just laura

Today is my roommate Evan’s 21st birthday!! Yeah Evan! Sadly, he has to work at 5am tomorrow morning, so no taking him out for a birthday beer tonight. It’ll have to be a rain check…

And in other news, I’ve got to brag for a moment and say the cookies I concocted were amaingly terrific!! Maybe it’s because I haven’t had sweets in almost two months, but even if it’s not, the cookies I made last night were still super yummy! Yeah!

Tonight I’m going out to see the new DreamWorks movie The Ring. It’s a horror flick about who knows what… a ring maybe? (That’s new and unusual, really). Hmmm… I guess it’s that time of the year to release bad horror flicks in honor of October and upcoming Halloween festivities. I’m not a huge fan of horror flicks, but it’s the free premier, so I’ll go and bring some friends. :) If it’s any good, I’ll let you know so you can go see it when it opens Oct 18 (for anyone actually interested in spending money on the movie). Guess what! Tonight’s not only special because we get to see a free movie, but because Dieter’s dad is in town. Sadly, it is another one of those short business trips and I doubt we’ll get to see him. Ah well. Next time maybe!

Went to the dentist today… wohoo! I just got dental insurance after two years of not having it. Yeah! My new dentist, Dr. Zimmer, was a very cool guy. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend him. Nice office, nice staff, nice view of downtown from the 17th floor. Got my “no cavities” award, my free toothbrush and floss, and was happily on my way on hour later. Yeah! Gotta love the opportunities afforded by insurance!

Oh, so I should mention that the Ring last night actually ended up being a pretty decent movie for what it was. There’s wasn’t tons in the ways of suspense, but it did have lots of shock value… our theater was full of screamers last night! It also had a nice little plot twist at the end that kept it fun. Oh, and it was filmed in Seattle too… always fun to see local places and ferries and the monorail and such. It wasn’t “The Sixth Sense,” but it’s kind of in that same genre. Not bad overall. :)

I listened to a timeshare presentation last night just to get the free digital camera. It was worth every minute of it! Check out the new “home movies” section of what Dieter and I made today fooling around with this cheapie camera. Too fun!! I hope to add more on a regular basis… they might be boring for y’all, but they’re much fun to make!

Today was a lovely, lazy day, and now I’m going to watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High… truly a classic movie of my youth!!

Exciting food updates:

Gluten and Wheat = bad.

Soy, Nightshades, and Citrus = not ideal, but not too bad.

Egg Whites and Cheese = so good!

Arrgh! Next I think I’ll try yeast! Wheee! Can’t wait to eat that straight spoonful of yeast with each meal… yum! ;) Necessary evil I guess… it’ll be worth it to know my reaction. Hope y’all are well!

Maybe I’ll start posting daily photos from my cheapie new little digital camera. :) Enjoy! Today’s photo is Dieter’s pick: me. Hmmm… it kind of highlights my current worry: I think I’m losing lots of my hair. Could it be something I’m missing in my diet from eating such a strict meal plan? Scary. Hopefully my hair will all grow back very soon.

On my day off today I saw Gosford Park… good movie! I wouldn’t have rented it, except I saw it had won an Academy Award for something, so I figured it’d have to have some merit. And lo and behold… it was good! Quite enlightening. I also made pumpkin muffins with apples and cranberries… yum! Rice flour means they don’t rise much (it doesn’t have any gluten), but they were still quite yummy. :)

Hmm… ya know. It’s been quite a movie filled few weeks. On Sunday I went out with Erin and we saw a movie too. (We tried to go to a workshop at the Independent Media Center, but it was canceled and there wasn’t much else going on downtown on a Sunday evening). We saw the Banger Sisters… pretty cute movie. :) Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn playing ex-groupies now in middle age. Anyway, not sure why the mass amounts of movies lately, but it’s all good. I usually watch them so rarely the last time I took a movie quiz it called me a “movie-phobe.” :)

Photo of the Day: Rainbow!

