365 days 151-170

This is the point when it's fall here (the first day of fall, to be exact! Though you wouldn't know it considering how hot it is outside #climatechangeisreal. I did discover a hack to making it SEEM like fall weather despite living in the south, though - just sit in your car for about five minutes with the air conditioner off until it feels like a sauna, and then open the car door. Any slight breeze at that point will feel better than the 100+ degree conditions you were INSIDE of your car! It's like a fall wonderland, at that point! BRILLIANT!), but it's still summer in my 365 archives (that was a long cutaway within the parentheses...as is this one). So in order to catch up a bit, I'm going to start doing larger photo dumps so we can get back to September! As I've mentioned before, my goal is to post my entire 2017 365 project on the blog and I don't want to get too far into 2018 and grow tired of the posts like I did in 2016. Now time for some more summery pictures!





151/365

June is

Pride

month, and as a special favor for Dylan we had Kogi and Zeppo paint rainbow pictures for a silent auction. He did an amazing job helping to organize the events for the second ever Pride Festival here in our town (including the first annual Pride Parade!), so it was amazing to support him in his endeavors.

And the second photo is just a sweet moment between my parrot love and I ♥





152/365

The first day of summer!!! I had to go shopping so ended up taking some photos of things that reminded me of the season ahead - rainbow kayaks, fat little succulents in the garden center, and also apparently the overly chatty and helpful greeter perched atop his scooter.



153/365

The bridge lit with rainbow lights for the Pride Festival.





154/365

The first annual Pride Parade in our town! We drank heavily, watched people marching in the parade and sporting their rainbow colors, and then drank some more. It was WONDERFUL!



155/365

Raindrops on my window.





156/365

I pulled a shift in the Caribbean Wing and took some pictures of these cuties pies. They're so pretty!!



157/365

One of the musk turtles in the cenote pool of the Caribbean Wing.



158/365

Where the Sidewalk Ends (but in real life).



159/365

Chalk art in a coffee shop (I appreciate good pigeon art).



160/365

There was a lovely full moon over the ocean. It felt like the perfect summer night.





161/365

So I wanted to take a photo of a popsicle because I thought, what's more summery than that? However, the only popsicles we had were these bizarre, skinny pencil pops. And that ended up looking INCREDIBLY phallic, like even more so that a rocket pop or something else of that caliber. And then I decided to take photos of it in my mouth and then sort of between my feet and I just...I can't. I don't know, but here are my photos for the day (though I do like the colors of the second photo a lot).





162/365

We do several feeding recalls a day with our birds - one of the most fun ones is for our blue crowned mot-mots. We hold little pinkie mice between our fingers and puff two blasts on a whistle to signal that food is available. They then swoop down in an impressive loop to grab the food right from our hands - SO COOL!!



163/365

Our house number fell off the wall and we...never put it back up. The pizza guy got really mad at us. But CLEARLY it's still there, just buried in a waterlogged flowerpot! A tender reminder of the Matagorda Mansion as the date to move out neared.



164/365

Scarlett the pretty girl. When she arrived she was a little bit of a monster - aggressive, overexcitable, and incredibly hard to read. But now she's so good and I love her (but I loved her before, too).



165/365

A Portland sunset.





166/365

We went to an Office themed quiz! The decorations were apt - with office supplies on each table and terribly colored balloons to emulate the birthday party that Dwight and Jim threw Kelly. There was even a large banner that read "THIS IS THE QUIZ." It was SO MUCH FUN, but really hard! There was a $5 buy-in and whoever won got the whole pot (that was not us, we were like eleventh or something). At one point we did win this Office sign during a bonus challenge, which was cool!!



167/365

Earlier in the week my parents made the incredibly tough and heartbreaking decision to euthanize my first dog, Taffy. I had to work the day they did it, and I didn't want to know what time she was being put down. I just asked for them to make it her best day ever. It was the correct move considering that she was about 15 years old, a bit senile, and suffering from liver failure - she had already lived several months longer than anyone expected and I was able to see her last Christmas (where we also made paw print ornaments with her). However, I was still very upset (of course). Knowing that I was having a hard week and that I loved poodles, Andie asked me to come help out at the weekend dog training class and to work with Frida, this beautiful red poodle puppy. It was a lot of fun and, like always, ended in a puppy swimming party. I got an iced coffee, cuddled with Frida, and hung out with Andie and knew things were going to be okay. Miss Taffy so much, and whenever I see a photo of her my heart pangs, but I know she was in a lot of pain and it was the best decision. She couldn't live forever. I love you, little Tiffoh.



