Okay, Really Saturday today.

Apparently I'm off a day.

With five days to go, we had friends and family over for a farewell BBQ

Here is my Niece

Harry Potter Day

On this random day in the beginning of summer some girlfriends of mine and I decided it was a good day to have a Harry potter marathon and make some things from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.

We made:

Molly's Meatballs with Onion Sauce (pg 83)

BBQ and Brownies

Today my dear friend Steph and her husband hosted a BBQ.  If you don't know Steph here is a picture of her and her new Tatoo! Check out her Blog HERE.  She's really into different quilts right now and she talks about her cats like I do!  

Graduation!

Happy Graduation to two great people.

My dear co-worker Sophie (this is a picture of the butter balls from her party!)

And

My dear friend Tina

 

Samoa Cake

I've been feeling down lately.  Stressed out.

Then I realized that's all I've been doing, stressing.

A girl needs to get out of the house.

Or stay in and bake!

A co-worker of mine challenged me to make this cake.

And I decided today was as good as any day to do it.

Now I'm feeling accomplished.

And a little bit happier.

Samoa Cake

Yes like the girl scout cookie

(my favorite girl scout cookie)

Cows

Have I mentioned how much I love cows.

My obsession started on my very first trip up north to Oregon.

I cannot remember my exact age, but it was probably between the ages of 10 and 14.

There were so many green pastures and most of them were filled with beautiful black and white cows.

For many years after, both my Aunt Judy and my Grandma gave me many cow themed gifts.

My love for cows was so complete that, up until four years ago I refused to eat beef.

My recent trip to Oregon re-ignited this strange love of cows.

Here are some cows I took a picture of today while I went about my daily travels.

What's in my Chico Bag?

Alex and I have been living in Chico, CA for almost four years now and I had not purchased a ChicoBag.

I have lots of other reusable grocery bags so I really never though about needing one before.  However, today I went to the store and left my other bags at home.  No big deal I'll just carry my items, but right next to the register was this beautiful ChicoBag and I could not resist.

 

Saturday Pictures

Lulu*s is having an outlet sale today and tomorrow.

Day Two of Birthday Weekend

Dinner with Alex at Broadway Heights!

Last Meal...

Well at least for a little while.

My dear friends are moving, this Saturday to Portland.

So, last night we went out to dinner at the local Jamaican restaurant.

Here we all are.



Having Drinks



Our meals. Two Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Ital Stew, and Ackee and Salted fish.



Alex and Jacks.



Alex and M



M and I



Jacks and I

This may be the end of an era, but it is not the end of a great friendship.
I will miss seeing Jacks and M all the time.

Today

I've been very busy lately.

The date for taking the GRE is this coming Tuesday.

When I'm not studying, I'm avoiding studying.

For today's distraction, Alex and I took a walk around our neighborhood.

Signs of Fall.



Squirrel in a tree.



Zoey stalking prey.



The view outside my kitchen door.



Zoey basking in the last rays of sun.

Stranger

So, I woke up this morning to the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me.

Let's back track a little.

Alex and I have been living in this Northern California College town for a little over three years now. This town has a reputation for being a party place. The place we live is off the beaten path, and should have been far enough away from the parting.

For the most part we know our neighbors and they know us. Recently, however we have had a few neighbor change overs and thus new people in our little hideaway. This may having nothing to do with the incident that I'm about to divulge, but I feel it may have played a role.

On to the incident.

I woke up and Zoey was acting a little strange for the morning. Usually she sleeps until we start to stir, but this morning she was running around the bedroom. I thought nothing of it. She is a strange cat. It was almost time for Alex to get up to head to work so I thought I'd get up first so that I could use the bathroom before he took over.

I got out of the bed.

Put my glasses on.

And walked to the doorway between the living room and bedroom.

Then I noticed that the living room was in shambles.

First thought: "what have the cats been doing in here?"

The Rock Band Drums were toppled over and the sheet that had been drying on it was spread across the floor.

That is when I see the shoes.

And not only shoes, but feet inside shoes.

That is when I realize there is a person under the sheet.

What?

There was no extra person in my house when I went to bed last night.

"Alex, is there supposed to be someone on our livingroom floor?"

"What? No."

"Well there is someone."

So, He jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes. Picked up a wooden sword that we have. Poked the guy. The guy did not move.

So I called 911.

While I was on the phone with 911, the guy roused himself and left.

The police came, found the guy and the guy

He said he was confused because he'd been parting with us at out house the night before.

I think I would have remembered a party at my house.

And really, I would not have made filet mignon for a drunken party.

I'm just very confused. And it freaked me out. So Steph from Hope Sewing is Genetic came and spent the day with me.

We had a lovely breakfast:

Then we went to JoAnn's. The first Trip I picked up some Halloween Baking supplies.

The next trip, I got some fabric for a couple of new projects.

I think these are all going to aprons. I'm really obsessed with those right now. I just want to keep making more and more.

And well I don't have Halloween one yet.
The Dia de los Muerto's Skulls will go very nicely with the orange polka dots and the plain orange for a reversible apron.

Alex's has been saying that the parties have been creeping ever closer.

So today's lesson. Triple make sure your door is locked before you go to bed.

Also I think it's time to move.

Until then I'm going to rearrange my living room.

New Restaurant

New Restaurant in the neighborhood, Sipho's. A co-worker of mine mentioned that when she was driving down this road the other day that she saw a bright building. A brand new Jamaican restaurant.



We opted for out door patio seating. The night was beautiful and the setting amazing.



Lately, Alex and I have been watching lots and lots of food shows that take the viewer to far-flung places and the hosts experience new and exciting dishes from a wide variety of cultures. Obviously, we cannot be jet-setters, but we can try out new things in the world around us.

