Orange blossoms crushed by concrete, i walk around with barefeet

My boss has had this nagging idea in his head since November. He decided that it would be brilliant to advertise our condos on the mainsail of a sailboat to be displayed in the Opening Day boat parade. For a man whom you can always count on to be ingenious, enterpreneurial, and innovative- this idea was not unexpected and hardly an isolated case of "thinking outside the box".

It is brilliant- the logo and rendering of our condos billowing in the season's first warmed, salt-tinged breeze. The bold image cutting across the water would definately raise some attention to our development and maybe sell a unit or two. But the cost, oh my!

I have been wrestling with many options that will realistically breathe life into this idea- and all have some kind of price tag. As we struggled with our budget, the concept was put on hold.

But all small fish are eventually eaten by larger ones......

When confronted with the difficulty of advertising on a main sail, my boss came up with another idea:

In order to finance the cost of printing an ad on a sailboat, we should hold a regada/maritime festival in which people register their boat to race around Blake Island and back to Bremerton.... Financing one event by organizing and hosting a larger event?

This reminds me of a certain book involving a mouse and a cookie......

The receipt of one letter

gives me access to a whole new world of possibilities and acceptance into a new community.

Thank goodness! I'm going insanse without papers to write, new concepts to grasp and nerdy professors to crush on.

If the world's a stage, we're searching for our parts

There is nothing like a little nature to remind you who you are.

The past couple weeks, I feel like I have been on a fast train charging forward with no clear destination and no time for a pit stop.

Running usually bring me back to my sense of place. When you set aside a certain moment or two out of the day to run, it's like making a date with yourself. My body goes on auto-pilot which allows my thoughts to roam detached from their physical cage.

During the day, work and routine require the discipline of thought. At work, we are paid and expected to think only about certain things. After work, my thoughts are usually preoccupied with the list of things I have to do and worry about. When I run, my thoughts are a great "free-for-all". Its awesome. The idea of our thoughts as capital or property is ...ugh, an unpleasant one.

I have been running on the treadmil at the gym lately. This does not allow for the same freedom as running outside. A mechanically simulated workout surrounded by other competative sweaty individuals, clocks, timers, and the assembly line of workout equipment all in the confines of one room just doesn't cut it. It's funny, I even feel compelled to listen to different music in the gym than on the trails.

Outside, however, each step forward is a new possibility. My mind can guide my body in any direction. I can change the direction of my run with one simle thought. Or I can opt to follow the pre-made trails. To watch the sky open, the clouds travel, and the weather change- to feel the wind (not recycled air wind) blow and nature respond as I run by, is something entirely unreplicable in a gym.

Peace found in nature always reminds me of where I fit in the natural order of the world. It reminds me that first and foremost (before being an intern, a student, a friend, a sister), I am a human and I have a specific place, however small, in the environmental timeline of the planet.

GYM PLAYLIST
R.Kelly "Ignition"
Maroon 5 "Harder to Breathe" (and all)
Def Leopard "Pour some sugar on me"
Crash Test Dummies
John Mayer Trio "Vultures"
Blondie
Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer"
Shakira

OUTDOOR PLAYLIST

Jack Johnson "Constellations" (and all)
Amos Lee "All My Friends"
Erin McKeown "Slung Lo"
Incubus "Warning"
Jimi Hendrix "Stone Free"
Modest Mouse "Ocean Breathes Salty"
Coldplay (all)
The Fray (all)

The Ninth Circle of White Board Hell

My boss uses dry erase white boards to outline the many ways in which the Public Affairs Department (me and her) are helping our organization take over the world. Sometimes this is helpful and a good management tool. But when the white board starts to look as it does in the above photos, you cannot get very far without an extensive background in deciphering the language of squiggle.

This, and the fact that we don't know how to budget are the only two things standing in our way.
Under the pretense of altruistic social service, we are steadily tightening our clutch on this unsuspecting planet and indiscriminately spreading fear of the "white board" among its inhabitants.

