musings of a wanderluster

Maiden voyage to Safeco

2010-05-01T19:07:00.001-07:00

Maiden voyage to Safeco
Originally uploaded by beckyengel

here we go!!!

2009-01-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

mickey and i cracked into a nice bottle of wine last night to celebrate -- but what? obama coming in? w leaving? both are sweet. here's what i hope to happen in the coming four years:

1. return to collaboration and diplomacy with other countries
2. a continuation of the all-inclusiveness that has pervaded obama's campaign and inauguration, making every american feel he or she is part of something, invited to participate
3. a renewed commitment to 21st century thinking around technology, science, medicine, human rights and equality
4. removal of arrogance, ego, entitlement and cronyism
5. health for ted kennedy

most of all, i'm hoping we continue to have hope.

Best bowl game

2009-01-05T21:03:00.001-08:00

That game against Ohio State was awesome. I only root for Texas when Nebraska and Oklahoma aren't playing. Thank goodness the cheering wasn't in vain tonight.

new years' guidelines

2009-01-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

some great reading for this early new year.

what's in, in 2009.

and, cribbed from the list, finally someone offers perspective on what i've not been able to articulate in 2008. i'm feeling uninspired by the pressure to be connected. twitter. facebook. blog. IM. txt. enough. finally, someone shares my POV on the constant chatter, most of which is irrelevant and un-meaningful. in 2009, let's be more thoughtful, shall we, and extract from the clutter.

christmas 08 review

2009-01-02T17:46:00.001-08:00

just back from westcliffe, colo., from our christmas celebration. it was one of the best i've had in recent memory. so relaxing, no stress at all, and lots of family time. we wii'd every day, for hours on end, ate tons, and took lots of photos, including one day's photo safari contest. third base, her husband, mickey and i walked around town taking photos in pre-arranged categories. the only catch was that we had to use our cell phone cameras, in order to level the playing field, since we had a professional photographer in our midst.

winning photos were:

category: action

category: artsy

category: flames unawares

category: macro

category: perspective

category: WTF

we were without interwebs for nearly a week. i didn't really have cell service during the week, either, so it was truly a disconnected time. much needed, too, after so many weeks of stress at work. and, amazingly, colorado had less snow than portland.

only two regrets of the trip: not having more time there (a week was far too short) and not getting more time with my cousins, aunt and uncle.

flickr set of the trip details the rest of the lazy week. can't wait to go back to visit again. i forgot how much of a home away from home it was.

ps: those of you logging in to see the video from our christmas cards will have to excuse the delay in getting our cards out. the snowpocalypse in portland delayed our mail for 3-4 days, so i didn't receive the cards before we left for colorado. finally the first 14 inches melted while we were gone, but sadly today we have another new inch. WTF indeed.)

merry christmas to all

2008-12-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

Pre-season sadness

2008-12-11T20:18:00.001-08:00

I hate the new Seattle GM. Why you trade JJ?! Our only real closer. Another shoddy season in the making...

Testing

2008-12-01T20:32:00.001-08:00

Testing this new mobile blog writer. Ohgeez will it work?!

alright already...the front yard unveiling

2008-11-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

here, mom. ain't it great!

muscle memory

2008-11-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

today mickey and i scored an original nintendo system from our neighbor, and played super mario brothers. the original one.

it was rad.

after not playing it for about 20 years, it was amazing how automatic and ingrained the game is. without even being conscious of it, we immediately remembered how to warp, where the bricks needed to be broken to get more hidden coins.

i gotta get me a wii.

MIA

2008-10-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

i'm working too damn much these days. must slow down.

today's humor

2008-08-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

person a: "you're a cold-hearted snake."

person b: "and you're a frigid bitch."

i'm still laughing about it...

it's a beautiful day in our neighborhood

2008-08-06T22:10:00.001-07:00

we have the best neighbors. tonight we had dinner with the klutzes, and had a great outing. the best bit is that they're so willing to offer all sorts of advice (and helping hands) for our landscaping project for the front yard. we're talking tractor work, laying new sod, ripping out sidewalks, and consultation on where to get the cheapest dumpster (a hot commodity when doing landscaping or any house work, i'm finding).

we're hoping to recreate the rush cottage, the spot team engel stayed at on our first visit to new zealand. in order to recreate, i've been growing a lavender hedge for two years. so far, only one plant of 8 has died, and it's filled in quite nicely (about 3 feet tall now). next step is to rip out our sidewalk leading up to the house, and lay new sod across the entire yard, north to south. this will give us a perfect bocce-esque lawn and will alter the way guests enter the house -- coming up from the side of the house vs. straight away.

on top of the kind gestures of the klutzes, when we got home from our dinner, our other neighbor (an adorable, hotcha professional country singer) came out to chat with us. it was such a nice night to stand in the street, chatting with all the neighbors. it's precisely why i moved here: to have great neighbors.

this weekend we're off to look at flagstones and other rock to start pricing out our project. hopefully we can swing it, especially with such great advice from the neighbors.

we've become those people

2008-08-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

...you know, those people that can't calm down. who constantly need something to do. even when they are on a weekend getaway where the goal is to wind down from a stressful week.

we went camping this weekend in the cascades, hoping for some chill time. turns out, neither of us could chill out. friday was a little frustrating getting out of p-town (2 hours from downtown to boring, ore., mostly because we were lost, couldn't make up our minds about which store to go to for our forest pass, blahblahblah). once we arrived, the campground we planned to go to was full, so we found a primitive spot nearby and stayed there for a night. not the best way to start the weekend, but we stuck it out.

saturday morning we got up, sat around for awhile, and finally were so annoyed with having nothing to do (we had books, knitting, etc, but none of it was holding our attention) that by 2PM we decided to bail. we needed activity. we needed action. we needed to get the hell out of there.

so, we came home.

but, still made our pre-planned camping dinner -- paella -- on the coals of our firepit in the backyard.

and all of a sudden, camping was fun again.

i surely hope we can figure out how to relax without stuff to entertain us (like a new iphone -- below). the thought of being those people who can't sit still annoys me.

a series of perfect moments

2008-07-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

we've just returned from five days in gorgeous colorado. it was one of those trips that strung together a series of perfect moments, each small but rich in their impact.

the first two days was spent in denver, where the highlight of the trip was seeing a dear friend from college and her fabulous south african husband. we spent five hours on their patio catching up, talking about favorite trips taken, politics and economics and the state of the world. it was one of the most enjoyable, stimulating and thoughtful conversations i've had in awhile. i miss this friend dearly, and felt so glad we could pick up after all these years. it was a sign of a true, great relationship.

once we took leave from the pollocks, we joined up with team engel, aka mickey's family for baseball at coors field. rockies won due to a routing 7 run first inning against the pirates. beyond that, it was a great night at the park -- the thunderhead clouds moved in later in the game, just in time for sunset, and we saw in the sky why the rockies' colors are purple.

it helped that our seats were dynamite. roughly 30 rows up behind first base, with full view of the sky and the field.

following our stopover in denver, team engel headed west to breckenridge, where we'd rented a beautiful "cabin" that was equipped with central stereo, theater room, a gourmet kitchen, three balcony decks that faced the ski runs, and too many remote-controls for light switches. this was the first family vacation i'd experienced with team engel in its entirety (plus one -- miss kate, scooter's "ladyfriend" who i was thrilled to have there as the only other honorary team engel mate). miraculously, we all behaved ourselves, got along swimmingly, with no fights, no upset stomachs to ruin the vacay, and no hurt feelings at the end of the trip.

scooter and miss kate at the coors brewing company in golden, colorado

i grew up traveling through colorado to visit my grandparents, and so the area has a soft spot in my heart, almost a second home. this trip brought many of those sentimental feelings back -- the deep blue skies against the towering 14K peaks, the little back country towns where, free of my parents and the backseat of my family stationwagon of my childhood, i could get out and experience what these little ski towns had to offer (mostly microbrews). also, i finally fulfilled a childhood dream of mine: floating the arkansas river.

pre-raft trip on the arkansas

i was glad to get to know the feminine members of team engel -- my SIL and scooter's aforementioned ladyfriend. chelle and i have not spent a ton of time together in the 12 years i've been with her brother. one afternoon, she and i stayed back at our "cabin" to drink wine, cook dinner together and unwind from the day's shopping madness in silverthorne. miss kate was also a delight, and i knew we'd be fast friends when i found out her hair stylist now is the same guy i went to in college (and that chelle knew from her days living in lincoln). miss kate is tight with "kirky" so she called to tell him that we all remembered him. between our hair stylist and common love for coach purses, the three of us are now thick as thieves.

and my final perfect moment -- a small grove of aspen trees outside my bedroom window.

view the flickr set for more perfect moments.

shades of disappointment

2008-06-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

first this:

and, today, i finally resigned myself to ripping out my entire tree jacket that i've been knitting since october. it's 2 sizes too big and despite the two months of denial that i could make it work, i just don't know how else to make it fit (the yarn's not feltworthy, i'm afraid) besides ripping out. half a sleeve, the entire body. all that's left will be a neck from which to start...

but, i'll have plenty of time to rip out this saturday when i host my first garage sale. multi family sale, in no'po. come on by! i'll be the one with the pile of debbie bliss next to me.

sasquatch

2008-06-01T13:26:00.001-07:00

Michael Stipe
Originally uploaded by beckyengel

and, to bring the blog quasi-current, here is a photo from last weekend, when mickey and i went to sasquatch music festival in the gorge, washington. REM rocked the house, but then of course, i'm biased. it was by far the best of their shows, mostly because the band sounded amazing, michael's voice was gorgeous and strong, and they played a bunch of new stuff, by far their best album in years. i could go on and on, but for a more comprehensive record of the weekend, visit the flickr roll.

this weekend we're chilling at the house, working on the yard and generally trying to avoid the allergy funk. oh, and also the greshamites who have invaided portland for the annual rose festival. god help us all.

