loricritt

** 7/1/2021 Update ** Just logged on for the first time in apparently several years. It's been incredibly busy for me on the job front and apparently sucked me into a vortex. Not sure yet if I'll be very active but we'll see.

The past year and a half has sure been a kick in the pants. My company officially closed the office in 3/20/2020 due to COVID concerns and all but a handful have been working from home ever since. I'm extremely lucky that I've been able to work full time from home although it's so easy to work outside the standard eight hour day. Just today our office is officially open for all vaccinated employees and mid July we will be expected to be in the office two days a week (the other three still working from home). Not looking forward to the work commute and having to wear "nice" clothes again but it will be good to interact with coworkers directly again.

I was born and raised in northern California (San Jose area). Lived in Phoenix for 2-1/2 years then moved to Portland, Oregon in 1988. Been here ever since.

My partner and I celebrated 20 years in 2011 by taking a long anticipated trip to northern Italy. Here we are in front of the Duomo di Milano. We loved Italy so much that we went back in 2015. The 2015 Worlds Fair was in Milan so we went there first and then finished in Rome with a quick stop enroute in Florence. The highlight of Florence was seeing Michelangelo's David. It simply took my breath away, more so than any other piece of art I've ever seen. More than anything I saw at the Vatican or even the Louvre (in Paris, of course). We finally got legally married on Christmas Day in 2018.

We currently have ONE dog, a 7 month old Pomeranian named Felix, and two tabby cats, a brother and sister team named Simon and Ruby.

I'll have to relearn how to post pictures before I can show them off.

TV

Favorite tv shows (past and present) include Torchwood, Leverage, Amazing Race, Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, The Big Bang Theory, Grimm, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Black Sails, among many others (I love my DVR!). We do watch a lot of tv although less than we used to, believe it or not.

My Partner

My partner is a freelance journalist, writer and photographer. With the advent of digital cameras, her basement dark room has become her brew room. She's become quite the home wine maker, as well as some beers and ciders. She's more recently advanced into distilling. Her bourbons are pretty dang good and she's perfecting her rum recipes. She's also been experimenting with bitters and shrubs (which are delicious!). Her apple pie moonshine has been a huge hit with family and friends. She also an expert at couponing and freebies and has been mystery shopping for a couple years now.

Cooking

I like to cook, garden, read, and play on the computer. Mostly I'm rather lazy. But I am known among my family and friends as a pretty dang good cook. Mostly I'm a comfort cook rather than gourmet. I have favorite dishes I make over and over and over, with variations on the ingredients. I love to read recipes and often will collect several versions of the same recipe and make my own conglomeration of it. When I get a recipe from someone I usually end up making my own modifications after a first pass at the original recipe. Cook's Illustrated is my favorite line of recipe books and their Top 1000 Best Recipes is my all time favorite cook book, the one I go to often. Reading their recipe books is like an online cooking school. Lately I've been trying for quicker healthier foods rather than the long cooking processes. We love vegetables and oven roasting or grilling them is a favorite method.

I don't have tons of food dislikes although I have so many likes that I often don't feel the need to push myself to develop a taste for something. I really dislike canned tuna in anything. I like fresh tuna okay but not canned. I accidentally ordered tuna pizza in Italy and couldn't eat more than a bite. It's one of our funnier stories from that trip. My mom ruined me for macaroni salad (the mayonnaise-based kind) as a kid so really despise that although I love pasta salads, especially anything with orzo or curly pasta and feta cheese. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cheese. Love cheese.

Travel

I love to travel, even if only in my own mind. Outside the U.S., I've gone to Japan, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Puerto Vallarta, Victoria, British Columbia, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Oh, and Italy, of course! We recently had a big vacation back to Italy and squeezed in a stop in Paris and Amsterdam, both places we can't wait to go back to. Paris canNOT be done in two days. We merely got a taste of it and already are planning a trip back (hopefully late spring 2017). I've also been to Manhattan, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, New Orleans (twice, once during Mardi Gras), Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Houston and Galveston (before Hurricane Ike), and Washington, DC. Also all over California, Arizona, parts of Oregon and Washington.

When planning a trip somewhere, I love to get lots of books on the location and culture and really do my research to maximize the trip. I'm the ultimate travel planner and used to be the go-to person for the best air fare, hotel, etc. among my family and friends.

Reading

Reading is my #1 addiction and I read a wide variety of genres, including historical romance, science fiction, fantasy fiction, cooking, crafting, gardening, home improvement, computer, history, some erotica, children's, young adults, even some teenager-type books.

I tend to read and re-read books again and again, and often have four or five novels (or ten) going at the same time.

My most favoritest books are:

• The Stand by Stephen King
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
• Kindred by Octavia Butler
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
• Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
• Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (just recently read it and now reading Catching Fire.
• The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
• anything by Amanda Quick (anything!)

I don't have tons of dislikes except for religious tracts, especially Religious Right or Moral Majority, Watchtower, anti choice, etc. type stuff. Also don't care for politically conservative stuff. My views are very moderate/liberal and I'm not religious at all.

Crafting/swapping-wise, I'm finding that I prefer pretty things rather than corny or cheesy. I like and appreciate the clever and witty but don't much care for cutesy child-ish stuff.

I've enjoyed making ATCs, Inchies and Altered Matchboxes. I really like creating the matchboxes (decorating, really) but filling them is not so much fun as I like to hoard my tiny things. I've also played with Button Fairies and button flowers, and Dotees. I like making altered tins but shrines are nearly impossible for me. I'm dancing around altered books but haven't jumped into the pool yet. While the thought of journaling or making journals is fascinating, sadly I don't think I'm a journaling person. Zentangles are fascinating to me and I am dancing around that craft, too. I like to be prepared when I start something new!

I tried to think of some favorites (i.e., likes) and just can't really come up with a list. I like to garden, greens and purples are my favorite colors but I like most colors except for lime green and orange. Not terribly fond of yellow except as an accent or embellishment. Flowers are exceptions, as I love yellow daffodils, roses, etc. and orange California poppies are a favorite flower of mine. I like butterflies and dragonflies but not really creepy crawly bugs. HATE scorpions, earwigs, big spiders....giving myself the creeps now!

I will always rate but not always right away. I promise I will always contact my swap partner first if a swap hasn't arrived.

I try to always write a personal note with my swaps. Otherwise what's the point of swapping? A personal note or letter with a swap is the surest way to get a heart from me. I'd rather have that than "extras".

It sure would be helpful if people would put both the swap title and their Swap-Bot name on the swaps. I have a couple recipe swaps that I just cannot figure out who sent them and for what swap. It's also helpful to put the swap title on the back of the envelope.

Just suggesting....