A nice sunny day in PDX

Yeah I talk about the weather alot. But come on! It's snowing in BTV right now and I can't lie and say I'm stoked to be somewhere where it's still in the 40ºs!!!!

I'm starting to think about my New Year's resos. I have decided that I need to work on my vocabulary- building it up. Since I stopped talking to clients on a daily basis- or even participating in that many meetings face to face, I've decided that my communicado skills have slipped or are slipping. So that's one of my NYRs. I need a word of the day calendar. hint hint.

The house deal is coming along. We got a great house inspection but a bad sewer inspection. So back to countering the offer. But I think this is the final deal and now it's on to the mortgage! I'm really excited about settling into a place that we both like, in a city that we both like. I was thinking on my drive into work this morning that this is really the first time I've ever lived somewhere that I have WANTED to live- not just because of my job. Vermont is great and all- but I was only ever there to work for JDK. I do miss Lake Champlain and I REALLY miss my friends- but don't miss BTV.

Vin hopefully has a pair of new snowboarding boots on their way to us and what does that mean people? Yes! Vince LaVecchia is getting his ass back on a snowboard! YAYYYYYY! I still haven't been up to Mt Hood yet- hoping to do that during the week off. I didn't go once last season- too cold. SO I'm sure Lift Phobia will be in full effect- but it will be so great to get back on the mountain!

Our Christmas tree is up- so far Sirius has left the ornaments alone. Well. He hasn't eaten any, let's put it that way. (we had a moment of glittery poop last year- he loved to eat ornaments. I know. Dangerous.) But it looks beautiful- still a giant tree, but it smells wonderful every time I come home!

ok- back to work. Lunch break over.

Sunny Day(s?) are Here Again!

I've been slacking off big time in the blog department.

We've had yes some more big life happenings here in PDX. We put an offer in on a house and they've accepted it, so we've started the rounds of inspections, tracking down old bank crap, etc. They house is DOPE. Yes... DOPE. I've called it the "Party House"since I first laid eyes on it. Why, you ask?

Let's start with the hot tub on the back deck. SWEEET! Anyone that knows me well can appreciate my love for water, pools, lakes, ocens, rivers and especially HOT TUBS. My parents started Melissa and me early on swimming lessons. We were in Texas at the time- I was 3 and she was 5. We caught on quick, moving onto years of Satuday's spent at Los Rios Country Club at swim meets. I digress.

My house in Winooski was awesome. Good first house for a first time house owner to have. Had a few big issues right in the beginning. Luckily I had a plumber living across the street but it was a good house to cut your teeth on. This house doesn't have shag blue carpeting or wallpaper that was stuck to the wall with rubber cement or a kitchen floor that came from 1968. This baby is good to go, move-in-ready... Withstanding a few wall color changes- there isn't anything we have to do other than move in and then figure out how to furnish the joint. I still have the futon furniture my parents got me upon graduation from college. Lots of good naps have been taken on this futon couch, but it's time to graduate to down filled cushions and kiln-dried wood. Don't be suprised when you come over though if you have to sit on a beach chair for awhile.

Anyhoo- back to the Party House. It's got a pocket door, 2 french doors, built ins upstairs, clawfoot tub ( i love! vin hates!). It's also got a nice little nook in the basement that we're turning into a studio for me (stoke!) and to top it off- a dog door! I'm not sure how to go about getting the dogs to USE the dog door- but I'm betting Suki will figure it out first. The back yard is big- slightly intimidating for a semi-beginner green thumb. Nothing a few books from Powell's won't fix.

What's the best part about it is that we can finally "settle in". Not have to worry if the dogs scratch the floor or can hang things on the walls where we WANT them as opposed to where the holes in the wall already are. That sort of thing.

Vin and I have decided/pledged that there will be no more big life events for at least another year or two. We've had some biggies in the last year- proposal, quitting jobs, starting new ones, selling a house, buying a house, moving far away, spening a week in an RV that smelled like hot dogs with 2 spazzy dogs and THEN getting married (followed by a fantastic trip to Fiji!) So we figure that's enough for now.

On a different note- we had an awesome Thanksgiving. Celebrated over at the Lewis' house- we brought the turkey. And I must say it's the best turkey EVER MADE. I've only made one before it- a la Martha Stewart style, complete with cheesecloth and basting on the half hour. This time I decided to brine. The night before it wallered in a giant zip lock bag filled with salty, maple-syrup, infused water. Then the next day we popped it in to the oven. It was the juiciest turkey I've ever had in my life!!! Some comments from people that shall remain nameless "This is the best Thanksgiving of my life". It was great!

The Beginning of the Rainy Days

I think Fall is officially kicking in. It was a cold rainy Sunday here in PDX. Slept in too late with a black dog sandwiched between Vin and I, while the one was snoring away in her dog bed. I love mornings like that. It was so cozy and warm under the covers and we've not really turned the heat on yet so it was nice and comfortable. Got up, fed dogs and went and grabbed some brekkie at this place up in St Johns. The waitress forgot to place our order, but I didn't care because I drank about 5 cups of coffee while Vin and I pondered life. I ordered the blackberry walnut pancake and Vin got an omelettte; The pancake was about the size of a frisbee- who in the hell can eat a whole pancake that size?? We couldn't. The leftovers are sitting in the fridge as we speak. It was good enough to bring home- and for those of you that know me well- i HATE leftovers. So scootch on up to the John Street Café next time you have a hankering for a good breakfast. We did the usual lazy drive back- meaning perusing the streets and checking out houses that are for sale and then finally made it back to Boston Ave. Vin took off for work and I took the dogs out to Delta Park. Good dog park day. Only 2 other people showed up and they weren't dog dorks so Sirius was happy as a clam and Suki caught balls until my arm got sore from throwing the ChuckIt. I decided on the way home that since the weather was crappy , I could officially waste an afternoon away at the bookstore. I've been holding out spending too much time at Powells. Powell's Books is the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world. (thank you google) and it's the size of a city block. It has en endless maze of rooms that are all color coded, and then book sujects are all coded under one of those colors.

