The temperatures are finally dropping, the sun is slanting, and the colors are changing. Time for some hiking!

About two months ago I got a promotion at Whole Foods and am now “Sales Driver” for the Specialty Department (Beer, Wine, Cheese, Olives, Coffee & Juice). I wanted to wait to write about the position until I felt really comfortable in it…and I finally do…although I am definitely still learning.

The most basic description of my job is to increase sales through in-store sampling and demonstrations. A day at work could be as simple as giving away cheese samples. But there’s a lot of variables that can make even that task complicated: how do I know which cheese to sample (cost/inventory/taste/price/specials), where do I set up (placement of product/day of the week/time/store-wide events/foot-traffic/weather), and I have to balance the direction I get from a variety of specialists and those in leadership.

Basically, I work for everyone in the entire store…juggling their expectations and the needs of every department. That’s the hard part.

The fun part is in the freedom I have to be a creative problem solver. I’m given a huge number of variables and expectations and have to find my own way through them. It takes a lot of confidence and a lot of coffee to do the research, outline the goal, decide on a course of action, plan for every step, actually implement the event/solution, and then reflect on how everything went, communicate my successes and failures to the team, and think about how I can do it better next time.

I have a healthy balance of time in the store, interacting with customers, and time in the office, planning and learning operations. I’m really enjoying learning everything I can about how the company works and meeting everyone that’s in it. My favorite part of my job is still the people I work with. I feel lucky to be able to say that. And I feel supported by them.

Tomorrow I’m beginning my first day of some more in-depth training that will prepare me to move into a leadership role. I’m also working with the Marketing team and am expressing my desire to incorporate graphic design into my role with the company. So much has changed already and I’ve only been with the company for eight months! I feel very optimistic about the track I’m on and I’m still glad everyday that I work for Whole Foods…you just can’t beat this group of people.

AND I’m learning so much about cheese! I’ve got beer and wine in my sights too and hope to become quite the snob…

In the meantime, I’m already eating healthier and cooking more at home. My recipes are becoming more complex and are including the “specialty” ingredients I work with everyday. How can you taste a freshly-cut, amazing cheese and not bring some home with you?

The exceedingly wet spring I described in my last post continued, intensified, and caused flooding and destruction through central Texas. A month later, the rain is letting up but this year continues to feel tropical…more like Costa Rica than Texas.

In the middle of these storms, Austin held its regional Burn event, Flipside. The wet conditions made it unlike any Flipside yet – less art, no art cars, sticky mud covering everything, wind and rain, flooding, and it even got dangerous at the end when the water kept rising until people were forced to abandon their belongings and seek higher ground.

Despite all the hardships, this was my favorite Flipside yet. Every problem brought the community closer together – we struggled together, we helped each other selflessly, and we laughed and smiled our way through it all. I left feeling filled up with gratitude, with a more open and trusting heart, and with friendships made deeper.

So, what is Flipside? Here’s an excerpt from the survival guide:

Burning Flipside is an experiment in collaborative community featuring art and music created by those who attend. Attendees are known as participants (there are no spectators at Flipside; everyone collaborates in some way to create the event). Inspired by the Burning Man festival, it is a place for radical self-expression and an experiment in community building. It is a place of acceptance, inclusivity, and respect. It is organized entirely by volunteers. The art and entertainment is created solely by participants. There are no concession stands. No cash transactions are permitted at Flipside – even bartering is discouraged. This is a sincere experiment in creating a gift economy. If you need something, ask for it. If you have it, gift it.

Our events foster an environment of creative self-expression, where participants feel supported to honestly express their inner selves, through artistic creation, performance, and in their social interactions.

This is the longest and wettest spring I have experienced in Austin. The creeks are overflowing, the grass is tall, and frogs and turtles are out and about. The air is thick with humidity and the scent of flowers.

I just turned thirty and for the first time in years I actually feel like this birthday means something. It seems that a change has been brewing in me for some time and turning thirty has led to a few conversations with other women that have enabled me to see and digest that change.

To sum it up: my values are more defined and are, to a greater extent, shaping the way I live my life.

I’m experienced enough to see how delicate and fleeting life is. And I’ve seen how much people need each other. Being selfish, self-conscious, or vain is a waste of time and energy and, if taken to an extreme, will make you feel isolated.

