$30 Plaid shirt in perspective

Normally I would say $30 is entirely too much to spend on a shirt. But, three weekends ago, that's exactly what I paid for this lovely piece of top-half clothing. I have worn it no less that four times in the last 2.5 weeks, making me feel very justified in spending that $30 on this shirt rather than 4 lunches out, 2 nights at the movies, 1 round of golf, or two-thirds a tank of gas. Because, really, it gives me much more pleasure than 4 cafe rio burritos. Or any of those other things, really. Really.

Huntington Beach for the 4th

Ty and I are taking off for a firework-filled weekend in Huntington Beach for the 4th! Back to the sunny, beach-breezy days of spending the holiday riding bikes down the riverbed to join the madness in Newport and Balboa.

Ty's never been to Huntington, so I'm excited to show him all the hot spots.  Like...you know...the house I grew up in, my favorite place to grab breakfast on main street, my neighbor's houses, the riverbed bike trail...stuff like that. We may hit up the Balboa frozen banana shack, the Corona Del Mar tide pools, the Pier, the fireworks at the Newport dunes and a few other things too, I suppose. Happy 4th everyone!

Garden progress

We've got radishes, folks.

Mona Mona

Last week Ty got a new sleeping bag, so we headed out to the Mona Reservoir Friday night to do some rope swinging, camp firing and sleeping-bag testing.

When we got to the rope swing, there were these friendly 12-year-old boys there who quickly oriented us with the rope swing, demonstrations included. They let me have a go at it after showing me the way, and I'm pretty sure I screamed every time I went off. Not Ty though. No. Ty, the man, does not scream like his sissy girlfriend. No. And he'd probably tell you it's not scary to free fall into water from 20 feet up, but I say that it is. Ok. I'm glad we have that settled.

Guitar playing was also had on the trip. As well as tin-foil dinner cooking and eating (NOTE: Our tinfoil dinners included broccoli from our very own garden! Delicious industriousness.), a fire-building and sustaining lesson from Ty, and a 6:00 wake-up call from a blazing sun beating down on my back. Awesome. I loved every part except for that last one, that one wasn't as fun. Hope you had a killer weekend as well!

Broccoli leaf

In case you don't know what a gigantic broccoli leaf looks like, this is it. Katy, Ty and I are part of a farm share, and this came as part of our weekly produce last week. Awesome.

It smells and tastes a lot like broccoli from what I hear. I believe Katy ate it after cutting it into squares and sautéing it. And, can I just say that I like how getting produce from a farm share forces you to be more open in your produce palette? I now make kale chips on the regular (does twice within a month and a half count as "on the regular" if I plan on continuing to make them?) and we have started throwing all sorts of vegetables into our smoothies. Fun with produce -- gotta love it. NOTE: it's not a vegetable, but one of my favorite smoothie additives is half a lemon, rind and all. No joke. You should try it; it makes the smoothie taste all light and refreshing and invigorating. Delish.

Welcome back summer

Oh hello summer up the canyon, I've missed you.

Kates and I ventured up rock canyon last week (two weeks ago?) to break in our outdoor climbing gear for the season and do some warm-summer-evening climbing. Thankfully we got up the canyon just in time to do one lead climb each before no headlamps and the setting sun told us it was time to exit the canyon for the evening. It was surely a short trip. Surely. But also surely a great start to a sure-to-be amazing summer.

As you will notice, there are no photos of Katy or I actually climbing. In lieu of our affinity for life and each other, we decided it best not to photograph people while we are belaying them on the front of a 90-foot rock face. Next time: must bring friends for numerous reasons, including to take proper climbing pictures.

Unexpected blessings

Sometimes, when things seem to not work out in my life as I expected or hoped, I feel like my life is a little shattered.

Like when I graduated college with a degree and skill set to match in Public Relations, only to be laid off from my first corporate job a little more than a year later. My department size went from 12 people to 5 people, and even though I knew it was a "job elimination" not a "nicki elmination" (big difference), I was still devastated. What was I supposed to do now? One job out of college with hardly a year of experience?! Come on! But, unexpectedly, it was that door closing that allowed the great door of a career in graphic design to open for me. In fact, if it hadn't been for that door swinging closed I probably still would be stuck in PRsville writing press releases and calling editors on the regular (poke my eyes out). Plus, the severance package that I received also paid for a trip I took to Europe, but that is a whole different story. Point being, I still count that layoff as one of the largest blessings I have ever received. Not to mention numerous relationships not going as planned, job applications not yielding results, failed attempts to do things I really love, and countless others.

I came across this quote today and subsequently designed up this little web poster because it reminded me that when I am doing my best to follow happiness, the world doesn't end when things don't go according to plan. That forced direction changes can take you to lovely places you didn't even know existed before. That loving the ebbs and flows of life rather than struggling against them is a much happier road than constantly feeling out of control. Life is good, and I am grateful for the seemingly depressing closed doors that have led me to everything beautiful and amazing that I have in my life now.

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