Go. Go now and say things.

For the last year or so, I've been following the Fat Cyclist's blog. It's a very interesting combination of workout log, friendly shizztalkin', gorgeous nature photography, and cancer journal. The author is an avid mountain biker in Utah, but he's also a man dealing with his wife and soulmate's slow steady decline due to malignant brain tumors. Reading this guy's blog, I'm hit with a variety of emotions. He's an excellent writer that can detail his amazing highs riding around on the gorgeous hills of Utah, but then he describes a breathtakingly sad account of having to research his options for hospice care. I can't imagine being able to share my own heartbreak in that way, but I appreciate that he can.

He's currently going through a period where things are changing quickly, and Wednesday's post included an entreaty that I'll repeat here:

Think for a moment about the person you care most about. Now think about what you’d wish you could have said if that person were taken away from you. Now think about how glad you would be if you were given a second chance to say those things.

That is all.

DON'T YOU LAUGH.

I mean it - don't laugh.




Mwah hah haaaaahhhh. No, seriously.

Don't laugh.




Are you laughing? I knew it!!! (yer gonna burn for that, you know)

I've said it before...

...and I'll say it again - BBC AMERICA GIVES GOOD SHOW.

This week's offering was "Britain's Youngest Grannies." And it's all about the teen pregnancy epidemic in Britain and the phenomenom of 34-, 35- and 36-year-old grandmas. There were several families profiled during the show, including one mother and daughter that like to parrrr-taaayyy together. This one mum, when getting ready to hit the clubs with her daughter (whilst leaving the kidlet at home with a sitter) told the interviewer "Tonight - I'm no one's mam...and I'm certainly no one's nana!"

Oh hellsyeah.

You stay classy, Birmingham.

Scenes from Eugene

Mah mans and I rolled down to Eugene this weekend for a whirlwind trip to celebrate his birthday with the fam. Jay's brothers, their wives, four nephews and his aunt and uncle all journeyed from points north down to his parents' place to wish him a happy 38th. There was lasagne, cookies and cake galore - so pretty much all Jay's favorite things. I only hope I'll be able to come up with something good on Tuesday, the actual day of his birthday. I did skedaddle out to the store tonight to pick up a bunch of goodies so I can make him a surprise breakfast tomorrow morning - unfortunately, I'm kinda a crap cook. So if I manage to avoid giving him some kind of food poisoning, I'm gonna count that bizzatch as a success.

After saying goodbye to the 'rents on Sunday morning, we headed out to do a little sightseeing around town. We moved to Portland from Eugene back in 1997 (me) and 1998 (Jay), so there have certainly been a lot of changes since then. We started off by heading into Springfield to see the new RiverBend Medical Center. It's only been open for a few months and it is something. I thought we were pulling up at a big ol' mountain resort when we arrived. The place is amazing - all kinds of stonework and huge exposed beams. And the inside is just gorgeous. Deffo looks like a retreat rather than the institution it is. After walking through the lobby (ginormous floor-to-rafters fireplace and an actual guy playing an actual baby grand piano!), checking out the beautifully finished chapel and the well-appointed restaurant, I told Jay I could totally vacation here.

RiverBend Medical Center

Jay was only slightly overwhelmed by the amount of brick used at RiverBend

I prolly could have chilled out here all day with a book and a tasty latte.

After the RiverBend stop, we headed through Springfield and checked out the apartment I lived in just before moving back to Portland - and realized it's still a nasty lil' dive. But whaddaya expect for $340 a month? I thought I was livin' pretty large back in the day. I mean, I had a one bedroom apartment in downtown Springfield, right across the street from the Post Office, above Flo's Hair Design and kitty-corner from Subway! That's the life, right?! I mean, other than the constant worry that I'd be attacked while walking in from the dark parking lot behind the building and the fact that my landlord (who could access my apartment at any time using his master key) appeared to be dealing with a pretty serious prescription drug problem. Yeah, other than those things, it was a sweet deal.

