from garden to grillin

 

When we bought our house last year, we were happy to find that there were large tomatoes already growing in the garden boxes. The house has a watering system on a timer so they were cared for and ready for us when we were ready to move in. Andrew's been working hard to cultivate a garden that produces food and is also functional this year too. For the last several meals that we've made at home, tomatoes have been a prominent ingredient. I daresay that we have too many tomatoes but it's just made me expand my culinary resume to include more tomato-laden recipes.

Today, I made tomato, veggie sausage, and pecorino pasta which also included fresh basil which Andrew got from the garden. Next year, I am going to insist on potatoes and possibly onions because I love pulling food out of the yard. It tastes so much better!

What else?

We went on the people's preview of the Tilikum Crossing. It was cool to be able to cross it but there were WAY too many people. It will be a blast when the hype dies down. Also, today was the BridgePedal so there was an excessive amount of garage cyclists (people that pull their bikes out of their garage a few times a year for big events like this). It was annoying and as goddess as my witness, I will never ever participate in a BridgePedal.

neighbors

When we first moved into our new house, this guy pictured above was the first neighbor to greet Maria in the backyard. They get along fine and I'm happy to see him whenever he comes around. This morning, I picked him up and he climbed over my shoulder and started kneading my back. A good neighbor gives back massages.

We also had some other neighbors come over for a visit. A few months ago, we were biking by a house on our street, maybe 10 blocks away, when the guy living there called out to Andrew. He was someone that Andrew knew from a previous job so today, him and his wife came by to sit in our backyard and chat. It's a lovely day for backyard sitting and I love this neighborhood. It's so quiet and friendly and safe for animals to wander about.

What else?
We also tried Gladstone Pizza for the first time. The crust was great but the toppings on the Greek pizza were a little salty. We'll try it again but just with different toppings.

On Thursday, I tried a homemade egg white drink that Andrew had made.

On Friday, we walked to the Eastport Cinema for the first time where we bough tickets and saved seats for our friends so we could all watch the new Mad Max together. It was pretty awesome. Not quite as fun as Pacific Rim was but close. And it had a better feminist message.

On Saturday, I tried the fried cauliflower at Slingshot. I won't be doing that again. I don't like tahini that much.

chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool

It's too damn hot. I wouldn't have been drawn to the Pacific Northwest if I wanted to live in hot weather. Fortunately, it's not going to last that long...hopefully.

It's only been in the high 80s but it supposed to reach the mid 90s this weekend. Really, that's not too bad when I think of the 100 degree days that I used to spend in Nebraska, specifically the times when I didn't have air-conditioning. I remember once sitting around our shack of a house with Brian. We were just both in running shorts and nothing else with our door propped wide open to try to capture any breeze at all as we watched the Simpsons. Neither of us were moving for fear of bringing on the sweat when a rottweiler strode into our living room like he owned the place. Again, we didn't move and he just stood there looking at us, not wagging his tail but not growling either. He eventually left and we were able to then shut the door. I can't exactly remember what we did then but I'd guess we went to Hastings where our friend ran a movie theater where we could just hang out all day and watch movies for free.

It doesn't get nearly that hot here but when you're not used to it at all, these days can be dreadful. Sleeping is particularly difficult. After going without sleep for a few days now, I decided that I wasn't doing a damn thing today and it felt awesome. Also, my hammock in back is a lot better setup than a hot living room.

What else?
My new thing today was buying wine from a vendor at the Buckman Farmer's Market and also buying a loaf of bread. I started reading the Hunger Games yesterday because Sophia has a copy and recommended it. It's really good and it made bread sound like a delicious idea so I discovered a fresh bread vendor at the Farmer's Market which was delightful.

My new things yesterday and the day before were both work things. I had to do a training for new staff on Tuesday. We present a full day of training as a team every other month and normally, I train at the end of the day but due to scheduling conflicts, I went first today. I like going last better because then I get to let the class go a little early. Still, I met some new people, in particular, one new guy who I'm going to be working with at one of my stores.

