Dear my Baby Lulu, 9/30/2013
We are so excited! Tomorrow (10/1/2013) we have our big appointment that we've been anticipating for months! Tomorrow we have a special ultrasound in the radiology department that will likely be able to tell us if you are a boy or a girl! Oh my gosh, it will seem so much more real then and I can start imagining a future in more vivid detail!
We have been waiting patiently and enjoying all the small treasures and moments that have come in the pregnancy so far. We love knowing you are there, so snug and cozy inside mamas womb and just growing right along as the days pass. We have been following all of your milestones and grow more excited, fascinated, and humbled as time goes on.
We will love you no matter what and as you will come to know, lol we are both very open minded and will love you if you are born intersexed, female, male, or however. We will also always love and support you however you choose to identify as you grow older. We see gender identification and sexual orientation as fluid and we always want you to feel free and secure in who you truly are, however are called to express yourself and your love.
It's amazing to think that we all start out as sexless beings in our most pure form.
I honestly have not been this excited at any time that I can remember in my entire life. What a gift you have already been to us. I just want to remember and cherish these precious moments in life forever. There are certain gifts that life affords that no money can buy and no material thing can touch. Your life is a true gift of nature and what a pleasure it is!
I have also felt you kicking and moving around in there just in the past 2 days! It feels like a little butterfly fluttering around and I love those little reminders that say "hey Mom!" Oh how I can't wait to look into your eyes and hear that word from your mouth. But let's not get too far ahead!
I just ate a couple bowls of Golden Grahams so you are probably swimming around in sugar right now, lol. We just wanted to write to let you know how excited we are and what a treasure and gift you and this experience are. Wow! We are amazed!
We love you so much,
Mommy and Daddy
Monday, September 30, 2013
New Ultrasound...
Just a quick note: we are still scheduled to have the 20 week ultrasound tomorrow (Tues Oct 1) which is likely to reveal Lulu's sex! We are super excited! Thanks for checking the blog but I will likely not post results until the weekend! (Oct 6th) as I'd like to take a few days to try and call some folks first. But stay tuned! Results hopefully will be up sooooon!
What do you think?
I still think it's a boy!
We shall seee!
What do you think?
I still think it's a boy!
We shall seee!
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Okaaaay week 20! How exciting I am entering my 5th month! I feel like this is where the rubber starts to meet the road in a pregnancy, lol. At least for me...it is getting harder to navigate! I have been so blessed to have had a fairly easy time so far. The belly is getting big!
So my awesome girlfriend Christina (who I used to be in a break dancing crew with back in the 00's!) went overseas recently and brought me back those awesome and super comfy pants you see me wearing above. Annnnd...she also surprised me by bringing back a pair for the little babe too!
How cute are they? I about died! It makes it seem so real having clothes for the little one. And cute ones to boot! Can't wait!!!
So my past week has been good, and sooo busy too! I honestly can't complain though b/c having energy and feeling good is a gift indeed. I was able to work some extra hours last week and exercise 6 out of the 7 days! I walked and stretched at home 3 days then did the elliptical, spin class, and yoga class at the gym. I am definitely having to modify the way I move and exercise but it has truly been a life saver!
I have been having some pain in my lower back almost every morning so getting up and walking has been very therapeutic and the yoga and stretching too, help so so much. I even think Lulu enjoys the rhythmic movement of the walking and exercising. I imagine its like being rocked in there!
Luckily my pallet is back to normal and I have been so blessed with being able to eat lots of healthy, fresh, whole foods. I am realizing what a foodie I am becoming, hehe. I firmly believe it's so important what we put into our bodies and definitely notice a marked difference in how I feel when I eat well. Fresh salads and veggies are my fav! Here are a few marvelous meals from my week!
Home made sopes from Marcelo's Mom. That lady is amazing. They are hand made breads (like thick tortillas) with black beans, beef crumbles, potatoes, lettuce, avocado, tomato, annnnnd she also sent over a bowl of her fresh green tomatillo salsa. Talk about heaven!
Working afternoons/evenings means that I (usually) have time to make a wholesome breakfast for myself. Here we have French toast with powdered sugar, eggs with tomatoes, spinach, mushroom, onion and cheese, a pear and glass of veggie juice. So good! I used this to power up for yoga class.
