Hello 2014! (goodbye 2013)

Hello Dear Family and Friends,

***sit back, grab a drink... this is a detailed state of the union so-to-speak to get you all caught up on on the "what's up with jen?" question.****

So 2012 was big. Big because I won 2 free airline tickets and that meant I saw most of you (my family) at some point in 2012. Now one thing that meant was I couldn't really hide any more. You all remembered me differently than when I showed up on your doorsteps and well, that made me long to be my former self.  That set me on a path for the first time in a long time for 2013. I started thinking about the future and what I wanted.  My list was short:

• Health
• Fitness
• Adventure
• Love

HEALTH and FITNESS: 

So I started 2013 with a Rolfer.  It was my sister, Alisa, who told me about rolfing (http://www.rolf.org/about) on my visit to her in Alaska. And I knew i had caused lost of structural damage with my fall down that hill in 2010, my scoliosis getting worse with my weight gain.  So I invested in the 10 series with a great rolfer, Lindsey (http://lindseymorin.com/) we did 10 sessions over the first 10 weeks of 2013.  It was after session 5 that I woke up in the night and realized I was NOT in pain from rolling over - that was a first in many, many years! I knew I was on to something. That was also around the time I started Weight Watchers through my workplace. What I knew was I was about 100lbs overweight and that was affecting everything from my joints to my immunity. I also knew that I was seeing less and less of the world because walking would cause me pain.  Lindsey and I talked about everything from diet, health to love and sex during each rolfing session. It was therapeutic in many, many ways and when my 10 sessions were done, I felt like taller, straighter, stronger, smarter and ready to tackle the world! It was AMAZING. The few people who had heard of Rolfing asked if it hurt. Yes, sometimes it hurt but in a way you knew was making you better. If you've twisted, broken, tore or strained muscles over the years, I totally recommend Rolfing! Get a "reset"!  The second piece, Weight Watchers, well, they say "expect amazing" and they weren't kidding! Slow and steady, I've lost 60lbs this last year!  After about 20 I found I could walk more then bike more then started running again (a very little bit but more to come in 2014)

All that work, focused solely on me, was something totally new and empowering. My orientation has always been taking care of others first. I started taking stock of my life and what was building my energy and what was sucking it away. I also got the idea that I needed to start my new decade (40s) the way I wanted to live it. I was well on the way to Health and Fitness so I added "Adventure" to my list. I had never heard of Rolfing before so what else could I be missing? what else could I be learning? what else should I be seeing?  

ADVENTURE:

At the Vegas Scooter Rally in early March I won "Best Picture with the Flea Market Monkey" 

I made new friends that launch more adventures!!  I scooted to the Hoover Dam.

I went to the Neon Boneyard all by myself when no one else wanted to commit to being somewhere by 10am - reservations required - http://www.neonmuseum.org/about/the-collection/neon-boneyard

It was the beginning of the good things to come. I was stretching my wings. trying new things. Going by myself if no one else wanted to go. 

For my birthday two weeks later, I did a solo road trip to San Francisco. My first stop was straight east, though - to salvation mountain (http://www.salvationmountain.us/).  Had to see that before it wastes away - the creator passed away this year so it won't last long. It was so dang hot and huge black wasps had made a nest out of the whole hill. I could imagine one of the other visitors tapping the wall and all them suckers swarming us so I didn't stay long but it was SOMETHING to see for sure!

Then on to Nor Cal.  stayed with an old friend from Jr. High - Nina and we hung out with another kid from the Thruston Pond Hood - Mark. I saw parts of Northern Cal I never even thought to visit before- totally recommend walking through the Green Gluch property one day, it's lovely http://www.sfzc.org/ggf/

So much to see! On that first trip to SF in March we had lunch on the beach in Point Reyes, I saw Redwoods for the first time 

and the painted ladies 

For the drive back I did the coastal route and holy smokes is that beautiful!

Carmel from the side of the 101

From the road James Dean died on

Yep. Started 40 seeing and doing all new things and well, that trend continues.

In April I started "online dating" with websites like Okcupid and PlentyofFish.  I have the last 5 dates to write still but you can read about those adventures here http://okcuplentyoffish.blogspot.com/  it was a fun experiment but you'll have to read on to see how it ended :) But that's when I added "love" to my mix of priorities.

