very interesting...as a luggage problem

The UPPERCASE Letterpress Sampler

2011-05-01T16:38:00.001-07:00

The UPPERCASE Letterpress Sampler, a set by uppercaseyyc on Flickr.

i. love. letterpress.

i stumbled across this great sampler in flickr and just had to share.

i wonder how expensive of a hobby this would be? another craft to add to my "learn how to do sometime" list...

14 hrs and one year

2010-09-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

suddenly awake, cold sweat
remnants, dreams lingering
past loves, places visited, unseen,
brilliant-plumaged large birds
confusion now afternoon
dreams surrender to wakefulness

realization
one year
blurred, unlived
gone forever, wasted, too late?

present reclamation
reassuring voices
wrapped in love
change
forward
hope
in hand

sleeping giant

2009-12-04T09:46:00.001-08:00

so, my photo of sleeping giant from my recent trip to kauai was selected for inclusion in the Schmap guide to kauai--pretty cool! it's a sooc shot (straight out of camera) so the colors can't quite capture the actual beauty of kauai. ~~i've added the widget for the schmap guide to my sidebar,~~ so check it out!

update: ok, widget generator was broken. i'll have to fix it later in the sidebar. teaches me post prematurely. . .

wool-gathering

2009-11-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

what is it that makes milk & oreos completely irresistable?
staying at home sounds fantastic when i am work, but not so great when i'm stuck at home with the flu.
white collar is pulling me in.
the snuffling of a baby sleeping is perhaps one of the best sounds in the world.
curbside take-away is a wonderful invention.
hot shower + clean sheets = bliss

i'd rather dance

2009-11-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

tonight's halloween options included a costume dance, hosted by my church for the singles in my area. my costume, while in its element at work yesterday, caused much head-scratching and wrong guesses when taken out of context, say at starbucks or any other public gathering that didn't include mt. crumpet, a furry green grinch, and crazy hair. a rabbit? a flower? fail. apparently my who was not who-ville enough to speak for itself. ergo, tonight's dance didn't make the cut of my chosen all-hallow's eve festivities.

another type of dancing caught my eye when i stumbled across this video on another blog; i've always loved this song and the video charmed my socks off. enjoy!

this rain

2009-10-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

it's raining this morning. not unusual, you say, you live in seattle, the soggy city, surely you must be used to the rain. but this deluge defies normal seattle precipitation, mocking our mist in its usual sweet kiss of moisture when legs can't run between drops fast enough, this new power to drench residing with each fat drop.

awakening this morning from the scattered dreams that follow a restful night's sleep and beyond, the ones that come when sleep is an indulgence, now, way past the time to get up--this rain thunders on the roof, sheeting off the eaves and blanketing my room in that moody darkness, making the clock seem like a life raft in this otherwise surreal morning of timelessness.

this rain, transforming the trees outside into flames of orange and green and yellow against trunks burnt-blackened by moisture. this rain, cajoling for a morning spent cozily under the covers or next to the fireplace, curled up with a good book until hunger beckons from the kitchen.

choosing my comfy bed over fire this morning, this rain accompanies my absorption into a new book delivered yesterday (with my groceries!); molly wizenberg, of orangette, has written a memoir/cookbook, a homemade life. recipes accompanied by the moments of life, change, beauty, bliss, and heartbreak, all wrapped into one hunger-inducing ~~morsel~~ feast, tempting me, halfway through, to start all over again and just cook my way through the book.

meanwhile, this rain floods itself out, giving way to the soft mist outside of fall in seattle, a morning that calls of breakfast and hot chocolate, laundry and contentment, and, of course, a good book.

wordless wednesday

2009-09-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

wordless wednesday

2009-08-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

source

how to spend a warm summer evening

2009-08-02T00:04:00.001-07:00

1. find some family (friends work, too) and ~~beg~~ persuade them to take you out in the boat:

2. find some water (preferably a large body, like the columbia river):

3. bring your shades and enjoy the wind in your hair (ahh, isn't that nice?):

4. cruise by your local nuclear reservation (harness that atomic power!):

5. sit back, relax and enjoy the view (ah, the miracle of irrigation farming):

6. stay out 'til the sun goes down:

7. and down:

8. and then cruise on home (if you must):

wordless wednesday

2009-07-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

missed

2009-07-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

stuck on the 520 bridge tonight. my first time ever in the 3 years of weekly/daily crossings, and never before had the drawbridge opened. slightly stunned, we all crawled to a stop and goggled the perfect summer seattle evening. dusk falling, mt. rainier hazily sheer to the south, sailboats on lake washington as the sun set behind us and the sky turned pinkly purple. car doors opened, humanity emerged. the empty lanes of west-bound traffic filled with car-less drivers. all staring, standing. this bridge, that, without fail, still inspires silent refrains of ''i live here? i. live. here. seattle. i love this place.'

scrabbled in my bag for my camera (how i've missed taking pictures while it languished in a moving box)--battery dead.

fail.

but that sweet summer air? conversation with monica in the car & nathan on his motorcycle next to us--that nothing but something? it's still here, even if i can't show it to you.

wordless wednesday

2009-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

wherein i discover today might not go as i planned

2009-06-20T09:11:00.001-07:00

i'm moving. in one week. downsizing, no less. a tremendous to-do list awaits me this morning, my last saturday before The Big Move.

leeetle problem: i was out of clothes. so 'doing laundry' promptly established itself as numero uno, bumping 'stuff my starving face' to #2.

grumbling just a little bit (laundry is so tedious), i gathered all the clothes, sorted them into their little piles and started filling the washing machine. good thing, i thought, that i just bought laundry detergent at costco. the big jug of liquid detergent, with the spout n' all. realizing that i wouldn't be able to reach the little release valve once i hefted it on top of my stacking washer/dryer combo (i'm a shorty, after all), i twisted the little cap, ever so slightly, thereby saving myself the hassle of pulling out a stool to reach it later when i couldn't get the detergent to come out. brilliant, yes?

heaving the jug over my head, i started to balance it onto the top of my dryer. what the?!?

brrrrr. eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww. laundry detergent. was. pouring. over. my. head.

and the floor.

and splashing on the closet door.

all in a split second, the ramifications of which felt like eternity. and it was cold. and slimy. and sticky.

you have got to be kidding me. suddenly, 'take a shower--stat' pre-empted everything else. who knows what laundry detergent would do to my hair, my scalp? i didn't know what's in that stuff.

and now, with the fresh scent of liquid detergent and shampoo in my hair, i'm off to find a mop bucket.

but i think i might stop by the freezer first, and find that pint of haagen-daz. it's gonna be a long day.

wordless wednesday

2009-06-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

the smell of summer

2009-06-10T19:10:00.001-07:00

i bought fresh peonies at the farmer's market today. a lovely bundle of pink & white fragrant ruffles, heavy heads nodding gently against their cone of white butcher paper. it felt so right, strolling along the waterfront, that bundle of white paper and blossoms in the crook of my arm, smiling with the farmer as she deftly created bouquet after bouquet of peonies, sweet peas, and poppies, inhaling the aroma of flowers mingling with the brick oven pizza down the way a few booths, the sharp bite of the herbs next farmer over, and crushed grass beneath my feet.

summer's here.

silver lining

2009-06-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

morning commute
first day back after 3 days vacation
john at kexp had me tapping my fingers on the wheel inching along the freeway

miike snow sylvia

phoenix lisztomania

full circle: all mashed up here tonight in my google reader

happy happy happy

universal domination

2009-05-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

in leaving a product suggestion for a big brand (to remain nameless), i noticed the following statement in the obligatory disclosure-legalese:

"{Corporation X} shall exclusively own all now known or hereafter existing rights to the suggestions of every kind and nature throughout the Universe"

not just the world, nor the solar system, nor our galaxy. shoot for the stars!

wordless wednesday

2009-05-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

wordless wednesday

2009-05-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

wordless wednesday

2009-05-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

a beautiful and blinding morning

2009-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

the world outside begins to breathe"

-awake, josh groban

remember the tulips from yesterday?

can it be possible they are even more beautiful today? i'll let you decide for yourself; clickety-click on the image for more o' this beauty in my flickr account.

the clouds are beginning to roll in and mingle with the sunbeams, but for the moment the sun is holding its own, breathing shadows and rays over everything it touches this morning.

they're baaack!

