11 posts tagged “oregon”
I am totally obsessed with this band right now (thankfully, they're in Portland).
I just think they're absolutely fantastic. You just wait. You'll be seeing a lot of them.
after all my whining and complaining, looks like i get to do some traveling again.
i am so out of here. this is a good thing, too. everything is getting on my nerves from the silly posts on etsy about lost views to the mommying i received on Ravelry this morning (yes, i was bad - it was a thread on whether nude avatars should be allowed on Ravelry, and I responded to someone with a McCain avatar that whether it was a McCain avatar or someone's member, both were dicks. I thought I was being funny but apparently, it was a little too nasty for some and I got a nice private email saying I needed to pipe down. Man, where are the nasty knitters? I need to stick with my own kind. I love that knitting brings all types together but man, I just can't hang with th McCain supporters - not even knitting will overcome that).
Anyway, i am on my way to one of my favorite spots in the country tomorrow, a hot springs in southern oregon. there is a trailhead right at the campground that takes you on one of the most incredible hikes ever, too - I'm talking water, shooting out the sides of mountains, pouring down rock faces, etc. A truly sacred, beautiful place. i am so looking forward to this.
the economy very obviously sucks, however. i have not had a single solstice sale in my Etsy shop. i am broker than broke and once again, unable to determine how I'll manage to get the last bit of July's rent accumulated. I will continue to trust in the universe and continue to pray, and I will burn some of Summersea's amazing incense, which always does me some good.
this too shall pass, at least I hope. at the very least, I haven't driven my car in days. Today I commuted all over the city on my bike, amazed at how small Portland actually is. I went from a photo shoot in north Portland to a class at the Red Cross in northeast Portland on bloodborne pathogens (required at the tattoo shop where I work once a week in return for the beautiful piece of art on my left bicep) to my Nia class downtown and then off to a friend's place back in northeast Portland to pick up the sleeping bag I'd left there, and now home, to frantically pack my camping gear for a 5am departure time.
i'll be back late monday night and then i'm here for about 10 more days before...
before i leave for new york city for a couple of weeks.
yes, i'm back to the concrete jungle (where i'm from) for a bit, because i cannot find work here in portland, and i've been offered an all-expenses-paid trip back there to help work on a really, really amazing project.
some of you folks in the sustainability groups are probably wondering why i'm sticking this seemingly-unrelated post in the group - well, i'm sworn to secrecy at the moment, but I'll be able to announce the amazingness soon. Suffice it to say it has everything to do with healthy, organic food, sustainability, awesome music, crazy brave moves, and a Guiness World Record.
Yes I'm serious. I'll keep everyone updated.
In the meantime, here are just some of the items from my shop that are currently on sale - 20% off anything through June 21st. Obviously, I won't actually get your order until Monday night when I return, but as long as you purchase by midnight, PST on June 21st, you'll get the 20% discount. Your purchase will enable me to pay July's rent, and hopefully provide me with the ability to actually take the subway while I'm in New York.
So, The Indiego has chosen me as their weekly spotlight!
So great, since I'm supposedly taking a break, lol...
But, that's really, really cool - I love the folks at The Indiego and I'm happy to continue to get the word out. As well, I received an alchemy request from a potential customer - her custom request is rather inspiring, as it does give me some ideas for (moderately) new work.
Man though, I need a fan, at least for the few hours I'm actually home right now - it's been very, very hot and sunny here and I've been out in it - and my fashionable large-lens sunglasses have given me quite the case of "ski slope tan". My room gets the evening sun which in Portland, Oregon, is the hottest - i think our hottest hours here start around 4pm, although earlier today you never would have known it. It was hotter than hell outside, and there I was with 70,000 (yes!) other people listening to Barak Obama.
My personal opinions aside, Obama is inspiring as a charasmatic statesman. Most politicians won't ever get much more than a grumbling okay from me as my politics have become a lot more radical, but oh, you know - it's AMAZING to me to see a black family on their way to the white house. that rules, just about as much as it would rule to have a woman running this place (just not the one going for it right now).
