I don't know much... but i know i'm blogging...

I'm in San Diego.

You may be asking yourself a combination of the following questions:

1. Weren't you in Oregon?

2. What happened to Texas?

3. Is San Diego as fabulous as it seems?

4. What did you see on the way down?

5. What is your plan for the next few weeks/months?

6. WHY DON'T YOU BLOG MORE?

SO. The reality is: I just don't feel like typing out a long blog about everything I've been doing since early January... so here's one really long run-on sentence for you to glean the overall story from:

we left oregon and got on the coastline drive and stopped through eureka, ca and then spent a few nights in san francisco with the lovely leah rybolt and saw ren phillips and visited "hot cookie" and smelled a lot of weed and walked the golden gate bridge and rented and rode a tandem bicycle around golden gate park and loved the warm weather and sunshine and i want to go back to san francisco a billion more times and then went to lake tahoe for 2 nights and met my dad's college roommate then went back to san francisco and visited alcatraz and ghiradelli square then stayed in monterey, ca then drove the PCH (pacific coast highway) down to los angeles and stayed with the woo family and did a driving tour of the city and i kissed nicolas cage's handprints in the cement then drove to san diego and thats where i've been for a week basking in more sunshine and warm weather but i hear everyone else got snow and im scared to come back east and have to wear a coat again.

Whew! If you want details, I dunno just ask... or look at Leslie's pictures on FB or something.... because that's all I have in me.

San Diego is wonderful. Laura Boyer, with whom I'm staying (that grammar is for you, Lezbo and Kata), is wonderful. I have spent the last week in sunshine and 70-75 degree weather, biking around the beach and the bay, hiking around Torrey Pines, visiting with old and new friends, reconnecting with some JMU girls I hadn't seen in years, exploring new coffee shops, watching surfers, getting the sniffles, sleeping 12 hour nights, and figuring out what's next. And on that note:

You may have heard TX was the goal. Well, it ain't happenin'. Neither Lez nor I were happy with the placements being offered by the recruiting companies, so we made back up plans and mine (motivated by majorly deflated savings account and tiredness of the living-out-of-the-car scnenario and desire to get going with some grad school applications) is to fly back to NC on Monday 2/7/11. Where will I live? Not quite sure. What will I do? Also not quite sure... but the GRE is in there somewhere as is getting a job so I can afford things like food and housing and health insurance. You know, the little things.

Lots of unknowns, which is the life of twenty-somethings in general, and me in specific.

So, once I get back. Let's hang. I will come up/down/over... but need a bit of time to get settled in.

As is all coming/going... the time is bittersweet. I am thrilled to see familiar faces. I am sad to leave the west coast. I am excited to get moving on grad school and job stuff. I am bummed that my domestic partner will continue on without me...

And I guess I'll have to change the name of my blog, huh??

To the comments!

Oh, the blogging outside is frightful.

Why hello! Almost everyone I know right now is home on a "snow day" or has been in the last week because the east coast: 1) has gotten more snow than us in Oregon (at least Dreadford, I mean Methford, I mean Medford), and 2) does not know how to handle even a dusting and closes down life at the first flake sighting. We've gotten a mini glimpse of snow in the valley out here but we are located in what the smart people call "an inversion layer" - aka - foggy all the time, no snow, and basically a bubble of pollution in the middle of beautiful mountains that taunt us with their snow caps.

HOWEVER. We will gratefully step out of the inversion layer in about 3 days and make our way south through a bunch of states for a bunch of weeks! I will post next about our itinerary for the next several weeks... as sugar momma and I are about to embark on a 30-day total road trip, that will likely end in Texas. We are crossing our fingers for Austin!

But before we go there, I wanna talk a lil bitty bit about Christmas in NC. I was home for about 10 days, bouncing around from Gboro to Atlanta, aunts to brothers, grandbinkis to g-mommies, nieces to moomykins. It was great to come back and see familiar faces and frolick around the 'boro, though. Seemed like so long since I'd been home!

Here's some stuff I/we did and why they were fun and/or weird:

My aunt/uncle/cousins came into town from Florida. I see them SO seldomly and they are just fabulous. I dragged TayReg along and we all went to see Bodies Revealed at the Natural Science Center. The NSC is the place we went on field trips when I was in elementary and middle school and they still have the SAME ROCK CANDY 15 years later. I had to restrain myself though. Also, that weird space ice cream? What the dump is that stuff and who buys it???

Anyway - Bodies Revealed looked like this:

And in case you didn't know... turkeys look like this and are disgusting... and I can't believe I gave this one a thumbs up because that red warty, saggy stuff on his face just ain't right.

It snowed a bunch on Christmas! Which was a blast! We (my mom, dad, Philip, Hillary, and I) dug out stuff from the very old, very moldy, very outdated Tester Family Golden Ski Collection. Let me tell you... we found some gems in there. Which of course, Philip had to try on and demonstrate to the rest of us.

That 80's "Aspen" hat has fleece ear flaps, for the record. Suspenders and basically-latex ski pants. I think the pastel yellow turtleneck may be the worst bit of the bunch though. But for real though Philip, was that a Tester Family Golden Ski Collection find? Or did you bring that because I don't recall seeing it in the bin. Just sayin'.

Here is Philip again with his lovely (and puffy) wife Hillary, and their adorable, snow-savvy dog Ella.

My parents dog, Hobie (better known as Hobiewan or "the Wan") did not quite live up to Ella's wonderful snow skills. Hobie was basically frozen solid on his legs after 30 minutes in the elements and could not move. I looked over. Hobie is inactive in his tracks. Looking at me with this Gob Bluth expression that screamed "I've made a huge mistake." I laughed a lot, then saved his life.

After a warm bath and a rub-down, The Wan was good to go for a game of Red Ball, the daily house-wide freakout game.

