There’s No Place Like Home

Recently Dennis and I spent two weeks with my family in Portland.

Happy in Portland

Part of our trip was spent preparing for the wedding. I had a pretty long to-do list and I dragged Dennis along for part of it. He helped me interview a photographer and joined me for a trip to the venue to meet with our wedding planner. Along the way we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for ice-cream (so good!).

Tillamook!

I wish I had more photos to share from our trip. It was probably the best trip home I’ve ever had. My uncle Matthew came down from Seattle –

Uncle Matthew!

– and we spent the weekend hanging out, drinking coffee, and playing games. My little brother, Justin, introduced us to Cards Against Humanity, which quickly became a family favorite. Even my dad, who is notoriously unimpressed with games, enjoyed himself.

We also went to Saturday Market along the waterfront in downtown Portland. If you ever find yourself in Portland, Saturday Market is a must-see. Lots of great people watching and quirky vendors. Our timing was perfect, too, since the cherry blossoms had just bloomed. All of my DC friends posted their DC cherry blossom photos and I’m going to one-up them with my Portland photo. 🙂

Portland cherry blossoms at Saturday Market

The weather was incredible during our visit, which was a welcome surprise since Dennis had really only experienced rainy Portland.

Serendipitously, I happened to be in town just in time to attend my good friend Adie’s baby shower. Adie had henna done on her belly by Yung, who offered to give all the guests henna tattoos, too. The theme was robots and rockets because Adie is having a little boy (Griffin Oxley!) so I got a rocket ship.

Henna rocket ship

Adie is an absolutely gorgeous mom-to be. Pregnancy has suited her well and little Fin is just a few days from making his grand entrance.

Adie and baby boy bump

Adie is one of my bridesmaids and even at 8 months pregnant she joined me for dress shopping at David’s Bridal, which was actually a much more enjoyable experience than I was expecting. I tried on about 5 different gowns and I love the dress we decided on. It is exactly what I was hoping to find. I would post a picture of it but Dennis isn’t allowed to see it so it’s all a big secret for now. I definitely have self image issues but having my mom and my two best friends with me made the process go very smoothly and I left feeling beautiful and happy and excited.

With the weather being so amazing, I got a chance to go for a hike with “the girls” in Northwest Portland. Seriously, Portland is awesome. We hiked a beautiful trail inside the city that felt like we were out in the wilderness, and then walked a few blocks for ice-cream at Salt and Straw (so delicious).

Hiking in Northwest

In addition to hanging out with friends, Dennis and I spent a decent chunk of time with my parents.

My wonderful mom and dad

We went to a few restaurants and had some great meals at home on the back deck.

I took a lot of pictures of my parents’ pups, too. Edith, the pug, is quite photogenic. She kept posing and I must have 100 photos of her. Ollie (Oliver), the boston terrier, is scared of the camera. He’s scared of everything really, but mostly the camera.

Our last week in Portland we visited Adie and Corey’s pups, including Bella. Bella has the greatest underbite I’ve ever seen on an English bulldog.

Bella!

And we went to a local bar for dinner and to play bocce ball. One of the great things about Portland is all the bars and restaurants and how much Portlanders love things like shuffleboard, ping pong, and bocce at their bars.

I still can’t believe how great the weather was. My parents have a great back deck and we spent a lot of time out there, relaxing. My mom and I recently picked up beading, as in stringing beads and then taking them off and then re-stringing them, and then taking them off again, in this ridiculous cycle of non-committal. Eventually we tie them off and after a couple of hours have one bracelet to show for our efforts. It’s very calming.

Dennis on the back deck

We’ve been back in DC for a couple of weeks now and although we’re both content here, I know that settling down in Portland is in our future. It was such a wonderful trip, I can’t wait to go back.