Tuesday, September 21, 2004
portland
We spent most of the last week in Portland, Oregon. I like to visit Portland a lot, but I don't think I would want to live there. I almost changed my mind in Kornblatt's Deli, though.
We left on Wednesday around noon. The appraiser guy came by earlier in the morning to inspect the house for the refi I talked about earlier. R* and I had a HUGE fight right after the appraiser left... when he was showing the appraiser around the house, he was telling him all the new things we'd done. He showed him the bathroom and said, "new paint, new toilet, new light fixture, new sink faucet, new sink" and I called out, "It's not a new sink". Because it's, you know, NOT. And obviously so. I was thinking that the appraiser might take R* for an exaggerator, because it's so obvious that the sink is not new. After he left, R* completely tore my head off, saying that if the appraisal came back too low, it was all my fault for making him seem unreliable, etc. Eventually we got packed up and hit the road.
We stopped in Centralia for some lunch and switched drivers. That put me driving into an unfamiliar city, but fortunately the directions I'd printed out were good and we didn't have any trouble getting there. We did however discover that there was no need for us to stop by the record store after all, because they wanted us to go to their other location. Well, drat. So we proceeded to our hotel and checked in and fell asleep. Later we ordered room service and watched a movie. It was quite relaxing.
Thursday we went to Mother's for breakfast - lovely as usual - dropped by the other location of the record store, and then went to Washington Park to see the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Test Gardens. R* had expressed trepidation about the Japanese Garden, thinking that he would be bored to tears. I offered to pay the entrance fee and to leave as soon as he was bored. Turns out he liked it very much and in fact lingered longer than I would have alone. He also felt inspired to talk about creating a Zen garden in our backyard, which I am wholly excited about! The rose gardens were also lovely - I found three varieties that interest me, even though I'm not much of a rose person. They were Royal Amythest, Distant Drums, and Sunsprite. We went back to our hotel and slept for a while, read, and generally chilled out, then went to the restaurant downstairs for dinner. It was a very nice surprise! We shared a caprese salad and some fresh-baked flatbread with roasted garlic and some yummy soft cheese. I had salmon ravioli in a lemony cream sauce and R* had duck two ways - seared breast and leg confit. It had a delicious balsamic fig sauce. We went back upstairs and watched Van Helsing, which is a dreadful movie, but just the ticket if you're tipsy and finding everything amusing.
Friday morning I went down to Peet's to get coffee and scones. We were hanging out in our room - I was reading and R* was checking his email - when he suddenly made a strangled noise of surprise. I glanced up and his mouth was hanging open as though he was in shock. I said "What? What?" and he didn't answer - just turned the computer around to me. And there was an email from our mortgage broker - saying that the appraisal had come back much higher than we'd expected. Like $30,000 higher. I didn't say "I told you so" but I did feel very vindicated in that I did not ruin our finances with my offhand comment about the sink.
Later we went out for lunch and shopping. For lunch, we went to this place called Huber's which has been in business for 125 years. Their specialty is house-roasted turkey. I had a giant turkey leg that came with mashed potatoes and dressing and gravy and veggies and beer bread. No, I didn't eat all of it. R* had a turkey reuben and said it was very good. I love visiting places like that, to try to get a glimpse of the past.
Friday night R*'s band played a show at a jazz club called the Blue Monk. When we first arrived, no one was there. But by the time we had something to eat and they started playing, there were lots of people there! And we didn't know any of them! I know that sounds silly but it's a huge deal to be able to draw a crowd in a city where you don't know anyone.
Saturday morning we ordered room service for breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and drove over to the record store and the band did an in-store performance... while I spent big bucks at Lush. Then three of us went to Kornblatt's Deli for lunch - as I alluded to earlier, that was a lovely experience! I had been feeling kind of shaky and weird since breakfast (too much sugar, I suspect), so I got a cup of chicken & rice soup and a hot bagel sandwich and felt loads better. Good comfort food.
I drove us back to Chehalis where the band played a show at the Matrix Coffeehouse. I had been a little disappointed that there were only about 10 people there, but R* went out during a break and peeked into the other taverns downtown, and there were a total of 5 people in 3 bars! So apparently the Matrix was the hot scene. After the show, R* was completely exhausted and could hardly keep his eyes open, and I was unexpectedly bright-eyed and wide awake. So I drove us home and turned down the bed for R* to flop into. I'm a good wife.
