more adventurous

6. a looking glass

2012-02-16T08:47:00.001-08:00

6. a looking glass, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Astrology can clear up or mix up a person as much as any other psychological, philosophical or religious mirror, a looking glass in the endless mirror hall of life. ~ Markku Siivola

Week 6 of Embracing Pluto

Check out Vanessa's fearless take on our quote this week.

5. cheers!

2012-02-08T18:15:00.001-08:00

5. cheers!, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Drinks served in fine glassware will go a long way to please Libra. Almost more than the taste, Libra loves the visual and aesthetic experience of the cocktail. Odds are even a beer will be more appealing to the sign of the Scales when served in an attractive bottle or glass. Librans also enjoy the elegance of champagne, consumed in romantic settings and combined with the sweetness of fruit, as in the classic mimosa. No slamming your fist on the bar, please -- Libra likes it serene.

Vanessa's pick this week. And I happened to be traveling to the Oregon Coast and Pacific City, where we had beers together when she visited last summer. Cheers to you and our friendship, ness. xo

4. make time for playful endeavors

2012-02-01T10:03:00.001-08:00

4. make time for playful endeavors, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
You could get lost in your fantasies today about producing great works of art, but you may needlessly worry that you lack the talent to pull it off. Nevertheless, allow yourself to imagine what you might do if you didn't need to earn a living and manage your everyday responsibilities. There's no place for self-limiting thinking now, so express yourself as creatively as you can. Make time for playful endeavors, even if only as a practice to connect with your inner child.

(Libra horoscope for 1/27/12)

Week 4 ~ Embracing Pluto with Vanessa

3. oh-so-elegant and tasteful

2012-01-26T08:24:00.001-08:00

3. oh-so-elegant and tasteful, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Week 3 of Embracing Pluto:

One of the many reasons I'm excited about this year-long project with Vanessa - we are both total goofballs. And she reminds me how important it is to keep that sense of humor close at hand. (for example)

You are oh-so-elegant and tasteful to the point of incurring nausea from loved ones. You are also bipolar as hell and can't make a decision on your own. You usually consult your therapist or TV Guide. Libras are trendy and malleable folks. They are funny because they will glom onto something they hated before if it suddenly becomes fashionable. Velour is not entirely lost upon these people. Libras eat a lot of ethnic food from cultures they don't understand. They single-handedly started the cappucino movement. Ask them why, and they will claim something unintelligible about solidarity. You constantly worry about what other people think. If you really paid any attention, maybe people would like you more.

www.astrologyweekly.com/humour/funny-horoscopes.php

2. plots and schemes & hopes and dreams

2012-01-18T19:54:00.001-08:00

15/52 ~ plots and schemes & hopes and dreams, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Embracing Pluto Week 2 with Vanessa

Libra 2012 Forecast

Saturn, the planet of self-mastery is in your sign through October 2012. This once-every-30-year transit usually brings major life changes and decisions. It's time for you to "grow up" in some significant way. Allow your added responsibilities to forge even greater power and self-assurance. Ironically, much of your inner strength may be cultivated by facing and overcoming frustrations and obstacles. So tackle challenges as if they are tailor made to teach you something valuable. Relationships take on more importance now. Good ones can get deeper, more committed. Sex and/or intimacy can get way better, too. Joint finances might also improve and/or you might benefit from another's transitions.

1. balance

2012-01-12T17:25:00.001-08:00

1. balance, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Week 1:
Libra is the only zodiac symbol that's neither animal nor human -- but surely that doesn't make you any less human. In fact, Libra is among the most sociable of the signs. As scales of old were really "balances," so do you seek balance in all that Libra does. You respond to situations with grace as Libra attempts to put others at ease. Artistically, Libra tries to balance form, content, colors and elements, and for this reason can be drawn toward creative endeavors.

Kicking off a weekly collaboration with my fellow libra, the inspiring, gorgeous and amazing Vanessa.
A year of libra and astrology inspired images

2012

2012-01-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

It's 2012, time to dust off the ole blog. I'm starting a new photo project next with with my lovely friend Vanessa - weekly self-portraits loosely based on astrology/horoscopes. We are both libras and I've become a wee bit obsessed with astrology in the last couple months, thanks to my co-worker Mari who has done a couple readings for me.

My hope is to post at least my weekly photo, as well as photos from my ongoing collaboration with Meg and our lyrics project.

Libra forecast for 2012:
Saturn, the planet of self-mastery is in your sign through October 2012. This once-every-30-year transit usually brings major life changes and decisions. It's time for you to "grow up" in some significant way. Allow your added responsibilities to forge even greater power and self-assurance. Ironically, much of your inner strength may be cultivated by facing and overcoming frustrations and obstacles. So tackle challenges as if they are tailor made to teach you something valuable. Relationships take on more importance now. Good ones can get deeper, more committed. Sex and/or intimacy can get way better, too. Joint finances might also improve and/or you might benefit from another's transitions.

road trip!

2011-06-01T09:18:00.001-07:00

34/52 ~ stay golden, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Taken on my road trip to milton-freewater last weekend to see the wonderful team davidson.

The weather cooperated and I was able to stop at the oh-so-photoworthy tree farm both ways. I'll be flooding my flickr stream with tree pics.

And of course, I took a gazillion pics of Team Davidson :)

26/52 ~ halfway

2011-03-31T08:08:00.001-07:00

26/52 ~ halfway, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

I'm 37 1/2 this week - halfway to 38, halfway through my latest 52 weeks photo project ~ one self-portrait every week for a year.

On another (rambling, photo nerd) note - I went to an artist talk by Mary Ellen Mark last night at Reed college. As usual, I wish i would have taken notes or had a better memory. i want to take a workshop with her in Oaxaca - or Iceland! sigh. good stuff - i was suprisingly emotional on the drive home afterwards. it was interesting to hear her talk about the 'glory days' of photojournalism, the death of magazines and all that. basically no one will pay you to do 'stories' about anything other than war or disaster. She also addressed the criticism that it's 'mean' or cruel/exploitative to take pictures of people with disabilities etc - several of her projects (such as the iceland kids) focus on kids with serious disabilities - but she pointed out that the families often thank her - for including their kids and letting them be the 'focus' or a part of things. Letting other people 'see' them. She's also very much FILM/analog, doesn't shoot digital. talked a lot about having 'access' - much harder these days, people are more aware of the distribution (the whole world seeing the images via the web as opposed to in books or shows?). She said she could never do her Falkland Road (Bombay prostitutes) project now. What an amazing life and career - i just looked her up and she was born in 1940, so she's 71....

Paper Cranes for Japan

2011-03-30T16:42:00.001-07:00

nom nom, a photo by heathre on Flickr.

Paper Cranes for Japan

Students Rebuild has partnered with DoSomething.org’s Paper Cranes for Japan. For every paper crane received, the Bezos Family Foundation will donate $2 to Architecure for Humanity in support of Japanese rebuilding efforts.

Join us in reaching 100,000 cranes for a total donation of $200,000. Fold, upload, and mail your cranes to:

Students Rebuild
1700 7th Avenue
Ste. 116 #145
Seattle, WA 98101

The cranes will eventually be used in an art installation.

(sadly, this crane was eaten by my little helper miss alayna and will not be making the journey to seattle :)

Happy International Women's Day!

2011-03-08T10:58:00.001-08:00

Happy International Women's Day! a photo by heathre on Flickr.

A year ago, I celebrated International Women's Day in Bangalore, India at the Women Build kick-off celebration. An amazing, humbling, life-changing and inspiring trip.

I cannot believe it's been a whole year. Sigh.

EXIT

2011-01-27T09:05:00.001-08:00

EXIT
Originally uploaded by heathre

it is deep january

2011-01-25T12:31:00.001-08:00

it is deep january
Originally uploaded by heathre

more experimentation with film and the mini-diana.

thinking of india...

2011-01-14T09:51:00.001-08:00

stealing the light
Originally uploaded by heathre

this was taken my first day in india. i've been revisiting some of my pics and doing some different editing. i'm feeling quite nostalgic about my trip since it's been amost a YEAR. one of my friends - Sangeeta - from the trip is coming to Portland this weekend to hang out and go to Bollywood dance night fundraiser for HRC, so it will be a fun night of reminiscing. i'm also doing my first women build shift on saturday so let's hope i can move the next day - it's been a while since i've swung a hammer!

leaving kalamazoo

2011-01-04T10:12:00.001-08:00

leaving
Originally uploaded by heathre

testing out my new mini diana 35mm camera (film!) on my way back home to portland after a lovely xmas vacation.

on the road to agra

2010-08-19T12:23:00.001-07:00

morning
Originally uploaded by heathre

we left the craziness of Delhi early in the morning, headed for the Taj Mahal (in Agra). we decided to use our driver from the day before - mun - since he seemed pretty good and trust-worthy.

