HeatherCellini.com

So I had an amazingly good day yesterday. I went to the Collective Soul concert last night, which was incredible. They’re one of my favorite bands, and I haven’t seen them live in a couple of years. They did a show at the Roseland, which was sold out, and we ended up being right in front of the stage, like 3 ft from the band. It rocked. And in addition, they did an accoustic mini-show that afternoon at Music Milennium, which was also really enjoyable. I actually got to get a pic taken with a Ed Roland and Joel Kosche which is up on Jon’s site.

The opening band at the concert was Low Millions, who I’d never heard of, although I did recognize one of their songs when they played it (Eleanor, which is a free download on Itunes right now) and they were awesome. It was really cool to hear an opening band that was as good as the main act. It was their last show with Collective Soul, but if they’re ever back in Portland, I’d totally go to see them. After the show, the bassist was just hanging by the exit, watching people go by, so I went over and told him how much I liked the band. He was like, “awww…you’re so sweet!” and he gave me this big hug. It was really cool. They’re going to be on Conan O’Brian Friday night, so I’ll have to check it out.

One of the nicest things about the concert was that all the other people there were really nice and polite. It was wierd, I’m used to being pushed, shoved, etc at concerts, but everyone was so considerate. I think it’s because Portland people are just nicer than average

So I felt kinda crappy this afternoon, and decided to cancel my plans to spend the night at my friend’s house. I just relaxed, read a little, then took a 3 hour nap. Not suprisingly, I felt a lot better when I woke up. However, the problem now is that I won’t be able to get to sleep tonight, and I need to work at 5 am. Maybe I’ll go to the gym and tire myself out…but probably not

More Books

Salt: A World History
…Mark Kurlansky

The Best Thing I Ever Tasted
…Sally Tisdale

I’m Just Here for More Food
…Alton Brown

So I’ve actually been thinking a lot lately about love. Maybe because my parents are going their separate ways, maybe because I’ve been involved in some wedding-related stuff lately, or maybe just because according to Hallmark, today’s the day for it. One of my psychology professors used to lecture on how to make people love you: Make yourself a reinforcer, (someone who is correlated with positive things, and therefore someone you want to be around) and the person you love might love you back. I guess that in a lot of ways, that’s true. I associate a lot of positive memories and actions with Jon, and I definitely love him.

But what bothers me is that love isn’t necessarily enough to make a relationship work. If two people love each other, it should logically follow that they can be together and have a meaningful relationship. But what if those people have different priorities? What if one person has always dreamed of living abroad and one person wants to stay at home? What if one person is obsessed with making a six-figure salary and the other wants to live as simply as possible? Kids or no kids? Who should compromise? Should you be willing to change your dreams? And what happens when one person changes and the other one doesn’t? Just because two people love each other doesn’t mean everything will be perfect…love isn’t a magic bullet that solves everything.

If I were religious, I’d say that my relationship with Jon is a blessing, but I’m not, and so I’ll just say that I’m continually amazed at how incredible it is. I think part of what has made it work so well is that we’ve always put our relationship first, before everything else, because it’s the most valuable thing we have. I’d sacrifice anything and risk everything to make it work. Maybe love isn’t a guarantee that a relationship will be perfect. So what. Nothing is perfect. We live in an imperfect world. That doesn’t mean love isn’t worth searching for. And knowing that you still need to work at a relationship, even when you love each other, makes it that much more rewarding.

Happy Valentines Day to all the people in my life: My family, friends, and especially, sweetly, with all the love in the world, to Jon, who gives my life meaning and makes me believe in love.

…and sometimes it throws you a curve ball. Wow, I just used a sports metaphor. Disturbing. I found out on Sunday that my parents are getting divorced. Needless to say it was something of a shock. It’s a little disconcerting to think that people can change so much that after 20 years they no longer want to be together. It makes me want to put more effort into my relationship with my husband. It’s hard for me to let things go; I tend to be borderline obsessive about things that bother me…and this is pretty big. But I’m doing my best to let it go since there’s nothing I can really do about it. Hopefully it’ll be a postive thing in the long run, but my usually optimistic outlook is failing me on this one.