When I was growing up, I was very lucky to be in a family that like and encouraged reading. I'm not talking reading books that you HAVE to read in school. I'm talking about down and out reading. I always got books for Christmas or birthdays and have always loved to read- still do. I went through four books while I was in Fiji- 2 non fiction and 2 fiction. Always have to balance out the fluff with susbstantial, make-you-think-about-shit books.

Here are some of my favorites:

"Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed " by Jared Diamond
I haven't finished reading this yet but it's great. If you are interested in anthropology and why there are people living in grass huts in the 21st century, you'll like it too.

"An Anthropologist on Mars" by Oliver Sacks
This is probably one of my favorite books I've ever read. Good enough that I'll include part of a review on it because I won't explain it good enough:

"Neurological patients, Oliver Sacks has written, are travellers to unimaginable lands. An Anthropologist on Mars offers portraits of seven such travellers-- including a surgeon consumed by the compulsive tics of Tourette's Syndrome except when he is operating; an artist who loses all sense of color in a car accident, but finds a new sensibility and creative power in black and white; and an autistic professor who has great difficulty deciphering the simplest social exchange between humans, but has built a career out of her intuitive understanding of animal behavior.

These are paradoxical tales, for neurological disease can conduct one to other modes of being that--however abnormal they may be to our way of thinking--may develop virtues and beauties of their own. The exploration of these individual lives is not one that can be made in a consulting room or office, and Dr. Sacks has taken off his white coat and deserted the hospital, by and large, to join his subjects in their own environments. He feels, he says, in part like a neuroanthropologist, but most of all like a physician, called here and there to make house calls, house calls at the far borders of experience.

Along the way, he gives us a new perspective on the way our brains construct our individual worlds."

My favorite parts- the surgeon with Tourettes and the artist who becomes color blind after an accident and the blind guy who regains his sight after surgery.

Buy it. Read it.


Some favorite dog books:

"Marley and Me" by John Grogan
I read this twice while in Fiji. I laughed all the way up to the last chapter. Then I cried. If you love dogs you will love this book.

"Cesar's Way" by Cesar Millan
It works. Well. It works on one of our dogs. The other one.. well. We're working on in it still.


Today I've picked up a few more- landscaping and gardening books in the Pacific Northwest and the Journals of Lewis & Clark. I was feeling very pacific northwest-ey apparently. Book report to follow.

Dog Park Observations

So I've been to the same dog park both days this weekend and I've made some interesting observations about dogs, but most importantly... the dog owners.

If you've ever been to a dog park, then you know what I'm talking about. I started taking Suki to the Starr Farm Dog Park when she was about 12 weeks old. (This gives me a good rason to post up on of Suki's baby pics... this was before her ears started sticking up fruit bat style)

Anyhoo- I started taking her there when she was little for the sole purpose of making sure I wasn't one of "those" dog owners whose dog was socially inept with its own kind. We had a good start- a few run ins with bigger dogs who were slightly bullyish.. but I sucked it up and looked the other way. After all, I wasn't keen on the idea of having a wussy dog either. We spent alot of time at Starr Farm and met alot of interesting people. As a newbie dog owner (and no it doesn't count when your family had a dog. Let's face it people- more than likely your mother is the one who raised the family dog. You just played with it.) I became familiar with carrying little plastic bags for poop retrieval and treats, for "training". I use quotes for a reason.. more discussion on that to follow.

The park was great for both of us- gave me a chance to get free dog advice and training and let Suki run and play until she was pooped. This is where I learned valuable bits of advice such as using a squirt bottle to stop unwanted beahvior (ours is lovingly termed "The Enforcer" and taught Suki how to play catch, which to this day is STILL her favorite thing to do. But I digress.

The best part of going to the dog park is people watching. Today we went to our local favorite park. It's located close to some busy roads and can be a little noisy, but we like it mostly because it's got more low maintenance dog owners. We have tried going to Chimney Rock Park several times since we've been here, but it tends to have too many freaky dog owners. Here are some "grave generalizations" (Vin's favorite term lately)

1. Men typically are the ones who get the most upset when their dogs get humped by other dogs. Of course when their dog is the one doing the humping, they are oblivlous. But once someone else's dog gets going on their dog-- hold the phone. The best is when it's a male dog humping another male dog.

2. People who bring their 3 year old to a dog park which is filled with dogs you don't know really shouldn't complain when their kid, who isn't supposed to be there in the first place, gets knocked over or just scared because they get barked at.

3. Also on the 'kids at the dog park' topic. Watch your kid while you are there- it's pretty gross to let your little kid run around barefoot- or better yet- roll around - on the ground at a park where it's a concentrated dumping ground. Pun intended.

4. Little old ladies who can't manage to stand or run after their dog probably shouldn't own an 80 lb dog.

5. There are a lot of weird old ladies with little dogs in Portland.

6. Why bring your dog to the dog park when you are going to keep it on a leash?


This is just a starter list. I'll be adding on to it as time progresses... In the meantime, I'm in a bubs sandwhich and my battery is about to die. More on this topic later.

TGIF

Yay Fridays!

I can't complain much because I've been home sick most of the week.. but I'm still glad it's Friday. Getting back up to speed with work and life here in PDX. We picked up the dogs and it was so great to have them back with us. I really miss the little buggers! They seemed to really do well at the Double Dog Ranch. Sirius is all about sleeping in his crate now at nights and has behaving better at the dog park. Suki is still Suki. : )

We've been slowly making our way through wedding pictures- I still can't believe how fast it goes by. Everyone says it will and they aren't kiddin'! But it was a wonderful day and amazing to have the most important people in your life in one place and in one space. Truly a wonderful weekend.....

