Oregon 2011 - Day 1

When I relocated to the Boston area about 4.5 years ago, I told myself that I would visit home every 6 months. Well, unfortunately, I've been averaging once a year. This year, we didn't think that we would make it to Oregon at all. It didn't make sense for us to fly West in late spring/early summer and then have my friends and family fly East a couple of months later.

Enter fast thinking. We changed things up and decided to visit my family for Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is like Christmas to you guys. Family all around, food up to your eyeballs, and instead of presents, you get lucky red envelopes filled with money. Great idea, I hadn't spent New Years with the fam since I moved here.

Enter slow to book tickets. Jake and some of the guys have started a annual ritual of heading to Florida around February for weekend of golf and bridge. Originally, they had planned to go during Valentine's weekend. But one of the significant others veto'd it. The weekend of Chinese New Year was decided upon and tickets were booked immediately.

So instead, we went two weeks after New Years, just for a couple of days (as opposed to a full week). It was a bittersweet trip. Usually, we run around like chickens with our heads cut off. This time around we just enjoyed what little time we had with family, friends, and each other.

Day 1 - Other than my appointment with the dentist, we had ZERO plans. (Yes, I still see my dentist back home.) We started the day with breakfast at a local chain called Biscuits Cafe. YUM.



Breakfast at Biscuits Cafe.


After breakfast, I visited my dentist while Jake napped in the car. We followed that up with a stop at Jamba Juice. Seriously Boston, get on the Jamba Juice wagon! And without hesitation, shopping at my beloved Nordstrom Rack ensued. There's a Rack here in MA, but it's not the same; the shoe selection just isn't good. I walked away with a beautiful pair of Tory Burch pumps at 50% off. We also made a pit stop at Tiffany & Co. to look for my wedding band.

For dinner, I really wanted to show Jake, McMenamin's Kennedy School. McMenamin's is a local brewpub chain that I HAVE to eat each time I'm home. The Kennedy School is an old school that they took over. Some of the class rooms are individual bars. There's a full service family restaurant on site and a movie theater.

That water fountain is just too cute!

Stay tuned for Day 2.

(All photos were taken by me.)