About Me

I live in Portland with my sexy beast of a husband, Matt, and our way-too-cute little dog, Ella. We like coffee, music, shows and listening to music at shows.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Mistletoe and holly...

I didn't use any mistletoe or holly in my holiday decorations. The title is a lie. *Shame.

I call this year's Christmas decor "Desperation and Apathy."  I'd planned to do a lot more, but got sidelined. NEXT YEAR.

 Christmas mouse in the window.  I've since turned it so that it's looking outside.  Less creepy that way.

We finally have stockings!  Only been together 5 years and we finally have stockings to hang with care.


 I have a slight obsession with snowman.

And a slight obsession with putting ornaments in jars.


 And a more than slight obsession with this critter.

I didn't make that bow.  :(

I think I'm bordering on too many ornaments.  Good problem to have.

There's a lot more pics on the Instagram.  @sommereverett
That's where I post all the embarrassing stuff.  And by "embarrassing" I mean "embarrassing for Ella cause 99% of the pictures are of her."

Feliz Navidad!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Frosted window panes...

So I've been M.I.A. for a while.  Thanks to this cursed disease. 
Here's the Cliff's notes version of the last 3.5 months:

- Woke up September 1 and couldn't use my left arm or leg.  Hobbling ensues.

- Labor Day: Finally go to urgent care and (bless them!) they scrounged up IV steriods for me.

- 3 days of steroids. Still hobbling.  And also unable to eat or sleep.  Purchase a 6 pack of Ensure and a cane.

- Sob hysterically due to hunger and exhaustion.  Fall out of bed during the night and can't get back in.

- Get prescription for Ambien.  That shit does not work.

- Start taking Ambien with a glass of wine.  That shit does work.

- Sept 13: Return to work for half days.  Start pounding muscle relaxers.

- October: Muscle relaxers start causing insomnia.  Ambien and wine no longer effective.

- Have a panic attack at work due to muscle spasms and exhaustion.  Boss holds me and strokes my hair until I calm down.  Decide I have an awesome boss.

- Go to weekly physical therapy sessions to learn to walk again.

- Start a new drug that involves one monthly IV infusion instead of daily shots.

- Decide new drug is awesome

- Manage to go to a nice anniversary dinner.

- Say "eff it" to the muscle relaxers.  No negative effects noted.

- Lose a lot of Fantasy Football games.

- A Thanksgiving with just me, Matt, two big steaks and a bottle of whiskey.

- A week in north Louisiana and Dallas with family.  Feeling good enough to slide at the park with my niece.

- Today, I'm feeling better than I have in a long, long time. 

It's good to be back.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Au-gust I'll Make a Blog Post...

That was a bad, bad joke.  Sorry.

My parents were here for the first week of July and then Matt's parents were here for the second week, which means Matt and I had to actually do some of the things we'd been saying we would do.  However, I only took pictures at the Oregon coast.  The rest are on my phone and I'm too lazy to upload.


It was WINDY.  And smelled so salty fresh.







We finally got some chairs for our living room...they came precisely after all of our guests had left.  Hmph.



I was watching "Shawshank Redemption."



I also made some curtains for our patio door.  Ignore the mess that is my sewing corner.  I don't actually sew.


This is the first room either of us have painted IN OUR LIVES.  Still have lots of stuff to hang on the walls.  Color check: Sherwin Williams Baize Green


I painted the half bath one Sunday afternoon.  It's definitely more purple than it shows here.  I was going for a purple/gray but in natural light, it is a light light purple. Color Check: Sherwin Williams Destiny


I can grow the heck out of some house plants.  And dahlias apparently.  Maybe in October I'll post the pictures of taken of our yard/flowers/grass.  Obviously, I'm a blogging slacker.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

out of steam

i would like to be able to say that i've been absent from blogland due to excessive unpacking/nesting.  sadly, i officially ran out of steam this past saturday.  i painted our half bath and then had two dark and stormys (dark rum + ginger beer) at dinner with matthew everett saturday night and then...the apathy set in.  

this is what our house looked like two days after we moved in.  i will say it looks 1000% better now...and we have a couch.




 master closet...aka proof that God loves me

 i got a garment rack for all teh vintage i've aquired...it was definitely just $20 and it shows in the way it constantly leans to the left.
this was the sky on our way to sign all the papers on our hizzouse.  seriously, ppl who diss on portland weather need to be jacked in the face.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

slow motion

this time next week, we'll finally have the keys to our little house and my bigger-than-expected tattoo will be finished.  today i started the repacking process by taping up two boxes.  of bath and body works candles.  that's about all i can do right now.  so in honor of what is sure to be the longest two weeks of my life until we move, here are 10 things i'm most looking forward to in regards to living in our house.

