i love shiny things

i found a chilean 100 peso coin in my office at work last week. i have never been to chile, nor do i know of anyone who recently has traveled there. the coin roughly translates into 20 cents (US).

i've kept the coin at my desk, looking at it in awe and confusion. i don't know how it got onto my dirtier-than-a-sidewalk carpet, but it's good looking coinage, hefty at 7.58 grams, and a shiny mix of silver and gold coating. for now, i think i'll keep it.

fashion fail?

today i'm wearing this cute tee; it's adorned with clear, colorless sequins, and i paired it with a grey cardigan and black/white houndstooth-like pants. todd asked me if i was dressed to match my office's disco ball. man, if my office had a disco ball, i'd so be rocking me some bee gees tunes and a pair of go-go boots.

back in black wool

thanks to some stellar sleuthing at jcrew.com,  i now have two matching gloves! i've also learned how to balance my phone between my chin and, well, you know. how else was i going to take a self-portrait of both hands?

the gloved one

we spent a long weekend traversing through yosemite, and somewhere between a waterfall and the village store, i lost one glove. i'm bummed--these cool weather-protectors have saved my fingers from frigid nights and cool, breezy mornings, all while giving me the finger freedom to answer my phone and hold on to the overhead bar on the bus, hoping to make it to my destination in one all-limbs-attached piece.
after filing a report with yosemite lost and found, i acknowledge that i may never see my missing glitten again. wait, a glitten??? you're probably wondering what that is.

this is dexter, the half-golden retriever, half-poodle mix. don't tell him this, but his golden genes are slightly recessive.

similar to a goldendoodle, glittens are part glove, part mitten. glittens may also be known as pop-top mittens or convertible mittens. all of those, though, seem way too modern age for me. i still call my glove(s), well, gloves, even with the mitten tops that can be opened at a moment's notice.

so while i'm using a back-up pair of gloves, i'm still itching for my old pair. but j.crew is out of them until next fall (as proven after a peppy phone call with customer service this morning. had i wanted five different kinds of button-down linen-blend shirts, well, i would have been in luck). several google searches later, i acknowledge that my quest may be futile, but when futility riles its ugly head, what's better than to look at etsy.com's offering and then laugh at said futility?


gloves for your ghostly blanket hands.
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argh there, sexy! these gloves were made for sexy pirates. gotta keep those wrists corseted on those humid caribbean nights.
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for when your hands constantly fart lilacs.
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zombies are always cold. now at least a part of them can feel human.
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for those who live in alaska and are standing in line waiting for the midnight opening of the next twilight movie.
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for giants fans. or lovers of frosted flakes.
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for the colorblind.
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for those committed to purgatory.
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camo works with any season.
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only for this woman.
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i'm so speechless i can't even fathom giving this post a proper title.

earlier this week, i was browsing for shoes on zappos, and somehow (i'm still unsure of the nitty gritty details), i came across this $408 item.

WTF, fred perry (the brand, not the dude)? why in the world did you give a cracked up celebrity her own trench coat? no, let me correct that. her own collection of coats and other attire. a collection that belongs to a clothing brand best known for its somewhat conservative, Wimbledon-inspired style? and does amy winehouse really deserve to be rewarded for her cocaine and ballet-shoe abusing ways? if you had any decency at all, the only outerwear you'd be naming after her is a straight jacket.

do me a favor

with a few minutes to kill this morning, i took a gander at wedding favors. i have something in mind, but thought, hey, maybe i could find something better. only i came across:

hmm. a match made is heaven, yes. a wedding reception burnt to the ground, no.

votive or shot glass? if i have to ask, the answer is nyet.

a wedding dress candle is only appropriate for the bride jilted at the alter. now, why is this a favor?

fairy lollipops: maybe spot-on for a same-sex wedding, but what are those ladies holding in their hands? i have a sneaky suspicion that the candy maker has more experience with personal magic wands than with ones spewing sparkly dust and magical properties. yep, i said spew.

i also came across a large selection of fake mustaches. possibly cute in small quantities, a dizzying event filled full of mustache-attached-to-dowel guests might become a hairy scene!

toe-ing the line

this weekend, i surveyed zappos for wedding shoes. since we're having a garden-setting wedding, i'd prefer shoes without spiky heels, and as todd's got about 8 inches on me, some kind of vertical lift would be nice! entering "white" and "wedge" into the search bar brought up hundreds of (surprisingly tame) options, with these four popping out with the not-quite-what-i-had-in-mind-but-cool/odd/eek factor.

i seriously love these shoes from gwen stefani's l.a.m.b. clothing brand, but i detest the $260 (on sale from $329) price tag.

um. no. just no. but on a whim, can you guess what zappos insists these guiseppe zanotti wedges retail for?

these angel stompers are by vivienne westwood, and i can only assume they're made with the cracked-out bride in mind. i'm not [planning to be] one of them.

if i were getting married in the rain or across the border, these would be at the top of my list! no, really. i'm serious. dead serious.

