Saturday morning cartoons.

There is nothing quite as nice as a homemade breakfast. My once traditional Saturday morning hangover cure breakfast of freshly made red chile, sausage, eggs, beans, tortilla and hashbrowns has downsized. This morning it's sliced potatoes, eggs fresh from the chicken coop and some french-press coffee. But it's just right. And, wow, fresh eggs are really amazing. I want a chicken or two. My traditional breakfast time of 1pm, however, has remained intact. Now if I had only gotten paid on Friday I could start my garden today too. That would be the perfect day. But I'll have to wait till Monday for that.

It begins.....the Garden!

Take a look at my To Be Garden!

I am very fortunate this year to finally not be in an apartment building. I am living in a duplex, with very lax landlords, who think we are the greatest thing since sliced bread since we actually pay our rent and don't try to burn the place down. So, we have permission to plant a garden. I have been wanting to plant a garden for such a long time. The last time I had the opportunity was in 2002. My ex and I took over a couple sections of his parents' yard and planted a vegetable garden, and it was quite successful, or so I hear. Due to many other factors, including living in a different city an hour away and then my ex moving to a city six hours away, I didn't get to reap the benefits of this garden. I saw pictures, and only heard stories of the sweet tomatoes, giant sunflowers and plump tomatillos.

I don't have a lot of space to grow things here, but there are two small beds, and I plan to make the most of them. And, also, it's still a rental, so I don't want to put in a whole lot of work into building raised beds, etc., which would be best. (Above is the middle bed, and to the left is the side bed.)







Right now, without any effort on my part we have a beautiful collection of daffodils growing under the living room window. I am not going to disturb these, and will only plant in the other 2 empty beds. Hopefully, as the spring and summer progress so will the pictures. Wish me luck!

Confessions.

So, my confession. I'm at home alone and I'm watching American Idol. sigh....and it's Beatles night. Now, a large portion of me watching this is due to the fact that we don't have a remote control. The other part of it is guilty pleasure and some sort of masochistic tendency. It's awful. The one's who actually know who the Beatles are just aren't doing them justice, because, well, they're on American Idol and singing the Beatles. The rest keep making comments about how they had never heard the song they are singing until this week, or when I sang this song in middle school it really touched me (despite it being the most covered song of all time and certainly not the most touching Beatles song by a long shot). So, am I old? Or just too cool for American Idol? The Brief History of the Beatles as narrated by Ryan Seacrest and cut down to 1:30 almost made me puke (or more accurately actually get off the couch and put on a DVD). I think I'm just too old for American Idol.

The End of the Vacation

Well, I'm finally back in Portland. My conclusion is: LA Sucks. Now, don't get me wrong, looking back it was a really fun trip and I enjoyed it. But it was trying. Other things that happened include:

some of the best Mexican food I have ever had in LA, followed by some of the worst I have had ever, microwave popcorn, getting yelled at and honked at while driving, walking on the beach, walking down the pier, getting blocked while parked on the street and then having to take a cab to the Valley instead, pot brownies in a Hollywood bar, my boyfriend and friend on some soulmate level joke fest laughing their heads off while I quietly freaked out in the corner, one freezing cold night that I was totally unprepared for, and stumbling upon an anti-war protest blocking Sunset Blvd.

And there are pictures, but they got left in the back seat of a car....so hopefully those will come in the mail soon.

The most wreached hive of scum and villiany...

It began on Thursday morning. I awoke to a full on illness. I had chills, felt tired, unable to concentrate and all I wanted to do was sleep more and more. But, with Friday as a day off I had to go into work. We even had a client in, whom I ended up having to sit with go over utilitarian footage of golf courses and somehow try to tell him how it all looked good while all I wanted to do was eat some soup and fall asleep.

I managed to leave work a little early to go home and finish packing before leaving for the airport to go to LA. We got everything together and our friend came over to got a key so she could watch the cats while we were away. She dropped us off at the Max station on her way out so we could get to the airport. This is where things start to get really bad. For the sake of trying to slightly less long-winded I will make a list of what happens next. For your viewing ease things that happened in RED are bad, things that happened in BLUE were good.

1. The Max was running late and we had to stand on the platform for 20 minutes until the airport train finally came along. Already time is running short.

2. While checking in we find out the seats we reserved next to each other were erased and we are on opposite ends of the plane from each other, both middle seats.

3. We get through security with enough time to grab some dinner before getting on the plane.

4. We got on the plane and sit there for quite a while before an announcement that they are running some maintenance tests and it will be another 15 minutes on the ground.

5. After 15 minutes they tell us there is another test they have to run, as the last one failed. it will be another 19 minutes.

6. After 19 minutes they tell us there is a broken valve on the landing gear and they are going to see if there is a part around they can replace it with and it will be an indefinite wait.

