the goose loves tuesday's ten (#4)

Happy Tuesday, Faithful Readers! It may be Tuesday's Ten, but there's something like 20 photos for your enjoyment today... and don't forget to check out last week's post too.



1. Monika came to visit us this past weekend. It was great to see her and I'm glad she came. Bentley was happy to have an extra friend too.

2. This coming weekend's plans include building a planter box of some sort. Farmer Billy Joe wants to plant some veggies or berries or something so that we can reap the bounty in summer and have a harvest party in the fall. Or something. I suggest he build something like this beauty:

3. Monika and I celebrated St. Paddy's while Billy was at some March Madness games at the Rose Quarter. I crock-potted some traditional Irish fare, while remembering that the stuff they ate, or supposedly ate, was super boring and fairly bland. Or maybe I did it wrong?

I did make a fresh loaf of soda bread - and no complaints there. Any kind of bread is good for me.

4. I told you the bow tie had a good purpose. And this photo shoot wasn't for nothing, either. Just wait.

5. On Sunday morning, I ran the Shamrock Run 8k, as I mentioned last week. The race is famous for having lots of irish-themed costumes and outfits, and tutus are popular. I decided that being serious was no fun, so I made myself my first tutu. And it was epic. (That's what I was doing with the material in #6). So I ran my first 8K (5 miles) in 50 minutes (10 minute miles, for you math whizzes) and I didn't walk once! And then I was exhausted. This photo is pre-race, when I was barely awake.

6. After the race, I came home, ate some soda bread, and slept for almost an hour. Then I woke up hungry and lazy, so we checked out a new restaurant on N Mississippi called Miss Delta. Delicious Southern-ish food for excellent prices. I went for the Pain Perdu (deep fried french toast), but I'm going back soon for the shrimp po' boy.

Billy went for a "Southern Stack" - breakfasty-things in a biscuit with gravy.

Monika went for the gumbo mac n cheese - I alsmost traded her dishes - it was so good. Thanks, Mom & Dad, for sponsoring our brunch!

7. Check out this amazing project from The Junk House. She cut up scrapbook paper to make the pattern on a huge piece of poster board. I think I know what I'll be doing when Billy's building his farmer box...

8. On Saturday, we got a package from Billy's dad! Along with some magazines, he included an awesome Sharks jersey-like shirt for Billy.

Here's his "Go Sharks" pose. But they still lost last night, even though he was proudly wearing his shirt.

9. Taxes are done! Federal taxes e-filed, and we're getting $$ back.

And Oregon tax return sent via snail mail today. Done and done!

10. Along with planter boxes and paper art, I'll be getting my spray paint on... got these on Sunday at Michaels with my giftcard from Billy's dad! Just wait to see what I paint...

So that's it for this Tuesday. Come back soon!

the goose loves her little bro

This one's for you, Liam!

15 Reasons Why You Should Move To Portland

1. Free rent. Live in our extra bedroom (unless you want to snuggle with the pup) and stay there for free until you start making lots and lots of money. Then we'll charge you rent.

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2. Portland=Brooklyn anyways, basically, except for one thing (see #1 above). Portland has more vegans/hipsters/lumberjacks/famer's markets (see #6)/bikes/babies/coffee/beer than you could ever imagine getting in Brooklyn.

3. Think you'll miss NY's subways? Think again. Here in Portland, we have the MAX lightrail. Four beautiful colors that go the same route every day from 6am to midnight and never skip stops. And they travel at a more peaceful pace, so you can enjoy the view, too.

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 Not to mention that they look super hi-tech and rugged.

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 4. Portland has food. Lots of it. Awesome restaurants, excellent eateries, lots of happy hours, and even food from trucks. Or carts, if you want to sound rustic. Lots of those. We also buy groceries and will share with you. If you're nice. And if you cook for us occasionally.

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 5. When you're sick of eating food (#4), there's beer. Lots of beer. And we're not talking glorified water, i.e. PBR or Coors Light. Although there is a time and place for each of those. We are talking craft brew, straight from the tap, full of local beery goodness.

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6. Portland goes crazy for farmers' markets. As in, on any given Saturday in summer, you could go market hopping, and hit like 12-20 different markets within a 30 mile radius. What more could you need?

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 7. We have an ice cream shop called Salt & Straw that makes ridiculously good ice cream. Crazy flavors too, like ice creams with sourdough, strawberries, peppers, bleu cheese... really, with this reason, you don't really need the 14 others. For example, one of the flavors currently offered is called Brown Ale with Bacon. Yeah, that's right. BEER in ice cream, with BACON. Not just deliciously crispy bacon, CANDIED bacon. I don't understand why you aren't buying your plane ticket this instant.

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 8. Billy. I agree that this reason isn't quite as exciting as #7 above, but moving out to PDX gives you time with the big brother you never really had and weren't really sure you wanted. But on the plus side, he does love beer and ice cream. And he would definitely eat them together with bacon.

