a new adventure to the concrete jungle!

Yep, thats right. At approximately 10:30 tonight me and Pat will be aboard a Jet Blue airplane headed for New York City!!! We are so super excited that our adventure is finally here! A whole week to ourselves in the city that never sleeps sounds like a pretty good little vacation to me. My older sister Leah and her boyfriend Adil live in the city, so we have the perfect guides as well.

I am pumped for great food, great memories, lots of exploring, and hundreds of pictures! Planned so far are the following: Visits to MoMA, and the Museum of Natural History, a Yankee game, a Broadway show, a trip to a speakeasy, a great "little" hot dog stand in the park (The Shake Shack), and soaking up the sunshine (yes, they actually have that there unlike us here). I cannot wait to see what is in store for us on the 4th either. As you can tell I am just over all pumped about the whole thing.

A little background. This will be me and Pats first real trip together somewhere just the two of us far from home. He has never been to NYC, and the last and only time I was ever in the city was for Leah's graduation from Columbia when I was 19 with my whole family... so, several years ago. This is bound to be a completely different experience, and I am looking forward to it.

Also, I will not be posting until I return. Ta ta for now blogger, see you soon.

A few snapshots from the last time I was there (2006?):

[[ my pictures from the last trip. ]]

I am packed and ready to go, bring it on.

midweek inspiration 18

Happy Wednesday. I have noticed myself becoming more and more drawn to this type of artwork... I find these portraits by DeerFace aka Devon Smith of Wellington New Zealand to be incredibly charming, and maybe even a little bit sexual. I love how the figures sort of flow in to the background without any clearly defined ending, as well as the way the skin takes on the color of the paper. I also really like the individual detail to each piece, such as the tattoos on each figure. They are very intriguing.

[[ strange bedfellows. summoning fox spirit. first deer. feed on blood. ghost huia. a funny little thing. eating ghosts no. 1. little bear. ]]

I am including this one too because although it is not directly related to the others... it is totally relevant to my upcoming vacation that starts tomorrow (and I love it)! But, more on that later.

[[ all work by devon smith. ]]

painted lady

Tonight me and Pat went to our friend Molly's Birthday Dinner at the Painted Lady in Newberg. We had no idea it was a four course meal, super fancy. The scallops, pork, risotto, gnochi, and desserts were delicious among other things. It was certainly way too much food to finish. So much for saving money this week though, this definitely got us off to a rough start. The restaurant itself is in an old house also which was pretty cool. Is it wrong that I got the most excited about the giant bathroom upstairs with the footed bathtub? Probably.

[[ quick fuzzy iphone snapshots of the interior. ]]

weekend adventures 34

This weekend seemed like a lot of activity, BUT I finally got to go to Ikea like I have been wanting to and get some stuff for the new house! Plus, I got to hang out with TiffWill and even got my brother Nic to come out with us. It was a good weekend.


saturday
Pat had a bachelor party to go to Saturday, so he headed out in the morning to do his own thing. After an extremely annoying morning of running around in Corvallis, and preparing our house for a bug bombing I was finally out the door to Portland by late afternoon. I swung by and grabbed Guenther, and then we headed to Ikea. Though I far surpassed my budget, I got a ton of great stuff I am really excited about! Pillows, pillow cases, some tumblers, shower curtains, picture frames, a big glass vase for our wine corks, all kinds of goodies, including some sweetish meatballs! Though I totally wanted to scoop up some bedding, I controlled myself to allow for Pat's input. They were out of my bookshelf though, so I had to walk away without it, which was a bummer, but I did grab the baskets that go to it. Me and Megan also got some Frozen Yogurt before hand and sat outside for a little while, it was a gorgeous day outside!

[[ giant starbucks iced coffee to wake me up. finally in portland. yocream. closeups. tattoo. mint chocolate chip my favorite. putting my feet up in the sunshine. ]] 

[[ ikea! bet you are really happy with that face huh guenther... megan's dream livingroom. playing around. goodnight suessville. working hard. bedding. ]] 

saturday night
We went home, got ready, and headed downtown to Henrys for some dinner and drinks. It just so happened that a guy I went to high school with was our sever, so he let me order chicken strips off of the kids menu. Score! Me, Tiff, and Megan also shared some yummy wine. Tiffany's husband Jason came out too, as well as my older brother Nic, and Megans friend Jessica. We also happened to run in to two of Nics friends who joined our party and Sam stopped by for a little bit as well. From here we went over to Life of Riley to end our night. I think playing Buck Hunter was the highlight of my evening. By the time we were heading home the sun was even starting to come out! Great Saturday.

(Also note worthy, my boyfriend really does not like strip clubs. I am perfectly ok with it). :)

[[ tiff/me/jessica/megan. tiff/me. fierce. big buck hunter. ]]

sunday
I met up with Pat in the morning at my dads house and we headed over to the Nike Employee store for suitcases... sounds weird, but they have good ones. Pat of course got a bunch of sweet new clothes too. From there he headed home, and I headed back out to Ikea for my bookshelf. Three ish hours later I was home and we spent the rest of the night putting it together and setting it up. I have to say the office is starting to look gooood. I am very happy with my purchases. New house visual updates coming soon I promise.

weekend adventures 33

Last weekend pretty much consisted only of Saturday, but we definitely made it count. We had a celebration at our new place in honor of our friend Nate's Birthday!

