It’s our Portlandversary!

March first is our six month Portlandversary. Here’s a little look back at our first 3 months.

In September we…

…went to Bacon Fest.

…Became Members of OMSI After Dark

 …got real adult haircuts 

…got sweaty and covered in colored chalk

…introduced Sierra to the Willamette River

…went to a cheese festival

…had a casualty

…went to our first Portland Blogger Meet-up

In October we…

…tried Salt and Straw (and loved it)

…introduced Sierra to PSU campus/the Park Blocks

…went pumpkin picking 

…dressed up for Halloween 

In November we…

…finally got Sierra to play in the fountain

…braved the elements

…started hating elevators

…posed for Christmas Eve photos

Stay tuned for January through March!

Memory Jar Monday

Since my memory jar was donated to Adam’s terrarium making, he put my slips in another jar. Sierra really likes this jar and that is why this week’s slip is a little slobbery. Sierra’s pick this week:

Are you a loyal person? Can you keep a secret?

Sometimes I hate answering questions like this because I feel like I’m tooting my own horn and it makes me feel awkward. I always end up looking to Adam to see what he says. I know these things about myself but it’s always nice to know that someone else sees it in you. I’m not good about receiving compliments or complimenting myself in general.

I’m loyal. I think I’m a loyal person. I know I can keep a secret. I understand secrets can be hairy sometimes and I want to be that person other people can trust. Maybe it’s why I don’t have too many friends. Maybe there isn’t that mutual trust. And that’s ok. Not everyone is going to fall into friend love with me. I guess I’ve been lucky enough to have a few close friends that I would do anything for and really that’s all I need. It’s especially hard moving to a new place where I don’t have friends. I need to find people I trust here and I’m sure there are people out there who are in need of a good friend. Someone recently told me she read somewhere that it takes someone a year to make a friend after moving to a new city. Only six more months….

 

 

 

 

 

Zwickelmania 2013

This is a zwickel.

 

 

 On the 16th of February all of Oregon celebrated Zwickelmania. It’s pretty much a day where all the breweries in Oregon open up their breweries for tours and/or special tastings.

We started at McMenamins Crystal Brewery. We were their first guests and they were our first stop. They brew beer in the tiniest room they have above the Crystal Ballroom. They offered us samples of a delicious IPA and some other beer that was not so delicious. I’ve never seen more colorful tanks of beer.

Our second stop was at Deschutes. Their tour is so popular they hand out slips and have tours running every 15 minutes. With tour capacity being just 15 people, we made a mad dash to grab our tour slips. The IPA they gave us isn’t yet on the market and it was heavenly. Such a tease not being able to buy something you like. The tour was very informative and interactive (we got to play with hops).

For our third tour, we headed over to Bridgeport Brewery. I loved their history and how enthusiastic they are about being sustainable. They are a surprisingly small operation considering they process roughly 315 bottles of beer a minute. Color me impressed. Also, I peeked out a bit when we got to go in their hop cooler.

For our last stop, we headed to Lucky Labrador. When we got to Lucky Lab there was a sign on the door that said “We’re brewing. Come on in”. It was pretty much a beer drinking hangout with the tanks. They were boiling wort and pouring barley wine. We even got to taste beer right from the tank. It was the best way to end our day of touring. And their pizza is the best.

 

 

 

Our Fifth Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day.

I am currently on my bathroom floor dying my hair blue. While drinking wine out of a Bonne Maman jelly cup. While blogging.

It’s been a successful Valentine’s Day.

Adam and I celebrated our fifth Valentine’s Day together today. This is the first year where I haven’t been deathly ill/recovering from being deathly ill. It was also one of the only years where we both had the day completely free of obligations. We were planning a day away on the mountain. Then we realized I didn’t have snow clothes. So if you can’t go east you might as well go west! And we headed for the coast.

We had gone to dinner Wednesday and had a sweet little moment to ourselves. It was perfect (There’s nothing better than meat, cheese, and gin…story to come later). Since we had had such a perfect Valentine’s Day eve, we had to follow it up with a perfect Valentine’s Day. We planned on taking puppy and some cheese and a baguette to the coast and just enjoy the day all together. We talked about hanging out at Manzanita beach, but I got too hungry and had to pit stop at Cannon Beach.

Best pit stop ever. It was gorgeous. We had the beach to ourselves. I couldn’t even believe how few people were around. It was perfect. We picked the best spot to have our picnic.

It was the most tastiest picnic. Yeah. Most tastiest. It was that good.

She had her eyes on the prize.

Can I tell you how much I love these two?!? It’s nuts.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Memory Jar Monday

Last night Adam pulled a slip from the memory pile (my memory jar has been turned into a terrarium). The question he pulled: what is the craziest thing you have ever done?

I’d say, besides putting up with Adams’s sass mouthed shenanigans for five years, the craziest thing I have ever done was probably move to Portland. We really moved on a whim. An educated and well thought out whim, but a whim nonetheless. We threw around the idea of moving for nearly six months and both agreed Portland would be the best place to live. Neither of us had ever been here before. After reading up on all things Portland, we planned a weekend trip. We toured a handful of apartments and spent a few days roaming around the city. We moved a few weeks later.

Whenever someone asks what brought me to Portland or why I moved I tell them “because I wanted to” or “just because”. I love that I can say that. Yeah, sometimes it sounds a little silly saying “just because” but it makes me really proud of myself. I did something I wanted to do! I moved hundreds of miles away because I felt like it. And (besides me and Adam) how many people can say that!?

Sometimes you need a doughnut

I am a nanny. I get boogers handed to me on a daily basis. I get coughs straight in my face. Getting colds should be in my job description.

So after spending nearly a week on the couch I wanted to get out and breathe some fresh air. It was like it was meant to be! The sun came out and was like “yo Ashley welcome back to real life” and I was like “yo sun it’s been a while”.

Adam and I walked all around downtown Portland and it was awesome. I figured since I had eaten nothing but packaged ramen for a week I could treat myself. I’d heard great things about Blue Star and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on their delicious doughnuts.

 

The space is gorgeous. It’s clean, bright, and you can’t help but sit and stay a while.

Adam got the bacon maple and I got the peanut butter and jelly.

And they even had puppy doughnuts!

Doughnuts are having a moment in Portland. I completely understand why. Blue Star doughnuts aren’t flashy or funky like the other big name doughnut store in town but they are melt in your mouth delicious; you can taste the freshness. Blue Star is definitely worth a visit.

Fig Newmans

Tonight we were going to go to Ox. I’ve had a gift certificate for a couple of months now and tonight was the perfect night to use it. We got there at 5:30 and there was a 90 minute wait. It seemed a bit much so we left. That really put a damper on my date night excitement.

Where did we go to hang our heads in bummed outedness? New Seasons on SE Division! After I bought some veg to juice and Fig Newmans to shove in my face dejectedly, we decided to get back to the West Side and go to Laughing Planet for a bean bowl (let’s face it, all their menu options are bowls/burritos chock full of fiber).

Moral of the story? Get to Ox at 5 sharp and also my Nokia Lumina 920 takes awesome pictures in the dark without a flash.

Happy date night, yo!

Wordless Wednesday

Wacky Portland statue edition!