One of the moments i will always remember from this trip was when i had to take one of those 'leaps' of faith/trust. we hired mun through the hotel to take us to one of the markets in delhi, realizing that we were a bit too overwhelmed to deal with public transit first thing. on the way there, he talked us in to letting him drive us for the day for a ridiculously cheap amount. so we agreed. kendal read about the Mughal Gardens and we decided we should go. turns out they were at the president's palace and only open a couple weeks a year to the public - and we were there at the right time! So we went to the gardens and had to go through this huge security search before entering the grounds. of course, i had my camera. which was not allowed. which meant either not go to the gardens or leave my camera with some random guy we just met. so i took a deep breath and handed over the camera to mun. the gardens were amazing and such an interesting experience since we were the only foreigners there - at least that we could tell. lots of school groups too. at this point on the trip - day 2 - we weren't used to the constant staring and it was a little unnerving. but entertaining too. as we came out of the gardens, i started looking for mun, half-wondering if he would still be there. and he was.

by the end of the day, mun had convinced us that we should let him drive us to the taj mahal the next day instead of taking the train or bus. i don't regret that decision, but i will say five straight hours of mun on the road to the Taj Mahal tested all of our nerves. he chatted the whole time, 95% of the time trying to convince us that we should hire him as a driver for our entire time traveling. when we said we wanted to go by train, he regaled us with stories of how we would be attacked and people were crazy, etc. he also had the most manaical laugh - i don't think i will ever forget that! the other 5% was spent asking all of us about our boyfriends and particularly was interested in kendal (katie's girlfried) so that was amusing.

but back to this image - i distracted myself from mun's craziness by taking pics out the window. most of the drive was very rural and the fog (or smog?) that morning was so beautiful over the fields.

and we did eventually arrive at the taj mahal in one piece, sanity somewhat intact....and our adventures continued...

morning at laxmi villas

2010-08-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

morning at laxmi villas
Originally uploaded by heathre

this is one of my favorite photos from my trip.

laxmi villas in bharatpur ~ we ended up staying two nights here due to the holi festival (which wreaked havoc on travel plans). gorgeous pool, wonderful food, chats with the maharajah's son about bribes and 'black money' in india, celebrating holi, recovering from our 'holi attack' on the way to the bird sanctuary....not to mention nanz, our travel guy at laxmi villas. he went above and beyond to help us out, including taking kendall on a crazed late night motorbike ride to the train station to get our train tickets. truly a gem of a guy.

remember to breathe

2010-08-05T13:42:00.001-07:00

i love books

2010-08-04T12:19:00.001-07:00

library
Originally uploaded by heathre

i'm not sure when this wall was plastered with these awesome gigantic library books, but i love it. it's about 2 blocks from work on campus. i think i need to return and take more pics.

four months

2010-08-03T14:22:00.001-07:00

one
Originally uploaded by heathre

and I still miss india.
this book is pretty amazing - not sure if you have to be india obsessed to love it, but it helps.

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

trying to get back in the blogging habit...more to come...

three weeks

2010-04-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

I've been back for three whole weeks - and I've still barely begun to sort through pics and write down all the stories and missing gaps in my journal. I'm going to post a few of my favorite pics so I don't get completely out of the blog habit!

Carmen asked me the other day "what the most moving or impressive experience?" It's truly hard to pick just one. So here are a couple :)

1) In terms of sightseeing, I would have to say its a toss-up being the Taj Mahal (which truly is as spectacular as everyone says - I wish I could have seen it at sunset or sunrise) or the Kumbhalgarh Fort near Udaipur. Visiting the fort was a total afterthought - suggested by our wonderful hostel guy in Jodhpur - since we were getting a driver to get to Udaipur, he said we should stop and see the Jain temple and the Kumbhalgarh Fort. Sure, why not? Both were incredible - I'll write about the Jain temple later. We barely made it to the Fort before it closed (our driver definitely broke some speed records on those back rounds). We raced up to the top to see if we could get in and made it just in time. Then we were able to climb all the way to the very top of the fort - and you could see for MILES. An absolutely amazing view of the wilderness surrounding the fort - which by the way, has the second longest wall after the great wall of China! Breath-taking with a 'top of the world' feeling. I don't think I will ever forget it.

2) There were alot of moving moments during the build. We were able to attend a 'door blessing' ceremony at one of the houses with a Hindu family. Our last day at our house was also very moving. We didn't get to spend much time with our homeowner Sheela, since she was at work most of the time. But she was there the final day, made chai for us and then we exchanged prayers. Mel spoke for our group, thanking Sheela and Natrayan for allowing us to help build their home - it was really incredible to realize that our one week of hard work will provide a home for them. One where their daughter will have space (and electricity!) so she can study. All the families we met in the community were very focused on their children's education and a huge issue was children not having a place to study or do their homework.

It's still so hard for me to express what the trip meant to me. Life-changing, inspiring, heart-breaking - I want to keep those feelings with me and not let it fade away.

Here's a great little summary produced by Habitat for Humanity India on the build. Our homeowner family is featured, along with a picture of my team setting some of the concrete blocks.

And now for some of my favorite pics (so far :)

one week

2010-03-28T17:54:00.001-07:00

9 is the best number
Originally uploaded by heathre

I've been back a full week now from India - and it still feels weird. I have 4000 pics to sort through but wanted to do a quick blog update. This is a picture of our team at house 9 - and our homeowners Sheela and Natarayan.

I have a few pics posted on flickr and a LOT from the women build site on facebook, so be sure to check those out.

Also, here's a great article on the build with an interview with Sheela and Natrayan.

More to come!

see ya later!

2010-02-25T09:43:00.001-08:00

be back soon :)
Originally uploaded by heathre

early spring in portland

2010-02-24T12:59:00.001-08:00

blossom
Originally uploaded by heathre

50 billllllliiiion!

2010-02-13T18:13:00.001-08:00

6:52 50 billllllliiiion
Originally uploaded by heathre

My acupuncturist recommended taking probiotics to help stay healthy in India.

Is it just me or is it a little creepy to think about drinking 50 billion fresh, live and active bacteria??

And diet coke free for almost a month, can you believe it?

13 days until I leave for India!!

More India Fundraising!

2010-01-23T19:22:00.001-08:00

I'm putting together a small online auction for more India trip fundraising. We had a couple items that didn't make it into the Bollywood dance party silent auction, so I thought I'd try the online route.

Here's the link: http://www.indiawomenbuildauction.blogspot.com/

Please spread the word!

I'll be adding a few more items, including Nan's awesome handmade clay beads. Here are a couple sneak preview pics:

visa!

2010-01-19T20:45:00.001-08:00

No typhoid for me!

2010-01-09T16:27:00.001-08:00

typhoid mary
Originally uploaded by heathre

I'm near the end of my pre-trip vaccines. I received shots for polio, hep A (1 dose), and hep B (2 doses). The typoid vaccine is oral - for some reason. One every other day for four doses. I was being a wimp about starting it because the pharmacist said it made most people nauseous. But no side effects for me!

The trip is coming up so fast - we leave February 25th. This week, we are holding our big "Bollywood, Building and Bhangra" fundraiser at Lola's Room in the Crystal Ballroom. It should be lots of fun - bhangra and ghidda dance lessons, an awesome dj, bollywood movies/projections and a silent auction. So fingers crossed lots of people come!

I've also been doing some reading up:
Delhi Noir - a collection of mystery and moody tales set in Delhi
White Tiger - Arvind Adiga (very powerful - hilarious and heartbreaking)
Dreaming in Hindi - Katherine Russell Rich

Currently reading:
A Girl from Foreign - Sadia Shepherd
Really interesting memoir of a woman exploring her jewish roots in India.

Brown Couch 2009

2009-12-29T19:55:00.001-08:00

Take 1

Take 2

Another fabulous brown couch. I have tons more pics to sort through - some of which didn't turn out great because I'm still getting used to my new lens!

It snowed like crazy, which was great for Death Mountain but not so great for driving. Randi, Neil and Bri were all thwarted by the nasty Michigan winter roads. And of course, we missed seeing our NYC and Hawaii people. We also added a new brown counch family - my friend Jen (from high school and the one to 'blame' for getting me addicted to flickr), her husband Blaine and daughter Wednesday.

Fun fun fun!

aggie's quilt

2009-12-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

aggie's quilt
Originally uploaded by heathre

Whew! My first quilt (ok technically a comfortor since i didn't actually quilt it) is complete and delivered to ms. aggie.

agatha heathre

2009-11-16T21:02:00.001-08:00

rest in peace

2009-10-31T11:13:00.001-07:00

300. rest in peace
Originally uploaded by heathre

One of my work colleagues - Rob - committed suicide this week. It was a huge shock to all of us. He worked with one of our programs on a part-time basis while in the PhD program at PSU. He moved to Colorado last year to work as a mediator with another company, but was contracted on one of our projects. He was in Portland working on the project when it happened.

