foreverandeverland

over a year has passed since i really said anything of any interest whatsoever here.  at one point, i thought perhaps i’d do away with this page altogether, but every time i mentioned it, i was met with protests and urgings to rethink my silly decision.  and here i am!

if i were to truly recount everything that’s happened since the last major update, this entry would be so long and ridiculous that not only would you all give up on reading it, i’d give up on writing it halfway through!  so i’ll let you all know where i am now and we’ll just go from here…

i decided a while back that florida was really just not for me, and that i missed everything about new york, and that i really had to go back for the sake of my soul.  however, at that time, i was still adverse to the thought of long cold winters, so i figured i’d spend the summer back at the ranch – hiking, skydiving, being with all my old friends – and then find a new warm place to spend my winter. 

my return to the Hudson river valley was exhilarating!  back in the gunks doing all my favorite hikes, breathing in the views of the valley and letting waterfalls splash down on my head – reconnecting with all my old friends, visiting our old favorite haunts and creating new crazy traditions and rituals – flying in the soft blue sky and looking down on the mountain ridge, the Hudson river, out at the catskills – i was finally home.  every single day i looked around myself and exclaimed, “i am so happy here!!!!!”

and yet the quandary of the cold winter…one day i was back modeling for a group of artists who have been drawing me for years and years.  during a break, i expressed my thoughts to one of the artists who has become a friend to me.  he asked, “have you ever spent a winter here?” i thought about it and realized the only winter i’ve spent in new york was in the city.  he said, “the whole place transforms.  all the things you love to do take on a new life.”  we discussed this for a moment, i got back up on the stand, took my next pose and thought, “i’m staying.”  i was overjoyed!

upon this realization i totally immersed myself in the skydiving world, knowing it would virtually disappear over the winter.  my friendships with this group of people deepened and bloomed and i am amazed at the closeness i feel to this family.  among them, i have found a new love.  his name is Robert, he is a carpenter, he is generous and caring and spontaneous and fun and silly and wonderful.  after we had barely become a couple he agreed to come to Minneapolis with me and spend thanksgiving with my family.  they loved him and he took to them with the greatest of ease (i still love my mother’s reaction: “he’s TERRIBLY good looking!  you didn’t tell me how good looking he is!!!)

 my parents celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary this year, and rather than the children planning the party, they insisted on taking the whole family on a cruise over Christmas.  you can imagine with how little resistance they were met when they proposed this idea…

we all met in LA: parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, and me J  we climbed aboard the Carnival Paradise and set sail into the night.  our first port was Catalina island – i was giddy at this thought as i’d never been there and you all know i get a little excited at the prospect of a new place and a new grand adventure!  Catalina is a tender port – the port is too small for the actual ship to dock there, so they anchor away from the land and have a smaller boat carry passengers back and forth.  i was on the deck awaiting the clearance to go explore when the captain made the announcement that the seas were too choppy and it would not be safe to run the tenders. i exclaimed, “WHAT!!! NOOOOO!!!!!  I’M SWIMMING IN!!!”  yeah, that really wasn’t going to happen, so we continued sailing to our next port: Ensenada, Mexico. 

i had actually been to Ensenada once before while on tour with American Family Theatre.  this time, my niece, Kaylee, and i decided we had no desire to do lots of shopping and get sucked into tourist traps, so we took off away from the main drags and wandered the streets of Ensenada.  we bought delectable sweets from the panificadora and savoured meat and potato empanadas made by a beautiful old Mexican woman in a shack on the street corner.  we drank jugos frescos while sitting in the warm sun.  what a wonderful day!

back on the ship we did all we could to not gorge ourselves on free food to the point of misery J my sisters and i rocked the karaoke and we had our own Christmas celebration in Kaylee’s and my cabin complete with caroling accompanied by my brother-in-law, Jay, on the guitar.

