Chaos, House Guests, Seattle, Snow and more

Hello we meet again.

We are a little farther into the new year.

And I'm finally feeling better.

I guess i was right my body was able to fight off the sickness.

In other news I have started smoking again.

Sorry to disappoint but it was way to hard with Brian still smoking in the house

Amongst other things such as idle time .

My first night out after getting better was to go get Brian from work and on our way back

I was pulled over for having jersey plates and for "being in a bad neighborhood"

I didn't know my route home from picking Brian up was a bad area it looks happy n rural

The cop ran both of our info called in a female cop to search me and then found out it was really my car after a slew of stupid questions.

The cop realized he was wasting his time and let us continue on our way.

Its not my fault he gets out of work at 2:30 am and that route is the fastest way home.

The next night i went over to Shawn and Danielle's and Shawn used his super Amazing skills to help me Revamp my Resume.

I figured if the old one wasn't getting any bites then time to fix it.

Fingers are crossed that maybe the new wording will land me a job with a pay check.

A few nights later Our first out of state house guests arrived at PDX airport.

Ed and Dawn had flown up from Livermore California to do some Recon before their move up our way.

The next few nights took us to interesting new places

The picture below was taken in a Bar bathroom which i found a little creepy

For instance the gross hand towels, Lack of doors on the stalls and the fancy tampon machine with Pandora's box options.

On our journeys i discovered a new check in on four square see the picture below it is sort of epic since there are alot of douchy hipsters down on Hawthorne

On Brian's day off we decided to take ed and dawn on an adventure up my favorite Snow covered Volcano

Mount Hood.

Oregon state law if you attempt to go up any of these big mountains you MUST have snow chains in the car.

Luck us we acquired some earlier that day. So here we go if we hit snow again we are prepared this time.

The roads weren't too bad they had a little snow and a little ice but nothing too bad.

My little car is quite a trooper and we made it to the top.

I gave my car a big kiss when we reached timberline lodge.

Of course upon arriving at the lodge Ed , Brian and Dawn hit up the bar.

I sat out on drinks considering i had to get us safely back down the mountain in one piece.

Ed treated Brian to an over priced beer.

They drank while admiring the amazing skill the people who built timberline had.

I decided to wander and take some pictures to share with everyone.

This place is amazing

This is one of the carved knobs on the hand rail

This is another a level up

The gods granted us with a perfect day with a perfect view.

The picture below is of Mount Jefferson From the window of timberline on Mount Hood.

It was by far too picture perfect of a day

Brian was in his glory being out of the house and up on a mountain.

The ski lifts were up and running and it made me wish i had brought my board with me.

One day soon i hope to finally be able to snowboard down hood.

I'm going to apologize for my over load of pictures from Mount hood But i Had to share it was too pretty not to.

It was a little colder then they were used to after so many years in Cali.

But everyone had alot of fun.

And yes the hotel behind them is the building that was used in the filming of the outside of the overlook hotel in the movie "The Shining"

After Exploring the Hotel we decided to go play in the snow.

Brian finally got to use his micro spikes mom got him for Christmas a few years ago.

The sign said no sliding but ..........

We started walking up The ski runs which didn't seem too heavily traveled at the time

And proceeded to slide down on our butts like little kids.

It was alot of fun.

I'm not sure if you know this but Timberline lodge and Mount Hood are very well know for getting an average of 21 + feet of snow a year.

The sign that Brian is laying down next to in the fall was as tall as me and I'm about 5'6 the snow is so deep under us he can now stand over the sign or lay next to it.

After fun in the snow we decided to venture down the mountain towards the Gorge aka the long way home.

We discovered new views of hood that were beyond stunning.

We also caught a glimpse of a new Snow covered Volcano I'm guessing this is the famous Mt St Helen's off in the distance.

Yes St Helen's blew her top and of what i hear is still pretty active. But so pretty.

The next day i took ed and dawn to get a bike map of the area and showed them around the different neighborhoods in Portland. Then we downloaded padmapper and began their search for a home 

It would be super easy if they wanted an apartment but they want to rent a house.

The cheaper the house the farther out in east bumble F*%# you end up.

