Brave Living

I'm sitting out on the patio at Joshua Tree Coffee Company, drinking the most delicious Nitro Cold Brew coffee (and it's not just the most delicious because I've been drinking camping-french-press the last week).  The sun is beating down and it's the most perfect 66ºF.  We've been camping in Joshua Tree National Park since Sunday at Hidden Valley Campground where there are no hookups, no wifi, and no cell service.  We've met incredible humans, had our noses sunburned from forgetting that sunscreen out here is absolutely a necessity, climbed up countless rock formations, talked with new friends into the night by the light of a campfire, howled under the full moon, and woke to watch the sun bathe it's first rays over the desert rocks.  In a way, I feel like our stay in Joshua Tree National Park has been our very own Wildbride Retreat.  

Leading the retreats has been a hell of a dive into the deep end.  We're learning to swim, making lifelong friends, cultivating a beautiful space for women to bloom, confronting our own fears and doubts and dreams, and feeling incredibly blessed and humbled by the entire experience.  Between our Joshua Tree retreat, which was last weekend, and our Sedona retreat, which is next weekend, we had a solid 10 days to relax, recoup, and make our way over to Sedona.  Since Sedona is only a 6 hour drive from here, we decided to stick around and soak in the beauty of this place for a while and I'm so glad we did.  Leading the retreats is definitely an energetic drain, in the best way.  Kristina and I are putting out all of our energy creating space for each one of our Wildbrides and we're realizing the importance of nurturing ourselves between each retreat so that we're best able to create that space for each retreat.  We are super excited for our final one in Sedona and we can't wait to dream up the next retreat, hopefully sometime later in the summer.  

For some time both of us have been feeling like it's time to move away from Tacoma.  The push to start a new adventure, to explore, to live a full life is feeling very present.  Dan and I have tossed around ideas for about a year, but I think this summer might be the time to sell our house and just make the leap into something new.  To just trust that we'll find our feet when we land, and even if we fall, someone will be there to help us up.  

Being in the Brave is such a clarifying experience for me.  She strips away everything that doesn't matter.  But she gives back so much in return.  Every time I return to her I remember how beautiful life is living with her.  Maybe this time we'll sell the house and live mobile.  We shall see.  Life is certainly on the verge of a big change, and I'm excited to be a part of what's going to happen next along with my favorite humans and creatures.

Road Life

Life on the road has been pretty tech-free.  We've been out of cell service for a surprising amount of nights, campground internet has been slow, spotty, or non-existent, and driving every day means no blogging.  I've been posting to instagram here and there but other that that I haven't been able to do much online.  We've got a bit of service tonight, so I thought I'd pop in here and say hi.

It's been about 10 days since our first Wildbride Retreat on the Oregon Coast.  Holy moly was it a magical weekend.  I can't wait to spend this upcoming weekend with our next Wildbrides down here in California.  I really want to give you guys a peek at the images we created, but I'm not sure if my internet connection can handle uploading photos, so that'll have to wait.  You can see some peeks over on the Wildbride Facebook, website, and retreat site!

Being on this trip has been so similar and different from my first trip.  A major difference is having Kristina along with me.  While I loved doing the first trip solo, it's been really fun to share stuff with another person.  My recent travels have really revealed that to me.  The importance of sharing life with other people.  I think travel just magnifies that feeling.  Being alone in Paris made it so magnified the weight was crushing.  I remember on my last Brave trip there were some things I kind of wanted to do but felt like they'd be odd to experience alone.  I still did plenty of things, but having someone to share experiences with and bounce ideas off of makes it so much better.

Okay, gotta sign off.  More road stories later.  Campground check out is at 11!  TTYL friends!

A Beautiful Life

Sometimes your plans just don't quite work out.

Despite having all your ducks in a row, despite planning ahead as best as you could, things still go sideways, unexpected snafus pop up. I like to control my situation. I like to plan as much as I can ahead of time so that I don't have snafus popping up, but there's not much you can do to avoid problems popping up when you least expect.

For someone who likes controlling a situation, I sure do pick odd vehicles to get me where I want to go, quite literally. My 1972 Winnebago Brave might not seem like the most reliable vehicle to most people. On my first Brave trip (in my '73 Brave, back in 2010) my very first day found me stranded on the side of the road, 300 miles from home in the middle of nowhere, Alaska. Oddly enough, that was the only vehicle trouble I had on that entire 11,000 mile journey. Yesterday, on my first day out on this trip, before even making it a mile from home, I discovered a flat tire that set us back 3 hours. And then I had to get new propane tanks because mine were too old to fill. And a new house battery to power the lights in the Brave. And then today upon testing our water system, all the faucets needed new plumbing. I'd be lying if I wasn't stressed out. I coined the term "Strungry" today because I wasn't Hangry, I was just stressed and hungry and maybe actually extra stressed because I was hungry? I digress.

Things didn't go according to plan. But, like the seeminly undetangle-able knot of necklaces in your luggage after a trip, we eventually fixed each problem and will be back on the road tomorrow.

I'm always impressed with how, even when things don't go the way I think they should go, they still work out. Instead of throwing hands in the air or curling into a fetal position, you just have to start slowly detangling each necklace. It can be tedious, frustrating work at time. Sometimes you cut the pipe that works instead of the broken pipe and have to patch a perfectly good pipe. Someone did that today and her name definitely doesn't rhyme with Miz Borrow. Nope. Keep detangling. One necklace free, alright, keep detangling.

Life is a beautiful mess.  And I don't believe life as a beautiful mess means making our messes look pretty.  It means looking at the mess around us and recognizing the beauty in what it is.  Curated "messes" aren't authentic, though they can be inspiring, but ultimately I think they can make us feel inadequate.  

I cannot wait to meet our gorgeous Wildbrides today!  We still have space at the next retreat, Feb 12-14th in Monte Rio, CA just a short drive from San Francisco.  If you want to give a "fuck yeah" to your wild messy spirit with a wilderness photo shoot and a weekend with no obligation to be anyone but your messy, beautiful self, we would be so honored to have you join us.  Our first retreat is sold out, and space is limited in the remaining retreats so don't wait too long if you want to commit coming into the Wildbride family.  

The mess is part of the beauty.  The problems are part of this beautiful life.  Today our first Wildbride Retreat starts.  For me, Wildbride feels like part of this celebration of messy, wild, tangly existence we lead as women.  It isn't about poses with your booty popped out at just the right angle to give you dat ass.  It isn't about nipping and tucking with photoshop, or getting that perfect Tyra Banks smize.  It's embracing the mess, and discovering the crazy beauty that lies within that space.  It's sacred.

Dusty's Snow Adventure

Dusty got a pretty little snow coat from her grandma for Christmas and after seeing how much fun she had in the snow when we got a light dusting last week, I figured it'd be fun to head up to the mountains and play in the snow with her!  I always miss the snow this time of year too, so it was probably as much for me as it was for her.  We drove up to Snoqualmie Pass and found loads of it! She had a total blast and her Pendleton snow coat was perfect!  With all her fur, I'm sure she was the warmest of all of us.

I'd never stopped at Snoqualmie Pass, only just driven through on I-90, but it was so nostalgic driving through the little ski resort town full of A-frame cabins with roofs piled with snow.  For whatever reason I had a vivid memory of an 8th or 9th grade birthday party sleepover at one of my friend's family cabin in Girdwood, AK right at the base of the Alyeska Ski Resort.  It was all giggling, watching scary movies, talking about boys, and sneaking around in the snow in the middle of the night.  Crazy to think that was 16 years ago now. I'm probably closer to having a kid that age than being that age. Yikes.