Summer is here!!!

My weekend was AMAZING! Summer has finally arrived in Portland. I’m talking highs of 85ish to 92ish. So it is nice and bearable. Not 117! Like my friend Hanna is dealing with in AZ. Oh Oregon summer, how I love thee.

It all started on Saturday. I took a little bridge walk with some of my women. We went down the East bank, over the Morrison, up the waterfront and back over the Hawthorne. A short and sweet walk.  Just long enough to finish our iced coffees and catch up on super important life stuff. Like what level of “Britney breakdown” Amanda Bynes has reached. Life changing topics. She is not yet at the umbrella vs. car, shaved head phase… she is on her way though! (In case you were curious about what we decided)

Then I did this for the rest of the weekend:

Yes, I am re-reading the HP series for like the millionth time. What of it!? HP is amazing and Brian is about to hear Harry Potter references that he doesn’t understand for the rest of the summer. He will hate it. Maybe I should start working on an online dating profile now…  Just to get a jump on the inevitable.

Marina and I also went to see the Bling Ring. It was SO good! Especially if you know stuff about the accused or watched Pretty Wild on E! (I did both). Then we spent the rest of the evening downtown. It was perfect out at 10pm, so we wandered.

I hope your weekends were equally as awesome! Happy short week amigos! (Even though you’re probably mostly amigas)

Guest posting, quinoa and DIY.

Go check out my guest post over at A Well Crafted Party! Jenni is crazy talented at having crafty and cute events. I am not so much gifted in the crafty arena of life. DIY is not a regularly used term in my life. It is actually never used. Unless I’m talking about how I don’t DIY. But isn't that the whole point of blogs? To compare yourself to others and feel inadequate!?... Just kidding. Kinda.

ANYWAY, you don’t have to DIY to dazzle at a party! You can still make a splash if you bring an awesome dish to share. Check out my post and some super-secret shortcuts in this quinoa recipe.

Yes, I posted this recipe a year ago. I'm lazy. Sue me.

Printing a retraction: Yoga.

I did yoga last night. Like good yoga. Know what I learned? I have only ever been to bad yoga classes before. Last night I went to Corepower Yoga. My friend Chelsii works there and has been trying to convince me to go forever! Well, ever since I posted that I don’t like yoga because I think it is boring. Because it was! Every single yoga class I had been to was boring. Hot yoga, regular yoga, vinyasa, freaking weird neighborhood studio (with creepy chanting)... all of it. BUT last night the class I went to was awesome! It was warm, not hot like Bikram, it had a good playlist and it was a fast pace. It definitely doesn't take the place of cardio paired with a Britney playlist, but at the end of the class I kind of felt like I could take on an attacker or intruder or something.

So Chelsii, I retract my statement that yoga is boring. I mean, it is still a little bit low key for me, but it is a great workout! Truthfully, I probably won’t be shelling out the big bucks for classes once my free week is over, but I may drop in every now and then!

If you like the idea of yoga and want a real work out, or if the hippy dippy stuff freaks you out, go to Corepower. I wish they were going to give me free stuff for this post… that selfish perspective is SO not yogi of me. Whatevs.

After only one class, I now have fame across PDX for my extraordinary skill in both child's pose and shavasana. 

Namaste.

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The almost weekend, baby names and #backthatazzup.

I have never been so ready for a week to be over! Seriously. All that time on the phone with insurance adjusters… bleh. I also spent my fair amount of time on the phone with Comcast this week. Or should we call them Comcrap? I am beyond ready for the weekend. I have back to back bridal showers to attend on Saturday. And you know what that means!? Good food and drinks ALL DAY! Booya!

In other news, the Kardashian/ West’s decided to name their baby North. Yep. North West, Nori for short. What did we really expect though?… this is what happens when two unintelligent and narcissistic people procreate. They named their kid in a way that would give them more attention. Plus, they are celebrities, and Frank Zappa already took Diva Thin and Moon Unit.

via

I know you are as excited as I am for the weekend, so let’s #backthatazzup. It is time to move on from this week and on to the Next Episode. Why is it that Snoop and Dre have the ability to make me feel better? Maybe it is because they remind me of a simpler time. A time when Otter Pops were in abundance, summer break still existed and I thought I was the most “hood” teenager ever.

Car accidents, ice cream and bathrooms.

