Last day in Seattle

My last day in Seattle and in the Northwest. Part of me is a little sad because I love this area of the country, but I’m very ready to go home for a few days. And I literally mean a few. I arrive home at about 2pm tomorrow afternoon and depart on a plane headed to Chicago at about 1pm on Tuesday. So, two nights in my own bed and in my own house – I’ll probably spend most of my time doing laundry, repacking for Chicago, and preparing for our guests who will arrive on Wednesday. Jason, Sara, Samuel and Lauren will be visiting us for a couple of days and I have full confidence that my husband has our house all ready to go for them. We have never had to child-proof before so I’ll have to double-check all the things we never have to think about. I’m planning to make some banana bread before I leave so that the kiddos have something to snack on (not to mention the fact that my husband loves banana bread) and my butter making experience with Alice has inspired me to give it a try. I’m planning on trying out a cinnamon spice butter (with cinnamon, nutmeg, etc – I might just use pumpkin pie spice to make it happen) and I think it will work well with the banana bread. Jason, Sara, Matt and I will be attending the Nebraska-Mizzou game next Saturday. As Jason and Sara are both huge Mizzou fans and Matt definitely leans that way, I will be in the minority in our group. I believe we will be meeting up with some of Jason’s college friends (more Mizzou fans) so hopefully the Husker “hating” is kept to a minimum. We are thrilled that they are coming to visit and really look forward to showing them a little bit of Omaha. The last time they were here was for our wedding which was a short trip, in the middle of the winter (it rained all day on our wedding day which turned into an ice/snowstorm the morning after as everyone was leaving town) and we kept them a little bit busy with wedding activities, so this will be a great time for them to visit. Matt and I both arranged to have Friday off from work so we can show them a little bit of Omaha. I’m thinking a trip to the zoo might be in the cards for Friday, or perhaps a trip to the Children’s museum. I’m going to recommend they do both while they are here, it will just depend which one they want to do on Thursday by themselves and which one they want to do Friday when we are around. The game Saturday is at a horrible time – 8pm! A great time as we won’t have to get up at the crack of dawn, BUT the trip back to Omaha is going to be interesting. Even more interesting considering I have to work the next day for our Fall Open House. I don’t have to be at Creighton until 11am, but we likely won’t arrive home until 2am or later. And that might be hopeful thinking. Lincoln and I-80 can be a little nuts on game days. It will all be worth it though – I haven’t been to a Huskers game in a long time (3-4 years) and it will be great to have guests at our house.

The last day of NACAC was fun. I sat in on a presentation that I didn’t expect to be very good which turned out to be a great presentation. It was such a great presentation that our office is going to order the CD of the presentation so that everyone who was not able to attend the conference will be able to hear it. It was a panel discussion that discussed the basics of admission counseling. It was a good reminder for a seasoned admission counselor, but would also be a great resource for someone new to admission counseling.

I ran into a former co-worker at NACAC today - Chris Ramsay. Chris and I worked together at Truman for 2 years and then he left for a couple of years and then returned last year to work in the office again for a year. Now he is a college counselor at a high school in Saint Louis. It was great to see him and catch up for a little while. He will be visiting Omaha next month for a visit at Creighton and hopefully I will be able to see him again.

Kim and I attended the membership meeting for NACAC this afternoon, and then the conference ended. Before the membership meeting we walked down to Pike’s Place Market. Kim had never been there before and was as amazed as I was last year when Matt and I visited for the first time. We got to see some fish being thrown, and she picked up a couple of souvenir items to take home. The membership meeting was fairly uneventful, although it seems that there was anticipation that it might be. NACAC was voting on reincorporation in Delaware and away from the current incorporation in Iowa and I got the feeling there was the possibility of protest because the Midwest tends to feel that they always get ignored in favor of the coasts. However, this situation had nothing to do with the location of the state and rather with the political climate, rules and regulations for non-profit organizations. So, the amendment passed without protest and we got out of our meeting an hour early.

Kim and I headed back to the hotel after the membership meeting to drop off our stuff and change into more comfortable clothes. Then we headed out to find a sports bar with the Nebraska-Virginia Tech game and found a great little place where we could actually sit in comfortable chairs and relax while watching the game. At halftime, I received a phone call from the mom of a friend of mine from high school that I had run into earlier at the conference. Callie lives in Washington with her husband now and they drove up to see her mom at the social event that evening. I haven’t seen Callie since sophomore year of college and it was great to be able to catch up! We wandered around the Experience Music Project (where the social was held) and caught up on 7 years of life – crazy.

