Spice Box

At my sister's wedding we got a very belated wedding gift from a friend of my family's. It might have been late, but boy was it cool. It was a spice box full of Indian spices. A letter was attached and this is part of what it said:

"A spice box seems like a perfect symbol for marriage. The tools for making a memorable moment are always at hand, there is a little short term risk but with effort, greatness is possible. Maybe you will just choose to use the salt and pepper today and play it safe. Maybe you will combine spices in a unique and terrible way tomorrow. Next month, you may alter one spice from the disaster and create a masterpiece meal. Anything is possible, and possible again the next meal, and again and again for the a lifetime. It does not matter if one meal turns out poorly, or even ten meals are utter failures because eating is a commitment for life and there is always another chance to make a good meal. This is the perfect metaphor for a marriage- don't you think?

What a nice idea and what great smelling spices!

Fall and New, Fun things.

Fall is a good time to do and think about new things. It goes against that idea that you are just "settling" in for winter. So in that vein, husband and I participated in a bicycle pub-crawl last night with a bunch of friends ("Prince" member's were the most fun!). It was a great time. Although it was cold and rainy, we were successful in hitting 4 bars (Cuzzy's, Grumpy's, Nye's, Grumpy's DT) with our biking crew of about 15. What fun it was riding through dark streets with a bunch of blinking bike lights in front of you... It felt like we were apart of some sort of bike-swarm. My favorite part of the night was when we rode over the stone arch bridge and had a beautiful view of night-time downtown. Too bad those pictures didn't turn out...(I need Scratching Post's skills and camera) I will post the ones that did.

Anyways, I have to admit that I am a pretty good bike driver even after a few too many beers. AC, my favorite Canuck, was not so lucky as you can see below... Small wipe out on the way to Grumpy's. But all in all, it was a good night. When it was all over husband and I ended up riding home between 1 and 1:30 a.m. all the way from Northeast. I didn't feel quick so bad about drinking all the beer I had when I realized that we probably rode at least 15 miles in all.

Another new item is the latest Willy Porter CD that I have been listening to for the last couple of weeks. It just came out in the middle of September and is fabulous. It is called, "Available Light" and it is so good I really can't even name my favorite song. He is at the CCC the first weekend of October. Can't wait.

The last new is fall frisbee. Which is not necessarily new, since this is my fourth (!?!) season playing, but, I love playing in the fall. The weather lately has been a bit tricky, but we have been lucky on Sunday afternoons so far. Yippee for outdoor activities in the fall!!

Dope

I was told today by a student that I was a "dope" teacher. Hmmm, is that a compliment? I know dope is supposed to be cool, but is it cool that I am being compared to a drug? I don't think our discussion in class today about selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights comes anywhere near to producing a 'high', so I am left to wonder if perhaps the student herself was already high. Hmmm...it makes you think.

Anyways, on to other things. I am happy to report that three weeks into my new schedule of teaching part time and going to grad school full time that I am LOVING IT! I have never had such a nice schedule. I have never been quite so relaxed while teaching and have never been so excited to be in classes again. It is, in part, that I have such great classes to go to at night. A writing intensive class on interdisciplinary study and a class on Public Schools and the State Legislature. But teaching is great this year, too. Probably because I am called 'dope' while I am there.

One measure that indicates that I am leading a wonderful life right now is that I am doing fictional reading (during the school year!!!) and I am taking one or two nights off a week to just hang out with husband. I am still running regularly and am starting to get to bed at 10 pm-early enough for a full 8 hour sleep. How could I be so lucky right now?

Speaking of luck, Husband's luck just turned. He found a job. After months of exhaustive informational interviews, networking, writing cover letters, and doing interviews, he is gainfully employed. And much to my pleasure, it is at a job that he is really excited about. When it really comes down to it, nothing matters so much (at least to us) as finding a job that is a vocation for you. Something you care about and want to do everyday with your heart not just your head. Yippee for him.

Well is once again the time where I go change my clothes from teacher uniform of the day (tan corduroy skirt, black cardigan, and black mary janes, today) to student wear (whatever I decide that is today) and switch from my teaching function to my learning function. Cool, or I mean, Dope?

What would you rather be doing?

Another wedding weekend... As we were driving north this afternoon, I felt it descending upon me... Updos, slide shows, programs, flowers, pictures, nail polish. After a wedding a month, for 5 months running, including my own, I am just done with weddings.

I should be really excited... This weekend is my sister's wedding. It is really nice to see extended family, especially baby Luke, otherwise however, my enthusiasm is in the low numbers. I want to see Katie and Chris enjoying marriage (much like myself and wonderful husband), I want to know they get all the gifts that they registered for and need, I want to know they truly enjoyed their wedding. I just don't want to be in it, at it, or within 10 miles of my mother right now.

