Sunday, December 28, 2008

Time to get back on track

This holiday season has been a good one. Lots of family, snow and Food! I have eaten a lot of crap and now it is time to start treating the body better. Yesterday I decided to experiment with a low-fat frittata recipe. Frittata's are definitely not my specialty, but I'm interested in becoming a frittata master. Besides, this recipe has fresh basil and you can't go wrong with fresh basil!

Veggie Frittata ingredients:
  • 1 medium onion (diced)
  • 1 red pepper (diced)
  • 1 green pepper (diced)
  • 1 medium zucchini (diced)
  • 6 egg whites
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 4 Tbl fresh chopped basil
  • 1/2 cup of reduced fat Feta

Directions: soften and brown the diced veggies using cooking spray. Then add 2 Tbl of fresh basil and 1/2 cup of water, mix, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer. Then in a separate bowl mix with fork or whisk the eggs, 1/4 cup of feta cheese and remaining basil. Pour this egg mixture into a 12 inch skillet on med. high for 2 minutes, allowing the egg mixture to settle. Then add the veggie mixture. The original recipe called for spooning the mixture with a slotted spoon, but I was lazy and just cooked down the water. Lazy = Bad. I think this was a bad call because my finished product was too moist. Next time, I will drain as much water as possible. After adding the veggie mixture, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and put in the oven for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

The flavor was fantastic, but the consistency could have been better.

So the meal wasn't completely healthy. I indulged a bit with some yummy french toast. My Mom likes french toast. I added some cinnamon, milk, vanilla and a bit of sugar to the egg mixture. To top it off, we had a fresh pineapple. Fresh pineapple on a stick was a common festival food in Japan. It has been one of my favorites ever since. Be careful though- this highly acidic treat can wreak havoc on the gut.


Ta-Da!!! Brunch for Mom and I!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Long time no sushi!

My spendthrift approach to dining has meant that I have gone without some of my favorite types of specialty food. I haven't had sushi in ages (literally 4 months!), so when my friend Jadee called and invited me out for a Japanese inspired meal the day after Christmas, I was delighted!

Jadee and I go way back. We had 8th grade english together in Mr. Ellis's class. We've been fast friends ever since. We went to Wazzu together and were roommates for our freshman year in college. Even though our paths have gone in different directions over the years, we can always get together and pick up where we left off. 

We decided to start a tradition this year. We will have a wonderful Sushi meal around the Christmas holiday every year. This year Jadee treated Blaise (Jadee's significant other) and I, so the plan is to rotate who picks up the tab for the years to come. 

Looking forward to our next sushi meal Jade, and in the meantime you better come to Oregon and snowboard with me!

Friday, December 26, 2008

a white christmas....


Nothing says the Holidays like my Mom's pies.... pumpkin, banana cream, pecan, chocolate... YUMMY!

This year Darren and Carrie hosted dinner. I think Darren calculated that he had prepared 32 lbs. of prime rib and turkey. Dinner was delicious- Thank you Phillips family for such a tasty meal!
Santa was good to everyone this year. I think the award for most surprised gift receiver was Christian. He had no idea that his parents would actually buy him an Ipod touch. This tiny personal computer is awesome and Christian told me this was his best Christmas yet. Way to go Mom and Dad!
Of course holding little (I mean big) Mathew is a gift in and of itself. Mom was enjoying his cuteness.

Dave and Grandma Junette were enjoying the good company.
This pic is of Will with a large green dinosaur I picked up on super sale at Fred Meyer. He got tons of dinosaur stuff, but his Mom said all he wanted was a big green dinosaur! It was meant to be. This is the dinosaur that Will loves to hate. It makes a scary growling sound, which is perfect for when Will is body slamming it. 
Have to give props to Darren for MAKING, yes making all by himself, a poker table which went home with Dave. I think poker is okay, but this table made me want to sit down and anty up.

Thanks everyone for such a great day! Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas...

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas Eve Ya'll

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!!!
I had this picture of Will from last years Christmas dinner. What a cutie!

