Seriously, Snow?!

So, I just got word that I'll be staying home today. Campus is shutting down on account of the "chubby white rain" we Oregonians refer to as snow. Is it still snowing? Yes. Is it sticking? Kind of. Is it cause for ANY concern? No. Ah well. I'll clean my house and blog instead.

I think it is time I start using those fun link-thingys in my blog. So have fun, this one is full of them!

Updates since last I blogged:
1) I've got yet another part-time, temporary job (I think I might paint something on the side of my wagon "Advisor for Hire" or "Student Affairs on Wheels"...what do you think?). I'll be working at Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus as the Outreach and Orientation Coordinator (lovingly called an "OOC"). I'll mostly be working on planning the spring Preview Day (May 8th), giving campus tours, hosting high school student groups visiting campus, and going out to high schools to give the PCC pitch. Should be fun. I'm excited for the work, the opportunity to develop my skills and meet more people, and most of all I'm excited for my office! That's right. Office! With walls and everything!

2) 1/2 marathon training began last night. Yep. In the freezing cold. My partner wined and moaned and we both hobbled up the stairs after we were done on our fast-aging joints. But it was great. 30 minutes as an easy-to-moderate pace (AKA - from our house to the stop sign and back). We still need to buy one of these for our training but we decided not to let our lack of gear stop us for making the plunge.

3) We're back in the housing market. We've looked at 6 places in the Tualatin/Tigard area in the last few weeks and this weekend we're headed to Beaverton. This is our favorite place so far. What do you think? And, if anyone needs a good real estate agent, check out this one (nice glam shot, right?). She's awesome! Laid back, friendly, genuine, knowledgeable, and flexible (anyone who has had a bad real estate experience can tell you how amazing it is to find all of these qualities in one person).

4) We're social butterflies and loving it. Last week/weekend we hosted 2 dinner parties, attended 2 birthday parties, co-hosted a pampered chef party, and met friends in Salem for lunch at one of my all-time favorite places. Yum!

5) We got a new TV. Thanks to Mom and Dad for their half (that was our Christmas present)! We've been looking for one since the summer. The price finally dropped low enough that it was my present upon my return from Minneapolis. I got to watch Obama being inaugurated on it and in HD you can almost count the gray hair on his head. It is fun and for some reason even though we didn't pay for cable before and got some channels now we still don't pay for cable and get even more. Welcome back HGTV & TLC! I still don't understand the difference between digital and HD (no matter how many times my partner explains it) but I like when the TV is bright and flashy looking. :)

6) I went to Minneapolis to visit my sister (lovingly known as Teed) and we had a blast! The first day we were there we made it all the way to the lobby! Highlights from the trip were seeing this guy, going here, drinking one of these, sleeping, getting this and this done, and eating at this cool place.

7) I'm busy this week with the Oregon Women in Higher Education conference. I'm on the planning committee and have been in charge of concurrent sessions, exhibit and poster sessions, networking sessions, and the artistic interlude. The conference happens on Friday and boy will I be glad when it is over! Tired as I am about the planning and logistics, I am excited for the conference and also looking forward to seeing my graduate school buddies.

8) My mom will be in town this weekend and I'm looking forward to her visit. (If you are putting 2 and 2 together and thinking: "Gee, that's a lot of house guests and stuff going on", you are correct! Refer to #4 - we're a busy bunch). We're going to take her along for the house hunt this weekend. The woman has owned 93 houses so she'll certainly be good to have along for sage advice, not to mention that she thinks I'm funny and I like to make her laugh.

9) I'm looking forward to this girl's baby shower. I bought the CUTEST little things for baby Ella and I am excited to see this girl and this girl at the shower, too.

10) I'm newly obsessed with this drink. And in typical "me" fashion, I order it with 1 1/2 pumps of classic syrup and non-fat milk. Mostly 'cause that is the way I prefer it, but also 'cause the barista at the local Starbucks is cute, and I like to make him look up from the register and make eye contact (Shhh. Don't tell this boy!).

