It was 5 degrees outside when I got up this morning. The dogs didn't even want to go out and they have fur coats. This the the time of year (every year) I think I am ready to move. Ready to find somewhere just a bit warmer, where it doesn't snow and I don't have to spend half the year changing into a different pair of shoes when I get to work.

As the time nears for us to make a decision about staying, it is getting harder to imagine our family anywhere else. We really do love this little town. We feel safe here, our children enjoy being here, and even though I have been yearning for more opportunities for my own career, I will be sad if we have to leave. We've put down roots and they have become so far reaching, that ripping them up might ruin us for a time.

Have you ever wanted to take a place and transplant it? I felt that way about our first house in California. I still dream of that house. I think when I conjure up an image of home, that's the first thing to come to mind. I feel that way about Moscow, Idaho, where we have lived for the past 6 years. The town is pretty near perfect, and if I could take it and relocate it so it was near a larger city that offered more opportunities for Jon to share his art, and me to further my writing, I would. While I'm at it, I would take that first house from California and put that in the mix.

Since this is an impossibility, perhaps we will make the most of our current situation (make our own opportunities) or find a place to move that will attempt to live up to our high expectations. The perfect town with the perfect house? Does it exist?

Christmas is finally over and the next holiday—Erin's Birthday Month—will soon begin. Most of you know I have not always been a fan of my birthday. This year I am going to try to be positive and enjoy gaining another year of wisdom (and many more gray hairs). 

Jon is off in sunny California helping our friends Tony and Beth move with their mother to Colorado. He said it was 66 degrees there yesterday. It was 29 degrees here. I am a bit jealous. I can't seem to get warm. I am grateful for the bit of sun we have had recently though. It breaks up the dreary days a bit. 

I do feel a bit lazy lately. I honestly had every intention of being productive during my winter vacation, but those plans have gone the way of the warm weather. I read a whole book yesterday and am partway through a second. Funny how exhilarating it is to come to the last page of a novel. I hadn't realized how little time I have spent reading these past few months. Reading also makes me want to write. I found myself sitting up in the middle of the night last night to write down a sentence I had dreamt. In the morning it was a little hard to decipher, but it wasn't bad. If I keep doing this I could have a whole notebook of single lines, but very little sleep.

Maybe that's what I will write next—a book entirely out of first lines. I'm good at opening lines, it's the middle and ending ones I get hung up on.  :)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a favorite stop of ours whenever we are in L.A. Recently, we visited the museum specifically to see Chris Burden's Metropolis II. The exhibit is amazing. Unfortunately, we were there on a day when it was not running.

Take a look at the YouTube video below to find out more about the installation:

LACMA was also featuring:

California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way"

It included some amazing architecture, furniture, automobiles, art and textile designs. 

It was definitely worth the trip. It didn't hurt that there were a dozen different food trucks parked outside the museum for us to peruse for lunch.

I am a born Californian, and I am proud of it. This makes it hard to live in North Idaho (or anywhere in the state, for that matter). Idahoans don't look too kindly at us Californians — insisting we have stolen their jobs, ruined their economy and otherwise taken over their great state. You hear things like this all the time — mostly from people who have never had a job, don't know what the word economy actually means or have never been outside their own state. Okay, maybe that is a little harsh, but I get a little defensive about my home state, even if dear Arnold is running it into the ground.


I will always be a Californian, but I think, after about 10 years in the state, I am entitled to also being an Idahoan. After all, I did marry someone who has spent his whole life here. So, shouldn't it be like U.S. citizenship? Maybe I need to get a green card of sorts.


This brings me to the actual topic of today's blog post — the Idaho Passport Policy. There isn't one, but there should be. I often feel I need a passport to come to the northern part of the state. The culture here is so different from anywhere I have ever lived.


Exhibit 1:

Isn't this the greatest thing you have ever seen? No need to go into a Walmart, wait 20 minutes at the gun counter to get the attention of the man with the mullet (who has ignored you because you're a woman and a woman doesn't belong in the gun section, but at home baking cookies for her hunter-gatherer) to get you some worms out of the little cooler next to the ammunition. Now, with just a little cash you can purchase your bait from a soda and snack machine outside the gas station. This is by far the best invention ever.


I have decided to continue to document other evidence of why people need a passport to visit this amazing and beautiful state. Further exhibits of this evidence will follow in the days to come.

When I told anyone here in North Idaho that we were going to Southern California for Christmas they all said some variation of, "You are so lucky to be getting out of the cold."  Apparently they have never been to Tehachapi, Ca.  It snows there too, and did it ever.  Here are some pictures of the lattice above my parent's porch as the moisture froze, and also of the crazy fog that rolls into the valley with reliable frequency.

We are currently visiting my family in Southern California and everyone is trying to set my brother up on dates.  Personally I think that people are going about it the wrong way. Constantly parading woman before him (and not always the most ideal women either), just annoys him.  

My idea is to just post his picture on my blog and any interested party can send me an e-mail. From there I will personally screen you to see if you are a good fit for my extremely handsome, smart, funny and lovable brother Ben.  If I deem you worthy enough I will give your e-mail to him and leave it at that.  

So, once again....  This is my brother Ben  He is 28 and wonderful.   If you think you will be right for him or want some more info, send me a note, I will see what I can do.