I'm now safely at Mom's house after a snowy and slushy trip. The drive itself wasn't too stressful. Buddha had no problems relaxing. 
I had to take a picture of him getting some shut eye on my arm. Both the animals were super sleepy after I dragged them to work with me early this morning and then for a 3+ hour car ride. I'm sleepy too since unfortunately I woke up with a head cold on Tuesday morning. I better put the cookies out before I take my nyquil!

Monday, December 22, 2008

brrrr.......

It is kind of cold and snowy these days in Portland. My work schedule has been mostly unaffected by the weather and despite the largest accumulation yet, we were expected to be at work by 10am this morning. I drove into work early this morning and it only took me ten additional minutes to get there. There was NO ONE on the roads and I liked. The powers that be decided to close all LifeworksNW offices around 9am, so I ended up having the rest of the day off. YAY!

It has been snowing pretty regularly for the past 8 days and it looks like it will continue until at least Christmas Eve. This could be problematic for my holiday travels, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, here are a few images from around town.
I took this photo of baby yesterday. I was trying to get a cute 'Seasons Greetings' photo, but she refused to even look at me after I put those silly antlers on her. I love her stubborn personality!

Stay warm and Happy early X-mas!!!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

5 feet in 4 days

I finally to got up Hood today for some therapy...... some mountain therapy. It was a fantastic day! 

I spent the morning with my ipod, and met up with friends in the afternoon. The powder was unreal and this season looks better and better everyday!

Recap of my random thoughts throughout the day:
  • I love my car. She just keeps on driving. I know she is tired, so I'm hoping that positive accolades will keep her going.
  • Thank you to the powers that be for the cheaper gas prices. I know that environmentally it isn't as good, but at least I don't have to sell my motorcycle for gas money to get the Mt.
  • I love baked sour cream and cheddar Lays chips.
  • Lift lines on the weekends are not fun.
  • I saw this guy who was riding an off-road dirt bike with a snowboard strapped to the side headed towards the resort. I took a cell phone pic, but was too busy staring to appropriately save the picture. Darn! It was blizzard-like today, so this kid was really risking his life! 
  • I am obsessed with Otis Redding. That dude could really sing!
  • Despite my part-time schedule and gloomy financial situation, deep down I'm excited that I still have some flexibility with my schedule and capability to snowboard at least 1 weekday per week.
I'm tired and satisfied. Excited to go to sleep soon. 

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

'Tis the season.....

.......to learn about Jesus













Some of you may have already seen the Frontline Series, "From Jesus to Christ". It was created in 1998 and describes how Christianity evolved from a historical perspective. There are several small episodes split into two parts. I finished Part 1 tonight and found it to be extremely interesting. I guess this is kind of a follow-up to a blog I posted several months ago after seeing Dr. Tabor talk about his book The Jesus Dynasty in Portland as part of the Illahee Lecture series. Dr. Tabor's work focused specifically on the life of Jesus, where this series focused more on how Jesus's life contributed the creation of early Christianity after his life ended.

This series examined the physical evidence we have about Jesus's existence and those who shared his story. It talked about how societal factors, such as political regimes and religious climates contributed to why and how populations adopted Jesus's teachings. I found myself continually envisioning how it would have been to be alive back then and what I would have done. There were so many parallels to how we as humans make decisions about what we believe in.... even today. Wars, conflicting religious beliefs, social class, efficacy of leadership (i.e. John the Apostle). These were all influential in the molding of how Christianity originated in its earliest days. All this in a free- easy to watch- credible- brief online series. Thanks Frontline!

