Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday (June 18th) was our 3rd wedding anniversary!  We celebrated by going to dinner together, and enjoying spending some quality time together.  It feels like the last 3 years have flown by!  It is always nice to come together and be able to reflect on our relationship together.  I feel so lucky that I met my husband at a young age and that we have been able to bend and grow together.  All these years together, and we are still happier than ever!  We have accomplished so much in the last 3 years together.  We bought a house, began fixing it up, got married, traveled to Mexico, got a dog (Bernie!), traveled to London, traveled to Paris, traveled to Hawaii, and so much more.  These first 3 years have been wonderful and I can’t wait to see whats in store for this year.  Looking ahead, we have Istanbul coming up in October, which should be such a fantastic adventure! 

In Team Boyd fashion, here is our annual anniversary picture, taken last night in the backyard:

Animoto rocks

Animoto is a free website where you upload your pictures & a song, put them in a specific order, press a button and presto!  Animoto creates an awesome photo-mantage using your photos and songs.  I’m going to try to add some Animoto photo-mantages to the site for other fun things that we have done, so keep checking back!

Thanks goes to Brian for taking the time to upload some of the more tame camping photos to an Animoto and creating this awesome photo-mantage!  Click on the link below to see his Animoto photo-mantage of our camping weekend. 

http://animoto.com/play/k5Mn0Js0MI5iAPmPIw8FjA

Camping Adventures

This Memorial Day we decided to get out of town and take our first camping trip of the season.  What a great idea that was!  We knew that the camp sites would be over-crowded, so we decided to do some “non-traditional” camping.  Our favorite place to camp is up the Clackamas River, in the Mt. Hood National Forrest.  Cody took Friday off, and drove up early to scout for a good camping spot.  He ended up finding one of the best spots off one of the forrest service roads.  The spot was big, yet secluded and we didn’t see anyone else the whole time we were up there.  This year we invested in a camping toilet, which was probably the best camping investment we’ve made in a long time.  There is nothing more difficult than trying to squat in the forrest after a few beers! 

There were 5 of us up there (Matt & Michelle, Brian, Cody & me) along with our super-dog Bernie.  I think Bernie had just as much fun as we did.  He spent the weekend running around the forrest and finding all kinds of new smells.  We also learned that he’s a pretty good dancer, although it appears his favorite dance partner is Michelle! 

All-in-all, we had a really great time, and are going to attempt to return to this spot on a monthly basis through out the summer.  I hope we can find the time to do this, as our trip was so relaxing and a lot of fun.  There is nothing better than sitting around the campfire with good friends! 

Here is a sampling of pictures from our trip:

The beautiful Mt. Hood National Forrest (& Matty)

Bernie getting some lovin’

  

 ”Do work, son”, around the campsite

      

Bernie is introduced to cheetos…and bacon

  

Hanging out around the campfire

  

Matty finds out what happens when you fall asleep in the middle of the day

  

It’s tough to be Bernie….

     cutest (& dirtest!) dog, EVER!

Bernie learns to dance!

  

Matty learns what happens when you fall asleep at the table

The boys, playing by the campfire, after the beer & alcohol had been flowing

  

 

What a trip!

What a trip to Manhattan I had!  The weather was wonderful and Mom and I didn’t kill each other!  It was really great to go back and spend some time one-on-one with her.  I think she also had a good time. 

Central Park

I don’t know if I’ve ever shopped so much in 6 days as I did in Manhattan!  Mom encouraged my love of handbags and I was lucky enough to get 2 new handbags, I even got a matching wallet for one, so I was a happy girl!  Another shopping highlight, was that I was able to go to my favorite jewelry/accessory store in the Garment District and stocked up on new necklace/earring combos. 

Mom and I spent a few days going exploring the local museums, including The Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History.  We both really enjoyed seeing the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural history – they were so majestic!

The Cloisters!

  

Dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History!

