house guests!

I am so excited! Erica is en route to Portland as I type this! I called her yesterday on my way to work just to chat, and she said she had been looking at flights to Portland, and a couple hours later she bought one for this morning! What a random and fantastic surprise! I am so glad it worked out! And Sarah will be here Thursday night. We are going to have so much fun. I already have some things planned. Tomorrow night I think Erica and I will go to "Burger, beer and movie night" at the Mission Theater (as long as she doesn't mind seeing The Hangover). Thursday we don't have any plans, Friday I have to teach my early morning class and work from 11-7, and I don't know what we will do at night. I had planned for us to go on the Portland Underground tour, but it was already sold out today when I went to make reservations! Saturday will be super fun because we are going to Virgo/Pisces for dinner and drinks, and then I think we will go dancing with Alex at Boxxes. Sunday we are going to spend the day at the coast.

Today I washed all of our clothes, sheets, towels and blankets so everything is fresh and clean for my guests! I can't wait until they are both here!

virginia

I want to be in Virginia right now! I want to be with Ellie and go to Busch Gardens with Leigh, Cora and Hazel! And Erica too, but she lives in Hawaii now! Ahhh, I love Howl-o-scream! I so want to be there right now.

news

This weekend has been pretty smooth and productive so far. Yesterday I taught my early morning yoga class and had four people who were brand new to yoga. That is a lot to have in one class! But I was happy to have them, and glad that their first experience was with me! I told my class that we had four new students and that we were going to welcome them and move at a slower pace in their honor. The newbies were grateful for that! They all said they really liked it and could not wait to come back. Sometimes teaching a mixed level class can be so challenging. I tried not to do too many chaturangas because I didn't want to spend the whole class going over them, but at the same time the new folks were doing them completely wrong. "Elbows in" meant nothing to them. I also tried to give the option to flow through the half series or hang out in down dog, and everyone took the half series option. So I just decided to break the class down and make it really basic. I think even my regulars enjoyed it. I have noticed that the only time when people actually take the time to rest in down dog or childs pose rather than flow is when I am really kicking their asses. So oftentimes, that's exactly what I do. I subbed a class the other night at the new club and the teacher told me that he taught a very challenging class and the students had come to expect it, so I really gave it to them. Generally speaking, I don't really teach any poses that are especially challenging during "hard" classes, I just do a lot of vinyasa to get people's heart rates up and make them sweat. A lot. And they love me for it. And I love them for coming back ;)

So after class, I came home and tried to squeeze in a tiny nap, but my body seemed to be fighting sleep for some reason. I was tired at work all day, but it was a good day nonetheless. Very busy at work! I love working on Hawthorne. It's always busy and I get to do a lot of people watching, too. When I got home, Keith was out filming scenes for The Corners and I did two loads of laundry and did a lot of grocery shopping!

This morning I woke up at about 9, took a shower and made a really yummy bagel sandwich. I have gotten out of the habit of making sure to include lots of fruits and vegetables in my daily diet, so this morning I had a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, tomato, cucumer and plenty of spinach, along with a glass of orange juice. So yummy! Then I had some pear yogurt once I got to work. I am trying to make myself eat yogurt. It's pretty good for you, I guess. And my only aversion to it is that it's an animal product. Then the Voodoo Doughnuts truck parked right in front of my store and starting screaming from a megaphone about dollar doughnuts. Dammit! Suzy and I had never had Voodoo before and it's a Portland staple, so we each got one. Mine was a plain doughnut topped with peanut butter and oreo crumbs. I savored it and made it last for about three hours. Suzy ate hers really fast and got a sugar rush and then crashed! She had also eaten about 6 oreos before the truck came though! They were selling a dozen for only $5, and they're doughuts are huge and beat Krispy Kreme to shit. So that was a major bright spot in my day! Oh and I also had some green chai tea that was delicious as well. And a customer told me that Burgerville has veggie burgers and right now they have pumpkin shakes. Guess what I'm having for lunch tomorrow?

So I have some good news and some rather sad news as well. I will give you the sad news first. I talked to Carley yesterday morning (like normal) and she told me that Ken's father passed away. Ken was my boss at SyCom. He and his father were very close and from what I gathered, his death was unexpected. I am very sad for him. So I bought him a really nice card at Freddy's last night, and damn if they didn't forget to put it in my bag! So I have to go back tonight to get another one (for free, of course) because it was $4 and Ken is worth it. I hope it will give him some solace in the fact that someone on the west coast is thinking of him!

And now for the good news. Drum roll, please.........
My good friends, and favorite couple, Chuck and Cora are going to be having a baby in May! They are going to be such wonderful and loving parents! I am crossing my fingers now that I will be able to come home for her baby shower. As people.com frequently says, "The couple are thrilled." And so am I!

