my favorite yarn

"Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy." MLK jr.

I can't believe we're here.  I rejoice, as fundamentally as I can.  Our unique minds have banded together to move forward, upward...we are better than before and we will be better still.  We have hope.  We are here. 

My thoughts are with my country today, tonight and tomorrow.  I am a patriot and proud.  I've never watched the ideals of a nation I believe in precede agenda, individuals and motives.  Change is not possibility, but the living moments we breathe in NOW.  We are living it now.  We are living change in our lifetime.

Tomorrow is the new word, the new hope.  This is what we stand for.  Remember it and tell it.  We are history.  We are illuminated.

merry christmas!

Back to say happy holidays!  I hope everyone is safe and warm (and able to travel to family and friends).  Here in Portland we've been the grudging recipients of about a foot and a half of snow.  As a Chicagoan, this is nothing, but the infrastructure of the northwest simply isn't prepared for this kind of snow.  I haven't been to work in, I swear, in FIVE days.  FIVE.  My car is cemented in the driveway and every single bus route by my house has been cancelled.  Craziest damn thing I ever saw.  But I'm absolutely loving it.  Going a little stir crazy, sure, but I finished everything for the holidays.  Cookies, cards, parcels...everything.  I even started designing and working a quilt into existence.  I haven't had this much time on my hands in years. There's been time to enjoy the preparation of family recipes, spend time on the phone with the women in my family, carrying on the same traditions on the other side of the country.  I love it, really.  Nothing is rushed and I have time to savor every moment, to feel the weight of past and present.  It did suck though, when I ran out of eggs and couldn't go to the store. 

Happiest holidays and a bright New Year to you all!

...

taking a break.  probably just a little one, but I need to breathe and regroup. need to think forward.  see where i need to go.

see you in a while.

trying.

So I don't have time for anything right now.  That's what it feels like.  Not for knitting, not for sewing.  Nothing.  So I've just decided to have my camera with me all the time and take photos.  It keeps me looking at my life creatively, even if I don't necessarily have time to fashion anything with my own two hands.  I am also making an overwhelming effort to leave the house more.  It was starting to feel like work-sleep-work-sleep-eat-work-work-work-work for a while there (note the "forgetting to eat" aspect of that equation).  Going and doing something after work for an hour or two makes my days seem less tied down.  Leaving the house for a bit on my days off so I'm not catching up with stuff around the house and resenting it later.  I'm not going to feel like this forever.  It's a new position at work, some corporate "reorganizing" immediately after that, and the stress that goes along with it.  So I'm trying to be proactive even when things are difficult and busy.

Here's what I've been out doing this past week or so:

 

 

went to Powell's Books

 

spent the afternoon in st. johns.

went to a really nice get-together at our friend's house.

 

found time for breakfast.  in a cafe.  not at my desk.

my mom and aunt came to visit.

 

Went to this really funny yard sale given by a boy scout troop and hit my personal thrifting jackpot.  A complete Spirograph!  It was the only thing I wasn't alllowed to take from my parents' house years ago.  Specifically, my mom forbade me.  It was hers and awesome and I wouldn't have let anyone take it either.  The one I found still has the booklet and cardboard and pins and everything.  So happy.

...and a really peaceful morning.  Finally.  Coffee with my friend over at Stumptown.

Today my boss was fired.  It was a layoff and had nothing to do with her, but it has been a difficult day.  She was the one who hired me and gave me the opportunites I have now.  I am so sorry to see her go.  There isn't really a lot to say.

I'm thinking of you, lady.  You will be missed. 

hey!

this week:

I got a new haircut.

I made a new friend.

I started remodling my kitchen.

I baked some cupcakes.

I got a promotion. 

Not a bad week.

See you Monday.

photobooth friday

Yesterday, my good friend Amy and I met up at the Florida Room, something we do once or twice a week.  It's a good, solid place.  Normal people, my favorite beer on tap, right in between our houses, etc. 

Yesterday, the Florida Room gods rewarded our frequent patronage.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, I love this bar, but it would be perfect if they had a photobooth.  Like, every time we go, I say something to that effect.  Who would disagree with that?  No one.

So we're sitting there, enjoying this perfect 78 degree day after a string of 50 degree dark and rainy weeks, and this woman comes up to us, clutching a fat stack of singles. 

"Hey, do you guys want to try the new photobooth?  It's free."

"There's a photobooth now??"

"Yeah, I just spent all day fixing it and now I really want people to use it."

Amy and I look at each other and then basically produce this whirling blur of us grabbing our stuff and running to the back.  There it was, slightly too big for it's corner, a silvery retro green.  And it was exactly where we used to sit in the back room.  Ah, meaningful photobooth, we love you. 

A swipe of lip gloss and the pull of a curtain, my weekly happiness was cemented.

the game

Because instead of doing actual things anymore, I go to work and screw around on the internet.  That's it.  So enjoy. 

