portland is a great city to be in when you're trying to save your pennies. there seems to always be some sort of free event or another going on. one of my favorites is first thursday, an event every month in the pearl district. art gallerys open their doors for a (free) look at what the artists of portland have to offer. it's one of the few places i don't mind being in a huge crowd as the streets fill with people & music. caitlyn joi & randall met up with b.alexander and i, and after we'd had our fill of first thursday, headed to caitlyn joi's to pursue some good ol trivia. hilarity ensued.
a board game lacking a die is no obstacle for the likes of caitlyn joi!
curls-o-love
in the end i came in 4th place with only two pieces of cheese
randall came in 3rd, caitlyn joi 2nd
b.alexander conquered all trivia, winning by a landslide.
even though i lost, i walked away with knowledge galore! my favorite facts:
a group of bears is called a sleuth
tycho brahe had a gold nose (just don't ask me who tycho brahe was)
the japanese call japan "nippon"
the letter K in scrabble is worth 5 points
noah used gopher wood for his ark
b. alexander's father and step-mom were recently in town for a wedding. i was able to tag along for a day on the coast and a visit to the tillamook cheese factory. there are few better ways to spend a summer day than playing on the beach and eating ice cream and free cheese samples.
my seaweed whip! which, upon trying to show off the whipping skills i don't have, managed to give myself a nice little smack on the behind. no more showing off with whips for this gal.
in all my visits to the coast, i have never seen so many jellyfish. there were literally hundreds of jellyfish carcasses strewn about the beach like remnants from some unfair battle. it was quite a strange sight. cape meares lighthouse
at one time they would use vegetable dye to label directly on the cheese
in case you haven't noticed, michael jackson has pretty much dominated the headlines as of late. if you are like me this may have caused you to miss the fact that sarah palin resigned. i watched palin's speech (days after the fact- thanks m.j.) & what disappoints me the most about the whole ordeal is how hypocritical it is of palin to blame the media. after all, was it not palin who more or less said she thought clinton should just suck it up and not let the media get to her? blimey. i'm relieved she didn't make it to the white house. somehow i have a hard time believing that the pressures of alaskan governor are some how more intense than that of a vice president.
but what do i know? well, i know locavore is a silly word.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary recently added almost 100 words including locavore and frenemy. which is pretty great in the sense that they seem like ridiculously unneeded words. i don't think i want to meet the person who seriously refers to themselves as a locavore (which is apparently someone who eats locally produced/grown food). don't get me wrong, i'm all for the practice, but locavore? can i at least refer to myself as a cakeavore? because i .really. like my cake. incidentally i'm on the lookout for a strawberry rhubarb cake/crisp/pie recipe if anyone knows of such a particularly tasty treat.
c & k were the first friends of b. alexander i met. it's been fun getting to know them, and sadly are leaving p-town for k's schooling. i'll miss them, but am excited for the adventures that await them in tennesse. c blows glass and has a show coming up for his work so he enlisted b. alexander to help make a short film of him in action. i tagged along in hopes of playing with my camera and witnessing the creation of c's beautiful pieces first hand. i am so impressed with his skill and am in awe of all that goes into glass blowing.
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.
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.
a board game lacking a die is no obstacle for the likes of caitlyn joi!
curls-o-love
in the end i came in 4th place with only two pieces of cheese
randall came in 3rd, caitlyn joi 2nd
b.alexander conquered all trivia, winning by a landslide.
