New Tyrone Wells Album!

Yay! I've been waiting for the new Tyrone Wells album, "Remain," for months and it's finally available as a digital download at iTunes.

I had heard several songs from the album at concerts or on MySpace, but the entire album is so much better than I could ever have imagined. My new favorite song is called "All Broken Hearts." It's haunting and beautiful and inspiring...

I have loved Tyrone Wells for years now, and I remember when he was just an independent musician from California, touring locally and putting out his own self-produced albums through smaller, independent sites like CD Baby. Now he has a contract with Universal Republic, and his new album debuted on iTunes as one of the top 10 rock albums of the week!

I highly recommend you check it out. If you love Coldplay or U2 or Vertical Horizon... you'll love it! In my opinion, Tyrone has earned every ounce of success that's coming his way!

Joke of the Day #1

A guy sits down in a bar next to a good-looking lady and says, "Fat penguin."

She looks at him with a shocked expression and says, "What?"

So he replies, "Well, I just wanted to say something that would break the ice!"



Ba-da-boom... thanks, Laura!

Australia Pics...

In July 2007, I had the chance to visit Sydney, Australia. Through a twist of fate, I thought all the pics from the trip were lost. But I was just transferring a memory disk from my old digital camera and found most of them! So I thought I'd share... lots of good memories here!


I stayed in several youth hostels in the part of Sydney called King's Cross, a bohemian neighborhood known for its crazy nightlife. I did a lot of walking in the city, and I could always find my way home at night by heading towards this HUGE lit-up Coke billboard, which marks the entrance to King's Cross...

I also spent a few days at a hostel in Bondi Beach, the surf capital just south of Sydney. This is the pool at a member's club in Bondi - it was a saltwater pool, and the waves would literally crash right into the pool when the tide was high!

The highlight of my time in Bondi Beach was a cliffside trail leading from Bondi south to Coogee - several hours walking round trip. It was gorgeous! The coast is rocky and wild... a lot like Oregon's coast, but with fascinating vegetation that I'd never seen before.

There was a huge, eerie cemetary halfway between Bondi and Coogee. A sign said that lots of Irish immigrants had settled in the area in the 19th and 20th centuries and had been buried here. You could see many Irish and English names on the tombstones, which sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Here are some of the houses up on the cliff as you enter Coogee. The light was gorgeous that day... a series of storms had just come through the day before, and the sky was the most brilliant blue I've ever seen.

As I rounded the curve into this small cove, I saw the most beautiful rainbow... both sides touched the ground!

The seasons are reversed in Australia, so it was winter in July. It was about 40 degrees out, and the waves were still pretty fierce from the previous day's storm. I was amazed at how many die-hard surfers were still out on the water, though...

At Featherdale Wildlife Park, you can get up-close and personal with all kinds of Aussie animals.

I loved watching the dingoes... they remind me so much of Abby! :)

Beautiful trees on the way up to the Blue Mountains. This was at a rest area called Echo Point, where we had a gorgeous view of the famous Three Sisters rock formation.

The Blue Mountains...

This was taken in the rain forest that's down in the valleys of the Blue Mountains. It's amazing how much darker and colder it was down in those valleys, thanks to the heavy tree cover in the rain forest.

Overall, I had an amazing trip. I think the most incredible part of it, though, was the fact that I went in the first place. You see, I was in the middle of a six-month long Landmark Education leadership training course that was very challenging... and I decided to drop out of the course. After a few weeks, though, I thought more about my decision and wanted to rejoin the course. However, I had missed a critical training weekend. The course leaders told me that the only way I could rejoin the program and graduate with my friends is if I flew to Sydney, Australia to make up the training... that weekend!


I made the decision to go on a Tuesday morning... I drove to Seattle Wednesday to apply for an expedited passport... I got on the plane Friday morning... and I had a blast!


That was the first time I learned that I really can make ANYTHING happen if I put my mind to it... I am capable of being truly unstoppable! What a valuable life lesson... if only we all knew how powerful we really are!

SoulCollage... Patience

This was the first SoulCollage* card I ever created, at a workshop I took for my birthday in 2007. At that point in my life, I had such a strong desire to be a mother that I couldn't imagine waiting another second. When I saw these images come together on the page and began "listening" to the voice of the infant, I cried.

I realized that the journey to motherhood is happening right now... every day. I will give birth someday in the future... but I am BECOMING a mother as we speak. And everything is unfolding perfectly. And most days, I wait patiently.

