in remembrance of 2014.

last fall, i remember thinking..."oh my gosh, what did i do with this past year!?" it wasn't a a question of curiosity, it was a question stained with judgement about how i spent my time. so i responded by making a list of everything i experienced in 2014 and categorized them. (ahh, i love organization!)

but this list isn't about saying, "hey, look at me!" it's about reflecting on a full year and feeling deep gratitude. it's about remembering that although i had a lot of fun experiences, it was in the loneliness of living in rural montana that i began to truly treasure community. it's about looking back in order to shape how i move forward.

and wowwowwow, do i feel grateful!!

adventures

• biked from canada to mexico with samuel
• backpacking to cedar lake (montana)
• backpacked the teton crest trail with mary and samuel (wyoming)
• hiked all over the madison valley
• summited sphinx mountain (montana)
• road trip to banff & jasper national parks (canada)
• jumping into glacially cold leigh lake (only for a moment, but a lifetime of cold)
• horseback riding with mel (montana)
• this extrovert having to navigate isolation! 

travels

• USA: el paso, texas
• USA: all over western montana 
• N.AMERICA: canada to mexico (bike)
• USA: seattle > portland > bend > shasta > sf/bay (train)
• FRANCE: la havre > fougeres > ile-aux-moines > paris
• USA: jackson hole, wyoming
• USA: catalina 
• USA: la > san diego 

first time experiences

• our first real winter
• ice fishing
• dog sledding
• walked on a frozen lake
• got our car stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere (and had to get rescued)
• first snow-related car accident 
• my coldest day ever at -29 degrees
• my first log sawing competition
• skiing at bridger bowl, whitefish resort, snowbowl, discovery ski
• snowcoaching in yellowstone national park
• shooting a handgun and a (serious looking) rifle
• "helped" ranchers with cattle sorting (translation: i just tried to stay on my horse and not cause trouble.) 
• cattle branding
• lassoed my first calf!
• biking in yellowstone (twice)
• a rural duathlon (bike/run)
• hired a coach
• met william devane
• horse pack trip in the backcountry with people i had never met (except for one person)
• attended a french wedding
• an overwhelming allergy attack in the backcountry 
• attacked by a grouse
• a chuck wagon dinner
• ate moose, elk, and deer
• designed a founder's retreat agenda for a bay area start-up
• joined a food co-op

new skills (also all first time experiences)

• skiing
• snowshoeing 
• cross country skiing
• mountain biking
• baking bread and bagels from scratch
• making yogurt and granola
• making kimchi (and other korean dishes)
• brewing kick-you-awake pour over coffee
• water coloring
• resolving conflict with husband

animals i saw

• saw my first grizzly (in captivity)
• bison
• moose
• elk
• wolf
• deer
• white tailed deer
• pronghorn antelope
• bighorn sheep
• mountain goats
• bald eagles
• mountain blue birds
• magpies
• osprey
• golden eagles
• grouse
• rocky mountain sheep
• scottish highland cattle (my absolute favorite kinda cow!)

lifestyle experiments

• reduced our life down to one car load, then slowly acquire what we needed for our new place
• lived in my first rural town
• completed artist's way
• experiment: 30 days of drinking 3L of water/day
• zero waste living (still pursuing)

passion pursuits 

• got certified in wilderness first aid and cpr
• started building a website to make wilderness backpacking simple for women
• conducted user research interviews for said website
• created a website for a bed & breakfast

choices made toward finding home

• moved to ennis, montana on jan 1, 2014
• moved to missoula, montana on oct 6, 2014
• got a new drivers license for the state of montana
• apartment hunting for three intensive days in missoula and found one

watched

• joy & billy get married
• zack & sarah get married
• jb & nino get married
• my husband officiate his first wedding
• all seasons of friday night lights and scandal in a relatively short period of time. (aka: binging!)

we hosted

• messengers x2
• mary chang
• the first (and only) instameet in ennis, mt
• sister alice
• candice & matt 
• six bike tourists in a span of seven days
• my sister, lily, lydia, and mom
• a neighborly get together in our new town
• jenny morgan

we were hosted by

• the messengers (stevensville)
• the kims x2 (san diego)
• the chois (la)
• paula (france)
• torea & jeremy (sunnyvale)
• mary chang (menlo park)
• mary carrera (san jose)
• my momma (la)
• chris murchison (sf)
• all the amazing people during our pacific coast bike tour

new(ish) relationships formed

• judy
• the noacks
• mel
• the jarvis'
• the maccalls
• the lewtons
• m&m
• the messengers
• folks from our church
• vlad
• brian/ollie
• craig & melissa

and ordinary things

• got my annual dental check-up
• ate almost all my meals with my husband (that's about 1000 meals!)
• took dozens & dozens & dozens of naps
• spent countless days in my pajamas

you can see some pics from this year here.

