beer

So tired I didn’t even notice there was no post title for almost 5 hours….

Dec 5th, 2011

Every 2-3 weeks, I get a few nights of weird insomnia. Last time, I was waking up in the middle of the night & being awake for 4-5 hours. This weekend, it was inability to fall asleep. Saturday night, I was up until nearly 6 am, then awake for a half hour from 8-3:30, and then asleep until just after 10. That did not so much make for a productive Sunday. I pushed myself to stay up all day Sunday, doing important things like “watching Netflix” and “reading” (and making dinner), but not getting anything I’d actually planned to do done. Then, last night, I went to bed at about 9, convinced that I was tired enough that I’d fall asleep instantly. Not so much. However, I did fall asleep right around midnight, so it wasn’t terrible. However, today is not so much an “awake” kind of day.

Friday & Saturday were pretty good days.

Friday morning, I met up with Emily for a Hatha 2 class. I felt pretty awesome about myself after finishing the class, since I haven’t been doing as much yoga the last 4 months or so. Until the teacher said he’d kept it at more of a 1.35 level.

After class, Emily & I continued our day of fun with a 3.5 mile hike in Forest Park – over 600 feet of elevation gain! Go us!

After finishing the hike, I headed out to meet another friend for Mexican lunch! YUM!

Check out these ginormous burritos:

Even as a ravening pregnant beast, I could barely get through half…it sure was delicious later, though!

Friday afternoon was spent working, then relaxing with the architect.

Saturday, I was pleasantly sore from Friday’s exercise. I got up, made pancakes (still obsessed – best meal ever!), did a little work, and then headed over to my friend Lisa’s so she could help me put my marathon shadowbox together. Yes, my marathon was, in fact, over two years ago. BUT – I am not this kind of crafty, and definitely needed help. I think it turned out pretty good! (Also, she & her husband gave me water and hot chocolate, and cheese and cookies! They are awesome.)

Now I just need to find a place to hang it so everyone who comes over knows how awesome I am.

Saturday night, the architect & I went to Laurelwood Brewing for our annual Vinter Varmer beer drinking! Vinter Varmer is my all-time favorite winter seasonal beer. I first had it with my friend Kim in 2006, and she & I did Vinter Varmer days until she left Portland. Now, I go with the architect, take a picture of the beer, and ~~taunt her with the pic of delicious beer~~ text her the photo as a sign of friendship.

The architect’s beer. Not as taunty this year, unfortunately.

Saturday night was the aforementioned not sleeping, and I honestly did not accomplish anything Sunday. Nada. Zip. I mean, I did make dinner, but it really didn’t turn out well (which is odd, for me – I am usually more than proficient in the kitchen).

I am still tired today, and am having trouble being productive at work. I have meetings from 1-4 this afternoon, and then am packing it up and heading home.

Tonight’s strategy for sleep: Get on the bike trainer for 45 minutes when I get home. Do upper arms weights for 15 minutes. Make dinner. Eat. Homework until 9:00. Warm Shower. Bed with “Men in Tights” on our new bedroom TV (it’s one of my “fall asleep movies”). I was thinking of trying herbal tea with bedtime, but (a) I hate tea and (b) Beverages and bedtime do not equal a nice long sleep.

(Pregnancy-safe) Suggestions for getting to sleep at night? I am definitely open to trying new things, here.

Happy week!

All your foods are belong to me

Nov 14th, 2011

by gazelle.

7 comments

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:

I’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!).

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:

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

Grad School, Beer & Gardening

Oct 17th, 2011

by gazelle.

3 comments

That was my weekend….

On Saturday, after a brief trip to the farmer’s market and a stop at the Home Brew Exchange, I spent the rest of the day paper writing. It was my second to last paper for my last official class of my Master’s program. The class is over this Friday. And then, a week long break (which I intend to use to make my house spooktacular), followed by 16 weeks of Capstone project. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!

Sunday was a busy day….I got up and started brewing. My goal was to make a winter beer – in the style of the winter warmers that are so popular. They’re malty and a little sweet, with some nice spice overtones. I used a little chocolate malt, some vanilla and then added cloves and nutmeg (in addition to several other ingredients). It was my first time making beer all by myself (the architect was on a bike ride), and I’m pretty excited to see how it will turn out! I’m also hoping it keeps well, since my guess is I won’t be drinking tons of it once it’s ready (we’re bottling the first weekend in November, and it should be ready to drink about 4-6 weeks after that).

