tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76413972248190987232024-02-19T10:01:12.301-08:00NoellephantNoelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-65838430443604436742016-03-24T18:22:00.001-07:002016-05-09T15:57:06.437-07:00Sun Valley, Idaho<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Big news out of the way first. Paul and I are moving to Canada! In less than a month! We'll be moving to Edmonton, so Paul can get his Masters at the University of Alberta studying boreal forest ecology. Now that our time in the US is limited, we're trying to see as many people as possible. Paul's aunt Linda and her husband Bill live in Sun Valley, Idaho in the winter, so we took the weekend to drive out there and ski with them. Paul's brother and his fiance came too! It was quite the weekend! On Friday morning, we drove 13 hours straight to Sun Valley, and listened to all of the second season of the podcast Serial along the way. </div>
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Our first full day, we snowboarded in the morning and early afternoon, and then drove out to Galena Lodge to snowshoe and have dinner.</div>
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Here's the group! Nina is Ian's fiance. She is very cool and smart and got her Masters in Public Health. Their wedding is in September and that will be my first time back in the states after moving to Canada!<br />
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Look at these brothers! Ian is seven years older and is doing his Urology residency in San Francisco. They look so related, they even have matching jackets.<br />
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Ian and Paul are really good at snowboarding. Nina and I are beginning snowboarders, but I think we held our own. Linda and Bill moved to Sun Valley for the skiing, so they are <i>very </i>good skiers. Linda even did a cross country ski expedition through Greenland a few years ago, which involved the Northern Lights, dog sleds, and frost bite! I've been snowboarding a lot this winter, because Paul's been working as a snowboard instructor on the weekends, and I'll go up to our little mountain and snowboard by myself all day. But the mountain close to Eugene is absolutely minuscule compared to Sun Valley Resort, so this really felt like the big leagues. </div>
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Can you believe that view?!</div>
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The mountain was so big, they had actual enclosed gondolas in addition to chair lifts. Also, I was so out of place. The resort was 99% skiers. I saw maybe 5 other snowboarders all day. Also, my boots fell apart as soon as we got there, so I had to duct tape them back together. So I really stuck out. But I embraced it. I may not be very fancy, but I've got a lot of spunk.</div>
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On our last day in Sun Valley, we took a nice walk into town, where we looked at art galleries and went to a cool thrift store. We found this awesome Pavoni espresso machine that retails new for $800 or more. We got it for $85 so we were pretty excited about that. But as Paul walked around town holding it, four people came up to him to compliment him on his purchase and one guy said very seriously "you are holding a piece of espresso history." So now I'm even more excited.<br />
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The next day we drove a few hours to Boise to see our friend Ben. He went to UO with us our freshman year and lived in the dorms with us. Then sophomore year he moved back to Boise, but we've kept in touch because he's awesome. Now five years later we got to hang out again and it was great! Ben is very passionate about his city, and I see why. Boise was really cool, and we ate very well while we were there. And everywhere we went, he knew someone! He knew the girl walking her dog across the street, waiters knew his name and order. It was like having our own personal insider tour of the city. We're about to move out of the country, and I'm feeling a little stressed out about it, being so far away from everything and everyone I care about. But this trip, seeing family and an old friend, reminded me I still have people in my corner and it's all going to be okay. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-40465045459527375892015-12-13T15:43:00.001-08:002015-12-20T15:47:18.124-08:00Crafts and Hamilton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I feel like I have abandoned my blog, but it's not because I haven't been doing anything fun. My hours at work have almost doubled so that's really affected my free time. It's also winter now, so it's dark early, and when I'm not at work, I've been at home knitting, reading, and baking. Which is great! But it's not always fancy photo worthy. None of the pictures in this post are fancy, actually; they were all taken with my phone because I've misplaced my camera charger. These two pictures in particular are from Snapchat (a gingerbread cream cheese cake and a lemon poppy seed bundt cake). My friends mostly get pictures of baked goods and my cats on Snapchat. I really love that app because most of the people I snap (snap is now a verb I use casually) live far away from me. I'm at a point in my life where I feel really solid in the friendships I have, and even though I text, call, and Skype these people, sending and receiving pictures of little mundane things makes me feel connected to their everyday lives. </div>
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I'm including these pictures because it was such a delicious brunch. Tasty Thai Kitchen does fusion brunch on the weekend and it's divine. How beautiful is that iced coffee bubble tea! We also got a curry omelette, a coconut sticky rice crepe, and an English muffin with tofu, avocado, a fried egg, spinach, and peanut sauce. I feel like we haven't been eating out very much at all this fall/winter so far, so this was a nice treat. </div>
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A lot of my spare time recently has been spent creating. I've knit several hats in the past month or so. I've been knitting during breaks at work and also at home while watching Netflix. It's a great way to keep my hands busy. I painted this little elephant for my new baby cousin, and I'm really excited about how it turned out (Conor and Stef - I'm sending this out soon, I just need to finish knitting a little baby hat!). And then one day on my lunch break I went to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on campus and spent an hour sketching the pieces I liked the most. This was a lovely life sized bronze statue, and I sketched it from several angles, which was a nice lesson in figure drawing.</div>
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I've also spent countless hours this past term at the Craft Center. I work on campus, transcribing classes, and I often have 1-2 hour breaks in between my classes, and I don't always want to bike all the way home just to bike right back. So I stay on campus in the ceramics room of the Craft Center, where I can go anytime I want for only $25/term. I really like hand building vessels versus throwing on the wheel, because I personally find it more relaxing and like I have a little more room to mess up and experiment. So I've been making pinch pots of every shape and size. But my true love is really drawing and painting, and recently I've found a way to marry my drawing skills with the clay pots. On the left, I used a special pencil to straight up doodle on the little shot glass, and it turned out great. And on the right, I painted the crows as one black blob with some slip (kind of like a thick clay based paint). And then I took a little tool and scratched away at the slip, to reveal the white underneath, to add detail. So it was kind of like reverse drawing, and I think it turned out really successfully!</div>
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Here are some more bowls done with the reverse drawing technique (called sgraffito). I love them! Some people at the Craft Center throw on the wheel and just do such a spectacular job. But I don't like the wheel. And my hand built pinch pots can't really compete with that (not that ceramics is a competition, but you know what I mean). I can sculpt things really well; I've made really nice and detailed elephants and skulls out of clay before. But in terms of vessels, I'm pretty limited. So I feel like this is a way to make my pieces special, by incorporating my drawing skills. </div>
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I'll finish up this blog post with things I've been loving recently. </div>
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1. My new glasses. </div>
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2. These really sturdy work boots I got at St. Vincent de Paul for $11.</div>
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3. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I started and couldn't quite finish the 1079 page behemoth before it was due back at the library, but I'm putting it on hold again so I can read more.</div>
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4. Netflix mini reviews</div>
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a. <i>Marvel's Jessica Jones</i> - It was okay, but I feel like you have to get several episodes in for it to get good, aka it gets better once David Tennant is actually in it. There was a nice supportive female friendship, it took sexual assault a lot more seriously than other shows, the film noir style was interesting when they stuck to it, and the actor who plays Malcolm is a really beautiful human. It's about Jessica Jones (played by Krysten Ritter aka Jesse's girlfriend Jane in Breaking Bad) who lives in post-Avengers New York, has super strength, and is a private eye. The villain is Killgrave (Tennant) who can will people to do whatever he says, even if it's murdering your own family or jumping off a building. This show is not a must-watch, but it's enjoyable. </div>
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b. <i>Broadchurch season 2</i> - I don't know if it was as good as season 1, but it's certainly more dramatic. Again, you can't go wrong with David Tennant. But it's really bleak, 100% of the characters are under emotional stress 100% of the time. Season 1 solves the murder of an 11 year old boy in a small close-knit English seaside town, and the detectives are Miller, the mother of the boy's best friend, and Hardy (Tennant), who's from another town and has a mysterious past. Season 2 is about the trial of the murderer (very stressful because of who it is) and brings up Hardy's past.</div>
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c. <i>The Mind of a Chef</i> - This is so good, and it's embarrassing how long it took me to watch, especially considering how many times it's been recommended to me. Each season follows one or two fancy chefs around, and they cook popular dishes from their restaurants, talk about their food inspirations, go and see how some of their favorite ingredients are made, and talk with other famous chefs. David Chang in season 1 is great of course, but I really love Sean Brock in the first half of season 2, and I think those are my favorite few episodes. I love his focus on the influence of West Africa in southern cooking. I thought April Bloomfield was lovely and funny and refreshing after a pretty bro-centric season 1. I love the way Ed Lee (who was also a contestant on Top Chef) thinks really academically about food and culture. Magnus Nilsson made food I had no interest in eating, but I found his episodes fascinating.</div>
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d. <i>The Wolfpack </i>- This documentary got a lot of buzz during Sundance and I see why. I was excited to see it on Netflix because it's been on my watch list forever, and I missed it when it was in theaters. There's some speculation on the internet that it's totally a hoax, but I don't think so. It's about six brothers (all very striking looking with long hair down to their waists) in New York who are home schooled and aren't allowed to leave their apartment growing up because of their kind of cult leader father (who I strongly suspect was sexually abusive). Their only real contact with the outside world was through movies, so they memorize movies like Pulp Fiction and The Dark Knight and make costumes out of yoga mats and cereal boxes. It was a great documentary, but it was honestly really stressful to watch. <br />
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e. <i>The Great British Bake Off - </i>Netflix is calling this The Great British Baking Show (not what it's called in the UK) and only put up season 5, which is weird. This is a competitive baking show. All the contestants are nice and like each other. There's no cash prize. It's the exact opposite of American reality competitions, and it's really fun to watch. It's a bunch of cute British people in a big gazebo tent in the middle of a cute British field making cute British desserts and being nice and supportive to each other. This is great to watch while knitting.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(these beautiful pictures of the cast are from Vogue, with Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton on the top)</span></div>
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The really MVP of the last few months is <i>Hamilton, </i>which is a rap musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton that just recently debuted on Broadway. That may sound cheesy or weird, but I promise it's not. It was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also plays Hamilton in the show, and he won the Tony for best new musical in 2008 for <i>In the Heights. </i>Lin-Manuel says that hip hop is the music of revolution and he wanted the musical to talk about the America of the past, but look and sound like the America of the present. A majority of the cast is composed people of color, and it's a really beautiful thing. </div>
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The cast recording is on Spotify, so you can listen to the show all the way through. The songs flow into one another, and very few scenes in the actual production don't show up in the cast recording, so when you listen to it, you're listening to 98% of the show. The cast recording was produced by Questlove. It took Lin-Manuel Miranda six years to write the musical; the raps are so dense and complex. Here's one of my favorite lines by Thomas Jefferson (played by Daveed Diggs, the guy with the awesome afro in the picture): <i>I'm in the cabinet/ I am complicit in/ watching him grabbin' at power and kissin' it./ If Washington isn't gon' listen/ to disciplined dissidents, this is the difference/ this kid is out. </i>Listen to that assonance and rhyming! And then the kind of repeating introductory line throughout the show is: <i>How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a/ Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a/ forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence/ impoverished, in squalor/ grow up to be a hero and a scholar?</i></div>