   

In my blog from NYC, you know that we were lucky enough to see the Pope.  It was a lucky coincidence for us, since we were just walking by and happened to run into his route.  We also stumbled across the shooting of the movie, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” with Isla Fisher (thank you to the observant readers who pointed out that it is Isla Fisher and not Amy Adams in this movie).  We spent about 10 minutes watching Isla Fisher shoot a scene for the movie on Lexington Avenue, which was pretty neat. 

The Pope’s motorcade!  The Pope is in the 1st limo!

   

Confessions of a Shopaholic

    

In the end, I had a great time with mom in NYC, and I’m really looking forward to going back next year!  I’ve posted a few pictures in this blog, but also make sure to check out my picture page “Manhattan, NY (April 2008)” to see more pictures. 

Hello from New York City!

Hello Everyone!

What a trip I’m having in NYC!  I arrived safe and sound Wednesday afternoon, and ever since we have been going, going, going!  My mother and I are having a blast together.  The weather is absolutely fantastic - low to high 70’s with a great breeze. 

On Thursday, mom took me to see her office, which overlooks Bryant Park.  What a beautiful park in the city!  We made our way back to this great jewelry store in the garment district where I found all sorts of great finds!  Afterwards, we went back to Bryant Park an ate lunch sitting in the wonderful sunshine in the park and enjoyed people watching.  From there, we shopped our way back to Central Park and eventually made our way home.  Central Park is such a wonderful jewel in the middle of the city.  What a fantastic place the locals have here. 

Today (Friday) we took the subway up to The Cloisters, which is in the northern part of Manhattan.  The Cloisters is a beautiful and serene place in the city.  The Cloisters is a compilation of European churches that have been disassembled, and shipped over to Manhattan to be reassembled together.  The Cloisters sits at the top of Fort Tryon Park, which over looks the Hudson River and New Jersey.  The Cloisters have a number of outdoor gardens, where you can sit, relax and take in the majestic scenery.  After our trip north, we made our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) where we were able to browse a number of different rooms and enjoyed a snack in their cafeteria.  As we were making our way back to mom’s apartment, we came upon a barricaded street and police milling about.  As you may know, the Pope is in town and when watching the news this morning we knew that he would be making his way through the city.  We decided that it was a good enough chance that the barricades could be for the Pope, so we decided to wait with the small crowd and see if he would come through.  Sure enough, after about 15 minutes of waiting and watching various police-mobiles come through, a giant motor-cade began progressing down the street and coming right towards us.  Sure enough, the Pope was making his way through the city.  Unfortunately, he was not riding in his Pope-mobile, but we did see him in his limo and he waved at us!!!  Yes, he waved at us!!!  This has to be the closest we will ever get to being blessed by the Pope, so we were pretty excited!  I got some great pictures of his motor-cade and his personal limo!

Tomorrow we are off to Union Square to an open air market, and of course, more shopping!!!  So, on this Friday evening, we are having a pretty great vacation together.  We’ve done some great shopping, seen some great sights, and we’ve been blessed by the Pope.  What more could we want?!

When I return home, I will upload all kinds of great pictures.  I hope this finds everyone happy and safe. 

Exciting plans!

Hello everyone!

I’m sorry that it’s been awhile since I’ve written lately – we’ve been awfully busy!  Some big and exciting news….we’ve been vacation planning! 

I’m headed to New York City to visit my mother April 16th – 21st.  I’m really excited to go back and see her.  As some of you may know, my mother moved to Manhattan October 2007, and while I visited with her in NYC in July 2007, I haven’t seen her apartment yet.  I’m really looking forward to getting out of Portland and spending some time in NYC with her!  I’m sure I will have all sorts of fun stories to report on when I return.  Maybe I’ll even blog from NYC! 

The other big vacation news is that Cody and I are going to Istanbul, Turkey and Tbilisi, Georgia (as in the former USSR country) for two weeks in October.  We are beyond excited for this trip.  This will probably be the most adventurous trip either one of us has ever done before.  You can be assured that there will be plenty of good stories from that trip (as well as pictures)!  We will be traveling with Cody’s mother and step-father (Risa & Brent) as well as their friends Francine and her husband, Tim.  Tim works for the US Government at the local embassy in the finance department in Tbilisi, which is how we ended up there.  More news/details will be coming on this trip as it comes closer.  For now, we are waist deep in planning and growing more excited by the day. 

