Winter Preparedness

So, it's soon to be winter time and I am getting all set.

If you don't know, I've already procured an awesome, waterproof, and very adjustable hat in which to bike and generally live. And now, I have received my final birthday jacket in the mail! I did send two other potential birthday jackets back before getting this one. So, I am super excited! This coat is so much warmer than my old jacket, of which I am soon to be rid. Side note: trying not to end sentences in prepositions is a small challenge for me.

My old jacket

My new jacket which has a removable fleece and collar that zips up to my chin. If it's really cold out I can zip it on up. If it warms up I can take the fleece out. I can also just wear the fleece but that option probably never going to happen while I live in Portland.

The Big City

This past week I visited San Francisco. I spent some good time with the little sis, and some sweet but fleeting moments with the elder of us kids too. I went on an impromptu date, ate so much delicious food, checked out downtown Oakland, and spent a few nights with a good friend from back in school. I also got to see a bunch of cool things and experience what a beautiful city San Francisco was.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

The sisters in front of the "golden" gate bridge

Delicious pastry I couldn't resist eating a bit of before photographing.

The view from Buena Vista park (you can kinda see the bridge in the distance)

A buena vista park bench

Coit Tower, where I met my impromptu date

A mural of naked people I stumbled upon

A "yellow tree" with yellow leaves walking away from the famous part of Lombard St.

Don't park here, I guess

The Tenderloin area had awesome murals

Mural in the Tenderloin

Same mural

The kind of close together housing that I miss about Richmond

A shop sign on Haight Ashbury

A carousel in The Golden Gate Park

Store in Haight Ashbury

I think this is a eucalyptis log

Plant in Golden Gate Park (everything grows there)

One kind of San Francisco architecture.

The view from some famous pier where there are sea lions

Giant Yoda statue made out of Legos

I'm about to turn in for the night. Trying to wake up and go to a morning Yoga class tomorrow. We'll see if that happens. Trying to be productive with my free time these days.

Cavities

So, many of you may know that I had to get 1,000 cavities filled over the past couple of weeks. Luckily, the worst is behind me. I just have one more redo to go. Plus, I think I'm going to need them to smooth one of my newest ones down because it's got a bit of an edge to it.

It's weird to be anesthetized. The whole time they were working and for the next five hours I felt like the left side of my face was made up of paint filled water balloons. A very crafty clown made that half of my face I must say. Too convoluted of a balloon animal reference?

I am now up to flossing my teeth twice a day and consider brushing after every meal but it turns out I eat a lot of lunches at work so that probably won't work. I'll do what I can.

Outside of oral heath I've been trying to work my sorry butt back into shape as well. I've been running with my roomie's friend Dan who is my neighbor as well as with another roomie's friend who needed a running buddy. I'm starting to get so excited about a few races. Up and coming I have a Holiday 5k. It would have been a half marathon but I got too sick and behind in training so I transferred to the 5k. But, more excitingly, I'm going to be back home for the Ukrops Monument Ave. 10k which is totally my favorite race ever! I think I'm going to try to train for a half marathon that is a week before it and then run the 10k as a recovery race. It'll be so nice to see Richmond through the eyes of a runner again too. I also, snuck in a yoga class today. The bonus of not working a whole lot is you can, cook, clean, exercise and still have time for books and TV.

But, now I'm going to settle into bed seeing as I do have work tomorrow at 7:30.

Birthday Dinner

I forgot to take pictures of the food!! I was so overwhelmed by the company. Sorry guys, you'll never get to see the delicious things that we consumed. However, I do have some pictures for you (not that you didn't already see them on Facebook). Shout out to my friend Jon who took these beautiful pictures.

Natalie, an awesome friend I've made in Portland

A bit of the party in reflection

Me and my friend Marika who I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before.

Birthday cake time.

The candles were in the shape of a heart

This week I also went to a GWAR show which was awesome. It was this crazy metal show played by dude's in costumes who acted out crazy little dramas where they destroyed monsters and such spraying "blood" into the audience. Everyone was covered in pinky-red when they left the show.