We looked at a few but they said they were too far out.

My solution was for ed to get a cheap cute little apartment close to everything they want to be near, buy some headphones or to not play his guitar so loud and i got shot down on both those ideas.

Upon looking thru Instagrams popular pics i stumbled upon the picture below.

I wish finding ed and dawn a place was that easy.

On adventures of House hunting with them I showed them around some cute down town areas where the day seemed i would take dawn into a cute store then upon leaving the store ed needed a bar.

It was an interesting day. We had a bit of fun to say the least,

And once again i was the DD so no drinky for me.

I adore the random art around this town so strange yet so amazing.

Next Night we had plans of heading to Seattle to see Alabama Black Snake.

Poster below design credit goes to Shawn

I just borrowed it for reference.

Despite what we thought were rumors of snow we piled in the car and took the 3 hour drive north into the state of Washington. This was sort of exciting for me considering this would be my first trip to Seattle.

Down I-5 N a few miles and we crossed Out of OREGON and into WASHINGTON state.

We were blessed with a beautiful sunset up arriving in Seattle.

I was unable to to get a picture of the city from a distance all lit up cause i was driving. I am sort of bummed .

Upon arriving Brian saw the worlds largest REI store and insisted he had to set foot in their Flagship store.

So we went to explore this place was huge and a great spot for us all to stretch our legs.

After exploring REI we headed over for me to be a tourist and take pictures of the space needle.

I love the hipstamatic shot i got pictured below.

Of course i had to play super tourist and get a picture with the space needle.

One day i will actually go in it.

Dawn also decided to be a super tourist with me while the boys sat in the car being too cool to get in on a group shot.

Down the road a ways we finally arrived at the 2 Bit Saloon where they were playing.

It was a pretty cool venue.

Below is a little snippet of Alabama Black Snakes performance from the night.

Sorry my camera has shitty audio quality But i still love these guys.

The second band that preformed were pretty awesome too They were sort of Rockabilly and just full of laughs and energy

Danielle who is adorably 9 months pregnant got on stage to pose with their bass drum.

I think the second band was better than the main act but who am i to comment.

Im still wondering how Alabama Black Snake ended up booked on Hellabilly Roackabilly night but it was for sure fun to say the least.

Awe how i sort of was wishing i got to spend a little more time in Seattle until i started talking to people.

We stopped at a grocery store to grab beer for ed and dawn for when we got back to Portland.

I asked an employee if they sold beer and i was thrown more attitude than a Jersey Shore Guidette who thought i was looking at her the wrong way.

After the guy said yes in the most rude manner ever. I kindly asked what isle.

Off we went to get the beer. Then at the register Brian asked if he can use the bathroom and the clerk pulls out this huge sign and puts it by the front door.

They cant be serious.

But the sad part is i think they are.

After Paying 9.5% sales tax which we don't have here in Portland and catching a whole lot of attitude from a few more spots upon trying to pee before we hit the road we finally left Seattle.

Being up there began to make me miss Portland more than i thought i should have.

Here we come Portland ....................

Or so i thought.

OH NO WE FOUND THE SNOW!!!!!

Did you know Washington state does NOT plow their roads, NOT even the Freeways.

Thank god I'm from NJ and have driven in snow before cause i swear 1/2 the cars i saw on I-5S had not.

The picture below is a mild pic of what the drive home was like.

With every Exit we passed everyone in the car began to discuss how we should pull off and get a hotel.

I on the other hand had faith in my driving and snow chains that we never had to use and slow but steady we continued our journey home.

I swear i have never seen so many tire tracks in the snow going straight off the road into the woods.

I witnessed a car do 3 360's in front of me and then off the road lucky for them there was a tow truck trying to pass me and he went to their rescue.

after that i turned up the radio and had a mini dance party in my mind to drown out the orchestra of snoring coming from my back seat and pushed on. 

For the most part i was the only car on the road. 

As sick as it sounds i enjoyed the Slow Snowy drive home. 

I love driving to clear my mind.

4 1/2 hours later we made it home safely. 

And there was not a speck of snow to be found once crossing the water back into Oregon.

