Family/Friends

Riley's cousins were on spring break this week. So on Thursday, we gave them a tour of our downtown favorites: Pioneer Courthouse Square, the food carts (especially the ones selling Vietnamese spring rolls), the North Park Blocks, and Powell's Books.

What a perfect day: beautiful weather, good/cheap food, pleasant moods all around, and fun times with the cousins–or "friends," as Riley aptly called them.

Our New Neighbor

Opening two blocks away.

I'm not proud to admit this, but I'm thrilled.

Fresh Food (and French Fries)

The farmer's market is officially open for the season. Yay! Next to Christmas, it's our happiest day of the year.

We cheerfully spent the morning with like-minded food fanatics indulging in (reusable) grocery bags full of healthy, locally grown food–beets, cabbage, apples, onions, radishes, pepper jelly, and free-range pork.

And then, on our way home, we lunched at McDonald's.

We're not hypocritical. Just multifaceted. Right? right?

Shear Amazement (lame pun intended)

Riley got a desperately needed haircut this afternoon. Much to my amazement, it involved no tears, wailing, or drama whatsoever.

Nope, Riley spent the entire haircut admiring herself in the mirror. But with a cut that cute, can you blame her?

AWOL

Hi. We're alive. Forgive my absence. The camera is, once again, kaput, so I've got no eye candy to share. Plus, I've been totally preoccupied with this redesign.

But to give you a little peek into our lives lately, here's Riley's quote of the day:

"I not want to wear green. I wear yellow jammies!"

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Only 292 days to go...

We're well into March.

And my child:

• Carries a toy elf everywhere
• Regularly requests we sing The Baby Jesus Song (Silent Night)
• Responds enthusiastically, "Santa bringed me this!" in reference to her Christmas toys, chapstick, bandaids, or anything else that was in her stocking
• Requests to watch Elf (the movie) on a daily basis
• Sang herself Jingle Bells to bed tonight

In hindsight, I'd say Christmas 2008 was a raging success.

Uninvited Guests

Our dear neighbor, Tess, had us over for soup last night. And every few minutes, Riley ran home (across the hall) to grab another "friend."

Poor Tess ended up with a much bigger crowd than she bargained for:

Pleasant Surprises

1. We stumbled across a charming (and cheap) Vietnamese restaurant yesterday, which was exciting since we hadn't really eaten Vietnamese since our Houston days.
2. Riley devoured a healthy serving of pho, a nice deviation from her typical diet of grapes, pretzels, and Nutella.
3. The pho kept Riley so occupied that she behaved perfectly. (At least 'til her soup was gone...)