I've just had an amazing weekend.

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Life is a bit of whirlwind right now, in mostly good ways. :)

I've just come off a great weekend, we took the dogs to camp at a music festival my hubby's band was playing in, and had a BLAST. Saw lots of friends, met some new friends, and everyone one was warm, friendly, and didn't mind my hugginess. I partook (a very small amount) of a psychedelic mushroom treat, and that tends to make me quite huggy. I had a lovely time, and all of Sunday evening radiated love and beauty all around me. The dogs behaved marvelously at their first festival. They were quite popular. It's been at least a year since I've been to a festival like that, and it felt like home. I'm always in my element amongst all the hippies, and surrounded by my kind of music. Good stuff.

This week we're trying to get our house in order before we take off for the weekend to Ryan's home town. His band has a gig there, and we'll be spending the weekend with his mom's side of the family and some of his long-time friends. This weekend promises to be filled with as much fun and love as the last, though in a wildly different environment.

Ryan and I have been putting a lot of focus on our marriage and on it's continued growth. We were stagnating for a while there, and our renewed passion for our relationship is invigorating. We've been spending a little time at least a couple of nights a week in conversation about our marriage, discussing where we've been, where we are, and where we'd like to head together. We've also been revisiting discussions of polyamory and how it shapes up for us. (More on that when I have more time.)

I've also met someone local who I share a lot in common with, and who I'm in the process of getting to know a little better, but based on past experiences, I don't want to say too much about it early on. I'll just say that it's exciting and refreshing to make a good connection with someone new, and leave it at that for now.

Love and Peace to all y'all! :)



ETA: I've had some additional requests for Declarations of Coolness, which I'm looking forward to writing, but may not have the opportunity to do so until next week. Sit tight to those of you waiting on them! :)

I've had an absolutely glorious period of time since I last posted. :)

On Thursday, Ry and the dogs and I took off for some camping in Ontario. (Wisconsin, not Canada.) The campground turned out to be not exactly what we'd had in mind (which was a nice, private, secluded camp site in the woods without people in eye/ear shot), but we made the best of being in a wide open camp site with NO shade, next to the wood pile, manure spreader, and out house (essentially the most heavily trafficked [whoah, I just had a "how do you spell trafficked? That doesn't look right! moment] spot of the entire campground) in the blazing heat.

After we set up camp, (BTW, this was an equine campground, and the first time Anka or Sadie had seen horses! They seemed to want to play with the horses, but the horses weren't interested.) we went traipesing around Ontario, splashed around with the dogs in the Kickapoo River a little bit, at which point we discovered that Anka is indeed a yellow lab and took to the water swimmingly. (Ha! I'm punny!) Sadie was a bit more timid about getting into the water, but tolerated it. If I remember, I'll post some pictures of their first ever water adventures.

Friday, we spent most of the day canoeing the Kickapoo with the dogs in tow. I hadn't been in a canoe in years, and neither Ryan nor the dogs had been in one in their LIFE, so it was an interesting (but very fun) day. Hauling 160 pounds of dog who aren't paddling around in a canoe is a good work out, FYI. The canoe trip rekindled my appreciation for the beauty of the area I live in. The river, the rock formations, the wild (and not so wild) life, the bluffs, the trees....just beautiful. We watched 3 cows cross the river about 10 feet in front of us (which totally floored the dogs), and also drifted right by a deer, and watched some type of large water bird (either an egret or a heron, I think) take off not more than 15 feet away.

We ended up coming home on Saturday, a day early, due to not wanting to sit around in the middle of the campground sweating our asses off while all the horse-people stared at us all day. We got showered (Ryan told me to shower first while he put away ALL of the camping gear, + Major Points) and took a 3 hour snuggly nap in central-air cooled splendor before making yummy pizzas and cuddling through a couple of movies.

This weekend was just what we needed. I feel re-connected, I feel stable and secure in our bond, and I feel incredibly loved and appreciated.

More on the rest of the weekend, coming soon.

I love camping. ( LOVE it. )

( Pictures! )