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March 23rd, 2008
06:02 pm - Quest for comfortable, cute shoes for traveling
I'm looking for a pair of amazingly comfortable shoes that I can walk in for at least 5-10 miles a day on cobblestones, steps, and concrete. I'll be wandering about Paris, the ruins of Carhage, and downtown Portland. My parameters are listed below. What do you suggest?
- I have a narrow foot.
- I have high arches.
- I hate white athletic shoes with jeans, which is what I'll be wearing on vacation.
- Hiking boots are too casual.
- Dansko's don't work for me. (Bad fall a few trips ago.)
- The shoes need to be able to get wet.
- Shoes need a bit of padding or thickish sole. (Different foot injury on different trip with sneakers with thin soles.)
- I'm vain, so the "cute" factor is important.
- Less than $100!
- Cool colors like red, orange. green, blue, or brown would be nice.
Do you have an awesome pair of shoes you would suggest?
Thanks!
Current Location: home
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/frank/Frank-Happy.gif) chipper
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February 17th, 2008
05:45 pm - New kitchen gadget!
I went to Sur La Table to use a gift card, and bought a pasta maker! It's a Marcato Atlas 150, which cranks by hand rather than by motor. I have tomorrow off so I'll make some fettuccine.
If you make homemade pasta, what's your favorite recipe for the dough?
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January 11th, 2008
09:16 pm - Reality check - clothing costs
I'm curious what you think is an appropriate amount of money, or percent of one's income, to spend on clothes. My plan is to spend about 3% of my pretax income on clothes, including shoes, hosiery (ugh), casual and business clothes.
I'm afraid I spend a lot on clothes, particularly since I have student loans to pay and I no longer earn a paralegal's salary. I'm a librarian and have to dress "professionally" but I don't have to wear suits.
Ideas? Tips on spending wisely?
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January 10th, 2008
06:59 am - Violet martinis and sing--a-long Grease
I had a lovely girl's night out this week with a couple of friends. I'd never been to Bartini, over on NW 21st. I haven't been to a happy hour in ages that had good drink specials, but Bartini has half-priced martinis from 4:30 till 6:30. The drink menu is lovely; here's a link to just a few of their selections: http://www.urbanfondue.com/bartini.htm. I tried their lemon drop with a bit of violet essence. Wow. The drink smelled flowery and tasted both sweet and tangy. It reminded me of spring, which is sadly still months away.
Afterwards, off to Cinema 21 for a showing of the movie Grease, with a goodie bag (bubbles, glowlight, dark sunglasses) and lots of loud singing along. Fun stuff!
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January 6th, 2008
10:05 pm - Kenny and Zuke's Deli
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) casadetodd and I ate at a new restaurant earlier this week, Kenny and Zuke's. There was no wait for a table, which was a pleasant surprise. They were serving both breakfast and lunch, so I opted for breakfast and Todd got lunch. I've been jonesing for good deli food, oh since I moved here 8 years ago, so I was pleased to see they cure their own meats, and carry Dr. Brown's Cel-ray soda.
The waitperson brought out tasty coffee very quickly and kept our cups filled. The breakfast choices were great! Blintzes, lox and bagels, latkes, eggs Benedicts. I ordered a plate of latkes, and Todd ordered a turkey sandwich. The service was friendly and our food came out pretty quickly.
My latkes were...very well done and looked deep fried. The flavor was pretty good but I like my latkes sauteed rather than deep fried. The applesauce was homemade and yummy, and I could have eaten a bowl of it. Todd's turkey sandwich on rye was huge, and we easily shared it. A good crisp kosher pickle came with it, along with the best potato salad I've had in a restaurant in many years. Light mayo, big chunks of potato, no mustard or sweet stuff.
I'll definitely go back, and plan to try this: 
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/frank/Frank-Sleepy.gif) sleepy
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January 1st, 2008
02:00 pm - Lovely new kitchen pot
One of my Christmas presents was a gift card to Sur La Table. I selected a wonderful enamel covered pot, similar to this: 
My question to you, dear readers, is what would you cook in this pot? I'm open to lots of ideas but I don't eat beef. I hope to recreate a wonderful chicken dish I had in Macau using this pot, and will let you know!
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December 31st, 2007
06:12 pm - Looking back on year 2007
This has been an interesting and wonderful year for me. One bit of sadness is that my great aunt Lucille died, but she had a long, happy life and her time was up.
Here she is last year on her porch. She lived on the Chesapeake Bay.
A friend's cat died but he, too, had a long life for a diabetic, asthmatic cat. Ciao, Pacito!
The happy news from this year:
* I graduated from Emporia with my Master in Library Science.
* My sister graduated from UT and I went to Austin to watch her walk across the stage.
* casadetodd and I traveled to Hong Kong, Macau, Amsterdam, Prague, Rome, Cologne, and Frankfurt for fun.
* I saw my son's condo - he's done a great job of decorating it in a minimalist, modern style.
* Three of my photographs were accepted for a juried art show at the Maude Kerns Center in Eugene.
* My colleagues nominated me for an award within our company.
I hope the world has a better year in 2008. This one was full of global sadness, violence, and pain.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/frank/Frank-Working.gif) contemplative
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October 27th, 2007
09:31 pm - Fall is in the air
The leaves are in full color here in Portland. It was a sunny, lovely day, and reminds me how much I love it here. (The gray rainy days of winter....not so much!) Time to eat lots of starchy goodness. I made macaroni and cheese last night with a splash of wine and chicken sausage. Good stuff!
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May 13th, 2007
05:35 pm - Done with school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So now maybe I'll post more often? Hmmm.........