April doings

2008-06-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

Sandozie reunion
Originally uploaded by beckyengel

in april i went to vegas with some dear friends from sandoz, where we were RAs at university of nebraska-lincoln. 12 years later, here we are, at the venetian, looking lovely as ever!

brain waves

2008-02-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

last night i got home from work around 7:15 and was telling mickey how much i'd love to go get a massage this weekend. it's the first time i've mentioned it, since the idea only struck me moments before i said anything.

5 minutes later he came downstairs with a bag from dosha salon spa with a gift certificate he'd bought me that day over his lunch hour -- for an hour long massage.

hurray for being on the same page, even after 8.5 years of marriage!

cautiously optimistic: mariners 08

2008-02-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

oh happy day. please let this work out. i'm not sad to see jones go, will kinda miss sherrill, but if the loss comes with the prospect of actually having a decent pitching lineup, i'll take it. oh, and we also picked up mel stottlemyere as pitching coach. that has to help, too, doesn't it?

indulge on behalf of the rat

2008-02-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

my friend kim told me that on the lunar new year, one must behave the way they want the rest of the year to be: be happy, positive, no fighting, indulge in good food, be with friends and family, etc. if there's still time left, be sure to treat this new years day the way you want your year of the rat to be!

speaking of indulging, i've just started two for the road by jane and michael stern. i was only a paragraph into the book before i was hooked. here's why:

'our first date was over a white clam pizza at pepe's pizzeria on wooster square in new haven, connnecticut, and it was instantly apparent as we gazed into each other's eyes across the thin-crusted neapolitan pie, speckled with tiny, tender clams and frosted with olive oil, that we shared a passion for garlic. our initial lust for each other was fueled by an orgy of lobster rolls, split hot dogs, yankee doodle double dandy doodle burger cheeseburgers, calzones, and cannolis.'

if that's not the best first paragraph of a book, i don't know what is.

update: sorry for all the typos. i am a poor proofreader at night apparently.

craft day

2008-02-03T10:55:00.001-08:00

mickey and i deemed saturday craft day. his craft was to brew a batch of beer, and mine was to paint on canvas a picture i've been meaning to create since returning from NZ last year.

at 5pm last night, mickey put all the ingredients in the big stock pot and started heating the grains and water for the first step. 5 gallons of water takes a long time to heat on our stove, so at about 6:30, we finally reached 180 degrees. at this point he removed the thermometer from the pot, so we could continue to steep the grain. to our horror, the thermometer had a crack in it. all that beer was now contaminated with either mercury or some other metallic substance that was in the thermometer. what a waste.

my craft day was mildly more successful

"manapouri electrical station"

three favorite pix

2008-01-29T20:08:00.001-08:00

these are three favorite photos from the past month. nothing like catching mountain snow and beautiful beaches in one month. travel is such a miraculous thing.

new year's resolutions

2008-01-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

so far, this is what has been running through my head:

1. lose 20 pounds (and if i lose 10 in january, my reward is booking a trip to mexico...hey, it's an incentive)
2. be more motivated around the house, and not just go to bed at 9pm every night like i love to do
3. work hard and take advantage of a great professional opportunity that has presented itself to me
4. see friends more
5. read more
6. blog more

so far:

1. lost 4 pounds since new years, am exercising during the week (not saying how often, but at least it's something), drinking less, eating less, cooking at home, and eating sensibly when out
2. took one entire carload of crap to goodwill, organized boxes that hadn't seen the light of day since we moved to this house in 04 (and found stuff i thought i lost), hung pictures in the dining room that had been sitting in a pile since we moved
3. working more, but feel very positive and in a good mood about it, plus not panicked like i have been prone to be in the past
4. went to dinner with a friend the other night, have plans with a couple more for later this month, and am planning a girls getaway with college friends for april or so
5. started reading a great little book on account services to help me do my job better
6. (insert debbie downer sound here)

it's not that i haven't had things to say, i just have been doing all those other things so have not had time on lappy to catch up. i have pix from christmas to upload and share, photos of the tree jacket's progress, a recipe for the most delicious marinara sauce i've ever had (thanks to step-sis monica), and other bits and bits to share.

stay tuned for all of this....i have done so well on all the other things on my list that i am sure i'll finally catch up on ye olde bloge.

happy new year all -- may your 2008 be propserous and full of adventure!

flying to the wild, wild west is not as easy as taking a wagon train, i suspect

2007-12-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

greetings and happy holidays from wyo! we've had a delightful stay in my hometown these past few days. there are 12 of us here at one time, all in my mom's house, and despite the occasional sniping and snapping, we're all getting along well. spending christmas with my fabulous nephew has been fabulous. he's such a great kid and even though i called him a frog today, he's cute as can be. plus, we had a white christmas, and even though the weather was frigid, it's been gorgeous.

the only drawback to this entire trip has been our flights. we had used free tix to get here, and i think that our travel karma from last christmas's travels has worn off. we missed our flight to riv last saturday, due to a late flight from PDX that caused us to miss our connection. we spent the night in south denver (aka colo. springs) at the radisson, on horrid sleep number beds with no luggage, and therefore no deodorant, toothbrushes or fresh clothes. 29 hours after leaving PDX, we arrived in riv.

today, when we got to the airport to fly home, we were bumped because our puddle jumper plane had weight restrictions and they chose us because we paid nothing for our tix. we supposedly will fly out tomorrow, but i don't have a lot of confidence in great lakes aviation (aka great waste aviation), especially after seeing how poorly they manage their ticketing, flight schedules and passenger lists. it's a long story, but suffice to say that the people at reservations and at the ticketing counter are not on the same page as the people who actually board the planes, so just because one person says you are confirmed on a flight, the people boarding the plane may think otherwise. note to self: never fly them again. they are AWFUL.

when i'm home, or perhaps at the airport tomorrow, i'll upload some photos of our trip. stay tuned, and in the meantime, happy new year! my new years' resolution is to blog more, eat and drink less, and be more motivated.

since it's that shopping time of the year

2007-12-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

i've been cruising etsy.com for the past few weeks trying to get inspiration for christmas gifts. there are so many great ideas, and honestly, the challenge i have is that i want to buy a lot of stuff for myself instead of other people (eek -- that's a selfish statement!). nonetheless, there are such great ideas on here, and if you need a late xmas gift, you should go on here, even if all you do is print out a picture of what you bought someone, since it probably won't ship on time.

i'm headed to riv for the week, and can't wait to join the millions of other travelers tomorrow flying through pdx and dia. gag.

sorry i've been delinquent with my musings lately. i've not given up on the ol' blog. i don't really have a good excuse for not blogging, except that i haven't had anything of note to bring up. my new year's resolution is to be on here more often, if nothing else than to give myself a continued writing exercise that doesn't consist of marketing jargon and other drone-ish terms.

have a very happy christmas, and enjoy time with your loved ones or yourself. kiss someone under the mistletoe. drink spiked nog on the coutch. stay up late and get up late. watch "love actually" a dozen times between now and the 25th. i know i'll be doing all of the above.

xo

delinquent...

2007-11-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

where did november go? i just realized i've not posted in weeks. it doesn't seem that long. i've not been that busy. i guess i just forgot to.

we're in AZ this week for the thanksgiving holiday, and what i love is that the most difficult decision i'll make today is whether i'll go to the pool before lunch, or afterward. wait, scratch that. i also have to find a proper recipe for mojitos to go with the green chili i want to make for dinner.

i'm making much headway on the tree jacket, and have started a new book. i'm getting to bed before 11 every night, and the only negative thing that's happened is that toots and i got yelled at by a retiree for walking on the golf course cart path because it was private property. never mind that it was before 8AM yesterday before anyone was golfing, and that it was on the part of the course where our house is, and that she was letting her two dogs run rampant on the perfectly maincured greens. i can't wait until the time in my life when the only worrisome issue i have on a day to day basis is protecting my 55+ golf course from 30-something and a baby stroller.

lots o knitting

2007-10-29T20:43:00.001-07:00

the common cold is only good for one thing: knitting time. for the past three days i've watched a lot of tv (including the world series -- dare i say, i'm glad that's over) and knitted in between nose blowing and tea drinking. i can't say i've ever been this stuffed up in all my life. blech.

the silver lining is that i have made good progress on the eggplant scarf, which was on hiatus until i received some more yarn in the mail, and have also got a few rows in on the tree jacket. in other knitting news, i got my invite to ravelry -- yahoo! check me out!

f.o.: li'l green

2007-10-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

newest f.o., this one for two of my favorite nebraska cornhuskers who are expecting a li'l red of their own anytime now....

bambino blanket

the deets:

pattern: made up completely -- wicked easy, good ol' standby garter stitch for the blanket (great for knitting up during the many rugby and baseball games i've been watching lately) with a made-up crochet stitch for the edge. the crochet pattern i guess might have a real name, but i don't know what it is since i made this up
yarn: lion's brand homespun in green and cream

needles: u.s. size 10.5

started: approx. 8/1/07

finished: 9/14/07

the pud likes the blanket, too. to the future owners, please excuse any fuzzy spots in the yarn. ena liked to sit on it when i wasn't working on it.

