Happy 2019!

Happy New Year guys!!!! 🎆

I hope you all had safe and fun festivities to participate in last night, whether you went out on the town or nestled in at home with a bottle of champagne, but no matter how you choose to ring in the new year, there's no denying that 2019 is officially upon us. I think it's fascinating how different cultures choose symbols to ring in the New Year in good fortune, whether it's long noodles for long life, carrots golden orange hue representing riches in the year to come, or shooting off countless explosives into the sky! 

Personally, I'm a complete and total homebody, happy to bury myself in a mound of blankets and celebrate the event with a homecooked meal, a snuggle buddy, and a drink. I've been fortunate enough to celebrate New Year's in my hometown of Vegas, abroad in Tokyo, and now in Seattle... while living in Tokyo (or, at least, in the next suburb over) I was able to watch the Tokyo Disney Sea fireworks display ringing in the New Year, so I'd stand on my little patio with a whiskey and coke in one hand and a smile on my face as the brilliant illuminations crackled across the sky. Vegas, as you might expect, goes absolutely bonkers- the Strip shuts down and becomes a pedestrian haven, where heavy drinking and outlandish behavior is the normative way to bring in the countdown. As much fun as I'm sure it is to get lost among the sweaty, drunken masses marauding through Las Vegas Boulevard's most populous corridors, that was never particularly appealing to me as a local... and, let's be real here, most jobs in Vegas are based around the tourist economy, so chances were I was stuck working well past midnight on one side of the Strip, and then faced with the conundrum of trying to navigate my route home around the road closures. All this given, perhaps it's no real surprise I'm happiest to sequester myself away at home and take in the annual tradition in a more low-key way, with only my most precious people around. To each their own, though! You do you, boo-boo. 

I've been gearing up for this change for weeks now, and am quite excited for all the things to come in the year ahead. I hope that you, too, are going forward into this new year with optimism, hope, and a heart full of love and joy. Thank you for joining me here, and I look forward to all the new content and adventures to be shared over the coming months! 💗

Washington: Icy Winter's Morn

Is it cold where you are or are you gliding into the dog days of summer? Here, now, it's pretty chilly, with winter's grasp holding firm over the Puget Sound and surrounding regions. Clouds in various shades of grey generally dominate the skyscape, though there are the occasional bursts of blue and hints of the sun's warmth breaking through to remind you it still dances out there, just beyond the blanket of moisture hovering above. While it's generally just shy of cold enough to snow, we still get ample rain that, in the coldest hours of the darkest portions of the evening, can freeze over to a delicate frost decorating the world when we wake. Depending on the morning after, the frost can last for a surprisingly variable window of time before dissolving into steam in the sun's rays. Like I said above, though- it's rarely cold enough to snow, with the chance of it snowing on Christmas day somewhere around 7% or lower. That's generally a good bit more likely than in Vegas, where they average only 2 inches of rain per year (whereas the Seattle area gets an average of about 37.5 inches of rain per year).  I'm no statistician, but even I can see the odds of a white Christmas in Vegas are exceedingly slim- though it has happened, once, in 2008, so it's not an utterly impossible thing, just exceptionally improbable. Not so improbable as to get your ship to the restaurant at the end of the universe, but certainly improbable enough to note. 

Antho and I, of course, have been luxuriating in the cold and ambient moisture in this variable and transforming an environment. Waking to a bright, cloudless morning with our world metamorphized by a glittering profusion of ice droplets is fascinating, and new.  While we slept, a giant came through and dropped fistfuls of glitter, or perhaps a fleet of faeries flew in with an army of bedazzlers and spackled everything they could in shimmer. But again, like most of the magical things in life, this beauty is fleeting and as the rays of sunlight dance across the droplets they begin to lose form and evaporate, disappearing into the ether.  All this hydration means that the plant life, at least that hardy enough to weather the declining temperatures, is still thriving. We were surprised to find these brilliant pink blossoms bursting into abundant bloom after the rains started sweeping the area with more vigorous regularity. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the fleeting beauty of the beads of ice on this brisk winter's morning!