After checking on the downward spiral of Willamette Street in downtown Eugene (gotta do it every trip, even though it's soooo depressing), we stopped into Lexi Dog in the 5th Street Market and bought the wee Kedzie dog some goodies. Which sorta helped us assuage our guilt at having to crate the poor doggle in the garage all night. Before heading back north on the highway, we took a stroll through Alton Baker Park. Kedz looked like he wanted to have some of the ducks and geese for dinner, but he behaved himself pretty well. Our park stroll was a lovely end to our superquick Eugene trip!

The Kedzel, diggin' the fall colors

Alton Baker footbridge, with the Ferry Street Bridge just beyond

Footbridge across the Willamette River

Blue skies, fall colors = perfection

Goosies

On the road to Bluejean

Yeah, I'm gonna have nightmares now.

Those that know me know how much I love the gatos. But that? Just isn't right.

The East Side Set Goes to Back Fence PDX!

The Back Fence PDX event last night was so good. Which is particularly nice, given the fact that the night didn't start out all that well. I had to roll over to the east side for an afternoon meeting, which I expected would go til 5 pm. I did the Trip Check thing with TriMet to figure out how to get to Urban Grind, so I had a plan and I was quite pleased. But then the meeting ended early, and perhaps I'm just not that great with unscheduled time.

I ended up rolling down to the mall and spending an inordinate amount of time with the new T-Mobile G1 phone. I'm not gonna lie. There may have been a little drooling. It's pretty much amazing.

After tearing myself away from the G1, I strolled over to the bus stop and waited for the 74 bus. And waited. And waited. Turns out, that particular bus doesn't run after the PM peak rush hour. And apparently, 6 pm was after the PM peak period.

After calling the TriMet hotline and finding out that the 74 bus wouldn't show up til the next damn day, I sucked it up and started walking towards Urban Grind. It wasn't a terribly long walk, and it was a gorgeous Portland day, so really - I have no complaints. I made it to Urban Grind at 6:30 and was promptly informed that I couldn't hang by the lovely Intern Nathalie.

No big whoop, I thought. I'll just head down to Sandy Blvd and find somethin' to do for the next half-hour.

BIG MISTAKE, y'all. BIG.

In that half-hour, all the light drained from the sky, the neighborhood revealed itself to be fully devoid of any streetlights, there were no lil' coffeeshops or bars in the vicinity, and my cell battery drained to damned near nothin'.

Crisis.

I found myself on the corner of Sandy Blvd and 22nd, just kickin' it, reading a magazine under the streetlights and sittin' on a wee half-wall until I got a call from Kates. She told me she was getting ready to turn on my very own street corner. I looked up, saw her ride, said "That's you?" and promptly jumped into the passenger seat in her car like a common street walker. It was amah-zing.

Kates and I claimed our seats inside Urban Grind shortly thereafter and waited for the rest of the gang to arrive. Finally, we filled our table and stopped having to answer the question "Are those seats taken?" - as Mels and Jodles glided in, followed by Shaz - formerly known on thishere bloggity blog as Sharon (I've decided to preserve her innerweb anonymity in the event she decides to run for president - I'm sweet that way).

Once we were about a bottle deep, Melissa Lion, one of the co-producers of Back Fence PDX (and also one of my fave blogger/writers) rolled by and said the most amazing thing - "Can Kiala and Dane sit with you?" The other chickies didn't recognize the seriousness of the situation, but I did. And amazingly, I managed to keep my shizz together. 'Cause seriously - they are like bloggystyle royalty to me. And I'm ever so distressed that in two weeks they'll be leaving the 503 for San Francisco. The only good news is that I'm sure they'll continue to have the funnest adventures in SF as well. And I'm ever-so-excited to see future Vimeos from Kiala. She's a laugh riot, I'm tellin' ya.

Shortly after the King and Queen joined us, the show began. And it was great. Sadie Medley started things off and told a great story about unrequited crushes and moving on. Then we heard from Tina Newton, who spun a touching yarn (hah! she works with yarn - I made a funny!) about knitting, knowledge passed - or not passed - through families, and finding your passion. Sarah Gilbert's tale about aspiring to be a CEO and the perfect mom was lovely, and I'm pretty sure everyone at our table was won over by David Bragdon's excellent storytelling. I mean, don't former cab drivers always have the best stories?!

