bodyworlds 3

wow.. once again, it's been a long time since i've posted, and now i have a lot of things to post. two mondays ago, j & i joined a couple of friends to check out the bodyworlds exhibit at OMSI. it's the display of bodies preserved with the new technique of plastination. most people we talked to whom had seen the exhibit recommended it highly. i'm not quite as enthusiastic. while for awhile it was interesting seeing what the different organs really look like, i eventually lost interest in the anatomy 101, & everything started looking like freeze dried muscle. the most interesting part of it, for me, was the display of fetuses at each week of development. my sister in law is pregnant, and recently had her first ultrasound, & declared that she was pregnant with a gummy bear. well, at 10 or so weeks old in the exhibit, the fetus looked quite like a gummy bear indeed!
after finishing the tour, we went out for dinner at montage for their famed spicy mac. they've raised their prices since i was last there, but it was still one of the cheapest dinners i've eaten out in a while. you can see my leftovers wrapped up in an aluminum foil sculpture of a rose in the picture, along with j & c in the background.

grumpy.

i've been grumpy this whole past week. don't know why. and i kept spilling things on my desk in my studio. would make some spastic grand gesture & knock my nalgene/tea cup over. grumpy. friday night was nice - my parents in law took j & i out for dinner, & then served us dessert & champagne back at their house to celebrate our first anniversary (a bit late, totally our fault, and very sweet of them). saturday we drove down to smith rock for some rock climbing. i tried one route & stopped there - did not enjoy it one bit. i belayed for j the rest of the day. we headed to bend, dropped off our stuff at the brother in law's place & showered, and had dinner at the deschutes brewery. the bend brewfest was going on, but we were too tired to check it out. i can never drink that much in bend due to the slight altitude, so it's better that we skipped it. we watched a movie back at the house that we had brought - the da vinci code, then went to bed. the brother & sister in law were out of town, celebrating their first anniversary in ashland, and they kindly let us stay there in their absence. it was raining on sunday when we woke up, so we just drove back to portland, stopping briefly at timberline lodge & lunching at the mt. hood brewpub. after doing the normal weekend laundry & grocery shopping, we watched another movie, 300. j liked it. i found it a bit pointless.
i hope this week goes better.

I will survive

my mother in law emailed this to me yesterday. if you check it out, check out the "looking for mozart" ones, too.

providence bridge pedal

on sunday, we got up at 6am to get ready to do a long bike ride. we met up with our friends, team "kamikaze" at 7:30 downtown. (our friend c brought 4 extra water bottles filled with the drink "kamikaze," hence our team name.) we joined 20,000 other people to ride over portland's ten bridges. j's friends chose to start at 8, but the ride started at 7am. it was really slow going the whole day, until we reached our 5th or 6th bridge. at one point, there was such a large traffic jam of bikers that we were sitting completely still for 45 minutes. we reached the eighth bridge right before they closed it (the fremont bridge doesn't usually allow bicycles) to bike traffic. halfway to the st. johns bridge, we lost race support, so we decided to quit & just ride back. doing all ten bridges came to somewhere around 36 miles. i was getting awfully grumpy by the end. because we were running so behind due to the stupid traffic jam, we had to push ourselves really hard to make the cutoff times. my rear end was still sore from the previous weekend's ride. there were tons of kids riding all over the place, and few people followed common biking etiquette. i won't be doing that ride ever EVER again. biking is not fun. it hurts, and it's dangerous. you could be the most responsible rider, and people can still run into you, causing crashes. not my idea of fun.

1 miler

i swam a whole mile yesterday during my lap swim! i'd never gone that far before. i was slow, but i could've gone even farther. yay! i'm getting quite a nasty burn on my torso from my swimming suit, due to an ill fit. i guess it's too large for me, but a tighter one would hurt my shoulders/trapezius muscles, the old violining injury, so i've been looking for a two piece option. they're hard to find this late in the summer season, i'm discovering. i just ordered a nike suit, & hope it arrives soon, because my other one hurts. :( i hope it works out.

