amy rocks, okay?

Getting my brother’s Christmas list is like a cultural experience. I have to Google most of the items and not as a way to find where to buy them, but just so I can understand exactly what I’m looking for. Example:  Rock-Ola M1 Carbine,  Plunge Router And then comes the fun ones :)  Skid Steer, Ammo, Neat Old Military Stuff, a Ride on the Gettysburg battlefield.  You can’t blame a guy for putting it out there and I absolutely love it. What were to happen if one of us did win the lottery and wanted to do something ridiculous for everyone in the family? At least we’d know what Danny wanted! :) And shoot, I may have asked for a round-trip ticket to Melbourne. Who’s judging? It only hurts to read these things because you can’t get them for him. I wish I could. I know how much he’d love it, but instead, I’m eyeing gloves so the next time he shovels snow in negative degree temps he isn’t doing it bare-handed. Thanks for the heads up, Sarah :) Problem is, if he RE...

I just can't stop staring at this photo. It inflicts so many emotions you don't what to feel except that you want to hug him, learn from him and then... have this for your own self and someone else. What a feeling. What a feat. What a joy.

It occurred to me today that I miss the country more than I have ever realized. That I am a country girl no matter what, despite all odds and past experiences and future dreams. I belong in the open. With the animals. And the laughter. And the work. And the sun and the snow. Where you find beauty in the earth and all the things it can grow and feed. Where words aren't necessary to convey feelings and their is no meaningless chatter. You sit with a friend creek-side fishing for a whole afternoon without saying much at all, and you like that way. Because your dogs are napping next to you and the fish, well, they're hardly biting but who cares. Because the air is sweet, the sun is warm and LIFE. IS. GOOD. You wake up early because that's when the sun rises and man was intended to do the same. You spend Sunday's with loved ones whether you like it or not. You bake your neighbor pies. You KNOW your neighbor. You feed their dogs when they're out of town. Your kids stay at...

This corner patiently awaits a little chair. Not little in size, in innocence :) A comfy, cozy snuggle in me little chair where you can read and plan your next adventure. Where you write the letter to the friend you've been missing a lot lately. Or always. A chair with a blanket draped over the side to kick off that little bite of chill and ease you into a nap.  Where are you little chair? 

M&M and I walked around Berkeley last night for the heck of it and dang I can't wait to go back! Mostly for the library but the rest was pretty sweet. I mean college campuses in general are always pretty cool - old buildings, winding walks, big grassy patches that make you want to join the rest of the people lying out on them with a good book, but this place had one heck of a library that had you ACHING to sit down with a big book and get SMART. It was described to us as "Harry Potter" style by the girl at the front desk and no doubt it was. Also a little Dead Poets Society esque.  Anyway, short photo tour... :)  Oh yea, and there was a T-Rex. Come visit! :)

It's just so darn GOOD. That voice. That tune. It carries you along. Waltz like. You listen in anticipation for each new word while holding on to the train of the ones replaced for fear of letting them go because they. make. you. feel. so good. It's like watching a movie. Close your eyes and see what happens. Do you go to the bar, the dirty smokey bar where she stands on the stage in front? Do you go to a modern day scene where you swing to and fro wrapped in someone's arms on a warm summer day? Are you cooking dinner tossing a splash of wine in the pan followed by a swish in your mouth, hips swinging, bare feet tapping? Go there. The music is meant to make you feel. That means you're alive and its working. Let it happen :)

I'm the worst. I can easily poop away some serious hours looking at templates and contemplating how to present something. I love this blog. I do. It's like my own little baby but then comes a moment when I have 8k pictures I want to share with you for this one experience and well, its sort of hard to do on here! But I guess that makes me slim and trim it down? Eh. I need to stop talking to people so much on the phone because then I feel like I've told the same stories over and over and in reality, no, I haven't. So well, here goes. There's a place called Yosemite that I had heard a lot about, seen a lot of pictures, and listened to a lot of stories. Like most things I wanted to go see it for myself. See what all this TALK is about. To see if the reason these campgrounds are all so full is not because it's the nearest National Park but because it's that awesome. Folks, it is. I know, I know, you've already seen this photo. But really, have you?...