Love isn’t an emotion – it’s a set of behaviors. People share their love when they stand by you, support you, listen to you. Love is chicken soup when you’re sick. Love is dependable, honest, kind, and loyal. It might tell you things you don’t want to hear (like an uncomfortable truth) but it will never turn its back on you or shut you out. Love is the most precious thing in life.

It’s okay to try and fail. Trust and honor the people who are there to help you start over and prepare yourself to return the favor. Everyone has to start over every now and then.

Life is unfair and unpredictable. Everyone has a story of loss or heartache. Rather than being overwhelmed by an existential crisis, embrace the nature of life and allow it to make you kinder to your fellow man. See beyond yourself and realize that when it feels like the whole world is against you – it’s not – and you always have the power to help yourself and others.

Self-care is crucial. In our busy lives the first thing we tend to neglect is ourself. We do it in small ways that are unnoticeable at first: maybe we’re not eating as healthy as we want, too busy to exercise today, not enough time to read that book you’ve been looking forward to. But neglecting ourselves can become a habit that becomes the norm. It is important to find down time when one can be alone with their thoughts, to examine ourselves, and become aware of goals we are sabotaging.

Balance in life is achieved just as it is on a rope: with wiggles, uncertainty, and constant back-and-forths. The key to balance is to keep looking forward.

There are times in my life when, magically, everything comes together…wishes are granted, dreams realized, order and beauty revealed. It can last a moment or theme in an entire chapter of my life.

The last time I remember feeling this way was about two years ago. Back then I called it “cosmic shit” and I was repeatedly amazed by how perfectly things in my life were fitting together. But over time I forgot about such serendipity.

Until a few weeks ago.

My art group’s meetings are loosely based on a book, “The Artist’s Way,” and we had reached the section on synchronicity.

And it started:

I hadn’t had time to get “The Artist’s Way” from the library, but then my friend Laura found an extra copy and lent it to me. I wouldn’t have had time to read it, but then my mother took me on vacation. A vacation I sorely needed. And while reading through the book I came to some text that hit me:

“If you do one nice thing a day for yourself, God will do two more. Be alert for support and encouragement from unexpected quarters. Be open to receiving gifts from odd channels: free tickets, a free trip, an offer to buy you dinner, a new-to-you old couch. Practice saying yes to such help.”

I was on a free trip, received a free ticket to a concert from friends which I’d be attending the day after my return to Austin, had been offered dinner, and had been offered an old couch! It was all already happening. I need only awaken to the power of yes and start owning these cosmic gifts! (If this is sounding too “out there” for you remember that it’s all about awareness and self care…and who couldn’t use more of that?)

From that moment on I’ve started noticing such gifts and connections all around me. And I’ve started saying “yes” a whole lot more. All the hard work I’ve done is paying off and things are falling into place.

Opportunities abound, one need only notice them.

The art club I joined occasionally does what’s called an art exchange.

This begins with everyone bringing something with them to a meeting. We draw names out of a hat and your give your “thing” to the person whose name you’ve drawn. That person then creates a new “thing” (a song, painting, story, whatever) based on what they’d received. And the exchange can continue from there as a sort of creative game of telephone – all media are welcome.

I love it when we get to the part of our meeting where we unveil our exchanges…it’s like Christmas morning! Last week we were treated to stories, poems, paintings, a big painted face mask, viola and percussion, and electronic music.

Because this exchange has continued into its fourth turn I decided to document the line of what I’ve dubbed the Ouroboros (an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail): It began as a leather bracelet, became a poem, then a drawing, and I expect this week it will become a song.

ROUND 1 (A Leather Bracelet):

ROUND 2 (Poem by Laura Granfortuna):

What prompts the Ouroboros
To thus consume his tail?

To push his piercing fang
Into his armored scale?

Does he seek completion,
A circle’s perfect poise?

Is he so full of loathing,
That he himself destroys?

Perhaps it is defiance
At God’s unjust design

A premature attrition
Unto the tide of time

Does he begin to waver,
Drunk on his poison blood?

As the heady venom
His veins begins to flood;

Will he continue eating
‘Til he is but a head?

Will he stay there motionless
and withering ’til dead?

Is but this trifling paradox
To make us hesitate?

To lead us to abandon
Fruitless worries for our fate.

