Hello Big City.

So I went on a little blogging sabbatical. BUT I'm back and am going to try my darnedest to keep it up.

Last time I checked in I had just finished a wild year with AmeriCorps NCCC. I lived in 8 different states, shared a bedroom with more people than I ever thought possible, wore the SAME single pair of pants all year (by choice), met the most colorful and exotic group of individuals, and had experiences that I can't even try to explain. It wasn't easy, in fact it was really f**king hard at times, but I'm thankful I did it.

After a few months of decompressing and frequent indecision, I packed up my stuff and moved to the one place I never thought I'd live. The Windy City. Chitown. Chicago. 

I never thought of myself as a "city-girl", but I've recently realized that I have a nack for adapting to different environments. I'm like a lifestyle cameleon, blending in to the ebb and flow of different routines. I've taken to the busy hussle and bussle of Chicago living quite well, throwing myself right into the mix. For a little over a month and a half I've been working as a Corporate Receptionist for a swanky Real Estate Investment Firm on Michigan Ave. Our office has a great view of the lake, so naturally, on my lunch break, I speedwalk two blocks down to the water and lay in the sand, nice work clothes and all (maybe I don't actually blend in so well!) 

The new job has been going quite well so far. Nothing too noteworthy to talk about- adjusting to a life of computer screens and morning commutes. All-in-all, it's working out just fine for now.

On to the fun stuff- AFTER WORK HOURS!

This is where I spend my time trying to continually "Escape the Ordinary". Since that is my pseudo life mantra, I have to get more creative now that I have a not-so-unordinary "9-5". The good thing is that I find myself busy no matter day of the week verse weekend, stuff to do verse nothing planned. Something always pops up. I've already seen tons of great concerts, played hostess for incoming friends and a certain Western brother, learned how to bike via city streets, gone to Sox/Cub's games, started a urban garden, joined a softball league and the YMCA, navigated the Chicago grid system, won an annual croquet tournament, attended several quintessential Chicago summer street fests, and spent more money on food and beer in the past month than I have in the past three years! What a way to start my city year! 

Dispatch concert at UIC Pavillon 

My AmeriCorps friend, Tom,  came to visit! SO wonderful to see him again. 

Biking along the waterfront. 

I found myself some urban grass. 

View from my desk. 

"Walton Street Capital- this is Liz.  How can I help you?"

Millennium Park for Monday night's free concerts

Shaina and Chris relaxing

Old friends :)

Summer giggles

Cutie.

The fog started to roll in. 

Stadium food. YUMMMMMM

Rained out

Meet my roommate Marlena. She's a comedian. 

Up to no good. 

coming out of the woodwork.

Hello!
I haven't completely forgotten about my blog... only just a little.
These past few months have been a whirlwind. Stay tuned for more entries!

<3
Liz

one for the scrapbook

The Virginia crew. We had a great group of people.

 Note: This was written several days ago. I am currently in Philadelphia, PA for the next two months. Details on that in a later post. 
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Once again, the Corps is back in Maryland after being scattered all over the place for the past month and a half. I’m lying in the field under a tree across from our housing, watching different groups of friends enjoy the day. There’s a group of my friends playing soccer, others chatting on a nearby blanket, two girls practicing handstands. It is always fun coming “home” to Perry Point and see friends from other teams. There is really nothing to do here, it is a funny little bubble of a world but there is ALWAYS someone to talk to or hang out with; what I imagine a tiny college campus to feel like.

                  With third round over and having some time to think of the whirlwind that was the past few weeks, I am here to post about it.

                  Sooooo, fire! I can now say with confidence that I am a wildland firefighter who has some experience under my belt. Getting thrown into the world of fire is really the only way I would have wanted it. Where to even begin?

Our crew was assigned to go to the Trinity Ridge Fire in Boise National Forest, which was around 35,000 acres when we started our trek out West. We shipped out about a day and a half after lounging and living the high life at the Hilton. Our charter flight held four other fire crews and it was definitely the most interesting flight I’ve ever taken… the plane was 95% rowdy men, need I say more. And since most things in fire are subject to change, my crew had been reassigned to the Springs Fire upon arriving to NIFC- the National Interagency Fire Center. A was smaller, more contained fire. After hours of traveling, loading buses, filing into another hotel room, and traveling through the mountains of Idaho, we arrived at our first fire camp in Garden Valley, Idaho. And so started the longest 14 days of my life, ha! I won’t go into too many details about the days we worked at the Springs because that would take absolutely forever. Our main focus was to do mop-up or final attack on the areas of the fire that were not declared contained. It sounds more exciting than it actually is. Basically you hike all day with an extremely heavy, awkward pack, clunky boots, full Nomex (our green pants and yellow shirts) and your hardhat looking for little smokes or spot fires and feeling burned areas for any heat that may still be present. The days were long and hot, but somehow we managed.

After about four days at the Springs Fire, our crew boss told us we were getting transferred to Trinity Ridge, which had grown to about 80,000 acres since we had been in Idaho. So we packed up and shipped out once again. Trinity Ridge is where we spent the majority of our time. The pictures really speak for themselves. We were as dirty and hairy as I hope to ever be. My nails were stained with dirt, even after scrubbing them. If choosing between extra sleep and a shower, hygiene never won. Absolutely everything smelled like campfire. My hair couldn’t decide if it was greasy or dry, due to the smoke. All social norms went out the window. I avoided looking into the ONE mirror at the fire camp (no good ever came from it!) Eventually, us AmeriCorps kids got so loopy from the 15 plus hour days, it was as if we had just been to a happy hour.