Hard to tell but whole grain steel cut oats cooked with soy milk and cinnamon, topped with tahini (a sesame seed paste that is so creamy and delicious), brown sugar, raisins, sunflower seeds, and almond slivers. What makes this extra special is that this is the one plastic bowl I have left from my Grama's set so it is always special eating out of it. She used to serve us cream of wheat in these!
This is what I took for lunch almost every day last week. Miso tofu noodle soup with mushrooms, spinach salad with tahini dressing, fruit salad with lime juice, and organic plain yogurt with raspberry preserves and granola.
Weekend snack: aged gruyere cheese slices, and organic pear and cherry tomatoes.
I have been relying a lot on soy dogs for an extra protein source. Weekend dinners were a soy dog with ketchup and sour kraut, steamed broccoli with cheese, and yes...my fav. mashed potatoes with butter salt and pepper. So good! Mashed potatoes I love you sooo much!
I remember telling my Mom once that one of my main dreams in life was to get to a point where I could afford to buy healthy organic foods on a regular basis. I feel like this is my dream coming true! It's better than ever b/c I know these whole foods are also going to support Lulu's growth and development. I hope he likes all this stuff when he comes out too, lol. Ha!
Sooo my weakness this week? Golden Grams! Yes, somehow they got in my mind and I had a strong craving so I got a box! They are so good but almost too sweet. No actually they're so damn good, lol.
Ok so I just made myself really hungry by posting this, haha. Here are a few more pics from the week!
My silly guy trying to be serious, lol.
Cute!
Sooo cute I cannot handle!
Have a great week I will try to post again soon!
So my awesome girlfriend Christina (who I used to be in a break dancing crew with back in the 00's!) went overseas recently and brought me back those awesome and super comfy pants you see me wearing above. Annnnd...she also surprised me by bringing back a pair for the little babe too!
How cute are they? I about died! It makes it seem so real having clothes for the little one. And cute ones to boot! Can't wait!!!
So my past week has been good, and sooo busy too! I honestly can't complain though b/c having energy and feeling good is a gift indeed. I was able to work some extra hours last week and exercise 6 out of the 7 days! I walked and stretched at home 3 days then did the elliptical, spin class, and yoga class at the gym. I am definitely having to modify the way I move and exercise but it has truly been a life saver!
I have been having some pain in my lower back almost every morning so getting up and walking has been very therapeutic and the yoga and stretching too, help so so much. I even think Lulu enjoys the rhythmic movement of the walking and exercising. I imagine its like being rocked in there!
Luckily my pallet is back to normal and I have been so blessed with being able to eat lots of healthy, fresh, whole foods. I am realizing what a foodie I am becoming, hehe. I firmly believe it's so important what we put into our bodies and definitely notice a marked difference in how I feel when I eat well. Fresh salads and veggies are my fav! Here are a few marvelous meals from my week!
Home made sopes from Marcelo's Mom. That lady is amazing. They are hand made breads (like thick tortillas) with black beans, beef crumbles, potatoes, lettuce, avocado, tomato, annnnnd she also sent over a bowl of her fresh green tomatillo salsa. Talk about heaven!
Working afternoons/evenings means that I (usually) have time to make a wholesome breakfast for myself. Here we have French toast with powdered sugar, eggs with tomatoes, spinach, mushroom, onion and cheese, a pear and glass of veggie juice. So good! I used this to power up for yoga class.
Hard to tell but whole grain steel cut oats cooked with soy milk and cinnamon, topped with tahini (a sesame seed paste that is so creamy and delicious), brown sugar, raisins, sunflower seeds, and almond slivers. What makes this extra special is that this is the one plastic bowl I have left from my Grama's set so it is always special eating out of it. She used to serve us cream of wheat in these!
This is what I took for lunch almost every day last week. Miso tofu noodle soup with mushrooms, spinach salad with tahini dressing, fruit salad with lime juice, and organic plain yogurt with raspberry preserves and granola.
Weekend snack: aged gruyere cheese slices, and organic pear and cherry tomatoes.
I have been relying a lot on soy dogs for an extra protein source. Weekend dinners were a soy dog with ketchup and sour kraut, steamed broccoli with cheese, and yes...my fav. mashed potatoes with butter salt and pepper. So good! Mashed potatoes I love you sooo much!
