Sew... I've been jugglin'

I juggle many roles: photographer, girlfriend, small business owner, daughter, roommate, internet researcher, runner, artist, lover, hater, procrastinator... And now, I also juggle balls.


EJ taught me to use his sewing machine last night, and for our first project I made a set of juggling balls. We made them out of a fabric similar to that of airplane seats so they make me think of traveling. Perhaps, they'll even accompany me on my travels.


For now, I'm just enjoying learning to throw them one...er, three... at a time.
Matt and I squeezed in a little practice between work and lunch in the park.

Catch a whiff

Yesterday, a bunch of the guys from Matt's kitchen set up a game of wiffleball. This is just like baseball, except everything is made from plastic. And by everything, I mean the ball and bat. The only other thing needed was a baseball diamond, so we met at a park in the NE with sandwiches, hot dogs, and a variety of beverages.


I hadn't played baseball since I was a kid, and even then I don't have a clear recollection of my batting-home-run days so I can't be sure if they ever really happened. But I do remember watching Iain play, so I had a clear enough idea of the rules.


As it turns out, I love wiffleball. It was so much fun to get outside and play like a little kid (with adult beverages). Even the Portland rain couldn't stop us. Smatt is officially a fan of the wiff-b. :)

Shoot.

I just had to pick up the camera today. And without models knocking on my door the way they seem to do in the southern states, I had to settle for what was available: Me.
My self-portrait is a direct reflection for how I felt about Portland today. It's right there, bright and beautiful, but I'm feeling a bit stuck inside. I haven't found my place in the PDX photo scene just yet. Actually, I haven't found any scene. I still don't know many people here. But, what I do know is that my photography opportunities will come; it just takes time and perseverance. I haven't given up yet. So, until I book some gigs and make some new friends, I have Fiona to keep me company.


"I still only travel by foot and by foot, it's a slow climb,
But I'm good at being uncomfortable, so
I can't stop changing all the time

I notice that my opponent is always on the go and
Won't go slow, so's not to focus, and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide, as long as
They go fast from whence he came
But he's no good at being uncomfortable, so
He can't stop staying exactly the same

If there was a better way to go, then it would find me
I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me, or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine"
-Fiona Apple.-

Walk walk walk

This afternoon, I walked Matt to work. We, as most people here, do quite a bit of walking. As a conservative average, I'd say 20 miles per week.

The weather today is beautiful: bright, clear, and not too warm. So, I took my newly functioning camera along for the ride. The following are pictures from our walk, the things we see most typically here.


This is our community. We live in the center building.


This was taken from up on our hill. Mt.Hood to the right.


As well as walk, a lot of people bike here.


More bikes outside our of favorite book store (also known as Goodwill) ;)


On my way home, I noticed another horse. How I never spotted him before is beyond me. I suppose we're never really as aware as we'd like to think.

Anyway, we're still ridiculously happy here. I can't believe 3 weeks have already passed. I'm finally beginning to feel the muscles in my legs grow stronger. I'm hoping to return to Florida buff. :)

Keep Portland Weird

The people here work hard to "Keep Portland Weird", and by work hard I mean they drink really great beer, eat delicious food, & organize unique, fun, free events. The people here seem to be very true to themselves, something I've not noticed in a lot of floridian characters. When you're in a town where the people really get a kick of things that are different, it's more encouraging not to conform. Without a genuine sense of humor, this place would be a nightmare. For an artist by nature like me, it's heavenly.

So many ridiculously fabulous things have happened (& have been eaten) since I last blogged. Rather then try to recount it all verbally, I'll fall back on my medium of choice and share my adventures visually. The following are highlights from the past week or so.

Mt.Hood, taken from our balcony

Desserts from Zupan's, courtesy of EJ. *mmm*


Amanda came to visit, we've been taking the bus a lot


Playing shuffle board with Amanda & EJ after Montage last week



Rogue in the Pearl: we went on the distillery tour
sampled the rum, drank the beer *two thumbs up*






We also took Amanda to sushi go 'round.
Her fish impression is pretty spot on.


More photos from the Adult Soap Box Derby. AMAZING! I can't wait for next year. Monster Truck Jam has a run for it's money the title 'Favorite event of the year'



The best pizza EVER. Apizza Scholls! THANK YOU Anthony Bourdain for having a great program that sent us in the right direction.


Also, Matt got a job at a top-of-the-line restaurant on 23rd! All in all, things are still great (& weird). :)

trendy-third

We felt like a slow, casual Saturday so Matt and I wandered down to 23rd (dubbed trendy-third for it's boutiques and a few fancy-schmancy restaurants) to eat some non-fancy-schmancy food. We found a fantastic slice of pizza and spinning sushi.

