Halloween

I really love this time of year.  Fall is just beautiful with all the trees changing color.  And then it's my birthday.  And then it's Halloween.  So much fun for one month!  I kidnapped Lauren for the evening and we made our way to my friend, Geneiva's party.  Oh my goodness some of these costumes were awesome!    Our fabulous host was dressed as Rosie the Riveter - and the costume came complete with the infamous "We Can Do It!" backdrop.  Other favorites of mine for the night: the scrabble letter, the Will Ferrell "more cowbell" guy, and the Chilean miner complete with wife and mistress on his arms to name a few.  These were all great homemade costumes that made me feel lame for wearing something that was purchased from a party store.

Unfortunately Lauren and I could not stay long because we were busy socialites and had another party to attend.  We made a quick pit stop at my apartment and then walked up the street to Jenny's place for party #2.  Eddie's costume survived the rain which made me happy.  For the past two months he was going on about wanting to be the phantom of the opera so I was stoked for him that we were able to pull it off.  We made his plaster mask ourselves at home last night and it actually turned out pretty well.

And my media mention for the night is pretty lame.  Jenny & Mathias had an old VHS tape playing when we arrived - House II: The Second Story.  Granted, I really wasn't paying attention so I shouldn't technically be reviewing this, but from what I could tell, the best thing about the movie is its title.  It does feature a very young Bill Maher so that was fun to see.  I was never able to get past the ultra low-budget feel of the film.  And perhaps I'm just bitter that this movie has been released on DVD when one of my favorite cheesy Halloweenish flicks, The Bride of Boogedy, has not.

P.S. Happy birthday, Kiki!  :-)

Birthday at Henry's

Lauren took me out to celebrate my birthday tonight.  I suggested going to Henry's Tavern, our regular spot, because they sent me a lovely birthday coupon for happy hour prices at any time.  We quickly learned that it was a bit of a bum deal because they do not have any drinks on their happy hour special - just food.  I ordered the mac n cheese with a big side of delicious waffle fries and started with a very sweet mai tai.  An interesting older gentleman was sitting next to Lauren and chatting with her for quite a bit, but when he found out it was my birthday, he bought us a round of birthday cake shots - very yummy.  Probably the funniest point in the evening was when this man complimented her for her "high altitude."  Yeah, we didn't get it either...

I started a new book today, so that will suffice for my media mention.  I was a bit disturbed with the ending of the first chapter in Neil Gaiman's American Gods.  Even Eddie found the passage disturbing when I finished reading it to him.  So a bit on the bizarre side so far, but at least I'm enjoying it more than the other awful book I started a few weeks ago.

Hopworks

Unlike yesterday, I could not get out of my shift today.  Fortunately my shifts are fairly short so I had my mom drop me off at work today.  I gave her a quick tour of the winery and then she took my car to explore McMinnville and the wine country area on her own.  She came back to my winery just before the end of my shift at 5:00 so I could pour her our flight of wines.  After I closed up, she and I sat in the lounge chairs and enjoyed a small glass of wine before leaving.

We picked up Eddie at the house then headed to Hopworks Urban Brewery for dinner.  Nonna gave my mom some money to take us all out for a nice dinner with dessert so I thought this would be a fun place for us to go.  I think I found my favorite burger up here.  This is the only one I have found that rivals Deschutes (sorry, no picture).  After dinner we went to Belmont Station which is a beer shop we took my mom to during her first visit out here a few months ago.  She loves this place because they sell her favorite Val-Dieu Grand Cru.  Though they don't have it on tap, this place lets you purchase bottles and then they will open them and serve them for you in their bar.  I thought this was a fun way to spend my mom's last night in town.

For today's media mention, I'm going to draw on something from work.  We have a five-disc CD player at work that has held the same five CDs since I first started working there.  But I don't mind because one of the discs is Natalie Merchant's Live in Concert which I totally dig.  I remember my mom playing her Tigerlily album and I was familiar with all her big hits, but she is one of the few artists that I really enjoy listening to live.  My favorite on this album is her cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."

