lani roberts

lalaland has moved!

2010-08-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

new name, new look, and new posts! see you there!

jill of all arts

coming soon ...

2010-08-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

jordan + kara: the story of their wedding day.

did i mention that i am now a wedding photographer? yeah ... more on that later too.

mccarthy family

2010-08-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

finally finished this super fun shoot from a few weeks ago. liz responded to my facebook shout-out for toddlers, and we met at bella vista park on a sunny morning for these photos. the boys were cute as buttons and all smiles!

more smiles ...
note to self: WHY do i always put kids on swings, then try to take pictures of them!?! oh yeah ... because when it works, it really works!
and even more smiles!
plus just a little bit of serious.

thanks, david, liz, and boys!

at the gateway starbucks and former quizno's

2010-08-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

me: oh no! the quizno's is closed! now that the park in vancouver is paved over, almost nothing is left of the night you proposed to me!

joel: "except our undying love."

small things

2010-08-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

when i came home from the gym this morning, there was a jar of jam on the porch. thank you, jam fairy, whoever you are.

and thank you, bekah, for the sign that now hangs right inside the front door. it is doing good work there. everyone needs a sign like this - it's healthier than chocolate and cheaper than therapy.
plus, it sparkles.

beautiful mundane

2010-07-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

ran some errands yesterday ... decided to pull out my droid and run a few shots through vignette - a very cool phone editing program. when i first heard of the editing programs for camera phones, i though "psh, that's ridiculous. why on earth would you want to bother editing phone pictures???"

i'm eating my words.

i don't do the whole zen thing, but there is something peaceful about stacked rocks ...

coming soon ...

2010-07-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

more pics of this little guy's sweet family!

i love toddlers.
and playgrounds.
and sparkly dewy summer morning light!

slowly catching up ....

2010-07-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

rather than post everything from the last couple months in one ginormous frightening post, i think i'll do it a little at a time.

starting with pictures of a very, very, very patient friend. this poor friend has been waiting for these pictures for a long time ...

back when she was in town, becky and i had a few fun hangout dates and a super fun photoshoot on hawthorne. we certainly didn't plumb the depths of hawthorne's delightful funkiness, but we scratched the surface - at took some fun photos in the process!

she seriously has the most incredible eyes i have ever seen. they're amazing.

going crazy here ...

2010-06-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

i'm not even going to try for a random update blog this time. no way, no how.

i am not going to try to chronicle every time appliances, automobiles, and felines have malfunctioned in the last couple weeks, because the number would be in the dozens. i am not exaggerating. i tried to count and gave up at 28.

i am not going to share how i locked myself out of my car, my house, and my bedroom within a few days. we are getting very friendly with the locksmith.

i am not going to talk about the spiders.

i am not going to mention how many times i have exploded hot milk all over myself or how many bruises i have from walking into walls, doorknobs, etc... mostly from lack of sleep.

i am not going to give an account of our activities from the last couple weeks, because huge things like moving, starting a new job, and starting nursing school have overshadowed the smaller things, like, you know, planning a bridal shower, prepping for cyt middle school camp, making our old house rent-able, putting on a showcase for our spring cyt class, multiple photo gigs, houseguests, my first piano studio recital .... like i said, little things.
[intense sarcasm]

and i am not going to complain, because we have had a lot of great times with a lot of people, and God is teaching us (by us i mean me) not to stress. i'm a very slow learner.

but seriously, you know you're not getting enough sleep when you start seeing monsters in your takeout.
so a great analogy struck me tonight, almost literally, and i thought i'd share it. (because i'm not going to sleep until 2:30am anyway, so what's 15 more minutes?)

the setting: our new house.
the time: grabbing dinner right after worship practice.
the culprit: ~~demon spawn~~ pamina. who else?

there we were, having a peaceful 5 minutes before diving into our homework and camp prep, when we heard a curious sound, like clipping fingernails, from the hallway-stair region. joel investigated and found that the cat had brought in a mouse and was playing with it, not catching it - playing with it, on the stairs. i was immediately plagued with uncontrollable laughter (like i said - crazy person here) while joel and the cat caught the mouse.

i call this shot "scared mouse covered in cat spit in tupperware".
so, the analogy. bear with me. so the cat is the universe, or my schedule. i haven't figured which. i am the mouse, being chased frantically around the staircase of life. until my knight-in-shining-armor comes to rescue me, sweep me up into the tupperware of rest, and deposit me into the ivy hedge of peaceful existence. unfortunately, my knight-in-shining-armor's white steed is usually stuck in traffic these days.

i told joel i'm a crazy person. he smiled really big and said, "but you're my crazy person!"

restaurant rocket science

2010-05-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

in preparation for working at starbucks, i have to obtain a food handler's card. (my most recent one expired in 2005.) so today i am intently studying a manual with paragraphs like this:

"Germs such as bacteria and viruses are everywhere. Think of your hands and fingernails as easily "contaminated." Just because they look clean does not mean they are clean. Germs are too tiny to see with your eyes. If you do not wash your hands in the right way and keep your fingernails trimmed short, your hands can put germs in food that will be eaten by your customers. They may get sick from these germs. This is called 'foodborne illness' or 'food poisoning.'"

somehow it seems appropriate that the manual is published in comic sans font.

i emailed the previous paragraph to joel (cause it's, you know, educational...) and he responded:
"not all germs are too tiny to see with your eyes, little brothers for instance."

i expect the oregon food handler's card people to revise their manual accordingly.

blessing management 101

2010-05-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

ok, so who made the rule that everything always has to happen at the exact same time? was that murphy? ahh, murphy, if only you knew ...

my blessing cup is pouring over right now - pouring over into late nights, early mornings, stress attacks, everything involved with juggling so many blessings! it's all so fantastic - new home, renters, new friendships, new piano students, new piano teacher, new nursing school, new clothes for nursing school, new job, end-of-year piano recital (oh yeah, did i mention my students' recital is this weekend?), new photo business direction, cyt class showcase and middle school camp (did i mention that i'm music directing middle school camp - by myself?) ... i'm so blessed, i can barely keep my head on straight!

so this morning i'm here at central bible church, helping joel run sound for seussical's schoolday shows and making faces at my webcam... oops, gotta go - joel's calling me. i need to get my 3 minute lesson on how to run a crazy complicated soundboard!

life, the camera phone version

2010-05-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

joel was gone evenings all last week with seussical tech week, and i had to stay home and work. so he bought me flowers, which the cat claimed.

this picture is from back in january when tim replaced our door. we're signing escrow for the new house today, and it's so weird to realize that we won't be living here anymore. instead, a nice couple named casey and caitlin with a cute little boy will be living here. having renters lined up feels so good!
so i bought this necklace recently. it says "helvetica", which is a font. nobody gets it - everyone seems to think it's either a disease or a demonic spell. so i'm clearing things up here and now - it's a font, people.
we've officially caved. not only have we visited ikea several times of our own accord in the past few months, but we actually own several pieces of ikea merchandise now. the funny story behind these pictures - we recently dropped by ikea to pick up a cabinet unit for the kitchen. we found the exact cabinet in the as-is section, but had no way to haul it. joel worked things out with the deaf gentleman who helped us (first time i've seen joel use his sign language to communicate in a needed situation - so cool!), and left to trade a truck while i spent a full hour sitting right here babysitting a cabinet with no cell phone battery and nothing to read. it was not cool, and i am documenting this wasted hour of my life for posterity.

my favorite part of the day is the morning, right after joel leaves for work, when i curl up with my cereal and bible next to the window. the cat usually joins me.
did i mention that we have a resident laundry fairy? oh and by the way, the laundry fairy doesn't actually do laundry, despite what you've heard. she merely indwells it, parasite-fashion.
a while ago, heidi and i decided to go to powell's books, a fairly simple endeavor only slightly complicated by our decision to take the max. i retrieved directions from my phone, which maliciously routed us to a powell's warehouse on nw 29th. we were past 23rd when we discovered the error (i should mention at this time that heidi had been having some misgivings for a number of blocks), and so the walk from the max to powell's took us 2 and a half hours.
kairis did quite well with the detour, but was glad to be out and having lunch by the end.
we stopped for lunch at an awesome cafe 2 blocks from powell's. i don't remember the name of it.
after 3 hours of walking ...
endeavor church ... we love being involved, getting to know people, and using our gifts almost every weekend! last weekend joel used his spiritual gift of coffee-making, much to the delight of all.
this raised bug had "endeavor" printed in big letters on the side. i tried so hard to get a good picture of it ...
i've started seeing a podiatrist again because of ongoing issues from my accident. i have lots of lovely issues, not just with that foot, but related to walking as well. so i've been spending a lot of time here, studying that ubiquitous faded jazz festival poster which seems to reside in 80% of gresham businesses.
this is a picture of my face, yesterday, when i was woken up from my migraine nap by a phone call from starbucks, offering me a job! i really am excited, though the picture doesn't quite capture the emotion.

i've been looking for something supplemental for a while to take more pressure off of joel as he begins nursing school. it will be a lot to balance, but i find that i get more done when i'm, well, doing more. it's some snowball effect ... plus, starbucks is just plain awesome.
speaking of starbucks, our favorite date these days is to hop in the car, grab starbucks, and take an hour-long drive listening to npr's "wait wait... don't tell me!" podcasts.
highly recommend.
i am so in love with this guy.
(and i know he's going to give me the stink-eye when he sees this pic - love you, dear!)
typical ...
so there it is. random update blog, cell phone camera style.

the short-yet-spicy modeling career of lani and becky

2010-05-25T09:53:00.001-07:00

i love it when becky vestal is home from school in pennsylvania. when we get together, we're no longer a budding neurosurgeon and a responsible business owner. no, we pool our maturity, divide it in half, subtract half of that, then stomp on whatever's left. the stomping is the fun part.

yesterday becky had the adventure of being introduced to the hawthorne buffalo exchange, which in addition to being a really awesome place to get fun cheap clothes, is also a really awesome place to make a fool of yourself. we chose option b.

the scary part was that we actually received a few compliments on the outfits in the following pictures. oy.

we started pretty tame, with a sweet little army print sequined crushed velvet dress for me, and a colorful befringed tunic-y thing for becky.
that was boring. this was funner.
(btw, becky, i actually really like that dress on you. just saying.)

definitely the highlight of our outfits - skinny pants, bike shorts, and sequins. this is the only time that my legs will ever be subjected to skinny leg jeans; it is recorded here for posterity's sake. becky's bike shorts, though - i think she found a keeper.
and our final number. bummer that you can't tell from the picture that becky's leggings are pleather. we accidentally stumbled into another store that had plenty of pleather, but we didn't try anything on in there. not even the thigh high lace up boots.
sigh ... i'm going to miss that girl.

(and becky, i'm very sorry that i didn't publish the picture of the yellow sunflower-print buttoned romper. it was just a little too ..... well, yeah.)

the "peoplescape"

2010-05-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

after one of my earliest sessions, i received the critique that many of my photos seemed to be more about the background than the subject. this has stuck in my head for several years now, and i've revisited and mulled over it many times.

i'm very thankful for this comment now, because it brought to my attention a style element that i have fallen in love with! after much experimentation and thought, i have decided that distinctive backgrounds and "landscape-y" sorts of portraits are a part of my style that i want to highlight. i just redid my website, and dedicated a whole section to "peoplescapes" - i love them that much!

i had a great chance to experiment a few days ago with my good friend stefanie. i elicited her help in scouting out a location, practicing various techniques, and brushing up before the outdoor photography season really hits. thank goodness for people who actually enjoy being in front of the camera ... what would we photographers do without them?!? stand around morosely clicking at the backs of other photographers, i suppose...

playing around with the vertical selected focus that seems to be everywhere in portrait photography these days ...
stefanie's safari shot ... heh.
we weren't actually going for a pose-on-a-rock sort of picture. this was a brief moment before she jumped off the rock. the rock jumping didn't work out so well, but i loved this one!
haha. i love telling people to frolic. you never know what they'll do! :)

and, on a last note, occasionally i see a session that makes me die just a little on the inside - in a good way. this session by red leaf studios is one of those. you should check it out, along with the rest of their blog and website. wow, do these people have eyes! (and it probably helps that they live in one of the most photogenic locations left on the planet.)

will someone remind me why we have this many books?

