The Carbzillas spent Memorial Day weekend at our new love pad in Portland. The eats were epic, and I am now on a juice cleanse in hopes of recovering. The best part about our place there is we get lots of exercise (walk to breakfast, walk the neighborhood, bike around), but I’m still gonna have to watch it in the future.

I started out nice and healthy with a “Chopped” salad from McMenamin’s Barley Mill pub:It was pretty much the most unchopped “Chopped” salad I’d ever had, but the bigger pieces let me pick around what I did and didn’t feel like eating. I’m usually not a big fan of Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing, but theirs is fantastic.

We walked our hood Saturday afternoon (a total of 40 blocks which is about 2 mile walk), rested a bit, and then met up with Lisa and her beau for drinks and dinner. After drinks at the Sapphire Hotel, where one Mojito pretty much put me on my keister (as my Grandpa would say), we sauntered over to Apizza Scholls for some of the best pizza I’ve ever had IN. MY. LIFE.First pie: 1/2 Sausage & Peppers, 1/2 Hot Capicollo & Niçoise Olives (my favorite).

Remnants of second pie after we’d fallen into a pizza pie coma and forgotten to take pictures:That’s the Pig & Pineapple half. The other half was Margherita.

We took four huge pieces home and ate them over the rest of the weekend. Good cold, but not *as* good.Super fun night out! We got a ride back, and then I pretty much crashed (after trying to convince Chris that we should walk over to the 10:40 showing of Hangover 2. Sometimes I get crazy ideas after a few drinks.)

The next morning, we met up with our real estate agents for a congratulatory brunch at ScreenDoor, a super popular breakfast spot within walking distance. Here, I met the love of my life:You’re gonna need a close up of that:That, my friends, is Praline Bacon.

Let that sink in for a second.

Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like: Bacon covered with nuts and sugar.

I had two bites and went straight to Heaven. But, seriously, two bites was about all I could handle (we’d gotten it to share, thank goodness).

We’d chosen to sit outside to cut the wait down from 45 minutes to about 20. Even though our teeth were chattering, we had a great time and the food was amazing. I had the Migas:and Chris had the Po Boy which I think had chorizo on it:We barely made a dent in our ginormous breakfasts, but we had enough fuel to walk back to the pad, where a nap was in order before heading out to a BBQ at a friend’s house. At the BBQ, we had sausages, chips, coleslaw, and cherry pie. My poor stomach. My poor neglected diet.

But let me tell you…it was totally worth it.  Some of the best food I’ve eaten in years.

Never fear, I’m back on plan now and getting to goal. Next post, I promise, I’ll give you a rundown of the blogs that are inspiring me these days.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Birthday, Janetha Bean!

We’ve been in charge of Flat Stanley. Are you familiar with Flat Stanley? You can read all about him here. This past weekend was about getting photos like this:Let me tell you…on a colder-than-normal, windy May day, Flat Stanley can be a demanding pain in the ass. We were about ready to send him off on a one-way cruise to Alaska:He’s actually gonna get a one-way ride back East tomorrow in a beat up manilla envelope. See ya, Stan!

As much as I complain (seriously, ANY obligation these days feels like an immense burden), taking Flat Stanley around did inspire me to find a solution to my funk. I told Chris that we’re breaking out of our rut and trying something NEW every week. Whether we drive to a new neighborhood and walk around, or go to a new movie, or try a new class…something, anything, to get us out of the house.

(It has been of NO help that the weather, as you can see in the above photo, has been miserable. Even for Seattle.)

So we put our plan into action by taking a Whole Foods picnic with us to a park on Sunday.
We’ve lived here 5 years and have never gone on a picnic. I don’t think Chris had ever had Whole Foods Hot Bar/Salad Bar! I know! What’s wrong with us????

Well, whatever it is, we’re fixing it NOW. Honestly, Chris has been slammed at work, and I’ve been wallowing in unemployment woes, but we are clawing our way out and it’s already making us happier. For anyone who’s in a rut, there’s no time like the present to make things better.

I’ll be back to post my sources of inspiration soon!

So last Thursday, I woke at 5 am to catch the 7:30 train to Portland, OR. Chris dropped me off at the station a little after 7 am, and there I sat until 8:30 am. You know when your eyes are so tired they sting? At least at an airport I could have grabbed a cup of coffee. It wasn’t a full train so once we finally boarded (italics denote irritation) I closed my eyes and snoozed for a while without fear of drooling on the passenger next to me.

We proceeded to stop at least three times for reasons that still don’t make sense. Door to door, my 3.5 hour train ride had turned into a 5 hour test of patience. (God Bless You, little IPad and my IPhone from which I could text folks I was meeting up with to tell them I’d be late.)

One of my dearest, oldest friends, who lives in New Jersey, met me at the station with his four year-old son whom I hadn’t seen since he was a baby. It’s SO great to get together with old friends who love you, no matter what. This was one of these visits. So the focus of the visit was to see my friend’s partner in OPUS at Portland Centerstage. He’d just gotten out of his matinee so we all met up for lunch at Baja Fresh (that 4 year-old has good taste in restaurants, his choice). We got all caught up over fish tacos:

10 WWPointsPlus for 2

After lunch, I shopped a bit (Powell’s! West Elm!) while the guys rested, and then I met up with Lisa from 110Pounds, who was joining me for the show. We met at Gilt Club, which was quite charming and cozy. It was a beautiful night, and I walked there from the Mark Spencer where I was staying. (PS. You can name-your-own price through their site, and I got it for a steal. Breakfast’s included and not too shabby.)

I was still kinda full from lunch so I ordered two apps, the Burrata and the artichoke soup.The Burrata was described as Burrata with basil seed, basil puree, petite flower salad, grilled bread. I’d never had it before though I know people who have made it at home. I think I built it up in my mind because I was expecting something much creamier and served warm. This was barely room temperature and so mild it was almost tasteless. The artichoke soup was very good, and, frankly, none of it mattered much as Lisa and I got caught up on our lives since we last saw each other.

We both really liked the play, which is always a relief when you’ve invited someone AND you know someone in the show (seriously, if you’re reading this in Portland go see it. I can get you discount tix!). I’m so proud of my talented friends!

The next day, I joined the boys on a trip to the Portland Children’s Museum (which ROCKS, by the way):

grabbed a quick lunch at the Deschutes Brewery (I had the hummus plate):Source

and then it was time to get back on the train. Sometimes you just need a whirlwind trip to another town! What’s amazing is that next time I’m there it will be in our own place! Can’t wait!

Frankly, I haven’t been feeling too great lately. I’ve had a lingering migraine for a few days and have just felt icky. The worst part of migraines is that I’m also really nauseous and feel body achey all over. Blech.

Wouldn’t be no big thing except I had a Sustainability convention today that I won a free ticket to ($150 value, ka-ching). I went for a little while and made sure some honchos had my calling card in hopes of landing a job. Then I skedaddled home to rest.

(Ok, I did stop on the way home to buy sugar because a 4 lb. bag was $1.50 at Safeway today. I won’t bore you with my couponing since none of my five followers seems particularly interested. Anyway, Chris now has 8 lbs of sugar to get him through the rest of the year.)

I need to perk up by tomorrow because two of my favorite people are in Portland with their son, and I’m taking the train down at 7 am for a quick visit. I promise I’ll take lots of pics and get back into the blogging spirit!

Toodle loo!