I didn’t take a ton of photos on this trip – but here’s a few snaps for posterity.

A quick meal at the airport Gordon Biersch before our flight to Portland – He was so cute and cozy in his jammies! We arrived in Portland around 11 after an annoying delay at SFO, and when we got to Christopher’s house it was after midnight. We headed to bed to get some rest. Marco never sleeps in our room; from our first day home at the hospital he’s been in his own crib. Anyway, we were all sharing a guest room. Marco was in a pack’n'play, but he would wake up and see us as soon as dawn broke (the blinds weren’t so good at blocking early morning light). Ugh!

The first morning was spent having a delicious breakfast at Original Hotcake’s, which had excellent pancakes and french toast. Christopher and I fed quarters into the jukebox and picked a good mix of our favorites to serenade all of us while we ate.

Next up, a musical journey to Music Millenium! It was a beautiful day – sunny and not too chilly.

…aka the best record store I’ve ever been to!

Such a ham, he kept saying “Cheese!” so we’d take his picture!

The cool ceiling inside the record store

I bought a bunch of vinyls here, and was so impressed by how friendly and knowledgeable the staff was. No snobbery, just…I guess I’d call ‘em ‘music appreciators’, or something. Anyway, it was awesome.

Our next stop was Powell’s, or, as I like to call it, Mecca.

I grabbed a delicious cappuccino from the coffee shop inside the book store (I needed a MAP to get around this store! It was so flipping cool!), then walked around with a shopping basket, skipping, bouncing, and otherwise enjoying myself.

Marco was so excited…we spent 45 minutes in the children’s section, reading books (and replacing Marco’s discards, ha ha). Oh, and yes, he did wear his Curious George ‘Book Worm’ tee shirt! Most appropriate.

I was even a super Portland tourist and bought Colin Meloy’s book!

To close out our Portland day, we headed to Voodoo Donuts to enjoy a sugar rush.

OMG soo good!

Back at Christopher’s house, we enjoyed delicious homemade pesto and watched some old Steve Martin movies.

The next day, we got up early (thanks to Marco), and watched episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine. After a quick breakfast, we drove up to Multnomah Falls (in typical Oregon fashion, the weather was cold and rainy). Marco was impressed by the water.

I was impressed by the ginormous cookie purchased at the snack bar…

Well, Marco was interested in that too, lol

We drove all around the falls, and listened to The Decemberists (Christopher became a fan! I did right by you, Portland).

A quick stop to see the view at Vista House

To finish our day, we stopped at Blockbuster and picked up ‘Young Adult’ and ’50/50′ (review of those to come later). Christopher and Debbie made a hodgepodge of snacks for dinner, including homemade hummus and homemade vegetarian refried beans.

Our final morning, we tried to sleep in, but failed. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but it was also nice to come home – and get sleep!

Keep Portland weird, people!

M-o-u-s-eeeeee!

It’s Monday. Sigh. Instead of dwelling on the negative, let’s think on happy things! For example: Disneyland! Returning to work last week was tough after such a fun vacation. Marco was tall enough to go on a lot of rides, and his excitement at meeting Winnie the Pooh bear was infectious.

Some highlights of our trip:

I can’t wait to go back because I miss the Churros.

We’ve got our own ‘outdoor theatre’, and we’re ready for premieres.

Thanks to Dad for donating the projector screen, and to Target for their stock of vinyl sheets for those with bed-wetting tendencies; they make perfect movie screens! LOL

For our first feature, we screened “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”

Since then, we’ve also watched the “Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest”, two (NEW!) episodes of BBC’s ‘Poirot’, “The Princess Bride”, and “Easy A”. The latter was ok; I think Emma Stone is completely adorable, but the movie was kind of mehhh.

Now that we’ve got our hammock, it’s even more cozy than I imagined. We get all wrapped up in blankets, pop the corn and munch. We MIGHT have also purchased a tub of Red Vines and a 2 lb bag of Sour Patch Kids. Maybe.

So…who wants to come over for movie night?

I know I’ve been SO behind on posts! I apologize!