A is to jump, B is to fire.

for the past two years or so, i've received nintendo games via a branding company, and it's a pretty cool deal. every few months, a white box arrives with a game and presto, i'm off in a magical land, solving clues or searching for the princess. there have been a few times, though, when the games weren't my style.

one such was the personal trainer: cooking. you entered in some form of what you wanted to make (like "sushi") or the ingredients you had, specified things to omit and kazaam, you had not only a recipe but an illustrated how-to guide. sounds cool and for most people, i think it'd be awesome. but yes, there's a big but here. the program didn't jive with my lactose-minimal, vegetarian diet. i think i ended up with a total of five potential entrees that i could make. the set-up was really awkward, and when i cook or bake, i make a mess. flour makes it into the most unlikeliest of places, and i'm a firm supporter of dirtying whatever need be for culinary greatness. placing my (albeit complimentary) nintendo ds lite precariously in the line of (zesty tomato) fire worried me. after trying to get past the first few recipe instructions a few times, i gave up and passed it along to a nintendo-playing girlfriend and her foodie husband, both of whom eat meat. but i kept the apron that came along with it, mainly because it had "becca" sewn across the breast, and i had some inkling that a bearded dude named "lee" wouldn't have a strong urge to wear it.

a little time after this, i was emailing with one of the branding women and commented that personal trainer: cooking just didn't work for me, so she sent me a game about rhythm. apparently a lot of women were going crazy for it. me, i have rhythm, but i was getting headaches with this game. soon after, the branding ladies sent out an email asking for feedback and info on our likes and dislikes, so i offered some insights and as much information as i could, hoping to improve the process.

and then dumdumdahdaaaaaaaah! professor layton and the diabolical box arrived. this one made me use my brain, and there were twists and turns! i liked the one before it, with the curious village more, maybe because the concept seemed newer and not so repetitive... but still, the professor and i solved puzzles with astounding speed, and i felt like we were buds! hooray!

right before the holidays, style savvy arrived along with a cute little bag of very sparkly makeup. this one's a game where i could create my own clothing boutique and become a savvy, fashionable entrepreneur. keep budgets! maintain an inventory! dress your clients! i already project manage at work, so doing this for fun just wasn't doing it for me. and i'm really, really not into fashion like that. or fashion-focused games. the solution: send it to my tweenish half sister (with only some of the makeup. living in florida, i didn't think she really needed the bronzer and she's way too young for 3-day long mascara). rumor has it the game made her day, and i scored a few bonus points.

so down, up, down. the next arrival should be a plus, right? but. well. erm. today i received a large box that the facilities guy had to cart into my office with... a cart. inside the box was a cuisinart stockpot, a bamboo cutting board, onion goggles (no, really, don't cry!), and the america's test kitchen: let's get cooking program.

now, i haven't actually used the recipe program yet, but from the reviews only, it's another cooking demo trainer. or more so, it's an electronic cookbook featuring the top 300 recipes from america's test kitchen. i'm a little wary again. i love atk, but more so for its baking recipes and cookware recommendations; i've just found its recommended cooking recipes to be more highly geared towards meat and buttery fats (to get the best of the best of the best?) as opposed to what i tend to have in my kitchen. as i found before, 1) cooking tutorials aren't for everyone and 2) i don't want my nintendo device in the kitchen, period. what's next, a "how to remove that ring around the tub" trainer? or a "how to take care of a baby" program (which follow the first and second in the series: "how to make a baby: trainer" and "how to give birth: trainer")?

so

dear totally rad branding women,

please don't think i'm ungrateful because i'm not. really. the brand enthusiast program is a great outreach and word-of-mouth tool, and i'm very lucky to be a part of it. but i feel pigeonholed into a corner regarding what someone else thinks a woman gamer should like: fashion, cooking, puppies, and fitness. i can guarantee that women also enjoy puzzles, role playing (no doctor/nurse role playing, mind you), wielding a laser gun, and trivia games.