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
I've decided that I don't like diet cocoa. I've tried it with varying levels of water and it still just comes out tasting like chocolate-flavored water. Once I'm out of this supply and next time I'm at the store, I'm opting for the calorie laden cocoa. That will be a while yet, however, since I've turned into my mother and each time I go to the market seem to think "We're out of cocoa, I need to buy some!" and therefore have approximately 1472 packets of the diet crap at home. Sigh.

FYI - the snow has turned to slush and rain since I've started writing this blog. Thank goodness we canceled school and closed down campus!

Ciao for now and Happy Reading!

~Phoenix

Ready or Not - here I come!

To start off 2009 right I...

stayed home, even though we had many offers to join in celebrations this year we just really felt like being hermits, it was fun

kissed my onetruelove and danced with him in our living room

sipped on cheap-bought-at-the-last-minute-but-does-the-job champagne

nursed my chest cold, hacking and wheezing through the day

caught up on Hero's

stayed in my PJ's until 4pm and promptly returned to them at 8pm

napped

created a budget for 2009

contemplated resolutions such as: living in the moment, choosing wellness, and giving up control

In 2009 I'm ready: for the weather to improve, for my illness to go away, to return to healthier eating, to start running and cross training again, to buy a house, to stop waiting for my life to give me structure but rather give structure to my life. :)

Oh bother!

I contemplated blogging in October, I seriously considered it in November, I even sat down to read other blogs in December. Did I actually blog? No. 'Course not.

Top 10 best excuses I can think of that might justify 2.5 month absence from the blogosphere:
1) Hibernation (...can't blog if I'm sleeping)
2) Finger paralysis (...can't blog if I can't type)
3) Internet allergy (....can't blog if I'll go into shock)
4) Blog-amnesia (...can't blog if I don't remember how or where to)
5) CBS (Catholic Blog Syndrome) (...can't blog if I feel so guilty that I haven't blogged)
6) Blog-a-phobia (...can't blog if I think it might cause harm)
7) BD (Blog Dysfunction) (...can't blog if I can't "get up" the will to...wait, don't they have a pill for that?)
8) Blogastination (...can't I always blog tomorrow?)
9) Bloggers-block (...can't blog if I can't think of anything to blog about)
10) Life (...that one always seems to get in the way)

What I've been up to - the readers digest version.

October:

• Beach trip with the Hunts, our friends, to celebrate Brian and my shared birthday.
• Work at Willamette - leadership development and a little bit of herding cats. Realized mid-way through the month how to do my job better: teach, DOH!
  
• Canvassing and volunteering for Obama - watch out, my political career just started.
• Trip to Walla Walla with three friends from graduate school to surprise another of our friends from the program...laughted 'till I cried MANY times.
• Trained at PCC to be a "casual" advisor - that doesn't mean I work in sweat pants, it means I'm sort of like a substitute teacher.
• Joined a choir - Consonare Chorale - and remembered that I LOVE to sing. DUH!

November:

• Work at PCC (the Rock Creek and Sylvania campuses) - busy, busy, busy advising students as they prepared for the new term. They actually pay me to do the COOLEST job in the world! I heart my students.
  
• GObama!
• My partner finished the billable year and meets the minimum requirement for his hours billed! YAY!
• Trip to the Gahr Farm Bed and Breakfast to celebrate end of the billable year. Voted one of the NW best places to kiss. We concur. Such fun, even in the rain.
• Work for the Oregon Women in Higher Education Conference - recruiting and evaluating presentation proposals.
• My partner rings in his 30th birthday !
• Travel to Seattle for Thanksgiving with my parents - got to see my brother and his family. Fun to see the kid-os. Nice to get away.

