Have You Forgotten?

Not much to say about tonight.  I had to work a full shift today so I didn't get to spend too much time with Mom & Kiki.  They dropped me off at my winery and did a quick tasting before heading out to the coast for the day.  They picked me up at the end of my shift and then we met Eddie at Hopworks Urban Brewery.  We actually ate here for my birthday the last time my mom was in town but she liked it so much we wanted to go back tonight.  Dinner was great and came with some surprising news...  The TVs around the bar announced the death of bin Laden.  It was very surreal getting that kind of news at a bar.

We made a quick stop at Voodoo Doughnut for a fun dessert before heading back to the hotel.  Eddie joined us at the hotel where we sipped on some wine and watched the breaking news unfold.  Oh.  And Kiki gave me her old iPhone so I started setting that up.  It's definitely going to take some getting used to, but I think I might actually learn to like it.

If you're curious about the doughnuts...  From left to right:  Eddie's Voodoo Doll; my "no name" (raised doughnut w/ chocolate, Rice Krispies, & peanut butter drizzle); Kiki's plain sprinkle; and Mom's chocolate & peanut butter (not sure what the name is).

My media mention is a show Eddie and I finished a couple weeks ago.  Top Chef All Stars was great this season!  I was bummed that Casey & Jen didn't make it further in the season, but I was pleased with the outcome.  I wish they would have let the final face-off include the final three chefs because I would have loved to see what Antonia could have come up with.  I think my favorite part was watching the reunion show with Andy from Bravo.  I had no idea Antonia was so cursed when it came to her teammates!  Hilarious.  I also loved the Marcel auto-tuned clip.  Very funny stuff they put together.

Visitors

I had a great time tonight!  Just a few weeks ago Mom & Kiki planned a trip to Portland for a quick visit with me.  I was excited to have them fly in tonight.  They took an early evening flight which allowed me to work a full day before picking them up.  I wish I could have taken the day off work, but I think we managed to do a lot of stuff tonight.  After checking into the hotel (totally cool that they upgraded us to a huge suite), we walked to Mama Mia Trattoria for a beautiful dinner.  I ordered the pizza because I was dying to try the house-made mozzarella.  Delicious!

We walked around after dinner and found ourselves at Barrel Room.  We really enjoyed the dueling pianos show.  We didn't stay long, but they played some great songs.  The crowd was really going wild during Cee Lo Green's "F*** You."  This was my second time checking out their show...  It's still not my favorite for dueling pianos, but I love that they have a guitarist and drummer to call on stage to perform more rock-y songs.  That makes it fun.

I don't remember the name of the place, but Mom got a coffee at one of the food carts with late-night hours.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but I need to go back to this place because they serve Belgian waffles.  It smelled so delicious.  :-)  Our evening ended at Henry's Tavern with a final round of drinks and a cup of soup for Kiki & Mom to split.  I have to work tomorrow so we don't get to spend the day together, but I'm looking forward to the evening...

Finished another mystery today.  Shocker, I know. This one was John Sandford's Rules of Prey the first in the Lucas Davenport series.  One thing I really appreciated about this book was Sandford's attention to police procedure.  I think those details are often overlooked in mysteries - especially in popular television programming like CSI.  I also enjoyed the characters so I wouldn't mind picking up the next book in the series to see where it takes me.

First Thursday

I love having great weather when fun things are happening downtown.  Every first Thursday of the month, art galleries in Portland stay open late and pour free wine for people like me who can't afford art but like to look at it.  Eddie and I did the art walk a few months ago, but we didn't really know where to go and kind of missed out on some things.  It was still fun, but I was eager to get out and try it again.

We started out with a round of happy hour drinks at Three Degrees.  I just learned that their happy goes until 7pm which is great since most happy hours end too early at 6:00.  This place is at the end of the line of shops on the river by our apartment and we hadn't checked it out yet.  I gave their burger a try since it's half off during happy hour - and unfortunately they didn't have a discount on their mac n cheese.  Their mac is topped with goldfish crackers.  It sounds cute and yummy so I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay full price for it one day.  Anyhoo...  I was not impressed with the burger.  I've had fresher and better.  I certainly wouldn't pay full price for this, but $6 for a full size burger & fries is not bad.

Next we headed toward the art galleries we saw a few months ago (on 1st St. just south of Burnside).  I was sidetracked by the beautiful sunset and insisted on snapping a few photos.  This is a picture of the Hawthorne Bridge.

I was so happy to find the Attic Gallery open to us again.  This was my favorite stops the last time we went out because I fell in love with Lilli Faville's sculptures.  I think they are so fun and funky.  These ceramic dogs were on display again tonight. I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at them.

One of the galleries was closed when we walked by a few months ago but they were open tonight so we went in.  It's actually a chiropractor's office that apparently doubles as a gallery.  They were featuring illustrations from Dan Murphy-Hecht.  Eddie enjoyed these more than I - baby bottles & diapers meet war.  Interesting concept, but not my cup of tea. I just checked out the artist's website and he has an impressive resume - he's created some designs for the Rockband games and Guitar Hero II.  This was also a cool spot because Eddie and I were given free back & shoulder massages which felt so nice.

