Technology Fast

I am getting ready for my 3rd Technology Fast Sunday.  One of my resolutions for this year is not to partake of "technology" on the Sabbath which basically means I will not check email, read blogs, write blog posts, get onto Facebook, text, etc.  We have decided that watching a nice family movie together is a fine thing to do on a Sunday evening though sometimes.  Jim has joined me in this endeavor and has even given up watching sports on Sunday which is a major sacrifice for him!  So far so good.  I've gotten two books read and two scarves crocheted!

This last week was a good one.

Unfortunately the Ducks lost on Monday but at least everyone in Portland doesn't have to wear all their Duck gear any more.  Green and yellow is not my favorite color combination.

It was a busy Relief Society week.  We had two days of Visiting Teaching interviews and a R.S. Meeting (aka. Enrichment)

I had lunch with friends 3 days in a row which was fun.  One was for a friend's birthday, another one with some fellow fashion stylists after  a training and on Friday I had another belated birthday luncheon with a couple of friends.  Oh, and I had lunch out today with my friend Marsha when we went over to the Hawthorne area. SO I guess that makes 4 days in a row.  I tagged along while Marsha did some shoe shopping which turned into just shoe looking as she didn't buy any.  But we found a new Mexican restaurant for lunch that we loved.


On Friday my friends and I headed over to North Portland to try out a restaurant another friend had recommended.  It's called Pause and it was great.  The place was packed when we got there and I always take that as a good sign.  I was enjoying our conversation so much I forgot to take photos of our food so you'll just have trust me it was great.   But I did like this photo I took of the ketchup bottle and the menu!

One of the things I love about Portland is that in just about any given neighborhood on the east side you can find houses like this!

A sky blue house and fence with all kinds of fun yard art - plastic geese, gnomes etc!!
And then just around the corner from the blue house was the orange house!!

I love Portland!!

Tess missed a couple of days of school this week with a cold.  She seems to be making a fairly quick recovery which is good since rehearsal for the musical is in full swing.  I've been busy working on her costumes and almost finished one dress and have another cut out and ready to go.  I have 3 total to make for her.

Jim spent all day today, Saturday, in work meetings.  Tessa and I did a little thrifting this evening and Tessa found quite a few skirts that she is going to create amazing things with I am sure.  Can't wait to see what she does with them.  I found a few red sweaters to turn into some fun Valentine crafts!  I also picked up a really fun crocheted granny square blanket - I think my mom has one that my grandma made.  It would look great in a photo shoot.  The colors were so fun. I think we came home with 4 shirts, 3 sweaters, a wallet and one blanket.  All for about $40.00 not bad!

Celebrating 51

Friday was my birthday and I have to say it ranked right up there as one of the best.  Although my 50th birthday was pretty amazing.

The day started with Jim offering to make me breakfast but since I knew I would be consuming mass quantities of food for lunch and dinner I decided it might be a good idea not to have breakfast.

After my morning walk my friend Marsha and I headed down to the Pearl District to visit some of my favorite places.

Our first stop was Powell's where of course we could have spent the entire day or maybe even the entire week.  I bought myself a new book I am excited to read.  The book was published in the mid 1940s and I found an original, first edition of the book.

 

We then made a stop at Sur Le Table where I drooled over the new color - fennel of the Le Creuset cookware

 Then a visit to Anthropologie for a few new latte bowls. 

 And then lunch at Cafe Nell with some of my favorite people.

 My friend Meg ordered the french toast which I think is the most amazing french toast I have ever had.  I am going back soon so I can have my own plate of it!!

 My pulled pork was good but the french toast was amazing!

A table full of women I am truly grateful for.

 For dessert we all shared one slice of red velvet cake.  Let's just say it looked much prettier than it tasted.  A little bit of a disappointment...  fortunately for me Jim bought me my favorite cake from Beaverton Bakery - lemon poppyseed so I had that to look forward to.

After lunch Jim and I made a trip to Ikea.  When Jim asked me what I wanted for my birthday I told him new shelves for the craft room.  Unfortunately they were out of the brackets I wanted but we got the shelves and some baskets to use on the shelves.  When Jim asked me what I was going to put on the shelves - I told him "stuff"!  I've got lots of stuff!

For dinner the three of us went to Oba, a restaurant I had heard lots of great things about over the years but we had n ever been there.  It is in the Pearl and is nuevo latino cuisine.  It is one of the best meals I have had in a long time.  We had an amazing server and she made it an extra special evening for us.  She brought a marionberry and spritzer toast for us when she found out it was my birthday (she very nicely asked if we drank champagne before she brought it)  I guess the fact that we didn't order alcohol before dinner tipped her off.  Smart girl.  She made great recommendations for food and then she brought us an amazing complimentary dessert.

I dont' know what I was thinking but I didn't take my camera to dinner.  My camera phone had to do but it was a very dark restaurant so they aren't the best but at least you can see the Baked Argentina which was do good.  It had a brownie base with vanilla bean ice cream and bananas on top, covered in the most amazing melt in your mouth meringue sitting in a puddle of mango and pineapple caramel sauce - pure heaven!  We were all stuffed but we forced ourselves to eat it!

 The day ended watching an episode of Larkrise to Candleford with a piece of my yummy birthday cake ( I don't need to eat for the next week), cozed up in bed with Tessa!  (Jim was watching some ball game of course!)

Just about a perfect day!

Pretty in Pink Photo Shoot

Before Christmas, Lizzy (Clark's girlfriend) called me to ask if I would take some photos of her in a vintage dress she had purchased that Clark really liked.  The photos were to be part of his Christmas present. 

Of course I said yes so the Tuesday before Christmas we met up at Saint Cupcake in NW Portland.  I thought Saint Cupcake would be the perfect location for the photo shoot because of the fun pink decor and the fact that Lizzy loves cupcakes and is wonderful baker.

The people at the bakery were great and let me climb on chairs and move the furniture around.  After the bakery we walked up the street to a Jewish Synagogue and took a few pictures there too. 

I thought the pictures turned out pretty good for an amateur.