Note: Michael helped me remember all of the major events that have happened in the past week to document for this blog post, yay for collaboration! ;)
Thursday 11.28:
This Thanksgiving 2013 was the first Thanksgiving that Michael & I spent as a married couple and it was festive, to say the least :) We started out at his folk's house to celebrate with the his side of the family and some friends. It was great! There were about 19 or 20 of us altogether. Always a good time with the McCaffrey clan. Then we headed to my aunt's house to celebrate with my side of the family, another large group! It was nice because my mom's cousins were there who we haven't seen since my brother David was maybe 12 and I was 10... would be my guess. They came to to the wedding which was nice but this time I actually got to sit down & chat with them. It's a pretty small world because Mike's dad was Aunt Lou, Yvonne and Eileen's chiropractor for years... who knew! So Linda & Lee (Mike's parents) came over to join us for dessert and it was all a big, happy reunion! :) David and I made an awesome dish at both the in-laws and my aunt's. We took Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (in the tube), unrolled them, laid down strips of bacon, rolled them back up and popped them in the oven! They were a hit I'd say, and I think it made David feel good that he could contribute to the Thanksgiving meal. Lastly we went to out friend Dean & Jessica's parent's house to visit with them and see our godson, Arius. He's massive for 19 months... not fat, just a solidly built kid. 3 Thanksgivings in one day surely makes you tired... and stuffed! We felt like beached whales by the end of the day, lol!
Friday 11.29:
Oh boyyyyy did we sleep in. We slept in til 1pm or so. We both get up super early on weekdays for work and had a long week so we indulged in as much sleep as we could that. This day was also... dun, dun, dun... Civil War! University of Oregon Ducks vs. Oregon State University Beavers. And, I don't think I even need to disclose who won cause it's pretty much a given... the Ducks! HOWEVER, it was actually a pretty close game even though it shouldn't have been cause the Beavers got nothin' on us! Okay enough sports talk for this day. After the game our friend Mike Katzer came into town from Iowa to spend the evening with us because the next day we'd be going on somewhat of a road trip... more on that in the next paragraph. OH, so per Michael's suggestion, we are going to include a little review of Hawaiian Time, a Hawaiian food restaurant that we enjoyed that evening. I got Korean style sliced beef and the guys got some dish called Huli Huli, teriyaki style chicken. The food took quite awhile to prepare, perhaps cause it was later in the evening but it was tasty. Served with rice and macaroni salad... comes highly recommended from Mike. I personally thought it was just ok. I've had it before in Eugene when I was down there for college but it will never beat Hodge Podge! Once we got home and finished eating, Michael & I put up and decorated our Christmas tree! We are using our wishing/blessing tree from the wedding and it is extremely bright. See photos below :)
Saturday 11.30:
Road trip to La Grande, OR! Okay, so back story: when Mike Katzer and his family were driving back to Iowa from Oregon after the wedding, all was going well until in La Grande where their minivan hit a deer on the freeway. This almost totaled their car and they had to leave it there to get fixed and take a rental car the rest of the way home. Katzer flew out to Portland Friday night so we could drive him to his now fixed car in La Grande on Saturday morning. We all woke up at 5am (I repeat, FIVE A.M.) and started on our journey. We dropped my car off at the in-laws house cause they were going to have their mechanic take a look at my slowly deteriorating car and they let us borrow their car in case it was snowy on the way over. The drive was actually fun! Listened to some tunes, took some good photos, stopped by some view points, etc. And plenty of rest stops along the way as well, haha. It was a full day of driving leaving Portland to La Grande and then turning around and heading back to Portland... 10-11 hours total I believe? Needless to say once we got back home, we crashed out hard & early. And this was even after plenty of Dutch Bros.!
Sunday 12.1:
Cleaning day! In the morning Mike went to work and I went to town on the apartment. I cleaned, straightened, organized, took care of finances, minor tasks here and there... it was very productive, love days like that! After Mike got back from the office, we celebrated Jessica's birthday at Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub with her husband Dean and her friend who we met that day. Miss Jessica turned the ripe old age of 25 on December 2... makes me feel so old (I'm 25 as well, just 7 months older lol). Kells Nachos are.the.best. FYI, if you haven't had them yet then please get thyself to the nearest Kells ASAP and get them! Nom nom nom. In the evening Myra came over to see the new place and we visited for a bit since she was in town from Seattle. It was great to have her over and catch up.
Monday 12.2:
Back to work after a 4 day weekend... boooo. Being an adult is a drag sometimes! JK, I'm not that whiney. Or maybe I am. Anywho, it was pretty busy for both of us back at work, I personally had a bit to catch up on. After work Mike went to the Portland Blazers game against the Indiana Pacers with his brother, Shawn. Speaking of our team name; aren't we actually The Portland TrailBlazers? Does anyone actually call us that anymore? While he was doing that I went to yoga, ran a few errands, picked up Christmas cards and took out our wedding cake out of the freezer to defrost to have a bite later in the evening :) You know how you're supposed to keep some of your wedding cake in the freezer and then eat it on your one year anniversary? My sister-in-law Ann was telling us that her and Matt's wedding cake was so gross and frost-bitten by then so she suggested we eat a piece on our one month anniversary instead... so we did! The cake is still as delicious as it was on our wedding day. Actually I didn't eat it this day cause I was too full but Mike did. Haha. Props to Rachel & Josh who are like my brother and sister as they're the ones who made all of the baked goods for our wedding :)
Tuesday 12.3:
Work, work, work. We are trying to remember what happened this day lol. How did you spend your Tuesday? I think after work this day was when I made cheesy potatoes au gratin... yum. I don't know about you but if I had to pick a food to eat every single day for the rest of my life, it'd be potatoes. You can prepare them many different ways, they're filling, they're easy to make, etc. I would have hated to be alive in Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine! Ok so we also did a little bit of Christmas decorating. We got a jolly snowman door mat, put up pom-pom Christmas garland which doubles as a Christmas card holder, put up some lights, dug out our ornaments and stockings, etc. We love the holidays :) Then we watched an episode of New Girl since we *finally* got our DVR fixed so we were able to fast-forward through the commercials. Heck yes!
Wednesday 12.4:
Yesterday after work I did a tiny bit of thrift shopping (one of my favorite hobbies) and picked out a few things that I might feature on the blog in a future post. After work Mike came home and did some more work, took care of some things around the house, ran some errands and I went to pick up David to go to the Blazers game against Oklahoma City Thunder. When I picked him up he was decked out in his Blazers shirt and Blazers hat that Mike got him as a post-wedding gift, it says "To My Bro David! M & V 11/2/2013." Isn't that sweet? Mike had these made for all of the male family member, his ushers and his best man/groomsmen for the wedding. Very sweet gesture and I like the personal touch :) This was David's first NBA game and he had a great time! The traffic was pretty bad cause it was also the first day of the Holiday Brew Fest so we were a bit late (plus I'm always running late, whoops). Also I got lost trying to find our typical parking spot, oy. But we finally made it in the Moda Center! They have at least four new food joints this year-- Fire on the Mountain buffalo wings, Killer Burger, Sizzle Pie and Bunk Sandwiches. David picked Bunk and we both got some massive muffalettas... expensive but worth it. David got a kick out of seeing Blaze, the 'Trail Cat' and enjoyed the cheer stix as well. There was a lot of energy in the crowd and LaMarcus Aldridge just killed it! We ended up beating the Thunder 111:104, I told David we won cause he brought the good luck :) I tried getting some good photos but I only have the lame ones posted below since my phone died 3 minutes into the game, haha. Story of my life.
Whew, finally caught up! Stay tuned for the next blog post of the adventures of the McCaffrey Couple! Over and out.
