Meet Me in St Louis!

This has been the week of sports sports sports! 

Monday I got off work and flew to Las Vegas to hang out with my brothers. Tuesday morning we rose early to head to St. Louis for the Cardinals game that night!

After the traditional pre-game meal at J Bucks, we headed to the rally across the street from the stadium.

We had heard they were giving away tickets to the games and thought we could maybe score better seats. Instead I scored this...

They said the first person to show a ticket from another game would win it. We pulled one out of the bag Morty had and I started jumping up and down waving it in my hand!  I think I was the only one who had one, so there wasn't really a need to freak out about it. I went to the front and collected my prize. Now, what to do with it??

Although we lost, the game was still exciting!  There was lots of rally towel waving. We came so close to pulling ahead so many times. 

After the game we met up with Jennifer for another tradition: Ted Drewes!

I've mentioned their pumpkin pie concrete before. It was delicious as always. A trip to St. Louis is not complete without a little Ted Drewes. I am so glad we got to see and stay with Jennifer. Her trip to Napa this week fell perfectly with my trip out there so that we could hang out, go to the game and watch the sing-off together at night. We love our shows!

Here's to hoping I can get a ticket to the game on Thursday. I am making the trip no matter what. I can't miss the action!

Go Crazy Folks!

So proud of my Cardinals!  Never giving up. Thanks to the Braves downfall we had a chance. It came down to the final game of the season and we were able to pull out the W with a Braves big fat L. Post season here we come! I accidentally picked up a shift tomorrow night at work. But I am confident the game will be over by 4 here.

{Don't even try to use this ticket. The barcode is missing...}

Can't wait for Tuesdays game in St. Louis!  Let's get it done in Philly so that we can celebrate a Division Championship on Tuesday night with some Ted Drewes! :)

Sunday Funday?

Everyone these days is using the term Sunday Funday. This obviously implies that Sunday is a day of fun, right? I wished so much as a child that Sunday could be another play day. But my religion strongly believes that we must use Sunday as a day of rest. 

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" Exodus 20:8

When I was a kid and my grandma would come over for dinner, I knew I had to stay in my church clothes or I got a lecture from her. Back then I didn't see the point - it was a race for me and my siblings to see who could change out of their church clothes the fastest as soon as we got home. But now I definitely feel a difference when I choose to stay dressed nicely. It reminds me constantly that it is still the sabbath day and therefore I should be acting differently than any other day. 

So the point of this rant... Last week was the first Sunday in a long time that I was able to fully enjoy. I didn't have to work. I wasn't waking up early in a different city to catch a plane home. I didn't have plans with friends. I was able to wake up in my own bed and get ready for church without being rushed or preparing a change of clothes for my activities afterward. I knew that I needed to take advantage of this day because starting this Sunday I will be working on the weekends again. So I won't be able to attend my ward. 

 

But while sitting in church listening to some Family History specialist spew off stats about ancestors, temples and such I got a text from a friend -yes I look at my phone in church, who doesn't?- asking if I wanted to join her and another friend on a drive to the coast later that day. I was totally in. My only stipulation was to leave a little later so I could stay for church. While explaining the Keep the Sabbath Day Holy aspect of my religion to another friend, he didn't understand why going to the coast was any different than meeting him at a restaurant later that night. I argued that it is completely different. But is it really?

Is a walk along the beach breaking the Sabbath Day? I think not. I called it enjoying the creations. God gave us this beautiful earth. And I took the time to enjoy it on Sunday. 

We parked at the first beach entrance we came to in Cannon Beach and walked all the way down to haystack rock. The tide was way out so the tide pools were fun to look at. Lots of mussels and starfish were hanging from the big rocks. The weather was perfect. It had been raining in Portland so we were unsure of the weather at the beach. But it turned out to be so perfect. I love days like this. Sometimes I find myself thinking that the coast is too far away. But for just an hour and a half drive I was able to enjoy one of my favorite scenes. I need to take more advantage of that. 