2010-05-20T07:45:00.001-07:00

... cause i've packed about 17 boxes of them, and still have a ways to go. :P
however, when we arrive in our new house, our books will be totally organized for the first time in our married life because i'm packing them in categories! yes, it took me 6 years and 4 moves to figure out this ingenious idea.

this diminutive pile represents all the packing i've accomplished so far (plus some boxes in the shed), and we're moving in 2 and a half weeks. i just know i'll be pulling an all-nighter the day before we move.
it's weird how bare everything is starting to look. doesn't really feel like home anymore.

well, the living room looks bare. the study, on the other hand ....

yeah. i never really did get on top of that room.

eagerly anticipating a lot of life change in the next few weeks! i may be adding a new job to my queue soon (more on that later), we're moving, joel's starting nursing school, and we're going to have renters!

speaking of renters, wow, has God provided! when we first started on this house journey we knew we'd need renters but couldn't really do much about it at the time. now, we have renters lined up for both places - our current home, and the basement of our new home! i can't wait to start developing these relationships, it's going to be so fun!

so for now, we're in the prepping, waiting, and fulfilling other commitments phase. joel is in the middle of tech week for seussical, which is keeping him enjoyably busy. i'm staging a new guerrilla marketing attack with my photo business (new and improved website! www.lanirobertsphoto.com) and preparing for my studio piano recital at a local retirement home.

and i got my annual haircut on friday.

faces

2010-05-13T06:52:00.001-07:00

had fun at the park last week with a few young friends and their mothers. nothing like sunshine, bagels, and photogenic tweens.

madi actually has a very sweet, demure grin. but i liked this face better. ;)
to the young ladies in these photos (and their mothers): i'll be posting the rest of your pics soon - hope you like them! :)

in other random news, we now have loan approval on the house, so we'll probably move the first week in june. until then, joel will be working his techie head off with seussical, which opens in a week ...

on monday, i had my first piano lesson (as a student) in 7 years! i've had hand/wrist issues for years now, and i'm working with a lady who specializes in piano injuries. so ... i am currently not allowed to play more than 5 minutes at a time, unless absolutely necessary - which is harder than it sounds!

the very long aladdin post

2010-05-05T11:51:00.001-07:00

we had so much fun music directing another show for cyt! aladdin seems like ancient history now but i had to record it, of course; it was just too fun! all the rehearsals and shows were at central bible church, which joel and i both performed at over 6 years ago. multnomah used to hold chapels at cb, so we've both performed with choir and music groups there, albeit at different times. the sanctuary is very distinctive and not set up for theater at all, and i was super impressed at the sets for the show. way to go, parents!

rehearsals were goofy and fun, as always. we learned from pocahontas that these kids will meet the bar wherever we set it, so we set the preparation bar pretty high and they did great!

we teamed up on the teaching, and each took care of our areas of specialty.
joel ran sound ...and i was in charge of staring slackjawed into space ...ok, not really. though i did that too.

jeff, our illustrious director, was in charge of stage kissing instruction, among other things.
"ok, look, let me show you how it's done" ...almost there ...
"oh, this is too embarrassing!"
in addition to spacing out, i also directed the "band of wonders". (subtitled "the magic pit".)
julie and gail played flute and clarinet ...
aaron on bass ...
and ian on chimes (and other drums).

julie works in children's ministry at her church, and usually brought piles of preparation for sunday school to work on during breaks. aaron got into it too ...the day before move-in we did a mini promo performance at clackamas town center, where my amp was nearly stolen. the kids were in costume for the first time, and made quite a sensation at the mall.setup was ... fun. but we managed.
setting up the stage at central bible ... debbie caught this awesome shot of the whole room from the baptismal.joel was busy setting up sound all week. tech stuff was interesting, to say the least. our tech people (my husband included) are heroes.joel, with sound minions ...
more sound minions ...
during setup tonya and i rehearsed the kids in an overcrowded library. ian and aaron, awesome as they are, helped.
"lighten your tone! drop your jaw! sing through your forehead! support! listen! blend!"
on to the actual show ...
aladdin was a corny show. delightfully corny. hilariously corny. chock full of lines that you roll your eyes at the first time, and by the last show you're laughing hysterically.

it began with ...
the best "directing with an elephant" performance of the year by alyssa! ;)
welcome to the market!
tonya choreographed some fun dances for this show, and they used the multiple levels of the stage with great effect!
the lamp is hidden in a cave-like tooooooooomb!
(nice vowels, ladies.)
daylon the scary sword dancer ...jewels, the only jewels i want are the glimmering eyes of love ... (or is it "glittering"?)
not robin hood or his men in tights, we're just a couple of arabian knights!
our genius sets people turned the elevated baptismal into the mouth of the cave of wonders, complete with the cool tiger's mouth which looked amazing with red lighting and smoke.
like i said: genius.
tell me, do these pants make me look fat?
genie of the lamp, he's straight from the lamp! ain't a tramp! he's a champ! from the lamp!
now hold on to your m c hammer pants, cause off we go!!!
(after which the band vamped the refrain of "can't touch this" for a scene change that lasted approximately 2 hours. or maybe it just seemed that long.)so put on a smile! and replace your timid shyness with some royal style!
... and my heart will fly like a magic carpet sailing in the wind!
i wish we had audio of ian and aaron singing this song while playing. it was beautiful.
jasmine's giggling sidekicks: shamar, dakar, and sheba.
let's sell your mother!
live wisely, love life, and listen to your heart ...
now, unlike the disney version of aladdin, wherein the protagonist achieves victory through some boring snakefight, this aladdin and his friends win through cunning wit.
and through dressing up as harem girls.truly one of the highlights of the show ...ya know, if your name was "pepper" ... you'd be sultan pepper!
prepare to die, aladdin!
free at last! free at last!
stage kiss success! ;)
the cast and crew in agribah ...
and another show under our belts and lodged in our memories.
now if i can just get the songs out of my head ...

pretty pictures of a pretty girl

2010-04-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

i've thought recently of discontinuing my photography business. i've had a few discouraging experiences, and a couple months ago decided that i'm just not good at giving people the photos that they want. as i thought and prayed about what to do with my photography, affirmation started pouring in from everywhere! orders and requests came in from sessions over a year ago. a friend who i gave my business card to a year ago called me to let me know she had only just gone to my site and loved my work. i had several positive session experiences. friends to whom i voiced my doubts invariably admonished me not to quit on portrait photography.

it's encouraging to see God's direction given so clearly through others, and i'm approaching my business with a new excitement, affirmation, and confidence. i'm reworking my website and marketing approach, and hope to have a lovely, photography-filled summer!

bekah needed a couple individual senior pictures for her college graduation, so we snagged 15min last week at a pretty park, resplendent with goldenrod.

doesn't she look like a flower fairy? ;)

these pictures were actually really difficult for me. i'm not exactly a photoshop expert, and i had the hardest time achieving a vibrant color balance that didn't turn her skin too pink or her hair green. so i look on these simple, unremarkable (except for the subject) compositions with a disproportionate sense of accomplishment.

in other news, i'm having nightmares about may.
it's starting to look like our move to a new house, installing renters, my year-end piano studio recital, and cyt's seussical (which joel is tech chair for) may coincide in a 2 week amalgam of insanity.
i better start packing.

the little house on cascade court

2010-04-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

they accepted our offer! yay!

i fell in love with this little house the first time we looked at it. it was built in 1963, and i don't think a thing has changed since then! wood paneling, old yellow carpet, pink bathroom, even an antique stove!

we had about a week of haggling over the offers. yesterday they declined, only to call back later in the day to reconsider - apparently one of the elderly sisters who grew up in the home liked the idea of piano lessons in their family's home. so i'd like to think my piano teacher status got us accepted. :)

i hadn't allowed myself to go through the photos i took until today. this house has so many cute uniquenesses - here's a few of them.

circle stairway with yellow covered window...
the view from the upstairs living room ...
the downstairs family room - or party room!
tile in the downstairs pink bathroom ...
just a few of the lovely, overgrown, old fashioned trees in the backyard ...
hey, we might be moving! :)

random update blog from a cold, empty office occupied by funnelweb spiders

2010-04-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

... a class of spider that includes tegenaria agrestis, also known as the hobo spider. the highly poisonous bite of this spider is usually mistaken for the bite of the brown recluse (which does not live in the pacific nw). not that i'm worried or anything.

anyway, on to the random update.

point one:
joel was accepted into walla walla and linfield schools of nursing, and chose linfield (not least because they offered him a $12,000 scholarship for hosting y chromosomes). the program starts the last week of june, and before then he needs to be re-certified in cpr, get shot with every vaccine known to humanity, and buy scrubs.

point two:
we are teaching a class through christian youth theater on tuesday evenings. i think this was our way of easing out of music directing without giving up cyt altogether. the class is on auditions and callbacks, which gives us a great excuse to talk about life skills like interviewing, professionalism, dealing with disappointment, selflessness ... good stuff.

point three:
i've acquired several new students recently, and lost a couple adults to schedule issues. so at this point, i have 7 students of all ages, all girls. there is a lot of pink in my studio. :)

point four:
tomorrow we will make an offer on a house. and no, we have not sold our current house. we do not intend to sell our current house. we've been seriously researching and praying about the possibility of owning several properties and renting out for quite a while, and doors have been flying open as we've started down this road. we both love hospitality and this seemed like a natural way to extend that passion - providing homes for people, developing relationships ... it's all very exciting.

point five:
i am just 2 short inches away from being able to do a perfect split. i am stoked about this.

point six:
after battling semi-functioning used lawnmowers for far too long, i bought a reel (manual) mower. i love it! it's not quite as precise as a normal lawnmower but i don't care - it's so nice to be out in my yard without the noise and gas fumes. the smell of freshly cut grass, uncorrupted by machine smells, is intoxicating. the only downside is having to actually look at the sad, accusing faces of dandelions as i decapitate them. :'(this, by the way, is a hobo spider. i'm leaving this office now.

a podcast-influenced flowery investment strategy

2010-04-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

a few days ago joel and i were killing a late, post-teaching night away at red robin in gresham. i indulged in the first strawberry lemonade i've had in months ... heaven.

so anyway, we were sitting in our little booth, talking about interesting podcasts we've listened to recently. joel's a podcast king, downing 3 or more per day during his long commute. his favorites tend to differ from mine. he listens to "planet money" on economics; i listen to "rathole radio" indie music picks.

he told me a fairly simple and amusing story about how the federal reserve came to possess a mall in oklahoma through lots of extremely confusing and seemingly pointless processes involving "mortgage backed securities" and "credit default swaps" ... which are very humorous when one starts to learn about them. not being an economics buff myself, i certainly can't explain them, but joel can, and i got the 10 minute definition of each.

somehow, in the course of this conversation, we stumbled upon the subject of economic "bubbles." the housing bubble a few years ago, the dot com bubble of the '90s ... and the tulip bulb bubble of the 17th century.

yes, that is exactly what you think it is. also known as "tulip mania," the tulip bulb bubble happened in holland in the 1600's. it was very similar to the investment bubbles of today - somehow, tulips increased in value to the point that, in 1637, a tulip contract would sell for 10 times the average skilled tradesman's yearly wage. and what's a tulip contract? a tulip contract wasn't even a tulip bulb - it was the right to own a tulip bulb when it became available ... for $300,000.

so, we decided on a new investment strategy. it involves digging up my planters, building a time machine, making a killing off the 17th century dutch, a brief pit stop in the early 20th century to take advantage off the minor hyacinth bubble during that time period, and voila!in other podcast-informed news, i have an update on this post on the aclu vs. myriad genetics lawsuit. the aclu has won the case, which means that (as of now) they no longer hold the patent on the BRAC gene. this information has huge implications for testing and research and is a great step forward in the pursuit to understand and deal with the effects of the BRAC gene, which is, obviously, something i have a vested interest in.

lotr party #1: fellowship of the ring

2010-04-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

some have been asking, wide-eyed, how we managed to cram 21 people into our living room to watch the fellowship of the ring on saturday.
this pic doesn't show everybody, but does give some idea of the setup. (please pardon the icky-nastiness iso 1600 in these pics.)
(there are 4 boys behind josh on that couch.)

of course, it helped that during breaks we would overflow into the kitchen and make yummy things like homemade hot chocolate and brownies...
i'm pretty sure that the subjects of this photo are most of the reason that joel had to make an emergency pop run halfway through.
we'd like to think of the party as an educational event - lindsey whipped cream for the first time. :)

i love having a house full of people. i love the energy and warmth it instills in our little home; i love how a little creative hospitality can blossom into happy memories, peace, and communicate love. a friend recently gave me one of the most wonderful compliments i've ever received - she said, "it feels safe here." what higher aspiration can a home (or homemaker) have?

we're having two more lotr parties for cyt-ers (gotta finish the series) and i can't wait!

our weekend: the math geek version

2010-04-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

saturday:
12 liters of pop
430 square inches of brownie
6 bags of chips
5 bags of popcorn
15 cups of hot chocolate
16 thirteen-eighteen year olds
1 ten year old
4 adults
1 lotr fellowship of the ring extended edition
5 boys crammed onto the couch
10 seconds that the movie ended after the projected finish time of 5:30
2 very tired hosts
1 worship powerpoint to create
12:30 am before it was completed

sunday
5 am alarm
1 forgotten ham, remembered and chopped by joel at the last minute
6:30 am arrival time at shepherd's door shelter
108 chicken eggs
50 jello eggs
1 batch of pancakes cooked without oil on the griddle
5,000,000 pieces of fruit chopped by the author of this blog
20 women (approx.)
20 volunteers (approx.)
60 minutes of worship team practice
15 minutes of prayer time
1 will ferrell video clip
15 verses compiled for a worship verse reading
7 great worship songs
4 fortunes read at chang's by chip, bekah, lani, and joel
1 wrong turn
11 people at the farquhar's for dinner
50 percent of julie and julia watched before
2 tired people fell into bed.

i can take a lot of picture in 24 hours.

