A Night In Portland

Photo by the Oregon Zoo

On Saturday Cliff and I headed to Portland.  We needed to exchange a lovely Christmas present from my mom and wanted to spend some time with Kathy and Jill.  I'm so excited that we got out of Eugene for a brief bit of time.  We have been stuck in thick fog for days.  FOR DAYS!  It hasn't burned off.  It hasn't moved.  It is just everywhere.  Driving to Portland was like driving in a thin grey tube.  We couldn't see the fields that sit close to the side of the road.  Billboards were difficult to make out until you were right on top of them.  It was crazy.  With this said, we saw 19 hawks on the drive up.  They were all right on the side of the road.  We don't know if the fog brought them closer or what but it was really fun to spot them as we drove.  We think they were red tailed hawks.  Cliff said he usually sees a few on the trip but never as many as we saw on Saturday.  (Side note: we also saw 13 on our way back down to Eugene yesterday.)

In Portland it was beautiful and sunny.  We could see Mt. Hood.  It was amazing.  I forget how different you can feel when you see sunshine.   We felt like we were on vacation.  What am I saying...we were on vacation.

Cliff got a nice razor for Christmas from this really swanky shop called The Art of Shaving.  Sadly, Cliff already has two razors that he uses and loves.  No worries.  There isn't a store in Eugene so we needed to go to Portland to exchange the items  It was really fun to be in the store.  Lisa, our helpful sale clerk, walked Cliff through the process and got him set up with some pretty cool items.  Cliff is now the proud owner of a badger hair shaving brush, shaving oil, shaving cream, and shaving lotion all made with lavender essential oil.  Nice!

After our experience at The Art of Shaving, we met Kathy and Jill at Hopworks Urban Brewery.  We had eaten there last year when we pet sit fort them and remembered them having the most amazing, fresh (and organic) food.  We went in thinking we would split a calzone and salad but we lucked out as it was almost happy hour (on a Saturday!).  We opted for a little of everything: a few beers, giant buttered pretzels with beer/cheese sauce and spicy brown mustard, jalapeño poppers, fries, pizza with lemon chicken and green chilies and caramelized onions, a house salad, and spicy southwest quinoa salad.  It was a really great affordable meal which is so awesome since all of their stuff is organic.  The quinoa salad was perfectly filling, spicy, and healthy.  I want to make it at home so Cliff and I can take it for lunch.  If you are ever in the Portland area and like good pub grub...eat there.

We decided to get a movie and stay in since Toby, their dog, wasn't feeling all that well.  They took us to a  movie store called Movie Madness.  Their goal is to "maintain the largest and most comprehensive collection of movies available to rent on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Video."  It was really fun to be in an actual movie store.  They have movie memorabilia all over the place (note the photo of a Drew Barrymore outfit from Never Been Kissed).  It was like a mini Planet Hollywood.  I won't lie.  I was overwhelmed with their stock so I was happy when Kathy suggested Point Break with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.  We all knew about the movie but surprisingly non of us had seen it except for Cliff (and he was happy to watch it as it meant that we weren't going to have to watch something he hates).  Victory for all!

Since we were all still pretty full from happy hour, we opted for an ice cream dinner from a food cart.  I got a pumpkin ice cream dipped in dark chocolate (it was the $2 special), Kathy got a cake batter sundae, Jill got a chocolate chip banana and Oregon hazelnut hot fudge sundae, and Cliff got one scoop of chocolate chip banana and one scoop of green coconut curry.  I know what you might be thinking.  Green coconut curry ice cream?  I know as I thought it to.  Cliff thought it was delicious while I thought it was a little weird.  It seriously tasted like a sweet curry and had a spicy aftertaste.  Cliff was especially proud of his pairing as the chocolate chip banana went really well with the curry.  It was cold outside (30 degrees) so we all huddled near a heater in the make-shift food-cart food-court.  I would like to eat at more food carts.  They are really popular in Portland (probably also every other city/big town in America).  They all have decent menus.  Vietnamese food.  Thai food.  Mexican food.  Pizza.  Burgers.  Kathy and Jill complained that food cart food is no longer as affordable as it once was.  I mean there are apparently now two carts where you can get artisan cheese plates.  How Portland.

