Make Yourself at Home

Sometimes You Need to Drop Everything and Play Zelda

2012-01-19T10:24:00.000-06:00

When Josh and I were dating, we talked about a lot of important, life shaping things. For instance, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best video game ever made. Early in our marriage, we pulled out the old N64 and went through the whole game again together. It was vital to both of us that we could share in the joy of Link's many quests to save the princess.
Well, we're at it again. We got the new Zelda game for Christmas; and though we haven't touched our Wii in maybe a year, we dusted the old thing off, bought the new controller we needed, and started adventuring. Yes, we have some final arrangements to make for Costa Rica in a couple weeks. Yes, I have a quilt top that I am very excited about, yet am ignoring. But it's Zelda we're talking about here. Everything else can wait.

I'm happy I married my perfect match.

On that note, we're also working on one of my previously mentioned goals for the new year: exploring Oregon to see where we want to settle after residency. McMinnville had been pretty alluring for us, but after having spent the weekend investigating the area, I don't think it's as high on our list as others. It was tons of fun to visit. We stayed at the McMenamin's hotel and explored the main street (which is 1/3 tasting rooms and therefore awesome), but all in all, I might prefer the northern part of the valley. Our next mission: Estacada.

First Homemade Gift of the Year

2012-01-04T23:56:00.000-06:00

Unique yarn from small shops has become my souvenir of choice. I like it because then, when I make something out of it, the item has an interesting back story. I can say, "I made this hat out of yarn I got in Italy," or "My mom picked up the yarn for these slippers in Norway," or "I got that purple yarn in Camden, ME." The last of which is true about the yarn in this scarf I made for our friend Denise:

I snapped this photo before running to catch the bus to meet Josh and Denise to give her the present. I generally stand against taking pictures of myself in the mirror, but I was alone and feel like I had no other choice.

I picked a blanket square pattern and instead of putting them together in a rectangle, I attached them all end to end. The scarf really is mostly purple, but I added the yellow, orange, and maroon because 1) Denise likes them 2) I'm in a fall colors phase and 3) I didn't have enough purple for a reasonably lengthed scarf, but had just enough of those other colors to make it work.

Welcome, 2012

2012-01-03T00:48:00.000-06:00

It's strange to be almost 30 and to still have June feel more like the end of the year than January. Although life will probably change more for us on July 1 when residency year 2 becomes residency year 3, one of my goals is not to live in waiting anymore, so I'm putting up my thoughts about and hopes for 2012.

That starts with thinking about the last two years. About how 2010 was a year of adventure. We went through the residency interview process, match day, I quit my job so we could run off to Europe, we moved to Oregon (in a Jeep with no a/c. Through the desert. In the summer.), we started new jobs, we met and got to know lots of new people.

Life stopped feeling adventuresome pretty quickly, though. 2011 was a year of getting by. Don't misunderstand me, "getting by" was still pleasant most of the time. Josh and I are pretty good at enjoying the moments we have, but the big things started getting wearisome. Hour long commutes that eat into our precious time together, long days at work (mostly for him), even just not having a space of our own ate away at us from time to time. We often reminded ourselves of the big picture, the long term goals, and how the lifestyle we're sacrificing now will make them more accessible in the future. There were some fun things in 2011; but even though we had a few chances to climb mountains, go to the coast, and enjoy the quirks of this fair city, nothing really felt like ours last year. We feel like we could have done more.

Which brings us to today. I know every day is a good day for a new beginning and there's nothing really magical about the replacing of an old calendar, but why not use January 1, 2012 as a jumping off place? I guess my overall theme for the new year is proactivity.

So far, in 2012 I'm looking forward to:

*Going to Costa Rica in January

*David, Ruth, and the girls coming up in the summer

*Starting the last year of residency

In 2012 I want to (in no particular order):

*Check out potential places to live after residency. We're jumping right into this one - we already have reservations at McMenamin's Hotel Oregon in McMinnville next weekend so we can begin our investigation.

*Take a serger class.

*Take better care of my hair. Most of the time I simply rely on its ease of management which often ends up just looking unkempt. And big.

*Find a church home.

*Actually start exercising. I know this freakish metabolism with which I've been undeservedly blessed won't last forever. To be specific, I will try to do yoga twice a week and run once a week. Just that sounds like a lot to this sewing-chair-potato.

*Meet my fundraising goal for work. I'm proud of my job. This is important to me.

*Make more clothes. I got some Pendleton wool from my aunt that I hope to turn into awesome free shirts for Josh; and I have had some clothes to alter and fabric waiting to become a dress in my "not quilting projects" basket for too long.

*Send more fun packages to our nieces (we'll shoot for Valentine's Day, Easter, and Halloween).

I tried to be specific in what I want to accomplish this year. I think this list will please the part of me that likes to check things off and provide enough lifestyle change to propel me forward. I hope to add to it as schedules flesh out and some things move into the "completed" column. I will, of course, also post about my various projects still. In fact, I'm half way done with my first quilt top of 2012, and it's pretty darned adorable.

Scraps

2011-12-30T18:57:00.000-06:00

I will be ringing in the new year turning these

into these

I will probably also work on settling my disagreement with Ada about how much snuggling a dog should do, and maybe, if Josh isn't swamped, I'll hang out at the hospital. It won't be the most glamourous of New Year's Eves, but I think it will be quite satisfying. I hope everyone has a happy and safe last day of 2011!

Christmas Joys Abound

2011-12-23T19:55:00.001-06:00

As I sat down to write this post, I realized I didn't take any pictures of probably one of the coolest things I've ever made before I sent it off as a present. Oops. I feel sheepish.

Here are some things I made and remembered to photograph:

This bear is for my friend Susan out of part of an unfinished family heirloom quilt top. I think he looks quite distinguished in his leather chair.

This is the fourth quilt made from Susan's mom's gardening shirts. It's for her nephew, so now all her mom's grandkids have one. My mom made quilts out of my Grandpa's shirts for all of my cousins and me a couple years ago. I love mine so very much; so I was happy to be able to make these meaningful quilts for Susan.

I made this pillow from linen for Josh's mom. We brought back two bags of pine needles from Maine so she could have a pillow and a supply of delicious smelling potpourri (is it potpourri when it's not made from flowers?) to put in it. It's got an envelope-style back so she can refill it with fresh needles every once in a while.

I made this scalloped hat for our one year old niece, Josie.

I made this butterfly hat for our nearly five year old niece, Abi.

It was hard to see the butterfly, so I stuffed it to get a better picture. It looks kind of creepy. I'm assuming it will look much cuter on the head of an adorable five year old.

Josh painted these for the girls and they match the mugs we got their parents at the Saturday Market last Christmas. Now they have a family set!

I also crocheted some stuffed snowmen wearing tiny scarves, but I neglected to take their picture as well. Don't hold it against me - things are a little hectic around here! Aside from scrambling to get all my projects finished, we've been planning a trip to Costa Rica in January. Additionally, December is the busiest month of the year in the non-profit world because everyone feels extra generous. This is a wonderful phenomenon, but makes for long work days for me. Lastly, my long work days are nothing compared to Josh's. He is in the middle of 28 days of work without a day off. That includes overnight every Saturday (Yes, Christmas Eve. Yes, New Year's Eve.) But the end of December means we are halfway through residency. That sounds pretty nice!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

2011-11-08T00:28:00.000-06:00

I finished a quilt for baby Zander Ibanez last week. I especially like his name because it both starts and ends with "Z." That is pretty neat if you ask me.

His parents are our good friends whom we are always trying to convince to come to Portland. Now that Oklahoma is having multiple earthquakes a day, maybe we've got a better shot.

They picked out some great looking dinosaur stuff for Zander's room, and I was excited to run with the colorful dino theme:

I discovered that making things look random takes a lot of effort.

The backing makes me think of tropical islands, which makes me think of Lost, which makes me think of the Ibanezes

I copied the dinos off the fabric to quilt onto the colored squares

The brontosaurus only has three legs

Congratulations, Ibanez family!

Things That Are Not Sewing

2011-10-06T18:34:00.000-05:00

Umbrellas
Josh and I caught an episode of Free Agents the other day, which takes place in Portland. I was sewing, so I didn't pay too close attention, but something stood out to me. Free Agents is about people at an advertising firm, and in this episode they were trying to figure out how to sell umbrellas to men. Because, apparently, umbrellas are not manly and so men in Portland won't buy them. I think the real problem, though, would be selling an umbrella to any Oregonian at all! Ride the train, look around the city, or take a walk and you'll see that the majority of the folks just tough it out with a raincoat, or some microfleece and a hat. We snickered like natives in on the joke that TV doesn't know what it means to be an Oregonian.

Vacations
It's been a year and a half since our Europe trip and we still haven't put up any pictures on Facebook. Oops.
We leave Friday for an epic East Coast Adventure. We're spending a day in Hartford visiting friends and family, a week in a cabin in Maine hiking and rowing, five days in the Smokies backpacking, and a couple days in NC visiting friends. We've been working hard over here. I'm ready for a break. I'm ready for fall. This is going to be awesome.

Adele
I have a vocal crush on Adele. I love to sing along with her songs. Singing Rolling in the Deep is hard! I have never heard a good cover of it. I'm sorry to say that includes my listening to John Legend's version. I thought if anyone could do it, it would be him. They always fall apart at the chorus. But so do I, so I totally understand. No one can do it like she does.

Have a great two weeks, world!

Frilliness

2011-09-10T19:54:00.002-05:00

Ruffles are popular right now, so I don't have to hide that I am in a ruffle phase. Luckily, I have friends expecting, or with brand new, little girls. (Note: If you are Laurie and haven't received a box from me yet, wait a couple days before scrolling down) So I started with a super-girly hot pink zebra ruffle-fest for Aleah:

I don't think Ada gets how much fun ruffles are

And then I made a diaper bag, complete with pleats, for Allie (or I guess for Allie's mom):

Allie's grandpa picked out some special quilts for her, so I thought I'd try something a little different. It's the first time I've made a diaper bag, and the first time I've designed my own sewing pattern, so I started by making a practice bag out of tissue paper. It worked, so I charged ahead. Upon assembly, I decided to put a bird on it, in true Portlander fashion and in keeping with her mom's impeccable taste. Once it was finished, I didn't want to smash it, so I may have picked an unnecessarily gigantic box in which to ship it.

I also received a ruffly apron from my sister-in-law Ruth Reese (who can meet all your photography needs), friend Marissa (with whom I could talk about sewing for hours), and niece Abi (who picked out the fabric). It helped me get into the ruffly spirit as I worked on my projects.

Ready for Anything

2011-09-02T00:21:00.000-05:00

We're having a baby shower for a coworker next week, and I offered to make a little, inexpensive, but unique present from our department to him. So, I put together these (unauthorized) Red Cross onesies:

I have a plan to embroider "Be Prepared" on another, but I was unhappy with my machine's embroidery font. So I may have to rethink that idea. But, I'm pretty pumped about the way they've turned out so far! I plan to go to the Sidewalk Sale on N Alberta on Saturday, so maybe I'll get some ideas on what to do with the other two. There are some pretty creative folk around here! Yet another reason I know I'm right where I belong.

I finished a couple gifts for some friends this week. I'm waiting to post pictures at least until I get the packages in the mail. I'm very excited about them though, it's so hard to wait to share them with the world!

Bright Hope

2011-08-24T10:33:00.000-05:00

The other day, Josh and I were sewing (yes, both of us) while watching the classic She-Ra cartoon. I was working on a quilt, Josh was re-sizing a fleece jacket (which is a manly sewing endeavor), and She-Ra was saving some miners from the Hoard. We were all enjoying what is a perfectly acceptable evening in the Reese household, when She-Ra accomplished what Josh and I had not been able to for a couple weeks: She-Ra named our boat!

She and her team were sailing off in a boat she had just purchased, and She-Ra declared in her noblest voice, "We shall call it The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey." Josh and I decided that was exactly what, and exactly why, we would name our boat. And so, I give you our anniversary boat, The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey:

We took her out for her inaugural row on Saturday, and I discovered a side effect of naming the boat Bright Hope. I spent most of the evening with the classic hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness stuck in my head. You know, "...strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow..." At least it's a lovely song!

Anniversary Stories

2011-07-29T15:29:00.001-05:00

For our first anniversary, I wanted to get something great for Josh - and I had an idea that I wanted to follow the traditional gift guide. Now, I'm not really sure when that whole gig started, but whoever began it decided that the first anniversary gift should be something paper. I needed something awesome...and made of paper. I felt pretty lucky when it came to me that I should blow up a photograph he took and have it framed for our new home. It was no ordinary picture, you see, this was a Tulsa State Fair third place winning picture of Mount Hood from the yard in front of Pittock Mansion. There was a couple in the way of the shot, and I remember being disappointed that we couldn't get a better view. But they brought a nice warmth and balance to the whole thing, so I guess I owe that mystery couple a "thank you."