2010-04-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

cannon beach, oregon. 2010 spring break trip. :)

as usual, we were at the beach for about 24 hours, taking advantage of free lodging in the cottage that my parents use when my dad teaches at ecola bible school.

we expected it to rain the whole day; instead, we enjoyed beautiful sunshine and mild temperatures!
joel has been bugging me to try geocaching with him for a while, so on friday we found a local geocache and set out on a nerdy adventure!
WARNING: i am posting photo documentation of this adventure, so if you ever plan to do the geocache at ecola state park, stop reading.

it took a while for joel to get the program working on his phone, but eventually we set out ...
first stop ... it took us a while to realize that we had to solve a code to get our next set of coordinates from this sign. i took many pictures of the sign, and i'm not really sure why.
back in the car, coordinates inputted. we almost drove out of the park before realizing that our destination was a 50 yard walk from the animal sign.
second stop ...
we were delayed in accessing the information on this plaque by a lingering pair of ladies who seemed to have nothing better to do than look at this view.
we dodged the whale watchers and patiently drank in the beauty for a couple minutes before my impatience took over and i edged in to collect the second set of coordinates.

this is where things broke down a bit. we hiked into the ecola state park forest for our final destination, but hit a snag: a creek with little cliffs on either side.
backtracking, we resumed our hunt. as the meters ticked down on joel's phone, we encountered a herd of elk in our way. and elk droppings.
our dilemma: they stood directly between us and our goal.

we tried to circle the elk, making lots of noise. they didn't want to move much, but obligingly backed a little way into the forest.

we pressed on, repeating the clue for our destination - simon&garfunkel's "bridge over troubled water". joel spotted a small log crossing a boggy creek, and trotted over to it, singing. he stepped confidently on the small bridge, which promptly broke and deposited him in 4 inches of muck. clue fail.
we crossed the boggy creek without further incident, and, having driven the elk herd away, were within 25 meters of our goal. excited to reach our first geocache, we bounded over the last hill and were treated to this view ...
our geocache, guarded by no less than 6 huge, wary elk (probably irritated from being driven so far already).

i suppose technically our first attempt was a failure, if you call the thrill of observing a herd of wild elk from less than fifty feet a failure. we will definitely be geocaching more, but next time maybe we'll bring weapons.

the rest of the day was slightly less eventful. we had lunch at a cute new cafe in cannon beach with mom, who had had a very painful abscessed tooth and would not appreciate me posting pictures.
a yarn shop in cannon beach ...
a fun bead shop that made me want to take up beading ...
and a visit to hug point, where mom took these pictures of us.

we hardly ever have pictures of both of us, so it's super fun to get some nice ones!

the sun was warm, the breeze soft, and the tide low. we made our way up the beach toward the old highway, me with my camera, mom frolicking in the waves, and joel and pop calculating how to navigate the points without getting their shoes wet.
i spent some quality time with my beloved seagulls. :)

coming back from the highway, i was wet to my waist, mom past her knees, joel to his ankles, and pop not at all. at least, not until his miscalculation stranded him on a rock with one foot in the ocean. heh heh.
beach trip success.

cool beans

2010-03-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

life is just so cool lately!
so much awesome stuff is happening; i think i spend most of my days wandering around with a silly smile, musing and bumping into things.

number 1 cool thing (in no particular order):
yesterday, i found a much anticipated letter in our mailbox. having promised not to open any letter addressed to joel from a nursing school admissions department, i called him and begged him to come home early. i spent the longest hour of my life trying to find a way to read the contents of the letter without actually opening it. holding it up to the window didn't work, flattening the envelop didn't work, enticing the cat to "accidentally" rip it open didn't work ... i stopped short of steaming it.

finally, after 60 minutes of eternity, joel got home and opened his letter and it said, "congratulations! ..."

we're going to nursing school!!!

moving on ... number 2 cool thing:
last wednesday this person-
asked this person-a very important question (the answer of which most of their family, friends, and the pdx area have known for several years).

they're getting married july 24. i always wanted a sister, and chip sure picked a good one! i'll have to remember to thank him...
he even remembered that i wanted a little sister! what a good brother!

bethany preview

2010-03-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

bethany, bekah's younger sister, is a senior! we've been trying to schedule her senior pics for about 4 months now, and finally made it out to waterfront park yesterday, and what a gorgeous day!

we maxed from the lloyd parking lots to the park, and traipsed around that area for a few hours. unfortunately, most of the trees had already lost their lovely blooms but we found a couple.

bethany brought bubbles ...

i'm sure i always put too many pictures up - ought to leave some surprises! i just love them all!

thanks, bethany and kathy! i had fun! :)

a tribute to my sorta sista

2010-03-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

friendship is a funny thing.
sometimes it grows on you, like a flower bud. odd and unlovely at first, then realizing its potential as it blossoms into fragrant joy.
sometimes it pokes its pretty head out of times of adversity, a thing of beauty thriving in spite of, or perhaps because of difficulty.
and sometimes it waltzes into your life, sweeping you off your feet and tearing the breath from your lungs with its brilliance.
"i'm here!!!" it shouts, "nurture me and i will reward you!"
i have a friend like that. debbie sue young has been ... well, it's hard to describe the relation, but we'll just call it "my sorta sista" for years. this last fall, we actually got to know each other. i've treasured our time-transcending chats over coffee and our lovely week as housemates, and now God's leading is taking her far away.
people who follow God's leading are catalysts to others; their demonstration of trust, acceptance, and love inspires and beautifies everyone around them.
i would like to be a person who inspires others to seek true beauty, to seek God's will, to love more deeply and give richly. it's the highest goal a friend can have.
and i am so blessed to have such a friend.
(and, debbie, so is austin!)

seattle in january

2010-03-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

during pocahontas joel promised me that when it was all over, shows, christmas, teas, parties, birthdays ... he would take me to seattle. and for four days in early january he did.

i attempted to thwart the trip by contracting the stomach flu and throwing up all night before we were scheduled to leave, but i was down to a fever the next day and did not intend to allow a tiny fever to keep me in portland! we traveled by train, and walked or used public transportation the whole trip, which added to the fun and adventure.

our first full day there, i was out of the hotel room for about 30 minutes, after which i was exhausted and had to lie down again. joel kept me supplied with agatha christie mysteries, and i recovered quickly.

we stayed a few blocks from here:
... the original starbucks. i entered the shrine of happiness, treading lightly, fearful of disturbing the magic and receiving a less-than-spectacular latte. i was not disappointed.

we also visited the seattle art museum, which boasted a michelangelo exhibit. we explored and found out that the exhibit did not, in fact, include any works by michelangelo; however, there was an impressive display of floating white sedans with glittering christmas lights exploding from stiff tentacles. (this was not part of the michelangelo exhibit.)
i enjoyed the museum of rock a lot more.

we also saw this, but not in the art or rock museum. i think he's the guardian deity of the food court.
we had some of the best times just walking around, people-watching, exploring, and snapping shots with phone cameras.
... and having crepes. mmmmm, crepes.

merry christmas!

2010-03-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

i am caught up on photo editing for the first time in 4 months! and so i shall post lots and lots of christmas pictures, as the sun streams down on my daffodils and tulips outside.

pre-christmas activities included a "man-hunt at the mall" with the vestal family and others. as hunt-ees, we accepted the responsibility to disguise ourselves and ... blend in. our friend anne provided the old-age makeup, sweaters, and headpieces.

we were a formidable team, even though we didn't win because someone saw me adjusting my wig. oh well.

pre-christmas activities also included my first group lesson with my students. i had 3 kids there, and we played music symbol uno, performed christmas music for each other, and ate christmas cookies.

also, the aforemention cyt christmas tea ... yet another picture.
we put up a christmas tree this year, with our traditional manger in front. the cat claimed the manger, which i think is sacreligious.
on christmas eve we went to a lovely service at southwest hills, and enjoyed soup and family time at the farquhars afterward.

christmas morning was crisp, clear, and faintly pink.
(a close-up of my favorite part - my happy christmas robin from joel!)
after reading the christmas story together, we opened a few presents. joel always has a terrible time with wrapping, but he's learning the tricks of the trade - stick bows wherever the paper didn't turn out right. perfect.
mid-morning, we joined my parents at their house for a whole-day family celebration including the farquhars, joi, and debbie.

we all enjoyed presents, of course, but none more than shadow, who spent the day of peace waging war on the ranks of wrapping paper.
debbie - getting creative with a present:

merry christmas-on-saint-patrick's-day!

addendum

2010-02-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

- to yesterday's post.

we're actually going in the show program as the "band of wonders"!

HA! how awesome is that?

about as awesome as opening my windows this morning and discovering that the neighbor's ornamental cherry popped into full bloom last night. i love spring. :)

the blog of wonders

2010-02-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

like my subtle reference to aladdin? cause that's mostly what this post is about.

rehearsals have gone so quickly - hard to believe that opening night is only a week and a half away! the band has been practicing diligently, and following the pocahontas pattern of naming the band after the show, we are calling ourselves "the band of wonders".
and we are.

... wonders, that is. ;)

this show did not come with any instrumental score - we received a piano/vocal score with 2 previous shows' of notes scribbled on it and fully a fourth of the notes/chords/words wrong. it was intended to be performed with an accompaniment track, but the accompaniment track was worse than ... uh ... well, it's bad.

undaunted, we decided to have a band. i arranged some flute and clarinet parts, assembled a bass player and drummer who aren't into sheet music anyway, and the band of wonders was born!

tickets are still available at this site right here.

introducing: my assistant!

2010-02-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

with two home businesses and numerous commitments filling my life, it was definitely time to employ an in-home office assistant.

ok ... so maybe my assistant won't be returning phone calls, arranging music, or even filing. but she's quite involved in office operations: attacking the printer whenever i print, chasing the mouse on my computer screen, scattering pencils, walking across the keyboard, and falling asleep on my mouse arm. usually about 20 minutes after i sit down i am immobilized - by cuteness.

i'd consider raising her salary, but she has yet to engage in an assistant-ly activity that actually increases my output.

meh. productivity's overrated anyway.

cyt christmas tea

2010-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

yay, i have pictures from our cyt christmas high tea! so, yay, i can write a blog about it!
(thank you, hannah baggs, for the pictures.)

i worked in a tea room for over three years, and this apparently has qualified me to host an english high tea. now, in my experience, most people upon hearing of "high tea" think of meager fare consisting of a few continental breakfast pastries accompanied by overbrewed earl gray (palatable only with great quantities of cream and sugar).

this is not how i was taught to serve tea.

the high tea i serve is a full, 4-course meal. it is accompanied by locally blended loose leaf teas, precisely brewed for full, not bitter, flavor.

first served was the soup course ... except that fifteen minutes before our tea guests arrived, i broke a glass measuring cup into the pot of sweet potato ginger soup as i was pureeing it and had to make a new pot of soup. so we served the tea sandwich course.

no one seemed upset by the delay ... as long as there was plenty of tea!

fyi, 14 teenagers go through a lot of tea!our tea sandwich course included a few tea room recipes, and a few of our own invention ...
cucumber sandwiches
3 pepper cream cheese on rye sandwiches
egg salad sandwiches
sausage tartlettes
dilmah ceylon tea

the aforementioned out-of-order soup course ...
delicous sweet potato soup (sans broken glass)
cheddar cornmeal biscuits
jasmine green tea (at least, i think that's what we served ... it was over 2 months ago ...)
everyone's favorite: the dessert course ...
swedish toscas (courtesy of my generous mother)
cranberry scones with jam and mock devonshire cream
pumpkin bread (thanks, tessa!)
rose's tea room special blend tea
... i think i'm forgetting something ...
and the chocolate course, of course!
chocolate tea pots (a mousse-like concoction of black tea and dark chocolate)
chocolate crepes
lemon rose tea
i might have forgotten how much work it takes to serve a high tea, but i remembered really quickly!
joel was in charge of desserts.
i was in charge of most other food, presentation, and tea.
lizzie was in charge of filling water and helping out. (great job, lizzie!)
ethan was in charge of helping joel make crepes and survive the tidal waves of girliness.
he did his best, but i think joel was just too far gone ... ;)
thanks, ladies (and ethan), for a lovely time! can't wait for the next one!

