I just loooove my efficient showerhead!

Yesterday the KGW's environmental reporter, Keely Chalmers, popped over to our house to interview me for a spot they did on the local nightly news about efficient showerheads.  I'm at about 0:21 (and Laea made it too!)

Happy Birthday Thor!

Today is Thor's birthday - but the little workaholic (kidding!) is too slammed to take the day off to go do something fun, so we'll be celebrating by watching THOR in 3D tonight at the movie theater instead. That should be a blast, and seems like an appropriate way to celebrate the 'ol thunder god's b-day.

Thor - back in his carefree law school days when he could take his birthday off to go fishing. 

Mom's Canon Beach Watercolor

I just realized I never posted this picture that my mom painted at her water color workshop a couple of weeks ago - isn't it neat?    I have zero artistic talent when it comes to drawing, painting and photography (what people generally think of as the 'arts') - but Anna and Mom are quite good - and I always love seeing what they're up to.

Williams' Susitna 100 Pics

Here are some pics from the start of William's Susitna 100 attempt over President's Day weekend.  W cranked out 50 miles in the snow before the shovel broke off the front of his sled. Dang!  But he had a great time.   Thanks to RW Renrag for the pictures!

W - attached to his sled -ready to run

Cozy in his coat - waiting for the start

A close up of the evil sled

Double Rainbow

Yesterday the weather was a bit crazy - we'd have huge downpours followed by periods of sun.  I stayed a little bit late at the office, and around 5:30pm happened to glance up and see this double rainbow!  One is really obvious - but if you look to the right of it you can see the faintest shadow of a second rainbow - it was really spectacular set against the stormy blue/purple of the evening sky.

Looking east towards Mt. Hood - from my office building in downtown Portland.

The Presidential Ham

Kathryn and Brian visited Portland over the weekend, and had the fun idea of going to check out some 'art' in the Pearl district.  Thor and I had no idea where to go to see 'art' in Portland (I'm sure this is not surprising to any of you who know us!) - so Brian selected a show out of a local indy newspaper.  His selection: The Presidential Ham.

The Presidential Ham ended up being a series of 44 oil paintings - one for each of our dear American Presidents.  As the name implies - in each painting the President is holding a ham. In addition to the hung portraits there was an interactive component to the show as well - there were two paper mache hams on a table that you were encouraged to pick up and take your picture with. You were then supposed to send your picture to the artist, Bijijoo. Below you can see Thor and I's contributions to their collection.  Overall it was quite an interesting experience - followed up by a delicious lunch at Kenny & Zuke's.  Yum!

Snow Day!

The weather reports have been threatening snow all week with weather advisories posted everywhere. Of course, nothing had materialized as of last night - so I completely gave up hope of seeing anything white & fluffy on the ground, and then we woke up this morning to a nice layer of snow covering everything! Excellent!   It's nothing like the snow coverage we had back in 2008 - but it's still fun to get a dusting, and it makes my heart happy to wake up and peer out the window from my bed to see the first snow of the year. It makes me feel like a kid again! 

What I was struck by this morning was that when I first opened my eyes I knew that it had snowed just because of the color of the sky. When there is snow on the ground the dark sky is brighter (more like a dark brown). I'm not sure if this will make sense to people who didn't grow up where it snowed during the winter because I think the difference is pretty subtle, but the black of the night sky is brighter when there is snow on the ground reflecting all available light back up into the sky.



Thor - on the sidewalk in front of our bank.

Rodeo & More Sewing

Last weekend Thor & I hit up the Professional Bull Riders tour stop in Portland with our friends Katie & Joe - it was a great time, we saw a few cowboys get tossed, and the main rodeo clown was an amazing dancer - he was hilarious!  It was also a great venue for us to proudly display some of Thor's grandmother, Tat's, south-western jewelry.  Tat had an absolutetly amazing collection, and Thor & I don't attend too many events where we can show off the pieces we have - we always enjoy it when we can though, and it's a fun way to remember Tat!

I also did some more sewing over the weekend - and was able to finish off a third pair of pants for our friend Jenn who is due in April.   Jen's having a boy - so I left off the ruffles this time around. I love the fabric on this pair though!

Kathryn & Brian Wedding Photos - Sneak Peak!

Kathryn & Brian's wedding photographer (Amelia Soper Photography) has a sneak peak of their wedding photos and a super sweet write-up on her photography blog.  Check it out!

Stormtrooper

I keep forgetting to post this hilarious picture of me in our friend's stormtrooper helmet. Or I should say, in one of our friend's stormtrooper helmets. They have multiple. And a pretty sweet collection of autographed Star Wars memorabilia to boot.



