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Better late than never?

My weekend report (I know it’s been killing you all day that I haven’t told you what I did when I wasn’t regaling you with my life stories):

Thursday night: book club! And science lesson! It was pretty awesome. Even though I hadn’t read the book (for shame!), I felt extremely well educated by the end of the evening. Thanks, Mr. Pi for the free, impromptu science lesson!

Friday: I worked in the morning, started my lefse, and watched eleventy hundred episodes of Torchwood. I feel like I must have done something else productive that day, but I couldn’t tell you what. I know that I certainly didn’t leave the house.

Saturday: I went for a run/walk, discovered that all the park bathrooms are padlocked for the season, and then spent the afternoon making lefse! YUM! I also did some cleaning & cleaned out my entire dresser! YAY!

Saturday night, even though I was exhausted, apparently I wan’t exhausted enough. I woke up about 1:30 am and was awake until about 5. Needless to say, I was a cheery, cheery beacon of fun Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was spent cleaning out the fridge (I am slowly but surely making my house clean….of course, by the time I get to the last room, I’m pretty sure that the first room will be completely filthy again; of course also by then, I can make dusting a mandatory chore for my pre-teen). Sunday afternoon, I went swimming with the Ambitious One, and then headed to my favorite theater to see Breaking Dawn.

It was just as insane as I expected. No – it was more insane than I expected. I especially enjoyed the wedding night sex bits. Valuable lessons:  sex is truly terrifying, it might kill you, and when you wake up covered in bruises the shape of your husband’s hands, you should definitely reassure him that a) it’s okay; b) he didn’t mean to; and c) you liked it, really. Great message for our teen girls! Although since pregnancy and childbirth involve a lot of broken bones, blood (both for drinking and for making messes of) and emaciation, perhaps it’s a really great way to keep the kids from getting it on. (A well-placed message about birth control wouldn’t have gone amiss, either.)

ANYWAYS – I thoroughly enjoyed the shitstorm, giggled through most of it, and had a great time with some super fun girls women.  My only real complaint (because my issues with how sex & violence were handled are not real) is that Jacob only takes his shirt off once, and that was in the opening scene. What good are sexy teen wolves if they’re always clothed? I’ve read the books, and I believe there was supposed to be lot more nudity. WHERE IS YOUR ARTISTIC INTEGRITY?

This is why I enjoyed the previous movies:

 

Gratitude Journal

November 21, 2011: I am grateful for my excellent co-workers that make my days much less crappy (and more productive).

November 20, 2011: I am grateful for my beer theater. It is close to my house, has $4 first-run movies before 6 pm, serves decent pizza, and has beer and wine. Also, it has bottle water, which is what I had today.

November 19, 2011: I am grateful for random port-o-potties on my running route.

November 18, 2011: I am grateful that I have a connection to bits of my cultural heritage; I can’t imagine a world without lefse, and am so pleased that I have learned how to do it and have a skill I can pass on to Alvie Bean.

November 17, 2011: I am grateful for coffee. I know it seems like I mentioned it yesterday, but yesterday I only said I was grateful for the coffee maker (in a list of other things). But I really wanted to draw attention to coffee as deserving of its own special day. Coffee is the best beverage ever invented. I don’t understand how I got through so many years never drinking it and thinking it really wasn’t that great. Mmmmmm……coffee.

November 16, 2011: I am grateful for all the little luxuries I have that I often take for granted…my car, my phone, the coffee maker (so very grateful for my coffee maker). It’s so easy to caught up in the things I don’t have that I occasionally forget how very lucky I am. My life is so freaking awesome.

November 15, 2011: I am grateful that I have the kind of job/life/etc. that allows me to afford pretty shoes, and the level-headedness that keeps me from buying (very many) shoes that wouldn’t be practical.

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood.

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011:I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy.

All your foods are belong to me

I had a great weekend – but it was so busy! (And also, there was lots of food. Delicious, delicious food.)

Friday, I spent the morning with my friend Emily. We were supposed to make lefse, but didn’t quite get around to it. Instead, we went on a long walk through the wilds of Vancouver and then had cocoa and scones (as well as a bit of antique storing, where I picked up a book on how to be a proper young lady – I’ll let you know how well I’m doing).

Also, in the antique store, I saw this which made me giggle:

IMAG0656I’ve always had my suspicions that architecture belonged in the science fiction section. 

