Since my last blog we have enjoyed the amazing live music of our friends band Alabama Black Snake at a few venues here in Portland. I got bake a few home made from scratch organic pumpkin pies with danielle. It was fun to show her how much fun yet time consumeing making my favorite from scratch pie is.
And I have been reunited with my amazing friend Tiffany.
A short lil back ground on Tiffany n I hanging out in the past. About 3 yrs ago I visited Portland on new years day. I was introduced to Tiffany. She is smart, funny, adventurous, and loves coffee and photography. The two of us seemed to click n enjoyed shooting photos together. Two days after meeting we decided to have adventure day so I rented a car and off we went. 1st to multnomah falls then we went off to the coast to the cheese factory then back to the mountains for a trip up mount hood to see the timberline lodge aka the overlook hotel from the shining. But we never would have thought it snows up on hood. Even tho we have seen the shining. Lol. This was the birth of T&T Dynamite Adventures. I had told her I would get get her home by 10:30 midnight which turned into 7am Eeekkk . So up on mt hood we made it to the top by the hotel in what turned into a blizzard. Snowflakes the size of our hands fell that night with snow banks higher then my moms house. We decided not to go into the hotel out of fear of the car getting snowed in there. We headed down the mountain to discover the quick way back to Portland was closed due to a mud slide. Off in a blizzard we took the back long way in a freakin blizzard in a compact rental with no snow chains. It was an eventful night of over turned trucks, lots of laughs and the beginning of an awesome friendship.
Ok so back to 2011 lol.
Since I have reunited with Tiffany we have successfully taken a trip to multnomah falls , bridge of the gods, as well as a recent trip up mt hood. Which was alot less snowy and still alot of fun. I'm grateful to have reunited with her. and there will be many more adventures to come as well as good times amongst friends.
Brian was delighted to discover the falls were only 30 mins from our apartment, mt hood is one hour directly up the cross rd we live off, and mt st Helen's is only one hour away and on a clear day you can see both mt good and st Helen's from the 84 freeway by Ikea.
It delights me that that Brian seems to get along with my friends here too.
Speaking of Brian he finally bought a bike to get around town and is slowly learning the amazing mass transit system here in Portland. Where you can take any bus, train, trolley and transfer between them and go anywhere in the city or suburbs all for a 3 hour time period for only $2.10 what a steal. I'm happy he's venturing out and exploring. Brian also had an interview to work at a bread factory which sounds intresting. And they give u free bread and feed you meals. My fingers are crossed he gets it.
Brian also finally met up with his buddy fly by aka Steve who he met hiking the Appalachian trail. The two of them went to the Reel Rock Film Tour. It was a series of short films about rock and ice climbers. Brian is calling it rock and Ice porn he said it was beyond amazing to see people climbing rock faces of mountains and ice waterfalls.
In other news I finally have hours at Macy's. At min wage it still isn't enough to pay the bills n survive but it is a start. I'm still looking for a second or even a better paying job. My hours start at 6am and I work till 10am and on some days 1 or 2 in the afternoon. It is what it is. My boss JC is pretty cool. It's crazy to see the behind the scenes of a big retail corporation like Macy's.
We are still adjusting in many ways. I still get home sick from time to time and question our decision on coming west. But we are here and deep down I'm a tough cookie and my job in life is to survive.
We adore our new apartment it's still very empty and we wish we had furniture but in due time I guess. Right now my concern is paying next months rent, transferring my drivers license to Oregon and getting car insurance here. Which I am learning car insurance is 1/2 the price here than it was in Nj.
My 30th birthday is creeping up october 22 I will turn the big 30 I wish my friends n family from back home were able to be here to celebrate it with me. But atleast I have Brian. As of now the plan seems to be on my birthday we will be going out for a bite to eat n some drinks with Danielle and Shawn.
Then the day after my birthday Tiffany , Brian and I will be heading to the coast and the cheese factory. It should be a fun weekend.
I have high hopes for 30 maybe too high of hopes but something has to give. I'm beyond grateful that I have a place of our own to call home finally. But everyone keeps telling me I have an impressive work history and life story but guess what it's not doing me much good if Macy's is the only employer willing to give me a chance. I'm worth much more and capable of 2000 times of what I'm doing there.
I understand The economy is on a downward spiral but cut me a break.
I have been following this whole occupy wall street thing and I can agree with alot of what they are for and how they say the banks keep getting richer, the cost of everything keeps going up but min wage stays the same and the middle class is disappearing. It is becoming harder n harder to survive. I would like to go photograph the signs n set up down at occupy Pdx but hear alot of the homeless here are using it as a free pass to camp instead of actually standing for a cause. Even tho they have signs. Let me tell u homeless people love signs and are pretty creative with their signs wording.
Two of my favorites are ";too old to work, too ugly to prostitute, alergic to jail"
And ";2 French fries short of a happy meal, need $3 for a whopper and a pony ride"
This town and most of its people are interesting to say the least.
If anyone is interested in getting us a house warming gift or a birthday gift here are two links to my wish lists.
The first is my amazon wish list that I usually use for my Xmas list for my mom but decided to just use the same one for my bday/housewarming too.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/1LXZ3ALZHQFSZ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_ws_ETIMob1GAYFYX_w">http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/1LXZ3ALZHQFSZ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_ws_ETIMob1GAYFYX_w
And below is my target list. Message me if you need our address.
http://www.target.com/TargetListGiftGiverCmd?isPreview=false&status=completePageLink&listId=uXWpPo1TPPX9cS2BkCEcdA">http://www.target.com/TargetListGiftGiverCmd?isPreview=false&status=completePageLink&listId=uXWpPo1TPPX9cS2BkCEcdA®istryType=OT&isAjax=false
Let the count down begin 4 days till my birthday. But for now it's time for me to go to bed and get some rest so I can wake at 5am and be at work by 6am. Fun fun fun. Till next time thank you for following and reading. It means alot to me.
Looks beautiful there
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