Following the intermission, we heard from Dave Jarecki, who explained to us just what 420 means - and I'm just sayin', buddy - we knew exactly what would happen when you got into that stranger's car. Mister Jarecki also gave us our favorite quote of the night - "This guy's eyes were so dilated, that if they were vaginas, a baby would be coming out of them." Oh, such imagery!

We also heard from Slim Moon, fancypants music producer man about town, and the night's headliner - Beth Lisick. What can I say about Miz Lisick? So charming! So cute! So funny! We all loved her. This third Back Fence PDX event was awesome, and I was thrilled when Kates turned to me towards the end and said "This is our new thing."

Agreed, Kates. Agreed.

Super Friends, activate!

Clearly, Kates and I were separated at birth - we even have similar notebooks!


Jodles and Shaz, enjoying a fine Crisp Apple Hornsby's Cider

Kates, having herself a lovely time.

Scribbles by Kates, Mels and me. Jodles and Shaz were completely unawares of our antics, as they were facing the stage. However, the combined hysterics of me, Mels and Kates wound up causing table tremors they could not ignore.

Meeting? Or sightseeing trip? It's BOTH!

Yesterday afternoon, I attended a meeting inside a repurposed water tank. It was kinda cool.


All around the sides of the ol' water tank were windows, featuring a panoramic view of Portland. Yesterday was completely gorgeous - check out the fantab view of Mt. Hood...

Looking northwest over the Oregon Convention Center towards the Willamette River and Portland's West Hills. My town is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

It's not so bad bein' me.

So many stories! So much fun!

This month's Back Fence PDX event is gonna be the BEST EVAR!

Sharon and I are joining the chickies from the east side at Urban Grind for the 8 pm show. We all used our giant craniums and decided to buy tickets in advance so that we wouldn't be turned away from the awesomeness that is Back Fence PDX.

I'm planning to get over to Urban Grind bright and early to finagle a table or a bunch of seats for the east side gang. If you're coming down, come on over and say hi - I'll be the one casually draped across five chairs.

'Cause I'm classy like that.

Kings of Leon. The recap.

Oh my giddygods. The Followill Boys did not disappoint! Sharon and I agreed - this was one of the best concerts we've seen all year - and we've been to a lot of shows so far in 2008. I was initially baffled by the fact that KOL was booked at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. I've been there for plenty a show, and even walked across the stage at the Schnitz to receive my MBA diploma. But a rock band venue? A RAWK BAND? It seemed a little incongruous. I mean, it's all assigned seating, there's no big ol' mash-up mosh pit scenario up near the stage, and most importantly - there's no freakin' drinking inside the hall! You've gotsta drink up out in the lobby before they'll let you in. I don't know about you, but a rock show without a fine Oregon microbrew in your hand just doesn't feel right.

Both of the opening bands were great. The Stills were up first - and though they didn't play my favorite song (Allison Krausse, FYI) - I enjoyed them just as much as always. We Are Scientists were up next and they were all kinds of chatty with the audience. And oh, how I love the witty banter! After their set, I posted a quick lil' twitter post and showed Sharon: "We Are Scientists: I are a fan."

In between sets, we were treated to a show by the hardest workin' man in showbiz - Mr. Nacho Followill. He's a cousin of the boys in Kings of Leon and travels along to all the shows, setting up monitors, tuning the various guitars and once even stepped in to play drums during a show so Nathan Followill could run to the bathroom (True story - I saw the video!). Here's Nacho, in the center of the stage, setting up Caleb's pedals just like he likes 'em:

Caleb Followill - lead vocals and rhythm guitar, primary lyricist. This was my first time seeing KOL live, but I've seen a buncha concert footage, and he always seems to come off a little unfriendly (Austin City Limits 2007, much?) - but perhaps that was just the editing. Tonight he was fantastic. Very gracious and complimentary of the band's supporting acts. And that's just nice, don't you think?

