Pant Rejuvenation!

Hey. What's up. It's April and I've got lots of plans. Nathan's dad is visiting us this week, our good friend Nate the next, then my friend Steph and I are going to visit our friend Michael in Olympia the last weekend in April. I'm making a new piece on seven dancers for a performance in May, and also performing in a friend's piece for the same show. I have a grant application due in two weeks, and I still don't know what I'm going to prepose. Meanwhile all my co-workers are traveling, so my work schedule's a bit crazy, but it will be good to get some extra hours in after the time I took off in February and March. I was motivated the first week after I got back from Colorado to get stuff done, which was impeded this week a bit by a cranked back (yes, injured again, but minorly) and Nathan having spring break which means he was around the house a lot and my normal productivity was reduced of course. We got to spend some time together though, and this weekend was 70 degrees and sunny, so pretty much couldn't be beat. We spent Easter eating and sitting on the sun deck facing the bay at my dad's cousin's house, I didn't take any pictures, but it was glorious and Nathan and I are both a little sunburned.

Ok, but this is what I did the other week, inspired by this tutorial that I found:
http://cottonandcurls.blogspot.com/2011/02/altering-pants-tutorial-refashioning.html
I kinda knew everything in this tutorial already, but it reminded me that I have a lot of pants, that are perfectly good, but don't fit me very well, and I have the power to change th
at.
These had a lot of extra bagginess around the thighs and knees, but I took in the inseam, and now they fit nicely!

On the Right is before, on the left is after. The pic doesn't really do it justice, but it's much more flattering.

Also these, which I call my beach comber pants. They are linen and very comfy...

But are much too large. The crotch is halfway to my knees, and the length hit my low-shin awkwardly.

I took in the outsides and now they are high-wasted, the crotch is where it should be, but they are still loose and super comfortable--perfect for my next warm weather beach outing...not sure when that will be.

And then these guys fit perfectly for the most part, except for some reason people like to make jeans long enough for a very giant skinny person. Since I'm not 6"1', the ends of my pants look like this:

Very Wrinkly.

Much better!

I even got inspired to take in some of Nathan's pants, which were "relaxed fit" which translates to baggy and sloppy.

Left leg "before" Right leg "after"

I took in the other leg of course too. I have more items to mend/alter. It's not worth having items around that aren't flattering. I like to think alterations can be a thrifty way to make the things you already have work better for you. With a refreshed item, it's almost like you just went shopping in your own closet.

Hope to get back to more crafting, sorting, and organizing. I already have six paper bags of things to give away/sell, but I have been putting off tackling the files and the bathroom, which are both in desperate need of organization.

More Colorado Pictures

Mom leads the way!

Powder Trees

Graham plays with trains

View from off of Cirque pomma lift to the right

View off of Cirque pomma lift to the left

Katherine with Cirque headwall behind her

Aspen Highlands but felt like Aspen Lowlands with the intensely warm snow.

Slogging it down some Temerity offshoot. 

View through the trees somewhere in hanging valley I think

Graham is tired and grumpy after a long day of ski school

"Party on dude" in the Gondola!

Ski trips are valid procrastination

I always do this thing where when my life gets hectic I put everything non-urgent off until said hectic ness has ended. Having recently completed HOT MESS and then shortly after leaving to go skiing with mom and Graham, it's been all, "I'll do it when I get home in March," which apparently is this magical time when I will have no commitments and will be really motivated to blog, clean and organize my whole house, complete a dozen sewing projects, and resume going to dance classes on a more frequent basis. Oh yeah, and start looking to buy a house. Right...I think that one is getting put off for sure.
Anyways, I still have two days before my life resumes in Seattle, and since I can't really be productive from here on much of my other goals, I might as well get a blog posting up. HOT MESS went better than I thought possible (there were a lot of dire potential outcomes in my brain). If you haven't read the review yet here it is: http://seattledances.blogspot.com/2013/02/mayhem-holds-sway-at-hot-mess.html
It's not particularly insightful (especially about Jenny's piece, which I was in love with) but it is overall very positive, and since I write for this site I understand the difficulties of writing about multiple pieces, trying to convey the feeling and complexities of hours of dancing, and other important information all under a word limit. There have also been times where I was really busy and didn't have the time I would like to reflect and work on a review, so I understand it not being that in depth. In fact I feel like most professional reviews I read just skim the surface. But, excitingly, the three of us (choreographers) are being interviewed for Stance (Velocity's journal of choreographic culture) so hopefully that will turn into something and then I will post it here for sure.

