Why My Friends Are Awesome

As if Tuesday hadn’t been great enough, Friday was full of birthday surprises. After having spent a good four straight hours working on a Power Point about Prague history in the library, I was pretty glad to go meet Inga at Mio for dinner. However, little did I know that when we went to meet Paul at Deschutes, I would have a crowd of some of my favourite people waiting for me!

It was pretty great to see them all at once and hang out, trying all the ridiculous special beers at Deschutes. 

Christina even got me this tiara card and a flower. 

Afterwards, I had to keep my eyes closed until we got to spot two. When I opened my eyes, we were at home with like 10 more friends from Lewis and Clark waiting with decorations and wii for some wii bowling ha. 

Check out this drawing Helen did of me as an 18th Century French woman, ha:

I have awesome friends and it was a great birthday!

My 21st Birthday!

Yesterday was a bright sunny day and so much fun! I hadn’t been downtown for a long time (or really out of the library at all), so it was nice to walk around the Pearl. 

I also had some new digs I got with the gift certificate to American Eagle mom sent me. 

I met Paul at Jake’s where we had a delicious dinner and got to sit at the bar! Of course, my first drink as officially 21 was a mojito made perfect à la Gene-O. 

And topped it off with this ridonkulus cake.

Afterwards, we met two of our favourite people, Robin and Lucas, at Rogue Brewery. 

Under 21 until 4-14-2009 no longer!!

Rogue gives you this big obnoxious beer for free on your birthday and they made me finish the whole thing (thank goodness its very easy to spend a couple of hours hanging out and talking with Robin and Lucas).

Afterwards, we of course made our way to the new Deschutes Brewery downtown. 

We had such a good night, thanks to everyone who made my birthday so much fun. I loved hanging out with you all and getting your calls!

The best part of the night was when Robin and Lucas gave me the most incredible cake of all time. It was so perfectly geeky in my honor. It actually had an action figure French medieval soldier defeating a viking, complete with red frosting painted fallen soldiers. That’s right, you heard me correctly, it was that awesome. 

Obviously the Frenchman won. This was the best birthday, thanks everyone!

Easter

Easter Sunday was a ton of fun. We got to see a bunch of people we love so very much and eat some incredibly delicious food. 

Below are hot cross buns, I didn’t even think that kind of magic stuff really existed!

Although, I missed all of you across the country and wish you could have been there for the Easter Egg Hunt.

And have tried Uncle Gene’s mind blowing Egg’s Benedict.

Happy Easter!

Saturday Beer Activities

So in hopes of being completely stereotypically Oregonian, we decided to help our friends brew their own beer this weekend. It was actually pretty fun. First we had to stop by the brewing shop to by grains and hops. 

Then we did all the grain brewing, straining, and hops-ing (can you tell I just barely helped) during the afternoon.

It smelled kind of like grape nuts, but our very own Amber Ale looked very promising.

Trying to not waste the grains, we made our own “beer cookies” with the strained grains, they were DELICIOUS!

Now before I start selling hand-made soap and change my name to Wind, I better get back to studying.

Springtime in Portland

I should be reading right now, but this whole week has been a culmination of that end of the semester in the air feeling where you just are sick of doing nothing, but reading. So, instead, I’ll write about our wonderful spring day. Spring is everywhere in Portland.

So this morning we packed a picnic and went to Waterfront park.

It was still a bit brisk, but still nice to be surrounded by people out enjoying the sunshine and the first promises of summer ahead. 

We walked along the waterfront and Paul got ice cream. I am convinced Oregon ice cream is the best in the world, but North Carolina and Tennessee have us beat when it comes to popsicles. 

The weather was so spectacular. 

But I think Paul was more focused on his cookie dough ice cream.

When we got home, we didn’t want to go in doors so we spent a couple hours out gardening. 

Now it’s off to meet two of our favourite people for Lebanese food, yum!

Les Vacances!

This past week has been jam packed with every site to see in Oregon with our favourite French people! We took them into moss covered forests all around Portland. 

We spent summer-like early spring evenings canoeing on the lake, making dinner, playing cards, and playing frisbee in the backyard.

We introduced them to family, visited farmer’s markets, ate sushi, had a delicious dinner at Jake’s, and even made it onto the big screen while supporting our favourite French Blazer!

We risked the pouring rain to climb up and peer out over the Gorge and look up at Multnomah Falls. 

We made our way to the coast for a surprise afternoon of Beach fun and sunshine.

We picnicked admits high desert rocks while other international visitors braved the treck to the top and inner tubed all linked together during a snow storm afternoon in Bend. 

We topped it all off with a day trip to see one of the most outstanding sights in all of Oregon, the pristine Crater Lake (the cleanest large body of water in the world!). 

All in all, however, even though the sites were great and the adventure endless, it was the family who made the special effort to welcome us all, the laughter over cards, the first warm springtime nights, and the unforgettable memories we made created that made this spring break so wonderful.

Irish Festivities

As I’m sure you all know, St. Patrick’s Day is Tuesday, so Paul and I went down to Kell’s Festival to check out some of the festivities. 

It was free for families until 5, so we got ourselves some Shepherd’s Pie, Fish n Chips, and Guinness and listened to some Irish music. 

They even had clovers on the table, classy. 

None the less, I think Paul enjoyed himself. 

And I cannot complain about the dish below.

Nor my date.

After some cute Irish dancers, we called it a day and came back to bake some cookies. The usual for us. I’ll leave you with the below Irish prayer just to get you in the spirit. 

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

And Now on to Baking!

Besides fashion, it seems I have put a lot of food on here lately. Just to continue that trend, we did a lot of baking this weekend. Saturday we made Robin’s birthday present below: 

Saturday night, we had a movie night with Inga and Gary and made the below delicious curry:

And today, in honor of  St. Patrick’s Day, we made Irish Soda Bread. This recipe is rockin’ and really fun to make. I’ve never made bread before and this one has all sorts of fun eccentricities. 

But once it’s done, it’s totally worth it. Delicious!

It also makes a good side dish to the History of Irish Nationalism. Bon Appetit!

This weekend has been completely unproductive. I have done absolutely NO homework, which is the first time I can say that in awhile. However, it has been really fun. On Friday, we went to a “Grown Up” party for Helen’s birthday. We had to dress like what we wanted to be when we grew. I got to put my new dress to use as a cowgirl (I figured this was a good middle ground between the two things I really wanted to be, a mermaid and a native american). 

Paul was a lawyer/athlete/George Harrison, so take that for what you want. 

All in all, it was a lot of fun. 

Plus, any party must be a success if the next morning you find pictures of yourself on facebook where you have been caught mom-dancing/impersonating the locker room Peyton Manning SNL skit. 

Awesome. On Saturday night, we met Robin and Lucas for Persian food, which was delicious! We drank pomegranate lemonades and Turkish coffees. 

And we ate this incredible pomegranate,onion, garlic eggplant with homemade hummus followed by vegetarian paella. 

This morning, we met Courtney for coffee and bagels, went to church, and then ate lunch with Joanne, Gene, and Stephanie. I guess I have to finally go face that homework!

Reasons Why I Love my Valentine

The above handmade cake and card were waiting for me when I got home on Friday. 

A delicious meal was cooked for me on Saturday. 

Also, these gorgeous flowers were given to me on Sunday. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!