Like...

Ginger Lemonade.

Jerk Chicken

Brown Stewed Fish

Everything, was so good. I recommend everyone try this new restaurant.

Happy eating

Richard Leakey

When your are told that a Rock star is coming to campus, it evokes the images of many famous people. Who could it be? Madonna? NickelBack? Richard Leakey? Wait Richard Leakey? Who is Richard Leakey? And why is he a Rock Star?

According to talkorigins.org, “Richard Erskine Leakey was born on December 19, 1944. At an early age, he decided he wanted nothing to do with paleoanthropology, and later dropped out of high school. In 1964, he led an expedition to a fossil site he had seen from the air and discovered that he enjoyed looking for fossils. He also discovered, to his dismay, that although he had technically led the expedition, all the glory went to the scientists who studied the specimens. So in 1965, he went to England to study for a degree. He spent 6 months catching up on two years of missed high school then returned home to resume his safaris, work at the National Museum of Kenya, and manage paleontological expeditions (he never did return to get his degree).”

"After working on a French/Kenyan/American joint expedition to Omo in Ethiopia, Richard realized once again that his lack of scientific qualifications hindered his progress, so he asked the National Geographic Society for funds to run his own excavation at a site he had found near Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana) in Kenya. In 1968, nimble political maneuvering led to him being appointed as the director of the National Museum of Kenya, and he commenced fossil hunting at Rudolf. The expedition was successful, finding large numbers of fossils, including hominids. The excavations continued in subsequent years, producing a steady stream of hominid fossils that dazzled the scientific world. Most spectacular were the fossils ER 1470, a Homo habilis skull found in 1972, and ER 3733, a Homo erectus skull found in 1975."

Now you might still be scratching your head as to why is he a Rock Star, well I should probably qualify it, he is considered a Rock Star to Anthropologist. So on a Cold and rainy night in the begining of October a multitude of people swarmed to come see him speak at Laxson Auditorium in Chico, California. He look much like he looks in the photo graph below, complete with podium, but minus the Stony Brook University sign. 

His lecture was humorous and elicited many laughs from the audience. He outlined his life, from dropping out of high school, to loosing his legs, to being part of the political workings of the Kenyan government. He briefly mentioned the skeletons that he has found that have contributed hugely to the fossil record. But mostly he tried to focus on conservation.

Dr. Leakey believes that our national parks are becoming islands, that if we don't do something soon the impact of climate change will hit these parks hard and we will loose many animals to extinction. He went on to say that it's not to late to make a difference, but that we have to try. We have to realize that global warming will probably affect us in our lifetime and not our children or our children's children. That if we just stop wasting, the whole world will be better off in the long run. He also believes that we need to educate and bring the standard of living up for all people of the planet. For people who have more education and a higher standard of living have less children, and at 6 Billion and growing the human population is far exceeding the resources of this planet.


As an anthropology student and a member of the human race, I found his talk inspiring and I was also in awe of the man, how he over came loosing both his legs in a airplane crash to lead a very successful life. I hope you all go out and find out more about Richard Leakey and all that he has giving to us as the human race.




Photos found at the following:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/3733.html
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/1470.html
www.grad.sunysb.edu/newsletter/REL%20Stars%20...
www.savetherhino.org/.../site/808/default.aspx
www.sciencemusings.com/2007/11/long-ago-and-f...
All info about Dr. Leakey's life found at:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/rleakey.html

2008 Chico World Music Festival

The world music festival at Chico state was a multi-cultural event in the beautiful setting of a northern California central valley town. On Sunday September 21, 2008 the weather was perfect for this exciting event, as I walked down the streets to the Chico state campus a light breeze rustled through my hair.

The campus was full of vendors selling various items from cloths to jewelry to different kinds of food.

I partook of some Indian cuisine as we all waited for the next musical group to take the stage. At about 2:00 p.m. the Venezuelan Music Project took the stage. I sat back amongst the other onlookers waiting for the music to start. It came as a pounding drum beat that could be felt through out the body.

Then my view was obstructed by the multitude of people getting up to move with the music. The throng of people moved and pulsed with the drum beat. The vocals came out and reached into your soul even if you can not understand the language that they were being sung in. The whole crowd of dancers expressed themselves with their bodies.

At one point an impromptu conga line snaked it's way through the mass of dancers collecting more and more people as it went.

These two gentlemen formed a limbo pole with there arms under which several dancers dared to go low. As the group preformed Calypso style music.

A little back ground information about the Venezuelan Music Project.

The Venezuelan Music Project was founded in 1997 by musical director Jackeline Rago, to share the sounds and cultural traditions of Venezuela in the San Francisco Bay Area and the continental United States.
(http://www.venezuelanmusicproject.com/theband.html)

Combining the Indigenous-Venezuelan, West African and Spanish-European influences, this project emerges as a dynamic ensemble full of vitality, energy and color. (http://www.venezuelanmusicproject.com/theband.html)

Among the many styles showcased, the group performs Calypso del Callao, Parrandas, Tamboreras, Sangueos, Golpes de Tambor, Tonadas de Quitiplás, Tambor Redondo, Gaitas, Joropos, Merengues, Fulías and spiritual chants inspired by the daily life of the Venezuelan countryside.
(http://www.venezuelanmusicproject.com/theband.html)

I would encourage everyone to go to their web page and experience the unique music that they create.

http://www.venezuelanmusicproject.com/music.html

It was well worth the time I spent going to the festival to see this preformance. I was struck by their energy and vivaciousness. I can not express in words the feelings the music brought to me as I got up and danced with the many other people there.

All images taken by Dianna J. Redmond

Information about the band found at the following web site:

http://www.venezuelanmusicproject.com/