Last week, the three of us took a ‘stay-cation’, and tried to relax. Marco’s daycare was closed for ‘teacher in-service’ and I was forced to use my vacation days to stay home…so we figured we’d make the best of it! We took a day trip to Bodega Bay (THE BIRDS!!!) on Thursday. My wonderful friend Micaela came up to chill with us, and we had a lot of fun at the beach – getting sunburns (Marco escaped our fate – he was covered in baby sunscreen!), eating salt-water taffy, and playing with Marco.

That night, we feasted on tacos from our favorite taqueria La Taquiza, caught up on The Daily Show, and watched “The Princess Bride” outside (details to be posted later).

Friday, after a leisurely walk to Starbucks (slowly, because our legs were sunburned), the four of us decided to head to Healdsburg for the afternoon. It’s a quaint town, but coming from the Napa Valley made it less interesting, I think.  It was kind of a cross between Saint Helena and Calistoga. There was a great antique store, where I found a 1930′s typewriter in good condition, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend money on something I’d probably never actually use. It would’ve been cool, though, on my desk in the library! Micaela had to mosey home after the trip, but she left us with hugs and Snickerdoodle cookies…so we were ok for a bit.

Saturday, unfortunately, my wallet was lost/stolen while Tim, Marco, and I were at Whole Foods. Needless to say, the day grew sour quite quickly. Luckily, I had my cards cancelled before you could sing ‘The Mariner’s Revenge’ twice over.

We spent Sunday indoors with the air conditioning on, only venturing out for coffee and a swim in our kiddie pool.

Marco LOVES splashing around in the water…and he looks so cute in his swim diaper.

On the 4th, we ended up in Berkeley to see the fireworks with the Gomers. We made a wonderful meal of ribs (none for me, thanks), grilled veggie mix (mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, red onions), grilled corn, and salad.  After our delicious dinner, the six of us went to the Berkeley Marina for the show. Marco thought the fireworks were soo cool! He watched the entire show with his mouth open, cuddled in a blanket on our laps.  Even though it was late, he was quite the trooper. There was a 10 minute period of fussiness, but once the show started he was mesmerized.

Wow…after reliving the weekend, I’m exhausted again.

Day 2 post has less pictures due to an unfortunate incident, whereupon the three of us ended up staring at the cobblestone floor in The Forum at my camera (and then a rude, drunk man walked by and loudly said “Ohhhh that sucks!” Yeah, we know).  Sad panda, but at least it wasn’t my DSLR! But you can view more pics and read some more deets HERE.

We totally ate at a buffet in the Wynn. The food was alright, but the desserts were mehhh. It was still fun to make 3 trips to fill up a plate, even if most of it wasn’t eaten. I think I like the idea more than I like the actual buffet, but I’d probably still do it again. Heh heh

The last two pics are of Micaela and I trying to figure out something clever to do in front of the Versace store. We’d been quoting back and forth from that terrible, horrible, cultish movie Showgirls (which we’ve both seen far too many times), so a trip to The Forum was in order. In the movie, the main character, Nomi, embarrasses herself  by telling two different people she bought her dress at ‘Versayse’, when she means to say ‘Ver-sachee’. LOLZ!

Since I had only slept 4am-10am on Monday morning, and then from 3:30am-9am Tuesday morning, I came back from this trip exhausted. But, I was so excited to see Marco! I had been crushed when Tim arrived at the airport to pick us up, and the carseat was empty.  When we arrived at his daycare to pick him up, he gave me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen! He’d also painted a picture for me, and I promptly hung it up in my library. It’s from his blue period:

P.S. Many exciting changes coming… Tim and I came up with some more cool stuff for my site!! I can’t wait to show you.

Here’s pictures from the first day/night in Vegas:

Yes, there’s a strong possibility that I was tipsy in those last few photos… LOL! I may or may not have taken that last picture of myself in the bathroom. Yep.

