Ahoy!

Blake is so happy with his boat. It calls him on the phone and he drops everything to go see it. They text message each other. He keeps tissues and lotion in the cabin.....Alright, alright hugely exaggerating. But it's great to have it so close. He found this new marina to park "her" in. The last one was right by a noisy cafe on the end of the dock and people would walk by constantly and lean on the boat while smoking which is like soooooo effin' disrespectful. Plus there was a super strong current so to get in and out of your space it was really easy to, like, slam into other boats which is, ya know, really bad. So the new place is gated and the waters are so clam and he's right by a huge open stretch of river and when you sit on deck you can see Washington State across the water and see planes fly overhead. It rules. And Mayan is his First mate. It's freaking adorable. She scrubs the deck with a little scrub brush and has her "boat legs" so she has free-range of the boat and doesn't have to wear a life-vest when docked. She is learning all sorts of sailor things like knot tying and about the sails. They spent the whole day there once and they were both beaming when they got home--Mayan just thrives on the responsibility of being first mate--she comes home calm, acting very mature, and connected to her Poppa. Sometimes we go as a family, too. I sunned myself on deck and read some celerbrity gossip, while the girls snacked on Farmer's Market goodies and played below, and Blake did Captain-y things. Yes, I never would have thought but I am really glad we have a sailboat.

guilt blog

...only 'cause I haven't posted in so long and Jennifer told me she checks it everyday!!!

So this one is for you, Vera:


My alteration leap of faith--
I found this super hot pair of jeans I bought on ebay a long time ago while moving. They fit me muy bien but they needed to be hemmed. I, being a huge fan of the original hem (shortening a pair of jeans but retaining the original bottom with it's stone-washed goodness) and being unable to do it myself, had to find a seamtress in portland. I had no idea where to start so I busted out the good 'ol yeller pages and found the closest one to my house--Kham's Alterations. I walked into the tiny space on the outskirts of town where the line between Portland and Gresham are blurred to find a row of teal industrial machines and numerous sun-faded posters of Asian models wearing cheap looking clothing that looked like they'd been hanging since 1991 and a sweet little Asian women in a lavender pantsuit.

"Hi. Do you do original hems?"

(shocked look) "How you know?!"

Apparently, this lady didn't know about orig. hems until another client brought in her pants and she's been doing them every since. I think she thinks it's some secret trick, and word got out that she does them. I asked to see a pair so I could see it she sucked at it or not--they are hard to do! I've gotten at least 5 or 6 done, and the best I've ever seen is from Sydney Scissorbird in Bend. They charge $25 bucks and it's worth every penny! I had another lady do one and it was decent and she only charged $15 which was a total steal until she went out of business (probably 'cause she didn't charge enough....) I had one done through Banana Republic and it was the crappiest hem ever.

But this lady had none to show me. I had to make a decision--go search out a different place or take an alteration leap of faith. Since I am a lazy person and optimist by nature I went ahead and said "Pin me up!"

As she wrote up my slip she kindly and apologetically explained that since these take more time, she has to charge a little more that normal hems....(I braced myself)...so it would be $10. Haaahahhhaaaa. Alright, I mustered an understanding look to mask my delight.

Won't know until next Tuesday if my leap of faith was a success--either I get what I paid for and my pair of Citizens gets butchered or I just found a screamingly awesome deal and a new alteration joint. Here's hoping......

put down the paint brush and make contact

as promised here are some photos. apparently i am in some time-warp and two weeks have passed. i have so much to do. everyday half of my "to-do" list gets ignored while other things get added on. yet the meals and butt-wiping are a constant. want a peek at life in our new world? you go it!

our first night. thank goodness we had movers or else we'd be sititng on the floor.

ah....the one room that is nearly perfect as-is

mid-painting, a little book nook off the kitchen/dining area

herb garden, mid-reconstruction

our glorious, over-grown but frog- and fish-packed pond

mom rules! she helped me plant my veggie garden--luckily it was sunny that weekend

the one bonus about the fire: the whole back of the house was re-sided

the girls' room

our yard from the balcony

the wisteria

our room: total work-in-progess

the hallway--check out those awesome skylights!!

*sigh* even messy this room looks cute

freshly painted, our new lockers we scored and a little artful sitting area--LOVE IT!

even since i took these, things have changed. haven't been at the computer much but i think of our bend peeps often. love to you all!!!! things will mellow soon and i will be more *in touch*.

xo

it's really happening.

The truck is loaded to the gills.

