a birthday & a baby

Yesterday was Maria's birthday. 

(I say yesterday because it is now after midnight, and while I'm sitting here playing with pictures, the birthday girl is still downtown having a rip-roarin' time)

But while I could go on and on about how much I love this girl, the real star of the evening was her niece, the incomparable Eleanora Violet. 

lovin' on her uncle mark

this kid makes the best faces

she had to peruse the menu thoroughly before ordering

making funny faces at mama 

we had a scowl-off to determine who would take on clint eastwood in the semi-finals

those eyes... my god, those eyes

i promise, she was consoled immediately after these photos were taken

she loved looking at herself in the camera

sandwiched between birthday girl & baby girl

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Happy birthday, my Maria! 

Thanks for being born so we could all have dinner, gush over that baby and watch your brother gently horrify anyone in a four table radius! 

the revival tour 2012

My tickets for The Revival Tour came today.

Elation barely begins to touch on what I'm feeling right now.

I can't wait to wrap myself up in Chuck Ragan's warm, raspy voice.

(Is that weird? Did I go too far?)

weekly gratitude

thank you wrangler boots for helping me fit in at the colony

I meant to get this up last night of course (can I get a "that's what she said"?).

Instead, I fell asleep somewhere before 10:30 and woke up to the DVD menu for The Office.

Almost the same thing.

I blame the girl scout cookies (Samoas, of course - is it just me, or are those cookies getting smaller?) for lulling me into a coma. Or the fitful night's sleep I had the night before. Either way, not my fault!

(kinda my fault)

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1. Thank you for Robin. Saturday night I was deep in the mire of frustration and cursing myself for allowing my doubt to control me (woe is me, woe is me, mea culpa, mea culpa, not the point of this one!). But there I was trying to calm myself down and praying so hard for some kind of answer when my little phone ding, dings! at me. At about quarter after midnight I get a text from Robin asking if I'm awake. Being in a nice negative mood I was preparing for some sort of cosmic deathblow to really do me in for the night, but instead I got this: "You should listen to Azure Ray 'Sea of Doubts'". Umm... How about a dose of exactly what you need right when you need it? Yes please, I'll take it. Cosmic coincidence? I think not. Someone looking out for me? I'll go with that. 

2. Thank you for Thursday afternoon. Sunshine, a French bakery, writing and coffee... How is this a bad idea? It was perfect. 

3. Thank you for challenges. We're all accustomed to the ebb and flow of life, and when dealing with the ebb (I'm assuming that's the bad one), as much as we all hate it, I'm glad for the chance to prove ourselves. And the chance to prove to ourselves that we can keep plugging along and come out the other side stronger and better. 

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It's sunny again today so I'm going to enjoy the drive into work for my meeting and be really grateful for the windows that flank the place. 

Also for the kittens that were born Friday night! Can't wait to watch the little Meows grow up!

cupcake party

It was Dean's birthday on Wednesday.

He wanted a cupcake party.

So I made bison meatloaf "cupcakes" with mashed potato "frosting" and bacon bit "sprinkles".

And Robin dominated with Despicable Me minion cupcakes (with individual sprinkle hairs, no less!).

Mike and Heather came (and brought cake pops that make me want to cry they were so good).

And Matty and Frankie were there, too!

Robin went ahead and said it: "He wanted a cupcake party. I'm dating a nine year old."

Some raucous air-drumming made Shamoo and Jared just nervous enough to edge away from him on the couch, but not enough to make them move.

And my minion stared down my meatloaf (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say).

Dean sported his new Chucks (because Robin is awesome).

And no matter what he did, he was still ugly. 

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Not pictured was the inebriated chicken dance performed by the birthday boy. Or the unfortunate striptease he attempted to seduce Robin with. 

Though I'm pretty sure Matty got those on video.

Thank you technology. 

kin

It was a Kinfolk kind of morning. 

