Have to share the great news! I’ll be in Orland, FL in March presenting at the Learning Solutions conference.

“Integrating Social Media into Your Learning Strategy – Local Success Stories”

Today is an interesting day. While most of the country is mourning the loss of those lost in the September 11^th attacks, I choose to celebrate this day. Not for the terrible things that have occurred to our country, but for the fact that seven years ago today I married my best friend. I didn’t know it at the time that I would grow in the way that I have over the last seven years but I knew I loved Eric with all my heart. In the last seven years I’ve learned more about compromise, going with the flow, and knowing that not everything has to go my way. Eric has been patient with me, tolerated my crazy temperamental outbursts, shown me compassion when I’ve lost a family member, supported me when I wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing, and loved me ALWAYS. I am so fortunate to find my best friend in life and to still be together despite all my faults. I am so proud to be married to Eric. He is so loving, kind, generous, patient, and strong.

Eric,

I know you don’t like it when I post personal things about it us but I want you and everyone in the inter web to know how much I love you, how much you give me strength, and how much you mean to me. I know the last seven years haven’t been the easiest but we’ve made it through. There were time neither of us thought we would but we have. I truly believe there is nothing we, together, can’t over come or conquer. All my love to you!

Jona

Wow! What an AMAZING weekend. It’s not often that I have a weekend FULL of activities. I knew that Natalie and I were going to go to the Sock Summit on Friday. So before the summit I decided to sew up a  couple bags for us. I wanted to make something that was HUGE, could hold a lot, looked cute, and used fun patterns. I made a cool green striped bag for myself and a nice retro blue/green/brown bag for Natalie. I love making bags, sewing!

The Marketplace.. just one of the MANY vendors

My weekend really started on Friday. I took the day off to go to the Sock Summit with my best friend Natalie. She and I have known each other for many years. We met when we both worked at Intel in the training department for IT. Natalie is one of my very best friends. She’s an instructional designer too and a VERY avid knitter. She’s into technology too. She’s actually got a great podcast that she’s doing, Cloudy with a chance of fibers. If you haven’t listened to it, you should. She and I went to the Sock Summit on Friday. Who would have known that there were SO many people interested in socks. It was so crazy to see all the booths with yarn!

Results of my shopping binge!

I loved looking at all the beautiful hand dyed yarns and the combinations of bamboo, wool, alpaca, etc. There were so many booths, many more than I think I’ve ever seen for the scrapbook convention. The vendors came from all over the place too! I found so many yarns that I fell in love with. I did a little bit of damage while Natalie and I were there. It was sort of funny when we went because we’d start out walking the marketplace together, one of us would stop, the other would keep going and before you knew it we would loose each other. I don’t know how many times that happened. Ordinarily I would have just texted Natalie on my computer but we were both having a heck of a time with getting our phones working there. I guess most people were having issues. It did make things frustrating. Natalie organized a yarn crawl for those that listen to her podcast, or know her on twitter for the afternoon. We all met at the bell and then took the yellow line Max and headed to The Naked Sheep in North Portland (NoPo). I love that place. They’ve got great seating for people to just hang out and knit. They’ve also got a great collection of yarns and other knitting paraphernalia. So we hung out there for a while and then got pizza and Ruby Jewel ice cream at Atomic Pizza just two doors down. After that it was a walking trip back to the Max and then to Mississippi Avenue to walk the street and have some great dinner. It was such a long day but so AMAZING! I had a great time.

Saturday started out as a lazy day for me. Eric planned to go to the Beer Fest. I’m not a beer drinker so I really had no interest in going. I did want to go downtown though and enjoy the beautiful day. Eric and I hopped on the Max and headed downtown. After eating at the food carts we headed down to the waterfront. Eric headed to the Beer Fest and I headed to Pioneer Mall to get a new shirt because it was so hot.. I needed a new shirt. After hitting the mall I walked down to the waterfront and walked the esplanade. It was so nice to be out in the sunshine and just enjoy being warm. After walking around for a while I decided to head back up toward the Pearl District. I went to Cool Moon Ice Cream. It’s on 11th and Johnson, a bit of a walk but on a nice day, nothing big. I love Cool Moon. They make some of the most amazing custom ice creams. I ended up having the very best Salty Carmel ice cream I’ve ever had.

After grabbing my ice cream I headed across the street to the park to people watch, sit on a park bench in the shade, and knit my sock. It was so nice and cool, I loved it. I could do that every day. Maybe not the ice cream but just being outside on a nice day… that’s amazing. Once I’d been there for a while, and finished my ice cream I decided to head to Powell’s Books. I love that place and it seems that every time. So I went and checked out some books, but nothing spoke to me so I headed off to Stumptown coffee and the Ace Hotel lobby to hang out for a while until Eric, his cousin Brian, and Brian’s wife Diana finished at the Beer Fest. I ended up meeting them down in Old Town at Ground Kontrol. I hadn’t seen Brian in ages and I’d never met his wife until Saturday. Diana is so awesome. She and I chatted for a long time while the guys relived their childhood and played video games. It’s so funny to see Eric get excited about old video games he used to play. At one point I found Eric and Brian playing Joust. After everyone ran out of quarter we headed to dinner at Kin in the Pearl. It’s one of Eric favorite places to go. We sat there and chatted about everything from law, to politics, to family, to wine, and I can’t remember what else. I couldn’t help thinking the whole time that it was nice to see Brian again and nice to meet Diana. She and I would often break off in our own conversation and talk about socks, knitting, sewing, or our jobs. We were there for hours just chatting about everything. Once we were done eating we were off to Clyde Common for a drink. Diana has worked as a bartender so we wanted to take her there to give her the experience of unique drinks. We got there only to find out that junior had just clocked out so we headed to Tear Drop for great drinks. We sat and hung out together enjoying good drinks and just chatting. Junior ended up coming over for a while too which made it just that much more fun. It was such a great night. I loved meeting Diana and seeing Brian again.

