Well, Portland was exactly what I expected...

but not exactly what I was hoping for, and that's OK.

I was expecting Portland to be a smaller quieter Seattle with a ton of bicycles - this is true.

I was hoping Portland would be like an episode of IFC's Portlandia - I'm sad to say, Portland isn't actually a giant sketch comedy. Haven't seen Portlandia? (it's on Netflix if you want to give it a shot) here's my favorite sketch:

Maybe I didn't think Portland was like the show was because I only had a day and a half to really get a feel for the city. Perhaps all the good sketch comedy worthy stuff is under the surface and you need some more time to really discover it all.

My only full day in Portland was exhausting but fun. It was an early morning since my couchsurfing host had to head to work early. I had the entire day to walk all over the city and check out every shop that looked even remotely interesting, and more than enough time to go out of my way to find recommendations I gathered throughout the day by chatting with people I met.

Some of my favorite Portland spots included:

Powell's City of Books - this place was a maze of new and used books at the best prices I've ever seen. It's apparently the largest new/used book store on the west coast - you actually need a map to navigate it. Since I've got a thing for books, I was completely sucked in and actually spent most of my morning in there (I'm proud to say, I walked out with only one book in hand).

 PBJ's - this was absolutely the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich I ever had. I got the "Smokin' Goat": Calamata olive bread, almond butter, goat cheese and apricot jam (I got it without the smoked bacon it usually comes with) - and its all grilled - so it's warm and gooey. Happiness. Julia, the girl who made my PB&J told me that it's one of those sandwiches that you kind of have to eat in a room completely alone. It was a wonderfully shameful experience which involved the licking of fingers, a messy face and I may or may not have licked the paper my sandwich was wrapped in...

If you can't read this menu, heres a link (that also has more sandwiches not listed here): PBJ's Menu

Just before my Portland adventure, I was so lucky to have an incredible Thanksgiving with Brandon who flew in to spend almost a whole week with me. We had a great time exploring Pike Place market in torrential downpour; had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with my friend Liz, her family and friends; and one of the best Friends-givings I've ever had (friends-giving is one of my favorite creations: occurring one or two days after Thanksgiving, Friends-giving is a potluck style dinner which involves tons of Thanksgiving leftovers, and a serious workout for the microwave as each person nukes giant plates of food. Board games are a requirement for this soiree). Sadly, I don't have any photos from the party - I was having way too much fun playing "Cards Against Humanity" (a game similar to "Apples to Apples" except every card is hilarious, inappropriate or a "too soon" kind of joke).

I was a pretty proud of these little guys

The only picture I have from Thanksgiving week is this: the last of my mini apple pies (about the size of a cupcake) that I brought to Thanksgiving dinner.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas fast approaches and the entire city of Seattle (actually, the entire world) seems to be in the market for chocolates - of course they're not looking for just any chocolates, they want Fran's Chocolates (partly thanks to Bobby Flay, the Obamas and a few other notable figures who have caused quite a stir about Fran's Chocolates). What does this mean for me? Less time for spontaneous adventures, shenanigans and other miscellaneous excitement. Most importantly, this means less time to blog about the few happenings I have - hence, the delay in post... again. Sadness.

I was recently bumped up to full time at work for the holidays and I've been working almost exclusively as a barista since we have "stations" to keep the store running smoothly during this holiday madness. I love working as a barista equally as much as I love talking about the chocolates (which is a lot). One of my favorite parts of being the barista (other than the occasional and wonderful comment: "this name of drink here is incredible/the best I've ever had/glorious", or watching someone's eyes roll into the back of his/her head - at which point I feel like I need to turn away from a rather intimate moment, or my personal favorite: "bless you child, may you live to see a thousand years!" - that one was over a hot chocolate) is working on my latte art. Latte art is a popular espresso trend worldwide, but it's especially important in Seattle since it was developed and popularized here in the 80's and 90's. Of course, as a new barista I'm still learning so all of my designs are slightly....... off. For example, I attempted a heart and it turned out to be a whale (which was actually quite adorable and looked to be intentional, so I went with it). Oops! Or there's time I attempted a fern, and it appeared rather phallic (I quickly popped a lid on that one and hoped customer wasn't planning on opening it again to add sugar).

Here's a little sample of my rudimentary artwork.

Not only is being a barista great, I've become particularly fond of spontaneous afternoon port tastings, and I'm excited to say that I'm moving up into a "key holder" position. This means I get to open and close solo, and am left to tend to the store and other associates by myself!

Just another day at work. Tasting port and chocolates.... jealous?

Hard to see, but my "twin", Maddie, is on the far right... its a little freaky actually.

In other Michelle news - aka, the shorts:

My roommate scored me a ticket to see Wicked from the best seat in the house, a spot in the VIP lounge during intermission (which included free food and drinks). This ticked was at least a $150 seat (thank you Joe!).

I joined the Seattle Green Lake Running Team (which I found on MeetUp - if you're looking for new friends, I can't recommend MeetUp highly enough). Everyone at the group is so great - and theres 1,500 runners to make friends with! Rain or shine, there's always people to run with. Coincidentally, while chatting with my running partners,  I found another violinist who is looking for someone to play duets with, and a guitarist who is also looking to make music. Looks like I'll be playing at the running group holiday party in a couple weeks!

In the words of the only book I purchased from Powell's Books (a book on Looney Tunes - with a forward by Ray Bradbury which makes me feel better, justified and less stupid for enjoying cartoons): 

That's all Folks!