The past few days I’ve had a hankering to go to Las Vegas, especially after reading about THIS and THIS. I’ve only ever been once, and I was 12 at the time – therefore, while neat, it didn’t hold NEARLY as much fun as it will if I go NOW…

Tim is less than interested, so I am working on rounding up my ladies to do a trip in January. I looked around on Priceline and found some amazing deals for the Venetian hotel!

We can see this:

(weheartit)

(weheartit)

Enjoy some of these:

(weheartit)

And maybe see this:

I figure my wardrobe can look something like this (because sequins and feathers are practically mandatory):

Sooo…how ’bout it?

xoxo

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Valentine/President’s holiday! Now for the recap of my weekend.

On Friday night we drove into San Francisco and checked into the hotel. We stayed at the Inn at the Opera, which is literally steps to the Opera house. Tim and I were both very hungry, so we walked to The Crepe House on Gough Street. Mmmm! I had a Greek salad, and Tim ordered a chorizo scramble. For dessert, I had a crepe with strawberries, brown sugar, and whipped cream. Tim decided on a crepe with bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla ice cream. It was so delicious, and cheap! On the way back to the hotel, we ended up stopping at Citizen Cake and grabbing a few AWESOME treats: a ginger-molasses cookie and a lemon sandwich cookie.

Saturday morning we woke up early and had a quick (free) breakfast in the hotel. The Cal Academy of Sciences opened at 9:30am, and we got there a few minutes before opening, so we could avoid some huge crowds. Tim and I have been looking forward to visiting for a long time! My favorite part of the visit was the Planetarium show, but the rainforest exhibit was pretty neat too.

We had a delicious lunch in the museum cafeteria (no lie!) of cheese quesadillas, salad and pork tacos (Tim’s choice). Afterwards, we finished up the visit and headed out into Golden Gate Park.  Tim and I both love the Japanese Tea Gardens, but we’d never visited together. It was such a beautiful day (no fog!), and perfect weather for walking around.

After a lovely cup of Jasmine tea and some fortune cookies at the tea house, Tim wanted to walk around the Botanical Garden.  We’re starting to figure out a plan for our backyard, and it gave us a few good ideas. Tim is especially keen on the idea of bamboo all around the fenceline; easier than building a taller fence, prettier than plain bushes, and it grows fairly quickly.

After 5 hours of walking around, I was feeling tired so we went back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. I’d made reservations at Cafe Altano; it was within walking distance, had good reviews on Yelp and the menu looked tasty. The pricing is very reasonable; after wine (one glass for me, two for Tim), salads, entrees, dessert AND tip, we only spent $80. I would definitely recommend it!  We stopped in again at Citizen Cake (the cookies were just too good!) and this time we got a ginger sandwich cookie, a vanilla cupcake and their version of a Payday, which is Tim’s favorite candy bar. Once again, everything was delicious!

I didn’t get a very good night’s sleep, because my darn belly refused to sit comfortably (even with pillows) so the next morning we stayed in bed until 9.  We had brunch reservations at Absinthe Brasserie at 1:30pm, so I just had some fruit and an english muffin for breakfast. We checked out at noon, and walked towards Hayes Street. With time to kill, Tim thought we should stop and grab some coffee at Arlequin. They had a lovely garden to sit in and relax, so we took advantage of the sunshine. 

Absinthe was PACKED! I was so glad that we made reservations. Since we were at a place called Absinthe, Tim decided to try the actual liquor. It smelled like crap liquorice. He seemed to like it! I ordered a yummy lemonade made with lemon juice, ginger, cranberry juice and sparkling water. For my meal, I had a fantastic grilled vegetable sandwich with tons of cheese, and Tim had biscuits, gravy and grits (such a guy platter!). Of course, we had to order the french fries too.

Dessert was an oddity: Kabosu Lime mousse. The mousse was rolled in an elderflower gelee and seated on a green tea cake. It was unlike anything I’ve had before, but it tasted good.  I would love to go back to Absinthe the next time we’re in the city.

It was such an amazing weekend with Tim, and a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I was happy to get home though, and sleep in my own comfy bed. And, of course, I missed my babies!

Here’s a gallery of pictures from our adventures:

Click on the image to see the full size.

xoxoxoxoxo