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freeing a soul : july 2002

7.27.2002

i create life!

my sunflowers are starting to poke their little heads out of their fresh yummy soil :)

fear me, david and i have another great creative project for xmas gifts!

posted by belen 7:58 PM

7.26.2002

friday finally arrives...

i cannot even begin to express how stupid-busy i have been this week. my average days have been 8am-5pm, grabbing dinner and then back at it until 10ish.

but this has made up for the downtime last week...and i really needed to get shit done.

so all is good. lots of billable hours this week, and lots of good work done.

tomorrow i work a bit more and sunday we go into seattle to hang out.

this week's weather has been so wacky...mid-week, i was in a sundress sweating my ass off, and today we have been so cold all day that we actually lit a fire in the fireplace :) (mmmmm...roaring fire in july!!!)

i think its about time for a nap...then dinner.

perhaps i will have energy for writing later this weekend :)
posted by belen 4:04 PM

7.21.2002

karmic reward

this weekend was *truly* the karmic reward for the Hell That Was Last Week.

when i arrived at the campsite on friday, the boys were nowhere to be found. so i unpacked a bit and then wandered toward the river to see if they were about. and as i walked down the camp road, alex was walking toward me. and as he got closer, i realized he was very very wet. and fully clothed. i could only imagine :)

leave boys alone in the woods and they do boy things :) apparently, they spend some of the afternoon building a string of rock islands across the river so they could hop to the Big Rock. wet wet boys. david's boots were soaked. they were very cute :)

so we lit a fire and cooked some food and drank and bullshitted. the evening even included a heated debate on exhibitionism, self-worth, the necessity of validation for the human psyche, and other related topics.

the campsite was as beautiful as i remembered...the individual camp sites are seperated by huge fallen logs and natural foliage. the sound of the river to the edge of the sites was a deep timbre and very satisfying. we didnt manage to get a river-front site, but it was still lovely.

saturday we cleaned up the site in anticipation of our friends arriving and then hiked one of the trails. when hiking with 2 boys, you spend a lot of time off the beaten path picking your way up and down inclines and out to pretty little spots. it was delicious :)

the weather was sunny and highs of about 75-80. the water was WAY too cold for my southern ass.

upon return from hiking, lish and alex's friend john had arrived, and following shortly were lish's friends steve and amber. it was such a good night of drinking and chatter and fireside revelry. lish cooked tasty items like garlic shrimp and salmon pasta over the fire...we drank mead from a washington winery.

by bedtime we were all pretty darn toasty :)

morning came with the quiet beauty that only the NW conjures in me. it roused me around 8:30 and i soaked up the feel of the forest waking up with some coffee and fresh fruit and beef jerky...the breakfast of champions ;)

we made it back home today by around noonish and after such a wonderful weekend camping, we unpacked, got everythign where it needed to be and cooked up the remaining bbq for lunch.

and then i dug a sun garden and planted daisy and sunflower seeds :):):) i was so dirty and so tired and soooooooooo happy, i made it to the hammock on the porch and collapsed into a nap.

when i woke up. we made some plans for dinner which involved sushi on the porch as the sun dipped down. and then we took alex to the seattle ferry and relinquished our hold on him.

all in all, it was SUCH a good weekend...just what i needed.

the universe is very good.
posted by belen 9:32 PM

7.19.2002

the light at the end of the tunnel

behold, i bask in it!

today has been a good day thus far. i am tying up loose ends from the week...arranging, organizing, replying, thinking of next week.

i still have a lot to do, but i now feel confident that it *will* get done...eventually.

so today i do a few final things...but mostly i finish packing for our camping trip and i relax into the weekend i earned :)

i am so ready for the sun to push through the clouds today...i have an overwhelming urge to be like the kitties and lay in a puddle of sunshine.
posted by belen 1:30 PM

7.18.2002

eerie silence

well, today was at least the *beginning* of productive. i met the only real deadline i had.