2009-05-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

remember this one?

well, the creative heads at cadbury's strike again. check it out:

thanks, sasha, for the find!

little things

2009-05-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

while ordering groceries last night from amazon fresh (brilliant invention) i stumbled across tulips (!) available for delivery with my groceries the next morning. on a whim, i added them to my cart--who knows what they'd be like, but why not?

unpacking my groceries this morning, there nestled carefully in its own tote with a cold pack, were a beautiful bunch of tulips.

i should buy fresh flowers more often. each time i bring them home, i'm always surprised that i've forgotten what beauty those colorful blossoms bring to my day. an indulgence, to be sure, but worth every penny when i catch them out of the corner of my eye, a little burst of graceful brightness, spring incarnate in my home. hopefully these will tide me over until all the farmers markets open. hurry, summer, hurry!

good morning, starshine

2009-04-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

the moment my eyes opened, i knew it was early. i couldn't see the clock, but i felt it. darkness and silence. i couldn't quite place my finger on it, at first.

birdsong.

i've already become used to it, this trilling companion to my alarm, most mornings. and this morning? so early the birds weren't even up yet.

my alarm has yet to go off, and i've already been awake for an hour. and that's ok, today.

check, check

2009-04-19T11:42:00.001-07:00

there's something about waking up stiff and sore this morning--not unpleasant, actually. rather satisfying--as consciousness came flooding back along with the aches, i remembered the cause of my discomfort. it was worth it to wake up this morning to a sparkling clean house, with the birds chirping in the trees outside and the satisfaction of many items crossed off my never-ending to-do list. a saturday well-spent in work AND play leads to a very happy, very lazy, sunday morning.

flummoxed

2009-04-12T14:46:00.001-07:00

visiting with my parents at their church this Easter Sunday, i relished the anonymity and relative comfort their ward brings. i had long since resigned myself to the lack of singles in the tri-cities area and had ceased expecting any social surprises. sure, a few of the folks remember me from back in the day, but the vast majority leave me alone in relative peace and quiet.

that is, until a friend of my mother's waylaid me at the end of church with the questions dreaded by all singles: "are you married? no? but you have a boyfriend, right?" cringing inwardly at yet another awkward admission of my lack in this department, i bravely answered, 'no' and waited for my doom.

i was not to be disappointed. without pause, she proceeded to outline the virtues of her home teacher--'he's single!' apparently being the most vital--and expressed interest in setting us up. hmming and haw-ing, vaguely agreeing to let them get my number at some point--i looked to my mother for rescue. to my despair, she abandoned me to this kind sister, who promptly grabbed me by the hand and hauled me down the hall to meet aforesaid single man.

cheeks aflame, i was barricaded in the library, with no hope of rescue. wishing i had already hit the road back to seattle, i let her pull me down the hall (again!), plop me in front of a surprised young man, and stammer out some awkward introductions. leaving us with the comforting "you're single, she's single, you should email" directive, she left us alone.

apparently, that's all it takes: i'm single, he's single.

we'll see.

wordless wednesday

2009-04-08T00:03:00.000-07:00

bushwacked

2009-04-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

brad, windy & i took a long stroll through juanita bay park after general conference today. the sun was shining, the turtles were out, it was 70 degrees (!) and absolutely blissful.

until this:

(we're at 0:55, and yes, windy has purple hair)

ah, my 5 seconds of youtube fame.

mischief

2009-04-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

source

i slept in a little bit this morning. dreamland and a comfortable pillow laid claim upon my slumber for several more hours than usual. that is, until a mischievous little sunbeam stole through my blinds, across my pillow and landed, tickling, on my eyelids, playfully flickering through the blossoming tree waving in the springtime breeze this early saturday morning. waking with a smile (and the sun) on my face is much more pleasant than my usual companions of darkness and the insistent unrelenting beep of my early morning alarm.

i took the unusual liberty of laying abed awhile--i hadn't planned on waking for at least another hour. picking up my book that lay open beside me from last night, i quickly lost myself in its pages and visited far off lands of beauty that echoed that of my morning. too quickly the pages ran out, and i closed the book with a sigh. reality beckons, but the deliciousness of this morning still lingers with me.

after the dreariness of the nonstop downpour of rain and snow this week, the freshness of the spring blossoms and sunshine beg to be bottled, later distilled, diamond drop by drop, during the tedious days of still-winter that are sure to follow.

in the meantime, i'll take myself out today and breathe some fresh air, wander a little, visit a little, listen a lot, ponder and muse, geo-cache a little and maybe even spring-clean a little.

friday conversation

2009-04-03T09:36:00.001-07:00

i'm beginning to dream again.

not necessarily news of earthshattering importance to the rest of you, but vitally important to me. a sign that sleep is becoming my friend again.

i woke up to rain in the middle of the night--seattle is apparently welcoming spring with a deluge of moisture from the heavens--and i snuggled back down and entered into dreamland. i woke up happy, basking in the warm glow of dreams whose details continue to elude me, like trying to catch a candle flame with my fingers.

my coworkers must have been likewise blessed with pleasant dreams and happy mornings, for the mood and the conversation as we made our daily pilgrimage down to starbucks turned playful.

discussing one of our favorite foods--bacon, otherwise known as 'the food of joy' to my boss--led one coworker to bring this up.

yep. really.

this one lingers. almost ruins my buzz.

source

wordless wednesday

2009-03-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

of tin cans and twine

2009-03-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

my internet's broke.

i sit here, perched, hardly breathing, willing my tenuous hold on this bit of the interwebs to hold for the briefest of moments; my pc card cobbling my connection to the rest of the webs like it's made of duct tape, twine and tin cans.

two days of radio silence. no email, no tv, my escape into books. i'm riding the waves of unknown seas, weaving spells of magic, forging new lives on the frontier, tedious parlor games, intrigue and love spoken in a glance. the hours pass by; i've forgotten to eat.

how many times can i re-read the same books? or continue to be enthralled by new ones?

again and again and again.

wordless wednesday

2009-03-11T17:51:00.001-07:00

i take that back

2009-03-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

actually, i don't think it's going to rain today. it promises to be a very fine day.

