Olympic Peninsula Road Trip 2012: Night 1

Deception Pass

Waiting for the Port Townsend Ferry to Arrive

Signs of Spring: Sweet Little Purple Flowers

I walked up the hill towards Fort Casey (I ran a little bit too just because I was so happy to be out in the fresh air and sun, but don't tell on me!)

View of Port Townsend and the ferry on it's way

Another beautiful view.

This weird person followed me around all day and wouldn't leave me alone. At least on the ferry I had Angry Birds on my phone to distract me from her, otherwise I might have lost it! It was really windy and it seemed like the ferry was going to topple over and she got a bit of motion sickness...I'm so glad she didn't puke because that would've really been gross!

I found these in a shop in Historic Downtown Port Townsend and sort of geeked out -- I mean who doesn't need a tin of Emergency Googly Eyes?

By the time I got to Port Angeles  I was nearly blind with hunger. I'm surprised I didn't get in a car crash because I couldn't find food fast enough. I went to this Mexican restaurant. As you can see they had very colorful decor. The waiter told me this is their slow season... hmm, so that explains why I was the ONLY customer there!

Look, Ma! I made this!

So I'm finally through with my Winter Quarter of Graveyard. I've taken a week off for vacation and some R&R. Now that I'm surfacing again from the dark side I want to show you some of the things I've made recently during my free time in the wee hours of the morning. (By the way, I just finished reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and even if you're not up all night I'd highly recommend this. It's excellent and very well written. Probably why it's a classic. But I don't really like all classics.)

Experiments in ModgePodge. I made these pen holders out of upcycled hot chocolate canisters. I modge podged pieces of a map of Amsterdam from my trip last year.

Then I decorated and modge podged a cardboard box for some art supply storage. I used pages from a Spanish Cosmopolitan magazine and special duct tape for the borders.

All that crafting made me hungry! So I tested a 'recipe' I saw online for a gummy bear snack.

 Drunk gummy bears. Soak them over night in vodka and they swell up. I'm not so sure if I really liked them, but the last time I bought vodka I decided to try the whipped cream flavor. This is pretty good in hot chocolate. But probably not the best with gummy bears. So I'm willing to try these one more time with regular, unflavored vodka before I decide I don't like them.

And last of all, I've almost filled up the note card art journal I started in December at Jen's house in Vegas. It has been a lot of fun for me and helped me tap into my creative energy...which has lead to other projects including the above. So here are two recent pages I made experimenting with pens, water color, salt sprinkles, and Bic markers. (Right, so none of the stuff I use yet is really expensive. It's all Crayola or drug store brand until I decide I'm so great I want to invest in higher quality supplies. But it's still fun -- which is the point.)

Meet Kevin

A clear explanation of how things work.

or

How babies are made.

If you want to know more, click HERE to read an excellent blog post on the matter. 

Get a life!

Ok. I love stories about the super natural, love stories about folks with finely chiseled, sculpted bodies experiencing electrifying and passionate romance, and stories of people discovering their hidden, untapped secret powers. I can suspend reality for a time to enjoy any story for the fun of it. Be it a book or movie.

For example, 'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern filled with magic, illusion and manipulation of the elements; the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlene Harris and the 'True Blood' TV series featuring vampires, werewolves and telepathic humans; Harry Potter the famous student-magician; 'Firefly' the sci-fi Western TV show and I am even occasionally a sport about 'Twilight' another vampire vs werewolf series that (just in case you've actually never heard of it) immerses the reader or viewer into the teenage angst of a girl unable to just be herself and insistent that she would be better off and easier to love if she were different i.e. if she were converted into a vampire.

But I have to draw the line somewhere. Recently a friend told me about 'Second Life.' Luckily, this friend does not have a second life, he was just telling me of it's existence.  'Second Life' is an online virtual game where you pick an avatar i.e. body and can 'interact' with other people.

As you can see, besides wasting a lot of time, there are many things you can do with a 'Second Life.' Including have a baby. (By the way, if you watch these two videos say goodbye to 11 minutes you will never get back.)

Wow. I never knew it was possible to have a baby without any blood involved. Also, the nurse/doctor is showing a lot of cleavage and tattoos and is wearing very high heeled boots with a very short skirt. Nothing wrong with all of that, but not so common I think when you are delivering a baby. But it seems anything is possible in 'Second Life.'

If you can have a baby in 'Second Life', that leads me to believe that 'Second Life' sex is possible. But the thought of watching that play out on my computer screen is more than a little weird.

I'm not into online gaming, nor do I want to be. But this whole 'Second Life' concept really is intriguing to me because it's so Matrix-esque. I think I'll take a pass for now as I'm too busy with my first life.

Sometimes I wonder...

Sometimes I wonder why I originally decided I didn't want to have a TV. For one, I waste enough time on the internet I would never do anything if I had TV to distract me as well. But then I see videos like these and I'm reminded that I am exposed to less garbage by not watching TV regularly. We need to find beauty in ourselves and those around us, and invest less in the images that distort our sense of what true beauty is. I'm an adult and have a hard enough time with what images I'm bombarded with. But sometimes I worry about my nieces and nephews and the next generation. I wonder how I can be a positive influence in their lives. Maybe it starts with praising them for their intelligence and creative ideas and not just for their clothes and how cute they look. I actually think I do a decent job of this, but it's something I feel I want to be really aware of in my interactions with them.

Yes!

(I found this on Pinterest and have no idea where it originally comes from, so that is my reason for not giving appropriate credit where credit is due.  But this poster makes me smile.)