Seattle: AJ's Day out around Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill is one of the trendier neighborhoods of Seattle, rife with hipsters, indie cafes, local coffee shops, tongue-in-cheek gay bars with outlandish names, a weekly farmer's market, and SO MUCH ART! There's a lot to do around the area, and parking isn't exactly the easiest thing to find, or cheapest if you end up having to opt for one of the long-term parking lots, but there is so much to see and do in the area that it ends up being almost kind of totally worth the exorbitant parking rates depending on what you do or the day you visit. I had a gig to attend to, so I was going to be busy for at least 3 hours, while Antho was free to roam around the area and partake of the local culture. He had a lot of fun and got a ton of awesome photos capturing the colorful vibe and ecclectic nature of the area. 

On our way to get there, we passed this friendly fellow who was happily feeding the gulls. He'd forged a sort of kinship with the birds, and was ensuring they got plenty of snacks on this awkward little bit of corner. We had a nice chat with him before we moved on with the flow of traffic, and I like to think he's carrying on a piece of Ivar's legacy, as the founder of Ivar's was a fan of seagulls, too. 

One of the first things to catch Antho's eye during his explorations were the streetlights and posts, which were predominantly wrapped up in deep layers of flyers. Each proceeding generation of flyer had seemingly just been stapled, spackled, or otherwise smashed on top of the previous generation, causing the heavily trafficked corners to have poles over-stuffed in decaying layers of flapping paper, advertising months, if not years, worth of local events and entertainment. There is no order to the chaos, other than the chronological necessity of the most recent things landing on top of the pile, only to be covered up by the next big thing. 

So it goes. 

Plenty of photos below!

Seattle: AJ's Day out in Green Lake

These days, my job has me scurrying all over the city of Seattle to attend gigs, so I've been getting a lot of time behind the wheel exploring quite a lot of the city's streets. One day I might be out in SoDo working at an LGBTQ+ automotive shop, the next I might be working in a small bungalow in the heart of the university district. I'm not complaining one bit, because what better way to get to know a new city than by traversing it on a day to day basis? Sometimes I even find myself way out in Kirkland or making a special trip into the heart of Occidental Square. Driving through the city has given me the opportunity to witness protests in action, sea-planes gliding into the city, countless squirrels scampering and given me a glimpse into the inner workings of businesses I might never have set foot in otherwise. It's absolutely fascinating, and while I can't divulge too much about any particular place I work in, the surrounding neighborhoods themselves have endless surprises to offer. Given the nature of my work, flexibility is a major plus, and thankfully I consider that to be one of my strengths. Antho, too, has needed to be quite flexible these past few months as we've been sharing the van due to my Volvo being in the shop. After the drive from Vegas, and years spent living in the dehydrated den of sin where temps above 110 degrees Fahrenheit are normal during the summers, and her only form of tending coming from drunk questionably qualified friends of the family, the old girl was in need of some serious TLC. In fact, after getting into her transmission my trusted mechanic informed me that my situation was primarily caused and then exacerbated by the misguided efforts of the drunken sailors who'd poked around the engine prior. The poor mechanic sprained his back and given that he's a one-man operation, that slowed his progress on repairing the old girl quite a bit... Thus, our shared vehicle situation has extended on and on, a fair bit longer than we'd initially intended or hoped, but being flexible is a strength in this life we live.  

When you're always on the go, days can rapidly bleed into each other, a procession of driving along seemingly countless winding little roads, navigating parking in new corners of the city, and cloudy sunrises and sunsets all melting together. Every so often, though, Antho's day off will align well with a gig of mine, allowing him to escort me to my work and then explore a new area. His work keeps him closer to home, after all, so I've seen much more of the city, and I like to try to re-balance the scales when the opportunity arises. I had to spend a few hours working in the Green Lake area, so he dropped me off and went exploring at the nearby parks. He found a Japanese confectionary, squirrels galore, fall foliage in fiery shades of red and orange, and so much more! We hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes of our adventures. 

