We are (having) so much fun!

Provincetown!

2011-10-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to share what a great time we had in Gay Ol' Provincetown! It was East meets West, with three current Seattlites meeting up with three former Seattlites. Fabulous!

We all stayed here. Cute as a button!

Sara and I got gay married rings, so women will stop hitting on her in the bar.

We almost walked all the way out on this thing...but it was far and my shoes were too cute.

This is only one of the 7 or 8 totally awesome group photos, which include themes such as "Charlie's Angels", "Afield with the sheep", Tea-bagging disco balls", "Shrimp on the Barbie", "Superman" and of course, "Smiling sweetly".

My life has been busy, in a good way. Lots of fun on the weekends, lots of professional association duties during the week and I (still) LOVE. MY. NEW. JOB!

Also, I am really into quiche right now.

Over and out lovies!

The highlights of the day

2011-09-10T19:39:00.001-07:00

Redeye arrival at 9:30am, and straight to breakfast, shopping, CMU tour, conservatory, beer store before a rest.

And really, how much rest does a one year old allow you?

Our first BYOB to the restaurant experience... Dry town in a non-dry county, weird all around!

Its the Pitts(burgh)!

2011-09-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

Visiting the bro, the lovely SIL and the latest addition!

Road Tripping!

2011-07-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Nature thwarted our camping plans so we ended up with free vacation time.... so instead of taking it easy and catching up on life, we headed off to our first road trip.

Exploring the eastern and central parts of our great state, it was a blast!

This is a mere sampling of the fun, all the pictures are HERE.

I have a hankering for a new camera...someone talk some sense into me. Or tell me how much you love your micro four thirds for dSLR quality adventure photos.

Inn at Langley

2011-06-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Weekend at Langley for my birthday. Lots since then.... pride, climbing competition, visitors, family....more on that later! We are headed into the wilds this weekend.

Yes, they are real.

2011-05-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

There is no statement that I am more sure of than her name and nothing else I have ever wanted to have become a permanent part of me.

And in case any one wondered, your parents can still be sorely disappointed in your decisions... even at forty...

Fortunately, it counts for less than it did at 15. (Wink and Smile)

40y + 10d

2011-04-24T20:36:00.001-07:00

So far so good, we just got back from a week of unplugged bliss.

I have so many deep thoughts about being 40, my wonderful new (and permanent) job, our fun life and things in general… but when I sit down to type it all onto a single page… well, other things seem like a better use of time.

Is this wisdom with old age? Or laziness? Or is laziness actually a form of wisdom?!

While I ponder that… here are a few of my favorites from the week away!

Sara not paddling.

Spring springing.

A bit of time plugged in, but a beer sampler to temper the urgency.

Vacation dinner

2011-04-18T17:03:00.001-07:00

End of days

2011-04-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

Only a few days left in my 30s! I am looking forward to the fourth decade... It is certainly starting out in an amazing way.

1. I have a job/career/path that I LOVE (yes, I went perm just a few weeks ago). This is totally new and amazing for me... albeit, found later than life than one would expect or hope, it has been a fantastic gift that I still marvel about.

2. Sara. She still surprises me everyday! And I don't just mean the daily birthdays cards I have been finding (in the mailbox, in my workout bag, stuck inside my favorite section of the paper). She is just still so much fun!!! I love her most, truly.

3. Home life. Our place is great! We have made a few changes lately that have done away with little household annoyances and made home a nice and relaxing place to hang out. Being out from under the scaffolding helps enormously as well.

4. Adventure and activities. This isn't an area that has ever really needed improvement. I am always excited about the next thing on our dance card.

There is room for improvement, as there always is. And I am optimistic about being at place in my life where I can begin to add more balance to a few things.

A. Family and forever friends. I have been pretty inwardly focused these last few years, and would like to find more time for seeing grandmas, sisters, brother, nieces, nephews and far away friends.

B. Retirement and savings. I have some catching up to do from grad school and a tight year last year. A plan is in place, of course.

Ok, I am done for now. I think a post without pictures is boring but I don't have any new ones to share. Look forward to birthday pictures though!

TaXmas

2011-03-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

Once again its TaXmas.

We usually are very responsible, re-investing our tax return on household projects....

...but it was a hard year. So this year for TaXmas we are upgrading our computers!

shhhh, don't tell the in-laws... we have become a bicultural household and Sara is in love.

Its not JMac, no.... Its just plain ol' Mac that has stolen her heart.

A trip back in time...

2011-03-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

Because the pictures loaded onto the page in the reverse order. I know, rookie blogger mistake. (I could blame this on Sara because I am (Jen) writing this post from her account....but my birthday is coming up and one of you would likely rat me out and I don't want to compromise my 'best spouse ever' status)

Last weekend was winter Gaycation 2011. We rented a house that we could ski/snowshoe/sled/sauna right outside our front door. It was fan-feckin'-tastic! The whole crew is ready to plan for next year!

Even the faithful companions had a blast...I see play dates in their futures.

We had a visitor, thus got to be tourists in our own city. I always love seeing friends from a far and showing them our Seattle!

To continue to reserve our place on the 'nice' list, we traveled south to prune trees again. Record speed this time! It was the constant rain we found extra motivating!

Superbowl party IV was a hit! The beer was fabulous, the prizes were awesome and we ran at max capacity the whole day! Homemade corndogs this year, so I could mix it up...beef, veg, cheese infused and chicken mini-sausages in puff pastry that I dubbed Hens in a Duvet. A class act!

I am coasting into my birthday. Well, 'coasting' is the wrong word. Hm... panicking? Hyperventilating? Denying? Anticipating? Fretting over? I can't put my finger on it.

More musings as 40 fast approaches....

Oh thine words divine!

2011-02-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

Sara wrote me a poem for Valentines Day which I wanted to share. '

To my very special valentine.
You are the knot in my stomach before we got hitch-ed,
The splice in my life some people think twisted
The tears of laughter that makes mine eyes misted,
The envy of all who think we are gifted,
They eye twinkling smile as my spirits are lifted,
And the daily ab workout you keep me in sticthes.
I thank heaven each day that I'm one of your Bitches.

The favorite one I'm sure.

And, my card to her said (among other things):

You are still my favorite.

How did we get so lucky?

And...she also spelled out "I (heart) U" in rope that she had spliced herself. Wordsmith, sawyer and master of the west coast taper...I feel flush!

Oldie but goodie!

2011-02-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

Suffice it to say that when things are going well...Well, there is less time to blog!

We have been our usual busy selves. Our household is still adjusting to my having a full structured work day (less time for planning and scheming...but still full dance cards)!

The only new things to share are healthy changes. We have finally integrated more exercise into our independent schedules, and are starting to get a tighter grip on better eating.

Our good habits are getting easier and paying off. A couple more pounds and I will have a lost the equivalent of my backpacking pack....and we don't hike light!

Mostly, I am glad to be getting my athleticism back. No injuries (knock on wood), good attitude, willing partner: the stars have aligned!

I get a little fierce when I am feeling strong... Sara better look out...there might be some wrestling in our future.

A favorite pic of us taken by favorite friends!

Happy valentines day

2011-02-13T15:47:00.001-08:00

A pitcher of G & T with two straws and my best gal

Staycation

2011-01-22T16:04:00.001-08:00

View of the sound and downtown!

Happy anniversary sara!

2011-01-22T14:23:00.001-08:00

Six years already? Damn. And it keeps getting more fun.

Fire Lookout 2010...oh my.

2011-01-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

I think Sara's comment, when we finally got to the car, summed up this years trip best..."Well, that beats our last hiking fiasco."

We knew, going in, that we had a much longer trek to get into the fire lookout. Eight-ish miles this year compared to last years three-ish miles. Because of this, we started out before daybreak. An excellent idea, since the hike in took us 9.5 hours.

It was a climb of 3600 feet over those 8ish miles, with moderate steep parts between fairly flat parts. For the last 5 miles, there was enough new snow that getting the sled through the trenched trail required one of us pushing it and the other pulling. Needless to say, we were exhausted and extremely happy to see the tower by the time we arrived.

But a nearly 10 hour hike in? This got Sara worried about the trek out. And the weather report fed our concerns ...a storm was moving in and expected to drop a LOT of new snow.

Knowing we would be too tired to walk out the following day at the start of the storm, and not wanting to walk out during the storm, we decided to stay until out check out day...rest up as much as possible ...and hike out after the storm had passed.

We managed to relax and recharge, despite a unspoken and mutual sense of foreboding. We had downloaded a movie and TV shows to our iPods, brought in scrabble, books and a whiskey bar. We left the relative warmth and coziness of the fire lookout only once a day, spending our time doing the very simple tasks of providing for the days nourishment and then doing whatever amused us.

Because of the storm, there were no views to be seen from the copious windows. And once it blew in, the new direction of the wind resulted in a situation where the propane fire was blown out completely and repeatedly. It took between 3 and 20 minutes to get the pilot light re-lit each time and the drop in temperature inside keep us clad in our down coats. We truly delight in feeling our gear expenditures are wholly justified!

The storm passed, we were rested and our check-out day came. We struck out into what turned out to be over 30 inches of new powder. This is more fresh powder than I have inseam.

It took us 1.5 hours to go the first 0.25 mile, causing some grave concern. We retraced our path back to where we got cell phone reception and called the forest service to see if there was a person we could contact with a snowmobile to come get us. No luck. "Better get going" they told us.

Knowing the first two miles were going to be the worst, we made a plan and called my folks. Putting them on standby to call the sheriff should they not hear from us by 10pm. Then we buckled down, paced ourselves and just put one foot in front of the other.

We both marveled at the beauty, despite a sense of gravity. It was spectacular, the nicest day yet, dry and clear!

It took us 6 hours to do those first two miles. The pace was painfully slow due to the depth of the snow, below is a short video of Sara breaking trail.

I wish I had thought to video her when the snow was the deepest. This clip was taken when it was shallow enough she could break trail with her pack on. Before this she would drop her pack, break trail without it, stomp it down on the way back to get her pack as I pulled the sled through the trenched trail. We did this leap frog method nearly 3 hours, getting out of the deepest parts of snow.

When we completed the first two miles, I called my folks to tell them not to call the sheriff. We were sure we could make it out, now that we were past the hardest part. [Well, we were sure we could make it out IF nothing went wrong...] By our estimation, we should be back to the car by midnight.

And 15 hours later, after 6 hours of snowshoeing in the dark, and an hour earlier than our estimation, we made it to the car! AND the car started!! AND we didn't have to dig the car out to drive down the road, AND it made it over the downed trees (just like a monster truck) and, despite the 'check engine' light coming on, we made it off the mountain and into the Oakridge Best Western by 3am!

We asked for late check out, woke up at 8am, Sara got us free hotel breakfast of peaches, biscuits and gravy, hard-boiled egg, Fruitloops, muffins and coffee. We stuffed ourselves and immediately went back to sleep for 3 hours.

