June Update

Here's a quick run-down on what I did the month of June.

*Started a rad new volunteer opportunity with a fledgling community garden, part of which involved attending a fascinating class on pest control hosted by Seattle Tilth.

*Saw three movies thanks to SIFF. I also saw Bridesmaids, which was funny, touching, and really awkward.

*Showed a coworker from Philadelphia the sights on what was the most gorgeous day of the year thus far. We went up in Smith Tower:

Took a ferry to Bainbridge:

Went to the sculpture park where we saw this incredible nurse log at the "vivarium":

And finished the day with a driving tour of Capitol hill, Madrona, Leschi, and Columbia city, ending at the taco stand.

*Saw my friend John from college who I hadn't seen in years and who visited on a whirlwind weekend, and finally met his delightful girlfriend Lauren.

*Enjoyed a Gaia skin care party crafted by my talented aunt Karen (I'm totally obsessed with the toner) and hosted by my always-accommodating mom.

*Worked several days in K and M's garden. The back yard is shaping up nicely, with some much appreciated plant donations from my mom's always gorgeous garden and some fabulous raised beds built by M into an otherwise unruly and slanted piece of the back yard.

*Met K's dad and stepmom for the first time in the many years I've known her and had a delicious and inspired dinner party with them and some other friends of ours.

*Got four amazing free tickets and took my parents and Russ to the Phillies-at-Mariners game on Father's day. It was the first time I'd ever seen a winning game!

*Hosted Katharine overnight and took her to the new Rn 74 for happy hour and my favorite, Local 360, for dinner, where we ate a variety of random meats and a gourmet s'more. Later we drove to West Seattle where we took this skyline glamour shot:

*Went to a Solstice barbecue at Golden Gardens, which was a combined birthday party for my friend David, where I made the best s'more ever. If you're keeping track, that's s'mores two nights in a row. Heaven.

(If you look closely you can see there is a windsurfer under the sun.)

(The chocolate is a melted Reese's peanut butter cup!)

*Attended several Gay Pride events, the most noteworthy of which was Prom Rugby in which men played in prom dresses and women played in tuxedo-esque garb. It was a fundraiser with various levels of donations and rewards; for $25 you could get two players to change clothes and teams, which Morgan and I got behind.

*Went to the Gay Pride fair on Broadway with Robyn and some of her friends on Saturday, and then the parade downtown on Sunday with Toddler J on my back and his mom and another friend as enthusiastic attendees. That parade is LONG! We lucked out on the weather and had a great time.

*Made serious progress on my first major sewing project - a wrap dress - with lots of help from Morgan and Casey. Here is the top half before I sewed it to the bottom. It's made from two different colored bedsheets, is too big, and has weird front pleats, but I love it anyway and hope it's wearable after some alterations and a dye job. No matter what it's been a really valuable learning experience.

And that's June, more or less! This afternoon it's off to the Olympic Peninsula to go camping for a long weekend. Although it is the rain forest, we're hopeful it doesn't rain on us the entire time.

Happy 4th of July!

Note: The Philadelphia blog is 100% written and the photos are picked and re-sized, but I'm a dolt and left them on a jump drive... which I left at home. Will post next week.

Volunteering is good for the soul: Miller CC Garden

I'm excited to share that I recently became the Volunteer Coordinator for a new pilot program community garden at the Miller Community Center in my neighborhood, Capitol Hill.

The Seattle Parks Department is starting nine such pilot gardens in an effort to connect communities with each other and with a sustainable, nourishing food system. In addition to the vegetable garden there will be cooking demonstrations and community meals, and during the school year local students will be largely responsible for caring for the garden, integrating it into educational opportunities. Bleeding heart liberals, rejoice!

The Miller CC Garden is a fledgling project, with raised beds getting built the second week in July and the first planning/working party tentatively scheduled for July 21.

In addition to coordinating volunteers - of which I'm thrilled to say there are quite a few interested parties - I've started a blog and, believe it or not, a Facebook account for the garden (if you want to "like" the project, search for Miller Community Center Garden).

Can we talk for a moment about how creepy Facebook is? I created this account with the Miller CC email address and didn't use any personal information, yet it still managed to recommend that I "friend" two dudes I knew years ago in Philadelphia and whose email addresses I don't even have in case FB was able to somehow leach its way into another open browser where I was logged into my personal account. HOW DOES IT DO THAT? Reason number 1,687 why I'm not on Facebook, at least not personally.

