33, a Full House, and a Missing Key

Only two weeks since my last post, and it feels like months as I try to recall everything that's occurred since then.

First of all, on a positive note, I celebrated my 33rd birthday! That was really a spectacular day. We started off by sleeping in and then going to Sagra Italian Restaurant for brunch with a couple of my best friends- Jennie, Melanie, their husbands, and Per and I.
It was really fun for the girls and I because we got to dress up!

Later that evening I met all of my family at Taj Palace for a family style dinner of Indian food. That was really nice. Mom and Dad, Julia and Dylan, and Jesse and Libby were all there. Our family gets bigger and bigger! There were lots of fun presents, and Julia made me strawberry cupcakes. The waiter brought me champagne. One of the biggest surprises of the night was something that Dylan had dug up in one of the front garden beds at Dad's house: my little Blueberry Muffin figurine that went everywhere with me when I was a kid! I loved her so much that I bought one on Ebay a few years ago. Neither of them still smell like blueberries, but it doesn't really matter! Anyway, it really got me thinking about what else might be buried in that yard!

After my birthday, things started to get very busy and very crazy. For one thing, it was the week of the South-by-Southwest (SXSW) music conference here in Austin. This is something I've been avoiding since I was old enough to avoid it. I realized I have a pretty big chip on my shoulder about it, and this particular week was no different- even though I've been gone from Austin for six years. It was a mixed bag. We had friends staying with us who were excited to be here. There ended up being five or six people here a night rather than the three we'd planned on, but there wasn't really much difference between three or six. It was the length of time that I think was the hardest. A solid week of even just one visitor is almost always too much. Even family- maybe especially family- falls into that trap. As the saying goes: Fish and family- they both start to stink after three days! This been one of my favorite sayings since my little brother came and stayed with me in Seattle (for a week) and we got into an argument. As we were making up, he told me that quote... I started laughing and we haven't argued since!

Another component of the extra big chip on my shoulder was that Per was excited about SXSW, too. He was trying to be supportive of me, knowing how I felt about it, but he couldn't hide his enthusiasm. So we went out a couple of times. Walking around on sixth street felt like being in New Orleans's French Quarter on a weeknight: trashy, touristy, and kind of sleazy. We walked around and checked out some music from out on the street. Later in the week we went to see our friends play at an Ethiopian restaurant, and later that night we went to a house party show. That was all super fun and I was happy to be enjoying myself.

One of the best parts of that day was meeting a fantastic couple, Taryn and Finn, who have a similar story to ours. Taryn is from Texas and Finn is from Iceland! I could go on and on about this amazing pair of people, but I'll wait until after we've gotten a chance to hang out with them again. All I can say right now is that I do believe these two people rock my world.

After that week came to a close, the next week just seemed like a crazy blur. I went down to San Marcos to stay with Jennie, which was fun. All the girls watched Twilight, which we'd all read and which had just been released on dvd. I bought some yarn and knitted a small shawl which I left for Abby as a thank you for giving up her room for me. She'd been admiring it the whole time. The yarn reminded me of Fraggle Rock for some reason. :)

After that we headed down to Wimberely on a spontaneous camping trip with our friends Mandi and Anlo. We were in a large group camping cabin with a few of their friends and their friends' kids. It was a really cold night, but we had a nice fire in the woodstove, which Per and I set up camp next to. One of the girls was knitting cables and she taught me how. The next day, we all went to Anlo's office to watch the first hour of the rough cut of the movie he's making. Per is helping him with some of the interactive elements of the film and I'm supposed to help out with screen printing tee shirts for it, so he was really excited to show us the movie. It was so cute! I can't wait to see it in it's entirety. I think it could definitely gain a following, especially with the interactive elements that are yet to come. P.S. They are another really awesome couple that we've met since we moved back, and I always really enjoy my time around them. They are so inspiring!

Last night Per met a young guy that lives in our apartment complex. They skated together for a while and then Per went over to have a beer and hang out. Shortly after Per got home there was a knock on our door. It was him. He had a couple of boxes of his stuff and was saying that he and his girlfriend had just gotten into a fight and she hit him. He was waiting for his mom to come pick him up, and he wondered if he could wait inside. Per and I stood in the doorway not knowing what to do. It was after 11:00 pm and it was obvious that we were both a little wary about letting him in. Eventually we did. I made the kid a cup of chamomile tea and went to the bedroom. After a while Per came in and said he'd gone outside to smoke. He asked me if I'd moved the spare key from the shelf in the entryway. I had just picked up some things from there while talking to the kid, but I thought I remembered leaving it there. I couldn't be sure. Neither of us were sure about anything. We started tearing up the place looking for that key, but it was obvious that it was gone. Per went outside to ask him about it. He said he didn't know anything and then his ride showed up.

