You gotta love it

Flashmobs make me happy. In fact, I have a secret desire to be part of one someday. Wouldn't that be awesome. I think that I would smile for a week if I got to be part of one. Any way here is one that I saw today, that really made me smile:

Things to do in Portland

For some reason the question of "What is there to do in Portland?" has come up a lot in the past few days. So I have decided to make a list of activities to do, things to see, and places to eat, in the general Portland area. If you have any thing to add, please leave a comment, and let me know.

Things to do in Portland:
• Washington Park
-Japanese Garden
-Children’s museum

-Zoo
-International Rose Test Garden

-Hoyt Arboretum
-World Forestry Discovery Museum
• Portland Gardens
-International Test Rose Garden
-The Japanese Garden
-The Classical Chinese Garden
-The Peninsula Park Rose Garden
-Crystal Spring Rhododendron Gardens

-The Portland Memory Garden
-Leach Botanical Gardens
-Mill's End Park
• The Grotto

• Portland LDS Temple

• Pittock Mansion
• Take a ride on the Portland Spirit
• Willamette Speedboat Cruse
• OMSI
• Saturday Market

• Shop NE 23rd Ave
• Walk the Waterfront
• Play in fountains Down Town
• Shop Laurelhurst District (SE 39th Ave)
• Berry Picking
• Rocky Butte/Powell Butte/Mount Tabor
• Kelly Point
• Columbia Gorge
-Historic Highway
-Larch Mountain

-Bridge of the Gods

-Bonneville Dam

-Punch Bowl Falls (these are the falls in the Temple Movie)

• Drive Mt. Hood Highway
-Timberline Lodge
-Hood River Valley
• Silver Falls


Places to Eat in Portland:
• Portland City Grill $$$ Fine Dining Portland
• Salty’s $$$$ Seafood Portland
• Roadhouse Grill $$ Steak house Gresham
• Calamity Jane’s $ Burgers Sandy
• Carol’s Corner Café $ Breakfast Vancouver WA
• Voodoo Doughnuts $ Doughnuts Portland

• iL Piatto $$ Italian Portland

• Marrakesh $$$ Moroccan Portland

Things to do at Coast:
• Astoria

-Goonies Tour
-Maritime Museum
-Dine at Pier 51
-Go to Longview Beach (on Washington Side)
-Visit Longview Kite Museum
• Sea Side
-Drive on beach
-Visit beach
-Shop at outlet mall
-Visit/shop Broadway St
• Cannon Beach
-Visit/shop Hemlock St
-Visit Beach
-Eat at Lumberyard $$ Steak/Seafood
• Tillamook
-Cheese factory
-Eat at Roadhouse $$ Steak House
• Linclon City
-Visit beach

• NewPort

-Whale watch
-Deep-sea fish
-Oregon Coast Aquarium

-Buy fresh fish

- Yaquina Head State Park and TIDE POOLS - a must!

Doughnut Math

I had an urge today, a doughnut urge.  Tom and I were talking to our friend Jenn, when all of the sudden a doughnut sounded really, really good.  It was unaminous, what better way to celebrate President's Day then to gorge ourselves one an All American Doughnut?  And what better place to get a doughnut then Portland's famous Doughnut shop Voodoo Doughnuts?  So we all pile in the car, and embark on the day adventure to the doughnut shop.  

There are 2 Voodoo Doughnut shops.  We went to one, only to find out that they only take cash...who carries cash?  So we decided to try and find the other location, which is in the Heart of Portland.  The roads in Portland City Center are crazy, so needless to say we drove around for a while with out finding our destination.  

So we headed home, a bit crestfallen, and then we remembered that there was a Doughnut Shop just a few blocks from our house: Winchelle's DO NUT (why people spell doughnut like that is beyond me).  We each wanted A doughnut; three adult = three doughnuts, simple math right?  You would think, but we found out that a "Doughnut dozen," which is 14, was only $5.50. Tom's doughnut math kicked in, and he realized we could get 3 doughnuts for $.88 each (thats $2.70), OR we could get 14 for $5.50.  Lets be honest folks, we are American, of coarse we ended up with 14 doughnuts. Did we need 14 doughnuts? No.  Did we want 14 doughnuts? No.  But the fact of the matter remains, we got 14 doughnuts, and we will eat, and enjoy those 14 doughnuts.  Why because we are American, and thats what Americans do, we buy things that seem to be a better deal wether we need them or not. But, Mmmmm boy, this time it was good.  I like doughnut math.

I don't know, what do you think?

It seems like the further I get into life, the more people around me have FaceBook accounts.  And the longer I live, the more people tell me to get one.  Well, I once had one.  Back in my college years, when I was on the cutting edge of cool (ha ha), I actually had a FaceBook Account.  But you see, I was so cutting edge, hardly anyone else had an account because no one knew what it was.  I did it for a while, and decided it was lame, because the only people I talking to I lived or worked with, and I could talk to them for real.  So I stopped using it like 4 years ago.  

I have a philosophy that there is a certain progression in the social world of the internet.  MySpace is for High Schoolers; FaceBook is what college and/or singles folks do; and Blogging is what post-college and married people do.  This makes sense, right?  Well, so many people in the past few months have asked me if I FaceBook, that I decided that maybe I should activate my account, just to see what all the hype is about.  I tried to sign in, and apparently my account had expired.  Oh well, too bad.  But Tom has been thinking about starting up an account, and if he does, then I might as well.  I don't know though.  What would that say about me if I digress in my own standards of internet maturity?  :-)  Is FaceBook really all the great?  Especially since I have a bog?

14 Days of Valentines

My mom is the cutest, sweetest, most creative person I know.  When we were little, she would always think up cleaver ways to make each holiday special and unique. But most creative holiday of the year, has and will always be VALENTINE'S DAY.  My mom goes over the top for Valentine's Day. Through out the year she looks for ways to tell and show my Daddi-o how much she loves him.  Some of her ideas are so cute and cleaver, that she saves them up for Valentine's Day. 

You have hear of the 12 Days of Christmas, well, my mom takes that 2 steps further every year with the 14 Days of Valentine's.  Starting on the February 1st, my mom starts showering my Daddi-o with a slue of Valentine's.  Every day from Feb 1 to Feb 14, my mom leaves some sort of Valentine for him to find.  Some are more extravagant then others, some are silly, some are mushy, and some are risque, but they all have one purpose, to let her Sweat Heart know who much she loves him.  

I know that my mom loves doing this, and we (all her children), love it too.  It was fun to see what she would come up with each year for her Valentine marathon.  Some years there was a theme, and some times not, but it is always fun.  And I think each of her kids have carried this tradition into there marriages.  It is fun to play this game, and spend 2 weeks showing your spouse with Love.  I think every marriage needs it.  As does my mom.  She has started a blog, posting some of her greatest Valentine ideas.  So if you would like to do something special for your Honey this year, and need some inspiration, feel free to check out her blog.  

Let Me Count the Ways (http://cutevalentines.blogspot.com/)

And don't feel like you have to do 14 Days of Valentine's, but you definitely can.  Or you could get some fun ideas for Anniversaries, or romantic nights, or for just because, or what ever.

Softball Softies

So any one how knows me, knows that I am a huge NCAA fan.  I was lucky enough to be Utah State's NCAA rep a couple of years ago.  This is a super cool story about an NCAA Softball game that took place in Washington.  Check it out.  

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3380875