Denver

If I were doing this chronologically, I would have Denver come before the move, but I am not that organized. Anyway, I went to the Journaling Conference in Denver last month. I copied the home page for the conference to post here. It was great fun, and I got to meet so many of my Collective Journey friends:


Connie (my roomie at the Denver Sheraton)


Gina


Fran


Paula


Linda


Kay


Betsy (and Bob)


Elaine


Amy


Ellen


Debby T


Mari


Catherine E (and Sam)


We all hung out together and had a wonderful time. Lots of great journaling ideas. I actually have started writing in my journal again. I took apart my program and put the great parts in my paper journal.

Don't we look like we are having fun? Kay and Linda were not there, being so busy being the hostesses for the whole thing. I don't know where Gina and I were when this was being taken. I think Paula took this picture. Mari popped in an out, as she was busy with her music teacher. I would do it again in a heartbeat, if it meant I could meet so many CJ members in one place.

I only spent 50 dollars on books, and treated myself to a new journal. I realized I am such a word person, and visual journaling might be fun. I took classes in bodywork, writing my way through transitions, (not doing a good job of that), memoir writing (handling secrets), bibliotherapy for kids (Amy's class), and then we did a panel discussion on CJ and how we operated. It's amazing that we have been going for 10+ years now and are still as strong, if not stronger than ever.

My new home

I know, it's been forever since I wrote anything, but I have been busy. I packed everything up and moved to Portland this past month. The pictures above are from the online web page for the place, and does not show any of the apartments. They aren't too bad, but they are about 30 years old. I am sharing a place with Heber to save money. It is a challenge, but I think we are doing all right. After living with Heather, I am sure anyone would be a breeze. The weather has been right for walking and I am doing quite a bit of it. We walk in the evening and go out into the neighborhood. The trip out here was three long days of driving into the sun, which gave me a constant headache. We spent essentially one day going through North Dakota, and one day going through Montana. The last day was spent crossing Idaho, part of Washington, and then heading into Oregon.

I miss the Midwest big time. It's a lot more laid back here, and will take some getting used to. Of course, I miss all my friends. After all, I had lived there for 10 years, almost to the day. It will take some time to get things sorted out.

I am job hunting, which has taken a lot of time, and not resulted in any positions yet. I am hoping that will change this next week.

Isn't it nice to see me writing about something besides socks?