sunshine, crystal clear and c-o-l-d. driving in to work, i looked in one direction and saw the olympic mountains lit rosy pink from the dawn; in another, the cascades snowy white and sharp against the eastern horizon; to the south, i imagine mt rainier is visibly resplendent as well. have i mentioned lately that i love seattle?

spring still feels a long time coming, though. snow earlier this week and bitter cold followed a week of warmth and new blossoms.

patience, grasshopper.

i think it's going to rain today

2009-03-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

long time no bloggy

2009-02-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

nothing like some single origin Costa Rican chocolate ice cream and a glass of milk to chase away the last of the flu. oh, and old episodes of gilmore girls.

good to be back on the road to recovery.

wordless wednesday

2009-02-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

wordless wednesday

2009-02-04T21:58:00.001-08:00

rudely awakened

2009-01-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

my bed shook this morning, and i woke up about an hour before my alarm went off. disoriented, my brain tried to process the reason for my abrupt return to consciousness. sleepily, i decided one of my neighbors must've slammed the door really hard leaving just then (i am on the 2nd floor of 3, after all) and that would explain the thump.

nope.

my trip down to starbucks for my morning hot chocolate revealed that seattle had experienced an earthquake. my first earthquake!

ok, so it was only a 4.6, but still! how rude!

cinnamon

2009-01-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

small triumphs tonight.

somewhat defeated by my week, tonight i resolved to remain triumphant--however small that accomplishment may be. cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, bananas on my counter begging to become banana bread (with cinnamon crumble, a la orangette). mixing and measuring, listening to krcl streaming through my itunes--perfectly complementing the mouth-watering aroma of cinnamon, honey and bananas wafting out of my oven, coaxing me out of my funk.

apparently, the universe agreed by sending the following tunes via krcl my way.

and now, off to savor the sweet result of my success!

a little whimsy

2009-01-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

youtube video find 'o' the day that i stumbled across on another blog:

too much of a good thing?

2009-01-18T14:59:00.001-08:00

i went to costco yesterday.

funny. what didn't seem so big in the warehouse is enormous in the comparatively small scale of my itty-bitty abode. i might have to do something drastic. smitten kitchen's clementine cake just might do the trick.

or, i could just use it as a study in light and practice lighting techniques with my point & shoot.

or, i could just eat them.

help?

wordless wednesday

2009-01-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

discovery & bated breath

2009-01-09T22:29:00.001-08:00

my hard drive is whirring, my laptop becoming almost uncomfortably warm on my legs as i lie on the couch, tip-tapping this little keyboard. i may be overtaxing my poor overloaded little faithful friend, but maybe, just maybe, lappy will come through.

happy thought.

the background: i take a lot of pictures. a lot. an amateur (very) photographer, i always have my little point'n'shoot with me (my film slr too cumbersome & valuable to lug everywhere), and my 3 gigs of memory card fill up awfully quick. thusly, my hard drive has become overburdened. fear of complete and utter failure prompted me to spend most of last evening cleaning out my hard drive and creating a backup on my external drive.

tonight, however, finds me facing the daunting task of editing & compressing my thousands of photos. as self-designated photographer of most group outings, facebook friends, family, and flickr all beg to take a look-see. without any proper photo software, i have been limping my way, photo by tedious photo, through compression, rotation and resaving (sweating bullets that i don't overwrite my originals) using a basic photoviewing software that came factory-installed almost half a decade ago (!) on my little lappy. will i (and my hard drive) survive?

those of you more experienced photographers and digital veterans are probably laughing at my pathetic attempts. but, i'm still learning, and that's what matters, right? right? ok, ok, you can keep laughing.

i discovered a free resizer software program a few months ago, and forgot to figure it out. what took me so long? i could kick myself for not trying it before tonight. not only will it resize photos in batches, but allow me to overlay, crop, rotate, etc all with a few clicks of the mouse.

i decided it to test it tonight with a folder of photos from my trip to Forks/La Push last month (never fear, dear bloggy friends--post to follow--with pics, i hope!)

drumroll, please! i just resized 200 photos to 50% in a matter of 5 minutes. can i hear a 'hallelujah'?

i have never been so happy to see a windows status popup!

wordless wednesday

2009-01-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

tag

2009-01-03T22:35:00.000-08:00

so, i usually eschew participating in tags (sorry to those of you who have tagged me), mostly because i forget to do them. i stumbled across this particular flickr meme on a random blog and had to do it. i loved the look and the idea. so here's a little 'me', in found picture form.

1. Colorful stickiness: Erica at Stellenbosch, 2. Hot Chocolate, 3. Hanford Nuclear Site, WA, USA, 4. My purple all star for the first time at the park, 5. Paul Newman, 6. diet dr pepper at market street looking for love, 7. Te Rerenga Wairua - or Cape Reinga,Northland,New Zealand, 8. devil's food cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, 9. Photographer Angle - Kuwait, 10. A Ray of Sunshine, 11. A True Bookworm, 12. View from La Erita

Concept:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.http://www.flickr.com/search/

2. Using only the first page, pick an image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker. http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php (choose four columns and three rows, also choose individual URL's)

Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your nickname.

i tag: anyone who wants to do it.

searching

2009-01-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

i lost my cell phone today, along with my motivation.
fighting ambivalency, drowsiness and the increasing loads of unfolded fresh laundry.
a few more hours in this quickly disappearing day.
anecdote to deafening silence amid the chaos.
an answer to the question.
it's probably in the sofa cushions.

another year already?

2009-01-01T23:25:00.000-08:00

today i toyed with the idea of making a list of resolutions and posting it here. now that i sit down to compose said list, frankly, i'm bored with it. maybe later, maybe not. (off to a grand start, aren't we?)

so instead, you'll get this little snippet of a post in acknowledgment of new year's. i resolve not to feel guilty about it. there--how's that?

we kicked off new year's festivities last night at sasha's house in green lake. her porch affords a pretty good view of the space needle's fireworks display. i think all of seattle heaved a collective sigh of relief that the fireworks this year went off without a hitch.

we had plenty of sparkling cider, good food & good company to ring in the new year. i'm sure the neighbors didn't appreciate my exuberant noise making (one can have so much fun with a wooden spoon and a pot), but the festivities were rather short-lived as we quickly acknowledged our exhaustion and promptly headed for homes and beds.

as if new year's celebrations weren't enough, we added birthday festivities to agenda today, as someone actually has to work on her actual birthday. unfortunately, mom and dad got stuck in cle elum when they closed snoqualmie pass, then were foiled in leavenworth when stevens pass was closed for the day, and finally had to abandon seattle plans and trudge back to the tri-cities. (thanks for trying, though, mom & dad. wish you could've been here.)

the sisters, spouses, kids & i went to brunch at portage bay cafe (yummy), had a board games marathon, toyed with the idea of going shopping, then abandoned shopping for hanging out and playing with the nieces. jess cooked a fabulous dinner and then the entire company caravanned to the museum of flight for an evening of airplanes & memorabilia (i barely resisted the siren call of this cute bag), followed by the requisite scrumptious chocolate dessert, also made by the talented jessie.

all in all, a fun-filled day. the exhaustion is beginning to creep in, so i'll wrap this post up for now.

here's to another great year!

mash up

2008-12-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

axl & dave. . .doesn't get too much better'n that.

