Mustaching Through The Snow (Part II)

Let me begin by providing a brief explanation for the lack of posts since returning to Poland.  It's certainly not that I've been too busy to write.  It's definitely not because I am lacking in fun memories made during my trip home for the holidays.  It's 100% because my computer charger kicked the bucket somewhere during the PDX-ORD-MUC-GDN journey.  We went to the local Mac store and the Genius (ya sure about that?) who helped us tried to sell us a replacement for nearly 5 times the price I would have paid back home.  Granted, it's wasn't his fault.  Surely the mark-up wouldn't be padding his pockets.  It's one of the interesting things about living abroad.  Day to day items are wonderfully inexpensive, however anything imported (from the US in particular) is marked up a ridiculous amount.  Long story short, I've been known to be a bit of a penny pincher and while ordering from Amazon extended my time without White Fire (not to be confused with my beloved, nicknamed cell phone White Chocolate) in total I saved us about $100.  Wait, all of the sudden it's not seeming worth it...

Alright, well now that my scarce posts (fellow Saxons, that one's for you) thus far in 2012 have been justified, back to Christmas 2011, Oregon style!!

One of my favorite afternoons turned evening was spent at the Doug Fir.  For those of you unfamiliar with this legendary joint, it's one of Portland's best hotels/concert halls/restaurants/courtyard bars around.  If the Brady Bunch meets Log Cabin styled interior doesn't immediately win you over, the incredible happy hour from 2-6pm on Saturdays surely will.

The Doug Fir is like so many Portland hot-spots that, in my opinion, gets filed away in the wrong compartment.  Yeah, you "remember getting wasted there before a Blitzen Trapper show a few years back" or yeah, "You ended up there at the end of that one Eastside pub crawl in 2004".  It's true.  It's a great place to catch a show.  And it's a must-see upon turning 21 - hands down.  But truthfully, it is also just the perfect joint for a few Saturday afternoon microbrews and a mellow time spent with your crew.  Here are me and my sis staying warm beside one of the fab courtyard fire pits.

Myself and Carli, AKA PJ Carlisimo AKA PJ

Below is another picture of my sis and her new man.  The two CJ's.  This duo is amazing and they deserve their very own blog post.  Did I mention they are the greatest and they are coming to visit us in March????  Heyo!

CJ squared

So as you might have guessed, 2 Hopworks IPA's turned into another couple glasses of A to Z Pinot Gris and all of the sudden, the sun was gone.  But guess what shining elements replaced it.  Oh!  None other than Hankus and Sie (and Jennifer, Sierra's old co-worker and fellow cool human).

Carli and Sierra are going to kill me for posting this.  It truly was the best of the bunch.

Well, this one aint so bad of us gals

I'm sure this will come as a shocker to everyone, but we had ourselves the most grand time.  We relived some European travel moments, spoke of the good ol' days on 14th Street.  Overall, it was what this here soul craves when back home.

Just when I was positive the day couldn't get any better, nonchalantly walks in Miss Sara Manzo, scratch that, Mrs. Sara Benz.  The following 3 pictures need no words to accurately depict our time spent together.

Below is our last picture of the night.  Pretty sure that in between carafes of wine we were trying to play Cranium or Guess Who or Apples to Apples or something (hey! it was Apples to Apples).  Funny how a picture can say a thousand words.

From there the night got interesting.  Sub out 1 Manzo for 1 Jen Smith.  Sub out 2 CJs for 2 cheese platters (they got Dots take-out and crashed before 10...I got 2 cheese platters to myself).  Time out for 1 suuuuuper awk conversation with an ex-boyfriend of one of my best friends (not enough Pinot Gris in the WORLD for that one).  Sub out Henry for 2 maybe 3 hours then sub him back in for a few rounds of Won Ton Karaoke at The Galaxy.  Definitely sub in one of my favorite late 20s friends, Nicole McNeel.  Cut to me "Shooping" with a stage full of "hype girls".  If you don't know what that means then we aren't close.  Well, on the public humiliation front at least.

All in all, the night captured everything that I love about Portland.  Fine drinks and dining, laughs for days if not years and the greatest people HANDS DOWN on the face of this GD Earth!

Stay tuned.  Much more to come!!