The days before Thanksgiving update

Well Hello sorry for the delay in update but life has been very very busy. Brian is still working at the Bread Factory and is liking it alot more. He now works in a new department with new people and even has new hours. He was moved from the make up department which was alot of rolling dough to the mix room which is a little more laid back but he is measuring the ingredients and mixing them into dough. Every one is telling him he is doing a good job and might actually have a future with the company with possibility of a raise and being hired on full time in 8 more weeks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him. His hours now are a little more like a bartending shift. He now goes into work at 6pm and leaves work at 2:30am which works better for me and him both. I am still unemployed but have been making good use of my time by helping friends and am finally starting to feel like me again and am coming out of the slump i was in.

Things like Grandmas famous Open Faced Grilled cheese sandwiches make me smile. even tho i made it for myself it still makes me think of her.

Danielle Dyed my hair the other day. I figured i would go darker for the fall and winter as she bleached her hair to go lighter. I love it. Now i have to get my hair trimmed.

I took this picture shortly after she died it, I think the new color makes my eyes pop.

I also found my curling iron and decided to doll myself up a lil just to feel pretty again. its been a while since i did anything with myself. It felt good.

Its never nice when i go to shower and realize Brian left all this behind for me. Its nice since i dyed my hair that he cant try and blame me since my hair is not darker. I left a happy lil note for him and it hasn't happened again.

My friend Tiffany Just closed on her condo.which is really exciting.  This picture was taken the day she got her Keys.

Upon wandering on the NW side of town with her me and my hipstmatic app had a lil fun photographing some unique findings around town. I loved that there were Umbrellas hanging upside down on a rainy day outside the umbrella store. Welcome to the Pacific North West in the fall.

Many trips to Starbucks with Tiffany.

I love going out and wandering around here there are so many fun little things to photograph like the fire button at Tiffany current Apartment.

Upon grabbing dinner and tea with Tiffany and Erica i discovered this amazing flyer on one of the Whats happening local billboards. I want to steal this and frame it. But was told i couldn't take it till after thanks giving so mark my words I'm going back for it tomorrow.

I decided since brain had a day off i would make a mini thanksgiving dinner for him last week. we each had a Cornish hen, some stuffing, potatoes, fresh green beans and biscuits. It was a delightful dinner.

Regardless of the delicious Dinner i made i am noticing a huge difference in my waste line. I am losing weight and now fit back into pants and shirts i was about to donate to the homeless. I think the weight loss is mainly from not eating fast food since we got to Portland, not eating pizza every day, and barely eating meat. I cook meat on occasion for Brian and myself but with hanging out with Tiffany, Erica, and Sage we usually end up at a vegan place or a vegetarian place to eat. and on occasion when we do end up at a place that serves meat something vegie catches my eye. I just now need to tone up my belly n turn it into muscle and i will be happy. and no i am not sucking in my belly in this pic. most of my clothes now fall off me. but our budget doesn't allow me to go shopping just yet so i invested in a belt.

Or if anyone wants to Donate a gift certificate or Buy me something new or even start christmas shopping early Click here for my Amazon Wishlist

Upon going on a job interview for a job i did not get down town I ran into this on #N17 here in Portland. Yup riot cops for the Occupy Portland Bank day. Not fun.

There were unique people with signs all over the place down town.

Even Anon was present.

This quickly turned from happy peaceful people in protest to a mess of riot cops on horses and people getting pepper sprayed. Let me tell u pepper spray does not smell good and it makes u sick to your stomach.

The next day I went over and helped Tiffany slap down a first layer of paint in her hall way and bathroom. We had fun writing fun things in paint on the walls before covering it over. TNT Fo Life Yo. LoL

She saw a white room and wanted to paint it black no color anymore just wanted it to be black. and that is just what we did. And may i say it looks amazing.

The next day was going to be relax time and Off to see our friends Band Alabama Black Snake at the tiger bar. But so much for relaxing. I got a phone call from a friend from Oakland that his band was rolling into town a night early cause their show in Bend Oregon was snowed out. They rolled into town and i picked up my friend and off we went to meet up with Brian and Shawn over at Tiger Bar. Had a drink or two and bounced over to another local spot. And just before Alabama Black Snake was going to go on we got a call from the rest of the band that they were ready to be picked up and were ready to take on the town. I felt bad leaving before they went on. Off we went to get the boys and i managed to fit 7 grown men in my car and off we went to Devils Point a Local Bar that has video poker and Live entertainment. Tonight was Fire Dancers.

