has it been a year?

spent the weekend in seattle with chris

madhatter - the vintage store that i work at

view from inside the café

la niña winter in b'ham

well well well....

i guess it has been a year since i have posted anything on the blog. pretty sure no one will be checking it any time soon haha.

still living in bellingham, still living on a 10 acre farm/homestead with the ellsworths. i love it here, i love this family, i love my life. some things are hard, but the hard stuff makes the great stuff worth it.

i have changed a lot since the move out west. i have made a point to work on things that i knew were hindering my spirit. it is crazy how much a little positive thinking can do! i have to work at it every day and it has been the most rewarding challenge. living in the now-ness. i feel happier and more connected than ever.

it is very cold here now. 7 degrees this morning. snow/wind/ice. we live in a cabin with minimal insulation and it is about the same temp inside as it is outside in the morning. lots of wood splitting/burning. having a wood stove is great, but it sure can get cold when it is not in use!

i am working at a vintage clothing store in the downtown area. i am currently writing from our fav coffee spot in town, espresso avellino. it is right next door to my work. corey is off kicking ass at a temp construction job down the street. he is a trooper; they have been working outside the past couple snowy days. i didn't plan on getting a job while out here, but it def has helped. i would have made a significant dent in my savings if i had not. now i am (slowly) able to save some money... at least for the trip back.

we are planning on heading back to atlanta this spring. not sure if we are detouring to any farms, but we will def be taking a scenic route. possibly route: idaho -> utah -> colorado -> nebraska -> iowa -> chicago!!!! to visit my family -> yada yada -> new york!!!! to visit our friends joe and lindsey. then east coast all the way. stop off in asheville (possible place to spend some time in the near future). i am really excited about getting back. i am really excited about getting some things started when i get back. been thinking about how cool it would be to start a small food co-op when i get back. it would be a lot of work. i am really just starting the most basic research involved, but i like how it is flowing so far. maybe first start out with a local produce stand. i have been hearing good things about how local/street food has been evolving in atlanta.

no idea where i will live or work when i get back. i'm sure i will spend some time at my mom's house at first. and couch-surfing wherever i am welcome of course (which i haven't done in years). hopefully i can find a job working outside. i also want to buy a drum set when i have settled in somewhere. i have been dreaming of learning how to play the drums for so long. it must happen now. corey has been making some great electronic music recently and watching him is such a great motivator.

can't wait to see my friends and family. i miss everyone so much. it has been only been a year, but sometimes i find it hard to remember my life in georgia. weird how time can do that. and pass by so quickly.

i will leave you with some new great music i have been listening to.

warpaint - the fool

this album just came out a month ago. four-piece all girl bad from la. really ambient, mellow, beautiful stuff. but some tracks make me want to dance. the girls have all been friends forever and they have a great dynamic. really enjoy this so far.

avey tare - down there

funky new album by avey tare (of animal collective). i think it is really fun and also makes me want to get down. i am excited that this album has more vocals.

blond redhead - penny sparkle

just started listening to this, but it is great so far. kinda reminds me of air sometimes. they are playing in town tonight and i want to go, but i can't spend the money.

isness - it's like this

okay, of course i am biased. i love these guys. they are great people and they make great music. and now it has evolved into funky, dance-y, badass electronic jams. i am really proud of them because this stuff is stellar. it is so amazing how the music corey has been making sounds really similar and they are on opposite sides of the country. oneness at its greatest.

i have been spending a lot of time finding/listening to new jams recently. and trying to learn how to play some new instruments! focusing on the piano (since we have one in our cabin). playing music is so rewarding.

now i need to look up some thanksgiving recipes before my computer dies. oh yea! i have been baking SOOO much. i mean, like, baking something at least once a week. cookies, pies, casseroles, you name it. i love it.

corey's parents will be coming to visit on dec. 4th! we are so excited. they will be here for a week and we are going to spend time with sue's bro and sis as well. can't wait!

gotta get to work now. hope everyone is doing well and staying warm. love you guys.

xo whit

Far too long!

Hey guys!

So it has definitely been a long time since we have blogged. I'm sure most of you have stopped checking... I don't blame you.

To be honest, it takes a REALLY long time to upload pictures and we only use our computers for barely an hour a week when we go into town. But you can call us any time! And we bought some blank disks, so if you want to see some new pictures we can mail them to you! We may still be able to throw some stuff up here from time to time, but probably not consistently while we do not have access to the world wide inter-web.

