coffee stain around your eye

 

I have been on the road since December 7th and arrived back in PG on January 11th or something. Feeling the transiency a little too much and beyond happy to be back, at home, in Prince George.  A lot has changed in my life in the past year. Turning 30 has definitely not been as stable as I had hoped it to be, which is unfortunate, because I spent much of my coping time, doing just that, coping with an emotional and existential life crisis that could've been avoided had I been open to the sea change in the first place. For the past few years I had definitely been living in this space where I had identified what an "adult" life was like, which included stability, community stature, and important employment (as well as a typical type of heteronormative romantic relationship) and struggled to maintain that normalcy that I felt typified "island life" and definitely the old school resource-based community I was living in. The things I needed to learn about myself, my life, and what I want I could not have learned in Prince George. But, I am so honoured and lucky to have the strength and ability to quit my life and throw everything into my little car and head north in the dead of winter to be welcomed with open arms not only by my friends, but also by myself.

Tomorrow Seth and I move into our new house and get to create a fabulous little home together. But still, a lot of my normal things remain, and navigating them is my new challenge (and keeping my new self in the process): work and having a job (what does that mean and do i even want it?), maintaining a marriage from a thousand kilometres away, getting over myself and working at being fit and killing it at roller derby, and rekindling and strengthening some of the best friendships i've ever had. I'm definitely looking forward to all of it. And looking forward to finally detaching myself from the fake identity i have created for myself and getting to my core self, which i know is there and i know what it looks like, but have spent my entire adult life being afraid of and avoiding.

The End of an Era: So Long TBT

Well, my goal of finishing TBT isn't happening because I will not have readily available internet at home (and haven't for the past two weeks). That doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it every day, nor pushing myself, and look forward to the odd update on here. We just got back from our holiday north and I'm sad to be "home" back in Port Alberni. Big changes for me in the future. Big changes for Stewart. Big changes for our family. New careers. An ever growing toddler. New living situation. Different priorities. The Future. Looking forward to it.

The day we left I bought me and stewart iPhones! it was nice to leave both my camera and iPod at home :) All my pictures were taken using the App "Toy Camera" which is a nice alternative to instagram. No social media or networking (but I can upload to twitter) and it wasn't just bought out by facebook. So many good times. Friends, family, food, roller derby! 

In the Car! Our home for two whole weeks!

stop over in gold pan for glamour shots with bryndis.

Seth found some truck at the park and loved it (in pg)

The seven sisters on the way to Terrace. It rained bullets the whole way back to PG, so happy we got a sun shiny view of them.

Stewart finds out that Derby girls even loved him when he was in high school!

A farm and nursery near my dad's house has horses. My niece loves going there, and seth did too, though he was too afraid to get close to the horses.

Running around in Clinton. this little town will always be in my heart.

One of my many food foibles.

Last night on the road.

#19: Go To Portland

Um, yes! Hotel is booked for June! @kalinhop and I (and baby seth) are going so K can go to blythecon and seth and i can sit in powell's books and wander around. i'll hopefully get a tattoo. and eat. a lot. of. food. OMG. we're staying at ace! wahoooooooo!!!

"i got the high heels on i go out dancing all by my own"

i'm back home in the land of the misty mountains, blooming plum trees, and a house of chaos. and it's so nice! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE EVERY LITTLE LOVELY who was so wonderful, welcoming, warm, supporting, and generous with me this past week in Prince George (and vancouver!). you all make me miss PG so! and i look forward to cuddling with you in October! one of my favourite things about being in PG was all the good food! i got to have cimo, achillion, dana mandhi, zoe's, hummus brothers (sorry 'bout the broke vase!!!), and sushi factory sendo! YUM. and the thrifting! so good! like these star trek plates (which i didn't bring home).. i found a bunch of wonderful things which will get photographed and posted on flickr and here as i use them in our new space.

i now need to watch last week's glee so i can be prepared for tonight's (and rerun of gg last night? what?) and then set up some furniture in our hallway for our books and other kitchen things! xo

you don't have to wait until you die

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE A REALLY LONG BLOG POST WITH LOTS OF PICTURES!! if you want to see more pictures (there's over a hundred) go to my flickr and search "portland trip with melissa" or click here.

holy moly! what a weekend! i'm exhausted and have just dumped all my shit all over the floor and lined my laundry and bedding up in the laundry room as both of our hostels had BED BUGS, mother fuckers. i've got itchy red splotchy parts and am not that paranoid about their travel, but need to get my last load in the washer before night fall. or bed time. that's when they come out. *i have since received confirmation from the hostel that they found the bedbugs and dealt with it, so please still stay there it was a great hostel!

the main highlight of the trip, other than spending four days with the wonderful girl of the north country, was food. lots and lots of food. from diners, groceries, coffee shops, and food carts. we also did other cool things like go to the art gallery, go antique-ing, watch away we go, buy craft supplies, and in general drive around and listen to mirah. oh yeah, and eat doughnuts, we ate a lot of doughnuts.


girl and her new (fake) art tattoo.


our twin portland creams from voodoo doughnuts. mine, on the left, is vegan. girl's is regular. they were so good. collectively we ate over a dozen doughnuts in 3 days. here are more doughnut pictures.


junior's. we had breakfast here on sunday. i ate so fast.


cool things from stars antique mall!


made in oregon!!

"if they get laughs..more power to them" trip pics v.1

pictures from ye ol' holiday. more found on flickr.

we drove through lillooet...it was so windy through the pemberton highway and traffic coming out of whistler was INSANE. should have taken the canyon, no doubt, because it was dead on our way back.


more lillooet/duffy lake road. so beautiful.


and when in vancouver we stayed with friends who, luckily, lived right in the west end. after they headed to bed we played yarn with their kitties who attacked my hands and acted all perplexed by the material upon them.


mmm, double meat. not what i ordered, but oh well.


the sun tower on the cusp of chinatown. my favourite building by far.

adventure #1: nisga'a coast, terrace, etc.

last week, sun-wed, a coworker and i headed out west to do some workshops and get some work done for an upcoming project. we were very lucky to get to spend time in terrace and nisga'a territories. we got to go out to kincolith, meet some youth from the community (new aiyansh), see the new star trek movie (awesome), and spend a lot of time in the car singing along to help im alive by metric.

kincolith/gingolx

lava and mountains on the way back to aiyansh from kincolith/gingolx

marigold coloured shag carpet on the walls of the terrace theatre (tillicum twin)

really really really cool fabrics at the creative zone. made me dream of patchwork.