I Love Coffee and Chocolate

Making my way through my 2012 list of things to do

2012-01-29T15:25:00.005-05:00

Hiking goal: do more. Last year I went hiking 3 times. So to accomplish my goal, I have to go at least 4 times (hopefully more). One of those 4 are now done. Last weekend I went to Eagle Creek in the Columbia Gorge and hiked with some friends. We were completely unprepared for the snow and massive amounts of water that awaited us. It was definitely an adventure, one that I would only repeat with different attire and equipment. It was tons of fun, but I've never been so wet in my entire life. It was really pretty, but I want to return when I don't have to look down with every step to make sure I'm not sliding off into the river.

Snowshoeing goal: to go. Done! Yesterday, Awesome and I went snowshoeing on Mt. Hood. I've been asking to go for at least a year and it finally happened! And now I want to go a whole lot more! It was BEAUTIFUL and so so so much drier than the hike the previous weekend! Even with it being a busy place where tons of people go to play in the snow, it was still such a calm and peaceful experience. Much fun, hopefully to be repeated.

We never saw the top of Mt. Hood as there were clouds the whole time we were there. But if it had been clear, you would be able to see it in this picture.

I loved it!

Travels Home

2012-01-23T00:39:00.003-05:00

I turned MLK Day into a 5 day weekend and went home to GA/TN. Spent time with family and friends, getting caught up and enjoying being with the people I so rarely see. Blogger uploaded these in a crazy order, and I am too tired tonight to try to fix it, so you just get them as Blogger decided they should be!

Lunch with Allison and her beautiful daughter Eme!

Luke and Caroline loved the blankets I made them! Here we are, covered in both of them.

With Ryan, who I miss oh so much.

Luke, modeling his blanket as a wrap around.

Caroline, pretending to sleep under hers.

Just hanging out.

The table runner I made for my parents, being admired while not on a table.

It was a fun and quick visit!

Date a Girl Who Reads

2012-01-12T11:39:00.004-05:00

My friend Vicki posted a link to this on google+, especially for me, not too long ago. When I read it, I cried. I've been contemplating starting a new series on this little blog, and I'm posting this link as a kind of precursor to that possible series. Possible is the key word. I haven't decided for sure to write it. But I'm thinking about it, and you should read it either way. So go read it now.

Books to read this year

2012-01-03T00:16:00.002-05:00

In my attempt to be more intentional about my reading, I've made a to-read list. It's posted on the sidebar, if you're interested. It contains 24 books. I hope to read more than 24 books this year, but I want to have a little wiggle room to add books along the way. Also, as it's my list, I reserve the right to change it any point in time. I'll be marking them as "Done" whenever I finish one, and I won't be reading them in the order they are listed. I'll be reading them in whatever order happens to form. But having this list will keep me better organized, hopefully getting me through more books. Good books.

12 things I will do in 2012, in no particular order

2012-01-01T20:25:00.003-05:00

1) Go snowshoeing

2) Visit Crater Lake. It’s the 3^rd straight year it’s been a goal. I will find a way to make it happen this year.

3) Renew my passport. Just in case. And because David and I are going to Vancouver, B.C.

4) Increase my running to 5 miles at a time, 3-4 times a week.

5) Be a more consistent writer. I say this every year.

6) Be more intentional in what I’m reading.

7) Hike more. Can I say more? I’ve barely done any but I really want to.

8) Create and live by a budget, hopefully reducing some debt.

9) Eat really good food and cook more at home.

10) Make more of an effort to hang out with people I haven’t spent much time with lately.

11) Crochet more things for myself, at least for the first half of the year.

12) Come up with a 12^th thing to do this year. Apparently I should have made this list last year.

A Recap of 2011

2011-12-31T00:38:00.011-05:00

This has been a pretty amazing year. I’ve done a lot of cool things, been to a lot of beautiful and fun places and had lots of great visitors. The year had a few low points but we’re not going to talk about those right now because I want my 2011 review to focus on the high points! So here are the highlights, with a few pictures to remember them by, in as much of a chronological order as I can remember:

My new job! (A year into it and I still love it!)

Overnight at Ben’s winery

Spring craft weekend at the coast that was so wonderful

I started running! And didn’t tell anyone for a while.

I saw Mindy Smith in concert and it was amazing.

I completed a 5k, finally told people I was running, and then realized how much I like talking about it. Then I did another 5k and realized how much I hated events. But I still kept running!

My parents came for a visit and it was wonderful! We had lots of rest, lots of good food, and lots of fun!

David was here and we had a blast for 4.5 days in which we did not come up with a matching tattoo idea even though we tried.

Jennifer Glass was here for more than just an overnight work trip! She was also here for one of those later in the year.

Sarah the summer roommate was a lot of fun while Awesome was gone.

I saw the Fleet Foxes in concert, outdoors, on a perfect summer evening.

Montana! Stayed on a ranch, went to Yellowstone which was so very phenomenal, saw a friend from college I hadn’t seen in 10 years, and got to spend time with Awesome while he was gone from Portland for the summer.

Mama Mia! On stage! So fun!

A lot of happy hour martinis.

Went to Fossil, Oregon, with Rachel, to see Amy, slept in a cabin, saw far away galaxies, dug for fossils, went on a beautiful hike, and experienced camp life for a couple of days. We also fled a nasty stomach bug and managed to not get sick.

I realized just how important running had become, when I couldn’t do it for a while.

I went to Phoenix, met David’s friends, and then David and I went to Vegas. I know I never wrote about that trip. That’s because what happens in Vegas, while it may show up in a few pictures, should not be written down.

I started running again!

The Clarks and I went to hear David Sedaris who was hilarious!

Nicole came for a visit and it was so great! We played cards a crazy number of times.

While Nicole was here, Fall Craft Weekend occurred and I got a lot of crafting done!

Thanksgiving with Pat and his family was lovely.

Mumford and Sons concert with Rachel: one of the most amazing nights ever

Christmas. Amy was in town. We had a nice Christmas Eve service. Christmas Day, Amy and I made an excellent brunch, and later some other friends (Paul, Eric and Jennifer) came over and we had a delicious dinner: bourbon glazed duck, potato gratin with Gruyere cheese, spinach salad with pears and pine nuts, pumpkin cheesecake with a gingerbread and hazelnut crust, and two bottles of wine.

Other things that either happened throughout the year or I can’t remember an exact date:

I crocheted a lot. Massive amounts really, for me. I can’t show you pictures of it all yet because some of them have yet to be given to the people they were made for. But it was a very yarn oriented year.

Caitlin made me a dress, which I love.

Rachel made me artwork, which I will write about separately.

I learned to play Nertz, and am determined to beat Awesome somehow, someday.

I'm sure there are other highlights that should have made it into this recap, but this is going to have to suffice for now. Overall, even with the low points I chose not to mention, it was a really great year. I hope to see just as many people, places and things in 2012!

Book Awards, 2011

2011-12-27T20:41:00.001-05:00

This is pathetic. I only read 26 books this year! And one of those was a repeat (though I was happy to re-read it). I’m very disappointed in myself. Parts of the year have specific reasons why I wasn’t getting a lot of reading done, but that doesn’t make it ok that I only got through 26. Topping my list of things to do in 2012 is to read more!

Since my total number of books is so small, I’ve opted to not list my most disappointing or worst books. There are some of those, but I’m leaving them out this year.

I’m on a book website called goodreads (I think I’ve mentioned it here before). It’s where I keep track of everything I’ve read and what I thought about it. It’s also where I see what my friends are reading and what they think about their books. It’s an easy way for me to both get recommendations and look back over the year to see what my favorites were. I also rate my books with a star rating (1 to 5 stars) even if I don’t write a review.

This was a weird year in books. I only gave four books a 5 star rating. That’s pretty low. I usually manage to find more than 4 books in a year that I really love. Not the case this year. I gave quite a few 4 stars, but I still find it to be a disappointing book year overall. However I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I just didn’t read as much as I should have.

Because I don’t have too many 5 stars, I’m going to mention a few 4 star books in these lists too, just to make it a bit more inclusive of my total reads.

Fiction Runners Up:

One Day, by David Nichols. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I really enjoyed this book, though it made me cry.

The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall. I’m fascinated by most things related to Mormon fundamentalism but usually that falls into non-fiction. This was a fast, interesting novel. There was one chapter that had me sobbing.

Bloodroot, by Amy Greene. I was drawn to this book because of the positive critical reviews I had read, and because it is set in the mountains of TN. It was very good.

Everything Is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safron Foer. No where near as approachable as his other books, but once you dig through it, you find it was worth all the effort. Alexander is a perfect character in a slightly less than perfect story.

Peace Like a River, Leif Enger. Awesome suggested I read this and then the book club we were still having earlier this year picked it. It was really great.

Fiction Winner:

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I don’t care that the book is in no way new. It was, outside of the series I will mention next, the best fiction book I read this year. I’ve already reviewed it at length so I won’t go into that again, except to remind you of one of my favorite quotes: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." This book was so good I was unable to complete another book for a month after I finished it. If you haven’t read it, or if you haven’t read it in many many years, you really should read it again.

Series (fiction) Winner):

The Hunger Games, book 1

Catching Fire, book 2

Mockingjay, book 3

All by Suzanne Collins

This series was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me because they are young adult literature. However I always need some kind of literary guilty pleasure and they are way too dark and twisted to be young adult! I have a lot of friends who’ve read them. Some of my friends loved them as much as I did; others had a difficult time with them. They are very dark, I will give you that. But there is so much social commentary in them, I don’t know how they wouldn’t be dark, because this world we live in is pretty twisted. They are super fast reads. I borrowed books two and three from a friend on a Saturday afternoon. I returned book 2 to her on Sunday morning and book 3 on Tuesday. They are the kind of books that you won’t put down, or if you do, you will only do so begrudgingly and wish the entire time you are away that you are at home reading. Give yourself room in between the first and second, because when the 2^nd one ends you will immediately begin the 3^rd. And I’m betting when you finish all three, you will find yourself thinking about them for a long time to come. They were all excellent, but the 3^rd was my favorite (and the only other fiction book aside from Mockingbird that I gave 5 stars to). I am super excited about the movie starting next year!

Non fiction runners up:

Where's My Wand by Eric Poole. The category that suffered the most in my reading this year was memoirs, which is my favorite genre. This was one of the few I read.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. A fast, easy look at how impossible it is to survive on minimum wage, and this was in 2008.

Bossypants by Tina Fay. Not as funny as I was hoping it would be, but still enjoyable.

A Matter of Conscience: Redemption of a Hometown Hero by Sherry Hoppe. A true story of a mysterious death, by the wife of the man who fired the shot. I don’t know that I would have read it were it not written by someone my family knows, and had it not taken place in Chattanooga. It has too much football talk for my taste, but it was a very well researched and well written book.

Non fiction winners:

Two non fiction books got 5 stars from me. They are very different, but both are excellent.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Beautifully written. Important in so many ways. A science related book that was difficult for my non- science brain to stop thinking about.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer has been on my list 3 out of the last 4 years. The year he wasn’t, I think I just forgot to read one by him. He is a favorite author and if you haven’t picked up one of his books, you really need to. I don't climb mountains. I don't want to climb mountains. This book has made me afraid for all the people I know who do climb mountains. I was very quickly enthralled and engrossed in this book. I didn't want to stop and even made a friend wait on me at one point because I refused to get up before I finished a chapter. Maybe it's because he's such a great writer. Or maybe it's because it's a true story. Possibly it's because it's a monster of a tragedy. Whatever it is, it's a gripping read. It is, at times, difficult to keep all of the people straight and remember who goes with what group, but all of that sorts itself out by the end and mostly you just shake your head and sigh and try to rub the chill bumps off your arm as you read.

This completes the year of books, 2011. Here’s to hoping 2012 is a better year! I’m going to start making my list of what to read now.

Movie Awards 2011

2011-12-26T15:56:00.002-05:00

I watched 45 movies this year. I also watched a lot of TV on DVD but I never really keep track of that. This year I have 23 movies I want to mention in some way as part of my 2011 recap of movies. As always, I remind you that the movies I mention were movies I first watched in 2011 but not necessarily released in 2011.

Older movies I watched for the first time and loved:

All About Eve

Being There

Guys and Dolls

Arsenic and Old Lace

Movies made for children that are rather enjoyable as an adult:

Tangled

Ramona and Beazus

How to Train Your Dragon

Movie in which I loved the music but not much else:

Country Strong (not recommended for those who don’t enjoy country music)

Best movie that doesn’t fall into new or old categories because it was released in 2000 and I can’t call that new or old:

Best in Show. This movie is painfully hilarious and I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before this year.

Newer movies that were great and/or excellent and I would definitely recommend:

Black Swan

The Social Network

Easy A

The Fighter

Winter’s Bone

True Grit

I Love You Phillip Morris

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Jane Eyre (the new one, not any of the old versions-I haven't seen those)

And finally, the best overall movies of the year:

Best movie adapted from an amazing book: The Help. See this movie, but read the friggin book first!

Best feel good movie of the year: Midnight in Paris

Best comedy of the year: Bridesmaids

Best drama of the year: The King’s Speech

That wraps up this year’s edition of movies. Anything I watch over the next week will start the 2012 list.

I'm so fascinated!

2011-12-20T00:00:00.002-05:00

I've known of the Myers Briggs Personality Test for a long time. I've never taken it. I've had many a friend try to guess what they think I am. I don't know why I've never studied any of it before, it's really my kind of thing.

My cousin Denise posted a link on facebook the other day to a personality test based on the Myers-Briggs. It's not the full test (which maybe one of these days I'll take) but it seems to be accurate. Turns out I'm an INFJ. Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging. Apparently it's the rarest of personalities. I am:

slightly expressed introvert
distinctively expressed intuitive personality
moderately expressed feeling personality
moderately expressed judging personality

I immediately had to start doing some reading to find out more. And it's scary, because everything I'm reading about INFJs is making so much sense to me! It's like someone is in my head. I'm just going to post random things here that I've come across, so I can reference them later if I need to.

Per Wikipedia:

INFJs are conscientious and value-driven. They seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding themselves and others. Using their intuitive skills, they develop a clear and confident vision, which they then set out to execute, aiming to better the lives of others. Like their INTJ counterparts, INFJs regard problems as opportunities to design and implement creative solutions.

INFJs are quiet, private individuals who prefer to exercise their influence behind the scenes. Although very independent, INFJs are intensely interested in the well-being of others. INFJs prefer one-on-one relationships to large groups. Sensitive and complex, they are adept at understanding complicated issues and driven to resolve differences in a cooperative and creative manner.

INFJs have a rich, vivid inner life, which they may be reluctant to share with those around them. Nevertheless, they are congenial in their interactions, and perceptive of the emotions of others. Generally well-liked by their peers, they may often be considered close friends and confidants by most other types. However, they are guarded in expressing their own feelings, especially to new people, and so tend to establish close relationships slowly. INFJs tend to be easily hurt, though they may not reveal this except to their closest companions. INFJs may "silently withdraw as a way of setting limits", rather than expressing their wounded feelings—a behavior that may leave others confused and upset.

INFJs tend to be sensitive, quiet leaders with a great depth of personality. They are intricately and deeply woven, mysterious, and highly complex, sometimes puzzling even to themselves. They have an orderly view toward the world, but are internally arranged in a complex way that only they can understand. Abstract in communicating, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities.

Per Keirsey.com, INFJ's are Counselors.

Counselors have an exceptionally strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others, and find great personal fulfillment interacting with people, nurturing their personal development, guiding them to realize their human potential. Although they are happy working at jobs (such as writing) that require solitude and close attention, Counselors do quite well with individuals or groups of people, provided that the personal interactions are not superficial, and that they find some quiet, private time every now and then to recharge their batteries. Counselors are both kind and positive in their handling of others; they are great listeners and seem naturally interested in helping people with their personal problems. Not usually visible leaders, Counselors prefer to work intensely with those close to them, especially on a one-to-one basis, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes.

Counselors are scarce, little more than three percent of the population, and can be hard to get to know, since they tend not to share their innermost thoughts or their powerful emotional reactions except with their loved ones. They are highly private people, with an unusually rich, complicated inner life. Friends or colleagues who have known them for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that Counselors are flighty or scattered; they value their integrity a great deal, but they have mysterious, intricately woven personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Blessed with vivid imaginations, Counselors are often seen as the most poetical of all the types, and in fact they use a lot of poetic imagery in their everyday language. Their great talent for language-both written and spoken-is usually directed toward communicating with people in a personalized way. Counselors are highly intuitive and can recognize another's emotions or intentions - good or evil - even before that person is aware of them. Counselors themselves can seldom tell how they came to read others' feelings so keenly.

And per a website about INFJs and relationships:

INFJs are warm and affirming people who are usually also deep and complex. They're likely to seek out and promote relationships that are intense and meaningful. They tend to be perfectionists, and are always striving for the Ultimate Relationship. In general, the INFJ is a deeply warm and caring person who is highly invested in the health of their close relationships, and puts forth a lot of effort to make them positive. They seek long-term, lifelong relationships, although they don't always find them.

Although the INFJ is likely to put friends behind their God and their families in terms of importance, they do value their friendships. As idealists who have strong value systems, INFJs seek authenticity and depth in their close relationships, and especially value people who can see and appreciate the INFJ for who they are and what they stand for.

The INFJ is likely to spend a lot of time socializing with family members. If they are religious, they probably are social with members of their religious community. After that, the INFJ may have friends represented from any of the personality types. They are usually extremely intuitive individuals, who will have no patience for anyone they feel is dishonest or corrupt. They'll have no interest in being around these kinds of people.

All kinds of people are drawn towards the INFJ.

The INFJ is valued by their close friends for their warmth and consideration, their new and interesting ways of looking at things, and for their ability to inspire and motivate others to be the best that they can be.

Caitlin's going to loan me some books she has on the subject, and I'm getting really excited to read more!

Year End Lists.....

2011-12-15T20:54:00.001-05:00

are coming soon, I promise. I have much to finish up over the next couple of weeks, but sometime between now and Dec 31st, I will post my year end lists!

The beauty of love as it was made to be

2011-12-11T15:07:00.003-05:00

What is it about music that draws us all in? Why is it something we all love? Is it the tones, the actual sounds themselves, that come from the myriad of instruments played, from the harmonies in duos and groups, or even from the sound of a singular voice? Or is it the lyrics that put words to our own thoughts and emotions, words we’re afraid to say but find so comforting when someone else has put them to music and voiced them? Is it that in the combination of the music and lyrics we find ourselves feeling less alone, because someone is singing out what we too have felt but didn’t know how to explain, and they do so in a way that makes it beautiful?

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days. Rachel and I went to the Mumford and Sons concert last Tuesday night. Mumford and Sons have been, hands down, my favorite band this year. For at least the first 6 months of the year, I listened to the album every other day, or more. And in the months since, not a week has gone by that it hasn’t played in this apartment. It’s playing right now, as I type this. If a person can be addicted to a voice, a band, an album, I am officially an addict. It could potentially be said that I hear Marcus Mumford’s voice in my dreams.

