8.27.12

Last week was a long, hellish week. Especially Wednesday. On Wednesday, there was something wrong with the pull of the universe or a full moon or something because everyone was just off. A co-worker informed the office that she is moving to Montana at the end of the month. Since the turnover rate at my company is somewhere around 0%, the office is jaw dropped and moving with alarming alacrity to start the replacement process. They interviewed a Chinese woman on Wednesday and I was in charge of the meet & greet. I got her set up in the conference room and brought her some water. When I dropped off the water the woman looked at me and said, "Awww, you pregnant?" I shot laser beams out of my eyes and pretty much screamed, "NO. NO I AM NOT," and then ran out of the conference room. Now, I realize that I own a skinny mirror. The purchase was intentional and I actually spent quite a bit of time picking out the perfect mirror that best shrunk my butt size and boosted my confidence. But, pregnant?! I WORK OUT. 

Ben's friend, Chris, was in town visiting from Dallas. He's a chef at Sissy's Southern Kitchen off Henderson and his goal for Portland was to eat as much swanky food as possible. See: Le Pigeon. Chris stauged at Le Pigeon Thursday. He was told to bring an apron, knife and a sharpie. I tried to loan him my Cutco knife, but apparently Cutco's are just too fancy/nice of a blade and he'd make the kitchen green with envy. So, I provided the sharpie. The menu at Le Pigeon boasts Foie Gras, Pigeon, Slow Roasted Duck & Duck Hearts, Beef Cheeks, etc all of which we ordered. All of which, minus the Pigeon which tasted remarkably like pigeon crap, was surprisingly scrumptious. The only food that didn't seem to impress Chris from his culinary tour of Portland was the french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds aka Poutine. Aka dream fries. 

Mom and I bought plane tickets to Florida! We leave late September for the sun & sand. I plan on laying on a beach and eating bagels the entire time. It's going to be heaven. 

Since I found out my boss' pretty much lied to my face about giving me a promotion, I've been casually submitting my application to various companies. Most specifically NW Natural where I have now been calling for the past week and leaving bumbling messages about my interest in the Staff Assistant 2 position. Plan: to leave so many messages that the recruiting department gets annoyed and offers me an interview. I also applied to ScanOne where I passed the phone interview last week and have a face-to-face tomorrow afternoon. It's a good thing Lauren and I went preemptive interview shopping!

8.7.12

I woke up Saturday morning to a singing voicemail from my parents: "99 degrees in Portland it is. 99 degrees it is. Katie come down.... & 99 degrees it is." It's barely morning and Portland is already breaking the 90s. Dear Lord, my bones are going to melt. So, Lauren, Tyrone, myself & 1/4 of Portland headed for the Sandy River for a day of tubing, PBR & 50 proof sunscreen. We borrowed a 3-seater raft, packed a cooler with beer and trailmix and set off for the river. The plan was to park a car at the beginning and the other car at the end, but unfortunately we mixed the two up and ended up parking both cars at the beginning. No problem! When we float the 12 miles to the bottom of the river we'll figure something out then. Hitchhike? Cab? Sounds like a plan. In my head, I was going to be floating the Comal River with a Stephanie Plum novel and a buzz. The reality was me paddling in the front, Lauren holding my book over her head while cursing at me for bringing a book and Tyrone guarding the cooler in the back. Apparently, for relaxing river floats you go to the Clackamas, to enjoy class 3 rapids you go to the Sandy. Since I brought my book, we were obviously not prepared to go white water rafting. For a while, we gave it a good go. I was paddling like a mad man and screaming at Lauren every time her arm started to droop, "Lauren. BOOK" while Tyrone was in the back paddling like a mad man, probably going in the opposite direction of me. In the end, we got a little stuck and had to abandon ship. Lauren and I played leap frog from rock to rock and dragged the raft along until we made it past the rapids. The whole time I was very cautious not to cut my leg or arm on a rock and babbled on about flesh eating bacteria that prey on open wounds. After 1/2 a mile and surviving the rapids we made it to calm water and literally just plopped for the rest of the afternoon. Next time, we'll conquer the Sandy...or maybe just go to the lazy Clackamas. And for the record, Stephanie Plum drowned. 

I take a body sculpt class at LA Fitness a couple times a week. I've sampled the different instructors and decided that innocent looking Lindsay is pure evil. She teaches Wednesday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Since I have that memorized, I avoid going to that class Wednesday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Yesterday I went to the gym, put on my workout clothes, took off my glasses and headed for Jessie's non-life-destroying body sculpt class. I got about 5 minutes into the class when I realized that Jessie was not instructing the class, but the princess of darkness herself was standing in.  I really need to get contacts. Had I been able to see my instructor I would have opted for cardio instead of spending an hour squatting, crunching & arm lifting in unison. For an hour I muttered under my breath obscenities and made a list of all the things I would rather be doing. For example: burning my favorite pair of shoes, being a contestant in the Hunger Games, or lopping my head off and using it as a punch bowl. Somehow I survived and since I waited until the locker room before I started sobbing I got to keep some dignity. I also now waddle when I walk.

7.30.12

Would you believe our internet has been out?


Ben and I cut out of work early Friday to eat giant pretzels & sample beer at the Oregon Brewers Fest, aka my new favorite festival. See: 6am Bourbon Stout. Seriously, I want to take a bath in that beer. People who are gluten free were lining up to sample. No joke, it was that delicious. 

I was very excited to get out of bed last Tuesday. Who knows why, and now I regret it. But, at 6:42 am when my alarm went off, I woke up feeling energized and ready to start my day. So ready that I literally jumped out of bed. & this caused an unfortunate reaction. My phone also decided to trampoline out of bed with me…ending in a suicide mission. My phone has withstood free falling onto concrete, kitchen tiles and my butt and has always come out the victor. However, it seems when combating other technology – like senor laptop, it loses & gets a broken face.

Tuesday night, Ben came home with a Visa giftcard from work. He decided to spend it on a pocket knife and a ping-pong paddle. & maybe a poodle? 

Which brings us to Saturday: the afternoon of errands. Ben purchased a custom designed paddle where he can maybe attempt to beat the likes of this guy (click on link):

http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/gallery/clip/48050264_5200.do?keywords=table+tennis

& I replaced my phone at the Apple store. While my cell phone was backing up in the icloud Ben and I saw The Dark Knight Rises in Imax. Ben thought it was fun and I was mostly like this: "Ben, what did he say." "Wait, I didn't catch that." "Huh? I can't understand what he's saying." Regardless, I'll agree with Ben and say it was fun. 

Sunday was Bonbon's birthday! Happy 29!! Wish I was there to eat fried chicken and pie. And when I turn 29, I can only hope I'm so lucky as to get to wear a chicken hat while doing the chicken dance.