Sunday Funday

This past sunday will probably go down as one of my favorite days of this summer. Jarrod and i went to this event called The Big Float (http://www.thebigfloat.com/). we participated in the first big float ever! awesome. the event consisted of an inner tube parade across the hawethorne bridge (jarrod and i missed that because jarrod was working until 11am and the parade started around 10am) and the parade ended up on the West Esplanade where everyone would put in at the river. the "parade" continued back across the river to where they were having an "after-float party" featuring food carts, live music, the usual party stuff. haha. but, i am getting ahead of myself here.
jarrod and i showed up to the west esplanade just in time to see some people carrying their floaties (the rules required some type of flotation device, besides life jackets, though arm floaties were considered good enough. haha. you may think there are not that many different types of flotation devices. i automatically think of inner tubes, but there's plenty more out there. some people had inflatable whales, sharks, and alligators. some brought paddle boats, there was even a weird floating sleigh thing out there... all sorts of flotation devices. haha) and we followed them so we could stand in line and register our floaties (we had an inner tube and a... idk what it's called. air mattress? but not like the sleeping kind; meant for the water) and ourselves so we could get in the water. we waited in line for a while, but it was all worth it in the end. finally, we were on the shore of Marquam Beach and into the COLD water we went. we floated around and observed for a bit. i even got brave enough to take my phone out for some pics.

the focus here is the skyline, though you can see some fellow floaters as well.

after just floating around for a bit, we started paddling to the end of the "parade." initially, jarrod was doing all of the work (as it should be. hahha) but i could tell he was getting tired so i had to suck it up and actually get in the water. COLD!!! but as always, i got used to the water pretty quickly and we kept paddling along. some random lady asked to race us, so we were paddling hard and then she gave up and said we had a double motor so it was unfair. haha. by the time we made it to the dock, our legs were throbbing and sore, but that's alright. we got a nice workout. haha. after getting out of the water, we released the air from our floaties and then went to find some food (hungry hungy hippoes!). we ended up eating bbq from a food cart. i can't remember the name. i got pulled pork, jarrod got brisket. my pork was SPICY, so i didn't end up finishing it. besides the spicy part, it was still pretty good. and it gave me some nutrition so that i'd be up for the next part of our day.
walking around downtown! as always, i really wanted some cupcakes and i heard there was a good cupcake place somewhere near us, so that's where we headed to first. after walking 9 blocks, (probably should've taken the max, but that's okay-more exercise for us! haha) we finally made it to Saint Cupcake Galore (http://www.saintcupcake.com/) where we proceeded to have some really freaking delicious cupcakes. pic:

the one with green icing was vanilla with chocolate chips. the chocolate one has vanilla buttercream icing. jarrod got a vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream. YUM YUM YUM.

 i kind of wish i hadn't posted that pic now...i REALLY want more cupcakes bc of this. ergh. haha. oh well, maybe another day.
after we ate our cupcakes, we went in search of a fountain that we had seen on the road trip while we visited portland. after walking another hundred or so blocks (exaggeration) we made it to the Ira Keller Fountain where we were surprised to see people swimming. i was not aware people were allowed to swim in the fountains, but apparently it is allowed. a free swimming pool for all! pics:

i tried not to get pictures of anyone else at the fountain. i don't really like random people in my pictures. haha. oh! fun little story, a few weeks ago someone poured some type of detergent in this fountain and guess what happened? lots and lots of foam and bubbles. apparently cleaning that out cost several thousand dollars..i don't really know... yeah, so there you have it. haha.
we left keller fountain in search of pioneer place mall (http://www.pioneerplace.com/) so we could pass some time before we left downtown so we could go see the portland festival symphony (http://www.portlandfestivalsymphony.org/). we pretty much spent our whole time in the mall in a store called Fuego (http://www.shopfuego.com/). it's a really neat store with some fun stuff in it. haha. check out the website for more info. oh, i did get a pic of something great from that store:

i need this bag!

anywho, after we were done with the mall, we walked back to the waterfront and stared out at the river for a bit while listening to some street artists. we then left for Peninsula Park so that we could listen to some lovely classical music. once the concert was over, we went to popeyes (i was craving it and by some great coincidence, we were literally 3 minutes away from one. yes!) and then we came back home and were lazy the rest of the night, as we deserved. haha.
so that was our sunday funday. lots of sun and fun. hahahaha.
we haven't been doing much this week besides working, as usual. that's alright though, we really are saving money by not going out too much, and really, we have more time on the weekends, so why not do fun stuff then anyways?
speaking of the weekend, i have sunday and monday off, so i'm hoping to make another trip to the beach or maybe camp around the columbia gorge. it's up to jarrod. i mentioned the beach idea and he said nothing. :P i'm hoping that wins though. haha. but i'd be fine with camping anywhere or just getting out for a bit. :)
so, i'm looking forward to this weekend, but more than this weekend i'm looking forward to seeing THE SHINS!!!! only one week and i will be in heaven. haha. i did not think i would ever get to see a shins show, as i had heard they had split up, but apparently they're working on a new album (yes!) and are very much a group, still. and so i will get to see the shins, and i will be happy forever. haha. ONE WEEK.
besides that, nothing is really set in stone for next week or the week after.... i need to get on planning things to do, especially with summer coming to an end....yep.
THE SHINS!
that is all.
-sarah-