... and it's going to be 60 degrees tomorrow!

2010-02-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

remember these?

yes, those sad, blighted bulbs that i planted in haste last year. poor things. the miniature irises, little narcissus, and delicate tulips died and didn't come back all year.

but this is a new year, and spring is coming early. :)

since this picture was taken i've had about 15 yellow narcissus and 5 pansy blooms. my $1 pansies, bought and planted on a whim last october, survived the mild winter and are filling my planter with purple already!

the long overdue pocahontas post

2010-02-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

just three weeks away from opening our next cyt show, i am finally posting pictures from our last show. :) i have such wonderful memories from pocahontas, and want to capture them on this blog before they float into irrelevance.

we rehearsed every friday and saturday at portland lutheran school in the fluorescent music room. surrounded by brightly colored posters and a faint aroma of lunches long past, we crammed 60 kids into a space made for thirty and entreated all to not play on the bleachers during practice. of course, the temptation of bleachers often proved too great to resist, but i know we all tried. :)

i can't think of any seminar, counselor, or marriage book that could equal the marital growth of music directing together. we received much practice in allowing the other to compensate for our weak areas, communicating patiently under pressure, compromising on ideas, working in active submission, and respecting each other's gifts. i only hope the kids learned half as many life lessons as we did during those 8 weeks.
we had the most awesome band! we christened ourselves "rockahontas", and proceeded to rock the hontas off everyone in attendance! :D

at the last minute, joel received the unexpected (and unexpectedly fun) assignment of sound guy. his prior sound experience was miniscule compared to the challenge of a full-blown musical! he developed some awesome skills in this area. my brother chip is experienced in sound, and helped us out a lot. joel and chip have conquered numerous alien universes together, and i think it was high time they used their amazing teamwork for the greater good of non-virtual mankind.
our artistic team, "the second best artistic team ever" (and definitely the loudest) ...

i love this next performance picture. and not primarily because of the cool lighting, awesome costumes, or great sets. i love the intensity and passion, but that's not coolest thing either.
no, my favorite part of this picture is vowel shape.
yeah ... nerdy, i know.
the strike party. exhausted, but hanging onto the last vestiges of pocahontas fun ...after the show was over, we hosted a christmas high tea for 14 of the kids from the show. 6 days after my concussion. yes, it was crazy, and yes, it was FUN!

*all show and rehearsal pictures taken by debbie booth. strike party pictures taken by audrey laws. tea party picture taken by me. :)

alright, maybe green's ok.

2010-02-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

the warm spell hit at just the wrong time. :(
i had everything planned out - the best present i ever thought of.
my mom and i would sneak up to larch mountain on the pretext of "getting christmas presents", i would take beautiful snowy pictures of her, print them out, and give them to my dad! great idea, huh?

yeah, didn't work out that way. the tv weatherman called it an inverse something-or-other: 38 degrees in the valley, and 50 degrees at the top of larch mountain. there was no snow.

undeterred, we hiked o'er annoyingly non-white hills and shrubs to capture these:

slings 'n swings 'n things

2010-02-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

i shot my first commercial photography assignment today.
which sounds like a really pretentious way of saying, "my friend is starting a business and i caught a few pics of his product." heh.

our friend tim just started an awesome business called "Daddy T's Slings" - they sell baby/stuffed animal slings for toddlers and young children. check them out right here. :)

endeavor church

2010-02-06T15:59:00.001-08:00

we are planting a church. and it's SO FUN!!!

this last summer, we joined a small church plant in rockwood (the most crime-ridden, unchurched area in our state). there were 15 of us, meeting in a living room. now, in february, there are about 60. we've seen God work in amazing ways - bringing people to Christ, baptizing, worshiping together, serving our neighbors and each other ....

we meet in a repurposed office building on sunday mornings, and enjoy lunch afterward ... and sometimes flag football. (well ok, that was just this last week.)

enjoying community on a sunday morning...

worshiping together...
joel and i have really enjoyed using our gifts in ministry at endeavor. he preaches on a semi-regular basis, and loves teaching God's Word! i am currently coordinating musical worship january-june. ("coordinating" seems so much less presumptuous than "leading".) i love every step of the process - prayer, study, assembling a song set and other elements, working with the team on musical unity, and worshiping with everyone on sunday!

the great escape

2010-02-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

first the cat did something green on the floor.
then the ants staged their hostile takeover.

and when the seismic tremors wracking mt. laundry threatened to erupt and spew molten underwear in a vesuvius-esque radius, i escaped.

and i'm not telling where.

i'm blogging again, by the way. (you probably guessed that by now.) but i'm not going to promise to back-blog since mid-december, because that's why i've been hiding from bloggerville (heh - that sounds like burgerville) in the first place.
there will be no series, no litany of catch-up posts. if i can ever ever ever edit all the family fun pictures since thanksgiving, those will be uploaded with reckless abandon.

but until then ...

what we're up to now:

senselessly abusing prepositions.
music directing yet another cyt show: aladdin.
helping to plant a church in rockwood - leading worship, preaching, hugging toddlers, praying together, sharing God's love, and laughing a lot!
(lani only): healing from my usual collection of accidental injuries.
(joel only): finishing his application to ohsu school of nursing; waiting to hear if he was accepted into linfield or walla walla.
(both): praying that joel will be accepted into ohsu, linfield, and/or walla walla.
taking joy in our 4 blooming irises. spring dost cometh!

i suppose an observant reader might assume that the neglect of this blog is related to the most recent post, which would not be the case. i am mostly healed from my concussion. (but, goodness! concussions take a long time to heal!) i fully intend to blog more ... just as soon as i conduct an air RAID on the invaders and fumigate the "green stuff area".

which might not be any time soon.

falling in a winter wonderland

2009-12-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

sunday dawned a beautiful day! ice shimmered in the pale pink sunrise, mist lent a fairytale softness to sharp gray buildings, every tree glistened with ephemeral frosty christmas sparkles ... a beautiful day.

and how appropriate that such a day should be a sunday - a celebration day, less than two weeks before christmas!

for once, we actually made time to enjoy the beauty before church, even though joel was preaching and i was on worship team and speaking a transition. we left our warm home early, giggling and skidding on ice, for a hot starbucks breakfast. it was a perfect morning date and we arrived at church anticipating a blessed time of community and worship. and after that - freedom! our first free sunday in months! time with family, each other, and a few good football games filled the agenda out nicely.

excited, i filled my arms with the usual sunday accessories and stepped gingerly onto the sparkling parking lot. "wow, this is slick!" was the last thought that flitted through my mind as i attempted another step.

a terrific crack sounded in both ears as my head bounced off the ground. my body followed rapidly (it usually does) and i found myself lying on my back with the worst headache i've ever had. and that's saying something!

as my demised caramel brulee latte froze in brown trails, joel half led, half carried me into the almost empty church building. i fought the flashes clouding my vision, and felt the giantest ostrich egg on the back of my head. scary? uh, yeah.

i did not play flute on worship or speak my transition. and joel did not preach. (he was mercifully relieved when low numbers+compassion restructured the morning's service.) we did not watch football.

i am not, however, feeling sorry for myself - not a bit! stuff like this is becoming fairly typical. i steeled myself when i thought i married an accident prone man ... and proceeded in the following 5 years to get into numerous car accidents, have 2 surgeries, allergic reactions, weird illnesses, and now, a concussion. (a full list would wear one out!) i don't know why the poor man still wants to go into medicine - he certainly has enough opportunity to use his nursing skills at home! (and is always gracious, patient, and kind.)

so i am now watching christmas movies, having finally convinced my pupils to behave and dilate to the same size. this forced pause has been good for me; they usually are.
i stressed: is my christmas ruined now (since i'll probably have symptoms for at least a month)? what if i can't finish my christmas shopping? what if i can't finish sending cards and decorating and making cookies for the neighbors? what if i can't go to any christmas parties? is christmas ruined?

for the answer i turn to my usual source of wise advice - the grinch. ;)

"and the grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling: "how could it be so?
it came without ribbons! it came without tags!
it came without packages, boxes or bags!"
and he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
then the grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"maybe christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"maybe christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

of course it means a little bit more. christmas can't be taken away by a measly little concussion.
christmas is thankfulness, and tiny baby Jesus.
christmas is the glory song of angels, and the wonder of baby Emmanuel in a shed.
christmas is a promise fulfilled and hope made real.

merry christmas from the concussed but thankful one!

transitions and messes...

2009-12-12T21:33:00.000-08:00

thursday, december 10, 2009 was a big day in the roberts household.

it was a big day because i gave a first lesson to a brand new piano student.
it was a bigger day because joel took a nutrition final.
it was even bigger because joel's nutrition final was the last test of his crazy, 16-credit-40hr-work-week-pocahontas schedule.

and it was even bigger than that ... because this nutrition final was the last final of joel's pre-nursing classes.

this journey began over 2 years ago when i suddenly found myself under a truck with no graceful way out. joel spent months caring for my resulting injuries: wound dressing changes ... doctor appointments ... helping me wash my hair for 6 months ... and God used this to redirect his caring, pastor's heart from vocational ministry into medicine. really, just another title of vocational ministry. :)

he started 2 springs ago on pre-med classes, planning to become a doctor. after several terms of doctor pre-reqs, we realized that the schooling to become a doctor would hold back many of our dreams for ministry, family, and community. so he switched paths to nurse practitioner: more flexibility, family-friendly schooling, and staying in our community.

he has spent the last 2 years taking anatomy& physiology, chemistry, biology, advanced maths, microbiology, anthropology ... i'm probably missing some 'ologies ... while working full time and ministering in various capacities. apparently a degree in bible and ancient greek wasn't sufficient to get into nursing school.

now, after working so hard for 2 years, we're in the next phase. it's a big transition - the last 2 years have been long and hard, working toward a goal which, though attainable, seemed far off. this next phase - the "applying-to-nursing-schools-and-waiting-FOREVER-to-hear-back phase" will be challenging, but mercifully short! we hope that he can get into linfield's accelerated rn program - 15 months, starting this june.

the light at the end of this tunnel just got a lot brighter. :)

we spent thursday night organizing our study for the first time in 3 years ... which was almost a bigger deal than the last final! :) i post these "before" pictures to encourage anyone who thinks that you're disorganized ... chances are, we've got you beat!

"after" pictures might come soon. if i can ever find them in all of this dratted new organization. ;)

scroogecat attacks.

2009-12-08T12:28:00.000-08:00

just my luck to get a cat who hates christmas.

i, the christmas lover, acquired a cat whose mission is to eat every garland, break every ornament, prematurely unwrap every package, knock over every nativity character, and short out every christmas light in the house.

methinks we should arrange scroogecat a visit from the ghost of christmas past. muah ha ha ha!!!

the dirty hippie confesses.

