golden state | part one

Not that I'm ever a fan of waking up before the sun has even figured out it's a new day, but getting the chance to see that sunrise over Mount Hood from the plane? 

Totally worth. Every time.

So yeah, now that it's February I should probably talk about January.

I went to California! And played with friends! And shot things!

It had been almost a year since I'd been home (almost a year since the blate!) and when things at work slowed down enough to allot a week to skip on down the west coast I nabbed it. 

And it was just the little burst of rejuvenation I so desperately needed.

You see, after starting a new job and a whole myriad of other things, my general state of mind had become something more likely to resemble a panicked gerbil stuck in a vat of soy sauce than anything even remotely related to a functioning human being.

Thank God I'm so calm and level-headed. And on an unrelated note, thank God for wine.

But truly, I was starting to feel like I was drowning. 

Even with everyone at work telling me I was doing a great job and that they were so glad I was there, every day felt like fresh failure. Not because I'm not good at my job, but because I never felt like I knew what I was doing. After three and a half years at Erath, I knew how to do just about everything. I was the go-to person! Need something done? I can do that! Have a question? I can answer it! 

But starting a new job, even in a place you understand, is both humbling and degrading I think, no matter the circumstance. And often, all of that is just in your head. But it's still there.

Throw in a few other curve balls from the other facets of your life and you've got a fantastic female meltdown on its way to a theater near you!

So yeah... I kind of ran away to California so I could shoot things and calm myself back down.

It worked.

It was also fun to get out to Travis AFB and meet all of my dad's friends who I've heard so much about! 

SHOUT OUT TO THE CREW AT TRAVIS! HI!

Fun too to be able to prove to them all that I actually exist because after hearing enough about me it was high time they saw me in real life so they didn't start thinking my dad was having some sort of Harvey experience (though to be fair, he does a pretty good Jimmy Stewart impression).

It didn't take much for them to realize we were cut from the same cloth.

Then on one of my last days in town, though thoroughly parched with the drought, the mountains around Napa provided us with a pretty great morning of attempted quail hunting and target practice with the pistol.

And gave me some of my favorite photos of dad ever.

But yeah, I'll take a shotgun over a handgun any day. 

My accuracy with the little guy left a bit to be desired.

Of course that wasn't the only bit of fun had... There were a couple other pretty good times to be had as well...