Aspen 2015

Hello everyone,

On October 2nd,  Mr. R came to visit. He had never been to Denver and his work was rather hectic. I thought it would be an excellent idea for him to come visit. His flight got in early on Friday morning and we went for brunch at Snooze. I would've taken a picture, but I was super hungry!

After brunch, we headed back to my place and hung out for a while since neither of us had gotten much sleep the night before. Then it was off to dinner with some of my friends.

Sorry it's so blurry, it was REALLY low light.

The plan was to go to a local arcade bar, but there was a band playing and nobody wants to pay $25 to see a band they don't know in a seedy bar. Not going to happen. SO....we ended up at a hookah bar instead and then plotted the next day.

As we were plotting Mr. R mentioned that Denver wasn't quite what he was thinking. People assume all of Colorado is mountains and trees. When, in fact, there are mountains, plains, and deserts. How could I show him the Colorado he was thinking? Aspen. I was worried it was a little late, and in some areas it was, but seeing the aspen trees change is definitely something you should put on your bucket list if you haven't already.

The decision was made. We went to brunch at one of my favorite cafes, The French Press in the Belmar Shopping Center in Lakewood. After that we headed to Aspen!

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 3, 2015 at 9:28pm PDT

On the drive, we stopped for a couple photo opportunities as well as taking the obligatory selfie. :)

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 3, 2015 at 9:30pm PDT

The weather was perfect. It has been unusually warm in Colorado, meaning that we weren't dealing with snow.  This is nice for the drive, but global warming is definitely making its effects known.  

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 6:42am PDT

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 6:44am PDT

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 6:46am PDT

Knowing that there wouldn't be much snow, we took the drive that runs through Independence Pass. This typically closes after snow starts in the mountains. After taking pictures in front of the sign, we take the short walk up to the overlook. This is why I love the mountains. They make you feel like you're on top of the world while showing you how small you really are. We are both invisible and infinite.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 6:50am PDT

After a quick stop in Aspen itself for food, because, well, food, we headed up to Maroon Bells. We ended up waiting in line for an hour. I have no idea why there were so many people wanting to go at sun set, but there were...so we waited.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 6:53am PDT

Once we paid our $10 fee, we headed in. Part of the reason I love Colorado, it that almost all of the drives are gorgeous.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 6:55am PDT

Once we made it there, we had to work our way through the crowds. I was very grateful that everyone was being kind and taking turns so that people could get pictures.  I loved that the water was so clear.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:00am PDT

I was surprised that I didn't see more people taking pictures of the view the other way. Yes, the glacier lake is beautiful, but the mountains behind us were just as beautiful.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:01am PDT

I would like to state that I'm thrilled that I've finally managed to get a reflection shot. I've never been able to manage. This year is a year of firsts!

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:03am PDT

MOOSE! This is the second time I've seen a moose this year, actually, ever. Mr. R had to take this picture on my phone, though. I was too short and all I kept getting were its antlers. I know moose are highly aggressive and there was even a park guide walking by telling people to stay back for that particular reason, so we decided to leave. I know Kilo thinks he's big, and I like my pups alive. 

I find it odd that certain animals I've always liked have started showing up in my life. On the way back from Burning Man, I saw both a wolf and a moose for the first times in my life. I feel like there's been a shift in my life, and I'm doing my best to pay attention to the signs of the universe. I've learned that fighting the universe is unwise. Instead, it is more wise to listen, follow, and use what is given to me to my advantage. My life has become much more peaceful and loving since making this discovery.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:06am PDT

 On our way back to the car, I couldn't help but snap an up close picture. It was just too perfect to pass up. ^.^

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:12am PDT

On the way out we stopped by a place that Mr. R had seen on the way in. It was an excellent photo opportunity since the sun was setting and illuminating the clouds and mountains.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:14am PDT

I completely understand why the call it "Colorful Colorado," now. One has to make it into the mountains to see the wonders it has to offer.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 4, 2015 at 7:17am PDT

As we drove into the sunset, I was overcome with an overwhelming sense of peace and happiness. The right travel companion can make all the difference. I've been to Aspen twice before, and neither of those trips were horrible, but neither were this amazing either. I learned a lot about Mr. R, and I am grateful that he's going to stay in my life. He is an excellent friend and I shall eventually get out to San Francisco to finish our Brunch Wars between Denver and San Francisco. But don't worry, there's always Portland. :)

Be the love you wish to have in your life,

Victoria

Oregon: The Beginning (Part III)

Hello everyone,

I FOUND A HOUSE!

