mike and i are heading over to my friend lee's house for dinner and drinks. i gotta say: not being home for christmas is really a bummer. i told my boss last night (at work, bleh) to "consider this my last xmas at borders". mike and i are going to make it a goal to go home for xmas next year. anyway, we're still going to have a good time today. last night we opened all our gifts. mike got me some really great things, as always. i'm sort of rambling here, and we're heading out the door in a minute.
my mom told me this morning that my brother, eric, is dying. he's in a hospice right now, and it's only a matter of days before he's gone. i'm really sad about this and i honestly don't want to think about it right now, but basically i'm really angry that i can't be home right now to say goodbye. but my thoughts are with my family right now, and i hope they know how much i love them, and wish i could be there.
we love you all! merry christmas.
--anne
25.12.06
16.12.06
11.12.06
on the road up to timberline
mount hood is bursting at the seams. notice the green moss growing like crazy in 5 feet of snow.
LET IT SNOW!!!
on saturday, we headed east for a little road trip. an hour later we were here. mount hood. you see, portland is rainy. it's definitely not cold, and it looks nothing to me like christmas. so we went to the snow! next time, we'll actually attempt to ski.
23.11.06
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
we hope this holiday finds all our friends and family happy and healthy. we are doing great and still loving almost every minute of life here. the only drawback being that we can't be with our friends and families tonight. eat a turkey leg for us!
love and best wishes,
anne and mike
love and best wishes,
anne and mike
18.11.06
My Thursday night commute.....hit by car!
I never thought my first accident on my bike would be this severe. Most of my worries have been if/when is my tire going to slide out from under me? Since it has rained almost everyday in the last 15 or so, you could understand my concern. Well, this Thursday after work I'm heading north on 2nd Steet for the Burnside Bridge which will take me to the eastside. I'm moving at a good pace and just getting to the Ash Street intersection on 2nd, ming you it's twilight but I do already have my front light on just in case. That's when a Lexus pulls out right in front of me as it is trying to bisect 2nd while on Ash. I had what seemed like 3 - 4 options go through my mind in what could have only been maybe 1.5 seconds. It seemed like it was in slow motion, but in fact happened all rather fast like. I turned my bike just slightly in the direction that his car was going and them SLAM! My bike and myself impact his passenger side door at about 15mph, his pace was about the same or a bit faster. The left side of my body must have gotten the majority of the initial impact, because it hurts like hell with some muscle loss and lack of movement in my left arm. From the point of impact I proceeded to roll up onto the top of his car, this causes me to spin head over back in a spirraling motion due to the momentum of his car. I fall to the street landing on my back. I must have used my elbows to brace myself beacause there swollen and have some roadburn. Thankfully I ride with a helmet, because my head smacked the ground pretty hard as well as my hips. Almost instantly there were about 20 people running up to see if I was alright, thankfully there was a firetruck driving down 2nd street just a moment after it happened. So as I laid in the street the firemen checked all my vitals and then had me move over to the sidewalk. Nothing was broken, and for the most part I felt fine so we filed a quick report, I exchanged my information with the guy who hit me, and it was all over. I'm standing on the corner with a bike that had the rear wheel blown off, and the front steering turned at 90 degrees, no brakes and one tire that wobbles really bad, so I walked it back to work. I then walked instead of driving to Borders (which is a few blocks from my work) to get Anne from work. We had a nice bus ride home that evening, and she has taken care of me every since the accident. I think she's pretty damn awesome to say the very least. Anyway, I feel pretty good for getting hot by a frigging car. I hope Mondays bike ride into work on Monday goes better. If I get home Monday night and I havent been hit, we will call it a success. Ciao
6.11.06
my very first earthuake
well sunday evening, mike and i were sitting in the living room (i had gotten home from work recently) watching television. suddenly my chair was vibrating and sort of shifting back and forth on the wood floor. there was a low rumbling and some rattling from dishes and lamps nearby. it was over in a couple of seconds, and afterwards i sat there, shocked. "was that an earthquake, mike!?" seeing as he'd lived in california, i was sure he'd know if he felt one. well he wasn't fully convinced. the experience was very similar to having a bus drive right by your house, except much much more powerful--the house and everything in it was moving. thank GOD for the internet, and the united stated geological survey website, because in 10 minutes we had our answer: a 2.7 magnitude earthquake hit portland at 9:35 pm pst!! it was amazing. all my life i'd heard accounts of quakes, but had no real idea what they felt like. the closest frame of reference was the "bus driving by" analogy. anyway, earthquakes here are relatively common, according to the usgs website. one thing for sure: anything stronger would be terrifying. my heart was beating fast for about 15 minutes after the event. i can't imagine how shocking a bigger earthquake would be!
love, annie
http://earthquakes.usgs.gov/
love, annie
http://earthquakes.usgs.gov/
4.11.06
mr. great blue heron
this guy lives in laurelhurst park. he's as frequent a resident there as the homeless people (yes, that's really frequent).
20.10.06
me right before the decemberists show (and t-minus 1.5 hours before some stupid sorority chick puked all over the floor in front of us--classy, i know). it was a pretty fun show, but we'd been at work all day and standing in the back row (on tip-toe) for two hours isn't my idea of fin anymore. it was too dark to snap pictures inside, so this is the only one from the night. chris and heather, we're sending you a cd with a video clip from the show. if i could, i'd post it on here. unfortunately, blogger doesn't let you post videos. lame.
things are great here. life is just so peachy. miss you all! anne
things are great here. life is just so peachy. miss you all! anne
13.10.06
THANKS MOM!!
seriously, the best gift we could ask for: jars of nebraska food! you know how much we love getting mail? well this was the epitome. thanks so much mom, this will totally get us through the winter.
love, anne and mike
8.10.06
Portland seems to be famous for these types of benches. They seem to be on about any side street, in any area you go to. I like them as they are all different and I'm not really sure who is responsible for them. Just another touch of Portland thats enjoyable. 
A great tree forming a canapy of the same bench.
October in Portland...
Saturday was a great day to enjoy a walk around the side streets of our hood. It was a beautiful fall day, and one of the first to showcase a new set of amazing colors the flora has to offer in Oregon. It's amazing at how much things are in bloom in the town, it seemed as if there was always something amazing and colorful in bloom since we have moved here. And know with the addition of tree foliage changing colors, it just always seems to take it to another level.
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