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!