Highlights of the trek out?
1. The stars were amazing. Truly breathtaking. We stopped and turned off our headlamps to marvel at them.
2. We discovered we had more water than we thought! The water in the tube of our Camelbak had frozen, fooling us for a few hours.
3. For a while, a coyote broke trail for us...we never caught up to him, but I kept hoping we would.
4. We didn't argue or bicker at all, further validating that we work together in tense situations. We did take turns breaking down...prompting the other to rally and take charge.
5. We LOVE the Freshette. It is no fun to have to dip your buns in the snow.
6. Photos!
7. And, yes, we have a distinct sense of accomplishment, luck, pride in emergency preparedness and competence....but, no, I don't think we will go back next year in similar seasonal conditions (winky smile emoticon)

Lookout drama

2010-12-29T07:49:00.001-08:00

Pizza reseach institute

2010-12-26T13:59:00.001-08:00

The final countdown...

2010-12-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

...to the new year! To quote my favorite Xmas card so far this year (thanks, EG) in a wish for you all...

"I hope little baby jesus brings you all lots of good shit for your stockings!"

Snow much fun!

2010-12-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

We started out the Gobble Gobble with the Turkey Trot this year...I am fairly certain we won. I could prove it, but it wasn't a timed race.

Next year, I will make sure we can provide evidence of our win...for now, here we are at the finish. Can you tell I am wondering if I bought enough butter?

Big Gay Thanksgiving (for Wayward Lesbians) was, again, a smashing success. My new favorite tradition! By the end of the evening, we had averaged nearly one bottle of wine per person. Thank goodness we had started at 2pm! A shout out to some of our favorite blogger attendees for the delicious wine!

Last weekend, we tried out our new sled in the snow. There might have been a little too much picture taking early on...we didn't make the final destination, but enjoyed the views along the way.

Pictures are posted here for your viewing pleasure.

In other big news, we have a sleeper sofa now. After our snowshoe adventures, Sara invited me over for a sleep over in the living room. We watched movies in bed, ate ice cream and stayed up way too late! Good times! We might just do it again this weekend!

Ho Ho Ho...

2010-11-30T20:40:00.001-08:00

... You know what I mean...

Skills

2010-11-13T11:50:00.001-08:00

Mad art skills around here

For the faithful...

2010-11-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

Pardon our negligence...We are (still having) so much fun!
We really must do better. We must remember those at home, for whom our modest little blog adds a ray of sunshine. We must chronicle the fun, thinking of those who might be enduring fun-redefining obligations, such as, say... motherhood?

We hereby make the commitment to provide timely updates of our merriment. Mark these words, there will be more blogging! Maybe with fewer words, but definitely with more posts and pictures.

Starting with our first gay wedding! This pic isn't actually of the wedding, but time was short and our duty was to party down with the brides. Which we did. It was a lovely wedding for lovely people and we also got a chance to catch up with peeps from down south (and by 'south' we mean central Oregon).

Sometime between then and now, we did some hiking.

Silver peak was spectacular and we caught it after a light snow.

And Rattlesnake Ridge was a fun little hike, close to home. A nice way to stretch our legs on a horrible football weekend.

Which reminds me, Church services are going strong. The congregation multiplies and grows more saucy and jovial with each passing week.

We are lucky girls.

And finally, Ms. Sara had a Birthday. She is older, wiser, funnier, sexier and stronger than I have ever known her.

I am a lucky girl.

(Not so) Brief update...

2010-09-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

I am in the running for Partner of the YEAR. This month I have attended three events as dutiful spouse, to include Ms. Sara's 20 year reunion AND her family camping weekend.

Family camping weekend was at the beach and the family (all 25+ of them) are fun, laid back and experienced campground campers. Plus there was hiking, beach sunsets and Sara caught me some delicious bass (bonus points if you know what movie the last part of that sentence is from)

And the niece was there.... when she wasn't pushing her little pink wheelbarrow around the campground, she was digging in the sand. She will either be an engineer or a construction worker...either way, she is going to be a gorgeous bad ass.

Labor day weekend we took some "novice" campers out into the woods. They were plenty experienced, a nice treat for us. And, we only had to hike through a little hail and rain on the way out... we had plenty of warning it was coming, thanks to the storm alarm on Sara's watch.

This weekend was spa weekend with M from Cali. We have been experiencing as much of Seattle fun and food as we can in the short time she is here.

We had a particularly exceptional dinner at Hunger (in Fremont). We ordered three dishes and rotated plates until the meals were gone, so we could sample as much of the menu as possible. Then, we did the same thing with dessert. All this accompanied by some exceptional cocktails and port/sweet vermouth. Bliss. We have also had Paseo sandwiches, lunch on the waterfront, are watching football and are headed out to Indian/Himalayan tonight.

In other news, our condo is getting new siding and windows, so we are under wraps with scaffolding covering 2 of our 4 windows. Thankfully the weather has been mostly crappy, so we aren't missing much.

Happy Birthday to Grandma today! She is 83 or 4...after 80, I tend to move tracking to decades.

And Happy Domestication to us. We have been domesticated for 2 years now...maybe 3. I am not good with dates. However, I do know that we are officially each other longest relationship, having successfully passed the 5.5 years together mark.

As an anniversary gift for Sara, I did diligence on the Patagucci coat embarrassment.

The back story: Sara bought one, I liked it and bought one in a different color. Not different enough apparently.

After about a thousand comments like "you have the same coat, you silly lesbians!", I have fixed it by getting Sara a new Patagucci down coat for our anniversary. I woke her at 3:30am this morning to give it too her. Most of you are cringing. But this is how it went down:

Jen (whispering, after she pulled out Sara's earplug): Sara.. Its our anniversary
Sara (without moving or opening her eyes): Happy anniversary!!!
Jen: I got you a present
Sara: Give it to me!

The gift was opened, tried on, and tossed on the floor. Earplugs restored to their proper ear holes and we went back to sleep for 4 hours. We are truly a pair.

Wow. This got long. And it doesn't include half the stuff M and Sara have been yelling at me to include from the living room... where they are planted in front of the big screen, drinking post-bloody-mary beers, watching football.

Announcing the 2010 Football Schedule

2010-09-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Pictures aren't downloaded, posts aren't written.... but the 2010 Sunday Night Football Schedule is posted.

The Reverend Mother Shores is at it again, holding Sunday night Football services!

Check out my girlfriend...

2010-08-11T16:37:00.001-07:00

Mt. Baker: 3, Sara and Jen: 0

2010-08-08T18:37:00.001-07:00

Well, we are at it again! The fun, I mean.

We hiked up to Round Lake a couple weeks ago.

The guide book promised views of nearly 10 peaks on the way… this was meant to make the 4000 foot elevation climb worth the stunning mountain views.

Cue the fog.

Whenever we hike where we should see the elusive Mt. Baker, it shrouds itself in a coat of cloud. This includes day hiking, backpacking and snow shoeing ON the actual mountain… all with out ever seeing the peak.

Regardless, the hike was a treat. We stopped frequently to gasp in awe at the views we felt we should be seeing. And we saw an owl. He appeared to be waiting for the clouds to clear too.

The payoff was Round Lake.

Look! Look how round it is!!!!

To give you an idea of scale, there is a small patch of whitish in the dirt patch just inland of where the logs jut out into the lake…that is a tent. It’s actually a camp with two tents. Yeah, I know bigger than it looks, this little lake.

Then we finally managed to hook up with some of Sara’s friends for an afternoon sail. This ended a great day for me, I left work at 11, met a friend downtown for lunch, came back to the hood for a massage, after which I picked up beer and sammies to take sailing.

AND, you may note, I said work. Yes, gentle readers; I am (temporarily) gainfully employed.

A temp (6mos) position opened up at the place I have been interning (Freeterning) and I didn’t apply for it because... Well, they wanted an Engineer. However, they asked me to apply, I interviewed on Monday and they pushed everything through to hire me as of Wednesday!

Yes, I told them I had plans I wasn’t going to change for Wednesday afternoon and that Thursday might be a better start day. But they felt, since I had been working two months for free, that it was a little something to give back.

Did I already mention… I love this job! Keep your fingers crossed that they can extend or have me go perm at the end of 6 months. In the meantime, I am having a ball figuring all this new stuff out!

Ok, onto the sailing shots…

Captain Sara

Elliot Bay tour… jealous? That is the SPACE needle! It nearly pierces SPACE!

Wildfires make for lovely sunsets!

Pictures… you know the drill.

2010-08-07T12:09:00.001-07:00

Deliquent...

2010-07-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

Well, its been so long since my last post, I am just going to do a pictorial catch up post....

Pride weekend kicked off by jogging with the Frontrunners...I wore my new socks!

After that, an incredible amount of showering happened....

Followed by an unbelievable amount of ironing...

Which, in the end, resulted in stunning handsomeness!

Seattle Center flew the rainbow this year....Thanks for the love Seattle!

Sara's pop came for a visit...for Fathers day, and we went to a game.

Safeco, how we love thee and thy garlic fries!

We went backpacking last weekend...I lobbied for a 4:30am start time. We compromised at 4:30am rise, breakfast at the local 24/7 diner...then hit the road!

This view was worth getting up early for! And we enjoyed a full moon that night too!

View of Rainier atop Navaho Peak!

Ok, newsy blog up next! Stay good!

P.S. Navaho Peak photos here.

Auntie times six....they just keep coming!

2010-07-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's your 'Aw' moment of the day.

This happy event took precedence over the big gay pride weekend post, but the gay is on its way... Fret not!

Happy Fourth!

2010-07-04T19:30:00.001-07:00

Hey Seattle!

2010-06-24T15:55:00.001-07:00

Its time to get your Gay on!

Everyone should get out and be a little proud this weekend!
You can celebrate in any queer way you like... be it raising your glass or lifting your skirt!

Stay tuned for the post-hang over report.

Gay Camping 2010

2010-06-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

It was supposed to be 'Big Gay Camping Trip 2010' but attendees were dropping like flies with various illnesses the day before we were supposed to hit the trail.

So it ended up being the first solo trip of the season and, of course we made the best of it!

Just an overnight trip this time. We went back to Ingalls Creek, were we had a significant adventure last year! This trip was mostly a pleasant walk in the woods, save the long uphill climb.

Tons (TONS!) of wildflowers...Yes, I bored you with picture after picture of flowers in the album, but I did save them for the end, so when you hit flowers, there won't be anything but flowers to come (well, maybe a mushroom and some moss).

The real update? I am still job hunting. I (un?)fortunately LOVE my intern (read: volunteer) position more than any other job I have ever had...yes, I am angling to make myself invaluable at this organization. Not to mention charming and an overall delight.... keep your fingers crossed for me. Creating positions is not unheard of there!

Sara is great. What else can I say? She loves her job, she has a bunch of projects going and still makes time to have all sorts of fun with me.

So, there we are... planning the NEXT hiking trip, hoping the sickies can join us and gearing up for a wild and crazy pride weekend!

As you were.

I still learn so much from her...

2010-06-06T16:52:00.001-07:00

Y'all miss me, don'tcha?

2010-06-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been helping Grandma move into a retirement community.... which has also meant I have been staying IN her small apartment with no actual walls between us, and hanging out in the community center during the day with her and her peeps. Today is day 6 of living with the old people. I will try and hit the highlights.

