Topless Sandals

Saw these online the other day and laughed hard at them.  Check it out, topless sandals...


Is it just me, or is this a terrible idea.  They are supposed to be guaranteed to stick for a full year, and prevent those awful flip flop tan lines (really, are they that serious).  Its not the fact that your feet are actually stuck to something, which does seem uncomfortable, who likes stickiness on you foot, but what really made me laugh is what else would stick to these bad boys.  Couldn't wear them to a beach, they'd be ruined with sand.  Couldn't wear them while you mowed the grass.  Couldn't wear them in a public bathroom, toilet paper would stick to them and NEVER come off (which is really the visual that made me laugh hardest).  Someone could literally stick their shoe to your back, like a giant post-it note, and they could say you let people walk all over you (clever right?)  These are just ridiculous.  That being said, I wonder what they are like. If they wanted to send me a free pair, I'd try them.  Just imagine how they'd be if you walked down a dusty road hahaha.  So silly.  Anway, this kinda made my day, so I thought you all should know.  When in doubt, just go topless!

A sweet deal

I know I mentioned yesterday that I hate doing laundry, but lets be real, I just hate having to clean period.  Mom ruined me though, thoroughly ruined me.  I can't live with a dirty house.  I can deal with a little messy, a stack of mail, an unmade bed, but only for a few days.  I can't deal with clothes in dirty piles or grit on the floor or sticky counters yuck!  Zac and I made a deal, each Sunday, when we both have the day off together, we will start at 10:30 and get the house sparkling clean.  We started this week and made the deal that Zac started in the guest bath and I started in the master bath and we worked toward the middle....well, kinda middle.  Zac said he would do up to the laundry room, which meant I had to do all the laundry.  I decided it was a sweet deal and agreed.  Little did I know, he is sneaky dirty.  I started with the laundry first and opened up the washing machine to find this...

Let me just say, Zac has the worst smelling feet.  Just bad, bad smelling.  He uses foot spray and has "breathable" shoes, but I just feel so sad for the boy.  Nothing we try works.  Even his socks smell so bad he won't leave them open to the air in the laundry basket cause  it will reek up his closet.  You can imagine how this smell slapped me in the face when I opened the lid on the washing machine.  He is so SNEEKY  DIRTY!  He just cracks me up.  He thought it was such a great idea and he was glad I was the one that opened the washing machine lid.  I still thought/think this is a sweet deal, stinky socks included, and think this will help us keep the house nice without any drama about who has this job or that job.  Yay compromise!

A confession

I have been doing laundry for years, and I don't know what the hell the difference is between WARM COLD and WARM COLD.  I have no idea.  If you know, please tell me.  I have the sneaking suspicion that this is some mystery that mom probably told me....but that I didn't listen to.  I want to blame this on the fact that this washing machine is new to me.  But I never really changed the temperature on my old washing machine either.  

Laundry is just not my thing.  I won't lie, I pretty much hate it.  It's not the washing/drying part that bothers me, its not even really the folding, its the putting away.  Luckily, Zac helps me out with that, so I only have my stuff to tuck away.  None the less, I feel kinda stupid on this one.  Warm cold or Warm Cold.  Seriously, ridiculous. 

Painting up a storm!

I've been trying to knock out some work for  Ethel Edith and it's been going really well.  Take a minute to head over and check out what I've done.  Also, I'd love some suggestions for what you'd all like to see, cause everyone runs outta steam and could use some inspiration. 

A quick make over

Much like the rest of my family, I love color.  On my walls, in my furniture, in throws and pillows, and sometimes, for no apparent reason, I forget that.  I bought a little cabinet at Catholic Chairities for $12 right before I left for college so......7 years ago now.  I don't remember what color it was when I bought it, but I spray painted it brown.  Brown.  Freakin brown.  When I moved for the 8th time I think, I painted the back of it so things actuallly stood out.  This is a before picture

Brown and tan....odd for me.  When I moved into the new home I decided this simply could not stand!  I finally bit the bullet, bought a can of spray paint and behold...it is a thing of purple beauty!

I love it so much more now.  Which surprises me a little because I'm not a huge purple person.  I just can't believe it took me so long to do it! Hope you love it too!

My 25th Birthday

The next day Chris, Lauren and I set off to meet Zac, Ernie, and Carrie downtown to see the Saturday Market.  Zac had stayed with Ernie after the "guys night," so I was happy to see him and get a birthday hug.  We got there later than he had, so he'd already checked out the food carts....shocking, I know.  We decided to get a gyro and then a plate from the Himalayan food cart.  Both were delcious.  This is Zac with super delcious food and a funny expression that looks like it may have tasted sour. (it didn't)

And Lauren, now full and basking in the sunshine.  Writing that made me think of mom's pugs hahaha....sorry Lauren

We wandered the market for awhile.  I bought a windcatcher and a metal sculpture of a mosquito for mom.  It was so stinkin cute.  It had a screw for a nose.  Loved it.  Anyway, I digress.  After the market we all went to the pub for a pint of microbrew, then ventured off to find our cars.  On the walk we came across a tattoo parlor and all decided it was an acceptable place to get inked.  Zac, of course, wanted to go to some stereo shop, so he left me with Chris and Lauren for the actual tattooing.  This was the two of us, waiting patiently for everything to get set up. 

