Portlandia

I was in Portland for the past five days for my doctoral residency. I enjoyed meeting others from my doctoral program and getting a clear idea of where to go and what to do next for the dissertation. *And get ready to hear a lot about the dissertation, this is the perfect venue to throw ideas out there and get my thoughts into some order that doesn't resemble the Death Star at the end of A New Hope.*

So aside from the blah, blah school stuff, there was a great mall down the street with H&M and all kinds of fancy stores we don't always see in Salt Lake. I have a theory about H&M. I first went in San Francisco years ago and never dreamed of having two so close at hand in Utah. However, I still miss the exclusivity of not having one for everyone to shop at, then I was special when I got to visit and bring home fancy H&M clothes. So I still like visiting one whenever I am in another city.

There is also a famous doughnut shop in Portland, Voodoo Doughnuts. I feel like it might be run by people with the same type of immature sense of humor I have. They have a doughnut called, Cock N' Balls, which is literally in the shape of, well... (I did not include a picture of that one, just the box).

All in all, Portland wasn't half bad. I like places I can walk with smaller blocks and lots of concentrated options and stores. It is something we don't experience in Salt Lake. However, two and half months into being married is not a good time to go on a trip without your spouse. I spent a lot of my time talking to Chase, texting him, and pretty much just missing him. While I suspect he missed me (he did tell me, so it's really a guess), as well as owning 12-year olds on Black Ops and vacuuming, which makes him not only the sexiest gamer, but husband! Booyah!