1. Dinner is at 4:30pm every night. Yes. Four-thirty in the afternoon. And, as expected, dinner is a greatly anticipated and much discussed event.

2. Yesterday, I realized that the irritating noise I was hearing in the dining room was feedback from my neighbors hearing aid. No one else heard it.

3. I have been mistaken for both 22 and 59 years old. I am not sure what to make of that.

4. I am now embarrassed by flatulence. No, not my own... but I won't name any names. Further, I am filled with the dread of knowing how audible it may/will become with age. On the other hand, I am comforted by the thought that my hearing may be so poor by then, I won't realize how loud the passing of the gas has become.... or at least that is what I will claim.

5. Today I played Bingo.... and felt like the cutest thing in the room.

6. These old ladies are naughty. Delightfully, naughty! I pretend to be shocked.

7. They are all in awe of my computer savvy... this is also why it has taken 5 days to get access to the internet without having to sit outside a Starbucks.

8. There are 3 men and 29 women in our dining room, not surprisingly they are doted on unabashedly by the other residents. These men are also repositories for unwanted pie and cake.

And for the serious stuff.

1. This place is fantastic. I was terrified it would be filled with people waiting to pass away. But I find myself in awe of the vitality here. Everyone here is here to prolong their independence and live the rest of their lives to the fullest. There is more smiling, teasing, laughter, cooperation, wittiness, and camaraderie than I could have ever guessed. And on top of that, every staff person I have met has been gracious, kind and respectful. Experiencing it for this last week has taken a load off my heart.

2. Growing old is not for the fainthearted. Happiness in the face of constant adaptation, loss, and physical setbacks, all the residents here have mastered it. I look into faces which have seen 2 to 2.5 times my lifetime (yes, I have met some centenarians) and realize for all my learnin', I don't know much.

3. A little kindness goes a long way. Really. I have been on both ends of this during the week and cannot express how profound a small gesture can be.

Shit! Its nearly dinner time... I have to go put my earrings on. I think they are seating me at Bill's table tonight and you know, he used to work at Boeing!

As(s) you were....

2010-05-15T21:16:00.001-07:00

...my backside is back to normal. Thanks for all your concern!

We have just returned from two packed weeks. Starting with organizing an Early Mothers Day Brunch in PDX for our grandmas (Sara's two and my one), and our moms. Lovely time! No pictures, but here is a belated mother's day something for everyone. [It makes my heart swell with pride...I don't know why. Maybe because this kid hails from Corvallis]

Then it was off to Sara's training in Eastern Washington. She is now certified in Tree Risk Assessment. Especially so, since during her class there was a wind storm and the whole class was witness to the canopy in the park outside their window coming down in chunks. Apropos. And while on the east side of WA we stopped by Atomic Ale Brewpub for a sampler. The consensus was 'meh'.

Finally, we were off to Central Oregon! Sara's sister's family recently relocated close to our favorite vacation site. So we relaxed, visited and did a little cabin maintenance (since we stay for free, we HAVE to contribute somehow, right?).

One of our vacation goals was to visit the four new (to us) Bend breweries. We made it to three: Silver Moon Brewing, Cascade Lakes Brewery and 10 Barrel Brewery. The favorite, by a landslide, was 10 Barrel Brewery. Their S1nistor Black Ale may be my new number one beer... I wish we had taken home a growler.

The highlight was canoeing to SunRiver. We loaded up the bikes so we could bike around before floating back home. Serious fun and we looked so cool paddling around the river with our bikes aboard.
The Word Wars continue. We played 8 scrabble games... we both lost one game by over 100 points. At least the pain was mutual.

The pics are here. One might think Sara did all the work after looking at the pics... but I cleaned gutters, hauled wood, burned, spent time under the sink and cleaned up outside after Sara. I just need to figure out how to get Sara to stop long enough to document it.

Back to the job hunt... and as it turns out the back-up job fell through, so I am officially unemployed. Don't worry, I am over the panic, and comfortably into the looking phase... at least that is how I feel right now, ask me in two minutes if I am still not panicking, it may be a different story (winky emoticon).

As(s) if things aren't already stressful...

2010-04-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

... I ended up in the ER a couple weekends ago. The wee pimple, turned prepubescent boil had matured into an angry abscess. As(s) you might have guessed, the offender resided upon my buttock.

For your reading pleasure, here are the highlights:

1. Oh my god. It went from size of pin head to larger than a golf ball in 5 days! Scary. Really, I should have gone in when it was quarter sized and painful 24/7... but(t) I thought maybe it would resolve on its own.

2. One blood culture came back positive for bacterial growth. Back to the ER for another round of IV antibiotics. The bruising from all the blood draws and IVs is now gone and I am no longer worried about being mistaken for an IV drug using rogue scientist.

3. Totally hot butch nurse. Enough said. (My family reads this blog, people)

4. Done with antibiotics, and only need to get the wound repacked every other day now...definitely on the road to recovery.

5. I have SERIOUSLY modified my butt pimple SOP (standard operating procedure). At least until the pain is distant memory, then I will likely be back to my previous shenanigans.

6. And speaking of shenanigans, Violet put a smile on my face by sharing this with me. As(s) you can see, very apropos.

7. Sara lobbied to take pictures but(t) I wouldn't let her. Gross, right? This from the woman who nearly passed out when she got a good look at it. Sheesh.

And for those interested, the work update: I didn't get THE job, but I have a good line on A job that will gain me some valuable experience too. And I am filled with confidence having made it down to the final two applicants...I believe this whole job-thing is totally do-able. Whew.

Birthday slide show

2010-04-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

But(t) there is more to tell about this last week... I will get to it as(s) soon as(s) I can.

Oh my...

2010-04-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Holy Mackerel! So much going on this week!

1. Making progress on the paper that it was insisted I write. Thank goodness for kick ass office mates.

2. I am sick-ish. Of course. Because...

3. Thursday I have an interview. Don't get giddy people, its the first of possibly many. At the least, I will get the first interview jitters out of the way. Interestingly, its distracting me from another important thing...

4. Its my Birthday this week. I am actually extending it into a month long celebration because I can.

5. I almost cut the tip of my finger off with a #11 scalpel blade. My office mate glued it shut with Vetbond. I am in love with Vetbond. I hope I get some for my birthday.

6. I am KICKING my brother's ARSE in Scrabble right now! Seriously, the luck of tiles is with me. In my first 7 turns, I have FIVE (5!!!) bingos! And the two non-bingo turns were triple word scores. Schwing! (Sorry, Nick. but it is my birthday month)

7. And since its not always all about me, even in my birthday month, I am posting a picture of Sara and her boyfriend Matt. They went to more than one prom together. I hope he comes to visit soon, because he is one of only three people in my life with whom I can book concurrent pedicures.... and its nearly sandal season!

Ain't it the truth?

2010-04-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Want one? Go here. Thnx, jljj!

Cheery Cherry Cheery

2010-03-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

Friday after work, we doubled-up on fun with happy hour with a gay friend, followed by dinner with the straight neighbors. The straight neighbors made corned beef and cabbage. I love them for it.

They call us 'the neat neighbors'.

Not as in 'Neat-o!' but neat as in tidy. It fits.

Saturday we went for a jiggity jog around Green lake, after which Sara put her motorcycle up for sale on Craigslist.

One nibble, but no takers. Anyone want to buy a motorcycle... its a gorgeous bike, and a total chick magnet!

Then we went to campus... to just hang out.

Who ever heard of going to your workplace, just to sit around and play scrabble?

Well, the cherry trees are blooming and the weather was beautiful. Word is these events coincide only about once every 7 years.

We laid out a blanket...

...admired the blooms....

....Em came with us....and she won at scrabble. Sara does not want to invite her next time... too much competition.

Lazy day at home today, cooking mostly. Also, I have been dealing with a lot of this person lately ....sigh. It will all be better in a month.

Head down, forge ahead, break for flowers and beer. Happy Spring!

New (old) furniture and a Pi Day Hike.

2010-03-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had breakfast with a blogger friend here, while we were in the neighborhood to buy a new (old) chair. I promised to post a pic of the purchase.

I know. Not everyone LOVES this style. Our neighbor Scott did little to hide his amusement about the purchase. But once you meet us and hang out in our swanky digs, you will realize it fits perfectly.

And today, instead of laying low like I thought I wanted to, we hiked Mount Si. I think this was a particularly appropriate hike, because today is also Pi Day. And even though I didn't make pie (we made brownies instead), Si sounds similar to Pi and therefore honors Pi day in a way only a outdoor-loving nerd girl can.

There was snow from mile 3 to the top...we are rugged adventurers!

Mt. Rainier looks gorgeous on Pi Day.

Can you see Bellevue, Lake Washington, Seattle, the sound and the Olympics??? Wow!

We deemed this hike as 'unpleasant'. 4 miles with a 3700 feet elevation gain...so steep up, only to turn around to steep down. Very little level relief. But now we have done it and can cross off one more thing on the list of definitive Seattle experiences.

HAPPY PI DAY PEOPLE!

Oh. My. God.

2010-03-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Cutest picture EVAH!

The question is: Who wore out first?

See-addle

2010-02-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

Let's see... where did I leave off? My mind has been mush lately. Many big things.

Job hunt, current position wrap-up, various volunteer activities, Grandma care, and remembering not to freak out. I have been consumed.

One thing that happens when I am preoccupied like this, is that I stop sleeping in. Meaning, I don't sleep past 6am on the weekends anymore. When life is chill, I can make it to 7 or even 7:30am some weekends.

Jen's Irritating House Rule #1: I am not allowed to wake Sara up on weekends... until 8am.

Actually, I think the rule is: I am not allowed to wake Sara up on weekends. I might have added on that last little part as a favor to her. She would not want to miss the whole weekend by sleeping it away. So, making sure she is up at a reasonable hour is my way of telling her that I care.

Last weekend, I went down to the park below our place and took mediocre pictures of the sunrise. This kept me from watching Sara sleep. Man, if she catches you doing that...you do NOT want to be within ear shot of the tirade that follows!

Time to go home and turn on some lights and open the curtains...

I was going to give you an update of the other things we have been up to...but stress increases cell death in the hippocampus, which in turn affects short term memory. So you will all have to wait until the latest events have been filed into long term memory.

But, by then there is a good chance I will deem them 'old news' and not blog worthy.

Anything I can do....

2010-02-17T09:59:00.001-08:00

...she can do better. And somehow, I am not bothered by that.

Check this shit out!

My favorite? The Gel electrophoresis, but I was also wooed by the yeast two-hybrid screen cookies and the Ginger-scientists.

I am in awe...and probably in love. After all, there are baked goods involved.

Next up: Everything you wanted to know about splicing rope.

Ahhhh...sigh.

2010-02-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend on the Oly Pen with friends. We stayed at (another) Forest Service built residence, Louella Cabin. By far the best deals going... we are hooked on these cushy portals to adventure!

Quaint and Quiet.

No running water, but a clean outhouse, electricity and a faux fireplace to keep us warm. We did some hiking, shopping, splicing, reading, gaming, cooking and chatting. A relaxing time away from the city buzz.

Took a few pictures...here they are.