Even though we’ll have many more months of dark skies, I do love to see the occasional sun burst! And even better than the sun burst is the occasional rainbow. I saw this one today from my balcony and it was huge!

Photo of the Day: Falling leaves on my street

More Photos of the Day: Friendly black cat with jack-o-lantern on neighbor’s steps


Today is October 11th and you know what that means…. National Coming Out Day! I wanted to send out a quick shout of encouragement to our LGBTQ communities! It’s rarely easy or quick or painless for folks to come out in communities that aren’t always supportive. Why not take a moment to join people around the country speaking in encouragement of ending discrimination against gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people? I think the HRC slogan fits quite well: Coming out is a journey, not a destination. :) With everyone’s help, let’s hope the journey gets easier and easier as time moves forward. My love goes out to the many gay men and lesbians in my life!!

Btw, did I mention WA state is back at the top of the nation’s worst economy list?

Photo of the Day: Fresh Produce at the Farmers Market!

This gorgeous blue-sky morning I went to the U-District Farmers Market and it continued to be a good week for people watching! As soon as I got on the bus, I noticed I was the only person not in purple and gold UW Husky’s gear. Apparently my bus had become the “Husky Express” straight to the stadium… quite convenient for the over 65 crowd heading to the game decked out in their gold scarves, purple butt pads, and stuffed dog hats. Even the few folks on the bus under the age of 65 were gaily attired for the event… purple visors, purple hats, purple jackets, and always the purple butt pads. Guess there are folks who do care about football. (Not that I hadn’t been reminded of this by Charles’s corny OU bashings this week, or the cover story on the USA Today about TX-OU, or by the alumni association inviting folks out to the bar at 9am to get ready to watch the game. Maybe I’m unpatriotic (go figure) or maybe I’m just ignorant, but why is football so exciting to so many folks? I understand the senior citizens heading to the game… any entertainment at that age is good entertainment. But the rest of the city/country? Someone do share!! Btw folks, feel free to click the little “comments” link to give feedback, disagree, chat about whatever, rant, share you undying love and devotion, etc. :)

Anyway, enough about football. The point was I had a thoroughly entertaining bus ride to the U-District. From there I headed to the market, signed up on the waiting list for a P-patch garden plot, bought some fresh cheese curds made this week at a local farm, and had some mighty fine apples! (It’s that season of the year!! Might I saw I am genuinely excited about the new kinds of apples being introduced… ginger apples and honey apples are both way yummy! And today I bought my first banana apple so I’ll have to report back and let you know about how that goes). I also bought some lovely garlic, some Delecata squash (sweet “sugar” squash), talked with Noe at her booth, and saw one of my team doing some shopping too. Yeah! Eventually, I had to cut myself off though… the potential to drain my cash reserves on too many yummy, organic, locally grown foods and flowers was pretty overwhelming! When I finally forced myself to leave, I ran into another of my (current) AC’s David who was eating some ice cream and heading to a friend’s place. While chatting with him I also saw Dana, a former VISTA. Crazy small world sometimes! I don’t generally run into many folks on the street, but today seemed to be making up for it. :) So then I trekked to the library (for another nutrition book and the Breakfast at Tiffany’s DVD) then made my way home to enjoy my food. The beautiful thing is that it’s only 3pm and I still have the whole day to go out and explore! Hope everyone’s doing well. Take care!

Photo of the Day: A Studious Dieter

You know what? I like to travel. It’s no secret really, I’ve always loved to travel, see new places, meet new people, etc. I knew when I quit my tech job and moved to the nonprofit scene of Seattle that I wouldn’t have the same opportunity to do much international travel for a while, but I figured I’d get to explore all of the places in the NW that were new and exciting to me. There are mountains, ports, cities, Bavarian villages (ha!), islands, rain forests, and more all within a few hours of here. Sadly, miserably, I haven’t done much travel in the two years since moving to Seattle. I’m tired of not doing it. Yes, I got rid of my car when I moved to Capital Hill… I admit that was a giant stumbling block looking back in regards to travel. So, looking forward, the thing is, I really want to travel again and need to find folks who will make trips with me. Are you in the area? Are you nice, do you have a car, feeling adventurous? Let’s talk and discuss options!! I’ve got camping supplies and gas money if you’ve got a car! Some of the trips I want to make and some of the things I want to do:

• Corn mazes (now’s the time!)
  