zero waste home adventures: around the house

my husband has been an true support in my (sometimes ocd) zero waste (zw) adventure. he pokes fun at me when i'm being neurotic and genuinely asks about what to do in a possible wasteful situations. obviously adopting a zw lifestyle can't be done alone in a household or everyone involved in said household would go crazy. but here are a few things we've been doing together:

• we live out "if it's yellow let it mellow. if it's brown, flush it down."
• we make whatever food we can, instead of buying it prepared/packaged. if it doesn't make sense for us to make it, we buy it in bulk.
• we started an indoor composting system!! we went with bokashi because it takes meat/fats. it's awesome, and the juice is fantastic for our septic tank. win-win!
• we make an effort to eat whatever we have at home before buying more of something we might already have. this isn't always easy because my cravings can be impulsive, and i'll put up a good fight. (poor samuel...)
• we are learning about (and trying to implement) vinegar as the solution to most questions. for example, you can use a 1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle instead of using dryer sheets. awesome.
• we've eliminated paper towels. we're a towel/linen household now.
• we purchased a few handkerchieves from the vintage store and use that in lieu of tissues.
• we reuse padded envelopes and boxes that have been sent to us (b/c we love receiving love mail from friends!). 
• we tracked down someone who will sell us "pet food" (aka: raw cow milk!) in a jar. now i can make plenty of yogurt and have milk leftover for the baked goods samuel brings home on thursday nights without all the plastic containers! (note: selling privately sourced milk is apparently illegal here. hence the "pet food" label. shhh, don't tell.)

below is all of our non-recyclable trash for the past month, collected in an 8 gallon bag. we just dumped it at the disposal site. i hope our next bag lasts us at least two months! 

small steps towards progress! onward! 

zero waste home adventures: let's talk about apparel

i'm embarrassed to tell you how much clothes/shoes/accessories i had before i moved here. good thing i didn't count it all. but to give you a sense of all the crap i excavated from every nook and cranny of my barn loft, here's what i donated on just one occasion of a clothes drop: 50 shirts, 3 jackets, 10 dresses, 12 shoes, 3 bags, 2 luggage bags.

i've said this before, but i prided myself in believing that i lived simply. but when push came to shove, the amount of stuff and waste i accumulated was - simply put - too much. so i got rid of possessions, over and over and over again until i finally came to a stall. too much of this iterative minimizing can cause a kind of mental constipation. it's an exhausting process. when i felt like the amount of apparel had been reduced enough, i packed it all up.

then i moved and counted everything before unpacking it. here's my current list of apparel:

• tops
• 10 casual shirts 
• 5 nice blouses/shirts/sweaters
• 4 tank tops
• 4 dresses
• 3 cardigans
• 3 sleepwear tops
• 2 half zip long sleeve pull overs
• 2 athletic tank tops
• 1 really ragged hoodie sweater (my favorite!)
• total: 34 tops

• bottoms
• 3 jeans
• 3 shorts
• 3 sleepwear bottoms
• 3 other pants
• 2 hiking pants
• 2 workout pants
• 2 running shorts 
• 2 long johns
• 1 snow pants
• 1 skirt
• total: 22 bottoms 

• jackets
• 1 waist length down jacket
• 1 half zip puffy
• 1 rain jacket (also doubles as my snow jacket for snow activities)
• 1 knee length down jacket
• 1 running shell
• 1 cycling shell
• 1 jean jacket
• total: 7 jackets

• intimates
• 12 underwear (i accidentally forgot underwear on a 3 day trip, so bought 2 extra. argh)
• 4 bras
• 3 lingerie
• 3 sports bras
• 1.5 bikini (two bottoms, one top)
• 1 slip
• total: 24.5 intimates

• shoes
• 2 brown leather boots
• 1 running/trail shoes
• 1 crocs
• 1 swing dance shoes
• 1 flip flops
• 1 snow boots
• 1 slippers
• total: 8 pairs of shoes

• accessories
• 10 pairs of socks
• 6 pairs of earrings
• 4 rings (including my wedding band)
• 2 belts
• 2 cold weather beanie/hats
• 2 gloves
• 3 scarves
• 1 bracelet
• 1 neck gaiter
• 1 sun hat
• 1 cap
• 1 messenger bag
• 1 "nice" bag
• 1 pair of sunglasses + case
• total: 36 accessories

• GRAND TOTAL: 132.5 apparel items

this is my first time adding it all up, and geez!! it seems like a lot. 

i'm surprised by: the number of jackets, pairs of socks, underwear, and shirts i own.

when you see this list, what surprises you? 

what's been really interesting to notice in this lifestyle experiment, is to see what i've actually been wearing these past three weeks. it's significantly more casual here in montana, it's actually winter, and my days sway more towards being ready for an adventure than going into an office. also, i haven't touched any of the spring/summer things like my skirt, shorts, and flip flops for obvious reasons. my hope is to get down to ≤100 items by my next culling. until then, hopefully subconsciously, i'll be able to let go of more of my "what if's."

slowly and surely...