Thanks everyone for all the sweet comments! It’s nice to hear at this stage of pregnancy, when various body parts are in various states of discomfort and disrepair, haha. Not that I’m complaining – I looooove being pregnant!

@ Samantha – *Close*, but definitely not natural. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go natural. =D

@ Courtney – Yay for tall girls! And thanks, I did have a blast!

@ Valerie – I don’t have a large collection of shoes (compared to most), but I do have a *treasured* collection. I buy only secondhand which makes it tough, and on top of that my feet are HUGE, so finding shoes is HARD. I’ve spent upwards of 2 years searching for the perfect pair to fill some niche, so when I find them they are like gold to me. Totally precious. So, for me it’s more about quality than quantity in my shoe collection. I do have a small cache of heels that are more for just gazing at than using. I definitely understand why some women are such shoe fetishists!

@ Lynn D. – Thank you! We went to Blossoming Lotus in NE Portland, it’s the only quasi-fine-dining spot in the city. =D Portland does vegans right, but it’s pretty much all comfort food and ‘family food’ and easy/cheap stuff. So Blossoming Lotus is quite the treat. I got a ‘four cheese’ lasagna served over a bed of kale, mmm. Others got a cuban black been quesadilla, a BBQ tempeh and cornbread platter, a seitan pepper steak, and more. We all tasted everything and all of it was DIVINE!

@ Christa (and Lisa) – Yes! I use Rit dye you can get at the drugstore. It’s petroleum based but I figure it’s still better to spruce up the clothes you already have, than to get rid of them and go out and buy new clothes. A quick dye job can turn an old pair of jeans into a ‘new’, chic-looking pair in a snap. And it’s CHEAP. Some tips:

To get that nice dark denim wash which makes jeans look so new and posh, I use black dye, NOT the ‘dark denim’ color they sell.

I always do it in the washing machine as opposed to a bucket (directions for both on the bottle)

I always use hot water and always add the salt, which is optional.

Use cleaned and thoroughly rinsed clothes (detergent residue can interfere). Wet them first.

Dye won’t take as well to synthetic fabrics, or anything shiny. But it’s awesome on cotton, denim, hemp, etc. I mostly do jeans but have done skirts, tops, sweaters, all sorts of stuff.

Use more dye than they recommend. It’s worth it to get a good solid stain.

You can mix colors to customize.

Good luck!

@ Lisa Hoffman – Thanks Mamma! It was a wonderful birthday and made all the better by your card and package! Talk soon!

@ Deanna – Thanks darlin’! This dress has served me so well for many, many years. =)

@ ellie – Yay for more tall girls! And good for you for embracing it with heals!