I'm finished blogging for now. Have a lovely evening :)

xoxo-
T

hi

I have been so lethargic recently! All I wanted to do today was sleep, but I picked up an extra shift at work, and an extra yoga class tonight! Gotta make that money. But it sure was hard to get out of bed this morning!

Ellie was born on Monday. She is so perfect and so cute from what I can see in pictures! I am so sad that I can't be there to pinch her sweet cheeks.

I just looked at Thomas' facebook pictures from his recent trip to Coos Bay. It was so pretty! I need to go there.

Sarah will be here in a little over a week. I can't wait! We are going to eat Mexican food and drink good wine and who knows what else? I am excited!

Gotta go!

xoxo-
T

IMG00694.jpg

Portland at night with the max in the background. The picture is in black an white. Unfortunately you can't really see that the entire street is lined with trees adorned white lights.
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happy birthdays

Greetings from World Cup Coffee & Tea. Again. I liked this place so much I decided to come back today! I'm on my third cup of coffee and feeling good! Also enjoying a raspberry cream cheese muffin, which is good but the cream cheese is a little too sweet for my early morning liking.

Last night Alex and I went to an art opening at a lovely gallery, had some wine and spent a while trying to figure out if it was hair or water we were looking at. Or was it both? We never could figure it out. I like to stare at art and interpret it. Or at least try to interpret it! I liked being surrounded by so many "arty" folks. It was inspiring, but at the same time it reminded me of what I will never be artistically! I envy artists. There are so many here in Portland!

Today is Dana's birthday. She is special to me in a way that I can not even put into words. Being on my "yoga journey" with her has been the greatest gift!

And another special birthday shout-out to Amy. She is 24 today!

I taught yoga this morning at 5:45 and decided not to go back to sleep after class. I usually do, but I am trying to get away from that. 5:00 in the morning is early, y'all! I have to work from 11-7 today and I am finding myself wanting a 4th cup of coffee. They say this cup is 8 ounces, but by looking at it I would swear that it was less.

Today was a good day, minus all the congestion. I really liked world cup this morning. I wish I could go there every morning!

I drove to centralia, washington to meet DJ for lunch and that was super fun. Centralia was a small and depressing town that looked like it was home to many meth heads. So needless to say, I am thrilled to be home in portland! The drive up there is really boring and not very pretty.

Tonight I am supposed to be going to some sort of art show with alex in old town. Should be fun, although I will really be ready for bed when I get home! I'm teaching early tomorrow morning and then working 11 to 7. Long day ahead!

I figured out how to blog from my blackerry, so look for lots more small and random posts! Yay!

I got some pumpkin socks in the mail from my mom today. What a treat!

I hope everyone had a lovely first day of my favorite month. Apparently some folks aren't drinking this month in honor of "sober october"? Hmm... okay.
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happy october

Happy October! It's a beautiful autumn day here in Portland and I am sitting in a coffee shop with Keith. He is reading the paper and I am drinking coffee. I gave it up for a while (about a week), but then I decided to hell with that decision. I love coffee, why would I give it up?! This coffee shop is great. It's called World Cup Coffee & Tea (totally reminds me of the World Cup we used to have in Richmond on Robinson) and they have cheap and tasty coffee. It's only $1.25 for an 8 oz cup, and if you get it "for here" you get a free refill, and the second one is only a quarter. You just can't beat that. Plus, they have free internet. So I got here 30 minutes or so before Keith and I got my first cup. When I went back for my refill (because you KNOW I can't have just one cup), the guy said, "Do you have a little cold or something?" I have no idea what is going on with me! I thought it was a cold, but now I think it may be allergies. Whatever, that's beside the point. He gave me my cup and I brought it back to my table and had a sip. Something was amiss. I took it back and said, "Can I have dark roast? I think you have me medium." He said, "Wow, I think you know your coffee! That is medium!" I think Portland has turned me into a coffee whore. I was never this way before I moved here!

So let me just give you a little reasoning as to why I love the month of October. First of all, I love the weather. It's perfect! The chill in the air is so fantastic. And I love to layer up. Scarves and sweaters and long sleeved shirts are the best. I also love the colors. Last October, as I was flying into PDX, the first thing I noticed was the colors of the trees. So beautiful! And pumpkins. Oh, pumpkins! I just love them. Pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pumpkin everything. Except for pumpkin coffee. I like my coffee black. And pretty soon I will have another reason to like October- Ellie's birthday! Jenn is going to be induced on Monday the 5th. Oh yes, and my birthday is in October as well. Along with Amy, Erica, Cora, Bekah, Julia and Shannon too I think.

My old friend DJ from Bottoms Up is in Seattle right now for a wedding. He moved to Los Angeles a couple of years ago. We are going to try to meet in Centralia today for lunch. I miss him!

I got an email this morning from CorePower Yoga informing me that I get to take a class for free on my birthday. I checked the schedule online and my favorite Jilly is teaching two classes that day! I am so excited.

I have been working on this blog for like an hour. I have been so distracted! So I think I will be done now.