HOMEMADE COCONUT YOGURT

SENIOR YEAR!!!!!!!!!

I had a really great day today. Things are really good. Things are like, crazy good even with the lyme disease. I went to the occupy olympia kickoff today, it was great. It's good to know that there are outraged people out there cause like, seriously. And we went to Traditions and Benji ordered vegan enchiladas and they accidentally made enchiladas with cheese so they gave those to us too for free. Best reason to be vegan but not so strict as to turn down free enchiladas vegan ever? Also like, that's how good my day was today. I stayed at the occupation longer than anyone else that I went with but I ran into Lauren which was great and she came home with me. Tomorrow we're going to make kale chips in the dehydrator and maybe make tempeh and do a fall planting in the garden. I love Olympia. All these other people were at my house when I got home and it was this spontaneous party with just the right people. Maggie and Soren made dinner in our kitchen, we had a fruit ninja party with Kelsea and Maggie's iphones, Asia was there for a bit, Khadijah was back from Seattle, it was great. Benji and Jesse and Emily and I have also gotten to be so playful with each other. It's wonderful to have such nice roommates. The pros of living with people is definitely outweighing the cons, which is good because I didn't really know what it was going to be like after a year of living with just Benji. But it's great. A few weeks ago or a week ago or something Turtle Women Rising came to town. Check them out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahi_6dAGsUA&feature=related. It was these Native American women drumming for peace non stop for four days and anyone could join them so we did. It's weird to me that this is my senior year. It's so good, but will it all change when people graduate? I guess it changes every year here, every year will be different, but things are so nice it's hard to imagine they could change and not get better. Isn't that nice though? But maybe things still will get better. Who knows.

Hello

I haven't posted all summer. Whoops. I have a lot of recapping to do because it has been a very exciting summer.

We moved out of our apartment and into our new house. I'll get some pictures of it up soon. It isn't one of Olympia's cute little houses but it certainly does the job and it is quite nice inside. Benji and I have our own bathroom attached to our room and a big walk in closet. I started a compost out back and turned over a bunch of yard to make a garden. My tomatoes, kale, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, squash/zucchini, and lettuce were all successful. My spinach was not, my cabbage hasn't made any cabbages yet, it is too early to tell what's going on with the eggplant and tomatillos though they both have little fruit on the way, and all my first round of starting plants from seeds failed. Next year's garden will be even better. But I'd still call this year's a success.

Michelle got pregnant this summer. It's so hard to comprehend still. She just reached her second trimester. What.

Rosie and Dan visited in the middle of July. We had a very nice time living with Rosie for two weeks and a nice road trip to Oregon with Asia. Khadijah showed up here, which is great. We've been hanging out, walking to the co-op, picking blackberries all the way there.

There are so many inspiring backyard farms around here. One of the houses on our street has a big hoophouse and a house across the street has chickens. We walk around and look at all the super cute houses and super cool yards. It's a great activity.

Benji and I went vegan in the beginning of July. Great decision. They make vegan chilly goats, don't even worry.

I also have gotten really good at making sauerkraut, finally. I just had to learn Lauren's secrets. I've also pickled radishes and kohlrabi and pickling cucumbers which I grew in my own garden on my own cucumber trellis. I make my own soy milk but I'm not that good at soy yogurt yet. I can make good coconut yogurt but that still requires packaging for the coconut milk cans so I might as well buy soy yogurt (which is actually really good) since it has containers I can reuse. It would be great if I could master the homemade soy yogurt because that would seriously reduce my yogurt packaging since I have so many soy beans in a big tub. I wanted to get them in bulk at the co-op but they don't have bulk soy beans at the co-op. Weird, right? I've been trying to reduce my waste as much as possible, buying everything I can in bulk and reusing everything I can and making reusable tissues and toilet paper and homemade toothpaste and cleaning spray. I've been trying to reduce my water usage too but then my doctor went and prescribed daily baths with tons of borax and baking soda and cornstarch in the water. So that gets in the way of reducing water usage but what can you do.

Olympia in the summer is gorgeous. It's great. It's beautiful it's perfect. But I didn't get to go in any water at all this summer which is NOT okay. I need to get in water as soon as I get home.

Jesse got a ping pong table for the garage so there have been lots of ping pong parties. Pretty great. Also lots of cooking parties in the kitchen and reading parties in the living room. Benji has been growing a dandelion and yellow clover meadow in the front lawn and we've walked through it so much that there is a little path worn in the middle.

