Image ♥

Portland=♥

Things are good. I can't remember a time when I've been so happy with the way things have been for this long. Everything is feeling very well balanced (well except for never having enough hours in the day, but what can you do) and I feel unexpectedly sane these days. Work is going great, and although hosting is not my favorite job, the progress I'm making there is enough to make me happy at the end of the day :) I really like the people I work with (it doesn't hurt that some of my favorite people already work there) and I'm making pretty damn good money for just being a host. It was wearing me pretty thin in the beginning but I've gotten a little bit of a rhythm juggling school and work so far.

It's one week until Valentines day, and I don't care what day of the year it is, I love Dave all 365 of them. Yesterday we had the morning off and the first half of the afternoon together. We didn't do much of anything at all, had coffee at home, drove to a used CD store that we like, and had lunch together, but it was a really lovely day. I'm really amazed that we can spend so much time together day in and day out and still be so happy to just sit together over lunch and talk. ♥

My parents are coming in 5 days! I haven't seen them since October- no holidays with family this last year- so I'm really looking forward to a couple of days with them.

This time last year I remember being very depressed after the holidays, feeling really restless and anxious with my life. I can't believe how different this year has been. January wasn't much different than any other month for me (ususally it's when seasonal depression hits me) and winter in general has been so ridiculously mild that I still can't believe that January was mostly 50 degrees(ish) days! I already have bulbs coming up in my flowerbeds! IN JANUARY!!!

Ahhh- I love Portland.

Work work school work school work work *breath* work school.

Out With the Old, In With the New Year!

Ahhhh so many things have happened since the new year started!! I am SO excited and hopeful for 2010, it's the first year that we have been truly established here- this time last year we had mostly acquaintances instead of friends, we were starving for a new place to live, and I was miserable with my new boss at the coffee shop.

Okay, so for starters- I have a new job! After putting in SO many applications to restaurants since we moved here, out of the blue a really great opportunity presented itself at the very end of December. Brittany told me they had an opening for a hostess position at Applebees, and two days later I had a brief interview and was offered the job that night! I have since been through training and have my first real shift this week! Since I'm already friends with about half the staff there, it's been a breeze feeling comfortable there so far. I think it's a real possibility that I will be able to work my way up to serving in the next few months- so wish me luck!

I also made the decision to continue on with school this term (even though winter term is cold and miserable) so that I can have my generals done and hopefully be starting school at the Art Institute within the next couple years. I am schooling two days a week- but each day I am on campus for 10 hours- uhhg. But two of my three classes are art classes and I really enjoy them. I haven't made time to paint or really do anything creative in the last couple years so it's really nice to be able to do that again.

I've also really fallen in love with our apartment again. I was ready to leave it in the dust earlier last fall, I was dreading the lack of insulation in our home and the dark winter months again being huddled by our outdated heater every morning and night. Being that it's already January (really?) I'm pretty surprised at how little it's effected me (other than the $150 gas/electric bills we pay every month). Which leads me to a few New Years resolutions that I have put into motion for the the next 12 months...

* More organization in my house!

I have realized how much clutter effects my state of mind. Clutter for me = stress. I have cleared out most of the bad clutter spots in our apartment and have replaced them with baskets, folders, shelves, etc., to be better at sorting out what's in my home. Clearing out what I don't need helps me appreciate what I already have and enables me to make better use of it.

* Working now towards what I want in my future!

This is where going back to school falls into place. As well as the new job, because once I can stop struggling financially, I can start doing things like....

* Dave & I saving for a trip to Thailand!

We both really want to take a big trip together and we both really like the idea of Thailand. Being that it would only cost us around $1,500 for us to vacay for two weeks, we are hoping to plan a trip in about a year. SO excited for this goal!

* Trying out at least 3 new hobbies/activities this year!

This can really be anything, but what I have in mind so far is rock climbing (Jen you make this look like so much fun!), hiking, and surfing.

So that's it! Of course I probably won't be able to fully check off everything on the list, but that's what I'm going to aim for, because looking forward to things is what makes me excited for the future!

♥ Thank You ♥

I'm not really in the mood to write much, although I should be seeing as how I haven't written about anything at all in weeks. I would like to write about a few things I am so thankful for, however. Thanksgiving has already came and gone, and this blog would probably have been more appropriate then. But I think that this being the first holiday season where I have been completely without family, it's really made me realize that I've been successful at putting down my own roots here. I have created my very own substitute family, and never ceases to surprise me how good it feels to have that.

It's been a good two years at least since I could honestly say I had a best friend (besides Dave, duh). Even then, those friendships were like the relationships that happen fast, burn hot, and then fizzle out much quicker than you ever saw coming. That's kind of how it's always been for me, and by the time I graduated high school I guess I kind of figured that I had a flaw in my character and that's just the way it would always be.

