Note to Self

It's probably best to follow the directions to a tee
when using a breadmaker for the first time!

Daddy-O

We've had a whirlwind of visitors since we moved to Portland - I guess our family really misses us! The latest to check out our digs was Josh's dad, Bill. His saga started when he left Milwaukee on the Amtrak, headed for Portland over a 2-day ride. He says the train wasn't all he had hoped for - sleeping in the sitting position, not enough time to explore the various cities where they stopped along the way, and (my favorite story) college-aged kids sitting in the "premier viewing seats" while watching movies on their laptops! - but it was an adventure to say the least. We didn't do too many touristy things with Bill, like we did with the "Moms", but he did get to see some of the city. Highlights included browsing the most awesome book store in the world (Powell's), a couple trips down Hawthorne Blvd. to shop and explore, a mandatory visit to the Saturday Market, a fun hike at the Audubon Center in the rain, his first Voodoo donut experience, a father-son trip to Astoria (in bad, bad weather), and even his own private self-made walking tour of our neighborhoods where Josh was left wondering "is Dad ever coming home?"... funny how the child becomes the parent as you get older! We also had fun trying out our fireplace for the first time*, sitting around listening to music & playing cards, and grilling Bill on some of his favorite childhood memories. Oh, and he even watched 50 First Dates with me! Bill was a real trooper, adjusting to whatever the day threw at us as we were off interviewing and doing volunteer work. He had just happened to come during a time when we needed to get serious about joining the working stiffs of Stumptown.

A big thanks to Dad-In-Law for all the snacks (unhealthy of course!) and fun presents he spoiled us with while here! An extra shout out for our "new" used 10 speeds that he had fixed up for us at a local bike shop... these Portland hills are no match for us now!

*The first night of the fireplace was so fun, we decided to try it again! This time around, I must have closed the flue instead of opening it because all of the sudden smoke was pouring out of the fireplace, quickly filling the house with that wonderful campfire smell. The good news is... our smoke detectors work... the bad news, they are really, really loud! When I asked Josh to open the front door to let some of the smoke out (while I'm head first in the fire, burning my eyeballs, trying to rectify the situation mind you), he must have heard, "Josh, save yourself and the dog too!" Josh, Bill and Cobain run to safety on our front porch while I whisk around the house, disabling the alarms (read: pulling alarms off the walls cuz the damn things won't turn off!), and comforting Hurley who is glued to my side. What's the saying... oh yeah, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"... guess that means I'm superwoman now!

For pictures of our time together, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jjkraujalis&target=ALBUM&id=5551785384570979569&authkey=Gv1sRgCKu8ua2LtY3wxAE&feat=email

Tofurky & TV Trays

This year Josh & I spent Thanksgiving solo. We started our morning by doing the dishes... ugh! It was a necessary evil so that we'd have pots & pans & plates for later in the day. We had a quick bowl of oatmeal too, to start the day right, then headed up to our TV room to watch some football. After all, it was only 10:30 am. While the Lions were coughing up the game in the second half, we started our turkey day menu planning/meal preparation. For the first time, we purchased a Tofurky and were very excited to try it! It actually takes 1 hour, 15 minutes to cook, so in a way, we really felt we were having a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Josh made the "sage basting sauce" for the Tofurky, I chopped up the carrots & sweet potato & we wrapped the whole mess up in tin foil and stuck it in the oven. It started to smell good right away, a good sign! Over the next hour, we divided our time between cooking & football watching. By half-time of the Saints/Cowboys game, we were ready to eat! Our menu included: a super yummy Tofurky, mashed potatoes a la Josh, gravy, heat & serve dinner rolls and, to get our dose of daily greens, a small Romaine salad. For dessert we had a store bought apple pie. Everything was delicious, especially the Tofurky. We'll definitely make one for next year too!

The rest of our night consisted of TV - watching old movies and generally vegging out, which was the plan from the beginning, so all was well! Although our holiday was spent without family or friends, we had a nice time. At one point, I felt like newlyweds in a new home cooking our first turkey. Aw, now that's sweet!

For more pictures of our fun day, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jjkraujalis&target=ALBUM&id=5544006921500429137&authkey=Gv1sRgCImUrtStjJG6Qw&feat=email

Breakfast of champions

My new favorite breakfast comes from Guapo Comics & Coffee.... yep, it's actually a comic book store that also serves coffee drinks & sandwiches!
Only in Portland :)

Peanut butter banana waffle sandwich
Pretty self explanatory, but here's the recipe:
2 waffles toasted
smear peanut butter on top of one waffle
add sliced banana
top with other waffle and there you have it

www.guapocomicsandbooks.com

A New Start

Our friend Laura calls me out on not keeping up with my blog... and our friend Jodie had mentioned it awhile ago too, so I figured I better get back on the wagon here. Especially since we're so far away from our friends & family now, and we won't be chatting with everyone on a weekly basis.

Josh & I have spent our first 21 days in beautiful Portland! Arrived here on the 4th of July.... Josh keeps mentioning it was "our independence" that day :) Spent our first week at a motel, which got very old after a short while. Not to mention expensive after Cobain tore a hole in the carpeting which we had to pay for! The next week was in our new rental house sans furniture. It's an old Dutch Colonial place with 2 floors & a basement. I didn't realize how much I missed the kind of house I grew up in until I was back in one. This place is quirky and charming and nostalgic all at the same time. We love it! More so now that we have our furniture. Sleeping on an air mattress for 2 weeks wasn't much fun as was sitting in camping chairs & eating dinner on a card table. But we survived and are now in the process of unpacking all of those boxes (fun, fun).

