Our family stockings, thanks to our sweet Aunt Helen! That's a dog bone attached to Adel's.

Met up for drinks with Anna, Audrey, and Candace-and if you couldn't tell,

I've gotten fat since moving to Portland. : )

We are super excited to now be in the Belmont district of Portland!

Dustin cut us down a Christmas tree and put it into a planter-ha! It's my very first REAL tree! No Sis around to be allergic, so we took advantage...and it smells fantastic!

Who's that cutie amongst the Christmas trees?

Shauna, me, and Sam after that tree to our right fell on us.

Soaking up the fresh air in the mountains

Christmas carolers! And they even sang "I want a hippopotamus"

My first attempt at meringues. They tasted amazing! Yum Yum!

Happy Tofurkey Day!

Plate #1, using my save the planet napkins (thank you Megan!)

Punkin Pie anyone?

Field Roast (the equivalent of ham, without missing an oink!)

The infamous Tofurkey, stuffed with goodness

Celebrating the new tv by playing with the box while Dustin did set-up

Adel enjoying some time in the dog park

We celebrated Tofurkey Day in style this year. We pot lucked with our neighbors and friends. The food and wine were flowing and had a great time. We took a long walk yesterday (a feeble attempt at working off some of the pumpkin pie calories?) and soaked up some long awaited sun. We hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving break, and of course GO HOGS!!!!

Adel sneaking up for some love while I am blogging, had to add it!

Me, Anna, Audrey, and Candace getting ready to tour Sauvie Island Organics Farm

Picking fresh peppers to snack on!

Farm cat wanted a pepper too!

I couldn't quite reach the ripe pears

Sarah, Jamie, Nicole, Candace, Me, Kelly, and my sweet Brittany at the Food Innovations Center

This week has been lots of fun. Instead of rotations or class we went on field trips to an organic farm, a food innovation center, and P:EAR, a homeless shelter for teenagers. We were able to break into the OHSU kitchen and make the kids at P:EAR vegetarian shepherd's pie with fresh produce from the organic farm. A great way to remember everything Dustin and I have to be thankful for. Even though we won't be with family tomorrow on Turkey Day, we are renaming it Tofurkey Day and pot lucking with a bunch of vegetarians! That's what I'm talking about! Pics of the infamous "tofurkey" to come. : ) Happy Thanksgiving to all! We love you!

You'd think I forgot...

Slash and his vamp wife...so sexy, yes.

Risky business meets Portland hipster meets drill bit handlin' Candace meets airline official meets vampire queen. That equals a typical weeknight in Portland!

You can be jealous of my mad pumpkin skillz

See the creepy man behind me in the red flannel? Didn't know he was there

and he scared the mess out of me after the picture was taken.

The guy in the straw hat was just a bit goofy (if you can't tell by the girls' faces).

So I promise I didn't forget that I had a blog. This term has been a bit crazy. For the internship we had to plan a conference for dietitians from the area. It occurred on Friday-finally. It ended up being great-144 attendants. Long story short though, it was tons of work. Plus I've been back at WIC, which always makes for a tiring week-driving the 2 1/2 hours roundtrip.

I'll stop whining though, and catch you up on our festivities! Jeannie and Joe came to visit us for a long weekend, and it was so much fun having family here! Made me miss home a bit though, that's for sure! We took them out and about in Portland, and tried to expose them to the greatness and not so greatness of the city (but mostly just how flipping awesome it is in general). I think it was quite a shock : )

They left to travel down the coast and fly out of LA. Jeannie said the coast was gorgeous and worth the drive. So if anyone wants to take a scenic excursion down the pacific coast, feel free to stop by Portland first and we'll take you to brunch and show you a good time before sending you off on your way.

Halloween was the next exiting activity. We spent an evening in Sauvie Island at the haunted corn maze. Although Dustin made fun of me the whole time and laughed when I jumped, I made it through the maze alive and well, and Dustin came out with only a few bruises on his arm from my grip (and maybe a few smacks for laughing at me). I'm sorry, but went demented clowns and chain-saws come and chase you, it's a bit frightening. We also stopped by a Halloween party at my friends Anna and Lucy's house. Fun to see the internship girls outside of class!

Moving on-there's not much else to report. We have just been working lots and lots, and eating lots and lots too. Just for the record-if no one recognizes us at Christmas, don't feel bad for calling us your old "obese friends." We won't be offended. We did it to ourselves-all that IPA and sustainable food they force down you out here. : ) So miserable I tell ya. Ha!

