Highlights from PDX trip.

I forget how much I like Portland, how close it is, how easy it is to get there on the train, and how great it is for getting around on foot. I had a great time there this weekend with Scott. Some highlights:

Zwicklemania Beer Festival: An Oregon Brewer’s Association beer festival. Scott and I only made it to two of the pub open houses because we were distracted by Words with Friends. Portland is a fun city to wander though… lots of pubs within walking distance.

Wanderlust Circus: I keep saying that this show was kind of like Teatro Zinzanni. It was smaller scale though, with better food, and horrible service. Our drinks were comped, which made up for it. And the show was charming.

Japanese Garden: A reminder of how lush the Northwest is, and how close we are to Spring.

We also went to see Avatar on Sunday, along with everyone else who was inspired to see it on Valentine’s Day! The theatre and adjoining mall were packed! After the movie we hit up Ground Kontrol, a mini arcade in downtown Portland. It was full of single men on Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure what to make of that.

Overall, a great breather from the MBA madness!

Happy 2010!

I always say that the previous year was my “best yet”… and 2009 lived up to that. Peru and the start of grad school are the two main things that stick out, other than lots of daily goodness.

I have a few changes to SparklingAllison that I’m planning on officially rolling out this weekend, before school starts up again. Stay tuned for more explanation on that one.

Happy New Year!!

By the way… my favorite Christmas present!

We’re back from Utah, and savoring one last week of Winter break before classes start up again. Our trip was really great, but it’s nice to be home too!

I wanted to share my favorite Christmas present that I got this year. Do you remember this book? It’s probably my favorite (or at least my most memorable) children’s book.

Scott and I had a conversation about this book in early December… He couldn’t remember it, and I went on and on about how Grover is afraid of the monster at the end of the book, and freaks out every time you turn the page. The monster turns out to be him, and then he gets embarrassed. The conversation was totally silly. And the book turned up under the Christmas tree!

Smith family Christmas traditions.

• Decorating sugar cookies
• Neighbor gifts
• A house full of candles on Christmas Eve
• Chili on Christmas Eve
• A designated “Santa” to dole out gifts under the tree
• Egg casserole for breakfast (with orange and banana fruit salad)
• Seeing the lights downtown
• Christmas music
• Ceramic winter village
• Luminarias in front of the house

p.s. I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting… These ones in particular hit me last night and this morning. Lots of memories! ‘Tis Christmas. I’m happy to be here in Utah with my family.

I’ll be in Utah for Christmas.

It is nice to be on holiday break these days! Finals went well enough. And Scott and I have been relaxing since… first in Whistler, and now we’re in Utah visiting family.

Our Utah visit was planned around a big surprise for my parents… Both of my sisters flew in from outside of the country. They knew about my older sister, but my little sister was a surprise. Everyone was sitting around the kitchen decorating sugar cookies when Lou came and knocked on the door. It all worked out really well. (There were tears. Success!)

We’ve been doing Christmas stuff this week. Eating. Shopping. Crafting. Singing! (Yes, singing at a huge sing-a-long held in the Jazz basketball arena.) And Christmas lights in downtown Salt Lake.

Holiday party crashers.

This weekend went by too, too quickly. Why? Holiday parties!

The festivities started this weekend with the Popcap company party on Friday. Scott and I were party crashers of sorts, since, um, neither of us actually work there… Scott did some contract work for them about a month ago, and was invited to the party then. We decided to go and hang with our friends.

The party had a speakeasy theme, and was held at the Georgetown Ballroom. Food was done by Lark and it was awesome. There was an odd ice sculpture. I think the Usnaps.com photo booth was the biggest hit. I love these photos. The female DJ was great too… Overall, one of my favorite outings in a long while.

Gracias a todos!

I was curious this morning what the Google Trend would look like for "turkey recipe”… Predictable, but still fun. See the blip in October? I’m definitely in that boat. I plan way ahead for these things.

I ended up finding and using a different recipe than I did last year… I still used a brine. Whether or not it was a good change is TBD. Oh, and this time I used a cooler instead of a garbage can!

Happy Thanksgiving!