R.I.P Mr. Man

I Adopted him while living in Telluride, and he was my best friend the whole time I was there! Murphy you were my heart and you will be missed, stinky ears and all!
Please excuse all the pictures, I couldn't narrow them down!

Another wedding cake

At the end of August my cousin Emily got married and had asked me to do her wedding cake. She wanted it to be square and all off kilter. I think it turned out nice and she loved it!

Happy 30th Hannah!

On August 1st we all headed down to Rockaway Beach to celebrate Hannah Brownlee's 30Th birthday. She is the youngest of us all and I am pretty sure she is the last friend of the group to turn 30. Instead of us going out for drinks or dinner, she planned a bon fire lunch at the beach. She invited friends and family and since I grew up with Hannah, I knew the whole gang! It was fun to hangout with friends and eat s'mores on the beach! I didn't happen to take any pictures so I stole these from Hannah's Blog and Shannon's blog, thanks for taking the pictures!

Older posts

All My November posts are new. I just don't know how to back post them.

Back to Amagammy and then Home.

When I got back to Molly's house, Her Mom had come into town to visit. Heidi is a lot of fun, I often call her Zippy. Since Molly works so much Heidi and I headed to TJ Max to find so clothes for Molly and to pick up her laundry. I was suppose to go back to Mynor's house in the City but decided to stay with Molly and take the train back in to JFK.

* TJ Max with Heidi.


* Finding a totally cute hat that I wore the rest of the day.


* Having dinner with Heidi and Molly.

* Read on the porch.

The morning I had to leave Heidi took me to the Train Station and we waited for the train. Which Never came. So, I had to take the Jitney (or as most people outside The Hamptons call it The Bus). When I got on the Jitney I sat down right in front of Cynthia Nixon from Sex in the City. That was weird. The Jitney took me to Queens where I took a cab to JFK and then Flew home. My trip was super fun, I would totally do it again. It was great to see all my friends from Culinary school and Starbucks. I love them all!

Wicked Boston!

I really wanted to see Boston when I went to the east. I didn't really know anyone in Boston, so I put it out of Facebook to find someone to stay with. Turns out Mel lives in Boston. I worked with Mel in New York at Starbucks ( big shock, I know). I was a little nervous for 2 reasons, 1) I didn't want to drive in Boston. 2) I didn't really know Mel that well and had never hung out with her one on one. She is pretty scary being all petite, blond and perky.

* Finding somewhere to park in Boston with Mel.

* having her parallel park Molly's car on the left side of the road. I had never done that on the left side before.

* Walking her to work and hanging out on Newbury Street all evening.

* Reading in Boston Common.

* Dinner at Joe's American Bar

* Walking Mel to work again.

* Walking down to the Harbor.

* Going on the Self guided tour I downloaded to my Ipod. It was totally cool, You put your headphone on and it tells you where to start and where to go and tells you the history of Boston harbor.

* Not being able to finish my self guided tour due to rain and blistered feet.

* Having lunch with Mel.

* Buying a totally cute dress at H&M.

* Buying 2 more books.

* Walked around Fenway Park. Mel lives right next door!

* Meeting Mel for Drinks when she got out of work early.

* Realizing how much I like Mel.

When I left Boston I was sad we hadn't gotten to know each other sooner. Aside form my blistered feet, I had a fabulous time. Back to Amagansett!

Really?!? I'm just sayin...

In case you are wondering, you have to take a ferry from Long Island in order to get to Rhode Island. Being from Oregon I wasn't too familiar with Ferries. I got to the ferry early and found out I ordered my tickets backwards. I ordered my first trip from RI to NY not NY to RI. Smart! Luckily they didn't care and let me on anyway.

* When I got to RI I put the top down and turned up the JayZ and took off for Jan's. It was fabulous!

* I got to Jan's and shortly after Julia showed up. Jan is my Manager from Starbucks in Hyde Park and Julia was the Assistant. We had so much fun in Hyde Park, It was great to spend time with both of them.

* Picked up Jan's daughter Sammie from Camp.

* Pete (Jan's Husband) cooked us up a great dinner!

