urban (?) outfitted

Kristen's 16 year old brother Anthony is in town for the weekend. He came over during my daily Top Gear dose. You can really tell they are siblings. Curly hair and good fashion sense. We went over to Trader Joe's for some food stuffs (maybe it isn't good to be so close, I keep thinking I need more food) and then did a circuit of 23rd, but a lot of things were close to closing.

Oh mum, how are your Lush products working out? My sea salt scrub is bloody fantastic! My skin has never looked better.

At Urban Outfitters I found a 10$ wallet to replace my well worn one. It is perfect. Has a clasped side for cash and a snap side for cards. And it has a cute print. Also found a 5$ yellow tank. Whoo. Anthony is here for back to school shopping. Kitsap doesn't have much selection. We looked at hats but good hats are expensive.

For dinner we collaborated in ground beef pasta with chicken on the side. Very good and filling! Then we kicked up our feet and watched two episodes of Mad Men. Tomorrow they will go off and do something, I don't know if I'll tag along. Let them have their sibling time.

Can't believe school is starting so soon. Before I know it, I'll have a degree in my hand and have to start my life! Ahhh! I wonder how long I'll continue to blog. I should probably just keep with it till I'm uber famous and successful. Then people can look back on the gibberish I call my journey (e.g. my leg).

pork chops, yum!

I'm so excited for ground beef! I cooked myself up a scramble for breakfast. Eggs and beef. Mmm! With juice!

Watched my usual run of things. Oh! Almost forgot my nightly healing picture:

Looking more soft and skin, less scabs. It also spent some time under some saran wrap. Went over to Kevin's place for some barbecue. It was colder so I wrapped it up in saran wrap and put on pants. Thought it would be a good solution for a few hours. And it did work. It hurt a bit but it stayed moist and came out in pretty much the same condition. I met Kevin's roommates Andrea and Jason, and remet Paris and Kellan who were at the Aerial Pink show, and Amanda and Matt were down from Seattle and another friend Nigel came around. It was nice. It was a lovely little way to spend the evening. Ate pork chops and pasta salad and salad and corn on the cob and chicken! Mmm! Then played spoons! Hurray! Chatted about this and that, and at a little after midnight I was driven home. Nice little social evening.

Yeah. Munched on stuff through the day. Relaxed. I'm out of eggs now.

Wow it is 2am. Need to go to sleep or something.

crusty be gone!

This Aquafore is working miracles. My leg is staying super hydrated and it hurts a lot less to move. That could be part of the healing process, but once I started using it, it just stopped hurting. Soft flexible skin is good to have. And the crusty bits around the edges are coming off. The Aquafore really makes the scab parts soft and they flake off a lot better. The skin is red and shiny, and is obviously a little scarred. But that should fade. It's only been a week. And it gives me a story.

The cute cashier in Trader Joe's asked me how I got that in a general, understanding but not "awww poor you" way. Obviously he had hit the pavement a couple times as well. We chatted about the healing process. I love Trader Joe's! 25 bucks gets you beef, apples, bananas, juice, tortillas, dried mango slices, mochi ice cream, and a bunch of other stuff! And their prices stay the same and you don't have to fight selection! It is great. And for being hungry I didn't leave with tons of snack items. Cooked myself up some beef, threw that on a tortilla with spinach and cheese and ate that right up. Yum yum! I'm going to try to make a beef scramble tomorrow morning. I want to be more proactive about cooking real meals.

It was hot hot hooot. I only left to get dinner fixings. Spent a lot of time chilling and being not sweaty. And also looking at my leg. HEAL! When I first hit the pavement, I didn't expect it to be like this. I thought it was going to be a scrape that will scab and be gone in a week. When I started cleaning it and saw how much skin was gone, yeah...

But look how much better it is!

gross picture time!

Last night:

Tonight:
It's scabbing around the sides, as you can see, and the center is sort of soft but it looks good. It looks like it wants to be skin. Hahah. I'm so fascinated by my road rash. It's gross but I kind of like it. It's also hurting a lot less. I'm not stumbling around and if it brushes something it doesn't hurt a whole bunch. Yeah, it definitely hurts less. I wonder if thats because I'm keeping it moist, because when it dries it tends to hurt because the skin is less flexible. Hmm.

