I am inimitable

I have hit my introvert wall so hard... It was bound to happen eventually, I suppose. If anything, it's a wonder I've made it this long staying in other people's houses and successfully refraining from murdering them and everything they love. It helps that everyone I've stayed with is truly delightful, so the introvert wall has nothing to do with them and everything to do with my fragile energy levels and my desire to spend a morning lazing about with no pants.

But I think Barbara hit a wall today too, although hers was from not sleeping due to pet issues. So we didn't hang out very long before I went to Starbucks and she went for a walk. Unfortunately, most of what I wanted to do involved the internet, and Starbucks somehow didn't have internet, which made me sooooo cranky. Barbara joined me, and we talked and worked, and I actually got some really good stuff for spinster honeymoon....

Then we parted ways again, and I had a long lunch and journaled and did some light retail therapy. Then I went back to Barbara's and we worked some more, and then had an early dinner at a thai place. Then we had a glass of rosé in her garden, which is really delightful. And then I came home, with a stop to buy a heating pad and some icy hot strips for my shoulder, which is still hurting (although I probably tore my other rotator cuff by trying to put the icy hot bandages on it). And now I must sleep so I can regain some of my social energy for the next stint of seeing people I love - goodnight!

that green light i want it

I had another great day in Colorado Springs. I woke up this morning to breakfast cooked by my airbnb host - I've never stayed someplace where I had a room in someone's house instead of renting the entire place, but this was the most convenient option and it's working out really well (read: breakfast was tasty and they haven't harvested my organs yet).

Then Barbara picked me up and took me to her tai chi class, and now I know what old people are doing when they're waving their hands around in the park. It's more involved than that, and not everyone there was old, but I could see how it would be v. good for your body and your mobility (things that are currently falling apart for me after becoming a hobo who lives on wine and friendship). Then we went to the grocery store, and then we went back to her place and ate and talked and napped and worked, which is v. writerly of us.

We ended the day with a long writing/voice exercise - Barbara is a gifted teacher of voice stuff, so it was almost like I got a master class for one just because we were hanging out and playing with words. At some point I opened rosé to get through the emotions dredged up by the exercises, and so we drank and wrote and then she made tacos (yum yum yum), and we finished off the night and the wine by sitting out in the gardens watching a gorgeous light display (sunset followed by lightning) before I took a lyft back to my airbnb (a sentence that wouldn't have made any sense at all a decade ago).

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

love don't discriminate between the sinners and the saints

I'm in Colorado Springs, which is not Denver, but it's close enough that it wasn't a massive production to get here. I woke up this morning, said farewell (for now) to Katie, did a load of laundry, and then drove down here (with a quick Target stop on the way). My friend Barbara S lives here, and I'm v. eager for several days of writing, talking about writing, and ruminating about life with her.

So far, it's all pretty delightful. When I arrived, her puppies were *incredibly* excited to see me - the puppies are the reason I got an airbnb instead of staying with her, since I wasn't willing to be awoken at 4:30am by puppies wanting to go out. But after we let them play a bit, we went out for lunch, then went back to her place and talked all afternoon/evening (with a break for me to check in to my airbnb and buy some wine, of course). It's a sign of how much I love her that I really just wanted to keep talking even though I hit my introvert wall like a month ago...but that's been true of everyone I've hung out with recently, so either they're all great or my introvert wall needs to be tuckpointed asap, since it appears to be failing.

But now I need to sleep, and I really need to stop reclining in this bed in a way that's going to aggravate my shoulder again - goodnight!

we order different drinks from the same bars

Blogging from my phone because my computer is in the middle of a v. ill-advised update/reboot cycle and I want to sleep. My fucked up shoulder almost got the best of me today, but I seem to have treated it with a lot of ibuprofen and a couple of margaritas, so hopefully I can sleep tonight.