1) no more waiting outside in the wind and rain for ella to poop!!!  even though we had a house in new orleans, it had no yard, so i've spent the last 5 years taking ella up and down stairs, out in the rain or boiling sun, and patiently waiting for her to defecate.  our yard is the size of a thimble but that's plenty of room for a tiny dog that i can now shoo out the patio door and go on about my bidness.

2) a garage!  matt and i will be able to park beside each other...no more street parking!  no more dusting snow off the windshield or waiting for the car to defrost!  a luxury i've never known.

3) a microwave!!!!  no more reheating leftovers in the oven (or not reheating leftovers).  no more melting butter with my blowdryer (not my brightest moment...)

4) a closet big enough for our clothes!!!!!!!  i still have so many clothes in boxes getting more and more wrinkled as i type. really grates on my nerves, but SOON! they shall be neatly hung in our walk-in closet.

5) watching tv and movies on a couch!!!!  matt and i watched dexter and a little breaking bad from the discomfort of our daybed.  it was not enjoyable and serial killers and meth lords should be enjoyable!

6) a kitchen i can bake in!!  with an oven that doesn't have the temperatures on the knob worn off so i have to guess at what temp i'm baking at.  the one time i baked cookies, it was a frownie face.

7) using OUR washer/dryer!! while our 70s appliances have successfully cleaned our clothes, nothing can be done while the washer is running because it's so.loud.  too loud for tv.  too loud for sleep. LOUD.

8) i can use my sewing machine!!!  i've been pinning the crap out of sewing projects that have had to be put on hold. until now.

9) have i mentioned how excited i am to sleep in a real bed with my husband again?  we've slept in separate beds for 5 months.  FIVE MONTHS.

10) cutting our commute (almost) in half!!  it takes btw 45 minutes and an hour to get to work...i get up at 6 and rarely make it to work before 8:15.  a shorter commute means more time at home, which means more rest, which means no more sleeping all weekend thanks to my lesion-infested brain.  which also means, finally having the energy to find a church and maybe make a friend or two.  we still don't know hardly anyone here. :(

i'm not one to wish time away, but i really really want the next two weeks to zoooooooooom by...

Monday, May 14, 2012

portland eats: whole bowl

i may have mentioned before that i have the luxury of working about 2 blocks from a food cart pod (a pod is a just a cluster of food carts...there's far too many scattered throughout PDX).  it's a really great pod, too.  i frequent the BBQ cart (crazy good potato salad), the waffle cart (monte cristo waffle?? yes pwease) and the frying scotsman...home of craptastic fish and chips.

but lately i have been OBSESSED with whole bowl.  it's the simplest concept: brown rice and beans in a bowl with avocado, salsa, cheddar cheese, sour cream and...tali sauce.  aka "crack sauce."  PDX is obsessed with it and rightfully so.  it's a garlicky, lemony, mustardy, tangy, orgasmic sauce that coats all the yumminess in the bowl.  DELICIOUS.  and suprisingly guilt free (gotta have the sour cream, though).  i've been known to make 2 meals out of one $5.50 bowl of nomners.  so it's healthy, cheap, and filling.  *does cartwheels of joy...
p.s. their motto is "it's like eating a hug."  SO.TRUE.

there's about a bajillion food carts in p-land (approx 650) but right now, i can't get enough whole bowl.  even though there's carts that serve escargot and brisket and chicken and biscuits...i'm obsessed.

we also tried an ice cream cart, fifty licks, sunday and it was YUMNERS.  i had the coconut lemon saffron sorbet.  balls of amaze...

p-land has amazing food.  don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

sunshine...on my shoulders...

makes me happy...

i posted a comment on misti's blog and realized i actually have enough to say to make a post.  i'm drinking berry beer and it's delish.  that's worth a post in itself.

now that we have a house, i've gotten to go to a furniture store and actually buy stuff.  first time, we bought a couch, a mattress (an ammmaaaaazing mattress i have yet to sleep on) and a bed.  saturday we went back and ordered two accent chairs so guests won't have to sit on the floor.  i found the responsibility of picking out furniture both intimidating and exhilarating.

