Oregon Trail, Part 1

A few weeks ago, my friend Jenna and I headed cross country to visit the great state of Oregon. She for a work conference, and me, for vacation! I've always wanted to visit Oregon (we were specifically in Portland) and couldn't turn down the opportunity to tag along! These people are serious about their food, their beer, and their art, and I loved them for it! Did you know the Portland was almost named Boston? But a coin flip decided another fate!

Coincidentally, I was at Walden Pond the day before I left for Portland !

On a walking tour of the city I learned Portland businesses have to spend 1% of their budget supporting local artists

reproduction Globe Theatre

Cheesin' at Oregon's oldest microbrewery. My pint of Stumptown Tart was amazing!

PORTLANDIA
(she's the second largest of her kind. . .can you guess the first?)



try the Statue of Liberty


As previously stated, Portlandians are serious about their food, and I was lucky enough to get to sample all different kinds while there. You'll see some of that tomorrow!

April 30, 2013

I had such a special birthday this year thanks to friends and family (. . .and the random people on the phone at work that I announced it to)! From morning surprises, to an evening filled with chocolate and gal pals, it was truly a lovely day!

A knock on the bath room door while I blew my hair dry revealed some sweet pals with a cake and some birthday love! My favorite: yellow cake with chocolate frosting :)

A box o' goodies arrived from my dear, lovely friend Aimee

Sassy Bonnie and her crazy science experiment drink and me being "Happy Birthday-ed" 

Best Chocolate Martini EVER

So many sweet friends in one place, and so many more made my special day a delight!

Spring Baby

Twenty Six years ago at precisely 11:26 PM, I made my way into this world. I'm just barely an April baby, and so happy I made it. April is such a lovely birthday month, and one which I share with 3 cousins, 2 aunts, and countless friends. 

Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family and I have so many sweet memories, thanks mostly to my mom who worked so hard to make us feel so loved on our day.

When I think about my birthday, though, there is one in particular that comes to mind, and always encompasses that birthday feeling. My 6th birthday.

That day was a Friday and I was going to spend the weekend with my grandmother for my birthday. I chose to wear my favorite dress. A blue flowered number with frills, bows, and layers of polka dotted ruffles peaking through. The day was warm and bright, and we had recess outside. My little limbs could barely still themselves with the excitement of my special day! 

I imagine that night at my grandma's we had salmon pie, one of my childhood favorites. We talked like grown ups do and I got to take out my grandma's porcelain doll she's had since childhood. Us grand kids had a room upstairs, but the heater made scary noises and  I always begged to sleep with grandma in her bed, instead. Safe with her beside me, I didn't wake until the morning, pulled from sleep by the loud insistent chirping of a spring bird. 

It is that moment I think of every April 30th, when I wake and remember it's my birthday. I remember that chatter of cheerful birds returned after a winter away, as loud and bossy as the sun streaming through the windows. I remember the thrill of a sleepover and waking snuggled next to my grandmother and a day filled with whatever adventures we had planned. It is a morning of sunny spring promise and the best kind of birthday feeling!

Awakening

Boston has been in the national news lately for the sad events surrounding the marathon. I have been on the emotional roller coaster with everyone and shaken by the reminder that we are not invincible, but I have never been in more in love with my city.

I think it is a small mercy that these horrific days occurred just as Spring was throwing off the last cold hand of Winter. She, a whirlwind of energy, life, and fragrant blooms waiting to grace our scarred streets with her beauty.

These last weekends, for me, have been filled with visits from family, sweet time with dear friends, picnics in the park, and even a little tan! I've also apparently eaten an inordinate amount of pizza during these adventures based on the above photos. . . 

A trip to the country and my old home in western Massachusetts this weekend (ahem, complete with some Antonio's pizza) left me feeling refreshed and ready for the week. As we drove along the rural roads, windows down and hands and faces in the clean air, I wondered how anything could be better than the awakening of Spring. 

A Great Day

"Make it a great day or not. The choice is yours."

