A Relaxing Weekend

Jeff just finished working on a big project. In our deadline driven industry, the last three weeks of a project means basically living at the office. So to relax and take a break, Jeff and I went on an "unplugged relaxation trip." It was really fun and low key.

We didn't go very far - just over the state line to Coeur d'Alene, but it was really nice. Jeff picked out a bed and breakfast to stay at called Abbotswood House which is run by a nice British lady. The house is basically a house built around a pool (she said it was designed by some rich CdA guy back in the 70s). We stayed in the Poldark Room. But the best part was her delicious breakfasts. The first morning she made apple pancakes and the second morning she made some sort of baked-bananas-granola thing that was to die for.

We spent the day doing really low key things. We went to the shooting range, which I've never been to before and it was really intense, but fun - and now I can say I've shot a machine gun. And then we went bowling at the CdA bowling alley for about three hours. That bowling alley was designed during the "hang out at the bowling alley and smoke a cigarette/step down into the bowling alley area" days (as opposed to the one our league is at which was built 15 years ago, so is very bright and open), but I actually really liked the atmosphere. The Dude would definitely approve (warning: language in the link). After that we went to the CdA Resort and had dinner at Beverly's, which is the fanciest restaurant in the place. We toured the wine cellar they have and then ate a yummy meal (the appetizer was the best part, which we came to the conclusion is usually the case in most restaurants). The restaurant is located on the seventh floor, so the view was spectacular and we got to watch the sun go down over the water.

We however remained very true to the unplugged nature of the trip and have no photographic evidence of the trip. We have decided though that we need to go on one of these trips every so often just to get away and not stare at a computer screen for a day or so.

Jeff's Dreams

Jeff has legendary dreams. So legendary for their craziness that his roommates in college would write them down. So it's always a good way to start the day by asking Jeff what he dreamed about. The other day was pretty good.

Me: What did you dream about?
Jeff: I dreamed I was doing heart surgery and i opened up the person *points to right side of chest*
Me: um...your heart is on the other side
Jeff: well it wasn't in this person
Me: ok...
Jeff: anyway, so i opened the guy up and to take his heart out I had to disconnect it like a motherboard
Me: like with the tiny wires and such?
Jeff: yes. It was really easy

How to be a Woman

I just finished reading How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran and it was AMAZING. This is book about being a 21st century feminist and how it fits into our daily lives here in our 1st world countries. She says early on "Traditional feminism would tell you that ... we should concentrate on the big stuff like pay inequality, female circumcision in the Third World, and domestic abuse. ...But all those little, stupider, more obvious day-to-day problems with being a woman are, in a way, just as deleterious to women's piece of mind" She is referring to wearing the right clothes, grooming properly, being a mother, drinking, talking (both to men and women), and who our role models should be and what to do with them.

And she touches on all of these. Using the story of her life, mixed with true feministic literature references thrown in (most of which I actually have read since I took three women's literature classes during my undergrad days), she gives her view on why you need to find the proper word for your breasts (I am partial to boobies), discusses why we all have a heel collection that we can't get rid of yet never wear (I have about 5 pairs that I love...yet always leave the house in Converse), and when to know when enough is enough in the kid department.

This was the section that intrigued me the most. Not to give too many spoilers away, she and her husband get pregnant with their third child and both decide together to have an abortion because they know it's not right for them. And this was an amazing thing for me to encounter. Before this point in the book, I'd been feeling pretty confident in my 27 year-old feminism powers, but this one was new to me. The only people I've known so far in life who have had an abortion made the decision because they were "young and not ready." She made the decision from a completely different point of view. She talks about how it wasn't even a hard decision and she felt no guilt - that was an amazing thought to me. Having children, loving them, and then deciding to be done. Deciding to focus on loving the ones you have and having time to love yourself as well. That sounds amazing to me. I love the empowerment from a different perspective. From a place of love for the child you are giving up.

This book was amazing and I'm now going to give it to every woman I know.

Seeing My New Name Up in Lights

So at work, when we finally got around to ordering my business cards, I told the designer to just put Heather Brown on them since I knew by the time they got here, it would be so close to the wedding that it would be silly to do anything else. So they came and are awesome!!

But the real kicker is that the other day I gave one to a kid who came in looking for an internship and he emailed me today and when I opened the email my first thought was "who is Mrs Brown?"

And then I was suddenly struck by it. Not by the changing my name thing, but by the "Mrs" part. I haven't thought about that part. And it's weird...

I told him it wasn't worth it....

So Jeff got the idea that he wanted to make risotto. Now risotto clearly violates my long-standing (and rarely broken) rule that if it take me longer to cook it than to eat it, it's not worth it (this does not include the crockpot, marinating, etc because I'm not actually doing anything, just waiting). But Jeff was determined. He became this way because of his cooking girlfriend and her recipe for risotto primavera.

So I come home Monday night and instantly jump on the computer to do a quiz for class as Jeff starts making the risotto. An hour later I finish the quiz and he's still at it. And he's just about hitting the "why the hell am I stirring for 20 minutes straight?" phase, so I take over to stir.

Now you should know that stirring is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. Nani used to have to literally take the spoon away from me as she would say "Let it cook!" So when I only last 2 minutes on stirring duty for the risotto, it has firmly landing in my "not worth it" food category.

So Jeff comes back, declares it done enough and we eat. And it's pretty good. BUT STILL NOT WORTH IT. So that was our first and probably our last time making risotto...until Jeff forgets that it was agony and decides it's a good idea again.

Also, as a sidenote, the chicken I marinated to go with it was delicious. I marinated it in one of the six different kinds of sauce we got when we went to the Craft Fair a couple weekends ago, which we considered a great victory.

Full Time!!

My job turned full time! I am so excited.

Story:

I started working at Rainmaker back in mid December. I got hired as Billie's (the owner) executive assistant. And it was awesome because it was only three hours a day and I could do that and take two classes at once so I could get my Masters faster; the Masters program is actually set up for working full time adults, so "full time" is taking one class at a time every seven weeks, so I figured if I was only working three hours a day I could easily manage two classes at a time.

But then Billie offered me the full time position of Operations Coordinator and I said yes! It is an amazing opportunity to learn and have fun. I love being at the office all day and I love bossing people around (which is basically what I do since I write the schedules and manage the clients). And I'm learning a ton about the industry. At ZL, we did 99% websites and 1% other design. But at Rainmaker it's a completely rounded marketing firm. We do business planning, design, logos, websites, promotional products, everything!

School starts at the beginning of March, so we'll see how it goes. I'm not really all that worried because I when I was an undergrad and taking 21 credits I was working 30 hours a week and wasn't phased. I know grad school is going to be harder, but I also was never really phased by upper level 300/400 classes like a lot of people were.

We will see how it goes!

Our First Piece of Art...Which Has Now Made Us Notice How Bare Our Walls Are

Last week Jeff and I went to Fred Meyers because our plunger broke mid-plung (who knew the rubber of a plunger could actually dry out so much that it cracks), and I walked past the clearance table and saw it. And I instantly thought "that would make a good girly accent to our very masculine bedroom plan. Our plan for the bedroom is blue and brown with lots of stripes (I just haven't found the bedding that I love yet). So I called Jeff over and showed it to him and he made a face. But once I convinced him that it was good idea he gave in.

So I brought it home and hung it up. And as we stepped back and looked at it and then looked around, it suddenly became very apparent that we have no art. So now we're on the lookout for some art that we love.