Fa-La-La-La-Laaa, La-La-La-La

"Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas,

Let your heart be light.

From now on our troubles will be out of sight."

I love Christmas music. I know much of it is completely unrealistic (I mean really, "our troubles will be out of sight"?), but I love it anyway. It makes me happy and full of hope.

Last night was the last concert performed by the community choir that I sing with--Touch of Class. It was a great concert, as were the first 5. I played a solo on my Clarinet during our rendition of "Away in the Manager" and managed for only the second time out of 5 concerts to play it perfectly.

Yay me!!!

I'm feeling pretty good about that considering when I picked my clarinet up in September my embouchure was nonexistant and I had to remind myself what all the fingerings were.

Our concert finished with a moving arrangement of "Mary Did You Know?" So moving, in fact, that I had to work hard at not tearing up--which would have made it impossible to hit the notes I was supposed to be belting out.

I realized too late in the concert schedule that I didn't have anyone take any pics, so I'll just have to settle for a group pic from last Spring.

For Christmas, imagine the same group of people only the women are all in black with "lovely" red scarves/sashes around our necks and the men are in tuxes. I love singing with this group of people!

Week Three . . .

. . . . of the new gym routine is complete.

And I made it. Whew!

How long does it take to make a habit? Never mind, I don't want to know.

I'm just going to think about getting up and going Monday.

One day at a time sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking of you
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do.

Day Two . . .

of my new routine of going to the gym every Mon, Wed, and Fri.

So far so good.

We'll see if I get to day three.

If I could just bottle how I'm feeling right now: this adrenaline high, loose muscles, body just seems to work better, full of energy feeling and drink a little of it in the morning when I'm getting ready to go to the gym--you know, just enough to remind me that I'm gonna feel great in a couple of hours?

It would make the trek to 24 much easier.

Deluge

del-uge: [del-yooj, -yoozh, del-ooj, -oozh, di-looj, -loozh] noun, verb, -uged, -uging.

–noun
1. a great flood of water; inundation; flood.
2. a drenching rain; downpour.
3. anything that overwhelms like a flood: a deluge of mail.
4. the Deluge. flood (def. 3).

–verb (used with object)
5. to flood; inundate.
6. to overrun; overwhelm: She was deluged with congratulatory letters.

Synonyms:1. See flood. 3. cataclysm, catastrophe.

I sat through 3 quarters of a high school football game last night . . . in the middle of a deluge. To say the least, I was cold and wet.

And, the team I was rooting for didn't win.

On the positive side, rain is beautiful falling through the lights of a football stadium and this kid on the other team was amazing. Check out this footage of him scoring a touchdown:

Play of the day: Grant's Kenneth Acker's amazing punt return touchdown

New Moon

Dear New Moon naysayers:

I'm 36 and love the Twilight saga.

Get over it.

Love, Angela.

An Open Apology to the men of the Northwest

I've been known to say that there is a distinct lack of chivalry in the NW.

Having grown up here, I can say from experience that outside of my Dad and a handful of other men, it's not often that a man opens the door for me or passes to the outside of the sidewalk, or any of those other benchmarks for chivalry (if there are benchmarks of chivalry).

Truthfully, I don't think I realized the lack until I moved to SE Kansas. When I transplanted myself to heartland I was taken aback and at first a little bit uncomfortable by the number of times a door was opened for me or held open for me, and the lengths to which men would sometimes go to be chivalrous. I had more flat tires in Kansas than I'd had before or since and they were all changed by different guy friends who insisted, even though I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself. And I found it nice.

After 6 years in Kansas, when I moved back to the NW I was again taken back, but this time by the LACK of courtesy displayed by men and often people in general. Hence, the bad mouthing of men and chivalry in the NW.

That was a long explanation to say that over the last few days I've noticed several men who have opened doors for me or other women and sometimes even gone out of their way to do so. So, men of the NW I apologize--there are a few who have redeemed you all. It appears NW chivalry is not dead; maybe it was just lying dormant for awhile. To those of you who are still practicing it you've encouraged me this week.

Lest everyone think . . .

I'm ready to crawl in a hole and never come out, my life is not all doom and gloom as my previous melancholy post may lead you to believe.


