Cold Rain & Snow

Today's weather report from Seattle is also the title of a Grateful Dead song. If the song doesn't make you feel bad, this climate just might!
Still, I've very little room to complain, especially when I've stood outside the tent city, Nickelsville, waiting for my bus. I might have been cold and damp, but I have a house to go home to. My source of heat is not based in a trash barrel. Just something to consider....
It began snowing/raining while I was having lunch. I had a craving after watching Anthony Bourdain last night, and knew that I could fulfill it in the University district, where I transfer from the 48 to the 70 on the way to an appointment.
Ah, Tony, you are such a bad boy, talking about food porn. All I could think about last night was your yen, which quickly became mine. And the weather was perfect for it!
This, if you don't already know, is pho (say, "fuh"). It is to Vietnamese grandmothers what chicken soup is to Jewish bubbes. It is hot and filling and soothing. It comes with condiments to add: jalapeno peppers, basil leaves, bean sprouts, lime and a hot pepper sauce that'll definitely cure what ails you.

My favorite restaurant for pho is Than Brothers. It's not a fancy place, and not expensive. The bowl in the photo ran me five dollars plus change, and that's the small size. The extra large looks like you could bathe an infant and your dog in it. I wouldn't try that, though. Ruins the taste.
Walk in the door, and someone brusquely asks how many of you there are. If you're alone, as I was, they sit you at a communal table in the middle of the room. You barely have a chance to take off your coat before you're asked if you're ready to order. Luckily, the menu is kind of limited; all pho, different kinds of meat. I confess, I've never tried it with tripe. Bleah. Anthony Bourdain would never give me a second glance.
Quickly, a plate arrives with your condiments, and wonder of wonders: a cream puff. The story is that one of the brothers has a wife who was trained in French pastry, and they offered the cream puffs, gratis, to help the business. They are GOOD. So good, I asked my husband, Mark, for them instead of cake for my birthday one year. The filling, a cross between custard and cream, is perfect.

And then the pho... a steaming bowl of goodness. When I looked up for the first time after inhaling about half my bowl, I saw it was snowing...and raining, at the same time. Students from the university hustled by, cringing with cold.
Me? I just smiled. I'd be out in it soon enough, but with the power of pho. Yum.

Jumping On The Bandwagon: Random Things

It seems like everyone's been listing about themselves recently. So in the interest of getting to know me better (Cue song from "The King and I"), here's mine...

Random Things About Me

1. Even though I live in Seattle, I prefer tea over coffee.

2. My secret artistic fantasy is to live in Venice and apprentice to become a maskmaker.

3. My religious background is Roman Catholic and Jehovah's Witness. More the former than the latter.

4. The name of my house is "La Casita Arancia", in honor of Frida Kahlo.
And yes, it is both small and orange.

5. My favorite flower is lilac.

6. I'm a late life Deadhead. My first show was Autzen Stadium, Eugene, OR, in August, 1993.

7. I trained to be a pastry cook.

8. When I was six, I tried to run away from home to become Tina Louise.

9. Someday, I'd like to go to Rio for Carnival.

10. The first ceremony I ever "birthed" was a vow renewal for my friends Jen and Tom.


Now, are you ready to tell me 10 random things about yourself? I'd love to know...

Kendyl Linn-Sanchez, Girl Reporter

Hot New Real Estate Selling Point: Proximity to Baranof
Posted today at 4:20 pm by Damon Agnos
Greenwood has a lot to offer prospective homebuyers—quiet streets, parks, coffee shops, and, of course, a certain on-the-rocks, pirate-themed, stiff-drink-serving, karaoke diner/dive.

Thanks to SW superstar receptionist Kendyl Linn-Sanchez for the tip and photo.

Brenda Starr has nothing on me! I was out walking in my neighborhood when I saw the above flyer. I snapped a photo with my mobile and showed it to the Weekly's managing editor and our writing fellow. They loved it, especially our editor, who is an aficionado of such places.

Secretly, I've wanted to make a contribution to the paper ever since I began working there in November of '07, but never told anyone, because I was "just" the receptionist. But evidently, a SUPERSTAR receptionist!

And...breathe!

Today was a day of decompression. I spent a lot of time getting prepared for my first craft fair, so much that the event itself could have been a letdown. But I was prepared for that, too.
It was a slow day...simply not a lot of people. The more seasoned artisans faulted the Superbowl. Everyone was, presumably, at a party before the game.
It didn't matter to me, though I will admit to having set a monetary goal that I didn't reach. I had three customers plus two trades with other artists, and I made back the money I paid for entering the fair. Good enough for my first day out.

