Week Two of Eddie's Birthday Celebrations

Oh man, Eddie's birthday was awesome!  Yelp invited me to their second annual Bossanova Ballroom Bash which fell on Eddie's birthday this year.  I RSVP'd right away and was excited to learn that being a Yelp elite member got us into the event an hour before it opened up to everyone else.  One of the benefits to arriving early was access to their freebies (see my awesome new sunglasses).  But there were also hardly any lines for food and drinks at this early time.  We walked around the floor and picked up a few snacks and drinks - all free - and then found out we were being treated to a very special surprise.  All of the Yelp elite members who came for the early opening got to see a live cabaret / burlesque show.  Eddie was standing front and center for the three performances.  I had no idea that was going to happen but I was stoked because it turned out to be an awesome birthday gift for him.

After the show when the doors opened for everyone, the hall got very crowded and it was hard to stand in the long lines for food and drinks.  We were lucky to have gotten everything we wanted early on.  Eddie and I went upstairs to get some free beer and slices of Sizzle Pie pizza.  We probably would have left at this point, but we knew there was going to be a raffle, so we wanted to stick around for that.  We filled our time with taking fun mustache pictures.

The raffle was great because I won!  I got a copy of the PDX Happy Hour Guidebook which was great since I've wanted it but couldn't justify spending the money to get it.  Yelp really knows how to treat its members well.  I can't imagine how much a shindig like this costs, but they rented a two-story ballroom, invited 400 guests, and had free Ninkasi beer, free Makers Mark cocktails, and food from Salty's, The Heathman, Pine State Biscuits, and more.  All for free!  I don't know how they do it, but I love it.  I am so glad my mom bugged me to get on Yelp.  I had no idea I would enjoy it so much.  And the timing couldn't have been more perfect because I wouldn't have been able to take Eddie out and treat him to this good of a time on my limited budget.

The rest of the week has been mild.  Eddie and I spent time walking around SE Portland on his day off because we realized we never walk over there.  Eddie treated me to lunch at Bunk Sandwiches which makes a darn fine grilled cheese.  :-)  Then he took me to The Green Dragon where we enjoyed a couple of beers.  I had a lot of fun hanging out here because they have board games available to take to your table.  I picked up the Jenga set and was totally shocked to learn Eddie had never played it.  The set was missing a few bricks, but we still had fun.  Eddie is a natural.

We left the bar and walked about a half block towards our house when we saw a sign advertising free tastings at Integrity Spirits.  No way were we going to turn that down.  We got to sample two of their vodkas, gin, and absinthe that already has sugar so you just need to add water.  I don't have much experience with absinthe, but this was definitely the best I've ever had.  It was a slow day for them so the owner came out to chat with us for a bit.  He even poured us samples of two of his flavored spirits - I can't remember if they are vodka or rum based.  But one of them was flavored with saffron and I actually kind of liked it.

Days like that remind me how awesome Portland is and how much I still have to explore.  I know it's not realistic to try everything this town has to offer, but man am I going to try hard because this town is great!

I really haven't done much else this week.  Not even read.  I did watch more Grey's Anatomy though and am almost caught up to the current season.  The only book I tackled is Thomas Perry's Strip.  This was another hard one for me to get into.  At least I liked the characters in Hostage Zero even if the plot wasn't interesting for me.  Strip was just kind of blah for me.  Nothing memorable about the characters or plot.  But Perry is an LA noir writer so I'll probably give him another try down the road.  It's (normally) fun to read crime books set in Los Angeles because it's an exciting city.  And because I'm familiar with most of the places they mention in those books.

My blog updates are becoming infrequent and I expect that trend to continue until I get a job and have money to do things.  I have no fun plans on my horizon so I might just be doing media updates for the rest of the month.  If that turns out to be true, I apologize in advance.