Anyhoo, I've been searching for just such a volunteer opportunity and I can't believe something exists that so perfectly connects so many of my passions - gardening, building community, sustainable food education, delicious food, and language acquisition (one of the local schools primarily serves English language learners) literally fell into my lap.

I fully accept the premise that volunteering is an inherently selfish activity because it makes us feel warm and fuzzy, because frankly, I like feeling warm and fuzzy. Hooray for giving back to get something out of it!

Three Flicks at the Seattle International Film Festival

I was in Philadelphia for most of SIFF this year but managed to catch three movies toward the end.

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Seach for a Kool Place – Egyptian theater, Thursday 6/2, 9:30 pm

The description for this movie was right up my alley – “found” footage made into a documentary about 1960s drug culture. And the movie itself was quite interesting, beautifully edited – and incredibly so considering the major hurdles the filmmakers had to jump to put together something cohesive – but it was somewhat slower than one would expect from a movie about a psychedelic-filled cross-country bus trip.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame – Egyptian theater, Monday 6/5, 9:30 pm

I have a soft spot for martial arts flicks and this one promised spontaneously-combusting government officials and a fight sequence with chainsaw-yielding puppets. Although there was some good humor and enjoyable action, the plot was a bit too jumbled for my tastes – a “plot doily” as my movie viewing companion described it. Lest you all clamber to argue that martial arts movies are not dictated by the same constraints as western cinema, never fear, you’ve been beaten to it by a coworker who put me in my place.

Por El Camino – Pacific Place, Thursday 6/9, 7:00 pm

This road trip movie was set in Uruguay, directed and produced by Brasilians, and starred an Argentine and a Belgian. By far my favorite movie, it produced both nostalgic and violent reactions as I watched the main character display so much of what I liked and loathed about the Argentine culture, specifically the upper class, all juxtaposed against the stunning undeveloped Uruguay landscape with cuts to pulsating, hideous Punta del Este, where the rich and famous – and those who want to gawk at them – flock in January and February. I resisted being a know-it-all as I listened to audience questions and speculation, and I suffered feeling utterly foolish as I tried to explain to the filmmaker (both the director and lead Argentine were there for the U.S. premiere) how his editing choices had captured a culture I tried on for size for two years, only to fumble over my Spanish. He was nothing if not sweet and I know I projected my own memories of being wrapped up with the rich and cool of the southern cone but not quite belonging, but I still walked away feeling a bit silly, like the only-sort-of-cool-kid trying to join the really-cool-kid group instead of just being content with where she is.

STIFF – maybe next year

I tried to get to several STIFF events – Seattle’s True Independent Film Festival, which is always held right after SIFF ends – but I didn’t quite make it. In theory I like the idea of more independent films (we’re talking truly independent, like you or me grabbing a camera and deciding to make a movie) but I don’t know that I necessarily love the way they harp on SIFF. Since when does success mean they’ve sold out? Although some of SIFF’s sponsors are questionably corporate, there’s no denying that SIFF connects a lot of people with a lot of movies they’d never otherwise see, and they’re able to do it year-round thanks to a lot of local support.

I encourage everyone to expand their viewing of independent movies - there are some incredible things to see that you'll never watch at an AMC, and a great way to do so is through any local film festival you can find.

OCD tip: to regain a sense of control, try scrapbooking

I know I owe a Philadelphia blog, which is mostly written, I just have to add pictures to it. (Don’t even mention the Mexico blog. One of these days…)

Before that, I’d like to briefly talk about the mental struggle I’ve been experiencing since I got back from Philadelphia, which was a delightful trip and has me thinking about moving back, which happens every time. (Today it’s 100 degrees there which dampens my desire to relocate.) Seattle weather has been wintry and depressing and it has everyone Down in the Dumps, which affects us all differently.

For me, for whatever reason, I feel a loss of control over my environment; I'm fractured, disorganized, without direction. I tried to alleviate this by hiring my friend Brian to finally hang everything that’s been leaning against the walls since October while I simultaneously cleaned out every drawer, nook, and cranny in my house. However, as a minimalist I haven’t gathered much and that didn’t give me the satisfaction I was craving. Then I saw it: the giant plastic tub filled with 11 years’ worth of scrapbooking material.

