The Rest of Summer 2014 and September Too

The rest of the summer was very hot, and went somewhat quickly. Brandon had started his first rotation, which happened to be his Internal Med rotation (also known as Eternal Med). His days were 12-14 hours long, and he worked 6 days a week. Consequently, Oliver and I didn't see him very often, but we got good at taking public transit and having fun by ourselves. This was when I finally made myself sit down and start writing about Oliver's birth and my postpartum depression, which kickstarted this whole "blogging to catch up" campaign. 

Oliver learned to crawl, and started learning how to walk, cruising around clinging to furniture and the walls. He also learned how to climb things. Luckily, he has not realized the climbing potential of the bookshelves yet, but I'm afraid it is only a matter of time.

One thing I absolutely adore about summer in Portland are the outdoor markets. Food, music, activities, fresh flowers and people watching...what's not to love? I guess if you're not a crowd person you might not like them, but I don't mind crowds in markets. It makes it easier to blend in and observe. I did not go to as many as I would have liked, but Oliver and I did go to a few. Once I splurged a little bit and got an artichoke tamale (SO GOOD!), and to my surprise, Oliver really wanted to try some. Then he did not want to stop eating it, and he was most put out when there was no more left. It appears he has been aptly named Oliver Scott: Scott after my father who is the king of hot and spicy, and loves Mexican food.

Other than surviving Bran's I.M. rotation, and trying to get used to not having a car, the latter part of summer was pretty uneventful, though there were plenty of adorable Oliver moments to capture with film. I could flood Facebook and Instagram with pictures of Oliver, but I try to be discreet and not annoy you all with the overwhelming cuteness. So, it gets translated to my blog instead, where you may look at them if you like, but you don't have to. Enjoy!

In September, right before Brandon finished with his Internal med rotation, Oliver and I flew out for a visit in Utah. It was about a week, and we had a great time with my family and we even got to see Brandon's family for a little bit as well. He loved his first experience on a swing, but had dubious feelings about the slide. We had a great time and can't wait to go back for Christmas!

Moving

In May, we finally moved from our one-bedroom-hole-in-the-ground-no-hard-feelings-glad-to-be-rid-of-it apartment, and into our current two bedroom residence, which we love. It has lots of windows, which means lots of natural light (and in Portland that is much needed). Oliver also gets his own room, which he took to really well. I was a little worried it would be a rough transition, but he loves it. Everyone started sleeping better once we made that switch.

I told you I had the best family ever. I really do. My mom and my brother John drove out to help us move and they seriously saved us. Plus it was just wonderful having them. One of these days John needs to come and just hang out when we're not trying to move.

Oliver adores his Uncle John. Uncle Johns are pretty much the best.

My mom bought us some beautiful tulips as a housewarming gift and I loved them next to the mirror. Though it was hard to get a picture without tons of boxes and junk reflected in the mirror along with the flowers.

I don't have any before and after pictures of either of our apartments, so this is all you get. :) And more pictures of Oliver:

Can't get enough of this cute kid!

UT.2 and Return to Portland

Like I said in my previous post, we spent Christmas with Brandon's family in Spring City. 

While we were there we blessed Oliver.

It was wonderful to be able to spend time with family and each other, and especially

St. Patrick's Day and Quarter of a Century

Saint Patrick's Day!

For St. Patrick's Day, Brandon and I went to the Kell's Festival downtown on the 16th, since St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year. They had a huge tent set up with live music, vendors, Irish food and (of course) lots and lots of alcohol.

 It was the biggest St. Patrick's Day Celebration I've been to, and it was great to listen to the music and watch people dancing and enjoying themselves. It made Brandon and I miss being in our Irish Band though. 

Other than that, my 25th birthday wasn't too exciting. We'd moved the week before, and we were still recovering from all that madness. A couple of friends had us over for dinner and games however, and we had a lot of fun with them. Thanks Dave and Kelly! 

Creative Upload

Well, more like creative overload.

I've been keeping busy with creative endeavors. This post is just a jumble of everything I've been doing the last couple of weeks. 

