Category Archives: Portland

Almost Summer

It’s the last week of school which means Summer is officially here. And, while I am a little frightened by the juggling that comes with camp schedules, daily swimming lessons and my day job, I am looking forward to a Summer filled with long days outside. The kids are finally old enough to play without constant supervision. Thomas’ pass time of choice is Wall Ball while Samuel enjoys running around making his own fun with the occasional hit of the baseball and water gun fight mixed in.

Recently, the evenings have been warm and dry so we’ve developed an after dinner ritual where I water the garden while the kids and Kei enjoy their various outdoor activities for an hour or so. Then it’s time for shower and a story before we try and convince the boys that it really is time for bed despite the fact that sun won’t go down for another couple of hours. I’m extremely grateful that we invested in some blackout blinds when we renovated upstairs. One of the best decisions we ever made.

Following are a few photos that I took during a recent family walk around the neighborhood.

These dogs wait all day for a kind passer-by to throw their icky tennis ball. Good thing my kids are kind passers-by.

Always a good time to stop for some impromptu hoop-shooting.

I’ve lost count of the number of photos I have taken with the kids walking along this wall. It’s an essential end to any neighborhood stroll.

Feeling grateful for where we live right now. There’s nothing quite Portland in the Summertime.

(Second) Best. Karaoke. Ever.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Karaoke has to be one of my favorite pass times.

My first Karaoke experience was in Japan with a group of Postal Workers. It was at the end of my “Postmaster for the day” celebration, which was one of those crazy only-in-Japan things that I now look back on and wonder if it really happened or if it was a figment of my imagination. I shared the honor with Ultraman and was required to sign a few fake postal documents. I’m pretty sure it happened…

My point is that this very first Karaoke experience set me up to enjoy Karaoke the RIGHT way – without inhibition and with as much enthusiasm as you can manage. Also, with Sake.

It was the single most fun Karaoke experience of my life.

A couple of weeks ago, I followed up with arguably my second most fun Karaoke night ever. I don’t know exactly what made it so great. It could have been the great mix of friends, a diverse song list or the the just-enough alcohol consumption. I’m pretty sure it was a mix of all three. All I know is that it was the perfect recipe for a night of fun, laughter and some killer dance moves.

On to the photographs. Excuse the funky lighting and out-of-focus shots – although I much prefer the photos of me that are out of focus. Thanks to Suzi for picking up the camera.

And if you make it to the end, you might just find our eclectic playlist.

Apologizing in advance for the next one – sorry guys, but it’s awesome.

The next one’s blurry, but I love it!

I also love the photos that show of some of the complicated lyrics.

And that we’re not afraid to go a little gangsta.

Please don’t judge the playlist, although I think everyone can agree that we ended on a high note. 🙂

PLAYLIST

Title Artist
Things We Do For Love, The 10CC
Son Of A Preacher Man Springfield, Dusty
Willkommen Cabaret
Just Give Me A Reason Pink feat Nate Ruess
Don’t Let Me Down Beatles , The
All I Wanna Do Crow, Sheryl
Good Morning Starshine Hair, The Musical
Cream Prince
Amish Paradise (Gangsta’s Paradise) Yankovic, ‘Weird Al’
Faith Michael, George
You Might Think Cars, The
We Are Golden Mika
Rumour Has It Adele
Seven Nation Army White Stripes, The
I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ Scissor Sisters
F#ck You Cee Lo Green
What I Like About You Romantics, The
We Belong Benatar, Pat
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head Minogue, Kylie
I’m Your Baby Tonight Houston, Whitney
Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone Pride, Charley
Bad Bad Leroy Brown Croce, Jim
Groove Is In The Heart Dee-Lite
Play That Funky Music Wild Cherry
Me, Myself And I De La Soul
Party Rock Anthem LMFAO Feat. Lauren Bennett and Goonrock
I’m Yours Mraz, Jason
I Knew You Were Trouble Swift, Taylor
I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing Aerosmith
Stayin’ Alive Bee Gees, The
Your Woman White Town
You Oughta Know Morissette, Alanis
Creep Radiohead
Time Of The Season Zombies, The
Empire State Of Mind Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
Criminal Apple, Fiona
Everybody Wants You Squier, Billy
Harper Valley P.T.A. Riley, Jeannie C.
All Night Long (All Night) Richie, Lionel
Sweet Child O’ Mine Guns N’ Roses
Raise Your Glass Pink
Don’t Stop Me Now Queen
Metro, The Berlin
Home Sweet Home Motley Crue
Sex (I’m A…) Berlin
Nothin’ But A Good Time Poison
Nuthin’ But A G Thang Dr. Dre
Bullet With Butterfly Wings Smashing Pumpkins
Moonage Daydream Bowie, David
Get The Party Started Pink
Mama I’m Coming Home Osbourne, Ozzy
Total Eclipse Of The Heart Tyler, Bonnie
Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye feat Kimbra
Love Shack B-52’s, The
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter Pearl Jam
What It Takes Aerosmith
I Want Your Sex Michael, George

Catch Up Wednesday: Karaoke, TEDx Inspiration and Everything in Between

Wow – it seems it’s been a week since my last post. You can blame my absence on the following:

  • Good weather (editing photos is tough when the sun is shining)
  • Game of Thrones
  • More Game of Thrones
  • Three whole seasons of Game of Thrones (and one big O.M.G at the almost end!)
  • Work
  • End of school year insanity (Field day, Pajama Day and don’t even get me started on teacher gifts, ugh!)
  • Gardening and house organizing.
  • And did I mention work? Drowning.

