Naturally Optimistic

Well, internet, it has finally arrived. Our first camping foray as a family of four. I'm excited (but man I hate packing). I will be out of the wired-world for a few days to return with many happy stories, lasting memories, new friends & oodles of photos. Maybe a little sunshine on my cheeks & a few mosquito bites too. Have a great weekend!

According to this new study , Minnesota is ranked 4th in the country for peacefulness. I can see that. 10,000 lakes, national forests, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, peaceful prairies, clean air, not too many people & friendliness. Rivers, sky blue skies, great artists & musicians, the largest lake in the world...and the home of Snoopy. Clearly I think Minnesota is a great place to live. When I returned from 5 1/2 years of living in California, I finally felt like I could take a deep breath. I'm not cut out for the hustle & bustle (constantly!) of a big city. I take my life a little slower; more peacefully. The USPI indicators: number of violent crimes, number of murders, number of police officers and the incarceration rate & ease of access to small arms.

This is a photo of the paperwork I had to copy & complete to submit for Snowbate. Snowbate is a tax incentive program from the MN Film & TV Board & the State of MN. We had to go through a qualification process this past summer to get RILEY in the program & certified...We will receive a 15% tax rebate (ie: cash!) on monies spent in the state for our film production. It all has to do with job creation & retention & continuing to have money spent locally. Nationally MN USED to have one of the best tax incentive programs out there, but not so much any more. Of the requested $25m for this program, they received $1m for 2009/2010. That is why you don't see many big budget Hollywood films being shot here any more (even if they are set here!). They're going to the states who offer more incentives (or other countries). It might not mean a lot to you, but for those who are freelancers, production houses, rental houses, post-production houses, etc in the entertainm...

Dahlia & I just came in from being outside "playing" in the snow (while Steve still shovels & snowblows). We're having a respite right now from the flakes & winds, but a full blown blizzard is supposed to be in effect by midnight! We're stocked up & ready to hunker down if necessary (if we can get out - we'll go to church & my FIL's for Christmas Eve dinner...we shall see). My only MAJOR disappointment is the fact that we are STILL MISSING a piece for Dahlia's kitchen so I wanted to run to Target today. Steve may go in a little bit to see if he can get one (and he has a couple other errands to run) but we might have to wait a day or two to get Dahlia's full Christmas morning reaction. I'm super bummed about that as I know she's going to LOVE this kitchen, but what can you do? I'm trying not to let it ruin my day. For all you in the northern climes, enjoy the white Christmas! While all you in the warm sunny states can ...

Or camping with toddlers! Our northwoods adventure started last Saturday. Of course it took us forever to get packed up and out the door, as it usually does. We didn't make it to the Ranger Station in Tofte til 4:45pm! (they close at 5pm). It is so frustrating and no matter how much we try to pre-pack and be more efficient it gets worse instead of better. I felt bad for Dustin & Anna (hi Anna!) who were ALWAYS waiting on us. Hmph. The hiccups on this trip started when I realized on the way out of town that I forgot my glasses. Yeah, that sucks. And I have nEVER done that before. It's not such a big deal during the day, as I wear contacts almost exclusively, but at night before bed, and in the middle of the night/morning it's a real pain in the ass. 2nd hiccup came on the washboard like conditions of the Sawbill Trail. My oh my do they need to grade that road. It was terrible and while driving along it I thought the dashboard of the truck would fall off. It didn't, t...

We took Dahlia on her very first camping trip this weekend. Our goal was to be out of the house by 11:30 on Friday morning (we had a showing of our house then)...but we weren't even CLOSE to ready. We (ahem) are slow packers. Instead I ran the errands (liquor store, groceries) and Steve went to fuel up and get an oil change for the truck....5 hours or so later we were on the road! We made reservations at Sawbill Lake Campground in the Superior National Forest, at the end of The Sawbill Trail. It was a lovely campground. We were in the site next to some friends - close enough to hang out, far enough to be alone. Friday night we got everything set up and had a very late dinner. Dahlia was intrigued by the tent and fell asleep almost immediately. That was awesome. Steve & I enjoyed our hot dogs over the fire and a couple beers and the gazillions of stars. Ah heaven. Saturday we were going to take Miss Dahlia canoeing but it was so damn windy. The lake was CHOPPY and that scared ...

and it's wonderful. Many trip updates to follow...as soon as I figure out what timezone I'm in. ... My heart goes out to the folks in Minneapolis. What an unreal tragedy. Some amazing photos here .

Keep in mind we had NO snow as of last night.

On another note, it's POURING rain right now. And thundering.....spring is springing. :)

well, yesterday went a different way than I had originally thought it would. Jason & his girlfriend picked me up around 9;45 or so to head to Minneapolis for our auditions. I had to walk a ways to meet them because neither my street or my avenue had been plowed yet. (or my alley for that matter)...after a quick ATM and gas stop we were on the road by 10 - our targeted leaving time. About 20 miles or so down the road, we came to some slush in the passing lane. The slush was covering, unbeknownst to us, black ice. Jason said 'slow down, slow down' and before we knew it we were spinning on the freeway and landing in the ditch with a big thump and an explosion of white. I think we spun around twice on the freeway but I can't be certain as I shut my eyes until we hit the snowbank. I am thankful that we didn't hit the cement median or another car. The scariest part of this was waiting. We were there for probably an hour and a half waiting for AAA and the state patrol. In ...

We're in the middle of a lovely blizzard. Sadly I am at work. Hmph. All the schools are closed, there are white-out conditions - the winds are wicked. Canal Park (the area where I work) is VERY very blowy & white. We've just had the first wave of this storm so far with wave #2 coming tonight. Whohooo! :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for getting out early....we'll see....

Well frozen water anyway. It's not every year that even part of the lake (Superior, that is) freezes over. This year it's been COLD and the lake is freezing (it only completely freezes over about once every 15 years or so...I think the last time was in 1995/96. Incidentally the last winter I lived in Duluth before moving to California! ha) Yesterday, Steve, his brother Paul & I went walking on the lake. It was...freaky. The ice is about 10-12 inches thick and you can see cracks on various levels as you look down. In some places it it black - it looks like you're walking on nothing. An abyss (freaky). In other places it looks like the ripples on the lake just stopped, mid-motion. In some places the ice is formed of separate pieces that have overlapped to form the solid sheet...like an ice collage. It was cold. We walked a couple miles probably - the wind chill was nasty. But it was well worth the unique experience. There are lots of ice houses out this year, there are pe...