There are few artists that could draw me out to an arena concert these days. I am much more comfortable in the smaller, intimate venues where I’ve seen so many shows over the last couple of years. But I would have gone to any venue to see Mumford and Sons, and they have gotten so big this last year that the arena is probably the only place in Portland they can play. It also happened to be their largest show yet in the U.S.

I could have done without the first opening band. The second was better, but I currently can’t remember their name. Really I just wanted them to get off the stage so that Mumford and Sons could take it.

And then they finally did. Almost a full year of my obsession, and they are finally standing live in front of me, about to perform one of the absolute best concerts I’ve ever seen. From the second they started playing, I was entranced. I don’t know how they managed to be both mellow and energetic at the same time, but they did. They played a mix of songs from the current album that has done so well, and new songs that are going on the album they are currently working on. Every song was perfect, whether it was a favorite or something I’d not yet heard. Their use of color and light was remarkable. They are ridiculously talented on a host of different instruments, but I believe it is their lyrics that have drawn so many people in. They write and sing of hurt, anger, longing, hope, love, desire, and fear in ways that I don’t think many musicians have been able to achieve. Or at least not achieved in perfect 3 and 4 part all male harmony. They told stories: about their day in Portland; their humble beginnings; and how they never thought they’d be a band on tour, much less playing where the Portland Trailblazers play basketball. I, along with a few thousand other people, was completely spellbound for an hour and a half. No, actually longer than that. We didn’t leave it all behind in the arena when we left there. It has stayed with me for days. It was the kind of show that has now set the bar for all large event concerts, and I have a feeling will rarely be matched.

The answer to the questions I posed at the start of this post is simply: Yes. For Mumford and Sons, it is all of the above. It is both Marcus Mumford’s voice and the blend of all of their voices. It is their extraordinary musical talent. It is the power in their words, and the notes and sounds they choose to express them. It is all of it, and it feels as if they are conveying the very cries of my own heart when they sing. Go on home Mumford and Sons, and finish the next album. I’m anxiously awaiting its arrival.

I'll be watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade tomorrow.

2011-11-23T19:34:00.002-05:00

Remember when I was surprised by the fact that October was over? Now it’s Thanksgiving and I haven’t written a thing all month!

It’s been a really busy month. There was a cupcake and champagne going away gathering for my friend Kari Ann, who is moving to Shanghai, China, along with her husband Bryan. There was baking a bunch of cupcakes for work for the winners of our “hygiene drive” that our team did to collect hygiene items we could give to our clients. There was David Sedaris, who I saw live with Caitlin and Chris. There was a tour of a free medical clinic on a Saturday morning, with several other health care minded people from Hope, as we begin to prepare to partner with other churches and conduct a free clinic in 2012. There was a visit from my very dear friend Nicole. There was a craft weekend at the coast with 6 other wonderful ladies (including Nicole). There was a birthday-I turned 33. There has been craziness at work. There was a concert. There has been running. There has been Christmas party planning. Tomorrow there will be Thanksgiving. And I’ve had 14 trillion crochet projects going, plus I somehow ended up with three very heavy library books-heavy in weight and material-all at the same time. I really want to read them all but only one can be renewed as the other two are on hold. So there’s been a good bit going on.

My team at work got brought in by the city to help with some of the Occupy Portland stuff-trying to house some of the homeless people who had been at the camp, when the deadline was set for the park to close, in an effort to minimize any potential violence. So things have been out of the ordinary busy there.

The running has been going well. I only wear my ankle brace when I’m running, and I will probably continue to wear it for a while. While I’ve had no problems with my ankle, it makes me nervous to think about running without it. And I’m gearing up to start on a new running plan, so I want to make sure it’s protected. I was going to start on the new plan this week but we’ve had really really hard rain most of this week, meaning too hard for me to run outside, and now I’m fighting off a slight cold so I’m resting from running for a few days. But I am very excited about the plan I’m about to start and feel really motivated to push myself. I also recently had the opportunity to talk about my running experience with a friend and she got so excited she’s started the couch to 5 k plan herself. I know some of you readers might tire of me talking about running, but I really just can’t help it. It’s been the most amazing thing I’ve done for myself in a really long time, maybe ever, and if I can share that excitement with someone else, I’m going to!

I’m crocheting a lot for Christmas presents. I’m really happy with how things are progressing and turning out (for the few projects that are done). I’m feeling quite productive. Awesome said I’m a machine. He also said there’s enough yarn in the apartment to open a store. It would be a small store, but maybe. However as each day goes by, there is less and less unused yarn, so it wouldn’t really be a very good yarn store. It dawned on me recently that I’ve barely made anything for myself since the first couple of scarves I made, almost 2 years ago. So I’ve decided that in 2012, I’m going to focus on making more things for me. Not that I’ll stop making gifts, but I’d like to use my skills for myself on occasion too!

I’m sorry I’ve been so slack at writing. It’s not for lack of wanting to write! I hope to be a much better blogger in 2012. A better writer in general, if I can.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope it’s a day filled with people and food you love!

How is October already over? Where does the time go?

2011-11-01T01:56:00.001-04:00

Remember back in September when I said we skipped fall and winter came right after summer? Well, thankfully winter took a break and fall arrived. We’ve had a pretty amazing couple of weeks. It’s crisp and downright chilly, but we’ve had quite a few glorious days of sunshine and blue skies and mountains so clear they’re shinning. It’s the best kind of fall! I know we’ve got some days of rain ahead, but I’m very thankful for what we’ve had.

And the leaves. Oh the leaves! They are simply gorgeous! I can’t stop staring at them, all over the place! I was in a conversation recently about creation and how some things were created simply for God’s pleasure (and ours). I want to believe that the amazing changing colors of leaves happens to be one of those things. Every time I see a tree full of bright yellow, red and orange leaves, especially when there are many of them together, I feel like in that moment I’m experiencing God’s pleasure and beauty. Please, if you know the science behind it and why it must happen for some environmental reason-don’t tell me! I just want to see the beauty in them and know that God enjoys it too.

These fall days are absolutely perfect for running. And I’m back at it! I’ve run four times now. Very lightly, not very fast, and not a long distance. But at least I’m running! I think another week-ish at this sort of a pace and distance and then I’ll be ready to start kicking it up a bit. I felt my sanity start to return with the first run.

We’re composting these days. Thankfully Portland has just started curbside compost pickup! They’ve cut back garbage pick up to every other week, and compost and recycling is every week. We have these nice little compost buckets to keep inside and fill up, and then every couple of days we dump it into the big container outside. Chris and I have said for the past year that we’d rarely have trash if we could compost and now we can and it’s just so fantastic! I don’t feel guilty about my egg shells and coffee grounds and vegetable peelings anymore! Well, I do still kind of feel guilty about the vegetable peelings because I really really should be making my own stock from them. But at least they’re no longer going in the trash!

Today was Halloween. We went on the Tour of Untimely Departures at the Lone Fir Cemetery, which is the cemetery right here by our apartment. The one in which I run. It’s a really cool cemetery with lots and lots of history, and it actually just made it onto National Geographic’s Top 10 Cemeteries in the world to visit. We’re #9! Anyways, the tour was fun and interesting and now I’ll feel like I know some of the people I’m running by which is maybe kind of odd.

I’m crocheting a lot. I have entirely too much that needs to be done before Christmas. I don’t know how it will all happen. Because of all the crocheting, and possibly because of other things like my mind not working correctly, I’ve been reading so...very…slowly, ever since I finished “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Seriously, I’ve only finished one book since then. And that’s just ridiculous. But I’m enjoying all the time I’m spending crocheting.

The fact that I’m reading so slowly has not stopped my book buying/collecting problem. It’s not a problem, I don’t want to fix it. My book buying/collecting situation. The problem is that we’re out of shelf space. We rearranged recently and it’s opened up a spot for a new shelf but I can’t get the shelf quite yet. However, I’ve been to a couple of used book stores, the library used book sale, and Caitlin’s house where she was getting rid of books, and so even though there’s no where to put them, I’m still bringing them home. We’ve actually considered making a coffee table out of books.

I’m pretty sure there were a couple of other things I was going to tell you about when I finally got around to posting something again, but it’s about 11:00 p.m. and my brain gave up for the day around an hour ago, so I’m going to stop for now. Hope your November starts out well!

a sampling

2011-10-19T01:15:00.003-04:00

I get asked often what I do, for work. My job description is...non existent. One time several months ago when I thought I was going to have to clean out a bed bug infested apartment, I sat at my desk with my head in my hands, near tears (because bed bugs are something to be afraid of), and I asked my supervisor what my job description was. Her answer: "Do what has to be done to keep your clients housed." Thankfully that day I was able to access other resources which then paid a professional to go in and clean the apartment. Praise the Lord I am fairly well connected to a good amount of resources.
I do my job well, this I know. But I find explaining what my job is, as a housing specialist for a behavioral healthcare company, to be a difficult task, because it seems to vary so much from day to day. I started thinking more about this not too long ago, when I realized how often I was trying to explain it to people. And so I made a list. A list of 20 things I've done at work over the last few weeks. And now present this list to you, in case you would like some idea of what a day may entail in my work world. But know that any given day could involve nothing on this list, as it was simply the first 20 things I could think of when I thought about the past few weeks.

*Picked up food boxes and delivered them to people who have a hard time getting out of their houses.

*Researched whether, in Oregon, a felon can ever be in possession of a firearm for any reason.

*Picked up a 4 week old kitten, put it in a box, put the box in my car, drove 10 miles, stopped the kitten at least 10 times from escaping the box, dropped off kitten at it’s new home.

*Attempted to fight an eviction based on fair housing laws being broken.

*Sat through 16 hours of training to become an instructor for Rent Well, a tenant education program.

*Went to a social security appointment, assisted with an appeals process for two hours.

*Rearranged the trunk of my car so that a box of donated “hygiene kits” can fit in it, so that I have them with me when I’m seeing clients and can give them to those in need.

*Stared at the bags of yarn and other crochet items in my trunk to decide if it’s necessary for it to all be in there for my small little crochet group. Decided it is, mostly because there’s nowhere in the apartment or at my cubicle to store it.

*Tracked down a missing rent check.

*Led a training about Oregon Medicaid and how to assist people with getting on it.

*Called a prepaid cell phone customer service line in India to activate a phone. By the way, that customer service representative definitely did not know how to pronounce Oregon.

*Talked about the necessity of monthly urinary analysis reports.

*Moved someone, in the rain.

*Prayed that the ancient 15 passenger van I sometimes have to drive around doesn’t break down while I’m the one driving.

*Watched a moving and emotional documentary about a family’s struggle to move on after their dad committed suicide. The movie was the closing event at an all day Suicide Prevention conference I attended.

*Led a crochet group. Listened to stories about how this little skill is greatly helping with anxiety. Repeated myself at least 10 times in as many different ways in an attempt to teach a basic and simple skill-and somehow maintained, at least outwardly, a patient and understanding spirit. Spent days pondering how I can make this one simple skill even simpler in the hopes this one person is able to catch on.

*Talked a moving company down from it’s 3 hour minimum and got a 30% discount.

*Calmed someone down, on the phone, before they exploded on their neighbor.

*Explained the word “obligation” in a couple of different ways.

*Returned a call simply to clarify what day and date it was.

How are you celebraing Columbus Day?

2011-10-06T01:33:00.002-04:00

I’ve ridden on the stationary bike a couple of times, and tonight I went swimming. While it felt nice to just be swimming (I don’t remember the last time I did that), and I hope to build that into my regular routine (when I have one of those again), I did feel the movement in my ankle more so than on the bike or just when walking. It’s being iced as I type this, as I still do almost every day and definitely after any kind of exercise. We’ll see how it is tomorrow. Sarah was here briefly this evening, prior to my swim, and she said the swelling looks really good.

Speaking of Sarah, tonight is her last night in Portland. This makes me sad! It was really lots of fun having her as my “honorary” roommate this summer and I'm going to miss my new friend. She’s going to be in L.A. for hopefully several months and it would be great if I can get down there to see her while she’s there. If not, hopefully she’ll make it back to Portland to visit on occasion.

And speaking of roommates, there must be something in the air. Awesome and I are both having weird dreams a lot lately. I haven’t been able to remember most of mine, but I do remember that last night I dreamed he wanted to have 4 more people move into our apartment with us. I don’t know who those people were, but I was very against the idea, even if I really like the people. In the dream we were in our actual apartment but we had some kind of basement, and I guess that’s where we were going to put these extra roommates?

Since I finished “Mockingbird,” I haven’t been able to get in to any other books. I’ve started and quit 3 in the last week. I guess my mind just needed some kind of break, but I’d really like to be reading something else.

I’m headed to Phoenix very early Saturday morning. I’m very much looking forward to spending a couple of days there, seeing it again now that it’s really David’s city, meeting his friends and experiencing his favorite places. Monday morning we’re headed to Vegas for a couple of days. I’m also excited to experience Vegas for the first time! I’ll get back to Portland Wednesday afternoon and return to work on Thursday, most likely wishing I had the rest of the week to recover from my vacation. David said people come to the dessert for healing. I hope it speeds the healing of my ankle.

Right after I get back, the apple festival will be occurring. Remember how I bought 40 pounds of apples and pears last year? I probably won’t buy that much this year, but I still plan to get some and make at least a batch or two of apple butter.

Nicole (Chattanooga) is coming for a visit the weekend of my birthday. I’m really glad she’s able to come, as we never get enough time together the once a year I make it home. She was here once before, Feb of 2010 I think, but I’m excited for her to come back and experience Portland again. She needs a break from her life there too, so it will be good for her.

It is very much fall right now. Actually it might be winter. It seems like we skipped fall. The windows are closed, extra blankets are being pulled out, jackets are being worn daily (rain jackets), it’s too chilly for sandals, we really just went right into winter. I don’t know what this means for actual winter. Is it going to be longer and wetter than normal? I need to get my mind prepared.

I have a list of things I want to write about soon, but it will all be after my trip. This little check in will have to suffice for now. I hope you all have a nice Columbus Day weekend!

Books and stuff. Mostly books.

2011-09-29T23:54:00.004-04:00

I don't know how or why I waited until now to read "To Kill a Mockingbird." Seriously? Why didn't anyone make me before age 32? I was discussing it with my hair dresser this week because she commented on it when she saw me come in with it. She asked if I was in AP English in high school. I said yes. She said, "That's why; it was those of us in normal English classes that read it while you were all reading other things." But why?? Why would AP English classes not have to read this? And why didn't my parents make me read it if my teachers weren't going to?
Regardless, I finally got around to it. I LOVE IT. It is so great! I can't help but hear these perfect southern accents when I'm reading it (since I do know southern accents quite well). Scout might be my new favorite literary character. I mean, I love her so much I might want to name my first child Scout.
There are so many quotable lines! I have to get my own copy so I can go back through it and underline a lot of stuff. Here's my favorites, and their context in case you don't remember:
1) Scout starts school and when her teacher realizes she's literate, she tells her that her dad has to stop teaching her to read. Scout says, "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." Ah! Those two sentences stopped me ever so briefly and made me sigh.
2) Atticus and Heck are discussing Bob Ewell, who is just pure evil, near the end. Heck says "Mr Finch, there's just some kind of men you have to shoot before you can say hidy to 'em. Even then, they ain't worth the bullet it takes to shoot 'em." Agreed.
If you have not read this classic, you simply must. Simply must.

(Side note-I finished this book tonight while I was on the stationary bike at the gym for the first time post ankle issue. I survived and so far my ankle feels good!)

In other book related news, my friend Emily has a fun blog. She's much more consistent with writing on hers than I am! Last week she asked for some guest posts as she's away from her blog some this week, and she wanted people to write about their favorite things. Books always come to mind when someone asks me about favorite things. I remembered the post I wrote earlier this year about my favorite book, "My Name is Asher Lev." I edited it a bit for readers who maybe don't know me, and sent it to her. She graciously allowed me to be her very first guest writer! I feel honored, and kind of like I got published :) You can see the post here if you want.

On that note, I'm off to figure out what other classic books I've missed that I definitely need to read.

Update!

2011-09-28T00:09:00.002-04:00

Hello! I will not be posting pictures of my ankle this time.

It's doing much better. Last week was seriously a struggle. There were times I looked at it and felt like it was never going to look any better or feel stable. Stupid, I know, but it is what it is.

And then it started looking better. And the swelling started going down even more. And I was able to start putting more weight on it (to my right side's relief-it's tired of carrying me all around!). Now we're down to minimal swelling and bruising. The worst part is that three of my toes look like they're going to fall off. Really? Toes can bruise from a sprained ankle? Yes, apparently if you do it well enough, they can. They are ugly!

I used at least one crutch up until Sunday. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I've been crutch free. I am walking almost normal now, just a slight limp and ever so slightly slower than normal. It feels pretty secure when the brace and tennis shoe are on, but I take them off if I'm sitting for more than a half hour (yes, even at my desk at work) because they need some relief from the compression from time to time. At home, a little bit before bed and first thing in the morning, I can move around very very very slowly barefoot without the brace, but I don't do that long.

Sarah (the summer roommate) is a physical therapist. She came over tonight and we did some exercises. She's assigned them to me to continue to do. She also says if I'm not too sore tomorrow from the exercises, then I can try a stationary bike. After a week of that, I can try the elliptical. And then when I'm in Phoenix and Vegas with David in 10 days, I can maybe think about doing a little dancing. And then once it has been AT LEAST 3 weeks from the sprain, IF it's looking and feeling ok, I can VERY LIGHTLY AND WITH A BRACE try a VERY LIGHT AND GENTLE jog and if it's ok I can remain VERY LIGHTLY AND GENTLY jogging for at least a week before trying anything harder. Awesome doesn't like the idea of any kind of jogging that soon. And I promise if it's not feeling completely ready, I won't. Right now I'm just excited about trying the bike tomorrow.

Pictures of my ankle

2011-09-22T00:55:00.002-04:00

Um, it might be weird that I am posting pictures of my feet on the internet. But it's my blog where I document things and my progress needs to be documented.

So here's what it was while sitting in the waiting room at the hospital:

Here's what it looked like Monday night as a lot of the swelling had gone down and the bruising had started:

And here's tonight, more bruising (some on the inside of my ankle now too but that's not in the picture):

And just for comparison sake:

So, it's better, but we've still got a ways to go. I'm attempting to not use crutches tomorrow but they will be with me just in case. My clients seem to get freaked out by me being on crutches. So if I can get by without them tomorrow, I'm going to.

Mentally I'm doing ok I guess. I hate coming home and needing to go straight to the couch instead of straight to a run. Crossing my fingers that by next week I can at least go do something low impact at the gym.

Confined to the couch

2011-09-18T17:48:00.002-04:00

I started a blog post the other day. A lot of it had to do with the new running plan I started this week and how I’m excited that I finally got out of my complacent 1.5 to 2 miles at a time that I’ve been doing most of this summer, and that I was ready to start really pushing myself again and so I had started a new plan to do just that.

And then yesterday I was sitting on the couch for a while. I had been sitting “Indian style” which I know is not good for you but I do it all the time. I got up and did not realize my foot was asleep. It wasn’t tingling; it must have been completely numb. When I put my foot down to start walking to the kitchen, my ankle just gave out. I heard it crack several times as I fell. I am not sure how, but the plate, glass and phone that were all in my hands landed neatly beside me. I was stunned for a few seconds, then started feeling pain and looked back at my foot. It was already swollen up to a pretty good size. I called Caitlin who didn’t have a car and she started trying to call other people. I called my dad because isn’t that what 32 year old daughters do when their dads live thousands of miles away, and told him I was ok but that I might have broken my ankle and was working on a way to get to the emergency room. Then I called Rachel who was thankfully available. She and Ben got here a few minutes later, gathered all the stuff I needed and helped me up off the floor since I hadn’t really moved yet. We spent a couple of hours at the ER due to lots of sick people in front of me. All of the hospital staff were great. I finally saw a doctor who was incredibly personable and friendly and I liked him a lot. He told me it didn’t look good, ordered me some Percocet and sent me off to x ray. It’s not broken, but it’s badly sprained and he said it could be months before I’m running at 100% again. I’m in an air cast for at least a few weeks and on crutches for several days until the swelling is gone.

It could have been worse, I know. I spent my time yesterday alternating between being upset and focusing on the positives-like it’s my left ankle, not my right, which means I can still drive (100% necessary for my job-if I can’t drive, I can’t work); I was already wearing cut off sweats when it happened which meant I didn’t have to figure out a way to change into something where they could see it without having to roll up my pants; I shaved my legs the day before so they weren’t too stubbly; Rachel and Ben were available to drive me to the hospital and keep me company and make me laugh; the doctor was cute and nice; I had already done most of the grocery shopping I needed to get done and what wasn’t done can wait a day or so into the week; Awesome was getting back into town the same day so at least I wouldn’t be alone at home the whole time I’m resting.

It hurt a LOT prior to the pain medicine. I mean a LOT. There were many a curse words that came out of my mouth. But what frustrates me the most, from the second I hit the floor and knew I was hurt, was the thought of not being able to run. I know it’s crazy, but that was all I could think of.

Exercise does not come naturally for me. I’ve always hated it until this running thing came along. I don’t know why it was different this time, but it was, and I’ve been so afraid ever since I started loving it that somehow I would lose it, that this love and desire to be active would just disappear. So naturally hearing my ankle snap as it threw me down would cause a bit of panic. I’m still a little panicked today. It’s going to be a while before I can run again and I wonder if I will feel like I’m starting over again when I can. The doctor said I can swim, and April (my trainer friend) said it shouldn’t be too long before I can do cycle classes and the elliptical. I’m just really hoping those activities can give me what I need to stay somewhat in shape enough so that when it does heal enough to run, it’s not as if I’ve never run before. And that those activities are as stress reducing as running is, at least for a little while.

For now, and probably for at least a week, I’ll be resting from all forms of exercise. But damn you ankle, you have to at least let me do something by next week.

Labor Day Weekend at Camp

2011-09-11T18:01:00.003-04:00

I spent most of my Labor Day weekend in the middle of nowhere, doing science related things. My friend Amy works for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. OMSI has a science camp about 18 miles west of Fossil, OR, a town of 473 people, and even closer to Antelope, OR, a town of 39 people. The camp is at Hancock Field Station which is right in the middle of mile markers 25 and 26 on Hwy 218 and is about 3.5 hours east of Portland.

Rachel and I left town mid Saturday morning and enjoyed the drive out. It was a gorgeous day and clear enough that at one point we stopped the car in the middle of the road (don’t worry, there were no other cars for many many miles), and just stared because we could see 6 amazing mountains at a time: The Three Sisters, Bachelor, Jefferson, Hood/Adams (we’re not sure which it was). I didn’t try to take any pictures because it was kind of hazy out and knew none of them would be clear enough from that distance. But it was incredible to see them all at once.

We arrived at the camp in the early afternoon while Amy was out digging thundereggs with some of the campers (it was a Family Camp weekend and Amy, who is the newly promoted Program Coordinator, was working while we were there). She arrived a bit later and gave us the grand tour of camp. Later we had dinner and then sanded and polished the thundereggs she had picked up for us. The rest of that night we just hung out at camp and settled into her cabin fairly early.

Sunday morning we were up and kind of awake for breakfast. And by that I mean we stumbled to the dinning hall and then after we had eaten, Rachel and I made our way over to the staff house to make our own coffee because we had, of course, arrived with our own coffee and French press. We sat around for a little while and then packed a backpack for a hike. Rachel and I had planned to venture out on our own but one of the other instructors, Gwen, only had one other person on her offical hike and she asked us if we wanted to join her group. So the 4 of us headed out for a roughly 3 mile hike that took us about 2 and half hours due to lots of stopping so Gwen could teach us all about the beautiful things we were seeing, and also because I couldn’t stop taking pictures. It was a really nice hike, it felt good to be out in nature, and I learned a lot from Gwen.

Once we made it back to camp we had some lunch and hung out on the porch of Amy’s cabin until later in the afternoon when she was allowed to leave camp for a while. We headed into Fossil and did a little shopping at the cute little mercantile. We then walked around, passed the one flashing red light, and had an early dinner at RJ’s, the only bar and grill in town (there is one other “family” restaurant in town, along with a library that is open from 1-4, the cutest little courthouse, an auto shop, and 4 churches). Once it was cool enough outside, we went to the fossil digging hill and dug for fossils! It was so much fun! I found several and got to bring them home. Some of them are going to Luke and Caroline as soon as I get around to mailing their belated birthday presents.

After digging for fossils we drove back to camp in time for the campfire entertainment put on by the staff and then I got to look at some near by (25000 light years) galaxies and the moon through some high powered OMSI telescopes. We eventually went to sleep. Until 4:45 in the morning when one of the instructors knocked on Amy’s door (where we were sleeping), to inform her that 15-20 people were throwing their guts up all across camp. That kind of altered the plans Rachel and I had to stay for half of Monday and do more hiking. So when we eventually got up around 7, we packed up and hit the road, in the hopes of avoiding this stomach flu that everyone had.

We got back to Portland late morning, had some brunch, tried in vain to find some rafts or other flotation devices to use to float down the Sandy river, walked around my neighborhood, had some beers while playing card games, walked a little more, and then Rachel left to go home to Newberg. I showered for the first time since Friday afternoon and sat around Sunday evening waiting to catch the stomach virus that never arrived.

A little gardening

2011-09-02T00:43:00.003-04:00

Well, that's not really true. I don't garden. That's very not-Portland-like of me, but it's true. I'd like to, but I don't have a place for it. We have this little back yard and patio area that does not get enough sunlight for me to plant anything. I've heard a rumor that there are shade plants, but I haven't pursued this yet. Mostly I stand on the patio and look at the yard area with my head turned to the side and I stare and wonder what could possibly happen in this space.

But lately the space was getting ignored. And one day I looked out and realized a jungle had appeared. So this weekend I spent some time pulling up weeds. I filled up the large yard debris container, and I took our backyard from this:

to this:

So it's pretty much weed free, but it's still also still kind of sad and empty. Oh well, maybe one of these days I'll figure out what to do with it.

In other news, today is the one year anniversary of the day I moved into this apartment! It became home this day last year and it's still a great little home! Yesterday I was reading some posts from about a year ago, remembering how relieved and happy I felt immediately upon arriving, even before the boxes were put away. And what's so great is that every day when I come home, whatever time that might be, I still feel so relieved and happy to be here.

Montana!!

2011-08-30T01:05:00.002-04:00

Montana was amazing. Simply, beautifully amazing.

We arrived after dark Thursday night, followed Awesome at least 15 minutes down an unpaved and very dark road, thinking out loud that if we were following anyone but him we’d be pretty sure we were off to our deaths. The only thing we could really see once we arrived was the stars. And they were stunning. Not quite as magical as the stars I saw in Kenya, but still, much more magical than you get in any city anywhere. We made our way in, met a few friends, and crashed.

Friday morning we woke up and discovered we were on a ranch, surrounded by acres and acres of fields and hay and animals and a hammock and a few other ranches. It was so peaceful and picturesque. We moved a bit slow that morning and were able to meet one of the Costins. The Costins are the family that belongs to the ranch. I don’t remember their names, there are too many of them. And in addition to them, there are always a ton of friends around apparently. Awesome met them his first summer there, through his Montana roommate, and he’s been a part of their clan ever since. The ranch has two houses, so about a million people can sleep there comfortably. And they allow anyone and everyone to stay there anytime. Awesome says he will go for dinner mid week and any number of other people will be there too. I really got lost in all the who’s who stuff, but we did meet the lady of the house and she said “Welcome, our house is your house.” And she meant it.

We spent Friday milling around Butte. It’s a very cute town. We had breakfast at a little coffee shop and then headed over to the Berkley Pit. After that we hit up the Mineral Museum at Montana Tech and did a bit of walking around. Early afternoon we took an underground mine tour which was, honestly, way more fascinating than I was expecting. After lunch we stopped at the Miners Memorial which overlooks the city, then did a bit of walking around Uptown Butte. There are so many fascinating old buildings and signs there! Caitlin fell in love with an antique store and we thought we might have to let her spend the night there. We had a late afternoon beer and free popcorn, stopped at the local grocery store to pick up food for dinner, and headed back out the ranch, very nearly taking out a deer on that unpaved road. We spent the evening playing Settlers, cooking and eating dinner, smoking pipes (the boys did that), and lounging around.

Saturday morning we loaded up and hit the road. The drive from Butte to West Yellowstone, as all drives through western Montana apparently are, was so very pretty. Have you driven down a highway through the middle of the Rockies? I’m fairly certain I had not previously. We stopped off in Virginia City which is a “working” ghost town. We had wanted to see a real ghost town but getting to one on our time frame didn’t work out, so we settled for one that is preserved. It was fun to walk around, overhear some Hutterites talking about shopping at Wal-Mart, pick up some fudge, and use the restroom in a very creepy store. After that little break, we drove on to West Yellowstone.

I have an old friend from college, Jennifer, whom I hadn’t seen in 10 years but we have kept up all this time, who lives and works in West Yellowstone. She hooked us up with a nice discounted hotel room so that we could get two days there, and she was an excellent tour guide for day 1. We arrived about the time she was getting off work, so after we grabbed some lunch and unloaded, we took off. She drove us all through the south loop of Yellowstone (which, by the way, is mostly in Wyoming, making 5 states we were in during these 5 days), and took us to all the best sites. We ended Saturday with dinner at the Old Faithful lodge and got to watch Old Faithful, and then drove back to West Yellowstone. The Clarks called it a night but Awesome, Jennifer and I went over to a different hotel where Jennifer’s boyfriend works and had a drink and visited with him. Then we all called it a night.

Sunday morning we had some hotel breakfast and loaded up. Jennifer had to work Sunday so Awesome was our guide, which he is also fantastic at, having been there about 7 times. We did the north loop, going to some equally amazing sites as the south loop, and getting to see a bit more animals (bison mostly) than we had seen on Saturday. We were saying that we believe Jennifer loves the park like we love Portland. Awesome said, “But I love the park like I love Portland.” Someone has a heart that is torn, me thinks.

I don’t know how to explain Yellowstone. I had no expectations, no pictures in my mind, knew not at all what it would be like. It was so fascinating! Geysers and paint pots and other thermal features and wildlife and rivers and lakes and waterfalls and it just goes on and on! Boiling mud and water that change colors based on a couple of different things that I won’t even pretend to understand that are simply so intriguing to watch (and take pictures of) and seems like something you could just jump into except that it would kill you. And this is noticeable when you are standing over some of that water on walkways and you can feel the heat off the 200 degrees and up. Also, the ever present smell of sulfur is a good indicator that one should not jump into any of it. I’ve just never experienced anything like it! I highly recommend that you all find a way to go there if you never have. And yes, I’ll meet you there and do it all again.

We exited out of the north entrance sometime in the afternoon, having seen all we could see in our time frame. We drove the 2.5 hours back to Butte, had some dinner and then played a few more rounds of Settlers out at the ranch before bidding goodnight and goodbye to Awesome who went back to his in-town apartment so that he could be at work on time Monday morning.

The Clarks and I stayed at the ranch that night, and met one other Costin, and then packed up and left Monday morning. Another Costin had come in after we had all gone to bed and that morning I overheard him asking his sister who else was in the house. Her reply was “some of Chris’ friends” and he said “Oh ok” and went back to bed like it was perfectly normal to have strangers in your house, even if those strangers are friends of your friends when said friend is not even there, because apparently it is perfectly normal. Superb people, those Costins.

We got back to Portland around 8 ish Monday evening, and I think I went to bed sometime around 10. I say I think because I don’t remember turning off my light or putting my head on my pillow. I just know that those things did happen.

I’m not going to post pictures here, because I’m pretty sure everyone who reads this is either facebook or google+ friends with me and more than 200 of the 492 pictures I took are posted there. If you are not on either of those sites, you can see the pictures on my picasa page and there is a link to that on the side bar. It’s just too hard to narrow down from more than 200 to 10 or so of my favorites to post here, so go look at them on one of those sites if you want to see them.

It was such a great little vacation. It was a lot of time in the car, but it was a lot of good times with great friends seeing amazing sites and I’m thankful we were able to go and to experience it all.

Oh hey there.........

2011-08-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

I’ve wanted to post so many things the past few weeks; I just somehow haven’t been able to get around to it. But I wanted you to know I haven’t forgotten about you, blog world, and I’ll try to get better about posting more often. For now I just wanted to say hi, give you a little check in, and say "see you soon"! I’m off to Montana (with the Clarks) on Thursday and I have quite a bit to get done between now and then. We’ll be back in Portland next Monday night, so hopefully I can do some blog catching up after that. I hope you are all having a lovely summer!

A dash of this, a little of that:

2011-07-24T00:24:00.001-04:00

I think aliens have taken over my body. I joined a gym. As if the running wasn’t shocking enough. Why Liza, why? Because I’ve gotten pretty good lately at listening to my body. It kind of tells me what it needs. And it was saying: STRETCH ME. It was screaming for yoga. And I’m still fighting with my shins from time to time (though I am winning the battle), so it was also saying: There might be days when you can’t run because of that pain, but you could do a spin class because it uses different muscles. And through work, we can get a really good deal with several local gyms, with no contract or anything. Plus there might be a few months out of the year when I chose not to run outside due to the cold or whatnot. So I joined one that is right in between my office and my apartment and it’s super nice. Like exceptionally clean and the nicest locker room I’ve ever seen and a huge pool that I’ve yet to get in because I don’t have a swimsuit I like but I will eventually get in because they keep it at 82 degrees and who doesn’t want to jump in that? I’ve only been able to do one spin class so far due to time but I’ve done a couple of yoga classes and I LOVE it. Seriously, the half pigeon? I could fall asleep in that pose, along with a few other poses. My body is already thanking me for it. I’m not super strict with myself about the gym, like I am with running. If I have plans in the evening, I skip it. As long as I make it to about 4 classes a month, the price I’m paying for the membership is still a good deal. I want to make it more, to at least two a week and some occasional use of the pool when I find a swimsuit, but if I don’t make it to all of them, that’s ok. I’m still running every other day and still loving it. I just needed some supplemental things too.

Speaking of the running, etc, I’m in desperate need of some things. More sports bras, more running pants, some tighter fitting longer tops for yoga (running pants thankfully double as yoga and cycle pants), some different running tops. At work we recently got an invite and 50% off coupon to the Addidas employee store (isn’t it fun to live in the city where places like Addidas and Nike are based? Yeah, it is). Our deal starts on Monday so I’m going to head up there and see if I can find some good prices on all the stuff I need. I’m also hoping to win the lottery I don’t play before I go.

And speaking of supplements, I bought some vitamins lately that make me mad. I read food labels all the time, because there’s a lot I don’t want in my body. Who would have thought I needed to read a vitamin label, other than to see what vitamins it contains? I got home and opened them to discover that they are a very unnatural color red. I checked the box. Sure enough: red dye, blue dye, yellow dye. What the heck?? Not acceptable. For one, it’s just not necessary. Who cares what color a vitamin is? For two, dyes, especially red, have been linked to all kinds of stuff, like hyperactivity in children, migraines, and have, on several occasions, made me sick (always in the form of a red colored sports drink, which I’ve avoided for years). Really vitamin people, this is uncalled for.

Today I picked 7 pounds of raspberries and almost 5 of blueberries. I went to Sauvie Island by myself and very much enjoyed the peace and the beauty and the picking. Three strikingly gorgeous mountains were visible here today. It was glorious. I got sunburned and if feels fantastic. And I have a lot of berries now.

It kind of feels like summer just arrived. Yesterday. We had a few nice days in June and then a really great 4^th of July weekend, and then winter returned and we had rain (some days a LOT) and pretty chilly temperatures again, until yesterday. I was getting really angry about the weather. Not depressed. Angry. The rules are: July, August and September we get TONS of sun so that we get through the other 9 months of the year. Portland forgot the rules this year. But the sun came back yesterday and it looks like it’s here to stay a while. Please Lord, let it be here to stay a while.

Sarah the subletter roommate and I are getting along well. We’re not home together all that often, but when we are it’s good. We talk girl things, which is, as you may have guessed, something I don’t do with Awesome. We watch chick flicks, which I also don’t do with Awesome. We enjoy hanging out, which is something I do enjoy with Awesome. I’m thankful it’s going well.

26 days until The Clarks and I are going to visit Awesome in Montana! It’s going to be great!

Jennifer Glass got to make a quick trip to visit me. She arrived Wednesday afternoon and left Friday morning. I couldn’t take off work while she was here but we still managed to spend a lot of time together, mostly revolving around food! She got to meet Paul and Sarah the current roommate and also hang out with Caitlin (whom she’d met before). It was lots of fun and we laughed (and ate) a lot.

Sunday night I’ll be at the Fleet Foxes concert. It’s an outdoor event, and it’s supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow. I think it will be a lot of fun.

August has a lot of stuff going on. I’m currently kind of tired from all that July had going on. This weekend has been calm and allowed for some much needed down time. But everything that has gone on has been really fun and now we have sunshine. I do love summer in Portland!

For five wonderful days,

2011-07-07T23:49:00.005-04:00

We:

Talked

Laughed

Ate

Played

Listened

Read

Hiked

Planned

Drank

Watched

Smiled

Walked

Dreamed

Loved

Don't read this if you are tired of me talking about running

2011-06-26T15:57:00.001-04:00

I’ve made an executive decision. I’m not doing any more running events. At least for a long time.

Running has become my sanity time and place. I love, really really love, the physical and mental benefits that come from my day to day running: alone in my cemetery or the park down the street. But these race events, such as last night's 5k, cause me so much anxiety that the benefits of the actual running are lost. I don’t need the competition, in any way. I don’t need an event hanging out there to keep me motivated to run; I’m already motivated. I don’t need the added stress leading up to an event. I don’t do as well in these events as I do any other day, because of the anxiety that comes from running with hundreds of people on a course I don’t know. It’s counter productive and I’m officially done, at least for a long time. I just want to run, the way I want to run and where I want to run and with whom (um, that would be with just me, myself and I). So that’s what I’m going to do. Tomorrow. Today I am going to sit on my couch and read and relax because I have not done that nearly enough lately.