once back on dry land in our mother country, i flew directly to Tampa where my good friend, Ben picked me up at the airport.  he showed me the kindest hospitality: giving me little tours of the neighborhoods, taking me to a sushi/sportsbar (???) for lunch, letting me use his laundry room, and taking me to hang with his friends that evening where far too much vodka was consumed…

the next day he drove me to zhills – the dropzone where i once lived and where i had spent the past four new year’s eves.  every day more skydivers from the ranch showed up and at times you’d think we owned the damn place.  i had been there for three days when Rob arrived, along with another carload of some of my favoritest ranch hands.  we had lazy days lounging in tents and trailers and ridiculously intoxicated evenings involving field cars on fire and hot tubbing in the wee morning hours.  i only made two jumps the entire week i was there, but it was just as good being with friends and being surrounded by such fantastically positive energy!

Rob and i rented a car for the return trip and only made one real stop at South of the Border so he could quell his burning desire to bring back the biggest baddest fireworks and show them off to his friends.

back to the cold to the snow to searching for a job…i’ve decided i want to get back into administrative/executive assistant work.  i’ve loved my crazy random life with all my heart, but the time has come (so says my credit card balance) to have a steady and predictable income.  naturally, i’ve begun this search at a time when the market is as bad as it’s ever been in my lifetime.  i’ve been on a fair number of interviews and am waiting for the good news.  i know it’s coming…i just don’t know when!

you know, writing these blogs might just be as good for me as it is for any of you.  i DO realize every day how lucky i am and what an amazing life i have, but when i go back and reread what i’ve read, it becomes that much more apparent.  WOW!!! I WIN!!!!!! i love this game J

love to each of you, wishes for a prosperous new year: for your happiness, for your hearts, for your wallets, for your souls, for your perspective, for your gratitude. 

it’s gonna be a happy new year.

spiral out…keep going…

or do other people in this world have this much randomness occur in two months?????

as far as my living situation is/was concerned, mr. very nice skydiver who agreed that it would be a great idea for me to stay in his trailer for the summer up and disappeared without saying a word.  in the week or so before this happened, he was not around much, but i would see his truck here and there - i left phone messages checking that everything was ok, i even left notes on his trailer asking him to call me to sort out all the details.  however, i wandered out of my tree-engulfed tent haven one morning to find that he had hitched up the trailer and everything was gone.  needless to say, i wasn't exactly pleased.  i began considering my options, as the heat and humidity of summer were creeping toward us and i knew i didn't have too much time.  i put my name on the waiting list for a slot in aforementioned little trailer park off to the side of skydive deland and began trailer hunting.  i recalled that my girl, Kim - in new york - had a trailer at one time and i knew that she wasn't living in it at the time...so i inquired, and i won!  she had been trying to sell it, but to no avail - and told me that she and her new hubby  would bring it down for me, and that i could just take over payments on it and live in it as long as i like.  WHO HAS THE GREATEST FRIENDS IN THE WORLD?????!?!?!?!?! ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!!!!!!

so aside from the brilliant fact that they brought down my new home for me just after a slot opened up, i got to catch up with an absolutely beautiful human being and her wonderful husband.  the trailer is far more than i actually need (recall...i had been living in a tent...) but i am exceedingly comfortable in here - and have set up my tent in my yard as a screened-in-outdoorsy-lounge area.  the other denizens of the park have actually been known to come hang out in my tent when i'm not even home!  must be the christmas lights...

