Melyssa-with-a-Y

I'm pleased to report that a) it's been sunny in London (doh! I probably just jinxed us!) and b) we've really had a blast in the past two and a half days. We arrived on Wednesday morning. It's chilly, but not nearly as cold as it was last year. Or maybe I'm a lot less cold because I brought my super-warm wool coat this year! We hung out in the apartment for a bit, and then Bryan and I went out to find some lunch. Then it was naptime. Wednesday is also the customary trip to TESCO to stock up on groceries. We stopped at a pub for dinner - had to have fish 'n' chips! - and then went shopping. Prices seem reasonable when you look at the number in pounds sterling... then you do the math and realize that it's $1.65 to the pound. (Which is actually better than it used to be!) Mostly we need breakfast food. Thanksgiving Thursday, Mom, Dad and I went to the antiques market at Spittalfields . Many of the people in the shops wished us a Happy Thanksgiving. W...

I thought I might be able to post more often while I was in Portland, but that just wasn't to be. Here's a quick synopsis. Sunday was spent at the Convention Center, putting up posters in the TACC booth. We had our share of surprises, successes and snafus, but for the most part, our booth was lovely (bigger than we've ever had) and very successful . Sunday night, mom and I went to the Intel welcome party at the Portland Art Museum . (Apparently I didn't miss very much at the craft market.) The food was very good, we ran into a lot of people we knew and had some lovely conversations, and they gave out nice fleece jackets as a parting gift. My only complaint was that we didn't get to see the rest of the museum. That was kind of a bummer. Monday, I moved to the Governor hotel where the rest of the TACCsters were already encamped. After staying in the tiny room with my mom for the weekend, it was a pleasure to have a nice big room on the top floor, complete with fi...

(I mean the one in Oregon.... apparently there are a lot of other Portlands around the USA!) Today was filled with dining and shopping and football-watching. But let me start with last night's dinner, which was excellent. The front desk person at the hotel recommended a restaurant up the street called Southpark . I admit, I had visions of Stan, Kyle and Cartman at first, but it's actually a seafood restaurant with a distinctly Mediterranean flair. I forgot that it was a Friday night at 7:30pm... the place was packed. I ended up sitting at the bar in the Wine Bar section of the restaurant. It was very nice. I had a glass of Apolloni Pinot Grigio, and a small-ish dinner (it was already almost 10pm for me by then) of warm flatbreads with hummus, and the Pacific Northwest version of crabcakes. I was starving. Everything was very tasty, and the bartenders were really nice (one had even grown up in DC!), but between the time difference and the wine, I was starting to fade. ...