Help me get the word out!

Do you want to give mother nature a really great Christmas present this year?  Do you love Wyoming's wild places?  Do you wish that you could make some sort of contribution to offset that inherent damage that your energy consumption does to the environment in the extraction of fuels? Are you apathetic about the environment but love me? Well boy oh boy do I have an opportunity for you!  Here's the deal: The little non-profit that I work for in Wyoming is trying to get a grant this winter from the EnviroKids program by Nature's Path Foods and we need your help!  Because we are such a small organization working in a not very populous state we start out with a handicap right out of the gate, we just don't have influence over the same number of people that a non-profit in say NYC or San Francisco has.  Last years winner won with something like 27,000 votes and we operate in a city that barely has that many people in it.  BCA fights for the responsible management of public lands in Wyoming, but the pocket gophers, wolves, elk, deer, and sage grouse can't vote, they don't have facebook accounts.  YOU do.

We could be the underdog story of the year!  I have no facts to back this up, it is merely conjecture, but I'm pretty sure a non-national, Wyoming based non-profit has never won a FB voting based grant on any sort of a large scale.  I can't confirm nor deny this, but no matter how many different ways I google "Wyoming non-profit wins grant through facebook voting" I still come up with nothing.  Help us change that, BCA does a lot of good work, with only a few great employees, and a severely limited budget because we can't imagine not doing it; this is our passion and our life's work, help us keep it up!  

MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS WHOLE POST BELOW:

How to Vote:

1. Go here.

2. If it doesn't come up automatically, find the project titled: Protecting Wyoming's Wildlife from the Oil Industry by Erik Molvar

3. Click "Vote Now"

4. Do it again every 24 hours until Dec 15th at midnight

"P-p-p-p-please help BCA help us!" -Pronghorns

Yet Another Call to Action...

"For unnumbered centuries of human history the wilderness has given way. The priority of industry has become dogma. Are we as yet sufficiently enlightened to realize that we must now challenge that dogma, or do without our wilderness? Do we realize that industry, which has been our good servant, might make a poor master?"  ~Aldo Leopold

I know that I have always been conscious of the quiet, but steady destruction of wild places that human consumption necessitates, somewhere in the back of my head there has always been an awareness that natural places that I have known and loved in my life will not always be there.  Its a reality I have been uncomfortable with for a long time, but one that I know I thought, and I think most people think, that they can do nothing about.  How does one person stop the inevitable grind of progress in defense of the wild places they have come to love?  This is an adversary against which the average person cannot possibly compete, right?  But in my more recent work I am beginning to discover the ways in which each of us, in our own way, can make a difference.  I am finding them, and I want to share them, because this is a fight that is truly worth fighting, not just for the environmentalists and the outdoors enthusiasts, but for everyone and let me tell you why.  

I recently listened to an episode of the podcast called "Too Much Information" with Benjamen Walker called "4 Big Ideas From Sept 17th, 2012" and I highly recommend it to everyone, and I mean everyone, not just environmentalists, even though I know that my audience of the 4 people who read this blog is heavily biased on the environmental side, please share this, because this matters.  It's about the book Small is Beautiful by the British economist and author E. F. Schumacher and it talks about economics of scale.  My favorite quote from the episode is by the author Andrew Sims, who says: 

"If a business goes bankrupt you can set up elsewhere, if the biosphere, if the ecosystems upon which we depend are bankrupted through over-exploitation, well, there might be no coming back from that."

I love it because I think it completely explains the sense of urgency I feel about protecting the planet that we depend on, not just because I am a nature-loving tree-hugger, but because I can see that in a very fundamental way this planet sustains us, and if we don't take care to preserve at least some of it, eventually we will bankrupt it.  Consider this statistic:  According to the Pew Environment Group 6000 acres of open land are lost each day...each day!  That is 2.19 million acres of land that are lost each year, every year or alternatively 250 acres per hour...until somebody says that's enough.  I'm saying that's enough now.  We cannot live as though our resources are infinite, we cannot assume that growth is always the answer.  Try to imagine a world with no open spaces, no wild lands, no wilderness.  It should be unimaginable, because it is illogical and unnatural, but I've met people who say they would prefer it.  I think this is a preference borne of a lack of understanding.  

So what can you do to help change this?  