I flew out to Oregon on the 24th and came back the 26th. I would have written a post earlier, but I was fighting with my Burning Man post (click here if you missed it). If everything goes according to plan, in December I'll be living just outside of Eugene, OR. I'll be able to work for a while, and maybe even get my PhD. :D

So, here's the story of my crazy house-hunting weekend in Oregon.

So, there was this 2 story, 4 bed, 3 bath house in Junction City that I really liked. I decided to fly out to see it. I had a good feeling about going to Oregon this time. So, I made plans to fly out.

My friend Mango is moving to San Francisco. She doesn't have a car. She agreed to drive me to the airport and since she was flying out the next day she'd leave my keys in my car locked, and I'd just use my spare to get in. That went off perfectly, except I was 7 minutes too late for the cut off, because traffic was insane on the way there. So, we rescheduled my flight, but it wasn't until 5.

Back to my house we went (after stopping for mimosas and ranting), and I figured I'd dye my hair. I got an undercut done, but because my hair is so light, you could barely tell. I picked up a purple hair dye that's so dark it's almost black. It did not turn out as planned.

I don't hate it, though. I actually like that it's unique!

I did make it to my rescheduled flight. I got to talk to a lovely woman who does tribal belly dance. She's from Denver. New friends!

After I landed I rented my first car. ^,^ I feel like a big girl now. I stayed in Portland that night.  Then it was off to Eugene. After a treat, of course!

#apple #art from #eastportlandcoffeeroasters for #breakfast. #great for #energy which I need for #househunting! #nomad #wanderlust #travel #move #toomanyhashtags

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Sep 25, 2015 at 9:41am PDT

Headed to see my #realtor! I have a #goodfeeling I think I'm going to find my #dreamhome #househunting #nomad #wanderlust #travel

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Sep 25, 2015 at 9:58am PDT

 I saw several houses the first day. Only one of which peaked my interest. The one problem was that it was just out of my price range. I technically could afford it, but I would really have to get a job. With how crazy my body has been, I didn't know if that was possible.

After that I drove into the woods to the place I was staying. The drive itself made it totally worth it. Here's a picture.

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Oct 20, 2015 at 7:02am PDT

The second day, I walked into this little 1945 Cottage and it reminded me of my grandparents' house (not in a bad way).  It was incredibly cozy and well maintained. I knew when I walked in. Just to be sure I looked around, then at other houses, then back at the house that was just out of my price range. The cottage was right for me. It was still more than I would have liked, but definitely a reasonable price.

So after a call to my mom, I decided to put an offer in.

The trip back was nice. All airports should have miso and sake!

#PDX is my kind of #airport #hot #miso and #sake. I'm super excited to have found a #house to make my #home. #crossyourfingers that the #deal goes through! #nomad to get back to #denver to pack! #wanderlust #nomad #travel #dreamscometrue

A photo posted by Nomad Therapy (@nomadtherapy) on Sep 26, 2015 at 5:55pm PDT

Be the love you wish to have in your life,

Victoria



Update:

The paperwork has been done. All I have to do is turn in my homeowner's insurance and I should be able to start closing.

I'm buying a house....I might just die of both shock and joy at the exact same moment.

Burning Man 2015

I survived my first trip to Burning Man. 

For those of you who don't know about Burning Man, think of it as an Arts/Music Festival coupled with an out of this world cultural experiment. It's about expression and freedom. It happens in the desert. It's rough. The consensus seems to be that this was one of the rougher Burning Mans in the last several years, on many levels. The dust storms were nearly consistent. The weather dropped to almost freezing at night. The theme this year, Carnival of Mirrors, took many to a place that they would rather not go. Fortunately, for me, I've already looked into my darkness, so I was not brought to my knees as many around me were.