Vegas: Nights at the Gem shop

This past summer, I spent many hours of many nights working in a gem and crystal shop, which while not somewhere I initially would have expected myself to have wound up had you asked me five or ten years ago, was an awesome experience (for the most part). Like most workplaces, there were the occasional unpleasant issues, like a vengeful and generally awful coworker, thieves, or the various drunk and disorderly visitors that would stumble in. For the most part, though, this is all to be expected when you're in as strange and unusual an environment as the Las Vegas strip, where people are encouraged to misbehave in extravagant ways. People go there to relax and unwind, get away from their families and the pressures back home, and when they stepped into our shop I hoped to offer them a little bit of a zen oasis that they could take home with them. It was a shop, after all, and sales was the name of the game. Most of the items were so stunning that they sold themselves easily, so I found it a lot of fun. I learned a lot about crystals and gems that I might not have otherwise found myself entertaining, and it was an enriching experience. I've always been a bit of a "crunchy" type, and while my mum was certainly deep into the New Age movement in the 90's, I'd never really dabbled in crystals until recently, more the kind of hippie who'd grow out her armpit hair and happily eat tofu while discussing her kombucha SCOBY and tie-dye. Like I said, though, it was an enriching experience! 

Did you know that the beautiful purple shaded amethyst is believed to relieve anxiety, protect you when you travel, and bestow beauty upon its wearer? While I'm not sure the effects have been scientifically verified, I see no harm in wearing an amethyst ring as I go about my day, just in case.  Who knows, I might get a bit of placebo effect, which is beneficial in and of itself if you genuinely believe the stone is helping your anxiety! Each stone, each color, is believed to help in different ways and tie in to different chakras. Chakras, too, were something I'd not dabbled much into prior to my work in the shop, and was grateful to be exposed to and educated on a bit. There's a ton more I could stand to learn, but now that I'm not working in the shop trying to actively sell things tied to these areas, I find myself studying them less. We did make a special trek to a recent gem and crystal show at a nearby college, though, because my curiosity and appreciation for these things remain! 

Naturally, being in Vegas, once you step foot beyond the doors of the gem shop there's no guarantee of zen. But you might encounter a random blow-up doll!

Vegas: DMV OOTD

What do you do when you're bored at the DMV with ample time to kill? Well, if you're Antho and me, you step outside intending to vape and coincidentally take some photos due to the snazzy lighting. We found a cozy spot in the shade and relaxed long enough to take a couple snaps before a security guard told us off for vaping near the buildings. Whoops! Now we know. Of course, we aren't exactly hanging around the Vegas DMV scene these days, but better we know. Knowledge is power and all. As for our trip to the DMV, it went well enough and we managed our intended mission with relatively minimal trouble. I tend to dress in a lot of neutrals and monotone, anyway, but I was specifically dressed all in black just in case I had to go straight from the DMV to my work, which had an all-black uniform. I guess it's chic, right? Slimming? Something? I don't mind it, really. You might think that as someone who makes tie-dye I'd be a walking rainbow dropping glitter and sparkles with each step, but like I said above, I'm really into neutrals. A neutral outfit lets whatever color of the week my hair is shine, after all, and it's easy to match when all your clothes are within a certain palette to begin with. While I'm not as defiantly minimalist in my closet as I would like to be, it's getting better in time. I'm more focused on using what I have now before I buy anything new, and so far so good. I've still got Heat-tech tees and tanks from Uniqlo from many moons ago, and while they still retain heat they're starting to go a little threadbare. When this winter is over, or the shirts give up the ghost, I'll gladly retire them to either rat-cage liners or another use and feel good about that.  

Anyway, if you don't smoke, don't pick up vaping. If you smoke, maybe try vaping. Don't vape in places where they don't want people vaping, like next to the DMV doors or something. Be conscious and courteous of where your clouds are going. Don't be that guy. 

Peace!