I remember telling my Mom once that one of my main dreams in life was to get to a point where I could afford to buy healthy organic foods on a regular basis. I feel like this is my dream coming true! It's better than ever b/c I know these whole foods are also going to support Lulu's growth and development. I hope he likes all this stuff when he comes out too, lol. Ha!
Sooo my weakness this week? Golden Grams! Yes, somehow they got in my mind and I had a strong craving so I got a box! They are so good but almost too sweet. No actually they're so damn good, lol.
Ok so I just made myself really hungry by posting this, haha. Here are a few more pics from the week!
My silly guy trying to be serious, lol.
Cute!
Sooo cute I cannot handle!
Have a great week I will try to post again soon!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Gratitude
I can't go through this process without mentioning how grateful I have been and how blessed I feel in life right now. Here's my gratitude list today:
- the absolute miracle of growing a new life inside of my belly
- Marcelo, who is the kindest, most gentle, respectful and loving partner I could ever ask for.
- Marcelo taking me to eat enchiladas last night. Mmmmmm.
- Marcelo's parents Carmen and Ricardo and his sister Esme. They are so good to us.
- Marcelo's Mom's gift of cooking and love of feeding us.
- my family and many friends who are far but keep in touch via email and facebook
- Having great health insurance
- Both of our stable jobs
- my health
- these guys, who bring me so much joy and comfort:
- All the mama hens at work who are so excited for me and answer all my pregnancy questions
- vanilla ice cream
- mint chocolate chip ice cream
- candles that smell like pumpkin and spice
- all my angels in heaven and their little reminders
- being able to work a part-time schedule and still afford my life
- breaking bad, the best drama ever
- did I mention how sweet Marcelo is and how much I love my cats??
- Marcelo and my cats
- the fact that I have been given the gift of being a MAMA!
New pics of the little one :-)
This past week was good. I had another pre-natal doctor's visit and got to see Lulu again!
In the top pic you can see his head and his bent arm bones. During the ultrasound he was waving to us! It's always so breath taking to see him in there and moving! I haven't been able to feel any movement yet but woooow! All is going along as planned, I gained 5 lbs in the past month, which is right on track. I should be gaining one pound per week from here on out. My blood pressure was a bit low 94/45, but she said it's nothing to worry about since I'm healthy and exercising and stuff. Next appointment in October 1st when we find out the sex!
My belly button is slowly turning from an "inny" to an "outy," lol! It's definitely expanding. I actually had a couple of days last week where my body was just sore and I was super tired. It was sore to the point that I was walking awkwardly. I was having some bad cramping pains and pain around my tailbone. Luckily with all the mama hens at my work, they explained that these are normal growing pains and some days will be sore and painful as my bones and joints and organs all move around to accommodate the baby's growth. I also learned a very important pregnancy lesson: comfortable shoes are a must! And I am wearing maternity pants to work all the time now! It's pretty fun.
My best friend from high school Kathy, has a sister Karen, whom donated about 3 garbage bags full of nice, only very lightly worn maternity clothes to me when I was in Michigan in July. I mailed them to myself and I am so happy wearing them. Many are very nice work pants, button downs, and suit coats for work. It is definitely an entire pregnancy wardrobe. Thank you Caird sisters!
I have also gotten my taste buds back! I have been eating lots of salads and things again and spent an entire day last week cooking!
Above we have veggie crock pot chili with soy crumbles for extra protein, tofu noodle soup with eggs for extra protein, and a butter nut squash/carrot bisque!
Here we have a vegan mock tuna salad (made with soaked almonds and nutritional yeast), cucumber yogurt and dill salad, and a cilantro yogurt salad dressing as I'm back to doing spinach salads again. Yay!
And here are some lovely organic fruits for my daily fruit salads. Cooking and healthy eating is truly a passion of mine and I am so grateful to have access to these foods and the time to prep them! I know baby is happy and I'm also glad to have my full pallet back! Yes I spent an entire day in the kitchen last week, it was relaxing, and I was able to bring healthy, home made food to work every day last week! So that's a good justification for all the extra ice-cream I've been eating lately, lol.
