Kickin' it old school.

I am so in love with these three thrift-ed items in my wardrobe. 

I wore them out last night and got so many fun compliments!

earrings from a vintage sale in Seattle.

American flag shoes were spotted at a vintage store in Seattle.

Jean mans shirt from a thrift shop on the coast of Oregon.

 

Wildflowers.

Today I went walking. 

When I walk, I think about my life... 

Sometimes it makes me sad. 

Not today. 

Today, I realized once again just how fucking fortunate I am. 

I am seriously the luckiest girl in the world. 

I have a kind, loving and beautiful family. 

I am strong. I am confident.

I am SO blessed to be in Oregon. 

I am ALIVE. 

So, why NOT be happy. 

So...

I started smiling. 

I started picking wildflowers and handing them to people I passed. 

I started walking slower. 

I started looking up, instead of down. 

I looked around and realized, again, how beautiful everything was. 

IS. 

I love when the sun is out.

I love when people hold hands. 

I love when you can tell someone is in love. 

I LOVE when people smile back at me. 

I love doing random acts of kindness to the people who need to be reminded 

JUST HOW GOOD LIFE IS. 

Because, boy, is life good. 

Please, if there's one thing that I want YOU, who ever you may be... to remember is that.

Life is happiness.

Life is rain in the fall.

Life is that one cloud in an endless blue sky. 

Life is the baby nephew that is growing bigger each day.

And

Life is flying by. 

So

Don't waste it in misery. 

Don't waste it with sleep.

Don't waste the moments you'll remember when you're old.

Don't waste the dark pink sunsets and the sweet deep kisses. 

It's too great. 

<3 

Have a good day! 

Hiking the PCT

Dear PCT,
We are not that experienced, we are young, out of shape and tired. We want to have a safe, fun and beautiful trip for the next 120 miles. We would like to have a clear and well marked trail on (preferably) snow-less ground. We would like to get along and have a friendly time with animals as well as people. We would like to stay away from all bears and rain. We would like to feel healthy everyday, and leave this trip with new muscles and a new sense of love for the outdoors. We are so excited to begin this journey and we can not WAIT to begin hiking your trail tomorrow. Hopefully all of those requests are do-able, if not... please, above all else, keep us safe.

With much love and dedication,
The snails, Hannah, Cassidy and Christiana. 

Dear tomorrow,
Please, Please, Please be as wonderful as today. Let us walk, talk and laugh as hard as we did today. Let us feel confident as we walk down the ever-changing and ever-wonderful trail of the PCT.
Thank you for a fantastic day filled with beautiful wildflowers, smiles, lakes and sweaty boobs. It was a great day. Let's do it again tomorrow.

With love and greasy hair...
The Snails, Hannah, Cassidy and Christiana.




More pictures and writing soon!

The Good Ol' Days.

I love looking at pictures from my trip. 

They bring back distant, yet vivid memories of a simpler time... 

A time that didn't smell permanently of sunscreen and goats. 

Ahhhhh 

The good ol' days. 

No, but seriously. 

I love looking at my pictures from New Zealand, Wales and Australia. 

They make me super happy and excited for the future. 

Here are some of my favorites at the moment... 

More pictures!!!!

Travel Update!

Hello there everyone!
(For those of you who still check this thing, congratulations. You get a very special gift from my travels when I return home.)
This last month has been a complete mad-hatter of a time. I honestly have no idea where to begin.
It has been one month and (seven?) days since I have written a blog post. Yeah, I know. You may be asking yourself how I survived. Well, to be honest, it's been challenging.  This last month has made me very concious of my addiction to social networking sites and I have been working to rid myself of the need to feel self important by posting something silly for the world to see. The good news is, I no longer think in Tweets, Facebook updates or blog posts. Go me.
For the sake of keeping you all updated on my travels and future plans I going to share with you here the email I just sent to my family.