my cat won't stay in one place long enough to take her photo.
yet she was very interested in being in the photo. probably
because she wants to show off her pink camo collar.

props to the rocks

2007-10-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

good job rockies! i'm so excited to watch your luck carry through the world series. for the first time in a long time, i'm going to root for the NL. shh, don't tell....

restoring world order

2007-10-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

you bet your ass they are the best team, mr. laporte. at least we've got that straight.

saturday night out

2007-10-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

we ate dinner at a new-to-us restaurant last night called olea. it's in the pearl district, and serves a great menu of mediterranean/pacific nw cuisine. we enjoyed a very leisurely meal that started with prosciutto wrapped dates (with a vanilla oil -- yum) and cornmeal fried sardines with caper aioli, joined with two glasses of brut rose. mickey had steak frites, and i had wild mushroom and rapini buccatini, both of which paired great with a bottle of jigsaw pinot from the willamette valley. we were stuffed from dinner, so no dessert, which was unfortunate because they had delicious options. the restaurant was in an impressive building, with great lighting (i'm very picky). and, the service was perfect. i'm definitely going back.

we also saw cabaret, starring wade mccollum and storm large (of rockstar: supernova fame). it was pretty good -- not as good as the dinner, but enjoyable enough. mickey and i agreed it didn't take the themes far enough. i felt like the acting was a little flat and storm's gestures were forced. wade was delightful as always, but i feel like they could have let him be a little more tawdry, like in hedwig. overall, i felt like it had a lot of potential, but the director played it safe and stifled two actors who have so much potential to capture the raw, sexual, racy side of the show.

then, i came home and fell asleep on the couch and missed the 11 inning win from the indians. sounded amazing.

go rockies!

weekend score

2007-10-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

we started the weekend on a high note with the chili cookoff: 33 chilis, about 60 people, a few rain sprinkles, and all around a good time. we are so grateful for our friends and colleagues who came to the party.

we're ending on a low note: new zealand lost to france in the rugby world cup. as a sky tv broadcaster once said: we are drinking from the slough of despondency. i'm stunned. disgusted. o new zealand, you broke my heart today.

it's october and it's raining

2007-10-02T21:35:00.001-07:00

damn you, weather gods. i said no rain until after the chili cookoff. i have 60+ people coming to my house this weekend, and i need to be able to plug in 30 crockpots in another location besides my small kitchen.

but, since it's raining, i'll take the opportunity to knit, watch the playoffs and catch a few rugby matches in between.

is that a rain cloud with a silver lining? this i ponder...

and so, the season comes to an end....

2007-09-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

it's only fitting that today, the last day of the regular season, it's raining and gross and i feel a bit gloomy and wistful. rooting for the mariners this season was quite a ride. there was a stretch there in august where it really looked like we could make the playoffs. september came and went, and i have to admit i didn't watch most of those games, mostly because i couldn't experience a heartbreak every other night.

this texas series gave me a chance to see some new guys in action, giving me hope for next season, not to mention some stand-out performance from that little bowl-haircutted jamie burke. at the same time, i dread the decisions that will occur this winter to determine the line-up for next year.

i beg of the front office in seattle: please don't trade yuni or beltre. i'm fine if you get rid of sexon. i actually encourage it. seriously.

despite the ups and downs, it was a sweet, sweet summer of baseball. until next year, my favorite mariners...

PS: go rockies.

finally, the FO i've been waiting for

2007-09-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

last night, i finished the new zealand blanket.

finished. seams sewn. ends woven. fringe embellishment added. finished.

so, for any reader who's new here, this is the blanket i started last february during our trip to new zealand. instead of buying souvenirs, i bought a skein of yarn in most of the spots we stopped at during the trip. i had managed to purchase all but three skeins by the time my granny died and we had to come back to the states, so i purchased yarn in denver and in oregon (on our last day off before going back to work after a month).

i've been knitting off and on ever since, and it seemed like i would never finish. and once i did finish, i dreaded sewing the thing together.

but all of a sudden, before i realized it, i was finished with all the squares, and the sewing took no more than two rugby matches and an episode of globe trekker (translation: about 3.5 hours, max, with some stopping in between). fringe took another hour. and voila.

it's not perfect. i made mistakes. but i love it still.

gratuitous close up of the first square i started knitting, in the rain, in kaikoura

for all the knitters, here are some details:

pattern: design source collections "four seasons throws" for 12 squares, misc. patterns for 8 squares
yarn (not in any order, including location purchased):

utiku wools perendale ("iris", utiku; orange "traffic", utiku)
shepherd colour 4 me (light blue, dunedin)
cleckheaton country (maroon, dunedin; black, whangarei; sage, taupo; olive green, whangarei; heather grey, dunedin; butter yellow, kaikoura)
cleckheaton country naturals (oatmeal, greymouth; grey tweed, dunedin)
rainbow pure wool (teal, blenheim; red, greymouth; navy, greymouth)
crucci, clan stewart perendale (cream, blenheim)
ashford tekapo (rust, whangarei)
lamb's pride worsted (blue magic, denver; mottled red "prairie fire", hillsboro)

needles: my granny's hand-me-down metal needles, u.s. size 10

started: approx. 2/8/06

finished: 9/19/07

modifications: pattern blocks measured approx. 11.5 inches, vs 13 inches, as called for by the pattern. i also increased the blanket size by adding 8 squares, which required the addition of different patterns than what design source called for. i found these online in various sources, plus made up a couple.

*sigh*

how it's made: pre-beer

2007-09-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

saturday mickey, our friend karen and i had an amazing opportunity to tour a hops farm, thanks to an amazing woman, friend and former coworker of mine, amy. karen, mike and i are big beer fans, not to mention homebrewers ourselves, so this was a great chance to see how our beloved beer starts out.

located outside keizer, amy's family farm supplies an insane amount of hops to anheuser-busch, as well as to a local hops distributorship which supplies hops to local microbrewers. her family has been farming this land for three generations. incredible.

amy gave us a complete tour of the working farm, which is in full swing these days, harvesting and drying nugget hops. the tour started in the field, where we watched the hops vines get cut from the tall wires where they've been strung for growing. the hops vines are transported by large red trailers to the processing building.

hops cutters in the field

to start the processing, the hops vines are hooked on large meat hook-like devices and run up to a machine that essentially rubs the hops cones from the stems.

hops being strung for processing

through a series of conveyor belts and sorters, the cones are separated from the vines, and run across the road to another building. here, the hops are left to dry in heated swimming pool-sized compartments for nine hours.

the sorting process

mickey, karen, me and a pool o' drying hops

after drying, they're moved to a huge warehouse, where they settle for another day. then it's off to be bagged, and finally the hops are driven to the local buyers, where they're sold to make yours truly her favorite beer of choice.

we (loosely) calculated the following:

each bag of packaged, dried hops holds 200 pounds, or 3,200 oz
at roughly 2 oz of hops per home-brewed batch of beer, that means that each bag has enough hops to produce 1,600 batches of home-brewed beer
our 5 gallon batch of homebrew produces 52 beers each, so conceivably, the hops in each bag are used to make about 88,000 bottles of beer.

but wait, there's more.

we saw at least 50 bags in the warehouse, waiting to be driven to the distributor. that tallies to 4.4 million bottles of beer. !!!

AND: that doesn't include the bags they'd already taken to the distributor that morning; nor the 10x10x30 pile of dried hops waiting to be bagged; nor the two full swimming pool-size drying compartments; nor their entire harvest of willamette hops that had already been processed and shipped earlier in the month.

amy jokingly said, they're changing the world at their farm. she's not kidding. that's a LOT of happy beer drinkers. i feel drunk thinking about the magnitude.

in addition to growing hops, amy's family also is the largest hosta grower this side of the mississippi, and also grows thousands of other perennial plants for nurseries and plant sales. as we drove through their farms, amy was sweet enough to give us several plants to take home. oh, and we left with a bag o' freshly dried nugget hops that will probably allow us to make at least 5 batches of beer.

our hostess with the mostest, with her favorite flower on the farm

as if hops and free plants weren't enough to put us in a state of delirium, amy's mom had prepared us the most delicious lunch to enjoy on their swimming pool patio: the richest, tastiest chicken salad sandwiches served on croissants, homemade pasta salad, fruit, and for dessert, a pistachio cream cake that put me in a state of such ecstasy that i could barely drive back to portland.

i'm honored and extremely grateful to amy and her family for sharing her farm and its bounty with us. it was beyond anything that i could have expected when she invited us down.

truthfully, i can't think about a more perfect way to spend a september saturday. THANKS AMY!!!!

All Blacks haka

2007-09-08T09:24:00.001-07:00

the kapa o pango haka, just to get you in the mood for this month...

baseball or rugby? my teevee may explode...

