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row 1:: on St. Patrick's day, I downloaded an app that transforms iphone photos into polaroids (since I'm secretly incredibly whimsical and love hipster things), so I played around with it. Chagh looks like he's trying to be an Abercrombie and Fitch model haha//Megan LOVES St. Patrick's day and had to miss her brother's surprise 30th bday party/st. patties day extravaganza, so we surprised her with our OWN St. Patrick's Day party! Leeann and Troy are both holding jello shots in their hands//Our bowl of jello shot. We no longer bother with actual cups, we just dump some lemoncello into lime jello and voila! We labelled spoons and Megan and I jealously guarded the bowl all night long (well, for the half an hour it lasted)//we started our party early, like 6:30 PM, since we had to work the next day (it was a Sunday). So to make us feel less bad about being wasted at 8:00 PM, we put post-it notes covering all time-relaying devices on the counter, assuring us that it was only time to party.
row 2:: A series of selfie shots with the MN family during the St. Patrick's Day party. I love them all so much :')
row 3:: A watercolor painting of a Great Grey Owl//I finished my first journal in years. A documentation of my life in the woods//what I wore Easter Edition: my fancy blue and black lace covered dress with black leggings, sparkly rainboots, and my Batman hoodie (well, I had to go feed my owl)//Nolarbear and I
row 4:: Chagh, Troy, and I at the St. Patrick's Day party, shortly before Megan, Leeann, and I all danced on the countertop to Ke$ha//Poppy aka Pop, Lock, and Drop It sprawled out on the classroom steps//Eagle Bluff's beautiful Turkey Vulture that I was obsessed with, I love vultuls//more TUVU love
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row 1:: more "what I wore" on Easter Sunday, the less owl feeding/still cold weather version//my new cleverly designed (if I do say so myself) yoga pants//rainbow birds watercolor painting//Falcon Heights was a school that both Megan and I liaisoned for and when we started taking down signs after they left we found this written on the whiteboard in the lounge. I was pretty happy about it
row 2:: my brother and I had a late night text conversation about people in animal facilities who ignore others because they deem them unimportant or less worthy. Even though it's definitely true that animal trainers are hot shit (I mean, come on), but that doesn't mean everyone else is unimportant. In fact, those other people are working hard to make YOUR life easier, and to sell people on YOUR show. So this entailed//my baby girl stepped up with no trilling or evading, she is doing so well in comparison to last year//visiting an organic, free-range and humane kill livestock farm where they raised adorable fluffy scottish cows that rubbed their heads against fences and ruminated for minutes on end while maintaining eye-contact beneath their bangs//an amazing yet slightly terrifying jaguar cat hat that Troy found somewhere and gave to me. I've since then given it back to the public aka our house
row 3:: looking through old baby photos, I found this stellar picture of me pretending like my crib is a convertible and I'm picking up babes//indulging in one of my favorite pastimes: painting and watching Netflix//the finished product//a woodcock we named Lars trying to find bugs outside our house. Snow in April = no fun. Please also check out the adorable woodcock dance that they do, we saw Lars perform it right outside our steps
row 4:: a watercolor painting I did for my sustainable energy class//we had a surprise luau party for Jess, our intern coordinator, and I drew this sign for her with all of us present in stick figure form//this...was May. FML//little bird tracks on top of the ice. SO CUTE
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row 1:: one of Erik's adorable little birds he draws to mark where he's been//cooking maple syrup over the fire (or more appropriately the sap, which is now thickening into syrup)//my Daddy visited me and the boys set up a whisky tasting for him//taking advantage of the maple syrup fire, sitting around and drinking
row 2:: a sad and beautiful thing, a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet with its breeding crown found dead outside the dining hall//the wetlands on an evening birding walk//my dad and I found a blue-spotted salamander in the boot hallway in front of the dining hall, so we brought him back to the house for a mini-photoshoot on our little moss cup//cute little guy (no worries, he was returned to a safer location nearby the boot hallway)
