And so it begins...: Whew...A Weekend for Two

This past weekend (as I noticed most of my blogs start this way) was Brent's company holiday party. Which used to consist of a giant plate of chicken wings and bowling, have grown into linens on the table with a hotel stay. This years the hotel was the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Portland.

I was incredibly bummed when I got there to find my camera battery was dead, ~~shockingly~~ again!

I was only able to snap a few photos of our hotel room while Brent got ready.

In preparation for the trip I had to recruit Grandma to watch the kids and the dog. (She is not too fond of the dog) Leaving early on Friday morning I headed over the Mt. Hood pass, making my way to my sister's house in Tigard. Luckily there was no snow on the mountain roads.

Brent and I connected to make our way into the lovely downtown traffic and chaos. There are the slogans such as "Keep Portland Weird" that really ring true when you find yourself downtown.

The hotel had valet parking only for a little over $30. I was more interested in finding somewhat closer, cheaper overnight parking. We found a garage one block away for $23. Not a super great rate, but still earned our business.

Cocktails and appetizers started at 7pm, with dinner starting at 7:45pm. It was way later than I am use to eating. I did not do a great job planning accordingly and by 7pm I was ~~ravenous~~ moderately hungry.

The perks as your hotel goes up in price...EVERYTHING costs more!

All of the lights had to be manually turned on. There was not "light switch" weird...

gotta dig the carpet! Love patterns with lines...

Our soggy view from the room. The construction on the building across the street!

Brent's boss hands out tickets which you use at the bar for drinks. Making him one of the first people everyone makes a point in seeing right away.

Brent is always a gentleman and lets me just perch myself around the other wives and female employees to talk, while he caters to my beverage and food needs. It was actually great table arrangements and we had the pleasure of sitting with two other gals who were Coffee People peeps. (So we've known them a long time)

Dinner was great.

We drank and were merry!

Brent's company Heads went around giving speeches and pats on the backs to each other. The dinner ended with giant layered chocolate creations...

We finally made our way back to the room, close to midnight. With the intention of going back out to paint the town red! BUT, when we attempted to find everyone they disappeared, plus they were going to a bar that was 8 blocks away...and frankly I was way too tired for those shenanigans.The town painting will have to wait until next time. We went BACK up to the room.

Before I could slip my feet out of my heeled boots, Brent was asking if I wanted to go running in the rec. room. "Um...NO!" (Mind you we are now past midnight)

Still we walked to it and checked it out. It was a very nice rec. room. Tons of weights, mats, and treadmills, music playing...

The next morning Brent put one of those treadmills to use, while I showered and got ready for our day of adoring each other (minus ALL the kids)!

We had SO many ideas it was hard to get them all in.

One thing we had to "put a pin in" was going to Voodoo donuts. Brent really wanted to go. Like, seriously bad...but it was raining! We decided we will go in a couple weeks when we do have the kids (stay tuned).

Instead: We went to one of our SE Portland favorites Cup and Saucer for an actual breakfast. They no longer have my favorite jalapeno omelet (sad face), although they could still make it if I asked...

Ahh, SE Portland streets. Like this one for instance, is supposed to be a two-way street?! Anyone who did not grow up around here might find that weird.

Brent and I usually like to order one thing and split OR we order two things and swap halves. This time we ordered a scramble (substituted the tofu for eggs) that had sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, stuff like that. And biscuits with vegetarian gravy.

Can I just say having time to eat is amazing.

Sitting and actually tasting your food, while enjoying conversation...ahhh!

It was awesome.

After breakfast we swung by for a quick cup of coffee and chat with our favorite person/grandmother Annette! She and I were going to be hanging out the next day, but we stopped by so she could see Brent. She was elated to see her "honey Brent". We made tentative plans to take her to Idaho during Spring Break to see Brent's cousin and family.

Another thing that turned out awesome...

We actually went and saw a movie. Catching Fire, the second movie in the Hunger Games series. I wanted to see the Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug, but Brent often falls asleep during those movies. It is nice when I have an opportunity to be flexible and make him happy. (I've been working on this)

After the movie we made our way back to Salem (where the apartment/crash pad is)

We picked up a few things at the store, for Brent to make us his salmon chowder.

We also picked up another movie. While Brent cooked I prepped appetizers.

We snuggled and ate our food, it was great!

Brent had to work that Sunday, so as mentioned before I made my way over to Annette's. This was one visit that I have been looking forward to for awhile. Every time I venture over there I have August and his little paws on everything. He rearranges her pictures and magnets, stacks her pine cones and rocks. This time we just sat drank our coffee and worked on a very difficult puzzle!

This puzzle...

Annette's rocks were wet and beautiful..

I headed back home around 3pm, because while I was in Portland over the weekend the mountain had got over two feet of snow! The roads did not look too good.

(the following is a dramatization)