Sherwood Forest

Once upon a time, my friend Andrea (left) and I (right) were enjoying a fine afternoon on a high school field trip to the Georgia Renaissance Festival when we spotted the sign for Sherwood Stage. At the time we probably only chose to take our picture with the sign to bring back for our friend Blair Sherwood (seen here as my prom date), but I'm pretty sure it was foreshadowing, for lo! A few short years hence, I'm moving to Sherwood Forest! =) Okay, so maybe I'm not exactly moving into the forest (and maybe it's been a little longer than a few short years), but Gordon and I shall be moving to Nottingham, in County Nottinghamshire, the home of one Robin Hood and his band of merry men! =) (I love merry men! And by merry, I mean gay. I'll bet they have really good clubs there.) There are all kinds of variations on the story of Robin Hood, but I feel that either the Disney one (where the main characters were cartoon foxes and bears and sang a lot) or the Kevin Costner one (where the main character had a little trouble maintaining a convincing English accent) are surely the most accurate. (Obviously Cary Elwes's representation was farcical and therefore not considered in my serious contemplation of the subject.) Perhaps my opinions are skewed by the fact that those are the only versions of the story with which I am familiar, but I am comforted by the fact that there is much to learn about the man (and his men) in Nottinghamshire. First, there is the Robin Hood Festival held each summer, where I can watch various and sundry medievaly events such as jousting whilst wearing an adorable green chapeau and gnawing on weaponry (and my fingers) like these two festival-going cutie pies. Second, there is the Tales of Robin Hood tourist attraction on Maid Marion Way in Nottingham, where I can "ride through medieval Nottingham in unique adventure cars and see, hear, touch and smell expertly captured scenes" from the times of Mr. Hood. Third and finally, if that doesn't satisfy my yen to learn about Britain's most famous outlaw in tights (though how could it not with all of the seeing and smelling?), there is actually a master's degree in Robin Hood offered at the very prestigious University of Nottingham (though I'm sure I'd have to have a bachelor's in something important or wear my Chamber Singers dress from high school to get into it). Needless to say, there will be plenty of non-outlaw related activities in the 'Shire, and I'll be sure to report on those at a later date. But with so much Hood in our 'hood, how can our friends and family stay away? =) See you there! =) (Shirt and tights required.)

So Exercisey

Today I went to Green Lake and walked around it twice. Fast. That means I walked a total of 5.6 miles, and I did it in 1 hour and 5 minutes. =) (No jogging.) Since I went all by my lonesome I needed to share my success in conquering the lake with someone, and ALF didn't seem especially interested. (Though he was keenly interested in wearing my glasses and a lei.) So, yes, I am a champion. Thank you for reading and sharing in my triumph. =)

London Calling

Okay, so I can't say which city I'll be off to specifically, but I can say that I'm moving to England!!! Plans have been made, tickets purchased, and luggage upgraded for the journey. =) The plan is as follows: I leave Seattle on the 1st of May to spend a couple of days chez Barbara in sunny Atlanta- snuggling with Rocky, perhaps going to Costco to find an industrial-sized bag of Mrs. May's Almond Crunch before I leave the Colonies... Then I head off to scenic Gatwick airport on the 5th of May on BA, official airline of my last trip to England. (Last time they fed me Indian food! I have already requested my vegan meal and hope for something equally delicious this time!) I arrive the 6th of May at 7:30am, and I'm not sure what the plans are from there! (More details as they become available.) I'll be back in the states shortly thereafter, though, because my mom and Kevin are getting married in June! =) (More details as they become available.) So there you have it- I'm moving somewhere in the UK and basically all I know so far is what date I get there. But it's more fun that way. =) I do like an adventure. =) And there's nothing to fear- my adorable boyfriend Gordon and delightful friend Andy await me there with the experience and expertise in London living to answer all of my questions, such as: What is a barrister? Are bangers and mash vegan? How do you get to be the Queen Mum? (That one's for my mom. She really wants to be the Queen Mum.) What is brown sauce made of? Should I have my aubergine, swede, rocket, and courgette sandwich on a bap? With chips or crisps? Can I eat that on the tube? (Blimey! What am I on about? That sandwich sounds like total pants!) Should we hire a pantechnicon lorry if we need to move our hoover down the motorway to our new flat, or will it fit in the boot of a saloon car? What if we can't get it through the Rory or up the apples? What if I haven't got the bees to pay me Burton? Does the drain water go anti-clockwise? What is orange squash? Does Colin Firth live near here? (Gordon Bennett! That's a lot of questions!) But I'm sure that all of these and more shall be answered in time. (More details as they become available.) Until then, cheerio! =)

