UPDATE: Where to stay

We are all set with the code to book for the hotel:
Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center
550 SW Oak Street
Portland, OR
97204

Please follow the directions below:

Reservations can be made directly with Marriott reservations at 1-800-606-3717 or
online at www.marriott.com/pdxpc
Group code for a single King room is SMWSMWA; group code for 2 Queens room is SMWSMWB.
Rate for both types of rooms is $89 plus 12.5% local & state taxes and valid for Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27, 2010.

Booking cut off date is March 12, 2010.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving! (Though it would've been better if Jacob wasn't in Portland and me in Freedom, PA.)

Where to stay when you're in Portland for Julia & Jacob's wedding.

Wedding update: sorry for all the delays, but we are working on the hotel room block and expect to have the booking code available in the next couple days.  We will have a block of 10 rooms available at the Courtyard City Center at 550 SW Oak Street.  The rate is reasonable ($89/ night + taxes), and the location is about 5-10 mins drive to the wedding venue, The Woods.  We chose it since it's right off of the MAX light rail line.  

If you are planning on staying more than just a couple days and would like to know what other options we'd recommend, you can email me: julvivmar at yahoo dot com.

Do plan on being here Friday night, as we intend to have a "Welcome Party" for all our out of town guests. More details TBA.

Last night was our unofficial Thanksgiving '09 together since I am leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow for the week. Sadly, Jacob will be staying home, keeping busy with his music, and hopefully feeding the cat.  We had a squash-tastic meal to mark the occasion with acorn squash filled with bacon-cranberry-candied walnut stuffing & pumpkin pie for dessert.  I would've liked to cook more, but I'm starting to feel a bit worn-out. With my awesome luck, I may be coming down with something. (Fingers crossed so tight it's not the flu!)

A Christmas Story, Save-the-Dates, and Philip Glass

...floating through our heads the past few days. 

Our Halloween costumes, the Leg Lamp & The Crate from "A Christmas Story," came out better than hoped.  As of 6PM Friday, Oct.30, all we had was an idea, some fabric, cardboard boxes, a Word doc of a "Major Award" certificate, and a dress pattern.  Roughly 26 hours later, we were on our way to join the ranks of many amazing costumes at a house party hosted by our good friend, and wedding officiant, Kelly. 

To accomplish this marathon of costume making, we scrambled around nearby Jantzen Beach shopping center Friday night for tights, wood-grain contact paper, Pex tubing, a few sewing notions, and candy - for the anticipated trick-or-treaters...and Jake...and, well, me too, since it was just sitting there by the door! Then it was off to our separate areas of the house, me in the spare bedroom/ sewing room, Jake in basement, to craft our respective get-ups. And the final results... (apparently we're a bit addicted to cardboard-based costumes.)

What doesn't come across so well is Jacob's "illuminating" idea for the lamp, via an LED headlamp around my waist.  Really have to see it in person to get the full effect.

With Halloween behind us, and no Steelers game on Sunday, all I had left was to look forward to the arrival of our Save-the-Dates (from Etsy seller Vermilion Star Press) and Philip Glass on Tuesday. 

I'm so happy with our custom/ cooperatively-designed Save-the-Dates, and less so with the Glass "lecture" last night.  Oh well...