7. After another 20 minutes or so they tell us to get off the plane because it's too hot and we are going to be waiting for a long time.

8. Waiting the the terminal they tell us they are trying to get us on another plane, but there are no guarantees. After listening to several other passengers cuss out the ticket agents, and the passing of about an hour they tell us we are going to be able to take another plane, and it will just be a few more minutes.

9. After several more minutes still nothing has happened. Several more minutes, and they tell us it will be a few more minutes to board the new plane. Then - oh wait - change of planes, in all this waiting they were able to repair the original plane, so we all are going to get back on that plane.

10. In all that waiting we changed our seats to be next to each other. When we finally go to re-board the plane we discover the new seats are also invalid, so we have to go switch then again. We are the next to last people to board the plane. Then there are already people sitting in our new, new seats and we end up somewhere else all together.

11. They give us free booze on the plane.

12. We finally get into LA about 12:30am, when our original landing time was 10:20pm. By the time we get out bags it's a few minutes after 1am. Now, to wait on the curb for our car rental shuttle.

13. Forward 20 minutes, the bus finally comes. We get to the rental agency and walk in the doors. We are almost done! We turn the corner to see a line wrapping around with a wall full of women with small children waiting in line, and one lone agent.

14. Fast Forward another whole hour. We finally get our car at about 3am. It's a nice car, and brand new. Only had 2 miles on it.

15. We get to our studio guesthouse we rented for the weekend and it's nice!

16. We have a nice day wandering around our old haunts in the Valley and then go to Santa Monica, wander, go on the ferris wheel (and I get scared), then leave to get dinner before going to a play in the evening.

17. Oh--I FORGOT! My ears would not pop on the plane. On the way back down my right ear was throbbing and jut wouldn't pop. Right now, almost 24 hours later my right ear still has not popped and I can't hear conversations when David walks on my right side.

18. We tried to go to dinner and got caught in LA traffic at 5pm on a Friday, which I guess can't be considered a negative, but only an inevitability. But, we didn't have time to get a real dinner and ended up going to In-n-Out Burger, which is good. But we got into a fight trying to find it. But it was really good.

19. Fast forward circling Westwood for about 30-45 minutes taking wrong turns and almost getting into wrecks trying to find a parking garage at UCLA. We finally find it. Curtain call is in 15 mintues and I still have to change and actually eat my burger!

20. Everything gets done in time. The play is awesome and intense and I am still trying to digest it all. I need to see it again and read the script alone to really get a grasp on it. It was intense and crazy and awesome. Did I mention intense? But awesome? It was.

21. Afterward I can't track down any available friends so we head back to the guesthouse. we stop off and get a bottle of wine and some snacks. When back at the guesthouse we go to open the wine and we can't get the cork out. we try everything and it just won't open. Knives, prying, poking, it doesn't budge. I finally break down. It's the little act of lack of alcohol that has pushed me over the edge.

22. David goes back out and gets Crown Royal and some Coke. i'm feeling better.

Well, now you are up to date on my LA trip so far. All I can figure is that the universe is trying to tell me to be patient and not live in LA. I get it. I will be and I won't. I don't know why it keeps pushing this lesson down my throat, but I would really like to have a nice remainder of my trip. So, if you are listening Universe - I get it! Thank you! now back off. Sincerely, Liz.

So it's come to this...a Gaden clipshow.

I don't know how long this will last, but hopefully longer than the couple weeks that most online addictions last in my mentality. Random anecdotes, observances, quandaries and factoids await! Huzah!

It is a Thursday in, now mid-March. The rain is pouring outside for the first time in several weeks. Since mid-February it's been oddly dry in Portland and even sunny for a good chunk of the time. It was starting to feel like a never-ending winter. When the sun first came back I almost didn't recognize it. If science weren't so ingrained in my psyche the sun may have stayed behind the clouds for the rest of my life and I never would have known the difference.

Last month I went down to LA with my co-workers. It was a mad mission, but we pulled it off as well as anyone could have projected. Long nights, hungover days, and watching the sunset from 31 floors above the freeways and high rises of downtown, to suddenly seeing the sunrise in what seemed like the blink of an eye, with a night of work behind me. One of my co-workers was very ill. After we returned to Portland the rest of the office came down with the same illness that lasted until this last week. That is everyone, save me. I don't know how I avoided it, but as everyone around me coughed and hacked and sneezed and left early, I was chipper and brimming with energy. Until today. This morning there was a tickle in my throat. I thought it was only thirst until it lasted the whole day. Then I forced a Yoga class upon myself, which I released a bunch of toxins around the 15th downward dog and I felt feverish and nauseous. To my own defense, I did make it through the whole class. But, I a bit bummed at Murphy's Law.

Hopefully after a yoga release, a couple bowls of soup and good night's sleep this will pass and I can enjoy my real Southern California excursion. Now - off to packing and off to bed!