December:

• Staying busy with advising at PCC - Interviewed for a full-time position at Rock Creek as an advisor. Fingers crossed!
• Rehearsals for Lessons and Carols choir concert - only to have it postponed due to the weather!
• My partner's firm's holiday party - such fun! I love dressing up and dancing with my one-true-love. He bought a new tie to go with my new sparkly dress. I got my make-up done and even got fake eyelashes for the occasion. :)
  
• Preparation Christmas including the vocal solo on Christmas Eve at Calvin Church. Excited and scared all at the same time. I'm 98% done with the shopping/shipping/stressful/material side of Christmas...only 3 small gifts to purchase and a few others to wrap. Cards are out, hand-made gifts are done, boxes have been shipped. The fun parts (egg-nog lattes, holiday CD's, and cookie baking) are now all that are left to enjoy! I boy-cotted decorating this year and it feels GR8! No pine needles on the carpet, no debating over white or colored lights, no sneezing from the pollen on the tree, no fear of making kindling out of a $50+ tree, no having to unpack my entire storage closet in order to get to the decorations, and best of all no irritation when-- after all of that effort -- my house still just doesn't look like the Pottery Barn catalog. Thanks to our friends and family who have let us soak up the holiday cheer at their homes. :)
• Watched almost the entire series of Hero's (that show is awesome!) on my partner's new Xbox 360. I'm NOT techy at all, but the streaming Netflix is pretty SA-WEET!
  

Things I wish I would have done more of in the last 2.5 months:

• Run or exercised (for a girl who is supposedly training for a marathon, I didn't run much...oops! At least I have a good excuse, the knees started giving some trouble and I decided walking into my 30's was more important than running out of my 20's).
  
• Blogged (...yeah, we've been over that).
  
• Read (at least I wasn't the only one, the book club my friends from graduate school and I started was a bit of a joke, we all failed to finish the book - I think it is too soon after school to be reading whole books - we're trying articles instead).
  
• Expressed my feelings in a more emotionally intelligent way (Why is it that throwing a tantrum doesn't get the point across? Seriously, being an adult can really suck some times!).
• Laughed. <-- Sad, I know, but we're working on it.
  

Things I wish I would have done less of in the last 2.5 months:

• Stressed
• Made decisions out of fear
• Tried to control things I can not
• Paid for my own health insurance (why does it feel like that should be paid for...oh, that's right...'cause I'm a stark-raving-socialist who thinks we should have socialized health care)
• Prolonged joy (AKA packed hope into things that are for the future) - darn that whole living-in-the-moment thing!
  

Plans for the rest of the month:

• Soak up the snow days - currently we're on day #3 and I'm actually getting a little sick of fuzzy socks and hot cocoa!
  
• Enjoy the simple and magical parts of Christmas.
  
• Blog!
  
• Keep making plans with my sister for our trip to Minneapolis in January - CAN'T WAIT!
• Apply for jobs.
  
• Do excellent work at the jobs I have.
• Just keep singing, singing, singing.
• Start up the house search again, with rates aroun 4%, we'd be CRAZY not to at least look.
  
• Run! It might be the Eugene 1/2 marathon and the Portland Marathon, that feels a bit less insane and a bit more balanced, don't you think?
  

Alright faithful readers - If I haven't lost you after the insane hiatus, I hope you'll find this update sufficient until my next post. Thanks for patience and understanding Happy reading!

~Phoenix

An out pouring of affection

Once I graduated from my undergraduate institution and began working in the "real world" I quickly learned that in order to celebrate my birthday in style I needed to take the day from work and make the day my own. I learned this the hard way after one year when I had what can safely be called the one worst birthday ever (complete with horrific patients at the clinic, lost dinner reservations, and lots of tears). So, I did. I managed to finagle my birthday as a vacation day for several years and in the years that I could not, I postponed celebration until the weekend so as to not get my hopes up. All was well with birthday celebration "grown up style".