I put out my chocolate croissants last night and had them for breakfast. Mmmm! So good. Went to school and finished up the business card design stuff for Ben. Talked to Cathrine and Jim and Jon a bit. Went back home. Watch Top Gear. So addicted.

Ate a sandwich. Tabitha came over for a bit. Ate some pasta. Tabitha left. Kristen and I watched two episodes of Mad Men. Kristen's schedule got screwed up without warning due to the new internet system of registration. Boo!

I want to be out doing more, but I need to keep my leg in good care.

Thursday, Kevin is making pork chops. Can't wait! A nice summer barbecue.

oh library people, you crackith me up

I love the library staff at my school:

Anyway! Leg is healing. I'll spare you another gross picture...for now.

Slept in. Ate oatmeal and tea. Ate a sandwich later.

At 4:30 I walked to get some Aquaphore. I heard it was good for scrapes. Why not? Neosporin makes it hurt a little. So I got some, wandered back over to 21st and Irving. Caught the 17 to Burnside & 5th and then the 12 to Sandy & 54th. It was another Movie Monday at Madelines! I get invited to her nights because I'm special. It was a nice bus ride over. I ate pizza and chatted with Madeline, Tina, Kate, and the very excited Jackson. Good kid. They apparently have a swear jar. Hahah! Her mums are nurses and so when I relayed my treatment plan of Neosporin, washing it out, and Aquaphore, they didn't disagree or tell me outright not to do something. So I'm on a good track I guess. I applied the Aquaphore while waiting for the bus and it made the scrape go really squishy. I didn't know what was up with that.

Madeline's friends came over right on time: Andrew, Ben, John, and Cam. We watched the Spanish ghost movie: The Orphanage. It wasn't quite what I expected it to be. I was expecting more of a horror movie, not a sad ghost story. It was good. Spooky but not nightmare inducing. Sad ending but also kind of happy.

When I held up the leg, the boys are went EEEWWW. Jackson was much more mature about my really obvious scrape.

Madeline drove me home. Now to chill. Whoo!

entourage of ladies

My leg keeps on weeping. It's gross. But it is almost all on its way to scab town. The skin is less sensitive and hurts when I move it around and out of its healing position. Namely when it gets crinkled up when I extend my leg. All this leg talk I'm sure isn't making for good reading, but not much else is going on these days.

I slept in and then with like 20 minutes to spare before Tabitha picked us up, Kristen and I got ready to accompany Mel on her tattoo getting expedition. We hopped in the car and off we went to Sam's house. Sam went to PNCA but I never met her. She has a little personal tattoo business. All sanitized and hygienic with new needles and stuff. Maybe not certified, but she knows her stuff I guess. Anyway, Mel was there to get a tattoo of Russian nesting dolls that represent her family. She designed it, and it had a little frame around the portrait of dolls. Tabitha, Kristen, and I took turns holding her hand. She didn't squeeze too hard, she probably just wanted the option. Kris and Tab read from a Hodgman book. We were there a total of three hours, but the set up time was lengthy so it probably only took about two to tattoo. Just a straight up black ink tattoo. It looks really good. It is on the inside of her left arm. It was fun to hang out and provide support. Afterwards we went to Hot Cakes & something something. I got hashbrowns and bacon and toast and a scrambled egg. Mmmm! Fried food. We talked girly things and then went to the Clackamas Town Center mall. Kristen and I hit up the Macy's clearance rack. Well mostly Kristen, I just checked out what they had because I was there. We were shopping for unmentionables. I found a great 12.99 markdown from like...$36! And some other unmentionables that were two bucks instead of seven. Kristen was having a lot more trouble and needed girly support to get her through the trials of changing rooms.

