#53 Tasty n Sons

Another fun adventure tasting luscious breakfast foods in Portland (and another place added to the list).  This weekend my parents were in town and since I have Thursdays off, we thought this would be a great day to try the acclaimed restaurant Tasty n Sons.  I had recently read reviews in Portland Monthly and decided it needed to be on my list of breakfast places to try.  My brother and sister-in-law joined us in the delicious love-afair known as breakfast, which made the adventure that much more enjoyable!  I was warned of the wait time, but we were quoted at 35 minutes (for 5 people) and were served in less time than that.  Thankfully, they serve their brunch menu until 2:30, which suits the lazy, indolent attitude of Portlanders on weekends. Each of the dishes were delightful and shared amongst the five of us.  I would highly recommend the biscuits- order as a side if your dish does not include one :) Enjoy the pictures below!

Chocolate Potato Doughnut with crème anglaise 

Erin's Sweet Biscuits with warm blueberry compote 

Potatoes Bravas with over easy eggs

Auntie Paula's French Toast with  with pear-maple syrup & whipped cream

Moroccan Chicken Hash with harissa cream & over easy egg

Polenta & Sausage Ragu with mozzarella & fried eggs 

  

Rain... all day rain!!!

A few weeks ago- proof my previous jacket
was not waterproof 

A few weeks ago, I made a very important realization... My rain coat is not waterproof!  Actually, it wasn't even all that water-resistant. :( Which is unfortunate when you live in a city like Portland and it rains nearly every day during the winter.  In fact, according to the local paper, Portland is on track to break the record amount of rainfall in the month of March.  As of Saturday, Portland had recorded 7.28 inches of rain in the month (record was set in 1957 at 7.52 inches).  So this discovery was an important one to make, but more importantly, action needed to take place.

Thankfully, my REI dividend was calculated back a few weeks ago and delivered with a 20% off coupon. My parents are in town this week and so we made the trek to REI.  I originally was going to purchase shoes for my bike so I could use the clip pedals, but I decided a new rain jacket was more of a priority.  I received advice from several REI experts and with the persuasion of my mom, I purchased a legit rain jacket!

I never knew a jacket could make me so happy, but after spending most of the rainiest month (apparently of my life) wet, I now know that it is very possible to stay dry!  And for those of you who know me... the very fact that this jacket is not black and not NorthFace might come at quite a shock.  It has taken me a few days to get used to the color as well, but it is my attempt at embracing Spring! (I originally picked out the back NorthFace rain jacket, but was told it was only water-resistant)  So here is to enjoying the rain and jumping in all kinds of water puddles!

New Jacket!

Its okay...

A couple of my blogging "friends" have this post where they talk about things that are ok with... It is mostly humorous, but can be serious as well.

So here is my first time attempting this post!

Its ok...

...that I am done with being a student and find myself saying "wah wah waaaaa" when my clinical instructor is talking

...that havent done laundry in three weeks, though this will probably be the last possible week :)

...that I would rather eat dark chocolate peanut butter cups for dinner almost every night

...that I will probably lose my first game of Ticket to Ride this weekend because I will be spending the entire weekend with my family and my brother is a bit competitive ;)

...that I would rather wear black every day- and most days a fair amount of my clothing is black! And I have no desire to participate in the fashion trend "colorblocking"

...that I am turning my cell phone off completely on Saturday to enjoy spending time with my family!

What are you all okay with???

I am okay it is SPRING!!!

Wellness Wednesday!

This week was not a good week for working out. But, I had small victories with eating and doing my nightly abdominal workout. I did ask my CI about using the machines at lunch and he said as long as no patients were using them. So, I need to bring my clothes and take advantage of that time.

I also drank more water and had no pizza (incase you were wondering). Hard to believe March is almost over. I finally found a Pilates class offered at 24hour fitness on Sundays at 430. So I am going to try to go to that before church starting Ina few weeks.

Not much to update you on today, so I will leave you with a picture!

#6 Thankful Tuesdays!

