Portland for the Holidays

Its always so nice to get back to Portland and share some good times with friends
This one was much needed with the holidays approaching and us missing our peeps. A couple of days in the office for me to connect with the Rubicon crowd and  then a weekend to play and enjoy.

We stayed at the Ace hotel, which might be our new favorite home away from home.  Connected to the hip Clyde Common Bar on one side and jen's fav Stumptown coffee roasters on the other side.  One feels quite cool here.  As if the first few days weren't good enough, Brock and I walked in on Thursday evening to find a Hot Toddy Party being thrown on the mezzanine.  Now that's hospitality!

Jen flew in around 6, so after hot toddy's we spent a little time at Clyde Common high on Portland energy and cheaper-than-BC drinks.   Kelly flew in at 8 and after a few mins of reunion hugs, we walked to the pearl to see parfait playing his guitar.  Wow!  we knew this guy was talented but absolutely blown away.  Parfait pours emotion, exudes passion, and im so proud to call him my friend.   the guy is seriously inspiring, lets just say jen bought a guitar 2 days later.

The next day, we shared a great bottle of Italian wine with Brock and Kel that they brought all the way back from their honeymoon in Italia.  The Rubicon holiday party at Roger's house was amazing as it is every year and despite the best laid plans to leave early we still found ourselves the last at the party, calling a taxi around 2 to head for the Montage to fill up on some Spicy & Spold Mac and Cheese.  And Oyster Shooters....Saturday included a very confusing discussion in the car about what to do with our day, but then led to a hole lotta fun!
Bryan inquires "Do you guys want to grab a reggie  from the belmont location, or the cart at the Portland Bazaar?"
Apparently, Brock heard "lets go look at guitars"
Jen heard "lets go to chachacha"
and Kelly heard (of course) "lets go to the bar"
and so, we did what any respectable portlanders living away from portland would do...all of the above!

Reggie Deluxe (of course), a late morning nap, a little shopping (insert guitar purchase here), amazing cha cha cha burritos, a couple of cocktails at Evan's new joint off division and a great evening at BnDs for some PorQueNo take out followed by (what else) nerts.

Also a bit of good news from the Willamette Week we grabbed to read on the plane home.  Apparently Portland has become the toughest rental market in the country.  While that doesn't necessarily spell good things for the city as a whole, it is great news to struggling property owners renting their home while out of the country (us).