wedding day

Yesterday was the day I worked the one day at the wedding in Amboy, Wa. The place was outdoors, but sooo gorgeous! The people were super nice and it was a great experience for Kat, Brandon, Kathleen, and myself, since we are all just in our first week. I absolutely loved the fast paced work of the catering world. It really made me think about getting into the cattering business but i still have 59 more weeks so I've got time to think about it. I will definately do more of these 1 time jobs. Last night earned me an extra 150, not as much as I could have earned if I worked for a professional cattering business, but thats why people hire us were students and cheap.

The brides gown was gorgeous! It had an antique/vintage look but was still up to date. Toward the end of the night when thing slowed down we were allowed to mingle and eat, dance, and have fun. I am very tired this morning, a bit sad I only now have one day off after yesterday, but it was all worth it.

Here is a picture of the 4 of us from WCI and 1 of the brides brother, Seth. He is a former WCI student and also the one who hired us. (Me, Brandon, Kat, Kathleen, and down in front is Seth)

A week in review

Well I have completed my first week of school, and boy am I tired! This past week we were just working on getting our ServSafe cards. The Chef, Chef Bruce, likes to mix it up though so we dont get completely sick of food handling and servsafe crap. On Tuesday we got to try making pipping bags from parchment paper and pipping chocolate. It was much different then frosting, since it is runnier. I did ok at some of the designs but need some work on others. We also got to work on chocolate on Wednesday. Wednesday was also the day we recieved our kits! They are so cool and filled with all sorts of awesome pastry/culinary tools. On Thursday we got to work on our knife skills. I'm actually better then I thought I would be as far as speed and accuracy. We got to practice chopping/dicing all sorts of veggies for Friday, oh and we make pizza dough from scratch. On Friday we took our Multnomah County foodhandlers test and a conversions test. I passed the Multnomah test and recieved my first A on the conversions test. After the test we celebrated with a "pizza party" and all made our own individual pizza. I made 2 and took them home, my first one was canadian bacon, pineapple, and garlic and the 2nd was pepperoni, sausage and garlic... mmmm so tasty.

School is a lot more demanding then I thought it would be. I have been getting involved in the clubs at school and am most interested in "Farm to Table" and "Bleu Chippers." I am so happy I made this move and am doing this though!

As far as Portland in general goes, I am still loving it. I love the MAX... I mean there are all sorts of "weird" people but it makes everyday interesting. I am meeting new people through school and really enjoy that, I was getting real bored not knowing anyone. So far I've become pretty good friends with Kathrine (Kat), Kathleen, and Grant is a pretty cool guy. Kathleen, Kat and I are working a one time job through our school tomorrow. It is a wedding in Ariel, Wa. all we have to do is prep things for the buffet line and keep it full, then slice and serve cake. I have desided I will just take these one time jobs as they come up rather then work part time. I figure this way I can give my all to school, while still having the chance to earn extra side cash every now and then.

I havnt been taking as many pictures as I had hoped but still have quite a few ( I just gotta quite being lazy and finally post em )

Well I miss and love you all!! Take care <3

Well tomorrow I start school, yep I've got to get up at 5:30. Ugh, I quickly got used to this whole sleeping in thing since moving up here. The first week of school is just us getting our serve safe cards, so I'm sure we wont be in the kitchens too much, but next week we will :) On friday I recieved a call back from one of the office jobs I have applied for. I don't really need a job these first 7 months because I am getting my living expence money but I like to shop, haha. That and it keeps me busy, but I'm sure school will have no problem doing that as well. Yesterday Vince and I went tot he Japanese Gardens. They are so beautiful. I will post pictures later. Today we are headed to the zoo! It's so nice being able to take the max there, yeah it takes a bit longer sometimes but it way more convienent. Last night it rained, it was mostly over cast yesterday and then late last night and into this morning it rained. I'm not missing the weather in SoCal at all. Well it's off to the zoo, love ya all!

Minnie

So Vince and I were browsing the Oregon Humane Society's website looking for a possible new addition. We had talked about getting a kitty for Charlie so he wouldn't get lonely. Well Charlie has taken the move and adjusment very well, so we wern't sure if we still would get a kitty or not. I had mentioned to Vince we should just go and "check the place out"... ha! I knew we would end up taking something home. Vince fell in love with a 3 month old kitten named Minnie, she is really adorable! We walked around the humane society a bit and talked it over and desided to get her. So here she is, Minnie!

Below is Charlie showing her the local "watering hole"

Here Minnie is snuggling with Vinny

I'm very glad Charlie likes her, and Minnie like him!

pix?

So I was trying to post a butt load of pix but then it just stopped letting me... I guess its kinda like those times when your visiting some crazy family friends house and they bring out the photo album of their really boring family vacation to the museum or some crap and all you wanna do is walk out... well blogspot just walked out on me. It had enough! shhh, I'll post the rest later, there were just a few more of the move :)

more pix!

Hey there! Hot, tired and just wanting to be in Oregon already, lead to this cheesy grin!

We made it! 15 hrs of this was way too long, if we ever move back we are so making a stop somewhere along the way!

Charlie was king of the rest stops... somewhere above Sacto.

The sides of the frwys/hwys in California are "elegantly" landscaped with almonds...

...and cows...

...And this is what the sides of the hwys in Or. look like... very very green!

As we were leaving Fry's in Wilsonville I snapped a shot of one ot Oregons finests... Check out the hot shorts and mega cool shoes!

Charlie and I snuggling on a comzy night.

