New Places Explored

Weekend Update:

Friday evening we went to a local St. John's hang out - Anna Banana's. It's a kitch little coffee house that also offers shakes, food, and brew. Matt got a beer and I got a shake (yums) and we just talked. We had tried to go to what we thought was a festival, but ended up being the local acting group performing in the park. We watched a little, but headed to Anna's after a while. Anna's was playing an homage to Michael Jackson - which was fun.

We rose early Saturday morning and headed to our storage unit to pick through the boxes and see what we could integrate into our living space - all so that we could have the room the cram a few more boxes into the storage unit. It went well. We moved a bookcase out and several boxes, however M had to leave me there phone-less awaiting his return as both I and the bookcase could not fit into the car. I got bored and did what any woman from my family would do - I tried to rearrange the storage shed (by myself). Forget that I have a bad back that is starting to rear it's ugly head. Forget that my hubby has threatened my with death. I did it. It was awesome. For M to leave me in a crowded hallway surrounded by our junk knowing that the only reward he would find after all his heavy lifting and transporting was more of the same, but to instead be met by me on a flat cart full of neatly arranged boxes and a "clean" storage unit - PRICELESS. He had estimated all of it taking us until noon, but because of my blatant disobedience and disregard for my own well-being, we saved about 2 hours.

So we spent those two hours (1) getting breakfast and (2) buying more junk. We immediately drove to downtown PDX to find a little diner we had been looking for - The Byways Cafe. It was recently featured on The Food Network's "Diner's and Dives." We waited for about 20-30 minutes and it was worth it. We got to sit at the bar, drink coffee out of mugs from around the country, and inspect the license plate collection (we're thinking about taking them one of our outdated GA plates). We chatted with the folks at the bar - which was a lot of fun and refreshing, as we haven't talked to many folks who aren't ourselves (in person) for a while. The food was good. M got pancaked, bacon, and eggs and I got a veggie hash scramble. It was all very good and I'm not sure we even ate dinner that night. We then went to the REI around the block. M got a ski bag and I got a hoodie (apparently rain coats and umbrellas are dead give-aways that you are a tourist, so I had to get what all the locals wear - hoodies).

We came back home and our land lord was fixing our light and the outlets that hadn't been working. So, we chatted and put things away. Matt finally had to get to work and that's pretty much where he stayed until evening.

Sunday morning, we went to church - good stuff. Matt and I lunched at Simpatica - which Matt claimed was a favorite before we had even gotten our food. It will be a favorite. I brunched on biscuits and country gravy....I know it borders on heresy, but the bisuits were the best I have EVER had. EVER. The sausage gravy gets points as it is hand made by the restaurant and it had awesome flavor, but I've had better - 5 Star Day, anyone? Matt had some ridiculous thing that I can't remember, but a good description would go something like this: pig, stuffed with pig, drizzled with pig, topped with pig, and wrapped in pig fat. He then had an au-gratin that consisted of potatoes and ricotta (tasted like dessert). 'Twas tasty.

Monday (yesterday) Matt got home from a practice test and hadn't eaten lunch, so we headed to "Burgerville." "Burgerville" is like McDonald's but everything is local - AKA shaked made from fresh strawberries and Walla Walla onion rings. It's a little more expensive, but it was really a fun treat.

Tuesday - still happening. However, I did get my OR driver's license and M registered the subaru. Check that off the list. M sold a kayak paddle and I got the mail (such exciting times)! I will say that it was neat to realize that just running errands today I had biked over 10 miles - which is not much, but it's farther than I would have biked in Athens while running errands (cause I would have been driving my CAR!).

Love,
L