i got the fabulous news that my bestest friend in the world is getting married in july.  she lives in houston at the moment, and has been back and forth from texas to nebraska to texas over the past few years.  we were coming up on nearly three years since we had last seen each other and had been thinking for some time that this fact was absolutely unacceptable.  mind you, i WILL be in her wedding, but i had some other feelings on the matter.  i called her and said, "i know that i will see you at your wedding, but you'll have lots of people there demanding your time and attention...and i feel like being selfish and having you all to myself."  she wholeheartedly agreed - and we figured that cinco de mayo is the perfect weekend to spend in texas!  once i knew this was going to happen, i also knew that i couldn't be in texas without seeing my sweet baby, Joey (you will see him in previous entries from the time that he lived in boston).  he's now working at a tattoo shop in dallas, so i decided to fly into dallas, spend a day with Joey, then take the bus down to houston to see Jericia.  i met up with Joey, his boss and his boss's fiancé when i arrived in dallas.  we hit a very cool oyster pub, ate great food, did LOTS of shots and drank LOTS of beer, danced around like fools and laughed and laughed and laughed!  the next day Joey and i had mexican food and margaritas for lunch (yes!) and spent the afternoon hanging around the shop where he works.  around the middle of the afternoon, we headed toward downtown where i was going to catch the bus to Houston.  we didn’t plan on the traffic being what it was…soooooo….i missed the bus (oops!).  i called Jericia to let her know, and she – being the most awesomest friend in the universe – said, “why don’t Brett (her fiancé) and i come up to get you?”  WHO HAS BETTER FRIENDS THAN ME??!?!?!?!?!  NOBODY!!!!  so they showed up, we had some drinks, ate some food, had some more drinks, played some pool, had some more drinks (except Brett, who was very responsible and knew he had to drive back to houston!  THANKS BRETT!!!), and eventually i said my farewell to my baby and we hit the road.

the next day was cinco de mayo – so naturally, we went to del pueblo for breakfast and margaritas.  we then went to Jericia’s son’s t-ball game.  these boys were SOOOO precious in their little uniforms and their big helmets and their little legs running around the bases!  adorable!  afterward, we hid del pueblo for some lunch and margaritas.  Jericia and i then went to pick out bridesmaid dresses and go shoe shopping.  then…margaritas!  Brett met up with us and we somehow ended up at del pueblo for…think real hard….margaritas!  we talked about going back to Brett’s house, getting cleaned up, and going out to some clubs, but once we reached the house we were spent!  but what better a way to spend cinco de mayo???

a lazy morning was followed by a leisurely lunch and it was time for me to go.  it is a truly wonderful thing to have friends who you can go nearly three years without seeing…and when you do…it’s like you were just there yesterday.  i am so lucky!

alas, the trip to atlanta to which i referred in the last entry never happened...too much drama and stress at that moment in time, but i'll get up there at some point!  it's not so very far away.  but the reference to europe which, at the time i last wrote, was purely theoretical actually came to fruition!  my dear friend Lt. Dan who is currently stationed in iraq was scheduled to have his R&R leave in may.  he, somehow (hmm....) didn't relish the idea of spending it back in wisconsin with his family, but thought he'd rather travel around europe and see the sights.  in his words, he thought of all his friends and said to himself, "who would be the most fun to travel with - and who would appreciate this the most?"  once again,  I WIN!!!!!  on may 10 i flew to munich where i was greeted my Dan and our friend Mike Lanfor, with whom i had worked at the skydiving school at the ranch in new york in years past.  he and his wife now live in neuhaus am pegnitz, a lovely little town in the hills north of nurnberg.  Mikey and Mary have a GORGEOUS upstairs apartment, all wood with a lodgey feel, spiral staircase up to the sauna and the ubershower, with a perfect view of the castle and the brewery!  what more can you ask for?  we visited the castle, wandered the grounds, frolicked on the playground (you knew that all castles have playgrounds, right?), and had a fantastic dinner of stadtwurst and local beer.  the next day we journeyed through the fields of hops to garmisch, a glorious mountain town in the Bavarian alps.  Dan and i had a perfect view of the zugspitze – the highest mountain in germany – from our balcony.  the beauty of this place literally took my breath away.  we met up with some friends of Mikey’s and went hiking through the partnach gorge. we twisted and turned through sheer rocky walls while the water gushed ice cold far below our path.  somehow we ended up on top of a mountain where god – or some other divine being – put a restaurant with magnificent beer and a stellar view of the valley below us.  rain spattered upon our heads on the hike back down, but it could not squelch my spirit…i finally felt a sense of home for the first time in a year.  we returned to the lodge where i devoured wienerschnitzel, beer, and apfelstrudel for dinner.  with full bellies and smiling faces, we all turned in for the night.

