a rare weekend at home

Hello everyone!

I had a very nice relaxing weekend at home. I haven’t had a weekend in Portland in a month and I’m outta town every weekend until mid-August so I was really looking forward to being home! I left work early Friday afternoon to get my teeth cleaned. My teeth are good and that’s always welcome news. I did some shopping at Trader Joes and stopped by Mt Tabor Park and then went to see Elaine. She was swamped with work so I went home. I watched Garden State then read outside in my sunny backyard. I picked all the ripe raspberries and ate them all. Camille, my roommate, has left on a three week road trip so it’s nice to have the house (and all the berries!) to myself. Later I watched Y Tu Mama Tambien before going to bed early.

I woke up Saturday and watched Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic and Transamerica. I worked out in my garden for a while pulling weeds and re-potting some plants. I was craving some Oregon strawberries which have a short little season of juicy, sweet perfection. I drove to Uncle Paul’s Produce Market on Hawthorne and bought a couple pints. At Mt Tabor Park I laid in the sun and listened to music on my headphones and ate almost a whole pint of strawberries. Yummm! I read my book for a while then stopped by Elaine & Gina’s to get my pictures off the camera. I went home to cook up some late lunch for myself and chatted on the phone with Nandita for awhile. At five I met up with Alex at Dot’s for a few drinks. It was really great to see him and I’ll be sad if he leaves Portland due to his job search.

I left Dot’s to meet up with everyone at Elaine & Gina’s house as we were carpooling to a going-away party on the west side of Portland. Our friend Bryan, a great frisbee golfer, is moving with his wife and their two kids to Issaquah, Washington. There house in Multnomah Village sold quickly. Given it’s crazy sunset views towards the Coast Range I could see why. I had a great time talking with friends and hovering over the veggie tray and the always phenomenal Hilbert hummus. I caught a ride home with Erin and Terry around midnight as I was a sleepy girl.

Sunday morning I watched Big Fish and ate some breakfast before calling my dad in Wisconsin. I talked to my mom for a bit and my dad. I really hate being so far away from them. It really is a long ways from Oregon to Wisconsin. I made myself some lunch then rode my bike over to Elaine & Gina’s house. Elaine recently bought a new ping pong table and the guys were setting up in the basement. I’m so excited for the return of ping pong! I played just one game but I beat Elaine so that’s always satisfying. She is working on her forearm though since she and Gina joined a ping pong league! I helped the girls do some prep work for dinner as their parents were coming over for dinner. Pork chops with acorn squash and apples along with a huge salad and steamed broccoli. It was a delicious meal and was topped off with strawberry shortcake for dessert. Oh so full! I hung out for a while after dinner and we played some cards before I had to take off. I rode my bike home then drove downtown to Berbati’s Pan where I met up with Jess and her boyfriend, Mike. We saw Tapes n’ Tapes, a great band from Minneapolis. The show was lots of fun and the band sounded great. It was a late Sunday night for me though as I got home right around 1 am. Sleep came quickly.

So that was my weekend. I leave this Friday afternoon to go camping on the northeast side of Mt St Helens with Jess and her brother. I’m really looking forward to doing some good hikes up there and hope that the mountain won’t be hiding in the clouds the whole time we’re up there. Burn clouds burn!

Please let me know how you are and what you’ve been up to!

xoxoxo,
carolyn