We had a great time in Fiji. We spent three days at the Outrigger Lagoon resort on the coral coast and then a week on Castaway Island. I highly recommend a week on Castaway Island to anyone interseted in going to Fiji. We went snorkeling everyday, went the Outer Reef to go snorkeling, went on an island hopping trip on the "Fastest Boat in Fiji" and then just drank alot of fruity rum drinks. The colors of the water is what stands out most in my mind. Vin and I each took out a little catamaran and went sailing and the whole time I just started at the water as my little boat cruised along. The color is almost indescribable. We were in great spirits until we went to leave. The flight was cancelled and we spent 5.5 hours in the Nadi Int'l Airport just watching the massive chaos unfold as the night progressed. We ended up getting put up at the Sofitel which is a schwanky spa hotel and had a nice extra free day in Fiji. We finally made it onto the plane and spent 10 hours in the shittiest possible seats with people that didn't find it neccessary to cover their mouths whilst coughing. The plane sounded like a floating TB ward.

Anyhoo--- we're making memories... right?

Signing off.... more this weekend....

Wedding Pictures!

A lot of people have been sending us links of their photos so I thought I would share. If I'm leaving any off let me know and I will add them in. Thanks for sharing everyone! (all images shown here by Shem Roose!)

Shem Roose's pics (to see his other amazing shots go here www.shemroose.com)

Jess Hill's pics

Melissa Hartwig's pics

Denis Kegler's pics

Fiji Pics

The countdown has begun!

So today we've tried to get some wedding stuff done.
We've been slacking a bit and work has been crazy for me for the last two weeks. Almost like being back at JDK!

Today our goal was to get all of the seating arrangements done- we aren't picking actual setas, but just tables. Easy and not easy. We have a few "science experiements" and we're hoping that things go well on that end. It's good for people to mingle!! Right?

So i tried just making lists of people but it quickly became extremely messy once I started moving people around. I came up with the brilliant idea of using stickies. If you have ever worked with me.. you might notice that I have a certain fondness for Post-It® notes. I love them. I write notes on them. nubmers. I've even been known to do site maps and do layouts on them. They are quite handy and I like because there is a lack of "permanence" to them.. meaning I can move them around here and there without scratching out or erasing or wiping off. I love them, in short.

Anyhoo. So we go to Walgreens to pick up sticky notes- we leave 20 minutes later with sticky notes and a bunch of extra crap and head home. This was after a late morning trip to the dog park and judging from the behavior displayed this afternoon.. we didn't wear out Sirius nearly enough. I digress. We get the list out and i put each name on a sticky note. 186 sticky notes later- i started putting them up in groups of 8. It was great- I should put together a kit and sell it on theknot.com. seriously.

This is what it looked like:


I made sure to purchase the EXTRA sticky sticky notes which came in handy as we moved people from table to table. I'm hoping people will be stoked to sit with who we've put together.

So now we're just waiting to run though everything with our folks to make sure we got their friends/family right and then I can formally check it off the list and get started on the name tags that go on the favors.

One little gross picture to add in.. so I woke up friday morning to an itchy puffy ring finger. I went in to the bathrooom to get some water because my fingers were so puffy that I couldn't gt my ring off. I finally slide it off and there is a nice ring of red crusty itchyness in the place of the band. I thought I would attach a photo of it... might be a good time to upgrade to Platinum!



With that I sign off for the evening.. Have to go down and rouse Vin off the couch to get some dinner. Have a happy!

Wow. Its thursday and I haven't gotten shit done.

This week has been crazy.

Remember all of those posts about "I'm bored." "I'm bored at work" "I don't have anything to do at work"..

yeah. Thing of the past.


This week alone I've managed two get 3 huge ass presentations pulled together (i love my new team. they are great!) (but that doesn't mean i don't miss my old jdk team... i love you guys...) push a new campiagn live, help push a bunch of people that don't know jack about online to create a better campaign, pulled together a big presenatation that was requested last minute and keep working on 3 internal projects. Whoa Nelly!

I'm sitting here at work... lamenting that i have a client meeting and i ran to the office without brushing my bottom teeth as I got a "it's not working" phone call at 7.05am whilst i was in the middle of sonicaring away. My hair is fro'd out. And i just grabbed whatever clothes i could and ran out the door to come here and try to help our team who is in MN. So once I'm done with them- and who knows if it works- Actually let's pause on that thought for a moment. Anyone who gives a presentation on a computer should have to go to some computer school to learn how to troubleshoot shit themselves- i've slapped some coverup on undeer my eyes to cover up the circles which are getting darker exponentially eery day- and decide that for 15 minutes.. i'm not going to do any work. i'm going to look at gossip sites.

here are some of my personal favorites:

www.thesuperficial.com
www.goldenfiddle.com
www.jossip.com
www.gawker.com
www.perezhilton.com

just to name a few.

Then I spend some time looking at designer-ey sites...

Looks like it's going to be an interesting day.... gotta go.. i'm gettin' sharked by account managers...

Have a happy!

Dogs Rule

Anyone that knows me KNOWS i love my dogs.
Often referred to as "the babies", "retards" (i know. not PC.)"pain in the ass" or "bubs" or my favorite "The Bubaloos".

I love my dogs. Every day I am reminded of life's perspective. I get caught up in the daily grind and bullshit of work, wedding planning, the jack off driver in front of me. And then I come home to my little bubaloos. All they do is eat, shit, sleep and play. And be obnoxious. But I love them with all my heart. I talk to them, laugh at them, play with them. Hell I even sing to them and make up songs about them.

I've had Suki since she was a teeny little barky puppy. Was so little they weighed her in what looked like a fruit basket scale when I took her to to the vet the first time. She was so little and spunky. Still spunky not as little. She has huge ears and long gangly legs. Like Bambi... So cute I could just eat her up!!!

Sirius defnitely rides the short bus.. but is so sweet. I swear every day is Groundhog's day though. We did foster care for him and once we had him for awhile.. well. I couldn't imagine giving him away. I joke about it.. but really.. I'm attached to the little wing nut. He barks at nothing and goes ape shit over the cats on the other side of the fence.

anyhoo.. the reason why I posted this is because I came home from dinner with Heather and Shannon.. and when I opened the door, they were so excited to see me! Really.. every time I come home they act like they haven't seen me and I am greeted with wags and kisses..

