and the fun in portland continues!

I have to say that although I am a native Oregonian, I felt like a Californian today. It wasn’t even 70 degrees, but it was sunny and beautiful, and there were so many people in shorts! I even saw some shirtless guys (they were in the park, and I could see them because they were so pale they were glowing). I was dumbfounded. To me, sub70 degree weather is not shorts weather!
But on to the fun stuff. Insane brother and I walked down to the new REI (Peter was very impressed that we could WALK to REI) today then went to McMenamin’s to have lunch and visit Craig, cancer-fighting Megan’s brother. He’s been working at the pub for nearly a decade. Here he is proudly showing his creation–Craig’s Curried Chicken Peanut Soup:

The reason his hair is so short is because he shaved it in November at a benefit for Megan!
This evening I went to my friend Wendy’s house (Wendy is the mother of Dr. Croissant) for Crafty Christmas, their craft group. Apparently some of the members come for the wine and conversation, not for the crafts.

From left to right are Lisa, who brought some beading, Cara, who brought her WORK (but hey, she works for D. Sharp, who creates these amazing paper sculptures), and Marie, who does not craft and was thus recruited by Cara to fold paper. You can see my pumpkin fluff sweater in the foreground there. Not pictured are Wendy, Tracy (a non-crafter but a crafty storyteller), the girls–Dr. Croissant, the two Olivias, and baby Paulina, Rocky the dog, and Wendy’s husband Jay. We ate yummy pizza and laughed quite a lot!