Break in vacation blogging...

I have much more to blog about vacation, but I'm being really slow about it. There are so many things going on right now, and I'm trying to be attentive to myself.

With that being said, I made a huge decision this past weekend. I'm going to go to law school starting in Fall 2010. Which means I have to take the LSAT in February (with a possibility of taking it in June also, depending on score). I am trying to set my schedule up to accomodate this, and went and collected LSAT study books from the library. I will be purchasing some soon too.

I still need to find a place to study for the LSAT, because I really just can't do it at home (I know myself too well). I will clearly have to sacrifice some sleep for this endeavor, but I think it's been a long time coming. I'm very excited, but also very nervous. This is going to be a very trying and difficult time, but I know it will be worth it.

Please bear with me while I start this new journey!!!

Vacation - Sushi Belt

On the way to the coast on Monday of vacation, we had to stop for lunch. Our destination? SushiLand in Clackamas. AKA the sushi belt. This is an amazing idea and I wish we had one here!

Below is the sight when you walk in...

Here is the menu - these were on the tables so you could find out how much each plate would cost, and also so you could tell what was what...

Here are some of the plates we got - salmon, eel, and california rolls. We had lots more, as you'll see further down...

The other very cool thing was that we were able to watch an entire salmon be filleted and deboned with amazing precision...here is the salmon before it produced many yummy pieces of sushi!

And this is the culmination of what Eric and I ate - just the front two piles. For both of us it cost around $20 - not a bad deal at all!

Vacation - Powell's Books

I am so sad I didn't get to spend more time at Powell's Books. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have more books than I know what to do with. This place was HEAVEN for me. It is one city block in downtown Portland, OR. Rooms are separated into different colors - Rose was Children's, Blue was Fiction, Orange was Travel, and there were many others. They even have a Rare Book room - which had a copy of "Le Petit Prince" for $13,000. Sigh...

I did come back with a t-shirt (yes, I understand that a t-shirt from a bookstore constitutes me as a big dork). We also got a water bottle for a friend of ours, and a couple of books. It was a beautiful sight to behold...

Vacation - Stepping Stone Cafe

On Saturday, July 11th, we took a plane from Grand Rapids to Portland, OR (via Atlanta - yeah, I know, out of the way!) It was a long enough trip between Atlanta and Portland for me to watch two movies (Watchmen and Sunshine Cleaning).

We stayed at a friend's mom and stepdad's house in West Linn for the trip, and after we all got there, embarked on breakfast on Sunday morning. We hit the Stepping Stone Cafe in Portland. Eric and I are big fans of the Travel Channel show "Man v. Food". Adam visits Portland in one of the shows, and visits 3 places while there - Stepping Stone, Voodoo Doughnuts, and Salvador Molly's.

Eric and I outside waiting for a table...

Their menu...

Some of the decorations inside!

One of the things that really caught our eye were the Mancakes that Stepping Stone serves. They are 13 inch pancakes that are monstrous! You can get an entire stack for $4.50. Before we even left for our trip, I knew that we would order one stack of Mancakes, add blueberries, and have a side of bacon with it - for the two of us.

The Mancakes hang over the edge of the plate...we asked for extra plates!

It was like eating a piece of cake!

These were soooo yummy. Between the two of us, we ate the bacon and also half the Mancakes - we took them back to the house to eat later, but because we were gone a lot of the rest of the week, we didn't end up eating them. I highly recommend taking a trip here for breakfast - they have bunches of great food. But, we also had lots more yummy food along the way...

I'm working on catching up on blogs about our vacation, so keep an eye out!

This week...

I really mean to blog on my trip. But, I'm trying to get lots of stuff done this week too. My apartment is still a mess - I've been looking for stuff and finally found it. Cleaned my kitchen a bit and I've watched two movies so far this weekend. I also feel like I've caught up on some much needed sleep.

Still left on the docket this weekend - finishing a book (I'm sooo close!) and rearranging the living room area to throw stuff out and put it away...

I'm baaack....

And it's a lazy day. After we got back from the airport last night around 11pm, we realized we would probably be up for awhile, due to the time change. Around midnight, we decided we were hungry, and went on an excursion for food. In Muskegon. After midnight...do you realize how hard this is? We called two bar/restaurants before leaving the house, and their kitchens closed at 11pm and midnight. We drove over to Wendy's by Meijer, and it was dark! Then we drove to the McDonald's near our house, and sat in the drive thru for a few minutes, but apparently, even though the lights were on, no one was home!

So, we ended up at the McDonald's on Apple Avenue, which I was 99.9% sure was open. And it was. Thank goodness - there's not really any food in the refrigerator, and we had only eaten one meal throughout the day.

Moral of the story - hope you're not in Muskegon and hungry after midnight...

Be prepared

I will be on vacation next week. Yes - an actual vacation where we go somewhere and everything! We'll be heading out to Portland, OR with our friends Steph and Kevin and like all vacations I go on, I'll probably need a vacation from the vacation afterwards!

Eric picked up a Seattle guide the other day, and I picked up a Portland guide last night. I already have many pages earmarked (with little sticky notes) for restaurants and other places I want to hit up. We travel most of the day on Saturday, and Sunday is full of fun, including breakfast at the Stepping Stone Cafe (for mancakes!!! - see what happens when I let Man v. Food on the Travel Channel help me plan trips?) and Powell's Books (I never claimed to be anything but a nerd). We have trips planned to the Oregon Coast and Seattle. We've even got plans to take in the new Harry Potter movie at the IMAX (of course).

I'm getting my camera ready for pictures - lots of them. The majority of them will probably be of food. Mmmm, doughnuts...did I mention we're going to Voodoo Doughnut? (Yet another Travel Channel find). Hmmm, is it time to go yet???!!!