Here Comes the Sun - NOT

Mom and I had the whole day to spend together courtesy of my supervisor for finding someone to cover my shift.  We started out with a nice walk along the waterfront trail and then did some shopping at Gap.  I got a few new tops to wear to work.  Then we walked through the rain to get to Powell's so I could sell some of my old books.  Unfortunately they only bought two of my books, but it was enough for me to purchase one of Gordon Ramsay's books so I was happy.  Since we were close, we then stopped at Deschutes for lunch.

It was just mid-afternoon when we finished lunch so my mom suggested seeing a movie.  I knew we were close to the Living Room Theaters so I was excited when my mom realized we could see Machete there.  I didn't know what the movie was about, but I like Robert de Niro and Jessica Alba, so I thought it would be fun to see.  I laughed so much because the violent action scenes were so cooky - like Pulp Fiction & Kill Bill meet Sin City.  My mom enjoyed the theater as much as I do.  They have a nice food menu as well as a full bar.  I have only ever had their popcorn though and that is a fine treat.

After the movie we had to walk home to meet Eddie and figure out our dinner plans.  The first half of the walk was fine but then we got dumped on with rain.  It would have been wise to take the Streetcar home, but then hindsight is always 20/20.  We were drenched and not in the best mood when we got home so we did not feel like braving the rain to go out again.  Eddie offered to go to the store and get some stuff for dinner.  He returned with taco / burrito and margarita ingredients so we had a little fiesta at the house.  My friend, Jason, from Southern California happened to be in our area on a road trip with his dad, so he stopped by for a few hours.  I hadn't seen him in about six years so it was great to catch up after all this time.

My Birthday :-)

10/23.  Today was a great day!  Partly because I was celebrating my birthday - the big 27 - but mostly great because my mom flew up to visit for the weekend.  Her flight landed in the late afternoon so I picked her up and we drove straight to Aunt Mary's in Silverton for dinner.  My cousin, Sarah, was visiting with her daughter, Emma, from San Jose so it was a great reason to get everyone together.  My mom got to meet the newest addition to the family, Alexia, so that was also a nice treat.

After dinner we headed home to figure out what to do.  We were thinking about heading out for drinks, but I was actually pretty tired and ready to wind down so I suggested opening a bottle of wine at home.  We had the perfect wine on hand because two years ago, Eddie and I did a big road trip through Northern California and my mom joined us for the last leg of our journey.  We spent a night in Santa Rosa and did some time wine tasting where we came across Limerick Lane.  Lo and behold they happened to have a wine called 1023 - named after the address of the vineyard in Healdsburg.  Mom bought me a bottle with the intention of opening for my birthday.  Unfortunately, I dropped the ball and forgot to bring that bottle when we met in Denver for my birthday last year.  I just kept it in the back of my mind and planned to save it for another birthday.  So it was perfect that we could open it tonight and share it with my mom and Eddie since it was the three of us who discovered it.

Time to wrap this up.  Today's media mention is a book I bought about a year ago thinking it would be a fun read.  And it was.  On What Grounds is the first book in Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mysteries series.  I found it to be a mix of Janet Evanovich's and Sue Grafton's styles.  Just a light and easy read.  A great book to read in the bath - which is exactly what I did.  I'm already near the end of book 2 and I purchased the next few books in the series so I'll have some fun reading coming my way.

Highway 47

I really treated myself to some much-needed fun.  My day began with an interview for a tasting room position with Sake One in Forest Grove - the only sake brewhouse in the United States.  I thought the interview went well, but the best part was tasting through the sake flight with Tony.  I have never been a big sake fan, but Eddie and I always order it when we go out for sushi and rice.  I've only found a handful that I really like, but I must admit that I loved all of the ones at Sake One.  I purchased a half bottle of Asian pear flavored sake.  Delicious.  :-)

I probably should have gone home after the interview to start packing for the move, but I wanted a little adventure so I went wine tasting on Highway 47.  I just started driving south from Forest Grove and stopped at the ones that sounded nice.  Plum Hill with the cute gift shop (30% off fall & Halloween decorations right now), Patton Valley Vineyard with some nice estate pinots and beautiful artwork on display from Louis Delegato, Elk Cove VIneyards with the amazing dessert wine, Ultima, Kramer Vineyards who roasts coffee beans, Adea where I had the best tasting experience with Christina, Lenne Estate because they are my neighbor at Soléna, and finally Laurel Ridge Winery who makes a fabulous cabernet franc port.  A very fun day indeed!

