Food & Fun in the Rose City

Oh, we really did it this time.

We ate our way through Portland. And man, was it delicious!

After more than six months in the Tri-Cities, Ed & I needed a little "city-living". My sweet husband gave me a trip to Portland for my combo anniversary/birthday/Valentine's Day gift. Last Friday, we hopped in the car and took a beautiful drive along the Columbia River gorge. It's an incredible scenic trip that follows the river nearly the entire way to Portland. We drove along the Oregon side of the river on the way down. We took the Washington route on the way back. More on that in a minute...

We got a great deal on a hotel, right in the heart of downtown, within easy walking distance of our first stop, the world-famous Voodoo Doughnut. The hole in the wall bakery has been featured on the Travel Channel and others for its bacon-topped maple bar. And you know we had to try it!

From portland fun

I'm a big lover of all things bacon! Holy crap, it was good!

Ed chose the "Old Dirty Bastard", a raised doughnut topped with chocolate frosting, crushed oreo cookies and peanut butter. Decadent, yes. Sinful, of course. The best doughnut ever, hell yes!

From portland fun

Then there's the fritter the size of Ed's head!

From portland fun

High on sugar and bacon, we stumbled over to Powell's Books, quite possibly the best bookstore in the world! I was able to limit myself to three books, including latest from Laurie Notaro, author of "The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club". Her story about eating a caramel apple in a bank drive-thru once made me laugh so hard, I nearly wet myself!


After wandering through Powell's, we stumbled onto a deli, where we sat down to the pickle appetizer plate. Mmm, pickled green tomatoes!

From portland fun

Dinner that night was cheese fondue in an Irish pub. After walking around, scoping out the Portland nightlife, we headed back to the hotel to drink Diet 7up and lie flat after making ourselves nearly sick on good food!

The next morning, we walked over to Portland's Chinatown, to indulge in some dim sum, a treat we hadn't had since leaving Seattle. Oh sweet hum bao, how I've miss you! Tasty BBQ pork, surrounded by little pillows from heaven!

From portland fun

We walked off dim sum by strolling through Portland's Saturday Market, checking out the interesting arts and crafts, and even more interesting shoppers! What a parade of people! We just sat along the sidewalk and watched the show as it went by!

The beautiful spring day meant it was time for the first iced mocha of the season, which we picked up at Stumptown Coffee, which I guess is Portland's version of Starbuck's.

From portland fun

Later, we hopped in the car and drove around town, doing a little shopping and picking up some reproduction apple crate tins for our kitchen.

On Sunday, we reluctantly got back in the car for the drive home. Along the way, Ed treated me to brunch at the beautiful Skamania Lodge, which is nestled in the woods along the Columbia River, about 35 miles outside Portland.

We opted to drive home along the Washington side of the river, which is a two-lane highway, instead of the freeway. Unfortunately, we didn't get any photos while we were still in the more mountainous area, but here are some great snapshots a little closer to home. No, we didn't take a detour to England. There happens to be a Stonehenge replica along the way. It's actually a war memorial. Very scenic. And really unexpected!



It was a wonderful trip and a great gift! We can't wait to go back. Next time, I'll try to take photos of something other than food!

Now where's that Pepto?

Who knew my hubby was so handy?

Watch as Ed installs a new dimmer switch for the light in our dining room - and doesn't electrocute himself! He swore he could handle this kind of project, but I had the cell phone handy, just in case I needed to dial 911 in a hurry. I never should've doubted him!

Wine & Chocolate... What's not to love?!

We took a break from "house stuff" this weekend to take part in the Yakima Valley's annual "Red Wine + Chocolate" weekend. What a blast! Dozens of vineyards from the Tri-Cities to Yakima open their doors and offer visitors a sampling of their wines, paired with some delicious chocolate treats!

We checked out seven wineries in all, everything from a huge Tuscan-style estate, to a tiny winery that was home to the fattest cat we've ever seen and one crazy cat lady! She sure made some great Riesling, though! We also sampled some delicious Port, paired with chocolate-covered cherries. Then there was the Ice Wine and bacon chocolate chip cookies. Died and gone to heaven!

