Oregon visit!

Well I just made it back to Los Angeles this evening after spending 5 glorious days in good ole' Salem and Portland Oregon. I planned this trip home before I knew I was moving back to Oregon so it came at a rather busy time to say he least. Nonetheless I had a great visit and I'm so thankful that I was able to home for cousin Claire's 22nd birthday and her bachelorette party!

I arrived in Portland late Wednesday night (11:00pm or so) and my ever so kind mom and sister Missy agreed to pick me up so I would home for Claire's birthday on Thursday. My poor mom was exhausted, Missy was pretty wired and I was just happy and excited to be home and see my family. After a rather short but restful nights sleep in my house my mom and I met my dad and uncle Greg for a yummy lunch at lum yens...I hadn't had Chinese food in a very long time so it tasted delicious. Later that afternoon Claire and her fiancé Mitch picked me up and we picked up our cousin Emily and made our way over to one if our favorite restaurants-La Hacienda...mmm. Also there was her brother Ross his wife Katie, grammie Jean, her dad, mom, and aunt Kelly. After dinner we made our way to the movie theater where we watched hrs hilarious movie Bridesmaids. I could honestly watch that movie everyday and still find it hilarious and very entertaining. I'm happy to report that Claire also loved it, and the two of us giggled like little schoolgirls through the entire movie. After the movie we went to the kondetori and bought a delicious poppy seed cake. I have posted some pics of us with the cake...not sure where they ended up but hey as long as they made it on the blog I'm a happy camper.

After a very enjoyable Thursday It was just about time for the one and only bachelorette party for our wonderful bride Claire (yes it was a Claire themed weekend for me which was fantastic!) I made it up to Portland (my mom drove me halfway there-Bridgeport) so that my cousin Brie could pick me up and I could help/hang out with her until the big shindig. Yes indeed we did hit up the store spartacus which was a little shady and akward but we had to get a few gifts from there and a party gamof course. We decided on the ever exciting "pin the macho on the man"-yes it is just how it sounds. All the girls arrived around 7:30 or so and we headed off to our delicious dinner at Henrys. I was so tired from being up late hrs night before making cd's so I found myself dozing off a bit during dinner-whew hose diet cokes really got to me. Dinner was delicious and dessert and games were oodles of fun, but I was quite relieved when it was time for bed because I was pooped. We had a mini sleepover at Bries apartment with McKenna, Katie, Claire, Emily, me, and Brie of course. We were all spread out ready to sleep and I was in Bries room sleeping in her bed...or atleast that's what hrs plan was. Everyone was settled into bed and I went
into the bathroom to wash my face, go to the bathroom and brush my teeth. I was completing thes seemingly simple tasks when I suddenly woke up and found myself sitting on the potty...I thought oh gosh how embaressing I just dozed off on the toilet for a few minutes...until I looked at my watch and realized that it was now 3:30am and I had been asleep for 2 hours on the blessed toilet. Only I would accomplish something like this. The kicker was that I don't drink or use anything that would cause a person to just pass out in the bathroom (in shame). My cousins agreed that at most bachelorette parties someone does generally end up in the bathroom for the night but it's generally because they have had a bit too much to drink. For me I guess it was just one of those lupus moments where my body said I'm tired, time to sleep and bam it did--and it didn't care where I was. Pretty entertaining.

So Saturday arrived and after a bit of cousin shopping at anhropologie and other stores no one can really afford (well excluding the wonderful items on the sale rack) we made our way back home. I got to my house; unpacked my stuff, put some things away in my room and by that time it was time to get ready for the BBQ. In attendance were my parents, aunt Jill, uncle Hunter, nana, sister Missy and nieces Abbie and Sydney. Dinner was delicious, Abbie and I made s'mores in the little portable fire pit (delicious) and Sydney was as entertaining as ever. I have also included a few pics from this fun night...again I don't know where they ended up, but as long as they made it on the page I'm happy.

That mint Abbie spent the night and te two of us had a very exciting slumber party in the backyard clubhouse. For those of you who are unaware of what hrs clubhouse is--it is an awesome 2 story little house that serves as a shed on the bottom floor and a hangout for the kids upstairs. Upstairs is carpeted, painted (chalkboard walls on one side) and not only has heating and air conditioning but also a tv with DVD player. Sooo Abbie and I set up one comfy bed (sorry aunt Mandy can't just throw a sleeping on the ground), made some popcorn, turned on the movie "how to train your dragon" and had a wonderful time. Abbie said that I made the most comfortable bed she had ever slept on and I must say it was pretty fantastic and the two of us slept like little babies until 10:15am. Again I had another glorious day with Tamil which included a lovely Costco trip with Jill and Claire and another delicious BBQ (s'mores and all) with my nana, sister Missy, Brian and hrs two little girls Abbie and Syd.

If you can't tell from above I had a very busy but incredibly wonderful and enjoyable visit home. I wish that all my boxes were already packed and shipped and that I was done with the annoying part of leaving and was able to hang out and spnd time with everyone I love in California.
As of today I have a mere 10 days until my mom, sister and cousin arrive to pick me up and make our journey on home (after a trip to Disneyland of course). I have a busy 10 days ahead of me but I'm looking forward to each and every day.

(lame side note-I can't upload any pics since I'm using my iPod...lame! I will add some pics from my visit home asap...just not right this second cause I'm getting ready for outpost!