Bailey got a house two blocks away from ours so she will be so close by which will be great. Asia lives within easy walking distance, Michelle lives within easy walking distance, Megan lives within easy walking distance, all great. Lauren is wanting to move to the westside again so I hope she moves close enough. Khadijah and Jeannette are staying at our house right now so they are plenty close by. Parties parties parties all the time.

Last night there was a free pizza square dance downtown

What a wonderful weekend

it has been. On Friday I led a field trip by myself and planted kale with the high schoolers. Great fun. Then I got all inspired about gardening and came home and transplanted some broccoli and rosemary. Hopefully we will get this house that we're applying to today and then I will be able to really garden outdoors. The weather is great.

Then we took a nap and then made some sushi with Jeannette and then went to arts walk where OH MY GOODNESS, we met Nikki McClure. Benji and I both cried a little when we met her because we were so starstruck. We told her she was our favorite artist and she said she recognized me from around town. There were also the cutest littlest babies there.

And we saw the luminary procession which was very nice and saw some more art and hung out by the water. And went home.

Then yesterday was real procession. We went to Asia's house beforehand for an easter egg hunt and got to play on her swing set and in her beautiful yard. We saw a seal and a crane in the water when we walked downtown. Olympia has been being very sweet lately. I'm really liking it. Lovely town. I really could not stand shoes so I was walking around barefoot downtown and it was funny because it was like I was just another one of those barefoot hippies. I was also wearing my tree dress and got tons of compliments on it which was weird because it was like what, you can see me?

After procession we had our seder which went super great, I think everyone had a fantastic time at it. Yes for traditions.

Being springtime

Springtime and our search for a house continues.

I had to get rid of the lesbian wedding shoes because they were crashing my computer for some reason. Oh well.

I had a very Olympia day yesterday. We went to the farmer's market and waited an hour for Jeannette to show up and ran into some people we knew because that is how it goes around here. This small town is getting very, very small. I can't believe I will be here another year (or two?) collecting even more people to bump into. Well, I suppose a lot will graduate. But some will not.

There were lots of babies at the farmer's market but not too many vegetables. We found a protest against tax breaks and unfair budget and spent a few minutes protesting and then wandered off in search of a flea market but found a green building expo instead. We got our wristbands and toured the waste treatment plant building, which was a beautiful building with lots of great recycled flooring and counters. I'd toured the actual sewage processing part Freshman year before the new fancy green building was built so I knew what was up behind the scenes. I got some really great refrigerator magnets from it so now I can write fridge poetry about waste management. Who knew it could be so fun!

At one point Jeannette and Benji were looking at an office with some nice recycled countertop in it and Benji said, "I want to live in this room. I want to do art on this table" but Jeannette thought he said "I want to do Anna on this table." LOL

Then we went to the co-op and ran into some more people and got some carob covered almonds and came home and made dinner and drank wine and Bailey and Michelle and Jesse and Jeannette were all there and there was delicious food.

Procession of the Species is coming up this weekend along with Arts Walk. Great things. I want to wear my tree dress all weekend long.

I think spring is here.

When did April happen

Things are going very nicely. They really have been doing that all year. It has been a very nice year. I am so excited that I get to stay here for the summer. I bet summertime will be super great.

Today has been a bad day for things going sour. My homemade nut milk went sour and my coconut milk went sour. Maybe it is just a bad day for alternative milks.

I really like eating the creamy part of coconut milk by itself. So good.

I am disappointed about the nut milk. I had just made such a large batch and it is incredibly stupid of me to let it sour.

I have finally perfected the making of miso soup. I am having it for breakfast right now. The other part of my breakfast was one banana, almond milk, coconut milk, water, and cocoa powder blended up in my blender. Kind of a smoothie, but also kind of not. This miso soup is perfection.

I've been doing so much cooking this year. Having my own kitchen is the best. I really really really like cooking. Jesse got us a slow cooker [EDITED FOR ACCURACY BENJI BOUGHT HALF OF IT BENJI BOUGHT HALF LET'S NOT FORGET IT] and I've been trying to figure out how it works. We made a chili in it but we had to fix it on the stove after. I don't think soups in the slow cooker is right for my style since I don't use a recipe and have to make adjustments accordingly as I go. Right now I'm making some beans in it. We'll see how that goes. I've gotten into buying dried beans and soaking them myself. It's cheap and it's kind of fun and it reduces waste (when I buy the beans from the co-op in my re-used co-op plastic bags, which is my easy take on this whole reuse a bag deal, which I really don't do as often as I should. Why can't I get it together to use reusable bags? I don't know.) and supposedly it's better for you, though I think you're supposed to soak them with some acid for that to work and I haven't been doing that.

