The Sam May Welcome Back Tour 2013.

I'm not really sure if you can have a welcome back tour after only being gone for 6 months but who writes the rules here?  From Mid-September to Mid-October I embarked on freaking long road trip with countless hours to myself and many more miles under my belt. I drove about 6100 miles and one day drove 20 hours straight from California to Oklahoma.  In total it was about 91 hours of drive. Crazy right? 

It was fun, I saw so much of the United States that I had never seen before. At moments I felt like I was in a National Geographic magazine. I was constantly on my toes. I think I hit every type of weather situation including a strange snowstorm. I found myself excited to be drive the flat plain lands after all my mountain driving, especially at night.  I plan on explaining more and giving some of the major spots a spotlight blog post.  A lot of this depends on what pictures I have. My memory card crashed the other day and I'm still trying to sort through the salvageable photographs over the last two months. Story of my life.

With that, I'm going to leave you with some of the songs that kept me awake. Don't worry, there is very little 90s music in this one. That might be on the next roadtrip mix. 

Wake Up: Roadtrip Mix from beautyinherveins on 8tracks Radio.

And then it happened...

I caught the bouquet at a wedding.

Or maybe I stole it. It all happened so quickly. 

a little get away

a retreat, if you will. 

The Oregon trail.  I've seen a lot of people on the way from Lindsay Jo, to Diane, the hair stylist, to Oregon Family (Marks and Mitman.) Destination Wedding. Today's Destination: Saint Helen's, Oregon. Overlooking the harbor with mountains, trees and sailboats. Last night consisted of steak, halibut cakes and fresh green beans harvested from the garden and booze. Then an hour in the hot tub with sporadic rain while watching a family of raccoon attempting to find food.

Thanks my Oregonian family, I love you. 

(I honestly should snap a few photographs but I'm just a bit lazy at the moment and that also means putting my coffee down. We all know that's not going to happen.)

///edit/// I ran out of coffee. here's a photo.

When given the option to escape

Seize the day.

I mentioned in my last post that I took a spontaneous trip to Portland. 

All these options appeared out of thin air for the weekend. 

Here is the recap of possibilities: 

HikingKayaking... Actually sailing, but I did watch my Uncle Kayak. Wine.. Mike's Hard... that has to count for something. St Helens to visit Rachel and Dustin
Uncle Wilton and Aunt Nancy Combined forces with Dustin and Rachel The lovely Marks family Minus Sterling and EmPowell's bookstore  Oh this place has my heart 
Andy Christensen-- so sad. Heath Black  Lunch at East Burn. I hadn't seen this character in years. 

and a possibility of driving to Washington to meet Jon Chittim's baby and family.

Surprising additions:

Boating with the Marks family

Voodoo Donuts is always a must

Distant Relative from Holland who just so happened to drive back to California with me 

Breakfast with Stacie North at the Waffle Window 

Night 1. Driving through the night, I took a short hiatus at a flying j. As I woke up, this is what I woke up to. How can a smile not form across your face when you are driving through this. It was all so serene and breathtaking-- not in the metaphorical.

This trip was exactly what I needed, it was due time that I get away from things for a bit. My mind is all over the place. My heart is no where near home.  My feet are waiting to go. But glue is a funny thing. 

Day 1. Getting to Portland. I stop at rest stop. See a homeless. He was genuinely in rough shape. I handed him a FiberOne bar and four quarters. As a drove away, all I wanted to do was sit and talk to him. My heart actually broke as I did drive away. To be real honest that was more important than the four quarters. Still, I drove away. I still think about it. 

75 miles until Portland. I officially can no longer drive. I've been 

awake for over 24 hours, and slept 4 hours the previous night. Took a detour to Albany to visit my other family. I chatted with Doug a bit. He cooked me one of his world famous omelets and I showered.  He then told me to take a nap except he was so excited I was there that he wouldn't let me sleep. I went to Des' room, wide awake I layed there and texted. Until one moment, I was no longer wide awake and I was being gently woken up. I was out. 

That night Des and I went to a great little place, a bike ride away. We talked for hours and were food for mosquitoes (at least sixty mosquitoes just on our backs combined) 

Day 2. Adventure-- ready go. 

Des and I woke up and spent the morning with Thor and Charlie, as well as Jessica Porter-- one of the porch house beauties. Des made a great breakfast with eggs and vegetables and herbs from the  garden. Then an exciting thing happened. Heath Black. 

That's right my friends, in the flesh, Heath Black from Bartlesville, Ok. I mean that's how I remember him-- currently he is all over the place and doing crazy things like starting a company tied to facebook and writing a poetry book. He went on a book tour and sold every last copy. I had the chance to meet him at East Burn for Lunch and catch up and swing on the patio swings.

 

Then off to the sailing adventure with the family in St. Helen's. My Oregon family is great. I like them a lot. Sailing was beautiful. After sailing-- ate a feast and drank mike's hard lemonade and beer. On that trip some of the funniest quotes were created. 

"Was that my sewing machine?" Uncle Wilton said. We took a quick turn and a loud bang game from inside the boat. The machine is still survived, the case is not.  Waking up on a sailboat was amazing and I would be okay living on a boat. Maybe I will someday. 

 

Day 3. Bring me to the lake. 

 knee boarding, attempted wake boarding, wake surfing, rock climbing, swimming and the Marks. What a perfect combination. Oh, plus fried chicken. The weather on my trip was beautiful and I couldn't be happier.

I will own a boat when I have a family.  I know this seems like a big investment but I would rather spend the money on something the family could do together outside rather than all the other things that seclude. Given this is far down the road but at least I know now. 

