Pretty dresses and margaritas

On Sunday, my friends and I went to the annual "Pretty Dress Bike Ride," which is a little spin around town where everyone wears a dress (including dudes, natch). Unfortunately, a combination of no sleep (we'd all stayed out till 4), a greasy breakfast, and a chilly wind made us cut out early, and we ended up pedaling over to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and tacos instead of finishing the ride. Pretty Dress Margarita Happy Hour -- let's start a new annual tradition!

(Photos by Karla.)

Sleepy McTireds forgot her helmet. Safety last!

Goal!

Rain, bikes, comics

I got completely soaked while walking to the library today! It was already starting to sprinkle as I left the house, and my roommate's boyfriend yelled, "You'll never make it!" when I strolled off without an umbrella. I knew he was right, but I did it anyway.

Part of the reason I got soaked is because I do things like stop and take photos of puddles.

But anyway, I might as well tell you about my trip last weekend. A few of my friends and I drove out to go camping and biking in The Dalles, which is about an hour and half from Portland.

Some pictures from the car. I was talking about boys and was consequently unable to put much effort into making sure the camera was focused, but you get the idea:

After driving around aimlessly and not finding any land without a "NO TRESPASSING" sign, we finally gave up and camped in a state park, which was less than ideal but still ridiculously beautiful. It also happened to be the windiest, coldest day in the world, so we spent most of the day in the tent, playing cards and eating chips.

Freezing in the campground bathroom. That's what I slept in.

But it was worth it, because the campgrounds looked like this:

Sitting around the campfire that night, one of my friends said, "Look up!" and we all gasped in unison as we saw how bright the stars were. A second later, we saw a shooting star!

The next day, we got up at 6:00 and went for a 30-mile cherry blossom ride.

Do you recognize that butt? It's mine. I'm wearing padded shorts.

Bike gang. Ratty t-shirts, rickety bikes, and tutus! Everyone else had trillion dollar bikes.

Mt. Hood at the 15 mile marker

I'm happy because this rest stop had Nutter Butters.

I also worked at Stumptown Comics Fest a few weekends ago. I didn't bring a camera, but it was sort of like this:

Man, it was great. I met so many awesome people and learned so much! I even found a little comic book about a girl's trip to visit family in Decatur. Yes!

April

It's been the best month of the year so far.

News of no consequence:

Spring is upon us, and I have some new (huge, awful) sunglasses, a ruffly dress, and a fish necklace which I will inevitably never wear. I also bought a skirt with boats on it. Other things:

1) Asparagus, radishes. "News of No Consequence" -- who am I kidding? After a winter full of root vegetables and canned tomatoes, that first bundle of asparagus nearly made my heart explode. And I couldn't even wait to get home before chewing on the radishes (dirt and all). So far I have perfect attendance at the Farmer's Market. This week I came home with a flat of Hood strawberry plants (to be planted out back tomorrow!) and a bouquet of daffodils. My lavender and rosemary plants have made a stunning recovery after being lost under a 5 ft. tall snow drift. The chard is already up, and the tomatoes go in shortly. I also have space for a window box this summer -- what should I plant? Suggestions, please.

Woman playing Bach near the Farmer's Market

2) I've been reunited with my bike. I won a tune-up in a silent auction (that I was running, but I swear it was a clean victory) and my rickety Schwinn is now road-worthy after some minor tweaking. Yesterday we went to 3 parks, the library, and two coffee shops together, and swerved recklessly through traffic as I talked to Geoff on the phone. In a few weeks I have a bike/camping trip planned, as well as a few other local rides for various events. I'm so excited to be back on my bike and among bikey friends, I'd forgotten how much fun biking in Portland can be.

3) So, it was 70 for a few days. I wore my strappiest sandals and sat in the sun, gossipping with my friend while we were supposed to be "reading" and "embroidering." I now have a farmer's tan as a memento. I also went hiking on Mt. Tabor, which is Portland's resident dormant volcano.

That's our drinking water reservoir. Doesn't it look like a castle?

View of houses, standing next to reservoir

View from the top. It's better in person. Will you come?

