A Very Marcilicious Blog

That's how I roll

2012-01-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

Now that my average bowling score is firmly in the three-digit range (101, baby!), I decided to move up in the world of bowling balls. While I heart my leopard-spotted plastic ball, it's just too light and it pretty much just bounces off the pins, especially if the pins give my ball the evil eye. The result: those dumb pins just keep standing there. My aim has really improved (I think), and I even scored a 156 a couple of weeks ago - my new high score! So, to teach those pins a lesson, I'm bringing in the big guns with a fancy new bowling ball. All hail the Pearl Panther! This orb is a swirl of pink and black pearlized ferociousness, and features a silver-glittered panther and a buzz saw blade on its surface (I don't know why the buzz saw blade is there, because the manufacturer is Lane 1, but the buzz saw blade looks extra badass so I'm fine with it). It's a reactive ball, weighted to hook nicely and hit the pocket just right, giving the pins no chance but to bow down to the ball's master. And that would be me.

I will let you know what happens. I'm going to practice with my new ball on Saturday and we'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, since Tyleen posted about the books she's reading, I thought I'd pass along my recent reading spree - the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. WOW!!! I read all three (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay) in quick time. They are about a post-apocalyptic society (in what was formerly North America) and the social rules that society imposes to keep order and maintain power. Very violent but captivating. I can't wait to see the movie, which comes out in March. So, now I'm going to read Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. A true story - Hedy Lamarr was a burlesque dancer in the 1920's who invented much of the digital wireless foundation for technology we have today, such as cell phones. Pasties and weapons deals and crazy inventions...this should be a good one.

And the 2011 Cat of the Year is...

2012-01-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope you've all been working hard to figure out the best way to survive a zombie apocalypse. I'll give you a few minutes' break from your weaponry training for this bit of news: we've crowned the 2011 Cat of the Year! Can you guess who is is? Here's a hint:

Yes, Samantha won Cat of the Year for her many fine feline qualities. For example, she excels at purring. Plus, she's not afraid to get right up on you to let you know that you should squidgle her so that she can pur. Additionally, she loves to lick faces! She really is the most cat-like out of all of our cats, which can otherwise be considered as: 1) a butt-sniffing wide-load oaf (Oliver); 2) invisible (Momo); 3) a cranky old man (Jesse) and 4) a demonic mayhem-inflicting bruiser (Abbey).

Congratulations, Samantha! I hope you enjoy your reign as Cat of the Year! (And maybe shove it in the others' faces a little bit more so they have something to strive for. They really should be showing better behavior if they want to ever win Cat of the Year.)

Now. Have you figured out the best way to de-brain a corpse that you're not sure is infected by the zombie infection? No? Well, you'd better get back to your training then. Toodles!

Happy Unofficial Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Awareness Week!!!

2012-01-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

And happy new year, as well! I've taken a good hard look at this blog and have decided that it has morphed into something not very Marcilicious in recent months. I mean, who wants to just read about all the things I've done, places I've gone, and people I've seen? Right. So, I'm assuming that, like me, you're much more interested in other things...like zombie apocalypse readiness. Or, like me, maybe you're just missing fresh episodes of "The Walking Dead" (damn, you mid-season slump!). To lessen the withdrawal symptoms, I've been watching the "Resident Evil" movies, but I only watch one a week because I get DVDs one at a time from Netfarts. But at that rate, The Walking Dead will be back before I know it.

In the meantime, I've declared this week Unofficial Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Awareness Week! Never mind that it's Wednesday and the week started on Sunday - it's never to late to brush up on your zombie readiness tactics; that is, unless, you find yourself in the middle of a Level 2 zombie infestation and you are not prepared. So, really, I guess its never to *soon* to brush up on your zombie readiness tactics.

So let's start. Take a look at Figure 1, below:

Figure 1

It's time to make some tough decisions. When the zombie apocalypse comes a-knockin', what will you do? Most people will ultimately serve as screaming brain-stuffed appetizers prior to the main course of screaming brain-stuffed entree. I, for one, will choose not to be in the red zone. I will not divulge my zombie resistance survival plan here, but I strongly suggest you read "The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, poste haste! You will want to be prepared, and if you can't be a badass (see Figure 2):

Figure 2

...or if you don't have the resources for genius (see Figure 3):

Figure 3

...then I suggest you start reading right away. You can also attempt to desensitize yourself by watching zombie movies as well. Some of my favorites are Shaun of the Dead (of course), Tokyo Zombie, and RoboGeisha (which is not a zombie movie, but I came across it when I found Tokyo Zombie). And, because they're worth mentioning again, Resident Evil and The Walking Dead will provide invaluable information on how to survive the zombie plague.

Good luck, my friends, let me know how things turn out for you!

Thanksgiving time already???

2011-11-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess Halloween can't last forever. But, just in case you're sad about the season ending (like I am), here are a few pictures for you from our Halloween party!

Our terrifying living room (the blog header is a closeup of the mantle).

We turned our basement into a spider den! Horrific!

Even more scary, I made my first attempt at wearing false eyelashes. It didn't go too badly! Plus, they were purple.

Here's my costume! I was going for Mad Hatter, but I'll also accept Mimi from the Drew Carey Show (not really) or drag queen.

Christopher was the local reed dealer. You know, because he makes and sells reeds for oboe.

We had some amazing costumes at our party, including plenty of Star Wars characters. Rachael was the Death Star, her being pregnant and all.

Paul's costume was clever - he went to the evite site and wrote all the party-goers names on name tags. His concept: identity thief.

Those eyeball cupcakes didn't stand a chance!

Uh oh...looks like the party is getting started...

Indeed! We even had Elvis singing karaoke in the spider den!

Hey you two - no funny business! Just kidding, carry on with the funny business.

So scary! But fun! Looking forward to another good time next year!

Get your freak on! It's Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:59:00.001-07:00

Spider fun facts!

2011-10-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

I did a little research, and within no time, I learned Shelob's true identity: she's a common European cross spider (Araneus diadematus). I don't know why she came from Europe; presumably, she heard about how most of the humans on this continent are flavored with pork grease, corn syrup, and MSG. But you can see why she's a cross spider - the white cross on her abdomen stands out clearly in the photo I took of her in my previous post.

Anyway, a couple of interesting things I learned about cross spiders. They are orb-weavers, and rebuild their large webs almost every day. Most suburban yards around here have over one hundred webs in them, which I can believe given the number of webs on our front porch alone. When creating the radial support lines for the web, the spider takes advantage of the morning winds (she often anchors them a fair distance away, so uses the wind to carry her to an anchor spot), and the orientation of the resulting web indicates the morning wind pattern.

Also, the females will perch upside down in the web (like in my pictures below) waiting for prey, and when something hits the web, she darts over, immobilizes it with venom, then wraps it up in silk. I actually saw Shelob do this with a bee a few weeks ago - she was crazy fast, and she wrapped that sucker up good and tight in no time.

But here's what I'm really not looking forward to. In late summer and fall (now!?), the females will lay egg sacs, which hatch out about a gazillion little spiderlets that hang out in clumps then disperse after a few days. While spiderlets sound cute, you can be assured that several will reach adulthood and wreak havoc upon the local hobbit population (or whatever else that will make an appropriate substitute, since I believe Shelob consumed the last of our hobbits). I am not crazy about the prospect of finding over a hundred of these clusters in my yard any time soon:

Bleck!

I'm now thinking that telecommuting may be the way to go, permanently. I can send Chris out to get groceries and cat litter, and if he doesn't make it back, well, I guess that means my arachnophobia-induced precautions will be validated. I haven't seen Shelob in a few days now, but I'm sure that's because she's off laying egg sacs or planning something equally nefarious. I'm glad that I got some photos of her before she disappeared so that the police will have something to go on when they find, in response to a neighbor's report about a "funny smell coming from the yellow house", our cold lifeless bodies sucked dry and wrapped in silk.

Shit. I just read the rest of the spider website...I guess we're coming up on Tegenaria duellica season: the season of the giant house spider, which are common in this area. And since I'm pretty sure it eats cats for between-meal snacks, I'm guessing I'm screwed.

This here is a giant house spider. Sorry, I did not get permission to use this photo, but it was the only one with a reference to scale so you can see how utterly horrifying this creature is. And our basement is likely chock-full of them.

And you thought I was kidding about Shelob...

2011-10-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

So very wrong, you were!

On the bright side, I took these pictures with my new camera so I was able to maintain a relatively safe distance. On the down side, I think I still managed to piss her off because after a couple of minutes of invading her space she scrambled up underneath the porch rail, presumably to plot my demise and eventual consumption. So I guess that means that use of the front door (necessitating crossing into Her territory) is off limits, at least until the first frost. But maybe I'll not take any chances and just wait things out until spring.

Whooooops!

2011-10-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

So, it looks like I completely forgot to write anything for this blog in September. Ooops! Sorry about that, folks! Because I know you were totally checking my blog at least once, twice, or maybe even three times per day to see if I'd written anything new...that's how much you love my blog, huh? Ah, I have such a loyal audience! All three of you are the absolute best!

So now, on to a quick recap. In the beginning of September, Chris and I started our bowling league, which will go through April. Yes, every Thursday night you can find us at Bailey's Classic Lanes, which is just down the street from our house in the basement of the Elks Lodge. It is only 8 lanes, has original wood floors, and is run by a really nice couple - Dennis and Robin. The people in the league are kinda nutty, so I guess we fit right in. I bought a fabulous pair of bowling shoes and a leopard ball, because style is apparently what I have going for me, instead of a decent average. On the other hand, I have a super-high handicap! Yay!

Yup, the shoes were the first thing I bought when it came to purchasing the necessary equipment.

That's my leopard ball in the front there, and Chris probably bowling a strike. Too bad my ball is too light - last time I bowled with one of the house balls, 2 lbs heavier! I can't say it made much of a difference in my score, but I was at least a bit more consistent.

We also made it out to Vancouver's annual Sausage Fest. With real sausages. I've had better sausage, but how could we pass up Sausage Fest? Short answer: we couldn't.

See - it really was a Sausage Fest. And you thought I was kidding.

Additionally, Chris and I spent a weekend at the coast in Lincoln City. Chris actually got me out on the golf course, where my talents were most usefully applied to driving the golf cart and keeping score. I did hit a few balls, but again, golf is perhaps something where I'll have to get by on style and not on skill. Now, if I could trade my bowling average for my golf score, *then* I might have something going!

September was a good month, but I suppose it is time to say goodbye to summer. The rain has started to become more frequent, and I'm seeing new birds at the feeder. The spiders are now huge. In fact, Shelob has relocated from Mordor to our front porch and is feeding on small birds because of the hobbit shortage. We have an understanding, though - I won't use the front door, and she won't make me scream in terror and run around the front yard like a maniac. It sounded like a good deal at the time, but I'm ready for her to move on! And speaking of moving on, it is now October. And you know what that means...yes...Halloween!!! I've already got my entire costume purchased, complete with accoutrements and accessories. What will I be? Well, you'll either have to guess or wait. But here's a hint: we're all mad here!

I'm already 2/3 done with my first bag of candy corn, but that simply means I get to buy more soon. I hope you have a splendid October, and are looking forward to the best holiday of the year. Because any day that combines costumes and candy is number one in my book!

And I even got it on camera!

2011-08-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

My little brother turned 36 on the 19th. I took him bowling and we even had an extra treat - galaxy style! The lanes were all lit up with black lights and flashing runner lights and cheesy music videos. Wowzers! Happy birthday, Paul - I'm glad I'm your sister and am happy that we got to spend a few hours together this weekend. Let's do it again sometime!

Crater...Caldera...It's all the same, right?

2011-08-15T21:37:00.001-07:00

I'm afraid not, my friends. That being the case, I propose that "Crater" Lake be renamed "Caldera Lake", which more accurately reflects its origins and current state. The lake, of course, was formed during a massive volcanic explosion, which caused Mt. Mazama to collapse and form the lake at the top. As you may recall from Geology 101, a crater is formed by an impact (think asteroid impacts that form craters on the moon)...which is not the case with "Crater" (psh!) Lake.

One of our first views of "Crater" Lake. Gorgeous, huh?

At any rate, I thought I'd share a few pictures that we took when Chris and I went on a little road trip a couple of weeks ago. We headed down south through Bend to Diamond Lake, which is just north of "Crater" Lake by about 20 minutes. We camped with some friends for a couple of nights there at the Forest Service campground. First of all, what a gorgeous place to camp! Second of all, we need a bigger tent. My backpacking tent is just not much fun for car-camping, especially when the people you're camping with have trailers and palatial tents with separate rooms for their dogs, for Pete's sake!

We found this sign at the Crooked River overlook. Dogs are so dumb.

Our campsite at Diamond Lake. Mosquitoes are dumb, too.

These are dragonfly nymph exuvium that I found on the shore of Diamond Lake. Dragonflies are definitely kewl. I am obviously a nerd.

Our second day in we spent the day at "Crater" Lake. While it is misnamed, it *is* beautiful. Wowzers! And there was still plenty of snow up there. We drove around the lake, stopped at the visitor's center so that I could get my National Parks Passport stamped (heh heh), then took the hike down Cleetwood Cove trail to the lake shore. From there, we took a 2.5 hour boat tour around the lake where our guide talked about the geology, mythology, and biology of the lake. We even got to see several hundred kokanee swimming below us at one point! They aren't native (along with the rainbow trout), but the lake hasn't been stocked since the 1940's. It's America's deepest and most pristine lake, so removing the fish would be very difficult and the Park Service has decided to just let them persist. The hike back up the trail was not all that fun, but the weather was warm and sunny so I'm not going to complain much here.

Me and Chris at "Crater" Lake. The scenery was nice, too.

Our friends James, Becky, Wicket, and Willow. Even at the end of July the road was closed because there was still a little bit of snow around!

At the bottom of Cleetwood Cove Trail; that's our boat waiting to take us around the lake.

Our view of Wizard Island from the lake surface. The water was really calm and clear.

The next day we stopped at Lava Butte National Volcanic Monument (and got another passport stamp - cha-ching!) on our way back home. It's just a few minutes south of Bend, and it pretty darn cool. We drove to the top of the butte and you can see its huge lava flow - almost 7000 years old and the pumice field looked as sharp and jagged as ever.

The forest ends abruptly at the lava flow's edge; yes, that wall of dark brown rubble is all sharp pumice from the flow!

Chris, in front of Lava Butte.

The view from the top of Lava Butte. You can see the lava flow extending out (dark brown) and then the forest beyond. 7000 years later and the rocks have not eroded or been colonized by plants!

Chris had a great birthday weekend, and I decided we need to go camping more. With a new tent. And possibly a queen-sized air mattress. But first thing's first: where to go next?

Happy birthday, my love! You are smokin'!

Bikin' It!

2011-08-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally nice here in the Pacific Northwest, so I figure that I have at least another month or two of a suitable climate for biking to work. Yes, I'm kind of a fair-weather biker. But my bike it totally pimped out now and is great for commuting!

- Note the rad fenders that prevent skunk stripes on my back (for when it rains, and when I have to bike in it, which will probably not happen very often)!
- Observe the cushy seat that provides more padding for my bum!
- Marvel at the bike rack that Chris just installed so that I don't have to ride around with my backpack on, rendering my hands tingly and my back achy (and I also don't resemble a turtle so much)!

And I'm all safety geared up too, with lights (when I need them), a reflective BRIGHT neon yellow jacket, and aerodynamic helmet (although, this does little for diminishing my turtle-like appearance).

It's only 4.3 miles to work if I follow a route with bike lanes, so I figured I should probably try to bike more. So far this summer I've biked to work 7 days (biking 60.2 miles), which has saved the environment 48 lbs of carbon dioxide, 1309 gms of carbon monoxide, and 2 gallons of gasoline. Some people in my office bike 60 miles per day, so I know I can do better - how 'bout I update you at the end of the summer and let you know how it's going?

In the meantime, read this: On Biking - Why Can't the US Learn Lessons from Europe?

Meandering around Multnomah Falls

2011-07-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

I decided to extend my Independence Day weekend and took last Tuesday off to spend it with Chris because he has been away on tour for the past week. What to do? It was a beautiful day, so we decided to hike up Multnomah Falls in the Gorge. We hiked up to the top of the falls, then took the Wahkeena trail down past Fairy Falls, then back to the base of Multnomah.

This is basically the loop that we took, with the exception that we walked the trail that passes by Fairy Falls. In total it was about 6.2 miles.

It was a beautiful day, and we got some good exercise. We definitely took our time - I'm a bit slow on the uphill, and there were a ton of wildflowers to take pictures of. We capped off our victorious climb by stopping at McMenamin's Edgefield Power Station Pub. Yum!

At the base of Multnomah Falls

Me and Chris at the top of Multnomah Falls

Weisendanger Falls, upstream from Multnomah

Lovely larkspur!

Oregon iris - see the bee in the upper right petal? She'll be off to pollinate another plant soon!

Columbia tiger lily

Fairy Falls on the Wahkeena Trail

At the bottom of Wahkeena Falls

One small step for fish biologists, one great splash for bull trout!