Here are some of the sweet things in my life:

• sitting and visiting with my parents in the shade of their lovely backyard when I got home last weekend
• enjoying the ease of deepening friendships with the Gathering peeps (and watching Baby David grow)
• making muffins
• eating strawberries . . . i love this time of year when strawberries are cheap and prolific and fabulously ripe and sweet
• having a very grown up conversation with my 12 year old neice about how she's going to spend her summer swimming and visiting with her friends
• having my 10 year old nephew put a whoopee cushion on my chair and laugh uproariously when I sat on it
• holding my new 2nd Cousin Justin last Sunday
• sitting and visiting with my grandparents on a summer evening
• hanging out with my sisters discussing the ins and outs of American Idol, going shopping, going to watch a ridiculous movie, and speculating how "That's Not My Name" by the Tings Tings came to be popular
• Swimming in the evening in the outdoor pool at my apartment complex

Nothin' but ache.

News Flash!!!

I don't like things I can't control:

--when people leave me out of conversations of which I think I have a right to be a part.
--when I get speeding tickets (and didn't know I was speeding).
--when my car gets broken into and people steal my money and my favorite lipstick.
--when people I care about decide they don't want to be a part of my life anymore.
--when my car breaks down and I'm stuck in the valley for an extra day.
--when my health goes haywire, especially after a year of trying REALLY hard to be healthier.

News Flash!!!

My heart is black:

--I want to demand to be part of the conversation of which I've been left out and force others to listen to me.
--I want to throw my speeding ticket back in the face of the Milwaukee's Police Department and throw a royal fit . . . you know, the whole crying, fist banging, yelling kind.
--I want to hurt the people who broke into my car--maybe with a hot fire poker stick, or a branding iron.
--I want to force the people I care about to care about me . . . or when that doesn't work I want to hurt them as much as they're hurting me, or maybe tie them up and hold them hostage.
--I want to kick my car as hard as I can when it breaks down and then throw yet again the before mentioned royal fit.
--I want to give up on taking care of my haywire health body and forget that it's the only one I've got . . . I want to be lazy and gluttonous.

*Sighhhhhhhh*

News Flash!!!

I need God's grace:

--He listens to me when no one else will.
--He keeps me safe from harm while I'm driving, even if I'm speeding.
--He provides the stuff to be stolen in the first place.
--He gives me people that love me and care about me.
--He gives me a car to drive that's pretty reliable overall.
--He gives me breathe in my body.

And I don't deserve any of it.

And I'm so ungrateful.

And even though I know these words are TRUTH my heart doesn't want to believe them. It wants to elbow it's way to the front of line and demand to be served its own way!

You are relegated to the back of the line heart . . . you bring me nothing but ache.

Silence . . .

Sorry for the silence . . . some things going on in the life of Angela I'm just not ready to tell the world about yet . . . good things . . . but I'm keepin' 'em to myself for now.

The Holly & The Ivy & The Beach

I know there is more to tell about the Louisiana trip, but I'm still processing that. So for now . . .

Today was a crazy long day.


First, I left my house at 8:30 am to head to West Linn to help eraticate holly from a City Park. (Seriously, I'm not normally this philanthropic!)





Here we are! My friends and I after we'd been pulling holly out of the ground for an hour and a half.

And here's the pile of Holly we chopped, pulled, and tore from the ground . . . well . . . really, us and about 55 other volunteers :)

Then, as you may know, I love to be spontaneous and so does my friend Alyssa. So, on our way across town to drop her at her apartment we decided to go to Target . . . in Sherwood. As we were leaving Target we realized it had become a sunny beautiful day . . . one that should not be wasted inside. That was all it took to convince us to turn around and head to the Coast.

Here's Alyssa and I at the Coast. It was crazy windy and cold and we were crazy grubby and dirty from frollicking in the forest all morning.

It was beautiful. But seriously, we were only near the water for about 15 minutes. The wind was so cold my fingers hurt everytime I took them out of my pockets for more than a few minutes.

We also discovered this rock, which looks suspiciously like Haystack rock but isn't. It's located near Pacific City, OR. Does anyone know the name of it? It you do, pass it on. Alyssa and I would like to know.

