Life Lately

My apologies for being M.I.A. from the blog for the past few weeks. Work travel took me to Dallas for four days and then, very early on the morning I was scheduled to return home, I got a call from my husband that a 100+ foot tree had fallen into our house, right over our bedroom.

Needless to say it was not a phone call I expected to get a 3 o'clock in the morning. It was a small miracle that my husband wasn't crushed by this tree. We are so very thankful for the strength of our new metal roof. 

The 100ft tree was followed hours later by a huge snow storm...luckily we were able to get the tree off the house and get the roof covered with a tarp before the snow arrived.

 Here's a photo of the Mini Fashionista climbing on the trunk of the tree to give you an idea of scale.

The tree has slowly been removed, and now we begin the long and annoying process of rebuilding our very damaged house, fence and backyard.

While it will be a very big hassle, I'm trying to focus on the positive...that no one was hurt and that my family is safe. 

Since it wasn't safe to sleep in our back bedrooms, we moved our mattress to the living room. While not ideal, it was actually kind of cozy. 

So, now that things have settled down a bit I will try to get back to blogging! Expect at least a few more posts before Christmas, and then I will likely take another break until the New Year.

Life Lately

Life has been busy which is why last week we only had three blog posts.  I'm guessing life is busy for most of you, so hopefully you understand. I wasn't feeling inspired by a specific topic, so here are a few of life's happenings from the last few week.

Now that we are nearly through Pumpkin season, it's time to embrace everything peppermint. I found these peppermint chocolates at Pharmaca, and they are a new favorite. They contain nothing artificial and are made with fair trade cocoa. They have all sorts of tasty flavors I now want to try, including peanut butter and toasted coconut. 

Little Secrets 

While I'm talking food....I tried this Paleo pancake mix for the first time over the weekend. For the record, I don't eat paleo, but I'm not opposed to it. I give this mix two thumbs up, and so did the Mini Fashionista!

Birch Benders Paleo Pancake and Waffle Mix

On Saturday the Mini Fashionista and I had lunch at Lovejoy Bakers Uptown location. We used to frequent the one in the Pearl District regularly after barre3. I have to say, I like this location even better. They have great food, cool decor and most importantly lots of parking! 

Saturday Night we went out to drinks and dinner with friends. Our fist stop was the Bit House Saloon. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. They have a great beer selection, fantastic cocktails, and it has an ambience that is unlike anything else in Portland. We didn't eat there, but I've heard great things about the food. 

Dinner took us to Renata. This was my second time eating there, and it did not disappoint. Everything is not just good, but fantastic...the pasta, the pizza, the salumi and cheese plate, the dessert. Whether you live in Portland or are visiting, Renata should be on your list. 

We finished the weekend at a birthday party held at Portland Child Art Studio. It was our first time there, and I was really impressed. It's definitely a place to consider for birthday parties and also for art classes. I might look into an art class for the Mini Fashionista in the new year.

So that's life lately! 

Life Lately

Life has been good lately. On Saturday we drove out into the Columbia Gorge for some hiking at Catherine Creek. It's on the Washington Side of the Columbia River about 10 minutes past Hood River. We went for a 3 mile hike with fantastic views of the Gorge and Mt. Hood. 

Afterwards we stopped at our favorite spot in Hood River, Solstice, for lunch. If you are in Hood River, you should definitely try it. Their pizza is especially delicious, and next door (during the warmer seasons) is the most amazing little gelato stand, Cicci.  

Saturday night we joined some of our French friends for a raclette dinner....raclette is a cow's milk cheese that you melt and eat with meat, potatoes, etc. This was my second raclette dinner, and it was just as tasty as the first. The electric grill makes it interactive and fun! 

Sunday was a wet and rainy day and after a long and very wet walk in the rain, I decided to make (and eat) banana bread. I used this recipe from Oh She Glows, and it turned out super well. It has a little more sweetener than I usually put into my bread, but that made it extra tasty.

Life Lately

In watching the blog traffic, it's very clear that you, the readers, are most interested in the more personal posts, so I thought I would try out a new post topic called "Life Lately." In these posts I will be sharing tid bits from my daily life. 