  

Shortly thereafter the artist had my tattoo ready to go and called me back.  Ready, set, tattoo!

For those of you that have no tattoos, it does hurt.  Not bad, enough for me to say, "man, this does not feel good."  The best way to describe the sensation is burning.  Its not "burning" I guess, but the after-burn.  You know, like when you touch a hot stove and it causes a white blistery burn that stings and you have to run under cold water but the water is never cold enough....that sort of sensation. :)

Mostly done with the most plain tattoo ever. 

Afterward he wrapped up my tattoo.  Oddly enough they didn't seem to be prepared for foot taping, or the guy was just not good at it, cause it ended up just being a foot wrapped in masking tape.  It was goofy looking that's for sure.   Just see for yourself.

We wandered off to Powell's bookstore after that.  Its so big I didn't know where to start.  I really could have spent hours there, but my food was kinda sore and we were all tired, so we headed back to Chris' until it was time for dinner. 

Zac and Lauren, before we left for dinner.  I just love them both so much!

Zac's friends picked out a great tapas joint for dinner, but, alas, they would not take our reservation.  We showed up and they said the wait would be 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, and it was already 8.  We decided not to wait and called up a place called Andina.  The took a reservation for 6 at 8:30, so we had it made.  The food was amazing.  Really, great.  Zac and I made a deal, he would order food for the both of us, if I would order the drinks, which makes super-safe, indecisive me happy.  I ordered him a habanero-infused vodka drink and can't remember what for myself cause his was sooooo awesome.  He ordered beef heart for the appetizer, duck for me and lamb shank for himself.  Plus, everyone shared, so that made it even better.  They had this amazing tuna ceviche that Carrier ordered.  Loved it! She also got steak tartare with quails egg, also great.  Carrie went very raw that evening.  This is Carrie, Ernie, Zac and I at dinner.  I love/hate how underdressed Zac and I are.  Freakin Cubs hats.  Oh well. 

After dinner we went out to a little bar that I don't remember the name of.  It was already late, and Carrie's babysitter was only able to stay til midnightish, so we all had one drink and headed home to beds.  This was Zac at the bar.  He is such a goofball

And me and Lauren

It was a great birthday.  It really was.  There's not a whole lot that gets better than great friends and great food and someone else having all the responsibility of planning.  Plus, my birthday is special.  I share it with my mom.  And, my mom is a twin, plus, it just so happens to be my dad's sister's birthday.  Total count, 4 of us on the same day.  Kinda amazing right.  Even weirder is that my dad is born on his brother's birthday, 8 years apart.  Anyway, happy birthday to me!

Laurenclaus is coming to town!

On our second full day in Portland one of my best friends, Lauren, came to town.  She flew in and we picked her up then headed to find Zacman the "best pizza in Portland."  We were fortunate in St. Louis to have Sauce Magazine which rated all the restaurants based on type and categorized them and there were always a thousand reviews written, but not in Portland.  We finally decided on a place called Escape from New York, mainly because they sold by the slice.  It was quite delicious.  Zac was happy

as were Lauren and Chris (see....they make a cute, and quite likeable, couple)

We wandered around after that, stopped in a couple kitschy little shops and eventually decided it was time to finally visit the wilderness.  (Lauren and I decided on our trip that we should hike, visit voodoo doughnuts, and see the coast, that was the list)  We headed back to Chris' house as there was a park like literally 3 blocks away.  I asked him if there was anywhere we could hike that was mostly flat (I know, I'm ridiculous) and he came up with Lacamas Park.  We were excited, and rightly so.

Into the wild....kinda wild....

Balancing act

Lauren and I laugh so much around each other that we are often doubled over, this was the best we could pull it together to get a picture of the two of us....I had to hide my face.

The three of us.  (Notice Chris in the glasses and how he looks like a young Keanu.  This is important for later in my story. )

I just had to touch the water....just had to

Somehow we got to talking about GPS and that brought up the fact that Zac loved the GPS he used to have.  It would tell you your elevation and your speed, which was awesome cause I talked Zac into sprinting through the parking lot at our old apartment to see how fast he was.  Turns out he was 17mph fast... SUPER FAST even.  Lauren is also super fast and somehow I talked them into a race.  This was them running as fast as possible.      

The two of us in the beautiful woods. 

So you see the river, well, creek, behind us in the background, Zac just had to get in it.  He climbed across a bunch of little stones to get to a big rock in the center to take pictures since he told me "you don't even know what you're looking at!" (which made Lauren double over laughing)  The whole 15 minutes Zac was taking pictures in the creek Lauren and I stood on the bridge watching and Chris stood on the trail, about 30 yards away with his arms folded across his chest staring.  Just staring at who knows what.  We laughed and when Zac came back up from the creek, we all joked about Chris being stuck in the Matrix.  The best part is that when Chris joined us on bridge, he leaned up against the railing and watched the water as Zac says, "hard to believe this is all just 1's and 0's" to which Chris, unaware of the Matrix comments simply replied "yeah."  Lauren and I laughed until I almost cried.  It was priceless.  

