The Verdict is in...

So today I had my 90 day review with my supervisor at work... it went SO WELL! It was so great to hear someone point out my strengths. Apparently I am too hard on myself though. Something to work on. I really value the opportunity to sit down with my supervisor for an hour and a half to discuss my job, my work performance, my strengths, and my challenges. I seriously have the best supervisor ever. I love my job. I love the daily challenges. I love the families I serve. I love my co-workers. It's great! That's all...

We had visitors!

No one was more excited to see Grandpa Kyle, Mimi, and Cameron than Daphne. Daphne LOVES Grandpa Kyle. We were so thrilled to have them come visit us this past weekend and show them our neck of the woods.

We first saw them for breakfast on Friday at one of our favorite places in our neighborhood, the Stepping Stone Cafe. Daphne gave Grandpa Kyle a Valentine card she made him and a rose to Mimi that she had taken from her toy collection. We had a great breakfast- John got the "diarrhea omlete" (a.k.a. the Smothered Bad Ass omelet... it IS really good though) and I had biscuits and gravy. Daphne had a mancake! Plenty of leftovers!

Kyle, Mimi and Cameron had to take off after that to Dayton Washington until the next day, so we didn't see them again until Saturday night. John recommended this neat hotel that is not far from our house. So we walked there to meet up and then took the street car to a restaurant for dinner. We decided to take them to Deschutes Brewing Co since Portland is pretty well known for it's microbrews. The wait was an hour (!) so we walked around for a bit and ended up in a Whole Foods. We were making our own trailmix to hold us over til dinner, when our buzzer went off and we hurried back to the restaurant. We had a great dinner together- fun times. We headed back to our place, chatted and had some tea. We were all getting pretty tired, so the Terry's went back to their hotel.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and brought some eggs and bacon over to their hotel to complete the continental breakfast the hotel provided. Yummy! After that we took a stroll around the neighborhood and showed the the highlights of the cool area we live in. We ended up at a park, played for a while, chatted, and then walked back to their hotel to say good-bye.

It was such a fun long weekend with PERFECT weather! We sure miss them and are super glad they came to see us. Can't wait to see you guys again!!!

Healthy Post for Friday

Again, this isn't an actual picture... camera issues- remember?

Anyway- John is studying for the bar pretty much every minute he is not working. He has so much on his plate and I am so proud of him and all the hard work he is doing. Keep going honey! I know you can do it!

ANYWAY. That being said- given this situation, I honestly am SO tired from having to take care of all household responsibilities and Daphne every night , I do not have the energy to do the amount of exercise I would like. So I am trying to put forth a little extra effort in ways that don't take up too much energy. Things like counting my calories, parking a little further away from my destination so that I have to walk, etc.

Also, I brought my stability ball to work! I use it as my chair now. And you know what? It's harder than I thought. It actually is using a lot of my core strength to keep me stable. It's amazing. My back is also feeling much better since I started doing this. It's pretty amazing- try it out if you get the chance!

Dance Class

Sorry there isn't an actual picture, we're experiencing camera difficulties.

At Daphne's school, a dance instructor comes by once a week to teach a dance class. You can sign your child up, and they go off with the instructor for about 45 minutes. The kids get to change into pretty dance outfits and everything. I was all about this idea as soon as I noticed they offered it at Daphne's school.

Daphne has been attending this school since the end of November. We've been a little reluctant to enroll her in the class, just because of the cost. But a couple weeks ago John and I said "screw it" and decided it was about time she started dance class.... that, and Daphne's teacher told us that when all the other little girls changed into their dance clothes and went off to the class, that Daphne would ask to go to Dance class too. Talk about peer preasure!

Last week I was able to stop by Daphne's school during dance class. I asked the instructor if I could watch and if Daphne could try it out before I enrolled her. Luckily she said yes. That dance class is the cutest thing I have ever seen. The kids are taught all kinds of basic ballet steps, leaping, tumbling, dance routines... everything!

The following weekend we ventured out and got her her very own light pink leotard (with a little skirt attached) and pink tights. I have yet to find ballet shoes- that's my next task. So this week was Daphne's first week attending dance class with all her little friends, decked out in her dance gear.

When I was 4, my mom enrolled me in ballet. She said it was because I was too out of control, and apparently ballet straightened me right up. Who would have ever thought that all a 4 year old needed was structure?