168/365

Move-in day!! I finally moved into my new apartment, my first one ever on my own! Dylan helped me load up the moving van at the old place and then we headed out on the open road to my new apartment complex. That was when I was first introduced to THE CUBAN. My neighbor was a shirtless, old, cuban man hanging out in his lawn chair in the front yard with a table tray full of Coronas and a speaker system BLARING tejano music. It was insane. We hurriedly unloaded the van under his watchful eye and then picked up Dylan's sectional from his storage unit that he was donating to me. Then the next wave came to help - Sean - where we attempted to move the incredibly heavy and awkward sectional into my new living room. This is where Cuban neighbor (I still can't remember his name) helped us to rotate and heave the couch into its proper place and then offered us beers. He spoke only in Spanish and asked slightly creepy questions like if I was living alone, if Sean was my boyfriend, if I had kids, and (finally) if I wanted to go to Walmart with him later. NO THANKS. Sean told me sincerely he hoped I didn't get murdered and then left to get ice-cream. THANKS, SEAN. Luckily I'm still kickin' in my new apartment and my Cuban neighbor is more of just a kooky oddball than anything.



169/365

There were two phases of an amazing sunset this night, which is why I wanted to compile them both into one image. My new porch has a great view of the park behind the complex, so I get to see the uninhibited sunset every night.



170/365

The Matagorda Mansion had an amazing chalkboard wall that everyone would write and draw on when they came to our house - for parties, movie nights, orphan Christmases, volunteer appreciation dinners, the whole shebang. By the time we all moved out the message board was filled with doodles, messages, and signatures that remind me just how amazing the household was. It was truly the end of an era and I will miss it dearly ♥

365 days 141-150

141/365


Our facility has a staff party at the opening minor league baseball game of the season every year with free food and drinks. This year we enjoyed the game for about an hour before the skies opened up and a downpour of epic proportions was dumped on us. We all screeched and ran for shelter, ducking into the walk-in pantry for some protection against the wind. I was tipsy and irritated, feeling trapped and bored as I restlessly paced throughout co-workers. I finally asked the stadium employees for some trash bags and told Dylan that we were braving the storm to slog to a bar down the road where some of our friends were gathered. He complained bitterly as we pulled on our trash bag ponchos, but both of us were in awe as we ventured out into the storm. We had to ford small rivers that soaked through Dylan's shoes and completely inundated my own flip flops (I almost took them off). Our trash bags helped keep our electronics dry, but did little else as lightning split the sky repetitively above us. We finally made it to the bar and waited for the storm to die down before heading home.



142/365


Even though cities are probably not the best environment for most horses, I still enjoy seeing a well-decorated horse-drawn carriage.3



143/365


With Elise's wedding coming up I knew I needed a wedding gift, so I donated to her honeymoon fund and started a scrapbook for her and her husband-to-be. I love the look of the scrapbook (I'm a sucker for gold foil). This shot was hard to make happen.



144/365


Bagel breakfasts are the best breakfasts.



145/365

I flew to California for Elise's wedding weekend - we were at a beautiful ranch property just an hour or so away from Yosemite. It was absolutely gorgeous, with a scenic lake overlook, a flower and vegetable garden, and a dove loft.


146/365

The aforementioned flower garden, where we took many of our bridal party photos a couple of days later.





147/365

Before more guests showed up, the core crew of ladies (aka the bridesmaids) wandered off into the flower garden when we weren't needed and swung from the limbs of a gnarled old tree with a thick trunk. We could also be found cuddling with the ranch golden retrievers, who were absolutely darling!





148/365

We got in early for a REASON! There's nothing I love more than a good lake day! We all drank beers and floated in the water with Brady, one of the goldens, hanging lazily onto the floaties with us (or otherwise hunting for minnows in the shallows). Earth barked at us from shore while other dogs belly-flopped off the dock. The enormous lake trampoline was hard to actually jump on, but it worked well as a giant party boat. We kayaked up the small tributaries feeding into the lake, watching red-winged blackbirds flitting through the reeds while listening to "Just Beyond the Riverbed". When it was time for the rehearsal dinner, I had to catch a ride with Laura as she canoed back to shore, considering I'd floated to the far end of the lake while sipping a Landshark. It was a GLORIOUS day.







149/365

Elise's wedding day!!! I did get a few photos of the bride and her groom, but honestly they paled in comparison to what the actual wedding photographer captured. I instead focused my lens on the smaller details - the pouring of champagne into personalized glasses made for us by one of the bridesmaids, new and old friends (my loves), sweet puppy faces, and DANCING! So many dancing photos! It was a beautiful wedding with beautiful souls.


150/365

On our last day at the ranch, we woke up incredibly early to spend time down at the lake with Laura. We sat on the dock with cups of coffee, early morning mist clinging to the lake, and nuzzled Brady as we said our goodbyes. I had seen Laura just a week prior to the wedding, but this was a more permanent farewell. We hugged one another and quickly wiped tears from our eyes as she left for the airport. Drea and I did the same a couple of hours later after one last beer in the terminal at Fresno Airport.