Mississippi

On Saturday I hit the gym early for some reason. It wasn’t crowded, which was nice. I did weights (I’ve been adding pull-ups and chin-ups to my routine lately!), my physical therapy exercises and body weight exercises and then went for a run on the treadmill. It was one of those runs that was FABULOUS. Where I didn’t feel the need to walk, that I felt like I was too slow and sped up the treadmill and my legs just wanted to RUN. It was a fantastic 2.75 miles and then I walked down the stairs in the gym and all of a sudden my knees were like “we are not HAPPY!!!!” It wasn’t good. 🙁 Despite that my knees were doing okay, as long as I didn’t go down any stairs…I burned 646 calories! Wowza.

Michael and I went to the Mississippi Street Fair next. It’s been about two years, I think, since we’ve been. Of all the street fairs in Portland it’s my favorite. I like the vibe and there’s a bunch of different stages with different kinds of music playing. It’s always crowded, so be prepared. This year it wasn’t quite as crowded as it was in the past, so it was slightly easier to walk up and down the street checking out the booths.

First stop: LUNCH. We decided to bag street food and went straight to a restaurant. Little Big Burger. It’s been a really long time since I’ve been there. I like that the burgers are not ginormous. I got a cheeseburger and we split an order of their AMAZING to-die-for truffle fries.

We wandered around and saw some of the booths (lots of arts and crafts and jewelry) and there was music everywhere. I’m not sure what this instrument is but it was fascinating to watch.

Does your cat need a bowtie? I think it might! I almost got Fat Kitty a bowtie (this photo kinds of looks like him!) but I knew he’s never let me put it on him and would either a) give me the grumpy cat face or b) immediately take it off and destroy it in a rage. 🙂

We walked around a little bit and met up with some friends. Our friends that came over for the 4th of July were hanging out doing the kid stuff (bouncy house) so we hung out with them for a little bit.

Michael got two t-shirts and I got one (I will wear the shirt soon and post a photo–it’s so Portland). I ALMOST got a Sasquatch bumper sticker. Almost.

We left our friends and met up with some other friends, who also have a daughter the same age as Rowan (2.5). It’s such an adorable age. We walked up and down the length of Mississippi with them and looked at the booths (she got a Kimchi Hot Dog for lunch which really fascinated me–I might need to try that combo soon). I bought a jar of kimchi from the hot dog vendor (can’t wait to eat it!). Then we ended up at Ecliptic Brewery.

It was a cool, modern, high-ceiling and concrete floor and walls kind of a place with a ton of outdoor seating. Our friends ordered some food and drinks. The Orbiter IPA was a really smooth, balanced IPA. It SMELLED like a super strong, hoppy, intense bouquet of citrus and it smelled like it was going to be a face punch IPA, but once you took a drink it wasn’t like that. It was very mellow, which was kind of odd. Our friends shared their appetizer order of deviled eggs with us. They were topped with a sardine, which I didn’t eat. They assured me that it was the best part but…yeah, no thanks. I love deviled eggs, though!

After hanging out drinking and talking at Ecliptic we realized it was pretty late in the day and walked back to the cars. Check out Charla’s super awesome cobalt blue shoe in this picture:

Somehow it seems fitting with the Willy Wonka quote and I don’t know why. 🙂

Sunday

I went back to yoga!!!

I hadn’t been since March when my back went out. One of the moves that hurt the WORST with my whole back issue was downward dog. As I continued with my healing and did physical therapy, downward dog was still something I couldn’t do at all. It was a benchmark for me. I periodically checked to see if I could do the stretch and for months and month, not at all.

I decided recently it was time to give it a try again. I tried downward dog at the gym one day as a stretch and didn’t have the immediate, searing pain in my low back so thought hmmm, maybe it’s better? I decided on Sunday I’d give it a go, with the caveat that if it hurt, I’d leave the class. I warmed up with the elliptical and then went to yoga class.

I spent the majority of the class subbing child’s pose for downward dog. I did to downward dog a few times in class, and it was just fine!! But I defaulted to child’s pose just to be safe. The rest of class went really well and I was able to do most of the stretches in class and I was SHOCKED to find that my balance hadn’t decreased after months off. I’m guessing that the combination between doing the One Leg Romanian Deadlift for my knees and all the core work I do with physical therapy for my back have maintained my balance (thank goodness!).

There were a few rotations in a lunge that felt not fabulous but overall it was a great class.

After class Michael and I went and saw Jurassic World! I was so looking forward to seeing it. I knew it wouldn’t be as good as the original, of course, but I had high hopes. Then…I started hearing from people it wasn’t great. I was disappointed and dragged my feet in seeing the movie but we finally had a free afternoon so I caved.

How was the movie? It was okay. It was fast-paced and had some exciting moments. There were definitely a lot of cheesy moments that made you groan but they’d switch gears pretty quickly so you didn’t have time to dwell on the cheesy for too long. Overall it was a decent action movie. Just don’t try to compare it to the original too much and you’ll enjoy it.