It Sucked and then I Cried

Tonya Jean, as promised, here are the pictures:





One of those books has your name on it!

Tales from NW

Earlier this week (like so many times) I circled my car around the neighborhood for twenty minutes, only to find a parking space in a two hour zone. Gave up, parked the car there anyway. Got up before the crack of dawn to move the car to a legal space, but it took ten minutes to find one. Cussed. A lot.

Just now I circled the block around my building three times. No parking. Found a spot four blocks away. Walked to my building only to find an empty parking place right in front. Now, if I go back to my car by the time I get to this new open space in front of my building it will surely be taken. Then I will drive back to the old spot cussing that I wasted my time, and then that one will have been taken too. So, I leave my car where it is (and p.s. it's a spot only open on the weekends, so I'll have to move it later anyway) and think about how nice it will be to have a driveway again someday.

The Deep Freeze of '08

In the beginning it was just light flutters of cute little snowflakes.  It was fun to curl up with a blanket and eat cozy food.

And then those little snowflakes got serious and were pouring down like crazy!

This is the ice that sealed my car shut.

And more ice frozen on top of the snow...

But it sure is fun to play in!

And I have the best neighbor, Tyler, who is diligent in keeping our sidewalks cleared and helped me get my car open.  Have I mentioned I love this city? 

Good night

I'm sitting in my favorite chair in the apartment reflecting on a wonderful evening and a wonderful life.  There are dishes piled high in the kitchen and it still smells like cornbread and chili in here.  Last night I invited a couple of friends over for dinner this evening and they in turn invited a couple of friends and we all ate a warm, comforting meal together and shared stories.  Part of me kept thinking of all the other people in the neighborhood that I wanted to invite over, too, but my apartment couldn't hold them all at once - and what a beautiful thing it is to know so many lovely people to invite into my home.  Mostly I'm just amazed by how none of us knew each other just a few short months ago, and here we sat squeezed together around my coffee table tonight sharing each other's company like we were old friends.

I was having a conversation a couple of weeks ago with my beautiful friend, Tonya, and we were talking about prayer and God and these sorts of things, and she said something to me about moving to Portland... like didn't I feel called to be here?  And I answered something like, "No... I mean, I guess not.  I certainly prayed about moving, but I don't feel like God said YES or NO about moving.  It's not really a yes or no kind of question - I mean it's just going to make life different, but there is nothing inherently  good or bad about it."  But I've been thinking about that question a lot lately.  And I think I just might want to change that answer.  I feel like I'm at home in Portland.  I felt it every time I came to visit last year, and I still feel it every day now.  This is just where I am supposed to be.  I love it so much.  And I love the people.  People I would never know if I hadn't moved.  It is like I was called.  And I'm so glad I took the risk and answered.

Can we still be friends?

Internet, here's the thing: I moved to Portland, I now go to church in a bar and I've recently stopped shampooing my hair.  I totally understand if you want to see other people.  If, however, you are willing to love me even though I've gone off the deep end, I just want you to know I love you back.

Don't act like you didn't know this was coming

It's frickin' freezing in Portland!  I heart the fall, I really do.  But it's so damn cold in my apartment that my toes are about to snap off.  I just want to snuggle into my new fleece sheets and come back out next June.

Experiments in whole wheat and rambling

I decided to make these fabulous scones again this morning.  This time to keep all for myself.  Muahahhahahaha.  Then I decided to try them with a little whole wheat.  I'm sure you are thinking: Don't Mess With The Scone, Katie.  And you would be right.  These scones are purely delightful, and once you dump in cream and butter what's a little white flour?  Seriously.  Don't mess with the scone.  I did 1/4 whole wheat pastry flour to 3/4 white just as a small test.  They are still edible, good even.  Just not the delicious wonder they are when not messed with.  Oh, and did I mention I used the left over cream from last week and it was lumpy?  But I called Katie (who was also baking this morning!) and she reminded me that we eat sour cream, cottage cheese and all sorts of other nasty, curdled dairy, so I wasn't likely to die.

Leah requested a photo of my apron.  Did I mention I actually made this apron, too?  Seriously, I can get so much dorkier if you just stick around.  So here it is: me in all my nerdy glory, frosting a cake.

To lessen the complete loser I've proven myself to be, last night I went out for happy hour.  Betsy and I checked out the Sweet Basil in our neighborhood.  We weren't sure what to order, so our server said he would just pick a few things for us and bring them out.  So adventurous!  (This is seriously the exciting part of the evening.  Now that I've written this I'm not sure why it's the part that makes me feel like less of a loser.)  Everything was great, and the food was like $2.50 but the catch is you have to buy a full price drink for about $7.  Kinda silly.  After dinner we walked up to Washington Park.  I hadn't been there before.  The rose garden is amazing!  It just keeps going forever.  We also walked around Twenty-third and stopped at Bleuet for frozen yogurt.  This was like serious frozen yogurt, not the stuff that tastes like ice cream.  It was more like someone put plain old yogurt right in the freezer, ate it, thought it was good and opened a yogurt shop.  I didn't like it so much, but the shop design was cute!

