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Friday, May 27, 2011

We got a place!

Jason, Melissa, and I found a place to live. In SW Portland.

I'm going back to Portland!!!

So exciting. It will be strange/kind of a bummer to not be seeing my current room mates (read: parents/thing one and thing two) on the regular but I love living with Melissa and Jason. They are wonderful room mates and friends and we have ridiculous amounts of fun together. Evidence of said fun (and sexual tension...)

being fabulous.
This is from about 3 years ago in the Eug when we first lived together



So, we're all dressed the same. On purpose. I don't remember why but I remember being really happy about it.
And yep, that's me as a brunette.



Right before Jason left for Hawaii last year. Frolicking in Portland.


This happens.

So there are many photos of us together. We love each other a lot. Also, my hair has been so many colors. I realize this whenever I go through old photos. Was yearning for blonder days but I'm digging the dark hair too. Maybe for the winter.

Uh, I digress.

Our house is in a lovely area and the living room is spacious enough for my big blue couch which makes me real happy. In addition, the landlord is going to let me build a fence in back so that Joey can frolic and I won't have an anxiety attack.
Because my job is in Silverton, I will have an hour commute each day, each way. Which, is balls. But I will be living close to my friends and Pat, and working close enough to my parents to make visiting super convenient. So really, it all works out.

Things I want to do at the new house:
Turn an entire wall into a chalkboard (with a piece of plywood and chalkboard paint)
Plant pots of pretty flowers and put them on our giant deck (!)
Take a walk/read at one of the several cemeteries nearby. I love cemeteries. I hope one of them is a pioneer cemetery.
Little succulent garden in my room!


So many happy new things going on.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

can't find my off switch

If I want to go out with friends and I have nothing to do the next day, invariably I'll be like this by 9pm:



But if (like tonight) I need to be up at 6am to go do some important shiznit, I will crawl into bed at 10pm and then for hours I will be like this:


How much does chain link fencing cost? how do you set up a dog run?
what days will my dad and brother be fishing?
I wish I hadn't stopped watching gossip girl.
this for an hour.
But really though, how much does chain link fencing cost....



Wednesday, May 25, 2011

You are my sunshine

It is May 25th and I believe we have only had 2-3 days at or above 70 degrees so far. Dear Willamette Valley, vitamin D deficient much?

The upcoming week of...surprise! more rain


So when Jason and I went to Eugene the other day and it was freaking glorious outside,we had a sunny pow wow with Jessica and James at Monroe Park. I wore a flowy flowery skirt and a hat and Joseph wore his 'dinosaur expert' t-shirt and we just sat in the sun and ate Mexican cookies and were happy. Now that I have a job, there will be less opportunities for such blissfully unproductive days. I'm glad we got to have this one.





I know we've been over this before, but I feel like we're an
obnoxiously good looking group of people.


...


And also, how freaking adorable is my dog?



So adorable that I had to make out with him, apparently.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Once upon a time...


...I got fired. For real. That happened. A little over a month ago.
I'm not the girl that gets fired, just so we're clear. I'm the girl that gets promoted within the first couple months and is admired and loved by everyone. Maybe not everyone but mostly everyone.
I wanted to wait to write about it until I found something else. And hey-o, guess who just got a job offer today?

So let's start at the part where I go to work just like any other day and at 3pm on a Friday I go in for a standard meeting with my boss and he tells me that the management staff has decided to 'terminate the relationship'. Wiki-what? My stomach basically fell onto the floor. If someone had asked me before that meeting if I thought I was getting fired I would have laughed. laughed my ass off even.
He told me that they all loved me but that I wasn't the right fit, that I should be doing something more creative.
Well, duh. I know that. Administrative assistant isn't exactly my calling. In all honesty though I felt like I was a good employee. But I wasn't excited about my job, and I guess it showed.
My first thought was-how embarrassing. I was going to have to tell my parents. And Pat. And like I said, this stuff just isn't supposed to happen to me. So first I freaked out not about losing my job, but about telling people that I'd lost my job.And then I moved on to the whole 'nobody can get a job right now and I'm going to have to live in a cardboard box.'
And then I cried, and spent the last two hours of the day scrambling to help my supervisors pull things together so that they would be able to run the office without me. The thing about my job was that nobody really knew how to do about half of it besides me. So I made lists and instruction sheets and tried my best to make sure that UFA could function on Monday- all the while trying to pack up my desk (SO much stuff. I'm a nester) and not break down as people came over to say goodbye. My friend Melissa came to pick me up(and brought me a care package of tissues, cherry sours, pepsi, and other things. She's wonderful) and since we'd already had a night of drinking planned, we picked up Jason and started drinking. So I freaked out for a couple hours and then decided 'well that happened.' and got excited about spending more time with Pat and crafting and playing with Joey. And it was a silly not sad night of everyone telling me how jealous they were of my impending free time.
I applied for unemployment and did those things. I decided that I wouldn't be applying for any jobs I didn't actually WANT to do unless things got desperate. So I started looking for event coordinating jobs and full time serving positions. Event coordinating is something that I enjoy doing and hope to make a career of and serving is just something that I feel at home doing. The last thing I wanted to apply for is Administrative Assistant-ing. Firstly, I'm apparently terrible at it. And secondly, sitting at a desk all day is soul crushing. After working as a personal assistant (the craziest job I've ever had) I thought I wanted to sit at a desk and have a 'normal job.' Turns out I hate it.