Back in Seattle

I've been back in Seattle for the last two days. I'm attending the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) national annual conference. The conference brings together college admission counselors who work for colleges, and high school college counselors who advise students entering college. The conference does have some presentations and information that is applicable for graduate admission counselor, but it is much more applicable for those involved in the high school to college transition. However, it is nice to hook up with others in my profession and gain new ideas.

Kim and I wandered down to the coast last night for some seafood. We found a great place called The Crab Pot where you can order a meal that is literally dumped onto the middle of your table for you to dig in. Ours included clams, mussels, andouille sausage, corn on the cob, potatoes, and shrimp. It was delicious but far too much food.

I took off from the conference for a little while today to visit with students at Seattle University. I really enjoyed seeing campus and it reminded me alot of Creighton. Tonight Kim and I will be attending an event hosted by Hobson's, which is a company that provides recruitment products for universities. It is free event at an Irish Pub a little ways from our hotel. Hopefully it will be a good time.

I've been trying to keep my eating in check during my trip. I have been good about exercising, but my diet has been a little more liberal than I was at home. I figure that if I keep exercising I should be able to at least maintain my weight and then continue once my schedule is settled again.

Spokane

I flew to Spokane this morning for a quick visit to Gonzaga. My trip to the airport was a little interesting as Seattle is installing a light rail to the airport and they had huge portions of the route into the airport closed today for some work they are doing in preparation. I had issues finding the rental car return facility, but eventually found it on the third round around the airport :)

My flight was nice and short (about an hour from gate to gate) and I made it to the hotel without a problem. I didn't get a rental car because I found a hotel close enough to Gonzaga where I could walk to campus and the hotel also offered a free shuttle service to the airport. I arrived early enough that I had time to walk around downtown Spokane for a little while before I had to head to Gonzaga. Spokane is an interesting city because it has a population of about 200,000 (about 1/4 the size of the Omaha metro), but it has a huge downtown shopping district, an INTERNATIONAL airport, and does not feel like a city of that size - it feels much larger.

I headed over to Gonzaga in the afternoon and met with some fantastic students and then hosted a presentation on campus this evening. Gonzaga is a pretty campus and actually reminds me alot of Creighton's campus - except that it is flat :)

I walked to a local mexican restaurant tonight for dinner and then returned to the hotel because I have an early flight out tomorrow back to Seattle.

One intereting note about my hotel - it took me amost 10 minutes to walk from the lobby of the hotel to my room. The hotel is a long, flat (two levels) hotel and my room is about the farthest away from the lobby. When I first walked to it today I just kept walking, and walking, and walking.

YUM!

I found a great restaurant for dinner – Duke’s Chowder House. I enjoyed a great Cesear salad and some crab dip while reading my book. I enjoyed a short walk around the mall before heading back to the hotel for a quiet evening.

Seattle

I left Portland yesterday afternoon and headed north into Washington. I was able to set up a visit at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma yesterday then today camped out at a Panera Bread Co. near the University of Washington campus because they are not yet in session so I couldn’t set up anything on campus. Panera has the most amazing internet access. I have had zero problems with the network all day and got to enjoy a fantastic atmosphere. I love the sound of great conversation and laughter.

This is the lonely part of my trip. I got to spend 5 days with Nick and Alice, along with visits with Stasi and Sam, and Kim will join me for NACAC on Thursday, but I’m by myself right now. It has been awhile since I traveled by myself and it is amazing how much I miss having someone to talk to. Being on the west coast is difficult for Matt and me because he is two hours ahead of me so I always have to remember to call early in the evening or I catch him after he has gone to sleep. I ought to get used to being alone because most of my trips after this (including my marathon Idaho-Los Angeles trip at the end of October) will be solo. It is also difficult to communication during softball season because Matt is so busy.

I plan to head to a mall after I leave Panera so I can walk around for awhile and grab some dinner. It is always really strange to walk into a restaurant and have the host/hostess say “just one this evening?”. “Yes, just one” – is my typical response. I am looking forward to getting a good walk in before I head back to the hotel for the evening.