The State of Things

2011-06-21T01:05:00.003-04:00

Sleep:

I need a lot of it these days. I can’t seem to get out of bed anytime near when my clock goes off. It’s bad.

Food:

I’m such a terrible grocery shopper. I am trying to do better. I really am.

Running:

It’s good. Well, it’s ok. I’m at, for the most part, 30 minutes whenever I run, except the past two days I’ve had what I call running failures. I want to increase it to daily if I can, though I know there will be days I miss, so as long as it is at least every other day then I am ok. Also the distance I have been running in my 30 minutes is not what I want it to be, and that’s the main reason I want to try to run daily, in the hopes of increasing the speed and distance more. But because of the last two days, I am definitely taking Wednesday off, revamping my playlist, icing my shins some and trying to get my head back in the game as the failures feel just as much mental as they do physical.

I’m switching back and forth from music some days to podcasts some days. I’m also trying new routes. My friend Manuel, who is very much a runner, gave me his ipod shuffle so that I don’t have to run with my big ipod (the shuffle is tiny and clips right on to your shirt!) and so now the handy inside pocket of my running pants can hold keys and ID, the two things I need in order to drive somewhere to run, which is kind of what I have to do in order to run somewhere other than the cemetery. But at least the cemetery is still there for those days I am too lazy to drive. Can it be considered lazy if I am still running though?

The other day I said the words “I’m a runner” in the middle of a conversation and I said it completely without thought, like it was just a normal thing. And then I was driving away and I thought, can I actually say that? Well, I am running close to 3 miles at least every other day, so yes, I guess I can.

My massage therapist notices the changes in my body even more so than I do, I think. I don’t have any real goals as far as body changes. I have running goals. But I am enjoying the side effects of body changes. Except that I can’t afford new jeans.

I’m doing another 5k this weekend. Not sure if I will sign up for any more this summer or not.

The Apartment:

It’s lonely. Awesome left for the summer last Friday. I’ll see him in mid August and then he returns in mid September. I don’t like it when he’s not here.

It’s also kind of messy right now, mostly because he isn’t here and I don’t really care if it’s clean. (I also barely make it to church on time on Sundays when he is not here, just as a side note)

We have a subletter. She will be here sometime the first week of July. I will clean it before then and also before any visitors come.

Our neighbors are pretty loud a lot. Not often keeping me awake (though that has happened a few times), but still consistently noisy. But sometimes, usually on a Saturday or Sunday morning, they are all quiet and it is so peaceful and I really enjoy it.

It stays very cool in here, even on warm days outside. This makes me happy, knowing how hot it can be at times in the summer without air conditioning.

Upcoming events:

David! David will be here so soon! I NEED David time so very much and I really cannot wait!

Also: Concerts, musicals, berry picking, dessert tastings, road trips, and so much more.

Reading:

Slowly. Definitely not reading quickly. But the quality of what I am reading is good. The main reason I’m not reading fast is that I have so many other projects I am working on.

Crochet:

Many projects are either in the works or on a list to be in the works. Christmas ideas are already in mind, and most of those are going to require a good bit of time.

I lead a crochet group for some of my clients at work and am starting a 2^nd one. They are enjoying it, and it’s keeping me motivated.

I was incredibly happy with my first large project, the throw I made for my aunt. There’s a picture of it on facebook in the “Parents in Portland” album. The two of you reading this who are not on facebook have seen the throw in person.

Heart:

Sometimes it’s calm. Sometimes it’s not. There are things that have gone on over the past few months (or longer) than I haven’t mentioned (at all) here. Some of you know nothing about it, some of you know all about it, some of you know a few things about it. I’m still working through some of those things, and my heart feels a lot of it lately. But I guess that’s the job of the heart, to feel things.

Mind:

Racing every once in a while, but usually I’m able to keep it together. For the most part it’s pretty focused, but putting the focus into action is a different story.

Lists:

I’m making a lot of them these days. With sublists.

Work:

Overall it’s good. Last week was a full moon and I knew it in the way my clients were behaving before I saw it on the calendar. It is challenging, in the very best of ways. I really really love how much I am not at a desk in an office.

Portland:

As always, Portland is fantastic. The weather is very bipolar right now. We’ll have a nice 78 degree day with lots of sun followed by a 60 degree day with lots of rain. Around July we should get consistent sun.

The Naked Bike Ride was this weekend and while I didn’t go watch like 2 years ago, I did get stuck in some traffic due to the race and I did see some nakedness speed by while I was sitting there waiting.

Farmers Markets are in full swing. I haven’t gone as much as I want to but I plan to work on that.

The other day I was sitting at the kitchen table working on something on my computer. The front and back doors were open, the sun was shinning, there was a breeze blowing through, and I thought, “I really love Portland.” Sometimes I’m still so amazed that I live here.

Parental Portland Vacation 2011

2011-06-19T19:40:00.008-04:00

I meant to post this much sooner, but after my parents left things got kind of busy and I have been tired, so it’s a bit delayed.

Most of you, dear readers, are on facebook and already know the recaps of our vacation. This post will include a bit more than those recaps did.

They arrived at midnight Tuesday night. Wednesday June 1^st, they slept in while I worked until about noon. That afternoon we had lunch at home and sat around and talked for quite a while. We walked (all 6 blocks) to Ken’s Artisan Pizza for a yummy birthday dinner (Donna's birthday), and then returned home so that several of my friends (most of whom already knew my parents) could come over, have dessert, drink a bit, and chat. It was the first meeting for Rachel, who has fallen in love with Fred and Donna, and also the first meeting for roommate Chris, who happened to be house-sitting the whole week they were here therefore not at the apartment very much. It was a really nice evening, with a lot of laughter, particularly when Paul started trying to convince my dad that the kind of camping they do should not be called camping. Everything Fred said to defend their “camping” made Paul’s case so much greater, especially when surround sound and flat screen TVs were brought up.

Thursday I was off work all day. We had kind of a slow morning at home and then went to OMSI where we tried, unsuccessfully, to complete a lot of brain teasers. We enjoyed all of the exhibits there. After OSMI we came home to eat a little lunch and drop Fred off while Donna and I went to have massages (her birthday gift). After that we went to our little neighborhood farmer’s market where we picked up some vegetables to have for dinner, and some yummy fresh pretzels from the bread man who makes me happy. We came home, I ran and then got to cooking. We had a delicious dinner of pork roast (which had been marinating in some herbs and olive oil all day), potatoes and onions, salad and roasted beets. Also, we were wearing pajamas while we ate.

Friday morning I had to go to work again until about noon. We then went to eat at my most favorite restaurant, Tasty and Sons. I had really hoped it would be a life changing meal for them. They enjoyed it, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations for them. That afternoon we didn’t do much but hang out at home reading and napping. For dinner we walked the 8 blocks to another favorite restaurant, Navarre, which was life changing for them. I guess that makes up for the lunch expectations. They really loved it. We then walked a few more blocks to Alder Pastry where we met up with Caitlin and Chris for dessert.

Saturday morning we went to the PSU farmers market, where we enjoyed tasting lots of goodies, picking up a few things we needed, admiring all the gorgeous flowers, and eating some lunch. Saturday was the most perfect day weather wise. So very clear and beautiful and warm. After the market we came home to drop off purchases and pick up roommate Chris. We then drove the hour out to Rachel’s house, spent a few minutes admiring the tree house she lives in, and then headed to the winery where she works. We spent several fantastic hours down in the inner workings of the winery, tasting from barrels, learning some secrets (not really), and more tastings on the patio with all the non-VIPs who didn’t get the full tour because they don’t have an insider as a friend. The parents had never seen inside a winery like that, or tasted from a barrel, so it was a pretty amazing experience for them and they loved it! Sitting out on that patio on a day like that was incredible and I could have just stayed there forever. Except the rain would eventually return and I wouldn’t want to be out there. After the winery we drove up a little further to the top of the hill and had some really amazing views of the valley, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Jefferson. Glorious. We also spent time admiring a monkey puzzle tree which was totally new for Fred, Donna and me. Eventually we left the hill, took Rachel back to her tree house, and returned to Portland. I foolishly tried to run, failed after about 15 minutes (kind of surprised I even made it that long), and then realized I was too exhausted and dehydrated to attempt to make dinner. So we got take out burritos and watched the Starlight Parade on TV.

Sunday we drove up to Mt. Hood to explore Timberline Lodge. The rents had never really been on a mountain like Mt. Hood. I drove up it just a few weeks ago to get Rachel’s car but that hardly counts. Once upon a time I was on some mountains in Colorado too, but the only thing I really remember is getting so sick from the altitude and having absolutely no fun attempting to ski. All that to say, Mt. Hood was a pretty new kind of experience for all of us, as is being in snow in June. It wasn’t all that cold though, which was nice. We enjoyed the beautiful and historic Timberline, had a very nice lunch, took a bunch of pictures, watched skiers who looked like ants crawling around, and then drove home. That evening I cooked a dinner of goat cheese ravioli with roasted red pepper sauce (I will be making that often, you should come over for it), asparagus and salad. After dinner, Fred and Donna showered and packed and got ready for their return trip, and I went to see Awesome and some friends where he was house sitting, just for a bit. Then I came home and enjoyed one last evening of just visiting with them.

Monday morning I took them to the airport and went to in to work.

It was, as always, so lovely to have them here. They needed the change of pace, the different scenery, the break from their own reality and time to enjoy mine. I am grateful they were able to come and had the vacation they needed, happy that my friends enjoy them so much, thankful for the encouragement and support they always are to me, and looking forward to what their 2012 trip could hold!

More Running Talk

2011-05-27T21:05:00.001-04:00

It’s like now that I’ve started talking about running, I can’t stop.

I’m in love with it. Seriously. I’m almost to the end of the Couch to 5k plan. I’m having to fight myself not to just jump ahead to the end, but I know (and plenty of people are reminding me) not to, because I want to make sure I don’t stop loving it and jumping ahead even a week could be disastrous. So I’ll just keep moving along on it correctly.

But I am really really excited that within just about two more weeks I will be consistently running 3 miles at a time and I feel good about planning to do it every other day. Right now I am running close to 2.5 at a time. Without stopping. No walking. Yeah, that’s HUGE for me! I was thinking yesterday as I finished up my 25 minutes straight and didn’t even feel very worn out, how amazing it is that just about two months ago it felt impossible to run for even 2 minutes straight. Until a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t wait for the times I got to walk in between running. Now I find myself really glad that the interval training is over and I am just gradually increasing the total amount of time running. Whoever came up with this particular plan is a genius.

Audio books have stopped working for me, and I am currently back onto music as I run. I don’t know why. But I think audio books or possibly some podcasts will make a return.

The past two times I’ve run, it’s been raining lightly. It was great. It’s easier to run in light rain than in direct sun, even though sunny days make me want to run more. The rain feels pretty refreshing.

I can’t believe I’m actually talking about loving running. How did this happen?

Calmer

2011-05-15T23:57:00.002-04:00

Hi.

Things have been calmer. I've slept much, much better since about Wednesday night, and no longer require even Melatonin, much less Tylenol PM. Though sometimes the Melatonin is taken just in case.

Friday night was fun. We all (Amy, Rachel, Ben, Roommate Chris, myself) went to Mississippi Pizza to hear a band we know, and then Amy, Chris and I went to Ruby Jewell for some amazing ice cream. We laughed a lot. We came home (Amy was staying with us that night) and laughed more. Chris called me old. We watched the movie "Bandits", which involved laughing some more. It was good to laugh.

Saturday I went to coffee, had a massage, had a semi-great run, read Entertainment Weekly magazine, and then Paul and I went to the wedding of a former co-worker and friend. She's still a friend. That part isn't former. After the wedding we picked up some dessert and went to see Rachel (and Ben). Then I finally went to sleep around midnight.

Today I went to church, then I went to brunch with Paul, Rachel, Ben and Rachel's parents who arrived today (they were supposed to come in August but moved it up after the accident). After that my friend April (the trainer/OSHU employee) came over and we caught up, which was lovely and wonderful. I then finally went grocery shopping for the first time in forever and cooked some dinner. Now I plan to spend a bit of time reading, a bit of time balancing my check book and bit of time planning for my parents arrival in slightly more than 2 weeks. And then I am going to bed, feeling a lot more ready for the week ahead then I did this time last weekend.

I wanted to say thank you. Thanks for reading this blog. I know it's random. Sometimes it's happy and fun and full of pictures of crazy adventures. But it is my outlet in which I can process what's going on in my life, and this means it is, at times, not happy and fun. I appreciate the fact that you are still reading, if you are, even when I am at my worst. Thank you for being a part of the space in which I deal with it all.

And so then I took the Tylenol PM

2011-05-12T00:19:00.000-04:00

around 9:30 ish. By 10 I was in bed and by 10:15 I was sleeping somewhat soundly.

At 10:40, the trap in my room snapped. My eyes flew open and I laid there silently for a second. Until the mouse and the trap started moving, and the mouse was screeching, and I could hear the trap clanging along. I sat up, turned on the light, looked to where the trap had been, saw that it was not there, got out of bed, walked around to the other side of the bed, saw it (or rather saw the trap upside down), it got startled and tried to run in the other direction. I backed into my book case, said a bad word, and ran out of the room. I turned on the light in the den, sat on the couch and wondered what to do. I thought maybe it would just go ahead and die quietly and I would just sleep on the couch. It did not stop screeching. I yelled for Chris, who was kind of expecting it at this point. He removed it. He says it was dead by the time he got outside to the trash can.

About 30 minutes later my heart was beating normally and I fell back asleep, thinking about how I didn't need to exercise if I keep getting my heart rate up like this while trying to go to bed. I only saw the 2:00 hour and the 5:00 hour, which is a whole lot better than seeing every hour. But I did have weird dreams about owing my parents money and trying to get it to them from an ATM here to an ATM in Chattanooga, except than when I had the money they wouldn't take it and then they asked for it when I didn't have it.

I made it through 9.5 hours of work today, and got to see Rachel tonight. She is better. She has torn ligaments and a blood clot somewhere near the broken bone, which do not explain the numbness. But they are not concerned about it, therefore I will choose not to be concerned either. She is doing well though.

I just took some more Tylenol PM and I am headed to bed, breathing almost clearly out of one side of my nose.

I will run tomorrow. I will.

Here's what has been going on the past several days.

2011-05-11T00:13:00.002-04:00

The 5k that I completed last weekend should have been the hardest part of my weekend. It turned out to be the easiest.

Friday night there was an incident. I don’t want to get into the details, but for about 45 minutes, there was great concern that Roommate Chris was missing/seriously injured/ possibly dead. He is fine. There was nothing of the sort going on. But we didn’t know that during that time, had good reasons to think something was seriously amiss, and the world kind of fell apart in those 45 minutes. This occurred after 11 p.m., meaning that it was after 1:00 a.m. before I feel asleep because it took me that long to stop shaking and for my heart rate to slow down enough. I slept until about 4 somewhat solidly, then woke up almost every hour until I finally got up at 8.

Saturday was spent celebrating the fact that Chris was, in fact, alive and well, and also trying to figure out exactly what happened Friday night and who I could direct my anger towards. It was about 6 p.m. on Saturday before my heart felt normal again. And then the nerves about the 5k set in.

Sunday morning I ran the 5k. All was well in the world again until about an hour after I had finished when Rachel called. Rachel had gone snowboarding, by herself, on Mt. Hood that morning. The fact that she was calling me at that time was not a good sign as no one calls while they are snowboarding. She was at the medical clinic on the mountain waiting to see a doctor because she had fallen pretty hard and was having some neck pain. I got home, we gathered up the people: Amy, Ben (the winemaker, who is Rachel’s boyfriend, in case you need to know that), Roommate Chris and Paul via phone. In the time it had taken for me to get home from the race, Ben had found out that Rachel had broken a bone in her neck and she was being taken by ambulance to OHSU. There are, I think, 3 hospitals closer to where she was than OHSU, but the break was bad enough that they wanted to take her to the best.

Rachel’s car needed to be picked up from the mountain. As it was going to take at least 2 hours for them to transport her from Mt. Hood to the hospital, we decided it was the best time to get the car. Thankfully Ben has a spare key. But he was staying in Portland to wait on her to arrive, so I picked up Paul, we drove close to 2 hours to get up there, through 55 degrees and rain to freezing and snow. We got the car and drove the 2 hours back, stopping quickly for food along the way as it was now late afternoon and neither of us had really eaten all day. We got back to Portland and I came home. By this time they knew she wasn’t going to be at the hospital too much longer, so I didn’t go up and I have to say, I was relieved on many levels. For her, that they felt they could release her, and also for the fact that I just needed to sit for a minute, or ten or a hundred. While she does have a significant break in a bone in her neck, after x-rays and CAT scans, it was deemed not a danger to anything else. She was sent home in a neck brace for several weeks and told she will be in pain for many months.

Later that evening, roommate Chris cooked some extra dinner so that I didn’t have to cook anything and could just eat with him. When I volunteered to do the dishes, he told me I needed to just lay on the couch. I gave him the name “Awesome” a long time ago, and he continues to live up to it.

I started feeling congested that night. Chris had been sick for a few days but I thought I had managed not to get it. I think I would have if the weekend had not been MASS CHAOS and I think that my body is reacting to all of the stress.

Monday morning I went to work. My boss is out this week because she is moving. One person is on vacation. One called in sick. Our supervisor, who was out all last week, had to have urgent surgery this weekend and is out until we-don’t-know-when. This doesn’t leave many people on our team, and the clients of those who are out seem to all be in crisis. I was feeling incredibly congested and feverish when I got to work, so they made me come home. I worked from home for a few hours and then I logged off and tried to rest. I am a terrible napper, even when it’s the only thing I really need to do. I spent the rest of the day on the couch trying to recover. And then I went to bed around 10:30 because I was so very tired and worn out. And I feel asleep. And for the next 8 hours, I woke up every 45 minutes. Each time, I woke up thinking about work, but I woke up because I couldn’t breathe. I finally gave up around 6 something, got up, got ready and got to work at 7:45. I think I was running on adrenaline or something. I worked for a little more than 4 hours and then that adrenaline wore off and I became useless. So I came back home, again failed to sleep, but spent the day resting, except when I took a walk because it was 67 and sunny and I badly want to run but can’t, since I am having a hard time breathing while just sitting. Then this evening I made the mistake of checking my work email and voice mail messages to find that another coworker had to leave early today because of a family emergency, and more of my clients seem to be in crises and more of the clients of my coworkers who are out are also in crises. Which means I really cannot be out any more this week. Which means that I REALLY must sleep tonight because I haven’t had a decent or full night of sleep since last Thursday.

This evening I called Rachel to see how she was doing, because I can’t go see her since I don’t want to make her sick. Ben answered her phone. They are back at the hospital because her hand went numb. As of right now she has been there for several hours and is still waiting on an MRI.

As I was typing all of this out, Chris yelled from his room, “Ahhh! We have mice!” and then we spent 20 minutes chasing a little mouse around from room to room, only to lose it somewhere unknown. We opened the back door in the hopes the mice would go out but instead the neighborhood cat, who often sits at our door, came in. We let it wander around for about 10 minutes and when it had failed to find the mouse, we made him leave. Chris went to the store and got 4 traps and I swear to you if the trap in my room goes off in the middle of the night, I might wake the whole building up. Chris said he will do the disposal, but not if it’s 3:00 a.m.