2007-09-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

as is evident on my blog, i'm a pretty serious baseball fan. this is my favorite time of year because the pennant races are in full swing, and every game counts. sadly, my beloved mariners are sucking it up, and thus, the fact that my second favorite sport is gearing up at this moment offers a delightful distraction from having to watch the m's lose yet another game.

yes, that's right: it's international world cup rugby time. and thank goodness for setanta sports, because i can watch all the games from the comfort of our basement! the all blacks from new zealand look good this year, but of course, i'm biased because as i've said before, i'm slightly in love with dan carter.

i received the best email all year from a girlfriend of mine who's married to a south african, and big springboks fan. he used to play rugby in SA, and they're equally excited about the world cup. she emailed to let me know she watched a special on dan carter, and just for good measure, attached a photo of the fly half.

to quote amanda, "well, yum"

i won't hold it against them that, should the all blacks and springboks match up, they'll likely root for that long haired pretty boy percy montgomery. :)

i also have a date this coming week with semaphoria and ivar forkbeard to watch a little rugby action. they're both former ruggers, so it's great time spent enjoying their company and learning about the sport.

i love rugby. i love that my friends like rugby. it's going to be a great month!

back from the west

2007-09-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

this weekend we spent a fabulous weekend with third base and her family in idaho, plus saw my ma and her husbot for a couple hours as well. it was a whirlwind trip that was far too short in terms of vacations, but still we got some QT in with my fam.

my lil sis is pretty amazing -- she and her husband study gracie jiu-jitsu. my BIL is already a blue belt, and this weekend, third base tested successfully to earn hers. apparently she's one of only a couple females who practice jiu-jitsu in their gym in salt lake city, and it was pretty impressive to see her kick some serious ass in class. she and her husbot were kind enough to teach us a few jiu-jitsu moves during class on saturday, and the good news is that neither mickey nor i broke our necks in the process.

probably the highlight of the weekend was spending an entire day playing games with those two, plus my nephew, who is such a delight and is a wonderful, smart and silly boy. we see them so rarely, and admittedly i don't always prioritize my family above other trips that we take, but this trip reminds me that time passes too quickly, and that people -- especially my nephew -- can change so much in just a year. note to self: see them more often, and be a better aunt.

as an aside, i was also struck by how gorgeous salt lake city is (we flew in and out of there). every time i head back to the mountain west, i feel slightly homesick for the bright blue skies and scrubby mountains. i love oregon, but can't help but ask myself where in the mountain west can i find an affordable, liberal, young urban city to park for the next decade. this is my dream....

i'm yarn torn

2007-08-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

so, no, the nz blanket is not done. but, it's 1.5 squares away from being done. and no, the baby blanket i started for a girlfriend is not done either, but it's an easy project (garter stitch all the way), so it's easy to pick up whilst watching the mariners.

but, i've bought this pattern and am anxious to get started. it'll be my first sweater, and i want to not only love the yarn but love the final product. the sad thing, though, is that i just got back from a visit to two LYSs and didn't find any yarn (in my price range) that fit the bill perfectly. karabella aurora 8 was the closest, but i'm not 100% sold. which tells me to keep searching.

the pattern calls for a worsted weight wool blend, something like alpaca/merino/silk. i didn't really see any that i loved. so i moved on to consider di.ve teseo which comes in pretty colors, but i'm afraid it's too heavy (wool/microfiber). the yarn i really want to use is cascade pima silk, which i adore after using it for toots's baby blanket. but the knitting lady assured me that it was not the right choice because, being cotton and silk, it will be heavy and drapey.

gak. what to do? yarn suggestions are appreciated.

off to work on one of two blankets.....

laying down a tasty beat

2007-08-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

the guy next door is holding a garage sale today. apparently it's not been going very well, because he's now pulled out a stand up bongo drum, and is pounding on it with two wooden mallets. is this similar to a rain dance? is he attempting to conjure up garage sale goers, trinket trackers and junk gypsies?

alas, i fear his garage sale entertainment is not working. i think he should get that mariachi band back.

history, i suppose...

2007-08-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

in may, our ISP was having a sale on domains, and i proposed to mickey that we should buy "asteriskforbarry.com". i didn't know what i'd do with it, and plus, we also debated about whether it was fair to single out barry over all the others who admit juicing. in the end, we didn't buy it, and i'm fine with the decision.

i don't support barry bonds if he juiced. i don't really even like him as a player. he's never really done it for me, and lately he seems so bitter and arrogant that i can't stand to look at his surly mug.

oddly enough, though, despite this, a little tiny part of me, at this moment, feels a tiny bit of sympathy for barry bonds and the treatment he gets, not only from the press, but also from mlb upper management. while i haven't seen selig's statement on tonight's accomplishment, i did read with disgust the milquetoast response barry got from selig on 755. selig could have been a bit more congratulatory, or at least more polite. mickey's theory is that selig's response means that mlb knows something that the rest of us don't know. i am not sure what i think of that theory, but can see his logic there.

nevertheless, today history was made, like it or not. i just sure wish that i felt like celebrating it. i just can't find it my bleeding baseball heart to do so.

867-5309

2007-08-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

mickey observantly informed me that today at 5:30:9 was the jenny second.

8/6/07 5:30:9

get it?

photo magiq

2007-08-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

i finally got around yesterday to uploading our vancouver pix to flickr, so enjoy. what a great trip that was.

speaking of photos, i love the magic of digital photography. it's so fast, so economical, and over the years has allowed me instant gratification for photo viewing after a vacation. i'm not willing to invest in a professional grade digital camera, though, so normally my photos look quite good, but not jaw-droppingly amazing.

we took exactly one roll of film on our vacation to paris and london this year, and just today i had those pix developed. i'm kicking myself now for not taking more film, because the pictures were astounding. the clarity and detail mickey captured with them was gorgeous. there is one photo of big ben that made me feel like i was standing in front of it again.

while i don't think i'll give up digital, i'm definitely ready to recommit to film. i know i'll end up carrying around two cameras, but after looking at this set, it's totally worth it.

business time

2007-08-04T11:35:00.001-07:00

we watched this several weeks ago and forgot how funny it was until our friend neffry reminded us of it on wednesday. i've watched it four times since then...and will probably watch it four more times this weekend.

sweet, sweet mariner lovin'

2007-08-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

as if wednesday's game wasn't awesome enough, tonight's victory over the bo-sox capped off a fun week to watch baseball as a mariners fan. i'm telling you -- 2 of 3 from the angels, and maintaining position at 1 out of the wild card. now, if we can hold up against daisuke tomorrow.... oh, to be in seattle this weekend....

oh, and one more square of the NZ blanket done. two more to go. i can't find the ball of yarn for the last square. guess i'll deal with that when i get to that point. which will probably be in probably another 4 months. frick.

update: just read this post by a rabid reds fan, and though i don't share a passion for this particular team, i do consider myself a devout follower of the church of baseball she references. plus, it's the most enjoyable writing i've read in a long while. huzzah!

an added bonus

2007-07-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

...to buying the iphone is that -- oh joy of joys -- it came with SNL's "dick in a box" video preloaded. i could watch that thing daily. mickey was not impressed. i'm going to interpret statement to "go listen to that somewhere else" as a sign that he's jealous. it probably has nothing to do with the fact that i've told him 50 new things about the iphone tonight.

tonight's accomplishment: learning to set up my email account on the device. now i can send AND receive. not sure this gives me iphone geek status, but i'm pleased with myself. i am woman, hear me download!

two best things today

2007-07-15T22:06:00.001-07:00

fresh blueberry cobbler and a li'l thing called an iphone.

sixth sense

2007-07-09T22:11:00.001-07:00

all day i had a weird feeling. i thought it was because we were startled awake at 5AM by the deafening sound of our upstairs smoke alarms. it took us nearly 10 minutes to get them to shut off, and for the next four hours i had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. it wasn't the best day at work -- nothing major happened, but it just didn't feel right.

later tonight mickey got a call from his brother. today his parents had to put their old dog, capone, to sleep. i can only imagine what they're feeling. it's better this way -- he was failing quickly and this week they knew it was inevitable. that still doesn't make it easy to say goodbye to a furry friend.

suitcase to suitcase

2007-07-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

am swapping suitcase for backpack. we had the best -- absolute best -- time in vancouver with dave and angie. photos forthcoming, but suffice to say i can't imagine a more relaxing and enjoyable time. each day, lazy mornings with coffee turned into busy days of walking 'round vancouver sightseeing, then late nights laughing and chatting. we kayaked through english bay, did the canada day thing on granville island and on the waterfront for fireworks, did some light shopping (both angie and i got fancy new canada day shoes, and hers definitely turned heads), and visited whistler for a day for some hiking and happy hour beers. perfection. it was so wonderful to travel with two people who are on the same wavelength as mickey and me. we're already planning our next trip together -- can't wait!

but back to the backpack. home for two days, and off again, this time camping somewhere in washington with mickey's friend keith and his new wife. as i think about it, how odd that we're seeing two former classmates of mickey's in one week, neither of whom live in portland.

massive laundry pile increasing, and it's potentially one million degrees in the house. no better time to get out of town, i think.

oh, and happy spamiversary to mickey. eight years of wedded bliss. i adore you.

happy canada day!

2007-07-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

greetings from vancouver, where we're celebrating the country's 140th birthday. hurrah! we are annoying our canadian friend with all our trivial canadian trivia. "did you know that phil hartman is canadian?" "hey, we love timbits, don't you?" and so forth. today we intend to join the city's celebrations, and when asking our friend angie what a traditional canada day celebration involves, she said, "beer." we are set.

photos later, including of a gorgeous sunset view from our 20th floor hotel, and my new shoes.

what bandwagon?

