7 Random Facts

I am up way too early this morning, but I have the sniffles and I can't fall back asleep so I am wasting time on the Internet. Raellyn tagged me with the "7 Random Facts" meme so I might as well try it out.

Here are the rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. My favorite thing about Spring is cheap and ripe asparagus in abundance. I love asparagus and would eat it everyday if it was around all year long. I am thinking of growing a patch of asparagus so that I can have tons of it every Spring. Tip: Asparagus goes bad really quickly in a bag in the refrigerator. To make your asparagus last longer, chop about 1/2" off the bottoms and store in a jar of water (like flowers in a vase.) I have seen asparagus stay good for up to two weeks like this, plus it looks really pretty in your refrigerator.
   
2. I am allergic to cats. This was discovered in high school when I had a cat, but living with him built up my immunity so it wasn't that bad. Now, after 10 years of cat-free living my cat allergy is very severe (cats=anaphylaxis.) I have to pop 125mg of Benedryl before seeing a cat so that my throat doesn't completely close up (and I still have itching, swelling, running nose, red eyes and sneezing.) My allergy attacks can last up to 48 hours after being around a cat. It sucks!
   
3. I won't stick my hands into a sink of soapy water. Standing water freaks me out and the water in the sink is no exception. I do the dishes under running water.
4. During the summer I walk or ride my bike to the downtown library to spend some time with the books. Every time I go I pick a random section to browse through and I can spend up to three hours just looking at books on a subject that I would typically have no interest in.
5. Philip and I collect tiki. We have over 50 tiki mugs, old and new. A few are limited editions and worth a little money (though we would never sell them.) In addition to tiki mugs our collection contains tiki shot glasses (these are harder to find than the mugs,) figurines, and coconut monkeys. I designed and built our tiki bar (okay, my dad built the frame, but from my sketches.) Our favorite item in the tiki room is the copy of the photograph of a hula girl which you can see in this entry. The girl in the picture is actually Philip's grandmother and the background was a set in someone's basement. It was World War II and Philip's grandfather was a soldier so Philip's grandmother had this sexy picture taken for him to carry with him. It is the only family photograph that we have hanging in our house.
6. I try to never walk the same path twice. I am always looking for new ways to walk places: hidden paths, new streets, even just a different side of the road. I like to see things from several different angles and then pick my favorite. I've found hidden parks, underpasses, and even an unmarked wildlife preserve. I also pick up trash on my walks in a sad attempt to leave the world a better place.
7. I am an avid instruction reader. Anytime I buy something new, especially something expensive, I read the instruction book cover to cover. It drives me absolutely mad when people buy an expensive piece of equipment and don't even bother to learn about the features that they are paying the extra money for. I also thoroughly research every piece of electronic equipment before I buy so that I know that I am getting the product that best fits my needs and has the best track record. I don't like buying things that I will have to replace.
   

Okay, now you know me, tell me about yourself. I am not going to tag anyone, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try this meme. Post your random items and drop me a line.

Summer Knitting

My secret pal posted about this contest and I decided to enter.

My Summer Knitting Goals
1) Knit an entire shelf of cupcakes
2) Finish knitting my sweater
3) Knit 3 more pairs of socks
4) Design and publish 2 more patterns
5) Knit the Blue Sky fitted tank (this was a goal before the contest, I swear)

If you decide to enter this contest, make sure to tell them your were sent by me.

Oregon

I have actually been back from Oregon for a few days, but catching up has been quite a challenge. Luckily, I think I have things pretty much in order or at least they will be after the weekend. We had an amazing trip. Robert and Bambu's wedding wins for the best wedding we've ever attended since it came with a built-in vacation. I guess I will just start at the beginning

Tuesday night we flew from Louisville into Portland. The flights were long and fairly uneventful and we arrived in at our hotel in Oregon around 3:30am EST which was a little painful after a full day of work. The next morning we woke up way too early and headed down to Voodoo Doughnut with Philip's parents were we each bought two vegan doughnuts. I only finished one of mine since they were pretty dense and I am not used to doughnuts in the morning.

After the doughnuts, Philip's parents headed down to Eugene and Philip and I headed down the street to Stumptown coffee to wait for a decent hour to call our friend Amanda. For the rest of the day Amanda was driving us all around Portland. We visited Lint, the Naked Sheep, Herbivore, the Parodox Diner, the bins (a free-for-all Goodwill experience,) the nickle arcade, and a few comic and record shops.

Late in the afternoon we took a trip down to Mt Angel, Ore. to visit the museum at Mt Angel Abbey. Unfortunately, we arrived to a bunch of construction and this sign.


Since it took us 45 minutes to get there we decided to walk around the abbey. We visited the book shop where I bought a rosary for my sister and a few saint charms for myself. The ladies who ran the book shop told us all about the abbey and the museum and they even drew us a picture of the world's largest hairball (the attraction that originally brought us to the museum) and gave us some divine vegan chocolate to make up for our trip.


