today we got to sleep in - yayyyyyy! one extra hour. although i dislike having less sunlight, it's much much easier for my body to adjust to this time change, versus daylight savings time in the spring. j & i went for a run - this means that j ran with me for a short bit, then he went on ahead of me to a specific point & turned & ran back to me, allowing him to get more of a workout. he's almost a foot taller than i am, with a longer stride, so his pace is faster than mine. if he stays with me at my pace, he doesn't get much of a workout. and i like making him do the "hills" twice. :) we even did abs when we got home, which for us is extremely rare.

in the afternoon, we were honored to be invited to another gathering at the lucky lab in nw portland (we were there last sat) to celebrate the baptism of a baby of friends of ours. as always, it was enjoyable to drink a pint and hang out with friends we hadn't seen for a long time. we saw some kids whom we hadn't seen since they were infants/toddlers - they're young ladies & gents now. kids grow up so quickly!

this evening, we saw "the devil wears prada" at a $3 movie theater. i was pretty disappointed. the main character's optimism & cheeriness was annoying. i don't remember "andrea" being such a perky person in the book. meryl streep did an o.k. job. i read the book awhile ago, and found it fairly predictable. it was a quick read- the kind of reading that feels like snacking on potato chips. easy to read, but not filling &/or nutritious. i thought the movie got decent reviews... j & i were both smacking our hands on our foreheads throughout the movie. glad i only paid $3 for it. fun to get out and see a movie, though.

we started working on our voting tonight. for those of you not in oregon, we get to do a mail-in-ballot thing, which i like, because it gives me time to research & think about everything. and there are no long lines to stand in. for those of you IN oregon - make sure you vote!!!

yesterday was a busy one. i got up late after getting as much sleep as i could after the night's insomnia, so i had a late start to the day. friends of mine were having an open house to celebrate their twins' first birthday, so i spent a mere 15 min there (if even that!) before heading to a meditation workshop. it was about how to meditate, types of meditation, and how to start a daily practice of meditation. very interesting. that's something i need to implement in my life. when i got home from the workshop, i met up with j & we changed into costumes #2 for a halloween party with his soccer friends. there were tons of kids there which made it a lot of fun, since halloween is really a kids' holiday. the party was great! there was a long long table set up all decorated with chairs for all of us, and the hosts served us dinner - so fancy & generous of them - we felt like we were in a restaurant! they served us green/blue angelhair pasta with a great meat sauce, in honor of halloween of course, along with "moldy" garlic bread. they're creative with the food coloring in that house. :) after dinner we carved pumpkins, & lined them up outside with lumination for pictures. big fun. we left around 8-ish, and it felt like it was already 11pm! i didn't want to repeat the previous night's insomnia, so i made myself stay awake. j & i watched the movie jarhead... pretty good flick.

it's now 5:18 and i can't sleep, so i'm trying to drink tea & get sleepy again. we went to an x-men party tonight, at our friend b's house. it was the climbing community scene. we saw some pretty creative costumes. i went as marrow (sarah rushman) - look it up on wikipedia - and j went as cyclops. following are a few costume pictures (though not of us)...

these are pictures of our canadian friend, p. i forget who his character is, but if you look closely you might be able to see it written on his costume. it's the one with the power to latch on to the earth's magnetic force and travel west (and only west), making him move so quickly it seems he disappears. also in the picture is b and his wolverine costume and b's nice kegerator.

this guy - of course i forget who his character was - was getting really itchy, as the silver latex body paint was beginning to come away from his skin. he's showing it off for me in this picture. kinda gross, eh?

i usually wake up these mornings rather late compared to the rest of the population of the world, averaging around 8am as my regular work is in the afternoons & the evenings. when i woke up this morning, it was still really dark, and threatening to rain. i've learned from running in mornings that there's usually a magic window between 7-ish and 8-ish where it rarely rains... anyway, now it's finally raining, and i'm so happy that today isn't a running day. rain just makes the job more difficult.

sunday afternoon we took in a matinee of jackass 2. the first movie was much funnier. this second version left me feeling really nauseated. we went to a friend's house for halibut, & unfortunately i had little stomach for it. it was delicious, but not good in the tummy after watching a movie of lots of people vomiting & doing other gross things. j carved the pumpkin we brought - it's not so happy. we have another pumpkin carving/halloween party this saturday, so the 2nd one will have to be the opposite.

this is a picture of my favorite tree that i pass almost every day on my walks to the lake &/or my running path. it's so fiery & beautiful. i've been thinking about taking a picture of it for awhile, and finally did on a walk with j on sunday.

saturday night we tried going to a pumpkin patch/haunted corn maze, but after waiting in line for about 45 min, we were told by the "corn cops" that it would be another 2.5 hours. three of our group were doing a bike race the next morning, so we opted to give up & go home. i had been so excited about getting caramel apples too. we even tried looking in the fred meyer grocery store on the way home, but they didn't have any - just that crappy caramel dip stuff. we stopped at burgerville instead & got treats. i found this caramel apple the next day at a different grocery store - new seasons- and got j one too. they were sooo good - you could taste the butter & brown sugar. it wasn't just made from the melted caramels you get in the plastic wrappers that taste like chemicals.