After our epic walk, and the cocoa, and the chatting, I drove  home (stopping to get some chicken strips! OBSESSION ALERT!), fully intending to just hang out a bit and then leave the house again for yoga. Yeah – not so much. Instead, I passed out on the sofa until the architect got home about 6. Oops!

Saturday, I got up and got on the bike trainer for 30 minutes + did some upper body weights, and then the architect & I bottled beer – a winter brew that I’m excited to taste in 2-3 weeks. After that, I took a nap (what? bottling is hard!).

Best napping partners EVER!

That evening, the architect & I headed out for separate but equal nights of fun. I dropped him off for a poker game with the guys while I headed out with the girls to Ready, Paint, Fire to do some christmas ornament painting. After finishing our creative masterpieces, we went to dinner (my personal favorite part of the evening) and then back to the Ambitious One’s for a movie before breaking up the poker night. It was midnight before I was in bed. That is the latest I’ve been up in AGES!  CRAZY!

Sunday was a bit of a lazier day. I slept late (Like 8 AM!) and then lounged on the sofa for most of the day. I did manage to thoroughly clean the living room – I moved furniture! And washed floors! And dusted behind the TV! And then I had to lay down again….so much effort. But at least one room is clean. Next weekend – the kitchen/dining room! And there will be a great throwing away of stuff I don’t need!

Sunday evening, I headed out to Anna Bannana’s for hot cocoa with a neighbor. And lo! It was beautiful:

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Yum.

All in all, a great weekend! A nice balance of relaxation and accomplishment and socializing.

 

Happy Monday, y’all!

Gratitude Journal

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood. I watched the entire first season this weekend. And up next? In season 2? One of my boyfriends! Yay for James Marsters!

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011: I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy

Three (3!) Things Thursday!

1. As I may have mentioned, I am currently working on my Capstone project for my Master’s degree. I am in the preparation phases currently, and am doing a lot of initial reference searches. Last night, I was searching for information GIS and food security. 99.9% of the results were either for food security, GIS, or, in rare but exciting occasions, both! However, the second search result in one of my searches was an abstract on Elizabethan attitudes towards menstruation and sexual fantasy. Not quite what I was expecting!

 

2. I went swimming again last night, after taking last week off. My swimming partner is fantastic. When I told her I was quitting, she convinced me to do 3 more laps, just to get close to my original goal. She was absolutely right – I was just nervous because we were circle swimming and the guy breast-stroking in the next lane over had some leg control issues and kicked me twice (NEXT LANE OVER!). I get all tense when I have to share a lane with that many people, especially since even before I got knocked up, I was usually one of the slower swimmers (unless I was there during senior citizen swim, and then I could count on being faster than 1 or 2 people). Today? My shoulders are SORE! Not sure how that happened! I swam fewer laps and for a little less time than 2 weeks ago, and I wasn’t sore then. Maybe it was the 500 yards of pulling?  Anyways – LOVE IT!

 

3. Hasn’t it been beautiful these past few days? I love fall like this. Cool and crisp and gorgeous. I got to see the sunrise by Mt. Hood yesterday morning as I was getting to work, and right now the sun is shining through all the golden leaves outside. BEAUTIMOUS!

 

Gratitude Journal

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn. (Of course, if you ask me in a few months, I will definitely cite spring as my favorite season – the SADs haven’t gotten me yet!)

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011: I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy

October 2011 Goals (PLUS! Exciting dinner party pictures!)

Um, holy crap you guys! I totally forgot to post my goals on 10/1/11! In my defense, 9/30/11 was a really long day, and I spent most of Saturday recovering. With baklava. As you do.

ANYWAYS – let’s talk about the plan for October! And look back on September!