Hello everyone!!! I just wanted to write a quick hello and update you all on my travels so far, as well as my travels to come... As you all know, I flew into Sydney on the 25th of March. What you may not have known is that I was scared shitless of leaving such a loving community and family to venture into the unknown. But, travel and grow I knew I must so I packed up my gear into a small backpack and headed into the wild.
When I arrived in Sydney I instantly felt a connection to the people, places and smells around me. My first day was spent at a craft market helping Kate (the women I was staying with in Sydney, and one of the team members at Play in the Wild!) sell her incredible hand-made books. The fashion, the vendors and the accents were all too beautiful. The next week was full of fun, making myself a journal in Kate's workshop, planning Play in the Wild! activities and spending quality time on the white sandy beaches of Sydney.
When Catherine and Jesse (the founders of Play in the Wild!) arrived, planning Play in the Wild! along with Dialogs of the Heart ( a Nonviolent Communication Training that we did the weekend before camp) became our top priority. The adventure continued as we packed up our gear in the Rav. 4 and drove the 14 hour trip to Brisbane.
Play in the Wild! was amazing experience for every youth and trainer involved. We laughed, cried and danced our hearts out in the green bush of Oz. The trans-formative week reminded me of how much a community and individuals can share and learn together when a container of love holds them all.
As we said our tearful goodbyes, we all parted ways two saturdays ago, going back to our prospective homes around the world, taking with us the feeling of strong love, support, community and friendship.
One more successful Play in the Wild Youth Intensive under my belt.
The next few days were filled the brim with site seeing of the Sydney Opera house, relaxing on the beach and trying to regain my voice that I had lost due to allergies at camp. (Think Marcel the Shell type voice.)
Then we hopped on another plane to Melbourne for Catherine and Jesse's wedding celebration at a beautiful wildlife sanctuary. The wedding was on Sunday the 29th of April, surrounded by Dingos, Kolas and NVC trainers. We danced our hearts out and ate purple cake. It was a perfect way to part ways with friends and family, celebrating the love and connection that lives in us all.
Which leads me here: one more day until I am in Auckland, New Zealand. 28 more days until I am in Wales and a month and some time until I am back in the Capay Valley in California USA.
Thank you so much for supporting me on my walk-about, and know that wherever my travels take me, I am thinking of you and how fortunate I am to have such incredible family and friends. See you all soon! XOXOX
-Hannah Rose.

I'm Leaving.

Goodbye everyone!!!

I will try to update soon. 

Or maybe some of my friends and siblings will be kind enough to write a little ditty once in a while. 

 

Things I'm Going to Miss.

Let me say first and foremost that I am DAMN excited to adventure into the land of the unknown in less than 48 hours. 

Damn excited, I say.

Now that I got that out in the open, comes the REAL reason that I wrote this blog post:

My sister asked me the other day (after I had been home for a whopping six hours) if I had to choose between leaving the Capay Valley forever or having to stay in the Capay Valley forever, what I would pick.

 If you had asked me two years ago I would answered honestly in a heart beat, 

'get me as far away from this place as possible. I don't want to ever come back.' 

Harsh. Yes. I know. 

But when you live close to something for so long you start to despise everything about it. 

Especially when that place has annoying siblings, high school memories and chickens. 

Yet, the other day when my sister asked me that question I actually said that I would stay. 

STAY, I SAY!! 

Crazy. I know. 

But the truth is,

I love the people here.

 I love the community and the way that everyone knows everyone. 

I love that we all share a connection and passion for food and learning. 

And yes, I understand that staying here forever would mean missing out on a lot of adventures, but if I can't be surrounded by the people that I love I don't want to experience any of it. 

I love sharing my life with the folk of Full Belly Farm and the Capay Valley... and even Eugene Oregon.

 I can't picture my life with out those people and as I travel to distant places and experience new things that becomes much more clear. 

So, in memory of those times, friends and family members that I am going to miss a whole heck'of'a'lot when I am away I give you this:

 A list (in no particular order) of some fun times that I am going to cherish no matter when in the world I am.

The Roommate. Pretzel Price.

I hate to say this, but I actually think I will miss studying for classes. Yeah. Wow.

Good friends and great study parties.

Sunshine in Eugene.

Well, the Urban Farm o'course.

Walking to classes.

The kind of beautiful place I call home.

These folks. They're pretty swell.

Best friends.

Drinking wine with the family. (Ignore the wine teeth.)

Sunshine with the siblings in Lake Tahoe.

My sister....

The sillyness and giggles.

The romance.

Do you think that they have Frozen Yogurt in New Zealand?

Half-drunk and fully silly photo sessions with the Roommate.

Well, it's been fun ya'll and I know I'll be back soon... maybe then I actually WILL stay in one place forever. 

As of now... Ta'ta and see you on the other side.

xoxox

Farmer Girl.