* Stayed up talking and listening to music.

* Delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

* Laying on the beach and trying to play in the water. I don't really know how to play in the ocean since The Pacific is so darn cold!

* Totally sunburned the backs of my legs.

* Having dinner and shopping in Newport. Julia and I both ordering the Fisherman Platter and having enough for for 4 people.

* Was slightly devastated that Rhode Island doesn't have a Starbucks mug.

* Complained about Starbucks, we just couldn't help ourselves!

* Laying on the beach again.

* Watching the Life Guards save stupid people. It was totally Baywatch!

* Going out for drinks and having them try to find me a man.

* Dancing with Jan to Tupac's California Love.

* Having a lazy last morning with Jan and Pete.

* realizing I was sick of traveling.

I really miss the Starbucks I used to work at in New York. It was great to see Jan and Julia and get to spend so much time with them. Next stop...Boston. Wicked!

Yeah, The Hamptons!

On July 5Th I woke up late and hungover. I was suppose to catch the 8:40 train from Poughkeepsie but forgot to put gas in the rental and ended up missing it by 20 mins.
I had to catch the 9:40 train, arrived at Grand Central at 11:20am, had to be at Penn Station to catch my train to Amagansett at 11:40am. Took a cab to Penn Station, Had to figure out which track my train was on. Ran all the way there and got to an empty seat with about 2 mins to spare. Had I missed my train to Amagansett I would have had to wait till 10pm to catch the next one.

* Sitting next to a chick from Oregon and having her give me pointers on train travel.

* Seeing Molly and both of us almost crying!

* Meeting everyone at Jack's ( the cafe she manages).

* Seeing Ralph Lauren and his Family buy coffee.

* Seeing Billy Baldwin and Ralph Lauren drinking coffee. Bizarro!

* Having drinks and listening to Poster Child at the bar across the street with Molly and her boss Jack.

* Seeing Ethan Hawke at the bar.

* Molly's friend Justin is the Chef at the Meeting House, He made us some delicious rice, scallops, Shrimp and chicken! I would say one of the highlights to working in the food industry is all the free food and getting to stay after closing for drinks! Awesome!

* Molly Putting me to bed because I could hardly keep my eyes open.

* Spending my day in Southampton and getting a Hamptons Starbucks mug.

* Read another book.

* Dinner at another fancy place

* Running on the beach at night with Justin, Molly and Adam and walking in the water.

* Laying on the beach.

* Hanging out at Jack's and reading my book.

* Having my laundry done at the local laundry mat.

* Ethan Hawke talked to me. We are totally BFF now!

* Eating Chinese food on the beach with Molly and Summer Dog.

* Eating Ice cream with Molly in Molly's bed in the middle of the night.

After being at Molly's I headed to Rhode Island, Molly let me borrow her convertible Beetle and her GPS. I really think I got sick of my camera about half way through the trip. I don't have very many more pictures!

Hanging in the HP!

I really think I used almost every form of transportation on this trip!

* Finding my way to Grand Central from Roosevelt Island by myself.

* Taking a cab to the Rent a car place and having the Cab driver ask me a highly inappropriate question that I am not even sure why anyone would ever think that of me.

* Renting a car all by myself!

* Going to the old Starbucks and seeing a few of the people I used to know there.

* Seeing Kevin!!

* Having Kevin fill me in on all the crazy drama from the company he works for. It was CRAZY!

* Went to visit Julia (my old assistant Manager) who now has her own store about an hour away. So much fun to see her!

* Went to Kevin's night club and was treated like Paris Hilton. He knows I love that!

* Leaving the Club when the sun was coming up, probably the only good reason Kevin and I shouldn't live near each other.

* Went to Breakfast or late Lunch.... :)

* Went over to Hyde Park to see Eileen at Starbucks.

* Going to the City to watch fireworks.

* Going to Duplex and singing a long with the piano player.

* Due to the drinks we had and me being sad to leave Kevin I was overly emotional all the way home. Sorry Kev! :)

Kevin is another one of my friends that I never see and never talk to but when you put us together we pick up right where we left off! Sadly I don't have pictures from this part of my trip, we were too busy I guess to take pictures!

