haveapieceofcheese.com

For the last few weeks, Christina and I have been exchanging lists of what we will NOT be doing when she visits.  Perhaps it’s because the trip was planned so far in advance and the thoughts of what we would be doing were too painful.  Perhaps it’s because they world is our oyster and we didn’t know what we would be doing!  Now, adding to that list of adventures not being had next week: Crater Lake!  While be wonderful, it’s quite the trek from Portland and might not fit into our jam-packed week of fun.  So, here are a few pictures from Crater Lake and a delightful riverboat spotted on the drive down.  All in all, a wonderful kickoff to summer.

Wizard's Island! (no joke)

Looks like MO, doesn't it?!

Anyways, now on to things we WILL BE DOING:

• Anything Christina wants!!!
• The Portland Timbers are playing the Chicago Fire on Sunday.  My future roomies are all from the Chicago area.  One of them also has a sister in town and we’re all going to a game!  Whoooooooo! (I’ve never been, but I hear they’re great!)
• Going to the coast and checking out McMenamins’ Grand Lodge!
• Crepes on the coast!
• Mt. Hood hikes!
• Driving through the Columbia River Gorge (pictured below) to reach Sasquatch Music festival!!!

ta-da!

Aside from this post being an exuberant thanks for all of the birthday love, it’s title is also an homage to my former nemesis/our family dog: Beau Koomar.

Last Monday, I received the largest piece of mail I have ever seen!

Inside of this box of wonder:

More boxes of wonder!!

I particularly loved the woven grass one.  I resisted to temptation to tear for one whole day and on Tuesday morning, I went KARAZY!!!

So thank you once again for the earrings, the gift cards, the tea set, and the lovely assortment of teas!! Thank you Christina for the neato new camera bag.  Thank you for thinking of me!  Looking forward to another exciting year!

Love from Portland!

I’m not sure how much the IFC and HAPOC audiences overlap, but for you Portlandia fans, I’ve got some exciting updates!

• Someone called me Carrie Brownstein the other day!
• I was walking through her neighborhood when it happened.
• I signed up to volunteer at the Feminist Community Center and get this- it is the building/exact set-up used for filming the Feminist Bookstore scenes on the show!! No joke! It’s exactly like that! Except with a lot of cool activities!

Here it is!

The Center is also called In Other Words and is a super neat place to meet a lot of very interesting people of all walks of life.  They offer yoga classes, book clubs (!!!), skills/hobby groups, dance classes, and brunches! It’s a really nice sense of community that I’m excited to become a part of.  Something about doing anger management therapies with abusive men has led me to seek out a more lady-friendly circle of friends. Anyhoo… I imagine this is the sort of liberal, hippie nonsense my father feared I would become entangled in.  And now it’s coming true!

Spring League is here!! This means frisbee twice a week! Yay! As of right now, the Violet Femmes (team purple) is doing great and having fun.  Also, I was invited to join a team that is predominantly Mizzou alums for the summer season!  Loving the Midwestern connection out here!

Very happy to be finished with finals and looking forward to a week of spring cleaning and home-cooked meals.  Yay!