HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!!

you're the sweetest, most loving guy on the planet.

all my love (blog-style),

anne 

the sun came out!!!

man, i don't think i've been more happy to see blue sky.

today i cleaned house, went on a mini-shopping trip (tomorrow's mike's birthday, everyone!!), and wandered around the neighborhood. i haven't been able to really get outside all weekend because of the rainy weather. so this was very nice.

tonight i am making pizza for dinner. i ran over to pastaworks (a really cool italian market) and bought fresh mozarella, basil, and roasted peppers. i already made the dough for the crust, so that's rising. this pizza is going to be tasty! one thing that portland is defnitely missing is good pizza. i have yet to have anything that's better than what either: 1) i can make myself, or 2) la casa. no offense everyone, but i don't miss anyone or anything more from omaha than la casa pizza. luckily they can mail frozen pizzas, but i'm assuming it's quite expensive.

tomorrow mike and i are going to splurge and have steak for dinner for his b-day. red meat, YUM!

--anne

happy birthday, kitty!

wish we could be there to celebrate the birthdays! hope you have a fabulous day. i just want to say that i'm really happy to be in touch with you again. i missed you so freakin much. you're an awesome person, and i'm lucky to call you my friend.

love, annie


 

another (rainy) saturday

it's been raining pretty much all week. and while i don't mind it so much, it really does put a damper on my mood. i didn't think the rainy weather would affect me that much, but it really kind of does. i guess it's better than the heat and humidity of the midwest! and there's sunshine in the forecast, as well. once again, i am home alone for the weekend. mike's working, so i'm left to my own devices. i'm experimenting with pictures. anyway, i've been invited to a barbeque with some coworkers today. i said i'd go if it was at andrew's house, which is like 4 blocks from me. otherwise, i don't know. haha. i keep trying to think of things to make that'll really "wow" them. i seem to remember being somewhat of a cook in the not-so-distant past, but it's all a blank. my life in omaha keeps getting further and further away from me.

oh yes, and a girl put in her notice at work, so it looks like i may be transitioning to full time. thank goodness!

i am also entertaining the thought of going back to school. portland state university had a distance program for library science. it's through--get this--emporia state in overland park, KANSAS. yeah, so i need to take the GRE, which costs like $150 to take. that's about half my paycheck right now. i really want to go to library school. but it's expensive. on the plus side, i would be able to defer my student loans for awhile. admission deadline for next spring is october 1, so i have a little bit of time to prepare and take the GRE.

okay, i'm off to watch a movie (memoirs of a geisha).

--anne
 

new (old) pictures on the walls sure helps this place seem more like home. bob and mary were so kind to bring them out. we certainly couldn't have fit them in or on the car when we drove out here. anyway, it's really nice to have that extra touch. pictures can sometimes be like family members--they have a place in my memories.  

we had a wonderful time at the peid cow. mike and bob both had the HUGE bottles of deleruim tremens. mary had a piece of gingerbread, and i had a glass of wine. it was a really super time. great conversation, good music, and family. it was just great.

mary and bob: you guys look so healthy and happy. it was really just such a treat to hang out with you guys, and i hope you enjoyed your short time here. we love you both very much.

--anne


 

bob and mary's visit!

soon after they got to our apartment. we chatted and got ready to got eat dinner. it was so nice to see them. it was really hard seeing them drive off last night. it made me more homesick than i've been so far. i think they had a great time, though. while i was at work yesterday, mike and the folks went to breakfast, forest park, and drove around several neighborhoods--just to get a feel for the city. unfortunately, they got a real dose of portland weather, and it rained almost the entire time they were here. so they came by border's to pick me up from work yesterday and we drove over to northwest 23rd street to do some window shopping. we got some gelato at a place called "alloto gelato". yum!

after we had some delicious mexican food over near sellwood, we came home and unpacked the pictures mary and bob had delivered for us! then it was off to the peid cow.

 

rainy days and mondays....

today is my day off, and it's raining cats and dogs out there. i thought i'd share a little bit of the lush, green view i have from my bedroom/office window. there's a big leafy maple tree outside the window, so i can hear raindrops hhitting the leaves. it's really peaceful. last night we had our very first thunderstorm! people were out in the streets dancing and yelling. i remember as a kid, the way i dealt with scary thunder was to yell and scream at the sky. it was like having a screaming match with god. no wonder i love to argue so much now!


this is the "waterfall". i know it's a horrible picture, but this is the best i could do without seeming like the creepy neighbor girl snpping pictures of peoples' house. anyway, everytime it rains, water pours down this roof joint. there's moss growing all over it. it's like my own private water feature! 

mike and i went up the street to "the blue monk" after he got home from work. the "blue monk" is a jazz club/restaraunt that we'd been meaning to try since we moved here. we were definitely not disappointed. the atmosphere is laid back, not smoky, and the beer selection is vast. i had a couple martinis and was very satisfied. we will go back, for sure.


we came home to homemade sushi. the total cost for making all this sushi was about $6. the wild sockeye salmon was on sale; and the cucumber and avacado were also incredibly cheap. all in all, a very fun and satisfying evening.