The house is nearly empty--save for food, toothbrushes, our mattresses, and us (including our new baby snake Maizy).

We will clean up tomorrow, say good-bye to our friends, then leave bright and early on Friday the 20th. Sign papers at 2pm.

Applicance come on Saturday. Naomi visits on Tuesday. Regina Spektor at the Crystal Ballroom Tuesday night.


This is finally happening.

Yipppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan Zanes and Friends

Woo-hoo! We had a rockin' time at the Dan Zanes Show at the Aladdin Theatre. Our first kids' concert in Portland--Mayan was adorable as a front-row fan, boogying down with the other kids. Isadore was a bit overwhelmed--it's the first time she's been to something like that. It is pretty weird to go from full sunlight outdoors then open a door and into a dark auditorium with lots of people moving around and loud musicians on stage.

Getting down front and center

Isadore had this look on her face the whole time

Awww....my little groupie with Mr. Zanes

as the title states.....INK

One cover-up, five sessions, 13 hours...one sexy ass! Finally the piece is done. No more "L", just a curvy, wonderful, colorful cascade of sparrows and japanese flowers.

I've always thought that the traditional sparrows were very sexy and they seems to be the perfect mask for my first tattoo, which like most "first tattoos" felt ballsy and exciting but was poorly designed and badly placed. I also wanted to avoid the classic "long beach bumper sticker" lower back placement so it hit me to do a design that instead of coming together like the common lower back piece, cascaded down and followed my every curve. For flowers, I wanted something fun and light like my own personality, not too sophisicated and elegant--a book of japanese emblems and design had caught my interest a while back at the library so I dug that up and chose an array of sizes and styles. I proposed to Hawk that we tie together traditional americana with japanese using starbursts. The results were spectacular! I have always loved my waist being small and having wide "birthing hips" and this piece served to honor that shape and the hard work my body has done in raising these two darling babes.

Few things I learned about being in the chair: first, don't get too comfortable. The first time I sat was for the outline which after placement took 3 hours. True I was fine for the first two, since I was laying down. But when we took a break and I changed positions to sitting up, I went into shock--gave my adrenaline a chance to mellow out and for my body to realize what what going on. All I could do was put on my own head phones, squirt some rescue remedy and lay a blanket over me, but all-in-all I was ready to go back and get more! By the fourth visit though, I began to get too comfortable--I went with this attitude of "hey, getting ink is easy--I must be pretty darn tough." Well, with that mindset my body decided that I didn't need that natural painkiller to kick in--it was by far the most painful session and the last hour I had reverted to "labor breathing." Luckily, it put the fear in me for the last session and my body like I had hoped kicked in after about five minutes.

People ask "what does it feel like?" Well for one, it depends on where you get it. And the nerves from one centimeter of skin to the next can be very different--which I found to be so especially for the lower back which killed toward the "dimple" and toward the sides of my body on my roll or "muffin top." Another bad area, the "ass neck"--the sensitive skin between your butt cheek and leg...owwwwwww. That felt a bit like being burned on skin that has been sliced open. Yeah. Dude. Ow. But it always last for just a moment. Really once you start and your adrenaline gets pumping, the sensation just becomes annoying. It helps to shoot the shit with others in the room. And laughing. Afterwards, you are ravenously hungry--like you can eat twice what you normally would--and a pleasant giddy high envelops you for a little while. Then (after stuffing face) I get really sleepy, like burning allergy-eyeballs sleepy, and also I get really emotional. Honestly, it's a lot like smoking weed--without the paranoia!






The last two were taken obviously by myself while Blake laid tile in the bathroom before our three house showings tomorrow! After the last section heals I will take better photos of the whole piece.....

something like easter

nothing better to symbolize spring than the egg. my attempt to dye eggs naturally had mixed results. the blueberry/beet eggs had a good color after soaking in the fridge for a few hours. but the spinach/onion skin eggs not so much--i used light green eggs and hoped for them to be greener or a yellow-green but they turned out brown! just like the normal brown eggs that i dyed purple. oh well, i'll know next time. westley, mayan, and isadore had 22 eggs to find. the only problem was that the eggs were such earthy tones that they were hard to find--even the adults were looking at the end even though we hid them! the final egg was hilarious--blake hid it in the rim of my mom's car. we stood there near it, staring at it, saying "warmer, warm--cold! okay, warmer.." they were SO close but just kept passing it by--we all had a good laugh (with them not at them!) but finally MG spotted it. all in all, good times.

yay, Lukie!

the final egg hiding in the wheel

so close!

check out that ponytail in motion!