Anyhow, I had it matted and framed and I wrapped it up and presented it to my husband. He opened it and got the strangest look on his face. "Dangit," I thought, "he hates it. I should have gone with a different frame or something." After a minute of me feeling like a failure, he got up and told me to follow him into the garage. In the back of his pickup truck was a fantastically done painting of the same picture he asked his brother to do. At that moment, I think we might have yelled "MFEO!" (Made For Each Other? Sleepless in Seattle? Anyone?) because we got each other pretty much the same present. We hung them next to each other in the living room as a testament to our synchronicity.

Here is the painted version, plucked from the background of another picture

We've done well at following the gift guide since then:
Year 2 (Cotton): I commissioned a Tulsa-inspired painting on canvas done by his favorite Saturday Market artist, and Josh got me tickets to see James Taylor because he mixed up the first two years and thought it went cotton then paper, instead of the other way around.
Year 3 (Leather): We picked out cowboy boots together
Year 4 (Fruit/Flowers): We got a membership to a local vineyard

Today is our fifth anniversary, and the gift this year is supposed to be wood. We thought about a nice piece of furniture, or maybe a tree, but we don't have a house anymore. So that's out. Instead, we've been looking at little boats on Craigslist. I'm getting pretty excited about it! I like our tradition. It makes us get a little creative, and our anniversary gifts have always been memorable!

Old Timey

2011-07-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I went to karaoke with my Aunt Laura. *Fun Fact: I was named after her. Fun Fact 2: She was named after the song Laura that was composed in 1945 and performed best (in my humble opinion) by Nat King Cole, whom I love.*
Anyhow, before we joined my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jim at the Elks Club to sing the night away, she gave me some treasures to complete:

They are quilt squares made of what I always want to call "scrunchies," but are actually "yo-yos." If I remember right, it was her husband's grandmother that made these 24 squares, and Aunt Laura asked if my mom and I could figure out how to connect them into a full quilt.

Well, I had seen these before at my favorite tea/antique shop in Beaverton. So the next time I went out to Tea Thyme and Lavender, I brought these squares along and asked Claire, the owner, for some advice. Aside from making delicious tea and French treats, Claire makes quilts out of yo-yos and she was kind enough to walk me through how to put them together. So, I've been working on connecting them (by hand) intermittently these past couple weeks. I'm not very far yet, but it's been fun! And I'm enjoying having a portable project. I can sew outside in this gorgeous weather we've been having because I'm not tied to a machine. I'll get a picture up once they're all together, but be warned, it may be a while!

I Made It!

2011-06-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

By "it," I mean my deadline, not just the quilt this time. Josh's dad was in town last weekend, and in order to not have to pay shipping on the quilts I was making for some Oklahoma folk, I wanted to finish them in time to pack them in his car for the trip back. And I did! Three of them were posted in my last update, but the crown jewel (read: the most time consuming) has yet to be seen. Well, voila!

This was my first time doing applique and my first time doing a pieced back - I will definitely do both again. Also now that the weather is clearing up, I plan on snapping more of my pictures outside. The colors look so much better in the first picture than the last picture. I was kind of sad to say goodbye to this one, but I have more projects up my sleeve that will soon get my mind off of this one!

Successes

2011-05-28T21:19:00.001-05:00

I may have been a little unsociable this week, but I finished so many projects! I finished the third quilt in the collection of quilts made from my friend's mother's gardening shirts. This is for her 10 year old son:

Josh approved it's manliness at each step along the way. I am especially pleased with the cozy, furry backing.

I finished this quilt for Josh's 11 year old cousin. It's even kind of (unintentionally) OU colors.

I finished this quilt for one of Josh's chief residents who has a brand new baby girl:

Every time I closed my eyes for the past couple nights, I saw clusters of circles because of this quilting:

And I even made a hat and a larger-than-anticpated-but-still-loved felt dahlia to put on it. I've been wearing it all day even though it's almost June.

Now I have one more week to finish the little leaves quilt I started ages ago so we can ship it to Oklahoma via Josh's dad next weekend. Here's to renewed motivation!

Confessions

2011-05-13T14:15:00.001-05:00

My friend Laurie at The Corner Slice is a wonderful writer and often uses the theme of confessions to write honest, witty, and heartwarming posts. So I thought today I would follow her model and offer some confessions of my own:

It's not a secret, but I have neglected the blog. I think my self-discipline comes in spurts, in blogging and in other parts of life. I'm a bit sad that my last post was kind of cranky and was on the top of my blog for so long, so I am pleased to solve that today.

I have four quilt tops piled up that are not quilts yet. I never do that! I used to be quite responsible, making one or two quilts at a time and finishing them completely before starting another project. No longer! I basted all four last weekend, and I have to finish them in the next month so we can deliver them to Oklahoma upon our next visit. The previously mentioned spurty self-discipline will need to kick into high gear!

I feel indignation toward people who set their bags on the empty seat next to them on a crowded bus. It's silly of me, they probably would move their bag if someone asked to sit down.

I love spring in Oregon. I don't think I will ever understand people who tire of the rain. Spring rain is so pleasant! And I had forgotten how long spring is here - things bloom for more than two weeks! We've had at least a solid month of blooming trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, and bulbs and they feed my heart every day. That said, I also am grateful for spring sunshine.

Every time I see Laurie's blog posts titled "confessions," I get the Glee mashup of the song stuck in my head. This apparently also applies when I title a post the same way. I will be tapping my foot to it the rest of the day!

An Unexpected Stop

2011-04-07T00:16:00.001-05:00

Josh picked me up from the train station after work, and as we were on our way to do some errands, we passed a little girl about nine walking down the side of the road. In the rain. Without a coat. Crying.

Of course Josh stopped the truck, and I got out to ask her if she was lost or needed help. It took a minute to get her to tell me what was wrong, and as it turns out she was running from her dad who was not far behind in the car. He would stop, get out, talk to her, and she would run off. He would jump back in the car, catch up, get out, talk to her, and she would run off. I don't know how long this had been going on. And it was all because she didn't want to go to a church club. This poor little girl was so upset because there is another girl there who is mean to her and to her friends. She was telling me how this mean girl hurts her feelings when her dad came up again and told her she didn't have to go. "Please get in the car, and we'll go home." Aside from her hysterics, things seemed to be on the up and up. And it was kind of awkward, and not my place, to try to handle the situation with her actual parent there, so I said goodbye and got back in my truck. As we were pulling away, I saw her running up the street again. *Sigh* Since her dad was there and handling the situation (well, kind of) and it wasn't anything that needed outside intervention, we didn't follow.

So, this kind of broke my heart on a few levels. First, it's going to be a while before I get that sad, sad image of the forlorn, wet child out of my head. Second, she was just so beside herself that she wouldn't even calm down when her dad suggested they go home. The poor thing was pretty traumatized over something. Third, the mean kids were at the church! There's nothing worse than mean church girls. Church. Where you're supposed to feel safe and loved and accepted.

I wish there was more that I could do for her.

Put a Bird on It!

2011-03-27T01:24:00.000-05:00

I laughed most during that Portlandia sketch because I'm totally in a bird-loving-phase right now. Ever since I saw that episode, I've been noticing birds all over the place in Stumptown. My friend Nike and I have sent several texts back and forth sharing joy in the fact that Portland puts birds on everything!
All this is leading to the fact that I started (and finished) this quilt top today:

(Please pardon the terrible picture, my camera and I aren't on good terms right now)

and didn't notice until I was about halfway done that I definitely was putting a bird on it!

I love it! And that blue fabric that is the border for this quilt? I have so much of it that it's made its third quilt-appearance today, and last year I made myself a dress and belt entirely from it as well.

I finished something!

2011-03-17T13:13:00.001-05:00

No, that something is not either of the quilts I've blogged lately. Mom and Dad went to China and that means I don't have access to the giant conference tables at Tektronix which are the best surfaces for pinning big quilts. I did, however, start and finish our niece's 4th birthday present on Friday. She likes to cook with her mom, so I made her this apron:

I hope its bright colors appeal to her fashionable taste. This kid is 4 going on 15; she has very definite fashion opinions and a new crush on Orlando Bloom. "Do you think he looks better with blonde hair in Lord of the Rings or brown hair in Pirates of the Caribbean?" she asked Josh a couple weeks ago. Seriously. Just turned four. She's awesome.

Another Europe Post

2011-03-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

I know it's a little ridiculous. It's been almost a year since our trip and I've posted only 2 or 3 of our European adventures. But I've been thinking about how great Hallstatt was lately, and thought, "I should blog about that!"

Hallstatt, Austria was the second stop on our trip, and just might be my favorite place we went. This place is Alpine perfection:

We stayed in a house where we had our own kitchen. So Hallstatt became the home of our first international grocery shopping experience. We bought some things we recognized and some things that we thought looked good even though we weren't quite sure what they were. We ended up with some pretty tasty stew! We also ate at some lakeside restaurants (because the whole town is lakeside) and had some fresh Hallstatter-See fish. We hiked up to the world's oldest salt mine and then all through the woods. We saw an authentic May Day celebration complete with liederhosen and accordions. We explored an abandoned hotel in the next town over. And we drank a lot of coffee on our balcony while admiring the once-in-a-lifetime view. The lady we rented our rooms from said that the town doctor was getting ready to retire, and we really wished that Josh could speak German so he could take over! Here are some pictures to help explain why:

The view from the salt mine above the town

Some from our hike

The town's main street. I love how everything is terraced up the hillside.

Our future homestead in a clearing outside of town

The waterfall by our future homestead. Yes, this is about as close to perfection as you can get in this life.

I convinced Josh that this empty hotel was unlocked because they wanted us to explore it

Our view

Wow. This makes me want to go back.

My Mom's a Winner

2011-02-26T12:59:00.000-06:00

My mom entered this website contest before Christmas and the stuff she won finally got here last week. Check out the bounty:

She won 6 2 yard fabric cuts, a bajillion fat quarters, a jelly roll (which for my non-fabricy readers is a bunch of coordinated fabrics cut into strips and rolled together), lots of thread, some crazy huge batting scissors, gift cards to various websites, a new ruler, a book with a bunch of bag patterns in it, and (for some reason) a nail file!

I've been working on arranging these squares to my liking:

I think it's almost there. I gave Josh artistic control over this one since it's for his cousin, and the quilts I make aren't always the most masculine. Per his request, I'm going to move around a couple of the dark brown edge strips to make a more sensible pattern.

I'm Fancy

2011-02-10T23:39:00.000-06:00

I wish this statement were true: Josh and I made a resolution to be fancier this year. But we didn't. I did however say we did when telling a story, because it sounded funny (it got a good laugh) and we are being fancier so far this year. If I realized it a couple weeks into 2011, and we keep it going, can I say we resolved to be fancier?

Anyhow, I'm sure you're wondering about our first big event as fancy people. On Saturday, we are going here

for an exclusive Cellar Club party. Yes, we are members of this club. Like I said, we're fancy.

On the quilting front, I finished sewing around the edges of all 480 leaves on the quilt for Emma, sewed all the blocks together, added a border, and made my first ever pieced back for it. I'll add a picture soon. I finally came up with a good plan for PJ's quilt and will start that this weekend while Josh is working in the ICU Sunday. We do at least have a little weekend, he gets a whole 40 hours off starting tomorrow morning!

Sharing

2011-01-29T11:48:00.000-06:00

We live with my parents right now. And it's pretty awesome. But whenever I say "my sewing room" or "my design board," I really mean "my mom's sewing room" and "my mom's design board." Because she shares with me, I thought I would show you what she's working on right now:

We started quilting at the same time, when I took a class and then came home and showed her what the class did each week. That was almost 8 years ago, and she is much more a quilting machine than I am now. She's working on this one for her church auction/bazaar coming up in the spring.

Thanks for sharing with me, Mom!

I'm a Winner

2011-01-24T00:31:00.000-06:00

I am the happy recipient of a fat quarter bundle from the Portland Modern Quilter's Guild! There is a drawing for prizes at each month's meeting and this month I came away with four yards of awesome fabric. Are you ready for this?

I learned that all the various animal prints were designed by a lady named Tammis Keefe in the '40s for her very popular handkerchief line. Current fabric designer Michael Miller had them brought back for a tribute set to go with some of his own colorful prints. Mostly I can't wait to figure out how to rock those alligators and those birds in a project!

