Open your Mind...The Universe has Everything to Show You!

The other day, I plugged my camera into my computer for the first time in about a month. I have to say that if I were a stranger looking at the photos, I would want to track this person down and ask them how they live such a life.

Looking back at the past month, we've had some really great times and we have met some really awesome people. I can say today, (because every day for me is different) we live a great life. I try to appreciate every day although, for me, that can be very difficult. I think the Universe gives us a little bit of everything; sometimes I think I can't handle it, other times it's no big deal, some days I want to run away, scream, cry...and I do, and other days I don't want the day to end. In the end, it's all about balance and I learn that every single day...or at least I'm really really trying to!

In the last month or so, we have met some of the most amazing people that truly respect and appreciate life. I believe the Universe has put them directly in our path as teachers and they probably don't even know it! Pretty cool.

We are getting back on track of a more healthy lifestyle, sure we still like to have fun, but we needed more balance. Once we all got settled into our camps, "The Gang" would meet up a few times a week to learn Yin Yoga. "Catskills Will" is a Yoga Instructor and has been camping with us. We had talked about food, exercise, healthy this, healthy that and he brought up this "new type" of Yoga no one had ever heard of...so we all decided to give it a shot. I have to say, it's totally different than any other Yoga I've tried and a lot more "peaceful". Your body is the one pretty much teaching you how to move, how to go deeper, where you have pain or didn't know you had pain and how to make it better and even go away...it's pretty amazing actually. 

 

Collage courtesy of Cindy Harris

Yoga Talk

Will showing us some poses

Yin Yoga is something you can do every day, it's not only great for your body but also for your mind, as well as emotions and energy running through (or stuck) in the body. It's been really cool to learn from someone who has so much knowledge about it and is eager to teach everyone. At times it can be a bit overwhelming because you are doing things with your body that you normally don't do; you are opening energy centers that are pretty much closed off, touching base with emotions that are repressed, getting in tune with your body. Talk about a major change for the better!

I've come to a conclusion that the Universe really does listen!

PEACE 

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Joon van Spirit to Creek Chalet

Let's see, where do I begin?

Being back in Georgia has been a whirlwind of...well, everything! We found a place to live, while we're here for the Summer and maybe into Winter (fingers crossed we won't have to endure a Winter here).

[caption id="attachment_5501" align="aligncenter" width="569"] Summer Cottage[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5502" align="aligncenter" width="579"] Inside[/caption]

When we first arrived our friends were welcoming with more than open arms, offering us the upstairs part of their house to stay in while we got settled. We accepted the offer but it only lasted for about 15 minutes the first night we went to sleep. They have many cats, which I'm allergic to, and the cats use the upstairs as their play/sleeping lair...as soon as I laid down I couldn't breathe, was itching & scratching and my eyes started swelling up. I was going to try to get through it (didn't want to be a bad house guest the first night) and at that point Tiger, their biggest and most awesome cat, jumped from the floor onto my chest, I jumped up and said, "I'll be in the van!" Jamie followed! haha Hey, I tried!

They have a lot of land so we tucked in behind one of their barns and slept in the van for the remainder of our stay, a few weeks, even getting to finally 'endure' a huge thunder and lightning storm in the van! They were so funny, always asking if we were okay out there, the wife/mom Karen, was soooo worried about us. I kept trying to explain that we like it in the van, this has been our home for 2 years and we're absolutely perfect out there! Plus, it was almost like we were still out "in the wild" due to the land around them and all the animals they have; 6 dogs, several cats, 5 birds, 2 Roosters, 12 Hens/Chickens, 3 horses and 2 donkeys! Our girls were right at home with friends to chase and play with, I started calling their house the Park! haha

[caption id="attachment_5506" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Their front "yard"[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5507" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Handsome Major[/caption]

Playing with dogs - Video Dailymotion.

Being back in a house full-time has been a HUGE change and there's a lot to get used to again. The things I'm diggin' the most right now is hot running water for dishes and showers, although I still can't (or don't want to) shower every single day. My skin and hair just can't take it, the water here is soft and for the first few weeks I couldn't get my shower routine right! haha Sounds a little weird, but with the water (in this house) being soft it makes you feel like you haven't cleaned anything after the shower is over, feeling like you need another shower, almost like you just showered in oil. So, I started experimenting with every other day, barely any conditioner, no conditioner, this shampoo or that shampoo. I think I finally have it down!