2009-12-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

ok, ok, ok, i confess: i am a dirty hippie. but please, let me explain.

i've always had a love-hate relationship with my poofy, wavy, curly, unpredictable, frizzy hair. when i was little i wanted beautiful straight princess hair, and at about age 13 i started growing my hair out in hopes of achieving princess-hood, or at least weighing down the frizzies.

i grew it out for 4 years.

on a good day (after 2 hours with the straightener), i'd get this:
but most days i'd sport a convenient 3lb bun or braid, the embodiment of 1890s chic. i chopped it to my shoulders at 18, hoping the cranial weight loss would lesson my headaches. it didn't, but that's another story. i discovered that my hair curled nicely when washed with special curly hair shampoo and conditioner and slathered with brightly colored gels and sprays. for years, i consumed more tigi and frizz-ease than coffee.

then, joel decided to take anatomy and physiology from a crazy, wacked out professer who insisted that hair was healthiest when it wasn't shampooed! joel came home and repeated this nonsense, which i indignantly dismissed. maybe the hair was healthier, but it wouldn't do much for your social life! besides, what about those of us who rely on mountains of sticky stuff? without shampoo my hair would congeal into a gel-cemented helmet!

fast forward through a few months ... i had a change of heart (or is it change of follicle?) and decided to actually research this "shampoo-less" method. my budget confronted my vanity each month, and i was eager for alternatives. i came across this blog post, which explained a fairly reasonable looking shampoo-less routine - aka, it actually involved washing your hair with something other than rain. so i did it.

i switched from using a gob of shampoo, a bigger gob of conditioner, and half a bottle of goop every day, to one tablespoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of vinegar once a week and nothing else but water.

and my crazy, poofy, wavy hair ... loves it!
(so does my budget.)

packages, boxes and bags!

2009-12-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

the grinch's observation was totally correct. christmas will come with or without packages, boxes, or bags.
... but that doesn't mean that packages, boxes, and bags can't be awesome!

there were three packages on the doorstep when we got home from our pocahontas daytime show today.
#1 was a pair of jeans i bought steeply discounted. :)
#2 was a photo order from my print company - including my very first photo christmas card order! :) :)
#3 was a laptop. for me! it is itty bitty, and will be perfect for my on-the-go schedule. :) :) :)

i am very happy.

oh, and the best part of this laptop: it has a webcam! there's just something addicting about webcams, i tell ya...

notice i said "addicting," not "flattering".

you win, universe.

2009-12-03T11:55:00.001-08:00

the universe hates me this week.
its arsenal includes entropy, gravity, all the other laws of physics, and of course, murphy's law.
my arsenal consists of whining. the universe is not affected by whining.

i have burned myself three times and pulled muscles in both my calves.
i lost my garden gloves, rake, shoes, half a string of christmas lights, a bowl of oatmeal, and part of the fence. i nearly lost mary and a shepherd.
the cat learned how to jump on the kitchen counters and is currently on mission to attack every nativity scene, string of lights, gift wrapped package, and human in the house.
the universe has also employed photoshop, ups, the garbage man, coffee, my cell phone, traffic, darkness, and wind in its reign of terror.

... maybe this is the price i have to pay for having 3 great hair days in a row!

one month later...

2009-12-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

wow, seriously, did not intend to ignore the blog for this long! i guess it's time for a very random update blog!

this month ...
we studied, music directed, worked, taught, preached, cleaned, fixed our cat, took pictures, fought viruses (both biological and computer), drank eggnog chai, experienced strange car problems, thanksgiving-ed with friends and family, ran a huge sound system, made sweet potato fries, got (and gave) a haircut, halfway set up the christmas decorations, and laughed a lot.

we didn't spend enough time with friends, sleep enough, stay sane ... or blog.
but you already knew that last part. ;)

more bloggage will hopefully ensue after finals and pocahontas shows are over (tickets still available at www.cytvanport.org!), but for now, that's november in a nutshell!

tabitha preview

2009-11-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

today was such a beautiful day! clear sky, skittering leaves, dancing trees ... in which i found a tabitha. :)
she's a senior. so i took her senior pictures.

~reflecting on high school ... or maybe just trying not to fall through the floorboards!

no cats were harmed during this photoshoot.

... maybe a little traumatized though. :D
me: could you toss the cat toward that direction?
tabitha:

such a pretty lady.

click on any photo to view larger.

rw preview

2009-11-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

i had so much fun today photographing my lovely friends with some of the last of the fall leaves ... here's a brief preview for you guys! the rest will be up soon!
:)

can i be this old?

2009-10-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

last night, an 8 year old friend read me her reading-aloud homework assignment. the last time i fulfilled the role of "homework-read-aloud-listener," i was 13 years old, and the reader was a 9 year old neighbor, friend, and babysit-ee.

he got married on friday.
justin is in the army now, and leaving for germany this week. his bride, ellie, is going with him. :)

we went to their reception on saturday.

his little brother, mikey, is 16. i babysat him when he was 5-7ish.

we met their older sister, her husband, and their daughter, who looked just like mikey. :)
jeff, their dad.

congratulations, justin and ellie! looking forward to staying in touch on facebook! :)

really?

2009-10-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

i can't avoid it any longer. i can't hide from it, shield my eyes from it, or deny it. so i will blog it.

you may want to stop reading right now unless you possess an extraordinarily strong constitution, because the news i will share in forthcoming paragraphs is, quite frankly, devastating. it is heartbreaking, and should you choose blissful (though ephemeral) naivety i will fully understand.

-don't say i didn't warn you-

but it is my job as a blogger and self proclaimed social commentarian* to proclaim that which is in front of our very eyes:

RUNFORTHEHILLSTHE19-FLIPPIN-80SAREBACK-GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!

now - before you dismiss me as a fearmongering, naysaying, delusive prophet of doom ... i have proof.

googled: 1980s fashion

googled: 2009 fashion

i'm sure that you, wonderfully perceptive readers, see the same thing i see.
they're similar!! and what do they have in common?
pointy pumps
primary colors
puffed sleeves**
high waists
leggings
general ubiquitous fluffiness
supermodels

need i say more? and don't even get me started on the music!

friends, this is bad. many of you have seen this day coming. some, i'm sure, will be blindsided by this blog, and to you i offer my heartfelt condolences.

please, all, consider this place, this speck of space in the interwebz, a place of rest and escape*** from the perfidious phoenix rising again in our culture ... a 1969 haven from medusa's serpentine skinny-leg tendrils ... a hippie commune of peace and love in the swirling, stormy return of the decade of "frantic change, characterised by political and economic decentralisation, especially in countries with mixed and command economies..."****
-ok, i'm done now.

and, um, to all y'all who are into the whole 80's thing ... hi. [waves awkwardly]

*yes, i know it isn't a word. this is my blog and i can make up words if i want to.
**lots of p's, but that's beside the point.
***and commas
****http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s

fake

2009-10-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

this is not a real polaroid. it is edited with one of the many softwares that mimic the features of polaroid ... and fail to capture the essence.

i had a polaroid when i was little - my grandma gave it to me, and i loved it. i thrilled to take pictures of legos, dolls, my mother holding a stuffed orangutan -the 3 minute wait was excruciating - until i ran out of film. we couldn't afford to buy more film, so the polaroid sat on a shelf, staring through empty eye at my closet door. like many small objects laden with childhood nostalgia, it disappeared sometime between 2nd grade and high school.

and now polaroids are gone, and i can only make tinted replicas of these childhood images - mimicking the shading and focus, but lacking that which defined the experience.

postscript #1: please pardon the whiny nostalgia - i'm sick today. :)
postscript #2: polaroid is coming back! :)))))

after the weekend...

2009-10-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

yes, i know joel is blurry. he is not the subject of this picture. the subject of this picture is the full sink, the remnants of salad, the water bottle that i filled for rehearsal on friday and accidentally left home, and ... vinegar? no idea why that's there.

this is what the house generally looks like after the weekend, at least the parts of the house not visible to my 8pm sunday piano student. he gets a clean living room.

life is busy but so good. we are especially enjoying working together with pocahontas - i had no idea my husband was such a good vocal teacher! you learn new things all the time... :)

christian youth theater is in a financial bind right now, and lots of emphasis has been placed on ticket sales for pocahontas. there is a big incentive for reaching the ticket goal: a party with lots of fun stuff ...
including the spectacle of my husband being given a mohawk.

[sigh] ... yes, i'm willing to sacrifice his hair for a good cause. so, if you want to see pictures of joel with a mohawk on this blog, pop over here to get tickets.

and, if you like, go here for some video of the awesome fight scene our kids our learning with a professional fight choreographer!

random cupcake blog

2009-10-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

... it's like a random update blog, except there's cupcakes in it.

so, joel and i have gone insane, but that's ok because most people thought we were a little off before anyway. now we can just say, "we're insane." and it's all cool. until the nice men in the white coats show up.

moving on ...

he's taking 16 credits this term (in addition to his full time job), i am in full swing with my new studio, and we are co-music-directing pocahontas together, among various other projects.

we're surviving the 7 day/week madness, mostly with smiles and laughter, and occasionally with panic attacks or arguments about who should walk across the room to stop the cat from destroying wrapping paper. that was a low point. but really, over all, we're doing quite well.

yes, yes, the cupcakes - i'm getting there.
last thursday my wonderful friend jessica came over and we made over 90 cupcakes for me to take to our neighbors. we had a wonderful time, and delivering the cupcakes was a blast! i had no idea there were so many sweet people in our neighborhood, and i can't wait to get to know them better.

though ... just my recommendation ... halloween is probably the worst time of year to deliver cupcakes to strangers. it takes a special measure of courage to march past a yard strewn with skulls and gravestones to a bloodstained door, insufficiently armed with pastries and a faltering grin.
wait til thanksgiving: much more welcoming.

a walk in the park with a toddler

2009-10-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

... and her mommy, who happens to be my very good friend.

sometimes, a walk in the park is the best way to spend a crisp, dewy, sunny october morning.
every moment is a unique discovery.

i totally want shoes that cool. seriously.

the attack of pocahontas

2009-10-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

last spring i accompanied christian youth theater's presentation of willy wonka. it was a blast. i had a great time working with the kids, the band, and the music director, jeff, and decided that maybe someday i'd like to be a music director for cyt.

i mentioned this to jeff, and specified that i would definitely want to get some training first ... accompany another show, shadow a music director ... stuff like that, before i'd feel ready.

several weeks passed before a buoyant, theater-ish lady with lovely red hair marched up to me, introduced herself as the director of cyt's next show, and announced that jeff had told her to talk to me about music directing it. i told her that i'd think about it, went home, and told joel that there was absolutely no way that i would music direct a show in the fall.

well ...

so here it is, october, and we just finished our first rehearsal for pocahontas. joel and i are co-music directing - which makes me very glad.

these last couple weeks have been a whirlwind of planning, meetings, auditions, and recording rehearsal cds all night.

i love working with kids, music, and joel. my three favorites.

(by the way, i blame pocahontas for my near total neglect of this blog for the last, oh, month-and-a-half.)

this blog is somewhere in the pile on the left.

2009-10-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

warning:
objects in picture are messier than they appear.

a lame vlog in lieu of a witty blog.

2009-09-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

please don't make fun of how ridiculous i am in front of a camera. it's been a long day...

a little friend.

2009-09-19T16:32:00.001-07:00

- from the garden this week.

that's all. happy rainy saturday.

my kind of exercise...

2009-09-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

beats treadmill any day!

this & that

2009-09-12T01:50:00.001-07:00

i cannot sleep. and so, at 2am i shall share a photo of my living room/piano studio...

and of a window which, if i am not mistaken, is watching me...
and i am editing photos of strangers taken back in may, even though a full inbox and even fuller to-do list await. we will be hauling dirt very early tomorrow morning, at which point i will be very regretful that i didn't try to sleep earlier.

these photos have intrigued me since i met them 4 months ago. 3 women - 3 life stages - each seem frozen in a moment of transparency. my favorite images are the rare captures of the expression in between expressions: that half-second when the subject is unposed and vulnerable, truth etched in each line and shadow.

i am a piano teacher now.

2009-09-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

i met a little girl today named haley. she is 5. i am her piano teacher.
she loves pink and purple, and dolls and dancing. she has fluffy blond hair and blue eyes. she is not shy.

she is me. 18 years ago, i was hailey (with pink glasses).

she played the piano for me, just like she plays it at grandma's house. she copied every rhythm i tapped for her perfectly, concentration creasing her cherub face. she tapped the dolly with her right and left hands just as i asked. i told her that she must be the simon-says champion of the whole world.

when we were done hailey cried, "i want to stay!"

inside i said, "i want you to stay!" but outside i said, "i'll see you next week."
... and smiled really big.

my husband decided to indulge my love of spontaneity.

