September Updates

Well, it looks like it's about time to update this here blog. Somehow, in my opposite of busy days, I never find the time to write about my life. So now as I find myself alone, instead of watching the new episode of House (thanks ever so much , Kelly, for this new addiction of mine), I have decided to tell you about the month of September. Fasten your seatbelts and please keep your hands and all other appendages inside the vehicle at all times.

After the initial shock (not to mention my head throbbing migraine) of the move, Portland has finally raised itself from the "Suck Meter" to the "Not So Suck Meter." While I think that I will always like Seattle better (I mean, come on, the Columbia and Willamette Waterfronts are nothing to the Puget Sound), it has improved and I am finding myself not hating it quite as much as I did. I still think there is not nearly as much to do here as there was at home, but that's mostly because I'm not a hippie and I don't enjoy running marathons (a mile is good enough for me). However, Matt and I did make it to the Rose Garden overlooking downtown, my first time visiting where the roses were actually in bloom, and let me tell you, the perfume those roses were giving off was amazing. Just opening the car door brought in the heavy rose-scented air. It was worth it just for that.

I met up with my good friend Erin, whom I've known since middle school and I haven't seen in about 5 years. I was stoked that I would have a friend in the Portland area, but she moved about a week and a half after I moved down here. I miss her already, but I was so blessed to have spent even just one day with her here!

A few weeks ago we headed off to the Oregon Zoo, where I might be willing to admit is actually better than the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. I mean, this zoo is build around the forest, instead of in the middle of a neighborhood and then designed to look like you're in the forest. It's pretty awesome. Matt was of course highly entertained by the monkeys and ducks and greatly enjoyed the Bald Eagle exhibit (America!). I, on the other hand, flipped over the baby elephant (AWWWWWWWWW!), the really active polar bear, the sea otters (of course), and the tigers, although they were tiger napping and not all that visible, nor as entertaining as Mike Tyson's tiger in "The Hangover". Definitely the highlight of my weeks here, even though it was absolutely pouring (who would have thought?).

It has finally (FINALLY) cooled down so our apartment is no longer around 90 degrees. I take it as a great sign that my feet are freezing in the morning when I saunter to the kitchen to make the coffee and that I need to unfold the Seahawks blanket while I watch the morning news (on Fox, of course).

I have also begun knitting again and have many projects (aka scarves, that's all I make) for numerous people that I'm working on. Someone needs to have a baby so I can try my hand at making baby blankets, I think that would be fun.

It should probably also be mentioned that I did have a successful interview and my transfer was approved, so I do work from time to time ;) I was transferred departments, however, so now I get to take care of all the animals in the store and work on the fish wall. OH BOY! Although it gets rather boring when the store is slow, I love my job. Not glamorous, but the next best thing to working in a zoo. Hey, I should look into their volunteer program...

Matt hasn't been up to much. Other than running marathons, he did travel down to Texas for 5 days for his flight physical. These doctors run them through every kind of test imaginable, including a psychological one, and basically decide whether you can be a pilot or not. Word to any pilot-seeking cadet out there: DO NOT eat really greasy food the day before your blood test. It will cause an unusually high spike (or not so unusual, considering the fat content of greasy food) in your triglycerides and cause the doctors to freak out and have to redo the test, which means you have to be starved of food again the following day. They don't really tell you what happened to your test, either, so you lie awake all night freaking out about what you might have failed. All's well, however, and at the end his flight doc told him there isn't anything weird in his file that should prevent the pilot slot. GOOD NEWS! Of course, the day after he left, I was puking my guts out with no possible way to go to work or go to the grocery store, but thank goodness it was only a 24-hour thing. And thank you to all the ROTC 800s who offered assistance, it made me feel so much better that I had some friends "worried" about me. Man, I love the military, they all take care of each other.

And life moves on, into September. Goodness, I love Autumn.