Reason #253 to live in Portland
The Original Living Christmas Tree Company
This is just genius! This guy buys live Christmas trees, wraps their bases, rents them out to Portlanders at Christmas, then collects them and sells them as landscape trees.
The Wise and Bearded One and I once had a living Christmas tree when we lived in Indiana. We kept it inside too long and then the ground was too frozen to plant it, so the "living" part sort of didn't pan out so well. I love, love, love Christmas trees, probably because we never had one in our household growing up. But I don't like the mess they make--particularly trying to haul them around in the Jetta. Yes, we did once have a 7-foot tall pine IN our car....the tip was touching the windshield and the trunk was sticking out fo the trunk of our car. This was fine except that, to this day, there are still pine needles embedded in odd places in our car's carpet.
The Original Living Christmas Tree Company seems to be the ideal solution for us. The tree was delivered at our door on Dec. 16 and will be picked up on Jan. 2. We don't have to transport it at all. It's a nice size tree and I love that it is not as groomed as many trees are. I hate the pencil-sharpener look. We have had a bit of a challenge getting it to stand exactly upright because it's rootball is lumpy and uneven. But that's ok.
Somebody should take this idea and run with it in other cities. It's only a seasonal fling but I could see some entrepreneurial college students making some good money over their Christmas break!
P.S. Big Green, the chair of college fame, still lives....but barely.
Reason #132 to Live in Portland
The Ankrom Moisan Christmas Extravaganza
The Wise and Bearded One and myself make sure we go to his company Christmas party every year. Not because we love company Christmas parties--oh no, we most definitely do not. But because Ruth plans a bigger and better party every year.
Last year the party was at Skamania Lodge in the Gorge and there was a New Orleans Mardi Gras theme complete with the March Fourth Marching Band performing.
This year, the invitations were three-dimensional pyramids and hinted at an Egyptian theme. The evenings events are always a closely-guarded secret, but rumors swirled about the office as to who would appear this year....Pink Martini??? The Bangles??? (The invitation did say "Walk Like an Egyptian" after all). The party was held in the fabulous Field's Grand Ballroom in the newly renovated Portland Art Museum.
No, the Bangles did not perform, but we were not disappointed. The theme was loosely North African/Middle Eastern. The room was beautiful and has fabulous Moroccan themed paintings all around the room (we think it used to be a Masonic temple). The entertainment was first of all fortune-tellers and mehndi artists henna-ing temporary tattoos on guests. Then there were belly dancers (yes, really, and they had bellies, let me tell ya!). Last, but not least, there were aerial acrobats. I am kicking myself for leaving the camera in the car. The picture is one from the troupe's own web site. It was breath-taking, excellent fun and avoided all the pitfalls of the average corporate party--having to make small talk with people you don't necessarily know and having to dance with drunken slobs.
The Wise and Bearded One enjoys his job and thinks his firm is well-managed and well-positioned for the future. I don't know about all that, but I know they can put on a fantastic Christmas party which is just a little pay back for all the time and energy he's put into his work.
Nataliedee makes me laugh
nataliedee.com
The latest news from Portland...
Kati Kim and her daughters have been found alive and well, but they are still looking for James. If you haven't heard about this story that's all the news in Portland and in the blogosphere, it's worth checking out. They are in my thoughts and prayers.
11 inches of rain in november in the city....
means lots of snow in the mountains.
snowshoeing at trillium lake
The Original Living Christmas Tree Company
This is just genius! This guy buys live Christmas trees, wraps their bases, rents them out to Portlanders at Christmas, then collects them and sells them as landscape trees.
The Wise and Bearded One and I once had a living Christmas tree when we lived in Indiana. We kept it inside too long and then the ground was too frozen to plant it, so the "living" part sort of didn't pan out so well. I love, love, love Christmas trees, probably because we never had one in our household growing up. But I don't like the mess they make--particularly trying to haul them around in the Jetta. Yes, we did once have a 7-foot tall pine IN our car....the tip was touching the windshield and the trunk was sticking out fo the trunk of our car. This was fine except that, to this day, there are still pine needles embedded in odd places in our car's carpet.
The Original Living Christmas Tree Company seems to be the ideal solution for us. The tree was delivered at our door on Dec. 16 and will be picked up on Jan. 2. We don't have to transport it at all. It's a nice size tree and I love that it is not as groomed as many trees are. I hate the pencil-sharpener look. We have had a bit of a challenge getting it to stand exactly upright because it's rootball is lumpy and uneven. But that's ok.
Somebody should take this idea and run with it in other cities. It's only a seasonal fling but I could see some entrepreneurial college students making some good money over their Christmas break!
P.S. Big Green, the chair of college fame, still lives....but barely.
