Happenings

Life can be so full and exciting and overwhelming and crazy and exhausting sometimes all the time. The past couple weeks have been full of beautiful weather, cultivating deeper friendships, showing initiative at work, and letting go of a little control.

The weather in New Orleans right now is perfect. Purr-fect. Which is great, because there are so many events and festivals and happenings I can't keep my head on straight. This weekend I will be bike valeting at Bayou Boogaloo and you should totally join in on the bike second line.

I am also going to see the Dalai Lama speak tomorrow! I was able to make it this afternoon to the Monk's sand mandala sweeping ceremony. I took some video and pictures ('Rachel Williams' on Vine and Gayche87 on Instagram). 

I don't know if I told you, but my neighbors are pretty amazing. I had a chance to hang out with my neighbor and friend Thom a lot this week while is girlfriend was out of town for work. We shared meals and movies, and it was a wonderful reminder of how satisfying friendships can be. I say this as a person who previously was always in a romantic or sexual relationship with the opposite sex. This whole being purely just friends with a heterosexual male thing is new to me. And I don't mean to downplay the importance of friendship with the term "just friends", no, if anything it is opposite. The question of 'can men and women be just friends' is a very real question. If anything, for me, the hard part has been changing my way of thinking about males. I'm not sure if this is just me (pretty sure not), but the immediate "Okay, can I see myself sleeping/dating/marrying this guy" the minute I meet someone new is frustrating and exhausting. Yes, it may be natural (we are animals, roar), but I'd like to go beyond not acting on my impulses, but changing my brain wiring. I can go into my latest thinking on the theory of stereotypes against single people, but that may be a discussion for another time.....long story short; I've been happily discovering that by not focusing my energy and love into one specific person and relationship (getting caught up in the 'us' and future), I am able to share that energy more freely and openly.

So works been cray cray. Since this article in the Times Picayune hit, we have been super busy. Which is great. But not great when your dishwasher walks out and there are only a couple people keeping the show running. Luckily we've rallied a couple of good seeds the past couple days. If anything this experience has shown my bosses (and myself) what a commodity I am to the business. It has made me want to work harder, because I have an invested interest in what we are doing, and I truly believe in it. It's so satisfying and refreshing to like your job.

Speaking of invested interests, I signed of for the Eat Local Challenge. For the whole month of June, I will be consuming only food items produced or grown within 200 miles of New Orleans. Gasp! Everything; salt, oils, beverages. There are different levels of strictness of course, and I am planning on going all the way. It's kinda giving me anxiety, but I am still excited none the less. I will be charting my progress here (hopefully, my laptop broke gaaaa).

Another source of anxiety lately has been my cats. Oh, my cats. My loves, my babies, my itty bitties. I got a plethora of text messages and phone calls at work earlier in the week that my kitties had escaped from my apartment. How they got out doesn't matter, but the fact is they wanted out! After some thought, I decided to give it a go at letting them be outdoor cats. Oh my god, my heart. They don't want to come in, of course. It is the cutest thing, seeing them pounce around, chasing bugs and sunbeams, rolling in dirt (ga), and being animals. They don't want to come in, and I don't get as many kitty snuggles (sob). I am terrified of them getting hit by a car or not coming home for some other reason, alien abduction, I DON'T KNOW, whatever! But....there's no turning back. They love it...so I must be okay with giving up a little control. Some things (most things) are out of my hands...If I learned anything today from watching the monks destroy the beautiful sand painting that took them hours and days to complete, it's that nothing is permanent. Things change. Things happen. So enjoy the right now, as it's happening, in the present. And be thankful that you've had that.