My Moma

Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom. I am so lucky to be your daughter and count my moments with you in my adult life as some of the best. Hard to imagine any mom being more supportive, more self-giving or more in love with her family. Wish I could be spending the day with you on your special day!

This Weekend I.../Guest Post

Biking riding weather!

Happy Monday! This weekend was exactly what I needed! I was going to go to Seattle to hang out with Kristen, but felt like I needed some time to just be in Portland and catch up with life-duties and some friends (near and far). I was able to sleep in both Saturday and Sunday and spent some quality time with friends in between. The sun poked its head out a few times throughout the weekend, which was much needed after a week of gloom.  Here is a look at my weekend!

Friday:

Had the best coffee I've had in a while

Whiskey Flights with Jenn at Southland Whiskey

A chill evening to end a crazy week

Whiskey Flights

Saturday:

Brunch at Vivace

Lunch with Fiona at Elephant Deli

Bought a new bike seat that has extra padding 

Relaxing afternoon before watching UFC fight with Jenn

Met up with Tony and Fiona in SE for a few drinks

Sweet Here After with friends

Sunday: 

Lazy Sunday morning

Grocery shopping prep for meal from scratch (post later this week)

10 mile bike ride in the sunshine (with my new seat!)

Made enchiladas from scratch with Tony

I also wanted to mention that I wrote a guest post for Jess over at Sasta that was featured this weekend. She has a lovely blog which you should go check out NOW! She is visiting Portland for the first time and she asked me to write about some of my favorite things to do in Portland. While writing it, I was reminded how much I love this city!

Link up with Sar and Syndal

#96 Brewery Tours!

Hops

My family was in town this past weekend and we part took in the event called Zwickelmania!! In short, over 40 breweries in the Portland area open their doors to people for tours, tastings and a question/answer sessions with the brew masters. My dad started home brewing a little over a year ago and I thought this would be a perfect outing for him. Plus, who doesnt like a good brew?

We started at Widmer which was amazing! We got to meet both Widmer brothers Kurt and Rob, got 10 or more samples of brews and had food pairings all along the way. The brews we tasted were ones I had never tried before; some even were experimental beers. My favorite of the whole group was the Columbia Common Spring Ale. I have been on several brewery tours before, but the one at Widmer was probably my favorite. It was well put together featuring their entire plant, highlighting the brewing process and sampling all throughout the tour. Plus we got to keep the little sample glasses.

Bridgeport Brewery

Our second stop was at Bridgeport Brewing Company. This little craft brewery opened in 1984 (same year as Widmer and the year of my birth) and was one of the first breweries in Portland. It is quite a bit smaller than Widmer and is highly committed to sustainability. The tour was short due to the brewing plant being so small, but it was cool to hear how much length they go to in order to be sustainable.
It is located in the heart of the Pearl district
and their restaurant features some great local
 flavor. My favorite brews are Kingpin, Ropewalk
and Summer Squeeze.



Our last stop was Deschutes Brewery (also located in the Pearl) where we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. In my humble opinion, the mac and cheese at Deschutes is the best this side of the river and I recently started adding bacon to it which has been delightful. The main brewery is located in Bend OR, which we went to last Spring. My favorite brews at Deschutes are Mirror Pond, Great Lakes and Chainbreaker. Overall, great weekend with my family and a chance to check two brewery tours off my list!

Deschutes Brewery

This weekend I...

So much has happened this weekend and its not even close to being over! My family has been in town and we have been taking one adventure after another. Feel very blessed with my family time...

Thursday:

Surprised with roses

My dad arrived via the road

A walk around NW Nobhill district

Beers and tots at Blue Moon

Trip to Trader Joes :)

Dinner and a home-brew at my apt

Friday:

Work; training on some new neuro equipment :)

My mom arrived from MT via the air

Dinner and Drinks at Matador 

Saturday:

Mani and Pedi with my Moma for her birthday

Brunch with my parents at Kell's

Brewery Tours (blog coming soon)!