I just took some Tylenol PM. I’m going to bed. I’m praying for Rachel, and I’m praying for sleep.

My May 8th Event, along with background. It's long.

2011-05-08T23:53:00.002-04:00

Today I completed a 5k.

Go ahead, take a minute and read it again. Yes, I completed a 5k, by running a decent portion of it. I’ve always hated running. And by always I mean the 10 times I’ve tried it and quit after one time. But still, I’ve always hated it. Until now.

A few months ago a former coworker, Karey, started talking about how she was doing a 5k and she had done the couch to 5k plan. For some reason she started trying to talk me into it. I don’t know why, but I told her I would attempt. So I found the couch to 5k plan, bought a sports bra, put on some sweats and the tennis shoes I’d had for years but barely ever worn, and I tried week 1.

And it went well. Well enough that I was willing to try week 2. So I did, but for some reason that week I only got to do 2 of the 3 days (it’s a 3 day a week schedule), and so I decided to repeat week 2 the next week (the plan encourages you to repeat weeks if you feel you are not ready to move on). Anyways, I was going to repeat the week, but on the 2^nd day of the repeat week, I started having massive shooting pains in my knees. Not soreness, but shooting sharp pains and they were staying around even if I was just walking around at work. So I didn’t run for a week, until the pain was gone when I was just walking. And then I slowly eased back in, repeating week 2 again for the 3^rd time. Finally I was able to move into week 3. And somewhere in that week, I hit a day where it wasn’t just tolerable, it wasn’t just something that made my heart rate increase, but it felt good. I mean, really really good.

At this point I decided to go ahead and sign up for the Cinco de Mayo 5k that Karey wanted me to sign up for. I figured if nothing else, I would walk the whole thing and make a donation to whatever the heck the run was for. I kept going on the plan and finished week 3.

I didn’t tell many people I was doing this. Roommate Chris knew, of course. Caitlin knew. Another friend, April, who is a trainer, knew because I needed advice now and then. And I told my friend Gretchen because she is a runner but she wasn’t intimidating to talk to about it. Most of the “professional runners” in my life, and there are several-including Gretchen-are not people I wanted to tell, for various reasons. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stick with it (especially with the knee pain) or how long I would stay motivated, and in all honesty, if my endurance and speed would ever increase. So I kept it a little on the down low, in case I had to quit . I didn’t lie about it, but I definitely walked away from every conversation about running, and there seemed to be a lot of those lately. I didn’t feel that it was necessary to tell anymore people at that point in time.

Before I started week 4, I decided it was time to make an investment that would definitely help my shins which were requiring ice a lot of nights: I got some really good running shoes. I waited until week 4 to make sure I was going to stick with it, and by then I knew I would. So I went to the Portland Running Company and got some shoes. I love them. They make me happy.

I made it through week 4, and then I bought some running pants. I love them. They make me as happy as the shoes. I want more though, because one pair is not enough.

I made it through week 5, and then today came around. Today was the Cinco de Mayo run (even though it was May 8^th) and I still have no real clue what the race was supporting. I know that my registration fee got me two beers (I only drank one) and a tiny amount of Mexican food at the after party. It also included a mariachi band.

The couch to 5k plan is a 9 week plan. Of course you know I spent 3 weeks on week 2, so I am only 5 weeks into it, meaning that so far in my training, I had yet to actually go the distance of a 5k, because it is building up to that. But I didn’t really care if I was able to run much of it all, I just wanted to do it, because it had kept me motivated to stay with the plan, and I knew I would be motivated beyond today to continue if I just got through it. So I got up crazy early, met Karey, and completed it. It was, in ways, harder than I thought. It was mass chaos in my mind starting out, because I am used to running alone in the quiet cemetery next to my house and this was with several hundred people. It’s impossible to pick your own pace starting out, which means everyone starts too quickly and then you can’t catch your breath for anything. And the entire first half of the course was uphill. For that first mile and a half, some running, some walking, I kept thinking “this is insane and why the heck am I doing this?” but the 2^nd half was better, although still more walking than what I wanted to do. But that part of it was motivating. I was thinking of all the things I could do to make the next one better and how eventually I WILL run a consistent 5k three or four days a week and I will feel damn good doing it! And so I finished it, a little bit ahead of Karey, but I think I am not going to post my time here on the blog. Not yet.

I’ve learned a few things these past 8 weeks (5 weeks of the plan). Here are some of them, in no particular order:

Sometimes running sucks. Nike makes a shirt that says “Running Sucks”, and I want to wear it while I run, because there are days when there is just nothing you can do to make it good.

But sometimes, and often enough to make it worth it, it’s pretty freaking great.

Running with music is ok. Running with an audiobook is fantastic. Running with neither is torture and no one should have to endure that.

Ice is your friend.

When you need running shoes, it’s definitely best to go to somewhere like the Portland Running Company where they watch you run in several pairs of shoes to watch your gait and make sure of exactly what you need your shoe to do.

Sweats are not good for running.

Running in a slight drizzle is not so bad.

People find it weird that I run in the cemetery. I find it calming and there are not many people around to watch me which is what I really care about. The other people who are hanging out there are kinda weird and just leave me alone.

The other day I ran in the neighborhood instead of the cemetery and I passed another runner and she smiled and nodded in a way that said, “Hey, we have something in common!” and it felt nice. I returned the smile and the nod.

I need more sleep. The days I run, I absolutely cannot wait to go to bed. I also usually cannot wait to eat. I need to be a better grocery shopper.

I want to be a better runner. As I said, I want to consistently run a 5k, 3 or 4 times a week. That’s my goal, and goals are good and I am not focusing on anything past that goal until I achieve that one. I can feel the progress every day that I run, and that is enough to keep me going.

No, I do no want to run with you unless it is at an event like today in which case we will get separated at the start and I will see you again at the end. I like being by myself when I run. And there is no way we could have a conversation anyway, so why would we run together?

As with all things in my life, I do not like running in the mornings. I tried once on a Saturday and it was a disaster. That's why I got up crazy early today, to make sure my body was awake and ready by the start time of 9 a.m. I plan from here on out to only pursue events that start later in the day.

Even though I need more sleep and sometimes I feel crazy tired, overall it is helping mentally and physically. I feel better. Stress is easier to handle knowing I can go run at the end of the day. Sometimes I crave it. Yesterday I was anxious about the event itself, but wanted the actual running so much I could feel it, because I had not run since Thursday.

My legs hurt right now. I feel a little bit zombie like (due to other events of the weekend) but I feel really really fantastic that I completed that event today and I can’t wait until Tuesday when I can start week 6.

Easter Sunday

2011-05-05T22:39:00.003-04:00

Want to know what I did on Easter? Of course you do. It was a really lovely day. But I'm not going to tell you about it, because Caitlin has already done a fantabulous job of that on her blog, so really you just just go read about there.

All of it was fantastic, but I want you to know that those peanut butter cups were friggin amazing. I want more of them, all the time. I think about them almost daily.

Just because I can.....

2011-05-01T23:38:00.002-04:00

Have I mentioned that I love the way we vote in Oregon? We get a booklet explaining what we’re voting on, exactly what it will do if it passes, arguments in favor and arguments in opposition, and then a few days later we get a ballot in the mail that we get to sit at home and fill out while reading over the booklet. Then we either mail it in (if we want to use a stamp) or we can drop it off at one of the drop off sites. I don’t know this for sure, but I would think we have a higher percentage of people who vote simply because they make it so easy for us. I get excited about all elections now just because of the way I get to vote.

That’s a bit of a side note on what this post is about, though it’s clearly related. Also it’s kind of a happy way to start this post in which I need to sort of rant about something.

We have a special election going on right now. I think we’re supposed to be voting on some school district people, but I don’t know anything about them. I do, however, know a little bit about the two measures we have to vote yes or no on. I’m going to mention one of them here. It’s Measure 26-121: Portland Public Schools Bonds To Update, Renovate Local School Buildings. Portland Public School buildings average 65 years old. Safety, security, classrooms and technology are out of date in nearly every building. This is a bond measure, payable from taxes on property or property ownership, with cost estimated to be $2 per $1000 assessed property for 6 years, then reduced. The measure will allow the renovation or rebuilding of 95 schools.

In our handy booklet, there are 26 arguments in favor of this measure. There are 4 in opposition. The other day I was skimming the booklet and stopped at the first argument in opposition. This guy, who we’ll call Tom Wenning because that’s who he is, is voting against the measure for 2 reasons. The first has to do with ways in which he disagrees with how the Oregon Department of Energy and the Portland City Council are spending money. Fine, whatever, that’s not the reason I am super concerned with. Reason number 2 is this, and I am quoting what he says exactly: “One out of 8 students in Oregon’s K-12 public schools is the offspring of an illegal alien. One out of eight is my limit. What is your limit? One out of four? One out of two? I do not wish to support the education of the offspring of people in this country illegally. Let the home country of the illegal parents educate the children of the illegal parents.”

To this I say: Tom Wenning, what the crap? Seriously? Did you even read that statement before you sent it in? Do you realize that most of those “children of illegal parents” are themselves citizens? What are your numbers on that? You want to prevent much needed renovation and rebuilding of schools for the 7 out of 8 children who have parents who are citizens, and for many, many of those 1 out of 8 who are also citizens themselves? What is your problem? Yes, immigration needs reform. But to hurt ALL of those students because 1 out of 8 have parents who are illegal? You are hurting the children because of their parents! You are ridiculous and I do not like you.

Mindy Smith

2011-05-01T00:47:00.003-04:00

Last Tuesday I went to see Mindy Smith in concert at the Aladdin Theater. For those of you unfamiliar with the Aladdin, it is a small, intimate venue perfect for someone like Mindy. For those of you unfamiliar with Mindy, get yourself acquainted. I’ve been talking about her for years and it’s high time you knew her well.

My friend Rachel went with me. I’ve known Rachel since last August. When this August rolls around, we will have gone to at least 4 concerts together. She loves live music as much as I do, if not possibly a bit more. She was not actually familiar with Mindy Smith but she trusts my taste in music, so when I said “Hey there’s a concert at the Aladdin I want to go to,” she said she would go before I even told her who it was. I was kind of nervous. What if she didn’t like her? Would she no longer trust me when I said she would love someone? I had no reason to be nervous. When we walked out afterwards, Rachel’s exact words were “She was amazing and I will see her anytime she comes back.”

Mindy’s last album came out a couple of years ago so I was hoping she might do more of a mix of all of her albums instead of just the last one. Mostly because my two favorite songs are on her first one. I was not disappointed. She sang both of my favorites, “One Moment More” and “Jolene,” along with an assortment of other songs from all 3 albums. It was just her and her guitar on the stage. No band, no other instruments, no one singing back up. She talked in between every song, and said a lot of things that made me think she’s been going through a hard time, possibly a lot of changes in her career and personal life. She seemed sad, like maybe things haven’t gone the way she thought they might. She writes the most beautiful, sad songs and if she has been going through a hard time, I’m fairly confident we will all feel it in whatever music she puts out next. People in the audience interacted with her a lot, including one guy who requested a song. She had to think for a few moments about whether she could remember it or not, and she did have to ask the guy for some lyrics in the middle, but I thought it was incredibly gracious that she parted from her plan and indulged us with a request, even when she clearly hadn’t done that particular song in a while. She apologized quite a few times about various things: forgetting lyrics, having to tune her guitar, even the state of her hair, until someone yelled out to her to stop apologizing, that she is amazing and we all love her. She seemed grateful and relieved.

At the end she sang three encore songs. In between the first and second, she put her guitar behind her back and asked if she could sing a song that she really wanted to sing on Sunday, but that she hadn’t been able to because her Easter had been weird. She asked if we would let her sing what she had really wanted to sing, and when we said yes, she invited us to sing along. And there in a small, old concert hall that was once a vaudeville house, once a movie emporium, once a porn institution, Mindy Smith and half of the audience sang, a cappella, two verses of Amazing Grace.

Mindy has a voice that will hush a room full of people, cause their hearts to hurt and tears to fall, and then all of those people will thank her for it and walk away feeling honored to have been there to experience it.

These are the things I am looking forward to:

2011-04-22T00:21:00.002-04:00

Reading “Everything is Illuminated” which will be starting soon since it’s for book club this month. It’s been high on my to-read list for several years now.

Easter weekend and all it’s various events. And the forecasted almost 70 degrees we’re supposed to have on Saturday.

Tuesday April 26^th I am seeing Mindy Smith in concert. I’ve loved her for a long time and I’ve only ever heard her sing one song live (when she was part of a multi act concert). I’m very much looking forward to her being the main performance, in a small and intimate venue.

On Saturday April 30^th some friends are hosting a Tea and Royal Wedding party, where we will gather to watch the previously recorded wedding take place while drinking tea and eating fairy cakes (if I remember to make them) along with some other British kinds of things.

May 8^th I am participating in an event, which I will tell you about after I participate in it. The event I am looking forward to. The fact that my little brother turns 30 the same day, not so much. Makes me feel old.

My parents trip here, May 31-June 6. I’m enjoying thinking of all the things for us to do (and eat) while they are here. And very, very much looking forward to them having a vacation.

David is coming for the 4^th of July! I get him for 5 whole days! And we’re going to see Lucinda Williams, together for the 3^rd time! And we’re gonna do a lot of other fun things that are yet to be determined.

Repeatedly enjoying the new dessert place 6 blocks from my house. This doesn’t have a date, because it will most likely happen over and over again.

Fleet Foxes concert July 24.

Summer. We’ve had a taste of sunshine this week, though it’s still chilly and the rain is not over yet. But it’s made me excited for summer and all that it holds. A few things come to mind: berry picking; amazing vegetables and fruits and cheeses and flowers at the farmers market; long afternoons of sitting in the park, reading, enjoying the sun; free movies in the park; potentially a couple of other concerts; lots of other summer related funness.

March Book Club Read

2011-04-03T01:52:00.002-04:00

You know how you have those friends who are kind of wild and crazy and every time you are with them it’s super exciting? And then you have those friends who are calm and low key and every moment with them is good for your soul and enjoyable, though maybe not exhilarating?

Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger, was our March book club read, and it was like that 2^nd kind of friend. The story did not cause my heart to race with excitement. It didn’t call out my name from the other side of the room like a lot of stories do. It was easy enough to put down for a while and not think about it. But every time I was reading, it was soothing and quiet and left me feeling relaxed.

The writing is beautiful. The voice of the narrator is like the voice of your best friend. The youngest daughter, Swede, will be your favorite character all the way through. You’ll find yourself nodding along from time to time in agreement. You’ll say “Hum” out loud a few times. You might cry at the end. I didn’t, but several people did. You probably won’t fly through it very fast, but when you are done you will be glad you read it.

Happiness in a glass jar. And a to-go cup.

2011-03-24T00:41:00.002-04:00

I love Courier Coffee. I mean, I love them love them love them. It was love at first sip almost two years ago back when Little Red Bike, RIP, was serving them. At that time they didn't have a place where just anyone could procure a bag of beans, so I tried to just find restaurants that served it. They delivered everything by bike. Maybe they still do? I don't know. But not too long ago they finally opened a coffee bar where coffee drinks and beans can be purchased. My at home coffee experience is perfect now. The only problem is that they are downtown and only open M-F 7-5. I am not always on that side of the river during those hours. However when I am running out, Chris Clark is always kind enough to pick some up for me as he is over there daily. Anyways, they are, hands down, in my opinion, the best coffee in Portland. And we all know Portland has the best coffee anywhere, which pretty much makes Courier the best ever. Seriously, I love them.

Yesterday morning, round abouts 7:30 a.m., the water in the kettle on my stove was hot. I pushed the button on the coffee grinder and nothing happened. I pushed again and still nothing. I tried a different outlet. Nothing. I banged it for a bit. Nothing. I contemplated using my immersion blender or roommate Chris' food processor, but it seemed like a lot of work for my little bit of beans. And I knew I was going downtown pretty early in the day, so I could just swing by Courier and get a cup of pour over. I was running low on beans anyway, so it would be a good time to get more.

While they were working on my pour-over, they asked how my morning was. I told them about the coffee grinder. They were sympathetic. It led to a conversation about how one must always have a back up non electrical method for grinding coffee. We talked about hand grinders. We talked about a mortar and pestle. We talked about a plastic bag and stomping on it. Basically they said they will find a way to grind coffee even if a hurricane is coming through. It was a lovely conversation I enjoyed quite a bit while I waited on my coffee.

I told them I wanted 3/4 a pound or so of beans (because they will package any amount you want). They asked if a jar full was ok. I loved the jar so of course it was ok. While one of them was working on the pour-over, the other was copying down all the details about the beans for a different jar, because those beans were roasted on the 20th and the original jar had beans from the 18th and he wanted me to have the freshest. Yeah, did I mention that I love them?

I smile whenever I walk in the kitchen and see the jar (sitting next to the new coffee grinder purchased later in the day yesterday). It almost makes it easier to get up in the mornings, knowing I get to have a cup once I actually get out of bed.

The beginning of catching up.....

2011-03-21T21:47:00.001-04:00

I haven’t been writing much lately. It’s not because I don’t have anything to say. I feel like I have much to say, I’ve just been struggling to find the words.

Work is good. I feel like I am settling in a bit. I still come home sometimes with a heavy heart because my client’s lives are hard and sad, but it comes with the territory. Probably nothing that can be done about that. But the environment in which I work is so much better and more supportive and I like my days. I don’t dread Mondays and sometimes Fridays sneak up on me. I’ve started looking for professional career related books to read, and not just novels to read for escape. This is a big change for me. There are topics I come across in my day to day work that I want to read up on. Don’t worry, I’m not giving up reading for fun, at all. But I am going to start mixing it up a bit.

Speaking of reading, I’m noticing a pattern for the year so far: I’m not reading very fast, but what I’m reading is very good. I’m trying to not care about the number of books and to just enjoy that everything I am reading is really good. We’ll see if I can keep up that attitude.

I’ve been surrounded by a lot of artistry and creativity lately. It’s good, it’s inspiring, it’s a privilege to be among it, but sometimes it’s overwhelming because I find myself saying “How do I fit in here? What do I bring to the table?”

I spent a lot of time alone this weekend. While I think, to some extent, I needed it, I also didn’t really want it.

I have a plan to start writing, or attempting to write, a book this summer. I’m hoping, hoping, hoping, to be able to buy a new computer this summer, and then after I get some documents and information I need, I’m just going to go for it. I don’t know how much time I will have to put in to in on a regular basis, and I may or may not keep you posted on the progress, but I just wanted to say now that I have that plan.

I like plans. I’ve been making a lot of them lately.

I’ve had quite a few moments recently where I had this thought: “Write this down, document this time, place, people, because these are the things you are going to want to tell your children and grandchildren about.” I don’t know what to do that thought, as it’s not the book that I plan to start this summer, but I suppose I could try to do a better job at this blog, which will document some of those times, places and people I apparently want my hypothetical future children to know about.

February Book Club

2011-03-21T00:45:00.002-04:00

I forgot to post this last month.

