the goose loves tuesday's ten (#8)

Big news, friends! This week's episode of Tuesday's Ten is actually on time! It's Tuesday! Hooray!

And the ten for this week is super fun and exciting. It all makes me smile. Big smiles. And maybe you'll smile too. Or maybe you won't give a &%^* about the little things that make me super happy. Either way, I encourage you to read the whole thing.

1. I bought my first item from Pick Your Plum (which is generally like Groupon for crafts)! Most times, the items are a little weird (like satin rompers for kids, which is today's "steal"... Dad - you probably dont't even know what a romper is). But about a week ago, the daily deal was 10 spools of thread for $7 plus $3 shipping - so basically $1/spool. And these spools are at least as big as my normal ones, if not bigger, which I pay at least $3 for each spool. And these colors are pretty unique. And they showed up super fast. So I'm in love.

2. My sister went down to CA last week, and then came to Portland, so she provided delivery service between my parents and me! In the bag of goodies, along with easter-y cupcake tins and a scarf, was a bag full of delicious Slovenian honey cookies. I'm not even going to attempt the spelling of those. They may look a little strange, but believe me - they're delicious. And they taste like home. And childhood. Each bite is like eating a mouthful of young and carefree. The best part? Billy doesn't like them (something about them not having enough sugar and fat), so more for me! Unfortunately, there's only one left now. Pretty sure I ate over half the bag right when these showed up, before I took this photo.

3. Lots of blathering so far - I'll keep this one short. Here was dinner Saturday night - grilled chicken with a peruvian rub from Bobby Flay's Grill It book (its rubbed, not burnt), along with grilled garlic bread and a tangy mustard sauce. Mmm. Time out while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.

4. On Saturday, we also Redbox-ed for the first time! Even my parents got into the redbox thing before we did. Haha. Go Mom & Dad!

We walked down to Fred Meyer with the dog and picked up Midnight in Paris, with Owen Wilson and my ultimate girl-crush, Rachel McAdams. Oh, and written/directed by Woody Allen. The movie was good, but not Billy's style - he fell asleep within minutes. My parents would like it. I was in love with the 20's music.

5. We actually enjoyed some sun this weekend! Unfortunately, it's long gone now. But I'll include the obligatory dog-as-a-cat-in-the-sun photos. But look at that adorable face. How do you not take 30 photos of that?

Then he gave into the sleepy sun.

6. I went to a Tupperware party (yes, they still have those!) last week at Caryn's house. It was good hang-out time with her, Carolyn, and Caryn's adorable baby Brennan. Even Billy got in on the baby action when he came to pick me up. Notice the uneasy look on Billy's face, and how he can't even put his hands on the baby. We'll have to work on that one.

7. The best part of the Tupperware party? Buying these babies!

Yes, that's 8 gorgeous pieces of purple and blue flowered tupperware goodness. For a steal, too. I literally actually felt like I was stealing. At the party, I saw these purple ones in the catalogue, and fell in love (duh). Erin, the awesome tupperware goddess, had the same purple ones in her stash at home, brand new!! So she gave me a wicked-good deal. Eight pieces of the best-looking tupperware ever, for $30. YES. That's less than $4/piece for you math whizzes. And this stuff is dishwasher AND microwave proof - none of those plastic poisons. Did I mention they're gorgeous? At least 5 of the pieces are going to store my flour/sugar/cornmeal type things - I'll replace the old ziploc-types that I've had for years. YES.

8. We're moving though our meal plan pretty well - already cooked the potato curry (it was decent), and here's our white bean and ham soup. Still on the list? Chicken salad sandwiches and whore pasta.

9. My mom loved the picture I sent her (via Monika's phone) of me at work last week, so here's another one for you, Mom. Don't my glasses make me look nerdy awesome? Sorry about the bright fuzzy light. It's jsut the awesome flourescents in my cube.

10. And the best for last. Remember when I made a Vegas Showdog bowtie (#4) and then I took pictures of Bentley in the bowtie (also #4)? Well I promised you it was all for a good cause. And here it is!

I'm the captain for one of the PGE teams at the Heart Walk, and this is my team recruitment strategy! Who could turn down that face? You can join my team, the Hearty Hearts (yes, I'm currently accepting suggestions for a cooler team name), and donate lots of moolah. For every team member that joins and donates at least $10, Billy and I will throw in $10. But if you donate $50, we're still only putting in $10 on your behalf. But you'll get an extra big hug from me and a kiss lick from Bentley for donating more!

If you love supporting me can't say no to my dog but aren't in Portland, you can donate anyway. I'll walk for you. If you are in Portland, the walk is on May 19th and begins at 10am. It's an easy three-mile loop around the waterfront (from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Steel Bridge and back around). It'll be awesome. AND for you Portland residents, Billy and I will be hosting a heart-healthy BBQ post-walk. And it will be cooler than grilled-tofu-in-kale-wraps. So join me!

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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