This year was tricky, however. What to do to have the day feel special when most of my time is spent in what looks and feels like a days off. Oddly, I went to work and it was a great change from the norm. It was fun to be surrounded by students, colleagues, and friends. It was excellent to have something to do and ways to feel important and needed. It was awesome to received the flower delivery from my partner at the office where others could see and acknowledge the sweet- and thoughtful-ness.

It was a great birthday. I felt loved, cherished, celebrated, remembered, and appreciated. To all
(Adam, Mom and Dad, Teed and her crew, Kevin and the Yakima 5, Nicole, Jim, Jessie, Joanna, Joie, Kate, Tonya, Julie, LeeAnn, Alyson, Dante, Jen and Brian, The Boones, Mom and Dad "2", Vonnie, Lisa and the OSA gang, and Betsy) who made my day yesterday so wonderful - a heartfelt thanks!

The day was fabulous - I slept in, chatted with my mom, met Joanna for coffee and pedicures, did some work - and got my flowers :), had lunch with Vonnie, did some more work, met with Jessie, drove to Portland, had dinner at "The Melting Pot" with the partner, and came home to open my presents! (For all who wanted a report on the restaurant: it was good but sort of a racket (very much like Beni Hana, delicious but certainly "a place to celebrate" in a generic sort of way). We were moved because our burner wasn't working properly - which wasn't anything horrible, but made for an even longer night. I'd recommend going for no other reason than to say you went. However, if you are a "product oriented person" (e.g., likes the end and not the build up) than it is probably not the place for you - as you wait quite some time through each course and have to cook your own meat at the table (for those of us with a fear of salmonella poisoning this means that each time a shrimp is placed in the pot we check our watch and then continue checking it until our necessary 1 1/2 minutes are up). If I go again I'd probably just get the cheese and chocolate fondue and skip the "entree" all together (while the meat was good, it was totally unnecessary with all the other food).

No pearls of wisdom now that I'm 28 other than the realization that I don't have to take a vacation day to celebrate my birthday if I just look up long enough to realize that I am surrounded by wonderful people who truly care for me. I'm ready for what the year has in store and hopeful that I can continue to thrive in this world as the most genuine version of who I am.

Happy Thursday - be sure to tune into the Veep debates at 6pm (PST)! I'm hoping for a belated gift of Palin getting pulverized on national TV! :)

~Phoenix

What's in a name?

It has been a rough summer.

Mind you any normal, sane person would look at my summer schedule and say: "WOW! You had time to rest, relax, sleep, recoup. That must have been great!" But alas, I am neither a normal or sane person.

This summer has been challenging for me because I went from moving at warp speed in 32 different directions as a graduate student, employee, commuter, friend, teacher, partner, daughter, sister, bridesmaid, hopeful parent, and hopeful home owner (to name a few) all at the same time to well...what felt like a stalled out version of my former self. Mind you, the break was much needed and I don't think I could have continued at the rate at which I was moving and been a healthy person for much longer. But nevertheless, stopping and re-framing my entire world view in a little over 3 months has been a little tricky.

This summer has been filled with beautiful, wonderful, amazing things. I was a proud and honored witness to two of my dearest friends uniting in partnership to men they adore. I was the hostess to my family and friends on several occasions. I was a tourist in my own town, traveling to my partner's family beach house on a couple of occasions and enjoying the city that I fell in love with some 8 years ago. I was humbled by my own academic achievements when I received my master's degree. I have made new friends and rediscovered what life can be like without the constant pressure of "something else I should be doing." I have rediscovered other, important and treasured elements of my identity: a singer, a craft-queen, a baker, a friend, a goof-ball, and an athlete.

