Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!!

So we're getting pretty pathetic. Not only are there just birthday posts, but our birthday posts are getting later and later, so much so that now we're into the next day with this one.

Today (actually...yesterday) is/was my (our) good friend, Elizabeth's, birthday. Unfortunately, I was determined to work like crazy after youth group tonight, to try and push a few things through. And now it's not actually her birthday anymore.

Sorry Lizzie...

Elizabeth is a fantastic friend. Firstly, she has an amazing sense of music, has great style, is super fun and is hilarious. But (probably) more importantly, she's undyingly caring, kind and empathetic. Plus, she's super strong-willed and determined.


Elizabeth and I lived in Athens together for a year (although it seems longer), traveled up the east coast in a wooden-paneled station wagon together, have TONS of memories, and always have lots of fun.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!
...in reality, the phone call on the day-off was the true wishes, and this is just a continuation that will carry on into this weekend when I head to Seattle!

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

Today is our (Daniel's) cousin Amanda's birthday!

Amanda's real-life age is now 19, but her Wii Fit age is 18. (If you have a really confused look on your face, you should 1. get a Wii. 2. get a Wii fit. and then 3. look at Amanda's comment on the "Our Portland Christmas" post.)

Amanda is just plain awesome. She's got a great smile, is super laid back, really fun, and pretty hilarious.

Amanda's a freshman at Georgia College and State University, and (what we are extremely proud of) is a new Young Life leader. And she's going to be the best Young Life leader you've ever seen.

(...so the following pictures technically aren't ours, but they were taken off facebook, which is definitely fair game...)


Amanda's also great at sharing inside jokes with, is super cool, and did we already say fun? We're kind of lacking on words for what to say with how stinking great Amanda is, but that's just because we're speechless. So we'll just say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday Carol!

Well, a few people might be thinking to themselves right about now that we forgot a birthday. Don't you worry—we've just had a busy day. Still today (but probably yesterday for most of ya'll) is our (Daniel's) Aunt Carol's birthday! (I only wish we had more pictures of you...)

Carol is one of the nicest, most caring people you will ever meet. She's hardworking and incredibly successful and is also a wonderful mother of two. She's wise and patient and all around great. Plus, she's very, very "southern." Definitely a good thing. (Still she's by far the least southern person in her family....)


Carol gives so much to her family and to all of us, and I know everyone appreciates it.

Happy birthday, Carol! Hope it was great!

windy

it's a tad windy here. i heard on the radio that there were 123 mph gusts of wind on mt. hood. 123. woah.

Happy Birthday Jon!

Today is my good friend Jon's Birthday. For those of you that don't know, Jon is one of my closest friends and he also happens to be my second cousin maybe? I'm not really even sure (everyone is related somehow where I come from).

Jon and I lived together all four years at UGA which means he put up with me for much longer than Kirsten has to this point. Jon was known in our apartment as the "idea" guy and coined the phrase "Well I think it's safe...but I wouldn't do it" which was always immediately followed by me doing something stupid.


Jon is also the way I learned my wife's name. When Kirsten and I first met in a class at UGA and arranged to study together we had planned for her to come to our apartment one night when I realized that I didn't know her name. Jon, being the faithful friend that he is, positioned himself right in front of the door and as soon as Kirsten walked in said "Hi, I'm Jon. What's your name?" Now that's friendship...

(Jon's toast at our rehearsal dinner - notice Leslie primping in the background)

There is so much to say about Jon, the co-founder and current CEO of Family Night, the man who conducts business with a coffee cup (full of Cherry Kool-Aid) in hand, the guy that came up the "foolproof" roulette scam, the guy that single-handedly made Wal-Mart velcro shoes popular.

