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July 30, 2006
Guess what Ben and I did today?
We'll post more pictures when we get back from our honeymoon. Off to Montana in the morning.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
A recap.
Ben and I get married in a little under three hours. I should be applying makeup right now, but I feel like geeking out and posting to my web journal instead.
The past few days have been unbelievably packed.
Thursday night I explored NW 21st and NW 23rd with a bunch of close friends, then returned to a classy hotel for a night of board games. It was great.
Friday began with fresh blueberry pancakes Rian and my high school gang. I also got to see my old college roomie, Sara for the first time in years, and to meet her fella Chris. The most shocking part of that experience: one of them was wearing a skirt. And it wasn't Chris.
After a good start, things got bad fast when the landlord of evil decided to turn off the water just as I was preparing to do laundry for the honeymoon and take a shower. Fortunately, I did get one load done before the taps ran dry, and hotel-staying-folks let me use their ample water supply to bathe.
That night Sue, Ben's mom, threw a massive party, to which any wedding guests who were in town were invited, as well as Ben's huge extended family. The food was great, and it was good to see so many people. It was a little overwhelming to arrive an hour late (blame the plumbing) and have everyone cheer and clap with relief that we weren't skipping out. Hopefully the spotlight will be somewhat dimmer at the actual main event.
Poor Ross, who forgot his passport at home when he left for the bus station, really wanted to go to the Friday party, but he was five hours too late by the time he finally arrived in Portland.
He almost missed Saturday's fun, too, but thanks to Rian's speedy navigating he caught up with everyone.
About 20 or 30 of us drove up to the south side of Mount St. Helens for some fairly easy hiking and some awesome views. I was up there Thursday morning for a solo test run of my Saturday plans, and the whole thing took about 45 minutes. With a big crowd of nature lovers, photographers and meanderers, we were there for more than 3.
I also did my best to introduce as many people as possible to the one-of-a-kind Northwest fast food phenomenon yesterday: The Best Western.
So... now I have about 15 minutes to apply makeup and head out to a glamorous photo shoot at the Lewis River Golf Course before the wedding gets underway. Don't know if I mentioned it, but I'll be wearing a big white dress. It's ginormous.
Hope everything goes well today. As long as Ben and I are married and everyone's still alive and relatively uninjured, I'll be happy.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:17 AM | Comments (1)
July 28, 2006
the final countdown
Oh my gawd. Today and yesterday were mostly OK. Good to see lots of people we don't see very often. But losing water when our landlord shut off the pipes without warning sucked. Several other unexpected tensions emerged. I'm very ready for sleep, and triply ready for honeymoon. Gah.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:20 PM | Comments (1)
July 27, 2006
craziness
"I'm very aware that this week you're my girlfriend and next week you'll be my wife." Ben summed it up pretty well, I think.
Anyhow, I'm heading out to the volcano for one last solo hike before the craziness really hits.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:25 AM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2006
hi mom!
My mom's here! And it's hot! Miserably, record-breakingly hot.
We don't have AC, and we can't leave the windows open overnight because there's a burglar in the neighborhood. Nice welcome to Portland, eh?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:52 AM | Comments (2)
July 20, 2006
aging
Here's the thing about being 28: I'm now at an age where I get annoyed by being carded when I'm out buying drinks. And by not being carded. I mean, how young do you really think I am? I'm a grown woman, trust me, I'm over 21. But do I really look so old that you don't think I need to be carded?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
Cooking and thinking
Five more days of work before wedding and honeymoon. I'm trying to stay grounded and focused on the immediate things that require my attention. Work is a bit of a challenge. Food's a lot easier.
At first, our harvest boxes seemed pretty skimpy. But now Ben and I are having a hard time keeping up with all the fresh produce we get every week.
In yesterday's box, we got a pint and a half of blueberries, a pint of cherries, a couple of different summer squash, a cucumber, green beans, wax beans, a sweet onion and a bunch of fresh basil.
We still had leftover sugar peas, lettuce, squash, cilantro and cukes from last week, too.
I made a huge blueberry salad and used up the last of the old lettuce for dinner last night. Tonight I think I'll try to finish off the old veggies with a cilantro-flavored stir fry. I'll save the beans and onion recipe from the farm for the weekend.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
OPB's ratings will go up next week
Ben and I have been selected as a one-week Arbitron ratings household. Starting Thursday, July 20, and continuing for seven days, we've been asked to record our radio listening habits in diaries we received in the mail.
