Operation Puppy Adoption: Complete

This weekend was a whirlwind. I usually feel almost bored by the end of a three day weekend but this one ran me a bit ragged. Last week I was feeling super tired but I figured it was just the completely hideous weather we've been having. No such luck. I think I am the least in tune with my body person ever because this happens every month and I never catch on that it's coming...I got my period.

For most women that's not a huge deal but for me it's like the black plague. It also probably contributed to not-so-relaxing thing number two which was a gigantic bawling breakdown over Kevin. I've been holding up fairly well ever since a couple days after his funeral but I just could not. stop. crying.

And then, because I am so together and not at all completely crazy I had a super painful headache and tons of tension on Sunday night (meaning no sleep) over the new puppy coming home and if Javier would hate me and if the puppy would eat all my shoes and I would have no footwear and he might choke and I would have to take him to the vet and the bill would be $8,000 and I'd end up poor and homeless. And Javi would still hate me.

Because these are the things that go through my head.

Then Monday came and even though it took me forever to get out of bed and I woke up still having a headache, after a shower I felt a lot better. I picked up Craig and we made our way to Eugene to pick up the new pup. Eugene was a new experience for me and I liked it a lot.

First we went to lunch but we went to McMenamins which are all over Oregon so that wasn't super exciting but then we looked for this rock that commemorates Steve Prefontaine who was a super good runner or something from Oregon. Apparently he is way famous and I am unbelievable for not knowing all about him. I mostly wanted to see the rock because Craig said there was a pair of his shoes there and I was intrigued how a pair of running shoes could hang out in the Oregon weather for years and years and not just be a moldy blob. This is the rock. Notice, there are no shoes. Because Craig is a liar.


But even awesomer than the rock was this YARD FULL OF TURKEYS!

This was seriously my favorite part of the trip. Someone just has a whole yard full of turkeys hanging out...

Next we went to this treats shop that is ah-mazing. It's called Sweet Life Patisserie and I wanted to eat everything. But I only ate one thing and it was called Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake. I couldn't eat much of it because it was super rich but it was delicious.


After that it was time to take pictures of weird things, one of my favorite pastimes.

I think I want my money back...


If you look closely the gentleman on the right there definitely has his penis hanging out. Which may make for an awkward haircut.


We also visited Craig's sister who is super adorable and nice and his niece who is the cutest ever. She also had new shoes that squeak with every footstep she takes. Surprisingly this is not at all annoying.


Then it was time for the main event...puppy!

Tova and her very patient husband David brought Tiger up from California for me. Tova held him the whole ride home and it makes me happy he felt so loved. Craig and I went to pick him up and left pretty quickly to give the puppy transporters some space after their long journey. Then we started our trip home!






When we got home I introduced Javi and Tiger. Javi didn't even notice him at first. I was holding Tiger when I walked in the door and Javier was way more concerned with me giving him attention than that there could be a living being in my arms. Once he did figure it out he was surprisingly calm. The pup was a little more intent on chasing/playing with/annoying Javi. That's me making him not attack my cat.


Eventually they both chilled out and drank water side by side.


I had planned to crate train Tiger but he definitely hates being in there and I don't want to piss off all my neighbors so I let him sleep with me. He was pretty much the best ever and so snuggly. I knoooow I was supposed to just ignore him and let him self soothe and go to sleep happily but it wasn't happening and I honestly really enjoy him snuggled up with me. So I guess maybe I just ruined my dog but for now he's not sleeping in his crate.

Back, Back Again

Oh my goodness it's been a long time.

I've done a ton while taking my break from the internet. I painted pottery, went to the gorge, dyed Easter eggs, made new art, threw a party, got some awesome new kitchen stuff, wore pajamas out and about, watched too much Dexter, and took pictures of my cat. Obviously it's all too much to talk about at once so I'm going to go ahead and give you non-chronological bits and pieces.

I went to the gorge last weekend with Tova and some others for a picnic. I don't really know the real name of the place we went. Everyone just calls it the gorge and it was my first time there which everyone thought was super crazy. I had to hunt down Craig at his favorite coffee shop and kidnap him to come with because he wasn't answering his phone. He was all grumpy about it at first and insisted on doing his homework in the car but I am persuasive so he came with.



