Off my Game. by violet

I’ve been feeling a bit off my game lately. Work has been busy and personal life has been busy. There are bills to pay, errands to run, laundry to do and bathrooms to clean but all I can muster when I get home from work is to sit on the couch.

I do a few things to help myself feel better when things aren’t exactly going my way.

- Eat. Clearly not very healthy attitude toward food but a chocolate covered macaroon from Whole Foods makes the world seem like a less horrible place. That and queso from Taco del Mar.

Not Taco del Mar but you get the point..

- Me time. I got home for a business trip to Portland around 5:00 last night. I probably should have logged back in and answered e-mails and cleaned out everything that had piled up while I was on the road but instead I sat in my favorite chair and read until J. got home two hours later. It was the best thing I could have done. No phone, no e-mail, no TV just me escaping into someone else’s life for awhile.

- Clear the calendar. J. and I tend to be planners. We fill our weekends with adventures, like ski weekends, BBQs, dinners, trips to Vashon, etc. All very fun things but it lends to the feeling of always being on the go. So this weekend, we are scheduling a little down time. A night in with a movie. Saturday to run errands. Sunday a run and time around the house to clean and organize.

Out and about

- Exercise. It’s almost guaranteed that if I’m feeling off I have not been exercising. Yup. Haven’t got the heart pumping since my six miles with Orange and Lacy last Saturday. Back on track tonight (thanks EC) and feeling really good about it.

Good to be back

- Write a list. This helps set my mind at ease about what I have to do. I don’t have to remember anything, it’s all written down. And it’s so gratifying to check things off.

I heart my Moleskin

- Wine. Enough said. 

What about you? What do you do when you feel like your life is a little bit out of your control?

Violet in Saucony ProGrid Ride 2 in white/black/coral

if I had 1 million dollars...

Do you remember that song?  By Barenaked Ladies back in the day? 

These are my favorite lyrics from the song...

If I had a 1,000,000 dollars (If I had a 1,000,000 dollars)
I'd buy you an exotic pet (like a llama or an emu)

Anywho, if I did have a 1 million dollars, besides the immediate things listed below,

- buy our house & our rentals outright
- have the husband start his own buisness
- start up an amimal shelter

I'd like to go out and purchase these items:

Loeffler Randall 'honey' peep toe bootie

Marc Jacobs ruffled leaf print voile top

Miriam Haskell multi stone statement cuff

Rebecca Minkoff 'love letter' suede bag

and maybe...

a teacup pig to hang out in the animal shleter or on my lap

what would you do if you won 1 million dollars?

* thanks to barneys, nordstrom & geoff robinson photography

PDX Love

I’m in Portland for the next few days for work. And I do really dig this town. Here’s just  a few of the many reasons why:


- University of Oregon pride is everywhere. I feel like I’m among friends.

- Mass transit – Portland does it right. Seattle should take notes

- Grid-like layout. For someone who gets lost all the time, Portland is great. It’s total grid. I still managed to get lost but the grid thing helps.

- Fun neighborhoods like The Pearl, Northeast, Hawthorne, NW 23rd.

- The vast amounts of great wines and beers to choose from.

- The traffic signs say Speed instead of Speed Limit which, actually, makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

- Rip City! This town loves their Blazers.

Violet, in BCBGeneration Holmy

ooh la-la oscars. by orange

How I love the Oscars each year.  Friends gather, good food is served and there is plenty of dazzle and glitz on the TV.  While taking in the Oscars this year, the fashion themes seemed to be:

- off the shoulder
- metallics
- sweetheart necklines
- red

Here are some of my favorites showing off the styles:

metallic

one shoulder

sweetheart neckline

red

And my favorite dress of the night by far:

Violet's favorite dress of the night:

My favorite "taking a risk" dress:

My least favorite of the night:

And this lady just annoyed me during the pre-show.  What was with her non-moving right arm and strange posture.

all pictures from abc

A Much Belated Birthday Dinner. by violet

Party of my birthday present to J. was a nice dinner out at a restaurant of his choosing. But one thing kind of lead to another - basketball games, other parties, a bout with a nasty cold, pretty much life happened and before you knew it November turned into late February and still not birthday dinner.

Since we were taking Friday off to drive up to Mt Hood anyway, J. suggested we go out to Barrio on Thursday night to celebrate his late birthday. Done.

I was surprised by J.’s choice since it falls firmly into the category of what J. would call “fancy Mexican.” I should explain, J. prefers his Mexican food from a truck on the side of the road. He tends to find places like Barrio too fussy. This is a point of contention for me because I love Mexican of all varieties and sometimes, I like my burrito to come with white linens, sue me.

But both of us had heard good things about Barrio and wanted to give it a shot.

Barrio provided a great atmosphere; almost every flat surface is covered in tea lights. I would highly recommend for a romantic date night. And, much like its sister Purple, the door, chairs and tables are all hefty.

Fireplace behind our table

Then menu stole my heart a little bit – a folded up map of Seattle, handy for tourists looking for the best way to Pike’s Place Market from there.

The menu

The menu selection had me drooling and then this place stole another piece of my heart by offering queso fundito as well. The queso while delicious used actual cheese instead of the chemical altered stuff that I wax poetically about so often. This made it tasty but very hard to eat, especially as it cooled back into a more cheese like state.

Yum, queso

From the bar, I ordered La Paloma reposado tequila, grapefruit soda, lime, agave nectar and sea salt. Delicious.

J. ordered to pork tacos and I the Dungeness crab chile relleno. J.’s pork had great spice and the taco platter came with full assortment of extras. My chile relleno was amazing; the butternut squash was a great combination with the crab and chile. The cream sauce was rich and delicious without drowning out the other flavors.