What would a trip to Portland be without a trip to Ikea?  I wanted to get a few frames so that I can finally hang stuff on my office walls.  We got free coffee (since we joined the Ikea family program), looked through the sample rooms, ate meatballs for lunch, shopped in the market place and then ended with a celebratory ice cream (it's tradition).  Kathy and Cliff played with stuffed animals for a while as they all are kinda odd and creepy this time around.  We also sampled a traditional Swedish drink that is consumed around the holidays.  It is a soda that is flavored with hops and malt syrup.  Really good at the first sip but then we found it hard to make our way through the rest of our serving.  All in all, it was a successful ikea trip.

Afterwards we left sunny Portland and headed south.  About 45 minutes down the road we were greeted by the fog again.   Apparently we will have it until Tuesday afternoon.  Oh well.  We have hunkered down at the cottage.  We have a fire going and we are roasting our Cinderella pumpkin so that we can make pie, soup, and freeze a bunch for future meals.  Cinderella pumpkins smell really good when they are roasting  Better than other squash in my opinion.  They smell buttery and delicious.

The Holidays in Oregon

First off, happy new year!  I hope that everyone's 2013 is off to a good start.  It is hard to believe that the holidays are over (although Cliff keeps telling me that they aren't over until this upcoming weekend when we take down the tree and decorations).  This was an odd holiday season as this was the first time we were away from the east coast and on our own for Christmas.

Cliff and I did an excellent job of getting into the Christmas spirit.  We went with friends to see holiday lights (see Coos Bay post), we watched holiday movies, ate chocolate, listened to Christmas music, decorated the whole house, and drank egg nog.  We were in good shape until Christmas eve.  We were really homesick and sad.  So we made dinner, chatted with our lovely family, watched "It's A Wonderful Life", and headed for bed.  On Christmas we finished opening presented (we snuck a few ahead of schedule) and packed up to head to Portland to spend the night with Kathy, Jill, and our friend Zoe who flew up from California.  We were actually supposed to go up to Portland before Christmas but postponed the trip as Zoe's flight was cancelled and she came in a few days late.  I'm really glad we changed our plans as spending time with friends helped to make a really nice Christmas.  Kathy, Jill and Zoe made a delicious lunch/dinner (ham, vegetables, bread and cheese, green bean casserole, stuffing, mimosas, and homemade cookies!).  We Skyped with our friends Sam and Steve in Pittsburg.  Afterwards we all went to the movie to see Les Miserables.  The theater was packed.  I love going to the movies on Christmas.  We all really enjoyed the movie and cried a lot...well....I cried a lot.  I get so emotional with musicals.  They are magical to me.  After the movie we opened presents and ate Chinese food.  It was a solid day.

We came back from Portland on Wednesday so that I could work the rest of the week.  Cliff and I were both looking forward to the weekend as REI was having their scratch and dent sale.  We really want to start backpacking but are missing a few essential items and we had Christmas money burning a hole in our pocket.  We got there 2 1/2 hours before the doors opened and we were about the 70th or so folks in line.  It was cold but dry and a friend waited with us so the time went by pretty quickly.  Once inside, Cliff did it.  He found the exact tent we wanted.  The tent sells for about $350 and we got ours for $70 because a non-essential zipper was broken.  Totally excited!  We also got a fuel bottle for our future stove and I got a fuzzy fleece jacket.  We were pretty proud of ourselves.  We put the tent up in the living room quite a few times that night.  Rudy was very confused.  We are now a few steps closer to our first spring backpacking trip.

Last night we went out to dinner with a friend from work and stopped in at our neighbor's for a get together.   The clock struck midnight as Cliff and I were going to bed.  We decided to ring in the new year with sleep.  This morning we got up and Cliff suggested that we climb Spencer Butte.  It has been dry this week (awesome) and the sun was out.  Everyone and their mom, brother, cousin, and dog was at the butte today.  We all wanted to take in the view and the sunshine on the first day of 2013.  There was quite a bit of frost and even some ice on the butte.  I took a photo of some as it was a cool shape. It was clear and we could see the Three Sisters and even up to Mt. Hood.  The whole hike was relaxing and wonderful.

I've failed to mention that Rudy had an awesome Christmas.  He got a new bed, treats, a long and leggy Santa monkey, a Rudolph rope/squeak toy (via Kathy and Jill), and a new tie (via mom).  He has been a happy camper.  He won't leave his new bed and when he does it is to either eat, go to the bathroom, or frolic with his new toys.  You can't see them all, but he is sitting on top of them in this photo.  He likes to snuggle with them.