Maybe tomorrow will get me all revved up, but for now, I can feel Hwy 4 calling me up to a fall weekend at the cabin. Reading, sleeping, runs, soup for lunch with husband. That would be the life. So while I am smiling for all the pictures tomorrow, I will just be imagining myself reading on the couch with a lake nearby.

Where would I be without friends?

This week has been busy and it is only Tuesday afternoon... Even though it has been so busy, using every second for work, I have had a few chances to squeeze in conversations with friends. K and I even gabbed through all the chiming and dinging of the light rail ride to school last night.

I have recently begun to realize these great conversations fill me back up after hectic days. It is so nice to hear what friends are up to, what they are thinking about, what they are worrying about, and what the 'lastest' is. . . . Conversations where you can share the stupid things that you are thinking about (this saves Jff from a little bit of acting interested in dumb details) are really refreshing because all of a sudden someone reminds you that they think about the same things. I feel so much better about my wedding photos now that three girlfriends have said, "Oh, don't feel bad, it is okay to admit it, I felt the exact same way when I got my photos back." Whew, what a relief. And gee, it is not so bad that I can barely walk because my foot problem is acting up (too much running, walking, teaching) or that I backed into a dumpster, when I hear tales of other calamities and misfortunes that have occurred recently. It is some how reassuring to know that life contains these little interesting tidbits for other people, too. (I hope that does not sound mean...)

It is also nice to know that friends are thinking of you. Last week when I began grad school I got messages from 3 friends wishing me luck on Tuesday. How nice, I didn't even think about it and they all did. Also, the happy hour group being willing to switch things up once in a while so that I might join is really nice.

Yippee for friends, lucky for me to have such nice ones.

The Best Room in the House...

It is time for a confession: I love bathrooms. I always have. When I dream of a new house, I mostly think of the bathroom. Why? I can't really explain. I like the products, all in small containers, the different shampoos, the nice showers you can take... Baths, too. The warmth of that room in the winter...

According to my mom, this has been a life-long fascination. I was toilet trained at an unprecedented early age and would apparently go and often sit on the kiddy toilet sometimes just for fun. I LOVED flushing, too, I guess

My mom also tells the story of when I was about three and we were shopping for a new house that I would make a bee-line for the bathroom in every house we looked at. According to her, I would check out how the toilet flushed, I would test the water in the sink, I would inspect the shower and any closets or small places. I would then give a full report of whether or not we should buy the house.

While I was in high school I would spend a lot of time in the bathroom, just hanging out... I have to admit, though, when I went to college, the communal sort of arrangement changed my opinion of bathrooms for a while. I hated waiting in line for the shower in the morning and hated wearing my shoes in the shower all the time. Many of the bathrooms we had in the flats I shared with roommates in college-town were pretty bad, also. Dirty, stained bathtubs were the worst.

So when I was buying a house, I was serious about finding a good bathroom. The one I ended up with had a few updates that needed to be made, and could have been a little bigger, but over all I like the color of the vintage tile and the pedestal sink. Now there are a lot of fun times logged in the bathroom with husband, sounds bad, I know, but we always do a lot of giggling and goofing around as we get ready for bed or get ready in the morning.

When I think of my next house, I think of the bathroom... I dream of nice lighting, cool faucets (like the ones at Uncle Mark's where the water flows over the open top of the faucet), nice tiling, and a shower area with nice lighting and stone walls (Like the one at tacohead's family cabin) and several different shower heads.

I think there is a lot you can tell about people from their bathrooms... Is it clean? Is it warm? Do they use their space pratically? Is it luxurious? What products do they use, what soap do they have on their sink? All very important considerations, that I am sure most people don't even notice.

So next time you are out and about, shopping for houses, visiting friends, staying with relatives, pay special attention... It is a pretty nice, cool room that we all have at least one of. How do you use yours?

Commentary from month 9

I have been thinking about blogging all week, but by the time I have gotten near my computer I have been either too busy or too tired to be literate or interesting. A nice Saturday evening with friends tonight, with an early end. I am so happy to be free at 10 pm to read, blog, and just hang out with husband at home.

Sending out a big welcome to the blogging world to my friend and favorite humorist, Megan. There is no one that can make me laugh harder at daily life than you, Megan. Absolutely the best running commentary around. From the days of the "blanket rack" at the pack store, I still catch myself laughing at quotes that Megan could elicit from SS, "I will have viable 'seed' until I am at least 80," being one of my very favorites. I am also remembering a particular instance with a fire man figurine... What was that all about, again? Either way, I am looking forward to the retelling of the low-rise pant story on the blog, along with a few other ones.

