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Consistency? Obviously Not My Strong Point

lb — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:36:26 +0000

Who doesn’t love a good list?! Here’s some happenings since September 10th-

* Upgrade! Upgrade! (C’mon, who remembers Beyonce’s commercial for Comcast?! JB- I know you do! A sexy Beyonce dance to showcase just how fantastic the internet is? Awesome. And clearly effective.) Yeah, so the Bongs have moved. We reluctantly, no, joyfully, left our 400 square foot little studio in the NW for a house in the ‘burbs. Before you judge us for selling out and living the American dream let me reassure you that we are still renting and we aren’t really living in the ‘burbs, but rather in a sweet little neighborhood in an area of town called Hollywood. And it has doors that lead to rooms and hallways and a toilet that isn’t in the shower. Yeah, the studio was rough. But oddly enough I kinda miss the lovin’ oven. Not so much that I’d go back but enough to say that for the first 3 months of married life The Bong and I made it work. We accomplished something together and that’s cool.

* GREEN CARD! Woo. The Bong is officially a legal alien! We had the big interview and my nervous inappropriate joking subsided long enough to win the approval of the Immigration officer. And let me tell you. Homeboy had a severe lisp. I’m not judging, I went to a speech therapist as a kid. Speech impediments suck. But come on. My only coping mechanism is sarcasm and misplaced humor. And we get this guy as our officer!? Needless to say, it was hard. But at the end of the day Koes got his green card and that was a huge burden taken off our shoulders. Who knew it was so hard to stay in America? Obviously I’m relieved and thrilled, although I will admit that it was kinda fun being married to an outlaw for a couple of months. Kinda Bonnie and Clyde-ish. Minus the violence and robberies. And bad ending. OK, really nothing like Bonnie and Clyde at all.

*LA 09- Great vacation including more than one trip to In N Out, spending some quality time with the sis and shacking up with our newish/old friends, Lauryl and Sammy. Can’t wait till they move here. Seriously. The Bong realized his dream of seeing U2 and I dragged him to the fashion district. I’d say it all evens out in the end, no? Oh, and star sightings! We sat on the very same row as Roy from The Office at the U2 show. He was pretty dreamy. Not sure if Pam made the right decision. Also, THE ANDY SKIB bought us burgers at In N Out ! Yeah, that happened.

There are a million more things to share about this insane life right now, but those are the biggies. Can’t you see why I haven’t blogged in a while? Good excuse, right?

Maptote.com Love

lb — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:50:23 +0000

Who should be allowed to judge fashion? I can’t answer that, but I can tell you who should not legally be allowed to give their input EVER. Anyone who drives a teal/rust colored Geo Metro circa 1996*, that’s who.

Let me explain.

A few weeks ago my sweet friend Erin gave me the coolest gift- An awesome tote bag with “Portland” written across it and a map of my hip new abode. It’s so cute that I basically carry it everyday and if things could make you happy, this bag is my Prozac. (Ok- it’s cute, but I really love the giver most of all…)

On the day that Cabe gave me the bag she said something along the lines of “I dunno, it might not be cool to carry a bag with a map of the city you are actually in…” To which I replied, “Pssh. This IS Portland. Nobody cares here!” and proceeded to head out to the farmer’s market to fill said bag with deliciousness.

And then it happened. That awful man driving that awful teal/rust colored Geo Metro circa 1996 leaned out of his car and shouted, “Who actually uses a bag with the city they are in on it?! HAHAHHA!” Hurtful? Yes. Ridiculous? Yes. We didn’t catch his license plate, but it is safe to assume that homeboy was from Van-tucky, WA and thus could not understand the finer things in life. Not his fault, right?

Alas, redemption came today. A really cool looking NW hipster walked clear across the cafe to tell me how great my bag was and where exactly she could get one. And I’m pretty confident that she did not own a teal/rust colored Geo Metro circa 1996. Bam. Take that.

*NOTE: To Geo Metro owners- I really don’t resent Geo Metros, I’m sure they are wonderful cars.

Henri’s Words

lb — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:04:26 +0000

Recently a new friend and I were talking about our shared love of the writings of Henri Nouwen. He wrote about things of the heart and of knowing who you really are from an incredibly humble perspective. I’ll never forget when my bestie gave me the best literary gift ever, a copy of “The Inner Voice Of Love: A Journey Through Anguish To Freedom.” At first I might have been slightly turned of by the title. As a serious student of counseling, I was offended by the self-help genre. (Really, where is the job security for me in that?!) But that tiny little book soon became my journal and I wrote in the margins and practically underlined every word (I was still in school at the time and obsessively underlined everything. Even shopping lists. Sick.) I felt as though Henri was addressing every insecurity, every thought I had at the time with some kind of literary hug. Oh, tender.

Based on our pondering of Henri’s type of thinking, Cabe and I came up with a term to refer to the best kinds of people we meet- “heart people.” They are hard to find but when you meet one, your life becomes undeniably better. Heart people have this magic ability to understand who you really are and to have enough compassion to accept you truly “as is”- and then make you feel as though you are the greatest person who has ever lived EVEN THOUGH they know all your junk. Magic.

So, in honor of the two visitors we will have this week who love well, I leave you with Henri’s words and sincerely hope that you encounter a heart person very, very soon.

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares.”