I wish I could re-orient and post the video I took of those girls walking. Funny stuff! I must make a note to video only in landscape orientation!

And back to a short work week...nice!

Superbowl 2010

2010-02-07T16:50:00.000-08:00

Preparations have begun!

2010-02-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

Saintly Lemon Ale, kegged, carbonating and cooling.

Bring on the corn dogs!

Is it the moon?

2010-02-01T19:38:00.000-08:00

Or is it simply because I love the opportunity to eat crap for dinner when Sara leaves me unattended?

This evenings bachelor fare is artichoke dip, and a Ding Dong.

To my credit, dinner was proceeded by happy hour edamame and a beer...both of which can be considered vegetables.

And the irony? One of my chores this evening to cook Creole shrimp with the amazing scampi we picked up this weekend. It looks and smells terrific...but better than a Ding Dong?

I think not.

Can I just say...

2010-01-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

...that we had a delightful time with these ladies this evening!

You know that feeling when conversation is easy, despite having just met someone? It was like that AND Violet has excellent taste in food. There is oh-so much more to tell, but we are supposed to be in Bellingham at 9:30am tomorrow to go snowshoeing so it will have it wait.

We kept them out a long time...longer than expected. We tend to do that with fun folks.

I hope the pirate dog left your house intact....but even if she didn't, give her some love from me.

A little something to keep you going...

2010-01-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

I am running at full speed lately...work, job search, volunteer activities and, well... this girl likes to play too, so I have to fit in the fun.

My brother sent me this link...I printed it out and posted it by my desk. I have laughed at it every day for 3 weeks.

I am truly that nerdy, yes.

Ticket to Heaven

2010-01-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

If there is a heaven, this annual pruning job might just help get us in....at least put us under consideration for entry anyway.

This is deal: 8 fruit trees, 3 ladders, 2 sets of tools, 2 girls, 500 miles round trip, and one 86 year old fire cracker/role model.

Known to us as Mom B, she lives on about 8 acres and grows veggies and fruits of all kinds. She bowls twice a week, square dances once a week and tells it like it is.

Sara got this gig when Mom B was ready to give up trying to hire someone to prune her fruit trees. She would make arrangements only to have the pruner A. Not show up B. Start and not finish and/or C. Just never return her calls. This frustrated her to no end.There are very few things around the farm that she cannot take care of herself. Did I mention she only has one hand? Not that she hasn't probably pruned all those trees herself before...but if she did it now, we would KNOW she had been up on the orchard ladder...at 86...with a bit of vertigo...unaccompanied. And even she would have to admit that that wouldn't be the best idea.

So, year 6 (7?) of pruning Mom B's trees...we left Seattle during a BEAUTIFUL sunset...

Made a stop at VooDoo Donuts, which I have had yearning for since RoRo and Katr posted about these delectable treats. (Yes, Sara got the Bacon Maple Bar)

Started pruning by 8am Saturday and had our fastest year EVER!

Maybe our record time was due to the fact that Sara is an excellent crew chief...when she isn't watching football inside with Mom B.

Or it could be because my rain pants and boots were a pain to get off, so I refused to take a break unless it was lunch time.

Or maybe because we had a few hours of help out there, nothing like a third every once in a while to invigorate the pruning rhythm!

Who knows why. But we were done by Sunday night for the first time ever! We turned what has typically been a 20 hour job for two people into a 16 hour job!

Is it obvious? I LOVE this job. Its the one time of the year I remind myself that I CAN do 'real' work...the kind that makes you physically tired, not just mentally exhausted. And we get to visit with all of our Oregon homies.

Good times all around....can't wait to try to beat this record next year!

Cute overload.

2010-01-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

She left me this little surprise so I wouldn't get lonely without her this weekend...

I just about went all ninja on those pillows when I walked in to the bedroom tonight. Fortunately, I didn't...can you see who it is?

Yep. Sara left the Lorax to help keep her side of the bed warm.

Always looking out for me, that one.

The clan expands

2010-01-08T11:35:00.001-08:00

This is the spawn of the brother I used to dress up in a purple leotard tights and a tutu. Niece or nephew #5, I cannot promise I won't dress you up too... but maybe I will have a small dog to dress by the time you are old enough care!

Warner Mountain Lookout

2010-01-06T06:29:00.000-08:00

Before we headed out, the thing we had paid the most attention to was the current and recent snow level. The description on how to get into the lookout is very clear: It could be a 6-10 miles snowshoe or hike in, depending on the snow level. So, we spent the night before in Oakridge, to guarantee we would have an entire day to make it in.

We were surprised to find that we drove to within 3 miles of the lookout...this luxury would turn into a hassle on the way out! But, on the way in, it was great! Sunny, packed snow, easy trekking, light packs and the sled that we had loaded our food onto pulled easily along! Truly spectacular! And of course, we were giddy with excitement!

The lookout itself really delivered! From the cupola with a 360 degree view, to the cute propane faux fireplace. It was beautiful and cozy.

The mattress was comfortable (but we put our Thermarests on it anyway - instant pillow top!) and that little fireplace kept the indoor temp between 55 and 65 the entire time we were there! That was despite the 25 mph sustained winds and 45 mph gusts which blew snow INTO the lookout from around the poorly weather-striped door. I spent a good hour filling those gaps with paper towel on the second night.

Did I mention the views? Spectacular! Just Wow! And we got to see those views in every kind of weather (which means sometimes we were amazed at how much we couldn't see) AND we got to see those views at every time of day.

The latter was thanks to me. I was so excited to look outside that, for the first two nights (out of three), every time I woke I would launch myself bolt upright in bed and look outside! 'What did it look like now?' I would wonder.

And Sara got to share in this. Because every time I sat bolt upright, she would startle awake thinking rats or yetis were upon us. 'Ooops....sorry, its ok, its still storming.' I would tell her reassuringly. An around the clock visual weather update, courtesy of yours truly! Sara was thrilled.

But, to my credit, the weather was constantly changing. The middle of the first full day, a huge storm blew (BLEW!) in. We knew it was coming because we had our weather radio with us. Sor first thing, that morning we went out trekking to find the map we had lost on the way in and check out the area.

We watched that storm blow in hot lunch, beer and scrabble...while the tower creaked and swayed! It was quite a thrill!

The next day everything looked different. The valleys were covered in a cold thick layer of snow. There was over a foot of fresh powder everywhere, huge deep snow drifts which we stomped through during the brief lull before the second storm was supposed to move in.

It was gorgeous. We tried our snowshoes on some steeper terrain, took some pictures, and plotted our exit for the following day.

Really, most of our time was spent reading (me), splicing rope (sara) and playing cards or scrabble (both of us). Sunset is so early this time of year, that we made sure we were up the tower by 3pm or so...which left a lot of time for relaxing in front of the faux fireplace.
And it was SO relaxing. We marveled that, of the 11 nights we were gone, the longest we stayed anywhere was 3 nights and the 3 we were at the lookout went the fastest.

Sigh. I can't wait to go back.

The second storm that moved in was warmer, wetter and more docile (25 mph gusts) and was still going by the time we left in the morning. Unfortunately, snow level had risen to 5000 feet, and we hiked out in rain and in heavy, rain-soaked snow.

Sara didn't have a proper shell...so we made do with what we had available. We had both anticipated it being cold and dry the whole time. Next year, we will prepare better.

The trek out was uneventful, wet and quick....at least the part that got us to the car....

The car. Phase Two of our adventure. It had snowed at least 15 inches since we had parked it on an unmaintained forest service road. And we knew, from the way in, that the chains we bought (despite CLAIMING they were the right size for our tires) were too big and came off at the slightest provocation, in a single piece.

Long story shorter that it could be... The division of labor was such: Sara drove and re-applied the chains. I dug out the center of the road with the snow shovel, pushed the car along and retrieved lost chains.

This was efficient enough to get us 3 miles down the road into lesser snow in only 2.5 hours. No kidding.

Of course, spending a night in the wilderness, stuck in the car, would have been inconvenient but not horrible. We had all of our (damp) gear with us, including a stove and pot that I insisted we bring "just in case".

But, we made it out! And were elated to not be spending the night on FS2129! We rewarded ourselves with Burger King and starting making plans for Warner Mountain lookout next year!

Ok, I am going wrap this up with some FAQ:

1. Water - we melted snow on the stove and boiled 5 minutes to sterilize....just in case.

2. Food - packed it all in. Packed all our garbage out. The lookout had a propane stove and oven which was nicer to cook on than my electric range at home.

3. Bedding - brought it all in...including our pillows...luxeries using the sled allowed us!

4. Bathroom - the outhouse is at the bottom of a 41 foot tower. We brought one of these and a empty jug... in 45 mph winds with a paper towel caulked door...there was NO leaving. [Testimonial: I LOVED this thing! I will take it backpacking from this day forward (backpacking = no jug required). Cleaner, neater and warmer than the backwoods squat.] Other business required braving the stairs and snow drifts to the outhouse.

5. Sled - Our first time using a sled, and it was great! The sled we managed to find (at the last minute, true to form) was not ideal and our rigging was makeshift, but it still worked well. Definitely something we are going to use again.

6. Pictures - Of course! Slimmed down to a modest amount for your viewing pleasure. Its your reward for making it through this LOOOOONG post!

Teaser

2010-01-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

This was our home for the three days after Xmas...more on this adventure after we unpack!

Hello new year!

2009-12-29T12:47:00.001-08:00

Forty five mile per hour gusts atop a forty one foot tower. Swaying our way gently into 2010!

When arborists bake...

2009-12-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

Coconut wood chips, marzipan mushrooms with cocoa dusted caps, nacho cheese flavored maggots eating blueberry jelly crotch rot, sour cream and onion crickets and a pumpkin yule log with cream cheese filling! That is a department holiday party I wish I could be at....

And the best part? After helping, she told me that I was her dream come true. Was it my hot new boots? Or those nacho cheese maggots?

T = minus 9 d.

2009-12-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

Jingle all the way!

2009-12-13T10:16:00.001-08:00

Look who has been up since 3am...

2009-12-13T07:20:00.001-08:00

... Too excited about wrapping presents to sleep.

2009-12-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

I took my camera on my walk to work today...when I thought of it, the sun was shining. When I left it was foggy...

Looking north on the pedestrian overpass...

...on the Burke-Gilman trail...

...the hummers are noisy this time of year!

Hips in the Love Garden....

Ducks in the bay....

Geese in the cut....
Spent clematis and the crane outside my building.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

2009-11-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll be...!

I have never really understood that phrase...I guess its supposed to finish with '... a monkey's uncle' and imply surprise... which is exactly what its meant to convey in this context too. But doesn't being a monkey's uncle imply retro-evolution? I guess that would be a surprise!

But, back to the point...Thanksgiving I (Friendsgiving 2K9, as my cousin Liz calls it) and Thanksgiving II (a subset of family) both came off swimmingly.

[yes. Swimmingly. Its my new favorite descriptor]

Little parting party-goer gifts were prepared and displayed.... (this recipe doesn't double, by the way...gave me a little scare when I thought I wouldn't be able to salvage it)

Food was prepared...particular thanks to our neighbor, whose stove we used for cooking the turkey and heating the soup... that was a life saver!

