April Backlog

These last 2 posts are kind of scattered since so much has been going on during the month of April. Besides Sarah visiting for a weekend, we also had Kristy and Pat come out to visit too! We took them to some of our favorite spots including the Oregon coast. They brought some nice weather with them too - it was 70 degrees and sunny! And in the pic below, you'll see how far along Kristy is with her pregnancy! She's due early July! This may be their last trip to Portland for a little while once the lil bugger comes out...


A picturesque view of the beach on the Oregon coast. The beaches are just massive! There's definitely no squeezing into small spaces on this beach (like we experienced at North Ave. beach in Chicago).
After the Oregon coast, we drove up to the Pittock Mansion to get a great view of downtown Portland. It sure is hilly compared to the midwest. Also, on clear days, we get some good shots of Mt. Hood in the background like in this picture!
We have started a new tradition with some friends in Portland. We get together for dinner once a month, and each couple picks out the restaurant location to try out. Last month we went to OM Seafood (our fav!). This month, Alvin (a fellow Northwestern alum whom we met through the NU Club of Portland), picked out Hot Pot City (which happens to only be 1/2 a mile from our place!). Yummm...hot pot! The other couples are Matt and Kristina and Courtney and Charlie. Courtney is actually an old friend of mine from sophomore year at Northwestern where we lived on the same floor in our dorm room. Small world! We've definitely taken advantage of our Northwestern connections here in Portland ;)

So to explain the last few pics in this post - I travelled to Detroit for work between the weekends Sarah visited and Kristy and Pat visited. We were in Plymouth/Canton for the first half of the trip and in Lansing for the 2nd half. I was really excited for this trip because I got to get together with Amanda for dinner one evening. I can't believe how long its been since I've seen her! There was so much to catch up on - she is working towards her MBA at University of Michigan. Sorry all you Ohio State fans! It was great seeing you Amanda! Thanks for taking the time out of your exciting consulting project to see me ;)

While we were in Lansing, we decided to stop in Michigan's capital building. Wow, was it nice. The senate and representatives weren't in session at the time, but it was cool to be able to tour the building and take some great pics.

The outside of the capital building.

The main atrium

The senate room. Those chairs looked mighty comfy.

So this video is our finale! At the Saturday market (read the below post), we picked up a new toy for Jas. It's like a little pillow with some catnip in it. She absolutely loved it! It was the best $6 spent. And most everything at the Saturday market is locally made, so it's nice to support the local artists and cat toy makers in the area.