I was ready to head to the Pearl to visit the galleries up there because I had been told that's where the main event really is.  Eddie and I cut over on Everett St. and stayed there the rest of the night.  There were so many galleries back-to-back within a few blocks of each other on Everett.  My favorite stop in this string was the Werks Gallery.  They were featuring Chris Cole's Oceanic show mixing abstract art and kinetic sculptures.  This gallery was packed!  Everyone seemed drawn in by the kinetic sculptures.  If you click on his link, you'll get an idea of what they were like.  Every piece in the gallery fit in with the "oceanic" theme.  The sculptures were cool because they were interactive designs of fish with hand cranks that allowed the viewer to get involved and make the fish move.  Pretty cool.  I felt dumb though because it wasn't until after we walked around the whole gallery that I finally realized all the paintings I just saw contained fish.  Eddie got it right away, but to me these colorful works reminded me of old pog designs.  I just didn't look closely enough.

We finished checking out the galleries on Everett and decided it was time to head home.  We took our sweet time and meandered around the downtown streets.  We found a few fun things to take pictures of; notably the umbrella statue Eddie wanted to kiss.  Needless to say, it was an entertaining walk home.

I have another library book to review for my media mention.  I wish I had enjoyed the story as much as the cover.  That sounds rough, but Hillary Davidson's The Damage Done was not a polished story.  I understand that it's her first novel, but it had a pretty simple plot and tried too hard to hide the ending.  I think when the author tries too hard to cover their plot twits, it only makes it easier to guess where they are actually going.  It didn't help that I never grew attached to any of the characters.  That usually makes the story more interesting to read.

Sunday Fun Day

More like Sunday fun day morning.  I think it's safe to say that Cecilia was blessed with a bout of beautiful weather for her Portland trip.  I was so excited to wake up to some sunshine this morning.  I walked to Cecilia's hotel to pick her up and then we hopped on the streetcar and got off near Powell's.  I was hoping to take her to Blitz for a yummy and inexpensive breakfast.  Apparently they don't open very early on Sunday mornings so we started walking east figuring we'd keep our eyes open for a coffee shop.  Just a few blocks later we came across Fuller's Coffee Shop and figured it would suffice.  They boasted house-made bread so I splurged with a half order of French toast.  I was unimpressed, but I think I'm starting to realize that I'm not a traditional French toast fan.  The best French toast I have ever had is at the dumpy-ish Cardinal Lounge in San Jose.  Their French toast is loaded with cinnamon & sugar and drizzled with caramel.  Yum.  But I digress.  Eggs & bacon were great and Cecilia ordered a side of their plain toast which said was really good.  I should try their bread plain next time rather than try to gussy it up into French toast.

I wanted to check out Saturday Market so we walked towards the waterfront after breakfast.  Yes, I realize it is Sunday, but Portland's Saturday Market goes both days.  It was already 10:00 but most of the booths were empty.  Vendors were still setting up and not ready to sell anything yet.  We did a quick walk through the area then got on the waterfront trail to walk home.  It was such a gorgeous day for a walk.  We had a few minutes to spare so we snapped a few quick photos on the river.

I had such a great visit with Cecilia even though we didn't actually have a lot of time together.  We made the most of it though.  I was sad to have to leave her to go to work, but I couldn't have asked for a better way to start my day.

I do have some work news to share.  This will be my last Sunday working for Soléna.  Some of you may know that I was hired to work full-time for a book publisher in Portland.  Unfortunately things have not worked out so well there.  But last week I applied for a full-time position with another winery in the area and was hired by them.  I will be starting at Trisaetum in less than two weeks and can't wait!  It's similar to Soléna in that both are small, husband & wife-owned wineries.  I haven't even met everyone at Trisaetum, but everyone on their team has taken the time to send me an email welcoming to the team.  I have a great feeling about this new position.

If you haven't noticed, I've been doing a lot of reading lately.  I just haven't been in the mood for TV or movies so I've been able to spend my downtime plowing through books.  I finished another good one today - Raymond Khoury's The Templar Salvation.  For some reason my library keeps displaying templar mysteries that catch my eye so I pick them up and try them.  I was bummed to realize that this book is the second in his series, but I still read it.  I'll just have to read the first one later.  This novel seemed pretty similar to the Paul Christopher templar novels I've been reading lately, but I think this one had a little more action in it.  Not sure which one I actually like more, but I know I'll be reading more of Khoury's series in the future.

Fun Night Out

Lauren & Erica convinced me to join them for a night out this week.  We started out at Departure, a rooftop bar downtown.  We had a round of cocktails and enjoyed catching up while looking down on the city.  I met their friend, Dana, who was in town for a convention.  It was fun catching up, but it was even more fun people watching.  There were a lot of interesting characters out here...

We picked up another friend and headed to Barrel Room, a dueling piano bar / outdoor dance club.  We started out in the dueling piano bar where we enjoyed a great show.  I've seen better dueling piano performances, but even if the entertainers aren't that great, it's still fun to sing along with some great hits.  And a round of kamikazes always makes the night great!