I am a graduate of Emporia State University, with a Master of Library Science (MLS). Yesterday was graduation though I didn't fly to Kansas to walk. I have worked as a librarian for a year and a half, but now it feels official. My coworkers surprised me with a cake at our faculty meeting Friday morning - very sweet! Tomorrow night my sweetie and I are eating at Andina, and I plan to celebrate with a pisco sour or two. :)
Oh, and the coworker who (rudely) asked why the school didn't hire a "real" librarian will be pleased to know...I am now "real!"
On another note, the kid sent me a lovely bouquet of red flowers in a red vase for Mother's Day. We talked on the phone for a long time. I also called my mom and chatted with her, and chatted with my mother-in-law for a bit, too.
Excellent weekend, indeed!!!
Current Location: Portland
Current Mood: accomplished
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January 17th, 2007
03:23 pm - It's cold out there!
It doesn't snow very often here in Portland, so yesterday when we went to leave for work, imagine our surprise when we opened the door! I worked for about an hour yesterday, and then the school was closed, as it was today. It's been a nice little "vacation" in the middle of the week!
Tonight I'm going to cook some mushroom risotto to warm us up. We'll light a fire, and read in front of it till bedtime.
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December 29th, 2006
05:30 pm - Christmas Morning 2006
It was great to spend some time in warm weather. I went to visit family in Florida, and here I am on the beach Christmas morning.
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June 29th, 2006
04:51 pm - My, things have changed...
I work in a small vocational ed library, and am on a weed-everything-more-than-20-years old spree:
"A woman is well-groomed when she looks fresh, neat, clean, and well-pressed. This means a daily, and often twice daily, shower or bath, fresh underwear or stockings daily or twice daily, competent home or professional hairdressing at least once a week, well-manicured hands, no chipped nail polish, runless, wrinkleless stockings, and shined shoes at all times, even for housework. "
(emphasis mine) From Amy Vanderbilt's New Complete Book of Etiquette: The Guide to Gracious Living, published in 1967.
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June 14th, 2006
08:27 pm
I went to the Farmers Market to meet <lj user=snevets> for lunch today. One farmer had yellow raspberries, which I can only describe as a blend of red raspberry and perfume. They smell wonderful, and taste great. I also got some thin speared asparagus for dinner later in the week. I love to wander around looking at the produce.
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June 10th, 2006
08:01 pm - Guadalajara
casadetodd and I were in Guadalajara recently. Here's a photograph of our breakfast. We had refried beans, gorditas with cheese, chilaquiles, and steamed vegetables. Yum!
We stayed in a wonderful old hotel, Hotel Francés, near the center of town. It had its quirks, including a door handle that was coming undone, and very loud pigeons outside our first room's window, but it was very charming!
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June 4th, 2006
07:51 am - Getting hooded at MLS graduation
Getting hooded at MLS graduation (click link)
I walked at our graduation cermemony in May. It was a nice ceremony but a little bit strange for me because I still have 6 classes to take. There are about 6 of us stragglers, so it's not like I'm the only one, but I can't wait to really be finished!
This summer I'm taking two online classes: Video Collection Development, and International Information Transfer (or something like that). I'll miss my classmates, and wish I had gotten to know some of them better.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/frank/Frank-Awake.gif) sleepy - it's early!
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May 26th, 2006
07:37 pm - Off to Guadalajara!
Casadetodd and I are flying to Guadalajara, Jalisco tonight on a red-eye. I looked at the weather, and it's apparently warm and RAINING. Bah! I want to escape this rain.
Photos to follow in a few days...
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May 12th, 2006
07:41 am - Not surprising...
Taken from casadetodd's journal.
| Your Brain is 67% Female, 33% Male | 
Your brain leans female
You think with your heart, not your head
Sweet and considerate, you are a giver
But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you! |
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February 5th, 2006
10:02 pm - Books!
I'm reading a book of essays by Italo Calvino - what wonderful writing and translating! I ordered one of his books of fiction from Amazon, along with a book about shoes, a bilingual edition of Carlos Fuentes' Aura, a Taschen book about lingerie, and Here's to You, Jesusa!.
My favorite books over the years have included:
Green Eggs and Ham
Harriet the Spy
Jane Eyre
One Hundred Years of Solitude (really!)
First Comes Love (Marion Winik)
I was a bookish kid and read as much as I could. I'd gotten out of the habit in recent years but am now relishing my reading time once again.
Current Mood: happy
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January 22nd, 2006
09:03 am - Procession of Sheep
On our first day in Madrid last November, we went for a walk to scope out the city. We came across this amazing procession of locals and sheep!
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: dryer spinning
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January 21st, 2006
11:09 am - Meme 'o four..thanks to geeklibrarian
Four jobs you have had in your life:
- cashier at Sears Key Shop
- prep cook at various restaurants
-paralegal
-librarian
Four movies you could watch over and over:
- Babbette's Feast
- The Big Lebowski
- I Vitteloni
- It's a Wonderful Life
Four places you've lived:
- West Palm Beach, Florida
- Houston
- Portland
- Rochester, NY
Four TV shows you love to watch:
?????
Four places you've been on vacation:
- Italy
- Spain
- Northern California
- DC area
Four of your favorite foods:
- chocolate
- cheese
- crab
- queso and chips
SPECIAL BONUS SECTION:
Four things I love to drink:
-red wine
-sparkling water
-margaritas
-coffee!!!
Four words/phrases I hate:
-
Four things I should be doing right now:
- showering
- reading the first few chapters for my Legal Research class
- calling my mom
- doing some laundry
Four books I am reading concurrently:
- book by Italo Calvino...name of which escapes me
- Amy Sloan's Legal Research
- Savoring Mexico
- Little Altars Everywhere
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