Cheap drinks, Close to home, and Free admission, as well as great entertainment. It was nice to get dolled up and actually go out and get to chill with friends from out of town. After their set Zay and Shawn came and met up with us for a crazy fun night of lots of laughs and just good old fun. We ended up staying out till 4am and every moment of it was well worth what was to come the next day.  

I had promised Tiffany that i would meet up with her at 8am to start demolishion on her new condo to get things ready for the contractors to come in so she could have a few dollars. So regardless of how tired i was i kept my word and picked her up bright and early. We slapped a second coat of paint on most of the rooms and Began taking up the carpet with the help of Erica for a lil. The carpet came up one two three but then there were the tack strips which were nailed into concrete. My back , Hands , Arms and Legs still ache but not as bad as my head did that day.

I must say by the end of the night i was proud of how much work we accomplished.

Tiffany took this cute pic of me and Erica during the beginning of clean up.  

After demolishion work was done it was off to my apartment for a quick shower and change of clothes. Then off to The Hawthorne Theatre to Enjoy some more Bro time and to see High on Fire play. Regardless of some technical difficulties it was an amazing show. Pike Killed it on the Guitar and Vocals, Des was great on the drums as usual and Jeff surprised me on Bass since this was my first time seeing him preform with them.

Metal Wolf says it was an awesome night too. LOL found him in the Dressing room. After the show the opening band invited us all out for Last night of tour festivities. It was a great time all around. They are all great people. The guys from the band INDIAN were mad chill as were all the techs and tour managers from both bands.

Then at 2am it was off to get Brian from work and back to reality.

The next Day i slept in a lil but was back off to Help Tiffany Take on her Kitchen. This time we got to play with Red Paint. We noticed some water damage to her ceiling upon painting which is not going to be a fun project. But it was fun hanging out on top of the refrigerator painting. isn't she cute up there edging. There is a picture somewhere of me up on the fridge with the roller but i don't think she sent it to me yet. Friday is the official moving furniture in day for her which Brian and i will be helping out with too. My theory is that is what friends are for. To be there for each other and to help out when needed.

Speaking of friends. I got a message from a friend from LA  (Matt Grayson) that i hadn't heard from in a while and turns out he was in a motorcycle accident and was hit by a car and had some bad stuff happen to him. He is an amazing Photographer who actually took one of my favorite pics of myself that my mom has hung in her office. He is out of work and has medical bills galore and has to learn to walk again and has some serious pins and rods in his leg. He is a tough cookie and i admire him for many reasons. For more info on him, what happened or to make a donation to help him out Click Here

Now to prepare for tomorrows feast my job is to bring dessert So i decided to make Home made apple pie From Scratch.

NO APPLE IS SAFE FROM ME N MY MONKEY PEELER

This is the final out come of my Pie i even put lil Snow Flakes on it.

I cant wait to try it. It smells so good.

I decided out of boredom and a great price on a mini ham last week that i was going to surprise Brian with a 2am Thanks giving dinner of our own in our new home. Ham, Green Beans, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, And Jalapeno Corn Muffins.

With Brian working at the bread factory i think we have enough bread to feed an army. now what to do with all this bread? we have been giving it away to friends and even giving full loafs to random homeless people we pass around town. I think we may go donate some to a homeless person or five today. This is 6 loafs and two cinnamon rolls aka Sin Dawgs on our counter.

Then we have another 8 in our freezer. I wish our family was closer so they could try the amazing bread Brian takes part in making every day.

So as you may have noticed I am updating this on Thanks Giving as i lay on the couch and relax with a coffee in my hand. I miss my family dearly and know they are enjoying an amazing meal together at my uncle toms. I got to Skype with them for a few earlier. And it was nice to see every ones faces. and hear their voices.

I must say i really wish if i have to be away from my family for this holiday i would prefer to be in Los Angeles. I rarely flew home to NJ for thanks giving while living in LA. I really miss helping feed the homeless with LA's Gobble Gobble Give. This was the most amazing thing i had ever done on a holiday. I volunteered as a driver where i would pick up a helper and they would fill my car with pre packed fresh cooked thanksgiving dinners, care packages, and clothes, tooth brushes , tooth paste and other great gifts. And we would drive out to the LA river and along the freeways and find homeless people who didn't know it was thanks giving or didn't feel like going to the soup kitchens and would deliver them food and other goodies. It was so great to get to see them smile and see the hope fill their eyes. I think i may sign up to do some volunteer work with the homeless here in the near future. i have been told i have to fill out some paper work and pass a back ground check which is no prob.