As for the new year, 2012 was full of transitions for us and for the family.  We are looking forward to 2013 and the new challenges and the opportunities that await.  We don't really do resolutions but Cliff and I have a few hopes for the upcoming year:

• Spend more time outside
• Start backpacking (the goal would be once a month in the dry times)
• Be more active and eat healthier (we both have quite a big sweet tooth)
• Finally get the dog to walk properly on a leash
• Cliff wants to row another marathon before April
• I want to improve my ability to balance work and life

May the new year bring you all lots of love, laughter, prosperity, and happiness!  Bring it on 2013. 

Dad's Oregon Visit

Dad came to visit us this summer.  He arrived last Tuesday and left yesterday morning.  We tried to cram fun activities around our work and volunteer schedules. Dad spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday hanging around campus taking in the U of O scene.  On the first day he went shopping at the Duck Store so that he would look like a native.  He did a good job.  As you can see we now all have Oregon hats to sport (Dad with his new visor, Cliff with the trusty green hat, and my new yellow hat to replace my old trusty green hat).

After a few days of eating at local restaurants (Hop Valley, Off the Waffle, Track Town Pizza), shopping, hanging out on campus, listening to live music, and taking in a drive-in movie; the weekend started and we had three days to explore around Eugene. First stop, University of Oregon Football Fan Day.  We arrived and the line was super, super long so we went and ate fish and chips and hamburgers at Red Robin.  When we came back we were able to walk in and see what was going on.  The football players were signing autographs, the cheerleaders were posing for pictures and performing, Puddles the Duck was out and doing his thing, and folks were generally just geeking out to be standing on the field at Autzen.   Dad bought a four DVD set about the history of Oregon football.  Did you know that we use to be the webfoots?  Awesome.

 The next day we went and explored Fern Ridge Lake, Veneta, and areas slightly west of town.  Dad hadn't done the Oregon wine tasting thing so we went to Silvan Ridge and Sweet Cheeks.  My Dad doesn't drink so it was really odd to see him tasting the sweet wines.  Dare I say, I think he was even enjoying himself.  After wine tasting we went to go see The Campaign (what can I say,  I love Will Ferrell).   After the movie we went to Sonic for half priced shakes.  I got my usual chocolate malt but both Cliff and Dad decided to be daring and get a mix of pineapple, strawberry, chocolate, and hot fudge shakes.  It was called a banana split shake and it was delicious. 

On Monday we drove (with the dog in tow) to Portland so that we could be ready to go early in the morning to get him to the airport.  We decided to head out to Multnomah Falls.  I always forgot how quickly the city fades away as you head east on the Columbia River Gorge from Portland.  The landscape is beautiful with the Columbia River, the tall trees, the rocks, and the lack of development.  

When we arrived at the falls we hiked to the bridge and then ate hot dogs and ice cream cones.  Rudy even walked up to the bridge with us.  Dad was pretty impressed with the scenery and who can argue.  It is one of my favorite places in Oregon.  In case anyone would like some facts about Multnomah Falls, the lower falls come in at 69 feet and the upper falls are 542 feet from top to bottom.  Pretty awesome.

The photo of Dad on the bridge might be one of my favorite photos of him ever.  So good.  To follow up on one of my favorite photos I will also post one of the funniest/most non-photogenic photos ever.  Cliff captured us as we really are in real life.  Also so good but in a totally different way. 

After the falls we drive back towards Portland and ate at Salty's on the Columbia River.  It was a really fancy seafood and steak restaurant.  There were all kinds of fun salads, really good tomato bisque, and seafood for all!  Cliff got sturgeon (the daily special) with some absolutely fantastic vegetables.  Dad got a combo of coconut fried prawns and crab cake.  What did I learn at the restaurant?  After years of not being able to eat shellfish the jury is still out for me on some things.  Baby shrimp?  No thank you.  Clams, crabs, and prawnes?  Yes, please.  We topped it off with two really decadent deserts.  The best part is that we got one for free as we used a card from our hotel.

Airports are tricky.  One of my favorite things to do in the world is pick up people at the airport.  I love looking down the gates waiting to catch a peak of loved ones as they come off the plane and out of their terminal.  On the reverse, I really hate taking people to the airport.  It is so hard to say goodbye.  I hope that Dad had a great time.  We didn't get to do everything on our list but it will just help feed the need for the next Oregon adventure. 

