.another 6 months.

hello lovelies!
it seems that another 6 months has flown by!

i am back down to working one job now, doing some massage and creating on the side.  i handmade, bought locally or re-homed most of the gifts we gave this christmas, my garden did so ridiculously well that i could not even keep up with the tomatoes!  let see . . . i traveled a bit - went to thailand, back east for a visit, down to southern oregon to see family . . . mostly we've had non-stop visitors since moving in to our new place last May.  it's been fun being NE PDX's most hospitable bed and breakfast.  i am also now the proud co-captain of my roller derby team, the Heartless Heathers for the 2013 season.  we are about to have our season opener in a few weeks - and i am so proud of how hard we have all been working this pre-season!

so, this was a big HAPPY NEW YEAR jumble update . . .

i will close by plugging a few facebook pages i've started.  the first is Bird on Wire Handmade (which i may just change to TJLoves).  here you can find my lovelies as i create them until i get that etsy shop.

the second is Hudson TShirts. a place where you can become a fan of our alaskan malamute Hudson and the  tshirts that bear his face.  hudson tees were a creation between myself and my dear collaborator, the fantastic textile designer and superhuman whitney. . . the first printing of shirts were a fundraiser for the man-friend and i to raise gas money to move back to the PNW . . . now tees are being printed so that hudson can leave his "print" on the world for years and years to come.

lastly, i've updated a few of the mixed media bars on the side ...  more on that to come.

for now i leave you with a few photos of my life since i last posted:

 strawberry rhubarb jam with rhubarb from my front yard

 an example of how my tomato plants took over the plot- they actually got much worse than this

 the man-friend and i celebrating our 8 yr wedding anniversary in sun river, oregon

 my 31st birthday float trip down the sandy river.  photo by corinne krogh

 climbing with friends at smith rock in central oregon

 at the top of the angles' rest hike in the columbia river gorge with my sisters in sept

 at the highest elevation a person can hike to without technical climbing gear on mt hood oregon, with my leaguemate Roller Eclipse

 my travel companions at the loi krathong festival in chiang mai, thailand this november

an example of what you can get when you shop from hudson tshirts

 my boy in his christmas sweater

the heartless heathers celebrating their win against seattle's hometeam the sockit wenches last month

i've missed you all!  what have you been up to in my absence?

.2012.

well.  it's a new year.  and i'm starting it out a little sad.

it's been 5 months since the mister, the pup and i left rhode island.  after i celebrated my 30th birthday, our friends sent us off with much love.

 we traveled cross-country for 2 weeks and arrived breathless and happy and more than a little terrified back in my home state of oregon.

since then, life has progressed slowly and i have taken small, unsure steps.

i've embraced more time with my family.  i live with one of my sisters.  we've gone to family weddings, said goodbye to a precious grandmother, celebrated thanksgiving and christmas with our loved ones.  i am surrounded by the beauty of the pacific northwest.  we've gone hiking and to the beach.  we drink good coffee and hear good music and hold each other close. these are good things.

but . . .
i work at a job i hate, we are scraping by to pay our bills.  i gave up the garden i have so lovingly cultivated for the last 3 seasons and now live in a house where everything is in the shade.  i love the huge trees that surround our house . . . but this girl needs to be growing her own food.  i haven't touched my easel.  i live too far from everything i love about this city.  i miss my old roller derby team (though my new one has made me feel SO welcome) and my old neighborhood.  my closest friends are now the ones who are so far away.  returning to a place where i once lived and finding that both the place and myself have changed . . . it's a tough transition.  i am forced to redefine it all again.

but this can be good too.

so i start 2012 with faith.  with bravery.  with hope.  with fear.

i will embrace possibility.  my heart will continue to feel all the feelings as harshly and as strongly as it always has.  and this is ok.  but i will try to take those feelings and translate them to action.

i will use my new sewing machine.  i will take hold of the time i have and fill it with what i love - radical homemaking, crafts, creativity, time in nature and with those i love, music, yoga, passion . . .

i will dye my hair red and get an acupuncture treatment.

i will volunteer at a local farm.

i will finally put pictures on the walls of my bedroom.  (5 months in this city and no pictures on the walls?)

i will pour my heart in to my life and leave no second wasted.

how will your year be different?