they love him! i think it's really funny that j loves to climb so much, but when kids get around them they always insist on climbing HIM.

saturday afternoon we went to a party for our friend, j, who just received his retirement papers from the u.s. navy reserves. the girl on the right is his daughter, and the girl on the left is her cousin. they're trying to beg jeff to play with them outside. he told them to put on super sad faces - without smiling - and it's proving impossible for them. so cute! i think i might've been a little jealous of the girls. :)

the kids hate getting their nails cut, and it takes the two of us to be able to trim all four paws, especially with persia. we always give them treats afterwards. it's treat time in this picture.

today, right now, i have the "mean reds." :(
(i believe it's from breakfast at tiffany's.)

this past weekend we went down to smith rock in central oregon to rock climb. there was a whole group of us going. the second day i hiked around alone. these are pictures from my hike to the top and the back side. this first picture is of the climb called monkey face. can you see the face? it involves using a bolt ladder. the mouth gives climbers a place to hang out, but getting out of the mouth & going up is pretty scary. actually, the whole climb is crazy. it's just a 5.7, but crazy scary because it's just out in the open. it's one of j's favorite climbs. there are some climbers in the mouth in the picture, and there's one at the top, with one on the way, but it's hard to see in this crappy cell phone photo.

smith rock in fall is beautiful. the cell phone camera doesn't do justice to the scenery & colors.

on our way back from smith rock, we all stopped for dinner at calamity jane's, a "hamburger parlor." j ordered a barbeque burger with onion rings to go on top. i had a salad. i try to have salad once a day, and it's greayaayyt when i don't have to make it myself. burger joints don't really make the best salads.

here's a closeup of the j's food

j & d's daughter, s, playing with j's back, doing silly story/tickle things. she did my back first, and i screamed out because she tickled my sides at the end and i had no idea it was coming. everyone laughed at me. :(

she called that the shiverbies.

last last friday was p's birthday. we were invited over to j & d's house to celebrate. d made a fantastic birthday cake, & then we all headed downtown to jake's for drinks (& a big steak for j, d, & the birthday boy). this was my first major outing after being sick, so i was playing it safe. anyway, in this picture, p is sporting bug glasses. they came from a box of assorted sunglasses/glasses that j & d have which everyone wears at thanksgiving dinner. what a fun thing to do!

p & the birthday cake. it was yummy! thanks for making it, d.

p's new project is to learn how to play the accordion. boy, will his neighbors LOVE that!!! (he lives in a townhouse)

vinny's SOO big!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY CANADIAN FRIENDS!!! :)

i am FINALLY beginning to feel like a normal person again, after being sick for almost 3 weeks with a stupid cold. i got a fantastic night's sleep last night without the aid of any sleepy pills, save herbal tea.

i saw a naturopath physician yesterday. i have stuff to take at each meal now - a liquid vitamin b multi that tastes like a$% at breakfast, fish oil (liquid form - straight - disgusting too) at lunch, and a packet of probiotic mixed in water at dinner (this is the only one that doesn't taste nasty). i had a bunch of ear infections as a kid, which in those days they treated with antibiotics. i guess now they have other ways of treating them, and often recommend parents to avoid dairy products with their kids. anyway, antibiotics evidently really wreak havoc on one's immune system, and the probiotics (which includes acidophilus, which is the active culture in yogurt) help restore the cultures that the antibiotics destroy. i think the probiotic supplement is temporary, but the others may be forever. *yuck!* but if it improves my crappy immune system, especially if i ever want to have kids in the future, it's worth the yuckiness. it seems like i'm always getting sick, and i'm tired of it. i had to buy the supplements at a special clinic. normal health/vitamin sections in grocery stores can't carry the items, because they're much stronger (and a lot more expensive) than what grocery stores sell, and you can only get them with a prescription. vitamins & fish oil usually make me nauseated, which is why the dr recommended trying the liquid form. people often have trouble digesting tablets. i've been able to stomach one day of the stuff, although the fish oil didn't feel that great. i'll just wait & see...

it's about 1:30 am and i'm up again. i went to bed, seriously tired, but after reading, i couldn't sleep. so i'm up now. i'm trying to wean myself off the benadryl, and it's not really working. i meant to take my normal prescription sleepy pills, but i couldn't find them in the medicine cabinet. i tried fishing around in my bedside table in the dark, as quietly as possible so as to not wake up j, but had no success. they're probably on my bureau. so, i just ate some yogurt, hoping that the dairy will help put me to sleep. it was actually one of the most amazing yogurts on earth - stonyfield farm organic whole milk wild blueberry yogurt WITH CREAM ON TOP! i'm really spoiled living in portland with so many organic products around (although stonyfield is from new hampshire), and i can tell the difference between organic & non organic yogurt. if you've never tried it, esp the stuff with the cream on top (not for those watching their cholesterol), it's fantastic... total dessert. too rich for breakfast for me. i'm still trying to kick this cold, and haven't been running since last monday (not this week). i'm going to try seeing a naturopath physician to see if anything can be done about my crappy immune system. homeopathic stuff doesn't usually work for me, but i'll give it a try.

happy birthday u!!!! i hope you have a really great day!

still nothing new here. still feeling low on energy, still trying to sleep & rest as much as possible between teaching.