Let's see, what other things are different....we can stand up and stretch in the morning, instead of having to wait to get out of the van to do it. We have a place for everything, the silverware is ALWAYS in the drawer! This was one of our obstacles in the van..."Where's the silverware...grrrrr", haha A flushing toilet that doesn't stink up the whole house has been nice and not having to find a place to dump the toilet is also nice. We have "unlimited" internet, which is totally fun because we can watch all the Youtube videos & Netflix we want as well as Pandora or IHeartradio and I can finally download all my pictures and videos to the sites I use for back-up. I think once we get back "into the wild" that will, again, be the biggest thing we'll have to get used to...only 20g of data instead of 250, haha Oh well, a little give and take I guess, can't be data whores forever! And we have an oven and stove, no more teetering our cooker on the floor of the van! Cooking is not a strong suit of mine and every time I attempted to cook inside the van our meal ended up on the floor...yuck and no fun to clean up!

I guess there are a lot of differences from sticks 'n' bricks to the van life. There are a ton of things we do miss about living in the van and a ton of things we will miss about living in a house. For instance, right now we have 4 bird feeders hanging; 2 Hummingbird feeders and 2 seed feeders with 2 Impatiens flower plants hanging and with all the windows we have, it feels like we are living inside of a botanical garden. The birds are always flitting about, playing and fighting over the food and always always singing...I LOVE that and it's so fun to watch them.

[caption id="attachment_5509" align="aligncenter" width="580"] My Sanctuary[/caption]

We even have a Cardinal, we named Louie, that sits on the side mirror of the van all day looking at his reflection. You can hear him at all times of the day flying into the side of the van!!?? I don't know what he thinks he's going to accomplish by doing that but he does it every single day! When I hung the feeders he wouldn't come to them, it took him about a full month to notice they were up. Once he found the feeders, he would feed then he'd fly into the window pane! I guess he really likes his reflection! He's a very 'special' bird, haha So we rigged up a space for him to look at himself all day, without hurting himself!

[caption id="attachment_5511" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Louie's Mirror[/caption]

This way he can sit on the feeder and see himself, as well as fly to the shelf, eat and reflect...literally! Even though I clean the mirror every couple of days, you can see where he pecks at it.

[caption id="attachment_5510" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Silly Louie![/caption]

He is a very silly bird and keeps us amused while sitting at the computer. So far, the birds that visit the most often are; Of course the Cardinal (that's Louie), Tufted Titmouse (yes it's a bird and yes I said Tit! When I see them I say, "Hello my lil titties!) White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadees and I believe our Hummers are either Calliope or Rufous Hummingbirds, they're harder to specify because they're so freakin' fast!

We will enjoy the time that is spent here, in this cute little cottage with our own private creek and all 'our' birds but we do talk about "the road" almost every single day. It is something that is within us, in our blood, in our spirit. The road, the wild, the life makes us feel alive and free and like we have a life worth living. Hopefully my medical stuff won't keep us here any longer than needed and we can get on with it sooner rather than later but we will just have to see which way the wind will blow us when that time comes.

I wish you all a peaceful, fulfilling weekend with maybe a little bit of travel and adventure!

[caption id="attachment_5516" align="aligncenter" width="400"] PEACE[/caption]

Riveting Rocks of Wonder

Before we took our Monday afternoon drive, we had some cleaning up to do from dinner last night. It's been windy since yesterday morning so it's keeping us inside (more than we're used to) it's a whole different world being self-contained. Last night, we had a little bit of a mess on our hands so we just filled our pan with water and stuck it outside to let it soak overnight. This morning, when I went to clean the pots and pans, we couldn't find our scrubbies (they are buried somewhere on top of Joon) so I had to resort to nature and use the sand and plants to do my scrubbing. Not a totally bad idea, I've done this before but I learned that this is not gritty sand out here, it's more like soft dirt...hence why I used some small plants. I got the job done and everything is shiny and clean again, that's what matters!

