AWARD: Most Random (and also disgusting) Thing For Sale On The Internet

A REAL taxidermy mouse dressed as the pope. Why GOD WHY? (click on the image to see the link)

Recipe: Apple & Cucumber Sammy (Vegetarian)

This is one of my favorite snacks...

You'll need:
1 slice of Bread (Organic White or Wheat)
1 TBSP Cream Cheese (I use Low-fat)
1/2 Braeburn Apple, thinly sliced
1/4 English Cucumber, thinly sliced

Toast your bread, and spread a thin layer of cheese. Cut your slice of bread in half. Cover one half of the slice of bread with apple slices, and the other side with cucumber slices. Assemble sandwich. (Eat any leftover apples and cucumbers, cause they're good for you!)

Do you have ANY idea...

...how HARD it is to find a restaurant that is vegetarian friendly?

I'm stuck trying to find a place that Tim can get his rack of lamb, and where I won't be stuck ordering the green salad AGAIN. I spent most of my vacation eating salads & pasta because those are the only things you can get that aren't meat based. And what is with chefs assuming that mushrooms and eggplants are "our" meat replacements? And why is there ALWAYS meat in the soup? I'm not saying I don't like salads & pasta, it's just so BORING after a while. I just think there should be a little more creativity in the food industry...

In other news, I want to thank Quality Inn of Portland for graciously mailing back my fuzzy pillow that I left in my hotel room. Yes, my fuzzy pillow and I have been reunited! Huzzah!

Holiday Retrospect

Well, we finally made it back home. It was a wonderful vacation, chock full of adventures. I was going to write a complete blow by blow, but I have a sneaking suspicion that no one ever read those kinds of posts, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I will say that the travel portions of this trip were insane. Our connecting flight from Seattle to Portland on our way out, was canceled, so my parents piled into the VW van with my best friend Echo and came up to rescue us. It was a long strange trip that lasted most of the night. It involved giddy early morning conversations, a pit stop for 3 am breakfast at Denny's and many roadside gas station bathroom reviews.

We spent one day in Salem at my parents house with Echo. (Which involved, feeding chickens, cutting down and decorating a Christmas tree, and a heaping pile of my Dad's famous tacos.) Then Tim, Jackson, Echo and I all packed up and headed down to the coast in the van with Echo's brother Jasper and his two dogs in tow. We spent a rainy day or two in town and after some great quality time with Echo's mother Karim (who was pretty much my second Mom.) Then we jumped in the van and drove back up to Falls City and spent the remaining time with my parents and siblings. Our Christmas eve talent show was a big hit and it was a wonderful time shared with my family.

Our flight back was slightly delayed and once we finally landed, it was a good two and half hours before we could get our bags and actually leave the airport. What a nightmare! Anyway, it's great to be home in our own beds with our kitties. :)

For more pictures, click here.

Merry Christmas!

I'm off to Oregon in mere hours. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and I'll see you when I get back!

~e

A meme... (tagged by greeblemonkey)

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8 Things I'm Passionate About

1. Tim - For me, the sun rises and sets with that man. He is the the reason I'm trying to live life and be a better person.

2. My Cat Army - The meows are my happy thought. Their fluffy little behinds leave fur all over my world, but when they look at me, or crawl onto my lap and allow me to pet them, I'm putty in their paws.

3. Trying to find myself - I hope my true self is a lot better person than I am. I try very hard every day to examine my rationale. I try to remember everything I've learned about being a good person, and ignoring my first impulse which is always to strike fast and hard. I'm learning to be true and honest with everyone and trying to develop friendships based on the things I really have in common with people, not the things I think they want us to have in common. I try to remember that it's okay to stand up for what you believe in, but not necessary to steam roll everyone else. Some days I do better than others...

4. Good Food - Nothing excites me more than a fabulous meal with exotic flavors. I love cooking, and I love eating. Something about it really speaks to me...

5. The Environment - I'm passionate about doing what I can to tread lightly and leave as small an eco footprint as I can on this planet.