Here's the SoulCollage card and the corresponding reading. As your read the words below, listen to them as if the card is speaking to you. In this instance, it is the voice of the infant that we are hearing.

I am the one who waits patiently, knowing that all things will unfold in due time. I honor the process and trust in the Universe to provide for me. I cherish the moment, recognizing everything as perfect... whole and complete, just the way it is right now.

I flow with my circumstances, shifting as needed to be ready for whatever comes next. I represent the balance between being Present in the current moment and looking forward to the future that lies ahead.

I am here to remind you that life is happening right now. THIS is what it's all about... THIS moment... right now. You cannot reach that which you strive for without moving through that which exists right now.

You will remember me when you need it most - when you feel the knot in your stomach that tells you, "Something is wrong here." In that moment, remember the lesson of the pearl - even the most challenging things become beautiful treasures when we accept them for what they are.

We are unfolding together. We are birthing the next moment... and the next... and the next. We are creating beautiful treasures together, right now.

* SoulCollage is the process, developed by Seena B. Frost, of creating and "reading" a deck of collaged cards from found images - cards that are arranged in suits for the primary purpose of self-exploration and self-acceptance. SoulCollage cards are made from original purchased art (e.g., art published in magazines, calendars, books, cards, etc.) and personal materials (e.g., photos). SoulCollage cards are not to be sold, traded, or bartered and are to be reproduced only for the personal use of the maker of the card. For more information about this amazing process, check out http://www.soulcollage.com/ or http://www.kaleidosoul.com/.

An Unexpected Visitor...

Last night around midnight, I found my dog Abby standing at the sliding door that leads onto my back porch. Her ears were perked up, her head was cocked to the side, and she was whining quietly. I glanced out the window, but it was pretty dark out there. However, I could make out the shadow of a six-foot-tall shelving unit that's on the porch... and it was rocking back and forth. I ran to the window and flipped on the porch light to see the biggest raccoon I've ever seen in my life!

He was totally caught in the act... I have an airtight dog food storage container on the back porch, and the smart little bugger had figured out how to unscrew the lid. He had his rear end sticking straight up in the air as he balanced himself on the shelving unit and crawled into the storage container to chow down on Abby's food. When I turned on the light, he just stuck his head out for a moment and went right back to the feast!

I scared him off before going out and screwing the lid back on REALLY tight. Then I turned the light off and waited, with all the inside lights off so I could watch through the window. Sure enough... three or four minutes later he was back, and he tried to get that lid off for several minutes before giving up!

But before he left the porch, he sauntered over to the sliding door where Abby was watching. He put both front paws up on the door and stood to his full height, sniffing at the glass. Abby leaned in and began licking the glass... they were inches apart - just separated by the sliding door. Abby never barked once! I think deep-down inside, she just wanted to make a new friend. :)

What I miss most about living in the woods by Mt. Hood is all the wildlife I used to see every day. It's nice to know that there are some wild animals making it, even in the heart of Beaverton!

Perhaps I'll leave a treat out for our new friend every now and then...



UPDATE!! (12/6/08) - He came back again last night, and I was ready for him. I had the porch light on and a camera ready. He spent a loooong time trying to get the dog food container open, and he explored everything else on the porch just in case there was more food stashed somewhere out there. He also came right up to the sliding glass door to check me out. Here are the rest of the pics from this visit... enjoy!

The Christmas Spirit...

A friend recently posted this video on her Facebook page and it inspired me to try something different this year. I'm going to make most of my holiday gifts for friends and family, or I'm going to recycle things that I already have and would love to share with others around me. In addition, I'm going to match the money I spend on gifts, supplies for making gifts, wrapping, and shipping by donating to charities that make a difference in the world.

Of course, this adventure has required me to get started early, and here's what I've already noticed:

1. I love being artistic, but it's something I often fail to make time for in my day-to-day life. Making gifts for other people has given me an amazing reason to be artistic, rather than coming home and plopping down in front of a computer game or book. So it has been a real gift to myself, too.

2. Making a promise to match my holiday spending with charitable giving is forcing me to be creative and think about every dollar I spend. I'm doing things like making my wrapping paper out of materials I already have in order to save money. And that's a good thing... because rampant consumerism is definitely NOT a good thing. (If you're not sure why I say that, check out www.storyofstuff.org)

3. For the first time in years, holiday gifts mean something to me. You see, I've already logged hours of time making gifts, and I've spent each of those hours thinking about the people I love... reminiscing about our times together... trying to envision what they would enjoy the most. That's what Christmas is really about. It's a lot more work than clicking the "buy" button at some Internet shopping site, but it's been so worth it to me.