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I'm going to keep talking about Hamilton because it's my blog and I can do what I want. The musical follows Hamilton from age 19 when he first came to America, to his death. He was born in the Caribbean, and was orphaned by 12. A hurricane destroyed his island, and he wrote a poem about it that was so good, the community raised money to send him to America. As Lin-Manuel Miranda said "Hamilton literally wrote a verse to get him off an island - that's the most hip hop shit ever." Once in America, he started hustling and never stopped. By 22 he was George Washington's aide de camp in the Revolutionary War, but his real talent was writing. He was extremely prolific; he wrote 51/85 essays in the Federalist Papers in just 6 months. His writing eventually got him into trouble as well. He had America's first political sex scandal, and he wrote about and published the whole affair himself! Also, most famously, he was America's first Secretary of the Treasury and essentially created the whole financial system of today including the first national bank and national public credit. He was eventually killed in a duel at age 49 by his sometimes friend, sometimes foe, political rival Aaron Burr, who was the Vice President at the time. Aaron Burr (played by Leslie Odom Jr., the man kind of dancing in front of everyone else in the picture) is arguably the "villain," but in this musical he's the narrator and you really empathize with him. He'll totally break your heart, and his song <i>Wait for It </i>is a show stopper. </div>
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So the musical follows Hamilton meeting Aaron Burr for the first time, as well as Hercules Mulligan, Marquis de Lafayette, and John Laurens (my favorite character). King George even has a few Elton John-esque break up songs his sings to America. It goes through the Revolutionary War, Hamilton meeting his wife, Eliza Schuyler, as well as her sister, Angelica Schuyler (who's song <i>Satisfied </i>is a personal favorite), being a lawyer, writing the Federalist Papers, being the Secretary of the Treasury, having an affair, writing about it and ruining his political career, losing his son in a duel, and eventually dying in a duel himself. Lin-Manuel Miranda read Alexander Hamilton's 700 page biography while on vacation and said by chapter 2 he was already Googling to see if his life had already been made into a musical because it's so dramatic. As the author of that biography said, the best way to dramatize the story is to stick as closely to the facts as possible. </div>
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I love analyzing things, I was a Comparative Literature major, I can't help it. I don't watch a TV show unless a website like AV Club or Hitfix has reviewed every episode or (even better) I can find someone whose entire blog is dedicated to in-depth reviews of each episode. I watch an episode, I go spend an almost equal amount of time reading an analysis of that episode, then I watch another episode. Luckily Hamilton has become such a cultural phenomenon there's lots on the internet for me to read about it. But my favorite thing for Hamilton are the rap annotations on <a href="http://genius.com/albums/Lin-manuel-miranda/Hamilton-original-broadway-cast-recording" target="_blank">Genius</a> which is a website with rap lyrics and people submit annotations, to track all the allusions to other lyrics and pop culture in rap songs. Almost every single line in the entire almost three hour rap musical (sometimes going as fast as 19 words in 3 seconds) has a reference to something, be it an allusion to an Eminem song or a line from a real life letter that Hamilton wrote. </div>
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So you can listen to the cast recording, follow along with the lyrics (which is helpful because it's so fast), see which character sings which line (which is great because you can start to picture it in your head despite having never seen the show), and you can track what every single line is referring to. I've literally spent hours and hours going through the lyrics on Genius and reading all the annotations. I feel like I know 250% more about American history than I did before. So, if these six paragraphs didn't convince you, just do it as a personal favor to me. Go listen to <i>Hamilton. </i>Read the annotations. Learn about your history. Also, fair warning, I've listened to the first act of <i>Hamilton </i>(not joking) probably about 45 times. But I've only listened to the second act all the way through about 3 times because it makes me cry too much. If I'm not in the mood to sob hysterically I don't go past <i>Stay Alive (Reprise). </i>As you can tell, I spend a lot of time on the internet researching <i>Hamilton </i>and in all my research, never has someone listened to the cast recording and not cried. You've been warned. You will be obsessed. May the force be with you.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-37040956147376268992015-10-11T11:58:00.000-07:002015-10-11T12:30:00.834-07:00Southwest Adventure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In September, Paul was in Las Cruces, New Mexico for a month long research position studying biological soil crusts in the desert. So I was on my own in Eugene all month, and actually did well! I made some awesome new friends, found a new TV show to obsess over (everyone should watch Mr. Robot), and went to go visit Sam in North Bend. But once his job ended, I flew out to meet him in Albuquerque for a week long vacation/road trip/camping/epic adventure. I flew out on Saturday, got to Albuquerque in the evening, met Paul and several of his coworkers who were going to be joining us on our trip, and we all went out for vegan sushi. Paul and I stayed the night in an adorable Route 66 hostel, and then woke up early Sunday morning, at 4 am, to go to Balloon Fiesta.</div>
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Balloon Fiesta is the international hot air balloon festival held in Albuquerque every year, and it just so happened to be going on the week Paul's work ended, so that was a lovely serendipitous surprise. The idea was to get there before sunrise and experience what they call Balloon Glow, where all the hot air balloons set off into the sky while it's still dark. These few balloons started to glow, but then it barely started to sprinkle, so, because it's the southwest, they almost cancelled the entire event. The balloons deflated, and the whole event was on hold for a few hours. All because of a few tiny drops of rain. Paul and I kinda cracked up about that. People were in full on rain parkas, for about three minutes of minor sprinkling.</div>
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Eventually, the "rain" stopped, and the balloons were allowed to inflate again. So we missed the Balloon Glow during the sunrise, but the event was still magical. There were thousands of balloons, and not just traditional ones, but ones in the shape of bees, frogs, whales, clocks, zebras, giant heads, and Darth Vader.</div>
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After Paul and I got back from Balloon Fiesta at about 9 am, we met up with the rest of the group, ate a lovely New Mexican breakfast, and started driving to the Grand Canyon, which was about a six or seven hour drive. We stopped at Petrified National Forest along the way, and I'm so glad we did. As a group, we were all like "sure, I guess" when we passed by and decided to stop, but we all agreed afterward that it was amazing. We drove through and jumped out at every viewpoint to take pictures. It rained a bit, but there were lots of rainbows, and it totally added to how alien the landscape looked. There were a few boulders with petroglyphs carved into the stone, and I actually found that quite emotionally moving.<br />
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And then of course, the Petrified National Forest also contained lots of petrified wood! This blew my mind! The wood was fossilized and has turned to stone, and it was insanely beautiful and colorful. Paul and his coworkers are a bunch of botanists and ecologists so we spent a lot of time squatting and looking really closely at everything, and that was really fun.<br />
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After the Petrified National Forest, we drove through the night until we arrived at the Grand Canyon at around 10 pm. We quickly set up camp in the dark, and then woke up in the morning, ready to hike! The Grand Canyon was amazing, really, truly amazing. For some reason, I thought that maybe the Grand Canyon would be a little over hyped. I was more excited to see the other National Parks we were going to visit afterward on the rest of the road trip. But I shouldn't have been so cynical, it was breathtaking.<br />
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We were on the South Rim, and hiked the Bright Angel Trail. It rained quite a bit. A lot of our southwest adventure it was rainy. I was alright with it, because we had a very long hike ahead of us, and I would rather it be rainy than hot outside. And again, the rain meant rainbows, and rainbows in the Grand Canyon was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.<br />
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Here's our group! From the left, we have Jennifer, Francisco, and Shelby. They worked with Paul the whole month of September in Las Cruces. They all lived in a house together, worked together outside in the desert all day, and then watched the sunset together every night. It was very cute, and I felt welcomed into their little botanist crew.<br />
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So, we hiked the Grand Canyon. It was intense. I wore jeans, which was a mistake. I literally don't even know why I did that. And we chose one of the hardest hikes: it was 9 miles, was supposed to take 9-12 hours, and was listed as "very difficult." We hiked all the way down to where the arrow is, in that little lush glade of trees, called Indian Garden. Then there was a thunderstorm. It was so loud! And we were so naive, kept saying things like "that wasn't so bad!" But then we had to hike 4.5 miles back up the Grand Canyon. Paul was saying how it was the opposite, mentally, of hiking a mountain. With a mountain, you hike up and it's so hard. Then you're at the top, you did it, you get to rest, and hiking down is the easy part. With a canyon, you hike down, it's easy, you rest but don't really need to, but then you have to hike back up and you want to die.<br />
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I learned a lot about myself on that hike back up. I am not a social hiker. I am very stubborn. Shelby went way ahead of all of us because she was such a beast, but Francisco, Jennifer, and Paul were all hiking back up in a group, chatting, going slowly and steadily. I couldn't deal with that. I found hiking like that more difficult, that it took more effort to go slowly. I could only go full force. I went as fast and as hard as I could, and kept going until I felt like my legs or lungs were going to give out, then I collapsed on a rock and rested until I could go on. Even with my many breaks, I ended up several switchbacks ahead of the rest of the group. So I did the most difficult part of the hike by myself, and I'm so stubborn, that I had to keep pushing. If I had been forced to be in the group, forced to be pleasant, forced to go any slower than my full effort, I think I would have emotionally broken down. At the end though, I took a long break, waited for the rest of the group, and then we finished together. At the very top, I cried, and then almost threw up. By then, it was getting dark, raining again, I went back to my tent, and passed out for about an hour. That was a physically and emotionally draining day, but I am so proud of myself.<br />
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We spent our second night in the Grand Canyon, and then woke up in the morning, packed up our camp, and drove to Zion. By the time we got there, there wasn't enough sunlight for the 4-5 hour hike we'd wanted to do, we hadn't actually reserved a campground, and the first come/first serve camping at Zion was filled up. So we drove through for an hour or two, took some pictures, but then had to go find somewhere to set up camp!<br />
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A lady working at a gas station nearby told us about the barracks, which was this dirt road off the highway, along a river, where people often did dispersed camping. Dispersed camping is essentially where you camp outside of any designated campground. So it's free, but there are zero amenities. We got to the barracks, and there were some other people camping further down the road. We found out that Paul's brother had camped near here when he went to Zion! We got to set up our hammock for the first time all trip, had a little drumming and ukulele jam session after it got dark, and then looked at the stars. It was a great night. In the morning, Paul and I parted from the group and went on to Yosemite, while the rest of them were going to on to Arches.<br />
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That day was a driving day. We drove until sundown, through Utah, Nevada, and California without air conditioning. It was difficult. I tend to get carsick, and it was really hot. In Utah, we stopped for coffee at The Rock Stop, and we stopped there because it was the cutest place we'd see in hours. It was so cool on the inside, the guy who owned it was so nice, we talked to him about the tourists he gets (mainly Danes and Germans), Oregon's landscape versus Utah's landscape, and then he gave us our coffee for half price. Then we drove and drove and drove. Our camping stove was out of fuel, so we had to stop at a gas station for dinner that didn't have to be heated (carrot sticks and sandwich ingredients). The sun started to go down and we were still an hour away from Yosemite, and again we hadn't reserved a campsite, so we pulled off on a side road, and slept in our car.<br />
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We woke up with the sunrise, and drove to Yosemite. It was distinctly more familiar looking than the rest of the National Parks we had been to. There were mountains, pine trees, lots of green. We sneaked into a campground, filled up our water bottles, and tried to clean ourselves in the sinks, our first "shower" in about five days.<br />
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We found this giant fungus in Yosemite! Shout out to Muhammad, do you know what this is? Chicken of the Woods?<br />
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After driving through Yosemite, we drove to San Francisco, and that was another several hours in the car. By that time, I was <i>really </i>sick of being in the car. We stayed the night with Paul's brother and his fiance, and went out to some amazing Indian food, the first non-camping food we'd had since our New Mexican breakfast after Balloon Fiesta. I don't have any pictures because my camera had died by that point, and while I had the charger with me somewhere, our car was an absolute disaster. We woke up in the morning and then drove home to Eugene, another 10 hours in the car. We had listened to our downloaded Spotify playlist too many times, we had gone through all of our downloaded podcasts, and so, to pass the time, I read Paul a book out loud. It actually helped with my carsickness, to read out loud and focus on something. I read him <i>The Lowland</i> by Jhumpa Lahiri, which is a beautiful and heartbreaking book that I had finished myself a few days earlier. We stopped only for milkshakes in Yreka, on the California/Oregon border. We got home to Eugene right at sunset, and I took a bath, and fell asleep. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-61982816457711858732015-09-27T19:28:00.000-07:002015-09-27T20:20:38.521-07:00North Bend Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday I returned home after three nights in North Bend with my best friend Sam. The last blog post I did was also about North Bend, when I went to help her move in, and I promise I've actually done some pretty interesting things in between, but this is what I took pictures of. I got there Wednesday afternoon and we went on a nice hike through the estuary, which had these interesting raised wooden platform pathways through all the marshy land. </div>