2011-07-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

**Please note: this is my personal blog and reflects my personal opinions. Any questions about this project relating to agency positions should be directed to either the US Fish and Wildlife Service or the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Thanks for reading!**

Sooo...this post is going to be about work. Which I rarely blog about, but last week was a good week, so I'm going to go ahead and share. One of the first projects I became involved with when I started my job here almost two years ago was the reintroduction of bull trout in the Clackamas basin, a little bit southeast of Portland. Bull trout once coexisted in the basin with a suite of native fish species including salmon and steelhead. However, bull trout disappeared from the basin in the 1960s (the last confirmed sighting was in 1963) largely as a result of overfishing and habitat degradation. So, now that many of the issues that caused bull trout to be extirpated have been addressed, the Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Forest Service, decided that the time was ripe to reintroduce bull trout into the Clackamas to resume its spot in the ecosystem.

Bull trout in the Kootenai River drainage in Montana. Photo by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Stock (used with permission).

The reintroduction project has been in the planning phases since the mid-2000s. Bull trout were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999, and reintroducing them to a part of their native range falls under recovery actions planned for this species. Our office provides technical assistance to the regulatory folks, and it was my task to perform the preliminary bioenergetics modeling for bull trout, as well as lead the development of the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for the project, which is anticipated to continue for up to 20 years (and perhaps beyond that). I am currently the chair of the M&E committee, comprised of biologists from several of the agencies involved in the project. It was a big task to complete the M&E plan, but a necessary one for a couple of reasons.

First, the bull trout population in the Clackamas is an experimental one. The major benefit of having a strong Monitoring and Evaluation program is that we will learn something no matter what happens - we will learn why the reintroduction succeeded or failed. Either way, we will know more about what might work for the recovery of this population as this project progresses, and ultimately for this species elsewhere in its range.

Second, we need to pay close attention to what these bull trout do in the Clackamas because there are other listed species in the basin, such as Chinook, coho and steelhead. In fact, this project has been fairly controversial because of concern for these other listed species, which makes it all the more important that we have a strong M&E program and dot all of our regulatory i's and cross all of our regulatory t's. Because bull trout are top predators, where these species overlap in time and space salmon and steelhead may face an increased risk of being eaten by bull trout. Of course, bull trout eat plenty of things other than salmon and steelhead (other fish, insects, etc.). But part of our monitoring program focuses on the interaction of all of these listed species so that project managers can take action if it looks like the impacts from bull trout are greater than anticipated.

Anyway, there's a bit more to the story, but I'll cut to the chase. Last week was a big week for us because we finally completed all of the regulatory requirements needed to get fish in the water. About 30 subadult and adult bull trout were collected from the Metolius, implanted with radio tags so we can keep track of their whereabouts, trucked over to the Clackamas, and released in the Big Bottom portion of the upper basin. Yay! There was a fair amount of press there, and it was great to see these beautiful fish swim in waters they hadn't seen for 50 years. Let's just hope they stay there! We'll continue to move juvenils and subadults/adults through July, and our monitoring program will kick in almost immediately.

You can see some of the video footage and pictures that were taken here:

From the Oregonian - http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/06/bull_trout_released_in_upper_c.html

From KGW News Channel 8 - http://www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/Bull-trout-released-in-Clackamas-River-124829994.html

And here are some pictures I took - enjoy!

There were plenty of people on hand to witness the first bull trout release!

Above, this bull trout was just taken off the transport truck. The cooler was walked down to the banks of the Clackamas and the bull trout swam in the waters of its new home a few moments later.

This was the first bull trout back in the Clackamas! Good luck - we'll be keeping track of you!

Extreme Home Makeover - Booyah!

2011-06-30T18:46:00.001-07:00

The above picture is of our back yard, and it was taken about a month ago. The flower bed areas were a mess, there was chain-link fence against the house, random metal and wood poles sticking up from the ground, and general crappiness.

This was taken after our house was painted. The front looked great (see pictures from previous post), but the back still needed work. I trimmed the rose bushes and got rid of all the dead branches, but we still had a way to go.

Finally, last weekend, Chris' teacher friends built our new deck! It is awesome!!! It is made out of composite material, but the deck actually looks more like wood than fake stuff. There's a built-in bench in the corner, and we'll probably put a custom-built table over the heat pump to hide it and have a useable surface. Also, we got rid of the weedy flower beds, random metal structures, and have room for our potted plants. We're going to install landscaping around the deck starting at the end of the stairs (where the potted bush is), wrapping around to the house (where the rose bushes are). We'll also put in some paving stones for a walkway, and we're going to build a fire pit about where I stood to take the picture. Pretty sweet, huh?

I fear I'm becoming more domestic, dammit.

2011-06-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, the married life. It seems like it's pretty much the same as the single life, with one major exception. Ok, two major exceptions. One of them I'll not discuss today (dating anyone other than Chris is behind me, and Chris and I are still dating anyway), and the other is this: I suddenly want to do yard work. WTF is up with that???

We've got a lot of home improvement projects on deck (heh heh) this summer, including building a deck. We already painted the house, from a grayish-green rainy overcast color to a bright and sunny (a.k.a. "butter tart") yellow. It is very yellow! There were two other "yellow" houses on our street, but after we painted our house, I don't think they can call themselves yellow any longer. All other yellows must bow down before us!!! We also had our front porch and side porch (with the hot tub) stained a nice redwood color, which goes very nicely with the shutters and bricks.

This is the BEFORE picture. Sorry the picture kind of sucks - I was using the wrong setting on my camera, it got over-exposed, and I wasn't able to do much to fix it in photoshop. But you get the idea. Sad color, weeds galore, boo-hoo.

This is the AFTER picture! Sunny! Yellow! landscaping under control! Flowers on the porch!!! We'll be posting pictures of the back yard after we get the deck in. It will be an even more dramatic makeover! And you will be jealous of our awesome back yard!

So, along with the painting, I definitely wanted to clean up the yard. I bought lots of flowers (hanging basket, pots, long rectangle planters, and even a strawberry pot that I learned how to plant by watching a you-tube video) and repotted my old plants that were in desperate need of attention. There are three rose bushes in the back yard and I took out the waist-high grass and weeds surrounding them, trimmed the hell out of all their dead branches, and got rid of the aphids. I lopped off more of the butterfly bush, which thought it was going to be the boss of me, but it was wrong. I weeded the tall grass from the front yard, and chopped off the dead hydrangea branches. Everything is starting to grow back - the roses are much improved, and you can tell we have bulbs in the front. About a week ago we bought a weed-whacker - I started on the side of the front yard, but that will be a major task. But I think I've got it under control so far!

This is the strawberry pot that was abandoned by the previous home-owners. I emptied it out, watched a you-tube video, then Chris and I planted it with all sorts of herbs and flowers. We even put a PVC watering tube down the middle of it. It looks even better now because it has purple, blue, and yellow flowers blooming from the different plants oozing out of the openings.

Today, I decided not to go to work so that Chris and I could hang out (he leaves for nearly 2 weeks on Friday to go on tour with the Army band). We went to Home Depot and bought a few gardening tools, and scoped out some pavers for below the stairs of our impending deck. The deck is going to be suuuhh-weeeeeettt!!! Built-in benches, then stairs that will eventually lead out to a fire pit in the back yard. We're going to landscape around the back of the deck to hide the septic tank covers, too. After Home Depot, I bought some blackberry bush herbicide, planted (almost all) the rest of the flowers that need a home, and glared at the surviving weeds in the front yard. Someday, my pretties, you will be mine!

All this domesticity is freaking me out. I'm going to go to work tomorrow and talk about fish.

Finally...A Sunny Weekend!

2011-06-14T12:07:00.001-07:00

It seems that the weather has finally turned! Lately we've had more sun than rain, and the temperatures are getting to the point where I haven't had to wear my coat to work (although I still wear my wrap sweater and use my space heater every day in my office). So, we took advantage of the sunny weather and headed out for a couple of nights at the coast over Memorial Day Weekend.

Our first task was wine tasting. We drove through Yamhill County, stopping at Penner-Ash (meh), and the Carlton Winemakers Studio (yum).

The view from the tasting room at Penner-Ash - it doesn't look particularly sunny here, but it was gorgeous anyway!

We then made our way to Lincoln City, and drove south just a little way down the coast to Salishan Resort, where we stayed for two nights. It was actually a pretty nice place - our room had a view of the ocean, a fireplace, and the whole thing was kind of like an Ewok village because it was built in the forest with catwalks that connected all the buildings. It was almost like going to summer camp, but with much better food and a bar with a pool table. We even played a round of golf - 18 holes of putting greens (and I believe I won by 4 strokes).

The view from our room - we could even see the ocean.

Chris kind of kicked my butt at pool.

The putting course - it was very pretty, and was even registered as designated bird habitat by Audubon.

Chris may have beaten me at pool, but I triumphed at golf!

Over the course of two days we visited Chris' friends Brad and Tyler, who were working on putting the finishing touches on a rental home they were helping to build in Lincoln City. The place was amazing. No drywall in the entire house - everything was wood. And, it was right on the coast - direct beach access, and lots of windows. We also met up with them at the casino those two nights - I didn't do too terribly well at craps, and Chris did a little better at poker. But we didn't lose our shorts, so I'll consider it a success.

Coming back we had a marginally obscene breakfast at Lil' Sambo's (named after the beloved (?) racist children's book), where there was some random old guy in the parking lot dressed as Captain America. I wanted to stop there because I remembered the story from when I was a kid, and liked the tiger in the front of the restaurant.

I finally remembered the story when I read it at their gift shop. Tigers turning into butter???

WTF??? And why isn't his mask on correctly?

I look forward to more sunny weekends in the near future!

Act 4: The Afterglow!

2011-06-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am soooo looking forward to being done with wedding blogging! So this one's gonna be short - it's the last installment of our 4-part series, and I'm excited about writing about more recent events. So let's get crackin'!

Chris and I took our post-wedding vacation (I'm not too excited about the word "honeymoon" - it sounds so mushy!) on a cruise in the Western Caribbean. We went all over the place (in areas limited to the Western Caribbean)! We started in Florida, went to Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, then hit up Aruba, Willemstad (Curacao), then sailed on over to the Panama Canal and Colon, up to Costa Rica, then back to Florida. We were gone 10 days, and one of the best things about the trip was the sun...this spring has been very rainy and gray in the Pacific Northwest region, so seeing the sun again was a welcome sight. And it was warm, too!

We really did have a fantastic time. The food was amazing, we got to dress up all fancy-like on formal nights, I learned how to play craps (1. pick up dice. 2. roll dice. 3. yay!), and we were even invited to eat dinner with the captain on our last formal night because we are just that awesome (or perhaps it was because we were the youngest couple on the ship).

You can view many pictures in the slide show at right, or by clicking here: HERE. Alternatively, you may look at the Cliff Notes version below. At any rate, enjoy!

Our first day on board the Zuiderdam, in Ft. Lauderdale, after traveling all night.
Time for a drink on deck!

Our first stop was at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. Admittedly, this is a pretty dorky picture. I was riding Peanut, and Chris was on Just for You. After our land ride, we rode our horses as they swam in the ocean.

After our horseback ride, we went parasailing. This is Chris and me, probably about 500 feet up; that's our ship in the background. Pretty water, huh?

Our first sea day, and our first formal night. Chris wore his pimp suit, and I wore my skank shoes.

In Aruba, we went boarded a catamaran and went snorkeling, which I've never really done before. It exceeded my expectations, for sure!

I took way better underwater pictures than this, but this picture shows the coolest thing we saw - squid! You can see one near the bottom center of the photo - you might even be able to see an eye if you look closely. They were less than a foot long, kind of brown, and swam in schools of 3-5 squid.

We spent a day in Willemstad, Curacao. We did quite a bit of walking, which led us to a non-tourist, more local market. These boats brought recently-dispatched sea creatures to market booths just off the dock.

Another formal night on a sea day.

We got to go through the Panama Canal to Lake Gatun!

We took a side trip to Gamboa Park, where we got on small boats, tooled around Lake Gatun, and saw some monkeys. These little guys were accustomed to being fed by the guides, unfortunately. But they were super cute!

In Costa Rica, we traveled to the central region of the country for some ziplining. Behind is is the AdrenaLine, a 700 m line that traverses a valley and river.

Our last formal night. This was the black and white ball, which we went to after eating dinner with the captain at his private table with a specially prepared meal. We were pretty fortunate to have that experience!

We spent our last evening on board at the Pinnacle Grill. It was a fantastic meal - here, our server is flaming my chicken kabob. Yum!

Act 3: The Aftermath

2011-05-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Because we didn't have our friends at our wedding, we thought it might be nice to have a potluck at our house so that we could gather our local-ish friends and any family members who were still in the area to bask in the glow of our loooove (sorry, ew). So, we sent out invitations notifying everyone to come to our house, along with their favorite food and/or beverage, the very day after our wedding.

Awww, how cute!

We frantically ran around trying to clean up the house, which actually looked pretty spectacular prior to guests showing up. Even the basement only had the faintest smell of cat-pee (but smelled mostly like Febreeze). Mom helped out tremendously (thanks, Mom!), and we even had time to sit down and say, "dang, I'm so hungry! where is everyone??? when is the food going to show up? should we just order some pizza???"

We didn't have long to wait, though - friends started arriving and pretty soon, we had a full house. We had 74 people over that day, and it was so good to see everyone! I had friends from grad school and work there, Chris' friends from school and the army showed up, and because a lot of Chris' family is in the area, we had some of them show up, too. There were people upstairs schmoozing and intermingling. There were kids all over the place, playing video games in the basement and dismantling board games like Cranium and Battleship. There were five cats cowering in terrified confusion (somewhere). Success, right?

Ladies in the living room: Julie, me, and Jill - I met this dynamic duo in grad school and our mind-meld caused us all to wear black and purple on the same day. Amazing!!!

Chaos in the kitchen! This is where the beer was.

Bedlam in the basement! It's a good thing we had this room open though, otherwise the upstairs might have resembled an over-stuffed clown car.

Right! The food was good, there were no unforgivable beverage spills, and we succeeded in putting all the elements of each board game into their proper box. We even managed to recover all five cats! My mom and step-mom did an amazing job cleaning the place up even before everyone completely left, and we had leftovers for a verrrrry long time. As a matter of fact, I think there's still some cracker dip in the fridge. And plenty of plates/dishes/food containers that are now orphaned because we don't know who they belong to.

Hey, you kids! You'd better make sure those plastic ships and bombing pegs don't get lost in our special collector's edition of Cranium!

It all went better than planned, and it was so good to see our friends, many of whom traveled a fair distance to be there. Thank you so much for visiting us! It was the perfect way to round out our wedding weekend, and share our experience with so many of our friends and family.

Next up: our final wedding exclusive - The Honeymoon (a.k.a. The Afterglow). We can then get back to reporting on our normal lives, alright?

Dang, this is a LONG intermission!

2011-05-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, the professional wedding photographs are finally here, folks! You can view them in the slide show at right, or by clicking here. I hope you enjoy them - Chris and I think they are fantastic! They were taken by Courtney Blaisdell (see information in previous post), if you need a kick-ass photographer for your event and are in the Portland area.

Woo hoo!!!

Pimp Style.

Intermission...

2011-05-04T09:31:00.001-07:00

We're interrupting wedding-of-the-century post-game coverage (a.k.a. the William and Kate of the West) to bring you this sneak preview of professional photographs taken on March 19, 2011.

Courtney took some wonderful pictures of Chris and me and has shared a few of them on her blog: Courtney Blaisdell Photography. I'll be posting the entire photo collection soon...and yes, there are pictures of the dress!

Enjoy!

Act 2: The Main Course

2011-04-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

I suppose you've probably had enough of the Anticipation and are probably ready to move on to The Main Course, right? Chris and I are back from our post-wedding travel adventure (a.k.a. "honeymoon", but I'm getting tired of that word), so I figured it's now time for a blog makeover (thanks for the shoe picture, Tyleen! it's getting a lot of mileage, including being used as my facebook profile picture) and a new post. So here you go.

If you're reading this, it is likely that you were at the wedding. But just in case you weren't, I'll fill you in. Unfortunately, I don't have a huge number of pictures yet - I didn't take any, and I'm still waiting from some pictures from family and our professional photographer. But I'll share what I have here.

The day started where I left off from the previous day (duh, right?). Mom and I went to pick up the cake, which, unfortunately, was not exactly what I wanted even after providing elaborate instructions to the baker. In all fairness, my original baker canceled at the last minute and the new baker did her best...but I'm still debating whether or not to send pictures in to Cake Wrecks. And, not that I'm any kind of bridezilla or anything (I really don't like to even characterize my role in the day as "bride", I just hate the way it sounds), for the sake of full disclosure, I did have a minor hair freak-out. Because I had gotten my hair fabulously straightened the day before, it was a little too slick and didn't have any volume for putting it up the way I wanted...what originally was to be a couple of large, loose, Princess-Leiaish buns looked more like two small snail shells that further emphasized the largishness of my head and flatness of face, instead of delicately de-emphasizing these tragic features and flattering my head in its entirety. Unfortunately, I had no back-up plan, so I had to just wear my hair half up and half down, with little bits sticking up in the back and generally looking retarded. Looking back on it, I really wish I had just tried a bit harder to wear my hair up, dang it! What was I thinking??? Oh well - I'll end my rant here. At least I didn't have any excessively gigantic zits growing out of my nose or anything (and if I did, I would've had plenty of bindis to cover it up).