sunday afternoon, it was 65 and sunny, so we took ella to walk around a quaint little neighborhood in the northeast and get ice cream.  THE.BEST.STRAWBERRY.ICE.CREAM.  please come to portland and let me take you to salt & straw.  their strawberry balsamic ice cream is amazecraps.  it's like strawberry ice cream with big juicy globs of strawberry jam mixed in...nom.

ella took a 30 minute crap on the side of the road.

a lot of stores and restaurants in p-land leave big water bowls outside their shop doors for ppl walking by with pets.  i think that's so adorbs.  ella doesn't drink in front of people so she's never made use of one.

today, it was sunny and 72 this afternoon, so i left work for a few minutes to sit in the park across from my work.  since we get so much rain, when the sun is out, every single person in p-land is out.  it's bonding.

i love having a spring time!!! so many shades of green, pink, purple, red, orange...spring time is a happy time.

i shaved off part of my fingernail in the shower tonight.  i know, right?

Friday, April 13, 2012

i surprise myself


portland is not the best place for someone who already had hipster tendencies. wait...i'm revolutionizing the term "hipster" so that it is seen as a good thing. the word itself is an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.

i digress.

what i'm trying to say is that before portland, i was a music snob. and a food snob. now i'm also a coffee snob and a beer snob. i'm a HIPSTER.

part of my music snob-ness used to cause me to turn my nose up at solo artists. i was all about the harmonies and trading vocal duties of full bands. i blame eisley. beautiful eisley.

it's already the middle of april and there's only 3 albums that i've actually listened to on repeat this year. confession: and their all solo female acts. can you see my mind opening?? my horizons broadening?? i've decided these 3 girls sort of represent a "easy, medium, difficult" situation.

for "easy," we have the painfully eye-catching lana del rey. i've listened to her album on repeat, repeat, repeat since january. i like every song and love almost every song on Born to Die...particularly "off to the races," "lolita," and "summertime sadness." those were the first 3 that came to mind. i could've kept going. and look how pretty...i could land a helicopter on those lips.



for the slightly more adventurous, i offer the "medium" option of alex winston. quirky and happy and dark and a little angry. i could actually just listen to instrumental versions of her songs and be happy because it's just great melodies. but her voice is too precious for words. she wants so bad to be angry. obsessed with "sister wife," "the fold," and "host" off her album King Con...........someone give the girl some blush.


for the reeeally daring, we have anais mitchell. sleepy, folky, glassy, dreamy. HIPSTER. portland would most likely scoff at my mention of lana and alex and then let me redeem myself by including anais. listen to "wilderland," "young man in american," and "dyin day" off
Young Man in America.



we've only been to one live show since we've lived here. PATHETIC.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

closing time


did you start singing the semisonic song in your head? no? ok.

we finally get to close on our house on may 26, barring any terrible unforeseen circumstances.

if it looks like the house we put an offer on in december, it's because it's like 4 houses down. we liked the neighborhood, mmkay?



WELCOME! isn't it adorbs?



when you walk in the front door. they have these things in oregon called "coat closets." totally foreign concept but that's what the door is by the stairs. the open door leads to a half bath.


dining room to the right. obsessed with the cherry hardwoods.


dining room.



living room from the kitchen.


the kitch.

matt and i will graduate from eating dinner on the couch to eating dinner at the bar.


looking into the dining room...cooouunnttersppppacceeeeeee

master bedroom. we're gonna buy a bed to put in it.




view from master closet into master bath. SHELVES.

master bathroom. i think the last time i took a bath was march 19, 2010 so i really didn't care that it doesn't have a tub.


the guest bathroom has a tub, if i feel the need to stew in my own filth.


guest room. there's another bedroom and i guess it wasn't worthy of a photo.


garage and our very own "no parking" sign.

there's a pic of the downstairs half bath but i guess it got lost in the interwebz. we still have to wait 6 weeks until closing but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel. soon we will actually sleep in the same bed. and have a couch. and i can unpack my pyrex!!!!!!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

i need to rant

i'm not really a ranter. i don't get upset or annoyed to the point of ranting very oft. poor ju-dat has borne the brunt of my ranting today. yet i find i need to rant more.