On th non-dance front, I've been on a ski trip with my mom and three year old nephew, graham. So fun bonding experience since he lives far away from me.

This is mom, graham, and I skiing the other day. Graham does not like to stop, only go go go. I taught him to say "party on dude."

Today he went to ski school, then we played at the indoor climbing gym play place, then went swimming, then went sledding, then watched a movie. Busy day! Our friends Katherine and Teri left this morning, but have been skiing with us all week and we had lovely weather for it. It was even nice enough one day to lay out and get some much needed vitamin d!

Here is a video of me on the circ headwall, which I think is my favorite run on the mountain because the powder is good and the views are stellar.

Kaitlin skis from Kaitlin McCarthy on Vimeo.

Double black baby!
Anyways it "spring ahead" tonight and I want to hit the slopes by 8am (on my board this time) so I should be off to bed. Hopefully I can get some more pictures from th ski trip up, but I didn't have a chance to upload them from my phone yet. Party on dudes!

The people have spoken...

LANDSLIDE FOR LOVE!

Washington state approved gay marriage! As did Maine and Maryland. And Minnesota refused to ban it. A victory for civil rights! I have no doubt that some day history will reveal the opposition to gay marriage to be no different than the bigotry that opposed inter-racial marriage once upon a time. Between going to Mt Holyoke, and living in the most liberal neighborhood of one of the most liberal cities in America, I know my fair share of people who identify as other than heterosexual. And they deserve to be part of the same happiness that Nathan and I get to be part of. And it makes my marriage feel even more legitimate, knowing that I'm partaking in an institution that is available to everyone. Well, at least in Washington.

Democracy at work.

We also LEGALIZED POT because the war on drugs has failed, and it's time to regulate (and tax!) a substance that is used by many many people who would otherwise never break a law in their lives. Let's turn a waste of money (jailing harmless citizens) into a way to generate revenue for the state. 

Washington also elected Jay Inslee, Susan Delbene, Jim McIntire, Bob Ferguson, and Maria Cantwell.

Oh yeah. And OBAMA.

I know I have King County to thank, who voted at near 86%!!!!

I am also proud of many of my friends who worked on campaigns and helped to pass many important issues, especially Referendum 74.

In the rest of the country, voters made a clear statement about their values. We are all particularly pleased to see Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin destroyed at the ballot box for being sexest (strong language necessary) assholes. Elizabeth Warren with her progressive economic expertise declares victory in MA, and more women were elected to the senate than any other time in history, including our first ever Asian-American woman. In addition to that, the first ever practicing Hindu, and several openly gay persons were elected to Congress. It is a breath of fresh air to feel that the country is shifting, finally, to accept our compatriots who may not lead the "white bread" lifestyle. The Republican party is not representative of this country anymore. It's not necessarily that I think there aren't some respectable Republican views, there are. I understand that the party used to stand for small government and fiscal responsibility, but as long as I've been politically cognizant, the Republican party has been forcing large (ineffective) government action down our throats, like the No Child Left Behind act and trying to amend the constitution to limit marriage rights. I think they are torn because they are trying to at once appeal to extreme religious persons who scare the majority of the country, to fiscal conservatives who are wary of the Bush administration's track record, and to Tea Party nut jobs. The angry white vote is not enough to sustain the Republican party anymore. The minorities they have alienated are becoming majorities, women are educated more now than ever, and the people who have seen the wrong end of this recession are poor now, and will vote in their interest. I hope that the Republican party will see this as a sign that reform is necessary, that it is time for the party to get back to its roots of rationalism, instead of attacking women, the environment, poor people, gay people, and minorities. And hopefully they will stop throwing around the word "Socialism," because they clearly don't know what it means. 

To my republican friends and family, I hope this is a wake up call to your party. I hope they come back stronger, more honest, and more realistic. It would be nice if our government actually worked the way it was supposed to. 