💖

XOXO,

NAU

Korea: Morning Commute from Hwajeong-shi

A necessary ritual in many modern lifestyles is the morning commute, the pilgrimage from a suburban respite into the bustling business centers of the city. My time in Korea was certainly marked with this ceremonial passage, morning and evening, as I made my way from the northern residential burb of Hwajeong down to Seoul proper to set up for the day. Every so often, I would get to work and begin setting up only for a coworker to awkwardly approach and ask if perhaps I'd misread the schedule, or maybe they had. Typically it was my fault that I'd misinterpreted my shift, and I'd end up having to find a way to fill the handful of hours at my destination until the shift began. Given how far out of the way Hwajeong was from, say, Lotte world, it didn't make much sense for me to go all the way home only to turn right back around and return, so I'd explore the nearby shopping centers or parks. As annoyed as I might have been in the moment for missing out on some additional sleep I might have garnered by staying home, it was generally a good thing that I explore these areas. The various Fun Caricature locations operating throughout Seoul are placed strategically in high-traffic touristy areas, after all, so the neighborhoods I'd coincidentally find myself arriving at too early in the day would have ample ways for me to entertain myself. 

The commute itself, though, had its own merits. While many mornings I'd take the time to catch up on podcasts, e-mails, or various threads on Reddit, the scenery wasn't unpleasant to look at by any stretch of the term. As the seasons evolved from one into the next, the scenery, too, would shift in shades and texture, providing an aesthetic affirmation of nature's workings. Depending on the time of day, I might pass a food stall with billowing plumes of dense and delicious steam flooding out onto the path, or vendors with freshly procured produce offering their wares.

The short walk to the train station, in and of itself, became a precious sort of journey. That green sign to the right in the photo above? That was my go-to market after returning home from work, as I could pop in and find most of the groceries I could possibly want at a reasonable price. E-mart, too, was just a bit further down the street on the trek home. There were several other groceries, department stores and markets all scattered about nearby, and there was a rather large one tucked into the basement level of the train station, too. No shortage of options available, that's for sure. Never underestimate the sheer convenience and walkability of the city of Seoul and it's suburban branches! It will truly spoil you to live in the area... I miss being able to walk to a store at any given time of day or night and find a hot meal or cold bottle of soju/beer/wine, or fried chicken, sweet and chewy egg bread... but I digress! I could write tomes about how tasty and bountiful the food is in Seoul...

Vegas: Accidents and Nature

Accidents happen. In a city where alcohol consumption is highly encouraged and made highly accessible, accidents might happen at a higher than average rate. I certainly have no idea whether the driver of the vehicle pictured above was drinking, and it was rather early in the day, but who knows. Life is mysterious and full of many unknowns and unanswered questions. One thing we do know for certain is that the driver of the aforementioned vehicle was not having the best day of her life, no sir. 

Hopefully things have all been taken care of, as this occurred several months back now. No one was injured, except for perhaps the driver's pride, but considering that it was a highly trafficked parking lot with a lot of pedestrian traffic, things really could have gone much worse. 

And while I wasn't involved in any direct way, I do have to admit that seeing car accidents can cause my anxiety to go up a wee bit. So, lucky for us, Antho happened to snap some nice shots of dew drops forming on grass, along with some other nature scenery, to take the edge off of the unfortunate collision of metal above.

There we go, much better. Look at those lovely shades of green! A lush oasis is hidden in the Vegas valley, in the midst of the Mojave desert! Lovely. The blue sky above speckled with scattered wisps of clouds, clear and bright. I mean, we all have accidents in life from time to time, and while it can be easy to dwell on the pain and inconvenience they can cause, we should really be grateful that we're able to walk away from them. There are so many ways to blink out of existence and be gone before we know what hit us, each day we make it out alive is a triumph over the odds.  I know that for me, that realization has made a profound impact on how I view aging and birthdays. It's a literal leveling up, and a lot of us drop out early in the game. I'm going on my third decade in life now and I can honestly say I'm glad to still be here, which wasn't something I necessarily expected to be able to say at some of the harder stages of my life. It hasn't always been easy, and there will be many challenges yet to come in the road ahead, but if we can confront them with gratitude and wisdom gleaned from time passed, we're on the right path. 

Of course, if you'd like to see more bent metal, there are more photos below...

Washington: An assortment of shrooms and blooms

Life, uh, finds a way.

Never, in my experience, has that proven truer than here in the Pacific Northwest. Life abounds, multiplies, squeaks, squawks, shouts and slithers. There are vines crawling up any tree or surface they can get hold on, moss and molds fuzzing up on an astounding (and annoying, for home owner's) array of surfaces, and the mushrooms...oh boy, the mushrooms! While Antho and I have both invariably dabbled in the psychedelic kind at one point or another during our younger years, we're still quite fascinated by the sheer variety in shape, color, and size of mushrooms in all their forms. There's no shortage of mushrooms to be found up here, where the ambient moisture allows ample soft, decaying woods and roots for the mycological oddities to feed upon. Did you know that the mushrooms we see above ground are actually just the fruiting bodies and that the overall body of the mushroom is hidden underground? It's kind of like seeing only the apples but not the apple tree... And while we'd occasionally find some form of fungi growing in Nevada, it was rarely this varied or colorful! We've found deep purple mushrooms snaking their way through the yard, tracing the path of a tree root, and nearly trampled itty bitty little white caps barely the size of a pencil eraser! Then there are these big, fluffy pancake looking beasts that seem to happily lay claim to the yard, too, before suddenly recoiling into themselves and collapsing, like a dying star, except their final collapse withers away into a displeasing brownish-black sludge of unmistakable decay instead of a supernova. I suppose that's the preferable, route, though, as mini-supernova wouldn't make a pleasant yard-find. 

Anyway, improbabilities of physics aside, mushrooms are super common to find up here. They come in a startling range of options! You shouldn't eat any that you find without being supervised by a trained professional! Yes, you can become a professional mycologist. Mushrooms can, and do, make excellent food options and can be absolutely and utterly delicious, but there are simply SO MANY KINDS of mushrooms out there, and many look SO similar, that you really should leave it to a knowledgeable professional to select edible mushrooms when foraging. There's the handy Puget Sound Mycological Society (PSMS for short) for Seattle and Puget-adjacent residents, who are happy to teach and inform new-comers and the cap-curious in their clinics and classes.  I'm sure other areas have their own fungi-fan-clubs, too! I've met people who were fascinated by the fungal forms all the way over in Japan and Korea, along with Stateside, so I've no doubt there's plenty of resources if you're willing to dig a bit!  

These guys are just a scattered sampling of the various finds we've stumbled upon in our own backyard. Enjoy!

Washington: Foggy Fall Morn and Morning Pages

Imagine; cool air kissing your cheeks as the first gentle rays of morning sunlight tentatively glimpse through the clouds, birdsong and squirrel chatter filling the air as rich coffee steam fills your nostrils. Kisses on the forehead and tiny smooches from a furry friend. It's not a bad way to start the day, right? I'm certainly not complaining. I can't really recall now how long Antho's been in the habit of making my coffee for me, but it's been a consistent occurrence since we've moved north. He's generally an early riser and has been since the beginning, though I'm still trying to adapt to this whole morning thing. I've gotten into the habit of writing morning pages, which is a fancy term for stream-of-consciousness journaling when you first wake up. I first heard about on the Lavendaire podcast, I think, when Aileen was discussing it with one of her guests. Since my day job gives me full permission to listen to headphones while I work, I've taken the opportunity to catch up on all those podcasts and streams I've been missing!  When it comes to morning pages, the advantages are manifold, but for me, the most important have been clarity and space. I am always traveling and running around for my job, and traffic in Seattle is no joke! It's really easy for my type-A, perfectionistic, over-analytical personality to get overwhelmed and stressed out, and I've got the white hairs to prove it. Taking the time to clear my mind and prepare for the day, both mentally and physically, has been a huge step forward in managing my anxiety and stress levels. There have been some hiccups along the way, as Antho typically has way more energy upon rising than I do, so it took a few tries for him to understand and appreciate that my morning process is a bit different. These days, he'll bring my coffee in and give me some time to write out my thoughts while he steps outside for some fresh air and vaping. This gives him some time to relax and rev up for the day, while I get my words out onto paper and psyche myself up for the day's challenges. This has given me so much insight, whether it's tuning in to my body and recognizing that I have a fever and need to spend the day resting, or acknowledging a frustration or roadblock that prevents me from achieving my goals. Every day is a work in progress, but as long as we keep working, we'll keep improving, right?