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Does anyone have an explanation for the crab massacre I found on the side of a hill in the estuary? The crabs were tiny, very dead, and literally everywhere. </div>
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We walked Sam's dog, Sprinkles, at sunrise, and it was unreal. For all the difficulties of living somewhere so unlike Eugene, Sam does live about four blocks from the bay, which makes up for a lot.</div>
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Another great thing about North Bend is that Sam has a very cute apartment filled with very cute things. </div>
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On Thursday, three bicycle tourists came to stay with us through the website Warm Showers, which is this place where bike tourists looking for a warm place to sleep connect with hosts who offer up their homes. Sam's done some bike touring herself, and has been a Warm Showers host for years. We had three people, Tom, Marta, and Mattia, all biking south, having started in Canada. Marta and Mattia, from Portugal and Italy, were a couple biking down to San Diego, and Tom, from the UK, was biking all the way to the bottom of Argentina. We cooked all our meals as a big group, chatted a lot, and even did some yoga together. It felt a little like summer camp, all cramped in the living room, but in a pleasant way. They were incredibly warm people and I'm glad to have met them. Then on Saturday, we had a big American breakfast at a diner (very exciting stuff for non-Americans: they all tried maple syrup and we had to explain what biscuits were), and they were on their way again.<br />
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Tomorrow the new school year starts, which means my job working on campus as a transcriber starts again. And next week I'm going on an epic road trip through the Southwest, so I will definitely blog that. I've been really happy lately, and surrounding myself with interesting people has played a big role. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-42576584167403595192015-08-23T23:51:00.001-07:002015-08-24T08:36:51.775-07:00North Bend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This weekend, I accompanied my best friend Sam on a spontaneous 24 hour vacation to North Bend, where she is moving for the year. She needed to move some of her stuff from Eugene to her new apartment in her new car, but her car is a stick shift, and she's just learning how to drive stick. So I came along for emotional support. North Bend is a tiny town on the coast about 2 hours away from Eugene, right down the road from a slightly larger town, Coos Bay. I'm sad she's leaving, for selfish reasons, but I also think she's going to love living on the coast and it's for a really good opportunity. Plus we talk on the phone about once a day anyway, even when she's only one mile away! So I imagine with two hours between us, there will be lots of phone calls. Also, two hours isn't all that far to drive when it involves your best friend and the beach. Sam, her dog Sprinkles, and I had a very nice mini vacation. We drove down, unpacked the carload of her stuff, ate lunch on the floor of her new apartment, went on a nice hike along the coast, saw a whale, drank beer, cooked some frozen pizzas, and did a very difficult puzzle until we fell asleep in our sleeping bags in the middle of the living room's empty floor. Then we woke up early and she drove me back to Eugene so I could go to work.</div>
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One of my favorite parts of the trip, and apparently the only part I took any pictures of, was Shore Acres State Park, which is a botanical garden off the hiking trail to Cape Arago. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I couldn't believe it. It was this crazy, lovely manicured garden, all fenced in. From the outside all you could see was a tall fence and then some trees, right in the middle of the forest on the edge of the coast, and I almost didn't go in because I didn't think there would be anything interesting inside. </div>
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Within the park, there was a greenhouse with some really funky plants I had never seen before. I was obsessed with all the colors.</div>
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I don't know the official term for this type of flower, but I call them dancing ladies.</div>
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Probably my favorite part of the whole garden was the section with all the roses. I didn't even think I was that big a fan of roses, but I am now. I've never seen roses like this; they didn't look real. This post took a lot of restraint, because I took over 100 pictures of roses and I pared it down to 4. Some of my favorite varieties had names like Cinco de Mayo and Hot Cocoa.</div>
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This trip made me feel a lot like an adult. My best friend moved away, and I helped her pack and helped her settle in. We went on a 24 hour road trip and I was back for work the next morning. My other best friend Muhammad also moved recently, all the way to Wisconsin for the next five years for grad school. But we talked on Skype this week for four hours and he gave me a Google Maps tour of his new neighborhood, because technology is amazing! I don't have a lot of close friends, but the ones I do have, I love very much. I felt like an adult this weekend because we got a lot of stuff done on our little trip to the coast. I felt like an adult because I feel like I am handling the moves of my two best friends within two weeks pretty well. Because I know that it's not goodbye. It's see you later when I come to visit, and when we talk on the phone tomorrow. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-61576594516917028222015-07-13T14:41:00.000-07:002015-07-13T15:50:11.219-07:00Oregon Country Fair<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Sunday, I went to the Oregon County Fair for the first time. I've lived in Eugene for five years, and this was my first time going, and I'm sad it took me so long. I've generally always worked weekends and haven't had time before. But I took the day off specifically so I could go, because Paul was volunteering there, at the native edible plants information booth.</div>
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The Oregon Country Fair is indescribable. It's set on 280 acres in Veneta, about 30 minutes away from Eugene. It started in 1969, and in 1972 hosted The Grateful Dead as a fundraiser for Nancy's Yogurt which is run by Ken Kesey's family. It's the mecca of counterculture. </div>
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About 45,000 people come a year. It's huge! I've been to other festivals, like Sasquatch, renaissance fairs, and Faerieworlds, but this was on another level. Paul and I wandered around for several hours, but when we looked at the map, we had only looped through 1/4 of the fair. I heard someone say that walking through the whole fair one way was 3 miles of walking. And when you spend eight hours there, and you do a lot of going back and forth, like Paul and I did, that's a lot of walking.</div>
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It's really combination of a lot of things. There were hundreds of craft booths, selling everything from jewelry to handmade soap to puppets. There was a lot of delicious food; Paul and I had beignets, a chalupa, and Ethiopian food. There were also informational booths, like the plant booth Paul volunteered at, where they gave some public talks. Lots of booths had these tree house like structures built on top of them, where the workers camped out. It was insane. It was like a whole two story city built into the middle of the forest. Then there were about 14 stages scattered throughout where they performed music, acrobatics, and just about everything else. Paul and I saw a really interesting mime/dance performance where someone swallowed a sword. There were also little yurts and tents set up everywhere for hula hooping, juggling lessons, yoga, and a dance floor. There were also all of these big interactive art installations, like the giant hummingbird made of plastic bottles filled with different colored liquid, a giant globe, and a big maze of colored ribbon to run through.</div>
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Some people went just because it was a thing to do on the weekend. Some people's whole year revolves around the fair. There were old people, young people, families, naked people, people of all colors, shapes, and sizes. And everyone was happy. An acrobat took the microphone in the middle of their performance and gave an impassioned speech about Bernie Sanders. Paul and I, while in line for food, befriended a cattle farmer who had been a vegetarian for 34 years. People were always waving at you saying "happy fair!" When we ran into friends, they asked us, "how's your fair?" because it's not just an event you go to, it's an experience in itself, not how's <i>the </i>fair, but how's <i>your </i>fair. I think that's really beautiful.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-9048771941188231012015-07-05T14:55:00.000-07:002015-07-05T14:55:58.495-07:00Doris Lake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEhaN7kJ81JUR-2WHh9YbTtgf4cWawZz1fImn66Z_2rRa5EqlI43rYTnC80AW1GRZHGR5eLhwhD5ljorN0I0vcQXpM8dtUuOMPEqfjFt5llpzg5v6F8sbaKtSOw2-lwcaakcfWoknrpLn/s1600/lake1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEhaN7kJ81JUR-2WHh9YbTtgf4cWawZz1fImn66Z_2rRa5EqlI43rYTnC80AW1GRZHGR5eLhwhD5ljorN0I0vcQXpM8dtUuOMPEqfjFt5llpzg5v6F8sbaKtSOw2-lwcaakcfWoknrpLn/s640/lake1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Paul and I have been really busy lately, as he works full time and I just got a second job. It's also been really hot; the little animation on the weather app on my phone has not been a sun, but a danger symbol, for over a week. Also, recently at the REI garage sale, I purchased a backpacking backpack for 70% off. All of these factors together, plus getting the weekend off, meant we were going backpacking, to Doris Lake in the Deschutes National Forest. We parked our car at the trail head and hiked for about an hour and 20 minutes until we reached the lake. You'll notice my clean feet in the picture above, before we started hiking.</div>
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And after.</div>
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The first thing we did when we got to the lake was swim around for a while. That was nice, but I was the most excited about all the critters I saw. Then we set up our camp. Doris Lake had a little peninsula that jutted out a little bit into the lake, and we decided that was the prime spot for camping. It was awesome to be completely in the middle of nature by ourselves. When we first started swimming, there was a family there too, but they left eventually. And we saw a tent set up across the lake, but the lake was so huge, it was as if we were alone. This actually wasn't my first time backpacking. We went once about a year and a half ago, where we had to snow shoe into our camp, but it was freezing, I strained my hip, and I had a panic attack where I cried hysterically about Ted Bundy coming to get us all night. So this was much more successful! </div>
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My favorite part about this trip hands down was relaxing in the hammock. My mom got us this two person hammock for Christmas two years ago, and while Paul's used it a few times, this was my first time getting to use it, and it was awesome.</div>
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How unreal is the view from inside our tent? Oregon is the best state. Also the best, reading while camping. I was reading <i>The Motorcycle Diaries</i> and Paul was reading <i>Bel Canto</i>.</div>
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This was a very short little trip. We had planned to spend two nights but ended up only staying one. We both woke up the first morning feeling a little ill, and the combination of the mosquitoes and worrying about how our cats would handle the 4th of July fireworks without us, in addition to the concern that we might wake up the next morning feeling even worse (we were right), we decided to hike back to the car around 3 in the afternoon, and then drive home. But we had a glorious little 36 hour getaway. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-87378127982191975802015-06-23T08:46:00.000-07:002015-06-23T08:49:17.857-07:00Book Thoughts 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>The Shining Girls</b> (Lauren Beukes) - </i>This book could have been so much better. But it wasn't horrible either. The premise is great. There's a serial killer, he time travels to kill his victims across several decades, he meets them when they're young, returns later in their lives to kill them, leaves them with a trinket from another girl he's killed, and creates this whole web of girls. All of these girls "shine" to him, that's why he's obsessed with them. But one girl survives his attack and goes about trying to catch him. The plot is interesting, though it kind of gets muddled at the end, but because of the complex plot, the characters really suffer. We don't really know about the serial killer, his motivations, other than the girls are shiny to him, and even that term is never explained. The characters are really flat, even the main characters. I didn't read it that long ago, but I've forgotten a lot of the details already, because I just wasn't very invested in it. But I did like it while I was reading it. </div>
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<i><b>Gulp</b> (Mary Roach) - </i>This is the third Mary Roach book I've read: <i>Stiff</i> was about corpses, <i>Bonk</i> was about sex, and now <i>Gulp</i> was about digestion. She writes nonfiction delving into the weirdest stories about the weirdest topics. I personally love her books, read through them very quickly, and end up laughing a lot. They might be a little much for some people. Paul, for example, did not make it through <i>Stiff. </i>This book, being about digestion, includes the discussion of spit, Elvis's colon, and whiskey enemas, so if you can stomach that, read on.</div>
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<i><b>The Casual Vacancy</b> (J.K. Rowling) - </i>I really liked this book. Heck yeah J.K. Rowling! This novel is very character based. It's set in a small town in England, where a city commissioner dies of an aneurysm, and the book explores how that affects the rest of the community, where everyone knows everyone. There's lots of small town politics, rich vs. poor, parents vs. children, gossip, secrets revealed. I thought the book was really lovely. Even though it's pretty long, I read it really quickly. BBC just recently made a 3 part TV mini series of this book, which is on my list of things to watch, but I heard they changed a lot, so I would totally recommend the book first.</div>
