seattle surprises

You know what is one of my favorite things to do...surprising one of my best friends to the point she is so excited she cries. That really feels like a victory to me. Here is the back story. One of my old college roommates who lives in Seattle had a birthday this past week, so a group of us Portland ladies made the trek up to Seattle to stay with our other old roomie to throw a surprise birthday party for her. Well technically the birthday girl knew about the party...she just didn't know the four of us Portland ladies would be attending. 

Brittany, the birthday girl, is a big fan of her Saturday morning Step Class, so we arrived early to take the class with her and surprise her in there. Needless to say it was a success, because when she registered there were 4 familiar faces in the class she started to cry. #WINNING.  Also, side note. Step Class is a lot sweatier than I realized. That is some solid cardio for an hour. 

Anyways, the rest of the weekend was also a success. I always love being able to reunite with my old roomies and besties. 

Cheers to my people!

<3 BB

happy birthday, bradley

Happy Birthday to the guy::

//that makes me laugh. 

//is a kid at heart.

//introduced me to Ron Pope.

//wears a onesie with no shame. 

//might love soccer more than he loves me.

//made a second blog for us. 

//runs Tough Mudders with me.

//puts up with my crazy. 

//drives me crazy. 

//goes out of his way to embarrass me in public. 

//& makes me smile.

I kind of like you. 

Cheers to 28, Bradley!  

<3 BB

Ugh, enough with the feelings they are making me uncomfortable. 

birthday shenanigans

As you all know I celebrated my birthday this weekend. Minus the fact that I am officially old ballz 25, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. On top of the Nike Fuel Band that Brad got me, he also made me cook my own dinner on Friday night at the Portland Culinary Workshop... and I had a blast. 

We attended a 4 course cooking class that featured a Sommelier and wine pairing with each course. 

The kitchen was adorable (and had exposed brick, my favorite!). 

Melinda Casady and Susana Holloway are the owners of PCW and here is what they have to say about the place on their website:

We could wax poetic on how we LOVE food, LOVE to teach and are a hoot to hang with, but the nitty gritty of it all is that we are two smart, hilarious women who talked over a breakfast one morning and knew what we had to do. We had to follow our dream of teaching our way…for you.

Susana was our instructor for the evening and she did a fantastic job of balancing teaching techniques and sharing kitchen tips, with letting us learning on our own.  

These mashed potatoes were lovely, in case you were wondering. 

Check out that form. 

We were paired up with another couple for the evening and they were super friendly, which made the experience more enjoyable, since we did have to share equipment and food with them. 

My favorite dish of the evening, besides the Pork entree, was the Huckleberry and Rhubarb compote over ice cream. 

It was paired with a sweet port and it was fantastic. 

Do you have these must have items in your pantry? If not, get on it! 

Once we were done prepping our food, the whole group (24 of us total) sat down family style for the meal, while the Sommelier, Maxine Borcherdine, explained each of her wine pairings. I found that portion of the evening super informative, because while I know my way around a kitchen fairly well and have worked in a restaurant, I am by no means a wine expert. 

Like I said, how cute is this space? The tables were made from doors and that brick, I want! 

Plus we got to take home goodie bags that each featured a 10 inch chef's knife. Yes please! 

Needless to say, I had a great evening and a great birthday weekend and I HIGHLY recommend checking out one of PCW's classes if you're in the Portland area or ever want to come visit me and cook together!!!! 

Cheers to 25! 

<3 BB 

25 things

It's my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrate accordingly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In honor of my birthday, I wanted to share 25 things I have learned along the way, since I am so old and wise now.


1:: Exercise and be active, so you can have cake once in a while.

2:: Don't feel guilty when you do eat said cake, Brooke.

3:: Don't waste your energy on friendships or relationships that aren't worthy of your time (time is a precious commodity these days).

4:: Invest in the ones that are.

5:: Don't forget to put yourself first once in a while.

6:: A clean apartment home, is a happy home

7:: It is justified to spend extra for a good pair of jeans.

8:: Trying on jeans is the worst.

9:: Listen to music that makes you happy, not what you think you should enjoy.

10:: Some people just aren't meant to be crafty. I am one of those people.

11:: It's okay to be a grandma at 25.  So I like my 9:15 bedtime and Werther's Original candy, sue me.

12:: Don't play the what if I had... game. You will always lose.

13:: Cute animals make everything better.

14:: STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS, BROOKE. Comparison is the thief of joy.

15:: Shaving with goosebumps is pointless, not to mention it hurts.

16:: Just because and thank you cards in the snail mail still make my day.

17:: Cilantro sucks.

18:: Pet names for your significant other aren't cute. They're annoying. baby, honey, muffin, gag me.

19:: You can still get acne at age 25, who knew?!

20:: Yes, Pandora, I am still listening to you.

21:: Clean sheets night is totally underrated.

22:: Carrie Bradshaw is the worst.

23:: Take care of your body. Stretch, Ice, and Foam Roll after workouts.

24:: Don't take yourself too seriously.

25:: I think I like who I am becoming.

Also, Always.Wear.Suncreen.

Feel free to #backthatazz up in celebration of my birthday!!!!!!!  Cheers,  <3 BB 

surprise. dad got another day older

Oh Hey Monday, 

I'm not ready for you. Then again I'm never ready for you, unless you're a Holiday and we're celebrating by not being at work.  Although this weekend was kind of like a holiday, or at least my father thinks it was, being his birthday weekend and all. My sibs and I all decided we were going to surprise my dad and be home for his birthday, mom was even in on the plan. Friday night, Brad and I left Portland at 10pm and arrived at the parents' house by 1am and my other sibs had gotten in earlier in the evening. Brad HAD to watch the US Men's National game, which is why we had such a late start, but it was definitely worth waking my dad up and confusing him ;) 

The weekend was perfect, food, family, friends, and nice weather. 

My parents purchased a new home a little over 2 years ago now and their pride and joy of the place is the backyard so far.  Last summer they focused on putting in a pond and this spring they just finished putting in a 9 feet tall water feature. It's awesome. 

Mom's pretty pond. Mom recently had 2 very traumatic experiences, one featured birds and the other was caused by a power outage, both killed all her koi fish in the pond. She's still not ready to talk about it.  

Dad's project.

This thing is massive. twss.

The weekend was super relaxing.  The guys golfed a lot. The girls went hiking, and lounged in the pool and we ate a lot of food weird, I know. We did manage to get some circuit workouts in to counteract all the eating though, so there's that!

Look at those grill marks. Perfection.

Putting my old sous-chef skills to work on the grill.

PUPPPPPPPY!

And here is where my brother thought it would be funny to lounge in the water feature even though my parents have an above ground pool.

It didn't work out very well for him.

Sister, sister.

One of the best parts about the weekend was picking up a new lens from my friend Anne.  She is who I bought my camera from and was selling her old lens now that she has a bigger and more bad ass camera! I am in love. 

I took way too many pictures of the backyard testing it out. Sorry, not sorry. 

Mallows. Nom. nom. nom.

My sister, evidently, had a few too many s'mores and broke the hammock. What a fatty.

True story: I only ate one bite of s'mores. Okay, that's a lie, I had two bites, but still! I was impressed with my self control, okay?! Lay off me, I'm starving. May or may not have dabbled in a little carrot birthday cake, but who's keeping track? 

The crew. 

Also, just realized that I forgot to add any photos of my Mom and the birthday Dad and now I am at work and the photos are at home. I suck at blogging. Sorry my favorite parents :) Still love me please?!

Anyways, that was my weekend. how was yours?!

Cheers,

<3 BB