6/17 - 6/19


friday night
The house was still in large part a mess, with boxes everywhere... so in order to get it in working order, I spent all of Friday night organizing, throwing things out, and breaking down boxes. Me and Pat got the place looking pretty good, thanks to the office where we could store everything for the time being for more usable livingroom space.

saturday
Nate and Alicia came over in the early afternoon and took me and Pat Disc Golfing. Have you ever tried this before? It was a lot more fun then I expected, especially since it was rainy outside and not that nice. It is pretty much a combination of Frisbee and Golf, very tough to describe. I have to say I thought I was doing a pretty good job for a first timer, and would love to go again soon, in the sunshine preferably. I got soaked.

A little bit later on Alia Brad's fiance showed up followed by him shortly after and then we opened up a bottle of wine and started to celebrate with good friends, good wine, and a delicious dinner (stuffed burgers with blue cheese and bacon, a stuffed turkey burger for me). I really have no recollection of how late we stayed up, but the night ended with a Led Zeppelin concert DVD and Nate and Alicia passed out on "the blob" our big 'bean bag' chair. Brad and Pat also sang their own rendition of Happy Birthday to Nate with the verse "You make homeless people nervous, and you fell asleep in the love sac."

[[ playing disc golf = being in the secret garden. ]]

sunday
More unpacking and putting away... the story of my life lately. Nothing exciting to report.

[[ alia. pat. me. alicia. nate. missing: brad. ]]

weekend adventures 32

Well, I am still waiting on my little sisters to give me some more of the pictures from Graduation, but I do not really feel like waiting to post this any longer, so I will add some more as I receive them (hopefully this weekend).

6/9 - 6/12


thursday night
After work I rushed home to change, met Pat, and we were finally out the door. The graduation was being held in downtown Portland at the Chiles Center. I think we were aiming for 7:30, but arrived around 8, just in time actually to sit down right before the speeches ended and the grads began to get their diplomas. I have now attended ten graduations I believe, so the speeches are all the same. It was weird being back there though in the exact place I graduated high school, watching students in the exact same robes and everything. It is pretty amazing how quickly it seems that time has gone by since then when I look back on it. Next year it will be my baby sister Meagan's turn.

[[ whs class of '11. ]]

After grad me and Pat were going to go grab dinner before I worked at Grad Night all night (something I volunteered to help with since my step mom was one of the people putting it together). When I got to the car to change out of my heels I realized that I had left my entire duffle bag with clothing and makeup and everything for the weekend behind in Corvallis. I was pretty pissed. Luckily I had some Toms in the backseat of my car to put on, but I had to divert my plans completely and drive to my Dad's house in an attempt to find clothing to wear instead of having dinner with Pat. It turns out I sort of over reacted because randomly my step mom had a pair of jeans from F21 that were too small for her and my step sister Jenna, but too big for my little sister Meagan, which meant that they were pretty much my size (though a bit too big in the waist). I grabbed a white Tshirt out of my little sisters closet, used some of her makeup, and was out the door.

Grad night was held at Club Sport, a really nice gym/club where they set up a ton of fun stuff for the students to do and the event goes until 4am. I was in charge of airbrush tattooing with my friend Megan as my assistant. Yea, I had never even tried it before until we had to get started, and since I had to order all of the equipment through random vendors on Amazon, I was not even sure it would all work properly until the moment we started working. As it turns out I got lucky, and though on of the brushes was not working properly, utilizing Megan as more of an assistant worked out better anyway. I did not anticipate people waiting in line for over an hour to get one, and we were busy the entire time. Needless to say by the end I was super tired and the drive home was brutal. When I finally parked along side the curb by my dads house and got out of the car I looked back and realized I had parked completely on the sidewalk and did not even notice because of how it is slanted. The neighbors probably assumed I was drunk or something.

So, that was my super long Thursday night.


friday
It seems to be a tradition among Westview student families to try and out do one another by throwing a grad party with an obscene amount of food. Me, Leah, and Nic went with our parents to Cosco in the morning and bought the most ridiculous amount of food I have ever seen. Then me and Leah had to make it all! Another long day, but since I did not really get to eat the day before, this one had a much sweeter reward. So much fresh fruit, yum!

While I was in Portland cooking, Pat was in Corvallis moving all of the furniture from our old place to the new one with the assistance of his little brother.

