The occasion was Alb’s birthday. The location was my apartment. The food was gourmet. The attire was sweatpants. The party included 3 best friends eating, drinking wine, and talking about anything and everything. How much better can it get than that? Not much. Alb is know as Allie to some, Ms. Raney to others, but Alb to my high school girlfriends and I. One day way back in high school one [...]
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Are you ready for some…overeating?? Because that is what we did. This is the third year of watching the Superbowl at Jesse’s apartment and the food gets better every year. I have some great cooks in my group of friends and it shows. Jon and I met at this party 2 years ago and he hasn’t stopped talking about the food at the superbowl party since. Must be why he [...]
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Tea Tasting. It’s awesome. I think everyone should do it. I’ve been to “tea” of course, but this is totally different and great in its very own way. A Vital Tea tasting experience goes like this: You sit at the bar and get a cute little tea cup. A nice lady brews the tea, teaches you about the benefits of the tea, and serves a taste to see what you [...]
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Snail mail is becoming obsolete, which is unfortunate but makes getting personal cards pretty darn exciting. Most of my mail is junk that goes straight to the recycle bin, but every once in a while, I get something from Grandma. Sometimes she sends me a random article, but sometimes it’s a holiday card with an extra special green surprise inside. I really like those cards. I also really like making [...]
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I feel pretty lucky to work with some lovely ladies. There are seven young women on my team and we are all very close. Literally. Like within 3 feet of each others faces. Besides just sitting close, we are friends too. We come in on Monday and chat about our weekends, eat lunch together at noon on the dot, and are drinking wine by four (just kidding! We save that [...]
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My girlfriends from college get together on Thursday nights for what we call “Thursday Night Dinners”. Oh so creative of a name, I know. It all started when I moved to San Francisco and Melissa and I decided we would try out a new bar every week until we found our “Cheers.” This lasted a little while, but we found that going out to dinner and drinks was more fun. [...]
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The Buena Vista Brunch comes around once a year and every year it is just as great as the last. The brunch started many years ago, bringing together a group of friends for a holiday get together in December. Since Dotty and my mom passed, the ladies invited the daughters to join in their place and I am sure glad I get to be part of this fun tradition. The [...]
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Week two and I’m craving dessert. I haven’t exactly stuck to the no-processed foods cleanse, but I’ve done my darn bestest to not eat so many sweets. But guess what. I still crave them and my life is just not complete without some dessert in it. I do have to admit that not having sweets often makes me appreciate them THAT much more when I do treat myself. Too bad [...]
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I went from a swimsuit & flip flops to a scarf, gloves, & uggs in a matter of days. Portland was cold and Portland snowed on us, but Portland is a great city. Gresham is a hidden gem east of Portland with a fancy old folk’s home that treated us right. Grandpa G skipped his wii golf game this weekend in order to entertain us with activities and witty sense [...]
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As everyone knows, I love my sweets, but I try to always have them in moderation (and workout so I don’t feel so guilty). The desserts I make and post about are usually for some sort of occasion which means I take them somewhere and try to leave the rest so they don’t sit in my apartment tempting me. Thennnn December rolls around and the word moderation doesn’t exist. The [...]
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