Dog Breath

Today I found out just how much bad breath one is willing to deal with when it comes to a beloved pet.
A lot.
In my case, anyways.
My dog, Copper, who is the dog in that photo post, is riding in the car with us all the way out to California.
I love my dog, don't get me wrong, I really really do. But, would you like a breath mint, dearest, darlingest dog?
I mean, on a normal daily basis it's not so bad. But riding in a car for four or five hours can get a little, well, egregious.
But right now I'm sitting in a generic hotel room and on the table is a stack of take out containers from Red Robin.
The air conditioner next to me is humming and our stuff is already spread out across the room. 
Tomorrow we will get up, pack up, maybe eat a waffle courtesy of the free breakfast, and drive on to the next classic hotel room.   And even though I don't love her breath, having Copper along, and seeing her stretched out on the hotel carpet sound asleep, makes everything a bit more homey.

Because We Can

Ice cream for breakfast.
Mismatched shoes.
Philosophical conversations in tree houses.
Why?
Because we can.
Longboarding down the middle of the road.
Singing in the rain.
Rollerblading in a classroom
Why?
Because we can.
Holding hands in class.
Sleeping on a trampoline.
Wearing one stiletto and one rollerblade.
Why?
Because we can.
Because we can.  Because we can.  Because we can.
It's like a silent mantra flowing through the teenage brain on repeat.
People look at us and raise their eyebrows, and we just raise our glass.
People look at us and frown judgingly, but we just smile back.
Did they even try to get to know us?
Did they even care enough to part the veil of stereotypes and see, that all we want is to be heard?
And seen?
And accepted?
Can't you hear us?
Just listen!
What we have to say is important too.
We are the future, and the future's future.
Shouldn't you care?
Our crazy style and loud music is not meant as an insult.
It is there because we are longing to feel something, to be a part of something.
You can't blame us for trying.

Delicious Pictures

I have recently become obsessed with art.  Painting, photography, drawing, modern art, all kinds really.
So I have decided to share some with you.  I hope after this you appreciate it a bit more too.

Hauling Wood and Ice Cream Sundaes

The last day at Grandma's today and a wee bit sad.  I hauled wood with Grandpa, grudgingly at first, and those of you who know Grandpa Roy know what a production hauling wood is with him.
But as I actually got into it I started to enjoy my self a bit more than I would like to admit.
And then we were done!  Only after, like, an hour...
It went so fast, and then Grandpa was joking about how he'll have to give me a block of wood for my birthday because I won't have to haul any out there.  :)
I swear the number one priority in life for Grandmothers everywhere is to fatten their grandchildren up, because for dinner we had macaroni+tomatoes+meat and then we had ENORMOUS ice cream sundaes for dessert.
And as I sat there licking the fudge sauce off my spoon I felt slightly guilty but supremely satisfied, because, honestly, who doesn't love ice cream.

om nom nom

Wabbits and Bears and Deer, Oh My!

So today I am at my grandparents house, we are going to be here till sunday and then we are hitting route 66 to get our kicks. ;)
We were driving through the wonderful Northern Wisconsin wilderness today and came upon a bunch of deer, a WABBIT, and a black bear!  It was probably about teenager age, at least it acted like one from the way it just stood there and looked at us while chewing on wildflowers.
We had pulled over on the side of the road for my grandma to take pictures of it, and this red pickup pulled up behind us. We just sat there biding our time and then the guy behind us gets out of his truck and starts walking up the hill, filming the bear on his iPhone.
He was creeping very carefully up the hill and then the bear looked up at him and he froze.
They had a bit of a staring contest and then the bear took one step towards him and........BAM!
The guy was hightailing it down all two feet of the hill and tripping over his own feet.  He fell at least twice. Okay, it would've been funnier if you were there, but I could practically hear the bear laughing at the guy. The bear took one last look at us and went back to his flowers, probably thinking how us humans need to get a life.
Rebellious teenager black bear:  1   iPhone guy:  0