I'm happy he thinks he can get the Iraq war done and the troops out by 2009. I'm not thrilled about his thoughts on Afghanistan as I believe 911 was an inside job - if he wants to go after the real criminals, well, those guys are very easily found at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, no cave hopping in the third world required. (Part of my reason for believing this is because I watched the entire thing go down from my waterfront rooftop in Brooklyn that day - I know what a military cargo plane looks like and I've actually seen more than one building implosion in my life, and that's where I'll leave that). I think Obama is overly ambitious and, like everyone who has ever run a political campaign, makes a lot of promises he probably won't be able to keep, grand and lovely as they may be. I also believe he's going to be our next president and I'm okay with it.
Anything is better than what we've got now and if he can accomplish even an eighth of what he claims he can, we're doing alright. Barack and Roll, y'all.
can you blame me?
I spent last night in a garden on a warm, sunny Portland late afternoon (yeah, those are rare around here right now) hanging out with my favorite new local band, HyDrive. Apparently they were planning to record yesterday until everyone woke up to the sun shining - instead, they decided to find somewhere great to do a last minute show and it just so happens, Tin Shed has happy hour ALL DAY on Sunday. Lord help us.
I've got such a creative group of friends I'm running into the same problem I had when I was here before - everyone's got something going on that I'd like to support and in the meantime, I forget that I'm here to do that, too.
I've been working a lot, too, and gettin' in some good loving but I let my own self go for a bit - yesterday I ran home and blitzkreiged my room, which had turned into an unbelievable disaster - I had an epic goodwill score earlier that week, which turned into basically a giant pile I didn't address due to busyness (my life last week involved a lot of running home, grabbing a shower, and running back out - everything, sadly, got neglected - not least my yoga practice).
On a bright note - among a million other things I scored these amazing Italian leather boots in just my size - it amazes me that someone would want to hand these off - the leather on the boot leg is the softest, butteriest stuff ever - feels like kid skin! I probably paid about a dollar for these.
Because of all the chaos, I guess, I've been completely uninspired to make much - I've been sneaking some knitting in here and there but the jewelry hasn't been coming to me at all. When I finally get a chance to sit down alone really all I want to do is pick up the needles and get these socks done for mom on mother's day. Sit, be alone, watch a movie and knit. And to think I complained about a lonely winter...
The fortunate thing is that I realize this sort of thing happens to me periodically, and when it ends a whole new round of inspiration will kick in. Still, it's kind of a bummer - i was going pretty strong this winter but with no new product, well, that means several things, including one very important one: without new product, there probably won't be any new sales.
I guess I can look at this positively and accept it as a break. Because I need one.
In the meantime I discovered yet a new Etsy shop that I absolutely love this morning - meet HerbanDevi, who makes amazing clothing for girls like me - you can yoga in 'em, dance in 'em, or go out in 'em. And they're ecologically sound, too.
I'd be right into these pants were I not a financial disaster right now - perhaps the biggest reason I can't seem to create anything is that I'm out of most of my silver sheet and wire - and I can't afford to buy anymore at the moment, since I had to spend my most recent Etsy income on a new digital camera.
Love how that works, huh?
This morning I think I blew my nose all over the heart I wear on my sleeve.
True, I think I've got a bit of seasonal affective disorder. it can make a nose run. Much as I love Portland, and much as Portland is really working for me right now, the winter weather here is not suitable for a girl whose ancestors have produced a creature that requires a lot of warm, direct sunlight. Physically I thrive best on a 4-days-on, 3-days-off schedule (that goes for my working schedule as well). I came back to here to learn how to make my world happen the way it needs to - I want to, i will, and i DO live by supporting myself through my creative endeavors. I want to relish my freedom to exist. Like everyone else, too, I want love - but i've decided to make that part a lot more difficult by being specific - i want love that still allows me the opportunity to live wisely and fully in the moment on my own, too, love that supports my creativity and freedom and is still full of reverence and respect (and, of course, a good dose of lust and sensuality). Ha, I don't ask for much, do I? I totally understand though that to get what I want I have to give that very thing away. Trust. Freedom. Choice. Wisdom. Oh, ouch. It's not how everyone does it. We're not societally trained to think this way.
So yeah, I spent most of my afternoon in a SAD haze, torturing my own brain about a sweet affair i'm currently having - realizing, of course that it's probably just my own brain causing the ruckus (as is often the case) - that I need to stay the course and keep my eyes focused on the goals I came here to accomplish and, as superficial as it may sound, consider his presence in my life a joyful bonus for the now.