takes me back to that winter i stuffed my Walkman in my ski jacket and beat it on down the mountain, the ski slopes providing perfect background to my playlist of mötley crüe and guns 'n' roses. . .ah, the joys of mixed tapes.

my musical horizons have broadened since then and found me living in the land of nirvana, pearl jam and fleet foxes; my mixed tapes and walkman have been replaced with my handy-dandy digital player but that opening guitar riff of 'sweet child o' mine' still gets me every time.

thanks for the find, D!

merry christmas

2008-12-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

santa paid the nieces a visit

mr. snow heap

snowy sunset

Columbia River snow

winter sun

brr. bundled up sisters. it was cold on our walk!

the Jiberty and Nate did a great job battling snow on Snoqualmie Pass Christmas Eve.

as Riley says (many times): "happy merry christmas!"

go figure

2008-12-19T23:29:00.000-08:00

i'd totally forgotten that i'd set this up.

i just tried sending an email from my gmail account, and it popped up with a little warning window: "are you sure you want to send this? then answer these 5 simple math questions below." in 30 seconds (which was already counting down).

what?!

mental math? i hate mental math. especially when i'm tired. then i realized that it was 'google goggles', a Gmail labs tool meant to 'protect' one from drunk (or otherwise impaired, such as fatigued, in my case) emailing. cuz you can't take it back.

23 tense seconds later, i successfully wrangled the 5 arithmetic problems from my befuddled brain. good thing the last one was only "5x10" or i would've cried.

i set it up months ago as a test to see if it actually worked.. .google's been known to throw a few pranks in there, too.

and then forgot about it. until tonight.

thank you, google, for keeping me outtta trouble. . . .this'll get annoying after the 2nd time and will probably be disabled. but it was fun while it lasted!

the best laid plans o' mice & men

2008-12-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

i meant to put my christmas decorations up tonight.

really.

what with christmas music saturating the airwaves, neighborhoods twinkling in multi-colored lights, peppermint hot chocolate and huge baskets of goodies from vendors at work, one is powerless to resist the beckoning call of long-boxed christmas ornaments languishing in the closet, right?

sadly, reality instead consists of 'happy halloween' blocks still parading across my mantle, ghosts & goblins co-mingling with the half-unpacked christmas angels on my tv armoire, and good intentions squashed by 27 hours of frenetic work already under my belt this week. methinks there's a little seasonal confusion going on here.

perhaps tomorrow will find halloween banished & christmas happily reigning.

perhaps. perhaps. perhaps.

wordless wednesday

2008-12-03T19:40:00.001-08:00

I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy.

2008-12-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

'alright, mr. deMille, i'm ready for my close-up'

oh, and i've brought friends

what do you think it is? any guesses??

all right, all right, i won't keep you in suspense any longer (even though i, myself, do not know EXACTLY what it is, either). . .

dirty insulation? years accumulation of dust? maybe both, i dunno. but it's g-r-o-s-s. and it came to visit me today. just me. just my desk. even though 3 other desks exist in this room. filtering gently down through the air like some mutated snowflake, ready to coat my desk in grime and Grinch-colored fur.

ew.

ew. ew. ew.

thanks : giving

2008-11-27T23:03:00.000-08:00

a laundry list of sorts, in no particular order:

supportive & loving parents
sisters...sisters....there were never such devoted sisters!
brothers-in-law: seamlessly assuming roles of brothers in this almost boy-less family of mine
nieces--stolen tickles, happy smiles, precocious phrases
homemade rolls
butter
sleeping in
blue sky
light
the Atonement

memories
heavy blankets on a cold night
fresh fallen snow
steady income
modern medicine
friendships: old, worn & comfortable/new, fresh & exciting/mellowing with time
my Jeep
full tummy
highways
sun on my face

passports
the Constitution
service
rubber bands
education
getting lost in a good book
the power of touch
health
giggling
cuddling

beauty in the unexpected
belly-aching laughter
chocolate
music
chick flicks
good company
the internet
hot water
cameras
the coziness that rainfall outside and firelight inside brings, even in the dead of a seattle winter

soul-stretching challenges
the smell of fresh laundry
feet that can pound the pavement, mile after mile, all summer long
inspiring words from friends, strangers and those in-between
faith
the sound of water lapping the side of the boat on a lazy summer afternoon
the thrill of a new adventure
a song that resonates
sudden naps, stolen from an afternoon
voices of loved ones

wordless wednesday (not really)

2008-11-26T12:42:00.001-08:00

Columbia River scene

photo credit: Sally Ashbrook

as many of you know, i grew up in the Tri-Cities (Eastern Washington). a land of sagebrush, wind & dust, it also boasts the green beauty of vineyards, orchards and other irrigated agriculture, thanks to the bounty of the three rivers that converge there. it exudes a beauty all its own--one that growing up there slowly taught me to appreciate. i am eagerly anticipating crossing the state of washington today--watching the transition from lush green forest and mountains, to high mountain meadows, to desert sagebrush giving way to irrigated farmland.

i was pleasantly surprised to find the above print in Sally's collection (available for sale at http://sallyashbrook.com/photography/prints_for_sale) as it instantly reminded me of home and summers spent on the river. she's having an art giveaway on her blog, Aprovechar, and i *hope* i might be the lucky recipient of this beautiful photo to join my other B&W artwork in my home. For more info, check her blog post at http://aprovechar.danandsally.com/?p=470.

happy browsing, and cross your fingers for me!

wordy wednesday (and it's all right)

2008-11-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

steering wheel freezing, chilly fog and heavy traffic in my morning commute did not bode a promising start to my final day before Thanksgiving vacation (oh blessed 4-day weekend!). listlessly flipping on the radio, i hoped John in the Morning would weave his usual magic on KEXP and enlighten my day with some new (to me, at least) discovery.

without fail, john delivered: peter broderick's track followed on the tail of radiohead, fleet foxes, eddie vedder and simon & garfunkel. a fine mix for this somewhat lackluster start of a morning, peter's track "and it's all right" begged to be shared with you. clickety-click here for a listen-loo.

with the promise of a few days of pies, turkey, nieces, family, reading, visiting old friends, sleeping, shopping and relaxing ahead of me, today is getting better by the second.

happy thanksgiving eve, everyone!

november sun

2008-11-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

i wanted to curl up in this sunbeam today

silvery sunny clouds outside my balcony

juanita bay

cold november wind feels nice in my hair after my run

wishful thinking

here, now

2008-11-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

new workout
achy legs
long day
longer week
home
contented sigh
recent shower
damp hair
toasty toes
felted wool slippers
flickering firelight
grumbling stomach
anticipation
cinnamon toast
eggs done just right
hot chocolate on the stove
serendipity here and here
new pushing daisies
mundane
dishes
autumn
crisp outside
cozy inside

can't go back now

2008-11-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

sunday serenade & a little bit of silliness

2008-11-02T22:14:00.000-08:00

the gang gathered at monica & nate's tonight for a delicious dinner.

we had a surprise performance by riley (improvisational accompaniment by nate on the bass):

"uno attack" cards attacked our foreheads--too full of yummy food to resist:

emma was her usual cute self:

there was pie, homemade rolls, laughter and dancing. great ending to a great weekend!

a bit of Halloween fun

2008-10-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

my work gets into the Halloween spirit. whole teams decorate their office space (sanitoriums, haunted houses, bourbon street a la new orleans, asteroid belts, pirate ships, you name it, i've seen it in cubicle form). my team this year was rock band, complete with 3 members of KISS (6'4" gene simmons & all). needless to say, our morning foray down to starbucks for hot chocolate and coffee garnered many grins and guffaws.

due to procrastination & lack of inspiration, my participation was going to be merely that of silent, invisible supporter. but a trip to my local halloween store found me purchasing 2 cheap wigs for my teammate and myself.

one pair of chuck taylors, jeans, a Weezer T, and a ratty 'club' wig (evoking more 'mad scientist' than chic clubber) later, i was a groupie. happy Halloween!

it's. . .pun'kin time!