skibowl (failed)/ozone

this past weekend, i earned lots of gold stars with the hubby. i can't say it was my favorite weekend ever, but i did a very good job of doing things HE wanted to do without complaining on my side. friday night, we watched the movie "prairie home companion" - sad, somewhat slow at times, but overall, good - after i finished teaching, and met up with some friends for a late happy hour/dinner at monteaux public house. saturday was our day to sleep in (although i woke up at 8), and we took our time getting out of the house. we had planned on going up to mt hood for some summertime fun, such as the alpine slide, but upon checking the website that morning, we found out it had been bought out for that day & was closed to the public. thus we opted for j's pick of climbing at a new climbing place. we began with the day's errands, including registering for the providence bridge pedal (the next day's activity) and finding a two piece lap-swimming suit for me. we headed all the way downtown to niketown, only to find out that they don't carry swimwear there. they pointed us toward the portland swimwear company, which didn't carry any two pieces for actual swimming. so frustrating! after that, we headed out to the washington state side of the columbia gorge, to the new, relatively unknown climbing spot called "ozone." it had bolted routes, but was new enough that the path to the routes was undeveloped, sketchy, & not fun for me to traverse. i didn't know i would be hiking down a steep, dry/dirty path, and was sliding in my old set of running shoes, so i made j hold on to me the whole way. several of his friends were there climbing already, so we met up with them. i didn't climb at all - i had brought a camping chair & several issues of the new yorker which i needed to get through, so i just relaxed & read the whole afternoon. after 4 or 5 hours, we left & headed out for a late lunch farther east to the walking man brewpub in stevenson, a little town just past the bridge to the gods. i was kind of grumpy because they had little to offer on the menu that was dairy free (the creme brulee from the previous weekend set off a bit of a sinus infection for me, which dairy often does, and i was trying to avoid dairy), but once i had some beer in me i was feeling better, & actually dared to eat a little of j's pizza. it was heavenly! high quality mozzerella with a little blue cheese & olives - perfect buttery goodness in the mouth, and a great companion to the brew. on our way back to town, we encountered bad traffic. our main highway route was actually closed, unknown to us because there had been a road rage shooting, & the highway was a crime scene. it took forever to get back home! we got to bed early, because we had an early rise the next day.

hottest day of the year ride

last (last) sunday, j & i joined up with friends to do a bicycle ride - "the hottest day of the year ride." it was 15 miles around town, & then a free (what seemed like unlimited) build-your-own ice cream sundae. they gave us all free water guns when we registered because they wanted to try to break the world record for the world's largest water fight, but i don't think they quite made it. it wasn't actually the hottest day of the year... cloudy, with a bit of rain, and hardly in the 70's. good riding weather, but not good water fight weather. the lucky labrador brewpub was one of the big sponsors, and it's where the race began & ended, so we enjoyed some post ride brews & grub. fun day! i hope to do it again next year. the course was very manageable, and there weren't too many participants.

grammy 86th b'day party

b & c stayed with us overnight in order to be in town for grammy's somewhat surprise birthday party on saturday. we all met up in canby on saturday afternoon at j's parents' house for an afternoon of grilling & socializing & catching up. my parents were there, along with j's family & c's family. good times!

grammy dinner

last last friday, j & i cooked dinner for his grandmother, who was in town for about a week, and his parents. here's a picture of the first course - sea scallops, and a picture of grammy by our blueberry bushes. we also cooked tilapia, risotto, & creme brulee. j's brother b & his wife c were staying with us that evening. they arrived just as we were eating dessert, so they joined us - we had enough left over to feed them almost a whole dinner.

dinner with friends.

two sundays ago, j & i cooked dinner for our neighbor/friend c & his girlfriend s. we knew c before we moved into his neighborhood. c lives two blocks away from us, and yet we hadn't seen him for the longest time, so we invited him over for dinner. j & i cooked lamb & pasta & rhubarb... lots of great food & wine & conversation. here's a picture of s, & c doing his best to rile up vinny our cat. he succeeded!

beerfest 2007

two weekends ago was the last weekend in july, which means one thing: BEERFEST. time to head down to the waterfront and purchase the tasting mug & tokens. the tokens are re-usable from year to year, but you have to purchase new mugs. we've gone every year, and our mug collection is growing. we hitched a ride down with p & n, drank great beer, hung out with friends, and bid adieu to p & n. so sad. :( hope you're loving calgary!! anyway, we took the max (light rail line) back late in the afternoon, and headed over to our friends' house for an impromptu bbq. such a fun day! not such a fun night, though, as mixing all the different types of beer was hard on my body. drinking large amounts of alcohol (which for me is more than one drink) always gives me bad insomnia. i was awake that night for about 5 hours. i spent a bulk of that time chopping rhubarb & preparing for the dinner we were cooking for a couple of friends on sunday. this is one last picture of canadian c, sporting the manly pink mug. hmmm... reminds me one last time of a's speech at p's deportation extravaganza. "how do i know p is gay?" (you had to be there...)

