TV Thursday

Hi all! Not much going on tonight, just enjoying a nice dinner and an evening with Ugly Betty, and the folks of Seattle Grace and Elmo, Alaska. I'm very pleased they moved Men in Trees after Grey's Anatomy. In case you've never watched it, give it a chance. It stars former lesbian Anne Heche, and there's a few hunky men, including James Tupper, who is the lead hunk:

It's a fun show! Have a great night!

Christmas Reading

During the holidays I always like to find some Christmasy reading. I'm especially excited when I can find books with gay characters that are centered around the holidays. So, I thought I would share a few with you.



1. "Looking for It" by Michael Thomas Ford - This book focuses on 7 friends in a small town in upstate New York. Some characters are struggling to deal with their sexuality, others with problems in their relationships, the loss of a lover and finding new love. The characters are very likable, the situations relatable and the writing very smooth and fun. The friends go through this all during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. One of my all-time favorites.


2. "Comfort and Joy" by Jim Grimsley - This book tells the story of a gay couple and the first time they go to one of their family's homes for Christmas. It also gives us insight into their struggles to become and stay a couple. A quick read and a very good one. This story takes place mainly in Atlanta, North Carolina and Savannah. It promises to leave you with plenty to think about.


3. "The Men from the Boys" by William J. Mann - I just read this book last night. It's not totally centered around the holidays but they are part of the story of three friends and their extended gay family. The men (and lesbians) live in Boston and spend much of their time in Provincetown. I especially liked this story because the main character was kind of coming to new realizations about himself in the 90s, and it was in the late 90s and early 2000s that I really felt like I started to really become comfortable with who I am and understand what makes me tick.

There you go. Hope you pick one of them up. If you read one, or have already read one, I would love to hear what you think about it, so shoot me a comment. They also make a nice Christmas present for a gay, or even straight friend. I'm listening to some Christmas music and putting up a few decorations while I wash clothes. Hope you all have a good day!

Moon Over Portland

Seasons

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Let it Snow!

Snow in Downtown Portland. A rarely seen sight.

Go TJ! It's Your Birthday!

I Heart the Oregon Lottery

TJ and I went out for his birthday last night, and luckily tbe Oregon lottery was very good to us. I played my favorite game, Hexbreaker The first time, it was mean to me and I lost $35. But, having the addictive personality I have, I tried again later, and started to win. In fact, we woke up this morning with $400. Wooo-hooo!!! It should have been more, but I think I shoved a few bucks in this stripper's G-string:

Can you blame me? Yum!!! I love shaved-head dudes with facial fuzz. The sad thing is, the trip to this bar is a little fuzzy for me, so I don't really remember shoving the dollars in. I'm told they don't really like you to take pics of the strippers, tho. Whatever!!! We had a lot more fun at our favorite bar, Boxxes, where we watched the Desperate Bitches, played Bingo and ran into some of our cutie friends:

Here's TJ and our sweet Heather, the fabulous Bingo caller. Some dude was sitting next to me for awhile and was saying he liked the Bingo caller from a few years ago, and I reamed him out. Oops. Our lovely and fabulously fav bartender, Dan was also working last night:

God, my head is ginormous. No more sushi for me. And, finally, I took this cute pic of TJ and the lovely and talented Roxie.

We had a lot of fun last night. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Birthday Eve

Hey all! It's the Eve of TJ's Birthday! Unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy brought our dear TJ a toothache for his special day, so we're trying to have a little fun in between the doses of OraJel. Seeing he's in no shape to chomp down a steak, we decided sushi might be soft and chewy enough to keep him from going through the roof.

We went down to Dragonfish, our favorite Sushi restaurant in downtown Portland. It's in the Paramount Hotel, and they have a fantastic happy hour every day from 4-6. We had sake, and all of the food here for $22 with the tip. Not bad. The hotel had its beautiful tree up in the lobby:

We saw the sun this afternoon, but the weather geeks are saying we may see some snow here in the next couple of days. It rarely snows in Portland, so when it does everyone freaks out, which is funny to me being from the midwest where we get buried up to our hind ends. When we got home, I gave TJ his gifts, and his cake, all in a rainbow motif.
TJ blew out his candles and wished that his tooth would quit aching, so I'm going to get out my pliers and a bottle of vodka and take care of things for him. Hopefully, TJ will make it to his birthday tomorrow. Make sure to leave him a little birthday wish! You all have a good week now, hear? I'll tell you how the extraction goes tomorrow.