If you have time, watch this clip. I don't find Rachel Maddow to be funny, so her jokes are kinda annoying, but her points regarding the election hit home for me. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Recent Happenings!

Our friends Stephanie and James got married! Congratulations guys! We couldn't be there for the wedding in MI, but there was a small park reception for Washingtonians, and came bearing gifts wrapped in money. Real dollar bills, yo.

The happy couple

Meanwhile, I have been crazy busy doing lots of dance stuff, hanging out with Lauren, who has just moved in with us until her lease starts in November, and working at the Plum Bistro of course.

Here's what else I've been doing: planning my epic HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA which is only now a few days away! And I have LOTS to do. But last week I made these "cabinet of curiosities" jars:

some plant themed ones

Some bird themed ones

Some bug themed ones.

I will, of course, take pictures of the final decorations. This is just a SNEAK PEAK into how excellent this all will be.

On a less excellent note: Nathan got in a bike accident last week. Someone cut in front of him and he skidded out to avoid the collision. He quite sore, but otherwise he and his bike seem to be OK. Nathan's iphone, however, fared less well:

And the iphone-shaped bruise where the iphone was in his pocket:

and after a few days:

The colors only continue to get prettier. 

Anyways, when you are driving be sure to look out for bicyclists like my nathan please!

OK, I'm off to trader joes to get party supplies, and then back to my crazy week. I perform Sunday and Monday and still have some preparations for that, and to top it off I'm fighting a cold. I'm kind of looking forward to November...

Plum Food Truck

The restaurant I work for is trying to start a food truck. They made a video that I'm in as part of the fundraising. Here is the video, and the link to the kickstarter campaign is below it. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to share since I'm in the video, and it's informational about the the place where I work.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/plum/seattles-first-vegan-food-truck-by-plum-bistro

Almost October

The end of September. Kind of hard to believe. Monday we will be into October, which I guess puts us squarely in the "fall" category. Life has picked up a little since August, with lots of exciting things happening in the near future.

A tree near my house

First off, I'm spending five days with Mom in Colorado. This is a little bit of a not-well-earned vacation for me, since it feels like we just got back from our summer trip to Michigan and Wisconsin, but this way I get a little one-on-one time with Mom, since we probably will be staying in Seattle for the holidays again. 

Right after I get back, Stephanie and I are going to the Symphony, which should be a lot of fun, and then hopefully I will have an audition that next day (I applied for one, but I haven't heard back yet) and if the audition goes well I will be performing later in October. 

Lauren (Nathan's sister) arrives a few days later, and will be staying with us until she can find a place of her own. We are so excited that she has decided to move to Seattle!

Between all that, a full work/rehearsal schedule, the four or five dance performances I will see/review, and hosting a Halloween party, I wonder when I will get a chance to decorate!?! I think maybe I need to cheat and get out Halloween decorations this weekend...get a little jump start on October! One of my favorite months!

Here are some other little random things I've been up to:

I made this little board with dowels to contain my thread and bobbin collection.
It was getting out of hand. 

This is a "Kitty Garden" full of sprouts that she can nibble on once they get taller.
Yesterday there weren't even sprouts in the Oats and Barley...they grow so fast!

Speaking of kitty, right now she is playing fetch with her favorite toy: a Q-tip. Did you know cats can play fetch? We didn't even teach her. She just does it sometimes. 

The last few days have felt good and productive. Work has been slow, but people have been generous. To be honest, last week I was pretty stressed out. Our rent went up recently, and our plan had been to stay in this apartment until we could save up enough to buy a house, but with the rent going up it's harder to save and we were unsure what to do. Should we move to a cheaper place? Should I get another job? Should we sign a new lease? Should we go month-to-month to give us a way out? All the life-ambiguity (and just the thought of apartment hunting and moving again!) was sending me into serious stress mode. All those questions are still up in the air of course, but I know for right now that I really don't want to move again unless it's into a house, so we'll find the extra $100 a month somewhere. I wouldn't be in a rush to buy a house, except that it might end up saving us money after a few years of equivalent renting. We may qualify for some down-payment assistance programs from the city of Seattle, and we are going to a meeting about that in October, so hopefully that will give us some valuable information that can help us decide what to do. 