I must say life is getting a little better. I smile a little more, I laugh often, and figure life will work its self out and maybe i wasnt ment to have a job right now so i could help a friend, Realize im still alive and feel like myself  again. Its been a while but it feels good.
Enough fun its time to get down to business. I have bills to pay and as of monday its off to apply to any job and every job imagineable and pray someone likes me enough to give me a chance in this working world.


I hope everyone is Having or Had a Great Thanksgiving. Filled with Love, Family, Food, and Friends.
I love u all and thank you for reading. Today i am Thankful for many things. But for the moment I must Go start getting ready to go to dinner at Danielle and Shawn's House. Which i am grateful that i have great friends up here to spend this day with and many other days too. I will update later if i feel up to it after i eat lots of turkey. Yum Yum Yum.

Im not sure where i left off last time but I'm going to take this a different direction. Sorry i need to rant.

Recent events have me racking my brain and sort of hurting mentally. People may not realize it but some of the things they do and say can hurt people. My current situation has already had my mind running 2000 miles a minute. Looking back on my past decisions in life as well as trying to figure out my future. I must say i have come a long way in the eyes of society in the past 3 years but i still look back and miss alot about who i was and what i was about.

Lets start with our current employment situations. I WAS working at Macy's part time on call and Brian got a job at a place called Nature Bake AKA Dave's Killer Bread. I had sent his resume to an ad on Craig's list for a tree trimmer/ general laborer. He got a response from a temp agency and turned out it was really a job interview for a Local Bread Factory Dave's Killer Bread. The lady at the temp agency seemed to take a liking to Brian and sent him on a second interview with the company.
                                     Here is a video of  The story behind Dave and his killer Bread.

Daves story is a pretty touching story.

Dave in turn Hires ex cons fresh out of prison to give them a second chance.

Everyone deserves a second chance in my opinion.

There are other videos from news reports where these ex cons or "people with a past" are called success stories.

I am still a little confused on the fact that these ex inmates who do what u are supposed to do like have a job and keep your nose clean are considered SUCCESS stories. 

What does that make you and me who have never been to prison, and struggle to survive in toady's society? 

Mice? Cattle? Nobodies?  Suckers?

Just for the record Brian is not an ex con nor has he ever done a minute in Prison he just got placed with this company thru the temp agency due to the fact that the company is expanding.

Dave's killer bread is by far the most amazing bread i have ever tried and since Brian gets to bring home free bread we have tons of it and could live off bread if need be.

Brian's hours royally suck. He starts work between 3-4am and works 5 days a week. I'm happy hes getting 40 hours a week. But he says working Line 1 rolling the bread and rolling it in the toppings as well as cleaning the pans and everything else is really working him and making him hurt. I think he said he has to roll a loaf every 3 seconds. He says the people he works with aren't exactly the type of people he wants to make friends with and every day you walk on egg shells cause the employee turn over rate is crazy cause they say they need a certain type of person for their team.  But hes grateful he has a full time job and only hopes he can advance in pay and maybe get better hours one day. Brian basically has no life anymore and has to go to bed at 6pm which sucks cause that is not possible for me. I also want to note that his job isnt as much fun as the video above makes it look. But Its a job. And I have to be grateful to him for having one and being  man enough to deal with the hours and The insanity of working at the bread factory.

I decided since his temp agency seemed to be booming with work that i would apply to them too, since Macy's paychecks were only $50-$100 a week which no one could live off. So they had the bright idea of trying to place me at Dave's too. i said that would be cool hoping to be put in the office and hoping i had hours that i could at least drive him and his bike to work at 2 am every day.

I went on my interview with the company and everything seemed to be good. i got a call later that day and they said i got the job but i would be working in the factory in the wrap department. they told me when orientation was. i went to orientation and got everything i needed to start including my 1st schedule.   I even got to meet Dave. During the Orientation the GM told Dave i used to work for music magazines as a photographer. he looked at me and asked why would i want to go from that to working at his factory, UM maybe i want full time stable employment that will allow me to stay in Portland and survive since work is hard to come by now a days.  After orientation i went to Macy's and gave my notice and they were pretty understanding. here i am thinking I'm finally going to have 40 hours on the books and we are going to be able to pay the bills and maybe afford food and to start rebuilding our savings which does not exist anymore. I spent the next two days spending time with friends and getting ready to work.

