A Week in Portland!

I'm so behind on blogging I don't know where to start!  So I'll just jump in the middle, and figure it out from there.  A couple weeks ago I had a week-long conference in Portland, OR and I finished the weekend off with a trip to Bend to see Tim's family (without him!)

Along the river walkway

 

The famous maple bacon donut from Voodoo Doughnut!

 

 

I also got an "Arnold Palmer" doughnut (with the blue Fruit Loop).  :D

 

The famous Powell's City of Books.  It was really big... and there was a map for the whole store!  The column featured above has Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's signatures!!!  (Fantasy authors: Jordan wrote Tim's favorite series, "Wheel of Time" and Sanderson finished the series for Jordan who passed away.  I also quite enjoy Sanderson's own books.)

 

My brother-in-law lives in Portland and took me on a quick tour of Forest Park!  It's like two steps in and it feels like you've left the city and entered a forest.  I was also told it's the biggest city park ever.  :)

 

My brother-in-law Mike and his girlfriend!  We had dinner at Salvador Molly's.  We alllll got the Jamaica Road Roti which had jerk chicken and roasted sweet potato, with a whole wheat wrap (which tasted just like a tortilla) with potato chickpea curry, with a side of grilled mango chutney.  It was tasty but the roti was reeeeeally spicy.  And we like spicy.  The mango chutney helped alleviate it a bit, but it was still a hot hot meal!

 

Afterwards, we went to Salt & Straw!  They had the most unique flavors!  I got (top right) the Dandelion Sorbet with Spring Flowers!  And there were flowers in it!  Other flavors included olive oil, strawberry with balsamic, honey lemon with ricotta, cinnamon snickerdoodle, AND MORE.  They also let you try as MANY samples as you want.  Which also means the line can be a bit slow.  :)

I frequently the food trucks a lot during lunch at the conference.  This was day two.  Yep... that's a roast beef sandwich stuffed with fries.  The concept was good/interesting/tasty but the fries were too salty so I pulled off most of them before I ate the sandwich.

 

Met up with our friend Nate!  He lives close to Portland now but he wasn't around for most of the week.  I happened to catch him and his mum on the one day they were in town before he got shipped off for work (he travels a lot for work).  Enjoying some tasty Lebanese food at Nicholas Restaurant.

 

Hung out at The Departure with some people from my work's network.  Suuuper swanky and we just missed happy hour so it wassssn't that great of deal.  Let's just say tiny Asian tapas!  But I think if you catch happy hour, you get the same food for like half the price.

Took my co-network folks to Salt & Straw, and this time I got the Almond Brittle.

 

Food truck day... three?  haha.  I forget but this was tasty.  And it was at the point in the week when I wanted more green stuff and less fried.  Except for those delicious pita fries... they were just too delicious.

 

Friday afternoon, my conference was done and I met up with brother-in-law and his girlfriend to head to Bend, OR!  :)

It was a beautiful drive and you get a great view of Mt. Hood!

Meeting our newest nephew!  :)

Breakfast at Jackson's Corner with Tim's family!

 

Our first nephew  :)

 

Most gorgeous sunset in the park behind my in-law's house

 

A nice leisurely hike on the Deschutes River Trail.  It was nice and kinda reminded me of Ithaca!

Mother's day brunch at the Black Bear Diner

Happy four months old!!  And homemade strawberry ice cream he can't eat.  :oP

 

The ride back to Portland (this time not in the dark)

 

 (All photos taken with iPhone)

 

It was my first time in Portland and I had a great time!  Definitely more things I want to do and see if I had more time there.  But it was a good taste.  I got to check off Voodoo Doughnuts and Powell Books off my list.  Didn't get around to Stumptown coffee though!  I also accidently did some nice tax-free shopping!  ;)  It was also nice to see Bend not in the winter since I've only been there three times, I think and every time has been during Christmas/Winter!