[caption id="attachment_2358" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Washing the Dishes[/caption]

We got on with our drive, down one of the many trail roads to see where it led. Why stay in one place when there are so many different roads, trails and other places to be? We got on one road that looked like it just kept going and going and going...maybe all the way into town!?

When we drive to find a new spot there are many things we are looking for and at. I have both the phone and wifi hotspot in hand watching the signal strength of both. We look for nice scenery, how close we are to the road and for anything that could make it difficult getting in or out of spots... and anything that could damage the vehicle. We drove around, down this road, that road and further back into the mountains. J' finally came around the bend of the road we were on and saw a hill...you know he's climbing that sucker!

[caption id="attachment_2360" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Comin' round the bend[/caption]

There would be a picture of the extremely slanted hill but 'someone' had her eyes closed! For some reason, I think if I close my eyes then no damage will be done if there ends up being a problem...haha

When we got all the way up the hill there was a plateau on the top! I think we found our new spot and the view here is much more incredible than the "Cross Spot". Wee hoo!

[caption id="attachment_2362" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The new view[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2363" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Joon looks so little![/caption]

So very awesome that this is all at our fingertips and you just never know it until you live this lifestyle. We are here 100% Free and Legal...you can't get much better than that! The rest of the day we just messed around, the wind is getting worse as the day goes on, so we sit, chit chat with each other, laugh at the stupid things we come up with...and Savannah of course! haha And just chill. I think Savannah thought she was being abused today because we made her sleep on the floor...gasp, the insanity!! She looked so defeated all day, but there was no room for her to lay where she usually does because all of our stuff was in those places. Savannah, sometimes you gotta suck it up and take one for the team! haha

[caption id="attachment_2364" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ok, she still has a pillow![/caption]

I just went out and walked Nana, it was about 5:30 p.m. or so and everything outside was different. The sun changes the look of this place all the time, especially at sunset...WHOA!!! It only lasts about 10 minutes so you gotta be quick and precise with that camera!

[caption id="attachment_2365" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sunny side up[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2366" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Is that rock giving us the finger?[/caption]

I can't say that I've ever slept in a place like this. There is so much beauty around us, it's simply amazing to me. I always think it's so cool to wake up and be surrounded in the nature that's been here for thousands of years, but yet we are in our little spaceship of the Joon Van.

Amazing...Wonderful...Spectacular...Marvelous???

Those words don't even start to describe the sensation of being here and to be able to do what we are doing.

How neat is that!?

Now, go and play in your neck of the woods, build a sandcastle out of dirt or roll down a grassy hill. Do something you wouldn't normally do because what's the fun of doing the same thing over and over again if you're not getting any joy out of it!?

Go play!

PEACE 

 

Just as nice as a Desert Breeze

Snoozing away last night and got joustled out of bed by a loud knock, knock, knock and barking from the Nana Bug. It was about 1 a.m...I think. The rule in our rig is if we ever get a knock on the van, I have to answer it because I'm cuter than J'! haha I looked out to see who was there...guess who? Security, of course. I answered the door, only opening it a tad...dressed, but in my undies. The guys name was Rudy, he asked if we were guests of the hotel (Yep, that's why we're sleeping in our van, duh) he said that we weren't supposed to be sleeping in the van. I told him I had the okay from Ernesto...he got the biggest surprise look on his face. All in all, he said that Managers (Ernesto) had no say in a topic of that nature and that I should have talked to Security...(I thought I had). He asked how long we would be here and I told him we were leaving in the morning (not true but didn't want to get into it with him). He just told me to lock my doors and please be sure to be gone in the morning. I think he might have gone back and had some words with Ernesto the next day!! We got our nights' sleep in though, got up this morning and were on the road (not doing anything but getting in and driving away) by 8 a.m.

[caption id="attachment_2249" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Good Morning & Goodbye[/caption]

I guess we'll have to use the other places on our list for the rest of our stay. I seriously doubt that if we had stayed among the big trucks, we would have never been scoped out, but we wanted our space so we were being watched. I saw him sitting behind us earlier in the night and if our TV wasn't so bright, he probably would have never known anyone was even in the van...oh well. We'll just move on! While we were researching Vegas, we had looked into things going on around the Vegas area for the weekend. We found a balloon festival with a carnival that was going on, starting Friday going through Sat. & Sunday so we drove toward that direction, finding a Wal-mart on the way.