my laptop setup is pretty much complete...although i had to start over on my 2.5 hr office download only 30 minutes before it finished.

and we wont even *talk* about the buy.com experience i had today. i have never written such a nasty email to an ecom company before. suffice it to say the words "you new ordering system and online customer support were a huge fucking waste of a lot of money..." were in the missive.

the reason i needed buy.com was because this lovely new laptop of mine only has USB ports...no ps2 ports for keyboard and mouse. ugh.

all in all, things are looking up. you'd think i would be thrilled about the new laptop, but i am still feeling shellshocked from my miserable week. and i really really really wasnt ready to blow $2k just yet.

alex is in town visiting and he and david set off tonight to procure a super-fly campsite for us at this beautiful campground in the olympic national park. the weekend entails much At One With Nature love....it should prove to be very calming. big fires, good company, tasty adult beverages, peaceful walks...highs of 75 and lows of 50. mmmmmmm.......

so the house is quiet. no one but me. the navy folks are tucked into bed so they may face their terribly early mornings. i dont think i am far behind them. its been an *exhausting* week!
posted by belen 9:45 PM

7.17.2002

purrrrrrrrrrrrrs

who is sitting in front of a brand new toshiba laptop?

yes! me!

there were so many ways to solve this mess of mine, but when it came down to it, i needed a reliable solution. and i had a certain amount of money i was willing to use to get that solution.

wha-la!

so today was all about setting myself up for PRODUCTIVITY! all programs are loaded...all files are transferred. with any luck at all tomorrow will be a wet dream of getting shit done.

going from a 550mhz desktop to a 1.6ghz laptop might just make me foam at the mouth....we shall see.

meanwhile, on belen's personal front (heheh....that sounds dirty!), i am going to start using my livejournal acct as my health and wellness journal. this week marks the beginning of my concerted effort to eat the things that make my body happier, excercise and lose this extra 10lb that showed up when i wasnt looking. so if you are interested, feel free to take a look every now and then: http://www.livejournal.com/
users/wanderinggrrl/

yes, its blank right now :)

that comes next...after making the grocery list for tomorrow and getting myself ready to kick ass tomorrow :)

posted by belen 8:26 PM

ugh

yesterday was the Day From Hell.

my computer decided that it would protest its existance even further. so mid-day, all of a sudden, photoshop and illustrator decided that when i tried to start them, that they would throw a windows system error and immediately shut down.

this does not bode well for a designer.

so i spent all fucking day trying to solve the problem.

i cleared out space on my harddrive bec it was getting pretty cramped. i ran a virus scan which took nearly all of my afternoon. i uninstalled and reinstalled. twice.

nothing.

i have no explanation.

and now i am totally crippled.

to do any design work or image editing, i have to use david's computer.

while i am grateful to at least have a work around, it is a big fucking pain in my ass to have to wait on graphics until i can do them all at once.

ugh.

so i have 2 reasonable choices at this point.

reformat my harddrive *again* (did it less than 2 years ago). this involves finding someplace for all my files, ensuring i have all of my software and praying that nothing goes wrong and it only sucks up a day of my life to do it all and get set back up.

the other option is to order the dell laptop i have been lusting for for over a year. i had planned to buy it after xmas this year. it would only take about 10 days to get to me. and for $2000 (deliver included) i could get:

Inspiron 8200: Mobile PentiumŪ 4 1.6 GHz-M,
15.0 UXGA Monitor
512MB RAM
40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
8XCD-RW/DVD
Internal network card

and just about everything else i could dream of. all in a 7.64lbs / 1.7" thin package.

<DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS>

i have to consult with my boy to see what he thinks, but i just cannot take this eMachines daemon anymore. she must go.

unless i am smacked with a good reason not to, i think the time has come to take the plunge.
posted by belen 8:34 AM

7.14.2002

neglecting you

<furrowed brow> its been a long time, huh?

i guess i am having rough time settling into a routine. mostly, i have *SO* much work that i have a hard time doing or thinking of anything else.

i try not to complain. i try to appreciate my good luck...and i *do*. but it leaves me with little time to relax, play and write.

