| ugc| archive | week of 7.29.01

Archive:

8.04.01 (saturday)

Yesterday, driving home, I saw something I hadn't seen in a while. Two nuns, walking down the street. I can't remember the last time I saw to nuns out and about. On the rare occurence that I see nuns, it makes me think of an incident from my youth:

I was probably 5 at the time, and I'm grocery shopping with mum. We're wheeling through the store, and come down an aisle where two nuns happen to be shopping. So, having no clue as to what a nun is, I loudly querry my mum, "Why are those two ladies dressed in halloween costumes?"

I'm not sure what happened after that. I'm guessing we speedily made our way down the aisle, in the opposite direction of the nuns, and finished shopping as quick as humanly possible.

Pictures from Portland are up. Enjoy!

8.01.01 (wednesday)

Apparently if you're related to me, you will soon be in a car accident. Not only did I bash up my lovely new beetle. My mum had minor car dentage the same week. AND today, I was having a bad day, so I decided it would cheer me up if I hung out with My Favorite Cousin after work. So I called her to see if she'd come pick me up (seeing as how I am carless for the next couple of weeks). On her way over, someone hit her. Right infront of the driveway of my building, in fact. The front fender on what we affectionately call "That Civic" is dented and sagging pretty low to the ground. So I think our plans for shopping in Berkeley this weekend are pretty much shot. Unless we can find someone willing to cart us up there. We should probably save our money anyways.

7.31.01 (tuesday)

My Favortie Cousin and I went for ice cream last night. It was bizarre. I had never been to Cold Stone Creamery before. Not only do they make ice cream right there on the premises, they will make you your own unique ice cream flavor. For those not initiated with the wonder that is Cold Stone, I'll explain. You pick a generic ice cream flavor (vanilla, chocolate, etc), and then you pick what goes with it (candy, fruit, hot fudge, etc.), and they mix it all up for you, on a cold stone. You are then handed your custom made ice cream. AND if you tip them a dollar, one of the cheery kids behind the counter screams, "HEY GUYS, WE GOT A DOLLAR!" And they lurch into song. Usually something you'd recognize, but with lyrics relating to the fact that you just tipped them a dollar. At one point I asked if I tipped them 50 cents, would they only sing half a song...but that didn't go over too well.

New found link fun: April rocks. She likes the Smiths AND the Lucksmiths!

7.29.01 (sunday)

fish n'chips

If San Francisco and Santa Cruz had a baby...they'd have to call it Portland. It's just laid back enough to remind me of Santa Cruz, but it's bustling enough and has a great public transit system reminiscent of San Francisco.

We stayed in a funky old hotel right around the corner from Powell's and were able to walk all over downtown from there. We did end up taking the Max and new streetcar to get to a couple of places:

The Oregon Zoo : Very nice. They have meerkats, wolves, and bats, but not nearly enough big cats. We overheard a mother reprimanding her child as we were walking in: "That wasn't very nice of you to pull the peacock's tail, was it?" I couldn't help but giggle.

The Rose Garden: A woman on the plane told us about it. She said there was this hugenormous (she didn't actually use THAT word) bronze statue of Sacajawea there, but that was a year ago. And alas, she was no longer there. But there were beautiful roses everywhere and a fabulous view overlooking the city.

The Japanese Garden: Very lovely. Very green. Lots of little pagodas and things. Some very nice koi fish. Serene rock gardens. Pretty much what you'd expect of a Japanese garden.

We also visited the Northwest "Nob Hill" section of town. Home to not one, but two Starbucks, and other run of the mill Crate and Restoration Barrel Hardware Barn type stores. But also quirky little shops, one where I happened to find the little trinket in the photo above. We also found many good places to eat, including McMinimans Tavern, which had the best bacon cheeseburgers EVER.

We ventured out on the bus to the Hawthorne district which was home to more funky shops and things, my favorite being a shoe store called Imelda's.

Chinatown has a lovely Chinese garden, where it started to pour down rain on us, but I did manage to take what I hope turn out to be some lovely photos.

I almost forgot to mention the Victoria Cafe. It instalntly became my favorite place for a drink. Not only was it close to the hotel, but the drinks were good, the staff was friendly, and when we walked in they were playing my favorite Neutral Milk Hotel album. I couldn't help but feel right at home sitting in the little wooden booths sipping a beer.

Portland was quite lovely, and we had a good time. I know there's been an influx of Californians heading up north, but I don't know that I want to move there just yet. Although I do kind of miss all the green trees. I'll have pictures from most of the above places soon.