Mostly what I ate this week.

Well, it's not been a crazy week event-wise, but we've been keeping busy. Nathan decided to invest in a new (used) bike that will be speedier than the heavy road bike he has been riding to work. He has very large hills on his way home from the university.

I think he was installing his water bottle holder here?

Anyways...once this week I made a SUPER easy dinner. 

At QFC you can get chicken breasts individually sealed in plastic, ready for the freezer. They come in packs of about six and often the packs are two for one! Skinless-boneless breast can be expensive, but not when they are two for one in bulk! The packaging is great--one is plenty for me and nathan to split, and better yet, they are sealed, so I take the back of the mug or glass and tenderize it while it's still sealed, and no worries about chicken germs getting everywhere. Stays contained and then cooks up real quick--in about the same time as a pot of rice with some vegis in the steamer on top!

a before and after--frozen then thawed and pounded

This is my rice cooker with the vegis on top. So there's a super simple dinner idea that also allows you to get out aggression by whaling on the chicken breast a little bit.

I also made a not so simple dinner this week. Last wednesday I headed out to the Columbia City Farmers Market (columbia city is a district of seattle I'd never been to before) but there's an express bus straight there basically from my house. Columbia City is south, where I don't venture too often, but it was super cute! It had a little main street type area with shops and theaters. There was an amazing looking used book store with a ladder to get to the high shelves, but sadly there was a sign announcing it was closing due to not enough sales to cover basic operating costs. : (

I bought these beautiful dahlias there for $5. Lots of beautiful arrangements, but decided to stick with straight dahlias since I know they keep pretty well.

Also got these beautiful heirloom roma tomatoes and zucchini for a recipe I had been wanting to try.

I got some lettuce and other heirlooms as well. 

The recipe is "Zucchini Rice Gratin" which I got off of Smitten Kitchen blog, and it looked super delicious to me, and a way to use what the season has to offer. Basically everything looks super delicious on the blog, and her photos are amazing:

http://smittenkitchen.com/

Zucchini Rice Gratin
Adapted from Gourmet, March 2008

My prior quibbles about this dish were that it always stuck to the pan (I try to alleviate this by having you oil your baking dish), was way too salty (and we are hardly salt-phobes, thus I’ve reduced the total amount from 1 1/2 teaspoons to 3/4 teaspoon; feel free to add more if you find it needs it), and that it used too many dishes. You can reduce your dishload by lining your zucchini baking sheet with aluminum foil (tomatoes are reactive with aluminum so I’d leave their tray bare) and hoping that you’ll consider using one skillet for the rice and onions. Despite the fact that I couldn’t reduce the moderate dishload further, we’ve never once felt that this dish wasn’t worth the extra suds.

1/3 cup uncooked white rice, long-grain is suggested but use whatever you prefer
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium), sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/2 pound plum tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
Table salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cook the rice according to your favorite method. The package directions work in some cases, but check my notes above about adjustments I find I have to make. If you cook the rice in a large, wide-ish covered skillet, it might cook even faster but you’ll have the chance to use it again (and save on dirty dishes) when you need to cook the onions in a bit.

While rice cooks, coat two large (or, if you have the same pitifully small oven as I do, three smaller) baking sheets each with a tablespoon of a of olive oil (a bit less for smaller pans). Spread zucchini and tomato slices on the baking sheets in as close to a single layer as you can. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Roast tomatoes for 10 minutes and zucchini for 20. Flip zucchini halfway through; it’s not worth the messy effort for the tomatoes. Leave oven on.

Heat large, heavy skillet (such as the one you used to cook your rice) over medium heat. Once hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, heat oil, then add onions, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt to pan. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking onion until limp and tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Combine onion mixture, rice, eggs, thyme, half of your grated cheese and a half-tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl. Add a good amount of freshly ground black pepper. Use the remaining half-tablespoon of olive oil to coat a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Spread half of rice mixture in bottom of dish. Arrange half of roasted zucchini on top. Spread remaining rice mixture over it and please don’t worry about being neat about this; dinner will be “rustic” tonight! Arrange remaining zucchini on top, then tomato slices. Sprinkle with remaining grated cheese and bake until set and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Each oven varies, but I find mine does the very best browning when the dish is on a rack near the top of the oven.