6. Animal Welfare - I think about it all the time now. I won't go into it, but if most people knew the horrific practices of the meat industry, they'd never be able to eat meat again without contemplating the life they are taking. Every morsel you consume is created of energy. When you consume an animal that has lived a life full of torture and abuse, you take responsibility for their life. THAT is why I don't eat meat. (FYI)

7. The Internet - Morning, Noon and Night. I don't live my life online like a WOW nerd. However, it informs almost everything I do. I love my computer. I love my blogroll. I love Drudgereport. I love Ebay. I love MySpace. I love Google Chat. There I said it.

8. Shoes - It's an addiction. You can NEVER have too many. My favorite: Guess Black woven cuban heels. GORGEOUS.

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8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

1. Live in Europe.

2. Have my storybook house. (Small stone cottage, rounded wooden door, rounded window, turret entrance with pointy roof with old weathervane...the list goes on)

3. Have a child.

4. Go to Ireland and find where my ancestors are from.

5. Build a successful business from the ground up.

6. Get over my aversion to olives.

7. Learn French.

8. Meet Madonna.

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8 Things I Say Often

1. See??! I know things about stuff!

2. DAISY! Put a sock in it!

3. Did you check the mail?

4. Dude!

5. I'm Sorry.

6. ewwww...

7. I love you.

8. Damnit where is my cellphone?

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8 Books I've Read Recently

1. Buddhism for Mothers

2. French Woman Don't Get Fat

3. PARIS; City of Light & Fascination

4. Living Green

5.The World Without Us

6.The Year of Living Biblically

7.Marie Antoinette

8.Skinny Bitch

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8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over

1. Sweet Pea - Amos Lee

2. If I Were A Man - Andrea Menard

3. Glory Bound - Martin Sexton

4. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out - Nina Simone

5. Lebanese Blond - Thievery Corporation

6. The World Spins Madly On - The Weepies

7. It Ain't Me Babe - Johnny Cash

8. I can't pick my Madonna song, so um...pretty much all of them. :)

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8 Things That Attract Me To My Best Friends

1. Kindred Spirits

2. Dependability

3. Intelligence

4. Wisdom

5. Love of Holidays

6. Fashion Sense

7. Acceptance (of me and all my wackiness)

8. Wit

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Tag, you're it! Anyone take it and run with it!

Bollocks to Blogger

I am really getting fed up with all the proprietary bullshit with Blogger. I want carte blanche to design and update my blog at will. I think it's shitty that they won't let you export your archives, and all the templates in the world aren't going to make it better. And I can't customize my template because I host the blog on my own server. That is a bunch of CRAP.

Stay tuned for total blog upgrade...

Christmas time is here...

Well, the holiday season so far has been wonderful. So many great memories with friends and still more to come. Tim and I head out on Wednesday and I have tons to do before then. I wanted to share a few pictures from last night. We went to Jay & Alison's house for a "Thanks for helping us move" Party and a White Elephant Gift Exchange. It was so hilariously fun.









Click here for more images.


Oh and to finish up... A few shout outs. Thank you to Joe & Megan for your wonderful gift and for sharing your talents with us. It's wonderful to have photogs in the family. Thanks to Dane for being our dearest friend and for being a surrogate cat owner. Thanks to Lena for always being such a bright light in our lives. Thanks to Gillian for always being there and for being my partner in crime. We're lucky to have such wonderful friends.

Happy Holidays!

Party Redux

Our Christmas party was lots of fun. I'm exhausted and I'm pretty sure I gained like 5 pounds from all the food I ate last night, but it was worth it. We saw Sam, Rachel & Maya for the first time in a while. Almost all of our dearest friends were there. A shout out to Gillian (who was stuck in Wisconsin on a business trip) , Jeff & Jackie (who just aren't up to parties yet with their new baby and all), and to Jess & Mindy (who also have a new little bundle of joy).

We are preparing to leave for Oregon in just a few days! I'm so excited. I haven't had Christmas with my whole family in over a decade, so I'm really hoping to have a wonderful time and make some memories. In our family, we generally open gifts on Christmas Eve and when I was young we had a tradition that you couldn't open your gifts until you shared a "talent". So, my sisters, and my brother and I, all have a few things planned. I'd tell you what they are, but I can't risk my Mom finding out somehow. Suffice it to say, they are going to be HILARIOUS.