Steps to world take over:

-Brand your product on every possible flat surface: newspaper ads, fliers, sailboat mainsails
-Buy all the land in the area so that you can make sure they don't build ugly hotels or casinos instead
-Infiltrate the legislature with bills that will turn all the tax revenue in your state over to you
-Construct a building and make all powerful organization locate there for more efficient spy operations

I really do work for a great organization- I think people are too cynical to realize there actually are social service agencies that do positive, helpful things. Its much easier to believe in conspiracies of take over and to assume everyone has selfish intentions.

If it was up to some people in director positions, however, I think the world would be full of white boards.....whether you liked it or not.

Not a word

Nakos, chez, and peepsy

This weekend I was up in Bellingham contributing to the debauchery of a graduation celebration.

We went to a steak and burger place for dinner where four of us ordered a "Hurricane Blake". Of the six ingredients that make up the Hurricane Blake, only one- orange juice- did not contain alcohol. Of the four of us, I was the "light weight"- but I can champion the fact that I put that drink away the fastest. I guess you could say I was suffering from inebriation desperation. Scratch that- I wasn't suffering at all...

For breakfast I devoured a dish of culinary perfection and beauty- the Chicken Fajita Omelette at IHOP. Here it was determined that if you could capture the taste of American white trash, it would be the combo of eggs and kecthup.

The next day I got a quick tour of Western Washington University.

THE TOUR

Meet the tour guide and his sleek, sexy travel machine...


"Hi, I'm Jessie, your tour guide. Our first exhibit is this very rare breed of Ford Probe. It is fully equipped with a Turbo engine and has just received a jet black paint job... yeah, I know how to treat my baby."

To your left is the famous, "Man Humping a Bear" statue- a cornerstone of WWU's historic campus. Notice that they are both howling at the sky.

Follow me, we are getting closer to the architectual beauty of the campus...

Above you will see the original building of university- this is the true meaning of "old school".

You can always find a shady spot to rest, or hide from professors of the classes you skipped.

What I learned this weekend: there is no end to the number of pirate joke possibilities in this world ("ARG!"), Bellingham is home to a breed of wild cougars that resemble house cats, anything can be used as a bathing suit if you are drunk enough, and drinking strategies are the same stratefies used in long distance running- if you start out the event with a bang, you will end the event with a much larger bang, and you will crash and burn much sooner than intended.

A Shameful Confession

There is an undesirable side effect that invariably comes with delicious tasting lip gloss: constant lip licking.

Lip gloss really should not taste this good... they should at least include a nutritional benefit among the ingredients so that my lip gloss eating is not entirely fruitless.

Bright side: How much you want to bet that lip gloss has 0 calories.....

Sight Shopping at the Mall

The White House- the glamorous pinnacle of political power and historic symbol of leadership in our country. Until a couple days ago, I had only seen the White House in pictures and movies. In fact, I saw it on a CNN special featuring GW the other week.

It looked so dignified, so gaudy, so grandiose.

When my boss and I headed out on our first run in Washington D.C. to visit the numerous monuments along the Washington Mall- my heart was beating out of control- and not from the running pace.

It's amazing how much of my knowledge about important events and places are tied to the wonderful world of fiction. Running along the Mall, I recognized the park and the Washington Monument from the film Forrest Gump.

"Hey, this is where they had the war protest in Forrest Gump...."
"This is the National Monument, Christy"
"Oh....right"



The monument is HUGE! It definately looks tall from far away- but when you get close enough to touch it, the immensity of the structure overshadows anything else. My boss directed me towards a structure to the left of the monument.

"Do you see that over there"
"that little thing?"
"Yes, do you know what that is?"
"uh.......another memorial?" *blush*
"that's the WHITE HOUSE"
"Yeah right, that's not the White House....it's too small..."



sure enough, it was the White House. I wasn't too dissapointed when I remembered again the function of the building and its imortance in political history, but definately a shocker.

We then continue our run through the Mall until we come upon another familair looking structure.



"Do you know what this is coming up?"
"Oh wow, that's that statue in the recent version of 'Planet of the Apes' "
"Otherwise known as the Lincoln Memorial...."
"yeah, cool!"



This was my favorite memorial, and maybe my favorite site in Washington D.C. The Lincoln Memorial is so moving, so dramatic, so elegant, yet so simple.

