christmas vacation, part 2

10 things i loved...
1) the ace hotel. well-executed in just about every way.
2) even some sunshine is great. enough to give us a vitamin d boost before our portland winter.
3) the lemon tree outside our room... gathering them, packing them, and then making a christmas day tarte au citron thanks to them.
4) the tandem bike... such a lesson is working together! but very fun and, what can i say, moon is a good driver. (i just need to lighten up).
5) hammocks and ping pong. (and a good book for reading poolside).
6) drinking wine on our patio. and drinking stumptown coffee in palm springs!
7) moon singing karaoke to lessen the pain of all that rain.
8) bingo night! (in such "ace style" it was certainly the most fun i've ever had playing bingo).
9) easiest flying in and out experience ever. could grab a taxi an hour before the flight!
10) having all that time with moon! (wait, i think i am writing my list in the wrong order... this would definitely be #1). he can make any travel experience an adventure... and fun.

christmas vacation, part 1

actually, the real part 1 of our trip to palm springs would be pictures of rain. and more rain. and flooded streets. and some more rain. and the "history-breaking-we've-never-seen-this-much-rain-in-southern-california" rain.

but the part 1 that we want to remember is of the sunshine, the pool, the palm trees, the beautiful dessert hills, riding a tandem bike along the streets lined with mid-century-modern homes, and overall just taking a break with moon was really wonderful.
(i also want to remember moon in his ace-hotel-outfitted dessert style robe... as seen to the left).

merry christmas!

(our cards will be coming to you soon...).

heading south

i suppose we are a bit untraditional. most people want to head to cold weather for christmas... skiing, big coats, lots of snow, and cabins. well, we had a pleasant dose of a colorado thanksgiving and that will suffice for this holiday season. we're excitedly traveling to palm springs for several days next week. we have a small "vacation fund" as part of our budget. and we've never had that before. in the past we've just traveled when we needed to for whatever reason we had. but we knew that during this more stressful and challenging phase of our life we might need to take a break and there wouldn't be a "good reason" (like visiting family, work travel, etc). so thanks to the ace hotel we'll have a place to stay, and well, we know it will be at least 60 during the day and there will be some sunshine... and the pools are heated. (and there will be bike riding!). i think that's all we need (and of course each other). merry christmas!

boulder, co

moon and i spent an afternoon in boulder while visiting my family in colorado for thanksgiving... a favorite coffee spot, lunch, and a stroll down by the snowy boulder creek topped off our time.

thankful

...for family, for mountains, for fresh colorado air, for funny and charming nieces and nephews, and even for football.

food carts...

...how we love their presence in portland. though rare it is the day we can go out for lunch monday-friday. but this past friday we did. we ate korean fusion. very good. and it was a bright, sunny, cold fall day.

climbing

it was a beautiful day. saturday. i was planning to stay home and relax in the afternoon while moon had plans to rock climb with some other students from his class. it occurred to him that i wasn't doing much and he asked me if i'd like to join. i declined. then he said i really should come... i was kind of talked into it. and so i went. well, we climbed for a long time. i repelled. twice. my fingers felt sore. my arm ached. but it was a great time. and it was dark before we got home.

how are the heart and lungs doing?

my day in seattle...

my school sent me (and a couple colleagues) to a conference in seattle. i decided to take the train and leave early so i could spend the day in the city, before getting the hotel, and spending the next day at the conference. i'm so glad i did. i actually ran into a friend at the train station at 8:30am. we were both headed to seattle for work things. but we had lunch together when we arrived--it was one of those unexpected and nice moments. and at the end of the day, i was reminded that i really do like seattle.

scrubs and cooking

tonight moon came home in scrubs. it was the first time i've seen him in that blue outfit. it got me thinking how much easier getting dressed every morning would be if teachers were required to wear an outfit like scrubs. and how comfortable. but not very fashionable (i could always tie a scarf around my neck...). i guess i like dressing myself in what i feel like. lately, though, as i'm getting back into the routine of the school year, i find myself getting everything ready the night before--even what i'm going to wear. lunches ready to go. check. clothes laid out. check. and so forth. we have a pretty nice schedule this year, it's just that we have to really guard our down time because there's really nothing "down" about it--we have so much to do. study. plan. prep. talk. maintain some social standing. but so far we are feeling good.

moon spent his afternoon in the operating room. he was very excited. his white coat gets him into all sorts of special rooms, apparently. i am feeling like his enthusiasm is becoming a little contagious. i'm pouring myself into all i'm doing in ways i haven't before. and i'm not only doing this in my teaching... though that will never grow monotonous for me. every year is so different and new. i just feel more "prepared" for it with each year.

for example, i'm spending more time in my fancy kitchen. this has become probably my favorite thing about our place. i love it in all it's big-island-and-sleek-bosch-appliances glory. but in particular i am in love with these things that are forever changing my time in the kitchen.


this thing is amazing and was a birthday present from moon. i've been thinking about one for a long time... approximately two years or so. in our previous kitchen this would have taken up about 50% of our counter space, so we waited. i used one this past summer to cook and thus knew i would use it if we got one. let's just say i was a bit excited to get it. and i love it. i make bread with it. i make cookies. i make pie crusts. pizza dough. and so much more (that i am still exploring).


this book is short of amazing. i checked it out from the library for about a month after being introduced to it this summer. it is simply the greatest for making bread. all kinds of bread. and then my brother surprised me with my very own copy for my birthday (because he knew just how much i love it). bread making is one great love my brother and i now share.



and then moon surprised me with this book on my birthday. he had his first big exam on my birthday and when i got home it was waiting for me with a card leaving me to wonder when he had time to get it (i guess he picked it up at like 10pm the night before my birthday after a study session). we both got into the whole julia child thing with everyone else recently. and he kept joking about how he would get me the book. and well, then he did. let's just say i'll be stocking up on cream and butter.

new blog home.

Welcome to the new home for our blog. We got kicked off Vox (sadly). I didn't blog that frequently on Vox, and then just this week they notified everyone that they are closing their internet-blogger-doors. So here we are. We used blogger before... just about five years ago when we went to Ecuador. It was strange to read all those old posts. But this will be the start of a new phase. So while it will be pretty much just moi posting and bringing updates and news to our family and friends, I hope to post pretty regularly.

More soon.

Ellyn