So Julia Bruckner is now Julia Newman! The deal was sealed at the Sequoia Retreat Center last weekend, 140 friends and family as witnesses, inside a main lodge due to continous downpours. It was a week full of laughter, dancing, drinking, and reconnecting (esp with my nieces/nephews and the only cousin close to my age, who suddenly grew like a redwood and dropped octaves in his voice since I last saw him). The bachelorette party in San Francisco was a blast - 20some girls in hot pink wigs parading around the North Beach area, free drinks offered at our feet, and sweaty dancing through the night! And I know I said in my last post that my goal was to sing/dance with Randy Newman - well we only exchanged some greetings, but his family members complimented me on my singing during the ceremony so that's a point! Plus, I discovered it was more important to me to chill with the people I already knew I loved. Awwww. Some wedding pictures can be seen through facebook but I'm still waiting for more.
So that week was a refreshing way to jump into the last 2 months I have here at Plowshare. I have revived energy and motivation and just want to make the most of the end. My friends (Erin and Natalie) becoming co-workers has turned out to be a pretty great situation - we're basically the coolest house at Plowshare. Both of them will be staying another year so I have extra impetus to come back and visit. But for now...
I'm loving getting sweaty during workshop and being able to dive into the pond for a swim. Anyone who knows me in Chapel Hill will know that I love lakes and a pond is the next best thing. I suppose I've traded the risk of taking a breath to see goose poop floating on the water for taking a breath to inhale pond flies. The point is, it's WATER and I can SWIM now!
I'm loving the fact that our house bought a slack line that we set up in our back yard and I can practice on. I haven't made it all the way across yet, but my goal is to be able to in a few weeks. That and the hand-made hula hoops aren't really doing a good job in my defense that this is not some hippy-dippy intentional community...it's so much more! haha
I'm NOT loving the immense about of bugs, bug bites, bug spray, bugging, buggers, boogers, etc.
In other news, we've started milking the second cow and she's much more a tail-whacker and milk pail stepper than the older, wiser cow. I keep hoping that my "uh uh, no you don't" gut reactions will somehow make her feel guilty and stop, but maybe I just need to give her some time. I mean, if I was suddenly being milked every day for the first time, I would probably feel uncomfortable, too.