Beautiful Mountain & Light....Crappy phone camera

Last night after work I went on a ride up over Mt.Tabor and Rocky Butte. It was super chilly, but dry - which is a real treat these days. As I crossed over I-84 I just happened to glance to my right and get an amazing glimpse of Mt.Hood - the light was soooo incredible. This photo from my iPhone does not do it justice, but the alpenglow was spectacular!

Morning Fog

It has been incredibly foggy here in Portland the last few mornings. As I ride my bike into work I can't help but think "this fog is as thick as pea soup....I've always wanted to say that." Bonus points for the person who can name the 90's movie this quote is from (Anna - I'm counting on you here!)

This picture was taken from our new building at First & Main in downtown Portland - you can just barely see the Hawthorne and I-5 bridges peeking out of the fog. Beautiful.

My Little Bro is AWESOME!

I am just going to take a moment to toot William's horn and make sure everyone knows about his BIG race that he has coming up in February! William is running the Susitna 100 - which is a ski, bike or running race through the Susitna River Valley north of Anchorage. He has been training really hard - and I'm so excited for him. He's a real inspiration!

Here's William showing off his sled packed with his mandatory gear that he'll need to pull with him while he runs.

The race is over President's Day weekend (February 19-21) - so he's got just under a month of training left. Everyone should wish him good luck - and think speedy, warm, thoughts for him the weekend of the race!

Number Four!

It's Thor & I's fourth wedding anniversary today! I think I have posted this picture before, but it's the only image I have saved to my desktop - so it's getting posted again! (Plus - it was an amazingly fun fall day we had on the McKenzie River - so it's a good memory). The time has really flown by, and I have a hard time believing it has been four years already since our wedding. I am feeling under-the-weather today - so we're swapping our night out plans for a bowl of soup, and a rented movie. That's always enjoyable too though, so I'm not bummed out at all.

Kathryn & Brian's Wedding - A Great Trip to Seattle!!!

Last weekend we were in Seattle for Kathryn & Brian's wedding - it was SO much fun! I am getting way behind on posting, so I'm just going to throw up the photos I have from our trip in no particular order.

Anna & I in Aunt Susanna's basement the afternoon of the rehearsal dinner.

Anna, William & I at the rehearsal dinner at Via Tribulani.

Wedding hair.

Sodo Park - it was such a beautiful venue.

My First Football Game - UW vs. the Ducks

I went to my first football game this fall. That's right - first football game. Ever. We have some friends who are huge Ducks fans - and they had an extra pair of tickets to the UW/U of O game earlier this fall. Here's a shot from our box way up high in the stands


Aaaaand - the t-shirt I had to wear to get the free tickets. (Some of you will know I went to UW - I totally realize this is a bit blasphemous - but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!)

Merry Christmas!!! (and some Christmas Eve pics too!)

For Christmas Eve Thor and I went out snowshoeing up near Mt. Hood - we went to Trillium Lake, and it was packed with people! We immediately abandoned the trail in favor of heading off into the woods by ourselves with the dogs (Laea - and our friend, Emily's, dog Coop). We spent a good portion of the walk throwing snow balls for the dogs - which Laea especially liked to snap at in the air.

Laea - poised for the next great snowball.

Thor getting ready to throw a stick for Coop & Laea.

A snowball in my mitten - and Laea anxiously awaiting the throw.

But Coop got to it first and started to eat it out of my mitten. That's what Laea gets for being patient!

Thor - smiling to be headed on our way back to the car. We both had a bit of a cold over the weekend so we weren't up for doing too much trail breaking through the snow.

We capped off the adventure with a soak in our backyard (Thank you Sheri!) - it was a nice way to round out the afternoon before heading out for Christmas Eve dinner at our friends, Margi & Scott's, house.

Merry Christmas! We woke up and lit a fire to toast up the room while we opened presents.

A shot of the tree all lit up.

I got a new bike for Christmas (yay!) - so despite our colds Thor and I rallied and headed out for an afternoon of mountain biking with our friend Laurie. The weather report had called for rain, but it was clear and unusually warm for December - the riding was perfect!


Here I am with my new bike - I think I'm demonstrating how to go off a jump here (please note I'm showing exceptionally poor form here, and I don't, actually, know how to go off jumps!)

Thor & I on Christmas Day - 2010! Here's to many more Christmas adventures together!

So Portland

This video is hilarious! Ah - the lovely city Thor and I live in.