I still can't wear pants so my poor friends had to look at my nasty healing leg. It is pretty bright red. No children in the mall stared at it, but if I did I would have pretended to be a zombie or something. We drove back and chilled out at our apartment for a bit, before Tabitha and Kristen left to record some music and Mel went home. Now it is my turn for emotional support! We went to Tab's play, Mel's tattoo, and Kristen's shopping. I don't think I have anything coming up though.

True Blood was a good transitional episode. Mad Men crammed a lot of content into its short time frame.

I want my leg to be better! This seems like it will take far too long to heal.

heal darn you!

My leg now only really hurts if I put stuff on it, like aloe vera. Don't know why it would help a scrape Mom. Oh well.

Did my laundry. The machines are nicer but about .25 more expensive than The Goose. Watched some Mad Men with Kristen. Washed my hair. Folded my laundry. Watched stuff. Ate noodles. Put away laundry. Watched more stuff. Took it easy generally.

A little over a week till school starts. Yipes! I don't really feel the senior year terror yet.

Still can't find my missing suitcase. Really weird.

Tomorrow Mel is getting a tattoo, so I might tag along on that.

I wish I could be out and about and helping with that installation more, but my leg has put a stop to that. I can't go about working on my knees and risking getting old paint in my wound. It is healing well, but I don't want to risk it.

I heard that one of the editors or something for Bitch magazine will be teaching us, and that they'll be getting someone in to help with type. And I think the animation class will be super.

I'm doing a good job making my own meals and not needing to eat out. I did that a lot in the Goose. Well, I just ordered wings. Being in a more upscale neighborhood keeps me eating in. It is a nice place though. An oasis of peace.

Six String Samurai with Pagans and Christians

Thursday

Slept with my leg out of my sheets. Which sucked because the weather went colder so it was a night to sleep under covers. And since the weather sucked we called off the Sauvie's Island trip. Oh! I set out some chocolate croissants over night to rise and they were delicious in the morning. mmmm! But yeah, no sun or whatever. Tabitha and Kristen got some tickets in the nosebleed section to see Lady Gaga tonight. Mel, Karen, and I went to the Goodwill Bins. Now The Bins is this Goodwill of all the neglected Goodwill stuff that is not bought. You pay by the pound, not price. It is amazing. I got three pairs of heels that fit really well (two brown, one purple) and a pair of flats. I got three coats to hang in my studio because I know it gets cold. Also I can loan them to other studio people and if they don't come back, no biggie. So two suit jackets and one larger tan one. I also got a grey jacket that, because The Bins doesn't have mirrors, I couldn't see how INSANE the shoulder pads on it were. They are huuuuge! But it is sort of great at the same time. I got a floral romper that fits pretty well and a dress that ended up being a couple sizes too big (can't really try anything on there either). Also got this ceramic turtle. I paid about twenty bucks for all of that. Niiice.

The leg is doing better slowly but surely.

We had Mexican food after. It was good. Filling. Didn't need a dinner afterwards. I came home when Kristen and Tabitha were all dressed up for Gaga.

They left and I put my leg up and watched Project Runway and then sat in bed and watched True Blood and got drowsy and didn't feel like moving my leg more and went to sleep.

Friday

Leg getting better! The soft sensitive patch is hardening up and being less sensitive. It has also stopped weeping fluid. It looks considerably worse, but in healing things look worse before they look better.

Yeah another gross picture for you guys. But I can go bandaid free on the knee and hydrogen peroxide hurts a lot less. It is a constant soft hurt, but not so bad. I get injured so rarely.

Finished up the lettering and logo for Ben's business card and sent him some compositions. It needs some cleaning up and refining of letters. Then I got ready for another date with Kevin.