row 3:: our new BOREAL OWLLLL!!!! Jeff and I went to The Raptor Center to pick him up where I geeked out majorly; this is him (his name is Odin) in his training cube//our beloved Tree Frog who has been at the Audubon Center for the past five years died, so I buried him near the vernal pool:(//Happy Cinco de Mayo! If you think that parties are basically happening all the time, that's because they are. We go through a lot of glowsticks and booze//the sunset from Jessica's porch, where we sipped Tequila Sunrises
row 4:: the traditional Porch Night candle//a beautiful burst of sun from the cloud cover on a walk home//homemade maple syrup gifts!//a (blurry) close-up of Odin
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row 1:: a disgruntled Snowy Owl drawn during a debrief meeting//upon watching one of our favorite shows, "Toddlers and Tiaras", Megan and I had a brilliant idea: A NATURALIST PAGEANT! So we made a sign-up board with three categories, Teaching Wear, Creative Sportswear, and Outfit of Choice. Everyone signed up eventually with a date set and the runway (the dock) booked, but unfortunately it never happened//Mother's Day was spent ordering pizza and watching Safe Haven with Megan. Even though I wasn't with my Mam, I did get to spend it with another one of my favorite people//we discovered a new bar called The Red Star, where we listened to live music and indulged in berry infused vodka and shots called Starbursts
row 2:: My very first martini EVER! I had a carmel appletini with UV vodka (which is apparently made in Minnesota)//delightful burgers that our own personal chef, Chagh, made us for dinner one night//a beautiful day to take the children on a hike//the first signs of spring, tiny wildflowers sprouting from the dead leaves of last fall
row 3:: I went to Penn State for Natal's wedding! She had some hot air balloon themed cookies at her rehearsal dinner, and some unfortunate uncle of hers and to sit by myself, Rikki, and Thao (two of her adorable friends from Boston), so we decided to mess with him. Rikki ate two bites from her own cookie, then put it back in the wrapper and put it next to his plate. Waiting for him to notice was hilarious in its five-year-old prank status//we had a very fun morning the day of Natalya's morning and went to The Original Waffle House, yum!//strawberry waffle plus a side of bacon, mmmm//the art at the waffle house was bizarre, all of them pictured ruined civilizations with fancy birds of paradise perched on bowls of fruit. We decided it must by a post-apocalyptic society where birds now ruled and only ate fruit. ONLY. FRUIT.
row 4:: I did my hair ALL BY MYSELF on Natal's wedding day. I gave myself ringlets and wore my headband with a bow on it. I was happy with the amount of fabulous and adorable//the full outfit, with high-heeled shoes and makeup and everything!//my hot air balloon cookie//I tied a knot in a cherry stem at the bar one night in State College. That's right, I can do it
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row 1:: I loved this picture. Even though it's in the mirror of my hotel bathroom, I think I look pretty fierce//one of the beautiful centerpiece terrariums//drinks at the bar the night of Natal's wedding. A random lady gave us twizzlers and we taught the bartender how to make an AMF//another post hair and makeup shot before the wedding
row 2:: Henry the dapper puppy! One of Natal's friends has a daughter who needed a therapy dog, so Henry came into the picture. He was all dressed up for the wedding, adorably so, and so I demanded a picture//Natalya and Andrew at the alter//walking down the aisle, first steps as wife and husband
row 3:: the reception food was DELICIOUS. Not only was there an open bar where I became fast friends with the bartender (it was only open for an hour, we had a dangerous game to play), but the cookies were SO GOOD. I don't know if I'll ever have a cookie that good, I wish I had hoarded dozens of those cookies and hidden them under my bed. They were like pillows of deliciousness//a lovely stream in the woods that Jessi and I explored the day after the wedding//Greg, Brandon, and I at the bar after the wedding//Darla and Tyson
row 4:: one of the giant paper flowers that Natal and Mama Lahktakia made, I was fairly drunk at this point so this is a selfie of me smelling it...even though it's paper...//also, I CAUGHT THE BOUQUET! WHAT??? Really though, two people caught it before me: a married man and one of Natal's cousins who immediately tossed it away after she'd caught it. Once it arrived at me, I thought MEH sure! Now they're dried and sitting in a cup in my room//the next day, I said my goodbyes to Natal and then hung out with Jessi! My old graduate student from the U! She is now at Penn State for her Post-Doc, so we got some breakfast sandwiches and explored State College, which is ADORABLE//we went to a wetland to go birding!
