Events: August 20th & 21st- Arts in Nature Festival & September 2nd through 5th- Radical Mycology Convergence

I'm a little late on this post- as Arts in Nature Festival starts in less than twelve hours- but I do love last minute plans.

"This experiential performing-arts based event which includes a wide variety of live music performances, dance troupes, aerial & fire performances, interactive arts activities, illuminaria, and sound & visual installations in 8 of the rustic cabins creating a Museum of Sound that festival attendees can explore and interact with.  Some of this year’s festival artists include: Trimpin, The Moondoggies, The Legandary Oaks, Lelavision, The Cabiri, Christian Swenson, Caspar Babypants, and The Early Music Guild to name a few.  The event is free with a suggested $10 donation.  It is also a waste-free event with food served on reusable plates and cloth napkins." 

More information can be found here!

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The Radical Mycology Convergence is happening over Labor Day weekend and is going to be a weird and awesome weekend full of weird and awesome mushroomy things. I am almost a little embarrassed about how excited I am about this.

"A free, volunteer-run gathering of mycologists, hobbyists, and Earth healers coming together to share skills and information related to  the benefits of the fungal kingdom in terms of remediative properties as well as human uses. This weekend-long event will culminate in a remediation project to put theory to practice and will also be a unique chance to build community with like-minded mycophiles (aka mushroom lovers) from around North America."

More information can be found here, and please do note that you need to RSVP to attend. I will be leaving from Seattle that Saturday mid-afternoon and have room in my tiny car for another two people. Shoot me an email at renai.marie@areyoumyghost.com if you're interested in carpooling! Car is FULL!

Link Love!

This post is dedicated to Ellie!  My meanest, bossiest friend, who I adore.

Food Security and the Rural Female Farmer from Reel Story Films on Vimeo.

- Lemon Curd Squares with Rosemary are oh-so going to happen in my kitchen this week.  Don't tell Renee.

- Pears in Sweet Tea Syrup sound like the grown-up version of canned pears, which I still have a soft-spot for!  I'm definitely going to try these out.

- Yes and Yes has an awesome post titled The Podcast Fantastic that I'm so excited about.  I'm about to start commuting via bus again, and it's my favorite time to listen to podcasts and catch up on reading!

- Megan from Not Martha did a great write-up of the Theo Chocolate Factory Tour.  Um, can you believe that one of my favorite people works for Theo and I've still never been on the tour?  Shameful, I know.

- Do You Want To Be A Mermaid or A Whale? is just awesome.  (I pick whale).

- Sunday, September 26th- Christina from Nettletown is hosting Hot Town Dinner, featuring hot cakes by Autumn Martin and beautiful fall savories made by Christina.  Nettletown was also recently written up in The Stranger!  Check out the article here!

Kimya Dawson at Ballard Mine

The Ballard Mine is a really wonderful space that I discovered this past winter, when my friend Brittany tweeted that her boyfriend's band was playing there.  I, living in Ballard, and never having heard of this place (I also hadn't seen Brittany in something like 8 years!) was intrigued.  As it turns out- the space is less than a block from my apartment, and puts on a lot of really great shows.  It's an incredibly positive and welcoming space, that focuses on sharing skills and sharing music.

Earlier this week the adorably famous Kimya Dawson played.  Amy and I squished criss-cross-applesauce onto the floor right smack in front of her and grinned like silly fools through most of her set.  Her songs are almost always cute and a little silly- and quite often completely heartbreaking.  I wish that I could have recorded her entire set, and while my camera couldn't quite handle that- I did get her new "rap" on camera.  Enjoy!

Pomplamoose

My friend Mike sent me an e-mail last night, with links to a few videos by this sweet little duo from San Francisco.  Pomplamoose, meaning "grapefruit" in French.  They make their music with two simple rules:

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

Hence the reason why they started off only making videos- although they now have two albums available for download on iTunes.  Give them a listen!  Their cover of Single Ladies is the cutest thing in the world.

Saturday Night Solo Pickling Party

I finally did it!

Homegrown jalapenos, locally grown garlic, sweet carrots, red onions, and green beans.  My brine was a mixture of white vinegar, wine, water, sea salt, and a spice mixture that included lavender, sage, and orange peel, as well as oregano and some other goodies.  This was my first time pickling anything, and everything went really well.  Obviously it still might taste completely disgusting and we might die when we eat the first jar... but for right now I'm happy believing that I did everything right.  I did it based off of the recipe Matao's coworker gave him, a few things I read online, advice from my mom, and my general technique of using whatever the hell we have/I feel like. 

Oh yeah, and Matao has never sprouted an avocado seed before, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to change his life.  Because it is life changing, afterall.

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Unrelated: last night was really wonderful.  I had tickets to Sunny Day Real Estate, so Becca came as my date.  Not only did we get to hang out in the oh-so-exclusive Paramount Club; drinking overpriced falsely named drinks (Pink Pussy? Excuse me???), and having first (or second) encounters with a bidet (best invention EVER), but the band was absolutely perfect.  I still remember hearing them for the first time when I was 7th grade.  It took a long time for me to really appreciate them (after they broke up, of course), but I'm so grateful that I got to see them play together.  It was almost as good as Lifetime getting back together.  ALMOST. 