This series is refreshing (or just half of it so far). It provides some food for thought, which brings me comfort in a world where we are all so quick to believe everything we hear or think we feel.  Check it out-

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Jingle Bell Run

This morning was awesome! Mom, Angie and I made it to downtown Seattle (no thanks to the snow and ice on the roads) for the Arthritis Foundation's annual Jingle Bell Run. Last night we picked up some discounted Christmas props to wear during the run. I wanted to find skirts for Angie and I, but when those weren't available my Mom pulled a MacGyver and found some discounted felt christmas tree skirts that could be pinned to look like skirts. 
It was really cold! The winds were strong and multiple layers helped ease the bitter cold. We were cold until about 3/4 through the first mile.We got a little goofy before starting the race.....
I asked Angie to make a muscle man pose. Grrrrr!
This was a huge event. Every year at least 10,000 people take part in one of the races available. 
Here is a pic of us right after finishing.  We were pretty excited and already looking forward to next year's event!
We were also joined by Angie's friend Jamie and her wonderful family. We will see two of them at the Danskin and again at next years Jingle Bell Run. 

It was a great way to spend the morning, but I am glad to be back inside away from the winds. Looks like driving to Portland tonight is a bad idea. Chains are required on all Portland streets. I guess I'll have to stay here until tomorrow with fresh soup and hot cocoa.... Darn!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

My Mom's day-

Today was my Mom's 39th birthday! We got together for a great meal and fun with the kiddos!
Grandma Junette getting her fill of Mathew time.
My favorite and most rarely eaten, valve clogging appetizer- the deep fried onion block! SO GOOD!
Carrie and Darren looking cute for the camera.
I love to throw Mathew in the air, even though I will likely have happy saliva on my face. He loves to fly! Unfortunately, this boy weighs an amazing 30 lbs and he is only 1 year old! Hmm, which sport will he dominate? 
I can't get enough of this kid!
As always, it was great to get together. Dave gave it a 'thumbs up'.

We put our money together to buy Mom Gift Certificates for the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort in the Gorge. We are going to make a ladies weekend out of it sometime next spring. Happy Birthday Mommy! 

Next on the list of things to do while I'm in Seattle..... Jingle Bell Fun Run with Sis-in-law Angie tomorrow in Seattle.... In the snow! Can't wait to freeze my buns off!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

say eeeh!

Somebody (to remain nameless at this time) in this picture celebrated a birthday today!
I'm such dork. I made everyone get together for a photo. "Everybody say EEEH!" 

For those of you who are reading and aren't family members, my Grandpa Chamberlin used to take pictures at EVERY single event that was considered noteworthy. He was a man's man, tough and hardy... stubbornly insisting that everyone gather together for a photo, as untimely and inconvenient as it always was. Then he would pull out his camera and his persona would change to that of a gentle elementary school teacher trying to get the class to pay attention. It wasn't everybody say cheese- it was everybody say eeeh. He sounded like a prepubescent boy and requested the eeeh with a big smile on his face.

Great man I tell you!  Here is to being the token cheesy photo person like my G-pa Cliff.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

rainy sunday

Baby and I have gotten in the habit of hiking Forest park on Sundays. Today we continued with our ritual despite the pouring rain. She was a wet dog and I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. Not bad for my cell phone camera!

We also spent the day with the Willis-Conger family. They love and feed me like I'm an adopted child and I love'em for it! Today we caught a movie at the Mission Theatre and then I was treated to homemade mesquite turkey soup and rosemary biscuits. Yummy! 

Muchos Gracias Willis-Conger familia!!! 

you've been to one, you've been to them all.....

This was my attitude about diversity training sessions.... That was until I heard Dr. Terrell Jones speak at our all staff training on Friday. His session was so powerful for me on a personal level that I needed few days to digest and think about how I wanted to write about it. So here goes...
Dr. Jones is the Vice Provost for Educational Equity at Penn State University. He is also an amazing lecturer. While watching his talk, I found myself missing school (who would've thunk?). He had a way of drawing in the audience and directing them in a comforting fashion to think about things that bring great discomfort, i.e. racial discomfort/cultural differences. His humor was light-hearted and really funny. There was some adjusting because Dr. Jones was born and raised in Pennsylvania and was very forthcoming about how this had influenced his own interpretation of race and culture. Having lived in that region, it is safe to say that that part of the country is more diverse than the Pacific Northwest when it comes to Black and White Americans, so naturally there are more opportunities to think about race and cultural identity. His jokes were direct and forward. No candy coating, just truthful observations of how stereotypes (not just racial, but cultural) can hurt people and separate us.