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<i><b>Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil </b>(John Berendt) - </i>This is a book that's been on my list for a long time, and while I knew it was based on a true story, I didn't know it was actually considered nonfiction until after I read it. That actually explains a lot of my frustration with the book. It's essentially the story of a wealthy eccentric gay antiques dealer from Savannah, Georgia who kills his young lover, and he goes to court three separate times to prove that it was in self defense. That's the main plot. But then the narrator spends a lot of the book describing many of the other people who live in Savannah. Savannah is really a character itself in this book. I enjoyed a lot of these chapters, because the upper crust of Savannah is a very odd bunch, but a lot of characters showed up, were described in great detail, and then were never really mentioned again. Thinking this was a typical novel (albeit one based in truth), this was confusing and made the book feel a lot longer than it was. Knowing it's completely nonfiction, this makes more sense. Still, for a book with a title like this and that includes murder, voodoo, and small town shenanigans, I was expecting it to be a little more exciting, but maybe I watch too much Hannibal and The X-Files. Did I like the book? Yes. But less than I thought I would. </div>
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<i><b>The Devil in the White City: Murder, Madness, and Magic at the Fair that Changed America </b>(Erik Larson) - </i>I read some reviews online that people think this book is boring. I really don't think so. I loved this book! It's nonfiction and goes back and forth between two parts: Daniel Burnham, who was the architect in charge of designing the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and then H.H. Holmes, who is coined as America's first serial killer, who committed most of his murders in his hotel he built specifically for the world fair. I had heard of this book before, because I'm pretty interested in serial killers, but it was recently mentioned in an architecture class that I'm transcribing. At this particular world fair, they debuted the Ferris wheel which held 2000 people at a time, the first zipper, Cracker Jack, Juicy Fruit, and shredded wheat. Thomas Edison was involved. Annie Oakley got her start. The man who designed Central Park was the landscape architect of the fair. I just can't picture anything like this at all today, 100,000 people a day from all over the world for 6 straight months coming to the exposition. They said the average person went everyday for 2 weeks just in order to see it all. It was several square miles, built in three years completely from scratch, all in a very classical style, and it only lasted until the fair was over. I went into this book only really expecting to be interested in the serial killer part, but the construction of the fair itself was actually super interesting. </div>
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Of course the H.H. Holmes part was really interesting as well. It's written kind of like a novel, but every single piece of dialogue actually comes from a letter or newspaper (it has a huge index), so it's all true. I think it painted a good picture of what America's first known serial killer was like, what motivated him. He was a doctor, he was charming, he had very blue eyes, kids loved him. Despite not being an architect, he built a hotel by the world fair specifically for the purpose of killing the occupants. People place his murders anywhere between 27-200 people. He built secret passageways, a murder kiln in the basement, and had the ability from his room to seal off and gas any room in his hotel. It was really insane. But Chicago was also a pretty tumultuous place at the time, and there were hundreds of thousands of young single women traveling to the world fair, hoping to have a new life in the big city. So it's crazy how he got away with it for so long, but also, the way he was described, not at all surprising. He was actually in prison already for insurance fraud by the time they found out about the murders. I've now written two giant paragraphs for this book, but I just really enjoyed it and found it fascinating. I currently have 12 books out from the library, but this is the one I chose to read first.</div>
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<i><b>The Luminaries </b>(Eleanor Catton) - </i>This is another book I really wanted to like more. It took me so long to get into, over 200 pages in before I found it engaging. I think part of that is due to its structure. It's all set in New Zealand in the 1800's at the height of the gold rush. A man walks into a room in a hotel, having just had a very weird experience himself, and it's obvious that he's just interrupted a secret meeting. It turns out the content of the secret meeting has a lot to do with the strange experience he himself just had. The first 200 pages or so catch up this man (and the reader) until everyone in the secret meeting is on the same page, and then they all leave the hotel, and go about their business, all a part of this little secret club. </div>
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That's where it gets interesting. Unfortunately it took a long time to get there. But once it got there, and once you learn all 12 of the characters I really liked it. Also, fair warning, it's almost 850 pages, and <i>really</i> feels like it's 850 pages. It has some supernatural elements (kind of?) and it really tries (and fails, I think) to incorporate elements of astrology. Each of the 12 main characters is assigned an astrological sign, each chapter starts off with an astrological chart, and chapters have titles like "Venus in Capricorn." I don't think the novel quite pulls off what it wanted to, especially with the astrological "mystery within a mystery" stuff, but I did end up enjoying it, even if I spent several hundred pages kind of hating it.</div>
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<i><b>Outlander</b> (Diana Gabaldon) - </i>I had been on the waiting list for months and months before I got this book because it's been a classic for 20 years, but it also just got made into a TV show. I watched the first half of the first season, then started reading this book, and I'll keep watching the show now that I'm done. This book is about Claire, an English WWII nurse, who's in Scotland with her husband, touches a big rock after seeing a druid ceremony, and gets transported to Scotland in the 1700's, right before the Jacobite rebellion. She meets a handsome red head named Jamie, falls in love, and then spends a lot of time on horseback running away from people who wish her and her new husband harm. Jamie also has a price on his head for a murder he didn't commit, and is the object of obsession of a very bad English commander, who happens to be Claire's 1945 husband's ancestor. This book is famous for its sex scenes, which it has a lot of, but in my library was categorized as historical fantasy. Yes, there's time travel, but she time travels the one time and then is pretty much stuck in the 1700's, so I would say it's 5% fantasy and 95% historical. I don't know if I'm going to read the other books in the series, but for what it's worth, I did like this one. Also fair warning, the Scottish characters (so pretty much everyone but Claire, the "outlander") have dialogue written with an accent like, "ye werena the first lass I kissed" which I'm neither a fan of, nor against. </div>
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<i><b>Pet Sematary </b>(Stephen King) - </i>This was my first Stephen King novel and I can't believe it took me this long. I loved this book. As a disclaimer, I did not find this book scary, as I'm a little bit of a creepy person, but others might. It's apparently King's best selling and considered his most scary book. I think this novel shows what a fantastic writer King is. There are only about eight characters, so you really get to know everyone involved. The plot itself was really great, but I didn't expect it to be so funny. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and now have lots of other Stephen King on my list to read. The basic premise is that there's an old Native American burial ground next to a pet cemetery (spelled wrong in the title on purpose) where if you bury your dead, it comes back to life, but evil. The main character's two year old son dies. You can guess what happens next. But what I found interesting is that all of the inevitable evil two year old creepy zombie kid stuff happened right at the end. The whole rest of the novel was really masterfully building up to that point, and it was awesome. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-62366598519136576292015-04-10T19:19:00.000-07:002015-04-10T19:51:37.407-07:00Blue Pool<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Friday, Paul and I went to Blue Pool, a place that's been on our Eugene bucket list for years. When we went to <a href="http://noellephant.blogspot.com/2015/01/sahalie-falls.html" target="_blank">Sahalie Falls</a> a few months ago, we were actually trying to go to Blue Pool, but didn't realize it would be an extra 10-12 miles on top of the hike we already did. The McKenzie River goes underground in lava tubes for a while, and then pops back up to create Blue Pool, and I'm not entirely sure why, but it's <i>so blue.</i> This place is pretty magical. We even found wild orchids, which are my Grammy's favorite flower, and she's not doing too good right now, so it made me happy to see them.<br />
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The hike was incredible. It took two hours to drive there, each way, and then about four hours round trip for the hike which includes the extra time spent climbing down the 60 foot cliff to get to the lake's edge, but the hike itself (until the cliff part) was easy and very flat. Paul and I might not be in Oregon next year, so we're soaking it up while we can. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-89872145661986336582015-03-28T13:56:00.000-07:002015-03-28T13:57:04.172-07:00The One Where I Make Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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By now, I don't think it's any secret I like to make things. This year, I have made a real effort to spend my free time being creative. I have also made it a goal to document more things on my blog, so here we go.</div>
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A couple of days ago, Paul and I spent several hours making ravioli! We had Friends on in the background and it was great. We roasted beets and used them to make the dough. Then we made three types of filling: carrot ricotta, caramelized onion goat cheese, and stinging nettle goat cheese. We used the fromage blanc goat cheese we got in Long Beach. I got stung by the stinging nettle! It hurt for over 48 hours! Once you boil the nettle though, it doesn't sting you anymore, so the raviolis are safe to eat. I'm not entirely sure how many raviolis we made, but it's definitely over 100. We put them in the freezer, so we'll have an easy meal ready to go anytime in the next few months. You could totally roll out the pasta by hand, but it's easier with a pasta machine. They're not that expensive, and they're really handy. Homemade pasta is the best. We used the leftover dough just to make normal fettuccine, which we ate last night with roasted vegetables on top. It was so good.</div>
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I spent a day at the Craft Center recently making a bunch of little pinch pots. Then for my birthday Paul got me some soy wax and supplies to make our own candles. So that's what we did! We added some essential oils to the wax, and I'm not sure if I added enough for them to actually be smelly, but they are really cute. Making things is really rewarding. Everyone should try it. Even if you don't think you're particularly crafty, make yourself a nice dinner, or a pie completely from scratch. It's fun, I promise. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-15521452806081399682015-03-24T15:24:00.000-07:002015-06-23T08:50:30.588-07:00Book Thoughts 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
In December, I reviewed the books I'd been reading, and I thought that could be something I'd continue. Every ten or so books I read, I'll do a little review. These are the books I've read in 2015 so far.</div>
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<i><b>The Goldfinch</b> (Donna Tartt) - </i>I'll start with the Donna Tartt books. She's written three in her career, each of them 10 years apart, and quite lengthy. I loved all three. I think I liked <i>The Goldfinch</i> the best, though. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014. Each of her books is similar in that they reveal the "twist" in the first chapter, and then the rest of the book leads up to that point. For <i>The Goldfinch, </i>it's revealed that the narrator is in his twenties, has just killed a man, is hiding in a hotel room in Amsterdam, and has had The Dutch masterpiece painting, The Goldfinch, which he had stolen as a child after The Metropolitan Museum of Art was bombed in an attack that killed his mother, has just been stolen from him. Then after the first chapter, we're in New York, the narrator is 13, and he's in the museum with mom. So the whole book leads up to that first chapter, and it's amazing. Donna Tartt's writing is lush and beautiful. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's really long, but it's worth it.</div>
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<i><b>The Little Friend </b>(Donna Tartt) - </i>This is Donna Tartt's second of her three books. It's also beautifully written and over 500 pages. It's set in the 70's in Mississippi. In the opening chapter it's revealed that a nine year old boy is murdered in his front yard, in the middle of the afternoon, on Mother's Day with everyone else in the house, and no one knows who did it or why. The book is about Harriet, his little sister who was a baby when the murder happened, who spends an entire summer when she's 12 trying to solve the murder. There are meth dealers, snake handling preachers, and a lot of generational family drama. I was unsatisfied by the ending, but I also don't think I would have liked the book as much had it ended in a more satisfying way, which I know is vague, but I don't want to give anything away. </div>
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<i><b>The Secret History</b> (Donna Tartt) - </i>This was Donna Tartt's first book, and probably her most famous. In the first chapter, it's revealed that a small group of friends murder one of their friends. Then you spend the whole book figuring out why and what the consequences were. It's about this group of friends, who are super privileged, bougie east coast kids at college together, and they're kind of a part of this weird cult. They're all in the Ancient Greek program, which consists only of the six friends, and they're completely cut off from the rest of the campus. They are pretentious, mysterious, and the narrator, the newest member of the group, is trying to figure them out. There are secret Greek sex rituals, secret trips to their country house (because they're filthy rich), and in general, a lot of secrets. And you know the whole time that five of them, the narrator included, are going to kill the sixth one. I had an interesting experience reading the book because I messed up and thought they were all going to kill the character Henry, but they're really going to kill the character Bunny. And it becomes obvious throughout the book that they're going to kill Bunny. And I kept thinking, what kind of coup is going to have to happen so that they end up killing Henry! But they don't. Because I read it wrong in the first chapter. I kind of think it enhanced my experience of the book. But who knows. I really loved all three of Tarrt's books. </div>