What did I do after all that?  I can assure you that I did not do the responsible thing by packing.  No, no. I plopped down on the couch and watched In Her Shoes.  I had heard great things about this movie from friends, but I think I went in with my expectations too high because it was a bit of a let-down.  I did find myself really understanding Toni Collette's character though.

Cuvee

Date night!  Eddie met me in Carlton after his shift and I was able to close up and get out by 5:05.  Eddie suggested Cielo Blu for an Italian dinner.  When I asked why he didn't want to do Cuvee for French food, he explained that they had nothing on the menu for me.  But I already knew they had fries on their menu and I wasn't terribly hungry, so I was able to convince Eddie to go for French fare.  But they didn't open until 5:30 so we had a glass of wine at Cielo Blu first.  I definitely want to do dinner there too at some point.  Cuvee was a fun dinner experience because we had an awesome waiter and we were the only customers in the dining room until out dessert was served.  Eddie really splurged on our dinner and ordered us a really nice Gewürtraminer to go with my piping hot cone of fries.  I chose our dessert but it was way too rich for me.  Still a very nice date-night dinner for us.

I'm not really up-to-date for my media mentions.  Mostly because I can't stand the book I'm reading.  But I'm not ready to review it.  I'll mention it when either I finish the book or decide it's a waste of my time and give up.  So my mention for today is a movie I watched with Lauren the other night.  We had another cheese / cracker / wine night at her place and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Unfortunately I really have nothing to say about it because I was a little too tired to watch it and it didn't hold my attention well.  I'll probably add it to my Netflix queue so I can give it a fair chance when I'm wide awake.

Meeting My New Cousin #2

I got to meet my newest cousin tonight.  Alexia is a beautiful, sweet little baby.  She sleeps most hours of the day, but she woke up for a bit while I was there.  Her big sisters, Sofia & Cassia just adore Eddie.  We played a few rounds of Guess Who and Connect Four with them before dinner.  It was nice spending time with my cousins to catch up on life.  And we took a few good pictures.

Eddie and I ducked out as the rest of the family popped in a DVD to kick off movie night.  I was jealous because they were going to watch Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite Disney films.  I believe it was about eight years ago when this movie was last released on DVD.  I was in my second year of college and my roommate, Anne, came home with a copy of the movie one day.  So I went to Target to purchase it, but when I saw it was $20, I decided to pass.  I was only making about $8/hour at the time so it didn't seem worth it to spend 2.5 hours of my time on a movie.  And I foolishly did not believe Disney when they said "buy it now before it goes in the vault for ten years."  Really?  They were serious?  So for eight years I've been waiting patiently for this movie to come out of the vault and I am thrilled the day has come two years early.  I asked Eddie to get it for me as part of my birthday gift.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Carafe

It's been a bit of a slow week so far.  Eddie and I have made a lot of progress moving things into our new apartment.  We decided to spend tonight at the new place so after my evening job interview, we went for a short walk downtown and had dinner at Carafe which is only about four blocks from the new place.  Eddie ordered from the prix fixe menu while I had the burger with pommes frites.  I barely ate half the burger - partly because I was full but mostly because I've eaten way too many burgers lately.  But Eddie and I polished off all the pommes frites.  They were thicker fries than I normally care for, but they were cooked pretty well - crisp on the outside and fluffy potato on the inside.  And Eddie says the housemade mayo was amazing.

So since we're staying in the new place where we have no internet hooked up yet, my media mention comes from my DVD library.  I moved one set of DVDs to the new apartment for Eddie and I to enjoy at night in the new place.  So what are we watching?  I Love Lucy Season 2.  It has been hilarious to watch these classic episodes - especially the infamous job switching / chocolate factory episode.