First stop: Widmere 

Second stop: Bridgeport

Third stop: Deschutes with Lydia/Burk and James 

Drinks at Henry's with Jordon, Tony and parents 

Sweet Here After with Tony's friends

Sunday:

Lazy morning 

Brunch with Parents, Burk, Lydia and James @ Besaw's

Drove to Lebanon 

Dinner, games, brews and wine with my family

Monday:

Family time in Lebabon

Taking an inordinate amount of photos of my cute nephew  

I am a horder of things...

There are some things I cannot get rid of... Here is my short list:

-Voicemails! I love them! For the last couple of weeks I have been reminded that my mailbox is 95% full and I am at risk for not receiving future vmails. My problem is every time I listen to them I crack up because my friends are hilarious! Especially my friend Kristen and Camille- I wish I could turn these vmails into videos so you could enjoy them too!!!

-Pictures! I take a million pictures and often several of the same thing. But I always have such a hard time deleting them. Even the blurry, crappy ones. I think I fear that I might miss something if I delete it. I am getting much better about this, but still have a million pictures of my lovely friends/family.

-Snack food! I always buy waaaaaay too much food! I eat the food that will go bad, but food that has any sort of shelf life can live on my shelf forever. I am not sure if I forget about it or just get sick of eating it... but I know one thing, I dont throw it away ;)

-Magazines! I have the hardest time getting rid of them. I used to be crafty and use clippings from magazines for projects, but now I just read them and stack them in the corner for a rainy day (or something)!

-Ticket stubs! I love saving them!! I have been on the lookout for crafty ways to display them, but until then, they reside in my bedside table with a rubber-band wrapped around them. Occasionally I look through them and remember how much fun the adventures were- its amazing how many memories can be brought back by such a little piece of paper.

Just a few ticket stubs...

Music on my mind

Its been a while since I have done a "Music Monday". I miss them, to be honest. My love for music rivals my love for any thing else (exceptions: God and family). I have been in an introspective mood of late and have found specific songs really helping me put words to my thoughts. Here are a few on my list:

"Where there is desire/ there is going to be a flame/ where there is a flame/ someone's bound to get burned/ but just because it burns/ doesnt mean you're going to die..." Pink:Try

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die/ And where you invest your love, you invest your life" Mumford & Sons: Awake My Soul

"I can pretend that I'm not lonely/ But I'll be constantly fooling myself/ I can pretend that it doesnt matter/ Everybody needs something/ Fighting for something/ I know what you;re fighting for/ Cause we all want someone there to hold/ We all want to be somebody's one and only" Rihanna: We All Want Love

"I dont ever wanna let you down/ I dont ever wanna leave this town/ 'cause after all/ this city never sleeps at night/ Its time to begin, isn't it?/ I get a little bit bigger, but then I'll admit/ I'm just the same as I was..." Imagine Dragons: Its Time

I have been listening to a lot of country lately and its been good. Its like comfort food for me. I can get so lost in the familiarity of lyrics and find the moments that coincide with my life. Inevitably every time I listen to country...

Heres my current favorite jam. Enjoy!

Boundaries at work

Today has been one of those days... One of those days when each of my patients requires a little more of me than I have to give. Last week, one of my patient's passed away. Though I am no stranger to loss, this was particularly hard for me. I had treated this lady one day prior to her passing. One day she is working with me to improve her transfers in and out of bed and the next, she is gone.

Today, I had two patients breakdown in tears, one confess he had suicidal idealizations and the another admit to binging due to depression. At the end of the day, I know my limitations. I am there to listen. To redirect when possible, add prospective where I am able and most importantly validate their concerns. I am not superwomen, nor do my patients want me to be that for them. I am confident in my pre-established boundaries and know if I want to do my job well, these boundaries must remain.

But what happens when the compassionate, type A problem-solving side of me wants to fix all their problems? What happens when my MO for all my life has been to assist people with working through various problems (and in the mean time created unhealthy codependency patterns/relationships)? What happens when the face I am listening to is pleading for mercy from life's circumstances?