[caption id="attachment_2248" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I think we're going the right way![/caption]

We pulled over to the back lot of Wal-mart and did our morning duties: rolled up the bed, got dressed & cleaned up and bought a couple of necessities inside. When we were done, we drove over to the Hospital where the festival was being held....we were definitely the first ones there!

After walking around and seeing everyone still setting up for the afternoon, we got back in Joon, made coffee and looked online for some nearby parks. Since our van is pretty stealthy, no one ever knows there is anyone sitting in it. We watched some carnies (small hands ~ Austin Powers) next to us go through their morning rituals of being disturbing, disgusting and down right disrespectful. I'll spare you the details! It just goes to show...you never know when you're being watched. They had no clue all eyes were on them for a good half hour! I wish I could take it back! It was very displeasing to the eyeballs!

[caption id="attachment_2247" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just nasty[/caption]

As soon as we found a park to go to, we started her up and drove over to Desert Breeze Park, it was only about 3 miles away. I haven't seen a park like this since we lived in Denver. This park had everything imaginable: one whole entire side of the road was dedicated to just Soccer fields, the other side of the road had a rec. center with a fitness center and a pool (they only wanted $4 per person for the day, plus showers...we declined...not bad though), they had a skate park, basketball courts, bike and walking trails, softball fields, more soccer fields and get this...a dog park!

[caption id="attachment_2256" align="aligncenter" width="300"] B-ball[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2257" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Couple's Skate...Ladies Choice[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2251" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Happy girl rolling around[/caption]

This dog park was one of the cleanest nicest parks I've been to. We parked and walked the trail all the way back to the dog park...finally Nana can really stretch her legs!

[caption id="attachment_2253" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...and she's off[/caption]

She chased dogs and barked at everybody, a little dog even turned right around and chased her back.

After she realized she wasn't the boss of anyone here, all she wanted to do was sit on the bench with us....with her back turned to the other dogs. She's such a brat!

[caption id="attachment_2255" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Faced AWAY from the park[/caption]

We kept walking after we realized she wasn't going to play with anyone. This park is huge and just beautiful. We stayed here the rest of the day. We walked over to the pool to check it out and they were having early voting so it was a mad-house.

[caption id="attachment_2258" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Desert Breeze Pool[/caption]

 We found a great spot in the parking lot where there were no cars and where we could have a little privacy...we needed to scrub-a-dub-dub it up. This was a great spot to do it, we just backed up to where we had even more privacy and bam, we had a shower! I threw on my bikini and scrubbed down...feels good to be clean!

[caption id="attachment_2260" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Scrub-a-dub-dub...who needs a tub?[/caption]

We figured we would go back over to the park for the day so we chilled and got some work done. When we felt like we needed to take a break and stretch our legs again, we headed back over to the dog park. It was almost 5:00 p.m. so there were sure to be more dogs there and we were more than right...most people and dogs I've ever seen at a dog park. It felt nice to know that people are taking advantage of this great park, every park I've been to there's never anyone there. I had also never seen so many wiener dogs in one place at one time....it was a Wiener Fest! haha

[caption id="attachment_2261" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cute lil' Wieners![/caption]

There was a dog there that looked like Tony (Miss Cherry's pup) but much smaller....soooo freakin' cute!

[caption id="attachment_2263" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Are you Tony's cousin?[/caption]

Savannah played a little more than she did this morning, but it always ends up the same...we end up running and fetching balls more than her...like she's the one that took us to the park! haha I just think it's because none of the dogs let her bully them around so all the fun is taken out of it. At least she got some exercise, that's what counts.

[caption id="attachment_2262" align="aligncenter" width="300"] RUN!![/caption]

We did one more big walk around the park. There were people at the skate park this time, with boards and bikes so we watched them throw down some skills.

