed many of the early arrivals. They then forced them to appear in a nearby town for a private group hearing (is this starting to sound fascist yet?) where no one was allowed access to a lawyer. The Rainbows have tried applying for permits the last few Gatherings, even though we shouldn't have to since we always gather on public land that our tax dollars pay for... but the FS always denies the permit applications so they can cite people, and cite people they did. We were lucky not to even get pulled over, probably because we travelled in & out with the bulk of the people. But they could not stop the Rainbow Gathering from happening, nor will they ever be able to, although they certainly like eroding our constitutional rights such as the right to freely assemble.

Anyway, after many days of delicious vegan food, volunteering, trading, and enjoying the beautiful forests and people, we headed out to Denver with Jake and a new friend we'd met. Jake's parents live in Denver (they were so nice to let us stay with them) and we got to shower at last! ;) We went to Boulder the next day, and hung out at the Co-op (they have a really nice little vegetarian Co-op there) and a beautiful teahouse. We filled up on a bio-diesel blend & headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We dropped off Jake with his family since they were vacationing there, and took the bus up the highest paved highway in the country, through the Rocky Mountains. It had been raining the last couple days and was still wet and very foggy the whole way through the park. So we didn't see too much of the mountains. The park is so high that the top of the road is above the treeline, in tundra. We drove back to Steamboat Springs and then back up North.

On the way back we went a different way and came up to Grand Teton National Park through the East entrance. We also took a different route through Yellowstone so we could see Lower Falls, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Mammoth Hot Springs. There were so many bison everywhere, and lots of elk by the road as well. You can tell they've gotten used to the tourists. The funniest bison we saw was crossing the river, so we pulled over to watch him. Once across the river he walked up to a Geyser. He immediately realized it was really hot and bolted it in the opposite direction. It was pretty funny to watch him learn a lesson. We hiked down to the bottom of the beautiful Lower Falls, took way too many pictures, and left the park through the North entrance after seeing Mammoth Hot Springs. Yellowstone is truly a magical place, I'm so glad we got to see it twice! :)

On the way home we stopped in Bozeman, Montana to see our friend Joe who is living there this summer. It was another beautiful mountain resort town, surrounded by mountains. The bus held up well the entire way back, but now she's a bit dirty and in need of another oil change & new tires. Seneca's brother ordered our greasecar kit so we'll be starting the grease conversion soon, but we're hoping to put in a higher powered engine first, too. Hopefully we'll be running on waste vegetable oil soon!

See Flickr photo page for all my vacation photos... I took about 900 shots on the trip, it was hard to narrow them down! ;) And now, it's back to the daily grind...

One step closer to sustainable transportation!

2006-06-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Let me bring y'all up to speed... First of all, and most exciting, WE FOUND A DIESEL VW BUS! As much as I hate E-bay, it seems that it was the only place we were finding diesel westfalias with low mileage. So we found on e-bay and actually won the bid last night! It's in Atlanta, which is much farther than we were hoping for, but luckily my lovely aunt Susan was able to go check out the bus since she lives in the area. It's beautiful, has low miles, and it's a diesel with an absolutely immaculate interior and a pretty close to perfect body.

So, Seneca is flying down to Atlanta today so he can drive it back up here before we leave for vacation next week, and hopefully all goes well and we can drive it on our road trip. I'm SO EXCITED that we finally found a bus. After months of looking and disappointment, our greasecar dream is materializing! The diesels are rare and kinda spendy, but it's much easier to start with a diesel (and cheaper, we found out) than to get a gas one, convert it to diesel, then convert it to grease. So we're halfway there. Diesels can run on a bio-diesel/diesel mix without any modification, so Sen found several gas stations along the trip that sell 20% bio-diesel fuel, and this is probably what we'll do until we have the money for the grease kit. Sen and his brother (who is a mechanic) are going to do the grease conversion and then we can use waste vegetable oil (filtered first) and bio-diesel to run it! Woohoo! No more oil!

So other than searching and finding our bus, we've been keeping busy and enjoying the summer. We went to a barter fair/gathering near Trout Lake, WA last weekend. It was called the Llama Reunion (a group of friends called the Llama tribe hosted it) and it was fantabulous! There's lots of pictures on my flickr page of the trip. It was quite the drive, but well worth it. The location was beautiful, we camped in a field of daisies with Mt. Adams hovering above us. It was a small barter fair, but the crowd was great and we met some cool people. I also sold lots of soap and duct tape wallets, which is always nice!