4. I haven't had to survive the obnoxious crowds, super-sappy holiday music, long lines, and "buy, buy, buy" messages that bombard people in malls and stores these days. Which means I get to decide what Christmas is about for me, rather than letting pop culture decide for me. And I've got more time for making those gifts... do you see the cycle?

5. I get to honor my friends and family AND make a difference in the world through charitable giving. That gives me warm fuzzy feelings inside.

So if you're reading this, here's my request: take a few minutes to watch the video and decide how YOU'RE going to make a difference this year. Maybe it will be something small... that's okay. It all starts with small acts of kindness.

And please know that you'll be getting something relatively small or hand-made from me... and that I don't expect anything expensive or extravagant from you, either. Your love and friendship is enough... everything else is just a bonus!

Fancy Mac and Cheese

Here's a recipe for Rosemary-Brie Mac and Cheese that I absolutely adore! I borrowed it from a fantastic blog called Pie in the Sky and adapted it a bit to suit my own tastes and cooking skills. It's a big hit at potluck dinners, and it's great when you want good-old comfort food (but fancied up a bit, so you feel better about eating it :)



Rosemary-Brie Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

2 cups small elbow macaroni
1/2 cup panko flakes or breadcrumbs
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole milk (may add more as needed)
7 oz. Brie, rind removed
5 oz. gruyere, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
5 oz. fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 cup diced green apple (Granny Smith is best)
salt and pepper to taste


Directions:

Cook macaroni in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Rinse, drain, and set aside for now.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in small saucepan; saute mushrooms a few minutes until tender and set them aside.

Melt another tablespoon butter in same small saucepan (no need to wash in between) and saute green apples until they start to get tender, then set them aside (I put them into the same bowl as the sauteed mushrooms - again, less dishes to wash).

Melt another tablespoon butter in same small saucepan (again, no need to wash). Add the panko or breadcrumbs and stir over medium heat for about a minute. Then remove from heat and set them aside, too.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a LARGE saucepan. Add flour and whisk over medium-low heat for two minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Add rosemary and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Once boiling, whisk for two minutes longer, then reduce heat to low. Add the cheese and stir until melted.

Remove from heat and add sauteed mushrooms and apples. Add more milk as needed for thick, creamy consistency.

Preheat broiler.

Mix macaroni into sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper (I left these out completely, and it still had plenty of flavor - it's your call). Spoon into Pyrex pan and sprinkle the breadcrumbs over top.

Broil until breadcrumbs are brown, about 2 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!


*** Note: The original recipe called for fresh figs, rather than green apples. I don't like figs, though, so I swapped them out for the apples and I loved the result. The apples add a nice, tangy touch. Try it both ways and let me know what you think!

Things I'm Thankful For...

• My parents, who have always loved me and supported me despite all the crap I've put them through.
• My first love, Adam... I'll never forget what it felt like to be loved for who I am. I know I'll find that again someday.
• The children in my class - they are so small and vulnerable, yet they radiate joy and trust. They remind me of the things that really matter in life.
• The parents of the children in my class, for trusting me with their most important treasures every day.
• Megan O, my best friend and the sister I never had, for loving me through the ups and the downs. Here's to a bright future together, raising our kids and playing in the sunshine and making art and... well, you know.
• Nike, for respecting teachers and paying us accordingly.
• All my amazing friends, near and far... and the technology that helps us keep in touch, even in the midst of our busy lives.
• My dog Abby Lou... she's the best hiking buddy a girl could ever ask for and she's worth all the shoes she's chewed up over the years.
• My co-teachers and suitemates, who make it a joy to wake up and go to work every day.
• Portland, Oregon... finally a place that feels like home.
• Music... my lifeblood... when I can't find the words, I can always find a song to express how I feel.
• Barack Obama, who helped me rediscover the part of myself that cares about where our nation is headed.
• Landmark Education. I really wouldn't be who I am today without a three-day course called the Landmark Forum.
• Art... which comes in many forms, and hides inside all of us.
• The people who take the time to smile as they pass me on the sidewalk each day.
• Freedom and love and joy and celebrations and diversity and friends and family and heartache and trust and all the other things that make us human.
• I'm grateful for every day in this beautiful Universe!