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<i><b>Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road </b>(Michelle Tea and others) - </i>In my last book review I revealed my love of Michelle Tea. She started this traveling queer feminist poetry/talent show called Sister Spit. I got to see it a few years ago, and it was such an amazing night. I even got to meet Michelle Tea (see below, she's in the middle)! But essentially, a group of ladies (and sometimes men) travel around the world, reading poetry, singing songs, etc. And it's a new group of women each year, although Michelle Tea is always there. This is a book filled with some of the poems and stories that have been performed over the years. It also has diary entries and comics drawn and written while on the road. It's a lovely little collection.</div>
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<i><b>The Bonobo and the Atheist </b>(Frans de Waal) - </i>This is a nonfiction book about the origins of morality. Many would argue morality comes from religion and is unique to humans. This book argues that morality came before religion, is evolutionarily beneficial, and occurs in other species as well, specifically bonobos. In addition to theology and philosophy, it also discusses a lot of biological anthropology and emotional capability in animals. This was a really fascinating read.</div>
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<i><b>Horns </b>(Joe Hill) - </i>Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, and this is the second book I've read of his. He writes "horror" books, but I haven't found either book of his scary. I've also read <i>Heart-Shaped Box. </i>This book is about Ig, whose girlfriend's been raped and murdered, and everyone thinks he did it. After a drunken night that he can't remember, on the anniversary of her death, he grows horns. When people see the horns, they feel compelled to tell him their darkest secrets, but don't remember his horns or telling their secrets afterwards. Through a lot of secret revealing he finds out who murdered his girlfriend, and then goes about getting revenge. There's some iffy symbolism and mythology in this book. Is he a demon? The devil himself? Is the devil even a bad guy? There's a tree house that represents/is heaven? It gets a little muddled. But you find out pretty immediately who the murderer is, and then you spend a lot of the book in flashbacks. It was a little overdone for my taste, but I enjoyed reading it. Don't watch the movie though. That was a pretty bad adaptation.</div>
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<i><b>Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More </b>(Janet Mock) - </i>This memoir was so fantastic. Janet Mock is a trans woman, grew up poor and black in Hawaii, was sexually abused, became a prostitute as a teenager, but then got her degree, moved to New York, got her Masters in journalism, fell in love, and is generally an amazing woman. The majority of the book is about her childhood and adolescence. She had every obstacle and hardship thrown at her, but her book isn't depressing. It's funny and poignant and lovely. If you feel like being inspired, read this book.</div>
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<i><b>Yes Please </b>(Amy Poehler) - </i>I love Amy Poehler. I love everything she's done. Leslie Knope is my hero. If you want to laugh and cry and generally feel awesome, read her memoir. I didn't think I could love her more than I did, but I do.</div>
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<i><b>This is How You Lose Her </b>(Junot Diaz) - </i>I'm on hold at the library to read Diaz's most famous book, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, <i>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. </i>I'm sure I will love that book. I'm not sure about this one. This was a book of short stories, but they all revolve around the failed relationships of the same character. All except one. One short story right in the middle had nothing to do with anything. The main character of all the other stories wasn't even in this one. It was completely unrelated and totally threw me off. Also, in general I'm not a giant short story fan. It's happened to me before. I've loved an author, read all their novels, and then they release a collection of connected short stories, and I just can't get into it. This book wasn't bad by any means, but also wasn't my cup of tea.</div>
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<i><b>Child 44 </b>(Tom Rob Smith) - </i>This book is being made into a movie soon with Gary Oldman, which is how I found out about it. It's kind of based off a true story. It's set in the Soviet Union in the 50's. Essentially, there's a serial killer running around killing children. But murder is considered by the state to be a consequence of capitalism, and if everyone is equal in the communist state, there would be no reason to murder. But alas, there is a murderer, a serial killer who has killed 44 children. So the main character, an MGB agent, after getting demoted for suggesting that the killings are not accidents but murders, decides to solve the mystery himself. But he can't reveal that he's trying to solve a crime, because that's a crime in itself. I found this book entertaining, even though I guessed the twist a mile away. Apparently this was the first book of a trilogy, but I don't think I'm going to read the other two. I think the movie will be good. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-31596482408679344062015-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:002015-03-22T09:30:53.754-07:00Long Beach Day 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our last day in Long Beach, we went hunting for razor clams! There is only one week a year where it's legal to catch razor clams. And we happened to be there that week! You're only allowed to catch 15, no matter what state they're in. We caught 9 good ones, and chucked 6 to the seagulls. Paul and I are vegetarians. But he eats sea food on occasion if it's sustainable and cooked well. We brought the razor clams last night to an amazing sushi restaurant called Mame and let the chef do whatever he wanted with them! </div>
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For our last dinner of vacation, we drove out to Astoria, and went to Fort George which is this amazing brewery. We ate truffle pizza, which was insane. And then we tried a flight of all 13 beers they had! We got seated at this big table, and everyone seemed to know each other already. Most of them were in their 30's, and it was split pretty evenly between men and women. We found out they were the knitting club of Astoria! And they meet in a brewery! They were so nice. One of them had actually just recently moved there from Eugene and recognized us, so that was pretty crazy.</div>
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Our last day in Long Beach we also went to a goat farm. The owner spent an hour with us, showing us around, introducing us to all the goats, and we got to play with the baby 2 week old goats. They were the cutest things! We came away with some goat gouda, goat cheddar, and goat fromage blanc. All in all, this vacation was perfect. We kept busy. We did a lot of exploring, and I had a fantastic time documenting all of it.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-59208270619563162122015-03-19T10:56:00.000-07:002015-03-19T11:09:16.548-07:00Long Beach Day 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday started off really well. We woke up really early, drove to a look out point, and tried to find whales. Grey whales are migrating back north right now and pass through Long Beach in March and April. We didn't see any though, but we might try again before we leave. Then we stopped in town for breakfast. We went to Laurie's Homestead Breakfast where the portions were laughably big. We took home three boxes of leftovers. The biscuit was so big it took up two boxes. Delicious! Then we went horseback riding! I tried to keep my cool so as not to be obnoxious or freak out my horse, but I was flipping out on the inside. It was so fun! We mainly walked. The wrangler let us trot for about 10 seconds, and that was terrifying. My horse's name was Gunner, Paul's was Earnhardt, and they are half brothers. </div>
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For most of the rest of the day, I didn't feel too well. I had a headache and didn't really want to move at all. So we hung out in the hotel room for a little while. Then before sunset, Paul convinced me to come out and search for tidepools with him. </div>
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We found a little blue shrimp as small as my pinkie finger nail!</div>
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I'm glad we went exploring. I think the fresh air helped my head a lot. Here's our little car on the beach! I'm not sure if this is true for all of Washington, but in Long Beach, people drive on the beach. In Oregon, at least where I've been to the beach, you can't do that, so it's been kind of bizarre to see. At any given point, you can see up to 20 cars just cruising along. A few days ago, we saw someone get pulled over, on the beach. And yesterday while horseback riding, we saw a guy, hanging on to the roof of the car while the car was driving, like the car was a boogie board. Very weird. After watching the sunset, Paul and I went out to the best Thai food of my life at this very cute little place in town, then for a cocktail at the restaurant in the hotel (whiskey, cranberries, lemon, and maple syrup), and then watched Friends and fell asleep. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-48312328628901738472015-03-18T10:19:00.000-07:002015-03-18T10:19:37.544-07:00Long Beach Day 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On our first full day in Long Beach, Paul and I ate breakfast at the hotel, and then decided to explore. Long Beach has miles of paved bike paths along the beach, so we took out some of the beach cruisers our hotel provided and went on a ride. </div>
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One of the places I wanted to go to most in Long Beach was Cape Disappointment, specifically Dead Man's Cove, which has the little island with the one little tree in the middle of the cove. Despite the sign that said no beach access, we hiked down to the beach. It was so worth it. It was supposed to rain all day, but it only rained for about five minutes, when we were at the lighthouse. Then it totally cleared up and we had a really sunny evening.</div>
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We went into town and bought a really simple kite. Paul had a blast flying it around. </div>
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After hanging out on the beach for the rest of the day, Paul and I made a campfire and cooked tofurkey dogs wrapped in biscuit dough, made a can of beans, and roasted some s'mores. I took this picture of a bird sternum for Sam, with the wishbone still attached! Then it got dark out, the fire was burning low, and the stars came out. I've never seen stars like this in my life. There were finally enough stars to have something show up on the night sky setting of my camera. But this picture doesn't even show 1/50th of the stars that were out there. We were the only people on the beach, the hotel was hidden behind the dunes, it was pitch black dark out, and there were just a million stars everywhere. It was totally surreal, and a really lovely second day of vacation.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-7352722864675917252015-03-17T10:20:00.000-07:002015-03-17T10:20:07.129-07:00Long Beach Day 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For Christmas, instead of getting each other stuff, Paul and I decided to plan a vacation. After months of waiting, that vacation is finally here! We got an unbelievably amazing deal on Living Social for a really cute eco-friendly hotel in Long Beach, Washington, and we'll be here four nights. Day 1 of vacation was the drive up to Long Beach. We decided to take the longer route and go up along the coast, and while we were there, we made some pit stops along the way.</div>
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The first stop, about two hours into the drive, was the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Oregon's aquarium and zoo are really amazing, and put a lot of effort into research and rehabilitation instead of into touristy attractions. I hadn't been to the aquarium in years, and this was one of the things I was looking forward to most on our trip. We spent over two hours there. It was so fun. We saw the puffins, sea lions, seals, and otters all get fed!</div>
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I wore my whale earrings Paul got me, which I thought were appropriate for a beach vacation.</div>
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My favorite part about the aquarium was the exhibit called Passages of the Deep. It was so amazing! There were stingrays, sturgeons, eels, lots of fish, and sharks! I was so excited to see the sharks. And they were huge and kind of terrifying and awesome. </div>
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The flash on this picture is horrible, but LOOK AT THAT SHARK!</div>
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The puffins were much cuter than the sharks. I learned that the ear tufts, white face, and orange striped beak only appear after sexual maturity and only during the spring! The rest of the year puffins are pretty plain looking. Also, there was a to-scale replica of a megalodon shark that lived over 2 million years ago. It was like a 60 foot great white shark. Scary. </div>
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The aquarium also had this area for kids with stone statues to climb on, but there were no kids around, so Paul and I took on that role very seriously.</div>
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After the aquarium, we stopped by Devils Punch Bowl, which was beautiful. Paul has a McMenamins Passport, and when you go to a McMenamins, usually after solving a riddle, they stamp the passport and then they give you free things, like pint glasses, t-shirts, magnets, and sometimes free food! The McMenamins we stopped at in Lincoln City gave us a free pizza. It was delicious. Then we kept driving. Then we stopped in Tillamook to go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We sampled all the cheese and then got some ice cream (cake batter and salted butterscotch). </div>
