What I Wore In Portland

The day before we left for Portland, Ashley and I were talking on the phone. I noticed that the forecast called for temps in the 90's (it's been in the 70's in Seattle). We agreed if it was going to be that hot we should pack dresses. I didn't have a ton of dresses so I went out and bought 4 including this first one from Old Navy I was wanting.

I wore this one on the train ride to Portland and all day Friday. From Old Navy. Very comfy but I showed a lot of cleavage.

This next one I bought at Ross. It's teal not the same blue as the Old Navy one. Less cleavage was shown. I wore this Saturday day time.

Another one I bought at Ross. I wore this Saturday night time for our dinner at Beast.

And for Sunday I wore this one from Old Navy. It's the same as the first dress but in a different color. So again more cleavage.

Portland: Part 3-Voodoo Donuts

Ah, Voodoo. If I had one place I could have gone in Portland it was to try Voodoo doughnuts. Voodoo seems to be the place where strange doughnuts got their birth.

And since I love Frost doughnuts, I wanted to compare.

This made me laugh so hard!

Every time we saw someone with a pink box we believed a Voodoo to be nearby. But we only found the one we went to (the original). I know there were other locations.

This is kind of their trademark. They had undies with the same phrase on it. Hehehe.

The doughnut I came to try. The doughnut I waited an hour for. The  Bacon Maple Bar. Good. Although I like Frost's bacon better. Point awarded to Frost.

My favorite type of doughnut, the Cruller. Not as light and fluffy as Frost's. Point awarded to Frost. Frost 2, Voodoo 0.

The Marshall Matters. A plain doughnut covered in mini M&M's. Clever. Point awarded to Voodoo. Frost 2, Voodoo 1.

The Voodoo Doll. I think mine was cherry filled doughnut with a pretzel stake. Totally cute and yummy. Point awarded to Voodoo. Frost 2, Voodoo 2. It ends in a tie! Everybody wins!
What's your favorite doughnut? Do you like "odd" doughnuts or the more traditional kind?

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall

I heard about Sweeping Up Glass from a coworker (she loaned me her copy). She described it as a mystery. While there is a mystery element to it, it's the story of Olivia, as she grows up in Kentucky and lives her life in the same small town she was born in. The mystery is normal life-who you are, where you come from-not who dun it?
This is Wall's debut book and I cannot wait for her second book. The writing is beautiful. Toward the end it was so fast paced that I had trouble keeping things straight and had to go back and reread a few paragraphs. The story flows so well like Olivia was sitting with me, telling me about Ida, Will'm, Wing, Love Alice, and Junk. There are underlying themes of racism and poverty. Well and the racism does wind up as part of the mystery. This book is about life. The good, the bad, the love, the failures, the shameful bits, and the heart stopping, take your breath away moments. I highly recommend this book.
Others who read Sweeping Up Glass: Ms. Bealls Book Blog, Life In The Thumb, Musings of A Bookish Kitty, Whimpulsive, and Beth Fish Reads.

Portland: Part 2-More Food

This post will talk about the sit down places we ate in Portland.
Friday night-dinner at Clyde Common. Sorry no pictures! Yummy. I recommend the burger which is not on the menu.
Saturday lunch-Kenny & Zukes.

I ordered the Pastrami on rye with potato salad. The potato salad was delicious. They give you a lot of pastrami. Go hungry.

Ashley and I split a bowl of matzo ball soup. Delicious.

Saturday night-Beast. Ok this was way the heck out there. Unlike everywhere else we ate, we had to take a cab there. It wasn't in downtown. I don't know where we were! 

 Beast has a fixed menu, 6 courses for $60. What they have is what you get (no substitutions). I was really impressed that they featured Thundering Hooves beef as the main entree. Everything was delicious especially the beef. So tender!
Sunday brunch-Veritable Quandary. When I asked for Portland food recommendations, Budget Babe mentioned Veritable Quandary! Since it was so close to our hotel, this was a no brainier for brunch.

It was like sitting at a garden party!

I ordered the corned beef hash with poached eggs. Yummy. The food was spicy but delicious!
There were about 50 more restaurants that we wanted to eat at in Portland. But there wasn't enough time. We can't wait for our next trip!

Portland: Part 1-The Food Carts

Whew! Just got back from weekend trip to Portland with Marta and Ashley. This is the first post about what we ate in Portland. Honestly all we did was eat so most of the posts are going to be food related.
Seattle has nothing on the food cart scene in Portland. It's not uncommon to see food carts every few blocks downtown and in the Pearl District.

Bulkogi.

Philly Cheesesteaks and Burgers. I actually saw this same cart 3 times. I think it was a mini chain.

