Reflections on Spain...
I'm in the midst of post-vacation catch-up and can't believe I returned from Spain almost a week ago! The trip went splendidly, and despite the rain that kept following us around, we managed to have a great time and see some amazing things. We went to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba. All were beautiful cities, but my favorite was Barcelona. It is on the Mediterranean coast and like a lot of coastal cities, it seemed to have a very laid-back vibe and LOTS of organic & vegetarian restaurants. I got my fill of great art and architecture on this trip: the Picasso museum and Gaudi's unique architecture in Barcelona, the Reina Sofia Modern Art Gallery and the Prado in Madrid, and even some intricate Muslim designs in Granada and Cordoba.
Rachel was a great tour guide and translator, she had planned the entire trip and somehow managed to navigate the busy metro stations, bus stations, train stations, and other places that would have confused the hell out of me. And I am happy to report that Spain DOES have vegetarian food! I had some great food over there—falafel kebap, veggie paella, potato croquettes, gazpacho—but my favorite thing was sangria! :)
I have all my photos up on Flickr in my
Semana Santa in Spain set, but I still have some organizing, labeling, and weeding out to do. So give me a week or two if you want to know where all the pictures were taken. I am worse than a Japanese tourist and took a picture of darn near everything!
In this post are pictures of the Cathedral in Cordoba seen through a narrow "kissing lane" (above), and a view of La Alhambra in Granada (left), as seen from a very steep hill that we climbed in the rain. La Alhambra was beautiful inside, it is an old Muslim palace with a great view of Granada. Rachel has been studying there this semester, and it was great to see her and the country she's been calling home for the past few months. She even has
a blog about her studying abroad experience, although she's not quite as much of a blog addict as her older sis...
Labels: family, vacation/trips
Woah, what happened to February?
February always catches me by surprise because it's a short month. I can't believe it's almost over already! It's been a busy month, and I have a feeling March will be even busier, since I'm trying to finish up a lot of projects before I leave for Spain. So, what did I do this month? Well, since Seneca and I don't normally do much for Valentine's Day (it's an over commercialized holiday and we prefer to celebrate our love all the time instead of one day a year), we decided to show some love for animals by
protesting at KFC. We joined Compassion Speaks in a Valentine's Day themed protest (see picture). Seneca dressed up as a chicken and clucked angrily (which was quite hilarious) as people pulled into the KFC drive-thru, and I wore an evil Colonel Sanders mask and chased him around. Seneca carried a sign that said "KFC Broke My Heart (and My Legs)" and I made one that said "Have a Heart, Boycott KFC." It was lots of fun and we got a variety of different reactions as usual. We also went to the Compassion Speaks Vegan Potluck a couple days before V-day, which is always delicious and fun.
For President's Day weekend we went to McCall to visit my parents and go snowboarding. We have only gone snowboarding twice this entire season now, because of less-than-ideal snow conditions and lack of money, but thankfully my parents were kind enough to take us to Brundage in McCall (thanks Mom & Dad!). I can actually keep up with Seneca pretty well, although he likes to dart through the trees and I suck at that part. Juneau got to play in the snow, which he absolutely loved, since Moscow's snow has all melted. We went out to dinner and went on several walks to the frozen lake with the dogs. It was a nice little vacation and as always it was good to see my family.
I have been busy working on a site redesign at work, which is going smoothly now that the layout has been pretty well hammered out. As for freelance projects, I am finishing up the
T & D Landscaping site, and have been keeping busy designing flyers and other promotional items for the Moscow CommUNITY Walk, a new event with the theme "Walking on Common Ground" that will be taking place in Moscow on April 28. I am also planning to design the graphics for the posters and t-shirts for Moscow's Hempfest again this year, so I recently began the brainstorming process for that. And of course, I still design the Moscow Food Co-op's monthly newsletter.
I have made quite a few posts about green art and design on
Green Options (the link takes you directly to a list of my blog entries) and I am enjoying the opportunity to research and write about sustainable design. The site has really taken off and more content is added every day, it is a great resource for all things green. Now, if only we could get more people to start living more sustainably, maybe we'd stand a chance at combatting global warming...
This week is Jazz Fest in Moscow, and Seneca's dad, John, is visiting from Pennsylvania to check out all the great music. We'll probably be going to several jazz shows this week. John is a lot like Seneca: very progressive, vegetarian, and passionate about alternative energy and living sustainably. We certainly enjoy his visits, and are very glad to see that he is recovering from the colon cancer he had last year (he sends a warning to everyone: a lifetime of eating meat can lead to colon cancer!). Last time he was here we took him to a KFC protest and Seneca put him to work fixing the bus. This time around, they're playing lots of poker together and enjoying the jazz music (although I probably can't promise that Sen won't want some help with the bus this week).