2007-06-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

really, really want an iphone.

really.

best baseball sunday ever

2007-06-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

hurrah, the mariners won the cinci series (and i was there to enjoy sunday's live)! at times i was unsure who seattle fans were rooting for more heartily: griffey or the home team. i think the mariners edged griffey out, but it was touch and go, especially after junior hit his second homer of sunday's game, farther than i've ever seen anyone hit a ball in safeco park. it nearly hit the "hit it here" cafe sign, which is typically an aspiration, not an actuality.

note to self: pay the extra $ to sit in terrace club seats more often

and then, the beavers won the CWS! what more could go right with this world, except perhaps finishing this freaking nz blanket. 2.2 squares to go.... it's taking all the strength of my being to not buy new yarn for another project. and did i mention i have to sew seams together still? i'm blocking that part out of my mind.

speaking of knitting, a friend emailed me this uber knitting project the other day. after viewing this, i have no grounds to complain about the nz blanket.

in four days we're headed north to my favorite country where we will meet mickey's friends, the clarinetists, for five days in my favorite city on earth, vancouver bc. rumor has it we're going to try to kayak and do some hikes. i'm excited about walking around stanley park (maybe a picknick and some knitting in the sun...) and to shopping, even though the dollar is so weak now against the loonie and toonie (thanks GW). i'm trying desperately to stay focused on work, which is very busy this week, but i find little thoughts of the gorgeous modern skyline and bright blue harbor creep in my mind at inopportune times. focus, focus focus....

honor

2007-06-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

good for you, jason. thank you for restoring my faith in the good guys of baseball.

reading for pleasure

2007-06-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

i've not had a lot of time recently to read for pleasure. i think the book "mostly true" from my previous post was the first thing i've read in months, not counting my cooking light magazine, and the occasional article in vanity fair. one of these articles recently caught my attention, and it led me to make a book purchase i feel like i need to hide from public.

yes, yours truly, a true blue liberal, bought "the reagan diaries." in hard back. and, starting today, i'm not ashamed to say it in public: i'm loving every page so far.

i've spent the better part of my politically partisan life despising reagan, with few concrete reasons why, except that i believed he was the poster child for the red party, he racked up billions in deficit, and he was a hollow actor/camera cow, scripted to the n-th degree, idolized by all the politicos i loathe.

however, in a mere 25 pages of his 696 page abridged diary, i've gained a newfound respect for reagan, the man, his marriage to nancy, the international turmoil he dealt with daily. and i'm learning some helpful history lessons about the 80s, a time when i was too young to care what was happening around me (except when the oliver north trials pre-empted my afternoon teevee shows).

i don't think this enlightenment makes me a republican, but i do think it makes me an adult.

in other reading, i am thrilled that my corner borders bookstore carries donna hay magazine. she's somewhat of an australian martha stewart, though modernly hip and sophisticated. the food and decorating tips in the magazine are stunningly gorgeous, and at every page turn, i was dreaming of the meals i could concoct. the only downside is that, due to the opposite seasons in the southern hemisphere, all the recipes are for autumn foods -- butternut squash, baked pies, soups and stews, and heavenly heavy desserts. what a treat it will be to pull this issue out in october!

for technorati

2007-06-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

Technorati Profile

two loves

2007-06-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

friday night we met up with an old coworker of mickey's from the dot-com days. he's married now with a kidbot who is super fun. the occasion for our reunion was baseball -- mariners vs padres, at their house, because...wait for it: they're bigger baseball fans than perhaps moi. she's the heart and soul behind a mariners fan site that was picked up by the seattle newspaper. their kidbot's middle name is ichiro, and at two years old, he knows names of several players. way cool.

it was fun to get together for a night and chat about all things baseball, with people who genuinely love it. from random stats ("how many ways to get out in a game?") to history, to cheers and jeers for our beloved team (several jeers directed at a "tall cool drink of ugly," her nickname for one said mariner, who'll remain nameless, but points to anyone who can guess).

lining their bookcases were "summerland," "brothers K," and other modern baseball classics. the one i saw missing was "mostly true," by molly o'neill, sister to paul o'neill of yankees fame. received for my bday and just cracked this week, it combines two of my three favorite hobbies, food and baseball, in a touching, amusing and genuine memoir from the only daughter in the o'neill clan. those who don't like baseball won't probably love the book, but coming from a somewhat rabid baseball household, the book resonated with me.

this morning i just finished the book, and the last few pages brought tears to my eyes, for a number of reasons. certainly the end of the book was sentimental as it recounted the 2001 world series, during which o'neill's father passed away and brother paul retired from baseball after winning game 5.

mostly, though, it was one of those books that, upon its conclusion, you feel a sense of loss and emptiness, as though you've said goodbye to a dear friend forever.

it's the same, but different

2007-05-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

for the long holiday, mickey and i are visiting my ma at her new house in wyoming. this thing is beautiful. what i love most is that the big, red kitchen, where currently my ma is slaving away over a pot of green chili sauce to smother some burritos. those who know me know my obsession with green chili. stay tuned for the review.

the house is located about six miles outside of town, and last night we sat on the deck watching the sun set over the sandy, scrubby buttes. it was so quiet. i forgot what it's like to be outside the city, because it's been more than a year since we were in a rural setting. i also forgot how many stars appear when there's no city lights to compete.

this morning on my walk on the country road, i saw a field that was full of dead refrigerators and other appliances. i'm going to try to sneak into the field later to take a photo, but i'm a little afraid that if i do, i'll get shot. we're talking about wyoming, after all.

tippy or tipsy?

2007-05-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

i had the great fortune of spending this weekend with our friend john from georgia. we met him a couple years ago through toots, and have since then had a blast when he comes through portland for conferences or other activities. what was supposed to be an afternoon of hang-out time turned into nearly two full days of QT. highlights, in photo:

day at the beach with four environmental scientists...
and did i mention i suck at biology?

mickey and john at the chinese garden

bonsai

while at the chinese garden we escaped the pouring rain at the tea house. note to self: next time, don't order tippy south cloud (a tea), because it has such a ridiculous name that none of us could shut up about it for the next 4 hours. iterations included: tippy south park, tippy south paw...on and on. one would think the tea was alcoholic for how idiotic we were about the name, but no, none of us was drunk.

it was such an unexpectedly terrific weekend, and despite the rain, we had an amazing day. back to work tomorrow....

final note: one more square done on the new zealand blanket. hallelujia. 3 more to go.......

tranquility

2007-05-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

spring is finally here.

delicious grilled chicken, stuffed with
goat cheese and spring greens

tonight mickey and i had a great dinner on the patio, complete with an amazing bottle of wine (evolution white, from sokol blosser -- a great blend of 9 white wine varietals, which resulted in a spectacular, fruity, tropical and semi-dry wine -- the essence of a summer picnic, warm weather and light, summer breezes). my poppies are in bloom, and the hostas are growing by the day. the sun slowly set in the west, and as it did, the old fir trees near our house were cast with a golden red hue which makes them glow, a sight i always love to drink up each summer night. instead of sitting in front of the teevee, mickey and i lingered at the table talking about happiness, life, priorities, and the future.

i also got my first mosquito bite. but, for tonight, i don't mind.

men in tight pants

2007-05-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

just caught 'blades of glory.' what a tepid film. i did enjoy the musical stylings chosen by the skaters, especially will arnett and amy poehler's choice of markey mark and the funky bunch. all in all, not as good as other will ferrell films. i did like the scene where sasha cohen caught that jock strap. wait, no, that was disgusting.

mariners took two of three games this weekend against the crankees. it was sad to not be at last night's game (was offered tix from a friend, but had other obligations), i'm glad i didn't have to witness batista's poor showing. plus, my new favorite player, yuni betancourt, wasn't playing, either, so it all worked out.

camera's dead

2007-05-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

but if it wasn't i'd show you pics of ena's shaved forearms from the vet. so sad. while i was there picking her up, a person came in with a dog who was sick or injured, and was shaking uncontrollably. i started crying in the waiting room. which is why i can't be a vet.

if the camera was dead, i'd also show you the three newest FOs that i finally felted in my neighbor's washing machine. a new decoration for my office. hurrah!

but, since the camera's dead, photos will have to wait. happy friday!

torture. aka, "the office"

2007-05-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

mickey and i had a rockin' dinner last night with double-d at encanto, a newer new mexican restaurant in no'po. delicious food, great drinks, nice service, cool space. i got the slow cooked pork stuffed in sopapillas, which had a zippy red sauce on top. their guac was really fresh, plus no tomatoes (just like i like it), and they had a queso fundito dip with homemade tortilla chips that was outstanding -- tangy/creamy cheese with a pumpkin seed salsa/pesto thing on top.

it was such a nice night out with two dear people, and and to cap off the night, i caught the 5th inning of the mariners/tigers game, in which the m's scored 6. they are all of a sudden looking like a solid team this year. with the fact that i'm catching on average about 3 games per week, i'm feeling pretty pleased about the baseball this summer.

in other news, i have two days off, so i got up this AM, dropped the pud off at the vet for her tooth cleaning ($400 -- for cat teeth), and then went for a walk. i'd forgotten my MP3 player, so as my thoughts wandered, i realized, today is thursday, and thursday is "the office." and then i got to thinking about my favorite moments on "the office," when i got a text message. the chime of my phone got me thinking about michael scott's ring tone.

and now i have the midi version of "my humps" stuck squarely in my head. it's killing me.

what's in your head today?