We stopped at this view point that was named Women's Forum which totally sounds like Lilith Fair in conference form to me but whatever. This family seriously took a photo at every single section of fence here. The mom kept taking pictures of two of the girls and telling them to "do a little kick" while demonstrating. Possibly my favorite part of the day.


This is the gorge.



Javi and I slept in yesterday. He's pretty much the best ever at snuggly weekend mornings. He's not a super snuggly guy but it's like he gets that on the weekends we're supposed to stay in bed late and be cozy.


This weekend we had a whole two days full of gorgeous sun. Of course today it's gone but I'm starting to really look forward to Spring. I love how in Portland just when you think you're about to go bonkers over the grey skies the weather comes through and gives you some much needed vitamin D.

To all those who won prizes from my giveaway, I mailed out your packages this weekend. I apologize for the late start but you should have your things soon!

The Emerald City

Lana and I went to Seattle this past weekend. She also taught me that Seattle is called The Emerald City which I said makes no sense and asked for the reasoning behind the name and she said "I don't know, why is Portland called The City of Roses?" and I told her it was because Portland has a climate super conducive to growing roses. Which I think makes me the winner of that exchange. I did try to look up why Seattle is called The Emerald City before writing this but mostly a bunch of Wizard of Oz stuff came up and the Wikipedia article for Seattle is really long so I gave up.

We left Saturday morning and started our trip with a stop for coffee and me taking the longest route possible to a gas station. After that point Lana got to be in charge of directions for pretty much the whole rest of the weekend. When we got to Seattle she got us to our hotel very smoothly except we ended up on the wrong side of the street so I did this super badass U-turn in the middle of the very busy 1st avenue in downtown. It was pretty much action movie worthy. Also I didn't hit anyone.

This was our room. After we slept in it though. It didn't come like that.


After we checked in we left to shop. We started with a couple cute shops across the street from our hotel. One of them was actually cute but extremely over priced. Plus none of it was stuff we couldn't find elsewhere. There were a bunch of candles and soaps and stationary and some jewelry and Stonewall Kitchen things. Lana did get a metal dog tag that said "treat" on it.

The store next to that was deceiving. It looked like this cute little shop from the outside and then it was all penis shaped planters and ceramic bunnies with knives in them and a pile of packing peanuts made of plaster inside. We're not talking funny gothic naked people in a snow globe, we're talking art. Unfortunately it was also one of those places that is small and has one person working there who definitely has nothing better to do than watch you as you realize the second you walk in that this place isn't for you and then you have to do the awkward obligatory stroll through before bailing since walking in to immediately turn around seems rude.

Next we went to Free People and this other really neat shop I can't remember the name of but they had great clothes. It was also 500 degrees in there so we had to leave. We ended up going to the biggest Nordstrom ever, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and probably my new favorite place ever. It's called All Saints. It's sort of like someone met Lana and me and smooshed our styles together. They had loose and baggy, masculine fabrics, flowy things, beading, sequins, and 99% of it was in the most gorgeous neutrals. The brand is based out of London but has seven US stores. It's a bit pricey but everything was like 70% off so I ended up getting this gorgeous dress for a fraction of it's original price.

I'm thinking belted with a harder wide brown leather belt it will be amazing. Actually I know it will because Lana tried it on later in our hotel room and looked super adorable.

They also have this amazing children's line. I might have to get knocked up just so I can buy my child a tweed funnel neck trench. Apologies for the blurriness. I think my camera hates Seattle.


After our shopping adventure we went back to our hotel to figure out dinner and change. When we got there we realized we had about five different lights in our room but the one main one wouldn't work so I called down and asked for someone to come up and look at it. The maintenance guy came in, turned it on, and looked at us like we were the stupidest girls ever. And adding insult to injury were all the shopping bags sitting around.

We aren't actually idiots I promise.

