LA Vaca

This past weekend I took a quick trip down to LA - my only trip to California since going to Disney Land when I was 5. My friend Sydney lives there because her husband Hunter is in school at Fuller Theological Seminary. So my friend Anne, who lives in Austin, and I took a vacation to visit Sydney's new home. Anne and I went to Hillcrest Professional Development Elementary School together, Sydney and I went to Lake Air Middle School together, and the three of us were best friends throughout our four years at Waco High School. It was great having a little reunion, which is rare since we all live in different states now.

Anne and I arrived in LAX on Friday evening. Hunter picked us up from the airport and we braved the horrendous LA traffic. We picked up Sydney from their Pasadena apartment and headed to dinner at the Green Street Restaurant. Then we strolled around the downtown Pasadena area near city hall where we window shopped. Then Sydney and Hunter took us to their favorite frozen yogurt spot simply called 21 Choices. This place was amazing - you can choose from 6 frozen yogurt flavors and then add any of the 21 choices of toppings and they mix it all together for you. I choose chocolate yogurt with red velvet cake mixed in - delicious! And while standing in line I won a gift certificate for answering the trivia question (Q: What is the average number of times a human blinks in 1 minute? A: 16). Sydney lost her purse after she set it down while we took a picture with the Jackie Robinson statue and was obviously upset about that Friday night.  We headed back to the apartment to cancel all of her credit cards and everything.  At 11:00 we heard a knock on the door and opened it to find a police man holding Sydney's purse.  Someone found it and turned it in - there are still good people in this world!

Apparently every year Southern California experiences "June Gloom", a term for a weather pattern that results in overcast skies with cool temperatures during early summer mornings. Just my luck - I leave Portland on its most gorgeous sunny weekend and head down to LA during its cloudiest month. Anyway, Saturday morning was a little "gloomy", but we headed to the Pasadena Farmer's Market then picked up an early lunch and brought it back to the apartment to watch the US vs. England World Cup game.

Saturday afternoon we hit up all of the touristy LA scenes: Hollywood Blvd where we hopped out of the car hoping to find a famous sidewalk star and had to settle for Lawrence Welk and the lady from Murder She Wrote; Beverly Hills where we stuck our heads out the window and "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed at the California abodes (including the Father of the Bride house, which is actually in Pasadena); Rodeo Drive where we did some serious window shopping (but of course I didn't spend a dime); and Santa Monica Blvd and Pier where we walked on the beach and then had an amazing seafood dinner.

Sunday, we started with breakfast at Green Street, then Sydney gave us a tour of the preschool where she works, and then we went to the Los Angeles Arboretum. We fought the traffic again to get back to the airport where Anne and my planes departed at 5:00, exactly 48 hours after we arrived.

So it was a quick weekend, but it was great getting to see where Sydney lives and to spend time with these dear friends!

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!