• The San Juan Islands (whale watching)
  
• Olympic Peninsula
  
  
  
  1. Port Angeles
     
  2. Olympic National Park (rain forest)
     
  3. Port Townsend (historic Victorian seaport)
     
  
  
• Leavenworth (Cascades Bavarian village)
  
• Ocean Shores
  
• Farm tours (on Vashon Island or where ever)
  
• Wine country
  
• River rafting
  
• Brewery tours
  
• Victoria, British Columbia
  
• Glacier National Park, Montana
  
• Mt Hood, Oregon
  
• Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
  

It’s not like I’ve only spent time in Seattle since moving. I’ve done some travel, I just want to do more. I’ve lived here almost two years and feel like there’s so much more I’d like to see and do, or maybe even do again. Some of the places I’ve been and wouldn’t mind visiting again include:

• La Connor (tulip festival)
  
• Key Peninsula
  
• Portland, Oregon
  
• Vashon Island
  
• Bainbridge Island
  
• Vancouver, BC
  
• Whistler, BC
  
• Snoqualmie
  
• North Bend
  
• Camping/hiking
  
  
  
  1. Mt Rainier
     
  2. Heather Lake
     
  3. Tiger Mountain
     
  4. Lake Serene
     
  5. Gray’s Harbor
     
  6. Oregon: Klammoth Falls, Cannon Beach, Tillamook, Cape Lookout
     
  7. Whistler, BC: Joffre Lakes, Brandywine, Narin Falls
     
  8. Dingford Creek / Snoqualmie Middle Fork
     
  
  

Okay, guess that’s it for me for now. Big hellos go out to Danielle and Ben, two dear old friends who randomly got in touch this weekend after I hadn’t heard from in a few years! Yeah!!

Guess what? I got two pictures published on the The Mirror Project! Click “search” and look for “Laura Catherine” to have my two photos pulled up! Wohoo!

Photo of the Day: Stacy in Seattle!!

Today Brian and Stacy arrived in Seattle!! Wohoo! I knew Brian from college (where we were officers today in the Freshman Business Association!) and he just finished two years of the Peace Corps in Slovakia (where he met lovely Stacy, a fellow PC volunteer). I haven’t seen Brian in over two years so I consider myself quite lucky he and Stacy randomly decided to move to Seattle together upon completing their Peace Corps term. Stacy’s great (she was even environmental studies!) and Brian’s still great too… as silly as he ever way! We drove around the different neighborhood, talked lots about Seattle and local politics, realized how different we each were despite our common business school education (!), and walked around artsy Fremont (saw the troll, rocket, Lenin, etc). Sadly, I didn’t get to hear much about their time in the Peace Corps so I’ll look forward to seeing them again soon and hearing more about their time abroad! For now, though we’ll focus on wishing them the best of luck finding a great apartment and great jobs! Yeah!! Welcome Brian and Stacy!!

Tomorrow I’m going to the Blog meetup in Seattle… should be interesting to meet some of the other folks who spend their free time blogging. :)

So much to blog about tonight!! Guess I should start with yesterday… a day filled with life’s simple pleasures! Driving from site to site for work, the sun was shining and Seattle was looking it’s best – quite amazing for October! It was sunny, blue skied, warm, and 70+ degrees! Nice! Then on the bus ride home from work, we passed the Hostess baked good factory and I can’t honestly think of many smells more heavenly than that! I love passing there on nights when they’re producing! Yum! Following the delightful Hostess scent, I headed downtown to the Sit & Spin to meetup with other Seattle bloggers. I always like meeting new people, and while I wasn’t sure what to expect, I didn’t let that keep me away. We actually had 9 people show up (almost everyone with a digital camera or two) and everyone was very friendly and laid back. I met Sarah and Anita first (Anita even offered to give me old yarn she’s not using… very generous!). Shortly thereafter, TYD (great photographer!) showed up, as did Jerry and a slew of others including Phil (invited me to a party!), Steph (had potential job contacts!), Alan , and Zoltan. I didn’t get to chat much with everyone, but I had a good time talking with the folks I met. I’d be up for doing it again in the future!