But today was great - great for friendship, and great for getting things done. Katie and I went to a coworking place that she frequents so I could check it out, and I got so much done there - I did some actual bonafide writing in the morning, and then got a lot of admin work done this afternoon that I'd been putting off forever. And I got to take a break in the middle to have a tasty omelette and a glass of rosé with Katie at a cafe down the street, which felt so lush and delightful. So, the coworking space is a winner, but I won't be in the neighborhood for the next week or two, so I probably won't get to indulge in its comfort for awhile...

Then we came home and Katie made supper, which was v. tasty (turkey burgers and sweet potatoes), and then I had a long call with my friend Maya while Katie and James worked on getting the kids ready for bed. I hadn't talked to Maya since something like November (how sad/embarrassing), so we were way overdue and it was fun to talk to her. Then I hung out with the girls and said goodnight to them, and then Katie and I (and later James) sat out back and enjoyed the night air (hopefully it doesn't cause fever and ague, but this isn't the Kansas Territory and I'm not Laura Ingalls Wilder, so I'm probably safe).

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

all those rumors, they have big teeth

I'm back in Denver after a very long day of travel. I woke up a little after seven, which gave me time to shower, finish packing (easy peasy), help clean the kitchen, and still have time to journal on the back porch for half an hour, so that made me feel pretty smug. Then we left the house and drove to Sedona for brunch - we'd exhausted the v. limited eating options in the Sedona-adjacent town where our rental house was, and it was either DQ for breakfast or drive to Sedona. Sedona, obviously, won, and we had a really great brunch there - I thought the food was good but not great, but the view of the red rocks was perfect, so overall it was a win.

Then we all wandered around for an hour or so before we realized that none of us want to buy crystals and Sedona is somehow the only town in the world that makes its whole living off selling rocks. So, we parted ways with Jess, who lives in Arizona and was driving home from Sedona, and then Grace, Jenn and I drove back to the Phoenix airport. This took a couple of hours through a scorched hellscape and 110+ degree heat, but it was entirely uneventful. I dropped them off at their terminal, took the rental car back, and had an hour and a half to kill after going through security, so I sat at a bar and ate a burger and had two glasses of wine and wrote/worked, and I was, again, feeling pretty smug...

...but that smugness ended when my plane left the gate on time, taxied to the runway, and...stopped. There was some mechanical issue, and they returned to the gate, and we ended up leaving two hours later. Bleh. Also, sometime after arriving at the airport and sitting down at the bar, I mysteriously destroyed my left shoulder, and I can barely lift my arm above my head to take off my clothes, so that made for a highly unpleasant flight as my shoulder got stiffer and stiffer after sitting in my airplane seat for 4+ hours instead of 2.

So, after lugging myself and my stuff through the Denver airport, finding my car, and getting to Katie and James's at 11pm instead of 9pm, I'm surly and sore and ready for bed. Hopefully sleep will magically fix everything - goodnight!

threading the needle

Blogging on my phone so this will be brief - today was my last full day of my retreat, and it went so well. I woke up and journaled outside before the sun got too crazy, and then did a bit of work inside. We all took a break for lunch, which meant going to Dairy Queen because Grace loves it (I wasn't complaining, since I got a Heath Blizzard for the first time in many years).

Then I worked all afternoon, and I'm still falling in love with my spinster honeymoon while still being scared by it. We also did a lot of tarot character development, which was super fun. We were going to go out for dinner, but we were all still pretty full from DQ, so we went to the grocery store to forage, which meant my dinner was a frozen dinner of chicken tikka masala and the rest of the wine I opened the other night. And then we gossiped until I was too tired/happy/bitchy to keep going.

And now it's time for bed so I can fly back to Denver tomorrow - goodnight!

i want something just like this

Long day, not quite enough actual writing - but I got up and journaled rather than checking twitter, which was way better for me, and then I spent most of the day doing character background work for Spinster Honeymoon. At three p.m., though, I had to stop so I could shower, and then we all went into downtown Sedona for the evening. We wandered around and looked at some shops, and had a super tasty, v. v. filling dinner at a Mexican place with multiple kinds of guacamole and some enchiladas that made me quite happy. The margaritas made me happy too, but everything together was a little too much, and now I feel like I have a food baby.

