Wonderfulness abounds lately! This past week we have done all sorts of great stuff (and are kind of exhausted, but in a good way):

On Thursday we went to Laura Gibson's record release/potluck with Lee and Pete. It was at The Old Church in downtown Portland, which is a beautiful community space. I brought a plate of Cook's Illustrated classic brownies (no picture, but you've seen them before). Somebody else brought pineapple upside down cake, which is an excellent potluck dish, in my opinion.

Members of the Portland Cello Project played for a little bit while people mingled and ate potluck food, and then we all settled into the church pews and enjoyed some music by Ah Holly Fam'ly and Laura Gibson, of course. Her music is so beautiful, and it was a lovely performance. I'm glad we went.

On Saturday I went to the Museum of Contemporary Craft for the Handmade Nation screening and subsequent crafty panel (if you're in Portland, you should go check out the Mandy Greer installation at the museum--it's amazing!). Handmade Nation was a great documentary, and I left inspired to craft more! Conveniently enough, there was a crafty get together at Susan's that afternoon, and I got to hang out with awesome crafty people from Portland and beyond (and Pearl!) and do some sock knitting. It was a great way to spend the day!

The weather on Sunday was absolutely beautiful, and luckily we spent a good portion of the day outside in the sun. We started out in the morning with a little 5k training (so far so good! It feels good to exercise regularly, and I'm glad to have Ladd's Addition nearby for quiet morning runs with Patrick). Then we rode our bikes down to the waterfront to attend our first ever rally (video snippets can be seen here). The point of the rally was to show support for alternatives to the planned 12-lane Columbia River Crossing bridge. Although some of the speakers used slick politician words that made me roll my eyes (like "boondoggle"), it was a fun time. I was especially impressed by Robert Liberty (a Metro councilman). That guy knows what he's talking about! I hope we're able to find a better solution for this bridge.

We didn't have time to make our own signs, but they were handing out extras at the rally, so I claimed this nice pink sign. If I'd had more time, I would have added a smiley face and some glitter to make it a little more Caitlin-style. We really couldn't have asked for a better introductory rally--we got to lounge on the grass in the sunshine for an hour or so, surrounded by cyclists in cute socks. I kind of felt like I shouldn't be enjoying myself so much--shouldn't we have to suffer to prove our support for the cause?

After the rally, we grabbed a late lunch at Greek Cusina and then rode our bikes to Crafty Wonderland, where we narrowly missed hanging out with our crafty friends. Oh well! We got to see a good number of them at a Blazers get together later that day, so all was not lost. I brought Cook's Illustrated blondies to the Blazers gathering (you have seen them before as well), and we enjoyed Josh's excellent homemade pizza (who knew banana peppers and tempeh were so good on pizza?!) and Sarah's perfect mac and cheese. Good times! Also, I found out that class registration is open for the Summer of Making at PNCA, which includes offerings from Susan, Sarah, Diane, and Denyse Schmidt. Wow! I'm really tempted to sign up for the Denyse Schmidt class, but I suppose we should save some of our money for fixing up this house we live in. The PNCA course is actually a bargain compared to the classes she offers in Connecticut.

Yesterday the beautiful weather continued, so Patches and I followed Patrick out to the backyard while he transplanted our rhubarb and tomato seedlings into milk cartons.

And then we grabbed some burritos at Taqueria Lindo Michoacan (fine burritos, and very affordable!) and ran over to Beverly Cleary School to learn about chickens! After reading a few books on chicken-keeping and attending a coop-building class and tour, perhaps this class was a bit unnecessary, but I enjoyed it. This was my last Urban Growth Bounty class of the spring. I want to learn more!

With all these fun activities, we haven't had much time to spend working on our garden, but I'm hoping we'll make some progress this weekend.

P.S. Have I mentioned lately that we love Portland? We surely do. I'm so glad we moved here!