Betsy borrowed the book Jesus for President and is getting ready to read it, so we talked about politics a little.  I was saying how I just wish someone could please explain to me how in the world the Republican party thinks it lines up with Christian values, because it makes absolutely no sense to me.  She said the thing she liked was the idea of smaller government.  She felt that if all of the government programs weren't around then people would help people at a more personal level, rather than a large government agency that loses track of people and money.  She said it more eloquently, of course, but it was the first time I could see where they were coming from with that idea.  I still don't agree at all.  It's totally idealistic and I don't think it would ever work for many, many, many reasons, but at least she didn't have to attack anyone to get her idea across.  It was a nice change.  Because reading comments from posts like this, this and this only fuel the fire of hatred that burns in my soul towards the extreme right.  And I know they feel the same toward liberals.  How are ever going to get over ourselves and DO instead of ARGUE?  I'm so over the sides and corrupted politicians and the hate I feel... and suddenly I remember there is another option.  Jesus.

Nerd alert

Most twenty-somethings spend their Saturday nights trying to get laid, but me?  I walk through the trendiest neighborhood in Portland with my apron on because I forgot to get cream at the market and I'm in the middle of baking a couple of new recipes.  And I'm planning to take the baked goods to church in the morning.  Because I am a seventy year old woman trapped in this body.  Good grief.

I could tell I was home by the smell of the river

I'm fairly sure it's not a good idea for me to be blogging right now because I may or may not have treated myself to a couple martinis after work to celebrate finishing my first week at the firm.  So, I'll keep it brief and just make a note here that today at lunch I walked down along the water front (river front? whatever they call it.), and I immediately remembered why I moved here.  Because it is home.  My home.  The smell of the water was instant confirmation.  I love it here, and I'm so grateful to be back!

My new friend, Gene

Tonight I was out wandering the neighborhood, looking for the bus stop I'll need for work, when I ran into Gene.  He was folding some clothes he just got for free and said he needed a bag to put them in, so I offered to give him an Ecobag.  When I came back from my car with the bag we ended up talking for a couple of hours.  He is homeless right now, and struggles with addiction, but is going to recovery meetings and is on a list for housing.  He was all over the place tonight, and couldn't sit still.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.  We talked about philosophy, theology, politics, homelessness, etc.  I wish I'd had a notebook with me because he has quite a wealth of knowledge!  I'm sure we could have talked for many more hours, but it was getting late, so I needed to get home.  We're planning to meet next week at Powell's, where he's going to introduce me to The Loeb Classics.  I can hardly wait!

This one time I moved to Portland...

I love this place.  The last two days have been trying and exhausting, but also a ton of fun and I'm learning about my new neighborhood and I love it.  As I type this I'm eating a grilled cheese from my what is likely to be my new fave hangout.  It's the same place I had the weird encounter last winter with the guy who made me notes on his theory about the end of the world and how it was coming soon... dun-dun-duuuun.  I should tell that story sometime.  Anyway, I just spent the entire afternoon painting my living room bright green.  Seriously, have you seen the bright green boxes they paint on the street for drivers to be aware of bikers before they turn?  Yeah.  That green.  It's just a little preparation for the dreary winters, because you just go ahead and try and be sad when you're in a room this color!  Right now I should be packing for my crack o' dawn flight to Phoenix, so I'm going to go do that.  See ya'll soon!  I'll bring pictures.

Cynical in the city

I arrive to my 5:20 apartment viewing and buzz the manager, she says it will be just a few minutes. A girl walks up and says she is there to view as well (weird!) so I tell her the manager will be here shortly and attempt to make small talk. I asked her if she had been looking long and she said no. I told her I had only been looking a couple of days, and how I can't believe how competitive it is in this area and that everything goes so quickly - like within hours! We chatted a little bit about the neighborhood and then walk up two more girls to view the place. This is crazy, I think to myself. Then the manager unlocks the door. All three girls walk in ahead of me. Huh, okay. Before I even get all the way into the apartment the first girl turns to the manager and says, "I'll take it! Who do I make the check out to?"

Betch. I cannot believe she walked in in front of me and snagged it before I even saw it! Although it was hard to blame her. The apartment was amazing... but still! Unbelievable.

Eye encounter

"Them your eyes?"

I look around, I'm the only other person in the elevator, and not sure why the eyes in my head would belong to someone else, so I respond, "Yeah."

"Well, I just mean, you know how some people have them contacts to change the eyes."

"Oh, yeah.  These are really mine."

"Them nice!" he says and starts to exit the elevator, then pauses and stares at me, "Mmm... I could look into them eyes all day!"

"Uh... thanks?"

The routine

Find coffee shop with WiFi, buy a drink, look for apartment listings.

Go look at an apartment.

Choke back the tears because the apartment won't work and now I have to pee.

Find a coffee shop with bathroom, buy a drink, look for more apartment listings.

It's a never ending cycle, I buy a drink to pee and then I pee because I bought another drink.  I better find something soon, I can't afford this!

