Fun Around Town, Part III

This three day weekend Daniel and I have been trying to entertain ourselves without spending much money. It was a three day weekend and Valentines Day, and when I told him at the end of last week that we only had $50 for the next week, he said, "That should be interesting, a three day weekend and no money." That is what led to my Fun Around Town posts. Today, was free admission to the Portland Japanese Garden. So off we went for some free entertainment. The gardens are very beautiful and Daniel commented that they are more beautiful and better kept then Seattle's Japanese gardens. There was a calligraphy art exhibit on display as well.










So, we made it through the weekend spending $30 at happy hour. An expensive happy hour!! That leaves us with $20, we can buy some fresh fruit and veggies. I think we'll make it to pay day!

Fun Around Town, Part II

The sun came out today. And it is a beautiful day. Daniel and I went to Laurelhurst Park today to walk around and then walked to the library to orient ourselves to our new library system. We are starting to feel like real Oregonians, now that we have the cars and pets licensed in Oregon and our Oregon driver's licenses, and now library cards in Multnomah County. I got a book of yard and gardening projects at the library and it has beautiful pictures in it. I am dreaming about my backyard looking like those pictures one day. I am registered to take a landscape design class later this month and hopefully can convince Daniel to go with me. Anyway, here are some pics from around town today.

He's dancing.
(That is why I married him because he can dance.)

Fun Around Town

I woke up Saturday morning to heart shaped french toast. It was a good way to start the day. After a session of acupuncture at the community acupuncture clinic, Daniel and I decided to venture on the MAX downtown to walk around and go to Powell's (the biggest bookstore ever). The MAX is about 4 blocks from our house, very convenient to hop on and go downtown.

Happy Valentines Day


Sarah and Elephant

Cool Building and Daniel

Happy Hour at Henry's

Daniel on the MAX

Out the Door

This Saturday

Daniel has been working very diligently to restore the vanity/medicine cabinet from our bathroom. He stripped it once and painted it, but didn't like the paint job, although it looked perfectly wonderful to me (and I am the picky one). So another stripping and repainting and some more obsessing and the door to the cabinet was finally hung and I was very grateful to have a mirror in the bathroom over the sink. But, the door did not shut properly. Oh no. So then there was sanding and fine tuning, and the door shut, but was still a little bit off. Oh boy. After a consultation with my dad this weekend, my beloved mirror is no longer hanging above the sink, and it sounded like it might be awhile before I have it back. So sad.

Painting Trim for Bathroom and Medicine Cabinet

Waiting for the cabinet door.

Voila! We had tried to find some salvaged hinges to replace the very old ones we had, but could not find the right size. But we found out the ones we had could be re-plated. They look very nice now after being re-plated.

Ought oh....

Last Saturday

Daniel had been working on cutting back the laurel bush (actually tree sized), in our front yard. It was over taking the side walk and the street sign and blocking the sun from shining in my office window in the mornings. I had trimmed it back a few times since we moved in, but it still needed a serious trimming involving ladder and long clippers and the falling of big branches. I am glad Daniel was up for the job and thoroughly enjoyed it, as he loves working outside. So, Saturday he finished the trimming and we borrowed Grandpa's truck (thanks Grandpa for always letting Daniel borrow your truck) and we headed off to McFarland's so we can pay them to turn our tree trimmings into bark. Here are some pictures of Daniel doing hard work and Beckett and I watching, as usual.

The laurel had been growing like a canopy over the side walk and covering up the street sign. Daniel cleared it all out.

It was also tangling with this beautiful red wood that my great grandma planted when she moved into the house in the 1920's.



It doesn't seem like it, but there is a surprisingly large amount of debris in this truck.



And it appeared very difficult to get out.



Good Job Daniel!

Urban Cowboys and Girl

Saturday night we had a visit from a friend that lives in Seattle, Matt. He was down this way visiting his parents outside of Vancouver, WA. He stayed the night Saturday at our house, and Sunday he invited us to come out to his parents and go for a horsey ride. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so Daniel and I put on our long johns and headed out. There has been much build up and suburban sprawl around their home, so we had to ride through some neighborhoods, but we had fun (except for the few seconds that my horse decided to run and I thought I might fall off). Matt's parents were very nice and gracious and even invited us to stay for a delicious spaghetti dinner. I think we might have to make some more visits to that place.

When we were riding through a field, these cute little goats came running over, as fast as they could possibly go, to say hi to us. They were pretty cute. I think I want a goat.

Walk in the Park

This afternoon, Daniel and I went to Forest Park in the hills of Northeast Portland. It is a very big park, we only saw a small portion of it, but enjoyed our 4 mile walk with Beckett through the trees. There is a big wide trail that we walked on and then we saw several little trails going off to the sides, we will explore those next time. We look forward to some more walks there in the future.






Last Saturday we went to Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland and walked on some trails there. We came across a nice paved bike trail that goes through the wildlife refuge along the river. We look forward to using that someday, but I am a fair weather bike rider, so we will have to wait until it is a little warmer.