Friday morning, I forgot to do my weekly recap here before we left for a super fun-filled weekend in Portland. (I blame Louis C. K. and I am not even kidding.) Anyhow, once we got there, I was going to borrow Rich’s laptop and do it at the hotel, but who feels like blogging in a hotel room when Powell’s is half a mile away? Not me, that’s who. So then I figured I’d do it a day late, but the Portland Saturday Market was beckoning, and Quarterworld was beckoning, and Gravy was beckoning, and…there’s a lot of beckoning happening, and finally I just said, fuck it, have a good time and write about that instead. The perks of being your own boss and also of this not being a job.
We’d had some debate over whether to stay in a hotel or try to Airbnb a house, and even though I was pro-house, I’m glad I was outvoted on that one. We really made the most of being downtown and having a pool. I think the kids went swimming seven times in one weekend. I got in twice; I love going swimming, (sort of) but it’s very nice to be at the point where I can just keep an eye on them from the hot tub. Big kids rule. Rich and Lucy also appreciate the proximity to Voodoo Doughnuts. Doughnuts are really not my thing at all, but when my husband and daughter go out at midnight and bring one back for me, of course I’ll eat the crushed Oreo frosting off the top.
We packed a lot of socializing into this weekend. We have some old friends who have twin boys Dash’s age, and a daughter Lucy’s age, so that’s pretty handy. The dad of those three is training for his first half marathon in March, and I think I might sign up for it too, because I will always find an excuse to go to Gravy as a show of support. I have another friend who has two daughters close to Lucy’s age; Lucy was really excited about seeing them, although I don’t think they actually said three words to each other. I’m sure it was very meaningful playing Tetris and Star Wars right next to each other at Quarterworld though.
We got some decent adult time in too. I was only planning to get a sitter for Saturday night, but I got a little confused using UrbanSitter and double booked, so we ended up going out Sunday night too. Very nice to enjoy one of my favorite cities with my handsome husband two nights in a row! We went out to dinner both nights, had drinks with a friend, caught some of our pal JoAnn‘s comedy show, and had an especially fun time at a place nicknamed The Sandy Jug. (Mom, don’t Google that one!)
One of the best parts of staying downtown was being so close to the weekend market. Very convenient to do some tax-free shopping. We mostly got Christmas gifts, but I did buy myself a skirt that I am obsessed with now. Super cute and soft and a perfect fit. The drive home on Monday was completely miserable due to horrible weather, but it was 100% worth it for that skirt alone.
