A Very Circus Birthday

A few weeks ago our good friends (Monique and Chris) threw their daughter, Adeline, her second birthday party. The party had a circus theme, and the kids looked super cute in their costumes.  I tried to take a good range of pictures, but unfortunately I don't have one of the birthday girl (doh!).  And she looked really beautiful, too, trust me. 

I've had kid birthday parties on the brain lately - Hank's first birthday is coming up in just a few weeks.....we almost survived the first year!

Here's the circus birthday cake.

Our friend, Amanda, provided her face painting services.  Julian's getting a "Hank" tattoo in preparation for the real one he was getting (since gotten).

Hank (right) with his friend, Elsa.  Hank wore his costume, aka clown jammies.  We thought his polka-dot camouflage was pretty darn awesome.

Our friend, Manijeh, with her little strong man (Oren), getting another tattoo.

Check out this amazing strong man.

Hank thought Oren was pretty cool.

And boy, was he strong!

Now Hank's getting a tattoo, a mustache!

Here I am with Hank, and the mirrored shades befitting his awesome mustache.

Elsa with her dad, Jamey.

One more picture of us.  I can't get enough of those clown polka dot jammies.

Summer in the city

It's been a few weeks since my last post.  The summer's flying by, and it seems like there's a lot going on.  By the time Hank's in bed I only have an hour or so before I also have to go to bed, so it leaves little time to update my blog (or for anything else, like relaxing with some wine and catching up on my TV shows). 

We're currently off from work for a week of vacation (staycation), so I'm able to make this post while kind of watching the Today show and drinking coffee - heaven!

So I thought I'd do a catch-up post with some pics from the past few weeks, dating back to when we took our last week of vacation in July.  We had gone to Camp Sherman earlier in the week, then we had some friends over for a bbq, and had our garage sale. 

We had a lot of competition that weekend, so we had a pretty light turn-out for the sale, but Julian and I did sell over $200 worth of stuff.  We also set up a cupcake and lemonade stand so my sister (Emily) could make some money since she still, a year after her brain surgery, has no source of income.  She only made about $40'ish from the cupcakes & lemonade, but it's more than she had at the beginning of the day.

Here are some pics of our bbq:

Our good friends Jim, and Krystin

Jim and Krystin's daughter, Josie, in our backyard

Our (also) very good friends, Susan and Andy, with Hank

Susan with Emily

 Here are some garage sale pics:


All our crap piled up in back at the beginning of the day, ready to be hauled out front.

Here's our set up before the sale got started.

Our friend, and neighbor, Holly with her daughter Emma, stopped by for a visit.

Me (and Hank) with our friends Grant, Yumi and their daughter Meyu, came and bought some stuff.



Em with the boxing Balboa (aka Rocky) puppet.  She had to buy it from our other sister, Anne, before the sale even started.



Em with Scarlett (our niece) at the cupcake & lemonade stand.

Scarlett modeling the goods.

Our friend Amanda holding Hank after the sale was finally over.

  

Yard Sale - come one, come all!

Tomorrow (Saturday, July 14th), we'll have a yard sale from 9am-4pm at my house.  It'll be a big family sale (lots of stuff from several of my siblings too).  We'll be selling cupcakes and lemonade, too.

Here's the Craigslist ad, in case you are interested.....I'll post pics of the event in the next few weeks...it's sure to be fun, hope you can stop by!

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/gms/3137095111.html

Birthday celebration at The Observatory

Last week I celebrated my 40th birthday, and my sister and best friend, Emily, celebrated her 38th birthday.  We're both Gemini's (the twins) and have always been called "the Hunger twins" by our friends (although that had nothing to do with astrological signs).  Although we're two years apart, my birthday is June 19th and hers is June 20th, so we've always celebrated together. 

Last year was a weird birthday, because I was 6 months pregnant, and Em had just had her surgery to remove her brain tumor (on June 1st of last year).  She'd spent two weeks in the hospital, and then a week in a rehabilitation unit.  We weren't even sure if she'd be released from the hospital by our birthdays, but she was just a few days before.  So we were super happy that the surgery had gone well, but her left leg had been completely paralyzed from the surgery.  She's regained some usage of it now, but it's still nowhere near 100%, and she walks with a limp and has to use a cane much of the time.  However, by our birthdays last year it was a whole different story, and she had very little usage and actually had to use a walker.   When I think back to a year ago I realize just how far she's come.  That was a really dark time for us, so this was a much better birthday.