so i follow numerous blogs of people from high school/college. i'm not normally a jealous person. i had friends in junior high that i wanted to dress like, but usually i was ok with the way things were. our current living situation may have something to do with this...

i will follow my rant with an anti-rant so that you don't feel like you have to offer me any pity.

it bugs me that some of these "old friends" i follow would look down on me because we're living in a tiny, old apartment right now. i know they would because they looked down on me in high school for putting packaged lunch meat on my sandwiches instead of "deli meat." i'm serious.

if they still gave a rat's ass about me, they would be sitting on their plush, luxurious leather couch, reading this from their macbook. thinking "bless her little heart...where are her tori burch flats???? her prada bag????? omg is that from f21?!?!?!" trust me.

i'm annoyed that so many people i know have felt content to stay in their safe little arkansas/louisiana bubble (not you, t) and yet i know they would judge me for the decision we made to live in new orleans and now portland. we don't have a microwave right now. we live beside a shooting rage so we hear gunshots constantly. they wouldn't put up with this kind of living situation because they've never had to because they always had their plush, cushy nerf life.

i could have that life too, if i wanted to live in a craphole city with no culture and nothing to offer. that's the trade off. big, beautiful house...suck-face USA city.

i didn't want to make that trade.

i chose to cook with vintage pyrex instead of stainless all-clad. to wear a vintage robert david morton dress to lunch instead of diane von furstenberg. to live in a tiny apartment with no furniture because it's in an awesome city that i love. and i'm not the only one. your $250,000 house would easily cost half a million dollars here...because people WANT to live here. no one wants to live in poopville, arkansas. that's why you got 3500 sq ft for $280,000. not because you're an awesome person with an awesome life.

my life has always veered away from what everyone else was doing and i used to hate it. but the life i've gotten to live in 28+ years more than trumps your perfectly manicured lawn and overpriced car. sometimes i just have to remind myself of that.

Monday, March 5, 2012

cribs: squatters' edition

it's march and we're still squatting in an apartment. it usually doesn't bother me that much, although i am dying to finally unpack these boxes. but tonight i got a little impatient/annoyed because i realized you can get a really super freakin' nice house in arkansas or dallas for what we're paying on a short sale (upside of short sale: crazy good deal). the downside would be having to live in arkansas or dallas and neither suit our personalities whatsoever. the everett's fit no mold!

anywho, i thought blogland should have a better idea of the digs we've lived in since december 26th.

this is the "master" bedroom. if you'll recall, we gave away almost all of our furniture in new orleans and are waiting until we move in a house to buy more. so i sleep on the day bed. matt sleeps on the trundle underneath. ella sleeps in the red velvet bed on the floor. you can see her crap face on the pillows on the bed. being a crap face. ah and yes...our sliding closet doors are mirrored.


this is my tv watchin' view. the day bed doubles as a couch. because we don't have one. that's my pile of clothes on top of the pile of boxes. and i was watching e! news.


the luxurious master bath. it's actually not bad, space-wise. it just has a stand-up shower that makes leg shaving impossible and/or dangerous.


this is the second bedroom. currently our washer/dryer and 50% of our crap are living in it.


check out this high quality washer and dryer. the washer makes interesting seal-like noises whilst agitating. it's agitating.


the kitch. there's nowhere else the trash can go. we do actually have a garbage disposal (silver lining).


dining room. and my font has changed. FOR NO REASON. also, i dig through all those boxes a lot.

living room. you can see our mardi gras wreath along with matt's punkin head. and what 70s apartment is complete without vertical blinds?!?


this is matt's bathroom, complete with jacuzzi tub that only ella has used.


and here's doofy butt dog. looking like she only has one paw.

please pray we can close on our house soon. surely this stirred some sense of sympathy deep in your bowels.

Friday, February 24, 2012

the times they are a-changin'...

i finally put some effort into making my blog not look hoopty.

i am once again gainfully employed. at an architecture firm. not doing anything particularly interesting, but the coffee is good and there's free food most every day.

but the best part...

THE.BEST.PART...

there's a kegerator in the kitchen. so last friday i had a nice glass of deschutes red chair NWPA before i left work.

portland 1. new orleans 0.

also, wednesday was national margarita day so one of the project managers made margaritas. so i drank margaritas at my desk all afternoon. then we all went out for happy hour and the company paid. i'm already spoiled.