2009-08-30T00:13:00.000-07:00

... and this is what happened.
there will be lots of pictures.

august 22
we ditched homework, housework, and work-work at about 7pm to find a place to hike in the gorge.
end location: latourell falls.
best part: venturing as far as possible behind the falls without tumbling into the pool below.
... at which point joel decided to check his cell reception. five bars.
i, of course, ended up drenched - modeling the drowned rat look.

we ended the hike by enjoying the sunset from the edge of this unguarded precipice.
august 23
joel had to spend the day studying, so i decided that we should study at the beach. deeply concentrating on his anthropology text on the drive, he requested that we not listen to any music with english words. so we listened to french, latin, portuguese, spanish, and arabic ... oh, and mozart. :)
we spent most of the afternoon at my favorite cafe ever in the whole entire world. :)
i love this place. if you're ever in cannon beach, be sure to check out bella espresso.

of course, we did go to the beach too.
august 27
joel's birthday isn't until september 21, but we celebrated a little early. i surprised him with tickets to fiddler on the roof, and what a night it was!
we started with happy hour at portland city grill. this was our view.
this was my view.
we arrived at the keller an hour early because someone didn't read the tickets she bought (oops), and decided to find a starbucks. we managed to walk the one route across the entire area that contained no starbucks, a travesty which i blame on the starbucks planning people, the portland city planning people, the dutch mafia, and that stupid mermaid on their cups.*
starbucks incident aside, the show was breathtaking. i don't think i shut my mouth the whole time - my jaw was somewhere near my lap. my favorite line (not in the movie) was when tevye referred to the state of being "poor as synagogue mice". i'm still laughing.

august 28
in addition to being international "race your mouse" day, august 28 was also our anniversary.
we went to the zoo. just because.

there were many interesting things to see at the zoo, including one of my favorite creatures of all: the vw van.

we also went back to the church where we were married, sat in the car and watched half of our wedding video. partway through, the computer decided it wasn't getting enough battery from the car and flipped out, but we caught the processional, most of the message, and our vows. so i suppose at this point i could draw out a complicated metaphor involving marriage and the trials of life, but it is now 2:11am and i'm not going to.
finished off the day at papa haydn's eastside, where we both had vanilla lattes with hearts on them. joel kinda freaked out a little bit right after i took this picture cause i used flash in a dark restaurant. i won't share the one i took of him three seconds later - it's kind of scary. heh.
love you dear. mwah.**
*it is now 1:58am and i accept no responsibility for the coherence of what i write.
**did i seriously just write "mwah" in a blog post? i am so going to hate myself in the morning.

5 years...

2009-08-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

~then~

~now~

egads, i own an lolcat!

2009-08-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

pamina the opera-cat?
or vlad the impaler?!?!

spiced peaches

2009-08-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

recipe for spiced canned peaches

lots of peaches
enough vinegar to melt your face off
whole spices, the kind that you buy in the oregon trail game (like "allspice") tied into teabags
more sugar than anyone should eat in a lifetime

mix. boil. can.

recipe for spiced FUN

2 early-twenties women, inexperienced in canning and prone to giggling, sarcasm, and tea parties
a book called "back to basics" which has instructions for building a log cabin, treating snakebite, and a whole page on canning!
an adolescent kitten underfoot

mix. giggle. have an adventure. repeat.

transforming rv parking into a yard: part 3

2009-08-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

no power tools were needed for this step. just a truck big enough to haul a yard of dirt.

our back yard was constructed rather strangely. an expanse of grass was separated from the sea of asphalt by a retaining wall of sorts (i.e. a line of big rocks). the asphalt side was fully 18 inches lower than the grass side. removing the asphalt necessitated bringing in many yards of dirt to prevent earthquakes from originating on our property (or something like that).

these pictures are after 5 yards of dirt - and it still needs more!

this is the woodpile. it's a baby woodpile.
that pathetic, minuscule pile of rocks is our fire pit. we have decided to enlarge the fire pit.

... and this is where we leave this series for now, since this is where our rv parking project stands for now (plus some stray grass and weeds growing in the new dirt). steps 4 and 5 involve more dirt and planting grass, but that will be a while.

[cue credit music]

transforming rv parking into a yard: part 2

2009-08-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

fortunately for the men in my life, this yard-renovation was the type of project that required plenty of heavy machinery. macho machinery. the kind you have to rent and take back the same day, because it's too expensive to keep overnight (unlike library books or movie rentals).

step-1-big-macho-machine was a jackhammer. step-2-big-macho-machine was a rototiller. so, on a saturday morning in july, my husband and father left to acquire the muscle-machine. i, an industrious, non-macho person, stayed home and shoveled gravel.
incidentally, anberlin's never take friendship personal is a great gravel-shoveling album.

once again, we were very blessed by the help of my parents and a number of others who stopped in at various times during the day. i wish i had pics of everybody, but alas, i had a gravel induced migraine for most of the day.

this fencing was ostensibly a poorly erected attempt to contain the dogs mentioned in the previous post. i have no idea why it was there, since it was obvious from the amount of dog hair in the house that the creatures had never spent any length of time outside.

-we interrupt our rv parking series-

2009-08-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

-to share this little piece of epic awesomeness we discovered while trolling about teh interwebz, referring to ourselves in the plural.

transforming rv parking into a yard: part 1

2009-08-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

the funnest part about moving into a new house is pretending you're a sleuth on a secret mission to discover the identity and lifestyle of its former inhabitants.

when we bought our little white house with green shutters 2.5 years ago, we already knew that the smiths (name changed to protect the johnsons-i mean the guilty) had a small-ish baby, two big indoor dogs, damp wood termites, and an aesthetic sense that allowed for covering every available inch of wall space with the hides of various small animals.

our education continued when we moved in on a cold, snowy day one week before christmas. judging from the amount of dog hair on the floors, caked to the walls, floating in the toilet, stuck to the shower, and multiplying in the fridge (the fridge, people!!!), the smiths (who are really the johnsons) were preparing for the iditarod.
indoors.

thanks to determination, a strong stomach, and swiffer, we overcame the dog hair episode and moved forward in our sleuthing adventures. we learned from our neighbors that the smiths (johnsons) possessed several cars, an rv, and a large number of atvs. which explains why half our backyard is covered in asphalt. aforementioned neighbors also explained that mr. smith-johnson (bob? jason? fabio?) worked for a rock moving company, and said asphalt was laid in manic spurts whenever he had extra.

... which explains why the ground wasn't leveled, why the asphalt is 2 inches thick in some places and 18 in others, why there are two or more layers of asphalt with dirt (and twigs and possibly humans) sandwiched in between, and why there are tree stumps poking through.

the solution:
step one
hire my brother chip (who is on summer break), helped by my father (who likes jackhammers), and a friend of chip's (who, unfortunately, is not pictured here), to remove the asphalt. this happened back in may.

step two
blog about step two.

feline fun

2009-08-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

pamina the cat
- also known as sharpie, cuddles, mittens, "the little terror", panini, and CAT-get-out-of-the-fridge! -

... is a great study partner.

... is also fascinated with all things electronic.
(i really did shut her in the fridge. accidentally, of course. she survived.)

folks, we're in business!

2009-08-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

oh yes we are!
four piano lessons under my belt, and i'm preparing and marketing to launch my studio in september. :)

we have a website: www.laniroberts.com, and this little brochure that only just about killed me with all of its design roadblocks.

(click on panes to view larger and read content)

this small business thing can sure be confusing, and maybe building two at once is crazy...
but it's awfully fun!

vestal photoshoot

2009-08-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

it's been way too long since i've had pictures of this family. :)
on tuesday, while joel was laboring over a cultural anthropology test, i took a whirlwind road trip to jonah ministries with kim and becky vestal, joined sammi, tabitha, daniel, and patrick, and eked in a family photoshoot before the sun set!

trout lake, washington is so beautiful - i think someday we just might move there.

these people are natural posers. i say "pretend you're in a band." ... and this is what they come up with. seriously - how awesome is that!

my hippy husband

2009-07-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

yesterday i found some photos from may 2008, back when joel had long hair. they made me laugh, and i couldn't resist posting them. i do miss the fro!

keeping cool...

2009-07-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

yep, yep, we are. :)

her name is pamina, btw. a rather lofty name for a cat, but it seemed to fit.

what we got

2009-07-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

we got something very special last night.
it was in corbett.
we drove there, and it walked out of the grass and stopped at joel's feet.
so, really, it got us.

this something special likes riding in cars, which was a good thing because we put it in our car right away.

it also likes riding in pockets, which was a very good thing because we had to take it into the supermarket.

it especially likes typing - see?
p;;;;;;;;;;;8888888888888 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;yy81```````

here it is!
that dried rose petal never had a chance.

other things it likes include pouncing on toes, anything electronic, and exploring.oh, and i wasn't kidding about riding in pockets.
she - it's a she, by the way - really doesn't like recordings of high schoolers imitating native american war cries. (don't ask...)

we need help, though. she doesn't have a name.
ideas so far are phantom, pocahontas, terminator, and borg.
need i say more?

i've been birkenstocked.

2009-07-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

i like birkenstocks, i really do. i think they're kind of cute, in a ... homely ... fashion.
(i just used the word "fashion" to describe birkenstocks. you know this blog is gonna be good.)

since my foot injury, footwear options have been severely limited - mostly to supportive tennis shoes, bulky mary janes, and the occasional briefly worn ballet flat. this summer, i broke the mold and bravely stepped out in my rainbow flipflops. that didn't work so well.

the search for a supportive sandal led me to the birkenstock.
hippy mama of sandals.
now we're talking.

my search for a birkenstock led me to a custom arch support store in gresham that shall remain nameless (and is on the corner of powell and burnside across the parking lot from starbucks right next to the quizno's and the snowboard shop).

yesterday evening, i walked into the nameless store. i was immediately accosted by a well dressed, tall man who looked like will smith, babbling something incomprehensible that (judging from his awkward laugh-smile) was a joke. i smiled, and explained politely that i wanted to buy birkenstocks.

i believe what he heard was: "i want avacado green go-go boots, 6 inch platform, please."
the man contorted his face clownishly, and asked why i thought i wanted birkenstocks.

somewhat taken aback, i explained that my foot was crushed in an accident and i need supportive sandals.

my mistake.

this, apparently, was his cue to launch into a 30 minute lecture on orthotics, which he was shocked, shocked, that none of my doctors had recommended. the lecture included powerpoint demonstrations, a mispronounced survey of the tendons of the foot, and multiple repetitions of the same questions (to which i obligingly gave the same answer every time).

after the lecture, mr. will-smith-guy was sure he had the right sandal for me. he reverently placed before me an orthotic sandal - the answer to all my foot problems!
the thing was hideous.
more than that, it chafed against my sensitive, scarred skin.
fed up at this point, i explained that i really just wanted to buy birkenstocks.

poor man. he was crestfallen. after a few parting shots on the terrible consequences i was bringing upon my orthotic-less feet, he allowed me to try on birkenstocks ...
and sent out the manager.

so close to freedom ... and yet so far.
the manager began his desperate spiel by asking if we really understood what his underling was explaining about orthotics. next, he advised us to check out their website, and (because apparently we look like we can't tell a url from an insole), spent 10 minutes walking us through their website in the store.

finally we extracted ourselves from their clutches - hungry, exhausted, with a manic glint in our eyes. their parting words: "send us some customers, ok?!?"

... right

two down, hundreds to go...

2009-07-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

i think ...
i love ...
being a piano teacher!

had my second lesson last night, and can't wait for more! the thrill and the challenge of sharing my love for music in such a tangible way - ooh, it's fun! :)

excuse me while i freak out in a blog post.

2009-07-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

i am teaching my first piano lesson in ... 1 hour and 11 minutes.

... and i'm blogging instead of preparing.

but seriously -no - that's ok - cause i've been preparing for this one lesson nonstop for a week. except when i took breaks to go to a conference on piano pedagogy
-which was awesome, by the way-
but, honestly, it wasn't really a break from lesson preparation. i've prepared for this til my brain turned blue...

and i am so not ready.

my studio isn't set up (that's happening this weekend); my piano isn't tuned (11am next tuesday); i don't have flash cards yet (but i drove all across gresham in the heat and construction traffic this afternoon looking for the music store); i am so not ready for this!!!

that's what i've been telling myself for 5+ years now. and i'm probably right.
but i've got to start somewhere.