So everyone give their Bubs hugs and kisses and remind yourself why you have that little obnoxious, retarded bundle of fur. They don't care about the small stuff- they just want a master that loves them and tells them where they are in the pack.

Easy.....

Friggin' Hot

It is too hot to blog.
Will write more tomorrow and upload some pics from our friend Ran Coulter's birthday party.
Where we sat outside.
In the heat.
And ate BBQ.


90º friggin degrees at 11.37pm.

Memories

I've been out in Greenbush, Michigan since Friday. For those of you that aren't familiar with our Great Lakes, it's pretty close to going to the ocean. Except it's not salt water and freezing cold. My folks have a place right on the beach. Every morning I look out the window when I get up and see the lake. When I have my breakfast, I'm sitting in front of a huge picture window and look at the lake. It's great. I've come here almost every summer of my life, give or take a few years here and there. I've spent the last few days jet skiing, tubing, swimming, lounging in the sun... you get the picture. Rough life. I actually decided to partake in some real "excercise" and went for a bike ride across the road along Cedar Lake today with my mom and my Aunt Judy. One thing that's been most interesting is that for some reason this trip really made me think of coming here when I was little. Maybe it's because my cousin's second kid is about to turn 1 and I'm getting married.. who knows. All I know is that I have some great memories up here and one thing I realized today while I was battling the flies that seem only to come out when there is a west wind is that there are some things that literally have not changed as long as I can remember, and then there are some things that have completely. The same volleyball net hangs in the same place. I remember playing volleyball with all of the cousins and aunts and uncles. The same lady lives next door- Sandy. She just celebrated her 70th birthday over the weekend. Some of the same toys that I played with were being played with this weekend by my cousin Kelly's son Rory. So it's comforting but also made me realize that things change everyday. Sometimes I don't really notice change because I'm busy paying attention to the things that are the same. Maybe it's because I've had so much change in my life in the past 9 months that hanging on to those things that aren't different have kept me from losing my shit. Who knows. Just made me think about stuff.

Anyhoo--

We had a private fireworks show. The neighbors "kids" showed up with probably $500 worth of fireworks hauled in from Ohio. It was great. Hour long of profressional fireworks just down at the watersedge, while we sat in chairs on the porch and watched. We used to do bottle rockets out of Coke bottles in almost the very same spot back in the day. This evening we had a family BBQ. Aunts, uncles, cousins all gathered around one single table for a great meal. We were going to go in the boat south to Oscoda to watch the fireworks from the water, but the wind picked up and the temperature dropped and you can't trust a west wind. So, my mom and I watched movies, talked to my sister on the phone.

I would post up pictures but I will admit I haven't taken any. Will get on that tomorrow. Hope everyone had a fantastic fourth of July!

Salty.

Do you ever have that feeling of "what have i done?"

I've experienced that today after some interesting "discussions" with some people. I won't go into gory details.. but let's just say... it's been an interesting morning.

Anyhoo.. I just looked down at my sleepy little bubs, snoozing on her cushion. She looked up at me gave me a wag and went right back to sleeping. Suddenly I feel a whole lot better.

F work.

It's finally cooled off. Too hot to blog even. Vin and I cruised Portland last night just so we could have some air conditioning. 90ºF at 10pm. Awesome.

I am leaving to see my family on Thursday night. Haven't seen them since Christmas and I am really looking forward to it!

More laters... have to go to a meeting....

Another sunny day....

My back deck is calling my name and I just might have to listen up. It's a beautiful day here in PDX and for all of you that think the weather sucks in the North West all the time... well you take a look at this.

It's totally nice out and that means crickets and tumbleweeds at work. Apparently there are "summer hours" on Friday. I'm looking out at the Fremont Bridge and traffic pretty much isn't moving. Guess everyone is thinking the same thing as me!

Had a BBQ last night and I'm sad to say I didn't take any pictures. The margaritas were flowin' a little easy last night... Denis, Heather, Justin and Shannon came over and then later on Sarah and Ethan stopped by our place. Their flight got in early so they stopped by, had some dinner and then left with the Butler-Kegler party. Good times. A lot of recyclables. The Lewis' can throw down!

I'm trying to grow my hair out right now. I also haven't colored it since last fall. I think the blonde is creepin back in- but it will never be the same after I dyd it dark red a few years ago. Sad.

So I'm getting ready to work on a big internal project. The kind that will make or break you. Lots of exposure to the higher ups. Lets hope it goes smoothly. it's funny how places that like to be "progressive" are the slowest ones to adapt to change.

Sukes is chillin'out. rough life. We made a little stop at Urban Fauna on today's potty walk and picked up some treats, chewies and a new ball to play with. Perfect for office catch. Won't break anything or make too much noise.

Went to PF Changs for lunch. Met up with my old boss and his family. It was great to see them. Rachel was 3 years old when I started at JDK. She's going into the 6th grade this fall. Made me feel old. : )

I'm going to get back to work now. Have some stuff to finish up and then I think we're out of here!

Nice view from my desk

The crap weather finally broke and it's been sweet all week. Suki was at work with me yesterday- regaining her title yet again as the cutest office dog- and likes to pass the afternoon watching the workers and people go by. They are putting up a 15 story building right outside my window which means I will no longer be able to see the Fremont Bridge. However, I will still be able to see Mt St Helens and if I want to see MT Hood, I can just go up to the roof. I know. Rough.

As I'm not much of a writer, blogging has proved to be a little harder than I thought. I am trying to resolve to be better at it, writing more often.. it just keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the list with everything else going on.

So. Let's see. What's been going on.

Vin got back from a week back in Vermont. He fished in the LCI tourney and got to spend Father's Day with his dad. While he was out, I got dog duty and spent alot of time with them. We went on walks, took a walk with Heather and Mia in Forest Park, in the mud. We went to the dog park, etc etc. I'm still convinced that Sirius was dropped on his head when he was a puppy.



The World Cup is still going on- everyone at the office is pretty much just watching games out in the atrium. Not very productive. I love that is still falls within your job- hey- we do Nike soccer. Gotta keep up with what's happening in the sport, right? Those big white things are huge screens that the game is being watched on. I am still pretty slow here at work but that will be changing soon.

