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My sister (a newly single mother) recently visited our house with her two incredibly amazing children. I’m not saying they’re amazing just to be a doting aunt. These kids truly are incredible. Perhaps it’s because as the years go by, we grow closer and closer in relationship. I absolutely adore my sister’s kids, & they adore me as well.
One time my nephew pulled me aside & told me point blank to my face that he thinks of me as his second mom. True story, bro. However, I’d like to believe that I’m the cooler “mom” because I discipline the kids without yelling at them or scolding them the way my sister does. Granted, she is their actual mother…but the kids & I are tight too.
This past week rushed by in such a blur. My sister brought her kids to our house on their one-week school break. It felt like they were only here for a few short days. We, as a family, took the two kids to explore the downtown of the big City by the Bay. The kids made their first trip to Chinatown to buy traditional-ish costumes for their school performance. Then we took them to eat organic ice cream after a quick lunch. The next few days after that became such a blur I can hardly remember all the events that happened. We took the kids up to the mountains (which were eerily lacking snow). Actually we were in the mountains for two reasons: 1. The kids have never been up in the mountains before & have never truly experienced snow, & 2. My sister had to take care of a real estate project involving our former family vacation home. My sister’s kids were so excited to be up in the mountains & touching snow for the first time…although it was only a small barren patch of icy snow. We stayed at a very comfortable hotel overnight & the kids got to run around in the beautiful lake town full of lush nature.
We celebrated my mom’s (a.k.a. Grandma) birthday up in the mountains, took the kids to play around the creek, & had a fun overnight road trip. The kids were so captivated by the snow & the nature all around us. We had such a great, memorable time renting a mini-van & having lots of good laughs along the way. Alas, the kids were sad to go home. They made their Grandma a cute birthday card, but also drew a sad face on the back of it. When asked why, my nephew replied, “…because we are sad to go home. We want to stay here longer.” My niece, who usually has an I-don’t-really-care attitude even asked, “Why do we have to go home?” as we dropped them off at the airport.
I am so drained, physically, from this past week…I had to force myself to write this week’s blog post. There’s more stuff that happened that I want to write about, but my mind is stuttering right now, so I better sign off before I get more incoherent. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
I am continuing my previous post with more photos of my first trip to Portland, Oregon. There was so much to see (& do) I wish I could’ve captured every single moment in a photo. Here is my summary of my trip, in photos…
NATURE!
There was so much foliage around us. It was so amazing, as though an urban cityscape was dropped right in the middle of a lush forest. I loved taking in all of the tree-lined streets & beautiful flowers. Seeing all of the different colors of plants & flowers, it was like a unicorn pooped a fantastical rainbow over the fair city of PDX.
CRAZY ART!
The great Bridge City is well known for all of its funky art glory. I tried to take as many snapshots as I could of all the interesting art I found along the way. Some were cute like the music quote (“You can’t touch music, but music can touch you.“) from the Regular Show or the “Keep Calm and Eat Donuts” quote from Blue Star Donuts. Others were beautiful like the “Keep Your Chin Up” mural or the two framed art prints in our hotel room. There were also a few unusual, yet cool ones like the bicycles sculpture, the cardboard station wagon & camper, & the crack pipe application warning sign. Look! We even saw a graffiti drawing of Pedo Bear! Don’t even ask how I know that Pop Culture/Anime cartoon character…
MORE NATURE!
When I say more nature, I mean it. Every street was practically lined with trees from beginning to end. Every lamp post had a hanging flower pot. No matter where you look, you just can’t escape the greenery. It really softened the rigidness of the metropolitan city. It wasn’t all boxy high-rise office buildings, sleek glassed apartments & quaint retail shops. All of the flowers & greenery really made you feel at ease amongst the hustle & bustle. There are plenty of parks & parklets strewn about the city, so you can take a break & unwind after a day of hitting the hard pavement. We also happened to arrive just before the 2014 MLS All-Star Soccer/Fútbol Tournament. So there were MLS (& especially PORTLAND TIMBERS & Adidas) decorations all over the city! (I was so disappointed that we were leaving the day BEFORE the All-Star game…so, I had to bring home a Portland Timbers t-shirt from the Providence Park Stadium shop.) Can I get an ‘Amen!’ for the hottie Tim Ridgewell, please???
ARCHITECTURE!