In exchange, we've been sent $11 upfront and offered a free subscription to Esquire. I'm pocketing the cash before Ben even gets a chance to see it. I'll probably use it to buy him a coffee and biscotti later this morning, if he ever gets out of bed.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2006
animal crackers, loop-de-loop
I have to share my family's bathtub filled with animal crackers, e-mailed to me today by my mom. Apparently one of Darcy's friends did this as a prank. The crackers and the floor tiles go well together.
In other news, talked to the long-lost Casey Not-a-Rovito today, and it sounds I'll be seeing her in a little over two weeks. She owns a house. With a pool.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:58 PM | Comments (2)
busy, busy, busy
With work, workouts, insurance issues, bowling night with former colleagues, a party with new co-workers, wedding dress alterations and a Mount St. Helens hike all on the agenda now through the weekend, I may be hard to get ahold of over the phone for the next few days.
If you've got any messages to relay to me, go electronic. E-mail me or leave a comment here.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:25 AM | Comments (2)
July 08, 2006
Don't go crazy with the obscure verbs, please!
The New Yorker has used the verb "ensorcell" twice in the past month. That, in my opinion, is excessive.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2006
water
Back when I worked at Paychex, in the most boring administrative job ever, I got really in to drinking water. Why? Because a single bottle of water held in it the potential for three time consuming activities. First, I could concentrate on drinking the water. Then, I could spend time filling my bottle. Later, I would have to pee. Eight minutes out of every incredibly dull hour could be filled with water drinking rituals.
Thankfully, I moved on to more engaging work. But the water habit followed me. It's now spread beyond my work life to my home life. It seems like I spend a huge portion of every day just drinking water, filling my glass or bottle with water, and peeing. I wake up in the middle of the night to repeat the cycle.
Eight minutes of every hour adds up to three hours and 12 minutes of every day, 1,168 hours of every year.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:22 PM | Comments (1)
July 05, 2006
Not the best beets I've had, just the best beets I've made
I'm not a huge fan of beets. I like them when other people make them, sometimes. But my efforts to cook them have so far been pretty unfortunate. Until now.
We had three beets on the verge of going mush from our Sun Gold Farm harvest box of a few weeks back. In this week's box, we got carrots. And I had some potatoes on hand. So when I got home from work my plan was to concoct some kind of root vegetable medly.
Instead, I opted for grease and salt. I heated peanut oil til it started spitting, sliced the beets thin like chips, and fried for 15 minutes. Drained, salted, ate. They were pretty good.
Actually, a beet, carrot, potato chip medly doesn't sound that bad either. Maybe next time.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 04, 2006
Portland.
Every year I am surprised by how excited this city gets after dark on the Fourth of July. The streets are filled with smoke and the skies are filled with echoes and light.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:34 PM | Comments (1)
July 02, 2006
"What's the firmest mattress you have?"
Ben and I got a new bed today, delivered by Sleep Country USA.
We spent some time talking to the delivery guys. The hours are bad -- everybody has to work weekends and holidays -- but the benefits are good and Sleep Country sponsors bowling nights, minor league baseball nights, and white water rafting days for its employees. And they get paid overtime for holiday work after 90 days on the job. It's physical, not very mental, but it seems like an OK way to earn a paycheck.
Our new bed is a replacement for the bed we bought two years ago, which was damaged by the recent pipe break in the bedroom ceiling. The water made the mattress so lumpy that I was sleeping on one side of the bed, while Ben slept on a twin-sized mattress that we set up on the floor.
The landlord has said that he'll pay for the new bed.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:00 PM | Comments (2)
July 01, 2006
I'm so hungry right now, I could eat a cow made out of butter
I drove out today to the south shadow of Mount St. Helens. My plan: do a practice run of the hike I'll be leading the day before our wedding. Unfortunately, the suspension bridge through that trail was damaged by winter weather and is temporarily off limits. I have no idea whether it will be repaired by the end of the month. So I decided to try a less familiar trail instead.
By the time I got back to my car, two hours and five miles later, I was sore, I was out of water, and I was famished.
The hike was brutal. Fun if I'm looking for a sadistic workout, not recommended for people looking to have a fun, social, physical outdoor experience.
I think I'm going to have to go out to the mountains again next weekend to track down a better trail.
I love that volcano. The snow is melting its way up the mountain's flanks. A whispy plume of ashy cloud hovered above the crater.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:41 PM | Comments (1)
rabbit rabbit
It's July. Ben and I are getting married later this month. Wow.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:28 PM | Comments (2)