So I applied for an event coordinator position at the Oregon Gardens in Silverton. They had a part time and a full time position available. I didn't hear for a couple weeks and had gotten a little excited about taking the summer off on unemployment. And of course, the moment I settled into this idea they called for an interview and after about a week they offered me the part time position, in addition to a second part time position in their catering department handling weddings and private events. So, between the two jobs I'll be full time there. And I couldn't be more excited, even though I won't be taking the summer off. I'm still moving back to Portland when we get our ducks in a row, and that will mean lots of driving but I'm positive it will be worth it.

So that's my story about how I got fired and then got an awesome job 6 weeks later.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Okay Netflix


Netflix suggests the following category of films for me: Visually-striking Gritty Revenge Movies
Really? I feel like we're getting a little specific.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Scandalous

Ricci, who took photos of me in my bathtub last December, asked me to participate in another project of hers. She is doing a series of photographs of people in her bed. She's done a couple, two male best friends, and a few folks on their own. Jason and I did the shoot together as the straight girl and her gay friend.

Jason and I have been friends for about 5 years now. We met when we were both RAs at the University of Oregon. We lived and worked together in Walton Complex. We would spend hours in the programming office creating posters and planning events. We lived together Junior and Senior year, basically sharing a bedroom in our second house. We're close. We're naked friends. Friends who have seen each other naked and furthermore...don't really think about it. We used to get dressed together, picking outfits and trying to figure out how many layers Jason needed to wear to the bar to ensure that at least one of them remained on his body at the end of the night. We're moving in together again in the coming months and I'm so excited.

Anyway, when Ricci asked me if I was okay with being topless in the photographs, I said yes. When she asked Jason to derobe, he didn't even think about it. We're so comfortable with each other that it just doesn't matter.
Besides being comfortable with Jason, it's a pretty great feeling to be confident enough to allow Ricci to photograph and post mostly naked photos of me for strangers to look at. Everyone has things about their body that they don't like but for the most part I love mine and it was refreshing to realize just how happy I am in my own skin. It was an empowering experience.

My family are all on facebook now. When Ricci posted a sample from our shoot, my father, uncles and grandmother saw it. Embarrassed isn't quite the word, but it's a little uncomfortable knowing that folks who have wiped your ass are seeing those photographs. And Ricci plans on displaying this series in a gallery. I don't know if Jason and I will make the cut but if we do, we'll be giant and mostly naked on a big white wall.

This is my favorite photograph that she took. It's actually an outtake.



More of our photos and the rest of the series are here.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Epic Goodwill shopping trip


I went to Goodwill today hoping to find a good blazer and maybe some spring shoes.
None of the shoes fit but today, the clothes were speaking to me. I found so many treasures including a full length denim dress which sounds horrible but I promise it's not, a beautiful floral blazer, the most adorable polka dot dress(which was $2.50!), and a new purse which I've named Barnaby*.
I left with 5 dresses, 4 blazers, 3 skirts (all with pockets!), 2 scarves, 2 belts, a purse and 4 blouses.
It was a good day indeed. It has been a long time since I bought clothes and I was beginning to really hate everything I own. Now I have new things to make my old things more exciting.



*name stolen from Jason's baby names

ps- I wonder if this Goodwill was so full of treasures because there are less hipsters in Salem to pick through it?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Mustard Chevron


Obsessed with this dress at Urban. I tried it on the other day and basked in the mustardy wonderful of it, which only made my longing more painful. But alas, I do not spend $69 on a single clothing item. I don't think I ever have, besides a prom dress. So, if anyone sees it on clearance, I need to know.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Pat and I watched the news last night as the President gave the official address stating that Osama Bin Laden is dead. As CNN and every other news network panned over the crowds of people waving American flags and singing the national anthem I was unsettled. I was trying to explain it to Pat and he summed it up well, saying that it feels weird to celebrate anyone's death-even this one. Folks have been posting to facebook and elsewhere-everywhere really about their feelings, hopes, and opinions on the topic. I've seen this quote posted a couple times now and it definitely resonates with me:
”I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” — Martin Luther King, Jr. (ish)*

It seems so strange to me to be waving flags and singing songs about patriotism at this moment. I hope that those who have lost loved ones at Osama Bin Laden's hands feel a sense of closure or retribution if that is what they want or need. I understand celebrating a safer world-if that is in fact part of what his death means. The overt American patriotism just doesn't seem to fit here. It feels in poor taste.
I was a freshman in high school on 9/11. I walked into my second period and my teacher was crying. We watched the first tower burn, and saw the second plane hit live. My generation has been defined in a lot of ways by that day and this is definitely an important moment. But I don't know how or whether to celebrate it, nor do I know what to hope for as a consequence.

*Edit: Apparently the MLK quote making it's way around isn't perfectly accurate. You can read about it here. I like it as is, so I'm leaving it