September Goals

  1. Can tomatoes…salsa, marinara, ketchup, whatever – just can it! – half SUCCESS! I canned lots of marinara and salsa, but there are still so many tomatoes left. There is work to be done this weekend, people.
  2. PICKLES!  My cucumbers, once again, sucked, so I will be hitting up a farmer’s market and buying as many cukes as I can carry for dill pickles and bread & butter pickles. I’ve already done beet pickles & pickled asparagus this year. – FAIL! I actually completely forgot about this. I should probably make some pickles, but only if I have time. I’ve been busy.
  3. Finish the bathroom before my in-laws arrive! It would be awesome to have a second usable bathroom as well as a usable guest room by the time they get here. – 3/4 SUCCESS! The toilet & the sink were all hooked up. The floors were done! It is good. We still have to finish tiling the tub/shower area, add in the built-in shelves, and paint, but it’s getting there! And, the important bits are usable. Oooh – and! the bathroom is now street legal! The inspector came Friday morning & passed us! YAY!
  4. Fancy dinner party. It is on my life list, and I am excited to host a few friends for my first fancy dinner party. I have invitations to go out this weekend. I am finalizing the menu. I wish I could invite everyone I know, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough room for that many people! – SUCCESS! My fancy dinner party was Friday night, and it was so much fun. We did a Greek menu, and most of my plates even matched. The food was good, and I think a good time was had by all.
  5. Mother-effing pirate festival. Every year, I say I’m going to go, and every year, I don’t. I can walk there! The only year I actually did go was 2007 – and it was the day after the architect had surgery. He insisted he wanted to go, so we drove. And parked about 1/2 mile away (and 1/2 mile away from our house). We got there, walked around a bit, and then he felt crappy, so I went and fetched the car & picked him up at the gate. Not the best time, really. The next year it rained. I don’t remember my excuse for 2009, but last year, I just flat out forgot. Not this time, bitches!  I am going to the pirate festival, and you can’t stop me! YARGHHHHHHHHHHH!  (Ummm, I just went to the site to get the link, and it’s MOVED! I can no longer walk there! WTF, Pirate Festival?! Is this because I never attend? WHYYYYY??????) (AND, it’s Labor Day weekend! When I will be laboring! I do not want to drive to St. Helens for my piratey goodness!) (Also, I really wish the interrobang was a symbol on my keyboard.) – I hate you stupid Pirate Festival that isn’t down the street from my house anymore. BOOO!
  6. Since I just maybe deleted my goal #5, I decided I should probably add a real goal #5. Okay, then….this is harder than I thought. I was so set on the pirate festival. Oooh – I know!  I will fall-clean and organize my kitchen! I was thinking I was going to anyways, due to the how-to guide posted by Cat, but now I have to! (And I really, really need to…the house cleaner is good at making my house look clean, but she hasn’t looked in the fridge or taken the initiative to organize my pantry & cupboards…I have a LOT of kitchen gadgets, and should probably determine which are necessary and which can go.) – ha ha ha ha ha ha! FAIL! ha ha ha.
  7. Oh, wait! I just thought of another! I need to plan the next 12 months of the gardening enterprise and get some fall crops in the ground! – half SUCCESS! I have a lot of the initial plans done, and if there’s a break in the weather this weekend, I will pull out the remainder of the summer crops, get the garlic & onions in the ground, and plant some fall/winter greens.

September Training Goals

So – keep up with the exercise & training, and also CORE! – SUCCESS! All things considered, anyways. ;)

October 2011 Goals

  1. Finish the bathroom by 10/29/11. We can do it!  All supplies are purchased! I can paint like a mad woman! And make sandwiches for the architect while he tiles. (I am not allowed to tile due to my propensity to say, “eh, fuck it! That’s good enough!”) I am excellent construction support staff.
  2. Get the rain garden outlined, dug, and partially planted.
  3. Finish summer garden/start fall garden.
  4. Remove all extraneous computer crap from the house. Like the printer that doesn’t work. And the CRT monitor that weighs 375 lbs. And the 50 (approximate count) PCs (both laptop & desktop) that are just sitting around doing nothing. NOTHING! Except gathering dust.
  5. Finish my very last class of my Master’s program with an “A” before starting the final project phase.
  6. Throw the ass-kicking-est 2nd Annual Halloween bash ever! YAY for Halloween!  We will have a howling good time!

October Training Goals

I have them! My gym membership expires this month, and I will not be renewing it. So, I want to spend more time outdoors. Running, jumping, biking, hiking, etc. I have been slacking on yoga lately, too, and need to make that a regular practice again.

 

And, because I had such a great time at the fancy dinner party, here are some photos! Although, not of the food, really. Which makes me sad. I should’ve at least taken a picture of the baklava!

The blank slate....

My place settings don’t all match, but there is, at least, a theme.

A single setting

One place setting; you can’t see the black salad plate underneath, but it’s there! Also, check out my fancy silver (plated) flatware!  Ooooh!