Olympia, the town we used to live in last summer, is about an hour and a half drive, and they have started a teeny tiny goth night at this hole in the wall performance space. this weekend was its 2nd weekend and we attended again. i tell you, for a dance floor that only holds about 12 people and a club that *really* cant hold more than 25, i have such a good time! the music is fabulous, the people running it are really great, they play all our requests, they greeted us with rejoicing that we returned last weekend ("Oh! you came back!"). our friends in olympia are also goth, so the 4 of us hit the club all dressed ot the 9's and taught the young 'uns a thing or 2 about style ;) and this time, the general wardrobe choices were much more tasty :) all in all, its a great time. no alcohol, so we bring our own and leave it in the car :) its like high school all over!

the rest of the weekend was mediocre. a lot of running around after plans that never gelled. but i did find myself the mother of all shopping streets in seattle and plan a trip there to unload cash soon :)

so i'll try to be better about writing. really, i just need to stop making excuses for myself :)
posted by belen 7:58 PM

7.5.2002

what did *you* wear while watching fireworks?

the texas girl i am, the 4th of july holiday is always associated with the insane process of choosing to spend a whole day outside in blazing heat, dressed in as little as possible, drinking tea and beer alternately, and bbq'ing stupid amounts of food.

and this year was the same...except the blaring heat.

i know *you* were probably in next to nothing while you watched fireworks, but *i* was wearing:

- thermal underwear
- a cotton skirt
- a velvet skirt
- boots
- thermal shirt
- tshirt
- sweater
- wool shawl
- hat

yes, i *am* a bit of a wuss, but everyone was pretty bundled up.

its shocking to the poor southern girl!
posted by belen 12:24 PM

7.3.2002

i am so proud!

<sniffles> they grow up so fast!

our Messy Fun for Members pay site just launched today. i walked her to the bus stop and put her on the bus to kindergarten, and sat with hands clasped hoping everyone would like her.

i went and ran errands and then checked stats when i got home just because i was goofy...and we had 97 hits and 4 members sign up! i almost burst :)

this project has been talked about for soooooo long and been in the works for 2 months. i am so proud of my team! (<snickers> i wonder how terry feels being my "team"?)

if you are into the messy girl thing, feel free to take a gander: http://members.messyfun.com
posted by belen 2:45 PM

7.1.2002

commitments are made to be broken?

no sooner do i commit to writing every day, than i abandon you. <sighs>

but that is mostly because i have been both productive and social :)

the end of the week allowed me to *work* uninterrupted for the first time in 2 weeks! i was a whirlwind of design and management :) we finally switched the servers i have been fighting with to the new hosting company. in addition, i spend 10 hours of sunday putting finishing touches on the Messy Fun Members Site. i can hardly believe we are set for launch on wed!

on friday, we went into olympia to see chris and melissa and it was soooooooo enjoyable. olympia is starting a teeeeny-tiny goth night in this little hole-in-the-wall performance venue. it was 16+, no alcohol, and the dancefloor comfortably fit about 10 people. but i tell you, the music was SO damn good, and bec we werent buying drinks, it was very cheap. we had such a good time...i dont think i have ever seen david dance so much.

then we crashed out at their place and melissa cooked us a killer breakfast, and then we spend the whole afternoon playing Settlers with the Knights & Cities and Seafarers expansion sets. it was *excellent* :) i forgot just how much i missed chris and now with melissa added to the package, its almost perfect! :)

lish's parents are here, so the weekend was very low-key social and pleasant. it is strange and lovely to have so much always going on after our peaceful solitude we are used to keeping.

we finally dig in the dirt yesterday...dug a strawberry bed and planted the little guys. dug a bed for lillies and got them relocated. moved sod around the yard. it was very pleasant to be dirty again :)

oh! and even though i cant get to my camera, i have a picture of angie :)

posted by belen 9:17 AM