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row 1:: trying to do the wetland forest justice, it was so beautiful. I felt like we were in a fairy tail, especially when we stumbled across the path cutting through the field of small, white flowers
row 2:: Jessi and I, scientist love//a teeny Northern Cricket Frog//a GIANT water bug found during Stream Superheroes after my whirlwind weekend in State College. Seriously HUGE//a Caddisfly larvae! My very first I'd ever seen, they're super cool and create little sleeping bag cases made of leaves, sticks, rocks, pebbles, or anything else they can find
row 3:: JMack holding an Eastern Bluebird egg//Easter Bluebird egg//the little nest//the secret hiding place of Rainbows the Tree Frog
row 4:: a Swainson's Thrush that I helped Clarissa band. This started my obsession with bird banding
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row 1:: blowing bubbles in my room because I can and I'm an adult. During the dancing portion of Natal's wedding, a spent equal amounts of time dancing, taking ridiculous photobooth pictures, and swiping golden bird and owl statues, jewels, and tubes of bubbles//my dried bouquet of flowers//an old school coffee tin we found on one of our forest walks//fungus among us
row 2:: I begged somebody to take a picture of me my this amazing tree. Look at its roots!//springtime//I love evening light//a Jack-in-the Pulpit
row 3:: Athena be-draggled after a bath//Poppy chowing down on a carrot. I've started taking more pictures of my animals now since I know I only have about a month left with them and I want to remember everything about them//a friend I made at the zoo. I call them Pharaoh Chickens//me and my new boyfriend
row 4:: my avian rehabilitation notes//Athena brooding an invisible egg//hot dog and sweet corn cookout. We played music, sat around the fire, and enjoyed each other's company on a spring evening and it was excellent//SPECIES FIIIIGHT
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row 1:: my mom and I went to the Lake Superior Zoo and really enjoyed the nocturnal building. Look at this adorable Bat-Eared Fox!//I was obsessed with this chicken in the education room, I made a video of myself talking to it even. She had the sweetest little voice!//BURROWING OWLLLL! I also took a million pictures of this burrowing owl
row 2:: the Burrowing Owls were so chill, it was amazing how down to earth they were. The newest addition to their collection was at first perching on top of the lightbulb (uncovered and dangerous), but then he flew down and immediately started preening in front of me, an anti-stress behavior, really//a guinea pig with a fabulous haircut//little fanged deer
row 3:: tiger is hanging out//preening and stretching, cute little guy!//another close-up of my favorite zoo resident
row 4:: Wrasslin' a snake//a pile of fuzzy goslings//Kookaburra! I used to work with a kookaburra at the aviary named Kinta who would chase after the shredded bottoms of my flares, thinking they were snakes, and who I could make call with my own off-key version of their warble//Pacman was looking for some bigger prey
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row 1:: the baby Eastern Bluebirds grew so quickly, almost ready to band at this point//a mess of feathers//baby Tree Swallow with his clown lips (no worries, songbirds have a very poor sense of smell and the mother will immediately accept her baby if placed back in the nest)//a Tree Frog we found at the wetland blind when my mom and I visited
row 2:: new Tree Frog conquest//my Mom and I went to a local cafe called Amy's where I saw that there was a Leeann's Wrap, which made me miss everyone a lot (because at this point, they had just left)//pigeon drawings from a book//working on the artifact cabinet
row 3:: Jeff was looking for a new daycare, and I think I found the perfect place//Mom ready for some canoeing//taking the afternoon off on a Monday to go canoeing with my mom was perfection//we brought a bag of gummy bears and a trash magazine with us. What's more luxurious than eating gummies and reading celebrity gossip in the middle of a lake?
row 4:: taking my hawk for a walk, nbd//Dakota loves the wind, she lifts her wings and tastes the breeze//I taught Creepy Crawly Creatures to some kids who were not so pleased about the amount of leeches in the vernal pool (which I only told them about AFTER the plunged in), and I found this on the wildlife sightings board later//a large white, fluffy dog that knew I needed some lovings, so he shoved his head into my knees and allowed me to give him a full on hug. Therapy at its finest
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row 1:: Noah's Ark?//we visited a board member's house who lives on a farm and built a giant lighthouse/silo/study outside of his house. It was the most amazing writing studio I have ever seen, the windows were thrown open and a glorious breeze drifted through the round room, a futon was set up in the corner for reading and naps...basically, it was perfect. I would pay money to be able to spend time there//a Barred Owl he sculpted to by the lookout of the tower//banding the baby bluebirds
row 2:: went to Duluth and had watermelon margaritas. We then forcibly brought back summer with us//that night, we saw fireflies and chased them through the field. Then we found perfect daisies and put them in our hair. This is my memory of the first night of summer//TIE DYE! My second official time doing it, I dyed socks, tank tops, and shirts//Megan's awesome rainbow tie-dye
row 3:: Lake lovin'. Lord knows I will miss this lake
row 4:: We found a Painted Turtle in the middle of the road and helped it across. Tis the season//There are a lot of gorgeous wildflowers blooming in the prairie, so I made Megan hike with me to pick some. We suffered a lot of mosquito bites, but it was worth it//my most recent fortune, you are often the life of the party". It's not really a fortune, but it's true...//Spike was so hot one day that he stretched himself across his ice block and laid there for an hour. Spikers love his ice blocks and his walkies.