We went to dinner at Melt, this sandwich shop on 21st. Drinks and coconut prawns for starters. I had grilled cheese and soup, he had the crab cake sandwich. All in all it was really, really good! The place has a great atmosphere. We got some gelato after but the Green Tea flavor I got lost its appeal really quick. Then we went to see Valhalla Rising at Cinema 21. It is a movie about Vikings and Christians coming to America in 1000ad. IT WAS INTENSE! The atmosphere was really well played out. It is the type of movie where you have to really get into the scenery as narration. Mads Mikkelsen, a Danish actor who is a personal favorite of mine, was awesome as a viking warrior with one eye. It is a movie I can see someone with no patience not enjoying, but I got engrossed. Very powerful. I was glad that Kevin liked it too because sometimes when you pick a movie then you get worried if the other person isn't liking it and resents you for picking it, you know? But no, we left the theater going "that was intense!". We wandered around 23rd and got a quick final drink of the night at Ram's Head. I showed him my Japan photo album back at my place and with that we called it a night.

Yeah. It was a nice date.

ouch! busted

Forgot to mention that yesterday the hinge on my phone broke. It will not close, well it can close and open but it makes it so much more likely that the top will break off the bottom and I don't know if it will work if put back together. I really like this phone. It is reliable and no frills. It is old of course, pushing six years. Which is four years more than the life expectancy of any phone. Booo.

Today I ran some errands. Went to Powell's. Got Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. Space travel! Yay! Also picked up a Crunchie Bar, which is pretty much a Violet Crumble labeled differently. Went to the Bike Gallery and dropped off my bike for a wellness check up. Walked down to Finnegan's to look at their Playmobil. They had a woodshop class set! With a bearded teacher, drill, clamp, students, and first aid kit. It was amazing! Talked to Dad on the phone for a bit about phone problems. Walked down to Verizon to see what sort of phones there are. Basically if I want to replace my phone and not get a new plan or anything, I am looking at spending $150+ on a new phone. Yeah. No way. I don't get at all why phones still cost so much. Everyone has one, so why haven't they gone down in price? Why are there no cheap no frills phones? This is crap. Oh well. Tape for now. Went and got my bike back. I was crossing the street to get in the far right lane and crossing the street car tracks I didn't have my tire slanted enough and it got caught in the tracks. I didn't flip over so much as twist and hit the pavement. Thankfully I fell in an empty parking space and not in traffic or into a car. I skinned a large bit of my shin and my knee isn't too pretty and my shoulder aches. The passers by stopped and were really nice but I wasn't in too bad of shape. I paused for a minute to catch my breath and I got back on my bike and rode home. My bike seems unharmed. Wheel isn't bent. It rode just fine, though the rider wasn't in as good as shape.

Here is a gross picture of my leg before cleaning:

Ouch! Kristen didn't come home till 8ish, which was good. I needed to be alone while I howled and cried as I washed out the scrape (now my slight tan will have a bit missing, nooo!) and the knee gouge. I then sat and watched cable while I patted at it with a damp towel. Just patted and patted. When I was feeling better, I hobbled over (this is the right leg, which has been twice sprained and was once kicked in high school and still is a bit wobbly from time to time) to Walgreens to get hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin and other assorted medical stuff. IT HURT SO BAAAD to sanitize it. I just had to suck it up and do it really really fast and then pause and then go again. Then I lathered it up and let it sit. I took a tumble on my old bike about a decade ago and at that time it was just a chunk of flesh that lifted up on my left knee. Now my right knee might get a matching scar. I can't remember getting a scrape this size before. Still, three years in Portland as a biker and this is the first time I've been caught by the tracks and the second time I've fallen on my bike (the first time I missed the curb when propping my foot up, but nothing really got injured).

To distract myself I did my hair up in Heidi braids. Like a milkmaid. Whee! Tomorrow we girls are going to Sauvie's Island to swim. I'll probably lounge in the sun more than swim. I don't think water will favor my injury.

Also having the Crunchie Bar on hand for comfort was really good. Lovely distraction.

keys and bottles

I have a headache. Ugh. Heat.

Chatted with Madeline for about an hour. Ate some good.

I went down to school and dropped off my health insurance waver. Swung by student services and said hello to the people there. Everyone is getting new hair dos and cuts and looking festive for the season. Went to the library and scanned some stuff. Rented Mad Men season one to watch with Kristen.