Speaking of work, it has been going really well lately. I have been teaching health ed classes for almost 10 months now and definitely gaining more confidence and knowledge. Boy was that a steep learning curve though! I am now trained in about 13 multi-session adult health ed curriculums! It's a wonderful feeling to provide positive and healing info to people. I am actually still training as I need to pick up extra hours before January to qualify for full maternity leave benefits. So here we go again, lol. It's honestly great though b/c I feel lucky to have a pregnancy in which I have felt energetic and healthy almost the entire time!
I am still managing to work out 3 times per week. Last week was a dance class, neighborhood walk, and pre-natal yoga class. The pre-natal yoga was so amazing! I seriously love yoga. I am definitely having to modify and adapt a lot of poses to my growing belly and changing body, but it's all good. It's a practice in letting go and being very gentle with myself.
Hopefully the baby will come out nice and limber too! Hehe. ciao for now, thanks for reading!
In the top pic you can see his head and his bent arm bones. During the ultrasound he was waving to us! It's always so breath taking to see him in there and moving! I haven't been able to feel any movement yet but woooow! All is going along as planned, I gained 5 lbs in the past month, which is right on track. I should be gaining one pound per week from here on out. My blood pressure was a bit low 94/45, but she said it's nothing to worry about since I'm healthy and exercising and stuff. Next appointment in October 1st when we find out the sex!
My belly button is slowly turning from an "inny" to an "outy," lol! It's definitely expanding. I actually had a couple of days last week where my body was just sore and I was super tired. It was sore to the point that I was walking awkwardly. I was having some bad cramping pains and pain around my tailbone. Luckily with all the mama hens at my work, they explained that these are normal growing pains and some days will be sore and painful as my bones and joints and organs all move around to accommodate the baby's growth. I also learned a very important pregnancy lesson: comfortable shoes are a must! And I am wearing maternity pants to work all the time now! It's pretty fun.
My best friend from high school Kathy, has a sister Karen, whom donated about 3 garbage bags full of nice, only very lightly worn maternity clothes to me when I was in Michigan in July. I mailed them to myself and I am so happy wearing them. Many are very nice work pants, button downs, and suit coats for work. It is definitely an entire pregnancy wardrobe. Thank you Caird sisters!
I have also gotten my taste buds back! I have been eating lots of salads and things again and spent an entire day last week cooking!
Above we have veggie crock pot chili with soy crumbles for extra protein, tofu noodle soup with eggs for extra protein, and a butter nut squash/carrot bisque!
Here we have a vegan mock tuna salad (made with soaked almonds and nutritional yeast), cucumber yogurt and dill salad, and a cilantro yogurt salad dressing as I'm back to doing spinach salads again. Yay!
And here are some lovely organic fruits for my daily fruit salads. Cooking and healthy eating is truly a passion of mine and I am so grateful to have access to these foods and the time to prep them! I know baby is happy and I'm also glad to have my full pallet back! Yes I spent an entire day in the kitchen last week, it was relaxing, and I was able to bring healthy, home made food to work every day last week! So that's a good justification for all the extra ice-cream I've been eating lately, lol.
Speaking of work, it has been going really well lately. I have been teaching health ed classes for almost 10 months now and definitely gaining more confidence and knowledge. Boy was that a steep learning curve though! I am now trained in about 13 multi-session adult health ed curriculums! It's a wonderful feeling to provide positive and healing info to people. I am actually still training as I need to pick up extra hours before January to qualify for full maternity leave benefits. So here we go again, lol. It's honestly great though b/c I feel lucky to have a pregnancy in which I have felt energetic and healthy almost the entire time!
I am still managing to work out 3 times per week. Last week was a dance class, neighborhood walk, and pre-natal yoga class. The pre-natal yoga was so amazing! I seriously love yoga. I am definitely having to modify and adapt a lot of poses to my growing belly and changing body, but it's all good. It's a practice in letting go and being very gentle with myself.
Hopefully the baby will come out nice and limber too! Hehe. ciao for now, thanks for reading!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
All I can say is what a blessing it is to have a little babe growing inside of me. I was at a dance class this week, focusing on heart energy and we were instructed to put our hands over our heart to make a wish and it occurred to me that I actually have 2 hearts and 2 heart beats in my body right now. I put my hands over the baby's heart and just thought about what an amazing miracle pregnancy and birth are. 2 heart beats!!!!
