Couch? Yes?

Much Cooler Today

Why, it's already 9 o'clock and I'm not sweating! It must be cooler.

Since yesterday was hot enough to drive a saint to cursing, I took the pugs to the Sandy river for a little refreshment. Of course everyone else in the area had thought of the same thing, so the nearest stretches of the river were pack with a crowds of gigantic people and their gigantic children (Wow, Oregon is only the 29th fattest state! I just did a quick google, I expected it to be much worse. But apparently the south has cornered the market on obesity). So we kept on driving and found a relatively peaceful spot.

It's called the Sandy because the river bottom is made of soft heaps of sand, it was very shallow where we were, so I walked across it carrying Dieter, and holding on to Gunter's life jacket handle as he swam.


Dieter, chilling next to me on the towel, watching the events.




Doesn't he look sporty?! Not very pleased, but sporty.

Still hotter than a coed teenage bible camp

Salvation! Who knew that salvation could be found at Rite Aid in the seasonal section?




Tastes like kool-aid, but better!

Dieter, just has to know what that thing in my hand is:

I need a Giant Box Fan

Until last night I had no idea that a person could sweat whilst lying very, very still. But it is possible. At the present moment, the thermostat has topped out on the highest temperature it can get it's little indicator needle to. I can't even explain how hot it is. And I've been working. All sorts of deadlines etc. How are we dealing with the heat over here:


I seriously feel ill, it is so hot. I sit here, only my fingers moving, dripping sweat. Dripping cascades of sweat down my face.

The only things that can be eaten on days like this are salads and popsicles. And glasses of chilled white wine.

Long Suffering Gunter

Man, cutest little thing. Just started do this sort of naughty stuff. Gunter just ignores him.

Day before yesterday I went to the Noble Rot and it was awesome. They have this outdoor patio on the 4th floor and you can see across the river to the west side, the sun sets behind the mountains there. It was so beautiful, I cannot even explain how I felt when I walked out to our table and saw the view. Gorgeous! Home! It just felt so natural. I took this picture, but it didn't really show how lovely the view was. I waited too long I think, the sun was already down.

There's no way to grow that don't hurt

Bed Love!

I looooooooove it! So simple, yet still fun!

And the people I bought if from were so nice. The guy delivered it and then helped me set it up. It was really nice of him. I would never have been able to get that mattress on top of the box springs without help.

Oh, Portland! Why did I Ever Leave Thee?

First off, let me just say how much I hate carpet. I hate it with a burning and abiding (and almost all consuming) passion. I would gladly draw and quarter whatever moron came up with wall to wall carpeting.

Ok, now that that is out of the way I can get on to posting about how much I adore Portland. I was thinking today, on my way home from the park with Gunter, about why I'm capable of enjoying Portland this time around, when last time I didn't enjoy it nearly so much. I think there are several reasons for this.

1) Money. I now have the money to enjoy being here. I am no longer poor and unable to go and do stuff. That alone makes a huge difference.

2) I'm older. I now longer feel the need to go to places that are infested with hipsters and their news boys caps (Nothing against those hats, actually. I own several.), tattoos, tight jeans, and dirty looks.

3) I think it took going to live in a place that was infested with douche bags (i.e. silicon valley) to truly understand this one fact: I prefer hipsters to douche bags, hands down.

And then of course there is the fact that Oregon is so awesome in the summer.



This! This is the park near my house. Off leash! Oh California! How I hate thee! How I hate thee and your parks and recreation department! (Although I feel compelled to mention that the other dog people have not as been as friendly as one would hope. It's a little disappointing.)

Gunter doesn't want to leave...

HOME FRONT UPDATE:

I have a dresser, witness below:

Hand painted and old as old. Rickety as hell, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Here it is pictured in my bedroom. Which is upstairs. Which begs the question: "how did you get it up there alone?" Answer: Very carefully.

I Have Arrived

Ok, I actually arrived last week, late Thursday night. My brother was a champ, crossing the river on public transportation at 10pm in order to help me shlep my stuff into the house. He rocks.

