the goose loves tuesday's ten (#17)

We spent one whole half of one whole day in the car this weekend, driving to Spokane for my cousin's wedding. It was a grand family affair, and reuniting with all the close and extended family members was awesome. Having a few drinks didn't hurt either. Here's my ten favorite moments/photos of the weekend.

1. We drove my parents and brother from Portland to Spokane (about 6 hours) on Friday, just in time to shower and change for the rehearsal dinner. Here's Billy and Liam, post-dinner, enjoying beers at the Blue Spark, one of the only bar open past 10pm. [Fun fact: from their website, I learned their motto is "no crap on tap."] Good beer, but weird dance/music/stage/white trash vibe.

2. We rented bikes from the hotel Saturday morning (yay for winning the one with the unadjustable-and-way-too-low bike seat!) and rode the mile to the wedding reception site to check it out. The groom requested a "water feature" for the ceremony so they were wed in front of a waterfall.

3. After a cloudy morning, the fog burned off San Francisco-style and the sun came out for the afternoon ceremony. Here's the wedding party (and officiant) all lined up!

Adorable flower girls.

4. And the bride! My cousin Alison, escorted by Uncle Jim. So gorgeous.

And the photographer, about to fall into the pond.

5. Here's the Spokane Dempseys. Uncle Jim is my dad's brother, so they have the same last name as us; when they moved to Spokane years ago, we were differentiated by our cities. Allison's three sisters and one brother were the majority of the wedding party, and they were adorable!

6. Allison married Timmy / Jian Liu, who she met in China when she studied and taught English there, so the reception was decorated with chinese lanterns and symbols. Love the red!

And the first dance...

7. The reception room had this great balcony overlooking some area of Spokane (generally just grass) but it was great for some sun and fresh air. We took the opportunity to update some family photos.

 I should probably lighten these up...

Family of 6!

8. The former bride and groom, happy to make way for the newest married couple in the family!

9. Lucy power! The cutest little flower girl, my cousins' cousin on the other side, was also named Lucy.

10.  We left my parents in Seattle with Monika, and drove back to Portland with Liam. We had rented a car to avoid car trouble in our somewhat-unreliable Expolorer, only to encounter an awful screeching noise from the back right tire, about an hour outside of Pasco.

Twenty minutes later, the Enterprise in Pasco switched us out for this hot ride. Catastrophe averted, and Liam got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

the gooes loves tuesday's ten (#11)

Welcome to Tuesday. I hope it's sunny where you are, too.

1. Friday night was celebration time for me - major work deadlines checked off the list, too many hours of overtime complete, and an "excellent work" comment from the CFO. Yesssss.

Billy and I took that opportunity to try happy hour at the Doug Fir Lounge, a classically-Portland-weird place. We enjoyed drinks, snacks, and a white man dressed in full middle-eastern garb, robe and headpiece included, all for $25 (including tax!) What a steal. 

 2. The sun is back! And we are all happy. Especially my cat dog, who loves naps in the sun. 

 3. Billy worked the UP graduation all weekend, so as a congratulatory treat, I made him salted chocolate peanut butter cookies that I pinned. They turned out pretty good, but they don't look quite so hot. The cocoa powder makes them a funny poop color. After Billy worked graduation last year, I made him Boston Cream Pie. And although he loves cookies, he really wants me to recreate that delicious-ness. We'll see.

 

 4. It's not really fair to make Billy cookies but not make Bentley cookies, so I ended up making treats for both my boys. Bentley's were slightly less tasty, though. :) 

 Are they ready, yet?! I'm waiting!!! 

 I made a bunch of bone shapes, and then a few paw, fire hydrant, dog house, and heart shapes too. He loves these things. I can get him to do 10 to 12 tricks in a row before giving the treat to him, except that by that time, he's drooling all over... 

 5. Saturday was my beautiful mother's birthday! She just turned "35." What a young thing! Look how beautiful she was on my wedding day (almost two years ago, back when she was "33"!). 

Love you, Mom, and Happy Birthday! I swear I'm going to put your package in the mail today tomorrow!! 

 6. Saturday was also Cinco de Mayo. Billy worked a long day at UP, and I worked a long day at home, so we went out for a drink and a snack to celebrate the day of Mexican victory over something. We went to our local Cha Cha Cha, where we enjoyed drinks, chips, and tacos. It rocked. (Like my instagram shot?)

 7. Saturday was not as nice as Sunday, so Bentley and I spent most of the day inside. By about 4pm, though, he was driving me crazy so we went out for some fresh air and energy-releasing. We walked around Cathedral Park, under the St. John's Bridge.  

Bentley had fun - he pooped once and peed about 15 times. Gotta show that lamp post who's boss, you know.

 8. Sunday was much sunnier, and Billy was finally done working around 6pm, so we pulled out the BBQ and grilled up some burgers. We didn't have buns, but we had pita bread, so we had a burger-building-with-pita station. Mmmm avocados!

 FYI - toothpicks make any meal look fancier. Before, it was a pita-burger falling apart. Post-toothpick, it's a fancy deli-style pita burger.

