Bringing home the bacon (literally)!!!

So today Genie and I went on a little outing to the Lady Di's British Store and Tea house in Lake Oswego. I was pretty excited to see what they had in the store and a few days ago I called ahead to see if they had Easter eggs. Apparently they did, so I was planning to get one for Cory.

Easter eggs like we have in the UK aren't a thing here, infact I haven't seen them anywhere. You can get the Cadbury creme eggs, but they are slightly different, but none of the usual hollow eggs. So I was determined to find one for Cory. I also read a few reviews this morning that said they sometimes have bacon... real back bacon! I couldn't help but get excited, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high.
Anyway, we headed out of Mac and up to Lake Oswego - it's a pretty drive and a really nice area. We found the store up on Second Street - It had a big Union Jack flying outside, it was hard to miss.

In we go and the first thing we see is all the Easter eggs (YES!) and then a bunch of familiar pantry items. It was wonderful. They have bisto gravy, curry paste, chocolates from home, Jacobs cream crackers, porridge oats, Robinson's orange squash... They have so many things, and a pretty large selection of Tea too.

As I was looking round at the Easter eggs I spotted the freezer... Ooooh, maybe I was in luck! I peered in and there it was, yummy bacon! It was galtee bacon which is Irish, but I was just so surprised to see any bacon from home. They had 2 packages... Hummmmm
So, we decided to have lunch first and then come and do our shopping afterwards... So we sat down in the Tea house part of the store and had a look at the menu.

Moya (an expat herself) came and took our order for tea while we decided what to have for lunch. I opted for soup and a sandwich (cheese and tomato) and Genie had the same, except she went for the cream cheese & cucumber! YUM!
It was Heinz tomato soup, I could tell instantly. I didn't really realise how much of a difference there was between that and the soup we buy but I guess my taste buds had just adapted to the new flavour.

After finishing our delicious lunch we went back to shopping. I settled on a Crunchie Easter egg for Cory, I thought he'd like the honeycomb centre and that it wasn't all chocolate, and I picked out a Flake one for me. I also got some Bisto gravy and both packages of bacon. I wrestled with the bacon, since it was $8.50 a package and there was only 6 slices per pack I was planning on just getting the one package, but Cory knew how much I missed bacon from back home so he persuaded me to get both packages, and we could freeze one.

We'll be having bacon for dinner tonight! :)

I know it's pretty sad that I miss foodstuffs from home so much, but it's what I was brought up on, it's embedded into who I am, so it's hard when there are some things that are so different here from back in the UK & Ireland.

I think Easter eggs will have to be a yearly tradition in the Fast household from now on. Next year I plan on pouring my own, but we'll see what happens between now and then, it's a long way off.

The grosbeak's have arrived

So, it seems like the Grosbeak's have found the Fast household and they like to dine here now.

Yesterday was the first day I actually saw them outside. I'd seen the odd finch here and there take some sunflower seeds, but never really any real activity.Yesterday as I was trying to keep my mind occupied while waiting for my surgery time to roll around I noticed that we had a couple of evening grosbeaks in the feeder. Then slowly the group got really big.
I ended up getting a pizza tray out there with more seed on it so they didn't have to fight over the one seed tray and last night when Cory went to get my prescriptions he picked up another seed try that we could hang out there for them.
I'd say there must be somewhere between 60 & 70 Grosbeaks here with us right now, not to count the ones that are hanging out over the road at John & Janet's place for grub!
Anyway, I got to watch them all morning while I was waiting for my appointment time to roll around, and I got some good photos of them too... I'll have to try and get some better pics the next couple of days though, since I only got a few birds in the photos compared with how many are actually here!

Another nap...

So, yesterday I had to have another IV induced nap. I needed to have surgery to remove the Titanium membrane that was placed during the last surgery when Dr Johnson did the big bone graft.

Since I would be having the IV for that surgery, I had two wisdom teeth removed also. I would need them removed for Ortho work coming up soon anyway, so may as well kill two birds with one stone (so to speak). The main reason for the Ortho is so that the Ti implants that I will have (eventually) will be placed in precisely the right spot. It has to be so perfectly exact when they are placed, so we have to move some other teeth around a little first.

Anyway (sorry, I'm rambling), the surgery went really well. Dr Johnson took out the Ti membrane and whipped out the two wisdom teeth. My face is hurting and is so stiff, but the nurse gave me something in the IV before she removed it that would stop the bruising and swelling so I shouldn't look like I did last time. Lets hope!

Dr Johnson did awesome with the IV again, he's a pro. I'm so thankful that I have good Doctors working with us through this process.

