PORTLAND!

I got to go stay with Stacy!! I seriously looked forward to this weekend for weeks. =) I was a little bit nervous about FINDING her place but she gives absolutely awesome directions and I had no trouble whatsoever (same for the return trip). When we stepped onto her floor it smelled SO good because she was making curry for dinner! I had never had it before and I'm making it for my family tomorrow.

After dinner we walked several blocks up the street to a place called Bartini. They had a menu of over 100 martinis and it was amazing! It was a tiny, dark little place with soft lighting and we decided that we would give it a good review. Here's Stacy sipping on my Peach Bliss while holding her Mint Mojitotini.

Cheers!
Friday night we went to bed at a somewhat decent time and then talked for a good hour, which we haven't done in YEARS. We got up in the morning and took the street car down to the Pearl and walked and walked and walked and took pictures and then more pictures. (I think we found out it was 88 that day but it sure seemed hotter!)

This is in front of a cool park we went to with billions of kids playing in the water/fountain.

I took this picture because I think Shoefly is just a really cool name for a shoe store.

We took lots of pictures of this old loading dock because it was so artsy! As we walked around I seriously kept thinking, "Wow, Jonathan and Carrie would LOVE to take pictures here!"


Another old building we admired


And what's a trip to downtown Portland without a visit to Powell's?


I always end up in the children's section and bought 2 books for Jordan and one for myself (not in the children's section).

We stopped at a secondhand store and I bought a super cute skirt and Stacy could NOT resist trying on these boots. Madre would have been proud.

Walking through Old Town

And through China Town!

Saturday Market! This guy was really good at playing the buckets. I could have sat and listened to him for quite some time (if there had been shade).

These bicycle cart things were all over. This guy in particular reminded me of a friend of ours. Even the hat.



This group was really cool! They were singing "Walking on Broken Glass" when we walked up and they had choreographed a whole dance to go along with it. The girl in the white skirt was the lead singer and the girl on the far right in the purple was beatboxing.

Then we walked in to the beer garden area and these people were playing. I could have sat and listened to them for a long time. Heck, I would have spent all DAY at the Saturday Market if I could have!



I was hoping to see a person pretending to be a statue but we never did. Instead, we took a picture with this lovely pirate.

By that point we were hungry and HOT so we stopped at Mio Gelato and had DELICIOUS gelato for lunch. (When I got home the vote for dinner was banana splits.)

Yum!
There were so many times that I laughed out loud at random things I saw. This was one of them.
I can't wait to go again! I had such a great time with Stacy and I was thrilled to finally get to walk around downtown Portland and look at everything. There are so many sights and smells and sounds... I would love to spend several days there and I still wouldn't see everything I wanted to.

The big night

It was a smashing success! We had a great time. Yes, I got drunk. No, I did not throw up. Yes, I remember the whole thing. And the funniest part to me was that at the very first place we went, I didn't even get CARDED! It probably had something to do with the fact that I was with three guys in their 30's, but still. I thoroughly enjoyed telling one person at work about it because she's been teasing me mercilessly for over a week about how young I am and that I have such a baby face and could pass for 14 (gee, thanks). The second place also didn't card me, until we were about to leave and one of the guys said something about it being my 21st. THEN she asked to see my ID.

This was my first drink, a peach sangria something-or-other. Quite tasty.

Steve made good on his promise that he would teach me to play pool. We should have won 3 out of 4 games but I'm still new at it so we did not. =) The plan is to play some more this Friday when I go out with friends (more pictures to follow) and hopefully after a few more games I'll really start to get the hang of it. I really liked it.

Me and my sweetheart. =)

I went to bed at 4am... But it was totally worth it. =) We really did have a good time. I'm totally looking forward to Friday, mostly because Diana is going to be there! I'm super excited to see her because I haven't since December. And I'm anxious to go to some places here in town that I've been hearing about for years.

This morning I got to work and my supervisor asked if I had a few minutes. I followed her to my office and she said she wanted to do my 6-month review. I guess I didn't really need one because they don't do a 6-month with transfers, only new hires, but they decided to do one anyway because I had asked about it. Basically she spent 15 minutes raving about what a great job I do and how much they appreciate my enthusiasm and initiative and customer service. She wrote in the comment section of the HR copy that I'm a great person for people to see right when they walk in the door, that if I don't know the answer I find someone who does, that I've improved in areas when I've been asked and that I'm a fantastic addition to the department. Totally made my day! (Especially since I was dead tired and unmotivated when I walked in the door this morning!)

We also talked about education because I had mentioned going back to school (which I do want to do, I just SERIOUSLY cannot afford it) and she got me information about going to school through a program/school that a lot of people in the department have gone through. Basically I could get a degree for what I already do, but after that is done I can take a test through AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) to become licensed, which would really help me in getting higher level jobs in the future. And I like the field I'm in, so I wouldn't mind that. PLUS, Samaritan pays for 75% of it (which is a big deal because this college is in California (online) and that means out-of-state tuition which is some ridiculous price, like $193 per freaking credit). Anyway, I have some stuff to read up on that and then I'll probably look into starting that. It probably wouldn't be until fall though because I have to come up with the initial whatever which is like $800. *sigh*

And I'm totally discouraged about the apartment hunting right now, but that's nothing new. Haha. Mostly I'm just really looking forward to Friday and this weekend.

Oh, and I did get a weekly babysitting job, which is super exciting. A family in our church with two little kids. It's only one afternoon for like 2 hours but hey. =)

And one last thing: It is WEIRD to be 21.