Molly - Face in the Window

Ah, vacations. I love them – they are just tops – the bees knees. Last year, as with each year, we try to have some get aways. Last year we had a weekend camping trip, road trip to Montana and through Yellow Stone, and a trip to Long Beach – from which this face in the window hails. This year, I’m hoping for more but we’ll see what happens.

As is fairly usual, I was feeling rebellious, didn’t feel like doing another hour of homework or going to bed, so the next best thing would be to dig up old photos and spruce them up a bit. Still working on my photo blog, one day I’ll share it with you guys, but for now it’s my private project.

This picture, far from brilliant photography, was taken on a night out watching the sun go down on Long Beach – WA not CA. We were driving along and it jumped right out at me. I just had to take a picture. Thank goodness Rick’s dad and step-mom are more than happy to indulge my wishes.

She is just wonderful – the face that is. Needs a name. Molly. Everyone, meet Molly the face in the window.

Then as I was growing in my hippie ways, I became more locally focused, more devoted to my favorite town in the world – Bellingham. I belong here. It fits like a glove. The farmer’s market is divine. We have two co-ops, a natural food store, Trader Joe’s, a flea market, at least two vegan restaurants that are almost completely gluten free, and lots of locally focused businesses that are super awesome. Did I mention that we have at least four bookstores?
The mountain rests just behind us, the ocean and her sea gulls sit just below us. It’s a beautiful place that just hugs you. Bellingham hugs you. I want to grow old here, return here from road trips and other travels, to buy a house and have a HUGE garden, go to the library, the Board Walk. It’s mine and I’m only sharing a little bit.
Sorry, sounding a little possessive. I love this town. She’s been good to me in the last year and half.

Also, while not all the posts have been published, many of them have become more locally focused. I don’t want to think too generally, I want to think within Bellingham. There was an idea to start another blog focusing entirely on my favorite town. However, I didn’t want to leave “The Modern” behind. She’s my baby, my bit of fun that I can have whenever I want.

Within the last week, while avoiding homework, Rick and I had a chat about this site’s name and “url” – that little “www.somethingornothing.com” thingy. We learned who owned what, and finally I decided to take the plunge. Bellinghamhippie.com was available and it could be all mine, a sweet new home where this hippie could share the stuff she learns. Yeah, it felt good.

Another thing that has been brewing is a thought about trying to get this site to pay for itself. The adsense, those pesky little ads on the side, help, but I’m not sure I want them there forever. This site is outgrowing them, evolving into something else, more pure, more grown up.
With that said, I’m planning on putting up a donate button, not asking for money, but as a digital “tip jar”. I compile a lot of information and if it’s useful you can toss the pot some digital cash. If you want. No pressure, I’m just going to put it there and see what happens. Nothing comes for free, and while we can still afford this site, we are much more mindful of where our money goes. This economy and being self employed as taught us that nothing is stable, nothing if forever, so be prepared. Meaning, we are paying off debt and looking for ways to stop occasional monetary leaks from our life. (Too cheesy? Oh well.)

I’m also going to put up an Amazon book list. Bookworm that I am, I read a lot, some health related, some environment related, lots of fiction, and much more. No reason I can’t put a book list up. The way those things work is if you click through my list and buy something I get a small fee for referring people. It’s fairly common, perhaps you’ve done it before. I’m telling you about it though, this place is not for sneaking stuff from people, it’s for directions on roasting chicken, hair experiments, and honest recommendations. If it bothers you that I put something like an Amazon book list… well, okay? I don’t know why anyone would be bothered but I’m sure it’s possible.

So basically, bear with me as I move stuff around, make it lot prettier (this could take a little time), tell me if something is broken. Thanks!

Newly termed,
Bellingham Hippie

Snow Kitty-Isis in the snow

      So it was frozen for about a week. I can home from Everett to beautiful snow and drivers whom didn’t seem to understand that slowing down does not affect one’s manliness. And as usually happens I forgot something – outside – in the snow – for about two days. My cacti and my jade plant, the big one. This is what is left of it. Kinda sad really.

Sad jade plant

      Our view has changed but it’s still pretty!

Winter view

      Changed from yellow glowing leaves. Our little slice of Bellingham is beautiful. *Sighs*

Leaves

Lovely.

      I was reminded, as I walked passed students, faculty, and parents, that I’m a student. I don’t feel like one. I feel like an intruder, or like a blogger, just looking in for a story. Or for a picture because there’s something about yellow orange leaves anywhere. College campuses often have lots of leaves to spare.

