Ellen’s Dance Dare: Portland Edition

Hi everyone. First I will say that today is my birthday. Yes, I am 25 years old and I had the BEST weekend celebrating. There were some gatherings, great brunch (review to follow), Easter, the Masters… the list goes on and on. Can you believe I got super into the Masters this year? I haven’t like golf this much since before Tiger was outed as a perv.

One of my weekend highlights was a lovely walk on the waterfront Saturday afternoon. Not only was it beautiful out, but Marina and I decided to take the opportunity to film for our Ellen’s Dance Dare Challenge video. You may be asking yourself “What is the Dance Dare Challenge?” Well my friend, it is a HIGH-LARIOUS challenge Ellen has presented to her viewers. Clicky click to learn more.

Marina and I have been discussing doing this for a while and this weekend the perfect opportunity was thrown at us as we were walking on the waterfront. I then took the liberty to do some editing, added some musica… and voila!

Here is the final product, as well as some photos of the day. Enjoy!

I hope you all had happy Easters!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Easter is this weekend and I think we should reflect. I love Easter. It is my favorite of all holidays. It is a time to remember the greatest sacrifice there ever was and a love we don’t deserve.

Think about how many stories and movies carry themes with reflections of Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is a big deal. So let’s spend this Sunday thinking about ways we can honor and thank the one who gave His life for us. It’s not about eggs, bunnies or a honey baked ham. (although I do love me some honey baked ham.)

It is about Love.

Jesus is God. God is Love. What if we all had Love?

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. -John 15:13


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"Second place? Hell, yeah!"

This is a quote from Bring It On. I completely understand if you have no idea what I am talking about. Be forewarned, this is another post about cheerleading.

I just got back from USA Nationals in Anaheim, CA. We (the 5 coaches) took our squad of teenagers down to compete in the high school cheerleading nationals. Let me tell you now, it was a very exciting trip! Not only did we get to watch our kids compete at a very high level, but we got to play in Disneyland!

As coaches, we have a fun relationship and dynamic. I could go to all of them about anything and they would listen and judge me way less than a normal friend! Haha. Really, they probably wouldn't judge at all. Plus, these women are packed full of awesome advice. They are all so different too. It is like having every perspective you could possibly need right at your finger tips! We always joke about how as a coaching staff we equal one perfect coach. And you know what? It is true!

Space Mountain t-shirts. Does it get much cooler?

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! 

Now for some updates on the competition:
Background: Wilson cheer has been traveling to USA Nationals semi-regularly since 2004 and hasn't placed above 5th.

This year our cheerleaders competed in the hardest division we have ever been in… the small division. This division is comprised of teams who pick their 12 best. Some of these teams may have programs of 20 kids and they choose to pull their absolute best in order to dominate the competition. We prepared our kids for this reality before we went, reminding them that this year’s division would be full of squads with concentrated talent. Our goal was to make finals.

Our girls hit a perfect routine in preliminaries. There were no regrets. They all recognized that if they didn’t make finals with their best, then they were okay with that. Not only did our girls make finals, our squad would be going into finals sitting in second place!!! We were flabbergasted!

Finals day was just as flawless. They girls performed their little hearts out and were going to be happy with whatever place they got, accepting that it was the exact placement they deserved. We were hoping to just to make it into the top three, knowing that many of the teams from prelims had cleaned up their routines for finals.

Feeling great after their performance! 

I love this picture from the announcement of awards. I can feel the nerves. 

As they announced the placements our girls grasped hands in anticipation. 5th place… 4th place… (still no Wilson? We placed in the top 3!! We were stoked.)  3rd place… (Cue the tears. Top 2!?) 2nd place… Wilson High School!!! It was an amazing feeling. What a testament to the hard work our girls had put in all year.

This makes me tear up! 

Our senior captains. We sure will miss them! 

I love that this is going to be a life lesson that all of these kids can take with them. They worked hard, they did their best and they came out on top. It was incredible!

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

And I'm not talking about Spencer Tracy.

I hope you are all well. I certainly am. Why you ask? I am doing great because I am not living in the early 1960s in a life filled with booze, infidelity, drama and advertising.

Yes, you guessed it. I have been watching Mad Men. I love it! I just do. It is nasty and dramatic, but it is impossible to not root for these characters. No matter how awful they are, the writers somehow draw you in enough to care about them regardless of their flaws. Did you all like the premier of the new season? I haven’t watched it yet and have successfully avoided the reviews. It is a miracle!

Fun fact:
Apparently Adrian Grenier (Drive Me Crazy... fine... and Entourage) is joining some Portland brewers to make flat top style beer cans. You know, the kind you need to open with a can opener ala Don Draper. Pretty hilarious. I understand that it is hipster cool, but it is also a lot more effort just to open your beer! Haha!