Photo of the Day: New Friend

Wow… so I haven’t even told you about the super sweet most terrific thing to happen today! So much good news! Not only did the higher ups in the national office decide to give me an extra paycheck (amazing!!), but also Dieter decided to surprise me this morning with a mystery road trip! Wow!! I never would have guessed my Thursday would be this happening! Well, this morning Dieter tells me to pack a lunch and a snack and be ready to go in less than an hour. I don’t question him and off we go in his car on a beautiful drive through the mountains with all of the leaves looking amazing with in fall colors! He took me out to Leavenworth (apparently he took heed of my recently recognized need to see new places) and we had a great day wandering around the little Bavarian tourist town, checking out the shops, snacking, and taking pictures here and there. Again, wow! Couldn’t have asked for a better gift if I’d had week to put together a wish list. There was a fabulous shop with tons of gnomes! There was a place with sugar free ice cream (I had a yummy black cherry flavor… the first ice cream I’ve eaten in three months)! There were cheese shops, wine cellars, walk up bratwurst stands, and lots of small town touristy charm. :) It was a fantastic surprise, we had the best weather imaginable, and I had the best tour guide ever! Thanks Dieter!!!!!! You can check out the photos, though I apologize in advance for the lame quality. I didn’t know it was going to be a big trip and all I had with me was my cheapo new camera. Won’t happen again. Promise!

Photo of the Day: Knitting Yarn!

Yesterday brought yet another amazing gift… this one by a relative stranger (or very new friend, whichever way you look at it). Anita is a lovely woman I met at the blog meetup this week. I mentioned I wanted to do knitting and she offered to give me a bag of yarn she didn’t need anymore since she’s moving to a smaller apartment this week. She even offered to deliver the yarn to my doorstep. Impressive act of kindness, eh? It was even more impressive when she showed up yesterday afternoon with four large garbage bags full of yarn! There wool, super soft mohair, hip funky 70s colors, really cool old stuff, and just tons of varieties of random yarn! It was all very cool and very generous! I tried to spread it out to see all of it and it took up both of my couches in addition to my sewing table, a bookshelf, and lots of floor space. Crazy! I’ve got plans to make a hat with Erin’s help, a scarf or afghan with Meredith and Lindsay’s help, and who knows what else!

Erin’s coming over this morning so she can pick out some for her own projects (she’s going to teach me how to make a hat). I’m going to invite some of my team over too since many of them knit… they can get all of the yarn they need for personal projects and still have some left to take for arts projects for the kids at their sites. Cathy and Jeff came over last night from Redmond to have dinner with Dieter and I. I warned them their new kitty Ollie might be getting a hand knitted scarf for Christmas. :) Anyway, many thanks to Anita for her generosity! Quite amazing!

Photo of the Day: Locally grown organic gourds

After filling our bags and taking pictures at the farmers market, Erin and I went to the weaving store where I stocked up on needles (circular for hats and straight for scarves). After a quick tutorial from Erin, I think I’m now ready to start my first project: a scarf I plan to make out of a fabulously soft chenille yarn. I would have liked to start my scarf last night while it was still vivid in my memory, but it was Meredith’s birthday last night and I needed to get to her surprise party before she got home so off I went! Today Rod and I are going on an important mission to scour the town looking for Halloween costumes, so I think the scarf will have to wait another day. In the mean time, if anyone has costume ideas, or knitting tips and advice, do let me know! Take care!