And, some good news about the bus: SHE RUNS! Seneca fixed the starter switch and got the electrical problems all figured out, and just got it back from the shop, where they re-timed it and did some other minor repairs. We recently ordered some new upholstery for the interior walls and cabinets, so that's our next project. We haven't been collecting grease much this winter since she hasn't been running, so now we hope to get back to a regular grease-collecting schedule as well. Hopefully many trips await us in the grease bus!
And now, back to being busy busy busy and hopefully getting some work done. :)
Labels: family, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
Hectic Holidays
I can't believe it's December already. YIKES! This is a busy time of year, especially since I've barely started my Christmas shopping and I have tons of projects to wrap up before the end of the year, including a web site I'm designing for a landscaping company and my cousin Joan's wedding invitations (sorry Joan, I am a slacker with those Save-the-Date cards)! It's been busy at work as well, especially because we have a shortage of web designers but a surplus in projects. So I've been running around frantically, attempting to keep everything in order and trying to ward off the inevitable winter cold season.
Thanksgiving was wonderful, the Tofurky came out great, and I even got my dad to try some! We ate lots of great food and I even got to have pie twice. Mmm.... pie.... I arrived back in Moscow just after our first snow did, and it's been freezing and snowing ever since. We have about 6 inches or so on the ground, blanketing Moscow in sparkly white goodness. Unfortunately the roads have been very dangerous, and I heard the sad news after coming home that a wonderful Moscow friend, Stephanie, died in a car accident on icy roads. :( She was on the Hempfest committee with me and recently had a baby (who was also in the car and probably won't make it either, very sad). What a crappy way to start off the holiday season. Every winter there is news about people dying or getting hurt on the roads up here, mostly students, and this is the second time since I've lived here that I have known someone who died in an accident. Did I mention there are some very dangerous highways around here? Anyway, Stephanie inspired me to get new tires, so Sen & I took the car in and got some nice all-weather tires. They were damn expensive but well worth it, I feel much safer.
We've been enjoying the snow and even got a chance to go snowboarding at Silver Mountain this weekend. It was beautiful, the powder was awesome, and hardly anyone was there. I also did a little shopping in Spokane and replaced my camera at last. My old one had fallen into a glass of wine & was doomed, so I made sure to get the extra warranty that covers stuff like that on my new camera. I basically upgraded and got a very similar camera to the beloved one I lost - the Nikon Coolpix L6. As someone who carries a camera around everywhere, I had to get a replacement as soon as possible. It's much lighter, has a big huge screen, and takes the same memory card & batteries as the old camera. 6 Megapixels & 3x zoom should be just fine for my needs, and it had a higher ISO rating than most of the cameras I looked at. So I'm excited to try it out & take some snow pictures! :)
My house is decorated for the holidays (thanks to my mother's endless hand-me-down decorations) and I'm slowly getting some Christmas shopping done, but other than that, I am so not ready for the Holiday chaos. Can we just slow down the entire month of December?
Labels: family, holidays
Tofurky Day is coming!
I am home in Boise for Thanksgiving and looking forward to the delicious
Tofurky I'll be making on Thursday. If you've never tried this delicious vegan holiday roast, you gotta (even if you hate tofu, trust me, you'll love it)! It smells like turkey, tastes like turkey (well, from what I can remember anyway), but doesn't have that nasty side affect that comes with actual turkey - the DEATH of a sentient being. Don't forget to baste the Tofurky profusely and smother it in vegan gravy. Mmm, mmm good!
Of course, I'm looking forward to spending time with family even more than the Tofurky, but my mind gets kinda stuck on food sometimes. We'll be having a pretty simple Thanksgiving with my parents, sister, and cousins Emily (and her boyfriend Wes) and Aaron. There will be food, wine, and lots of good old-fashioned family togetherness. Oh joy! I can't believe it's already the holiday season and snow will be falling soon (well, it better be, cuz I want to get some snowboarding in). The fall has gone pretty fast, and as we head into winter I am reminded of how lucky I am and how much I have to be thankful for. I am awfully grateful to have such a loving & supporting family, a wonderful man to share life with, two adorable healthy fur-children, a good job with co-workers who rock, and many great friends. It's times like Thanksgiving that make me think, "ahhh, ain't life grand?"
