utah

march always seems to host a big event in utah which i cannot miss. two years ago it was camber's tragic ski accident (which i'll not dwell too much on, as it still makes me anxious-- it's a good thing she's such a trooper.)  last year it was jason & paul's lovely commitment ceremony (happy anniversary!), and this year my beautiful niece molly was being blessed. with poot taking a brief hiatus in logan before moving to vegas, helping to move his stuff was a perfect excuse to get down there.  lindsey and jake are such darling and loving parents.  i am so proud of my sister-- being a mom makes her glow.  molly is a lucky girl to have such great parents, and i am a lucky girl to have such a perfect niece. being an aunt is awesome, especially since my siblings have so far been champs at making the cutest kids ever. 

 

Lindsey made this adorable dress for the blessing. she did a great job. mom pulled out some old smocked dresses she'd made for us girls- oh how fashion has changed, even in baby land. 

little miss molly joan. her little chubby wrists kill me!

emily has been with an irish dance company for (correct me if i'm wrong here) almost 5 years. somehow i have never managed to be in town for one of her performances.  this time around her company took part in a celtic night at ellen eccles, a beautiful theater in logan, and i was able to attend. emily is incredibly talented and moves with an intensity of grace that is mesmerizing. she made me miss dancing in a way i have not felt for a long time.  i hope she keeps it up--  she was meant to dance. 

there are few things more fun that being silly firth girls. and we do it pretty well.

it's pretty amazing to see my little sisters all grown up.  lindsey is a mom, camber is aiming to be done with high school a year early, and emily will be in high school next year.  it doesn't seem too long ago i was giving lindsey speech lessons with puppets, teaching cam to crawl with jelly bellys and having photoshoots with em. i am so proud of the ladies they've all become and can't wait to see where else life takes them.

another bonus on this utah trip was being able to see my grandparents- both firth & flinders. these folks are responsible for some of my favorite childhood memories and providing me with the best parents in the world. i had a riot playing cards and visiting with them. it doesn't get to happen nearly enough.

going to my parent's house always means me leaving with the feeling of a severe kick in the pants to get motivated. my parents are creating machines, whether it's a magnificent meal, a beautiful wooden box my father has built, or a wool piece that was "just a little something thrown together" by my mother, i am in constant awe at their creative ability.  as far as i know, i am their actual child, so i must have some of their genes somewhere... i'm working on honing in on the innovative makin' stuff gene (that totally exists).  one of these days i'll get it. until then i'll continue to be inspired and encouraged by the wonderful things they're constantly up to.  which i still have no idea how they find time for.

this is my 7th year as an oregon resident, which means 7 years of not pumping gas. 

so you can imagine my excitement to see i've still got gas pumpin skills within me.

that's right. on.the.nose.

take that self-serve.

thank you math, for helping me do anything and everything but get educated.

there's nothing quite like good ol procrastination to get me focused on other projects (such as a neglected blog!). being enrolled in this blasted math class for the 5th time. (yes, 5th. before you go ahead and file me away in the "dunce" category, allow me to rationalize this disgraceful statement... 3 of the 5 times i dropped- for various reasons all of which i believe to be completely reasonable and have nothing to do with me avoiding disappointment and epic failure- so i've only failed miserably once. and even then, it wasn't a fail in the "F" sense, but rather a big fat D. who knew "even d's get degrees" was a bold face lie? i do now!) this time around i have an awesome professor, (whom i believe to actually be a they might be giants puppet character who has magically come to life by the help of my fairy god mother to assist me through the treacherous terrain of mathematics. really. this guy belongs on sesame st. incidentally, i need college algebra to be explained to me as if i were 6, so it works out really well.)  add glasses to this dentist, and you have the perfect cartoon rendition of my professor. 

 between an awesome professor and a smarty pants boyfriend with an unbelievable amount of patience, i have so far been able to carry a low A. this is nothing short of a miracle. i'm not getting excited just yet... midterms are next week and only time will tell if i come out alive/successful. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

as it turns out, there is never a time where i am more productive than when i have math homework.

