Our Weekend In Portland

This weekend we went to Portland to visit some friends and to wish them farewell as they are moving to San Fransisco in the next few weeks. Even though we don't live in the same city, it was sad to see them go, but exciting to see them start new adventures. Good luck J and M!!! We were also able to leave the girls behind so it was nice to have some adult time away. Of course I miss them the whole time, but I definitely feel like a different person when they are not around. Just being able to do my make-up without rushing off to help someone who is crying or needing to potty IMMEDIATELY is amazing. (And my make-up process takes literally 5 minutes if that tells you anything) It felt like a mini vacation.
Portland is such a fun city. Yes, its weird and random, but that's part of its charm. The naked bike ride happened to be going on over the weekend...Yep. I said naked. Really? Who comes up with this stuff? And after they do come up with it, how does it even become something that people are like, "yeah that's a great idea."? Craziness! Thank God we didn't have to witness it. It is such an interesting city. There is just stuff to do and see on every corner. We stayed across the street from a New Seasons grocery store. We had never been inside one before and oh my gosh, we were IN LOVE! Its like a cheaper, smaller Whole Foods. My husband and I were walking though the store and we were like, "look at that cheese!", "look at that salami!", "look at all these snacks!". It was like we had never seen food before and I'm sure people were laughing at us. The displays were so beautiful, the food was so fresh and in season and they had all the newest and yummiest products. I would get into so much trouble living next door. I just wanted to buy everything in there! I found some flower seeds:

Forget-me-nots, Bachelor's Buttons and Poppys.

Remember that strip of dirt in our yard where I planted Poppys and Lemon Balm? Well, some of the kids thought it would be fun to drag their feet through it and a cat thought it was the perfect place to go to the bathroom, so consequently I needed some replacement seeds. I am excited about these ones. I love flowers that aren't typical. We went to another store that had anything and everything you needed to brew your own beer. The bottles, the yeast; all the equipment. We found a Hops plant there that we have been wanting for a long time.

Its called Galena and apparently this is a female plant....So I figured, maybe we should name her Galena.

We don't brew beer, but we love the look of the plant. It grows up and up and winds itself around things and its really pretty when the hops bloom. So we have been wanting one to grow up the trellis that we will have in our backyard eventually.....hopefully this Summer.....right honey??? I have got to find a pot for it soon, so we can at least get it planted. I also got 2 different kits for making your own cheese!

Mascarpone and Mozzarella. I am so excited to try them. There will probably be a post or two about them this week....if they come out ok. How cool is that? It definitely inspired lots of ideas for me and I am so excited to share them all with you in the upcoming weeks!