Shower for a friend

OK, so being a 'blow in' I know I'm by no means the authority on throwing a Baby Shower. I'd never even been to a baby shower until last fall and the only other shower I'd been to before that was  the one my Mother in Law threw for me before our wedding.

But, none of that stopped me from offering to throw a shower for a good friend of ours, and I actually thought it'd be a fun thing to do.... so I jumped in feet first, giving myself less than 3 weeks to plan the whole thing.

The shower is coming up this weekend - and I think it's going to be fun, I really HOPE it's going to be fun - for the Mom-to-Be's sake at least!

As someone who's career in marketing involved throwing parties and events all the time I figured I could do it.... I discovered that throwing a baby shower isn't really much different from putting together any other kind of party - design and mail invitations to the guest list, plan food and refreshments and some kind of entertainment for the guests and also it's nice to have a little treat bag or favor for the guests to take home with them as a thank you for coming.

The expectant Mom is a lot like me in the aspect that she didn't want a lot of pinky, pink stuff... even though she's having a girl. I will say, I'm glad of this fact, because I think it may have killed me to plan a OTT pink baby shower - instead I made up some invites with a black and white damask theme and a little stork - the only hint of pink is the bundle the stork is carrying. I thought they were simple and cute, and not OTT!

Treat Bags!

For the treat bags I thought it would be cute to carry the same theme through from the invites, and so I got a variety of candy and  put them into little clear treat bags (the kind you'd use for single packaging cookies etc)... then I made a little card to seal the whole thing. They're personalized and I thought they were pretty cute - but hey, I guess I'm probably fairly biased.

The food was also fairly easy to figure out, since we're having the shower mid-afternoon and the mother of the guest of honor is helping with the location and getting the food together. She's making sandwiches, veggie platters, fruit salad (I think) and pie - and since we're hosting it at their family cafe we'll have their coffee girl there making hot drinks and lattes for the guests too!

For the decoration I'm again going with  the simple theme - nothing to pinky, pink but definitely something with a splash of color. So, I'm making these tissue paper pompoms... now, they're not something I've made before and I'm not exactly what I'd call 'light handed' with things such as tissue paper, but these are today's task and I'll hopefully be able to make something that doesn't look like Edward Scissor hands was involved in.

The hardest thing was probably the entertainment part of it.... Baby Showers generally have a time for games, usually 2-4 of them and at both showers I've been to they were exactly the same games. I didn't want to do that at this shower, I wanted to have something just a little bit different.... so I'm hoping I can pull it off - I guess we'll see!

Anyway, that's about it - this "blow in" is trying to not butcher a very traditional American event, and I'm really just hoping that people will come (it seems people don't like to RSVP these days, ugh) they will eat, drink and have fun, and that the Mom-to-Be will have a great time and get lots of wonderful useful gifts and advice!

Until it's over, I'm holding my breath!  ;-)

The Wave!

I've decided I really need to be better about updating - but I know I'm bad, and really our life just isn't very interesting to anyone other than us most of the time...

But, at 28 weeks pregnant I have found that my belly has turned into what looks like a wave pool - it's insane. Our 'little' baby has started kicking and wriggling so forcefully that you can totally see my belly moving and lurching from across the room. It's a wonderful feeling, but it's also quite funny to watch.

Yesterday shortly after Cory left for work as I was lazily eating my breakfast while reading the news online I had my plate resting partly on my belly (pregnant bellies are great for resting plates, cups and all sorts) and partly on the edge of my computer. Baby decided to kick, HARD and it just so happened to be right at the spot where the plate was resting on my belly and sent the plate, with my half eaten bagel flying. Thankfully I still have quick reactions (something pregnancy hasn't stripped me of just yet) and was able to catch the plate before it landed on the floor!

Another thing that baby Fast does is to 'stroke' a hand/foot/other body part yet to be identified across the inside of my belly. Let me tell ya, it is the weirdest feeling EVER! I have been feeling kicks, hiccups and wriggles for weeks and weeks, but the 'stroke' as I call it just happens every now and then and it just about sends shivers up my spine... the feeling of someone stroking INSIDE your belly....

I'm going to try and get a video of baby doing what I now call 'The Wave' - baby is just getting so strong (and big) I'm amazed every single day!

I Dragged The Gut

As an immigrant to the USA I am constantly finding things here in my new home that are new to me or are just different...

Dragging the Gut is one of those things that is unique to the USA and here in McMinnville it was outlawed in the mid-late 80's.

It was such a wonderful evening, we had a great time dragging the gut with our 1972 Suburban and our Victory... I can't wait for next year! :)

Bluergh!

