Another Visit to the PNW

Every year, Ryan and I travel out to the pacific northwest and more specifically to Portland, OR where his oldest brother, Todd and his wife, Cathy live with our two nephews, Owen and Grant (we have a few other posts detailing past visits). We love Portland, not only because we love to visit family but we just love the pacific northwest in general. It seems to suit us very nicely. So, we decided to take the 3 hour train ride to Seattle last year for the first time and loved it so much that did so again this year.

We flew in to Portland on a Thursday evening and got a taxi to our hotel, The Governor, which was amazing. I love Hotels.com - if you obsessively check for deals (like I do), you will always find something amazing. This was a 4 star hotel that we got for the price of a good dinner out... I'm all about good deals!

We couldn't see brother-in-law, Todd yet as we were to surprise him Friday evening so we had a good day to walk around one of our favorite places.

We swung by Henry's Tavern on 12th and Burnside upon arrival for some dinner and a pint of two (and a pomegranate martini for me!).

We also hit the Rogue Brewery for lunch on Friday where I tried the Chipotle Ale. Yummy with a kick!We did also hit some of our favorite stores and overall had a nice leisurely day walking the city. The next few posts will document Todd's 40th, the rest of our visit in Portland and our trip to Seattle as well....

Guster is home!

I had posted about a month ago about our new addition, Guster aka "Gus". Well, last Friday he officially made it home with Ryan and I to join his "big brother" Coodie. Gus has been a wonderful addition to our family. Where Coodie likes to hang around us but doesn't exactly like to cuddle, Gus is hanging around our necks and cuddling in bed with us. They get along fantastically - no hissing was ever involved in the introduction. Coodie stared at Gus with wide eyes for the first two days and now, Gus is old news to him. They play fight constantly and have even been caught sleeping together! We have found the perfect combo of cats. Here are some photos of our first week together:

Oh, and yes - just like typical siblings, they are even getting in trouble together. Here is Ryan after pulling them both our of the basement for misbehaving!

I am sure we will have many more posts to come about these two...

The Nothing

Do you all remember "The Neverending Story"? I loved that movie as a kid and I am convinced that while I was away in Rhode Island for work this week that the storm "The Nothing" that wreaked havoc in the movie actually hit New Hampshire and continues to hang around this weekend. The weather was terrible in RI but consisted of mostly torrential rains and overcast skies. As I was driving north home, I was struck by the damage that was done in some pretty severe wind storms. There were a few areas along the highway where at least 50% of the trees were broken in half. I was also following about 8 power trucks from out of state. You can see some of them in this photo:

Today, we woke up to these HUGE flakes of snow and a bit of a winter wonderland that we haven't seen much of this year (as opposed to our friends in the more southern states).

Alas, this did not last long and produced little accumulation. The sun then came out. Then we had sleeting rain. Then the giant flakes of snow again. Then the sun. Then the sleeting rain again. Then the sun again and the cycle continued....

Such strange weather....

When I am away...

...this is what happens.....

I was away on a business trip all week leaving Ryan and Coodie back home. I get this photo texted to me mid-week and just about had a fit. This is about a month's worth of food and we carefully portion his food out into small portions 3 times a day (otherwise he can't control himself!). I am a little over protective so he sent this to me just to poke fun. ha. ha.

The newest addition...

...to our family is Guster. We will call him Gus for short and he is a cute little guy. Here is some proof:
As you can see, he is already very photogenic at only 8 weeks of age!Last May, Ryan and I took Ethan to a cat show in Concord (see our old post from May of last year) where we were introduced to the Birman breed and we met a very nice man who bred these special cats. They have very silky soft fur that feels like a bunny and have very sweet dispositions. They love to play but also love to snuggle and sit on your lap. We kept in touch with the man we met and his wife and when they had a litter, we set up a time to visit. We were able to see them this weekend and we had a lovely time visiting with the owners and all of their wonderful cats. We immediately fell in love with the kitten above which happened to be one of the 2 up for adoption.

I was pretty quick on testing out the snuggle on Gus. He checked out just fine.
Here is Gus with his brother and sister. I wish we had gotten some pics of their mom (Betty Boop) and dad (Zach) because they were absolutely gorgeous cats... and very sweet as well. We were a little too wrapped up in these little guys as you can see...Gus' little paws checked out just fine as well - look how tiny they are! Oh boy, now we can't wait for big brother Coodie to meet him! Gus will be coming home in mid-March. We are counting the days and planning for our new little guy. Stay tuned for the big homecoming!

Christmas (part two)

We also had a Christmas celebration with our pals, Kate and Scoop. Kate and I made candy cane martinis as you see below:We even had crushed peppermints on the rim...very pretty. But, I won't lie...They didn't taste very good - a little TOO festive maybe? So, we ditched them and went back to our wine. It was fun and fancy while it lasted.Aunt Kate gives Cood a nice snuggle. She is truly "Aunt Kate" to Cood as she comes by twice a day whenever we are out of town to feed and play with him. He really loves her and rolls over with just the sound of her voice. It's very sweet.Uncle Scoop gets in the action and gives our big boy a good scratch.As usual, we had a great time with Scoop and Kate. The four of us got to play the classic "Apples to Apples", Kate and I got to catch up and Scoop and Ryan played some "Madden 2010". Another fantastically fun night with our best buds.

Christmas (part one)

I am a little late posting on Christmas as I failed to take my camera out very often so I had to ask others to forward their photos along. It was a nice, quiet Christmas but we missed Ryan's parents - Donna and Sandy and also Todd, Cathy, Owen and Grant out in Oregon.
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Let's get started...Christmas Eve was for Ryan and I. I had reserved this night awhile back when I said this was "our" night and we were to have a romantic dinner out and chill back home by the twinkly lights. We had done this once years ago when we were dating and it was so much fun. So, we headed to a local Italian restaurant, Fratello's, which is in a renovated mill building in downtown Manchester for some yummy pasta and brick oven pizza. We had a great time and it was complete with twinkly lights and a festive pianoman that entertained us.

Here is our table at Fratello's - you can see me in the dark background perusing the menu. There is the yummy bread basket to the right!

We had my mom, dad, sister Jodi, brother-in-law Jon and nephews Ethan and Aaron over for brunch on Christmas Day. The kiddos were patient enough to allow us to cook, eat and clean up before we opened gifts. We had a menu of blueberry pancakes, bacon, cheesy eggs, scrambled eggs, bagels, blueberry bread (handmade by my dad - yum!) and fruit salad. Ryan, Cood and I.

Aaron, Jodi and Jon after brunch and presents. Time for a nap!My mom and I.

We also celebrated with Ryan's brother Mark, sister-in-law Allison and niece and nephew Chelsea and Hunter but I have no photos... I think taking the camera out more often is a good New Year's resolution! Overall, a great holiday. A belated *cheers* to you all!