It's Summertime...

...and the livin' is pretty easy.

Or at least simple... ish.

July holds a slew of birthdays in my close circle, including my own (July 11). For the fifth year in a row now, July has not only been my birthday month, but also a month of big transitions and changes; these changes include (but are not limited to): changes of mind, changes of scenery, changes of the tide, and last, but certainly not least, changes of heart.

It's interesting to look back at last year's July 11, of which I have one photo...

I went to out to dinner in New York City in a little black dress and black Jimmy Choo's.

This year was a little bit different...

I baked a pie in my magical California gypsy home far, far away from civilization in a well worn sun dress, barefoot. The restaurant was delivered via dirt roads on the back of a truck...

It's ironic because when I think back to what I felt turning 27 in the big apple, the most poignant emotion I can recall was the longing I felt to get back to exactly where I am now, today, at 28.

This is particularly of interest to me now because I spent much of the last year feeling like I was facing an event horizon: To change, or not to change... that was the question. I felt the looming of an imaginary deadline that I, myself, created and had to change everything by, or else deem myself a failure. Enough with this gypsy life... time to grow up... basically.

Last year's July held a massive change of heart, tide, and scenery. But my mind essentially stayed the same.

This July I'm starting to get the hunch that a change of mind may be coming. I've fear I've been thinking about things all wrong this past year.

I have been preoccupied with where I wish I was rather than where I actually am. Not only that, but I've been so preoccupied with the future that I wasn't fully appreciating the present.

"You don't really need to go from A to B to C to D to get to X. You can really just go straight to X."
Thanks buddy.

For the past few weeks, I finally feel like I'm more in my skin again.

"Let not the fruits of action be your motive to action."

. . . .

. . . .

My temporary home before this temporary home...

. . . .

This temporary home...

. . . .

My heart has moved to a magical gypsy home... again.

. . . .

I don't know what the future holds, but I'm starting to care a lot less. I really like right now. 

Sometimes Seattle still really surprises me...

_____________________________________________________________________

6 . 2 1 . 2 0 1 1

I'm adding to this post now because I've gotten some good response to this band (congratulations on your good taste) and I want to do a little more advertising for them now. This second bonus track has a mere eleven views on it so far (as of this morning)...

Also their album is a little hard to track down... no itunes... but you can download their tracks here:

http://pickwick.bandcamp.com/

PS... rumor has it they're going to play a show in Bellingham around July 21/22... haven't set the date yet but I would highly recommend marking your calendar...

You know you're in the future when...

Didn't think it could get any better...

But then it did.

This makes me feel so filled with nostalgia it's a little ridiculous... and totally fantastic. (Especially for a new version of the song.)

One Week in Bellingham - Home Makeover Edition

May 15 - May 23

What do you do when you have a week to do nothing?

Build a bathhouse, but of course.

This was my first building project using all (or 99.99% all) recycled and scrap materials.

Totally gratifying.

Totally worth the very little money it actually took.

And totally turning me into a raisin, slowly but surely, day by day.

Yesterday I drank my coffee and shaved at the same time.

Amazing.

Here's the transformation in action:

What we started with... (a deck that I built two years ago and a tub from craigslist that had sat for two years, unused and exposed, on top of it)...

The only new material we used were these four pillars for framing (learned from experience the difficulty in framing with bowed wood)...

The hardest part, or at least the part that inspired the most swearing, was the used metal roofing... (thanks so much Kris!)...

All used windows (and a door sawed in half) from the ReStore. (Why doesn't the world have more ReStores?) All walls built out of wood from fallen, milled trees here on the property from about a year ago...

All downhill peddling from there...

Except for installing this son of a bitch...

If I had youtubed a video of me wrestling with this pipe, the grunting, heaving, sometimes screaming redicularity of it all would have gone viral, I'm sure of it. (Note to self: Trying to connect stove pipe by yourself through a wall is NEARLY impossible and may leave you stranded and almost crying... don't try it again.) But as my very first stove pipe installation, I think it turned out pretty alright.

All scrap granite pieces from a much larger house project made shelving and benches. A milled, fallen madrone also used...

So this is pretty much my new address...

Now you know where to find me...

I'll have the bubbles ready.

xo