Last day in Portland

Alice worked today, Nick nursed his hand and I headed out to enjoy my last day in Portland. Nick has been keeping ice on his hand pretty constantly since he burned it, but says that it is still bothering him. Alice and I both tried to convince him to go to the emergency room, but he says it is fine and just needs to heal.

I slept in a little and then walked up to the Rose Gardens that are about a mile from where Alice and Nick live. The Rose Garden is actually the International Rose Test Garden and features just about every variety of rose out there. It is incredible! I spent about an hour walking around admiring the roses and taking lots and lots and lots of pictures. I’ll post – I promise! The Rose Garden is a can’t miss in Portland!

I then headed to the Portland Saturday Market for some shopping. Now that I have been there a couple of times I started recognizing the vendors. I purchased Matt some of the honey roasted cashews that he loves and found a great sterling necklace for myself. I promise pictures soon! The Portland Saturday Market is basically a huge marketplace that assembles every Saturday and Sunday from Spring – December. There are food vendors, jewelry makers, clothing, pottery, woodworking, metalworkers – pretty much anything you could possibly want. I enjoy just walking around and people watching. I stayed for a little while and then began walking back – and got caught in a huge, sudden rainstorm. It absolutely poured and I wasn’t anywhere where I could jump under an overhang or anything like that. And, because it was Sunday, most of the office buildings were closed. So, I got soaked. Luckily it didn’t last too long and I was able to dry out while I waited for the streetcar to take me back to their house.

We decided to cook tonight so Alice and I headed to the market when she got home from work. We picked up some pieces of sole that we breaded in potato chips, fried lightly on the stove and then finished in the oven. We had black pepper potato chips, spicy thai potato chips, and buffalo blue cheese potato chips that we used to coat the fish and then we shared. (The spicy thai proved to be the favorite, btw – and I’ll be making this sometime at home because it was super easy and delicious!). Alice also made a sage and mushroom risotto that was very good, and we made some broccoli. Alice also shared her secrets for using the a Kitchenaid mixer to make butter! We made dill butter that we used tonight on our bread and I found it to be really good on the broccoli, and we made honey butter to use later – especially on the English muffins we bought for breakfast tomorrow.

Wine Tasting

Nick, Alice, and I did not get as early of a start as we had hoped this morning. Alice is still recovering from a cold, and Nick is still recovering from his finals this week. I got up and went for a long walk/run this morning. I pretty much wandered the streets around where Nick and Alice live. It is a neat area and easy to get around in because the streets in one directions are numbered ( 20th, 21t, 22nd, etc) and the streets in the other direction are in alphabetical order (Hoyt, Irving, Johnson , etc). So, I can wander all I want and not really get lost. We headed out a little before noon for the Dundee Hills for wine tasting. Alice drove as she was taking cold medicine and didn’t want to drink. We visited Sokol Blosser first, which is not a winery we typically would have stopped at (we all like the smaller, more family-oriented wineries), but I love their Evolution blend wine and really wanted to go. The tasting room was crazy, but we did get to taste a couple of excellent wines and I purchased a bottle of the Evolution #12 to enjoy later.

We then continued down the road to Methven Family Winery – which was smaller, and we were the only ones there during our tasting. This was quite a contrast to SB which was packed. We again tried some wonderful wines and our pourer was a hilarious guy who kept us laughing the whole time. I love wine tasting in Oregon because they tend to have a good mix of white and red wines. I really only like white wines while Alice and Nick (and most other people) are partial to red wine. It makes tasting more fun for everyone. Methven has a winery cat (as opposed to a farm cat) who enjoyed visiting us.

We then visited one final winery whose name I cannot remember. This winery offered some very interesting wines including a Tempranilla Rose' that was very good. All three of us liked it and Alice and Nick ended up purchasing a bottle. We then took the recommendation of one of the guys at that winery and headed to DaVinci’s in Salem. DaVinci’s turned out to be a great recommendation – Italian food, but not traditional Italian. I had a seafood fettuccini that was wonderful (with shrimp and scallops), Nick enjoyed a pasta with sausage dish and Alice enjoyed a stuffed pork. We shared an appetizer of blue cheese scallops with pears that was incredible! The nice part about the restaurant is that they offered two different sizes of meals so Alice and I could get the smaller one that was more suited for us. All three dishes were incredible and I would add DaVinci’s to my list to visit again.