Anyhoo- I feel like Daphne is following in my footsteps a little :-)

Stepping Stone Cafe

This, this is Stepping Stone Cafe. It's approximately 1/2 a mile away from our house... or four blocks. It takes us about 10 minutes to walk there from our house with Daphne. This has been a favorite of mine since we moved into the neighborhood.

It's pretty much your average whole in the wall breakfast diner. Lots of greasy food at low cost. The burgers are good, the coffee is fantastic.

It features the classic diner counter where you can sit to get prompt service from a young man with a scraggely beard and tattoos- who will probably spill the coffee a little bit when refilling your mug.

Best of all, they have tall boys for $1.75.

One of my favorite things about this place is their Man Cakes. Pancakes bigger than the size of the plate. You could get 3 for $4.50. And they are delicious. John, Daphne and I could not eat a whole stack by ourselves. For those that can eat 3 Man Cakes by themselves, they are eternalized on the "Wall of Shame"- polaroid picture on the wall.

Now... why I say "you COULD get 3 for $4.50", is because you can no longer get 3 for $4.50. It is now EIGHT DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS for 3 Man Cakes. Why? Because the television show Man Vs Food from the Travel Channel visited the Stepping Stone Cafe and did a little segment. They featured the Man Cakes... and the last time we went to the diner, I asked the waiter why the increase in the price of the Man Cakes. Apparently after the show aired, the diner's business doubled due to those who are traveling far and wide to attempt to conquor the Man Cakes.

Not cool. Not cool.

Oh well.

This place is still amazing.

Except for the fact that their Smothered Bad Ass omelet; an omelet that consists of chicken fried steak and hashbrowns, onions, jalepenos, and cheddar cheese on the inside and then smothered in gravy, gave me diarrhea. But I'd still order it again.

Baklava Salmon

I made this salmon recipe for Christmas of 2008, and I've never been able to forget how good it is. I decided to make it over the weekend and it was as good as I remember. Here's the basic run down of this recipe:

Ingredients

1/4 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons whole grain mustard or Dijon mustard (or your favorite)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped
4 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
4 (4 ounce) salmon fillets
fresh ground pepper
kosher salt
1 quartered lime or lemon (optional)

Directions

1)Preheat oven to 400°; Line shallow roasting pan with non-stick aluminum foil, or spray with non-stick pan spray.
2)In small bowl, blend butter, mustard, and honey, set aside; in another bowl, mix together bread crumbs, nuts, and parsley.
3)Place salmon fillets on prepared pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and brush with honey-mustard mixture; sprinkle tops with crumb/nut mixture; if any remains, press into sides of salmon.
4)Bake salmon 12-15 minutes in preheated oven, or until it flakes easily with a fork, serve with lime or lemon wedge.

Green beans make a great side to this delicious fish!

Healthy post Friday

This is what I did today to be healthy:

Breakfast- smoothie, which contained frozen raspberries, juice, yogurt and a banana, and a blueberry flaxseed muffin.

Lunch-pita and hummus sandwhich with tomoato, spinach, and turkey.

Dinner... probably something totally unhealthy from a local brewery and tons of beer.

Eh... you can't be perfect ALL the time.

I'm trying really hard though to eat light, since my workouts have been totally sporatic. My jogging and yoga is kinda on hold right now while John is studying for the Oregon bar. Aside from work, I pretty much cook, clean, and take care of Daphne 100%. Who has energy to work out? Not me! Soon though.

Work post Wednesday

This job is insane. Not in a bad way though. There is just a lot to learn. Being that it is a federally funded organization, there are TONS of performance standards to adhere. Tons meaning over 800. I only know of one woman that supposedly knows all of them.

This job is so intricate, it boggles my mind all the time. I have had about 10 trainings so far... all about something different, yet important. Yesterday a coworker and I had a training with two other gals who were fairly new to the organization as well. As the training went on, we all started to look more and more overwhelmed. The coordinator who was doing the training stepped out and I shared some advice with the other gals that I had received from a different coordinator who has worked with the organization for almost 3 years. She told me that you don't learn this job until about your 2nd or 3rd year of employment. I value that advice. Especially those moments when I need to know which form that I've never seen needs to be filled out for a task that I've never done before and then sent to some person in some department I've never even physically seen.

So I shared that with the others. A minute later the coordinator came back in. I think she saw we looked overwhelmed. She said to us, "you know, you just don't learn this job until about 2 or 3 years in."

Thanks for the advice!