Happy Birthday Jon, I enjoyed spending the bad turkey Christmas with you again this year, and can't wait for you to make your way out to the Northwest.

the last sixteen days

well, it's been a while. honestly, we're falling apart here a bit: since we returned to oregon on the 28th nickel's chewed apart like 2 pieces of clothing, we've broken like 3 things, we locked ourselves out of our apartment to the tune of a dollar amount i don't want to even talk about, and nickel has gone to the bathroom inside twice—something she hasn't done is about 3 years...yeah. but to back up to better times, christmas was great. really, really great. so here goes:

we made sure to frequent some essential restaurants:


for all our oregonian readers, this is zaxby's, and trust me. you're missing out. it's all in the sauce here — yummy chicken, crinkle fries, texas toast (daniel always lets me eat his)...but the sauce. and no lie: you put a tarnished penny in that sauce for like 2 minutes, take it out and rub it off and the penny shines. weird. and who knows what it does to your stomach. but it's good. plus, zaxby's originated in our school-town of athens. all the better.


and look! overcast skies! just like here...


quite possibly the greatest restaurant in the world...do i even have to tell you? awesome sweet tea, healthy and amazing chicken, waffle fries, and so much more. really, really good. oh we miss you chick-fil-a.


and this wasn't a must-go at all, but we did go into a johnny rocket's all the way across from oregon and you know what we found? can you see it?? it says tillamook cheddar cheese right there next to rocket single. woah.

but anyway, christmas is way more than food. we had amazing times with both of our families, saw not nearly as many friends as we would have liked to see, but a couple of really important ones, and opened a lot of presents.

so just to show you oregonians what we're talking about when we talk about christmas craziness, this is just a taste:

i don't know if you can tell just how many presents and people and stuff there is there, but it's a lot.

and then daniel told our cousin amanda last year that he would put his video of her opening her gift on you tube. well he never did, but he promised her this year too and so here's what we got amanda! love you amanda! you look great :)

but alas, we eventually returned to our new home and immediately picked up our dog who obviously missed us tons...this is what she did for like the first 45 minutes of being home:

and once that was over, just lots of this:

i know. lots and lots of videos. aren't you excited??

so, in the midst of several small disasters and frustrations, we went snowboarding yesterday, for my first time ever and daniel's second. it was pretty amazing — i fell like 200 times. but the good news is that daniel's practically a pro by now (at least on the green run that we took like 20 times.)


it was snowing super hard and i think daniel's showing us that his fingers are going numb (don't worry — he had gloves, he had just taken them off for the camera.) we went up the ski lift at one point and by the time we got to the top we had like an inch of snow all over us...


and can you see this? my leg is completely immersed in the snow. apparently the base of the mountain had 80" of snow on the ground. over 6 feet. wow.


and can you tell what this is? a car. completely, completely covered in snow. just the antenna there. sooo crazy.

and speaking of snow, portland got like 19 inches of snow while we were gone. apparently record-breaking, the "arctic blast" resulted in the national guard being called in. so that's pretty crazy. we'll just pretend like we were here.

that's it! merry christmas and happy new year!!!

Happy Birthday Randy!

I know you all did not anticipate us coming back from the holidays with a birthday post (at least I hope you didn't...) but we've been crazy here at the Monroe household and so the Georgia-recap post is still to come. And thus we begin the year with a birthday post!

Today, January one, is my (Kirsten) uncle Randy's birthday! Randy is fun, loud and really tall. He really likes Star Wars (or Star Trek? or both???) and is the ultimate handyman — he and his family built their cabin in the woods completely from the ground up, and he helped my grandfather with the family lake house years ago. Plus, he cooks up a mean bbq-ed rack of ribs.


And even more, Randy's wonderfully caring, nice, and an excellent father of 3 nearly-grown children. (this one's not his. it's his nephew's.) And did I mention that he's tall?

Happy Birthday, Randy! And happy new year, too!!!

Our Portland Christmas!

Well it is a Monroe family tradition (2 years running) to celebrate our family Christmas on the last day before we leave to go home for the holidays. This year that day was today (Wedensday), but we got an early start by going to see A Christmas Carol last night on our Christmas Eve! It was a great play, we both really enjoyed it, and it was a fun way to spend our night before Christmas.

Then we came home, huddled under our electric blanket(it is freezing here), and waited for Santa!