I am grateful to have gotten in with such an awesome crew. My friend Mango (playa names are a thing) invited me after meeting me in a Biochemistry class a year ago. I figured it might be worth a try. I had the time and the money, and I'm not really one to turn down life experiences.

We had an early entry pass, but it still took us 5 hours to get in. The road trip from Colorado took about 20 hours. We drove in a retrofitted ambulance called: THE BURN UNIT. Puns are an amazing thing, and Burning Man loves it's puns.

Your first year at Burning Man is an interesting one. Everyone calls you a virgin (or burn-gin). When you get there, you roll around in the dust and then ring a bell. 

Then you ring a bell and scream something to the effect of, "I am now a Burner!" I'd like to remind you that this is like at 2 AM in the morning and my camp had to wake me up because I was sleeping in the back with a migraine.

Then you get a hug and the greeter gives you a hug and then says, "Welcome home." Which is curious to me. I understand it to a certain extent, but I love my life in the real world. That, and for me, home is where my dogs are.

That night I slept on the couch in the RV of one of our camp mates. I had never met these people. I was stressed. Because I hadn't been awake for the ride in, I didn't really get to mentally prepare myself. I woke up in a strangers cabin knowing that I needed to go to the bathroom. I had gone to the porta-potties the night before, but there was a dust storm outside and I was all sorts of turned around. I, however, am one tough cookie. So I got dressed an headed out. I am proud to say that I found the porta-potties and made it back alive all in a dust storm my very first time at Burning Man.

Eventually, the dust did settle and I was able to see the city starting to build itself up. It really is a city. Almost 70,000 people showed up this year.

These some of the members from my camp. It was an amazing camp. It was completely drama-free as I was concerned. We were able to work together to build the dome (behind us) in a couple hours IN A DUST STORM. I'm still very proud of us all.

It was a full moon that night, and I went out exploring with a fellow camp mate. We found this giant light up ball structure and I took pictures of the moon coming up over the mountains with the ball structure in the foreground. It was really moving. It is when it finally started to sink in that I was at burning man.

The next night I ended up at "the man." There was a maze built underneath that you had to navigate to stand underneath him. That is where this picture is taken from. This was the moment that I realized pictures will never do Burning Man justice. I am not a professional photographer, and I'm just running around with my little point and shoot camera. But, I have seen the professional photos, and while amazing, they still cannot capture the beautiful strangeness that lures you and and changes your perception of reality (even if completely sober).

This was very much my outfit while I was out there. Sheer baby dolls and a fluffy vest with EL wire at night. It was incredibly hot during the day, but it dropped to almost freezing at night. One has to be prepared for all sorts of craziness when at Burning Man. What really amazes me that even if you end up forgetting something the Playa (where Burning Man is held) will provide. It sounds like some crazy hippy-dippy new age bull-hocky. It's not. I repeat, it is NOT. I lost my ID the 2nd day and yet I had alcohol the entire time. I was able to return to the bars that I'd been to the night before and have my stamps renewed, and everyone at my camp knew that I was way over 21, so I was able to drink. Mind you, I'm not a heavy drinker. I never have more than 2 drink within an hour, and if I know that I'm going to be drinking all night, I limit myself to one drink per hour with one glass of water in between alcoholic beverages. I'm responsible like that.

Wednesday was pretty awesome, our camp had Wedding Dress Wednesday. I had a black wedding dress, so I definitely got some pictures of my black dress in contrast to a couple of white ones.

I consider myself very fortunate to have gone to Burning Man. I met some amazing people, the people are actually why I'm considering going again.

Posing for a picture in a black wedding dress in the middle of a dust storm was not what I was expecting out of my life. I actually like the dust storms (just not what they did to my tent >.<). They give you a sense of being alone. While that doesn't appeal to a lot of people, it was really nice for me. Not only am I an introvert, I also get overstimulated easily and Burning Man is all the stimulation all the time.

Thursday morning I woke up and decided to go to the Temple. I hadn't been yet, and I knew that I needed to go. The time was right to let go. A couple members form my camp were up as early as I was, so we decided to go together. I feel like everyone should see the sun rise over the Playa, even if it's only once.

