Favorites 2.2.16
Cleaning the garage. It once held a mini ramp, and more recently, a very persistent rodent. Right now, though, my garage is strictly a purgatory of stuff. My stuff. Old roommates' stuff. Ex boyfriends' stuff. Former homeowners' stuff. Maybe even your stuff? It's possible. The important thing is that I've been cleaning and organizing it, and in addition to fulfilling my pathological need for order, I've unearthed a treasure trove: 2 skil saws, 3 orbital sanders, bike fenders, a staple gun, spray paint in a myriad of colors, and so much more. It's like Christmas morning!
Taco potluck. See, I buy the tortillas and tequila, you bring over your favorite taco fillings. What could be easier, cheaper, more delicious, tipsier?
Theo Peppermint Stick Dark Chocolate. There're way too many houses still draped in Christmas lights around here. It's messing with my feng shui. But! This limited edition left over from the holidays is fine by me. The crushed-velvet richness of dark-as-night chocolate; the crunch and coolness of peppermint candy. As I've stated elsewhere, it's so super worth it to buy the really good chocolate (esp. if you’re down for getting all feel-good-organic-fair-tradey) (which I am).
Pretending it's spring. The other day, I felt a barely warm breeze and got all excited thinking about spring. This caused me to hurry to the nursery and browse seeds for my future veggie garden, all the while caught up in a kind of frenzy dreaming about the fresh salsas and salads I'd make when the warm months returned. If this is crazy, I don't wanna be sane.
January 25 + Astoria
As a month of 31 days, January's in no hurry to leave. I think the magic of this early-in-the-year time is getting 100% back to basics, getting 100% serious about clearing out clutter both mental and physical—like, replacing the strings of white lights in the windows with nothing, with fresh space, with newly cleaned glass.
Something else that makes me feel like I have more air in my lungs is travel, by road, by car, with good people if that's at all possible? Exploration. I am still determined to find new favorite places in Oregon. And despite my longstanding grudge against the Oregon coast (too crowded in the summer, too gloomy in the winter, altogether too many windsock shops), a few of us drove to Astoria this weekend, and I was charmed by the place.
I liked the ancient crumbling victorians piled all the way up the hillside. I liked the colossal freighters anchored in the inlet. I liked the melancholy place names—like Cape Disappointment, where all the ships crashed, even the one carrying supplies to build a new lighthouse. Astoria's just a grand, rugged ole frontier timber town straight out of The Journey Of Natty Gann or something. It's exceptionally Northwest!
Anyway, we let the dogs lunge through the waves and watched Billy do donuts in his SUV on the beach. We stopped at view points and looked at views. We drank beer and ate copious french fries and then fell asleep early in one of the quietest, comfiest hotel rooms with the softest of beds.
What You've Been Up To
Oh hi. What have you been up to? Me? I've been trying to work. But it's damn, damn January and all the companies who hire me are just waking up from a long holiday slumber. As such, there's no real projects cracking yet, and projects are what get me paid (and soothe my pathological inability to relax).
I cannot tell a lie, I've been feeling a little useless lately. It happens every year. The darkness and rain of mid-winter mixed with a sense of treading water. I'm a baby. This is basic boredom. But the work-like tasks I've been giving myself (update your portfolio, prune the rose bushes, repaint the fireplace) haven't been doing the trick to get me jazzed on life. I mean, where is all that effervescent joy we used to know?! Like, back in summer and stuff?
Sorry, that got depressing really quick. It's okay! Life is grand, and I've been taking a lot of pleasure in cooking simple things from scratch using this cool book my mum got me for Christmas. It's all about how to make at home the basics you'd usually buy at the store. Hummus. Milk. Yogurt. Just do it yourself. Dial 'em in how you like them. Way cheaper, better, and healthier, too, without all the additives and such.
Yes, I've been learning a lot. Did you know, for instance, that the very best thing to spread on a piece of toast is not butter, like I'd once thought, but rather a rich, lemony tahini sauce? I just found this out. Wonders never cease.
3 Things
The Revenant. A revenge story set on the Montana frontier, where the rawest brutality and grand, austere beauty are married by the power vested in Alejandro Iñárritu's camera lens. Nature is savage, and humans are no more than animals, after all. The movie is 2.5 hours long. I wouldn't write about it if it weren't worth the hassle. It is. And all them Golden Globes last night just prove it.
The best cruiser-board ring. Acquired for Christmas via the bargain basement of MapleXO, who doesn't really make rings like this anymore, which is just another reason why I like it so much.
Last week's snow storm. A not-necessarily-predicted snowstorm hit while Portland slept last Saturday night, and we all awoke Sunday morning to a city of zero snowplows under 3 inches of fresh. Calamity! It was the day after the day after New Year's Day, also known as the day you chuck your Christmas tree, and the boys of the Cub Scout tree-recycling program sipped cider on tailgates in the park as people from all over the neighborhood dragged their formerly festive spruces by hand through the empty white streets.
Side note: I like the way my house looks with the powder—cute and kinda old timey.
The Year That Was
I don't usually sweat the New Year or starting fresh, but this year I did take a little inventory and did find things a little wanting and did make a little list. Things to remember. Ways to live. Aspirations of a higher order.
1) To wait and see. Patience served me well in 2015.
2) To live honestly. It's a character thing.
3) To be there and be cool for my friends and my family. Relationships are complex, but what they require is pretty simple.
4) To pay attention to the world around me. The little things are the big things, etc.
5) To get good at getting old(er). I think this has to do with cultivating an ongoing appreciation of me, such as I am.
Aaanyway, here's a wee tour through my 2015. Salut!
Spring: Tiki-bar karaoke. Eugene for Derek's birthday. Skating in shirt sleeves under the flowered, drooping trees.
Summer: New York City skate gangs. Go Skateboarding Day hill bombs. A boozy rabbit hole of summer involving swimming spots and front stoops.
Fall: Road tripping to the American Southwest in order to bathe in the sage-brush breeze. Halloween hijinks. Piles of crunchy leaves and all the trees caught on fire.
Winter: Powder days. Arctic nights. Copious celebrations indoors—where everyone gets along because it's too cold not to.