La la la la cooking.

I made some cookies for class and there are some left over and it is a problem because now they are in my house and they are sugar cookies with chocolate frosting and I can't stop myself from eating them because they are in my house.

At least they don't contain dairy.

I love butter butter butter butter butter. Technically Earth Balance. I love it. I eat it plain sometimes. That can't be okay.

Spooky is being extra cute right now. She is a little bread on the windowsill looking out the window.

Last week the public schools were on spring break so I didn't have my internship or my hours in the elementary school but now spring break is over so this week and all the weeks after will be busy.

We all had a lot of fun going out on the town for Jesse's birthday. I sang a karaoke duet with Burnett. We sang Mama Mia. It was great. And Benji likes dancing at Jake's as much as I do, which is good news for everyone.

I can't go anywhere anymore without running into somebody I know. It's getting a little ridiculous.

FOUND

It's okay everything is alright everyone can all stop worrying now.

Lost

My passport, my driver's license, my student ID, my ipod, my cell phone, my birth control, my wallet, my debit card, my library card, louie the zebra, my co-op membership card, and who knows what else really.

Bad news.

New Glasses

I went to the glasses store today and ordered some new glasses. It was the fourth glasses store I tried. I'm going to become one of those people who wears glasses all the time so the choice was much more important than ever before. I chose some nice Sarah Palin glasses which are great for three reasons

1. They make me more like Sarah Palin
2. They are lightweight
3. I don't have to see frames all the time when I am looking at things

I pick them up tomorrow. WHO IS EXCITED?? I AM!!

Mt. Rainier Organics is closing. It's a real bummer. Where are we supposed to go for milkshake Monday? Where are we supposed to get our chocolate covered almonds? And nori flakes! Where oh where are we to get our nori flakes?

A real bummer and a nori flake emergency. Plus all the memories I have in that store. It's the end of an era.

I can't believe I had a whole post about music and I didn't mention S&M.

The worst part about my outrage over image obsession is that I still care about image no matter how hard I try not to. I don't value it but something in me still cares. Oh well. I'm working on it.

Banjo banjo banjo banjo banjo

I am playing so much BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO. It's fun.

Want to know what music I like these days?





I'm really bad at liking music these days. It's a problem. But the Carter Family never fails me.



I don't know if I'd like that one if it wasn't about Tacoma. But it is, so I guess I have nothing to worry about.

What I really want is that woman from Folk Life singing Grass is Blue. We went to the Dolly Parton tribute at Folk Life, which was a brilliant idea of course, but we didn't have much time, so we only got to see a few people sing, and some were good and some were okay but then there was this woman who sang Grass is Blue better than I've ever heard someone sing anything.

Here is what I want.

I want music where people sound like they mean it when they sing about their emotions.

I don't know if this counts as music I'm into these days, or maybe it does, but either way Dolly Parton is a goddess.






And Johnny Cash is pretty cool too.

Hypnotist

I went and saw the hypnotist show at Ro's high school with her and her friends. It was weird being back in high school for a bit. I spent a lot of time thinking about high schoolers. All the kids looked the same as they did when I was in high school. All the boys had short hair and no beards. What a strange time in life. I might want to teach high school. The way the kids were didn't bother me. I was just thinking about how it is too bad they all live in a society that shapes them to be the way they are. It made me think about how much the society we grow up in affects what we turn out to be. It made me think about what high schoolers worry about and how they are still living with their parents. The show was pretty funny, too. I never went when I was in high school but I had a good time there tonight.

It's amazing

How much happier and stronger I am now than I was before. I've learned so much about the world from being out here. Being on my own and being at college is a part of it, being so far away from home is a part of it, and living in a culture so different from what I always knew is a part of it.

I'm not that wild and I don't like drinking. I spend a lot of my free time cooking. I go to the library almost every week and I do all my schoolwork and I don't care what people think of me. I'm becoming more like how I was when I was little, and I think that is a good thing.