Well just wanted to let you know... we are at a new address! If you do decide to mail something, please send it to our new temporary place since we are now rarely at the farm in Mount Vernon.

156 Shallow Shore Road

Bellingham, WA 98229

Hopefully we have talked to all of you somewhat recently. If not, know that everything is going great (and we hope it is going just as wonderfully for you). We had a mind blowing experience yesterday. You can ask about it the next time we talk to you... it would be hard to describe in text. Life is great and beautiful and full of love.

Hope you feel the same. And wishing everyone happy, warm, fun holidays surrounded by great people and lots of love.

hey guys! its corey for the first time. we are actually on the plane as i type on the way back to washington. we came back to atlanta to go to whit's dads wedding. he was nice enough to fly us back home for a couple days. so we've been at our farm for about 3 weeks now and are enjoying a lot. the family we're staying with is a young couple with 3 boys who are 2, 5, and 9. its been really awesome that the work we do is work we want to do. even though it can be hard or strenuous we are very happy to feel our body's work. but for the most part it is very chill. the usual day starts with us getting up around 8:30, going in to the remains of a kitchen and make breakfast and coffee or tea. the kids usually are gone by the time we make it in. we will start work around 9:30 and if its an order day (mon. and thurs.) we will pick what the markets have ordered. usually kale and green onions. the 5 year old gets home around noon and we break for lunch. we'll then continue if the order isn't done or work on cleaning shallots (which they pronounce shal-lots) or split some wood for the wood stove. or there have been times where thats all we do for the day and we'll walk to the skagit river or go to the co-op to have coffee and use the internet. we'll start make dinner around 6 and since we've been thinking about food the whole day (which has been common) we'll go pick what we want from the field. Danielle (mom) has already taught us so many new techniques and uses of the vegetables and is usually baking some awesome sweet stuff. we usually eat together unless we go into town and get back late. our bedtime has been around 9 o'clock and we love every minute of it. the neighbors cows usually moo us to sleep too. then wake up and do it again. then again thats life right? until next time, stay happy!

ADDRESS!

Hey guys! Sorry we have not had time to put more pictures up, but we do have an address in case anyone wants us to send us a care package!

21135 Francis Road

Mount Vernon, WA 98273

Thanks for all the comments! The farm has been really great so far. We have been learning a lot and cooking A LOT too. So much food all the time. We will write more about it soon and try to get some pictures of the farm up as well.

Love love love.

finally ... internet that works!

got to post these pictures earlier before the internet cut out on me.

hot springs in ouray, colorado. we thought it would be some kind of stone configuration but it was definitely just a pool with hot springs water in it. it was still pretty cool.

we went on a hike for a few hours while we were in ouray. we did not do the whole trail but we made it to a really awesome viewpoint and set up the trekking pole to take a picture.

the view was astounding. we stopped and ate some lunch.

we drove overnight to the grand canyon after we left colorado. i put a movie on the ipod and listened to it while i drove most of the night... which was actually pretty stimulating. the sun started to rise just as we reached the grand canyon state park. pretty cool.

these two pictures are from when we hiked into the canyon on the second day. we almost made it to the second checkpoint and decided it was a good idea to turn back. the hike back up to the top was quite grueling. no shade and the sun was intense. we both had some pretty sweet sunburn.

hey guys!

sorry it has been so long since we posted anything. no wi-fi in the woods.

we are currently in eugene, oregon trying to plan out the rest of our trip. we will post some pictures and blurbs asappppp.

love you all!

whit and corey

met the coolest people in the coolest town

we are leaving boulder today and heading to a place called the nederlands that is about 15 miles into the flatiron mountains. we went there yesterday and heard that they had free camping. it is a total hippie town nestled in the mountains by a beautiful lake. full of crystal shops, local community co-ops, legal marijuana distributors, and tons of travelers with musical instruments.

anyways, we wanted to make a quick post about the first really great people we met on this journey. we met them at the boulder mountain lodge on our first day. that same night we went and hung out at their awesome trailer camper and had the best conversation with them. they gave us great advice on pretty much everything (especially traveling). they are the kind of people you want to be like when you grow up.

deb and paul (did not get their cute dog rocky in the picture)

so happy we met you guys.

- whit and core

p.s. check out one of paul's awesome mountain biking websites! he kills it on the trails.

mountainbikemayhem.com