Glamor hair. My follicles are biologically incapable of doing this.

This more accurately resembles my look on my wedding day. Without the beard, of course (no offense to Russell Brand - we love him!).

Chris and I went to the Vintage Plaza Hotel in downtown Portland where we met up with our photographer and got ready for the wedding. We reserved a fantastic suite there, which came with champagne for us with which we pre-funked in preparation for the evening. After taking a bunch of photos (and yes, some of them actually show my dress), we hired a town car to take us to Caruthers Landing, on the Willamette River, just south of OMSI. Everyone met us there, largely on time, and looked fabulous! More picture taking ensued.

Free champagne! Free champagne!

At 6 pm we boarded the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler, a river paddleboat. The weather actually held out - it has been an extremely wet spring (and winter, and fall, for that matter), but the rain gods had apparently decided we'd had enough, or maybe they just wanted to watch the ceremony and wouldn't have been able to see through the clouds otherwise. In any case, we only got a few sprinkles of rain, but it was actually fairly clear, if not cold (what did you expect, Koski? It's mid-March in Portland, duh!).

This is the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler. On a beautiful, sunny day. I did not take this picture.

Chris and I decided on a very small wedding - partially to keep the cost down (and it was spendy enough, my goodness!), partially to keep it nice and intimate, and mainly so that it wouldn't spiral out of control and become a gigantic wedathon with all manner of matrimonial nonsense: man-and-wife-this, remove-the-garter-with-his-teeth-that. Don't get me wrong - it's ok if that's your thing, it's just not mine (um, I mean Ours. Yes, Ours, ahem!). So, we only had our immediate family in attendance - mainly parents and siblings, about 20 folks in all. This also made it so that everyone could actually fit on the bow of the boat so that we could get married outside (standing room only). We asked Chris' long-time friend to perform our ceremony for us, so he got Internet-ordained lickety-split like and, after a couple of readings from our mothers, declared us Chris and Marci, husband and wife, partners in crime, accomplices of sorts.

My mom (anxiously going over what she was going to read), and the rest of us (goofing off).

Once our ceremony was over (what, 15 minutes or so?), we ran inside (dang, it was colder than we thought it would be) to warm up over appetizers. Did I mention this was a dinner cruise? Oh yes! A wedding and dinner all in one place - just to make things extra easy. It was a public cruise, so several more people came on board for dinner, but really, there weren't very many people - just one deck was filled. Dinner was actually pretty good - I think I had salmon ravioli. We had a few small nieces and nephews running around, and I must say, they behaved amazingly well. I was thinking it might get too late for them, but they all played together just fine and I think they had a good time. Whew!

Oh...*that's* why they had a good time...

During dinner, the boat cruised up and down the Willamette River, down to the falls, then up again. In the summer, the boat cruises on the Columbia River, but sticks close to Portland in the colder months. A bunch of us went up to the wheel house, and the captain let me steer the boat. And I didn't wreck it! Actually, I think Abby (Chris' 4 year old niece) did a better job at steering than I did, but I also got to blast the horn. It was pretty loud. I think it made a few fish lose the contents of their lower digestive tracts.

One of the things the dinner cruise did not have was music, or dancing. I was a little bummed out about this, but figured that it was just one of those trade-offs for having a quirky venue. But it was ok, because Chris is amazing and I married the right guy. We had our moment, just the two of us, after we left the wheel house. We went back inside the boat on the upper deck, where there were no guests. Out of the blue, I heard Anya Marina's "Vertigo" playing (the same song Chris played when he asked me to marry him)...I couldn't figure out where it was coming from at first...and Chris hugged me and said it was time for our first dance. He had the song playing on his iPhone from his suit pocket. So we danced, just the two of us alone, and our photographer snapping flashy pictures. Awwwww!!!

Again, we don't have the pictures back yet. But for a point of reference, this is vaguely what we looked like.

Meanwhile, downstairs on deck 1, the party was in full swing. Of course, they waited for me and Chris to return so that we could have a champagne toast (my brother Paul made an excellent toaster, but I will say that he can have his winnings when it comes to kids. We will be victorious when it comes to cats!). And we cut into our cake, which had, miraculously survived the constant scrutiny of 3 small children for at least two hours. I think I had one bite of it and made the determination that I'm not particularly a fan of fondant, nor does it go particularly well with banana cake. Bleck!

Stupid cake! I'll get you in the end!

At any rate, that was about it. I was thankful for so many things that day. I was grateful for the love and support my mom gave me during her visit from San Diego. I was happy that my dad and stepmom made it out from St. Louis - I know that family stuff like this is important to them. I was touched that Tyleen, Brett, Paul, and Anne traveled from near and far for the occasion - I know it was a short visit, but meaningful nonetheless. I was honored that Steve performed our ceremony, even though it took him out of his comfort zone. And I am thrilled that I have new family members - Chris' parents, grandmother, brother and sister-in-law. Most of all, I am relieved that I have lots of little nephews and nieces who love their Auntie Marci and Uncle Chris and their five adorable kitties sooooo much...perhaps our decision not to have kids won't bite us in the ass after all!!!

Wedded bliss! Someone get that hair outta my face!

As I mentioned at the beginning, I don't have many pictures of the event (yet - we'll get our professional photos back soon, I hope). I took the best of what everyone gave me and made an album which you can see on the right side of the blog or by clicking here.

Can I wrap this up now? Thank you! Acts 3 and 4 won't be quite as long, I promise.

Act 1: The Anticipation

2011-03-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! A new post! Finally...I'll bet your Anticipation levels were running pretty high now, weren't they? So, things have finally gotten a little less crazy around here, and that's no April fool's day joke. I got a bunch of things done at work (but that never really ends, and there's always more to do), and oh yeah, Chris and I pulled off that whole wedding thing, too. So that leaves me with a little time for a breather. Because the wedding was the main focus of my life for the last couple of months, that's really all I'd been doing. I'd really like to blog about it, but it seems like a completely overwhelming task if I were to try to tackle it all at once. So, I've broken it down into four Acts:

Act 1: The Anticipation (what you are reading now)
Act 2: The Main Course
Act 3: The Aftermath
Act 4: The Afterglow

I realize that this is rather ambitious. But we're going to start small. See, I don't have a whole lot of pictures to describe the anticipation, aside from some truly embarrassing photos that my mom took while I was getting my hair done the day before the wedding. And now I share them for the world to see:

Oh yes, Mom, please take more pictures. They are soooo flattering!

Why, of course I'd like you to take a picture of my hair half done! Fantastic!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we had the most awesome invitations ever. I mean, you can't look at these invitations and not pee yourself with Anticipation for what the wedding will be like, right??? Am I right???

Will it be a three-ring circus? An old-timey boat ride? Something between? Who knows?!?

So, that's it for now. You'll have to wait for Act 2 and beyond. In fact, you'll have to wait until Act 4 (The Afterglow) has happened. Chris and I leave for our honeymoon cruise tonight and will be gone for a while. So, sit back, relax, and bask in The Anticipation of blog posts to come!

I'm still here!

2011-02-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

Between planning a non-wedding wedding and wedding planning, I've had little time to do many things that I regularly used to incorporate into my life. For example, I used to spend a lot of time NOT planning a wedding. This is no longer the case. It seems that, lately, I've been consumed with detail-oriented tasks concerning Who, When, Where, and How (the why is covered, of course). And while I've tried my hardest to make this a somewhat unconventional, non-traditional fun-type wedding, those pesky little wedding-ish details keep sneaking in there. Things like, "decide what to wear" and "design the ceremony" and "are these heels going to make me fall over within five minutes of putting them on". And I'm kind of freaking out a little because every piece of wedding planning guidance I've read says that these questions should've been answered at least 18 months ago! Hell, I didn't even know Chris 18 months ago!

Well, if I don't completely lose my shit, these questions (and hopefully more) should be at least partially answered within the next month and a half. Wish us luck!

And PS - does anyone want to start a betting pool on how many times I'll fall over as a result of wearing excessively high heels during the wedding festivities? Just for funsies?

And the winner is...(drum roll, please)...

2011-01-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first annual Cat of the Year Awards! Each year, the Sigman-Koski family nominates, then votes for, cats who are deserving of recognition in several categories. I know what you're thinking: cats and accomplishments? Isn't that an oxymoron? Well, yes, but we feel that the cats who will be recognized tonight deserve the bravado, even though they may not have accomplished much (if anything) in 2010. At the very least, the winners deserve some extra pets (scritches behind the ears and tummy squidgles will be delivered upon declaration of the winner). And at the very most, the winners may be presented with a CatAssTrophy! So ready your applause, for our award ceremony is about to commence!

Our first award tonight recognizes the cat with the Cutest Meow. Nominees are: Samantha (for her performance on top of the staircase wall), Abbey (for her displays any time you pick her up), and Momo (for her role in meowing when you look at her or reach down to pet her). And the CatAssTrophy goes to.....Momo! Momo's high-pitched and lengthy meows are petite and exceptionally adorable, just like her! Congratulations, Momo!

Even though her meows are very expressive, Momo is also skilled in non-verbal communication. This look clearly says "WTF am I supposed to do with this?"

Our next award will go to the cat that demonstrates the Best Head-Butts. Nominees are: Jesse (for his lap-time performances) and Samantha (for her bed-time head-butt/purring dual role). And the winner for Best Head-Butts is.....Jesse! Jesse has mastered the head-butt, with variations in force, direction, and body position (he can head-butt while standing, sitting, walking, and laying down - amazing!). Way to go, Jesse!

Jesse: Head-Butt Champion! And kind of a fan of flashing his junk! What a perv!

The next award is perhaps not as glamorous, but it's an award just the same - Most Voracious Eater / Most Susceptible to Gravity. Nominees are: Samantha (who packed on a few pounds after giving birth to her kittens) and Oliver (who can force even the most determined cat away from the food bowl in order to stuff his own kibble hole). And the Most Voracious Eater / Most Susceptible to Gravity award goes to.....Oliver! Our very own Oliver (a.k.a. "Dirt Squirrel") will go to any length to feed both his Oedipus complex and ever-expanding stomach...he still suckles from Samantha and gorges himself silly at any and all opportunities. Congrats, Oliver!

Oliver, demonstrating that it's not so easy for the Best Eater / Cat Most Susceptible to Gravity to squeeze into tight places.

Next up is our award for Most Cunning Cleptomaniac. The nominees are: well, there's just one, really - Abbey! Subsequently, by default, the CatAssTrophy goes to.....Abbey! Abbey uses her adorable looks and kittenish personality to make off with a wide variety of items including gift-wrap bows, receipts from out of your purse, and even cold hard cash (we think she's using it to support her crack habit). Upon procuring each item from even the most secure locations, Abbey dashes off with the contraband in her mouth, stashes her prize, then proceeds to shred, bat, and scuttle the object noisily across the floor while you're trying to sleep in the wee morning hours. Quite an accomplishment, Abbey!

Abbey shows off one of the many prizes she has clepto'ed. Will she take the pills herself or trade them for crack?

Before presenting our final award, we have one more category: Best Snuggler. The nominees are: Samantha (for her performance in morning bedtime snuggling), Oliver (for his default role as fatso who collapses wherever gravity puts him), and Jesse (who has demonstrated significant accomplishments in upon-lap napping and stretching). And the CatAssTrophy goes to.....Samantha! Samantha not only knows how to try and keep you in bed longer than you ought to be, but is also quite accomplished in hair/scalp massage techniques and making muffins with her happy paws. Congratulations, Samantha!

Sam (right) demonstrates the techniques with Oliver (left) that earned her the Best Snuggler CatAssTrophy.

And now, the award you've all been waiting for: 2010 Cat of the Year. Excited, aren't you? While all five cats were nominated for this achievement, some of them took themselves out of the running with ill behavior or by not giving a crap (you're surprised we had any cats left who were worthy, huh?). Two cats rose to the top: Samantha and Jesse, for these two demonstrated a strong willingness to exhibit affection to humans, as well as other admirable qualities. Ok, we won't keep you waiting any longer...and the winner of the 2010 Cat of the Year CatAssTrophy is.....JESSE!!! Jesse won overall cat of the year for his mild-manner, amusing meows (or croaks, really), fluffiness, adept snuggling and head-butting skills, unique ability to tame the beast (a.k.a. Abbey), and propensity for purring excessively. Jesse spent many years playing second fiddle to the late Zoe, which he passed with patience and humility. To top it off, Jesse turned 12 years old on January 3, making him the senior cat of the house! Happy birthday and congratulations, Jesse! Your picture will be featured on our "Cat of the Year" plaque, along with your name and year engraved to commemorate your accomplishment!

The rest of you felines can be jealous all you want...but I suggest you start sucking up now if you want to win any 2011 awards!

Jesse, 2010 Cat of the Year!

A 2010 Retrospective...Lamenting the Passing of the Best Year Ever!

2011-01-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, everyone! It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to 2010, the Best Year Ever. Behold 2010, a year that sidled into my life without presumption or pretense, and now a year that has slipped away like grains of sand through an hourglass...these are the days of our lives...Wait - haven't I heard that somewhere before? Dang, and I don't even watch soaps!

But in all *seriousness* (because we all know how Serious I am), 2010 was a fantastic year. I'm left wondering how 2011 could possibly be any better, seeing as how so many crazy-rad things happened in the past 12 months. Like what, you ask? Well, how about the following:

I met the love of my life, my dahhhling Christopher, and we went on many adventures, starting with a trip to the coast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I popped my Voodoo Donut cherry and learned that bacon makes everything better.
My 36th birthday was marked by time with good friends, bellydancing fun and a titillating display of pasties!
Ok, not so rad, but my doggy Teddy Bear finally passed on at the incredible age of nearly 17. He was a good pup, and I'm glad he's finally at rest.
Over spring break Chris and I experienced the stunning romance of grain silos (for real)!
This summer saw my debut bellydance performance as well as some modeling.
Chris and I went on an incredible cruise to SE Alaska - a trip of a lifetime, really!
I confirmed that, in fact, the Alamo does not have a basement.
There were no shortages of romantic weekends at the coast (including cheese).
We became passport-stamped international globetrotters with our adventure in Vancouver, B.C.
I moved across the river to Vantucky and got a brand-spankin' new niece!
I had a perfect day, which included Harry Potter, getting engaged, and Bela Fleck.
Did I mention the new car?

So, can you now understand why I might be sad to say farewell to 2010? Yes? Oh, I know...your response is that 2011 will probably be even better. How is that even possible? Well, I'll keep you posted on how that works out - be sure to check back soon!

P.S. - Did you notice how I kept last year's resolution? I totally maintained this blog! I posted way more than in 2009...let's see if I can keep it up in 2011!

Zoom Zoom!

2010-12-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

I must say, I had an excellent year, and an excellent Christmas. The day after, even though I received many nice gifts from my loved ones, I bought myself a fancy-pants krimmis present. It's a velocity red 2010 Mazda 3 grand touring s - woo hoo!!! Never been used, although it was driven to the McMinnville dealership and back (hence the 215 miles on the odometer). It's got all the fancy bells and whistles, too! I've never bought a new car before, and I don't know if I ever will again, but the old Subie has been thinking about retirement for a while now so I figured I'd give her a break.

A Perfect Day

2010-12-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Hello, fair readers! Merry Christmas, and soon-to-be happy new year! Before I write about any holiday goings-on, you might recall that a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post that was labeled "The mooshiest post you'll ever see me write", or some such tag. Well, apologies to you, but today's post might just supersede my previous level of mush...so be forewarned!

You're probably wondering about what A Perfect Day includes. There are three main elements, which include but are not limited to:

1. Harry Potter
2. Getting engaged
3. An incredible Bela Fleck show

Surprising, huh? I would've never guessed that these three things would be the ingredients in my perfect day, but there you have them.

Last Thursday evening, Chris and I drove up to Seattle to enjoy a nice little getaway to commemorate the occasion of our first anniversary (our first date was Dec. 6, 2009). We checked in at the Hotel Monaco where Chris reserved a huge room complete with a two-person spa, which we took advantage of whilst sipping room-service ordered champagne. Fancy, huh? It was a nice way to end a day of work and driving up to the city; I highly recommend it!

On Friday, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Sazerac (banana's foster french toast...yummy...), then walked over to the downtown mall and hopped on the Monorail. We sped off to Seattle Center and headed over to the Pacific Science Center where Harry Potter: The Exhibition is making its last U.S. stop.

Riding the Monorail to Seattle Center

The Space Needle

Since we were there on a weekday, there weren't that many people - we were let right in, just the two of us, and sorted into Gryffindor house (surprise, surprise) right away (although the attendant said that he thought that Chris belonged in Hufflepuff and I might fit better in Ravenclaw...go figure). The exhibit was actually really cool, and well worth the money, I thought - tons of actual props and costumes that were used in all of the movies, along with an audio guide. It took us about 90 minutes to go through the whole thing, but a big Harry Potter fan could've easily spent half a day or longer in there...I just didn't want to torture Chris any longer than was necessary! And actually, even though Chris is not a huge fan, he did indulge me in watching all the movies, and I think he enjoyed the exhibit as well.