Today, I toured a store in Beaverton with one of my participants and then met her skills trainer. She asked me a bunch of questions about the clients' work ability and I was impressed by how knowledgeable and professional I sounded. Go me!

that other reality

Last week, while we were enjoying the beginning of Country Fair, one of our friends passed away. Since I've been in Portland, I've only had to attend two funerals. One was for my co-worker's child and the other was for my grandma. I consider Portland to be a wonderland of sorts and death doesn't belong here. Today, I had to face that, even here, death is a reality that will still find us eventually.

I can't say that I knew Syd very well. We had only met a handful of times but I was more acquainted with his partner, Cat. Syd has faced a long and grueling battle with cancer, only to pass away due to the doctors' denials that it had returned. Cat's been with him for over 20 years. I can't imagine what she's going through.

Yesterday was Syd's funeral which was referred to as a celebration of life. It was hard for me to view it that way when I didn't know him very well and I could see that my friend was so clearly suffering. Despite the imposing religiousness of the ceremony and sermon (Syd wasn't a church-goer) and the meat at the reception (Syd was an animal rights activist), it was nice to have such a large gathering of people there to honor Syd's memory. It was also a lovely setting, on the marina on Hayden Island.

Afterwards, Cat wanted to go to the beach so we made that happen. Ashes, Victory, Josie, Jesse, Lori, Cat and I all headed to Manzanita at sunset. We didn't really have a plan other than to get to the beach. Normally, I would have had to bow out of the trip due to Dean but Sophia was able to care for him. Cat also had her little dog Buddha so I bought some treats for her.

 

It was a long drive but it was also nice to be with friends. We got to the beach after dark. None of us were really prepared for a beach trip so we didn't even have jackets, except for Cat fortunately. Initially, Lori was going to rent us a hotel room and told us to buy some food. When we found out all of the hotels were booked, we just sat on the beach by a campfire. The beach was calm and beautiful and not too cold or windy. Sometime after midnight, we decided to head back to Portland. I drove Ashes' car and he drove Lori's since hers was a stick shift and she was too tired to drive. We didn't get back until this morning at 3am.

I love my friends. I love that they would be up for going to the beach at the last minute at the wishes of a friend in need without any attempt to dissuade her or push their own agendas. We're a special bunch and I don't want to lose any more of us.

What else?
In witnessing Syd's ceremony, I would like to get out of making a will right now and instead opt to do the cheap version by posting my wishes on my blog. I don't want a priest there, especially one who doesn't know me. I haven't gone to church in a long time and that's been a conscious decision. To have my funeral be overtly religious would be to dishonor my memory. If I change my mind one day down the road, I will update this. I would have the people from the Spirit Booth at Community Village do their thing but that's not a requirement. Also, I don't want meat served but dairy is fine. I want whatever animal I may own to be there and I want to be cremated. There's a cliff outside Manzanita where my ashes could be dumped but don't pull a Lebowski and let them fly back in your face.

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately so I haven't been updating my blog this week but here's what's happened:

On Monday, July 16th, I woke early in the morning at camp and registered for classes on my I-Phone. I got into the class with my instructor that I had for my generalist class which went along with my internship two years ago. I'm thrilled about that. Also, on the ride home, Tomas taught me how to play Backgammon. I was exhausted and not in the right state of mind to learn the game but I think I got the concept down.

On Tuesday, July 17th, I was hit by a car on my bike. I was and still am 100% fine. I was biking in a crosswalk that pedestrians were in as well on Powell and 28th by the McDonalds. The eastbound traffic stopped and a car was slowing in the westbound traffic but she didn't hit her brake all of the way. I was in front of her when I noticed she wasn't actually going to stop but I couldn't speed past her because I didn't know if the cars in the right lane were going to stop or slow down at all. She tapped by back tire and my bike stopped so I jumped off. I cussed at her and then saw she was maybe in her mid-80s. She pulled over and gave me her info. I released the quick release on my tire and it fell back into place. She told me to get it looked at and I had to spend a good amount of time consoling her. Maybe I should have called the cops because I don't think she should be driving still but I'm hoping she'll realize that on her own.

On Wednesday, July 18th, I got my bike checked out. Corey at Seven Corners had to true the tire but it was fine other than that and he didn't charge me anything because he's super-awesome. I bussed out to Clackamas for a store visit for the first time.