Little Leaves Quilt

2011-01-19T18:45:00.000-06:00

This pattern came out of Elizabeth Hartman's Practical Guide to Patchwork. I've admired pictures of this quilt on her blog and was so happy there was a tutorial in her book! I'm making mine 5 blocks x 4 blocks instead of 4x4, though. Yes, that means I'm sewing 480 little leaves onto this quilt. I've done 96 so far, and I'm ready to knock out the next 96. Here are two rows up on my design board:

The top row has been all sewn on, and the bottom row's leaves have just been ironed in place. The rest of the blocks are still in pieces. I may change up the order once all my blocks are up there. That's the beauty of the design board!

Here is a close up of one of the finished blocks:

To think last week, all I had was a big pile of blank 12" white squares!

Shout Outs

2011-01-18T23:01:00.000-06:00

We got Josh's grandparents a little computer for Christmas so we could Skype with them since they're in Tulsa. While Skyping last week, Josh showed them how to get to my blog, so I want to say:

Welcome Mema and Pepa!

I also want to give a shout out to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, from whom I learned the art of the shout out, and who I may or may not listen to on Hulu during my work day. If my coworkers hear me laughing out loud, now we all know the reason.

I told Mema I would post my most recent quilt blocks tonight, but I have two more that I want to get together so I can post two full rows. I'm going to work on them right now and will get them up tomorrow, I promise!

Work, work, work

2011-01-12T22:23:00.000-06:00

I've been working almost nonstop lately. I get up and go to work, I come home and work long distance for the Tulsa office until I go to bed so I can get up and work some more. I have really liked working from home for Tulsa. I curl up in my parents' living room on their oversized chairs, pop in a movie, and enter donor data to my heart's content. That's the way to make a living!
They won't need me much longer though, and my job here will start to need me more. Our department shrunk by a couple people, and I'll take over their duties and get a promotion of sorts. I'm quite pleased about it, but enough about boring work things. All of this busyness hasn't left much time for crafting, but I do have plans.

I got a couple books for Christmas that I'm excited to try things from. First, a cheese making book. It's fantastic, and I'm going to be a cheese making machine one day. Second, I got Elizabeth Hartman's Practical Guide to Patchwork which has some absolutely wonderful patterns in it. I chose an applique leafy pattern for my next quilt, and so far all I've had time to do is practice a little:

And choose the fabrics for my leaves:

Once I've got a block put together, I'll post it. Unless it's ugly. And then I'll post about my new ideas.

Ending 2010

2011-01-07T11:53:00.000-06:00

The last thing I did in 2010 was overheat my CJ. It sounds unpleasant, but I ended up having a pretty good time - let me explain.

I was driving home from work on the 31st when the cab of the Jeep started to fill with steam. I was just at the top of the hill coming out of Portland, so I pulled off at the next exit and into a parking lot. I like to think of myself as a problem solver, so I thought I'd check out what was going on under the hood:

I'm no mechanic, but I was pretty sure those two loose ends ought to be connected. With encouragement from a stranger we'll call Helpful McPasserby, I got up the nerve to cancel the tow I had called for and fix it myself. Before digging in, I of course had to go into the coffee shop upon whose parking lot I was imposing so I could warm up. The thoughtful baristas saw my plight and gave me a warm drink for free!

Thoroughly warmed in both body and spirit, I walked across the street to a convenience store for a screw driver and some coolant. They had neither. But the helpful attendant showed me that a dime will do the trick when you don't have a screw driver. Wouldn't you know it, that was the only coin in my wallet!

Using my dime, I successfully unclamped, reattached, and reclamped the hose. But I needed coolant. Here I met my Waterloo. I had to call my dad since Josh was at work and have him run some up to me. While I was waiting, I had 3 or 4 strangers stop and make sure I was okay though. All in all I lost a couple hours, but I ended 2010 feeling pretty good about my community.

Oops!

2010-12-22T15:44:00.001-06:00

I wrapped and packed the placemats for Josh's mom without taking a picture of them - oops! I guess you'll just have to believe me when I say they were works of art. Collectively, they were the Mona Lisa of placemats.

However, I did take a picture of my workspace post-Christmas-projects:

I've become messy! For Christmas, I want little elves to come tidy up and organize my fabric scraps.

Projects Galore

2010-12-15T13:48:00.000-06:00

I've been working on Christmas gifts for people pretty non-stop these past couple weeks while Josh is on night float again. I don't think any of the recipients know about the blog, so I'll put up some pictures!

First, I made Josh's grandma a purse like the one I carry from Elizabeth Hartman's Margaret Bag pattern:

Josh said, "It's so awesomely old lady!"

Second, Josh and I made a jewelry box for our older niece:

Josh did most of the work on this one. I stained it, but he added all the fanciness.

Third, I'm making stuffed animals for our baby niece. I've made a bird so far, and I sewed insulated batting into the inside so it crinkles when you squeeze it (babies dig crinkling, don't they?). I'm also going to make her a fish with a rattle inside.

Lastly, I'm making placemats for Josh's mom. Basically, I'm making 6 tiny quilts. I've just got to bind them now and then I'll be done and I'll put up a picture! The quilts for Josh's cousins have been bumped to birthday presents - one in January and one in March. That will be much more doable!

Zoo Lights

2010-12-08T11:57:00.000-06:00

Josh and I went to Zoo Lights with our residency bff, Denise, on Sunday. The Oregon Zoo makes beautiful displays all over the grounds. For instance, a safari scene complete with light-alligators opening their mouths and a light-bird swooping into a light-river to pick up a light-fish. It is pretty spectacular. I mention this experience for two reasons:

1. Among all the animals made of lights that you would expect to find at the zoo, there was a light-triceratops and also a light-stegosaurus being attacked by light-raptors. What? And a light-unicorn, with a beard. Whaaaat?

2. We rode the steam engine. Not the new-fangled zoo train, but the old steam engine that they only bring out for special occasions. Why is this so exciting to me (aside from the fact that steam engines are cool)? My grandpa helped build the Oregon Zoo Steam Engine back in the day. I feel pretty important having that as a part of my family history. My roots are deep in this city, and I like them here.

This is an old picture, we don't have any snow yet!

Cowboys and Indians

2010-12-02T21:49:00.000-06:00

While in Tulsa last week, I met FIVE babies. FIVE babies have been born in the five months since we've moved. I was able to deliver quilts to two of those babies, the others having already received them, while we were there. Josh's good friend from high school (and my friend too!) had twin boys 3 months ago, and we got to meet them.
About a month ago, I was looking through the fabric store (aka: my mom's extensive stash) and had a stroke of inspiration for these little boys! Cowboys and Indians! Twins don't want to be exactly alike, right? But this way, they still go together.
Here are the finished products:

The first has cowboy boot and bandana fabric and the second is covered in little teepees. I used the same wood print flannel backing for both of them:

I need to get started on two more quilts I want to send to Josh's cousins for Christmas. They may end up being belated Christmas gifts, or maybe birthday presents, because Christmas is coming so fast! I have lots of projects in mind for people, and I'll try to post them as I go along. I hope I can get everything done!

Getting There Is Half the Fun

2010-11-29T18:13:00.000-06:00

We took a vacation. We went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving and saw as many people as we could - it was a blast! It was awesome from the very beginning, though.
We took the Max to the airport, and I passed the time by finishing up the binding on a quilt. This got the attention of a lady who has been quilting for more than 50 years, and we talked almost the whole way there. She was the coolest! She told me about how she used to live on the Baja peninsula with the natives there. She lived in a teepee and was a midwife. She said she was the hit of the neighborhood because she had a generator and therefore a fridge and a sewing machine.
She also told me that she was allergic to an ingredient in anti-venoms and has unfortunately had several run-ins with poisonous creatures. I was reminded once again how great Portlanders are when she told me about just having to wait out a brown-recluse bite that was "way crazier than any of the acid trips" she'd ever done. Then she continued on talking about her loving husband, six kids, and grandkids. Ahh, the quaint charm of Portland's elderly!

Size Matters

2010-11-13T13:32:00.000-06:00

I finally finished my Vernazza-yarn hat! It took soooooo much longer than it should have because, as it turns out, size matters.
I found a pattern I liked online, found a place that could decipher crochet language for me (I was a little rusty with what "Rnd 3: dc next st, Fpdc same st" meant), and started crocheting. But since my yarn was skinny, I made a tiny hat. Our second niece was born two weeks ago; this hat would have been too small for her. So I undid my tiny hat.
I started again using both balls of yarn at once, so I was working with twice the thickness. I made the hat again. It was still too small. Not comically small anymore, just too small. So, I undid most of the hat and added several rounds to the top before remaking the band, which I also made bigger to make up for my still-too-skinny yarn.
To get to the point, I'm so happy with the result! So much, in fact, that I am wearing the hat right now, which is a little silly because I'm inside, at my desk, typing on a computer.
Here it is (with the perfect button that I found in my mom's button jar):

For the Birds

2010-11-05T22:37:00.000-05:00

I have this thing for bird fabrics right now. Or really any product with a bird silhouette. Whenever I picture the sewing room I will one day have, it always has yellows, greens, and blues and birds, birds, birds. I went to a "Handmade Holiday" open house at Modern Domestic and saw this:

I tried to be nonchalant about taking the picture on my phone, so it's kind of a rough photo, but you get the idea. I think it's awesome and would be so easy to make! It gave me something more to imagine in my future sewing room.

They also had cute appliqued stockings that looked like they would be fun to make with a group of friends:

Don't you wish you could just stay home and be crafty all day? I certainly do!

Inspiration

2010-10-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of time to think at work right now as I finish up some gigantic constituent imports. I’m at the stage now where I only have to push a button occasionally while the computer does the heavy lifting, but since my database is hard at work, I can’t use it to do any other tasks. Thus, extensive article-reading, dreaming, and blog-stalking.

I’ve been following Elizabeth Hartman’s book The Practical Guide to Patchwork on its blog tour, entering a giveaway every day hoping to win a copy (if not, it will sit atop my Christmas list). Today, I read a brief interview in which she talked about inspiration for quilt patterns and I thought about what inspires me when I design a quilt. Most quilts I’ve made have been as gifts and the inspiration for them comes from the person I make them for. I’m especially proud of my patchy Texas Flag quilt I made for Brian and the bright yet warm exotic floral quilt I made for Crystal.

However, such inspiration mostly affects fabric choices while I rely on books or blogs for actual block layouts. As I read, I found myself wishing I were better at creativity. I often feel that way. I perform well when given guidelines, but I struggle in making up my own guidelines. This applies to quilting and other types of sewing, but also to music and to cooking, and even how I enact my faith.

I recently read Shane Claiborne’s Jesus for President (again) and was reminded that Jesus lived his life finding unexpected solutions to the many problems humanity faces living in a broken system. How many times did He say, “You have heard it said…but I say to you”? And when was anyone with Him and say, "I totally saw that coming"? I want to be more creative as I discover solutions to life’s big questions that stem from the values of the Kingdom. Yes, I’m sure it will be difficult and probably uncomfortable, but I am motivated, and by no means do I think that all answers and options have been established yet.

What's Over There? Oh, The President

2010-10-21T13:13:00.001-05:00

On my way to work yesterday, I heard that President Obama would be at the Convention Center in Portland and because of that my evening train would be delayed. Well, the Convention Center is just one short block away from where I catch the Max, so I thought I'd go check it out after work.
But then I read that people had been lining up since dawn and that not everyone there would get in when the doors opened at 4. I don't get off till 6, but when I got off my bus at the station, I wanted to see what the deal was anyway.
I walked over to the Convention Center and saw a bunch of policemen guarding the back door because the President hadn't arrived yet. I thought, "Well maybe I'll catch a glimpse as he's rushed inside," but I stood there for a long time and nothing was happening. So I went around to the doors just to see what else there was. As I walked up, there was a small group to whom a secret serviceman gestured and said, "All right, you're the last group in." I made myself a part of that group and went on inside!
I had to wait through a lot of other political speakers, but eventually President Obama came in and spoke for a good half hour. It wasn't terribly crowded so I got pretty close - probably the closest I'll ever get to a president. However, like in side mirrors on a car, objects in an iPhone camera are closer than they appear, so this picture is misleading about my proximity:

Really, I could see his face clearly enough to see his varying expressions, which is saying something because I'm approaching blindness faster than I would prefer. (My eyesight takes after my mom's who, without contacts, says, "I can still see light and color" - oh, good)

Now I've seen a president in person, and rather spontaneously too!