This summer has been filled with horrible, awful, ridiculous moments, too. I have faced rejection for jobs for which I know I would be amazing. I have battled with my hormones and used more panty liners than most women do in a year. I have struggled to understand my purpose and value in the world and in my partnership. I have tortured myself with too little and too much always in the pursuit of "just enough." I have stumbled onto biases and privileges I never knew I had, much less wanted. I have been forced to re-define who I am, how I fit with those I love, and what my intentions really are. I have missed the window of opportunity to take a shower more times than I'd like to admit. I have found ways to distract myself and keep myself busy without actually accomplishing anything. I have watched the 700 Club and infomercials for body shapers and sandwich pocket makers. I have cried, and cried, and cried. I have fought (a loosing) turf war against the pigeons at our apartment complex. I have bickered, argued, picked fights with and stormed off on my partner.

It was during one of these awful moments, when my partner and I were exploring some mammoth concept like the purpose of life when I was given my nom de plume (look mom I can spell in French). After an argument (or what anyone else would likely call a discussion (but I'm sensitive so it was an argument to me)) I looked through tears into the eyes of my partner and apologized for the weepy, sullen, angst-ridden creature I had been lately. My partner then said to me: "It is okay. You are just like my little Phoenix. You are beautiful and your tears have healing powers, but you get blue and your feathers get ruffled and then you burst into flames. Sometimes those flames run a little hot but for the most part you are re-born into a beautiful new Phoenix."

That's love, isn't it? Only a partner who truly loves me for what I am (and not it spite of it) could see my border line manic-depressive affect as something as beautiful and majestic as a Phoenix. It was after my partner gave me this nick-name that I went on to learn more about these mythical creatures. There is all sorts of mythology, theology, and other -ologies that tell the tale (no pun intended) of these beautiful birds. But I like my partner's summation best.

Best,
~Phoenix

Tag - you're it!

PJP has tagged me, and I'm honored. How fun?! The blog version of a chain letter. In keeping with the spirit of the tag - here' are my tags:
1. GiGi
2. Teed
3. JM
4. Cakewrecks
5. Hotdish and Hallelujahs
6. Unnecessary quotation marks
7. The Co-author

Play along if you like, and if not, I'm sure the world will keep spinning.

Here are the rules:
1. If you've been tagged, you can put the logo on your blog.
2. Link the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.


Happy Monday.

Betty Baker Strikes Again

So... my, naturally-beautiful, does-nothing-wrong, "skinny-as-a-pickle", super-mom, wonder-nurse, balls-of-steel sister has started to blog. What can I say, it is like a communicable disease. First Princess Jessie Pants, then Choirpres and Soundguy, then me, now my mom and then, because my mom is, my sister. It is an epidemic. Blogging: the new influenza. I digress.

My sister, Teed (a name that I bequeathed to her many moons ago when her given name was more syllables than my small mouth could handle), has started a blog. Check it out: http://www.teed-blahblahblog.blogspot.com, she claims not to be as talented or funny as mom or me, but she lies. I blame that on her large, curly hair (the mommy with the big hair, as her youngest son describes her) -- sometimes it puffs up so big that she must not be able to actually SEE that she is the "good one" (that aught to get mom going, right?). I digress, yet again (story of my life).

In her initial posting she aptly points out that I have a lot of opinions. Any reader who knows me knows this to be as painfully true as the self observation I made a few months back: "I'm a little high strung". In fact, during my first review at a former job my supervisor noted that "Sh ehas a lot of great ideas, insights, and opinions and she is open and willing to share them freely!" (or something like that). This is the nice way to say: "She is opinionated and a loud mouth." I'll take it, better that than meek and mousy, right? Thought this was another digression --- ha! Fooled you. It is NOT. Just the frame work for the rest of the story (you see, I tell a story like you are supposed to work on a puzzle, set up the frame work with the outside edges and then pick up pieces and try to fit them together....damn, I digress...don't I?).