Back in November I bought a bunch of scrapbooking supplies and was determined to make a winter project out of it. My last major scrapbooking initiative was when I was a senior in high school, 11 years ago. I put together books of school work, written work, photos, and random memorabilia, and I’m still grateful to my young self for taking that initiative. Since then I’ve been collecting memories and storing them in a variety of manila envelopes and plastic bags at best, with most items loose which I gathered into the one bin the last time I moved all my stuff.

For whatever reason, that didn’t happen this winter, and it’s been a persistent, unfinished nag since then. So on Tuesday night, when I got home at 8 with a few drinks in me and the urge to do something productive, I busted out the bin and got to work.

Four hours later, this is what my living room looked like, and still looks like:


It’s hard to see but there’s a little semicircle against the couch where I was sitting, and surrounding that circle are about 9 stuffed manila envelopes and several filing folders, plus all the stuff on the floor. Believe it or not, this is Highly Organized.

I got through all the organization of items into categories and/or chronological groups. Simply sorting through everything was really the hardest part, since I had to look at every individual item, ascertain what it was, whether or not it was important enough to scrapbook, and if so, find its appropriate category or year. A few observations/random notes:

• It’s scary how terrible my memory is. There were things that didn’t jog my memory, even a tiny bit. For instance, I was a volunteer English teacher in Philadelphia for two years and I saved all the class rosters. Out of 4 classes, only ONE STUDENT’S NAME rang a bell. This actually made me so upset/depressed that I had to put them away in a folder.
  


• Even on the things I did remember, I have always been dreadful at remembering WHEN things happened. So, to get things in the right place, I sent many texts asking random questions like “What year did you act in the Twilight Zone?” and “What year did I visit you when you were that band’s tour manager in Philadelphia?” I was often cursing myself for not dating items with the year – so many notes and other items with just the day and month. IDIOT. (Likewise for first names vs. first AND last names.) Also it's strange to me the things that don't have years on them, such as airline ticket stubs.


• I think it’s sweet how many things I save, but not practical to scrapbook them all. So, I enjoy the items for the memory jolt they give me, but discard quite a few of them in favor of saving the really good ones and not being overwhelmed by too much material down the line. I have a similar approach to photos - I delete a lot of them so that when I'm old I don't have 500,000 to sort through.


• I found so many cards from my dear Grandpa Joe that I actually had to put them away to read later because every time I came across one I got a little teary. He was a wonderful letter writer and card giver and it was just too touching to deal with in my high-gear sorting OCD headspace.
  


• Speaking of things I found, a $200 savings bond that Gramma and Grandpa Archer gave me for my high school graduation - score! I knew I had it, I just didn’t know exactly WHERE it was. It’s now worth $148, which I suspect is the same it would be worth once it gets to $200 once adjusted for inflation, so I’m going to cash that sucker in.
  


• I may be a recluse for the next few weeks. Once I start a project, I can’t go back...

How I became a wine blending expert in under 2 hours

When my friend Jacob asked me if I wanted to redeem a Groupon with him for a “wine blending class” in Lacey, WA (an hour south of Seattle) in which we'd end up with six bottles of our own blend, I of course said yes because I adore random activities. I’m happy to say that it far outweighed even our loftiest expectations of randomness.

Jacob (who is like a brother - ask anyone, we bicker like siblings) and I both love a sleepover and my couch is unbelievably comfortable, so Sunday morning started with this...

...followed by homemade frittata and coffee before we hit the road at about 10:45 to make it in time for our 12:00 class. It was pouring rain which was fine by us – a sunny day would have made us want to ditch and hang outside, especially after this spring of winter weather.

We rolled up right on time to Classic Winemakers, a combination "micro winery" and retailer. Since neither of us knew what to expect, it seemed normal that there were people perusing the inventory sipping glasses of wine while carboys of wine occupied every available space in the small store. Why not?

Soon, our brewmaster Andrew led us into a separate room in the back - also filled with carboys, barrels, and other wine accoutrement - where there were four wines on tap and sets of 2 and 4 wine glasses waiting. So, this was going to be a private class... we had no idea if we'd be with a group in a classroom or what! Andrew told us we'd be tasting four wines, gave us a brief description of each, and poured them out for us: a merlot, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, and tempranillo. They were all pretty sweet with the latter two being the driest.

Once we'd tasted them, he showed us the next set of wine glasses with large syringes in them, plus a small measuring cup: these were our "blending" tools. We were to make four different blends of our own, and then choose the one we liked best. That was it. Andrew left us to our own devices to blend.

