Finally, a Photo Post: Part One: Travel

Since I finally got the camera situation figured out, I know I owe you some photos.
I haven't been traveling much lately, as I've been moving and setting up my home. (I'm almost done with that. When I finish, I'll post some photos of that, too.) However, I did take a few trips, which I mentioned earlier, so here are the photos.

In November 2010,  I went to Orange County in Southern California to visit my friend Sabrina. Sabrina and I have been friends since the eighth grade: almost 30 years ago. Now we are both grown up. I love Sabrina like a sister. She is beautiful, smart, funny, and a great mom. She is one of my favorite people in the world, can't you tell? It was so fun to visit, and even nicer was the fact that, while it was cold and rainy at home, it was sunny and 80 degrees where she lived.

How beautiful is this sunset?

This is Sabrina's daughter. I call her "The Little Dutch Girl"

My footprints. I'm sort of obsessed with feet. :)

I wanted to stay for much, much longer!

In December, I moved to Oregon to be with Raja so we could plan our wedding and establish our home.  I was sad to leave my students and friends, but I have really missed my home state. We live in the suburbs, so when our planned trip to New York was cancelled due to a huge snowstorm,  we decided to stick close to home and spend a long weekend in Portland, which is, in my opinion, one of the loveliest cities to visit.

Pioneer Courthouse Square, where I spent my misspent youth.

The gorgeous Christmas tree

The courthouse across the square.

This bear fountain is the cutest!

Another view of the bears.

Portland has these awesome water fountains all over downtown.
They are almost always on, and the water is delicious!

The outside of Powell's City of Books, the best bookstore in the city,
and one of the best in the world! A whole city block, four floors,
new and used books. Luckily, they provide free maps inside!

Book shopping goes hand in hand with espresso and pastries.

Inside a fancy downtown mall. Pretty, don't you think?
I love anything sparkly, except vampires. 

This is Mother's restaurant, where we had a fine, homestyle meal.

Not sure this is an official motto, but I agree with the sentiment. 

This is a very famous donut shop in Portland.

This is the line *after* we'd already been standing there for  15 or 20 minutes.
It was cold outside! Luckily, it wasn't raining.

Cold, but cuddly, Raja and I huddle for warmth.

These boxes are cool, but what's inside is better!

We bought tons of doughnuts, including a devil doughnut.
Yes, that maple bar has bacon on it, and the purple one is grape flavored.

Sinuous Snake Woman

Two hip young guys.

The poster for the show. It was an awesome time!

Hope you enjoyed the photos. There should be more coming up soon, especially since Raja and I are getting married in 10 days!

See you soon, until then, be good!