So, I’m taking a brief respite while waiting on some project feedback to share some photo teases and a little inspiration.

The Boys

We’ve been spending a lot of time outside, playing with soccer balls, wall balls and baseballs and planting vegetables, flowers and grass. We’ve also enjoying family movie night – Peter Pan and The Fantastic Mr. Fox are the most recent. I need to take more photos of these guys. Thomas and Samuel are growing up very quickly. I know this because it seems like they grew out of every pair of shoes and item of clothing within the past couple of months.

More photos coming soon…

The Girls

I promised these photos over a week ago. They’re still coming together but here’s a tease for the ladies who joined me on, arguably, THE. BEST. EVER. karaoke night. The photos are a little “artsy” (dark and blurry with weird disco lighting), but I love them.

More photos coming soon…

The Inspiration

My two favorite talks from TEDx Portland are now available on YouTube.

First up is a very high energy and inspirational presentation by Graphic Designer and illustrator Kate Bingaman Burt. If you need a 15 minute pick-me-up then I highly recommend this one.

As an immigrant, the next talk from Ben Huh hit very close to home. It might make you look at the immigration debate in a different light.

I’ll be back to post more photos soon but for now, back to work.

Mother’s Day and a Childhood Flashback: The Sprinkler

Another relaxing Mothers’ Day has come and gone. Breakfast cooked by hubby, the last soccer match of the season, time to read a book while watching the kids have a water pistol fight (in the rain), and then dinner, also courtesy of Kei. The boys bought me some beautiful flowers, Thomas made me some notecards and Samuel gave me a card that said simply “I love you Mum. You love me.” He likes to get to the point.

Just before bed, Kei videotaped the boys telling him about why I am such a great Mum. Thomas shared a bunch of reasons, most of them focused on food and laundry, while Samuel was a little less forthcoming. After a couple of minutes I decided to leave the room to see if Samuel would be more willing to share without me watching. I’m excited to watch the full video later.

A few minutes after they went upstairs to go to bed, they came back down again. Just as I was about to get frustrated that bedtime was taking way too long, I was informed that they came down so that Thomas could read me a book called “My Mom is Great“. We’ve read this book together a number of times in the past, but this is the first time that Thomas has ever read it to me. I’m still amazed that he has gone from reading almost nothing at the beginning of the school year, to reading entire books by himself.

I’m so happy to be their Mum, even though they drive me nuts sometimes and make my life way busier than I could have ever imagined. Some of my favorite moments are when I eavesdrop on them giggling together from another room or when they’re excited to share something they learned at school or when they just like to cuddle up with me on the couch. These times almost make me forget about the fighting and talking back and the laundry (so much laundry). But there’s no ups without downs. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, Parenthood.

Grandma: “You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster. Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!… I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.”

Speaking of thrills, we’ve had more than our fair share of warm, sunny May days in Portland lately. So warm, in fact, that I brought out the sprinkler which is something I remember doing when I was a child. Of course now that Melbourne is almost always on water restrictions, I’m not sure that Aussie children are allowed to experience the thrill of the sprinkler on a hot day. I’ll have to make sure my 1/2 Aussie children fully appreciate that running under the sprinkler is a very special benefit that comes from living in one of the rainiest cities in America.

I’m sure the entire neighborhood was witness to the squeals and giggles coming from our front yard on this particular sunny day. Who needs water slides and swimming pools when a $20 sprinkler will do the trick?

 

Ten Favorites From TEDx

All of my TEDx Photos are now posted on the official TEDx Portland Flickr feed. However, I realize that not everyone has the time to browse through nearly 200 photos so I’ve narrowed it down to 10 of my favorites here on the blog.

Kate Bingaman-Burt was an incredible speaker. I was inspired by the fact that she didn’t discover her love for illustration until she was well into her twenties and now it’s her passion and her job. She was genuine and hilarious.

Ben Huh spoke on the topic of immigration – a subject that is very close to my heart. I shed the first of many TEDx tears during this moving presentation.

Not the greatest photo in the world but it’s Tom Brokaw. 🙂

Capturing photos of people laughing is my favorite.

As I mentioned, you can check out the rest of my photos on Flickr. And that’s a wrap for TEDx PDX 2013.

Wordless Wednesday: Two from TEDx

Up to my eyeballs editing photos from the TEDx event last week. They’ll all eventually be uploaded to the TEDx Flickr page and I’ll share some here, but here’s a quick sneak peek.

