Where to Stay: Silver Cloud Inn

We have been looking at hotels in the area and have decided to post reviews of them periodically here so that you can make an informed decision when it comes to staying in beautiful Portland. Luckily, our wedding falls after the busy summer season, so good rates are available. I would also highly recommend several local bed & breakfasts, and if I have time I'll post information on them.

OK, the first hotel that we are going to cover is the Silver Cloud Inn. The Silver Cloud Inn is a part of a small chain of hotels in the Seattle/Portland areas. It is located between the NW23/21st area and the Pearl District in the alphabet blocks. While not directly located in a trendy spot, it is easily within walking distance of two of the biggest hot spots in downtown Portland. And since we are having our reception in the uber trendy Pearl District, this means that you are close enough to the reception site to park your car and walk or use the local streetcar, which runs directly in front of our reception site (Bridgeport Brew Pub). When we took a brief tour of the rooms, they were standard hotel fare but had the bright side of being slightly larger than expected (for example, in the double queen bed room, there is a full sofa & table). The hotel staff is extremely friendly, and I expect that they might actually enjoy working there! Happy employees = good sign. Maybe they are happy because plasma TVs seem to be everywhere. Hey - I wouldn't complain! Room rates are going to run you about $160, unless you go for the jacuzzi option (I find jacuzzi s that are out in the open in the bedroom area kinda freaky, so I wouldn't but hey - do what you will!) in which case you will have to shell out an extra $20. This hotel is functional and doesn't have much in terms of style (boutique hotel, this is not), but it is very serviceable and a good price. Check out their website, which includes a pretty complete virtual tour, for more info. www.silvercloud.com

Wedding Bells x 2

Good news - my cousin Betsy is getting married! She'll make a breathtaking bride, and her manpanion ain't too shabby either... :-)

Passport Blues

We have both gotten our passports!. All things considered, Andy got his passport in pretty good time. In fact, he got his passport before he got his inquiry back from the passport tracking site. My passport took a little longer because my certified birth certificate was not sufficient, and I had to send in some official documentation that my parents really, really wanted to and did, in fact, actually adopt me. Never mind that they fed, clothed and in general put up with me for something going on 28 years. Anyway, said document was located and sent off post haste to Uncle Sam. I did have some reservations that, due to increases in the homeland security threats, I might be deported back to Korea. This would have been problematic, mostly since I'm just about as Korean as your TV. OK, bad example, your TV probably is Korean, but in your living room it speaks pretty much just English. Just like me! And although it is highly unlikely, I wouldn't put it past our lovely President to mistake me for an undercover North Korean agent, so deep undercover that I can't use chopsticks or do kung fu. But luckily, I must have slipped through the cracks and received my passport a few weeks after Andy. Mission, accomplished. Now all we need is a destination for our honeymoon. But it's good to know that once we pick a place, we'll be able to actually cross a border and get a purtty stamp.

Yummy Yummy in Your Tummy!

OK, my new favorite wedding thing to do is to go cake tasting. More correctly, cupcake tasting. After just having tasted 12 yummy mini cupcakes from St. Cupcake, I'm pretty a pretty happy camper. And I'm sure you will be, too! Extra fun: you can sit at the cupcake bar and watch the bakers make the cupcakes right in front of you. We got a glance at the recipe book and can now tell you that one of their frostings contains 6 lbs of butter. Well, actually pretty much everything contains 6 lbs of butter, which is why they had trays and trays of the stuff in the kitchen. And that's how kitchens should be!

Some of our personal favorites (flowery descriptions courtesy of saintcupcake.com):

toasted coconut cream (Andy's Favorite)

buttery vanilla cupcake with toffee chips baked right in, then topped our classic vanilla cream cheese icing and hand toasted coconut flakes. a written description will not do this cake justice.
if you are one of those people who “does not like coconut”, then great. more for us!

vanilla-toffee with chocolate buttercream (Jackie's Fave)

buttery vanilla cupcake baked with toffee chips right in, iced with our fluffy chocolately buttercream and sprinkled with crispy toffee bits. it’s for when you’re feeling sophisticated.

Registry

Andy and I have officially registered at Macy's and REI. I thought that running around with a laser gun would be more entertaining, but unfortunately the guns all make very annoying noises whenever you push a button. Entertaining the first couple of times, really grating by the time you've made it through all of the bedding, kitchen and bath departments at Macy's. It was much harder finding things that we liked than we had originally thought. We spent a decent amount of time discussing our philosophies towards bathroom decor. Seriously! I knew that marriage brought up new issues in relationships, but bathroom decor wasn't one of them on my list. But rest assured, we have come up with a bathroom color scheme that will be the foundation for a long and happy marriage. I hope... :-)

And on the REI registry, we have selected not one but TWO marshmallow weapons. A pump action shotgun and a bow and arrow. How cool is that?