Time of Rest

I was exhausted after a jam-packed week of out-of-town guests, dodgeball and work. I went to sleep at 6 pm on Friday night, waking only briefly before going back to bed. I could barely move. I wanted to play in the garden but couldn't muster the energy. I was even too tired to read a gardening magazine. Sad. I woke on Saturday morning refreshed though. I made my coffee before Ken and I went to the farmer's market to pick up our mushroom log. They forgot to bring it, so instead I picked up some plants. We got some french mint (Kentucky Derby is this weekend) , flat-leaf parsley (can never have too much) and catnip for Hughes. Also got some cucumbers (eating and pickling varieties) that I planted next to the sugar snap peas along the fence.

It was a beautiful weekend. Ken worked on the garage foundation all Saturday. I finished the stone retaining wall on the side next to the driveway. I am excited and proud it is finished. 2200 lbs of stones. Ugh. After the wall, I planted my new friends, weeded a lot and then helped Ken dig a trench. Sunday was spent milling around the garden and being lazy. Ken played two softball games and then we had some people over for Sunday dinner. It was a warm, breezy night. We ate outside. I got to use up a lot of the stuff leftover from when B/M/S/D were in town. For example, I made a blueberry champagne cocktail leftover from Burke's champagne taste test and Marsha's blueberry sauce. (Note: blueberries in drinks look super festive and fun). For dinner, I made an italian sausage mac & cheese, a green salad and served the dense chocolate torte leftover from Sara's birthday dinner. I made a rhubarb compote to go with it -- yum.

Ken leaves for a multi-day conference tomorrow. I forsee a lot of sleeping and working in my future. I'm writing two papers at work, which is great but keeping me busy. I am also going to be on dog duty (please don't get sick this time, Kinley) and will be attending the Gallon Challenge tomorrow night (as a spectator). Here are the rules that were sent to me this morning:

The challenge has been given…

Tomorrow night at my place, 6pm, several brave soles will attempt the impossible. The Gallon Challenge.

Rules will be as follows:
*Every contestant will bring(1) Gallon of milk, 1% or higher. No skim.
*Each contestant has one hour to finish their gallon of milk without vomiting.
*Each contestant has to then be able to hold the milk down for an additional hour. Upon discussion tomorrow we may make this amount of time shorter.
*Anyone who vomits is out of the competition.
*The winner will be determined first by who finishes, if more than one person finishes the amount of time taken to drink the gallon will determine the winner.
*The winner will receive a beautifully hand crafted Trophy to place on their mantle.

There’s going to be quite a few spectators so this is also going to be a bit of a BBQ as well, not really sure how hungry anyone will be though. So everyone please bring something to grille and or drink. Also be warned, the percentage of people that actually complete this is said to be very low and the amount of fluids you’ll be drinking will lower your body temp so bring a jacket or a sweater.

Reunion Weekend

Thursday
It’s been a fun but exhausting week. Brian and Marsha arrived on Thursday morning. Sara and Drew picked them up and we all met up for sushi on Thursday night, along with Rob, Jana and Jackson. Dinner was a blast and it was awesome to laugh and catch up. Ken and I went to our dodgeball game after dinner. Note: full stomachs + dodgeballs thrown at said full bellies = a bad idea. We came home and went to bed. Everyone was already asleep by the time we got home at 10:15. Well, except Sara who had to pick up her brother from the airport at 12:45 AM. That’s a nice sister. Especially since his flight was delayed until 2 AM.

Friday
I woke up at 3 AM dripping with sweat and achy. Turns out I had picked up Ken’s day-long flu from the week before. I called in sick and slept until 1 while my visiting friends enjoyed one of the prettier days this spring. Sucks. I took a shower and was on the couch by 4 pm and could walk reasonably well by 5, when we were all supposed to meet up with Sara’s family at a local restaurant. We went to a Peruvian restaurant and enjoyed lots of appetizers and tapas. Marsha had the best pina colada of her life. While we were there, Sara’s brother, Adam, riled up the feathers of Ken, Brian and Drew by mentioning playing beer pong afterwards. So we went to the house of one of Adam’s friends who has a beer pong table in the basement. The basement also has a free range pet rabbit. And carpeting. And rabbit poop -- lots of it. Please take the time to imagine beer spilling on the carpet that’s covered in rabbit poop. Now please imagine the balls that fell onto this carpet that were then thrown into beer and consumed. Sara is convinced everyone has hantavirus.