game on,
becca

it's a hold up

today i've had three coworkers ask me if i'm celebrating anti-st. patrick's day (i'm in all black and white). sigh, but no. another one asked the receptionist to verify that "olive green is still green, right?" in other news, my pants are sagging and require a belt to stay up on my hips, but silly me, i don't own one single belt, so i'm wearing todd's. lunchtime plans may now include a trip to tj maxx and a tall, cold beer cider.

she's got legs

thanks to lindsay lohan, the legging craze is still going strong. dear god, if i had a brick wall near by right this very second, i'd be introducing my forehead to it over and over and over again... i don't understand the whole leggings-as-pants thing. tight that go under things: sure, love 'em. ankle-length leggings don't really hurt anyone except the short and stumpy... but leggings worn as pants, well, perhaps this might illustrate my issue.



fringe leggings, people. $420 fringe leggings. it's like betsy johnson got inspired seeing drunken flappers throwing up all over a bolt of spandex. if you wear these, how do you deal with camel toe? thong show through? and oh, i don't know, your pride.

p.s. it's possible that not all leggings, worn in pants form, are horrid. all i ask is that you prove it.

phoning it in

does anyone else get sleepy and crave a giant, red, plaid blanket and comfy couch when you hear the iphone commercials telling you there's a nap for that? or am i the only one suffering from this cellular affliction?

flower power

yesterday, on a hunt for new sneakers (why, asics, did you have to go and ruin a great shoe? new models suck.), i instead found a pair of black flats, ones that will neither help me traverse rocky trails near the Cascade Mountains nor chase the bus as i almost certainly arrive 30 seconds too late. at $60, these via spigas (i hugely heart this brand) were almost 70% off the retail price. as i tried them on and walked back and forth, todd said my feet looked like they were sprouting giant vajayjays, but this little quibble didn't bother me in the slightest. yet today, as i wear the shoes around the office, i'm thinking similar things. like how maybe a pink troll got squished while climbing mt. foot in search of higher ground. or how my toe cleavage could benefit from neutrogena's quality acne regime. or maybe a flock of flamingos used my foot as a commode.

Oregon Ballet Theatre Needs Your Help!

SUPPORT OREGON BALLET THEATRE AND KEEP THE ARTS THRIVING IN PORTLAND!

Oregon Ballet Theatre needs to raise $750,000 by June 30 or there's a real possibility that this nationally-acclaimed arts organization will have to shut its doors.

Whether you're a fan of ballet, a supporter of the arts, or a Portland resident, you know how important it is to keep the city's arts and culture alive and thriving. Portland can't afford to lose this institution. The loss would be devastating for the city, even for those who have no interest in ballet. Now is the time to help. There are so many things, both big and small, you can do.

DANCE UNITED Benefit Performance in Support of OBT



1) If you can, write a check or use your credit card to make a contribution. Click here to donate.

2) Buy tickets to the season finale program: RUSH + ROBBINS, featuring Christopher Wheeldon's RUSH and three ballets by American dance icon Jerome Robbins. June 5 - 7 at Keller Auditorium. Call 503.2.BALLET or go online.

3) Buy tickets for DANCE UNITED: A Benefit Performance for Oregon Ballet Theatre, featuring performances by leading dancers from North America's most prestigious dance companies including New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada and many more! One night only - June 12 at 7:30pm. Program details here.
Call 503.2.BALLET or buy online.

4) OBT is organizing an online auction to help raise money. Maybe you have something to donate, or maybe you're in the market to buy.

5) Share the message with your friends, family, or coworkers. Tweet for OBT, donate your Facebook Status, post a MySpace Bulletin or write about us on your Blog! Let everyone know OBT is important to you!

For more reading about the company and the dilemma it currently faces, please check out the links below:

OBT's WEBSITE

THE OREGONIAN ARTICLE 5/28/09

OBT PRESS RELEASE 5/27/09

berry good

brooke's latest post reminded me of the crazy-ass strawberries we bought from a farm seller peddling $10 flats of massive fruit over on page street a few weeks ago. i've never seen street corner fruit sellers in our neighborhood before, and while the berries weren't the weekend farmer's market/organic type that i prefer, they were still quite tasty.

my bout with ticketmaster continues

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the master of my non-ticketness

i hate ticketmaster. the fees are the big kicker, followed by the sneaky way tickets end up on ticketnow or stubhub within mere minutes of being released to the public. so i love the irony of this security check from last week.