We're planning our summer trek and I'm getting very excited, especially now that we have a camper bus to take the trip in! We are leaving next Wednesday (hopefully!) and heading to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for the Rainbow Family Gathering. This is a magical annual event, a gathering of all kinds of "rainbows" from all over the country. We've only been to one before, two years ago, and it changed my life. It's a mix of all things counter-culture, and it operates a bit like a commune. Everyone helps out (volunteering at kitchens, cleaning up the camps, digging pit toilets, etc.) and no money is exchanged at all. The food is all vegetarian (mostly vegan actually) and freely distributed to everyone. We all eat together in a big meadow, there are lots of opportunities for hiking, there are themed camps (I want to stay in Yoga camp this year!) and each one has a kitchen. There are workshops and classes on anything from herbalism to yoga, meditation to alternative medicine... it should be awesome! My first Gathering is what convinced me that I could go vegetarian, and I haven't eaten meat since. It's an empowering experience and a look at a completely alternative way of life.

After the Gathering we are heading to Eugene, Oregon for the Oregon Country Fair. It's a bit like a giant barter fair, with all kinds of activities, vendors, and camping nearby. We've never been but it looks like fun. After that we hope to check out Eugene for a bit, maybe go to the beach, and then come home. We're considering moving to Eugene so if there's time we might look for places to live and check out some of the non-profits & environmental organizations that Seneca is interested in working for. Then it's back up to Idaho and back to the daily grind.... a two-week vacation (I'm not bringing my computer, kinda scary, huh!) is MUCH needed right about now. I've been working more than full-time with my job and freelance projects combined, so a break is just what I need to refresh and relax.

So needless to say I will be out of commission for two weeks (June 28-July 11), so please hold off on the e-mails & such until I get home. I will definitely post pictures and stories of our journey when I get back. Now, back to work... :)

Oops, I caught the boquet!

2006-06-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend usually involves BBQ's, camping, or maybe even some fireworks, but this year I went to a wedding. My cousin Lynn was marrying Dean near Portland, so I spent my weekend with family. It was great to see everyone, it's been a while since I've been there. The wedding was beautiful, Lynn made a gorgeous bride, and much merriment was had. It's really the first big wedding I've been to of someone my age (ish), it kinda made me realize how grown up (and old? no, not old?) we're becoming, but also how lucky I have been to have such a great relationship with my family, especially my cousins, over the years...

The wedding was in a cute little church, my adorable cousins Emma, Walker and Sam were the flower girl and ring bearers, and I got to meet my newest cousin Esther. Esther is sooooo cute, I even got to dance with her at the reception. Oddly enough, my sister Rachel and I BOTH caught the boquet as Lynn threw it... it was weird. Mom had warned us that we better not catch it... Rachel prompty let go and gave it to me. Great. So I guess I'm next!!? It's gonna be a while, lemme tell ya.

I stayed with Katie and Bridgette and enjoyed hanging out with Karyn, Joan and her adorable toddler Connor. And I even got to meet my co-worker, Junko, who lives in Portland, and check out the city with my sis Rachel. Rachel just finished her first year at the University of Portland, so she got to show me some of her favorite spots like sweet little tea shop and shopping area. We also went to Powell's books, it was huge. Overwhelming actually. Good times.

No big plans for the upcoming weekend yet, except finishing the Co-op newsletter and a web site proposal, cleaning, and maybe a hike. I've been wanting to go to the Hobo Cedar Grove. I think it's an hour or two away, but it's an old-growth cedar grove that sounds like a beautiful place to spend a Saturday. Seneca is backpacking until tomorrow with his brother. They went to the hot springs and up to their favorite morel picking spot. I'm a bit jealous, but they spontaneously decided to do it Monday and alas, I am a workaholic.

I can't believe it's June! I guess I better plan my summer! I know we want to go to Colorado the beginning of July for Rainbow, then head to Oregon for the Oregon Country Fair. That's near Eugene so we plan to check out the area and spend some time in Eugene. We've been thinking about moving there. From a short visit a few years ago I got the idea that it was a very nice, laid back place, and we'd fit in pretty well with the hippies. :) It would be much more progressive and bigger than Moscow, but I'm ready for something new. It would be nice to live somewhere other than Idaho for a while. I have a feeling I'll be back here someday anyway... No bus yet. Still looking. It would be nice to be up & running by July but I don't think that's gonna happen. We may at least have a bus, but it probably won't run on grease (yet). There's time, I guess, but dammit I'm impatient! I'm itchin' to get on the road with a grease car! :)

Well, back to work. It's gonna be a long weekend, I totally need to catch up on work after having so much fun last weekend...

