LaterBlog: Portland

Oregon is amazing. Period. 

My friends and I love to travel together and when it started lining up that we could all make Portland work, we did just that and made a unforgettable vacation happen. 

Four of us flew in on Saturday and got our rental car and drove up to Cannon Beach on the Pacific. It was stunning. The ocean there is different than in California and has a sense of calm and peace. It's misty and intriguing and just beautiful. The towns up there are quaint and homey. Welcoming. We stayed the night in Seaside at a cute riverside condo, got some amazing strawberries on the roadside, grabbed dinner, had more laughs than we knew what to do with, watched Goonies, went to the Goonie house; just made some great memories. 

The next day we went to Multanomah Falls (since we couldn't remember the name we kept calling it Melanoma Falls) and it was beautiful. The girls walked up to the bridge; my body wasn't feeling up to the walk. Tyler and Spencer flew in that night and we had an eventful night grabbing dinner. An old friend we worked with lives up there now and met us for a drink and it was great to get a hug from him and catch up. We walked downtown, some interesting people watching for sure. The girls got some late night Voodoo donuts. "Keep Portland Weird" sign The staples. 

Monday I was lucky enough to meet up with my cousin who lives up there for brunch. We had a great time chatting about our late uncle and laughing about good times. It wasn't until later in the day that Facebook reminded me that it was my uncles birthday. What are the odds that I'd be in Portland (where he lived and passed), having brunch talking about him, on his birthday. Pretty awesome universe. We hit up Powell's books, some more donut places and then a really great happy hour in the city followed by some tasty ice cream. 

Tuesday was brunch and just random shopping around and then home. We were there for a good amount of time and I feel like I could have been there for another week and not have gotten bored - I would've gained some good weight with all the food, but not bored! 

This trip was so memorable and I don't think any of us have laughed that hard for a long time, even if there was a little help. It was so great to have almost all my best friends in one town for one amazing trip. I'm so glad that Ashley made it on her buddy pass, Brooke could get work off and that Megg and the boys let me jump on their already made plans. 

All things personal

Last post was all medical - this is all personal and fun things.

Since surgery I have felt very good overall which has been nice. I started to drive 12 days after surgery and that allowed me to be free to do what I like and go to the store and all those things. Went to a movie, went to my friends sons birthday party and did a wagon ride, dressed up for Halloween, went to the last summer farmers market at Wheeler Farm, took the boys (Ben and Jack) out trick or treating in my sisters neighborhood (which was really fun), turned 34, got the keys to my new place and have started to slowly move in.

Social Butterfly

My birthday usually is a big deal for me but with surgery and the whole no eating fat thing I kind of was a downer about it for a bit. I never realized how food centered a birthday is until I couldn't have anything fun! In the morning I met up with little Ruby, her mom Ali and her sister Jane for some acai bowls and healthier food. It was fun to be goofy with the girls and of course to see sweet Ali. You can read her blog here. Since I got the keys early (got them on the 1st and was planning on getting them on the 5th) I had some friends over to the empty place that night and just ordered pizza for them and such. It was a lot of fun to have everyone over to see it.

Look at this pretty cake my friends got me - even though I couldn't eat it until the next day. My wonderful friend Elise also went out of her way to make me a sans free birthday dessert - strawberry shortcake. It was delicious!

Since then I have been slowly moving things in and we have movers coming tomorrow to load up my storage unit. I'm a bit nervous to see what I have in there... some of the stuff has never been used so it will be like Christmas! I'm still deciding on what I am going to do with all my Sweet Janes stuff. I'm torn on it - want to keep it but also don't want to just store things to store things. I am also not sure I want to close that chapter all the way. We will see. I have until the 30th to have the storage unit completely cleaned out.

Besides moving I am going to try and do some fun things before life gets shaken up on the 10th. Not sure what, but definitely will do something each day not medical or moving.

One thing I want to acknowledge is that there is a saying that you never know your true friends until you have to ask them to help you move. Well, I am overly blessed in the true friend category. I have too many helpers! How is that possible? I sure do love my army.

Escaping to California

When your mom tells you to buy a ticket to California on her then you jump online and book your flight. I was lucky enough to make it work before surgery and was able to spend 3 full days down visiting my best friend of 23+ years and her family.
I got there late on Thursday and we had a nice dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Long Beach. The next morning I got to sleep in a little while she took the girls to school and ran a couple errands. After that we headed out to get a special coffee. Right next to the coffee shop was a reflexology massage place advertising 40 minute massages for $20 - um, no brainer! It was an experience to say the least and very enjoyable too! That night we went out to a movie (Bad Moms) in a VIP theater where they serve you everything - your popcorn and all. So nice.

Adventures of Ash and Lex

Saturday we decided to brave Disneyland. When we got to the park it was so crowded, like crazy crowded! The girls were wiped out (me included in that!) by 2ish and only making it on one ride the whole morning so we headed home for a mid day siesta aka nap. Ash and I came back around 5 and spent some time wondering through the shops on main street and then had dinner over in California Adventure. The parks were both around 90% occupancy that day so to say it was madness is an understatement. The rides we wanted to go on were all at least an hour wait, and Tower of Terror never went below a 2 hour wait. We rode 2 1/4 rides for the day (I don't count the Tiki Room as a ride, so that's where the 1/4 comes in). Even though we didn't get on any rides really, I still had a great time. I was perfectly content with the amazing people watching for 10 hours and spending time with my best friend and her littles.