Continuing the tradition of crossing things off my list, I have decided to begin writing "5 things I am thankful for..." every Tuesday.  This tradition will hopefully continue weekly until the end of the 1001!  Though this is very exciting, I cannot help but feel the enormity of how big of task this will be.  No doubt I have a lot to be thankful for in my life.  And I firmly believe by recognizing these things weekly, it will not only serve as a good reminder when I am feeling down, but chronicle all the blessings around me.  I imagine some weeks the things I write about will be trivial, but the greater message is I am a very lucky girl to know that for the next 2+ years, I will be able to at least come up with 5 things per week!  Before I write on the things I am thankful for this week, here are some thoughts on the subject:

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie

What if you wake up TODAY with only the things that you thanked God for YESTERDAY?

1). My parents are coming to visit for 4 days and that means hours of family time, playing games and enjoying good food and good company

2). The coffee in my cup this morning.  Well, let's be real, the coffee in my cup every morning

3). I am thankful for my internships at OHSU and Craig Hospital.  I have many classmates that do not love their internship sites or CIs and I have been beyond blessed with all my CIs and sites for the past 22 weeks.

4). Friends! Friends who do not think it is silly or that we are too old to go to the premire of the Hunger Games last Thursday!

5). Having Thursdays off work to spend doing whatever my the whimsical portion of my heart decides to do!

Music Monday #3

Happy Monday- we survived!  I was particularly sleepy today and kept yawning while treating patients.  Not a good way to start the week.  This week, my Music Monday is a couple of lovely melodies that I have been craving this week. Sorry I could not provide you with good music videos, but the songs are quality!  Enjoy!

#57 Wine tasting in a vineyard

Heading into the Wine Cellar

Edgefield Vineyards

This weekend, Jenn and I headed out to Edgefield to enjoy a rare sunny spring day of relaxing without a schedule.   As we are driving out to Troutdale, it occurs to us that we could go wine tasting and since there is a vineyard on the property, it would count towards one of the items on my list! Edgefield is part of the McMenamins restaurants, but it has everything you could possibly want! Of the things available, we ate lunch (cajun tots!!!) seated in some fantastic wooden chairs outside in the sun, played Ticket to Ride in the pool hall, enjoyed wine tasting, toured the property ordering beer from the various bars on the property, played darts in the pool hall and sat by one of the bonfires and chatted with random strangers.  Fiona, one of the PT interns at OHSU also joined us mid-day for some of the adventures!  Overall, fantastic way to spend a Saturday (especially a sunny one).


Now, I would like to think of myself as a wine connoisseur, but the reality is I do not know very much about wine. We journeyed down to the wine cellar and enjoyed a flight of 6 wines for $6.  The best part, each glass was about 1/3 full!  Here are the six selections we enjoyed: 


-2009 Select Pinot Noir from Gensler Vineyards, Columbia Gorge WA 
-2009 Cuvée de l'Abri Rouge from Del Rio Vineyard
-2008 Merlot from Alder Ridge Vineyard, Horse Heaven Hills, WA
-2009 Syrah from Chukar Ridge Vineyard, Columbia Valley, WA
-2008 Zinfandel from Horse Heaven Hills, Columbia Valley, WA
-2008 Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley

My favorite was the Pinot Noir and the Cabernet Sauvignon!  They were delightfully smooth and the flavor was very full- angles dancing on my tongue! Overall, I have to say my vineyard wine tasting experience was perfect and the company 
was great as well.  Next stop, Sonoma CA!!

Getting real...

I have been loving this blog a day challenge (even when I am not able to keep up with the crazy demand of sitting down and composing thoughts on paper), but thus far, I feel as though my thoughts have been somewhat shallow. More reserved? More cautious as not to offend? But tonight, it's about to get real... really real.

Since moving back to Portland, I have been busy 90% of the time. Now, let me clarify, this is a "good" busy. The kind of busy that leaves you exhausted, but knowing your time was well spent. I don't have a great many friends here in Portland, but I have enough. A perfect amount one might even say. And all this "business" has been great and long overdue. This is an important disclaimer for what I am about to talk about.