On Thursday, July 19th, I went to Veggie Grill for the first time. I also picked up a book on defending animals called the Bond. I like it so far but it makes me want to quit my job and devote my life to animal activism. Later on, Ashes and I picked up the door for Sophia's room from the store and I bought a spring which I used to fix the front screen door. I also went to the Hunger Games with Jesse. It was okay but a bit long. I'm impressed that I managed to stay awake through it all since it's almost a three hour movie and it didn't start until 9:15pm.

On Friday, July 20th, I made chocolate walnut cookies for Syd's service. I was also thinking that I would bring them to a BBQ that Andrew and I were going to at his friends Mark and Emily's house but they weren't cooled in time.

vision issues

I had vision problems today as I just couldn't see myself going into work on a beautiful day like this so I called in sick. I spent most of the day researching and reading for my final paper of the quarter which isn't due for another month but I want to get it out of the way. While I read on the front porch, Dean made a nest in the yard. I wish everyday could be this easy.

What else?
Jesse is going through nutritional therapy training so I opted to be a test subject for him and he gave me my evaluation today. I think that I do pretty well nutritionally but he made some good suggestions that I will follow. Mostly, I've been doing better lately because I gave up coffee everyday a few weeks ago. I started drinking yerba mate which tastes a lot better (so I don't need to add as much sugar) and the "caffeine" buzz is a lot more mellow. Plus I've been able to sleep better so I've been able to cut out the melatonin. Yay for living naturally. Work isn't natural.

It's a complete guilty pleasure that started with boredom and became a good addictive show but the Vampire Diaries finale kind of blew me away yesterday. I don't know why I proudly proclaim that I am a Buffy or Glee fan but for some reason, I keep VD (heh heh) in my closet. It's actually very well written once you get past the first seven episodes of the first season.

On 5/7, I toured a newly constructed store in my company for the first time in order to take one of their clients on a tour of one of my stores. While me and his case manager were heading back to our office, we saw a car stopped at the railroad crossing and the crossing bar slammed down on their hood. Ha ha ha ha.

gearhart

I'm on my third annual vacation to the beach for my birthday. This year, I chose Gearhart. Going to California last year was okay but unnecessary. This year, I also chose to bring along Andrew. I normally enjoy just having the time to myself but I have been having a lot of quality alone time at Muffin HQ due to Sophia's work/yoga schedule and I enjoy Andrew's company so I thought it'd be a good idea. So far, it has been.
\
It was a nice drive here from Portland and it was nice to have company for the ride. The beach house is really nice, especially for the price. It has two bedrooms (one for Dean) and a hot tub. It's also in a gated community. It's dark now so I can't see the view but I can tell that there are no houses between us and the beach.

For dinner, we went to El Mariachi, an over-the-top Mexican restaurant in Gearhart. It was nice but I don't think I'll be drawn back to going again.

What else?
This week has been filled with mediocre new things which is why I haven't been posting.

On Monday, my new thing was trying a new BBQ sauce. (See? Weak.)

On Tuesday, I tried the Vikings dog at Zach's Shack which was a mistake.

On Wednesday, I worked with a new person in my class on a in-class group project. I also talked to my teacher about my upcoming policy paper. She seemed to indicate that I could write it on problems with my work. The only problem I can foresee with that assignment is that she wants me to limit it to 10 pages. ;)

On Thursday, I went to the internship fair at PSU and met with two reps from different agencies. I'm looking at possibly interning with the county next year.

my favorite party

Typically, the client party at my work is the greatest party ever but this was my first year doing it without my partner in crime. Sigh. Even before he began to work in my department, I had arranged for him to DJ the party. Now, due to the stupid stupid nature of everything, he's not here and I have to be dancing on my own.

Despite the fact that he wasn't here, it was still a fun time. Work typically sucks but this is pretty much a day that can't fail. I DJ'ed the party for the first time and a co-workers' friend brought all of the equipment and set it up. Also, for the first time, I played a High School Musical song during a DJ gig. D, the guy who likes High School Musical, not only has all of the songs memorized but all of the routines as well. He was doing one of the routines in the workplace the other day and started teaching staff the moves. I researched it a little and found the song and the routine on youtube. So I played it. I thought I would lose everyone at that point but a good amount of clients knew it and a bunch of other people were willing to dance to anything. D was a rockstar tho. Everyone sort of gathered around him in a circle, cheering him on as he went through the motions of the choreography. It was spectacular.