9. If big brothers don't excite you, then maybe come here for a little brother - even this one likes beer! I promise you that Bentley will become your new best friend and even your snuggle buddy if you want. He's a lot more fun than cats, at least. :)

10. Moving on to more practical things, there are several TV shows that film in Portland, and therefore might need writers/writing support. Leverage is one of them. Never seen the show, but pretty sure they use a script of some sort.

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 Grimm is another. I have seen this once before, and it's amusing. And maybe they need writers.

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 Portlandia is another, but we'll get to that later.

11. Nature is overly abundant out here. We're super close to Mount Hood (read=snowboarding/snow activities). In the summer (i.e. two weeks in August), it's great for hiking too.

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 12. Speaking of hiking, there are lots of places for that, with easy drives, too. And we like hiking, so we'll take you with us.

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 13. Portland is 50 miles closer to NY than is Santa Clara, which means that it's only 3,000 miles away. Just a hop, skip, and a jump to the East Coast. But seriously - the money you save from  Reason #1 will allow you to easily buy a plane ticket back for any interviews or auditions or whatever that might come up.

14. Portland has a kick a-- soccer team with even cooler fans. I mean, really - how many other fans would weild two axes within inches of their baby's face, or let their three-year-old ballerina hold an axe?

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 15. And finally, Portlandia. Not only a potential job opportunity, not only a great show to watch, but it also represents like 47 other reasons why you should move to Portland. As they say, it's the place where young people go to retire. Just spend an afternoon going through all the episodes and THEN tell me you're still unconvinced. I dare you. And put a bird on it.

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the goose loves her daddy

Haha this one's for you, Daddy! Thanks for testing the system. :) Oh, and tell mom this would be an awesome book for the school library. Or, buy it when you purchase the little baby beagle shoes, and save both for future-Little-Willy.

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#3)

Welcome to the third edition of Tuesday's Ten. Check out last week's episode too. 

1. Today's post is actually a bit late, mostly because I was up late last night finishing up these two beauties for my coworker's granddaughter. My coworker is flying out tomorrow to visit the almost-1-year-old, so I had to finish them up!

The giraffe shapes came from a shopping bag that my coworker had - we made a copy of the bag and then I cut out the shapes, traced them onto the fabric, then cut them out and sewed them down! A little time consuming, but I love them.

2. Last weekend we spent three days in Hood River, Oregon (full update coming soon). It was supposed to be an outdoorsy vacation, but it was more like a beer vacation. We went to three breweries and had over a dozen beers between the four of us. This was probably very close to Billy's dream vacay.

3. Although we're several years away from having little McWood babies running around, these Baby Beagle Shoes (by Stride Rite) really tempt me to get going sooner... or maybe I should just buy them now and save them for future little Willy...

4. Speaking of Beagles, I recently made Bentley a sparkly red bowtie. Believe me - it has a good purpose, and you'll find out soon - but for now, he looks like a Vegas Showdog with it on.

5. Dinner on Sunday looked like this. Philly Cheesesteaks. And it was tasty.

6. Along with the two giraffe onesies, I sewed three others for my coworker - two are below (and I still need to finish the last). The white one has lacy-ness around the collar, and the pink one has 3D flowers. Kids' clothes are high tech these days.

7. I spent Monday night screaming at the TV while watching the final episode of The Bachelor. Don't get me wrong - I have never believed in that "true-love-on-TV" stuff. However, I do believe in relieving stress by watching ridiculous girls "fall in love" with a guy who's got an awful haircut (scroll down to the article for a great hair shot, and head to Twitter to follow the haircut (yes, it has its own twitter account) ). Monday's episode was even more fun because we played "Bengo" - Bingo, with a word play on Bachelor Ben's name. Awesome? Yes, except that I didn't win. All I needed in the end was for somebody to say "once in a lifetime" but it never happened.

8. Today (March 13) is exactly 3 months until my 25th Birthday (I'd suggest you start shopping now - email me for my wishlist if you get stuck), which means I have only three months to complete my 25 for 25 list. And there are a decent number of gaps over there still...

Also, I want to go on a camping trip to celebrate the big two-five, and I want it to look exactly like this:

9. On Thursday, before escaping to the Columbia Gorge (Hood River), we stopped by Powells Bookstore, where I spent $20 on three new books. (I'm working on #14!). I've started The 19th Wife so far, which parallels the escape of Brigham Young's 19th Wife in the late 1800s and the murder of a polygamist by his 19th wife in the early 2000s. Bring on the drama and the fascinating polygamists.

10. On Sunday morning, Billy and I are running the 8K (5 mile) race in the Portland Shamrock Run. The furthest I've run since high school when I was skinny my cross country days is 4 miles. And that was tricky. So this will be fun - right? Wish me luck.

Also, for all you avid fans need to know the INSTANT I've posted another blog full of rambles, check out the new RSS feed I've added on the right. You can also put in your email address to be notified of new posts. Don't miss a single goof!

And one last P.S.: This is one of the few beagle-photo-free posts in a long time. Hooray for you dog-haters, my deepest apologies for you Bentley-lovers.

the goose loves baby things

It's true. I love all things baby. Baby kitchen utensils, baby puppies, and baby babies. And I love sewing baby things. Partly because they go pretty quickly, and partly because they're usually very cute.