Aside from the dog near-distaster, my mom and I made a snowman!! We used all stuff from her garden to decorate him. My favorite part was the red beady eyes (perfected by the cherry tomatoes), almond sliver mouth, and the adorable broccoli stalk arms. The hat he is wearing also came from the Tester Family Golden Ski Collection... it also had fleece ear flaps, and a picture of Micky Mouse on skis. I think that's what I wore in Colorado that time I sunburned my eyeballs, they swelled shut, and the lady on the airplane audibly gasped at the poor blind 12 year old with eyes the size of tennis balls. Cute.

Now, as I mentioned, I went to ATL, where my other brother lives with his wife and 6 month-old sweet thing, Naomi, and ohmygoshshesadorable and i just want to eat her and tried. I can't stand it... but actually, the Tester family men can stand it even less. They are melting into vats of Naomi sugar and can't contain themselves. It's really quite cute. I mean... can you blame them????

Here we are all together in ATL, prior to Matt and VA getting their newest addition to the family -- Pepper. Check the underbite, and love it.

Lastly, I must give a "we missed you" shout-out to Emily Beidler, who we missed dearly over Christmas and NYE 2010 at the Register's house.... Wasn't the same without you there, nicey! But don't worry, we left your spot open.

So yea... all that is behind me and in front lies lots of road travel, big questions of what's next, and possibly even the GRE once we get settled. On the cheesy side of things, I really am so blessed by the support of my family and friends on this adventure... and for those of you I didn't get to connect with over Christmas (aka almost everyone but my family) -- I'll be back soon!

Lovelove. To each of you.

Quit playin' games with my blog.

THE BLOG. SHE LIVES.

I am getting kinda tired of starting my posts the same way... i.e. - apology for the appalling lapse of time between posts, obligatory excuse for my absence, and incredibly well-intentioned promise to do better next time... which I have no doubt is received with a "yeah right" and audible sigh. It's okay. I agree.

Or maybe you only look at this thang once a month. And in that case, I'm right on time!

In case you haven't noticed, I have not posted since River Wolf. That post was a zillion miles long, and if you actually read all of it, I am equally thrilled that you care enough about my life to commit 3 hours to scanning that story, and thrilled that no one (to my knowledge) converted to Mari-ism after the detailed description ofhow the world was formed by aliens and the complex mythical creature/dimension interactions through that whole vortex thing. I do, thankfully, feel that I have recovered from that experience overall, and honestly don't ever really want to tell that story again. If you ask me,I will say, "READ MY BLOG."

I will divide this post into short sections for your convenient perusal:

1) BIRTHDAY.

I turned 26 in December. 26. Late Twenties. Still mid? Either way -- Highlights from the day:

- I babysat, and the 4 year old threw up on me. Full-on vomitiousness all over my adorable birthday outfit (probably an unwashed t-shirt, jeans, and the 1 hooded sweatshirt I brought out west). "All over" may be an exaggeration. Enough to spark my gag reflex is all I know...

- MINI ICE CUBE TRAYS! Leslie may have given me the best (and audibly assailant) birthday gift ever. Let me clarify that the trays themselves are not actually mini, but the ice cubes that they make are!!! Crushed, tiny ice cubes are a decade-long proclivity of mine, and it's not stopping any time soon. Ihave about 4 trays a day on average. Judge me.

- Twilight Saga's "Eclipse" viewing

[notice how I move on quickly from that? you're welcome.)

2. SKIING!

Take 1: Lez and I went up to Portland again before I left Oregon for the holidays. We headed over to Mt. Hood with some Portlandian friends (who are expert skiers I might add) and I managed to convince Leslie that: no, she does NOT hate skiing with a burning passion and she will love it once she tries it again in the context of beautiful Mt. Hood and fun friends (including a bonafide ski instructor -- which is clearly not me). She gave it a valiant effort... only took out 1 child... which compared to my skiing disaster with Taylor in New Zealand, is a step up!!!! :) Tay, I kid. You and Lez can battle out the "who hates skiing more" debate some other time. We took zero pictures of the day, but here's what Mt. Hood looks like from Portland's perspective, thanks to Google image.

Take 2: The weekend after, I decided to take myself on a mini birthday vacation and head down to Mt. Shasta in northern CA to ski for the day!! Mt. Shasta is a 14K footer, HUGE MOUNTAIN, and I was stoked. I was armed with a front-wheel drive Saturn that weighs about 100 pounds, thrift store ski attire, sunglasses for goggles, and a willing heart. Too bad that doesn't really cut it when there is a massive whiteout and you drive in THIS for 2 hours trying to make it up to the ski resort.

When I got to the parking lot, and couldn't even see the ski lift that was about 200 yards away, I knew I had two options: turn around and go home, or die on the mountain... with no cell service or skiing buddy to put my body back together during its inevitable disintegration.

I chose option 1.

3. PORTLAND SHOPPING. We found some diamonds in the rough. Check 'em out:

obviously, my favorite aisle in Powell's city of books.

a warehouse of weird.

yes, that says "romeo"

I almost bought that sweater for real.

all connected in one glorious piece.

one piece. acid wash.

"it's beginning to look a lot like vampires"

On the next episode of my mighty-mighty-blogtone: Christmas/NYE in NC.

And as always...

Peace and Blessings.

The tale of River Wolf.

Hiyo!! Based on my last post, you probably can guess that my expectations were quite high for River Wolf and our giving of thanks with this Weir family legend. Let me just say that in NO way was I disappointed and all expectations were wildly exceeded. I sure hope the same goes for you!

Here is the sweet thing herself:

The first thing I need to make absolutely clear is that I agree with virtually nothing that River Wolf says and believes. And I have no doubt that you will be on my team on that. BUT I also need to make sure you understand that this woman is the most loving, welcoming, and sincere lady I've met in a long time... and LOVES to share life and her beliefs with others, and much of the way she lives her life is admirable to me. She loves others unconditionally, forgives readily, gives thanks continually, and is eagerto serve and connect with those around her. The way she arrives at these practices is quite strange, but all in all... her lifestyle is reminiscent of how I feel called to live as a Christian.