Lindsay came over tonight to claim a bag of yarn for herself and another friend… yeah! I’m slowly distributing it out to others who can use it, but there is still a ton. Who else can use yarn? If you’re in Seattle and want to check it out, it’s pretty much community property looking for a good home. Do let me know! :) Oh, even Rod got in on the yarn action. He didn’t actually want any to take home, but when came over yesterday to hang out, he showed me a trick with yarn. Go Rod! And Andrew had some ideas for the yarn too… he suggested my Halloween costume he a bug trapped in a giant spider web made of the yarn. Fabulous idea to use the yarn, but I’ve already got my costume figured out so the yarn continues to sit in my hall closet. Hmmm… who knew yarn would be such a conversation starter??

We’ve all heard of friends who’ve been with guys nicknamed “the sixty second wonder.” Well, that may be a thing of the past thanks to the creative staff at Durex. They are now selling condoms with an anesthetic inside that de-sensitizes the tip of the penis so sex can last longer. They’ve sold over 18,000 online in the last three months and the new ones are outselling their other varieties 5-1. (One website I checked out even puts a 1 pack restriction on the Performas since the demand is so great!) The sixty second stopwatch graphic on their package is pretty funny, and officials hope to have them in select retail stores by Christmas! My question is… who’s buying the majority of them? Self actualized men, or fed up sex partners? Either way, happy shopping!

Today Anita brought over more yarn… and tonight Meredith, Rebecca, Timmy, and Nitza all claimed large bags full! :)

Photo of the Day: Beautiful Book!

In other news, I found the world’s most beautiful book this weekend at Goodwill! It has peacocks wearing bell-bottoms and wolves spilling wine on pigs… what more can you ask for? It’s not in English, and I can’t find anything about it online, at the library website, or on Amazon, but it’s really amazingly beautiful! I might have to scan in pages eventually because it’s so cool, but in the mean time, here’s the cover. If anyone knows anything about it or can translate, do contact me! (I’m guessing it’s a Scandinavian language, but your guess is as good as mine).

Skip to 11:25pm where I’m online after Timmy and Nitza left my apartment. Tim says it’s Finnish and I do believe he’s right! I scoured the web looking for free translators that do Finnish to English and I found success! “Riikinkukon häät” translates to “peacock wedding.” Apparently the book is about a famously large peacock who maybe gets married? I didn’t translate past the first sentence… it’s slow going!. Makes sense though… I was able to get a partial translation of the first sentence: “Olipa once peacock which oli past proportion vernacular famous kauneudestaan.” Leave it to the Finnish to write about huge cocks for a children’s book! ;) The Europeans always were a bit more open than the Americans… just look at TV show, advertising, and legalized prostitution! Anyway, I’ll add more translations and pictures as I can. Enjoy!!

Interesting nature photography: www.heatherfirth.com.

I’m sad to say Halloween in Seattle isn’t really a big event. Sure, bars like Polly Esthers have costume contests, but that’s not exactly what I’m looking for. (Go to Polly Esthers any night of the week and the people look like they are already in costume). I guess I miss all of the fun opportunities to dress up in Austin… huge events like Carnival, Eeyore’s Birthday, and Halloween on 6th. I miss the idea of 6th Street at Halloween, or any of the big events really. There are some house parties this weekend and I’ll hit one on Saturday. And I’m going bowling on Sunday in costume, so that should be cool. But I’ve tasted Austin for Halloween and I crave something more that just a house party or bowling. I want festivities. I want freaks and wierdos. I want hoopla. Hmmm… guess I’m probably in the wrong city for this holiday. The NW is pretty laid back… perhaps next year I need to plan to be elsewhere for the event. San Fran? Austin? Other? I know there must be more than two cities with big Halloween festivities. C’mon people… what happens in your neck of the woods for this spooky day? Use that comments link and share!!

Photo of the Day: Grunge Loving Grandma!

Today’s bus ride to work provided a sight to behold… an older, grey haired woman wearing a backpack. Not just any backpack, but one with band patches all over it including Seattle’s grunge bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Temple of the Dog. She had tons of other band patches too, including NIN, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, House of Pain, and Metalicca. Kinda crazy! The woman had to have been at least in her 60s, if not her 70s… kinda a bit older than the standand grunge audience of Gen X’ers. It was fabulous to see that some folks in the older crowd have an appreciate for grunge and rock music! (Maybe she was Eddie Vedder’s mom or something? Anything’s possible!)