I have a significant problem not being productive with my time. As many of you know, I have one weekday off every week. And this problem is most apparent on those days. For these days the great majority of my friends are working, which leaves me with a whole heap of extra time on my hands. Occasionally, I get lucky and can spend the day with a friend (example, today I spent most of my afternoon with my lovely friend Anna and her two boys). But other days, I find it is really (REALLY) hard for me to just take time and relax. Watch mindless TV. Read a book. For whatever reason, I really struggle to just take a day for myself. Now, it's important that this not be confused as having difficulty being alone, because I am finding I actually crave alone time more now than before. This is an issue of my over achiever personality where I attain some of my self-worth from achievements. I say some, because I have worked hard to confront this issue head on the past 3-4 years. But why is it that I still find it so hard for me to enjoy my free time? Why do I get anxious when I am unable to accomplish things? I am about to transition out of academia and into a professional role where what I accomplish is less of a focus and does not necessarily dictate my success.

It's frustrating that something so insignificant such as how I spend my day of free time, can actually be correlated to the way I validate myself and determine my self-worth.

I am sure there are many more reflections to be had on the subject, but that's all I have for tonight.

Until next time...

Wellness Wednesday #3: forming habits

Last week, I talked about the woes of how I was not able to get to the gym and was not enough drinking water... oh yea, and trying to eat less pizza.  Well, I am happy to report that this week I have not had any pizza!!!  And, I have drank more water, though not consistently.  I just transitioned into a new setting for my last eight weeks of my internship and I am working to make a conscious decision to take my water bottle around with me while I treat patients.  The last couple of weeks, I have been experiencing headaches every evening and I am sure they are linked to being dehydrated, so this whole drinking water thing is quite important.

And the working out bit. I went to the gym three times this week and all three were a struggle.  I was lucky enough to link up with Jenn for two of those workouts which helped with the motivation a lot.  I found I just need to get my butt into the gym and then I do fine.  But at the end of a 10 hour day of work (not to mention the commute time on either side), the last thing I want to do is head to the gym.  I saw one of the PTs working out on the therapy equipment yesterday at lunch, so I am going to ask my CI if I can do that as well. If I could get 30 mins of cardio in three times a week during lunch, that would make going to the gym less of a headache.

This week, my goal is to start forming healthy habits.  Little things that make a big difference.  I want to get to the gym four times and workout at least once during lunch at work.  I also want to incorporate an upper extremity weight-lifting program and abdominal program into my workouts. I am so used to doing 45-60 minutes of cardio, but I am noticing other parts of my body need some attention as well.

I also notice that I have a mind block that the only time I am working out is when I am at the gym.  There is no reason I cannot do abs workouts at home on my yoga mat every night before I go to bed and I am perfectly able to get off the light-rail a few stops before mine and walk.  I know this isnt rocket science, but I am finding if I can squeeze more into my daily life, there is less pressure to get to the gym. The gym can be anywhere!!!

Here is a little ab workout calendar I found on pinterest that I am going to start this week!  Heres to creating new habits!

#53 Breakfast in Portland

This is one of the first things to cross off my list of 101 in 1001.  Last friday I met my lovely friend Erin Forget at Grand Central Bakery for brunch.  One of the beautiful perks of working 4, 10 hour days is having a week day off to explore breakfast locations that are otherwise impossible to get into on the weekend.  I have heard a lot about Grand Central Bakery, but have never been (they have locations in Seattle and my friend Kristen has ranted about their goodness). Erin and I had a tough time deciding which of all the perfectly baked food we should try, but we both settled on having the Sausage Egg Biscuit. I also had a side of Irish Soda Bread since it was pre-St. Pat's day weekend.  The food did not disappoint and neither did the conversation that followed.  It is a great gift to have a weekday off and I will continue to try new breakfast locations in the next eight weeks!

The second breakfast adventure I had was with the beautiful Jenn Hart.  This was Sunday morning following St. Patrick's Day and all we wanted was potatoes and eggs.  Jenn had been to the Bakery Bar before and it is really close to her house, so we gave it a shot. This quaint little restaurant was packed, but we put our name on the list and ordered some much needed coffee.  My latte was phenomenal!  Jenn got a mocha and it was very tasty as well (even though I dont really like chocolate in my coffee). We actually were seated within 10-15 minutes and didnt mind the wait because the people watching was fantastic!  I got a breakfast burrito and Jenn got the D-Bear Bowl (I think).  Again, a perfectly needed conversation flowed as we ate, taking in all the flavors of our food!

These resturants were perfect breakfast outings and I would highly recommend both of them!

Music Monday!