Parenthetically

I was just getting ready to pack up the computer for the big move and thought I'd take a minute to post a little something before I hit the road.  The last two days have been an awesome time of hanging out with friends!  Yesterday afternoon Andrea organized a little get together at Fair Trade Cafe downtown (I heart that place!).  Some Poiema peeps and "old" friends came and brought me mixed cds for my road trip.  I am so stoked to pop those puppies in and listen to great tunes while barreling down the freeway!  I also got some really sweet letters, cards, pictures and an amazing Poverty and Justice Bible!  The most creative goes to Cash, since he broke the rules and created a Facebook profile for me.  I've resisted for months, but like it or not, I guess I'm a Facebooker now.  It was so wonderful to get to talk about Africa and Portland and just hang out together.  Afterwards we hit up LGO for gelato (first!) and my last avocado pizza for a long time.  It was just so nice to be surrounded by good friends and it didn't feel like a "goodbye" at all.  I'm still in denial that I won't be seeing everyone next week.

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Uh.  Wow.  I'm moving to another state tomorrow.  When did this happen?

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So this morning I went downtown to see my brother and say goodbye.  It wasn't so bad, thanks to my friend, Katie (who needs a blog I can link to).  Then I went to my last service and said like the one millionth goodbye (Ohio, Africa, Portland... I'm sure they are thinking when is she just going to leave already?).  Katie and I went to a little local Mexican restaurant for our last supper together and much to our surprise in came the Poiema herd!  So we had a nice long lunch chatting some more... and then another goodbye!  It still doesn't feel real.  But lucky for me there are plenty of trips already planned for Oregon, so I'll have lots of visitors!

I can't believe I'm doing this.  I must be crazy, but I'm pretty excited.  Ready to hit the road.  Ready to start the next phase.  Ready to see what God is going to teach me in Portland.  Bring it on!

Crunchland

The fortune cookie said, "You are heading for a land of sunshine and relaxation".  Maybe the cookie thinks I'm moving to Mexico?  I love Oregon, but it's no land of sunshine - that's for sure!

Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone

As much as I love being around my friends and family, there is just something inside of me that craves being alone. And I almost never get to indulge. But last week I traveled to Portland for four whole days without really telling too many people. I needed to be alone. My first afternoon there I was stopped by a Green Peace-er. He asked me what I was doing in Portland and I told him I came to be alone. He thought I said, "to get a loan" and then asked why I couldn't get a loan where I was from. Apparently it's odd to want to be alone, especially on vacation.

But, I have to tell you, it was one of the most relaxing weekends ever. I spent the majority of the time wandering around neighborhoods, taking pictures, enjoying the cold weather and the fallen leaves, sitting in coffee shops to people watch and read a couple of books. I had no schedule, no computer, and my boss only called once. It was great!

A few snowflakes even floated around on my last morning there... it was the perfect end to my weekend!

The Belmont Foundation

In July I went home to Oregon to visit friends and escape the heat of the God forsaken desert. Just so happened that there was a silent auction being held for the Belmont Foundation that week, so of course being personally invited by Donald Miller's email, I had to attend. Luckily I talked Tonya into coming with me! It was at Sip & Kranz, this swanky coffee shop in the Pearl. What a great evening! A really talented dude with great jeans was singin' & strummin' throughout the evening & I had the pleasure of sitting next to his future mother-in-law & learned that he was getting married in a few weeks & that the recording of a second cd was in the works. I liked what I heard enough to buy a cd that night & I'm so glad I did because it's lovely! I especially like the last track about "each time I fall, does it hurt you to know, unwilling to see, prefer just to be blind to the truth, you're willing to die, to die so that I might really live" with very powerful vocals & some beautiful background scripture reading. Seriously, you should check him out.


Anyway, that night a few guys spoke & told some touching stories about the crisis of fatherlessness in America. And then Donald Miller read a chapter from his not yet released book, Let Story Guide You. It was wonderful. Afterwards, Tonya & I bid on some photography & each won one piece. So, we went to the counter where they had Macs set up for online donations. Well of course mine wasn't working (which was fairly indicative of nearly every experience I had on this trip, but that's another story…or ten), so I asked this helper guy what I should do & he suggested I check my email for a confirmation. So he directs me to Gmail where whatdoyaknow, someone's email login & password is saved so I know that I'm on Don's computer! Why this means anything? It doesn't really, except that I can say, "I used Donald Miller's computer!" So then I log in, but I don't see an email confirmation. This guy is reading my email over my shoulder & points it out to me. I'm slow, or just too busy looking to see who is online to chat --- oh yep! and there is my status headline glaring out for everyone to see: i heart donny. Now this guy may or may not have seen that, but a little later in the evening when I asked him if he could take a picture of Tonya & I, he was pretty persistent that we should have our picture taken with Don. I can see how my headline could be confusing & I think he was just being sweet & trying to fulfill my dreams, but little did he know that my headline meant Donny, this other guy, not Donald Miller, duh. Kind of embarrassing, but whateves, look what I have: