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this weekend was a dinner party with friends..we did potluck style, and it was delicious! prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, sausage and insalata caprese for appetizers, then oven baked chicken, artichokes, rolls made from scratch, and shallots for dinner (i hope i'm not forgetting anything!). it was a nice, relaxing evening with delicious food and good friends...
their instructions? "be spontaneous"
annie vs. the paparazzi 
the only hiccup was our devils food cake, or shall i say "devils food cake." the bakery even had it written on the box correctly, but alas, we were given a passion fruit lime bavarian cake--NOT exactly chocolate.
our cats, as i'm sure you have gathered from previous posts, are quite energetic/naughty/loving/crazy. yes, they are young and they will supposedly slow down with time (i have read that bengals tend to retain their kitten energy longer), but for now, they never cease to amuse. lately we have noticed a trend in our apartment--whenever i come home, the bathroom door is almost shut and the garbage in the bathroom is knocked over. i discovered this culprit is stuart when knocked the trash over 3 times consecutively one morning while i was getting ready for work. it amazes me that they really have distinct tendencies/personalities. for example:
ben
nicknames over time (related to behavior): speedy, houdini
favorite toys: green knitted fish, chasing jingle balls
unique behavior: biting electrical cords for attention (as in he bites and then looks at you like hey, you gonna do something?), getting on EVERY surface in our apartment somehow (as in he has left no surface undiscovered, high and low), making superhuman (well, supercat i guess) leaps from one room to the next by launching off a piece of furniture, popping open our closet door at least once a day just because he can, coming when he is called, occasionally fetching his jingle balls repeatedly, ridiculous balance/coordination/athleticism
stuart
nicknames: fuzzy, class clown, goober
favorite toys: blue sardine fishy, champagne cages
unique behavior: running into the kitchen and rolling on his back, squawking when he hears plates clatter (only when brandon is making the noise though), nosing our wine glasses, sleeping by my head on his back with his paw on my face, responding when you address him, darting out into our apartment building hallway (and then of course doing nothing), knocking over the bathroom trash, flopping on every surface he can reach and sprawling out, closing himself in rooms (i have come home from work multiple times to find he shut himself in our bedroom...he leans on the back of the doors until they shut, and then cries once he realizes he can't get out), overall being just slightly more clumsy
i could go on and on, but that is just a taste of what we deal with on a daily basis...
as i mentioned previously, i said that if i got my act together, i'd like to highlight some people who are making some great products that would make nice gifts for that special someone. somehow, in my crazy mind map, that led me to remember that i never showcased the shirt brandon bought in new york...whoopsies! so, what a perfect opportunity to show the shirt AND highlight someone who is making some really great stuff. to give a little background, while brandon and i were in new york, we stopped into this random little wholesale trade show for young artists in soho. we decided to stop in on a whim because brandon wanted to look at t-shirts. we stopped at a booth that had a shirt that caught both of our eyes--it was a silkscreened shirt of abe lincoln as a pirate. we had a conversation with the guy that makes the shirts (i am assuming it is jason of paste shirts) who told us that it started out as abe lincon as george michael, but something just didn't look right. in the process of removing abe/george's aviators, he moved one lens out of the way and looked and had one of those "of COURSE!" moments--and pirate abe was born. to view the shirt and others, visit paste shirts online shop. there are mens and womens shirts available. you can also visit the accompanying blog, called cup copy paste.
the rest of our thanksgiving was lovely and low-key. friday we did indeed go to powell's books, where i did a little damage, but not TOO much. i have come to conclude that powell's is pretty much the greatest bookstore ever. after that we went back home to hang out and relax and have a quiet evening in. on saturday we visited, did some measurements for a potential remodel of brandon's parents' kitchen/living room/dining room area, watched some of the civil war game (oregon vs. oregon state) up until we had to leave to go see a play that we had purchased tickets for the previous day. brandon's parents stumbled upon the theater and waited for us there while we were in powell's--they thought we would be interested in the building and they were correct! it is a leed platinum building, an old armory converted into a theater. the play, coincidentally, was about r. buckminster fuller (aka bucky fuller). it was monologue style, sort of telling the story of his own life and his way of thinking and it was absolutely fascinating--i highly recommend it to anyone in the portland area. it was captivating, had a clever use of media, and i have definitely spent some time thinking back on what was said and how it impacts me and my own thinking.
also in portland, pinky and chewy (they were kept separate from our cats while we were there)
the ride home went even more smoothly than the ride there--less traffic and less feline distress...stuart seemed more settled this time, and the cats slept on my lap most of the ride home...
happy thanksgiving everyone! today was part two of our roadtrip to portland, with a safe arrival here in oregon. we started yesterday afternoon, leaving san francisco at 4. actually, let me revise that statement. we left our apartment at 4...we left san francisco at about 5:30, so yes, that means it took us 1.5 hours to drive a distance that would have taken me about 30-45 minutes to walk. we decided to sedate the kitties which turned out to be a wise choice, especially since our trip ended up taking us about double what it should have. the cats were unhappy in their carriers, then they calmed down, then they freaked out, then i put them in one carrier and they calmed down for a bit, but once we actually started moving they were REALLY unhappy. i was trying to follow the vet's recommendation/safe route by keeping them in their carriers (in case we got into a car accident, there would be a much lower risk of losing them) but that didn't last. first stuart made me panic because he started panting and his paws were clammy (who knew that happened in cats) and then ben busted out of his carrier--while i was holding it shut.
brandon and i decided to just go with it (and we needed to calm stuart down) so we just let them out. i was in the backseat with them, and brandon was driving. at first they meowed a bit and wandered around to check things out (i was wondering when those so-called sedatives were supposed to kick in--we were well past the 1-2 hour mark the vet said it took for them to kick in...our cats must be in that population that "fights" the effect), and then after about 20 minutes they decided they weren't dying, stu's paws cooled down and he wasn't panting anymore, and they settled in for the rest of the ride to redding. ben slept most of the way, while stu was a little more restless, but he was calm.
after our night in redding, we packed up the car again and headed out early this morning. we relied on the leftover effects from yesterday's sedative (the vet said it works for a day, and that seemed to be the case). they were very well behaved, with the exception of one panicked meowing/car exploration outburst by ben for about 10 minutes (i was mostly afraid he was getting sick), but other than that they were great. ben slept in the carrier (he wanted to be in there as long as the door wasn't shut) for 99% of the drive, while stu rotated from the rear window to my lap to my feet to the other carrier about every 15-30 minutes...
beautiful mt. shasta during sunrise
at one point stu decided to join ben...in the small carrier. ben was thrilled, as you can see
the fog had settled into the valley, making it look almost like a lake
stu checking things out
typical positions
the backseat arrangement after arriving in portland, we settled in and had a wonderful thanksgiving meal. i hope everyone was able to take a moment and reflect on that they are thankful for as we enter this holiday season, and that you had a wonderful day, whatever you were doing.
tomorrow i think we're heading to powell's bookstore...i can't wait!
so for thanksgiving this year, brandon and i are taking a "family roadtrip" to portland...the reason i say family is because...well...brandon and i are bringing the cats this year. we couldn't find a cat sitter, so we're packing up the boys and bringing them along. we will actually save money by driving instead of flying, and it will be an adventure--this is the stuff memories are made of, right?
as a precautionary measure, we got the boys some collars with i.d. the store i went to was out of plain little round circles to put their name on, so they ended up with...dog bones. it's actually sort of fitting since they act like dogs half the time. they didn't like the collars at first, but it seems like they're used to them now. i also threw in some shots of play time...it's tough to get good shots at night of the boys flying through the air
stuart louis
benjamin buttons
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