…gets me every time…sniffle, sniffle. XOXO Henri.

Birthday Meet UP

lb — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:00:20 +0000

Every year my little sister and I try to meet up in between our birthdays (hers is August 10, mine August 20). We’ve done this for the past three years and it’s a tradition I hope we never forsake. Three years ago, I visited Jennie while she was interning in New York. It was my first time in the city and she was already over it so we tried to avoid cliche toursity places (this was before we embraced our toursity ways and learned to proudly wear our cameras around our neck and don our fanny packs. HOT.) The highlights of that year were rollerblading in Central Park, finally seeing a Broadway show, flirting with randoms on the subway and hiding from a crazy guy in a leather bomber jacket with patches on it who I swear followed us for several blocks. We pretended we were on Law and Order: SVU. Irresponsible, yes. Awesome memory of our near double homicide from ‘Patches,’ yes.

Last Year:
We met up in LA. We actually were living together in Tulsa at the time, but she met her BF there earlier and I met up with my bestie, Cabe. We hunted celebrities shamelessly and found not a one. Lame. But we did eat at a restaurant called ‘Ketchup,’ where our waiter assured us that the cast of the new 90210 had sat in our booth. And why would he lie? Then Cabe and I laid on the beach for 3 days straight where Cabe got the most adorable sunglasses tan. Ok, maybe not adorable. Memorable, that’s the word.

This Year:
This year, Sissy came to my new fair city, Portland. My fav part-laying in bed reading together. We also saw the Pittock Mansion, ate delish tacos at Por Que No? and strolled the farmers market. ALSO. I made the most amazing carrot cake ever. Really. I asked my newish old friend, Lauryl, to hook me up with some baking recipes that were FAIL PROOF. And she did. And it was amazing. And there are no pictures of that blessed cake because I devoured it. And subsequently gained +40 pounds. Worth. It.

August, you always treat me well.
xoxo

Happy as a Clam: The Glorious Benefits of Marrying Up

lb — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:44:19 +0000

This weekend we received some pretty terrible news. I’m realizing that when I get stressed or upset I shut down and sleep. The Bong? He cooks.

During our honeymoon to Seattle, we had dinner one night at a place called Palace Kitchen. Oh, goodness. I won’t say that that was the highlight of the honeymoon, but it was amazing. I had clams for the first time and fell in love. So ever since we’ve been on the hunt for great clams here in Portland and we’ve found some OK places. But then Koes decided to make them himself. Seriously. They were beyond delicious and I’m hoping that he makes them for dinner again tonight. And tomorrow night. And every night after. They were that good.

So while I don’t want to receive any more bad news for a while, I am secretly plotting ways to stress out the Bong so that he’ll cook me up some more deliciousness. So wrong. But it feels so right.

Food, Inc. Or On Becoming a Hippy

lb — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:39:38 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows my love of eating crappy. Really crappy. Instead of blood coursing through my veins, I’m pretty sure that there are preservatives and artificial food coloring pumping my heart. By the sheer luck of good genes, I am fortunately not the 700 pounds I should be. So, when I watch movies such as “Supersize Me,” I just laugh at the poor schlubs who can’t enjoy McDonald’s as much as I can. Processed food? Yummy!
And then I saw Food, Inc.

Sure, I’ve seen films that highlight the evils of our food system before, but this one really caught my attention, especially since it wasn’t preachy. The most thought provoking point for me was that how we treat the environment and animals is eventually how we will treat people. I thought that was a huge jump myself at first but when they highlighted how many people making and processing our food are treated, it was easy to believe. Now, I’m not an obsessive animal lover like most of my neighbors here in Portland (I like animals, don’t get me wrong, I just probably won’t ever tattoo a pic of Fluffy on my back), but when you talk about mistreated humans, especially illegal immigrants, now that’s a cause I can rally behind. And the controlling nature of just a few meat and seed producing companies? And the lack of power the U.S.D.A. has? Lame, my friends, just plain lame. My love of the Mickey D’s Double Cheese is waning.

So, I’m relenting and becoming Portland-ish. The Bong and I shop at the farmers markets every week now and we actually went blueberry picking a couple of weeks ago. And it was fun. Really fun. And every time I make blueberry muffins, I think about just how fun it is to be healthy (as I dump the last of my processed inorganic sugar into the mixing bowl). For those of you who fear I’m turning into a dirty hippy, fear not. I still shave my legs and don’t have dreads. Yet.

Too Much of a Good Thing

lb — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:19:47 +0000

Last week Portland hit record highs of 100+. I kept thinking all week that this shouldn’t be a big deal-I’m of hearty stock, being a third generation Okie and all, right? Wrong. I cried like a baby. Portland has yet to discover the only thing that makes Oklahoma survivable during the summer, a novel invention called AC. When I moved into my studio apt, now fondly referred to as the “Lovin’ Oven,” I was assured that no apartments in Portland have AC. Some Portlanders even called it “unnecessary.” I’m pretty sure that those same Portlanders cried this week as well. On a relational level, this ridiculous heat almost ruined my new marriage. Confession: I might have snapped at the Bong a couple of times in morning when he tried to hug me goodbye. I’m pretty sure the makeup covered his black eye well though. That’ll teach him to try and hug me again.

Please Weatherman/woman, send a few rain clouds our way. It’s very unlikely I will ever make this request again, so please?