Really, if I'm going to work here, I need more days like this.

What else?
On Monday 12/5, I ate dinner at the Long Haus. I miss the family meals. While it's not a new thing, trying Victory's new pasta sauce was.

On Tuesday, 12/6, Arturo came over to the house and we decided that we should look at the plumbing so we took pipes off of the sink. I've never done any plumbing other than fixing the toilet tank. It seems rather easy but something that can be initially intimidating.

On Wednesday, 12/7, I sort of didn't work. I can't go into detail though here. :)

encamping

Today, I checked my cynical ass at the door and went into the encampment for the first time. Wow. Okay, so yesterday, having not walked through the camp, my perception of it all was that it was some punk squatters saying they wouldn't move until everything was fixed for them and they didn't have to pay their college loans back. Well, that was exactly what I DIDN'T see there. Instead, I saw a community full of a variety of ages, classes, races and backgrounds coming together to voice their frustrations with the system and to brainstorm how change can happen. Just...wow!

It really reminded me of the Oregon Country Fair, except nobody was trying to sell me a three dollar lemonade and I wasn't wearing a skirt. And it wasn't just because I saw Jimi Hendrix (pictured in the third-from-the-top photo. As Community Village is, the Occupy Portland encampment was full of caring, awesome and organized people. They weren't an elite group that had survived camp and now only identify with other campers. They were people doing outreach and just talking to one another and whoever came through the park. In fact, they were having sanitation issues so they were encouraging people to not camp if they didn't have to but to come, learn, talk, hang out and then participate in support activities like the marches and rallies going on tomorrow.

This really put my mind at ease and blew it away at the same time. They had committees organized, they had an information booth, a safety booth, a library with rotating speakers (and anyone could sign up), a food booth with free food and people designated to help if you experienced conflict with anyone, sexual assault or just needed medical attention. And this is ALL in this one little park. It was beautiful. I am soooo damn proud of this city!

Also, the occupy movement has won me over as well. Almost every state has at least one Occupied city (c'mon Wyoming and South Dakota, North Dakota is making you look bad!). Oregon has a few Occupied cities. One of them is Seaside. This surprised me but Ashes filled me in on what is happening in Seaside. It's a very sought after vacation spot where people own beach houses. Therefore, the rent is high and the land is expensive. So expensive in fact that people who work in Seaside can't afford to live there. There have been reports of people having to camp in the woods outside of Seaside and then hike into work each morning. Part of their Occupation revolves around finding a solution to this problem. That's inspiring and so awesome. On a side note, maybe I should have done some remote reporting for Indymedia and headed to Seaside to do report from there for the weekend.

What else?
It was a clear and sunny day for the most part today and I spent it chilling with Dean. I also cooked breakfast today using potatoes that Tim had planted in our front yard when he lived here. He comes over and digs them up on occasion. They were really good and it's awesome that they grow under my bedroom window

tasting the rainbow

Today I ate a f'ing unicorn. I love Portland.

There's a vegan cart here that not only serves fake meat but they serve the fake meat of fake animals. They have a fake unicorn, mock loch ness monster and faux BBQ griffin. The beauty of this is that you can put together an outstanding flavor combination without having to try to make it bear a resemblance to an actual animal. It can just taste good and not necessarily like chicken.

I was satisfied with the unicorn. It wasn't what I was expecting but then again, I was expecting something utterly bizarre like deep-fried skittles mixed with pop-rocks. Maybe THAT'S what unicorn tastes like...