Me: "ZOMG! Look at all the lights shining around Nathan, my super-top-secret-fake-boyfriend! He looks like an angel - an angel straight from heaven, Sharon!"

Apologies in advance for the craptastic photos. I love almost everything about my T-Mobile Dash, but its photo-taking ability is for shizzity shizz. My next schmartypantscellphone will mos def have a better camera.

Update for Sharon - Last night's playlist with asterisks by the songs from the new album. See - I tol' you so. They didn't play everything on Only By The Night. And more importantly, they didn't play my fave OBTN song, Be Somebody - you know, the one that features the brilliant percussion work of my super-top-secret-fake-boyfriend, Nathan Followill?

*Sex on Fire
My Party
Razz
Molly’s Chambers
Taper Jean Girl
King of the Rodeo
Fans
*Revelry
Milk
Four Kicks
The Bucket (on the new album, but all crapped up by electronica – sorry Mr. Prince-Starr, it’s true! I’ll get you a copy of the original.)
*Use Somebody
On Call
*Closer
*Cold Desert
Charmer
Slow Night, So Long

Encore:
Knocked Up
*Manhattan
*Crawl

ZOMG! Kings of Leon show is TONIGHT!

I'm freaking out. FREAKING OUT!! In just a few short hours, Sharon and I will be rawkin' out to the Followill Boys in the 11th row at the Schnitz. I plan to prepare by listening to all four albums, plus the Live from SoHo EP, on a continuous loop all day and drink outrageous amounts of caffeine in order to stay awake during the late night.

I'm not jokin' - with the amount of vanilla lattes I plan to ingest tomorrow, it's entirely possible that my whole body will be VIBRATING by the time the opening bands take the stage. And - excitementplus! - the openers are We Are Scientists and The Stills. Huh, more like: be still my hammer-yammering heart! Oh my golly, oh my golly - I can't wait!

It's so clear that I'm going to embarrass the shizz out of Sharon tomorrow. She's a good friend for putting up with my hi-jinks, don't you think?

The things people post on walls these days...

Towards the end of the Day of Faith, Mom treated us to pedicures at a nail salon near Faith's house. Oh my, did that place have comfy cozy massage chairs. They were a delight! But I must admit to being much more delighted by the cute little sign hanging on the wall across the room. It read exactly the same as below:

Attention

A deep tissue massage system has been installed in the pedicure chair will provide you a great back massage when you feet are pampered by our professional nail tech. Enjoy it with caution, please stop immediately once you feel uncomfortable.

Pregnant, ladies over 50, and people with history of back problems are not recommended to use it.

English as a distant second language? I celebrate you.

The Day of Faith

Saturday morning, following the sleepover extravaganza at Kates' place, Sharon dropped me off bright and early at my sister's house to commence THE DAY OF FAITH. The Day of Faith was so named because, well - Faith said so. And it's all about Faith, after all. But given the fact that in 20 short weeks it won't ever be all about Faith again, my mom and I felt a Day of Faith was in order. Because, you see - in just 20 weeks or so the stork should be dropping off my lil' baby nephew! I've seen the pictures, and he looks a little blobby so far. But I might be sayin' that because I never did finish my degree in ultrasound photo decipherin'...

The Day of Faith was to include lunch, pedicures, and numerous opportunities for my mom to buy things for Faith and me - since I was there and all - not a dumb cookie, this one!

Now, I'm not planning to complain about our Day of Faith. I'M NOT. But there were a few points during the day that were NOT FUN. No, not fun at all. I suppose it didn't help that I'd indulged in a copious amount of rummity rum rum on Friday night during our sleepover at Kates' place and was suffering from some serious hangzieties. Mom brought her massage table down from Seattle, so the delightful back and neck rub helped matters a lil' bit.

During Faith's massage, I occupied myself by reading one of the magazines on the coffee table - Pregnancy. And it? Was horrifying.