The hors d'oeuvres table

The hors d’oeuvres table: falafel, various hummuses, a bunch of goat and sheep cheeses, some awesome olives, and a quince spread (so good on cheese); with pita, of course!

 

The architect in his finery

The architect in all his finery – isn’t he handsome? (That suit was last year’s xmas present from yours truly…)

Z & J - post dinner

Zach & Jen – we have such good looking friends!

S & M (hee!) pre-dinner

Sarah & Michael – enjoying a pre-dinner lemon drop.

The Ambitious One & Mr. Pi - pre dinner

The Ambitious One & Mr. Pi (apparently they don’t get real names); with Lola in the background!

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Dinner – salad course at this point!  Pre-salad was the avgolemono soup (so good), and post Greek salad, was the main course(s): moussaka, spanakopita, and dolmas with an avgolemono sauce.

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Post dinner wine and dessert: baklava (that 9×13 pan of baklava apparently has a street value of about $60) and more cheese!  Please note our exciting ceiling art installation!  It’s a commentary on the modern conveniences of life that are often ignored in polite society. Or possibly, it’s where we had to cut into the ceiling to move the plumbing for the upstairs bathroom.

ANYWAYS! Dinner party done! And another item checked off my life list! YAY!

Three Things Thursday

1. Yesterday was the last full day with the in-laws. To celebrate, I took the day off work and we went to the Coast range for a hike. We hiked along an abandoned railroad, through two tunnels, over a few trestles (which I was not actually warned about ahead of time; a perhaps wise decision on the part of the architect, because I may have actually gone to work if I’d known I’d be crossing abandoned trestles), to our destination – another trestle. For someone with a fear of plunging to her death, this was an interesting hike. Also interesting? Apparently hiking along rail lines & having to step on rail ties, thus rendering the gait jerky and uneven, causes great soreness. Ow. (The last photo is more of a dramatic re-enactment; the other photos are from yesterday’s hike.)

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Dramatic Re-enactment

 

2. I know everyone’s been on pins & needles about my Toast contest.  It was an interesting contest. There was the humorous speech contest for two areas (5 contestant, 2 winners) and then the Table Topics contest for the same two areas (6 contestants, 2 winners).  My club had one contestant in each category. The contest itself was one of the most disorganized things I’ve ever experienced.  What should’ve taken no more than 90 minutes took 2.5 hours. We had to fill out bio forms before the contest, but they lost a few of them in that 2.5 hours. There weren’t enough certificates for everyone, and the names on the program were incorrect. CRAZY.

So – the humorous speech contest. The other area’s contestants went first. As they spoke (it was three men), I found myself wishing I was in their area – I would’ve kicked ass.  Then, it was my area’s turn. There were only two contestants from my area. Me and another woman. I drew first speaker. My speech was about overcoming fear, and was pretty funny.  Near-death experiences always make an audience laugh (seriously!). It was my best delivery of the speech EVER! I sat down knowing I had the contest in the bag.

And then, the other woman got up to speak. I’m not sure if her speech was better than mine, but it was definitely funnier. When she sat down, I knew it could go either way. We’d both delivered excellent speeches. Hers was funnier – and it was a humorous speech contest – but mine was both funny AND inspirational. I had a feeling that she would probably win. And I was right. I did get 2nd place, but since there were only two of us, that wasn’t as meaningful as it could’ve been!

But – at least I know that I didn’t lose because I did poorly, but rather because my opponent did better. And even more awesome? Although I was nervous as the speech time approached, the second I got on stage, even though I was speaking in front of more people than I’ve ever spoken in front of before (and lots of people I didn’t know, as well as my husband and in-laws), I felt fine. No nerves at all. I stumbled over a word in my introduction & skipped the 2nd line of my speech (I only memorize a brief intro and conclusion, and the middle parts are outlined, but I don’t try to memorize the entire speech).

So – I didn’t win, but I think I’m kinda sorta still a winner, and all that crap! :)

3. Tomorrow night I am hosting a fancy (more or less) dinner party (see #17). I am very excited. Because of limited space (and the number of plates I own), I had to limit the number of people I could invite, so if I didn’t invite you, it’s not because you’re not the awesomest person I know! You are! I promise!  Anyways, I hope I remember to take lots and lots of pictures, I hope no one notices that my table settings don’t all match, and I hope the wine is delicious and no one leaves hungry (my greatest fear!).

It will look just like this....I just need to pick up the extra chandaliers