I sold my car today. It wasn't worth putting in the money that was needed to fix it for what I want it for. So, that means that for the first time as an adult I don't own a car!

I ride my bike to work most of the time and if I don't then I take the bus. Outdoor adventures (the main reason a car is so handy) and other in-city trips that absolutely need a car will be serviced through Lee's generous offer to share use of his newly purchased car! an excellent solution and very much appreciated. two people that don't use a car much don't each need to own a car, so this should work out well. For Lee it's the first time that he's owned a car, but he figured it was time to take on some of the car-having duties and contribute to group adventure travel abilities.

Even when I had the Jeep because I was required to drive around a lot for work - I drove no more than 9,000 miles a year. So while the transition seems big, in reality I wasn't driving as much as I might have thought. Now that I don't need a car as part of my job, that makes a big difference.

The jeep was sold to it's 4th owner and as a woman she continues the tradition of the all-lady owned jeep. It has a lot of miles in it left so I am excited to find it a good home.

Sundance was great. So busy but fun. I was there for 6 days - and saw 11 films over 4 days. the rest of the time was spent waiting in line for films, getting to films, at parties, lunch meetings, and a little bit of sleeping. I look forward to going next year and having a better sense of what's going on. I got to go to the premiere of a film I worked on here in Seattle which was such a proud moment. I also saw two other films that shot here in Seattle. It was a very good year for Seattle at Sundance!

We also got to take that little beach vacation at the end of Jan. It was so nice. Very relaxing and full of beach exploring, food and reading. Sadly faithful Jeepy didn't fare so well and has met her end. She had trouble on the way to the beach, but we pressed on. Then on the trip home we had to stop for some repairs in Aberdeen, then limp the rest of the way home. SO stressful and a waste of a whole day. Well, not a total waste. We still managed to have a pretty good time while waiting several hours for the car to be fixed. we found an entire STAR WARS store, walked along the water and ate some DQ. (Aberdeen didn't have *too* much to offer) but, the slow painful drive home sucked all the good vibes out and we were exhausted rolling into Seattle around 7:30 PM after starting out early in the day. Now Jeepy needs $1k in repairs and I don't think that's going to be worth it.

However, it's a good thing that I've kept up my riding to work every day AND met my goal of only one tank of gas for the month of Jan (before the beach trip). Not having a car for a bit will do wonders for my reduction in gas usage!

Also, my birthday present from Lee was bestowed early for maximum usage during these dark winter days. I am excited to have the gift of light! I now have a new front wheel that has a dynamo hub powering a front LED headlight that is as bright as a small car. So great for my dark rides home from work. And it's never going to run out of batteries as long as I keep pedaling. sweet.

That catches us up on Jan.. more on Feb. to come soon.

First update of the year for me. I think the year is off to a pretty good start. I don't expect this to be a remarkable year, but some pretty good things are going on and it's my hope that they continue.

So far I've ridden my bike to work every day of the new year and I hope to keep that up. Though it will get harder when my commute gets longer after the office moves, but we will deal with that when it comes.

Next week I am off to Park City for the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals. Quite exciting in that a) I have never been to either festival b) I get to go for work and c) there are 3 films from Seattle there, including one that I worked on when I was in production! It sounds like it will be a crazy week of screenings, parties, panels and meeting a ton of people.

I am also taking my second class back at the UW. This is a online one due to the travel I have coming up this quarter for work. So far it's a pretty interesting class (cultural codes in communication) and the online format hasn't been as bad as I thought.

Lee and I have a vacation for the end of Jan/early Feb. that I am looking forward to as well. I didn't get to take as much time off during the holidays as I wanted due to other people being out, so I get to use it up at the end of this month which is nice.

I have to say, Mama Mia! is one of the strangest movies I have seen in recent memory. Would not really recommend.

Hello everyone,

I am in a calendar for 2009! If you like bikes and you like ladies check it out (and order) online at:
http://www.maloravision.com/calendar/

I am Miss February ooh lala!

