Live the Moment: October 2011

Sunday

October 16, 2011

This is the book that I am currently reading. I have barely put it down since I got it from the library. It's even inspiring me to try to finish my book that I started writing last year. Speaking of which, National Novel Writing Month is coming up. I will be participating again, for the second time. The challenge is to write 50,000 words of a book in just 30 days. If you want to join me in the craziness, visit the website http://www.nanowrimo.org or check out Chris Baty's book, No Plot? No Problem!

We went for a little walk today and we scavenged some interesting stuff. First we found a hazelnut tree and picked a hazelnut. Then we found two agates. I found one, then Rob found a bigger one. It was like we were beachcombing, but we weren't on a beach :)

October 10-15, 2011

Well, we kind of slacked on the photo-taking this week, but I think we made up for it on Saturday :) Aaron came over for drinks. We had beer.....

and cognac.

Rob found this weird little mushroom in the yard. It sorta looks like a little penis. Hehe.

Lisa went into a baking frenzy. These are cashew nut butter cookies. They are more crunchy than I had expected. Also they had a tendency to burn easily. Not the best.

So I made some good old chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

Also, I made some zucchini bread and muffins using one of our friend Heather's zucchini.

Then I had to make cream cheese frosting! Just because it is sooooooo good :)

October 9, 2011

Tonight we made tomato soup with tomatoes that our friend Heather gave us. So yummy! We served it with a grilled sandwich and a soup biscotti (kinda like a giant crouton). Oh, Rob's also had parmesan.

October 8, 2011

Today we picked a lot of grapes. We ended up with about 25 pounds that were good enough to be crushed to make into wine :) And there is still a ton on the vines.

Here are some of the crushed grapes.

October 7, 2011: Seattle, WA

We started our day in a very typical Seattle way. We went for coffee. Rob just had a regular coffee, but I went for a soy mocha. Look at that beautiful latte art!! I was never able to do this when I was a barista. I really admire people who can create these images in coffee and milk :)

Then we visited the Seattle Public Market. OMG!!! I love this place! Farmer's market meets artisan's market meets antique market meets a variety of restaurants!! Awesome.

Oh! We also got to see this guy :) Even the bird is a statue.

On the way home, we had to stop for gas. Can you believe in Washington people have to pump their own gas??? Luckily we still remember how, even after living in Oregon for 10 years :)

Such a great trip. We had so much fun. On the way home, we stopped in Kalama, WA to check out some antique stores.

October 6, 2011: Erasure

We went to see Erasure in Seattle!! At the Moore Theater. It was amazing! Andy Bell has an incredible voice. Vince Clark was sparkly :) And the back-up singers were great. Unfortunately, the venue's website was adamant about cameras not being allowed, so the crummy videos you are about to watch were recorded on my phone. For those of you who regularly visit this blog and have seen previous crummy concert videos, stop giggling. These videos actually are worse than the others!

In this first clip, you can see Andy Bell's legs and a lady who sat near us and danced through the whole concert. Later we saw her circling the block, as if trying to ambush Erasure as they left the venue :) She seriously walked around that block for hours!

In this clip, you can see Vince Clark to the right of the video behind his gargoyle of musical genius. In the middle you can see Andy Bell's legs again, dancing this time. This is an amazing feat considering he has recently had both hips replaced. My hero <3

Here you can see Andy Bell talking to the crowd, but you cannot hear him, because the crowd is so crazy. The crowd at this show was awesome. They sang along to every song. There were times when Andy could have stopped singing, and the show would have gone on as planned :)

This last video shows Erasure performing a song from their new album. Vince Clark is playing the guitar, while Andy and the back-up girls are singing.

We stayed at the Moore Hotel, which was right next to the theater. After the show, we went to the nearby Whisky Bar. I had a hot toddy, closest I could come to a hot whiskey. Yum!

From the Whisky Bar, we watched the Erasure tour bus and the lady who walked around the block over and over. No Erasure sightings :(

Wednesday

October 5, 2011

More tomatoes from our friend Heather. Thank you :)

October 4, 2011

I finally started reading The Hunger Games. Great book, so far. It's been recommended by so many different people, including a number of my students.

Monday

October 3, 2011: My New Purse :)

Balenciaga knock-off. I don't think I have ever owned a white purse before, but I am building up a pretty sweet collection of knock-offs. Excited to try it out :) I'm pretty sure it will hold all my normal purse stuff plus a book and some knitting. Just about perfect!