Oh where, oh where has little Anna been?! Well, a little bit of ALL OVER the place! I’ve been going 100 mph since the 15th of June and haven’t had more than a couple of minutes to myself to sit down and rest, let alone re-live my adventures yet. Here I am though! Finally! Over the next couple of days I’m going to catch you up on all of my ventures over the last 3 weeks to the present!

My second day in Portland started bright and early after a late night with my friends. For the 3 weeks of traveling being tired was not an option though as I was in “energizer bunny” mode, or so I convinced myself. Anyways, after working bright and early I was in anticipation of Mama Duck’s arrival in Portland! Eeeee! 6 months without seeing your Mom should be illegal. Never again. By mid-day Mama Duck was around the corner and I couldn’t have been more excited!

Once reunited, I made an executive decision that we needed to go to Pine State again, yes again! Besides, how often can you eat fried-chicken heavenly goodness when you live across the country?! Besides, Mama Duck had never been to Pine State so it was a very necessary trip!

Mmm, let me tell you it was just as tasty as the first day! This time I got to get my Pine State Club fix too, which they were out of the day before. 

After our tummies were full of Pine State we decided to head back to some of my old stomping grounds and up by my old apartment. It appears that the people in my old apartment aren’t as pro at decorating as we were and had some funky lamp in the window, other than that not much had changed up there though! I took my Mom up on the Vista bridge for a quick view at the city and then for a little hike up the hill to Washington Park. We actually got to do a couple of things on this trip that I didn’t get to take my Mom to when I actually lived there. Working two jobs, kind of made it difficult to plan all that much for visits last year. All is well though! We went up the hill and then from Washington Park into the Test Rose Garden.

It was so great to finally just be able to hang out with my Mom in person and not via skype! After our trip to the rose garden we headed downtown and onto our next location of the day for my client’s grand opening event of her new store! The event turned out really nice, and her store is incredible! The Portland Ballet was even there to do a performance along with a live band, delicious snacks and wine!

The event was fun too because my Mom’s friend Meredie got to stop by and join us after work! Better yet, after the event and before taking off we headed up to the top of the building to the Portland City Grill (One of my Mom and my favorite places in Portland) to sit down and grab one of their delicious martinis! You get a whole view of Portland’s skyline from up their too, which is definitely worth checking out if you’re in town! Love it!

It was a great day and evening. The best part? I scored a couple of extra days (last minute) and got to go back to Wilkeson and work from home for a couple more days. I couldn’t have been more happy to be able to actually come home. I REALLY needed that. Unfortunately because it was last minute, I didn’t have much time to plan get-togethers or anything, but I really just needed some more quality time with my Mom and to finally see my Dad after 10 months (yikes, another NEVER that long again). 

Fabulous first day in Portland! After working on east coast time I had a free afternoon and evening to adventure! First thing on the agenda? Pine State Biscuits! Perhaps my very favorite place to eat in Portland! thank you Kathy for introducing me to all that is heavenly goodness. Today I got the McIsley, which is a biscuit, fried chicken, honey, mustard, and pickles. One of my favorites! The next time you are near Portland ADD THIS TO YOUR LIST! You won’t regret it. They opened a new location in Alberta too that is so cute and much, much larger than the one on Belmont. All you need to know is it’s pure amazingness and once you have one you will be dreaming about them until you have another one- true story. Anyways, I took a couple of my friends who live in Portland that actually hadn’t been yet yesterday so I have created new ambassadors and set them free. 

After getting some Pine State we headed into the city and went to my old Safeway I worked at! It was so crazy to be back. After being in New York for 10 months everyone’s houses and stores all seem huge! Yes, your house has just been upgraded to mansion status in my mind! Maybe it was just that touch of reality of how small things are in New York, ie. my room has officially been downgraded to the size of a shoebox. It was great to see the old crew though and they are keeping the place up to par. They could work on their apple stacking though.. I’m the best apple stacker on the west side though so I couldn’t expect complete perfection now that I’m not working there. 

From there we walked all over Portland. After living in New York everything seems very walkable! I pretty much walked the entire downtown of Portland last night too. Another observation is how clean and nice Portland is. They always say you don’t really appreciate things until they’re gone and I can kind of understand that now. I love New York don’t get me wrong, but it was fantastic not seeing garbage bags on the sidewalks and everything so well maintained. 

One of the first places we walked to was the Portland University of Oregon campus! Throw back! I had some very necessary business to take care of there though. Stock up on Oregon gear! My school spirit clothes were getting a little worn out so I stocked up on some t-shirts on clearance so I am ready to go for Football season in a couple of months! Like I said, totally necessary. 

Next I was off to the waterfront, Pioneer Place, back to the Pearl, and then up to NW Portland to meet up with friends for dinner and drinks. 

I mentioned in another post I was wondering how it would feel to be back. It was kind of an interesting feeling to be honest. On one hand I know I haven’t been here for 10 months and it kind of feels like a long time, but then again it feels like I was just here yesterday. When we pulled up to my friend Jacob’s house I just walked in like I always did and said, “What’s up Homie” like I was just there the day before. It was great being back with all of my friends and catching up. You know you’re really good friends when you can go 10 months without seeing each other and everything is the same as it’s always been. 

I really love Portland, I love my friends, the city, and I look forward to one day being closer so I can visit more regularly. I’m still very happy with my decision to move to New York though and feel like it’s the right place for me right now.