Once we were engaged in examining our own cultural identity and experiences, he urged us to do more than just think about ourselves, but to act on our observations. This was where his training session differentiated itself from previous sessions. I spent four long years in Residence life, helping students navigate their college experiences. I spent countless hours attending diversity sessions, but none of them talked about 'the next step'. Up to that point, I was taught to be aware and considerate of peoples experiences. I was taught to value differences and learn from them, learning wasn't interactive... it was supposed to happen on a personal level and this would in turn influence how I interacted with others. Hmm... In theory, I think it did. But it doesn't stick because if you aren't faced with issues, they become less familiar and there is less to relate to. 

What did this mean to me? As he spoke, I realized that I have had several valuable experiences with cultural differences. Some of my best friends in the world have different sexual orientations than myself and I have valued and learned from their adverse experiences. I lived in another country for a year; I went from feeling like a complete alien as I stepped off that plane in Japan to feeling even more overwhelmed when I returned to SEATAC airport where I was supposedly from? Talk about cultural confusion? 

He then discussed different levels of racial identity development as they relate to Black and White individuals. I found that as painful as it was to admit, I could identify with parts from several phases of the model. I guess I was in kind of in 'cruise control' mode. Yeah I have friends from all different backgrounds, but honestly my best Black friends still live on the East Coast and I DON'T see them anymore or have regular opportunities to talk about race and our society. 

Had I regressed because of this? My conclusion was yes. It was confirmed after attending a breakout session after Dr. Jones's talk. We were treated to lunch and when two open seats were available at a table, my coworker and I sat down. We were sitting with 4 other people, 3 of which were African American and 2 of them were women who I had spoken with several times before, but wasn't familiar with the programs they coordinated. So, as we were eating our sandwiches, I inquired about what programs they ran and told them I work with 'the oldies'. They looked at me with puzzled faces. I explained in further detail that I work with people who have dementia/Alzheimer's. One lady then told me that she was rebuilding a program that provides services to Portland area gang members who are trying to get away from gang activity. We talked more and with most non-profit mental health programs, I asked how they were funded and what kind of evidence based evaluation tools they used to prove they were making a difference. At first she thought I was talking about staff evaluation, since we were at a meeting for supervisors and then I elaborated that I was interested in how they were capturing change in their adolescent clients. It was awkward. I was having a heck of a time talking with this extremely smart, educated woman and I believed it was because our culture had led us to work with totally different populations so we didn't have much at all in common. It could have also been that I was ultra sensitive after the talk and noticing the smallest things. 

We continued to talk and it wasn't until I was stating that I had been originally assigned 3 coordinator positions and after 6 months just flat out told my director that there was NO WAY I could do ALL 3 Jobs. It was going to be difficult to run just the dementia program with only 24 hours a week!  One of the ladies proceeded to say that if she did that, she would be fired and she believed that being a woman and her race would be an influencing factors.......... I felt so many different things when she said this... I felt offended, shameful, speechless, skeptical and just insecure- all at the same time. There was nothing I could say really because I would never really know what it would be like to be her in my situation. At that moment I realized that I was really disconnected from her life and how her race influences her life here in a very White Portland, Oregon.

I left that afternoon feeling unsettled and disappointed in myself, only I didn't know why. Almost like I had turned my back on recognizing, and I mean really recognizing diversity. I had lost some connection that I once had.

I'm still contemplating that afternoon and have reached a conclusion: I need to make more of an effort.  Instead of assuming that race and culture continue to evolve in a positive way (I mean hello? Obama as president!), I need to remember that race relations improve because of the actions of those who advocate and tirelessly push others to confront this issue. While I feel connected to many other different race/culture issues, I need to work towards increasing my exposure to this issue. In January, I will be there to support the opening of one of my lunchmates program for ex-gang members. That is my action step towards changing my behavior, rather than just sitting here in my tiny apartment thinking about my cultural identity and how it is truly different from others. 