Sunny Saturday

Hello World! See that strange tint in the sky in this picture - it's blue!!! Actual blue skies and sun! I took full advantage and went traipsing all over the city. Hit the farmer's market for coffee, went downtown to see all the frenzied shoppers, and took the train over to the Lloyd Center Mall for a little shopping of my own. This park is just off the train stop as you walk to the mall. It was a very lovely day. While I was in the mall I saw the sexiest guy. If he would have been on the street or in a bar I would have asked to take his pic, but he was actually shopping with his Mother and Grandmother. How cute is that? He was tall, probably 6' 4" or so, had shiny, dark hair, broad shoulders, long legs and strong arms with several tattoos. He kind of looked like a young Elvis, but edgier and hotter. Yum. After that I needed to cool off, so I walked over to the ice rink. Everyone was having a lot of fun, and they were playing Christmas tunes, which up until now have kind of been getting on my nerves, but there it seemed fitting.

There were a couple of cuties skating, too. Now, you know I'm a big figure skating geek, so to me, few things are hotter than a good looking mansicle doing a few triple flips. You can kind of see one of the hotties on the left side, right behind the first little girl. Now I'm back home watching Moulin Rouge on tv. Thank god for over the top musicals to break up the football, although I will probably watch the Notre Dame, USC game in a couple hours. Maybe Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn will wear this instead of his normal uniform:

I think the ratings would skyrocket! Although I also like the name, and the looks, of USC QB John David Booty.

Who do you think is sexier? Have a great Saturday everyone!

Light it Up

TJ and I made it down to Pioneer Courthouse Square to watch the lighting of the Holiday Tree, or Christmas Tree or whatever it's being called this year. Before the lighting, they put on a little show. Actually it was a lot of babble from the sponsors, etc. Then, it was time for the big moment:

We were right under the tree when they flipped the switch, it was very pretty. So was this cute boy who was watching next to me:

They had a little surprise, after the tree was lit, two members of the Barenaked Ladies came out to sing. The band is in Portland to play the Rose Garden. They had a couple of cute holiday songs.

TJ grabbed this freaky little dude who was pimping Cricket wifi. I think they called them the Cricketeers. Or they were the Freaky Freakersons. Not Sure.

Here's a view as we bolted from the square. There were too many heteros mauling and kissing and lickin' on each other so we had to head to the boy bars to have a few cocktails and erase the breeding from our fragile little minds. We ran into our cute little Patrick, but it was pretty dead. I was hoping for some shopping stragglers or out-of-towners who couldn't handle their families any longer, but no such luck. It was just our sweet and sassy Patrick.

So, home we came to watch bad Friday night tv. Hope you all have a fun weekend!

I Love a Parade

Hey all! Thanksgiving was lovely. All went well at the ex's. We had a delicious dinner, I drank lots of vodka and I was very nice. We got there a little after 3 and left around 7:30 so it was just about the right amount of time. Had to get home to watch Ugly Betty and Grey's. I thought Betty was really sweet last night. For all the hype, I thought Grey's was a little dissapointing. So, after filling my gut all day with food and booze, I wasn't sure I would be able to crawl out of bed and go to Portland's Macy's Holiday Parade, but I was wide awake at 8:15 and ready to hit it. Luckily, I didn't listen to the weatherman as I was heading out the door. He said it would be spotty rain, but it was pouring. Steady, Downpour, Nasty. So, I did my best to get some fun shots, but it's always tricky holding the umbrella, trying not to shake and getting a good shot before your subject streaks by. But, here we go:

This PT Cruiser club was fun! They all had inflatables on the roof.

I felt bad for the bands. They were getting soaked! Of course, I used to march in the Christmas City of the North parade in Duluth, Minnesota when I was in high school. Some years your lips would start to freeze to your horn. No joke.

This was the first year our parade was sponsored by Macys. They recently bought out our local chain of department stores, Meier and Frank. As this was the first time I was able to go to the parade, I can't tell you if it was better or not. The one thing about parades in Portland is that they don't keep them together very well. There are a lot of times when there are 3-5 block gaps in between the action.

This was my favorite float - they had mostly just small balloon-like things, but this one was nice. It had snow flying around it and everything.

Penguin Attack! Run!!! Run!!!

Apparently, this penguin had too much vodka, too.

Rudolph actually has a drinking problem, thus the red nose. Hopefully Santa can talk him into Betty Ford.

Oh my Gosh! Here He Comes!

The Man of the Hour! I missed him the first time around and had to run a few blocks up to get a good shot of the Jolly 'ol elf. Well, that's it for now. The tree lighting is coming up at 5:30. TJ is home from retail-hell now, so he's going to take a nap and I'll bring you the highlights from that later!