 9. In less-fun news, we are on a mission to pay off our student loan debt in the next year. We were halfway through our 5-year goal when we decided that loans suck and we're wasting way too much money on interest and far too much of our income is stuck paying loans. So now we're paying them off very aggressively, which means even more of our income is stuck paying loans. But not for long.

Sallie Mae alone has about $15k. And then you add in the other four places between Billy's loans and mine, and you're looking at close to $45k. But we're determined to get rid of this fast.

10. Which leads me to last night's dinner - healthy and easy on our budget. I made falafels from Peas and Thank You, the same book I made the Blueberry Muffins (#5) from. They were pretty good, but I think I over did the garlic a bit lot. It's good that garlic is good for you!

Any of you making healthy garlick-y things? Or spending all your money on stupid loans? Or taking naps in the sun with your dogs?

the goose loves billy's birthday

Happy Birthday Billy!

(Yeah, I'm writing this on Sept. 20th, which makes me about two weeks late, but whatever.)

Sept. 8th is the birthday of my wonderful hubby, and I'm finally getting around to sharing his fun birthday activity (and present!). So the morning of Sept. 8th arrived, and I still had nothing for him. (Shh don't tell). We had already discussed a larger present (to be revealed later), but I couldn't just hand him a card and say "happy birthday" and call it good.

So I brainstormed at work, and remembered the most fun gift-giving activity ever - a scavenger hunt! Last Christmas, I devised a scavenger hunt to hide one of his presents - a big brewing bottle thing. I knew if he saw the box, he'd know what's inside. So a scavenger hunt was a really fun way to disguise the gift. And it was REALLY fun. All the clues were around the house, and I ended up hiding a few smaller gifts in some of the clue spots! So I figured that'd be lots of fun for his birthday.

I took off from work a little early, so that I could surprise him at home when he arrived (usually he beats me). Jackie picked me up from work (thanks again!!) and helped me get set up since I didn't have much time. I hid all the clues, and wrapped a few small gifts I had gotten him at lunchtime (such a procrastinator, I am!). She helped me hide the clues (also written at work), and I attached some clues to the small gifts I got. I hid the first clue in a present for him to open.

Billy got home and saw the dog was missing from his crate (we had Bentley hiding with us, without his collar to reduce noise and pacified with peanut butter) and started to freak out a little. I was cracking up in the laundry room. Billy was quite surprised when we all popped out of there!

Before commencing the scavenger hunt, though, we went to dinner at the Breakside Brewery and had some delicious food (and beer for Billy, of course!). And then we came back for some scavengering.

Here's Billy, with the first (and only, he thought) gift!

 Bentley's considering helping Billy with the wrapping.

 Voila - undershirts! What an awesome present.

But they have a clue on the back!

Dorky Billy thinking of the first clue.

 But of course, how can you complete a scavenger hunt without a little bit of "thinking scotch"?

 Letting the aroma energize his brain, or something.

 And he's off! I hid 20 clues around the house, from the garage to the master bathroom. About a third of them had little gifts, like some new work socks and some pretty dress shirts.

 One clue had a bag of Reese's, his favorite candy.

 And then three clues were attached to his birthday cards, which all arrived perfectly on his birthday! This one is from his dad, and he also had one from my parents and my grandparents.

 A clue in a tree!

The clue for this one was "If I stay out here too much longer, I might get peed or pooped on!"
(Referencing, of course, the backyard where Mr. Bentley does his business.)

 Oh look, its a card from me!

 Nope, not DSW shoes. A dress shirt!

 This clue was hidden in the half bathroom, on the curtain wire.

 Bentley LOVED the scavenger hunt - almost as much as Billy did! He would race from room to room with us, following in excitement. I guess it didn't hurt that he was getting a few treats along the way.

 And the finish!

 Billy's loot:

 He decided to collect the gifts along the way and then open the gifts and cards at the end.



Opening the card from his daddy.

And the big reveal: here's the big present I mentioned earlier!! We got it a few days after Billy's birthday.

 Billy and I decided to replace my old and cheapo BBQ that I had since college, and we figured we could get a good deal at the end of summer sales. We decided to go with a gas grill, since they're quicker to use on weeknights and in cold weather (hello, fall and winter). And we chose a Weber, for their superior quality!

Billy looking like a genius grill master. Or a grill nerd?

 We chose the Weber Genesis, and found it at Home Depot. Billy price checked at another local grill store and found it cheaper, but Home Depot ended up matching that price and charging 10% less (they have a policy about that) and it ended up saving us over $80! So whoo hoo for Home Depot. And price comparisons!

Billy's tested out the new grill and loves it! And we must send a special shoutout to our parents - Maria and William Dempsey and Bill McWood! :)  They all sent a few dollars to contribute to the grill purchase, for which we are very thankful! (Billy will be writing those thank you notes as soon as he's back from his business trip...) And we can't wait to have you over for some delicious grilling. (Yes, Mom & Dad - we'll be grilling something at Christmas when you're here in PDX!)