Monster

2010-10-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

I have my first Portland Modern Quilters' Guild meeting tomorrow night, and we are having a pincushion exchange. Nike lent me her pincushion pattern book and I picked a cute little cactus to make. Well, the pattern was a lot bigger than I thought it was, and I ended up making a bigger cactus than I thought, and I think mine looks more like a monster:

I love him, but I don't know that others will find him lovable. He is a little dweeby looking.

Night Float

2010-10-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

Josh and I have opposite schedules this week and next week. He leaves for work at 5 pm while I'm on my way home and gets home after 8 am while I'm on my way to work. We are exactly opposite. I've been leaving a little late so I can see him for 10 minutes in the morning. Yep, that's it. It only lasts for one more week though, and the more night float is worked into the residency schedule, the fewer nights of random call the residents have during the year. It's an investment, really.

I fully intended to get tons of sewing done on these empty evenings, but I've been wholly unmotivated. All I've done so far is choose patterns for my next two and stare at the fabric for a while from the comfiest chair in the world - which happens to be in my mom's sewing room. So I may not have a project to post for a little bit.

I do, however, have to make a pin cushion for an exchange at my first ever Portland Modern Quilters' Guild meeting next week. I've never made one before, but how hard can it be, right? And today I started my Italian-souvenir-yarn hat. I found a pattern I like and crocheted about 6 rounds before pulling it all out. I think I got the hang of the "front post double crochet" stitch, but now I think I can do better than the chunk I made trying to figure it out. I'll post it when it's done. I'm secretly hoping I'll have enough yarn for two hats, but as I've never made a hat before, I don't know how much I'll need.

Happy Friday!

Halfway There

2010-10-10T14:10:00.000-05:00

I've finished 5 of the 10 quilts I had planned when we first moved to Oregon. It's been extra nice having my mom's sewing room and fabrics and machine to help me knock all these out! I finally finished the grey and yellow one that I posted about almost two months ago. It's for our niece who is due to be born at any moment! I put it in the mail for her yesterday:

In this one you can see the butterflies that it's quilted all over with:

And not to leave out our first niece Abi, who is so excited to be a big sister, I made a purse for her because she's pretty much a grown-up now:

We bought tickets to go visit over Thanksgiving and we're so excited to see everybody. Since all of the quilts I have left belong in Oklahoma, I'll try to get as many of them as I can done by then so we can deliver them in person.

Cave Canem

2010-10-06T21:06:00.003-05:00

It's another Europe post!

One of the coolest things we did while abroad was visit Pompeii. It wasn't what I expected after visiting other ruins because it still looked like a city. We walked around on streets that had ruts worn in the stone from cart travel. We went into houses built 2000 years ago and admired the murals on the wall and the mosaics on the floor. We saw the bars, brothels, and temples and could still tell what they were. There were vases, sculptures and pieces of furniture on display. All of which had been suddenly buried under ash and thus preserved since AD 70. (There were also plaster casts made from the actual inhabitants frozen in place, covering their faces as they were covered in ash from Vesuvius - it was eerie)

One of the most famous mosaics is this one found at the entrance of one of the homes:

"Cave Canem" means "Beware of Dog." Awesome, right?!

Also awesome is that it kind of looks like my dog:

Also also awesome is that there are still dogs living in Pompeii. They just have free reign of the city. They're kept there under protection and are up for adoption. You can adopt a dog from Pompeii. Tell me that's not cool!

Beautiful

2010-09-28T18:48:00.002-05:00

When I lived in Tulsa, I got to work for Melissa Ramirez. She has a beautiful family. Her kids, the Spectacular Sophia and the Extraordinary Elijah, are bright, witty, and fun - just like their parents! I enjoyed seeing them both come through the office from time to time.

Elijah has overcome a lot in his (nearly) four years, and last week I was glued to their blog Pray For Eli as his dad, David, posted videos of him getting his brand new "special shoes" and learning to walk. I watched the videos during lunch and it was all I could do to keep from jumping up to celebrate his victories in my cubicle! If you want to get to know a beautiful family, visit that blog! Even if you don't wander over to their blog, keep them in your prayers as Elijah masters walking. After all, he has a dynamo of a big sister to keep up with!

Busy Busy

2010-09-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

This last week was busy. I finished this quilt for our friends the Herberts who had their first son, Daxton, this weekend. Congratulations to them!

Because of my poor photography skills, I don't know if you can see that the fabrics include waves, palm trees, and starfish or that it's quilted all over with waves. Those Herberts love the West Coast, and who can blame them?

Then Josh and I went on vacation. Josh hadn't seen Central Oregon before so we visited Bend and Sisters. We met a legit watch maker in Sisters from whom we will purchase all our wrist and/or pocket time pieces in the future. The guy is an artist! I don't remember his name. But Josh got his card.

On the way home, we decided to track down some ghost towns, since Oregon has the most. We bought a book at Powell's before leaving the city, but since they deal mostly in used books, the only one on ghost towns we could find was 40 years old. Mistake! Although, it is the same book my Grandpa used when he and Grandma went on a ghost town tour in the '70s (no lies).

Our journey was kind of a bust, because in the last 40 years one of the towns from the book had completely disappeared and two others had kind of bounced back (good for them, though!). My unstable relationship with the camera was momentarily in good standing when I took this picture:

Too bad the only real abandoned building we saw was surrounded by barbed wire and "No Trespassing" signs. Oh well, it was nice to have a break, and I certainly enjoyed five whole days in a row with Josh!

Fight (Almost)

2010-09-08T18:57:00.001-05:00

I said I would blog about my adventures on TriMet, but nothing too extraordinary has happened. Sometimes I see things that make me feel pretty good about humanity – like the spacey kid with his pants belted around his knees getting up to give his seat to the lady with crutches before being asked. Sometimes I see things that are funny – like the dude with a case of beer just handing them out to everyone on the train and starting a party. Sometimes, though, I see things that make me sad for humanity, but I don’t need to bring out those stories. So instead I’ll tell one that started in that direction, but had a sort of comical twist.

I was sitting near the back of the train and heard a lady yelling. It sounded like she thought she was in a fight, but I couldn’t tell if the other person was as into the fight as she was. I imagine the other person was standing there, having inadvertently offended her, not knowing how to get out of an awkward situation with a crazy person. I guess this because I only ever heard one voice.

Well, the Max driver got tired of the yelling and at the next stop got on the intercom to ask them to take the fight off the train. The angry girl immediately jumped off and started yelling curse words mixed in with things like “How dare you look at me that way,” or “Who do you think you are?” While she was having her fit trying to get the fight to follow her, the driver just closed the door and started on down the tracks leaving her with no one to accost.

Well done, driver.

Filler

2010-08-29T23:24:00.000-05:00

I'm still here! Aside from getting half my quilt blocks done for Juliette's baby quilt, we picked peaches for canning this week, and we picked a little bit of blackberries. We only picked enough for two and a half cans of jam, which I made today. I just wanted to check in and put up a single picture from our Europe trip before getting back to sewing.

I want to show off the very small bags we took with us! It was incredibly handy to not have to check anything, nor to have to lug big bags on and off the many trains we took. These are our backpacks lounging by the sea in Greece while we did the same.

Yes, that is all we had between the two of us for a month of travel. I even had a fancy occasion dress for going out to dinner in Venice stuffed in mine. As my sewing projects wind down, I'll post more pictures, I promise!

Fabric Love

2010-08-20T15:25:00.000-05:00

I bought some fabric this weekend for a project for our new (on-the-way) niece, and I think it's the cutest stuff I've ever purchased:

I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but I love the gray and yellow scheme. And those birds, I love those birds! I'll post the finished product when it's all together, though that might be a while. I expected to have all kinds of time this week since my commute is lessened as we house-sit on the east side. I've only done the eenciest bit of sewing, though. I had already forgotten how much time having a house takes up.

The Great Chicken Caper

2010-08-18T12:23:00.001-05:00

Josh and I are house sitting this week for a couple of his senior residents. Our responsibilities include caring for the gardens, the dog, the cat, and the chickens. They said we could bring Ada, and we thought she would make a great addition to the household, but I didn't anticipate one thing - she turned out to be a professional chicken hunter.

Yes, within five minutes of taking over guardianship of our friends' home, Adelaide found the backdoor open and discovered her feathered friends. She chased them until one flew over the front gate, one completely vanished, and one was in her clutches. After I got her to release the chicken and tugged her back to the truck, I tried to figure out what to do. I went back to the chicken she caught, expecting to find it mortally wounded, but it was only scared out of its mind and had gotten up to hide behind the compost bin. Where it stayed for hours.

Then, after setting up Ada's crate and relocating her (I'm not cruelly leaving her in the car on the hottest day of the year even if she did try to do in the chickens), I began my search of the neighborhood. I went around and asked the neighbor over the back fence if our chicken ended up in his yard - no. I asked several passers-by if they'd "seen a chicken clucking around" - no. I searched the yards surrounding the house, but only found a glass chicken yard ornament - not good enough.

In complete shame and despair, I gave up and went back to the house to eat. I texted Josh, who was on call at the hospital. I did some Red Cross work. I called my friend to commiserate. Several hours passed. Then, I decided to water the plants so nothing else met its demise on our watch. Lo and behold! Chicken #2 emerged from under the house. I quickly made sure that it was not Chicken #1 simply in a new place. No! Chicken #1 is still terrified behind the compost bin! Having two chickens is way better than having one chicken!

Revitalized by this discovery, I thought, "Surely the other chicken is still hiding nearby!" I began my search again and quickly found Chicken #3 in the neighbors tree. I told it to stay where it was and went to get gloves. I could only find snow gloves. I chased the chicken around the front yards of several houses in snow gloves. I caught the chicken and put her back where she belongs. Days later, we still have all three chickens!

We did relocate Ada back to my parents the next morning, though.

Supurrr

2010-08-13T15:42:00.000-05:00

I love this ugly mug

Make Yourself at Home

2010-08-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

So, I tried to come up with a clever title for my revamped blog. I'm pretty pleased with "Make Yourself at Home" for two reasons. The first is that I love to be hospitable. I love doing/making things for people and making them feel welcome around me. I want you to make yourself at home.

The second reason is that I feel the most myself when I am at home doing what I love. It is where I get to be creative, it is where I naturally put others first, it is where I best like who I am. I try to be consistent everywhere I go, of course, and having this home space where I can ground myself daily and "make myself" into who I want to be is so helpful for those efforts. So, when you run into "commuter Laura" or "workday Laura" or "hanging out Laura," know that she is trying to be kind and intentional and thoughtful and creative and productive because that's the person I want to make myself into. And for me, that starts at home.

Commissioned

2010-08-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

Before I left Tulsa, my friend Susan entrusted me with a collection of shirts that had belonged to her mother. She asked me to make them into two quilts – one for her and one for her brother. Her only instruction was to make them as colorful as possible, so I decided to use a little bit of each of the 15 shirts she gave me.

My mom helped me out by removing all the buttons and cutting the shirts apart at the seams to give me the largest possible pieces to work with. I then cut them into strips of varying widths and arranged them into 30 differently designed squares.

I finished the first on Tuesday and will bind the other this weekend. I had a lot more fabric left over than I expected, but Susan wanted some to have made into teddy bears for their kids. In that case, I will mail the remaining material to her along with these:

Please pardon my poorly lit pictures!

Our Life Nowadays

2010-07-29T20:52:00.001-05:00

Josh gets up a little after 5am to get ready and go to work. I get up at 6:30 to do the same. My trip to work includes an hour on the Max and bus to get to the Red Cross. Work is uneventful (for me at least, Josh's day is probably more bloggable than gift entry and database cleanup). I try to use my twice daily hour commutes as a Trimet passenger wisely: reading, crocheting, working my Tulsa job, etc. I get home around 6 and bide my time until Josh gets home at 7ish. We then have two hours until he goes to bed and I work for an hour on whatever crafty project I need to complete next. That's right folks, we spend 2-3 hours in each others' company per day. Of course, it is less than that if he is on call and doesn't come home in the evening at all, which happens about once a week. Weekends are glorious and we have 48 beautiful hours to work in the garden, go to Portland's many festivals, and take advantage of all the outdoor fun at our fingertips. Except when he's on weekend call - like this weekend.

I'm not trying to be Complains McGee over here, I just thought a little sketch of this new life would be interesting to do. Compared to his last year of medical school, where he had tons of free time and we both worked about 7 minutes from our house and could have lunch together anytime, it's a big change! This daily routine won't last forever, in fact it will get better each year he's a resident, and we are looking forward to life after residency when he can set his hours more reasonably. In the meantime, though, we appreciate having at least those two hours a day - happy fourth anniversary, Dr. Reese! Thank you for spending your free time with me, I enjoy your company in life.

