Shut Your Mouth And Keep Walking

Dear Portland,
You are so weird and sometimes mean.
I was sitting outside of my work (appropriately perched more than 10 feet from any door) desperately smoking a cigarette before my lunch break ended. It was really cold. I'm sure I looked cold and slightly unhappy and kind of odd on those steps to a doorway that didn't lead anywhere. I was just looking around at the people and stuff just smoking and minding my own business when these two bro's start walking towards me talking and then just as they start to pass me one of them says "Sorry, I don't have any change."

Ummmm....EXCUSE ME?!! Do I look homeless to you?!! I didn't even say anything to you!! SERIOUSLY?! You are a jerk and either you are so self-involved you didn't even look at the person sitting on the steps (out of the way of foot traffic and harsh winter winds for a reason!) or you are just an ass and thought you were being super hilarious and that if you made me laugh I would be impressed by you and what? Catch up to you and invite you and your friend to a motel room? REALLY?! I'm not even going to mention the compassionless mindset you have to mock a group of people that are less fortunate then you and have no choice but to berate their own diginity and ask for help from indignant assholes like you.  

Just an FYI, girls don't really appreciate being confused with a bum.

Mind your own business jerk.

3am Looks A Lot Like 3pm...

Dear Portland,
I managed to successfully avoid everything I hate about Halloween and actually have some fun last night. I stayed out far too late without knowing, I ate too much candy, and smoked too many cigarettes. My joint costume turned out well and all in all I didn't mind staying up forever and half.

My life is about to get super busy. With my part time position locked in at, Finnegan's Toys & Gifts, I can get my schedule for the rest of the week worked out. It includes nannying twice a week, working at Pico Accuardi Dyeworks, some substituting at Waldorf, and a possible shift here and there at Flora. So this is going to be a very very busy season for me. Hopefully I can save up some money to visit my sister in India some time before she comes back to the states. I want to go so bad and experience what she is experiencing. It sounds amazing and I will make it happen!



 p.s. oatmeal chocolate chip cookies just came out of the oven and the whole house smells completely delicious.

No Excuses

Dear Portland,
I feel horrible about my lack of communication. Really I truly do. Whenever I think about writing a new post I feel like it is going to be so much work. But what I forget is that when I was in Montana I wrote every night (nearly), regardless if what I had to say was interesting or not.

So with the new month, I will have a new outlook on blogging. JUST DO IT. Consider this my promise for communication reform.

My besty and I are going to be these two for tomorrow nights festivities.

Crossing the Great Genre Sea

Dear Portland,
Wow did you have a lot to offer me this week. As I said in my last post I went to see the Dirty Projectors on Tuesday. The novelty has not worn off, they were outstanding.

On Thursday I went up to NE Alberta St. for the Last Thursday festivities (as did almost every person on the world it felt like) and had some lovely conversations with some good friends and watched my second show for the week. A local band called Chervona. They are a very FunLOUDDanceRussianGypsyPolka, Punk band.
If you are intrigued, check them out.

ALSO! Last night I went to see First Aid Kit (swedish sisters singing indie folk adorableness). They are so damn cute and their English and songwriting abilities are not only impressive but absolutely beautiful.
A friend of mine who lives miles away happens to be obsessed with them as well. We have not talked in months (only letters) and have not shared music in a long time because of our distance; but somehow we are in deep mutual appreciation of this band. To hear one of my other favorite songs check out her blog.
The video below show them playing in the forest in Sweden. So sweet. 

p.s. Sorry about part of the video being cut off, my blog template is messing it up and I don't want to deal with it right now.

Re-Branding

Dear Portland,
I am sorry. I have been out of touch and out of my mind. I have been working almost everyday in the last week or so. I have also been brainstorming like mad for a name for my Etsy shop and a new tittle for my blog since I am no longer living in the dreamy time zone of Mountain Standard.

I have been baking a little here and there. Made my first flour-less, dairy-free, chocolate cake for a friends birthday. It was a sort of failure in looks but tasted awesome. I made pudding today which is absolutely delicious, just not quite thick enough. I fear I may be out of practice...

So I just wanted to give notice that I am alive and well and will be returning to the blog world very soon.

p.s. I went to see the Dirty Projectors last night and if you kinda like them recorded you will LOVE them live. It was stunning.

Pay special attention to the amazing voice syncopation around 2:45 minutes in! 

Chocolate x3

Dear Portland,
I finally did some baking today!!
I came home in the late afternoon with a strong urge to turn on the oven and make me some happiness (even with the 80 degree weather bearing down). After I returned from figuring out some work shifts I will be covering at Flora, I sat down at my computer and looked through cookie archives on some of my favorite baking blogs. And then I found it.
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES.
Yes. Absolutely tempting just from the title. I read through the recipe and wrote down a couple things I needed and drove to the store just as fast as my little truck could take me. It took a little longer then I had hoped because the sunshing seems to be turning everyone into horribly mad drivers and I was contiuously avoiding almost accidents.