NYC!!!

My stop in NYC to see Mynor and Melanie. When I arrived in at JFK I called Melanie and she told me how to get to SoHo to meet up with her.

* Taking 2-3 hours to get across town.

* Sitting in Traffic on a bus for at least half of the 2-3 hour commute.

* Figuring out the Subway system with a giant suitcase that was just too big to lift over the gate but a little big to push through the walkway. Leaving me with bruised legs.

* Seeing Melanie's tiny apartment and learning how much she pays in rent and feeling really good about living in Tori's basement!

* Having coffee with Melanie and calling Mynor to meet up with us.

* Getting to see friends from school and realizing how much they mean to me.

* Seeing Mynor's Apartment, and learning about Roosevelt Island.

* Having Mynor carry my bags for me and pay for my Subway pass. Such a gentleman! Mama Mendizabel would be proud!

* Going out to have Belgium fries with Mynor and his roommate.

* Wandering the city all day like tourists.

* Eating awesome Chinese Food in China Town.

* Taking a picture of the JayZ Rocawear add in Time Square (I am a little nerdy like that!)

* Having Pink Berry.

* Dinner with Melanie and walking all over the city to find it!

It was the perfect amount of time with Mynor, if you know the two of us we drive each other crazy! Now off to Hyde Park!

OHIO!!!

So, The last blog got a little wordy, and I didn't really care for that. To solve this problem I am going to bullet the highlights!

* a hour and a half flight delay in Milwaukee due to to weather.

* Circling Columbus for an hour due to lightning!

* Finally landing and getting to see and hug Andy!

* He slept on the couch and gave me the bed, nicest guy ever!

* North Star Cafe (where Andy works) and there Biscuits and Shooting Star drink.

* Having dinner at another North Star location and then heading down to Jeni's to eat Salty caramel Ice cream and brown butter almond Ice cream.

* Buying another book to read.

* More Biscuits and Shooting stars

* Picking out chocolates to eat out of a million kinds

* The Food Market

* Eating hanger steak, mussels and more biscuits at the higher end location of North Star.

* Going out for drinks with his friends.

* Hanging out at a mall all day!

* Eclipse ( that's right on vacation I watched twilight!)

It was so great to see Andy! I love him so much, and it is so hard to say goodbye.
I was getting a little bummed out because I thought my trip was almost over since I was leaving Columbus...but I actually had 2 MORE WEEKS!!! Sweet!

The beginning of the best trip ever...Nashville!