When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.  - Eric "The Hip-Hop Preacher"

This is supposed to be some beautiful post full of pictures and grandeur and it will be, but right now, holy crap it's a lot of work to go through all those pictures that are half scattered on your cell phone, DSLR, and GoPro. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying you tell yourself that "tonight I will edit my Half Dome pictures and post them along with the story." HA. Tell yourself again. Crappy day at work yesterday. Crappy workout. Crappy sleep. Rode bike to work. Cheered up along the way care of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Broke down at desk looking at pictures of Morocco and missing David. Call David. Cry into phone in the booth. Laugh some. Email professors who I've ignored all summer. Feel horrible. Send it anyway. Whisk away to meeting. Come back. Email waiting from said professor and my heart leaps. They understand. They aren't mad. They have been busy too and haven't even touched the project. We need more data. Molly is going to get it fr...

El Cielo de Canarias 2012 / The Light of Stars from Daniel López on Vimeo .

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."  - Helen Keller

I work in Marketing. Behind a screen. Sending out any vibes I can through the tips of my fingers rapidly pushing on the keys in front of me. Conveying to those I connect with how happy I am at their excitement and pleasure in our product and our company can be a challenge for a girl with a limited vocabulary. I often find myself at a loss of words and half ashamed to continually say "awesome, amazing, wonderful, and beautiful", but in reality, that's what it is. These women I've found myself connecting with are INCREDIBLE women. Incredible. They are normal. They are simple. They are doing their part to make the day okay. In any small way they can. Today I received a picture from a gal who won our last giveaway and the sight of it brought me to tears. Her smile was and is, one of the most genuine, gleeful, proud and honestly thrilled in the moment photos I've seen in a long time. The look on her face wearing her new Title 9 t-shirt with a tennis racket, golf club a...

Man, it took two hours of solitude and biting nails, sitting in my car, laying in park wondering what I should, what to do, where to go, to get here. It's been a while since I've had peeps to hang out with but hey, this is new and all new things take time to adjust and cut the crap, I haven't SMILED THIS BIG IN A VERY LONG TIME. :) I just made a dinner of which had 4 ingredients I had to look up on my phone in the store to figure out what they looked like. And then STILL ask a clerk :) It has a cinnamon stick in it. It's been boiling for 26 minutes and my kitchen smell unbelievably delicious! I did this?! What!? Also, I just two stepped myself around the house to Jason Aldeen's Big Green Tractor grinning ridiculously the whole time. Obviously having a man to whisk me around would be ideal, but you know what? I'm totally okay with just me :) I'm a good dancer! KIDDING :) I'm just thankful for the practice for a someday important dance with a special...

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.   (Anonymous)

It feels really good to abandon a book you've been reading but haven't enjoyed much at all. It's like donating old clothes. Or cleaning out gutters. Doing a fridge purge. Scrubbing the shower. Plucking your eyebrows. Wow, I'm getting tired. No, I already am tired. So I am going to stop. And leave you with pretty explosions! :)

I'm curious when my desire to travel and explore all the ends of the earth will come back. My guess is when I get my student loans under control. Then it's going to come at me like wildfire. And my camera will be glad I've been giving it a rest and I'll have to pick up another battery pac to my GoPro. I think. I feel like that's how its going to go, but for right now, I'm super happy to be here :) Along with that, or hopefully before, I want that inner creative eye back. The one that saw beauty in all things and people. And had creative ideas pouring out of her, so many she didn't know what to do with them all. I remember when I first moved to Portland, before I let it get to me, at night lying in bed I would tell David all my ideas for products, companies, things I had that day. Some were far fetched, some actually had a little potential to them, but I remember most of all saying "Babe, one of these days, these ideas, a good one is going to hit and w...

Started as a list of things I love about Portland. "I LOVE the sound of diesel engines in the city! I love the merging system in the Ross Island..." and will now be completed as the things I miss about Portland! :) Sorry Dave! Not a moment too soon :) 1. The smell of cooking hops in more than one neighborhood. 2. BIKES. People literally rode them everywhere. 3. Safeness. You never felt threatened or on edge. Always at ease as if it were a small home town. 4. Food. Carts. My goodness. Food in general. And the price tags on the amazing food. You really can't complain about not having enough cash to try new things because it's all so ridiculously cheap. 5. The man jamming on his sax at the intersection every sunny day. 6. Here to there in 10-15 minutes tops. Anywhere in the city. 7. Weird things like a Beer Mile. What?! 8. The neighborhoods. All so different. All so fun. Depending on your mood and company you could  find the most suitable one and it worked. ...