It was minor mayhem after that. Here's a young kid with a troubled past who's gotten a look into our lives and taken a key to our home. Needless to say, I kind of freaked out. Per was feeling bad about letting him in; I was feeling bad about leaving the key out. We were both exhausted. Today, it doesn't feel quite as awful. We've contacted the landlord about changing the locks and beyond that I'm not feeling too worried. Stupid mistake. We'll be okay though.

I feel like I need a vacation, which is pretty hilarious because I've been unemployed ever since we moved into town. I guess what I mean is I'd like to just go out to the woods with no computer and just reconnect a little bit. Feeling disconnected is very bad for me. This morning I pretended that the sounds of the upstairs neighbors moving furniture and the sounds of the construction yard across the street were thunder. It was a lot more peaceful feeling to imagine it was a thunderstorm outside than to think about all of these things all around me that are constantly cutting me off from myself and from nature.

I'm still waiting for that cabin in the woods. And we are talking about moving to San Marcos when our lease is up.

Wintery Laziness and a Tropical Treat*

It's been very cold, wet, rainy... I've kind of holed myself up in here the last few days, only venturing out for the odd errand. Today there was no outing, but for a quick mail check which yielded a birthday card. I've had an absolutely decadent day. Got up very early, so felt I needed to reward myself. Made an incredible breakfast which I brought with me back to bed, then proceeded to catch up on several episodes of Top Model. I know. You hate me. Lounged around all day, trying to avoid leaving the warmth of the bed unless absolutely necessary. Per came home with a pizza after work, and after a little more lounging around we played games. Mah Jong and Taboo.

Some people might call this the perfect day. I'm one of those people.

*Side note: During my birthday planning I discovered the most incredible thing: The Margarita Pedicure by AZIZ Salon. The foot and leg scrub portion of the pedi is done with lime essential oil and dead sea salt. During your royal treatment you get to relax with your own lime and salt- a margarita cocktail. I am really thinking about doing this for my birthday. It would, of course, be better if I could get a girlfriend to come with me. But I won't say no to being the only queen of the Caribbean that day.

Sun Day

Sundays are my favorite days in the apartment. On Sundays I want to call it a house. It's too quiet to be in the city. It feels like there's no one else around. I sleep in, open my curtains, sit on the floor in my room in the impossible air and sunlight that pour through the hugh open windows. No one walks by. No one is shouting. The construction workers have the day off. Cars seem to take another route to avoid our street. It's perfectly relaxing.

This is a particularly beautiful Sunday and I'm feeling relieved. We're going to be okay. All of the stress of the last week feels very assuredly behind me now. We're going to be fine. We're going to be great.

I stayed up excruciatingly late last night reading New Moon (the second book in the Twilight series). I read at least 200 pages before forcing myself to turn off the light and close my eyes. I was pushing myself, barely able to stay awake, but not able to stop reading. As soon as I turned off the light though, my eyes were wide open and I didn't feel sleepy anymore. Eventually I fell asleep, dreamed very strange dreams, and woke up when Per kissed me good morning. It was 11.40, but because of of the daylight savings change last night it was 12.40. Nice.

Last night we went out for dinner and drinks with Keith and Melanie and Melanie's friend Lisa. Leo was there, too and he learned how to drink out of a straw. He was hilarious- and he thought so, too! Lisa is a really cool girl. I'm going to invite her to this week's Stitch n' Bitch and hope she comes! When we got home we watched Sigur Ros's concert documentary "Heima". It was stunning and very moving. It really made me long for the far north of Scandinavia again. I want to go back and this time I want to see Norway, and more of Finland- and definitely Iceland.

Now I have the tough decision of what to do today: knit or read, and maybe eventually go out and meet up with Per and our friends Mandi and Anlo.

The problem of leisure: what to do for pleasure...

Diary Venting

Dear Blog,
WTF? Why Why Why?? What did we do? What can we do? What should we do? Why is this happening? When will it stop? How can we get out of this? Why us? Why? What are we going to do? What is the point?!
Love, Rachael

ABC-Survey (thanks Joanna)

A
- Avail​able: Not for romantic rendezvous, but for hangin out, sure.
- Age: 33 in 11 days- and excited about it :)
- Annoy​ance:​​ i have so many, but i'm happy to say i can't think of any right now- yay!
- Anima​l:​​ I'm really into giraffes right now, what.