♥ R.

Favorites

I can't stop listening to this obsessively on repeat. It has been forever since I've really fallen for a band- and this is doing it big time. This whole album is a winner. It makes me miss my past life. FFLY.





This is Henry. He is a rather sad, lost, and rejected baby seagull who I have taken under my figurative wing. We found him all scruffed up and unable to fly or squawk hanging out around my office building earlier this week. Yesterday I had to save him out of a ditch. Today we hung out and I fed him mushy Triscuits and leftover salmon. He came in the office for a while and kicked it (no joke- he didn't even poop!) Unfortunately it's just one of those cruel shitty Mother Nature deals where he was more or less the bottom of the seagull pile and probably isn't going to make it on his own. I'm not exactly in a prime position to be adopting a baby seagull (is anyone?) so we gave him some food and snuggles and put him in a bush with the hopes that he'll at least make it through the weekend. What exactly do you do with a seagull who can't fly?





These are ridiculous cupcakes. This was an accident, but I love it and I can't stop laughing every time I look at them. I left my cupcake pan at work, and the papers I have suggest just using them on a regular pan (stating that they'll hold their shape) well HA HA. They got me. I kind of want to do this all the time now, though. It's like a whole new world of cupcakes all up in here. Excuse the awful picture. I really need to invest in a new camera. I just can't justify it when the one I've had for ohhh... 6 years still works. Whatev. Deal.





THIS is something that I had promised pictures of earlier. Stefanie is one of my new favorite people, and not just because of her cabin, or Daryl. However- this is something at her cabin, that is just too genius for any more words. RIVING-ROOM:






If you can think of anything more genius than a living room in the middle of a river- then please fill me in. I need to know.

Alright. Back to the kitchen. We're having late night dinner guests- the best kind.

I Could Always Try To Reach You

I downloaded the new The Sounds album last night, and have been listening to it on repeat tonight while sewing.




My current favorite. It makes me think of Steffani and Amy. The entire album does, actually. I miss my loves.


Let us go back to the time when the underground
Was the place where we all used to hide away
Let us go back to the streets where it all begun
How could I know, it was the last time I saw you?

Seventeen and believed in just anything
Could be true, could be bad, something in between
I recall all those lazy summer nights
And all I knew was the time I spent with you

[Chorus]
I could easily stay, and never come home
Looking out on the field like it's never been changed
The past is a place that you can never return to
Even though people say that this is where you belong
I could easily stay, and never come home
Looking out on the field like it's never been changed
The past is a place that you can never return to
Even though people say that this is where you belong

I could always try to reach you
And it's pumping through my veins
And there's nothing I can do about it
(though people say that this is where you belong)

Let us go back to the time when the underground
It used to be our place it belonged to us
And I'd go back if I could but it's not the same
And now I know, it was the last time I saw you?

[Chorus]

I could always try to reach you
And it's pumping through my veins
And there's nothing I can do about it

I could always try to reach you
And it's pumping through my veins
And there's nothing I can do about it

I could easily stay, and never come home
Looking out on the field like it's never been changed
The past is a place that you can never return to
Even though people say that this is where you belong

I could always try to reach you
And it's pumping through my veins
And there's nothing I can do about it

Failed Pizza and Portland!

So, Tuesday night didn't go quite as planned. We decided to put off cheese making for another week or so, and using Trader Joe's pizza dough ended in failure. I always forget that it never turns out the way that I want it to (basically it always ends up being a gooey, sticky, glutenous mess). So we scraped the toppings off of our pizza, drank 47 Pound Rooster Cab, and probably ate a few too many dark chocolate almond cookies.



A note on the wine- it is one of my absolute favorites, and for under $8 at TJ's you really can't beat it. I enjoy it so much, that I ONCE drank the entire bottle in about an hour. AndthenIthrewitallbackupandpassedoutinJesse'sbedandReneehadtotakemehomeandbabysitmeanditwasallverysadandkindofgross. Anyways...

Last night David Byrne played at The Paramount, and as per usual- I have a sweet hookup and we had free second row balcony seats. Suckas! He puts on such a ridiculously good show. It blew me away. During his (first) encore he had an entire marching band and dance team come out and perform Burning Down The House- which had the entire theater up and dancing. He had dancers and backup singers interacting with him and each other the entire time- and it wasn't the typical "cute girls in short skirts" kind of deal. It was all really interesting and artistic and fun. The whole thing was so high energy and I'm really glad that we went. I'm posting these at work, so forgive me if the sound is crap. I'll fix them later! Take a quick listen if you aren't familiar with his most recent work with Brian Eno.





I'm heading down to Portland with Laila tonight to spend some time with my good friends from Alaska, as well as the regular Portland activities- riding bikes, eating food, and drinking beer (and coffee). We're wild. My bff/lover Becca has a food blog so we may combine forces and cook up something dangerous at some point. We will see! I don't like to plan much ahead of time, as it leaves no room for disappointment- but I'm aiming for good street vendor food, and hitting up the Portland Farmers Market, either Saturday or Sunday before we head home. I'm broke as a joke this time around, so it'll be a lot of frugal fun, if nothing else!

Updates on Sunday!

Luff you.