I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving - don't forget to count your blessings and be thankful for all you have. I know I will. Now, go get yourself a Tofurky & give it a try! You'll never go back to dead bird. ;)
Labels: family, holidays
Oops, I caught the boquet!
Memorial Day weekend usually involves BBQ's, camping, or maybe even some fireworks, but this year I went to a wedding. My cousin Lynn was marrying Dean near Portland, so I spent my weekend with family. It was great to see everyone, it's been a while since I've been there. The wedding was beautiful, Lynn made a gorgeous bride, and much merriment was had. It's really the first big wedding I've been to of someone
my age (ish), it kinda made me realize how grown up (and old? no, not old?) we're becoming, but also how lucky I have been to have such a great relationship with my family, especially my cousins, over the years...
The wedding was in a cute little church, my adorable cousins Emma, Walker and Sam were the flower girl and ring bearers, and I got to meet my newest cousin Esther. Esther is sooooo cute, I even got to dance with her at the reception. Oddly enough, my sister Rachel and I BOTH caught the boquet as Lynn threw it... it was weird. Mom had warned us that we better not catch it... Rachel prompty let go and gave it to me. Great. So I guess I'm next!!? It's gonna be a while, lemme tell ya.
I stayed with Katie and Bridgette and enjoyed hanging out with Karyn, Joan and her adorable toddler Connor. And I even got to meet my co-worker, Junko, who lives in Portland, and check out the city with my sis Rachel. Rachel just finished her first year at the University of Portland, so she got to show me some of her favorite spots like sweet little tea shop and shopping area. We also went to Powell's books, it was huge. Overwhelming actually. Good times.
No big plans for the upcoming weekend yet, except finishing the Co-op newsletter and a web site proposal, cleaning, and maybe a hike. I've been wanting to go to the Hobo Cedar Grove. I think it's an hour or two away, but it's an old-growth cedar grove that sounds like a beautiful place to spend a Saturday. Seneca is backpacking until tomorrow with his brother. They went to the hot springs and up to their favorite morel picking spot. I'm a bit jealous, but they spontaneously decided to do it Monday and alas, I am a workaholic.
I can't believe it's June! I guess I better plan my summer! I know we want to go to Colorado the beginning of July for Rainbow, then head to Oregon for the Oregon Country Fair. That's near Eugene so we plan to check out the area and spend some time in Eugene. We've been thinking about moving there. From a short visit a few years ago I got the idea that it was a very nice, laid back place, and we'd fit in pretty well with the hippies. :) It would be much more progressive and bigger than Moscow, but I'm ready for something new. It would be nice to live somewhere other than Idaho for a while. I have a feeling I'll be back here someday anyway... No bus yet. Still looking. It would be nice to be up & running by July but I don't think that's gonna happen. We may at least have a bus, but it probably won't run on grease (yet). There's time, I guess, but dammit I'm impatient! I'm itchin' to get on the road with a grease car! :)
Well, back to work. It's gonna be a long weekend, I totally need to catch up on work after having so much fun last weekend...
Labels: family
Hectic Happy Holidays
Whew, the holiday rush is over and I'm just settling down. What a crazy couple of weeks! I spent Christmas in Boise (stopped in McCall for snowboarding on the way down) and brought Juneau and Maya there to see their "grandparents." I spent a week at my parents' house (brought my work with me) and got to hang out with family and friends. We went on a Christmas light tour with my cousins and aunt and uncle, did a White Elephant gag gift exchange on Christmas Eve, and had a wonderful Christmas morning in which everyone got spoiled rotten as usual! I'm excited that I got a new office chair and other office supplies so I can be more comfy in my little home office. Thanks Mom & Dad! I also got an ice cream maker, magic bullet kitchen gadget, and a new mess kit for backpacking, among other things. On Christmas day we went up to McCall after spending some time with Seneca's family, and then came home the day after.
After one day home, it was on the road again. We headed to San Francisco with our friends Hallie and Joel for "Sea of Dreams," a New Year's String Cheese Incident show. I had never seen Cheese live before and San Fran is just plain awesome, so I was excited about the road trip. We stopped in Ashland, Oregon, the first night and as we headed South it got more and more rainy. We tried going down 101, but that turned out to be a bad idea. Mudslides had closed the highway, so after staying a night in the very wet Redwoods, we turned around and tried another way. A few hours and 2 failed detours later, we were finally on our way to the show. It was raining so hard it felt like we were in a Monsoon, and it took us forever to finally get across that bridge and park the car. We arrived at the first night of the concert around midnight, but luckily we only missed one set.