After about two hours Zac got a call from Ernie about the aforementioned "guys night."   We went back to Chris' and started a good deal of snacking while we waited for Ernie to come get Zac, then those two galavanted off.  

Chris, Lauren and I ate and ate and ate more.  Then we watched a move and I fell asleep between Chris and Lauren on his bed at like 10:30.  I'm a real party animal I tell ya.  Anyway, here is a picture.  This is Chris, prefoodfest, with his customary cup of tea.  I swear, this is what he looks like 95% of the time, tea in hand. (and a Keanu face)

The next day was my birthday so get excited! 

Donuts and malls

Zac and I got into Portland late, like midnight late, so that day was pretty well shot.  The next morning we had no real plan, which is how we like to roll on vacation.  Chris suggested lunch from the downtown food carts which we, of course, agreed to.  Shortly we were off.

We hit up the thai food cart and while Zac waited, he had to have a hotdog appetizer.  Zac's hollow leg always kicks in on vacation.  The best part was that it wasn't any regular hotdog, that simply wouldn't do.  It came from this stand.

He got a reindeer sausage.  It really was the Beez Neez.  After lunch we tooled around a bit.  Went to a record shop where I found Meatloaf Bat out of Hell for $5.  (I know, but I like it and it reminds me of my childhood.)  We ran up to the local mall to see if they carried any Pumas in size 13 wide.  They didn't, so we settled for stopping by a Portland icon to make us happy.  Ladies and gents (if any gents actually read my blog) I present to you VooDoo doughnuts.

  

We had them make a mixed box called the VooDoo dozen.  This is what we left with

We walked back to Chris' car and waited to pass them around.  On the way over the bridge, we ran into these two skipping across, literally, skipping the entire thing.

Once we were inside his car Zac tore into the donuts.  He order one for himself in addition to the dozen, the maple bacon log.  Basically a maple log donut, with strips of bacon. I must admit, it was delicious.  We also had ones covered with cocoa puffs, with vanilla frosting dusted with tang, jelly filled, it goes on and on.  We, of course, had to try every donut.  We would each take a bite and then debate which was best.  By the end of the ride home, this is how things looked.

My "ohhhh that was good" face

I had to laugh though because we took the box home to Chris' house and left it on the counter.  I jokingly told his parents to feel free  to eat what they wanted, assuming because we literally ate off every donut they would be deterred.  I was wrong.  I laughed real hard when I saw that his dad had cut the botttoms off of all the donuts and just eaten the cake part.  Too funny.  By the next morning, this was all that remained.  

That evening we went out to dinner with Zac's friends Carrie and Ernie.  It was delicious.  Afterward we went back to Chris' house and hit the hay.   It was getting late and microbrew does that to a person.  The next morning I woke up excited because Lauren was coming to town!  More about that later.

Portland

I have a dear friend named Chris that was in chiropractic school with me.  His dad was the VP of academic affairs, but had a falling out with the school president and decided to make a switch.  That switch came in the form of a move to Oregon to start work at another chiro school.  Because of the tension there (and the fact that he was living with them), Chris decided to move with his parents to Portland.  He moved halfway through school, bu tnot all of the credits were exactly the same/in the right order, so he graduated later than I did.  I promised him I would come visit, especially since he flew in for my wedding, and I thought this was the perfect time as he only has clinic duties and graduated this past weekend.

I have another dear friend named Lauren.  She moved away during high school but we've always kept in touch.  I've visited her in Florida 2 or 3 times and she moved to St. Louis for 4 months while I was there for chiro school.  While she lived in STL, she met Chris.  I've been trying to convince them just to love each other and get married, but it hasn't happened so far......damn.  Anyway, when Chris moved Lauren and I decided we would explore Portland together on a visit to see Chris.  Currently Lauren is living in Palo Alto CA working at Stanford, so when I picked the dates, she booked a flight too.  We were pumped.

The best part of all of this is that Zac has two great friends in Portland too.  Carrie and Ernie LOVE Zac.  He used to stay at their house all the time in college.  Ernie just thinks Zac is the greatest.  (So much so that he looked Zac right in the eye the first night we had dinner together and proclaimed "You and me, tomorrow night, guys night."  Sometimes you just need some alone time with another man. :)  Its cute, they hug, but back to the story......

The week we picked just happened to be the week leading up to my turning 25.  I can't believe it really, 25.  (It just looks so much older than 24.)  Zac and I left on the 7th and came back on the 12th.  It already feels like forever ago.  We stayed the first few days with Chris as Carrie and Ernie were working, then Zac went to their house and I stayed with Lauren and Chris, until Lauren left.  This is starting to get long, so I will just throw up a couple pictures and then write some more about it all tomorrow.

Zac and I waiting to board our flight in St. Louis

Zacman's serious, as in seriously, I don't want to take a picture now, face. 

Chris and I