Love Is In The Air

Over the next four months many of the nearest and dearest to my heart are getting married.  I wish that we could be at all of the weddings.  This past weekend was the kick off to the season of love.  It was amazing and I am looking forward to all of the festivities to come.

On Saturday Cliff, Rudy, and I drove to Portland to celebrate with Kathy and Jill.  Their wedding is coming up in Boston and because of my job we sadly cannot attend.  When I found out that we couldn't go I was honestly heart broken as I love these two so much.  Kathy has been a friend-soul mate since the first day of freshman year.  When Jill joined the group in 2004 she made our little circle even more amazing.  Honestly, I love these guys.  There were other west coasters in the same boat so they were wonderful and planned an old fashion Oregon fake wedding.

Fake weddings are the best (I was a big fan of ours).  I was just so excited that we could still celebrate with Kathy and Jill.  The ceremony was on Mt. Tabor in Portland over looking the reservoir.  Cliff was the officiant and Rudy was the ring bearer.

After the ceremony we all went to Fire on the Mountain to get buffalo wings and beer and then we went back to Kathy and Jill's apartment for some really tasty cake.  It was such a good night.  I laughed.  I cried.  So good.

Shamrock 5K

This weekend Cliff and I traveled up to Portland to visit Brie and run with her in the Shamrock Run.  We've been excited about this race for months and it did not disappoint.   Before I tell you how awesome it was I wanted to give you a little Kim and Cliff 5K background information. 

Cliff was apart of the running clubs at his school last year and because of this he got to run in a few 5Ks.  I went to all of the races and had a whole lot of fun taking pictures and cheering on folks while Cliff, the kids, and his coworkers ran their butts off.  It looked like fun so I even decided to participate in the action.  Last February we signed up for the Girl Scout Cookie 5K.  Actually I signed up for the one mile fun run but later upgraded to the 5K when I realized that only small, small children do these.  Embarrassing.  I know.   That race was pretty awesome as it was super small and we ended up winning cookies...both of us.  My heart smiles just thinking of it.  Despite my cookie-worthy performance my time was actually pretty terrible.  I mean some people could probably walk 5K in the time that it took me to run.  As I have said before...I am slow and steady.  Anyway, since I have been exercising more I had high hopes for improving my time.  Two weeks ago Cliff and I ran a practice 5K at a park so that I could manage my expectations.  After two months of working out (workout DVDs and jogging) I was able to shed over four minutes off my 5K time from last February.  I ran it without stopping to walk.  Big victory for me.  While I was excited about that I was still a little embarrassed as my new personal record was still slow.  Looking onward to the Shamrock 5K, Cliff was encouraging and Brie was positive that I was going to shed a few more minutes.  I was skeptical. 

We went up to Portland on Saturday and stayed with Brie at her apartment.  We got to meet her three kitties.  They are all super cute and have their own little personalities.  Cliff was in heaven as one of her cats in pretty much a cat-dog as it is super curious and cuddly.  If I wasn't so allergic (I was heavily medicated for the trip) we would have a cat in our apartment as Cliff really likes them.  Brie made vegetarian lasagna and after dinner we hung out for a while, prepped for the race, and then went to bed.  The next morning we got up early.  Anise, Brie's friend, joined our party as her dad was going to run the 15K.  It was in the high 30's with rain on and off.  It was pretty cold. 

We were ready.  While we waited at the bus stop we decided to take some pre-race photos.  As you can tell I was feeling pretty super.  The Shamrock Run is huge.  It consists of a 5K, 8K, and 15K.  In total there were 32,000 participants.  So many people!

Brie and Anise were pumped.  Anise wasn't a big fan of the picture taking process but she was a good sport.  This was Brie's second Shamrock 5K and Anise's first (she ran the fun run last year).  They did a good job telling us what to expect as we waited for the bus. 

 

We gals got St. Patrick's Day socks from Target.  I love Target.  We wanted to be festive and nothing says 'we are athletic' like themed tube socks.

I bought a St. Paddy's Day headband at Target thinking it would be warm and sunny.  Nope.  But that's ok as Mrs. Lyddane made me an awesome orange hat for Christmas a few years ago and it worked perfectly with the theme of the day.  The hat not only kept me warm but it also helped me stick out.  Cliff was able to find us after the race in the huge crowd because of the hat.  I was a orange beacon.  It was awesome.  