A lot of quick flashbacks into my life for the past few months, but we're not quite caught up yet. This summer there has also been:
-Outdoor concerts (Trampled by Turtles and Atmostphere!) with all it entails, glowsticks, vine videos, local beer and vodka, Pizza Luce, and dancing like maniacs
-Swimming in the lake, feeling the sun beating down and the wind drying the droplets of water off your skin
-Campfire and cookouts, making banana boats, brats, and sweet corn
-Fish-printing, a naturalist tradition of using fish stamps to make shirts
-Tree Swallow banding
-book reading on the pontoon
-taking Spike for walks
-training both Cleo and Cica
-bike riding through the woods (not enough due to terrible TERRIBLE mosquitos right now, but more soon hopefully)
-destroyed swim floaties from Target
-firefly chasing
What I've been Reading
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill:: This book was PHENOMENAL! The writing was superb, the pacing excellent, and the story incredibly unique. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, and it shows, but he is much better at ending his books than his dad. Read it, you won't be sorry.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern:: Another good one, though I did "cheat" on this book and start reading NOS4A2 in the middle of it since I was so intrigued by the description given to me by Raphael, then I went back to this book. Though not AS exciting as NOS4A2, and the pacing is a little bit slower as well as puzzle-like, it was still a really good book if you're patient enough to read and piece everything together.
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon:: I'm not finished with this book yet, but I'm a HUGE fan of The Shadow of the Wind, so when I learned that Zafon had written a sort of prequel to that book, I knew I had to read it. So far the story is intriguing, though I think the writing is not quite as good as it was in his first book (but I did read that one in high school). Still, good writing compared to 75% of the books I've ever read and I love the dark stylings.
What I've been Watching
Beyond Borders:: a mysterious VHS tape we found next to the VCR while hooking it up to watch Legally Blonde, we read the back and it sounded INTENSE. So the next night we watched it and were blown away by how crazy it was. Basically, Angelina Jolie realized that even though they're at a relief benefit, they are all entitled white people so she goes to Ethiopia to help out and pay for supplies. It ends up being a romance story between her and the mostly upset doctor played by Clive Owen, even though they see each other like once every four years. If you feel like paying attention for two hours and feeling really angry about entitled white people and power-hungry mercenaries, watch Beyond Borders!
Cake Boss:: I started watching this today while writing this blog post since the Internet is being miraculously "fast", and it is SO CRAZY. It's fun to see them decorate masterful cakes as well as scream profanities at each other.
Grey's Anatomy:: Um, basically I love this show. It is so incredibly addicting, Megan and I couldn't stop watching it until the Internet forced us to get back to our real lives by refusing to work. It's a drama about medical interns and is the BEST. Oldie but a goodie (new to me).
What I've been up to
-Applying for jobs! I know I want more of a raptor or bird oriented placing, but I still want the education aspect, so I've applied to a couple of places I feel really strongly about. We'll see! I've already been getting more correspondence than I had been this time last year, so that's good!
-Bird banding! I'm OBSESSED! It's so much fun and scientific research!
-Making more charms for the store and attempting to perfect my technique each time.
-Forcing myself to go outside, even though the mosquitos make me want to die. It is seriously so terrible outside, every time you step foot into the woods you're swarmed by hundreds of mosquitos desperate to suck your blood. Luckily, there has been wind the past few days, so that has kept it bearable enough for us to go swimming.
If you've read this entire post, kudos to you. I felt the need to create a large, all-encompassing blog post to pin-point the small but important moments of my life here in the woods. Much love.
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