Back to the Future

Because it is Saturday evening, my feet are swollen, and my beverage spilled all over the floor while I was painting my bedroom (if you've never played with Behr's Color Smart application, by the way, it is totally filled with painty goodness...it helped me find my color scheme!), I am taking a break. Instead of sitting and watching the paint dry, I have stolen a 2005 iTunes meme from Jen's blog.

Don't worry, she won't care. She's too busy admiring the BEAUTIFUL origami crane I recently mailed her. If origami crane making were American Idol and Paula Abdul were the judge, she would say "Well, first of all, you look incredible tonight. The paper was crumpled and backwards in parts, but you really made the crane your own." Randy, on the other hand, would have called me "dog" and kept it real by saying "It just isn't good," but what does he know about art?

Set your iPod/iTunes on shuffle and use each song as it comes up in order to answer the following questions:

Question: What do you think of me, iTunes?
Apple Blossom - The White Stripes: iTunes LOVES me and wants to marry me. In typical me fashion, I didn't even know it felt that way! Apparently iTunes thinks I'm a little bit of a mess, but it is willing to fix me: Come and sit with me and talk awhile/ let me see your pretty little smile / put your troubles in a little pile /and i will sort them out for you. You're so chivalrous iTunes! I'm totally batting my eyelashes at you.

Question: Will I have a happy life?
Sugar Daddy - John Cameron Mitchell (from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch Soundtrack) : Apparently I've underestimated the value of looking for a man to make me happy, but I've seen the error of my ways. I'm not going to get every item in the Lillian Vernon catalog by paying my own way! If hitching my star to a wealthy, handsome (I added that part, but I know iTunes won't mind!) beau is the ticket to happiness, I guess I'll just have to take one for the team. (The team being me.)

Question: What do my friends really think of me?
Drunkards Waltz - Joel Savoy: Ok. Before I remembered its title, I was completely charmed by the idea of having this as my theme song. It involves a violin and has such a sweet, dancey melody. It reminds me of stars and summer nights and dancing outside, and that totally makes up for the fact that people apparently think I'm a lush. On the up side, based on this song, I am a fun, happy drunk. And you KNOW you'd rather be around that than a mean one!

Question: Do people secretly lust after me?
Is that you, Modean? - The B-52's: Possibly, but only because they think I am Modean. Should I be offended that they think I look old enough to have been away for 987 years in outer space time?

Question: What should I do with my life?
L'Accordeoniste - Ute Lemper: Prostitution!?!? That was one that did NOT come up as a career path when I took the Keirsey Temperament sorter! Then again, I always have wanted a job where I could set my own hours. Still, I don't know. When I said "corner office", I wasn't so much thinking "street corner".

Question: Why must life be so full of pain?
Musical Key - Cowboy Junkies: This song has such a pretty, haunting melody and lyrics (favorite line: My mother's hands were always cool and soft / And like her eyes they would caress with every touch.)Even though it doesn't mention it, it always reminds me of someone remembering someone she has lost. Way to bring me down, iTunes!

Question: How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
Si j'aurai des ailes - Ann Savoy & Joel Savoy: Go to the bar, laugh and drink, but under no circumstances get married! O quand on se marrie on est là après s’ennuyer / Toujours en regrettant nos jolis temps passés

Question: Will I die happy?
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison: Looking back, I will have many happy memories of making love in the green grass, but only if I get some colored contacts.

Question: Can you give me some advice?
Perhaps - Cake: Oh, iTunes, are you just being coy or are you trying to say that I am indecisive? Me? Indecisive? You know me too well, iTunes. If you can't make your mind up. We'll never get started . . . if you really love me, say yes, but if you don't dear, confess and please don't tell me: perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Question: What do you think happiness is?
A Little Less Conversation - Elvis: Hee. A little more action indeed!

Question: Am I complete freak?
Dance with Me - Justin Timberlake. If it's on the dance floor, I am! I mean well, even if my pervy goal in life is to get people nekkid on a 3 minute time table (aka before the song is up): No disrespect, I don't mean no harm."

Walking in Washington

Sunday's walk was (if I'm going to be honest) more of a drive. There was a little walking, but the outing was mostly just about getting OUT and away from town. After a winter inside, it was so nice to just hop in the car, open the sunroof, put on some tunes and head out on the highway for a mini-motor along the Columbia River. I should have been home planting the plants I bought on Saturday (my quest for hellebores has ended victoriously!), but couldn't resist bypassing my normal exit on the way home from church in favor of heading away from town.

Before gas went up to a jillion dollars a gallon last summer, the weekend day trip was a common one. As prices climbed, however, the trips became fewer and further apart. This year, I really do want to try to get out a little more, even if it means selling a kidney for gas money. To mix things up on this first spring drive, we drove out the Gorge on the Washington side and back on I-84. Every time I am out that way, I am reminded of how lucky I am to live in the Northwest. All this beauty within a half hour of my house! How much luckier could I be?

Ubiquitously Pink!

The weather here in the Portland area has been absolutely gorgeous and springy these past few days. While my coworkers in the upper Midwest have been dealing with spring snow storms, it was a balmy 80 degrees when I left work last night. Blue skies. Pink blossoms abound. Everywhere you look there are magnolias and Japanese plums blooming.

In my quest to do lot of things (lose weight, walk more, make it up to 10,000 steps a day on my pedometer, take more pictures), I have decided to try to go for a daily (or maybe just daily-ish) picture walk. My first official walk was last Friday, around the area where I work. Here is what I saw:

A cluster of small fir trees growing next to a freeway offramp

Pretty pink blossoms on the hill behind my office

And, my favorite photo of the day. Pink. Delicate. Lovely.