You should also keep in mind that the crazy didn't stop. It was about 30 hours straight of nodding and smiling, secret glancing and "oh my gosh"ing, incense headach-ing and treasure hunting, fairy and vibration/energy discussing, question asking and "uh huh"ing, watching and admiring, listening and inwardly giggling... by the end, I was ready for a grown-up conversation.

Anyway. On to the good stuff.

River Wolf's real name is up for debate, it turns out. Legally, it's most likely Diane Weir. At least, that's what she was born as. However, in the time that Leslie has known her, she has taken creative license and has gone from Diane to River Wolf to Michelle to Mari. Mari is the most recent addition to her name repertoire and is what I shall refer to her as from here on out in this tale. I think that name is about 4 years or so old...? A few people we met still called her "Michelle" and we called her "Aunt Diane" but I don't want to make your head spin too badly...

Now, here's the setting:

Mari lives in a gypsy commune, essentially. It's in the backwoods of Northern CA, far beyond the county road line, and tucked away in a stunning gorge. As pretty as it is, if you wanted to murder someone, you'd go here to do it. It's a grouping of trailers, which all have a lot of land and access to the Trinity river in walking distance. We were informed that the lightly-trodden paths to the river were forged by pot growers, seeking water for their thirsty plants.

Upon arrival, we get the grand tour of the house and garden. I am really not exaggerating when I say that every single inch of space of her house and yard is occupied by some sort of meaningful trinket. These came in a array of shapes and sizes. One glance in any direction will immediately confront you with multiples of: garden gnomes, hand-painted rocks and rock formations, glass butterflies, statues of various gods and goddesses, stone sculptures, healing crystals, strategically placed drift wood, compelling arrangements of herbs and flowers, framed descriptions of healing essential oils, cd's hanging from trees, wind chimes, tapestries, fairy wings, candles o' plenty, old pictures, quotes of widsom, hand-made teepee with a red ball cap entitled "hank" on top as her guardian, feral (and sweet) community dogs running around, animal skin blankets and wall art, native american drums, bead curtains -- all the while, your ears are assailed with the ancient chantings of an unknown time, taken from sanskrit, and called "karitans" (i have no idea if that is actually how you spell that). Here are a few pictures. Zoom in and treasure hunt for yourself.

There were several fairly poignant moments with Mari that need to be explained.

The first is the inner vortex:

We went on a "hike" with Mari down to the river with our favorite community dog named Zucchini. On the way, we stopped at a small clearing about 100 yards from her house, and in the center of the clearing was a small mound of earth with a broken down rocking chair in the center. We walk up to the walking chair and Mari begins her explanation. The chair was placed there many years ago and marks the center of an extraordinary event inthe natural world. On the full and new moons, the space with the rocking chair opens up into an inner vortex. In case you aren't aware, according to Mari, we live in the 3rd dimension of the universe. There are 7 (i think? maybe 9) dimensions in the universe and from time to time, the beings of the various dimensions can interact with one another. The inner vortex is one of these times. At the full and new moon, faeries (the 2nd dimension) and big foot (the 4th dimension) can be glimpsed by the rocking chair... So.... we clarified what this all boils down to... and that is that River Wolf has seen Big Foot and, we would come to find out, has quite the extensive relationship with faeries. Here it is!

[nodding and smiling]

In the evening, Mari had a radio program that she was desperate for us to listen to. It's called "Coast to Coast." It reports things that "they" don't want us to hear about and it touches on the areas of life that we are "lied to" about in the media.... So we laid down in a twin bed. All three of us. With the lights out. And one candle lit. Looking up at a ceiling tapestry. And listened to a radio program about UFO sightings and ETs disassembling atomic bombs in the 1960's so that we humans stop blowing one other up and live in harmony so that we can ascend to the next dimension in 2012, when the world ends.

So. There was that.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was actually relatively normal... as we ate at a restaurant with one of Mari's good friends in the area, and they had a bazillion vegetarian options so I was in heaven, of course. Although I pretty much just ate my weight in mashed potatoes. The 75-pound, 3 foot thick buffalo thigh was a bit off-putting, but apparently well seasoned and quite tasty? I actually do love bison. Just don't really love seeing it in its natural shape.

In the morning, Mari likes to listen to the karitans that I mentioned, because it sends out good energy into the earth and "eases the faeries." Naturally, we had to do that. I'm not sure what an uneasy faery is like... but I prefer not to find out.

For income, Mari teaches yoga (no shocker), and house sits for this rich lady who has probably the coolest house in the world. It's wooden and weird and has rooms off to the side everywhere with windows galore, a massive garden, and a rope swing. OH and the 4 most adorable animals in existence. We spent the Friday after thanksgiving hanging out there, playing with our new weiner dog friend "Rodney" and watching yet another program on why we are here, UFOs and 2012, and we learned all kinds of interesting things that some hypnotherapist lady found out from her clients when they were unconscious. There was talk of the gnostic gospels, dead sea scrolls, pistis sofia, energies, vibrations, dimensions, frequencies, all becoming one... and the all-important fact that we were seeded here by aliens to accomplish certain missions on earth. I am part of the "3rd wave" seed and I'm supposed to bring peace and love to all people so that we can move on into the "new earth" in 2012 when the earth splits in 2 - old and new - and apparently we want to be on new. The best part of the day was our new animals friends. Here I am surrounded and here is my new best friend Rodney. I LOVE HIM.

In Mari's own words... the whole experience was "trippy." I felt like I was in an alternate universe for 2 days and Leslie and I used our horribly long and painful drive back to Medford as the time to debrief and come back to reality.

The trip to crazytown was well worth it, I'd say! I decided that she is a mixture of my sweet friend Becky Esch and Ashley Curl -- after they'd smoked peyote for 10 years. Becks and Ash, please don't. :)

may the faeries be with you.

~S

I knew this would happen...

... blogging laziness.

[sigh]

But since quite a few of you claim to be "withdrawing" from the drug of tester-ly distraction, here are some new tidbits from our small-town west coast livin'. Also. In my defense... I've been sick for almost a week. And no, I didn't get my flu shot.