But I'll probably survive. After we wandered around some more, we came back and played Cards Against Humanity again (Grace won, after having never played before last night - she's a natural). And now I'm going to go sleep so that I can be more productive tomorrow, since it's our last full day here - goodnight!

born in arizona, moved to babylonia

I haven't been able to get internet on my laptop, which is probably for the best, so I'm typing this on my phone before turning in. Today went really well - I woke up and journaled outside before it got too hot, and then I dragged everyone to Starbucks for caffeine and food before I felt too hangry. Then we came back and I wrote for awhile... I'm getting back into spinster honeymoon and I think it's going to be great.

But we took a look break for lunch at a nearby brewery, which served great burgers. Then we grabbed some groceries and drove back here, and I worked the rest of the afternoon. This mostly involved character development, which mostly involved some tarot for my characters using a tarot for writers book, which was more helpful than you might have guessed.

But I stopped around six and talked to Grace while she cooked dinner for all of us. We enjoyed it together, and then we played cards against humanity, which was as ridiculous as always. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

I feel so close to you right now

Too tired to blog - I'm in Arizona, after an entirely uneventful flight. The drive was much more eventful - I picked up the rental car, then picked up Grace, and then we got totally lost trying to pick up Jenn (it was definitely a Google maps issue). Then we tried to drive to Sedona, but a massive wildfire had closed I-17, so we had to detour around it.

Did I mention it was 120F?

But we survived and made it to our cabin, where Jess was v happy to see us. Then we had a ridiculous dinner at the nearby casino, where I had enough margaritas to dull the pain of the drive. And then we gossiped at home, but I'm turning in before everyone else because I'm basically still on central time and am too tired to function. Goodnight!

are we in the clear yet

No blog tonight...I made it to Denver without incident and promptly reunited with Katie (by picking her up at the airport). We had a drink and some snacks at Avanti, as we often had before, and then spent the evening hanging out with her kids (and James, when he got home).

But I'm exhausted and I'm flying to Phoenix tomorrow, since my travel schedule makes no sense at all. So, it's time for bed. Goodnight!

find me and follow me through corridors, refectories

I am sitting in a hotel room in North Platte, Nebraska, which is a town I have driven through many times before. What I had not done before is drink thirteen ounces of so-so wine at Ruby Tuesday, which is what I did tonight - I was having some deep thoughts about Spinster Honeymoon, and by that I mean that I thought about journaling and instead spent too much time messaging people on twitter. But twitter is part of the plot of that book, so let's call it research and move on, shall we?

When I woke up this morning, I was still in Iowa. But it didn't take long to get ready to go - and it was all v. desultory since I wasn't on a specific timeline. So, that gave me time to have breakfast with my parents (my dad made hashbrowns in addition to the usual bacon and eggs, so I think he really does love me!). Then I said my farewells to them and headed west (well, north first, then west for hours and hours). The Iowa portion of my journey was entirely uneventful. Right after I crossed the Nebraska border, I discovered that tornadoes had passed through there recently - I saw some pretty gnarly remnants of what used to be machine sheds twisted into post-modern art shapes, and I had to take a detour because some of the electric poles had been blown into the highway. It's incredible what a tornado can do - one of the poles I saw had been snapped at the base, but then deposited, still vertical, in the field nearby, and the lines hadn't been severed. Bizarre.

After that, things got super boring - Nebraska is kinda the worst for scenery, and as I've said before, Nebraska has the longest stretch of interstate that is perfectly straight (seventy miles that doesn't deviate by more than three inches). But I took a break when I got to Kearney to see the museum inside the Archway - I've driven under it many times, since I-80 passes underneath it, but I've never stopped. They had some good exhibits about the history of the North Platte trails - the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails all went through Kearney (then Fort Kearney) to Fort Laramie, where they split off to their different destinations. And the transcontinental railroad and I-80 followed in the same path - so many decades of western expansion went through there, and they did a decent job representing it. It was a little heavy on theatrics and light on facts, but it was really nicely done and I'm glad I stopped.