And thanks to this lady for all her help in the kitchen and for bringing amazing veggies! There is a meager amount of pictures posted here. Not as many party pics as I had hoped to snap... but let me tell you, it was a blast! Who knew dinner for 17 wayward lesbians would be such a delight?! (I borrowed this pic, thanks C for the photo-documentation)

These two ladies were among those attending...you can bug them for details if you like... There were some hysterical stories told by a certain someones mother... god damn it was funny!

I can't wait until next year!

But it didn't end there...dinner #2 (for only 4? I scoff at those small numbers!)

Smaller, but significant. It was my first time hosting the parents. Yes...the payback for nearly 40 years of hosting holidays has begun...and its long overdue!

And, as it turns out, they are as delightful guests as they are hosts! Dinner, company and conversation was fabulous!

I took Sara out for a special breakfast at Denny's this morning...she rode with me to drop Dad at the airport at 3:30am.... is it any wonder that she is the thing I am most thankful for in my life?

The calm before the storm...

2009-11-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

Actually, there has been no calm...just busy, busy, busy around here.

Sara had a HUGE tree plant event on campus that she coordinated. She was instrumental in having our University designated a 'Tree Campus USA' and securing a donation for $5K in trees.

There were nearly 100 volunteers to coordinate, and an enormous amount of pre-event prep so those volunteers could just walk up, grab a shovel, get some instruction and plant a tree in a pre-located, pre-dug, pre-prepped hole. The sponsor of the event provided food, shirts, hats for all the volunteers.

Needless to say it was a huge success, there were even news cameras there...but we haven't seen if anything was aired yet (at least nothing was aired during the football, on the football channel).

I rallied a rogue band of scientists to plant trees too. [Sara has helped out with a LOT of science outreach...it was only fair]. Here is a picture of J, Y and I. I believe the language barrier helped a lot in getting a commitment out of Y...

The weather was pretty bad, it stopped raining just long enough to gear up and rain harder...we all went back to the the lab soaked to the core.

Not to brag, but... Our group of three planted 6.6% of the trees that day, while being only a mere 3.5% of the volunteer crowd. yeah...pretty bad ass, I know.

Myself? Well, with all the sciency outreach/networking/board stuff I have been doing lately, I think my head is going to explode. But hopefully, not before thanksgiving... when we have 17 wayward lesbians coming to dinner.

Have you seen our house?

Its small. Very small.

But, yes, you should know by now... I have a plan. It includes a color-coordinated diagram, a seating chart and a disposable feature for when its clear things are out of control anyway. That element is the key to successful party!

Scary fun!

2009-11-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

Being the classy chicks that we are...

these are what we brought to the swanky pre-Hallows Eve Pumpkin Martini Happy Hour that our condo neighbors hosted. I think they were really impressed with our skills...and definitely impressed with our maturity.

This weekend was L and Jen girls weekend, Sara stayed home and was a swinging bachelor... She really did it up right! But that is a story I will let her tell you...when she isn't so busy.

L and I stayed at Skamania Lodge (with the Army recruiter conference attendees). We had pedicures, delicous (and copious amounts of) seafood, hiked up and around Beacon rock...

...to enjoy amazing views...

...got massages, and watched movies. Love of Arnie is something we share...so the movies this weekend included Commando, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer and Predator. We didn't get to Predator this trip, and did sneak in one girly movie ... It can't be all Arnie, all the time...not when massages, pedicures and hot tubbing is involved.

We ended the weekend with breakfast at Cafe Venus in Stevenson (I thought Sara would appreciate the A.M. Burgers on the menu) and followed it up with shopping at the Outlet mall.

It was a blast, exactly what I needed. Nothing like a good friend to make you feel like you are in the right place and the right time in the world!

And I came home to all the grocery shopping and menu planning done for the week AND Ms. Sara is in the kitchen right now cooking me dinner...

...I know, I'm spoiled.

Game Day

2009-11-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

A true fan from the beginning...
When I was that age, I am not sure I even knew what football was...

That haircut does look familiar though.

Back in the Superior (Soggy) PNW

2009-10-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

A week long vacation with family...and I survived.

In fact, I did MORE than survive, I had a GREAT time! We kicked our trip off by meeting Grumpy Granny and her special friend for a beer, they were (as I posted before) a delight!

And the beer at the Shamrock Brewery was a great start to our Colorado Brewery tour. We managed to visit four breweries in 3 cities while site-seeing.

We didn't just drink beer all week, we took breaks to visits the Pagosa Springs Hot Springs...sometimes three times a day. I am SOLD on hot springs now, it was so relaxing! I cannot wait to do it again.

The real reason for the visit was Sara's niece...she turned two last week and we were down to celebrate. I made Sara and her matching pajama pants. Girly snuggly flannel ones...

and UofW Husky pants. Guess who got a potty for her birthday? Might be hard to tell from this picture...
And the entire visit was great. There was an amazing B-day cake, a little fall color left, fresh snow fall on the mountains and general amusement at 'hanging out' 8000 feet above the elevation we live at...today, we are heady from all the extra oxygen.

There are pictures posted here.... a spare 50-some...whittled down from 250. Thank me later.
Sara is sick now. I am in denial about being sick. I suppose its a good thing we still have one more day to recover before heading back to work.

Damn, I wish I were back soaking in those hot springs...

Last day at the hot springs

2009-10-23T08:28:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh....

Colorado Vacay

2009-10-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

No time for a real post...we are too busy visiting the Hot Springs, playing with the niece, hiking and visiting local breweries!

We did manage to sneak in a delightful visit with GG and her special friend on our way south and sample the brews at the Shamrock!

Pictures upon our return...many, many, many pictures!

Brrrr...wow!

2009-10-13T15:23:00.001-07:00

The title sums up the backpacking trip this weekend. Cold with amazing views!

However, it could have been changed to 'Brrr...shit! Wow!' to reflect the fact that I neglected to charge my camera battery before we left. Fortunately, Sara had her camera...you all probably know by now that we are two camera family. All the photos are here.

As you can see it was as fun as it was cold!

Next on our list of adventures---Colorado! We fly into Denver Saturday then drive down to Pagosa Springs! I have taken a little extra time to map the local brew pubs along the way.

Its October

2009-10-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, already.

We are headed out into the wilderness for one last (cold) backpacking weekend. I can't wait! Hopefully I will get some nice fall color pics to post when we get back....if my fingers still work.

I am busy with my nerdy activities during the week (board meetings, committee meetings, planning meetings and meeting meetings for AWIS, SEYH, SOT). I feel like the missing piece in my life is back again... I dropped science outreach at the end of grad school and just now am getting back into it. I had not realized how much energy I got from being involved in outreach!

I feel like my posse of geeky science women is growing. I am even starting my OWN lady scientist group...I call it IWIS (Imbibing Women in Science). We are the rowdy rogues of the science world!
I wrote a little article about Science on Tap for Seattle AWIS (see how I bring it all together? Tricky, huh?) You can check it out here, if you are so inclined...its a downloadable pdf, be forewarned before you click the for the Fall 2009 issue. (photo is by PGibson)

Thursday I am going to hear Richard Dawkins... I can't wait for that either! Sara and my Dad are coming too...big nerdy fun at our house lately!

That's all I got... for now.

[Addendum: We sold the little red wagon last week. I cried when it drove away. I had had that car for 14 years, put over 200K on it and learned a lot of car lessons in it. I am over it now though... the swanky new(used) car makes it easy to move on!]

Update with photos

2009-09-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Since we bought our new ride, we have been on 4 road trips... which means we have traveled 4 out of the last 4 weekends! Whew!

I don't even have all the pictures loaded...so unlike me, but most are on our photo site....link in the sidebar.

Here is the rundown...

1. Weekend at Grandmas for the Toppenish Whistlestop Music festival. Our friend E joined us and I did grandmas toes with blue polish and a diamond. Fancy lady! (Pictures aren't uploaded yet)

2. Depoe Bay with Sara's family. Sara went deep sea fishing and caught us some delish fish! The Oregon Coast was stunning and dramatic as always and we got to see whales in the bay.
3. Sara pruned her hand with a hand saw (ha!) and had four stitches...I hate that call from the ER that starts with... "I am ok now...."

4. My Bro flew in from Pittsburgh JUST to go camping with us (us being, Sara, my sister, her hubby and myself). But the weather was rainy ALL weekend (with sleet in the mountains) AND he was sick. So we opted for a weekend at the cabin with scrabble, day hiking and good food instead. Very fun!5. We returned from this trip to water damage in our condo...so we have been living with our office moved into our living room and our backpacking stuff spread out everywhere. Needless to say the clutter makes me crazy.

5.5 We also returned from this trip with my brothers illness...which kept us both home for 2 days. Sara's hit hard and fast...mine lingers.

6. We went backpacking with friends, M and L, picked huckleberries and I saw an HUGE meteor Saturday night. It was amazing. Others describe seeing it in the comment section on this site (starting with comment #12) and another description here. Amazing...that is all I can come up with.
And the hiking was great! The beginning of the trip was sunny, then we watched the cloud we were in tumble into the valley and hiked out of the clouds on our way out. We had the perfect post-hike bacon cheeseburger in Carson (who would have thought!)
And this weekend we are home. We will both be working some Sunday, Sara overtime and me catch up.

Maybe we will sort through all the books that came off the office bookshelf and sell the culled ones somewhere...or maybe we will just rest.

A Happy Anniversary

2009-09-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

I should blog an explanation for being absent, but it will have to wait until later.

September 12th marks one year since Sara and I became domesticated. Which makes this our one year domestication anniversary, I believe.

Being together now for 4+ years, we have other dates we celebrate (read: frequently forget to celebrate) but this one was our public acknowledgment that we both want to be together for the rest of our lives, and bears a unique significance.

There are a lot of not-so-great things in the news these days. Efforts are underway to eliminate domestic partnership rights in Washington state. This makes me both scared and angry. DOMA is still in place, as is DADT. My hopes for federal rights are fading...but still there.

Fundamentally, I know we will get there. Its a slow moving train, but its moving.

But, today is special because of Sara.

My heart had no way of knowing how compatible we actually would be... and even now, I continue to be delighted by her. Her strength and wit are amazing. And, I have never been so much myself as I am now.

And I have never been so happy. Every day we laugh. Each week is a new adventure. We have explored new ideas together. Had amazing travels together. Suffered some sadness together. We bought a Cuisinart, a washer and dryer and a car together.

We have made new friends, watched good friends move away and continued to hold our old friends close. We have shared time with family. And we have relished our time alone.

These years with Sara have been easy and fun. I truly cannot wait to see more unfold.

So, Please do me the honor of raising your glass with me... to toast Sara, the love of my life!

Sara, When it comes to telling you what you mean to me, I am frequently at a loss for words (People who know me will find that unusual). But words cannot describe how fundamental and innate being with you feels...you are a part of me.

Its like we are two trees with our roots grafted and our branches intertwined. Sharing disease, and weathering the storms together. Being safe harbor for small woodland creatures and parasitic clumps of mistletoe. Sure, we would survive on our own, but the health of one tree would be severely compromised if the other was removed. Moreover, the tree left would look weird and lop-sided.

