Urban Dictionary Entries

Eric and I looked up our names on Urban Dictionary. Here's what we got:

We each got two noteworthy entries.

Rachel: The most edible female name.
Rachel: A smart, sassy and sexy young woman who knows things from fashion to film to literature, from Manolo Blahniks to Mahatma Gandhi.
"She impressed everybody in the meeting. She's such a Rachel."

Eric:The most amazing person in the entire universe. Everything about him is perfect! He's charming, handsome, intelligent, strong, romantic, funny...everything you want in a guy. It's impossible not to fall in love with him! Once you lay eyes on him, you will know from that very moment that you will never stop loving him.

Eric: A term used to describe a mentally retarded cat that has the ability to fly by moving its tail in a circular motion. Once in the air, erics are known to land ontop of statues to catch and eat birds. Once they get the taste of blood, they turn into a form of vampire and attack fat people.

I am so HGTV

My little sis Emily (and my mom) graciously gave us her old dresser when we moved up to Portland. It was a neutral butter yellow and had some nice white knobs. However, I've been watching a lot of HGTV and I needed to exercise some of my new skills (because if you watch it on TV, you know how to do it). I painted the sucker a nice mint green, antiqued it (that was no fun! it was harder than you'd think and I actually had to use some artistic flair. hint: it is ALL about the wetness of your paper towel/dabbing device) and then we figured we were done.



Then Eric and I took a step back and realized it needed some more pizzazz. We went to Michael's, bought some supplies, tried out some stenciling (bad pick of stencils, turned out to look like an O'Neill ad), and settled on some wooden shapes. These puppies were ornate, well-sized, and loved our paint/antique treatment. We glued them on lickety split and here's what we got:



aaaaaaaand, the closeup:




I think we'll be Vern Yip and Paige Davis for Halloween.

Also... though out of order...

Check out my second post on Yuppie Manor: 

www.yuppiemanor.com

Portland.

We made it! Eric and I are officially in Portland. It doesn't seem quite real yet, since we're still living with my uncle Tim for the time being. It's very surreal. Mostly for Eric, since this move is to a place he doesn't have much experience with. It's a little easier for me, of course, since I have friends here, and a history. Regardless, we are absorbing beautiful, clear days of sunshine and breeze. We have driven easily down evergreen laced highways and wound our way through high-rise brick buildings. Today, we ate fresh sushi in the industrial/chic part of Portland  (the Pearl District, or if you're hip, simply "the Pearl") and read plaques on the sides of historical buildings. But hey, it hasn't all been metropolitan meandering and summertime living. 

We have spent hours- literally- on Craigslist poring over apartment listings. Checking Google maps for location and street view (360 cameras make it easy to spot crappy empty lots nearby or overcrowded parking situations). Both together and separately we have seen about 10 apartments and driven by dozens. I've called probably 30 different properties and we've seen less than 10. We've seen the crappiest, the weirdest (Murphy beds and ancient wall-mounted phones?) and the most spectacular (view of Mt. Hood and brand new everything- comes with a gigantic price tag). 

We've found some very reasonable in-betweeners, nicely maintained older buildings with character and unique details. We'll get our dream place, if it kills us. It takes time (which Eric doesn't have and which I am not a fan of) and patience (HA) and a little bit of vision. That last part is what we both have plenty of- vision. We will make this Portland life into something daring, something smart and complex, colorful and clean. This is the beginning of something really, really good. We can smell it in the air.

I am a writer!

Check out the article I wrote on Yuppie Manor, a very cool new site spearheaded by Kimmie Raschka (now Sailor), a fellow USC writer and singer. 

Yuppie Manor

My article is about the big move (coming up here in less than a month!) and how it feels to grow up.

After you're done reading my article (at the bottom of the page, click to read it all), please peruse carefully the Yuppie Manor site- it's full of really interesting, relevant things about living the lives we lead.

Dental Implant

When I was a wee thing, dental x-rays showed that I was missing a permanent tooth. The stoic molar stayed with me until last December, when it started getting a little baby infection, and had to be pulled. Here is a photo essay showing all the steps.... 


Step 1- After my regular dentist pulled my tooth, the oral surgeon drilled a hole in the bone of my jaw and inserted a screw, which will eventually hold the fake tooth. This metal screw cover was in my mouth for more than two months while the screw integrated into my bone. It looked SWEET.

Step 2- When it had healed appropriately, I went back to the oral surgeon, who put in the steel post that will hold the tooth. Here are two pictures: one of the plastic thingy I had to wear on my ride to my dentist, and the steel post.

Step 3- My dentist had to put a LOT of goopy stuff in my mouth to make a bunch of molds of the surrounding teeth so they can make me a new one. I got to pick the color, too. COOL! The dentist gave me this cool white pencil eraser temporary cap. It looks totally weird. It will be my tooth until my fake one is finished being made.


Step 4- I finally got a real tooth two weeks later. It's a little bit lighter than my other teeth, but my dentist did that in case I want to bleach my teeth later on. It feels a little weird but it's way better than that pencil eraser I had in there before. That thing was a pain. This tooth feels smooth in the right places, jagged in the right places, and it's here to stay. Hooray!

Summertime

... and the livin is easy.
It's not fully summertime, since I can still touch the metal part of my seatbelt when I get into my car in the afternoon- but it's getting there. I can smell a little bit of grass in the air, and my summer skirts feel good on freshly shaved legs without any leggings. (By the way, I need brown leggings- anyone know of good ones that don't feel like nylons?) My honey and I walked back to our car last night after seeing Michael Buble (we know the band, no big deal) and the summer breeze was grazing our skin like a caress.

I love summer for so many reasons, but here are the top 6:

6. I get tan. I look skinnier and glowier with a tan.
5. My birthday!
4. Walking feels way better at night.
3. Sweet summer nights smell like Patsy Cline songs and watermelon.
2. Sleeping with chonies and a wifebeater on.
1. Otter Pops.

Here's a jazz/summertime joke for you:
How many female jazz singers does it take to sing "Summertime"?
... apparently all of them.

:)