The drive was miserable. I won't lie. It was long, and I had two dogs trapped in the front passenger seat. Getting a pet crate to lock Dieter in was the smartest thing I've ever done. It would have been madness to have him loose in the car with his sharp little vampire teeth and crazy puppy energy. But the crate meant that poor Gunter was relegated to the floor space on the passenger side. Poor thing. But I did give him a giant bull pizzle chew thing and he made sweet chewing love to it until we got to the Oregon border, at least. There were a lot of nice rest stops too, and I let them run around a few times. Pulling the trailer wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

So, now I'm in Oregon. It's been lovely. The sun is out and I'm just trying to enjoy as much of it as a I can because I know the cloudy overcast winter will come soon enough. So, what have I done to celebrate my joyful return to the land of my birth!? Let me make a list:

1.) Lunch at the Kennedy school, off leash romp at the huge nearby park with Gunter
2.) Dinner and beers at the Goodfoot with my bro. Garlic fries make me happy.
3.) Chocolate Latte at Full City in Eugene with my lovely sister and cute niece. Afternoon at the Oregon Country Fair. All the hippies and the wonderful northwest vibe (not to mention the familiar country side) really let me know that I was back home. Fun!
4.) Lovely church service at the big episcopal Trinity Cathedral in NW. La Bonita! Oh how I missed you!
5.) Pho Jasmine! Soaking in the hot pool at the Kennedy school with my bestest friend ever in the world. More La Bonita! Tostada goodness. (I think I mostly missed all of my eating spots here in Portland, it seems).
6.) Walking through lovely neighborhoods with fancy front gardens to Extracto for coffee in the morning.
7.) Fresh picked blue berries from Sauvie Island. I didn't get to go picking, had to work, but Kellie was kind enough to bring me a huge bag of them. I've been stuffing big handfuls in my mouth and loving it. Man, I love fresh blueberries.
8.) Yoga at a cute little studio on Mississippi. Stumptown coffee afterward.
9.) Delicious tapas and lovely wines at Navarre with my beautiful friend Heather. Awesome. So much fun.

I am SOOOOOOO happy to be back here, I can't even say.

So my house still needs a little work. I pretty much have zero furniture still. My office/studio is coming together.



Still trying to get things organized, but I love this table I bought off of craigslist. I also got that cool dresser cabinet thing. I need to strip it and stain it, but it's ok for now. I'm planning on a deep indigo-ish blue.

I have a mattress! An awesome tempurpedic mattress. It is the most comfortable thing ever in the world, I have to say. Especially after sleeping on the floor for almost a week.

Ok, that's all for now!

Moving Eve

So, right on the eve of moving to a new place, I get a call from my bank and they tell me that someone in Maryland has been using my debit card to buy gas and almost 300 dollars of clothing from Macy's. Luckily, they caught the big Macy's spending spree, but the gas charge went through. They shut the card down and are issuing me a new one, but for now I have no card for my personal accounts. Yay!

One sign of my scatteredness: I tried to use my electronic car unlocker thing to open the front door to the house. I stood there and pushed the little unlock icon twice before I came to myself and realized what I was doing.

Packing Sucks, Moving is Depressing

locked out for the duration

kitchen

ugh.

There is one truth in life that holds true for everyone (I think), and that is: Packing sucks and moving is depressing. No matter how much you might want to move, no matter how happy and excited you are to move, packing still sucks and moving is still depressing. Why that is is easy to explain. One, it's hard and hurts your back. Two, you have to look over and touch all of your belongings and then think about all the things that have happened in past, and all the memories, good and bad, confront you in the form of actual physical items. Perhaps it's just me, but each item I own has a history that stays silent in the dusty quiet depths of my mind until the day that I start packing, then my mind is like a still pond that has been invaded by a crowd of small children, whose little feet kick up all sorts of sediment that then hangs in the once clear green water. That is exactly how my head is at the moment. Full of big swirling clouds of grayish brown sediment. I'm doomed to endure this sediment for at least two weeks, until I get settled in to my new place and I buy a bed and bookshelf and a dresser. And then the sediment might clear a little bit, and my mind might once again be a clear green pool.

BFFs?