I played with the installations and did Chemistry and Physics and got to act like a kid and run around for a day. It was fun and engaging even if I was a big above their target audience.

One thing I really liked? The Science Globe. It gave a pretty awesome narration to go with what was currently showing up on the globe. It covered air traffic, earthquakes, weather patterns and even other planets.

It narrated about Jupiter.

Mars.

And the Sun.

If you ever wondered about Alligators in the sewers of Portland wonder no more!

And because I am a giant nerd I made us take a self portrait in front of a painted city.

We walked all around and looked at everything except the parts that were closed. I want to go back to the Planetarium and see something since I’ve never been to one and the Omnimax because againt I’ve never been to IMax.

To cap off a pretty eventful day we got ice cream (at Cool Moon where it is seriously THE NOM!) with LongStoryLonger and talked about our first date and dating and dudgeons and dragons (don’t be jealous).

Then we went back home where it was HOT and I couldn’t sleep. Seriously Portland, be done with the heat wave already. I want my seventy degree weather back.

And this:

We went to a late showing on The Other Guys because we have a free movie ticket from the Regal Rewards Program. We weren’t able to USE it because apparently the movie hadn’t been out long enough, blah, blah, red tape, blah, blah, they suck. But the movie was worth it. I thought it was hilarious.

“I’m a peacock! You gotta let me fly!”

“It must be Columbian Drug Lords!” “I don’t even know how you…where are you getting this information?!”

“You look like a hobo! If I put you in my Vogue app you’d get a D-!”

“I don’t want no Scrubs.” “Oh come on! You wouldn’t say scrubs if you didn’t know TLC!” “I don’t even know what that is.”

(That last quote is not quite right but it was close.)

Then we went for an even later dinner at The Montage and had the Mac and Cheese (of course). I couldn’t finish mine and went home with a mac and cheese shaped rabbit of tinfoil.

There was some late night walking along water front then home where we promptly passed out because it was 3am.

So now that that’s done with on to the pictures!

Cheetah in repose.

Malaysian Sun Bear! (FINALLY!)

Getting High.

Giant Ass Bug! (or Eastern Lubber Grasshopper if you’re a party pooper.)

This happens every second Tuesday of the Month so expect more pictures.

In my attempt to force her to move to Portland to show off how nice the city is we spent two days bumming around Portland. I showed them PSU and we headed to NW 23rd st to go to Lush and some of the boutiques. There was went from store to store complaining about how much it sucks to not be able to spend an absurd amount of money on a corset. Or those cute shoes. We pawed over the gift boxes Lush has set up and picked out which ones were our favorites in case one of us comes into some kind of money.

We walked down by the waterfront and watched a bridge get raised.

There was pizza nights and movies and a night we stayed up until 3am playing Monopoly and all ganged up on Vahid because he was winning and OMG that wasn’t fair!

Then it was Tamales on Saturday and hugs goodbye.

I’m glad that I get to see them in October (hopefully).

But really it made me realize how much I missed just hanging out with her. Spending time with someone who has known you for a while and knows how your mind works is a refreshing thing.

Now I get to gear up for my other best friend to visit in a week! (I have some serious cleaning to do.)

Thursday Matt came into town. Kat and her person were already here enjoying Portland (I tried to make that sound less corny and failed) and I had no idea any of these people were in town. That is until I checked twitter and saw that we had plans to meet up that night. It was first Thursday in the Pearl so Vahid and I drove into town (SOB. I hate the ‘burbs.) and met up with everyone. I was recovering from a summer cold so I felt all sorts of wonks but it was still fun to get out of the house and meet Kat and see Matt again.

(Also, Kat is tiny and super cute.)

Then Friday came and Sherri and her WHOLE family came in from Washington. I love Sherri. And her kids. And her husband. So Kat, her person, Abigail, Sherri and her whole family, and Vahid and I went out to dinner at Old Town Pizza because it is the Nom pizza place. Lots of stuff was talked about and I have to admit that I zoned out for most of dinner because of the awesome summer cold. Seriously, who decided that summer colds were a ‘thing’ and that I should have one?

