Ha ha ha ha ha forever.

Sweatiest Person Alive

Today I went to my first ever Bikram Yoga class. If you don't know already, Bikram Yoga is pretty much like regular yoga, except it is in a room kept at a temperature approximately the same as that circle of hell in the Inferno where all the false Popes are stuck in a well, or whatever it was that happened in the Inferno (I only have vague recollections of this book because my professor for the class I read it in was distractingly similar to Dustin Hoffman's version of Captain Hook in the early 90's masterpiece, Hook.). Anyway, the room is 105 degrees, (Farenheidt. Duh.) and you do yoga for 105 minutes. It's supposed to be very good for you, relax your muscles, realease toxins, etc. etc. I made it through my first class, and I only had to lay down to avoid passing out for 12 of those 105 minutes! The instructor even said I did a great job for my first time! Though I'm not sure that I trust the opinion of a man who works out in Victoria's Secret boyshort panties. Anyway, it was great, and I can't wait to go back, mostly so I don't waste the $20 trial membership I already paid for. I just have to figure out how I can wear less clothes than a tank top and a pair of yoga capris.

Quote from Drew

"How do you feel about vegans...he's not that cute...and he doesn't drink...and he's missing a front tooth."

It's almost fall!

As much as I love summer, fall is definitely my favorite season. But here are some pictures and stories about my end of summer fun!

A kiteboarder enjoys the extremely windy Lake Tahoe.

I went to California for work one last time (hopefully! I had a job interview on Monday for an awesome job in Seattle that I really hope to get!). We got a lot of stuff done, and they extended my part time gig until December, so I have that to fall back on, if I don't get another job. Then I went to Lake Tahoe for fun. I went biking at a resort for the first time, and, while it was a ton of fun, it was really really hard, too. I got blisters, then my blisters got blisters, then my blister blisters became an open wound, and, finally, my open wound got a blister. Lovely! I convinced Dan to go camping, so we stayed in a beautiful spot in the Tahoe National Recreation Area. There were no showers, so we washed with biodegradable hippie soap in the Truckee River. It was chilly. The campground was apparently the go-to spot for dirt bike and atv riders, so we were surrounded by large groups in $200k motor homes. Oh well.

I made sure to sample the local brews. Fifty-Fifty Brewing Company, Truckee, California

We also (inadvertently) ate at two restaurants that had been featured on the Food Network. The first was a burger place called Burger Me, that had been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I wasn't all that impressed. My homemade veggie patty was super boring and pretty tasteless. I have made better black bean patties myself! The second was The Squeeze Inn which I think was on Throwdown with Bobby Flay or something. They claim to have the best omelettes on the planet. I did not get an omelette, but I did taste someone else's and it was delicous.

Gasworks Park in Seattle

Dan came to visit the northwest. We did some Seattle-y things like the Ballard Locks and Gasworks Park and Pho and lots and lots of coffee shops.

Dan was not sold on coffee shops. So I bought him a cookie.

We then had an unofficial (no book discussion) book club meeting. There were jello shots and big mamas and free flan and sombreros and the beaver and dollar well drinks and Glo and fancy dancing. Then there were cheese fries and gatorade and coffee.

Birthday twins Ren and Jodi celebrate their birthday, a bit late.

I also went biking at Galbraith. The two mile hike and bike to the top was not the most fun I've had in my life and neither was the first 2/3 of the first trail that I could barely climb down with my bike, let alone ride. However, the rest was tons of fun, but makes me really want a full suspension bike. We also drove up to the Mt. Baker ski area, where Dan really wanted to build a mountain bike park until he looked around and noticed all of the snow. In August.

Sasquatch!

Oh Gardens!

I have a blog post up at ECOSS about my failed container garden! Go visit!

http://ecossblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/diaries-of-an-ecoss-intern-container-gardening-101/

My new favorite things

I love Poladroid! A free program that turns your pictures into polaroids. It's so much fun.

The Space Needle from the Hamilton Viewpoint at dusk.

Someone paragliding at Elings Park in Santa Barbara.

Iced tea with fruit! I have been drinking approximately 45 glasses a day.
Step 1: Brew some black tea, stronger than you would normally drink it.
Step 2: Fill a glass with frozen fruit (I like strawberries, peaches, and mangoes).
Step 3: Pour tea over frozen fruit. Cool.
Step 4: Drink up, then eat the fruit.
Step 5: Repeat.

Tea with fruit next to dead herbs.

My mountain bike finally came! It's bright green and yellow with pink grips and I love it!

My favorite birthday present. Thanks Dan!

One of my favorite people ever came to visit. Emily was in town for a wedding. She is so very popular that I only got to see her one night, but we had a great time. We drank some $5 martinis, caught up, and played bingo.

Facebook wives reunited!

I figured out the macro setting on my camera. I disturbed this spider's home when I finally got rid of the evidence of our failed container garden.

Sorry spider! Keep eating mosquitoes.

Summer Update

1.) I am still job hunting. I have applied for, on the low end, approximately 15 billion jobs. Out of all of these jobs, I did get a temporary unpaid internship. Woo! Actually, I am really enjoying it because I got to design my own project, which I will hopefully be able to use when I apply to PhD programs. I'm studying food access in an underserved community in south Seattle for ECOSS, an awesome environmental non-profit in the South Park neighborhood. I occasionally blog for them here. Go read it. My other job (the paid one!) is beginning to wrap up. While I'll miss the money and the intellectual thrill, I will not miss looking at the websites of nanotechnology
companies for hours and hours every day.


2.) My roommate got a dog. Her name is Harper Lee. She is adorable, even if she does whine when I am trying to sleep inappropriately late and she ate my favorite sunglasses. Her major life skills: being adorable to strangers, flopping, pulling the stuffing out of stuffed toys, eating peanut butter, wanting to eat land-otters (cats), sitting, snarfeling peoples' hair, and having allergies. Kelly and I also started a mini-container garden. Then we ignored it for like 2 months and everything died. Oh, well, we did get to make a couple of drinks with the mint.

3.) I just got back from the Third Annual Better Lover's Camping Trip. This year we went to Lake Wenatchee State Park. The weekend was filled with Date, Do, or Dump, the Alphabet Game, wizard staffs, and campfires. There was no actual book club book discussion because BLMVP and book chooser E-Thomps wasn't able to make it. Also, none of us had finished it. While the weather was not great, E-Schu and I decided to go swimming anyway. This is me running into the lake with the dogs. Don't be fooled by the sun; it was windy and cold. Michelle even came up from Portland and surprised us. She found us singing kareoke in a bar because, "It looked like the kind of place you guys would go to." I suffered minor facial lacerations and my beloved Chacos fell apart. The soles just peeled right off! Thank goodness for REI and its life time warranty. Free new Chacos!

4.) I graduated from Grad School! Luckily, I graduated into a wonderful job market, and I was immediately innudated with high paying job offers. Ha ha! Just kidding. Whatever. I don't have to start paying my loans until....October. In celebration, I went to Mammoth Lakes, California to enjoy the scenery, visit Yosemite, and do some mountain biking. Unfortunately, there was too much snow to do a whole lot of biking (they were still skiing in the bike park!) but I did manage to do a little. I only had to ride through one or two snow drifts. Yosemite was absolutely beautiful, but I wished we'd stuck to the less crowded east side of the park. Nothing like enjoying nature's wonders with 2,000 or so strangers. We did see a bear though. Everything is better when you see a bear. Unless it eats you. My favorite things about Mammoth Lakes were the Base Camp Cafe, eating 2 pounds of strawberries per day, the Mammoth Brewing Company ($7 growlers full of beer!), and the geology. Here are some pictures from the trip: