Category Archives: P365

Project 365

38

Last week I continued my now-annual tradition of taking a couple of days of vacation around my birthday. The goal for these two days was simple – no agenda, just time to decompress and do whatever I felt like in the moment.

It. Was. Awesome.

Here’s a brief recap in photos… It appears I ate a lot.

  • Thursday: Coffee and scone (cheese and bacon!) at Salt and Straw.
  • Window shopping on NW 23rd … without the kids. Lush, Urban Outfitters, World Market… (Dog coat hangers. Why is this necessary in life?)
  • Photo Book browsing at Powells and one more addition to the collection.
  • Pedicure. I considered going with yellow or green but settled for predictable red.
  • New year, new profile pic. (I need a haircut)
  • Friday: Mocha with Marshmallows at an adorable new (for me) Happy Sparrow Cafe.
  • Yoga… Namaste.
  • Lunch al fresco on a perfect Portland day
  • Delicious bento at Samurai Blue
  • Saturday: Dinner at http://www.aviarypdx.com/with Kei. He had the Pigs ear and I had the goat curry. Tasted about a thousand times better than it sounded. I also recommend the chicken skin salad.
  • Ended the weekend with my boys at the Farmers market.

Of course there was more. Lots of reading, enjoying the sunshine, soccer and a Cinco De Mayo party with Kei’s golf buddies.  Things I didn’t do include laundry, much cooking and, surprisingly, pulling out the camera. It was refreshing to take a break and relieve myself of the pressure to document everything apart from a few quick pics on the iphone.

The down side is that I felt incredibly unprepared for Monday morning – although that may have also had something to do with a few too many celebratory Cinco De Mayo tequilas.

Bring on 39!

Today’s Photos Are Blurry But I Love It

I drove to school this morning to the soundtrack of giggles from the back seat. I can’t remember what they were laughing about – probably something to do with poop – but it made for a nice start to my day. The sunshine and spring flowers didn’t hurt either.

These photos are very blurry (I couldn’t move fast enough), but they provide an excellent visual accompaniment to my giggly morning.

View From the Top: A Hike Around Powell Butte

Today has been a strange one to say the least. Half of my family is sick at home while I’m navigating work craziness. It seems the only person who is even close to normal right now is Samuel and that’s saying something.

As for the weekend… well we had a great Australia Day on Saturday and it went a little downhill from there, complete with some flooding in the basement thanks to a blocked drain. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed but just enough to push a good weekend into not-so-good territory.

So, while I work on uploading photos from our eat-our-way-through-Australia-day, I’ll cheer myself up by sharing some more photos from Powell Butte. Yes, it was weeks ago and, yes, I’ve already posted my photos of Mt Hood from this location, but it’s always a good idea to post photos of a sunny winter adventure when you need a pick-me-up.

It’s also a reminder that blue skies always return eventually.

Not the best photo of Thomas but I like it because he resembles Bigfoot.

Note to self: remove the camera bag before taking a shadow self-portrait.

 

 

Today’s Photo of Two Boys Getting Along

Back to work today after a relaxing long weekend that included swimming lessons, a day at the outlet mall where I didn’t buy anything at all for myself (we took some of Kei’s international colleagues) and a nice, relaxing MLK day with my boys.

I captured this photo while we were out for dinner on Sunday night at a very nice Portland restaurant. It was the type of place where we prepped the boys beforehand about there being no yelling, running around or otherwise drawing attention to themselves. And they both behaved beautifully, even after one of our phones ran out of battery and they were forced to share.

I asked them afterward what they thought about the restaurant. Samuel said the view of the city was the best part. Thomas liked that the servers dressed in suits and ties. When you live in Portland, that’s something you don’t see every day.

A Familiar Sight

It would be interesting to go through all of my photos and see just how many times I have photographed Mt Hood – and from how many different viewpoints. It would be interesting… and very time consuming so likely not going to happen.

This view of Mt Hood captured from Powell Butte on a sunny Portland Winter’s day.