We left on Wednesday around noon. The appraiser guy came by earlier in the morning to inspect the house for the refi I talked about earlier. R* and I had a HUGE fight right after the appraiser left... when he was showing the appraiser around the house, he was telling him all the new things we'd done. He showed him the bathroom and said, "new paint, new toilet, new light fixture, new sink faucet, new sink" and I called out, "It's not a new sink". Because it's, you know, NOT. And obviously so. I was thinking that the appraiser might take R* for an exaggerator, because it's so obvious that the sink is not new. After he left, R* completely tore my head off, saying that if the appraisal came back too low, it was all my fault for making him seem unreliable, etc. Eventually we got packed up and hit the road.
We stopped in Centralia for some lunch and switched drivers. That put me driving into an unfamiliar city, but fortunately the directions I'd printed out were good and we didn't have any trouble getting there. We did however discover that there was no need for us to stop by the record store after all, because they wanted us to go to their other location. Well, drat. So we proceeded to our hotel and checked in and fell asleep. Later we ordered room service and watched a movie. It was quite relaxing.
Thursday we went to Mother's for breakfast - lovely as usual - dropped by the other location of the record store, and then went to Washington Park to see the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Test Gardens. R* had expressed trepidation about the Japanese Garden, thinking that he would be bored to tears. I offered to pay the entrance fee and to leave as soon as he was bored. Turns out he liked it very much and in fact lingered longer than I would have alone. He also felt inspired to talk about creating a Zen garden in our backyard, which I am wholly excited about! The rose gardens were also lovely - I found three varieties that interest me, even though I'm not much of a rose person. They were Royal Amythest, Distant Drums, and Sunsprite. We went back to our hotel and slept for a while, read, and generally chilled out, then went to the restaurant downstairs for dinner. It was a very nice surprise! We shared a caprese salad and some fresh-baked flatbread with roasted garlic and some yummy soft cheese. I had salmon ravioli in a lemony cream sauce and R* had duck two ways - seared breast and leg confit. It had a delicious balsamic fig sauce. We went back upstairs and watched Van Helsing, which is a dreadful movie, but just the ticket if you're tipsy and finding everything amusing.
Friday morning I went down to Peet's to get coffee and scones. We were hanging out in our room - I was reading and R* was checking his email - when he suddenly made a strangled noise of surprise. I glanced up and his mouth was hanging open as though he was in shock. I said "What? What?" and he didn't answer - just turned the computer around to me. And there was an email from our mortgage broker - saying that the appraisal had come back much higher than we'd expected. Like $30,000 higher. I didn't say "I told you so" but I did feel very vindicated in that I did not ruin our finances with my offhand comment about the sink.
Later we went out for lunch and shopping. For lunch, we went to this place called Huber's which has been in business for 125 years. Their specialty is house-roasted turkey. I had a giant turkey leg that came with mashed potatoes and dressing and gravy and veggies and beer bread. No, I didn't eat all of it. R* had a turkey reuben and said it was very good. I love visiting places like that, to try to get a glimpse of the past.
Friday night R*'s band played a show at a jazz club called the Blue Monk. When we first arrived, no one was there. But by the time we had something to eat and they started playing, there were lots of people there! And we didn't know any of them! I know that sounds silly but it's a huge deal to be able to draw a crowd in a city where you don't know anyone.
Saturday morning we ordered room service for breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and drove over to the record store and the band did an in-store performance... while I spent big bucks at Lush. Then three of us went to Kornblatt's Deli for lunch - as I alluded to earlier, that was a lovely experience! I had been feeling kind of shaky and weird since breakfast (too much sugar, I suspect), so I got a cup of chicken & rice soup and a hot bagel sandwich and felt loads better. Good comfort food.
I drove us back to Chehalis where the band played a show at the Matrix Coffeehouse. I had been a little disappointed that there were only about 10 people there, but R* went out during a break and peeked into the other taverns downtown, and there were a total of 5 people in 3 bars! So apparently the Matrix was the hot scene. After the show, R* was completely exhausted and could hardly keep his eyes open, and I was unexpectedly bright-eyed and wide awake. So I drove us home and turned down the bed for R* to flop into. I'm a good wife.