I started to get super nervous tho when i went to pick Brian up from work one day and some employees were outside smoking cigarettes i sat in my car waiting for him and the employees started cat calling me like they were on a prison yard still it made me feel uneasy. Turns out the GM had also pulled Brian aside that day telling him they will be zero tolerance with anyone cat calling me or making sexual comments towards me. Brain thanked the guy for looking out for me. We got home and then the temp agency called and told me i wasn't starting on Sunday anymore and that i should now report to work on Monday. I was like OK i guess, This has been a weird day. Monday rolled around and i then received a call  stating the job i was offered no longer exists! OMG really????? I just quit Macy's to join your company the "has so much work" NOW WHAT. I feel that since i am a little 1/2 way decent looking lady they didn't feel i could do the job. How do you do that to a person. Your company personally interviewed me and met me why couldn't you place me in the office or atleast give me a chance in the factory? Or maybe  You should have never offered me a job. Maybe im just not good enough to be a "success story". Either way The past is the past.  

Maybe im bitter. But i would like to add Daves Killer Bread is The Best Bread Ever and if you get a chance to try it you should. And Im still beyond grateful that they employed my husband and are still employing him. I hope they prove to be as amazing of a company as they say they are for him. He is a temp for 3 months with a review every week. After 3 months they say there is a chance for him to be hired on as perment with a raise and health bennifets. All of that would be nice and would make him really happy.

Unfortunately I do not know how to hold a grudge and figured maybe something better was meant for me. From there i got two interviews one for a photography company and another for screen printing. Now these are the types of jobs i would love. I went on my interviews and both seemed like jobs i would love. But in the end i didn't get either.

Alot of these jobs are telling me my reasoning for them not employing me is cause my resume does not show i am capable of long term employment...... Um have you seen today's economy? People take what employment they can get temp or seasonal just to make ends meet. But um what was 2 years at Xpress Gear 2 ? its not my fault they went out of business. and Tombstone Reball I worked there for a year. And um 6 Years as a music photographer for Skinnie Magazine and Bob Martin INC??? oh but most people don't read that far back on my resume they look at the last 3 Which is Basem & Mona Photography which i admit i should have never left in NJ but work was slowing down and NJ had nothing else work wise to offer us at that moment and we swore things would be better here in Portland. And then there is the mail room job. What part of seasonal Temp Do they not understand. Trust me if they had an opening after proxy season they would have kept me. And to my surprise they have an opening now but I'm 3000 miles away and in a

lease here in Portland.

I keep having people at job interviews ask me what assurance do they have that I'm going to stay in Portland. UM if you give me a job that makes it pretty sure I'm staying. If you don't give me a job i may be forced to crawl back to NJ with my tail between my legs.

They keep saying they think I'm a Transient. Um not I'm not. I am a nice lady who comes from a loving amazing Family. It may have taken me a while in life to 100% understand and appreciate how amazing my family really is but they are mine and i love them and they love me. I am married, I have a savings account, I have an apartment of my own, I have a paid off car. I spent 21 years of my life in NJ, I spent 6 years in California. Then only moved home cause my husbands grandparents needed someone to take care of them and i needed to collect myself and get back in touch with my family.

Everyone asks why did we leave.

#1 Brian's vision isn't good enough to get a license in NJ and mass transit isn't the cheapest nor easiest thing in NJ. 

Portland Has a Great and really affordable Mass Transit system. Portland is also the # 1 bike friendly city in the USA and super easy to get around. 

#2 The job market in NJ wasn't the best and i need a city with life and ART and a soul. 

That is really hard to find in NJ and NYC is too expensive and full of chaos. 

Portland is full of art, Heart, Soul, And in my opinion Opportunity. 

#3 Apartments in NJ run around $1200 for a 1 bedroom apt in a shitty part of town. Mean while min wage is only $7.35 ph in NJ.

Here in Portland we have a cute 1 bedroom bungalow apartment with most utilities paid for $710 and min wage here is $8.50 ph. which still isnt much after taxes but its better that NJ's min wage.

i can keep ranting for ever but eh who cares. 1/2 of you probably stopped reading already.