Eric admiring the herb garden and drinking lavender lemonade.

Last weekend was AMAZING! Saturday was a beautiful day in Portland. It being a great day means you HAVE to enjoy the day outside. I mean it’s not often that good days come to Portland. After thinking about our options we decide to go out to Sauvie Island and just “check things out”. We’ve been out there before but never just cruzed around, checking out all the places there. So we decided to hit the road.

We drove all over the place and just explored. Of the many great places one that really caught my attention was the Blue Heron Herbary. I’ve never been to a Herbary so I wasn’t sure what to expect besides.. well herbs.There were a TON of them and the gardens were beautiful. I was blown aways by the hundreds and hundreds of herbs. There were several varieties of the same herb too. I think there were like 20 types of lavender. We bought a couple mint plants, just for mojitos, as well as lavender tea, pepper, and whole mess of other food items.

Kruger Farms for lunch!

After traveling over much of the island, we decided to stop at Kruger’s farm for a picnic. Eric had packed one before we left. It was so yummy. Eric made this great salad of jicima, tomatoes, cucumber, roasted corn, black beans, and I don’t know what else. Maybe he’ll post it on his website Grub n Glug. In any case it was terrific. The best was the avocados on it. After lunch we walked around the farm and checked out the place. I think we’ll go back when the berries are ready and go picking.

If you haven’t done so you should go to Sauvie Island! It’s super fun!

Last weekend we went to the Hillsboro Saturday Market. I have to say it was super nice. I really liked seeing all the vendors without all the craziness of the Beaverton Market. Beaverton’s market is just so HUGE, it’s cool and nuts at the same time. The Hillsboro market has the same produce.. just one a smaller scale. It was nice to go and feel like you’re part of a community. In any case it inspired Eric and I to go to the Farmer’s market on Tuesday. FYI there are farmer’s markets each day of the week all over Portland. So we went to the Tuesday Farmer’s market in Hillsboro. I LOVED IT! It was such a great night to stroll down the street, taste food, but some produce and of course stop at our favorite taco place, Ochoa’s. They have the BEST tacos!

I was having so much fun and just enjoying the evening I didn’t take many pictures. Here’s one of Eric!

Hey there,

Just loked at my blog today and realized it’s been almost a month since I posted last. I bet you thought I dropped off the face of the earth. Well, no dice. I’ve been super busy… having fun. I spent the first week of April in Florida with Israel, Penny, Erica, and all their kids (Alex, Cade, Drake, Garbriella, and DJ).  In any case, Eric and I had a blast. We went to several of the Disney World parks. Rather than tell you about it here are just a few of the pictures.

Disney World Animal Kingdom Eric and I riding the rapids with the rest of the family in Animal Kingdom. Let me just say we rode twice and the second time I got SOAKED! Tons of fun! We took a safari ride and came across this rhino. Such beautiful animals out there. I love that they have tons of room to roam. This photo is a bit blurry but I have to say it was SO COOL to see a giraffe up close.

Medieval Times Eric and I posing by a Knight before the show started. Here's most of the group sitting in the green knight area ready to cheer him on in hopes that he wins. FYI, he was the evil knight. The green knight sitting tall and waiting to strike.

Disney World Magic Kingdom What a great start to the day. This is the entrance to Disney World Magic Kingdom. Riding the tea cups is one of my favorite things to do. This is a shot of Israel, Penny, and Alex. I'm in another cup with Gabriella. We were lucky enough to catch the parade and see Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Fairy Godmother.

Sea World Erica, Israel, and Eric off to ride the Kracken roller coaster. I decided to pass and just watch them. I have to say this was one of my favorite things to do at Sea World. I could have stood there and fed the dolphins all day. I loved the Shamu show. Watching the whales was amazing. Interesting too that the trainers don't get in the water with the whales anymore either.

Pirates Much like Medieval Times but way WAY better. The pirates dinner was a blast. Eric sporting his pirate hat for the show. Israel got sucked in again, he's in the white shirt. He had to go on the pirate ship and walk the plank. Poor guy!

Disney World Hollywood Studios What could be better than a picture with "the man" Mickey mouse. Eric and I standing outside the Rockin' Roller Coaster. He was dying to go on this ride and got to go with Erica and Israel. Did I tell you I HATE roller coasters. Loved this. They had a whole section that was a faux New York city with a skyline and everything.

The trip was a TOTAL blast and one I’ll remember for a long time. I had such a good time with the whole family. Can’t wait for the next adventure.