Why My Life Is Amazing, by kelly peach

lets start at the top!

1. i finished the last set of exams i have to take in this first quarter, thus leaving me footloose and fancy-free.

2. first thing i did after finishing the exam (aside from drinking a glass of champagne with laura) was jump on my bicycle for a camping trip with my new favorite friend, mike millz. i was completely unaware that we were going to be climbing a mountain (empire grade for all you santa cruz savvy folks) on our bicycles with all our camping gear, so it was pretty intense. the crew that rode up with us was full of really rad new folks to meet too. so far i've met a sewing buddy, polo pals, movie makers, music makers, and more!

we all watched the sunset over the ocean (something santa cruz's bay rarely makes possible) while hanging out on a really beautiful outcropping of rock. i couldn't remember the last time i really felt like i was in the 'great outdoors', which is sad and disappointing. so, this was a wonderful refuge from 'the office'. ha.

3. camping was fantastic. my sleeping bag was still pretty playafied, and the damp dew in the morning definitely cleared up all the dust it was smothered in. apparently there was a meteor shower too. i felt like i missed most of the meteors, but there were enough shooting stars to make me giggle. more champagne too. hooray for celebrating.

4. in the morning we rode to the coast and took highway 1 home. it demystified that strip of concrete, which will hopefully encourage me to do more longer bike trips in the future. plus, the ocean is unbeatable. i feel so lucky everyday i catch a glimpse of that gurgling monster!

5. bike polo! last week a bunch of folks showed atop a parking structure for polo and it was a total blast. the brake set-up on the bike i was riding forced me to play right handed (and i'm a lefty), but i figured it out after a few games. i really want to push a regular polo game here, it's such a perfect combination of goofy without losing the potential for a really good competitive match. i love it.

6. the monterey bay aquarium topped off my weekend. a bunch of us went for FREE late sunday and it was amazing, as always. the cool thing about this visit was that we were almost completely alone. as predicted i sat with my eyeballs glued on the jellyfish the whole time. i even got to do a little sketching!

7. thanksgiving! joe took burnsy and me in last minute for his feast. it was a really exciting bustling cooking environment. at one point the oven was belching huge scary flames! at other times it was just full of nice smelling desserts. good friends + fantastic food + fire = fun.

8. i bought stuff on buy nothing day. go ahead, tell me i'm a bad person. i know.

9. burnsy, peter, and i ate cake.

10. i found the san francisco zine shop! i dropped off my zine and next week i'm going to check back with them and see if they would be interested in selling it. that would be a really fun adventure. i also bought a bunch of different zines to fill up the space between now and portland. burnsy may have gotten impatient.

11. bookstore! maybe someday i will read for fun again...

12. tasty meals all day long! cooking for yourself is silly when on vacation.

13. the city! what a beautiful place with too much for one gal's eyeballs to absorb. i love the graffiti. i love the victorians. i love the hills! i love the city hall.

14. bicycling in a foreign city! now that i travel my bicycle i always have a delightful sense of freedom and mobility. it makes me wonder how i explored cities without my bike...plus, there are loads of pretty bicycles to gawk at. pretty fixies everywhere!

15. art! can't wait to make some. i collected a lot of resources this weekend, which is awesome. multi-tonal stencils here i come!

that's good!

love,
kelly