Things have been running pretty smoothly around here! We are about half-way done with our Medford placement. Hmm "our"? I guess really, it's Leslie's placement. My new city fix... or something like that. I think I even once referred to it as "our job" -- thank you Ryan for pointing out that technicality. We're already discussing the big "what's next" question... more to come on that as it all unfolds.

NOW about my job:

I'm babysitting for 2 little girls, 4 days a week. Ages = almost 3 and 4.5 (NOT to be confused with plain ol' 2 and 4 for those of you who are not in the complex toddler-age world). Here are some highlights so far from my day job:

1. The youngest has developmental delays and is learning sign language. Which is actually really cool and I'm totally for youngin's learning multiple ways to communicate regardless of their capabilities. Anyway. So, she has these videos called "Signing Time" that we watch every. single. day. It is totally fun to learn the sign for "friend" and "helicopter" and "snow" (we got some today!!) and "daughter" etc. etc. but what isn't so totally fun is hearing the introductory song 5 times a day. Look. Striped shirt singer lady. I KNOW "it's signing time with Alex and Leah." IT ALWAYS IS.

2. Toddler quotes. "Stacey, are you old enough to break?" --- "No sis! Don't put the Jenga block in your vagina!" --- "Aubrynn, can you please make sure Karissa doesn't put her poopy bottom on the carpet while Stacey goes to get some more wipes??? Just hold her legs up. There you go. Prop it up on a few diapers if your arms get tired." (okay that one was mine.)

Hm. So I'm a little rusty with the diaper situation. All the more reason to go see the sweetest thing in the whole world, Naomi, in the near future. But if you're not too grossed out, I am done with diaper time, and please continue reading on other topics:

Good news! We found some diversity in Medford!!!! I don't know if you know this, but there are approximately 8 African Americans in this town... at least that we've seen. It's very off-putting. We did find some Latinos though, at a church whose opening song was "God bless America" as a great big American flag waved up on stage and the pastor thanked God that we (no joke) live in "the greatest country in the world." Maybe you also think that... but that nation-centric attitude doesn't sit well with me soooo despite the refreshing presence of non-white Oregonians, we did not go back there.

In the past few weekends, Lez and I have journeyed to the Redwood National Forest in CA. So beautiful and surreal. Here's a photo.

and went to Crater Lake... which is supposedly a dormant volcano, that after eruption some amount of time ago (?), collapsed on itself and is the deepest lake in the USA. Also, supposedly incredibly clear since the water is all glacial and snow run-off, BUT there was a snowstorm and we couldn't see the lake. Here's a photo of our marvelous view. We actually had a lot of fun playing in the snow, though, and I did decide that along with Glacier National Park, Crater Lake IS a place I must go back to in summer months.

This weekend, we are heading down to Weaverville, CA where Leslie's Aunt Diane lives.

and

I AM SO EXCITED TO MEET HER. Here's a taste of why!

Rumor has it:

She was a medicine woman in a Native American tribe, with the tribal name of River Wolf. Also, She found the portal to Middle Earth in a redwood tree and thinks Leslie was an elf on another vibration.

So, Thanksgiving surely won't be boring. I'm really hoping to dedicate an entire blog to River Wolf.

Last piece of news: I will be in NC from December 23-January 2 which means a RVA and (hopefully) ATL visit! WOOOOT!

loveydove.

~S

Jill of all Trades?

Folks! I'm back on the Rent-A-Center couch with my Richmond coffee and strange layering choices to ward off the chilly morning. Life is just sorta funny. Sometimes very. Listen to my week's highlights and I dare you to disagree:

+ I got a job! I am nannying for 2 precious little girls 4 days a week, about 20 hours total, 10 mins from my house. It's so perfect and I'm so so thankful for the blessing of it. So!

+ Leslie and I are continuing with our climbing escapades. We now belong to Rogue Rock gym, and now own equipment (minus a harness for me -- refer back to the no job thing). I gotta say... I feel pretttttty cool with my own climbing gear and can't wait to get all jacked up and whatnot. I've always been pint sized so maybe I'll get beefy and see if I can dominate those of you who have underestimated my scrappiness all these years.

- I ate beef. Why in the world did I think that was a good idea? For those of you who don't know, I was vegetarian for a year and very seldomly eat meat now... I'm a "high maintenance carnivore" or maybe "extremely selective/occasional meat eater" or maybe best - "vegetarian except when I don't wanna be." Either way - I bought some local beef. I cooked it. Ate it. Then died. For a few days. Saltines became my friends and I had a DTR with my stomach and we decided to not go there again.

+ As I said before, I love Craigslist. I especially love the "gigs" portion of Craigslist and somehow finagled a modeling job out of it this week with a local photographer, for an online Vintage store. Now, listen. Before you let your mind go any further with this... let's go back to college for a moment. Back to Kelli King and Facebook groups. Back to one particular group that was created to highlight how non-photogenic I can be ("Stacey Tester: so attractive yet photogenically incomprehensible"). As a fairly self-confident woman, I have NO problem saying this: I take some hideous pictures if I'm not careful. It's actually one of my favorite things about myself... so the fact that I am actually getting paid (sorta) for someone to take my picture might be one of the most ironic situations I've gotten myself into thus far.

But, alas, the irony continues:

- I agreed to do a photoshoot this week called "Trash the Dress" -- dress, like... wedding dress. And then. Disaster. The day before I'm supposed to do this... Leslie cooks that leftover death meat, the broiler starts smoking, and I go to open a window. I pull down on the blinds, hear a crashing sound, and feel something warm dripping down my nose. The blinds came off their hinges, pummeled down towards my face, and left a gaping wound right on the bridge of my nose. AWESOME. I think my email went something like this: "I was attacked by some window blinds. Don't think you wanted a trashed dress AND face. So next week if I'm healed?"

Moral of the story - beef killed me twice this week.

Moving on....

