« November 2006 | Main | January 2007 »
December 30, 2006
gift certificates
Today Ben and I plan to go for a walk in the park, then spend the rest of the day looking for creative uses for our holiday gift cards. Wish us well.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:04 PM | Comments (1)
December 26, 2006
The morning after
It was a good Christmas.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:05 AM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2006
running
I managed to run 3 miles in 29 minutes and 30 seconds a few weeks ago, but since then I've been struggling to do it in under half an hour. Today it took me 32:02. I have to keep on trying.
Life's like that, isn't it? We set goals, work hard to reach them, but getting there once is not enough.
I'll be 29 in February. By my birthday, I hope to do my first pull up. One of these days I'd like to run an 8-minute mile. Even better: three miles in 24 minutes. Maybe that can be my "before I turn 30" goal.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:33 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2006
solstice
The periodontist approved Ben's post surgery gums early yesterday morning; I chauffeured my husband to the appointment. We worked. We tried to see a movie with some friends, but ended up just seeing the movie together. We ate, read, surfed the web, watched some basketball.
Awake from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The sun rose about five minutes after I got to the office, and set about 30 minutes before I left. It was the shortest day of the year, but it lasted a long time.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:08 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2006
commuting
I climbed in to the trunk of my car again today. When it's very cold, my keys don't work in the doors. I have to wiggle into the back seat through the trunk, in order to unlock the car.
I've done this twice now. Today was the first day anyone took notice. Trunks are much bigger than you'd think. I fit comfortably inside. My neighbor stood in his driveway, looking on with a puzzled expression. He said "Hi," when I climbed out of the back seat.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)
glue
I opened a tube of super glue yesterday, and it burst all over my hands. Now I have weird shiny fingertips and my wedding ring is firmly secured in place. That wasn't quite what I had in mind.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:49 AM | Comments (1)
December 16, 2006
Saturday night, listening to Pink Martini
I miss the Portland friends who've moved away, the Virginia friends I left behind, the Grinnell friends I haven't kept up with well enough. I wish people would stop moving away. I wish I would stop moving away. I want everyone to move to Portland and then stay here.
Twenty-eight is supposed to be young, isn't it? I know in a decade or two or four I'll look back on my late 20s wistfully and remember myself as young, with so much yet to learn. Right now I feel old and weary, too tired to keep living through the same old patterns again and again. But I don't know how to break with the past.
It's cold, it's dark, it rains every day. This will continue until May, though the days will start growing longer soon. Maybe I need one of those mood-enhancing light boxes.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2006
stitches en route
Wish Ben the best. We're off to the periodontist for his gum surgery.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:27 AM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2006
home ownership
I feel like I'm on the cusp of something, but I don't know what.
Since I started posting online, I've gone from fresh-out-of-college meaning-seeker, to grand cross-country adventurer, to lonely unemployed sales assistant, to overworked newly in love entry-level peon. I've moved across country once, held five jobs, lived in seven buildings, and had lots of mini adventures in the desert, the woods, on a volcano, at the beach.
I don't worry as much about what people think of me. I'm not as lonely. I have a better sense of who I am and where I want my life to go, even though I don't have it all figured out and probably never will.
Now Ben and I are talking about buying a house, living there for 40 years or more. I don't know if it will happen in 2007 or 2008, but eventually it's going to happen. It feels like a commitment to a kind of permanence I've never known in my life until now. I've had permanence of people, but never permanence of place.
With a house, my time and money priorities will change. I'll be giving up a bit of career flexibility. I'll be giving up the dream of living near some distant friends ever again. Ben and I will be taking responsibility for our own leaky roofs, moldy bathrooms, dusty vents. We'll have more control over our environment. We'll be investing in our future. We'll never be evicted again.
I wonder how our perspectives and our priorities will change?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:04 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2006
beer!
We're attempting to brew beer at home. In about three or four weeks we'll find out how successful our efforts have been.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2006
Saturday night
Amy M. E. Fischer is a woman who knows how to throw a party. I feel intoxicated and revitalized.
Yay for designated drivers!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
Christmas presents.
I usually get started on my Christmas shopping in August or September, but it's now Dec. 9 and I haven't even started thinking about this stuff. I don't think I'll really have time for any of it until next weekend, either.
Between now and the big X (as in -mas) I've got a lot on the agenda. A housewarming party, an ornament exchange potluck brunch, two after-hours Christmas parties with co-workers, a get together with a high school friend. I've also got some grad school letters of recommendation to write for a guy I worked with on the college paper. Oh! And there's a Hip Chicks wine tasting coming up. And I'd really like to get together with Rian. We've been trying to find time together since September. There'll be trips to Tigard, too, likely. And maybe a few more open houses. I also really need to finish off those year-in-review letters we'd like to send out.
Perhaps this will be a season for online holiday shopping. Dealing with chaotic shops when I'm in such a chaotic mental space seems like a bit much.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2006
more jazz
We keep finding more jazz jam sessions. Monday: Produce Row Cafe; Tuesday: one at Mississippi Pizza, another at the Lamp; Wednesday: Spice and Jax Bar; Thursday: Proper Eats.
"I think there's more," Ben says, "I just don't know about them. I prefer to have my weekends to myself, anyway."
We went to the Jax jam tonight for the first time, and after a beer Ben got up the courage to break out his sax and call a few tunes. 'Round Midnight was so good I almost cried. It's the saddest song I know.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:19 PM | Comments (1)
December 04, 2006
Dental work
I squeezed my mommy's hand hard last time I got a filling. I might have been eight or nine years old. For two decades, I was sure it was in a baby tooth. I've been telling everyone that my teeth were perfect, I had no cavities, at least not anymore. My baby teeth were riddled with holes and metal, but they all fell out when the mighty un-flawed grown-up teeth asserted themselves.
Apparently I've been wrong.
At the dentist last week, I learned that a molar's tooth-colored filling was starting to fall apart. It would need to be replaced. So I went in early this morning for a shot of Novocaine and a little dental work. In and out in 45 minutes, swollen tongue another two hours, it wasn't so bad even though I really wanted to squeeze somebody's hand.
Worse than the filling: a long-held belief is dead. My teeth are flawed, just like everybody else's. I'm not so special after all.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:39 PM | Comments (1)
ah, the real estate market
Apparently Portland does have a ghetto, and it's where all the cheap housing is. We went open house surfing yesterday in one of the areas of town where we've seen affordable listings.
We found: no sidewalks, decaying houses, noisy traffic, gravel-packed potholes, trash in yards, clusters of rotting trailer homes hidden behind well-groomed hedges.
"Cheaper" these days means houses between $180,000 and $220,000, which means that people who don't want high-interest penalties or expensive mortgage insurance need to save up $36,000 to $44,000 -- plus closing costs -- to buy in to the slums.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:06 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2006
Fortnightly dionysian excess
Beer, wine, beer, wine.
Hair of the Dog, beer of the yum, was a great tasting in an industrial Portland brewery. We brought a big case home a few weeks back. The beer's incredibly good, but it's kind of strong so we're drinking it very slowly.
Carlton Wine Studios taught us that we should be spending four to six times as much money per wine bottle, if we really want to enjoy the best this region has to offer. I guess that's why we buy so many South American and Australian wines. We're cheap. Willamette Valley wine country is beautiful, though.
Today: More beer. We're heading downtown to the big Holiday Ale Festival.
In another two weeks, Hip Chicks Do Wine is offering a wine and chocolate pairing event, with live music. Yum.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)