4) I foolishly tried to give up sugar. It worked for approximately 36 seconds. What was I thinking? I would rather never be able to button my pants again (a real and imminent danger) than give up my tea and cookie breaks. Also working against me was a package from the Midwest, filled with sugar cookies and Cadbury eggs (my favorite candy of all time) and the fact that one out of every three Portlanders seems to have been celebrating a birthday this month, including two of my roommates. Personally, I'm of the mindset that when someone sets a slice of homemade red velvet birthday cake in front of you, YOU EAT IT:

Mt. Cake!

Also, if you're walking to the park, and it's 70 degrees, and you come upon a roadside stand with someone selling homemade ice cream, YOU EAT IT:

Vanilla rose and chocolate. The nice man also gave me samples of ASPARAGUS ice cream (odd, but nice) and coconut curry ice cream (foul).

As if to cement my return the Kingdom of Sugar, today I made (vegan) Puppy Chow for a party we're having tonight. My roommate is making Chex Mix as a savory counterpart, so I assume I'll spend most of the evening alternating bites from each bowl. I already feel sick from eating too much, which is the only way I know how to do things.

Glop City, Sundae of Death: Puppy Chow sauce in the making.

5) Here's what April looks like:

Crack in a stone wall.

Cherry blossoms! When will they invent scratch 'n sniff internet?

Yes, I'm still here. My hairs are getting long.

It's warm enough to sleep with the windows open now.

The inside of a tree.

Action shot of a neighbor cat climbing onto my shoulder! We walked down the block like that.

Bunnies, bees

I haven't felt a bit like updating! Not even one bit.

But I wanted to give you something. So here, have some photos of a rabbit I met on the sidewalk the other day. He comes through our neighborhood occasionally to say hi. He's fairly tame, but not overly enthusiastic about being petted (I did it anyway).



Also, it looks like my dream of keeping bees in the backyard may actually come to fruition, pending one more roommate's approval. So far, popular opinion has not been on my side. It may seem crazy now, but I assure you it will seem less crazy when I have GALLONS OF DELICIOUS HONEY. Yeah, you'll see!

Hi, hello.

I'm behind at everything, but I haven't forgotten you.

I wrote this on a cafe window for you the other day while I was drinking coffee and waiting on a friend. It was pouring, I had just finished taking a class about beekeeping, and I sat there with my raincoat on, trying to get warm. Life is so languorously hurried right now! Or maybe hurriedly languourous. Does that make sense? I feel like I never have any spare time, ever, but it's mostly in the vein of, "Oh gosh, I only have 10 minutes to eat a grilled cheese and finish this chapter of my book before I have to start walking to meet my friend at the movies!" So, of course, I am not really allowed to do any complaining.

Also: BABY CHICKS. I saw these at the nursery where I was taking the bee class, they begged me to take a video!

In Which a Bird Laughs at My Expense

Well, I can't say it's been the greatest week. The closest I can come to explaining it is like this:


Hey look, a rainbow! Yeah, look at that. So what's the problem? Well, what you don't know is that, just as I was taking this photo, A BIRD POOPED ON MY FACE. LIKE, BIGTIME. I'm not even kidding, I'm surprised the poop isn't in the photo. What you also don't know is that I was already soaked from walking in a downpour (my 2nd of the day) and I had to walk another 40 minutes to get home. In wet jeans. With bird poop on my face.

But it really wasn't a bad walk. Some good songs came on shuffle. I laughed a lot. How could I not? And so this week has gone, with setbacks and annoyances and friends in trouble, all mixed with wonderful times and unexpected rainbows and flowers. You know how it is, don't you?

Luckily, I'm getting out of the city this weekend with 9 other lovely girls, including these two:

We're driving a few hours south to a town called Bend for some hiking and gossiping and eating and relaxing. I'm not sure if the backscratcher will be there, but it doesn't matter because we have a hot tub suite on the Deschutes River. Yessss!! Oh, yes.

I have so many other things to tell you, and some photos to show you, too. March is looking good, so far there's at least one very exciting thing scheduled for each week. Next week I'm seeing a lecture, going to a concert that I've looking forward to for months, eating raw oysters, and taking a class on urban beekeeping.

But before that can happen, I need to pack a bag of snacks for my trip!