Greed is bad

2006-05-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

...So apparently I spoke too soon about that bus. We went back to talk to the guy with cash in hand, and he said that after talking with his wife he needs to get more for it (what it was "worth" according to e-bay, not how much he'd put into it, which was the price he gave us previously). He more than doubled his price! Almost tripled it! For a van that is a total project and hasn't even run since he got it. He said he'd put the engine in and get it running, but it's still not worth that much. What a greedy poo-head! So we're back to square one, and probably going to find a gas bus and convert it, since the diesels (like this one was) are rare and greedy people charge way too much for them. I am just steamed that we could've had a bus, a LOCAL one at that, and then greed has to get the better of people. The guy was pretty cool too, it's a shame.

Arrhghghghhhhghg this is becoming frustrating. We wanted to be running on grease by July for the Rainbow Gathering. Now it's almost June and still no bus. :(

Just needed to vent. Hopefully I'll have good news soon.

HOT!

2006-05-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, the high for today was 94 degrees, and it's only May! Can we say global warming? :oP It's so hot in this house, and even hotter when I'm working on a computer all day. Funny how it acts like summer as soon as all the students leave town and school is over. I love this time of year in Moscow, the frat boys are gone and there's hardly any traffic. It's much easier to ride my bike around without being narrowly missed by a car since there seem to be more bikes on the streets than cars these days.

We went camping last weekend, which was awesome. I always love the first camping trip of the season. Some friends came up from Boise and we went to a barter fair. It was fun, I bartered and sold some of my soap, some jewelry, and massage oil. Hopefully we'll be going to plenty more barter fairs and festivals this summer. Especially if we get a bus. Speaking of the bus, we found one in town! It's a diesel and the current owner is putting a new engine in it (I believe he's putting in a turbo engine, which rocks). There were a few other people interested but we're hoping we can just offer the guy more for it. The only problem is he seems to be taking his time finishing it up and putting the engine in. So who knows when it will be done and if we can get it. Keep those fingers crossed! I can't believe after all this time looking that we found a local bus, I really hope this one works out. :)

This weekend I need to work my little butt off. I need to design a new template for the Co-op newsletter since we're moving to a new press, work on a proposal for a web site I'm designing, and get some cleaning done. I'm hoping to go to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning as well, I love Farmer's Market season! Fresh organic local produce is definitely worth getting up early on a Saturday for... Memorial Day weekend I am going to Portland for my cousin Lynn's wedding. It will be nice to see some family, it certainly has been a while. Last time I was in Portland we were just there for a night and stayed with my cousins on the way home from San Francisco. It will be nice to see my cousins and meet my newest cousin, baby Esther, who I have yet to meet. She sure looks cute in the pictures though!

Freelance jobs continue to grow, I just got an e-mail from a dog trainer in Seattle who wants a web site, but since I'm totally busy it may have to wait a while. I met with a client last week who wants some illustrations designed for a book she is writing. She also fell in love with my magazine and suggested that we start something similar for the Peace Coalition, which would be pretty cool, but of course very time consuming. If I get any more job offers I might have to start turning them down. Maybe it's a sign that I need to start my own business and focus on the freelance work, but I really don't want to give up my awesome job or any of the benefits that come along with it. It's so wonderful to be able to believe in what I do for a living and make a difference in the lives of animals that can't speak up for themselves. Most of the clients I do freelance work with are small family-owned businesses or non-profits as well, so I really feel good about all the work I'm doing, but I don't know what PETA would do without me! We are a bit short-staffed lately and it's been so busy!

Well, I'm gonna get off this hot computer and go sit out on the deck. Hopefully we'll be playing some poker tonight, so wish me luck! :)

Not enough time in a day!

2006-05-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a busy week so far, and it's only Tuesday! :( Work has been keeping me really busy. We have to make site-wide changes to all of our web sites (and there are a TON), all because Microsoft decided to be lame and change the way the new release of Explorer handles embedded flash files. So I get the wonderful task of using a new process for using flash elements on pages for the entire peta2 site, which has flash elements on every page and is probably the largest PETA site. Can we say tedious? Argh! Not sure if that paragraph made any sense, but it feels good to vent... I guess I am learning something from the process...