Lessons Learned on this fabulous adventure?

1. Holly is a prickly, viny, infiltrating, non-native plant to the woods of Oregon . . . and with enough girl power you can pull big ol' stumps of it out of the ground!

2. When you decide to head to the beach, you should look at a map. You're probably a lot further south then you thought you were.

3. There is a crazy big a** airplane hanger just south of Tillamook, OR. What is that about?

4. The Pirate's Cove restaurant in Garibaldi, OR has some fabulous clam chowder, fantastic seafood fettucine, and even better service. And the view is spectacular.

5. When you leave for the Coast at 4 pm, you DO NOT have enough time to make it all the way up the coast to Cannon Beach AND get back to Portland at a decent hour.

6. Spontaneity is good for the soul.

Gulf of Mexico Shrimp

Are tasty treats. I ate shrimp every chance I had while in Louisiana this past week. It was good. Check out this slide show of our Shrimp Boil!

The Search for Buck

Preface:

"Buck" is my friend Rea's ideal man. You'd have to ask her for all the details, but he's out there somewhere and she's looking for him :)

Last Saturday my friend Rea and I embarked on an adventure. We were at a retreat center out in the wilderness and decided to go on a hike to the Sandy River. It started out like any other ordinary hike.

Mossy trees along the path.

Great views.

Good company.

But then we started to wonder. Where is this river that's supposedly at the end of the path? We couldn't see it or hear it.




It was definitely a jaunt down to the River. Too bad this map doesn't show the elevation changes :)

Finally, after 45 minutes, the river. It was beautiful.

Here's the proof that I was really there :)

And it came complete with wildlife, such as this cute little bird taking a bath.

But, sadly, it didn't come with "Buck." So, we left the river and Rea was empty hearted.

As we left the rush of the river, the woods seemed eerily silent. While we were hiking through the quiet woods, we were startled to hear something rustling around on our right. As it turns out, it wasn't someone trying to murder us, as we first thought. Just this woodpecker trying to get some lunch.

Really, there's a woodpecker in that circle. Trust me.

At least that's what we told ourselves. But maybe it WAS sasquatch.

If you find yourself out and about in the wilderness anytime soon, keep your eye open for Buck. And if you happen upon him, let him know Rea's looking for him.

A Room with a View

A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E.M. Forster, about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century.

And, if you're looking for a review of this book or the 1985 movie . . . you've come to the wrong place.

The room and view I'm talking about is my bedroom and the beautiful view outside my window. We've had some crazy weather in the last couple of months and I've managed to capture it along with some of my favorite views of downtown Portland in the distance.

Right before Christmas we had some serious snow. It looked so beautiful and still in the dark.

The sun came out for a brief moment. The snow and ice were breathtaking.

Early one morning I woke up before the Sun and after experimenting with many settings on my camera, found the right one. This is my favorite view--the lights reflecting on the Columbia River and Downtown Portland bright in the distance. The picture doesn't really do it justice. I could stand at my window and look at this view for hours.

Highway Run Into the Midnight Sun . . .

I almost always have a song in my head.

What this means, for those of you who don't experience said phenomenon, is that somewhere in the background of my mind a song is ALWAYS playing. And if I'm not careful and my mind is not otherwise occupied, I'll start singing it.

For example, if the radio is on in the car, I'll sing along to whatever song is on. If the radio isn't on, I'll sing along to the song in my head. Or, if there's no music on in the office, I'll catch myself (or worse, my coworkers will catch me) singing whatever song is in my head. Of course, if there is music on, I have to consciously stop myself from singing out loud to that music too.

On Saturday, a friend and I were discussing "Faithfully" by Journey. It's a great song. Journey is good stuff, if you like '80's hairbands with sappy lyrics, fantastic power ballads, and killer guitar solos. Somehow, during the course of the conversation the song got stuck in my head.

And it's been there ever since. I've tried listening to it over and over again. Sometimes that helps to get it out, but to no avail. It's still there.

The thing is, having Faithfully stuck in my head is actually a welcome relief.

It replaced a month long run of the theme song to Sesame Street.