To change things up, we ducked out of the piano bar lounge and headed to the tented area on the side of the building.  There was a DJ mixing some fun hits for this outdoor dance club.  It was really cool.  We danced off all the drinks and had a great night partying into the wee hours.  Too bad it was Daylight Savings and time to turn the clocks forward an hour.  I will definitely be going back to this place...  I just wish they had dueling pianos every night of the week - not just Sat & Sun.

So a funny thing happened on my way home.  Lauren dropped me off at the stairs leading up to my complex.  I was fumbling for the keys as I walked up to the front door and was so excited to see the lights on because I thought Eddie actually waited up for me.  But when I put my key in the lock, it didn't turn.  I started to think that I was an idiot for trying to use my new work key to open the house (my work key looks exactly like the house key).  But I didn't panic.  I just rang the doorbell.  It was then that I looked up and saw the address on the door and realized that I was at our neighbor's.  Ringing the bell at 3am!  Yikes.  I quickly ran next door and unlocked my door and slipped inside before my neighbor could come out and see who was ringing their bell at that hour.  Oops.

And a quick media mention for The Templar Cross, the second book in Paul Christopher templar conspiracy novels that I'm reading.  I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book, but it wasn't bad.  I just think I had a hard time getting into the setting and it was sad having Peggy take more of a backseat in this novel.  But that's because she was kidnapped and the novel is about finding her.  I already have the third book checked out from the library and I'm looking forward to starting it.

Rest of February

I think I'm glad that February is a short month.  I've never cared either way about it being the shortest month of the year, but since I'm so low on funds, it was nice to have the rest of this month pass quickly and get me closer to finding a job.  Hopefully.  Eddie and I haven't been up to much the past two weeks.  Just taking it easy.  We decided not to do anything for Valentine's Day due to our financial situation so I was completely surprised when Eddie came home with a little bouquet of daisies.  That was sweet.

Bear with me because I have several media mentions coming up.  I am still totally loving my library!  Without their recommendation, I never would have tried Three Seconds - a Swedish crime thriller.  I had a more difficult time getting into this than Stieg Larsson's series, but I still enjoyed this book.  Because it was hard for me to get into, I wasn't expecting a lot of the outcomes and plot twists they threw out.  I don't know if all libraries do this, but mine will feature brand new titles for a few weeks on a special bookcase on the main floor.  These books are marked with a bright orange sticker that lets you know it's brand new.  You're only allowed to check out two of them at any time and only for three weeks; you cannot renew these titles.  I've been so lucky to find great reads on this bookshelf so far.  Can't wait to see what will be on it when I go back.

As I said before, Eddie and I haven't been going out much, but we did get out and meet up with Lauren & Erica at Cascade Brewing Barrel House one night.  They feature a large selection of sour beers.  Definitely not my thing, but with Eddie's guidance and Lauren's first-hand knowledge of the place, I was able to find a couple of beers I could stomach.  Still, I don't think I'll be going out of my way for a glass of sour anytime soon.

I do have a pathetic story to share.  I had to pick up and deliver 20 cases of wine to my winery a week ago.  It had been raining and when I unloaded the first case from my car, I slipped on the slick surface of our storage room and fell flat on my butt.  Fortunately none of the wine broke, but it really hurt my bum.  I didn't make a big deal of it at work because I figured it would go away.  But the pain is still persistent so I'm finally making an appointment to see a chiropractor.  Hope it helps.  

Anyhoo...  Because of this, I've been cooped up at home even more than normal so I've been watching a lot of movies:  The Freebie, The Kite Runner, Alice In Wonderland, This Is It, and Elvira.  The Kite Runner is definitely my favorite of the bunch.  I read and reviewed the book a few months ago.  It was a book I enjoyed, so I looked forward to finally seeing the movie.  Movie was fantastic.  I think they found great actors to play the parts - especially for the children.  I do think the movie isn't as captivating for someone who has not read the book because it is so important to hear the thoughts running through the narrator's head.  You don't get so much of that from the movie.  Watching the movie has made me motivated to give A Thousand Splendid Suns a try now.

I know my update isn't in chronological order, but at some point during these past few weeks, I finally went to Little Big Burger.  This is a newer burger joint in the Pearl District.  These are gourmet little burgers featuring all fresh and local ingredients.  And housemade ketchup - not that I tried any of that.  I saw this restaurant start up a few months ago and immediately checked the Yelp reviews to see if it would be worth it.  After reading several reviews comparing them to In-N-Out, I was determined to try it.  The menu is similar to In-N-Out (burger, cheeseburger, fries, milkshakes) but LBB adds a veggie burger, fancy cheeses, and canned beer to their board.  Everything is super fresh like In-N-Out (hand cut fries, freshly baked bun), but they are completely different burgers.  Mine was slightly under-seasoned, but certainly one of the better restaurant burgers I've had.

Another book I found randomly at the library is Paul Christopher's The Sword of the Templars.  Another book by another author I had never heard of and I am so excited I decided to pick this one up.  It's a pretty similar story to The da Vinci Code - about a West Point professor and his niece following clues from their deceased uncle / grandfather that leads them through a series of centuries-old mysteries regarding the Templar treasures.  My favorite part about this book?  Turns out it's the first in a series by Christopher.  I'm already partway through the second book and I can't wait to see where this series goes.