The run was a success!  Cliff ran ahead of us and had a good race.  He ended up coming in 404th out of the 9,059 total 5Kers and 58th out of 469 male runners in his age group.  Awesome, right?  Seriously.  As for me, I ended up cutting over another two and a half minutes off my previous best time!  Brie was right!  I was so excited and shocked.  I finished 4,797th out of the total 9,059 5Kers and 522nd out of 1,037 gals in my age group.  I now have an ok 5K time!  I can't tell you how excited I was.  I'm still excited!  I'm kinda starting to feel athletic.  It's awesome.

After the race we stopped for a group photo.  Brie and Anise were awesome.  Brie normally runs much faster but she decided to run with us instead.  We girls ran together and so was motivating and fun.  It was really wonderful.

After the race we parted ways with Anise and we were starting to get really cold so we went to claim our victory goodies.  We started with our free cups of salmon chowder.  Holy crap it was good!  I know what you are thinking: "Chowder?  After a race?  That sounds disgusting and makes my stomach turn".  We thought the same thing! Not the case.  It was warm and smoky and it hit the spot.  I wish I was eating it now just thinking about it.  Cliff liked it so much that he had to have two at the same time.

 

After victory chowder we went to get our victory beer.  What would a St. Patrick's Day race be without free victory beer?  The buddy of the guy taking the picture was being kinda ridiculous so the photo captures all of us laughing at him. Despite the chowder and beer we were starting to get really cold so we hauled tail to the bus stop.   After we got home and changed we went out for lunch.  It was a fantastic ending to a fantastic weekend. 

I wanted to leave you guys with a little thing that I am going to call "Where's Kim?"  For those of you who are "Where's Waldo" fans (I am!) you might enjoy trying to pick me out of the end of the race crowd.  Cliff did.  Happy St. Patrick's Day (a little late) and happy hunting!

Two Bridesmaids And A Blog

This weekend Cliff and I traveled up to Portland to see our amazing friends, Kathy and Jill.  The three of us are in a wedding (yay Sam and Steve!) and it was time to try on some bridesmaid dresses.  I know... it's exciting.  I love weddings and nothing makes me happier than being in full-on wedding mode.  We were pretty much the only folks in the store which was good as we laughed alot...oh and loudly.  It was a great time.

While the three of us were posing in front of really sparkly dresses at the wedding store, Cliff was at their apartment playing with their awesome cat, Cleveland.  He kept taunting it with a cat toy.  Both Cliff and cat enjoyed the activity. Cliff loves this cat. Honestly.


While we were up there Kathy introduced me to an amazing blog.  She introduced it by saying "I read this blog and the dog in it reminds me a lot of Rudy".  'Nuff said.  I'm sold.  The blog is Hyperbole and a Half.  You should check out this posting about one of her dogs.  It is amazing because it is Rudy.  The drawings, the thought bubbles, everything.  Her special dog is our special dog.  I think she just found herself another avid reader.

A Portland Holiday

Cliff and I last week had the opportunity to pet sit for Kathy and Jill's animals for a few days.  Since we were still very much in transition we were able to help the out when they needed pet sitters last minute.  We decided that while we were in Portland that we were going to take a holiday.  When we lived in Oregon before we never really went up to Portland.  This was mostly because we were too broke to do anything exciting but we also just got wrapped up a whole lot in school and work.  Jill put together a really nice "to-do" list for us so that we could get the insiders perspective on where to go and what to do.  As always, Cliff and I pretty much just ate our way across the city.

Kathy and Jill have two cats (Lily and Cleveland) and an older dog (Toby).  Rudy was so excited to play with them...it was intense and it overwhelmed all of the animals.  We took several days to get them all use to one another and by the end of our trip they were all able to be in the same room without killing each other or driving Cliff and I crazy.  We considered it a victory.

While in Portland we went to Pine State Biscuits and ate yummy, fancy biscuits.  Mine had fried chicken, bacon, and apple butter and Cliff's had Carolina BBQ with red cabbage coleslaw on top.  He figured the BBQ would be good since the owners are from Carolina.  It was a very hip and happening place.  The music was loud and of the dance variety, the customers were all dressed in trendy fashion, and there was a line outside. The food was great.

We got a chance to explore SE Portland and relax.  While in SE we also ate at Fire on the Mountain (and yes there were lots of paintings of The Grateful Dead) and had some of their amazing buffalo wings.  Jill recommended them and I was a bit skeptical as I thought "how good could a buffalo wing place really be?"  Well let me tell you...their sauces were fantastic.  You could see the peppers and other spices in the sauce.  Really tasty.  Apparently they are going to start selling the sauces in stores so keep your eyes peeled folks.