Tabor. Ashley actually got a “snitzelwich”- a breaded and fried pork cutlet served on a fresh ciabatta roll and served with horseradish mayo and a paprika-red pepper sauce and lettuce. It was huge and we all had some.

Ashley and Marta also got Korean tacos from Boolkogi Taco. They liked them.

La Jarochita.

New Taste of India.

Thai Sky.

Brunchbox.

District Sandwiches and Spuds.

Smokin' Pig.

Bro-Dogs.

Built To Grill.

Big A** Sandwiches.

Ninja Plate Lunch.

Flavour. Marta got a waffle here and she said it was yummy.
Obviously we did not eat at all these places. We ate a lot but if I'd eaten something at every one of these places in one day, I would have needed a wheelbarrow to bring me home. So what did I eat?

Fried catfish and hushpuppies from:

The Swamp Shack. I was incredibly impressed with the fact that the guy made my food after I ordered it (so there was a little wait). No fast food here.
We ate at the food carts for lunch on Friday which was a great way to start the weekend.
Do you like eating at food carts? Is your town big on food carts?

Update on Health And Fitness Goals

So since my last update my pants have not gotten any looser. I'm still solidly one size smaller than when I started but haven't seen any more progress. 
I'm definitely getting 5 servings of fruits and veggies right now. Summer is so easy. Fresh fruit is plentiful.
I've been making it to Zumba at least once a week (often 3 times a week) and hitting the elliptical machine when I can't make it to class. I've noticed my endurance has improved. When I started Zumba I would be huffing and puffing by the 2nd song. Now I can make it the middle of class (5 or 6 songs) before feeling tired.
I'm going to keep my current goals for now (lose another pant size by Christmas, continue to eat 4-6 fruits and veggies, and continue to go the gym).

The One Where We Learn To Make Chocolate Candies

As part of our anniversary weekend extravaganza, we went to Oh! Chocolate for their chocolate class. I was lucky to get discounted tickets through LivingSocial for the class. At $60 a person it's not cheap but well worth it.
So Saturday we headed to Bellevue Square and Oh! Chocolate:

Once you arrive they give you either hot chocolate, tea, coffee or a mix of hot chocolate and coffee. We both choose the awesome mocha :)
Once class starts they talk to you about chocolate. Where it comes from, how it's made, etc. Then you taste some different chocolates:

Starting at the top it goes coco nibs, baker's chocolate, dark chocolate, a mango habenaro truffle, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. White chocolate is not really chocolate. And I never really like white chocolate but theirs is pretty good.
After the tasting then we got to the dipping:

We each got a cup of milk and dark chocolate. They had pretzels, potato chips, marshmallows, oreos, graham crackers, strawberries and blueberries to dip.

Here's Tai tempering his chocolate before he started dipping.
Here's what we walked home with:

A ton o'chocolate! I highly recommend this class. It was so worth the money.

2 Years

 

Two years ago Tai and I said I do. Since then we've been through thick and thin, happy and sad.  Nothing has made me want to give up on him or us yet. I love you sweetheart. Here's to many more years!

Crazy About Crochet

Crochet, lace's hippy cousin. I love crochet. I gravitate to tops that have crochet detail. Crochet adds interest to plain top and, to me, makes it more summer-y.

Untitled by honeylin on Polyvore.com

Plus Size Faceted Crochet Embroidered Tunic at Avenue.com and..., $23
Plus Size Tops & Tees at Avenue.com and JessicaLondon.com, $25
Coal Miner Top, $30
Walmart.com: Just My Size - Women's Plus Medallion-Bib Top: Women's..., $13
Crochet-Back Tunic, $29
Search Results on 'crochet' | Lane Bryant, $40
Walmart.com: Just My Size - Women's Plus Crochet-Yoke Tunic: Women's..., $14

Do you like crochet?

More About Me Meme

1. What curse word do you use the most?  Fuck

2. Do you own an iPod? Yes plus I have an iPhone.

3. What person do you talk to on the phone the most? My dad. I talk to him once a day.

4. Do you still remember the first person you kissed? Uh yeah. His name was Todd and I thought he was so cool. He was a football player back when I was into football players (basically all of high school & college)

5. Do you remember where you were on 11/9/01? Let's see living in Issaquah and working in Bellevue.

6. What was the last movie you watched? Watched Paper Heart this week.

7. Has anyone ever called you lazy? Yup.

8. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep? Yes, on Sundays I take a sleeping pill cause my sleep cycle gets screwed up on the weekends.

9. Has anyone told you a secret this week? Um, no.

10. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? arms, chest, shoulder area.