So, most people know that I went on a 3 week vacation this summer. I am just now getting around to blogging about it. Before my trip I have put together what I called my "travel binder". This binder was divided out into the different places I was going with Itineraries, maps, places I wanted to see, emergency phone numbers and addresses of all my friends who I was visiting. Some people laughed at it, but I called it organized! I wanted things to move as smoothly as possible. I had 6 different flights, a couple different train rides, rented a car and took a ferry. There was so much room for disaster but I organized everything out to try to avoid that.
On June 23rd I headed out to Nashville Tennessee at 8:25 am. When I got to the ticket counter I was asked about the emergency exits. They asked if I would be able to help with the emergency exit if need be. I thought...of course! I mean I am glad there were no disasters or crashes and don't wish to be apart of one. Although I did play with the idea of living my own version of LOST! With me at the emergency exit this means I very well could have become a main character maybe even the "Kate" of the whole experience. The other emergency exit people where not even kind of "Kate" material, so this definitely gave me more of a chance. I started checking out everyone on the plane and realized that there were no suitable guys to be Jack, Sawyer or Sayid! Turns out normal people are not nearly as good looking as the stars on TV!
After arriving in Denver for my 2 1/2 hour layer over, I volunteered to get bumped if they needed my seat because the plane was over booked. This totally southern guy standing next to me in his "God Bless America" Hat and shirt was pretty angry that they would over book and kept talking about how you used to be able to travel with guns and now you cant! He then was trying to talk to me about what line was for what, I almost said "Listen Mr. God Bless America! I don't know why the plane is over booked and I don't know why they are in that line! So, stop talking to me!" But of course I just said I don't know and smiled. I was the very last person to board the plane and thankfully they got me on. My friend Joe had some awesome stuff planed for that night and I would have missed it all if I hadn't gotten on the plane.
When my plane landed I pretty much booked it to baggage claim. I was so excited to see Joe that I could hardly stand it. Joe is one of my friends from New York. He worked at Starbucks with me and now lives down in Nashville. I haven't seen him since I visited NY 2 years ago! When I saw him, he gave me a big hug! We grabbed my bags and jumped in his car and didn't stop till we got to the Loveless Cafe. Joe works for the radio station WSM and they produce a show every Wednesday night out at Loveless. This Wednesday was a tribute to Bluegrass. We hung around there for a little while, had some excellent food, biscuits and beer! Joe introduced me to one of the Bands playing that evening. They are called The Farewell Drifters, I fell in love with there music! It's more contemporary bluegrass, and I listened to them all week in Joe's car! He also introduced me to several of his friends and all of them were very nice and welcoming. After we hung out there we went back to Joe's house, I was dressed in usual Oregon attire and needed to change into more Nashville appropriate clothes (shorts and flip flops). After I changed we headed out to a New England style bar that Joe frequents. We had some more drinks and some fried Pickles and headed home to hit the sack!
My first morning in Nashville was very uneventful. Joe had to work so I just hung out and waited for him to come home. I walked down to Portland Brew "a taste of the Northwest" It was a coffee shop just down the street. Then I sat at home a read my book waiting for Joe to come home. We went to lunch for "meat and 3" Your choice of meat and 3 sides. I had Meatloaf, Sweet potatoes, Fried green tomatoes and mac and cheese. It was a huge lunch but so good! The rest of the day Joe worked and I had his car so I drove around and went to some touristy things that Joe had no interest in. The Dukes of Hazard Museum was really Ghetto and sad. It was called Cooter's Place, I was going to go to Willie Nelson's museum but didn't want to pay $8 to get in. Sadly because of the flood, the wax museum was closed! That evening I went back home, made some cookies and went to bed.
The next day Joe and I went out to his Starbucks where I got my Nashville mug! He drove me all around Nashville showing me his old neighborhoods and such. We also went on the General Jackson Showboat, It was fun but definitely as Joe called it a "blue hair" tour. The best part of the day was when we were all waiting on the bus to leave, the "tan" people got on. They were all accountants and we really fancy and annoying. After waiting for 2 of their friends to get on the bus we were pulling away when the girls all starting saying "oh, Anna, we have to wait for Anna" One of them asked the bus driver if he would kill her if she had him wait for Anna. His response was "no but the others might". When Anna finally got on the bus Joe looked at her and said "I am so glad you could make it, Anna!"
The entertainment was super cheese and the food was OK. The best part was really the 2 couples that sat at our table. The first couple were very nice and from Oregon. The other couple Joe and I referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Grumpus. Both we miserable, everything Mr. Grumpus did was wrong and everything was not as good as they wanted. We were very happy to leave them! After the boat ride we went home and took naps! we then met up with Joe's friends Troy, Dylan and Stephen and had dinner and some drinks. They were super fun and had to be the most random group of friends ever!
Joe had to work at 10:30am so I took the car out to the Belle Meade Plantation and walked around there for awhile. It was kinda boring and I thought it was weird how they would try to spin a happy feel to slavery. It was kinda weird!
I then went back to the bar that Joe works at to watch the end of the USA World Cup game. It was a sad game. I hung out there with Joe's friend Stephen until Joe was off work. Joe and I went to dinner that night at Jack's BBQ downtown Nashville and then we went to The Grand Ole Opry. That night there were a lot of Oldie Goldie's singing but the best part of the show was when Loretta Lynn came out! They are broadcasting The Grand Ole Opry from the Original Ryman Auditorium because the newer one is closed due to the flood. She was amazing! She only sang maybe 4 or 5 songs but it was great! We then stayed downtown and went "honky tonkin" We would go in one bar and have a beer and listen to the band play and then we would go next door and do the same thing. It was pretty fun a little loud but we had nice time.
My last morning there we got up early and went to The Pancake Place, I guess they are famous and celebrities go there. We then went back to his place to wait for the cable guy who never showed up. Joe was pretty mad! So, before he dropped me off we went and had a beer on our way to the airport. I was really sad to say goodbye. Joe is such a good friend to me and I really miss seeing him! I also love Nashville and really want to move there, it is a fabulous city!

