Valentine's Day

The week that included February 14th...

The Lovebirds...

So here's an interesting thought... Before Brad, I had to rely on the goodness of the hearts of my single friends for any sort of Valentine. That is correct. I was never really officially dating anyone on Valentine's Day prior to VD 2011. Which I, of course, am not ashamed of. That being said, I fortunately haven't ever found Valentine's Day distressing either, which I know it can be for people, and I just want to take this moment to give a shout out to all the wonderful people in my life that have always taken care of me. Especially on Valentine's Day. You know who you are. But, I doubt all of you read this blog...

On to the 14th.

Ok, so Brad is in school. I am working full-time, but we don't have a ton of loose change lying around for big gifts or anything, so this holiday, we decided we would keep it small, and do nice things for each other. We also decided to avoid the crowds of Tuesday night and go out/celebrate on Friday night instead. Also, this way we wouldn't have to get up early for school or work the next day. This was either lame or brilliant of us, and I choose brilliant.

So, Saturday before Valentine's Day I snuck away with Brad's car, and I cleaned it out, including vacuuming, which if you've ever seen Brad's car, you'll know this was a Valentine's miracle. Good deed: check.

Next day we went and had dinner with the fam. It was a PINK themed dinner, in honor of St Valentino or whoever. We made pretty twisty bread, which had a pink filling. And a salad. It had strawberries, so kinda pink... But there were also red jello hearts and twice baked potatoes that were colored pink, and a variety of other things. It was cute. And delish.

This is the lovely twisty bread. The bread looks a little better than it tasted, I'm afraid. I let it rise too long. Oh, well. I'll get better as time goes on. Thanks, Mumsy, for the recipe! It was still good, even if it wasn't as good as you make it!

This salad is SO good. I found it on allrecipes.com, and I changed it up a little, but really yummy. Romaine and spinach, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, cilantro, little red onion, raspberry vinaigrette, feta cheese, and sugared pecans. The recipe didn't call for feta, and it called for blackberries, shredded parmesan and walnuts, but... I liked it my way.

This is Mia reading me a story about dinosaurs on a pirate ship. She's cute.

Grant. Skinny jeans. Can't get much better than that!

Lyzie did my hair a lot that night. She braided it and re-braided it. She's pretty good. And such a doll.

Ava is working away at putting together Valentine's for her classmates. She is adorable, and so smart.

On Tuesday morning, Brad had to got to school early, so I made breakfast! When we left the apartment, there were balloons and Valentine's treats on our doorstep from the family holiday fairy (Brad's mom).

So cute, eh? Nedra knows I don't have many dish towels, let alone special ones for each holiday. This balloon offered about 5 minutes solid entertainment. And a little dizziness.

I guess these cookies are tradition in Brad's family. They have cherry centers! And do you know how hard it is to find heart cookie cutters when it isn't Valentine's Day?

At work we got suh-lammed with little Valentine treats or cards or little notes. We have a "fun-committee." Which, I gotta be honest, is pretty great. They come around with hot chocolate carts at Christmas, and made little bags for everyone to exchange cards at Valentines. On Halloween we all wore crazy hats and had a "harvest potluck." They're so... fun. I got a really special card at work. From one of the doctors there. He adopted me into his family as his daughter a while back because, I thought, he liked me. Well, turns out he just feels sorry for me. He calls me Eddie. As in, Eddie Munster.

I don't get it...

This is from Dr. Stewart. Caption: Eddie, I am giving you this card because I suspect as a little girl, you were the only one in class who never got one. (SAD).

They even spelled my name right!! That's my little red ribbon my dear friend Sue tied on my headset, to give it a little sparkle. That was for Christmas, though. I still wear it. That bag was full of Valentines, so eat that Dr. Stewart!!

Then, that night, since we had decided to go out Friday, we made an awesome dinner together. One I would gladly eat again. And! I got Brad a sweet little card that I'm sure mattered for about 5 seconds. We watched a movie together, and then went to bed. Simple and sweet.

