SOME COOL (cheap) STUFF IN PORTLAND

I was just reading something about cool happenings in Portland and thought I would share a few:

• $1 matinees at the Mission Theater every weekend. 503.223.4527.


• Free sacred choral music at St. Stephen's Church every Saturday at 7:30. You have to sit through the Vigil Mass - in Latin, but I hear the music is heavenly. 503.234.5019


• Free food tastings at: New Seasons 11-5 Sat & Sun - all locations


• Free chocolate fondue for two at The Melting Pot when you sign up for the fondue club at http://www.themeltingpotclubfondue.com/.


• (this one cracks me up!) If someone acts out the boombox scene from Say Anything outside the window of Ginger Salon, they get a free deep treatment valued at $75. They will drop a gift cert out the 2nd floor window if you do this between the hours of 11 and 6 anytime between 1/28 and 1/31. 503.546.4689 http://www.gingersalon.com/


• Free order of large fries or small poutine (I had to look it up online - it's fries with cheese curds and brown gravy) when you answer a trivia question at Potato Champion, http://www.potatochampion.com/. Offer god 8p.m. - 3 a.m. Wed & Thur and 8pm-10pm Fri & Sat nights through Feb 14.


• Free vegan muffin when you bring an origianl haiku about sheep, meat, or bicycles to Black Sheep Bakery through Feb 14. http://www.blacksheepbakery.com/.


• A dozen doughnuts for $6 at Voodoo Doughnuts through the end of Feb. Called the "Hard Knox Box." http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/ (not for the faint of heart)


• Free full size cupcake from Saint Cupcake when you bring in an evelope stamped and addressed to your mom through Feb 8. http://www.saintcupcake.com/


• (this one's a little different so stick with me on this) $10 to rent a private karaoke booth every Tuesday night from 7-11 p.m.at Voicebox. I don't know how many people you can get into your private room, but it sounds like a fun thing for you and a few friends. http://www.voiceboxpdx.com/


• Free police ridealongs. No, you don't have to commit a crime! And no, it's not a "back seat ridealong." You can go for an hour or an entire 10-hour shift. Contact your local precinct at www.portlandonline.com/police and click on "Precinct Infomation" to find precinct phone numbers.


• 25% off your purchase at Music Millenium when you wear your swimsuit and a pair of cowboy boots and sing Johnny Cash. Seriously. Hey, some people LIKE public humiliation. This time, they can get REWARDED for it! http://www.musicmillenium.com/


• Free Valentine's Day Car that you create on Oblation Papers' antique letterpress from 10 a.m. - noon on 1/31.


• Get an extra $5 in trade when you sell your books at Powell's and metion "Morrison the Squirrel through Feb 14. http://www.powells.com/


• (this one is just weird. And I love it!) Save 20% at Tender Loving Empire (books, clothes, music) when you sing "Beat It" with your undies over your clothes. I'm not sure how long they are offering this and I can't find a web site. 503.243.5859


• Get an extra 20% off apparel Feb 4-8 at Macy's when you wear an all-red ensemble. http://www.macys.com/

Also, check out http://aroundthesunblog.com/ for great (cheap) things to do in Portland.

A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR

We had our routine appointment with the doctor last night. I was excited after I left, just with talking about how soon this could happen, how much she likely weighs right now, etc. She is such a MOVER! Doc Nok (our affectionate term for him) tried to get her heart beat FIVE TIMES before she actually held still long enough for us to see it's beating at 135 BPM. :-) Greg said she heard us saying she needs to hold still so she purposely played with us! I think he might be right. She weighs roughly 5 lbs 12 oz. As of last night, she was facing my back with her head down. Head down is good. We hope she turns forward in the next 5 weeks because that is the ideal birthing position. It's amazing to me how much Doc Nok can tell just by looking and feeling my stomach. I also asked him about the weird "bump" that forms when I'm on my back and lift my torso half way up, like doing a sit up. He said the ab muscles move to the side to accomodate the uterus so that "bump" that protrudes in the middle when those muscles contract is actually my uterus. Ewwww! It looks weird - but cool.
So only 5 more weeks until the due date. We are getting her space ready. I've mentioned that we have a cradle from Auntie Alanna, a changing table from Auntie Kelly, and numerous clothes from Auntie Deet. We also recently got a rocker glider, and a headboard with storage that allowed us to get rid of our nightstands. We are still looking for a 9-drawer dresser to best utilize the space we have.

WHAT'S THE DEAL?

The world is out to get me. More specifically, my customers are out to get me. Scratch that. The economy is out to get me. On second thought, corporate America is out to get me. (pause) No. I guess it IS the world that's out to get me.

I'm not paranoid or even superstitious. But I must say that today has started off with an eerie bang. My work day is quickly going in the crapper! A client cancelled an ad. That's not the end of the world, but her ad was quite complicated and had lots of changes througout the creative process. To make matter worse, the TYPE of ad she chose is a pain to cancel. None of that is her fault, but it's no less annoying. So I emailed her a summary of the cancellation and all of a sudden she says, "No - I wanted to cancel my OTHER ad." Her "other" ad is an easier ad to cancel, but then I had to go back and undo all the cancelling I had just done, ask for a credit reversal and a new credit, and and and. So I'm finishing THAT up and the phone rings. It's another client who runs the same ad weekly. They are on contract and have been for years. I tried to reach her Monday and Tuesday before the deadline, but she didn't get back to me so I took the liberty of just renewing her ad. The same ad she has run for years. Every week. You can guess what the gist of her call was today: "Cancel my ad - I don't want to renew it! Cancel it for this week! I'm not paying for it!" I explained to her that it is too late to cancel her ad. We agreed that I would give her a 50% discount.