Our February book club read, My Name is Asher Lev, was my favorite. When we got together several months ago to chose 1 from everyone’s 3 or 4 favorites, I was very anxious about this one. Of the 3 that I had chosen to bring, this is the one I have the strongest emotional attachment to. I was nervous about it being the one we read because, as I explained to the group, we can’t stay friends if you read this and don’t love it. The other two I had chosen were books I can see why some people might not love. But with this one, there is no excuse. You have to love this book, or we just can’t talk anymore. And this was the one the group chose.

That being said, it’s hard for me to tell you why I love it. And of course that was the first thing that was asked when we had our discussion. I am able to explain it more one on one. Paul and I have had at least 2, probably 3, conversations around this book where I have been able to actually dig into it and get at why I love it so much. But to state it to a group of people, or to try to explain it to those who haven’t read it, is difficult.

Chaim Potok was a genius of a writer. Unlike Asher Lev, I’m not an artist, I never had to rebel against my family or my faith to use my gifts, I don’t have parents who refused to support me when they didn’t understand me, I don’t have a Rebbe or any other human spiritual leader who orders the direction of my life, and yet somehow I still connect with him. Something about Asher grabs hold of me when he is a child and refuses to let go when he is an adult and the last page is turned.

I first read this book about 4 years ago. David and I were at McKays (a used book store in Chattanooga for those of you who don’t know) and he did what he used to do frequently there: picked a book off the shelf, put in my hand and said “You have to read this.” Sometimes he bought them for me. Other times he made me buy them. I don’t remember who paid for Asher Lev, but I know that I left with it that day. I also know that David has yet to steer me wrong on book recommendations.

I remember exactly where I was when I finished it. I was house sitting for Jennifer Glass’ parents in North Chattanooga, and it was winter and I was reading in bed and when I finished I cried myself to sleep. Not sobbing or weeping. Silent crying, large tears that fall individually as you feel heaviness in your chest.

In the four years since then, I have been in the midst of groups of people many times when something has made me think of this book and I always put my hand on my heart when I bring it up, and every single time someone else in the room (who is not usually part of my conversation) has heard me reference it and has leaned in said “Oh I love that book.” It’s not just me that has this attachment to it.

When I re-read it this time, I took it pretty slow. I felt like I was hanging out with an old friend and we just needed to sit and talk for a while. I read a little bit daily. I savored every word. And then I got to the last 40 or so pages, where the entire story has led to and so much is about to happen…and I stopped. I couldn’t pick it up. It sat on the table for days. Roommate Chris asked several times if I was going to finish it before the discussion. I wasn’t sure. Even though I knew exactly what was going to happen, how it would end, I just wasn’t ready for it. I think I didn’t want Asher to leave my life again.

But I did finish it. And it was as heart breaking and moving as it was the first time. The group came over, we had a good discussion about it, and I was able to stay friends with everyone because they all really connected with it (or at least no one told me if they didn’t, out of fear of me kicking them out of my house?). Then Paul and I went to eat afterward and talked about it again. And we have plans to talk about it with a couple of others who couldn’t come to the group.

See, even in trying to write a blog post about it, I haven’t told you why I love it so. I don’t know how to explain it. Read it and then let’s go have dinner and talk. It’s easier that way.

That was our February read. I am sorry I didn’t post this a month ago. We have our March discussion tomorrow, so sometime this week I will write about it.

Seeking Peace and Crafts

2011-03-07T23:34:00.003-05:00

This is, most likely, not the kind of peace the Bible speaks of when it says to “seek peace.” It is, however, the kind of peace I needed so much.

There were 8 girls. A mix of some good friends, and some friends of friends who we got to know and hopefully have become good friends with now. We were all very laid back, very relaxed, very much wanting to escape and concentrate on craft projects. We rented a cottage for the weekend, complete with a white picket fence, on the bay in Lincoln City. We settled on 8 people because everyone got their own sleeping space, with the exception of two people sharing a king bed. And we all know sleeping in a king with another person is still like having your own space.

We had sewers, knitters, crocheters, a painter, and a quilter. We cooked our own meals in teams of two, not telling the other teams what we were cooking and randomly all meals other than breakfast ended up being soup! Our food was delicious. We could all be chefs. We drank wine, coffee, tea and mimosas. We took a morning stroll/picture taking excursion on the bay. We stayed in pajamas all day because there was no need for “real” clothes. We sat by the fire. We ate way too many cookies. We didn’t care what time it was. We wrote letters and sat in the sun (yes! sunshine in Oregon in March!) and soaked in all the vitamin D we could. We even opened the door to the front of the cabin and let some fresh air in for a few minutes. We sat and crafted, sometimes talking, often laughing, but sometimes sitting in silence, concentrating on our projects. We were all inspired, all motivated, all encouraging of each other, and all returning home with the jolt we needed for these projects and the drive to keep working hard on them.

It was good for my crocheting. It was good for eating. It was good for picture taking practice. But mostly it was good for my soul.

2 Years

2011-02-19T22:57:00.002-05:00

Today is my 2nd anniversary in Portland. I love it more today than I did when I first arrived! Thanks for a beautiful, sunny day today Portland! I'm looking forward to many more years with you.

It's Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T02:44:00.002-05:00

This is a random list of things I love right now:

My apartment. I love coming home. I love nights when I don’t have to be anywhere but here. And I love returning on the nights that I do go somewhere.

My job. Yep, it’s making me happy. Roommate Chris told me last week that he really likes me coming home from work not angry. I like it too.

Books. Yeah, I know, always. But for some reason right now I’m loving reading more than usual, if that’s possible.

Mumford and Sons. We, roommate Chris and I, cannot stop listening to them. CANNOT stop and have no desire to. Do not try to make us.

Really good food at late night happy hours.

Courier Coffee. Grind, press, pour, sip, sigh, smile. They’ve been my favorite roaster for a while, but until last week I had not been able to actually visit their retail store. Chris Clark would always get beans for me and I would get them from him (because he works downtown, where their store is). Now with my job I am on that side of town sometimes when the store is open and last week I finally got to go. The place is fantastic and the guys running it are phenomenal. So now I love the coffee, the place and the people.

Alice Waters’ recipe for Garlic Vinaigrette. It’s making me crave and eat salad constantly. Can you live on salad alone? I’m thinking about trying.

Dark chocolate bar with black Hawaiian sea salt and burnt sugar caramel.

Long discussions about life and careers and perspectives. Watching friends grow and change and develop.

Dark chocolate coconut bliss (vegan ice cream that is oh so good)

That my dad, who for years and years has sworn he would never do anything with a phone other than call people on it and occasionally check the time, is getting a Blackberry.

Asher Lev (more on that later)

Text messages that I refuse to delete.

The feature on my phone I recently discovered that allows me to completely silence everything except the alarm. It’s about time for a new phone and I finally discover this feature that really helps when a lot of your text message people live in a time zone three hours later than yours.

Posting a Valentine's Day post 9 minutes before Valentine's Day is over.

Christmas People

2011-02-11T00:27:00.004-05:00

I was going to write you a long and involved Christmas recap. But January was busy. February has been the same. And the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn’t so much a description of everything I saw or did during my time in Georgia and Tennessee that I wanted to write about, but it was the people I spent my time with, because that’s what I want to remember. And so here it is, a month and a half over due, my Christmas People.

My parents. My beautiful, wonderful, ever supportive and encouraging parents, who celebrated their 36^th wedding anniversary while I was there. They are the best parents a person could ask for. I’m looking forward to their 2011 Portland trip.

My aunt Lottie Jean. I cannot yet say the things I want to say regarding her. But it was wonderful to see her. Eventually I will be able to talk about it.

Eugene, Mindy, Luke and Caroline. There was much snow to be played in, much wonder and amazement to be had over how beautiful and intelligent Luke and Caroline are, how much they grow and blossom in a year’s time, how my heart aches with love for them. They are amazing children and I am proud to be their aunt. More proud than I will ever be able to convey to them. Eugene and I spent hours one day looking at our childhood pictures. Good heavens, the things we discovered about ourselves and our parents.

Denise and Charlie, who came up from Woodstock for a day. We looked at old pictures from both my childhood and that of my mom and Denise. I laughed until I cried, and I’m still waiting on some of those pictures to be scanned and sent to me…..

Kevin, who still lives in Chicago, in case you were wondering. I miss Kevin. I rarely get to see him. I love that no matter how long it’s been, we can fill more than 3 hours with conversation and think that only 10 minutes have passed. I hate that we forgot to take a picture. I hope to see him sometime in 2011.

Nicole, who is my constant text-message across the country counselor. I talk to Nicole at least every other day via text. Why won’t she move to Portland? It would be much easier to coordinate our phone calls if we were in the same time zone.

David. We ate, we talked, we browsed, we walked. And then we did what we do best: we sat in a coffee shop for a couple of hours. What can I say about David? You already know he is one of my most favorite people on the planet. I’m so thankful we were home at the same time. I need more of him in my life. There are plans for this to occur in both Phoenix and Portland in 2011.

Katie. Sweet, wonderful Katie is fantastic and drove the 4 ½ hours from Statesboro just to see me! We hadn’t seen each other in 2 ½ years and I didn’t realized how much I needed a Katie night: sitting and talking, talking and eating, sitting and talking more. I hope you all have a Katie in your life: the friend you met when you were 18, who was with you when you turned into an adult, who is just as good a friend now as 14 years ago even though your lives are completely different and you don’t get a lot of opportunity to talk, but when you do it’s like you never missed a day, and you would both do absolutely anything for the other if it was at all in your power. I really hope you have your Katie, because I wouldn’t make it without mine.

My seminary friend Jessica and her beautiful daughter Abby. I hadn’t seen Jessica in a few years, and it was great to catch up. Abby liked me right away too!

Ryan. Few people on earth make me laugh the way Ryan does, even when we're talking about really serious things. Or maybe it's just what happens when we're together. I don't know. I just know that I love it. We had several great hours one night of eating dinner and talking and catching up. We had a couple of other times together too, one of which was about 1:00 a.m. New Year’s Eve/Day. I left my party super tired but wanting to see him a little bit more. So we met at Krispy Kreme, which only had the drive through open, and got some donuts and ate in the car. I think it’s a good sign for the year that the first thing I did was eat donuts in the car, in the rain, laughing, with Ryan.

Allison and Murray Gunter and little Eme who I pretty much stalk on facebook on a regular basis. I miss Allison more than I know how to describe. I continually beg them to move to Portland but so far they haven’t. I only had a couple of hours with them but I’m so thankful for that time.

My cousin Vivian, her husband Ricky, my great aunt Betty. I love that Vivian and Ricky, via the internet, are so involved with my life. I love that Vivian made delicious tomato soup with tomatoes she grew in her garden and canned (or froze, I forget which). They are hopeful they will eventually be able to come for a visit. I hope so too.

Misty, Mary, Carolann, Sanford, Jonathan, Leeanne, Josiah, Mary Anna, Shawna and Eddie, am I forgetting anyone? I thought 10 days was a long time, but there were more than 10 days worth of people.

I’m so glad I saw you all, even if it was only for a night, an afternoon, an evening, an hour or two, or if it was for 4 days or 10. It was good to be there with you, and hopefully we can all do it again in a couple of years. Between now and then, get yourself to Portland! Thanks for being my people, and not just at Christmas.

Changes (a really long post)

2011-01-21T23:34:00.003-05:00

I didn’t know when I took this job as a Patient Advocate that I would fall in love with social services, with helping people in their most vulnerable state, with working among people everyone else has given up on. I didn’t know that I could care about the actual work I was doing in the way that I was caring about this work, or that I would yearn for the ability or environment to do even more than I was “contracted” to do. I didn’t know that I would hope to do something more all encompassing for patients, particularly my mental health patients. I surprised myself when I realized I wanted to do longer term case management. I didn’t know that I would become frustrated by the limitations in how I could help people and how much it would bother me when I was supposed to work so much harder on accounts that would make more money.

I began to realize all of this around the time that my home life at the old apartment fell apart, and work had to become my safe haven for a few months. I knew what I was doing and how to do it well and every hour I was at work was an hour I wasn’t having to dealing with my life outside. So for a while I didn't let myself dwell on the frustrations, concerns, issues, I was seeing and feeling with the company I worked for, because I needed work to be an ok place.

I should explain something here, for those that might not understand it: I do not/did not work for the hospital I worked in. I worked for a company that contracted with the hospital, and my office was at the hospital, and I worked with a lot of great, wonderful hospital employees. But I did not work for them. If I had, that would have made a huge difference.

After I moved in September and life got so much better outside of work, everything I’d been ignoring at work sort of exploded. Decisions were made, changes took place, and it started falling apart. I didn’t do anything immediately. I did my best to work through it. But it kept getting worse and worse and I felt myself start to slowly die inside. I was working through lunch every day of every week (which honestly wasn't anything new), I was going in early, off the clock, I was staying late, off the clock. I was getting home every day feeling beat down and worn out and it wasn't even by the emotional side of this kind of work. I was waking up every Saturday with a migraine from the stress of the week compounding all at once. And it was obvious that it wasn’t going to change anytime soon and that was not acceptable to me. In an effort to reduce some stress in my life and take care of myself, I bought a package deal for massages. And my therapist said “Do you realize how much tension you carry in your neck, which leads directly to headaches?” Yes, yes I do.

I could easily list all of the individual problems. But I’ve vented about them enough to the people around me. And I don’t actually want to burn any bridges. Frustrations aside, this year and a half has provided some amazing experience and I have learned a tremendous amount.

But I knew I needed a new direction. I saw two paths that direction could take. The first was to get back into food in some way. I’ve had a lot of encouragement by friends to do that, and when I’m in my kitchen baking a cake or rolling out cinnamon rolls from scratch or even just wandering the aisles of New Seasons or Whole Foods, that desire is there. But food industry jobs don't pay enough. So I started looking at some office jobs that I was way over qualified for but they paid higher than what I was making, which would enable me to get out of debt faster and then be able to afford to work in the food industry. And I interviewed for a few of them. But I left those interviews already wanting to poke my eyes out in boredom, knowing if I took them I would probably not be able to get myself out of bed in the mornings. And I would have these talks with my friends about wanting to be in food, but my heart was screaming at me, pointing out that I can’t, that it’s not the right time, that this kind of work I am doing is good and fulfilling and valuable, it’s just that I’m not doing it in the right place. Sometimes I said those things out loud with the people who had just told me I needed to be baking and they stared at me and told me that they agreed. I spoke about the sovereignty of God with someone who I’m not sure even believes in God about how I ended up in this kind of work to begin with when I thought I would only do food here. I had conversations with David about these other jobs I was looking at solely to make more money and get into food and he said, “Liza, why? You get so much out of what you do. Why would you not look for that kind of work?” And I talked with a hospital employee I worked with a lot who said “Liza, you aren’t the kind of person who could be happy with a few more dollars per hour in a position you are utterly bored in.” And I knew that. But I felt stuck and miserable and I didn’t know what to do.

The other direction I could see for my life was to stay in something like I was already doing, but I didn’t know what that meant. Then I got a call about a job that I had forgotten I applied for because it had been a while. It is a position with a behavioral healthcare company, a non-profit whose mission is healing, homes, and hope. It is a housing specialist position, a case manager of mental health clients who need continual long term care for eviction prevention, getting off the streets, maintaining their current homes, etc, to continue to heal and thrive in their community. I interviewed and it was a great, wonderful experience where I felt that all of my education and the work experience I’ve had, particularly this past year and a half, was valued and appreciated and not for the amount of money that it might make them but for what I could do for their clients. I was invited back for a second interview where I felt the same thing, and they felt that I would bring a lot to the job and also be able to learn a lot. And then my references were checked and my education and experience was verified and finally, finally, two weeks ago I was given an offer, which I accepted and then I turned in my notice at my now old job. Today was my last day, and Monday is my first day.

It was not an easy decision. Even though I have been so very, very frustrated with so many, many things, it was hard to think about leaving my patients and leaving the hospital. I had a great relationship with a supervisor at the hospital (who was not my supervisor as I didn’t work for the hospital) and it saddened me the tell him I was leaving, and saddened me even more when he told me he had been, for a while, hoping there would be a job within the hospital that I would want so that I would stay, because he knew I was unhappy. All of my professional references were people I work with. All of them gave me glowing references followed up with words like “this makes me so sad.” Coworkers, both the company and the hospital, have told me they are so excited for me but hate me at the same time. Both the hospital and the company I was working for have told me they would always take me back, which I greatly appreciate. But at the same time, I know that this is the direction I’ve been looking for. This is the path I need to take. This is the kind of case management I have wanted. This is a place that cares the way I want my employer to care. This is a place with opportunity.

And so it is with mixed emotions that I am now, this weekend, in between two jobs. It was hard to turn in my badge and key to the hospital this afternoon. It was hard to leave some of the people, while others needed to be left. But it was not hard to leave the office of the company I worked for. I was not sad to know I would not be reporting to them on Monday. And it is with much excitement that I report to a new supervisor, that I start this new chapter, that I face new challenges and experiences. I’m not going into this blindly: I know that the emotional side of this job will be most likely even more difficult, but I will face that with an organization that cares about the clients and me and is supportive and encouraging and wants me to grow.

I’ve gone on long enough here. If you’re still reading, thanks for listening. I needed to talk this out with you, internet world. As I get settled in to the job, maybe I will be able to share more about it with you. Mostly I just wanted you to know that I’m closing one door and walking through another one right now, and I’m really looking forward to what it holds.

A quick little getaway

2011-01-17T22:12:00.005-05:00

Friday night a group of us went out to Forest Grove, to the winery where Ben-the-winemaker makes wine. It was a fantastic evening/night/morning/afternoon of relaxation with good friends, excellent wine, fantastic food, and the peaceful country (only about 30 miles outside of Portland). Ben has been house/farm sitting for the owners and wanted to have us all out. He cooked us a deliciously great dinner of spinach lasagna, some with prosciutto/some with mushrooms, salad, bread and cheese. We ate until we were stuffed and then enjoyed the ever so scrumptious St. Cupcake cupcakes that Jen and Casey brought for Casey’s birthday. After dinner and dessert we made our way down the slightly muddy and steep hill to the winery where we wandered around the barrels (I really love barrels) and tasted some still in process wines. Ben is so good at what he does and it’s fun watching him share his passion with his friends!

We made our way back up the hill to the house and sat around talking for a while. A few people trickled out, those who were not spending the night, and eventually a guys vs girls game of Taboo ensued, lasting more than 2 hours to get to 100 points. I’ve played a lot of Taboo, but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much as I did during this particular game. If ever you get the chance to play Taboo with Steve Hedges, you must go for it.

Eventually the final few friends not spending the night departed and the 6 of us staying sat around talking and listening to music for a bit longer, but sleepiness overtook us somewhere around 1 a.m. I think.

Saturday morning I was awakened by the dog Samson as he, no lie, opened the door and let himself into the bedroom where Viviana and I were sleeping, and started poking his nose at me. I got him out of the room but couldn’t go back to sleep, so instead I went up to the balcony and watched the fog move through the vineyard, and then sat down and read a while. Everyone else started moving around eventually and we all sat around the kitchen eating waffles and drinking coffee.