"I'd buy that!"

2010-07-26T21:11:00.003-05:00

I made this purse before we went to Europe so I could have a roomy purse to supplement the sole backpack I brought for our four week adventure. Since I couldn't find one at a store that suited me, I raided my mom's fabric stash and made one myself. The pattern is Elizabeth Hartman's at Oh, Fransson! who is my favorite quilting blogger and a fellow Portlander.

On Friday, Josh, our new intern bff, Denise, and I went to the Brewer's Festival downtown. I got there first, so I passed the time listening to the fantastic bluegrass band, Head for the Hills. While I did so, a girl came up and asked me where I got my bag. It was such a great feeling to announce "I made it!" She said that she would "totally buy it," but as I can't take credit for it's design, and it was full of my stuff at that moment, that is/was not an option. Kudos to Elizabeth Hartman for a great pattern, though! And the compliment made me pretty proud of my assembling skills.

New Look!

2010-07-20T20:51:00.004-05:00

A lot has happened since I last wrote. I gallivanted around Europe with my husband for four weeks. I watched him become a doctor. I drove a Jeep 2500 miles from Tulsa to Portland via the Grand Canyon (with no a/c, might I add). I got a job doing for the Oregon Red Cross pretty much the same thing I did for Tulsa's. I'm still working for the Tulsa chapter, too. Now I feel all settled and can get back to a normal schedule that, ideally, will include more regular blogging. And for this new life, I felt a new blog-look was appropriate.

I plan to blog about many things, including our Europe trip, my adventures riding the train through Portland every day, the awesome stuff there is to do in this great city, and the stuff that I make with fabric, yarn, or food. For now, I'll combine two of those topics and show you my favorite souvenir of our recent trip:

Handspun yarn from Vernazza, Italy in the Cinque Terre! I spoke with the lady who makes it and she told me all about the different things she uses to dye her yarn. Mine was dyed with ivy leaves. She uses cabbage, onion skins, and all kinds of things to make beautifully colored yarn. Plus, as she put it, she "has much fun!" I think I'm going to make it into a hat. First, I need to learn how to make a hat.

Disappearing Act

2010-04-22T10:38:00.002-05:00

We made it to Portland without any problems, and even got everything on the list done before we took off. Well, everything except Josh's paper which he is finishing this week.

We leave for Vienna in 5 days, and I am nervous about something: my dog. Since we've been at my parents' she has made a run for it twice. She is in a new place and doesn't understand, I get it. She's probably looking for home. But what if she does that while Josh and I are gone and she won't come to Mom and Dad? Yikes. Maybe we'll get her microchipped before we leave.

Homework, shopping, and desperate-dog-training will fill our next five days!

Moving

2010-04-09T07:05:00.002-05:00

There is still so much to do before we move in one week.
We have to finish packing and cleaning our little house. We have some repairs and gardening things we would like to finish. We have to make the last reservations for our trip. We have to cancel all our Tulsa utilities and memberships. Josh has a paper to write that he has been trying to get information about for three weeks. (Thanks preceptor, for your prompt attention. It's not like we're leaving the country soon or anything.) We have to find a storage unit in Oregon to have the relo-cube delivered to. We have people to see and goodbyes to say.
Stress!

I think I just need to make a list. Sometimes I think all stress can be solved by a good list.

Hair Plugs

2010-03-27T19:32:00.003-05:00

An actual conversation at my garage sale today:

Me: "Good morning, how are you?"
Old Man: "As good as a 73 year old man can be."
He sees Ada's crate which is serving as a table to display my items.
"That's a big crate. What do you have? An Akita?"

I was impressed at his guess, as Ada was unhappily cooped up in the back yard.
"Why yes, we do!"

"I like them. My hair is Akita hair."

I thought, "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?", but said, "Oh, really?"

"Yep. I sent a sample of my hair away and the closest match was Akita hair, so they made me plugs out of it. Do you want to feel it?"

I took his word for it, because apparently I can just go pet Ada and it would be the same.

Committed

2010-03-25T22:08:00.002-05:00

I just bought us tickets to Vienna. I'm excited, but that was just one of the scariest decisions I've ever made. I feel a little irresponsible and a little intimidated. Also, I realized we'll miss the series finale of Lost. What?!

Whew, I'll get all the jitters out of my system. They're already starting to fade with that confession.

The plan is to start in Vienna and wander through Hallstatt, Venice, Rome, Florence, Naples, Corinth, Delphi, and fly home from Athens. We'll be making those reservations in the next couple weeks, in addition to having a garage sale, packing, and Tulsa family stuff before we go.

The "Relo-cube" will be delivered to our house on April 14th and we'll probably hit the road to Portland on the 15th or 16th. Our goal is to take only one cube thing; the rest of our stuff is to be sold or given away. Do you need anything?

Long Time No Blog

2010-03-21T07:58:00.002-05:00

I won't bother with any catch up info because by far the most interesting things are right now!

Thursday was Josh's Match Party. He planned a swanky shin-dig at the newly restored, art deco May Hotel downtown. That place is gorgeous. All the students in his class got there and tried to make small talk and pretend like they were eating and weren't the most nervous they'd ever been.

See, they'd all ranked the places they wanted to be assigned for residency. Then the programs had all ranked the students they'd like to hire. A supercomputer somewhere ran some algorithms and tried to get all the students and all the programs in the whole country their highest choices. Once it finishes - that's that. You go to the place it spits out for you. Everyone in the country finds out at the same time.

Josh planned a pretty excellent reveal. At noon everyone opened a box with a fleece in it. Their name, MD and their assigned program were embroidered on said fleece. It was a hit! Josh should rethink medicine and go into party planning.

Josh's fleece told us that we are going to Providence Milwaukie, which is not in Wisconsin, but rather in Oregon. Woohoo! Yes, we are moving in with my parents.

So now, I have two weeks left to work at the Red Cross and Josh has two papers to write until he's officially done with medical school. We are planning to move in mid/late April. We escaped up to White Rock Mountain immediately after the party to plan all the "last things" to do in Tulsa (which makes me sad), our move (I think we're utilizing those handy moving pods), and a trip to Europe before graduation. I'm starting to pack today!

The Single Life

2009-10-27T17:58:00.002-05:00

Josh left me for a month. He went to Oregon to do an FP sub-internship and live with my parents, and eat my mom's cooking, and hang out with my friends. I do get to head out there next weekend, but other than that I won't see him until Thanksgiving in Houston. So now I'm living on my own.
I think I have successfully filled my time so far. I winterized our backyard and went to Oktoberfest with Ashley on Saturday. I've been taking Ada for walks at Woodward Park and working on a couple priority sewing projects. Small group at Dave and Ruth's is awesome on Mondays, and I bet they wouldn't mind if I came by slightly more often than that.

I was a little worried about cooking for one, but I came up with a brilliant solution: soup.
You can make a pot of soup at the beginning of the week, and it can feed one person (who doesn't mind eating the same thing over and over again) for days. Since he had to leave, I'm glad Josh went in the fall because soup in the fall is fantastic. I'm on night three of minestrone right now and I have a pot of chicken tortilla soup planned. I make a mean creamy-turkey soup, and I want to try my hand at butternut squash soup. I had some in Eureka Springs last week (at the Lovin' Oven!) with roasted squash seeds on top, and it was one of the best things ever.

Official Announcement

2009-10-25T16:43:00.005-05:00

Oktoberfest is the best Tulsa festival for people watching.

There is one important quality that bumped it over Tulsa State Fair people watching: drunk people are funny. Everyone was everybody's friend; everyone danced the chicken dance; everyone was smiling and chatty - it was great. They had an impressive selection of beer including 3 varieties from Boulevard, Shiner bock, Stella, and a dark lager from that German brand that starts with a W (sorry, it's escaping me now). If you, like me, aren't a big beer drinker, go anyway! Designated Drivers get free water and soda, you can get some bratwurst or strudel, and you can watch (and party with) some of the friendliest, happiest festival-goers in Tulsa.

Best: The guy in the German band whose job it was to yell randomly during the songs. I'm pretty sure he was wearing three sets of suspenders, and yelled excitedly into the mic no matter what song was playing. Also, you can bring your dog!

Worst: A pint is $7, yikes!

Festival Fail

2009-10-12T10:08:00.004-05:00

Don't ever go to the Stone Bluff Wine Festival. We went with the Ibanezes this weekend and we all agreed it was awful. First of all, you have to pay $5 per person just for the privilege of standing on their muddy lawn looking at the few things there are to do. You can only look, because each of those things to do charged an additional fee. Other wine festivals that have an entry fee at least give you free food or five free tastings or something. Stone Bluff didn't even provide something to taste from. You had to buy a poorly made, ugly wine glass for $4 and then pay $1 per scanty taste of wine. They probably made more money off of a tasting bottle than they would have just selling it regularly. Also, the volunteers that poured the wine were extra cranky and getting any information out of them about the wines you were tasting was like pulling teeth...from an annoyed buffalo. Yikes!

Finally, in our opinion, the wine was bad. They were all too sickly sweet and syrupy, like when you don't add the appropriate amount of water to your Kool-Aid. Their dryest wine, the Syrah, was okay but is what we usually consider a middle-of-the-road wine. The Terre Rouge tasted like your grandmother's perfume and smelled worse.

If ever you find yourself heading out to Stone Bluff, do yourself a favor, turn left rather than right and visit the Lavender Hills Vineyard instead. They were awesome. We pulled up and they said, "Here are the four wines we are tasting for free today. We even have cups you can use!" Their wines fit our preferences much better, having flavors other than sugar. Their Sweet Red was delicious, not too sweet, and had nice spicy flavors. As the lady said, "You could drink this wine all day. You could get drunk off this wine. I am." Loved her!
Inside their store, they had wine-a-ritas (wine slushies) and gave us generous free samples. Plus, they are also a lavender farm so they had bundles of lavender, soaps, and lotions for sale that all smelled awesome. The Ibanezes bought three bottles of wine, I bought some lavender, and we all left feeling much better about our afternoon.

When Josh and I have our vineyard, we know whose example we'll follow.

Scots vs. Greeks

2009-10-02T08:44:00.005-05:00

Two weeks ago we went to the Scottish Games (SGs) and last weekend we went to the Greek Festival. I'm just going to declare right now that Greeks totally win this battle.

The SGs got a little pricy as we had to pay for parking and an entry fee. Not so with the Greeks! (But Susan told me that if you ride your bike in the back way to River Park they let you come in to the SGs without paying).

The park where the SGs were held was waaaaay too big for the little amount they had going on, which made it look sparse and unexciting. They did have a Master-Scotch-Drinker there (really, he's one of five in the world) giving lessons about scotch and tastes for $15 which was easily the best part of the festival. The games were remarkably unexciting. I could only watch people pitch bags of oats and throw telephone poles for so long before I lost interest. There was a herding contest that was pretty cool, though.

There were dancers at both festivals, and they were pretty similar in that there's a lot of fancy foot-work, but not a lot of torso movement. The Greeks totally win this round because the Scottish dancers looked bored while their feet were a-tapping, but the Greek dancers were hooping and hollering and having a great time.

There wasn't much at the Greek Festival aside from food. But let's be honest and say that's why you go to the festival anyway. We didn't try any Scottish food at the SGs because it was all so expensive. That and it was sold state-fair-style along with indian tacos, so it didn't seem very authentic. At the GF you could watch the Greek ladies making your food right there. They had Spinach Pies for $1, Greek Coffee for $1, and Honey Puffs (awesome) 8 for $2 (the lady gave us 10!). The gyros, shish kabobs, and lamb were all more expensive, but totally worth it if you want to spend the money.

Lastly, the Scots may have turned the tables if they didn't discriminate and say only Scottish breed dogs were allowed. We saw that and didn't bring Ada, even though the Scots and Japanese are best friends. Seriously, Japan is the only other country Scotland will allow to call their whisky "Scotch." We didn't bring her, but we should have because I saw Rottweilers in there. Are those Scottish? (No.)

Catch-Up

2009-09-16T21:19:00.005-05:00

We did two unique Tulsa things these last couple weeks, but as they are not repeatable events, I will not evaluate them in my former fasion:

1. We went to the last game at Driller's Stadium, which is right down the street from our house. It was fun, as much as a baseball game can be. The best part was the countdown to the last time the lights went out at the stadium. Whoever was running the countdown never quite got the rhythm of the crowd. We said, "twenty-nine...ttttttttttwenty-eighttwentyseven...tttttttt" You get the picture. For a while, they stopped the numbers on the screen altogether. Then they came back slower than ever. Then they skipped some numbers. Everyone was cracking up by the time we got to zero. What a send off!