yakkedy yak

2007-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

last night whilst out with my friend ben for his bday, we witnessed a chick crumple to the floor right behind our table (we're talking 4 inches), passed out/fainted/whatever, then lift her head enough to yak ALL over herself and the floor. and then, someone said, "we're calling an ambulance," and she said, "no, don't, they cost $500." poor form: both for yakking all over the floor, but for also (apparently) having enough experience with ambulances to know their going rate.

even more disgusting was the fact that the bar employees didn't clean up the yak. they just put some paper towels over it, and the LEFT IT ON THE GROUND for more than half an hour. at which point, i left.

gross. i question whether i'll go back. which sucks, because they serve the bottles of miller high life for cheap.

on a more positive note, i knitted a new yarn bowl to decorate my office, and got both a walk and a short bike ride in this weekend. i love spring, because it's so nice to sit on the patio and soak in the fresh air and the sounds of the neighborhood. the only downer of the weekend was not seeing the end of that mariners game on friday, when they beat the yankees 15-11. f-ing DVR shut off at the bottom of the 7th. thank goodness mickey recorded sports center that night.

have i mentioned how much i love my DVR?

overcoming guilt

2007-04-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

i have been working on the nz blanket since last february, and i am now only 3.5 squares from being done. if i sat down for one week and knitted every night, i think i could finish it. but, for the life of me, i can't bear the thought of picking up that project. it has nothing to do with the fact that i love the project so much, i don't want it to end. quite the opposite. i don't want to look at it again. it might also have something to do with the fact that once i finish it, i'm going to have to sew it together. bleck.

anyhow, recent distractions have me even further torn away from this project. it has taken all the strength in the world (and a lot of yardwork yesterday) to keep me from going to the yarn store and buying supplies for this. ack! it's so cute and looks like a great first project to try my hand at knitting clothes. i would love to make it in a beautiful soft pink or baby blue, or maybe even a dark orange....ACK.

i've decided just now that the reward for completing the blanket will be yarn for the sweater. off i go...

the real social networking

2007-04-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

really, a whole month has gone by with no posts? no good reason, i'm afraid. perhaps it was the new teevee that has snake-charmed me away from lappy. or, the more frequent sightings of friends after work and on the weekends. or laziness. take your pick.

at the bday party last night for semaphoria (hurrah! your triple-x is upon us!) i ran into a couple people -- one i know from a past life and one is a new acquaintance -- who are very smart, very talented. we had terrific talks about work, about web, about art, and families and friends. at the end of the evening, i realized how much i've missed being out and about.

starting today -- no more hermit!

reasons why americans are smarter than everyone else

2007-03-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

apparently if you live in this country and you speak more than one language, you live in the ghetto. at least, so says a leader of our country. i love sweeping racist stereotypes.

meat, good.

2007-03-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

last night's attempt at recreating steak au poivre a francais was a success! delicious, tender nebraska filet mignon and blue cheese mashed potatoes. never mind it was 9:15 before we ate. it was worth it.

spring cleaning

2007-03-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

just arrived home from our london/paris springtime venture, and had such a delicious time. highlights:

1. the tube and the metro -- didn't get lost once!
2. caught a football match at a notting hill corner pub with the locals (man-u won, thanks to renaldo's penalty kick).
3. ate the most delectable food. in london, it was a bangladeshi meal to rival all other curries i've ever had. in paris, how do i narrow it down? the 3+ hour meal at brasserie flo, complete with french onion soup and profiteroles and a lake of chocolate sauce? brie sandwiches outside the louvre? baguette, stinky cheese and wine consumed in our hotel room after a quick shopping outing in monmartre? or, the pain au chocolat that i ate every morning for breakfast (and that i smuggled back to the states)? no way to pick. don't get me started on the espresso.
4. now knowing what it means to stand at the foot of the eiffel tower and stare upward at the massive steel structure. overwhelming and beautiful.
5. three words: big ben, parliament! (shout out to bessi, who knows what that means)
6. irreverently dedicating our trip to wandering the footsteps of diana, princess of wales -- mickey sang the elton john tribute song the entire time.
7. the one souvenir i brought home was a magnet of the mona lisa from the louvre.

photos here, if you're so inclined.

now that we're home, i'm starting spring cleaning, starting with my blog. trying out the new functionality in blogger, and also a new bit of geek candy, courtesy of semaphoria, called twitter. if i could only be so cool as she.

flowers are blooming, trees are leafing out, and the sidewalks are pink with cherry blossom petals. i'm ready for sun and spring!

life goes by

2007-03-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

it's been an extraordinarily busy month since i last posted, but i don't feel i've got much to show (or tell) for it. i realized how disconnected i've been from my personal life today when i checked my email and noticed messages coming in from last week. not good. i have a friend who has asked us to get together what must be 15 times since thanksgiving, and every time we're traveling or otherwise occupied -- just in the last month my excuses have been conflicting trips to SF twice and NYC once. in today's email (which he sent tuesday...), he asked to get together for st. paddy's day. of course, i had to decline because we are leaving for what i guess has to be my last celebration for the thirtieth birthday -- a week in paris and london. can't stretch the ol' birthday out any further.

but, today is lovely so far -- day off, sleep in, good cup of coffee, catching up with friends and family. sun is out. it's quiet in my house, save for the washing machine whirring about like a jet engine. yep, i'm ready to relax, drink some beer and wine and eat copious amounts of croissants.

cheerio and au revior to you all, and stay tuned for reports from across the pond.

buh-bye niner

2007-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

hello thirties.

busy week

2007-02-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

off to SF today for a couple days for a big big event that we've been working on since december. needless to say, i can't wait to be done. then home for three, just long enough to take brother in law to the airport (boo!), then off to NYC for a long weekend of debauchery and mayhem with my ITK/IFT sisters and brothers. we're starting my month-long birthday celebration in NY with my college friends, one of whom is also turning 30 within days of me. i bought some new shoes to take with me -- peekaboo toe flats in leopard print. i just hope that whatever snow is in the city will melt between now and then so i can wear them!

in case i don't have time that day, happy v.d. to all of you (valentine's day, you gross people). may cupid's arrow strike you squarely in the bum.

f.o.

2007-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

now that they've received it, i can share an update about one of my recent f.o.'s...a lovely baby blanket for willy and toots.

what's cuter? blanket or toots?

i knitted it on US size 8s with my new favorite yarn, cascade pima silk, which as i've mentioned before knitted up like a dream. plus, it's soft and snuggly and will hopefully be washable enough that the cream color won't be regretted. the pattern (purchased at the naked sheep knit shop in no'po') was also quite easy. after a few practice starts, i figured out the crochet technique to cast on, and the flower in the center knitted up quite easily. the only downside of the project was my cast off, which ended up being a little tight, and caused some puckering. blocking helped a ton, but i think it could almost be blocked again to shape it a little more.

now, if only that chipmunk would come out....

happy anniversary to me!

2007-02-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

as i just posted that last item, it dawned on me that today is my one year spamiversary on this blog. hurrah for me! am i a card carrying member of the web 2.0 crowd yet? does one register at tiffanys.com for such an occasion?

how weird all of a sudden to think back on the last year and all the stuff that's happened. a year ago i was two short days away from my trip of a lifetime in new zealand, getting ready to ditch work for a month to roam around the islands in my home on wheels. in stark contrast, here i am tonight, at work at 8pm with no real end in sight, and only a glimmer of my next trip (london and paris in the springtime....) in my mind.

i dubbed this year the niner, and i must admit, the past few months i've been thinking that the niner wasn't a good year at all. ok, in all honesty, i've thought it sucked pretty royally. lots of change, departed loved ones, feeling like i'm existing rather than living. i'm so glad, though, that i started this blog, because it allowed me to look back and remember all the good things that happened to keep things in balance. whether my readers have enjoyed the blog is unknown, but i for one am glad i've maintained it (infrequently at times admittedly) because it's preserved moments in my life that will be long forgotten too soon.

after all, the niner will be over in 24 days, and i'll be a senior citizen.

glass half full

2007-02-01T19:48:00.000-08:00

"yesssssss," she says, as she reads today's headlines. "i'll finally have that oceanfront property i've always wanted in north portland."

soon, soon...

house guest/roommate

2007-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

this week our new house guest/roommate arrived. mikey's brother scottbot has stopped in for an extended stay in p-town. any reservations about having a new roommate after living only with a spouse for 7 years were wiped clean away when i arrived home to the dishes done and dishwasher emptied out. yeah. i could get used to this.

tonight's miscellaneous forms of crack

2007-01-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

tonight's form of crack:

and

and a final FO:

and a belated hey-oh to TOOTS for her 30th bday. tell me how it goes. and i'm waiting for my chipmunk -- where is he/she???

blech

2007-01-10T16:55:00.001-08:00

so.... very..... sick.....

i'm not sure i can stand to watch more tv. a vacation, this is not. would someone like to come take care of mickey and me? we're pathetic.

move over brokeback, we're famous for something new!

2007-01-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

are leftover communists invading my hometown? or is it really leftover parts from a satellite launch? either way, i hope said parts didn't hit my ma's new house. that would suck.

mine was good, how 'bout yours?