So this morning we got up, made a Christmas breakfast, and got started with the day! We all opened some great stuff, including Nickel. Watch... and either turn the sound off or get ready for our awkward running commentary...

So we had a great day of laying around, finishing our Christmas cards, opening presents, reading The Christmas Story, and watching A Christmas Story! What more can you ask for! It was a fantastic family Christmas.

So we're all packed up and ready for Georgia where the weather will surely be better that here...

We get in town Thursday night so all you ATLiens give us a call. We're excited to see you all!

waaayy too much for one post...

...so we'll make it two.
first up. leslie's wedding. we were in colorado last weekend to see leslie and steve get married and it was wonderful. we have a pathetic number of pictures so let's begin by apologizing for that...

but the trip was sure an adventure. we left friday morning and met up with laura belle at the airport, who flew in from seattle...the three of us rented a car (daniel and i's first car rental), saw the first snow of the winter, and drove the three beautiful hours to buena vista.

leslie and i were on the same young life team while i was in college (and she was a fresh graduate of clemson) and we lived together my senior year. then about a year and a half ago leslie felt drawn to colorado and settled in at the tiny town of "bv."

buena vista is adorable and tiny and has some great restaurants and shops. lb, d and i got to stay at leslie's house (now les and steve's house) and take care of their puppies. we settled in and relaxed and family members and the bridal party and les and steve were running in and out all day. we walked around a bit and then headed over to the rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner—yummy, yummy breakfast.

saturday lb and i went to a super-fun pajama brunch for leslie and then shopped with our friend victoria. then daniel, lb and i went to a cute bistro called mother's to eat lunch and play board games. (i know, all of these would have been great photo opportunities in hindsight...)

we showed up for the wedding saturday night and everything was gorgeous...lots of green and white and christmas lights and candles and absolutly beautiful. it was a stunning wedding and an amazing reception...

...and then the trip took a turn for the worse. there was much talk about how bad the weather was gonna get that night and how it would be a disaster in the morning and so we decided, with our friends bart and victoria, to drive back to denver after the reception, while the snow hadn't had time to harden and freeze and turn to ice, while there were still several cars on the road, and while the snow plows and salt trucks were still on the roads—rather than leaving at 4 am.

but it got worse earlier than we expected and so we left the reception early and got on the roads early, with bart and victoria following. a grueling 5 hour drive later, we arrived at our friend's drew and natalie's and stayed up for a couple of more hours talking with them. then we woke up super early to more bad roads, drove everyone incredibly slowly to the airport, and arrived in what we thought was just on time to catch our flight. little did we know.

first, the guy at the check in couldn't find our flight. not our tickets on the flight, but the flight itself. then once he found it we realized we were about 20 minutes early, so maybe the one good thing the entire trip. we made it to our gate and waited. the plane was delayed. it was coming in from salt lake city, which is where we were going, and was delayed...so we waited.


once we got on the plane, we realized we were going to make it into salt lake city about 5 minutes after our connecting plane left. super. well, we had to gate-check our carryon rolling bags because they were too big for the tiny plane we were on. when we arrived in salt lake, our connection plane, while all the way across the terminal, was still there. but, apparently a little pink tag that daniel attached to his carryon had fallen off, and while we fought the attendant, he wouldn't let us take the bag. after another 5 minutes, assuring a missed plane, he told us that he would have to put the bag on the connecting plane for us...the plane we would surely not catch. super.

so we ran to our connecting plane's gate anyway, and of course missed the flight. we then waited in several lines for a while before being told that we were confirmed on a flight 10 hours from that time, but high on the waiting lists for two flights between.

we got some lunch and settled in. didn't get on the first flight, but by some miracle got on the second. a mere 8 or 9 hours in the salt lake city airport. horray.


however, in denver we had decided we had to cancel a youth group christmas party for that night...not because of our flight disaster but because of weather in portland. super. but at least the party didn't go on without us...

oh. and did i say that the temperature in denver the morning we left was -5 and the jetway in salt lake city was like -20. at least we were inside all day. so that's something...

and we got home safe! several, several hours late but with lots of snow on the ground in portland :)
(our street the next morning...and you can't tell, but the road is essentially ice.)