Swung by REI to grab one of those things to attach my keys to a belt. Not sure if the proper name. Cariban? Anyway, got that and a proper water bottle. The little one I found just isn't cutting it for my hydration needs. Plus it will probably be good to have one on hand in the studio. Or biking. Anyway, got those. Returned home. Sweated. Ate a salad. Watched Ninja Warrior.

Ben asked me to design a business card for him (for some cash) so I'm working on that. Sent him some font tests today. Will write them out proper tomorrow and play with compositions.

This heat is just...bahhh. It is supposed to go to 70 soon.

day off

Yay a day to do nothing! Just to check out and watch TV and put my still sprained ankle up.

What Not To Wear, Top Gear, Police Academy. I really gotta get rid of cable before school starts. It is just too damn easy.

But tomorrow I have some tasks to do. Whoo!

Uhm yeah. Did nothing. Put away nothing more. But it felt good.

School starts in two weeks. Damn summer went by. I got next to nothing accomplished. Oh well.

directions, poo, and reading

Saturday

Soap box derby! Tabitha picked Kristen and I up and we swung by and got Mel as well. It was a hot hot day. Shorts and bikini top were too much layers. I got some snacks and lemonade so we wouldn't starve on Mount Tabor. It was a nice drive over and we got parking near enough to one of the entrances to Mount Tabor. Unfortunately it was not the entrance near the better entrance. We walked up to where the carts were and what, if we had looked around more, would have been actually the starting point. I got confused with directions and went up the hill and ended up near a drum circle (Mel & co. stayed behind to find their own way). Oh! We were trying to meet up with BT, Liz, Phil, and other people. But yeah, I got lost and called BT three times but none of the directions got me anywhere close (I suspect he was drunk and unable to visualize where we were in relation to him). But I ran into my three girls again and we decided to just park it off to the side of a path and relax and snack for a bit. Tabitha's friend Matt was there in husky colors. He had a soap box car, or one he was helping with. After putting up our feet for a while, we went back to try and find our people once again. We made our way down the track and on the final loop there they were! We whipped out the snacks, I popped a beer, and we settled in to watch the semi-finals of the soap boxes.

One crashed into hay bales and an ambulance came later, but that turned out to be for a skateboarder. All in all, it was really hot and lots of walking around a huge mountain, but it was fun. Then we went back down the mountain, Karen gave us a lift to our car and we went to our apartment. Kristen, Tabitha, Mel, and I sat in the dark, drank cool liquids, and watched cable TV till about 8pm.

We gathered our stuff and got in the car and headed to the north east for Karen, BT, and Phil's housewarming party. They are now living in a nice little North East Portland house. Still moving in a bit, but it will be a sweet place. Karen's bathroom is very pink and BT's is nautical themed. Blues Brothers was playing. Diana, Robin, Alison, and a bunch of sort of unfamiliar people were there. Andy came over. Justin and his Dad. Evan and Holly came. Evan brought a card game called Poo where you play monkeys flinging poo and once you get 15 poo, you are out. It was A LOT of fun. I think I'll have to pick it up at Powell's. Liz, Robin, and Kristen played their ukuleles on the porch. It was adorable. Tabitha needs some sort of award for being an awesome designated driver. She got the standard trio (Mel, Kristen, and I) home safe and sound. I winded down with an episode of True Blood. Then went to sleep.

Sunday

Woke up. Had bacon and eggs. Watched a cable show about cake, then White Collar, then some Ninja Warrior, then more White Collar. Around that time Tabitha showed up. She was doing a staged reading of a friend of hers' play so she drove us to University of Portland with her. (Us being the standard four: her, Kristen, Mel, and myself). U of P is in an area where all the streets are named after Ivy Leagues. She got right to a practice reading. We watched the first half of it. Mel and I played some paper games. At intermission we wandered around to find some sort of food or vending machine but ended up out of luck all together.

The play out of rehearsal flowed pretty well. It was about this guy who murdered this guy but denied it because he was going crazy and had broken from it. It had some good parts but was too heavy with Kevin Smith influence. Tabitha played a girl in one scene. And played it well. The writer wasn't much older than me and I salute that he just wrote this play and edited and got it to test reading stages. A lot of effort and putting yourself out there. Good for him!