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Then after lots more driving we made it to Astoria. We made a quick stop at the Goonies house! The Goonies was one of my favorite movies growing up, and Mikey's house is a real house. Someone actually lives there, but they let you park a few blocks away and then walk up to take a picture. There were five other people there when we got there, and this was just a random Monday afternoon, so I can't imagine how busy it gets on a weekend. So thank you people at the Goonies house for letting us bother you, but your house is a national treasure. After ten hours on the road, we finally made it to Long Beach last night. We ate the most delicious dinner in the world at the restaurant in the hotel. The hotel, by the way, is so cute. It's called Adrift, and they have free beach cruiser bikes in the lobby, so that's what I'm off to do now. There will be more blog posts to come. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-53685678820111231342015-03-01T11:41:00.000-08:002015-03-01T11:41:23.149-08:00February Hike<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday after Paul and I and our best friend Muhammad went to the farmers market and then out to pizza, we wanted to do something to commemorate what a beautiful day it was. It was warm, sunny, and very unlike February. Despite Muhammad's aversion to anything involving a cardio workout, we made him go hiking. It was great! We climbed Mt. Pisgah. I've hiked around at Mt. Pisgah before, camped at Mt. Pisgah before, swam in the river at Mt. Pisgah before, but I've never gone all the way to the summit. It was quite the hike, and I'm sore already, but the views were worth it. Here's Muhammad sitting on a bench in the parking lot, trying to convince us the views were just fine from there and we needn't continue the hike. </div>
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February was busy and went by really fast. I turned 23 this month! For some reason, 23 sounds much older to me than 22. We're two months into 2015. I graduated college in 2013. It seems like life is passing by more quickly than I had anticipated. But I also feel like I'm just discovering what I want in life, and I'm kind of an adult, and I have the ability and privilege to make some of those things happen. </div>
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Can't pass up a cartwheel and handstand on top of a mountain.</div>
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Despite a lot of uncertainty that I'm experiencing in my postgraduate life, I have really certain friendships. I was bullied growing up, and I know what it's like to not have a single friend. So I take friendships seriously. I have some fantastic people in my life right now that I'm really grateful for. Shout out especially to Muhammad who I've known for almost a decade. He's the best friend you could ask for. </div>
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Weird faces, and Muhammad on a bench part 2.</div>
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Moral of the story: I love my friends, I love being 23, I love frogs, I love Oregon.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-9300540255624938372015-02-16T21:54:00.000-08:002015-02-16T21:54:10.626-08:00Ceramics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm still obsessed with ceramics. Here are some things I've made recently. I've now used an entire 20 pound bag of clay! I spent an extra hour one day making this cat bowl with legs. If you can't quite tell in the picture, the glaze is gold and metallic. This little guy is so cute! I made him to put Q-tips in, which is working well. While I was taking these pictures, Buffy knocked him over, and stole a Q-tip from me. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6mOASHOufYeeSjWyneGdNBxZBCZJj0vqtw1mw1abkrAkVJW0JMJgmm0vztdCywOSpCYwU54Y0gpQ_-VF4jHoyH4Y3yhXjGoE57iWTfM_XVdUSTB5GJ0Llq5gYsdOuBELLpcCK0kH8nz0/s1600/clay2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6mOASHOufYeeSjWyneGdNBxZBCZJj0vqtw1mw1abkrAkVJW0JMJgmm0vztdCywOSpCYwU54Y0gpQ_-VF4jHoyH4Y3yhXjGoE57iWTfM_XVdUSTB5GJ0Llq5gYsdOuBELLpcCK0kH8nz0/s1600/clay2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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I also made a hand bowl to put jewelry in. It's slightly smaller than my own hand. Then I have this neti pot, which was a request Paul made. If you don't know, you fill a neti pot with hot salt water and then you pour it in one nostril and it comes out your other, and it clears your sinuses. We haven't tried it yet, and I'm half way terrified, but also half way excited that this is going to help my allergies and general sinus issues I've had since I was little.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOKS8_Xn2NOnMjo3Vp7D8ouScdrgEWEpn_fyNFmq1U9r0u3bXT-KGJqsrPsiQLdgfNXoIsDhLGkI9nE9iB53pZfVRCBBkM7CIgABrOzjTbd1m6OoAz3DFqg5vrubygM1xOroM24Qy1Xb9/s1600/clay3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOKS8_Xn2NOnMjo3Vp7D8ouScdrgEWEpn_fyNFmq1U9r0u3bXT-KGJqsrPsiQLdgfNXoIsDhLGkI9nE9iB53pZfVRCBBkM7CIgABrOzjTbd1m6OoAz3DFqg5vrubygM1xOroM24Qy1Xb9/s1600/clay3.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then my favorite two pieces! I have started following a lot of ceramic artists on Instagram, and there's this one lady in particular that makes cute/ugly face pots and they're pretty small and she sells them for $300 or more! And they sell out instantly! I really have no idea why! Being the overly confident person I am, I thought to myself,<i> I can do that</i>. So I made face pots! And I think mine are really cute. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1XfuGeCtSAfidEcxQwc3_MNnQ_TqF3YKzldsGc1ygbcwo6Dm0ux8SdBIanuWAFQ7zzLBsdTJXyrWipJ4gOdguk5dfOwC7w3dS4iV9eJT6GqYc9wmf7mb7SNk8bN13OHQARXv4xyUmUuR/s1600/clay4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1XfuGeCtSAfidEcxQwc3_MNnQ_TqF3YKzldsGc1ygbcwo6Dm0ux8SdBIanuWAFQ7zzLBsdTJXyrWipJ4gOdguk5dfOwC7w3dS4iV9eJT6GqYc9wmf7mb7SNk8bN13OHQARXv4xyUmUuR/s1600/clay4.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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For each planter I make, I'm allowing myself to buy a plant. Paul and I went on Valentine's Day to a local garden center and spent a long time each picking out a plant that we felt represented us. Paul is the ficus tree, and I'm the weird yellow thing. Obviously. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-65863606296361517442015-02-10T21:42:00.000-08:002015-02-10T21:42:01.949-08:00Cartwheels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe79K461kgxyxi27BRjxD3MC_ey_LbxGMNEuwICpuQ07v9MfQHgkTiRJEDiDtUsYdOXWE9yjtw6wVtMk6F2X5mS_0MEMYdWv9AWNZXwkt3gLFk9knLpWHINzGUWwsUuEB6EU0aqPdoCjDR/s1600/beachy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe79K461kgxyxi27BRjxD3MC_ey_LbxGMNEuwICpuQ07v9MfQHgkTiRJEDiDtUsYdOXWE9yjtw6wVtMk6F2X5mS_0MEMYdWv9AWNZXwkt3gLFk9knLpWHINzGUWwsUuEB6EU0aqPdoCjDR/s1600/beachy2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Today the morning class I transcribe was cancelled, so Paul and I went on a hike instead. We got to the top of Mt. Baldy, and Paul went off to look at plants, I was taking pictures, and I decided to do some cartwheels. Paul came back and said something to the extent of, "I saw you doing cartwheels again and thought, my girlfriend is so cool." He's cute. That got me thinking about my compulsive cartwheels. If I'm in a cool location, I want to be doing cartwheels. It's my first instinct for pictures. So I decided to go back through my blog and find all of my cartwheels. What's funny is that they're all exactly the same posture, my legs in the same position. I can also only cartwheel on one side. I think with all of my yoga recently focused on handstands and headstands, my cartwheel has improved, but it's pretty much the same thing all the time. Here I am at Canon Beach during spring break two years ago.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3swwXfvw8KvNG2ntZlEWjt-bzTRynRTWTZ8opwIaFc266tC9b9OakzdZQ5e-t8sjCqH9g_YMZo8KVkwF37uITCyd_GUK5eDVQSONPFR5FiiHtV8Zjw5lz5QemYih-PAEGIhrH-E1K9AG/s1600/stuff3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3swwXfvw8KvNG2ntZlEWjt-bzTRynRTWTZ8opwIaFc266tC9b9OakzdZQ5e-t8sjCqH9g_YMZo8KVkwF37uITCyd_GUK5eDVQSONPFR5FiiHtV8Zjw5lz5QemYih-PAEGIhrH-E1K9AG/s1600/stuff3.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here I am in Florence this December.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQQ1jLcuNU2LhVkQAFbolBspcQsvpZahOcvG_sTkGdtatQPpd5uYbqvvLRgZBffb947D3_9hfSrDsbMmESf2Srwm766Gul7lr8hAozgHOTn1lbj3W4DM8qPDvrReP7QWHL_B-G39-7k_I/s1600/bath6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQQ1jLcuNU2LhVkQAFbolBspcQsvpZahOcvG_sTkGdtatQPpd5uYbqvvLRgZBffb947D3_9hfSrDsbMmESf2Srwm766Gul7lr8hAozgHOTn1lbj3W4DM8qPDvrReP7QWHL_B-G39-7k_I/s1600/bath6.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here I am in the Painted Hills last January.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3SfrAsf52_F4G2ASpCmeM5LUA-UmceBfqq5oqlVHAMVagvKe54-M96YBrrcM2CY9Al7r8tsWcKLt9e_TjYgrBtwNv8zDswxD3HocIefTPZYyaDaJvcn122q7IIlqcawGpVHfkBL3n2kuD/s1600/bath3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3SfrAsf52_F4G2ASpCmeM5LUA-UmceBfqq5oqlVHAMVagvKe54-M96YBrrcM2CY9Al7r8tsWcKLt9e_TjYgrBtwNv8zDswxD3HocIefTPZYyaDaJvcn122q7IIlqcawGpVHfkBL3n2kuD/s1600/bath3.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here I am today, on the top of Mt. Baldy. In addition to cartwheels, I also practiced my handstands, which I realize look extremely similar in these pictures. But on the left I'm holding a handstand and on the right I'm in the middle of a cartwheel. Yoga's been an important addition to my life. I spend most of my time being upside down, doing handstands, headstands, and different variations of wheel. It makes me feel really powerful. I like it especially because it is challenging. Yoga can be difficult in general, but I was a dancer for most of my life, so even if things are hard, they still come to me. But being upside down did not just come to me. I've been working on it almost every day since September. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirEoQ2O1JFTUSLE2i-htLzJv4pveLyuKYWf6uyfTcg12GOU4uFfVYsdUDZg8zsnbQnb10vBQmMYF8doSwl70RIVbfCxkyFpTsFk2BWDqC5yPgJwTu0hquQXRu2eWuI4rR4SeRkf6Xgo1N8/s1600/bath4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirEoQ2O1JFTUSLE2i-htLzJv4pveLyuKYWf6uyfTcg12GOU4uFfVYsdUDZg8zsnbQnb10vBQmMYF8doSwl70RIVbfCxkyFpTsFk2BWDqC5yPgJwTu0hquQXRu2eWuI4rR4SeRkf6Xgo1N8/s1600/bath4.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Paul and I have been spontaneous recently, and I've been trying to say yes to more things. It's really easy to stay inside and watch Netflix instead of doing something. I do that a lot. But two years out of college, with lots of friends already moved away and with the possibility of Paul and I moving away someday, I think it's really important to put time into relationships. To say yes when someone wants to hang out, even if you're tired, even if you'd rather watch another episode of Gilmore Girls. This goes for my friends, but for Paul as well. Paul is so wonderful and excited about everything. He always wants to go do things. I'm trying to say yes more often. Like today, I unexpectedly had the morning off, and had a few hours before I had to be on campus again. He suggested this short little hike (it took 40 minutes to the top and back with lots of breaks for pictures). I said no, at first, but I realized I had nothing to lose. I'd be back in time for my next shift, I love hiking, and it was a nice day. There was absolutely no reason for me not to go. So we went. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2G6IDApfj4qEAuZO-SKkerWTppPV66VKlQtWTtBsDwbmpgz044667j2rfxOsWPsqMzhMXoyOa9r3NlOl3EEV1xZYLDn_R_1nOaPY5AgyhNMRfCtrUvVrlQD3fxQcXfEQ2_NppKKAmX3Z/s1600/bath5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2G6IDApfj4qEAuZO-SKkerWTppPV66VKlQtWTtBsDwbmpgz044667j2rfxOsWPsqMzhMXoyOa9r3NlOl3EEV1xZYLDn_R_1nOaPY5AgyhNMRfCtrUvVrlQD3fxQcXfEQ2_NppKKAmX3Z/s1600/bath5.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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The hike was very steep, but it was short and there were great views! Oregon is so beautiful! I'm stunned every time. We might not always live in Oregon, as Paul's been applying to grad school and jobs lately that are not in state, so I want to appreciate it as much as I can, even if we end up living here forever, because it's so amazing and I'm really lucky.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREgM3uFzOT_eJP91FXH3SUcOVcezWP72h99FWL5dur_15LGPCCM4HosKgeuk1ndTC_ScbW_-K30WnfTyVUTbfZA0YUD5uQTa76f0c4eDz5t4POBm7ZF9xhVVmli8Uo4qVzQjj9TGPJ-d_/s1600/bathroom1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREgM3uFzOT_eJP91FXH3SUcOVcezWP72h99FWL5dur_15LGPCCM4HosKgeuk1ndTC_ScbW_-K30WnfTyVUTbfZA0YUD5uQTa76f0c4eDz5t4POBm7ZF9xhVVmli8Uo4qVzQjj9TGPJ-d_/s1600/bathroom1.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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On another note, here's my bathroom! It's blue, has a clawfoot tub, and has lots of light. I took these pictures the other day to show off the bath board Paul made me. He's been working with wood a lot lately, and has been going into the craft center to make a barrel from scratch, which is a pretty big project, but he also made me this bath board, something I've been asking for forever, and it's so great! The other night I put my laptop on it and watched Netflix in the tub. Perfect.</div>
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Here are my favorite bath products. Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap is a necessity in our house. We always have it and we use it for so many different things. Shea Moisture is a really amazing company doing some cool community outreach for women in Africa, and it's all natural and contains ingredients like shea butter, argan oil, and manuka honey. I have picky hair and my curls react badly to shampoos with sulfates in them. So these products have been amazing for me and making my curls extra curly. I got them when they were buy 1 get 1 free which was an awesome deal. I also have a candle and body wash Paul's mom got me for Christmas which are two of the best smelling things ever. And then I have a soap I felted. Felting soap is actually really easy. I made Paul a bunch of them a few years ago. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIiEb9S5B0piwWTst9WXgBy7pwaxckPz4bxTx12ixGQX1Jzqy-3b4NhWmRxRTUHvvQoHAHEXGKEZjT1AcXNshOo-Fv-fDgn81npX0x7fESUwLjw-WQDvKolgRwH82EXIGj0OwzX8IM2XD/s1600/bath7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIiEb9S5B0piwWTst9WXgBy7pwaxckPz4bxTx12ixGQX1Jzqy-3b4NhWmRxRTUHvvQoHAHEXGKEZjT1AcXNshOo-Fv-fDgn81npX0x7fESUwLjw-WQDvKolgRwH82EXIGj0OwzX8IM2XD/s1600/bath7.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Finally, I was searching through my Facebook and found these pictures of me at 16 or 17. Cartwheel is still exactly the same.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-43563564238234527572015-02-01T21:00:00.000-08:002015-02-01T21:00:01.697-08:00Making Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGuOK7cRvHzIgJdtn5JQPNE6pVA88hx5DF59TmsytWuJO_C4tovQu0PbFgDWPnGGuulSvFw9d2WZhwCTH49bnlHPQSn1pua4ZVPL5XClLyrxBw06xrit2V7MZZZCpjz8ZtKttfTSfK9JD/s1600/ceramics1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGuOK7cRvHzIgJdtn5JQPNE6pVA88hx5DF59TmsytWuJO_C4tovQu0PbFgDWPnGGuulSvFw9d2WZhwCTH49bnlHPQSn1pua4ZVPL5XClLyrxBw06xrit2V7MZZZCpjz8ZtKttfTSfK9JD/s1600/ceramics1.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'll start this post with an awesome sunset that happened a week or so ago. It was a beautiful day, 60 degrees, and Paul and I went to go eat enchiladas and play frisbee at a park. I really liked that day because Paul and I made something really good out of something really small. Instead of just admiring the nice weather but not really doing anything about it, we spent an hour at the park just for the heck of it. I like that. It's a good start for how I want this year to go.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12COMrcUQPl7SNDTF0gVlVcYFoXpAscZ-J4dp_jQ8-RSF55B0FSFATKp7UU_XTZeFRzzvNo-oQNKMmVoZMlz1k2cVFJEER-kpFZiaaD_6Ag8BQgtGZx3XnQLRfDcB_aJCeNvy_z4SWuLi/s1600/ceramics3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12COMrcUQPl7SNDTF0gVlVcYFoXpAscZ-J4dp_jQ8-RSF55B0FSFATKp7UU_XTZeFRzzvNo-oQNKMmVoZMlz1k2cVFJEER-kpFZiaaD_6Ag8BQgtGZx3XnQLRfDcB_aJCeNvy_z4SWuLi/s1600/ceramics3.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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And what a year it's been so far. I work on campus as a transcriber and I have breaks between the classes I transcribe. In my spare time, I've been going to the Craft Center in the student union. I got a term pass, and I've been making the most of it. I've almost gone through a 20 pound bag of clay! I go at least three times a week, for sessions two hours or more, depending on how long my break between classes is. I have a lot of things there right now that are still getting fired, but this is my first batch of things that I've glazed! I love making things. It's very satisfying to create something with your own hands that you're actually going to use. That's why I love knitting so much, too. You get to do a craft, which is fun in itself, but at the end of the day, it's something useful. So far I've made a citrus juicer, two cat bowls, and a skull. </div>