Oooh, and one thing I should mention that I'm excited for is that on Wednesday Genie (my Mother in Law) and I are going to Lake Oswego to Lady Di's British Store and Teahouse. I'm excited to get some goodies from home, and am planning to get Cory his first ever UK style Easter egg!

A trip down memory lane

This weekend was the first anniversary of Cory's marriage proposal to me, so we decided it would be fun to head to the coast and visit the places that made our engagement so memorable and so very special.

We headed out of Mac early and as we were driving all the memories of a year ago came flooding back. I kept seeing the "swamp lantern' flowers all over the place (also called Western Skunk Cabbage because of it's foul smell). I hadn't seen them since the day of our proposal and it really reminded me of that day.

I had no idea what Cory had planned. I had only returned to Oregon mid-week and we were both excited to get to the beach, even though it was foul weather. It was raining hard, gusty and really cold, it was so powerful and it made the beach come alive - it was still beautiful. We stopped at many look out points along the way and I remember Cory asking me if I wanted to stop at Agate Beach. I was kind of excited to get to the lighthouse so I said "ummm, no"... little did I know that was where he originally had planned to pop the question. Whoooops!

So, we get to the lighthouse and it's raining and windy but we bundled up warm and got ready to face the weather. Right before we got out Cory said he wanted to take a 'before' photo. I laughed saying it was probably a good idea since we'd be looking like drowned rats afterwards. I even remember saying that Cory has a "cheeky" look on his face in the before photo.
Little did I know what he had in store for me.

We hopped out of the truck and started to the stairs for the cobble beach. Cory said he wanted to run back and get his camera so I walked on slowly - little did I know that his camera was already firmly in his pocket and he was going back to get my beautiful ring.

He caught up and we headed down the steps to the beach. I'd never been there before but I instantly loved it, even in the rain. The dark charcoal coloured cobbles were just amazing, and they made the most unique sound as the water crashed up on them.
We kept walking up the beach, it was cold and wet but we were having fun. They Cory starts talking, serious talking... I didn't notice at this point that he had taken the box out of his pocket and was starting to open it. Then he stopped me walking, right next to this large rock on the beach. It was there that he proposed and gave me my beautiful engagement ring.

I stood there, shocked, cold, wet and for once in my life I was completely speechless. I couldn't talk, I was just quiet and smiling and crying and hugging him. He had to actually ask me if it was a "Yes" and I some how managed to nod and mutter out my response. After putting the ring on me and savouring a few moments we got really cold and wet. We were the only ones on the beach that day, it couldn't have been more perfect. I wouldn't change it one little bit, not even the weather!

We got back to the truck and as we sat down Cory said "now for the 'after' photo" and it was then I understood. It wasn't because we would be cold and wet, it was our real engagement photos.
After calling (and trying to call) several people to tell them the news we headed to rogue for something to eat and to dry off...

So this weekend we did a similar thing. We went to Rogue for lunch and walked around a little then we went back up to the lighthouse and walked down on the cobble beach. It was a sunny day and it was a minus-tide, so naturally it was a lot busier than a year ago. But it was still special. We got to look around the tide pools for a little bit before we walked down the beach to 'Our rock'.
It was a really fun day and I am so glad we were able to get back down there. It's crazy what can happen in just a year, but I'm excited to see what the next 12 months brings our way!

Here's some pics from this weekend:

Of course we had to reenact the 'before / after' photos!This is 'Our rock' - the rock where Cory proposed and I whimpered a "yes!"

Hello Ricoh

Cory & I both love to take pictures... I'm often guilty of taking far too many, but I'm fond of "you can never take too many photos"...

While we were in Oahu last January for some reason Cory's Nikon camera decided to give up the ghost and just quit working. Thankfully we had brought my little point and shoot (not great photo quality) and my larger camera with us so we didn't feel too hard done by.

We did need to replace it though. It took good quality photos and was a nice size to carry around - neither of my cameras could step into both it's shoes.

After doing a LOT of reading and research we settled on the Ricoh CX3. It had a list of great features as long as your arm and likewise with good reviews. It arrived yesterday afternoon so we have only played around with it a little, but so far we love it. I love how sturdy it feels and of the photos we have taken so far it looks like it's living up to our expectations.

I'm sure we'll be posting several photos from the Ricoh here soon, once we get to grips with how to actually use it.

I hate TX day

OK - so, some of you might already know that today in the Fast household we celebrate "I hate Texas Day".

Any of you Texans out there reading this, please don't get offended, it's nothing to do with you... honestly.... it's a light hearted way of celebrating the horrible TX experience I went through this day last year.

Some of you might know that when I came to the USA I cleared customs and did passport control in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas... That's where my initial dislike springs from.