My wonderful boss, Trang, and my co-worker, Jennifer, had treated me to some high class wine at Oregon Wines on Broadway the day before (on my actual birthday), and Julian took us both out to dinner on Em's birthday the following day.  We went to The Observatory, which is in the Montevilla neighborhood, at 8115 SE Stark.  http://theobservatorypdx.com/

One thing that drew us in was their cheese plate - Julian doesn't eat uncooked cheese, and I absolutely LOVE cheese plates.  So Em and I shared one.  It was amazing.  The cheeses were delectable and as you can see they do not skimp on the portion sizes.

We also got some of their oregano fry bread with some yummy dipping sauces (only $4 but we would pay more for it).

I didn't take pictures of our entrees before we dug in and ruined any photo op.  I had a special, which was a blackened snapper caesar salad.  Em had the Idaho Trout Piccata with saffron rice and peppers.  Julian had the pulled pork sandwich. 

The food is super delicious, and the service was great.  It didn't hurt that our server happened to be Em's old co-worker from The Jam on Hawthorne (where Em worked up until the seizure from her brain tumor).

Chillin' before the meltdown he had from being so tired (it was after 7pm after all).

Here we all are!  Thanks Julian for a great dinner.

Party time at my Broseph's

My older brother, Max, and his family have some great bbq's.  We've all been out there a few times recently.  We went out there in April for his oldest son's (Jarek) birthday party.  The weather was super nice at that time.

Then just a week or so ago we went back for Jarek's high school graduation.  In the year before he starts college Jarek's going to work on a political campaign in Washington DC.  Pretty cool job!  He's a really smart kid, so I'm not surprised he figured something cool like that out.  Here are some pics from both get-togethers.

Who can resist the cute butt shot?

Jarek with his friend, Lawrence.

My bro, JK, with Julian.

JK's daughter, Alex, with my sister, Mary.

My sister, Anne, with her favorite nephew, Hank.  Sorry, other nephews!

My bro's, Christian (left), and Max.

My nephew, James (JK's son) with JK's girlfriend Flynn.

The guys, grillin' it up.  JK (left), and Max.

My favorite nephew, James, and me.  Sorry, other nephews!

Self-portrait of me, and my sister, Emily.

Anne, who's due with her son Lucas in early August, and Emily.

Max's wife, Wendy's sister, Sue, and her hubby, Steve.

JK playing with Hank as Julian holds him.

Weekend at the Kenton St. Fair...almost

Last weekend we went to the Kenton St. Fair, or at least we tried.  We went Saturday, but turns out it was Sunday.  So close, yet so far.....Sigh.  At least we avoided the crowds, and still got to have lunch, check out the shops and actually see the Paul Bunyen Statue.  All without any rain (which was not the case Sunday).  I can't believe we have never seen this statue.  We've been on N. Denver so many times and never realized it was right there....across from the Dancing Bare!  Love that name.

Hank, me, my bro Christian, my Mom and Julian

I had to post this pic because (as my Mom pointed out) it looks like I'm groping Julian (which I was not, in case you're wondering).

Later that day, our good friends Monique, Chris and their little one (Adeline aka Lulu) came over for dinner.  We were long overdue for getting together.  We bbq'd some shrimp that I marinated in coconut milk, ginger, garlic, lemon and lime, and had salad and fresh fruit.  Yummy.

Julian and the Ham (aka Hank)

Lulu with Hank...cuties.

Mother's Little Helper...A Box Wine Review

I love me some wine....My bowling name was "Wineaux" for a reason.  I'm no wine snob either.  While I would prefer to drink a $50 bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir every night, my budget instead is more box wine.  And luckily box wines have come far.  Franzia is still sold, but it's also easy to find some pretty good stuff. 

Plus box wine runs in my family.  I remember going up to visit my grandparents and there always being a box of Franzia in the fridge.  Years ago I remember my Grandpa saying that he was looking forward to a "nice box of box wine" at a family gathering.

The first two months of Hank's life definitely drove me to drink.  He cried nearly non-stop when he was awake.  Boy, did I look forward to some wine every night!  So I've had time to sample quite a few box wines, here are the most recent ones.   Some are definitely worth buying, some are not. 

I wouldn't say they are each really worth their own review.  Instead, I've ordered them - from the one I liked least, to the one I like the best.  All of them are available at Fred Meyers and/or Safeway.  They are always on sale, and generally run between $15-25.  There are the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine in each box and it lasts for a month or so after opening (although not for me!).

Not so good.  Very dry.  Leaves you parched.

I don't remember much about this one.  Just ok.

Pretty good.  Pretty flat though.

I think I've had every Bota Box by now.  This is a new one called "Redvolution".  This was the runner up.

This is my definite favorite - it's a Spanish wine available at the Hollywood Freddy's.