.finger lakes + boston.

I fell in love with the Finger Lakes! My plan was to stay one night which turned into two and continued into three. The Finger Lakes are located in Upstate New York, the landscape is soft rolling farmland with beautiful barns with many farms having their own little veggie stand on the road, paid on the honor system. The Finger Lakes region is a central part of the Iroquois homeland. The Iroquois tribes include the Seneca and Cayuga nations, which two of the lakes are names after, the lakes I visited. I'd visited Ithaca once before but it was winter. This time I was able to explore several gorge trails that just captivated me - the rocks, the colors, the flowing water and the way the light traveling through the trees and reflected and danced on the water. It was succession of moments of awe hiking the trails. There were several places this journey I felt my heart expanding and Ithaca was one of them.

My very last night of camping was in the Catskill Mountains on a small lake. The mountains were covered with the changing colors of fall, already! I had mixed feelings of savoring the peaceful comfort I had found on the road - the rhythm of setting up my tent everyday and waking up to drink coffee outside, just being outside so much of the day felt like home to me. But I was also feeling ready to reunite with dear ones and start this next adventure back in New England.



This last update took me longer to write than expected. I've been back in the city a week, time seems to fly by in the city. It feels so dense and busy here, I'm readjusting to New England but there's a part of me that now knows I don't want to fully readjust to the life I had here before. I need time to absorb nature and moments of silence to authentically connected to myself - to hear myself. I found a beautiful little place in a small coastal town just a little north of Boston to spend the next few months and I marinate all the places + colors + experiences of this nomadic residency and preparing for jewelry workshops in Somerville and the holiday shows that will quickly come.

Thank you thank you to everyone reading this for your love + support. I hope you have in someway connected with yourself thru this journey. I will continue to share this experience with you all as I process it with time and the jewelry that will slowly evolve from it. 

Much Love,
AEO

.happy eve.

Today one year ago I was picking up my sister at the El Paso airport. She was picking me up at the end of one road and helping me start on a new road.We celebrated Christmas with a paper tree taped to my bedroom wall and our family’s famous Christmas morning sticky buns before loading up the last bits into my car and heading west on I-10. 

I think about that moment and feel a warm wave of nostalgia - all the FUN we had on the open road - exploring the warm winter days of the beautiful southwest. I am so grateful to have a sister who is my partner-in-adventure. Wish we were doing it all over again this year!

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

.staying present.

Sometimes with daily life I get caught up in the disconnect I create (which I usually confuse with boredom). Today I woke up to an overcast day and for some reason started thinking about last January on my road trip back to the Northwest. I had just celebrated the New Year with my Sister in Arizona and was starting the first solo leg of  the trip. I camped out at Joshua Tree. Waking up to nothing but a blank day, a mug of pour over coffee and a sunrise. I felt such a surge of freedom. All those possibilities lie in today just as much as they did then. I hold onto these assumptions and expectations that provide a false sense of reality (limitations - captivity) that that freedom can only be found moving. 

Today is a blank day, with a mug of pour over coffee and a sunrise. 

How are you going to spend your day? What are ways you stay more present in this moment? 

.weekend getaways.

It was my sister's birthday this past weekend so we decided to get out and explore the midwest. We headed north on route 12 to the dairy land of america, Wisconsin. It was miles of beautiful country roads, fresh produce stands, old victorian houses, odd circus museums, glacier lakes, SOO many cheese curds, a Ziggy Marley concert, more corn fields than I could have ever imagined, and bad country radio. It was wonderful.

happy new year

it's a little late but happy new year, from the road. i'm traveling north on the hwy 1 and hwy 101. more soon.

.arches.

Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. If what a tree or bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you. –Lost by David Wagoner

.idaho.

going through pictures from the road trip. this is the third state visited and the first state we photographed, idaho. 

a beautiful dry arid landscape.

.i have arrived.

We have arrived in El Paso. It was a full 6-day journey full of challenges and adventure. Before I even left town (minutes before actually) I found a nail in my tire. Then without realizing the amazing weight of all my belonging (i.e. use more gas) I was minutes away from running out of gas only to roll downhill into a Love's gas station.  I somehow managed to get lost in Boise (miracles do happen). And when I checked into our motel (while waiting for my sister to fly in) I went to our room to find the TV was on and black stilettos shoes (without an owner). It was a strange first day. The comedy of errors continued for the entire trip. It was a true transition. Showing me in every way that as I distanced myself from Washington I was nearing this new chapter of my life (and I needed to let go of everything). 

To the life of a Midwife.

To the life of the unexpected. 

To the life of letting go and opening up.

We we able to visit many national parks during our trip south: Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Carlsbad caves, and even passed by Guadalupe Mountains. The experiences were truly awe-inspiring. The massive nature of these formations/locations made me feel small/naive and yet inspired/alive. Teaching me that despite the challenges that presented during the day life is beautiful/fragile/breathing. 

Life is for the taking, but am I showing up? Am I living to my potential? Am I finding distractions to hold me back for an amazing life, the best life? Is the then defining my now?

It's time to jump. Leaping in faith of a dream/idea/passion. 

I taking a chance. 

I'm trying. 

I'm attempting. 

I'm investing. 

I'm gambling.

Love to you all and to your journey maybe you realized that you are deserving of all the beautiful/rich/pure/authentic things that come your way.

Every moment is new.

.bucka-licious.

I love rural Washington. 
It's so peaceful and invigorating. 
I curled up to read THIS that filled my mind with big thoughts and long moments of wonder. 
We went on long drives to find ghost towns and abandoned barns so lovely you wonder who could ever leave them. 

It reminded me to reconnect on a daily basis with this beautiful land.

I'm now off to Chicago with my Sister for a week of city fun with the cousin. Thank you, Southwest Airlines for offering great holiday fares.  WOOHOO!

What are you holiday plans?

.woolly mammoths.

I was born and raised in Central Washington something that seemed painful to me as a child - small town syndrome? I couldn't wait to run away - and run away I did. Sometimes I think I have to run to find the answers and there they are (most of the time) right in front of me. I've had a "plan" for years now returning from Malawi the "plan" doesn't seem to fit anymore.

I don't really believe in the system anymore. 

There is something shocking and isolating with that conclusion...then what do I do? How do I find purpose/worth? I'm not sure. So my Dad and I headed out of town for a short day drive around NCW and this is what we found:

There is beauty all around me, whether it is known or unknown, planned or unplanned, and I have all I need.

much love to you all.