Spooky was very well behaved at the vet's and hopefully her tapeworm will be all gone soon. We tried to put her leash on her to take her there since we don't have a cat box but she did the cutest/saddest thing. She would just stand there and refuse to move when her leash was on, looking all scared and uncomfortable, and we tried to pat her and reassure her but she would just be a little immobilized cat. So we gave up on the leash.

Yesterday in Seattle we saw this little Boston terrier and it rolled over and wanted tummy scratches. Speaking of cute.

I've needed a lot of tummy rubs myself lately. I've had a stomach ache for pretty much the last three weeks or so. Or maybe the last three years. One or the other or maybe both. Not sure what's up with that, should probably figure it out or something.

I hate that I say tummy. I used to hate that word but it seems I've picked it up from the hatchery. I am turning into a baby.

I wonder what my work schedule will be next quarter. I'm going to miss the littles.

Thinking about the future is scary. What am I going to DO? But I try to not let myself worry about it because I don't believe in worrying.

I have had it up to here with this obsession with image and status and materialism. So sick of it all. Like, the amount of money people spend on their makeup and their hair and their clothes and themselves. I'm so done! I'm done with it! Spending money to take care of the insides is okay with me because I value taking care of health, these are the only bodies we've got, but I look around and see all this money spent on the outsides and it's really freaking me out. Sure, maybe it's evolutionary to care about outsides, but isn't it time we used these brains of ours to figure out that what people look like does not matter?

I know other people will care about what I look like, but I don't think that means I have to care too.

HOW

Did I never read the Jurassic Park books until now???

THEY ARE SO GOOD. THEY WENT BY SO FAST.

That's the bad thing about reading fast. I find a really good book (LIKE JURASSIC PARK, WHAT A BOOK, AND THEN THE LOST WORLD, A SEQUEL EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST) and then I can't put it down and then it is over so fast. Now what am I supposed to read?

Actually, I hear that in the book version of Fried Green Tomatoes they are actually lesbians. So that answers that question.

What if there was a book about old time Southern lesbians exploring a jungle full of dinosaurs. Oh wow.

It's weird that I'm always me.

Maybe one of these days I'll have my First Legal Drink In A Bar In The United States.

Maybe I will go out for Mel's birthday on Thursday. Or maybe I will have too much homework. Either way, I have my first day of my internship the next morning anyway, so it's not like I could really party the night away.

HEY LOOK, I CAN WRITE ABOUT DRINKING ON THE INTERNET AND IT'S LEGAL.



Peekaboo.

Winter quarter

Is coming to an end. How weird. Soon there will be no more map making class, no more 15 hours per week of babies, no more winter. When I come back from spring break it will actually be spring. Spring here is great. I am looking forward to it. Spring here will be less homework, internship, volunteering at the elementary school. Spring here will be having to bus to my destinations, TWO buses when I am going to the elementary school. The last time I tried to take those two buses I ended up sunk into mud up to my ankles on the side of the busiest intersection in town (with no crosswalks, which matters a lot because crosswalks are a big deal around here) as the bus I was supposed to get on drove by. And then I took another bus and ended up in the wrong place thinking I was in a different wrong place with three minutes until the bus I wanted to get on left the transit center. So I took off at a run, not even knowing where I was going, just knowing that I had to get there fast, and saw a bus stop after a few blocks of running and ran towards it, only to find it was the wrong one, and then I looked across the street and there was the bus I wanted going to another stop, so I ran across in front of traffic and by golly I MADE that bus. Here is the thing: whenever I run, I make the bus. And it's a good thing too, because goodness knows I don't want to run for no reason.

Spring quarter should be pretty great. Maybe I'll even find a house to move in to.

Last night me and my future roommates sat around and told each other things about how much we like one another. And all my future roommates are guys so they don't get emotional about each other as often as we do. That will be funny, me and three guys living together. But also normal, because they're the ones over at my house the most often. I mean, one of them is here all the time. So that's normal. And the others almost all the time. Just still after having been friends with girls most of my life it is a little silly that I hang out with all guys so often. Maybe my girl friends will get less busy next quarter. But that isn't actually at all likely. I am friends with some insanely busy girls.

I always have my A though to sleep in my bed and bring a little girl energy around here. And that's good, because without her who are we supposed to have threesomes with?