After pizza was gelato and then drinks. The gang (minus one husband and three children) ended up at The Low Brow where people got me drunk. Drunk. After the drinking a quest was made for donuts and we managed to wobble our way to Voodoo where sugary goodness was consumed. Then we called it a night, at 2am. Or maybe it was 3am.

Saturday came and with it the famous Tamales at the Farmer’s Market. Everyone was a bit worse for wear and we got to a late start. Except the kids, who were bright eyed and bushy tailed. Tamales and ice cream sandwiches were eaten and then it was on to Powell’s Books.

(Side Note: I am currently reading Snow Crash and it is very good. That Vahid recommends some good books. Although, it is nice that I have his entire library at my finger tips.)

We spent most of Saturday just hanging out in the city and unfortunately Vahid and I went home early because I had to work early Sunday and Vahid was tired.

Then I popped some Nyquil and passed out.

The end.

Photo by Me.

• Warm weather! The sun! My AWESOME tan! (Seriously, I am the tannest I’ve ever been. Holla!)
• My increasing ability to eat something in a restaurant (or in this case an ice cream shop) and re-create it. Hello Birthday Cake Ice Cream!
• Cool Moon Ice Cream in the pearl. Go there now and thank me later.
• Tamales at the Farmer’s Market and Hibiscus Arnold Palmer’s.
• The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds.
• Making Vahid see why The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is my favorite series of books ever. Ever.
• Wearing shorts.
• 52 Stunning Long Exposure Photos.

Photo by Me.

• Built in bras in my halter tops.
• My super cute hat.
• Prescription sunglasses.
• Gabby is coming to visit in August! What! What!
• My blonde hair is finally growing in and is noticeable.
• The waves in my hair.
• Bright pink toe nails.
• World’s most amazing bridges. There are some killer photos in this.
• Watching Dexter over from the beginning.
• Psych is back for the summer! (Also: Karate!)

Found Here.

• Back massages. And foot massages. Really just massages is what I’m going for I guess.
• Reading Snow Crash.
• My summer is filled with Science Fiction.
• Day 983 of my captivity…
• Vahid’s goofy voices that he does. (My favorite is Marklar!)
• Going out to lunch with Allison and having girl time.
• Getting invited to a Passion Party and totally pushing the start time from 7 to 9pm because the Host and I were talking about Pirates and the fact that she is one! Pirates!
• Seriously, and she dances with fire. Totes awesome.

• Getting awesome new shoes at REI with a giftcard! Yay free shoes!
• Making Vahid’s friend come over so I can cook dinner for more than Vahid.
• White Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream.
• Going to the beach for the second time. Although I still have yet to make it to the Newport Aquarium.
• Arrested Development and having marathon watch sessions late at night with popcorn.
• Just enjoying the sunshine and good days.

This cat, who I’ve taken to calling Cat because a) I am unoriginal and b) I don’t know his actual name and c) what if I named him Tom and it turns out he should have been named like Lola because I was wrong in thinking it was a boy cat? Anyway, this cat lounges under the trees, under the cars, in the dirt in front of my window, under lounge chairs, and anywhere there is shade when the sun is out. He’s a very peculiar cat and by peculiar I mean a complete attention whore.

Vahid and I will go outside and lounge in the sun in the common area of the apartment and he will come RUNNING towards us for pets and rub his scent all over us. Then a girl will walk by and he is like ciao! And runs off towards her. He has tried to come into our apartment before and routinely walks us from apartment to car, car to apartment, lounge area to apartment, meowing the whole time.

His attention whoring ways aside it’s kind of nice to see him when I venture out of my apartment. It’s taken off the strain of not having a pet. (I don’t know how you people who don’t have pets do it. It is driving me nuts. No Mom, I don’t want Midnight, you keep that crazy cat.) There are plans being made to get a pet, but not until we move back into the city at any rate, and that isn’t happening until December or later.

I’m starting to think that when I move I might have to smuggle him out of here.

I’m just warning anyone who might help us move to be careful if you come across any boxes with holes punched in the top…

So I have a cat. Or at least I do until someone else comes into his line of sight.

And because this post is already kind of silly here are pictures of squirrels that I took the other day.