What else?
Truth be told, I back-date all of these entries unless I'm really on top of my game. Right now, I'm about two weeks behind and it's been a pretty important (but busy) two weeks so I want to post but it may take me a bit. I'm also going to skip the mundane days. Yesterday (Wednesday 8/24/11) was nice but I don't have a good pic so I'll just write that I went to the Sapphire Bar for the first time because it's supposed to be romantic. It wasn't but Andrew and I still had a good date. We're thinking of going camping together soon. Fancy that...

deep fried avocado

What happens when you batter avocado slices in cornmeal and fry them up? You get a happy Topher. I love Homegrown Smoker's inventiveness. Not only did I try the fried avocado but I got the Chili Pie with it which is served with Fritos in a Fritos' bag. They may not be the most healthy vegan place but they are probably the most creative!

wheels darling muffin

Sophia and I have discussed the possibility of raising kids (not really too seriously) if she ever accidentally has a baby (which will never happen). It comes from my preference for babies. I love em. However, I also love not being ultimately responsible for them and being able to pass them off to their parents after I grow weary of them. I don't think I'm quite ready for fatherhood yet so, instead of a human baby, we had a kombucha baby that I named "Wheels" after the United States of Tara and Sophia added "Darling-Muffin as the surnames.

Wheels is a kombucha mushroom which we put in a tea jar with some sugar and tea packets and some other stuff and let ferment for a while.  In a few weeks, if even that long, we had some kombucha. It's pretty good and it's nice that it can be made so simply at home. Wheels is also spawning another child from it so we're going to be able to bottle another kombucha baby. I got to try some of our homebrew kombucha for the first time today and I must say that we did a fine job of raising our baby.

What else?
Another indicator that I may not quite be ready for parenthood occurred when I was at Freddie's today, buying another tea jar. I was swinging it slightly as I walked up to the counter. The lid unscrewed and the jar went flying and crashed to the ground in a spectacular manner. I hate wasting things and breaking things unnecessarily but that was pretty cool.

sweetest sorrow

I love a good cry so Six Feet Under was just up my alley.  Normally, a show has to involve a teenager coming out or a dog returning to their owner or an Iron Giant blowing up to get my waterworks going but a sweet, sad song at the end of a show will work too.  Six Feet Under is not my type of show but I regularly check Billie Doux's website and it's a show she reviewed so I thought I'd give it a chance.  I started watching it a year or two ago and then I kind of just dropped it.  I should have stuck with it though because that was some awesome story-telling and acting and rare musical numbers (as shown above) and the best series finale I have ever seen.  I cried for about six minutes straight or at least until Jennifer showed up to drop off my car.  I'm not ashamed to say I was crying because of this show though because it was well worth it.

It's also been very symbolic of the state that I've been in lately.  I've been very down.  Even though I'm getting out of the house, I'm still not seeing my friends or having any fun.  However, viewing this show leads you to believe a few things; it could be worse, celebrate the time you have, and every relationship, whether it's through family, friends, school, work, random hookups, etc, all matter.  Plus this show has a lot of dark humor and it's a little depressing so it's nice to finish it up.  It is summer after all and I'm getting healed up (although still taking tomorrow off too) so I am about through with depressing.

What else?

Straight from New York Pizza moved into the Belmont and 34th area this weekend and today was my first visit there.  I was very happy with the food and the staff was also very friendly.  Plus, it was just a quick walk from my house.  Zach's now has competition for my attention and my late cravings.

simple saturday satisfactions

Today was simply wonderful for no reason.  Maybe it was wonderful because it lacked reason and simply was...

I had a few things that I wanted to accomplish today but nothing too pressing.  One of the things on my list today was to buy a new wallet to replace the one I lost last week.  I went back to Herbivore because I love their wallet selection and I really wanted to buy something vegan.  Yesterday, one of the store managers at my work was randomly talking to me about wallets and about how, when you get older, it becomes more of an impairment to have a thick wallet in your back pocket.  It's bad for your spine, etc.  However, as I recently discovered, having a wallet in your back pocket can also easily lead to losing it while biking.  At Herbivore, they had this handy thing pictured above.  Yes, it is putting all of my eggs in one basket but if my wallet can hold my phone, I can put it in my front pocket where I put my phone.  It will take a little getting used to but I think it'll be something I can roll with.