We jumped right in with a 75% merlot/25% tempranillo blend. Yuck - too sweet! Next was a 75% shiraz/25% tempranillo blend that we liked pretty well. Third we tried 50% shiraz and 25% each merlot and tempranillo. Nope. At this point we were pretty sure we'd go with blend #2 and decided that, what the hell, we'd try 25% of each for our fourth and final blend. We couldn't be sure if it was our destroyed palates but it was actually quite tasty! We got Andrew to taste it and told him he could make fun of us if it was terrible, but he actually seemed to like it. This was our blend: the 4x4.

Our next task was to "recreate" the blend to make sure it tasted the way we wanted it to, and then Andrew brought us six empty bottles, a bottle with measurement marks on it as a guide, and a funnel, and once again left us to our devices. It was hardly an exact science and each bottle ended up with a different composition, but we weren't too worried about it. We tended toward more shiraz and tempranillo and called it good.

Once bottled, Andrew came back with a manual corking machine and let us pick our own color of cork - we went with a classic black. He gave us a quick demo and we corked the rest ourselves.


Next we moved on to labels. We chose a farm motif and Andrew showed us how to use the label making program on the computer. Jacob is a designer and I'm in marketing so we spent a semi-absurd amount of time designing our label.

It's worth noting here that Jacob had been pouring himself single-serve "4x4" blends right from the taps and at one point even moved on to drinking our rejected blends. To categorize him as "in the bag" would not be unfair. I, as driver, remained what we called in college "essentially sober," i.e. BAC below .08, but I was certainly not an innocent bystander to the one-off drinking of 4x4s. During one such pouring, I managed to knock one of the reject blends all over myself. After insisting on a photo for full documentation of the event, I hurried to the front counter where they sprayed me down with "wine out" or some such miracle spray - I'm happy to report it washed up beautifully.

Labels finally designed and printed, we carried our bottles to a flat rack to wipe them clean of our fingerprints and adhese the stickers. The very last step was the cap. We had originally thought we'd use a black and gold topper to match our label, but at the last minute inspiration struck and we chose a bright yellow finish to our bottles.

They have a fun heat machine where you stick the topper on the wine and then heat it for three seconds:

Voila! Totally professional-looking bottles of our own blended wine. Behold, Archerstone Estates "4x4" blend, May 2011:


The whole thing took about an hour and a half. After turning in our voucher and tipping the very accommodating and chill Andrew, we headed back into the rainy afternoon, disoriented and amused by the complete randomness of what we'd just done. A decision was quickly made to Eat Lunch Now, and we pulled off one exit later into the Nisqually Bar and Grill, which was surprisingly light-filled with great servers and amazing burgers:

Full from lunch and tired from the day's excitement but fully sober, I got behind the wheel for the haul back to Seattle. Also full from lunch and still buzzed, Jacob did his best to stay awake and keep me company. Traffic was blessedly light and we were both relieved to be back in my apartment by 3:30. Jacob was so happy he promptly laid down on the couch and slept for 2 hours while I puttered about, waiting for my laundry to finish. This is one of many positions I laughed at during his "best nap ever": (All photos reproduced with Jacob's permission!)

A brisk walk, a bowl of pho, and a terrible movie finished off a hilarious Sunday.

We're currently accepting applications from qualified applicants to help consume a bottle of Archerstone 4x4 - interested candidates should submit an essay entitled "Why I want to drink a bottle of mystery blend."

p.s. We took some great videos as well. Once I edit them together I'll share.

Where Did April Go?

Is it just me or did April fly by? Here’s a quick summary of how I filled the month. Despite being kept quite busy at work, I did manage to fit some fun in. In April, I:

Went to an "Arctic-themed" costume party with Marin, complete with an ice sculpture of a polar bear. (If my costume looks familiar, there's a reason for that.)

Welcomed home my dear friend Amber from a year teaching in South Korea with an Asian-themed dinner and birthday party:

Rocked out at Casey’s incredible fashion show, where he debuted his intensely impressive clothing line:


Won two out of three games of Settlers of Catan during an epic gaming night.

Bought a Bernina 1979 classic sewing machine. Isn't it gorgeous?

Started taking lessons from Casey, who currently has me sewing “squares of insanity” in which you stitch gradually smaller squares separated by exact distances. This one is 3/8ths of an inch:

Hiked Rattlesnake Ledge with Amber on the first 70+ degree day of the year. I don't know why I like this picture so much... it seems sort of seventies-esque, no?

Gorgeous views from the top. That lake will be killer to swim in this summer.