2008-10-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

the gang at Jessie & Michael's, ready for some serious pumpkin art: Michael, Riley, Monica, Nathan, and Jessie (clockwise from left)--and me, behind the camera

the beginning of my 'trick or treat' design

my beautiful niece riley, excited to be 'helping' carve the 'punkins' ("you made a mistake, erica? it's ok. you have to start over" was her constant refrain of comfort to my many 'dang it!'s)

concentrating hard on my design

say 'cheese!'

my work in progress slowly taking shape

showtime!

the proud (and tired) carvers

(many more pics to follow; this is only day 1 of 3 of the pumpkin marathon!)

pushing the envelope

2008-10-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

apparently, i am still alive. and i still like to blog. and fortunately, i can still cook.

at work today i sighed as i pulled the single serving carton of Pacific butternut squash soup out of my desk drawer. i was heartily sick of the flavor due to overconsumption, but bound and determined not to pay a pricey visit to the overfrequented but vastly convenient deli downstairs. why didn't i have any lunch to bring to work? oh yeah, no leftovers.

the last month or two has found me practically a stranger to the kitchen, whether from lack of time/money/groceries/energy or just plain absence from home and more enticing dinner invitations elsewhere.

and what food tempted me tonight to pull out the pots and pans, search through the pantry and dig out the freezer?

capers.

oh, and mushrooms.

throw in a little chicken (floured and into a hot pan) and voila! my own hybrid rendition of chicken picatta. sure, i didn't have asparagus or artichoke hearts (prominent players in my favorite restaurant version), but after combing several different sites for chicken picatta and italian lemon butter chicken, i took a deep breath and dived right in.

i think if i'd thought about it a little longer, i would've been intimidated and probably chickened out. probably.

because baking is a precise science and my preferred from of culinary expression, i am most comfortable following a recipe to a T. deciding to improvise my own recipe by combining what sounded best out of the 3 recipes i found tonight? living on the edge!

it could've been disastrous--having never made my own floured chicken cutlets, or a cream sauce more complicated than a roux, i also realized half way through that i didn't have all of the ingredients each of the recipes called for. bacon? nope, but i didn't really want it. fresh lemon juice? no lemon--but i did have some lemon juice. no white wine? hopefully the little carton of chicken stock i had in the pantry would do in a pinch. i'm putting HOW much butter into my lemon cream butter sauce? *gulp* so much for eating healthy tonight. definitely didn't think this one through.

one intense but satisfying and informative hour later, i had a beautiful entree i was proud of. and it was delicious. i even have enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

next project? dust off those running shoes!

irony

2008-10-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

my car broke down yesterday. not the one i am currently driving (courtesy of my wonderful papa) but my car--my Jeep Liberty, otherwise fondly known as 'the Jiberty'.

swapping cars with my dad for the summer (better gas mileage for me, a boat-towing vehicle for him) was going to be a step forward, right? WRONG, dead wrong. since driving our respective borrowed vehicles--that have never given us trouble, by the way--we have each replaced dead batteries and dysfunctional lights (taillight on my jeep for my dad, headlight on the hyundai for me). a few weeks ago the hyundai's alternator died, virtually stranding me for a weekend until brad swooped in and became my personal chauffuer for the day.

yesterday evening, on the way back to the tri-cities, the jeep decided to throw a fit for my dad and have a temper tantrum. in granger. complete with billowing steam from under the hood and disconcerting rattling noise.

sigh.

now the water pump needs to be replaced in my jeep. i'm beginning to suspect our cars have conspired together to pout and misbehave, although it is rather considerate of them to take turns, i guess. can you give a car a good spanking?

"you're not good at costumes, erica"

2008-09-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

so said my darling niece riley tonight, after several unsuccessful attempts to attire her as a monkey. it was harder than it looked!

wordless wednesday

2008-09-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

dodged a bullet

2008-09-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

while driving out to sammamish tonight i noticed, with no small amount of consternation, several indicator lights faintly glowing on my dashboard. the lack of exuberance in their illumination, however, caused me to question their sincerity. was something truly wrong with my emergency brake and battery? the next stop light proved the former to be false--the ebrake light practically blinded me when i fully engaged it. hmmmm. i didn't quite know how i was going to alleviate my doubt of the battery light.

speed dial daddy on my cell phone--no matter he's all the way across the state--his calm voice walked us through the symptoms. perplexed, we agreed that i would check back in before i began the 20+minute drive back from sammamish late this evening.

recounting the events of the evening as i headed back into redmond i suddenly noticed my irritatingly bright clock was now just a dim outline and my headlights didn't seem to shine as eagerly. uh oh. i still had 15 minutes of somewhat dark back roads to navigate. was i going to make it?

other indicator lights began to flicker on. this was not good. thank goodness for street lamps and running lights; conserving as much energy as possible, i pulled into my covered spot after what seemed like forever and switched off the car. curiosity compelled me to turn the key over again--whimper, click, click. click click. click. nothing. she was dead. we'd barely made it.

bummer.

guess i'll be trying to buy a new battery (let's hope it's not the alternator!) instead of planting trees for a service project tomorrow. i'm sure the inconvenience will sink in more fully tomorrow, but tonight i just feel blessed.

play day

2008-09-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

i'm off to the puyallup fair today!

a day off of work, a day spent with the adorable nieces, a day full of roasted corn, elephant ears, and lemonade, a day of sunshine and fun.

wordless wednesday

2008-09-10T21:37:00.001-07:00

crickets

2008-09-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

or, rather, birdsong on the autumn air outside my window, the smell of my neighbor's bbq wafting in on smoky breeze, the poignant silence from the absent family that lived downstairs until sunday took them to new adventures. simple soundtrack to a mellow evening. it's been awhile since i've updated you, dear reader, on the adventures of erica, but frankly, i don't have anything witty, or inspiring, or exciting to share. unfortunately for you, i feel like writing anyway. i won't hold it against you if your attention wanders to more engrossing arenas.

my run went better today. that's a start. yesterday's was a painful reminder that i've been neglecting my newly acquired habit; lead feet and mediocre songs exacerbated an already distracted mind. however, run i did. at least the struggle of that run centered my flitting thoughts in one focused beam of physical perseverance. i fell into bed last night, more sleepy than i'd been in awhile. with the relative ease of today's run and the memories of a beautiful pre-sunset evening run by the lake to keep me company, sleep should find me a ready participant tonight.

it continues to surprise me how life can be such a dynamic, will-'o'-the wisp experience. one week finds me expecting the next week to continue down a certain path; bewilderingly, the next week may find me someplace completely different than i had anticipated. while the uncertainty and wonder of the subtle transition from future to present has held some serendipitous surprises as well as some staggering disappointments, i find myself wishing, for the moment, i could see a little farther ahead.