I came home read through the recipe again and put on a podcast from How Stuff Works called "How Traffic Works" and away I went. It was wonderful to be back in that world again. A house to myself, learning about something completely irrelevant, and creating chewy goodness.
They came out great, if I had a flour sifter they would be perfection. But for now, greatness will have to do.

Upon Return

Dear Portland,
I thought that running away from you I would have time to figure out our relationship. I though that while I was away I could heal and think and organize. I thought that I had done all this. I have returned only to realize that not only am I mistaken but I was completely naive to think that the time I spent in solitude would suddenly make everything okay. I still have a lot to learn about you as do you about me. I have high hopes though. I think I am more willing to work it out. There are times that I absolutely feel like running away again and not dealing with a single thing, it's easier you know? But I know now how I think, how I process life, and how to control myself. At least I'm starting too.

Things are finally starting to settle down it seems. The overwhelming feelings are starting to recede while the feelings of dissatisfaction are brewing. I will get ahead of it all. I'm ready for you this time and I planning on proving it.

I would however like to thank you from the bottom of my heart Portland for being here, exactly the same, waiting for me. While there are things that have changed; skeleton buildings where two block holes once were, old coffee shops becoming new ones that seem to only have new graphics, and people who are new to you but the same to me, I'm glad that you are around. And always will be.

Adjustments

Dear Portland,
You SURROUND me.
I am home.
I don't feel very homey though.
I am busy doing important and unimportant things.
I will start writing again soon.
I just need a little bit of time to finish getting organized.

I spent 4 days in Veneta. At the Oregon Country Fair. It was wonderful as always. 

Hiatus

Dear Portland,
I fear I will be taking a short hiatus in the next week or so. My sister has arrived in Montana and we are very busy having awesome fun sister time and making up for the past 5 months.

It is so great to have her here. We cook all our meals together and are baking a bit too.
We made pudding yesterday.

Reunited

Dear Portland,
My Dad and Sister have traveled far away from your wet streets to visit me! They got in around six this evening. We went to dinner and got some ice cream. Then we enjoyed a family past time that we have not done in a very long time, played cards. A little poker, a little gin, a little go fish. It was really fun.

Tomorrow I'm taking them up to Glacier before my last knitting class and before has to leave later tomorrow night. Hopefully the pass will be open and we will get to see a real life glacier. Hopefully.

To Close For Comfort

Dear Portand,
On my way to class I came frighteningly close to being attacked by a dog. Well almost a dog. A doxen to be exact. I don't know why these sad, pathetic, little excuse for a animals hate me so much but they really do. I was walking down the street totally minding my own business, when this angry little creature started charging at me with his ears flat to his head, teeth showing through tiny vicious growls and barks. I am not ashamed to admit it totally freaked me out. I started to walk away from him faster but this seemed to just make him more angry and determined to latch on to my unprotected ankle. I turned around and told him to go home and stopped. I walked on, he charged again. This happened a several more times (him getting closer each time) and with each charge I had to advance towards him yelling louder, waving my arms more flamboyantly, and adding a stomp here and there. Finally, when I was at the end of the block and he was in the middle of street (prepared to block my crosswalk I'm sure) I gave him one last yell, point, and thunderous advance and he was off, down the block back to his asylum.

After the freak out passed, I could not help but think; "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE TINY DOGS IN THIS VALLEY?!!"

A Glimpse

Dear Portland,
Having John here was a lot a fun. We were able to get into Glacier National Park yesterday and had a great day. Unfortunately the pass was closed so we didn't get seen any real life glaciers but there were adventures along the way.

My post tonight is going to be primarily photos. I took a lot and there really is no other way to describe the majestic landscape we encountered (the pictures don't do justice). The photos are in chronological order, but on our way up some of the places we wanted to stop were too busy so we hit them on the way down.

McDonald Lake

McDonald Falls

 

Repeat avalanche field

Same avalanche field

The flattened field creates creeks and waterfalls that grow lots of Grizzly Bear food.

Result of a creek flood

Kept going down the hillside

Heavens Peak (8,987 ft)

Forest burnout

The higher we climb (drive), the bigger the mountains get.

A little perspective

Majesty

Hidden Creek (I think)

Gorge that feeds what I believe is Hidden Creek (Trail of Cedars)

Fallen Hemlock roots (Trail of Cedars)

Trail of Cedars

Inches away from an icy dripping waterfall

The day we spent in GNP is indescribable. I can't begin to write about how it made me feel, what it smelled like, the sounds I heard, and the sights I saw. The grandeur of it all still has me in a state of awe.

I'd like to keep it that way. 

Also, this is what John had to say.

p.s. I know my photo spacing is off but blogger is being difficult so those of you who noticed, as I would, just breeze over it.

Exploring

Dear Portland,

JOHN IS HERE! JOHN IS HERE! JOHN IS HERE!

 

The adventuring began today. And oh man, we had a adventures.