In June, a international scooter rally came to town - Amerivespa.  And I was asked to lead a ride I'm known for- a beautiful ride that is about 80miles that goes up the coast, inland to a lake and through the Elfin Forest. It's a very fun ride and I had about 80 people follow me on it. It was a lot of work, a bunch of stress but a really fun weekend with over 7000 scooterists in San Diego. 80+ was plenty for my Saturday ride! That's me in the yellow vest behind my scooter at the first stop on my ride:

August came and so did the 15th anniversary of my dad's passing. It the big anniversarys that really get me but the year before I was in Alaska in August and I got to visit daddy's resting place and could see he had a view of Flattop Mountain from there and well, that finally put my heart at peace with him being gone. In August, I also hitched a ride with a co-worker to Portland. 2 days each way and she likes to take the inland route up the 395. Man was that was beautiful:

Mount Shasta on the way up

A storm blowing in on the way home

I hitched the ride because I wanted to meet Mr. Ivor Allastair Rattray, age 2 months at that time. (photo by parents of this little man)

In September I went to Mexico on a scooter for the 3rd time in 2013 only this time we went 220 miles in! The furthest I had been before that was about 50miles in.  It was such a lovely ride to San Quintin and in the last 150ft, on a dirt road, I got chased by 2 big dogs. If you've known me since I was a kid, you know I am TERRIFIED of big dogs chasing me. So i had my first scooter accident that was 100% my fault. I fell fast, hard and good. Because of all my weight loss, none of my gear fist properly. My helmet rolled back on my head, exposing my chin and SMACK! I hit my chin so hard I thought I was going to have a permanent underbite again. I wasn't even sure I still had teeth - note the bandaid on my chin

but once that was cleaned up, I realized it was my knee that took the most of it. OUCH. I still don't have feeling in my knee but that's better than when it hurt like a son of a gun. Small victories!  San Quintin was BEAUTIFUL:

Think we found Gilligan

And Neptune

Sunrise across from a Volcano

Our gang of adventurers:

That was such a great trip and ride but I had to haul my scooter back due to damage to the headset.

That was a very long, but beautiful ride home. We stopped in Ensenada and took a boat around the port- these seals thought they were at Club Med

The winds were very strong, apparently even on the day they painted the new lines on the highway:

And Jesus is everywhere in Mexico

In recent weeks, the major toll road we used in Mexico collapsed: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/29/22094081-scenic-mexico-coastal-highway-collapses-after-rain-small-earthquakes-reports so I'm glad to have gotten there 3 times in the last 6months! - I don't know if that Jesus is still standing - he's on a hill above the road that collapsed!

LOVE:

In October, while meeting online date #15 at a bar, I ran into an old friend, Robert.  My angels pointed Robert out to me 3 years ago at a friend's wedding. We talked a little then but were in totally different places. Literally - he was living in San Jose and I was in Carlsbad. But my angels really, really wanted me to notice him then and well, his smile is unforgettable. We'd run into each other at various things over the next 3 years. He moved back to San Diego a year ago. But it was 3 years later while at a bar meeting online date #15, that I ran into Robert for most important time. He was carrying a heavy heart after being jilted by a woman. I was pretty sure I was supposed to wait for online date #13 to get over his divorce because he and I got a long we had been friends forever. So Robert and I started to hang out while we killed time for something else. Being super clear we were NOT dating, Robert and I started having the best time. We laughed so easy. We rode bikes everywhere. 

Robert likes to photobomb. This was a non-date dinner at a meatball joint.

We found a great tree for portraits:

we found creative ways to store bikes without kickstands

We kicked back watched tv. We looked for new swings to swing and trees to climb. He fit in and was a champ when my old friend Lexy came in from New York by riding her bike from LA to Del Mar. He jumped feet first into my plan to drive up and down the 101 looking for Lexy because I was sure she'd need rescuing.  The night unfolded with laughing until we cried, closing down the infamous Red Fox Room (where Ron Burgundy plays Jazz Flute in Anchorman 1) and Robert contorting himself in the rear space of smart car when we were all too tired to walk 1/2 mile at 3am back to the truck (I drank tea and water and was designated driver but still laughed until I cried and my face ached from using muscles that hadn't been used that much in a long while).  Then one day, about two weeks in of "NOT dating", I was out to lunch with him and his mother. Those same angels from the wedding years ago told me to look up again and this time when I saw his smile it went straight to my heart. At that point I could only hope he wanted to date me and.... HE DID!  done with the online dating. I found a fella the old fashion way!

