icicles in august?!?

brandon awoke this morning at 2:30 to unusual august weather conditions: below 32 degrees! freezing temperatures make it hard to understand how the fire danger could be so great that they have to work these crazy hours.

this photo is of the drill rig (and the brat)

this is the meadow near their current drill site, awakening from a foggy slumber
and yes, those are icicles in august!

needless to say, brandon was grumpy at four in the morning. what a way to start your day!

in other news..

the most exciting thing for our week is the purchase of our new computer (see previous post), but that is not to say that nothing else has been going on around here.

this weekend, papa and rodney came for a quick visit. they made me see two shoot-em-up movies, so brandon owes me a few "lindsey's picks". living with three men for a weekend was a bit much for me. i was, however, very sad to see them go.

brandon has had an interesting turn of events with his work schedule. due to fire danger, his drilling team has been forced to go to a hoot owl schedule: 1am-1pm. i get home at 4:30, we eat dinner, he goes to bed. as you can imagine, lots of good quality time! i just hope he adjusts quickly.

as for me, i have been gluten-free for about 1 month now. mom motivated me to cut out gluten (wheat) and dairy, as she and i are both allergic to them. they call a gluten intolerance celiacs disease (think: silly yak)

eating this way is expensive, requires major self-control and meal planning, but is well worth it. i feel worlds better and have more energy for each day. just don't put a basket of warm sourdough down in front of me!

so, if you know any good non-shoot-em-up movies, please share. also, sans-gluten recipes will be gladly accepted. other than that, come visit us!

mac-addicts-r-us

look out world, the overstreets are becoming mac addicts!

we did it...we bought an iMac tonight. the new version was released today and we bought our very own just this evening. we might actually be at the crest of the technology wave for about two weeks.

we sent it to oregon to avoid $99.00 in sales tax, so it will come when mom comes to visit. mmm, we can't wait!

anyhow, here are some photos of our new prized possession...

oh, so thin!

nice and sleek!

we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our new machine, and the icing on the cake is that as students, we got a free iPod! so now i can be cool like brandon and rock out to my own iTunes. if i could just get my brothers over here to help me program it!

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?"