I also went to Panera Cares Community Cafe which is right next to my local Trader Joes.  First off, the bike ride to Trader Joes from Muffin HQ is wonderful in that it's all back streets but all of the streets are designated biking roads.  Also, the cafe is just awesome.  They have prices listed like a typical cafe would but the prices are just the suggested donation price.  The mission of the cafe is that anyone should be able to get a meal that needs one.  If you can pay the suggested price, then you do so.  If you can pay a little more, then you can do that as well which will help keep the place operating when people come in that can't afford to pay.  Sophia heard that 25% of people pay less than the asking price, 50% pay the asking price and 25% pay more so it ends up being sustainable.  I love this idea and the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich was wonderful!

Another awesome and new thing today was that Bob's Red Mill recognized me for checking in to the Mill several times on foursquare by sending me free food.  They contacted me a few weeks ago, finding my facebook account since you can't communicate really through foursquare and said they wanted to give me free new products as a sign of appreciation for visiting the mill so many times.  Today, I got in two packages of couscous and two packages of granola.  Hells yeah.
 
What else?
I ended the awesome day by singing karaoke with Dominic, Ashes and Victory.  For the first time, I sang 'Peaches' by the Presidents of the USA.  I also made my second attempt at singing Love Cats by the Cure.  Dominic first had me sing this song years ago as a scaraoke.  I had never heard the song before so I sang it like Frank Sinatra.  I'm still not that familiar with the song but I was a lot more comfortable and think I handled it pretty well.

drink to the rapture

Sophia and I haven't gotten around to our food blog yet.  We haven't had a food of the month for several months now too.  One of our foods is going to be biscuits and gravy though so I decided I can justify ordering it whenever possible.  You know, for research.  I went to City State Diner today for the first time and had what I think may be the top contender for vegetarian B&G here in town.  At first I thought they served me meat because it was mighty tasty but nope, it was veggie.  I also had a drink called the Rapture.  It was most likely a carryover from yesterday but I'll drink to the dream that there's no religion.

my cooking revival

Cooking is something that I forget I love.  When I first became vegetarian, I began trying out all of these new recipes out of necessity.  Not being able to eat fast food was one of the strongest excuses I had to go vegetarian.  However, when I moved to Portland, I found that numerous restaurants carried a variety of things I could eat so cooking became less of a necessity.

I have dabbled here and there but usually using some box mixes or pre-packaged veggie meat.  Tonight was all from scratch with no veggie meat required.  I found a recipe for vegan chicken salad but chickpeas are used as the substitute for chicken so it's really just a vegan chickpea salad.  Still, it gave me an excuse to use this masher thing that my sister got me for my birthday and the slap-chop that my mom got me for Christmas, both for the 1st time.

And it was good.  I wouldn't say that it tasted like chicken but it definitely tasted like home-cooking!

What else?
I pulled a big win out the my work hat today.  One of the clients in a different program in our company was banned from working in a store environment after he offended the wrong customer, a wife of a lawyer.  A lawsuit was threatened but later that threat was revoked.  The higher-ups at my work basically indicated that this client would never be returning to a store which would be holding him back quite a bit.  Litigation is a threat that's not taken lightly at work.  Anyway, it was killing me that we sort of failed this guy by setting him up in a situation that he wasn't ready for without the training.  I decided to appeal it to my boss's boss today even though nobody else was concerned about him staying where he was.  She agreed that we could give him a trial in a training store.  Yay!  I feel so good about this!

brunch pizza

Sophia and I brunched at Sizzle Pie where I had egg and jalapeno on a pizza slice (as well as a vegan slice).  Last time I had their pizza, I was less than impressed but today's was delicious, especially the vegan slice.  They also serve a slice with a cracked egg on it but they didn't have that today.  This just ensures that I'll be coming back!

my man cave

I really hate the term "Man Cave" to describe a den.  I hate gendered terms anyway but Man Cave seems so yuck.  I found it funny that Home Depot yesterday had a selection of colors for Man Caves.  However the selection was only 10 colors deep.  You can't give a straight man a choice between mahogany or sinopia.

The man cave paint selection inspired Sophia to begin calling my future office my man cave.  To me, that still sounds like a gay bar so I guess I can roll with it in that context, as long as I get to put up hot pink curtains.  Plus it's better than calling it the 'weird room' which is what she used to call it.

We painted the cave today.  It looks so good with paint on the walls.  White is such a forgettable color that even a light shade of brown can make a room seem so much more palatable.  I'm so excited to decorate it!