Cody is getting excited about all of his vacations.  He will be heading to Lake Shasta to fish with his father, Randy, and his uncles for 10 days in May.  In July Cody will head up to the mountain for the annual “Order of the Antelope” (OOTA).  In October (if all goes well) Cody will be headed to the cabin to go deer hunting.  We are currently trying to work our Istanbul/Tbilisi plans around his hunting trip.  I’m sure we will squeeze in a few camping and cabin trips into the summer as well.  It’s going to be a busy summer and fall!

our new family room!

At long last, our family room is completed (well, mostly – we still need to get a new back door and some more art work).  As promised, here are some pictures of the room (one with Bernie on his bed).  In my personal opinion, I think it turned out nicely.   As you can see it is a dining room/family room combo.  You enter from the kitchen (I’m standing in the kitchen taking the first picture & in the second picture you can see the doorway on the right).  The main part of the room is the family room. 

                     

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope Valentine’s Day found everyone happy and loved!  At our house, Valentine’s Day isn’t celebrated annually, although now that we are married, Cody has for some reason determined that we should celebrate.  So, for the past few years we’ve gone out to dinner, which we did again this year (see my restaurant review for Claim Jumper).  We had a wonderful dinner and I was lucky enough to receive the matching earrings to the necklace Cody gave me a few years ago.  (Cody will probably want me to mention that the set came from Tiffany’s, so as he says “he can get credit for this”. )  I’m thrilled that he thought to look for matching earrings for me, and the gesture was so touching!  Especially coming from Cody!  I was very lucky this year.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful day as well. 

I’ve always found Valentine’s Day kind of an odd holiday.  Do we really need a day each year to remember to love our partner?  Do we really need a day each year to remind someone that they don’t have a partner?  Have we gotten so busy in our daily lives that we need Hallmark to schedule a day of love (or morning for those who don’t have partners – or would that be celebrating?) for us?  I’ve never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, because I would rather spread the love through out the year.  So much hype is placed on this day each year, and I can’t tell you how many friends I’ve had over the years sadden because their partner didn’t live up to their expectations for this day.  What should be expected on Valentine’s Day?  Why are there any expectations?  Maybe I’ve been married to Cody for too many years and have become cynical, but I think that Valentine’s Day is an unnecessary use of a holiday.  I wish the people who focus so much energy on “loving” this day would apply that much energy to the rest of the year doing and loving others.  Wouldn’t this make a better use of the energy?  Now this, in my opinion (and since it’s my blog, I get to give it to you) would make for a better use of ones time and energy.   

Check out my site!

So I have finally spent some time learning how to navigate and expand my blog and I’m pretty excited about the changes!  I’ve added different pages, with their own sections.  You will note that I’ve finally created a Restaurant Review page, and I created a picture page to share all of our fun and wacky adventures with everyone.  I’ve only put up a few pictures because no one really ever wants to look at others vacation photos.  At least these photos give you a sampling of what we did and where we did it. 

 I hope you like the changes you see here, and hopefully there will be more to come! 

We have a floor!

I almost can’t believe it, but as I type, Cody is installing our new floor in the family room!  The long wait is over!  Cody has been working very hard all weekend and I’m thrilled to report he will have the floor completely installed by the end of the day!  I’ve included a couple of pictures of the install.  As you can see, our super dog, Bernie, thinks that he needs to help Cody.  It’s very cute to watch Bernie follow Cody around the house – where ever Cody goes, Bernie follows!  Tomorrow we are going to start painting the floor and base molding which will hopefully be installed by next weekend.  Once that is done, along with the paint touch-ups, we will then be able to move into our fabulous new family room!  Plus, I will finally be able to clean the house spotless, something I’ve been dying to do since we started this project! 

For those of you who think I sat around all weekend while Cody slaved away, I spent the weekend helping my sister move into her new apartment in Seattle.  All I can say, is that moving sucks.  I don’t even move myself – I hire people to move me!