Happy Anniversary

This is me, one year ago yesterday. I was trying my hand (and, more accurately, my butt) at snowboarding with my good friend Jess as instructor. We enjoyed a good hour or two of my falling all over the place and her laughing and helping me up after I had planted my face in the snow; it was a lovely afternoon on the slopes at Whistler. =) But for me there's something more to this picture. When I see it I think of two things: the fun time I had with Jess that day, and the unpredictability of life- one just never knows when she's on the brink of something exciting! I didn't know it at the time, but the next morning I was going to meet a wonderful person with whom I would share the next year of my life... I rented some skis from an adorable kiwi boy with a green cast on, and the rest, as they say, is history! =) I choose to write about this now because it is the one-year anniversary of that meeting and as we are far apart at the moment, I wanted to have a little celebration. So this is it. =) Thanks for joining me. =) I hope that Gordon is not too embarrassed by my very public display of affection, but it seemed like some sort of observance of the day was in order. So happy anniversary to us! =) It's been an amazing year, and now that we have traversed the North American continent together it's on to a new adventure. =) Next stop- EUROPE! =)

We Like Kass

This is Kass. Kass has beautiful red hair and a sparkling personality and enjoys long walks on the beach. And as you can see by the photo, Kass is ready to party! =) Though her real birthday was Wednesday the 21st, Kass and her crew of Canadian cohorts will be ringing in her 23rd year in style somewhere in Vancouver this evening, and I wanted to take this opportunity to say an official HAPPY BIRTHDAY since I am not there to join in the festivities. =/ Hang on... Rocky? Rocky the undisputed Cutest Dog in the World? Rocky, how did you learn how to use a cell phone? What's that? Kass is stuck in the well? No! You want to write a birthday poem to Kass! And you want me to post it here? Okay...

Rocky like Kass
Because she is pretty,
But Kass like me better
If I were a kitty.

She likes to read news
Like People and In Touch,
But Kass lives in Canadia
So Rocky don't see her much.

When Rocky has garbage
He puts it in the receptacle,
If Kass not come see me soon
It is "Unasseptable!"

So big happy birthday
Now you are twenty-three,
A big puppy hug to you
But now Rocky have to pee.

The End

P.S. Rocky also like birthday cake.

The Path To ?

Whilst wandering through the new Olympic Sculpture Park with Gordon, Cupcake, and Paul a couple of weekends back, I stumbled across this lovely sign. It wanted to have it's picture taken and I happily obliged, but it seemed as if there were something more it wanted to say- more words it wanted to express- but someone did not want that to happen. Why would the good people of the park want to censor such a nice little sign? What could it mean? What is under your tape, sign?! What were you trying to thank us for that someone decided was not suitable for the eyes of the young or the faint of heart? Thank you for staying on the path of least resistance, you lazy lima beans? Or thank you for staying on the path of righteousness; you are going to heaven and all of the angels will sing to you? Thank you for staying on the Path of the Fury so you could catch those space pirates and get your revenge on them? What else could it possibly be? Any ideas?

Pet Food Recall

This is Duncan. Gordon and I met him and his brother Duffy last year when we were in Maine. He is cute and very loving. He would not like to hear that his food might make him sick. He would also not like the way the pet food company is handling the situation. Here is an article I just read about the recall.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/308221_petfoodrecall20.html

Now, I guess this is my problem. Menu Foods started receiving calls about this in December and now it's March and they've just recalled the food. In addition, they apparently lied to the FDA about when the calls started coming in so it looked like they just jumped right on the problem and started new testing a week later. To top it all off, that testing was done on 40-50 otherwise presumably healthy dogs and cats, exposing more animals to food that has obviously sickened a number of pets already... So maybe I don't know anything about figuring out if something is wrong with food or not, but if it were, say, shredded wheat and the company that made it had been getting calls for a couple of months, I seriously doubt it would be considered a good idea to just feed it to a test group of people for a while and then see how many of them died. And yet that's what this pet food company chose to do and nobody seems to be at all concerned about it. Pet owners are worried about their own pets, but where is the outrage over several news outlets reporting a line such as "1 in 6 animals died in tests..." I mean, how can we can read these articles and not be appalled? They already had plenty of evidence that the food was poisoning animals- isn't there some way of testing the ingredients in the food that they suspected might be the cause of the illnesses instead of feeding it to animals to see how many of them die? Am I crazy, or does this seem completely absurd and unnecessarily cruel? Is there another way to see this that I'm just missing? Any thoughts?