I didn't know him really well but hung out with him at several work social gathering. We worked on some contracting and grants administration together - one particularly long and painful one - and he was so appreciative. He swore he would take me out for beers as a thank you, so one evening after work we hung out, grabbed some pizza and a beer and talked. He was such a vibrant, energetic, enthusiastic and engaged person. He was training for the Kona Ironman and was constantly looking for some new athletic exploit.

We also had a great chat at the xmas gathering a couple years ago about our Australian romances - he was engaged to an Australian women but things didn't work out. And this was around the time I was realizing Dave and I would not be able to stay together.

And I can only imagine how his girlfriend, parents and friends are feeling right now. My thoughts are with them as they try to cope with this loss. We learned he had struggled with severe depression for over 20 years. I hope he has found peace.

His friends set up a wonderful facebook page in his memory.

i love fall

2009-10-22T18:55:00.001-07:00

295. every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree ~ emily bronte
Originally uploaded by heathre

288. India!

2009-10-15T20:27:00.001-07:00

288. India!
Originally uploaded by heathre

My official fundraising pitch :)

Next March, I’m going to Bangalore India on a Women Build/Habitat for Humanity volunteer trip. Along with 100 other volunteers from around the globe, I’ll be working with Indian families to help build safe and affordable homes. The project kicks off on March 8th, which is International Women’s Day. We will be building in partnership with
rural and underprivileged Indian women who have formed microfinance self-help groups so that they can save money to build better lives for their families.

Most of you know that Women Build is a cause near and dear to my heart. Over the past five years, I’ve been volunteering at Portland Women Build alongside some truly amazing women. We have built four homes and most importantly, have helped four families reach their goal
of owning a safe, affordable home. I’ll be traveling to India with two other awesome Portland Women Build volunteers – Mel George and Katie Hughes. And of course, I’ll be bringing my camera and I’m really looking forward to documenting our journey and experiences.

Sounds fabulous, right? Here’s how you can help!

1) Donate online through my Habitat for Humanity Global Village webpage:
Heather's Women Build Trip Fund
I need to raise $1,950 for the trip fee, which covers my trip fees like food and lodging, but also includes a donation toward the IndiaBUILDS program. These donations will be paired will be paired with the savings of women’s self-help groups to help some of India’s poorest families gain better lives. And your donations are tax deductible!

2) Donate toward my airfare fund at my paypal site
Airfare will be around $1,700 – I’m still on the lookout for a great deal, but that’s a realistic figure.

At the risk of sounding like a bad infomercial, if you donate $50 or more, I will send you an 8x10 print of your choice! Here’s a link to some examples: prints for india

Please consider giving if you can. And if you can’t, all your good thoughts, positive energy and fund-raising tips are also greatly appreciated! (Or India travel tips!)

Take care,
Heather

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter ~Mark Twain

2009-10-03T12:34:00.001-07:00

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter ~Mark Twain
Originally uploaded by heathre

36?? How did that happen?

Destination: India, March 2010

2009-09-27T14:12:00.001-07:00

269. Destination: India, March 2010
Originally uploaded by heathre

I'm saving my pennies for my trip to India in March 2010. I'm going on a Women Build/Habitat for Humanity trip to Bangalore. I'll spend two weeks building houses and working with local families and women's groups.

If you have any filthy rich friends who would love to donate, check out my trip: webpage

I'm going to try to resurrect the blog to help with my fundraising and other fun stuff. Is anyone still out there reading after my long summer's nap??

presents instead of presence

2009-04-27T07:50:00.001-07:00

116. friendship
Originally uploaded by heathre

Nan sent us the most amazing present. They arrived on Saturday - perfect timing. Jenny and I wished *so* much she could have been with us for the weekend, but she was definitely there in spirit.

love you nan!!

(*i totally stole her blog post title :)

114. roomies forevah!!!

2009-04-26T13:30:00.001-07:00

114. roomies forevah!!!
Originally uploaded by heathre

guest blog post #2:

i want to frame this picture from friday (see guest blog post #1). maybe not quite halfway through life just yet, but now we've known each other for more than half our lives already! and i love i can't count how many laughs we've shared, or how many tears, or measure how big my heart has grown to embrace the world because of our friendship and the many others in our posse. maybe it will be the size of the moon before too long...

love you!!! xoxoxo --sunnywave

115. brian and jenny frolicking in the flower petals

2009-04-26T13:18:00.001-07:00

115. brian and jenny frolicking in the flower petals
Originally uploaded by heathre

i am guest blogging on _more adventurous_ this amazing picture that heathy took of us. this has been the best visit ever--a lot of rest and relaxation and soaking up the great vibes of friendship forged over upteen years and years and years. i asked heath if i could post these pictures, so that eighteen years from now we can think: oh, we were so young then, so full of laughter, having such a great time.

portland in the spring is beautiful as seen here, but it makes me giggle to think how many more springs will go by and we will still be walking underneath the vibrant sky, maybe humming some cheesy 80's ballad, and cracking ourselves up that we used the word 'bogue'.

thank you!

2009-04-10T20:14:00.001-07:00

100. thank you
Originally uploaded by heathre

Last Thursday, I finished my 365. On Wednesday, I received an amazing and thoughtful gift. My friend Cora created a book of all my 365 photos with dedications from my friends and family.

I am incredibly lucky to have such a truly supportive group of friends and family. Only one of them is a flickrite and the rest were extremely tolerant and truly embraced the project with me - with only the occasional eye roll as I ran off to take a picture of myself at social gatherings, family outings, at work, on date nights, etc.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being such wonderful friends. I can't express how much this gift and your love means to me.

Here are the dedications in the front of the book from this fabulous group of friends and my awesome mom and dad.

-To Heathre: my inspiration, partner, encourager and sister..Thank You! Nan
-Loved watching you develop your artistry. Love, Mom and Dad
-My world looks so much better through your lens. Love, Bruce
-I love the world captured through your eyes. Congratuations! Love!! - Jenny
-My dear photographer to the starts: you are one! Sarah
-Our dear photographer heather: what a wonderful job you have done! we're proud of you! - maralea and sid
-365 shots of wigs, masks, socks and just enough Heather. Thanks for sharing. Love, Jason and Cora
-Congrats on taking your creativity to an entirely new level. Well done, my friend. - Mel
-For your unwavering eye, we love you. - Emily, Hillel and Hannah
-You inspire me with your talent and dedication. Love, Carmen
-Congratulations on 365 days of fabulous you! XO, Tracy
-Love, Brittany
-Love, Kim & Brad

(From my flickr post today: day 100 of 2009 - i'm doing a 'year in pictures' now that my 365 self-portrait project is done. one picture - anything - every day. a little more relaxed than the 365 :)

Done!

2009-04-02T14:31:00.001-07:00

365/365
Originally uploaded by heathre

Day 365. Wow. One self-portrait, every day, for an entire year.

Step on a crack....

2009-02-16T11:20:00.001-08:00

Step on a crack....
Originally uploaded by heathre

Maggie has been visiting for the last week and we have had a blast. She even volunteered to help with one of my photos :) I'm nearing the end of my 365; today is Day 318 (i think!)

This shot was for Friday the 13th - the theme of one of my groups was "Superstitions" so how could I resist doing the "Step on a crack, break your mother's back"??

However, my karma is coming back to haunt me because I somehow managed to tweak out my back this weekend. I believe it was during cosmic bowling for Kim's birthday on Friday. So I'm headed to the chiropractor tomorrow after Maggie flies home....

Happy Inauguration Day!

2009-01-21T16:49:00.001-08:00

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the
trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our
ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as
well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this
transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words
have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still
waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst
gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has
carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high
office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals
of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation
is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our
economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility
on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard
choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost;
jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our
schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the
ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics.
Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across
our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and
that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are
serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short
span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of
purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and
false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far
too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has
come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our
enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that
precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to
generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free,
and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that
greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never
been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path
for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or
seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the
risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but
more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us
up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled
across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the
lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg;
Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked
till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They
saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions;
greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous,
powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when
this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and
services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last
year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat,
of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -
that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves
up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the
economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only
to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will
build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that
feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its
rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's
quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and
the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform
our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new
age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who
suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their
memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has
already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is
joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted
beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed
us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not
whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -
whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can
afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we
intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And
those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -
to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light
of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a
people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good
or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched,
but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the
market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long
when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has
always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product,
but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend
opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because
it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our
safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can
scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the
rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those
ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for
expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are
watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where
my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and
every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity,
and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not
just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring
convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us,
nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our
power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the
justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering
qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once
more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -
even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will
begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned
peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work
tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of
a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will
we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims
by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that
our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us,
and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and
non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from
every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill
of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter
stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old
hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon
dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall
reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a
new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual
interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who
seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know
that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you
destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and
the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of
history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench
your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make
your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved
bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that
enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to
suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's
resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we
must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with
humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol
far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us
today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through
the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our
liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness
to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this
moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this
spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the
faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation
relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees
break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours
than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest
hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with
smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that
finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may
be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work
and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty
and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They
have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is
demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now
is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every
American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world,
duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm
in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so
defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on
us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women
and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration
across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than
sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can
now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we
have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of
months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the
shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was
advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the
outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation
ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter,
when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the
country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our
hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue,
let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may
come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were
tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back
nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace
upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it
safely to future generations.