Even if you don't want to look at me for a whole month, please come join us for the release party this Friday in Ballard! No cover - live music and lots of awesome ladies that ride bikes. 8 PM Conor Byrne Pub!


(note this is a shot of the cover and I couldn't make the cover shoot, but I am on the inside! )

man, today was a good day for riding bikes. I didn't do anything fancy... rode to work, to happy hour after work and then home.... but it was so nice out & riding was just fun.

I feel like there has been so much going on lately that I don't even know where to start.

life is pretty good though.

had a great time in Portland this last weekend for work/fun. Lee being able to come with me made all the difference. the drive down was a white knuckle rainstorm and I was glad for the company. hanging out with Jace and Lee in between screenings (as well as the rest of the crew down in Portland) was great. Meeting a million new filmmakers was also so inspiring and lovely. I feel some new desire to work on my own buds of a project as well now.

sushi dinner with sam tonight was so fantastic. I was sorry to cancel on part two of the evening due to work, but I still had a grand time.

school is going well. It is work and I have to make efforts to stay focused, but I am pressing on.

I am trying to keep up my volunteering at the food bank. some of the work is so silly that there is no doubt that it's useful. Like people not having access to food until we re-package it. ok, then I am happy to open endless small cardboard boxes for you.

It's winter now though and so dark. I look forward to getting into some winter outdoor adventures.

This makes me so sad.... and it so happens that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you have a few extra pennies to give, please consider donating to the New Beginnings Shelter in Seattle.


Kent man charged with girlfriend's fatal stabbing on I-5


By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter

A Kent man who allegedly fatally stabbed his girlfriend while they were riding in a car on Interstate 5 on Thursday was charged today with first-degree murder.

Christel Murphy, 42, and his girlfriend, Jane Kariuki were traveling to Northgate Mall with a relative of Kariuki's when the attack occurred, according to charging papers filed in King County Superior Court.

Murphy was angry with Kariuki for kicking him out of her house that morning and he pulled out a 4-inch dinner knife while they were en route to the mall, court papers said. Murphy was sitting in the rear passenger seat when he grabbed Kariuki from behind in a headlock and stabbed her 31 times in the chest, neck and face, police said.

Kariuki later died at Harborview Medical Center.

Police said that the couple had a history of domestic violence. In July 2007, Murphy pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault. The year before he pleaded guilty to third-degree assault after striking Kariuki in the head and threatening her with a knife.

Bad Religion was last weekend and it was great as expected. The Roseland theater was one of my favorite places to have seen them. The rest of the weekend in portland was pretty darn nice too - a low key saturday getting brunch/lunch and then going to the nerd store and hanging out with pdx people. Sunday was a lovely day at the fair - eating junk food, seeing bunnies and cows and chickens, taking a peak at the view from the sky and enjoying the sun.

This weekend was the last adventure of the summer. Officially - as today is the first day of fall. It was a really great way to go out! Bike camping at the Suiattle River. We rode in about 30 miles, camped and had fun for the night, then rode out the next morning. Most of the road was closed to cars, or little-used and absolutely lovely.

Hmmmm... the idea tonight was to stay home and finish being sick and focus on getting better. I sort of did that in that I came straight home from work. I somehow was really anxious feeling after work and decided that I needed to clean out things. I emptied an entire closet of photo/camping gear/misc other stuff and went through it, organized and put it all back. Now I am working on other various projects cleaning up. Not relaxing, but productive.

Mt. Rainier this weekend was great. I was miserably sick the whole time with a cold (plus some allergies on top of that I think?) but still managed to do do a long hike + campfire it up.

Three more days until Bad Religion.

Also, I am officially an (evening) college student again. UW I will see you in 2 weeks!

Austin was good. It was 90+ and humid. A nice change from the cool Seattle weather lately. Everyone was so friendly in Texas and I met a lot of great people. Meetings were had and it was very productive.

There is some camping in my future next weekend which is awesome.

However, the second weekend in September is Bad Religion in Portland! So, let's just go ahead and start the countdown clock for that now! yay!