July is around the corner and because I can already feel my photography skills slipping with having less free time on my hands, I thought why not kick off the month and rock the Photo A Day Challenge :) Friends, you in? I think I'm going to like this having time to myself more than I realize. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd take the alternative, but this will be a fun way to pass the time and make my day more productive :)

What would we do without facetime?! It's so fun to be able to hang out instead of sitting around holding a phone and trying to find something else to mention about your day :) Instead its carrying each other around while you make dinner and show whats on your tv or more often than not, making ridiculous faces at each other and giggling the time away. Come on, don't knock it till you try it! I was thinking today, if we could trade the "hands free" law in for a "NO TEXTING" law, would you do it? Seriously. Driving while holding a phone to your ear is so much more incredibly safe than not really driving because you are looking down at the screen in front of you erasing what you wrote because you meant "you're" instead of "your". I know, I don't approve of talking on the phone either (guilty) but the whole texting thing freaks me out. I've been here a week and have seen multiple instances where cars were darting off into uninten...

Two things, really quick.  Electric knife sharpeners are freakin' rad.  and I can't seem to remember the second. So, just the one thing. Electric knife sharpeners are rad.

Hello ladies! :) I'm making peace with all of my teasing and scoffing, and I'm going to host Monday night parties for this years Bachelorette Season (bring on the two buck chuck and sliders)! And only because this years is going to be a good one. Why? This guy. Eat your heart out Devin Barr. Meet my cousin, Doug Clerget. :) Would you believe we're related? Or that he's like a brother to me? That his son Austin is tearing up lap swimming right now?  Now, meet Emily. Second time vet for ABC, she was dumped after winning a previous Bachelor season but this time she wants "to meet her husband so bad!" . The season is wrappin' up and Doug is sadly already home, but no doubt this is going to be good. I'll explain why later :)  The Deets: MONDAY, MAY 14 7:00 PST OUR CASA   I'll be making tacos! :)  Bring a bottle of TJ's finest or Pacificos! Snacks are welcome too ;) Let's do this! See ya in a couple weeks! ...

Today I ate the better half of a stirring spoon. I stuck it too far in the blender where it was torn to itty bitty pieces becoming white plastic potpourri in my smoothie. I started to pick it out but the smoothie was melting in impatience! Oh well, I've ate worse.

"Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive them....

ONE WEEK UNTIL IM MONTANA BOUND. I can make it. Oh baby, I'll be counting down the hours!

David's birthday is coming up, only a couple weeks away and FRICK if I can't find us a place to stay. Timberline secluded cabin? Have to have 12 people to book. If only I had a million dollars, I could pay for everyone, all of our friends. I guess something to put on the list for "dreams". Forest Service cabins are booked YEARS out in advance. WHO KNEW?! WHO KNEW!? I knew the line at REI always seems a little long each time I've gone in but I didn't realize that those people are actually out doing things in the woods! They're all so urbanator that it didn't seem possible! I miss Montana. Everyone has their own cabin to hang out in so the Forest Service ones are always up for grabs. It's looking like my romantic birthday getaway weekend idea is SHOT. Time for a backup plan.. but how could anything beat hiking in to a look out tower with a view of Hood, Jefferson, Adams and St. Helens?! I did find a Treehouse Hotel - but damn if it's not five ...

I am so annoyed with myself and I knew it all along, how come it took this long to wake up one morning and say "AMY!? WTF?!" I got in my own head and thought about stuff too much. I told myself I was silly for loving to take photographs when they weren't amazing shots, or didn't make sense to anyone else. I got insecure about my inner voice and personal enjoyment and convinced myself to stop. That it didn't make sense. That I was being silly. That there was no value in what I found interesting and fun. That it wasn't the fact I am alone without people like me, but more that people thought I was weird/odd/immature/CRAZY and way too lighthearted. Why is the world full of evil people that you let make you feel bad about yourself? That you want so much to impress you become insecure when they don't approve? And tell yourself it's your fault? People you don't idolize but are you employers and you want so painfully much to do a great job that you try you...