I have been feeling pretty good, although tired lately, just taking lots of naps, which is kind of nice! I also have been super thirsty. I cannot get enough water and am constantly drinking. I was tested for gestational diabetes and don't have it (thank goodness). I read that it's normal to be really thirsty b/c of all the extra blood/plasma, and amniotic fluid production.
I know that now in the second and third trimesters I need to be eating about 300 extra calories per day and between 75-100 grams of protein per day. All is well and good except for the protein. That is a lot of protein! For a variety of reasons, I do not like to eat a lot of meat but I have been trying to eat some for the extra protein. 75-100 grams is gonna be a challenge for me, I am not one for protein drinks or shakes but I may have to go that route. As far as cravings go, if I could eat only mashed potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper for the rest of my pregnancy, I would be in heaven!
Funny food moments from this week include:
- eating an entire small can of jalepeno peppers in like 10 min. They are not super hot just about medium spice but salty and sweet too! Mmmm. Marcelo got me hooked!
- Going out for ice cream then having to stop for Ben and Jerrys (frozen greek yogurt) on the way home from getting ice cream. Then passing out from a sugar overdose.
- Eating cat food. Just kidding. I can't think of a third one but after writing this I ate 2 more jalapenos. he.
In other news, Marcelo is great, he is very excited too. The past couple weeks, outside of work, I have been working very hard around the house to recover from our trip to Burning Man, lol. Unpacking and cleaning up from that has kind of morphed into a deep clean of the apartment and purging process. I have like 7 bags of stuff for good will and it feels great. We will need some room for baby stuff soon!
Also, I am super excited for Fall and Halloween season, my favorite. And Christmas too, I actually was tempted to put our tree up when we were cleaning out the closet but I figured September was a bit too early, lol.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Hey all! Well we are back and Marcelo, myself and the baby have all survived, and even thrived at Burning Man 2013!
Wow what a whirlwind of a time! I actually didn't take any pictures, was taking a break from digital media, hehe, but there are some great pics of the camp we camped with including the domes and solar shower we used here. Pretty cool stuff! We also were part of a 2 meal per day vegan meal plan which was some of the most delicious and nutritious food I have ever eaten! Highlights include, roasted roots, kale salad, home made veggie burgers with avocado, home made (it was all made from scratch) tamales, grape leaves, hummus, buckwheat pancakes, quinoa dishes with pesto sauce, and so much other good stuff!
So it wasn't too hard staying healthy and energized with 2 fresh meals per day. We drank lots of water and coconut milk too. Also got lots of exercise riding bikes every where all day and night. So yes during the day we were busy doing all kinds of workshops, they literally give you a book when you enter listing the time and locations of hundreds of workshops, events, offerings, and parties!
Some of my event high lights include
-naked yoga class- yes I did!
-paint/dance your feminine mandala
-90's sing along
-cosmic shamanic sound healing
-make your own pasties - and yes I wore them! and danced in them!
-The practice of deep erotic attraction - the open sexuality and sexual expression was so liberating there!
-Friday night grilled cheeses!
-head, neck, and face massage
-Roller Disco! - yes, someone actually built an outdoor roller rink complete with skates and all..
-bringing playa (event) lessons home
and soooo much other stuff! The spirit of the event is to offer things to others just for the sake of kindness and giving. Many camps bring tons of extra food, drinks, and create spaces for folks to have fun. It's kind of like a giant fun camp for adults with so many opportunities to try new things for the first time. Another camp close to gave away smores every night at sunset and had an open fire pit where you could cook your marshmallows. Another camp offered an oat meal bar each morning, there were camps that would wash your hair and feet, throw parties, have open bars, and pretty much anything the mind could think of!
At night, since it is in the vast open desert with no street lights, of course, it turns into the most beautiful sea of colored lights on people, bikes, art cars, art installations, stages, etc. There truly is no way to describe the experience, visuals, atmospehere in words. And that is exactly why I knew I needed to go and experience it for myself! And I'm so glad I did. It honestly feels like a huge success having pulled this off! Lots of time, money, energy, and endurance went into this. And we did it and it will be crossed off my bucket list!
Marcelo had a great time too. He often stayed out later than I did dancing and enjoying the sights riding around. Yes, most people ride their decorated bikes all day and night. It is SO fun! Some of my general highlights include:
- dancing my head off so freely as it is an atmosphere of little judgement
-seeing so many beautiful people expressing themselves in creative colors, outfits, etc....wow!