Roasted vegetables. Ok, these are easy and so, so good. You cut up asparagus, onion, red, and yellow bell peppers, mix them with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, salt and freshly ground pepper. You heat a cookie sheet in the oven at about 450-475, and put the veggies on the hot pan. Then cook them for about 20 minutes until fork tender, stirring occasionally.

The pasta was a frozen bag of ravioli from Costco, which was also delicious.

When Friday rolled around, Brad took me to a restaurant called Hall Street Grill, that was pretty fancy. I mean, they offered to take Brad's coat, even. We knew it was legit right then. Thank you, Daddy, for contributing to our lovely 1st Valentine's dinner as married peeps! Anyway, after we ate, we looked for movies to go see, but nothing really looked that good to us (me), so we decided to get a movie we (I) wanted to see at Redbox (The Help, cuz I wanted Brad to watch it with me!) and get brownie mix and ice cream, because it was our DAY OFF of no eating treats. Woot! We made the brownies together, and ate them with ice cream on top. Best. Thing. Ever. Only thing I woulda liked more would have been having it topped with some homemade hot fudge sauce like my Aunt Kathy used to make. Well, she prolly still does make it. I just haven't been blessed enough to eat it for over a decade.

So...I just had my point and shoot, which is a good camera, but difficult to adjust the lighting. Well, perhaps I'm just clueless. Anyway, both plates were white. We didn't have one yellow plate and one white. This is chicken and something else. Not quite sure what. It was Bradley's meal.

This was mine, and it was good. It had shrimp and chicken, and had a spicy tomato-based cream sauce. Yum.

Aww, the happy couple. Happy Valentine's Day.

DIRTY THIRTY

Bradley McNeil Johnson is now 30 years old. He's an OLD MAN. And a dang good-looking one, at that!
So, Brad has a birthday in February. February 3rd, to be exact. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of cool stuff you can do in February. So I was stuck, Stuck, STUCK on what to do for it. My friend Veronica had a birthday the 1st, and she thought it would be fun to have a joint party for them, and serve Italian sodas, cheese fondue, and a chocolate fountain. That was easy. She was going to plan a party for my husband and her? Shoot, I'll take it! But then I felt kind of bad that I wasn't doing anything, when Brad had planned a whole big surprise party for me. Plus, I wanted his family to be involved. So, I was planning a surprise family party for Saturday, until...
I GOT TWO NIGHTS IN BEND, OREGON FOR LESS THAN HALF THE COST. So, that was what we did instead. The plan was to go and check it out, find a house, and buy it. But, we didn't get to that. We decided we would rather go for a hike, go mountain biking, go to dinner, and then go to the hot tub at the resort. Which turned out better, since Bend would be quite the commute for us.
We drove home Sunday, and stopped in Sisters, OR which was a cute little touristy town. It could be a fun town if anything was open. Every single window had a "Closed for the Season" sign on it. How many towns do you know of that are actually seasonal??
Then we had a family birthday/Super Bowl party when we got back, complete with pinata (thanks Ned!).
Brad is really having a hard time with being 30. But he's like a fine wine or cheese. He just gets better with age. At least he doesn't have to have a pre-midlife crisis, because he already bought (and sold) his motorcycle, boat, and truck before we got married. He got his fix. It should last him at least a couple more years.

Brad has been craving 5 Guys Burgers and Fries the whole year (1 month). As an awesome wife, I decided he deserved the very best for his birthday. You're welcome, babe!

Smith Rock in the Bend area, a rock climber's heaven, apparently.This is where we went on our little "hike."

Birthday boy overlooking part of Smith Rock State Park.

We were so scared... Has anyone seen a rattlesnake in real life? I think I really would be scared if I did.

Brad just wanted to stare at the river for awhile. He loves fishing. I think the river was calling to him, or the fish were taunting him.

I took this picture, and really tried to capture the beauty of Smith Rock. I'm still struggling with composition. I don't know... I need to read more about it. I wish I had natural talent with photography and didn't have to actually try to learn about it.

Here he is, the thirty-year-old. With his young wife.

That little speck on top of the rock is ME. I climbed and climbed, and dodged a lot of bird puddles, but I made it. You can see on the picture below, that had a walked a few more yards, I would have found an easier pathway to the exact spot, just on the other side. But where is the adventure in that?