2. We went to Megan and Derek's wedding at Holy Family Cathedral. It turns out that someone there had the Swine Flu, and all Protestants gave a sigh of relief that they weren't allowed to share the communion cup. It was beautiful though - congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Weinkauf!

Otherwise, I've been sewing my little heart out. I finished the baby quilts for my expecting friends and am almost done with a winter jacket. I just have to sew a button-hole, which for some reason I find wholly intimidating. Here is the dinosaur quilt for Devin Burton, Jr (who should be making his debut on Friday):

Adelaide keeps me company while I sew by taking up all the area under my work table:

Yes, she fell asleep with her front and back legs in different directions. Not very ladylike, or vertebrate-like for that matter.

Perfect People

2009-09-01T10:44:00.002-05:00

I was in the checkout line of the grocery store when the man behind me with his little daughter complimented me on my hair. I said thank you and turned back to eyeing the silly-but-kind-of-interesting magazine covers thinking that was going to be it. Now, I don't mind talking to strangers so when he started talking on about redheads, I politely returned the conversation. Then he complimented me on my shirt, saying to his daughter, "Isn't orange your favorite color?" Which is fine, but my shirt was definitely yellow. Finally he said this gem: "I think that God needed a way to identify the perfect people in the world, so he gave them red hair."

Hm, I may have agreed with him, but he was a redhead and somewhat of a creeper. There goes that theory.

Not Good Enough

2009-08-19T12:35:00.002-05:00

A while ago we were visiting some of Josh's friends from school and we brought blackberry cobbler to share. While we were waiting for them to answer their trendy skyrise-apartment door, a guy came out of the place just next to us. He was stumbling by when he stopped, put his face uncomfortably close to the food I was holding, and said, "Duuuuude, are those brownies?!" I told him no, it was blackberry cobbler. He made a disgusted face and said, "Oh, well never mind then."

"Never mind" what, you possibly drunk, fancy apartment dweller? Whether they were brownies or not, they were not for you. You, who oh so rudely denounced my tasty dessert, were not going to get any anyway!

I was a little offended by this stranger. I got over it when he tripped on the carpet on his way down the hall.

Pint Nights

2009-08-08T19:44:00.004-05:00

Monday is Pint Night at McNellie’s, which means if you order a pint of their featured beer, you get it in a custom glass that you get to keep! Depending on the beer, we’ve spent anywhere from $2-5 on a pint. Josh decided that his med school class should go to every pint night this year - even to last week's that featured Miller High Life (seriously? Out of the hundreds of beers that McNellie’s sells?)! So on Mondays, somewhere between 5 and 7, you can find five or so fourth year medical students (and me) relaxing with a usually tasty pint. You can find a list of the upcoming pints here.

It’s not as crowded as $3 burger nights (Wednesdays. Totally delicious.), so you don’t have to worry about getting there early to make sure to get a seat. Just come when you can, enjoy the company, enjoy the snacks (may I recommend the sweet potato fries?) and if you like, enjoy the beer.

I should probably confess that I don’t drink carbonated beverages, so I usually just have a sip or two of Josh’s pint. But even for weirdos like me, pint night is a good time!

A New Skill

2009-07-31T21:52:00.005-05:00

I like to sew. Most of the time I quilt, and that is usually done for friends expecting babies. I discovered the other day that I have an embroidery foot which means I can quilt in pretty patterns instead of just straight lines. I had to get out the old screwdriver and take the fabric feeders off my machine since the cover I have for them doesn't fit. I may have dropped a screw somewhere into the depths of my sewing machine, but it still works fine, and I was able to create this:

And a close up of the flowery design:

Next I have to figure out what pattern to use on the dinosaur quilt I'm piecing. Hmmm.

Admiral Twin

2009-07-27T08:09:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks back, Josh took me to the ultimate Tulsa experience: The Admiral Twin Drive In Theater

Once a popular hangout for Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and the Karate Kid, the Admiral Twin is still open for business and enjoys a sort of landmark status. It costs $7 per person, which is less than the regular old theater, and you get to see not one, but two movies for your ticket. Once there, we backed the truck into a space and used an old battery powered tape deck/radio thing to pick up the theater’s radio frequency. We filled the truck bed with pillows and blankets and were quite comfy during our two movies. A plane flew overhead once or twice making it hard to hear, but that wouldn’t have been a problem if we’d been in our car like most people. As it was, it wasn’t enough to be unpleasant or make us miss anything important.

Best: Cheaper, bigger, and more comfortable (in a truck bed at least) than a boring multiplex.

Worst: Starts after dark (obviously), so you have to stay up pretty late to see both movies.

Mid Year Resolution

2009-07-21T18:26:00.003-05:00

I want to be a better blogger. My blogging has been sparse and dull lately, and I think I know how to spice it up. Most who know us know that Josh looooooves Tulsa. After living here for a year, I think it’s great too! It has lots of parks and trees, beautiful art deco buildings downtown, and some pretty cool stuff to do. Since this may be our last year here, Josh and I have decided to make the most of the city and do all the “Tulsa” things. I will then post a helpful review of the event, restaurant, or shop on my blog. Helpful to whom? I’ll figure that out later. So without further adieu, I give you:

The Porter Peach Festival

We went on Saturday, July 18, because that was the day they gave away free peaches and ice cream, which were delicious! Porter is only about a half hour drive for us and very easy to get to. The town isn’t quite equipped to handle the influx of traffic for the festival, so the intersections (all stop signs) got rather backed up. We paid $5 to park in the first available yard and walked past all the cars waiting to drive the 3 blocks to closer parking. The festival is pretty small, but the free peaches were delicious, the booths were fun to look at, and they had lots of places to sit and enjoy your fair food. There was a country band playing that was pretty good. Their sound was balanced and everyone was good at their instrument, so it was nice to sit and listen to their cover songs. An hour and a half is plenty of time to see all there is to see and go through the free peaches line (twice).
Best: Free peaches and ice cream, of course! Also, you can bring your dog (we didn’t know, poor Ada)!
Worst:There were actually no peaches for sale at the PEACH Festival. We didn’t bother driving to the nearby orchard where they were sold, but my friend Susan did and brought some to work for me. It turns out they are yummy!

Smitty’s Western Store

We went through Coweta on the way back from the Peach Festival, and stopped by Smitty’s to look at boots. Josh and I are getting each other cowboy boots for our anniversary since the third year is the leather gift year. They had more boy boots than girl boots, but since they had exactly what I wanted for 75% off, the smaller selection was okay with me. I mostly wanted to mention them because the lady was so nice and helpful and really fun to talk to. Plus, what a deal! Thanks Smitty’s!

Decor

2009-07-07T17:24:00.003-05:00

We went to Durango, CO last week to backpack in the Chicago Basin. We enjoyed being someplace accessible only by a three hour steam train ride followed by hours of hiking. There was no cell phone reception, there were barely any other people, and I slept in a comfy hammock all week.

One of the highlights of the trip was the bed and breakfast Josh booked for us in Durango for the night before we left and the night we came down. It was awesome to have a fantastic meal to send us on our way and a jacuzzi tub to welcome us back. Plus we had a sweet framed picture of Chevy Chase on the wall:

Ah, how homey!

I Understand, Driving Can Make You Thirsty

2009-06-14T12:35:00.005-05:00

Josh and I went to Broken Arrow yesterday, and as it is not a long drive, I did not expect anything blog-worthy to happen. However:

We were waiting behind another pick up to turn left at a rather lengthy red light. After a little while of waiting, the driver of that pick up truck opened the door and got out. We didn't have time to wonder what he was doing before he reached into the bed of his truck, which is apparently where he keeps a cooler of cold ones for just such occasions. Yep, he pulled himself a brewsky out of the ice chest, popped the top, got back in the cab, and went on his way when the light turned green. Awesome.

Mysterious Objects

2009-06-07T13:01:00.004-05:00

Here is our favorite thrift store find:

What is that? It was $1. We call it the "candle booger."

Another mysterious object is Ada's favorite toy:

It used to be a pig. She took off its legs. And its nose. And its mouth. And its eyes. She's working on an ear. But she loves it.

Aren't you glad my camera is fixed!

You Should Not

2009-05-26T22:04:00.002-05:00

Conversations in bathroom stalls are unacceptable. You should not talk to your stall neighbor while you both know what's happening on either side of those thin, too short, metal walls. Period. Nor does the stall double as a phone booth. It is not a private setting and it's just plain weird for all involved if you talk while you're micturating.

I walked into the restroom at work today, and as I closed the stall door behind me, I heard a voice from the other side say, "Well, hiiiiiii there princess!"

I panicked.

That creepy greeting was not for me, was it?

Nope. The person using the stall next to me had just placed a phone call, and felt comfortable saying that. The way she said it would have been creepy anywhere. Especially so on the toilet.

New Camera Batteries!

2009-05-21T18:45:00.006-05:00

We tried to get away with using AAs in our camera. As a result, the batteries died upon turning on the camera. We finally, after three years of taking one picture at a time, got new batteries! Thus:

Pictures of my recent back porch project. Total Cost: $35

And here's a picture of our little friend from Cancun sitting in his place by the fountain:

A Spiritual Experience

2009-04-28T17:53:00.004-05:00

Every spring I read the eight Anne of Green Gables books. They follow her from childhood on to when her children are grown and fighting in World War I. (I will not tolerate the movies as they change the time period in an unacceptable way.) I think each spring Anne reminds me more of how to be a gracious, godly person than all the time I spend in church during the year. This time, a passage of Anne's thought when her childhood friend, Ruby, dies stuck with me:
"She was leaving everything she cared for. She had laid up her treasures on earth only; she had lived solely for the little things of life - the things that pass - forgetting the great things that go onward into eternity...
"The little things in life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth."

I first encountered this concept (of living as though in the Kingdom while still on earth) in college, in books that had been recently published, and thought it was so novel. L. M. Montgomery was theologically ahead of her time. And so much more poetic.

Deceit

2009-04-23T15:27:00.002-05:00

Adelaide has another urinary tract infection. It's probably because of her food, so we're going to change her diet now that we know. In the meantime, she's taking an anti-inflammatory drug and an antibiotic. The sneaky, (relatively) little dog has been hiding her medicine! We just put the pills in her food so she'll gobble them up with the rest of it. But the other day Josh was walking across one of our shaggy rugs and found her medicine hidden in the shag. She took it out of her dish, carried it to our room, and hid it in the rug. I have to cover them in peanut butter now to entice her to eat them.

Also, our first iris bloomed this morning.

This Gala Is Off the Hook!

2009-04-14T20:47:00.002-05:00

Or, it's going to be. The Red Cross Red Carpet Gala in Tulsa will be complete with paparazzi, a jazz band, an auction, and heartwarming awards to heroic locals. Our Financial Development Department knows how to throw a party! And since I'm a part of it, I have responsibilities to help. I've been getting auction items, and I'm proud of myself so I wanted to share. I've got museum memberships, a photo session, pet training classes, a private party at a local venue, and other stuff in the works that may or may not include furniture, cosmetic procedures, and some trees. We'll see.
I do have a failure story that I want to share. I asked a local bakery (that will remain nameless) to donate something for our silent auction. I wrote a very nice letter in which I explained the purpose of the event and that a silent auction item must have a minimum value of $50. I even made some suggestions (a custom cake, a muffin a day for six months - a la Scrubs). In response, this inconsiderate bakery just mailed my letter back to me along with a coupon for a dozen donuts. Thanks. $7.50. Since they didn't meet the requirements I clearly outlined, the Financial Development office will be using this coupon on ourselves. Ha.