Right?
Yes, it's been one of those slow days with no responsibility where I allow my mind to wander a little too far away. It felt like a day to indulge the tragic romantic in me so I allowed it to continue for several hours while I sang the two-line refrain that got delivered along with it. I am not a songwriter, see, and I refuse to write a poem about love, so I have countless little notebooks in which i write down all those two-line refrains, those laughing little devils that sit on the shoulders of impending heartbreak. Their giggles just get you like a finger in the ribs.
a warm (75 degrees) and sunshiny day in portland means really only one thing - it's spent outside. everyone's on bicycles, in parks, or in back yards, having barbeques. or all of the above at various points in the day.
friday afternoon i finished my last day on the temp job.
friday evening i went to a barbeque. i got a little drunk. i ate a ton of red meat. we sang songs.
saturday morning i got up, went to a work party - a bunch of people building an 'art car' (but it's a bus) for burning man.
after that, we dropped in on a barbeque where i got a little drunk and ate a ton of red meat. after that, we went to another barbeque where i continued to drink.
this morning i got up, came home, and started taking care of business. but then, i got back on my bike and i went to another barbeque this afternoon, where i had a bit to drink.
i'm home again, good lord, and I'm not sure I remember the last time I did this much drinking. i am drinking lots of water and doing some kundalini yoga kriyas that will hopefully get the drink off of me. it was fun but now it's time to recuperate.
Nothing else new to say really - life has been rather calm and affectionate and I've been too busy moving around producing Vitamin D to make much - this is the northwest, however, and I am fairly always given a reprieve in beautiful weather here in Oregon - a good, gray, rainy day with which to get stuff done - at least i hope i do, because once the sun shines in this place, it's really impossible to do much else other than get out in it.
I've been temping. It's only been 4 days, but the step on my soul is hard - my biorhythm doesn't involve a 6am wake-up time, usually. my soul hates offices and "business casual" and suddenly I am surrounded by commuters from the suburbs, people who live DRASTICALLY different lives than I. I don't so much mind the bus though, generally, as it's giving me time to sit, knit and meditate.
I am, however, searching for my creativity in all of this - it comes in spurts, this I know, just like my shop sales, but I seem to have lost both for a second. I've finished up the last few custom jobs and gotten all my current orders out into the world and now... there's this lull, and once again, it's time to pay rent. seems like it was just yesterday. Too, I suffer a new detriment - i've dropped my digital camera into the ocean. I use my camera regularly to photograph product and thus, generate income so there's a bit of a catch-22 scenario now taking place. Might be time for you to get that SCRAPZ pendant you've been wanting!
Yemaya expects her thanks and I suppose mine wasn't good enough, long enough, or strong enough yesterday. I drove out to the Oregon coast and let the shock of a blizzard in spring, the sound of the waves, the infinity of the horizon, lull me back into the bigger picture. On the way home I hit a patch of black ice. My life did flash before my eyes but soon enough I was sitting in a snow drift off the side of the road and shortly thereafter that, someone else towed me back out onto the road. There was no damage to me, my car or my friend, but i drove 30mph in 4WD for a while until we hit the suburbs. I was never so happy to see urban sprawl.
Today is my day of rest, my day of refusal to everyone but myself. There was a time when I believed moving to Portland, Oregon from New York City would clear my life of the 'distractions' that kept me from achieving my own personal goals. That never worked out - this is a vibrant city despite its much smaller size and alarmingly random weather and there is always something to do - I spread myself a bit too thin this past week and started suffering the consequences.
I do believe it's time to clean and clear my space and hope for the best. time to pray. Tonight it's going to be an early one so I can start the 6am routine all over again tomorrow - pathetically enough, I am a single woman who's looking forward to solo time and an early bedtime tonight. Yes, tonight, I am having a date with myself. Tonight it's me, my pillows, and a movie, and those damned yoga socks I've been working on for a month.