The venue for Sea of Dreams (Concourse Exhibition Center) was filled with "cheeseheads" all dressed up in crazy costumes. There was psychadelic art on display and a room with nothing but blacklight sensitive obstacles. There were 3 stages and several booths full of interesting wares. It was pretty crowded but I got a great view of String Cheese and danced and walked around the venue until about 3am. We headed to our hotel room, which ended up being quite a fiasco after having our rervation "lost" then found and being double-booked in a room with another crew of "cheeseheads." Eventually we got our room and got a few hours of sleep. The next day was actually sunny! We explored San Francisco, hung out near Haight Ashbury and Golden Gate Park, and tried tasty brews at the Magnolia Brewery on Haight St.
New Year's Eve was one I won't soon forget! We wore psychadelic costumes and got to the venue early. String Cheese played on and on (from about 9 pm to 2:20 am with one set break!) and there were tons of people dressed up in crazy costumes complete with flashing lights and more. We headed to the floor to ring in the New Year while Cheese jammed out. At midnight, there was a countdown and thousands of balloons were released from nets on the ceiling. Glow sticks and balloons were bouncing around in the crowd, and everyone tried to keep the balloons up in the air. The energy at the show was amazing, and kept us going until around 4 am when we started our walk to the hotel.
We stopped by the ocean on the way out of town the next day and headed to Portland. We finally got some sleep staying with my cousins in Portland and headed to Moscow the day after. We stopped for a hike at Multnomah Falls and hiked to the top to soak in the view. I've seen those falls so many times, but never from right above the edge of the cliff! It was a quick and uneventful ride back to Moscow...
I'm starting a 40 hour/week schedule today. I'm working 10 hour days, 4 days a week. It will be hard to get used to and take up most of my days, but my 3-day weekends are precious and I can use the money! At least I have a more ergonomic chair to sit in now... Time to start another busy year. Happy 2006!
Labels: family, holidays, volksvegan grease bus
Tuscany, Pisa, and Venice, oh my!
We have been all over Italy in the last few days, from South to North and now East to West. Today we arrived in Montecatini in the Tuscany region, after visiting Pisa earlier today. I made sure to get pictures of the leaning tower, but we didn't have too much time there.
Yesterday we spent the day in Venice, which was a very unique place with canals instead of streets and boats instead of cars. The canals are pretty dirty, and the streets are very narrow and easy to get lost in. The night before we went on a boat ride to the island of Burano in the Venice lagoon. All the houses were different bright colors, and we had an excellent dinner. Many of the large buildings and towers in Venice are leaning or uneven, because it was built on logs on a sandy bottom. It's like no other place on earth, though. We didn't get to do a Gondola ride, because they're very expensive, so I guess I'll have an excuse to come back someday!
Italy is bellissimo! We have been covering a lot of countryside along the way, and getting to a new city almost every other day. The next stop is Sienna on the way to Rome, where we will finish up our trip. Tomorrow we get to go to Florence where I will be going to the Ufizzi gallery, the most famous collection of Italian Renaissance art. We went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice yesterday, which was awesome and had modern artists like Dali, Picasso, and Pollock. So I'm feeling very cultured! I'm also becoming quite addicted to gelato, it is way better than ice cream, I sure will miss it!
Ciao!
Labels: family, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
Italia!
What an adventure Italy has been, and it has only been 2 days (plus a very long day spent on planes). We landed in Rome yesterday, only to find out that my luggage had been lost by the airline. So I had to wear Rachel's clothes for a day, and even went out and bought some new clothes and underwear. Of course, after I bought new clothes and went to the hotel, I found out that my suitcase had arrived (yay!). Roma is bellisimo! We spent an afternoon/evening in Rome, and were very tired after being up for 30 hours. Today we left Rome for Pompeii and saw the ancient city that was covered by volcanic ash in 79 AD. I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked, since the city is huge, but the ruins were amazing.
After Pompeii we stopped in the coastal city of Sorrento, which is up on rocky cliffs above the Mediterranean. We did some shopping and then headed to the island of Capri, where we came to our beautiful hotel and I finally found some wireless internet. The island is rocky and our hotel is at the very top of steep cliffs. The Mediterranean is a deep blue and the area is lush with life, especially lemon and olive trees, flowers, and vineyards. Tomorrow we will be going to the Blue Grotto here at Capri, and the day after that we will head to Naples, then up to Tuscany. I can't believe how much I've seen in such a short time, it is amazing!
I will post more later, my internet is on a time limit and my photoblog is not behaving very well today... :)
Labels: family, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
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