We then decided to check out a place called Emmer and Rye that had been recommended to me. When we showed up sans reservation the wait was a bajillion hours to they recommended a place called Who Cooked The Wolf or something. I'm not going to bother looking up the real name or posting a link because the menu was lame and there was a loud child so we left and found ourselves at a lovely little place called Portage dining next to Loudon Wainwright III. I knew his voice sounded familiar and after some sneaky Googling on Lana's part we figured out he was Steven's dad on Undeclared. As well as in a bunch of other stuff. Lana also took a sneaky picture over my shoulder that I'm pretty sure we totally got away with despite all our giggling.


Next up was dessert. We headed to a place called Simply Desserts, one of those ridiculously tiny places that's always packed and doesn't take credit cards but can get away with it because the food is just that amazing. I had Mexican chocolate cake and Lana had some fudge cake thing (mine was better). As delicious as it was though, we couldn't finish.




Then we went and saw No Strings Attached at the weirdest theatre ever. Apparently it's the year 2000 because they still had a giant cardboard cutout for Big Momma's House. As well as Big Fish, which, by the way, has Loudon Wainwright in it.


Then we crashed.

Sunday morning we met a friend of mine and Lana's brother for brunch at Portage Bay Cafe. And that was pretty delicious. As well as surprising laid back for Sunday brunch when we showed up and they didn't have my reservation. They got us in within five minutes.



After that we just did more shopping (I told you that's all this trip was for) and visited Madewell, J.Crew, and H&M. By about 4:30pm we were dragging and decided we might as well start our way home on the condition we could find somewhere to eat on the way home that didn't come with a drive through. Lana got on Yelp and found this place that seemed promising so we made plans to hit it up.

Then we got gas which I've never done myself. And I guess I still haven't since Lana did most of the work. And by most I mean all.


So we drove and drove some more which wasn't super eventful. Then we exited the freeway and drove into the middle of an industrial park and then just into the middle of nowhere to go to a restaurant I was pretty sure was going to end up being a version of the ladies with the tea in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

In actuality it was possibly my favorite part of the trip. This restaurant is called Mary McCrank's and is in an old house. Our experience here started with me pulling into the gravel parking lot and Lana telling me to not park in "the paralyzed spots" which has continued to make me laugh to myself even through today.

When we walked in the place was entirely empty. We were the only ones in this place that was pretty much the epitome of going to Grandma's house. I'm not sure words can fully explain.


See?

The waitress was this super friendly middle aged woman who kept talking to us but it wasn't even annoying because she was just so charming. We did finally have to tell her we couldn't eat anymore bread which really made it feel like being at Grandma's house. We ended up sharing salmon, salad, carrots, mashed potatoes and fried mac and cheese.

Lana went to the bathroom at one point and kept insisting I go too before we leave so after dinner we went in and as soon as I opened the door I burst out laughing. I'm not sure this room could have been more pink and old lady gaudy if someone tried. There was also a super attractive wall of mirrors.


Then we were on our way home. And there was this gross super misty rain that made driving a pain but as soon as we crossed the state line the rain became pretty rain that didn't make it hard to see and that's when it was confirmed Portland is my favorite place.

Oh, also Lana brought the Girl Talk album All Day for our drive and I'm addicted. Go listen if you haven't.

An Amazing Discovery

Last year I went on a hunt for an iPod adapter for the car. I'm not even sure if that's the right name for it but I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about. I was actually looking for one for my boss and after trying bunches from the Apple store, online, and Best Buy as well as pricing an in car installation I finally came to her defeated and promised to burn all her Italian lessons and any music she wanted onto discs for her CD player. Which was met with "You can do that?!"

It's nice to be an everyday hero.

With my upcoming "drive to Seattle to shop" trip just around the corner I made plans to have a CD burning party with Lana because I figured after trying all those adapters before there likely wasn't one that was going to all of a sudden work now. And even less a chance that I would be able to find it. But I decided to give it one last shot since the thought of burning a bajillion CDs and then having to figure out where to put them in my car and try to figure out what I wanted while driving seemed a little silly.

