Magical Oregon Weekend

After work on Friday I headed down south to Portland, Oregon. The traffic was fucking terrible and the 3 hour drive took 4.5 hours but it was totally worth it. I met Marissa at her apartment in Kenton (N. Portland) and we shared some Rosé, meat, cheese, hummus and crackers before putting on lipstick (and a heavy, winter coat for Marissa because August? lol) and heading out to sip Moscow Mules at a cute bar with a patio on Mississippi. After that there were raviolis, fries and vodka sodas at another bar patio down the street. We hopped in an Uber from there and headed to Dig A Pony to drop it low and take snapchat selfies while waiting in line for the bathroom (as one does, duh).

^^Rebeka and Marissa running wild on the streets of Portland^^

^^HEY GIRL^^

When we were done sharing a beer with a stranger on the dance floor we ran out of Dig A Pony and into a random bar where we saw one of Marissa's ex-flings who  many summers ago asked me "Where abouts you be lurkin to, girl?" #winner. We hid from him in a photo booth and then emerged long enough to shout "HI!" at him and literally run out of the bar, down the street and into my first ever strip club!!

^^Photo Booth Goodness^^

I've always been a bit weary of strip clubs (is it degrading to the women? are they there against their will? do they hate it? are there a ton of pervs there?) but Sassy's totally changed my mind. It was so magical. It was like a really fun, packed-full-of-hipsters bar with badass, beautiful, real, talented ladies dancing around naked/mostly naked. I wanted to literally throw all my money at them.

Side note: can we talk about how I was definitely the least cool person in all of Portland? THERE ARE SO MANY COOL PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE! I don't know where they all came from, but my self esteem is glad they're not in Seattle. Lolz.

Then, as we were leaving the strip club, Marissa wanted to take a picture of a sign on the door and she accidentally left her flash on and the bartender came over and literally screamed at us "NO PICTURES" (no joke, screamed) and we RAN out of Sassy's and down the street and called an Uber that we made drop us off at a 24-hour donut shop where we bougth donuts from a literal child and walked the rest of the way home and I face swapped a pic of Marissa with Spock and it was so so good. And then Marissa made us frozen pizza which we ate before passing the F out at approximately 3:45am. In case you're keeping track, that's: meat, cheese, hummus, crackers, raviolis, fries, donuts and pizza. Fat kids so hard.

^^Best Face Swap^^

Saturday morning we grabbed coffee and went for a walk in Marissa's neighborhood before grabbing some things, some snacks and heading down to the Willamette River for a mini-beach/river day. I ate a Reuben on the beach (logical) and we played on our phones behind a stump and waded out in the water and I sunburned the back of my legs like the ginger soul I am. It was great.

^^A Reuben is a totes approps thing to eat at the beach, duh^^

^^River chilling/back of leg sun burning^^

 

 ^^Hey Gurl^^

^^Only Marissa wears flannel to the beach^^

^^River River River Riverrrr^^

^^LOOK AT MEEEE^^

^^Beach selfie^^

After the beach we headed to Salt and Straw on Alberta (my first time!!) for a long line and eventually ice cream. It was worth the wait. I got the carrot cake batter that had cream cheese frosting chunks, OMG you guys, so good. Eventually we made our way back to Marissa's apartment where I showered, squeezed her goodbye and then drove to Hood River.

^^Waiting in line at Salt and Straw for ice cream^^

When I got to Hood River I headed to Beth's house (because Beth moved back to Hood River, eeeeeeeeeee! yay!) to get ready for the pFriem 4th Birthday Party event at the waterfront park. We ended up meeting Beth's sister Emily at the party and ran into more friends there. We had beers, listened to music and took pictures in the really cute photo booth. It was a blast!

 ^^Sun setting and all the festivities and Beth's face at the pFriem bday party^^

 ^^Beth, me and Emily at the pFriem party^^

 

^^Photo Booth Magic^^

After the party I was a little drunk and got a SUPER delicious quesadilla from a street cart before meeting up with everyone again at the Pub. We eventually headed for Double Mountain and then I met Brian to chill and drink some pink wine.

My liver hates me.

The next morning there was breakfast at the Hood River Inn (coffee, water and mimosas included which is my favorite thing at breakfast) before I headed back over to Washington see my parents and Fluffy Face for a bit. Fluffy was begging for a biscuit for like 20 minutes so eventually we finally gave him one and he went to town. We are bad pet owners for giving him human food, but also, it was hilarious.

