Honey Don't

On Saturday, October 9, we hosted a house concert that I have been looking forward to for so long. One of my favorite Colorado bands, Honey Don't, traveled from Paonia to play for us on a beautiful fall night.

This was one of those experiences where I just had to really concentrate on holding it together so I didn't start crying...I was that happy! Honey Don't's (two apostrophes? hmmm...) music was SO good, and the excited positive energy in our small living room was so palpable. I had such a big smile on my face all night and felt so lucky to be able to be a part of this musical moment.

I'm really proud that Brian and I can play a small part in making this magic happen. When you bring good people, acoustic instruments and beautiful voices, delicious homemade food, locally brewed beer (courtesy of our friend Lachlan at Dry Dock Brewery), and a lot of love into a small space like that, great things are bound to happen.

And they did! It was a night I will never forget. Bill, Shelley, Greg, and Ryan are some of the most talented musicians I know, and it was such an honor to have them play in our home. And it was overly gracious of them to stick around for a pick after the show. I vowed that I WOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES take my mandolin out of its case while Greg Schochet was in the house (he's probably one of my favorite mandolin players ever....). Well, he got around that by having me play his mandolin while he played bass. Shoot.... But it was so fun to pick with some real musicians...I can't complain.

And we had dancers! Yeah for the dancers!

Here are some of my favorites from the night....

This Has Been My Life

For the past six months at least....

Although I wear many hats, a lot of people in my life know me as a geologist. I've been working as an environmental geologist for 8 years, since graduating from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, with a geology degree.

I finally took the next step in my career as a geologist, and sat for the ASBOG National Geology Examination on October 1, in order to become a licensed Professional Geologist (P.G.). I began studying for this exam six months ago, and although there were times this summer when we were so busy that I didn't get a lot of time for studying, I was fairly diligent about sitting down a couple times a week to study.

Starting about 2 months ago, my preparation for the test stepped up in intensity. By the time the end of September rolled around, I was studying about 30 hours a week (on top of working fulltime). It was very hard for me to be away from Brian and Sadie so much, and it was especially hard for me to get my butt out of bed by 5:15 a.m. to get to my office and study for 2 hours before work every day. I made sure to keep nights for myself so that I could spend time with Sadie before she went to bed, and time with my husband relaxing before going to sleep early every night.

On the day before the test, I said goodbye to Brian and Sadie and had a beautiful, leisurely drive to Laramie, Wyoming. I checked into a nice hotel, and studied for about 3 final hours. Around 5:30 p.m., I put my books away and headed into town for dinner. After a delicious meal at Anong's Thai in downtown Laramie, I drove around getting a feel for the town after not visiting Laramie for more than a decade. I also made sure I knew where to go for the test and where to park the next morning. I stopped at the store to pack a lunch for myself the next day, grabbed some celebrity gossip magazines and chocolate, and headed back to the hotel. After a relaxing bath, I went to bed at a decent hour and tried to not even think about the test the next morning. Of course, being the insomniac that I am, I didn't sleep a wink that night! So frustrating....

Although I felt exhausted when my alarm went off the next morning, I pushed the exhaustion aside and told myself that I've become very good at functioning on little to no sleep and that I wasn't going to let that affect my performance on the exam. I was expecting that adrenaline would keep the exhaustion at bay until after the test.

I ate a good, healthy, protein filled breakfast, showered and dressed, packed up, and spent about 20 minutes stretching and meditating. As I climbed into my truck, I gave myself a pep talk and tried to feel excited about the test.

My nerves started to be pretty noticeable as I headed towards the test location. I focused on breathing deeply and didn't allow my head to clutter with equations. I could tell that running through equations and conversion factors at that point was actually going to confuse me, and I just had to trust that they were in my head somewhere after all these months, and I would be able to recall them if I needed to.

After checking in, finding a seat in the room that "felt right", and getting all my materials out (calculator, colored pencils, scale, protractor, etc) it was finally time to take the exam!!!

After 4 full hours of test taking, the first half was over. I went to a nearby park and tried to maximize the few minutes I had before starting the second half. I ate a good healthy lunch, checked in with Brian, stretched, and basked in the sun. I felt like I had given the first half of the test everything I had, but somehow had to dig deep, and find the motivation to do it all over again! And I was anticipating that the second half of the exam would be more difficult for me.

Four hours later, I turned in my test and walked out of the building for the last time ever, hopefully! I couldn't even see straight, stand, or think about driving for a while. My entire body hurt from being tense for so many hours. I took some time to relax and reorient before heading home around 5 p.m. After a long three hour drive, what a treat it was to FINALLY be home and see Sadie and Brian sitting on the couch reading a book...waiting for mama to come home. I nursed Sadie and put her to bed, and then enjoyed dessert and champagne with my thoughtful husband.

The next morning, it finally started to hit me that I was done! After SO many months studying for this exam, after having it in the back of my mind at all times, it has definitely taken me a while to decompress and let go of that stress. It feels like such an accomplishment just to have taken this exam. I feel very confident that I did everything I possibly could have to prepare...I absolutely could not have fit any more information in my head! I am confident in my memorization and test-taking abilities; I think I kept a good pace during the test; I double and triple checked every answer; I stayed calm and focused and took breaks when I could tell I needed it.

And now I wait. For 60-75 days. Seriously. Just in time for the holidays, I'll get a letter in the mail from the Wyoming Board of Professional Geologists telling me if I passed one or both parts of the exam. I'm trying to be patient and confident. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. But I also know the statistics. I know that lots of people take this exam more than once before passing it. I know that this is a very tough professional licensing exam. I know that the candidate scores of those who do pass the exam are barely above the passing score. I know that it's known as being a poorly written, unfair exam.

But I'm hopeful.....and crossing my fingers.

Hard Pressed House Concert

We've just had our second house concert of the series, so I figure it's about time to talk about our first...

Our first house concert of this fall season turned out to be such a magical night. We felt so lucky to have Andrea Lecos and Cory Obert travel from Paonia to play for us. Brian and I have really been looking forward to this show, and it didn't disappoint.

Brian couldn't wait to have such a talented, well-known, and innovative clawhammer banjo player right in our living room. He didn't waste anytime picking (no pun intended) Andrea's brain about all things banjo.

The house concert was really well attended; we had over 40 people show up! It always feels so good to have our house full of friends, family, and like-minded music lovers.

We also really enjoyed getting to know Cory and Andrea better. I have known Cory for a long time, since I first interviewed his band Sweet Sunny South on the air when I was a disc jockey. But I'd never met Andrea, and had never really had the chance to spend much time visiting with Cory. Brian and I both felt so inspired after spending the weekend with these two. Not only were we inspired by their music, but also by their lifestyle and just their general nature. They are two people that I am so happy to be able to call friends and look forward to more late nights pickin' with them.

Here are some videos (you'll have to turn the volume up) I took of the night. Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary to Us

For Brian's birthday, my parents gave him two tickets to see Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, and Bela Fleck at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The concert happened to fall on our 4 year wedding anniversary. We sent Sadie to her Nana and Poppy's for the night, packed up our gear and the AMAZING picnic dinner my mom had put together for us, and headed to the gardens for a romantic date night.

The music was so beautiful, and our enjoyment of it was definitely magnified by the fact that we were in the VERY front row...we could watch every move on Bela's banjo which was a real treat for Brian.

What a beautiful night it was, but it wouldn't be complete without a little rain. As we ran back to our car through the rain at the end of the night , we couldn't help but reminisce about our very rainy, but perfectly lovely, wedding day four years ago.....

Fingerpainting Fun