Yes. Without you, I would be lop-sided and probably weird.

So, Sara, thank you being fun. For being strong and sweet. For being kind, determined, caring, conscientious and witty. Thank you for being an adventurer, a home-body, a dare devil and a safety maven.

Thank you for being you.

And thank you for being you with me.

We have a winner!

2009-08-19T06:28:00.001-07:00

Well, we sort of have a winner... since there were only two categories, we actually had a tie.... but the photographer with the most first place votes....? Well, its me. (Humble blushing)

Thank you to all the dedicated bloggers who made this Happy Hour beer and appetizer possible (waving to the crowd, smiling). I would also like to thank my family for giving me such a solid foundation and an eye for odd and curious things (holding beer near my heart). But mostly, I would like to thank Sara, my special friend, for paying the bill (raising my glass, gazing lovingly at her, hold smile for applause)!

Its not over. Sara plays to win. Sometimes she plays 15 or 16 times in order to win, which only matters if she is gambling.... but, rest assured, more photo contests will follow!

In other Fun Girls news...we have a NEW(used) CAR!

Its the first time I have owned a car with less than 100K miles on it...then again, I have only ever owned 2 other cars. Its Sara's fourth red car. Our mechanic liked it. We liked it. But probably best feature of all (besides being red) is this....

The BUILT-IN PICNIC TABLE! How cute is that! When I read about that, it was all over! I needed a CRV.

Ok, I don't know when or where I would use that table, but I definitely will be creating a few occasions before I determine it useless.

Anyone for a little picnic? Bring your own chair! Oh, and don't actually put anything on the table, its not very stable.

Sara's brilliant tradition is to go out for a fancy dinner when you get a new car... because what is another 100 bucks or so when you just bought a car? Nothin'!

So last night we DROVE to Ray's and had a fabulous dinner overlooking the bay. We would have stayed for dessert, but the view was making us hot... the too-warm kind of hot, with the slowly setting sun shining on us. So, we DROVE over to Lil' Coney for a soft-serve cone and to watch the sun finish setting. A delightful end to a delightful meal!

Which brings me to the next activity at our house... Selling the Little Red Wagon.

Anyone interested in a well-taken-care-of 1988 Toyota Corolla Wagon? 295,000 miles, 110,000 on a rebuilt engine, clutch replaced in 2002. 32-37mpg (seriously, it rocks) cruise control, air conditioning cold as ice, full sized spare, chains and a Yakima bike rack.

She rides a little low, as the struts are worn... which is what made us finally decide to get a different car... this old girl wasn't making it up the dirt roads to the trail heads anymore.

This weekend we are taking our new ride to visit Grandma and listen to some music at the Toppenish Whistlestop Music Festival. Warm weather, good music and festival food vendors... that is summer!

We should probably take the little red wagon and give her her last wax job... but, no. I am driving the new car. We have fuel efficiency to estimate, traveling mode to optimize and we will likely be having a little picnic.... on our fancy integrated little picnic table.

Northern delights

2009-08-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

Our absence has not been without thoughts of you, dear blog friends! Here is your much anticipated update.

We headed north this weekend, Sara had her eye doctor check up in the fair city of Vancouver and we took this opportunity to meet up with hilarious and delightful ladies RoRo and Katr.

Basically, I showed up late, immediately borrowed money to plug the Canadian parking meter (who thinks of those things) then ran off to the bathroom with little more than a wave. I know, I am a classy broad.

Then after finding them to be so much fun...I forced them to hang out with me longer, instead of leaving to get their iPhones. A small part of the decision to delay them may have been repressed jealousy...but I am chalking most of it up to the fact that I am slowly and reluctantly becoming my mother.

Regardless, they were the pictures of grace and fun! Sara and I both hope that they will show up late, borrow money, and run off to the bathroom in Seattle soon!

Then we went camping.

We are human. We make mistakes.

One of which was choosing a camp area that folks with 4x4 vehicles can drive to, while cars like the little red wagon, have to park 2.5 miles away. Its really no fun walking up a gravel road WAVING at the people in 4x4's as they drive past, then arriving to find a zillion other 4x4s in the parking lot. Not exactly the solitude we were naively expecting.

But we (Sara) expertly found an isolated site to pitch our tent atop a hill overlooking two valleys. At least, we think it overlooked two valleys...if there had been a brief clearing in the clouds we could have verified that our campsite was as stellar as we thought it was.

We came for the views, were stunned by the flowers and left early because of the drizzle...I guess that sums it up best.

But there's more! Sara has a new camera...thus there is a renewed interest in photo contests.

There is a voting widget at the top of the page in the sidebar and two categories: Landscape and Flowers. Pick your favorite in each category then check out all the photos of the trip (link after the entries...see how sneaky I am?)

The stakes are high this time. In addition to bragging rights, the winner takes the LOSER out for Happy Hour beer.

LANDSCAPE:

A: Lanternscape

B: Cloudy mountain views

C: Flowers to the clouds

D: Taking it in

Was it hard to choose? Just make up your mind and VOTE at the top of the sidebar.

And for the FLOWERS category, the entries are:

1: Alpine Hellebore

2: Mountain bouquet

3: Old men of the Mountain

4: Lupine dew

Head back up to the top of the page and vote!

Now that your votes are cast, check out the rest of the photos here!

All night long...

2009-07-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by reminding you all...I am a nerd...

and, until last Friday, I had never stayed up all night.

Sure, I have not slept much before or only dozed while flying the red eye or just slept a few hours so I could cram before a test....but never just stayed up/went out/had fun all night.

So Friday, when we found ourselves still awake at midnight, Sara posed the question. "Wanna just stay up?" And I think "Heck YEAH! How cool would THAT be!!!?"...but knowing how uncool it would be for me to actually say that, I say "yes. yes, I do."

We started by figuring out 1) where we would go watch the sunrise, 2) what time the sun rose, 3) where we could go for breakfast that was open 24 hours and 4) (because we are lesbians) what time Home Depot opened on Saturday.

After the research, I we finished the drip irrigation for our deck. This project was complete genius. Really. I am not bragging.

We have no pets. We have no kids. We have a condo. We have one resilient houseplant. We are carefree and frequently travel on the weekends... BUT we like to have flowers on our deck. Hence, in a moment of brilliance, we devised the Bucket drip system. Photos of the project are here. You will likely be jealous. Just a warning.

So, We are now set up to water the deck as often as we need in summer and use our kitchen gray water to do it (filtered, of course).

But the night continued on! We cleaned house and I cut Sara's hair. Then headed out to Beth's cafe for breakfast. I have never seen so many drunk people having breakfast at 3:30am in my life...apparently, I have always gone to bed too early.

Then drove over to Louisa Boren Park to watch the sunrise over Lake Washington.

It was funny...the one time we stay up all night and go to THIS park to take pictures of the sunrise...another lesbian couple shows up to take pictures of the sunrise. What are the odds?

Ok, in Seattle...those odds are probably 1 in 10.

We capped the night/morning off with a trip to Home Depot (the first to arrive), then came home and napped for 3 hours before I had to go into work.

It was such fun. And we got SO much done! AND our weekend has seemed so long!

I have tried to convince Sara that we should do this EVERY weekend...for some reason, she's not buying...

Backpacking over the 4th

2009-07-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

We took full advantage of the three day weekend and went backpacking.It was a spectacular weekend, despite a few unexpected challenges.

(minor) Challenge #1 . Jen had some symptoms of heat exhaustion on the way in. Neither of us were expecting an alpine hike to be so hot. The first part of the trail was uphill, exposed and dry, and one of us (not Sara) wasn't drinking enough. Fortunately, we both saw the signs, and stopped to rest the shade until a full recovery was made.

(moderate) Challenge #2 . Fall Creek trail... part of the trail is missing in an avalanche/blow down. We knew this ahead of time and decided to use the map and compass to find the trail again on the other side of the blow down. It took over an hour of hiking over huge downed trees and limbs, but we did indeed find it. After we navigated through that mess, we decided to do a loop that would add a couple miles to our hike but prevent having to go back through the blow down....little did we know....

(major) Challenge #3 . Cascade Creek trail... the trail from Hell itself. Ok, I exaggerate. It could have been worse, it could have been poorly marked, poorly graded, unmaintained, dangerous AND buggy. But fortunately there were few biting bugs. The trail had not been maintained and the landscape is lush and overgrown, which meant we lost the trail at least once in every 1/4 to 1/2 mile of 2.7 mile trail. Further, it was mostly overgrown with thorny plants, like wild rose and hawthorn, it was no fun pushing through those. Not even the switchbacks were clear, and the trail grade was so steep in places that we should have opted to turn back....in other circumstances we would have...but

(moderate) Challenge #4. We were losing daylight....The combination of a losing the trail over and over and the dangerous conditions meant we were hiking less than a mile an hour...at 6:00 pm...with 4.5 miles total to go. It would have been 7.5 miles if we had turned back but would have been just as difficult to re-find all the painstakingly found trail pieces we had lost and found again. So, we pressed on, in hopes of not having to spend the night out. And to add insult to injury....

(minor) Challenge #5. Jen had had a blowout...at mile 4...with 8 to go....which required 3 repair attempts. Only the very back of the heel of my boot was still attached, making for an unpredictable, unstable, slippery foot fall. Ok, so it sounds like misery. But, it wasn't all that bad.

1. We both were well hydrated, not starving, and in good physical condition to press on slowly and carefully. We are experienced in woods and not prone to panic.

2. We had emergency provisions with us, an emergency blanket, water, fire starters, other first aid and common sense. Spending the night in the woods, would have been uncomfortable and annoying but not life-threatening.

3. The valley ran west to east, so we had sun until 9 and dusk didn't fall until after 10pm.

4. We knew if we made it off the Hell trail, and across the river safely, then the 2.5 miles (and second river crossing) back to our camp was well marked, gently graded, and we could do in the dark...if need be.

Which is exactly what we did...and after a tense moment in the black dense foliage by the river, we emerged from Hell, crossed the river, jogged/hiked the 2.5 miles down the trail to our camp (with the sole of Jen's shoe flopping the whole way), crossed the river again and made it safely back to home base.

And let me tell you...a 10pm sponge bath in a glacial stream and dehydrated beef stroganoff never felt or tasted so good!

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. It was one of the most beautiful hikes we have ever been on. There were over 20 different varieties of wildflowers, more than I have ever seen. The view from the pass was amazing, I can't wait to hike up again and go all the way to the peak.

The pictures just cannot do justice to the immensity and feel of being on the pass with three valleys visible below and huge mountain ranges in the distance.
As for the Cascade Creek trail... we are a little annoyed. Our map indicated it was maintained, the Forest service website says its open and maintained....but it clearly has not been maintained for at least couple of years. There was more than one seasons overgrowth on that trail, there were no warnings or updates about the trail at the trail head, on the website or at the trail markers.

Of course, unintended adventure will be easily avoided in the future by calling the ranger station to ask about the last trail maintenance for every trail in the area we intended to hike into. It won't be hard to do.