1. megan corridor, 2. Pain au Chocolat / Amandes, 3. pens, 4. Marigold, Sikar, Rajasthan, India, 5. Max Fischer is THE sex, 6. gin tonic, 7. Out of nowhere, 8. Mini Pineapple Upsidedown Cake, 9. Looking Down, 10. shag, 11. DEEP SEA HARDHAT DIVER #8 "NO EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH", 12. Untitled

THE RULES:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

And here are the questions:

1.What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. Where did you go to high school?
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 flickr name.

partager (to share)

Now that I think about it, I don't think that's the proper use of that verb.  It means to share in the sense of dividing something up, equally distributing.  I suppose I could make the case that sharing information falls in that category, but I'd be wrong.  But that's what you get for speaking rather rotten french and insisting on "sprinkling" it throughout your daily life.  Incorrect verbs get you a whole mess of trouble.  Usually with boys. 

 

Kidding.

 

Onto the sharing.  I'm not usually a meme/survey sort of girl, but I was intrigued by this one here.  I can be voraciously private, but I just liked this one and thought it would be fun, so I'm throwing caution to the wind:

 

Three ways you are stereotypically a girl:

 

1. I f-ing love lip gloss.  A lot.

 

2. I am unabashed and undeniable gossip.  It's terrible and not something I'm proud of or anything, but I love to know secrets and always make certain I do.  It's never malicious and I don't spread rumors, the trademark of a practiced gossip who keeps friends.  But anything going on anywhere...I'll know about it.  You won't ever know that I do, but I'm sort of freakishly one step ahead of the game.  My intuition is amazing.  Every date, breakup, argument, flirtation.  People love to tell me things.  Sit me down with a cup of coffee or a good drink and I'll spill.  Or you will.  And so you don't think I'm a terrible person, most of the secrets I tell are my own.

 

3. Sewing, knitting, baking.  Wouldn't be the same without 'em.  True love, each and every one.

 

Three ways you are stereotypically a boy:

 

1. Most of my friends are guys.  Always have been.  I'm just more comfortable around them. 

 

2. I'm a little insensitive sometimes.  This is something very few people know and are generally surprised to find out.  Specifically around relationships, I can detach myself and simply cease to be present.    

 

3. I can eat ANYTHING.  I mean, I'm super picky about stuff, but if I eat a hot dog or something, I order it with absolutely everything piled on top (chili cheese fries on the side) and polish it off before most dudes have even started.  I've both mortified and impressed many men with my appetite.     

 

 

Three of your everyday essentials:

 

1. cell phone

 

2. to-do list

 

3. cup of coffee

 

 

What was I doing ten years ago? 

 

Wrapping up high school.  Generally dreaming I was somewhere else.

 

 

Five things on your to-do list today:

 

1. work until noon

 

2. swing by the library for books on hold

 

3. yell at my insurance company because, actually, that doctor WAS in network.

 

4. meet my friend Amy at Washington Park (which, by the looks of the weather, may not happen)

 

5. write and send off two thank you letters and one hello note.

 

Snacks I enjoy:

 

Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert because it's the only pasteurized version that tastes remotely earthy and must be spread on my favorite pugliese or cranberry walnut loaf.  Apples, local and crisp.  Homemade strawberry jam, to be eaten on anything that will serve as a vessel.  Root beer Popsicles, generally three at a time.  Caramel corn.  And I have a serious weakness for a really good chocolate croissant.  I would most likely accept that as a bribe for anything.   

 

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

 

On the selfish end of things, I would hire someone to clean my house every day.  I am a highly organized, detail-oriented person who (as fate would have it) cannot keep her house clean for more than five minutes.  I do not understand it and neither does anyone else.  I would quit my job and go back to school.  I would get a degree in everything I was interested in.  I would donate money to what I believed in.  I would volunteer because I could.   I would travel to every corner of the world with someone I loved.

  

 

Five places I have lived before:

 

Seattle, Washington

 

Northville, Michigan

 

Braunschweig, Germany

 

Chicago, Illinois

 

Portland, Oregon

 

(One of these is most definitely not a world-class city.  Suburb I grew up in, I'm talking to you...)

#13

 

Herbs!  And not just any herbs!  Potted herbs!

I specifically wanted a potted herb garden so that I could attempt to have them year round.  A good experiment for 52 weeks.  This time next year and we'll see how they're doing.  Well, I'll probably throw in a few updates between now and then.    

Also started this week: snow and snap peas, sunflowers, mesclun greens, tomatoes, and lavender. 

I am one of those people for whom gardening is not an art.  I know very little about how to do anything properly, but I love it!  I just plant stuff, read about how to care for it and hope I don't kill it.  It's fun to see what works and what doesn't.  Our garden in Chicago was a huge success.  For three years, nearly everything we planted thrived and I think we can do the same here.  Now I just have to keep hoping I don't kill everything with water or sunshine.  That's how gardening works, right?