Nick and I were both in desperate need of haircuts so we decided to head to Alice’s salon to get that taken care of. I really wanted my hair shorter and darker and I totally trust Alice to take that explanation and do a good job. And she did a great job. My hair is now just below my shoulders and not as dark as I pictured it, but I think it was good that I did not do a drastic change – a gradual change will be better. And it is super easy to style and will dry much more quickly than my long hair! Before we got our hair cut, Nick and I walked down the street to grab some hot tea from a cute pastry place that just opened. As Nick tried to hand me my tea it tipped and he ended up burning his hand. It didn’t look that bad in the beginning, but got redder and more irritated as the night wore on.

Corvallis

I visited Oregon State University today. Unlike Salem, I have spent time in Corvallis before. Matt and I stayed there for a night when we were here last year, and I visited Oregon State last spring for Creighton. I met with two advisors in their exercise science department about Creighton. Both appointments went well. I met Stasi for lunch after my appointments and she took me to a fantastic Vietnamese Baguette restaurant. We enjoyed a great lunch and some fantastic conversation. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long, but it was great to catch up with her during my short time in town.

I drove back to Portland and returned my rental car. After I left the rental car facility I had to walk about 6 blocks to pick up the streetcar back to Alice and Nick's. As I was crossing a street, a car made a right turn around a corner and suddenly I was looking straight into the the front of a minivan, with a woman at the wheel who was looking at me like I was in the wrong. Regardless of the fact that the walk signal was lit and pedistrians ALWAYS have the right-of-way. After gathering my heart from the ground, I continued to walk across the street and a guy standing at the corner made several comments about how I had the right-of-way and how he didn't understand why she was so upset with me. Crazy...

On the way back to Alice and Nicks I passed by Cupcake Jones - a wonderful cupcake shop I visited the last time I was in Portland. I picked up their Friday "Happy Hour" special - a set of 6 cupcakes, three of which have a "happy hour" theme. This time I got The Pearl, which is a vanilla cupcake, Chocolate, Chocolate Covered Pretzel, Grasshopper, Lime in a Coconut, and Mocha Mudslide. Nick, Alice and I shared two of the cupcakes tonight and they were heavenly. I'll post pictures once I have the ability to do so. The cupcakes are as pretty as they are delicious.

Nick and I met Alice at Laurelwood for happy hour. We shared nachos (cheap), and a beer, and then we all ended up order dinner as well. I had some chili and some parmesan garlic french fries. I ordered more than I could eat and ended up taking most of the fries home. It was a beautifull night in Portland and we were able to sit outside for happy hour and enjoy people watching and the wonderful Oregon climate.

We enjoyed a quiet night at home watching Michael Clayton - which I had seen but Nick and Alice had not. It is the type of movie that I could watch multiple times, though, because you catch something different everytime you watch.

We have planned a day of wine tasting tomorrow. Unfortunately all of us are tired, so we will have to see what time we get going in the morning.

Portland/Salem

I visited Willamette University today in Salem, OR. I’ve driven by Salem several times during my travels in Oregon, but I’ve never stopped in the state’s capitol city. I enjoyed some NPR on my way down – good liberal commentary J My visit was good. I had a table in their university center and saw a couple of students who passed by. Willamette is a beautiful campus – lots of green space and tons of trees! Gotta love Oregon!

On the way home I stopped at a Banana Republic Outlet and found some great items for work and a sweater for my husband. I’ve been avoiding buying clothes because my size has been changing, but these were items that will continue to fit even if I lose a little more. I’ve been working out while I have been traveling, but my eating has definitely not been as good as it was while I was at home. As long as I can maintain for the next 6 weeks, I’ll be happy and then once I return home I can resume the good work.