I also get to see my Best Friend Echo for MORE than two hours. We haven't had a proper visit in years and I'm so excited to see her and see my home town. We're taking my Dad's Tortoise and driving down to Port Orford for a day or two. What with the typical Oregon winter drear, it should be beautiful. And sloshy. :)

That's all for now...

On My Mind...

The party is just a couple days away, so I've been busy hustling and bustling. Wrapping gifts, cleaning house etc. Yesterday I sequestered Tim in his office so I could focus on cleaning the house whilst rocking out to Christmas music. As I was scrubbing the oven, and listening to "Little Drummer Boy" I started thinking about that story. I mean, I've known that song since I was a kid and if you believe the stop motion Drummer Boy movie, it's really not about worship...some little kid wants to get the Baby Jesus to heal his lamb that got ran over by a Roman soldier.



In my head, the little drummer boy is a busker. Probably an orphan, who plays on the street corner for a few measly coins. He probably goes hungry a lot, he probably sniffs glue to make his stomach feel full. He has nothing and has no prospects of improving his life. To play his drum for the Baby Jesus was probably just a way to get some money from the Wise Men. But when he sees the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes with all the people paying homage...he realizes that this is someone special. With nothing to offer but his talent, I imagine that he stands by the manger with his beat up Djembe and plays a beautiful rhythm that soothes the baby.

It's just a song. No mention is made of the Little Drummer Boy in the Bible. But I think that song does a great job of illustrating a point. Now whether or not the Baby Jesus was the son of God, I'll never know. It could just be a story, or maybe it's the truth. To me, the point is that when you believe in something, (whatever that may be) you give what you have to the cause. Share your talent. If your cause is politics or charity or whatever, you give what you have.

My mother grew up with next to nothing. Her family struggled and were poor for nearly her entire childhood. One year, they were living in an old warehouse, literally squatting there. The Salvation Army came at Christmas and gave each of the kids a toy and supplied a bountiful Christmas Dinner. My mom tells me that story nearly every year. Every time she sees the man ringing the bell outside a department store, she digs deep and donates whatever extra money she has. That's her cause...

This year I've donated to SAME Cafe. (So All May Eat) They are a non-profit Organization that serves organic food to the less than fortunate. They use all organic food in their menu. Instead of a cash register, a donation box is available for one to pay what they felt their meal was worth, or to leave a little more and help out someone less fortunate. If a diner does not have enough money to leave, they are encouraged to exchange an hour of service in the restaurant for a full meal voucher. It's a wonderful cause, and of course it supports the organic movement.

I encourage you to find a cause that means something to you and donate time, money or other resources this holiday season. (climbs down from soapbox)

Thanks for listening,
~e

Happy Holidays....

Our Holiday Website is up and running!

We've got music, pictures, games and more... get thee to www.timanderincooper.com and immerse yourself in holidayishness.

A big Thank You to Neilochka for including us in his Christmahanukwanzaakuh Concert.

Hello world!

Well, Tim and I are finally over our colds. We're both catching up on work and well into our holiday blitz of parties, shows, shopping, and um...drinking. I had some spiced brandy at The Thin Man the other night, that made me feel like I'd been wrapped in a giant fuzzy blanket woven with cinnamon. I highly recommend you come over and join me for a glass of that one of these days. They have a fire place over there now!

Anyway, I'm getting all ramped up for my holiday gathering on the 14th. Nothing big, just a few friends and some delicious food. Jeff & Jackie may even stop by with Noah for a bit. I've been busy crafting and wrapping gifts for everyone. I'm loving knowing how to knit. Even though I really only know how to make scarves at this point, I get a lot of satisfaction from making them.

Our website is well under way, we hope to have our site up and the latest song recorded by by next Friday, so I'll keep you posted on that. Meanwhile I've got cookies to bake, Christmas cards to write, and knitting to be done. Happy Holidays!

Oh, and I saw this video on Dooce and I had to post it. This is SO what it is like at our house when cold and flu season comes around.

Merry Christmas!

A mash-up of my favorite movie and Tim's favorite movie:



The Matrix & White Christmas!