Life is what happens when you're busy waiting for a burrito

Auuugghh!

Uffphhhrrrgg. Mulleted co-worker who gave me this illness, you will pay! Today was the sunniest, most beautiful January day, and I spent it napping and coughing. Blast! I was just sick. After the sun set, I finally peeled myself from bed and took a walk, which brought me back to life a little. At the moment, I'm back in bed, watching Battlestar Galactica under 10,000 blankets. It's sort of nice, actually. If I had someone to bring me soup and carry me around in a giant backpack, I'd be set.

My sick den badly needed fresh flowers, so I brought home these green roses. I love them. Right now I have them cradled in the crook of my arm like a little pet. They smell like good roses should, which is rare these days.

Natural fever reducer.

Mmmm. Tomorrow I will get up and run 4 miles (my favorite way to deal with illness is total denial). After that: cookies! And coffee, and cafes, and the paper. And a special drawing project. Mexican for lunch, and Indian for dinner? Yes, please! Get to work, immune system, I am very busy.

I found this while I was waiting for a burrito the other day. It's a flyer for an art show that's already over, but I like the picture and the sentiment is interesting:


The miracle. There's only one miracle, and I have to wait? Portland smelled so amazing tonight, because there was a mist over everything. It smelled green, and felt good in my nose (really! it's cool and wet, there's a texture to it). I have good-smelling roses in my bed in the middle of winter. There's two miracles, right there! And if I manage to get up and run 4 miles without coughing up a lung, there's three. The delicious cookie(s? will it be a two cookie day??) I devour will be miracles 4-75, and the coffee will be miracles 76-100. And if the coffee comes in a good mug, there's another one.

Oh, but the best miracle is something I forgot to tell you! I had a gift certificate to Zappos left over from my birthday (thank you, mom) so I spent a long time picking out some shoes the other day. It wasn't until the shoes arrived that I remembered... I forgot to use the gift certificate when I bought them. What?! Well, I guess I'll buy more shoes, then. But these will do just fine for now:

Still Life #1 With Frye Boot, Blackberry Vodka, and a Plastic Eagle Named Skronky

Miracles 102-1000.

DEAR HUMANITY,

A Perfectly Wonderful Evening

There's nothing much better than walking around Portland at night while eating a giant cookie.

The Hawthorne Bridge. Camera in one hand, cookie in the other.

January 20th, 2009

Wait, what's all this I hear about a new president?

As you can see, I was able to celebrate Inauguration Day with a homemade pizza cooked on a genuine PRESTO PIZZAZ PIZZA OVEN. Truly, I am blessed. After work I went over to Anna and Brian's apartment, where we ate our pizzazed pizza and watched the Tivo-d inaugural coverage. I'd listened to it live on NPR at work, but it was good to see the visual coverage. Can you imagine being in that crowd? I think I would've been cranky.

It was also a pre-birthday celebration for Anna, who refuses to do anything on her actual birthday. Take that!:

Good people, good times:

I believe Obama is strongly pro-jello shot.

The view from Anna's apartment is officially insane.

After pizza and snark, I raced home to meet my roommate and his bandmates, and we took off for a giant dance party at Holocene. Oh! Unfortunately, only one photo survives from the night, since I forgot to take my camera inside. Luckily, it was a really good one:

Whoops. Anyway, if I said we had the best time in history, would you believe me? Oh, so much dancing, so much joy! Unfortunately, my "dancin' shoes" are also my most uncomfortable shoes (death to all wedge heels), but the next morning I felt exhausted and sore in a happy and content sort of way. It also didn't hurt that we had the most beautiful sunrise on Wednesday morning. "Luckily", my bus was 45 minutes late, so I had time to take some photos for you:

This is where I wait for the bus every morning -- Downtown, 1st & Columbia, looking towards the waterfront.

And there's Mount Hood. Oh, my darling!

Invincible Summer

Stay warm, Midwest. It's not very cold here, but I'm still sitting on top of my space heater with my laptop on my lap, typing away. You know, if I gave you 10 degrees Fahrenheit, I'd still be above freezing and you'd still be below zero! And you'd still be miserable, so I'm going to keep those 10 degrees.

But seriously, will you please be careful? That's just insanely cold.

I have been a busy little blackbird since I returned to Portland, visiting friends and getting things done and taking long walks around town. (On the way back from work, I sunk ankle-deep into a mud pit wearing heeled boots, and totally destroyed my favorite teal tights while taking an exploratory climb around a swampy rose garden. After such adventure, I have decided to stay in tonight.) There have also been a few good author appearances at Powell's (!!), including one by Mark Bittman! (!!!) In case you spend your days being a productive member of society instead of secretly reading food blogs, Mark Bittman writes a wonderful food column for the New York Times, has written a bunch of books, and writes one of my favorite blogs. He's also kind of a snarky jerk. What's not to love?! Anyway, the recipes on his blog are always interesting, but are more in the, say, "special occasion" category (because as much as I love the idea of bringing lobster and risotto to the lunchroom at work, even I have to draw the line somewhere). But do you know what qualifies as a special occasion? Mark Bittman coming to town!

And so, behold:

Savory Pear Soup.

This was risky. Because, do you know what the savory part is? Mushrooms. And do you know what the swirly stuff on top is? Gorgonzola. When I last mixed fruit + savory (watermelon and feta), hearts were broken and trash cans were filled. But you guys, it was so good, and super easy! I've had pear and gorgonzola together before, but the mushrooms somehow made it a total taste sensation. Plus, I got to sneak away to take well-deserved gorgonzola breaks at work (which my stomach later said was not the best idea, but whatever).