I got in a car accident last night. Just a minor one, but still super annoying. My friend Tracy and I were on our way to get ice cream (for her birthday!) when a guy pummeled into my car while we were stopped at a stoplight. Happy birthday Tracy! We quickly re-routed for a cocktail, you know, to medicate our whiplash. THEN we continued to Salt & Straw for our ice cream. You may be thinking, “why would you go to Salt and Straw!? They have such a long line.” To which I say, we got a pint (aka cut the line) and also purchased a waffle cone and a cup of hot fudge. You get what you want, you get to cut everyone, and you get glares. I love getting glared at for stuff like this. Sorry I’m not sorry for being awesome and knowing the rules!

That is not what this post is about though. It is about nice bathrooms. How and why is this post taking a weird turn? Well, I said to Tracy during the consumption of our sweet treat, that Salt and Straw has a cute bathroom. To which she said, “You can tell a lot about a restaurant and how much they value their customers by the quality of their bathroom.”

She is so right! You CAN tell a lot about an establishment that way. Is it well maintained? Is there cute décor? … What is the aroma? A good air freshener can go a long way. Yeah, we just went there.

Bathrooms are a weird thing to share about I guess, but if you are ever really trying to decide how you feel about a certain establishment, just check out the bathroom. Do they have amenities? Some places even provide hairspray and mouthwash. It’s like, “Thanks for looking out for me on this date!” Right!?

Car accidents, ice cream and bathrooms. That’s it for today!

Social media etiquette.

I use Facebook wrong and I don’t even care! I use it wrong because I don’t like to spend my time uploading crappy photos one at a time to my “timeline” or whatever. Isn't that what Instagram is for? And no, I don’t have them post in multiple places. Why? Because it is confusing for people! You know, etiquette wise. Seriously, what is the etiquette there? So I liked my friends photo on Insta… do I also go like it on Facebook? Isn't that overkill? Their thought, “whoa, Laura must REALLY like that photo. She liked it 2 places!” I don’t want to be an over eager social media user, but I also want my friends to get more likes! They are probably really into the likes. I didn't realize HOW into “likes” someone could be until I started dating Brian. He will say things like “let’s see how many likes you got.” Uhhh. Really? My snarky response, “I do not derive my self-worth from the likes I get on Instagram.” I say things like this because I don’t get a lot of likes… whatevs.

I just added pictures from the past 4 months-ish to Facebook. I still use it like I did in college. We would add new albums all the time! But now I just add more pictures to an old album because I don’t have enough pictures for one topic. Is it just me? Or have we all started taking WAY less pictures than in college? Each night out in college could have its own album on Facebook. Now… not so much. Just one Insta per friend gathering.

Please enjoy some of the photos that went up. If I am posting pictures on my blog, do I really need to also post them on Facebook in a timely manner? I say no.

February / March

April / May

May / June

So please forgive me for using Facebook wrong. Actually, nevermind. I’m not even sorry. But can someone please tell me what our etiquette is for ‘likes’ on the same picture posted on multiple social media sites? It is annoying. And the fact that I am even asking this makes me feel old.

Only one post this week! I’m off to Seattle for a wedding! Thank the heavens above that it was sunny this past weekend. My white legs probably would have blinded the bride causing her to trip down the aisle. Don’t worry guys, they got a little color. I have full confidence that everyone’s eyes will be just fine. But I’ll probably use some self-tanner just to be safe.

If a tree falls...

You know the saying, “if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it make a sound?”

I have a new one, “if you wear a cute outfit and no puts it on Instagram, did it even happen?”

I feel good when I look good. I think a lot of people would agree with that. I am going to take it a step further though. When I feel good because I look good, I am more confident. Not just more confident walking down the street (like when I wear bright lipstick), but more confident in my job. I swear I am more productive if I like my outfit. That was just a side note and not really about what this post is about.

Okay, back to it! Do you guys ever have the issue, outfit wise, that you liked what you wore but since graduating from college no one seems to take pictures anymore? Just like one of their drink at a bar and your sleeve happened to make the cut. “Ummm… can I get a tag in that pic? That is totally my arm hair.”

I didn't have a picture for this post, so I emailed my friends, "whoever responds first with a picture is what I will post." I guess it is throwback Thursday... here is the lovely image that we got:

Marina won. This is from the same summer as this post. 

Until next time!