Miracles

Baptism of family



Babies in tummies




Beautiful friends.

You know how you can get a song, word or phrase stuck in your head? Well, I have both a word and a song stuck in my head. The word: carcinogen. The song: We are Santa's elves (from Rudolph). No idea.

Recap.

This is the point in the summer that I usually consider the halfway point. Plenty of time left to go the beach, read books, etc. This summer, however, I am looking at less than four more weeks before school starts. These four weeks being very, very busy, I'm not sure how much more reading I will be able to accomplish. But who know - I do have a plane ride ahead of me... well, maybe not: Rose and I are flying together so we probably won't be reading.
So, here is the booklist: those in italics I have read or am in the middle of, and the rest... well, considering I don't actually own any of them, the prospects are rather grim; those with asterisk's were not originally on the list.

A Fragile Stone (Michael Card)
The Bookseller of Kabul (Asne Seierstad)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling)
Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them (John Ortberg)
The Periodic Table (Primo Levi)
Six Walks in the Fictional Woods (Ecco)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Mr Campion's Quary (Margery Allingham)
Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
A Wizard of Earthsea (LeGuin)
Orsinian Tales (LeGuin)
Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
A Movable Feast (Hemingway)
The Man in the High Castle (Philip K. Dick)
VALIS (Dick)
The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Italo Calvino)
Cosmicomics (Calvino)
The Dispossessed (LeGuin)
Always Coming Home (LeGuin)
Knight's Gambit (Georges Perec)
A Void (Perec)

The Benefits of Wheatgrass

"With such a great emphasis placed on cleanliness in our society, it's a wonder so few people are concerned about the problem of internal filth. After years of living in polluted surroundings we shouldn't be so naive as to believe that we have eliminated efficiently and perfectly every toxin we have consumed via the food we eat, air we breathe, and water we drink. In reality, not one person alive is unaffected by environmental hazards." -The Wheatgrass Book, Ann Wigmore (1985)

This excerpt is taken from Chapter 3: How Wheatgrass Chlorophyll Works, and the first part of the section entitled Guarding Against Environmental Hazards. If you know me well, you've probably heard me talk about wheatgrass, tell stories about wheatgrass, and try to talk you into trying wheatgrass. Emily bought me this book for my birthday, and as I've had a few minutes here and there I've started reading it. For the most part it just makes me laugh- it reminds me of my upselling sales pitch and of good times with friends at Bibo, as well as just sounding really Portland (talking about eating "live" foods and how bad processed foods and non organic foods are, etc).
When I came across this little section, though, it rang familiar, but for a different reason. Maybe it's because I've spent this summer up to my ears in 1 Peter, or maybe it's just the product of years of hearing and saying that it's what's on the inside that counts, that is most important to be taken care of. Not so much the liver or "energy flow" or anything like that, but the heart and mind that need to be kept clean and detoxed from time to time.
I love that now when I think of wheatgrass I can see a totally rad metaphor for not only physical health but spiritual health, as well.
So drink up!

Completion

As I was rushing around this morning, trying to get out the door by 7:25am - a time when I don't want to even be alive, I stopped to fill my my Nalgene. I had a moment, there in the kitchen all cloud lit and blurred by my sleepy eyes not yet adjusted to my contacts. It was such a lovely moment: me, standing next to the sink, filling up my Nalgene.
It has been a long time. It made me feel like I could rock climb well again, or go to a lecture or class without being dehydrated, or not litter the earth with a nasty disposable water bottle ever again.
It felt like an old friend. Though this one does not have my snowboarding stickers, or that nasty smell they get in the rim no matter how well you clean them, or all the scratches and scrapes from being dropped and tossed.
The only other Nalgene I have had was lost, tragically, in London, the third time I was there. I have been making do with a Starbucks water bottle, as well as an assortment of other liquid holding containers. But they're not so nice.
And certainly not so nice as this one:
Alyssa got it for me for my birthday. I love it. It combines my love of water and outdoor things and no trash with Portland and books and being a geek. Fantastically miraculous! Who knew it was possible. And speaking of books and geeky-ness: here is a picture of me with my new, disgusting, Bertie Bott's.
Oh yeah.

It's Ruining my Creative Writing Capabilities

[Facebook, that is]

Allison is covered in baby food and dog hair.
Allison is so hungry. Geez.
Allison is a little tired and not sure if she can be motivated to do anything.
Allison is wondering, as usual, if everyone who saw her today with a stroller and a cute baby thought it was hers. She is thankful that she nannys for cute babies.
Allison is planning on being polite and closing the door.
Allison is wishing she could read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows again for the first time. Alas, it cannot be - but she can still read it again for the second, third, fourth...
Allison is about to be laughing at Brian Regan.
Allison is pretty darn happy (her boy just got online).

The Beach is...

::Raises One Eyebrow::

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I'm not sure what I think about it. I like rain, and it's rather rare to experience rain on my birthday, but it's still kind of sad - especially because we'll be at the beach. The beach is great in the rain, but it will most likely only accentuate the fact that HP7 doesn't come out till Saturday.

Juxtaposition

Sweet

Three emails from Josh
Thunder peals
Lightening flashes
Lightening bolts

...my day has been made.