[caption id="attachment_2264" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Flip & Spin[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2265" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Thank goodness for helmets![/caption]

It was starting to get dark, so we ran a few more little errands and figured we would just go sleep at the Wal-mart we were at this morning. When we first learned about the balloon festival, we thought we would just sleep there amongst the carnies, but after this morning we decided against it and went to go blend in with the other campers. This Wal-mart had some good parking but we noticed on the backside of the store there was a bunch of semi-type trucks and RV's along this strip of road...we joined right in. Good thing we got there when we did too because as soon as we found close to one of the very last spots along the strip, we saw a couple of small campers/RV's driving up and down looking for spots...the early van gets the spot! Even though it was only about 6:30p.m. it is pitch black and I am not getting out of the rig to take pictures...so you're going to have to use your imagination on what this one looks like!  We will be going to bed a little earlier tonight due to us actually setting an alarm for tomorrow morning. The balloon festival launches at 7 a.m., we have set the alarm for 6 a.m. that should get us up and there in plenty of time to see every one of those suckers get up in the air. I'm totally stoked about this, I have always wanted to go to one of these but have been too busy or lazy in the past to do it. So, Hot Air Balloons get ready because here we come...wee hoo!!!

PEACE

Letting my hair down

After I wrote the last bit of my post last night, I really really really started contemplating choppin' the 'fro. I talked to J' about it and he always knows the right thing to say..."Whatever will make you happy." So we set a 'fro choppin' date for this morning. It's so funny because it was like the night before Christmas or something...I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was the excitement of doing something totally 'crazy' and 'new' (although I met J' with super "boy" short hair)

or the fact that I didn't know how it was going to turn out since we would be cutting it ourselves, together! haha J' has cut my hair before but it was just the teeniest, tiniest amount from my long hair...he did a great job then, so I really wasn't scared. This morning I woke up ready to do this! I don't think I could go one more day of feeling filthy dirty when I know I am freshly showered at least every other day or so. Let's get it on!

[caption id="attachment_1463" align="aligncenter" width="300"] NOT a happy camper[/caption]

We ran through our morning routine, no rush... just excitement! I sectioned off my hair myself but J' thought it was a little extreme so he fixed it for me.

[caption id="attachment_1464" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Reverse Alfalfa[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1465" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Pretty even for not being able to see the top of my head![/caption]

J' sectioned it back off for me...

 During the cut we had a nice man, Wayne, pull into our spot. We sat and talked to him for about a half hour or so about B.L.M. land and Rangers and the like. He was a real nice guy and very informational about Pahrump and the surrounding area. It probably looked funny to him with J' cutting me barber style in the middle of the desert, but we gotta do what we gotta do! haha After he left, we got back to work...we still had a long way to go.

[caption id="attachment_1467" align="aligncenter" width="300"] We're getting there![/caption]

When we first set out to cut all my hair off, I had a specific vision in my head with pictures for him to follow standing by on the computer. I didn't really know if this vision was actually going to work, due to my crazy curls, so we just went with it. I really liked the first way we had it, but there was still way too much hair on the top and as it started drying, the fro' started to show its face...this is not going to work. Darn.

It took a little bit of time to get it to a point that I liked and could deal with it on a day to day. When J' was done cutting the bulk of it and shaping it a bit, I took over and texturized and shaped it to what I wanted. Then about an hour later I took my razor back out and took another two inches or so off of it. Having curly hair is a whole different animal when you're cutting it, especially with a razor! I'm just glad I am trained to do this or I probably would have a big mess on my hands!! J' did a great job and listens really well. Thank you schweetie pie!

We went to the store after the cut to do some grocery shopping and I got a box of color to spice up the cut a bit. I am a bit stoked about this! hee hee I had to promise my mommy that I wouldn't go crazy with the colors (like I used to with pinks, purples and blues). Even though colors are fun, I've already been every color in the book... I just need a little spice, that's all!

[caption id="attachment_1475" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2003[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1474" align="aligncenter" width="215"] 2003[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1476" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2003[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1472" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2005[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1473" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2005[/caption]

It's already too late in the day to color it tonight so I will be back to give you a colorful update tomorrow. I feel like I'm 18 again...and look like it too. Hey, I can believe what I want okay!

[caption id="attachment_1479" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 1998[/caption]

See you tomorrow with a totally fresh new look!

PEACE