18 Things I Like

Some things I like: Aloo gobi from India Bistro in Ballard, movies that make me cry, learning Italian, getting massaged by a kitty, strawberry Kool-Aid, hugs, broccoli, mix tapes, playing cards, painted toenails, getting stuff in the mail (even bills!), glowy candle light, being sore from exercising, Dr. Pepper (even though it wants to leach the calcium from my bones), new notebooks, mechanical pencils, the sound of footsteps in Grand Central Station in NYC, Earl Grey tea, "Gilmore Girls", mashed potatoes and gravy, the daily crossword, Converse shoes, and being in the moment. =) Happy belated anniversary to Jay and Jamie (it was yesterday) and happy belated birthday to Dan, Ro, and Darien (also yesterday)! Here is a picture of a cat dressed like a chicken. =)

Sometimes I Jog

It is common knowledge that I am quite sporty. I mean, sometimes I ski, sometimes I play tennis or badminton, sometimes I toss a frisbee around, and sometimes I do a little yoga. And by "sometimes" I mean that I have participated in each of the aforementioned activities at least twice in my adult life. But as of four o'clock this afternoon I can now proclaim to the world (with a straight face) that sometimes I jog. That's right- I'm a jogger. Until today, I felt that any kind of running or jogging could only be appropriate if something either wild or rabid (or both!) were chasing me and looking hungry. Or if I were wild and/or rabid and hungry. Or if I were a greyhound. But there I was, in my track pants and t-shirt, iPod in hand, having a brisk and satisfying walk around Green Lake, when I was overcome by the urge to go faster! Now, normally I might have been stopped by the nagging voices in my head reminding me that I am indeed not a greyhound and that I would look ridiculous flailing around in public and running from nothing. But I took a moment, looked around me, and realised that everyone else looked ridiculous, too! There were people in mismatched, sweaty 1980's gym gear, fanny packs galore, and parts of people that one might rather not notice jiggling all over the place! And though most people did look a little bit silly running around in circles in the out-of-doors in unforgivable tiny running shorts and appalling man-tights and other atrocities of Spandex, they also looked fit and thin! And that was the deciding moment. I realised that if I ever wanted to be able to leave the house in entire outfits made of synthetic stretch fibres and feel good about myself I would have to take the plunge. I decided that no matter the length of the next song on my iPod I was going to jog for an entire song. Midway through I really wanted to give up, but I persevered! I finished the song out of breath and with red hot cheeks, but I made it! It was a grueling 2 minutes and 16 seconds. But I felt like a champion. =) I took all of that excitement and channeled it into a couple more small jogging spurts during my hour-long walk. I felt triumphant. And fit and thin. =) And ready to do it again. =) Anyone up for a jog on Sunday? =)

Sheep Are Very Fluffy

I feel as if my last two posts have been just the teensiest bit on the gloomy side, what with all of the whining about Gordon's return to the Isles... But I am not one to be forlorn for long! I have decided it is time to get ahold of myself, stop all of this whinging (see how I'm already British?), and focus my energy on something fluffy. And as you may already know, sheep are VERY fluffy. =) Here is a link to a most adorable (and yet quite informative) video about sheep! Watch it! =)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d4NEbU_YkZw

Elvis Has Left The Building

In other words, Gordon has left the continent. I have recruited Rocky, the undisputed Cutest Dog in the World, to use his puppy dog eyes to try to express the sadness that I feel about Gordon's departure. I would never be so sappy as to compose an ode to Gordon to be viewed by the masses, but Rocky, the undisputed Cutest Dog in the World, feels he must be heard. He has put his paw down, and I must respect his wishes or he will lick me to death in my sleep when I get to Atlanta. He calls this piece "Ode to That Tall Guy that Came to Visit For a While This Summer."

Roses are red,

Violets are blue;

Don't go to UK,

'Cuz Rocky will miss you.

Roses are red,

Il Ponte Vecchio is Florentine;

Rocky come visit you,

But Rocky don't like quarantine.

Roses are red,

English food is terrible;

You should go back to Seattle,

Because Aunt Sarah is so sad she has lost her ability to accurately interpret and transcribe my brilliant doggie poetry and I fear my vision and my credibility as an artist are threatened. And English food really is terrible.

The End

Tot Henge

Tater Tots. You know where they probably don't have Tater Tots? England. And that's where Gordon is going tomorrow. At 19:30. And though I shall join him there in early May, I find myself quite saddened by his impending departure. In an effort to console myself I have built a henge. Of tots. Here it is.