In my head, visions of moving to Portland were full of endless potential for friendships galore. I could be whoever I wanted to be, and I would make sure that it was someone that everyone would want to befriend. Now that I'm leaving this little town, I had though, I'll never be friendless again.

Skip forward a year and a half.

I still have the same boy by my side that I did when I moved here. We are closer, more grown up, and have a little bit better of an understanding of what we might want out of life here. I have gotten so much support and strength from this one single person than I ever though possible. I can honestly say there is no chance in hell I could have survived everything that has happened without such a great friend. I am thankful for you, David.

After about 9 long months of no real friendships or strong social connections with anyone, I had started to feel like this place was no different than where I had come from, and I just didn't really fit in anyone's circle but my own. That was a huge test for me, because of all the expectations I had for moving away, in all honesty friendship was probably the largest and carried the most weight for me. This paragraph is really about all of people who have invited us into their life. I'm really trying to make this as un-cheesy as possible here, but for all of the friends who make up our substitute family here in Portland, I am thankful for you. All of the friends at home in Idaho, I am still very much thankful for you.

Most certainly not last on my list of thankful things, but really more the first and greatest thing I am thankful for here, are the people who both challenged and supported my biggest changes in life, my family. Quite literally I wouldn't be here typing about Portland and moving or really much of anything at all without their help. I am so very thankful for my family.

♥♥♥

2 and 1, Together at Last.

It's official, I am 21 years old with nothing stopping me from making any alcoholic purchases that I so desire other than the fact that I'm a poor not-attending-college student with 17 dollars to my name. Suburban poverty aside, I am so happy to say that I had the best birthday (slash birthday week) this year that I can ever remember having. Not only did I avoid all cement stairs possible (and successfully did NOT fall down any, unlike last year) but I managed to have a blackout-free,fully remembered , and amazing 21st birthday! From the Monday before my birthday till the Sunday after my birthday, I had an amazing birthday week and could not have asked for more. I am so glad that we have made such good friends compared to where we were a year ago, and I am so extremely grateful to all of them for making me feel extra special this year ♥
I am so so so happy that Jenn, who set aside more time than anyone for my birthday this year, flew into Portland from Idaho Falls on my birthday evening and stayed all weekend long! She was an awesome sidekick for my night of belligerent fun and I love how good of friends we've become even though we've only gotten to see each other a handful of times in the past year.

The actual birthday night rocked, and Dave and I started the night off by going to Portland City Grill for the first time, just the two of us. My very first official drink was a blood orange mojito and it was delicious.

Next we picked up Jenny from the airport, and then proceeded to a cute little bar-restaurant in northwest portland where we had pineapple upside-down shots and a very strong alcoholic mocha.

After that, the three of us headed downtown to a placed called CC Slaughters, where we met up with everyone else. It was a really cool bar well equipped with drag queens, a dance floor, and lots of Halloween decorations, but more importantly, lots of delicious drinks for the birthday girl.This included a shot that someone (not sure who...) got me called a blowjob shot. Would have been super embarrassed if I hadn't already been drunk. The shame came later when looking at the pictures hahaha.
So I threw back most of my drinks there, met several strangers who were just as excited that I was celebrating my 21st as I was, which I was very pleased to hear. Lots of high-fiveing and hugs from said strangers, but the more the merrier, right?
We then all headed (no worries, we definatly did not kick off our shoes in the middle of the street and accidentally hit Dave's car hood with our sexy black heels. And by we I mean I.) across the river to a place that had dancing and delicious lavender lemon drop martini's. Dance dance dance, drink drink drink, the night continued on with all of the friends I wanted to come, right there with me having a really great time.

Although I'm glad I had the following day off for some recovery time, my hangover was pretty mild compared to some of the previous underage-drinking hangover's I've had before. No puking, no tripping, no lost items, and no regrets :)

Happy Birthday, Indeed.

To Red, or Not to Red?

So sadly, I believe the time has come to for a seasonal hair color change... I was thinking I would go back to brown, a lighter shade than usual and a semi-permanent so that as it faded the blonde would show through as highlights. Plus semi-permanent is always the best choice for home color cause it is actually healthy for your hair and has no ammonia (can you say: no fumes that make me want to pass out in my bathroom?). But then I started thinking. I was flipping through the pages of some Us Weekly magazine or something, and I saw some pictures of Isla Fisher and her amazing hair. It's red, but not really red. Red in the most low-key, fall-ish, lovely way. I think Im going to wait until after Halloween to make any changes, regardless what I decide. The whole point of me wanting to be a lion for Halloween is because I have blonde hair this year...



I really like her red because it isn't like jewel-toned red, which I think looks best on people who naturally have it, otherwise it can end up looking too costumey. Hers is closer to dirty blondeish-golden light brown with just enough red to make her look more redhead than not. Love it!