and for the best, most ugliest christmas sweaters.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
ugly christmas sweater party
as you can probably see, there was a "decorate your own christmas cookie" competition. below is our cookie, in the cubist style. 
ugly christmas sweater party
here's a picture of the hubby in his "ugly christmas sweater," ready for our ugly christmas sweater party from a couple weekends ago. it's not truly a sweater, but a sweatshirt... sweaters were hard to find at goodwill. he's not too happy about having this moment recorded.
birthday.
my parents took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday after the fact. we went to papa haydn's - a place better known for their dessert rather than actual food. this is my dinner - scallops & pork belly with israeli couscous in some sort of a cider reduction. we just went out with friends to a different restaurant this past weekend, and ordered an entree with scallops which came with lentils in some sort of cider reduction. what is it with cider? is it a seasonal thing, perhaps, or a current trend? it's really not my favorite thing, nor is pork belly.
snow...
one sunday, it started snowing outside as i was writing holiday cards. we let the kids out to inspect... persia didn't like it. i tried to get a picture of her with snowflakes all over her fur, but she was too quick, & i was too slow in getting the camera. the snow didn't last very long at all. thankfully, we can drive up to the mountains for snow any time we want.
cookie baking '07
no shortage of cookies. we made sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, rock (spice cookies with raisins) cookies, and pecan balls. thinking about all the cookie making makes my shoulders ache!
birthday!
yay! surprise mini birthday party! j fixed me dinner, and these friends started showing up...
that poor salad in the corner never did get eaten.
japanese garden
here are some photos of the japanese garden in portland, at the end of november. i love all the leaves on the water surface in the second picture, and the light in the first, third, and especially fourth picture. we were there in the afternoon, but i kept thinking it was 7am because the sun was so low at this time of year. it's fun visiting the garden at different times throughout the year to see the changes. 
thanksgiving weekend wine tasting
here's a picture inside the spruce goose, looking towards the tail. yes, those are real beach balls on the right. they were there on purpose to add buoyancy.
thanksgiving weekend wine tasting
between tasting in newberg and carlton, we stopped at the evergreen aviation and space museum. it houses the spruce goose (you can see the tail end of it in this picture above j).
thanksgiving weekend wine tasting
the day after thanksgiving, j & i went wine tasting. this is some sculpture that used to be in the smithsonian. i can't remember what it was titled. it was at j.k. carriere winery.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
to all of you who celebrate, merry christmas! the hubby is asleep right now, and as of yesterday, he was sick, so i'm trying to let him sleep in. i hope he's feeling better today, or at least not worse. i'm killing some time while pie dough warms up, so i'll attempt to post some pics that should've gone up a while back...
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Tails of the Merman-Episode 1: LuRu Prepares for a Party
my friend d, who i've known since high school, created these with his wife l-r. enjoy them!!!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
christchurch
this is the last meal i had in new zealand. french toast. i had it a couple times, and it was always served with bacon (the ham style) in between slices, and with grilled banana. very good, although i prefer the custardy white bread type, as opposed to the chewy french bread that this was.
christchurch
this is a photo of a pedestrian only crossing. all the vehicle traffic stops, and pedestrians can walk any way they want, diagonally included. we first saw it in auckland, and i thought it was the coolest thing. a big pedestrian party!!!
christchurch
some random photos of christchurch. again, sorry for the sideways photo. when we arrived, we went to check in at our hotel. they informed us that they were overbooked, and either had a double bed for us at a lower rate, or a king bed at a different hotel at the same rate. we looked at the double bed room, and found it incredibly claustrophobic (it was one of those pod hotels), and so opted for the different hotel. upon checking in there & moving into the room, it was a smelly smoking room, so we had to request to be changed. unfortunately, a big horserace week was going on, and the only room available was one with three twin beds. we took it. this hotel was a normal one, and probably nicer than the other one. we basically relaxed the day and a half we had there, sleeping, reading, & watching tv, besides returning the rental car. i could not wait to get home to my house & my own bed!
drive to christchurch
we stopped here along the way at oamaru, hoping to see yellow eyed penguins in their colony, but we were too early in the day to catch them. the weather was absolutely miserable. rain & strong, cold winds. yuck!
drive to christchurch
these pictures are of the moeraki boulders on the east coast of the south island, north of dunedin. the boulders are almost perfectly spherical and have a sort of honeycombed center. they form in the side of the hill on the coast and as the tides wash away the hillside, the boulders become exposed on the beach. we stopped here on our drive up to christchurch.
dunedin
wow. i've uploaded so many photos and made so many posts, that blogger is making me do the word verification thing. thankfully, i'm almost done. so, after the speights brewery, we rode on another curvy road to the otago peninsula. there used to be a jail out there. now it's an albatross center. we could've taken another eco tour, but i just couldn't take any more tours. 
dunedin
here are a few random pictures of dunedin: the octagon (the town center square), and some views from up on the hill near the hostel. by this point in the trip, i was definitely tired of seeing things and taking pictures. i was really tired of having to ride on super curvy roads & getting car sick, not to mention eating frozen dinners.
dunedin
our first morning in dunedin, we took a tour of the speights brewery. at the end of the tour, we got to try lots of samples of beer - of course, the best part, especially at 11am.
invercargill
the southland museum and art gallery is located next to queens park, and contains the tuatara. they are having great success breeding them. tuatara live nowhere else in the world. this one was born at the end of the 19th century.
invercargill
the b&b owners in te anau also recommended that we stop in invercargill & check out its park & museum. i'm glad we did, because i was feeling more car sick than usual that day. the walk through the park helped settle my stomach. this is one of my favorite shots. it's so green.
te anau/south south island
the rest of our time in te anau, we didn't do much. we watched a movie, created by a local helicopter pilot, that was pretty interesting. other than that, we just relaxed, read (i had just purchased war & peace), and did laundry.
our next destination was dunedin, on the east coast. our b&b owners recommended that we drive down south to the point at riverton (1st pic), from which you can see stewart island. the other picture is of the coastal trees. clumps of these were everywhere, and i found them really beautiful. the weather on the southern coast is really rough & windy, so they look pretty weathered & knarled.
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