We weren't allowed to take photos, so this was grabbed off the website. But it gives you an idea of the sets they had - pretty cool, huh?

After the Harry Potter portion of our morning, we went to the butterfly garden at the science center and ate lunch in the food court. We got to listen to a middle school band perform some holiday songs - they were really good - and Chris introduced himself to the director after the show. We hopped back on the Monorail and returned downtown, back to our hotel.

Chris and me hitchin' a ride on a caterpillar...

Zebra longwing

We had dinner reservations and tickets to see Bela Fleck at Jazz Alley that evening, and we decided to get all fancied up for the show. As I was getting ready, Chris asked me a couple of times if I was nearly done, and I noticed that he was repeating the same song on his iPhone. Weird, huh? When I got out of the bathroom, Chris said he had something for me, a small token of his affection for me, and he pulled out a small box with a beautiful diamond/palladium ring. It took me a minute to realize what was going on, and even then, I wasn't sure until he said he would be the happiest man ever if I would marry him. My reply was that I would, of course, marry him...such a surprise! It turns out that the hotel was having their happy hour in the lobby so we went downstairs and got a couple of glasses of champagne, quietly celebrating our moment in the middle of a crowd of people who weren't in on the reason for our grins. We played a couple of rounds of Guitar Hero with Bailey (on vacation from Australia with his parents), then took a cab over to Jazz Alley.

Chris picked out this ring all by himself - it's quite gorgeous!

Our first photo together as an engaged couple :oP

Once we got to Jazz Alley, we ordered a nice bottle of wine along with dinner, which we consumed during the Bela Fleck show. He and the Flecktones played nearly their entire holiday album (Jingle all the Way), and it was a FANTASTIC show. Bela Fleck is an amazing banjo player, and along with the others (Futureman, Jeff Coffin, and Victor Wooten), the resulting music was fun, dynamic, and in some cases, unbelievable (e.g., the entire "12 days of Christmas", with each day sung in a different key and time). They were accompanied by Alash, a group of Tuvan throat singers, and were equally amazing. Really, it was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with Alash in the back.

A kindly older couple volunteered to drive us back to our hotel when they overheard us inquiring about calling a cab, which was a pleasant treat at the end of our night. We had to get back down to Vancouver the following morning, but it was a day in Seattle that I'm sure I will remember for a very long time. You can see more pictures of our trip by viewing the slideshow to the right, or by clicking here. I'm so lucky to have been able to share that day - a perfect day - with the man I love so much!

For those of you without a Facebook addiction problem:

2010-12-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

Happy announcement made Friday from Seattle on Facebook:

More details to come soon!

Marci and Chris at Seattle Center, Dec. 10, 2010

Happy Anniversary, My Love!

2010-12-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

Christopher, you are the BEST (and the worst), and I am so happy to have you in my life. I hope we share many more anniversaries in the years to come!

Marci and Chris, July 2010

Met my blog quota...

2010-11-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

What up, peeps? You may have noticed that I've been "slacking" on the old blog posts recently. Well, I could give you a number of "reasons" or "excuses" for this such as:

1. I've been sick
2. I've been busy
3. It's none of your business

However, the real reason is that, according to my records, I've met my blog quota for the year. Yep, that's right - as of this writing, I'll have posted 34 blog entries, which far exceeds the 12 I had for the entirety of last year. So, I think I can just pat myself on the back, say I did a good job, and take an easy month and a half off until the new year begins. No?

Heh heh - I'm just kidding around. Actually, I *have* been sick, *have* been busy, and it's only your business if you want it to be. In the past month I moved into Chris' place, attempted (somewhat lamely) to unpack a few things, hosted my mom when she visited up here, and slogged through the majority of my days whilst sitting in front of a computer at work. This upcoming month shows no signs of slowing, either, with more relatives coming to visit for Thanksgiving, Chris and my one-year anniversary (yay!), and Christmas on the way. Whew! So with that, I'll leave you with just a few photos taken within the past couple of weeks:

Me and my brand-spankin' new niece, Nora Paige

Me and The Mommy

Me, Jesse, and Chris (the furry one - hee hee!)

That's it???

2010-10-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween, y'all! Because I've been super busy this month with moving and everything, I didn't have time to get a costume together or my residence decorated. And it's a real shame, because I had a great costume all designed - I was actually standing in JoAnn's with bolts of fabric in my arms, but I abandoned the plan last minute because I'm just too busy. So, you'll have to see my costume next year.

Anywhooooo...I did manage to slowly transform my office into a spooktacular spider lair during the month of October. My costume would've played into that. Yes, I was the only one at work who decorated their office...I don't care though! As far as I'm concerned, Halloween should be every month. Candy and costumes? It doesn't get much better than that in terms of holidays!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch with the Little Punks

2010-10-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we took advantage of the fantastic fall weather (it was sunny!) and went out to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island. Chris had bought groupons for the Oregon-heart shaped corn "maize" (get it???) so we invited my brother and his family, and Chris' brother's family. We got there around 9:30 and the crowds started to quickly gather...we checked out the animal barn, the kids took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick a few pumpkins, and then we did the short half of the maize. By noon there were a ton of people there - cars were lined up for about a mile just waiting to get on the bridge to Sauvie Island. I'm glad we got there early and got to hang out in relative low crowd-chaos! Considering my busy month, I'm just happy that I got to experience some sort of autumn-related festivities...ah, why can't Halloween be year-round?

Nothing says autumn romance like rusty farm equipment. And porta-potties.

Chris' brother, nephew, niece, and sister-in-law.

The newest member of the Koski family, Nora Paige. Just over a week old! She's hard core.

What a handsome family of four! And they're all smiling - oh wait, I think Nora just has gas...

Wait a minute - that's MY caramel apple!!!

Getting lost in the corn maize was quite the cornundrum! Get it? CORNundrum!!! Snort ha ha giggle snort!!! :oP

No, the other Vancouver!

2010-10-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that Chris and I took *another* cruise? Well, we did, so believe it, folks! In fact, we took our second cruise on the very same ship we sailed to Alaska on, Holland America's Rotterdam. We got a fantastic deal to sail from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. during the seasonal transition period (the ship changes their weekly trips from Alaska in the summer to Hawaii and warmer locations in the winter), so we got to spend one night on the ship and it cost about as much as a nice hotel room. Plus, we had three meals included, along with all the fun of hanging out on a cruise ship.

Friday, Sept. 17, we drove up to Seattle and spent the night with Chris' uncle Bruce and his two enthusiastic dogs, Bumper (shown at right with Chris) and Maddie. We wanted to get on the boat around noon, so the following day we only spent a few minutes allowing the dogs to burrow under our bedsheets (Bumper insisted, even though he is not as petite as he thinks he is) before we took off and parked the car at King Street Station. We took a cab to Pier 91 where we waited in several long lines to check in. Chris ran into an old high school classmate, whom we awkwardly passed in the line several times. What exactly is the protocol for that? We said hi, but is there any standard guidelines for what you should do each time you pass them in line? Do you have to make small talk at each intersection?

Anyway, our confusion and puzzlement were short-lived, because when we got to our check-in desk we discovered that we had been upgraded from a stinky standard D-category stateroom with just a little window on deck 2's main floor to a fabulous private A-category veranda suite with our own balcony all the way up on deck 6. Suck it, steerage! We don't wait in lines, and we don't spend our nights in steerage!

After we explored our room, we ran over to the dining room and caught lunch at the last second that they were still serving. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch of salmon, ziti, chocolate mousse cake and fruit tart - so, in addition to not waiting lines and spending our nights in steerage, we also don't eat on the lido deck at the infectious disease buffet! However, after lunch, we did enjoy drinks on the lido - mojitos and a sidecar - as Chris narrowly beat me at cribbage. And can you believe that they took photos for such a short cruise? Well, they did, so of course we had to go to the photo gallery to check out our prints.

After we had a loverly dinner in the dining room (yummy penne, eggplant cannelloni, toffee and apple strudel) with what appeared to be the cast of the Russian version of "Jersey Shore", we met up with the ship's photographer, Andreea, whom we had met on our first cruise. We'd been keeping in touch with her on facebook since our first cruise, so she was expecting to see us - we chatted over tea, and afterwards, she hooked us up with some of the photos of us that were at the photo gallery (wink wink!). It was nice to see a familiar face amongst a sea of so many strangers (except for Chris' high school class mate, of course, which was just a bit awkward).

On Sunday, disembarkation started bright and early (ok, it wasn't bright, since it was still pretty much dark outside). We ordered room service to arrive between 6:30 and 7:00 am, and at approximately 6:29 we got the knock on our door and the general PA announcement telling everyone to get off the boat according to their disembarkation group. Since we were in group 23 we at least had time to eat our breakfast, but we were off the boat with our packs on our backs by 7:30. Yawn! We had to go through Canadian customs, and were greeted by a smart-ass agent who cheerfully referred to us as being from "Vancouver Jr." I looked over at Chris and almost wanted to start chanting "fight! fight! fight! fight!" but since we were going to have to do a lot of walking, I thought it might be best to conserve our energy.

We had to take some sort of bus through the port terminal, and then we took a taxi to Stanley Park. We didn't really have a plan for the day, other than to "explore the great international city of Vancouver, B.C." Unfortunately, there's not much happening on Sunday at 7:30 in the morning, so Stanley Park was a good choice for us - we walked around the eastern side of the park as it started to rain, and then took a bunch of pictures at the totem pole display. After milling about for an acceptable amount of time, we walked back to the central part of the island to the Vancouver Aquarium, which is actually a pretty cool place. In addition to the standard fish exhibits, they also had a large section dedicated to the marine life of that area, a tropical rainforest section (with bats, a sloth, and tortoises), and a 4D movie about ocean life. Plus they had sea otters, particularly one named Milo. He really liked to eat!

After the aquarium, we took another taxi to the west side of the city, near English Bay, and shared fish and chips at the Boathouse - yum! We reluctantly strapped our heavy backpacks on (even though what we really wanted to do was take a nap) and started walking southeast through the very colorful Davies neighborhood. We jogged east through Robson, then southerly to Chinatown, where we spent some time walking through the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. Incidentally, I discovered that mastering the Chinese yo-yo is a whole lot harder than it looks, and that it is quite possible to bash yourself in unfortunate places with either/both the yoyo part or the sticks. I'm not sure I'm going to try *that* again.

After that, we walked west to the train station, where there were more very long lines and no upgrades available to business class. But that was actually ok, because once we were on our train, we found our seats to be quite roomy and nice - not at all like traveling on an airplane! Although the drinks were just as spendy - I enjoyed two rather large white Russians (courtesy of Christopher), a couple of episodes of The Office (season 6) on Chris' laptop, and a nice nap after watching the sunset as we traveled back down to Seattle. I was briefly disturbed by a customs agent who came on at the boarder crossing - he asked us what we had purchased during our time in Canada, and my response was to look at the food wrappers on our fold-out trays and tell him "you're lookin' at it." Grumpy when I get woken up from a good nap, duh!!!

We were back in Seattle by 10:30 pm, and since we had parked the car right at the train station, we were back on the road in short order. We drove down to Portland, and were in bed by 1:30 am. It was a busy trip and a long weekend, but we had a really great time seeing fancy new international places. You can check out more pictures in the slideshow at right, or by clicking here. Whew!

A Loverly Weekend in Waldport

2010-09-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

I know it's getting to be a little late, but I wanted to tell you about the splendid weekend that Chris and I had together in the beginning of September. My friend Julie, from grad school, invited us to her wedding so we took the opportunity to make a weekend of it and enjoy another little town on the Oregon coast.

Saturday, September 4, we wished Abbey a very happy first birthday (ok, Jesse only grudgingly wished her a happy birthday, but he got some wet food out of the deal so he wasn't entirely unhappy about it) and headed west. We drove through Newburg, Dundee, and Newport, reminiscing about the excellent times we had there during previous long weekends and spring break. Ahhh, the memories! We arrived at the Cliff House B&B in Waldport and found it most remarkable...a fantastic view of the ocean and bay, along with friendly dogs and an incredible assortment of lace doilies covering most horizontal surfaces. Chris reserved the suite for us, which included vaulted ceilings, a private balcony overlooking the ocean, and a ginormous bathroom (complete with hot tub) that had mirrors covering EVERY surface except for the toilet seat cover. You might not believe it, but there are some angles that you might not prefer to view yourself from, and I discovered several of them that weekend!

We ate dinner at the Drift Inn in Yachats, under a ceiling of decorative umbrellas while listening to the modern Hawaiian-polka fusion stylings of two men armed with a Casio keyboard and a microphone. After dinner we went back to the B&B and practiced our putting skills (yes, for real, not a metaphor) while the sun set over the ocean. But that's where I'll stop for now...

On Sunday, Chris and I enjoyed an amazing breakfast (cooked by Sharon, the prioprietress of the Cliff House) consisting of smoked salmon quiche and home-fries, home-made muffins and scones. In the early afternoon we drove east out to Tidewater Falls Resort where Julie and Perry had their wedding - it looked like many people camped, and that the party had been going for at least a couple of days. I met up with several other friends from grad school whom I hadn't seen in many years, including Jill, Audrey, and Andie, who came with her partner Rob. He cracked our shit up, and definitely sufficed for the evening's entertainment in my book. And, if I can say so, I think that he became Chris' new idol of sorts. Even Julie's old dog Metzli was there - skulking in her familiar border collie way that I recognized from Colorado. The wedding was a simple and beautiful ceremony that took place under paper lanterns and a mirrored disco ball (I would expect nothing less), and was followed by hula hooping (how does Jill manage to defy gravity in such a nonchalant kind of way???), salmon, and wine wine wine by the bonfire. Congrats, Julie and Perry - we had an awesome time at your wedding!

Monday was Labor Day, so we had the day off. We enjoyed another delicious Cliff House breakfast, this time of cheese blintzes and more baked goods (at 8:30 sharp! don't be late!). After packing up and waiting until the last possible moment to leave (there might have been another quick soak in the hot tub), we said our goodbyes and commenced our drive north. We stopped for lunch at Pelican Brew Pub on Cape Kiwanda, sharing fish tacos and humongous onion rings by the sea.

For an added bonus to our trip, as we drove north we stopped in Tillamook and toured the World Famous Tillamook Cheese Factory! I milked a plastic cow, and Chris bought me a magnet that said "Easy Rider".

Which I guess just about sums up my role as the passenger on our weekend adventure!

I think my hands still hurt!

2010-09-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

Chris and I have been taking advantage of deals in Portland and Vancouver through Groupon and Living Social, which in my opinion, are Awe-Some. First of all, you get ideas for fun things to do or places to visit that you might not've otherwise known about. Second, you get to do/buy these things at a pretty good price. So yippee! If you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend Groupon and Living Social.

And yes, I'm still working for the Fish and Wildlife Service - I've not (yet) decided to change careers and enter into the social media advertising realm, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, I bought a Living Social deal good for four passes at a local bouldering gym. It has been easily over a year (maybe 2?) since I last put on my climbing shoes and tied a chalk bag around my waist. Bouldering was fun, but I still enjoy being tied into a rope and climbing up up up instead of climbing sideways, up until you realize it's no longer safe without a rope, and then down again. The kids wall was the best because when you got to the top you could take the slide down. The only bad part about the kids wall was all the kids that were in our way. Dang kids!

I've got my concentration face on...

And I think I can still smell the rental shoes there. The whole place smelled like someone tried to smoke a cigar that contained rolled up sweaty feet.

What's next, you ask? This Sunday, Chris and I will be taking a 5.5 hour scenic wine-tasting tour of Willamette Valley via limousine with a couple of friends. Only $40 per person, through Living Social!

A few more bellydance pics for you...

2010-08-30T20:55:00.001-07:00

About a week ago I did another photo shoot for Darcy, for her henna business. Here are a few of the better pictures...who'd have thought that it's actually quite fun getting all painted up with sparkles and henna and then fluttering about in jingly costumes?!

In case you're wondering, the Photoshop skills are all mine, baby! Darcy's going to blow up the photos to poster-size for her booth, which she brings to festivals and fairs. Neato, huh?

San Antonio A-Go-Go!

2010-08-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Question: Given the unreasonably hot temperatures in San Antonio, why don't we see more spontaneous human combustions among San Antonians?

Answer: Because the humidity is so damn high that the combustion process is pretty much stifled upon ignition. However, we do observe frequent cases of humans literally melting in the area...

Let's face it - 100+ F temperatures are dumb. Which makes me super happy that I live in the very smart Pacific Northwest, where temperatures are usually not that high (except for this coming weekend...dang it!!!). However, when your excellent boyfriend, whom you miss very much, is in San Antonio for two weeks on active duty, your urge to visit him for the weekend might suppress any common sense you have to avoid super hot climates. If you can believe it, I was struck by such an affliction this past weekend when I visited Chris, who has to spend two weeks filling in for the Fort Sam Houston army band, which went on annual leave (clever band - they picked the hottest two weeks to get out of town!).

We visited the River Walk:

And went to Sea World:

And visited the River Walk again:

And then the Alamo:

And then I returned home in search of my sanity, which probably melted away at some point during the weekend. But in all honesty, I'm glad I got to go visit Chris - I will be even happier when he returns home! You can view more of my fabulous San Antonio pictures in the slide show at right, or by clicking here.