2006-12-31T11:25:00.001-08:00

just back from cornland and had a terrific time. we weren't sure we were going to make it back there, due to "blizzard 2006" [insert dramatic newscaster voice here] in denver. fortunately we flew out two hours after DIA opened and had no problems catching our connecting flight to lincoln that evening. hurray!

upon arrival at my IL's house, i found in our bedroom a baby cradle with a clock inside. was this a subtle hint from my MIL that she wants grandbabies? she denied it. i still wonder... :)

we had five days in norfolk with mickey's fam, and all in all it was great. i got some knitting done, though i have to say i'm on very displeased with the end result. the cascade pima silk mentioned previously is still a dream, but my BO skills are poopy, and i think now the blanket looks more like a parachute. i'm crossing my fingers that blocking it will help. i also made progress on my eggplant scarf. i think i have about a foot completed, and so far, so good. i did not take my cabling needle with me, so instead i used a plastic coffee stir stick to hold my stitches.

on the way home, we encountered "blizzard 2006 take deux" at DIA. we ended up getting bumped off our first flight from DIA to PDX. in fairness, i should mention we volunteered, because if we didn't, UAL was going to boot off a grandmother traveling with grandbabies and a young woman who'd been bumped twice already, and who was sobbing in the aisles. heartbreaking. we were offered free tix on UAL, but they weren't sure when we'd get out of denver because the storm was causing cancellations of several flights. we fortunately got the next flight out on standby, and aside from sitting on the runway for nearly three hours (and going through de-icing three times after snow continued to collect on the wings), we arrived home.

i can't say my fam had the same travel karma this year. my sis's flight to arkansas was canceled because of blizzard '06, so she, my BIL and my favorite nephew were stuck by themselves in idaho. hearing from my sis that my li'l guy was crying in the airport after learning he wasn't going to see his gramma, i wanted to cancel my plans and drive to idaho to see them. they ended up having, what my li'l guy called, "the best christmas ever," so i guess all is good.

my ma also had bad karma, or should i say car-ma. on their way to colorado, they hit a deer, and more than likely totaled the subaru. bad news. fortunately they are in good health, and were close enough to the destination that my uncle could pick them up. i'm hoping santa will come late this year and bring her a new subaru.

today 2006 comes to an end, and we enter a new year. it's been a rough year, so i can't say i'm sad to leave 2006 behind. too much change, people moving away, bad habits resumed and not enough QT with friends and my husbot, especially the latter part of this year. i have high hopes that in 2007 i'll swear less, take more photos, eat more healthfully, lose 20 pounds, keep in touch with people, find balance in my life, and learn to better manage my stress. wish me luck.

wishing you and yours a safe and festive new year's, and a great year ahead!

guilty pleasure

2006-12-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

i'm watching "love actually" for the second time in two days. pathetic, but i'll admit it's my favorite christmas-ish movie of all time. pathetic, probably. but i love every sappy, chick flickish moment of it.

we're headed to nebraska in four days for christmas, and i'm definitely looking forward to a break. i am hoping for some time with my knitting, as i have two projects i think i can finish while i'm there. i've just begun this dreamy eggplant colored scarf while on my trip to dc, and i've not decided whether i'll keep it for myself or give it to a girlfriend of mine. decisions, decisions....

hope you all are enjoying the holidays, and getting a bit of christmas cheer. go have some nog!

highlights from DC

2006-12-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

so, sadly, i didn't find albert, but i did find the new ww2 memorial, which was terrific. btw, DC is going to run out of water with how much is running through fountains and lying in ponds and pools.

WW2 memorial

i think they will get coal in their stockings, how 'bout you?

i didn't do much sightseeing, because i was busy in a conference during the day. as you can see, i was very busy. yeah, that's right, yours truly is the WOMMA rock paper scissors champion. i'm considering a career as an officiant of future rock paper scissors competitions, now that i'm qualified. thanks to the world RPS society for the fun time!

the other washington

2006-12-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

greetings from the east coast washington! i'm here on biz for the WOMMA conference, and am having a delightful time. my hotel is right downtown, about a stone's throw (but don't tell the secret service) from the white house, and in the thick of all that history that comes with DC. i haven't been here since i was a teenager, but it's everything as fantastic as i remember it: bustling people, so much to do, a grandiose marble building of size and scale unimaginable around every corner. this trip, i've been struck by the rare feeling that i'm more than glad -- i'm proud to be part of this country, because i am reminded of the great men who came before, who shaped this nation into all the things i love, yet forget as soon as news of iraq comes on the telly or GW opens his mouth.

i walked up to the capitol today at twilight and watched the lights slowly twinkle to life inside the huge building. putting all politics aside, it's such a magnificent building -- so clean-looking and stately and powerful. at dusk, the reflecting pool caught the glinting lights of the building, and in the dark blue/black sky, that white marble gave the capitol a larger-than-life presence.

being here makes me remember my teenage trip to DC, with my fam. my dad was a history buff, and liked coming to DC. i remember the tired feet and the hot sticky feeling that july, but also remember feeling so happy being here, watching him wander around the museums and along the national mall with a look of both contentment and excitement. i have a photo of him and me trying unsuccessfully to hug a huge column at some building here. as i walked down the mall today and looked at the various buildings lining the promenade, that memory made me smile.

i have two more days here, and i'm hoping to walk to the reflecting pool between the washington and lincoln memorials, and also i hope to find the einstein statue where, as a kid, dad and my family posed for more silly photos. maybe i'll ask somone to take my photo sitting in albert's lap, just for dad.

quarterly issue of crack lovin'

2006-12-08T21:59:00.000-08:00

knitty's here, knitty's here! as if i don't have enough fiber crack (went to the crack store tonight in fact...), seeing spanish dancer makes me fiber drool. and, how will i fit argosy into my already long list of projects in progress?

haka-rific, but what do i know?

2006-12-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

as many of you may know, i've got a significant love affair with new zealand, and specifically with the all blacks, the country's mighty fine and also the world's top rugby team.

and of all the things i love about the all blacks, perhaps my favorite (next to first five-eighths heartthrob daniel carter) is the haka. it's the traditional maori chant and dance that the team shares at the beginning of every match. the haka, as i understand it, is an homage to the legends of the country's maori people, and is an honor within maori tribes to perform it. on the rugby pitch, before the team begins the game, it's a way for them to unify and to build up energy in preparation for the match. aside from being entertaining, it's inspiring, riveting and chilling to watch.

mickey called attention to a recent article in the times, in which the haka is under fire from an american journalist who sees it as racist and inappropriate, relating it to a football player's celebratory dance in the end zone, or a death taunt at a sporting match. has this guy really watched the haka, and does he really understand how intertwined the haka is with the all blacks' history?

unlike those gestures identified in the article, which i see as egotistical, showgrabbing antics, the haka builds team and calls upon history to give them strength to succeed. and, i'm certainly no expert, but how is it tribally insensitive for the ruggers to recount classical tales to prepare them to perform at their best? with the passion and pride they demonstrate on the field during the haka, i see it as exactly the opposite -- as an honor, not only to the country and its people, but to people like me who now appreciate maori culture more than before, in large part because of the haka.

i say, let the all blacks continue to pay tribute to their culture and their traditions. let the opposing teams choose to invoke similar gestures to respectfully accept the challenge put forth through the haka. the lions honorably did so during their '05 tour, using a blade of grass laid at the feet of the all blacks.

don't take the haka off the field and out of the eyes of people who could stand to know more about other countries' cultures and traditions.

PS: interested in seeing these guys in action? check out the thirsty lion on second ave downtown, where they show international rugby most days of the week. yeah!

tan me

2006-11-29T19:52:00.000-08:00

happy turkey day to all! we just spent a delightful weekend with willy, toots and their li'l chipmunk in mesa, arizona, where the weather was in the upper 70s, the sky was pure blue, and the view from our house looked like this:

yes, we were enjoying cocktails at this moment...what better way to enjoy the view?

one night we decided we wanted to check out this pizza joint in phoenix that gayle (of oprah fame) had visited on her trip 'round the US to find the best 'za. pizzaria bianco is located in downtown phoenix near the ASU campus, and supposedly is the the absolute best wood-fired pie. willy suggested we get there early to get a table. when we arrived at 5:20, we thought we'd be in for a 1, maybe 1.5 hour wait, which we could easily kill at the wine bar next door. sadly when we put our names in, we learned it was a four hour wait. wha? four hours?

we didn't get pizzaria bianco za, needless to say. but, nello's in scottsdale was a delighful substitute, AND we didn't wait in line. huzzah!

it was sad to get on the plane to head home, especially after sitting by the pool for three days, but imagine the system shock we received when we arrived back in portland and had snow on monday. bah.

thanks so much to the gebys for the best, most needed weekend and the fantastic hospitality. i can't think of a better way to spend thanksgiving with our two best friends. we miss you two (and a half) and treasure the time we get to spend together, short as it was!

in other news, happy birthday to my ma today! cheers to you on your year ahead!

gettin' all cultured n stuff

2006-11-19T14:49:00.000-08:00

quick thanks to my buddy tcb for inviting us to his delightfully non-stuffy, totally fun art salon last evening. aside from the fact that his house is a work of art on its own, mickey and i were also envious of and hugely impressed by all the art he and his fabulous wife have collected and created themselves. while talking with some of the artists featured at the salon (friends of t's), one asked me, "so do you make any art?" i tried to talk about my amateur painting attempts, and settled on knitting as my artistic outlet. i guess it's something.

check out some of t&j's photos. can't find his flickr, but maybe he'll send it to me.

thanks t!