[[ shopping cart 1 of 2. the spread. leah manning the grill. my makeshift outfit. corvallis bbq. playing football. creepy breakfast coffee mug. ]] 

saturday
I got up in the morning, had some breakfast, and then headed back down to Corvallis to help Pat with the move. It was the most surreal feeling driving in to town like usual, but going directly to a completely different house, walking inside, and having our livingroom furniture set up in it. I am still getting used to it. We started setting up the kitchen, but quickly lost track of time and had to run out the door to a BBQ over at one of Pats coworkers homes. Even though I was exhausted it was really fun, for Pat especially.

sunday
We had breakfast plans to meet our friend Molly and her fiance Nick, so we got up in the morning and headed over to Sharon's a breakfast place in Southtown. It was delicious. I have a feeling we will be frequenting that place quite a bit. The rest of the weekend was completely composed of unpacking and going to the old place to grab more stuff. The only thing I like about moving is organizing and getting rid of things I no longer have a use for... but other then that it was a lot of hard work.

midweek inspiration 17

I will keep this simple. I love this concept, it has me thinking about so many little projects for me and my siblings to work on. I really need to find all of my old pictures for some inspiration.

I cannot even believe that the person who came up with the concept behind Dear Photograph is only 21 years old. Taylor Jones, from Ontario, runs a Tumblr for his project where you can "take a picture of a picture from the past in the present." and submit it to the sight. Some of the imagery is pretty amazing. Great concept. I can see this getting really really big.

Here are some examples from his blog.

[[ photos from the blog. ]]

<<< summer solstice >>>

Today is apparently the first day of summer, according to the astronomical definition of the seasons. I am willing to accept that since Oregon is one of the only places in the entire country right now that has not yet begun summer weather. We are well into June and everyone is still in jeans and jackets. Today seems to be a fairly accurate representation however, with highs "in the low 80s" according to my weather apps. Either way, I am wearing shorts, the sun is shining, and I am pretty happy about it. If summer has officially begun, please let it stick around! Pretty please?

[[ pictures from lunch time today. rooftop seating at the crows nest for pizza and big salads. ]]

alaska :: photos from work

Sometimes I get to play with something sweet at work...
I spent most of this afternoon going through and enhancing/editing hundreds of Alaska photos submitted by our field people. Credit to them (I did not take these personally as I have never been to Alaska). Some of these pictures are really amazing, so I thought I would share a few.  (extremely image heavy).

[[ all images property of watershed sciences, inc. ]]

clouuuds

Alright, so this week is getting away from me a little bit... We are steadily beginning to get everything settled in the new place (pictures to follow next week I promise). I am also still trying to compile some more pictures from last weekend for an adventures post. I think I am going to call Friday the start of my weekend so that we can get some more work done before we have people over for our friend Nate's Birthday Saturday. So have a good weekend everyone, I will catch up on posts next week.

[[ toy story clouds i noticed after work. stay away storm! ]]

treasure hunting

I have not had time to do much web exploring this week, let alone compile a midweek inspiration post for this week with all of this moving going on. Things are starting to fall in to place more, but there is a lot of work left to do. As I put stuff away I keep stumbling upon silly little things from my past I had completely forgotten about, like a jewelry box filled with items from elementary school through high school that I have not thought about in years. I still have yet to determine which items will be kept, but I do have a plan for "renovating" the box itself.

I also found tons of old notebooks from high school and my freshman year of college back when I was 18. Those I had to spend some time looking through because they are pretty entertaining. No wonder I did not learn anything in statistics class... My note pages are completely filled with little sketches and notes!

[[ sketches from various old school notebooks. ]]

memphis may fire

Last Wednesday me, Pat, and Tony went to Portland after work to go see one of the bands we like, Memphis May Fire. They were playing at a super random location... Branx, formally known as the Meow Meow. I remember going to many a show there in high school. I guess I did not really realize how small of a band label they are on right now. Their set was only like six songs, which was a total bummer, but they put on a great show regardless. I hope they get picked up by a larger label soon so that they can put on a full set next time around. It was sort of culture shock going back in to one of these tiny random venues. We even went out on the floor since there were not that many people there. I came out with some scuffed up shoes and some bruises on my face from crowd surfers (thanks for kicking me in the face chick). Combat boots were a great shoe choice for me. Seriously, they saved my feet. The whole experience did make me miss the Roseland and its 21+ balcony seating. I am spoiled now.

[[ driving in to pdx. montage. industrial. peak a boo. signs. goober. pat. power lines. clouds. tony. you ugly. memphis may fire. ]]

Also, before the show we went and ate at one of our old favorite places, Montage. It is where me and Pat went to eat on our very first date, so I was feeling very nostalgic. :) We took a new picture.

[[ montage, 2011. ]]

Check out Memphis's intro to the show... they started playing hip hop, I have never seen that done before at a show like this! It was sweeeeeet. (not for the faint of heart) haha. 

happy birthday jenna! // graduation

Today is my little step sister Jenna's 18th Birthday! I seriously CANNOT believe that the "little girls" are growing up! Thursday night was her high school graduation. It is amazing that it has been that long since I was the one wearing the same robe and walking in front of everyone at the same exact place. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Jenna! I am super proud of you!! Love you! 

I have to mention that I have two incredibly beautiful little sisters and I am cool with bragging about it. Which reminds me... My baby sister Meagan is about to be a senior. How did this happen?!

__________________________________

[[ jenna at graduation... i rocked pretty much the same shades for mine too. meagan & jenna, the little girls. old pictures. senior picture. ]]

 ((( I will get more into the graduation and post a few more pictures when I get caught up and do my Weekend Adventures )))