Happy Solstice

Last night I went to one of the best parties I have ever been to bar none. It was a Winter Solstice party hosted by my favorite friend S. There were 4 of us girls for the bulk of the party. We made omelets and discussed responsible environmentalism and then got right down to business. In the cutest, littlest apartment with the walls painted yellow and a Christmas tree in one corner decorated with cranberries we lit a ton of candles and laid them around the food (chocolate!) that we had spread between us. We read our daily Tao and then CELEBRATED! I won't divulge the secrets shared amongst Solstice Sisters but we took turns reading poetry we loved and poetry we had written. We talked of life, love, death and everything in between. We HENNA'd!! I have never felt so comfortable, had so much fun, or enjoyed my time more then this time spent with such cool hippie girls. Each one of them a person I would like to be. Such an open and non-judgmental set of girls. Really, the whole evening was holistic. I am completely healed.

Dear God, it's me, Maija.

Adventure Matt's in the hospital. Wednesday morning at about 3am he called his girlfriend to take him to the emergency room because his legs were tingling and his muscles weren't working right. Two hours later he was in the ICU, paralyzed from the neck down on a respirator with a pace maker to keep his heart rate up. Two agonizing days later and they still don't have a diagnosis. Just a lot of guesses. The prognosis though, is sounding worse and worse. As of an hour ago, they think it might have been a stroke and that the paralyses is permanent. We are all praying for the best. For those of you who don't know Adventure Matt, he is my climbing, kayaking, canyoneering (he's the one that saved my life in the flood), camping, hiking, playing, road tripping, movie, hanging out friend. He's my brother. Please, please, pray for him.

Time to reset your clocks!!

So, I went to LA this weekend. I went with two coworker/friends of mine, Z. and V. It was a hoot and a nanny. We headed out Thursday afternoon with no other plan then the fact that I wanted to see the ocean, see K. and N. and go to Ikea (in no particular order). We ended up staying over at L. and J. in Vegas. It was so nice of them to put us straggling wanderers up for the night. And so much fun to play with their bobbies. We spent some time on the strip and went to a buffet at the Mirage. Way to much money in my opinion for warmed up, heat lamp food. Oh well, it was the experience, right? The next morning we headed for the coast. We went to Ikea first and there I parted ways with my companions as N. came and picked me up. It was nice to spend a moment with him getting camping gear and tin foil dinners together before picking up K. and heading for the coast. We drove a bit south to Doheney beach were we met some friends of theirs and set up our tents right out there on the beach. It was the most bizare camping I've ever done because you could hear and see the freeway. There was a Taco Bell sign you could see from where we were and there was a 'Getto Bird' that was searching around with its lights on. Crazy. We had our dinners and sat and poked the fire for a bit. I went down to the water and sat and dangled my feet off the edge of the world. I feel like if I don't see the ocean every so often my soul dries up and blows away. I need the steady rythmn of the waves to help me reset my heart. I rush and rush and am crazy and up and down all the time I need the constancy of the ocean I think. I love the grandeur of it. I love that at the same time it captures and holds my heart its scares the hooey out of me. I think a lot of things in my life are like that. I want to love them and need them but they scare me so much at the same time... Anyway, I loved camping on the beach with N. and K. and they are wonderful camping companions as neither of them snore loud enough to wake me. We lazed about the next morning and K. and I sat on the beach until our hearts beat the same and then I posed for some fake surfing shots for a friend of mine. We headed home after that, took our showers and then headed off to Ikea. The three of us spent some good time there, shopped ALOT, had dinner. Good times. We then went to a little shindig K. friends were hosting, home for a movie (I fell asleep) and then off to bed. The next morning it was Church and then off to meet Z. and V. and then home again, home again, jiggity jig. I love these mini vacations. I need them to get through week to week. If I don't have something in the works, I'm just not happy. And when Maija ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Anway, next on the agenda... Seattle!