Oh Sad

As you have obviously noticed, I changed my blog template yesterday. I got tired of the old one and how sort of cramped and segmented it was. I loved the colors, though, and fully intended to keep them the same. And, as my computer was having fits yesterday, I made these changes on my parent's computer. It has a kind of weird monitor, and I guess the colors were skewed, because today when I looked at it on Stuart, the colors were totally different! Brown, creamy yellow and blue grey were not my choices. I tried to fix it but the color choices are all weird and the only red is an ugly purply red. Gross.
Does anyone know how to fix it? Or have a good list of html color things? I think I'm going to have to fix it that way.
Poopie.

HP5

I have a lot to say about The Order of the Phoenix... just ask my mom (she got a half hour earful this morning) or Josh (he received a long email regarding the same) but as I don't want to actually post a whole list of spoilers, here's an article that I thought does it pretty good justice: it voices my complaints without the whinging, and gives credit where it's due.
I'll just say I was disappointed, but I'm willing to give it another shot. But fire the screen writer. And who decided to make the longest HP book into the shortest film? And why - okay... I'm done, I promise I won't say more.

Harry Potter Life

I've discovered it is possible to recount important parts and phases of my life by Harry Potter (books and films). I still recall the first time I read a Harry Potter book: sitting in a high ceilinged, blue and white kitchen in Irvington, I read aloud form the Chamber of Secrets to a couple of seven year old boys. That was back in my first summer of high school.
Later, I remember asking all of my friends to go see the "Sorcerer's Stone" with me in the theater. No takers, till finally my sister consented, and of course, loved it.
The next memory I have is of babysitting on a long winter day for a sick child and reading for 6 hours straight from The Goblet of Fire. That was back in Bibo time, and babysitting was, at times, a nice little change of pace. Then I realized I needed to read the Prisoner of Azkaban, the only one I had not read, up to date.
Then came book number five, which I read aloud at the Irvington club to kids and lifeguards alike. Then, my mom bought it for me in just enough time for me to take it on my second trip to Virginia with Rosie. I wondered at how I would look on the plane with that gigantic book, only to find that I could see from where I was sitting at least three other adults hunched over their fat blue books with the same hungry look in their eyes as they flipped pages faster and faster. The Order of the Phoenix also reminds me of later that summer loaning it to people from Westminster, and to Bibo friends, as well as people from Temple. It seems so long ago.
The third film came out right before Capernwray, and I was terribly disappointed that on my long and fabulously comfortable flight to London, it was the only movie I really watch, and the only one that was malfunctioning. Van Helsing and Mean Girls (in French), had to substitute. Also at Capernwray, Danny had the three films and we made Josh watch them... how he complains about how I have corrupted him.
On arriving home the Half blood Prince came out, right after my superfun visit to Seattle to see Janice and Courtnay. Janice and I spent a good deal of our time squealing with excitement over the upcoming book. I read it at the Oregon coast with Emily, another friend who has fallen in love with Harry and Hogwarts and England and all.
The fourth film I sadly was unable to see on it's first day, but enjoyed seeing multiple times with Pamela, who was living with us at the time, Emily, my Dad, and then with Josh and Mr White on my first visit to the Schrecks. I remember hearing that Sophie and her friends saw the midnight showing and made Priori Incantatum shirts.
This year has been an interesting year for Harry Potter fans, I feel. I think we've all been a little more excited than usual, due to the coming of the final book. It has moved me to make sure more people have read the books and seen the movies so they can also be excited. We had our big HP marathon with some newly discovered HP friends (Kelly, Micah), as well as some recent converts (Austin, Gabe).
And tonight, tonight at 11:59, I am going to see "The Order of the Phoenix". To say that I am excited is something of an understatement. But I think I will always remember it and how the rest of my social life is, as usual, in flux. Josh is not seeing it with us; he is in Costa Rica. Emily will be present, as usual. The Floods will be there, and this will possibly be the last time I hang out with them before their move to Cali. It is also notable that I am in town for this showing at all, what with moving to SC later this summer. But it is all good timing - I love my friends and I'm always glad to be spending time with them. And the movie is going to ROCK.

Babies Equal Cuteness

Me with the newest addition to the family: baby Asher. Is he not so cute?

She is so cute I just have to post pictures every time I see her: Zoe pretending to be a kitty.

Curious little Asher.

My new favorite picture: Mom and Zoe.

This is Summer

Summer in Portland is a unique time. A time when certain activities that would otherwise be deemed impossible, shied away from, or thought of as insane, are perfectly acceptable, enjoyed pastimes.
For instance:

Running through a fountain, or standing in a small pool of untreated water.

[Ramona Quimby, the Beverly Clearly Fountain, Grant Park]


Playing the drums in an uncovered area.

[NW 13th ave, The Pearl]

Blowing bubbles in the rain.

[Harrison, Oaks Park, Sellwood]

Jumping in mountain run off waterfall water, not in a wetsuit (albeit with a certain amount of apprehension).

[Pamela and myself, Oneonta Falls, the Gorge]

A little sun burned, a little tired, a little sad, a little happy, a little full, a little thirsty, a little closer to moving to South Carolina.

Merry Fourth

My Fourth of July was spent in two parts: the day part and the evening part. The day part was spent enjoying nature and sun and cold water in the gorge with two dear friends, and a hoard of tourists and other holiday adventurers.
The evening part involved snacking, whacking random strangers with Frisbees, watching fireworks and having an all around good time, with a dangerously large crowd of people I do not know. (With a few exceptions, including Jesse Mack)

Pretty Things Around Town

This is the equivalent of me taking time to stop and smell the roses.