. i have managed to clean the house, bake up a storm (read: brownies, cake, & banana bread in a week. ben refers to the kitchen as the dessert buffet.) start a project of making curtains (oy vey. that is an entirely different can of worms/blog topic so i'll stay away from that), and have even began a somewhat consistent workout schedule.  thanks math! despite having the ability to make me frustrated, anxious and stressed, you have made me one productive gal! 

oregon at last!

after nine days, one fuel pump, a turbo-thingamajig, and many truck stops later ... we have made it 209 miles away from home... but we've made it to oregon! to say it has been an adventure may be the biggest understatement of the year yet. ben's back declared war shortly after the accident and slowed our trip down a bit. this time we weren't stuck in a crap city like des moines, instead we were in the great city of the lake of salt.  this gave me the opportunity to see my new beautiful baby niece, miss molly joan and her proud parents.  she is such a darling babe. i could have held her for hours.  my siblings are great at this baby thing. i can't wait for niece number two come this may! we took a quick detour up to logan where after some time in my parents hot tub, some good laughs with my family. after some rest and stretchin outside of the beast of a truck, ben was feeling well enough to make it to boise. we've taken the last stretch of the trip pretty slow so ben can more easily beat the battle of the back pain.  he should be back to functioning order in no time at all.

more pictures to come once my camera battery charger reappears from the mess that is my luggage.

i've nearly doubted my friend's and families true feelings for letting me embark on this ridiculous trip, but truth be told, i'd do it again in a heartbeat. thanks to everyone for your love, support and concern during this nuts-o adventure.

Iowa is a death trap

after yesterday's truck fiasco, we woke up this morning ready for a fresh start. we had a great hotel breakfast, and spoke with a friendly couple stranded on their way to Arizona. They affectionately referred to one another as "mom" and "dad" which along with being adorable is more along the lines of what I expected from a Midwest experience. In keeping with orders from Ben's home base, we hit the road despite storm warnings. less than 15 miles down the road, only about half as far as we made it yesterday, Iowa put it's foot down. It apparently had not had enough time with the two of us.  Despite Ben's cautious driving, we all too quickly joined the ranks of vehicles in snow banks. Looking back, the scenario inside the cab of the truck was pretty funny.

-uh. janell, we're sliding.
-it's okay
the truck starts to fish tail.
-we're sliding. janell-- we're sliding.
-it's okay- just let it go.
-janell--- hold on. don't get hurt.
-it's okay
-janell-- hold on. don't get hurt.

-it's okay
-janell!!!!
-it's ooookaaaayyy!!!!!!!

just as trucker ben had it corrected, the wind and ice caught hold of us again, causing us to fish tail across the other two lanes, which were luckily free of any other traffic. this time it spun us into a 180,  slamming the right side of the truck into a median. we were both so panicked, the first words we were able to spit out became the only thing we could say. each repeating our own type of mantra as if saying anything enough times would make everything alright. and it worked! we barely missed the other three accidents that had taken place a few feet away- one of which was a semi truck that had jackknifed and blocked all traffic going east. the semi-driver told us everyone thought for sure we were going to tip. we are so glad we didn't. with the truck now facing on-coming traffic we had to wait until it could be blocked off enough to pull it out (we thought we were stuck in the snow bank and were about to have the police officer call for a truck to pull us out, when ben realized his parking break was on. it turns out having the parking break off can be very helpful in moving one's vehicle.) a very kind man, Andre the Russian, let us sit in his warm minivan, from which i was interviewed by the local news!* (I've made made it big in Iowa! woowoo!)  we are thanking our lucky stars that no one was injured and the truck has only minor body damage. we were pretty shook up, but after a minute or two, we couldn't help but laugh about the whole situation. we've decided that all we need to get us through any situation is cookies, and wool socks (booties by caitlyn joi don't hurt either).

so once again we've found ourselves stuck in Iowa. It shouldn't be too hard to entertain ourselves while the storm dies down and we give it another go tomorrow. I can't help but keep asking myself "are we crazy people?..." With any luck, we'll make it back to Portland one of these days....

*they got the details slightly incorrect (including my name)... but hey! i made it in the news! even if it does mean that all of Iowa now thinks I'm an idiot. maybe i was right about that crazy business. 

the midwest is a bitterly cold place

after two successful days on the road, we made it through Pennsylvania, Ohio,  Indiana, Illinois, and all the way to Iowa before our first major hiccup. the transmission was giving Ben a real headache, randomly deciding to prevent the gas pedal from accelerating or even revving the engine. (people in the know in the world of engines and vehicles, i apologize for my lack of proper vocabulary. i really don't know what I'm talking about except that the gas pedal was being really flaky on when it would do its job.)

our initial response was, well...

after being redirected to a truck service shop in Des Moines, we turned around to back track 30 miles east. which took us over an hour. turns out a storm was right behind us headed west, forcing cars off the road both voluntary to avoid the icy roads, and involuntary such as the unfortunate cars involved with a 20 car pile up. Comparing to the truck troubles, we decided perhaps we weren't in such a bad spot after all.

