Happy Holidays!

Life is good out in Portland.  Just got back from a holiday get-together at an apartment building where 3 good friends from college live.  Third night in a row of wearing my Christmas sweater, enjoying the sweets that come in a cold holiday season and being festive.  We sang carols with a guitar and accordion and rocked the building.  Great times as always.  Pretty soon I'm headed out to Boston for a week with the family to enjoy Christmas and relax.  Looking forward to it.

Here's a few pictures from Peacock Lane in Portland:

Pumpking!

It's fall,  and that means pumpkin time out here in the NW!  Washington grows a ton of apples, and we have some here, but none super close by, so everyone heads out to Sauvie Island to pick their pumpkins, get lost in the corn maze, get muddy and drink some tasty apple cider.  Tis the season indeed!

Spend this afternoon with good friends, Shannon, Shannon and Eric living it up in the NW.  Pretty decent weather for a day when it was supposed to have thunderstorms.  Here are some pictures of the day's happenings.

Bout to enter the Maize!

That's right, I'm running the show with the pitchfork

Not a raindrop in site!

Little pumpkin motivation for me

Ain't it just a Corn-undrum?

Let's just say, we weren't the only ones with the pumpkin idea

My pumpkin awaiting my arrival

Mite orange out there

Eric and I capturing two 24 pound pumpkins

The crew with their pumpkins.  All crouching because I cut off our heads in the first picture

Chutney

Now that's a tasty tomato chutney!  Just like what I had back in NZ

1,2,3 large mason jars full!  Come over and feast with us!

Seattle wedding time

Last weekend I went up to Seattle for the wedding of my good friend and old Salzburg roommate, Price.  It was the perfect fall weekend up in Seattle weatherwise, super sunny in the day, high 70s and blue skies.  Although I'm a big Portland fan, and definitely choose that city over the northwestern city above us, Seattle definitely looked good.  People out and about enjoying themselves, sailing in the lakes, eating out and being happy. 

 Wedding party looking sharp

 Loads of sailboats out on Lake Union

 Pretty badass landmark which is easy to spot

Here are a few pictures.  The wedding was right on Lake Union, so that's where the photos are from, and of course, that's where the life preserver came from.  Don't just find those things lying around everywhere you know.  Got to give a little contrast to the suit.

Unfortunately at the wedding reception, I ate some salmon that would end up causing me a world of havoc and rip my stomach apart.  Yup, food poisoning.  Tasted great, and yet a few hours later, whoo-weee, had a rough couple of days.  But now back to being on top of the world and rocking it.  If the expression "whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is true, I'm continuing to build an iron stomach that will be fortified against future food issues.  So I say... bring on India!

Dodgers!!!

I have a ticket stub from my 1st birthday at a Dodgers game. From growing up in LA, I will always been a Dodgers fan, and when I heard that the Dodgers were coming up to the Northwest to play the Seattle Mariners for the first time in 12 years, I rallied the troops and headed to Seattle to catch the series. And yes, that means I went to all 3 games.

It was amazing to watch the team for 3 straight games. It wasn't too much baseball. Kinda felt just right. Portland needs a team again. Definitely a great sport, and there's nothing finer than being outside, in warm weather, with good company, cheering (and jeering) over a game involving a bat and a ball.

While up in Seattle, I got to see a bunch of old friends. Some I hadn't seen in 5 years, others, I hadn't seen since I had arthritis and couldn't walk in Hawaii. Great times reconnecting and kicking back.

Here's some pictures of the highlights:

Game 3 in center field crew

 







Game 1 crew (Dodgers only loss of series)

 









Last year's Cy Young winning pitcher, Clayton Kershaw pitching to Ichiro Suzuki

Loving me some Dodger baseball!
 

 
View of downtown from Safeco Field

Here's some pics from snowboarding on Mt Hood a few weeks back, maybe a couple months back. Snowed the entire day up there, and we had 2 inches on the car when we left. Some nice powder up there to fly down the mountain with.