SE Portland is also home to Distillery Row.  My dad stopped at a distillery in Kentucky as he was coming across country a few years ago and said it was really interesting.  We had never been to one so we figured why not?  After all....we were on holiday.  Portland is apparently fostering a craft distillery movement.  It was a Monday and there were not a whole lot of tasting rooms open but we did luck out as Stone Barn Brandyworks was open.  When we got there we actually surprised the guy as they apparently never have people come by on Mondays.  He was in the middle of making mash for their oat whiskey.   The whole operation was in a small warehouse unit so just by taking one step inside we could see the whole operation as they place was probably 25 square feet.   Cliff did the tasting and really liked their ouzo (it had spearmint in it!) and oat whiskey.  The guy who was working that day was really nice and told us a lot about the operations and gave us a few more suggestions on what to do in Portland.

 

As you all may know pumpkin is my favorite food.  Hands down.  So you can imagine how excited I was when we found out that a local bar (the Green Dragon) was having their killer pumpkin fest while we were in town.  They had 17 mostly regional pumpkin beers, a pumpkin food menu, pumpkin bowling, etc.  I love pumpkin beer but it is really hit or miss in my opinion with finding a good one.  I was excited because they were serving little tasters of everything on tap so Cliff and I got to taste quite a few of them.  Luckily there were more good pumpkin beers in their batch than bad.  We ate buffalo burgers (sadly a lot of their pumpkin main dishes had hazelnuts in them) and some amazing pumpkin pie.  We sat at the same table as a really nice couple and we ended up talking with them for almost four hours.  They had never been to the east coast so we told them about a few places they need to visit if they ever make it that way.  It was a lot of fun.

We got to see Brie while we were there.  We were originally going to go to a bouldering gym (yikes..i know!) but we changed plans when Brie had a meeting at work that was going to go really late.  Cliff and I were both pumped to go bouldering but we realized that we were probably going to be really bad at it as neither one of us are known for our upper body strength.  Oh well...maybe next time.  Instead we got to spend a morning leisurely eating breakfast and talking about running, apartments, family, and making future plans.  We might all run in a few races together.  Both Cliff and Brie have caught the running bug and I am hoping to as well.  It is really nice to have family relatively (ha) close.  I hope we get to hang out more.

Once we were back in Eugene we went to the REI scratch and dent sale.  Oh man did we play that wrong.  We got there right as the sale was starting only to see a line stretch along side of the whole building.  We stood in line for about an hour as we were hopeful that we would find the backpacking tent that we wanted and maybe a rain jacket for Cliff to wear as he bikes around town.  While in line we were reminded that we do live in Eugene.  Besides the guy on a bike who kept riding by yelling about local public transportation legislation and "go ducks!" we also got to witness someone doing yoga waiting in line.  That is right.  He is doing handstands while waiting in line.  See his feet?!?!  <-----  He kept doing it.  Every time it made me laugh a little bit.  Sadly we didn't find our exact tent or a jacket that fit Cliff but I did get a pair of Merrell's hiking shoes for $2.80.  Now I will be able to keep up with Cliff (at least I hope so) as he easily maneuvers over slippery ground when we go on trails.

I am happy to say that we finally got the keys to our new apartment!  We are totally smitten with our new place.  It currently looks like a bomb exploded as we have boxes everywhere but I will post photos once we are officially moved in.

Also, I want to give a late birthday shout out to my mom.  I love you!

Ikea Overload

I didn't think it was possible.  I love Ikea.  Love.   I normally really enjoy any opportunity to go into one and walk around for hours looking at all the cool possibilities.   So when Cliff asked me this morning if I wanted to go to Ikea I almost couldn't get into the car fast enough.  We ate breakfast (only $2.68 total for our eggs, bacon, potatoes, french toast sticks, cinnamon bun, and coffee), walked around the top showroom, ate lunch (two Swedish meatball plates), and then walked around the bottom level.  The whole trip took around five hours.  Normally I would have been skipping out of there with my celebratory $1 ice cream but this time I was just too overwhelmed.  Never have I actually walked through the showroom actually looking for multiple pieces of furniture for an apartment.  There are so many options!  Fabrics, colors, and different sizes (oh my).  Don't get me wrong...I am totally excited to be able to plan out our apartment.  I think I just might need to get my own big breakfast next time.