B
- Beer:​​ I like that coffee one that I think comes in the Fat Tire variety pack.
- Birth​day:​​ March 15- The Ides of March- Beware!!
- Body Part on oppos​ite sex: face and posture first
- Best feeli​ng in the world​:​​ Love and accomplishment
- Blind​ or Deaf:​ i think blind, but then i think.. no, deaf...
- Best weath​er:​ sunny and between 68-78 with a light breeze and slight humidity
- Been in Love:​ Madly :)
- Been on stage​:​​ many, many times, but it's been a while
- Belie​ve in Magic​:​​ not particularly
- Belie​ve in Santa​:​ i wish

C
- Candy​:​​ dark chocolate is my crack of choice
- Color​: here we go again: refracted light, people. refracted light.
- Choco​late/​​Vanil​la:​​ don't make me choose
- Chine​se/​​Mexic​an:​​ Mexican cannot be beat
- Cake or pie: cake or death?
- Conti​nent to visit​:​​ need to go back to Australia and Europe
- Chees​e:​​ it's all so delicious

D
- Day or Night​:​​ used to be night, now it's like late afternoon
- Dance​ in the rain:​​ i should do that more

E
- Eyes:​​ mine are treetrunkwise
- Ever faile​d a class​?​​:​​ er... nearly i guess.

F
- First​ thoug​hts wakin​g up: if i open my eyes the light will come in and i'll never get to stay here and enjoy this dark snooze.
- Food:​​ i recently had a raspberry pistachio brie tartlet that was pretty outrageous

G
- Great​est Fear:​ if i say it, it will come
- Goals​:​ get a damn job! oh, and this other thing about starting this business...
- Gum: not as much anymore
- Get along​ with your paren​ts?​​:​​ yes
- Good luck charm​:​ don't have one, but it would be something sentimental

H
- Hair Color​:​​ fantastic shiny multi-toned brunette (like that?)
- Heigh​t:​​ this year i round it up to 5'.
- Happy​:​​ not when i'm not working
- Holid​ay:​​ my birthday is pretty awesome
- How do you want to die: peacefully

I
- Ice Cream​:​ that lemon blueberry one i had in seattle is still in my dreams
- Instr​ument​:​​ i play the guitar, but i'm trying to learn the mandolin and i wish i played the piano

J
- Jewel​ry:​​ right now i like big earrings and bracelets (bangles).

K
- Kids:​​ stop asking me that question!!!
- Kickb​oxing​ or karat​e:​​ hmmm.. can i say ballet?
- Keep a journ​al?​​:​​ you're looking at it.

L
- Lette​r:​​ i need to write a few
- Laugh​ed so hard you cried​:​​ not long ago at the weekly stitch n bitch

M
- Milk flavo​r:​​ vanilla or chocolate almond milk
- Movie​s:​​ not as grotesquely as obsessed as i once was, but yes, i enjoy a good one
- Motio​n sickn​ess?​​:​​ no, but i have vertigo on stairs
- McD’s​ or BK: uh...

N
- Numbe​r:​​ 3 and 5

O
- One wish:​​ get out of debt- forever!

P
- Perfe​ct Pizza​:​​ a very good margherita with fresh basil is hard to beat
- Pepsi​/​​Coke:​​ meh (always hated pepsi though)

Q
- Quail​:​​ Quail??

R
- Reaso​n to cry: oh, when the Bachelor is having a hard time deciding, when the bachelor is in love, when the bachelor breaks someone's heart, i don't know! it doesn't take much!
- Reali​ty T.V.: oh. should've saved that last one
- Radio​ Stati​on:​ pandora
ROll your tongu​e:​ rrrrrrrrrrrum punch- quite satisfactory!
- Ring size:​ somewhere around a 5, i think

S
- Song:​​ nothin gets me like valerie carter's "ooh child" - except maybe "golden lady" by stevie wonder.
- Shoe size:​​ 5-5.5
- Salad​ Dress​ing:​​ Annie's Goddess
- Sushi​:​​ Rain City roll from Rain in Seattle
- Slept​ outsi​de:​ yes, in a beer soaked sleeping bag on a freezing Swedish beach. not as fun as it sounds.
- Sing well?​​:​​ I'm counting on it.
- In the showe​r?​​:​ omg, when did i stop singing in the shower??!
- Straw​berri​es/​​Blueb​errie​s:​​ blueberries! and strawberries!

T
- Tatto​os?​​:​​ no, but i'll never say never
- Time for bed: passed
- Thund​ersto​rms:​​ I missed them when I was gone.

U
- Unpre​dicta​ble:​​ i'm a planner.

V
- Vacat​ion spot:​​ anywhere in nature

W
- Weakn​ess:​​ i never share my cookies.
- Which​ one of your frien​ds acts the most like you: that doesn't make any sense
- Worst​ feeli​ng:​ unresolved emotions and worry
- Wante​d to be a model​:​​ of course, i was just too short for couture
- Where​ do we go when we die?​​:​​ somewhere important
- Worst​ Weath​er?​​:​​ malmo sweden

X
- X-​​Rays:​ they weird me out

Y
-​​Year it is now: 2009​
-​​Yello​w:​​ i'm really into yellow right now

Z
- Zoo anima​l:​ baby giraffe