Tag! I’m it!

Oh, so little ol’ Matt tagged me, so while I felt annoyed at first, I’ve decided to be thankful that he thought of mui, Miss Orange Pop! This also means that I had to get my booty in some sort of gear to blog about something. So, thank you, “Bama!”

Here it goes (before 2008 has been forgotten & 2009 is over!):

*In no particular order of favorites*

4 favorite memories from 2008:

• Starting school again (college)
• Re-visiting Portland, OR
• Jet-setting to Paris, spontaneously with my sister, right before exams
• Making new friends & going out with them!

4 favorite movies that I saw:

(I had to look up which movies came out, thus putting them in ABC-order!)

• The Dark Knight
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
• Hannah Montana
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
• & this year I saw Into the Wild 

4 favorite foods in 2008:

• Tempeh!
• Betty Lou’s balls
• Carrots
• …nut butters. There. I’m one of you, too!

4 places I loved in 2008:

• Paris, France
  
• Portland, OR
• *my hometown*, FL
• finding a cozy, new cafe in town with free wi-fi!

4 things I liked in 2008:

• Having a job
• Going to the beach on winter break
• Spending time with family, especially my sisters
• Going back to school

4 things I am looking forward to in 2009:

• Getting a bike
• Furthering my education (okay, 3 times, really? I’m a nerd!)… & trying to decide on future plans
• Building strong(er) relationships
• Traveling with my sisters

(…thanks, really, Matt!) It’s good to look back, but I think it’s more important to look forward & ahead about what is to come.  Sure, a lot is unknown, but that’s pretty cool & exciting to me, that I just don’t know what’s coming my way in 2009! I’m not going to tag anyone else, but with that, I’ll leave you with this:

Catching up: Portland, Father’s Day…

It’s been too long!

My sister and I made a trip to Portland last week… oh, how I miss thee! We “roughed” it and stayed in a Hostel, which was my 2nd time, and always such a great experience. First of all, it’s inexpensive and you get to hear some pretty cool stories from interesting people from all over the place! We packed as much as we could into a few days, but the highlights were: hiking, going to the Rose Garden (it’s the City of Roses!), visited my old place of business, went to many, many cafes, stocked up on stuff from Trader Joe’s since we don’t have one in FL, and, yes- went shopping. I love, and have forgotten about, the no-tax policy! Yay! The roses and scenery and foliage were beautiful everywhere you looked, and it smelled so great! It’s weird that it was June and it seemed like things were JUST now blooming… also, the weather was divine! It rained/was cloudy a bit the 1st day or 2, but then cleared up, the sun was shining, and it was about 70! Cool, with no humidity! We tried to take it back with us, but were unsuccessful in the FL heat and humidity… here are some pictures:

 

^ some of my favorite roses we saw… they are very “antique”-looking, don’t you think?

^ my sister (fellow travel companion) at a cafe with her beautiful white chocolate mocha latte

 < giant gopher-style squirrel at the garden! Look how close I was… and I didn’t have anything to feed him, either!

 And some delicious favorites, from Trader Joe’s: the chocolate-covered almonds were sweet AND salty, and the mango had a big kick of spice! They make my mouth wild!

When we got back, we took my dad out to breakfast for Father’s Day! I have 2 older sisters… isn’t he one lucky guy?! That night, we also held a Father’s Day dinner with our family, my grandparents and my dad’s sister, at our house. My grandpa (still!) plays the trumpet in a band, on a boat every Sunday, and my dad has always played, coached, and loved basketball, sooo… I made them each their own cakes! Okay, it is nothing like Jenna‘s beautiful cakes, but I think everyone enjoyed them, for what they were! Here they are:

That’s all for now… have a great rest of the week 🙂