One fun thing Eddie and I did the other night was try Salty's on the Columbia River.  Salty's had a booth set up at the Yelp event we went to for Eddie's birthday.  They were serving up piping hot clam chowder that Eddie really enjoyed.  But they were also giving away free gift certificates.  Ours was worth $25 so we got to have a nice, little dinner there.  We arrived at the right time and were seated at one of the window tables with a great view of the river.  It was gray and hailing so we didn't have the clearest view, but it was a neat experience.

Last media mention for the night.  I promise.  Another random book selection from the library.  This one I almost passed over because of the tile and cover, but it was displayed proudly in the mystery section.  I picked it up and read the inside panel and decided I might enjoy A Quiet Belief In Angels.  This is a great story about a young boy growing up in WWII era Georgia who is appalled by the recent slayings of young girls in his town.  He makes a vow with his friends to protect the young girls from this serial killer.  The book follows this boy as he grows up and continues to suffer losses.  The ending was a bit predictable but that's mostly because the book opens with the end with flash-forwards sprinkled throughout the story.  I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries / crime fiction and period pieces. 

I mentioned the hail earlier...  We actually got a fair amount of snow one day.  Eddie and I chose to stay in and play cards all day because we didn't want to drive or try to walk anywhere.  The snow melted by noon but then we got dumped on again in the afternoon.  Our little courtyard area had a very nice covering of snow - even if it only lasted about an hour or so.

And that was how the rest of February went for me.  I promise I'll try harder to write more frequently next month so you don't have to sift through my mundane stories just to see the fun pictures...

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.

Stumptown

Today was another day of Portland adventures.  I met my friend, Laura, for coffee at Stumptown shortly after 8:00.  I ordered a bagel and my little hot chocolate per my usual M.O.  I was amazed when I saw the barista giving me a killer leaf design.  I thought only coffee drinkers received that kind of treatment; I never expected that for a simple hot chocolate.  I was very impressed.  Laura and I sat on their very comfortable couch and talked for almost four hours.  I guess we had a lot of catching up to do...  This was an amazing way to kick off a warmish rainy day.

Laura and I parted ways after noon and I decided to check out the library.  I got my brand new library card and wandered to the new releases section where I found two books to try.  I probably didn't need any more books, but fate brought me in to their popular room where a staffer was stocking really brand new releases that always have long wait lists.  She told me I was very lucky for catching her at this time which intrigued me enough to look at the collection.  Sure enough I found the brand new releases from two of my favorite authors so I quickly snagged those up.  I am still shocked that I have two library books in my possession that have never been read by another person.

I was grinning from ear-to-ear when I walked out of the library because I haven't checked out books in years.  Not since I lived in San Jose.  I've been buying my books or borrowing from friends for the last 12+ years so I never went to the library.  Today I felt like a little kid.  I can't wait to go back in three weeks when my books are due and spend an hour or two perusing the shelves for my next picks.

Only one thing could have added to my happiness: catching the Streetcar right away without having a long wait.  I looked like an idiot leaving the library trying to balance my purse on my shoulder while manhandling five large hardcover books all while keeping the umbrella above my head.  I was stoked when I walked one block west and found the Streetcar waiting at a red light just so that I could catch it.  It was super cool.  Things like that never happen to me.  Needless to say I was a very happy camper when I got home.  Then when Eddie came home he announced he wanted to go out for dinner.  He was thinking McCormick & Schmick's but then I suggested Le Hana so we could use my first www.restaurant.com gift certificate.  I wasn't that hungry and thought Eddie would enjoy sushi so that's where we went.  I loved the decor and my simple bowl of steamed rice.  Eddie and I passed on drinks since the certificate excludes alcohol.  Eddie filled the table with 4 orders of sushi rolls and then I splurged on the Twinkie Tempura dessert.  It was the winter special.  How was I supposed to turn that down?  Le Hana is running a special right now where if you purchase one drink you get 50% off your entree so I think that means Eddie and I will be going back soon to take advantage.

I'm already halfway through the first library book, so I'll probably review it tomorrow.  So for now, I'm going to have to rely on Grey's Anatomy for my media mention.  I finished watching the second season.  I had vague memories of most of the episodes but I was surprised to find there were about five episodes I had never seen.  I clearly remember having a weekly ritual with my college roomies to watch the show in its early seasons so I can't understand why I missed so many episodes.

Prison Love

I had a late-morning interview downtown this morning.  I decided to walk there since it was only barely sprinkling and then I could continue to explore Portland if the weather held up.  The interview with the temp agency went well - at least until I spilled my full cup of water on their floor.  But I scored 81 wpm with a 98% accuracy on their typing test so I felt pretty good about that.  After the interview I checked out Moonstruck Chocolate which is on the same block as the temp agency.  I knew I wanted to go here to find a Christmas gift to send Stacy and Jordan.  I found some great chocolates and treated myself to a small Mayan hot chocolate which is flavored with cinnamon, almond, and vanilla.  To be honest, I really didn't taste the added flavors, but it was still a nice hot chocolate.