saving face

i have serious issues with facebook, primarily the ads. sure, it's sort of obvious, but ads are the driving force of everything free these days. well, except public transit... why can't diet dr. pepper sponsor my bus? i'd be more willing to drink it (the soda, not the bus) than when it sponsors the sugar-free top chef quick fire challenge.

oh, and facebook etiquette. like, do i only become "friends" on the site with my actual, real, live friends? because then i'd have about 10 actual facebook friends and those 10 people would then be faced with the sad, hard fact that i only have nine other friends and i'm a closet loser. or do i accept every "friend" request that pops into my inbox? and how do i politely say no to the random guy i went to elementary through high school with who, once we turned 10, never gave me the time of day except to tell me, in 5th grade, that my hair looked like a dried up bird's nest?

with that in mind, this arrived in my inbox yesterday. gee, thanks loehmann's, for wanting to be my facebook friend! now i feel special. like a special loser who loves discounted merchandise.

a-line, aline, a lean, align.

last week, i debated between a matte jersey knit dress and a poufy skirt for holiday events. putting both items on hold, i contemplated overnight, returned to re-try both items, and eventually succumbed to the dress.

[separately, thank you macy's, for a special 30% off just about everything day, but please advise your associates that the sale and the additional 20% off for re-opening my macy's credit card does NOT equal 50% off my purchase. i think it's time to retool your sales 101 curriculum.]

later that evening, i told todd about the foiled skirt. it wasn't really a-line shaped (see image), and had too much material in the hips. obviously, after one wear, i'd hate it and never wear it again. his response? "of course you need an a-line* skirt! it's your middle name."


* my middle name is aline (al-lean). sigh.

my achy breaky totally full heart

todd treated me to an early birthday dinner at none other than the two-michelin starred cyrus, probably one of the most highly touted restaurants in northern california. we drove up to healdsburg this past weekend for a mini-getaway, and experienced one of the most luxurious meals ever. through the entire evening, the staff treated us like kings and queens, and the vegetarian tasting menu was a great birthday present. our plates were constantly refilled with in-house bread, no one scoffed at my beet allergy, and each dish tasted amazing. maybe turning 29 isn't so scary after all...

first off, a tray of canapes to open our five senses of taste: bitter, sweet, sour, salty, and umami. on the bottom were cups of a fresh broth. in the middle, fluffy homemade pretzels filled with cheese and some kaffir lime treat. on top, a kumquat canape and a beer bubble.

kaffir lime canape


kumquat canape

beer bubble canape (my least favorite flavor, but the bubble made me think of some of the craziness of top chef)

next came our amuse bouche of salad. it was fresh and light, perfect for a first bite!


a creamy yet well flavored cauliflower soup with truffles, almonds, and chives. i could sip this all day... but then i'd weigh 400 lbs and have three chins.


here's the homemade tagliarini with surgar pie pumpkin coulis and pepitas. the drizzle added a deep, saucy/nutty flavor.


artichoke barigoule: these little artichoke hearts came adorned with onion chips, licorice leaves, and skordalia sauce.


smoked "hen of the woods" and black trumpet mushrooms with onion, chard, and potato rosti, topped with a sweet and sticky balsamic vinegar.


these autumn vegetables were soaked in high acidity, then plated with a miso-battered/stuffed squash blossom. the broth was a miso-type stock.


here, we were totally full, but up rolled the cheese cart. we tasted a few, but wanted to leave room for dessert...


the first of two (yes, two!!!) desserts: verjus sorbet (yum!!!!!) and quince riesling soup with crystallized picholine olives. the tart soup tasted champagne-like, and the olives added a nice sweet calmness.

lemon huckleberry souffle with frozen white chocolate truffle (filled with huckleberry). i have to admit i couldn't finish mine. i love love love dessert, but by this time, i was totally full and ready for a nap.

but what nap? for the candy/mignardises cart came by. one of our many attendants happily gave us a stock of truffles, caramels, cocoa cookies, etc. to add to our "tomorrow" brownie boxes. perfect for sunday night amazing race watching!


on a slightly separate note, our booth was situated just 3 feet from the truffle box. both the white and black truffles were flown in from europe and could be added to any dish for a fee (per gram). staff handled the truffles with plastic gloves, and it's possible they had their own secret service. we foresee truffle dealing to become the new cocaine business around 2019. just roll up to any high school, swing by the bleachers, and exchange a few $100s with the young foodies for your own high class stash of 'shrooms.