we had our cake and we ate it too! (it was delicious)

having had a craving for chocolate cake that no amount of zingers or candy bars seem to be able satisfy- i jumped on board with the cool kids and made this fantastic chocolate cake with b.alexander. without a bundt pan i used spring form pans, made use of some delicious strawberries, and changed the rich ganache to spicy ganache with some dagabo xocolatl. the results were successful and left us with full tummies and satisfied taste buds. (and although i probably shouldn't admit this-- i definitely had a little piece with my breakfast this morning)
thanks mom and kaycee for the inspiration and and for shelley's tips!

last night my neighbor chelsea invited b.alexander and i along to the risk/reward festival of performance art at a local theatre. we watched the first showcase which had 4 different performances. a dance piece by choreographer Linda Austin, writer/actor Joe von Appen, Byron Au Yong who did a sort of mini opera about Kuang, a delivery man trapped in an elevator for 81 hours, and Hooliganship a group self described as "tropycal-supermaryo-grunge-rock-duo". I love to see artists that may be a little "out there" but that don't take themselves too seriously at all. During part of Byron Au Yong's piece there was a rap from the bladder's perspective "this is a stick up! i'm a full bladder and not afraid to use me! watch yourself or you'll be covered in pee!" that had me laughing so hard I almost had a bladder stick up of my own. i am constantly amazed by other's ability to push the limits of creativity to make something completely new and entertaining- even if it is something silly like a rap from a bladder. again i am left feeling in debt to chelsea for her never ending means of entertainment she comes up with and also portland for being such a weird city full of bizarre and brilliant individuals.

june, why dontcha stay around a while

how is june almost over? time seems to slip away so quickly these days. and it makes me feel kind of old. with a third of the summer about over, i feel slightly panicked to do everything i wanted to do while out of school. so far my days have been filled with lots of book reading, music exploration, photography projects and puppy time.
i don't mean to brag, but i basically have the greatest dog that ever was. he is a crazy little beast of a creature. i am happy to announce i am treats away from zig having a new trick down. i'm pretty excited for this one... ziggy's learning to dance. once he's had more chance to practice i'll try and capture the magic on video. i had more or less accepted the fact i was a slightly creepy dog person, until i recently met a lady at a park who blew my crazy dog love out of the water. i love my dog, but am very aware of the difference between a pet and a child. ...i think.

ziggy stardust has become quite the swimmer! the snorts he makes while paddling away are quite possibly the funniest sounds ever made by anything in water

zig has total small dog syndrome. he likes to be up as high as possible, even if it means sacrificing his comfort

which he often does.

last week i was pet sitter extraordinaire! b. alexander and our friend daniel went to bend for the weekend leaving their pets dog bauer, and cats sammy & ukko in my care-- along with k'ninja, c & k's dog, who were house hunting in Tennesse. it was pet party central!

i'm pretty sure k'ninja is not a dog, but a muppet character. making her better than a dog. i half expect a small person to unzip and step out of k'ninja at any moment. if i didn't like her owners so much i might consider dog napping her.

bauer longbottom. cutest hound there ever was.


puppy kisses!


and so this is not a post of only dog pictures, which would be no help at all with my claim to being a sane dog owner...



presenting!
1) silly things:

b.alexander as: mr. peeber
miss caitlyn joi has a real eye for fun! *ba-dum-ching!*


b. alexander and caitlyn joi exploring new interests

2) 'round town:

3) unnecessary


my champion killer mystery bruise! this gigantic bruise appeared out of nowhere a couple days ago. it hasn't hurt a bit, but boy oh boy has it had some beautiful color schemes! i must take after my grandma and mother, cuz i aint no sissy.

what you've been missing out on: a joke dirty diaper. shouldn't we all own one?

a local radio show was talking about this gem the other day. you probably weren't aware your toilet paper was so archaic! you can thank me later for the enlightenment.