Our friends David and Brianne are having their very first baby (a boy!) in a few weeks, and so I made them a couple gifts. Here they are, as I was wrapping them up (forgive the bad lighting).

I made two bibs (identical, but reversible; this photo shows the two different sides) and four pee-pee-tee-pees. Those little tee-pee cones are supposed to be plopped onto the little boy's "cannon" when changing his diaper to prevent it from spewing all over the place, as it tends to do when exposed to air. Or so I'm told.

I also made my first little baby hat! I used the same jungle-patterned cotton knit for all of the presents, to keep things coordinated, and it worked pretty well. It's a stretchy fabric, very similar to the fabric used for baby clothing/onesies, so it was perfect for a hat. A little tricky to sew with, though, because of the stretch.

This part was most fun - it's a "taggie" toy - I've seen the toys and blankets all over the internets (blogland and pinterest) - supposedly babies love to play with the floppy ribbons, especially with the different colors and textures. Luckily, the ribbon I already had on hand coordinated well and was varied in size and shape.

I used the same knit for the top and a plain white minky for the back. I also wrapped up a little brown and white striped onesie, and I added a piece of the same jungle knit to the front so that it would match the hat. I also made a basic 45" square blanket with the knit on top and a brown flannel on bottom. Somehow, I forgot to photograph those. Maybe David and Brianne will allow me to take some photos of those when new baby P is actually using them! :) Congrats on the soon-to-be-new-little-one! Can't wait to meet him!!

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#2)

 Welcome to the second edition of Tuesday's Ten. My track record is pretty good so far, huh! You can catch the first episode here!

1. We went grocery shopping on Saturday, starting at the market on the way to St. John's. We checked most of our veggies off there... mmm. A bag of mushrooms for a dollar? Yes please. Red peppers for 50 cents each? You bet I'll take four.

 2. If Billy had full control of which dog we'd get next, this would be Pooch #2 (an English bulldgog, shown here in puppy form). Thankfully, I can provide input too.

 3. On Saturday morning, while Billy made an unexpected trip to work, I whipped up a batch of these baby cinnamon-sugar-donut-muffin-things, with a recipe from the Sunday Baker. They came out pretty tasty.

 4. On Sunday, we had a rare visit from the sun, and so everybody in Portland was either enjoying the day outside or buying sunglasses so they don't get blinded. Bentley spent the day imitating cats sleeping in the sun.

 5. For dinner Sunday night, Billy was inspired to make Chicken Marbella - originally the recipe was in The Silver Palate cookbook, but he used the revised version from Cooks Illustrated. I made the brussels sprouts to go on the side.

 6. Can you guess what my next project is?

 7. That furry dog sure knows how to find the coziest spots for naps. Billy does a good job too, I guess.

8. We went to the dogpark on Sunday to let the pooch run free, and found out that the Portland Trailblazers (our NBA team) are going to remodel one of the dog parks in Portland. Ours is one of the top three! You can help us out by voting here.

 9. This coming Saturday, this will be our view from behind... here I come, snowshoes!

 

 10. And for the finale - yes, we bought the giant moose from Costco. And the dog spent 20 minutes howling at it. And we laughed for all 20 minutes. More to come on that later.

Come back for 10 more next Tuesday, and hopefully some inbetween!

the goose loves muddy hikes

Last weekend, our good friend Brad was in town from Washington D.C. We spent the weekend eating good food, drinking good beer, and going to bed later than normal. While he was here, he really wanted to go on a hike, so on Saturday morning, we packed sandwiches and M&Ms, layered up with warm clothes and rain gear, and drove 45 minutes east down the Columbia Gorge.

For awhile, Billy has wanted to hike the "Punchbowl Falls" trail, a 5 mile loop that leads you to a gorgeous waterfall. Ideally, we would have done this in the summer, when the water was lower and the falls are more easy to reach. But we chose February, when you have to wade out into the stony creek about 50+ feet to get a glimpse of the falls.

I had on my sturdy Hunter rainboots, so I gave it a go. I could only get so far before water got into the boots, but I got a small peek at the falls.

Then we scaled the side of the mountain (dog in tow) and braced ourselves up against skinny trees to get this view of the falls:

But once we got to the top of that mountainside and met back up with the original trail, we realized there was a lookout from the top that didn't involve wet boots or muddy butts. Oh well.

Although the hike was wet (over the course of the hike we were hit by rain, snow, and hail), we finished it and had a good time. The dog, although a little chilly, had a great time and came back SUPER muddy.

Check out that little black belly, and those wet ears!

Once we got home (after making a side trip for good beer on the way), we all took turns in the shower, including the dog, until we were all toasty warm and ready for a bratwurst BBQ. Yeah, another thing that's generally better in the summer, but we did just fine!

And here's another check off the 25 for 25 list - hike 25 miles. So far, I'm at 10 miles:

1) 3 miles at Washington Park on 10/16/11

2) 2 miles at Stella Olsen Park in Sherwood on 1/2/12

3) 5 miles at Punchbowl Falls Trail on 2/25/12

Only 15 more to go!