Go Cougs

Two weekends ago (yes I am behind) I had planned on spending my Saturday watching football and organizing all my stuff at my parent's house. I hadn't really touched any of my stuff since I moved at the beginning of the month. But on the way home from work on Friday night circa 11pm I decided that I would rather attend a football game then watch it on TV. So I made arrangements and set my alarm for early the next morning. Saturday I woke up and no sooner was I heading to SLC. (My coworkers tease me that SLC is the only place I go to. Yes, I may fly there a lot, but I go many other places too!) I met my brothers in the airport. Their flight from Vegas got in an hour after mine. Then we headed down to Cougar Town for the BYU vs. Utah football game - The Holy War or The Desert Duel as some like to call it. We stopped at Grandma's to drop our stuff off and visit. Then we met up with some friends at Costa Vida aka Cafe Rio copycat. My Guru's suggestion got knocked down. I was not happy about this. Sometimes I crave those sweet potato fries. If only there was one in SLC, I would be flying in just for lunch at that place. So good. 

After lunch we headed up to campus to get some stuff at the bookstore. I love my little visits back to campus. Especially with Mallory. After nap time and some more visiting we were on our way to the stadium with streamers in hand for all the touchdown celebrations we expected. If only we'd known...

Minus the fact that we lost, it was still fun to be there with friends and family. It was to be able to meet up with old friends that I no longer get to see anymore. Plus we got a picture with Cosmo! 

My plan was to fly out early Sunday morning to get back for my church in Portland, but I decided Saturday night to stay and fly out later so I could go with my brothers to my sister's house for dinner. Finally got to see their new house. Their girls were fun to play with and Bill and Heidi made bomb dinner as always. Plus we were treated to some of Bill's famous apple pie!

Fun weekend. Love my job. Can't wait for the next trip!

Go Ducks

Follow up from last nights post:

The final product from the paint your own pottery playdate I had last week. The green didn't turn out the right color but all in all I think it turned out well. Some things I'll do differently next time. But I'm pretty happy with this. Moat of all, I've never considered myself good at drawing. But this duck looks pretty good if I do say so myself. All freehand baby.

Who's down for a playdate next? I'll do my BYU plate next I think.

Blog Catch Up

I love blogs! I just spent the last hour and a half catching up on old friends via their blogs. Each one inspired me to not only be more consistent at blogging, but to have more interesting posts. Because I feel that everyone else's blogs are more interesting. But maybe that's only because I love knowing what's going on in everyone's lives.

What's going on in mine?

1. I am working a ton right now. I am trying to pick up a few hours here and there so that I can get some extra money saved up for some sunshine getaways when it gets cold and dark here in Portland.

2. Speaking of cold and dark, it rained today. And I am happy. I love jacket weather. Boots and a light jacket/sweater plus a scarf are my fave! Especially this summer. I didn't feel like wearing all my summer skirts I have so I was always struggling to find outfits. So bring on the cold!

3. I also am trying to work more and get more cash flow so I can move out into my own apartment. I am not finding anything I love right now which frustrates me to no end. But I am holding out. No need to rush into a lease if I have a perfectly good place to stay for now.

4. I got a tip today at work. $15! I was helping this guy who missed his flight to BOS by 10 minutes because he read the time wrong. If I were to rebook him on my computer it would have cost him over $200 more than what he paid for his original ticket. I felt bad for the dude and we had no line so I started looking at other options and decided to go on our website to see if there was a cheaper deal. Sure enough I helped him rebook himself online and it didn't cost him a penny extra. So he was very grateful and handed me a tip even though I told him I wasn't allowed to take it. He was cute, so he probably just was hitting on me. Typical. But really I am glad I was able to help him out.

5. My body hurts. In preparation for Hawaii: Dec '11, I am restarting to be serious about working out. Jillian Michaels is affecting me more now than ever before. Once I add regular running with it maybe things will be different.