[deep breath]

ok, bring it on.

baby basils, baby pictures, salmonella, and soap operas

2009-07-13T00:55:00.000-07:00

this is a random update blog.

it is also my response to everyone who has asked me how i like "not working".

thirdly, it is my (hopefully) controlled response to the next person gives me a knowing smile, winks, and asks me how late i sleep in these days.

my husband has not contracted e. coli - yet
joel is working hard. very, very hard. these days in addition to working full time, he's also taking 2 online classes through portland community college and an intensive 4 week microbiology class at psu. he spends his nights conducting questionable (i think they're questionable) experiments with such untouchables as e. coli, salmonella, and staphylococcus, gets home at 9:30pm, eats dinner, then stays up til who knows when studying human development.

my life of leisure
let's just say i haven't caught any soap operas.
since wednesday, july 1, my work week has been 7 days/week, 14-16hrs/day ... doing stuff i love! planning piano lessons, setting up my studio, designing business cards, accompanying weddings, working on the show i'm music directing this fall, communicating with photography clients ... the to do list is endless, and honestly, not particularly blogworthy. i'll get my feet under me soon and have a little more to say about what i'm doing, but right now i'm just trying to keep hyperventilation at bay.

the garden pictures!
yes, the garden pictures are here! in a random update blog! these pictures were taken in may. so maybe tomorrow i'll go out and take some pictures to post in october!

this is the front of our house, back in may. it looks different now.

this is a tiny part of the herb garden. the basil is much, much bigger now, along with everything else. the cilantro that you can't see very well in this picture died, but that's ok because i don't think it was really cilantro.
thank goodness sun roses don't change ... much.
more baby pictures!
if you're tired of baby pictures you can go somewhere else now. i'm not tired of baby pictures. :)

it's ok that i haven't blogged in a long time cause i have baby pictures.

2009-07-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

so ... yeah.
and yes, i know, these aren't the promised garden pictures. those are (probably) coming, along with ~~excuses for why i haven't blogged or commented in half an eternity~~ an update on our life (or lack thereof) for the last month.

baby pictures are of 11 month old kairis and her parents.

sinking in...

2009-06-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

my last major print project as office manager of gcc.

even though today was my last day (yikes!), it definitely hasn't sunk in that i'm leaving the job i've held for most of my adult life.

leaving stability, schedule, salary, and friends for what?

opportunity.
the chance to jump into a river of dreams and either drown or build aircraft carriers.
the chance to use music and art to touch so many lives ... if i can conquer the formidable foes of organization, planning, marketing, and intense hatred of alarm clocks.

... i'll keep y'all posted. especially on the alarm clock part. ;)

details

2009-06-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

detail posts are my favorite. we'll remember the big things we did on a trip, but it's the little things that are so special.

we did lots of fun little things on this trip - joel was accomodating enough to drive me down quite a few memory lanes, even though nostalgia isn't really his thing.

we visited his old high school during graduation - that was fun - and i managed to capture this shot of the auditorium where he sang and danced a number of school musicals. i'm actually rather proud of this picture - it's taken with my point&shoot through a heavily tinted window. :)

joel took me to his old church on my first trip down, over five years ago.
the lower level of this house is a small apartment where joel and his mom lived during some of his elementary years ...

... and during that time he attended this school. :)

community college (taken leaning across the driver's seat through the window of a moving car - he refused to stop in traffic for me to frame the shot, and i refuse to crop it.) :P can you believe he only had to pay $17/credit?!? and i was up in oregon paying $70 for community college credits?!? (well, actually, when joel was in community college i was 12 and spending most of my time playing piano and babysitting, but still!)we enjoyed a lovely tuesday night dinner with joel's grandparents and cousin morgan, and i fully intended to take photos. hmph. if you're curious what they look like, see december 2008.

tuesday was a great day - it included several non-crowded beaches, a highly informative lecture on footware from a birkenstock man, and shakes from crystal cove shake shack.

one of my absolute favorite details of this trip involved an issue with my migraine prevention medication. i take a drug called topamax, a neurological nightmare that prevents my daily migraines and always seems to find new and fascinating ways to mess with my brain. i made a slight change in the medication right before we left, so for most of the trip i experienced highly amusing neurological symptoms such as itching, tingling, forgetting words, and a complete inability to express a coherent thought without excessive stuttering.

my positivity toward these symptoms may seem sarcastic, but let me assure you, i am perfectly genuine. when i cannot even remember words like "playoffs" and "yellow," there is no approach but to laugh. my favorite instance came when i suggested to joel that we use a bazooka on something, but instead of bazooka, i said "bakooza." the poor man thought i was referring to some type of water gun!

and of course ... our trip had to end. the handel's messiah bells in redding bid us goodbye from the land of sun and palm trees, and a glorious southern oregon sunset brought our trip to a close.

(actually that's not true. watching "finding nemo" on the laptop to stay awake until we rolled in at 12:50am brought our trip to a close. but the sunset thing sounds better.)

captain dave's dolphin & whale safari

2009-06-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

i'm gonna do it again. yup... more animal pictures. please humor me - i'm preserving memories. this is so much cheaper than scrapbooking! ;)

on wednesday of our vacation, we went on a safari. a dolphin and whale safari, which took us straight into the perilous heart of the wild seas of southern california, and included free brownies. if you're skeptical about captain dave's appropriation of the term "safari," hold the cynicism long enought read dictionary.com's definition of the term as "any long or adventurous journey or expedition".

was our safari long? long enough to necessitate a pretty serious potty break afterward!
was our safari adventurous? [gives a pirate-y laugh] read on!

we spent about 3 hours on a catamaran (... googling ... hey, i spelled it right!) searching for dolphins and whales with about 20 other people + captain dave. less than 30 minutes into our trip, we found a pod of 200-300 dolphins.

they like to ride the pressure wave of the boat, and would swim next to it. we listened to their squeaking and clattering "dolphin-speak" from less than 5 feet away!
all of these pictures are from our point&shoot. my "real" camera spent the trip wrapped tightly in a sweatshirt, since i had the awesome foresight to leave its weather cover back at joel's parents' house. drat.

after a few quality hours with the dolphins we went searching for a whale - 'twas the season for blue whale viewing. the closest we came to seeing one, though, was to smell its breath just after it surfaced. (just a freebie: "whale-breath" would be a great insult next time you need one.)

captain dave (chatting here with joel's mom) was super cool.

joel's mom & stepdad aboard our catamaran. (ha! i spelled it right again!)

conversation overheard while we passed these sea lions:
kid: mommy, why do they live on there and not on the beach?
mommy: because if they lived on the beach little kids would poke them all day long.

please... don't read this.

2009-06-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

because this is the post in which i shall be intentionally guilty of one of the most annoying habits of personal bloggers:
endless animal pictures.

compounding the offense, they are vacation animal pictures. vacation zoo animal pictures.
there, i warned you.

on monday, we visited san diego's wild animal park (i suppose not, technically, a zoo) with joel's mom and stepdad. the weather was perfect, and the animals ... accomodating. :)
we started our tour with a truck ride around the park, narrated by a perky blond with a penchant for puns.

the park was huge and open - the closest thing i've ever seen to an african savannah. don't be fooled though - one of america's largest cities is just over that hill.

the animals are kept in as natural of habitats as possible - aka, not in separate cages. (though they do have to keep the zebras separate because they will pull everyone else's tails out, according to the perky blond.)

this is just about the best angle on this poor creature - he's missing one of his horns!

"little" baby giraffes ... ^_^

of course, not all the animals wanted to be observed...

i didn't initially realize that the vehicle here was fake. somehow after that i find these photos slightly less humorous, though no less cute!

i experienced a post-lion camera meltdown (dead battery), but karen brought hers as well. crisis averted. i'm not quite sure how to explain these next two photos. there was an opportunity to feed little cups of nectar to lorikeets. we fed the lorikeets. joel fed one or two sedate lorikeets, and i fed five or more in a hitchcock-esque whirl of claws and color.
honestly, i think they were lured by my stones shirt. someone should notify mick jagger of his tongue's odd effect on lorikeets.

this will not be a witty post.

2009-06-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

... because it is after 11pm, and i am tired.
and because i am typing slowly and carefully, both because i don't want to disturb the sleeping husband beside me, and because i can't type very well in the dark so about every third letter is wromh. :P
(oh, and the pictures are all from my sony p&s.)

we are on our 2nd day of a lovely vacation in southern california, visiting joel's parents and visiting with each other for the first time in several months. the 18hr drive was pure conversational bliss. (especially since the weather was appropriate, unlike our last trip. see december 08 for that blog - i'm to tired to link it.)

we spent some time yesterday at joel's mom's bookstore, where harry the cat was lounging on the adding machine.

today has been a san diego day, with joel's dad steve and newly retired stepmom kumi. first we toured the midway, an aircraft carrier with an excessive amount of interesting history that i will probably remember tomorrow morning. feel free to look it up on wikipedia.

this is the ... um ... cockpit. except it's not called that. i was paying attention, really!

we are very high here. those planes are about 5 stories off the water and we are 3-4 stories from the planes.

next, we took a 2hr tour cruise of san diego bay. it was mostly a navy ship tour, since there are so many of them in the bay.

this is the u.s.s. nimitz, the first of the nimitz class of aircraft carriers that are used today. (see, i learned something!)
we didn't get to tour it.

this is where i would normally work up a witty ending.

...

'night!

fly away

2009-06-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

my maternal grandfather, les borms, died on monday after a decade-long battle with prostate cancer. he is now free from pain.
these photos are from my grandparents' 50th anniversary celebration last august.

some bright morning when this life is over
i'll fly away
to that home on god's celestial shore
i'll fly away

when the shadows of this life have gone
i'll fly away
like a bird from these prison walls i'll fly
i'll fly away

oh how glad and happy when we meet
i'll fly away
no more cold iron shackles on my feet
i'll fly away

i'll fly away, oh glory
i'll fly away
when i die, hallelujah, by and by
i'll fly away

the fish coroner

2009-06-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

[ahem]

when in the course of piscine events it becomes necessary for one fish to be released from the tropical world which has cradled it and to be delivered to that great fishbowl in the sky...
don't flush it.

tropical fish keeping is not a hobby for sensitive souls. believe me, i know. (sensitive soul here.) you think you're going to buy a pretty fish tank and some pretty plants and some pretty rocks and some pretty "tank deco-art" and some pretty fish and they will swim around and be happy and bright and pretty until they die of old age in, oh, maybe 10 years. all you have to do is feed them some bright, pretty fish flakes that come in a bright, pretty jar!
ha ha.

so you buy your tank and your fish, and within a couple months your fish are sprouting white hair - the kind that grows out your grandpa's ears. and then they die.

so you buy more fish, and within a couple months they swell up like balloons with pathetic bugging eyes, and flop around your plastic pirate skull for a few days before they die.

so you buy more fish, different fish, and within a couple months their little heads are covered with deep holes into their cranium all the way to their brain from burrowing parasites. which, of course, makes them die.

and then the fish that didn't swell up or sprout hair or leak brains are suddenly covered in leprous white spots. but this is good because you know what this is! this is ich, also known as "white spot!" finally, a fish disease that is both identifiable and curable! so you buy some methylene blue, treat the fish, the white spots go away, and then they die from the harsh chemical in the treatment (which, by the way, is carcinogenic).

it's enough to make a girl cry. what's a sensitive fishkeeper to do?

the answer: stealth fish euthanasia.
and frankly, i have no idea how it's done. i employ an in-house fish executioner/coroner - he operates with utmost secrecy, and his, uh, "methods" are classified information. terminally ill fish simply disappear.

which is perfect for a sensitive soul like me.

... we hold this truth to be self-evident, that all fish are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are buggy eyes, bright flaky food, and a dignified death by guillotine.

portland farmers market

2009-06-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

every school term (except summer) since january 08 joel has had saturday science labs. conveniently, portland farmers market is held on the grounds of psu, so fresh, cheap, locally produced soups, breads, produce, and occasionally breakfast have become a saturday tradition that we will miss!

i could describe the farmers market in many paragraphs, but i'd rather use a few photos. :)

i'm BACK! woooo!!!