As for those things, after frogging and reknitting the instep at least six times I think i've finally jumped the hurdle pattern-wise (though I'll have to frog and reknit the instep yet again to find out). I'm both loving and hating the challenge - Mac'N'Me makes beautiful patterns though I've scribbled all over mine in hopes that I'll remember all the stuff I had to figure out on my own when I eventually get around to the second sock.
For now, however, I'll have to put this project aside to get started on a Mother's Day gift. Since it apparently takes me over a month to knit a pair of socks, I should get started on hers, using some incredible yarn I got off another knitter on Ravelry for half the price. I'd first discovered Zitron Trekking Pro Natura at Twisted, a yarn shop here in Portland that has quite the focus on socks and sock yarn. I'm not sure why anyone would want to give this yarn up, especially since I discovered moments ago that the colorway I've chosen for Mom's socks is named "New Mexico". Jeez, I hope I don't have a hard time giving them to her.
I had what I consider an "invasion of privacy" experience this morning. I had to take an oral drug test in order to obtain a temporary data entry job.
I know, I know, but still. I'm a responsible adult - I don't drink much, I don't smoke much, I recycle, I vote. I like plants. Sue me. And the thought of someone out there having a DNA sample of mine does creep me out.
As the place was in downtown Portland I took the bus. I put an OSHO meditation on the iPod, got my chakras in order and visualized my blood being pure and clean and myself, working at a desk in corporate hell for a month. Yeah, sounds funny I know, but I needed this temp gig badly. I just want to not worry about my rent and bills for a month.
Through the miraculous ways of the universe I passed and was allotted the job. I will have one month where I will worry about myself for having to get up at 6:30am five days a week - I can't even remember the last time I did that. Apparently there are a lot of people who do this every day though.
On the way home, the convention center was clearing out after Obama made a speech. All these people came piling on the bus and suddenly, there were four of us, talking about the state of the world, and what we could do to change it. A random afternoon in Portland, Oregon. A random, beautiful afternoon.
After that I had a sound healing treatment. For some, yes, it may be wonky, but I am a firm believer in Tama-Do, and I have a good friend who is beginning to offer her practice to Portland. We are mostly focusing on my elbow injury (fell off my bike a few weeks ago), but she is incredibly intuitive and when I come out of there, I always feel as if my energetic body has been massaged (and it has).
So, I decided to treat myself. I bought some handmade facial scrubs from Etsy seller Doggone Naturals - she works in animal rescue, which is heroic work if there ever was. As well, she was just laid off from her day job. I can't afford much, but I wanted to support her and boy am I glad I did! I got three of her facial scrubs for ten bucks, plus a sizeable sample of deliciously minty body scrub. The products smell and feel delicious, and as soon as I have a little more disposable income I'm looking forward to buying some more - like this creamy Chamomile-Sandalwood cleanser. In the meantime I am enjoying three different kinds of her facial scrub: Very Berry, Green Tea and Sage, and Blue Pumice. Needless to say I'm washing my face a couple of times a day right now.
THOSE OF YOU WHO SELL SMALL ITEMS, TAKE NOTE: In addition to buying myself a little treat, I made a business decision and purchased some custom-labelled boxes from another Etsy seller, Jewel. She really went above and beyond the call of duty to provide me with a beautiful set of jewelry boxes with my own custom label. They're beautiful, and I am happily packing orders in them today. They look professional, which is good since I'm really, finally, starting to take this as seriously as I should.
Jewel sells supplies to the Etsy community, like these beautiful little swallow charms - a set of which was included with my boxes along with a beautifully personal note. Now that she has my graphic on file, I can order boxes from her whenever I want (and to say that shipping was FAST on these is an understatement).
On, and finally... FINALLY! I sat under the gun for SIX HOURS yesterday - I was nearly insane by the end of it (the artist's arm was near my mouth and it was literally all I could do not to bite him), but here's the final result. My newest piece, a dedication to Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses, done by Chad Birgy of Primitive Urge (in Portland, of course).
And now? Well, I'd like to get a few more orders packed and shipped, but lord and lady have mercy it's a full moon Ostara - Spring Equinox!
Rest assured I will not be sitting at home tonight. Tonight is a night to go out and celebrate the return of light, and all the fresh new buds and blooms showing up in this beautiful city of flowers and greenery. It's about rebirth and freshness. Oh yeah, spring. Welcome back.