^^Fluffy and his biscuit^^

When I got back to Oregon a few hours later I grabbed coffee at Doppio with Gaby. We gossiped and discussed our V EXCITING upcoming trip before hugging goodbye so she could go on a boat with some friends. I then grabbed a pork belly banh mi and a beer for lunch on a patio with Josh and Sarah where I third-wheeled really hard and peer pressured Josh into coming to my birthday party in Mexicooo (successfully, I think?). It was a really eventful 1/2 of a day. I spent the 2nd 1/2 of the day driving back to Seattle (6 hours I'll never get back, UGH, thanks traffic) and then slept for a million hours that night.

Thanks again for filtering all that alcohol, liver, you're the best. And thanks again friends, strippers, alcohol and the state of Oregon for the great-ass time.

xo

^^I am impressed with the amount of photo booth pics I took this weekend, high five Oregon Rebeka, killing it^^

4th of July weekend 2015 AKA #5daysofBrit

This year for the 4th of July I took an extra day off work in order to have a very much needed 4 day weekend. The weekend kicked off on Wednesday which was Brittan’s birthday. A group of us went to dinner in Ballard and then headed to the Tractor Tavern for some live music and drinks. Day 1 of Brit was a success!

Day 2 of Brit didn’t really include Brittan, whoops LOLz. I loaded up my car that morning and headed down to the Gorge. I stopped in Portland along the way to have lunch with Marissa and Zara which was the best!

 ^^Marissa and Zara at lunch^^

 ^^exploding nucks w/ Zara on the hot as F*ck summer day^^

When I got to Hood River I met Josh and Sarah for dinner at Solstice, and a pre-dinner drink at Camp 1805, which is our favorite 3rd wheel date! After dinner Sarah had to go home to wait for her cousin and Josh and I went down to the British Pub to meet Gaby and my friends from high school, Rob and Matt for a drink outside. We sat outside and Rob offended some people and it was a successful summer night.

Day 3 of Brit was also hot as f*ck. Like 105 degrees hot. Ohhhh man. I woke up to find my mom had brought be a coffee from Starbucks (they live like 30 minutes from town so this was an extra exciting treat), I snuggled with Fluffy Cat and hung out with my parents for a few hours until I left to go meet Beth at Everybody’s brewing for lunch (bethfrand + nachossss!). I then got an American manicure, some coffee and headed to The Dalles to Brittan’s parents’ house. I arrived just after Natalie and Erin and SURPRISE! Des! Des emailed me a few weeks prior telling me she wanted to fly up to surprise Brittan for her birthday and after a few scares (Brittan thinking she was going to have to cancel the trip to work, ew) she made it and Brittan was successfully surprised! Birthday win!

When I got to the Schwartz’s we headed down to Mill Creek to sit in the water and drink a beer. Brittan’s dad took this great picture of us being “River Folk”:

^^Natalie, Erin, me, Des and Brittan sitting in Mill Creek, drinking beers^^

A little while later, Ambur, Adam and Rob arrived in The Dalles with awesome matching Salute Your Schwartz shirts for everyone (thanks Ambur!!). We spent the night partying at the spot where they have Milstock every year (which is the best place in all of the Dalles!). Brittan’s parents grilled us dinner, we ate birthday cake, we drank beers, we dance partied hard and eventually fell asleep under the stars in a big pile.

 
^^Me, Des, Rob, Natalie, Erin, Brittan, Adam, Ambur, Kathy and John^^

Day 4 of Brit was the 4th of July. The 4th of July is my favorite day. I love America! We woke up with the sunshine, headed up to Brittan’s parents’ house for breakfast and then headed over to Washington to the Klickitat River where we were supposed to be meeting Dustin and Pickle for a float. We didn’t have cell service and ended up not meeting up with them because we couldn’t find them (sad face emoji). We did find Gaby and Adam though! And a few other friends too. I ended up finding Dustin and Pickle at the very end of the day when I was driving my car back from the put-in spot. The float itself was longer than anticipated and I fell into the water going over some rapids at one point and f*cked up my finger (it was SOO swollen and bruised and still hurts, UGH). I also lost my shoes and a paddle during that. Luckily I was wearing a life vest. Yay for life vests! Rob also fell in going over this waterfall thing that had appeared because the water levels were so low and almost died. Sooooo I’m pretty over floating that river for the rest of the year. Let’s all cross our fingers this winter is a wet one.

After floating we headed to our hotel in Hood River. We got ready (read: put on our red, white and blue) and went to 6th St. Bistro with everyone + Josh and Sarah, for dinner and then we headed to the British Pub where we watched the fireworks and then I went home early because I felt soooo dizzy (dehydration? Maybe I hit my head AND my finger when I fell in the river? IDK but it was dumb).

Day 5 of Brit got off to a slow start but Dustin and I eventually met Brittan, Natalie, Erin and Des downtown Hood River where we ate ice cream to try and beat the terrible heat before we all went our separate ways. Dustin and I stopped in Oregon City on our way back to Seattle at my uncle Bert’s house. He was having a BBQ with my parents and my cousins, and so we had some delicious food to fuel the rest of our drive. 5 days of Brit was a success! Hooray for long weekend in my favorite place! So necessary!