Wedding planning has been really good and sometimes bad. But it's getting done and I'm really excited about it. Our friend Jess is making the wedding cake and I can't wait to see what she does! She's an amazing chef...

Thinking about going to the coast this weekend. Check the dogs into boarding and get out of dodge for a night. There is a classical music festival in Astoria that I want to check out possibly. But then I wouldn't mind going to Cannon Beach too!

I just polished off a sizeable portion of Ranier cherries. I'm hooked on them. Especially since I tend to spill things on myself. No danger of dark red cherry juice and they are really tasty.

Well. That's about it for now.. Heather and I are meeting up at Whole Foods to pick up stuff for the grillout we're having tonight. Salmon kabobs and corn on the cob. Yum!

Shit is finally kickin' in

I'm proud to announce that I FINALLY HAVE SOME SHIT TO DO AT WORK.

I'd also like to say "be careful what you wish for"

Remember Goonies?

We went to Cannon Beach today. My first time to the Pacific Ocean! I let Suki off her leash and she was in hog heaven- running like the dickens up and down, splashing in the water, running and playing with other dogs, playing catch. It was fun to watch her. Sirius - of course- stayed on his lead. For a lab mix- whatever is mixed with the lab doesn't like water. It interesting to watch him, he tippy toes around and then books it when the tide would come in. But towards the end he was just walking around in it. Nervous Nelly. I am convinced he was permanent brain damage from his previous owner and we now know why they got rid of him. Oh well....

We saw Haystack Rock - for those of you who might remember, in the closing scene in the movie "Goonies" it's the rock that the pirate ship peeps out of at the end. I have some photos to upload but i need to go get the camera. It's 7.30 and it's still totally light out. I love that I can come home from work and still have several hours to DO something. The weather has been unreal- warm and sunny and clear- no rain. I'm convinced it's the best time to move here!

More updates after dinner. Suki has been staring at me while I type and hasn't blinked. It's a little unnerving.
Back later.

Been a long time...

We've been seriuosly slacking on the blog.
Mainly because I have 1) forgotten and 2) still can't find my computer. Still have boxes to go through and Vin can finally take his office boxes in today. Which I am VERY excited about because they are sitting in the dining room against the wall.

We went to a little hole in the wall Thai place called the Thai Peacock last night for dinner after I went to happy hour with Heather and one of my old JDK bosses. Had a few too many Bellinis.. me likey the champagne! Vin met up with us and then he and I went to dinner. Let me tell you people.. at a real Thai restaurant, medium is not really medium. I think I drank an entire carafe of water and Vin busted out in a light sweat. But it was great! I had the 'Evil Jungle Noodles' and Vin had Pinneapple Red Curry.

Tonight we are doing a big push on the house. At least on the downstairs. I can't deal with the boxes anymore and need to just suck it up and do it. And we've decided to have a BBQ tomorrow night so that will help to "motivate" me so I won't be totally embarrassed when people come over.

So far we are really loving it here in Portland...

FINALLY! New photos!

Well.. you will all be happy to know that I finally got the photos uploaded onto the site this morning. Same link... just hit refresh and if you don't see new ones, then empty your cache.

VIEW UPDATED ROADTRIP PHOTOS HERE!!!

I added in about 125 new ones... they go all the way up to seeing the house.... One thing that I forgot to mention in the blog was the fact that I had bruises all over the place during that trip. Ran in to doors, tables, bonked my head on the captain's pit, you name it. Even to the point that I was bending over at one point to feed the dogs and Sirius jumped up and we totally coconutted. So I had a pseudo black eye. You can see how yellow it is on the last page. Trés attractive. For the most part the bruise on my eye is pretty much gone. But I can now imagine how much it hurts to get socked in the eye. Ouch.

It's our first weekend here. We've got Justin's Audi TT and are all going to somehow manage to jam in there and go get some coffee and head over to a new dog park that is supposed to be great. After that.. hopefully the dogs will be wiped out hence becoming less obnoxious... we're going to go check out Fisherman's World (for Vin) and then we will head southwest to Beaverton to check out the Nike Employee Store.

We're going to be finally meeting our landlords today to at some point... A few random things we've found about the house- like the back deck (which will be AWESOME for parties and grillouts with our new grill we will be picking out soon (that we got as a wedding present from someone who shall rename nameles at their request) I also want to check out the Crate & Barrel store too to see if they have any rugs on sale as we definitely need some to quiet this place down a little. Lots more floor in this house. I also actually want tosee in person the stuff we registered for on the wedding registry.

We went to dinner last night at Henry's Tavern. It's two blocks away from WK and was pretty packed. Had a great dinner and then came home and crashed. I think after this weekend will be back to our normal selves. Hopefully.

Anywho... enjoy the photos... comments of course are always wanted.... we hope everyone is doing safe and sound. And when are you coming to visit?

First day at WK

So today was my first day at Wieden
I also just found out we have internet access at home- yipeeee

I am taking home my fresh new powerbook and will be uploading my pictures this weekend! yipee!

First day was good. It's big here. Easy to get lost. Am going to the Nike Employee store this weekend so I can load up on Nike shoes. No more Merrells.

Will be starting a new blog probably over the weekend if I can get to it. seeing as I'm not in VT anymore, we should have a PDX relevant blog.

Have a good weekend!

7303 N Boston Ave & Maguro

So it's really late.
I'm upstairs with the two dogs sleeping slumber party style. Vin is out in the RV. He didnt' want to sleep on the floor.
I accidentally discovered that we have a super weak signal from someone in the neighborhood, but it's strong enough to post a blog!

We got into town and checked out the house. It's REALLY cute. Very reminiscent of living in Winooski. The house is probably about the same age, plaster walls, clawfoot tub, little tiny tiles, and bigger than my house in "the 'nook". The dogs have been sniffing all over the place and have christened the backyard. There are a bunch of dogs in the neighborhood so of course they all had to introdcue themselves to each other via barking.