There was so much beautiful architecture to look at…a feast for the eyes~! I am not very knowledgeable in architecture or design, but I do appreciate cool-looking buildings & well-crafted design. I absolutely fell in love with all of the apartment buildings surrounding my hotel. Semi-tall buildings constructed of steel, glass, brick & wood with a minimalistic look, that’s my type of architecture. That’s what I like. I’m cool with living on the 10th floor of a glass box, as long as it’s overlooking the city skyline or a park (& not facing a brick wall or overlooking a dingy mall parking lot). I was just in awe every time I walked down any number of streets & admired all of the buildings, especially the apartments. It almost made me want to drop everything & move to PDX straight away…ALMOST. I also loved how some of the streets in the Pearl District had deck-lined sidewalks. It kind of made me feel like I was walking on a beach. Also, I had to visit the Heathman Hotel. I’ve heard about it through a book series that I recently read. (Yes, yes, I know that book trilogy is becoming a clichéd joke, but please give me a break!) I just wanted to see if the description matched what I had read, & it did…but also I received many recommendations to have drinks at the Heathman Restaurant & Bar, & they make really delicious cocktails…a perfect place for some pre-cocktail cocktails before you hit up Pepe Le Moko or Kask for some even more delicious pre-dinner booze BEFORE you partake in your evening meal.
AND EVERYTHING ELSE!
And finally…the last bits of odds & ends from my trip to Portland. I’m a bit out of sorts as I finish this post, so I’m just going to make a few bullet points.
- Powell’s city of Books is the best place to hang out at 11:30 at night when you are slightly tipsy from “hitting the bottle” since 3pm in the afternoon.
- I not-so-discreetly took a snapshot of the 2 really handsome & attractive baristas from Barista (the coffee shop). This was taken at the NE Alberta St. location. (If only I could whistle…)
- Salt N Straw Ice Cream is probably one of the best craft ice creameries I’ve ever tried. I’d have to say it’s no.3 on my list of favorite craft ice creameries. My no.1 choice is Humphrey Slocombe from San Francisco, & my no.2 choice is McConnell’s Ice Cream from Santa Barbara, CA. I don’t really care for the liquid nitrogen made Insta ice creameries. They’re like the “flash fashion” of the dessert world.
- I just had to put in this one tiny little Portlandia reference. This is a nod to the Tina & Lance “Cacao” sketch from the show.
- I saw this really cool “Welcome” sign in Japanese on the door of a sushi restaurant. It was a nice little touch. The sign says 「いらっしやいませ」(Irasshaimase) which literally translates to “May I help you?”, but in this context it means “Please come in”.
- One night we were sitting in the patio section of Clyde Common eating our dinner when we spotted 2 luxury cars parked out in front. A couple of guys had rented them for a party, I’m assuming to impress their girlfriends or to possibly try & get laid later that night. Everyone that walked by, even the partygoers, stopped to take
multiplephotos in front of this Lamborghini. I’ll admit, it is a pretty luxury super car. - However, I prefer this R8 over the Lamborghini, hands down. Performance-wise, the R8 outdoes the Lambo, & I think it looks better than the Lambo, but everbody notices the glitzy Lamborghini first. I am an Audi fan through-&-through. Well, I am a slight VAG (Volkswagen Auto Group) fan. Both Lamborghini & Audi are under the VAG umbrella, so…they’re both pretty awesome cars.
- My 6-year old nephew (who lives in Los Angeles) is a HUGE NCAA College Football fanatic. I don’t even know how he got into college football (maybe from my brother & his dad), but he just loves anything related to football (even the NFL). He knows more facts & info about college football than most adult men. My nephew could impress the guys at ESPN for sure. One of his favorite teams is the University of Oregon Ducks…. So needless to say, I had to rush over to the Ducks Store to get him a few souvenirs.
That’s pretty much all from my travels to Stumptown, Bridge City, PDX, Portland… Until next time. Cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
My husband & I were so excited to visit Taipei for the first time, we definitely were planning on going nuts with our camera & take tons of photos. Here are some of the best highlights of our photo album.
Yes, graffiti is everywhere. It’s not really a shocking thing in most countries, but we were still excited to see street art throughout the city. This type of art really amazes us, & these big murals are so cool.
Like I’ve mentioned before, my female friend who got married is from Taipei. She was showing our big group of friends around town, & as we were walking to the subway station, we passed by this small shop selling funny t-shirts. All of us thought these two shirts in particular was very fitting for the occasion. The first shirt on the left says “My husband is the greatest”. The second shirt on the right says “My wife is never wrong”. Our group thought it would be funny to buy these shirts for our friends who were getting married that weekend, so they could wear them on their wedding day. Alas, they begged us not to get them, so we didn’t end up buying them. It would have been a funny story if we did get those shirts!
It was very interesting to see new/modern buildings mixed in with the older/traditional buildings. The city itself is quite clean & orderly, however, the older buildings feel a little run-down & worn-out. This is quite a dramatic contrast against the vibrant background of the bustling cityscape.
Rabbits & Foxes 
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