Laurence Lake, Kittens, a Puppy and My Favorite People

 

A few weekends ago I spent my millionth summer weekend in Hood River and it was magical. I got into town Friday evening and headed to the Sandbar Cafe with Beth to meet Sarah stare at the above scenery, drink a beer and listen to some live music. It was the perfect welcome to town.

 

(get ready for some crappy iPhone photos...) 

^^Sarah, Beth, Laura and Launa making dinner^^

After the sandbar café we headed to our friend Launa's house for a girls night. We walked up to the Farm Stand (side note: I wish the Farm Stand was in Seattle, swoon!), bought some fresh ingredients and made a delicious dinner complete with wine and chocolate gelato which we ate with spoons straight from the carton while chatting around the table.

Saturday Josh, Sarah, Marissa, Zara, Kiva and I headed up to Laurence Lake for a few hours of relaxing by the water.

^^Kiva at Laurence Lake^^ 

 

After we left the lake I dropped Marissa and Zara so Zara could nap, picked up Beth and she, Josh, Sarah and I headed up to my parents' house to play with kittens and my parents' puppy (read: giant, 9 month old German Shepard). 

 

 ^^Me, Josh and Beth at my parents' house with kittens^^

 

^^Blaze and Snack (dog and cat) playing^^ 

^^After Sarah tamed this giant dog and we became friends^^ 

After getting our fill of Baby Animals on the Farm (was that anyone else's favorite book growing up?!) we left and headed to the Crazy Pepper for Mexican food and margaritas.

After we were full we relaxed for a while before heading to the pub to meet up with some more friends. The usual: drinks and chatting ensued and Beth and I ended up dancing our little hearts out at Jack's.

^^Tall Paul checking out Sarah's new tattoo at the pub^^ 

^^Josh, stylin' (per usual) in Beth's glasses^^ 

Sunday I met Sarah at the local juice truck (genius, they need one of those in Seattle too!), before we headed to North West 23rd Street in Portland for some shopping at Sloan. After I procured some new booties, a dress and a coat I headed back to Seattle. There was crazy traffic and it ended up taking 2 hours longer than expected to get back, making me an hour and a half late for dinner at Katie's with her dad (the latest I've ever been to anything, ever). Luckily she saved me a plate and I was early for dessert.

Even though I feel like I've been to Hood River a million times this summer, I'm still not over it. I want to go back ASAP. I foresee some amazing fall visits to my favorite place in the near future.

A Weekend of River Floating, Wine Tasting and Friendship

This weekend I went to Hood River in an attempt to make it down there as many times as possible both before summer is over and just in general. Friday night Beth and I had crab legs and filet mignon at her parents’ before meeting friends for sunset drinks at the Columbia Gorge Hotel and then a night of high-stakes jenga, mingling and dancing. We ended things with a post-2am-hot tub sesh and it was all just really great.

Saturday morning Beth, Greg and I ate bagels and drank coffee downtown and then met a group of our friends, piled into the back of a van (I got to sit in a camping chair in the van, very safe, obviously but also very awesome) and drove to the Klickitat River which we then proceeded to float down on inner tubes and air mattresses. I had never floated a river before and inevitably flipped over navigating some rapids, immediately after which my friends were there to pull me, the non-swimmer with the life vest, out of the water, back into my tube and then hold on to me through the rest of the rapids. It was a really great time and I’m so thankful to have such wonderful people looking out for me.  

When we got to the end of the river we loaded back into our vans and headed to a few wineries to do some wine tasting. At the first winery Beth and I broke a chair we were sitting in together and then I made Dave laugh so hard he fell on the ground after hitting myself in the face with a wine bottle. At the second I ate cherry tomatoes and basil out of the garden and saw some goats. After wine tasting we all went to dinner at Henni’s and then had a low key, early-to-bed night.

Today Beth and I visited with Marissa, ate breakfast, shopped for bras and undies, napped and walked Pop Tart the dog. Then I proceeded to have a minor emotional breakdown when it was time to head back to Seattle. Work has just been so stressful and busy lately and a few other pieces of the puzzle have been less than amazing too. Not to say everything is awful, because it’s not, it was just a hard transition back to reality. There are just so many good people and good things in Hood River and I wish I could move there. It kills me that I can’t, yet.

 The view from Syncline Winery  Dave LOLing at my clumsiness The grounds at COR Winery I missed the memo, or maybe they did?   One of us was more excited than the other to be taking a picture together :) It was so good to spend some quality time with this kid for the first time in too long – don’t let the face fool you, he’s stoked.

