Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

Hello, and Happy Friday!

I am writing on my lunch break (a rarity), so I’ll have to do my best to keep this short. Let’s just get right to the point: Molly and I had a BLAST last week—of course!—and I want to tell you all about it. If you don’t want to hear about how much I love this girl, you may want to consider skipping this entry.

So, Molly was SUPPOSED to get here last Tuesday evening, but she had some setbacks. Her plane out of Detroit had to wait for a few people making a connection in addition to the de-icing process that also delayed them a bit. Because of this, Molly missed her connection in Salt Lake City; in true Wolff Travel Luck fashion, this plane left EARLY (when does that ever happen? Seriously) and did NOT wait for the travelers trying to make their connection. Molly ran through the airport and missed the plane by approximately five minutes. She called me and said she’d be spending the night with some pretty crazy companions in a little place called the Crystal Inn. Not cool. We were both pretty upset, but I was happy that she arrived safely and on time the following morning. Starbucks in hand, I greeted her with MUCH enthusiasm and we jumped on the train, already in full-blown chatter and giggle mode, and headed back to Gresham.

After a delicious Lebanese lunch (you should have SEEN this pita bread), I had to go to work for the afternoon. This was actually alright in the end because Molly needed to rest and take a shower. So, after work, I came home and woke her up. I dragged her with me to Youth Ministry, which I think she actually enjoyed. She was particularly fond of Ricky, the kid who is a bit of a challenge but nevertheless quite hilarious. Molly worked with eighth-graders last summer at UCC (where I also worked), so she knows the ins and outs of this particular age group and she has the right attitude for dealing with them. Youth Ministry is life-giving because the kids are awesome, but they’re still kids and it’s still exhausting. As often happens, I was in the mood for a drink afterwards, so Molly and I headed to 4^th Street Brewery with Erin, Crunchy, and Margaret for a brew. I actually had a beer and then a few rum and cokes with Molly, which resulted in my being quite silly… my tolerance these days is embarrassingly low—cheap date! Anyway, we headed home all giggly and happy and snuggled our way to sleep. Was that too much information for the general public? Ah well. I digress.

Thursday, Lindsay joined us on a lovely run past Jim and Mary Ann’s. Before heading into the wooded part of the butte trail, we stopped to say hi to our support couple, who happen to be two of the cutest individuals on the planet. Jim gave us each a cup of blueberries to snack on and then proceeded to show us, with the enthusiasm of a kindergartner, his new projects. He has recently taken up whittling, so he has some beautiful wood creations on display, ranging from a cute little bird to some kitchen accessories worthy of the Pampered Chef label. He also showed us a painting he had commissioned from a local artist, and he paged through his catalogue of seeds, pointing out the ones he’d recently ordered in preparation for his garden this spring. At about that point, Mary Ann came down the stairs and talked to us about HER new hobby—making doll clothes! These two are just the cutest people ever. Eventually, we headed out and finished our run. This was Molly’s first glimpse at the Northwest wilderness and I think she was about as amazed with the dozens of shades of green in the forest as was I the first time I ran this trail. It was a really nice way to spend the morning.

After breakfast, we headed to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where my employee badge got us in free! Score. We entertained ourselves with some of the logic puzzles and interactive games and eventually made our way to the Identity exhibit, which features fetal development models and all sorts of quizzes and displays that help you figure out what makes you you. It was fun because we both have an interest in genetics, although Molly knows considerably more about this topic. We had some smoothies to tide us over but eventually worked up a hunger and headed across town to VooDoo Doughnuts (after a quick stop at Powell’s, of course!) to sample two of Portland’ best-known doughnuts. I am certainly no doughnut connoisseur, but they were tasty indeed and VooDoo is a legendary must-see in all its quintessential Portland weirdness. We headed home after that because we were on dinner duty with Jenna. Our evening meal was a delicious butternut squash risotto (Mom, be impressed! I also cooked solo last night and made a yummy cheesy parsley polenta!). We had a beer while cooking dinner and listened to some good music, and everyone enjoyed the risotto AND the cake we had that evening in honor of Jenna’s birthday.

We had a quiet night on Thursday, playing some games with Daniel for awhile and then just hanging out until bed. I had to go into work for a bit on Friday due to a dental van and staff meeting that required my attendance, so I let Molly sleep in and hang out at Café D for a few hours. At noon, I found her and we had a quick lunch before jumping on the train to the Oregon Zoo. This girl has a certain passion for zoos, so I had to show her this one even though it costs $9 to get in—and that’s WITH the $1.50 discount for taking public transportation! It was worth it, though. The Zoo is really quite pretty with all of the trees and moss, and even though it was a foggy and sort of rainy day (the weather every day of Molly’s visit, actually), we saw a fair amount of animals. The regional exhibit was probably the prettiest. We saw a bald eagle and an owl and otters that were making another otter right before our very eyes… that got awkward after awhile. After a pleasant afternoon, we decided it was time to eat again.