It was a great sampling of the wonderful wines this region has to offer. Not one of the stops was more than 25 miles from our house. A great afternoon was had by all! And the scenery really was amazing. We definitely got off the beaten path today, driving down windy gravel roads past countless vineyards! Can't wait to do some more exploring in the area. Spring Barrel Tasting, here we come!

Some pictures of our fun:



Bottoms Up!

The Joys of Homeownership

We made our first home repair today! It was a minor one, but still noteworthy, in my book! When our dryer was initially installed, they used a rigid hose, which meant we couldn't push it all the way back against the wall and it looked odd. Today, we bought a tin foil-like hose, which Ed handily installed! It took some fancy footwork to crawl back behind there!

The photographic proof:

From home repair

(Insert your own hose joke here)


We also did some major shopping at Lowe's this afternoon. It's our second weekend in a row at Lowe's. I'm guessing this is the start of a new trend. We found some cool solar lights for the front yard... will post a picture soon! (Thanks for the giftcard, Emma and Ben - we used the heck out of it!)

From home repair

That's one full cart!

Our new furniture showed up today too. It looks great in here. I'll take some pictures once we clean the place up a little bit. For the record, my husband both vacuumed and dusted today! I told him, if he does that once a month, he doesn't have to get me a Valentine's Day present! Ha!

It's been a good day at the Schwartz House!

Home, Sweet, Home... Finally!

We have a new home!
On Friday, January 15, 2010, we officially moved into our very first house!
It's hard to believe that it's all ours.
And it's hard to believe that it finally happened!

It's been about a month since our last post, and what a difference a month makes!

Due to construction delays, we didn't close on the house until December 22nd. Even then, the builder had several jobs to complete, so we couldn't move in until last Friday.

Even though we couldn't move in yet, Ed made sure we celebrated Christmas in our new house. As far as I knew, we were just taking a drive past the house on Christmas Eve. Then the garage door opened! Ed had made me a special key to the front door and inside was a Christmas tree and presents - including Rock Band for the Xbox! Now that we're no longer in an apartment, we can rock out!




This last Friday, the movers showed up at our apartment at 8am sharp. By noon, we were all moved in to the new house! It's still a sea of boxes in here, but it already feels like home.

The landscapers have been here all week, wrapping up their work in the front and back yard. We now have green(ish) grass, juniper trees and a shiny, stamped concrete patio. It's really looking sharp.

We're so excited to be first-time homeowners. We already have a mental list of all the little projects we want to do around here. Just as soon as the boxes are unpacked!

You're all invited to come visit sunny Kennewick, Washington and stay with us! We have a guestroom just for you! We just need to buy a bed! Give us 24 hours notice, and it's done!

Thanks for reading! We'll keep posting! We have cheesy video of the inside of the house that we'll posting soon. Stay tuned!

The final countdown

We're four days away from closing, if all goes according to plan. As you can tell in the pictures below, they've done quite a bit of work in the last few days. But there's still plenty to do.

Carpet has to be installed. The appliances are still in boxes. The "man door" in the garage is just a hole in the wall at the moment. It appears they misjudged the entrance and had to jackhammer up the concrete step they'd already poured. Oops! The granite for the countertops is still on workhorses on the driveway. Here's hoping they get that installed before someone drives off with it! Thank goodness it's heavy!

We meet with the inspector tomorrow morning to go over what's been done so far. The paperwork is on hold until the appraiser can get back out there to confirm all is done. This could come down to the wire! We're supposed to do a walk-through with the builder/seller on Monday afternoon, but the crews are going to have to work really hard to get everything done by then.

The movers come a week from Saturday. Here's hoping!!

Here's a look at what's been done so far. I really like the rock front on the garage and the oiled bronze fixtures they used throughout the house. Can't wait to see the carpet!

Six days to go!