President Barack Obama

This land was made for you and me...

2009-01-19T14:18:00.001-08:00

sunday
Originally uploaded by heathre

I was listening to the "we are one" inauguration concert on npr in the car while waiting to pick up my dad. Pete Seeger singing - along with thousands of others - "This Land Was Made For You and Me". For a moment, I felt like I was a kid again, singing that song in school, completely oblivious to politics. It was lovely :)

(bruce linked to the video on his blog: http://www.hesaidwhatagain.blogspot.com/

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T17:21:00.001-08:00

cheers!
Originally uploaded by heathre

I'm finally recovered from my trip back to Portland. I flew through Houston but got hit with a 2 hour delay there (because the plane was late coming from - guess where? Newark!). I arrived home at 3 am New Year's eve morning. And then I had to prepare for my New Year's party!

I've posted pics from Xmas and New Years on my picasa account. The link is right over there =================================>

(OK, I'll make it easy for you :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/hbinns

Hope you all had a wonderful New Years! I might be back to post some resolutions...we will see.

Brown Couch Fest 2008

2008-12-30T19:58:00.001-08:00

Another fabulous Brown Couch at Binnslandia. I had to take two versions of the brown couch shot this year because Erin had to leave early.

This year was one of the biggest ever I'd say! And the big melt held off until we could get alot of sledding in on Death Mountain - even Hannah and Bo took a turn. I'll post more pics later, I promise!

Per Hillel's fabulous suggestion, I'm trying to put together photos from each year since the beginning of Brown Couch. If you have any pics, please email them to me.

265/365

2008-12-24T03:01:00.001-08:00

265/365
Originally uploaded by heathre

From my 365 self-portrait today:

home

I've been thinking about the word home alot in the last 36 hours as I way make my way home - to one of my homes. My parents live in Michigan - I spent 22 years of my life between Otsego, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor. Now I call Portland home, but my parent's house is always home, especially for the holidays. I feel incredibly fortunate to have such amazing parents - as well as my 'chosen family' - who I get to see on Friday.

I'll be mostly offline for the next week or so - thanks to the parents' super-slow dial up. Happy Holidays to y'all - wherever you make your home.

And because this song has been stuck in a loop in my head for my entire trip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a96jhIWZHAs

homeward bound...

2008-12-23T08:31:00.001-08:00

263/365
Originally uploaded by heathre

I took this picture yesterday in between pacing around my apartment and checking my flight status every two seconds. Very few planes made it out of PDX in the last 2-3 days but I hit the jackpot and got out last night around 1:30 am.

Of course, I missed my connection in Newark so now I'm on stand-by on a 3 pm flight to Grand Rapids. If I can't get on that flight, I'm most likely stuck in Newark overnight. I have a seat on a 6:30 flight to Detroit (which is a miracle in itself, thanks to the very nice continental agent in PDX). So I will make it home for Xmas!!

snow...

2008-12-21T20:26:00.001-08:00

the long walk home
Originally uploaded by heathre

I have to admit, I'm not longer thrilled with the snow. I had a fun cozy weekend hanging out with Bruce but now, it's time for the snow to leave. The original forecast called for a big warm up Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, so I felt like my Monday night flight was safe. Now, we have 8+ inches of snow, with a layer of frozen rain thrown in. Most flights out of Portland were cancelled today and yesterday.

Fingers crossed my flight doesn't get cancelled. Several of my friends are very zen and resigned to sticking around Portland for Xmas - but I'm not. I would really really like to get home for Xmas and Brown Couch.

Snow Day!

2008-12-15T10:38:00.001-08:00

It actually - for real - snowed in Portland yesterday. Less than an inch, but its sticking around. It is supposed to be below freezing all week - which is very rare for Portland. Portland State is closed today, so I'm "working" from home. And avoiding going outside, since it's 21 degrees. I'm a wussy west coaster now and can't handle those temps.

As usual, I've been horrible about updating the blog. I can barely keep up with my flickr shots everyday but I think I need to just start blogging from flickr (like I am right now) - there's a handy little link to make it super easy even for a slacker like me.

The last month has been busy busy. I had a great visit with the NYC posse. I spent 5 days with Carmen and family and then 4 days with Em and family. We also had Aaaron over to brunch at Emily's - which was a fabulous bonus. I got to spend a ton of great auntie time, a fabulous thanksgiving meal at Carmen's, some city time and a visit to the Whitney museum to see a great photo exhibit by William Eggleston.

The only downside was the wretched cold I brought back from NYC which knocked me out for about a week. Bruce took excellent care of me - made me food, brought me drugs and listened to my endless whining. And in the midst of that plague, Maralea, Sarah and I had our crafty debut at the Handmade NW Formal Artisans Fair. It went pretty well - we didn't sell as much as we had hoped, but it was an overall great experience. The fair was really well-run with lots of amazing vendors.

I'm finally feeling healthy again - now just trying to stay warm. My house is not meant to withstand the 'arctic storm' (or whatever the newspeople are calling it :)

A week from tomorrow I head to Michigan - can't wait to see everyone. Brown Couch is going to be HUGE this year!!

election night

2008-11-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves: If our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time: to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.

Barack Obama - November 4th, 2008

What an amazing night! We had a little election night party at Bruce's house. The menu was all-american - apple pie, mac 'n cheese, nachos, green bean casserole, and of course the champagne of beers - Miller High Life. After the big announcement at 8 pm, we broke out a bottle of champagne.

Dave strapped Barack on his back and took him out to the election night parties. He was very popular!

I'm hanging with Barack and Joe, having a camo Miller Light. Ahhh, America!

What an amazing night! We had a little election night party at Bruce's house. The menu was all-american - apple pie, mac 'n cheese, nachos, green bean casserole, and of course the champagne of beers - Miller High Life. After the big announcement at 8 pm, we broke out a bottle of champagne.

october is the best month

2008-11-03T21:28:00.001-08:00

Not only because it's my birthday month but I just love the fall weather, the leaves, halloween. It was a particularly gorgeous October in Portland. *sigh*

Kim as the devil in a blue dress - scaring the life out of Pippi and Mr. Nilsson!

Pippi and Cobra Commander

Sarah as Joan from Mad Men - her costume was perfect. (this was taken at Bruce's friend's house in the retro-rama bathroom)

And last but not least...the pumpkins! The top one was carved by Dad and is jealously regarding my pumpkin, who was the big winner at Karen and Bob's 15th annual pumpkin carving contest.

Undecided voters...

2008-10-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

Great quote from David Sedaris on undecided voters:

“I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

This was my 365 shot (sporting my awesome "Caribous for Biden" shirt by Sarah) after the last debate.

i just saw this was posted on www.dooce.com too. i'm such a copycat!

35th Birthday Fun Festival!

2008-10-08T20:58:00.001-07:00

First stop...
Originally uploaded by heathre

Nan is doing some great blogging on my fab birthday on her blog - but here's a pic from the first stop on our wine tour. Sokol Blosser in Dundee. Luckily, the rain stopped for a little bit so we could get a gorgeous wine country pic.

I had such a fun birthday - it was so amazing to have a bunch of my peeps here and we crammed in a lot of great stuff. With matching t-shirts!! woo hooo!!!!

More to come...

funnies...

2008-09-14T22:14:00.001-07:00

I missed this on Saturday night but thanks to the joy of the internets, here it is...

I heart Tina Fey.

**ack, had to delete the vid because it kept crashing my computer at work**

countdown is on...

2008-09-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

Time is just flying! My 35th birthday bash is in less than three weeks. I cannot wait to see everyone and have a weekend of decadent fun. My planning committee - Cora, Sarah and Bruce - are plotting and scheming away. Flights are booked for Nan, Chris, Carmen and Emily. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

As usual, I'm been remiss in the blogging. So busy busy busy!

Maggie and Melissa are in town, it's been great hanging out with them. Melissa flies home tomorrow but maggie is around for another week or so. Here's a great pic of them at Pix Patisserie

Tomorrow is Kim's wedding - which I'm ending up photographing. I'm a little nervous but luckily, Kim and Brad are both pretty laid back so I'm not freaking out about not getting 'the perfect shot'. Then right after the wedding and reception, Maggie and I are headed up to Mt. Hood to hang out with Sarah and her family Saturday night.

Me and Kim at her 'gettin' hitched' party

And of course, I'm still doing my 365 project - today is Day 162. Here's yesterday's shot - don't I look TOUGH??