the next morning Dan and i spent not nearly enough time drinking coffee on the balcony, just taking in the phenomenal view and breathing in the peace.  we met up with the gang – and picked up two more, friend’s of Dan’s who live in germany – and had breakfast.  Mikey and his contingent went out for a bike ride while Dan and I paired up with Tony and Madeline.  we made a brief stop in the town center of garmisch where they were celebrating their fruhlingsfest.  we all took turns trying on lederhosen and dirndl; then Dan and i took delight in the fact that there was an authentic polka band playing in the square (yes.  we danced in the street) AND a beer stand right nearby.  we drove out to the base of the mountains where we took a gondola ride up to the top of the zugspitze.  clouds had been moving in and out all morning; and when we arrived, the mountaintop was cloaked in a foggy haze.  we stepped inside to the restaurant for weiBwurst and beer (go figure!) and while we were sitting there the clouds all blew out, revealing the most magnificent views of snow-capped mountains and deep valleys.  the wind blew frigid against our faces but i still found it necessary to go outside and dance when it began to snow J

we took a very slow trainride back down the mountain and returned to the lodge for dinner and beers (do you see a pattern forming?).  that night Dan and i went out on the great garmisch pub crawl.  we just started down one street and decided to stop in every pub we came across for a beer.  we gave written reviews of each (more like “scrawled on a piece of paper from my purse which happened to be my military pass to get into the lodge,” tried some good beers, some not so good beers, and met loads of great people.  the night ended in an irish pub where irish car bombs put me completely out of commission…  but what fun we had!

our last day in garmisch was spent touring Neuschwanstein, the fairy tale castle of King Ludwig II.  this structure is absolutely stunning, ridiculously ornate, and entirely breathtaking.  during the walk back to the car, we hiked down to where an ice-cold stream settled into frigid pools…i still couldn’t help but stick my head into the water!  we climbed around on the rocks like little goats until it was time to go.  our last night at the lodge was spent drinking beer in the hottub and doing laundry to prepare for the next leg of our journey.

the next morning Dan and i caught the train to munich.  it was our plan to head straight to the hofbrauhaus, the greatest beer hall of all history in all the world and all of creation, but we were sidetracked briefly by the beautiful architecture, Mongolian street performers, and various sights in this great city.  i arrived at the hofbrauhaus all giddy, and ordered my liter of dunkelbier with delight!  we left the hofbrauhaus on a mission: to visit the Bavarian Filmstadt and ride the creature from “The Neverending Story.”  all we were going on was one little picture in a travel brochure – no clue if the creature was actually even there – no clue if we could even touch it.  but this was our mission.  we arrived, paid our admission to the studios, and were told, “the tour is in german.”  yeah.  we didn’t really care.  we toured sets and saw props from “Das Boot,”  “Enemy Mine,” and… “THE NEVERENDING STORY!”  we entered the room and saw the creature there in all its glory, all soft and white and calling to us.  the tour guide was babbling on in german – i caught a few words here and there – and heard her say, “Sie konnen..something something…setzen”  i knew enough to know she told us we could sit on it.  me?  i have no shame.  i was all over that thing!!!  WHEEEEEE!!!!!  our work here was complete.

we walked back toward the hofbrauhaus, stopping for pizza and beer in what appeared to me munich’s version of little italy – where the menu was in german but the clientele all spoke Italian.  i was having language wars in my brain!  we watched boys in wetsuits surf on the canal before returning to the hofbrauhaus where many more liter beers were consumed and i got to conduct the band!  we somehow met up with a group of people from minnesota (?) who were heading out to an irish pub (should’ve learned my lesson in garmisch).  after they bought us those shots of Jamison i was totally wrecked and poor Dan practically had to drag me to the train to get to the airport to catch our flight to athens!