Sunny Monday

Happy Monday!

I trying to get back to reality after a crazy, busy, fun weekend which included:

  • A visit from Uncle Ben (aka my brother). He leaves at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning.
  • A full day taking photos at TEDxPDX. I love that event and am incredibly excited to edit my photos when I have a few minutes later in the week. My focus was on the audience, between sessions so I know I captured a lot of people having fun which is my favorite thing to photograph.
  • A candid photo of Tom Brokaw. Oh yes I did.
  • Breakfast at Milo’s on NE Broadway – it’s been too long between visits.
  • Samuel kicking two amazing goals at soccer. And, thank you Portland weather gods for making the day so sunny and warm so I could enjoy it even more. (Sadly I missed Thomas’ game due to TEDx but I hear he also kicked a couple of goals).
  • Some time to sit outside in the sunshine and sip wine while I read photography books – one of my favorite things to do as the weather gets warmer.
  • About 5 loads of laundry – not a highlight exactly, but I’m pretty proud of myself for getting it done amidst everything else.

And now I start a shortened workweek. I decided to give myself the gift of a couple of days off for my birthday on Thursday and Friday, so I need to get moving to cram 5 days of work into 3.

Here’s the forecast for Thursday and Friday.

2013 May 2 and 3 Forecast

Sweet!

And, since every post needs a photo or two, I’ll share a few images of the tree outside the school that, sadly, shed it’s final blossoms today. While my eyes miss this sight in the morning, my nose is grateful for the allergy relief.

 

 

 

Profound Musings of a Four-Year-Old

I’m coming down off a busy weekend filled with soccer games, yard work and a successful quest to drag my family along to the Wooden Shoe Tulip festival (photos coming soon). I am also heading to San Francisco tomorrow for a few days which means I am caught in this special place between not getting enough done on the weekend and making sure I’m prepared for my trip. I like to call it “panic”.

So, while I would love to start your Monday morning off with some beautifully inspiring rainbows of tulips, I simply don’t have time. So, instead, I’ll flash back a couple of weeks to a special moment in the pre-k classroom where I received a little education of my own.

Samuel’s classmate to me: “I have a dog and it died. I had two kitties and one of them died. I had a fish and it died. The dog threw up and that’s why he died. My cat got bitten by a coyote. My fish died because we fed him too much.”

Samuel: “That’s part of life.”

Conversations with my four-year-old are often the highlight of my day.

Happy Monday!

A Sing-a-Long with Storm Large, Pink Martini and the Von Trapps: Aka, Just Another Sunny Sunday in Portland

I mentioned last week that I spent a sunny Sunday afternoon in Portland’s Pioneer Square for a free concert/sing-a-long. Well, I’m finally getting around to posting a few pictures.

First let me mention that this particular Sunday was the type of day that Portland likes to tease us with in April. It happens just once or twice during the month- the sun comes out, clouds disappear and temperatures are more Summer than Spring. People start packing their coats away for the season and bring out the sandals…. then two days later they bring out their coats when the rain comes back and we are, once again, plunged into darkness.

Still, for two days we are reminded why we own a pair of sunglasses, and it’s fantastic!

Here’s proof that blue skies do, in fact, exist in Portland.

The concert itself was a lot of fun, although it turned out to be more of a giant Karaoke party than a concert. Not that I don’t love Karaoke (you know I do), but I wish we’d heard a little more from Pink Martini and Storm Large.

I also wish the woman lacking any sense of personal space had not sat down right in front of me. Good thing the sunny weather contributed to my sunny disposition.

The almost 90 year old clarinetist (is that a word?) was great. You can see him sitting on the left. A few of the Von Trapp grandchildren are on the right. Their presence was a little random but I enjoyed it when they sang the yodeling song from the Sound of Music. It made me wonder, though, how tired they must get singing of those songs. And are they allowed to sing anything else or are they contractually obligated from birth?

I think the highlight for me was a passionate rendition of “I will Survive” near the end of the program. Nothing like a women’s anthem to get the crowd excited.

I was secretly hoping for this song (not safe for children or work…unless your boss is REALLY OK with the “V” word), but that may have pushed us way too far in to Portlandia territory.

Thanks for a great afternoon ladies.

Over Scheduled

Even before we started our family, I knew that I was not going to be that mother who scheduled an endless number of activities for her kids. The thought of spending the weekend driving children from one location to another would make me break out in hives (ok, maybe just a mild sweat).

So it came as quite the surprise when I realized that we currently have an activity scheduled on every single day of the week. Soccer practice on Monday and Wednesday. Karate on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Swimming and Soccer on Saturday. Soccer on Sunday. It’s insane.

I’m already looking at the activities we can sacrifice for a little family (and homework) time. Are two soccer practices a week really necessary for a group of seven year olds? I’m going to say no… and then start counting down the eight or so weeks until Summer vacation when we may find ourselves with a little more breathing room.