What else?
I'm also excited to just be in the hood.  I went to Red Square for the first time today for coffee.  It's a delightful little shop that I'm glad within walking distance.  I also headed over to Namu, a korean bbq food cart only a few blocks away from the house for a vegan bowl.  I was delighted that I could just walk up, grab a bowl and walk it back to the house for lunch!

the color process

I have trouble deciding what colors to wear each and every day so it makes sense that picking out what colors to paint the walls in the house today was an exhausting process for me.

Sophia and I headed to Home Depot to pick out five room colors and the color for the trim.  We even had a general idea, light green for the living room, yellow for the kitchen and bathroom, etc.  However, there are a whole lot of shades of yellow.  And then there's also different brands of paint (each of which have different yellow shades).  But there's also levels of glossiness to choose as well.  Oi.  It was fun but kind of tiring.  Thank goddess we had a very helpful clerk who wasn't above telling us how to get around the return policy should we change our minds.  We got it done though.  It was such an extensive project that I'm really glad we decided to do it the day before we painted because I am wiped out!

What else?
In the process of picking up painting paraphernalia, we popped over to Jennifers and then Ya Hala since we were in the neighborhood and Ya Hala always sounds good.  Ya Hala's also the place where I fondly remember eating with Michael B and Jemma when I was helping them fix up their new house.  Since then, I've associated it strongly with home repair.  Also, while we were waiting for our table, we visited the International Market.  I was hoping to see more food I remembered from Europe (Tartak) but ended up only finding a chocolate/marizipan bar that we ate constantly because it's vegan.  The candy bar is probably available all over town but it's special to me that I bought it at the International Market.

let them eat tiramisu

Things are looking different these days.  I'm going to be moving to Muffin HQ, my housemates are looking for a new house and Victory got a regular job.  The significance of these changes is substantial enough to renew my faith in new beginnings.  I'm excited for all of these potential changes on the horizon.  My new thing today consists of eating tiramisu.  It was absolutely outstanding but it pales in comparison to the pending new things.  I do highly recommend it though (it was from Portobello and today was my second visit there).

vegan pizza month

This whole immersion plan thing that Sophia and I came up with is taking it's toll on me. Salad was a nice change but, while I love Reubens, I ate a lot of them and I can feel the toll it has had on my body.  Fortunately, I like pizza and usually prefer vegan pizza so this month is working for my appetite if not my body.

On Monday, I hit pizza for lunch and dinner.  Hot Lips for lunch was the better than Rudy's for dinner.  Today, I hit Give Pizza a Chance for lunch and Sizzle Pie for dinner.  This is my 2nd time at Give Pizza a Chance and the first time I've eaten there.  Their deep dish Garden Vegan was amazing.  It was also an added bonus that Sophia just happened to be going there at the same time so we got to do lunch together.  Sizzle Pie had a lot of options but they were all mediocre.  One nice thing about the place was the server just dropped off an extra two slices at our table with my two ordered slices. One had meat on it but the other was vegetarian.  I put the meat slice at the counter by the window.  Later on, I saw a couple sit there and hand the meat slice back to the waiter.  The waiter then took it and offered it to someone at the end of the counter who was stoked to get it.

I'll probably try Sizzle Pie again because I need to get their signature fried egg on a pizza slice still. They also have a vegan breakfast slice called Drugs Benedict.  Oof, I'm full just thinking about it.

What else?
I met an awesome new on-call staff member today at my internship.  Actually, I was working with two relatively new on-call staff members in the afternoon and it dawned on me that I was the person with the most clout and seniority there at the moment.  That's an odd position for an intern to be in.

We also watched the Tsunami footage from Japan today at my internship.  I can't imagine what that would be like.  In the footage, they showed houses on fire caught up in the flow, moving along the countryside.  Shit, many people there survived the earthquake just to face a tsunami, flooding, fires and a potential nuclear crisis.  Ashes made a good point tonight though.  An 8.9 earthquake is damn powerful and it hit a heavily populated area.  Yet, the death toll was minimal which is due to their earthquake-sound structures.  Thank goodness for good engineers.