Hood River for Marissa's Birthday

 

Two weekends ago I drove back to Hood River to celebrate Marissa's birthday. I missed it last year because I was studying for the bar/living at the law library/generally hating my life, and I promised her then that I would be there to celebrate this year.

I drove down on Saturday morning, which, by the way, is far less traffic-y than driving down on a Friday night. I would highly recommend it. When I got into town it was absolutely beautiful outside, so I decided to play third wheel and I tagged along with Josh and Sarah (and Kiva and Lala) on a min-adventure to Mosier to visit Josh's dad.

 Sarah and I in Mosier

 

 LaLa and I (OMG I made friends with a dog!)

 

After Mosier, the three of us headed back into Hood River, blasting some old school Nelly #sogood. We grabbed a quick bite to eat from Colby at Hajukin Cuisine (also #sogood) then headed to Dog River for a little birthday prefunk with the crew.

 

From back left: Tonya, Caroline, Marissa, Rachel, Florian, Phoebe, Josh S, Me, Sarah, Tall Paul and Dave (front and center)



 

Marissa wearing my birthday gift to her: JORTERALLS! I'm sort of obsessed and want some for myself now. #OOTD

 

The rest of the nigh included drinks at the pub, a dance party at Jack's (my favorite) where I successfully requested both "Hot in Here" (because I just couldn't get enough) and "Blurred Lines" and got to share a scorpion bowl with my friends.  

 

Caroline, Abby, Huggie, Beth and Florian sharing some Scorpion bowl at Jack's 

 

Then, to top it all off, after the bars closed, Huggie convinced a cab driver to take a van full of us through the Taco Bell Drive through, after which we devoured $36 worth of cheap tacos around the TREW house coffee table before Beth and I walked back to her place to sleep for a  few hours.

 

The next day a few of us did breakfast then Beth and I decided to go into Portland for a few hours of walking around NW 23rd St, shopping and some really delicious mac and cheese before I drove back to Seattle. 

 

It was a really quick, super fun Hood River trip and I can't wait to go back for the 4th of July!

Weekend trip to Hood River (April 2013 edition)

Last Friday after work I hopped in the Corolla and drove myself down to Hood River for a weekend of fun with my favorites.

When I got there I immediately headed to Marissa's to spend a few minutes with her and Z before heading downtown to meet up with the rest of the crew for a few drinks.

 Me, Sarah and Beth at the Pub

 

It was so fun to be able to see so many friends so soon after I got into town. Yay for Hood River night life!

 

The next morning, after a sleepover with Beth in her tiny new apartment (which I love), she and I met up with friends (Sarah, Josh, Ashley, Phinney, Faith, Huggy, & Tonya to be exact) for breakfast at the Riverside Grill. We had bloody marys and eggs and the whole thing made my heart ridiculously happy.

 

#foodporn

 

After breakfast, Beth and chilled out at her apartment for a while. She hung some pictures on her wall while I offered moral support (best friend award, right here), we played music videos on youtube (A$AP Rocky!! #sogood), and got dressed up in our FOREVER SUMMER outfits (despite the rain... screw the rain!). Hawaiian shirts (and my new sunnies) are my new jam, by the way.

 

After we were dressed, we ventured out for fro-yo and we even dropped some off with Dana and Marissa at work. Because, I mean, just because you have to work doesn't mean you shouldn't get to enjoy some forever summer fro-yo love.

 



#FOREVER SUMMER #froyofairies
Beth and I at Parts+Labour

 

We also went to Ground to see Mo's artwork on the walls, and get some coffee from her and Calvin.

 

Mo, myself and Calvin behind the counter at Ground, where I worked on and off for 7.5 years

 

And we got a beer at Double Mountain, which I've decided is 100% the happiest place in the world. Take me back, please.

 

Beth with our beers at Double Mountain

 

Finally it was time to BBQ at Josh and Sarah's, so Beth and I went to Rosauers and got some steaks and beer to take with us.

 

We spent the evening hanging at their house, eating meat and drinking beers, chatting with some of our favorite people and having an epic all girls dance party for hours. I can honestly say it was the best night I've had in a really long time. I even got bruises on my knees from dropping it lowww. Whoops!

 

Marissa and I poppin' our Ps and droppin' it low!

 

The next morning I went to breakfast with Beth and Cole at Nora's Table (which is my new, very favorite breakfast spot in Hood River. Guys, it's soo good).

 

I got the chicken and waffles with some poached eggs. It hit the spot. And, after breakfast, when Beth and I dropped off Cole, he gave me a kiss through a parking receipt. Take that, Beth! It was magical.

 

 

 After that I hung around town for a while before finally heading back to Seattle. It was the best weekend with the best people. I love Hood River!! Take me back, please.