The three of us decided that sushi was in order and we drove down into south portland to the misty sushi restaurant that has no sign in front of it but normally has a line around the corner. Since it was already 9:15 we didn't have to wait. We ordered a boat load of sushi- and really.. it was the best sushi I have ever had. YUM! (dad- when you guys come to visit we MUST go there. Mom can have teriyaki chicken)

Going to drop off the RV tomorrow and then run errands. I will be posting up new pics tomorrow when we go over to Justin's house for a bit. I'm going to tuck myself into my makeshift sleeping bag next to the floor vent and call it a night.

Goodnight from Portland!

20 miles out of PDX

So we are 20 miles out of PDX. We can see the lights of the city reflecting off the Columbia as we drive along 84.

Can't believe we are HERE.

Slight change in plans

I have cabin fever and am ready to get out of the RV. Hence we've decided that since we are two hours (which now sounds like nothin') east of Portland that we are putting the pedal to the metal and are going to our new home. We called our landlords and they are going to be meeting us tonight. Going to pick up some air mattresses at a Target or something and spend tonight in a space bigger than a breadbox. A little sad to see the road trip end.. but not THAT sad. Currently we are driving along the Columbia River heading west on 84. Washington state is on my right. I can't believe Vin has driven the whole way! I've been the navigator, blogger updater, etc. We are going to clean out Large Marge (my name for the rv) tomorrow and turn it in Thursday morning. Hoping a neighbor has wireless in the neighborhood that we can sponge off of. If so I will put my new pics up. There are a bunch of them!

The Oregon Interpretive Center was really cool. Life size dioramas (Very realistic... right down to the poo stuck in the oxen's tails!) But we watched a (way too long) video on the Donner Party and then went out and saw a part of the real Oregon Trail.

Anyhoo.... this has been really fun. We're glad so many people have enjoyed our travel log. Will post again when we arrive in PDX.

Officially in Oregon

We're in Baker City. Stopping for some early lunch before we hit the museum. Iwill try to upload pics if we have wireless tonight. We're staying in The Dalles tonight- don't know where yet. Rolling into Portland tomorrow ahead of our stuff. We got a call from John our driver and he's stuck in Illinois waiting on a part and for weather to clear up. More news later. Vin is antsy.

Rainbows & Elk

Just saw an amazing rainbow after driving through some showers. Close to Boise and we've seen a lot of elk- one guy even had an elk ranch right off of 84. Lots of wind turbines. We keep criss crossing the Snake River and went through Snake River Canyon. Still feelin' mighty relaxed from our marination in the hot springs.

One thing that we've noticed is that people in the midwest sure like their fireworks. Lots of fireworks shops. Do they really sell that many I wonder?

I'm really looking forward to going to the Oregon Trail Museum (outside of Baker City) tomorrow. Apparently you can still see wagon wheel ruts still. Reminds me of Pompeii in a way.

Anywho... service is getting low. Later taters....

If you're ever in Idaho

Wow! We are leaving Lava Hot Springs... it was AWESOME. A little place that you pay $5 to get into and there are these gravel-bottomed pools that are all hpt spring fed. No sulphur so it wasn't stinky. We sat in the middle pool- had to have been like 115 degrees. The snow was lightly falling with the hot water bubbling up around us. I went and had my massage while Vin got pruney.

We had lunch at this place called Johnnys. It had the old vinyl swivel barstools and great food.

Getting back on the highway now to head towards Ontario, Oregon. We're staying at a true RV Park that's right on the Snake River called Oasis Campground. It's about 4 hours away.

Nighty Night

I wanted to add one last thing in. Vin didn't mention that our camp site is right next to a little place that has 3 pet donkeys. What is with donkeys out here?

They also like to bray alot. Like at 10.25 when you are getting ready to go to bed. And the dogs like to freak out each time they do it. It's more funny than anything else... trailer parks....donkeys....fake log cabins....hotdog aroma.... yeah... good times.

We're going to try and head over to hot Lava Springs tomorrow and I am REALLLLLLLY hoping that we can sit in some pools tomorrow. Help get rid of "flat ass" from riding in the car for a week. I'm really excited to check out the Oregon Trail Museum too. It is really interesting to look around while we are driving and imagine what it would have been like to be in a wagon heading out west.

Going to hop up into my little cave now and watch some more "sex in the city" with vin's laptop and headphones. Need to drown out donkey noise and Vin's snoring...

nighty night...

Roadtrip photos

I'm currently uploading a photo gallery on my website because Blogger just sucks and its taking WAY TOO LONG to load up just a few images. This way you can see a bunch of them.

I realize that after awhile.. they all look a little the same. But hey. I'm taking pictures out of an RV.

The directory is loading up on the site now so it will be up in a bit. It takes awhile to load 146 images.

Once that's loaded, we're going to head into town (in the RV) to get some Mexican food for dinner. Olé!

VIEW ROADTRIP PHOTOS HERE!!!

Crap weather in Brigham, Utah

Spotty service available today. Took some great pictures in Wyoming. I had a bumpy but restful nap in the back this morning and woke up to sunny clear skies and beautiful scenery. It truly is being out in the wide open. Have had some spotty snow here and there- now being one of those spots. We're close to tonight's spot in Idaho and we just saw that there are natural hot springs close by and we are going to definitely go check those bad boys out. I haven't been to natural hot springs since I lived in Texas and I can't wait. I played a little solitaire todaybut didn't win too much. Picked out M&Ms out of the trail mix. Will try to update the pics tonight.

Our first pump out

So we're attempting to do the first pump out. The rule so far has been pee only so it won't be that bad. But Vin went to pull out the tube and it's rotted out. One of the many things to add to the list of things about the RV that have been a bust so far. We've kept a running list and plan on making a call in the next few days.

Anywho. Long night and didn't sleep very well and it wasn't because of Vin's snoring either. Had to go the bathroom at 4.30am and the dogs were up and they needed to go out too. So the three of us head out for a bathroom run. It had stopped snowing and it was pretty quiet. Except for the hum of trucks going by on the highway. Which literally is about 100 ft away.