Summer is about to happen in Portland, so these seem way old. Last weekend, we broke 80 degrees. Then last night there was a bit of frost. And this weekend will again be pushing the 80s. This is how we start summer in the NW. At least we've have house barbeques 3 of the last 4 Sundays. Perfect time of the week to have good weather.

We've got a bit of a garden going out back now, with cucumbers, strawberries, raspberries and beets in right now, more to come soon!

Had a little bit of fun this past Saturday at a Kentucky Derby party. It being Cinco de Mayo, just made it even more fun. I didn't choose the right horse, but made up for it by wearing a suede sportscoat. Actually was a bit sunny out here in Portland. Group pics below:

Outdoors in Oregon

Here are some pictures from the last few days nearby Portland. The first three are from the Columbia Gorge on a hike with two of my flatmates, Kyle and Drew. The other two are from the Coast on a trip with my friend Shannon. We actually had some good weather lately, so it's been fun to be out in nature enjoying it.

Timbers!!

In case you hadn't heard, Portland has the best soccer fans in the US. We support our boys, the Portland Timbers, and sell out every single game weeks in advance. It is a crazy, enthusiastic group of people there every game, cheering, jeering and loving the game.

I got to attend this years opening match on March 12th. It was pouring rain the whole time,and yet it didn't dampen the mood. Everyone in this city was so happy to have the team in action again. Over the offseason, they built 2,000 more seats to get more people into games, which are very hard to get tickets to.

Here's a clip of us in the Timbers Army singing the National Anthem before the game. Quite a sensational time singing it, just before we whooped Philadelphia 3-1. A great game, which wore out my throat, will last in my memory forever!

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2012/03/watch-timbers-army-sings-national-anthem-first-kick-march-12-2012

Snowshoeing!!

This past Sunday, I went with a couple friends up to the high ground nearby Mt Hood to go snowshoeing around a lake. It was a lovely 43 degrees to keep the body warm and even break a sweat. The snow was packed down pretty good, but looked to be at least 4 feet deep (as you can see from the picture of the pedestrian crossing sign. On the sides it was higher and I could get in some good tromping and fully use the snowshoes as they were made. Pretty sweet stuff, and pretty sweaty stuff. Not easy dragging extra things on your feet. The legs were a bit tired on the way back and the right foot got a nice ol' blister as a souvenir. A jolly time out, enjoying nature and winter, before back in to work.

I'm currently working my tail off with my two jobs. Still cooking part time (at least once during the week and both weekend nights) as well as working for Toyota in their parts distribution center, so needless to say, the days are busy as is. But the credit card debt will paid off on the next statement, which makes things that much brighter. Still rocking and rolling as always, and keeping Portland better off. That's what I do.

New Years on the Oregon Coast

So for this past New Years I headed out to the Oregon Coast with a group of friends to stay at a cabin, go crabbing, and ring in the new year. Quite relaxing out there, and surprisingly good weather. Kinda nice to come around the bend, watch the clouds disappear and see the ocean. We had a large house on top of the dunes, hot tub and large kitchen. Plus a Nintendo 64 with an NBA game from 1999 which was awesome,despite Kobe not in the starting lineup.

We cooked food for every meal, feasting with 8 of us out there. On the Saturday, we rented 2 boats and went crabbing. Pretty much you leave your traps in the water for 15-20 minutes and then come back to pull up quickly and see if you caught anything. Frozen chicken was the bait and apparently, wasn't so tasty. We didn't strike it rich and the crab dinner became crab appetizers. But it's been a bad season and there just wasn't much down there. Still, it was a blast to get out there on the water and cruise around the sandbanks, past seals and other crab boats.

Graham and Marcus checking out the trap with a crab in it

Graham and Marcus lovin the boat
Pulling up one of the 3 traps
The best way to get back into the boat after stopping on a sandbar to check out seals

Free ride!

Heap of seals





Man on the moon


Rocking the Oregon Coast

What the Oregon Coast is all about