Ash and I

Waiting in line Selfies

too late..,

Dumbo!

We wore them out...

The best people watching Happiest Place on Earth

You're never too old for Minnie ears

Sunday we went to the beach and played in the sand and I got to dip my toes in the ocean, one of my favorite things. The girls played like crazy and got sand in every crevice but had smiles ear to ear and endless giggles. That night we did dinner and a show i.e. the presidential debate. Andre cooked and it was a lovely night once the debate ended. Only sad part of that day is that I was reminded of my dang neck because it started to hurt so immensely. It was bad enough that I had to go lay down and take all the meds I could think of to help relieve it. It finally eased up 2 hours later and then has been at a level 4-6 ever since. Other than that and a brief issue of nausea after the reflexology massage I didn't really think about being sick. Being sick wasn't the focus, the focus was on enjoying the day and the girls and being with my friend. It was so so nice. It was one of my favorite Cali trips I've ever done and it also was one of the most mellow. I loved it. And I loved the girls and their constant playing and giggling and loving me. I love my friend and how her and I are still so close after all these years and all the things we've both been through. Although I wish she were closer, it is always a great excuse to make it out to the coast to visit.

Good ol' Dre

One of my favorite things - toes in the sand

Who doesn't wear their Minnie Mouse gloves to the beach?

 

I am not sure when I will make it there again, but I hope to recoup soon and get there soon because man do those girls have my heart!

Silly face selfies. So dang cute. 

September 4-23rd - All the things!

I’ve had a pleasant few weeks. Still keeping busy, living life. Because of that I (again) haven’t kept up with my blogging updates!

I went to a pie social and ate all sorts of pie, got a massage, had lunch with many different people on different days, family dinners, coffee dates, went to the fair per tradition and held a 7day old goat – heaven, ate fried cookie dough (at the fair of course!) went to a makeup class for cancer patients (scored a lot of good free makeup!), lots of farmer’s market visits, brunches, birthday parties, learned how to make my favorite aunt Annie’s cinnamon rolls – so many things!

 

My dad celebrated his 71^st birthday on the 8^th. It is wild to me that he is 71, he doesn’t look or act how I imagine someone who is that age. Not sure if that is a good thing or not? We had a family dinner and a giant cake to celebrate.

Sarah (my sister) and I ventured out about 45-minutes north to Brigham City Peach Days. Expectation: peach everything; peach pies, peach cobbler, peach drinks, peach candies, actual peaches. Reality: basically a fair like event with one stand selling peaches and then a random peach flavored thing here and there – maybe 5 things. So, not what we expected but it was still a lot of fun and I would definitely go again. We had some tasty Dutch oven dinner and peach cobbler (one of the only real peach thing we saw outside of the actual peaches). I want to do a Dutch oven cookout or something, maybe just dessert. I think that sounds fun!

My sister and I also went to an Indian cooking class where we learned how to make butter chicken, aromatic rice, pickled eggs Indian style (forget the name of this dish), mint and raisin chutney and my favorite, naan. It was a lot of fun and man there are a lot of spices and ingredients to each dish! The instructor tried to kill us with a Carolina reaper pepper but we survived. I don't do well with spice but it turned out good! I could go without the eggs, but am happy to have tried it all and now know how to cook some Indian food from scratch! 

I had my liver levels checked (on the 14^th) and the levels are down a bunch! Both are under 100! Best news ever. This means the liver meds are doing what they are supposed to and I can stay off of the steroids. Yep you read that correct – I am officially off of the prednisone!! It is pretty great. I have felt pretty good since being off of them, just low energy. I am able to not use a sleep aid now and my shakiness (mostly in my hands) is much better. I do have some skin reaction to the new BRaf meds but not bad enough to take steroids again, and truly hope it stays this mild and I can tolerate it. 

 

My last 5mg dose of prednisone! 

A long way from 120mg!

My dear cousin came in town to play (and deal with some family stuff) and we had some good times. We had a delicious dinner out the first night and then followed that up with a ReAl Salt Lake soccer game. It was a sister double date – her sister and my sister joined us. It was a lot of fun even though the game kinda sucked. The next day we went to the Wheeler farmer’s market and then headed up the canyon for brunch and to see the amazing leaves changing. It was beautiful. After brunch we walked around Silver Lake, an easy local hike (walk). It was so great to have her here to play, and I am so happy that she and I have become close in the last few years. We’ve both had some major stuff happen to us and we just connect on a deeper level.

 
              Sisters photoboming sisters - priceless!



 

Mandy’s (my melanoma soul sister) family invited me to go to a paint night with them. Paint Nite is where you head to a restaurant or bar and everyone paints the same picture step by step while being able to drink or eat. The painting was “Rainbows and Dragonflies.” Dragonflies is how Mandy said she would come back as to come say hello so it was only fitting. It was a lot of fun and it is great to see how different everyone’s painting comes out – even though we are painting the same thing. I was happy with mine; the colors are much more bright outside of the bar lighting.

Mine is on the left - Shaundra's (Mandy's momma) in the middle - and family friends on the right

I am truly lucky and amazed each day to have such great and fun people around me. Life is too insane to let it conquer all aspects of your life – you have to live a bit and enjoy yourself! I have worked hard these past two months to live it up and I feel like I am definitely succeeding. I have a good friend’s wedding tomorrow that I am looking forward to and then just spending time with my army. Man my blogs get super long when I don't do them often! Goodness!