think on this...

director park

the rainy season has officially begun.

shoot me now, please.

it's sunny one minute and then dark and gray the next and rains for hours.

there was one of those sunny moments today so i headed downtown and ended up in director park.  i lucked out with parking and scored right away.

i walked around and checked out the park.  which really means, a big stone block.

in the middle of the stone "park" is a glass food place called violetta.  it's a local burger joint that uses only fresh, local ingredients.

i was just happy to see the sun...

good things must come to an end....

sadly, lee (my sissy) is leaving tomorrow for her next rotation in medford, or.  she's spent the last couple of days packing and preparing to be gone again.  it's been nice having her here the last 5 weeks.

but it must end....

so we decided to go out to dindin.

this was only after having to take sophie (the high maintenance golden retriever) to the vet today because of her scratching problem.  she has had fleas lately despite our best efforts to keep frontline on her.  so the vet said to spray the house with some toxic crap and give her a ton of pills.  lovely.

of course we had to leave the house and this was an excellent excuse to go out and try a new place.

with the dogs in tow.

lee found this place in the NE called lovely's fifty fifty.  it's a small, locally owned place that serves wood-fired pizza using only fresh, local ingredients.  and homemade ice cream.

apparently people love it.  and so did we.

it's a cute place on n. mississippi.

i got the margherita pizza and it was fantastic.

lee had a pizza with winter squash, bellwether ricotta, arugula, sage and brown butter.

a little sweet for me but definitely delicious.

we then had to try the ice cream.  fudge and salted caramel.

i think we died.

tomorrow, back to reality.

voodoo doughnuts

after my lack of sleep at the sleep clinic, i headed downtown to walk around and waste time.

i then remembered that we've (sissy and i) been talking about getting my dad a t-shirt from voodoo doughnuts.

my dad doesn't collect anything, he doesn't like sports and he doesn't drink, therefore, gifts are a prob.  what he does like, is t-shirts.

voodoo doughnuts is apparently famous.  it's been on tv and there is always a line down the block.  i had never been because i'm not a doughnut fan.  

i braved the line all in the name of a gift for pops....

only to find out they didn't have any in his size.

seriously!? 

i wasn't leaving there empty handed so i bought 1 doughnut.

i asked for the simplest, plain one they had.  he suggested the devil's food cake glazed.

they have many crazy flavors on the menu but i'm not a big sweets person.  luckily the doughnut wasn't very big.  and sadly it took my 3 days to finish it.  

but it was damn good....

somebody's watching me....

in an ever growing attempt to get my money's worth from my health insurance company, i've been referred to a slew of specialists.

partly because i moved and had to find new doctors here and get established as a patient.

and partly because, well, why not.

my latest referral was to a sleep specialist.

i've never been a good sleeper.  ever.

i've also never felt like i've gotten a good night's sleep.

it's always taken me hours to fall asleep, i awaken throughout the night and i'm always tired.

so, off to the ohsu sleep disorders program i went.

i saw a great doctor who suggested i do a sleep study.

the next night.

they do the studies in a hotel down by the river.

sweet.

except for the fact that someone is WATCHING AND RECORDING YOU ALL NIGHT LONG!

i checked in at 8pm.  a tech came around at about 9 and hooked me up to a million wires.

i had things hooked to every part of my body.  and they expected me to sleep??

luckily the doc gave me an ambien.

i still didn't sleep well though.

i was glad to be discharged early the next morning.

too bad i won't know the results for about 4 weeks.  but what can i expect when the tests yield about 1200 pages worth of data?

footloose

foot.

feet.

pain.

i've had chronic foot pain since the 9th grade.  

every step i've taken since then has hurt to some degree.

granted, it has varied over the years but it still sucks.

i've seen so many foot doctors over the years hoping for a cure but it has yet to happen.  

i saw another one last week and i'm hoping he's the one.

after x-rays he determined i had a heel spur you could hang coats off of.

lovely.

it's gotten so bad and inflamed that i have a list of things i have to do and then if that doesn't work....surgery.

i was given a ton of information, waited around a lot and had foot molds made.

and then.... i was given this to sleep in.

seriously?!  am i being punished?! 

multnomah falls