I Got Educated!

Heeeey y'all! Oh my goodness, it has been a crazy past several days-- spent the majority of last week stressing over my final exam, during which I was observed and grilled by 4 Montessori examiners from around the world for almost 3 hours, the day before my graduation (okay, it wasn't really as scary as it sounds). Then I received the phone call from one of my lovely trainers that evening that I passed (eee!) and off we went to celebrate. First, to the roof!

Davis and I and one of our buddies threw together some curried chicken and veggie kebabs, grilled some naan, and enjoyed some beverages on the rooftop before heading out.

The grillmaster

The beauties, pre-char

Ready to enjoy the finished product!

 Success! They turned out great, and filled our tummies so we were ready to head out on the town. That evening, Portland's Starlight Parade was processing through the streets, so we caught a couple of glimpses of that in action.

Zombies and glowing people and hearses...sweet

A ghastly-looking marching band

Our first stop- the arcade with a bar, of course! What better way to throw down? Yesssss. Then we met up with a bunch of Montessori folk for karaoke and more drinks. Awesome! Aaaand to end the night downtown, we couldn't resist a stop at Voodoo Doughnut. The celebration just wouldn't have been complete without it : )

Open 24 hours, line down the sidewalk 24 hours, worth it.

Yum. Then Sunday was graduation! So lovely to spend a last day with my wonderful class who will be spreading their Montessori love around the country teaching here in PDX as well as in Utah, Colorado, Texas, Chicago, DC, California, Wyoming, Minnesota, New York, etc. etc.! So proud of everyone.

The ceremony was held in a church in SE Portland and sweet Davis took lots of pictures : )

We assembled on the stage

One of my wonderful trainers, Ginni

And the other, Sarah!

We sang some songs...

And I got my diploma!

And then we all posed for lots of pictures, such a wonderful group of people

I'm going to miss seeing all their lovely faces every day, but I am excited to get into the classroom for good! Following the graduation festivities, Davis and I went out for a final celebratory dinner at a restaurant I'd been wanting to try since we moved to town-- Andina! A Peruvian restaurant that consistently gets rave reviews from the resident foodies. Let's do it!

Hungry and excited for Peruvian grub!

Here we are! It was packed

 They have a huge tapas menu, which I always love-- so we get to try a bunch of different dishes! Which is exactly what we did...

Sashimi style tuna with a green mango and peanut salsa

"mixta nikkei causa"--Yukon Gold potato, spicy tuna and crab salad, topped with a crispy breaded prawn

A duo of piquillo peppers stuffed with quinoa, cheese, and Serrano ham

And quinoa crusted chicken with "salsa agridulce"

My cutiepie dinner companion

And my decadent chocolate dessert- holy goodness, that's a way to end a meal!

 Ah! Andina absolutely lived up to its hype. Everything was deeelectable. Perfect end to an exciting weekend. And happy to have my sweet boy by my side for all of it.

I spent Monday and Tuesday training for my new job and now I am finally free to focus on wedding details and getting everything squared away so I can fly home a week from tonight! Holy moly! So excited to spend time with all of you.

Lots of love, xo