just for the record: northwest adventures and a million pictures

do you ever have a moment where happiness just washes over you? right where you are standing is heaven. strangely you wouldn't rather be riding a roller coaster or swimming in a tropical lagoon because, where you are is absolutely perfect.

i had that moment a thousand times over as chris martin {coldplay} serenaded me.
oh, it was beautiful. it was bliss. it was magnificent and magical and over-the-top wonderful. highlight of my life? you betcha. and it was simply music. ahhh, but there is nothing simple about music is there? the promise of live music is what encouraged a 1520 mile-ish {roundtrip} adventure with my two best girls. music moves me in a way nothing else does-- it makes me believe and hope and cry and laugh. and with the added special effects of the concert {not to mention all that chris martin is}, i was nearly beside myself.

now before i get ahead of myself, i shall share the adventures of the trip:

we played mash, soulmate, and marry buff kill on the 12 hour drive

*of special importance, all three rounds of soulmate i was with ryan gosling. is it a sign? i believe so.

rest stop

this one is my favorite

we stayed with chelsea's brother and sister-in-law in vancouver. they were so hospitable! bacon burgers and belgian waffles! deeeelish.

tuesday, after meandering around the lloyd center {one gargantuan mall} we walked around the portland, oregon temple

our next stop was powell's bookstore. it was a block, i tell you, a block of glorious new and old books! floors upon floors of books! rooms specifically for cooking, for science fiction, and on and on, all color-coded: "the orange room", "the rose room", "the blue room". oh, it was picturesque and possibly heaven. imagine we live in you've got mail: powell's is fox books and barnes & noble is shop around the corner. we spent a good chunk of time there, not to mention a chunk of change.

we finally found parking at the rose garden, then wandered and wandered in the rain for food. originally we didn't want to eat at a chain restaurant, get the whole "portland experience" but when we saw red robin after blocks of rain and burger king, we thought, "what the heck?"

now the real adventure begins:

we got wristbands. this is important. carry on.

my beautiful ticket!

soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!

and now, i present to you, heaven!

they opened with hurts like heaven, then proceeded to blow my mind with their awesomeness.

and now i ask, is there anything as attractive as chris martin singing? i submit that there is not!

that man....pure sexiness. gwenyth is probably the luckiest lady in the world.

plus he's british.

remember the wristbands? see all those little lights? yep, those are the wristbands!

after the concert was "over", we clapped and screamed until they came back... in the crowd, to play "us against the world". following that masterpiece they ran back on stage to played an additional 4 songs.

i kid you not, i almost cried 3 times because i was so happy.

wednesday we went to the portland zoo with chelsea's brother and nephew. the zoo is so much more entertaining with kids! as far as zoos go, the portland zoo is boss.