Karen snuck in later and she, Tab's friend Kara, and the rest of us went to Nepo 42 to get dinner. Tasty sandwiches! And Karen got a magical free sandwich through missordering. We girled it up and went whooo! It was a great night to sit outside. We made plans to go to Sauvie's Island on Thursday. Exciiiited! Sun and swimming!

Now to curl up, watch True Blood, and rest!

Jason, Chevy, and Kevin

Jason & Chevelle

Went over to the East side to help Jason and Chevelle with their TBA installation. I arrived at 2 and just missed them when they made a supply run. Tesar let me into Washington High School and I loitered for a bit for them to show up. I deconstructed some boxes and explored. Even on a bright sunny day, a silent empty school is very creepy. There were some artists on the other floors but the noise didn't carry.

I helped them haul stuff up three flights of stairs (I got a lot of exercise, dang). Cut up more boxes. Made some sand paint mixture and slathered those boxes up. My knees and hands and bare feet got covered in the stuff. I was quite gritty. But it was fun. We listened to surf music and Jason bought pizza. At 5:30 I left. At 6:30 I arrived home sweaty and painty and took a second shower.

Kevin

Second date with Kevin tonight. After I got majorly cleaned up. We went for Korean Barbecue on Hawthorne. It was quite a lot of meat. But it was good. We caught up on the past month or so. After barbecue we went down to Clinton Street and grabbed a drink at Dot's. It looks like The Matador: Lite. But it was nice. The day was really hot but the night cooled off just the right amount. I was wiped after the long day of actual manual labor so we parted after Dot's (well after he took me home, he didn't ditch me on the East side). So that was that.

Today is Adult Soap Box Derby (adult as in age not adult as in naughty) and Karen, BT, and Phil's housewarming party.

Bleh I'm tired, I'll sum up in the morning.

PILGRIM! YEAH!

SCOTT PILGRIM! AWESOME! YEAH! I went to the midnight showing with Madeline. The audience was nerdy and enthusiastic and awesome and the movie was totally awesome and fun and not totally perfect to the comic but it was all the better for it. Great Thomas Jane cameo. Wonderful action sequences. Music. AHH! SO GOOD! I maybe missed parts by being AHHMYGAWDAWESOME through the whole thing so I totally need to catch a matinée.

Okay back at the start of the day. I set my alarm but it didn't go off because I set it for PM instead of AM. Silly me. Oatmeal. Tea. Cable television.

My drapes were starting to frame so I hemmed them. Now they hang about an inch above my windowsill. If my blinds are open you can sort of peep into my room. Haven't seen what it is like with them closed.

Kristen and I went and got boba tea. Mmm. I called Jason and I'm going to help him out at noonish tomorrow. Called Madeline and asked her please to see midnight showing. She showed up at 9ish. We left at 9:30ish after I made popcorn. We wandered around the Lloyd District for an hour and sat for another wonderful hour chatting as the nerds filtered in.

I'm sure I do more with my day. Oh had a sandwich for lunch and the final bit of my bacon cheeseburger pasta for dinner.

I'm glad Lauren won, even though I missed it.

I'll have stuff to talk about tomorrow. If I try to get on with blogging before 2:30 am. HA!

spooky dusty crinkly potato chip

Abdi won! Yay! He had a really great final piece though I was worried because it felt like they were praising Peregrine's artwork more. Miles produced a good show but it did feel really work in progress.

I voted for Lauren. She did so well on the So You Think You Can Dance finale.

Had leftover cheeseburger bacon pasta for dinner. Mmmm! So good.

Tidied up. Put my art supplies in a plastic tub instead of a box for better transportation. Assembled my new Ikea stool so I can easily reach up for stuff. Technically it isn't a "for standing on" stool but it can support 220 pounds, so I think I'm good for the time being. Just have to be careful. Forget how I filled up the rest of my day. Something.

