The perfect fragrance for me

I know that I probably shouldn't have, but I decided to splurge and purchased a small bottle of Chanel no 5 from Macy's yesterday. It was quite spendy, but I really like the smell! And I love the idea that it is the same fragrance as what was worn back in the 1930s. There were so many different fragrances to chose from (most of which were less than desirable) but I kept coming back to the one I sprayed on myself for the first time one evening while exploring Waikiki beach late at night. The mall was about to close and we were on our way down the escalator when I saw we were going to pass an enormous bottle of Chanel no 5 on the way out the door. I had always been curious about the scent (it has so much history!) so I sprayed it on myself before we made our way out to the sidewalk.
Sitting at my desk, inhaling the scent now, brings me back to that night, walking barefoot on the beach under the stars, letting the waves lap at my ankles, walking all the way down to the hotel we could have stayed at at a fraction of the cost if only I would have checked out the employee discounts website before we left, washing my feet off in a sprinkler and trying to dry them on the Hawaiian grass, only to put them right back in the water again on the way back. Most of all it brings me back to a time when I felt very loved, laughing as we tried to not get wet when running from one boardwalk to another, lounging in the soft sand under the stars, holding hands as the gentle waves broke all around us. It was a great night, and I'm glad that I decided to go ahead and spurge on the bottle (even if I had to pay full price)… I knew I wouldn't be happy with anything but :)

The Oregon Gardens and Silver Falls

With everything that has been going on over the past month we decided that we really (and I mean really) needed some time away. So when we got the opportunity to go down to Silverton (in Oregon) for the night we packed our bags and hit the road without a second thought (ok, so maybe there was a few second thoughts, especially since we are trying to save money right now, but this deal was too good to pass up!).

View of Lower South Falls at Silver Falls State Park, just outside of Silverton, OR

After some minor traffic on the way down (and a stop at a Burger King ONLY for someone to use the bathroom), we were on our way up the hillside to the Oregon Garden Resort. The package that we reserved with them included dinner for two in their garden view resturant, a bottle of wine, free entrance to the Oregon Gardens, a breakfast buffet in the morning and a room in their 3 year old hotel. It included all this for only $79! This sounds a little too good to be true to me too, so we were rather skeptical before we got there that A) The room would be horrible, B) Dinner would be subpar and/or C) We wouldn't be getting a whole bottle of wine.
Come to find out it was much better than expected.
Its funny what $80 can get you in small towns that people don't really know about. Our $80 got us a room nicer and more comfortable than a $150 room in Waikiki. We walked into our king room and found vaulted ceilings, a gas fireplace, new (and quite cute) furnishings, nice tile work in the bathroom and the entryway and a nice television. It was great. We went from there to dinner and was informed that we would be able to order anything off the menu and had a selection of 4 different wines to choose from. He ordered the salmon and I had a cheese pasta dish; our dinner came to over $70 and all we had to pay for was the tip! After dinner we explored the gardens (which, honestly, were a little lacking.. maybe its just me, but I see daisies, mums and carnations everywhere! I find the Portland Rose Gardens to be much more interesting) and then called it a night.
We were up at 9am, had breakfast and headed over to Silver Falls State Park, maybe 15 minutes away. I had never been to this park, but I have a friend that used to live in the area and I remember her mentioning this area and I have always wanted to explore the area. After getting there, we looked at the map and decided to give the 7 mile loop a go (even though it said it was supposed to take 5 hours). Waterfall, after waterfall, I found myself feeling quite blessed for getting to grow up in this part of the country. It was gorgeous!
There were huckleberries EVERYWHERE and even though we didn't come fully prepared for this long of a hike, I was able to stave off my hunger with hand fulls of these little berries (that's right, I was getting hand fulls at a time!).
I don't know what they used as a base for the 5 hour time frame, but we were done in a little over 3 hours and after getting a little discombobulated when we got back to the south falls parking lots (and consequently added another mile or so to the 7 mile loop) we were back in the car and headed back to reality.

Its nice to know even with everything that is going on, I know that in the end I really don't have anything to worry about. Job, no job, crappy job, great job... when it comes down to it I have love and support and that will get me through any hard times I may have :)

A crazy Portland law? Or just a meter maid having a bad day?

I went to the Pearl District on my lunch today to pick up a couple of books from Powell’s that I have been wanting (one on candle making and one by Joyce Maynard called "At Home in the World"). After dropping the books off at my car I decided to duck into Peet’s for a small latte. Maybe ten minutes later I was sliding back into the driver seat, latte in hand. After making room for it in the cup holder, I started the engine, took the parking receipt off the window and proceeded to read a text message before I drove out on the street.
Halfway through the message I hear a knock on my passenger side window.
I look up and see a grumpy looking man with a hand held ticket generator signaling me to roll down my window.
Being the natural cynic I am, I look him up and down to make sure he isn't another bum begging for money, or someone from green peace asking me to save a child in Somalia or something. The sew-on semi-police looking badge on his jacket gave him a little credibility (but not much), so I opened the window a crack and asked him what the problem was.
He alerted me to who he was (a meter maid) and proceeded to write me a ticket.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm about to leave" I say while holding up the $0.80 sticker the auto-pay machine gave me for 30 minutes of time. According to my receipt there was still a good ten minutes left that I could park there without issue.
He gave me a look of disgust.
"For your information, since you failed to leave the curb I could give you a ticket in the amount of $40 for not displaying your parking ticket. $40".
"But I just got back to my car" I said. Holding up my phone I say "I was just reading a message before heading out".
"You are not allowed to simply sit at the curb for any amount of time no matter what you are doing" he says, haughtily.
It is my natural instinct to argue with idiots. Like the city would really rather me read a text on the street, or would give me a ticket right after I pull into the spot while I was rustling around the car for $0.75 to plug into the machine. Reaaaaally. But since he stopped writing the ticket I decided to just play along with his little power trip and said "I'm sorry, it won't happen again". What I really wanted to do was tell him how ridiculous he sounded and drive away, but since the smugness in the air was thick enough to choke a person I knew that going down that route would probably end with me in court fighting a now $160 ticket since by the time I would have actually gotten notice of payment due it would have been too late to pay the original amount. No, by then it would have quadrupled, because somehow the system justifies this. Best to just play nice, I think. I gave him my most sincere smile and he went away.

I realize that to the city, parking tickets are a major form of revenue. Meter maids, or whatever the politically correct term for them is nowadays, are like sharks, waiting to bite as soon as you get into the water without the proper protection. Is it really too much to ask for a little grace period? A little common sense?? It's one dollar and sixty cents an hour to park on the street in downtown Portland, yet I can get a ticket for 34 times that amount for not having the sticker on the window of a running car while I am sitting at the wheel? Maybe its just me, but this seems more than a little off. Its downright wrong.