Speaking of Birthdays...

My husband also had a birthday when we were in Oregon and Southwest Washington!

Among other assorted gifts, he received this excellent oversized bathrobe that is sort of...wizardy.

So for his birthday we went to the pizza parlor in town that was a Pietro's when we were little. It has reopened under the name Pie@trio's. Which seems a little shady, but has worked for them. This was the table my family would always sit at when we made the big trip into town for 'za.

Then on Saturday we did it up bigger with a larger gathering at the McMenamins by sister's house! Here's the table from one end....

And then from the other...family and friends from both Portland and Boise...! We were regretfully sans Dad, who was stable, but still in the hospital.

Despite my lengthy stay in the Portland metro area, the person I probably saw the least was my sweet sister!

Happy New Year!!

So with this handsome date, we were off to  preparty with appetizers and a little champagne tasting...

 ...and a little fussing with makeup and hair... (Stacey: the girl in blue went to Mark Morris. Hahahah! Such a small world!)...

...and then we were off to the masquerade...OK, we had learned about 5 hours beforehand that it was a masquerade, so did our best with $2 masks, stick-on rhinestones, and pheasant feathers from the truck. Not exactly legal, but very fancy. ;)

Chaos! I look a little like a character from a scary movie here.

And then, after the clock struck twelve, home...

 ...to wish Miss Ginger a happy new year too!

My new favorite picture of us! Happy 2012! :)

Birthday...? Huh!? Wha..?!?





I couldn't figure out why I was so discombobulated about my birthday...why didn't I have specific plans made months ago? Oh right. I did...we were supposed to be in McCall with Dad and Poo for the week. That went awry after Dad couldn't fly post-surgery.

So in my birthday haze, it turns out that my two favorite duck hunters...this guy...





...And this guy....





...Clean up nice! And put together a dang-fine birthday soiree too! OK fine. New Year's Eve soiree.



And my sweet husband gave me this lovely bauble...I had to have somewhere fancy to take it! By far the sparkliest in my collection yet. I LOVE it.



And with these ridiculous numbers...



We were off to the celebratin'!

A New Year, New Tools

OK my peeps. Apologies again for the delay. I have acquired my newest electronics device (as if I didn't have enough). It's blue! Regretfully, they stole my go-to: Microsoft Picture Editor...which was admittedly slow and inefficient. But in it I was FAST!! Trying to adjust to the new laptop, the new Windows Live Photo Gallery, and the new Blogger interface. Should only take a few posts, but its been slow thus far. Hopefully I'm on a roll now! :)

Can you believe that with the addition of 2012 in the menu to the right, its been SIX years?!? Yikes. Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!

The views down at the coast were to die for...

**Ahem...*** I meant this view. ;) That bright orb is the sun, and it was suspiciously out nearly everyday I was there. Odd.

Well, 2011 is swiftly drawing to a close dear friends. It had some highs and some lows, for sure. During my extended stay on the Oregon Coast caring for my heart patient, well, the power port on my trusty laptop finally gave up the ghost. All that classwork we did together...all the blogging we did...I feel like I should have it bronzed. So trying to e-regroup, but wanted to send out a happy new year!

During my time in Oregon I was lucky enough to spend some time with some old school Oregonians...lunch with my Great Auntie Irene, age 94...and one of her 11 children, Marilyn. ELEVEN. She made lunch for six of us -- turkey noodle casserole, a tomato balsamic salad, and apple cobbler... and upon setting it on the table barked "Starin' at it ain't gonna make it taste any better. EAT!"

And also some time with one of the newest Oregonians! And on the occasion of her second birthday too! If little Lena knew how much I love mac and cheese she would not likely have been so generous with it...

And her Momma too! Welcome back to Oregon, we missed ya!

I love Lena's independent spirit! She calmly communicated that she really had to have her own yogurt cup. My kinda girl.

And after exactly a month away from home, Doctor Amy gave the heart patient a clean bill of health and hit the road! It was lovely hanging out on the coast. More pix to come...when I can figure out my electronics situation in the new year. Bon voyage, 2011! Long live 2012! xoxo

Our First Adventure Out...

We snapped this lovely. Dad art directed ("pull over here, there's some nice vistas from here..."), I did the technical work. :)

Away From the Hustle and Bustle...

So kickin' at the river estate is nice... it has all the aesthetics one could desire...

Lush greenery.

Flora.

Fauna.

And let's not forget this...

It's Pastoral Living for Me!

Sooooo....instead of a bird with all the trimmings, we decided to go with Thanksgiving dinner at the Clackamas mall Chevy's...complete with cranberry margaritas. ;) Heh! We were happy to have our quesadillas and whatnot, then return to the heart ward where Dad got got a new valve!

After 5 short nights in the hospital, BLAM! they sent him home for rest and recovery...with me! Recovery includes 2 to 4 four daily walks...

On one we discovered this dead cat.... NO! That's Lucky, throwing himself in Dad's path so as to keep him from walking by without a petting.

We have some of the most lovely options for walks!

So I'm caretaking for most of this month! Whenever we leave our rather remote location, we try to do something social, like coffee at the little cafe where sister and I worked through college. Dad is a stellar patient and will be 100 percent in no time!

Ride

Well...it finally happened. As much as we loved Old Truck, we are particularly hard on trucks... And there came a time when we just didn't trust Old Truck. So we himmed and hawed, planned and shopped, and finally pulled the trigger. Meet: New Truck! Yay!

New Truck feels enormous to me. I feel like we've borrowed one of our parents' truck. The console is huge. I have tried for years to get my husband to buy a truck that would allow me to sit right next to him on the bench, country style... to no avail. Now he's got this giant console between us! :(

It's the perfect accessory: it goes with approximately 98 percent of my husband's clothes.

He's so gangta in our new ride.

And it safely transported us to the Willamette Valley! Welcome new truck!