How an empire is built

I think you know how much I love Jeffrey Campbell shoes. They're crazy and wonderful and well-built. The creative finishes, huge platforms, and the sometimes strong resemblance to other, much more expensive designer shoes* (I would never say knock-off) means that I am constantly admiring and oftentimes purchasing yet another pair. At times my devotion to a particular pair of shoes has a resembled an odd religious fervor, even obsession. The term cult-status is not far off the mark: the popular models sell out in days and people start distributing them on Ebay at substantially raised prices; I'm not the only person who loves this brand. But like any empire, they couldn't just leave it at shoes, they had to keep building. Jeffrey Campbell is making bags now. Why not?

Of course this bag has color and fringe, the two things I like most in a bag. I'm doomed.

Summer Cover

I spent a lot of time in the sun during  Fourth of July weekend and it was totally glorious. Two river trips and a visit to the coast. Sun all day every day. But I burned my skin. A lot. My face, my arms, my legs, pretty much everything that was exposed. It's turning to tan now and is a necessary step of Oregon Summer but I feel a bit guilty due to things like skin cancer and wrinkles. I am going to start wearing more hats to circumvent this problem. This is my new dream hat:



It's by Stetson (so classic) and looks pretty much perfect. Cool, straw, nice straight brim (didn't you hate those janky cowboy hats with the crazy creased brims that were featured so prominently in Abercrombie and Fitch ads and photos of fratboys at Shasta? I did. I still do).

Also, I have two new obsessions:

1. I am officially obsessed with surfing. Before Fourth of July Weekend I felt like surfing was something that was kind of fun, but I was unusually daunted by the whole thing. I liked it but in a really grudging, hand-wringing kind of way. The wetsuit, the carrying of the board, the paddling, the avoiding of other people surfing, the tides, the whole thing. Sam would be giddy with joy and I would be, well, nervous mostly. But that changed. We had a sunny day out there and I felt like I was making progress and popping right up and paddling into things rather than just being pushed around. I want to go right now.

2. Watermelon juice. It's amazing! You just throw a bunch of watermelon in the blender and suddenly it's a delicious cooling juice. I drank it straight. I made alcoholic beverages with it. We used it to make melon jungle juice for a jungle juice party and won a prize. I will drink watermelon juice from now until you just can't buy watermelon anymore.

Sasquatch's Last Stand: The Journey

This truly was the last year I will go to Sasquatch (though, if the perfect storm of bands were coming through, I could probably be convinced to go for a day or two. But I would be pissed about it). Anyway, things were made extra special by the attendance of one Killian McKilroy and one Bryan Davis, two old friend who hadn't been in these parts for a fair amount of time. I traveled with them up to the gorge and Killian took a bunch of photos with his sweet new camera. You can see some of them in this post. He's a good photographer. I still haven't developed my film, so at some point this summer you will see a few more stories and hear a few more tales relating to Sasquatch.

As it was, we hopped in a rental car and traveled up the mighty Columbia. The weather had been pretty crap in Portland, so it was nice to escape the rain and slowly make our way into the more sun-soaked east. It was a relatively uneventful ride. We did stop at a rest stop completely overrun with incredibly tame, obese squirrels. We stopped to watch a few people feed them Cheez-Its, marveling at the creepiness of it all and feeling mild disdain for the sort of people who would feed squirrels crackers at rest stops. I left Bryan and Killian with the people and the squirrels while I went to the bathroom. By the time I had come back the people had left and the boys had taken their place. The tables had turned. We were now the freaks holding Cheez-Its in our hands, filled with glee whenever a squirrel came close and ate a crumb out of our hands. There is video proof of this.

We eventually continued on, but not before contributing to the inevitable premature death of several squirrels by snack-food. Additional stops included Replica Stone-Hedge (worth a stop), a gas station where I purchased a neon worm toy that smelled of lemon Pledge and a toy cellular phone with a kitty/puppy hologram on it, and an abandoned house surrounded by gnarled trees straight out of Tim Burton movie. Killian picked up a tick. I thankfully did not. We rolled into Wildhorse Campground triumphantly (we did get lost for a while but not before seeing a double rainbow) and claimed our place in camp.

Surprise!

Sam's birthday was last week. Specifically Thursday. I gave him a pair of desert boots. He's been dreaming of those boots for awhile now and I feel pretty great about making a dream happen. I'm like Sam's personal Make-a-Wish-Foundation. Without the cancer element. Sam has given me shoes (you may remember the Christmas Tom's booties), and I'm pleased that we're a couple that gives each other shoes. I mean, I never say no to shoes.

He had to work on Tuesday night so I began Stage 1 of an elaborate plot. There is really nothing better than an elaborate plot. It started on Tuesday. After accordion class I went home and started making icecream pie (my mom used to make this all the time, and it is always a hit). Liz came over to watch me make pie and more importantly,  so that we could talk about our lives, Ayn Rand, Janeane Garofalo, and old people. I realized, once I had cookie crumbs flying all over the place, that Sam had left a note saying the plumber had finally fixed our sink and we couldn't use it. So I had to figure out a way to clean up the evidence without using water. That wasn't really possible, so I had to improvise using the bathroom sink and a lot of paper towels. There were dark chocolate cookie crumbs everywhere and random dismantled pieces of the food processor shedding evidence everywhere. Eventually we got it under control, Liz spirited the pie away and Stage 1 was complete.

Stage 2 commenced on Thursday. Sam had to work at Mulligans on Hawthorne. We gathered at a bar down the street (with the aforementioned icecream pie) and then proceeded to Mulligans in a small parade lead by me and the icecream pie. It was kind of melty and the candles were leaning, but when we busted into Mulligans singing Happy Birthday in our shrillest voices, the overall presentation could not have been better. Sam's regulars were impressed, the pie was delicious, and I think, for a workday, that Sam had a pretty decent birthday. I love orchestrating surprises. Any excuse for an icecream pie.

To Do:

1. BBQ

2. Hawaiian-themed, jungle juice soaked, going-away party for Micheal and Jacquelyn

3. Skateboarding

4. Go to Sky High so that I can jump around in a trampoline room filled with like-minded adults who wish to celebrate Sam's birthday by jumping

5. Watch Buddy Guy play the guitar at the Blues Festival with my dad

6. Surfing

7. Play the color game

Have a great Fourth of July weekend!