seafood dinner

wow. it sure has been awhile since i've updated this blogging thing. i guess life has been kind of busy. two fridays ago, our friends p & n spent a night with us before departing for their beloved homeland, canadia. n was feeling like eating seafood, so they treated us to dinner at mccormick & schmicks. the wines were SO outrageously overpriced that we all opted to order cocktails. i had my very first martini with plymouth gin, and i am now a plymouth convert. it is super smooth! i rarely drink actual martinis, and the fact that i was able to enjoy that one is saying something. anyway, miss n ordered crab, and with that came the obligatory bib, so here's a cute picture of her + bib and one of her majestic dinner.

swimmin'

last monday, the same night as the cmnw concert, i started swimming lessons. i purchased an ugly onesie (a.k.a. one-piece swimming suit) and brand new goggles for the experience. i already knew how to swim, but during all those summers of violin practicing & camps, i somehow forgot how to do it well. swimming has always been suggested to me as good therapy for my sprained trapezius muscle, the injury from playing the violin. so, i signed up for classes through the tualatin hills parks and recreation district. classes were 8:30-9am, MWF, and only $45 for 9 classes. my goal was to learn to do the different strokes well enough for lap swimming. one of the swim facilities is just a five minute drive from our house, so it turned out to be really convenient. i was nervous about the first class - would i sink? would i be the oldest one there? the youngest one? would i look gross in my new swimsuit? would the other kids like me?
the night before, i gathered all of my swimming things together. suit & towel laid out. i rinsed the new goggles out with cold water and left them on the counter on a towel to dry, carefully not touching the inside of the goggles to protect the anti-fog coating. when i woke up the next morning, bright & early for the 8:30am class, the glasses were missing! the towel was empty! uh-oh... VIINNNNNNYYY!!!!! i found the goggles in the bathroom down the hall, bite marks through the rubber seal around the eyes, clawmarks on the precious anti-fog coating. they were completely destroyed & unusable. stupid cat! actually, more like smart kitty, but also i'm-going-to-kill-you kitty.
my first day of school was ruined. well, not actually, but it meant i would have sore eyes. i did my best. i wasn't the oldest or the youngest; i did fine; didn't get yelled at or made fun of; and i didn't sink. i had a very good workout with a kickboard, and learned to breathe, & worked on fitting it in with the arm strokes. it was challenging for me to keep remembering to breathe IN through the mouth and constantly OUT through the nose so water wouldn't go up my nose. i'm used to breathing all the time through the nose, and slowly both ways, from running. needless to say, i had sore sinuses by the end of the class. when i went running the following day, i practiced my swimming breathing - breathing in quickly through the mouth, and slowly out through the nose, then immediately breathing in quickly again, and so on. this helped tremendously. i bought a new pair of goggles and a swimming cap, so the second day of school would be much more comfortable. no more water in the eyes, and much less water in the ears. i went to the pool early to practice during the lap swim. all my efforts helped so much that i got promoted to the deep end of the pool, and to another instructor. yeehaaw! i got promoted! i was SOOO happy! i couldn't wait to tell the hubby.

anyway, i've been going early every school day, practicing before class. i've pretty much gotten the freestyle & breast stroke down now, after 5 classes. yesterday i went about an hour before class, so i ended up leaving 15 min early because my legs were so tired from the breast stroke, and from swimming for an hour. i'm not used to using my inner thigh muscles so much, because running doesn't really use them. being in the water is fun... i hope i'll keep up the swimming after the school is over - it's just one more week - and i hope it will help the shoulder injury.

happy birthday!

yep, another random picture from the wedding thing last summer. and yet another birthday i'm recognizing late. my father in law's birthday was yesterday. d, so sorry i wasn't able to make it to the birthday dinner. (unfortunately wednesday is one of my late teaching nights.) hope you had a wonderful day, and i hope you enjoy the wine!