My next stop was Rogue where I haven't been in a few months.  Eddie and I just always seem to go to Deschutes instead so I thought it was time to pay the other great brewery a visit.  The bartender gave me a free taste of John John so I ordered a pint of that to go with their killer hazelnut beer bread.  I used this time to finish reading Orange Is the New Black: My Year In a Women's Prison, a true story by Piper Kerman.  This is one of the few new books I own on my Kindle and I was excited to have plenty of uninterrupted reading time at Rogue.  This was a really great story about Piper who in her lesbian youth got caught up with a woman she admired and was slightly involved in that woman's drug business.  Five years later, Piper is dating the man of her dreams and the feds catch up with her but she doesn't go to prison for another five years.  This was a really interesting look into prison life.  Granted, she definitely had it easier than what you see on TV.  She was in a minimum security facility so she was not locked in a cell and had freedom to roam the common areas.  She goes into great detail about the relationships she formed while inside which I enjoyed.

I hung out at Rogue for almost two hours because I wanted to catch the free distillery tour.  Eddie and I have never been there at the right time for the tour.  Unfortunately there wasn't much to the tour and it was a bit of a let down.  This location isn't their main distillery so this one is a very small operation with only two pot stills.  The tour lasted all of ten minutes since it doesn't take long to walk up the stairs to have a quick look at the two stills.  I suppose it was at least mildly informative so from that perspective, it was a decent tour.  I guess I was just expecting something a bit grander.

I started walking home and realized I'd be coming up on The Living Room Theaters which I have been to a handful of times (Mom and I went when she was in town and she loved it too).  I took a peek at their movies and knew I just had to see I Love You, Phillip Morris.  A true story about Steven Russell, a gay man, con artist, and impostor who falls in love with Phillip Morris during one of his prison stays.  Russell made several successful (though short-lived) escapes from prison. When I saw that Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor played the leads, I was hooked. I thought this was a great dramedy with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that reminded me of why I first liked Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber and Ace Ventura.  This movie had a great, touching story that makes you root for the technical "bad guy."  If you have access to a small, independent movie theater that is showing this, I highly recommend that you make time to see it.  Very funny!


I realized during my walk home that it was interesting that I chose that movie to watch on the day I finished reading Kerman's book.  Both true stories.  Both involving gay love interests.  And both about prison stays.  Kind of an interesting theme for the day, but it worked for me.  And kind of in line with today's unintended theme, I finished watching the fourth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.  Each of these seasons continue to improve upon the previous seasons.  I loved the return of Olivia d'Abo as Nicole Wallace.  I think her character is so intriguing and helps the viewers delve more into Detective Goren's mind.  I hope to see more of her in the upcoming seasons.

Oh and finally, thanks to Dan Savage, I have been hooked on this new blog, Born This Way.  The founder of the blog reached out to gay friends and asked them to submit an innocent photo from their childhood and tell a brief story about themselves and when they realized they were gay or different.  Some of the pictures are absolutely adorable and many of them portray the typical gay stereotypes.  These pictures have sparked the old nature vs. nurture debate so it's interesting to read the comments.

A Week In the Life

Not much going on with me this new year.  I don't have a whole lot to write about, but I do have pictures to share.  This first one is for you, Nonna.  I've taken the time to blow dry my hair and wear it down more times during the past seven months in Portland than I did during the last seven years in Irvine.  But I digress.  So in chronological order:

We actually got a break from the rain and had a few days of clear weather.  It was cold, but at least it was dry enough to walk around.  Eddie and I set out to use my last Groupon that expires this month - for AJ On The Rails.  Boy were we surprised to find it boarded up and closed indefinitely.  They have a second location that seems like just a coffee shop, so we'll have to get over there sometime next week.  After that little disappointment we found ourselves at Violetta - a burger joint that features all local ingredients.  Unfortunately the meat wasn't that amazing so the experience wasn't that wonderful for me.  But it's been on my list for some time so now we can cross that one off.

That night, Eddie and I caught up on Master Chef and finished watching the series.  I think it aired during the summer but we never watched it then.  It's probably my least favorite of all the shows Gordon Ramsay is involved with, but I'm still a sucker for these cooking competition shows.  I was so excited to see Whitney, the Pastry Princess, make it all the way.  Good for her!

Thursday was my errand day.  It began with a trip to the DMV which turned out to be a pleasurable experience.  Shocking, I know.  There's something different about Oregon DMV's, but I like it.  I think my picture is terrible though.  Ugh.

I had a bit of time to kill after becoming a licensed driver, so I had lunch at Pizzicato.  It was a bit on the pricey side, so I'll just have to make it a point to visit them during happy hour when you can get a slice and a pint for $6.  I swear you can't find quality food like this at such a reasonable price in California.  I think Kristen will enjoy this place the next time she comes up to visit.  Mom too.  And they have the large pepperoni slices like Pizza My Heart used to.