- Cooking dilemmas. I made sweet potato pie, which took me a good 3 hours. And here's why:Started off just fine! Peeled. Chopped. Notice Thomas Kemper Ginger Ale in the background.... Mackenzie Mumey, that's for you.

Realization 1 - I don't have a steamer. I didn't want to boil. Solution 1 - Collander. Propped up by 2 measuring cups so the potatoes didn't get soaked.

Realization 2 - Have to cover the collander and trap in the steam. Solution 2 - 3 pots. 1 lid. 1 pan. 30 minutes to steam. Can't say minimalism doesn't breed creativity.

OH, and here was my problem, and here is my face (before the swelling and bruising set in):

This weekend - we go to California and the Redwood National Forest! I'm stoked. But probably not as much as Lez, who has a serious tree obsession.

Love to all and I'd love some phone dates to connect our hearts. PEACE.

Journeyed to the Center of the Rogue Valley

Figured it was time for a new post. So I'm sitting at our Rent-A-Center table, drinking some Richmond coffee, listening to Local Natives, and contemplating our first 2 weeks in Medford.

Well, Medford is definitely no pacific northwest town in a lot of ways... the first main way being, of course, that it's almost in California. We are nestled in the southern Oregon wine country, surrounded by orchards and mountains, which catch some beautiful cloud developments and double rainbows! Definitely not lacking for beauty around here, but also not lacking the rain that you would expect out here. Which, superficially I don't mind because it helps my hair curl, nor emotionally, because I can sit on our big porch, watch the rain, drink some tea, and channel some "Ashley Curl" for some interpretive dancing to my favorite spirituals. Uptown girls know what I'm talking about :)

I've explored the city and surrounding areas quite a bit, and here are a few snapshots of our lovely scenery:

Now, as for the day-to-day setting:

Leslie works. She rehabs and lifts (mostly) sweet old folks at a nursing home all day and occasionally gets the inappropriate pick-up line that is immediately texted to me back at home. She's doing great as the breadwinner and keeping the ship a-sail out here.

I, on the other hand, have busied myself with the following activities so far:

- Broadening my culinary reach through "The Pioneer woman" and "The Barefoot Contessa" as well as haunting some local food hot-spots, like the farmer's market, the Ashland Co-Op (which is where I am basically begging to work), and occasionally stupid Safeway when I need that one ingredient I forgot.

- Throwing goldfish crackers in a ziplock baggie for Leslie's lunch, kissing her on the cheek (in my mind) with a "have a good day sweetie" to get her on her way in the morning.

- Obsessing over which climbing shoes are going to be best for our newly established rock climbing hobby... I have my father's genes when it comes to chronically researching products.

- Nursing rock wall wounds such as: achey forearms, achey shoulders, achey quads, achey toes, okay just achey body everywhere.

- Craigslist-ing like its my job... so I can find a job. I have emailed randos for the following "gigs" so far: Doing a teenage boy's Zombie makeup for halloween. Moving a lady out of her house (she called back and said, "You were the only girl to respond to my ad. So I had to call and tell you that you must think you're incredibly buff." I said, "Oh I'm tiny. But I'm willing."). Babysitting/Nannying. And I even posted my own ad about being a personal grocery shopper/nutrition consultant.

- Reading a lot. And contemplating: The concept of "home." Grad school options. Intentional communities. New monasticism. Why I'm on this adventure. Glorifying God where I am: right now. Wanderlust vs. community immersion. Relationships thriving. Relationships lost. Desires. Humility. Sacrifice. Thankfulness. [I have a lot of alone time]

- Sweating over my halloween costume. I really wanted to be a character from Arrested Development. I know, I know. The show's been off forever and it's "sooooo mainstream" now. But whatever. I love it and considered the options of: 1 - Tobias. But I'm not gonna "blue myself" and wear only cut-off jorts. 2 - Lucille. But I don't have a Chanel suit or a mainline of vodka. 3 - Lucille 2. But I think my hair is too long to make her characteristic "points." 4 - Lindsey bluth. But a shirt that says "slut?" really??? probably not. 5 - Rita (aka - charlize theron). But then I'd be technically going as a mentally retarded female and that's just a bit offensive. 5 - Marta. but it's just too generic. And there were 2 of them.

hm.

so I'm going with the partial peacock costume I got at this sweet vintage store around here. Except that I have to make my feather tail, which is no small feat. We're heading up to Portland tomorrow... where we'll hopefully see Ben Lambeth and head out to a party with our friend (and maybe yours), B. Cole.

That is all for now. Because that is a lot. And Mandy Moore's "Candy" just came on my itunes and that is just not acceptable at the moment.

Love and love and love.

~slt

Daily Lamentation.

When Oregonians say "Intermediate Salsa Class," they really mean "No Deodorant Party."

I mean, it was so bad that I even ran into the bathroom to check that it wasn't me, and the real irony of the situation is that the following are samples of directives actually listed as "dance etiquette" on the studio's website:

Shower the day of the dance or lesson, a shower or bath is a requirement.

Wear deodorant if you are going to a dance and or lesson, deodorant is a must. It is a good idea to carry deodorant in the glove compartment of your car or your dance bag.

Colognes and perfumes are often times very nice and attractive and if you like wearing these please do so.

If you are the type that perspires a lot while dancing a good thing to do is bring a "Clean" hand towel with you to wipe the perspiration off in between dances

Women should wear Brassieres and if wearing a Skirt or Dress that may fly up on spins or turns, undergarments are a must with the undergarments on the outside of the panty hose if panty-hose are worn.

And that is just a sampling. Other important issues touched: Apologizing on the dance floor, correcting others, "over-asking," sneaking in to a club, drunken dancing, and carpooling.

I had no idea that people had to be told to be clothed, hygienic and decent human beings. But based on last night, they should hand out hard copies of the etiquette guidelines before/after each class, and read them aloud together.

The Book Burning.

I didn't include this in my last post... mostly because it deserves one all to itself.