Also, San Francisco update: I'll be flying to the bay area on Sunday the 20th and coming back to Portland late on Thanksgiving evening. This is all possible due to a super cheap flight I got to take me there. And, it's awesome because I'll get to see both of my sisters since my days there overlap with both of their stays. I'm so excited.

Tiny trains!

After work this morning I stopped by the Model Engineer's Club model train open house. It was pretty cool, although surprisingly crowded. I guess that they did a pretty good job advertising. I got to see a few train crashes. I also caught a glimpse of two Thomas the Tank Engines in reserve!

A model Oregon train city.

One of the train cars

A collection of backup trains

Power lines

Light switch blending into the background

Yeah, I just posted yesterday but wanted to get you all the model train pictures as soon as possible. Having a potluck dinner for my roomie's birthday tonight so, that'll also be fun.

The give and take of it

So Halloween has come and gone. I ended up not getting a picture of my exact full blown costume but I did get one picture (thanks to my friend Marika) which shows you a good approximation of what I did end up looking like.

Cruella-Lite. I'm not wearing my real dress or using my long cigar

but this is pretty much it.

Since Halloween it seems like a whole lot has happened. I guess it has been almost a week since my last post.

Firstly, despite my lack of Halloween candy eating, I did go to the dentist only to find that I have approximately 1,000 cavities. I was flabbergasted to say the least. Up until this point I've had perfectly good teeth with not a one cavity. It's kind of a bummer since I hate to end a positive streak and really it's only been this year that I've really come to be responsible about taking care of my teeth by both brushing and flossing on a super regular basis. So, it seems like the worst year for my teeth to fail me. Oh well, what are you going to do? I'm going to drill 'em out and fill 'em in, is what I'm going to do. I've already gotten some of them filled and I go in again on November 8th (the day after my birthday :( whomp, whomp).

Secondly, I met a boy on Halloween, well I've met him before but I really talked to him on Halloween while I was out at a show. He invited me to this lecture series that he had organized.

It was about food issues, especially in relation to where we live in Portland and it was really interesting. He also inspired me with his go-getter nature to look into more things that I can do in my community and now I'm going to volunteer with a tree planting group called Friends of Trees

If I like the organization I may look into being a community or team leader of sorts for a following planting season. Go get it, I guess.

I don't want to keep starting my paragraphs with numerical placements, so on top of all that, I have been planning my birthday party. This is something about which I am very excited. I am almost too jazzed up to sleep at night because of all of the planning and and anticipation. I'll just give you a quick menu peek here.

A) pigs in a blanket

B)home made tomato soup and Italian seasoned bread

C) Butternut squash Mac n' Cheese

D) roasted carrots

E) Something green

F) Honey Cake and cinnamon-coconut ice cream.

Don't worry, I'll take some pictures for you all to salivate at.

Also, I invited a cute boy to my birthday dinner. He works at the Restore and I just met him yesterday but he left me his number when he left the restore in the afternoon and we had a long text conversation immediately after. So, I think he's pretty interested in me. We'll see how he fields my friends at my birthday.

Not the least important but maybe the furthest in advance, I am working on a trip to San Francisco in two weeks. It wouldn't be a very long trip (I'd probably get to San Francisco on a Sunday evening and leave on a Thursday at some point). But, I've been meaning to visit a friend down there for a year and now that Katelyn is down there I just can't resist the trip! Travels Hurrah!

Wish me the best of luck on everything coming together appropriately from dental work to travel plans. I hope you all are staying healthier in the mouth than I, and are having just as much fun this week. All the best to you all. Thanks for reading.

so what?!

Yeah... So, I'm sitting around in my living room wearing, big turquoise earrings, bright, bright red lipstick, silly-awesome red boots and a big ol' "fur" coat over my regular black shirt and jeans. What?! Are you judging me right now? I wake up early! It's Halloween weekend!

For real, I want to dye my hair black and white but it's 10:30 in the morning and maybe I should try not to get ahead of myself. On the other hand, I think I might already be ahead of myself so maybe I should. hehehehe

Here's a quick picture for your enjoyment

Morning Cruella