Then I drove to North Platte, where I decided to spend the night - I could have pressed on, but I was tired and the pickings between here and Denver are slim (although I like Ogallala as much as the next girl, I guess). So I checked in and walked next door to Ruby Tuesday, where I ate some chicken and drank the aforementioned wine, which was better than I expected and not as good as I wanted. Then I came back here and talked to Katie for an hour, since it was too much to expect us to wait to start catching up until we see each other tomorrow. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

consoler of the lonely

It's time for bed - I need to get up earlier than usual tomorrow so that I can take care of last-minute details and eat breakfast before heading west. Today went pretty smoothly, though - I hung out on the patio for lots of it, but I also organized my stuff and packed my car and crossed many things off my to-do list.

But none of those things are interesting to you, and I need to sleep so that I can be well-rested for my voyage. Next stop is somewhere between here and Denver...goodnight!

own the night

Happy Father's Day, everyone! I spent mine eating breakfast (delish), visiting my grandma (depressing), and hanging out with my dad on the back porch (entertaining and informative). I also got a wee bit of work done, and I had a delightful supper with the parents - my mom made barbecued ribs and potatoes and creamed peas, and it was all v. tasty.

But now I need to sleep - I'm leaving Tuesday, so I'll be spending tomorrow deciding what to take with me for the next two months of adventures. Goodnight!

dead leaves and the dirty ground

Time for bed...I spent the last three hours working, which is unusual, but I didn't have much time to work earlier in the day and I was feeling compelled. I woke up this morning, made an omelette (perfection) and at it with some avocado like a fucking millennial. Then I thought my sister was arriving imminently, so I showered without washing my hair, but I discovered after I got out of the shower that she wasn't coming until 12:30. Oops.

So I hung out on the porch with my parents until she arrived. She came over with my niece Allie, and they hung out for a couple of hours - my mom had to go sit at the round barn, and my dad had other errands to take care of, but Jackie and Allie stayed for awhile. When they left, I mostly procrastinated (with a bit of journaling), and then I ran into town to look for cointreau for margaritas. But our grocery store only has extremely cheap triple sec and I wasn't willing to lower my coastal elite standards, so I grabbed some Mountain Dew (yes, that shot my coast elite high horse right out from under me) and came home.

Then the parents and I went to Seymour for supper - Saturday night is prime rib, which we all enjoyed. Then we came home and my dad and I watched some 'Magnificent Seven' together (the short-lived tv show, not the movie), and then I came downstairs and worked until now.

And now it's time to sleep - goodnight!

another love grows cold on a sleepless night

I'm tired and I should probably wash my face and go to bed in case we lose power...there's been some impressive lightning going on outside for a couple of hours now, and while it's mostly skirted us, there's always a chance that something will happen.

Today was great from a productivity standpoint, though - I woke up, made a tasty omelette, and then spent the afternoon hard at work on the back porch. I had to stop around five so that I could finally shower and eat an early supper (ribeye and baked potatoes) - my mom and I had a meeting of our secret society tonight (she goes to every meeting; I go approximately once a year when my trips home overlap with a meeting night). So we went into town for that, and I saw a bunch of ladies whom I always enjoy talking to (mostly faces from my childhood - there are some younger members, but a lot of them were in it when I was a kid, and I've known them forever).

And now I need to sleep, since I want to hit the writing hard tomorrow - goodnight!

please don't take him just because you can

I actually wrote today. Yes, I'm shocked too. I'm slowly triangulating around who these new characters are and what they might care about and what their voices sound like, and so I wrote some stuff to see where it would go. Most of it was on the back patio this afternoon, but I even wrote for another half hour in bed tonight, so I guess I'm excited about it? (knock on wood)

Beyond that, the rest of my day was good - I woke up to my alarm at eight and promptly turned it off and slept until nine. Then I spent the morning procrastinating and watching news coverage before spending the afternoon writing/doing laundry/arguing. I also spent a couple of hours doing other admin work, which was good. And I ended the day with a delicious smalltownlife meal: bratwurst, scalloped potatoes, and baked beans, cooked by my mother (and father, since he had to grill the brats). The post-dinner scenery was also worth examining -- we watched a deer (buck, since he had the beginnings of a nice rack, which is a different kind of nice rack than you think of in cities) slowly, for whatever reason, follow our cat from the field to our yard, where he encountered a wild turkey wandering in the other direction. They all seemed entirely unfazed by this, so maybe they're friends? I'm guessing they would have been less excited to see a coyote or a fox, though, so I doubt that this kind of harmony prevails in all the nooks and crannies around us....