What I had not prepared for was the level of exhaustion I felt afterward. Utterly pooped! I was in bed by nine p.m. (with extra good reason; I started a yoga immersion series this morning at 6), after a GINORMOUS dinner of Indian food, and one glass of wine once I was home to stay.
It wasn't easy getting up early. However, it was even easier to fall under the spell of horizontality again!
I treated myself to a swim in the afternoon, then a chai with my dear friend Jenna at a coffeehouse where we basked in the buttery afternoon light and talked.
Even now, I am tired; but tomorrow, it's back on the horse. Things to do, people to see. The big hurdle is behind me, and a new, artistic path lies in front of me. I wonder what will happen...

Saying Yes

I was introduced to the power of yes by Shauna Ahern, a lovely lady who writes a blog (and also has a book!) called, "Gluten-Free Girl". Even if you have no issues with gluten, it's a positively yummy blog!
Shauna has the word "yes" tattooed on her arm. It's a reminder. When she began saying yes to life, life started saying yes in return. Really. It's something you want to believe, but sometimes have trouble doing. We are SO programmed to say no because we're a little afraid of where life will take us. No is control. No is two feet planted firmly on the ground. But no is boring.
Today, Shauna came to mind while I was on my way to work. I was going to cut through Pike Place Market, as is my habit on Wednesdays, past Rachel the pig, the buskers, and down the stairs. I love the Market, but that's a tale for another day.
A young guy was stationed near the buskers with a pedi-cab. "Free ride?", he asked. I had to stop and think. "Maybe on your way back?", he said hopefully.
And then I remembered Shauna and yes. What the hell...
I have never ridden in a pedi-cab before. It made me feel kind of special. He zipped me into the covered cab and off we went. Down Pike Place, left on Western and down the hill. I felt like I should wave at everyone we were passing.

He's just starting out in this business. Not a lot of work to be had this time of year, but hey, someone said yes to him. Even if I was just a local.

Thank you Shauna, for giving me the power of yes and turning an ordinary Wednesday into something special.

Face to Face With the Next Step

Before my friend Marcia was "my friend Marcia", she was the instructor/facilitator in a workshop I took. One night, she gave us all a photocopied cartoon of a dog on a staircase, his forehead butted against the oncoming stair. It's titled, "Face to face with the next step". I kept it and put it on the side of my refrigerator. While I was doing my morning pages today, it caught my eye, and I smiled.

On Sunday, for the first time, I will be selling my own stuff at a craft fair. Decoupaged switchplate covers, to be exact. I am terrified (what if no one buys anything? what if someone tells me my stuff is ugly, imperfect?), overwhelmed and excited. I am face to face with the next step.

I know, it's not rocket science...it's paper glued onto a light switch cover. But it's MY work. It took over two years just to get this far, to find something I thought I could do, to shut down the nasty little inner censor that tells me I'm foolish, untalented and just plain stupid for even thinking I could be an artist. My head was butted up against that step for so long, it hurt to think. And I know it's not finished. I know I'll wrestle with it every day that I choose to make creativity my life.

My goal for the future is to create shrines and altars and combine it with my Celebrancy practice, focusing particularly on individuals who have been seriously ill and are making a transition back to "normalcy". I would also like to work with those men and women who know they are facing the last journey of this life, and would like to do it in a way that makes them happy. Everyone deserves that much.
For the nonce, however, I'm face to face with the next step, and ready to climb. Keep your fingers crossed!

A Return From the Pit of Despair

Depression is funny...and I don't mean humorous, though it can be. Depression makes you abandon your interests, your values, the people that love you.
You sit at the bottom of a pit, just you and the dark. Sometimes a little light peeks in, and you see just how sad you are. The phone rings, and you don't answer. You don't want to...you just want to sit with your gloomy friend, who doesn't want to share you.
This has been my existence for the past year plus. It hasn't been that way ALL the time, but a lot of it. I've done stupid things in the name of depression. I've gotten most of the way out of the pit, only to fall back in.
I don't mean to be a downer, but this is the explanation for not keeping up on my blog.
Now, I've decided to make a return. I have tools to help me, and people to take my hand, if I just ask. That's hard for me to do. I've done damage to relationships and often don't feel I have the right to ask for anything.

However, this week has shown me that life is still worth celebrating. We have a new president, and even as bad as things are, I can tell people are hopeful. There are smiles from strangers on the street. The gallows humor is dissipating.
It's not going to be easy, not the economy, not the depression. We will stand on the edge and wonder if we should just let gravity pull us back into the pit. It feels so much easier, so comfortable to be with our gloomy friend.

Fight it. It will be worth it. I promise.