cinnamon

As the weeks wind down and D(elivery)-day approaches, I'm trying to keep up with increased work responsibilities while also enjoying the last remnants of my pre-child social life.  Last week held two nights in a row of rowdy concert-going.  We caught Foals at Doug Fir on Thursday night along with my coworkers Nikki and Emily, and Jesse's friend, Danny.  Surprisingly enough, I was deemed DD for the night, but still managed to have a good time despite my pregnant sobriety.  At one point, both Jesse and Danny each brought me a soda.  I felt like a princess.  Other highlights included seeing the singer from Spoon in the crowd and then witnessing a dressed-to-the-nines hipster chick falling off a couch she was trying to climb over (the 4" heels didn't help).

The next night we hit up the grand opening of a new location of Dr. Marten's on Burnside.  The Builders and the Butchers were playing (odd scenario) and free food and beer were offered.  The beer ended up consisting of 2 oz. samples in tiny plastic cups and the "food," if you can call it that, was a platter of crustless watercress sandwiches.  Bite size.  The place was packed, as you can see below.  Certainly provided for interesting people watching.  (See if you can spot the band.)

Toward the end of the show Emily (what a trooper!) joined us with her three friends, Erin, James, and Jaime.  We determined that more food was in order, so we set out into the streets of downtown on foot.  I had mapped out various food carts that were supposed to be open, but that was a bust.  Instead, we found ourselves at Mother's, dining on decadent Chanterelle mac & cheese and laughing up a storm about performing test procedures on willing (read: paid) volunteers in nursing school.  Scary stuff, I tell you.  I remarked that the evening felt like the "olden days" - those in which Portland would draw us in for hours and we'd aimlessly wander the dark, curious streets.  It was a good night, particularly with the last minute addition of Voodoo Doughnuts just before the rain started to fall.

Other than that I've been preparing for a Halloween bake sale I organized at work, which is to occur this Friday.  The event will benefit two non-profit organizations associated with my employer.  I've never organized anything like this before, but it's been a worthwhile experience.  I can't wait to see what my volunteer bakers will come up with!  I'm still trying to finalize what I'll be making in my home kitchen - likely bags of fudge and jars of homemade granola.  I'll do my best to complete my preparation in an organized, photo-ready fashion, camera in hand.

Here are some miscellaneous photographs in the meantime.

Oliver's green Halloween glare

This is where we live - isn't it beautiful? 

Our resident Red-Tailed Hawk is perched at the top of the tallest tree. 

We love him.

And lastly, a belly progression.  I'm sitting at 33 weeks now and am even bigger than the last picture here.  More to come later, I'm sure.

bonsai

Thursday night was long-awaited, as I’d read about the “Museum by Moonlight” event taking place at the World Forestry Center. Clara joined me, and we tasted beer and chocolate, and explored more tree product-related exhibits than you can imagine. The experience was a little anticlimactic for us, but we enjoyed posing for a photograph (which we forgot to retrieve that night) in a raft, wearing life jackets. We also tested our skill as smoke jumpers, trying to navigate a tricky harness contraption hanging over a video being projected on the ground.

only with my luck - a SEA CAVE at a forestry museum

The evening improved when we decided to bail on the museum event and head downtown for dinner. We decided on Rock Bottom Brewery and after tasting tempura battered Anaheim chile peppers, my life is never going to be the same.

It’s rather miraculous how the timely clouds clear, or at least become more translucent, over the weekends, and the brightness of the sky is nearly blinding to my pale, unacclimated eyes. That was the case on Saturday, when Clara and I ventured downtown to explore the Lan Su Chinese Gardens on “free admission” day.

We first parked near a lot full of food carts, only some of which were open. Fortunately, Brunchbox, a burger cart I’d heard glorious things about, was one of them. I opted for the Black & Blue – a burger patty grilled with blackened seasoning, then topped with a healthy serving of melty blue cheese. Add lettuce, grilled onion, and barbecue sauce for good measure.

Clara decided on Thai food, and we found a park bench on which to dine. That’s an ambiguous sentence, isn’t it? The cold wind was funneling down through the tall city buildings and my fingers froze as I gobbled up my tasty burger.


We headed to the Gardens, apparently along with every other person in Portland, and strolled around through beautifully shaped doorways and over delicate stone mosaic pathways, inspired by things like “Plum Blossoms and Cracked Ice,” which varied from outdoor room to room. Winter’s harshness was reflected in the nearly geometric pattern of bare branches, the choppy wind passing over the mirrored surface of a central pond, and the tightly sealed, hibernating buds of myriad bushes and trees.

When we were done there, our lunch had settled enough that we were ready to take our place in line at Voodoo Doughnuts. After a 10-minute wait, we each selected 3 doughnuts to take home. (It was pretty difficult to pass up the $8 bucket-o-doughnuts.) In my quest to be a good wife, I picked up a Bacon Maple Bar for Jesse. I got a cinnamon raised doughnut with maple and bright pink sprinkles for immediate consumption, and a lemon/marshmallow crueller for the next day’s breakfast. Mmm. Unparalleled tastiness.


We then headed just over the river for a brief stop at Redux – where, of course, I couldn’t find a single piece of jewelry to commit to. For some reason I never purchase anything there, despite a very large and varied collection of lovely accessories and art.

For our last stop, we navigated (well, Clara navigated, I pointed her in the wrong direction) to the 23 Sandy Gallery to check out a book arts exhibit called “The Assignment.” We were pleasantly surprised to be told upon entering that we could handle each and every one of the books on display. This, in my experience at least, is a major rarity. I was excited to see a book about Rochester (specifically the race riots of 1964) in the show, as well as a flag structure book about Elvis. I’ve seen very expensive classes offered on this particular structure, but I studied it well enough at 23 Sandy that I can start experimenting on my own.

That evening, I headed back downtown with Jesse, where we got dinner at The Virginia and saw The Road at the Fox Theater. Those activities completed a lovely day for me, spent almost wholly in the midst of a city that always offers something new and novel

I also managed to watch The Life of David Gale (again) and Gran Torino over the course of the weekend. So far, I really am doing better about not being lazy (in the sense of doing things mindlessly), with the exception of sleeping in too long on the weekends. I’m really enjoying getting out more often and being a “consumer” (borrowed from Jesse) of food, sights, media, experiences.

The length of this darn entry (and the possible necessity for a second entry to cover Sunday) helps me realize that I need to blog more often – particularly over the weekends. I’m still waiting for my little, easily transportable computer to go on sale so I can finally initiate the habit of blogging while doing 30 other things!