And last but not least, I've agreed to do a craft fair/show with Maralea and Sarah before Xmas - ack! We sent in our application and will find out in a couple weeks if we got a spot. For now, we are starting to spread the word through Sarah's blog. We are calling ourselves "Make.Do.Collective"

Sarah found our fabulous logo:

Isn't it cute? We are doing screenprinted shirts, onesies and several varities of bags. I'm doing my simple totes and yoga bags and trying to convert some of my photos in to screen-printable items.

back to reality

2008-08-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

Always hard to leave vacation paradise. Note to self: time to start buying powerball tickets again! I still have a ton of pics to go through from the wedding and the rest of my trip but I wanted to post a few more for all my loyal readers :)

"Aunty Header" and Charlotte

The Fujinakas!

Turtle Bay definitely lived up to its name. My last day there I saw at least five turtles in the little cove by Jenny and Brent's fab beach bungalow.

Of course, I had to include a shot of my hilarious miniature bathroom at the condo - don't I look giant??

another day in paradise!

2008-08-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Jenny had the biggest smile on her face all day. The ceremony was outside at Kulima Point at the Turtle Bay Resort. The reception was in the ballroom, which had amazing views of the water (and sufers!) I survived my toast (after almost tripping up the stage - I hadn't even had a drink yet!) and included a shout-out from the mainland ohana (family) that couldn't be there in person. The reception wrapped up around 3 and then I hit the beach with Kimberly, Erin and Sam. And we bumped in to Jenny and Brent who were on their way to go surf right after the wedding :)

It's been so nice staying up at Turtle Bay - I found a great little studio condo in the Turtle Bay complex - much cheaper than the hotel :) Jenny and Brent's beach bungalow is FABULOUS - it really is a gorgeous resort. Someday when I win powerball, I'm going back and staying in one of those :)

This picture is actually from our surf session this morning - it was SOOO much fun. Way better than surfing in waikiki! Really nice, decent sized waves, very few other people. I caught a couple waves and then accidentally caught a FAB wave with Jenny :) Tomorrow is my last day - I fly out on a redeye late Monday night. But I have all day to hang out with Jenny, Brent and Char, so that rocks.

Erin and Char had some bonding time today too :)

Sunset at Haliewa on the eve before the wedding

almost time...

2008-08-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the big day! Yesterday was the rehearsal, which they held at the beach park by Jenny and Brent's favorite surf break (Toes). It was very chill and relaxed. Char will be walking (or running more likely) down the aisle with her little friend Elliot - they are SOOO cute together.

Then we all went out to dinner to a fab chinese buffet - ate way too much, of course. Then went out for drinks at the Moana Surfrider (fancy hotel in waikiki). It was a gorgeous night - almost full moon and so nice to relax with Jenny, Kimberly, Laura, Sam and Erin. Although there was a slight drama because they didn't have any pineapples to make my traditional pineapple drink (um, hello, it's hawaii - how can you run out of pineapples??) So I had to settle for a mai tai.

Hit the beach this morning with Kimberly; we are headed up to Turtle Bay in an hour or so. Here's me with Diamond Head in the background. I managed to NOT get sunburned this morning, pretty proud of myself :)

aloha!

2008-08-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

The pre-wedding festivities are in full-force and I'm getting a TON of great auntie time in with ms. charlotte (who is killin' me with her cuteness and super-chattiness. she's talking up a storm and says things like 'oh my goodness' and 'auntie header!!!!!!'). Jenny and Brent worked Monday and Tuesday but then have the next week and half off, so I volunteered for Charlotte duty. Fun times :)

I must say both Jenny and Brent are very chill and handling all the pre-wedding stress fabulously. On Saturday night, their friends held a big poker tournament (serious stuff - they hold a tournament every month but this was a special one in honor of Jenny and Brent). I didn't play (too serious for me!!) but Jenny held her own and hung in for a long time - and Brent WON (we call him the BIG POKER CHAMPION now!) We were out until 2 am (Charlotte was staying with Grandma), lots of good food and fun times. Jenny had THREE beers and was hilarious :) And the guys kept trying to get Brent to do shots but he avoided most of them (I got a pic of one though!) - and then trounced the competition.

Sunday Jenny and I got up and went surfing (first time we have surfed together in 3 years!) So much fun, I didn't do great but we decided it was the board's fault (right jenny?? i had a broken skag on my rental board so that is why I didn't get any real waves, right?? :) It was a great time and then we hung out at the Diamondhead lookout and goofed around while I took my 365 shots.

Sunday afternoon was Jenny's bridal shower tea at Mariposa (Neimen Marcus). Very swanky and fabulous, hosted by Jenny's friend Gail. Unfortunately, that was right around the time I realized I managed to get quite a nasty sunburn from surfing in the AM. Not fun.

And then there's just been a ton of great times sitting around watching olympics, giggling madly with Jenny, playing with charlotte and not thinking about work stress at all :)

total blog slacker

2008-07-29T10:13:00.001-07:00

I've been a total blog slacker, so I'm going to continue the trend by linking to a great blog entry from my pal Sarah about Sid and Maralea's wedding. Fabulous good time and I'll try to post some pics soon, I promise!

happy 4th of july!

2008-07-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

I had a nice mellow fourth of july watching the fireworks from the east bank esplanade with maggie and bruce (the bf, not the dad :). Maggie is in town and recovering from a nasty cold so we kept things low-key.

Oh and i saw WallE yesterday - such a good movie! I actually teared up a little - yes, animated robots made me cry.

Aloha!

2008-06-27T10:57:00.001-07:00

84/365
Originally uploaded by heathre

Yes, it's for another flickr 'assignment'. Every Thursday is "Happy Aloha Thursday," a group started by a Hawaiian guy living in Nebraska who was a little homesick.

So I'm celebrating by wearing my super-cool knitted lei from Jenny (but on my head because it was a little too hot around my neck), shirt for Blue Planet (cool little surf shop where I've rented boards before when Jenny took me surfing) and my surfer girl bobble toy who is taking on the waves on my head.

I'm off to the Oregon coast with Bruce (and 20 of his friends!) for a camping trip and I'm hoping to brave the very cold Pacific for a little surf adventure. It's going to be perfect weather on the coast - in the 80s, which is VERY rare. Should be good times.

summer!

2008-06-19T12:46:00.001-07:00

Every Wednesday I go to the fabulous farmer's market in downtown Portland on my lunch hour.....

farmer's market bokeh

Nothing says summer like fresh strawberries :)

roadtrippin'

2008-06-12T21:24:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd post some pics from my fun weekend roadtrip to Bend with Bruce. It was his nephew's 6th birthday as well as a 40.40404040404040 birthday party for a friend. It was a casino party and I discovered a love of roulette :)

We also hit the Deschutes Brewery (and Brewpub),

checked out the Balloons over Bend festival and Night Glow,

hung out with his family....good times all around.

And then on the way home, we stopped by Edgefield and did a little winetasting. Here's a pic of us being wine snobs and one of my arty-farty blurry wine bottle pics.

Zombies!

2008-06-10T15:04:00.001-07:00

67/365
Originally uploaded by heathre

So I went to Bend for the weekend and came back a zombie....

Flickr is just so much fun. One of my flickr buddies - Jenn - (who I actually met in real life a couple weeks ago) picked the Flickr Group Roulette group for the day: Zombies Zombies Zombies. So here's my take - strawberry jam is quite effective!

I'll post some pics from my Bend trip soon....

now and then

2008-05-26T16:53:00.001-07:00

52/365
Originally uploaded by heathre

More fun with flickr! Saturday's 'assignment' was "Me then, me now." I found a stash of great childhood pics that I brought back to Portland a couple Christmases ago. I had a tough time deciding which one to use but went with the 'shrieking on the couch' .

Here's the other one I thought about recreating but it would have been way too hard to find those mickey mouse sandals in my size nowadays. I'm thinking this was taken shortly after 'the big haircut' - poor maggie got sick of the continual hair combing battle and chopped all my hair off. I don't look too pleased, do I??

And one more trip down memory lane. Here's me playing with my donald duck parachute at Big Star Lake (thanks to mom for writing on the back of the photo :)

so bloggy together....

2008-05-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

I apologize for getting that song stuck in your head, but I wanted to let you know that I'm guest starring on Bruce's blog over at He Said What? Again?!?.

And for those of you not stalking my flickr account, here's a couple pics from Bruce's 40th birthday (and me rockin' out at the Timbers game).

new women build mascot

2008-05-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

Mary's new puppy Oly - ridiculously cute!!

women in trades fair

2008-05-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. held a Women in Trades Career Fair last weekend. Women Build had a info table there - which I 'womanned' most of the time but I also took a couple breaks to check out all the cool stuff they had going on. It was really a well-run fair, with lots of hands-on activities for kids and adults. Great crowd too - we sold quite a few t-shirts and signed up some women up for our volunteer list.

Women Build is ramping up for our 2008 build. We have a big kickoff event this weekend for Lowe's National Women Build Week. The new homeowner is such a sweetheart and really excited about working with all of us, which is always great.