The abbey itself was very beautiful. It was situated on top of a hill and supposedly it had an incredible library, but we were a little late to see inside.

After the long trip to Mt. Angel we were all a little tired so we decided to forgo dinner at Pirate's Tavern and go to the Alibi which is a tiki bar with karaoke instead where I finally met . I have never actually met anyone I communicate with online so I was a little nervous, but Michelle was awsome and I felt totally comfortable talking to her. She came with her boyfriend Aaron and they even sang karaoke. Despite their nervousness, they rocked at karaoke.

Portland was really fun, but we drove everywhere which doesn't really allow for seeing the neighborhoods. Next time we go we are going to stay longer and either walk or take the bus everywhere so we can really explore the city.

Wednesday morning we took a bus from Portland to Eugene where we met up with Philip's family and the rest of the wedding party. We spent about an hour in Eugene before it was time to load everyone up and head out toward the cabin. The cabin was located in the mountains near Drain, Ore. about 30 minutes from Eugene. We knew the cabin was going to be big, but we really underestimated the size. It was huge, more like a lodge. There was a pool, a hot tub, a pool table, a pond with a paddle boat, and no neighbors as far as the eye could see.



At this point all of the days ran together. I spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool, napping, sitting on the dock, exploring the trails by the cabin, hanging out, knitting, and eating. I can't even describe how much food I ate. Philip and I usually don't eat three full meals a day, more like a couple smaller snacky meals and then a big dinner so we were a little overwhelmed by the volume of food available at all hours of the day on our trip. Our favorite meal of the weekend was the quiche from Vegan Vittles that Bambu made the night of the wedding; it was so good!!

The wedding was Saturday evening in a clearing overlooking the other mountains. Bambu and Robert wrote their own vows and had their friend Jim perform the service. It was perfect, every aspect of the ceremony reflected them which is the key to the perfect wedding. The evening was filled with drinking, dancing, and the most amazing vegan wedding cake I have ever tasted.

The next day we were back to relaxing mode. Some of the people headed home and some went to check out the coast. The rest of us took naps, got herbal facials courtesy of Bambu, and played games.

Monday we headed to the airport with every intention of getting back to Kentucky early Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, there was a delay with our flight which completely destroyed our travel plans. We waited 9 hours to be rerouted to Atlanta on another airline getting us home about 10 hours later than planned. The one nice thing about the delay was the Powell's book store in the Portland airport. Philip and I ended up buying a pile of books to read on our trip home, none of which can be found in a typical airport book store. When we got home we picked up Astrid, then went home and slept the rest of the day away. Nice trip, but recovering from the travel time was tough. Our hours are still a little screwed up, but we should recover over the long weekend.

Off to the Left Coast

This afternoon Philip and I are leaving for a week in Oregon for his brother's wedding. We are planning on spending all day Wednesday trekking around Portland and then Thursday afternoon we will go down to Eugene to meet up with his family and then we will go off to the cabin for the rest of our visit. This is my first trip to the pacific northwest so I am super excited. We have a bunch of activities planned including dinner at the Pirate's Tavern on Wednesday night (which we have been dreaming about since it first opened.) We should be there around 7pm if any Portlanders want to join us. For the other activities, you will just have to wait a week for the pictures. See you next week!!!

More Swap Goodness

I signed up for the vegan recipe swap on Swap-bot, but the idea of sending recipes torn out of newspapers and magazines did not appeal to me. I decided instead to create a mini recipe zine for my swap partners. I have two partners for the swap and they are both getting the same thing since I am too lazy to create two zines. The quarter page zine is eight pages, contains 10 recipes and the cover art was done by Philip.

Since the swap was centered around vegan food, I also slipped in some blank recipe cards that I got from someone on Craftster and a little I heart vegans pin. Yeah swaps!!!!

On the subject of vegan cooking, I was inspired by Sarah's portabella burger entry a few days ago so I decided to make blackened portabella caps. I went to the grocery store on Friday to discover that portabella mushrooms, asparagus and roma tomatoes were on sale. These are all favorites of mine so I stocked up and for two nights in a row I had blackened portabella caps, fresh roma tomatoes, and steamed asparagus with vegan hollandaise sauce. Last nights meal also included a bed of Spanish rice making it the better of the two meals.
I still have one portabella cap and about half a pound of asparagus so I will probably have them for lunch tomorrow.

Some cute little buttons

Here is a picture of the buttons I made for a button swap on Swap-bot. The monogrammed button is embroidered fabric, the gingham is painted fabric and the scissors are regular buttons- paper covered with Mylar (hence the reflection.) I think the cupcake is my favorite, but I am going to make a set of the monogrammed ones as magnets for a gift.