Oh! How gay it all was...

2009-06-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Seattle Pride 2009...sometimes its nice to feel like the straights are the oddballs.

Pride was a blast! Mostly because of one man. Sara's boyfriend M came and stayed with us. He is my favorite boy EVER (besides my brother). But don't tell him, I don't want his head to get big.

Pretty isn't he?

We were the three musketeers...except for the part where we all stick together. We would sort by gender and part ways every now and then. It was for the best...lesbians go to bed early...especially us girls.

Instead of bore you with the gay ol' details, I will just tell you my favorite part...Sitting at a sidewalk table at the Broadway Grill watching all the hubbub. We were there for close to 4 hours (and 3 mojitos) with friends coming and going the whole time. It was a delight.
They are trouble these girls, big gay trouble! All the pictures are (of course) here.

Nehalem Bay

2009-06-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend. Well, Sara calls it camping, I call it 'staying in an RV'. It was the first time I have stayed in an RV... ok, the second time.

The first time I was 9, my Great Aunt Tennie and Great Uncle Leonard came to visit from Texas. I went to stay with them in the RV and forgot clean underwear. That was also the first time I remember going to a church. I was fairly certain God knew I didn't have on clean underwear. And if God didn't know already, Aunt Tennie would have been the first to tell him...she certainly wasn't shy about telling all those other strangers. The whole experience was terrifying to say the least.

But, This time around was fabulous! I am still not sure I understand the appeal of the high-density campground, but I now fully understand the convenience and luxury of the RV!We met up with friends from Oregon, C and F, and their young-uns, A (who is BIG now) and C (whom we had not yet met)! There were fires, smores, kite flying, hide and seek in the dunes, books, food, naps and crafts. Big fun! Photos are here.

Soap Box Issue: Health Care Reform

2009-06-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of health care talk in my family... mom is a social worker in the emergency room and a specialist in geriatric care/services and dad is an emergency room doctor.

I clearly remember more than one occasion as a child, when I was downtown with my dad and a street person would call out his name, come over to shake his hand, say they were feeling better or just say hello.

After the the exchange had passed, he would tell me a little of the back story... That person was schizophrenic, suffered from depression, was bipolar, or just down and out. And with no other resources for basic care available, they would show up in the ER with an otherwise preventable illness.

So, that said, it is with great pride and admiration for the just, considerate, concerned person my father is that I post this letter he wrote addressing Single Payer Health Care. I think he says it more eloquently than I could hope.

Read it, think about it and if you get a chance, talk about it and share it.

Friends,

Americans have the world’s most technically advanced hospitals, the best educated doctors and health care workers, yet we spend twice as much per capita on healthcare as any other nation and only rank 37^th (same as Cuba) in overall quality of health, such as life expectancy and infant mortality. We are not getting our money’s worth.

I am writing to ask you to support Single Payer Health Care as introduced in the US House of Representatives in HR 676 and in the US Congress as Senate Bill 703.

These bills are similar and if passed would provide health insurance for all citizens and legal immigrants and designate Medicare to be the single payer of health care bills: Medicare for everyone.

Medicare's overhead expenses are 4%. Private insurance companies overhead is between 20-30%. The change to ‘Medicare for everyone’ alone would save about $350 billion a year, more than enough to insure all the currently uninsured.

Patients will still choose their own physicians as they do with Medicare now. The physicians work for themselves as they do now. The only thing that changes is that the 20% of the health care dollar that now goes to profits for private insurance companies will go instead to insuring the uninsured.

President Obama has moved away from the Single Payer Health Care issue. While he has not given his reasons,I suspect he wants to cooperate with big insurance companies rather than battle them. It is time to remind him and his administration that Single Payer health care is the best option.

Further, the majority of physicians support this plan. In March 2008, the University of Indiana Medical School surveyed physicians around the country and found 59% supported single payer health care. Many other studies have shown that the majority of physicians want a change in health care insurance system as do the majority of Americans.

Physicians for a National Health Plan has online resources and information to answer any questions about how this plan would work. For interviews with some of the nations top health policy thinkers please watch the informative documentary “Health, Money and Fear” available online.

Please write to your Congressman, Senator and President Obama and tell them that the American people want to join with other nations of the world by making affordable health care available to all Americans.

Please pass this letter along to others concerned about health care in America.

President Barack Obama

To find your Representative try this link.

To find your Senator try this link

Catching up: a pictorial

2009-06-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

Golden Gardens Park for soft serve, sailboat watching and a sunset...

Mothers Day weekend with both our mothers...everything we tried to do was closed (the museum, the conservatory and the restaurant) but it was fun anyway!

Escape to the coast with my sister and bro-in-law...gorgeous beach camping.

Sunset at Fremont park

This little visitor barely stopped moving long enough for us to get a photo!

This little visitor was used to being in the eye of the camera!

I know this quick recap doesn't do our adventures and visiting justice...but its been busy around our house lately. Maybe sometime soon, I will get a chance to tell you about the raccoon in the vestibule of my sisters tent, the fabulous mothers day brunch chez Jen and Sara, how exhausted we were trying to keep up with 5 year olds and fierce wind and sunset rainbow we saw at the park last week.

For now, you can make up your own stories...they might even be more entertaining than the sneak peeks!

Quick update

2009-05-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

We finally got the new doors on the laundry closet...and here is a long overdue photo of my lovelies. My precious, precious lovelies.

I know. They are mirrored closet doors, but trust me on this. It works in our living room across from our 10 foot window.

The photos of the process are here.

Drilling through the tile was no easy task... it made me wish we had had a corded drill. Even with the drill bit with a carbide tip, we had to recharge the battery pack 3 times before we got through the tile.

Tilth, Heck Yeah!

2009-05-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

Three time nominee. Local favorite restaurant. Object of both my admiration and unending embarrassment.Congrats to Maria Hines of Tilth!

Set a course for adventure...

2009-05-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

The folks, my Dad and My Murry (short for stepmom) are currently walking across the UK.

Don't worry, its the narrow part. Only a couple of hundred miles.

I wish I were there too. What a great adventure! I cannot wait to see the photos!

Updates will be posted as I get them... So far, they arrived safely and have been on foot for two days.

The parents that are not off beaten path came to visit for Mothers Day. However, that will be a post in itself.

Again?

2009-05-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

It must be getting old... all the fun weekend adventures that we have. I get the feeling its getting pretty boring, all the 'rainbow and unicorn' posts on our blog.

Just this one more and then I promise something new... maybe images from work? Want to geek out on some fluorescently labeled cells in the the inner ear?

Friday kicked our weekend off and it was BEAUTIFUL in Seattle. We headed downtown and had dinner at a mediocre restaurant that also has outdoor seating and an amazing view of the sound, the Olympic mountains and ferry boats dotting the scenery. Plus, we had a discount coupon... making the total package well worth it.

With our savings from dinner, we hiked up the stairs from the waterfront for dessert some place closer to our venue.

The Brooklyn was a delight, renown as an oyster bar, we opted for martinis and a chocolate ganache that was out of this world! And sitting at the bar watching the four bartenders muddle, shake and mix was pretty cool.

After dessert, we had about 15-20 minutes before we needed to be at the concert hall... and being SAM members, we stepped inside to check out some of the new pieces. My favorite perk of being a museum member is stopping in for a few minutes when I find a few to spare!

After that, we headed to Benaroya Hall to see a David Sedaris reading. He was such a delight. So genuine, insightful, funny and humble. It was like sitting with a friend...and 2,500 of his friends.

The best part of living in the city, is never having to drive, sit in traffic or park during an evening out.... just hop the bus, chat about the evening, stranger-gaze and we are home.

And that was just Friday.

I will do the rest of the weekend in list form.

Saturday AM: Clean house, fabric store (Jen) and REI (Sara).
Saturday PM: Smith, Hotflash, The Cresent for Karaoke, Hot Mama's Pizza, Dicks
Sunday: Persimmon, Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Seattle Center fountain, Hales, a nap, more clean up...whew.

I think we are due for a lull now... maybe even overdue?

Sara's away and the mice...

2009-04-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

...get pedicures. After all, cute toes are a summer must.

M came to town from Cali and we had a girls weekend (Sara was a Grammies doing good works).

This meant pedicures, shopping, eating and adventure.

Friday I dragged M to my department seminar... fortunately she is also a scientist, so it wasn't as torturous as it might have been (or was it more so?)

Then we met up with one of her friends from graduate school (postdoc?) who organizes Science on Tap... one of my (and Sara's) favorite general science venues, despite only having made it to two so far. Who knew my friends were so well connected? Dinner at 3rd Place Pub was delish... Hazelnut brown on tap...my favorite. We turned in early Friday...pedicures at 9am on Saturday means no messing around.

I got up early to bake cinnamon rolls for us, we started the day out right. Then over to Habitude for our morning appointment, after which we spent the morning shopping in Ballard while our toes cured. Lunch at The Other Coast Cafe was amazing, I highly recommend the Reuben.

It was chilly, so we decided to swing by home, drop off our goods, put on shoes and then head out to catch the water taxi to west Seattle. Of course, once we were downtown, we did some shopping and stopped here for sustenance. We needed ENERGY, people!

They hide the water taxi. This is a fact. Seattle wants you to pay lots of money to go on the boat tours instead of $3 for the water taxi (or free with your U-Pass). By the time we found it...we had missed it. No worries. It was right by a Red Robin, so we managed to think of a way to pass the time.

Then we (I) accidentally cut right to the front of the line to board the boat... I would have felt a little bad about this if it had been full, but there was plenty of room on board.

Once we arrived on the other side, the shuttle took us the long way to Alki beach. We could have gone up to the shopping/upper West Seattle area, but Alki seemed more definitively Seattle.

I highly recommend this excursion to both visitors and Seattlites. Be warned, however, the water taxi runs late into the evening Saturday, but the ground shuttle stops running at 7pm. So be prepared to either take the bus back (what we did) or add the 2.5 mile walk back to the dock into your day.

Once back downtown, we had dinner at the Pink Door. Damn. Enough said.

Sunday we kept it low key. Sleeping in, coffee, leftover cinnamon rolls... then made our way down to the Fremont Sunday Market to check out the local crafts. Lunch at Sara's favorite sushi place, and a to go box for her... she drove home in time to meet us at the market, have some lunch and drive us up the hill.

A fabulous weekend...photographic evidence here! And it didn't end there...

After dropping M off at the airport, we headed to The Garage for a farewell party. We bowled a couple games, chatted with friends then left a bit early intending to go straight home and get ready for the coming week.

But we couldn't bear to do chores after being apart all weekend and needed some face time to catch up. So, instead we had fantastic dinner at a local favorite followed by dessert at the best dessert shop in Seattle.

Now that I have written it all out...I don't know how we fit it all in.

Another year wiser?

2009-04-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday this last week. Another year wiser. Another good year.

I spent the entire week wearing a sense of entitlement like a coed wears a thong with a muffin top, completely unabashedly.

There was a week of Happy Hours, cupcakes, donuts, flowers, a few gifts (spectacular ones from Ms. Sara), friends, family, phone calls, well wishes and e-notes. It really could not have been nicer.