--anne
 

shoes on wires

this is what i was referring to in my last post.
 

yesterday was another really warm day. it was mike's day off, so after i got home from work, we ventured a little further down hawthorne street to a little french grocery store/deli we'd stopped in once before. it's a really cramped little store and the deli is tiny, but they have a pretty good selection of imported beers, and although we didn't eat any food there, it smelled fantastic. we sat outside sipping our beers (see pictures), and chatted about how much we really do like the hawthorne neighborhood. it's more of a community than belmont is, and there's much safer housing to be gotten there. on that note, we finally complained about our "problem neighbor" across the hall. it turns out the landlords have been building a case against him for months now, but couldn't do anything about it quite yet. apparently, our call was the final straw and they've been evicted. now we wait. besides that, things are wonderful. it's finally raining again after about 2 weeks of dry (and hot) weather. i tell ya: i love this rain. it's cooled everything way down, finally.
mike took pictures of shoes hanging from the wires. this seems to be a "thing" here, as there's shoes on the teleplone and electricity wires all over town. i think mike is aiming to document this, starting now. anyway, we're pretty excited for mike's folks to visit next week. i think they're getting here on tuesday, but i'm not positive. mike's birthday is coming up (i bought him this super fancy watch he'd been eyeing for a while). i already gave it to him, since his old watch had broken and he was without a timepiece. this new watch has some sort of internet connection, and he get's news, weather, sports, etc. all sent to him real time. i think this is his consolation for us not having cable.

anyway, we love and miss everyone! this is one of my favorite times of year in nebraska, so it's sparing a tiny bit of homesickness. i mostly just miss my mom's house. it's so green and peaceful out there right now. and i miss hearing meadowlarks. guess i just have find a substitute here!

--anne


 

instead of smoothies, we decided on something a little more decadent: milkshakes from ben & jerry's up on hawthorne. it was WARM in the sun, and we countered the heat with the cold, delicious ice cream. the bottom picture is just the view of hawthorne street from the bench we sat upon. that red building (if you can see it) is called "red light", which is a pretty cool "thrift store". they markup everything in there quite a bit, but you can usually find some good deals--especially t-shirts.

okay bedtime!

--anne 

the past 3 days have been quite toasty here in portland. monday, the temp reached 97, and yesterday and today it's been in the upper 80s. i'm really regretting getting rid of our fan, but i guess there's no way it would've fit in the car. i guess we need to venture out to target or something. the only thing missing here is big t-storms. there've been some to the east of us, over near bend, oregon the past couple of days, but nothing for us!

work is going well. i'm still adjusting to the 5am alarm, but it's not so bad once i get to work. i think we're going to head out right now and find a smoothie place.

okay, i'm gonna take some pictures to post up here, since it's such a slow news week.

--anne

weather report

today is forecasted to be our first 90+ degree day! if i had the car, i'd be at the beach right now!

--anne

woah, nellie!

i felt i needed a change (as if moving across country without knowing anyone wasn't a big enough change). so i colored my hair. red. it's borderline purple, but that should ease up with the next few washes. okay, i think the blog has officially sunk to a new low. a loaf of bread and my hairdo seem to be all i can come up with lately!

i had a nice long chat with tom and katie this morning. i've come to the decision that i really don't like shopping for new friends, and i think i'll just stick with the ones i have, regardless of the fact that they live in nebraska. that, coupled with the fact that the majority of people i've met so far (mostly through work) tend to be really sort of immature. i'm sure this mentality will change, but frankly: i moved here with my best friend in tow, what else could i need? i think the bottom line is this: i am lazy. the notion of getting to know new people is tiring. and i sorta like being anonymous. jeez, i'm turning into my father! hahaha!

mike's folks will be here in a couple of weeks. we're so excited to see them! i love seeing familiar faces here--and we can't wat to show them around! safe trip you guys!

to all you moms out there:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

love, anne 

for chris:

this is the "big country" loaf. it's enough bread to last us a week! and it's only about $3! it makes awesome toast. mike just likes cradling it in his arms, and smelling it's lovely aroma.