Want to support a great cause?

2010-08-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Sure you do! My friend, Rebecca, is celebrating five years of being cancer-free by climbing to the top of Mt. Adams. During the past five years she has been supported by (and in-turn supports) an organization called Casting for Recovery, which is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports breast cancer survivors through a program that combines fly-fishing, counseling, and medical information to build a focus on wellness instead of illness.

Rebecca is planning her climb this September, and the donations she receives from climb sponsors (she's hoping to get $2000) will be given to Casting for Recovery to support other cancer survivors. Please visit Rebecca's Hike-n-Fish blog to find out more about her climb, or click HERE to donate. Thanks!

Mt. Adams, by Rebecca Young

An Evening with the Freak Mountain Ramblers!

2010-08-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

And, by Freak Mountain Ramblers, I don't mean my family...although my family was there with me. Anne and Paul invited me to join them at an outdoor concert just a few blocks from where I live, so I took them up on it. Anne and Paul brought a picnic dinner and my niece, I brought warm chocolate chip cookies (to win over my niece), and the Freak Mountain Ramblers brought the Grateful Dead cover music and washed up hippy dancing with juggle sticks. It was a nice change for an evening - the weather was perfect, and it was so close to my house! Ahhhh...I love northwest Portland...

Yup, he's still going!

OMG, It's been too long...

2010-08-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long it had been since I'd been camping, or sleeping outside in some manner. I think I was with Cecily the last time that happened...remember that, girl? It seems so long ago! Consequently, I finally decided it was time to get back out there. Chris and I picked a special weekend (his birthday, which was July 26) and a picturesque place (recommended to me from my supervisor), packed up, and hit the road.

Our destination was the Upper Lewis River in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We started out by driving up the Columbia River Gorge, where we had incredible views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River.

The overlook at Cape Horn

Next, we turned north and followed the Wind River up through the national forest. We stopped at the Carson National Fish Hatchery for a quick peek (they were closed for maintenance) and then continued up further into the basin where we had a spectacular view of Mt. St. Helens. This year is the 30th anniversary of the eruption, so it was pretty dang cool seeing pictures of what it looked like before, during and after, and then the view during our trip.

Mt. St. Helens from Gifford Pinchot National Forest

We eventually picked up the Lewis River, which we followed in a general north-east direction. We stopped at Lower Falls, which was spectacular. There were signs all over the place educating people about threatened bull trout, which are in the Lewis River, and happen to be a fish I work with quite a lot in my job. It was really interesting seeing the habitat they live in - that water is cold. Brrrr!!! Anyway, the Lower Falls marks the historic end of the line for salmon returning up to spawning grounds since they couldn't get up past the waterfall. Native Americans used to fish there when the salmon returned, but fish passage issues and depleted stocks have resulted in the absence of salmon returns there now.

View of Lower Falls on the Lewis River, Washington

We continued up the Lewis River, and after driving around for a while we finally found our targeted campground, at Twin Falls. Someone had removed the sign from the main road, so it was difficult to find. I was worried that we wouldn't get a site (there were only 5 or so), and since the campground was free, I was sure that we'd be out of luck in the middle of camping season. But it was no problem - we got a fantastic site right on the river. Our site was down an embankment so we didn't hear noise from any of the other campers, who appeared to be a small group of under-aged kids celebrating a birthday (Tankimus Prime, apparently) the best way they knew how - by sitting in lawn chairs in the river, drinking vast quantities of beer, and smoking lots of pot out of a hookah pipe. They were friendly though, and the river was so loud we didn't really hear much from them.

Our campsite on the Lewis River at the Twin Falls campground.

We cooked up "better with cheddar" pork sausages, drank a bottle of wine (what were we thinking when we bought that ultra-sweet blackberry wine???), and then moved on to s'mores over the camp fire. We slept in my tent, but I don't think either of us got very much sleep (get your minds out of the gutter people, the ground was really hard and the river was very loud!). The morning light was beautiful on the river, and we were packed up and out of there by 9:30 (the Tankimus Prime group was still passed out).

Mmmmm...pork sausage with cheese inside! Nice and crispy...

We skipped over to the White Salmon River (amazing views of Mt. Adams!), following it down through the town of White Salmon, then crossed the Columbia River to Hood River where we had lunch at Big Horse Brewery. Because it was Chris' birthday, he had two beers and I let him eat most of my corn on the cob!

Lovely Mt. Adams

Cheers!

Our camping trip ended much too quickly, but next time I'm hoping that we'll get to spend more than one night out in the woods. Chris has proven to be a very worthy camping partner...maybe next time we'll try a short backpacking trip! In case you didn't get enough, you can view more pictures in the slideshow at right (titled Chris' Birthday Weekend), or by clicking here. I think that Chris had a good birthday weekend - I know I did!

M is for...wait for it...

2010-07-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

...Montana! Ha - I'll bet you thought I was going to say M is for Marci! But I didn't - I know, shocking, right? Well, it still is for Marci, but as I initially stated, M is also for Montana. Which is where I went just a couple of days after Chris and I returned from Alaska (July 13-15). I flew out to Kalispell, which is just outside of Glacier National Park. I'd only driven through Montana once, several years ago, so the whole place was pretty much new to me and I will say that I quickly learned that M is also for Magnificent. Yes, Montana is indeed Magnificent, Majestic, Marvelous, and M-pressive!

My trip was only Tuesday through Thursday, and much of the time was spent in a meeting room in Whitefish, just a stone's throw from Kalispell. I was there for a bull trout recovery planning meeting and while it was slightly dry (as opposed to wet, which fish tend to need), our group did get outside one afternoon for a drive up Grave Creek in the Kootenai watershed. We were only a few miles from the Canadian border, which you can see in this picture - there's a line cut through the trees to mark the interface of our countries. How'd you like that job, trekking through some of the most rugged land in our continent to cut down and maintain a tree-free line?

The Canadian border from the headwaters of the Wigwam Basin.

The following day I was able to spend a couple of hours driving around the south end of Glacier National Park. I found Lake McDonald and the views of the mountains particularly stunning, but the drive through the forest was interesting too.

Lake McDonald, with several peaks in the background (from left to right, Mt. Vaught, Mt. Cannon, Mt. Brown, Little Matterhorn, and Edwards Mountain).

Large portions of the forest had burned in wildfires which made the trees look like skeletal toothpicks - you might think this would be not so picturesque, but you could see the topography of the landscape really well instead of just driving down a thickly wooded corridor. Additionally, seeing the forest regenerating with new growth and baby trees was a reminder that forest fires are a natural part of ecosystem processes, and that they benefit the native species that have evolved to survive with fire as a part of their environment.

One of the burn areas. Note the burned, branchless trees in the background; the vibrant green groundcover is nearly a monoculture of lodgepole pine treelings that are about 2-3 feet high.

Anyway, the water there was incredible - aqua blue from the glacial till - and we took advantage of a shady spot next to the Flathead River to enjoy lunch (I accidentally left my prescription glasses there and had to return for them after realizing they were missing a half hour down the road...oops!). I'm glad I got to see the area, and now I understand why bull trout like to live there!

McDonald Creek - note the beaver lodge on the right that has been there for decades! I'd like to live there too if I were a beaver...

A is for Alaska!

2010-07-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

Ah, a free evening to catch up on my blog! I've done a bit of traveling in the past few weeks, so I'll start with Alaska. Hey - I went to Alaska! Chris and I took a cruise on Holland America's MS Rotterdam for a well-deserved vacation. It even had elements of adventure! We had a fantastic time - the weather was mostly craptastic, but it was still completely beautiful and we were prepared with the proper attire, so no big deal. We saw amazing scenery and lots of wildlife including whales (from our stateroom window!), sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, puffins, bald eagles, jellyfish, and even a bear. Woo hoo! Chris and I took a ton of pictures, which you can view either here or in the slideshow to the right. I'll include a few pics in this post, but they're just the highlights, of which there were too many to describe in detail here. Chris and I can't wait for our next trip together...which we're already thinking about. The Galapagos Islands, perhaps???

July 3: leave Seattle

July 4: at sea, formal night

July 5: Juneau (float plane trip to Taku Lodge and Mt. Roberts Tramway)

July 6: Hubbard Glacier

July 7: Sitka (coast tour via ocean raft), 2nd formal night

July 8: Ketchikan

July 9: day at sea, stop in Victoria, B.C.

July 10: back in Seattle!

Really? For this Dress? Really.

2010-06-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Tell me this is not the most hideous dress you have ever seen. And I will tell you that, in fact, it was purchased from Bloomingdales.com for nearly $300. The dress is not mine, nor could you pay me $300 to wear it. Nor would I pass it along to any of you fine folks for free.

The reason you, dear readers, are subjected to looking upon this eyesore is because some *ass monkey* took it upon themselves to steal my debit card number (I still don't know exactly how that happened, since I still have the card) and make several online purchases. Two from Bloomingdales, and one from the Apple Online Store. The purchases overdrew my checking account and I received an overdraft protection notice shortly after the second Bloomingdales purchase was made, so I was on the phone with my bank immediately. They actually were great - they refunded the money to my account, canceled my debit card, issued me a temporary debit card, and opened up a fraud investigation.

I also called the police about the matter, since it was unlikely that the bank would actually ever pursue a criminal investigation because the amount of money was so small (just under $500 for bloomies and I don't know how much from Apple, since the charge was pending for $1.00 when I canceled my account). I wanted to know how people could get away with ordering something online, having it delivered, and *not* get caught. It turns out that they can give a fake address and when the order is returned to the shipping warehouse, they get an email letting them know that the delivery address was incorrect but that they can come to the shipping facility to pick up the package. Or, they can have things delivered to a P.O. box. And, it's fairly easy to get credit card numbers to sell or give away - at restaurants when you give your credit card away to be run, sometimes an employee will just make a copy of it to keep. Or at a gas station. Or anywhere, really. So keep an eye on your card!

The detective called Bloomingdales to get information on the purchases, which had billing addresses in Kentucky and Texas (i.e., fake addresses), and a delivery address in Alameda, CA. But apparently, someone got nervous because they did a little research to find my work address, and changed the billing address to my work address. And for the second Bloomingdales purchase, they also changed the delivery address to my work address. Which is how I got the dress (which I plan to return, since it is not mine and I didn't pay for it). Maybe they saw how quickly I caught the fraudulent activity and got scared; maybe they decided they didn't want the dress after all - I don't know. But it really pisses me off that Bloomingdales let the purchase go through even though the billing address didn't match the one on my check card account...if they don't need to match, why do we even provide that information when we place an online order???

So this begs the question...why would anyone risk prosecution, commit identity theft, screw up someone's finances, all for such an ugly, hideous dress? The answer, I think, is that there are people out there who have horrible taste, not only in fashion, but in the way they choose to live their lives, with little regard for others and no concept of being accountable for one's own actions. These are the leeches on our society, and they try to disguise themselves as normal humans with fancy clothes and expensive toys. It's difficult to tell them apart from hard-working responsible decent folk, but evidently they often wear excessively ugly dresses.

So good luck with the whole karma thing, buddy - let me know how that works out for you. You apparently know where to contact me.

Superstar!!!

2010-06-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Much like Molly Shannon as her Mary Katherine Gallagher character, I have secretly yearned to be a superstar: worshiped by audiences, adored by fans, and lusted after by teenage boys who have posters of me above their beds. And yes, dear admirers, that day has come - for I have survived my very first bellydance performance.

Ok, I'll admit that I was a bit nervous. I've been taking neo-tribal bellydance classes at Euphoria Studios for a while now and about a month ago we started rehearsing for the annual student show. There are three beginning 2 neo-tribal classes (which is the one that I take) that performed together to do a veil and improv piece; I had my doubts as to whether it would all come together or not because we hadn't all practiced together in the performance studio (no mirror to watch everyone else!). But in the end, all of us coalesced into a colorful veil-spinning group that made it through the performance without anyone tripping on a veil or passing out. And I didn't even get blocked by anyone trying to hog the spotlight from *me*! As if they even could...hee hee hee! :oP

Chris took some really nice pictures of our group and the other performers, and I was happy to have him in the audience cheering me on. Yes, I had my concentration face on, but I tried to remember to smile and shake it like the best of them! It really was a lot of fun and I hope that I get another opportunity to perform for such a supportive and enthusiastic audience.

A Sunny Weekend in Seattle?

2010-06-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I've gotten a little bit behind in my blogging. But I'm still here, right, so that's a vast improvement from last year (and by the way, I've already surpassed the total number of blog entries that I wrote in all of 2009. Yay, me!). So in an effort to catch up, I thought I'd tell you the story of a sunny little weekend adventure that Chris and I took up in Seattle a few weeks ago.

We drove up on the afternoon of Friday, May 7 and made excellent time, narrowly missing the closing time of Starbucks (whew!) by convincing the drive-through attendant that he should definitely let us order a strawberry-banana vivanno smoothie. Additionally, I tried my first crispy bean burrito at Taco Time, which was excessively yummy and aided in padding my ass so that I am better equipped to enjoy long car rides. Chris had made reservations at the Hotel Monaco, right downtown, and we were lucky enough to receive a free upgrade to a suite...it even came with fancy animal-print robes and free honor bar treats (up to $10 value, please)!

On Saturday we summoned our car from the valet (Chris dials the valet...ring ring..."Hello, Mr. Sigman - will you be needing your vehicle this morning?"), who was named Mario and who, I'm fairly certain, was an undercover secret agent spy who only had the valet job so that he could grab a car to make a quick getaway which would likely involve jumping over an open drawbridge. Seriously, Mario was a bad. ass. with his shaved head, fancy suit, and little secret agent earpiece with the curly wire down the back of his neck. I decided that it would not be in our best interest to mess with him, so Chris tried to tip him well.

Anyway, we headed out for a delicious breakfast at Glo's (coffee cake and huevos rancheros...yum!), did some shopping, then walked around the International District where we explored Uwajimaya, a huge Asian grocery store with all manner of sea creatures (yes, to eat), vegetables, boxed and canned goods, and household objects. They also had a food court area where I bought a couple of pork buns, but I can't say that they were among the best I've had.

I also was told not to take pictures of the roasted ducks hanging behind a counter. But take that, Uwajimaya! I got me a hanging duck picture!

Later that afternoon we drove north of the city just a bit to say hello to Chris' dad, Walt, who still lives in the house Chris lived in as a kid. It was nice to meet him, and the garden in his back yard was amazing - I especially liked all the rhododendrons (blooming in purple, orange, and white) and the several varieties of Japanese maple he had. After that, Chris and I drove down to Bothell to his mom and grandmother's house where we met up with them and his Uncle Bruce. My hair was passionately molested by one of Cynthia's kitties (Peep), who apparently has some sort of uncontrollable fetish. We went out for a Mother's Day dinner at Grazi's and enjoyed some delicious Italian fare. I don't remember much beyond that because I think I was in some sort of food coma. So full!!!

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day - warm and sunny. The day before, I learned that Chris had never actually eaten dim sum, so I found a reputable dim sum restaurant in the International District and away we went. Jade Garden was completely packed, but Chris and I were one of the few non-Asian patrons so I considered that a good sign. In the waiting area there were all these aquarium tanks full of crabs and fish and things that were still alive but waiting to be eaten. After about a half hour (Seinfield, party of four!) we finally got a table. The dim sum carts did their little parade and before we knew it, we were stuffed with *good* pork buns, shrimp balls, and other tasty morsels (but no chicken feet or black jello; although the pork noodles were flaccid and slimy). Success!

After brunch we (so sadly) checked out of our room at the Hotel Monaco and said farewell to Mario. But since it was such a nice day we decided to explore Pike Place Market, which was super-crowded with people who were also out enjoying the day.

It was a fine, fine way to spend the weekend, and I had a good time meeting Chris' family. We'll definitely go back to the Hotel Monaco and I recommend it highly! If you want to see all the pictures we took that weekend, you can view them in the slideshow at right, or here.

Mo' Modeling, Mo' Modeling, Mo' Modeling!

2010-06-03T10:30:00.001-07:00

In case you've been wondering how the whole belly dancing thing has been going, it's been great! I'm taking a couple of classes each week between a few different instructors, all different, all amazing dancers. Ziggy (below, red hair) got me into modeling for an online belly dance clothing company; we did a couple of photoshoots in May, and it was a lot of fun getting all fancied up in clothes I would otherwise never get to wear! Here are a few shots of me doing my thang.

Ok, this last one didn't make the catalog; I was just goofing around and the photographer snapped the shot. Dang it! That will teach me...maybe...

Playing Catch-Up

2010-05-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Yikes! Time has slipped away from me folks, and I realized that with all the stuff going on right now I forgot to actually write about my spring break trip that I took with Chris. I posted a slide show of all the pictures on this blog a while back (you can see the pictures here), but I totally forgot to give you the inside scoop! So here goes...even if it is old news by now.