So pretty! And so is the background! (haha)

Don't worry. He doesn't act thirty. This is us on the drive back.

The mountain bike trip was really scary for me cuz I've only gone once before and it was terrifying. This time, was supposed to be much, much easier, but then it turns out, there were ice patches along the trail. It was still fun, and it got better as I gained confidence, but we weren't able to ride the whole loop due to ice. We went with some friends of ours who just moved to Bend. They are tons of fun, and I was glad we could meet up with them.
We ended up going to dinner at Anthony's, a seafood place that I've only ever been to once before in Gig Harbor. The one in Bend overlooks the river and it was right at sunset. I kind of like splurging for Brad's birthdays, cuz I get to enjoy it, too. The food, environment and company were all great.

This is at Anthony's after hiking and mountain biking all day.

Happy Birthday, to the love of my life.

Potluck in the Park(ing garage)

The entrance to the potluck, after it's over.

One of the cool traditions of Portland is having a weekly Potluck in the Park. It's where volunteers gather together downtown to serve hot food (and a lot of it) to anyone who wants or needs it. I thought it was for feeding the Homeless, but not everyone that is in need lives on the streets. There were people who went through the line that have a job and apartment and everything, but were just struggling to make ends meet.
The program is 100% run by volunteers, and they serve a meal to nearly 500 people in an hour and 15 min. Not only that, people are given produce and baked goods, all donated by local groceries or bakeries. And there was no skimping on the portion sizes. There were three or four times that our director came up to my macaroni salad-serving partner and told her to "scoop big scoops! Big! See? Like this," and then proceeded to get about twice as much food on the spoon than she could get on it.
Yep, Brad and I went the last Sunday in January. It was amazing. We helped set up a temporary cafeteria in the middle of a parking garage. It's called Potluck in the Park because it is in the park, weather permitting. It's in the parking garage otherwise. I kinda think they're kidding themselves though. It's Portland. It just be Potluck in the Parking Garage, and should be held up in the park in case there is good weather.

Those pipes were dripping like crazy, but the volunteers even went around prior to set up to tie towels around them with duct tape to prevent dripping. Awesome.
These people are all nurse anesthetists/students and spouses. Fun group. I really wanted to keep my shirt and wear it as a dress, but, had to give it back. Wah wah.

I'm grateful for a job. I'm grateful for a home. I'm grateful for an incredible support system. I most likely will never have to utilize one of these potlucks, but who knows? All I know is, I'm grateful for the incredible people who have been voluntarily putting together a hot, nutritious meal every week for over 20 yrs for those who are in need. It is truly a Christ-like program.

And no. I haven't gone since. But we definitely will go again. Right, Brad?

Dancing in the snow

I don't normally walk around with my tongue hanging out of my mouth. I was twirling, and trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue. It's tricky business.

So it snowed a few weeks back. I LOVE how it can snow here and then be gone in the blink of an eye. Literally, I blinked once and the snow was gone.
It snowed on a Sunday, and Brad and I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a walk. We explored the surrounding area near our apartment, found a beautiful little pond that still had a duck or two, and broke in to a home. Don't worry. No one lived in it, all the doors were open (if there were any doors), and the wiring hadn't been done yet. I guess we really just walked around a construction site, but it sounds a little more glamorous to say we broke into a house. Town house. Town house frame, rather. Never mind...

Being true Portlandians, we have quickly fallen in love with nature, and, in particular, trees. Brad has definitely taken it to the next level, however. I think he's making this poor defenseless tree feel a little uncomfortable. I named the tree Amy.

I made that hat! If you look closely, there is snow in the background.

Ah, ha! See? It really DID snow. Proof is on the jacket. Isn't he dashing?

Ok, so, I wanted to be one with nature, too, but merely succeeded in getting tangled in a bunch of reeds.

Shout out to Brad: I'm really glad we take time to do things together, even if it's as simple as taking a 45 minute walk to explore our immediate surroundings. He's busy with school, homework, and clinicals, but I never feel neglected. And I think he might even ENJOY hanging out with me, which is nice.
As soon as we were done with our blizzard-condition/blinding walk, it stopped snowing. It made me decide to really live in the moment. I decided that just now. That sounds nice, but what does living in the moment really mean?