Educate, teach your children about the environment and wildernesses that you love, your parents, your friends.  Talk about it, tell people why you care.  I can't help but be passionate about these things, and it just bubbles out of me all the time.  Ask any one of my friends, I am one of the most annoying hiking buddies ever, because I just spout information about ecosystems, air quality, endangered species, habitat loss, and anything else that pops into my head.  I can't help it, but I like to think that every once in a while I inspire someone else to care, and that is the best outcome that I can think of.  

Support, not everyone wants to do the kind of work that I do, and that is absolutely fine.  Not everyone has to, but if you support the efforts that people in my line of work are making, show it.  I know so many people who agree with what I do, and congratulate my efforts to protect these wild lands, but getting people to lift a pen and share these feelings with others is like pulling teeth!  Writing a letter to the editor, blog post, facebook post, or tweet about a local wilderness area that you love can be so inspiring to someone like me who spends their days making efforts that most people never even notice.  Like the Campaign for America's Wilderness on facebook, find the person closest to your area who is out there inventorying public lands to find eligible wilderness areas and shake their hand, write them a thank you letter, or donate to their organization.  Write to your congress person urging them to give lands near you wilderness protection.  These things can take 5 minutes, but if you don't show anyone that these issues matter to you, no one will ever do anything about it.  

Warning: Shameless plug of my own work to follow...

If you are in Wyoming, have traveled to Wyoming, or want to travel to Wyoming, consider doing me the favor of writing something about your appreciation of the lands that I have inventoried.  If you hunt in Wyoming, consider voicing how crucial winter ranges for big game need better protections so that there will continue to be healthy populations of game for sport hunting.  If you appreciate desert landscapes, consider writing to the to a local paper and expressing how important it is that we realize deserts are not simply wasted space, sitting on top of possible energy reserves, but are instead valuable habitats and ecosystems.  If you like backpacking and back country camping, write to your favorite magazine or publication urging readers to recognize that many of the areas they enjoy are not yet protected, and could in fact be developed at any time.  

Do something!  Do anything.  Express what you care about in your state and why to anyone that you can, because tomorrow's 6000 acres could be the forests and fields of your childhood, and if you stay quiet today you'll forever regret it when that fateful tomorrow comes.  

"The most striking thing about modern industry is that it requires so much and accomplishes so little. Modern industry seems to be inefficient to a degree that surpasses one's ordinary powers of imagination. Its inefficiency therefore remains unnoticed."  -E. F. Schumacher

April?!?!

Wow...where does the time go?  How is it April already?  I haven't updated this in a while...and not for lack of trying.  I have like 7 drafts started, I just really don't have much to say these days.  I'm at home, I've pretty much been laid off from work, I'm studying for the FE (which is in 5 days!  eeeeek!).  On a more interesting note, I have been playing with photography a bit, in some new fun ways.  Cory suggested the possibility of pursuing photography as a business, and so I have been playing with the kind of photography people might pay for.  There are, of course, some of the usual puppy portraits and landscapes to share:

 My nosey Josey...

Bella-butt

Sparkling mountain streams...

And beautiful secluded meadows.

But then I have also been playing with portraits and editing...and for now, the only model I have to play with is me.  Sooooo as much as I HATE self portraits, I came up with a couple today to edit and share for practice...soon I will be taking some of some other, more interesting people.  Until then, there's me.  

 Me, in color.

More me, less color.  

These would be better if I had Photoshop, but of course I don't at the moment.  Anyway, that is what I have been up to...cooking, eating, studying, sleeping, and always, taking pictures.  Soon I'll remove studying from the equation and add MOVING!  Not sure where, or even how, but I'm outta here!  Thanks for your patience with my lack of posts...more to come soon, just as soon as my test's overrrr and done!  <3 

Taiwan and belated thanks givings...

Here I am, home again, after a whirlwind of adventure in Taiwan to celebrate the engagement of my brother, Cory, and his girlfriend (who is now his fiance!), Hsaio-Han.  I had a great time on my trip and I learned a lot about Taiwanese and Chinese culture, which I have had limited experience with in my adventures thus far.  We had many family meals with Hsiao-Han and her extended family, including lots of authentic Taiwanese food, Japanese food, Thai food, and more.  I continue to be blown away by the hospitality and generosity of each new culture that I experience.  I had a wonderful time getting to know everyone and was very glad for our gracious hosts who translated for us, showed us around, and right from day one, treated us like family.  We'll have some big shoes to fill this spring when it is our family's turn to host them.  It is customary in their culture for members of the family, such as uncles, aunts, and cousins, to want to treat the guests of their family members to a meal during their stay.  We were spoiled, truly spoiled, during this trip and when it was time to leave I had no words that were worthy of the thank you I wish that I had been able to articulate.