We've gone out a couple of times since we've been here. To a 4th of July block party the night we landed in town, to a nickel arcade/cheap movie theatre to see Date Night (so funny!), to lunch with a friend visiting from AZ, to the nursery to get my gardening supplies (more on the garden later), to lots of yard sales to get some new furniture & all those odds you just can't resist buying because it's $1, to some very cool dog parks (one of which is on the Willamette River), to a concert that Josh has been dying to see, and off to a fun but quick camping trip back in Astoria for a night (since the place was booked on our original coast drive on the way in to Portland. It's been a mix of little adventures and some quiet nights at the house so far.

And we love EVERY minute of it!

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Yesterday was Josh's 35th birthday! So I surprised him by taking the day off of work & we headed up to Flagstaff with the intention of going snowboarding. I say intention because when we got there the place was already at capacity & they weren't letting anyone in... and that was at 9:30am! We drove around for awhile on the hunt for a cheap sled, but to no avail. Most places wanted $16 for a cheap kiddie sled. Instead, we pulled off the road, hiked around in the woods for awhile, threw snowballs, made snow angels & generally got wet & dirty. Then we headed to the cute downtown area where we ate lunch at Josh's favorite Thai restaurant. Then we shopped around for awhile (music shops, book stores, all those sweet indie shops)... and ran into our friend Rob Nunez and his crew, who were also in Flag for the day to play in the snow. Around 4:30p we started our journey back to Phoenix... it was slow going because the roads were covered with snow. We made it back safe & sound and Josh ordered Oregano's (pizza) takeout for this special bday dinner. We watched a movie then headed to bed. All in all it was a great day, even without the snowboarding. We're going to head back north in a few weeks to try our luck at the slopes again!

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! This year we've decided to forgo the holiday cards ...not that I was very good at ever getting them out on time anyhow ...and send an electronic greeting instead!

Josh & I had another great year together. We celebrated anniversary #2 this past October. We also welcomed our new addition that same month - our puppy, Cobain. He's 5 months old & has us wrapped around his paw! He hasn't learned how to pee "like a boy" yet, so he's earned himself the nickname of Pee Pants ...because he ends up peeing on himself (usually his front paws) all the time. Not that he minds, at all. So he ends up getting plenty of baths, which he enjoys as well. Now that I think of it, maybe he's got us snowballed... or I guess as you'd say in the desert, tumbleweeded. Our other two, Hurley & Tequila, are doing just fine, although they haven't quite accepted little brother yet. He bugs them too much!

Volunteerism. Our involvement with the environment & others in need has increased alot in 2009. We've done some fun volunteer work with the Sierra Club - taking water samples at the Verde river, pulling invasive weeds, cleaning up trash along the highways. And, in April (as he constantly reminds me) Josh became a vegetarian! I renewed my commitment to veganism, so as you can imagine, we're just a ton of fun to go out to eat with! Actually, there are quite a few vegan/veggie restaurants in Phoenix that are really, really good! And, thank goodness for me, both sugar & beer are completely vegan!!

We also volunteer about every other Saturday at the animal shelter down the street from us. We take "pet photos" of the dogs which then get posted on the county website. We also get to play with the dogs & help adopt them out ...and as you might have guessed, that's also how we found Cobain!

In addition, this year, for the first time, we'll be delivering Christmas dinner to less fortunate home bound families thru the Salvation Army... I'm really looking forward to the 25th! So, as you can see, we like to keep ourselves busy by helping others in our community & mama Earth too!


Sports. Other ways we like to stay active is playing sand volleyball & running. Our friends started a volleyball league a few years back, so about 2-3 times a week we're on the courts. And, 2009 also saw us run our furthest race... 12k's. It's basically 1/2 of a 1/2 marathon :) Someday we might go all out and do the Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon... someday. My knees are still sore from the 12k and that was weeks ago! And Josh hasn't been bugging me to get up early to run lately either, so I'm guessing he's feeling the same way!

Travel. This year we made our 2nd annual trek to Coachella (Palm Springs, CA) for the 3-day music & art festival there. Paul McCartney was one of the headliners... it was like watching history. And it's fun to say that we got to see & hear a Beatle! We also took our yearly trip to Rocky Point, Mexico for a volleyball tournament. Nothing beats hanging out on the beach & drinnking Coronas while Josh & friends compete in a friendly game :) And our travel highlight was our first-ever trip to Portland, OR this summer. We stayed in a hostel, took public transportation every where, visited cool music shops & ate great vegan food! As some of you already know, we hope to move to Portland in the near future.

To pay the bills. Josh ended his long career with Stanley this past April when the company decided to close the west coast sales office. He now works for an online school, helping to get students signed up for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. While it's not his dream job, he's met quite a few good friends who have now become our concert buddies! I was able to hang on to my job as a buyer at B/E Aerospace... just finding out last week that I'm staying while more than 75% of my department is getting laid off. Tough times all around us, and we're grateful to have what we have. And we're looking forward to moving towards our goals (house on the beach, anyone?) in 2010.

I'm sure there's so much more to tell you all, but that's about all I can remember for the time being. Josh & I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy your time with your families & friends!

"May you never forget the flavor of snowflakes"