I was saddened to find out just that even though tested dairy and am currently testing sugar that doesn’t mean I’m allowed to eat chocolate if sugar ends up okay. Lame! I haven’t had sugar in three months and I can’t even eat candy at Halloween? What’s the world coming to?!? Hmm… if nothing else, Maggie said she’d carve pumpkins with me. Yeah!

Look for Halloween photos to be posted by Monday! Last night Dieter and I went to Dan’s party where the crowd was well costumed and very laid back. There was a DJ spinning the tunes, flashing lights, some break dancing, and a keg to keep people from getting parched. Happily… there were no lame people that show up without a costume. Why go to a Halloween party and not wear a costume? What’s the point? Anyway, at Dan’s everyone was in costume and they were all pretty good. Saul won my vote for favorite outfit of the night – he covered himself in purple balloons with angry faces drawn on them. What was he? The Fruit of the Loom guy? Noooooo… he was the Grapes of Wrath! Quite entertaining! Anyhow, tonight we’re heading to Mike and Val’s party for more festivities and Sunday I’m going bowling in costume with coworkers. :) Should be good! For now, I’ve got to get to the Farmers Market to stock up on cheese curds, and then I’ve got to run home and start working on my costume! Take care!

Mike and Val’s party last night was lots of fun. :) They decorated their whole house, covered the walls, put a slaughtered horse in the sink, had lots of candy and drinks… you know, the whole nine yards! I dressed up as magnetic poetry, and it was much fun! I was told it was the “best costume of the night” by a few folks, but I thought the guy from Memento was really good, as was the “Agent Orange” guy. Anyway, it was nice. Lots of friendly folks. Tonight I’m heading out again in costume… need to leave in a few minutes as we’ll be bowling shortly. However, I’m debating whether or not magnetic poetry will be a good idea bowling (I fear losing all of my words as soon as I swing the ball). Hmmm… might need an alternative here. Wish me luck! I’ve got 10 minutes to figure it out! Take care!

Photo of the Day: Bowling in Costume!

Bowling tonight was fun… people had great costumes (love the 80s aerobics instructor!), they played great cheesy 80s music, and the bowling itself was pretty entertaining as well. However, there was a little incident about the meaning of the “free games” that were donated to us. Hmp! Any manager who gives a donation but then charges you, using the line “if we gave it to you free, we wouldn’t make any profits” is pretty scummy in my book. Regardless, it’s over and we can move on to other exciting news. Like the weather… Did I mention it’s been cold here this week? Highs have been in the 40s all week with lows in the 30s… brrr! Just two weeks ago it was in the 60s and 70s. Crazy weather! Guess fall is finally here. (You can tell it’s been cold… every tree in town shed its leaves this week from the frigid temperatures). Anyway, g’night!

I just posted the pictures from this weekend so everyone can see the Halloween photos and get last minute costume ideas! Yeah!

Today was a semi-productive day around the apartment. :) I found my old caller ID box (figured it’d be useful to trace the annoying beeping calls we get from some computer who apparently thinks we’re a fax machine). Sadly, my old caller ID box had batteries left in it and one of the metal battery holder thingamajiggies broke off from all of the corrosion. Productive to find, sad to see broken. Ah well. I also found my binoculars… quite exciting, though I wish I’d found them this summer when I was looking for them! I went to so many outdoor concerts and festivals this summer that I really wanted my binoculars for but could never find. Needless to say, they were hiding with the caller ID box. Happily, the binoculars were safe and sound when they found. Yeah! What else? Swept my floors. Vacuumed. Tested egg yolks for my diet… boring, but I’m so close to down I could care less about boring. Saw Brian and Stacy (they’re hunting for jobs and used the internet here). Speaking of internet here, we have AT&T Cable Broadband for “high speed” access. However, the high-speed access regularly times out and is incredibly slow even when it doesn’t time out. Tonight I played with some settings and it’s zooming now! I feel like I should start web surfing for fun!! Anyway, it was a productive day!