Me and Athena

Jeannie and Joe

Stop taking my picture, I'm on the phone

Dustin and his Mama!

Pictures Pictures Pictures!

Go Hogs!! Dustin is also sporting his new mugs compliments of Jessica.

Some shots from our roof this morning. The leaves

are starting to change!

One day when you visit, our home will be up on that hill,

looking down at the city with all the other yuppies.

Skyline as the sun rose

About to take Dad to Isabel Pearl-our favorite

place for brunch.

After riding the ariel tram, looking down at the city from an OHSU terrace

I was freezing, but Dad didn't seemed too bothered....as usual. : )

Self-shot

After we dropped Dustin off at work, I took Dad to the Rose Garden,

where they grow over 10,000 different kinds of roses.

Although it was the end of the season, there were still some

beautiful flowers in bloom.

Pumpkin pancakes, scrambled eggs, and orange slices. A yummy way to ring in the fall season!

Dustin surprised me with an Edible Arrangement! I've always wanted one (for some weird reason), so he had one delivered to me. So sweet.

My first attempt at "Mom's" potato soup. It was cheesy and delicious!

Well, fall is officially in the air here in Portland. It has been in the low 60's this week and the leaves are starting to turn. As of today I am finished with the first round of my WIC rotation. I have been serving as the RD fill in for appointments, and will continue to do so when I go back in 4 weeks. Up next I have Primary Care, where I will get to work with all sort of patients, including eating disorders, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. I'm excited because 1.) It is only 20 minutes away, instead of 1 1/2 hours drive each way 2.) I won't have to work with kids for a while! That's right, I said it, I'm getting tired of working with kids! : )

In other news, we are painting our apartment this weekend-pics to come. Last weekend my Dad came for an afternoon visit, as he was in Washington on a trip. We took him up the ariel tram, around OHSU, and to the Rose Garden. Once he emails some pictures I'll post them, there were some gorgeous pics of Portland, and some cute ones of us. Next weekend Dustin's mom and Joe are coming for a visit, and we are excited to show them around.

Dustin's job is still going well, I was able to eat there last weekend and OMG is it delicious! If you like sushi it's the place to go-yum!

J-O-B

Just wanted to pass on the exciting news that Dustin got a job as a server at Le Hana!! It's a Japanese/French fusion restaurant right on the waterfront. We are both so excited!! He starts on Thursday, so send him lots of good energy. Click on the link below to see the restaurants website.

http://www.lehana.com/lehana/

Update Update Update!

Check out those mallows. They are about to be burned alive and squished with chocolate!

Tents a'la Shauna and Lindsey

This was the campsite. Adel and I took a tour early Saturday morning

The beautiful waterfall we found on our hike.

Family portrait. Oh Adel, acts like the camera is going to eat her.

Dustin likes to climb!

Vegetarian food festival = free samples for my tummy

Dustin would like everyone to know that yes, vegan bodybuilding does exist. Really!

My new lunch box and our thai wraps and chai iced tea. Mmm Mmm.

The back of Dustin's hawk curves over around his cowlick. It makes me laugh.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. This has been a crazy couple of weeks. I started my internship at OHSU and whew-it is alot of work. I joke that along with all the money I am paying them, apparently they want my soul as well. I've been starting my days at 5:30 and getting home around 6:30, then doing homework, then sleeping! Mondays are nice though because I am only at OHSU for class until 3:00. My first rotation is at a WIC clinic in McMinnville, which is about an hour away from us. Right now I'm observing and I will begin writing notes and counseling this week. Dustin has still been job searching, and hopefully is having luck at a restaurant near the waterfront. Everyone cross your fingers and say your prayers please!

We are trying to fit in fun things each weekend to relax and decompress. This past weekend we hit up the Vegetarian Food Festival. I've never been surrounded by so much vegetarian and vegan food. Everywhere you turned there was another sample that didn't pose the question "does this have animal products in it?" What a lovely day!

The weekend before we went camping at Silver Falls which is about 1 hour away from Portland. We hiked around and saw the beautiful water falls and scenery. It was such a relaxing a fun time. I even set up the tent! Dustin sported a camping mohawk and for some strange reason, its still around. : ) Well, off to make dinner and then head to bed-early day tomorrow. Lots of love to all!