ACTION is today’s 7 Days theme. Here I am loading the dishwasher so fast I’m a blur. Even though it’s a prosaic task and doesn’t make for a terribly exciting photo, I really like this shot. It’s a little piece of my daily life.

I had another option for today’s self-portrait but it was of me doing a cartwheel with my back to the camera. I decided against using it even though it was a fun idea. For one thing, it wasn’t that great of a photo; for another thing, I wouldn’t put it past Sarah (also known as that chick in England) to use it in the end-of-week mosaic just because it was of my butt. She’s devilish like that.

Photo by Annalie, age 4

I told Annalie about the day’s theme, explaining that she should be doing something in her self-portrait. She immediately decided she wanted to dance with Baby Annie on the deck. This is another self-timer photo. I was the tripod, but she looked through the viewfinder, lined up the shot, and pressed the button.

Annalie is dancing in her brand-new dress, a gift that arrived in the mail yesterday from the lovely Bex. She put it on the moment we got it, wore it to bed last night, and kept it on for much of the morning. She told Troy, “I only wore it for a couple of hours before bed last night, so I guess it’s okay for me to wear it today too!” Fair enough.

Along with the dress (bought on clearance at Target when Bex still worked there) the care package included sparkly star stickers, a little teddy bear, a Halloween duckie, bracelets for me and Annalie, and a pack of her favorite pens which are now one of my favorite pens too.

Annalie insisted on dictating a thank-you email right away. I swear this is exactly what she said to me.

Dear Bex,

The End.

Annalie and I have been having a blast in Oregon so far! Did I mention that we were going to Oregon? Hmm, maybe I only twittered about that.

So…we’re in Oregon! We came to visit our good friends Erin & Rocco, whose wedding cake I made last fall. I was glad to move back to California partly because we would be on the same coast as them for a while. One of the biggest reasons I didn’t go to BlogHer even though it was happening in my state was because I decided I’d rather spend the money to visit Erin & Rocco.

I think I made the right decision! We’ve been blowing bubbles, cooking & eating great food, playing with the cats, going to the park, playing board games, and just hanging out and talking. Is there anything better than time spent with good friends you know so well that it doesn’t even matter if you haven’t seen them in a year?

While we were in Portland on Saturday we managed to meet up with Rhi, who won The Great Gumball Giveaway last spring. Since I’d just painted a dotty plate for her, I delivered it in person, and she was sweet enough to bring a hand-knitted snake for Annalie (which she promptly christened “Pinky Pretty Snakey” and has been carrying around ever since). Rhi suggested an excellent place for lunch where I ate the best mac & cheese of my life, and then she took us to the Saturday Market and we wandered around for a while. It was typical of all my internet meetings thus far, which is to say it was totally great! Rhi, I look forward to seeing you again next time we’re in Portland. (You too, Kerri!)

Would you believe all of this was only our first day in Oregon? I have more photos from today but have barely even looked at them yet. I don’t know how much time I’ll be spending online the rest of the week. If you don’t hear from me it’s because we’re too busy with all the mini-golf and Scattergories and going to the park and looking at photo albums and chasing cats and picking Asian pears and drinking homemade beer. Cheers!

“I kinda liiiiike…I kinda like penguins the best.”
07:07 PM January 14, 2008 from web

Awake, and telling the cat, “Wow, Katy, that’s some LOUD purring you’ve got right there!”
06:22 PM January 16, 2008 from web

“Mommy, is he a bad guy? Look at his eyebrows!”
02:06 PM January 23, 2008 from web

refereeing a fight between my horsey and my lemur…”my lemur is sad because he wanted to be a horse too, but they can kiss and make up.”
05:43 PM January 31, 2008 from web

“Peter piper picked a speck of sparkled vine!”
11:40 AM February 02, 2008 from web

listening to my mom blowing her nose, saying grouchily, “I’m ALLERGIC to BOOGERS!”
09:45 AM February 13, 2008 from web

blowing up my pink inflatable fish-shaped ring to take to the pool, saying, “I’m PRETTY sure this is a stingray…”
08:57 AM April 05, 2008 from web

“I’m strong as a rainbow!”
11:48 AM April 23, 2008 from web

“Oh, the french horn SURPRISED me!”
04:09 PM April 26, 2008 from web

“Hey, CHIP and DIP! They rhyme!”
10:01 PM August 05, 2008 from web