Satisfied

2009-04-12T19:40:00.003-05:00

I had a nice birthday. Josh had to work in the morning, but he was off by 2 and we got to spend the afternoon together. I was determined to only do things I really enjoy doing and to only eat things that I really like to eat. So, I had an english muffin for breakfast. I worked in the garden in the sunshine. I sewed. Josh and I went hiking and had wine and cheese (smoked Tillamook cheddar - the only kind of cheese) on a rock part way down a cliff. I ate dark chocolate. We went out for sushi and I had my favorite peppermint ice cream for dessert. I watched the Blazers play (and by "watched" I mean read the play-by-play online in real time). It was a very satisfying day.
This morning, however, was not satisfying. I made a cake to take to Josh's parents' for Easter dinner. And it had the nerve to stick in the pan. It was a nice cake, made from scratch and beat to fluffy perfection. Even though I greased that bundt pan, the top of the cake stayed in when the bottom came out. I couldn't take that unpresentable cake anywhere, so it is sitting in the fridge waiting for Keith who I'm sure won't mind it's haphazard state. I threw together a chocolate cake from a box to replace it and regretted getting so worked up about my failed cake because it's Easter. I mean, what's an ugly cake on the day we celebrate the resurrection, right? Perspective, Laura.
Speaking of Keith, I think Adelaide is excited he's coming. Because she understands, because she's awesome. We were putting together his room today, and making his bed. She insisted on putting her ratty stuffed cow by the pillow for him. She wanted him to feel at home, but I wouldn't let her leave it there. It's kind of yucky.

Unbelievable Afternoon

2009-04-01T12:55:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago someone backed into our Sonoma. She left her information, so we were able to get it fixed. It was in the shop until yesterday, and I was driving a rental car (Chevy HHR = lame). I was headed home in that lame HHR yesterday afternoon when the first unbelievable thing happened. I was stopped at a red light behind a guy in an oooold Nissan sedan. This guy started letting his car roll backwards. I thought, "Surely, he will stop at an appropriate time." Then he got uncomfortably close, and continued to roll. I frantically honked my horn at him but to no avail, because sure enough, he rolled right into my rental. The guy didn't even notice and just kept going. Luckily, we were stopped at the next stoplight, where I pulled next to him and yelled out the window to get his attention. We pulled into a parking lot to examine the damage, but didn't see any (he hit it pretty lightly), so we went our separate ways. Josh and I returned the car an hour later with no problems. Whew, crisis averted.
Josh dropped me off with my shiny, repaired truck and I headed back to work. Two miles from the office, I was pulled over and given a $100 ticket for having expired tags. I had just discovered their expiration before taking it to the shop and had the truck in my possession for a total of 10 minutes with this knowledge. I was very polite, I explained to the officer that we had just moved to Tulsa and our reminder must have been sent to our old address, but I got a ticket nonetheless. I went and got new tags today, and I was penalized there too for having let my old ones expire.
I need some time with no car drama, please.

Sigh of Relief

2009-03-28T09:58:00.002-05:00

Josh brought home the perfect table yesterday from a thrift store down on 51st and Peoria. It is simply named "Thrift Store" with no apparent ties to those crazy stores that charge ridiculous prices. It sits next to a store whose name is equally clever: "Affordable." Just "Affordable," no nouns, just the adjective. Visiting it on Thursday proved the items therein, however, were not affordable. So, feeling lied to, we continued on to Thrift Store where we found our table for the desired price of $15.
The perfect table, by way of one small drawer, turned out to be the perfect desk. It still suits our purposes precisely, and is now on the back porch being covered in snow.

Indignant Rants Require Many Italics

2009-03-26T17:48:00.003-05:00

1. You're a thrift store 2. You're in Oklahoma Who in the world said it was okay to sell furniture at outrageous prices?! Who goes to the Salvation Army prepared to buy a $500 sofa?!

We're looking for a table for our back porch. We want to spend no more than $15. If we were in Oregon, this would not be a problem. Used items are reasonably priced in Oregon. You can buy a full-sized table that seats six from the Goodwill on TV Highway for $15 and go home happy. But nooooooo, not here because for some reason Oklahomans think their crap is gold. There was a table that was no more than 3 feet in diameter at the HOW Thrift Store and it did not have a price tag. This table was not real wood. It had white painted legs that are now mostly brown because somebody had smeared them with poop (maybe it was dirt). It had a couple scratches on top and was complete with the occasional crayon swirl. I asked the clerk, "How much for that table?" He looked at it for a second and said, "I'd take $50 for it." I'm pretty sure I laughed in his face. I had seen the very same table, minus the poop and crayon, for $40 at an antique store already today. I wouldn't pay $40 for the nice one, I surely won't pay $50 for the poopy one. I can get a new table from IKEA for less than that. I told him I would give him $15 and he declined. So Josh and I talked loudly about how overpriced it was for a minute before continuing on our way.
Next we went to the Salvation Army (the one with the $500 sofa in the front). They had a table that would maybe seat 2. It was once painted, but most of the paint had worn off. It was marked $100. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

These are thrift stores, people. This is Oklahoma. Who do you think you are? Seriously.

Sigh I guess I'll be productive instead

2009-03-07T10:10:00.002-06:00

We had a brilliant plan yesterday. The weather was perfect, and I took the afternoon off so we could head down to Lawton to go minimalist backpacking with our friends. We were on our way to meet them when one by one they all backed out. To be fair, where we planned to camp was not exactly legal, and being caught is accompanied by hefty fines.
We still had perfect weather, and the time to do something, so we made a backup plan. Again, they all declined. So we took our sorry selves home, made plans to leave in the morning (just the two of us), and took our dog to the vet. Turns out her upper respiratory infection is allergies. Did you know you can just give your dog Benadryl?
Well, we woke up to 20mph winds today. Winds that will continue all day and bring thunderstorms. I just want to go backpacking. Stupid Oklahoma.

My Day Off

2009-02-27T18:25:00.003-06:00

Cloudy days feed my soul. Sunny days feed my work ethic. This day was perfect: sunny in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. I took today off because it was the last day of Josh's internal medicine rotation. So while he was taking his test in the morning, the sunshine inspired me, and I got the house sparkling clean. Josh got home in time for lunch and treated me to the Sushi Train (yes, plates of sushi are pulled around the restaurant behind a toy train). We ate plate after plate of delicious, cheap sushi. On the way home, we stopped at some used furniture store hoping to find some inexpensive furniture for our porch. We stopped at the wrong stores. Though cool stuff, everything was pretty spendy. It was fun anyway. At home we caught up on Lost and played some games. Then ended the marvelously cloudy evening outside, looking at our blooming magnolia trees, sharing a cigar and glass of wine, and talking about our Lenten journey so far. What a spectacular day!

Also spectacular: Adelaide won the puppy push up contest at her class graduation. We were pretty proud. But since the class is over, she had to say goodbye to her boyfriend, Orry. He's a St. Bernard, and the only dog she's met that is her size and lazier than she is. If we didn't separate them, they would spend the whole hour each week snuggling. It was darned adorable.

Also also spectacular: I saw a tough looking workman (gruff face, work boots, denim clad, cigarette in hand) skipping down the street the other day. Yes, skipping quite happily.

Links Are Fun!

2009-02-13T16:41:00.004-06:00

Since I work in Financial Development at the Tulsa Red Cross, I am in charge of securing 10 silent auction items for our Red Cross Red Carpet event in May. Today I dressed up in my best suit (my only suit), pinned my Red Cross pin to my lapel, printed my informational fliers and hit the road. I visited local museums and businesses to make my asks. I got only one definite no, and a bunch of, "well, this is how to start the process of asking"s. It was kind of fun, mostly because I got myself pumped up by listening to my 1985 Transformers movie soundtrack in the truck on the way. "You've Got the Touch" and "Dare!" are great songs to feel ready to conquer the day. Here's a special thanks to Ruth Reese Photography for being my first auction item!

Tomorrow is Oregon's 150th birthday. Oregon could be Oklahoma's grandpa. Now I will treat you to some Oregon facts:
1. Oregon's official state beverage is milk.
2. Portland is home to the world's smallest park, measuring 452 sq inches.
3. Oregon has the most ghost towns of any state.
4. Oregon is the only state with different designs on either side of their flag.
5. Oregon is the 9th largest state, but has fewer people than Puerto Rico.
6. This proves that the Trail Blazers are the coolest team in the NBA. Give it a chance till the chorus.

Quality

2009-01-19T00:52:00.003-06:00

Not Quality: The previous owners of my house
It's not difficult to not suck at fixing up a house. I'm not professional grade, but I don't suck at it. And I don't really have to try very hard not to suck. I don't understand why you would cover holes in the floor and walls with poorly affixed tile. Not only did he just stick glue on the back of the tile without prepping the walls first, he didn't even get white tile. He bought the cheap, ugly, gold tile, and then painted it. Painted the tile. Because that won't scrape right off. So, we've been fixing up the bathroom this weekend. We're doing things a lot simpler, which means less expensive, but somehow it's turning out to be better quality. I spackled and textured the wall tonight. I have high hopes for the finished product. Anything will be better than white tile that isn't really white.

Quality: Adelaide
1. She doesn't like when people watch her do her business. So, she only does it in the back of the yard behind the bushes. We call her a perimeter-pooper. Which also means we don't have to clean up the yard after her.
2. Thursday, when Josh was on call, I left the door between our room and Adelaide's room open when I went to bed. She saw what I'd done, picked up her bed, brought it into my room, set it next to my bed, and went to sleep there. I like her.

Dude, Google It.

2009-01-16T08:30:00.004-06:00

My grocery checker and bagger were having an interesting conversation while taking care of my groceries this week. I tried to stay out of it because it was so darned entertaining that I didn't want to get in the way. They were arguing about whether or not marijuana causes cancer and kills your brain cells. The checker was saying that yes, it does those things, while the bagger was defending what turns out to be his favorite hobby. His best defense was as follows:
"Dude, I do it all the time, and it hasn't made me any less smarter."

That very well could be true, we don't know how dumb he was to begin with.

Home for Christmas

2008-12-24T11:41:00.002-06:00

We get a new power cord while we're in Oregon, so regular blogging may resume when we get back to Oklahoma. But I wanted to blog our journey to Portland. Since we're still computerless, I couldn't check flights or weather. We got to the airport in Tulsa and discovered our flight out was delayed and would cause us to miss our connecting flight. It was looking impossible to get another flight to Portland since travelers are so backed up because of the weather.
There was a man in front of us making the same journey, and they told him the best they could do was a flight tomorrow afternoon. Josh was determined that would not be an option for us, so when it was our turn, we asked the lady, "How close can you get us tonight?" We were ready to accept Boise, or even Salt Lake City and a rental car to get us home.
She found one ticket getting into Eugene at midnight and had one opening getting into Portland at midnight. We were going to split up and meet at my parents'. As she was about to book them, she said, "I have two to Eugene, do you want them together?" We decided that would be better, so she printed our tickets, and I called my parents to update them. We were turning to walk away when the lady said, "Oh! I have a bunch of openings on the evening flight to Portland suddenly - do you want them?" Yeah, we want them! We rushed back to her, I told her she was a whiz. Josh was so excited he said, "This is better than the casino!" I think she got a kick out of us.
We had an extended layover in Denver, but we made it to Portland in one day. I'm so excited to see Portland under so much snow! I'm pretty sure this will be my first ever white Christmas.

Hap-Happiest Season of All

2008-12-05T08:55:00.004-06:00

So, blogging at work is not a productive use of my paid time. However, I am doing it this morning to tell you a few things:
*Adelaide ate our laptop's power cable, thus the necessity to blog at work. I hope this is a sufficient excuse for my recent blogging silence.
*I pass a bread factory every morning on my way to work. I hope every day that I get stopped by the light on its corner so I can sit there and smell the deliciousness.
*Since we have abnormally tall ceilings at home, we got a 9 foot Christmas tree. We finished decorating it last night and it looks b-e-a-utiful. Again, the lack of home computing may delay any picture posting.
*Lastly, I want to blog all the delicious things we made/are making for the holidays because I have been so excited about them. We made Thanksgiving dinner for Josh's resident team that had to work Thanksgiving night. We made the whole shebang from scratch and dropped it off for them to discover in their break room. I hear it went over well. For Josh's family, we made homemade spinach dip (which we will repeat for Joe & Meg's party tomorrow), pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and the traditional green bean casserole (love it!). I made two different soups with the leftovers, both delicious, one creamy and the other tomato-y. Tonight I'm making apple flautas for my fiesta-themed work Christmas party and tomorrow I'm whipping together dinner rolls, a pumpkin pie, and that dip again for the Ibanez's party. I think I'm happiest in the kitchen.
*I know I said "lastly" already, but this is horrificly hilarious. The Red Cross is collecting Christmas cards to send overseas to soldiers. One of them read as follows, "Dear soldier, thank you for giving your life for our country. And if you don't die, I'm happy for you. You are very brave. Love, Susie. P.S. Merry Christmas!"

A Night In

2008-11-16T19:51:00.003-06:00

This week, Josh will be gone every night on call for labor and delivery. I need to find some projects to keep me busy. Some ideas -
I finished Lindsey's quilt last week, so I think I want a break from sewing projects. I do have a coat pattern that I want to make, though.
I miss writing songs, though they were never very good, I wish I could get back into the groove.
Maybe I'll start by keeping a journal again.
We bought a stair step today, I'll probably start training for next summer's trip up the three 14ers.