Baked my first gluten-free, dairy-free cake in honor of my sister’s birthday. It turned out pretty well - super dark, not too sweet, and very dense.

The frosting is an amazing chocolate coconut mousse that could not be easier to make.

Started seedlings indoors (tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, cilantro) and planted potatoes, radishes, carrots, arugula, and snap peas outdoors at the thriving estate of K, M, and J. Pictured: garlic, fava beans, and leeks planted last fall; arugula, carrot, and radish seedlings.

Generally swooned over the adorable and wildly vocal toddler J as he nears the 2-year mark. I swear he knows the name for every object in every book we read. (That's a butterfly! That's a kite! That's the letter B! That's a fire engine! THAT'S A DIGGER!)

Started playing tennis – poorly but enthusiastically – with Morgan.

Helped my friend Jacob purge 8 years of his life as he finally moved out of his apartment while engaging in psychological warfare on his consumerist habits, especially in the purchase of books and mustard.

Wore a skirt which has not fit comfortably in 2 years, thanks largely to going (mostly) gluten-free and to thrice-weekly kettle bell swing sessions in my living room. (Image courtesy of thefitnessworkout.com)

And, that's April for you. I’ve scheduled my annual spring visit to Philadelphia for May 20-31, and there are several other exciting events on the docket, so I’m really looking forward to what the next month has to offer!

Changes: six months later

Back in September I wrote a post about the many changes going on in my life, including a commitment I made to myself to lead a healthier life by prioritizing the things that would make me happiest – “Operation Choose Joy” is what I called it – focused largely on getting my diet and exercise in order. I set some six-month goals, so here is the six-month update. My initial focus was on exercise. I joined the same gym my sister goes to and we started working out together once or twice a week. I also started swimming, which I have always loved, and I walked to and from work as often as weather and time would allow. I started making small changes to my diet too, mostly based on bringing my lunch to work rather than eating out. It’s amazing what that does to one’s diet AND bank account! I also focused on portions and just making better decisions in general – no fried food, hardly any sugar, alcohol, dairy, or red meat. I also stopped drinking coffee since caffeine has always made me feel sort of blah. From October to February I lost and have kept off about 10 pounds, which is great – I’m proud that I stuck with it and feel like I’ve adjusted my habits for life. However, at 10 pounds, I hit a wall. It was impossible to lose another pound even though I was working out more than ever, largely thanks to my sister signing us up for boot camp. I behaved over the holidays and during my two January weeks in Mexico was really active and only ate twice a day so didn’t worry too much about what I ate at those meals, though it was mostly good, whole foods. By February 15 I was at the same weight despite all my efforts and I got really discouraged, slowly spiraling into bad food habits and more or less abandoning the gym. Luckily that didn’t last too long! In the first week of March I snapped out of it, started doing Nia which is a sort of cheesy but totally awesome dance class, got back in the habit of walking to work, and committed to a March 15 “gluten free” start date. In 2007 I went gluten free for about 8 months, during which I felt amazing and dropped some serious lbs. I’m slightly allergic (like a lot of us are) and my body is so much happier without it. But then I moved to South America and my gluten free life went the way of the Dodo. Now I’m starting again and so far, so good. I should clarify that I’m not a 100% stickler: there is gluten in soy sauce, for instance, but I haven’t cut that out. I’m mostly focused on the big offenders: pasta, bread, crackers, cookies – anything that has flour as a primary ingredient. I’m also going “low carb” in general, so I’m not replacing pasta with brown rice pasta, or noodles with rice noodles. Instead I’m eating a lot of vegetables, legumes, and lean protein. So that’s my update. Spring just started so I have a full season left to get into bathing suit shape. Overall I’m proud of my progress and my commitment, and grateful that I have a healthy self-image so that even with some lbs to go, I think I have a pretty rockin’ bod. And things are grand in the rest of my life, too.

• I adore my apartment. It's such a wonderful space, I feel good in it, and I love that other people love to spend time in it. I have done some serious cooking in that kitchen, including for some 15-20 person parties.


• I really like my new position and am about to have my seven year anniversary with the company.


• My hair is getting long.


• I meditate and get acupuncture and massage therapy - hella zen up in here.


• I became Toddler J's unofficial godmother and get to see him all the time (he's almost 2).


• It's spring! K and I started gardening last week - there's nothing like the smell of freshly turned earth.


• I'm going to start learning how to make my own clothes.

Life is (what we make it).