Today I saw BOY A at the Varsity theater. it was good and recommended.

I also learned I am going on a business trip to Austin, TX next week so that will be fun.

Today I helped pick 200 lbs. of pears in an hour an a half. Awesome beautiful pears that will go to people who need food.

Then after making tasty dinner of fresh spring rolls, I hung out with my film people. I miss them. Crazy awful stories of being on set. a little family for 5 weeks. I am lucky to have met them as we still get to hang out, but it's odd not being there with them.

This weekend I did lots of riding even though it was hot.

I hung out with the lovely miss cat early on Sat. to see her off before business trip and Burning Man adventures.

I made a 16mm film out of footage from other people's movies. Mostly instructional videos. Mine is about 1.5 min long and features bugs, volcanoes and people in India riding bikes. I hope you get to see it someday. Maybe if you have a 16mm projector lying around - that would help.

I also wished a friend goodluck as he heads off for a year of fighting for all of us overseas. I don't agree with him having to go, but I sure am proud of him for doing so.

Lee and I had brunch and beers at the start and end of the day today and that was nice.

Came home at a reasonable hour in hopes of being ready for another busy week.

In the category of things I don't really need to spend money on is this: RED ROBOT LAPPY GRAPHIC.

But my mac would look so fantastic. I would just sit and stare at the back of it all day. :)

I am happy it's friday! I am looking forward to outdoors time this weekend + visiting with kuddliphish who will be in town this weekend and early next week!

Photos will be brought to you via Lee's camera as my bag is packed and there is no room for big shot camera to come along. I really should work on getting my own point and shoot, but it just doesn't seem like a priority right now when there are so many other fun things to spend money on.

Life is busy and good. I am settling into work, getting ready for my first business trip for the new job, volunteering, playing soccer, riding bikes and working on a the first bits of a new short film I hope to do next month or in September.

Just came back from a lovely 4 day weekend down on the Oregon Coast. Got to enjoy my fill of beach walks, sunsets and terrible-for-you food that you eat on vacation. It was fun to see the STP riders on our way there... as we both passed through Longview, WA. Going both directions it was fun to wave at the street named after my Great Great Grandfather who was mayor of Clatskanie, Oregon once upon a time.

I just wanted to say my sister rocks. she was a huge help tonight and we had a good time. Thanks sis!

tomorrow is campingadventureatthebeach 2008. I am looking forward to being outside with too much beer and food for the weekend.

It's coming together. I don't have the whole picture in my mind yet... but some of the pieces are going together anyway.....

Tonight was my first of what I think will be monthly volunteer nights with Food Lifeline at the warehouse in Shoreline. I helped 28 other people unpack the blue bags of food picked up by the Postal Service in the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. We unpacked the plastic bags, sorted the food and repacked it into boxes to go to distribution centers to be taken home by families tomorrow! It was fascinating to see the kinds of things that people donated and to learn what can and can't be accepted. 29 people in 1.5 hrs sorted 8,000+ pounds of food that will go to make about 6,000 meals for local families. pretty cool I say.

I've become interested in the idea and process of "food rescue" and was thrilled to see they have a very advanced partnership with many local grocery stores, restaurants and other food service vendors. Seeing boxes of pre-made sandwiches from Whole Foods (that arrived today) boxed up to go to a food program tomorrow AM is evidence of exactly what I would hope happens to all of that food that is made each day around our city and will never get purchased in time.

I know there is still a lot of waste, and it was sad to hear the program with Fred Meyer (at least one of them) was only 2 years old (think of all that food!) but progress is good and they seem to be honestly concerned about creative ways to get as much edible product out to people as possible.

If anyone wants to join me for next month, let me know! It's from 6-8 PM and will be a Wed. night in July.

awesome!

Thanks for my 12 words for the photo project. Looks like I will be capturing these on film and reporting back:

sea
pirate
fragment
pink
happy
rivet
encompassed
tragedy
commerce
bunny
coffee
pixelated