We kind of like each other

After 4 years and 9 months of dating (minus a few months of immaturity) Andrew and I are engaged. He purposed on a cobblestone street while walking to the river. He did not get down on one knee (thats just not our style) however, it was very sweet and a surprise. Well the timing was a surprise, I knew it was coming because he let me pick out my own ring. He is an amazing person, I feel lucky everyday to be with him. He is extremely talented and pushes me to be my best self. 

*This is a photo from Andrew's birthday, every year on his birthday we have made the tradition of getting in a huge cake fight. Running around the house throwing cake at each other, that is love!

Three Books Down

So I just finish my first three books and I wanted to tell you about them because they were all such amazing books in very different ways. First was Women by Charles Bukowski this book is fabulously raw. He has such an honest way of writing. Some people think that he was a "womanizer" however that was not my impression. Yes he does talk about very intimate details, he still values women as these amazing being. Through out the book you can sense his insecurity and how he feels inferrer.

Next was Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, Mallory Lake you were right this book is life changing. You can tell how involved Salinger is with his characters. Each one is so complex and with that they are very easy to relate with. I will talk more about J.D. Salinger below. 

The third one was Ida by Gertrude Stein. I love reading books by women authors (so if you have any please recommend them.) Ida in the novel has so much depth to her, she is this woman that moves around from place to place trying to find herself. But as she is traveling she is content and happy where she is at that moment.   The way that Gertrude writes it is very juvenile but captivating. 

J.D. Salinger died today so I wanted to share with you what exceptional man he was. This is the picture from the dust jacket of The Catcher in the Rye (such a stunning piece of work, recommend it.) After the novel was reprinted three times he had them take if off . He was known as a recluse and would scowl at photographers if they came by his home. He once said to a journalist "I refuse to publish, there's a marvelous peace in not publishing,' he said. 'There's a stillness. When you publish, the world thinks you owe something. If you don't publish, they don't know what you're doing. You can keep it for yourself." What a fascinating person. While listening to NPR talk about him today they stated they could not find a single recording of his voice they could use on air. He really did it for the love of it, that is something I admire. 

Side note I think the movie Winter Passing is roughly based on him. 

Goals

I have one New Years resolution besides the ever constant live life to the fullest (it is too short not to), is read 40 books this year. That breaks down to 3 books a month for 8 months and 4 books a month for 4. I figured the times I was in Ghana I would read 10-12 books in three months, so this should be something I can achieve. Also Andrew and I have an amazing book collection, it is one of out greatest pleasures in life.  The first book will be Women by Charles Bukowski, I already love it. I find myself reading it out load to Andrew most of the time. I thought that I would list a few of the other books that I would like to read this year.
The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.
Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins (I am sure more of his books will be on the list)
Ida by Gertrude Stein
The Yiddish Policemans Union by Michael Chanbon
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
A Confederate General From Big Sir by Richard Brautigan

I am very excited about my personal challenge, I think that everyone should read more books.
Disclaimer: the Twilight saga and the Harry Potter series will not be on this list nor will they ever.

Happy 2010!

The Coast

The people that I work for, offered to let Andrew and I to stay in there beach house last weekend for my birthday! This house was beautiful and relaxing we were one house away from the beach. So we woke up the waves each morning. We would go play on the beach a few times each day. Leland loved the water and would run right in but Burgundy was so cold even with her sweater on. Andrew and I even ran and jumped into the cold water a few time, I love the ocean even if its freezing. One time when it was ten o' clock at night, a bit scary.

The Oregon coast is beautiful all year round.
Fun Fact:  These movies were filmed on the Oregon coast Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Goonies and Short Circuit.

Breaking the Rules

We decided to paint our apartment. Technically we are not suppose to paint it but there are other people in the building that have their apartments painted and some of them asked and the managers said yes. So we thought, lets just do it! So the kitchen is yellow and the living room is brown. Our bedroom is the best green, as most of you know green is my favorite color so having my room green is really fun. I do need to say thank you to Andrew because he painted the whole apartment. With the kitchen he worked all through the night last night to surprise me with a finished kitchen in the morning. And if that was not sweet enough when I came home from work today he had the living room finished too.  Our apartment feels a little bit more like our home.

Lobster Tail in Beurre monté

As some of you might know Andrew is someone that really enjoys cooking and happens to do it very well. Since we have been in Portland we have only had one real dinner, it was on his birthday and he cooked it. So I thought that it would be nice to cook for him, I do not think I have ever cooked for him (we have been dating over four years). 

Going at this dinner alone was bit of a challenge. I started with something easy roasting some red potatoes. I just had to put them in olive oil, salt and pepper, then in the oven for 30 mins. 

I have never tried lobster before and I definitely did not know how to cook one, so it was an adventure. I had to look on youtube to see how remove the shell. It took me almost 20 mins to remove both shells, but in the end successful. 

Next I had to melt four cups of butter for the lobster to cook in. (That is what Beurre monté means emulsified butter). The lobster just needs to cook in the butter for about five mins at 165 degrees.

Then I sautéed some spinach in olive oil and garlic.  The only thing I forgot was to put a skewer in the lobster so they did not curl, other than that it was pretty good. I was very nervous to have Andrew try it but the dish turned out and he really liked it. 

Andrew also loves pumpkin pie, he starts in October goes through December always having a pumpkin pie on hand. So to complete the evening we had some pumpkin pie.

Fun Fact: Potato bugs aka rolly pollies are in the crustacean family with the lobster. 

Our Apartment on 7th and Morrison

Our apartment building was built in the 1920's and rumor has it that when it was first built it was used for house-rent parties. Where people would come eat, gamble, flirt and drink. It is in a great spot that was once downtown Portland. We are just a few streets over from the Willamette River.

I apologize for taking over five weeks to post the pictures of the new apartment, but here they are. This is the bedroom it on the right when you walk in the door.

The bedroom looks really nice here because Andrew just got done cleaning. A big down side is that we have too much stuff for our little apartment so we are trying to make everything fit.

This is the living room it was not just cleaned so sorry for the mess. Our books fit nicely in the nook about the desk. The desk is in a spot where a murphy bed use to be.

Here is the kitchen it is a bit boring but we tried to add some flare with some African stuff and cameras.

I put this photo up because I love old things and one of the things that I love most about this apartment (and Portland) is that not a lot of things have been upgraded. They seem to keep the originals and it maintains its richness . Here is a door nob to our closet.

Here is the bathroom, as you walk in the door it is directly straight. Again the great black and white tile. Also it has this really old and worn out claw foot tub!

This is the sink in the bathroom and I love the different spouts for the hot and cold. It does make it hard to wash your hands at times.