Saw Lacey's apartment when Karen and I dropped her off after our day trip. Nice little studio. Almost poked her cat with a rod though. Sweet little Murmur.

Karen, Lacey, and I went to Ikea. The average time spent at Ikea is 3-5 hours. Such a big mistake to try and rush it. I saw so many things that I missed: 4.99 tabletop ironing board. Cute 5$ brackets (there were cheaper ones, but these brackets are stylin') with cheap blue shelf boards that almost match my walls. Handy little bathroom container for makeup. Stool. And a couple other things including a cute cut of cloth. It was a good, lengthy trip. 11-2:30 about. Lacey got curtains and rods galore. Karen got some little things and some Christmas gifts for her nieces. It was a long slow wander. Oh I got some tea lights as well and a super discounted holder set. Oh and naturally we started with meatballs and cake. mmmmm!

When I was picked up BT and his friend Liz were in the car. Liz is nice. They were dropped off at Jam and didn't join us. Boo on them. Oh well.

Sluggish start to the day. Knee hurt all the way through along with my ankle.

I need a level to put up my shelves. I'll wait though, I need to organize my books.

there goes the ankle again

Slept way in with no alarm. Got up. Did some dishes. Tabitha came over. Did more dishes. Karen came over. We girl talked for a while. Then she and I wandered up to William Temple House and over to 23rd. A little walk. I gave her back her boxes, and plus some.

Tabitha and Kristen left for the day. I puttered around. Haven't put anything away yet. Tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow.

Went to Lush and got a little foot slightly pumice stone for exfoliating my feet and a facial scrub. My face feels so soft. Right now I'm on operation perfect skin. I have pretty good skin, but I'm trying to figure out what works best. And I want to clean my pores properly. The salt scrub is nice because the salt gets smaller and smaller as you use it (but it doesn't dissolve in the scrub bucket, wonder how that works).

I offered Jason some assistance with his Time Based Arts installation so at 6:30 I headed over to the east side. It was a lot of prep work. Just tearing boxes down and painting this sort of stucko onto them. He is making a beach scene for his bands TBA performance. Lots of things need to get made. We didn't get a big start today. He drove me and my bike back and I gave him some of my left over boxes. Oh! I twisted my ankle coming down a step. The same ankle I twisted at BT's birthday. It was still hurting on and off and now it won't improve any fasted. My right leg has really bad luck.

So now I'm just putting up my feet and watching television. Going to Ikea with Karen and Lacey tomorrow. Mostly just want meatballs. Don't really need more storage solutions it appears.

bacon

Errands! Got up before 11. Had a little breakfast. Went to Fred Meyers for some more extensive grocery shopping. I kept overlooking the baking soda for like 10 minutes. Drove me crazy that I couldn't find it! And took forever to track down an employee to help me. Ran into Agnes as I was leaving.

Made some cookies. The first batch was okay but they improved. Tidied up and crushed boxes as I baked. The apartment is really coming together. Still can't find that suitcase though. I didn't really get a chance to eat a lot of them because I ran an errand to the East side. Broadway bridge is closed so I rode to the Max and took that to Lloyd. Alyson had left some art frames out on her closed foyer for me to have. It was a fun little excursion. I left her some cookies. Came back at 6:30 and went straight to cooking.

I made my first recipe out of the bacon cook book auntie Brynne gave me! Up first was bacon cheeseburger pasta. Basically ground beef, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, crumbled bacon, cheese, and pasta. Mel came as I was half way through cooking. For a first run through, I thought it turned out really good! Kristen, Mel, and I stuffed our faces then lounged and played Old Maid. Mel brought a little rhubarb berry pie thing for dessert and guess what: I ate and enjoyed it! But don't tell mom.

Karen bailed on us for summer school work. Laame. Melissa joined us and I dished her up a bowl. Tabitha came and I combined some ravioli she had with the pasta. We sat around chatting and we looked at our (Kristens and Mine) yearbooks from 2006. Melissa left to sleep. Then we did makeovers and Tabitha made this facial goo for her and Kristen. Mel and I ate Fun Dip. Girly time lasted till 1am and they said goodnight.