I had a few songs this week that I am obsessed with, but can only find one of the videos!  I was recently told this song is #1 in America this week. Enjoy! Also, how much do you love the chick in this video??

iPod on the commute

Every morning I ride the streetcar to my internship. Without exception, 90% of riders listen to their iPods/iPhones. So this morning, I thought I would talk a little about what's playing on my iPhone in the mornings.

Some mornings I listen to pump-up music in order to get my heart rate above the slow, lethargic pace it has been since I woke this AM. It generally includes strong female artists such as Lady Gaga, Katie Perry, Rihanna and Pink.

Other mornings, I try to engage in more intellectually stimulating chatter. This includes podcasts from church services I have missed, news reports, or words from an audiobook.

It's a rare morning, however, that I can focus enough to entertain the latter. So most often, I start with a podcast and find my mind is elsewhere and switch back to music.

Since I am one of the bilzion of Americans with an iPhone, I also can multitask while listening to music. This includes reading/responding to emails, reading blogs that I love or thumbing through the review app I have to study for my boards exam.

But, I have to say, my favorite thing to do is start the Pandora app on the Mumford and Sons station and zone out or sleep.

My commute on the way home is much different! The train is typically packed and I am lucky if I can find a seat. And since my days are filled with craziness, I try to pick something that will slow my heart rate back down. I even have a playlist dedicated to this purpose. :)

So my question to you is, what is on your iPhone/iPod and in what ways do you use music to influence your mood/mind?

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

I am extra excited about this weekend! Not only is it a fantastic holiday, but I am getting to spend quality time with people I love! I had brunch at the Tin Shed this morning with Burk and Lydia and Mike and Kelly (friends from grad school) joined us. And the tonight, a group of my Portland friends are meeting up to drink Green Beer and enjoy some dancing!

I have to say one of the best things about being back in Portland is being able to spend time with my family. My parents are coming in a few weeks and I am very much looking forward to quality family time!

Tonight we are joining up with some friends downtown for some Irish celebrating!! Portland has a fairly large Irish population and there is quite the Irish festival. Might even try some Irish dancing :)

Here is a few pictures from the day so far! Breakfast at Tin Shed and a fantastic car we saw downtown! Happy St Pats Day!!

A new challenge

I know, I know... There are a lot of challenges happening on my blog right now.  But, one that I am especially excited about is about to be unveiled! The challenge is to complete 101 things in 1001 days.  This list is comprised of goals I have for the next 33 months. There are some big things on the list and some simple little things.  I have linked the list at the top of my home page so that its easy to access and check on my progress.  As I complete tasks on the list, I will blog about it and link that blog to the item on the list.  On another note, I also linked the photo challenge to the top of my blog's home page.  Cheers to the next 1001 days!

Wellness Wednesday on a Thurday

Man, I feel like I am constantly a day behind this week. Not just in regards to blogging (though, that is also true), but in things that need (must) get done! At work this week I feel like I have been operating on 2.5 cylinders instead of the usual 8. I feel sluggish and brain fried the majority of the day. The usual tumbler of coffee in the morning isn't cutting it and I find I will settle for the tar that tastes like coffee from the unit nourishment room.

And that leads me to my current post! Wellness Wednesday is a chance for me to talk about where I have been this week in regards to food, exercise, mental health, etc. Last week I talked about my water consumption (not good). So this week I focused on drinking the H2O. I averaged 40oz per day, which is a phenomenal improvement. Unfortunately, my intake of coffee has also doubled. I decided to set a few alarms on my phone to remind me to drink water and it surprisingly has helped!

Working out, on the other hand, has not been going so well this week and I suspect that is part of why I have been so lethargic. Last month I worked out 5-6 hours per week and this past week, I only worked out once. My schedule has been crazy, but when I had a goal in February, I was able to get to the gym. Maybe it's time for another fitness goal?

This next week I am going to try to be better about getting to the gym. I am starting a new internship, so I will be putting in long days, but that's no excuse. Also, I need to stop eating pizza!!!

Bottom line: More gym, more water, less pizza!

Music Monday on a Tuesday...