The last couple of days I am feeling totally blah, bluergh and ick! I don't really know why and can't really put my finger on it but I just don't feel 100%. My back hurts and my stomach is icky so I have been taking it easy this afternoon.

On Friday we left town to go camping for the weekend. I was really looking forward to getting away and also for some cooler weather. It had been far too warm for little ol' me and I was starting to feel a little wilted. I needed some cooler temps!

Dear hubbie loaded up the truck on Thursday evening and I did the last few bits on Friday morning and then I jumped in the truck to go pick him up from the field and we hit the road. We headed just south of Bend to a place called La Pine but as we pulled into the campground we were greeted by the 'Campground Full' sign. Uh oh, this was bad news. We hit one other campground and saw the same thing so we decided to head up to Paulina Lake.

We had wanted to camp up there but I was a little nervous because of the lake and the mosquitoes, but since the other two sites were full it was a sign so we headed up the road to Paulina Lake. Neither of us realised it was so high up and it seemed like the road just kept on going and going... at 6350ft we entered the campsite and it wasn't full. Infact, it was only about half occupied! YAY - I was excited!

We found the perfect spot and jumped out to start setting up camp and WHOOOSH, the mosquitoes were on us like crazy! I could even feel them biting me which is a first, usually the first I know that I've been bitten is a few moments later when it starts to swell.

Ugh! Cory was willing to leave and go find another campsite somewhere else but I didn't want to, it was so pretty there and it was an adventure after all.... a few painful bites later I was starting to feel like I was going to go crazy, so I got inside the half erected tent while Cory set up everything else and got a fire going.

A few moments after the fire got going they started to leave, they really didn't like the smoke so we kept the fire really smokey!

We walked over to the lake and it was just beautiful, it was as if we were on top of the world. There was no other point of reference that we could see from where we were and at over 6000 feet we really were up high!

After that we went to find the host and paid for the night... he warned us that it would be cold (and it was) and that hopefully we had enough blankets to keep warm for the night. I was actually looking forward to it being a little cold, and already had my beloved beanie hat on! ;)

We went back to the campsite and fixed up a yummy dinner and chilled out by the fire before hitting the hay early.

It was pretty cold that night, it hit somewhere in the low 20's and we felt it but we were very glad for lots of warm blankets and a blow up mattress! After breakfast and a walk to the lake we packed up our stuff and hit the road.

Saturday evening we stayed at a campground at Detroit Lake and it was substantially warmer than at Paulina Lake (it was also substantially lower in elevation) and had next to no mosquitoes. I didn't get one bite that evening nor did I even see a skeeter lurking nearby.

We camped close to a little beach on the far side of the lake and it was quiet and calm. We had a fun & very relaxing weekend... laying on the beach, relaxing strolls, throwing rocks and just not having to do any of the stuff waiting for us back home.

ooooh, and I almost forgot to mention that we had the first smores of the year and they were perfect! :)

Yah, I'm nutso

Well, those of you who know me will know how I love a good project... ideas bubbling over, sometimes I can't sleep at night because of ideas going round my head, or popping into my head in the middle of the night... my brain just keeps ticking over and over with ways in which to make it better and more exciting... and that in turn makes me more excited about the project... (Yeah, I'm nutso)

Some of you will also know (hopefully less of you) that I am just crazy about recipes... yep, you heard it. I'm a feeder. I love to cook, bake, create some kind of yummy edible goodies... and I love to also research these goodies, read about them, drool over them and they get my brain going in ways I just can't explain. I don't know why, except perhaps because I'm nutso.

So, imagine the insanity that would explain my excitement if a certain project also involved recipes and or cooking in some fashion, add that to the love I have for family and you have pure craziness. Well, that's exactly where I'm at right now!

I am working on a project that has all of those elements, and it's awesome. I am putting together a book... Yep, you heard it. Crazy, huh!?!?!

As you know Cory's Grandmother passed away in March, she was a wonderful woman and she loved to entertain, cook, bake and create... story has it that she was as crazy about recipes as I am and would often sit reading cook books for inspiration and ideas (YAY, I'm not the only person in the world who would happily take a recipe book to bed).

I wish I would have had some time to know her in the prime of her life, I have a feeling we would have gotten on like a house on fire.

Anyway, I have collected books and books and just tons of recipes from her and I am probably not even a third of the way through. I am sifting through the recipes and books and collecting ones that she loved to cook and some that stand out to people when they think of her.

My plan is to put these together in a book that people can have, and so not only will the memories of Paula Ann Fast live on, but her recipes will also.

It's working title is: After all, there's nothing quite like Grandmother's cooking!

