Streak of Bad Luck

The past two weeks have been unbelievable - and not particularly in a good way.  I have experienced one bad thing after another.  I feel like a walking hazard.  The streak started with my phone deciding to silence itself causing my alarm to not wake me on a work day.  Already running late for work, I got in a car wreck one block from my office.  We all know that dealing with insurance companies is no fun and I've been doing a lot of that over the past couple weeks.  Then I bought a new camera, dropped it 3 days later and now it won't turn on.  Today I walked out of church to find a note on the windshield of my rent car which said, "Sorry I scraped your car."  Not to mention the broken wrist I'm healing from.  It seems like when one bad thing happens it creates a domino effect which, at the time, seems to never end.

So I have a choice: let it all get to me and be in a constant bad mood OR be grateful that it's not worse than it is.  Just think, I could have been seriously injured in the car wreck... and the camera is just a material item... and I am grateful for a steady job, a roof over my head, my health, and supportive friends and family.  I'm hoping that with the Portland summer sun, everything else will brighten up as well.

"Rejoice in your trials, for we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the holy spirit whom he has given us."  - Romans 5:3-5

Relieving Stress

I do have some exciting (to me) news.  Yesterday, Portland's first sunny day in 3 weeks, I decided to enjoy the outdoors by going for a run.  I'm running my first 1/2 marathon in exacly 4 weeks and I've been a bit nervous because I haven't been training like I should.  But the weather was perfect, my ipod was loaded with a new running playlist and I was feeling good.  My goal was 8 miles and as I was running I bumped that goal up to 10 miles.  Then I thought, "maybe I could push it and run 12 miles."  Then I though, "heck, I might as well run a whole half marathon."  And I did!  Yesterday I ran 13.1 miles - the farthest I've ever run!  So I'm feeling good about my race in one month and the running helps me relieve all the stress that has piled up over the last 2 weeks.

Hannah in Portland - Round 3

This past weekend, Hannah came to visit me for the 3rd time!  She came up for the 1st time last Memorial Day weekend.  That same weekend, Drew's friend Ross came up to visit him as well and we all ended up hanging out in Portland.  Then Hannah and Ross started dating when they went back to Texas (crazy things happen here in Portland).  So exactly a year later they came back up for a rondezvous.  We had a great weekend!  I love when Hannah comes to visit now because we can do new adventurous things that aren't too touristy (since she has already done most of that).  We didn't have the best weather this weekend, but that didn't hold us back.

We picked Hannah and Ross up from the airport on Friday night and drove straight downtown to watch the Rose Festival fireworks on the waterfront.  Then we met up with some people at the opening night of Portland's first dueling piano bar.

Saturday morning, we all hopped on our bikes and rode down to the Portland Farmer's Market where we ate delicious Pine State Biscuits.  These fried chicken biscuit sandwiches smothered in honey and mustard are so yummy, but I only treat myself to one when I have out-of-town guests.  Then we headed down to the Portland Saturday Market to wander through booths of art and trinkets and listen to drummers playing on the sidewalks.  After a short afternoon nap, we geared back up for our traditional progressive dinner.  We took public transportation around town starting with cajun tater tots at The Bagdad, then a wonderful dinner at Thirst Wine Bar and Bistro, and then met up with some friends at The Tugboat, our final stop of the night.

Sunday morning, we slept in a little then went to the 11:00 Imago Dei church service, ate brunch at my favorite spot Bread and Ink, then Drew got us all into the Columbia Employee Store where we got 50% any sports wear and gear purchases.  That night we went to two other popular Portland places: Portland City Grill (located in the tallest building in town) and Papa Haydn's (the best dessert around).

We took it easy on Monday by having a late breakfast at Slappy Cakes (a local breakfast place where you make your own pancakes on griddles in the middle of your table) and then Hannah and I shopped a little downtown.  Yesterday afternoon the guys left for a climbing trip to Mount Rainer in Washington state and Hannah and I enjoyed the only sun of the weekend by playing tennis on Reed College campus.

Overall it was a wonderful weekend.  I loved spending time with these special friends.  It was great to have quality time with Hannah in which we could actually catch up and enjoy being with each other.  Can't wait for her next trip up here!

New Roomie

I have a new roommate for the summer! Tori, a friend who just graduated from Baylor, moved up to Portland this past Thursday and will be here for 10 weeks. She is doing the Murdock summer internship that I was a part of last year. I plan on living vicariously through her Murdock experience.