regardless of my lack of foresight, i find i am continually blessed with new opportunities to refine myself, my ideas, my beliefs and my core as each experience is assimilated and i am held to measure--a painful and joyous continual evolution of self-discovery. i must say, that this future/present/past has been far different than what i would've pictured for myself.

right now, the puzzle that makes up my life feels like some bits and pieces are missing here and there. while i'm reconciling myself to those bits that remain out of my control, i'm slowly searching for those pieces that i can meld into place. decisions await and reluctance is dominant at the moment as i slowly gather my courage and my wits.

in the meantime, i've had some wonderful weekends and breathtaking moments of beauty that sparkle in each day. i wish my mind was somehow digitized and i could download the pictures of these last couple weeks to share them with you. the sun on my face and the sound of the water lapping the boat as i lazed on the river with my parents this past weekend. the elements of design found in the builder's parade of homes i visited with my mom, the pride i felt as her house swept almost all of the awards at the ceremony last friday night. the comfort of a father's blessing and the safety of family. the joy of birthdays celebrated for good friends, laughter and conversation keeping good company. the view of mt. adams and mt. rainier in the crystal clear sky on both legs of the journey across washington state.

a night out with the girls at the triple door 2 weeks ago, noah's wonderful lyrics and beautiful voice pairing well with the delicious food, followed the next morning by introducing 2 good friends to the wonders of saturday brunch at maltby cafe. the decadent luxury of mid-day movie watching, a meandering walk through the neighborhood with impulsive gathering of the season's first plump, juicy blackberries. stolen nap on that afternoon and dinner and another movie. sisters, bro-in-laws and nieces all gathered for sunday dinner. nate coming to my rescue with a replacement headlight. watching my niece, emma, truly walk for the first time (and applaud herself for it, too!). it's been a good summer, hasn't it?

agony, easy bake ovens & electrical fires

2008-09-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

this morning was one of those mornings. you know, when work is not at all appealing and facing the day seems insurmountable? yep, that kind of morning.

with a sigh, i climbed out bed, said my prayers, numbly got ready for work and steeled myself for a loooooong day.

i wasn't disappointed:
730 am--punch the clock.
8 am--no Starbucks run for my usual morning hot chocolate.
9am--had Starbucks, but time is still crawling
10 am--what? it's only been 1 hour? oh dear.
AGONY!
11 am--finally!! lunchtime! that HAS to pass some time.
1115 am--shoot. i should've eaten slower.
noon--hmmm. cleaned out my email inbox.
115 pm-- transmitted a payroll. now what?
130 pm--happily distracted by easybake ovens on ebay--diversion courtesy of idle conversation with coworker regarding cooking, as usual. boss, coworker and i surprised to see that an original 1964 easybake oven--complete with original packaging, no less!--is only $9.99!
140 pm--back to work: more emails to answer, problems to solve, questions to answer, paychecks to cut
2 pm--3rd phone call of the day with lame payroll company that shall remain nameless--this time i only had to wait 3 minutes to speak to a live person-yay!
203 pm--phone call goes dead. what the?!?
lights flicker on and off like something out of 'poltergiest' and computers on each side of me black out (stupid desktops). miraculously (or not) my computer remains on. hmmm. what's going on?
fitful flickers of light overhead, threatening migraine inducement. in the hallway outside the payroll cave where my team and i reside, i can hear murmurs of surprise and consternation. could it possibly be? trying not to get my hopes up, i watch my computer. . .power still on. . .
205 pm--my computer goes black. YES!!! the power is OUT and my battery backup died!
207 pm--still holding my breath--it's too good to be true--i go investigate. poor people-- everyone else in the company has laptops (except for the payroll team: security/data theft paranoia or wisdom, i haven't decided)--heads down, faces illuminated by the glow of their monitors, some are feverishly trying to continue to work.
220 pm--still no power, no news, no idea.
230 pm--fire trucks arrive outside, and rumors of a fire start circulating. maybe the construction guys tripped something while renovating Bill Gates' new office upstairs?
231 pm--funny, no fire alarm. hmmm. should i be worried?
235 pm--no ETA on restoration of power, but they did find out it was due to an electrical fire. here? yikes! no, don't worry, it's in the power vault in the street outside our building. phew!
245 pm--ice cream party in the cafe! 7 gallons of ice cream about to melt; hmm, guess i'll have to take one for the team
3 pm--still not able to work, due to continued powerlessness of said desktop computer and continuing darkness of payroll cave. time to go!! see ya!

freedom! i could hardly believe my good fortune. nothing helps pass the time like a power outage and ensuing chaos. the sun is shining and i can get a head start on my errands.

ironically, now that i am sitting on my couch, composing this entry, my motivation to continue powering through my to-do list is waning. i should sign off and salvage what is left of my willpower and be productive. cheerio!

i as i and not as we

2008-08-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

jogging today (and last week) has been one balm that soothes the soul--a time to reflect, meditate, ponder, muse, cogitate, growl, stand back, contemplate, release, decide, refresh. accompanied by random selections on my ipod, some songs resonate on certain days along with the weather and my run goes smoothly. other days, each step is a struggle and only constant mental vigilance keeps each foot pounding the pavement and all thoughts are overwhelmed in the sheer physical demand on my body.

taking my new shoes out for their inaugural run tonight, the sky was glowering and threatening rain, the lake was whipped into steely-gray chop, the gray rain-laden clouds chasing each other across the sky in front of the wind. heedless of the potential downpour, out i went, ipod shuffle pinned to my shoulder, anticipating a struggle as i hadn't run since last saturday. to my surprise, the rain held off, the shoes performed admirably and the tunes kept matching my mood. how much better life felt when i stopped to look out over the lily pads, saw the ducklings feed, the turtles 'sunning' sans-sun on their logs--and lo, behold, the late-slanted sun made a peek-a-boo appearance through the trees onto the bay--the beauty nearly took my breath away (what little breath i had left from running, that is). wishing i had my camera, i concentrated on fixing the image in my mind, hoping it remains. time will tell.

i'm dusting myself off this week. some of you know, and many may have guessed, that my whirlwind of the last couple weeks has ended rather abruptly. ouch. in retrospect, i knew this was a possibility (the ending part) but it's the 'abruptly' part that stings and lingers. and frankly, i think i'd fallen harder than i wanted to admit to myself at the time--it all seemed so surreal and fast and incomprehensible. this new 'development' has taken awhile to sink in and process--i think i may have only accepted it today.

at least i am discovering how resilient i can be, once again.

mixed emotions

2008-08-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

it's raining, again. and honestly? tonight i like it. the little patter and drip of water as it hits my windows and falls through the evergreen outside, the 'tink-tink' as some of it hits the rain gutters. not quite cold enough for a fire in the fireplace but necessitating some candlelight instead. cozy. calm. peaceful.

i think i may be relinquishing my hope for further summer and resigning myself to impending autumn. summer was fun, if brief; autumn here can be beautiful. i'll embrace it.

shoot, i guess that means i should clean out my closet and dig out my sweaters. . .i don't know if i'm quite ready to relinquish that part of summer--reef flip flops, capris, pedicures, sunglasses, short sleeves, sun on my face--too soon to say "fare-thee-well!" at least labor day weekend should offer one final 'hurrah'.

