By “quickie” I mean short post.  Don’t be gross.

Please read Jay’s descriptive summary of commodity, branded, and free-range meat.  It clears things up, unless you live with someone who cares less than you do, in which case, it can have the opposite effect.  Wish Matt good luck, everybody.

Also, in my continuing theme of Can You Believe He Likes Me THAT Much?, Matt went with me to the Seahawks/Raiders pre-season game at Quest Field last night (tickets courtesy of Andy).  The football was pretty good, though of course Oakland was running very hot/cold, as usual.  More importantly, even though he had to miss his yoga class AND drive downtown, Matt didn’t hate it.  The stadium is really neat.  The crowd is (ahem) enthusiastic.  Plus, he didn’t know this before, but football is fun to watch.  I suggested a Mariner’s game before the end of the season, but his advice was not to blow all my sporting goodwill (that wasn’t actually the phrase he used, but you get the point) during our first summer here.

Just wanted to share my lovely, lovely weekend.

Friday: Dinner at a local pub with Andy, then just sitting, beer drinking, knitting, and having interesting conversation while playing with the first Portuguese Water Dog I’ve ever met.

Saturday: A long walk to breakfast at the local gas-station-turned-greasy-spoon. A long walk home, clean the house, put in a few productive hours at work, then cruised to Ballard for a lovely evening stroll. Every restaurant we came across was a candidate for dinner, but when we stumbled upon Madame K’s, there was no question where we’d be eating. It was your basic gold rush brothel turned pizza joint. The food was amazing, the service was hot and the pizza was friendly. Plus, they put us in the window, so we got to watch the yuppies and hipsters stroll by.

Sunday: Rode our bikes to the Paramount theater (really good down hill, followed by really good up hill, followed by another really good down hill) for the matinee performance of Young Frankenstein.  That’s right, friends, our favorite version of Puttin’ on the Ritz right there, live on stage.  We were so excited to get to see the BROADWAY cast, just before the show heads to NYC.  Awesome.  Then, of course, there was a coffee shop and a nice ride home (really good up hill, then big scary down hill, and really good up hill again).  For dinner, Matt got creative with the fresh wild-caught salmon we picked up at the farmer’s market and we ate a pound of steamed green beans.  Mmmm.  I actually had so many free calories (yes, I’m counting) at the end of the day, that I got to have a bunch of Oreos, sans frosting.

So, as you can see, a good weekend for me is all about where I go and what I eat once I’m there.  Mmm, life is good.

So, we’re thinking to leave the country for Christmas/New Year’s this year.  (Don’t worry–we’ll be home for Thanksgiving AND Jaime’s birthday!)

And, we’re thinking Ecuador/Galapagos/Peru/Macchu Picchu.  Or Costa Rica?  Oaxaca and Guatemala?

We’ll have somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 weeks to travel.

I’m very fortunate to have so many friends/family who are so well traveled…any ideas or suggestions for us?

I don’t remember who I mentioned it to that I wanted to take photos of our house and post them, but the response was so positive, I figured it was a good idea.

our new home on flickr

…in which I respond to my Dad’s request that I update my blog. Is there anyone else out there?

Okay, let’s see…where to begin…

We live here now. It took me roughly 12 months of being a San Diego resident (the second time ’round) before I was no longer struck by the change. After just three weeks, you can imagine that I’m still pretty struck. Things that continue to strike me are:

1. The immense beauty of the colors green and blue. Trees, lakes, sky, hills… ah. Just lovely.
2. Our very very fortunate circumstance. Our house is just perfect. It’s in a really wonderful neighborhood. It’s two blocks from a lake. It’s comfortable and *feels* like our home.
3. There is an upside to rain. When you’re riding your bike, you’re far less likely to inhale a bug if it’s raining.
4. People are cool here. People who I knew already are cool, and people who I meet in our local coffee shop. They all seem to be interested/interesting/well-informed/active/creative.
5. While I am very happy, there have been real, true moments of homesick. Especially when Matt was away in SD so much these past weeks, I spent a lot of time thinking about how much I miss the easy distance between myself and my friends and family.

The moral of the story: Book your plane tickets! Come visit! We strongly recommend Alaska Airlines. 

In other news, work is great! I have been slowly getting more information/authority/responsibility for a new project, and I’m really excited. My home office has a wonderful view of the neighbor’s garden, and I spent real money on a real chair, so more hours at my desk are highly bearable.

Not surprisingly, it took me exactly three weeks to discover that I really enjoy having scheduled activities in my life.  Actually, not that long.  Two weeks.  I am very excited about a stained-glass class that I will be taking, starting in September.  It’s the technique that Tiffany made famous–free form?  copper?  I don’t remember the actual name for that style of work, but I can’t wait to actually get in there and make something cool.  Also, I’m working on finding fellow knitters.  I’m posting (in the real world and online) open invitations to a weekly knitting gathering at our local cafe.  Be with me and will one or two interesting individuals to show up!!

From the boyfriend department, Matt is doing great.  His current contracting job is equal parts frustrating and exciting, so it’s pretty much as expected there.  Right this very second he’s studying (SO cute!) for his second interview at a little company called Google.  That’s tomorrow, so keep you fingers crossed, say a prayer, then turn around and spit.  We’re very optimistic about this (me especially, as it would mean my health care would be covered).

I’m having the unique experience of sort of missing my little car.  I say sort of because I don’t really drive very much at all.  I have found my bicycle gets me pretty much everywhere I need to go, save the airport.  And truly, Matt’s Subaru is quite enjoyable, as far as carbon-emitting vehicles go, but I still miss my little Celica.

Today, it was cold and rainy.  I drank lots of tea and stayed in my pajamas until it was time to go for a long, hard ride around the lake.  Cold is good for working out, it seems.  Now I have an excuse for all the days I didn’t feel like it when I was down south: it was too hot.

Anyway, it is still pretty cold and rainy, but I’m far from miserable.  I’ll let you know, all you downers, when you get your “I told you so”s in.

Okay.  That’s it for now, and my laptop battery is about to go.  If you’re reading this, I have a request:  Leave a comment (it can be anonymous, if you want) to let me know you’re out there.  If I think someone is missing my ramblings, I’ll be far more likely to update.

From the I-have-the-best-boyfriend-ever file: I told Matt all I wanted for my birthday was to be unpacked. He stayed up WAY past his bedtime last night to make that happen. I helped power him with yummy yummy red velvet cupcakes, courtesy of Rachel, but the motivation was all him. *sigh* Happy birthday to me!

Okay, last thing about him then I’ll stop gushing. Two days ago Matt had to go to work in an office! It was unusual and a bit scary, but he made it work for him by riding his bike. On the way home, he encountered a huge group (like 100+) of cyclists. Stopped at a light, he began talking to one who explained they were participating in a protest ride because the planned bike lane was scrapped in favor of a shared lane. And…for the first time ever, in his whole life, Matt joined the protest. He demonstrated. He rode in a big ol’ circle, along with lots of other bleeding-heart hippy idealistic bike riders.

I am so proud.

Incidentally, they take their bike lanes pretty seriously up here. We went on a lovely little ride yesterday, where the road was two full lanes wide–one for bikes, one for cars! It felt so luxurious, until there were places with 6 or 8 bikes riding in the same direction, and then it felt both necessary and justified.

Now that we’re unpacked, the calendar is officially open for booking. There’s a guest room with its own bathroom and everything. When are you coming?