Per aspera ad astra

Phew. Work travel for the spring is now over. Have been hopping from Houston to Kansas, Spokane, Seattle and Portland over the past month and I’m glad to have some downtime. Here are some photos from my most recent trip to Portland to visit students.

The library at Portland State University. Beautiful, green campus.

To celebrate my visit and grad school graduation, my friend’s parents took me out to the delicious Chart House Restaurant- my spiced fresh yellowfin ahi was incredible, but the view was even more so. (You can barely make out Mount Saint Helens in this shot, but both it and Mount Hood were visible in person- along with the entire Willamette Valley ). I may or may not have had the Hot Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert- Godiva chocolate liqueur, molten center, chocolate sauce and Heath Bar Crunch… yeah.

They even told the waiter I had graduated- check out that personalized menu!

These flowers were all over campus at PSU and Oregon State. Funky, no?

Green, green, green everywhere- I love it! Fortunately, Houston is well on its way to being sticky-hot and the magnolia outside my apartment is in full bloom. It’s nice to be back.

With work travel over for now, of course I’m already set for my next trip for fun! I’m going out to Colorado for Memorial Day weekend to see my recently-wed friend and former roomie and to run in the Bolder Boulder 10K. With two 5Ks under my belt, I should be set, right? I’m a little nervous about the altitude change and the fact that (thanks to travel and living in Humid-ston) I haven’t run outside much in the past few weeks. Wish me luck!

Just a quickie today. It’s been warm here in Texas for a while, but I finally caved and turned on the a/c this weekend. Temps are getting closer to the 90s this week and I have been craving lighter, but still delicious meals (also, more chilled wine and drinks- so the calories balance out ). Tonight I made this recipe for a Shrimp & Strawberry Salad from New Orleans Food & Fun. I got the shrimp fresh from the farmers’ market and the strawberries/spinach from Central Market. Wish I’d picked up some pecans, but still- yum!

Continuing the bad pun from the last blog, may I proudly introduce my newest love. Meet Anya.

Oh hi there. Anya is a beautiful calico that I adopted from the shelter. She’s between 1-3 years old and, as a polydactyl (6 fingers on her front paws; 5 on the back) is a bit of a freak. An adorable one, at that.

Likes: Snuggles; naps; bird-watching [also: water; greeting me when I get home from work; laser pointers]

Seriously, though, she’s so much fun. Incredibly affectionate (it’s tricky to take photos when she’s constantly trying to hop up and cuddle) and playful without being (too) schizophrenic.