awol

2006-11-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

been working hard this week, late nights, whatnot. nothing too horrible, many things have slacked in the past week. blog posting, obviously. cooking another. sleeping, optional. knitting, fuggedabahdit. seeing the husbot, only in the car when he's picking me up from work.

needless to say, i'm thrilled to be home before 7 and done working by 7:15 tonight. in fact, so excited to be home at a decent hour, because i just had a chance to see TV, and noticed a commercial for the movie "the holiday" with cameron diaz and kate winslet. you better believe i'm going to see that. looks a little like "love actually" and melikes that movie, and not in a guilty pleasure kinda way.

here's looking forward to a little R&R this weekend, and to a short week next week. it's finally the holiday season, my favorite time of the year!

small victories for women and america today

2006-11-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

observations today on election day:

puzzling news: how did the CNN folks all end up with the same skin tone? cakey tan looks miserable on all except james carville, who looks only slightly less like an alien than normal without the pallid skin tone.
funny news: love the wonkette drinking game for tonight's festivities. wish i could have participated.
good news for america: santorum. gone.
sad news for america: katherine/katie "bodysuit" harris lost. what, oh what will we make fun of now?
wack-job news: a dude on cnn just now said his conservative listeners are concerned about a "wild eyed, flaming liberal" political scene in this country, lead by pelosi. huh?
good news for women: speaking of that wild eyed, flaming liberal, how 'bout the first woman speaker of the house. and might i say, she's triple the hot that dennis 'puffy' hastert was.
fabulous news for women (hoping i don't eat my words as i upload this post): in oregon we are defeating the parental notification bill for abortion, and it's looking good that the good folks of south dakota will defeat the abortion ban.
iffy news for wyoming: babs is winning by 400ish votes. so close, yet so far from defeat.
best news for me: protest vote against bush? -- pshaw, not us oregonians. while the rest of the nation is still swingin' red (despite results tonight), i'm living in a state that is so solidly blue, solidly, beautifully blue.

all in all, small victories, nothing that surprising, no major changes will occur. but, tonight, i'll turn my lappy off and dream happy dreams that, for today, we're a nation that has risen her head above the fog of conservativism and realized we've headed in the wrong direction.

winter has come early

2006-11-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

the fact that it has rained around 3 inches in 24 hours (not counting the other rain we got the rest of the weekend) means only one thing: the *@!%# basement is leaking again. at least misery loves company -- a&k's basement next door is facing similar issues. the only good thing about their house is they don't have carpet and paneling on the walls.

i guess instead of going to new zealand in february i should have poured a new driveway and sealed the basement walls. what do they say about hindsight....

on the brighter side, because it's so horrid outside, i have been getting a ton of knitting done! can't post here what it is, as it's a gift for a reader, so i don't want to spoil the surprise. without giving anything away, let me just say i love cascade pima silk yarn. so soft and gorgeous, and despite being mostly cotton, it doesn't split and has great stretchiness. i'm a convert!

stay dry and warm my friends! i'm headed to SF tomorrow where it's supposed to be dry and partly cloudy.

alert: kickass happy hour joint

2006-10-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

portlanders, i'm sure you already know this, but i've just tonight discovered a super duper happy hour deal downtown. barcode on 2nd and pine, next door to e-san, shares the thai restaurant's kitchen, and thus has great happy hour food. try pad kee mao for $3.95 and get a really solid size portion. spring rolls for $2. beers (not PBR, we're talking micros) are $2, and wells are $2-3. the service is super and the food is delicious. not being at all hip or cool, i learned that they do great business late in the evenings with the party crowd, but they're trying to get people in the door earlier. as such, their happy hour is offered from 4Pm to 10Pm. say what?! 10Pm?! you heard me right, sister.

go. eat. drink.

niner, part deux

2006-10-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

earlier this year i dubbed this year the niner. i guess the folks at multnomah county found out, because today i was chosen as juror number niner. and i get to be juror niner for 6 whole days. yes, my friends, 6 days away from my job, which couldn't be busier. and i get to sit in a pathetically padded swivel chair listening to 42 hours of lawyer blah blah. awesome.

but it's baseball season, so i can't be too sad. go detroit!

color me cabled!

2006-10-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

this weekend i finally figured out (with the help of the lovely folks at the naked sheep) what i've been doing wrong with my cabled christmas stocking. turns out when you knit in the round, you don't have a right or a wrong side, and thus, i was following the pattern incorrectly.

behold, my first cabling project!

100 percent pure cable lovin'

only four tear-outs required -- who said i'm not patient?

next up: learning how to knit the sock part. i'm scared.

sex and baseball

2006-10-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

yesterday i spent 13 hours in front of the TV watching a combination of 'sex and the city' season one (and part of season 2), and the MLB division championships.

some call it lazy. i call it THE BEST DAY EVER.

gotham tavern part deux

2006-10-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

attention portlanders: the gotham tavern on interstate ave. and albina is back open, and let me be the first to tell you it's terrific. same hip space, but new management, new menu and a new attitude makes it about a thousand times better than its original incantation. that first time around, mickey and i visited the restaurant not long after it opened. we like NW cuisine, but this was a bit too much: every dish had 20 adjectives to describe it, the experience was pretentious, and when we left that evening, we were wholly unimpressed, so much so that i vowed never to go back, even after semaphoria worked hard to convince me that their breakfast donuts were delish.

fast forward to now. mickey remembered seeing lights on in the joint earlier this week, so we decided to give it a whirl last night. when walked in, the bartender waved and said, "anywhere you'd like to sit is fine!" what? no more $50 down payment to sit in the beehive booth? we chose a seat and were greeted by the very nice waitress. i asked for a wine list. they had three options, all very good. the waitress apologized that they were still finishing their selection, would i be OK with a glass of the kason vineyard willamette valley pinot noir ($24/bottle)? funny lady. when am i not ok with a pinot?

the menus was one page, featuring simple yet delicious pub fare options. few adjectives. mickey ordered the prime rib sandwich and a salad, and i ordered the pasta special of the day (fettuccini with sausage, roasted red peppers and zucchini). we settled in with our wine, and when the food came, we were very impressed. the plating of mickey's sandwich was beautiful, and it was a huge portion, too, all for $7.50. my pasta ($10) was really tasty.

jordan, the manager/owner, wandered over, sat down and chatted for a few. he and his partner have worked at other neighborhood bars in portland. when the opportunity came to pick up the lease at gotham, they jumped on it. jordan said he's trying to make the restaurant fit better with the neighborhood than it was before. in other words, he wants people to stop in for a beer, have happy hour, and have good tasting, inexpensive food. he mentioned considering doing a discount for people who take alternative transportation, since they're on the max and bus line. they are also going to change the name (we got the preview, but i won't mention it here because it's still a secret), to get away from the brand image that gotham had before. good move, sayeth me. we finished our meal, paid our bill ($34 with tip), waved goodbye to fawn, our waitress, and to jordan and his crowd at the bar, and headed home with our to-go boxes full with a second portion for lunch.

all in all, it was a great experience, and i'm so glad we tried it again. i want to encourage all portlanders to check the place out. the food is super and at really reasonable prices, and the staff is fantastic. the grand opening will be later this month, but even now during their soft opening, it's well worth the visit. go say hello to jordan, have a beer and grab a bite!

watch your back, ena

2006-10-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

oh, puddy, you better watch your back. a new breed is in town. best be on good behavior (no late night meyhem, scratching, or claw attacks), or else you're outta here.

tough rhetoric

2006-10-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

i heard the most classic thing on the bus tonight from a five year old. he was arguing back and forth with a little girl he just met on the bus. over and over, they argued, "no sir!" "yes sir!" every topic resulted in the same -- "i live on the stairs." "nuh uh!" "uh huh!" "nuh uh!" "uh huh!"

just about the time when i'm laughing out loud at the two kids, the five year old says, "this is my stop. i just have one more question for you: yes."

and then he got off the bus.

i love it: i have one more question for you. yes.

classic.

chili lovin

2006-10-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

23 chilis. a new record. props to my peeps for the best turnout yet!!!

view the chili carnage here.

favorite time of year

2006-09-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

this is my favorite time of year, when the leaves start to fall, the weather starts to feel crisp. i've switched to the down comforter. last weekend i made beef stew in the dutch oven and a lovely apple coffee cake. i started planning my standby battery of fall recipes -- spicy butternut squash and sweet potato soup, pumpkin bread, polentas with sauteed mushrooms and roasted red peppers, mugs of hot apple cider. the staple sauvignon blancs from the summer are getting moved to the bottom shelf of the wine rack to make way for bottles of thick, hearty red wines we need to pick up this coming weekend. this is the season for knitting, reading, savoring foods and drinks and unwinding.

i just finished re-reading one of the most brilliant, delicious books of all time on the plane yesterday. it's all about enjoying a simple life in france. i read it for the first time back when i was a freshman in college for an english class on writing memoirs, and gauging from the notes i made in the margins, i clearly wasn't in a stage in my life to appreciate it. it was such a crack-up to read how naive and unaware i was. "what's foie gras?" i wrote on one page. "all they do is eat!" i wrote on another. reading the notes, it was the first time i felt glad i've grown up. i'm not wise or cultured or worldly, but hallelujia that i now appreciate the finer points in life, like stinky cheese.

cheers to you, especially all my friends who i hear are working hard, and soul searching about their futures and their life choices. may we all slow down long enough to enjoy the moments of fall.