ROUND 3 (Drawing by me):

UPDATE:

ROUND 4 (Logo Design & Poem):

Before RVing I had a wonderful job as a graphic designer at The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. I have a degree in and passion for design. Art and design will always be part of my life.

But on the road I chose to focus on writing, photography, painting, weaving, drawing, and dance – other ways of being creative that I hadn’t had time for while working.

When I returned to Austin the natural decision would have been to plunge back into regular office work at a design firm or as an in-house designer. I did apply, and even interviewed a bit, but I found that my approach lacked enthusiasm and I realized I wasn’t ready to return to a desk.

I started considering other professions. Soon my “just in case I don’t land a design job immediately” options became my most exciting and sought-after job options.

I landed at Whole Foods, a company I have always admired, at the flagship store (which I have often hung out in), working at the juice bar.

So far the experience has been tremendous. I love the physicality of the job (combined with my bike commute, it has made me stronger than ever) and the constant interaction with people. I also love that my coworkers are generally happy, idealistic people who try to make the world a better place.

The company is very supportive of its employees and I was immediately asked what future I’d like to have with it…

It didn’t take me long to meet the marketing team and land a couple shifts with them. They taught me how to paint the chalk boards that decorate the store and how to make some holiday displays. It was fun to feel crafty and to get to know new parts of the massive, maze-like store. I will continue to pursue opportunities to use my art and design skills at Whole Foods. And in the meantime I’m picking up some freelance design work and joining an art club.

The trip from Eugene to Austin was a quick one but we were still able to enjoy some neat stuff along the way.

Most memorably:

I love Moab even more after this return trip. We stayed far out from the city and down inside a canyon. The campground was ours alone and far from the road, away from the sounds of dune buggies. Yair snuggled the RV up against a red rock wall and parked us within walking distance of a wonderfully lush, cool, and shaded river bed which provided a comfortable place to spend the afternoon. It is heaven in Moab at sunset.

RVing has been a lesson in simplicity and I intend to carry all that I’ve learned into the life I remake for myself in Austin. Simplicity applies to many areas and in different ways. Fewer possessions, fewer desires, honesty (as in doing what you say you are going to do which eliminates the nagging feeling of “I need to…” or “I should have…”), accepting and embracing other people’s freedom and choices (not taking things personally or trying to control others), and letting go of negative thoughts and feelings which can become obsessive (like unhelpful worry about the future). I’ve been living with less baggage and living more in the now and it’s been eyeopening, freeing.

I might be reaching a zen state. Let’s see if I can hold on to it as I plunge back in to work and city life…

So much has happened since Burning Man!

I have been away from the internet and neglecting my blog. Immediately after Burning Man I came down with a pretty bad stomach flu which definitely didn’t make me want to write or really do anything.

But now I’m feeling healthier than ever and trying to catch up.

Post burn we spent a few days in Reno taking care of the RV and ourselves – laundry, Yair hosed down every inch of the RV to get the dust off, getting Catty back from his baby-sitters, sleeping, etc. Then we were off.

We hiked through lava tubes (like long caves) at Lassen National Forest, stayed at the very relaxing Algoma campground (free!) in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest where we could hike along a river and visit waterfalls, spent an afternoon at Crater Lake, explored the wonders and waterfalls in the Umpqua National Forest (amazing!), and arrived in one of Yair’s favorite cities – Eugene, Oregon.

I found Eugene eerily similar to my hometown (Greensboro, NC) and felt refreshed by time in a city. In just two days I visited a “raptor center” (with 50 rescued birds of prey to gawk at), hiked a hilltop trail, went to Ecstatic Dance, ran a four-mile river trail, ordered a supremely good cappuccino, browsed record and book stores, visited glass-blowers, ate Thai food (it’s been too long!), and took a brewery tour. It was great to have so many things to do and to be around so many different kinds of people.

Yair and I have both been missing life in Austin and have been struggling with sharing so much time and so little space. And Eugene was a wonderful reminder of all the things Austin has to offer.

After some difficult conversations Yair and I have acknowledged the hardships of living so close to each other and so far from our friends and have decided that the best thing to do is return to Austin. Sadly, we are turning away from the coast and toward the south where we will, happily, find more balance in our lives. My time in the RV may be coming to an end but my adventures will continue. Now, off to Idaho!