And, at last...

JANUARY

I'm almost caught up here!

I'm gonna get most of January done in this post, so, enjoy the length of it. Just bask in it! Cuz now I'm going to really try to stay caught up.

Bread Making (first coupla weeks)

Lately, Brad and I have been very serious bread makers. And we have perfected the amazing rosemary bread you get at some Italian restaurants. You dip the bread in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and pepper, and oh my stars, it is truly the best discovery (food-wise) we have made together. And I think it has now been made 3 times in our little kitchen. That's a lot of bread for 2 people, just saying.

This is the rosemary bread. Oh, it's so beautiful to look at.

This is it, pulled out of the oven, ready to be devoured. And yes, we did eat both loaves. Not in one day though, promise.

Brad's never looked so happy...

I just look ravishing in my PJ's and with my mouth full of food, don't I?

Beach Day! and Tillamook (January 14th)

Maybe not all of you know this, but Brad proposed to me after a beach day and a little trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. He drove me 14 hours (from Utah) up to the Oregon Coast because he knows how much I love the ocean, and that my favorite ice cream is Udderly Chocolate, from Tillamook. Anyway, we decided to do it again, (this time without the proposal and 14 hour drive), and we had a blast. You may not believe me, but the weather was actually better this trip than that first one.

We finished the day off at a little tavern of sorts. Whoops. We drove 12 miles up the coast to in search of a restaurant, only to find it closed when we got there. So, we did what we could. Ended up being ok food. I mean, anything is if you fry it, right?

Here we are at the beach! A place Brad went camping as a kid. It was pretty cold, attempting to rain, a little foggy, and beautifully gray. Sorry the picture is a little crooked.

Brad throwing rocks. I never really got into that. But he's pretty good at it. Dodges the waves and everything.

I really just wanted the view in this one. It always looks better in person, but it was a pretty beach. Surprisingly, there were other people there. They weren't speaking English, so maybe it was there one chance to see the Oregon Coast before going back home after vacation.

Or maybe they just really like the beach.

Brad as a cow.

So glad ice cream is our exception to the no treat rule. Ya can't waste a whole year in Oregon not eating their famous ice cream. Simply isn't logical. If you look closely, you can see Brad's shoulder angel talking on her cell phone.

Here's the Pub and Eatery. I got fish'n'chips, and Bradley got shrimp. We shared a cup of clam chowder. It wasn't bad. And it was the one pub in this tiny town, so it was kinda fun watching people come in, everyone knowing each other by name.

Decorating (This past week we finished)

Brad got me a gift certificate to Tai Pan for Christmas, and I kinda went crazy. My walls have been totally bare up until now, so this was such a fun surprise for me. Tell me what you think!

Just a little mirror. I like it. Simple.

Picture hanger with picture frames. I actually picked out some pictures to go in them this week, and Brad put them in, so we have pictures on the wall! So exciting.

I don't know, I just really liked the idea of putting a little baby plant in a bird cage. I'm assuming you're supposed to put in a candle or something, but I thought this looked kinda cool. Our very first plant together! (it's fake)

I. LOVE. THIS. CLOCK. 'Nuff said.

Brad picked this out himself for a gift for me. I "love" it! I think he has good taste.

Ice skating (January 21st)

Yesterday (yes, yesterday! I'm officially caught up, hooray!!) we went ice skating. We met a couple of other couples, each with one child, and just skated around for a couple of hours. It was so cold! I couldn't believe how freezing I was. And both Brad and I hadn't been skating for a LONG time. Needless to say, we were a little bit wobbly at first. Then, as we inched away from the wall, and gained more and more confidence, we had a race! I totally won. But, I think Brad may have done it on purpose so he could come up from behind me to scare me. So rude.

Us on the rink. Notice, we are not hanging on for dear life...

So far, I'd say 2012 has been a great year. I'm working away at the OB/GYN office Monday thru Friday, and Brad goes to school/studies all the time. We are enjoying each other and our family around here. And missing our loved ones that are far away.