Happy Birthday Grandmother Monroe!!!

Well Monroe Doctrine readers, today's birthday honoree needs no introduction to any of you. That's because if you've ever read our blog you know she is our most frequent commenter. 53 comments, to be specific (as best I can count) I'm pretty sure the second place finisher has something like 7.

So today is Grandmother's birthday! I'm pretty sure she's 39, but can't be positive. But age isn't important. She's a GREAT grandmother (in both senses of the word).


Seriously Grandmother is the best. She is one of the most amazing women you will ever meet. My memories of Grandmother will always be about Sunday afternoon games of croquet and birthday shopping. She is a fantastic cook (obviously) and probably the most generous person you could ever meet. There are so many things to love about Grandmother, including the fact that she gave me my first taste of Georgia Football and fat back (two of the best things in the world) and she taught me to carefully inspect my Christmas gifts for tennis rackets.


So happy birthday Grandmother. We love you so much and cannot wait to see you soon!

Happy Birthday Reed!

Ok, let's just start by getting one thing out of the way...to all of our new Columbia Ridge friends, we love you all, even those of you who have already had birthdays come and go, and those of you that will without a famous cyber-shout-out from The Doctrine. Maybe by the end of 2009 we will have compiled an exhaustive list of all your birthdays so we can be sure we don't leave anyone out...

That being said, Happy Birthday Reed! My boss, Reed Mueller turns 39 today. And he actually does turn 39 today, not like the "39" my mom turned like 5 years in a row at one point. He is actually 39. Kirsten and I actually thought he was our age when we first came to Columbia Ridge, then we found out he had a PhD and had been a pastor for 10 years. So he is 39. An old man. In his thirties, just like Matt.

So since we don't have too many great pictures of Reed, I figured I would just pull some off the internet! So here are a few of my favorite pictures that come up in google images when you type in Reed Mueller. It'll be like a game! See if you can guess which one is our pastor!

Ok well as much as I wish it were this last guy... it's that smallish fuzzy picture in the middle. He looks every bit of 19 huh?

Reed is really an answered prayer. He is a great boss, a fantastic pastor and someone I have already learned a lot from. He really is one of the things that makes living out here so great. So happy birthday buddy! Enjoy those thirties!

christmas listening part 2

well, well, well who thought that by moving to portland we'd obtain our own christmas musical gem?

that's right, more songs than you know exist about christmas, and some are even regional-specific. and thus, while listening to the radio around here we've often heard the unique and magical "Christmas in the Northwest."

Aside from being musically ingenious, "Christmas in the Northwest" has some pretty solid lyrics, too. Check them out:

It may not be white
Might be a rainy night
But there's nothing like sharing
The sounds and the sights of ...

Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift that we can share
Christmas in the Northwest
Is a child's answered prayer

Take away the presents
And they still will have a dream
For Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift God wrapped in green

amazing. you can get a taste for just how it sounds here by listening to two elementary schoolers sing it out, which is actually really cute. but you can kind of hear how bad the song it. it's bad. but it was written in the 80's so maybe it has an excuse...


i managed to get a place to board nickel (that's actually on our block — amazing) and put a hold on our mail amongst cleaning, wrapping, working and youth group stuff in these past couple of days. so ready or not, we'll be in georgia the 18th — it's official (as if it weren't before...)!

edit :: i found this version of christmas in the northwest, which, while sans the cute kids, might give you a better idea of the song. just in case you're interested.

christmas listening

i (kirsten) get asked multiple times every day what my favorite christmas album is (yeah, that's a joke. and if i don't say that now i might get some strange phone calls. joke.) but if i did, i would say, everytime, hands down, this album:sufjan stevens, songs for christmas. it may not be entirely fair to call this my favorite christmas album when in fact it is five albums in a box set, but i'm not too picky.