I missed my Music Monday.  Probably cause I have been all over the place this week and today/tonight is no exception.  Here is a song that I have been LOVING for the past few months!!  Music video is pretty cool too :)

And also this one... I love both for very different reasons.  Both are emotionally charged and both have been on my top 10 playlist this past month.  Enjoy!

Lovely weekend!

I had a very refreshing weekend!  I feel very blessed that since I have been back in Portland, I have had so many wonderful weekends (and week nights) filled with great conversations, intense workouts, movies, excellent food, game nights, drinks, etc.  About a month ago, I had the opportunity to spend a rare sun-filled weekend in Seattle and this weekend, the lovely Kristen Vaughan was able to make the trek down to Portland (from Seattle).  We had one beautiful sunny day and two days with various forms of liquid sunshine, but nevertheless, we had a beautiful weekend filled with an abundance of adventures and time well spent enjoying each other's company.  Since I am short on time tonight and behind on my daily blogs, I am going to post pictures of some of our adventures!  Enjoy...

Creps and coffee at Vivace 

AMAZING!!!

Beautiful sunny day in PDX! Steel Bridge 

Hawthorn Bridge

Rainy day puddles!

Voodoo Donuts!

Happy Hour at Widmer

Homemade breakfast :)

Saturday Market!

The lovely Kristen Vaughan :)

Waiting in line... a very wet line!

Everything good comes in a pink box!

I love portland!

My family :)

Busy!

I am apologizing for the lack of discipline in posting these past few days.  My friend Kristen was in town and I was not able to be at my computer for any length of time.  Which is good, because that means we were out living life, exploring Portland and just being best friends!  I promise I will dedicate more time this week to catching up on some of the blogs I missed this past week.  For now, I leave you with a sneak preview in the form of a photo of what is to come :)

Photo Credit: Kristen Vaughan 

100 snapshots

I recently stumbled upon a website that offered a photo challenge that was unlike any I have completed before.  I decided it would be fun to begin and complete this challenge- without a time limit.  The photos can be edited in any way I choose and will be posted randomly.  I will update the list regularly so that it is easier to follow throughout the journey! Enjoy 

1. Safety


2. Stale


3. Feathered


4. Hot


5. Open


6. Forever


7. Love


8.Touch


9. Colorless


10. Blue


11. Smell


12. Growth


13. Irony


14. Wrong


15. More


16.Feel


17. Muse


18. Child


19. Within


20. Pale


21. Earth


22. Torn


23. Scars


24.Stray


25. Drops


26. Against


27. Dry


28. Fresh


29. Covered


30. Bold


31. High


32.Shadow


33. Concrete


34. Vein


35. Rush


36. Yellow


37. Empty


38. Cliché


39.Central


40. Loss


41. Wonder


42. Sweet


43. Poetry


44. Heavy


45. Fall


46. Chair


47.Statue


48. Kool-Aid


49. Dark


50. Breath


51. Garbage


52. Silk


53. Teacher


54.Cream


55. Wash


56. Corner


57. Rose


58. Field


59. Two


60. Red


61. Music


62. Rope


63.Decrepit


64. Chase


65. Dream


66. Dance


67. Smile


68. Smirk


69. Reflection


70.Soul


71. Lock


72. Key


73. Rust


74. Find


75. Lose


76. Drag


77. Wind


78. Rest


79.Swing


80. Meeting


81. Vacant


82. Hazy


83. Release


84. Gather


85. Swarm


86. Road


87.Wait


88. Stand


89. Distance


90. Trapped


91. Desk


92. Detach


93. Shatter


94.Home


95. Shy


96. Tackle


97. Begin


98. End


99. Time


100. Life

Wellness Wednesday #1

Keeping a food journal can be pretty revealing about what you are providing your body for fuel. I have been keeping a food journal for the past week just to identify what eating habits I have and (good or bad) what adjustments need to be made in order to live a more healthy lifestyle. This is what I have learned:

*I do not drink enough water. At most (sigh of embarrassment) I drink 4-8 oz. Not counting what is in my coffee of course.

*I don't really consume veggies.

*I like to eat pizza (or at least the opportunity presented itself 4 times this past week)

*I am not very good at remembering what I eat :( All those snacks at work, the are not accounted for by my brain for whatever reason.

This is all good information. The two I am tackling this next week is to drink more water and eat more veggies!!! Workouts this week were also subpar due to a million different reasons. So I am going to up those this next week too!

