Zoo Lights

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been around these parts much lately. This month, it feels like I'm getting pulled in twenty different directions at once. Between work, my etsy shop, custom orders, and social engagements, I have myself spread pretty thin right now. One bit of exciting news: I bought my domain, so heyzombot.com is all mine! heyzombot.blogspot will still redirect here, so you shouldn't need to change your bookmarks or subscriptions or anything like that. It is taking a bit of time to get my comments imported though, so if you notice any issues with commenting, that's why!

On a cold rainy night last week, my friend Steph and I headed to Zoo Lights. It's something that the Portland Zoo puts on every year. They put up tons and tons of gorgeous light displays, and there's a special train that goes through the entire Zoo. It was crazy busy the night we went, so we ended up waiting in line in the rain for a couple hours. It's a bit weird being at the Zoo when all the animals are put away, and just looking at animals made of multicolor lights. They were so pretty though! Check it out.

zombie walk

So, Zombie Walk this year was honestly, a bit of a disappointment. The last couple years that I went, it was this giant event in downtown Portland with over 1000 zombies. It usually went on for an hour or two, and it was an absolute blast. This year it was in the industrial district. WHAT? There's nothing there. There's no people to see the walk, no bars to duck into for a quick drink, no parks to run through in search of brains, no tourists to scare.It was the smallest turnout I had seen, and the walk itself lasted maybe fifteen minutes. I'm pretty sure someone different was organizing it this year, and they really did a terrible job. Maybe next year will be better, or I'll just organize my own awesome zombie walk

I didn't take many pictures since it was pouring rain the whole time, and there weren't many great photo ops. Sigh.

My favorite two zombies by far were the zombie stormtrooper (with an ewok head purse!) and a princess fairy zombie.

I layered those veiny tights over some skeleton tights. I liked the way it turned out!

Cruisin’ on the Willamette

On the last day of the epic staycation that was HannahFestNorthWest, Andrew and I took a two hour cruise on the Willamette River. I had purchased a groupon for The Portland Spirit, so it was a cheap little excursion. I honestly wasn't too impressed by the food (my gumbo was basically just stew? with carrots? what?! DO YOU KNOW HOW GUMBO WORKS, CHEFMAN?) and the live music was a little bit disappointing (country music covers=whyyyyyyyy?). However, it was a absolutely beautiful day, and there were many lovely sights to see on the river.  It was really neat to see parts of the Willamette and Portland that I've never seen before.

pirate boats!

Apparently, paddle-boarding is a thing.

kayakers

adorable little floating houses

a llama leading a bunch of goats around a golf course right on the river.

Before you get on the boat, you have to have a cheesy picture taken. I, of course, blinked right when she took the picture. (I should've just worn my sunglasses! Curses!) Towards the end of the cruise, the employees find you and offer to sell you the photo for $12. I chose not to buy it since I'm all blinky in the photo, but then some super-nice maybe-drunk older ladies bought the photo for us because they thought we were cute. Hooray for nice people!

miscellaneous Portland goodness

Just wanted to share some random pictures from Kendra and mine adventures in Portland.

This sticker seemed perfect after finding that 'dead birds' painting at the art museum.

Why yes, I do like your Dali!

Mac's Mac&Cheesery. That's a bloody mary with cheese flavoring on the rim, by the way. If you think that sounds delicious, then you're right.

mini mini macaroons

oh, Portland. You would.

Discovering that guacamole actually goes great with hot dogs.

My little sister has an owl named "Henry" that she takes on her travels and takes pictures of in random locations. Isn't he cute?!

Portland Art Museum

My little sister, Kendra, just moved to Oregon from Alaska! She’s been staying with me this week, then she’s off to camp for a month or so, then moving down to Eugene. I’m really excited that she’s going to be just a short drive away from me, so we can hang out more often! On Tuesday, we headed downtown to visit the Portland Art Museum. I’ve lived here almost four years now, but have somehow never been to the art museum! It’s a damn shame, and I’m glad I finally went.
The European Art Gallery, or as I fondly remember it "Way Too Many Baby Penises"

This was one of my favorites of the European pieces. Amongst a room of portraits of holy figures and beautiful lords and ladies, here were... two dead birds.

This was a neon-painted TV covered with Japanese monsters, giant gems, and random toys. It was the tackiest thing I've ever seen, and thus I was instantly in love with it.

This one was titled "Alaska", though Kendra pointed out that it wasn't nearly as cold, dark, and depressing enough to be called that.

And last but not least, my very very favorite thing in the entire museum. It's at the top floor, and was one of the last things we saw. A giant miniature (oxymoron?) city of glass and lights. It was beautiful and perfect and looked like the setting of a utopic sci-fi movie. When I got home, I did some research and found out it is titled "City 0000" by Mike Kelley, and was inspired by the city of Kandor from Superman comics. (How perfect is it that Kendra just happened to be wearing a Superman shirt?!)