Saturday
Before we knew that Sara/Drew/Brian/Marsha were coming to visit, we signed up for a weekend-long dodgeball tournament. Top prize of $1000. So while our sweet guests slept, we got up on Saturday morning to play dodgeball from 9:30 AM-6:30 PM. Our bodies were toast by the end of the day. We took showers and could barely move. Rob, Jana and Rob’s brother, David, met us at our house for drinks. We were going to go to a low-key bar and just chat, but we were slow to rally. Then Sara’s brother came over with a few friends and we all went to karaoke instead. It was within walking distance. We each had a beer and left. Sara & Drew went home while Brian, Marsha, Ken and I went to the 24h food place a couple doors down to get a bite to eat since none of us had eaten that night. I got sausage and eggs along with….

Sunday
some awesome food poisoning that woke me up at 5 AM. Sweet. My body can barely move but it knows it is super pissed AND that it has to play a couple hours worth of dodgeball that day. Sigh. I packed a bag for that day’s events: dodgeball, Sara’s bridal shower at 3 and an overnight trip to the beach afterwards. Dodgeball was fun; we ended up losing to the team who came in 2nd place. I learned a lot, got a ton of practice and am covered in bruises. I left our games early to go to Sara’s bridal shower, which was super fun. Sara’s family is great. There were 19 of us and the party centered around a “cooking/kitchen” theme. Ken, Drew and Brian picked us up around 5:30 and whisked us off to the beach along with Kinley and the Burke’s dog, Sophie. We drank some beer and played lots of games. It was fun.

Monday
We woke up to the sun shining. It was a gorgeous clear day. We drank our coffee and played dominoes. Walked around a bit and then went clamming at low tide. I had never been before; it was a blast. Your feet easily got stuck in the mud. We had 3 pair of hip waders and a two pair of knee high boots. It was a challenge to figure it out at first. Brian fell in the mud and covered. Then we figured out the good clam spots and the signs to look for. We quickly had our limit. We cooked them a couple different way: cooked under the broiler and eaten plain (amazing), same but with lime, sautéed with bacon/garlic/onion, broiled with smoked cheddar on top and then clams casino. They were killer. Ken and I went back to Portland that night. Ken had softball and we both had to work on Tuesday. The others stayed down in Netarts an extra night.

Tuesday
Work for Ken and I. My bike is in the shop for a tune-up so I used my old one with the busted low seat. I got downtown, only to realize I forgot my wallet and phone, meaning I couldn’t get on the bus to get to work. Or the tram. I rode to Ken’s office to get some money, but he was at a site visit and gone. Nuts. So I rode back home in tears, got my stuff and then made my way back to downtown and up to work. Sara, Drew, Brian and Marsha get back in a few hours. I was supposed to be in a taco eating contest tonight with Brian and Dennis, but I found a sub since it is Sara’s 30th birthday today. We are going to have “Sunday Dinner” at our house for Sara’s birthday. Sara’s folks and some of her family will be coming, too.
Everyone leaves tomorrow. It has been a crazy but super fun week. They have all been easy guests and it has been a blast to catch up. I am still sore from the weekend, tired from the activities and worn out from the remants of being sick. I am looking forward to relaxing in PJs for about a week.

Reunion

Sara and Drew (Tucson), Brian and Marsha (North Carolina), Ken and I (Oregon) and Rob, Jana & Jackson (Alaska) are all meeting for sushi tonight. Eight of us from Tucson -- all of whom now live in different states get to reunite. It should be a blast.

"Is that the Easter bunny?"

A little girl asked her mom that after she saw me at the check out counter with two huge boxes of plastic easter eggs. I had 114 packs of 6 large eggs (n=684), 5 packs of 12 small eggs (n=60) and one pack of three carrot eggs (n=3). All easter stuff was 90% off. My total for the 747 eggs I bought? $8.47. Seriously. A little over one cent each.

That is awesome and it brings my egg total to well over one thousand eggs.

A thousand eggs. That is insane.

Easter 2007

We had a great time at Easter this year. It was the 7th Easter party I've had -- the 2nd in Oregon. I had been preparing since January and had lots and lots of games. The easter manifesto was 16 pages. Crazy. All the preparation seemed worthwhile though; people seemed to really enjoy themselves despite the rain.

We had mimosas, bloody marys and a k-egg of Drop Top amber, a local beer. Folks came at 1 and brought a dish to share. People drank, ate and chatted until the egg hunt started at 2:30. I had carrot cards for everyone that RSVP'ed and had the board set up so people could see their cards before the egg hunt.

The K-Egg:

The Carrot Board. There's a personalized carrot for every guest. There were "Choose a Carrot" cards hidden in the eggs. Once they were all chosen, I randomly drew a carrot to see who "won" the egg hunt.

I hid about 350 eggs; 35% prize eggs and 65% candy eggs. There were three nests. I need more eggs for next year because the egg hunt was over within 5 minutes. Some people only found 4 eggs. That said, I had lots of "challenges" that were hilarious to watch. Here are some of the cards and pictures:

Guinness Challenge:

Bunny vs. Spunny: Who can whistle first? Bunny vs Spunny is a spoof of an awesome Canadian show. The challenge here was to see who could whistle first after eating saltines:
Bunny vs. Spunny: Who can fit more peeps in their mouth. Chris fit two boxes.