After we were sufficiently caffeinated and fed, we put on our rain jackets and boots and took a walk around the farm and vineyard. The farm is home to Donkey, who is a donkey, and to Queenie, who is the cutest, fatest, shortest sheep I’ve ever seen. She’s adorable but clearly sad because her husband died about a month ago and I don’t think Donkey is really keeping her company the way he probably did.

After wandering around the vineyard by foot (in the rain) we decided to drive for a while and see what we could see from the other vineyard. What we saw was a lot of mud and fog but it was a fun little drive not knowing if we were, at any moment, about to get stuck and have to push the car out. We did not. So thankful for that.

We stopped at the tasting room on the way back in and had a few samples. I also picked up two bags of corks to make my own cork board. We piled back up the house, ate some leftover lasagna and cupcakes and sat around for a while longer before deciding that it was finally time to head back to Portland. I think we got back in around 3:30 or so and I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and reading before Paul and I went to Roost for dinner.

So there you have it: barrel tasting, a donkey, and a sleeping bag (which I used on the bed I was sleeping on). It was perfectly lovely and much appreciated. I hope it can be repeated again.

(More pictures on facebook)

January Book Club Review

2011-01-13T23:36:00.002-05:00

As I said in the last post, we’ve used a couple of different methods for choosing our books. Currently we're reading books that are our favorites. We picked one favorite of each person in the group and have about 8 or 9 total lined up. This was our 2^nd in the list.

This month we read Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, which I believe was a favorite of Tricia Waineo. Havana is the story of Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman short on money with a teenage daughter who takes the job of a spy, filing bogus reports and creating drawings of weapons from vacuum designs, creating a bit of a mess for quite a few people. It’s satire, humorous at times and fairly enjoyable.

The group consensus was basically that it was fairly light (especially compared to other Graham Greene books), easy and fast to read, a bit surreal, not very deep or provoking, and mostly just makes you want to drink a daiquiri at 10:00 on a hot day.

I finished the book thinking that while it was light and easy to read, I didn’t really enjoy it enough to search out another book by Greene. I felt like it was lacking something. Vicki described it as sort of an elongated short story, and I find that to be a great descriptor. Maybe that’s the problem, as I don’t really enjoy short stories. But then through our discussion of it, and listening to comparisons of it with his other works, I think I realized that I actually might want to read something else by him, because his other books are apparently deeper, more thought provoking, more involved stories. So maybe I will pick up another one sometime down the road.

Thursday is just Friday Eve

2011-01-13T21:38:00.001-05:00

Hey, Hey, Hey. I’m here. I know I’m already kinda failing on my pledge to write more. But I’m writing now! I’m going to write about my 10 days at home really soon, but not in this post. For now I’m just kind of writing to say hi and stuff.

How’s your 2011? If you are on the east side of the country, I’m guessing it’s pretty white and cold. If you’re over here with me, it’s raining, and while it was ever so slightly cold for a about 2 days, it’s not now. We had about 2 snow flurries this week which did not help my plea for a snow day. And now we’re in the 50s. If you’re elsewhere, I really have no idea what your weather is like right now.

I’m using google for my calendar these days. It’s kind of fun.

Paul and I are in the process of getting back into food writing, so those of you who read the food blog can look for some posts coming up in the next few weeks.

There are so many movies out right now that I want to see. I’m checking our 2^nd run theater schedules regularly to see when new things pop up as I plan to try to get in a lot of them.

I’ve sort of made it a back burner goal to read more books that I already own. I keep finding myself staring at my book case wanting to read so much that is there. Speaking of book cases, I’ve got to get a new one. I’m completely out of room.

I think I’m going to start a new segment on here, as part of my push to write more. Most of you know I have a little book club. We meet about once a month or so, sometimes 5-6 weeks if the book is longer, and have had a few different methods of choosing our books. I’ve decided that after each meeting I’m going to give you a brief review, of both my own thoughts and the general book club consensus. That will follow this post.

I have plans this weekend that involve a farm, a donkey, mud, sleeping bags and wine from the barrel tasting. Are you intrigued? It will be fun.

That’s all for this post. More things to come.

The Year That Was/The Year That Will Be

2010-12-31T14:53:00.002-05:00

What a year. Even though the last few months have been great in a lot of ways, and it’s ending well, I’m still pretty happy about seeing 2010 end. I’m excited about seeing it end for other people, like my parents and some aunts and uncles, who I know feel like they’ve lived at least 5 years in this one, along with a few friends who’ve had kind of a rough year. So I’m very ok with 2010 coming to a close. But looking back through it, there were a lot of highlights, and I think I’ll take a minute to refresh us on those.

*My friend Nicole came from Chattanooga to Portland for a visit in Feb/March and we had a fantastic week.

*Early in the year I finished my first crochet project, and then crocheted quite a bit through the rest of the year too (quite a bit for someone who doesn’t do anything else crafty).

*FOOD. So much good food. Food is one of my absolute favorite things about Portland, so much so that I started a food blog about said amazing food.

*The spring day spent at the tulip festival and Ben the winemaker’s now former winery.

*Berry picking, though not enough of it.

*Settlers of Catan; at least until we were all about to kill each other and decided enough was enough.

*Riding through part of Texas, all of New Mexico and a good portion of Arizona with David to help him move to Phoenix; spending the first few days with him in his new home. Phoenix is such a great, happy place for him to be and I love that he is there.

*My parents trip out in July. They needed a vacation like none other. I needed a happy week in the midst of 3 months of trying to never be in my apartment. It was good for us all. But I can’t wait until their next trip when they can stay in my happy apartment and I am able to actually cook for them at home.

*Lots and lots of baking for all kinds of parties, mostly through the summer.

*Moving! Settling in with roommate Chris and the new apartment. Regaining the ability to think straight again. Cooking and baking in my own home. Loving my home.

*The birthday party we had for Caitlin and myself, celebrating together with friends and yummy desserts.

*Christmas decoration making party with all our friends. Enjoying our beautiful tree for most of the month of December.

*New friends who were made. Getting to know not new friends more.

*Being able to go home for the holidays. This trip will have it’s own post later.

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I don’t really like to make resolutions. But I do have some goals for 2011. So I’m going to lay them out here. In 2011 I will:

*Get pictures on the walls of the apartment, especially in the den.

*Visit Crater Lake. This was on the list for 2010 but it’s being pushed over.

*Expand my crochet skills (thanks to the prodding of some people in my life).

*Go snowshoeing.

*Read a lot.

*See as many great concerts as possible.

*Write more. Food blog more. Personal blog more. My number of blog posts in 2010 was half of what it was 2009. That’s not what I want to happen. 2011 will be better. I will write more in any way possible.

And that’s all that I am going to plan out. David and I were hanging out this week (both being home for the holidays) and he asked me what was coming up, what I am looking forward to. I thought about it for a minute, and I couldn’t come up with anything specific. There are no trips planned, no visitors with set dates, no big events I’m counting down to. I’m looking forward to returning to Portland, to getting back into routine, to hanging out with my friends, to trying new things, to sitting on my comfy couch and reading, to enjoying all the millions of things I love about Portland, to basically just my everyday life. And for the first time that I can ever recall, I’m completely ok with that.

There is a lot I am hopeful for in 2011, for us all. I hope our life is calm and uncomplicated, but when it’s not, I hope we have peace. I hope we can slow down. I hope we enjoy the people around us and the things we get to be a part of. I hope we love and are loved. I hope we experience justice and resolution. I hope we see God’s grace in every day.

I raise my glass to you all, wishing you a great ending to 2010, but an even better beginning to 2011. Happy New Year!

Books, 2010

2010-12-28T23:30:00.003-05:00

This was a really weird year in books for me. There was a time period, early on, when I was barely reading one a month. Then there was the middle of the year when I’m not even sure I averaged one. But there were a few scattered months, and the last 4, in which I’ve been able to complete quite a few, so my total number is still right about 24. Geez. What kind of avid reader would I be if I couldn’t do at least 2 a month? I’d like to blame the books/authors themselves for it not being a great year, but I’m fairly certain it was just my own mind that was the problem most of the time. The good news is, at least for those of you who just want one or two recommendations, I still have plenty to mention.

I have 12 books to discuss, 5 fiction, 7 non fiction. In the past few years, my non fiction reading has been creeping up to be almost even with fiction, but this year it surpassed fiction. I don’t know how I see next year going, as there are quite a few of both on my to read list.

We’ll start with fiction.

Favorite book I put on hold at the library months before it was ever released, by an author I already know and love who had two mentions on this list last year: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. Morton is a beautiful writer, and I read these 600 pages faster than anything else this year, but her book The Forgotten Garden will probably always be my favorite of hers. However, if you’ve read her before and liked her, pick this one up because you will enjoy it too.

Second favorite book club selection of the year: Gilead by Marilyn Robinson. This had been on my bookshelf for years and I had never gotten around to it until someone in our book club selected it. It was stunning. I loved every word. I underlined a million things and there are lines from it that still come to mind frequently. I will read at least one of Robinson’s books in 2011.

Favorite novella: The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin. I’d read Shopgirl a few years ago, and of course I love Martin when he’s acting, so I picked this up last year at McKay’s in Chattanooga. It’s super short but just so funny and brilliant and great. I loved it. I’m looking forward to reading Martin’s new novel in 2011.

This brings us to my top two fiction picks for 2010. I can’t separate them into first and second place. They will forever be tied for first. I read them both pretty early in the year and both have stuck with me throughout the year. I love them equally but for very different reasons.

The first is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This book has been quite popular for a while and I wasn’t so sure how I would feel because I try not to jump on bandwagons, but when I finally started this one, I didn’t care how many people had raved about it, I wasn’t going to stop. Here’s what I said about it on goodreads right after I had finished it, on January 2: “This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. It was captivating from chapter 1 and it never let go. Even today, 24 hours after the last chapter was read, I find myself thinking about Abileeen, Minny, Skeeter, and so many others, wondering what happened to them next. I cried often throughout the book. Not the loud, uncontrollable sobbing kind of crying, but the silent, soft tears that fall from the corners of your eye slowly, as I would lay there trying to understand why or how I was so moved by fictional characters.” I highly, highly, highly, recommend this book, and suggest you read it before next August when the movie comes out, because I actually think the movie is going to be great.

The second is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Oh, it still makes me close my eyes and sigh to think about it. David had loaned me his copy years ago, and I kept putting it off. I don’t know why. I finally got around to it in April when it was a book club selection. It’s just so perfect and wonderful and I tried to think of reasons to stay home just so I could keep reading. It’s the kind of book I’ve loaned out to a friend and then asked a million times while they were reading it “what part are you in, have you gotten to the part about the tears on your pillow when you cry yourself to sleep?” and couldn’t wait for them to finish so we could just sit there in silence together thinking about the beauty in these pages. It will hurt your heart so much, but it is beyond worth it.

Moving on to non fiction.

Two books by one of my favorite authors of recent years: When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, both by David Sedaris. Sedaris makes me laugh out loud in an embarrassing way, to the extent that now I try not to read his books in public because it’s just easier to laugh at home and not have people looking at me.

Book that made me laugh so hard I thought I might wake up my former roommate when I couldn’t sleep and was reading at 4 a.m.: It Sucked and Then I Cried, by Heather Armstrong.

Favorite book by an author I just really love, who I hope keeps writing, and who I also hope I run into one of these days (and there’s always that chance since we both live in Portland): A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller

Memoir I probably never would have picked on my own to read but enjoyed when it was sent to me (though I felt like it ended too abruptly and wanted to know more): I Am Hutterite, by Mary-Ann Kirkby.

My last two books to mention are the two books I am begging you, pleading with you, imploring you to please, please, please read. These books are so very, very important.

The first is Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges. The Amazon product review states that Hedges “charts the political, social and cultural consequences of the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate America that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion.” You will shake your head in shock. You will want to throw up. You will want to cry. But you will be so glad you read it and you will think differently about most everything afterward.

The last book to mention is Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Foer gets an extra shout out because he is on both my fiction and non fiction list. Remember last year when I said that if you eat, you need to watch Food, Inc? Well, if you eat meat, or are anything other than vegan, you need to read this book. Foer is an amazing writer and though this is non fiction it reads more like a novel, meaning it’s fast, approachable and easy to read. But what Foer presents is far from easy to process and leaves no choice but for you to make changes. THIS IS NECESSARY. Please, please, please read this. I don't know how else to say it.

This concludes my book review for 2010. I'm very much looking forward to a lot of great reads in 2011.

Traveling

2010-12-24T12:10:00.002-05:00

I'm headed to Ft.O/Chattanooga today. Will arrive late this evening, hopefully before the snow starts, and will return to Portland on Jan 3rd. I plan to do my Books 2010 list and potentially a few other posts from there. I'm excited about seeing so many "old" friends and family over the next 10 days! Merry Christmas!!!

Music 2010

2010-12-23T01:24:00.002-05:00

Overall I think it was a great music year. Portland has a fantastic music scene that I have barely even begun to explore. But I really enjoyed what I was able to be a part of this year.

A few of my friends are very into vinyl. Paul especially, and he has the set up for it. There were several gatherings simply for music listening, and also a lot of gatherings that were for other reasons but music was listened to. My one request every single time on vinyl was Martha Wainright. I think it was only one of her albums, but I could listen to it over and over and over again.

There are two other artists I got really into this year because of Paul, but not on vinyl. Neko Case was one and Elbow was the other. During the 14 days or so that I stayed at Paul's house when he was gone this summer, I played a lot of both of them and was really happy about it.

My favorite music related events this year were the four concerts I attended. Because they were all unique and great, I’m going to discuss them all.

Mid summer I went to see The Avett Brothers at an outdoor venue with several friends. I love The Avett Brothers. I mean, I love them a lot a lot. The weather that night was perfect, the beer was excellent and it was a great set. I would, however, next time opt to see them in a smaller, indoor, more intimate venue, as that’s the kind of set up their music is made for. But it was still amazing to see them.

Also mid summer I went to see Blitzen Trapper. I have to be honest and tell you that the reason I went to this concert was because I know one of the members and my friends were going. I had never heard any of their music, though I knew they were doing really well, touring throughout the US and in Europe, getting a ton of praise from not only local sources but sources like Paste Magazine, and that in general they are very highly respected. But I went to support Marty and because my friends were going, not knowing if I would really enjoy it at all. I was BLOWN AWAY. It was phenomenal and I loved every single song. They are touring now for their latest album, but the concert was a mix of old and new (though it was all new to me), and I honestly cannot wait to see them again, every time they do a show in Portland. While I still don’t own any of their music, they are the top of my “to-get” list as soon as possible.

At the end of summer I went to see Lucinda Williams. As most of you know, I’m pretty crazy about her, thanks to David who got me hooked on her 6 years ago. I’ve seen her twice before and while it felt ever so slightly wrong to see her without David, the set list was amazing and wins for concert of the year. This might be due to the fact that she finally, finally, finally, played my favorite song, Metal Firecracker, which I wanted desperately to hear live. Or it might also have to do with the fact that she pretty much played everything everyone wanted to hear and was so ridiculously good while doing it.

The final concert was during the fall. My friend Rachel asked me one day if I would be interested in seeing Angus and Julia Stone at this small venue in the SE. I told her I wasn’t sure, because while I had one of their albums, I hadn’t given it too much of a listen. But then I saw that tickets were only $12 and I knew how it felt to really really want to go to a show and not have anyone to go with you, and I didn’t want Rachel to feel that way, and I also knew that even though I hadn’t listened to that one album much, it had been enjoyable when I did. I had no idea I would love them as much as I did! I would pay way more than $12 to see them again anytime. They are crazily enjoyable! Again, I loved every single song even though I barely knew any of them. Simply fantastic, and now I have two of their albums.

Two other things to mention about these concerts. It’s rare that I hear an opening act that I really like or that I ever hear much about again. I kinda feel like I hit the jackpot on two this year though. Sera Cahone opened for Lucinda Williams and we loved her. I got one of her albums not too long ago and have enjoyed it but haven’t listened too much as I got it right around the time Christmas music started, so I will be listening to it more soon. The other was White Buffalo who opened for Angus and Julia Stone. White Buffalo is a solo artist and I was memorized by him. As great as Angus and Julia were when they came on, I could have just listened to White Buffalo for another few hours and been happy. I have since purchased one EP of his and while it only has 5 songs, I listen to it over and over again. It’s my favorite thing to put on when I am getting ready to go to bed.

Moving on to music not at a concert.

CDs played the most in my car this year when nothing was on the radio that I wanted to hear:

Angus and Julia Stone: seriously, after the concert I don’t think I stopped listening to them for a month straight

Glee Season 1 Soundtrack: absolute best go-to happy music that repeats over and over and over again

Other than those, in the car I mostly listened to the radio with an occasional David Gray album thrown in there. This brings me to my next list.

Artists I found myself singing along to with the radio whose music I do not have on my iPod and would like someone in my life to change that:

Lady Gaga: yeah, I gave in. I blame it on David, Amsterdam in Phoenix, and Glee. But really, I want her stuff.

Pink: I love every song they ever play on the radio. Currently I’m very into Raise Your Glass.

Adam Lambert: I know, I know. I caught myself by surprise when I realized that a song I really loved was by him. But I can't help it.

The last list I will leave you with, if you’re still reading, is the list of the music most often played at home:

Neko Case (thanks Paul)

Lady Antebellum (because they are fun and I like them)

Avett Brothers (Roommate Chris also loves them, so we listen to them a LOT)

The Band Perry (pretty new group I am really enjoying)

Miranda Lambert (I’ve listened to her album Revolution about a zillion times this year)

Kelly Clarkson (Go-to happy music)

Lucinda Williams (Because I will never get enough of her)

Mindy Smith (Just because. I mean, have you heard her? You’d listen to her a lot too if you had)

Courtyard Hounds (I love the Dixie Chicks, therefore I love two members of the Dixie Chicks who make an album before the 3^rd member is ready to return to work)

Leigh Nash (Go-to music if I'm having a hard time falling asleep)

I think that about sums up music in my world during 2010. Looking forward to what 2011 holds, but I’m guessing it holds a lot of these same artists.

Movies 2010

2010-12-18T16:36:00.002-05:00

There’s a pretty good chance I won’t be watching many more movies this year. I know this because the next few things in my Netflix queue are all Grey’s Anatomy discs, and then I’ll be gone for 10 days. If I see any movies while I’m in Georgia/Tennessee, they can start the 2011 list.

I didn’t watch as many movies this year as in past years. There are several reasons for that. The top reason is that for 8 months of this year, I lived with someone who asked me to turn down my TV when it was already on mute. Ok, it wasn’t quite that bad, but anything that didn’t have subtitles had to be watched when she wasn’t home because it actually required sound, which means I didn’t watch much there. Then I moved in with Chris, who not only doesn’t mind if the TV is on, he watches movies with me! Yipee! The other main reason I didn’t get around to as many movies this year is that when I’ve been watching things, I’ve been making my way through a lot of TV shows on DVD. Even when I was garden/cat/housesitting for Caitlin and Chris this summer and had access to Netflix Watch Instantly at their house, I watched episode after episode after episode (of Weeds) instead of movies.