There were pregnant bellies everywhere in the magazine, but that wasn't awful or unexpected. No, it was the shirts covering the pregnant bellies that made me cuckoo-for-cocopuffs. Pretty much all the things I find most annoying about the mommy set were printed on these shirts. They were just soooo cutesy and omigod - gaggitygaggag. I hated them. But whatevs, you be the judge. Are these the most reedonkulous things you've ever seen? Are you prepared for me to ditch you as a friend if you were to ever wear such a thing?

Oh, aren't you adorable, what with your clever little kid/food play on words. Well, you know what, lady? SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!! [Am horrible person, clearly]

Pregzilla, huh? Is it really necessary for you to advertise your nightmarish mood swings? I mean, we're all here at work with you - and we're well aware that you have to pee every half-hour, that no one better mess with your food, and that your feetsies are swollen and you can't tolerate standing for long periods of time. Yes, that's very sad for you. But guess what? YOU CHOSE TO SPAWN. And as a good friend once told me:

No band-aids for self-inflicted wounds.

Oh no. Just, NO. As a general rule, I don't nevah want to see you wear a t-shirt that alludes to the fact that you once had sex, are currently having sex, or plan to have sex in the future. Call me repressed, but I just don't need to know that kind of thing about some random dude walking down the street. The other shirt I developed an irrational hatred of was the one that read "Yes, it's mine" - presumably meant to be worn while standing near a preggie chick. How presh. And by "presh," I mean not precious, not at all.

A Superfun Sleepover

Here's what I remember of our Friday night sleepover at Kates' place:


- Awesome Thai take-out

- Sharon trying to pick me up at the Indian restaurant, when I was actually half a block away at the Thai restaurant. [See? This is why I try to go NOWHERE without my cell phone]

- Lots of rummity rum goodness

- Watching Adventures in Babysitting

- There were green things in the Coconut ice cream and it was a bit off-putting

- Jody threw a glass of water at Melissa, or maybe it was Melissa that did the tossin'

- Kates' husband Jeff modeled a Speedo thong

- I was sporting shoes that were entirely too big for my wee feetsies


I also noticed that following our superfun sleepover, I found approximately 87 photos on my camera that involved me dressed up like a garden gnome and posing in various locations around the backyard.

Whuuuut? I'm fun at parties - I thought you'd heard.

How Preps Prep for a Dirty Shirty Party

Over on her Jennsylvania site, one of my favorite bloggers/writers - Jen Lancaster - talks about feeling confounded by the idea behind a Dirty Shirty party. As her friend explains, you're supposed to wear a dirty shirt - not one with salad dressing stains - one with a profane message that's NSFW (not safe for work, y'alls).

Jen commented that all she ever wears are gym shirts and polos with the embroidered Lacoste gator. And here's where I become convinced that Jen Lancaster is a genius. Because she worked within her own wardrobe limitations to come up with one heckuva nice dirty shirty. I love it!

Would YOU turn down this invite? I didn't think so.

Babes.

The Friday of Fun is fast approaching!

Food: Suggestions? I am sort of jonesing Thai + dessert (like coconut ice cream, mango sorbet, fortune cookies?). Just thinking out loud here....do others have suggestions?

Drink: Yes please.

Time: 7ish?

Air mattresses: YES PLEASE! We have the guest room Queen, the couch (which I am TRYING to relegate the hubby to) & my King. If hubby takes the couch we are fine...if not...ug. He's fighting me :)

PJ's?: Prob a good idea.

Breakfast on Saturday morning.....hmmmmm.......ideas anyone? Coffee? Bagels & schmeer? Homemade quiche? Something not with eggs for Jodes & Mels? Out to nosh?

Movies: Adventures in Babysitting, done. Thank you [me]. And she has a fabulous idear for other movies.....bring your favorite and we'll watch the best parts :) [I've termed this process "The Notebook Treatment" - skip all the boring parts with old people! Let's watch the bits with the rain and the kissin' and the tossin' people up against walls and such!]. So, bring 'em! I am also trying to get my hands on Fatal Attraction if anyone has it.......

Oh, we can also prank call boys, do each others hair, and freeze the first person to fall asleeps....ahhhh....nevermind.

Other thoughts? Hmmmmmm?



Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

Kates