11. What are you looking forward to? Chocolate making class on Saturday.

12. Do you own any band t-shirts? Plenty.

13. What will you be doing in one hour? Sleeping

14. Is anyone in love with you? Gosh, I hope so :)

15. Last time you cried? Last Friday.

16. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop? desktop but have a laptop for work

17. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? I'd love a tattoo but hubby is pretty anti-tattoo

18. Would you ever date anyone covered in tattoos? Yup, I love tattoos.

19. What were you doing before this? Writing tomorrow's post (Yes, I write my posts in advance!)

20. When is the last time you slept on the floor? Lynn's bachelorette party!

21. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? 7 to function but I prefer 8-9.

22. Do you eat breakfast daily? Yes, I've really noticed that it makes a difference in my energy levels and keeps me full til lunch.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

I heard about Silver Phoenix on My Friend Amy's blog last week. Although she was talking about the unfair treatment Silver Phoenix was getting from B&N and Borders, I was intrigued by the book and choose to put in my library queue. I suspect Tai will want to read it too.
I finished Six Characters In Search Of An Author and posted my review over on the Fill In The Gaps blog. That play is short but dense! I enjoyed it.
What did you get this week?

Thoughts on The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

Oh Twilight how I love thee! The Twilight world is complete escapism for me. I love how I can fall into it (via book or movie) and lose myself. Rather than captivating me and letting me feel like I'm watching the characters, Meyer tends to draw me in so I feel like I'm standing with the characters, feeling what they are feeling. It's a comforting feeling.
The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner is the story of one of the newborns created by Victoria when she was preparing to fight the Cullens. It was interesting to see the other side of the story but it mostly made me want to read Eclipse again. Bree's an easy character to like. She was headed down a bad road when she meet Riley who brought her to Victoria. She was turned before her 16th birthday. Young and thirsty she struggles with being a newborn vampire and not knowing what her future holds.
If you liked the Twilight series you will want to read this too. Other reviews can be found at The Book Scout, My Overstuffed Bookshelf, The Book Nerd Club, and The Nerd's Wife.

Thoughts on Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

So I choose to read Boneshaker because it's set in Seattle. Ok, let me get my gripes out of the way. These didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book, just small irritations. Seattle is not on the ocean. Towards the beginning Brier wades in the ocean water. Yeah unless she drove to the coast, two and half hours away. Seattle sits on Puget Sound which is an arm of the Pacific Ocean. Some of the streets were wrong. I read the acknowledgments and all that was done on purpose. I sort of forgot my gripes as I got immersed in the story.
The story follows Brier and her son, Zeke, after Seattle has been infected with the Blight. The Blight creates zombie like creatures. A wall was built to keep the Blight (a gas that makes people sick) and the rotters (Zombie like creatures) in. I felt that you got to know the characters slowly. Brier had a lot to say but holds so much back from everyone. I liked how the story bounced from Brier to Zeke. It gave you a real there in the trenches feel. I also like so many of the other characters, Cly, Angeline, Jeremiah. Boneshaker appears to be the first in a series. A series I look forward to reading!
Recommended especially for fans of steampunk, zombies, and alternate history. Other reviews can be found at: Sam's Book Blog, Chaotic Compendiums, Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog, and The Crawlspace.

Organization Is Key

Have you ever packed up a box of clothes, shoes, etc with the intention that you'll look through it later? Have you moved and later found a box of clothes you forgot about? I "find" clothes all the time. Oh look I forgot that I had 6 teal tshirts and oops, I just bought 3 more! Oh I have a pair of silver sandals and I bought another pair. Forgetting what I own and buying more than I need is the biggest problem I have with my closet. One reason is that I can't always see what I have. And one place I was completely failing was with my shoes.
In our old place we had a tiny closet to put all our shoes. It was too small put a shoe rack or any other sort of shoe organizer in there. In fact it was the same closet we stored our luggage in. Finding stuff in there was a chore. So glad we don't live there anymore. But our new place has tons of space. Plenty of places to put shoe racks and get our shoes organized. I first experimented with these shoe racks.  Not a bad product but not made for lazy folks like myself. I would toss my shoes toward the rack and everything would fall. If I tried to make them fit shoes fell. It was a mess, so after a lot of searching I decided on these:

Four of them held all of Tai's and my shoes. His are the top right section. I swear I thought he had more shoes than that.
I love it cause I can see what I have. No more searching for the right shoes in the dark. No more stumbling over a pile of shoes by the door. Ah, I'm so happy that I can see all our shoes at once!

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

A big pile for me this time. First, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer. I'm looking forward to this novella which I'll probably buy later. Next Dry by Augusten Burroughs for my Fill In The Gaps Challenge. Next is Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky which I have wanted to read for a very long time. And last is Six Characters in Search of An Author by Luigi Pirandello, also for The Fill In The Gaps challenge.
What did you get this week?