I'm going to Yale! New Haven, here I come...and I'm sure the history gods are lining up, cackling as I type this, ready to crush me under a staggering workload and an impenetrable reading list. I can't wait!

Because it's been so long since my last update, I'll do bullet points! With headings!

Work updates

• Finally scheduled a meeting of the planning committee (April 5th!) so that we can review our progress and make some decisions regarding inspections (can the CLT inspect homes every year or is that an invasion of privacy?), post-purchase support (such as workshops on winterizing, etc.), and how to get homeowner input to the CLT (like an advisory board.)



• Finished the grant book and matrix and am going to get started on two new grants for homeownership and CLT



• Got three more people from WNHS registered for the CLT gathering so I won't be the only repository of CLT knowledge.



• Got new signs made for our window at Footprints, a local shoe store



• Aaron picked up the new sandwich board from the signmaker guy and it looks amazing.



• Almost done with the business plan - just need some money numbers!

Fun stuff!

• Yoga's done now. Think I've gotten better as the class went on. Don't think I'll pay for another whole session but could drop in occasionally. I hated feeling like I had to go to yoga. I wish they had my class on weekends.



• Haven't met with Rolen and Lidiya lately - they've been out of town and Marina was here (the last part of this post!). Hope to meet them this week.



• Got out on the bikes last week three times - it was so nice out it was unbelievable. Felt really good to go on some rides that were more than our trek to work, and on one of them I wore shorts!



• The OMEN VISTAs came down on the 16th to have a training at our office. I would count this under work, but it was so much fun I couldn't bear to. We had a good session (Aaron and I led one piece and Rebecca led the others) and then had a beer. After everyone else left, Kris and Aaron and I hiked up to Chip Ross and looked out over Corvallis, then made burritos at the apartment (delicious!). This took a long time and we were starving by the time we ate, so they were even more delicious than normal. We watched The Office (forced Kris to watch, I guess) and then drove up to Portland the next morning to pick up my sister. Fun fun!



• Did I mention I'm taking up painting? It's my new hobby. My first picture is of apples.

Marina's visit! A marvelous time had by all.

• Hiking: up to Chip Ross, around the neighborhood to find a new path, and in MacDonald Forest to find the pond with the rough-skinned newt, the most poisonous newt in North America. These little buggers freaked us all out as they swam around this pond mating willy nilly. I wanted to bring one home (we didn't know they were so poisonous) but no one else did, so I gave up. Turns out, if you eat them, you die. So don't eat these newts. Oh, and the banana slugs. Marina and I aren't normally stereotypical girls, but if one of us almost steps on a 7 inch banana slug we'll scream. Piercingly.



• Biking: took a tour of Corvallis, saw the riverfront, the llamas, the workplace, and etc.



• OSU - walked around campus and visited the union and the library.



• Talking - internships, family, friends, future, past, economics, history, politics, community development, newts, whale evolution, dinosaurs, etc.



• Watching the Office - my sister, the champion, watched 3 discs of the second season and almost all of the third season episodes we have on the computer. She is caught up to "Cocktails" and thoroughly engrossed. High five!



• Oregon Coast - took a trip to Newport, looked for whales (none, the bastards), learned about Oregon sea life at the nature centure, saw a dead seal being eaten by seagulls, got splashed by waves (well, only Marina), hiked a lot, watched the fog burn off.



• Work: Marina came to work with us and watched me do my stuff, talked with Brigetta about jobs etc, got lunch at the vegetarian place, etc. I didn't really get much done, but that's nothing new!

Some pictures!

Us on the couch, in our Office-watching configuration

Marina and Aaron, looking for whales.

Everything the light touches is yours, my sister.

Hmm, she does this arms-thing a lot. Here, she's at the beach. It was raining.

Marina by the splashy part of the beach. Remember Aaron's picture at this spot from September? Marina ended up much wetter. If you look closely, you can see her hair blown from the force of the wave!

Sisters on the beach! Awwww. I look like a drowned rat.

So, that's it for now.

P.S. I think I've made a decision. I will likely be at Yale this fall.

Burny burny

So, tonight Aaron and I had another culinary adventure: Spanish rice.



We've been on a Mexican food kick, so we checked out four or five Mexican cuisine cookbooks last week so that we could try some new recipes. Tonight sounded like a good night for Spanish rice, and Aaron really wanted to try it, so we did. Measured the rice, fried it in oil, pureed tomatoes, garlic, onion, and three serrano peppers together in our (new) blender.



Yes, three serrano peppers.

The book called them "everyday peppers", and one recipe called for 5 of them for 3 cups of uncooked rice, so we figured three smallish ones would work for our recipe of 1.5 cups. We cooked the rice in the mixture, according to the recipe, and then sat down to enjoy our feast. One bite each and we realized that we might have overdone it a bit on the peppers.



It was quite spicy. Like, nose running, gulping milk, throat burny spicy. And both of us generally like spice - buying the hot salsa, pouring on the green sauce at Mexican restaurants. So we kept eating it - slowly. And drank half a gallon of milk between us.



We just opened this at dinner.


So this is a cautionary tale; you can always add more peppers. Once you blend them into goo, it's really hard to take them out. Though I do feel internally cleansed, and my sinuses feel nice and fresh...I think next time we'll only use two.

Oh, Marina, we won't be making this while you are here...unless you want to :)