Here was how mine came out:

It was tasty, but not worth all the prep work with the toms and zucchs. Wondering what if I just sauteed the zucchinis with the onions (in the same pan I baked it in) and just popped the tomatoes on without all that pre-baking business. Then it would be a super simple weeknight kinda meal. With a lot fewer dishes. It could also maybe use something a little more zesty? Anyways, you should all be proud that I actually managed to follow a recipe start to finish without straying, and next time I can use this basic recipe (mixing rice, cheese, egg, veggies and baking it) as a platform for culinary improvisation.

Also this week was my friend Jenny's birthday. I made this little girl for her:

And she had a picnic at gasworks park in Fremont. Nathan and I packed our bicycles up with cheese, bread, fruit, sangria, tapanade, etc. and had a lovely bike ride around lake union. Lots of sailboats out enjoying the weather. It was the perfect temperature all evening. How often can you say that?

The gasworks, downtown seattle across the lake, and the moon.

A perfect day...and last week.

It's been a crazy summer. I spent most of July participating in a dance festival that culminated in a performance, and while I kinda enjoyed the intensity of dancing 7 hours a day and then working at plum on top of that, it did leave me kind of short on time to do things like blog.  My dear friend Helen also participated in the festival with me and lived with us, and her last week in Seattle she was joined by her boyfriend and our mutual friend, Kyle. Helen's birthday is July 29th, and she wanted to go to Mt Rainier National Park (Nathan and I had never been) and Helen has lovely family in the area that took us out! So these are pictures from the beautiful hike we had up to Mt Fremont. 

Helen Poses like Captain Morgan. Kyle models the stylin' frame pack I bought for five dollars at our neighbor's garage sale while waiting to be picked up for the day. Sweeeet!

This is totally candid.

Nathan on the path through the shale.

The top! What a view!

AND SURPRISE! Kyle proposes to Helen. Helen says Yes.

This is a reenactment.

a blurry picture I took of the ring. Kyle designed it! Helen's favorite color: PINK!

 On the way down.

Fields of wild flowers!

SNOW!

So that was a grand and most perfect day. Followed by mad packing because Nathan and I had to leave the next morning to the midwest. I was on vacation, saw a lot of people who read this blog (so don't need to fill them in), and got to relax a lot while watching Olympics, which is exactly what I needed. 

Jump to current times...

Nothing too exciting going on here. However, in an effort to write on a more regular basis, here are a few things I did do recently:
Last tuesday was our 2nd wedding anniversary (we got some super sweet cards from the grandparents!) and we also went to dinner using the Poppy gift certificate the Bankas gave us for our birthdays.
Poppy is very convenient to our house and had some delicious, delicious food. You basically order one of a few options, and it comes with a variety of 7 or 10 things. They call them "thalis." There was some indian influence (note the naan bread) but otherwise it didn't feel particularly ethnic unless GORMET is an ethnicity.

Ok, we shared all of our items. Nathan got duck with fresh currents and peaches, strawberry-tomato-sage soup, curried kohlrabi, pickled blueberry and apricots, and a beet salad with gingerbread croutons.

I had some kind of beef, zucchini gratin, fennel blossom soup, the same beet salad, some other kind of salad with cucumbers, and pickled fennel.

Dessert thalis.

 Ok, and then one day for lunch I made myself this with the basil from my window boxes, which somehow survived not being watered for nine days while we were in Michigan/Wisconsin.

Then on Sunday we went to a friend's boyfriend's birthday "Rib Off" in which there were I think 7 ribs competing and we had to vote for a winner! It was extremely difficult. They were all delicious, and the weather was perfect. We played "corn hole" which is a kind of bean bag tossing game, and I was terrible at it.

We hadn't been to Madrona Park before. It was lovely.

 Two of my favorite dancer friends by lake Washington.

Too bad it was a touch chilly for swimming. It's hard to see in the picture (which is funny, because it was very easy to see in real life) but Mt. Rainier is just about center in this picture over the water. I need to learn how to make mountains show up in photographs!