Domestic

Off to Minnesota

We're leaving Sunday, for an unexpected trip to Minnesota. We had planned to visit this November, for Thanksgiving (Sonia's never seen—of felt the 'wind chill' of—Minnesota in the winter. Instead, we're extending what would have been a quick trip for a funeral into a week-long stay, so we can catch up with the family and friends that we haven't seen in two years.

Getting to Minnesota, however, is going to be a bit of a nightmare. For reasons unknown, flying out of PDX is expensive. It's a helluva lot cheaper for us to drive to Seattle and fly from there. But that tacks on an extra three hours of travel time each way. Remind me to stock the car with good CDs.

Also, in a fit of crazy, I've decided that it'll be easier to make myself a funeral appropriate dress than to shop for one. I picked up this easy vintage pattern last night (Vogue's 2267), and have already whipped together a muslin rough draft to make sure it fits well. Thankfully, it does—and tonight, I'll get to work on the black version. (Just the dress, not the jacket.)

-amy

This Morning in Oregon

Sonia and I, along with a few hundred other couples state wide, filled out a form, had it notarized, forked over $60, and can now relax knowing that in the event of a crisis, we've got a lot more rights than we did yesterday (hospital visitation, the ability to inherit the whole urban homestead if something happens to the other, automatic parental rights when we have kids). Yep—we're officially "domestic partners" as far as Oregon is concerned.

It was pretty anti-climactic—there are no vows, and no one officiates. It's literally filing some legal paperwork. But it's a step in the right direction!

Oh Tannenbaum

We headed up to Thorntons' Treeland today to get our first Christmas tree in several years (it's possible the last tree we had was before we even lived together—when Sonia lived in a studio apartment down the street from me, at least 4 years ago). And we've never had a tree that we cut down ourselves.

Sonia chopped it down. A teenage boy who works at the tree farm took a liking to Posey, and gave her a gingerbread man. At home, Jen helped us make sure the tree wasn't crooked, then we went nuts with the lights and ornaments.

Tomorrow, we put lights on the house, make cookies, and get to work on holiday cards!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors and children and there are many various European traditions surrounding St. Nick on December 6th. Shawna and Jen are big proponents of St. Nicholas Day, which also happens to be Shawna's birthday! Traditionally on St. Nicholas Day you will leave your shoes out for St. Nick to fill with gifts and treats. Always respectful of the traditions of others, Amy and I left our shoes out to see if St. Nick would visit and he did! Just look at all our bounty!

Posey left her collar out last night and she too received some special treats. Thanks St. Nick!!

Sonia is Famous!

Sonia sent in a tip to The Stranger in our old hometown, Seattle—relating a strange story from our trip north for Corey and Jon's wedding.

It made it into this week's paper!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 This week of severed legs, indicted cults, and suspiciously strenuous denials kicks off with a world-class Hot Tip from Hot Tipper Sonia, a former Seattleite who returned to town last weekend for a wedding. "We were staying at the Silver Cloud Inn across the street from Safeco Field," reports Sonia. "We parked in front of a bar on First. On the way to the wedding, we saw two guys rummaging through the gutter next to our car. Weird, but we kept walking. When we passed again a few hours later, the guys were still there. One of them had a mini floodlight that was plugged into an extension cord running into the bar. They were still looking for something. One of the guys asked if I could move my car back. Then he looks up at me and says, 'I lost my prosthetic eye.' I could tell he wasn't kidding because he was staring at me with one good eye and a hole where an eye used to be. I moved my car back a space, wondering if I would be able to notice the car crushing a prosthetic eye. I don't think they ever found it. But if someone finds a prosthetic eye near the Silver Cloud Inn on First, they can probably take it to the bar located there and they'll get it to its rightful owner." ("Oh yeah," adds Sonia. "I forgot to mention that the guy who lost the prosthetic eye was rummaging just a few yards away from Ouch My Eye gallery.")

-amy

Life on the Urban Rural Homestead

Amy and I like to go camping every free summer weekend we possibly can. This weekend was camping trip number one. We headed to the near-by Tillamook forest for an overnight trip of campfire and s'mores.

Posey seemed to believe we were just spending the day in one large dog park and demanded we either throw the ball (or act like we really wanted to) all day long.

Here is Posey, unimpressed by the serene surroundings.

Posey was impressed, however, by our camp-dinner: Asian Beef Skewers with pineapple and red onion and special dipping sauce! It paired nicely with the beer and s'mores.

The Sign of a Good BBQ

Folks are having so much fun, the party goes late, and moves inside when it gets chilly (it's August, and we're all wearing sweaters... it's a strange week here in Oregon). Pizza is ordered, board games are played, and the party detritus still outside is left for the morning. (We did bring in the leftover food, though, so the racoons wouldn't be tempted to host their own housewarming party with our scraps.)

And this is what we're left today: A picnic table with the archeological remains of the party, topped with half an inch of rain.

-amy

Getting Lost in Beaverton

So we got a little lost in Beaverton last night. I'd carefully written down Powells address and mapped it with directions from our house. I also mapped how to get from Powell's to the 24-hour Starbucks in Beaverton, to scope it out for Jennifer (who's busily researching area coffee shops as she puts together a business plan).

Too bad I mapped the wrong address. Powells Beaverton apparently moved six months ago (according to the friendly folks at Linens'n'Things, where we inquired after circling a strip mall for the fourth time). They told us the new one was in Cedar Hills Crossing—which, now that they mentioned it, sounded familiar—but I don't know where the hell that is. After a few tries, I got through to a real person at Powells
who kindly gave me directions to the new one—and we were only a few minutes late. Actually, we were right on time—the authors began a few minutes late, so we caught the entire program.

It was worth the hassle—though the authors largely discussed things I'd already read in the book, it was nice to hear firsthand their adventures in eating hyper locally for a full year. They did it, and it didn't entail a ton of sacrifice. On the way home, we decided to give local, seasonal eating a bigger effort.