And now...  Because I know you're just dying to find out what I did after lunch...  I actually got to use a Groupon.  This one was for $60 in services at fáda that included a complimentary scalp treatment and massage.  It was nice to be pampered a bit.  I will say I felt totally out of place when I walked in.  It is so shi-shi - something I am definitely not.  But the receptionist was super friendly as she showed me to the coat rack to store my belongings.  Even though I was thirty minutes early, Scarlet and Paul were able to come out for my consultation.  A consultation?  With two people?  I was so confused.  I quickly learned that Scarlet would be in charge of my color and Paul would handle the cut.  Okay.  Now I really felt out of my league.  But I couldn't back out.

Paul sat me down in his chair and did a pre-cut before my coloring.  I explained that I wanted to donate my hair so he tied it in a quick low ponytail and made a very quick cut.  I figured he would make two or more pontytails to increase my donation, but even with the single chop, I had about fifteen inches to get rid of.  Then Scarlet led me back to her station and really took her time to get my color right.

I don't know if I'm an easy client or a difficult one because I don't give much direction.  I figure the stylist & colorist know what's best and if something horrible is ever done, my hair grows so quickly it doesn't matter.  I think Scarlet could tell the first round of color was just a little too light so she took me back to darken it up a bit.  I like to keep my hightlights very natural.  Especially since I only dish out the money to do my hair once a year it's imperative that you can't really tell when my highlights start to grow out.  Anyhoo...  Paul came back after the coloring to do my scalp treatment and awesome massage and then he did this to my hair.

The last time I chopped off my hair for a donation (April 2007) I had to go much shorter with my cut.  I just didn't have that much hair to play with.  So it's kind of nice that my hair is already nearly shoulder length and it will only be just a few years before I have enough to donate again.

The last thing I did this week was finish the airport book I purchased when I returned to Portland on Christmas.  I'll admit, I initially picked it up to check out because the cover intrigued me.  And when I saw Lee Child's name on the front I just knew I had to read the back cover.  So the idea behind this book is totally awesome.  Jeffery Deaver got all of these great mystery writers to work together to write two novellas.  Each author wrote a different chapter for the stories - including their own turn of events and characters as they saw fit.  When I realized that Lee Child and Lisa Scottoline both contributed, I was hooked.  I love both of their books and even though I didn't recognize any of the other authors, I was sure I would like this.  The first novella was fun for anyone who likes mysteries and music.  I was surprised by the amount of technical music detail in there.  And the second novella is about racing around to prevent the potential WWIII.  I'm going to give this book to Eddie when he flies to San Diego at the end of the month so he can pick up another airport book for me.

In conclusion...  I have three job interviews lined up for this week as well as a staff meeting at the winery.  Between these four things happening, I hope to finally be working full-time hours somewhere or at a combination of places.  We shall see...

"We Really Must Get Together this Year"

Funny thing about today's short story is how relevant it is to me.  Eddie and I were just sure we could design and send out the cutest holiday cards this year.  We placed our order with Kodak Gallery and received half of our order in just a few days.  The other half of the order - the important half containing our holiday cards - never came.  Turns out they shipped to my old address in Irvine.  I tried to get in touch with the current renters down there, but had no luck so I finally broke down and re-ordered a set of the cards.  If we can get them sent out tomorrow, there's a chance some people may receive them before Christmas Eve. Maybe.

On to today's festivities.  Work passed by without incident.  Chris came down to sample our wines and pick up a few bottles for the holidays so that was nice.  After work, Eddie and I drove down to the Old Spaghetti Factory to meet up with the Maciejewski family for dinner.  Unfortunately I didn't get the memo about the venue change so we drove around town for 30 minutes looking for an address that I assumed led to the Old Spaghetti Factory when it was something else entirely.  The family was all done with dinner by the time we realized our mistake and arrived at the Chinese restaurant.  But at least we had five minutes with them to say hi.

After dinner, Chris, Eddie, and I headed back to our apartment to meet up with my cousin Baron and his wife, Heidi (and their newest baby boy).  The six of us headed to Deschutes for some drinks and conversation.  I had never met Baron & Heidi, but he is a cousin from the Texan side of my family.  He and Chris had some fun old stories to share about the family in Leakey, Texas and I had a blast getting to know Baron & Heidi.

I stayed out far later than I should have considering my long day at work and the fact that I have another early start tomorrow.  But it was definitely worth it.  So very quickly, I'll wrap up with my media mention.  I finished reading Gordon Ramsay's Playing with Fire.  I mistakenly assumed this was his autobiography.  And it is - of sorts.  But it's mostly focused very strictly on his culinary career.  Of course any biography with him as the subject would have to center on his career, but this was almost in a way, a how-to book for wannabe restauranteurs.  The last page in the book talks about his true autobiography which is Humble Pie so I'll have to add that to my reading list.  I still enjoyed reading PwF, but it was a bit hard to follow since it was only loosely in chronological order.  I'm not familiar with all of his restaurants so it was hard for me to keep up with the timeline of restaurant openings since he bounced around quite a bit.  It was still a fun read though.  Each word I read I pictured in his voice.

