Portland...gotta love it!

There is a TV show called Portlandia. It's a couple who do a bunch of random skits that show the culture of Portland. You can watch some of their skits on YouTube, and when I first moved here I watched a few of them and laughed and of course assumed that they were exaggerating the truth a bit.
Here is one you need to watch

Funny and ridiculous right? That's what I thought for a while, then one day I was walking down the street and overheard two girls having a similar conversation.

Girl 1: ...and I refused to eat it because they couldn't tell me anything about it. I seriously doubt any of their stuff is local.
Girl 2: I know! That's why you need to try this other place, they do everything local.
Girl 1: Really? Because I refuse to eat any meat unless I know where it's from, what it ate, how it died, and it has to be 100 percent organic and local.
Girl 2: Totally! I can't stand it when....

That's when they turned the corner.

I sat there waiting for the light to turn and wondered how a city not too far on the map seemed like it was from the other end of the universe.

I know a man, a man with the power....

I've had a few people ask me about the world famous Voodoo Doughnuts. Well, I went there this morning. I walked a mile to get there, got my doughnuts, and walked a mile back home. I could smell the doughnuts two blocks away and there was a line outside the door. Somehow just the name wants you to go a get a doughnut. I wonder if it works with everything. I could open up a sandwich shop called Voodoo Sand-Witch. Or I could have a dog walking service called Voo-Doodoo pick-up.

Ok, so those ideas might not make me a millionaire.

Voodoo Doughnuts are very unique doughnuts. Most doughnut shops have maple bars, but Voodoo Doughnuts have maple bars with bacon on top. Other doughnut shops put sprinkles and nuts on their doughnuts. Voodoo Doughnuts puts cold cereal and candy on top of their doughnuts. They even have a doughnut in the shape of a voodoo doll!

I, of course, had to get a voodoo doll. 

And although I had only planned to get only one doughnut, my eye caught a doughnut with cap'n crunch on top. That is my all time favorite cereal. I like it so much that I never buy it, because if I do then I eat the whole box in one day. So, I got a second doughnut. (It just might be my screen, but these pictures are looking a lot darker then they did in photoshop)

Isn't the voodoo doll so cool? There is even a pretzel  representing a pin in a real voodoo doll! And the voodoo doll is filled with a raspberry filling that gushes out when you bit into it. 

There is something about eating food that have heads. It is just way too tempting to bite their heads off!

So I did.

If that's not enough, they also marry people there. I'm not kidding. They even have different wedding packages. For a price they will make a wedding cake out of doughnuts. Forget Disneyland, I think it is every girl's dream to get married at Voodoo Doughnuts. 

If you would like to see a voodoo wedding there are lots on youtube. Just search voodoo doughnuts wedding.

PORTLAND!

I have arrived!
On Wednesday I moved to the beautiful city of Portland. It was a long, but gorgeous drive, well, at least the last couple hours were gorgeous. The trees were beautiful. For those of you who live in Utah and haven't seen a tree in a while they look like this:

See? Trees.

Of course they don't look like that in the inner city where I live. There you just see buildings everywhere. Lots of buildings. And lots of one way streets. Mom and Dad loved driving in downtown Portland!
My apartment is the cutest ever. It is only 1/2 mile away from my school and everything is in walking distance.

This is my air bed. I didn't bring any furniture with me so I brought an air bed instead.

 It is actually really comfortable! 

This is the desk I got from Ikea. More Ikea furniture to follow in the future.

This is my cute little kitchen. If you look close enough you might be able to see my little sushi magnets. 

This is just the other side of the apartment. Not much to see except for the closet and I was not going to open the door for the picture. 

The walls are this taupe/peach color that I'm not sure what to do with. It looks more pink in real life.

Mom and Dad were with me the past few days and we went and saw the sights. We drove all the way to the coast and saw a lighthouse. An honest to goodness lighthouse! They haven't used it since the sixties, but it was still cool.

We couldn't see too far out though because it was foggy and cold. Most of my pictures were just of mist, but here is a halfway decent one of the cliffs:

If it wasn't so cold I would've been tempted to wade in the water.

Near the coast was the small town of Tillamook, land of the yummy cheese. We went to the cheese factory and it was awesome. They had lots of cheeses to taste as well as Tillamook ice cream and Tillamook fudge. It was all very tasty!

We also went to the Portland Temple. It was gorgeous and thanks to this foggy picture it looks pretty heavenly too.

