life has been a bit out of hand lately . . .

so as i'm sure you've noticed, my daily postings about life and the happenings have come to a screeching halt. suffice it to say, life's been a bit crazy . . . in a good way though. i've been spending most of my free time with mac and have been having the time of my life.

we had a wonderful time in the willamette valley a few weekends ago visiting several wineries and having a romantic weekend away. the 2005 pinot noir release party at sokol blosser was outstanding. ended up buying a few bottles of 2005 estate cuvée pinot noir and yet another case of their 2006 rosé of pinot noir that is so highly drinkable. paid a visit to the torii mor winery and picked up a 2005 late harvest gewurtzraminer before stopping through at argyle to pick up their outstanding 2005 brut rosé to put up for a special occasion.

after all that fanciness, we decided that a down-home lunch was in order so we stopped in at huckabee's bbq right next door to argyle. they weren't quite open but i guess we looked cute enough that they let us in anyway. had a great tri-tip plate with some good collards and cornbread. we did a bit of shopping at the dapper frog and at dundee garden art (where i found really cool brass numbers for my house).

we kept on to mcminnville and checked into the hotel and had a lovely evening of strolling through town and lounging in each other's company. had a fantastic breakfast at the crescent cafe and did even more shopping at cowgirl mercantile (got the coolest shirts there!) before heading back to our *normal* lives. i honestly can't stress enough how good breakfast was ... no, really! i sat there over a plate of biscuits and pork gravy that had chunks (and i do mean chunks) of smoked ham hock and the hash browns were to die for. we'd started breakfast with mimosas made with argyle brut ... we were in wine country after all.

after a lovely dinner at home that night, we went back to the normalcy that is the work week. fortunately, it was a short week! we got the good news that mac had friday and saturday off so we planned a long weekend together. we'd invited some friends for thanksgiving dinner (yes, we made *all* the fixins) but they ended up getting hung up in seattle. despite that, we had a really nice quiet thanksgiving at my place. luckily we got the call early enough in the day that we could scale the menu & portions back enough to not have enough to feed an army!

friday was spent just hanging out and cruising the racks at the goodwill in beaverton. you'd be amazed at some of the shit you can find out there. i managed to walk out with 5 bags *stuffed* full of stuff and a crockpot! the find of the day was a leather trench coat for $40! it's beautiful and fits like a dream. that night we had leftovers and watched bring it on as mac had never seen it - and that's just not right in my book. saturday was a quiet day hanging around the house. suki had an eye appointment (they're still doing about the same as last year - best we can hope for at this point) and then we met mac's friends (who'd finally made it down from seattle) for dinner at green papaya for some thai food. they had the most beautiful 1yo little girl who was a blast to hang out with. we had plans to meet up with some friends for double down at holocene so we got there around 10p. we thought dj harmony was going to be on that night and were looking forward to it. turns out she couldn't make it and the dj they got to replace her wasn't what we were in the mood for so we headed home early.

sunday we met up with the seattle friends at their hotel (they were staying at the ace and it was very nice) for coffee and more hanging out with them and their cute baby girl. ended up hanging with them until 1ish and then dropped by powell's and buffalo exchange because we were in the 'hood. i met up with my friend cg for a wine tasting around 4 and then was off to the grocery store for supplies. made dinner and hit the hot tub to round out an amazing 4 day weekend together.

i have to say – it was probably one of the best of my life ... and the funny thing is that i said that the weekend before about our weekend away. bodes well as far as i can tell. ;-)

so today i'm thankful for . . . an amazing woman in my life and the great memories we're making together

anticipation . . .

can be sweet and torturous. mac left to visit some friends in california yesterday and i've been missing her since she left. we've exchanged some very sweet text messages and had some nice phone calls but i still miss her near me. she'll be home tomorrow night and it's not soon enough for me!

we have our first weekend getaway planned this weekend. we're headed down to the willamette valley wine country for the 2005 pinot noir release at sokol blosser winery then plan to spend a night at the hotel oregon in mcminnville. am very much looking forward to getting out of town with her. only thing that would make it better would be the weather being nice enough to ride our bikes down there.

today i'm thankful for . . . the perspective gained from some distance

indulgence & desire

so last night was totally unexpected. had a lovely evening planned for myself and friends. a dear friend of mine, osha, is a wonderfully talented massage therapist and just graduated from acupuncture school. she'd offered me a treatment for my birthday several months back and we just hadn't had a free moment to schedule it. well, we persisted and i was able to get on her schedule last night after work. what a glorious way to end a tough week. i walked 3 blks to osha's house and spent 1.5 hrs in total bliss. my stomach started to growl during the treatment and osha had some food so we had a snack and then i was off to meet my friend, cg, at a local wine bar for a tasting of 6 oregon pinot noirs. we've been doing regular tastings a wine bar in her 'hood on saturday nights so we decided to switch it up and try a friday night tasting up in my 'hood. enjoyed the tasting and the company. on our way out, i got a txt msg from star asking what i was up to. she said she was meeting friends in about an hour and asked if i wanted to join. i convinced cg that she should join us so we headed back to my place to hang out in the backyard to wait for the call as star wasn't certain where we were going or even when. had a nice time hanging out in the yard and cg decided she was too tired to join so she headed home. i got a txt from star that i should come pick her up if it would keep me *motivated* to go out. i don't think i've ever gotten dressed to go out so quickly. i think i got her her place in less than 30 mins. we headed downtown to meet up with folks for a night at the gay boy bars. i had forgotten how much fun they are. queens really do know how to party. we had a great time dancing the night away.

ended up meeting some friends at the oregon brewers festival on the waterfront for a few hours this afternoon. we have a great brewfest every year with many beers that i couldn't find otherwise. tasted a bourbon barrel abbey dubbel from flying fish brewing that tasted like having a beer chaser on a good glass of bourbon. after tasting 10 different beers, i headed home. hung out with the dog in the backyard for awhile and napped on the couch.

ended up meeting cg and her girl for another tasting tonight. had some good stuff and hung out for quite awhile. went to double down to dance and see star for a bit. ran into some folks i know and danced to some good music but the music was a bit inconsistent so i wasn't totally into it. i headed home around midnight to get some rest.

meeting a friend for brunch tomorrow am before i meet up with star for coffee. looking forward to it since i haven't seen my friend in awhile. gotta get some housework done and maybe some yard work too. dix called earlier to see if i wanted yard work help tomorrow. might take her up on it. gotta get some packing thought about for my trip.

looking forward to seeing bd and my big sister. get to meet my niece who's almost a year old. i gave her her middle name and she'll soon be a big sister to twins. crazy. looking forward to nashville and the honky tonks. gotta remember to pack boots ... if i could find myself a cowgirl, it might be the perfect trip.