First week of grad school and school-school down. check, check. I am finding it really strange to leave school at noon everyday and to have time in the afternoon at home. It goes against all schedules I have had since I left college. I have been on a strict school schedule come September for so long, I still feel like I am skipping when I head down the highway early in the day. It also feels a little like the summer hasn't ended or something... I am sure I will get used to it. Sometime around February, when I am able to see the sun everyday, I will probably swear off ever returning to a full-time job where I am stuck in a classroom with no windows.

In other news, I have never been so confused by kitty behavior. Leo and Nora are still not getting along. That is understandable, though, once you watch Nora's behavior toward Leo. She constantly stalks him, attacks him, and pesters him. This may sound really, well... kitty-like, but I honestly think it is beyond that at this point. She knows that it is bad, she runs and hides after she attacks him, but keeps on doing it. I don't think she is curious about him anymore, I think that it has become some sort of obsession for her. He, meanwhile, is constantly worried. He gets nervous at any strange noise, he scans each room he enters fearfully looking for her, and worst of all he cannot escape from her. She has figured out all of his hiding spots. I am now creating places for him to sleep so that she cannot find him. He runs to his litter box and pees as quickly as possible so that she won't get him before he is done. Husband and I have tried punishing her by giving her time outs in her room, yelling, clapping loudly, spraying her with water, and also by using positive reinforcement when she doesn't run after him. We play with her several times a day to keep her boredom at bay... Hopefully she grows out of this soon because we love her to death, she is the sweetest cat I have ever known other than the fact that she is tormenting our other cat.

Maybe it is a bad thing that I am blogging about the relationship between my cats...

On another note, I am started to get really excited about our week-long honeymoon vacation to Hawaii coming up in October. I think it will be such a fun break from the norm! Plus, I have never been. We got a helicopter ride around the island as a wedding present from brother, P, and are scheduling a island-hopper trip to Kauai so that we can do some hiking while we are there. I will also be all set for some non-school time by then. Thanks to friend LL, I already have a great book about parts of the islands history to read while I am there! Yippee!

Lastly, I have been nagged by the horrible feeling all day about my wedding pictures that we finally got to see this morning. I really like them. I really like the work the photographers did. But... for some reason, there is still something that is bothering me about them... I don't like a lot of the pictures of me, funny gaps with the way the dress fit me, stupid looks on my face, hardly any pictures of family, wedding guests, or wedding party other than the formal shots. I was disappointed that due to the weather there are hardly any outdoor pictures... Maybe I just had my hopes too high that they would be really stunning.

I think the worst part is that I feel badly that I feel badly. I wanted to be wholly satisfied and now that there is that little nagging feeling that I don't LOVE them, I feel guilty. I don't want husband to feel bad, I don't want BHH to think I am complaining about the photographer she recommended or that I am just being too picky, I don't want people to think I not grateful to have had a great wedding and a really good photographer. Maybe they will grow on me, and until that happens I will try and not say anymore about it.

My next blog post is going to be about bathrooms. I am sure the .02 people that read my blog are pumped!

Animal Dreams

Over our weekend trip to San Francisco I was reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams. As always, Kingsolver has so many layers that relate the natural world to the emotional, human realm. There are so many different angles to read her books with, it blows my mind how she can be such an integrated writer. I have been dying to discuss with some one all of the different messages within the book. An awesome book for a book club (or environmental science class, sociology class, psychology class, history class- the Nicaraqua aspects are written with a great perspective). Here are a few of my favorite quotes/moments...

"[Hallie] wanted to save the world"
"No, Pop, that's not true. She wanted to save herself just like we all do."
"Save herself from what?"
"From despair. From the feeling of being useless. I've about decided that's the main thing that separates happy people from the other people: the feeling you are a practical item, with a use, like a sweater or a socket wrench."

"You know what Loyd told me one time?"
"No"
"He thinks people's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits will dream of rabbits. Its what you do that makes your soul- not the other way around."

Such insightful discussions of vocation in this book, just under the surface. Kingsolver seems to be making comments on one's contribution to society and especially one's small community. That you are what you do and what you give of yourself. How you open up to the world's possibilities, and how you find meaning in your pursuits.

"Those first few weeks are an unearthly season. From the outside you remain so ordinary, no one can tell from looking that you have experienced an earthquake of the soul. You've been torn asunder, invested with an ancient, incomprehensible magic. It is the one thing we never quite get over: that we contain our future."

This last piece on being pregnant is a pretty amazing passage. It is the first book to ever depict pregnancy as something that is not so scary and is in so many ways a natural progression and extension of yourself... A neat meeting of the natural and emotional world again.

Anyways, this book is a powerful story of coming of age, making amends with your past to follow your future, and of looking to the natural world for clues. It is also a story of sisters, and of learning to really open yourself to others, regardless of what may come. I loved it. My other long time Kingsolver favorite is Prodigal Summer but this one could be edging into first. It comes highly recommended and a built in discussion buddy!