now don't get me wrong, james taylor's voice on his cd last year is amazing, and i love the charlie brown christmas cd. and of course there are individual songs, including classics and versions from movies that are so, so good. but for every season that i've owned this (which is a mere two, but still), it's been the only christmas cd(s) that i can play continuously on repeat without getting annoyed. and that says a lot — christmas songs can get old. it's so very good. there are newly written crazy and fun songs, serious songs, genious takes on familiar songs, and an incredible version of come thou fount, which i'm aware isn't a christmas song, but still.

if you do take my sound advice and decide to invest in this box set, you have to hear this: do not buy it from itunes. there's nothing wrong with itunes and everything is certainly cheaper there, but the hard copy of the cd contains a wealth of greatness, including stickers, handdrawn illustrations, stories, and all sorts of other things from sufjan himself (that's right, sufjan stevens is a name.) and you'll be able to see firsthand how smart (or weird if you choose to look at it that way) this guy is. it's amazing. so there's my christmas recommendation.

3-0...can it really be?

It is hard to believe, but our favorite and only brother, fellow Portlander, and resident doctor that can't make you well is now thirty. That's right. There's no more "turning" thirty. It's here.

Well for those of you that don't know Matt and his wife Kim are both graduates of Georgia Tech and the University of Florida, and yet somehow they both have adequate social skills and own no jean shorts between the two of them. They got married a year and a few months ago and moved to Hillsboro (a suburb of Portland) when Matt took a job at Intel. That was definitly the best decision they ever made since it opened the door for us to eventually move out here and now gives us some friendly faces whenever we want. 

Matt is a great older (not bigger) brother and Kirsten and I have really enjoyed getting to know he and Kim in a new way being with them out here so far away from home. 

So to celebrate Kim surprised Matt with four friends from college who flew out here to spend the weekend with him on his birthday which is really fun. It is an absurd story of what happened (which shouldn't surprise you if you know Matt's friends) but I'll let him tell it.

So a few quick things you may not know...1. he is actually a pretty good cook 2. you don't want to play us in Taboo 3. he is the slowest eater you will ever see and 4. he has an uncanny ability to wake up really early on Christmas morning.

Happy Birthday Matt. It's hard to believe. But I hear 30 is the new 28...so you've still got a little time before you fall apart!

december

well, we're back from another texas thanksgiving. it was super rushed, but really great. so good to spend time with family that we rarely see. but just not enough time with everyone, as always. i'm (kirsten) really enjoying "getting to know" my cousins as we get older. getting to know isn't right, but just being able to talk and hang out with them. but sadly there was family that we only saw for three or four hours, which we hate. plus, there was enough food to feed a small country and less sleep than i've ever had (both are exagerrations, but there's some truth there).

and before i move onto christmas — to give thanksgiving it's due credit — i should say that i didn't get any good pictures, so i'll point you to mat and beth's blog and flickr page (link for the flickr page there — pretty much everything i was involved in is at the end of page one and page 2, but my cousins (really second cousins) are really cute, so look through all of it.)

and i intended to blog AS SOON AS we got back, but travelling takes a lot out of me and of course we had to decorate immediately as it was already December 1st.

We have some generous friends at the church who grow Christmas trees and then let friends come and cut them down for free. So nice. But it doesn't save us the $70 that we expected it to — trees only cost like $20-$30 out here. Apparently evergreens grow everywhere... (you can't really see, but our friend tyson is to the left of the tree above. he's holding a chain saw and you can kind of see his face, but a rain drop fell right in front of his face. that's rain — definitely not snow yet. oh, and it was like 4:45 pm. that's how dark it gets. ridiculous.)


And then pulling it all out and setting everything up.

And watching some classics as we do.

Still no good pictures of the tree, so sorry all of these are blurry.

And by the third day of the month, we've already gone through 3 of our 7 Christmas movies (Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Grinch (Jim Carey), Grinch (original, pictured), A Charlie Brown Christmas and Home Alone). Great movies.

And by the way Mat, Beth, Steve and Elizabeth — Elf definitely has to be added to the list of funniest movies in the past five years. I know it gets sappy at the end and it's really season-specific, but it's hilarious.