Our first month living in Portland

Sorry it has been so long since I've written. Things have been going so wonderfully since we arrived here that I have not had a second to sit down and write!
God has simply blown our minds with how much He has blessed us since arriving here. It seems that everything has fallen into place beautifully and we have loved absolutely every aspect of the city. For the first two weeks we decided to use graduation money Derek/we received to be tourists and really see the city. We realized this would be the only two straight weeks Derek would have off again for a very long time and we decided to take full advantage of it and really get to see the city. Here are a few things we did...

We had a lovely welcome dinner with Kristen, Terrance, and Jack at a yummy sushi restaurant!
We went to the Portland zoo, which was actually much more fun than I thought it would be. It was small but we had a great time hanging out! We even saw a baby elephant.
We had a wine tasting day in Willamette Valley. The wine country is breathtaking. We had amazing weather and the sights were like nothing I've ever seen before. We also met a super nice girl (who worked at the first winery) and invited her and her fiancee over for dinner a few nights later. They came over and we had a great time!
Took a lunch boat cruise on the Portland Spirit (thanks to help from Kristen!) which was way more fun than we expected. It was beautiful!
We visited Voodoo Donuts which is a must for newcomers and visitors. This place is nuts. People come here from all over the world, it's totally crazy. There was even a bride and groom there taking pictures which I later learned you can actually get married there! There was a huge line, but we waited, and then ate WAY too much sugar!!
Had a BBQ on our porch. It was very funny since this was Derek's first attempt at a charcoal grill. Much different than gas. We had some good laughs!
We got caught in the middle of a hail and thunder shower while on campus with no umbrellas and no jackets! It looked as though we had jumped into a pool with our clothes on by the time we ran all the way to our car! We laughed very hard!
After the first two weeks here Derek started orientation which has basically been 8-5 pretty much every day. On the evening of his first day there was a family BBQ for interns where we met lots of people who Derek will be working with. Including the other 3 neurology guys he will be working with for the next 4 years. Two of them are married and the third is getting married in September. We actually had the two couples over for dinner last weekend and had a great time. I've hung out a couple times with one of the wives and have really gotten along well with her.
Last night I went to a "girls night" through the OHSU Resident Family Network. It's basically a group for spouses of doctors to get together and have a support group / people to hang out with! The girls were so nice and I had an amazing time. I'm really very excited to be involved with this great group of girls! I can't wait to hang out with them again!
Tomorrow is Derek's last day of orientation and then he starts work for his first official day on Sunday. Then the real craziness will begin!
Overall we have really had an amazing time since moving here and God has blessed us with more than we could have ever asked for or even imagined. It has been amazing. We truly feel blessed and at home here. I am so thankful.
Since Derek's schedule will be so crazy this first year we will not be able to do much traveling away from Portland, but please know that everyone is always welcome to come visit us at anytime! We would love to see you and our door is always open!

Portland!

We have finally arrived in Portland, Oregon!

We drove from San Diego straight through to Portland. 17 hours in the car and 1100 miles. Our record for driving! The dogs got quite antsy but we made it here shortly before midnight May 30th (we left SD at 6:45am).

We absolutely love the apartment we are living in and the city is just amazing. Derek and I both feel so confirmed that this is the place we are supposed to be living and feel so blessed to be here. Since the moment we arrived in Portland we have loved every single thing about it. It's beautiful, the people are ridiculously friendly, it's clean, and God has made it abundantly clear this is where we are meant to be. We are so grateful for all the prayers and support of all our family and friends in helping us to get to this point. We finally have a home sweet home!

Good Wolf vs. Bad Wolf

(Picture taken from First People Website)

Mary (my mom's friend who functioned as my second mother when my mom was pregnant with my sister and too sick to feed me. I used to call her MarMa basically fusing her name with mom!) was over last night and told me a great story that she read on SuzeBlogz's blog that I had to share...

TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Apache told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is The Spirit - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,"Which wolf wins?"

The old Apache simply replied, "The one you feed.."

Which one will you feed today?