I think I'll watch an episode of something and go to sleep.

organizing further

My smaller blue suitcase has gone missing. I pretty distinctly remember lining it up with my tan suitcase on the truck bed and Kristen hauling both inside, but now I can't find it at all. Odds are it is still buried, but where? It had mostly shirts in it, and I like my shirts. And it was a lot of the long sleeve layers.

Slept in and had a bagel with creme cheese for breakfast and a late lunch/early dinner that consisted of pasta, sauce, and a cucumber. Yum!

Today I worked on my clothes. I hauled out bit by bit the clothes from my suitcases and tubs and sorted the winter coats and other thicker pieces of unseasonal clothing. It will be nice to keep a smaller fashion circulation for a while. I emptied my drawers into another tub and put my clothes into it. My closet has light coats, button shirts, and dresses on hangers now. It looks quite organized.

I emptied another box and most of the ones that remain are mostly full ones waiting to go down to storage. I have a couple half full tubs with knick knacks. But in general, I think one more days work will put me at "moved in".

Tomorrow I plan to make bacon cheeseburger spaghetti. I've invited Mel and Madeline over for dinner. Going all host lady!

True Blood had a very shocking episode. Just the scenes were so...wow!

Tabitha is over and she and Kristen have been playing dress up.

My books also need organizing. I think I'll have the thinner bookshelf be the comic book shelf, and the larger one be everything else.

hooties come together!

Awww yeah, got some more boxes unloaded and shifted a few things into boxes to go into storage.

Oatmeal and tea for breakfast. Ma and Pa came over and put up my curtain rod. It looks really nice and during the day, it casts my room in a vivid orange glow. It goes really nice with my blue walls and red wood trim. All in all, the color scheme is really coming along. Nice to be in a place that isn't gray carpet and white walls.

I talked Ma and Pa into staying the day and going to see Odd Owl with me tonight, instead of driving home and seeing them tomorrow in Seattle. So I made Dad take a nap so he'll be well rested in the night. I unpacked and packed and sorted. I think I'm just a couple days away from being settled. It is mostly organization left to do. Organization and putting things in storage. Though it feels every time I turn around there is a little bit more to do. Oh well.

A little later on, I prodded Dad awake and we three went for a little walk up and down 23rd. We looked at 3 Monkeys. There was a Ford Fiesta promotion going on for the new models (that look nothing like our 1978 one...1979?) and they gave us free soda. Ma and Pa went into Lush while I held the soda outside. Ma came out with a bag of goodies. Powders and lotion and a little gift bag for spending a certain amount. I grabbed the lotion massage bar out of the gift bag. Yoink! We stopped at Pizzacatto and got two pizza and salad lunch combos. Mmmm! Then we got cake and cheesecake at Rose Bakery. MMMMMM!!

We returned home and I made mom and dad take a nap. I tooled around on the internet while they dozed. At 6ish they started to wake up and we got ready to go to see Odd Owl (Carmen's band) at The Waypost. I put on my Odd Owl shirt and an owl pendant.

It was a short drive over to the other side, that became elongated when we had to find an ATM. But we found one. Carmen looked adorable, Phil was his same self, and their new bassist was scruffy. Ma got us some root beer and cookies and we settled in. The opening act was a lady guitarist. She was charming and played well. A friend followed her and was also good, though admittedly nervous. But she did fine. Ma bought me a shirt and a CD. Speaking of shirts and CDs, they used my artwork for their second shirt! And added some color for the CD cover! Awesome!

My friend Jon showed up! Yay! He arrived right as Odd Owl started so we didn't get to talk all that much, but he did get to meet my parents. They were great! They had more songs and played some covers and my old favorites. It was lovely and fun and I bopped my head about. Afterwards Mom bought herself a shirt and a CD. Jon left and I hugged Carmen goodbye. Ma and Pa drove me home and off they went into the night. Returning to Seabeck.

I snacked on snacks. Kristen came home. Time to sleep in.