In my travels and adventures through life thus far I have seen families in Africa host friends and family members to the point that they could barely afford to feed themselves, go miles out of their way to walk me to work when they had only to walk half that distance to get to their own, give up their own plans to help keep me safe in mine.  In Taiwan I watched family help family by loaning an apartment for us to stay in, loaning our hosting family a van for our transportation, treating us to dinner, helping cart us all around, and most of all never making us feel like an imposition.  In Saint Thomas friends brought me fresh fruit and veggies while I was working the desk, gave me rides or allowed me to borrow a car to get anywhere I needed to go, treated me to many meals and drinks when money became tight for me, and generally appreciated and treated me like family, all by people I had known for all of a month (and also by Nicole, whom I have known and loved since we were assigned to be roommates freshman year in college...love you apple-bottom-whiskers!)  In California I was offered several different home-stays while searching for a place to live, I was picked up and put up by friends when my car broke down in the middle of the road, I was given rides and places to stay, taught the area and shown around by almost strangers just because I was new and had no one else to rely on.

Traveling never fails to remind me how lucky I am in all ways - I have fantastic parents who will take me in whenever I run low on money and want to live without rent for a bit.  I have fantastic family members who will get up at 4 am to drive us to the airport without batting an eye.  I have fantastic friends who have taken care of me so many times and in so many ways I don't even begin to know how to list them all.  I have had the opportunity and the freedom to go to college, get an education, find what I am good at and find what makes me happy.  I have the freedom to live at home and bar tend on the weekends for a few months in order to be able to turn down high paying jobs that bring in to question my moral values.  I have created a life for myself that allows me to move and travel and try new things whenever I want to, that has allowed me to find my passion, and to work my way towards it.  Sometimes I take that for granted, I try to reach beyond my means because I am so used to being caught before I fall, so its important that every once in a while I stop and take a look around and realize how much I have been given, and how much I should be thankful for.  This Thanksgiving I was on the opposite side of the world, so far removed from all the "normal" Thanksgiving traditions, and yet the day still managed to remind me to give thanks for all that I have.  So thank you, to my hosts, my family, my friends, and to everyone who has helped me along my way.  I know that I never hesitate to ask for help from friends and family when I need it and I hope none of you will ever hesitate to ask me for anything either.

Some pictures of my fabulous trip to Taiwan:

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

I'm not sure where September when, but today's date assures me that the month is pretty much over, despite my disbelief.  And with the close of September comes the close of my time here in St. Thomas.  I have made the extremely difficult decision to leave (despite several lucrative offers to stay) after completing a person budget and coming to terms with the fact that living here at this stage in my life is not a wise financial decision (damn you student loans!).  So, once again, it's home for a regroup and new plans coming soon.  This time, more than any other, I am seriously considering grad school as a possible option (because I obviously don't have enough student loans already...) and have even gone so far as to sing up for the GRE.  I'll be one of the very first lucky idiots to be taking the new revised test, so grad school admissions folks - if you are reading this keep in mind that scores ALWAYS go down after a major change in the test, I'm smarter than my score will most likely make me look.  Reassuring right?  Not.

So, here I am, as per my usual, standing at the precipice of some new big adventure, waiting for the fog to clear and show me just exactly what it will be.  For now it's memory sharing time, here are the things that St. Thomas allowed me to check off of my bucket list: 

1. Live on an island.  Self explanatory, awesome, enough said.
2. Take a picture of a lightning bolt.  We all know I'm a photography nerd so this was a very exciting development for me.
3. Snorkel in the Caribbean.  Spotted eagle rays, brain coral, sea turtles, starfish, tropical fish, urchins, and awesome-ness.  
4. Night Snorkel in the Caribbean.  Bio-luminescence is amazing, underwater flashlights are fun, and big shiny silver tarpin fish are not sharks.  Phew.  
5. Island Hop!  St. Thomas, St. John, Jost van Dyke, Tortola, and more.  Boats are fantastically fun toys in the islands.  
6. Enjoy fresh Coconuts, straight from the tree.  And watch very talented West Indian Rasta guys scale palm trees like they're playground toys.  
7. Experience a tropical storm/almost hurricane first hand.  Exciting, except not, when you work at a hotel these things usually mean canceled flights, equating to a very busy night in the office checking in disgruntled travelers in howling wind and pounding rain.  
8. Hiking to gorgeous views and plantation ruins, read about the history of the ruins and the islands.  Did you know that slavery was abolished in the USVI several years prior to it's abolition in the states, but several years after it was abolished in the BVI (British Virgin Islands).  Brave souls used to build rafts, steal away in boats, and some even swam the short distance from St. John to Tortola; anything for freedom.  
9. Share this adventure with my mom!  Very cool for my mom to get to come down here and experience this crazy place with me, it's the first time on of my immediate family members has been able to visit me on my travels and it was a really neat thing to share.  
10. Ride a ferris wheel on top of the world.  Or so it felt, swirling around on the edge of the steep hill that is paradise point.  
11. Night swimming; swimsuits optional.  Late night skinny dipping on secluded beaches with silly friends to cap off a fun night out?  Count me in!