Harvest

Harvest is an especially beautiful time of year in Oregon. There is so much to see, so many textures, colours and the landscapes are just highlighted by the farm machinery and all the activity buzzing around.
I couldn't help but try to capture this.

Mooooooo

Cows are fun subjects to photograph. I didn't have much time to snap these photos before they got freaked out and started a stampede.... nope, I'm not kidding - just very thankful they were runing in the opposite direction!

I'm in love with Nolan

Yep, you heard it here first.
I'm in love with Nolan...



No, no, no - don't go jumping to conclusions like a little busybody - Nolan is my new motorcycle helmet, and it's mine... all mine.

I've been using a helmet we borrowed from a friend for all the motorcycle rides we've been on but it really doesn't fit well and isn't comfortable, plus it's extremely heavy.

My main reason for needing a new helmet was my jaw and all that dental crap we've been dealing with. My lower jaw is weakened from the cyst that took control over my body so I didn't want to ride with anything less than a full face helmet. It just wasn't worth the risk (trust me) and I totally needed a new helmet anyway.

So, on Sunday after church we headed up to Beaverton and hit the Honda store there. They had the new Nolan 103 modular helmet in stock and after trying on a few others it was the one I wanted. It was light, a full face but also has the modular feature which allows me to lift the jaw section (not sure of it's technical name) and raise it up with the visor.

It's nice!

I haven't had the chance to try it out on a ride yet but I am itching to get out on the bike now... We're hoping there will be a sliver of a break in combining on Saturday so we can go with the Hillriders up to Seaside to the bikefest.

Oh and a big shout out to the Honda store up in Beaverton for price matching for us too - we got an awesome helmet at an awesome deal!

Happy Independence America!

Well, our Independence day weekend was quite a lot of fun. We drove up to Mt Hood on Saturday morning (a little later than anticipated, but that's ok too) to meet up with my good friend Dave who is also an expat and his Oregonian girlfriend Katie.

They live in an absolutely beautiful area at the base of Mt Hood, at an elevation of about 1500 ft - I hadn't thought of the elevation being an issue but it was interesting.
After we got there we headed out to the Salmon river and did a little hike. I say hike, which is wasn't really - but it was a little more than just a walk, so I guess it was a 'little hike'. It was beautiful though and fun - except that I was hiking in my flip flops. I hadn't brought any other shoes, just two pair of flip flops, and I managed to dig another one out from underneath the back seat of our truck. Ugh.

After that we headed to the golf course and played a little lawn bowls. It was SO much fun and the weather was just perfect. We played Dave & I against Cory & Katie - England vs USA.
Cory & Katie beat us by a point, which was ok I guess - since it was Independence Day weekend... but we WILL have to rematch sometime (soon)!
We grabbed dinner out and then made a dessert run and got some yummy cakes and pies! The gooseberry pie was my favourite, and surprisingly I really liked the coconut cream pie too - something I have never been a fan of, but it was really good!
Sunday was the 4th, and Katie was snowboarding with her brother up at Timberline so the rest of us had breakfast and then headed up to check out the lodge. I'd been there before and I love the lodge - it's amazingly beautiful and the view is always stunning. It was cloudy at the house but perfectly sunny and clear up at the lodge.

We met up with Katie & Sean (her brother) for a drink and snack before heading back to the house to get prepped up for the BBQ.
We headed home as everyone else headed to fireworks - it was getting to be late and Cory had to work first thing in the morning. Swathing grass seed = early morning starts.

We got to see so many fireworks on the way home though, for pretty much the whole drive, and we made it in record time too. There was hardly anyone else on the road, I guess everyone else was watching fireworks or celebrating Independence somehow!

4th July weekend is almost here!

While this is not my first time to celebrate the 4th of July, nor is it the first where I've actually been here in the US to celebrate (that was last year), this year is the first time I will celebrate the 4th of July at "home" in the USofA.

It's pretty exciting, and seems a little unbelievable since I've been here for what seems like a lifetime (19 months, but who's counting?), but yes, this is the first Independence Day as a Permanent Resident of America.

It's kind of exciting - I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to feel some sense of pride or excitement or something, but I do know that we're going to have a fun weekend.

My good friend Dave is in town from NY - well, he's actually from 'back home' but he's now living in NYC. He's here in OR with his girlfriend Katie who is an Oregonian. So, we're planning to meet up with them for a weekend at the mountain (Mt Hood).
I'm excited - I've never really spent much time at Mt hood outside of the winter months. It's so pretty up there too!

So, it's bound to be a fun weekend... I'll let you guys know if it feels any different as a non-alien ;)

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.