Stopped for the very first time

I was driving from Belfair back to Bainbridge Island at about midnight last night... I was, of course, driving the Jesus Mobile -- my mom's old red, Ford Aerostar van with Jesus decals and religious bumperstickers. The joke is that the Jesus Mobile is blessed- I have not had a single accidents, break down, or run off the road in that clunky thing. . . the big Guy must be watching out for me.

I am a horrific speeder. I'm used to being late for work (ahem) so I am used to always driving in the passing lane. When I can get away with it, I self justify driving up to ten miles above the limit. Yeah, I know... I'm one of "them". But I never get pulled over, even when in clear sight of cops. I can think of a couple reasons that this might be: 1) Jesus Mobile really is blessed, 2) cops don't see old Ford Aerostar vans as a threatening vehicle, or 3) Cops might decide that anyone driving a van like that is already suffering enough....

Well the Jesus powers wore out last night. A cop pulled me over for going "51" in a "40" zone. I decided to do what my boyfriend always does (when he gets pulled over anyway)-- play dumb. It kinda worked. I fumbled around for my registration info and made the cop walk me through everything- hey, he's gonna pull me over, he's gonna work for his ticket!

When I gave him my insurance card instead of my registration license he said, "Have you been pulled over for speeding before?".

I answered that I had not and his reply-- in a sleazy voice-- was (gasp!) "So....that makes me your first."

I was shocked and I felt a little violated... all a small price to pay for getting out of a $120 speeding ticket.

Nerds of a feather

My boyfriend and I got up early on a Saturday morning to go on an historic walking tour of Tacoma-- yes, on purpose.

A college professor at the University of Washington Tacoma Campus was hosting the tour. My boyfriend had taken this course back when he was a student and enjoyed it enough to suggest that we go- my first thought: hot nerdy date!

It's amazing when you think about the deliberation and planning that goes into establishing an urban center. It's fun to uncover the reasons behind each decision and the story behind each building. Ok, so we spent two hours walking around listening to an old guy talk about old buildings. But it was fun! It's the little details of history that make it so fascinating.

What is also fascinating is being able to clearly see where history meets modernity. In Tacoma, cpmtemporary everyday life has grown around these historical giants. For example, the University bought many of these old buildings and turned it into a campus.

We studied the specimens in their natural environment: marvelled at each building's historical significance, examined the intricate and not-so intricate details, observed how they mixed with their environment, we even got to touch them. It was cute when my boyfriend periodically pulled me aside to mention extra details that the professor left out.



This building wasn't part of the tour, but I like the way it reflects its environment.


Cool, there's a face in this one!

Quotez

"Free your booty (let it shake), and your mind will follow"

"Anyone can make it if they know how to shake it"

glory dayz

I have been sentimentally reading journal entries from college... This is from May 11, 2005:

"I just finished my last paper of the semester. Endnotes are so sexy- putting endnotes on a paper is like dressing it up in black, silky lace.

I started out my day of social interaction by arguing with Mauricio the bookstore guy and giving him shit for offering me $1.50 for a book I paid $39 for. When he offered me five dollars for my other book, I held up the line behind me for two long minutes deciding whether or not I could part with it. I ended up snatching it to my chest loudly exclaiming, 'I heart this book, I can't give it up' and running away.

Then I went down to Addison to my film production internship. I tried to dodge the annoying bell-boy but he turned and saw me before I could escape. What a lame-ass job. Who would want to stand in a lobby all day and open doors for old people, and cripples? And who, as a bell-boy, would have the audacity to continuously ask out a college girl who turns him down three times a week? 'I'm just a bell-boy, but I have so much to offer. . .' LOL- I would die of laughter if he said that. "

Recent Trip to White Hen: "Aren't you cheating on Budget?"- Ash

"But I deserve to have a talking lizard t-shirt!"- Me
"Your graduating from COLLEGE"- Sheilaa

"They should make a 'kitty-wheel'"- Me
"Cheep, SHUT-UP!"- Sheilaa

To kill or not to kill

I discovered today that I share a bathroom with this little fella...

This puts me in quite a dilemma... he's nasty! He has long crawly legs and goes places he shouldn't- such as my bathtowl. My normal rule is that anything with eight legs that invades my intimate environment must be killed or remediated by some other means.