The Ocelot mid-stretch (I waited FOREVER to get a picture of this cat. Glad it paid off.)

The Lions.

Sea Lions.

Female Gibbon. (The males stay black while the females turn blonde during sexual maturity.)

Mandrill. (This is the male and this, believe it or not, a greeting.)

Dwarf Caiman.

VAHID’! And a Lorkeet. You can you feed them nectar and this one just happened to land on his shoulder.

The rest of my set is here complete with comments by a “photographer” correcting me as I named animals wrong.

As I’m watching Vahid do my math homework I can’t help but marvel too. We have routines and schedules and quirks. I make dinner plans for the week and grocery lists. He cleans the kitchen and folds the laundry. We watch movies eating freshly buttered popcorn before bed. We get tamales every Saturday. We own a couch. (A comfy couch is anyone wants to visit. Just throwing that out there. (unfolds into a bed!))

I look at him (or the back of him as he punches numbers into my calculator) and marvel that through all those odds we ended up here, in this apartment (complete with crack-head neighbors!) in a suburb outside of Portland, merging our two lives together. It amazes me that we had (and still have) awesome chemistry. From the first date inside jokes were created, laughs were had, and our inane quirks were understood. It’s hard to put into words but from the start we were comfortable. It was like coming home.

Now we’ve entered into a new stage. Boxes were unpacked and books were mingled (duplicates were even set aside to give to Goodwill!) and life was ruffled but then the dust settled. We’ve settled into our routines and into our day to day life. We still have arguments and you-are-in-my-space moments of course but it wasn’t an adjustment. I didn’t have to get used to him living here, or get used to all of his things. It was easy. It no longer felt like an empty place I was squatting in, biding my time until something came along. Again, it was like coming home.

As excited as I am about the future we are planning (moving back to the city! Getting a puppy!) I am happy right now. Today was a good day, not because we went to the zoo, or I got him to do my homework for me, but because I was happy and I got to spend another day with someone I love. It was a good day.

Too often we get caught up in the shit, someone got fired, so-and-so are fighting, she thinks her boyfriend sucks, and on and on the cycle goes because it is so easy to complain. I do it all the time (I still complain about my old boss in California when Jenai calls me. Old habits die hard.) and I know it gets annoying.

But for all that I complain about (even on this blog) and for all that I’ve been sad about I am  happy. I am crazy happy. My apartment is trashed, I’m exhausted from a day in the sun, my sunburn is super itchy, and work is getting ridiculous; I’m still happy.

I’m happy because at the end of the night I get to poke Vahid and tell him to roll over when he starts to snore, then I get to do it all again the next day. It’s like coming home.

There was a little girl playing in the water (which was freezing! I found out later as I put my foot in the water) and making the seagulls fly into the air.

It being Oregon there wasn’t anywhere that didn’t have some trees. It’s not something I’m used to seeing on the beaches of California.

While walking along the beach (holding hands and being all gross) we saw a seagull terrorizing a family. It would swoop down near their heads and land just a few feet away from them and charge forward and repeat the whole process. The little boy and girl would raise their hands and scream every time it swooped down. I tried to get a picture of the attack process but this was all I could get (the little boy is in blue plaid):

Cannon beach was a lot of fun. It was full of Taffy and Ice Cream shops. (You better believe I brought home some taffy!) After spending some time there we ventured on over to Seaside. It was like light and day.

Or Quaint and Tacky. In Seaside we spotted several member of the new “Seaside Shore” show that I’m sure will be a hit to about a hundred people in Oregon.

This “Aquarium” features animals that are all alive! And you can feed the seals! There will also be a guy screaming seal noises at included at no extra cost!

While in Seaside I also took the scariest picture you can imagine. I’ll preface with a little story about a bird I call Bob. Bob is a seagull, a seagull who has a pessimistic outlook on life. Bob doesn’t like you. If you were to try and drive your car on the road where Bob is standing, he will play chicken with you and you will lose and have to drive around him. Bob will follow you from one Beach to another harassing you and your car the entire time. Bob just wants to see you die a slow horrible death. And this is Bob:

Enjoy your day and don’t have too many nightmares about BOB.