I feel like it has been forever since I've updated, but I guess it hasn't been that long. I just haven't done much of note in the past few weeks. The weather turned cold suddenly last week, and I just want to bundle up in blankets, eat oatmeal for breakfast, and be lazy. And once I get tired of that I think I'll bake a pie. Somebody emailed me about the lemon meringue pie in this entry earlier today, and now I want a big slice of lemon meringue pie. It looks so billowy and delicious!

So, what to tell? Both our front and side porches are currently under construction. We're having the floor of our front porch replaced because the boards were rotting, and we're having our side porch completely rebuilt because it was pulling away from the house and generally rickety. I'll post some before and after pictures once the job's done. Patches seems happy with the progress being made on the front porch so far. Plus we know it will hold at least a cat, so that's encouraging!

This past weekend, Tree came to town to run the Portland Marathon because she's a total badass! Her sister Ashly came down from Seattle and stayed with us, and she brought us cupcakes as a thank-you gift. Yes!

Ashly and I cheered on Tree at the marathon start, and then we did the KP 5-mile run, which went along part of the marathon course. This was the fanciest organized run I've done--there were timing chips for our shoes and live bands (including the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers!) every mile or so, and so many great volunteers! I tried drinking water while running, but that didn't work so well, and I ended up spilling it all over myself instead. And then I felt bad throwing a half-full cup of water on the ground as I ran past the volunteers, but I guess that's how it's done.

About 1.5 miles into our run, we ran past the marathoners, and we got to see Tree again and cheer her on some more! And then after we finished our run and cleaned up, we headed back to the finish line to see Tree one more time. She did a great job! We got there early, so while we were waiting, we cheered on all of the other marathon finishers. Many of them had their names printed on their race numbers, so I got to personalize my cheering a little bit. Some people seemed to appreciate having strangers cheer for them, and some just looked confused or peeved. But they had just run 26 miles, so I was not offended by any dirty looks.

Even though the 5-mile run was a little shorter than what Patrick and I usually do on Sundays, I was extra tired and sore afterward, and I didn't even run that fast! I think it was a little more uphill than our usual route. Plus we clapped and cheered for a full hour after our run. That's grueling work! I don't think I'm cut out for marathon running :)

Incidentally, Patrick didn't do the 5-mile run with us because he was doing his first big cyclocross race! You may recall that we went to a cyclocross event last fall, and I enjoyed all of the food. He went to a few more races in addition to the one I wrote about, and he decided that he'd like to try it out. He bought a cross bike (and sold his track bike, to keep the balance of bikes in the house even), went to a few clinics before the season started, and practiced carrying his bike and falling down in the park near our house. And now he's racing! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to watch him race yet because of various timing/location conflicts, but hopefully I will soon! I'm proud of him for trying something new, even if it means a few extra bruises and scrapes. I want to make him some sort of wacky racing outfit, but he doesn't seem interested :)

The weekend before the marathon and cyclocross excitement, we spent a good amount of time out and about. Patrick dropped me off at Knittn' Kitten for a little while, and I found some great things, including some classy vintage sewing pins and a bias tape maker!

We also got this cute vintage corner bookcase at Portico for cheap. I'm not sure whether I want to paint it a lighter color or leave it as-is.

That night, we biked down to Sellwood via the Springwater Corridor and Oaks Bottom Wildlife Preserve, had dinner at A Cena, and then caught a show at The Woods. If you go to A Cena in the summer you should definitely get the agnolotti (stuffed pasta with sweet corn filling, mascarpone, and lobster). The rest of our dinner was nice but unremarkable, but the agnolotti was super good. We need to get back there next summer (or sooner).

We arrived at The Woods pretty early and grabbed a seat on one of the comfy couches. We bought a goblet of snack mix (which turned out to be a boring pretzel-heavy mix; not Chex mix--a minor disappointment) and watched MBilly, Billygoat, and Frontier Ruckus perform. We hadn't heard of any of them before; I just wanted to take Patrick to The Woods since I enjoyed it so much during MFNW. Billygoat was crazy--it was two guys who had created a very involved animation, which they projected above the stage, and then they played the score to it live on all sorts of wacky instruments. Totally not what I was expecting. They were my favorite act of the night, just because they were so unique.

Seating had really filled up by the time Musee Mecanique took the stage, and I was getting sleepy, so we headed home after one song. Hopefully we'll have another chance to see them perform, since I think I'd like their music. It was a beautiful (if chilly) ride home, under the stars. Oaks Amusement Park looked pretty all lit up.

Okay, enough writing. Back to my blankets and oatmeal!