On our way from Seattle to Portland, we stopped in the logging capital of the world... a sleepy, quaint little town on the outskirts of Olympic National Park in Oregon... a little town called Forks. For those of you who have been sleeping under a rock for the past 4 years, Forks is none other than the setting for the Twilight series. It is the famous town where Bella blinks, grunts, shrugs, bites her lip, and mutters; it is also where Edward looks like he's constipated all the time.

So, naturally, we had to visit.

Now, I am a Twilight fan. I say this knowing you may judge me. Go right ahead, because the books are so entertaining and I spent countless nights awake until the wee hours pouring over those pages. (But yes, the movies are lame.) Before we moved from Richmond, we had a big yard sale and one thing that did not sell was our extra series of the Twilight books. Our friend Doug had the brilliant idea of destroying these books in a ceremonial, dramatic gesture while driving through Forks... So we ran with the idea.

We burned them.

In a grill.

At a public park.

Evidence:

Warshington and Moregon

what up! what uuuuup!

Thanks for all of the comments on the last post - oh wait, there were none. For those of you who don't blog [yet], those of us who DO put our entire self-worth on the # that comes before "comments" link on the bottom of each post. So read/respond accordingly. Also, I never exaggerate for dramatic effect (or use sarcasm. or blatantly lie.), but in all seriousness - I do kind of enjoy the fact that I have no idea who all reads this. Even if its 10 people -- awesome. Glad you're here! Also -- someone named Bert commented on a post. And we don't know a Bert. Identify yourself to kill our curiosity!! :)

Okay. So. October 20th. 18 days since we left. You should update US on what has happened in your life over the last 18 days -- please?

But you're reading this to hear more about our trip... and here we go:

After Glacier we drove through the desert of Washington (nothing. there is absolutely nooooothing in Eastern Washington) and got to Seattle, where we stayed at a great hostel called "The Green Tortoise" which is right across the road from Pike Market and the original Starbucks. We didn't drink their coffee, but we did drink local beer. We didn't go on a boat tour, but we saw a boat and a tour. We didn't go up in the Space Needle, but I did use the bathroom in its gift shop. We didn't see a concert or show, but I did sing my famous childhood "Who are my friends?" song in a chipmunk voice at the Music museum (can you say "highlight???"). If you've never heard that song, I made it up when I was 7 and would love to sing it for you. It immortalizes the inner very-pre-teen angst of not knowing who your friends or enemies are and facing the world alone, as Jesus is the only one who really knows the answer (can you say "drama queen???").

Portland was just a quick trip and we stayed with a friend of a few friends, B. Cole, who showed us a good time in his neighborhood Sat night and Sun morning at some local places. We're in fairly easy driving distance from Portland, so we didn't want to spend much time there yet. The plan is to head back for Halloween and a few other weekends. Portland is suuuuuuper cool and is very "Stacey" if I do say so myself...

Now. Medford. We got here Sunday morning and I'll have a new post tomorrow or Friday about life here so far! Teaser: our time here so far DOES involve a hotel secret admirer. Come back for more!

Lastly - weird observations du jour:

1. Subway serves breakfast. Ew.

2. Chic-fil-A doesn't exist out west. Pout.

3. Roads change names every block out here. Lost.

4. I have no job right now. Yay.

5. If we ever sleep in the same bed, my feet will sandwich yours during the night. Love me.

Grace and peace to you guys!! So much love from afar...

~StaceyLynn

Oh my gosh, oh my goshhhhhh! I'm so behind on posting. I will neglect the fact that Leslie and I are at our final destination in Medford, and pretend like I just left Glacier National Park to tell you about that! Hereeeeee we go.

So! We made it out alive from Yellowstone, weren't eaten by bears or gored by elk... so you could say that was a plus. We drove up through Bozeman, MT which is a mountaineer's dream (App. folk I'm talking to you). Rivers and mountains and sky and rugged gear everywhere. We were able to stay with a friend of a friend named Keith who showed us around and let us crash his wonderful couches. We've made a point of sampling local beers across the country as we drive across it, and Montana's "moose drool" was delectable.

Then, on to Glacier National Park. I don't quite know how to put it's beauty into words (and hopefully you already looked at Leslie's pictures). We did a lot of lake/mountain gazing and creative jumping for pictures. If you ever make it to Montana, don't miss Glacier National mmmkay? One highlight was when we were driving from East Glacier to West Glacier and stopped at the ONLY restaurant that was open in like a 30-mile radius... I ate local bison (much to my stomach's disapproval) and we stopped at a wooden spoon shop and wand maker. Yes, wand. Like wizard/witch's wand. Dozens of them and a crotchety old man selling them to boot. It was a little strange, but obviously, I wanted to buy one. If they hadn't been over $50 for the awesome ones, I might woulda done that.

We were going to camp in Glacier... but got to the camp site, which had NO humans and NO firewood. Not ideal. So we risked our lives by staying in a motel with a hand-painted sign that had "you will get murdered here" written all over it, but turned out to be a fairly okay place. I'm here, so that's a good sign at least...?

Anyways, the next night we stayed at a sweet lil' log cabin that soothed the soul and gave great rest. Thank the Lord for that!

Seattle and Portland was next but come back in a day and I'll have a post up about those. Promise!

Until then - Au Revoir!

This Neckulous Life - Part 1

To know me is to know my chins. Whether I like it or not, they enjoy some indecent exposure and have a sneaky way of getting into photos a bit too often. Knowing this, I have emotionally embraced my friends, the chins, and have decided to consciously take them along with me on this big adventure.

In case you didn't already know this, Testers have a way with words: blending them together, mixing them up, evolving names into new names again and again... And collectively, we have coined some very important phrases.

One of which is of particular importance today. And that is... Neckulous.

Neckulosity is a gift, really. Not all are able to attain the vast spread of neckular activity that the Testers are capable of. We are of the Neckulous species, a family of Neckuli who suffer (yet ironically rejoice) in our neckulosity. In sum - we have necks. chins. pancakes of skin. not all the time. but always on command and sometimes on accident.