- sharing a dome (we had 4 tents in a big dome) with marcelo, and our friends sylvia and monique
-the amazing food and eating with community every night at our camp
-the open stars, sky, and space at night
-time moving in much more a relaxed way
-wearing glowy colored lights on my bike and person every night
-how sweetly marcelo treated me
-cold coconut water on hot days
-being on the receiving end of so much gifting and love
-screen/media free for an entire week!
-the closing sharing circle in our camp the last day
-taking a real shower after a week!
- and many, many more, the nice feelings and memories are with me now...i miss it there!
However, it was not all fun and games by any means! I was often pushed to my edge and really had to exercise some serious tolerance and patience. Some challenging moments include:
- waiting in line outside the city to get in for 5 hours in the van, often stopped for hours at a time w/o moving. Then waiting for 7.5 hours the same way to leave the city. There is a small, windy 2 lane high way leading to the location and 70,000 atendees with massive amounts of gear!
- We started the trip home at 6am, all packed in the van and got to our apartment exatcly 24 hours later, travelling the entire time. That's a lot of time to be in a van. But we bonded and Marcelo is an amazing marathon driver!
- Dust, dust, dust, it gets into everything and everyone...no matter how hard you try. You take a solar shower one minute and the next you are covered again!
- hot, hot, hot sun and having to bike in the sun mid-day to get from camp to camp. The city is 12 miles from one end to the other, so some events are just too far!
- constant close quarters can be trying!
-the sun starting to bake our tent at 8:30am, preventing any possibility of sleeping in
There are some amazing pics of Burning Man 2013 on this page. My friend Sylvia took some pics, when she sends them to me I will try to post.
We are so happy we did this! Seriously such a life changing event. And perfect timing before the baby is born (I'm convinced he will have some desert dust in his ears when he comes out!). And to be honest I felt great the whole time, besides being just tired from not sleeping enough on a few nights. Other than that, which wasn't a super big deal, I was full of energy and vigor. I loved all the food which made a huge difference too, because clean healthy eating = large life force! It was so great to get home and shower and enjoy our bed and the comforts of shelter and home and cats, whom Marcelo's sister Esme and Mom Carmen took such great care of. Thank you to them!
Well, I am relieved this is over! Today, I slept in, got some groceries, including lots of fresh produce and spent the afternoon cooking! cut up some sweet cantelope, made another batch of Gazpacho, and some beef stew. Trying to eat a very balanced diet and wide variety for the baby! I rarely if ever cook meat but felt like it today. Of course Marcelo loved it, hehe. Then I visited Marcelo's Mom and sister and they fed me tostadas and guac. Then friends came over and we unloaded the van. Got covered in dust again! And left half our stuff outside in the back until I can clean it off.
What a trip! Overall I am feeling great and will keep folks posted on the baby! Tomorrow is back to work. Once we get re-situated and unpacked, we start the process of house hunting! Woo hoo!
Wow what a whirlwind of a time! I actually didn't take any pictures, was taking a break from digital media, hehe, but there are some great pics of the camp we camped with including the domes and solar shower we used here. Pretty cool stuff! We also were part of a 2 meal per day vegan meal plan which was some of the most delicious and nutritious food I have ever eaten! Highlights include, roasted roots, kale salad, home made veggie burgers with avocado, home made (it was all made from scratch) tamales, grape leaves, hummus, buckwheat pancakes, quinoa dishes with pesto sauce, and so much other good stuff!
So it wasn't too hard staying healthy and energized with 2 fresh meals per day. We drank lots of water and coconut milk too. Also got lots of exercise riding bikes every where all day and night. So yes during the day we were busy doing all kinds of workshops, they literally give you a book when you enter listing the time and locations of hundreds of workshops, events, offerings, and parties!
Some of my event high lights include
-naked yoga class- yes I did!
-paint/dance your feminine mandala
-90's sing along
-cosmic shamanic sound healing
-make your own pasties - and yes I wore them! and danced in them!
-The practice of deep erotic attraction - the open sexuality and sexual expression was so liberating there!
-Friday night grilled cheeses!
