Newest Addition to Portland

Most exciting news : Laura Atwell is in Portland!! My family drove over to take her to University of Portland last weekend. How exciting is that?

We dropped her off in her triple - yes triple - dorm room. She was the last of the three roommates to show up, so she got the top bunk. And the broken-shelved desk in the opposite corner. And the small, little closet. So, I told her to take the larger closet & show her teeth to anyone who objected. She showed her teeth - but more in a smile sort of way & no one objected. We all helped her unpack really fast while my Dad set up her computer at her desk. By the end of the unpacking, it didn't look too shabby!

The next day, Nate & I took my Mom, Dad, Tim & Ted over to Cannon Beach. We had THE BEST WEATHER I've ever seen at the coast. There were blue skies, no rain, no wind and my Dad is thoroughly convinced that it never rains in Oregon :) The sky opened up into it's typical downpour just hours after they pulled out of town.

Here are some pics from the weekend. I could have sworn we took them to a different beach last time they came - but everyone swears we came here. It just looks so different when the sky is blue!! We made sure we got to the beach before low tide so we could hit up the tide pools. I am so glad we get to live so close that it's just a drive away.
See that sign behind my Dad? The funniest part of the morning was Dad "not seeing the sign" and going far past it to get a look at the big starfish and possibly little burrowing baby turtles. He waved Tim over to see it & just a few minutes later was back on the other side of the sign waving Tim back over as all the rangers started wading into the water to retrieve Tim. Silly Dad :)
We had to have another trip to Mo's for the clam chowder bread bowls :)
There was talk about getting a little beach house to do Thanksgiving here at the coast . . .

Sandpoint Wedding

About 2 weeks ago, we went to a wedding in Sandpoint, Idaho. A friend of both of ours from college, Erica, was getting married to her highschool/college sweetheart. The reception was gorgeous. (I LOVE weddings - just not planning them) :) Right before going, I chopped off all my hair - at least 8 inches worth. I went to the salon, and the conversation was short:

Me: "I'm thinking of doing something drastic."
Hairdresser: "Ohhhhh have you ever seen Jenny McCarthy?"
Me: "Yeah that's cute!"
Hairdresser: "You think so?"
Me: "Yeah! Totally! I don't know if -"

Literally, mid-sentence my chair is swung around and 8 inches of my hair fall to the ground.

Me: "Ok! Yep, that's drastic."
Hairdresser: "Yeah . . . well I'm not really someone you have to ask twice!"
Me: thinking: when did I ask? but saying: "I can tell! Wow. Ok. How short is that shortest part going to be . . . ?"

I could have been upset, but there was this guy that got tazered right outside the salon window & I figured there are worse things in life than having all your hair chopped off. City living allows me to see things in perspective . . . :)

Here are some pics!

BEFORE

AFTER

A toast on married life :)

Our seats on the lake - this was in Erica's parents' back yard.

The next day we were about to face a 7 or 8 hour drive back to Portland, so we decided to stop at the resort in Coeur d'Alene and get sundaes the size of your head. Reeces. SO GOOD.

It's starting to look like a home!

Over the weekend, Nate and I did a MAJOR apartment makeover at his (soon to be our) place. Last year, when Nate packed up & drove from Michigan to Portland, he had to leave almost everything behind – all his furniture but a futon mattress & a tiny TV stand. He crammed all his stuff into his Ford Explorer and sang his way across seven states (only stopping in little motels and a random Midwest German town for some “good cheese”) to eventually land in a downtown Portland studio apartment that wasn’t much bigger than his Ford Explorer. So anyways, now that he’s in a bigger place in Lake Oswego, we finally dragged ourselves out to the very far away lands of IKEA and some more affordable stores on The East Side. If you haven’t been, going to parts of The East Side of Portland is sometimes an adventure in itself. Besides the 2-year old yelling obscenities at us in the checkout line, it wasn’t all that bad!!

IKEA is a madhouse. Whoever designed that place is both a genius & totally insane. The store stretches like a maze, complete with a sneaky instruction manual on how to get out. There has to be at least 20 EXIT signs before you even get to a set of stairs that takes you down to 20 more EXIT signs and more miles of maze-like aisles. It’s claustrophobic, it’s amazing, and I love it. Nate . . . I’m not sure if he loves it, but he comes with me & helps navigate through the hoards of people – all of them have this “deer in headlights” look on their faces & walk very slowly. It’s seriously it’s own odd little country in there.

After wayyyyyy too long, we made it out alive, just in time for a Portland-style torrential downpour. After we got back to his place, we put together all the new furniture & it looks pretty awesome!!! We’ve both been living like vagabonds for the last couple years, packing and moving every 6 months or so, and it’s nice to start getting furniture we really enjoy. My next project is to re-finish 2 tables, which will probably include a bunch of calls to my Dad who is AMAZING with wood.

Laura is starting school out here in a week so all the Atwells will be coming to visit this weekend. SO excited!

Here's a pic when it's still a total mess of boxes - but you get the idea ☺

And another one bites the dust

Yep, I have officially arrived . . .finally, in the blogging world. So far, my fiance' has done, well, everything for this blog, because when it comes down to it, I have the "blogging intelligence" of a 2 month old chimp (on a good day . . . seriously though). So here I am world, read my BLOG!

-Nate

Hello World!

We are jumping on the blogging bandwagon!

Good times :)