Now, to get to the point. My neckulous existence has traveled across 16 states and I felt I should highlight a few poignant moments in the adventure of Stacey's face (and neck) across America.

1. When Neck met Buck in Darlington, PA.

2. When Neck met Honest Abe in Chicago, IL.

(I had 2 more to upload on here but the last two took over an hour to upload sooooo just wait!)

Surely, my neckulous nature has and will take me to new places. You will have to stay tuned to see where they fold over next!

Do you know where you are in your journey?

Well hello there, friends! Man. A lot has happened since I posted last... I will try to catch y'all up on The Grand Adventure's happenings for the last few days and have a few key moments to highlight. Get excited! [get get excited!]

From South Dakota Lez and I hit up Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Mt. Rushmore was worth seeing but not worth describing (4 faces on a rock and $10 to park to see it) but Crazy Horse was super super cool. If you ever make it to South Dakota, please go there and support the ongoing project! It's privately funded and honors the struggles of the Sioux tribe with English settlers, immortalized by Crazy Horse's words, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

After the monuments, Lez and I settled into the luxury of a Best Western: took 9 hour showers and slept in an actual bed. GLORIOUS. Then of course I had to hit up the hot breakfast bar and stuff my face (and pockets) with cream cheese danishes and Kashi cereal. mmmmHM.

Ok now on to Yellowstone. Before I say anything - let me just preface my experience with the assumption that Yellowstone was the absolutely most wonderful, beautiful, exotic, scenic, magical, unique place in the entire world... where Grizzlies give high fives and buffalo really do roam all over your space.

Yeah, it really wasn't quite like that.

It was overcast. Cold. Rainy. And believe it or not, it was really just a big park with mountains and trees. Who knew??? I mean, it was beautiful but that first day we were there I was not sold on the place. THEN to top off a day of mild disappointment, Leslie and I bonded over the worst night sleep of our entire lives. Firstly, you should know that when we camp, we share a queen sized sleeping bag. Which is usually fine. Except that I'm a cuddler and Lez isn't and I tend to take over whatever space is alloted to me while I'm sleeping. Now, not only were there spacial issues, where I found myself sleeping completely diagonally across the sleeping bag (assigning Lez to one corner of the sleeping bag) but Yellowstone National Parks provided us with a luxuriously comfortable BED OF ROCKS to sleep on in the campground. Now when I say rocks, I mean actual rocks... not pebbles or sandy debris that blends together to cushion the blow of joints on the earth in the middle of the night. I maybe slept an hour that night and spent the rest of the night nursing my massive bruises from the rock war and wondering how it was possible that 5 layers of clothing was not quite enough to keep me warm. I woke up the next morning, gave Leslie the vulture (which means, the death look) and said - "that was the worst night of my life, and I know I was hellacious to sleep with." We laughed. And that is why Leslie and I are friends and travel well together.

ANYWAYS. the next day at Yellowstone was much better. The sun came out. The geysers were freaking sweet and we saw (about 25 yards away) a momma Grizzly bear and her 2 cubs!!! Leslie took about 200 pictures and all I could do was restrain myself from going to hug that sweet lil mini bear, knowing that the momma could gouge me to death with one swipe. Other Yellowstone highlights: Elk, Buffalo, big horned sheep everywhere! The general consensus is -- the park is probably awesome almost all of the time. We happened to go the 1 day of out the last 30 that wasn't 70 and sunny, and we'd need to go back and do some backcountry hiking/exploring to really get the full effect.

Yesterday we made our way into Montana, but not until we had stopped at the Boiling River hot springs in Yellowstone. Okay seriously. Hot springs were on my bucket list of things to do in my lifetime so I was stoked and they did not disappoint. We stayed in Bozeman last night with a friend of a friend named Keith who took us out around the town last night and provided some fabulous couches for us to crash on. One of the best things about this trip is networking and connecting with people that we know and living off of the extended community that God has blessed us with. If any of you end up in Oregon, we will return the favor ten fold! :)

We are heading to Glacier National Park today, which is at the very top of the USA, almost in Canada, and we are camping again tonight. dun dun dunnnnnn. Sike. Camping is great and tomorrow we have a cute little mountain cabin with an outdoor hot tub that has our names written ALLLL over it. WOOT!

So yes. That is the update. I am not going to re-read it for typo's so deal. Also, I will say it again, but you should ask Leslie Priddy to be your friend on FB so you can see pictures.. (they are set to private so you can only see them if you are friends with her).

On the next post: The much anticipated segment entitled "This Neckulous Life: Chronicling My Double Chin Across America" - once again I say.... get get excited!!!

Love to all. I may lose cell service again for the next few days but I'll try to catch up on phone calls today on the road.

Peace and blessings. PEACE AND BLESSINGS.

~Stace

wait, what day of the week is it?

I'm in South Dakota and I've lost all sense of time and date. It's wonderful. I am finally finding myself able to let go of the scheduled time slots that had previously segmented my day (8:30 coffee, 10:30 15-min car nap, 1:00 30-min car nap...) and just be FREE! It's wonderful.

The last few days have been... hm... well... I typed about 5 words there and deleted them all because none do them justice. The weather seriously makes me want to cry. It's been about 70-75 with abundant sunshine everywhere we've been for the past 4 days. Lez and I have driven through quite a few states lately and here are their descriptions in 5 words or less:

Illinois - Besides Chicago, too much corn.

Wisconsin - rolling hills, friendly folk, CHEESE.

Minnesota - Cows, Harry Potter, and flat.

South Dakota - Badlands are cool as crap.

After Minneapolis where I split my jeans and slept in a college dorm suite with strangers (who win the sweetest 20-yr-olds ever award)... Leslie and I had an 8 hour drive to Ft. Pierre, SD. For this leg of the trip, I chose to drive it while my fabulous domestic partner, Lez, read Harry Potter (the 7th book) to me aloud while I gazed out the windshield. In between chapters of tense moments in the wizarding world, I watched farm, after farm, after farm pass by. I found myself contemplating things like whether or not Monsanto was responsible for the identical miles of corn rows racing past the Saturn on either side... and whether or not the farmers were allowed to save their seeds between seasons or what they would say to Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma." I think too much...

