General

I have a routine when doing laundry. I take the dry clothes out of the dryer, and walk them to the bedroom throw the clothes on the bed, I go back to the laundry room switch washer to dryer, and start a new load. I then immediately go back to the clothes on the bed so I can get them hung up before they get wrinkled. Someone beat me this afternoon. General will do anything for a warm place to sleep, including burrowing under clothes. He isn't on the clothes long enough to do harm, but I thought this was so cute!

Marilyn's visit

Ben's mom Marilyn came to visit last weekend. She came in Friday afternoon and left Monday morning. We had a great visit with her! I picked her up at the airport and we went to Abba Day spa for pedicures. It was nice to give a little attention to the toes and catch up. We had dinner on Friday night at our house with the housemates. This is the first visit she has made since we moved into a community house. It was also good to introduce her to everyone. While we were out for a walk we saw the Harkemas drive by. They came back to our house and hung out for a while. Of course my camera was out of batteries, and Marilyn forgot to bring hers, so I have no pictures of our Portland adventure on Saturday, so I am going to add pics off the website of the different places we went. Fun huh?

So first we went to H Mart, which is an Asian grocery store. It is quite the culture shock! It was very interesting though. The seafood section was huge, and included a lot of dried fish, and rare fish in aquariums. There was also a huge produce section, that included things I had never heard of before. After we went to H Mart we went to downtown Portland.

We rode the OHSU tram up and back down. I didn't think too much of it at first, but when I got on, I remembered that I am afraid of heights! My knees went weak, and my hands started to sweat. It didn't help that at the first support of the tram as you go up makes the tram swing. Nothing like swinging over I-5 in a tram car. I had a harder time up at the hospital though with the height issues. I was definitely glad to get back down.

When we came down we got onto the Portland streetcar and rode all the way through downtown up to NW 23rd. We had lunch at Papa Haydn's and Marilyn and I shared the most amazing dessert.

It had strawberries, meringue, and whipped cream. Delicious. After lunch Ben went to the cigar shop and Marilyn and I daydreamed in the paper store. So many ideas, so little time! We rode the streetcar back down to OHSU and drove home.

On Sunday we went to church, took naps, and took part of our worship group that meets at our house on Sundays. It was a great weekend! Very busy and tiring, but so nice to see Marilyn and catch up.

New blog post much needed

I always get disappointed when I go to one of my favorite blogs, only to find out that nothing has been blogged in a long while. How annoying! Once again life has gotten away from me and I have been a bad blogger.

We spent the last weekend in Newport with our housemates having a house retreat. It was such a wonderful time. We left after work on Friday and drove down in one car. The beach cabin we stayed at was right on the ocean..I mean right on the ocean. You could hear the waves crashing through the walls. So cool. We played a lot of games, which I was very excited about. We also went to a coffee shop in historic Newport to chat and get to know each other a little deeper. We took a test from The Five Love Languages, and also the DISC test that Lissa got at the office. It was very interesting to see how each of us differed, and how we were alike. It is nice to be aware of these types of things, especially when you are living with others! The time too quickly and now it is back to the normal flow of life.

My schooling is going really well! I am still enjoying my classes and the people I am going to school with. I can't believe I will graduate this December. I have to say I will miss my weekly class time, but I won't miss the homework. I have been very diligent about keeping up on my homework, which takes up a lot of my free time. People always ask me what I have been up to, and I always answer: work, school, sleep, work, homework, repeat! It is amazing how much easier homework is, when you are motivated to be in school. Ben has been very generous with our time together to make sure I have enough study time.

Work is work...it is amazing as a young person how much the economical issues directly effect my job and Ben's. I am so used to watching the news or reading the paper regarding these types of issues, but have never been directly effected. Today at work we received an email letting us know that there is a raise freeze until next year. They are also taking away our 401k match and flex schedules. Ben's work unfortunately is no better. They have had to lay off a lot of employees (even though there was not that many to begin with) and sales are way down. Please be praying for Ben's business to pick up. It is much needed!

We have started talking about whether or not we are going to make it to Indiana this summer. The jury is still out. We definitely want to go, but with work being unstable, and my schooling, we are not sure if we can do it. We are very excited to have Ben's mom coming for a weekend this month and her and Mark coming out for a week this summer. It will be good to see them both. Anyone want to come visit? We have a nice guest room available!

I will try not to be a stranger going forward, but for now I need to get back to my Using and Interpreting Statistics assignment.

I don't want to know what you might be thinking...

This might not be the best picture, I will give you that...but the reason for this post is to express the amazingness of this treat! A couple of months ago we went to the Veritable Quandary, which is a restaurant downtown Portland. I am apart of a dinner club, which might I add is a great way to try new restaurants. Especially when you are married to someone who doesn't like to eat out(Love you Ben). Anyways... these treats are served on the appetizer menu of this restaurant. They are a date, stuffed with goat cheese, one marcona almond, and wrapped in bacon. Te are then broiled to melt down the date. AMAZING! They do look much more appetizing when prepared by a trained chef. I fell in love with them, to the point of obsession. I went home and searched the Internet for the recipe. I found it! If you are looking for something to wow people with....this will do it!

Cool Christmas gift

My Dad surprised me big time with this Christmas gift. Usually we get money (which I don't mind), but this year he did something different. He took a picture of my sister and I when we were little, and one from Thanksgiving and put them in a double frame. He then went to the craft store and added all sorts of words to the frame. It was the thought that counted on this one. Very cool!

okay okay...it has been a long time!

Where do I start, when it has been almost a month since I have blogged? Sorry! Now I know why I have no blog followers. Inconsistency. I decided to pull some random pictures off of my camera for inspiration.






This house is where Ben and I stayed the weekend of January 9th, to celebrate our anniversary. This is the same place we stayed after we first got married. It is basically one big room that has 3/4 walls to separate the different areas. I really like that aspect, Ben doesn't. As you can see it is sunny. We had a nice weather weekend for the most part. While we were there, we slept, went to the outlets and random shops. We also went and saw the movie Marley & Me. This was the book Ben and I were listening while we were on our honeymoon. It was neat to see the movie together, three years after celebrating our wedding! We are working on listening to the Last Lecture now, very interesting and inspirational!

Happy Anniversary Love!

"We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet...what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

Three years ago today Ben and I got married at Newberg Friends with our family and friends surrounding us. This quote was on the back of our program, and it speaks the truth of what we wanted and still want our marriage to be about. This year Ben and I are not together on this day, because of travel, but I am loving Ben from afar and remembering the special time of our wedding, and special memories of the three years that have passed.

Ben-

I am thankful to God for you and our love for each other. I am looking forward to the lifetime that is front of us. I promise to care about everything in your life- the good, the mundane, the bad, and the terrible. Happy Anniversary!