My car is plastered in lovely, yellow leaves. It's gray, but not dark outside. I am swapping outerwear between my rocking Mammoth rain jacket and a wide assortment of knitwear dusters depending on the moisture content outside. It is officially fall in Oregon, and I am digging it.

Last year I got a little blue during the winter, and I am determined to not let that happen this year. I have lots of good things going for me this year:

I have a much better work schedule this year.
I am able to take more gigs this year.
I have jobs giving me great experience for down the road.
I will be able to go see my family for Thanksgiving.
Spring break lined up for both me and hubby, meaning we have a potentially amazing vacation on our hands.
After giving up lactose and caffiene, I am feeling generally healthier.
More gigs and teaching means more violin playing, which means I am much closer to the sheer amount of playing I was doing in school.
The ballet came to their senses and we now get Nutcracker services this December.
Hubby and I have decided on a super cool Christmas present for ourselves.

Now, if I can find some more variety in my diet, and maybe get myself to the gym, I should have an awesome winter. I hope.

What I would really like to write here is a long, lengthy complaint about people who seem to be doing their best to ruin me.

This, however, won't bode well for me in the near future, so I will have to save this for my own personal journal.

In the meantime, here's a picture of a puppy.



Exactly how I feel, little buddy.

Hobbies

I used to have a ton of hobbies.

Then I started grad school.

When I got my degree from Northwestern, it was one of the proudest days of my life. I had, in my hands, a masters degree which I had worked insanely hard for. So hard for, it seems, that people would ask me what I liked to do for fun and I couldn't answer them.

Here are the hobbies I have taken up since graduating three years ago. It still seems like a limited list, and I still feel like I have only a tiny bit of contributing conversation when talking with my super smart friends, but here goes.

Cooking. I kind of didn't have a choice in getting interested in this matter. Celiac makes you necessarily interested in food, and I know more and more about it every day as I simply take note of how my body is reacting to the stuff I eat. However, it has been exciting to broaden my horizons. This morning for breakfast I had fresh figs dipped in honey flavored lactose-free yogurt. Delicious, and definitely not something I would have ever craved three years ago.

Knitting. This is something I pick up and put down continually, but thanks to a generous Christmas present from Hubby, I got a huge shove in a more ambitious direction. This year I managed to complete a pair of fingerless gloves and one sock. (The other one's coming along.) I even had enough confidence in my ability to knit a scarf for my mom for Christmas. She loved it, and I don't think she was feigning enthusiasm just because I'm her daughter.

Growing a patio garden. Difficult in Oregon, and the season is already just about over. I did manage three or four strawberries, a good dozen green beans, and one lemon cucumber this year, though. I have some tomatoes that are big and green, but I am not holding out hope for any of them turning red.

Geocaching. Best treasure hunting ever! I haven't been out looking in a while, and I have only found twelve in total, but I very much enjoy the chase.

Belly dancing. My brand new one, and NO, I am not ready to dance for anyone just yet. I have had two private lessons and many private moments at home moving around with my coin belt, just listening for the right jingles to happen.

What are your hobbies? Any suggestions to continue my quest to be more than a person who plays the violin?

I am a pretty lucky, pretty healthy girl. I'm in my 20's, have my diet under control, and my exercising habits are getting much better. I realize I have it much better off than many, many people.

But one day a month makes me long for the days when I no longer have a menstrual cycle. I will not miss the achiness, bloatiness, dizziness, and general pain that comes along with the Heavy Day. (I will also not miss the quasi-related migraines that sometimes happen a couple days before.)

That is all! I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Prop 8 has been overturned, and I am fairly confident that anyone that knows me or reads my blog semi regularly knows that I am not only relieved, I feel it was the right decision. I know there are several out there who agree, and several who disagree.

I am not here to make points on why I think the repeal was the morally just decision; I can save that for a whole other blog post. I have made an observation, however. Those people who are in favor of Prop 8 generally do not know or associate themselves with many gay people, either knowingly or by choice. Those who think Prop 8 was wrong generally do.

A long time ago, someone who I consider far more than a friend to me came out. It was the first time anyone had ever told me they were gay before. Not long before the admission, I had made the comment, "you can't persecute people for who they're attracted to... gay people just can't HELP it!"

I am terribly embarrassed by this comment now. I wasn't homophobic in the least, I was simply ignorant. Not being able to "help" something has far too negative of a connotation. It is something people say in reference to terrible diseases ("She has cancer and is throwing up because she can't help it") or apologies ("I am so sorry I ate the last of the chips, I just could't help myself!")

I made this comment not because I was anti-gay. I made it because I had never known a gay person. Later on this same friend had his heart broken, not because he fell in love with a man, but because he had the terrible misfortune of falling in love with a jerk. (Gay people: they're just like us!!) I have seen people formerly squeamish over his homosexuality come to accept the guy he's with now, as he has had the amazing perseverance to show them he is still the same person, and an even better version of himself for knowing fully who he is.

In my eyes, he is remarkable because he is my friend. But his journey is not rare, and his situation is not special. His love is beautiful, but far from unique. Not unique means unfair when treated as an exception.

And with a heavy sigh, that is all. Start the cutthroat debate as you will.

I ♥ TV.

The shows I'm currently trying to catch up on/watch right now:

Mad Men (sooo good.)
Hung
Project Runway
Grey's Anatomy (I've got about half of last season to watch mindlessly)
Louie
Psych (this season is only okay, but it's a cute show)

Also got a few recommended to me that I've never seen, but are on my wishlist:

Weeds
Dexter
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Firefly

I hand it to you, interwebs. (I have a feeling Lisa, specifically, will have some ideas.) What am I missing?

Luxurious day. I woke up and shared a cup of coffee with my husband. Headed off to the gym, and treated myself to some sushi after doing some REALLY difficult ab work. Went grocery shopping, and threw barbeque chicken in the crockpot, letting the smell slowly permeate every corner of the apartment. Almost done cleaning the apartment, and I may have time to practice before dinner and rehearsal. I may even talk T into an episode of Mad Men before we hit the sack.

My schedule is slow until August 14th and I intend to enjoy every minute of it. Won't get two weeks like this again until next year.