Hey! Wait! I just got an email from another client and now SHE'S got problems. I'm telling you - hear me now and believe me now - THE WORLD IS OUT TO GET ME.

WHAT WOULD LIFE BE WITHOUT GIRLFRIENDS??

Me and the girls went to Rockaway Beach this weekend. It was soooo relaxing. We only left the cute little rental house twice - once to eat at the famed Tillamook Cheese Factory (yes!) and once to troll the town of Rockaway for an hour or so. The rest of the time was spent cooking, watching movies, making cards, scrapbooking, reading, playing cards, eating, pampering ourselves, talking, listening. Basically, everything you need for a perfect girls' weekend! Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the weekend. Girls, I love you!

"HOPE OVER FEAR"

I just listened to the inaugural speech given by our 44th president, Barack Obama. At the same time I was listening to him, I was writing to my unborn daughter. I like that President Obama didn't focus on government fixes or solutions that he himself is promising. Rather, he focused on OUR efforts, OUR hard work that WE as Americans need to do. We have an obligation to those who came before us, and those who will come after us, to do the hard work. It requires inventiveness, dedication, and sacrifice. For so long, my generation & the one after mine especially, has had a sense of entitlement. We have had our hands out, just waiting. I know I have. Now is the time to, as Ghandi said, "be the change you want to see in the world."

President Obama is not my savior. He is not my idol. But he is a hero of sorts. He is a hero as much as any of my fellow Americans are heroes in that he gives us hope. In the same manner, we give each other hope. I am tired of being negative about the economy. I am tired of the doomsdayers and the nay-sayers! As President Obama said today, it is time we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

The Bible says perfect love casts out fear. As we focus on the needs of the country, we are called to pray for our leaders. I hope you will pray not only for our new president, but for your fellow humans. Together, we can.

FAMILY TRADITION

Today was fun. Jeff led worship, Kelly and I sang, the boys played the drums, and Greg did Power Point. Others were part of the team too, but it was fun to have our family up there together. This was Greg's and my last time on the worship team for awhile. We're taking a "baby break." What a great way to end this chapter. Thanks for the opportunity, Jeff!

SEVEN WEEKS AND 5 DAYS

The countdown is intensifying! In 7 weeks and 5 days, roughly, we'll have a baby girl! Oh. My. Gosh. We attended a birthing class last weekend. By the way, I don't recommend cramming 5 weeks' worth of information into 1 and a half days. It was EXTREMELY overwhelming for both of us and we both "checked out" about 3 hours before the class was actually over. We were physically THERE, but not mentally.

Anyhoo, we've got the cradle set up (thank you, Auntie Alanna) and the changing table too. We figured out a way to make both of them fit pretty comfortably in our bedroom. We still want to get rid of our nightstands and replace them with a headboard that has shelving/storage. We're getting pretty good at learning how to best utilize a small space!

We are scared, excited, happy, apprehensive, ecstatic, and all of the emotions we can't even put into words! And the countdown continues......

CHEESY GOODNESS

I was so blessed this Christmas! I got wonderful gifts like comfy pjs, gift cards, funny movies, and special ornaments. The one thing that left me speechless was the Tillamook Cheddar Cheese Cookbook! I was literally speechless. If you know me at ALL, you know that doesn't happen very often. But come ON, people. They have a whole chapter dedicated to just mac and cheese!

To celebrate this great gift, we had Moelf and W over for dinner on Sunday. I made 2 batches of mac and cheese: one was their "plain Jane" recipe from 1925 and the other was more gourmet with ham, pears, and pecans in it. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Both kinds were soooo yummy! If you get a chance, you HAVE to buy this book. It's cute because each chapter highlights a different Tillamook dairy family. It also includes company history and photos. I was going to get it on Amazon.com if nobody got it for me for Christmas, but if you want to support local business, you can get it at www.tillamookcheese.com or www.powells.com.

Kell, Thanks for the gift! Hanson, YOU would love this cookbook!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's 2009 - - do you know where your hope is??

All over, I hear people expressing hope for 2009. I'm right there with them. There's something about a new year that goes beyond turning over a calendar page. It symbolizes a new beginning, a new outlook, and new possibilities. We have a way of "demonizing" the prior year so that ALL of our hope lies in the new year. That is where I must caution myself. Yes, there were many downfalls in 08, none of which I need to list here because you & I are well aware what they are. However, I believe everything happens for a reason. That reason, or reasonS, may not be clear at the time, but we have to have HOPE that things work out for the good.

For me, that hope is found in the Lord and the promises found in His word. For me, that hope can NOT be in world leaders, my own circumstances, or even the promises of well-intentioned loved ones. You see, those things are temporal. My hope is in that which is permanent, fixed, unwavering. In arguably the most challenging situation of the Bible, Job had hope, even as he stared down the barrel of life-threatening situations. He said, "You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety." Psalms says, "But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish" and "We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield."

I look forward to good things in 2009: a new president, a new baby, new memories with friends, etc. And I recognize the SOURCE of my hope and all these good things and I say 'thank you' for the good times and bad.

1 Peter 1:243-25 (New International Version)
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever."