Father's Day: Extra Special Edition

This was the first year in over 40 years that my mom was NOT here for my dad's father's day. She was in Mexico tending to her sick mom and was flying in that night. Trying not to miss a beat, I decided to invite my dad out for dessert/breakfast. Not to make my brother feel left out, I told him he could join us ;)

After much thought I decided to take Pop to the Waffle Window off of SE Hawthorne. I'd been there once with a friend and I was so impressed, I knew I had to take my dad.

I was hoping to get there early and avoid whatever line there might have been. I figured it was Sunday so people were at church, or perhaps local transplants didn't have their parents here so they wouldn't be out? Wishful thinking I suppose :)

Well, there was a crowd but it wasn't that bad, thankfully. After a bit of a wait, we finally got our delicious waffles. I opted with the Nutella and Fresh Banana, Pop got the Spring Fling which included: sliced strawberries, rhubarb sauce, coconut panna cotta, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and shredded coconut while Renato opted for something savory, the The Spicy Bacon Cheddar Jalapeno Waffle, pretty self explanatory.





Afterward, we decided to meander down Hawthorne a bit. Pop wanted "un taquito" to qwell his savory tooth and we happened upon a Mexican food cart inside a bus:



It was pretty typical, since it had a TV inside blaring soccer.



But this is an extra special Father's day. I'm a fan of The Portland Timbers MLS team here in Oregon. My brother has season tickets. Last week on Facebook, they announced a contest for the Best Timbers Dad. I emailed my brother and told him how I was going to submit, he asked if he could do it too. I said sure, it's for Pop anyway.

Today the announced the 5 finalists. My essay may not have been chosen, but my dad has! My brother's essay got my dad as one of the finalists. If you happen to be on FB, could you please like my dad's entry? All you have to do is "like" the Timbers, then "like" my dad's entry. It's that simple. Just go here.

I totally understand doing that stuff is weird with the whole internet thing so I won't be offended if you'd rather keep your privacy.

Anyway, whether my father wins or not...He was a finalist and people got to read his story.

Go Pop!

Cramming it all in

So, as far as I know, I am to start work this coming Monday, which means vacation is over tomorrow. I've had to change and move up a few appointments to this week. Plus, my mom had been gone for two weeks to I've been trying to cram in pre-birthday activities, early breakfast, Bar Method, working out, cleaning/organizing the house with DIY projects and finally a massage.

For a while now, I've been trying to plan out a day of Oaks Park rides and lunch with my oldest nephew, Dimitri and that day finally came yesterday.

I was planning on going to Oaks Park before lunch time, you know in case we got nauseated, but since Oaks Park didn't open till 12pm and I had done my bike ride and was starving, we decided to hit up lunch first, then Oaks Park. We knew what we were getting into.

My plan was to go to Lucy's Original food cart. Apparently they make burgers with...wait for it...cheese IN the meat. Wowsa! But luckily I'm a tia that looks ahead and before driving out there to find a closed cart...I looked it up. Yep, closed till July. I suppose I'll just have to find another excuse to go there next month ;)

Instead, I got some suggestions and decided on the Grill Cheese Grill. I've been to it before over on Alberta, but when I looked up their times, they had a brand new DOUBLE DECKER bus on SE Ankeny. At least it's a little closer to Sellwood and Oaks Park.

Off we headed to the Double Decker Bus. It was pretty cool.






We decided to climb up the stairs




Sadly, it was a little small for not only Dimitri, but me too!



After our delicious grilled cheeses (I got the one with havarti cheese, honey mustard, tomato and ham and Dimitri got the BLT with tillamook cheese) we drove back to my place, parked the car and headed to Oaks Park My plan had been to go to Oaks Park first to prevent feeling sick, but things didn't quite work out that way. After about the 4th ride, Dimitri and I were feeling pretty sick. I felt really bad because I've really been wanting to go to Oaks Park and ride the rides and I had an unlimited bracelet, but the rides that I did go on were SO.MUCH.FUN. I must say, it was a great day, other than the nausea. I definitely wouldn't mind going back...but perhaps this time on an empty stomach =D

Times, they are a changin'

Ok, well not too much.

