My Travels Come to an End

I was in Portland, OR from the 4th - 14th, so much fun to be had!! Including: playing in a CSz show, riding in the MS150, taking my mom out for her birthday, spiritual discussions with JKB, making jewelry with Rance's mom, hiking with Amy, meeting my friend Cristi's new love, leading a CSz workshop, enjoying a girls night with friends over Vietnamese salad rolls and wine, my 20th HS reunion, time out on the Scott family boat on the Columbia River, Brad's graduation party, and so much more!

It was such a great way to put a capper on my summer after spending almost seven weeks in Maine.

The MS150 was amazing and hot and grueling at parts and painful and so much fun! I rented a bike from a wonderful little bike shop in Portland called Veloce. I highly recommend it if you're ever in need for a good road bike or need to rent one in town for some reason. For just $100 for five days use I was given a $2000 dollar bike . It was fast and nimble and oh so light! But that seat, mama mia was that painful. It was like riding a 2" diameter steel tube for the entire time. My nether regions were screaming in pain! But I kept going and made it to the end.

We were a team of six women strong riding in support of Julie, our team captain. Both her mother and brother have Multiple Sclerosis and her father died almost two years ago. It's been a rough time period. We raised over $6,000 for the MS Society to continue their research, and we won best costume/jersey. We had a jersey of bright sky blue with sunflowers they were beautiful. It didn't hurt that all the women I was riding with were equally beautiful both inside and out.

I saw my brother for the first time in over 10 years. He was staying with my mom and helping her out around the house. It felt kind of odd and surreal. I mean here was someone that I grew up with at least until I was 8 or 9 years old and I had nothing to say to him beyond "hey, how are you doing?" I don't know if there could be a more opposite sibling. I was just glad to see all of the work he had done for my mom.

My travel timing seems perfect weather wise. Now back here in Chicago it's a cooler 81 degrees. I may have missed most of the heatwave. Huzzah!!

Maine Events

Looking back there were a few things I did in Maine that didn't make it to the blog for one reason or another here's a recap of two of those things worth mentioning.

1) I had my first ever shiatsu massage. I'll admit to being somewhat of a massage snob. My massage therapist here in Chicago is fantastic, but I did experience some stinkeroo's before I found Melissa. Shiatsu involves more energy work and what I would call tension relief manipulations than traditional Swedish massage. The most significant difference is that you keep your clothes on, which quite honestly took a little adjusting. I like the feeling of clean, fresh sheets on my bare skin. Anyway, Kathleen was the person giving the massage. She's a long time resident of Bar Harbor and a great fan of ImprovAcadia. She's been doing massage and energy work for a number of years and was recommended to me by Jen. At one point during the session she was holding my right leg in her hands and she said, "Deanna your legs are crying out to me that they're so tired!" The funny thing is I think I heard them too. And I kept on hearing them the next day as I went for a bike ride with Andrea. I've been hearing them ever since. Now I need to find some no-doze for my legs for this weekend's bike trip.

2) I had lunch with a few people that I used to work with in Portland, OR. Dan his wife Helen, Gary, Lucie and their daughter. Dan, Gary and Lucie have been friends for years and they have all worked for The Standard for more than 25 years each. Dan took a management position in South Portland, ME and when I found out about it I sent him and email telling that I'd be in Bar Harbor. It was great to catch up with all of them. We were sitting outside on the second floor of the Quarterdeck restaurant having a great conversation. When all of a sudden the waitstaff came by and took down all of the table umbrellas and warned us of an impending storm. We could see clouds off in the horizon but it was about 83 degrees out and perfect where we were. They said the storm was going to hit in about 10 minutes. I'm not sure that any of us believed the warning. Sure enough in about 8 minutes huge drops of rain started pelting us and it quickly turned into a huge hail storm. We ran with our lunch plates to an inside dining area out of the storms way. In less than five minutes it was over and blue skies prevailed. It was fun catching up with them and to once again affirm for myself that I don't miss working at The Standard but I do miss the people.

Yep, This is Chicago

I changed my blogger look to reflect the change in locations. It felt natural to be transcribing my life events on a parchment looking screen while in historical Bar Harbor, ME. It feels a bit more pretentious here in the cement confines of Chicago.

I got my strongest indication that I was no longer in beautiful, serene Maine yesterday. I was driving down Wellington street with my friends Mike and Roxanne. When I saw that a huge SUV was attempted to parallel park to my right. It's not a wide street so I stopped my car and waited for him to park. Obviously he didn't like the fact that I stopped and waited for him. As I slowly drove by he gave me the one finger waive, which he also stuck in his mouth for a more grotesque effect. For the life of me I couldn't understand why he was so angry. So I stopped, rolled down my window and said "Hey, Buddy I was just trying to be nice. What's your problem?" he replied, "my problem is you and you're a lousy driver."

This is where my improv instincts kick in, I reply, "Oh yeah, well I'm an Indy Car driver." And in perfect yes and form, he replies, "Well, you're a pretty shitty one." I tell him that I hope he has a great day. We roll up our windows and laugh hysterically.

Mike informs me that there's only one current female Indy Car driver. We all hope that this guy doesn't look that fact up on the internet and find out I'm lying.