My New Glasses

Thank you, taxpayers, for my brand new, stylin' frames. The VA kindly sent me my glasses in the mail yesterday, I lost my last pair four or five years ago and haven't found the time to replace them. Like them?

Glean It!

I received an email from the Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle today. They are a non-profit group who go around and harvest all the neighborhood fruit trees out here in the West Seattle, White Center and Delridge neighborhoods. The fruit (and vegetables) they harvest is then distributed locally by way of food banks and other outlets to those in need of fresh produce who could not afford it otherwise. They also provide fruit canning, tree pruning and veggie gardening classes to anybody who is interested. The group is growing rapidly, it looks like they have a goal of harvesting 2000 lbs of produce this year, all from our community's yards and gardens, pretty cool huh. They harvested our plum tree last year and reportedly pulled a couple hundred pounds of plums off of it, though the marker for our tree on the website's map indicates only 45 pounds.

This is how I first became involved with the group. Then I mentioned that I was in design school and could possibly help develop a logo for them. They agreed to let me have a whack at it and I noticed today that they have put it into use on their website, it is the little house with a heart-shaped piece of fruit in it, along with the slogan I suggested "Sharing from our hearts and our gardens." I am not trying to brag, merely excited to see my first logo design actually being put to use! Especially for what I feel is such a worthy and exciting cause.

DONATE YOUR TREE!!!

I had to take a break from the group as my workload at school became too heavy, but hope to get involved with them again this summer. The most fascinating part of the whole thing to me is the idea of contributing to a more sustainable lifestyle. After a whole winter of buying out-of-season organic produce, some of which is farmed and harvested thousands of miles from West Seattle or grown in hothouses in California, it is exciting to me to think of what we could produce in our urban environment that would travel a thousandth of that distance from where it is grown to where it is consumed. Also, after meeting the local food bank manager, I am deeply concerned about the quality of food available to people with lower income. Especially with the economy in the state it is, healthy, natural food is becoming more and more out of reach, contributing to the declining health of our population. What I see in this fledgling organization is hope for change in the way that we live our lives and I am happy to see that they are not just giving away produce, but also focusing on developing skills for people to learn how to provide for themselves, using their own land here in the city!

Still here...

I have so much on my plate right now! Luckily (almost) everything is quite enjoyable and challenging. Preparations for Rome, an anti-bottled water campaign, a book over project, and new this week, assembly of portfolio for my entire sophomore year. Now, the first we heard about this portfolio was last week, everybody is scrambling to gather EVERYTHING we have done this year. This is a slight problem considering most of it hasn't been returned to us after grading and some has been inadvertently destroyed, HOW EXCITING!! I finally got back some of my sketches from fall quarter that I had so much fun doing...

Here's a model of the self-checkout machine I designed:

Boys Will Be Boys...

Nobody ever tires of pet photos, right?!? I took a little break from my studies to snap a couple shots of Rocky and Miki playing. They have so much fun together, what with all the face biting and such. This one makes me laugh out loud, it looks like one of those dioramas you see at the natural history museum of prehistoric beasts engaged in an epic fight to the death.

Great Groups

One of my classes this quarter is 'Collaboration and Improvisation.' In the assigned reading for the class I found this little excerpt that really got my blood pumping. 

It is of interest to me because it is something I have been wrestling with in my own mind over the last couple of days. Rach and I were just discussing this very topic last night. I reached a point in my Naval career where the Navy was all. I was on the ship seven days a week, driving my team to completion of every task thrown our way, striving to improve every aspect of my system and my sailors for the good of the Navy. My chain of command loved it, my sailors rarely complained. After realizing I hadn't had a day off in over three months, however, I really noticed that my health was declining rapidly, I couldn't sleep at night and I was becoming irritable and really out of touch with what life is really about. 

I know the adrenaline rush involved in being part of something amazing and accomplishing things that no individual could conquer alone, but surely there MUST be a point when enough is enough and you should take time for your personal life and those you love. I use to write in my journal that I wished I could find something that would release the fire I felt within me. After years of searching, I am confident that my current path will accomplish this. Now I only hope that it will be a controlled blaze and not a wildfire.

Puerto Vallarta

Spring Break has come to a close, we returned from Mexico on Sunday and jumped right back into school and work. Our time in Puerto Vallarta was unbeatable. I was really able to unwind and enjoy just being in the sun, breathing in the sweet jungle air and having so much fun with an amazing group of friends. We spent the first couple of days just hanging around our condo, making frosty drinks (including some with fresh-cut coconuts from the surrounding palm trees), playing in the pool and just relaxing. Then we ventured into Bucerias, a small little beach town, for a day of haggling with vendors and beers on the beach. Our final day was spent in Puerto Vallarta. We found a good place to hang out with cheap buckets of corona and spent much of the daylight, you guessed it, soaking up sun, drinking coronas and playing in the ocean. That night we had delicious cuban food for dinner and then headed out for dancing. I had the most fun I've ever had a dance club, it is not usually my scene. This is only a brief summary of our Puerto Vallarta experience, but you get the jist. Simply add some counter-top dancing, a beer chugging contest, an encounter with the Mexican police, evening walks past crocodile ponds, fun trips to a Mexican MEGA-store, water volleyball games, afternoon naps in the sun, clam juice beverages for breakfast, being rear-ended in our rental car, gourmet home-cooked meals, crazy birds that sound like car alarms and some sweet tattoos and you begin to get the picture. 

OUR CASA

OUR BACK YARD

WE MAKE THESE LOOK GOOOOOD....

3 AMIGOS

SUNSET IN PARADISE

AMIGOS Y AMIGAS

BEACH SMOOCH

MOJITOS AT DUSK

It's about time!

According to the West Seattle Blog, the Mayor(hizzoner) is declaring war on potholes. The streets are so bad up here that I had to buy a tougher bike for my daily ride to school as the rims were getting bent on my road bike. Whenever we are returning to Seattle from a trip we can tell when we are getting close because the car shakes so much it wakes up the dog and anyone else napping in the car! The article also features a really funny clip from a show called "Almost Live," it is a sketch comedy show kind of like SNL but is local to Seattle. If you've ever driven through Ballard, Seattle's little scandinavian neighborhood, the video clip will REALLY make you laugh!

Hizzoner to Declare War on Potholes