And like a visit from the perfect house guest, the birthday week has appropriately come to an end.

This weekend we did a little fun work and took a impromptu day trip to Skagit valley to check out the fields of flowers.

Sara the arborist cut down a tree for some friends. I served as ground crew. The pollen from the birch tree nearly rendered me useless, but allergy drugs saved the day. All the butch pictures are here...
The Lorax is a regular attendee of Sara's arborist exploits...he made an appearance this weekend too.

(Please ignore the lack of hard hats and steel-toed shoes. And do not try this at home without supervision)

Sunday we had our usual Sunday breakfast in bed with the paper. When we realized it was going to be a gorgeous day, we decided to hop in the car and head up to Skagit Valley. The whole day was a delight. We had lunch at the Skagit River Brewery, followed by chocolate covered berries on a stick from the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon (Heck Yum!).

Then through the fields, and the decent test gardens.All the photos are here. Sara took over the photo shoot for a while I was in the outhouse, maybe you can tell which ones are hers? Our choice of subject matter differs a wee bit.

We ended our adventure at Deception pass. Wow, it was beautiful. The pics don't do it justice! Ok, that is all from the Sunny Pacific Northwest. It was my birthday last week, so everyone hug the ones you love this week.

Do it. Its what I want for my birthday. I am entitled.

Coitus Interruptus

2009-04-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

Spring was out in full force this weekend. I wish everyone could have seen all the baby strollers, children and couples with little dogs walking around Green lake on Saturday.... it was glorious, sunny chaos.

On my way back to the car, walking through the neighborhood, I heard a distressed hummingbird call. With our temperate climate, there is (at least?) one type of hummer that is here year around which has a subtle, yet distinctive call...like high-pitched humming while chewing a mouthful of rocks.

I have become particularly adept at hearing the call and finding the bird. So when I heard the hummingbird call that seemed frenzied and stressed, I immediately began searching. My eye caught a flash of iridescent green and red, flapping around in the bushes below somebody's front window.

I cautiously approached, thinking I didn't want to scare a bird that might be injured after hitting the window or tangling with a predator when....ZIP! The brightly colored male I had eyed from the sidewalk, flew up to eye level, paused to check me out and then took off like a flash!

Oh. Nothing was wrong. Hm. And then....ZIP! A dingy female hummer flew up, beat me about the head with her wings and took off!

Ok, she didn't beat me about the head, but the look she gave me made it clear that she was none too happy about the interruption of the cloacal kiss.

And although I feel a little like a voyeur, I am pretty happy to add to the list of animals I personally witnessed having "spring"...which include, in addition to more common creatures, rhinos, worms and now hummingbirds.

It hardly seems fair...

2009-04-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

...but I suppose I should be accustomed to saying goodbye to friends.

College, grad school, postdocs...are all temporary positions. Transitional phases where one identifies and bonds with their peers, all the while, knowing the next stage will render those friendships long distance.

I am fairly good at long distance now. My friends are my friends despite miles between us... but I prefer to keep my flock close.

So there was one last weekend hurrah with those making their exit from the Pacific Northwest. We made memories, enjoyed friendships and explored new places. The pics are here.

Yes, two couples are abandoning the constant cloud cover and us for the East... I would like to implore the remaining PNW friends to space your departures a bit more carefully.

Godspeed, ladies.

We are all off the market!

2009-03-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

Catie has actually been off the market for a while...she and Dave eloped last November. This weekend was the party.

Sara and I took the train down. We have that down to a science...pack a dinner, download some SouthPark episodes on the ol' iPod, and whip out travel scrabble when we are ready to restart our brains. Fun, relaxing and cheap (well, cheap because we get our tickets paid for with 'Amtrak points'. And by 'cheap', I mean 'free').

The weekend worked out in an amazing way...train, free; room, free....we stayed at moms; vehicle, free...thanks to a loaner from these ladies; food (mostly free at the folks'... I did buy a round and some snack at the bar for the cousins, I was the oldest cousin out...its kind of my job) but the best part? It was fun.

And very beautiful, with great food and my camera battery died. However, I did manage to get pre-party pics, some of which are posted here.

Besides the pre-party pics, making sure Dad didn't freak out I had one other job (which I volunteered for)...a toast. Here it is: 'Like a welcomed summer rain, humor can cool the earth, the air and you.' (nice things welcoming Dave to the family, then...) To laugh every day is to love everyday! Cheers!

I was going to end with "I love you" etc, but I started to tear up, so I had to pull up and bail out. But it was good. If there had been a contest, I think I would have won. Sara thought so too.

As you can tell, there was NO WAY it could have been a mediocre party with this cupcake tower!

Congrats Catie and Dave!
"Hi. How are you?"

A wee bit more spring....

2009-03-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Soap box issue: Antibiotics in animal production

2009-03-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

This statement sums it up:

“We don’t give antibiotics to healthy humans,” said Robert Martin, who led a Pew Commission on industrial farming that examined antibiotic use. “So why give them to healthy animals just so we can keep them in crowded and unsanitary conditions?”

An excellent summary of the problem is in the NY Times and the original cited report by the Union of Concerned Scientists is here.

I definitely want to see this change. However, have an animal science degree (BS and MS). I have seen the production side of things and know that the best way for the production to change is through market driven change. This gives the producer time and motivation to adapt and not lose his/her shirt.

Further, how we raise animals for production is not just a matter of fueling creation of MRSA. Animals are raised eating what they should be eating are better for us. EatWild has a nice summary of an older but very relevant study showing increased fat/cholesterol in grain-fed vs. grass fed beef.

This change in beef production practices (grain-fed and grain-finished animals) also correlates strongly with an increase in heart disease and cholesterol levels. But both pork and poultry have the same issues.

"Free-range" doesn't not mean what you might think. It simply means that for the last two weeks of chickens life, there is (unused) access to the outdoors. Their diet is still grain-based, which means even chicken is much higher in fat and cholesterol than when we raised our birds to roam free.

Ok, I will zip it.... for now.

We have got it all...

2009-03-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

The morning started with clumps of snowflakes that looked like badminton birdies and were just about as large....and has progressed to a beautiful blue sky.

The workshop was a huge success. I managed to secure a donation from a local biotech company and we gave each girl (425 of them) a fantastic purple stainless steel bottle (how very green of us too). And one of the women from this site showed up as a surprise bonus for one group of girls.

It was my first year volunteering with this group, they were a nice group of women. Its nice to be involved in some outreach again after a long hiatus.

In other news about me, I have been craftily creating lately. And as soon as Sara saw the sewing machine come out...she started stacking up her work shirts needing patches, dress shirts with missing buttons and other miscellaneous projects.

Sigh... there goes craft-time.

Then again, she did pamper me a lot yesterday after the workshop....that is worth a few mended shirts, at least.

Got to get the donuts...

2009-03-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

I am up at the wee hours on a Saturday, drinking coffee, trying to wake up so I can hurry up, get in the shower then drive like a maniac to get donuts, bagels, cream cheese, etc for the other wonderful volunteers who have also gotten up early to put on this workshop.

It will all seem worth it after its over...isn't that the way it always works?

Sara is still snoozing...don't let her sleep too long.

You say parsnip...

2009-03-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

... I say horseradish.

Tonight I made a vegetable lasagna. It was made in self-defense. Our next produce box shows up on Tuesday and we had not eaten much of the veggies from last weeks box.

No problem, I can get creative... tomato sauce with shredded carrots, parsnips and leeks. Cottage cheese pureed with garlic, broccoli and egg. Pan-grilled eggplant, fresh buffalo mozzarella and noodles to finish it off.

It was gorgeous. [I am in love with Ronzoni Oven Ready lasagna noodles. Yes, I tried these because they came out on top in the Cooks Illustrated comparison....and they are all that.]

When I tasted my beautiful lasagna, however, it was quite interesting. I recognized the flavor, but couldn't place it.

Sara nailed it though. "Tastes like horseradish." Bingo!...and WTF?!

I thought maybe I had had another round of "looks like a spaghetti squash, tastes like a boiled melon" but upon further research...I think I just have very strong tasting parsnips. I guess we will find out tomorrow if its too spicy to eat by then.

And the whole reason we ended up in a veggie cooking panic? Company. Not just company, good friends. The kind who also think a fun weekend consists of going to REI and then taking travel Scrabble to the gay bar at three in the afternoon....after which we went home early to watch a documentary.

Yep, Not just friends, our people.

Sara's Grandma turns 90

2009-03-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

Yep, longevity runs in Sara's family. Naughtiness runs in mine....I hope Sara can stand it for another 50 years!

The Birthday beach weekend played out nicely...We left Friday after work to head south on the train. Sara's pop was waiting at the station when we arrived. We hit the hay at the folks' then left, en masse, the following morning to the coast.

The parents had rented a nice beach house with a view of the ocean. Our time was spent reading, relaxing, eating, playing games and generally enjoying each others company. All the photos to peruse are here.

Sara and I were responsible for making sure Ms. Molly, Grandma's faithful companion, got out regularly. We took our job seriously, as did Molly, she only had to remind us once or twice to pay a little better attention to her. On the beach she was an astute observer.... she chased and nearly caught a piece of seaweed that blew in the wind...if only Sara had been a little faster!

After two nights at the beach, a lot of great food, we were dropped off at the train station for our trip back north.

The train ride was great... we had dinner, played 1.5 games of scrabble, watched two episodes of South Park and two episodes of This American Life on the iPod. (This sums up Sara and I well: South Park and This American Life...two shows we both feel are worth paying for...)

Now, its back to a short work week and more dance class tonight! We have been practicing... And, no, we weren't the best in the class. The best dancers were the straight couple who refused to rotate and were all barfy kissy-face all over each other the whole time. Gross.

Sara was the only female lead in our class. I felt sort of sorry for her until I had to dance with sweaty, drunk, or sweaty and drunk male leads without rhythm... Not surprisingly, all the girls love her.

Dull today...

2009-02-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

...makes me seem fun tomorrow!

Ms. Sara and I start dance class tonight! I think we will be the best ones there, even though we missed the first class.... I just have a feeling (the feeling probably stems from the fact we studied the "Learn to Swing Dance in 6 Easy Lessons" video while on vacation a few month ago). Yup, we will kick arse while learning to kick up our heels in a coordinated fashion!

In other news, the university has misplaced my grant money. I find this amusing...mostly because I am sure it will be found eventually. However, I hear it took them over a month once to find a misplaced million dollar endowment....maybe my comparative 'small change' will take even longer?

This weekend, we fun gals head south by train for Sara's Grammie's 90th Birthday Celebration. Train tickets have been booked, a beach house has been rented, and meals have been allocated. We have Sunday: Tuna Noodle Casserole and Salad. The weekend will also include Mollie, Grammie's Scottie. Which reminds me, I have to go buy treats for her. I don't want her to be jealous during all the festivies.

We will post pictures upon our return, yes, we may even have a report on THE Cheese Factory. In the meantime, four days left in the week and lots to get done!

Meeting adjourned...

2009-02-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

Whew. Homeward bound.

Good morning Baltimore!

2009-02-15T03:45:00.000-08:00