All this to say that this year’s movie highlights are being pulled from a smaller list than the lists from recent years. Nevertheless, I have some very important movies to mention.

One fun movie watching thing that’s going on is that roommate Chris and I are making our way through quite a few old movies that, for the most part, neither of us have seen. I’m quite enjoying this trip through old classics and hope we can keep watching more as we move into 2011. Here’s what we’ve seen so far and my opinions on them:

Cabaret: Fantastic! Made me ok with being called Liza Minnelli from time to time, as long as we think about her during this time period instead of later in life.

Casablanca: Excellent! Except I still don’t really understand what “Here’s looking at you kid” really means.

Bye Bye Birdie: Terrible! Seriously, was this movie a joke? It’s awful.

My favorite of the oldies: Annie, Get Your Gun. I loved it!! “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” might be my new favorite song.

Moving on to more recent movies.

The only movie I paid full price for all year was Harry Potter, the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and it was worth every cent. I’m very much looking forward to Part 2 next summer, which may very well be the only movie I pay full price for in 2011.

Possibly the most difficult movie I’ve ever watched that I do not necessarily recommend but is incredibly well acted: Precious.

Most interesting concept that is a bit confusing but overall a great movie: Inception. Recommended to anyone.

Best movies for anyone and everyone to watch and enjoy just because they are very good: The Blind Side and Invictus.

The only James McAvoy movie I saw this year: The Last Station. We all know I love him, but the movie is excellent for other reasons as well.

The most delightful 80 minutes of movie watching, and also receiving the title of best documentary I saw this year: Babies. You must watch this movie. It will make you smile for much longer than 80 minutes.

Movie that is so hauntingly good it will stay with you for days and you will send text messages to the friends who saw it with you quoting one of the very last lines that will send shivers down their spine: The Secret in their Eyes. Also the best foreign film of the year.

The final two movies I want to mention are the top two movies I watched in 2010. They were both released in 2009 and received a lot of critical acclaim for that year, but they fall on my 2010 list.

The first is An Education. I hope he doesn’t mind me quoting him, because I think David summed up this movie so well when he said it “pulls you in to what seems like a pretty pervy premise, kinda convinces you, and then slams you on your ass. Great movie.” I remember walking out of the (2^nd run) theater and the short little walk back to my apartment, with my friend April who went to see it with me, and thinking out loud “Oh wow, that was absolutely incredible and yet I can’t think of exactly what to say about it.” I still feel that way now. It’s easier to discuss it with people who have seen it than to try to tell someone about it who hasn’t seen it. It also made me excited to see Carey Mulligan in anything else she chooses to do.

The final movie I want to mention but am unable to describe accurately is A Single Man. Oh my word. Just saying the name still makes me reach for my heart. It hurt so much and I think I was depressed for days. But it was amazingly good and will leave you yearning for more of Colin Firth and hoping he stays away from any more of the sorts of movies he did prior to this and from here on out only does this type of role we never knew he was capable of until now. Colin, if you happen to stumble across this blog (ha!), please please please take on more roles that allow this kind of talent to be seen.

There you have it. The first of my year end wrap ups, and my thoughts on movies in 2010.

coming soon.....

2010-12-14T22:20:00.001-05:00

Blog posts. I hope. About once an hour, lately, I think of something I need to write about. Now is not the time. I just took some carrot cakes out of the oven, I'm trying to complete new enrollment forms for insurance at work (because we're changing companies) and Paul and I are, in a few minutes, headed to Branch so we can finally, maybe, food blog about one of our favorite spots in town. So it will have to be another night. But I do have some things brewing, including those ever infamous end of the year lists I like to make. Hopefully things will start showing up here soon.

Decorating for Christmas

2010-12-05T17:20:00.008-05:00

I'm so much more into Christmas this year than last year. There are a bunch of reasons for that, but I won't go into them all here. The point is, I'm in a very Christmasy state of mind.

Roommate Chris and I got a real tree from our friend Vicki, whose parents live on/have a Christmas tree farm, and her dad brought a truck load of them in. So we got one, and it's the perfect size for our apartment. I love it! I asked Chris if he knew how to take care of a real tree, because I grew up, for at least as long as I can remember, with fake trees. He assured me it was easier than taking care of a baby. I assured him that I am great with babies, not so great with plants. So far it's surviving and looking beautiful. Chris checks the water level often. But he leaves to go to CA for Christmas before I leave to go to GA, so I'm kind of nervous about taking care of it on my own 10 days.

Anyways, we didn't have much of a decorating budget, so we went the route of homemade decorations. I made a bunch of salt dough ornaments with Christmas cookie cutters. Everyone I told kept saying, "Oh I remember making those when I was a kid!" I don't know if I ever did it when I was a kid, but it was fun to do as a 32 year old! You have to bake them at 200 degrees for 4 hours, so obviously I had to do all the prep before hand. Chris and I picked out the best cookie cutters for tree ornaments, and I spent Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) rolling out salt dough and baking them. Saturday night we had a few friends over to help us decorate them, either by coloring with permanent markers or with glitter glue. A few people got really creative with pipe cleaners, making us a star for a tree topper, and Rachel even made pipe cleaner versions of Chris and me. The ornaments all look great and I hope I can figure out a way to keep them forever, as we made sure everyone signed the back of them.

In addition to salt dough ornaments, there was popcorn stringing, some failed attempts at gingerbread house making, lots of cookie eating and salt and pepper chip eating (Kettle brand, the most addictive chip ever), Christmas music playing, and 800 attempts to get a group picture of the last few guests who stayed the latest. Lots of laughter, lots of fun, and a beautiful Christmas tree that makes me really happy every time I look at it.

Here are a few very candid pictures, and a couple attempts at some posed shots.

I have no excuse

2010-12-05T17:07:00.003-05:00

I could come up with one if I thought about it, but really, I've just been blog lazy. Mostly because when I am home, which is honestly pretty often these days, I am curled up reading or crocheting or watching a movie, and it requires thought and effort to sit at the computer, upload pictures, and think of things to tell you about them. And I haven't felt like putting in that effort lately, which is why I am just now telling you about Thanksgiving.

I spent Thanksgiving with Caitlin and Chris, and a few other friends: Steve and Sarah, Jen and Casey, and Ginger. We did potluck style, everyone preparing a few dishes, and we gathered at the Clark's house, ate and drank until we were stuffed, and then hung out chatting for a while. It was a slow, peaceful afternoon.

Roommate Chris was out of town, so I spent the evening at home on the couch, either watching a movie or reading, I can't remember now. Whatever I did, it was nice, that much I do recall.

A belated Halloween post

2010-11-16T21:39:00.003-05:00

Sorry, things have been busy and I forgot to post this.

Our friends, Kari Ann and Bryan had a Halloween party. Caitlin and Chris went as an old couple. They are going to make fantastic old people!

I debated about using the nun costume I have from a couple of years ago, then remembered that I still have my chef's coat and hat from the summer in college that I took my cooking class. And I decided that dressing as a baker was much closer to the truth than a nun. Dear Lord, please let it be closer to the truth. And so on Friday afternoon, the day of the party, I got home and started looking for my costume around 6 p.m. And I couldn't find the hat. Caitlin texted me for a costume update and I told her I couldn't find the hat. She wrote me back and said she would make me one.

Seriously!! In under 20 minutes time, she made me a baker's hat. By far the best part of my costume.

Coming out of my Political Closet

2010-11-04T00:58:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I hide behind my own silence. I don’t like to talk about political things. Mostly it gets people all riled up and arguments happen and people get uncomfortable. I usually choose to only have these kinds of conversations one on one or in small groups, with people who know me, know my heart, and love me even when we agree to disagree. But there are certain things I simply cannot be silent about now.

I should tell you this: I am officially registered as an Independent. I do not consider myself a Democrat or a Republican. I don’t know if that hurts your heart or encourages it, but I felt that you should know. You should also know that I am not writing this as someone well versed on all of the issues, but as someone who works closely with and cares very much about a few specific issues.

I’ve never, ever cared for an election like I did the election in Oregon this year. I’ve never sweat this much, even over a presidential election, much less a local one. But I was gravely concerned over our governor race (among other things we voted on, but I’m not going to get into all of them, because some of you may have already stopped reading as it is). I could list all the reasons I was opposed to Chris Dudley, like the fact that all he’s known for is being an NBA star and his lack of any sort of political experience or how he thinks it’s not right that waiters/waitress in Oregon make minimum wage plus tips, yet wants more tax breaks for millionaires like himself. But I won’t go into that. Instead, I’m going to tell you the one reason why I am so glad John Kitzhaber won. Kitzhaber has been extremely instrumental in improving and expanding the Oregon Health Plan (Oregon Medicaid). He cares greatly about healthcare. I care greatly about healthcare. I work in healthcare. In my current job, what I work with 99.9% of my day is Medicaid.

I started this post to tell you how glad I am that Kitzhaber won, but I need to expand a little bit further than that.

I’ve heard a lot of people say they don’t believe in “welfare,” which would include Medicaid. If you are one of those, please understand something: the more people are Medicaid eligible, the more money you save, because it will keep your healthcare costs from going up when hospitals don’t have to write off as many accounts that patients cannot pay. And the majority of the people who are receiving benefits from the state would trade places with you any day in order to have more income or resources than they do now. Many of them were in your place at one time. It can happen to any of us. Yes there are people who abuse the system, just like there are people who abuse any system. But that is not the majority of them.

One of the things I read today was that many of the newly elected leaders plan to take back the healthcare reform and cut spending. By all means, cut spending. But please hear my cry loud and clear: HEALTHCARE MUST BE REFOMED. I do not have the financial answers for you. I don't want your job at all. But what I know is that it cannot continue the way it is now.

For the past several months, when I’ve had to give patients the bad news that they don’t qualify for OHP, I’ve been able to follow it up with, “But hang on, change is coming. It might be a few years, but it’s coming.” Please, please don’t take that hope away from them, from me.

Here’s my challenge to you, new leaders. Go stand at the foot of a hospital bed of a widowed woman not yet 65 who is actively dying of cancer. Stand there with your $5 Breast Cancer pin on your shirt and watch her cry and know that if a year and a half ago she had had health insurance, she would have been able to see a doctor when she knew that something was wrong, instead of having to wait months and months until finally she broke a bone and was forced to go to the emergency room, where she could seek treatment without the ability to pay, only to discover that it wasn’t just a broken bone but metastatic cancer and too late to really do anything. Go stand there and tell her that healthcare doesn’t need to be reformed. And just see if you make it back to your desk without breaking down.

A Saturday Recipe for You, in 10 easy steps.

2010-10-30T14:24:00.003-04:00

1) Have Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancake/Waffle Mix on your shelf.

2) Make apple butter. Or know a friend/sister/aunt/roommate/daughter who makes apple butter. Have it in your fridge, at all times.

3) Sleep in until at least 9:00. Upon arising, stay in your pajamas.

4) Make some coffee, drink it in a stay at home mug (not your carry it to work mug used Mon-Fri). Take your time waking up, because you can.

5) When ready and hungry, follow directions on Trader Joe's mix and make yourself some pumpkin waffles or pancakes.

6) Have a little bit of butter either already softened, or melt it in a saucepan on the stove (or if you happen to be the owner of a microwave, I suppose you could melt it there too). Get apple butter out of fridge.

7) Once waffles or pancakes are ready, spread a small amount of butter on them. And then put as much apple butter as you please all over them.

8) Carry your plate into the den, sit on your ever so comfy couch, under your warm blanket, and turn on a favorite movie, i.e., Miss Potter.

9) Eat your yummy apple butter covered pumpkin pancakes or waffles, possibly with a side of scrambled eggs if you so desire, and enjoy them very much.

10) Once finished, stay on the couch, watch your movie, and read cookbooks and magazine.

Fall 2010

2010-10-19T00:42:00.002-04:00

In case you haven't noticed yet, I am in love with this Oregon Fall. Tonight the Clarks and Bex (probably haven't mentioned her before) and I went out to Sauvie (one of the places we go in the summer to pick berries) to Kruger's farm, where we ate caramel apples, wandered through a corn maze, picked out 20 lb pumpkins, and came home with several ears of corn, some squash, and a bag of caramel corn nuggets. Those caramel corn nuggets are dangerous. Seriously. Roommate Chris just took my bag away and hid them from me until tomorrow.

Sunset tonight was beautiful.

Here are a couple of random pictures from this evening. Hope you are enjoying your fall as much as we are here!

Fruit Loop

2010-10-03T20:21:00.005-04:00

Today, Caitlin, Chris (Clark, not the roommate), Charlotte, who I've probably never mentioned before, and Katherine, who is an out of town visitor here seeing the Clarks, and I all went out to the Hood River Fruit Loop, which is a 35 mile loop of farms with lots of great stuff, mostly along the lines of fruit: pears, peaches, apples, some berries. But also some pumpkins, corn, squash, etc. It was a beautiful drive through the Gorge today, a bit overcast, a bit sunny at times, slightly on the chilly side but not too much. We had lunch at the Double Mountain Brewery and Taproom at Hood River, then made our way to two farms, stopping for some scenic views of Mt Hood from a side I'd never seen before. We also saw another mountain, and we think it's Adams but we're not certain. I purchased a few pears, tomatoes, peaches and squash, along with some amazing non-pasteurized apple cider which I am trying hard not to guzzle right now.

Some apartment pictures

2010-10-03T20:05:00.002-04:00

Ok, I finally had some time to get some pictures. These are just of the inside, maybe one day we'll finish the patio/yard in the back and you can see that too. For now, you get these bad lighting slightly fuzzy pictures of the inside (minus Chris' room, because he might not want that shown on the internet, and minus the bathroom, because who needs to see the bathroom? and minus the hall closet because I doubt you care about where we hang our coats and keep our ironing board and broom).

The table:

The kitchen:

My room:

The den/living room:

It is really hard to take pictures of a room! We still need a few things and want to change up a few other things, but for the most part it's done. Now you've seen it, feel free to come on over!

I love weekends!!!

2010-10-02T01:37:00.003-04:00

How can it possibly be October? This year went painfully slow at times, but overall has gone by crazy fast. All this talk we keep doing about where we want to put our Christmas tree isn’t going to slow it down.

I am off subject. I wanted to tell you about last weekend, simply because it was a wonderful weekend and it’s been a long time since I just shared with you what a weekend held. And I had planned to post this Sunday or Monday at the latest. And now it’s Friday and another weekend is here. But I am still going to tell you about last weekend just cause I want to. And I can. It’s long, and it might be boring.

Last Friday was my last day to work with my coworker Cecelia. That was a huge bummer, but we found a happy hour after work, near my apartment, in order to soothe our distress. Afterward we came back here and settled in for some movie watching with roommate Chris, Ben and Rachel. We watched “Stranger Than Fiction” which happens to be a favorite of everyone who was in the room. I want to be Maggie Gyllenhal in that movie. Seriously.

Saturday I woke up way too early and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was out on the couch reading much earlier than normal and Chris, who is very understanding about my non-morning personality, simply said, “You are up early” and kept walking. He left to go do some bike shopping, as his had, sadly, been stolen on Friday from school. I went to the dentist later in the morning, where I was assured again that I have boring/perfect teeth. With no fluoride in the water here, dentists love to see teeth of people who grew up elsewhere. He told me that he wanted to use a picture of my teeth for a “good teeth” vs “bad teeth” shot, and I was definitely the “good teeth.” I like going to the dentist here.
Once that was done I went to a thrift store because we are still looking for a few things for the apartment. I got a basket to hold all my crochet stuff, as I’m working on a slightly bigger project therefore have more to work with and was tired of it being in a bag. Plus it fits nicely right beside the couch were I often sit to work on it.

And I also got the cutest foot stool for the kitchen. We have a few shelves, including the one with all my cookbooks, that are perfect for Chris’ height, which is about a foot taller than me. I got tired of having to either ask him to reach something or drag a chair around, so I wanted a foot stool and now I have a super cute one!

Later in the day I picked up a few more things including some lights to hang on our back patio, making it a more appealing place to hang out. We hung up the lights, and Chris even had to use the new foot stool. We also put out a few fall decorations. And by “we” I mean me. I found them, got excited, and expected him to get excited. His reply was “This is all so new to me.” I think he likes them though. Some people were over the next day and he pointed them out.

Saturday evening eventually rolled around and I went with Ben, Rachel, Paul and Viviana to see the Chimney Swifts. I’d never heard of this event until Friday but apparently it’s a huge deal. Do some reading on this link for the history. Thousands of Chimney Swifts use the chimney of a local school every year as a resting place on their migration to South America. Watching them come in for the night was a beautiful event, shared by hundreds of people sitting along the hillside. Brings home the fact that God takes care of even the birds, so why am I so worried about how He’s taking care of me?
The Swifts are all in the chimney by sunset, so we made our way back to the east side of the river and to Hall of Records, where Blakely was DJing the night away. It was his second time to DJ there and we think it will be a regular thing. It’s a great little venue, a record store/bar, and it’s walking distance to my apartment. In case I haven’t said it before, I love the location of this place. So the rest of the evening was spent with a variety of friends, food, drinks, music and good conversation, mostly revolving around why we all left the places where we were raised and how we ended up here.

Sunday morning came all too early. I didn’t even make coffee before church. On the drive there, Chris said, “Why didn’t you make coffee?” My reply was something along the lines of, “I would have needed to have already had some in order to make any.”
After church a group of us (Chris, Paul, Vivianna, Rachel, Ben, Jennifer, Casey, me) went to “Portland’s Best Kept Secret” which is the Polish festival. A few of you out there know that I love Poland immensely. And for whatever reason, Chris loves the Polish festival in Portland. He’d been several times before so he got the group together to go this year. It was a lot of fun. We browsed some booths selling lots of Polish goods, ate some really fantastic Polish food (and it dawned on us that there is, in fact a Polish food cart downtown and really, why are we not eating there often?), and we watched some great Polish dances performed by children and teenagers. The dances were my favorite part.
Later Sunday was spent running a few errands (Trader Joe’s, the library), attending a small group, and a quiet last few hours of the evening at home reading.

That was last weekend. It was just about close to perfect. Another one has now arrived. This week at work wore me out, so I am incredibly happy this one is here. So far it’s gotten off to a very nice start.

Sorry, no pictures yet

2010-09-20T01:34:00.002-04:00

I really did plan to take some this weekend. But it rained all weekend. And roommate Chris, who I now refer to simply as Awesome, and Caitlin and Chris and I spent three nights in a row on the couches watching season 1 of Glee on DVD, in an attempt to get everyone as caught up as much as possible before season 2 starts on Tuesday. I am the only one who has seen them all, and Awesome had never seen any prior to last week. So really, you can see why I didn't have time to take any pictures. But I will. Soon. In the meantime, you should fill your lives with hours and hours of Glee too.

Hello World!

2010-09-16T00:41:00.001-04:00

We have internet at home! How did we ever survive without the internet? I really have no idea. I mean, I remember the days before it, but I just don't know how we really did it.
It took Chris several hours, multiple calls and one walk to Comcast to get it all set up. It includes a very ironic story involving an Indian man which I won't go into here. But it is now working and we are rejoicing!