What do you want to do today? Go to Portland.

[Warning and Apologies: Yucky Cell Phone Pics Ahead]

This past Wednesday Brian arrived home from work, flopped down into a chair, and asked 'What do you want to do today?' (Midday on Wednesday is Brian's 'Friday.') Without a moment's hesitation I replied, 'Go to Portland.' He said, 'Really?!' And that was all it took. He hopped in the shower, I shaved my legs, we threw some stuff in the car, and were off.

Shortly after seven we arrived in Portland, picked up Sam, and drove directly to Gotham Tavern for dinner. Because we love it there. The next day was Sam's birthday so we made a schedule of how the day would go before retiring to bed. 


* Sad Realization: At 17 weeks pregnant I can no longer lay comfortably on an air mattress, much less catch a wink of sleep. 
* Really Sad Realization: Our annual HemFam camping trip is quickly approaching. For Brian and Megan that entails almost a week of air mattress 'sleeping.' What's become of me? How is it that I used to sleep directly on the ground? What once was a plush extra is now not enough...


By Brian's suggestion we started Sam's birthday off right at Stepping Stone Cafe. Brian discovered Stepping Stone Cafe when it was featured on Man vs. Food. (Yikes, I know.) We were up by 5:15a in order to enjoy an over-the-top breakfast and still be able to make the rest of the day's appointments and meetings. 

Sam and I had the cinnamon roll french toast. 

Brian ate the infamous 'Smothered B.A.' 

We're going with 'It's okay to be gluttonous on one's birthday.' 

...I guess it pays to be the birthday girl's friends too...

On our way to meet friends, again per Brian's prompting, we made a pit-stop at Voodoo Doughnut. I didn't fight it. 

Admission: I l.o.v.e doughnuts right now.

Obviously, Brian does too, standing so proudly holding his bag which reads, 

'Good Things Come in Pink Boxes.'

My friend Erin and son, Jack, met me at Thatcher's for a morning coffee date followed by shopping at my favorite baby boutique, Cotton Babies. The ever-enthusiastic, super green girls at CB were ecstatic over our two baby news. Previously, they knew only of our adoption, but now there's a whole new development for them process. They switched gears from informing me of how I could go about breastfeeding my adopted baby, to demonstrating how I can babywear 'August' when 7, 8, and 9 months pregnant with BamBam aka Baby #2. I love their products, but it never fails to be an experience...

 I spent a couple of hours at my friend Lisa's, while Brian visited his favorite previous coworkers. It was lovely catching up with Lisa and I remain thrilled to know that she may be moving to Seattle this summer! I left her house with 5 boxes of baby clothes as well as some maternity clothes. Thank you, Lisa!!!
The afternoon was filled with Lia and Katrina and more good food. We went to Salt and Straw and enjoyed sampling their incredible menu, although all three of us settled on Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons in fresh waffle cones.

Don't mind the child with the stuffed snake. He was a friendly little fellow and I guess when we asked his mom to take a picture, he took that to mean we wanted him and his snake to be in it too. :)

Eventually we met up with Brian and upon parting ways headed back to St. Johns to meet up with Sam and Fam.

Sam was born on her dad's birthday. To celebrate their day they had chosen to have a family dinner at The Rheinlander. They were gracious enough to invite us along and treat us to dinner, so we drove them in my mom car. We all fit (it's still exciting to me) and riding together proved to be memorable! Sam's dad was on a roll and happened to be acting oddly like my dad does. (What can we say, we're soul friends, our dads are even alike.) The group of us started off with a sausage teaser as well as their signature cheese fondue. Click on the link for the recipe, it is to.die.for. For dinner I enjoyed not even half of the biggest slab of Pork Cordon Bleu I think I will ever set eyes on. Brian ate every last bite of his Mushroom Schnitzel.

We drove into Portland excited to spend Sam's birthday with her and looking forward to eating our fill of Portland food. We left two days later with happy hearts and stuffed beyond the brim by some of Portland's best eateries.