You can call me master of TriMet if you'd like :P
I made it to the airport without a problem and with plenty of time to spare!
I'm rewarding myself with a coffee at Starbucks and relaxing a bit before my 5pm class.
I read an article somewhere that suggested bringing along an oatmeal packet for a cheap, quick meal and that's exactly what I did. I took a couple boxes of raisins to snack on, too. All I had to do was ask for a cup of hot water at Starbucks, add the oatmeal and top it off with raisins.
Call me a dork, but it saves me money and is super easy.
One of our goals (I suppose you could call it a resolution) this year has been to learn the Portland Transit system. Taking the bus/light rail/street car (Also known as TriMet) would mean less dependence on our cars and lots of gas money saved. Learning the system has been a little intimidating to me. I have very little experience with public transportation, except the handful of times I've taken BART to SF and Berkeley (which still confuses me!).
Due to Nick's work schedule this week, though, I have been forced to learn TriMet fast! Nick will be training in Beaverton this week rather than working at his bank. Meanwhile, I have an online class tomorrow at 5pm and a flight that leaves from PDX at 7:30! Bad scheduling on my part, oops...
My solution to this problem is:
1. Learn transit system ASAP
2. Take said transit to Airport in time for my 5pm class
3. Sit in airport, attend class online for 2-3 hours while waiting for my flight.
4. Fly to Orange County (woohoo!)
The scariest part about this whole thing (and it's pretty silly really) is that I have to take a bus to the rail station--and I have exactly 5 minutes from the time I get off the bus to the time I have to be on MAX. Five minutes! I will be proud of myself if I can pull this off.
I know it will all be worth it, though. After tomorrow I will have conquered TriMet and saved a lot of money, too. Back at Sonoma State it cost me over $30 to take the bus to the airport. Here in Portland, I will be spending a whole $2.05 for the same purpose! Now if that's not reason enough to suck it up, I don't know what is.
Anyway, this week ahead is going to be busy and lots of fun for me! On Tuesday my mom, sisters and I will head to Palm Springs and have a mini-vacation for a night. I'm pretty sure all three of us are looking forward to some non-rainy (and actually warm!) days. 80-degree weather is the cherry on top! Wednesday afternoon we'll drive back to OC and my sisters and I will spend the evening with my dad. Thursday the three of us head to Temecula to visit our Opa and Oma. I'm hoping to record some old-world stories while we're there--I've been meaning to for a long time. :) On Friday Kim flies back to San Jose and I head over to Steven and Jodi's new house for a reunion with all our SSU friends. On Sunday I'll fly out from Burbank. Lots of fun ahead!
It's getting here... slowly but surely. The weather has been pretty mild and quite enjoyable compared to the 20 degree weather we faced in January.
Yesterday for the first time I ran a couple errands and didn't bring a coat! I did grab a jacket for the dog park though, because the chill came back as it got later in the day. Toby and I have so much fun at the park. Yesterday our neighbor and her dog Katie were there again, so Toby had a playmate and I had someone to talk to. Did I mention that the park is huge?!
See the little black dot in the middle of the picture? That's Toby :)
I'm guessing it's at least 3 acres, probably more. And it's only a five minute drive away! Next time I'm bringing some gloves. And a hat.
In other news, my window garden finally has some green! I am starting with parsley, basil, rosemary and chives.
I'm trying to sprout some more rosemary using an 18-ct egg carton--hopefully they'll be popping up soon. My goal is to use the rosemary to line our fence in the backyard. I'd love to have some handy 24/7 to spruce up our cooking. The other herbs will come in handy too-- especially when the basil grows enough for Nick to make his famous pesto. :)
My feet are sore and my immune system is down after a long, fun-filled and very busy weekend with my mom. She flew into Portland on Thursday and we were on the go until she flew back to Orange County this afternoon. We did and saw so much while she was up...
On Thursday I took her up to our much-loved Rocky Butte to see a 360 degree view of Portland and the surrounding snow-topped mountains. Unfortunately Mt. Hood was covered in low clouds, but we could see pretty far out otherwise. After Rocky Butte I took her home and gave her the grand tour of our mansion. That night we ate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Bastas, and then we headed next door to Blue Moon Tavern, aka the home of Nick's favorite beer (an Oatmeal Stout on Nitrogen). Blue Moon was pretty crowded, but then again it was St. Patty's day! In fact, while we were sipping our drinks a man in a kilt stopped in and played a few tunes on his bagpipes. Here's a little clip:
On Friday we took the advice of a fellow passenger my mom met on the plane and went to Nicholas Restaurant-- a quaint little Lebanese place with the most delicious food!
Neither of us had ever experienced Lebanese food, so we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. But we were starving, and that combined with our adventurous, "seize the day" attitude made the experience even better. First off, the warm, fresh flat bread that they bring out (both as an appetizer and for the hummus dips that come later) was easily 2 feet in diameter.
For drinks, my mom ordered the turkish coffee (strong and surprisingly rich and tasty) and I had a peach smoothie. We decided to share the 2-person combo, despite the fact that we didn't know what it entailed. We were being adventurous, remember?! The food looked and tasted amazing-- and it didn't stop coming! Twice our server brought out more food and we both said,"Huh? You mean there's more?!"
This is about 1/4 of our meal. To give you an idea of size, this plate is bigger than my face :)
Unfortunately by the time the lamb kabobs got to the table, we were too full to enjoy them. We got a box for all our leftovers, and it was filled to the brim! I'd love to go back, although due to Nick's HATE for all things bean-related (or should I say complex? hehe), I think I'll have to go with someone else. Any takers?!
