Swag Update: Welcome to my Test Kitchen
While it was great to get the pie swag, I doubt I’ll be a likely candidate to receive more free pie stuff after I write about my baking experience on Sunday. So if you’re not a PR person, read on. As I was saying….On Sunday, I set up my bowls and pie plates in my […]
RV Dreams
I had a bad dream last night. In my dream I was driving my MINI in Seattle, across the 520 bridge. It was raining (surprise) and the traffic was very heavy (surprise again). There were people standing on the sides of this highway/floating bridge, and they looked desperate, the way people do in a science-fiction […]
Pie Swag!
When I was writing for magazines as an outdoor adventure/sports and fitness journalist I got a lot of swag — free stuff — from companies who hoped I would review their products. Back then I’d get packages in the mail containing fleece jackets, snowboard boots, trail running shoes, bike clothes, water bottles, carabiners, poison oak […]
What the Psychic Says
I love my grief counselor. She is helpful, compassionate and wise. I don’t know how I could have survived these past nine months without her. But because I can’t live with my grief counselor 24/7, I supplement my counseling sessions with my own forms of therapy – hiking in the forest with my dogs (see […]
Dance Recital
Less than 48 hours after my long haul from LA to Portland, I drove the RV north to Seattle — with my parents and two dogs as passengers, in the rain — for my 9-year-old niece’s dance recital. Tired and cranky and clenching the RV steering wheel as semis whizzed past, kicking up curtains of […]
A Life of Contrasts
One of the qualities I pride myself on is my range of adaptability. I am equally at home camping in the wilderness (with no toilet or shower for days!) as I am staying in five-star hotels (soaking in a Jacuzzi bath and ordering room service). Marcus shared this love of contrasts and we even had […]
Banana Cream Pie for My Dad’s 75th Birthday
I always liked the saying, “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.” I should like it as I was pretty much raised with this motto in mind, at least by one parent. My dad would take us out for hot fudge sundaes before dinner, but we were not allowed to tell our mom! So when I […]
First Pie Made in the RV
I’m still in LA and though I have a 1,000-mile drive back to Portland awaiting me this week I didn’t mind making a 120-mile round-trip drive to Faria Beach this past weekend to take my friend Christine (pictured below) on her first RV road trip adventure. In fact, the weekend was one of many firsts.It […]
The Reality of Selling a Reality Show
After several weeks in LA, I’m packing up the RV and returning to Portland. I’ve never been so looking forward to going back to the rainy Pacific Northwest – more specifically to the quiet, calm sanctuary of my little treehouse apartment set on the edge of a vast, womblike forest. These last weeks have reminded […]
Mother’s Day Pie Mania
There was a lot of pie baking going on this weekend. First, my German friend Joerg in Portland called for my apple pie recipe, so he could bake a pie for his wife Katrin. He sent me the photo of his masterpiece (above). I can’t wait to hear about how surprised Katrin was. I know […]