Only because this is how I’m keeping track of what I read, and not because it’s in any way relevant to the above paragraph, here are some more books for my list:

Spiderwick Chronicles
…Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Galilee
…Clive Barker

So I just got back from a weeklong trip to WI, where I spent much time in bridal stores looking at dresses. I myself am happily married, but two of my friends just got engaged, so they’re in the process of picking out all the accoutrements for their respective big days. I must say, if I never see the inside of a bridal store again, it’ll be too soon. All in all, I think I spent about 35 hours of the week in various chairs outside various fitting rooms looking at various dresses. I should have brought Jon’s Gameboy :). But at least the bridesmaid’s dresses are picked out.

Also in WI, I spent a little time with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while, which was awesome, and completely bridal shop-free. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant (Jalisco’s on North Ave.) and pigged out. My tummy was sooo happy.

It was nice to visit WI, but I’m glad I live in Portland. Milwaukee is a nice city, the people are nice, the food is good, etc…but I feel like Portland is a better fit for Jon and I. It seems like we have more in common with the people here. I probably won’t be visiting the frozen tundra again until April of 2006 for Kim’s wedding. And that’s ok, friends aside.

New books on the list:

Cold Fire
…Dean Koontz

Neverwhere
…Neil Gaiman

Minion
…L.A. Banks

The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans
…Chris Beard and Mark Klingler

A few weeks ago at work (Reo’s Ribs) I was perusing the magazine pile during a break, and I came across a flyer for a new dessert restaurant and bar opening in Beaverton. Needless to say, I was interested, as I myself am a baker, and love the idea of a fancy-schmancy dessert place relatively close to the house. The flyer said that the restaurant was opening in January, and when I called, I found out opening night was January 29th. Unfortunately, the same day, I was flying to Milwaukee to spend obscene amounts of time in bridal shops with my engaged friend. So when I returned from the trip, I decided we would go to Dessert Noir for dinner that very night. When we arrived at about 6:00 on Saturday eve, the place was relatively busy, with about three-quarters of the tables filled. We were seated almost immediately, and commenced to perusing the menu. Jon decided on a house salad with a lemon vinegrette and pears, and a bowl of roasted tomato soup with horseradish cream and chives. I had the smoked chicken and taleggio risotto with crispy salami. We split an order of calamari with jalapeno-lemon aioli as an appetizer. I wanted a mojito (my favorite drink of all time) but they regretfully informed me that they were out of mint. The bartender suggested a banana daquiri and I went with that instead.

Overall, the food was excellent. Jon ended up getting a spinach salad with oranges and pecans instead of the house salad that he’d ordered, but it looked so good he decided to keep it. The calamari was good, a little rubbery but perfectly seasoned and crispy. I’m not a jalapeno fan, so I pretty much left the sauce untouched. The risotto was also very good, nice and cheesy, with big chunks of chicken. Jon’s soup was excellent as well, although he said it could have been a little more brothy; it had the consistency of salsa rather than soup. The menu listed the savory items under the heading Petits Plats, but the servings were very generous. They were definitely meal-sized, rather than small plate sized. This was good, since the prices were a little high.

Since the focus of the restaurant is dessert, of course I had to order some. After about 10 minutes of hemming and hawing, I decided on a Valhrona Chocolate torte with a Earl Grey creme anglaise and blood orange compote. Yum. It was excellent. I was unsure about the sauce, I’m not a big bergamot fan, but it was incredible with the oranges and chocolate. The plating was very minimalist, which I really liked…it seemed like the focus was on the actual dessert, rather than a whole plateful of sauces of contrasting colors. Anyways, I can’t wait to try the other desserts on the menu.

The bill (including tip) for a salad, a soup, and appetizer, two drinks, one entree, two coffees and one dessert was $70.21. Not cheap, but very good. Since Dessert Noir is right by the Cedar Hills movie theater, it would be a perfect spot to have coffee and dessert after a movie date.