I'm sure there's more but I'm too lazy to continue - the point is, I've had a very good run here.  Nothing sad about it ending, I'll come visit again someday and for now I have nothing but new and exciting things to look forward to.  I'm a lucky lucky girl.

 

 

UPDATE!

I made a listing on my Etsy store for these very special $25 photos, so you can easily purchase one there and I will send it your way!  No muss no fuss!  I posted a few new options on Etsy as well and I'll post a few more previously unposted photos here too so you have tons of options!  Make sure you make it clear which photo you would like in the note to seller on Etsy, if it is from the blog give me the date it was posted and the caption underneath it, if it is just one you know that I have somewhere then email me or call me or message me one way or another and we'll talk until I know exactly which on you want!  Thank youuuuu!  Also a special thank you to Allison, for being the first one to offer to purchase one, I would be nothing without my friends and family and you all mean the world to me!

Valley Sunrise

Utah Mountains

Goldrush Rafting Co. - Coloma, CA

Check out the listing on my Etsy shop for more:: http://www.etsy.com/listing/61229952/25-dollar-and-no-shipping-8x10-photos

THANK YOU!

Furthering my career!

Hello friends and family and other friendly folks who happen to read this!

Boy do I ever have a special offer to make to you today!  As you all know I have been looking for jobs and considering different options for furthering my career.  Currently I have $250 left in my AmeriCorps training budget given to me by the Conservancy that has to be used by the end of my term in December.  I have been looking for training opportunities that might be interesting and look good on a resume, and today I think I found the one that I want to do (EPA Campus Certified Environemntal Specialist Online Training)...the problem?  Its $500, meaning that I have to dig $250 out of my own pocket to match the conservancy's contribution.  This would be no problem if I weren't a full time volunteer...but since I am, things are a little bit tight.  Here is my proposal to you:  If anyone would like to make a $25 donation to my class (not tax deductible, sorry, I am not 501-3c...although I am practically a non-profit since I have not made any money in 2 years) I will send you an 8 x 10 print of any photo of your choice from this blog or any other one that you know I have (feel free to ask to see others) as a thank you gift.  If just 10 people do this then I will only have to cover the cost of printing the photos, which would be excellent, but even if only 5 people do, I could probably scrape together the rest of the money if I needed too as well and that would also be great.  I'm not looking for someone to pay for the whole thing, nor do I want anyone to contribute thats as hard up for cash as I am, and I hate to ask for my friends and family to bail me out since you have all already done so much for me, but just a little leg-up would be awesome. 

Heres how it would work:  If you are interested in a one of a kind, shelby original photo print with a personally signed thank you note from the artist herself then please send an email to shelby.perry@gmail.com or post a comment on this post and let me know that you are interested, what your mailing address is (unless I already have it), and which photo you would like - or if you don't know, what kinds of things you like and I'll find one for you.  Then I will send your photo and you can mail me a check (made out to TRCD - The Tahoe Resource Conservation District, who manage my contract) when you have recieved the photo in the mail and are happy with it!  Thats it!  How easy! 

Think about it, let me know, in the mean time, here are some photos you COULD be the luck owner of if you so chose :-)

And sooooo many more!

New Adventures!

Well helllllo there...did you miss me?  I have been doing a terrrrrrrible job lately of keeping my blog updated...things have been just plain crazy busy!  Between Halloween celebrations, pub crawls in Reno, NV, work, and potluck Tuesdays (a weekly themed potluck dinner that I started having in my old house before I moved and am happy to say has grown into a regular weekly gathering of fantastic people and tasty food!) I have barely had time to settle into my new place, let alone update all of you on my comings and goings!  So here comes a long winded one, certain to have some priceless kodak moments captured for your enjoyment out there on the other coast...gosh I miss being even in the same timezone as my family!