SO, anyway...Teed pointed out that I am opinionated, and while it comes as no surprise I take that observation as a challenge to use my blog today for something potentially useful. Below, please find two new recipes. Both of these are my variations on sweets ('cause that's what I prefer to spend my time in the kitchen making) that I heard about or read recipes of but never wrote down. If you need a nosh for the weekend - try them out and let me know how they go. Perhaps one or both of these will sound good and stay down PJP? Keep on trucking, the first trimester is almost over, I'm told that it gets dramatically better in the 2nd trimester (though, what the hell do I know?! My hormones are so irregular that I might as well be 13 again!)

Happy Reading, Happy Baking, Happy Weekend.

~Phoenix

S'mores Bars
Just when you thought summer was over and you'd have to pack up the S'mores supplies until next year - try this out instead.

Ingredients:
1 large bag of mini marshmallows (about 8 cups)
2 sleeves of graham crackers
2 chocolate bars
1/4 cup butter

Directions:
Butter or grease (use your "fat" of choice) a 9x13 baking dish. Cut or break graham crackers into 1x1 inch-ish squares. Cut or break chocolate bars into pieces.

At a medium heat ('cause NOTHING smells worse than burned marshmallow) combine butter and 6 cups marshmallows in a large sauce pan. Stir frequently until butter has melted and marshmallows are smooth. I recommend you use a non-stick pan and a non-stick spatula for this process, it makes clean up much easier.

Remove from heat and add graham cracker pieces. Fold to coat. Fold in remaining 2 cups marshmallows. Finally, add chocolate bars.

Dump the ooey-gooey-goodness into prepared baking dish and pat down 'till it is even. Let sit until cool. Lick the pan and the spatula. Slice and enjoy.



Aunties Indecisive Cookies
What are they, peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal? Ala Phoebe from "Friends" ..."what the crap is up with this stuff....oh, it is good, may I try another?!" (Who can tell me what she's talking about? A free batch of cookies for the first reader who can identify the sweet to which she is referring.)

I know they look like they don't know what they want to be (hence the name) but they really are pretty tasty. Not to mention that if I had a regular cycle I'm sure they'd be a great PMS cure. Salty and sweet is good, right? How would I know - my reproductive system is messed up.

The nut butter gives a (this will come a shock) nutty flavor and is my favorite alternative to nuts (in my opinion nuts don't belong in baked goods). The oats make the cookie more robust and chewy. I have listed ways to make these "friendly" for people with diabetes, diary, nut, and gluten allergies 'cause it would SUCK not to be able to eat sweets and it is SUPER easy to make accommodations so we can all enjoy (a little shout out to my high-maintenance-food-yet-lovably-allergic friends).

I like to make the batter ahead of time, roll it into balls, and freeze it. We cook a few each night in the toaster-oven, 'cause what's better than a warm cookie? OMG, enough...the recipe already!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine - softened
1/2 cup peanut, almond, cashew or other nut butter (omit, obviously, if anyone has a nut allergy)
1/2 cup brown sugar (you can use less or a sugar substitute if you prefer)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (you can use less or a sugar substitute if you prefer)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour (whole wheat, all-purpose, gluten-free...doesn't matter)
1 cup oats (what ever you've got around, use Irish oats if making these gluten-free)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag (yes, the whole bag, this is what makes them good) milk chocolate chips (or what ever type of chocolate chips are your favorite)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butters and sugars together until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Set aside. Sift flour, oats, soda, and salt together. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Once combined, stir in chocolate chips.

Form into balls (I like to use my melon baller for this 'cause I've got a touch of OCD and all of my cookies have to be a similar size/shape. However, if you aren't certifiable I'm sure you could do the "drop by rounded teaspoonful" thing that recipes always suggest -- seriously just "drop" them and that's that? How uncivilized.).

Place on cookie sheet (or baking stone if you know where its at) and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. When possible serve warm.

For some added calories and fat ('cause sometimes that's just the way we roll) drop a couple of cookie balls into a ramekin and bake until just barely cooked (almost light brown). Remove from oven and top while hot with ice-cream or soy-ice cream. Called "Bazuike and Cream" and SOOO good.