Freelance work is blowing up like crazy. I took over the design of the Co-op newsletter and have designed 2 issues so far. Everyone loves it, all is well, but we are changing presses and now I have to design a new template. Not a big deal, and I'll have a chance to redesign things a bit, but it means more time spent working after regular work hours. I am working on a proposal for a landscaping company's website, and will be meeting with a client about a book project on Friday. That probably won't start for a while, since the book is just in the planning stages... and then out of the blue I get an e-mail from another possible client! She loved my work and my design approach, which is totally awesome, and is interested in having me do a logo and identity system. I'm excited about that since it will give me some variety and I haven't done a logo in a little while. Not too sure about the details yet, but it sounds like that project won't start until June. Why is it that when I'm swamped with work, more comes my way? I rarely turn it down, because I love design and doing freelance work gives me more creative freedom and variety than the day job, but juggling everything has been hard and I'm really really glad I work 4 10's so I can have a 3-day weekend. I usually only work on freelance stuff one day of the weekend, and occasionally in the evenings, but I might be dedicating more time to it soon by the looks of it. I'm just hoping things calm down this summer so I can take a much needed break! :)

Still no VW bus :( but we've found lots of possibilities. The diesels are getting snatched up super-quick. One guy had 48 people in line to look at his '82 diesel Westfalia! We're broadening the search and are considering getting a gas one that's in need of a new engine anyway and putting in a bigger turbo diesel engine so we can tackle the mountains without being too sluggish... I have a feeling this process may take longer than we'd hoped. It's already May and it's going to take a while to do the conversion to grease (and from gas to diesel, then to grease if necessary) and pimp out the little home on wheels before we do a lot of traveling in it. But I'm hopeful, and looking forward to finding our perfect bus. My parents had VW buses from before they were married until just a few years ago when they sold out and got a Honda mini-van. So it runs in the blood, and it's been a while since I had a VW in my life... I still miss the Corrado I had (even though it was a pain in the ass and wouldn't start...). I never thought I'd be so interested in cars! But a grease-powered car is yet another way to reduce my footprint on the earth and save money at the same time. :)

Speaking of reducing my footprint, Seneca got a bike trailer from a friend who's moving, and we've been doing errands in that lately. It's been so nice out, it's hard not to ride bikes everywhere. The bike trailer fits a whole load of groceries (we just tested it out with a big grocery trip last night)! Juneau even helps pull it, Seneca clips Juneau's leash to his belt and he pulls Seneca and the cart along. I have yet to try the pooch-powered bike with the cart, but boy can that dog pull. He just loves to run, he's a husky all right!

Well, this is definitely a long enough post. I guess I just had a lot to vent about. :) Life just keeps on chuggin' along, although I've noticed it goes faster the older I get...

23

2006-04-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

I turned 23 on the 26th... wasn't too exciting but we had a potluck & Sen got me a keg of Scottish Ale. :) My parents sent me a big box (thanks Mom & Dad!) with some awesome birthday goodies such as a travel guitar and organic cotton sheets. I got a tarot deck from my friend Dominique that has some really awesome art, my friend Tanya got me some beads, and Seneca ordered me a cleansing kit since I've been wanting to do a cleanse. Seems kinda nasty based on the pictures I've seen of what came out of people's colons, but I'm sure I could use it. Perhaps the best part of my birthday was that I got a 4-day weekend! One of the best benifits of this job is a paid holiday for birthdays, so I took the day after my B-day off so I could sleep in. It was nice. :)

We also had a yard sale on Saturday and got rid of lots of crap. It feels good to get rid of stuff. Our living room is looking much more open now, and much nicer now that I just finished cleaning it. We gotta condense our belongings down a lot if we're gonna get a van! Speaking of vans, we found one in Victoria, BC that we're really interested in. Hopefully all goes well. This time it's not on e-bay, but the guy has several people interested right now, so who knows if we actually end up with it or not. It sounds like he'll give it to the first person that shows up, so we may be making a trip up to Canada soon. Keep your fingers crossed! This one's a great deal, in beautiful shape, and a diesel with a rebuilt engine. And it's bright yellow.

Well, I'm off to make Chinese vegetable & tofu soup. Mmmmmm.....