It's been a nice homey week. We've had lots of tea, spent time with family, and planned house projects. We got our tickets to Portland for Christmas. We leave 12/23 and we get to spend a solid week and a half. We'll be there for at least part of my mom's birthday, we'll leave the afternoon of the 4th. Hurray!

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. We're having Josh's four teenage girl cousins stay over for a night. I anticipate lots of giggling.

Lili Marleen

2008-10-28T17:19:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday on the 60th floor of the CitiPlex Towers (Thanks, Oral!), I got to play for the Red Cross Volunteer Recognition Dinner. I played old jazz songs mostly, and threw in a little James Taylor of course. But the coolest part of the gig was the uniform that I mentioned before. The 93 year old woman to whom the uniform belonged during WWII came to the dinner. I got to sit at a table with her, and she looked so proud. We honored her during the presentation and I sang her favorite WWII song, Lili Marleen. She had her little handkerchief and was dabbing her eyes. It was so neat to be able to do that for her! The whole night was just wonderful!

That quilt I'm making wasn't done on Saturday, but I took it to the baby shower anyway so I didn't have to show up empty handed. After she opened it, I told Lindsey, "I'm gonna need that back." She got a big kick out of that, and I left with my present. I'll finish it in time for her baby, she's still got a month to go.

I'm working on altering an actual prom dress to be an eighties prom dress for a friend for Halloween. So, I have to finish it by Friday to take to work (along with a pot of minestrone soup - unrelated, but worth mentioning because it's delicious). I'm turning it into a bubble dress with netting sticking out from the bottom. It's gonna be real.

Tonight, after I eat homemade zucchini bread and homemade vegetable soup (I love fall!), I'm going to buy pumpkins so we can carve 'em tomorrow. I'm pumped! (Get it?!?)

And finally, Adelaide learned to dig this week. Flower gardens beware!

One of the Cutest Things I've Ever Seen

2008-10-15T09:08:00.002-05:00

And I didn't have a camera! So imagine if you will...

Josh walking through our neighborhood holding Adelaide's leash by the middle so she learns to stay close. And following closely behind is our 19 mo. old niece holding the leash's end "walking Josh and Ada." I know. It's adorable.

Adelaide is pretty sharp. We've had her for just over a week, and she's already learned the command, "sit." Now we're working on, "I know it's exciting, but you don't have to pee everytime Josh comes into the room." She just loves him so much she can't hold it in.

Otherwise, I've just been quilting trying to get ready for a baby shower on Saturday. So far, I have just two squares sewn together. Will I make it? Oh, this one's a nail-biter!

Neglect

2008-10-03T07:21:00.002-05:00

Things I have neglected:
1. This blog
2. Settling on a name for the dog we're getting TOMORROW!
3. Paying attention to the debate last night (I fully intended to, but I had friends from work come over and we had some wine and got to chatting over the vp candidates)
4. Quilting

Things I've been doing instead:
1. Going to the Tulsa State Fair
2. Gardening with Josh
3. Cooking delicious food (if I may say so myself)
4. Practicing 40 old jazz songs for a dinner gig

Extra fact about my dinner gig:
I get to wear a 1940s Red Cross uniform (I'll look like an Andrews sister - google it) while playing my guitar and singing delightful music for a few hundred people.

You Tell Me

2008-09-09T21:43:00.002-05:00

I went to play volleyball tonight at a church in Sapulpa. I was on a team with some of the girls from work who play regularly. They let me fill in for a missing player. Now, there was a setter on the team that was struggling all night. She never called the ball, she rarely put it in the right place, and she was rarely in the right place herself. Now, I'm not a professional setter by any means, but that was the position I played, and it's my very favorite part. So, near the end, after watching her fumble all night, I thought, "I bet she's not the setter, but is just playing it because someone is missing. If that's the case, I wonder if she'd switch with me." So I decided to ask. You tell me - was I an inadvertant jerk? Because this is what happened:
Me, as we rotate - "Are you the regular setter for the team, or are you filling in?"
Her - "No, I'm the setter."
Me - "Oh, 'cause... good job..."
Later, when almost everyone was gone, I asked if I could set for a couple rounds because it's my favorite. She shot me down saying she needed the practice. No argument there. But I get the impression that she wasn't very happy with my existence.

Also, this weekend in Oregon was wonderful. The best 39.5 hours ever! We went to Shari's, Baja Fresh, Powell's (we got 6 or 7 books for only $35), my cousin's wedding to hang out with quite a few Higleys, an REI used gear sale (we got a pack for our dog for more than 50% off), good ol' BNC, and of course Happy Panda. We played board games with my family and with Jason and Melissa. We got to see Sam and Bryce, who told us all about various animals and the sounds they make. It was chock-full of awesome. Just the way I like my weekends.

My voting decision

2008-09-02T22:10:00.001-05:00

The Republican National Convention was on OETA during Nova time. I hurried home planning to watch a documentary about Hitler's secret sunken ship. I blame John McCain. Decision '08 - taken care of for me.

Day to Day

2008-08-18T20:53:00.004-05:00

Josh's painting got here, yay! Which means our anniversary has ended, but it also means the house is put together. So, I've got some pictures ready to load; but in the spirit of sportsmanship, I'm waiting until Josh is ready with his pictures so there will be no thunder-stealing. We'll put them up at the same time. It will be fair. But my album will be so much cooler.
We went to a party at our neighbors' house this weekend. I'm excited to be a neighbor! Two girls just a little bit older than we are live next door, and we met a lot of their friends who apparently have Nazarene ties. There was a lot of SNU reminiscing and a few Nazarene jokes, set to some background music of Feist, Kanye, and James Taylor, while eating delicious homemade sushi. Our neighbors are great!
I will leave you with this fantastic picture that just made my night. My dad turned 50 yesterday, and Josh and I got him a sweet hat. See:

Two Days in a Row!

2008-08-04T20:39:00.002-05:00

Our anniversary celebration started June 9 with the James Taylor concert. Even though the day was technically last week, the celebration isn't over until Josh's painting gets here from Oregon. First the guy has to paint it, I can only nag so much from 2000 miles away.
Anyway, we went out to celebrate on Saturday since Josh can stay up past 8 on the weekends. We did the dinner and a movie thing and took the opportunity to go see Dark Knight. It's not very often we pay to see a movie in the theater, so when we do, it's gotta be worth it. The movie - awesome, the theater - biff! There was this big ol' blurry spot along the top of the screen for most of the show. About two-thirds of the way through the movie stopped. The lights came on. Everyone is saying, "Whaaaaaat? Batman was just about to rock the Joker on his motorcycle! That can't be the end." Of course it wasn't, the movie came back on after a couple minutes, and we finished in fine style.
We expected there to be some acknowledgment of the failure, maybe free tickets waiting for us when we exited. Now, this isn't an unfounded expectation since the last time a theater had a technical mishap we didn't have to ask for compensation, they were ready for us with it at the door. This time, we had to hunt down a manager, who hadn't even heard of the problem until we mentioned it. No big deal, we asked what he was going to do about our ruined movie experience, and he gave us free tickets for next time. But what about the whole theater full of people who did not get their free tickets? Little did they know, all you have to do is ask!

Not Accepting Applications

2008-08-03T16:54:00.004-05:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged this conversation yet.
Scene: Convenience store counter, a large, grey haired, African-American gentleman enters and asks the man behind the counter
"Is that yo' wife?"
"Uhhh, no."
He turns to me
"You got a husband?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
"How many husbands?"
"Yeah."
"Just the one."
"You want another?"
"No, I think I've got my hands full as it is."
"Oh, but do you want to take my application, just in case."
"I don't think that will be necessary..."
"Yeah, I don't have very good references anyway."

A Few Funny Things

2008-07-25T08:53:00.002-05:00

1. I just remembered that our neighborhood is called Beverly Hill (just one), which makes me laugh. These houses are like 1200 square feet. They're cute, but they're old. Anyway, somebody thought they could make it sound more glamorous than it is. "Yeah, I live in Beverly Hill."
2. We buy tea to drink, but we buy it loose leaf. So my mom gave us these empty tea bags that we can fill ourselves to brew it. But they are called T-Sacs. Who's idea was it to leave off the k??? I get a little grossed out everytime I get the box down.
3. In my database at work are a lot of people who live in the area who have funny names. Some are harmlessly funny (Les Moore or Angel Fisher), some are more unfortunate (Mr. Glasscock), and some I would be uncomfortable trying to pronounce inoffensively (Ms. Bitsche).

That's all I have for you this morning.

New Life

2008-07-15T21:30:00.002-05:00

This week has definitely been an adjustment. With Josh in the surgery rotation, we've been going to bed quite early. He gets up at 4 to be at the hospital before 5. Since we've gone to bed so early, I can't sleep for too long after that. I've been going to work at 7:30, which is nice because then I'm off by 3:30. But even then, Josh doesn't get home until at least 5:30, often later. It's so strange because he'll get home in time to eat, maybe read for a little bit, and then go back to bed. It's okay for a while, but I'm glad this lifestyle has an end date, and I bet when it gets close we will be more than ready.
On the plus side, I kind of like being an early riser. I get to bum around in the mornings, enjoy a cup of coffee, look at our fantastic garden (yes, Josh did build a waterfall; my job was mostly digging in the dirt), and take my time getting ready for the day. Who knows, maybe I'll adopt this habit permanently. Yeah, we'll see.
My job is still good. It's been a lot of fun moving to an office of mostly girls, and it seems that every week someone is retiring, or having a birthday, or having a baby - so we get to party! There is always cake somewhere. Who doesn't look for that in an office?
Lastly, the house is almost completely box-free! The garage is another story...

The Red Cross

2008-06-20T17:27:00.003-05:00

After a week of sleeping late, blissfully spending my days putting my little home together, and going anywhere I pleased in the middle of the day, I have returned to the life of the employed.

However, I want everyone to go back with me in their memories to when I first blogged about moving to Tulsa and said, "...maybe I'll find a sweet non-profit to work for..." Well, folks, that dream has also come true. I was hired by the Tulsa Chapter of the Red Cross. I get to spend my days processing donations and directing the money into the proper disaster funds. The excitement level is similar to my previous job (ahem), but now I am busier and I get the satisfaction of knowing my number crunching means something to needy people.

Plus, if disaster strikes, everyone gets shuffled around and goes into superhero mode. So I could be asked to gather volunteers, or hand out food, or field phone calls, or clean up debris, or anything. That possibility excites me, too. Not that I'm hoping disasters happen to people just so I can feel good about helping, of course. But since they do happen, it will be nice to be able to do something.

Anyway, I've put in three glorious, non-profit filled days and am just so pleased about the organization, my coworkers, what I get to do, how close it is to our house, and just everything about it.

Sorry. I'm finished gushing about it now.

Alas, for the days of Crest Foods...

2008-06-16T20:32:00.005-05:00

Josh and I are on a quest to find a new grocery store now that we're in Tulsa. All you OKC folk are lucky to live in the land of Crest Foods, and so far nothing here seems to compare.
However, I did have an interesting encounter at Reasor's today. I had just stepped into the hair product aisle when a stranger said, "Excuse me?" I turned to him and he informed me, "I am a painter, and I just wanted to tell you I think your hair is beautiful and I am going to incorporate it into a painting. The way you did it is just lovely." I said thank you, and that was all. He left, and I thought, "Gee, I guess I should braid my hair more often." Yep, just a braid. Apparently a very effective braid, though.

In other news, our so far unmentioned trip to Chicago and Portland was awesome. Again, in convenient highlight form for you:
1. Pickle and Tabby were awesome hosts, have a supercool apartment, and live down the street from a sweet independent coffee shop.
2. Charles' wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun. Quite a few people took full advantage of the open bar, giving us a couple very funny stories.
3. My mom's new oven makes a noise identical to the sound of Mario breaking open a coin box.
4. Seafood is delicious. Tillamook ice cream is delicious. Papa Haydn's is delicious. McMennamin's is delicious. Elephant ears are delicious. Et cetera - I don't think Joe and Meg will eat again for a month!
5. Free $30 bottle of wine from Nehalem Bay Winery. Go if you happen to be driving up the 101 between Tillamook and Cannon - it's fantastic!
6. A broken airplane meant we got an extra day in Portland and were able to hit the REI used gear sale and the Saturday Market after all.

Thanks Oregon friends for a great time - we'll see you in December!