There are three ways to listen to music from an iPod through your car stereo if you don't have something installed. You can do the whole faux tape in the tape player thing, use a cord that plugs into the headphone jack and your stereo, or use an FM transmitter. I don't have a tape deck in my car and I'm actually wondering when they will stop making those cassette tape things for your car. I remember my 7th grade crush connecting his Discman to his mom's car stereo with one of those tapes. I'm fairly certain it's not long before those are a thing of the past. Anyways, I also don't have a jack for whatever that cord is called on my stereo. So that leaves me with the most sucky option which is the FM transmitter.

I have an amazing talent for losing ever single iPod I come in contact with so even though I'm pretty sure there are about seven of them hidden somewhere in my things I can't find any. Since I needed to get one anyways I figured I'd do this thing backwards and pick the radio transmitter then an iPod that would work with it. So I walked into the Apple store and a lovely girl approached me and very cheerfully asked if I needed any help. I waved my hand in the general direction of the wall of car adapters and told her I needed one of those. One that works. Then she said "An iPad?" which was nowhere near what I was pointing at but she smiled a lot so I forgave her for pushing her useless product on me. She found someone to help me and he was actually not very helpful other than taking every option off the wall and reading the packages to me. I think the people who work in Apple stores must have to deal with some ridiculously stupid people because sometimes I feel like they're talking to me the way one might a pre-schooler.

Basically I just ended up picking something out myself as well as an iPod touch...iTouch...I don't know. Whatever they're calling it now. It seemed easiest to control while driving.

I was prepared for this to not at all work and for me to just have to return it but surprise of surprises it's actually more than decent. There have been a couple static spots but nothing that doesn't clear itself up in a few seconds. I mostly noticed it while passing a radio station and in a very forest-y area.

The one I got is called the TuneBase LIVE FM by Belkin. I'm using it only with an iPod so while it looks like a couple people had problems with using it with an iPhone and switching between hands free calling and their music, that's not an issue for me. I also love that it charges your device for you since I am the worst ever at doing that. Aaaaand it has this handy dandy little dock thing on a bendy arm so you can adjust things to your liking.

I've only used mine for a couple days but so far I'm very impressed.

The Stone Soup of Blog Posts

I've been very blog neglectful this past week due to some silly life drama stuff so I'm basically going to throw all this nonsense together and hope it counts as a post.

First, I'm bored of the photo month. I thought it would be fun and it's sort of not so I think I quit that one.

Second, I'm ridiculously excited for two things. First, I'm taking a trip to Seattle with Lana for the sole purpose of shopping. It's just a weekend trip but I can't wait. It will also be the first time I take my cute car anywhere farther than the coast. Last week it was making pretty much the worst noise ever in the entire world. It was like a metallic whine when I braked in reverse. Yeah, only in reverse. I was pretty sure that I was going to need to basically buy a new car or at least replace all the brakes or something but turns out it was a rock. So that was good news. Lana and I are having a road trip music selection party on Wednesday.

We're also staying at a super adorable hotel.


The second part of point number two, the other thing I'm so super excited about is that the internet has brought me together with a real live Portland chef who I've been emailing with and who has offered to cook with me. This is where I just smile like an idiot because I am that ecstatic. She even said I have "skill" so I've been bragging about that one to a few people. I'm also in love with the fact that I can ramble like a crazy person to her about food and restaurants and cooking and cookbooks and she hasn't once rescinded her cooking offer in fear that I am possibly ADD and on speed given I never shut up. So that's nice as well.

The Free People January catalog is out and gorgeous as always. There are a few things I like a lot. Two of which I stopped into the store and bought yesterday.


Sunburst Maxi Dress By Free People in Washed Black (which means navy in real people words)

Convertible Crochet Halter by Free People in Ivory

I also made a fairly amazing shoe purchase but it deserves it's very own post.

Oh, I'm pretty sure that I am going to make my hair a lot more blonde this week. Which I sort of swore off a few years ago but hey, if it's bad I can always go back. I would like this hair color exactly please.


Craig and I are having dinner tonight and I am so looking forward to it. I haven't seen him in probably a whole week. We're going to eat cajun tater tots and burgers (mine will be veggie) and I'm going to tease him at every opportunity.

I leave you with this. Which is what I wake up to.