As you may know, last week Katie and I celebrated a birthday. My +1, the Mini and I used it as an opportunity to try out a new restaurant here in Portland called Tusk. They have an awesome outdoor patio, cool decor, a full bar and delicious food. 

We ate outside on the patio, and here is a photo of just a few of the dishes we enjoyed. The tomato salad was so fresh and so tasty! 

As a bit of a birthday celebration I had some girlfriends over for dinner, and the Mini helped me make an apple crisp. I pretty much make up my own recipe, but this recipe from friend and blogger Robyn of Real Food Whole Life is pretty close.

This apple peeler made peeling and coring all the apples so easy. Thanks to my friend SC for letting me borrow it. I think we might need one of our own. 

We've been without a rug for a while in the master bedroom as we moved the rug to the living room (thanks to the dog for ruining the one we had there). As a birthday present my mom and dad bought me this fantastic Draftsman Rug from Schoolhouse Electric.

I'm so happy to finally have something cushy in the space. It makes the room feel cozier and makes foam rolling a lot more comfortable. 

I've been having major mountain withdrawal since we got back from our big trip. I've been hiking/jogging a 10+ mile loop in Forest Park called the North Nasty (it has about 3,000ft vertical), but it's just not the same as being in the mountains. I have a really hard time finding friends to go on big adventures with me outside of Portland, so on Friday of last week I decided to go solo. I packed up my bag and went out to the Gorge to do the Ruckel Ridge Loop hike.

It's a 9+ mile hike up a steep ridgeline that ascends nearly 4,000ft. 

The views are beautiful!

I had a great time except I lost my favorite hat. It got caught on a low hanging tree, was pulled off m head and I watched it fall to is death down the side of a cliff. Clearly this was before that happened. 

It was a good week! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more "Life Lately" posts.

Keeing it Real: I'm Back!

As you have probably noticed we have been M.I.A the last few weeks. If you follow C&C on Instagram then you saw that Katie and Dr. B welcomed Baby McB to the world on July 21st. The Mini Fashionista is beyond excited about her baby cousin and can't stop saying "she's so cute". We are looking forward to meeting Baby McB in September when we all are in Sun Valley.

Isn't she cute?

As for me....I didn't have a baby, so I have no good reason for not blogging except for life just getting busy (and a few days spent at the Oregon Coast).

Anyway, as you know, I have been writing this blog for nearly 7 1/2 years, and it's a lot of work. For many years we blogged 5 days a week, but this past year the posts have been more sporadic. After this two week hiatus I seriously considered calling it quits, but after some serious thought, and thanks to some supportive comments on our Facebook page, I've decided to stick with it.

So for today's post I'd like to "keep it real" and talk about something serious that will likely impact every person reading this. I promise the rest of the week will be less serious.

As you may have read a few months ago, I had a health scare that included a number of biopsies (post here). I have a HSA (health care plan), which includes a whopping $5700 deductible, so when I received a nearly $8000 bill from the hospital, of which I was responsible for $3900, I wanted to be sure the bill was accurate. In order to verify it, I requested a coding review through the billing department.

Have you ever requested a coding review? I hadn't either, and after my recent experience, I will request an itemized bill EVERY TIME I have a procedure or service, and if there is any question about the accuracy of the bill, I will request a coding review.

Why? Because I was charged $452 in error....and there were a number of other mistakes on my bill that I won't go into...so many that I have written a letter to the director of Legacy and the head of the hospital where I had the procedures.

Anyway, back to my point....I've read that as many as 90% of hospital bills have errors (here). I've been to the hospital too many times to count, and I'm ashamed to say this was the first time I have EVER looked at my itemized bill, and I'm guessing most of you would say the same.

So, what do I want you to take away from today's post? Ask for an itemized bill every time you go to the doctor and make sure you understand what procedures/tests are being performed so that when you receive a bill you can verify their accuracy! And don't feel scared to question it.

No one in the hospital billing department is looking out for your best interest, so you MUST be your own advocate.