While waiting for the mechanics to do there thing we waited patiently at the burger king/truck stop next door for an hour. Which turned into two. and then three and eventually four when several card games and many soda refills later we heard back from the fine truck gents. they cleaned a thing and checked another, informed us it may or may not be fixed, and sent us on our way.  of course by "on our way" i mean to the hotel next to the burger king/truck stop. tomorrow we'll head to Omaha with fingers crossed the truck cooperates.

spending day two in Iowa got me wondering what exactly one does in Iowa. if you're like this lady, you become a sculptor. of butter.

a little weird. but as my mother tells me, "it takes all kinds".

after listening to the weather for tomorrow, which is expected to be worse than today, i might be better off making a new life for myself here in the freezing cold Midwest making my own dairy sculptures. we'll see.

so far i'm really enjoying this temporary trucker lifestyle. having an awesome traveling companion is a definite bonus.  we hung out with one of ben's coworkers who is also making the trek west last night.  he was a very interesting guy with all sorts of fascinating tales of base jumping, "driving truck" and working at a kids camp.  He's quite the go-getter. I'm not one for new years resolutions, but he told me something i plan on taking to (my procrastinating) heart. "someday is getting really busy, you should pick a sooner date."

2010 begins!

Happy 2010!

What better way to start a new year than with a darling new baby niece? Lindsey and Jake had their beautiful baby girl this morning, and I cannot wait to hold the precious doll.  If all goes right in the world of winter weather, Ben and I should be able to drive through on our way back to Portland. 

I am so proud of Lindsey, she is going to be an amazing mother, and Jake a phenomenal father.  I can't wait to watch them grow as a family. They are so darling. I have such an incredible family! I'm still voting for Annie to make it into her name somehow. ;)

Last night Ben & I brought in the new year at a Dellis- a restaurant across the way from the hotel.  Ben made pals with the manager last week when he went in for dinner.  He was drawing on the coasters as he often does, the manager caught a glimpse of them and asked to hang them up. Ben now has art hanging in a restaurant in Baltimore. Way to go, you're making it in the world of coaster art! (seriously- he is quite the talented artist.) Anyhow, he's been raving about their reuben (which was delightfully wonderful in all it's greasy wonder), so we decided to bring in the new year at Dellis.  I was expecting a small roadside joint with mediocre food, but I was mistaken! It was pretty good food and the place was rockin! They passed out New Years garb and we had a blast people watching. There was a live band- that was horrid, but highly entertaining.  We spotted the twin of Kevin from The Office sporting an awesome mullet. We tried for a while to snag a picture of him, but the best we came up with was this:

you'll just have to use your imagination and take my word for it. it was hilarious.

apparently we are incapable of being in a picture together without one of us looking like a total goon.

we ended the night by watching Where the Wild Things Are.  I LOVED this movie. I had heard a lot of  people were slightly disappointed with it, but I thought it was beautifully done.  Dave Eggers, who can do no wrong in my eyes, did a great job with the screenplay.  I had heard it was very "Dick and Jane" ("see jane. see jane with a ball"), but I think he really embodied the way a child thinks. The cinematography was gorgeous, they did a great job casting, the soundtrack is perfect, the wild things looked great...  this may be one of my favorite movies of the year. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly suggest you do!

I hope 2010 brings health and happiness to you all! Much love from Baltimore.

holidays, food, trucks, more food.

the  last few months of 2009 seem like one chaotic blur. i moved, got a new job, and had a great thanksgiving with my family. my amazing parents sent me an incredibly thoughtful and generous package (i now am the proud owner of the most darling sewing machine that ever was! i am now one step closer to being on project runway and becoming bff's with tim gunn!)  that made having to work christmas and christmas eve, and spending christmas alone a little easier. i have so many amazing holiday memories from my childhood, all of which my parents are directly responsible for.  the holidays really are all about being with those you love.  having to miss out on that aspect of the season, it really makes me appreciate my family and friends that much more.  while i was slinging dinners to the people of portland, i was thinking about you all and hope you all enjoyed the holidays.

i have to admit, i had a small case of the bah-humbugs this year for christmas.  i attribute this to several things. as far as i'm concerned, any christmas without snow, is not a real christmas. and no snow was to be had in portland. also, my work with oregon ballet for their nutcracker season sucked my soul of all things christmas.  i've always loved the nutcracker, but when you see, listen, hear, and talk about nothing but the nutcracker for 40 hours a week... the excitement and christmas cheer that generally surrounds the nutcracker can quickly become a bit stale. (while working for obt i made 4 women cry, was yelled at by numerous individuals, and was even told i was "killing christmas"... and all just by selling tickets. people are CRAZY about their nutcracker. i should say that 2 of the 4 crying women were out of joy. so it's not as if i'm a total grinch. but geeze people-- i'm only doing my job! it's not my fault you can't afford tickets for your children because the cheap tickets are sold out because you waited until the week before the show when tickets have been on sale for 6 months.) i assure you, i'm not as bitter as i seem and actually quite enjoyed my time working for obt.