365 update

2008-04-28T19:56:00.001-07:00

365 days: day 26

I've been a bit of a blog slacker but I wanted to do a quick 365 update - for those of you who aren't obsessively checking my flickr for all the new exciting shots (yes, this means you mom with your dial-up :)

Today is Day 26, believe it or not. So far, so good...it's getting a little easier to see pictures of myself but its amazing how much time the whole process can take everyday. But its definitely worth it to keep my 'photography brain' engaged...

Here are a couple of my faves from the last week or two.

Day 23: This shot was for the Flickr Group Roulette assignment "My Little Secret"

Day 21: Sportin' Sarah's fabulous wig from the "I love that, please send!" group

Day 20: Sarah's other groovy wig from the "I love that, please send!" group. Also for Flickr Group Roulette's Environmentally Friendly assignment

vegas baby!

2008-04-21T20:06:00.001-07:00

I went to Las Vegas with Tracy, Britt and Angie for Britt's big 4oth birthday. The weekend was lovely and pretty mellow overall - consisting mainly of pool, drink, eat, play slot machines, pool, drink, eat, play slot machines. We stayed at the mirage, which was pretty fabulous - not to mention it was perfect weather. 85 and SUNNY - my poor body is in shock back in Portland, where it is currently 43 degrees. whine whine.

1st day at the pool

me and the birthday girl

slushy drink goodness

And I even managed to keep up with my 365 shots!

yes, these were taken on two different days!

The trek home was interesting due to some odd re-routing through Denver (without tracy who stayed on our original flight) so my final 365 shot of the trip was 'cranky airport layover' heather.

sunshine and blue skies

2008-04-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

Portland finally saw some fabulously sunny warm weather this weekend - unfortunately it only stuck around for about 1 1/2 days. *sigh* But Saturday was loverly - spent a great day hanging out with Cora followed by a swanky soiree for Bradley Angle house (domestic violence shelter). Kim is on the board of Bradley Angle now so a bunch of us went to their yearly fundraising auction. I won by bid on a haircut so watch out for new hair...coming soon!

Friday night was a joint b-day party for Maralea and Sarah - we played some rousing games of apples to apples and I drove everyone nuts with my photo-ing. I'm still playing and practicing with my new 50mm lens.

the birthday girls

cora channels her italian grandmother (i love this shot)

birthday flowers

Now on to the 365 update! Today is day 11 and its been going fairly well. I think I have underestimated the time for this project - it's so easy to get completely consumed by plotting for the pics, spending time on flickr posting and commenting, etc. I'm having fun though. The pics below are Thursday through Sunday. I might have mentioned in an earlier blog how there are many many 'groups' set up on flickr on pretty much any and every topic. I belong to a couple fun ones - including "Smokin' in the Girl's Room" - which is a fab group of photographers. An offshoot of Smokin in the Girl's Room is "I love that, please send" - which is why I'm sportin' a fabulous purple muppet hat in some of the shots below. All the members in the group send out fun items for others to take pics with. Another group is called "It's Friday, so put your feet up and take a break (aka FUTAB)" - which I have already found to be a great shot for Fridays when I'm tired and don't have any fun ideas. Last but not least is Flickr Group Roulette, which 'crashes' other groups for a day. It was created to help 365'ers who needed ideas for their self portraits. It's a hilarious group - very fun and creative. Saturday's topic was "Copy a Cat" - which was suppposed to be copying a fave photo from another flickr photographer but I did a pic with Kaylee (um, didn't they mean copy a CAT?). Today's topic was "Things I can't do"; I chose singing. I would LOVE to be able to sing but its just not gonna happen.

cirque du sewing

2008-04-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

I spent a lovely weekend hanging out with Maggie. We hit the farmer's market on Saturday morning (first day of the new season!), wandered all over downtown, then went to see Cirque du Soleil - Corteo. It was Maggie's first Cirque du Soleil and it was AMAZING. Amazing what people can do with their bodies - every time I see a Cirque I want to run off and take trapeze classes. It also had a lot of great visual images - played on the more classic surreal circus theme compared to some of the other Cirque performances I've seen.
Sunday we had a fun little sewing day - mom was a wonderful assistant!
And it's day four for my 365 project - I went with a sewing pic for today!
**please excuse any formatting issues - I got a new computer (macbook - woo hoo!!) and i'm still trying to figure it all out....

365 days

2008-04-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

So today I took the big plunge and started the 365 project. And Nan is joining me! It will be awesome to have a 365 buddy. So for those of you who haven't heard me obsessing about flickr and self-portraits, here's a summary of the 365 project:

Take one self-portrait every day for 365 days.

So that's it - sounds pretty simple right? I've followed quite a few other 365'rs and it's really an amazing project on a lot of levels. At this point, I'm trying to not put too many expectations on the project and myself - but of course, that is easier said that done for me!

BUT...here are a few reasons why I'm doing it.

1) It will help me to be a better photographer - by the sheer volume of pictures and the fact that I will be carrying my camera with me everywhere! I'm excited to learn more about my new best pal (Nikon D40) and stretch my creative boundaries.

2) There's also an aspect of 'journaling' that appeals to me. I feel like the older I get, the faster time flies by and a year will pass without me really being aware of it. So I'm hoping this will help me be a little more mindful and aware - not to mention having a full year of pictures to remind me of things (good, bad and indifferent) that have happened. I specifically started the project today - April 3rd - because in exactly 6 months I'll be 35.

3) Then there's the whole self-awareness, self-perception thing - how often do we really LOOK at ourselves? Of course, I don't want this to turn in to total navel-gazing narcissim but I'm interested to see how my sense of self changes over the year.

4) And running through all of the reasons above is the need to overcome fear - fear of failure, fear of 'putting myself out there' publicly (artistically, physically, emotionally), fear and loathing of being in front of the camera instead of behind it.

5) Last but not least - i know it will be a lot of fun. I already have some great, really inspiring and encouraging 'flickr friends' - and it is a great way for me and Nan to connect across the miles.

Superhero Photo Challenges #5 and #6

2008-03-30T18:49:00.001-07:00

I'm a little behind with my Superhero Photo Challenges - and I'm kinda cheating since I didn't take any new pics specifically for the challenges!

Superhero Photo Challenge #5: Eyes Closed
The goal of this challenge is to take portraits with the subject's eyes closed. I'm actually a fan of this technique - for a couple reasons. 1) I have a kinda wonky eye that always closes before the other one and I also tend to blink in most pics 2) I think it tends to add an element of peacefulness to certain images.

The one picture that sprang to mind was one of Emily and Hillel that they used on their wedding program. Emily has the same 'eyes closed' issue as I do with pictures. I can't find a digital copy of it right now so you will have to take my word for it - it's such a sweet, romantic picture - and the eyes closed really adds to the image because Emily looks so blissed out.

Anyway, I didn't have a chance to bug any of my friends to pose for portraits so here are a couple of my self-portraits:

Superhero Photo Challenge #6: Out the Window

Perfect timing for this challenge - which is to simply shoot out a window. I love photographing out of windows whether they are at my house, car, airplane, train, whatever. I lucked out on my last airplane trip. Not only did I have a window seat - but also a gorgeous sunrise and a clear view of Mt. Hood. So I took a ton of pics from the airplane window and here are a couple of my faves.

on a lighter note

2008-03-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

"Nothing matters so long as I can get back home and deliver a bubbly, acidic shot of aspartame, caffeine and phosphorus into my bloodstream. I hand over the two dollars, the cap comes off with a hiss, and I can hear the soda sizzling inside. I take a sip, my pupils dilate, the Co2 tickles the back of my throat, the sip slides down my esophagus, breaking down into metabolites in my stomach and liver, spreading to my heart, my brains, my bones. "Ahhhhhh."

Sweet Juniper is a great blog written by a stay-at-home dad (aka Dutch) and his wife (aka Wood) in Detroit. Dutch also happens to be a great photographer - check out his flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetjuniper/

Today's posting was something I could relate to- a little TOO closely - the addiction to Diet Coke. (although unlike Dutch, I am very partial to Diet Coke - cannot substitute Diet Pepsi unless its a very dire situation - and prefer the fountain variety compared to 2 liters or cans). I was just talking to Kim today at work about how someday I was going to have to kick the aspartame habit. The whole post (including the quote above) is hilarious but here's just one snippet that kinda scarred me:

"According to a new study," she says, "Diet soda actually makes your body consume more calories in the end."

"According to a new study, you're a pain in my ass."

"Did you know Donald Rumsfeld was the one responsible for pushing aspartame-based artificial sweeteners through the FDA approval process without the appropriate testing back in the eighties, and he received a $12 million bonus from the company who developed it (he'd been its president)."

"Is that true?" I ask.

"Yeah, and you know how well he thought out the whole Iraq War."

do not go gentle into that good night

2008-03-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

I arrived back in Portland yesterday after attending Jenny's dad's memorial in Indiana. I wanted to post some pics from my trip - and this great one of Bruce with Laura, Jeff, Jenny, Char and Brent at Xmas. It's hard to believe that was just three months ago. I'm better with pictures than words but I will say that it was a really 'good' memorial. It definitely drove home the fact that Bruce was truly a good man. He touched many lives and I will forever be grateful and thankful that he came in to Jenny's life. My heart aches for their family. I'm so glad I could be there and in help out in some small way.