      I stood behind a girl who wanted to be part of student government, behind a boy who looked 17, and another who looked and sounded 19. It reminded me that kids in college are so unsettled. They are out to meet lots of people, experience their fellow students and classes. They are out to have fun and do some learning along the way.
      It’s a guess, probably accurate, that not one of them is planning or saving for a house. Like me. I’m old. I like it. I’m in-between-old, not really old, but beyond the crazy partying of college aged kids. I’m in the house saving age group. A house so I can have a huge compost pile, and another dog, and a green house. I want to putter around and be an old person, baking gluten free cookies, hands stained with dirt from planting potatoes, in my own backyard. I want to plant an apple tree. I want to put down roots. 20 year old Missy would be horrified….

      It’s had me thinking, a lot. And you know, I only share a small amount of what I’m actually thinking about. Weekly, I mentally run through what is a burning passion of mine, burning enough that I have to get it out. This is important enough to post about. Teach yourself! What are you interested in? What is even just mildly amusing? What have you thought was the niftiest thing for a long time? You don’t have to wait to delve into the interest. You don’t have to take a class, there is a lot you can do thanks to the internet, friends, the library, and second hand shops.

A couple of my interests that I finally decided I could step forth and tackle: knitting and herbalism.

Knitting

Harvest Yarn Knitting Project

      A friend of mine taught me the basics of knitting a few months ago. I’ve made a small handful of things since then, a hat for a friend, two hats for me. I should really branch out and make something else. When we were on our vacation this summer we ran across an awesome yarn shop, Cr.eations – A yarn shop, where I bought some double pointed needles, yarn on sale, patterns and yarn for one pattern in particular. I just have to take that step and decode the pattern. It’s also important to me that I continue to practice my basic stitches so when it’s time to start that sweater it looks gorgeously uniform. So the current project is another hat, which I may or may not keep, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. The amazing thing is that I followed a pattern and it didn’t look like the picture. I figured out why it was wrong! It was because I’m knitting my hat on round needles and I don’t turn around to do the next row. Knitting in the round involves going around and around for a long time. No switching needed. Only problem is that some patterns seem to be made for knitting something with sides. No worries though! I figured it out and made the needed changes to fix it. Now it looks like the pattern! The amazing thing is I didn’t have to take a class! Logic and a little bit of math(multiplication and division) were the only things I really needed to use. I am a friend and internet taught knitter!

Herbalism

Herbalism Books

      Learning about herbalism has been on my mind for at least a year, which for me is a long time. Last year I found a class I want to take when I have money and time. Cedar Mountain Herb School offers internships for all seasons. But as my post about debt should have lead you to believe, I don’t have a lot of money, and this year I have no extra time for another class. So instead of feeling sorry for myself over something I can’t change, I decided to check the required reading for that class out of the library. I’m only just through the introduction of Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West. But that’s okay, I’m excited. They are both reference books and when I feel I can justify spending money on them, they will be joining my library. Also, I’ll be checking in on Good Natured Earthling’s(she runs Cedar Mountain Herb School) Facebook page for suggestions, and random useful information.

      See! No classroom needed. I’m not actually sure that the herbalism school has a typical classroom. Because of the nature of herbalism there is a lot of outside stuff, learning the whole process from harvesting to preserving in different forms and using them.
      My life now reminds me a lot of what I had wanted to do when I was in school. If you don’t already know, I was home-schooled all through grade and middle school. I was enrolled in a “real” private school, but it was only slightly different from homeschooling. In the end I got my diploma after four years of doing what I actually wanted.
      When in high-school, I had wanted soooo badly to pursue what I was interested in, drawing, writing, photography, books of all kinds. I wanted to be free of the boring requirements set by the school and the state. Meaning, less math and US history (note: there is nothing wrong with those subjects. I’m not greatly talented at math and I hated the fact that I had to take US history at least three different times. But if I remember correctly, that’s what the state required. *shakes fist*). Now the math I use is stuff to help me get done the fun things I want to do, knitting, crocheting, cooking, and taxes(bleh). Learning doesn’t have to happen in a classroom, at a public school that has old school books and over-worked teachers. It doesn’t have to be organized by an expert or come with a certification(unless it’s required by the state, i.e. massage therapy, but that makes sense). It’s just as legitimate to teach yourself to do something as it is to have a paid teacher instruct you. In fact, it can be a point of pride, of achievement if you answer a question with, “I taught myself”. It’s not shameful or embarrassing to teach yourself or to have a parent or friend teach you. Unfortunately, there are still people out there that still believe the best time of your life is spent in a boring classroom between the ages of 5 and 18. Prove them wrong, teach yourself, your children, your friends, your neighbors, or even the nay-sayers something fun and useful that you actually want to learn.

