Visit from the Sis

I was so fortunate to have my sister Sarah come out from Idaho over the weekend for a quick trip to my new city. She arrived into town Friday morning. Our day was spent shopping, going to lunch at a fantastic place called Por Que No in the Mississippi District (amazing tacos), then hitting up the Beavers baseball game with some friends (Andrew and Wanda). I showed Sarah around the best I could, but since I am so new here, we had an interesting time getting from place to place. Most of it involved my trusty iPhone instructing us on where to go. Hopefully though I am starting to grasp it.

The next day, Wanda, Kim, Sarah and I decided to try a kettle bell class. Kettle bells are a newer form of exercise which involve a metal weight that looks kind of like a cowbell. You use your entire body for every move you do. We were the only people in the class, so the instructor was very helpful in teaching us how to get the right form. All in all we got a very good workout. Although, on Sunday I was so sore in my tush I had to take an ibuprofen to help the pain. Also, each of us had bruises on our forearms from the bells hitting them. OUCH!!! After the workout, we headed over to the Portland State Farmers Market (my new school). The weather was good, so we had a nice time sampling all the yummy veggies, fruits, cheeses, meats and even wine.

Later on Saturday, Sarah and I decided to meet up with Andrew and a couple other friends at University of Portland for another baseball game. I was excited to see this game, because this is where Nik played college ball and they were playing St. Marys (the team he coached when he lived in the Bay Area). I was much more entertained watching this game compared to watching the Triple A game the night before. The Pilots (UP) played so hard and kicked the crap out of the Gaels (St. Marys). They were hitting great and there was some amazing defensive plays. 

Afterwards we decided to hit up one of Portland famous happy hours. We chose Jake's Famous Crawfish in downtown Portland. They serve clams and 1/2 lb. burgers for about $4 a plate. The food of course was exceptional and we definitely did a good job of filling our bellies for just over $20 total. Gotta love happy hour!

That night we saw a movie at St. Johns Pub (a cute movie theater in my neighborhood). The movie "Valentine's Day" was so terrible though, I don't even want to talk about it. It was that bad! St. Johns Pub is a fun local restaurant/bar/movie theater that is great to go to for a cheap movie and dinner. Regardless of how bad the movie was, we still had fun in the atmosphere (besides the movie was only $3, so it wasn't a total waste). 

On Sunday morning, Sarah and I went for a 6 mile run in Forest Park. Forest Park is apparently the largest city park in the nation (beating out Golden Gate and Central Park). In other words, it is huge. We had a nice time running through what seems like the middle of no where and it is only about 5 minutes from my house. It was pretty muddy so we spent a lot of time jumping from dry spot to dry spot. Our long run definitely built up a nice appetite, so we met up with Martina and Wanda at the Tin Shed for brunch. This place is famous for its good breakfast. About an hour and a half later we were called to our table and had some ridiculously delicious brunch (well worth the wait). 

The rest of the day Sarah and I shopped around. We did a great job of not spending to much, even though we went to many places where we could have spent a pretty penny. While we were in Urban Outfitters I was walking over to where Sarah was and heard a loud crash. Apparently she was trying to pull out a drawer of tin letters, but the drawer did not have a bottom to it. So, all of the letters went crashing to the floor. We had a good laugh picking them up while an employee asked her is she hurt herself. 

On Sunday evening, Sarah's last night, I took her to Leisure for dinner. This place is kind of the neighborhood hangout. We rode bikes from my house (about a mile away). A bunch of my new friends joined in (all my roomies, Wanda, Andrew, Pat and Billy). It was so much fun having a bike crew and being able to ride on cruisers to a restaurant. This weekend flew by and it was so much fun having my best friend (my sister) here to show around. Thanks Sarah for the great memories!! I miss you already.