on the 19th of this month, ben took off for Baltimore for a seasonal job of his own.  it is possibly the most bizarre job i have ever heard of.  he was hired by an ad agency based in portland to work on an ad campaign for Ikea. what does this job actually entail? driving a truck around with giant screens on the sides playing Ikea ads. the job doesn't make sense for a lot of reasons, but no matter- it's a trip to the east coast, it pays incredibly well, and hotel, travel and food are all paid for. the down side was it meant ben had to spend the holidays in an unfamiliar city alone, and (most importantly) away from  me. right before he left he was informed he would have to drive the truck back to portland.  as much fun as a cross-country road trip sounds, (it's been on my to-do list for years now) making it happen in january, in a big truck (with no working cd player), alone, doesn't sound like much fun. especially for a boy born and raised in arizona who has never before put chains on tires.  so, he enlisted me to join him, found a cheap one way ticket, and on the 29th i joined him in baltimore. i'm a bit anxious about the drive home, but i have always wanted to be a trucker, so this is not only fulfills that dream, but i also get to spend new years with my darling beau who i've become slightly fond of.

i should have a disclaimer about any blogs about this trip-  99% of them will be about food. i.love.food. being able to explore new places and find tasty new things to try is one of my favorite things to do. ben is allotted so much money for food, and has been staying under budget so we could explore things together. we are wasting no time in doing so. my first day here we went to Papermoon, an awesome little joint our friend and baltimore native (& our current dog sitter), jen, recommended.

we are so glad she did- not only did it have phenomenal food, you could spend hours there just looking at all the cool stuff they had. the place is decorated with all sorts of toys and mannequins and other bizarre things. (most of these pictures are quite dark- we were using ben's work camera which neither of us have mastered  just yet.)

ben had a big ol juicy blue cheese turkey burger.  i had an incredibly tasty portabella pesto sandwich with goat cheese. i intend to recreate this sammy as soon as i get home, but know it will be difficult to get their hoison sauce right. it really was a perfect sandwich.  we took a slice of their peanut butter blitz to go and devoured it when our bellies were a little less full.

 please note the awesome bowie poster

 

we're all about the high fives

check out the lego undies!

Day Two

we tried a place really close to the hotel that we'd both seen on a couple of food network shows, as well as on anthony bourdain. Chap's Pit Beef. you can check out a clip of it from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives here if you're interested:

i went with the pit beef which really had enough meat to feed a small family, and smothered in "tiger sauce", mustard, pickles and onions. ben had the rachel and we both agreed the baked beans were the best we'd ever had. these are pretty mediocre pictures, but i'm putting them up anyway so i can look back and remember what dreams are made of.

we both spoke fondly of our pit beef babies we had in our bellies the remainder of the night.  we were pretty incapacitated as we could almost feel our arteries clogging with greasy goodness.  a heart attack would have totally been worth every bite.

Day 3

 i went out on the job with Trucker Ben. his.job.is.crazy.  he drives around, parks, takes pictures of people watching the ad, drives some more, repeat.

it turns out, some people do not like having their pictures taken.

this guy on the right tried to grab the camera out of my hand while making some pretty scary threats with a few choice words for me. luckily i'm a pretty tough cookie, and i think my aggressive tone took him off gaurd and i was able to make my escape, camera safely in hand.

after that experience i took to asking people if they'd pose for me, which worked pretty well i thought. like with this couple:

totally believable, right?!

i'm doing my best to earn my meals on ben's company dime. 
the ad is horribly loud and a little more than slightly obnoxious. poor ben thinks he hears it all the time. it has become a perpetual ear worm that he cannot get rid of. i'll try and get some video of it so you can all experience first hand the catchy little jingle and the woman shrieking "they're having a saaaaaaaaaaale! i'm going back for more!!!!"
like i said- his job is crazy.
while cruising the streets of baltimore, we took a break at lexington market where we did not eat, but experienced the Faidley lump crab cake.  it was hands down, the best seafood anything i had ever put in my mouth. the coleslaw was amazing, too. i'm a big fan of coleslaw, but never thought i'd be raving about it. this, was definitely rave-able.

mmm.... look at those big-ol-chunks of crab. i could eat these until i die. i might have to go back for another before we leave.

eatin trucker style- yes, it's blurry, but who has time to focus when you have food like that waiting to be devoured?! not us. never was a better meal enjoyed inside of a truck cab.