Sunday, March 28:
We started our road trip by stopping by the Hip Chicks Do Wine tasting room in Newberg where we sampled several yummy wines. However, we wanted to check out a few other places that were going to close at 5 pm so we kept moving down the road to our bed and breakfast, the amazing Abbey Road Farm B&B. The guest rooms are in converted grain silos and the grounds are amazing! Definitely check out the pictures. After checking in (we were the only people there during our stay), we went to downtown Carlton and stopped in at the Barking (a.k.a. Barfing) Frog (we weren't impressed), and the Tyrus Evan tasting rooms. Then a nice dinner at Cielo Blue - terrific bruschetta and it was free, since the waitress spilled my water in my pasta and comped us the appetizer.

Monday, March 29:
While I'm not normally a breakfast person, I was looking forward to a farm-fresh meal. John and Judi (the owners of the B&B, not my parents) cooked us up a fancy meal of grapefruit (topped with toasted coconut, maple syrup and a raspberry) and crepes (with whipped cream, strawberries and kiwi). John went through an exhaustive list of the tasting rooms and wineries we should visit, and talked about all the people running the wine scene in the Willamette Valley. He knew A LOT about wine and we felt a bit overwhelmed and baffled after all his recommendations. So instead of heading out for wine at 10 am, we decided to tour the grounds, which consisted of us harassing the chickens (ok, so we mainly fed them cinnamon raisin bread), making friends with the goats (we'll see you tomorrow morning, ladies!), and having John show us around the Agrivino Event Center he built. After, we headed out to The Carlton Winemaker's Studio where JP gave us a nice intro to the local Pinots (we liked Lazy River and Britton's Basalt Block) - they have several wineries featured at that tasting room, so it was a nice tour. We then went just up the road to Cana's Feast to sample their wines...and by the end of that visit we had blown our wine budget (but we have lots of really good wine to enjoy at home!). We drove through Dundee and stopped at the Dundee Bistro for dinner, then went back to the Abbey Road Farm for our second night.

Tuesday, March 30:
We managed to get ourselves up nice and early to meet Ricardo, the goat tender, for some good old-fashioned goat milking fun. At 7 am it didn't feel like so much of a vacation, but hey, we did want our farm-lite experience. Sunflower the goat was very patient with Chris and my unexperienced hands, but we got the hang of it eventually. After all four goats were milked, we took our pail of milk down to the kitchen to Judi who set it up to pasteurize. We had a delicious breakfast of granola with yogurt and berries, VERY fresh eggs, chicken-apple sausage, potatoes, and zucchini bread with lemon-zest goat cheese.

After that it was time for us to head on down the road. Down that road we made a stop at the Brigittine Monastary (their website has an E-zine...an E-zine!!!) where we were greeted by a very friendly cat who led us to the chocolate truffle sales room. It was tended by a monk who had apparently not quite taken a vow of silence, but who made some sort of promise to use as few words as possible during the day. So we bought a couple boxes of truffles, nodded to the monk, and said goodbye to the cat.

We ate lunch at The Beanery in Corvallis, then visited my good friends Jeremy, Dana, and Autumn Monroe for a couple of hours. It was sooooo nice to see some old friends, whom I'm sure will be in my life for a very long time. They all looked well and I was happy to see that Autumn already has quite the biological vocabulary at such a young age! After that, we kept driving south and stayed the night at the Eugene Hilton. Nothing of note there, really, other than the fact that Sarah Palin would speak at that very same Hilton a month or so later. Boooo!!!

Wednesday, March 31:
We were kind of done with wine tasting (by that point our palettes were very confused) so we decided to head to the coast and stay in Newport for the next couple of days. After leaving Eugene we stopped to see a dreary road-side glassblower in Mapleton, activated my new (i.e., Chris' old) iPhone in Florence (yay!!!), then drove North and checked in at Green Gables B&B in Newport (we've stayed there before and liked it so much we decided to stay again). My friend Julie (from grad school at CSU) lives in Newport so I gave her a call and we met her and her boyfriend Perry at Quimby's for dinner and drinks - I hadn't seen her since 2002! She hasn't changed a bit and it was awesome catching up with her. After, Chris and I checked out a whale skeleton sculpture at a beach park, watched Stardust in our room, then...well, maybe I should just stop there.

Thursday, April 1:
Oh, Thursday. Spring break was going by too fast! We finished watching Stardust (which is a very good movie, by the way), and enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the Italian Cafe (part of the B&B) with food made by sisters Rhonda and Yolanda (or Rho and Yo, depending on how bold you are). We had fresh-baked orange-cranberry scones and sweet rolls, and a cranberry sausage quiche which was amazing...

Later, we went down to Newport's waterfront which is apparently undergoing a major facelift judging by all the construction. We stocked up on our decade's supply of salt-water taffy (2 lbs, a variety of flavors), checked out the sea lions on the pier, and window shopped. We had dinner at the Italian cafe - manicotti, chicken parmesean, and orange-chocolate cheesecake - YUM!!! We enjoyed a second night at Green Gables, and had a storm roll in which was reminiscent of the storm we experienced during our first stay. Very romantic!

Friday, April 2:
Breakfast was soooo good the day before that we had the very same breakfast on Friday. It was sad that our vacation was almost over, but as you can see, we took some good pictures and will remember it for a long time. Plus, on our drive home we had Combos! Pizzeria and pretzel flavor - yippee!!!

Uh oh...boobies and bellies ahead!

2010-05-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

I had some reservations about posting these next couple of photos on my blog, but I figured that if you've been reading Marcilicious this long, well, you probably have a pretty strong stomach and/or good gag reflex control. Don't worry - you won't get to see my actual boobies, just my bra, er... bellydancing costume, complete with belly. I started taking a new bellydance class and met a woman (Darcy) who has a henna tattoo business (Lady Henna - check it out!) and she asked if she could henna me up and put the pictures on her website. Woo hoo! Free henna and pictures! So, I headed out to her house and got all fancied up and Darcy applied henna goo to my tum tum and hand, which took about 2 hours. The pictures were taken on Fairview lake, and it was FREEZING (good thing that bra was padded, y'all, or you would've gotten to see even more of me than I'd be comfortable with). But I got a couple of good pics out of it, and Darcy is super talented and nice. If you're in the Portland/Vancouver and want some henna work done for your performance or whatever, please give her a call!

PS - I'm still working on a post for you about spring break, but it's long and there are a lot of pictures to sort through. And there will be video even! Of chickens and goats being milked! I know you're excited...I'm working on it, so keep your shirt on (or at least your bra).

A New and Less Interactive Marcilicious Blog Feature!

2010-04-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Alright, folks - since my attempt at interactive blogging failed miserably (only SEVEN of you bothered to respond to my poll question about your favorite Girl Scout Cookie...for real...) I've decided to implement a new feature here at A Very Marcilicious Blog. It is a feature that will require much less effort on your part, aside from what energy it might take to lazily move your eyes from left to right (hell - and if that's too much effort, just cover up one eye and use the other one) to read three lines of text. Yes, that's right: I will be writing a weekly haiku for all my lucky readers to enjoy! You can find the weekly haiku off to the right side of this blog. The topics will be somewhat random, but feel free to leave a comment or send me an email if there's a subject you'd especially like to see addressed with a haiku.

And for all who might've forgotten, a haiku is a three-line poem consisting of five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five again in the last. Got it? Enjoy!

So long, dear pup!

2010-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we had to say goodbye to Teddy Bear, my pup who almost made it to age 17. Wow - can you believe he lived that long? He'd been having health problems for a while, but in the end I think it was the arthritis in his back and hind legs that got him - he apparently slipped and injured his legs and yelped every time he tried to sit down. I feel confident that it was the right time for him, and I'm so grateful that my mom, Nik, and Uncle Danny were there with him to the end. I'm sad that I could not be there. So, just for the Tedster, here's a little poem to send him on his way:

Ode to Teddy Bear

O' Teddy Bear, my geriatric pup
When we first met you were quite a hiccup
For my life was simple with two easy cats
Then you came along with your high maintenance combats
You whined and you followed and begged and were rude
All in the hopes of a morsel of my own human food.
But I realized soon that you just needed care,
So I walked you, fed you, and groomed your shaggy hair.
It was not long before you were my dog
Or I was your person (who remembers in this fog?)
You were ten years old when I brought you along
With me to SoCal - I didn't think you were so strong
That you would survive all these several last years
But you did it, you lived through the blood, sweat and tears.
Sometimes I resented having you but now I'm glad
That I gave you more than you would've otherwise had.
I wish I could've given you a fuller life
Because you deserved better than days of dull strife.
My saddest moment came when I left you with Mom
But it was also the best because she helped you along
And she gave you attention, walks and love
And treated you with the softest kid gloves.
I hope you enjoyed your last several months
In doggy retirement, on all relative fronts.
I hope that your final journey was peaceful in pass -
And that your soul is sunny, playing in grass.
I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you in the end
But you're in my heart, my short, furry, doe-eyed, devoted dear friend.

Just a quickie...

2010-04-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

I *do* have some fun things to write about, but since I'm a bit pressed on time, I'll just leave you with this gem and say happy Monday. Now I've got to get back to mine (Monday, that is)...enjoy!

Montana Pole Dance!

Like it was even going to be close...

2010-04-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

There you have it, folks - samoas are in fact the best Girl Scout cookie EVER. Out of seven votes (ok, people, that is really pathetic in itself and I wonder why I even keep writing this blog...you're lucky I like you guys so much...) 4 people voted for samoas and 2 people voted for more samoas. One person voted for "other", and I happen to know that his favorite cookie is the tagalong (chocolate covered cookie with a peanut butter layer), but obviously, 2nd place wasn't even close. Viva la samoa!!!

Our Recycling Program: A Smashing Success!!!

2010-03-18T15:08:00.001-07:00

I'm so proud of the employees where I work. A few weeks ago, I noticed that there were plenty of recyclable items being thrown away in the trash in our break room, which prompted me to post a few signs pointing out that recyclable items should go in, well, the recycling containers that are about a foot away from the trash. I even used pictures of Terry Tate as motivators. I didn't think it was working very well because every now and then I'd still see a tin container or plastic cup in the trash; however, this morning's discovery has convinced me that indeed, there are some *very* dedicated recyclers in my office:

Ok, this obviously leads me to several questions. First, is someone really drinking vodka and making lemon drops at work? And second, why was I not invited to the party???

March Madness - that's Basketball, Right?

2010-03-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I don't know sports. At. All. When my supervisor invited me to participate in the NCAA March Madness team pool, I had little idea what he was talking about. I figured it was probably basketball-related, but really, I needed some help with this. I asked a coworker to please explain: what is a bracket? What are the numbers next to each team? This is the game with the bouncing orange ball, yes? Greg was pretty patient with my questions, thankfully, and started to explain numerous ways of picking teams - you can go with the random fill, or use the formula that takes into account past statistics, or you can base it on what other brackets people have filled out, or even check out Vegas odds. In my mind though, these things are much too complicated and will probably have little to do with who actually wins, so I've decided to go with my own method: pitted against one another, which team mascot would win?

I know this isn't a terribly novel approach, but I don't think my picks were ultimately that bad. Let's look at the results: Ohio State is clearly going to win the Midwest region because how can a buckeye lose? It's a friggin' nut. Those things are hard. If you chomp on them they will break your teeth, and I'll bet that a cowboy or aggie or running rebel being pelted with a load of buckeyes would turn tail and run. Especially the running rebel (what a dumb mascot in the first place! If you're a rebel, you're not going to run, you're going to stand your ground and fight). Ok, next, the Kansas State wildcats are going to take the West region because they are cats, and wild, so obviously they are the best. Yes, I know that there are panthers, cougars, and catamounts in this region, but the way I figure, the term "wildcat" includes all of these critters, and then-some. So easily, a pack of cats including lions, tigers, cougars, bobcats, lynx, and snow leopards is going to trounce any single predatory cat. So nice try, Pittsburgh, BYU, and Vermont - you can suck it! The Kentucky wildcats will dominate the East region based on the exact same logic, beating not one, but three teams of tigers (come on Clemson, Missouri, and Tennessee State - can we be a little more creative???). Finally, I predict that Purdue will win the South region because they are the boilermakers, and their mascot is a locomotive. And we know that a locomotive will completely demolish anything in its path, including spiders, blue devils, and the fighting Irish. Right?

So when you line up buckeyes vs. wildcats, I chose the Kansas State Wildcats to win (I know it goes a little against my original logic, but I'm a cat person), and between the boilermakers vs. Kentucky Wildcats, the locomotive has it. And overall, Purdue has got to be victorious. I know it's sad, but what cat is going to be able to stand up against a locomotive? And do you remember the Soul Train train? That train was funky. Another reason for victory - power and funk.

Wow, I guess those Maryland Terrapins never really had a chance! So sad...but that's what you get when you pick a wimpy team mascot.

Name that Mystery Ingredient!

2010-03-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

You might recall that in my previous post I mentioned we ate Sunday brunch at Joe's Cellar Diner. Which is suspicious right away, since the diner is not in a cellar. It's on the first floor of a corner building, well above-ground. So I'm not sure what the cellar refers to.

Unless, of course, it pertains to the storage of the main ingredient they use in their gravy. I ordered a side of it to go with my biscuit. It was very jiggly (like Jell-O), but instead of tasting fruity, it was savory. Remember that scene in "Better Off Dead" where John Cusack is sitting at the dinner table and his mom scoops up a blob of green goo and plops it onto his plate, then upon poking it with a fork, it slides off the plate all on its own as if it was off to destroy all in its path? It was kinda like that. Only less green and more peppery.

Look, it held up a spoon all on its own. My guess is that the mystery ingredient is plaster-of-paris. So now it's interactive-blogging-time: what's your guess? Submit your best speculation in a comment!

The Big Three-Six!

2010-03-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I know that turning 36 is a big deal for most people...it's such a benchmark in one's life...so when my friend Cecily from Denver wanted to come out for a visit over my birthday weekend I said "woo hoo! Let's do it!". And in fact, it was nice to see not just Cecily, but my friend Andrew from San Diego, and Chris (of course). It was an action-packed weekend, which I will attempt to briefly (or not so briefly, it's all relative) fill you in on here.

Thursday morning (Feb. 25th, my birthday), Chris presented me with a very nice bottle of wine, two gorgeous hand-blown wine glasses, and a fabulous orange Jersey Shore towel (GTL, that's what happens at the Jersey Shore, baby) (update: a week later he also gave me a purple/magenta dance top that I wanted - so thoughtful!). I had to go to work that day, which was also incredibly awesome (heh heh heh, rolling eyes now), but after work I met Chris at Melt on 21st right by my house for happy hour. Tasty tots and falafel sliders...yum! But that was just an appetizer really - we swung by the airport and picked up Cecily, whom I hadn't seen since our adventure in the Chiricauhuas, Thanksgiving 2008 (check out pictures here). Of course, Cecily looked exactly the same as always. Chris researched a few dinner places and we ended up at Siam Society - tasty noodles and hand-ground curry all around. When we got back to my place Chris revealed that he had purchased an angel food cake from - wait for it - a bakery. No cheesy grocery store cake for me! It was soooo good - it had a very light buttercream frosting with raspberry glaze over it, and it even said Happy Birthday Marci on it! What a sweetheart Chris is...awww...

I decided to take Friday off so that Cecily and I could try to find trouble exploring the fine city of Portland. We hopped on the streetcar right outside my apartment, which we rode to Powell's Books. I subsequently spent way too much money there, but then enjoyed some yummy pizza at Rocco's for lunch. We then got back on the streetcar and rode it down to the aerial tram, which we rode all the way to the top of the hill - even though it was kind of rainy out, the view was still amazing. We rode the tram back down, got on the streetcar again, then looped around and did some shopping at Buffalo Exchange (start: the Great Fedora Quest). We eventually did the entire streetcar circuit, ending up back at my place mid-afternoon.

Chris picked us up and we drove back downtown where we met up with my friend Andrew, who I used to work with in San Diego. He was in town for a conference so it was good to see him; the four of us walked to Henry's Tavern for dinner and a sampling of their amazing beer menu (over 100 taps!).

One of our prime objectives for Saturday was to find a fedora for Chris to wear that evening. We decided to hit a thrift store on Mississippi Avenue before my dance class, but alas - they were closed until noon. WTF??? Closed until noon on a Saturday? We waited at Fresh Pot in hopes of a surprise early opening, but that did not happen, so I outfitted Cecily in some bellydance garb and dragged her to my Beginning Neo-Tribal Bellydance 2 class. I think she may have been a bit nervous about it at first, but she has a strong dance background (ballet, tap, swing) so I knew she would have no problem...in fact, I envied her belly-roll skills! I just have belly rolls, no skills. But we had a good time there, nonetheless.

After class we met Chris on Hawthorne for some thrift store shopping. Cecily bought a dress for the evening, but even after scouring 3 stores, we couldn't come up with a fedora. We did, however, eat a slllooooowwww lunch at Por Que No which was quite delish (albeit a little stressful since I had to scarf as soon as the food arrived so I wouldn't get a parking ticket).

Cecily and I left Chris to come up with a fedora (and other outfit components) on his own, and later that afternoon, my brother Paul, Anne, and Adelaide came for a visit to my apartment. That kid sure is growing fast...and Abbey knows it (or as Adelaide calls her, "Dabby"). Clearly, the biggest draw for her in coming to my place is Dabby and the choo choo (aka the streetcar that runs down my street every 15 minutes).

