Boring Beige

Finally! The boring beige is gone. Painting took place last week and we went from beige to a khaki green (it is called horsehair). It has made such a huge difference in the appearance of our casa that I want to paint every nook and cranny that is beige to some color. I know some of you are probably thinking - they just went from one neutral color to another. Not exactly. Beige has no life or vibrancy at least the green/khaki makes you think of a season. I love the new color and we finally started hanging art on the walls too....it has almost been a year since we moved into this place. I guess it is about time.

Everything is better at the bottom

A visit to our local brew pub, Oaks Bottom, last night was yummy goodness. The cow is in love with a beer called LSD. The napkins were pinned to the wall from thankful patrons from the past. This place has a garden burger called the "hot damn." It is DAMN good with quite a bit of HOT.

Glorious oranges

My parents were kind enough to send me a 40 lb. box of California oranges. They actually picked them the day before the big freeze. I am so grateful for these bright, round beauties. They are sweet and delicious - so unlike what I have been buying at the market. As you can tell by the box I am getting down to the last few.

Why am I the only one who is appalled?

Following is an e-mail that was sent out to the entire Beaverton school district in which I am employeed. I am apprehensive to post this SELF-PROMOTING, DEGRADING TO WOMEN CRAP but I wanted to point out that the administration and the staff at the high school in which this person works believes that it is fine for her to promote her life long dream of becoming an "all-star" dancer to students, staff and anyone who will vote.
(Everyday this person sends an e-mail to "ALL STAFF" to remind you to vote for her)
PLEASE DO NOT VOTE!

"Aloha BSD employees,
My name is Marlene and I'm a Health/PE teacher at X HighSchool. On my free time I coach the dance team here and I also dance forthe Blazers. I've been a Blazer Dancer for 10 wonderful years and havehad the privilege of dancing with other Beaverton School district employee's.
A wonderful opportunity has come up in my last year as a Blazer Dancer. I was nominated to be a part of the 1st ever All Star Dance Team for the NBA-All Star Game. I am 1 of 3 dancers nominated. The person with the most votes will get to attend and perform at the All Star Game February16th-18th. Here is how YOU can help me!! Go to the following website and vote everyday until January 19th for Marlene. You can vote from home and from school on every browser (safari, firefox and mozilla) as staff and then as student making you vote 6 times from each computer. Your votes will be greatly appreciated.
If chosen I will represent all TEACHERS,especially teachers of the Beaverton school district!! Thank you andVOTE!!VOTE: http://www.nba.com/allstar2007/dance/por.html

Thank you!!!
Marlene
Health/PE Teacher
Warrior Crew Advisor
Analani Dance Team Coach
"Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes animpression" Haim Ginott"

Bright,Blue,White

The cow and I joined a couple of friends for a snowshoe hike on the east side of Mt.Hood on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We hiked for four hours up and down a loop path that led us past some amazing scenery. It was cold (about 20degrees) but I was sweating. There was some major elevation changes over our the 5-or-so mile course. Tired, really tired when we got home but had a great evening eating bad food from Trader Joe's and watching the movie: House of Sand.

People of Madrid

They are Madrillenos! I witnessed them eat, protest, perform, wait and SING!

Vista della Cuidad

A view of Madrid from my point of view....it is GRAND!

The city is compact enough to walk but the Metro is superb. The pictures represent various neighborhoods. I prefer Old Madrid and Malasana over the richy area of Salamanca.

We strolled the Parque del Retiro (monument with water) and found ourselves one night in Plaza del Sol (Tio Pepe) with about a million others.

The days were crisp with blue skies and when the sun went down and it got cold we just slipped into a Taberna.

Outdoor Art- Madrid style

We didn't see as much amazing graffitti as in Barcelona but some of the shops paint their rolldown doors in very unique ways. The picture of the three men was a candy shop. I think they represent the bakers. The others? I really have no clue but I thought they were interesting....especially the last one.

Snow Day

The cow and I are on a snow day! It is a winter wonderland in Portland. It started snowing at 5:30am and stopped about noon. We went out for a walk to enjoy the winter festivities. We saw parents pulling their kids on sleds, die hard bicycle riders (I counted 8 different riders) and many cross-country skiers. Everyone was out playing. Hope your day is equally as enjoyable as ours has been.

Madrid Food