Raven in Town!- Jan 24-27, 2013

Brandy had been excited for months when she found out Raven would be making the trip from Miami for a visit to Portlandia on her birthday and she definitely showed her a good time.  Cosmic tubing on Mt. Hood, Voodoo Donuts, good eats, Mississippi and Hawthorne, and a great b-day party.  Still not enough time to share all the glory of PDX.

Lady Gaga Monster Pit- Jan 15, 2013

Khahn scored us tickets to the sold-out Lady Gaga concert and I was determined to dress with more fishnet and feather this time around.  Brandy had an amazing outfit complete with a fishnet fascinator and ginormous earrings.  We got randomly selected at the door for a free upgrade to the Monster pit which is in the center of the circular stage that Gaga performs on.  Awesome!  It was a fantastic concert with fun peeps and a great view.

Home for NY and Mommy's 60th B-day- Dec 29-Jan 2, 2013

ADPi House

Allen Fieldhouse

 I was so excited to go home for New Years and get to help my mom celebrate her 60th birthday.  It'd been over a year since I'd been home.  Brandy got to see my high school, Lawrence and KU, meet the fam, and the gloriousness that is Wichita.  My mom had a great time at her party which most of her friends were able to attend.  It was fantastic.

Xbox Karaoke at Khahns- Dec 27, 2012

It wasn't quite Voice Box, but we had a great time at Khahn's making fools of ourselves with her American Idol game.  Britt was an excellent bartender as usual, though I was on call, so no imbibing for me.  Brandy serenaded Khahn passionately and Britt showed off her rapping skills.

Xmas with Brandy- Dec 25, 2012

At first I was disappointed that I wouldn't be going home for Christmas this year (crazy airline ticket prices!), but it turned out to be a wonderful Xmas.  Brandy and I hit up Peacock Lane with it's National Lampoons style street of lights, watched The Hobbit in 3D, and had a lovely dinner at Salty's.  Wonderful.

Crystal's B-day Din- Dec 20, 2012

Crystal's had a big year-- coming back to Portland, getting married, living with Ben-- but her b-day was pretty low-key and really nice.  Her parents were in town and so her mom made Chili and we had St. Cupcakes...yum.  Plus Ben taught us how to eat cupcakes to maximize the frosting... take off bottom and sandwich the frosting on top...Genius!

Pentatonix- Dec 18, 2012

So Kim and Lisa and I all loved the Sing-off and getting a chance to see Pentatonix live was an amazing experience.  So talented!  I took Brandy and although she was skeptical about acapella at first and even joked with her coworkers about it, I think she was converted.  It was also cool to have so many of the other shows contestants at the show.   An all-star crowd.  Really sad that the show was cancelled.

The Nutcracker- Dec 19, 2012

Brandy loves going to the Nutcracker every year and I fell asleep during the 2nd have last time I went with the Woods and Lees in Cincy, so I was excited to go again this year.  Sara joined in and we barely made the show, but it was fun!  Next year we'll get more dressed up and maybe go on a weekend where we're not all rushing from work.

Holiday Baked Goods and Santa Pub Crawl- Dec 15, 2012

Brandy is an amazing baker and so she showed off her skills at her holiday baked goods exchange.  We all got a huge share of treats (and so did Mogli).  The holiday drinks were flowing too and good times were had by all.  We capped off the night with the Santa pub crawl.  Luly and Billy had fantastic santa outfits and it was a ton of fun seeing all the costumes people came up with.

Fellows and Cazden- Dec 6, 2012

Our yearly Cazden lecture is an opportunity to infuse new knowledge in our program and our lecturer this year Dr. Berger flew in from Wisconsin to discuss sudden cardiac death and single ventricle follow-up.  It's also a chance for the fellows to dress nice and hang out a little.

OMSI Zombie Night- Nov 28, 2012

OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) after Dark is a monthly event geared towards adults to explore the facility.  There's food and drink and this month's theme was Zombies.  Brandy was super excited to go and we met up with Luly, Billy, Esther, and Nicole.  Unfortunately there wasn't too much Zombie stuff, but we watched an Imax rendition of the Mayan end of the world and got to explore the regular exhibits.  My favorite was the National Geographic photography exhibit.  A mix of powerful images and sheer beauty.

Saturday Wine Tasting- Nov 24, 2012

Kelsey is a huge fan of Iota Winery and so she gathered us all together to head out to the wine country for their one tasting of the year.  It was a pretty drive and the small tasting was informal and yummy.  Brandy was our DD since she doesn't like wine and we headed to a couple other tastings before heading back to the city.

Thanksgiving Misfits 2012!- Nov 22, 2012

Flights back to Wichita were ridiculous for Turkey Day this year, so I ended up sticking around and having delicious food and fun with some great misfits who were also in town.  We hosted at the house and Jamie Spatckcocked the turkey (very cool technique where the turkey is filet-ed open to speed up the cooking time and flavor absorption.  The kids watched movies and decorated cookies, while we "adults" ate and played games.

Haleiwa Layover- Nov 20, 2012

It's become a new tradition of sorts for us to rent a car and head out to the peace and quiet of Haleiwa on our 8 hour layover in Hawaii.  We stopped off for brunch before pick up seashells along the shore and of course, heading to our favorite spot, Matsumoto's for oversized Hawaiian shaved ice.  Beautiful.