1 of many bridges... I think this one is the Morrison Bridge.

The MAX

I took 'em up on the offer :) Its funny how a simple hug can cheer you up!

Thats right! you wouldn't see this in southern california... my new city gives out free hugs!

Ok these are the one of the best things at the Saturday Market... Elephant ears! Its some type of parsty dough, like a cakey doughnut, brushed with butter and topped with your choise of a varity of toppings, we like the berry creamcheese! so not healthy, but I dont have my gallbladder any more so I had one in celebration... I had to find some reason to get one :)

One of the many street artists in Portland... He was playing right near the Skidmore MAX stop during the market.

My 2 favorite guys in Portland!

Charlie loves to just lay in the back... he likes to peer through the fence and protect us :)

Surgery

well as most of you know I had surgery on friday to remove my gallbladder. In the 2 weekd prior to the surgery I had 2 severe gallbladder attacks that left me in the ER twice. Once was still while I was living in socal and the 2nd, which was the worst was a few days after we moved to Portland.On friday morning I had to be at the hospital, Advintist medical, at 745 to register for my 945 surgery. I waited in my room till about 815, when the lady who did my IV came in. She was very nice and hooked my IV up and started my on fluids. Then my nurse would come in and check vitals every now and then. Eventually Michael came to my room and said he would be taking me to the pre-op room. Michael was very very nice. He came into my room singing a song and add my name in place of another word. He was really social and told us a bit about himself. He then wheeled me to my new destination but before getting onto the elevator, he showed Vince where the waiting room was and where the doctor would come and talk to him about the surgery. He then took me up to the pre-op room where I met Kris. Kris was my pre-op nurse and she was the one who would be giving me my anti-biotics before the surgery via IV and taking care of any other need... like helping me go to the bathroom :) Michael came in and out of the room either wheeling new patients in or taking patients out. I then met my anastesiologist (sp?), Mark. He was super nice too! Really friendly and sociable as well. He told me exactly what he would be doing once the doctor called for me. He explained to me what I would be feeling and all the stuff I probably wouldn't remember. Eventually Mark came over and gave me something they give everyone pre anastesia to relax them. I was already pretty relaxed so I didnt feel too much of it. Everyone was super nice and I was really looking forward to not having anymore pain that I wasnt too nervous. Eventually Carol, and another nurse came over to introduce themselves and that they would be the nurses in my room assisting Dr. Hayes and they would also be the 1st 2 people I see when I wake. Shortly after they left they came back with Mark and said the Dr was ready for me. they wheeled me over and I remeber it was really cold and I remeber scooting myself on the operation table and extending my arms. The other nirse in the room whos name I can't remember made a joke and explained they would be restraining my arm once I was out to the arm borad so I "wouldn't try to help with the surgery" lol. Mark then said alright its coming down the tube... after that I dont remember anything till when I woke up in the post-op room. I woke up and Carole was right beside me and I was in so much pain. My abdominfelt like it was being slowly shreaded apart. I was moaning and almost in tears it hurt so bad. Carole said she would get the pain medicine and take care of it. It seemed like forever till she came back when in reality i think it was less then a minute or 2. It was hurting so bad, especially in my lower ab's. I just wanted them to knock me out till there was no more pain... I remember saying this and carole saying she would take care of it all. eventually I was comfortable. Finally they took me back to my room where my short stay room nurse continued to give me meds and make sure I could keep fluids down, walk, pee, and eat. I was Finally released around 3. I went home and slept.
Saturday I was sore but I took pain meds and went to the Saturday market. After the market we went to The bite of Oregon festival. I shouldnt have done so much walking and was in pain that evening. Today I just stayed home relaxing, letting my body heal.

Me looking ever so happy... ugh early mornings.

One of many IV's in the past 2 weeks... This one was the best though, because it was my last of the gallbladder ordeal.

I would post pix of the 4 spots where the laproscopic tools were inserted but their on my belly and my belly isnt pretty... eventually ill post pix when I can wash the area tomorrow.. Yay! I have tape marks everywhere... some in spots I didnt even know they would need to tape things to me... hmmm.

More Portland!

Ok so we won't have internet till this coming Sunday so pictures will be posted soon. Well after being in the neighrborhood for about a week, we still love it! The weather has been great and yesterday it rained. We rode the MAX today and saw what lines to take to ge tto my school. It's way easy. Plus we found out that same line will take us directly to the weekend Portland market. So I look forward to showing you all around when you all come to visit.

Most of you know I have been having gallbladder problems... Well I was back in the ER Sunday night. I had a follow up appt with a surgeon today and we set myself up to have surgery this Friday. The hospital is great and was really willing to push me ahead for surgery due to me starting school and being in so much recent pain. I really look forward to being able to go explore all the new tastes of Portland.

We went to Fry's the other day and bought a butt load of electronic stuff. Mostly things for the computer that I don't understand. But we also got a new digital camera! YAY!

Like I said I will post pix and more blogs about PDX once we get Comcast to come over on Sunday... Kinkos charges too much for me to stay on too long :(

Portland!!

Well we arrived in Portland yesterday morning around 530! California is a freakin l-o-n-g state! Jeeze I thought it we would never hit the Oregon border... Ca just kept going and going. But we made it and the drive was worth it. Our place is cute and the neighborhood is awesome! We live walkign distance to everything including the MAX which is only like a 10 minute walk away. Soon I will post some pix of the move and the hundreds of miles of fields upon fields of "lovely" Cali.