And of course, having a little Charlotte time was wonderful - she's such a joy! She's talking up a storm and sooooo freakin' cute. And happily, she seems to be equal opportunity with the aunties and uncles. But Uncle Eric (Bruce's son) was definitely her favorite - and who can resist an adorable 20 month old screeching "UNCLE!!!" from across the house. Having her around definitely helped lighten the grief at times...

saturday in portland

2008-03-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Dad is in town so we did the usual Saturday tour - went to Powell's, checked out the new Jewish deli, hit the CD store. While Dad was in Powell's, I went on a little photo-walk (to avoid buying 8000 more books that I don't need). Here are some pics from our adventures. It was a little gloomy but there were quite a few 'sunbreaks'...

this mirror is outside of the photobooth (cool old school b/w version!) at the Ace Hotel.

portland international women's day

2008-03-11T15:01:00.001-07:00

Sunday was the Portland International Women's Day fest. It's held every year at PSU and for the last couple years Women Build has had an info table and put on a workshop. Last year we had a great time doing power tool demos so we decided to do it again this year. Unfortunately, they changed the festival schedule so it was from 2-8 pm - on a Sunday, which contributed to the rather small turnout. It was really too bad because the organizers put together some awesome entertainment....including a hilarious feminist hip-hop duo - alphabetix, liv warfield (amazing local rb singer) and blubird.

blubird is a band comprised of two 13-year old girls. they met at the rock and roll camp for girls in 2005. They have played a couple local shows, recorded their own ep, have t-shirts, the whole deal..and they are actually pretty good. They do a great song about global warming (and call george bush an idiot :) and did a cover of Karma Police by Radiohead at this show. very cool.

The fest included a small group of vendors and info tables, including Women Build. We had a pretty good day, sold some t-shirts, signed some people up for the ole e-newsletter. Our workshop - "Power Tool Possibilities" was pretty sparsely attended. They scheduled us at 6:15 and by that point, the crowd had dwindled. But we still had a good time.

There was also a display from the Clothesline project - which always makes me think back to the college days. I think it started right around the time I was in undergrad and still quite a powerful display.I ran across another event on campus while I was out running around trying to find change for the cashbox and t-shirt sales. PSU is hosting the Iraq Body Count Exhibit for the next two weeks and I pretty much stumbled across it on the way back from 7-11. Luckily I had my camera with me. It was a gorgeous sunny day in Portland and the stark display of flags was really powerful. here's a link to the project: http://iraqbodycountexhibit.org/
Each white flag represents at least 5 Iraqis and each red flag represents 1 American killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

Superhero Photo Challenge #4

2008-03-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

It's time for another Superhero Photo Challenge!

This one was tough for me - mainly due to logistical/tech issues. The challenge was to play with textures - overlaying textures on your photos to give them a different feel. Some textures can make a photo look like canvas or aged, etc. However, my laptop is on its last legs and in order to really play with some cool textures, I needed to download a new program or two - which did not make the computer happy. In fact, every time I load a new batch of pictures, it starts freaking out about memory and now my cd/dvd drive seems to be dead. but enough whining about that! Back to the challenge... So I played around with Picasa (the only photo editing program I currently have installed). I've always liked the look of super-grainy images and picasa has a 'film grain' setting and added some sepia tones. It looks much better larger - you can't really see the grain here too much....

I had fun this morning taking some self-portraits by my kitchen window - experimenting with the light coming through the curtains. The shot above was one I liked but it was kinda blurry, so adding the texture/film grain helped the image, I think. Here are a couple other shots. I always look so cranky and/or depressed in my self-portraits. *sigh*

spring

2008-03-06T17:49:00.001-08:00

I've been a bit of a blogging slacker because I'm somewhat obsessed with flickr right now...but here's a shot of the beginning of spring in Portland. yippeee!!

road trip!

2008-03-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

Maggie and I took a roadtrip over the weekend to visit ms. cora in milton-freewater, oregon. where is milton-freewater, you ask? It's about a four hour drive east of Portland - in the northeastern corner of Oregon, about 10 miles south of Walla Walla, Washington.

We had a great time and Cora was a fabulous hostess. Friday night, we went to "Bunko for Boobs" - a fundraiser bunko game that raised money to provide mammograms for women who can't afford them. Maggie was a bunko machine - she missed the big prize by only one bunko! Then Saturday, we went on a tour of all the frogs of Milton-Freewater! Soooo, I guess back in the day Milton-Freewater's nickname was 'Muddy Frogwater" and the town just took it and ran with it. Most of the local businesses have a frog statue in front of them and I was on a mission to photograph every one!

Here's Cora with the library frog.

Milton-Freewater also has a fabulous shoe store (who would have thought?) Maggie and I did our part to support the local economy.

Saager Shoe Store frogs

And there is the most divine chocolate shop called "petits noirs". amazing unique chocolates and a very cool little shop. It seems a bit out of place. Walla Walla has become quite chi-chi with the wine crowd - lots of spendy restaurants and shops. But Milton-Freewater is much more reminiscent of small town America (reminds me of Otsego in many ways - except Otsego didn't have gorgeous views of the Blue Mountains. And no frog statues...)

And last but not least, cora and jason's adorable new kitty - Hugo!

oscars 2008!

2008-02-27T11:20:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite party events...the oscars! every year for the past 7-8 years (can't quite remember, I know i missed one year when I was in Hawaii, but we held a mini-oscars at Jenny's :) I throw an Oscars party. I always find a fabulous dress (either old bridesmaid or great find from goodwill, etc) and go all out with the snacks, booze, prizes and ballots. It's a lot of fun and over the years, I've managed to get a few of my friends to dress up with me :)

This year, Maggie was in town and graciously offered to host at her swank condo (with the really big TV). It was very successful and she was a fabulous co-hostess.

Queen of the kitchen - but don't worry, I helped clean up!

lunar eclipse

2008-02-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

I didn't think we would actually get to see the lunar eclipse here in rainy, cloudy Portland - but yesterday afternoon the skies cleared and it was gorgeous. I ended up getting home late from my Women Build meeting so I only caught about the second half of it...which was still pretty cool.

Of course, I ran inside, grabbed my camera (also bumped in to the neighbors on my way out and got them out to see it). So, I don't have a tripod or the steadiest hand so I quickly gave up (after a brief moment of cursing my tripodlessness) on getting any really good shots and just started playing around. And I think they turned out kinda cool...

My neighbor asked me (as we were all standing around in the cold gaping at the moon) if I was a photographer and of course, I immediately said "oh not really." Still working on the ole confidence thing, I guess!

Superhero Photo Challenge #3

2008-02-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

Superhero Photo Challenge #3: Shoot in to the sun

This photo challenge came at just the right time. Sun is very fleeting in Portland in February but we had a little sun on Saturday and lots of sun today. I got a couple decent shots but never exactly what I was going for...of course! This is definitely a challenge I will revisit...

Here's my fave:

And a couple runner-ups:

my funny valentine

2008-02-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

In honor of valentines day, here are two funny columns I ran across this week - so I'm going to share them instead of whining endlessly about my dislike of valentine's day (which is in full force this year).

First up is a blog from Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney - one of my all time favorite bands who are sadly on permanent (?) hiatus). She blogs on NPR now.

Let's Get It Wrong: Guidelines for Valentine's Day Mix CDs

Next up is Mark Morford - columnist for the SF Gate.
I especially like the one about the Zales heart pendant - I swear if I see that commercial one more time, I'm going to stab my eye out with a pen.

The 20 Worst Valentine's Gifts

Enjoy!

a bit of a whine-o

2008-02-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

I went on a sewing rampage today in an attempt to ignore the fact that I felt like crap and couldn't breathe. I - like most people - do not enjoy being sick and I tend to be overly dramatic and whiney about it. I'm also big on the 'lay low' theory to getting over colds, so I stayed home most of the weekend. Saturday, I missed my wine-tasting trip with Kim and gang but managed to get out and enjoy the balmy Portland February weather on a little 'photo walk'. Here are a couple shots from my trek:

And I sewed three bags this weekend! Two from my old faithful Lotta pattern and one was putting together the tote bag kit (Xmas present from my sewing guru nan).

mindful

2008-02-07T11:00:00.001-08:00

I'm having one of 'those' days...work is stressful, feeling weirdly insecure and anxious about posting self-portrait photos on flickr, just kinda blah overall...

I was reminded of a poem that my yoga teacher often reads before and/or after class. It speaks to me about yoga but also about photography and my quest this year to be more aware and mindful of the world around me.

Mindful

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for –
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world –
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver ~

Superhero Photo Challenge #2

2008-02-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

Time for another superhero photo challenge from Andrea at shutter sisters. This time it is "self-timer self-portrait": Set the self-timer, set the camera on the ground, click the shutter and get in front of the lens.