we arrived in Athens the next morning hung over, hot, achy, and tired (i know, nobody’s fault but my own!).  Dan managed to find the most fantastic hotel in the entire city.  the Fresh Hotel is ultra-modern, all stark white with low couches and funky floral arrangements, and big splashes of orange, fuschia, and bright blue all over – not to mention the greatest shower i’ve ever had the pleasure of standing in.  the rooftop of this hotel is known as the “open air lounge” – futons are scattered about and covered in big poofy pillows.  techno music is piped in and the energy is very chill and relaxed.  we spent many hours up here drinking bottle after bottle of wine, staring at the stars and gazing at the acropolis glowing on the horizon. 

we did spend our one full day in athens wandering the city and visiting all the great ruins and monuments: the library and arch of hadrian, roman and ancient agora, the acropolis, the olympic stadium, the temple of olympian zeus – it is mind-boggling to see these places – and to think that these ruins still remain as testament to what occurred here so very very long ago.  that, and there were a lot of stones.

we flew back from athens to munich and promptly got into a rental car and drove to bamburg where Dan’s friend Tony lives.  we spent the night here, where we were able to get laundry done and where we knew we had a good place to stay.  the next day we crossed the border into the czech republic and into Prague.  i had no idea the wonders that exist in this city.  around every corner is a new feast for the eyes – architectural wonders, ornate trims on the buildings, frescos on random walls, towering church steeples and domes… i was seriously flabbergasted on multiple occasions.  we spent the night in a quaint and almost sketchy hostel where the girl at the front desk spoke virtually no english – but they DID have a beer vending machine in the common area so you know it wasn’t all bad!

we did more wandering the following day, past synagogues and museums, opera houses and theatres, across bridges and up and down hills.  my camera was going non-stop!  as we drove back to bamburg, we stopped in the town of plzen where Pilsner Urquell beer is brewed.  we found a little corner pub/restaurant where we stopped for dinner.  our server, a jovial burly fellow, came to our table and babbled something in czech.  we looked at him blankly and asked, “english?” to which he simply laughed.  we then tried, “beer?”  and his face lit up, “ja ja! bier!!”  at least we had that base covered!  he then brought us menus which were entirely in czech.  we just laughed and i was entirely prepared to just point to something and see what i’d get.  he took pity on us and brought us menus in german; i could at least decipher two thirds of that!  the food was spectacular and the beer was cold and delicious.  he would come back to our table from time to time to check on us…he’d babble something in czech and laugh.  we’d smile and say, “ja! alles gut!”

that night found us back in bamburg where i organized my bags and got to watch the mets beat the Yankees on tv!   GO METS!!!

the next day i was back in florida, wishing i was still in germany.

my life continues and i look forward to things to come.  i have been reconnecting with some of my theatre friends in orlando that i’d been neglecting whilst trying to get settled up here in deland.  i have been taking some time away from the world of auditions and performing – but will be looking back in that direction before the summer is over.  i made some great skydives this memorial day weekend with some wonderful people.  i still love my job at Sky Systems and still am doing heaps of modeling work in orlando.  i look forward to going back to houston for Jericia and Brett’s wedding – and now i get to look forward to going to ALASKA!  my older sister, Becky, lives just north of anchorage with her family.  i first entertained the notion that i’d like to visit alaska in high school.  now, 47 states and 20ish countries later, i have made plans to go over labor day weekend.  i dare say i’m overdue. more hiking in the mountains!!!  yes yes yes!!! 

the days between now and then will be spent working a lot to get ahead, and playing a lot to balance out the working!  i need to somehow hit a baseball park this summer – even if it’s minor league.  i’m sure the beach will find me on more than one occasion.  safely assume i’ll be falling and soaring through the sky repeatedly with a ridiculous grin on my face.  i’ll keep fingers crossed that the hurricane season is as mild as it was last year.  i look forward to hearing from each of you to know what is happening in your world.  i send you the glory of the alps and the majesty of the acropolis, the simplicity of the lilacs and the grandeur of ancient gothic cathedrals.  peace in your hearts and minds.  and always love.

spiral out...keep going...

amy