So many little things

That make this adventure just perfect.

I love the distance Phoenix is from California that we are getting plenty of visitors.

I love palm trees now! Our little house has palm trees, I have always said that I hated palm trees and specifically told the realtor we wanted a house with trees but not with palm trees. Well we ended up with a house with palm trees in the front, back and on the side. And the three neighbors backing up to our house have palm trees towering out of there yards to. They always pissed me off because they are non-native to North America, and they don't provide the most amazing of shade. But you know what? They remind me of home, they remind of the eras of California and they represent warmth, relaxation and happy times. I love the way they make their own unique sound when the wind blows through them. And the other night I just realized that the palm trees that we have (that are really wide and nice) are perfect for non-shedding trees for the happy pool owner.

I love the fact that our backyard has no telephone poles. We're really lucky. It's such a little thing but it's nice, we have a beautiful sky to look up to.

I love the distance we are from the train just far enough away that when it bellows it makes you smile.

I love the distance we are from the jets taking off and landing. It's the perfect distance that only sometimes you can hear them faintly. It reminds of jets cruising overhead far away at my grandparents cabin.

I love the distance we are from a health food store, 24-hour Walgreens, 24-hour grocery store, Target, and the rest of Tempe.

I love the size of our house, just the right size, sometimes we could use something bigger, but most of the time it feels perfect.

I love the funky style of our house, at first I was embarrassed to have a flat roof mock south western, but now I'm so proud of embracing what my house, let's hear it 1968!

I LOVE our floor plan.

I LOVE our low windows.

I LOVE our pool, it's at an odd angle and it's not standard for a little tract home (no kidney bean here!) but it's big and nice and fits into our backyard perfectly.

I love our pool slide, new tricks are discovered everytime we show it to someone new.

I love our funky quarter basketball court. Sure it takes up the rest of our yard, but it's great for parties, and I have the fantasy of one day using it for the foundation of a pool cabana.

I love the used patio furniture we found on craigslist for 130 bucks. (even though I need to fix the cushions and the legs)

I love the distance we are from school. Just the right amount to be a perfect little bike ride, a quick car ride, but far enough away to be able to feel like I'm truly away from school.

I love our little adventure.

Watching Helvetica

Helvetica the documentary.

So nice to slip back into design and pay attention to every single detail around you until you are blue in the face.

The thoughts that have entered my mind so far. They talk about how all companies in the sixties transitioned to Helvetica from a huge mish mash of other things, and things just became simple, but dictorial? And erasure of all past mass confusion of beauty of all people of life and their ideas, to a white washed thing? There are positives and negatives. On the one hand the world has become to complex and complicated and you need simplification to continue to function. It's time for us to chose the best option from all the options and drop the rest and move forward. On the other hand variety is one of the keys to life. Eating the right things, the best things from all cultures is important to your diet. But variety in your diet is also so important. I think you get my drift.

And the other comment that they made that everything that comes after is secondary. That is possible, you can't get much simpler than the most simple, so the only place you can go from there is more complex, and of course only for the better because the most simple has already been created which you can always fall back. I like where where we are right now as humanity which sometimes so and sometime not is: cautiously growing complex.

The window is open and it is nice

I was going to say something about Goleta and I can't remember what it was. I don't know whether it was how beautiful outside it is right now, how badly I want to move back, or how I can get many of my friends that live elsewhere to relocate back here.

One thing I can say though is that we are locked in some bad habits, well good or bad depending on how you look at them. The desire to catch up with everyone we've been missing, and the desire so strong that we break the bank in the process. I mean that's fine, in some ways, but in other ways not. I think there is definitely a large number of dreams and realities at this point that are not on the same page.

I always wish I had talked about my day. Here it goes: simpler day, cajun with clare, getting ready to leave, and then doing a sister tour and seeing Christina at Mesa Cafe and seeing Stephanie at Chuck's. This was probably the last time we will see Stephanie working at Chuck's and that is sad. As if I didn't have enough dreams in my head, I hope that someday I can be well enough off to be a regular at Chucks.

Yesterday Dutch Gardens for the first time. Another first on a visit to the beautiful south coast. I can't remember the beer we had, but it was really good and made by monks.

The day before, Edomasa & Harry's for Dessert. During the day a nice chill session at the beach and then a mini-rafting adventure.

The day before, a beautiful bike ride in Goleta, Ming (with three Mai Tais, of which I was the only girl to complete) and Breaktime. Oh and beautiful walking home through the Goleta air.

The day before dinner with fam at Hollister Brewing Company and later in the evening Mercury Lounge. And also work in the morning with Donna because...

The day before I drove to LA with to go work with Donna and see houses that I had helped draw. It was really cool seeing all these houses that I had stared at in 2D for so long come to life, and one of them was fully completed and in use with a family living happily away. Very cool. Also I saw something that I had suggested come to life, a window between two interior spaces placed in a specific place in a hosue. It's technically my first design contribution and design contribution come to life (besides this other thing that I don't know how much actually came to be) but anyways it was very very cool. I believed they were calling in the beer window? or the more beer window? Or the beer and popcorn window? Anyways, rad.

 

Day before took care of some business, went to Goleta Beach and then went to Paul & Deanna's.

Day before successful rafting!!!! And going away party for Dan. And I think I've caught up to my last journal post.

 

Oh did I mention that once again when we return home tomorrow we are going to have non-stop visitors again?