Perfect timing since I just figured out how to use my self-timer the other day - and of course, I'm been pondering the whole self-portrait thing. So I did a little photoshoot in my kitchen after boxing class tonight...note to self, do not attempt to do self-portraits contorting your feet into ballet poses you haven't done in years after suffering through an hour long boxing class.

anyhoo, here are some of the results...a fun exercise and always good to see things from another perspective...

Kaylee was a little confused (or annoyed) by all this so she had to get in on the action...

swedish coffee cake and the superbowl

2008-02-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Today I was inducted in to the secret swedish coffee cake making society by Dad. I think they turned out pretty darn good :)

We also had some help sampling the coffee cake and breaking in the panini maker at our little superbowl party. Tracy, Rick, Kim, Brad, Sid, Maralea and Sarah all came over - we had a great time. Sarah and Kim were the only Patriot fans and were a bit outnumbered but a good time was had by all...maralea and sid prepping paninis

yoga + action figures = hilarious

2008-02-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

So I'm wasting time before heading off to happy hour with Dad and I ran across this website that completely cracked me up. This one is for all you yoga nerds out there....

yogabeans! "Your internet source for plastic action figures demonstrating ashtanga yoga"

So far my fave is parsvottanasana - with Barbie and Spiderman

spidey demonstrates reverse namaste

flickr obsession

2008-01-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

Along with my new blogging habit, I've become a little obsessed with flickr. I've been intrigued with flickr for awhile - mainly due to the 365 self-portrait project that I keep running across in people's blogs. Yes, the project is taking one picture of yourself every day for an entire year. The current 365 flickr group has 7,465 participants! Ruby Soho was my first 365 addiction and then I found a long-lost high school friend - Jen - who is doing the 365 project, which of course has led me to more amazing 365 participants with a lot of inspiring work. As most of you know, I despise pictures of myself. I'm much happier behind the lens of the camera taking pics of everyone else. Part of it is just the run of the mill insecurity and self-image issues, but the other part is the fact (often pointed out by Nan) that most pictures of me don't end up looking anything like me. So as I've been digging through all my old digital photos to see which pics I want to post to my flickr account, I've been on the lookout for pics of myself that I don't hate :) So here's one that cracks me up:
I don't think I'm ready to commit to the 365 project yet (the thought of taking a picture of myself EVERY DAY is way too scary right now) but I think I might try to start taking some self-portraits - and see what what appears...

I also found a 52 weeks group - one self-portrait every week for a year. Sounds a little more manageable...

Superhero Photo Challenge #1

2008-01-27T18:31:00.000-08:00

One of my fave bloggers - Andrea from Superhero Journal is linking with a new cool, women's photography blog called Shutter Sisters. Andrea started her "Superhero Photo Challenge" assignments for this year and I'm going to try to keep up with them.

The first assignment was "find a face in an unlikely place." Here's my shot from my very short (cold!) walk to the brewpub to meet Tracy and Britt for a sunday afternoon happy hour :)

bake-o-rama

2008-01-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

It's another baking Saturday. I started out making swedish rye bread and then - because it was taking so dang long - I decided to make ginger molasses cookies while the dough was rising. I found the recipie online and they turned out amazing....so I'm including it below. I'm on a big ginger kick lately.

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

preheat oven to 375

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon ginger (dried - or use 2 tbl fresh ginger)
3/4 cup butter (soft)
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
another cup of sugar for rolling...

Mix together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl (sift if possible)
Beat ginger, butter and one cup sugar until light and fluffy, add in molasses and egg.

Add in flour mix and beat together

Chill 1 hour

Make into small balls and then roll in sugar.

Bake on greased cookie sheets (or use parchment paper) for 10-12 minutes (or until edges are brown).

farmers' markets

2008-01-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's a lovely sunny day in Portland - and from my office window, I can pretend it's still summer. I've been digging through some photos from last year and found these shots from the Portland Farmers' Market. We have an amazing selection of farmers markets throughout the city - including a huge one on Saturday mornings on the PSU campus. I took these shots when Melissa and Maggie were visiting last year. The market comes back on April 5th - can't wait!

brrrrrrrrrrrr

2008-01-23T19:49:00.000-08:00

One of the many many things I love about living in Portland are the temperate seasons. Yes, winter may be gloomy, grey and rainy but its usually never freezing....usually... So we are in the midst of a freakishly cold snap. The highs have been in the 30s with a wind chill of around 15, NOT fun for wimpy ex-midwesterners.

Another thing I love about Portland and the surrounding area is that if you want to see snow, it's right there waiting for you up on the mountain. You can cruise up there, play in the snow and then come back to happy, snow-free Portland!

Last weekend I took Lulu subaru on her maiden snow voyage and trekked up to Elaine's (one of my bosses) house near Mt. Hood for a 'snow day' with a bunch of fun folks from work. She has an amazing 'cabin' about 5 miles from both the big ski resorts, in this gorgeous area of about 20 houses surrounded by federal forestlands. I went snowshoeing for two hours - basically just following trails around her property out in to a meadow. It was fairly warm the first day - around 30 - and after snowshoeing we had a fabulous dinner, hung out in the hot tub - all around wonderful day.

The next morning was crispy cold with bright blue skies - only 10 degrees but I had to get out and take some photos.

It's truly an idyllic spot - you can see Mt. Hood from several spots near their house. I still get ridiculously excited about seeing mountains - it just never gets old after spending all my formative years in the flat-lands.

sewing club!

2008-01-19T14:15:00.001-08:00

Friday was sewing club at my house. We (Kim, Maralea, Tracy and Sarah) are all novice sewers and thought it would be good to get together every couple weeks to help each other out with projects. Depending on the mood, sometimes more chatting, eating and wine drinking occurs than sewing, but that works me for me!
I'm pretty proud of the two projects I did last night. I made some draft snakes out of an old pair of black velvet pants - for the windows in my rather chilly living room. Of course, they don't exactly fit the window sashes, but I'm convinced they are helping. I tried to take some pics but they just end up looking like big black blobs.

Also, I busted out one of the 'kits' my sewing guru Nan made for me - a snazzy pillowcase with groovy polka dot and cupcake material. thanks nan! the tote is next on my list...

Cora and Jason (and Bella - who has the cutest ears ever!) made it in to town from WaWa (or technically Milton-Freewater) around 9 - staying overnight at chez heathre on their way to the coast. It was great to see them - even thought it was very brief. We had an amazing breakfast at Screen Door (must take dad there when he's in town at the end of the month...)

Headed up to Mt. Hood tomorrow for a 'snow day' with some work folks. I rented snowshoes and the drive up will be a great test for my new car (aka Lulu Subaru - yes, I have a horrible habit of naming all my large purchased objects...although I still need a good name for the new camera :)

Back to baking chocolate chip cookies (bruce's famous recipie, of course!)

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend...

preparing for cora and jason's visit....

2008-01-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

I'm waaayyy late for the holiday, but better late than never, right??
To learn more about Mandarin Day (December 7th), check out cora's blog

reggie-isms

2008-01-15T15:14:00.000-08:00

I just got back from boxing class and I'm dying but feel great. It's only my second class back this term, so it's still a bit of a shock to the system.
Luckily, Reggie never changes. Reggie, the semi-pro boxer in his late 20s, fancies himself the ladies man, a great teacher who knows to push just hard enough. He's always full of his little Reggie-isms, which he cheerfully shouts at us while we try to hold that push-up for 10 more seconds...

treat yourself, don't cheat yourself
get your money, get your money!
pain is only temporary
beautiful work, my soldiettes

I'm too brain dead to think of some of his other witticisms. I've been taking class from him on and off for about four years. It's a "Boxing Fitness for Women" class held at a community center in my new neighborhood. Maralea got me hooked after dragging me to class...I never thought I would love it. I still feel ambivalent about the sport of boxing but at least I can now appreciate the skill involved. And I have to thank Reggie's boxing class for helping me survive my last days at freightliner - great way to work out lots of crankiness and frustration by hitting the heavy bag!

The community center is actually a very historic place for boxing in Portland. The Knott Street boxing club produced a ton of boxers in the 60's and was inducted to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. Alot of the old guys still hang around and train the younger boxers (who clear out at 7 when the 'ladies classes' start. It's very old school...maralea and I went one day and took pics when we were taking a b/w photo class. I need to dig those up...

Here's a link to an article about the Knott Street Boxing Club.

Oddly enough, it was written by Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love (one of my all-time fave books) is a huge boxing fan and writes extensively on boxing. She hasn't written a novel since Geek Love (1989) but according to wikipedia she's publishing one in Sept. 08!

She has an essay in the book Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms (looks like an interesting book with tons of great b/w pics - i just put it on hold at the library)

so yeah, who would have thought that a vegetarian, tree hugging pacifist would end up LOVING her boxing class? not that i actually have any interest in actually hitting people instead of the bag, but still....it's pretty damn fun beating the crap out of that bag...