A quote from a different article is what cracked me up the most:
“Drinking Beer from flat top cans will be this year’s having a mustache for ironic retro cool.”

I can’t wait. This is going to be fun! Especially if the nasty trendiness of the mustache is on its way out the door.

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Snow on March 22nd? This is absurd.

Okay folks, it is March 22nd and it snowed last night. I don’t know about you, but I am ready to take my wool sweaters to the dry cleaner and pack them away for the season. Come on spring!!! Where are you!? Am I ever going to feel like it is appropriate to wear my new coral chinos?  Or am I going to be stuck in a land where the day’s low temperature lingers around 33 degrees?

I am absolutely ready for the sun. I just got my hair done (shout out to Micah!) for the spring and there are some majorly bright blonde highlights kickin’ it in my do right now. This weather is not conducive to the longing I have to style said hair, nor does it seem right with my newly blonde/ sunny weather hair color. Stupid snow/ rain/ cold. I don’t have a good photo of my new hair to show you. But Micah is a color genius and “we” (in quotes because all I did was drink a glass of red wine… haha) did bright blonde in the front with super subtle ombré that has just a bit of brighter blonde at the ends. I have short hair and get nervous that full out ombré on my lob (long-bob) would look cray.  I promise to show you a picture eventually. Just so you know, it is like she can read her client’s minds. So if you are in the market for a new hairdresser send me an email and I will pass on her info.

Well, I didn’t think I had enough to say to write a post… apparently I always have something to say! Let us also reflect on the fact that my sister and B-in-Law (B stands for Brandon and brother) are in Palm Springs. It is just plain rude. She keeps posting sunny weather photos simply to make the rest of us jealous.

Proof of the rudeness:

Well, that is all my pretties! I hope you have great Thursdays. Try to stay warm this spring. I have lost all hope that the temperature will ever be above 55 degrees.

Weekend Update

...No, not with Tina Fey. Although, that would be cool. And it is Tuesday... but whatevs. I am going to update you on the happenings of this past weekend.

This weekend turned out just perfect. Somehow I fit in shopping, skiing, laundry and working out. It was a miracle!

On my shopping trip there were some killer finds! I recommend you all take a trip to H&M shortly. I got this (in light turquoise and white) and these (in coral). No, I didn’t buy the pants in England, but the US Website didn’t have them listed. Anyway, stoked about my new clothes! Yayer! Also, two different people complimented my leopard print Claire's earrings. And one of them asked if they were Betsey Johnson! Haha! Uh... no, they were part of a 'buy one, get one' deal! Niiiice!

With Mama Jo while shopping with Sista Friend.

In case you were wondering, my mom is an animal on the mountain. She takes it easy when my dad is around, but this weekend she was game to go down a double black diamond with at least 6 inches of fresh powder! She is a bad ass. I am not going to lie… we both struggled a bit. We are used to sticking to the groomed runs. They can be steep and we manage just fine, but it is rare that either of us will navigate deep powder like that. We had a lot of fun though! We goofed around, got lost, ate donuts from Joe’s etc. All of the important Mt. Hood rituals.

It was a fantastic and rejuvenating weekend.

Oh, and happy first day of spring!

The weekend is upon us.

Doesn't my title even sound tired? Ugh.

Today is Friday and I could not be more excited. This week has been a major struggle for me. I seriously could not bounce back from the slight time change. I continuously went to bed late… so annoying. But what is one more episode of Parks and Rec. while lying in bed?! I could complain about “springing forward” for hours. But in reality, I love that it is light out when I get home from work!

Last night was a great roommate evening for Libby and me. We went to our fav mexi spot, Chez Jose, and then we watched J.Biebs Never Say Never. If you even say that you don’t think his songs are catchy and awesome to car dance to, you are seriously deceiving yourself. Libby has been resisting the awesomeness of what it means to belieb. Therefore, it was necessary to show her how talented the kid is. Yes, he still kind of looks like a girl… but so do all little boys! He will grow up eventually. Plus, I wasn’t asking her to become a creepy prowler of children! (Although, Justin Bieber is 18 now… so I guess it is okay Lib)  I just needed her to recognize how awesome he is.


Well, I hope you guys are all ramped up for an awesome weekend. I am planning to spend mine either at Nordstrom or the mountain. My 2 favorite things, shopping and skiing… how do I decide?! It’s like Sophie’s choice.

I hope you all have wonderful St. Patrick’s Days! Enjoy some corned beef and green beer. I know I will!

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