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

as i recall i think we both kind of liked it

Long day of screen time, short day of productivity. I'd been doing pretty well staying (somewhat) off twitter and the news the last couple of weeks, but today I consumed it to the point that I drained my phone battery by seven p.m. Bleh.

But I got some good stuff done - I woke up in time to have a video chat with my friend Sarah from Bali (we hadn't talked in ages, so were way overdue), and then I made a tasty omelette with bacon, onions, mushrooms, and pepperjack, so the morning got off to a good start. I then went on a slow slide into social media hell, but I did manage to do just a little bit of writing (I'm avoiding the story and I know it), and I watched all of Sessions' testimony (lolol), and I took a walk down to the corner and back (an accomplishment when it was ninety degrees and the wind was whipping up all the dust from the dry gravel). I also formatted a paperback, answered some email, and had a long argument (or shall I say discussion?) about politics.

So, all in all, it wasn't the worst day, but tomorrow I need way less time on twitter and politics and way more time writing. Goodnight!

I am the warrior

No blog because the wifi appears to be down (which is good since I should get offline and go to sleep anyway). Goodnight!

somewhere under wonderland

I have returned to Iowa after approximately 15.5hrs in a car - I woke up in Texas, showered and packed and loaded up, and then had breakfast with the fam at Cracker Barrel. Then, [censored] and I parted ways with the parents and headed north. It feels almost cruel that Texas is so big that we spent the first five or so hours just driving through Texas. By the time we reached Oklahoma, I was convinced that we wouldn't make it the whole way (~980 miles), and was already looking at hotel rooms in Kansas....

...but then [censored] and I had supper at Braums outside of Oklahoma City (an apparent staple of the Oklahoma/Kansas area, mostly known for their milkshakes and dairy products), and we somehow caught a string of second, third, and fourth winds. So we kept going, passing through Oklahoma, Kansas, and a bit of Missouri before reaching Iowa. We successfully threaded the needle through cops, semis, and errant deer (there was a lot of blood on the road in some parts), and we pulled into our driveway around two a.m.

And now I must sleep - I've gone too long without writing or doing anything productive, and that needs to stop (as soon as my body feels like it's stable and no longer riding in a car). Goodnight!

she had a need to feel the thunder

The family reunion is over and I am quite sad. I had a great time out in the middle of nowhere in Texas - which, to be fair, is not so different from where any of the rest of us are from, since we established that most of the Wamplers in this lineage live in places that no one else would want to visit. So, during our family meeting today, we agreed that we would host it here again next year - not sure yet whether any of my branch will make it here next year, but I certainly hope to come again.

sssanyway. This morning I had breakfast with my parents and [censored] before [censored] and I stopped at Starbucks and headed out to the ranch (you know it's important to get my coastal elitist fix in before heading out into the hills). We took no wrong turns this morning, so we made it in good time and spent the day lazing about and talking to family and making jokes and generally enjoying the day.

And by that I mean I enjoyed making margaritas. #kiddingnotkidding

I can't really do justice to the afternoon, which involved conversations about prison, dildoes, and ninja turtles. My great-grandfather and his siblings (who are the ancestors of all sixty or so people at the event) would be so proud. But I really enjoyed the conversation, especially since it continued over the catfish fried up by the Oklahoma contingent. And the evening ended with a fantastic fireworks display, as per usual...at which point we all parted ways with plans to do it again next year.

And now I need to sleep so that [censored] and I can get up tomorrow and cross the long dark of Moria (and by that I mean the nine hundred and fifty two miles from here to Iowa via Oklahoma/Kansas/Missouri). Goodnight!