Overall, the whole two weeks was such an experience! I’m starting to forget all the moments of weakness we had and really just remembering the hilarious memories we created for ourselves. I have such a fondness for my teammates on Phoenix 3 that the thought of leaving them for 4^th round is hard to accept. We meshed perfectly and I know that I wouldn't have been able to get through sanely if it wasn't for them. Enjoy the photos! These are only a fraction of what I have. If you have questions about our adventure West feel free to comment or email me! 
- Liz  

My bus buddy was nervous about our bus driver's abilities.

Home in Idaho

Emily sharping the chainsaw

Curse this hill! I wish the depth perception was accurate because it was a beast of a hike.

Pre-treating fuels on "the hill"

Watching the fire during dinner

Hello beautiful!

Andrae being entertaining

The smoke was outrageous. ^Notice the three figures

Our crew improving the line

Maddi and Bobby playing toss the pigs.

Kirby teaching me how to swing dance while Reba naps on the bus! hah.

We ate an incredible amount of food on that trip.

Optical illusion :)

Burnout operation

Happy last day! Erick and I loopy on the bus.

Two of my favorite girls and myself in DC after flying home from our Idaho adventure.

Some of the crew on the last day. We were so dirty, tired, and delirious. This candid cracks me up. 

 

burnin' ring of fire.

Heading to Boise on our own airplane!

Phoenix 3 at our fire camp in Idaho.

Burnout operation to protect the town of Featherville. Our job was to "hold the line" which just means watching to make sure no fire heads to the "green" (the stuff we don't want to burn)

Green Limabean. Our bus for the two weeks.

Trees starting to torch outside of Featherville, Idaho.

Photo by Ben taken on our last day of work.

 Hello! Here are a few pictures of my crazy adventure out West. Per usual, I have limited internet access but I figured a few fire photos might hold you folks over for a few days. Overall, the trip was a whirlwind of long days, late night, little sleep, TONS of food, hilarious moments, blisters, dirt, ash, smoke, fire, smelly bodies etc etc etc!

More to details and photos to come!
I'll leave you with the quote that pretty much sums up the whole fire experience... 

"We came as boys and girls... We left as men." 
- Phoenix 3


Over and out,
Liz

west bound

   Some of you may have seen my facebook status or new profile picture so it's no surprise to you that myself and my seven other teammates are heading west! There was a resource order placed Sunday afternoon (meaning they needed firefighters) and at the drop of a hat we are en route to Boise, Idaho. Right now Phoenix 3 is at wonderful Hilton Hotel in Nashville, TN with about 50 other wildland firefighters. They fed us a feast, I have my own bed, AND I only have ONE roommate for the night. That hasn't happened since before AmeriCorps started; usually have between three to five other gals to distract me from sleeping.
  So the details: We don't know much yet, and the things we do know are likely to change. As of now all firefighters are being flown to Idaho tomorrow on our own aircraft so we can make our way to the Trinity Ridge fire. Last I checked it was a 35,000 acre fire with over 600 people on the "intial attack". Our crew should be there for about 14 days once we hit the fireline. It will probably be the most physically and emotionally exhausting two weeks of my life. Crews usually work about 12-14 hours days digging line, felling trees, pumping water, hiking through woods etc etc etc. This is all with our 45 pound pack and firetools. AH! I suppose it's now or never for that six pack I've always wanted.
  All-in-all, I'm excited. This is something that if you told me a year ago I would be doing, I'd probably chuckle because I'd have thought there was no possible way I was capable of this. And maybe I'm not. Maybe I'll cry every night in my tent because my body hurts, the food sucks, and I want a real toilet. But as the founder of the Keystone Science School once said, "Dare to fail." If it's the worst two weeks of my life then maybe all I'll come away with is a six-pack of abs and a really great story.

Send me good thoughts!Catch up with you all in a few weeks!

- Liz

kids on the run.

WooWhooo AC!

Although we broke the "No Teamcest" rule, we had a quick wedding before work.

Found millions of termites... awesome. 

Emily is a true cat-lady.

Dressing up for dinner. Our other housemates got a real kick out of this. 

Reba during chainsaw training.

Pretty cool, huh Dad!?

Washing puppies should not be considered work.

Cute little buggers

Steal-toe boots go good with any outfit.

Platonic lovers. Notice the awkward sunburn behind us.

Giving Erick a ponytail.

What a good sport.

Beach babes

It was that kind of day.

Hard at work :)

Love these goofballs.

  
Things are going just peachy down here. This round is flying by. We spent the last week at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge which happens to be right on the ocean. We tore up an old, wonky boardwalk and cut down hundreds of pine trees bordering the park. Apparently these pines aren't native to the area and are taking over, sucking up nutrients from the local plants. So there we were, hatchets in hand, chopping down per-adolescent pines for hours. I felt like a true lumberjack, sans the iconic red flannel. By the end of the week, poison-ivy rashes, bug bites, sunburned noses, sore muscles, and sleeping on the floor of the administration office made for some exhausted bodies. It is really funny when everyone starts getting loopy around the same time. Hence the video above.

Everyday after work we'd change out of our disgusting uniforms and make a beeline for the water. We'd spend a few hours ocean-side- jumping waves, making sand moats, or, the most popular activity, beach napping.

Not much fire activity as of now. And fingers-crossed that it stays that way at least until Friday. Mumford and Sons will be waiting for us Thursday night :)

Before I sign off, I must mention how great Phoenix 3 really is. Sometimes I forget I'm in AmeriCorps! This group has become extremely close. I speculate it has to do with our age. Everyone is 23 or older, which is rare for an NCCC team. We've had some good times in the middle of nowhere Virginia.


Over and Out,
Liz