Bunny vs. Spunny: Who has more control? Sees who can get the chopstick that's tied around their waist into the bottle first. It's harder than you think. Especially if you're wearing pants.

SLE (a dodgeball team), whose motto is "Drink, Fight, Drink":


Sibling Rivalry: Makes all sets of siblings compete by popping a balloon between their backs:



Eggs-istential Chase. A hands-free relay race that used an apple instead of a big plastic egg (the egg was too slippery). This game was hilarious to watch. Especially the "necking" and when Alyson's apple fell in Chris' crotch and she looked confused on how to go after it (see below). There were 9 teams of 4.



Those were the games that were part of the "Egg Hunt". Aside from that, I also had a Jelly Bean Guess, an Egg Run, Pin the Tail on the Bunny, an Egg Cracking contest and a best-dressed award. I had medals for each (basically painted wooden circles with pastel ribbons). Here are some more pics:

Jelly Bean Guess:


Egg Run - Run around the house with a plastic egg on a spoon:


Pin the Tail on the Bunny set up in the office:



Egg Cracking Contest: the egg that survives it all wins. Here are folks choosing their eggs:


Laah and her "Golden Hanger" award for best dressed:



And here are some more pictures.

Looking at the back of our house (kinley approves):


Looking out the back deck at Corey:



Brian and Laura:


Ken and me:



Some of the ladies. Laah (2nd from left) won best dressed. Mo, the birthday girl, is on the right. (l-r: our dog, Beth, Laah, Mindy, me, Mo):


It was Mo's birthday (a dodgeball teammate of ours). Alyson made her cake:


And here's a list of all the Easter winners:

Overall Egg Hunt - SLE Leslie
The Guiness Challenge (FanEric vs Mindy: FanEric)
Who can eat more peeps? (Kerry vs HfB Chris: Chris)
Who has more control? (Cian vs Leslie: Leslie)
Who can whistle first? (Cian vs Holly: Holly)
SLE; Drink, Fight Drink (Kerry vs Ken: Ken)
Sibling Rivalry (Gaffney brothers vs Pringle sisters: Gaffneys
Carrot look-a-like that won - HfB Dave
Egg Run - Nate (thanks to his Bunny Speed Racer card that took 2
seconds off his time), thereby just edging out Levi.
Eggs-istential Chase - Team #2 (Alyson, Deb?, Cian?, Sirkin?. I know
Alyson won and left with two of the medals. Holly was also wearing
one. Anyone remember who was on this team?)
Jelly Bean Guess - Brian
Egg Cracking Contest - Logan
Pin the Tail on the Bunny - Tobriah (by millimeters over Emily)
Best Dressed -- Laah (there were layers upon layers of Easter-ness).
Honorable mentions: Cian, Brian, Corey and Mindy (Mindy even had
gloves and stockings). They all had outfits that were killer and
beyond "everyday easter wear". Leslie and Laura both looked
classically easter beautiful. In all, some amazing outfits. I loved
seeing everyone.

75 Degrees and Sunny

It's a beautiful Friday. 75 degrees, sunny, clear skies. And only 3 days left until Easter. I am excited and am planning a personalized, game-filled event for 40 people. Folks are arriving in their "Easter-wear" at 1 on Sunday. Egg hunt starts at 2:30. I'm keeping with the Killer/Easter Bunnies theme since it has gone over so well in the past -- 3 years now -- Easter parties since 2000 Here's the card template (back) and one of the cards I'm including (in honor of Taryn who always would check the weight of the eggs to see if they were prize eggs. If they were heavy (meaning filled with candy), she'd put them back. I caught her doing this last year). I'll put the rest of the cards up after Easter.






And in other exciting news, Burke is in town this week! She's helping her mom who broke her arm. We're going out tonight before Sara heads back to Tucson tomorrow.

Front Garden Pictures

The plants are in the front beds now and I finished mulching this weekend. Just in time for Easter. These pictures were taken late in the day yesterday. Thanks to Ken for uploading them for me.

Drag Shows and Bull Riding

That was my weekend. Went to a bachelorette party on Friday night -- we started at a gay bar for a drag show (impressive) and then we went dancing to 80's music up the block. There were about 15 of us. The next day, we celebrated Marne's birthday by going to a country western bar that had a mechanical bull. It was a blast; we all did it. There were about 10 of us. Ken went twice, Marne and I each went three times. I had never done it before but I would most certainly do it again. And yes, I am incredibly sore. Although I don't have bruises on my inner thighs like Ken.

Only seven days until easter!