Anyway, after filling up on exotic cuisine, we headed to the Lloyd Center-- a giant mall with an ice skating rink in the center. From there I took her to the Pearl District, which is an area near downtown with lots of fun shops. I learned quickly that I chose a bad day to wear high-heeled boots! Luckily we took a break for some very chocolatey mochas and our first-ever macaroons.
Macaroons not pictured because we devoured them immediately. They were yummy.
That night we walked over to Plew's Brews and enjoyed a few different micro-brewed beers. I was very happy to fill up our growler with my favorite beer, Over the Mountain Chocolate Stout. (For those still wondering about the growler, it is a half-gallon-sized jug that is filled with on-tap beer at Plew's for only $7. We bought the growler for $4 a while back and bring it back for a $7 refill when we want a treat.)
There was also live music and a big crowd at Plew's. Nick met an interesting man who turned out to be crazy and spoke lots of nonsense, but that's a story for another time. :)
Saturday morning I took my mom to a local antiques shop and then to downtown Portland.
We went to the big downtown mall (the one with a 3-story H&M and 2-story Forever 21!) and then to Powell's bookstore-- the one that takes up an entire city block. We passed by Voodoo doughnuts, but the line out the door and around the corner was a bit of a turnoff. When we got home, we talked a bit with one of our neighbors who has a cute pup named Katie. She was heading to a nearby dog park and invited us to join her. I know so little about our area still, so I was happy to follow her through St. Johns with Toby and my mom in tow.
The fenced dog park is huge-- At least a few acres. There were lots of friendly dog owners to chat with, and a couple of them recommended a few local places to check out. We also ended up seeing another one of our neighbors there with her dog, Mac. Toby had a blast sniffing smells (and other dogs) and I'm sure that we'll frequent that place at least a couple times a week.
On Saturday night Nick, my mom and I walked down the popular Hawthorn St. in the Southeast district. We got frozen yogurt with some crazy-good toppings--I got carrot cake and peanut butter yogurts with peanut butter crunch cereal, coconut, strawberries and marshmallow cream. (Once again, eaten too quickly to take a picture...) Oh, the perks of by-the-ounce yogurt prices!
Anyway, this morning Nick and I drove my mom to the airport and then hung out at home for most of the day. I'm in the process of interviewing people for my thesis, which has been taking me longer than I expected. Coordinating phone interviews with strangers can be quite difficult!
It was so nice to have my mom up for the weekend and finally show her our new home and the surrounding area! I'm pretty sure Toby already misses her.
Next time she visits, I'm sure we'll have more things lined up to do and see. One thing about this city is that there is always something to do.
Today, for the first time in 5 months, I made bread with our bread machine. Normally this would be a silly thing to bring up in a blog, but I feel like this has some symbolism. For the last 4 months, Nick and I did not have the luxury of doing a lot of things around the house that we enjoy. One of them (for me especially... well, and for Nick because I'm pretty sure he likes eating...) is cooking and baking in the kitchen. While we were living temporarily in different places over the last few months, we did not have access to any of our things, besides that in our suitcases. It was near impossible to make extravagant dishes because we were living out of someone else's home and did not have the necessary space, ingredients, supplies, etc.
Making bread today (despite it requiring only 5 minutes of labor on my part...shhh!) means a lot to me because we finally, finally have all of our precious kitchen tools back in our very own home. Maybe that's why the bread tasted extra yummy this afternoon...
...Either that or it's the extra butter I slathered on. ;)
I finally got around to taking pictures of our living room this morning. We're quite proud of ourselves and our deco-skills. :] Now I just need to find something to go above the TV... or would that be too much? Any ideas? I'm thinking a decorative clock or something. Ideally I'd like it to tie in with both Amsterdam picture in the office nook and the dark wood in our mirror/decorations. Perhaps a dark wood clock with stainless accents!
Anyway, here are the pictures:
Sorry about the fuzziness of some of them... they were taken with my cell phone camera.
I'd love to hear what you think!
This weekend Nick, Toby and I took a lovely walk down to Cathedral Park. It was the first time either of us really got to walk around down there. The park is only three blocks from our condo and sits at the foot of the Willamette River and the beautiful St. Johns bridge.
(click on each picture to enlarge)
The park is expansive with plenty of fishing spots on the river, excellent views of the bridge and a section for off-leash doggies (er, doggies that behave off-leash and respond well to voice command, meaning Toby has to stay attached).
During the warmer months the park hosts a farmer's market every Saturday and quite a few different festivals (including a pirate festival, arrr!) throughout the summer. We're happy to be so close to such excitement.
Toby really enjoyed the water, and surprised us by playing fetch with sticks we'd throw in the river. He was in up to his neck at points-- it was a lot of fun to watch.
Needless to say, he got a much-needed bath when we got home!
It was so nice to get out of the house and enjoy the first clear day in a few weeks. We're going to try to visit the park more frequently now that we know what we've been missing. We're only a five minute walk from the perfect little pick-me-up!
Actually, that's not true... they're really our inspiration :) Too bad we don't have cable TV!!
We've been slowly putting our home in order over the last couple weeks, and room by room it's looking better and better! A little tidying still needs to be done in the kitchen and living room (and our guest room houses the remainder of our unpacked boxes), so I thought I'd share some pictures of our "completed" bedroom--although I'm hoping to talk Nick into adding a little color splash in there somewhere (paging David Bromstad!).
I'm sure we'll be posting pictures of the rest of our home soon... just after this thesis is done-- haha!
Not pictured: sliding glass door to the left of the bed, going out to our small backyard/patio and our closet to the right of the bed.
...and because no blog entry is complete without a picture of the four-legged child, here's one of our reflective pup:
