Things To Do Archives – Page 5 of 11

Rock for a Reason: Outdoor Rock Concert to Benefit 4-Year old with cancer – 9/10/2014

September 4, 2014 No Comments A Well Crafted Life

National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and today’s blog is in hopes of helping shed a little more light on the desperate need for more funding and research on pediatric cancer. Cancer remains the most common cause of death by disease for children and adolescents in America. Growing up my best friends family dealt with the impact of pediatric cancer on their world when her sister was diagnosed. A local girl and her family are experiencing the hardships that pediatric cancer brings with it and the community of Milwaukie, Oregon are banding together to help!

Portland-Area Businesses Coming Together for a Cause

The local Milwaukie community is pulling together to host an outdoor family friendly benefit, silent auction and rock concert for a local girl living with a very rare brain tumor. Leah Merklin, a 4-year old girl has one of the rarest forms of pediatric brain cancer, primarily affecting young children, the brain tumor called DIPG is both inoperable and incurable.

On Wednesday, September 10th, local Milwaukie business owners, Portland DJ Ron Rouse, Chris Carpenter & The Collective, a local band, and Good Roots Community Church are joining arms to host an outdoor community fundraiser for Leah.

Banding together, local vendors are stepping up to offer locally sourced, delicious food at the event: Pronto Pizzeria & Kitchen will be selling grilled pizzas and farmer’s market fresh salads. Schoolyard Farms, a local nonprofit educational farm, will be offering build you own kid salads. Pepper & Salt will be selling butternut squash infused mac + cheese and lettuce turkey wraps. Painted Lady Coffee House will be selling hot coffee, Italian sodas, and homemade delicacies and Mix ‘n’ Match Creamery will be whipping up batches of their custom made ice cream.

Wine:30 Bar and Duffy’s Irish Pub are setting up a beer and wine garden – 100% of the proceeds from all Pabst and Breakside Brewing purchases will go directly to the Merklin Family.

There will be stenciled face art by Sweet Cheeks Airbrushing; handmade necklaces and headbands offering proceeds back to the Merklin family; and a bouncy house, henna tattoos and a stilt walker for the kids!

Ron Rouse, who works for Portland Fire & Rescue and is also a popular local DJ named DJ Rontourage, will be donating his time at the event. Local band Chris Carpenter & The Collective will be playing live music from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Event goers will be invited to pick out a favorite song from the band’s play list and the band will play songs for donation.

Finally, there will be a silent auction featuring locally procured items, with 100% of the proceeds going back to the family.

Connect

Connect with the Rock for a Reason Facebook event or connect with the Support for Leah Rose Merklin and Family Facebook Page!

Portland

Portland Pairings – Unique Wine Tasting Class

August 7, 2014 5 Comments Portland

I’ve been to a lot of wine tastings in my day. Heck, I’ve even hosted several in my job as a trainer at an Italian restaurant. However, this was my first time ever experiencing a wine tasting quite like this… the Pairings Portland Wine Shop invited myself and my fabulous friend Bee to try out their Pairings Basics tasting class so that we could share the experience with readers. I’m so glad I got to experience it!

I’ll start by saying that there is nothing typical about the Pairings Portland Wine Shop. As soon as you walk in you get a feel for the different type of wine experience that you’ll be getting. Instead of wines categorized by variety and price point, the wines sold throughout the store are paired with moods, foods, TV shows, music, weather, and more. When signing up for the Pairings Basics class, be aware that you aren’t signing up for a typical tasting either! You’re signing up for an experience of learning a lot more about what you like about wine and why you like it. You aren’t going to sit there listening to someone talk about the things YOU should be tasting or things YOU should be smelling. Oh, and you’ll only be tasting ONE wine.

What!?

That is what I thought too… but, you’ll be tasting that wine over and over again and trying it with different things. Without sounding completely over-the-moon about things… this was a revelation to me! It was amazing seeing how one wine was changed between the simple change of an acid or a fat. To me, someone who throws a lot of parties that include wine and food, it made me realize how I can modify a dish that just doesn’t quite match a wine the way I want it to!

The description of this class says, “you’ll discover the magic of wine and food pairing.” I think the class totally delivers on that description.

More about the Pairings Basic Class:

Cost: $25/person
Size of class: MAX 18 people
You’ll try a wine to see if you like/dislike it
You’ll then try the wine with 7 different elements, marking the changes that it made in the wine
In the end, you’ll leave with a knowledge of how food and wine interact with your taste buds.

Wanna see Bee’s review of the class? Check out her thoughts on the Pairings Basic class at The Spicy Bee!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary class in exchange for my honest opinion of the experience. All thoughts are my own. I am a big believer in trying out and supporting local businesses as I am able and I think will interest my readers.

Portland

What I’m Loving: The Warrior Room Arm Wrestling Event

July 23, 2014 No Comments Portland

I’m a sucker for really fun events that help raise money for really great causes.

On September 13th from 4-7 p.m., the Warrior Room, a kettlebell studio located in downtown Milwaukie, OR, is hosting an all-women’s arm wrestling charity event for Northwest Housing Alternatives. Northwest Housing Alternatives is the largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing in Oregon, and every night over 2,600 people fall asleep in homes developed by NHA.

This is no small event! The Warrior Room will host the arm wresting competition inside the studio and have food and drink vendors set up in the parking lot area. Local DJ Gustav from 94.7 KNRK will be the live entertainment. Other local vendors that are on board include Duffy’s Irish Pub, Pepper & Salt, Nortwest Primary Care, and The Portland Mercury.

More about The Warrior Room:
The Warrior Room is a kettlebell exclusive studio dedicated to making fitness instruction affordable. The mission of The Warrior Room is to ensure individualized attention and safe and expert instruction without the lavish price tag of a private training session. Unlike regular gyms that offer monotonous large group classes with almost no personal fitness direction, The Warrior Room offers all workouts under the direct supervision of kettlebell certified Personal Trainers.

For tickets and more information, please go to www.warriorroom.org.

** This is not a sponsored post. I just happen to think this is a really cool event. I currently do not work out at The Warrior Room, but have had many friends that love it! I’d highly recommend giving it a shot if you like intense work outs!