I arrived back at Alice and Nick’s to some wonderful smells. Alice was in the kitchen making a potato casserole with sliced potatoes and a wonderful homemade cheese sauce topped with breadcrumbs. She also made a fantastic fennel dip – based off of a recipe that my mom made a couple of years ago for Christmas. Except that she ended up changing just about everything in the recipe except for fennel and bacon. I think it is pretty difficult to screw up dip :) and this was no exception. Nick and Alice’s neighbors Shyler and Devin came to dinner along with their friends Joe and Becca. Devin is a chef at one of the wineries outside of Portland and contributed the chicken for the meal – DELICIOUS! It was incredible chicken to begin with, but was also topped with a fantastic homemade barbeque sauce. We enjoyed some great conversation, a wonderful meal, and lots of laughter.

Day 1 in Portland

Recruitment season has begun for me! I started with an appointment with an advisor at Portland State University this morning. PSU is located right in the heart of Portland - very accessible because the Portland Streetcar actually runs right through campus. This was very convenient for me as I did not pick up my rental car until this afternoon so I had a way to get around after my appointment was over. The meeting went really well - a great way to start of recruitment this year. Better to start off on a high note.

I've been trying to work on decorating my office at work, so I decided that I would pick up a postcard from each university I visit this fall and purchase a shadow box or something like that so I can display them in my office. I also pick up pins whenever I visit universities and I plan to display them in a glass container on my desk. That project is a little more pricey than the first :) I picked up my postcard at PSU this morning, but accidentally bent it so I'll have to pick up another.

After my appointment I took the streetcar, then the MAX lightrail, then the bus to where Alice works at Tiger Tiger on Alberta Street. I was proud that I took a look at a map of the public transportation available in Portland and figured out how to get to Tiger Tiger on my own. I ran down the street to pick up some lunch for Alice, myself, and one of her co-workers from a local bakery. I had a fantastic salad with fresh greens, apples, candied walnuts, blue cheese, and a creamy viniagrette. Fantastic! Alice was not working when I was there, but was having one of her co-workers color her hair. When she was done, she took me to pick up my rental car and I headed to the University of Portland, a Holy Cross school with a gorgeous campus. I took a couple of pictures but I don't have a way to get them off my camera right now so I will have to share later.

My visit at the University of Portland went really well. I saw a couple of very interested students and was able to share some information with some advisors. I love visiting college campuses. I think that is one of the way I know that I have choosen the correct career. I love to see the layout of campuses and see the environement where students are learning - I think it tells you so much about the school and the students who choose to attend school there. The University of Portland is situated just off of a cute little neighborhood in Portland fairly close to downtown, but campus does not feel like you are in a city. The soccer teams were practicing as I was walking through campus - there women's soccer team has won several D-1 National Championships, and the campus has tons of green space. I wasn't able to pick up a postcard here because the did not sell any, but I did take some photos. My cousin, Sam, is currently work at UP as an athletic trainer for the basketball team.

The University of Portland is definitely one of my favorite campuses so far. The most beautiful campus I have seen is Santa Clara University in California, but the University of Portland came in pretty close. I'll share photos of Santa Clara when I visit there next month.

After my visit at UP, I headed back to Nick and Alice's and met up with Alice for some shopping. She is in need of new shoes for her cousin Katie's wedding and has not been able to find any so we headed downtown to visit Macy's and a couple of other places. We did not have much luck, but did run into a completely crazy homeless guy on our way home who was standing in the middle of the street yelling at pretty much everyone. Alice and I had actually seen him earlier today when she dropped me off at PSU. He either walked or jumped on the streetcar at some point during the day because he was several miles from where we had first seen him. There are many homeless people in Portland - mostly because of the mild climate, and most of them mind their own business, sometimes taking money or food from people who walk or drive by. But there are some who are very loud and obviously disturbed. Alice and I have talked about this everytime that I am here because it is hard to see all of the homeless and not want to help each and every one of them. It is however, difficult to know how to react to the ones who are screaming at anyone and everyone in the middle of the street - especially when they are dropping the F-bomb and any number of other vile phrases incessently. I struggle internally with knowing what to do or how to react. I feel I fail miserably at being a compassionate human because it is just "easier" to walk on by.

Our trip was unsuccessful (ie, no shoes for the wedding) and after a quick trip to Whole Foods for some miso for Alice (she has a cold and wanted some miso soup), some grilled veggies for Nick, and some brown rice for me to add with the leftover Thai. Alice did find a pair of shoes at Whole Foods so the trip was not completely unsuccessful. The leftover Thai might have been better than it was the first night :)