another Portland trip

We had to drive to Portland in order to get fingerprinted for our Visa application- long way to drive for a ten minute appointment, I know. Anyway, on the way out of town we stopped off at a little Cuban Restaurant we had not yet tried, and we were pleasantly surprised. They had an entire menu, entitled "alternativos," dedicated to gluten-free and vegan options and had a vast selection of delicious beverages.

table candles

yerba mate soda and a lime drink with sugar cane stalk

my vegan fare

dan's vegan fare

 We had a great time, but boy are we behind on packing. We are scheduled to leave Eugene TOMORROW! We will be lucky if we can head out Thursday morning.

If you're my friend on facebook, you may have noticed that I am trying to sell a ton of stuff. If you aren't my friend on facebook, basically I am shamelessly marketing all my things to my friends.

Well, on one of my items,I got a response from a random craigslist person. The item was for a $130 basically new computer monitor that I was selling for $75. This guy only signed his name as D, or maybe it was meant to be a half smiley face, but that is how I will refer to him as I recount our conversations. 

D-  first email I get, one line that reads...."would you take $50"

Me- Umm, that's a little low, sorry.

D- "Darn, I only have $50, my mom said she would take me over there tonight"

(at this point my heart is breaking because I am picturing a little boy who saved up all his pennies to buy this monitor. so I ask Dan and my Dad if I should cave but they said, "No, for all you know he's a 30 year old guy who lives in his mom's basement"

Me- "I would consider taking $60"

D- "My mom said I could spend $55 and could get it tonight, would you take that?"

Me- "Well, I am going out of town. If it doesn't sell by Monday I will consider it"

D- (First thing Monday morning) "Can I come pick it up!?"

Me- "Uhh, I don't want to go that low, so I think I will just take it with us on our move."

D-  "Ok, I am going to borrow $10 from my mom, so $60!? See you soon!"

I am convinced it's some cute little boy, Dan still thinks it's some weirdo. Which do you think it is?

scroll down to find out!

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remember in old chain letter emails all the cheesy designs as you scrolled.

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HE WAS THE CUTEST LITTLE BOY!

I gave him the monitor all wrapped up nicely in the box it came in, and his eyes lit up! He went to grab it from me but his mom said, "give her the money first" so he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his money. Then about 4 hours later I get this email...."We Love it thank you D"

So cute! I kind of feel bad that I made him give me 10 extra dollars. 

We took a break from packing (which is going terribly slowly, but thanks for asking) to drop off my last library books. Dan captured me walking out of Lawrence Hall for the very last time. It felt particularly strange because my entire three years here were spent in one building. Sometimes I wouldn't leave Lawrence until 5am, other times I would arrive at 5am. Lawrence was basically my second home, and I may never enter those doors again.

 Anyway, after that we decided to procrastinate packing and ride our bikes to frozen yogurt. 

We crossed to the other side of campus...

 Rode through the art studios

 Across the bridge and onto the bike bath.

 Off the bike path and on to the surface streets...

 Then we arrived at Vanilla Jills. Vanilla Jills has the most incredible homemade frozen yogurt. First of all everything is organic, local, and handmade. Second, they offer two knockout vegan flavors 1)coconut lime strawberry- which is a coconut base 2) vegan espresso- which is a cashew base. They both taste as good, if not better than real yogurt and I know that's true because my meat-loving, dairy-drinking Papa Chris said so.  And if vegan isn't really your thing, they make their dairy based yogurts from kefir.

 We leave Eugene in two days! So, so, so sad.

traitor?

I am actually happy Japan won the Women's World Cup.

Ashland

 We made a quick jaunt down south to visit Dan's grandma Joyce. Normally we see a few plays while we are there (Ashland is known for its Shakespeare festival) but this time we just hung out with good ol' Joyce and had had a lovely time.

We walked around the town...

Lithia water never gets any better. This is mineral water bursting out of the fountain; no matter how many times I try it, it still tastes like blood/iron.

We also drove up to Mt. Ashalnd...

I'm starting to miss Oregon already.

the good ole days

Oh man! I found this old blog post from when I graduated BYU. I hardly remember what it feels like to have that little time on my hands...


April 29, 2007-
So now with finals out of the way, graduation complete, and my family back home, summer has officially started!

Here's the proof:
My Schedule Today
- woke up at 8
- fell back asleep until 9:30
- laid in bed until 10
- did crosswords in bed until 10:45
- checked my email and other such business until 11:30
- got out of bed and ate some cereal
- took a shower and got ready for church
- went to Dan's sacrament meeting
- went to Dan's house to watch last week's Lost
- went home to make dinner
-came back to Dan's to eat dinner on the couch
- watched American Psycho while relaxing on the couch
- watched Jeopardy while on the couch
- ate chips and salsa while sitting on the couch
- updated dan's ipod while sitting on the same spot on the couch
- did some more crosswords (same spot)
- it's now almost nine o clock and i have only moved from this position to either get more water or go to the bathroom
- i think Dan and I will go on a bike ride soon; I have had too much relaxation for one day.


I don't know what's more surprising...the fact that I spent that much time on the couch, or that I watched "American Psycho" on the Sabbath!!

definitely the latter.

More from Chris' visit.

Chris arrived on Friday and left Sunday; unfortunately it was a short visit. We did try to make the most of it though. Aside from the birthday festivities, his visit included:

The Oregon Country Fair. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, pictures of the fair never do it justice. There's so much happening all around you, so many sounds, music, smells, etc. that just can't be captured on film. We had a great time.

A visit to Portland- The weather was gorgeous, and check out Voodoo Dougnuts's new digs

I wish he could have stayed longer; there's so much more of Oregon I wanted to Boodle to see!

dan's birthday

Dan turned the big 3-0 yesterday! We're growing up so fast; Dan was only 24 when we started dating and I a mere 20. How time flies. We had a great celebration. Boodle was in town which made the weekend the best evaaa!

It began with a float down the mighty Willamette

Then dinner at Pizza Research Institute 

presents! a sketch book and his very own lamy, as well as a burberry tie

Then some amaaaazing vegan/gf birthday cake with friends in the park.

Chocolate and Fudge with Mint Frosting

Then off to Karaoke at the funniest bar ever. At one point Burt, an 80-year old singing karaoke, mooned the audience. 

notice the lady recording Dan on her phone?

jesse singing to a random bachelorette party

a little duet

ended the night with 'leader of the pack'- back up vocals by Dan

Happy Fourth!

Despite having to work all day, we had a nice little fourth of July celebration. After work, we went to a Bikram Yoga session, then headed to Dickie Jo's to take out some veggie burgers and fries. We set up our blanket and picnicked before the fireworks. 

This was my first time at Dicki Jo's:  the burger was pretty good- but at this point any burger that is both vegan AND gluten free is an A in my book.  Unfortunately, the fries were mediocre. 

After dinner, we spotted KK and Joe a few blankets away, so we joined them for some cards and sparklers. 

 don't mind the face, I was getting sparkled on; i.e. burned 

The fourth is really one of my favorite holidays, I hope yours was marvelous!