To say the least its been tough on me with lack of $$$ lots of time to dwell on things.

Lets Just say My next Blog is going to be a little  more empowering and a lot less bitching.

I never thought this move would be super easy but I didn't think there were going to be so many obstacles we would have to over come.

Here is hoping for a better tomorrow. I will take all this BS as a learning experience.

Right what doesn't kill me can only make me stronger.

If only My awesome life experiences and lessons learned could get me a job.

Maybe one day i will meet someone who will like who i am and they will give me a chance at something.

Till then if you made it this far. Thanks for following this rant.

How can anyone afford anything on that.  

Dirty 30 and a Little Update on Life

Its Offical I turned the BIG 30  "It was 4:08 October 22nd 1981 she looked into my baby blues our lives had just began now its 30 years later and im thinking of all i have been thru." The words i quoted above were part of a poem my mom wrote me when i was 5 and she revises it every few years. She usually calls at 4:08 am on my birthday to read it to me. I had to include it in todays blog. Thank You

I have high hopes for this year but i must say i asked God for a place to call home of our own and a job for my 30th birthday. Maybe i should have been more specific but in a sense i got what i wanted. Im employeed even if part time for now, which we will get to later. And we have a cozy little apartment here in Portland Oregon.

My 30th birthday was a little depressing but i had good friends to share it with as well as the day after.  I would also like to say thank you to everyone who mailed me Sweet birthday cards that brought a sweet smile to my face.

My birthday itself was pretty chill. we ran errands, finally bought a little table and chairs set for our dining room. Nothing big just some where for the two of us to sit and eat and drink coffee with the option to fit one or two friends at with the purchase of fold up bar stools. The table and chairs are pictured below. Brians birthday gift to me was he put it together for me and allowed me to lay in the middle of the floor and do nothing like a big Kid. I finally opened an oregon bank account on my birthday. look at me being all grown up. After building a table and trying to take over the world. I dolled myself up and went to dinner with three amazing friends and Brian. Danielle, Shawn and Zay took me out to dinner at muu muu's in NW Portland. We enjoyed Great food , a few martinis and great company. It was a relaxing yet very happy night.

Upon arriving home I realized my birthday was soon coming to an end and i had yet to have any cake. I went into the kitchen and There was this bottle that my great friends RJ and Jess had given me as a going away gift that had been left behind and never opened. It said cake flavored so what the heck It soon Became my Offical Birthday Cake. I dont think i quite even put a dent in the bottle and the candel wouldnt float in it but it sure tasted just like cake.

The next morning we woke early to meet Tiffany and two of her friends for breakfast before a little T&T dynomite Adventures. Upon arriving to the dinner in NW we were introduced to Erica and Katie. Breakfast was amazing and there was lots of great conversation to be had as well as lots of coffee.

After fueling up on coffee and food we paid our bill and off to the adventure mobile better known as Maddie the Matrix. We Began heading west Thru such beautiful fall colored foliage. I began to feel at home.

About an hour down the road we arrived at Tillamook cheese factory. I love this place free Cheese Tasting, You can send Cheese mail!!!! lol it was awesome but we are so touristy or should i say Cheesey.  

We got to see how cheese is made and packaged.

I even got my favorite Pumpkin Ice Cream!!!!!

From there we decided to head north on The Oregon Coast 101 which is the PCH continued.

The coast here is beautiful . Lots of cliffs, Rocks, and amazing views.

About an hour north we arrive at Haystack Rock which is also known as Goonies rock. This was one of the locations used when they filmed the movie The Goonies.

Pictured below in order from left to right is Brian, Katie, Tiffany, and Erica. And of course i took the picture so am not in it.

But GOONIES NEVER DIE!!!!! sorry i had to.

Upon wandering around haystack rock we found amazing sea creatures. It was like an aquarium only nothing is behind glass and if your brave enough you can touch things. We for a bunch of starfish just hanging out on rocks. These star fish tho they dont look it in my picture below were bigger than my head and completely could have been a face hugger. I even got to pet a starfish knowing their teeth ate on the bottom i carefully ran my hand over their Spiney back they are rough like coral but extremely intresting. They had a strong grip on these rocks and would not allow me to pry it free to hold it.

we also found these sea urchants which i do not know w techinal name for but they were cool. We found these in many colors and sizes there were smaller bright pink ones and dark purple ones. if you poke these they squirt water at you and close up. it was extremely intresting to hear the weird noises they made too. It was like the discovery channel live.

and we finnished tourmenting and photographing the wild life we headed back to the car and drove a little farther north to a town called Astoria. Astoria is a a small little town along the river with an amazing view of Washington state. Here Erica took us to house from the goonies. In the movie this was the character Mikey from the Goonies House. Very cute house with an amazing view. Pictured below is Tiffany being amazing infront of the house.

