days 363-365.

I have spent the last few days of 2012 with one of the most important people in my life. We played lots of games, ate good food, did some cute shopping, and just spent some quality time together. There were some tender and sad moments, but overall it was so good to end this year with them. They are a part of my heart, and in some ways a big inspiration for this project.

Tomorrow is the last day of the year. I plan to spend it doing low-key self-care and reflecting. And will do some ritual around intentions for 2013 as well, before heading to a friend’s for game time and gathering. I can’t believe it is nearly over; what a year it has been!

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days 356-358.

Day 356: Solstice

We had a tender little gathering on Solstice eve, filled with good food, laughter, bedroom dancing, and game playing. Then a group of us walked over to the annual Winter Solstice Puppet Show, one of my absolute favorite Portland events. It was as special as ever. After, Wyatt, Jessika, and I had a little letting go ritual to end the night. It was all so perfect, and now I feel ready to welcome back the light.

letting go:

Day 357: crafting, good food, and preparation for the days to come. Oh, and a Ryan Gosling marathon.

Day 358: Cooking and baking!! Today I fried up so many latkes in preparation for Chrismukkah tomorrow. And soon will be baking chocolate chunk cookies and maybe some toasted coconut shortbread. And probably more movie watching and good food. I really love this time of year and the break from work/school. I am doing my best to make every day count in ways that are meaningful to me as 2012 comes to an end.

day 153.

Today self-care looked like going to the new farmer’s market that opened today in my neighborhood, buying delicious treats and beautiful herbs, and eating ice cream while listening to a brass band. And then eating ribs (from the local meat market) on my new front porch with Wyatt. We were both covered in sauce by the end of it. So good. Did I mention that I love my new neighborhood? It is treating me so right right now, and I think the summer is going to just keep getting better.

I also planted a bunch of strawberry plants that I had dug up from my old house and ripped out a shit ton of invasive vine from the side yard. Gardening is so satisfying. Head-clearing, present in my body, de-stressing, satisfying.

And then I did a big chunk of homework that has been looming over my head and I feel so much lighter and like I might actually get to have a bit of fun this weekend. I love it when I’m actually slightly ahead of the game. And now early to bed so I can tackle more homework tomorrow!

days 120-128.

a week of self-care, at a glance:

• time in the sun (when it was actually sunny)
• going through all of my belongings and doing some major purging
• organizing and packing the things I am keeping
• cooking a delicious meal with Wyatt and setting intentions for our new home
• friend time/heart time
• ice cream
• sleep (but never enough)
• staying on top of homework
• iced coffee
• sex
• time under the full moon
• picking lilacs
• late night walk under the stars
• checking items off my to-do list
• listening to myself/speaking up/voicing my feelings
• trusting that it will all get done, and trying my best not to stress too much

day 98 and day 99.

I had such a full weekend of homework, good food, and friend time.

Some highlights:

I went skating at open skate on Saturday, which felt amazing after not having been on skates in a few weeks. I treated myself to some new wheels as I’m pretty sure my old ones were the cause of some recurring shin splint issues, and that shit is just no fun. And I caught up with my friend, which is always just so good.

Sunday I spent time in the sunshine, got all of my homework finished on the earlyish side (I’m trying to get off to a good start this term), caught up with my bestie who I hadn’t seen since before Spring break, and made delicious curried veggie rice noodles for my lunches this week. I’m really trying to prioritize cooking on the weekends, and it felt so good to make it happen.

And also, I just have to say it, sunshine makes everything better. Portland is so not disappointing me this Spring. It has just been beautiful out.

day 96.

Prepping for the upcoming holiday: baked a gluten-free cake and prepped veggies for farfel. More time in the kitchen, clearing my head, doing what I love to do. So looking forward to queer Passover this year!

day 94.

Made an amazing diner for myself, with enough leftovers for lunches for the rest of the week. One of the things I’m going to work hard on for the next month is cooking more. I realized that cooking for myself was one of the first things to go out the window when school and work got to be too much. I ate out so much last quarter, and spent a lot of money doing so. I know that I do have to cut myself some slack here and there, but it is one of those things that I’m really going to work on, especially since cooking is so grounding for me.

day 85.

Cooked a meal on the grill. The first of the season.

Bbq chicken, asparagus, potatoes. All grilled up, charred, delicious.

Played skip-bo. Talked about kink. Had heart time.

Perfection.

day 84.

We made bread!!

Spent the day with my fermentation/pickle club putting our first sourdough starter to use!

The day in pictures:

First, brunch. With strawberries, sourdough hot cakes, marion berry compote, oj, and bacon:

Then, bread making. We chose to make a rustic sourdough using this recipe (for the most part anyway).

Here’s our starter, post-use and replenished. I had been tending it for a few weeks before we finally got a chance to use it:

Combined the starter with more flour and warm water to make a leaven, which developed overnight for about 13 hours or so:

Combined the leaven with more flour, water, and salt to make the dough:

An action shot of the dough being folded:

Forming the dough into rounds (next time I think we’ll   do this part a bit differently):

The bread resting for 3.5 hours before being baked:

After 20 mins. in the oven:

getting there:

Done!:

Cutting into our first loaf:

Look at that!:

Forgot to get a shot of it being eaten, but let me just say, incredible. So delicious.

Making sourdough bread was quite the all-day experience. It was so much fun and I learned a lot. I can’t wait to try it again and apply what I learned. It filled me up so much to dedicate an entire day to a project like this, with folks who have become sweet friends. I’m looking forward to our next meeting and whatever we get up to next!

day 70.

Today self-care looked like getting lots of homework done so that I can actually relax on Sunday, treating myself to pho and an avocado shake, and laughing hysterically in bed with my platonic life partner (plp) instead of going out dancing. We made funny videos, came up with new abbreviations to use, and ate delicious ice cream together. The best.