      Since then I’ve had this goal in the back of my mind: to pay off our debt, in a sort of timely manner, so we don’t have to feel like everything is so tight. So maybe we can get ahead, and actually own our stuff, whatever stuff we decide to keep. So we can feel free.
      I have no idea what a timely manner is. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take to pay off the student and private loans we have. I do have an end date for my car, but it seems so far off. It’s just overwhelming, and very depressing when it’s challenging to figure out how much money we have for food and fun, also, how much money we are going to need for taxes and school next year. Taxes are something one has to save for when one is self employed. Quite frankly, some days I’m just tired of feeling like I’m a hamster running nowhere on my wheel.

      I have goals that require me to have less debt and more money saved. The biggest goal at the moment is a home, a house, a roof that we own, windows that are mine, and a yard in which to compost, grow insane amounts of herbs and veggies, let Xiann run around like a crazy dog. Yes, it’s official. I am okay with the idea of buying a house. I feel at home enough in Bellingham to stay awhile, probably a long time. Yet that goal I’ve now set for myself feels like it won’t happen for a very, very long time.

      It’s my impatience that’s talking. It’s my feelings of what aren’t quite regret. I don’t think one should regret that which teaches you a lesson. But it doesn’t feel good a lot of the time. I have to remind myself that it’s a process that can’t, or shouldn’t happen over night. It could be considered a right of passage. Changing from a participant of the rat race, to a sustainable/organic/recycled/reused thinking, independent person – with way less debt and a life of which I can be proud.

      I ran across this blog: Tiny r(E)volution. The writer and his wife have made it a goal to build their own tiny, recycled/reused/movable/environmentally-friendly/way-less-expensive home.
      There were two posts specifically that spoke to me. Both are about debt and the American rat race, and how crazy it has become. Check them out for some inspiration and encouragement.

Slavery comes in all shapes and sizes
Why, you ask?

The Modern Hippy

Pick a Peck

      See, the print says so! Isn’t that the coolest thing you could ever learn?!?! Believe it or not, it is useful information that I will actually pull out later on in life. Yes, I am ridiculous, a child(not that children are ridiculous, they aren’t, but I am and very much still a kid), but really what’s wrong with that?

Explanation of a Peck

Holistic – dictionary.com defines it as the following:

“1. Adjective -
incorporating the concept of holism in theory or practice: holistic psychology.
2.
identifying with principles of holism in a system of therapeutics, esp. one considered outside the mainstream of scientific medicine, as naturopathy or chiropractic, and usually involving nutritional measures.”

Also:
“of or relating to the the medical consideration of the complete person, physically and psychologically, in the treatment of a disease”

and:
“relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts < holistic medicine attempts to treat both the mind and the body>“

      Thesaurus.com gives the following words as synonyms: Aggregate, comprehensive, entire, full, integrated, total and universal.
I’m particularly fond of integrated, entire, total and universal.
      I think what I’ve been learning is that holistic is the way things should be, life should be. It’s what I’ve been looking for. But we have forgotten. Everything is compartmentalized. It’s why thinking only in terms of massage at work leaves things unexplained. It’s why we can look at Rick as separate conditions, one skin, one colon, separate, never considered together. It’s why we as a society can say we love our jobs that stress us out, but feel like crap and can’t understand why. It’s why so many of us don’t say no to anyone and wonder why we are so tired. We’ve forgotten about the very idea of balance – of wholeness. We’ve all been told by someone or something, especially here in America, that we can have it all. But all might be too much for us. That was never warned.

      I used to get confused when people won’t get better after a massage a week for months. Now I see them more clearly. I see tired people, too much coffee, too little nutrient rich food, too little fun/down time, too much “Yes” and not enough “No”. I hear that someone still has migraines or a low back ache – I kindly as I can – tell them that they will never get better if they don’t change something in their daily life. Sometimes it posture, sometimes it’s the hours worked in a day, or the chair, or whatever.

      I can see myself more clearly. Frankly, if I saw myself as a client, I would have said long ago, chill out, back off, eat well and get off your bum. Quit thinking compartmentally. Everything counts, from the poor hours sleep you got last night, to the half bag of potato chips you called a snack, to slouching too much while standing and sitting. It all matters. Everything we do matters! Kind of exciting, really.

      As an off shoot from my main focus – if you can see the main focus at all, it’s more healthful and mindful living in case you were wondering – I’m going to share some of my goals and projects for the next few months.

And so much more!
      Moral of this post. Life’s too short, take a vacation!

(You know what’s really funny. I wrote this a couple of days before a nasty bug laid me out. Productivity gone until I can smell and sleep well again. Thought I should post it even though at the moment all my desires to redecorate are stunted by being really, really tired.)