On our way back down the hill i made a wrong turn and ended up at the school they filmed Kindergarten Cop at. Pictured Below. It is Not a Tumor!!! LOL sorry for the goofy movie quotes.

I must say astoria is a very cute and intresting little town all decorated for halloween.

Upon looking at my phone for the fasted directions back we discovered we had to cross the bridge into washington stateand follow the river east towards Vancouver then over to Portland so we did just that. Just then it statrted to grow dark

Once back in portland we dropped Katie off at her car and Erica, Tiffany, Brian and i headed to dinner. We finally got to try a Pho' Place in town. So tasty.

I must day it was a great day full of adventure.

The days to follow were filled with a little work at Macys starting at 5 and 6 am a little cleaning and some studying of the Oregon State drivers manual. Yup you read right it is time to take my written drivers test to offically become an Oregon State Resident. Upon reading the manual i learned that Oregon has some strange rules i needed to learn. I thought after one night of studying i was ready for the test. I woke the next day and dolled myself up and off to dmv. I paid the $5 for the test and to my disapointment I Failed. Now i have driven more miles then 1/2 the people in that dmv and yet i failed. I was so upset. But i headed back home to staudy more. The next morning i woke and rolled out of bed and took the practice test online 4 times. Back to DMV and lucky me i got the same guy that told me i failed. He asked what i had issues with last time and began explaining certain questions and unique laws to me. He also informed me of the question about a horse on the test and gave me the answer. From there he set me up on a computer and allowed me to plug in my head phones into it so i would be less distracted. I took my time since he also told me i was not being timed. This time i only got 3 wrong and Passed with a 90% i was so excited. From there i was sent to another desk where they punched a hole in my NJ drivers liscense and took my picture. Just then i was presented with a temp liscense made of paper and was told my new one would come in the mail in a few days. EEEEKKKK I guess its offical I am a resident of OREGON.

Halloween is creeping up on us and that means no pumpkin is safe in my presence.

Yup time to make pumpkin pies, pumpkin seeds and Carve pretty pictures into pumpkins.

Below is my Hello Kitty Pumpkin i made this year.

The same night i was carving pumpkins and enjoying fall i got a call from home that it was snowing in NJ. wow it just seems way to early for such weather but people included pics in texts to show me it really was snowing.

Brian even joined in the Pumpkin fun this year and carved me a scary little pumpkin for our front porch.

4 mini sweet baking pumpkins Gave me this many seeds to bake. Yummm I made spicy Seeds and shared them with friends for halloween treats.

Halloween Morning was brians first day at work. He had a start time of 4AM eeeekkk. so i was up at 2AM to take him to work. I cleaned the house and then decided due to our lack of Money to pick a halloween costume out of clothes i owned already. So I became a NEWS PAPER. EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT ME. Lol.

Upon Picking brian up at work at 1pm we came home made coffee and waited for my friend Tiffany. I made everyone Grandma's Special Treat that she used to make me after school. OPEN FACED RILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES. Yummm and i brewed up a pot of coffee for the three of us. From there i made my residency in oregon a lil more offical and purchesed Car ins and Renters ins. My insurance treated Tiffany and I to Pumpkin Lattes at Starbucks. Then we were off to look at flooring for Tiffanys new place. we ened the evening with some sushi and a stroll around loyd center. On the drive home we stole this awesome poster off a Telephone pole. Occupy Your Heart which sounds so sweet compaired to Occupy Portland. After dropping Tiffany off at her scooter i headed over to Danielle and Shawns to say Halloween Hellos.

I must say it was pretty cool to be able to put pumpkins on our front porch with out the fear of them ending up smashed in the the road. and these lil guys are still on my porch today.

The hours Brian is working at the bread factory is starting to get to both of us. I have been waking at 2am every day to drive him to work but with the pay he is making paying our bills seems a lil more possiable. You may ask what Bread Factory? Well he is making Daves Killer Bread. Its a healthy bread. For more info feel free to google it. Daves story is pretty intresting and the bread is The best bread i have ever tried. But i am going to save going into detail about working at daves till my next blog.