Day 4. The Portland Musts. 

Visited the cute children at the treehouse nursery and now wish I worked there,  Powell's books and Voodoo donuts bought some inappropriate donuts. Said my goodbyes, picked up my distant distant Holland relative Velaska and off we went all the way back to California. 

Passing through the California borders, the hills and the valley's caught my eye. I kept think of the verses about being a light on the hill and what that truly looks like. The light looks different to everyone but still still has one purpose that constantly remains.  Guidance. 

SALT AND LIGHT. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

 Matthew 5:13-15

Stupid you say

Impulsive really.

Thursday night around 8:30 pm I was watching Eclipse with some lovely ladies from my life group. And I started receiving phone calls with the notion as to what they pertained to.  I get the day off from work. I decided to drive to Portland.

I gave it a 20 minute run through.

the decided to take the plunge.


As I sit in a Mcdonalds charging my dead phone. I sit and think. Moments like this won't always happen.

I get to spend the weekend with great friends and family. Even a friend I have no seen in years. We just so happen to be in portland the exact same weekend.

I cannot wait to take a power nap. I tried to at a flying j parking lot this morning right before sunrise. But the fear of someone killing me kept crossing my mind.


I'm on a much needed adventure.

and a much needed refill of Jesus.

Bring on the nature, bring on the solitude-- bring on relationship.

Updates soon.


List of possibilities this weekend.

Hiking
Kayaking
Wine
St Helens to visit Rachel and Dustin
Uncle Wilton and Aunt Nancy
The lovely Marks family
Powell's bookstore
Andy Christensen
Heath Black
and a possibility of driving to Washington to meet Jon Chittim's baby and family.

I can hardly contain this excitement.

Fingers crossed my phone is charged enough.


all my love.


I shall see you all upon my return.

music should first be reviewed in the car

turn up the music and drive.

The other day I went to Los Angeles Amoeba Records. Amoeba is the mecca of music. I bought four CD's, badly drawn boy, hem, jesse baylin and the bridges. A couple which I had wanted for a while and almost bought them full price last time I went to Amoeba. There is this lovely section that is known as the clearance section, buy three get the fourth free. I spent $9 dollars. Knowing this you get some dud CD's every so often, but if you find one winner then it makes it completely worth it.

I knew I would love Hem because of this song called Half Acre that I used to be obsessed with. I knew I liked a song from Badly Drawn Boy and the other two were a lottery. Overall, when listening to them in my room I thought I picked mainly bad music. I was fairly disappointed.

Which leads me to what I strongly believe and encourage.

Music drives us, influences our mood, it is a powerful resource.

With that being said, some of my most memorable times can be connected back to the music I was listening to.

A couple years back, I went through this strange state of not being able to get out of bed, no desire to face the world, yet wanted to change it. The only song I could listen to was "Keep Breathing" from Ingrid Michaelson. I remember listening to it on repeat, journaling and painting. I remember it so vividly.

Another couple years back, I was on this epic roadtrip to Oregon with six friends and we were camping up the PCH. We were hiking with Sequoia trees covering us, then we found this place called Fort Ross that was this hidden fort located on a Cliff with beautiful Calla Lillies overlooking the ocean, it was bliss. As a group we were listening to "Trolleywood" from Eisley. Forever that song is ingrained in the back of my mind and makes me smile. I just remember all six of us singing it in the car over and over and over and whenever we would embark on a new location, we for sure would have to listen to the song. It still happens.

OR whenever I listen to praise and worship music, I'm more likely to speed. I always get lost or pass my exit because I'm so focused on the music rather than my driving.

I decided to give my new CD's a try driving in the car. Success. I felt so much more at peace with my purchase after listening to them in the car. I'm in my own world just soaking up the fact that I'm alone and can sing as loud as I want, do whatever. The car is where I do a lot of evaluating of my life, so it makes sense that music would be the same way. The best epiphanies happen hear

What music do you like listening to when driving?

a little of this and a little of that

Here and there, I'm around, somewhere.



I have about ten other drafts of blogs I've been meaning to post but I procrastinate too much... which is why this blog is happening. I have been procrastinating on this paper for about 4 hours. I can't take it anymore. Sufjan Stevens and Walter Fisher just should not ever be put together in the same paper again.

I started with 43 pages of content, and through my re-editing process i am now at page 50 and still have 23 more pages to re-edit. I'm assuming I will be at 60 pages by the time I'm done and will have to find some way to cut 10 pages. Oh good God. Format man, I hate it.

If I learn one more writing format for as long as I live I may go insane.

APA, MLA, Turabian, AP, oh vey.

Descriptive writing

Prescriptive writing

just let me write with meaning
let me pour my heart into words and sentences worth forming.

I'll lace something together
that draws a story
something of beauty
and truth

"I think we are diverse enough but like minded enough to be able to pull it off. We all have creative passions that we are figuring out with one commonality, God. Which is part of the reason we are screwed because we are wrecked for a cause."

Beth, Jessi, and I are in the process of putting a plan together. Secret for now, will keep you posted.

Story time.

Powells book store, located in Portland, Oregon. Specially the one located on burnside is heaven for books. It is a three story bookstore that one could seriously live in. It is one of my favorites.
The other day Bethany and I were in Portland. We got there at approximately 6:30 pm and left at approximately 11pm when the store closed. Then proceeded to sit in a gelato shop for another hour or so. This is why.



Good news, after getting my car towed to Des house. My keys were found almost 24 hours later. How this happens I truly have no idea.
But for now, enjoy.

Lor comes to Indiana in 30 hours, I cannot wait.

check this out

http://sammaycreate.carbonmade.com