staples of our life on the palouse

our lives seem really full, but when i sit down to post a blog, i can't come up with much. so i thought i would show you a couple of cool things we see every day:

this is our tomato plant, tommy. we got him as a wee little plant and he has grown quite tall in the fertile palouse soil. until this weekend though, he (she?) was barren. but alas, the sun and the rain have coalesced into two beautiful tomatoes-to-be.

we are so proud of tommy! mmm, i can't wait to eat those yummy fruits.

this is folk. he is our friendly wood-carved man who adorns the bookshelf.

so, as you can see, our lives are very interesting...

new blog feature

i just wanted to point out the newest addition to our blog: the photos link. on the top left of the screen you should see a link that says "live in the current : photos". it will redirect you to our flickr site which i will try to update with photos. right now there are lots of canada photos and some kayaking ones.

so there is another thing to occupy your time on the internet!

changing currents

the desire in both brandon's and my own heart is to live in the current (as our blog address states). this of course is literal: to be on the water that we love. but it is also figurative: to be in the present - the here and now. the difficult thing is that the here and now is ever-changing. "the current" is a fluid concept and we want to go with that.

since making the choice to change my direction away from a career in marriage and family therapy i feel like i am fighting to keep my feet on the ground. i decided on a ph.d. in sociology so i could study cults, which i find so fascinating. the unfortunate thing is this advanced degree limits me to essentially one profession: to be a professor. while it sounded interesting, it felt forced. it didn't flow with who i am or the life we want to lead.

over the past couple of weeks i have slowly released my grasp on this concept of a career. so now i am flowing with the current again, instead of fighting it. i had an insightful conversation with one of my coworkers and explained the career i think i want to have. she helped me see the paths to getting there.

as of now i am exploring options for a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling. the title made me think drug rehab, but that isn't the complete picture. my hope is to work with people who are recovering from brain injuries, whether that be due to a car accident or the poisons of chemotherapy. ideally, to work in a hospital setting as a collaborative team with neurologists and occupational therapists.

for now, i am enjoying the peace of being present and the joy that comes with riding the tide.

mom's (not so) little ones

we actually got all of mom's kids together for lunch while we were home! what a joy! thanks for being a wonderful mom. we love you!

home visit

what a wonderful legacy of women i follow behind. both grandma and mom are so beautiful and strong. when we were back in oregon mom and i went over to visit grammy bear. we went out to lunch, pulled some weeds, trimmed her roses, and had a great time together.

on our way back from the valley,

mom and i stopped at little niagra falls. this is where matt officially asked her to share her life with him, so a very special spot. as you can see, it is amazing. i am glad we took the time to s

top and enjoy the beauty along the highway.

images from the great land of the north

our trip to canada was incredible. we got lots of time out-of-doors and played hard. here are a few of the photos from our adventure: our cozy little campsite outside of sandpoint, id. we had our own little creek and a tiny deer visitor in the morning. luckily no bears visited our tent in the night.

brandon's artistic side coming out around the fire.

these were the peaks just up the road from our campsite. we actually had all of camp packed up by 8:00 and were on the road--a miracle for those who know my love of sleeping in.

stealing beer from a sasquatch?!? who do you think you are brandon?

a pretty little flower along the journey.

we rode this perfect trail (not too steep, fun and technical, along a creek, etc.) and i remembered that i like to ride bikes. after the ride the day before (or should i say the "push" the day before as i was only riding for about 1/2 km) i was a little irritated with mountain biking and brandon. after this ride i was very happy!

a nice quiet meadow at the end of the ride, where we hesitantly broke into our granola bars. we were in serious bear country so brandon did a lot of singing to let them know we did not want to be a bear lunch.

what is that you say? oh yes, a bear was once here! and when we looked around, a bear had once been at every other surrounding tree. i had been riding at an okay pace the whole time, but when brandon showed me this on the way down, i hoped on my bike with wide eyes and FLEW down the trail. nothing like fear to make you ride like the wind.

here is my love preparing to ride some epic stunts just up the mountain outside of nelson. this place was called mountain station. for me it was torture station. brandon liked it though.

our trip was amazing, the hotel we were in was a posh bargain (oxymoron?), and we had a wonderful second anniversary.

the journey continues.

who's legs are those?

those legs there on the left would be mine! yep, my first "professional" modeling gig. [professional meaning paid!]

so if this image makes you want some kayaking capris of your own, click here. the alternative view is of my rear, not something i thought was appropriate for our blog.

i have another photo shoot tomorrow, so here's to some fresh green dough in my pocket!

the (distant) future children of ours may actually stand a chance of beating the "overstreet calves". maybe rob's grandchildren won't also be asked, "are those your legs, or are you riding a chicken?"