Tand Stickor, Omnichords and Baris

A lot has been going on this week with work. I have been in Portland prepping one of my store's for a visit from the Visual Director of the company (read: my bosses boss). Therefore my right brain has been in overdrive, seriously trying to figure out ways to really make Portland stand out to them, as a result, my left brain was pushed to the wayside, making my communication and rationality skills absolutely nil. When you venture too far into one brain or the other, it gets a little off in there. 

There is a very real possibility that we will be moving to Portland in the near future, which makes me so happy. Not that I don't love Seattle, but I just fit better in Portland. It feels more natural to me. Besides, we might be able to buy a house here! So in our nomadic ways Rob and I have both managed to need to spend the week in Portland, sharing the hotel responsibilities between our two employers and using our free time to work on our new musical project...which is a secret. shh don't tell.

In that vein, Rob has been teaching me how to play the omnichord. which I am having a hard time thinking about how to explain it, so I will defer to wiki: 

An Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument manufactured by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate and numerous chord buttons. The most basic method of playing the instrument is to press the chord buttons, and strum the touch plate. Omnichords often feature preset rhythms with a tempo control which the player may use as accompaniment. Other features may include a selection of voices, and effects such as vibrato and sustain, as well as a chord memory in more advanced models.

In other words: awesome. So he is teaching himself the baritone ukelele, while I am learning the omnichord, and we are practicing beatles songs and both singing, in our room at the ace hotel at 5 in the afternoon. We actually could smell cigarette smoke drifting in from our neighbors room while we were playing. There could be 2 reasons for this. 1: He was really FEELING the music and needed a smoke to help him enjoy it even more. 2: He was so stressed out by the intensity of sound coming from our room he had to smoke to chill out. Either way, we definitely had an EFFECT on him. Although Petty seemed uneffected by the whole scene... he just napped through the chaos.

The second set of pics are from my harvest of Rob's wheatgrass crop. I don't mind cutting this kind of grass. Speaking of which, if Rob and I do end up buying a house we are going to have to look into real NW landscaping (ie: no grass) because i really hate cutting grass, and Rob always wears a weird outfit of KC Royals shorts, no shirt and sunglasses with a trucker hat while mowing, which just makes everyone feel uncomfortable.

past present futura

This year represents the longest period of time I have ever lived far away from my family. And although I have probably seen them more in this last year than any of the years where we lived close by, it still feels different. As a Kansas transplant in the Northwest all I can think about is the hot weather I am missing, the bbqs, the patio beers, the sunburns, the pool days, the over air conditioning. Today in Kansas City the temperature is 88 degrees. Rob and I probably would have driven up to my brother's house if we still lived in KS so we could sit by the pool and hang out. Seattle 53 degree highs in June make no sense to me. It is depressing. I know it is a trade off for other things; job opportunity, amazing surroundings, mountains...but sometimes I just want flat plains, heat and family. 

The little one with the grown out bowl cut is me:)

My mother's family was featured in Life magazine the year before she was born. The title of the article was "Kansas Raises Fine Families" and the page after this one was a portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower's family playing croquet in front of their mansion. And the phone adjacent is the actual phone that my mom's family used in their farmhouse outside of Abilene, KS. They shared a "party line" so everyone in their immediate area used the same phone line, everyone had a different ring, and you could listen in to neighbor's conversations!  

My mom's family is in the triptych on the left, she too was the youngest, most adorable blond in her family...(that's payback Suz for people thinking I am older than you!)

My dad is the one at the top of the picture- it's pretty obvious if you've ever met him, he looks pretty much exactly the same today only with a few lines on his face. What a handsome man. 

I'm pretty sure, if given the chance, my cat would kill me.

I have spent the last couple of days on a "work retreat" with my District. We rented a lodge up in the mountains and divided our time equally between working, eating and shotgunning pbr. Of course some amazing things happened, many silly things, and things were learned. Overall, I had an amazing time bonding with people that I work with. If you remember correctly my camera is out of commission, so I relied on my iphone to document many of the moments. Others were thanks to Melissa and her freeness with lending her camera to me (she understood the importance of having "Urban Trading Cards"- trust me not everyone did). Also Chris came through with the most amazing camera of all...a WATERPROOF digital camera. I almost peed my swimsuit when I got my hands on that! There are several series in this post... and gasp- photos of people! 

Series 1: Urban Outfitters Trading Cards

Voss and Shelly Williams



Megan Macenroe



sychronized tub



Fritz Fris



Melissa Madden



Andy Roddick



Tiger Folster



Henry Palmer



Darwin Sanders


Sit Boo Boo Sit. 

Josh Beckham

Series 2: Shotgun Bridge Club ( I also almost peed my pants on this little jaunt bc I was laughing so hard)

We had to carry all the discards in our hands the whole walk back, and hide them from the backwoods folk driving by, who were already suspicious of us...







weapon of choice!




Shape shifter!


Sasquatch!


RUN!

Series 3: Waterproof Camera??!!

In the hot tub, many hours after shotgun bridge club was formed, Chris busted out a WATERPROOF CAMERA. Obviously none of these people know me very well, because they were shocked by my obsession with it. I almost drowned taking these pictures, and I think at one point we had people holding us under water to make sure we got the shot without bouying up to the surface. I think it was all worth it.

I miss you.

I'm sorry I am terrible at keeping in touch. I miss you guys. and I'm pretty sure you two and Rob are the only ones reading this. Which makes me laugh. 

p.s. Katie- I found the red dress and got excited and wore it in St. Lucia as a secret before I sent it back to you... and i broke the strap. I am going to fix it and send it I swear. It is the cutest dress in the history of red dresses. To make up for it, I am also sending a pair of jeans that you will love. 

p.p.s. Tyra- I want to see a photo of your tiny body compared to your huge baby belly. Mainly so I can laugh at you, but also because you are the cutest in the history of the world. 

Oh yeah, I added that last photo because it is freaking disgusting- that is NOT beer! It is Kansas rain water! 

and this one is for Rob for reading this everyday and answering asinine questions like- was it funny? what else? Did you like it?  and also for doing interpretive dances on command. oh yeah, and because there is a rocket pointed at his butt- that too is for you, Katie:)