Every day, from the first day of 6th grade all the way through our last day in 8th grade, my middle school classmates and I would hear those words coming from the morning announcer as we languished in home room. We would snort, roll our eyes, snap our gum and recite it silently along with her.  

"We knowwww" someone would inevitable moan, leaning back hard in their chair, pen sweeping in meaningless doodles across a notebook.

It was a joke. Nothing our adolescent minds could capture with any sincerity.

But, this morning, as I awoke with a tension headache already building, thinking of another week at my job filled with too much work and no help, that phrase popped into my head. 

As a child, I thought our teachers were silly and irrelevant. I thought they couldn't come up with anything better to say. But I think what they were saying is something very important, that I forget too often. We can spend a lot of time each day blaming other people for why our lives aren't going the way we want, but that won't change a thing. Life is hard and always changing and never the way we picture it. I think what our morning announcer was telling us was to take responsibility for ourselves. We don’t get to choose the world we live in, but we do get to choose the way we react to it. We choose the lens through which we will view our day, and we must make that choice every, single day.

With that command echoing in my head, I didn't linger in bed despite my anxiety about the day. Instead I got up and spent time reading my Bible and storing up peace for a long day. I rejoiced in an open seat on the T for my 45 minute ride in. I counted bursting Spring buds and red-breasted robins as I walked in the Public Gardens during my lunch hour.

My circumstances didn't change, but my perspective did.  Despite the piles of work, the lack of support and the potential to be a no good, horrible, very bad day. . .today was a great day because I decided to make it one.

He is Risen!

What a busy (and fun) weekend this was! Easter weekend is one of my favorites of the Spring. We get to celebrate our risen savior who died so that we may live. And this year, Easter also happened to fall just 3 days after my younger sister turned 21. There was much joy in getting to celebrate both these special moments with my dear family and friends.

On Saturday, I joined some of my family for a combo birthday/Easter brunch, and on Sunday spent the day worshiping in church and then having friends over for an Easter Feast! I roasted a chicken and whipped up mimosas while everyone pitched in and brought delicious side dishes. It was a beautiful weekend, and I'm so thankful for God's provision of everyone I spent time with this weekend. 

Oh, and I also had the opportunity to make an Easter themed cake for dessert on Sunday. My favorite!

                            

Spring Cleaning

I'm writing this post from my sick bed.

How's that for dramatic effect?

About 3 week ago I was struck with a nasty virus that seemed to linger forever. For 4 glorious days last week, I thought I was over the worst. Last Thursday however, I started back up with a few sniffles and moved on to bone racking chills and feeling like death warmed over yesterday. This leg seemed to be a fast albeit brutal round 2, though, and I think I'm on the mend.

To combat these stuffy nosed blues, I've been started to think about spring cleaning. Bright, spring decorations are all up at my house and I'm getting that antsy urge take stock of what's been lying around my apartment all winter long unused and unnecessary.

When I was young, I had a hard time throwing things away. I think mostly owing to the pack rat tendencies of my father and grandmother. (unless it came to stuff us kids left lying on the stairs, my dad never had much trouble chucking those things indiscriminately!), but also I was so afraid to get rid of something that I might want again someday. The older I get, however, the more I recognize that all of the things that we fill our lives with are never that important. And if the only reason I remember something exists is because I pull it out from under bed storage and dust it off every few years, I think it's safe to assume I'm not going to miss it all that much now or ever. Not to mention, there's something about the fresh spring wind that just makes me want to feel light. To open up space in my world for the promise of this new year so recently begun.  To head into the warmer days and longer nights without all the baggage of a long winter.

I have some lofty plans for what I'll organize and clean out this year, but I'm going to try to start small, lest I get a little to crazy. First order of business? A good, old fashioned, shredding party with my ever growing stacks of papers, receipts, and documents that are now old enough to make their way out of my file box. I can't wait!

Are you planning out your spring cleaning? Or will you attack it one breezy day on impulse? Or not at all?