The weekend highlight for me was definitely Saturday evening. I've alluded to us getting prepped for the night...and for good reason...I purchased tickets for me, Cecily, and Chris to go see The Royal Tease, a burlesque show at the Bossanova Ballroom on Burnside. We had reserved seating with dinner, so we decided to get all dressed up for the event. And as The Baroness says, "any occasion to dress is an occasion to over-dress". Following that advice, I went over the top, wearing a flashy red cocktail dress, short black wig, and very high heels. Cecily looked smashing in her blue dress, and Chris rocked it with a fedora he purchased at a non-thrift store - it was a combination of leather and striped material - an excellent choice!

The performance was pretty fabulous, with lots of tassels, pasties, T, and of course, A. I think my favorite performers were Charlotte Treuse (amazing tattoos), and Inga Ingenue, who did a really cool toy doll routine and an incredible performance with two giant pink feather fans. The only bummer of the night was that we were supposed to get dessert with our dinner (red velvet cake and cinnamon gelato), but that part of the meal never showed up. And my vegetarian polenta was kinda barfy too, but Chris shared his pork loin and yams so it was all good.

The following day was the last of Cecily's visit, as she had to hop on a plane first thing Monday morning to return to Denver. We enjoyed a nice(?) brunch at Joe's Cellar diner (mmm...egg yolk!), the ambiance of which was moodily enhanced by a non-stop musical marathon exclusively featuring Queen and Led Zeppelin. Chris then drove us via the Columbia River Scenic Highway to Crown Point State Park where we stopped at the Vista House, then to Multnomah Falls. It was a gorgeous day so there were plenty of people there, but it gave us excellent photo opportunities. We ended up back at Chris's house for dinner where he cooked up a delicious meal of home-made crab-cakes and put us up for the night (he lives closer to the airport than me). What a sweetheart!

I'm glad I have such good friends, and that they made my 36th birthday one to remember. If you want to see more pictures, there's a photo album slide show to the right, or you can click here. Thanks for hanging in there and reading this not-quite-so-brief blog entry!

Get it Right, Rogue!

2010-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

The poll results are in! 6 out of 8 people (75%) agree that if you are female you should use the "hops" restroom, and if you are male you should use the "barley" restroom. Which is what I think, too. In brewing, the floral part of the hops is used (I think), and flowers are generally associated with females since the flower contains the ovary...whereas barley is used in grain (or seed) form, which is more typically associated with males. But this is coming from a biologist. When the bartender at Rogue Brew House in Newport was queried, he responded that females correspond to barley because they are sweet, whereas males correspond to hops because they are bitter. However, I've known many people who exhibit the opposite gender stereotype. Therefore, I believe my biological reasoning for restroom designations to be superior and more accurate than the rationale used by Rogue. Ask any botanist and you will likely get a similar response. Me thinks Rogue will be soon be receiving a letter informing them of the results of this highly scientific poll!

Bacon Makes Everything Better!

2010-02-22T12:15:00.001-08:00

Wow - what a great bellydance show at The Blue Monk on Saturday night! It was quite the turnout to see the Offbeat Bellydancers strut, shimmy, and shake their stuff - Chris and I had a great time, and it was awesome to see my instructor perform along with many other dancers. Everyone definitely had their own style, and I must say that the white Russians were tasty as well.

But you're probably wondering where the bacon comes in, right? After the show, Chris and I were almost home when we decided to turn back around and head over to Voodoo Doughnut, a Portland institution that I had never been to before. We had to pay $8 for parking ("but the sign says $2 for the first half hour!" "Yes, but that will still be $8, Sir") and wait in line for about a half hour, but we finally got our donuts and left post haste so that we could devour them in the privacy of my home. Oh - question: do they make hair nets for facial hair? Just wondering...

Anyway, Chris dared me, yes dared me, to get a maple bacon donut, one of Voodoo's most popular. And damn, if I didn't take him up on it (and I didn't even wait for the double dog dare!), although I was scared because the sample maple bacon donut sitting in the display case looked excessively old and crusty. But Beardy pulled out a "fresh"(?) maple bacon delight from the back, bagged it with Chris' raspberry jelly donut (wimp!) and we were off.

Let me just say that many of you may know that I don't eat mammals much anymore. For the most part I stick with chicken, turkey, non-mammal seafood, and anything else without nipples. However, sometimes I let my cravings get the better of me and break down when it comes to eating piggy products. Bacon and sausage, mostly, but sometimes ham. I just can't help myself because it's so friggin' delicious. Regardless, I had a bit of trepidation when confronted by the maple bacon donut bar in my dining room. Granted, the bacon looked crispy and not overly fatty or chewy...and I do like McGriddles (my one yearly McDonalds breakfast purchase), so I crossed my fingers and chomped. Hey - it was pretty good! The taste was rather pleasing - a nice combination of salty and sweet, even if the texture was a bit surprising (crunchy bacon with creamy donut??? hmmm...). I'm not sure I'll get it again, but it was at least an experience.

You should definitely check out the Voodoo Doughnut menu and perhaps try a taste adventure of your own. Or at least purchase a t-shirt that says "the magic is in the hole". Yummy!!!

This Peep Show's Not Free, Folks...

2010-02-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Hey! I think I've been doing pretty well with maintaining my New Year's promise to blog more frequently. Wouldn't you agree? Yes? Alright then. Now that we're all on board with that, let me ask you this. What's up, people? You think you can just read my blog and get free laughs without having to do anything for them? There is no free lunch my friends, so listen up. Blog participation is a two-way street! I've had my blog-follower's list up for over a month now, and get this...I have no followers. Does this mean that no one is reading my blog? No, it can't be, because at least 7 of you people have voted in my latest poll (thank you!). So here's what you can do for me: 1) sign up as a Marcilicious blog follower (it's easy to do - just click the button on the right side of my blog, below), and 2) vote in my polls (there are just a few days left for this one). Easy right? Almost as easy as just freeloading entertainment from my blog anonymously...ha ha ha!!! Feeling guilty yet? Yeah, I thought so! :oP

Snowmageddon? Really?

2010-02-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

Are we really calling the storm that struck the East Coast over the weekend Snowmageddon now? Come on - yeah, some flights were canceled (uh, mine in fact), but really...I'd hardly say that the storm resulted in an armageddon-like disaster. Maybe we should ask the people of Haiti to chime in on this one? Did their natural disaster get a fancy nickname yet?

Yeah, ok, Dulles got some snow, but it's not like they've never seen snow before. Wimps.

At any rate, yes, I had a flight scheduled on Sunday to Dulles (Washington, D.C.) so that I could take a course entitled "Resource Management Implications of Climate Change" at NCTC (the Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center). NCTC is in Shepherdstown, WV, which is about a 2 hour drive from Dulles and apparently currently inaccessible...so the course was generally canceled as well. About 7 brave souls managed to survive Snowmageddon and reach NCTC mostly unscathed (not sure how many emergency amputation were performed yet...news comes slowly when communications are down), so some of the sessions are being broadcast over the web, which I get to watch from work (which is what I'm doing right now...). On one hand I was really looking forward to the course (and racking up almost 16 hours of travel comp time - woo hoo!!!), but on the other hand, I was really not looking forward to spending almost 16 hours of my own time traveling. Luckily, I found out that my flight and course were canceled Saturday night, so I didn't have to drive to the airport at 5 am on Sunday to get that bit of news. I was very tempted to just not show up at work this week to see if anyone would figure it out...but in the end, my conscience won the battle and I decided to report for duty.

On an unrelated note, I made my modeling debut a couple of weeks ago for a bellydance-wear company here in Portland. It was a lot of fun, but I think some of my pictures turned out better than others. For most of the photos I was wearing this humongous coin bra that made my boobs look incredibly huge - really, I'm more of a B cup kinda girl, and not the FFF that the coin bra makes me out to be. So, to satisfy your curiosity, here's a photo that will also be featured on the back cover of Yallah magazine next month.

That's me with the incredibly goofy look on my face and ginormous-looking boobs in the middle of the bottom row. But in case you're wondering, I'm still dancing, still love it, and am getting a bit less sucky at it! :o) This is mostly due to the constant encouragement, guidance, and entertainment provided by one of my instructors, Ziggy (top left, yellow skirt).

MLK Holiday Weekend in Newport

2010-01-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

A holiday for me? Awww, shucks - you shouldn't have! Why, yes, my name is Marci Leah Koski. Oh. Ok. Martin Luther King, Jr. I get it. I still get a day off from work though, right?

Hell yeah! Chris and I took advantage of the three-day weekend for a little trip to the coast. The weather was fairly cold, windy, overcast, and rainy, but what could be better for a snuggly visit to a B&B in Newport? We headed west from Portland, stopping in Depoe Bay to watch the storm waves come in and manifest themselves in spouting horns:

The coast was very beautiful but we were very wet by the time we got to Newport. We stayed at the Green Gables B&B - we could see the ocean from our Turret Room, and after settling in a bit we went out to the waterfront for some dinner at Rogue Public House. Chris and I debated the restroom designation system (are girls barley or hops?) enjoyed chowder, beer cheese soup, and bruschetta. Chris also enjoyed the Yellow Snow, which necessitated him testing the restroom designation system. After that we went back to the inn and watched a couple of movies - by then, the storm was really howling, complete with lightning, thunder, crazy wind, and horizontal rain.

The next morning we were supplied with delicious quiche and fruit bread, then we were off to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which was really fantastic. The displays were really beautiful, and we took loads of pictures. We managed to get yelled at for touching sea creatures by a couple of volunteer attendants (they looked like they were in touch pools, ok???), but we got out of there before we started any real trouble.

After that we drove back up the coast, stopping at Cape Foulweather to check out the fortune teller, world's largest insect, and penny smasher. We ate a quick lunch at Mo's (chowder and grilled cheese sandwich - yum!) then headed back east to the city. I had a fantastic weekend, but it was entirely too short! I guess I'll just have to look forward to President's Day...

I will be posting all my pictures from this trip in a slide show (at right), so check them out!

My Blog Shall Not Be Forsaken!!!

2010-01-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Let's see - it's mid-January and I'm already on my second post of the year. Not too shabby, in comparison to last year's blog, but we can do better, don't you think? I haven't forgotten about my Ultra-Marcilicious blog - fear not! I've been waiting for a brilliant idea of what to write, but I'm sorry to admit that it's probably not gonna happen today. Honestly, I haven't taken any pictures or done anything that you would care too much about. I've been going to belly dance classes regularly, the odd burlesque/cabaret workshop, and hanging out a lot with Chris. Life has been good!

I have, however, put together a little share site on Shutterfly so that you peeps can easily see pictures and photobooks that I've assembled. It's still under construction, but functional to a certain degree. Want to see it? Go here: http://marcikoski.shutterfly.com/

I'll be taking a little trip this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some new pictures to post soon. In the meantime, have a fantastic MLK weekend (wow - those are *MY* initials!), and send good thoughts down to all the people in Haiti. I've been having a hard time tearing myself away from the news articles and pictures of that whole scene...please donate and help if you can! Any little contribution can help save a life at this point (text HAITI to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross - it will be billed to your cell phone).

Fancy New Year, Fancy New Grand Aspirations!

2010-01-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, first off, let me tell you that I re-read yesterday's post and I fear that I may have gotten a little overexcited. Whoa, there, cowgirl! I mean, who doesn't want to read more snarky blog posts, see more scandalous photos, view more titillating videos, and whatever the hell else I led you to believe you'd be seeing more of in A Very Marcilicious Blog in 2010?

Well hold on to your pants, friends, because I'm STILL overexcited and STILL determined to bring you more, better, extra, and super-sized Marcilicious blogging! In fact, you'll notice that the header now says "An Ultra-Marcilicious Blog", which I hope it remains. Of course, this is still A Very Marcilicious Blog (how could it be anything else?), so no need to update your links or worry your pretty little head about that. But in my effort to come up with *some* sort of New Year's resolution (which I hate, because they always end up broken and/or forgotten by January 7, usually entail something to do with weight loss and/or body image, and encourage you - in this case me - to screw with something that ain't broke in the first place. I mean really, why mess with perfection???) I decided that my blogging could use a little rebirth. So lucky you! Fancy new year, fancy new blogging attitude.

A couple of newish things that you might be interested in. First, shortly before I left San Diego, I started taking belly dance lessons. Woo hoo! Much like crows and woodrats, I am attracted to colorful, sparkly, and jingly things, and belly dance costumes are usually crafted out of materials that exhibit these traits. So while I'm still very much a beginner, I'm also very much enjoying prancing about in colorful, sparkly, and jingly hip scarves, letting my ass do what it does best (uh, that would be jiggle). I'm still having trouble getting my upper half and lower halves to communicate and work in some sort of coordinated fashion (boobs, meet ass; ass, meet boobs - pleased to meet you!), but I'm enjoying taking lessons, laughing at myself, and actually feeling fleeting moments of pride when I get something right. I have also learned that I am *not* actually the least coordinated person on earth! I've spent WWAAAYYYYY too much money on belly dance clothing and accessories, but I consider it a Christmas gift to myself, and a way to keep me motivated to continue dancing.

The other new item is the acquisition of a new kitten!!! Even as I type, she is attacking my hands, trying to eat the laptop power cord, scratching at the mouse as it moves across my monitor, and performing other simultaneous feats of mayhem. I named her Abbey, after Edward Abbey, who famously wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang. Abbey, I quickly learned, is quite the monkey wrencher, and I'm certain that if I were to let her loose in the desert southwest there would be numerous dam breachings, construction accidents, and general chaos in rapid time. So we'll just try to keep her contained in this here little apartment in Portland, 'kay? I got her from the Portland Humane Society when she was just a little thing - maybe 10 weeks old - and she was so tiny and cute. Below is the picture of her they posted on their website - I immediately called and placed a hold on her. Doesn't she look innocent and precious? Who knew that such a menacing evil lurked within??? Let me tell you who knew: Jesse. Although, within two days, Jesse was letting her curl up with him to sleep, and even suckle off of him (as the below video shows). He looks at me and says, "why? why? why does this kitten think I'm her mother??? why did you do this to me???"

Anyway, happy new year - I hope that the new one brings you happiness, contentment, adventure, good health, and more things to read on this blog, dammit.

Suck it, 2009!

2009-12-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

Toodle-loo, 2009! It's time you moved on. Based on my regular reading of MSNBC.com, it appears that most of the world had a sucky 2009. But I have to say, mine was pretty good. I had some adventures, moved to Portland, got a new job, made new friends. All good things, right? The only bad thing was that I didn't blog nearly as often as I would've liked (ok, so it wasn't the *only* bad thing), which is probably more of an impact on my disappointed loyal readers than anything else. Could that be the main reason that 2009 sucked for so many of you? If so, I'm terribly terribly sorry. I will try to make it up to you.

And to that effect, let's just say that things are gonna change around here at A Very Marcilicious Blog. 2010 is gonna be BIG! I can feel it...it's getting bigger already. The postings will be more frequent and more feisty. The pictures will be more scintillating and scandalous. The links will be more poignant and procrastination-friendly. There might even be a poll or two. And hell...there might just be another blog. Yup - I'm starting to think about another blog highlighting my adventures in online dating, which will be at least as entertaining as the New and Improved 2010 Marcilicious Blog. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, enjoy some newish pictures, which I've provided as slide shows to the right. If you're reading this some time in the future and are thinking that the slide shows are not the ones mentioned here, click these links: Halloween in White Salmon and Christmas in Portland. Good times, everyone, good times. See you on the flip side!

Swift Watch at Chapman School

2009-10-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

All during the month of September the Vaux's swifts roost in the chimney at Chapman School, which is just a few blocks from my apartment. Mid-month I walked over to watch the flock aggregate and enter the chimney for the night and I can tell you it was pretty freakin' amazing. This is the largest flock of Vaux's swifts in the world, and they've been roosting in the chimney every year since the late 1980's - in peak years, the flock was up to about 35,000 birds! Typically it's around 15,000 - I'm not sure how many there were this year, but it seemed like a lot.

The swifts start circling the chimney about an hour before sunset and the flock grows bigger and bigger as individual birds join in. Just after sunset, all of a sudden, the birds start diving into the chimney all together - it takes a while for them to all get in there, and it is a prime opportunity for hawks to come swooping in for a meal. Apparently, the hawks will not only dive through the flock (which then scatters - it reminded me of the way a pool ripples when a stone is tossed into still water), but they'll also sit on the edge of the chimney and even enter the chimney to grab birds. Interesting thing about the swifts too - they don't perch - they cling to the inside of the chimney like a bat would. Anyway, here are some photos and a video for you to see what I'm talking about (the Portland Audubon Society also has some great information about the swifts here).

Chapman School and the chimney.

Up to 1000 people will gather on the lawn each night in September to watch the swifts!

Finally, the swifts start going into the chimney for the night.

Hood to Coast, Finally...

2009-10-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to post these pictures of Hood to Coast. Paul, Adelaide, and I met Anne at the finish line in Seaside - she is hardcore! The best thing about the event, in my opinion, was looking at all the teams - some had costumes, others had pimped out team vans. Best team name: Bunghole Liquors. Yes, Bunghole Liquors is an actual liquor store on the east coast - go ahead and google them. A bunghole, by the way, is a hole in a barrel of alcohol - not at all what you were thinking (get your mind out of the gutter, man). Anyway, enjoy these belated pictures of the event, and of course, the cutest little badass ever!