Below is a picture of me vegging on my pretend couch. One day i swear we will have a real couch.

Due to The Perks of working at Daves such as $10ph pay a full 40 hour schedule and 2 FREE Loafs of bread every day you work.  i decided to go on an interview with them too since i seem to only be making $50 a week working at Macy's. Well I got the job and i dont think we will have to buy bread for a while and im begining to stock pile it in our freezer.

On a completely other note I figured i would explain Why i have Deleted Facebook off my phone and have been deleting Photo Albums off Facebook.

To start i randomly began getting Charges on my Credit Card from facebook which i think is weird since i never gave them my CC# nor do i play games on there. I am also sick of the privacy settings changing every other day. My phone # somehow became public from me having FB on my phone and i started getting strange phone calls from people i do not know. All of a sudden people I had blocked were some how commenting on my photos and friends of friends were commenting on my photos and posts. I am not pleased with the new layout and find it quite confusing. With Facebook mobile i found my self constantly stareing at my phone and impulse posting when i was unhappy and then was unable to delete things later. I fiugure if my life was going to be PUBLIC once again it would be my choice where and what i made public. I choose to just keep my blog Here and update it when i had time so i could put more thought into what i posted. So dont be suprised if i deactivate my facebook account very soon.

Every day is still a constant battle in my head Trying to figure alot of things out.

I still battle with a little depression from Missing My AMAZING Family Back east in NJ.

As well as my AMAZING Friends and their children.

I am a tough cookie and will survive if its the last thing i do. I have an amazing man standing by my side to help me along the way. All of this is a HUGE Learning experience and we only hope the Future holds great things for both of us for making thru these rough times.

The main thing i have learned right now is I dont have anything to run from anymore and i have made peace with myself. The hardest Thing to come is Not being able to make it home for Christmas to be with my Family for the first time in my life. Grandma if your reading this im sorry and i am going to mail yu a letter which i plan on writing as soon as i finnish this. And Faith and Arianna I hate not keeping my word to such amazing children But I promise i will be back to see you both as soon as we can get time off and aford a ticket back.

Once again I am beyond grateful for brian cause atleast i have him as family to spend every holiday with for the rest of my life. But i see a lesson to be learned from not being able to be with the ones we love most for the holidays.

I love you all and thank you for reading this long over due Extremely long and Picture Filled Blog. More updates coming soon.

And if you feel like sending us any Birthday or House Warming goodies I put a link to My wish list below.

You dont need to know my address for the items to make it to me.

  Click Here for Tiffany's Wish List

Almost one month in Portland Oregon.

Wow how time flies. Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should but we have been settling in and such.

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.

Good things are happening.

Sorry it has been a while since I updated alot has been going on.

I will slightly add onto the few days after where I left off then jump to why we have been so busy.

The few days after my last post were filled with alot of idle time and nerves being in knots. I am not a fan of the waiting game for anything. The job emailed me they would be in touch with in a week. And Brian and I spent hours and days pacing chain smoking wondrering if we just blew $90 on an apartment application fee for nothing.

I got a few more phone calls to go on job interviews, nothing too special, just retail and stock.

Oh fun more things to wait for Call backs about. I started to feel like a burden on Danielle n Shawn. It had been a week since we arrived and even tho we were told we could stay as long as we needed to. I truly felt that Brian and I needed our own place ASAP. Every night I would pray that life would fall into place. And that we could just have a place of our own to call home before we go broke. I tell god all I want for my 30th birthday on October 22nd is a place of our own to call home and a job that pays enough to keep it.

And yes I pray alot.

Saturday rolled around and my nerves are getting to me. While drinking coffee and chain smoking in danielle's back yard my phone rang. It was the woman from the rental company. Great news..... We got the apartment and can move in Tuesday. So excited for the first time since Brian and I have been married, we are going to have our own place. Now to play the waiting game again. It's only Saturday but Tuesday feels so far away.

Fast forwarding to Monday I went on another interview. This one was at Big time department store for the stock room. Wow was that nerve racking. I made the mistake of showing up an hour early. It was interesting to watch n listen to all the interesting things going on in the HR department. After an hour of waiting the lady called me in for my interview. It was very corporate. Things seemed to be going ok and at the end she seemed to want to make me a job offer and asked to see my ID. I pulled out my NJ drivers liscense and it was like I pulled out garlic to a vampire. She said she is unsure if She can employ me. I was confused. Just cause I don't have an Oregon state drivers liscense didn't mean I can't work in Oregon.
I do have a Social Security card tho. She told me she would run it by HR and be in touch with me. This is starting to turn into a depressing trend. I needed something amazing to happen in life to cheer me up.

