Sunday, December 7, 2008

scenes from the getaway

While the man slaved away at home with stairs, kids, laundry & Pampered Chef [though he carefully omitted that a lovely neighbor friend invited him & Jen's hubby for steak dinner last night], my best girlfriends & I enjoyed two days in downtown Portland for our 1st Annual Women's Thank-You-Lord-For-Loving-and-Giving-Husbands-What-Do-You-Mean-"Recession?" Retreat.

In my overwhelming blissful state at the start of proceedings Friday, I forgot to take a photo of my $can'ttellyouwithoutcringing pants that I wore with my fantastic T-strap pumps (now down to $45 per wearing!) and the lovely pomegranate martinis at Macaroni Grill. Also, we didn't do any of the activities we had originally thought of - a lingerie trunk show (finished dinner too late), Nordstrom holiday event (forgot to RSVP), cocktail bar party (no costumes). Essentially, we just stayed within the 8-block walking/streetcar area, and loved every minute of it.



View from the Hilton
(not the first one we stopped at, but the one across the street...Crazy hotel people)


Jen demonstrating how to properly eat edamame

(I once famously, and supposedly hilariously, choked while trying to down one whole)

Our spring rolls strangely resembled tiny narwhals


The ubiquitous wacky drink menu


The "lots of shaved ice" apparently melted
to create this "barfed salad" look
(though Jen still loved it...)


The drink that burned my lips
in an oh-so-good way


Lisa amidst the nutty Saucebox decor



Saturday's booty haul


The vibrant & lovely Alexa aka "Butterfly" of Cascadia Cabs
We didn't make her try to pedal our tired mom asses back to the hotel


This is how we do it


Breakfast of champions