Popsicles in a shot glass

Derek is sick and we're pretty sure it's strep throat. Seeing as he's now a doctor, he self diagnosed and started himself on antibiotics, but is still in a lot of throat pain. Striving to be a good and creative wife, last night I made popsicles for him with what I had to work with. Shot glasses, juice, and mini popsicle sticks from my waxing kit. I mixed different kinds of juice, poured it into shot glasses, and after it started to harden a little - stuck the waxing sticks in the middle! He loved them and they really helped his throat!

New Design!

I played around all morning to find a new background I liked and I think I found it! I even learned how to make a banner as a picture with writing in the middle of it in place of a header and it was quite challenging for me. I know many people know how to do this in a split second but this was pretty monumental for me! Let me know what you think!

Portland - looking for a place to live

This past week we stayed at Kristen and Terrance's house looking for a place to live for when we move to Portland in June. We originally planned on renting a place and really had no intention of buying. However, when we got there and realized that Portland is really a renter's market we were shocked. Rent rates are very high there and talking with Kristen and Terrance (who both used to be in the mortgage business) we realized there was a very good chance that if we bought a place our mortgage payment would be less than a rental payment.


So we got together with Mike Howe, a Realtor who is friends with Terrance and Kristen to start looking at houses. He was awesome and super helpful. He explained all about this $8000 tax credit coming up and also put up with us sending him hundreds of listings to view. After looking for a few days, however, we realized that what we were looking for was just a touch out of our price range and we didn't LOVE anything in our price range. We felt like we would be settling if we did buy and that we should be patient and wait until we move up to Portland and be able to have more time to look. We also realized that this will be Derek's last significant vacation for quite a few years and that we were spending it stressing over houses and scrambling to find the perfect one instead of relaxing and enjoying it. So we decided to go back to the rentals, and take one that is smaller (and an apartment) than we would have normally gone for (and therefore cheaper) and begin the search again once we are back in Portland. We also only signed a 10 month lease so that if we do find something to buy that we love we won't be committed for too long to a rental. I will be sending out change of address cards / graduation announcements shortly. I'm just SO thrilled to have an address to call home...even if only for 10 months! :)


Throughout our stay in Portland, Kristen and Terrance really wined and dined us. They were amazing and so helpful with our hunt for houses to buy as well as places to rent. They also brought us out to one of their favorite bars for trivia night which was a blast. We went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant (can't remember the name but it was SUPER yummy!) and also got to experience lots more of Terrance's professional cooking! Their two and a half year old, Jack, as well as their two dogs made the living situation exciting and also constantly full of entertainment! Thanks again for an awesome time in Portland! We can't wait to move there!



We flew down to San Diego late last night and will be here for just about a month. We have quite a few little trips planned throughout so our free time is actually very limited here, but we are hoping to catch up with and see as much family and friends as we can before we head up to our new home in Portland!

Drive to Portland from West Virginia - Day 4

We didn't leave until 9:25am our last day so that we could get a little extra sleep and make sure we were both feeling a bit better (which we both were). We drove 497 miles and it was a BEAUTIFUL drive! We passed Lake Umatilla which then turns into a bunch of different rivers that end up going right through Portland.

There was a lot of beach camping that we will have to look into more once we move there and go try out! There was some waterfall we passed that was beautiful and also a big attraction (there was actually traffic to get there...it's been awhile since we've seen traffic)! We also saw a stern wheeler boat which reminded us of when we went on one in Charleston and will definitely have to look that up to go on. We also passed a huge Outlet Mall which I got very excited about seeing as it wasn't very far outside or Portland! Yay for good shopping again!! :)

Before heading to Kristen and Terrance Baxter's house (my girlfriend who I've known since elementary school that we were staying with during our time in Portland), we stopped by one housing appointment to look at a rental. It was pretty much horrible and was quite disheartening considering I had it pegged as my favorite from what I had seen online.

We then went to the Baxter's house and hung out with them. Terrance made us a gourmet meal (seriously - he should be a chef) and we had a great time just hanging out. They made us feel so welcome and got us very excited to be moving to such a great place as Portland. Thank you so much to them for being such gracious hosts!!