Thoughts from the past

Tonight I found a bunch of papers stashed in between other papers/projects in a box that I packed from CO.  They were clipped together and contained some of the most random articles, journals, rants, expressions of joy and disappointment, quotes and sticky notes from friends.  After looking through them, I believe they were from either my junior or senior year at CU.  I decided for tonight's blog, I would type out some of the contents.  I was moved by some of my words, laughed at some of the notes, felt the pain of others and ultimately enjoyed the trip down memory lane.  Its cool when you can read where your thoughts were once... The notes I have included have been put in quotations because I do not remember the author. Likely, I am the author of some, but certainly not all. Some of the notes were on the back of a library receipt from the Multnomah County Library when I checked out Secret Life of the Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, so maybe some of these are quotes from that book.  Here are some snippets:

"All writing is imaginative. The translation of experience or thought into words is itself an imaginative process.  It is impossible to invent without drawing on your own experience"

"And I was struck all at once how life was out there going through its regular courses and I was suspended, waiting, caught in a terrible crevice between living my life and not living it"

"People start out one way and by the time life gets through with them, they end up completely different"

"There is nothing perfect, there is only life"

"...because once you know the truth, you cant even go back and pick up your suitcase of lies"

"I wake up to wonder every day..."

"My heart sat like an ice sculpture in the center of my chest. Nothing could touch it"

"I couldnt help by envy the way a good storm got everyone's attention"

"The world will give you pure relief one and a while. A brief timeout. When the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner where someone daps mercy on your beat up life"

"Its like we have built in protection around our hearts that keeps the pain from overwhelming us"

"Stories have to be told or they die and when they die, we cant remember who we are or why we're here"

pen + paper

In the age of iPads, computers, kindles, etc, there is a tendency to get caught up in the immediacy of the moment.  If I want to read a book right now, I can download it to my iPhone.  If I want to write something out, I can type it into my computer, its faster after all!  And though having a list function on my phone has helped me be more productive (I lose sticky notes before I am able to check things off my list), I find that I really miss writing things down with  a real pen on real paper.

This past week and weekend were full of moments that needed to be reflected upon.  And when I am on the go, its hard to find a pen and paper that I can jot down my thoughts.  So, typing a note into my phone is better than not writing at all, right?

Tonight I wasnt feeling very well so I took the extra quiet time to spend writing.  I have written 10 pages of thoughts thus far and I still have thoughts that need to be written :)  Initially I sat down at my computer because I knew I had a lot of thoughts and all too often they flee my brain before they can be recorded and hence the use of a much faster keyboard to my fingers that are "out of shape" for such an amount of writing. But as I flip back through my moleskin journal, there is a sense of accomplishment following the 10 pages.  I wrote that.  I spent time actually thinking about my thoughts instead of feverishly writing and recording the first things that came to mind. I felt like I was allowed to truly steep in the material.  Really think about what I think I think, I think (read that slowly and then 10 times fast!).  And when you write, your brain has a chance to slow down and truly process.  And the "process" is what I am after.

I am curious, how many people write or journal on their electronic devices?  Or who find the traditional pen + paper do the trick?

Just breathe

What a weekend! I have easily had one of the best weekends in a long time.  The conversations, adventures and time spent with these lovely friends was much needed.  As I look forward to the busy week ahead, I have decide to post a classic song that has been the anthem of the past six weeks and I thought it was more than appropriate.  Enjoy!

a day of fun and adventure

Having Fridays off has been wonderful and I do recommend it to anyone that has the ability to work four, ten hour days.  Though the days are long and by Thursday I am a complete zombie, it is lovely to have an entire day to do anything you want with little to no distractions (because everyone else is working).  Here  is what I did on my friday, in pictures!

A lovely phone call from Africa to start my day!!

CHONGA bagel in all its glory!

Powells books

Streetcar art on my way to meet my friends

Food Cart for linner with friends

Faces of Portland

A little Bananagrams at Starbucks

Zombies always make the day interesting 

Look! Zombies

Court made a friend! 

No caption necessary

A night concert to conclude a fantastic day!

Honestly could not have asked for a better Friday! Looking forward to what adventures today holds!!