'Escape from New York' provided a classic slice of cheese pizza. Fantastic! Matt is really into authentic NYC-style pizza but, I was also pleased. I'm sure to be back before the trip is through.


The creatively named Sushi Merry Go Round features small plates of sushi that go around and around and around as you eat. The sushi chefs inside the spinning conveyor belt prepare rolls and put two or three pieces on color-coded plates. The colors signify price, and the prices are nice and low. Green is $1.25, Pink $1.75, and so on up to big money blue at a whopping $3.25 (but could be as much as a 5 pc. spider roll!).


I like this a lot because I can try a lot of different things and if I don't like them, it's not such a big deal. Each diner collects a nice little stack of plates and that is how the bill is tallied. We learned the key is to go when it's busy, so there are more rolls coming out at once.

On our way home we picked up some chicken for dinner from our most frequented, of the 6 or so conveniently located food marts, Trader Joe's. A talented cashier painted some really neat signs for outside to encourage recycling. This is our favorite.


Also, I FINALLY saw a horse today! I had read about a street art project of sorts, before we came here, where people have tied toy plastic horses to the old horse rings in the streets to remind people of the history of the city. To finally see one was exciting. :)


We really like our location, regardless of the steep hike back home. NW Trendy-third, and especially trendy-first, have become my favorite parts of PDX so I'm still very happy to be in the northwest. Here's another view from where we live. :)

Who you gonna call GHOSTBUSTERS!

The Portland Cacophony Society hosts a number of bizarre events. On the website, we found our way to a MySpace profile that was organizing a public pillow fight. This is a group of people that come together, in a location kept secret until the day before, and bring their pillows to whack one another with. Incredible. And, this is why we love this town!

So, we took a couple buses clear across town to Mt.Tabor. The park was monstrous. We realized that finding the pillow-fighters was going to be more difficult then we'd anticipated. So, I decided it best to simply enjoy the park whether we witnessed a large display of harmless aggression or not, a beautiful old volcano covered in trees.


We decided we must have reached the top and were beginning to make our way back down when, finally, we spotted someone hoisting pillows up. She had more specific directions so, we followed her & her family back up. And then, there was a music. A parade of pillow lugging people appeared from a path, led by a guy with a yellow boombox over his shoulder. Soon enough, we were below the statue of a magazine mogul on top of a mountain and people were hitting one another as hard as they possibly could.



Shooting photos was difficult because we were in the shade and it was so bright. Either the background was blown out or the people were silhouetted with the trees. We had a flash, but no diffuser, so even that was harsh. But, I managed to snap a few, especially when Matt was given a pillow to join in. Every time I caught sight of him in the crowd, he was laughing with a smile as genuine as any I've ever seen. He's so cute when he's that excited. :)


After Matt may have cracked a rib and decided he couldn't muster the energy to swing at another stranger, we caught another bus downtown to go to 'Flicks on the Bricks'. This a movie screening each Friday night throughout the summer on the brick courtyard in front of the Pioneer Square courthouse. We ate free popcorn and enjoyed the movie Ghostbusters while trying to ignore how badly sitting on the bricks hurt our bottoms after an hour. We wished we'd had a pillow from the pillow fight to sit on. Ah well, there's always next summer.

The Magic is in the Hole

After EJ took us under a bridge for an incredible cajun dinner last night, we knew we'd only begun to scratch the surface of finding Portland's hidden sweet spots. Today, we found more. Today marks the day that I ate the most delicious doughnut of my life.

We started in Washington park, which conveniently enough, has trails beginning straight across the street. This is what it looks like when you first begin to climb:


We followed the signs leading us to the Portland Rose Garden. I knew it was the "City of Roses". I now know why. Row after row of bright, blooming, bunches of flowers. All colors, shapes, and types left Matt and I happy to walk quietly and snap photos.




It was a very hot day so I got Tiger's Blood shaved ice to cool me down. I was so happy with my sugary sweet purchase, I thought this was surely the best purchase I could possibly make today. Little did I know of the VooDoo is my future!


We came out of the park on the SW side and walked through downtown to 3rd where I bought my first VooDoo doughnut. This isn't just ANY doughnut shop; VooDoo takes flavor choices far further then any doughnut shop before them. After deliberating on one of the more difficult decisions I've had to make in the Pacific Northwest, I went with a blueberry and pink sprinkled concoction.


OMFG. Yes, it's pretty but, it's more then that. It was DIVINE. Next time I will have to be more ballsy. I want to try "Vegan Doom": a doughnut covered in maple syrup icing topped with two slabs of bacon. My doughnut future is looking up. In the words of the great Homer Simpson "Mmmmm.....doughtnut"