Earth Day & Hempfest

2006-04-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

This was one crazy weekend! Hempfest on Earthday was Saturday, and I designed the t-shirts and posters for the event (see previous post for visuals) so it was good to get that finished. The shirts sold out, so apparently people really liked them, and money was raised for next year's event. Yay! I also had a booth and sold hemp & gemstone jewelry, home made herbal products like body scrub & candles, duct tape wallets, etc. I got up super-early so I grabbed a great spot and made some money, just in time for my birthday! This year marked the 10th annual Moscow Hempfest. It surprised me that a tiny town like Moscow has such an event, modeled after the Seattle Hempfest that I also attend regularly. Of course, ours is much smaller, but with much of the same spirit of the hemp movement. All the musicians were local, and we had poets, speakers, and vendors from all over. It was a beautiful day, too, so it was so nice to see all the hard work come together in a great event.

I'm getting excited for festival season, and finally got the barterfair.org site back up & running on my server. There's a lot of fairs and festivals this spring and summer, I hope to go to a few of them! I ordered tons of organic soap & oil making supplies, including some new bottles, so I'll be busy making herbal products and selling them at festivals. With the success of some of my recent designs, I've been motivated to get a cafepress store started so I can sell my shirt designs (most notably, ones from Hempfest and the Peace Coalitioon rally) online and at festivals this summer.

The search for the bus is progressing nicely. We think we may have found the dream car in Oregon. It's a camper van that's been running on bio-diesel. There's a few repairs to be made, but hopefully we can get it and start the grease conversion process. No more oil dependence for our fuel! I'm so excited, after a few months of searching we're hoping this one pans out. We may be headed to pick it up as early as this weekend if all goes well! I'm already planning to make colorful curtains to make it a little home sweet home on wheels! I never thought I'd be into RVs like my grandparents (ok so I'm sure I'll never be into the HUGE RVs they drive around) but I'm pretty stoked about this mini-RV greasemobile. Time to start planning camping trips, National Park stops, and festivals to hit this summer! Woohoo!

...And it gets better. Wednesday is my birthday! Yay! Not sure what the plans are yet, but I'm thinking a potluck will be involved. I have a big package from Mom & Dad waiting to be opened (aren't they sweet?!) so I'm trying to keep away from it until my b-day. Every year birthdays seem to get less and less exciting, but this year I actually get a paid holiday, so that's reason enough to celebrate! Ok, I guess I better calm down and get some work done now... :)

Spring At Last!

2006-04-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

It's been raining almost every day the past couple weeks. Today it was finally sunny when I woke up, and warm enough for me to sit out on the porch for a while. Alas, I don't get to go out on a hike since I'm working all day, but it's such a nice break from the rain... I finished the Hempfest posters and shirt last week. The posters are up all over town (bottom design with the recycling symbol) and shirts are being printed this week on hemp shirts (top design, with parts of the poster graphics on the back of the shirt). I'm doing crafts like mad to get ready for Hempfest. My friend Hallie and I have been making stuff almost every night. I've got gemstone & hemp jewelry, duct tape wallets, candles, and a couple of dog collars made. I ordered tons of organic soap and massage oil supplies, but I don't know if they'll arrive in time for me to make everything for Saturday. Eek! I'll also have lots of PETA leaflets and stickers at the booth.

Seneca comes home tomorrow! I'm so excited to see him after 2 weeks! It has been way too quiet around here and Juneau sure misses his daddy. His dad and grandma have both been in the hospital recently, and he's visiting them. His dad is recovering from colon cancer and his grandma has emphysema... so not exactly a joyous family visit but it's good that he got to spend some time with them. Hopefully his dad feels better by this summer so he can do some backpacking with us.

So other than mad crafting to prepare for Hempfest and working on the Hempfest poster & shirt designs, I've been preparing for a huge yard sale we're planning and still looking for a VW camper van to convert to a greasecar, as well as keeping busy at work as usual. I'm also just dreaming of summer, and hoping to be able to do some traveling. There's lots of good concerts and festivals I wouldn't mind seeing (if only money grew on trees!) and I am definitely going to try to go to the Rainbow Gathering in Colorado. There's lots of backpacking to do as well, and it would be nice to visit a National Park or two since we didn't get to go to one last year. Along the way we'd like to visit a few places we're thinking about moving (Montana, Oregon, Colorado perhaps... who knows!) and just get out on the road for a bit, especially if there's a VW to travel in!

Ok enough day dreaming for now... time to get back to work! :)