I had someone comment on facebook that they could see a bump, but I think that’s just because my shirt is sticking out due to the weird angle of my stance. I’m not that bumpy yet.

After getting the beer into the fermenter, I went outside to attend to some serious business. A couple of weeks ago, I cleared out garden bed #1 in preparation for its long winter’s nap. Yesterday, I went out to do the same to the largest bed – the 8×24 bed. The bed that was full of tomato plants that I’d been studiously ignoring for 3 weeks.

Guess that happens when you ignore tomatoes for 3 weeks? They rot on the vine. Such a waste. Remind me to never be in my first trimester of pregnancy during harvest season again. Because damn! I had no energy to do anything in September, and the first canning session was so exhausting that imagining the second one was daunting. So daunting in fact, that instead of canning the 5 million tomatoes that I’d planted on purpose so that I could have 5 million jars of tomato products in the basement, I let them rot. That just pisses me off. (At me, obviously.)

ANYWAYS – yesterday I went out to see if there were any at all salvageable. And there were a few. A very, very few. Not even enough to bother canning, though. I cleaned out the garden, removing all the pepper and tomato plants, cutting down some of the dying wildflower stalks, and basically leaving the garden bare (except for a tiny growing broccoli that I found and a really good-looking basil plant that had somehow thrived through neglect).

The architect took the last, tiny tomato bounty, sliced and seasoned them, and then dried them. Delicious.

Now I just need to plant some over-winter stuff (garlic, onions, whatever else strikes me), finish cover cropping, and lay down my straw. It’s unfortunate that my trees that drop leaves happen to be walnut trees, so I need to be careful in using those for compost (since tomatoes, eggplants, asparagus, lilacs, and tons of fruit trees are super sensitive to the juglone found in walnut leaves, hulls, and bark). Composting for a few months removes the toxicity, but it’s not a good idea to directly apply to the garden. Bummer.

Anyways – hopefully by the end of the month the garden will be ready for winter. I am less confident about getting my rain garden in this year. In theory, it should only be one weekend of work. However, digging a 10×7 (ish) rain garden, putting in the intake & overflow paths, and planting it might not be a one weekend project for me anymore. For some reason, I find myself needing to scale back a bit and take more naps.

Happy week, everyone!

Weekend Update – the pictureless edition!

Jun 27th, 2011

by gazelle.

1 comment

I took zero pictures this weekend. None. Zip. Zilch. I am so ashamed.

There were so many things happening! Friday morning, I headed up to Vancouver to hit some estate and garage sales with Emily. I had so much fun at the first one, picking up a couple books, some old photos (I have a thing), a cutting board (or, as the architect said, “why’d you get a finger cutter?”), and some sewing patterns. I also picked up a garlic press at another sale, some wine glasses (I only buy cheap wine glasses, because they have a habit of getting broken), and a new Halloween decoration. The crowing glory of the entire morning was, after a long trip through rural East Vancouver (including driving by the place I was lost and afraid a few years ago), ending up at a garage sale (that was not HUGE as advertised) that had about 3 dozen pink Juicy velour tracksuits for sale in various sizes, ranging from girls to adult. Emily & I really, really wanted to get a couple, but on learning that they were $50 each, we decided maybe that wasn’t the best way to spend our money, regardless of how funny it would’ve been.

After leaving the Couv, I went home, ate, did a little homework and then headed to Overlook Park for the Organic Brewers festival. I had such a good time, and couldn’t even believe it when it was 5 hours later and time to meet the architect for dinner!

Saturday was a buy morning – so many errands! I went to REI to get new bike shoes, then Title 9 for sports bras, then the Farmer’s Market to pick up the CSA share that I split with Sarah, then my tailor for my hemmed pants, then the Home Brew store for beer ingredients, New Seasons for groceries, the dry cleaners to pick up my skirts, and finally (FINALLY!) home so I could do some homework.

Sunday morning, I went for an early, long run, and then once I was home, I made cheddar and smoked my bacon. I was also going to stuff my hotdogs and smoke them, as well, but was unable to find my casings. My giant sausage stuffer will never be used! (Actually, I ordered new casings yesterday, so they should be arriving Wednesday so that I can make the hotdogs in advance of my 4th of July bbq. I should maybe tone down the despair a bit.)

Finally, the cheese and bacon and dishes done, the architect & I headed to Leisure for dinner and beers, in what is quickly becoming a new Sunday evening wind-down tradition for us.

This morning, getting up was so hard. I am exhausted! I can’t believe the day is half over already!

I hope you’re having a great Monday!