The Beginning Of The End

Today is the beginning, and the end.  Nothing will be the same from now forward.  I will have to learn new ways and forget old ones.  Adapt to new places and become stronger.  I will have to learn the ways of the people of the sun, in order to survive.
That sounded awesomely dramatic. ;)
No, but really.
This morning we scrubbed and cleaned and packed and shoved everything into our little black trailer.
We loaded up the dog and ourselves and left behind our home in the valley, for one year, maybe two, maybe forever.
The home where my sister and I were able to run around naked at the precious age where that is allowed without the prying eyes of neighbors.
The house with the cliff and the cave and the bubbling, babbling spring.
The house where I had my first dance party, the house where I discovered I could be creative, and I should, because people embraced it.
The house that was in biking distance of town and school.
The house where the sidewalk started was the beginning of my world.
The house that I could longboard down the middle of the road without a fear of being hit.
The house I never thought I'd leave.
But as we drove away I barely looked back because it would only make me sad again, but that was not the reason I didn't look back.
The reason I didn't look back was this.
The lovely memories that were made there are put away in a golden box and stored safely in the back of my mind, leaving lots of room for new things.  For the smell of salt and sand and the strong coastal wind.
For the crashing of waves and the sound of new laughter.
For new friends and new things, for mexican food and paletas.
Fear not my friends, I won't forget you.
I'll be back to bug you and tell of my fabulous adventures before you can even miss me.
So this is the first day of my journey, and I am facing it with a surprisingly light heart.
Wish me well.  Send me good thoughts and hugs.
Go climb a tree for me.

Dust Motes and Old Rope

I really haven't kept up with this very well.  It will get better, I promise. On our drive out there, to California that is, I will (hopefully) be writing everyday.
Today was an interesting, bittersweet, sad day.
It started early.  5 o'clock came with the chirping of the birds and the morning sunshine and my mom gently shaking me awake and telling me it was time to get up. My dad flew back out to California today, And next tuesday or wednesday we are going to drive out there, taking route 66.
His flight went out at ridiculously-early-o-clock this morning and as I watched him get on to the plane, it was the hardest of all the times. You see, My dad has been living out there for the past ten months and the hardest times were the first and the last. I thought the last would be the easiest, Yes! We're leaving soon! I'm so outta here! Peace out homies!
But as he went through security I pictured myself walking right through that metal detector, unable to turn around and run back into the arms of my best friends. I'm going to miss them so much.  If you guys are out there reading this (you know who you are) I just want to tell you that I love you very much and I will miss you terribly.
And as I stood there at the airport, at 7 o'clock on a random thursday morning in June, I had to try so hard to hold back the tears because I knew if I didn't I would have broken down then and there into a sobbing, tear-streaked mess on the unforgiving linoleum floor.
When we got home hours later, after trying to find some gratification on the racks of Goodwill, (mission successful, by the way) we were all way too exhausted to do anything but disappear into our own minds and sleep.
Around 2 o'clock we finally summoned enough energy to head up to the upper floor of the barn and tackle the biggest task left here.  We sorted and shoved and lifted and moved and grunted and sweated and breathed in the dust, but by 7 o'clock we were all satisfied with our work.  In a mere 5 hours us three girls, Turino girls, mind you, had turned the 3,000 sq. ft (approximately) upper floor of the barn into a sorted room ready to be moved and rented by someone who's middle name I don't even know.
And with the barn all cleaned out like that, as I perched in the rafters and surveyed the scene, I wondered why we hadn't done this sooner.
The old rope from the shipyards that my dad used to work at hung from a rafter and looked sentimentally picturesque.
Take time to make something how you've always wanted it.  Don't just add it to the list of things to do, don't say you'll do it tomorrow. Sometimes, tomorrow never comes, but there are times when it comes far too quickly.

Subscriptions, subscriptons

I finally figured out how to actually work my blog!
I found the place where you set it up so that you receive posts by email!
All this time people have been bugging me about it, and now it's here!
Now you don't have to come and check it all the time (because I know you all do;), instead, just enter your email in the box at the top of the page and click 'subscribe'.
A little box should pop up, and follow the instructions in said box. It is not a virus, I promise.
For all of you who actually know how to do this and, could frankly, do it in your sleep, i apologize if I just insulted your intelligence.  Just trying to help out.
Now, sit back and enjoy the graces of modern day technology.