-head, neck, and face massage
-Roller Disco! - yes, someone actually built an outdoor roller rink complete with skates and all..
-bringing playa (event) lessons home
and soooo much other stuff! The spirit of the event is to offer things to others just for the sake of kindness and giving. Many camps bring tons of extra food, drinks, and create spaces for folks to have fun. It's kind of like a giant fun camp for adults with so many opportunities to try new things for the first time. Another camp close to gave away smores every night at sunset and had an open fire pit where you could cook your marshmallows. Another camp offered an oat meal bar each morning, there were camps that would wash your hair and feet, throw parties, have open bars, and pretty much anything the mind could think of!
At night, since it is in the vast open desert with no street lights, of course, it turns into the most beautiful sea of colored lights on people, bikes, art cars, art installations, stages, etc. There truly is no way to describe the experience, visuals, atmospehere in words. And that is exactly why I knew I needed to go and experience it for myself! And I'm so glad I did. It honestly feels like a huge success having pulled this off! Lots of time, money, energy, and endurance went into this. And we did it and it will be crossed off my bucket list!
Marcelo had a great time too. He often stayed out later than I did dancing and enjoying the sights riding around. Yes, most people ride their decorated bikes all day and night. It is SO fun! Some of my general highlights include:
- dancing my head off so freely as it is an atmosphere of little judgement
-seeing so many beautiful people expressing themselves in creative colors, outfits, etc....wow!
- sharing a dome (we had 4 tents in a big dome) with marcelo, and our friends sylvia and monique
-the amazing food and eating with community every night at our camp
-the open stars, sky, and space at night
-time moving in much more a relaxed way
-wearing glowy colored lights on my bike and person every night
-how sweetly marcelo treated me
-cold coconut water on hot days
-being on the receiving end of so much gifting and love
-screen/media free for an entire week!
-the closing sharing circle in our camp the last day
-taking a real shower after a week!
- and many, many more, the nice feelings and memories are with me now...i miss it there!
However, it was not all fun and games by any means! I was often pushed to my edge and really had to exercise some serious tolerance and patience. Some challenging moments include:
- waiting in line outside the city to get in for 5 hours in the van, often stopped for hours at a time w/o moving. Then waiting for 7.5 hours the same way to leave the city. There is a small, windy 2 lane high way leading to the location and 70,000 atendees with massive amounts of gear!
- We started the trip home at 6am, all packed in the van and got to our apartment exatcly 24 hours later, travelling the entire time. That's a lot of time to be in a van. But we bonded and Marcelo is an amazing marathon driver!
- Dust, dust, dust, it gets into everything and everyone...no matter how hard you try. You take a solar shower one minute and the next you are covered again!
- hot, hot, hot sun and having to bike in the sun mid-day to get from camp to camp. The city is 12 miles from one end to the other, so some events are just too far!
- constant close quarters can be trying!
-the sun starting to bake our tent at 8:30am, preventing any possibility of sleeping in
There are some amazing pics of Burning Man 2013 on this page. My friend Sylvia took some pics, when she sends them to me I will try to post.
We are so happy we did this! Seriously such a life changing event. And perfect timing before the baby is born (I'm convinced he will have some desert dust in his ears when he comes out!). And to be honest I felt great the whole time, besides being just tired from not sleeping enough on a few nights. Other than that, which wasn't a super big deal, I was full of energy and vigor. I loved all the food which made a huge difference too, because clean healthy eating = large life force! It was so great to get home and shower and enjoy our bed and the comforts of shelter and home and cats, whom Marcelo's sister Esme and Mom Carmen took such great care of. Thank you to them!
Well, I am relieved this is over! Today, I slept in, got some groceries, including lots of fresh produce and spent the afternoon cooking! cut up some sweet cantelope, made another batch of Gazpacho, and some beef stew. Trying to eat a very balanced diet and wide variety for the baby! I rarely if ever cook meat but felt like it today. Of course Marcelo loved it, hehe. Then I visited Marcelo's Mom and sister and they fed me tostadas and guac. Then friends came over and we unloaded the van. Got covered in dust again! And left half our stuff outside in the back until I can clean it off.
What a trip! Overall I am feeling great and will keep folks posted on the baby! Tomorrow is back to work. Once we get re-situated and unpacked, we start the process of house hunting! Woo hoo!
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