thank you thursday

So it's been a while since I've acknowledged my thankfulness on a thursday, so here it goes....

Thank you Permaculture Institute. The permaculture design classes I have been taking are so inspiring... not just the knowledge I'm gaining, but the experiences and stories shared by my classmates gives me hope for the future. Here are some great permaculture articles.

Speaking of the future, thank you to Miranda for suggesting a wonderful Sustainable Studies bachelors degree at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. My application is in the mail and my fingers are crossed!

Thank you VH1 for bleeping out the words gun and bullet from Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. I might be negatively influenced and shoot someone.

Thank you to the guy who works with my dad who gave him the fresh honeycrisp apples and thank you to my dad for passing them along to me... they are delicious!

Thank you to Jonathan Tropper for writing This is Where I Leave You, which made me laugh and cry. It was also the first book I was able to read completely since To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeil, which is a tough book to follow. Now on to Work by CrimethInc.

and perhaps the biggest thank you to all of those who are gathering across the country to stand up for freedom and liberty.




I saw posts on facebook talking about Occupy Wall Street. Then I read this article in Yes! magazine. Please read and share... it's a great article and really captures the spirit and purpose behind this movement. People all over the country are uniting and standing together to occupy their cities... I am following Occupy Madison, Occupy Milwaukee, and Occupy OKC and hope to attend each of them at some point within the upcoming weeks. I'm feeling kind of sporadic and if I had the money to get to NY I'd be there right now.

Happy thursday!

turn, turn, turn

So little by little I'm starting to get back to feeling like myself. I'm sure everybody has those days, right? Where you can't quite explain it but you just feel off? That's kind of how I'm feeling... except it's more like a season than a day. Reminds me of The Byrds song Turn, Turn, Turn!

I did have a wonderful weekend hanging out with my friends for a bachelorette party...

Jill, Angela, & I

Miranda & I

Nothing quite compares to a night that starts off in a short bus with jello shots in syringes and ends up in Milwaukee on a dance floor! Drinks and dancing are better (and way cheaper) than therapy :)

So on a more responsible note, I'm in my 4th week of classes. With the move I had to change around my course schedule and I'm now taking all on-line classes (Modern Humanities, American Federal Government, Biology & Creative Writing: Poetry). I'll have to post some of my poems I've been writing :)

I'm also still driving back to Oklahoma each month to complete my Permaculture Design course. If you're interested in learning more about Permaculture, I highly recommend the book Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway. It's practical and has simple steps for utilizing your yard in a way that it will benefit both you and the environment. I'm planning a few upcoming posts to focus on some easy permaculture principles and how they can be applied.

I've been reading a lot of Thoreau lately... A LOT. There's just something about the flow of his words that sooth and calm me. Right now I'm reading All Nature is my Bride: Passages from Journals.

Now back to studying... but I'll leave you with this because I found it on pinterest and I loved it...

source

and so it is...

Looking back on the post from the morning as I entered my 29th year, I am amazed at all the changes that have happened since then. Maybe even more so amazing is the fact that I am still sane (somewhat) and able to get out of bed each morning.
I have been meaning to click on the blogger bookmark on my mac for days... weeks... but in the midst of a whirlwind of emotions, I was at a loss for words. I am slowly starting to gain back a little more spunk with each passing day and hopefully I'll be able to get back in the groove of blogging weekly, if not daily again.
As I write this, I am laying on a bed on the 2nd floor of the house in central rural Wisconsin where I grew up. A room that was once painted a pale pink and full of my dolls. It's now full of clothes that were carelessly and quickly crammed, unfolded and now wrinkled, in canvas shopping tote bags. A stack of books, carefully chosen from what used to be hundreds, sits in the corner of the room along with this semester's textbooks. It's amazing that a whole life can fit in the backseat of a vehicle when the questions I have could fill a skyscraper. It's amazing that words can be so hurtful and that years of love can be smashed in the matter of minutes. Perhaps what is most amazing is the love of my family and friends that has carried me through quite possibly the toughest month I've ever faced.
So here I am... 29, single, and living with my parents? 29 came in with a big loud BANG! and I'm interested to see where it leads me....