What I'm Wearing Today

I took Tiger to the vet this morning for his last vaccine! Then we stopped at the pet store, grabbed some coffee and cocoa, then picked up Craig for a trip to the park. We actually hit up two parks and got lots of energy out before it rains. This was the perfect cozy running around town weekend outfit. 

This is the dress version of my favorite tank (seriously, I own like 20). It's the double scoop tank dress by BP (at Nordstrom) and sells for $24

Most favorite sweater ever! Laguna Coast Pullover, Free People, $88

Rebecca Side Laceup Moc Boot, Jeffrey Campbell, $138

Croc Lil' Q Satchel, Marc by Marc Jacobs, approx. $400 (I bought this a few years ago but the style is style available in new colors.)

Timeless Chunky Chain Head Wrap, Tasha, $38

What I'm Wearing Today

It finally looks like Summer here in Portland! Which probably sounds crazy to the rest of the country. We've had the lamest June ever. It's been rainy and cool and grey and annoying. I woke up this morning and there was sun! It felt so good.

And even though I wear dresses year round in all kinds of weather it's nice to be able to accessorize with a little vitamin D.






Tonight I'm doing a BBQ in the park. I'm super excited (another reason I'm thankful for the sun). I got a portable grill that looks pretty awesome so we'll see how it works out. On the menu are hot dogs (veggie for me), garlic pepper corn on the cob, watermelon, rosemary potato salad, grilled veggies, and plenty of adult beverages. Mmmm...

Warm Weather Weekend

This weekend was perfect. It was sunny and warm but there was a breeze, I have the most perfect dog ever, I worked my first class at Sur la Table, I went to the Farmers Market, had three different wonderful meals while sitting outside with my pup at my feet...it made me so excited for summer.

Saturday I took one of the girls I used to watch, and Tiger, to the Farmer's Market. Tiger hasn't had his last shot yet and I'm trying to be careful about him being near other dogs so I just carried him the whole time. He seemed to love it though. After that we went out to brunch at this little Italian place nearby and I had rosemary polenta topped with Gruyere and poached eggs with a side of steamed broccoli. I can't tell you how awesome it was and I can't wait to try out making it myself.

Tiger is becoming such a good car dog.

He's also super good at going out to lunch.

Next we went to check out a doggie daycare then got frozen yogurt. I got watermelon topped with fresh strawberries. I am now addicted. We went to a place called UU Yogurt (I don't get the name either) and they have a whole freezer full of little cups of special doggie frozen yogurt topped with an organic, gluten free, heart shaped dog treat. So obviously we needed that.




After that I took Munchkin home and met Craig at a park near where we live. Tiger was blanket bound but at least he got some fresh air. And we definitely suffered the wrath of puppy teeth.






Sunday morning I worked my first class at Sur la Table! It was an artisan breads class and I loved it. It was a lot of hard work but also so enjoyable and I already learned a lot. I have a feeling this is going to be incredibly good for me. Plus I got to take home leftover fresh made focaccia and baguette bread. Delicious.

The rest of Sunday was spent doing nothing but eating nachos and watching DVRed TV. So, basically, perfectly.

And today is take your puppy to work day!

A Collection of Things

So, I have about a jillion (real number, maybe 5?) things to write about. This means another completely incohesive post. Although they all have to do with this weekend so I guess they at least have some kind of minor thread in common.

First of all, I planted an herb garden this weekend. I thought it was going to be hard and maybe I shouldn't reveal this so it seems more impressive but basically it involved taking the plants out of their plastic containers and putting them in terra cotta pots. Craig and I went to the nursery which I thought was going to be kind of boring but was actually pretty cool. Craig got a garden plot so we looked at veggies for him to grow. He offered to let me come help him with it and I told him I would but only if I could pick two of the things to grow, I don't have to weed, and also it's not a real promise I'll actually help. He agreed which reassured me I am the master of bargaining.

We went to the Portland Nursery. They have a gigantic amount of plants.


Craig wouldn't let me use the Radio Flyer wagon or one of the purple carts for our plants. Well, he would but I didn't want to have to pull it so I said it was okay for us to use the green one. Which I ended up pulling anyways.


Here is Craig holding all our baby herbs.


Later that day we went to dinner and saw Hanna which was awesome. I thought it was pretty violent for a PG13 film but I'm probably just an old lady now that I'm coming up on 26. I'll be talking about how coffee used to be only $3.50 when I was growing up in no time.

Also this movie is funny which it doesn't lead you to believe at all by the trailers. And I very much admire their ability to make it humorous without detracting from the parts that are serious business. That's a tough thing to pull off.


I have a secret I've been keeping just in case it didn't work out. Because I didn't really want to announce to the internet that this really awesome thing could happen if I were good enough for it to happen and then have it not happen and have to be like 'Sorry Internet, I'm actually sort of lame."

I applied for a job with Sur la Table's culinary program. Aaaaaand...I got it! I'll be a kitchen assistant so I'll do prep for cooking classes as well as assist with them. I sort of fell into applying but I'm so excited for the opportunity to be using some culinary skills professionally as well as be in a position to learn so much. It's part time so I'll still keep my current job as well.

In celebration I want to do a giveaway. This is not at all sponsored but I thought it would be appropriate to give someone out there a few of my favorite kitchen things from Sur la Table. I've never done this before so be patient, also feel free to offer advice if you've done a giveaway or participated in one before and think something could be done better. It will be a trial run learning experience.

Here's what I'm giving away...

First up we've got an ice cream cone shaped cookie cutter!


Next is a sparkly pink Le Creuset spatula. This spatula is a legit nice spatula that works well (none of that tough non-bendy rubber) but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I mostly like it because it is pink and full of glitter.


Cupcake cookie cutter! Super adorable to decorate. The cookies, not the cutter.


And last but not least, a ceramic paring knife by Kuhn Rikon. I'm newly in love with ceramic knives and I use this one for everything. You will be getting this awesome color that was not available when I purchased mine.


So now for the how-to. I want to make this fun rather than just use a random number generator to pick a winner so full disclosure, this is going to be totally subjective since I'm the one picking the winner. Leave me a comment telling me what you would use these tools to make and the answer I find most fantastic will win all four items. Remember, if you win you'll have to give me your address in order to mail them to you so if you think there's a chance I could be a murderer and you aren't going to want to give me a place to send these things you should probably not play. The last day to submit a comment will be Friday April 15th, 2011 and the winner will be announced Monday April 18th, 2011.

Oh, and my cat is still adorable. Just in case you were wondering.

I Love the Weekends

My day has included major sleeping in, snuggles with Javi, lunch at Jo Bar with Lana on her lunch break, picking up a lace tank and some very adorable shorts at Free People, a tabloid with the season one Teen Mom girls on the cover, Restaurant Impossible, and a mango smoothie.

Weekends are the best.

Indoor Camping

Javi and I have spent pretty much the entire weekend in bed. We've taken brief breaks to eat cereal and watch Ratatouille but mostly it's been a lot of books, magazines, phone, naps, and snuggling in bed. One of his favorite things is when I make him a tent in our bed. Sometimes it happens by accident when I have one leg crossed over the other under the blankets but other times I will purposely make him a tent by lifting up the blankets. I usually just let him sit under there and tickle my feet but this morning I decided to join him.

Also, I know his eyes are closed in pretty much every picture of him but that's for two reasons. 1. I like taking pictures of him while he's sleeping and 2. because he's so dark unless I use flash he pretty much just looks like a black blob in photos. So he actually can and does see he has just learned to close his eyes when I take his picture.

And yes, he is a little bit dusty. I don't know why he always has fuzz on him. I should probably lint brush him.