Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Beginnings After Beginnings

After we left Pennsylvania and drove through the lush mountains of the northeast, across the central plains, stopped in Colorado where we went on a hike in high altitude and low humidity (and I got my first ever sunburn – not fun! Sorry all you fair skinned people, I feel your pain), then passed through breathtakingly beautiful and unique Utah, across more plains again, then up through mountains covered with ancient pines that can't be described as anything other than magical because of their misty shrouds and holy waterfalls, we arrived, finally, in Portland, with bright eyes and light hearts.

I had an entire blog entry ready to go to say farewell to this one. It had a link to our new joint blog that was to be all about our new life in Portland, where we'd been directed to go both through logic and through intuition, where everyone who had ever been there told us we'd belonged, and where it seemed to us like we would too.

So we arrived in Portland, and found an overcast city. No problem, we knew that Portland's weather wasn't the sunniest. But we weren't there for the weather, we were there for the people! For the relationships! For our fellow veggie lovers! For my new husband's education!

Except....

Portland has an amazing vegetarian culture, true. A culture that is artsy and creative and unique. It is a definite tribe, one that the world needs. But, as we found to our dismay, it wasn't our tribe. We didn't fit in at all. And our bright eyes met other eyes that politely turned aside, not recognizing any sort of connection.

And we realized, as we spent all of each day driving and searching, calling and touring, and finding random wifi spots to look up new addresses, that finding a place to live would be much more difficult than we'd expected. “Of course!” you may say, but no. I've done this before, moved to a new city without a place to live. I've done it more than once. And I'd ALWAYS found somewhere that fit the bill perfectly. Not here. Not even close.

And, for months now, I'd had those deep whisperings that said “you know, naturopathic medical school may not QUITE be what Terry will do.” And I'd told him gently that if he changed his mind, I'd be fine with it, knowing that he would. And he knew too, as it turned out, but both of us, feeling the need to stick to a “plan,” quieted these thoughts privately and pushed through.

But, as it turns out, you can't push through when there is a different path for you to tread. Your pushing gets more and more difficult until you find yourself against an impenetrable wall of rock that sends you back where you came from, bruised and heartsore.

So there we were, days in, still no farther along, confused, sad, and exhausted, wondering what to do with our lack of options and direction. Then, like a candle in the darkness, we made a joke about driving south.

“You know, we spend twelve hours in the car every day ANYWAY.”

“Are you serious?”

“No. ….. I mean, no. We couldn't do that, right?”

“.....”

And it marinated until when, a day later and in a scarier internal place where Terry was at a complete loss and I was questioning every gut feeling I'd ever had (which was a terrifying thing, considering that I've made just about EVERY major life decision throughout my entire adulthood based on that intuition), someone else suggested that we go south.

So we thought about it.

And we talked about it.

And, as we did, that knot in my belly started to relax, and loosen, so gently that I didn't notice it until I was feeling on steady ground again. And that constant threat of tears receded so I could see clearly. So I looked at Terry and he looked at me, and we decided that yes, maybe this WAS an option.

And the more we thought about it and felt it out, the more right it was until the next morning wound up with us checking out of our hotel and hitting the road.

That night the moon rose above us, full in an indigo sky and the sun set behind us over soft golden mountains of ripening wheat as we drove down Interstate 5.

Terry smiled for no reason for the first time in longer than he could remember, he told me.

And as we drove into Los Angeles, a single red firework went off just next to our car, filling our windshield, coming from a place where there weren't any houses and where there wasn't any traffic on the freeway.

We each looked at each other.

“Did you SEE that?”

Then, of course, after we parked the car I got out and immediately stepped in a giant mound of dog poo, which was less pleasant, but they say it's good luck so I'll go with it.

And here we are.

And we're still starting a new and awesomer blog, don't you worry. Here it is.

It'll be all about our new adventures, and they will be adventures, because what kind of hypocrite would I/we be, who tell others to follow their instincts, if we don't follow our own, even against all “logical,” “real-world” thinking? So here we go. Come along, if you like. It'll be a different ride though.

In Love and Light,
Charis

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Honeymoon: The Rest of It

Here are shots from the rest of amazing St. Augustine:

Day 5
Peacock at the Fountain of Youth (lame tourist attraction if you ask me, but there were cool peacocks...)
I'll let you in on a little secret...
If you are ever, ever, EVER in St. Augustine, you MUST go to Kilwin's and get a caramel apple.
He didn't believe me until he tried it.
YUM.

Day 6
We watched sunrise for the rest of the week. (yes, we'd go back to sleep afterwards, but it was def. worth it to get up and go)

The best French pastry shop EVER

(that eclair made every other eclair I've ever had taste like sacrilege)
Drinks that night...homemade sangria...mmmm...





Day 7






Day 8
This is the day we traveled home, and what an amazing week.









Big T picked us up at the airport that night. Big T is Terry's father and my new father in law. Terry's named after his dad, but two Terrys in my world would make my brain explode, so Big T he is (he doesn't mind). I piped Jason Mraz into my ears via the ipoderoo, leaned back, and watched floating stars blink on and off in the Pennsylvania grass (lightning bugs). Love them.

Packing these few days, and hitting the road on Thursday for Portland! The new blog will be up soon, I'll letcha know ;)


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Honeymoon Days 3 and 4

One of the best things about our honeymoon is how lifelike it is. This just feels like our ordinary life, just in a different (and AWESOME) town. I'm enjoying my husband lots, thanksverymuch, and as he sits on the bed right now, writing, I sit on the floor, doing the same. Well, kind of. More like posting pictures :)


Day 3

Shopping for shoes for T... it was an epic journey, but we came out victors, eventually!
The Present Moment Cafe - also the main reason why we chose St. Augustine as our vacation spot. It's hard to find raw restaurants! And we are loving every meal there...
(the decorations rock too)
cucumber lemon water, YUM.


Kale avocado salad, seriously delicious
Raw sushi! FINALLY! And yes, parsnip rice is amaaaazing, tastes SO much like the real thing that my craving is undoubtedly satisfied. I'll be experimenting with that one just as soon as we get our Portland kitchen set up.
The beautiful Floridian beach (Atlantic side, so no oil, ew.)

Having a Lady and the Tramp moment with sea glass noodles (amazing)
A short stop on a long evening walk...

Day 4
Love of mine, reading in the morning



Happy hour - you buy a drink and get a free drink w/ a slice of pizza, not raw but oh so worth it. That pizza is outstanding...
The entertainment was pretty amazing too


A sunset sail


And that wraps it up. Today is Day 5, and I plan on posting on it later. This is much better than having to do a long recap at the end of the week, says me. On another note, this blog is about to be done and done - there's a new one in the works, as this girl has finished dancing this tightrope and is onto a new adventure (and Terry will be blogging too, which is just way WOW if you ask me. No, really, wait til you see....)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Honeymoon Day 2

A1A Ale Works - delicious, and we ordered WAY too much food (and I have an oil pull in as I type to get rid of the toothache, BLAH), but kinda almost worth it. Add in the fact that we watched the current tennis match, but not cause we like tennis, just for the ball boys. They're so INTO IT. Really, watch them the next time you see tennis on. It'll be worth your time. Awesome.

The best nachos I've ever had, bar none.
We didn't even almost finish all this...

Our lovely room




Our private balcony


Awesome random shoppingness

The sunset off our balcony. Yum.

Tonight, we were going to go on a romantic carriage ride, or maybe a ghost tour (yay!), but alas, I'm laid up with this danged toothache, which makes it hard to enjoy anything. So I'm self medicating and Terry is putting up with me. Good husband, that one.