Here are some of my pictures, I didn't take very many but here is what I did take!

Happy Birthday to me! (part 2)

My parents had wanted to do something for my birthday so they took me and some friends to dinner. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory, definitely a favorite of mine. Sandra, Hannah and Claire and Cousin Laura were the only friends who could make it, but I am not sure we could of had a better crowd! Claire was really the life of the party, She was smiles the whole night! When we were all sitting at the table Cousin Laura asked what was good to eat there, most people answer with whatever their favorite entree was. Not Hannah, This has to be one of Hannah's favorite restaurants! She definitely listed off the pros and cons of some of the entrees, told us about the side of broccoli you can order along with the Hearty sized meal and of course her favorites! If you are going to eat there you might as well invite Hannah. Not only is she super fun but she knows the menu inside and out! We all got the ice cream at the end of the meal and Mom and Dad had brought birthday cake shaped cookies for us to share. I opted to not have the restaurant sing to me, I know shocking! We had such a nice night! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Happy Birthday to me!

I did so much for my Birthday this year! I never really celebrate my birthday in any crazy sort of way. This year being that I turned 30, my friend Hannah and I think some of our other friends put together a "girls night out" for me. I was super excited because our friend Hannah N. up in Yakima came down for the weekend and spent the afternoon with me. Then Hannah N and I met up with the other girls at The Montage, where I have never eaten. Once everyone got there we were seated and I think everyone ordered some version of Mac and Cheese! It was fun to get to hang out with such fun friends and they all promised to keep the husband and kid talk to a minimum! Our leftovers came out wrapped up in tin foil shaped as animals and flowers. MIne was shaped as a mouse, and as Shannon said "Mandy, it's mouse to go with the mouse in your house!". After dinner those of us who were up for partying all night headed out for Bingo! All though we got there kinda late and we were kicked out. Apparently, Bingo games are very serious, we were a little noisy and nobody cared it was my birthday. We left the Bingo hall and headed downtown to play a little Glow in the Dark Miniature Golf. The mini golf game was pirate themed and they weren't as serious as the Bingo game. Hannah, Hannah, Shannon and I were the friends that were left and we played probably one of the most fun games of mini golf I have ever played! After the game we sat in the car trying to figure out what else to do but we decided that at 12am we were tired and wanted to go to bed. Thanks guys for a fun evening!!!

A Tea and Miri's First Birthday!

In February my Mom and I hosted a tea for my sister and Miri. It was a kind of "welcome to the family" get together for Mirette. We invited some of Brooke's friends and family. I did most of the food, we had mini quiches and Bruschetta and for dessert I made 3 different kinds of cupcakes. We for some reason didn't take a whole lot of pictures that day, but we did get some of the cupcakes and one of Mirette in her party dress.




In April, Miri celebrated her 1st birthday. Brooke asked me to make her birthday cake, all she asked was that it was cute. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. Happy Birthday Miri!

Worst date ever!