When my alarm goes off at eight, a gentle instrumental of "Viva La Vida", I'm usually not to bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (night owl, party of one), but today I woke up all bee-bop-deluxe to sunlight bubbling up over the clouds and tipping through the skylights of my little attic apartment. 

I put on a pot of coffee (with a dash of nutmeg in the grounds, because I pretend I'm fancy), snuggled into my nest of blankets in the corner of the couch and dove into my new discovery - Kinfolk.

How had I not heard of this before?

It's practically in my own backyard!

I decided to lose myself into those matte pages of perfectly lit photography, and the words that painted the walls of my mind with the scenes described so delicately and pristinely I felt as though I were there. 

Can you capture a season on the page? 

I think so.

Venturing far as to harness something so ephemeral as the way a raindrop falls, or how a teacup rings a wooden table, the producers of this sweet little magazine created a space of wonder for me to escape to on this bright, cool day as Portland tries with all its might to slide into an early spring. 

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To honor the liveliness of the day, I've spent the afternoon sitting at a little French bakery just outside of my beloved city, indulging in a brie & bartlett panini with prosciutto & balsamic, an almond croissant and a cup of strong black coffee. I've watched it go from the lunch rush, to the quiet calm after the storm, to the late lunchers running in before having to dash back to the office.

I've gone from sitting next to the yoga-mommy and her decaf, non-fat to a slightly eccentric man with a one-eyed spaniel wearing a "service dog" vest though, he has let me in on his secret, little scruff-face isn't really a service dog, but how else can he get him into the bakery? 

People make me smile.

Sometimes they piss me off rather genuinely, but today they make me smile.

And I'm glad for it. 

twenty-six years ugly...er, I mean old... no, I was right the first time

To my knowledge, this is the only decent picture of Dean in existence. 

Any other image comes with a preemptive apology and one of those airsick bags.

(want me to prove it to you?)

All that aside though, I don't know what life would be like without that ugly bugger at this point.

Dean - you introduced me to Cometbus, you are the only person on the planet who can naysay Harry Potter to my face and live to tell the tale, you've made more hideous faces than anyone I know (though you may be tied with Michull) and you're one of my best friends who I know will go to the mat for me and be there come hell or high water.

Happy Birthday! 

I hope your cupcake party is everything you hope it will be. 

long lost friends

I had dinner with my Maria last night (yeah, she wrote this movie, no biggie).

We went to my beloved Tasty N Sons and though I didn't take copious amounts of photos of the meal this time (we were too busy playing catch-up... maybe we shouldn't go 4 months without seeing each other?), I did get some quality shutter time with her puppies, Chuck & Vince. 

They are hams. And I love them. 

Not pictured: her cat hoisting his pleasingly plump (read: this cat is the weight of a 9 month old baby) self over the edge of the toilet to get himself a drink. 

Because yes, her cat refuses to drink any other water. Only toilet water. What a gourmand. 

bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm now on Bloglovin'. 

Ain't no thang. 

weekly gratitude

thank you black wedges for a heightened sense of femininity all day followed by bone-numbing pain by the time I got home

I don't know about the rest of you, but it's been a surprisingly busy week on this end of the stick.

(And is it just me, or does that expression sometimes sound like it borders dangerously close to dirty innuendo? too much?)

The ball got rolling Monday morning around 7:30 or so. My day off. 

So of course, there is nothing I love more than the petulant ding-ding! of my phone.

(here is where I summarize Jared asking politely, and somewhat sheepishly because in our entire history, he's never really asked for any favors, if I would come make dinner for him that night because overnight shifts at work are already sucking, and something about the good of a home-cooked meal...)

It's a good thing I like cooking, or I'd be shooting mind bullets at him from the comfort of my bed. Mean, pointy, explosive ones. Imagine shrapnel. Did I mention it was 7:30am on my day off?

But there was this recipe that marries pork chops, whole cloves of garlic and red wine and... You had me at dinner. 

So then that happened. 

(Jared, this is my official okay to work third shift and be hungry whenever you'd like.)

Of course, that may not be necessary anymore...