Anywho, as you all know, my AmeriCorps service year is coming to a close this December (oh soooo soon!  I'm not ready!) So I jumped right back up onto that job application bandwagon that includes roughly 10% of all Americans these days...my heart goes out to those who have not been as lucky as I have.  I have met plenty of college graduates with impressive resumes waiting tables and working seasonal temporary jobs only to spent the other 6 months of the year unemployed to know that I have been plenty lucky to end up where I have getting the experiences that I am.  I have not ruled out the possibility of finding a "real job" as my pops and brother put it ("Shelby...don't you think its time for you to get a real job?" - the easy answer is no...) as I know that a steady income and comfortable home cannot be discounted, and believe me, I'll get there, as soon as I'm good and ready and find what I'm looking for.  I have applied to several federal jobs, dozens of private jobs, and a few temporary placeholder type jobs, and I'm in a somewhat similar position to the one I was in last year at this time.  I'm running out of time to make a decision though because this time I have bills to pay, I'm 3000 miles from all the people that would put me up for free until I do find something, and my health insurance is expiring (a terrifying thought in America today).  So, because I know you are all curious as to what may come next, I will tell you.  I am considering, quite seriously, completeing a second term of AmeriCorps out here with the Conservancy.  Now before you go jumping to any conclusion about me taking the easy road, shirking responsibility, and staying so damn far away from everyone, keep in mind that I am a responsible and rational person and I have never done ANYTHING that I didn't know was the right decision, and while I am not completely settled on this yet (so yes, please keep sending me jobs if you see them, and thank you so much to those of you that already have!) I do know that if I go for it, it is because it is absolutely what I want to do.

For you doubting-thomases out there, here is why I believe that I will have made the right choice.  First and foremost, this job has been the luckiest result of my first job falling through that I could have asked for, I have learned a whole new skill set in environmental monitoring, I have learned of a whole new possible career path in restoration (where environmental engineering tends to clean up after and/or regulate the damage irresponsible (and really all) humans do to the environment, restoration aims at returning the natural environment to its pre-influenced state, a subtle but significant difference), and I have met a group of incredibly smart and kind and interesting people, full of knowledge and happy to share; you cant ask for a better work environment!  More than that, with AmeriCorps I have the flexibility of making my own schedule, running my own days, and coming and going as I please, which I love, but has not once slowed me down...still working the occasional 60 hour week mostly because I enjoy what I do and don't mind putting in the time it takes to do a good job.  Today, with the economy the way it is, so many people have been forced to work jobs that they can't even stand going to just to pay the bills.  I'm young, I have no major obligations, I can afford to live in the low income manor of the perpetual volunteer, and for now, I don't mind.  This seems a small price to pay for a job I enjoy, meaningful experience, and incredible learning opportunities.  All that seems like enough, and it is, but theres more!  I live in what might be one of the most beautiful places in the entire country, Lake Tahoe.  There are tons of recreation opportunities and I have already fallen in love with backpacking and hiking in the Sierra Nevada, and these are mostly free once you collect the gear you need!  Plus I get a $5,000 education award for each year of service...meaning that after 2 years of AmeriCorps plus my brief one year in Peace Corps I will have knocked out $13,500 worth of my student loans.  Now I'm not an accountant, but I think thats probably significantly more than I would have paid off had I just taken one of those job offers at graduation and started with regular payments.

So there you have it, my justification for my life that no one has asked me to justify, but sometimes you just need to explain these things to someone else as a way to explain them to yourself.  Anyway, its been quite a ride thus far and I'm not quite ready to give up the possibility of finding a job that actually pays AND makes me happy...but until then I will settle for ones that I love that don't pay, because happiness is more important than money, and I truly believe that.  Here are some images of my adventures, a recap of some of my favorite old ones and some new ones, a celebration of all I've done since college:

Dusty evening in Mauritania

Ramadan Fete with my Host Family...I miss them so!  Plus I was good friend with that sheep, so sad that he ended up in my tummy, vegetarian no more!

Epic battles with insanely large spiders

Back to Vermont winters with my wonderful parents and adorable doggies!

A road trip across the entire country with my Papa Bear

A few months spent learning to live alone and finding new friends in Placerville

Exciting new adventures in a beautiful new home in South Lake Tahoe

And more recently: Watching the Kokanee swim upstream only to lay their eggs and die, while the mallards stand by to eat those eggs that the fish gave their lives for as soon as they are left in the gravel

My first trip to the biggest little city in the world, and my first pub crawl dressed as a zombie too!