That was today. And now it is tonight. I was true to myself and my boundaries today, but I left work feeling like I wish I could have done more.  That being said, I also know if I would have tried to fix these individuals, I would perpetually be chasing my own tail. But I know I can be a shoulder to cry on and have two ears to listen. And that is what I did today today

A typical Saturday

I know this is my day to post. And what I want to post is a smile, a picture and wish you a happy weekend!

Wine tasting with Tony

A perfect concert

I love live music. For those that know me, I am fortunate to rarely pay to go to a show. Which makes feeding my obsession with live music affordable :) Last night I got to see Ellie Goulding at the Crystal Ballroom and she did not disappoint! If you do not know her music, you might say she is a cross between Florence & the Machine and Adele. She put on a great show full of fantastic lighting effects. While at the concert, I was thinking of components that make a great concert, better. Here's what I came up with:

1. Company- you must go with people you enjoy spending time with. Or, you can go by yourself (which isn't as scary as I thought it would be).

2. Venue- hopefully the venue you are at has good acoustics and sets the stage for the performers. I prefer the more intimate locals in contrast to stadium shows. Those are certainly fun too, but more enjoyable if you can be outside!

3. Proximity to the stage- luckily at the Crystal Ballroom we are usually VIP and right next to the stage. But in my opinion it is always worth it to shell out a couple extra dollars to be closer. Especially if you are at an intimate venue.

4. Personality of the band/singer- if they do not capture the audience or interact with them throughout the show, you may have just stayed home and listened to the album.

5. Strangers around you- if you are standing/sitting next to people who proceed to talk the entire show, it can be annoying. But if they are there to rock out with the music, it makes the show that much better! I have met some pretty cool people at shows I've gone to and seen them at subsequent shows.

There are many other things that contribute to a good show, but those are my top 5!

Wisdom from a 97 year old

Today I was struck by how temporary this life is. And that might sound strange because, for most of us, life is the longest thing we will ever do.  And there is certainly some truth to that. But today, when I was working with my 97 year old patient, I was struck by how temporary this phase of my life is.

She asked me how my weekend was; a question I get asked a hundred times on Mondays as there is no better conversation starter. I filled her in on the daily ramblings of my 48 hours of bliss. I told her about this new guy I've been seeing, the awesome dinner we went to on Saturday night and my musings following the Super Bowl. I looked up from my clipboard and saw this twinkle in her eye.

"I remember those days" She smiled and tilted her head ever so slightly to the right as she drifted off into what "used to be". She told me a few stories about when she met her husband, how beautiful their small farm wedding was and how the biggest blessing in her life is her 34 great/grandchildren. Her laugh lines told as much of the story as her words and I was mesmerized by her wisdom.

She told me not to take this time in my life so seriously. To approach each day as it comes and not worry about the next. She said the most important thing is to spend time with people you love, have conversations that matter (the weather is never an interesting topic to chat about) and sleep naked as much as you can while you still have a body you're proud of! I laughed so hard at the last one and then she added:

"And most importantly laugh until you cannot feel your face"

I love it. Hands down the best conversation I have ever had with a patient. Its days like this that make my job so worthwhile.

Hiatus!

Hard to believe my last post was the 10th of January! Even harder to believe that January is OVER! I have spent most of January getting in the grove of establishing a healthier lifestyle. Here is a snapshot of the last month for me!

-Spent tender moments with my nephew, witnessed him start crawling!
-Celebrated 6 months of employment at OHSU!
-Put in a lot of hours at work
-Went to the Book of Mormon on Broadway
-Spent a relaxing extended weekend in Central Oregon with people I love

-Worked out at the gym 18/31 days!
-Lost 2 pounds and 1 inch from my waist!!!!
-Watched the Seahawks' exciting end of the year push towards the Super Bowl
-Started budgeting (more on this later)
-Started Bible reading plan and attending church on a regular basis again

Its been a really good month! I made some good progress towards my goals, spent time with people I love and got some positive feedback from my colleagues/managers at work. Next month I am planning to blog every other day! I missed writing and missed reading other people's blogs. I also want to get back to checking things off my 101 list!