17 years!

Yesterday, Paul and I celebrated 17 years of marriage! We got married at ages 20 and 21, very young, and really can't say we have any regrets. We've changed a lot, grown a lot, and thank God we did all that together and didn't grow apart, but grew together, and love each other more every year, and in lots of different ways than when we were newlyweds. (Yeah, for an anniversary post I get to be mushy!)

For the first time in 12 years, since Hibi was born, we got an evening out, on our anniversary, without kids! A wonderful friend from the parish offered to take Hibi and Zac overnight, so that we could enjoy an evening together. We had a very enjoyable evening, and we went to a couple of really great places. We went out for dinner at Il Piatto, which I'd been to with the clergy wives of Portland, and it was wonderful Italian food. I'd highly recommend it, maybe not for an everyday kind of place because it's a bit pricey, but for special occasions like celebrating 17 years of marriage. :-)

Then we went to The Blue Monk, which is a jazz bar in SouthEast Portland. That was really fun! A band called 3 Leg Torso was playing, and they were a lot of fun. And wonderful musicians. I really like seeing musicians who play an instrument in a whole different way from the way that's traditionally taught. The lead instrument was a violin, and the violinist played in harmonics--I'd never seen a whole melody done in harmonics. It was violin, string bass, accordian, xylophone and assorted percussion. Oh, and I've never seen a violinist jump around the stage like a rock star! The bassist also tried to move around, dancing around his bass at one point. They do a really eclectic blend of music--klezmer, Brazilian, tango, the works. But it all has the same upbeat tempo, so *maybe* one could say it kind of starts to sound the same....but it's all so interesting that I didn't mind. They really had a lot of energy and were incredibly talented.

I believe the band is local, and they are playing several times in Portland and the vicinity during the summer, so check out their website. Some venues are even free, like Portland Farmer's Market. They're also going to be in San Francisco and other bay area venues, so if you live there, check them out!