Claudia 48/365

My daddy and my daughter.

"The only man a girl can depend on is her daddy!" Do you know where that
line is from? I love it!

Marie 26/365

Truman must be the most tolerate dog ever. Today Fiona says, "mumma I love
this dog, I'm gonna pet this dog."

Maureen 24/365

Mushrooms found outside the middle school, tonight

NICKIE 19/365

Panda pants. But the real picture should have been the look on her face
that asked, "Mom, why are you taking pictures of my butt?!"

Charissa 14/265

this caught my eye and made me pause.

Charissa 13/365

I just walked in the door from work. I left at 10:00 this am. Ugh...
It's been a long day.

Charissa 12/365

Thank you little free range chicken who gives me farm fresh eggs to
eat. May your life be a happy one.

Charissa 11/365

This little guy snuck into my work and was hanging out on one of the
displays all morning.

Charissa 10/365

The rain drowned my little seedlings :( I'm trying to get a winter garden with lettuce, swiss chard, spinage and carrots going, but I don't know if I'll have enough time to replant them before it gets cold. A few little carrots survived, but everything else is gone... so sad.

Charissa 9/365

I'm studying my ass off for graduate school admissions. I know that these next few weeks are going to be full of flash cards and practice tests.

Charissa 8/365

This is what I did tonight. I'm such a nerd...

Charissa 7/365

My gentle giant "Delicja" and the niece of a family friend "Gracie".

Charissa 6/365

Feet on day 10. They look a lot worse then they feel.

Charissa 5/365

Girls have to do more than just poo in the woods.

Charissa 4/365

Our biggest adventure was the night I took this picture. It was getting dark and we were running out of water. We had enough for make dinner, but not enough for breakfast or to completely rehydrate. We knew that there was a spring less than a mile away, but to get to it we had to climb a lava field at dusk on a trail climbed straight up, went along a ridge then dropped straight down the other side. Although we had headlamps and flashlights, it was literally a race against the sun to get the spring before dark. I paused just long enough to take this at the top of the ridge and I'm so glad I did.

Charissa 3/365

We walked through some Obsidian fields. The hills would sparkle like black diamonds.

Charissa 2/365

When we got down from the mountain one of these guys ate through the
screen in my tent and got into our food. They didn't do too much
damage. It could have been a lot worse because we were in Black Bear
country and saw a few signs that they were in the area but fortunately
never ran into one.

Charissa 1/365

My mom from the summit of the South Sister.

I'm back from my vacation with my mom and it was amazing! I love her
so much, partially because we travel so well together, but mostly
because she is so inspiring; it's difficult to find women as strong as
her to look up to. We summited one mountain and traveled just over 70
miles of trail in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area mostly on the
Pacific Crest Trail over 11 days and 10 nights. Our packs started at
just under 50 lbs (ugh) and we spent most of the time was spent around
6000 feet elevation. This picture was taken at over 10000 feet
elevation. I'm so proud of my mom for making it to the top. That day
was probably one of the most difficult mentally for us because it is
literally a straight climb up to the top over loose cinder and lava
rock, but she made it! We were one of the last ones down the mountain
that day (it's pretty popular so there was a lot of traffic), and I
know that her good spirits brought smiles to more than one person who
shared the mountain with us that day. Never once did she complain,
lose her spirits or the smile on her face. If she can make it to the
top of a mountain, anyone can!

Charissa

Hello everyone! My name is Charissa and i just turned 26 in July. Right
now the hats I wear include girlfriend, sister, daughter, and 4-H leader.
Hopefully as the year goes on I'll be able to add grad student to that
list.

I'm going to keep this bio short for now, as I'm a little preoccupied with
preparing for a two week backpacking trip with my mom. I leave tomorrow
(Aug 22nd) and will get back on September 7th, so I won't have any posts
until then. We both hope this trip will be more than mother/daughter bonding
time, as we are setting aside a lot of time for meditation and yoga. I
can't wait to share more pictures with you as the year goes on, and I'm
excited by what I've seen so far. What an amazing community of women! Take
care and I'll see you all in a few weeks!