I'll keep this short and sweet. I got a job! Yay me! It's not my dream job, it's not even a job I thought in a million years I'd ever do. Call centers do NOT sound glamorous at all. But you know what does sound glamorous or well down right philanthropic? Helping indie artists get their music heard/online/bought. Now that sounds great to me!

Where am I working, you ask? I'm working for an online distribute of independent music based here in Portland, Oregon with International acclaim. As far as I can tell, my title will be Customer Service Support for Artists. I'll basically help Joe McShmo, guitar player extrodinaire or Juanita Wualita, vocalist to the angels, set up an account, post/sell their music and help with basically the technical aspects of the job and perhaps a little (or knowing me, a lot) of cheerleading on the side.

Since this *is* something new, if I think about it too long and hard, I'll find ways to pshyc myself out, so I won't. Instead, I'll focus on all the new things I'll learn, the new people I'll meet, the new artists I'll help and the hopes of moving up and staying with a company I truly believe in...which is based here in my home town.

Sure, the pay's not awesome but is not minimum wage. It's not within walking distance nor biking distance, the hours are early am to pm, and I'll be stuck behind a computer and phone for 8 hours a day. But none of that really matters to me. What I find appealing *is* the company, the people I'll meet, the artists I'll help, the early hours (I'm an early riser) and the fact that even though its far away, the hours I work will cut down on my driving time immensely. I get TONS of benefits (after 90 days of course) and I heard they treat their employees pretty darn well, so I'm exited. In all seriousness, I'm just ready to be a part of a company that has rules, regulations, guidelines, etc.

A little update on my 10 week challenge:

I'm on week three and it really is hard to keep the gusto going. I think I have lost just 1 pound in the last week (which is the goal, I need to remember. I'm an over-achiever). I was distracted by a few outings with friends and its hard to count calories at restaurants. I also found that having limited groceries is a challenge so this week I was able to bulk up yet again on some fruits and veggies as well as meat. One thing I noticed though is that I'm very tired. I don't eat meat enough, so I'm trying to introduce meat back in 2-4 times a week. I ate a lot of veggies, nuts and legumes the week before. SO I shall continue to listen to my body and try to hear what its telling me. I know with the new job, it will be an added challenge. I won't be able to take my time with breakfast or lunch...just dinner. So I gotta start pre-packing, pre-cutting, preparing everything either days in advance or the night before. But I am very grateful to have had the foresight to start this routine where I've made myself wake up between 8-9 am. I'll just have to shave a few more hours off of that once work starts.

This is all a start of something new!

End of Week One: Reflections

It's Sunday and its the end of week one of my ten week challenge. And how do I feel? I feel pretty good!

Sure, I get hungry, but what's really odd is that I've not been craving sweets very much, nor is it very hard to say no to many things. I said no to beer AND cake today. I have smelled the familiar scent of coffee, but I know its not off limits...just this week, so I do look forward to some coffee this week. I can feel a difference in the stiffness of my muscles, they are getting more flexible.

I've worked out every day this week that I was supposed to but due to a bit of poor time management, I've not done all that I wanted to do. I also feel like I could easily push myself so that's how I'm going to start out the week. Today, I did a "long" run, 3.5 and it felt pretty well. I feel like I"m getting back to my old pace. However, I can feel that my body *is* fighting me a little bit and random things are hurting but I"m looking forward to going to the chiropractor to get myself all lined up.

So, I just look forward to working even harder this week. I'm going to introduce alcohol and actual real breakfast back in so I hope that doesn't affect me too much. I've enjoyed cooking dinner and I have a nice vegetarian recipe to start tomorrow.

I'm exited. I think I"m doing well but I could always do better!