So I'm off to walk the dogs for their morning walk. They are tied up right now outside so I could sweep out and clean up a bit. Trying to get some fresh air in the joint as it still has a slight rank odor of dinner from 2 nights ago.


Laters.. we're off to idaho today and blogger isn't letting me upload my pictures right now.

Sleepin' in a trailer park

We've just pulled into tonight's KOA. A real jem. Going to try and get some free wireless from the Days Inn that's about 30 ft away. Can't wait to take some pictures in the morning. Lightly snowing. Just had an AWESOME bbq dinner. The dogs will be stoked when they see some leftovers in their bowls shortly.

In the great wide snowey open

So it's been a day of limited cell service. We're about 15 min away from tonights stopping point in Laramie, Wyoming. The snow is coming down pretty good.. looks like winter. Hoping that the water tank does not freeze up on us. Very glad we filled up on propane. Stopping for some dinner at the powder river rib company (no hot dogs tonight) and then to the campground to chill. I'm going to watch my dvd's from Parker and Vin is going to read. hoping that we are close to the showers because we didn't have one yet today and I feel skanky. But the snow COULD be a deterrant. No WiFi tonight so pics have to wait until tomorrow.

A chilly night up over the cab

I've been sleeping up over the cab in the coffin-esque bed. There is about 3 ft of vertical space up there. I figured that it would be warm up there because "heat rises". Last night, JACK rose. So I was pretty much fully under the covers all night. Only woke up a few times to Suki growling (watch dogs!)

We're getting ready to head out. Vin is filling up the water tank currently and then we need to fill up the gas tank. The RV only had the renters guide in German (sweet.) So luckily we downloaded the english version from their website and have that on the laptop for figuring out how to do all that stuff.

Looks like we're heading into some semi-crappy weather. We'll keep you posted from the road. Never got my Shamrock Shake yesterday. Maybe they will still have them at Dirty Ron's. All I know is that we're up early enough so Vin can have his McMuffin.

Hunkered Down in Omaha

We've pulled in to our Omaha, Nebraska KOA for the night. Definitely not as kute and kozy as the one last night. We're going to pop some laundry in (need clean pants.) and take the dogs for a stroll. Then we're calling it a night.

Vin made dinner tonight. Mac and cheese and hotdogs (all beef!) A nice, sodium-filled dinner for two, which is sure to mean I will have little hotdogs for fingers when I wake up. Excellent!

Chasing the western sunset

We been chasing the sunset on probably the straightest stretch of highway yet. Pictures will go up tonight once we get the laptop out and the photos off the camera. Vin is on his 3rd day of driving. I keep offering to drive but he's all into it. Or he's just afraid of me driving a 25' RV for the first time. Suki has been on my lap for most of the day today and Sirius has pretty much been comatose except for our stop for lunch. We are about an hour away from tonight's stop in Gretna, NE. More news later...

Forgot to mention...

So I forgot to tell you what the donkeys were for.

Donkey Basketball.

That's right. People ride donkeys and playbasketball. And they wear these little rubber shoes too. He ws trimming their hooves because he didn't have a game that night so he figured he would stop and take care of a few things.

Funny.

Donkeys at the World's Largest Truck Stop

We just are getting back on the road after stopping at the World's Largest Truck Stop. (how do they determine thay anyhow...) We filled up the tank, put in some oil, took the dogs for jaunt down the little stretch of grass next to the exit. A guy had pulled up next to us with trailer full of donkeys. He had taken a few of them out. We decided while we were eating our sandwhiches that we needed to take a picture of that. I mean really. Who would ever get the chance to see donkeys at the world's lagest truck stop? Once we get to Nebraska we will upload today's pics. Classic.

Ed Flynn is Correct

That's right. Miles per gallon.
Here is a picture of what we have been looking at all day.

Just crossed the Mississippi

We just crossed into Iowa a few minutes ago. Going to hit a rest stop soon for a dog break and some lunch. We're on 280W and will be back on good ole 80W in about 5 minutes. From there it's 313 miles to the next KOA. Not the most exciting day except for the Adult Shop that was literally in the middle of a dirt pile right next to the highway in Chicago. Of course it had a lot of patrons.

Guess what...

the number "9.75" stands for? Really.... someone venture a guess.....

ps- Nick,my camera battery was dead yesterday, so that's why we didn't have any...

Lunchtime

Just stopped for some gas right nd walked the dogs. We had our first RV lunch- sammies and chips.
We're about an hour and 45 minutes until we hit Cleveland. We'll be waving at Jen Fox from the highway!

Everyone should have a Treo!

we are about 40 miles away from pennslyvania (that's pennsyltucky to you, kaszuba and frank!)

The RV is much quieter so far today- wind is not bad. we stopped at target this morning to load up on some groceries and a bathing suit because some of these koa's have hot tubs! we've been reading everyone's comments so far. Vin was very excited to learn that he hadn't lost his red hat (thanks jackie!) The dogs are sleeping... I've been checking email and weather on the treo. what a great thing to have on a trip like this!
I finally feel like I'm starting to relax a bit- amazing what not having a job for a bit can do for you.
More news later.. going to stop for lunch and walk the dogs in a bit.

A Brand New Day!

After probably one of the best nights sleep I've had in the last month and a new shower (I even exfoliated!) I feel like a new person. Even the dogs seem much more relaxed.. but let's see how long that lasts before we fire up the RV.

We're on our way to Indiana. Never been. I just have the "Gary Indiana" song in my head from "The Music Man". We're going to make a quick stop at Wegmans to pick up some stuff for lunch and dinner (our first culinary exploration - wait- kulinary exploration at the KOA) and a quick stop at Target to get some stuff to buffer the noise in the RV. And some stretchy pants to wear.

Can't remember if this KOA has WiFi or not... if there is we will be sure to update!

I'm riding in a giant can on wheels.