On the way to the Temple we stopped to see some artwork. This is a picture of me with one of my camp-mates, and a couple strangers. It was a shoe from the fable of The Old Woman in the Shoe. You could climb up to the balcony by climbing a metal version of the bean stalk from Jack and the Bean Stalk. 

Then we decided to split out ways, and I continued on to the Temple alone. The Temple is an incredibly beautiful experience. I think it's best to go alone the first time. It really gives you time to be introspective and focus on what you want to let go.

The closer I got, the more I felt a pull at my heart. This was going to be good, and I knew it. I love that I caught the sun directly over the Temple. My favorite thing about the Temple is that it shows that religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. don't matter. The imaginary lines we drew in the sand and in our hearts are just that, imaginary. The Temple showed me how much we really have in common with those from incredibly different walks of life. The Temple helped me realize that I am a Humanist. I love all people and I love that our emotions are what join us. Our love, our joy, our saddness, and our loss are all human. These are things that know no religion, there is only one truth:

We are all in this together.

After a good cry I moved on to look at some of the other structures. That's when I came across the finished Mazu Temple. I had seen it being built, but I didn't know what it was. I walked around for a bit, and then realized that there were people working there, helping people get their fortunes told. I got mine told. It yelled at me. *pout* So I cried some more and went back to my camp. I washed my hair. 5 minutes later a dust storm rolled in. Then I went out with Ms. J, and I met a new group of people using the magical powers of kimchi! 

We hung out the first day, and went to look at more art the second day. I was very excited that they accpeted me into their group. They are an awesome bunch of people, and now I have friends in San Francisco if I need any! 

The person I formed the closest relationship with was Mr. R. We had similar interests and overall we just got along really well. We hid from the dust storms together and even split off from the group at times.

One of the times we split from the group, we ended up at  what we called The Woman. I love this piece. It moves. It breaths. I love that it does this, because it subtle and yet incredibly moving. We hung out there for quite some time and then went to the Temple. Being there with Mr. R gave the whole experience something new, something different. It formed an intensely deep connection.

After the Temple we retreated back to the camp to get away from the dust. After drinking some champagne, we continued to hang out into the night. Talking about amazing things. We even decided to have Brunch Wars. After I'm done moving I'm making a trip to San Francisco to try their brunch, because he was here this past weekend. I think Denver has some pretty strong brunch game!

Over all Burning Man was and breathtakingly beautiful and tough experience. If I ever do it again, I'll definitely go in a RV.  I didn't even touch on half of the experiences I had, but it was the experience I was looking for. I wanted emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical growth. I got all of these things. The Playa really did provide, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Be the love you wish to have in your life,

Victoria

Oregon: The Beginning (Part II)

Hello everyone,

      This has been an insane past few weeks, but I have learned so much about myself I cannot even remember my life before! I've come back to Denver and traveled again since my last post, but more on that later.

I saw a lot of houses, one of which I wanted, but the owner wouldn't budge on the price. It was already over-priced, so I'm still on the hunt for a home to buy. I'm getting more and more excited because I feel like something big is about to happen. :)

I spent my first day in Oregon at the beach. I haven't ever understood people's obsession with the ocean until I was standing in Seaside, OR with the ice cold waves rolling over my feet.

But first there was breakfast at Harlow in Portland...

The waiter called me Lady Bug when he brought me my food. Only my mom has ever called me Lady Bug.

The drive was so breath taking and the air was so clean!

It's been 5 years!

To me, this is perfect beach weather.

So cold, but so wonderful.

Panorama of the beach

Starfish!

Little hermit crab.

Sea anemone. 

The clouds rolling in.

The logging industry. The conservation biologist in me flipped.

Excellent Korean Food

FINALLY FOUND THE COOKIES (I've been looking for them for years)!

Obligatory selfie.

Smoke from the forest fires.

In-n-Out Burger. It's all about the shakes....

This is how a girl passes the time on a 20 hour drive.

So, I love Oregon and I now refer to it as home even though I've never lived there. I'm now furiously hunting for a house. A week and a half after I got back to Denver, I left for Burning Man. While there, I was able to reevaluate my life, and I realized that moving to Oregon is EXACTLY what I must do to keep building the life I want.

Speaking of Burning Man....

Be the love you wish to have in your life,

Victoria