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I wanted something cuter than the old Nancy's yogurt containers we've been using for the cats' food and water bowls. Also, Joey has a flair for the dramatic, and will sometimes knock over the water bowl, just for fun, and then look at me like I've done something wrong. So I wanted to make something that she couldn't knock over.</div>
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Look at the glaze on that! It's so pretty up close.</div>
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I also made this skull, which I'm totally in love with. I'm a part of this awesome feminist art pen pal thing called Babes Send Things (check out @babessendthings on instagram if you want to take part next month!). The people in charge of it matched us up with a pen pal, and for this month, we sent that person mail, got to know each other, and then made each other something. I don't think I could have been paired with a better person. She's a funerary archaeologist, did her master's thesis work in Peru, and obviously loves bones. Perfect match! All my favorite things! So I made her this skull. It was supposed to be a luminary and the holes in the back weren't supposed to get clogged with glaze, but I think the thought is still there. I've had such a good time getting to know her and getting awesome stuff in the mail. She made me this amazing journal made of old medical illustrations, vintage pictures, and Mexican folk art. My favorite kind of stuff. I made her this skull because it's hard to be a lady in a traditionally male field. And as girls, we grow up being told that certain things aren't for us, especially science, especially bones and dead things. But I love science and bones and dead things, and in my life when I've met ladies who love these things too (talking to you Sam) it's turned out very well for me. </div>
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I currently have eight more things at the Craft Center that I've already made and am waiting to glaze, so expect another update soon! I'm kind of obsessed with ceramics. It's very calming. I have a thousand more ideas for things to make but am worried about running out of room in my own life for them. I'm thinking of maybe maybe <i>maybe</i> opening an Etsy store? But for now, it's therapeutic being in the ceramics studio, so I'll keep going just for that.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-91472195015595831982015-01-27T13:21:00.000-08:002015-01-27T13:21:58.655-08:00Sahalie Falls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I usually have a lot to say, but I think these pictures speak for themselves. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Paul and I drove about an hour and a half out of Eugene to hike around Sahalie Falls. It was beautiful. Oregon is beautiful. Just check out those rainbows. We had a fantastic day. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-14219906871806599132015-01-19T23:33:00.000-08:002015-01-20T20:43:10.198-08:00New Year's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't really have a plan for this blog post. It's a little about my cats, and a little about what I've been up to recently. First, the cats. This is Buffy. I feel like she doesn't get enough love (picture wise), but that's mainly because as beautiful as she is, she's not very photogenic. Joey is always rolling around, posing, and being dramatic. But Buffy does a lot of sleeping in positions that make her look like a big rock. She was attentive for these pictures because she wanted to attack the wrist strap on my camera! I'm the first one to admit it, but I'm crazy for my cats. I'm obsessed. I talk about them to people I hardly know. So get ready. </div>
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We adopted Buffy last Memorial Day weekend. I saw her picture on the Humane Society website, and I knew she was the one. Even when we saw her in real life and she was a little grumpy, and the people there said she didn't really like other cats, I had this feeling she'd be a perfect playmate for Joey. I was right. She's big, clumsy, and pathetically affectionate. She likes butt scratches, being on top of you, and kneading her big paws. </div>
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Our cats aren't very affectionate with each other, but I hope they might be in time. They definitely like each other. They'll sleep next to each other, and Buffy likes to lick Joey's face sometimes (if Joey lets her). But they love to play together. It's cat playing, so it mainly looks like they're fighting. Joey (always the instigator) will walk up to Buffy, paw her in the face, throw herself down on the ground belly up, and then Buffy tackles her. Joey will escape, run away, Buffy lumbers after her, tackles her again. Joey escapes, runs away, hits Buffy in the face, lies down on her back, and then Buffy pounces on her again. It's the same every single time. Joey instigates, waits to be tackled, and then lets it happen. </div>
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That's probably enough cat gushing. On to beautiful things gushing! For Christmas, Paul and I had some gift cards to play with at Powell's in Portland. Among other things (mainly cookbooks) we bought this amazing Mexican cookbook. First of all, it's gorgeous. But secondly, Mexican food is my favorite food, and I'm so excited to have this 700 page masterpiece to play around with. Paul and I make tacos several times a week, something we picked up after coming back from Mexico last December. But I want to make more than tacos and the occasional enchiladas. I'm thinking I might "Julie and Julia" this book, at least the vegetarian dishes. Yes, I just used "Julie and Julia" as a verb. I want to go through the book, dish by dish, and make everything. And blog the process? One of my new years resolutions is to make an effort to blog more, especially everyday things, not just the big fun things. Also, for Christmas, Paul's mom got me this beautiful Portuguese speckled baking dish, which I took a picture of just because it's so beautiful. </div>
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Finally I thought I'd end this post with another bit on new years resolutions. A big one for me is to be more mindful. Mindful of my body: what I'm putting in it, picking up cues it's giving me on how it's feeling, how I talk about it to myself and others. Mindful of myself: my privilege, how what I'm saying affects others. I'm also trying to be mindful about things that make me happy. This term I'm working more hours than I ever have before. So I'm taking time to do things for myself. I've been going to the ceramics center on campus almost every single day. It feels good to be creating. It gives my hands a nice break from all the typing I do as a transcriber.</div>
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I'm also trying to do things that I like, even little things, and not worry about what others think. I've been doing yoga almost everyday since September and I've been documenting it all on instagram. Is it annoying to all the people following me? I don't know. But it keeps me accountable and lets me see my progress, so I'm doing it for me. Now I'm doing handstands, headstands, all sorts of balances, and being upside down, things I thought would be impossible. I credit it all to taking time everyday to practice, and document it. And isn't it silly? That we worry about such little things, like what people will think of something posted on instagram? I have a lot of really intense views on feminism and body positivity and social justice and all sorts of things like that. I want big changes. I want to do big things. But I'm starting with little things. Like posting pictures of doing a headstand on instagram because it makes me feel proud of myself. </div>
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Another thing that kind of relates is blogging. I feel like I get really self conscious taking pictures in public. But I don't want to <i>not</i> take a picture of something beautiful just because I'm embarrassed. That's what these last two pictures are about. The picture of the front window of Red Wagon Creamery and the lake at Cougar Hot Springs may seem like they have no connection to each other. But they were both pictures taken this month, they were both these perfect little moments I thought were beautiful, and I took the pictures even though I was in public, and people were watching. Here's to 2015. Here's to the little things that make us feel like we can tackle the bigger things.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-25035347067934445302014-12-16T19:53:00.000-08:002014-12-16T19:53:34.863-08:00End of the Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Long time no blog, but I have been busy. I've been a transcriber for 13 terms now at the UO, and this past term I worked double the hours I ever have in any other term. So I've been mildly overwhelmed, but well paid, and happy to be busy. In that time, my little sister completed her first half marathon and I was very proud. </div>
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This term was really great. Paul finished his internship after a year and a half and really began working on his thesis. I had morning classes and a night class to transcribe, but always had at least an hour or two in the middle of the day to come home and eat lunch with Paul. I also read a ton, which was amazing. In classes, I transcribe pretty much word for word what the professor is saying, but if there was a quiz, or free time to work on group projects, I just got to sit in the back and read my book until the professor started to lecture again. Classes were two hours long, and quizzes don't take up that much time, but with transcribing six classes a week, most of them meeting twice a week, that time added up, and since I'm a fast reader, I got to read about a novel a week. My job is amazing. I don't choose the classes, but get assigned to whatever classes the students in need are taking. I'm not a student in the class, so I don't get credit, do homework, or take tests, but I do get to go to every class and transcribe the lecture, so I get paid essentially to learn things, and sometimes, read books. </div>
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I transcribed 8 am classes all term, but it was worth it to see sunrises like this one. I thought I might interrupt the regularly scheduled program here to do a little review of the books I read in the last few months. <a href="http://raesock.blogspot.com/2014/12/100-books-2014-69-92.html" target="_blank">Rae</a>, whose blog I love, does book reviews and I check out a lot of books from the library on her recommendation. I'm pretty sure I'm missing at least one or two books that I read, but here are the ones I remember. </div>
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<i>Valencia</i> - If you've read any Michelle Tea, you will be prepared for Valencia. If you haven't read Michelle Tea, I don't know how to prepare you for this. Her work is always semi-autobiographical, slightly stream of consciousness, graphic, and in my opinion, awesome. I saw her perform live and I love her and if you want to read anything of hers, maybe start with her column on xojane called <a href="http://www.xojane.com/terms/getting-pregnant-with-michelle-tea" target="_blank">Getting Pregnant with Michelle Tea</a>. Anyway, Valencia documents Michelle Tea's (she's both the author and the main character) journey as a broken hearted, permanently drunk lesbian after moving to San Francisco. </div>
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<i>Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher</i> - This is a non-fiction book documenting the life of Edward Curtis, who spent decades in the early 20th century photographing Native American culture. If you've ever seen a sepia-toned/black and white picture of a Native American, I bet you five dollars it's an Edward Curtis portrait. He was an uneducated, self taught man who wormed his way into the circle of people like Teddy Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan to create one of the greatest and most expansive anthropological studies of all time. More than learning about Edward Curtis's life, you learn about Native American culture (and its brutal decimation) and I can't even put into words how important that is. If you read any book I talk about here, read this one.</div>
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<i>A Tale for the Time Being</i> - This book was lovely. It goes back and forth between the diary of a suicidal Japanese teenager who's writing to document her Buddhist monk of a grandmother's life and the lady who finds the diary washed up on the coast in Canada, with some diary entries of a Kamikaze pilot scattered in there. So you're reading the diary entries as the narrator is reading them, and then the narrator sections (the lady who finds the diary on the shore) are all about the narrator's response to the diary so far. It's non-linear, beautifully written, has some elements of magical realism, and I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it. I loved this book.</div>
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<i>Through the Arc of the Rain Forest</i> - I read this book years ago in an English class, loved it, forgot about it, and wanted to read it again. This book is pretty wacky, so I'll just write what the back of the book says here: "This freewheeling black comedy features a bizarre cast of characters, including a Japanese man with a ball floating six inches in front of his head, an American CEO with three arms, and a Brazilian peasant who discovers the art of healing by tickling one's earlobe with a feather. By the end of this hilarious tale, they have risen to the heights of wealth and fame, before arriving at disasters -both personal and ecological- that destroy the rain forest and all the birds of Brazil." This is a satirical, ecologically minded novel, heavy on the magical realism, and if you're up for it, it's awesome.</div>
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<i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</i> - This book kept showing up on "books you should read" lists so when I saw it at a garage sale for ten cents, I bought it. It's from the perspective of a boy with autism as he tries to figure out who killed his neighbor's dog and ends up figuring out a lot more about his family and the secrets they hide from him because of his autism along the way. This book is being turned into a play, which should be interesting, but honestly I thought it was a bit "meh." I didn't dislike it at all, but I also didn't really think it was great either. </div>