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1. Thank you United States Forest Service for adding a new member to your ranks. Guys... Jared got a job with the Forest Service. 

This is the single most exciting thing I can imagine right now.

God, thank you for answering the prayers, the years of waiting, and the faith that this would finally happen in such an incredible way. As luck would have it, I was with ol' Smoke Signal when he got the call and seeing that cautiously excited smile creep across his exhausted face will remain forever in my heart as one of the best memories of my life (second only to the look on his face when he got his first dispatch). I have to thank God for letting me share that moment with him. For three and a half years I have known this was what Jared was born to do and knowing all he has done, all he has sacrificed, all everyone around him has worked for and prayed for is finally happening makes my heart swell with the purest joy. Jared, on the off-chance you ever read this, words will never do proper justice to how excited and proud of you I am. Thank you for making your dreams a reality, and showing me that is truly possible. 

2. Thank you, on that same note, for Robin's new gig at the Examiner, Gary's movie (yeah, the guy is off in Puerto Rico making a movie) and Jodi's new business! (Oh, hey, check out those photos!) Basically, my friends are just out there in the world kicking some serious hindquarters and when the world catches wind of their general spectacularness (I'm only as good as the words I make up...), I will be there all like, "Yeah, I totally knew them back in the day - we drank a lot of wine together and ate a lot of really good food." Because that's what everyone will want to know - what kinds of shenanigans we'd get up to back in the day and yes, they will almost all include food and beverage. Wow. We're so good at life.

3. Thank you for a rather splendid Valentine's Day. I can't say I was looking too forward to the holiday for obvious reasons, but when Wendy asked if I'd like to head out to Aurora (woah, Toto, we're not in Multnomah County anymore!) to The Colony, with her and Jodi? Gee, let's think about this - a chance to see Miss Wendy in her element and a chance to hang out with two of my favorite gals on Valentine's Day... On Taco Tuesday? Yes please. And Scott ended up being able to join us too, which made for an overall wonderful evening. Thank you all for a damn good time. 

4. Thank you for the awesome seven year old who brightened my day today. My first customers this morning left a little something to be desired in the manners department in terms of how be respectful to the person serving you wine. Needless to say, it put me in a right state before noon and I was seriously bent on annihilation for about an hour. But then this little gal came in with her mom and uncle and turned the whole day around just in the nick of time! Starting with her voicing a love of cheese (kid after my own heart), mentioning that she "looooved" wild mushroom risotto (when I mentioned to her uncle that the wine he was sipping was my favorite pairing with said dish) and, the best, her response when I asked her what her favorite food was:

"Sushi. And all that that implies."

This kid is my hero. She had no idea she was as entertaining as she was. But therein lies her charm. That and the fact that she was a little cheese snick, nabbing another chunk of brie as often as she could. Given the chance, I feel like I could mentor this child into a veritable Cheese Whore like myself in time. Ah, to have a purpose in life! 

5. Thank you Martha, Sam & Bud.

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People are on the move. Wonderful things are happening left, right and sideways. Even when the wonderful things are hard, and ask for sacrifice, they are wonderful because they are done with pure hearts and a lot of faith. 

It's amazing to live amongst people who live their lives that way. It's inspiring. 

It revives the soul.

To everyone in my life, you are wonderful.

And you need to know that. 

You must believe that. 

Thank you.

jodi buell event productions: a sneak peek!

I had a wonderful time yesterday shooting scenes and portraits for Jodi's new event planning business, Jodi Buell Event Productions! 

We met up at her friend's house out in Lake Oswego (seriously, I could have done an entire series on the house alone, it is magnificent!) (as are her dogs!) and took full advantage of the glorious sunshine Portland had for the day.

These are just a few little snippets from the day, but I'm really pleased with how they turned out!

Stay tuned for updates on Jodi's new venture - and if you live in the Portland area and need a reason to celebrate an occasion (you know, like a wedding, a birthday, a particularly good Tuesday), you know who to call!