Sisters...

Fourteen years ago, my sister left the sunny, dry desert southwest to make her first visit to the cool, rainy climes of Portland, Oregon, where I was living at the time.  It was early May, and so unseasonably cold and wet it was comical, the decision for her to come north rather than me travel south. In addition to not-so-jokingly breaking out camp sleeping bags for extra warmth in the drafty Victorian I rented a room in, we bundled up and left the house to make a psychologically warming purchase, matching bright orange flip-flops, like we would have worn if we were back in Arizona. We purchased nail polish in the same color and back at home, painted our toes. Afterwards, in search of a well-heated space, we went to a McMennamin's pub downtown and sat through as much of their warm, centrally-heated happy hour as we could before it would be called loitering. The rest of the trip was spectacularly cold and awful.

Since then, (almost) every flip-flop season, I buy two matching pairs and send one to my sister as a way of staying connected and reminding each other of our unique and distorted senses of humor.  This year is a remarkable year in the tradition for a number of reasons.  This is the first year the flips have any adornments on them, and it is the first year we are memorializing the tradition in blog format.

Each weekend, we take a photo of ourselves in our flips, and answer just one question about the moment; What would you be doing if you were here next to me?

Location: My Kitchen
Sis, if you were here, you would be using a sharper knife, drinking wine, cleaning something and raiding my cookbook collection which I never use.

Location: Santa Monica Beach
Sis, if you were here, we would have an over-packed picnic, and you would have talked me into buying a bottle of champagne and out of using sunscreen.













The idea of memorializing these exchanges in a blog is inspired by a fantastic food designer and blogger, Tricia Martin, where on a weekly basis, she connects with a friend of hers in the Sunday Window. Please check out her blog!

The original orange, now Sis' garden flips.