I have had to accept that I really do not have time for sheep club anymore. I am just TOO BUSY. Maybe sometime I will get back to it because I really do like that club. But like, I have so much time.

Time to write evaluations.

Here is what everyone should go do right now

1. Read Jurassic Park the book
2. Watch Jurassic Park the movie
3. Watch Fried Green Tomatoes

YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!

Birthday Party

It is the morning of my 21st birthday party and I woke up early with butterflies in my stomach as if it was the morning of my 7th birthday party or something. This is no longer appropriate behavior.

Valentine's Day

is more depressing than ever this year. Valentine's day is not a love holiday. Valentine's day is a sweets holiday. And I cannot have sweets, no no no I cannot have sweets. Valentine's day sweets are all over the place, in the stores and on the internet and everyone is talking about them, and oh I cannot have sweets.

And I follow that rule.

i have

The MOST BEAUTIFUL toaster oven in ALLLLLLL of Olympia

I got it from the free store back in September and it was ugly as all get out, all dirty and stained and scribbled on, but then I got a seed catalog and decoupaged it up with pictures of vegetables and melons and now it is beautiful.

there was an old woman who lived in a shoe
she was sometimes so Olympia she didn't know what to do

We've gotten into this new thing, well its not so new by now because we've kind of been doing it for a while, but anyway the thing is watching documentaries or historical movies before bed (and after toothbrush party + playing with the new toy I got myself for my 21st birthday) and it is great. We finished Apocalypse Now last night, oh man that was intense.

I'm really excited about my mapping class. Making maps is super cool.

Dude. Free laptop. How cool is that. I've been telling everyone I know, which is a little obnoxious I know but I just can't believe it, that I would enter something and then get a knock on the door and a free laptop, especially since my old laptop is falling to bits.

Pretty cool, man.

We're house hunting right now, looking for a nice three bedroom place with garden space and a washer and dryer and a short walk to the bus.

I just got into cooking amaranth as of last night. I want to try popping it and see what happens. YumUniverse says popping amaranth is "one of the cutest kitchen activities one can participate in," so I say let's do it.

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS IT'S ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY

Snuggles and Sheep

It's weird how much the smell of baby sheep on my hands reminds me of last year. If I get sheep of my own someday I wonder if the baby sheep smell will remind me of college. It brought me right back to last year. It would be pretty cool to smell my hands and be like, whoa man, my college years. Plus I'd have sheep of our own. That'll be great.

Richard Brautigan knew

Beautiful, sobbing
high-geared fucking
and then to lie silently
like deer tracks in the
freshly-fallen snow beside
the one you love.
That's all.

What does the tomato say early in the morning?

It's time to wake up and be red again!

This is my new year

Hello everybody!

I miss you all so much. You guys, seriously you guys. Everyone who reads this blog post. You guys are the serious best. Such important people to me. You guys KNOW me and whenever we see each other it will be like always. Yeah. Everyone.

Ummm

I have a heck of a lot of work this quarter. I am doing it kind of. I don't want to work THAT hard, if I worked as hard as I could I would NEVER have time for fun. And I want fun ever.

So I don't work as hard as I could, but I work hard enough. Because I've got to have a good life, even the college bit, especially the college bit, but also all the time. But that's my goal, I'm going to have a good time with my life and I do. So much is good, I suppose it coulddd be better, but nothing like that is anything I really need. I am totally okay with how things are right now, and how cool is that?

I got this new silk 70's dress today at the free store, and it is super awesome. But I ripped it really bad tonight and then I made beer batter chicken and got the batter all over it. So like, I hope it isn't that ruined. We will see. I want to own this super cool 70's dress FOR FREE HECK YES.

I almost have a phone again, CALL ME CALL ME CALL ME CALL ME CALL ME!!!!!

But don't call me yet because I don't have a phone yet.

BUT CALL ME IN A LITTLE BIT!!!!!!

Oh, also I love my job. I hang out with babies all day, little baby babies, and I feed them and rock them to sleep and play with them and comfort me when they cry. Oh MAN, it is the best job EVER! Rocking babies to sleep is my favorite, oh man, there is nothing like it. I am so exited to be a MOTHER someday! I'm going to have CHILDREN! And they will be such important people to me but I don't even KNOW them yet because I HAVEN'T CREATED THEM!!

LIFE MAN!!

HOW CRAZY IS THAT!!

THE CRAZIEST!!

I made some bomb chili the other day.