I haven't shared a room with someone since my freshman year in the dorms, but so far I've loved having a "room"mate. It may mean less closet space, a shared bathroom, a lower bed (since we are splitting my usual 3-matress-high bed), falling asleep with the light on or getting ready in the dark, but I love the company!

Merrill's Baby Shower Pics

A Quick Texas Trip

This weekend I had a quick but wonderful trip to Texas.  What was already a short weekend became shorter when my flight from Portland to Dallas was rerouted due to thunderstorms in the DFW area.  I was supposed to land at the DFW airport at 11:45am on Friday morning, but my plane was rerouted to the Killeen/Fort Hood airport where we sat in a tiny terminal for 4 hours.  This was a total bummer because I was really looking forward to spending Friday afternoon with Sarah, Emily and the kids.  But I finally made it to Dallas at 5:00pm just in time to swing by to see Hannah, Alice Anne and Carter before their bedtime and then meet up with my friends for dinner.

Friday night, a group of us had dinner at Eno's in the Bishop Arts District.  The food and atmosphere were wonderful... and the company was even better.  I loved getting to spend time with my wonderful college friends and hear about everything that's going on in each person's life.  At one point, I tuned out on the conversation as I looked around at this incredible group of girls and realized how lucky I am to have each of them as my friend.

I spent the night at Emily's house both nights.  So Saturday morning I was woken up early by little Carter running downstairs in his pjs calling for "Aunt Mar Mar".  I was able to spend a little time with him and Sarah before they headed back to Waco that morning.

All of the hostesses for Merrill's baby shower came over early to help set up and we were able to kick back and relax as we ate Chick-fil-a for lunch (oh how I miss those nuggets and waffle fries!).  The baby shower on Saturday afternoon was great!  It was good to catch up with old friends and watch Merrill open presents as everyone "oo"ed and "ah"ed over all of the complex baby gadgets.  Merrill is such a cute little pregnant woman and just listening to her talk about the baby made me realize what a great mom she is going to be.  I teared up when I first saw her with her cute little belly.  I couldn't picture her being pregnant until I saw her and putting my hand on her belly, and feeling the little feet kick made it all so real.  I can't wait to meet baby Carl(a).

After the shower some of us had dinner at Manny's where we ate the Tex Mex I've been craving ever since my last trip to Texas.  The margaritas, queso and fajitas were everything I wanted and more!  This Mexican food fix should last me until this Friday. maybe.

And yesterday was strictly a family day.  Brunch with Mom and Dad and the Belfs, lots of playing with Hannah and Alice Anne, driving around with Uncle Les, and dinner with Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob.

Even though it was a short weekend, it was well worth the trip!  It really couldn't have been better (beside the whole layover in Killeen thing).  I loved having so many of my friends and family all in one city - that hardly ever happens!  Don't worry, pictures to follow.

Gardening Weekend

Kathy and I finally got around to starting our own little garden this weekend.  We don't have much of a back yard (at all) so we decided to build an above ground gardening box for our herbs and vegetables.  I found some scraps of wood for free on a corner that we used for a couple of the side walls and then shopped at the Rebuilding Center (a used building material shop) where we bought the remainder of wood for $2.  Kathy and I sawed and hammered the wood together to make the perfect 3.5' x 1.5' garden box.  We went to a garden down the street called Seven Dees and bought soil, herbs, vegetables, and flowers.  We filled our garden box today and can't wait for the plants to really start growing!  We are going to see how this garden box goes and hopefully build a few smaller ones soon.  Before we know it we'll only have to go to our back yard for dinner!

Kathy should be a carpenter on the side.  She went to town with that saw!

Sawing (left handed) at the Rebuilding Center.  Several men stopped by to see if we needed their help.  We demonstrated our sweet sawing skills and sent them on their way.

Our lovely gardening box full of fresh produce.  Now that's what I call organic!

From left to right: lettuce, arugula and spinach, marigolds to keep the bugs away, basil, chives, cilantro and rosemary.

I already used some of the cilantro tonight!

I'm also starting a compost pile.  I found a pile of free dirt in front of someone's house (Portland is full of piles of free stuff) and the owner said I could take as much as I want.  I'll mix the compost with the dirt to make gardening soil.