October 21, 2011 Dias de los Muertos Decorating

Project 365: October 31st through November 6th

October 31st: I was amazed that on Halloween I discovered a new nasturtium bloom. Apparently my garden still thinks it is summer.


November 1st: The Sauve Island Bridge - Jenna Guziak and I went to the Pumpkin Patch to stock up on clearance produce as the farms prepare to shut down for the winter. $20 filled the back of the SUV!


November 2nd: And then the rain starts....and the chickens stay dry under the house eves as you can clearly see the dry section versus the wet here. You can also see that the gate is still the chain link since we have not gotten enough dry days in a row to do the concrete and post hole. So the gap is sealed with scrap wood and duct tape...classy, I know....


November 3rd: Dias de los Muertos gathering at our house. For the occasion I made red beans and rice from a recipe I got many years ago from a Cajun coworker. We also made corn bread with corn kernels and peppers. The beans were completely gone in a very short amount of time.


November 4th: Heading into SE I see a lovely bumper sticker to counter the slogan "Keep Portland Weird" lol...


November 4th: Launch Pad Gallery for Travis Wade's opening.


Mikhail Hamilton
November 4th: The artist himself...


November 4th: My beautiful friends Melissa and Travis... Isn't her coat divine??!!


November 5th: My friend Caren had a party for everyone to judge the five different pickling recipes she and her husband tested out this year. Though the jar closest to me in the photo were her garlic dills....those were simply amazing!


November 5th: After getting our fill on amazing food at Caren and Tom's, me and Jenna headed to party number 2 at Amanda and Christin's house. As you can see, backup had already been called.


November 5th: I always adore the jet engine of a outdoor heater designed and made by Christin. It runs on diesel and keeps a good sized area VERY warm. I was super grateful for great seating since at this point my broken toe was realizing I had stuffed it into high heels.


November 6th: CLAWS! I always know when the summer months have left since the second I stop wearing gardening gloves my nails shoot out! They are always long but at this length I would stab right through the fingertips of my gloves!

Project 365: October 24th through October 30th

October 24th: I came across this ivy in my Halloween decorations which I bought for a particular party at Joe's several years ago.


October 25th: One side of the porch pumpkins - our "Halloween" theme - mine is this bleeder with my chef's knife which everyone lovingly calls my Mike Meyer's knife. The classic redux of the Halloween movie pumpkin was done by my husband.


October 26th: City Hall - meeting with the mayor's office folks.


October 27th: Lunch with Julia at Papa Hayden - we made sure to save room for desert. This was mine - the peanut butter torte.


October 27th: Lunch with Julia at Papa Hayden - we made sure to save room for desert. This was hers - the hazelnut cheesecake.


October 28th: Shopping with Melissa with a quick break for sushi at Benihana...


October 29th: Shopping with Melissa and we bought twin shoes since they were super warm and comfy.


October 30th: And back to the ivy - the espresso spray paint obviously only did so much. So I used up walnut and gold acrylic paint dry brushed.

Project 365: October 17th through October 23rd

October 17th: Macha tests out the new candy dish getting into the spirit of Halloween.


October 18th: Fingers crossed! My cucumber needs to get just a touch bigger and I can harvest it. If that happens than I technically will have had a vegetable garden since I also was able to harvest tomatoes from the new front garden!


October 19th: Purple clematis


October 20th: SICK! Why oh why do they insist on making flu meds so difficult to get into - I mean seriously...how cruel are drug companies??!! I had to use the sword on my keychain to get it open.


October 21st: Decorating for Dias de los Muertos.


October 22nd: Cleaning pumpkin seeds for roasting for the pumpkin carving party.


October 23rd: Pumpkin carving all complete.

Project 365: November 1st through November 7th

November 1st: Neighborhood Association Meeting - Discussing CERT and last month's meeting minutes.


November 2nd: My A Typical breakfast these days: 2 boiled egg whites, celery with Adams peanut butter, 1/2 lean pork steak, Crystal Light and 32 oz water....yum!


November 3rd: What you can tell from my desk - I have received an insane amount of pins in ten years for you name it really though lately I mostly get them for volunteer work since I have not dealt with talking to customers in several years. I also am obviously a member of the Green Team and the Activities Committee, I hate Mylar and I believe in conserving energy.


November 4th: Roger's (aka Circle 23) art opening during first Thursday. Though Jen and I missed the cable suspension.


November 4th: Jen and I found one of the last phone booths in existence. We had to take a picture so people would believe us!


November 5th: Travis's gallery showing...


November 6th: Fright Town's Haunters Halloween party. To give you and idea of the creative genius of these folks - here is an image of what the resident welder created as their "fire pit" - the thing is so freaking warm people were standing at least 6 feet from it!


November 6th: Dias de los Muertos party - and costume 3 out of 3 for the season. I went as Medusa but told everyone I was dressed as Marie Antoinette.


November 6th: The skull mocks me...


November 7th: Plotting Brandy and Skot's reception with Lauriel since we are doing the catering for the honored occasion.