So when I got back to my car I called the rental manager to get the exact dollar amount to have a cashiers check made for Tuesday. And to my surprise the rental manager told me to come down and sign the lease a day early. I was suddenly filled with excitement. Today just turned into the day I've been waiting for now for over 5 years. It is about to be official that we have our own home.

I sped to the bank got the cashiers check n rushed back to danielle's to get Brian. He was beyond happy. We went down signed the papers handed over 1/2 of the rest of our savings and next thing you know we had keys. It was officially ours. I took a short video to send home to my family and friends. And off we went to load our boxes into the car one last time for a while. Danielle and Isaiah met us at her place and allowed us to strap the box spring to the roof of her suv and allowed us to tetris our boxes into the suv n her car.
Brian and I couldn't wait to get everything into the apartment and unpack. We managed to get almost everything to the new place with the 3 cars.

After emptying the cars Danielle and Isaiah went their separate ways and Brian and I began ripping into boxes like little kids on Christmas. It was so exciting to finally get to see what we have been lugging around for all this time. We also got to open all of our amazing bridal shower gifts that were still in their original boxes.

The first thing I did was gather up all the bathroom stuff and ran off to decorate. Our shower curtain and bathroom decor that my aunt n cousin gave us went perfect. It was like it was ment to be.

The bed perfectly fits in the room with tons of space to spare.

The kitchen came with a 1952 teal stove. I must say originally scared me cause I didn't think I had anything to match such a thing. But upon opening boxes we discovered we have a bunch of 1950's metal vintage signs that would make our vintage kitchen just what it needed to be.

I swear we stayed up till 2 am exploring boxes. The next day we woke and headed back to danielle's to get our last two car loads of stuff. We said our thank yous and gave hugs and were off to unpack the last of our boxes.

Piece by piece we found spots for what we could. We even made a run to target to purchase a $16 book shelf to put some books on. I told Brian we needed two of them and he swore I didn't own that many books. To his surprise when we got home we probally could have used 3 book shelves. Our place still seems so empty. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that we do not own a tv nor any furniture. But one day hopefully we will be able to afford some.

Our first visitor to stop by was my friend Adam who lives a few blocks away. He came to kidnap us for drinks at a local bar/ strip joint. Now what's weird to me is every strip joint here feels like a regular bar till you turn around and oh my dancing ladies. All of the bars here have "lottery" aka slot machines in them. It was nice to get out and meet new people and have a drink or two and a few laughs with good people. A big thank you to Adam for a wonderful afternoon out.

After arriving back home that evening I started to get super home sick. I started wishing that our family and friends back east could be here to see our new place and all we have done with this sweet space.

To be honest I cried for a few hours. Brian tried calming me but no words could fill the void of missing everyone that has found their way into my life and my heart back east.

Fast forward a few days full of decorating and trying to skype my mom and dad on my iPhone with no wifi. That would bring us to Saturday.

We have since acquired a second book shelf and two small ottomans for chairs. We have formed two of my giant photo bins into a make shift table. We finally have enough hangers to hang all of our clothes. We got a throw rug in hopes of it absorbing some of the echo from our place being so empty. The kitchen is all put away and straightened up. Brian even has all the cans in the cabinet lined up perfectly just like my stad has his at home.
I figure just like the Johnny cash song one piece at a time only not about a car. We will eventually turn it into a home. And as we acquire a dollar or two here and there we hope to acquire furniture.

Now our mission is to acquire jobs ASAP so we can continue to afford this adorable place we now call home.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Shawn, and Danielle for being amazing hosts and allowing us to stay with you and store our stuff at your place. As well as being amazing friends. And also a huge thank you to Isaiah for helping us load and unload boxes as well as for being a great friend.

For now I'm going to end this with a short line from a Johnny Cash song that has been haunting my head.

The song is " Can't help but wonder where I'm bound"

"if you see me passing by, and you sit and wonder why, and you wish that you were rambling too.
Nail your shoes to the kitchen floor, lace them up and bar the door.
Thank your stars for the roof that's over you."