It was a productive diet week too! I’m reading a new wheat free cookbook and just learned (and confirmed with my nutritionist) that OATS are no longer considered a risk for people with gluten intolerances. Wohoo! Celiacs and allergy sufferers alike can rejoice at that news! I can now add stuff like oatmeal, oat flour, oats cereals, etc back into my diet! Yeah! Apparently BUCKWHEAT is now officially recognized as a non–gluten flour as well! Wohoo! Let’s here it for up to date cookbooks and food studies done by scientists in Europe! Yeah life!

Photo of the Day: Pineapple Madness!

Did I mention there’s a new addition to my apartment? That’s right! I finally hung decorations on the walls! Our living room now has a lovely print above the couch and our hallway now has, well, we’ll get to that. :) You see, Rod and I were at Goodwill a week ago looking for Halloween stuff when we stumbled upon a long shelf of all wooden stuff (wooden boxes, old clocks, wooden spoons, paper towel holders, etc. We found a wooden pineapple bowl, laughed to ourselves, and kept sorting through other wooden stuff. Then we found another wooden pineapple. Then another. Then another. All told, we found 12 wooden pineapples! All were donated on different dates… which means people are always getting rid of wooden pineapples. (Do they eventually lose their charm, splendor, or utility? I couldn’t image!) Even funnier, all of the pineapples were donated within the last month, which means people are not only continually donating pineapples, but that people are also buying them up just as fast as they’re donated! None sit on the shelves for more than a month! Crazy! Who knew wooden pineapples bowls were so popular?! All but one were hand crafted from “Genuine Monkey Pod” and all but one were from Hawaii and the Philippines. I selected my favorite 11 pineapples, an assortment of bowls and platters, both large and small, and brought them home for a place of prominent display in my apartment’s hallway. Quite a site to behold, if I do say so myself!

Today I’m going a little overboard and spending lots of time online since my connection is finally working right! I just signed up with a few Seattle Meetup groups. Meetup is a snazzy site that let’s you create or join a topic of choice in your given city, then helps arrange the meetup so you can get together in real life with other random folks who share your interests. There are a good number of folks in the Seattle Blogger meetup, and I had fun meeting them earlier this month at Sit and Spin. Now we’ll see if the Vegetarians, scrap bookers, Cranium players, BookCrossing.com fans, etc actually sign up and get together at some point too. If they’re cool people, fabulous. If it doesn’t work out, oh well. You never know unless you try. :)

Photo of the Day: Jason Webley Live in the Studio

Just spent the last hour as part of the live audience down at KUOW. The Beat today hosted a live performance from Jason Webley, one of my favorite Seattle musicians! He played the Halloween Song, the Aardvark Song, a new song called Map, and then ended with the Drinking Song. Their studios were only about 2 blocks from my office building, and as an audience, we got to sing along, dance, cheer, cackle, and use our noisemakers to the best of our abilities! The performance was to promote his annual Day of the Dead concert extravaganza coming up this Saturday at the Paradox. Rod and I are planning to attend and it should be much fun!

Care to donate your body to the science of Plastination? http://www.bodyworlds.com They’ve got anatomical exhibitions of real human bodies (currently on display in London and Seoul). Wow…

Videos and DVDs I recently got from the library and watched at home:

The Sopranos (Episodes 7-9, 10-11, 12-13)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – cute movie… cute Aubrey Hepburn and George Peppard!! Glad I finally saw it! (Who knew George Peppard did films before the A Team? Color me clueless!)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High – can’t believe Dieter never saw it in his youth!

Get Carter – the original from the 60s! Fun flick!

Gone in 60 Seconds – funny to see a movie about stealing cars has family and morality themes!

Gosiford Park – nice… informative too!

Green Mile – sweet film!

Kissing Jessica Stein – reminded me of Danielle!

TV Nation – Michael Moore is a funny, funny man!