So this is what I think I would look like if I were among the walking dead...

Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween weekend and a wonderful week, and I promise I will start to update more often again (sorry for the delay Momma!).  Sorry for my long-winded explanations but I can't expect you all to continue to support me in my adventures without explaining to you why they mean so much to me.  So I hope you are looking forward to more stories to come, because I'm not done living yet!  More pictures and adventures to come, I promise!

Much love and happy thoughts to all who read this!

~Shelby

saturday night in

i treated myself to new glasses today, i guess they are tumblers, but i use them as wine glasses...no more jelly jars for my wine!  They have a bubble in the bottom, and i took a picture of it.  but it was boring.  I don't like pictures of myself that much, usually I do my self portraits a little more abstractly, using reflections or movement to disguise myself in them.  It took some effort to get a straight up self portrait that I liked, and even more to bring myself to post it. Here it is.  I'm running out of things to take pictures of in my apartment here, but no worries, I'm moving again at the end of the month so you will not have to endure many more photos taken of my apartment or of me, soon I will have some new material. :o)

Photos Posted: 115
Days Left: 250

optimism

when i look back now its almost funny, how easy it was for me to be optimistic in peace corps.  that serial optimism of college and peace corps and whenever else i had it feels like its deserting me.  i mean seriously, in mauritania i found a putrefied rat carcass inside the foam of my bed and we all had a good laugh about it, scraped it off, and then i slept on that bed and was thankful for it, even though it stunk to high heaven.  when a spider the size of my hand fell from my ceiling and starting racing around my room, i collected myself, and took it as a challenge, to face my fears and find that spider myself!  when i spent 4 days in taxis or broken down on the side of the road on a journey that, with proper roadways and vehicles, should have taken about 10 hours, i made friends with my fellow passengers, told stories about sea monsters, slept on roadsides and in the back of cars, and soldiered onward until i could get back to my site and share my adventures with pride.  

what happened to that here?  why is it that all of a sudden a little thing like my supervisor getting laid off and an uncomfortable work environment are shaking my normally steady optimism?  

for two years now there has been no plan in my life, no forethought, just impulse, and as a result, very little continuity.  Since i graduated from college, i have lived in 4 places on 2 continents and 3 coasts, been to 3 countries and 18 states, spoken at least pieces of 7 languages, gone on 4 road trips, visited dozens of friends, applied for hundreds of jobs (worked 4), taken thousands of photos, met many new faces, seen many new things, baked my first cheesecake (and my 2nd through my 5th), learned to cook without a recipe, made my own potato chips, taught myself how to knit, become penpals with my grandma, snowshoed in the desolation wilderness of lake tahoe, learned the history of the sierra nevada, backpacked through southeastern senegal, collected and eaten wild mushrooms, started my first (albeit very small) garden, learned to identify ferns, stayed in a beach house in senegal, crossed the continent in my little red car, started sewing my first quilt, climbed ski slopes just to get cell phone service, walked a 5 mile round trip to walmart to buy a single plate, painted feet on sneakers, become a brunette, held a monkey, presented a model of a watershed to 100 kindergarten students, given up vegetarianism, catered a christmas party, tailgated my first NFL game, and so much more.  i have a list of 100 things i want to do before i die, and in these last 2 years i have checked more things off of that list than in the previous 22.  so optimism, i don't know where you've been off to, but i'm going to need you back.  having you around has been pretty good to me! 

sometimes you just have to stop, and make that list for yourself.  it doesn't have to be things you've done, it can be people you love, things you're thankful for, reasons why you are lucky to be you, it doesn't matter, as long as you finish it with a smile and an "i can do this" attitude.  

my chocolate wrapper says it all.  keep your chin up, all the smiles you need are already in your heart!

photos posted: 105

days left: 260

art? or salad?

I've been on a food kick lately, so you get my dinner for tonights photo...spinach and herb salad with cheddar cheese, sliced strawberries, and flax seeds.  And, of course, a pale ale.  Yum!

Photos Posted: 104
Days Left: 261

live in the moment

and dance like nobody's watching...

i wish the background was a little less cluttered in this one, but i'll never get a face like this again so i gave up trying.  i got dizzy spinning around my one room apartment trying to get a good photo of movement, and i ended up with this, kind of ghostly...but neato none the less.  (click to enlarge is you can't see the face)

Photos Posted: 91
Days Left: 274