Pork tacos

Yummers

And while I hate to say it, the service was a huge draw back. Now I’ve done some complaining about service on this blog and before you start thinking that I’m as bad as Statler and Waldorf I should say this, I know being a server is a tough job. I read Waiter Rant, had plenty of friends who were servers and even dabbled in food service myself. It’s not an easy thing to do. But it doesn’t take 20 minutes to run a credit card, especially when her other table got their bill and paid in that same span. Frustrating.

This lady was in the back making tortillas - lurved it

Overall, I like the food, atmosphere and drinks at Barrio but I wouldn’t head back there if I was in a rush to get anywhere.

Violet, in Seychelles Dare pump - grey satin pumps with metallic snake skin

Shrapling in Oregon

I grew up a skier. My mom would take us to Tahoe twice a year – once in the summer and once in the winter. I learned how to ski on the beautiful vistas of the Sierras. Around 16, I decided it was a good idea to try snowboarding. It seemed really cool and I thought I would give it a shot. I was awful - spending all day on your ass isn’t any fun. So a few winters ago I went back to skiing. And haven’t looked back.

This past weekend, a small crew of us hit the slopes that Oregon’s Mt Hood had to offer.

Mt. Hood in all its glory

Six of us drove down from Seattle and our beloved friends from Eugene drove up. We wasted no time, and hit the mountain on Friday night when we arrived. We tried to go to Ski Bowl but it turned out the lifts were closed. We headed over to Meadows instead. It wasn’t a great night for skiing, slushy rain typically of the Northwest, but we had a good time teaching Stacy to ski.

Meadows at night

There was one hiccup, we got separated during our last run and Orange lost a ski somewhere along the way and couldn’t get it back on. As the mountain was shutting down, we sent ski patrol after her to make sure she didn’t have to spend the night up there. She got her ski back on right as they found her.

Orange, looking like the bad ass ski bunny she is

We feasted on Philly cheese steaks as our other guests arrived from Seattle. The next morning we hit the mountain, early but not too early, and checked out Timberline.

Stacy, Orange, Kenz and Eric at Timberline

I was impressed with Timberline – it’s high up on Mt. Hood with gorgeous views that reminded me of Tahoe. The runs were long and not crowded - no waiting in most of the lift lines, even on a gorgeous Saturday.

J. at the top of the hill

We skied most of the day but J. and I were feeling pretty tired from our last night skiing.

Me and J. - beat but happy

So we called it quits just after 4 and waited to meet the others in the legendary Timberline Lodge, you may recognize it from a little movie called The Shining.

Here's Johnny!

I have to tell you, there are few things better than a well earned beer after a long day skiing.

Mt. Hood IPA - Ah-mazing

Except maybe this hot chocolate.

As our group trickled in from the slopes, we realized that two of our least experience skiers were running a little late. Their significant others were worried that they had taken a route that was closed because it wasn’t lit for night skiing. So once again we made friends with Ski Patrol. But as it turned out, they were just getting one last run on the day – guess these girls have got the bug.

View of the summit from the lodge

There were beers and shots to celebrate. Most of us were beat and decided to head back to the cabin and get dinner started, two brave souls, Ray and Bryan shut down the mountain.

Bryan, Eric and J. celebrating a long day on the mountain

Ray ready to go back out there

The next day we attempted to go tubing but were once again thwarted by the low snow levels. So it was off to Mt. Hood Brewery to watch part of the US v Canada gold medal game hockey game. Then we said goodbye to a fraction of the group who had to go back to work the next day. The rest of us headed back to the mountain for one last evening skiing trip at Meadows. We managed to get Stacy down a few blue runs without breaking any bones. It was a beautiful night for skiing and while my legs were tired it was nice to have the mountain all to ourselves. And we managed not to call ski patrol.

Orange and Stacy

It was sad to pack up the car the next day and return the rented skis.

There are few things that I love more than being at the top of the mountain peering out at the peaks, pushing off and hearing the snow scrape against my skis. Thanks to all for the lovely and relaxing weekend.

Violet in Keen snow boots

fist pump! by orange

We are a family that loves theme parties - so when the husband's birthday came around this year it made perfect sense to throw a themed fete.  In the past we've held jorts parties (jean shorts), double denim (canadian tuxedo) parties and christmas vacation holiday parties.  This time - Jersey Shore! 

It was a hoot.  Check it out...

The Evite...

Hey, Juice-Heads, Guidos and Guidettes! Here's the situation: Dan is turning 29! There's really only one way to celebrate this and that's with a Jersey Shore Themed Party. So, get your abs ready and your tan on. Be ready to party, get out there, get filthy, creepy and weird. It's certain to be gorilla central.

Here's what you need to know:

1. A guidette is somebody who knows how to club it up, takes really good care of themselves, has pretty hair, cakes on makeup, has tanned skin, wears the hottest heals, pretty much they know how to own it and rock it.

2. Ladies, you're number one mission is to go out and find the hottest guido and take him home.

3. Guys with the blow-outs and the fake tans, and guys that wear lip-gloss and makeup, those aren't guidos, those are retards.

4. Gym, Tan, Laundry.

5. If you want to look somewhat like The Situation, which is gonna be pretty hard, you need to get that protein in your diet.


And of course - pictures!  Courtesy of violet's Joey-D.

the guidettes, fist pump!

ray the guido

J-Snook (extensions and all) & violet (Pookie)

elvis showed up.

some ping pong

some girl on girl fights.

the birthday boy...D-Train

Pookie & Joey-D

some jumping.

J-Snook & Ray

pigs in a blanket - yum.

and the night is over.