I also made his version of pasta puttanesca yesterday, but sadly did not take a photo. You know what pasta looks like. It is a wonderland of anchovies, garlic, and capers, so you shouldn't get too close to anyone after you eat it, but I sort of forgot other people existed while I was stuffing it into my mouth, so it wasn't really a problem. I will definitely be making it again.

In other news, I have a new camera. Pay no attention to the dirty mirror.

Hey look, I'm still annoying. But I'm in focus!

I'm hard at work on a "2008 Wrap-Up Spectacular" entry. It consists almost entirely of Top 5 lists, including my 2008 Top 5 favorite ways to annoy my coworker. This year I strive to annoy him even more. It's important to have goals.

I need to make tea and wind down with a book, but I'll leave you with a quote that I've been thinking about a lot lately:

"In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer."
--Albert Camus

Isn't it good? (My mom has the most invincible summer that I know of, by the way.) So please keep warm, inside and out, and I will be back soon to regale you with lists of lists.

Christmas in the Midwest

What we've been doing:

Wii boxing, Pt. I

Wii Boxing, Pt. II: The Revenge

When Nose Flutes Attack!!

Snowpocalypse '08

Portland snowfall breaking 40 year record

11.5 inches as of this morning, still snowing heavily! Flight in 45 hours. Airport in chaos as most flights canceled. How does a visit in June sound to you?

Portland, OR: CLOSED.

9 inches of snow, and still going.

Oh golly, oh gosh!

There's so much I haven't told you, my friends. Please sit down, let's talk!

1) Thanksgiving. I went over to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, and we all ate and drank and carried on. Unfortunately, the one photo I took of the food table was accidentally deleted, so I'll just throw out a word and you can create your own mental image. First? Delicious. Second? Excessive. Yeah, I think that about does it. Afterwards, I walked around town for hours (with a piece of pie in my hand) and felt very thankful indeed.

2) I've had the good fortune to see two of my friends play shows recently, and they've both been excellent! To be in your 20's is to know many, many people in crappy bands, so I'm always pleasantly surprised when one of my friends manages to step up to the plate and make music that... is good? Imagine that! I suppose that this is part of a larger trend. I've been thinking lately about what an exciting time it is to be this age, to see each other begin to excel and make things happen. I see you, friends! I see you studying and working hard, staying up late to work on things that make your hearts beat, I see you meeting people that make you happy, and I see you starting families. I see you traveling and learning and cultivating hobbies and habits that bring out the best in you. I see all of you, don't think I haven't noticed! And I am so very proud of the people I know, because I know there are great things coming. I have been quietly inspired by so many of you, just doing the things you do -- so thank you, and let's keep it up.

3) My other main inspiration these days is pumpkin butter. I slather it on everything.

4) The high today is a stupid 28. I know, I know, that's nothing, but I don't have a heating vent in my room! I spend a lot of time huddled pathetically by my space heater, dramatically chattering my teeth. Oh, how I suffer!

5) Oh right, and this weird white stuff fell on the ground yesterday:

That's my house. Look, Mom, you can see the snowman decal in the front window! The row of windows on top is my room.

Looking north on my street.

I woke up yesterday morning and nearly had a heart attack. I'd heard there was snow in the forecast, but I expected the same scraggly flurries that we got last year, not this 2-inch blizzard mega-storm! Oregon doesn't really know what to do with itself when it snows (besides close every road and business immediately) but they make up for it with sheer enthusiasm. I went for a snowy walk, and everyone was in the greatest mood! It was fantastically pleasant.

6) We had a party at my house on Friday night! I suppose I still have some youth left in me, since I managed to stay up until 6 am. I then went out for breakfast and went back to sleep until 5 pm, when my roommate woke me up by banging on my door and yelling, "I made breakfast, come downstairs!" I ate a second breakfast (nearly identical to my first), briefly sat on the couch, then went back to sleep again. On a normal Saturday, I have usually already run, showered, eaten, and gone to the farmer's market and back by noon, so this weekend was quite the hilarious contrast. Can we do it again?

7) I am testing breakfast cereals so you don't have to. Here are my important findings:

Ezekiel 4:9 is my new favorite cereal. It is basically Grape Nuts with Bible verses on the box -- apparently, God wholeheartedly endorses organic sprouted grains. Now available in delicious cinnamon raisin flavor!


Kashi Heart to Heart hot cereal : like twigs and old pancake batter. DO NOT EAT.

Alpen, what are you? You show me a charming array of cartoon nuts and berries, but eating you is sort of akin to pouring a bowl full of flour. You were a gluey mess with three shriveled raisins. This is not the muesli I know and love! I have been lied to.

Oh yeah! Finally, someone has combined honey and sunshine into one cereal! You are sweet and delicious and I like you very much.

You may know this as the oatmeal I was stirring when my famed "Spider Revenge Plot" went horribly awry. Bad connotations aside, I have crowned it king of all quick-cooking oatmeals. Lately, I've been enjoying it at work with chickory honey!

8) 9 days until I get to Illinois! I think we're going to have some fun.

9) I think that's all I had to say. How've you been?

I am alive, but...

... I am using all my strength to fight a cold. On the plus side, I have an excuse to drink hot toddies. Be back soon.