After camping out in Ft. Pierre last night, we drove through The Badlands. Now, I had no idea what "badlands" were supposed to be or why they existed. But I just have to say: they BLEW ME AWAY. Please - if you haven't done so already, ask Leslie to be your friend on FB so you can see a glimpse the beauty that we took in today. It was creation at it's finest. We even ran into (almost literally) some prairie dogs and big horned sheep just chillin' on the side of the road... so naturally, we stopped and Leslie took their pictures while I desperately tried to coerce them to let me get close enough for a little touch. The peanut trial to the car almost worked with that prairie dog, dangit!

Anyway. Despite the rain outside and the acute realization that I am over 32 hours from home in a car, tonight I just feel so blessed. I am blessed with the means to drive across country and to have eyes to see it's beauty. I am blessed to have family and friends who care enough to read this blog, to pray for me, and to get excited on my behalf for what's to come. I will post more after Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and when we make it to Wyoming.

Phones work in South Dakota and beyond - so feel free to give me a ring! If you're reading this, I probably miss you.

~staceylynn

the timing for these posts is way off.

Heyo00oo! So, Leslie and I are currently sitting in the lobby of "Xpert Auto" where her car is getting a lil somethin' somethin' done before we head to South Dakota and leave most of civilization behind... This blogging thing takes up more time than I thought it would, so I'm a few days behind on the updates. Either way --

Chicago was great, and the weather was painfully gorgeous. Jean was a fabulous hostess and showed us all around the city, where we ate some very "chicago" food (by the way, pizza stuffed with 4 inches of cheese does wonders for us lactards), toured around downtown, and had an unexpected run-in with a drag queen at "the kit kat lounge" (details upon request).

After Chicago - Lez and I stopped through Milwaukee, then on to Bethel University near Minneapolis (not Minneanapolis, it turns out) where we pretended to be 20 again and blend in with the college folk in the dining hall. In case you were wondering, Bethel's dining hall ice scored a 10 on a 10-point scale. The pellets were just soft enough and I could have stuck my face under that ice dispenser all day and been a happy camper. For the record, a 10 is nearly impossible to achieve on my ice quality scale. Well done, MN. Well done. What WASN'T well done was when i tried to climb a fence on campus and split my jeans from crotch to knee. I bought them in 9th grade, and apparently they hadn't invented stretchy jeans yet... [SIGH]. I would post the pics because they were pee-in-your-pants-laughing worthy, but the rip wasn't so appropriately located. If you are a female and would like to see more evidence of my questionable motor/life skills - ask and I'll email you.

yeah so that's it for now. If you aren't already friends with Leslie Priddy on facebook, you should friend her because she posts lots of pictures from our trip and this blogger guy is taking forever to upload them.

Destination 2: Chicago, IL & Trip Itinerary

We're in Chicago!

But first -- some pics of the departure:

SO the car is re-packed and weight is more distributed so the concave roof is back to its appropriate shape and we've gained about 2 miles per gallon.

Yesterday we drove from Erie, PA through Ohio, Indiana, Michigan for a hot second, and Illinois. Pretty uneventful day other than the fact that I locked myself in a random bedroom yesterday morning in Erie, and Leslie had to throw her entire body weight into the door to rescue me. Sugar momma and life saver... I chose my traveling partner well.

As promised a couple times already, here is the rest of our trip itinerary:

Oct 5-6: Chicago, IL

Oct 6: drive from Chicago through Milwaukee to Minneapolis

Oct 7: Minneapolis to Ft. Pierre, SD

Oct 8: Badlands and Wall drug in SD

Oct 9: Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse - staying in Sheridan, WY

Oct 10: camping at Yellowstone National Park

Oct 11: Yellowstone National Park - staying in Bozeman, MT

Oct 12: Driving to Glacier National Park, MT

Oct 13: Glacier National Park - staying in Bar W Ranch

Oct 14: Drive to Seattle

Oct 15: Seattle

Oct 16: Drive to Portland via Pacific Coastal Highway (book burning in Forks, WA)

Oct 17: Driving to Medford, OR.

So there you have it!!

Destination 1: Erie, PA

Welp. Lez and I made it to Erie, PA and I feel like I've aged a year just based on today's events. Highlights:

- Our cartop carrier weighs approximately 2000 pounds, and Leslie's car roof just plain rejected that idea and we are going to have to do some re-arranging. Let's just say that I don't think the manufacturers of Saturn didn't intend their vehicle ceilings to be concave.

- I napped within the first hour of the trip. If you know me at all, this should come as no surprise.

- Visited Leslie's family in N. Springfield, PA and ate some delicious Momma Priddy food. I also took the first picture to include my upcoming segment "This Neckulous Life" -- which will be posted in a few days. A stuffed deer head may or may not be involved.

- Lesson learned: Even though a bike rack might actually hold 2 bikes well, trunks of small cars may not agree. We picked up Leslie's grandmother's bike (yes, you read that right) and put it on with mine... only to find that we couldn't access the trunk b/c of the weight. Thanks anyways, Grandma Ruth....

- I managed to dump apple pie sheet cake pieces all over Leslie's clothing. I'm hoping she finds a slimy apple wedge buried in a sock one day for a special treat.

- I have noise sensitivity issues. And one the hooks from the car top carrier makes a totally unacceptable sqeaking noise by the passenger door. I figured out that if you move it slightly to the left, the sound goes away (except that it comes back about 5 minutes later). SO, Leslie in all of her brilliance, found the perfect item to keep the hook in place so that I can ride in peace -- a tampon. See for yourself.

Tomorrow -- we head to Chicago to see the lovely Jean Schawaroch and will be there til Wednesday morning.

I'll post a general itinerary for our trip on the next blog... I'm ridiculously sleepy and over this.

Night!