So I think I may have hit my Halloween quota for the week! Not entierly, of course, since we’ve planned festivities for our team meeting tomorrow, but for now at least. I was supposed to hit Christina’s party tonight, or maybe go out with some folks from the team, but I’m feeling pretty content to sit at home and eat french fries. :) Here’s a compromise. Since I’m not heading out for Halloween, here’s a little Halloween festivities inside. Enjoy!

20 Halloween Questions:

1. What is your all-time favorite candy? All kinds of chocolate! (Snickers, M&Ms, Jr. Mints, Krackle… they’re all good!)

2. What Halloween monster is your favorite? Angry balloon!

3. What are your three favorite Halloween movies or films?
Rocky Horror Picture Show, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and Gremlins!

4. Have you ever seen a ghost or spirit? Not really…

5. Does your wardrobe contain any glow in the dark clothing? Never.

6. What character from The Munsters do you identify with most? Didn’t watch much TV as a child…

7. What character from The Adams Family do you identify with most? Morticia was the mom, right?

8. Would you be willing to spend a night alone in a remote house that is supposedly haunted? Heck yeah! It’d be fun!

9. Have you ever bobbed for apples? Yep, but not this year. Side note: My friend Brian bobbed for something else this weekend at a gay bar in West Seattle. Won’t spell it out for you, but it’s 5 letters and started with a “D” and ended with an “o.” He was runner up! Yeah Brian!

10. Have you ever carved a pumpkin? Yes! I’m never too artistic with the designs, but I can roast up some mean pumpkin seeds!

11. Do you have any Halloween traditions? Dressing up is the only tradition! :) I used to go to 6th Street in Austin. Parties happen every year, regardless of what city. But tradition? Nah! Dress up, eat chocolate, and do whatever!

12. At what age did you stop trick-or-treating? 17 – I was a junior in high school. Some families passing out candy were “It’s so great y’all are still dressing up and trick or treating!” However, most families were a bit more judgmental… “Don’t you think you’re a little old to be doing this? This candy is for kids… not for y’all.” It was pretty disheartening!

13. What is your favorite Halloween memory? One of the earliest costumes I remember wearing was a fuzzy green cat outfit my mother sewed for me. It was pretty awesome… and I was of course amazingly cute! Another year (in middle school), I collected tons of candy! When I came home, I sorted all of my candy out on the floor, arranging chocolates with chocolates, tootsie rolls with tootsie rolls, etc. I grabbed the phone when it rang and took a quick phone call. When I came back, my miniature wonder poodle Max had woofed down half of my candy… including all of the chocolates! Sure… they say chocolate can kills dogs… but not my Max! He was hyper as heck for a few days, and pooped lots of tin foil during that same time, but was otherwise fine. (We’re a chocolate loving family all around!) I, on the other hand, lost all of my coveted chocolate candy! Sad!

14. When you were a child, what scared you? I was fearless. :) Saw too much crazy stuff to be fearful of anything really.

15. While trick-or-treating, what did you use to hold your candy in? Pillowcases worked great! One year in elementary school I dressed up as a Business Woman (oh, the foreshadowing!). I carried a briefcase and collected my candy in that!

16. Do you ever look under the bed or in the closet for monsters before going to sleep? Nope, but you never know what’ll be hiding behind a closed shower curtain… ;)

17. Do you have a recurrent nightmare that you dream of? Nope, I rarely remember dreams.

18. Are there places in your neighborhood that are considered to be haunted or to have ghosts? Story has it that there’s a ghost in the Pike Place Market. Supposedly some in Capital Hill too! Austin reportedly has a ghost in the historic Driskill Hotel. What else? My ex-boyfriend Chris said he’s seen ghosts in his apartments….

19. Do you personally know anyone that considers themselves to be a witch or vampire? Well, I guess I knew folks in Austin who considered themselves witches and vampires.

20. What specific Halloween character can you relate to most? The bat with the top hat! Remember… from that one cartoon? Ah well! Don’t know if I relate… but he was memorable if nothing else!