switzerland

2008-08-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

two nations at war: india and vietnam.

ok, not really--actually just the indian mango curry i had for lunch and the vietnamese pho' i had for dinner. apparently i wasn't diplomatic enough in their introduction to each other, for rumblings in the stomach have begun. can't i just be neutral territory and allow everyone to come visit?

but now that i think about it, maybe i'm just hungry again. have you ever had pho'? this was my first taste. delicious but insubstantial, it consists of broth, rice noodles, some beef (or chicken or whatever tickles your fancy), sprouts, thai basil, and that's about it. maybe i'd better go investigate my fridge. . .

in other news, my hometown made the map today--specifically Hanford nuclear reservation and the 'B' reactor reaching designated "national historic landmark" status. yay for unusual places to grow up.

of s'mores, giant statues of communist leaders, zeek's, and birthday cake

2008-08-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

beautiful saturday weather demanded leisurely wandering through some of seattle's neighborhoods. lured to fremont by theo's chocolate factory "s'mores daze", sasha & i indulged in fresh s'mores roasted right there outside the factory, replete with freshmade goodness (from the buttery graham crackers to gooey marshmallows--can i ever go back to storebought?) and one of their many delicious chocolates (my favorite is 'bread & chocolate', followed closely by the single-origin 'ivory coast dark chocolate'). i even managed to save some chocolate for later, courtesy of a sneaky drip of melted chocolate that oozed its way onto my shirt for discovery halfway through our walk.

naturally, a trip to fremont begs imitating the art that is scattered and tucked away throughout the streets. home to the fremont troll, the neighborhood also boasts sundry works of art, such as the large bronze statue of lenin below.

lenin glares over the traffic at the intersection of fremont place, NE 36th st, and evanston ave N.

entertaining the traffic--lenin and mini-me

it was also carole's birthday, so we meandered over to zeek's pizza and stuffed ourselves full of their delicious pie. of course, no birthday would be complete without birthday confection, so back into fremont we went and visited 'simply desserts' for some cake by the slice. (i maintain 'simply desserts' is a misnomer, as their menu consisted entirely of various layer cakes and 2 types of cookie). misleading moniker aside, they do make fantastic cakes. fortunately, i still have some of the chocolate carmel layer cake to enjoy today for breakfast. thanks for having a birthday, carole!

soundtrack 'o' the day

2008-08-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

i constantly have music running through my head--a little soundtrack to my life, if you will.

what i woke up with this morning:

what chased it away 'bout mid-morning:

tonight

2008-08-21T23:34:00.000-07:00

as my grandpa dale would say '"the only thing better than the food is the company." so true tonight.

i have recently started hosting a weekly 'game night' at my casa every thursday. informal and flexible, the number of attendees has varied from week to week.

tonight was just the 3 of us: brad, windy and me. perfect recipe for a mood change: good conversation, new card games, lots of yummy cookies, chips and salsa with cream cheese, learning how to use "shazam" on brad's new iPhone (luuuucckyyyy), rootbeer, random music on the iPod.

win or lose, it helps put everything into perspective, doesn't it?

a little sampling of what i've been up to lately. . .

2008-08-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

wordless wednesday

2008-08-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

guilty pleasures

2008-08-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

i called in sick to work today. yes, there really was a stomachache involved. and i was exhausted.

how good it felt to roll over and go back to sleep. later, to hold still and blissfully ignore the demands of a work day, watching the sunshine flicker across the blinds in my front room, doze if i felt like it, and read. lots of reading. i'm currently engrossed in frank hebert's dune and relish the stretch on my imagination.

when the rain came in tonight and chased away my summer seattle sun, i didn't mind as much as i thought i would. perfect excuse to get lost in my book again.

surfacing

2008-08-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

hello all.

a week of silence must be banished.

where do i begin?

tonight was an evening of butterfly knife tricks, beat boxing, water drinking, cello & vocal performance, human pin cushion (yowch--i couldn't watch), "bum jumping' with a jump rope (must be seen to be believed), hand stands, and much, much laughter. who knew one room could hold so many talented 'un-talented' people?

today was rain, dinner with my folks, tagging out-of-touch loved ones with voicemail, exhaustion & recovery, and just plain monday.

how does a week fly by so fast, and a monday work day stretch on forever?

as Lord Caversham put it in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, "well, make it Tuesday, sir, make it Tuesday."

tomorrow

2008-08-11T00:11:00.001-07:00

will come too early. i know i should be asleep right now.

but i am not.

monday will come too soon. time flies by too fast, i hate to spend it sleeping. oddly enough, i love sleep, but feel this need to remain awake, in every sense of the word.

i know, i know. tomorrow will come anyway.

*sigh* off to bed. thanks for listening to me ramble.

checking in

2008-08-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

for those of you wondering if i'm still alive, never fear. the roller coaster that is my life has been a wild one these past weeks, and the end is not yet in sight.

the lows of work chaos have been chased by evenings of wii, dancing, games & good conversation, however, so i can't complain. life is pretty good. not too exciting...but i will leave you with a video of the day:

one of the millions, i'm sure

2008-08-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

i am a huge bookworm. i read anything and everything i can get my hands on. it's entirely too easy for me lose track of hours, practically days when i get a new book.

so when i realized that an eagerly-anticipated book was coming out today, i carved some time in my day for it. i knew if i didn't finish it this weekend, it will keep me up too late at night during the week as i try to finish it.

with that in mind, i met my friend windy down at juanita bay park with a picnic blanket, some munchies, and the afternoon free. a slight breeze in the trees, rustling leaves, sunlight glinting off the lake, sun playing hide-n-seek with the clouds--perfect 'get lost in a book' weather.

3.5 hours later, i only resurfaced when the call of my stomach grumbling demanded i pay attention to reality. guess it's a good thing i'm a fast reader.

windy pulled me abruptly back into reality (temporarily) when her camera shutter clicked to document the experience:

sigh of relief

2008-08-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

ah, this week is finally over, and it's a beautiful day! the weekend yawns invitingly free ahead of me-full of play and hopefully very little work.

work was crazy, hectic, embarrassing, frantic, and never-ending (or so it seemed to my increasingly frazzled brain). fortunately, time does pass, and i'm sure i learned some valuable lesson here. or at least i hope so. every impossibly distressful situation somehow turns out for my good--maybe this is leading me down the path of change that i am continually looking for.

at least i had refuge--fun social activites, great friends, pizza, good books, milkshakes, running, sisters, dinner invitations--these were the keepers of my sanity this week. here's to everyone who let me cry on their shoulder or blab in their ears. y'all are the best. i'm off to begin my play!

argggh, matey

2008-07-31T09:17:00.001-07:00

so i'm standing in the starbucks line with my boss this morning, waiting for my hot chocolate, just people watching in general.

there's 4 King County Sheriffs in line in front of me, chatting and laughing while they wait for their coffee. While i'm (silently) observing that apparently, the Marine Division can wear Keen sandals with their uniforms (i'm at the Carillon Point Marina), the officer right in front me drops his sunglasses, knocking out one lens. as another customer hands back the lens, the sheriff puts the sunglasses back on his face with only one lens, squints with one eye, and says "arghhhh. new look". i was laughing sooooo hard. pirate sheriffs in honor of seafair's blue angels practice flyover today, maybe?