Oregon is different from Utah. I knew it was "eco-friendly" but I didn't realize how much until I moved here. The stores only use paper bags, you aren't allowed to pump your own gas, EVERYONE carries a coffee cup, and recycling is a must. I had to put a list of things that can be recycled on my fridge because I feel like if I do it wrong the recycling police will come after me. There is a general feeling in the air that the world will end if I throw away the wrong thing. I'll have to look over my shoulder every time I go out to the garbage can.

Disneyland!!!

So, I went to Disneyland this past week and it was AWESOME!!!
I got a lot of great pictures and a lot of really crappy pictures. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting a few pictures as a time as I edit them. This is the first lot are some of my favorites.
Enjoy!

This is a view of the Haunted Mansion from the Tarzan Tree House. 

Pretty waterfall

New Orleans Square is probably my favorite land in Disneyland

These are the chimney sweeps in the awesome parade they had. It was the best part of the parade.

The Teacups is one of those traditional rides you have to go on, even if you don't like getting so dizzy you want to throw up your lunch all over the person next to you. I call this picture... dizzy.

July 4th Pics

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the forth of July celebrations.

Orchid Update

They died.

(sigh) I really shouldn't have named them.

Orchids

Pretty, aren't they?

I wonder if they will last.

Last week Sarah and I walked into Smiths and in their floral section they had a plethora of orchids. I love orchids. I think they are sooooooo pretty! I not only love them for their beauty, but for that fact that Nero Wolfe likes them and I like Nero Wolfe. But I like them because they are pretty too.

Sarah and I stopped to admire them and I fell in love with this little yellow orchid plant. As we wandered around the store I talked myself into buying them. I did and I love them. They look great in my room. But there will be heartbreak in my future. Here's why:

I can't grow anything.

When I try to grow something, it dies.

A good example is the amaryllis. Years ago Mom gave me an amaryllis kit. It's one of those boxes that you can buy in the winter time. All you have to do is plant it, water it once a week, leave it alone, and in a few weeks you get a beautiful flower. Anyone can grow it, I was told. Well, I planted mine, and watered it faithfully every week and it grew a little, then it died. Anyone can grow it my foot.

Since then I haven't dared let my very not green thumb near any plant life. But as I was driving home with my orchid I decided that was going to change. I was just considering what I was going to name my orchid (because I name everything) when Sarah said out loud "You better not name them because they're going to die."

I decided not to name them.

Now it is a matter of keeping them alive. They have lasted a week so far. How far will they go?

Dr. Dolittle, who had been just like family to us, is really a homicidal maniac. He did everything with us, except wash the dishes. So, it was a shock to see how he had turned on his adopted family.
It started with little things. Looking up and seeing him staring at us in the lights. But, he didn't just stop at stalking.

We should've realized when we first saw him playing with matches that something was wrong. But, when we turned and saw him on the verge of stabbing us in the back we knew he had to go.

Our poor Dr. Dolittle felt such remorse for his threatening behavior that he decided to end it all. It's a shame really. It was too late be the time we realized that it wasn't really Dr. Dolittle, but the dang parrot who learned hypnosis from his previous master. Polynesia, the parrot, was the true culprit in this sad story. Although Polyneisia was alive and well when we found Dr. Dolittle, he has now disappeared. Who knows whom or what this parrot will possess next.

Trying to be Flossie

On my mission when I was always known as Sister Dixon, I never really indulged my first name to anyone. But when people asked instead of making a big deal of not telling them, I would simply tell them that my name was Flossie.

I would get different reactions. Everything from surprise to unbelief to an awkward silence of them trying to figure out what to say (Usually they end up saying something like, "oh" and "is that a family name?" or "is your father a dentist?" All the honest people would say right out "that's a weird name"). What do you say when someone says their name is Flossie? Afterwards I would say just kidding and laugh a bit.

One time my companion and I were talking with a group of elders about first names. When they asked me what my first name was I of course told them Flossie. The reaction was nothing. Straight faces all around. So, I left it at that. Three weeks later we were talking again about names and I decided to tell them that I had lied to them. Turns out that when I told them my name was Flossie as soon as I was out of earshot they had laughed and amongst themselves they would always refer to me as Sister Flossie. It became a joke and most of them called me Flossie to my face after that.

I really don't get much opportunity to say my name is Flossie anymore unless it is at Jamba Juice, and they always spell it wrong! Can you imagine spelling it Flossy instead. It's criminal. Flossie is insulted by the mere thought of it.

Oh, and Flossie hates the dentist joke.

And yes, she flosses every day.

Introducing.......Flossie!

So, what with two jobs and school I am kept rather busy and boring. I have been out of touch with everyone, including my family and I thought a blog would help.

Alas, I have no time.

Flossie, however, always has time.

Flossie is smart. Flossie is clever. Flossie knows all.

So, we all need to explore our inner Flossie.