The next afternoon Ed and Dawn headed off to the airport and back to California.

After their departure i decided to have a quiet night for myself but was greeted with a text and a few phone calls that another of my friends back in NJ passed away.

This was heart breaking cause the week started off with one of those phone calls too.

It breaks my heart that within a week i lost two amazing people in my life.

Both of them left behind amazing families and children too.

First was a wonderful, loving, fun, amazing woman that i met thru Rj and Jess.

Irene pictured below with the black straps on her bikini passed away very unexpectedly.

She was super kind and a great friends as well as an amazing mother and wife.

I choose the picture below of Irene cause i have great memories of hanging with her on the boats down at F cove.

RIP Irene you were love by all.

The next bit of bad news was that my friend Jesse Passed away.

He had the most amazing eyes and the greatest laugh.

He was such a sweet heart and an amazing friend.

He was also a father and a best friend to his oldest son and had just become a dad to a second son a year ago. He was engaged to be married soon.

The pictures below were some of my favorite pictures of him that remind me of the great times  we had together. The words added to the picture were posted by our friend Vanessa and i felt they were beyond suiting.

He will be missed by many

RIP Jesse

Every Cloud has a silver lining and the silver lining here was with all the tragedy mentioned above

I managed to reconnect with my friend Jess.

The picture below is from one of my scrap books from back in the day.

It was good to catch up with my friend i just wish we could have found each other without news of losing someone we cared for dearly.

Jess is an extremely talented young lady and it made me smile when she told me she is still following her dreams and acting, producing, directing, and writing.

If you are into Indpendant Horror Movies  Go Check out Ruby LaRocca 

It is crazy to look back on my past and remember all the fun times and the great people i called family. I'm honestly grateful that i had had the opportunity to reconnect with so many of my old crew of friends.

Social media i guess you are good for something.

Speaking of Reuniting with old friends. I'm want to publicly mention how proud i am and excited for a very special couple that i have know for years. My friends Lenny and Colleen Took a huge leap of faith and packed their lives and car onto a uhaul and drove into the sunset to begin the next chapter of their lives in Sunny Southern California.  

They have both been keeping blog that i feel would be worth you all taking a peek at.

Colleen's Blog is brutally Honest and i respect her for having the strength to tell her story.

She is an amazing woman. Click here for Colleen's Blog

and Lenny is her husband who very creative and just an A+ Friend and amazing person. Feel free to check out his You Tube Channel full of music and videos to make you laugh. One of my favorites is the How to prevent a car jacking video. All of these were made with the help of his beautiful wife colleen and some of our friends back home. I hope to see both of them succeed out in California. Click here for Lennys Youtube Channel.  and Click here for Lenny's Blog.

And while im at it If you are a lover of coffee Please check out my friends website and new store he just opened in Heightstown NJ by Clicking here

So after the long week of friends in town sad news from home and long snow filled drives and adventure in Seattle. I decided i needed to take a nap after Brian left for work on Tuesday night.

I woke in a pretty good mood and decided to take a shower.

We have a window in our shower for some odd reason that you have to open to prevent steam build up.

So I'm showering and singing and being all happy and i heard a noise outside. I peeked out the window and saw a white pile on the ground i thought to myself WTF is that.

I took a double take and realized ITS SNOWING IN PORTLAND!!!!!!!

Just when i was getting depressed and missing snowy days at home It snowed just for me.

Everything looks so pretty. I hurried up in the shower got my snowboarding jacket out and dressed all warm. Then decided to go out for a walk around my neighborhood.

See my lonely foot prints.

Turns out Portland doesn't Plow their roads either and they make the buses here put snow chains for a few inches of snow. But its still so pretty.

On my walk i found a $20 bill on the ground in the snow.

Major SCORE!!

After my walk i decided to make a cute snowman on my front lawn and another on my front porch to greet Brian when he got home.

Meet Lovely my porch snowman.

And Pinkie my snowman on our lawn is pictured below.

Brian got out of work early and got a ride home from his very sweet friend DJ.

DJ decided to come in for a bit to watch a DVD on the PCT that Brian got for Christmas.

