Monday, November 5, 2012

Portland, Leavenworth (WINE) and Beyond

Wow, what  a crazy, amazing weekend I had.  I really do need to calm down and relax at some point!  Mom keeps telling me, I'll crash some day, Miss Energizer Bunny!

Portland--Blogger NW Christmas Party
Kendra from Adventures of Brad and Kendra and I headed down to Portland for a Holiday Party for the PNW bloggers group.  We go down there early enough to do some shopping.  I took us over to the Hawthorne district since I love this area!  I knew Kendra was looking for Scrabble games for her crafts and felt like she'd find some at the thrift and vintage stores, but no such luck. Kendra is a terrible influence, just so you know.  She wants you to buy lots and lots and lots of stuff!!  Ha ha.  I ended up in the middle of my budget and what Kendra wanted me to buy:)    The blogger event was interesting, that's all I'll say.  But, I do have to mention that I met some amazingly genuine fun girls, Mary and Alyson!  Once I met these girl, I had such amazing time!
Owls, owls everywhere, if it were up to Kendra, I'd have them all in my house right now.
Amazing dip set.
This reminds me of me and Bridge, or me and Daylon, or me and Mike. Ha ha. I love it.
Peacocks!!!!  These feather trees are beautiful!
Whoa, fresh pot?  Awesome, just picked?
We had an amazingly delicious lunch at the McMenamins.
Who would have thought, this really exists?
I know I'm crazy, but I'm totally drawn to creepy things.
POWELLS!
Ha ha!
MARY, this girl is freaking amazing.  Kendra even said that when she was talking to her she was thinking, whoa she is a lot like Alicia.
My car, Chette, has been a real bastard!  On our way home, my mirror was shaking violently. I was at the grocery store, shut my door and bam, my mirror fell off.  All day today I kept checking my mirror anyway.
Yes!  I bought one of these for Daylon a while back. I had to have this one. My friend told me the inventor is on Shark Tank.
 Living Social Event -- Wine tasting bus to Leavenworth
I invited my old co-worker, and amazing friend, Melissa to this amazing Living Social event I found.  It  comprised of a bus tour of two wineries, where you tasted many wines at each and had a four course lunch.  Then you ended up in Leavenworth for an hour of shopping, oh wait, no shops are open.  Ha ha, so you can go to the bar or the bar.  OK:) It was such a blast hanging out, we don't get to have fun enough!!

We got to the bus pick up point early so we decided to go to the Funhouse for a drink only to find out it was closed and they had this sign in the window.
Luckily the EMP bar was open, and we were able to have double screwdrivers!!!
Hanging out on the bus with my girl Melissa!
Fake smiles.
The winery had dogs that liked to eat the fallen soldiers, grapes.
Tub of grapes, Cab. Franc.

Tempered tanks, this is a batch of Pino Gris, note the duct tape label.


Semi-auto bottler!  They do about 3500 bottles a year. It's a boutique winery.


Labeling and capping station.
Barrel Room
Sweet potato, andouille sausage ravioli.  This was so delicous and the riesling was rocking as well.
Yummy!
Kind of a gross salad to be honest.  Not enough dressing and nuts and pears don't make me happy to eat salad.
Orgasmic food!  It was a chocolate blah blah sauce.  Usually I hate savory and sweet, but this was not that. It was so well done.  Some sort of fancy chocolate reduction with beef, cauliflower mash and mushrooms.  I'm drooling thinking about it!
Truffles, AKA BALLS!!  These balls were to die for.  There was one that was cayenne infused. MMM.
This tasting room was so beautiful and in an amazing location!
I had to buy this flavor!!  It was pretty damn delicious.
 As mom says, I'm an energizer bunny!  At some point I'll crash for sure, but for now, I love going and experiencing life with people I love!