wordless wednesday

2008-07-30T21:30:00.001-07:00

tuesday is usually girls' night

2008-07-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

where monica and i carpool over to jessie's and hang out, eat some good food, maybe go running, play some rock band and most importantly, spend time with my adorable nieces.

sadly, we had to cancel tonight, and i find that i'm missing my girls. i thought i'd share some fairly recent pics of emma & riley. emma is now 9 months--learning to climb things, standing for a few seconds, and laughing and clapping all the time. riley, who is such a good big sister, is now over 3 years old and quite the little person. her giggling laugh is so infectious and her facial expressions just priceless.

emma & grandpa at the Columbia River temple, Father's Day 08

i love her cute expressions

beautiful riley, columbia river temple, father's day 08

one of my favorite pics of riley
i had fun just taking random shots with my camera that day, and lo & behold, some of them turned out

confession

2008-07-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

so, i am kind of a 'word addict'. i used to subscribe to 'word 'o' the day' emails from merriam-webster.com. nerdy, i know. (another true confession--i do have a WOTD widget on my iGoogle homepage. there, it's out.)*

while at fhe tonight, a couple of friends and i got involved in this discussion of perspective and the nuances of various words. i.e. does not staying in any relationship for long classify one as "shallow" and "superficial"? my friend held that opinion; i disagreed, but that's neither here nor there. what the conversation evolved to was one's own perception and how it affected everything. i proffered the theory (which i've heard vaguely somewhere)--for the sake of the discussion and not necessarily embraced by me--that the only 'reality' that exists is what one has experienced and everything else is a facade, hypothetical, theoretical, etc. to which he replied, "well, if you're a solipsist, i can see that theory would hold true."

huh?

crickets.

brain churning. here was a word i've never heard before. stunned, i chose to ignore my ignorance and moved on in the conversation, but silently promising myself to look it up once i got home. cowardly, eh?

so here you go , my dear readers. expand your vocabulary and save yourselves from conversational cowardice:

(clickety-click here): solipsist

*todays WOTD is 'straddle'

party time

2008-07-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

i'm going to a festival, parade and BBQ tonight and i have some reasons to celebrate:

i just ate a bowl of cheerios with fresh raspberries--incredibly delicious
i've already vacuumed my front room and cleaned the kitchen today--check check
successful completion of my '9-week pr ogram'--i can now call myself a 'dedicated' but not necessarily 'disciplined' runner
horrendous work situation alleviated--sweet relief
it's the weekend--'nuff said

it's another gorgeous summer day in seattle--so i'm signing out of cyberspace and heading outside!

what a gorgeous day

2008-07-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday was amazing. i went for my usual 30 min run/jog along Juanita Beach & Juanita Bay Park (nice paths, beautiful view) in the most perfect weather i could ask for.

me in all my post-run glory

i'm feeling pretty proud of myself--this is my 8th week straight of running 3x/week, without missing a day!! thanks to monica's encouragement and research, we have gone from couch potatoes to 5k-ers.

back to my saturday--as i mentioned above, i love the juanita bay area. i wish i could capture the beauty of the day that met my eyes as i meandered around the swimming area at the bay, cooling down. here's my meager attempt (the pictures here don't do it justice; they're better viewed full-size--just click on the pic):

quite a few of the apartments along the lake offer mooring for boats--lucky!

against the trees you can just barely see the walkway i run down between juanita beach and juanita bay park

the walkway surrounding the swimming area at juanita beach. on windy days, it's really popular with kite boarders (the swimming area and outside the walkway, not the walkway itself, btw)

a view of juanita bay park from juanita beach. juanita bay park used to be an old golf course where ladies could golf for a quarter in the early 1900s. a hard battle to keep the wetlands from reclaiming the course, the city of kirkland eventually turned it into a park and a wildlife refuge. there are park benches on the old golf course berms and boardwalks and observation points that look out over the bay where turtles sun, blue herons stare, even the occasional bald eagle visits.

apparently i wasn't the only one wishing for a boat ride today. the duck on top of the sun platform looks like he's waiting to hop into that life jacket to go for a ski.

mama duck and ducklings--fast little swimmers.
i had a hard time keeping them in the frame of my camera.

the rest of my saturday was just as enjoyable. got my car washed while i sat in the sunshine. read a book in the park for an hour or so. cooked dinner (grilled cheese & chocolate milk) for windy while we chatted and planned. watched penelope, one of my favorite movies. made homemade guacamole. all in all, a great day.

moments

2008-07-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

i love those little moments that materialize out of nowhere--you know, those quiet, 'eureka' moments--when you realize your crummy day has turned itself around and suddenly, surprisingly, you realize that at this moment in time you are happy.

maybe it was the interesting conversations i had at fhe. maybe it was the sense of accomplishment from completing one of 3 visiting teaching appointments. maybe it was the mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich that accompanied said conversations at fhe. maybe it was the sunset during the drive home (at 9pm! i love living this far north), all pink, gold, blue and purple.maybe it was the cool summer evening breeze through my car windows. maybe it was the glimpse of the hot air balloon hovering over the farm field in the valley near my house. maybe it was the song on the radio.

maybe, just maybe, it was all of the above, coalescing together in one pure moment of consciousness.

at least the sadness and frustration and stress of the day has been banished, for a time. i can relish right now, refreshed, and face it all again tomorrow.

i have triumphed

2008-07-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

my indecision was vanquished with a vengeance.

dinner: grilled chicken roulade (my first attempt)--one with goat cheese and pesto, another with Havarti, dill & chives. i threw an avocado on the grill for good measure. mmmm.

having now examined said 'decision', maybe indecision just morphed instead of surrendering--2 types of chicken? and now i can't decide which i liked better. . .i'll never win, i guess.

but my tummy is happy, and my guilt is overthrown. now if i can just snap my fingers and have the chaos that is now my kitchen and grill disappear--mary poppins, where are you?

indecision

2008-07-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

is my nemesis.

stomach growling, i can't even decide what to cook for dinner. grill some chicken breasts with goat cheese and pesto? or a hot dog? or just have a glass of milk?

passively i occupy myself for a moment or two, surprised that it's taking so long. how come nothing's happened? yet, instead, all i end up with is a rumbly stomach and guilt.

why is this so difficult?

let's blame it on my cold. go away cold and bring me back my willpower.

true true

2008-07-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

monica, i finally found it!

with my penchant for movie/pop culture quotes (monica & i can hold whole conversations using only quotes from obscure movies, btw) i'm always quoting "true, true". this commercial has somehow been overlooked by the general population for some mysterious reason, thusly nobody gets me. well, let me enlighten you.

whaaaazzzzuuuup.

sudden summer thunderstorm

2008-07-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

welcome relief from the heat. . .even makes the mediocre movie i'm watching seem just a little more bearable.

the sound of rain falling outside open windows, thunder cracking in the distance, cool drafts of rain-scented air wafting in.

wordless wednesday

2008-06-11T22:55:00.001-07:00

you may call me "chancellor of cheese"

2008-06-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

this commercial cracks me up. not mention i hardly ever see my name on tv. . .

wordless wednesday

2008-05-21T07:22:00.000-07:00