This is a spoken word piece I wrote in 2004. I used to smoke cigarettes, too, compounding my asthmatic inability to hike up mountains at anything other than a snail's pace. The beginnings of this poem were written on a slow and steady crawl up Dog Mountain in the Columbia Gorge, which is an incredible, if not slightly strenuous, hike, especially in the spring when you will see many different types and colors of flowers all blooming together. It was here, too, that I saw my first orchid blooming in the wild (the Fairy Slipper). Not that I need ANY convincing that fairies live all over the Pacific Northwest, but this was definitely the cincher for me. The spacing is more for the spoken effect so... try for that in your head or read it out loud.
I'd love to hear your comments on it!
-----------------------------
Asthma
My shortness of breath
is a blessing in disguise -
you see, I climb hills slowly.
I take time to breathe.
I make time for the
carbon dioxide and
oxygen exchange.
I take it in.
I put out.
My shortness of breath
makes me weak in the knees.
It's my shortness of breath
that makes me talk to the trees -
I stop, send down roots
and bow to the ground
I commune with the flowers,
I hear every sound.
My shortness of breath
means I count each one
make them measured and slow -
I breathe from my depths
I fill to my depths -
face to face with a beautiful bloom
we share a moment of
shared breath and the
synergistic cycle of life
my shortness of breath
is a focus of sense
an understanding of presence
i move slowly so that i can
prolong this
my shortness of breath
is not a disease
it's a call to listen
to the wisdom of leaves:
in my shortness of breath
my heart pounds in my chest
and I'm very, very aware
that it's there.
© Dori Mondon 2004
I'm trying to get everything finished and packaged up and naturally, I'm ill ONCE AGAIN.
Oregon seems to always do this to me, and it's doing it to a lot of people I know here - we've all been sick for consecutive weeks. I've had a couple of breaks here and there, and then right back to it.
This appears to be a common cold, thankfully - tho I know several people who have been battling a horrible flu here - the typical comment about it is "sicker than I ever have been".
God, I live in terror of getting it despite the fact that I take *really* good care of myself - I eat really healthy - lots of dark, leafy greens and protein, not too many carbs, very little sugar, dairy or meat.
I could probably stand more aerobic exercise - up until yesterday the rainy Portland weather had started to improve and along with a couple of rounds of Pilates and "Brazilian Butt" classes each week, I'd taken to putting on some pounding electronic dance music and booking it around the neighborhood for an hour every day (I'm unemployed, currently, so between trips to employment agencies I am mostly home, making stuff and working on websites). I also started riding my bike a lot more - I prefer my bike as transportation here in Portland, at least when it's nice. It's better for me, my wallet (I drive a '97 Chevy Blazer), and my environment.
Still - I don't really go anywhere until the evening, so I don't ride my bike as often as I should. And the weight I gained when I returned to the US is not coming off like I hoped it would either so I've joined a little Etsy "Fitness Program" - I really would like to drop anywhere between 5-10 pounds, most of it from the area between my knees and lower back.
Wish me luck!
In the meantime, I'm going to go blow my nose once again. Breakfast is full of cayenne and garlic this morning in an effort to loosen up my sinus world so every breath isn't misery. I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon finishing and packaging orders and giving thanks and praise for your continued support.
Tomorrow, Portland's peace rally takes place downtown. Portland's a small city, so the peace rallies and anti-war marches are always very "cute" to me (I'm used to, ya know, half a million people taking over and getting thrown in jail for a week illegally, which is what happened when the Republican National Convention came to New York City - I actually moved to Portland the day I got out of jail, and I am still involved in a class action law suit against the city of New York four years later. So far, I've received $125 for my misery, as well as a huge, huge lesson about what it's like to be incarcerated and innocent, even if just for a week).
A few months later in Portland, I marched in my first peace rally here. I was part of a performance art piece, which is truly how I like it (I was a member of a radical marching band during the 2004 Republican National Convention). I'm not sure what I'll be getting into tomorrow, but I am looking forward to joining forces with thousands of other people tomorrow - though it's been three years and although it's a peace rally, people are getting more and more frustrated and angry about our current state of affairs. I'm interested to see how this all pans out.
How are you feeling about the state of things right now?
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