House Sounds -- A Brief Follow up

So it turns out that perhaps it wasn't a ghost or our imagination (although, yes it could be animal sounds)...however given that we've just seen a bulletin in our local paper about break ins in the surrounding area have spiked for some reason, it leaves me pause. I was talking to VB (lives nearby) about an alarm system. One of our other mutual friends who lives not far from us just put one in. We're thinking about it too. Especially if, at some point, we have kids. I think once we have kids, we won't think twice about doing it. We'll just do it.

Going to the Chapel...

HC and MS got married this weekend. It started out with ES and myself (just happened to be that we picked today 3 months ago to schedule a follow up --- worked out well!) both getting haircuts. HC came in as I was just getting ready to leave looking great and excited for the soon to be ceremony. ES and I were headed off to pick up the flowers (a surprise since HC didn't plan on having a bouquet) and the cake.

ES and I heading to the Church.

The cake was amazing. There's a place in town that is legendary for its cakes. All you have to do is mention it's a Cake By...and everyone is willing forgo the potential extra calories for a day in order to have a slice. As it turns out, ES put together a drawing for the Bakery that HC and MS wanted incorporated onto the cake -- a skier taking off from a diving/starting block into the pool where a swimmer was waiting in the pool. The bakery did a good job of translating the drawing to the cake (most of it was done in chocolate).


It was a really nice ceremony, where they were surrounded by family and friends. HC and MS looked so happy as they said there vows. AS and I stood up with HC. The pastor gave a nice sermon and we got to visit with everyone after the ceremony. ES took pictures during the event, so most of the photos are on the newlyweds camera. I have only a few here to post....The newlyweds treated the bridal party and their families to dinner at Cedars on Saturday night. We wished them well on their honeymoon and they headed off.

The Happy Couple -- Congrats!

House Sounds

The other night ES and I awoke to an odd thump followed by a bump, bump, bump. My first thought (having lived for too many years in the "big" city) was that someone was trying to or had already made it into the house. The cat freaked out and ran under the bed. Perhaps this is why a dog would be a good thing...but I digress...ES checked the downstairs and I looked around upstairs. We didn't find anything out of order. We checked the garage the next morning and didn't see anything. Although, to be fair, we now have so much stuff out in the garage, it's our next organization project (sigh..again). This included the Christmas tree which we have been unsuccessful at pulling apart (the pre-lit variety) so it can fit back in its box. For now, it's just propped up on the BBQ. ES even checked outside. Nothing. Still a mystery. Perhaps one day we'll find out what fell when we tackle the unseen hidden (i.e. buried) stuff out in the garage....

Food, Shopping, and Spa Treatments = Girls Weekend!

I’ve been a bit remiss on writing lately. I was out of town for a week in Texas and came back only to come down with a nasty cold, my second of the year. In between Texas and the cold came an all girls weekend down in Portland, which can be summed up as: food, spa, and shopping.

We went to celebrate HC’s engagement. Seven of us piled into 2 cars and armed with fresh Starbucks, 2 GPS units, and 2 walkie talkies (who knew HC knew CB lingo?), we made our way down to Portland.

AS and HC as we make our way down to Portland.

We arrived down in Tigard and checked into the Embassy Suites.

The Hotel

Once we dumped off our bags, we met up again downstairs to head out for dinner. We decided to go to the local outdoor mall to grab some dinner. Given there was 7 of us, I figured it would take awhile to get a table on a Friday night, but it took just about as long to park….

Waiting for Dinner....

We ate and toasted our friend and soon to be bride at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was a yummy dinner and one we can’t get where we live. Dinner at CPK

By the time we ate dinner and got back to the hotel, it was pretty late so after a little bit of visiting, we decided to call it a night so that we could get up bright and early for some serious shopping.

AS and JT at Breakfast.

We piled back into the car and headed up into the city. We parked and walked over to get some coffee (while the free breakfast was good, the coffee was pretty bad). As we sipped our coffee, we made our way over to the Max line to ride it over to Pioneer Square.



The girls waiting for the train.


We all crowded in for a little photo.

Joke was on us. The Max went about 3 blocks and stopped due to construction. There was a shuttle available, but we decided to walk the rest of the way. As it was, the last “stop” was right across from a Nordstrom Rack, which we took as a sign to stop. After a little shopping (and not finding any shoes that were the “ones”), we walked up to Nordstrom’s. HC had a final item she needed to pick up before the wedding. After a little looking and some help from one of the sales associates, mission accomplished. Our next stop was the Nordstrom Café, which was very good.

Enjoying lunch at the Café.

We had just enough time after lunch to get in a little more shopping before taking HC to her big surprise. A little shoe shopping later (doesn’t one of the photos have a bit too many – or perhaps too few – legs?) and success.


HC, RB decided on a similar pair of Ruby slippers. LN also bought a pair as well.


We wandered over to Saks and Williams Sonoma. AS got a little makeover at Saks. They gave us some water and free perfume samples. We couldn't browse too long though...we needed to make to over the Spa for our final surprise of the weekend....


AS post make-over and RB


Alas….it was now time for our surprise…The Spa. We each had a treatment, be it mani, pedi, haircut or a massage. We relaxed and enjoyed the next few hours joking around and being pampered.


LS had a connection to a restaurant out in Beaverton, so we ate at the Hall City Grill. It was amazing. The food was fantastic. I think we all agreed the desserts were the best part. It was a long day, capped by really amazing food.

Dinner at the Hall City Grill

We were a little pokey on Sunday, and got up to have breakfast. We made 1 stop before heading back up the Gorge. We had a little after breakfast treat at Saint Cupcake. It was delightful. We all enjoyed a little sweet treat.





It was a really fun weekend and we all decided to try and get together once a year to have another girls weekend adventure.