Salt n' Straw

I love ice cream. period. Stress eating is not my thing, but ice cream always is a great pick-me-up when I am down, struggling, or trying to make the day end on a positive note.

As I've alluded to, these past few weeks have been a struggle with my housing situation in Fullerton. To not go into too many details, my original roommate got a late acceptance to a wait listed school closer to her home and family right as we were about to sign a lease on an apartment. She went with the best decision for herself and decided to attend the other school. I completely understood her predicament as I struggled with my decision to leave my family and home state. However, her decision did put me in a bind with trying to find another roommate or living situation. School is only a month away! Thankfully, after two stressful weeks and contemplating sleeping in a living room or spending over $1300/month for a studio, I have found a cute rental house shared with two SCCO students at a reasonable price!

With this frustrating situation I didn't have enough strength for much else besides crying, obsessively calling anyone I knew who could help me, and attempting to think positive. Oh, and dreaming about ice cream.

Salt n' Straw came to my rescue! It is the hot trend in Portland right now with it's sustainable attitude, local ingredients and unique ice cream flavors such as pear with goat cheese. It is so popular there is a constant line out the door with a 30 minute wait time! I met up with one of my friends the other night to indulge in a sweet treat, catch up, and experience what everyone has been raving about for the past 6 months.

We were not disappointed! We arrived at 4pm and got served around 4:30. They have a great system where as one group is being helped, the next group starts to taste. And you can have as many taste samples as you want! Best part? They provide real spoons for the tasting, so it is 100% sustainable! I don't know how many tiny spoons Salt n' Straw had to purchase, but they are going to a good cause. Feeding my tummy. Anyways, after trying all their selections I went with the combo of Almond Brittle and Cinnamon Snickerdoodle. AMAZING. If I had wanted to go with both flavors but not indulge with two scoops, you have the option of getting a half scoop of each flavor. Pretty nice Salt n' Straw, pretty nice.

Mission was accomplished. Sweet pick-me-up in local, sustainable fashion. If only it had been a bit healthier. Eh, who cares? If you're in the Portland area, have 45 minutes to spare, and love ice cream, check this place out!

Until Next Time,

powerkat

The Return of the Weekend

Since I've finally figured out where I will be laying my head this next year, my weekends have come back to me!

This past weekend I went with the parents to the Oregon Lavender Festival that highlights lavender farms throughout the Willamette Valley. The day started out really overcast, but turned absolutely gorgeous come early afternoon. This only made the fields of lavender pop even more.

Walking down the rows of lavender with the humming of honey bees all around (and live folk music in the background!) was so relaxing.

Did I mention there were free food samples at almost all of the farms we went to? Sa-weet! Lavender honey, lavender jam, lavender beer, lavender snickerdoodles... a girl couldn't ask for more. Sadly for you, I didn't take pictures of the food. I saw it. I ate it. End of Story.

Until Next Time,

powerkat

"Weekend" Update

My second to last weekend in Portland, OR. It is crazy how quickly the time has flown by, and I have less than 2 weeks before the big caravan push to Fullerton.


Instead of giving you a typical weekend update, I thought I'd give a photographic condensed montage of my life during the past month while away from the blog world.

Went to Multnomah Falls with visiting Texas and Georgia relatives. Saw beautiful wild flowers...

... and horsetail falls.

Went strawberry picking with good friends on Sauvies Island...

... and there were great pickins'! Made strawberry lemonade, short cake, and yummy waffle toppings from these Oregon berries. If anyone says they've had the best strawberry and it isn't from Oregon, you've just encountered a liar. Nothing beats Oregon berries! 

 

Finally visited the historic Astoria, OR where The Goonies was filmed... didn't take a picture of the house, but we found it! Stopped at the Fort Stevens shipwreck site.... isn't Meaghan cute?! She tried climbing everything. Can't take that kid anywhere.

 

Of course we had to check out the Astoria Column. From below...

 .... and 164 steps later.

 Pretty nice view from the top!

Went on the lovely Eagle Creek Trail for old times' sake. Got to spend quality time with my best red head, Ruth, and even got to go on the hike with an adorable German Shepard!

Good times even in the midst of a housing crisis. When you're picking up the pieces of a messed up rental agreement, the little escapes are that much more appreciated. Thankfully, this powerkat has resolved everything and does have a place to move in to at the end of month without going over budget!

Until Next Time,

powerkat

Rose Tinted Glasses

Have you ever experienced a regular day but viewed it as magical almost surreal? Like you've traveled into a different dimension and looking at the world from a new perspective.

This is what happens to me whenever I have a day off from work that isn't due to sickness, federal holiday, or vacation. Granted, the types of days off I just listed (minus the sickness option) are more fun that having to run weekday errands I can't do during the weekend. Bore.

So, that brings me to my Monday adventures! You would think going through the application, interview, and acceptance process would be enough to attend Optometry school. Nope, you also must provide current, notarized optical, immunization, and total health history records to the school you will be attending in the fall. Totally not a big deal, but with my identity theft paranoia and the fact these forms needed to be notarized I  wanted to get these official forms in person. Which therefore meant I had to take a day off work. Score!

Slept in, ate some yummy oatmeal with a pumpkin spice cook (hello, pumpkin is good for you. stop judging), worked out, got soaked in the rain as I ran around town getting these forms completed, and had just enough time to grab a Chai tea.

However, it was probably around the time between being completely drenched and wrapping my hands around the warm mug that I was hit with a realization. There is a whole other culture that exists outside of the work day. Yeah, I know there are people who are out of work, don't work, or can't work, but as a working person I often forget about the daily opportunities I don't have access to because I am at work. Therefore, when I do have access to taking the time to simply sit down and enjoy a cup of tea I become a giddy kid again. These tiny moments seem insignificant to a person who has the day off, but make a random day magical to me. When I notice these happy moments I wonder, is anyone else thinking the exact same thing as me right now? Do they know how lucky they are to be in a magical moment?

And then I think, 'magical moment, really?' I swear, it was only Chai.

However, those people who aren't working would probably be giddy to spend a day with a job. I guess we all want to put on rose tinted glasses and view our worlds in a brighter way than they really are.

In the mean time, I at least am one step closer to Optometry school!

Until Next Time,

powerkat