My snowmen did their jobs and greeted the two of them and they entered our apartment with smiles on their faces.

DJ is my saviour he works with Brian and they work the same shift and doesn't live far from us, so he is kind enough to give Brian a ride to and from work on days they work together.

I enjoy his company too.

He is full of knowledge and i enjoy his conversations.

I'm happy Brian made a friend who i can also call my friend.

Did i mention My car is offically a resident of Oregon too.

My lil Matrix finally has Oregon Plates.

Believe it or not She passed DEQ which was the fastest inspection I've ever had to put my car thru.

And DMV was unusually quick too.

My car looks so much better with Oregons cute plates with the mountains and trees.

Im so happy.

Another friend from Nor Cal Made her way up to Portland for a visit. Its Meg!!!

Meg n i met years ago thru Suicide Girls. She is staying with Danielle.

Meg and i went on a mini adventure around town and met up with Tiffany for Burritos and Beers.

Aren't the two of them so cute.

Of course we needed a Picture of the 3 of us.

Huge bonus besides the burritos, beers and babes.

I found some insane Bathroom art at the bar we were in.

Can you find the glory hole in one of the 4 pictures below?

I still have not had any luck with my job hunt.

But in the midst of all the insanity that has been going on i have still found the time to apply to at least 10 jobs off Craig's list or linkedin every day.

Something has to give soon.

And for those of you who think I'm being picky

well i applied to every single one of those positions below.

I went thru Craig's list and emailed myself everything that looked promising then applied thru there.

Yup look more.

I used an editing app to make the most of every screen shot i took. to show you I'm not just applying to one a day. Today alone i applied to at least 37 jobs.

Brian is reaching the end of his 12th week of working at Dave's Killer Bread.

And that means the day of truth is around the corner.

He was told at the temp agency at the end of 12 weeks Nature Bake aka Dave's Killer Bread would have the Option of Hiring him on as Permanent. 

If he gets hired on this would mean a Raise and the possibility of health benefits in 3 more more months. 

I'm praying They keep him cause i don't know what we would do if he lost his job. 

He is a hard worker and it seems his co workers and boss' like him and he actually starting to enjoy his job. He even made a few really sweet friends there. 

It would really break my heart to have this job taken away from him. 

I'm really nervous and my mind wont be at ease till i know if they are keeping him.

I'm hoping , wishing, and praying they do.

All this stress I think i need a Bath. GGGRRR . 

Ah I think i used my last Lush Bath Bomb

Love washed down the drain. so sad. 

Maybe Brian will get me a bath bomb from lush for our anniversary. 

I can only wish.

But can you believe we are approaching our 3rd year anniversary.

3 years ago January 29th we were married in VEGAS.

How time flies.

Now i have to plan something on a major budget to celebrate.

in the mean time I'm just going to make sentences out of my valentines day candy and see if he notices.

And I'm going to Finnish cleaning my disaster of a home.

This is the aftermath of a week of having house guests. 112 beer cans and the sad part is i think i only drank 2 of those.

Thank god i can cash them in for a deposit refund.

And with some of that deposit refund I indeed Bought some groceries.

and FYI that case of beer was left behind by our house guests.  

Well I'm sorry i basically just posted a novel but i felt i owed it to everyone since i haven't been updating and have sort of gone MIA off social media.

Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog.

It really means the world to me.

Now I'm off to kick my Mommy's butt in words with friends considering she should be waking up soon.

I would actually like to add a little note here.

Im sorry if Im not online alot or arent calling as often as everyone expects.

I Feel I have been devoting a little too much time to everyone else and neglecting myself.

I need to work on that whole putting myself first and im going to actually give it a go.

I dont want anyone to think im rude or neglecting their friendship, or being distant.

I have a huge list of things i want to do and need to do in daily life that seem to be getting put off to tend to others needs and feelings.

So just remember if you dont see as much of me as usual or dont hear from me as much as usual i assure you im probally fine.

I will continue to update This blog either weekly or bi weekly as i have been. Or maybe more often if something Great and unexpected happens.

I love you all.

Now time to go Take care of number one .

ME!!!!!

Thank you again

Till next time.