Thankful

Oh, I forgot, I'm also thankful for sexy men! Especially sruffy ones with big smiles and brown eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a safe and happy turkey day!

Thankful

It's always important to remember what we have to be thankful for, especially at this time of year. Here are some of mine:

1. Family and Friends. My parents are doing good, a special shout out to my peeps in Brookfield, and of course, TJ.

2. I was able to take a much needed break this year - last year at this time I was miserable working at a place I couldn't stand.

3. I'm looking forward to a possible career move to a great workplace in a city I love (more details on that soon.)

4. I'm thankful for this blog. It's really helped spur my creative urges again. I really enjoy writing, taking pictures and sharing what's going on in my life.

5. Even though the job didn't work out here, I'm thankful for all the experiences I've had in Portland. It was my first time living in and visiting places on the west coast. I've been to L.A., Seattle, Vegas and Hawaii in the last couple of years.

6. I'm thankful that I've gained perspective on life in the last few years. I used to freak out about every little thing, but now I'm much better at dealing with things as they come. Those are just a few things. Make sure you take a little time and remember the people and things you have to be thankful for!

Confessions

Hello all! It's Thanksgiving Eve. What better way to spend it than sharing a little time with Madonna. I've invited a few of her backup dancers over for Turkey Day brunch, hoping they can make it so I can serve the fritatta on their abs. Seeing as we're confessing I will admit to a very tragic day yesterday. You see, on Monday I drank too many Moscow Mules (vodka, ginger beer, twist of lime) so on Tuesday I crawled out of bed around 11ish - and went right to the couch where I layed around all day watching the tube and drowsing. I don't get hangovers very often, but when I get one, I usually feel like crap all day. Luckily, I kept the stomach empty so I did not get sick. Just felt like a dozen pack mules were dancing inside my skull. And, seeing the confessions are pouring out, I might as well admit that the ex called to invite TJ and I to Thanksgiving dinner. At first, it was going to be at his sister's place on the coast. In that case, we wouldn't have been able to go, as TJ works in retail so he's working very late tonight, and he'll be working early Friday am. But, then plans changed and the ex is staying in town. So, as we really didn't have big plans and I don't feel like cooking a big dinner this year, I called today and told him we'll be coming over. I'm sure it will be fine. I am just a very emotional person and holidays are especially sensitive times for me, so I will just have to make sure we don't have too much one-on-one time. And, I will make sure to keep the wine drinking to a minimum. So, while I'm watching Madge I'm baking a beautiful pumpkin torte to bring along. We also picked up a nice bottle of Australian Chardonnay. We're all set.

Afternoon Adventure - Part Deux

From Mt. Tabor, we went to Laurelhurst Park, after a quick stop at the grocery store so we could have a little picnic. This squirrel was very friendly. He kept running right up to me, so I gave him a potato chip. TJ was getting a little freaked out cuz the little guy kept running right at us. I think he was just hungry, or perhaps rabid and crazed. Who knows?

There were a ton of geese, ducks and seagulls.

I liked this dude's 'do. I think I may try this style in the new year.

Turkey duck. She's not the prettiest bird on the block, but you gotta love 'er.

This is a view of the lovely lake. From there we went to a nearby watering hole to have a hot toddy. I've been craving one for about a week now. Then, on to Trader Ho's for a little ginger beer and the liquor store for vodka. You mix those together with a slice of lime and you get a Moscow Mule. Here in Oregon, they only sell hard liquor at state-run stores. It's not like Wisconsin were you can buy booze in the gas station, grocery store, dry cleaners or just about anywhere else. So, Cheers people! The three of us are going to have a few and relax!

Afternoon Adventure - Part One

It was a lovely day today. No sight of rain, plenty of sun, so TJ and I went to pick up Andi and we decided to head to a couple of parks. First stop, Mt. Tabor. The park is built on an extinct volcano, and Portland and Bend, Oregon are said to be the only two cities in the continental U.S. that have an extinct valcano in their boundaries. As you can see, the park also has a few of Portland's resevoirs. The jet of water shooting up is a fountain they just restored and turned on again over the weekend. It is a beautiful park with great views of the city and a lovely scent of pine.

Another view of the resevoirs.

Downtown Portland through the trees. This is from the top of the mountain.

King AJ and his castle. Actually, it was part of the restroom, but it looks cute, eh?

A big, beautiful pine tree and a close up look at its bark.