Reasons Why I Like Mander

This last weekend, I was reminded of the many reasons why I like my dear friend, Amander.

- She generously came to visit me this weekend in Portland.

- She brought the good weather with her, even though she appreciates rain as I do. It was really nice all weekend.

- She appreciates a good view. Here she is at the Japanese gardens overlooking Portland.

- She loves little kids, particularly of a different race. At the Japanese gardens, there were quite a few adorable Asian children; one of which we tried to capture in this picture.

- She doesn't get embarrassed by me taking pictures of her in a restaurant (and having the rest of the restaurant look at us strangely).

- She also asks for free bread when I'm too ashamed to ask for more and look like a pig.

- She allows me to take a lot, a lot of pictures of her. She was my model for the weekend.

- She also likes to learn about random trivia, most of which will be completely useless to her the rest of her life (after posing at Multnomah Falls, we went into their exhibit and studied waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge).

- She is pretty much up for anything, including touring mansions of rich, dead, Oregonians. Here she is in front of Pittock Mansion.
- She suggests taking goofy pictures and breaking the rules by touching, sitting, and playing with things in the museum that we shouldn't. She's a bad influence on me!

- She was fascinated by the old school telephones!

- She loves books and reading. She was even nice enough to buy my little girl some classic children's books. She's a woman after my own heart.

- She has really cool jewelry. Look at her earrings in this picture, they're awesome.

- She let me drive her around Oregon and show her some stuff that was probably pretty boring for her, but was fun for me.

- She has the same taste in music and theater. We saw perhaps the WORST play/musical/jazz concert ever. It was Alice in Wonderland to jazz! Yeah, you can imagine. We had no idea what we got ourselves into. The good news is, we got a dose of the Portland Jazz Festival. Score!

- We both have an eternal love for Friends.

-Thanks Mander for coming to visit me. It was a wonderful and romantic weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better substitute for Nick. I can't wait to see you until this summer! It's too far away.