Weekend of Forbidden Shoes
I had a really good weekend with my friend Laura. I went up to her place again in Tacoma.
I drove up Friday night. We drank some wine and talked until late.
We woke up late as well, and moseyed over to a breakfast place she wanted to try out. It was great. We got one pancake to split since we both wanted eggs and toast and bacon and hash browns, but also wanted a lil bit of something sweet. It was a huuuuuge pancake though and we couldn't even finish it between the two of us. Mmmm giant pancake. I could go for a pancake right now.
The rest of Saturday was pretty mellow. We wandered to some of the shops in the little town area near her house. That night we went to a party of one of her boyfriend's friends. They made the best Mexican food. Carne Asada, tortillas, beans, various salsas. It got pretty cold outside at the party so we didn't stay too long.
Back at the house we indulged in yet more wine and some delicious cheeses that we'd picked up earlier. One was made with lavender and anise, another was flavored with nettles (surprisingly good, and one of my favorites of the 5 we sampled), and another was a cheddar cheese made from goats milk.
The next day we went into Seattle. We did the underground tour, which was awesome. It was fascinating to hear about the history of the city and how they built the buildings first so that businesses could be established while fully aware that they were going to re-grade the steep hillside on which the city was built, and raise parts of the ground up to 32 feet.
We met up with her sister-in-law for lunch and then drove around to other parts of Seattle, visiting shops, having a coffee, and walking around a bit.
That night we rented Down With Love after having a discussion about the fact that it was a remake of Pillow Talk, a movie we both like. It wasn't as good as the original. Pillow Talk is campy and cute because it was sincere for the time when it was made. It's a little awkward, and it's funny, and it's all around just darling. In the remake, the sincerity was lost in the attempt to be campy and cute. The mistake was in trying to recapture the flavor of the old movie through a modern lens without understanding what made the movie so charming in reference to the era when it was made. In a successful remake, it can't simply be about appreciating the fashion and the interaction of the actors and replicating it without context. Down With Love was flat and plastic in comparison to the original.
Wow I didn't even know I felt that way about the movie until I just wrote it out. I guess you could say that I didn't like it that much.
Ok, so the next morning we made breakfast and took our time. A bit of drama popped up involving Laura's roommate, so I decided to pack up my stuff and pop on back to Portland.
I stopped by the outlets to kill some time since I'd told the girl who was moving out of the apartment that she'd have until 6 to clean and all that.
The outlets were really crappy; the kind that mostly have stores that you've never heard of and seem like, well, actual outlets instead of just a cheaper version of X or Y store that exist independent of the main store, but capitalize on the name while they maximize profits by having a whole different line of clothes for a whole different cross section of the population.
I went into a few of the actual outlet stores, but I couldn't handle it. Too much cheap makes my skin crawl. So I went into a Famous Footwear store and looked at shoes. I actually bought a couple of pairs of shoes. One were a pair of shiny black patent leather ballet flats to add to my collection of black ballet flats. :/ The other was a pair of dark gray Converse All Stars.
Incidentally both shoes are representative of types of shoes I was denied from having at a young age. Patent leather was a BIG no-no because as my mom put it, "it doesn't let your foot breathe." I always mumbled under my breath that feet don't have lungs, but it was a non-discussion point. The other were the All Stars. My mom considered them boy shoes, so as her only daughter, I was not allowed to get them. "But," I'd argue, "they come in pink!" "Doesn't matter," was my mom's only answer. Also not really a discussion.
But now I have a pair each of the forbidden shoes. The patent leather ones are kind of holey, so maybe my feet won't suffocate, and maybe my mom would think they are cute. The All Stars are gray though. Definitely not a girl color. Probably no redeeming factor otherwise. Perhaps my mom wouldn't approve; though come to think of it, I doubt she'd actually care at this point.
In fact, she actually bought me a pair of All Stars a couple years ago for Christmas. They were high-tops and made from some non-canvas woven material that I'm sure only a girl would wear. They were pretty and I liked them, but I never did wear the ones she got me. Now I have rebellious gray ones that I love.
Ok, so back in Portland, I arrived at my new apartment at 6:15 and the girl was still cleaning. I just had a few things that I had with me in Tacoma which I brought up to clear out the car. Laura and I had spotted some free stuff in someone's yard in Seattle. She snagged the coffee table and I got a canvas and wood chair, so I moved that up to my room too. I saw something exciting in front of my house: a free bed frame! The girl moving out had lugged it down to the street and put a sign on it that said, "free". I love free stuff. I told her that I'd take it if that was cool, which it was, so I lugged it back upstairs into my room.
Then I headed over to Justin's house to grab the rest of my stuff. I was beat though, so I sat on the couch for a while and zoned out.
Steph called and asked if I wanted to meet her and her friend Matt for dinner. I hopped up and got my suitcases into the car and went to meet them. We planned out camping trip to Crater Lake which will be happening in a few weeks.
I got back to my place after 9. I found a parking spot about a block away and managed to get all my bags up to my room.
My room was cluttered with bags, shoes, bed frame, and chair parts, but no bed, so I slept on the guest bed which is not incredibly comfortable, but not awful either.