HOWEVER...i work downtown. and boora doesn't pay for parking. so matt and i started carpooling, which means i ride with him to his work in the northwest and then hop on the streetcar to downtown. i feel like such a grown up.

i am having a hard time adjusting to working again. i miss ella. i hate getting up at 6am. i hate the traffic. but i don't feel like a worthless, steaming pile of cow dung (figuratively speaking.) {name that movie!!!!} i am once again contributing to the household. and feeding ella's food habit. it's OOC.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Eleven Questions

this came at a good time. i've felt the need to blog, but had nothing to say.

UNTIL NOW!

tanks, judith. tanks.

11 things about me, 11 questions to answer and 11 questions for someone else to answer...although i know less than 11 people in this entire world so i'm not holding my breaf.

Random Crap

1) february 22 will be 6 years since i was diagnosed with MS

2) the only pop tarts i'll eat are unfrosted strawberry

3) i met my husband through xanga

4) i went to a garth brooks concert on january 17, 1993

5) i was lil' miss darbonne range rider rodeo queen in 1993 (it was a big year)

6) my hair was down to my buttocks for much of my pre-adolescence.

7) i used to eat my cereal dry...as in sans milk, but still in a bowl with a spoon

8) i played the flute and piccolo in marching band

9) i also cheered for 6 years and we won state my senior year

10) i have the world's flattest feet so i will always look awkward in heels

11) my obsession with my dog knows no bounds

My Questions from Judith

1) Why did you decide to go to college? Or not go to college?
both of my parents and both of my brothers went to LA Tech, so it was kind of an obligation. i loved it though.

2) How did you pick your children's names? (And, if you don't have kids, do you have the names picked out?)
matt and i discuss our future children's names a lot. and we disagree a lot. if we have a girl, i want to name her lila because that was my best friend's mom's name when i was growing up and she recently passed away from parkinson's. maybe calvin for a boy because it's common but not common. cal for short. like cal ripken. little cal everett.

3) What was your favorite book as a kid?
ramona quimby, age 8

4) Favorite book as an adult?
redeeming love is the only book i've read more than once. but less than 3 times.

5) Is there some food item you hated as a kid but now like as an adult?
cheese. you read that right.

6) What's the best thing about your job?
flexible hours

7) What's the worst thing about your job?
no paycheck

8) Why do you blog?
because i can type faster than i can write. and i have a bad memory.

9) Why do you read my blog? Ha!
because you're my friend and i miss you (awwwwww)

10) Do you do Valentine's Day cards to family members/your significant other?
matt and i aren't big on cards. the only birthday card i ever gave him was a spiderman card that said something about a grandson. the only birthday card he's given me referred to me as a beautiful african sister. so no. we don't do cards.

11) What's your favorite flower?
i like roses which comes in handy when you live in the city of roses.

If You Dare...

1) Who taught you how to drive?

2) What's your dream car?

3) Favorite Bath and Body Works scent?

4) Is there a song/band that you absolutely hate? Like Taylor Swift?

5) Is there a piercing/tattoo that you really want?

6) What's your worst habit?

7) Does that damn ASPCA Sarah McLaughlin commercial ruin your entire day?

8) Name two people that would be on your "Elevator List."

9) Do you have a favorite Vera Bradly pattern?

10) Does the token stop spinning at the end of Inception?

11) Could you ever be vegan/vegetarian?

Monday, January 23, 2012

i need cheering up

i have a case of the moonsdays.

we put an offer on (another) short sale as soon as we moved here. we were hoping to hear from the bank this week, which we did. they accepted our offer. but i forgot there's two lenders that have to approve. and the second lender could take another 30 days. and then a 45 day closing. this house is right down from the first house we put an offer on (and lost) and looks exactly the same, except it's about 200 sq ft smaller. i have a stack of paint swatches on the counter. ready to get this show in the road.

also...i have 3 headhunters but no job. funny how i'm great at attracting headhunters but not employers. *pity party alert* so i sit here alone all day in an apartment full of boxes. and while this apartment is definitely livable, i'm quite certain methuselah was the first tenant of this place. whatever color appliance came before the awesome 70s avocado is what this place is outfitted with. i don't do well in temporary situations. anxiety robs me of sleep. *ends pity party*

we did get lots of pretty snow last week though. thick, fluffy snow. and this is what i get to see when i convince myself to run up the neighboring hill.

just ready to start making portland home.