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!

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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?