1. I've started an inspiration notebook, where I keep track of things I find beautiful or interesting. Here are a couple of pages:

 2. Our kitchen is in the corner of the main room, and when I stand in front of the sink to wash dishes, my body blocks most of the light from the window and/or from the ceiling light. I got sick of always trying to wash my dishes in shadow and decided to see if I could create a light. We can't alter our apartment at all (no nail holes, paint, etc...) unless we're willing to pay extra, which we're not. I found two small nails under the cupboard above the sink, and decided to see what I could come up with using that and a few things on hand.

 I found this tutorial  for string lanterns while browsing on Pinterest: http://veryirie.blogspot.com/2010/08/diy-string-lanterns-string-lighting.html

I decided to give it a try and this is what I came up with:

Before

 After

It didn't turn out exactly how I had envisioned (which was much cuter/classy/awesome), but it works.
I didn't have any wallpaper glue or fabric stiffener or tapioca starch, and didn't have room in our budget to go buy any, so I made up my own mix of glue with Modge Podge, cornstarch, a little hot water, and Elmer's glue. It worked great, as far as I can tell, though I think that fabric stiffener or wallpaper glue might have had a better finished effect.
I wrapped saran wrap around the balloons to try and keep the string from sticking to them since I didn't have any Vaseline, but I think next time it would be worth it to go buy some. The saran made it look more messy and less professional than I wanted. It kept shifting, making it hard to wrap the string tightly and neatly. It also helped the glue crystallize in the gaps between the strings, which made it hard to clean out. Moral of the story: don't use saran wrap.

3. I went on a quote making spree a little while ago. I wrote some inspirational quotes on index cards and stuck them around the house.

 This hot air balloon was something I made for one of my sister's wedding decorations in June. I hadn't posted it yet, and thought this was a good place.

4. I made Brandon a case for his wireless keyboard. He was taking it to school in the box it came in, which was starting to get really hammered. I made a basic pouch and padded it with minky and felt and then used Heat n' Bond to add a little stiffness. I was pleased with how it turned out, though next time I think I would add a little more padding.

5. I have been dabbling in culinary artistry and food preservation. Brandon and I have been trying to really stick to a budget now that we are in medical school. We had a budget before, but we were a little less stringent about following it.  Potatoes were on sale, so we bought 2 10 lb bags for .98 each and then I washed, peeled, cut and froze them. I love having them in the freezer all ready to go. I'm getting creative in using them since they should be used up within the next couple of months. Hence, potato pizza!

I know what you're thinking:
Tillamook ice cream is not a necessity...cheaper varieties are available.
It was on a really good sale, and
Brandon needed it for moral support to get through his exam.

Potato Pizza "Recipe":
I just made it up, so I don’t have a specific recipe for it, but here's what I did.

I made cilantro-garlic sauce, which can be found at http://www.thyhandhathprovided.com/2011/05/preserving-cilantroin-april.html
We add extra cilantro and only do about 2 T of lemon juice, instead of 3-4. This sauce is SO good by the way. Totally worth making, and really good on burritos, spaghetti, bread, chicken tikka marsala, etc...

I took the potatoes from the freezer and fried them in butter, like I would hash browns, and added spices: garlic powder, salt, sage, seasoned salt, and Herbs Provence (which I think has rosemary and oregano in it, among other things).

I cooked about half a sausage and ground it up.


 I took my homemade pizza dough and rolled it out to the desired size (frying pan size in this case).
I put a little bit of butter on the pan, and baked it until lightly brown on that side, then flipped it. While the other side was browning, I quickly put on the sauce, sour cream, and other toppings and let it cook until the cheese had melted. I sprinkled it with a little bit of Parmesan and ta-da!

 It was a huge hit with the hubby. As you can see...
He wanted me to take the pictures. Just saying.

We had a pizza buffet for conference Sunday lunch. The other pizza pictured is just cheese with pesto and alfredo sauce, and then I made cinnamon sticks. It was all really good, and SUPER filling. Probably because it had so many calories. I had two small slices of each (about a quarter) and I was completely full for the rest of the day. Couldn't even eat dinner that night.

6. I made some earrings! I really like them.

                 

 7. Halloween season is here! I wanted to decorate, but I'm not generally big on most Halloween decorations.  I like them to be subtle. So I found some nice dead branches, cut out some paper bats and stars, and voila!

I'm thinking of maybe putting up a banner that says Happy Halloween or something, but I haven't decided yet.

8. That is all. At least, that is all I have pictures of. Thanks for reading!