Back in February my dear friend Sandra set me up on a date. Sandra is on an inter mural soccer team and one of her teammates (Steve) was single just like her friend Mandy. So, she ended up giving Steve my number and after several attempts to get a hold of each other we finally set up a date via text message. The first date was great! We went to Lucky Labrador in Multnomah Village and had pizza and hung out for awhile talking. When we left we were both happy with the date and thought we should get together again. Half way through the week I sent him a text asking how his week was and he asked me to go to the movies. This is where it all went down hill. Let me just start this awesome story by saying 2 things:
1. I am not a fancy person, therefor I don't expect you to be overly fancy. What I do expect is that you are put together.
2. I am totally game with paying for myself, I have done this for awhile now and realize that not everyone believes guys should pay for everything.
Okay, so he was to come to my house and pick me up for the movie after he got off work. He showed up in an over sized fleece covered in cat hair. When I say over sized I mean it hung down to probably mid thigh. His hair was all crazy and not even kinda combed. As unimpressed as I was, I thought maybe he didn't have time to properly put himself together since he just got off work. Shockingly enough not everyone is like me and takes their flat iron to work so that their hair can look nice when they go on the date. He walks me out to his car and he gets in and starts brushing off the passenger seat and says "I spilt some dry cereal this morning, let me just brush that off, you can sit on something if you like." Really? I'm sorry I didn't bring a seat cover with me, silly me I thought the seat would be clean. I honestly don't remember when the movie started but on the way to the movies he mentions how much time we have because the movie didn't start for 15 minutes. We were probably 10 mins from the theater and still had to buy tickets. I am definitely one of those people who can't stand to be late especially at the movies. When we got there he says "oh, I have a free movie ticket and I thought we could just split the cost of the other ticket." The other ticket costing $10. Like I said, I don't mind paying for myself but seriously $10! Dude, if you didn't want to pay for 1 ticket then why did you ask me to go to the movies? After I give him the $5 I owe him for the movie he walks over and says "did you want some popcorn?" I was kind of mad and said no. I figured he would make me pay half and really I wasn't about to share anything with him. He then bought $6 popcorn and then threw half of it away at the end of the movie. After the movie he took me home and I said I had to let my dog out and went inside. As soon as I went inside I turned off all the lights upstairs and went down to the basement and called Sandra.
I went to work the next day and told the guys and even they were shocked. I told my friend Leo that had he paid for the whole ticket, the entire evening would have cost him $16. Leo then pointed out it would have cost $16.75 if he had stopped at the gas station to vacuum out the car!

24 hour trip to Yakima.

February 4th was my good friend Hannah Noel's 30th birthday. To celebrate, her husband Brent asked us to come visit for the evening to surprise Hannah. So, Hannah B, baby Claire, Shannon, Tori and I drove up to Yakima for the night.
We drove straight to Brent's Mom's house where we met up with another good friend Marisa. The night before we left we joked with Hannah N. on Facebook about how fun it would be to be hanging out eating Tillamook chocolate peanut butter ice cream and drinking wine, so when we saw their car enter the drive we left Claire (who she had never met) in her car seat in front of the door with a gallon of Chocolate PB ice cream and a bottle of wine and we all hid in the back room. When Hannah walked in she said "I didn't order this" and then she looked at Claire and said "that looks like Claire", Brent's Mom said "it is Claire" and then the best line of the night was when Hannah had realized what was going on and screamed "where are they?" and came running back to the room we were hiding in. She was surprised to see us all!
The rest of the night was spent talking, eating and drinking. We sat at Brent's Mom's house for awhile and then we girls went out of the town (as much as you can in Yakima). We had a few drinks and headed home to the Chocolate PB ice cream. We stayed up till 2 am eating ice cream, drinking wine, talking and laughing. In the morning Hannah N. made breakfast and we hung out in our PJ's until it was time to leave and head home.
Happy Birthday Hannah!
Tori and I in the back seat of the car.
Talking around the table.
Out on the town.
Ice Cream and wine.
The whole gang in the morning.

Mirette Grace Bixby

Over the last year my sister Brooke and Brother in law Eric have been in the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia. In December they were finally able to go get her. When they flew home we had a welcome home party waiting at the airport. My nephews Jack and Sully were petty excited to see their parents and new baby sister. As soon as Sully saw them he ran down the hall into Eric's arms. I am not sure anyone was as excited as Jack was to see Mirette, he just couldn't get enough of her. Here are some of the pictures from the airport.

Brooke made the boys Big Brother shirts to wear to the airport.



The Welcome Home Party



Sully running to his Mom and Dad, he was so excited to see them.


Brothers with their baby sister.


I love how excited Jack looks!


Meeting Miri for the first time.