Earworm

Thanks, Kaira for the insight about getting songs stuck in my head. It's called Earworm--and it's a legitimate phenomenon. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse now that I know it has a real name. The name itself causes me a slight bit of discomfort because it brings to mind this Star Trek movie where Khan puts these worms . . . *shiver* . . . well, you know the one.

Ode to Bubble Tea

I'm aware that I've sung the praises of Bubble Tea here before. I just can't stop myself from doing it again.

It's been months and months since I've had any and tonight while visiting Tea Chai Té, a tea bar on 23rd in Portland, OR, I unexpectedly found myself enjoying a delicious black milk tea with traditional tapioca pearls (or bubbles).

Here's a pic from their website. Evidently, I'm not the only one who likes it :)

4 Things for Jackie

I started this on 10/19/08 at 5:19 pm . . . and remembered that I hadn't ever finished. So, here it is . . . better late than never!

4 things I was doing 10 years ago:

Sleeping only 2 hours a night trying to finish my final semester of graduate course work (ironically enough for a degree I never finished)

Eating lunch with Mary Beth at the Mall Deli.

Living in the Quincy House . . . oh how I loved that house--but NOT the camel crickets that eventually took over the basement *shiver*

Ministering alongside a fantastic team of men and women on the CrossQuest Staff.


4 things on my to-do list for today:

Load and unload the Dishwasher

Update my blog

Send Jess her Pepperoni

40 minutes on the ellyptical machine and maybe some weights.

4 jobs that I have had:

Farm Hand/Tree Planter

Phone answerer/order taker at Pizza Pipeline in Pullman, WA

Tailor in residence at The Buckle in Pittsburg, KS

Adjunct English Professor


4 movies I have watched more than once:


Clue

Top Gun

Princess Bride

So I Married An Axe Murderer



4 favorite albums:


Tapestry--Carole King

Slippery When Wet--Bon Jovi

Along the Road--Margaret Becker, Christine Dente, Susan Ashton

Twilight Soundtrack



4 places I have lived:

Zillah, Washington

Pullman, Washington

PIttsburg, Kansas

Vancouver, Washington



4 places I've been:

Maui, Hawaii--the Summer of 1993 . . . no rock fever here :)

Binalonan, Philippines--spent the summer pf 1995 sleeping in a choir loft under a mosquito net and was never late for church!

Shenyang, China--the summer of 1996 were I was consistently awakened in the wee hours of the morning by the North Koreans playing soccer in the hallway outside my door in the Foreign Student Dorm

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico--July of 2003? an hour south of Cancun, it's all the great things about the Yucatan Pennisula and not all the tourist hype . . . oh, there's enough hype, just not ALL of it



4 places I want to visit:

Nepal and the sooner the better!

New York, New York

Norway

Kansas, even though I was just there.



4 TV shows I watch via DVD:

Good Eats

Good Eats

Sorry, there aren't any more. That's really it.

Okay, okay, I might catch part of an episode of Smallville or Supernatural or Gilmore Girls on DVD, but that's only because my roommates watching them . . . and I'm walking through the living room.



4 of my favorite meals:

Taco Salad made from my mother's recipe . . . not how she's changed it up in recent years, but the old school way she made it when we were kids.

Zucchini and Corn

Homemade pizza with spinach, feta cheese and sundried tomatos

Steak--a thick, good cut of meat, rubbed down with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and maybe a little rosemary--grilled about 5 or 6 minutes on each side so that it moos at me a little



4 things you may not know about me:

Once, while playing a game in college, I convinced a whole room of people that my family's motor home fell into a crevice in the earth caused by a tornado/earthquake while we were on vacation in North Dakota (loosely based on a true story).

My whole life, until recently, I've had a secret desire to be a truck driver.

In high school I wrote a screenplay parody of Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventure (The name of which I'll withhold to protect the star cast members) where two girls went back in time via a refrigerator sized present to gather personalities for their church youth group's Christmas Presentation. And we filmed it. And showed it to the whole church. It was pretty ridiculous.

I took a rifle shooting class for a PE credit in college and got an "A" . . . so . . . don't get on my bad side :)



And I'll copy Jackie who copied Meredith and ask you, you and you to answer the questions too (but only if you want to).