There was a lightning storm that day, and it had already been a very long and stressful journey... I had said goodbye to my family and friends and then had to sit in a teeny little coach seat for hours up on hours. The lightning storm caused us to circle for almost 2 hours over DFW airport and gave me a horrible pressure headache. I was also worried that I would miss my connecting flight to PDX...

OK, my brain probably should have been able to work out that if we were delayed landing because of the storm that meant flights taking off would probably be delayed too, but I didn't get that far in my thinking - I was focused on grabbing my baggage, running through passport control and customs and running like a crazed woman to my gate...

Well, that was the plan and it didn't work out quite like that. For some reason (probably to do with the major headache I had, and the fact that I had run from my seat all the way to the passport processing area) the lady I spoke to at passport control didn't like the look of me. She decided that something about me wasn't right, didn't fit or perhaps she was just trying to fill her quota for the day... I don't know, but within a few minutes I found myself without my boarding pass, without my passport or any formal ID and in a waiting room that was so warm I felt like I was going to throw up.

I was still thinking about my connecting flight - I don't know why, but it was like that was the only thing I could think about. I just hoped it didn't take off without me.

After what seemed like an eternity one of the officers called me over and asked me several questions. He and his colleagues asked me about everything under the sun. I didn't even understand the relevance of half of the questions, but I answered them as best I could for 42 minutes.

Now, what is funny now and we didn't know at the time is that I had graves disease. My pulse was going a million miles a minute and my metabolism was trying to eat away at my body. I probably looked really suspicious... But, after 42 minutes of questions and answers they stamped my passport and gave me back my documents and said I ought to check the status of my connecting flight.

So, I left the unbelievably warm room (which still made me want to hurl because heat and graves disease aren't good buddies) and took a few steps in the flow of people going towards baggage claim and then it hit me. I started crying, I couldn't understand why but I was so overwhelmed by everything (and the graves disease was kicking my butt) and I cried harder than I ever have before in my life.

I sat down on the floor with my back up to the wall next to the water fountain and tried to control my breathing and get my head screwed back on. It was then that an older US veteran guy came over and asked me if I was ok. I briefly explained through the tears that I had just been questioned by customs. He seemed to understand perfectly what that process was like. He got down on his hunkers and told me it would be ok, that I should get some water and relax. They were obviously happy with my reason for coming to the US because they let me in.

I thanked him, got a sip of water and walked to baggage claim. I grabbed my bags, walked through customs and called Cory. He realised something must have happened because he hadn't heard from me since I called & told him I was going through passport control, and now I was sobbing down the other end of the line.

He managed to direct me to the correct gate and told me I had a while before my flights was expected to leave. I was quite relieved, I needed to get something to eat - I felt like my blood sugar was so low and I needed to just sit and relax for a minute.

After grabbing something to eat and regaining my composure I headed to my gate. My flight would soon be boarding and I was excited to get on the way to Oregon. As I'm standing at the gate the very same Vet comes up beside me and says "Going to Oregon eh?" I answered and we talked for a few minutes before we boarded the flight.

I hope he knows how much of a kindness he paid to me that day, helping me while I was going through a really tough time and just reaching out a friendly hand to me. I don't know his name, and will probably never see him again, but I will never forget our little conversation in the security area of DFW.

So, that's the part that relates to our dislike for TX... I can't even really explain how horrible those 42 minutes were, but if you've ever been in a similar situation you know exactly what I mean...

The good part of the story is that I did finally get on my flight to PDX and Cory was waiting there to meet me... We grabbed my bags and headed home...

Hello & Welcome

Finally we have got our act together and have a blog dedicated to The Fast's... Yep, that's us!

We'll keep you updated on the goings on in our household - I can't promise it will be exciting, but we'll do our best.

Firstly, I'll bore you with a little intro about us.

We are Cory & Mary Fast, and we are living in beautiful Oregon over on the West coast of the USA.

Cory - born and raised here in Oregon on a beautiful farm and is now working at a Physics Research Company here in the same town where we live.

Mary - born and raised in the UK to a fairly large Irish family. Later moved to Ireland before falling madly in love with an Oregonian and making the move across the 'pond'.

We were married last year at the family farm in Dallas (OR) and are enjoying a simple but full life.

We share the same birthday (with a year difference) I'll be turning the BIG 30 this year and am not too pleased about it... but we will have a fab birthday no matter what!

We try to visit family back in the UK and Ireland as much as possible and would love to travel more. We're hoping to perfect our teleporting skills soon, but until then we'll keep saving for flights back and forth.

Well, that's it from us for now... Check back soon and we'll hopefully have some updates for ya!

Til then :)