 

Have you been to Portland or Bend?  What are your favorite things to do or eat there?  It's not too early to start my next list of things to do/see, right?  :)

                                         

PSA: United Mileage Plus Premier Qualifications

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I learned this tidbit this week and thought I'd share. So on my work trip to DC earlier this week, I flew with my supervisor, who also bought my ticket. She has preimier status, so by association, I was "premiere" for this trip! We were able to get Economy Plus seats (in an exit row, so there was sweet leg room!) and was able to board in group 2.

 

So I was checking my United mileage plus account to see if I was anywhere close to obtaining silver status, and found out that tickets purchased through Hotwire or Priceline do NOT qualify towards premiere qualifying miles!!! You still get the miles but they don't help you qualify for premiere status!

See here: "Additionally, certain fares such as those purchased with industry discounts or through Hotwire and priceline.com do not count toward Premier qualification or accrual of award miles."

 

LAME! It's easier to see all the available flights through Priceline so I often buy from there EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE SAME PRICE AS UNITED.COM! Of course no one NEEDS premiere status, but it sure is nice when you're not boarding in group 5 and forced to check your carry-on bag cause there is no more room in the overhead bin! And I figured with all the traveling I do for work (it's so tiring!), it would be a nice side perk.

 

This is only for United, so if United is not your cup of plane, you should review your airline's policies.

 

Did you know this? If you did... why didn't you tell me?!

                              

Whirlwind in DC

Hello!  Just got back last night from a work trip to DC.  Our offices are headquartered there, as well as a lot of our partners, so we have lots of meetings there.  This time was a whirlwind visit since I didn't really get to do anything, but attend a two day meeting.  And by "get to do anything" I mean like... sightseeing.  :)  However, the pictures below will probably look like I had lots of fun.  :oP

 

 First night there we had dinner with our DC office folks at Rice Paper.  Delish Vietnamese food!

Rice Paper in Falls Church, VA

 

I got this super awesome BBQ Pork and shrimp dish.  You wrap all that good stuff into rice paper!

 

A RICE PAPER HOLDER!  WHAT.  Hahah. 

So that's the rice paper --- it's kind of like a giant communion wafer.  Starchy and hard.  But then you dip it into hot water and it softens!  I totally need to get a rice paper holder!  I was totally gonna huff one back from DC but the supermarket/stores were closed by the time we were done with dinner.

 

Some Caribou before the first morning of the meeting.  I like the sentiment on the napkin!

 

Met up with our former co-worker Angela at Matchbox! 

Those onion straws on top of the sliders were so tasty!  :)

 

Top: me and our former coworker Angela!  Do you love our hair?  HAHAH.

Bottom: coworker and her boyfriend.  :)

 

I try to do something "fun" on every work trip.  This time I didn't get to see anything out of the ordinary, but I guess looking back on these pics, it was a good time outside of the meetings!  :)  The weather was also gorgeous there!  East coast spring is pretty nice, I must admit.  I didn't get to take any pictures of all the flowers I saw... but I feel like SF does NOT have so many flowers everywhere!  Which is sad.  Boston and DC seem to have (planted) flowers all over downtown.  So colorful and happy.  :)

 

Do you travel for work?  If so, do you try to insert "fun"?  :D

                                         

 

Mystery Braid Bracelet

Need more time to blog!  So many posts in a queue in my head.  :)  Life's been busy with work and out of town guests and in-town friends!  Here's a quicky about a neat little craft I discovered recently.

It's called a Mystery Braid Bracelet!  Check it out:

 

I kinda don't want to tell you how it's made... cause it's SO easy and you won't think I'm cool anymore.  :oP  Here goes!

 

You can get the leather bracelets with the slits from Michaels (I heard Hobby Lobby has 'em too.)  Don't forget to use a 40% coupon.  My pack was actually labeled "Mystery Braid Bracelets" and came in a pack of 8.  There are some "flakey" bits in the package (like dots?) but over all I think the quality is nice!  It says "real leather crafts" and it feels like it.

 

The package comes with these directions:

 

1) Pass the bottom end of the band up between strands 2 and 3, and push the resulting twist to the bottom.

