Memorial Day Weekend - Portlandia & More

While I appreciate that Memorial Day is in honor of the veterans who have served and/or died for our country, the only way I know how to spend it is 1) shopping and 2) taking advantage of having Monday off.
And this year, I did great on both counts!
Friday night was kind of a blur... attempted to go to the Mariner's game but arrived to the stadium so late that we decided to enjoy the game at Sluggers instead.
Saturday I done got my hair did, and then I found myself an adventure! I took the wrong turn after heading home from my hair appointment, and ended up at Juanita Beach Park! I saw the sign and pulled into the parking lot - got a nice serving of Vitamin D while I walked along the dock and stared out at the water. Later at night, Matt and I went to Eric's house where people were watching movies and eating. We chowed down on the leftover bbq and watched The Devil's Double. Some people were very disturbed by the movie, but I was absolutely intrigued. Very, very interesting.
Sunday morning, Matt and I picked up Charles in Long View. The weather was amazing, and the drive down to Portland actually seemed a lot quicker than it usually does. Along the way, Charles informed us that he booked a hotel room and that we were staying night. FANTASTIC! Luckily, Matt and I didn't have work the next day, so we didn't mind too much. Once we checked-in at The Nines, we got some shopping done at Pioneer Square. After a snack at Buffalo Wild Wings, we went to Sinju Sushi and stuffed ourselves with delicious Japanese food! We got a huge boat platter and weren't even able to finish everything - such a shame that we couldn't take leftovers.
After dinner, we cabbed over to the the Aladdin theatre to catch our burlesque show. Now, I've never been to a burlesque show, but I think this was a GREAT one to experience. Dita Von Teese was extraordinary. Her body is a temple and her charisma as a performer is sure to demand a religious following. Although, there was one act in particular that bothered me - there was a midget burlesque act, and even though I fully respect little people I still did not feel comfortable watching her seduce the audience. It was like watching a child take her top off. Anyway, one of my favorite moments of the show was when they picked three members of the audience for a dance-off. Leave it Portland to offer up one gay film student, one aspiring female burlesque dancer, and one butch dike painter. Ironically, the least talented dancer of the three was the aspiring dancer. The gay film student blew our minds, and then the butch dike showed us her cleavage and blew everyone out of the water. The show was fabulous and highly enjoyable, so glad we went!
By the time we got back to the hotel we were beat, and decided to stay in. We watched Safe House, which was a great movie, and Ryan Reynolds was hot as always. The next morning, we were all relieved that we decided against going out because otherwise we would have been miserable.
Monday morning felt like borrowed time. We shopped at Lloyd Center, then had lunch at Mellow Mushroom. Great pizza! On the way back to Long View, we were talking about how relaxing the weekend was. It really was nice to get back from a trip and not feel like I need a vacation to recover. More shopping at the outlets in Washington before heading home!
I'm staring at the friendship bracelet that Matt and Charles gave me this weekend, and am so grateful for my awesome new friends.