Meeting new cousins

Sharing stories over beers

Wish night didn't end

"I'll Have Christmas with the Works on Rye, Hold the Ham and Jesus"

Today's short story was finally decent.  Still not as funny as the first, but at least I enjoyed turning the pages tonight.  Eddie and I had a fantastic Sunday and took full advantage of the clear weather.  We walked to our bagel shop downtown and shared a bagel for breakfast.  I had some books to sell to Powell's so we went there next and they bought all but five of my books.  I used the credit to get a mystery novel and Paula Deen's biography so I'll have some fun stuff to read.  After a quick shopping trip at Whole Foods, Eddie treated us to a lightish lunch at Deschutes.  Eddie had the half sandwich / half soup combo and I had a housemade pretzel with fries.  Tasty stuff.

Nothing exciting happened during the walk home, but we did see a street musician doing a Stomp / Blue Man Group thing where he was playing drums on the trash can.  When Eddie pointed that out, I couldn't help but think of the "Banging on a Trash Can" song from Doug.  I always thought this was a Beets song, but my research shows that this was sung by Doug, Bebe, and Skeeter.  I forgot to mention that during our walk to the bagel shop, we passed a man playing trumpet on the sidewalk.  I think he's the same guy I heard playing a few weeks ago.  He was decked out in a Santa hat so I thought he was cool.  A few blocks north of him, there was another guy playing guitar on the sidewalk and he was rocking out with Greg Kihn's "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)."  I guess you could say it was a fun, musical adventure.

Eddie had to work a short two-hour shift this evening so I used the free time to finish reading A Wrinkle In Time.  Brooke used to tell me how much she loved this book and couldn't believe I'd never read it.  Now I can cross it off my list.  Ehh...  I think I actually might have appreciated it more if I had read it as a child / young adult.  Funny when you consider that I love modern young adult series like Harry Potter & Twilight.  I just couldn't get myself involved in this story.  Nor do I have any desire to read the rest of the series.  Oh well.  I guess it's just one of those things.

ready for Christmas

traveling to San Jose

going to be fun

"Survivor"

Man.  These short stories in the book I'm reading are not getting any better.  The very first story was laugh-out-loud funny and none of the others have come close to that.  But I keep pressing on.

Eddie and I had a fun play day.  :-)  We took advantage of the break in the rain to walk downtown.  I had a Groupon for Nordstrom Rack so we started there and I got two new tops while Eddie found a new pair of dress shoes.  Then we went to the movie theater to (finally) watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1. I think this might be my favorite movie in the series so far.  I think it was just really well done.  I'm also really excited that after four years, Eddie has finally gotten into this series.  I don't think he'll be reading the books, but at least I have him to be my movie partner for the last film.

Eddie surprised me on the way home with a trip to Carafe for happy hour.  We went here for dinner about two months ago, and I thought the food was fine, but slightly overpriced.  After today's experience, I believe all future visits must be during happy hour.  They have great food and drink specials - $5 cocktails and several food items ranging from $1.95 - $5.95.

Downtown living fun

walk to shops, movies, and bars

Portland is awesome

"Birthdays"

I'm watching Top Chef

Eighth season full of all-stars

Sad to see Jen go

Ginger burns the eye

grating it for Eddie's jerk

recipe.  Oh ouch.

Not much exciting to report.  Work was pretty quiet today, but I had fun mixing up the CDs in our stereo.  Today I swapped out James Blunt for Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto."  I got to listen to it three times today and I just really enjoyed it.  I can't believe it's 300 years old.  That's crazy!

I went home for a nice dinner after work.  Eddie picked up some ground beef for me so I made an excellent hamburger with a side of fries.  So delicious.  We were just chilling on the couch after dinner when Lauren invited us out to meet up at Bluehour.  Eddie and I each ordered a cocktail.  We didn't stay long though because Eddie had to get to Whole Foods to buy some groceries because he was elected to make lunch at work tomorrow.  I helped him prep for tomorrow's meal which is how I got ginger in my eye which inspired one of today's haikus.

That is all.

King for a Day

Unintentionally I managed to dedicate today's entry to Stephen King.  A few days ago I decided to clear off some of the older unread books on my bookshelves and came across a hardcover copy of Bag of Bones that my mom gave me over ten years ago.  Never read it.  Does that make me a bad daughter?  Oops.  Well I read it this week.  And I have to say that it's not my favorite book of his.  I prefer the olderish stuff like Misery, The Shining, and Thinner.  Was this book entertaining?  Mildly.  But what put me off was the weird interactions with the town's ghosts.  Guess this one just isn't for me.  Maybe King should follow Family Guy's example and write his next book about the "lamp monster."

I was nearly done reading the book this morning when I decided to take a break and watch a movie.  I scrolled through my Netflix queue and realized Dolores Claiborne was available for streaming.  I assure you this was not planned - it just happened.  Honest.  I actually have not read this book but figured I would enjoy the movie since I love Kathy Bates in Misery.  The hobbling scene is a classic.  Poor Paul.  This storyline was much better than Bag of Bones.

I was planning to spend the whole day & night in and help my body get past this cold, but Eddie texted me on his way home and invited me out for pizza with his co-workers.  We met at Apizza Scholls and had a great meal.  Apparently one of their employees visited Sokol Blosser yesterday and invited Eddie's group to the restaurant and offered to not charge us corking fees for wine.  Eddie picked out two bottles of wine to bring and we ordered two very large (and delicious) pizzas to eat.  Since we were on the east side, I suggested going to Vintage Cocktail Lounge so I could spend my Groupon.  We enjoyed a nice round of classic cocktails and great conversation.  Another fabulous night.

