Project 365: May 28th through June 3rd

May 28th - Desert of yum! Patrick made this amazing lemon tart from scratch and a blackberry sauce using my homemade blackberry preserves for desert with Heidi, Rob, Mike, and Derek. May 29th - Vampire spiders! So the throat scratch is thanks to Yuki who loves leaving date rape scratches on me and Patrick. The two sets of red marks though are thanks to the spider. And these are them almost completely healed! May 30th - Gluing the magnetic strips onto my little containers to make my new spice rack. Labeling my new spice jars with my jam labels....good thing I stock up on them for making jams. May 31st - The new spice rack after Patrick screwed the metal to our kitchen wall. I was actually sort of amazed because I thought I had way more spices. The magnets are even strong enough (with some epoxy that is) to hold a full tin of Allspice Berries. June 1st - Hanging out with Amber Rose, Jen, Caroline, Jason, and Joe at the Fez for Decadent 80's. June 2nd - Beaverton Recycling Day - a long day unloading cars but feeling great afterwards. It was a little strange this year unloading cars with the mayor. June 3rd - Patrick made this happen. He completely refinished this gorgeous garden bench that Sean T Lewis gifted our yard a few years ago. It looks so lovely under the maple tree now.

Project 365: September 13th through September 19th

September 13th: The wait for the bus on the way home...and I find an empty bottle of cough syrup and a Taco Bell sauce packet...but what does it mean?


September 14th: A gift and some art. Hanging out with Travis to purchase his beautiful art work and Kelly gave me a bottle to try.


September 15th: Signs of autumn - the first tree in Beaverton...


September 16th: The wait for my morning Max train...


September 17th: Queen of the Sun world premier!


September 17th: Portland Mayor Sam Adams talks about his own bee hive and the importance of the film which was so great!


September 18th: A $2000 ribbon which was removed from Yuki's stomach.


September 19th: My beautiful garden...


September 19th: Julie's new foster kittens which are 2 1/2 weeks old...so cute!


September 19th: When newborns attack!

Project 365: August 16th through August 22nd

August 16th: The city council was so sweet and actually handed us the signed ordinance for prosperity knowing how hard we had worked to get chickens in the city.


August 17th: Dead When I Found Her playing at the Someday Lounge for Lauriel's birthday gathering.


August 18th: On the way home I found this gem...insert loads of jokes here...


August 19th: The stagecoach. My company has several since it is, afterall, our symbol etc but it is pretty awesome sitting in one and I got to right after this was taken. They really are a thing of beauty and craftsmanship. Most of the ones that are in our museums are restored but ran all over the country delivering money and goods. This was brought in for our cultural fair that we do annually in our work parking lot and is actually quite fun.


August 20th: This is what a migraine looks like.


August 21th: Our bounty! This is from three different tomato plants in our yard but enough for a salad darn it!


August 22nd: I met Julie at Kruger Farms for shopping followed by peach picking at Sauvie Island Farms and then my super secret blackberry picking location (I cannot confirm or deny if Julie has since been "silenced"). This is of Kruger's beautiful you cut flower area while having a spot of lunch.


August 22nd: St Johns Bridge which I just adore - it really is stunning.


August 23rd: My beautiful yard is still erupting with flora!

Project 365: August 9th through August 15th

August 9th: First reading and changes to the chicken ordinance in Beaverton. Directly above the sign you see is the mayor Denny Doyle and surrounding him is the city council members for their regular Monday evening council meeting.


August 10th: Yuki basking in the first sunlight of the day.


August 11th: Lunch delivered from Mad Greek thanks to our boss.


August 12th: Jen's new backgammon board I got her for her birthday being broken in and our desert: grilled peaches and nectarines over vanilla ice cream.


August 13th: Macha is a very spoiled girl. Patrick bought her a ball ring. She is very fluffy and with the heat she lays in it and lazily spins the ball through...it is rather funny to watch.


August 14th: A few days early but my shirt honors Brandy and Skot on their wedding nuptials.


August 14th: Heidi and Robert flew in the night before with their Hawaiian contraband: a pineapple smuggled just for our grill. We had a great night having them over for dinner with Richard, Jordan and Jen and watching their awesome vacation slideshow and videos.

Don't Be a Chicken! Get Organized :)

Today let us discuss organization...because, as any of my friends can tell you I am a card carrying member of OCD Anonymous only it is hard to be anonymous when I randomly flip out and start doing people's dishes at parties. I prefer to think of it more as "chaos challenged" myself but either way, I adore places like Ikea a little too much for a few reasons. The primary reason being that they have TONS of organizational options for those people like myself who cannot get enough. I swear I get new hobbies only so that I can conceptualize ways to organize them as pathetic as that might sound. To me when Martha Stewart starts talking about ribbon sorters and paper organizers I get all worked up and flustered. Before you start suggested therapists for me, I will at least share my latest in organizational feats: The Kitchen Pantry...dum dum duuuuuuum...




Next, I will mention a current project I am helping out with...getting chickens leagal in the city of Beaverton, Oregon. Here are a few pictures from the first ever Beaverton town hall and we were happy to report that only one person showed up who was anti chicken! We were thrilled and amazed at that especially since the room was very full! And here is a mascot of ours Grace, aka Squidgy and one of her awesome moms - Tracey. Her other awesome mom Lannie made these fantastic Bright Green Beaverton chicken signs with feathers :)

Project 365: June 7th through June 13th

June 7th: Patrick made me, him, Richard and Jen amazing stuffed salmon burgers on onion buns with Tillamook Swiss, red bell pepper and lettuce from Kruger farms and also grilled asparagus from Krugers...so amazing...


June 8th: Town Hall on chickens - Lannie and Tracy made these adorable signs for all of us. The night was amazing since only one anti chicken person showed up out of a room full of 100 people!


June 9th: My wonderful husband spoiled me with sushi dinner and these are two favs: salmon nigiri and a yellow tail roll.


June 9th: Working at the hotline. The elevator has been under repair for some time now but I love the sign saying new controls are in and the ceiling is "coming soon"!


June 10th: The great bathroom revamp 2010. I began the Venetian plaster project on the first bathroom (both are being redone using this product). Macha lent a helping furry hand supervising since it is, after all, her bathroom.


June 11th: But this is my tree. I wait by it every day when Patrick picks me up. These days it is looking ever so lovely with all its foliage compared to the winter shot I took of it dark and barren.


June 11th: My delphinium finally began to bloom and it looks to be putting on a wonderful show since it has an amazing amount of stems fully loaded with flora.


June 12th: Jen and I and our carnage. She and I share a shell fish addiction and when we do an epic shopping trip like Saturday then we need our cockroach of the sea!


June 13th: Dinner with Robert and Heidi: They made pesto from basil and garlic they got at Beaverton Farmer's Market which we put with some of our linguine, grilled swordfish and grilled asparagus. And yes, it tasted even better then it all looks.




And if you would like to see all my photos this far for Project 365 you can find those http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46134&id=1129217720&l=2087ebc19e and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59030&id=1129217720&l=73909afd3c