November was a big month! my friends got married in the desert so Robert and I did our first outta-towner vacation, camping in the back of his truck in the desert for the weekend. 

He, too, likes to take the long way home so we saw Salvation Mountain again :

this time had us running into a local who told us all about the history of the valley and General Patton doing tank training there (http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/needles/patton.html). 

The onward to the Salton Sea:

where we learned it was a huge hurricane in the 60s or 70s that brought sea water into the Salton Sea and since the sea can't drain, the salt just gets more and more concentrated as the water evaporates. It wasn't too smelly that day but there were plenty of dead fish on the beach.  Then we drove up the mountain seeing a full moon rise so close with no artificial light was simply stunning. We rolled into Julian just before Mom's pie shop closed and got pie in the mountains. 

Then drove down to the sea for dinner. It was an epic day after an epic weekend and I knew I could spend a long time with guy. 

November also took me to Seattle for a week at Thanksgiving. The first 3 days I got to stay with my little brother and his wife, Tommy and Yuko. We hiked in the woods by their house and did pretty dang good at the local trivia night. I had my first tire swing ride of my 40s!  

On Sunday, another friend I met in Vegas earlier in the year loaned me a scooter and put on a ride for me. It was so clear SOOOO cold but the ride was a blast!

Then sadly, I got news Grandma Jo had a major stroke - she died later that week but I did get to see her on her last, best day before she was moved into Hospice. She didn't recognize me at first but then I showed her the pictures I recently scanned of the Christmas of 1981. Then she remembered and smiled, huffed at my silliness, rolled her eyes at my nonsense. I stayed with her until they moved her to hospice. Goodbye was SO hard. I told her to hug Scott Thorson hard and Great Grandma Anna gently when she got to where she was going and she said she would. 

Grandma Jo 1987 (me and Scotty 1987, too)

That was on Tuesday. She passed away that Friday. On Wednesday, I met up with Uncle Kenny, Aunt Karla, Daniel and their dear friends who hosted us all for Thanksgiving.  I walked to Pike's Market every day from their Queen Anne Hill.

That was a good but crisp walk :)

I also got out to Snoqualmie Falls, the setting for the TV show "Twin Peaks"

 and I squished a ton of pennies while in Seattle:

On Black Friday, we all went sailgating to the Apple Bowl.

That was another first for me in 2014!!! I got dressed up in spare huskies gear

and cheered on UW through the half and then back on the boat for warmth!  It was so good to spend Thanksgiving with Family again!

This christmas was low-key and lovely. I spent it with Robert and his family. Lots of great food, great company. For the holiday, I learned how to make spiced candied pecans (http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotappetizers/r/bl95c12.htm), yarn pompoms (http://creaturecomfortsblog.com/home/2011/11/30/5-minuted-diy-yarn-pom-poms-how-to-video.html) and tissue roses (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Tissue-Paper-Flowers) so my gift wrapping skills improved tremendously in 2013! The Knephers made me feel like family and that's super awesome of them and on the holidays.

New Years I had an old Schwinn friend in town. We were one 'n'  jen and two 'n' jenn back in our Schwinn Days (today, too)

Robert got to meet even more old friends of mine from my pre-scooting days showing him, I think, there are lots of great people who aren't scooterists too :)

Robert and I made sure to catch 2014's first sunset from the Silver Strand Beach in Coronado, where I found my first full sand dollar! 

So I end the year in good health, having lost 60lbs so far.  I walk 3miles most days.  Robert and I have long list of adventures to do - not all this year- but that list grows a little by little. Our next for sure adventure is High Rollers Vegas Scooter Rally in March. I would like to show Robert the Midwest and Cedar Point before Fall.  All signs point to 2014 being one of the best ones yet and well, you just saw my 2013 so if 2014 is better.... hold on to your hats!! I do fully expect to have laugh lines on my face come this time next year! 

Thanks for reading! I think of you all more than you probably know.  Keep an eye on my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jijiferjones/) in general, especially if you don't have Facebook. It will keep you visually updated as the year rolls along. Make plans to come visit San Diego!

So much love from me to you!