Hey, good lookin'...

My beautiful friend girl-Lauren is such a good cook, and so modest, that she can present an absolutely mouth-watering pan of bar cookies and then actually apologize that she forgot to put the sweetened condensed milk on until the very end and that now they're "not pretty." I made the same mistake Friday night, despite following her recipe (which clearly states the order), and am just glad I got the sweetened condensed milk in the pan (mostly).

Unlike a small minority of my friends who actually think I'm a fairly in-control cook, Lauren and Jon, being my downstairs neighbors, would show up on time for meal invitations, and would thus often catch me in the throes of one disaster or another. Because they are such good friends, however, they would stay, eat, compliment me on the food anyway, and still be up for future invitations.

These days, my downstairs neighbors aren't nearly as pleasant. This evening I returned home to find, predictably, my car blocked in, and, less predictably, spilled beer covering our shared patio, a plastic cup in my bike's bottle-holder, and a Budweiser pitcher hanging off its back rack.

Lauren would leave me cookies, but never nasty beer paraphernalia! I miss my Lincoln neighbors. (L & J are now in California: one more reason to hope I get into Stanford!)

Holiday Wrap-up

So after nine hours in the car yesterday, which followed another 14 or so on Tuesday, I am back in the desert. My parents and I had headed north on Christmas Eve, arriving at my sister and brother-in-law's house Christmas afternoon, having survived a scary spin off the road just south of Roseburg, Oregon and having been semi-miraculously still able to drive the damaged vehicle the rest of the way north to Port Orchard, Washington--despite snow for much of the way, including a nasty storm around Portland. Due to weather and The Spin, we arrived approximately seven hours after our most optimistic estimate, but still had a festive evening, opening some of the Christmas presents even though we'd planned to do the tree after New Year's, and not all of us had finished our shopping (ahem).

We spent a few days there before heading over the mountains to Walla Walla, where I had a fantastic time eating delicious food, jogging with the aunts, being silly with my eight-year old cousin, and visiting friends (Ted and Heather hadn't managed to talk Veronica out yet, but I did get to see, among others, the blogging types boy-Lorin, Kuyler, Burtmiah, and David).

We returned to the we(s)t side in time for New Year's Eve, which I celebrated in Seattle with a variety of friends and relatives, first at The Rockstar's* CD-release party in Pike Place and then at a smattering of festive locations around the city.

On New Year's day we did Zoo Lights at Point Defiance, and Friday my mom, sister, and I met another aunt in Tacoma for lunch. On Saturday Joel ferried over from Seattle and we did a big dinner and the second round of the Christmas tree.

Sunday, Abraham were playing another show at a little cafe in the U District, so we headed over the waters again, where I thoroughly enjoyed not only an awesome show, but meeting up with both a high school friend I hadn't seen in a decade (adorable as always, and especially so at eight months pregnant), and with David, who'd made the trip up from Portland after hearing the band New Year's Eve. A few flakes had started to fall during the show, but by the time we'd finished a big dinner afterward, it was snowing in earnest, making the drive home adventuresome and stranding David on the west side of the mountains. By Tuesday it was gone, so he, my sister and I tripped to Tacoma to meet up with another friend at the Antique Sandwich Company before he had to head back to the east side; my mom was also able to fly back to Palm Springs that morning.

Wednesday, my dad and I drove as far as Santa Rosa, getting lost briefly in wine country, before staying with the inimitable Jonathan and Lauren, about whom I have blogged before and whom I see far too infrequently and miss terribly--although it looks like, through the most serendipitous of circumstances, they will be coming out to the desert this weekend!

I posted a random and lopsided but large selection of photos from the past two weeks here. My flash is broken, so lots of the indoor shots are a bit blurry. And somehow I ended up with about a ton and a half of pictures of cats and car-window landscapes--and none of plenty of important people, places, and events. Still, they give you an idea of the holiday adventures.

And now, I am back at my parents', where, as I was typing this, I just felt an earthquake** that shook the kitchen table from side to side and made things on the wall rattle. I also just realized that I am sunburned from this morning's (74 degree) run. Viva la California!

*If you're on Facebook, I recommend that you become a fan!
**Speaking of Facebook, I love that people's statuses were updated almost immediately to reflect the tremor.

Rodeo

Hello again, Few Readers I Still Have Left.

I write from the rest area in the middle of the Grapevine, at which we have paused en route from Santa Rosa (where we stayed with the ever-fantastic Jon and Lauren) to Loma Linda (where we'll stay with the charming Becca and Justin), via LA for dinner with Jeni and Soroosh. Epic Roadtrip II is underway, and more reports will doubtless follow, but for the moment I want to make good on a promise on which I've been remiss: the rodeo report!

In my last post, as you may recall, I was anticipating attending my first ever rodeo. Here is a sampling of the pictures we took; as always, click here to view larger versions, leave comments, etc.:

I've been telling people that aside from all the cringing and gasping (of which there was plenty), I actually had a pretty good time. It's interesting how quickly one (or I, in any case) grows inured to the violence and constant threat of injury to both man and animal. I was also struck by the fact that the people participating in and attending what could be perceived as an exploitative manifestation of cruelty are actually the ones who in contemporary culture maintain the most actual contact with these animals, and possibly love, respect, and understand them more than those of us urban vegetarians; on the other hand, as Ter pointed out, they may just be numb to the concerns of the dumb animals who form their property and source of income.

