Crystal Animals

I need every piece of art in this amazing series. I just purchased the bull skull and the deer but mark my words I will own them all! Amazing work by Patrick Gundersen. Check out his etsy shop!

Allgood 2015

I can not believe it has been almost 10 years since my first Allgood music festival. I was just a teenager when I experienced the mayhem and magic that is the festival scene for the first time. It was in 2006 and it was one of the most third eye-opening experiences of my young life. There were many more festivals since then but Allgood has always had a special place in my heart; even when it was in Ohio. This year did not disappoint and thankfully I have learned many lessons along the way that resulted in an amazing camp site complete with a shower and hot coffee every morning. That's right folks, my camp crew loved me. I love building a village for the weekend. It was our refuge from the heat and madness just beyond the tapestry and provided a welcome rest to weary traveling peddlers that stop in for a visit.

Berry Hill Farm - Summit Point, WV - July 9-11, 2015

The crew!

My best friend and I like taking too many selfies

The love of my life had a blast at his first music festival

My bestie taking selfies with my phone during a bathroom trip. He rocked that unicorn hood all weekend.

How we looked vs. how we really looked haha

This amazing girl came by our camp and spent most of the day with us. I adored her! Olivia was a awesome addition to our crew and I really enjoyed having another girl around.

We had so much fun hooping together. It was hot as hell but that didn't stop us.

 

A happy girl and her avocado

Its been fun! Until next time Allgood!

This one time I went to the Dominican Reupublic.

It was a conversation that would change the future.  One of my dearest friends asked me if I would want to take a trip somewhere warm with her. I didn't miss a beat, absolutely I did! I didn't even care where, I trusted her fully. She messaged me the next day and told me where we were going. She found a place called Breathless resort and spa in the Dominican and this place looked divine. The beach was everything I wanted. To top it all off every room had a tub on the porch. Baths are amazing, and a bath on a porch with the sound of the waves and the wind through the palm trees was a dream come true. It was March and I was turning 26. To me it was do something now or regret it. Life is short and here I was a quarter century into my life and I had never had an adventure like this. I had never used my passport. It was time. We set off on our journey and after a few minor setbacks we arrived.

 We did not want to deal with the bus that stops at every single resort so she had arranged private transport. Not only did we have a luxury car with a driver that provided beer but he drove us VERY quickly to our destination but I never felt unsafe. The traffic rules are different and if we did not have him when we returned to the airport we would have certainly missed our flight home. He didn't speak English but my Spanish was sufficient enough to get him to stop at a local market so we could acquire some Larimar before he took us to our resort. I was so excited because the Dominican is the only place where the beautiful blue stone can be found. We got to our room after a full day of traveling but the sunset made me forget about all of it. We made it.

 It had always been a dream of mine to ride a horse on a beautiful beach. I had ridden horses for years from the time I was 8. I consider myself an experienced rider. Just outside the resort I found a man named Junior who arranged for me to ride a horse named Paloma owned by a fella named Happy Castro. It took some time to get the stirrups adjusted and I could tell he rarely had to make them so short. I wanted to be able to stay on because I knew I wanted to run wild and free. Once we got out to the beach I took off with the horse. Galloping dangerously fast down the beach. I gave Paloma permission and gentle encouragement and I could feel her respond. She felt like she was relieved. She ran beautifully and I was so filled with bliss. I looked back occasionally and saw happy keeping pace, no doubt worried that the horse was in control and I was hanging on for dear life. I gave a thumbs up, hoping he understood that I was not in danger. Some dogs came out of the woods as Paloma and I galloped by and they were trying to bite my bare feet as we ran. They were barking and chomping at my toes I yelled "BASTA PERROS YA PALOMA YA YA"! It was pretty intense and Paloma responded by getting us the hell out of there. We slowed down as we got close to the beach territory of another resort and the armed guard loomed ominously and shook his head. Happy caught up to me and we turned around and headed off into the forest. Happy was a fun guy who took me on a ride around the outside of resort so I could see some of the local area. I saw men in huts in the palm forests around the resort with guns. It was a reminder that we were in a beautiful paradise but also an area of conflict and poverty. We rode through ruins from the past and the market place my driver had taken us to on the first day. I saw local bars playing music and people waved and laughed as happy paraded me around. I felt like at any point me and Paloma might have to make a run for it but Happy and I had bonded and even though he spoke no English and my Spanish was very bad. I still understood his invite to come stay with him. 

 I got so sunburned. I turned a lovely shade of red. It was stupid to go from the middle of winter to the equator. I tried to protect my skin but I failed miserably.

She didn't want any photos taken but I snapped this one of her walking on the beach.

 While we were walking around after dinner we stumbled on a hula hooping contest. It was too late to be a contestant but I just walked on stage and grabbed a hoop and gave it a spin. I figured why the hell not.

 I pretty much lived on fruit and it was glorious.

 Everyday they had pineapples you could drink out of and they would refill all day long but I really wanted a coconut. Our last day I finally got my coconut! I was so happy. It was a magical trip and I feel so blessed to have had this experience with my amazing friend.