chamber music northwest

last week, i actually attended some concerts. it was the first time in a long time that i had seen live classical music. i went on monday to hear a concert of "german & slavic melodies." i chose to attend the specific concerts in which amy schwartz-moretti was playing. stupidly, i forgot that i had to teach that evening until 8:15. i had thought i would be done by 8, and would just have to miss the haydn flute trio (i really dislike flute music, and i feel i have a right to say it after having played the flute for many years). however, i missed both the haydn & got there after the prokofiev duo had started, so i had to listen through the door. amy was performing with robert mcduffie, and their sound blended really well together. it was a fine and polished performance, as was the second half of the concert, the dvorak a major piano quintet. it was enjoyable to hear playing on such a high level. i ran into amy's husband on the way out, and he took me backstage to say hello to her. i knew amy because she was the concertmaster of the oregon symphony, a position she gave up this year to teach at a new music school run by mr. mcduffie, but i first met her while attending c.i.m.
surprisingly, i cried on my way home. i'm still wrestling with my love/hate relationship with playing the violin. these days, my shoulder starts hurting after just 20 minutes of playing, so a performing career is not an option. after the 7 years in the oregon symphony, i grew sick of performing & i still have little desire to do so, but a very tiny part of me misses the concept of performing. i suppose eventually it will resolve itself, just as the injury will hopefully go away in 20 or so years (hopefully sooner). for now, though, i go through very mixed feelings when attending concerts, and i opt to not attend many.
j & i met a couple of friends at friday's concert, which held a new piece by svoboda - "prayer" for clarinet and strings, a kuhlau quintet for flute and strings, and mendelssohn's octet for strings. i was extremely disappointed in the level of playing, and was actually embarrassed that i had invited friends (one who could've gone into music on the violin), who were 8 months new to portland, to the concert series. the svoboda piece was well enough performed, although it wasn't my favorite composition by him. however, the kuhlau piece, aside from the whole unsavory "flute" aspect, sounded as if it were being sightread. energy was low. it sounded very predictable, and lacked polish. the mendelssohn was even worse! elmar olivera was playing the 1st violin part, which is a concerto unto itself. since he's basically a concert violinist, he should've been up to the task, but he was horrible. his sound was horrendous, especially in the last movement - no core to it whatsoever. it was shocking. he might have made it easier on himself, keeping the tempo steady instead of driving it faster & faster, yet he chose not to. i've heard him play before, as he's performed with the oregon symphony, and i enjoyed his playing then, unlike this time. amy would have done a much better job in the hot seat. the octet is a mountain of a piece. it demands constant energy, with lots of scrubbing involved. anytime you put 8 people together & try to play in sync, it's a big challenge. unfortunately, most of the participants seemed there only to just "get through it." it was incredibly disappointing. chamber music northwest is supposed to bring the best of the best players. i expected the same high level playing that evening as i had heard on monday, but was very much let down. cmnw seems like a "good old boys" club, amy being the one exception. i don't usually get so worked up about concerts, but this one in particular definitely set me off.

happy anniversary!!!

happy 41st anniverary (late), mom & dad! it was on monday. i seem to be late with everything these days. it's a busy month! i hope you get to celebrate soon!

last weekend - concerts, parties, doughnuts, oh my!

last friday, we met up with some friends for a concert in the chamber music northwest series. i'll write more on that in another post. after the concert, we met up at vault martini bar, and then j & i ended up at the voodoo doughnut shop. the selection was limited, so i was a little disappointed with what we got, but the visit definitely took care of my doughnut craving. because we ended up at the doughnut place around 1am, the next day, saturday, was a sleep-in-stay-at-home-get-errands-done kind of day. i never quite ended up waking completely up. i made some quiches for the week...took a nap or two... we watched a good movie - "12 and holding" -which was twisted, but with a well-resolved ending. sunday was busy - i went running while j went mountain biking with friends in the morning. we went to a housewarming party in the afternoon, and then saw the decemberists play at mcmenamins' edgefield location in the evening. i guess the summer concert series is a new thing, and i really liked the venue. the concert was sold out, but it wasn't crowded, and i didn't feel claustrophobic as i normally do in large groups of people. we arrived late because we had the party beforehand, and still ended up with v.i.p. parking close to the entrance. the people we parked next to were having a little tailgate party, and they gave us some free pbr. nothing like a chugged pabst - whoowhee! some friends of ours had some extra tickets, which is why we ended up at the concert in the first place. we weren't familiar with the band, so probably didn't get as much out of the concert as most people there, but it was fun to be outside, with lots of people, listening to music, smelling the summer air. we didn't get rained on, despite the week's rainy & cloudy weather, so it was a good time, and a fine ending to a full weekend.

birthday!

happy
birthday
spaceace!!!!!
sorry it's a day late... yesterday was busy.

choi bikemaster

my friend, j c, on her new bike.


congratulations!!! now, be careful!

spiderman.

sunday was fairly low-key. we slept in, made a trip to rei to buy swimming goggles for my "first day of school" swimming class on monday, went grocery shopping, and saw spiderman at the mission theater. good afternoon movie. and grocery shopping is fun after two pints of beer!