Anyway, philosophical concerns aside, it was a good time. We started with the fair, which runs concurrently, checking out various animals and crafts pavilions before heading to the rodeo arena. Unfortunately, we missed the Mutton Bustin', which apparently is a huge deal at this rodeo and prompts allegations of political scandal, as far as whose kids get in. We did make it for the bareback and saddle bronco riding, individual and team calf-roping (especially cringe-inducing: those poor baby cows!), steer wrestling (no joke), barrel racing, and bull riding. You can see the videos David uploaded here.

The other interesting aspect for me was how, in our position of privilege in our box seats (whose long waiting list doesn't preclude people hoping to jump the line from calling the rodeo office, apparently, upon hearing that a particular box seat owner has died--despite the fact that the box seat is just an upgrade from bleachers to metal folding chairs, closer to the ring (although I was still grateful that David was able to get them from his work)), we had a view of Hermiston's Who's Who, from the local Toyota magnate to various business owners. David said that once he even sat next to a senator.

Pictures of Adventures in Glacier National Park and Epic Roadtrip II will follow as soon as possible; don't abandon me yet!

Hey, so, remember how back in September I briefly alluded to Epic Roadtrip II, which David and I took on our way back to Mpls from the Northwest? Yeah, I kept meaning to blog more about that, and never did.

I may share more pictures later, but for now, here's a photo for each day of our adventure:

Saturday, 8/22: Surprise birthday party for Hathor

Sunday, 8/23: Leaving Walla Walla

Monday, 8/24: Oregon Caves

Tuesday, 8/25: Driving to Northern California

Wednesday, 8/26: Visiting David's grandparents in Northern California

Thursday, 8/27: Staying with Jon & Lauren before heading south

Friday, 8/28: Dinner party at Becca's

Saturday, 8/29: The high desert--Integratron and J-Tree

Sunday, 8/30: Shockingly, no pictures taken (after several hundred the day before...)

Monday, 8/31: My birthday; my mom made tiramisu and put candles in it!

Tuesday, 9/1: Leaving the desert

Wednesday, 9/2: The Grand Canyon

Thursday, 9/3: White Sands National Monument

Friday, 9/4: Carlsbad Caverns

Saturday, 9/5: Roswell, NM


Wow. That was way more difficult than I expected--and I'll definitely have to post more pictures. The Integratron/Joshua Tree, the Grand Canyon, White Sands, and Carlsbad were each particularly difficult to attempt to capture in a single photo. If I weren't so exhausted, I'd also post a map so that you could see just how far our peripatetic wanderings took us.

Weekend

Pretty much every weekend since I've been on the west coast has been an amazing one, but this past weekend was especially epic. It started Friday night with a celebratory birthday dinner with friends and a round of a new board game that had me weeping with laughter. Saturday Jon and Lauren arrived from Santa Rosa, and we spent a glorious day out at Joshua Tree, scrambling on the rocks, taking lots of pictures, and trying to feel the spirit of U2. Sunday Mandy and Erin drove out from Loma Linda and we enjoyed a Sound Bath at the Integratron (activating various chakras and balancing our brains!), a pilgrimage to Giant Rock (former home of the Giant Rock Interplanetary Airport), lunch at the Park Rock Cafe, and a windy sunset at Keys View in Joshua Tree.

Here are a few of the many pictures that were taken; as always, you can click to watch the slideshow and double-click to go to the galleries (where you can see larger versions, read the captions, and make comments).

Joshua Tree pictures:


Integratron/Giant Rock/Joshua Tree pictures:


Next weekend, of course, will be the marathon, which is always exciting. I am nervous, as always, though perhaps especially so this time around. I very much have the sensation of living in a marathoner's body, but the last time I ran any distance greater than 10 miles was at the Twin Cities Marathon in October! Granted, I've run many miles since then, in shorter increments, and I've toughed out runs in single-digit temperatures and, since I've been out here, ones up substantial hills and at elevated altitudes. Phoenix will also mark the first time I've run a marathon in a city where neither I nor an immediate family member lives, which increases the drama slightly. It will be an adventure!

Minding the gap

(In case you wondered what I'd been up to during the lapse in blog service...)

I flew into LA Wednesday night; between giving my final at Lourdes, packing, and then getting up to drive myself to Dayton, I'd slept about 3 hours. Bryant picked me up and we headed straight for Seattle.





We drove all night and all day.













We got to Auburn just in time to make our goal: April's bridal shower. I gave her the painting she's holding.








The wedding was Sunday afternoon in the Academy Church. This is the part that made me cry.










Bryant got a picture of it.













April married Chris Knopper.













This is the reception. Teri did all the decorations for both it and the church, and my mom did the food. Bryant took this picture of his plate.














Our little cousin Maddy was the snow angel.














Bryant and I helped with clean-up on Monday and then drove to his mom's house in Vancouver. On Christmas Eve, he and Bradley and I went snow- boarding.




I had never been before.











We opened presents early Christmas morning.

This is Bryant's mom, Colleen.













We left Tuesday morning for the desert. Somehow we managed not to get any pictures of Jon and Lauren or their adorable house in Santa Rosa... but did get this one of my brother the rock star (who came down from Seattle to meet us for the trip) sleeping in the back.

Thursday was Christmas with my family, including the newly- returned honeymooners. April and Chris had to leave early the next morning, but Joel and Bryant and I stayed up and watched March of the Penguins.



Or... tried to. Joel took this picture when he woke up.













On New Year's Day, Bryant and I went climbing in Joshua Tree. Here I'm at the top of the second route we did.















I really like this picture of Bryant, who is trying to show me a boulder problem.












And that's about it.