Stephen King's novels

are versions of each other

But I still read them

Date Night, Part 1

Eddie and I skipped date night last week because I had two of them planned for this week.  I was invited to attend a special event for Yelp Elite members at Henry's tonight, so Eddie and I decided to check it out.  They were pouring New Deal vodka cocktails and Lompoc beers.  They were also giving away free food. We would have been stupid to turn this one down.  It was a two-hour event and we showed up an hour late so we crammed to get our food and drink on.  We also played a few rounds of pool during that hour.  Eddie kicked my butt, but it was a very fun night.

Then Eddie surprised me and treated me to a pretzel and round of beer at Deschutes.  We also took the opportunity to fill our growler so it was a great stop for us.  And then we stumbled out and started walking home.  Silly us thought it would be fun to walk up Burnside - and it was...  BUT...  We couldn't resist the call of Voodoo Doughnut.  Eddie got some plain thing but I branched out and tried the triple chocolate penetration (chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting topped with Cocoa Puffs cereal).  Yeah.  It was one of the better decisions of the evening.

The rest of the stumble home was rather uneventful.  In fact, I don't remember much of it at all.  But that's the beauty of living within walking distance to all the fun stuff downtown.  So my media mention...  I discovered Hawaii Five-0 On Demand last week and started watching the episodes.  I have never seen the original show, but I tend to like police / crime shows so I thought I would enjoy this.  And I do.  I'm not really involved with the characters yet which is why my media mention is for the theme song and not the show itself.  I just love this song!  As soon as that drum intro starts up I am pumped and ready to hear the rest of the song.  Very cool.  Hopefully I can get more involved with the show as the weeks pass...

Portland International Beerfest

Today was just an all-around great day.  Since I worked out inside a gym yesterday I wanted to get outside today and treat myself to a bike ride.  It wasn't much of a bike ride since I took care of so many errands while out, but I still had fun.  After my first errand I rode out to Cook Park in Tigard where I found a little bench overlooking the Tualatin River.  It was the perfect spot for me to have lunch and read my book.  I also had my first Fred Meyer shopping experience which was incredible.  It was exactly as I had anticipated (a souped-up Target with an actual grocery & produce section) but it was still amazing.  And just like Target...  I walked in intending to purchase only two things and left after spending more than $100.  But it was worth it.

The main event for the day was heading downtown for the Portland International Beerfest held in the North Park Blocks in the Pearl District.  I don't think Eddie and I tried any international beers tonight because all the local beers were so good.  The best part about this fest is that the admission we bought tonight is valid all weekend.  I probably won't actually return, but it's nice to know I can go back with my wristband and commemorative glass and get in for free whenever I feel like it.

I did something special for today's media mention.  I read Natalie Babbit's Tuck Everlasting - my all-time favorite book.  My aunt read this book in college and passed it down to me when she finished her class thinking I would enjoy the story.  I think I was in fifth or sixth grade when she gave it to me.  I absolutely fell in love with this story and made it a point to read the book at least once year all through high school.  I don't think I ever read it once during college so it was a very nice experience to pick it up after a decade and read it again.  It's a very quick read - just over 100 pages and it tells the sweetest story.  I also finally watched the movie the other day so the story has been on my mind.  This is one book I will never, ever get tired of reading.

Bastille Day

Happy Bastille Day!  Today Eddie and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary.  Usually we get to plan something fun and elaborate like a little vacation, but since I am out of work, I asked Eddie to plan & pay for the festivities.  He was sly and dropped hints leaving me to believe we'd be having dinner at the Lucky Labrador brewpub which left me feeling disappointed.  But sneaky Eddie had a nice surprise planned.  He took me to Iorio Restaurant across the street from Lucky Lab.  Iorio is a beautiful Italian restaurant that serves handmade pastas that are made fresh daily.  We had one of the biggest meals ever - we never order every course when we go out, but tonight was special.  We started with a round of cocktails (huckleberry martini and a limoncello & prosecco mix) with an order of their house-made focaccia bread.  I ordered plain fresini pasta and Eddie ordered the same thing but had it jazzed up with sauce & protein.  Eddie also brought along a bottle of '02 Sokol Blosser Watershed single block pinot noir to have during the meal which was was absolutely delicious.  It has aged so well.  Then we really splurged with dessert.  Eddie ordered an espresso and we shared warm cookies w/ milk and a glass of port.  This was definitely one of the best meals I have ever had.  I was really glad that we made a point to go on a long walk this afternoon otherwise I'd be feeling really full and gross right now.

We decided not to use the GPS to find our way home and instead opted to drive around and get lost.  We explored a lot of SE Portland and saw a bunch of fun restaurants we'd like to check out.  While driving, one radio station was doing a special throwback to 1998 and played Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)."  Eddie had never heard the song before, but after listening to the words for the first time in over a decade, I decided that this should be tonight's media mention because of it's great message.