I drove up Friday night. We drank some wine and talked until late.
We woke up late as well, and moseyed over to a breakfast place she wanted to try out. It was great. We got one pancake to split since we both wanted eggs and toast and bacon and hash browns, but also wanted a lil bit of something sweet. It was a huuuuuge pancake though and we couldn't even finish it between the two of us. Mmmm giant pancake. I could go for a pancake right now.
The rest of Saturday was pretty mellow. We wandered to some of the shops in the little town area near her house. That night we went to a party of one of her boyfriend's friends. They made the best Mexican food. Carne Asada, tortillas, beans, various salsas. It got pretty cold outside at the party so we didn't stay too long.
Back at the house we indulged in yet more wine and some delicious cheeses that we'd picked up earlier. One was made with lavender and anise, another was flavored with nettles (surprisingly good, and one of my favorites of the 5 we sampled), and another was a cheddar cheese made from goats milk.
The next day we went into Seattle. We did the underground tour, which was awesome. It was fascinating to hear about the history of the city and how they built the buildings first so that businesses could be established while fully aware that they were going to re-grade the steep hillside on which the city was built, and raise parts of the ground up to 32 feet.
We met up with her sister-in-law for lunch and then drove around to other parts of Seattle, visiting shops, having a coffee, and walking around a bit.
That night we rented Down With Love after having a discussion about the fact that it was a remake of Pillow Talk, a movie we both like. It wasn't as good as the original. Pillow Talk is campy and cute because it was sincere for the time when it was made. It's a little awkward, and it's funny, and it's all around just darling. In the remake, the sincerity was lost in the attempt to be campy and cute. The mistake was in trying to recapture the flavor of the old movie through a modern lens without understanding what made the movie so charming in reference to the era when it was made. In a successful remake, it can't simply be about appreciating the fashion and the interaction of the actors and replicating it without context. Down With Love was flat and plastic in comparison to the original.
Wow I didn't even know I felt that way about the movie until I just wrote it out. I guess you could say that I didn't like it that much.
Ok, so the next morning we made breakfast and took our time. A bit of drama popped up involving Laura's roommate, so I decided to pack up my stuff and pop on back to Portland.
I stopped by the outlets to kill some time since I'd told the girl who was moving out of the apartment that she'd have until 6 to clean and all that.
The outlets were really crappy; the kind that mostly have stores that you've never heard of and seem like, well, actual outlets instead of just a cheaper version of X or Y store that exist independent of the main store, but capitalize on the name while they maximize profits by having a whole different line of clothes for a whole different cross section of the population.
I went into a few of the actual outlet stores, but I couldn't handle it. Too much cheap makes my skin crawl. So I went into a Famous Footwear store and looked at shoes. I actually bought a couple of pairs of shoes. One were a pair of shiny black patent leather ballet flats to add to my collection of black ballet flats. :/ The other was a pair of dark gray Converse All Stars.
Incidentally both shoes are representative of types of shoes I was denied from having at a young age. Patent leather was a BIG no-no because as my mom put it, "it doesn't let your foot breathe." I always mumbled under my breath that feet don't have lungs, but it was a non-discussion point. The other were the All Stars. My mom considered them boy shoes, so as her only daughter, I was not allowed to get them. "But," I'd argue, "they come in pink!" "Doesn't matter," was my mom's only answer. Also not really a discussion.
But now I have a pair each of the forbidden shoes. The patent leather ones are kind of holey, so maybe my feet won't suffocate, and maybe my mom would think they are cute. The All Stars are gray though. Definitely not a girl color. Probably no redeeming factor otherwise. Perhaps my mom wouldn't approve; though come to think of it, I doubt she'd actually care at this point.
In fact, she actually bought me a pair of All Stars a couple years ago for Christmas. They were high-tops and made from some non-canvas woven material that I'm sure only a girl would wear. They were pretty and I liked them, but I never did wear the ones she got me. Now I have rebellious gray ones that I love.
Ok, so back in Portland, I arrived at my new apartment at 6:15 and the girl was still cleaning. I just had a few things that I had with me in Tacoma which I brought up to clear out the car. Laura and I had spotted some free stuff in someone's yard in Seattle. She snagged the coffee table and I got a canvas and wood chair, so I moved that up to my room too. I saw something exciting in front of my house: a free bed frame! The girl moving out had lugged it down to the street and put a sign on it that said, "free". I love free stuff. I told her that I'd take it if that was cool, which it was, so I lugged it back upstairs into my room.
Then I headed over to Justin's house to grab the rest of my stuff. I was beat though, so I sat on the couch for a while and zoned out.
Steph called and asked if I wanted to meet her and her friend Matt for dinner. I hopped up and got my suitcases into the car and went to meet them. We planned out camping trip to Crater Lake which will be happening in a few weeks.
I got back to my place after 9. I found a parking spot about a block away and managed to get all my bags up to my room.
My room was cluttered with bags, shoes, bed frame, and chair parts, but no bed, so I slept on the guest bed which is not incredibly comfortable, but not awful either.