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<i>Mockingjay</i> - I wanted to read this before the movie came out. I've read lots of horrible reviews of this book, about how it's a terrible conclusion to the trilogy, about how Suzanne Collins ran out of ideas, blah, blah, blah. I see that. But I also didn't mind it. I thought that it was a logical conclusion to the series. It's a little frustrating how passive Katniss is, but in the book, Katniss is frustrated about how passive she is too. I don't really have anything else to say.</div>
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<i>Bonk</i> - Mary Roach writes these really great non-fiction books about weird stuff. I read <i>Stiff</i>, which is her book all about the history of what science does with corpses, and this book is all about the history of research on human sexual response. As usual with Mary Roach, it's really really funny and interesting, but if you're at all squeamish, don't even bother. </div>
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<i>White Oleander</i> - If you've ever taken a creative writing class, you know that one person who just thought they were <i>so </i>great, but in reality they were cliche and used lots of big words and adjectives to disguise from the fact that they were horrible at writing? That's this book. It's from the perspective of a teenage girl going through the foster care system (which should be interesting) but every other sentence is a simile or metaphor and you have to read through eight obnoxious adjectives just to get to the point. I love poetic prose. If you want a beautiful and well written novel that reads like poetry, read <i>The God of Small Things</i> by Arundhati Roy and skip this "fiction 101" crap. </div>
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And now back to the blog! Yesterday, feeling a little spontaneous, Paul and I drove our friend Sam out to the coast. Despite being in the middle of December, it wasn't too cold. We talked, ate car snacks, did cartwheels and handstands, and searched for tide pools.</div>
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The Oregon coast is beautiful. We had the whole beach to ourselves.<br />
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Before/after.<br />
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While exploring the tide pools, there was this hole in the rocks that the tide would periodically burst through and create this big geyser effect. I caught a picture of Paul and Sam getting absolutely soaked. They were so thrilled. It was very thrilling to watch. But I was glad to be dry. The water bursts before this one were significantly smaller, so I don't think either one of them anticipated getting <i>that </i>wet. This beach trip was awesome. Other awesome things: eggnog in my coffee, the scarf I'm knitting, my cats, Serial, Gilmore Girls. </div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-33281216124105207322014-11-01T21:51:00.000-07:002014-11-01T21:51:36.802-07:00Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I haven't really celebrated Halloween for years. I love dressing up. I love witchy spooky creepy things. I really love Halloween. But Halloween in college meant three or four days of parties and that was really not my scene. But since I've been out of college for a while I decided this would be the Halloween to step outside of my comfort zone and go all out. I'd put up with parties if I got to dress up. Among rejected ideas were the Black Dahlia and zombie Bonnie and Clyde (Paul refused), but I finally settled on the perfect dead girl, Laura Palmer, which is especially seasonally appropriate considering the recent announcement that after 25 years, Twin Peaks will be back for a third season. </div>
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Twin Peaks is arguably the best TV show pretty much ever. Thank to Netflix I have the ability to binge watch the whole series whenever I want, and this has happened several times. I love every single thing about the show (other than James Hurley's plot line in season two which I always skip through). Everything else though is great. Audrey Horne. The jazzy music! Agent Dale Cooper is even the background of my phone. And Laura Palmer, the cracked out prostitute small town homecoming queen, doomed, dead, wrapped in plastic, may she rest in peace.</div>
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This year was going to be my year. I had an awesome costume. Paul had an awesome costume. He just dressed up as gothic version of himself. He thought he was so cool! I saw him checking himself out in the mirror all night. </div>
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But I'm not a partier. I failed at Halloween. It was the end of my 12 day work week which was a bad first move. I was exhausted. But I pushed through and we spent hours getting dressed up, we went to Falling Sky for dinner where we consumed sandwiches, burgers, and beer, full of gluten which my doctor has specifically told me not to eat. This was another bad move. We had so many plans! We had parties to crash! But we came home after dinner, and as soon as I was on my bed, that was it. Night over. Couldn't move. Wouldn't move. Poor Paul. He wanted to go out so badly. It was going to be our first real Halloween in years. But I took off all my makeup, nursed my sad stomach ache, and we watched The Avengers instead. </div>
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The best part of Paul's whole costume was this sharpie arm tattoo. He was going to write the famous Slaughterhouse-Five quote "everything was beautiful and nothing hurt" but change it to "everything was beautiful and everything hurt" to make it gothic and edgy and anarchist and hardcore. But we realized halfway though beautiful that he had written every, not everything. I haven't laughed that hard in a while.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-17221011517864356902014-10-20T22:09:00.000-07:002014-10-20T22:09:33.755-07:00Apple Daze <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week Paul and I went to Detering Orchards to pick apples with two of our friends. We picked two flats of apples and then bought some vegetables and fresh pressed cider that we're fermenting into hard cider. But after a week of eating apples and making crumbles, we didn't have enough to make applesauce, the whole reason I wanted to pick apples in bulk in the first place, so we decided to go again this week with our friend Sam who is also really into canning/preserving/applesauce-making like we are. I met Sam working in the primate osteology lab last year, and not only is she a great friend, but she really understands my obnoxious love of animals and also of my weird love of things like bones and taxidermy. When we're together we do things like go get ice cream and then check out DIY taxidermy books from the library, or walk her dog in the rain and then go get tea. So the first thing we both wanted to do at the farm was pet the cows. We also weirdly had on the same sweatshirt, rolled up blue jeans, and Chaco sandals.</div>
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The cows were extra vocal and extra slobbery. I think they were in a pretty great mood. The curly headed one really liked getting behind her ears scratched. I'm positive there are plenty of great places to go apple picking in Eugene. But I'm weirdly attached to Detering Orchards. I get very loyal to things that don't require my loyalty. I usually bring my lunch and snack from home, but if I buy food on campus, I eat at the same Jewish deli every single time. Not only am I always in the mood, but I know I like it there, and I would feel weird if I went somewhere else. It's the same thing here. If I'm picking apples or peaches, I want to go to Detering Orchards. It's cute and really cheap. It's not organic, but honestly, I care much less about the official label of organic than I do about supporting local businesses with good, ethical farming practices. It was started in 1934 by a couple who hadn't even finished building their house before they started growing vegetables. It's one of the most diversified farms with the most crops in the Willamette Valley. The founder's grandson runs it today. I just love it. </div>
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Here's a funny candid picture I couldn't not include. Sam and I were posing for pictures, and stopped to contemplate the apples we were using as props. Sam's apple was too juicy. Mine I apparently did not like that much.</div>
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I think the only disappointing thing about the whole trip was the fact that despite being the end of October, it was pretty hot, almost 80 degrees. That's too hot for apple picking. The weirdly hot and not rainy weather this fall in Oregon also messed up the apple ripening schedule. There were some apple varieties that weren't even supposed to be fully ripe yet that were already all rotten on the ground because they peaked way too early with all of this heat.</div>
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I think we got to the orchard around nine in the morning and we were the second car in the lot. By the time we left it was maybe one or two, and all the lots, even the one across the road were all filled up. Some people were picking like half a bucket of apples and then leaving. Sam, Paul, and I go big or go home. All of these apples on the cart translated into two flats of apples for Paul and I and three flats for Sam.</div>
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After apple picking, we were all a little exhausted, so Sam took us to one of her favorite places, a cute little neighborhood pizza shop called Whirled Pies. It's a place I've been wanting to go for months, but we're never in that part of town. It was adorable. I especially liked their sense of humor. Recently, a really awful couple was booted from the restaurant after being scary and disruptive. The couple came back that night, broke the window, and lit the curtain on fire using their homemade moonshine as fuel. Their attempt to burn down the restaurant was unsuccessful and since, Whirled Pies added a pizza called Moonshine Molotov to their menu, which has spicy garlic cream sauce, sausage, and green chilies. Way to make the best of a crappy situation. </div>
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We got a pizza with peanut sauce, cilantro, roasted garlic cloves, red onions, and fresh chaunterelle mushrooms. A+ pizza, A+ friend, A+ apple picking twice in two weeks.</div>
Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7641397224819098723.post-71273987269826160482014-10-08T21:20:00.000-07:002014-10-08T21:20:42.492-07:00Autumnal Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm here again for another mismatch of random photos that have nothing to do with each other, except for they were all taken either in September or the first week of October. This is Buffy, the cat we adopted in May who is a total gem. She's endlessly affectionate, clumsy, and never ever mean or grumpy.</div>
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This is Joey. She is prone to being a drama queen. But she's still sweet and I think literally anything she does is cute.</div>
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One day I was looking at my nightstand (which Paul actually made for me out of a palette) and I noticed the beautiful and strange assortment of things I keep by my bed.</div>
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This was an awesome day. Falling Sky, a wonderful local brewery and restaurant hosted the world's shortest bike race. They advertised on Facebook for weeks with slogans like "13.1 feet of hell," "two pedals to victory, "and "someone will win without even trying." I think over 100 people showed up and they did it in heats of five people. It literally took like 20 minutes, everyone was laughing and in a great mood, and afterwards everyone went inside and bought a beer. If that was the secret marketing scheme behind all of this, good job Falling Sky because it worked. The race course was literally 13.1 feet long. They gave away free t-shirts. Paul and I convinced our best friend Muhammad to come and he was really skeptical and kept asking questions like "what's the catch" and "why is this happening." He was convinced it was going to be straight up hill or that people would throw things at you. Nope. That's him on the right finishing second place in the leg of the race where you were supposed to go as slow as possible. So he was the second most slow.</div>
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My little sister just moved to Eugene to start college and she's so grown up and I'm so proud of her and we went to the farmer's market and, among other things, bought pumpkins.</div>
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I wanted to make a blog post about how orange is my favorite color. My bike is orange, my Keds are orange, my new messenger bag I bought myself because I have tons of hours at work this term is orange. Our bedspread is orange. My yoga mat is orange. My KitchenAid is orange. Probably other things too. So I wanted to take a few pictures with my bike and my bag and my Keds, and on the way to take the pictures, Paul sneakily took this candid shot of me walking ahead, but I ended up liking it most out of all the pictures. </div>
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On the right is a very strange succulent. A few months ago, Buffy chewed it in half. So we kept the half with roots in its pot and we put the top half in a pot of its own. It used to be just one stalk with leaves. But since it was bitten in half, all of these branches keep popping out of the main stalk and now it's this beautiful little tree thing.</div>
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I have lots of reasons to smile right now. I'm working the most I've ever been working. It's actually a little overwhelming. But I'll actually be able to start saving money because I'll be making more than just rent. I kind of feel like an adult. I still have another transcribing job on the side. And I just found out recently that I've been chosen as the artist to do the biological illustrations for a bone manual being produced by a very important biological anthropologist. </div>
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This is a crazy cool opportunity that I stumbled into. I'm just a twenty-two year old who studied comparative literature, Spanish, and poetry, graduated, started volunteering in an osteology lab because I fell back in love with science, and drew some bones for my own benefit during a research project I was doing. People in the lab saw the drawings, liked them, paid me to put them on their conference posters, and a very important lady happened to see them and like them. I'm not a professional illustrator, but with an opportunity like this, it could kind of happen for me. So I've spent the last few weeks drawing at my kitchen table, either listening to the oldies or watching American Horror Story, with monkey bones scattered everywhere. </div>
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Noelle Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15059335097743543911noreply@blogger.com1