2009-06-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

hi!

how're things in blogopolis?!? (actually, i shouldn't ask that because i already know - i've secretly been reading all your blogs while i've been too ~~lazy~~ ~~distractable~~ ~~adhd~~ busy to post.)

out here in robertsville* we're mostly in recovery mode, with a little bit of radical life change mode thrown in too.**

recovering from...

~ willy wonka shows: my biggest non-work time commitment of the last 8 weeks is now over - rehearsals are done, shows played, equipment packed up, goodbyes said, and memories made. i'm trying to track down some pics of our band, but haven't found any. i'll post them if i ever do.

~ joel's school term: ok, technically we're not recovering from this yet. joel still has finals until next tuesday, so he's studying hard like the brilliant student that he is. (love you, dear!)

~ the house: well, the yard. we've been trying to turn our yard into ... a yard. plants have been planted with great tenderness, weeds have been eliminated with great tenacity, the shed has been cleaned with vigor, and asphalt has been jackhammered ... by my brother. blog post coming soon, i promise.

~ major life decisions made: which segues perfectly into ...

radical life change...

~ i'm taking some big steps these days ... embarking on new adventures, making and pursuing career goals, and just generally shaking everything up! on july 1st, i will no longer be the office manager at grace community church, a position i have held for over 3.5 years. i'm embarking into exciting new territory, and i'll keep y'all updated on what it is and how it goes! for now, wish me luck as i wrap up a huge job into training manuals, job descriptions, and goodbyes.

~ on the lighter side (and maybe "radical life change" is a stretch), i cut my hair.
it's amazing what a little haircut (and lighting and photoshop and chapstick) will do for you!

*seriously, blogger spellcheck, give up already.
**no, we're not pregnant. stop asking.

3 words:

2009-05-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

willy, wonka, and intercostalitis.

those are my excuses for being such a lame blogger lately. oh, and a lame friend, housekeeper, employee, gardener, cook, phone-call-returner, and .... pretty much everything else.

willy wonka
this last weekend was opening weekend for the christian youth theater musical that i'm accompanying. oh, the stories i could tell! it has been so much fun, and i highly encourage you to get tickets to see us this weekend! ;)

intercostalitis
another pearl on my string of odd and unpleasant ailments, intercostalitis is what can happen if you get a really bad chest cold/cough when you're super stressed out, don't have time to sleep, and your fluid intake consists mostly of soy mochas (interspersed with straight coffee for variety). add a little bit of luck to that recipe, and the muscle and cartilage inside your ribcage will become inflamed and tender, which is about as awesome as it sounds. i'm still figuring out how to heal from this (today's experiment of "healing by going to work and sending out a churchwide mailing" has failed) ... so until i'm on the upswing, i'll probably be a little scarce in these parts.

happy blogging to ye!

fighting genetic capitalism with the aclu...

2009-05-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

read the blog before freaking out at the title, please ... ;)

last week i shared with y'all about my brca1 genetic mutation, which puts me at very high risk for breast and other cancers.

to be considered for brca testing, you usually must exhibit several risk factors, since the large minority of cancers are related to gene problems. in my case, my mother and grandfather had already tested positive for the gene, and i had a very strong family history of breast cancer.

if your family history is deemed suspicious enough by the big cancer kahunas, then you begin the joy of the BRACAnalysis test through myriad genetics lab in utah.

myriad is the only lab in the world that tests for the brca1 and brca2 genetic mutations. why? they patented those genes. yup, a gene that runs through my body, my mother's body, my grandfather and aunt and thousands of others, has been patented by a company that charges $3000 per (teeny little pin prick) blood test. may or may not be covered by insurance.

gene patenting is not new - living things weren't patentable before 1980, but that year a landmark 5-4 supreme court decision regarding genetically engineered bacteria started a spiral of gene patenting. there are definite positives: gene patenting encourages the sharing of information, reduces duplicated research, and encourages funding. however, the negatives include allowing private companies to monopolize testing (charging exorbitant amounts and taking months to send results), and the fact that, when it comes down to it, humans are patenting other humans.

this morning, i was delighted to read the following headline/article:

aclu sues over patents on breast cancer genes

the american civil liberties union is "arguing that patenting pure genes is unconstitutional and hinders research for a cancer cure," and i couldn't agree more.

i understand that the issues surrounding gene patenting are complex, that there is no easy answer. but i can't support a system that allows companies to patent parts of people, then make it difficult for those people to access information about themselves! i am not a political person; i do not agree with aclu in all (ok, most) things. but there is only one being i know who holds a legitimate patent on the human body, and He is not employed by myriad genetics.

for more info on gene patenting, click here

at least the calcium's healthy, right?

2009-05-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

seen at the gresham station subway:
a small girl of 7 or 8, eating a 6in sub.
contents of sandwich: cheddar cheese
bread: italian herbs and cheese
side dish: cheetos

can you guess what she was drinking?

genetic mutant ninja me

2009-05-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

i can't count the number of times i wrote a first sentence to this post, deleted it, wrote a different one, deleted it, then walked away from my web browser.

how do i begin the most self-revelatory blog post i have ever written?
how do i, all at once, share with the entire electronic world a secret that only a few friends have known?

my secret isn't sensational tabloid material: i'm not secretly popping vicodin, i'm not actually a guy, i don't need a bailout, and i'm definitely not getting adopted by angelina jolie. nothing like that.

my secret is ... i might get cancer.
there. i wrote it. lame secret, huh?

actually, my secret is that i am a genetic mutant. probably just like you.
someday, maybe, scientists will understand the entire makeup of our dna, the purpose of every gene, the secrets locked in every chromosome. that day, i think they will find that every person has wayward wiring and errant genes ... adam and eve fell and we've been genetically tumbling ever since. my opinion aside, despite the scientific advancements of the tech age, it's still rare to be diagnosed with a genetic mutation. i'm 1 in 800.

my mutation, brca1 (along with its associate, brca2), is a poster child for cancer-causing genetic mutations. why? most discovered mutations cause a slight to moderate increased risk for cancer. in contrast, brca1 carries up to 44% risk of ovarian cancer, 2-3 fold increased risk of melanoma, possible increased risk of pancreatic cancer, increased risk of prostate cancer, and (the zinger) a whopping possible 87% risk of breast cancer.
that's 9 in 10.

... as in strangle-me-with-your-powder-pink-ribbons-nine-in-freaking-ten.

so ... what's a girl to do?
this girl has had some time to think, (i was diagnosed last summer), to talk to some "experts" (another blog, another time), to get used to the idea ...
but, you know, it's kind of hard to get used to something that hasn't happened ... to make peace with a hypothetical ... to accept something that resists acceptance for the simple reason that it doesn't exist - yet.

i'm not saying peace is impossible; in fact, i know that, though elusive, it's not impossible.
how do i know?
because "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation [... even genetic mutations], will be able to separate us from the love of god that is in christ jesus our lord." (romans 8:38-39)

so i'm in the process of making peace with genetic mutant me. and who knows - maybe i'll get superpowers out of the deal!

“be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is god's will for you in christ jesus.” (1 thessalonians 5:16-18)

yo amo cinco de mayo!

2009-05-06T11:51:00.001-07:00

i love cinco de mayo.
for the second year in a row, i celebrated in authentic style - food, music, language, the works ... minus the tequila.

gcc's hispanic sister church, comunidad cristiana, partners with a church planting ministry called hispanics for christ every year for a ministry update/fundraiser/feast/concert/party/cinco de mayo fiesta! the music is led by cecilio, tim, and a group from comunidad, plus a certain flute player who gets to join in on the fun. ;)

playing with this group is as different from my orchestra, choir, and evangelical worship band experience as ... water and tequila!

first, there is the not-so-minor detail that all conversation and direction is in spanish. some of the group members (and leaders) don't speak english.
my spanish consists of two phrases:
yo amo esta canción! (i love this song!)
yo amo este pollo! (i love this chicken!)*

one of these is more useful than the other.

next, there is the not-so-minor detail that all the songs are in spanish. and they sing them really fast, and don't pronounce all the letters. i encourage you to try to follow a handwritten chord chart for a song in a foreign language - it's harder than it sounds.

third, these songs are not 3 chord wonders. run and hide, chris tomlin. the styles range from cuban to afro-peruvian, from the coasts of south america to the andes mountains. tricky rhythms, non-intuitive chord progressions, complicated instrumentation .... it's a beautiful thing to my challenge-deprived musical soul.

... and even more beautiful, is coming together with people i can't even share words with and laughing together over goofy musical mishaps, concentrating together at attempts to communicate, smiling knowingly together when we meet the same musical wavelength, praying together to our god who understands every language and culture, and worshipping together as we will for eternity.

happy cinco de mayo!

*and any other obvious derivatives (e.g. yo amo tequila! yo amo switzerland! etc.).

snazz-ifying lalaland

2009-04-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

in case you didn't notice the tie dye (tie dye is always so subtle)...
lalaland gots a new 'do!!!

whaddaya think? like? don't like? ignore the question? ;)

i think they just painted this elevator.

2009-04-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

my quest to cultivate a healthier, cheaper, and greener lifestyle has landed me in my office this morning, smelling quite strongly of vinegar. methinks we have some glitches to work out...

i'll post more once i've got my act together. until then ... just don't ask.

this is me, helping you declutter your home!

2009-04-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

IF you live in the portland area ... and
IF you have one or more books that you don't read ... and
IF you already tried selling the books at powells and they wouldn't take them ... and
IF the books are in halfway good condition ...

i know what you can do with them!

africa new life ministries is a totally awesome organization that is doing great work in rwanda. seriously, check them out. (we sponsor little adelaide, an 11-year-old rwandan girl through anlm. they rock.) btw - unrelated - i heard about anlm from kristal - whose blog also rocks. :)

any-hoo, anlm is building a school - kigali bible college - that will open in january 2011, and they need books! the kigali kollection committee (yeah, i know, you'd think a bunch of book collectors would know how to spell...) set a goal of 5,000 books by may 15, and are sooo close! according to african accreditation standards, a library must have 10,000 books ... so that's the end goal.

for details on the the book collecting project, check out dr. garry friesen's (highly entertaining) blog posts here, here, and here, (in that order).

so ... what can you do with the books? get them to multnomah university, or just bring them to me!!! i will haul the books in for you - i'll even pick them up from you! (if you live in the gresham area ...)
so leave me a comment here, on facebook, plurk, twitter, email, phone ... ya know ...

pontiac FAIL (ftw)

2009-04-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

i'm feeling nostalgic today.

i woke up to the voice of npr newswoman renee montagne on my alarm clock radio; she informed me and the world that pontiac is no longer. pontiac, the fabled auto maker whose name recalls the heyday of muscle cars. 82-year-old pontiac, maker of the gto judge, the firebird, the tempest ... has finally crashed.

and i exulted.

see, i don't know much about firebirds and whatnot, but my first car was a pontiac: a 1991 pontiac bonneville sedan.
it looked a lot like this:add rust, chipped paint, bailing wire (to keep the hood shut), duct tape (to keep the trunk shut), 250,000 miles on the odometer (the distance from the earth to the moon), rips in the upholstry (what uphostry?), cracks in the windshield, flatten the tires a bit, kick out the back left turn signal, and you have...

my first car! ta da!

yes, i, along with other current and former pontiac owners, am feeling the sweet sting of nostalgia as an era draws to an ungraceful close.

sayonara, pontiac.
sucks to be you.

ant invadorz

2009-04-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

aaaaand they're back.
1 week after we paid $$2much.moolah to our wonderful exterminators, the ants invaded the living room and the kitchen. i think whatever was sprayed around the exterior of our home drove the beasts inside, instead of away...
thankfully, the "exterminators" did leave some super-duper, high-powered, keep-away-from-pets-children-plants-and-oxygen ant traps, which have been patroling our counters menacingly since the attack.

... which happened 3 days ago. yes, my kitchen has been immobilized for 3 days. i want my money back.

the ant-y side of the kitchen - click to view larger and see the carnage.

the non-ant-y side of the kitchen. can you say "non-functional?"
posing for the ants :: menacing + exasperated

these things are nice today

2009-04-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

sounds of silence ~simon & garfunkel ...

taking pictures of my freshly weeded and replanted herb garden when i get home (if it's not raining) ...

joel acing the anatomy & physiology test that he's taking right now [fingers crossed] ...

spending tonight cleaning the dead, poisoned ants off my kitchen counters while listening to coram deo podcasts (their january core life conference on the bible) ...

thai leftovers ...

intermittent sunshine ...

overcoming blogger's block ...