7 Bad Things About Moving to California

1. Leaving these friends
2. Leaving my house
3. Going to a big city
4. Leaving this small town
5. Everything there is fast and loud
6. Not enough trees to climb 
7. I'm having trouble coming up with a 7th...I think that's a good thing :)

7 Good Things About Moving To California

1. The ocean
2. A change--finally
3. More friends
4. Umm...duh.  It's California
5. A big city
6. Leaving this small town
7. Leaving this drama

Ode to the letter P

P.  Proud, preposterous p.
I think if P were a person, he might be a pope.
 Or possibly a proud policeman.  Yes.  A policeman.
Strutting up and down his street, periodically checking his pocket watch, the gold buttons on his uniform glittering.
He would carry a club of course, wielding it like a mother holding a baby.
He would love his club, and barely ever use it because it is so precious to him.
As he paced he would whistle a slight, lilting tune and nod at whoever passed by him.
He would be kind at heart, but one stern look from him would stop any hooligan in their tracks.

7 Reasons Not To Get Married

1. To prove a point
2. For money
3. Because you like their last name
4. Because you like their family  (It can be a factor though)
5. Because someone told you to
6. Because someone proposed to you and you don't want to hurt them so you feel obliged even though you don't love them.
7. Because all your friends are

Good Life

So, don't judge.  This is a music video that my fabulous friend Zoe and I made.  (I would call her Zoekins but she does not appreciate that;)
So post and re-post it and enjoy!  Also a shout out to Arlo for being in this even though he didn't know he was being filmed at the time.

A Tribute to Night Laughter

Those summer nights of freedom were the best.
The nights where we laughed so hard that we forgot everything else, laughed so hard that we didn't need to do sit ups to get a six-pack, laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt enough for us to laugh more.
Those were the endless nights. 
The nights of  screaming and yelling and laughing and scaring ourselves.  The nights that as the jokes got progressively worse we only laughed harder.
The nights that our complexions seemed to go on vacation because no matter how many gummy worms we ate or how much sweet tea we drank, our faces never seemed to catch up with it all.
We would watch our favorite movies again and again just because Orlando Bloom was in them.  We would talk and giggle and make general noise through the whole thing but when he came on screen we would shush each other and slap each other and stare lovingly at the screen in front of us.
The movie would end, "Okay, it's 12:30, we should probably go to sleep now."
"Yeah you're right."
A few moments of silence.
A few precious, quite conspicuous moments of silence...
*bam!*
A word rips the silent screen and then the laughter starts, rolling and rippling along with the stream bubbling next to our tent.  
We have tickle fights and tell stories and whisper quietly and laugh, laugh, laugh.
The next time we look at the clock it says 4:30 with an odd artificial light that intrudes on our happy bubble.  We quiet down for a moment and then realize we can hear the birds waking up.
"We should definitely go to sleep now."
The only answer is a yawn and a pillow slapping me across the face.
When we wake up it is 11 'o clock and the inside of our tent is roasting, so as we roll out into the refreshingly cool air, the only thing we do is laugh.

Accepting the Adventure

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry it's been a while.  

I have become increasingly busy as the summer goes on, unfortunately.  

Another golden nugget of wisdom:  Don't complain about a boring and uneventful life.  You will get exactly what you want and more.

Most of you probably already know what this dynamic change is, but I will share it now...

In eighteen days I am moving to California.

If you didn't know this I apologize for the shock.  So, Yes.  The summer has been full of sorting and throwing things out and sorting some more and throwing out more things.  

For the most part I am incredibly excited to be leaving, going on an incredible adventure, going where it's warm.  

But then I find myself thinking about it too much, about how I won't see my favorite people every day, how I won't know all the little secrets about our little town, how I won't get to hear the babbling of our stream outside my window.  I find myself crying about it, again, and yelling at myself for being so weak.  

I was talking to one of my friends outside of the school the other day and he was saying how he was impressed with my ability to just leave like this.  He's going to Germany for a year, and he's having a hard time with it.  He said he wished it was that easy for him.  I told him that it's not that easy.  That I try to be strong in front of people and at school but then I just go home and cry quietly to myself up in a tree somewhere.(sound familiar?) 

I do this because I hate making people sad.  My best friend is having a really hard time with my leaving and every time the topic comes up he gets really quiet and sad-seeming.

But once all of this passes, I start to feel excited again.  

I'm going to CALIFORNIA for goodness sake.  I'll make more friends, I'll discover the secrets of Costa Mesa, I'll hear the ocean  

It's going to be a wonderful adventure, A much needed change I have been starving for.  And who knows? I can always come back.  We're not selling our house, just renting it out to a wonderful woman with a golden aura and three kids, two girls and a boy.  And they are going to take care of our cats!

I should be embracing this, accepting it, bounding forward into it.  Because honestly, there is nothing I can do about it.

It's going to come whether I want it to or not.