2) Begin braiding by passing strip 1 over 2, then 3 over 1, then 2 over three.  Pass the bottom end of the trip between 2 and 3 then work the braided portion up to the top of the band.  This completes one braid cycle.

 

Then you basically just repeat!

 

Here is a pretty good video (from the company that made the bracelets) with the instructions.  (Had a bit of trouble embedding it, so you'll have to view it on YouTube).

 

Then you rock your bracelet and make them for everyone you know cause now you have 7 extras.  :)

 

I discovered you can make a tighter weave or a looser weave based on your preference.  It's just a matter of doing another braid cycle.

 

Tighter weave on top, looser weave on the bottom

 

The light brown and medium brown leather straps were a lot more supple than the dark brown, so it was easier to do a tighter weave on those.  Another thing to consider is that the tighter the weave, the tighter the strap, so if you're making it for a person with a bigger wrist (namely guys), it might be better to go with the looser weave if you don't get to measure them in person.  If you do the tighter weave and need to make it looser, you can always undo it!  :)

 

Have you made a mystery braid bracelet before?  Is this a fashion item you'd wear?

"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." 

~ Ecclesiastes 4:12 ~

                           

Praying for Boston

 

Praying for Boston

 

Hard to believe this happened somewhere where we lived.  We've walked on the streets where the explosions happened.  Glad our friends are safe there though.

                           

So busy!

Sorry been MIA!  Been pretty with work and life in general.  Lots of back logged posts that I just need time to sit down and write!

Two weekends ago, Tim's brother was in town for the weekend to buy this sweet Lotus Elise!  I got to spend all day with him riding around in it.  :D

Lotus Elise

At work last week, we had a staff retreat/strategic planning all week which involved all day meetings and strategic thinking and then dinners in the evenings.  It was a good time getting to know co-workers, especially those who came over from DC, but it was a tiring week!

Who knew that March was closing out this week?!  My cousin is graduating this May and I've been busy making her a ribbon lei!  Instructions for the full lei is here.  I'll do a post on this one later on, but here is my work in progress!

There are a few more friends graduating this year but I don't think I have enough time to make them all one of those leis!  So I think I will want to try another variety (from Penga!)  like this:



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I think Penga said it uses a lot less ribbon and... is faster once you get it?  :D

It's another busy work week for me with some travel, but I'll be back!  What have you been up to lately?  Or what has been keeping you busy?
                                         

Valentine Cards 2013: Fish, worms, and bears, oh my!

Sorry so laggy with my postings!  We had an unexpected (but pleasant, haha) house guest last week and it's been quite the busy weekend.

This is part two of the Valentine Cards I made this year.  (I need to hurry up before it becomes St. Patrick's day... or Valentine's Day 2014!)  You can see Part One here.

Fish, worms, and bears, oh my!

 

I originally say the fish Valentine Card below on Etsy and knew I wanted to make them! However, I waited until the night before to go to Target to get my Swedish fish. :oP While standing in the gummy aisle, I saw other gummy shapes and was inspired!

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The clear bags are from Daiso ($1.50 for 25)!  Swedish fish and all other gummies from Target.

I found some fish bowl shape online, colored them in Photoshop and added some text.  These two say, "You're Fin-tastic" and "You're a great catch!"

The brown is supposed to be dirt and this one says, "You've wormed your way into my heart!"

This one says "I love you beary much!"

I printed out the shapes/bowls and cut them out.  (Maybe I'll get those templates on here sometime soon!)  Put the cut out in the clear bags, filled it with candy, and done!  :)  I did tape the bottom corners to the back to help hold the cut out bowl/shape in place a little better.  (I heard you can buy round bottomed bags from Michaels.)

Here are the final products!  I gave 'em out to my co-workers, my brother, and a couple of friends.  :)

 

"You're Fin-tastic" and "You're a great catch" I borrowed from the Internets, but I came up with the worm and gummy bear sayings all on my own.  While standing in the candy aisle of Target.  :D

 

Which one is your favorite?  :)