So, we jumped on the train and made our way to my favorite place in Portland: the Alberta Street Grilled Cheese Grill. I think I’ve mentioned the gloriousness that is this food cart in past blog posts, but honestly—anyone who visits is guaranteed a phenomenal sandwich at this quirky little spot. We met up with Lizzie for a beer (you should really count the beers in this post—this is number three, I think, all of which have been local microbrews) and then a grilled cheese, which did not disappoint. After a glorious dinner, we had to make our way back home to see what the evening plans would entail. But by the time we got back, we realized that we didn’t really have the energy for going BACK into Portland for only a few hours and then having to catch the last train home. So, feeling a bit lackluster about our transportation options, we decided to stay in, but it really doesn’t matter where we are because we always find something to giggle about anyway!

GSham Gaga-ing it up.

We woke up on Saturday at a leisurely pace and continued said leisure for most of the afternoon until deciding that we wanted to go see a $3 movie at the Laurelhurst. First, we had a beer (number 4) at a kooky café nearby where the waitress was too Portland-cool to actually wait on us. She brought us our DELICIOUS pita and hummus platter and I said, “thanks,” to which her hipster response was “okay.” Still, it was a nice warm-up to the movie. At the Laurelhurst, you can eat and drink pizza/wraps/salads and beer while enjoying your show, so we got some more food (but not beer!) and then headed into “Love and Other Drugs.” Don’t see it—it was pretty lame. We played logic puzzles on the bus home and were in high spirits when we made our beer run and headed home to prepare for the big party Gresham hosted on Saturday night. We were hoping for a better turnout, but most of the Portland area JVs still made an appearance at our fiesta. To be honest, I think I talked to other people for a total of about ten minutes. Most of the night, Molly and I were playing beer pong (my skills have somehow improved tenfold since college despite zero practice— this is the part where we stop counting beers) and tearing up the dance floor AKA the living room. We had a blast. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Molly was dressed in my YOGA MAT and I was wearing paper flowers that had previously been wall decorations. Our house theme was Lady Gaga, whose creative costumes basically mean that our wardrobe consisted of anything but clothes.

Multnomah Falls!

Sunday was Molly’s last day, and because she had booked a late flight out of Portland (11:45ish), we had all day together. I know her journey home was probably pretty exhausting, but I was so grateful that she’d planned the trip that way. Jim and MaryAnn had GENEROUSLY allowed us to take their CRV for the day, so at about 10am (impressive for a post-party morning, no?!) we loaded into the car along with Lizzie, Jenna, and their mutual friend Scott who was also visiting. I drove us out to the Columbia River Gorge which, although fogged over, was absolutely epic as always. We took the Old Highway for most of the way and the views are storybook-esque. The mossy trees and the waterfalls at every turn are too much to take in, and then you look out the other direction and see the dramatic landscape of the Columbia River snaking its way through the hills. It’s truly gorgeous. We stopped at several waterfalls before eventually making it to Multnomah Falls to take in the view of the 600-foot tall cascades (Oregon’s second most popular tourist attraction…after a casino). The most amusing stop was the first, when we hopped out of the car to run downhill for a minute or so before reaching the closest view of Latourell Falls. For whatever reason, this waterfall was RAGING. The water was muddy looking and it was absolutely flying off the waterfall with some crazy impressive force. We got drenched standing there, but we were so high off of life at that point that no one cared. There’s a certain adrenaline rush involved, I guess. We were all screaming and skipping and running up and down the sloped walkway. When we finally made our way back to the car, we were five wet dogs who had no Maid of the Mist sort of excuse… we had just gone a bit ballistic.

The outing concluded in a yummy lunch at Edgefield, which I’ve talked about before. We had good food (the Cajun-seasoned tater tots! The sweet potato fries!) but awful service. I complained on behalf of our group and we got a $25 gift card. We proceeded to go to a different bar on the estate and purchase the dessert I had come for: the Terminator Cake. It was as good as I had imagined, made with the best beer EVER (their own Terminator Stout) and consisting of at least four layers of rich, dark, incredible chocolate. Phenomenal.

Crown Point lookout point. So glad she got to see this!

I was not happy about having to pack up Molly’s things and think about leaving, but our evening ended nicely. We went to Contemplative Mass at St. Ignatius, a service I’m glad she got to experience. Then, in search of coffee and/or food for Molly, we found our way to the Starbucks at Pioneer Square and sat there for a bit, enjoying some hot drinks. When it was time to go to the airport, we made our way there with no problems. We hugged and hugged and I cried before Molly finally waved goodbye and headed into PDX. She made it home with no problems and is back in the rhythm of classes, and I had off MLK Day and then had a busy few days but am now looking forward to another weekend! I am so, so grateful that Molls made the trip, and even though I’m pretty sad about the fact that we now have a six-month stretch before we see each other again, I know that there’s nothing to worry about because our friendship is so incredibly special. We’ve grown and matured (actually, that’s questionable), but so many special elements have remained the same. Molls, you are a treasure and a light in my life and I am blessed to have you as a soul sistah!

So, this weekend I’ll be attending the baptism of Ketzaly, my coworker Sara’s baby who I’ve been obsessing about to my mom for the first month of this child’s life. I’m excited to experience a Spanish-speaking baptism. Then, on Sunday, Karen is taking me and a few of my housemates on a snow shoe outing at Barlow Pass. I’ll take photos for sure!

Have a wonderful weekend, all of you! A happy, happy, happy birthday to my dad!! I love you and wish I could give you a birthday hug in person, but—just like your gift—you’ll have to come get it!

XOXO,

Amanda