One of the Bunghole Liquors vans...

The only bad part of the day was all the sand!

Here comes Anne and her team through the finish line...

And here come the Bunghole Liquors!

New Digs

2009-09-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

I know I've totally been slacking on my blog. Sorry! But facebook has been getting a lot of my attention - so if you're on facebook, you can check me out there. I'll attempt to catch up a little bit now though, for all you non-facebookers...

First off, before I left for Portland, my friends in Carlsbad threw me an AWESOME going away party. Susan hosted and nearly all my friends made it to the party - there was even a Snow White pinata filled with mini-alcohol beverages, courtesy of Michelle and jeep. And the food was awesome! Everyone chipped in to get me a $170 gift card to Powell's Books, and I gave everyone an appropriate Non-Performance Award.

The next day several folks helped me with loading the truck. At one point they were convinced that not everything would fit and I almost had to rent a trailer, which I was definitely not looking forward to doing. However, everything was jammed in - not a square foot to spare - and only two things didn't make it: the cat tree was donated to Sparkles (Michelle's new kitty), and jeep had to bring up my office chair the following week. It always works out in the end, but I'm thinking that my next move will entail a 17' truck instead of a 14' truck. At least.

It took two full days of driving, but Mom and I finally got to Portland. My apartment managers are assholes, but I'm trying to forget about that. I got really lucky in finding my apartment - it's in the Bretnor Building, constructed in 1912, on NW 20th and Lovejoy - right in the heart of all the cool stuff that happens in Portland. 21st and 23rd have a ton of restaurants and shops, and I'm about 6 blocks from the Pearl District. Everything is within walking distance, too - aside from work, I don't have to drive my car. I've walked to Powell's Books a few times, and even down to the Saturday Market. And now that I have a bike, it will be even easier.

I had to start my new job at the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office the next week - I wish I had some more time off, but dems de breaks. Gots to make money, you know. The new office is nice - lots of native plants around the building, and one entire wall of my office is windows that look out into a virtual jungle of bushes and trees. I've been enjoying watching hummingbirds and chickadees - and a towhee - along with bees and other insects buzzing around. My office seems to have quite the spider population in it, but so far it hasn't been a problem. Once those little guys grow up though...that's another story...

Catching Up...

2009-08-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

So...lots of stuff has happened between now and my last post. There's too much to write about right now, but I will provide you with links to pictures. That's the good part, anyway, right? The big news is that I recently moved up to Portland, Oregon, where I will be starting a job with the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office in Vancouver, Washington. I guess my official title is Recovery Assessment Program Leader, but basically I'll be a fish biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It was definitely sad leaving all of my friends behind in Carlsbad, but I'm very happy to be up here in Portland. I found a great apartment in a really cool part of town...the next step is getting a bike! I'll post some pictures of my place once I get a bit more unpacked.

In the meantime, here are some photos from previous events.

First, in the beginning of July, my friend Michelle came and visited me from Pennsylvania. I hadn't seen her (or talked with her) since graduating from West Chester University in 1998, but we found each other on facebook. We met up in Old Town San Diego, went to the Wild Animal Park (of course), and cruised around Point Loma and downtown San Diego over the weekend. You can view the photos from her visit here.

Next, at the end of July, I drove north to Blue Lakes (near Ukiah) for a Koski family reunion. I was there for a couple of days and it was really nice to see everyone, especially the next generation of Koski's. The weather was perfect and it was great connecting with most of my cousins, although three of my blonde beautiful cousins were MIA (you know who you are, H's!). Check out the photos from the reunion here.

After the reunion I drove up to Eureka to meet my friend Cara. We went to a Roller Derby (go, North Jetty Betty's!), then went to Arcata to dine on crepes at one of Cara's favorite restaurants. The crepes were FANTASTIC! Cara works and lives at Redwoods National Park, so the next day we hiked the Damnation Creek trail to the coast where we explored the tidepools. Then, it was time for me to head back south (sigh)...but the photos still linger here.

The only unfortunate part of the trip was that my check engine light went on, and upon taking it to the shop for a diagnosis, I learned that one of the catalytic converters has crapped out on me and it would cost $2000 to fix in California. Fortunately, I've moved to Oregon where it may not be illegal to use an after-market catalytic converter so I might not have to junk my car...but like I said, it looks like I'll be wanting to invest in a bike soon. It won't work for getting me over to Vancouver every day, but it's at least a little less pressure on my aging Outback when I need to go out for groceries or local errands!

The Newest...

2009-07-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

I had enough foresight to get a couple of paw prints from Zoe before she died. I had them tattooed on my shoulder along with a little grey swirl behind - it's a bit hard to see in these pictures, but I'm happy with it overall. Zoe and I went through a lot together and she supported me during some tough times...now I'll always have her little paws on my shoulder no matter what.

They Finally Let Me Outside for Good Behavior (or Something...)

2009-05-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks, I've actually gotten to go outside three times for work. Wow! Imagine that - a biologist actually being allowed to go outside...since I have no window in my office, I'd practically forgotten what sunlight is like. Which may explain the pale, pasty complexion and vitamin D efficiency that I've fallen prey to lately...

Anyway, I spent two days looking at project sites on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, which is my new turf. On the first day I got to see my first endangered arroyo toad, along with some of the beautiful beaches and heavy amphibious vehicles the Marines use in their water-to-land assault operations (guess which I was more excited about).

On the second day, I assisted one of our office ornithologists in his weekly endangered least Bell's vireo nest surveys. Which was really cool - we found several nests with eggs and chicks, and lots of other cool critters as well. I'll put a link to some of the more interesting photos to the right so you can view them all!

The following week I participated in searching for endangered light-footed clapper rail nest surveys at the Tijuana Estuary just south of San Diego. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work! We were walking around in boot-hungry mud and cord grass trying to find nests with eggs, but not step on them. We only found three nests with eggs, and they all appeared to be viable (I checked the fetal heartbeat with the Egg Buddy) so we didn't collect any of them for contaminants analysis. We did take one egg back to the refuge to be incubated, as it appeared to have been abandoned by the parents. We saw several clapper rails, but they're very speedy so I didn't get any pictures of them. But I did get lots of other photos, so take a look at the slide show link to the right. I was completely filthy and muddy and sweaty and sore, but I also had a really great time - I think I might have even got a little sun on my neck. But just a little...I was wearing a big hat and plenty of sunscreen. I'm still working on keeping up that pale complexion and vitamin D deficiency...

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the spring!

Can You Believe Teddy Will Be 16 Tomorrow?

2009-05-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought - sixteen years old! When I took this dog in, I thought he'd maybe have a couple of years left in him, but he keeps on ticking. He's doing pretty well - still whiny, loves to eat. I put him on a diet and he lost about five pounds, which I estimate will add at least another year to his life. On second thought, maybe I'd better fatten him back up...oh, I'm sorry, was that mean? Teddy knows I love him, even though sometimes he's a pain in the ass. Such a geriatric pup...but cute (this picture was taken last year, but it's the most recent I have, and he looks pretty much the same, except for the full-body mohawk I've given him).

Also, a couple weekends ago, Mom, Nik and I went to the Escondido Renaissance Faire. Nik and I dressed up - go ahead and take a look at the pictures (there's a slide show link at right). Yes, I know I'm a dork.

Better Late Than Never, Right?

2009-04-22T20:22:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a terribly long time since I've posted anything, and I know that most of my posts start off with this slightly guilt-ridden statement. Honestly, I don't know why you people bother to keep checking my blog, since everything I post is pretty boring anyhow. But today, I have a couple of items to share: first, I'm now blogging on a very nice new computer, an HP 17" laptop that I'm loving (so far). I had a few issues last weekend, but those problems seem to have resolved themselves...so my new computer appears to be self-healing as well, bonus.

Second, I went on a vacation that I have yet to tell you about. Actually, the pictures from my road trip to Portland (which happened about a month ago, ahem) have been posted to the right for a few weeks now, so I don't feel too bad about not posting until now. But I'll give you a brief rundown of my trip:

Saturday - I dropped Teddy Bear at Beth's house, then started driving north. I had a great drive just being by myself, breaking in my new Garmin nuvi GPS, and catching up on listening to all my podcasts. I arrived at Gramma Koski's house in Paradise at about 5 in the afternoon. We enjoyed a quiet evening chatting and eating.

Sunday - I spent the day with Gramma, who barely let me go an hour without insisting I eat something. We went to Red Lobster for a late lunch, where I finally got cell phone coverage and a report from Beth indicating that Teddy had been barking until 3 a.m. Sigh.

Monday - I start on the next leg of my trip north, which was quickly and briefly delayed by another call from Beth saying that Teddy Bear peed on her couch the previous night. I called my mom to pick him up and put him in a kennel - dang! But the rest of my drive was good - Mount Shasta was beautiful, and there was snow in the mountains just south of Ashland. I got to Corvallis to stay with my friends Jeremy and Dana and their daughter Autumn just in time to take them out to dinner at a tasty Indian place downtown. Yummy!

Tuesday - Jeremy and Dana took me to breakfast before I drove about an hour and a half north to Portland. By the time I got to my brother's house, I was certain that I needed to take my car in because of a grinding noise that, I was hoping, would simply require a half-turn of a Phillips head screwdriver and cost me about $5.50 to repair. Anne got a referral for me to Vu's Car Care, where they diagnosed the sound as coming from my dying transmission, which would take two days to replace and cost $925. This vacation is turning out to be a bit more expensive than I was anticipating! But the yummy pad thai Anne and Paul made for dinner, as well as Adelaide's shenanigans, almost made up for it.

Wednesday - I woke up from a night of snuggling with a surrogate cat (Bosco) and kicked around the house with Anne and Adelaide. We went to lunch at the Laughing Planet, and surprise surprise, my car repairs were fixed by 6 pm. Yay!

Thursday - Paul, Anne, and I drove up to Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge and hiked up to the top. Adelaide contributed to the serenity of the falls by crying when Paul stopped walking. But the falls were incredible, and we had a nice snack at the restaurant below. That afternoon I stopped by the Portland FWS field office to introduce myself and prove how awkward I am at networking. But I took Anne and Paul out for a Moroccan dinner down town, which was lots of fun (although the belly dancer was rather blonde and caucasian...).

Friday - Me and my newly quiet car began our reluctant journey south towards home. I stopped in Medford to meet up with Jack Williams, who treated me to a burrito for lunch. After that, it was back on the road until I got to Gramma's. More eating.

Saturday - The end of my vacation was in sight. I spent one last day driving, enjoying the thoughts I had to myself, and my music and podcasts. I was stuck in LA traffic for about an hour, but managed to get home in one piece. Mom picked up Teddy from the kennel for me, so when I got home he was there waiting. Yup, my vacation was definitely over.

Just so you know

2009-03-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

I had to put Zoe down yesterday. I miss her so much already, and (for such a tiny cat) her absence is profoundly noticeable.

Nope, Nothing New Here...

2009-02-16T10:46:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to write a quick post to let you know I'm alive. Bored, but alive. You see, nothing of interest has happened over the past month, so I haven't wanted to subject you to any tedious details (of which there are none). It is raining now - it seems like rain has been frequent during the past few weekends - which I like.

Zoe is not doing well. I think we're nearing the end of the line for her - a few more weeks maybe. Surprisingly, it is not her cancer that is the problem, but our inability to regulate her diabetes. She has lost so much weight, but for now, still seems happy. I'm trying to be aware of the day when she gives me that look...and will try not to ignore it out of my own sadness and need to keep her around longer. My poor kitty.

Teddy continues to be a pain in the ass. We had been doing really well with not peeing in the house, but starting on Friday, he has gotten it in his head that it is ok to both pee and shit inside. At least a couple of times each day. I'm thinking his days are numbered too...but for different reasons...and he *is* almost 16.

Jesse, of course, is fat and happy. Oblivious, aloof. Ah, the typical cat.

I hope you are all well, staying warm in February, whever you are. I'm enjoying today's holiday, staying in bed and catching up on my blogging. I just wish I had more interesting things to share...oh, and if you haven't joined facebook yet, maybe you should. I'm a bit more active there than here lately!

Isn't a Simple Blog Good Enough for You People?

2009-01-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay - you've finally worn me down. I went against my better judgement and am now on Facebook so that all you groupies can write on my wall or poke me or whatever it is that you do on Facebook. Happy? I'll admit, looking up people from my past has been kinda fun, but if this turns into another MySpace fiasco I'm pulling the plug. So the minute I start receiving obscene IMs proposing objectionable and indecent things, or random emails from guys wanting to "get together and party", it will be Lights Out for Facebook.

Dang it - now I have yet another way to waste time messing around on the web. Thanks, people.

Last Post of 2008! For Real This Time!!!

2008-12-31T22:29:00.000-08:00

Lest you think that 2008 was totally in the toilet (see previous post), I thought I'd share a few more photos with you. I got a really great surprise today when I received a CD in the mail from Cecily (thanks, Cecily!!!), who compiled all the photos she took on our trip to the Chiricahuas over Thanksgiving. I'll probably try to upload them to a Picasa web album sometime, but here are just a few of the photos that I thought were particularly funny or had incredible scenery. So happy new year, for real this time!

Thanksgiving dinner at a truck stop - bad pizza and rootbeer floats!

So this is what I look like first thing in the morning? I'd just crawled out of the tent after our first night backpacking in the wilderness area; yes, that's ice in my hair.

One of the many spectacular views of the Chiricahua wilderness; this was just before we somehow managed to get ourselves off-trail. I wish I knew how to use the self-timer on *my* camera!

You can't see it in the photo (how clever...), but Cecily's ankle is totally jacked up! At this point, we were enjoying the views at the Chiricahua National Monument, which were accessible a short distance from the car.

Last Post of 2008!

2008-12-31T16:16:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for this stupid year to be over? I am. So get the hell out of here, 2008; don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. I actually can't believe that 2008 is gone - I remember being a kid and time seemed to goooo bbyyyyyyyy sssssoooooooooooo ssssllllllooooowwwwwwwlllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...and now (that I've probably gotten Alzheimer's as a result of extreme boredom; see previous blog) time sms to go bi 2 qwik. I can't fathom that I've been in Southern California for over four years now - what the hell??? So, for those of you who haven't been reading my blog (or who have just been reading about the good times), here's a little recap of my 2008 for you (in no particular order):

Teddy Bear is still alive. Slower, more insane, more needy, more apt to urinate on the carpet, and apparently immortal. I suspect that he is surviving by consuming my soul and happiness.
I spent vast quantities of money to keep Zoe going. She seems to be happy and active.
Related to the above, I pretty much broke even in my attempts to work down my debt. I haven't really decreased it, but haven't really added to it either.
I only noticed about half a dozen visits by the cops to my apartment complex. This 'hood is really cleaning itself up!
My ceiling collapsed zero times.
I failed (yet again) to procure an acceptable boyfriend, as all men in SoCal are either gay, taken, or total assholes.
I developed secret crushes on my cat's vet and one of the vet techs, at two different offices. Zoe has all the luck! However, there are complications which prevent me from pursuing either of these as potential relationships (see above point).
I watched my arch-nemesis perfect her rimming skills and be rewarded for it with a promotion and office upgrade.
I devised an airtight excuse to visit Las Vegas.
I managed to lose almost 15 lbs, which includes the mole I had removed from my face.
Although, in the past week I probably gained about five of those pounds back (but the mole is still gone, so I'm psyched about that).
I perfected the fine art of applying liquid liner to my upper eyelid, with the results not completely appearing as if I stayed up for three days smoking crack with Amy Winehouse (see new year's resolution discussion, below). Additionally, my hair finally realized that I mean business when it comes to straightening, armed with a split-end inducing arsenal of flat irons and straightening gels.
My brother spawned, so that alleviates the need for me to breed in order to make a genetic contribution to future generations. Ok, so I realize that it's my brother's kid which means that my genes will not be represented as much as if it was my kid, but I don't have to get pregnant and squeeze a small human out of my vag. So it's a fair trade-off, I think.
With minimal effort and a little bit of practical application, I vastly improved my nick-name generating and limerick-writing skills (just try me sometime...).

That's all I can think of for now. Actually, that's not completely true - I can think of a lot more. But I don't want to rehash ALL the super fun times I had; I'd like to keep many of those moments private, just for me to own. Anyone have any resolutions? I'm generally against those - "I resolve to lose weight, stop drinking, quell my road rage, kick the crack habit, etc." But this year I think I've come up with a good one - I'm going to stop eating factory farmed meat. I haven't really eaten red meat in over ten years (with the exception of critters that friends have hunted, or that was raised organic and free range - yeah, buffalo, I'm talking about you), but it will be difficult to cut out the chicken and turkey. I'll eat it occasionally if I can get the free range variety, and I'll still eat fish. But I just can't stomach (literally) anymore the thought of supporting those massive henhouses that cramp chickens in shoebox-sized cages for their entire lives. I think my decision was made when I saw the video of Sarah Palin at the turkey slaughterhouse, with turkeys getting killed right behind her, saying she was having a "great time". Blech.

Anyway, happy new year, y'all. Have a good one.