6. BYU/Utah football game. Do I go? Or stay here in Portland for a relaxing weekend of football all day Saturday?

7. I missed Peanut Butter French Toast by 30 minutes today. So Ben and Lauren and I have started a weekly tradish of going to breakfast every week. We go to a place called Jam. I LOVE it. I always get the same El Paso scramble. The thing I love the most is the portions are gargantuan and I am able to eat leftovers for the next few meals. Well today we went a little early so we could eat before Lauren had to work. As we were finishing up the cook started erasing the daily special and began putting up a new one. Texas Toast filled with peanut butter and white chocolate chips. drizzled with chocolate syrup. I asked the waiter how often that is the special and he said it was the first time he has seen it. So just in case we never saw it again, Ben and I considered ordering it to go for a later meal. After much deliberation we decided to forego the extra food and just press our luck. So cross your fingers it's there next time. Speaking of next time, I was wearing a SWA shirt today and the waiter commented on it and said he remembered seeing me in my uniform last week. Yeah, don't worry about it. We've become regulars. N.B.D.


8. I get to pick up the final product from my hours of painting last friday:

I can't wait to see how the green and yellow turn out. I have decided to make my own dinnerware. I will make one for all my favorite teams.

Ok, that's it for now. Until next time.

Cowboy Classic

 On Saturday I went to the Oregon vs. LSU game at Cowboy Stadium. My brother, Morty, had two extra tickets so he gave them to my other brother, Nate, and me. They were SRO, so we didn't actually have a seat. But it was still fun to be there with all of the excitement. Despite the loss, I would do it again. (Maybe bring my LSU shirt this time instead... Juuust kidding)

 

I got off work early on Thursday just in time to catch the last flight to Las Vegas where my brothers live. So Friday morning we got up and all flew together to Dallas. We wore our matching shirts. I had suggested that we do that when I bought them and never thought it would happen. But we all came downstairs in the same shirt that morning. Our connecting flight in ABQ was a plane that had come directly from PDX so it was full of 97 Duck fans already. The few non-Oregon fans definitely felt out of the loop. Luckily I sat right in between two of them. They were both cowboys from TX and Tulsa. I love cowboys!

 After getting settled at the hotel we met up with a friend from BYU. He introduced us to THE BEST BBQ in Dallas. I was a little skeptical of him choosing a good place at first. I wanted some real BBQ, and I was kinda feeling like I was about to be disappointed. Boy was I wrong. We went to Hard Eight BBQ. So first things first, you walk outside to the smoker and you choose the meat that you want. You point to what you want and tell him how many pounds you want. Then they put that on a tray and weigh it and price the meat right there.

  

 Then you walk inside and pick all of your sides. You have so much to choose from: Fries, the most delicious onion rings (you can tell they are homemade), mac and cheese, potato salad, creamed corn, salad, all the fixin's. Then you pay for what you picked and find a seat and eat away.

  

This is the before picture. My brothers and I had two trays together and were sharing it amongst all of us. This was one of the trays. 

 

 This is the after...  This restaurant definitely is something to add to the pro list when deciding if I will move to Dallas. I HIGHLY recommend this place to everyone. Their brisket is delish!

 We decided not to go to Gameday at the stadium in the morning. We enjoyed lazily waking up and watching football in the hotel room. Man that Auburn game was close. It would have been nice to see Utah State beat them, but alas, the better team always wins. (usually) Morty and I took a halftime break and went to get some Sprinkles cupcakes! Always gotta get my Sprinkles!

 

Then we headed to lunch at Pappasitos by the Stadium to watch the Alma Mater before heading to the Oregon game. If I had a penny for every time I heard an LSU fan say "Tiger Bait," I'd be rich!  We started just saying it for them. Most of them were three sheets to the wind by the time the game started anyway. After we were done with breakfast at the hotel circa 10am we say the LSU fans leaving their rooms, alcohol in hand, dragging coolers full of more heading out to tailgate. So 8 hours later around game time they were goners. 

 

 I've decided I shouldn't go to any big games anymore. After seeing them lose at the rose bowl and this game I must be bad luck... But it was still fun to cheer on the ducks for the first game of the season. Let's hope the rest of the season pulls out some W's!

Go Ducks!