Picked up the RV this morning in Salem, Ma. You can't miss it. After watching an informational video in a smelly office with two nervous dogs. We signed the paperwork and were free to start the adventure! We moved all of the stuff out of the mini van and into the RV, which was a tad ghetto. But hey- this is an RV and we're out on an adventure so we got rollin'- Vin in the RV and me in the mini van, we still had to drop it off in Cambridge at the car rental place. Dropping off the car was not as simple as one might think. We had a big ass RV to think about on these narrow Boston street afterall... After a slight run in with a school bus, we both managed to make our way and dropped off the car.



So FINALLY! We're driving! We get on 90 finally and we're going in the right direction. WEST.

The wind was blowing at 30 mph and let me tell you- it made for a noisy ride, as well as the constant rocking back and forth. I passed the time by reading the newest issue of Marie Claire and making shims out of paper towels and jamming them into the noisiest spots.

We pulled into Syracuse (let's go orange!) to spend the night and Ursula and Jim's place. Had some Thai food and caught up. After a few glasses of red wine.. I'm tired.

Top 'o the Mornin' at York Beach

Bright and early here on the Nubble in York, Maine.

Loading day was long. It started out sunny and nice out- 50º in March! Vin dropped me off at the airport and I picked up the rental car- which was actually a mini van. We met back and house and waited for the driver to show up to load our stuff up.



We're sitting drinking our coffee when this behemoth tractor trailer pulled up- it was HUGE and took up half the street. John the driver comes in with his assistant Dennis to survey all of the crap we have. (And really. At this point it IS all crap.) The loading commences and they start hauling stuff out. For the most part everything went nice and smooth. The piano proved to be the usual challenge. It wouldn't sit on the cart because the bottom part is a little warped (hey. it's 90+ years old.. we have to cut it some slack) They tried putting it on the cart, they tried wheeling it out, you name it. They even tried picking it up but no one wanted to pop a hernia. At this point I was getting more and more nervous with each attempt so I decided to go distract myself by vacuuming upstairs. Shem stopped by with Sylvia and we had a little visit with them while they moved the piano out of the house. Finally I saw them making their way up into the truck and breathed a sigh of relief. I had been enviosioning it either tipping over and going through the floor, tipping over and going through the porch, you name it.. I thought it.

Finally around 4 we started getting close to having hardly anything in the house. I kept cleaning while they kept loading. The flat bed which was being used to load the car and boat into the truck was supposed to be showing up and we wanted to see how they were going to get Vin's boat into the truck. We waited. And waited. Waited some more. The tow truck guy calls- they're running late. So we go back to loading. I took apart the trusty futon and chair to help move things along. Cleaned some more. Robin showed up to say bye and see the empty house. Which BTW was a little sad. It was a great little house.

At about 5.30 we realize that the tow truck is STILL not there and we have a half hour before we have to pick up the dogs from doggy daycare. John tells us we don't have to wait around so we start doing the paperwork, say our goodbyes and get in the mini van.

I forgot to mention. It was now 34º out and snowing. Yeah. Love that Vermont weather. Started out 50º and sunny... ended cold windy and shitty. Awesome!


We picked up the dogs, packed them into the van and head south. Pulled into York at about 9.30pm. Celebrated our departure from Vt with some champagne with Nick and Jess. I headed up and went to sleep with Suki, Sirius and Mike's dog Gretchen. We hunkered down and went to sleep.

Got up at 6am this morning and took the dogs out for a little potty action. It's really windy out still. Got a load of laundry running and we're meeting Jess for breakfast at 8.30am and then we head out to pick up the RV in Salem, Mass.

I have a bunch of pictures to add up but it's not letting me upload images.. so we'll try again later.

Vince's Roadtrip Update

So Meghan does not get all the credit for this blog. Wanted to fill in the blanks, but actually there's not much else to say.
We did really well in terms of packing quick, being organized and getting things done, even though my project manager might disagree on our efficiency.
The movers were great, and I really really hope they were careful with my boat. We left before it was loaded because the flatbed driver was "busy doing something else".
Nice to come to Maine before heading west. Although I think the dogs are a little confused. Little do they know it's about to get even more confusing for them, because thier little home is going on wheels for 8 days.
We're on the way to get a bagel, pick up the RV, watch the RV training video, drop off the rental car, and head to Syracuse so Meghan can buy a new sweatshirt.
From NY, we head west on 90 to Indiana, near Notre Dame, so Meghan can buy another new sweatshirt.
From Indiana, we head to Nebraska, and we'll probably look for cheesy t shirts for Meghan to buy along the way.
Nebraska to Wyoming via Rt 80. Heading up to Laramie where our Komfort KOA Kampground is located.
From Laramie, we'd like to check out Yellowstone, via West Yellowstone, but the roads may be gnarly for the RV, so that's optional.
Wyoming will lead to Idaho, Pocatello to be correct. I'd love to spend some time out there before we head to Oregon.
I also wanted to head to Bend, OR to take a look around. I know there's a good brew pub there, and I actually have a fishing buddy who lives there. Or at least he used to. He took me down the Deschutes river for trout one year in a drift boat.
So from Bend, we'll head over to Portland and drive to 7303 N Boston ave. I wonder what the neighbors will think of us living in the RV the first night.
The funniest part of the whole trip will be dropping Meghan off at a world class advertising agency, where she just landed a great job at Wieden and Kennedy, in a 25 foot Class C RV with two little dogs co-piloting.
We'll keep y'all posted along the way.

VRL

Packin' Day

We made it through packing day. They arrived at 8.30am this morning and left around 4pm. There are boxes everywhere and I have a slight sense of satisfaction knowing that I didn't have to do any of the actual packing. I could get used to this...

Anyhow.. the dogs are at daycare and I'm just sitting here at the computer- the one thing that isn't packed yet thinking about "Loading Day" which is tomorrow. We have to pick up the rental car- which somehow magically got upgraded to a mini van or SUV and trust me we need the room- and then we watch as all of our crap gets loaded into a giant semi. Should be fun.. digital camera is charged up and ready to go for that one!

I uploaded some pics to check out- here's the house with the boxes everywhere and then here our Bob and Angelo- the packers. They were awesome- they even did me a favor and brought the washer and dryers up the stairs!