The day started out without rain! We walked to the coffee shop and then to the yarn store. We were killing some time before the Algeria/England Soccer game so we walked down Main street and went into "Montana Outfitters," a serious cowboy store. WALLS OF BOOTS. It was amazing. Then we went downstairs to the antique store and I found a goldmine of old school cooking/baking stuff. By the time we were done exploring ancient cowboy mountain antiques it was time for the game. Off to KB Sports bar (at 12:30pm), which is connected to the Historic Kalispell Grand Hotel. The game was disappointing but we did meet this fun British couple.

Back home for a minute (ran into the people who were looking at my apartment today as they were sitting on my porch) and headed for the mountains of Glacier National Park on Going-to-the-Sun Road. Stopped at a Farmer's Market that was more like a craft market (not much food), and continued to the gates of the park. We knew there would be a fee, but were hoping it would be around $15 dollars for the day, that's as high as we would go. The park ranger told us $25 for the day and as we turned around I had flashbacks to turning around at the Grand Canyon last summer. 

 

We had spotted a paved unmarked trail head near the bridge (not far from the official park entrance) and parked on the side of the road to check it out. Went down to the river and followed the path until we saw a tower where I was sure Rapunzel lived. John asked her to let down down her hair but no such luck. We came in to this encampment where there was a whole bunch of firefighting related signs and things and just wandered around. No one seemed to mind at all. As we got into a strange residential area we asked a couple people where we were (park ranger permanent residence) and then they pointed us to a 2 mile bike trail. 

 

 

 

After following it a little ways, we noticed a large animal on the path and it admittedly took me more then a few seconds to realize what it was, but when I did, I literally stopped in my tracks. A little more then 100 ft in front of us was a BLACK BEAR CUB! I was so shocked and excited and enamored that I completely forgot I had a camera around my shoulders. I just stared. I had never seen a bear in the wild before and it was magnificent (even for a baby). Unfortunately a bicyclist interrupted our rapture and away into the forest the cub galumphed. We didn't see the bear again but we were also visited by a doe, some colorful songbirds, and a few gophers. 

 

 

I hadn't worn the right shoes for adventuring (failing boots), so not far after that we turned around and headed back to the car.
We will be going back tomorrow with my neighbors recently expired Park Pass to see if we can get in to see the lakes and all that good stuff. 

In other news, when John got here, he informed me that he has recently become gluten-free. I made completely perfect chocolate chip banana bread that he can't eat it. More for Dillon I suppose.

Cranky Day

Dear Portland,
I have been feeling very weird and crabby the past couple days. I'm all in my head and feel stressed out about nothing. I have been feeling especially annoyed with being in limbo. I haven't been able to take one day at a time and am constantly thinking about the future be it days, weeks, months, and even years. One of the things I have loved most about being here is being able to just think about one day at a time. For the most part at least. It has been super relaxing. With my time here RAPIDLY coming to an end, I am finding myself picking up unnecessary speed and getting all angst-y. 

I have been spending a couple extra hours at the yarn shop lately on class days and am knitting some really awesome news things. I am learning that my retention for new stitches and patterns is kick ass. Today I came home with 2 new stitches and a new concept of half a pattern in my head and it is coming out great.

My friend John is coming tomorrow and is going to spend a couple days here with me on his way out to Tennessee for the summer. I'm super stoked.

I Have Been Bit

Dear Portland,
It seems that summer is finally starting here. The kids are out of school and the mosquito's have hatched.

Last night when I was getting ready to write a new post my internet went down so here are the results of my meringues. They turned out awesome even with the lemon juice. The only problem is that I might have over whipped them. They have a texture that is like a mixture of cotton candy and marshmallows. 

I also taught myself a new knitting stitch. An eyelet stitch. And I'm in the process of combing it with the new hat I learned. Hopefully I will be far enough along tomorrow to take some pictures tomorrow to share with you.

I will be up late tonight because it's soooooo warm here. It's breezy but my apartment it super warm. I hope to get some good sleep.

Experiment

Dear Portland,
Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to make chocolate meringues (cookies). I don't have any cream of tartar so I will either walk to the store, or use lemon juice (which I do have). I've read that using a liquid acid as a substitute can really mess up a recipe because of of the liquid content (cream of tartar is powder). But I think because these are very simple cookies I will be able to watch the reaction and figure out what I need to fix the problem before it gets out of hand. There aren't a lot of ingredients or steps so I can keep a close eye on things. I have never made meringue of any kind and I've heard it's hard but I don't really believe it. Maybe I am being over confident, maybe not. I have read a bunch of different recipes tonight that have different techniques and I'm pretty confident I will be fine.

We will find out tomorrow.

Today I Had A Time Machine

Dear Portland,
I had a busy housewife kind of day. I cooked, I cleaned, I knit, I made pudding (not from a box).
It was nice.

I haven't been feeling talkative as of late. So here are some more photos instead of words.

THE PUDDING

Super easy; chocolate, milk, sugar, corn starch, and heat.

THE MAC & CHEESE

Sharp Cheddar, Gruyere, a little Mozzarella, and a little Parmesan, a butter roux, some half and half,  salt, white pepper and bread crumbs.

KNITTING

These arm warmers were made from natural plant dyed yarn by my friends Aunt. It dyed my hands and my bamboo needles which I actually like.