Whew.... This is exhausting to think about, so if you are still reading- Thank you. Thank you for finding this important enough to read more about. I have one more request. I have included some of the theory that explains phases or categories of white racial identity development. Please read through them and contemplate your own place in the model. As I stated previously, during Dr. Jones's talk I realized that I'm not where I want to be and it was uncomfortable to admit that. But, it is a starting point. Please read, think and share with those around you. 

Be the change...

Helm's White Racial Identity Development Model
Two Phases: Abandonment of Racism & Defining a Non-Racist Identity

1. Contact: People in this status are oblivious to racism, lack an understanding of racism, have minimal experiences with Black people, and may profess to be color-blind. Societal influence in perpetuating stereotypes and the superior/inferior dichotomy associated between Blacks and Whites are not noticed, but accepted unconsciously or consciously without critical thought or analysis. Racial and cultural differences are considered unimportant and these individuals seldom perceive themselves as "dominant" group members, or having biases and prejudices.

2. Disintegration: In this stage, the person becomes conflicted over unresolvable racial moral dilemmas that are frequently perceived as polar opposites: believing one is nonracist, yet not wanting one's son or daughter to marry a minority group member; believing that "all men are created equally," yet society treating Blacks as second class citizens; and not acknowledging that oppression exists while witnessing it (a la the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles). The person becomes increasingly conscious of his or her Whiteness and may experience dissonance and conflict between choosing between own-group loyalty and humanism.

3. Reintegration: Because of the tremendous influence that societal ideology exerts, initial resolution of dissonance often moves in the direction of the dominant ideology associated with race and one's own socioracial group identity. This stage may be characterized as a regression, for the tendency is to idealize one's socioracial group and to be intolerant of other minority groups. There is a firmer more conscious belief in White racial superiority and racial/ethnic minorities are blamed for their own problems.

4. Pseudo-Independence: A person is likely to move into this phase due to a painful or insightful encounter or event, which jars the person from Reintegration status. The person begins to attempt an understanding of racial, cultural, and sexual orientation differences and may reach out to interact with minority group members. The choice of minority individuals, however, is based on how "similar" they are to him or her, and the primary mechanism used to understand racial issues is intellectual and conceptual. An attempt to understand has not reached the experiential and affective domains. In other words, understanding Euro-American White privilege, the sociopolitical aspects of race, and issues of bias, prejudice, and discrimination tend to be more an intellectual exercise.

5. Immersion/Emersion: If the person is reinforced to continue a personal exploration of himself or herself as a racial being, questions become focused on what it means to be White. Helms states that the person searches for an understanding of the personal meaning of racism and the ways by which one benefits from White privilege. There is an increasing willingness to truly confront one's own biases, to redefine Whiteness, and to become more activistic in directly combating racism and oppression. This stage is marked with increasing experiential and affective understanding that were lacking in the previous status.

6. Autonomy: Increasing awareness of one's own Whiteness, reduced feelings of guilt, acceptance of one's own role in perpetuating racism, renewed determination to abandon White entitlement leads to an autonomy status. The person is knowledgeable about racial, ethnic and cultural differences, values the diversity, and is no longer fearful, intimidated, or uncomfortable with the experiential reality of race. Development of a nonracist white identity becomes increasingly strong.

Helms (1995) from Sue, et al. (1998). Multicultural Counseling Competencies: Individual and Organizational Development. Sage Productions. Thousand Oaks, CA.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Where is it?

Where is all the snow? The weather has been very pleasant in Portland. Occasional rain showers now and then, but often it is pretty warm with a view of the stars for the past several nights. 

This is bad. Very bad! Thanksgiving has come and gone and there are only 2" of snow on Mt. Hood- if that!
I want it to be cold, wet and miserable! Sorry everyone else in Portland, but this is getting serious!

It's time to start doing dances for the snow Gods- I'm gonna get on that right now.....