Yet, I find myself in a very unfortunate Catch-22. He is disgusting to live with, but even more distusting to kill. The thought that he is near makes me get wiggly and anxious. But to kill him would mean creepy, crawly bug guts in my bathroom and near my fingers. To remove him kindly from my bathroom would mean nearness to and some form of contact with mr. creepy.

Looks like I wont be able to close my eyes in the shower for a while....

Six Months at the Six Seven

Friday marked an important milestone - my boyfriend and I celebrated the fact that we have put up with each other throughout our six months of dating. That's the longest that I have ever offically dated a normal human.

After hearing me rant and rave about a particular restaraunt for months, after enduring the countless times that I spouted about the indoor river with real fish, the amazing views, and how cool it would be for us to go there-- my awesome boyfriend took me there Friday evening.

We enjoyed a nice 13-block walk along the Seattle waterfront (what a gorgeous viaduct!) to get our appetites going. When we arrived, I was a little surprised. The restaraunt wasn't at all as I remembered it. Now, the last time I was there WAS four years ago- and that event involved an elvis impersonating limo driver- who also married people in Las Vegas for a living. But, nothing was what I had been excited to see for all these months- no indoor river with bridge!

The interior was made up of cool fake trees with prosthetic limbs (tree limbs of course) and contrasted with crystal chandeliers- it was kinda like fine dining in a forest. I ordered wine right away with the expertise of our server- who hand held me through the process. I ordered a cesar salad ( I know! An everyday salad at a famous seafood restaurant) my boyfriend ordered the mahi mahi- being very excited about the fact that it came with steak fries.

My ten dollar salad ended up being six, completely intact, lettuce leaves with cheese sprinkled on top. My boyfriend's $28 mahi mahi was the size of a slice of bread- the steak fries were practically invisible. At least we enjoyed each other's company- I think I horrified him as I constantly strayed from formal dining etiquette- dipping pieces of bread in my white wine (it was good!), squealing about the sqaure-shaped plate, and drinking 3/4 of my wine in the first four minutes.

Speaking of social etiquette- we waited in the ferry terminal for our boat back to Bremerton, we saw a woman make her way towards the men's bathroom. My boyfriend and I watched silently with much amusement as she entered, discovered her mistake and embarrassingly walked away. The guy behind us began roaring histerically. We both acknowledged the fact that we didn't stop her before hand even thought we could have- I think we both wanted to watch the scene play out for itself.

All in all, the night was awesome and expensive. My boyfriend wouldn't let me pay for anything. When it came to round two of drinks, I offered to cover it, before I realized that I left my debit card in my car- which meant he also had to buy my ferry ticket back..... I DID have enough cash on me to buy lifesavers on the ferry. So my contribution to the $100+ night was .75 cents- what a great boyfriend. If only I could pay for everything in life with lapdances...

My mind was racing (well, running at least)

Left: Me excited about my favorite hilly course in Parkside, WI.
Right: My big booty making its deput onto the track for the 2004 outdoor-season Championships

I had the best run the other day.

It was one of those runs where you aren't counting down each mile, you aren't trying to distract your mind from the pain/discomfort, and you aren't even worried about the puddles of sweat that are starting to collect on the floor around you.

I felt in control and strong the entire time. I ended my run shocked that I had already gone seven miles and feeling like I could do more if I wanted.

The beginning of my workout, George W. Bush appeared in a CNN exclusive interview. That captivated my attention for the first ten minutes or so. Regardless of what you think about his politics, he is a wonderful man. He is sincere, candid, and warm when he is being informally interviewed. You get a sense of his deep compassion and love towards people. He speaks very eloquently and elegently when conversing one on one. You cannot forget his deep sense of conviction and his desire to protect and strengthen America.

Even if you hate every one of his policies-- you would be blinded by your own judgement if you did not at least acknowlegde the warm and loving side of Bush and his desire to do what is best to keep America strong. Personally, I do not agree with all that he does, but I do believe he is a great human.

After the GWB interview, my thoughts wandered into their usual mental cavities. It's amazing how free your mind is when your body is caught in a constant rhythmic routine. It's amazing how much thinking you can get done in a sixty minute workout.