Breaking up.

Man, breaking up is hard.

Even when it's a mutual thing.

Even when you know it's for the best.

It's a weird place to be.  Between knowing whats best, and feeling what's best.

I'll get there.

I'll find someone else.

I'll be fine.

But you were my best friend.

Best friends are hard to replace.

Life is hard.

I need a dog.

"If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell"

First things first- I'm obsessed with Sylvia Plath (hence her quote as the title of this post!).  

Ok now that I've gotten that out of the way- let's segway to the two mutually exclusive things that I want right now:

 I want to eat whatever I want, and I want to be skinny.  

Why is that so hard to have both?  

I have lost about 25 pounds (used to be 30...whoops), and now I just need to lose 15 more pounds to get to my goal weight.  

Ugh- but cookies. 

Ok- let's not think about that.

Cheese?

No.

I digress.

Voodoo Donuts- Downtown Portland.  I forget what kind this was.  Something with peanut butter.

 I feel like I am so close and I have already come so far!

Well, to be honest I hardly tried at all to lose those first pounds.

I'm a jerk, right? sorrynotsorry

Who wants to buckle down with me?

There are so many ideas out there (thanks, Pinterest!) to get started with.

I'm thinking a combo of kickboxing, running (gross), and yoga with clean-er, portion controlled eating.  Sound like a plan?

Who wants to join me?

Summer is coming so soon (thanks Pacific Northwest weather for the forecasted rain for the rest of the week!).  Just keep thinking, Shorts, dresses, bikinis, sunshine, river floats, boating, sunshine. Did I say sunshine yet? Sunshine!

One year.

It's amazing what can happen in a year.

 Exactly one year ago today, I packed up my little 10 year old Ford Focus, and moved to Vancouver, WA from Los Angeles, CA.

 I thought the job offer I got would be my foot in the door to the publishing industry. 

I got a part time job at a little cafe on Mississippi Avenue in Portland, OR to supplement my income while putting in time as the underling until I would eventually move up. 

Well, that cafe job was the worst, and I had to quit. 

Which meant that I had to find a new job in order to keep living up here. 

And, I did. Less than a month later. 

I had to quit the publishing house, and start a job in a new field that is always changing.

I moved out of my terrible living situation (gotta love craigslist roommates, right?) and into an absolutely lovely studio apartment in Portland. 

I am able to walk to work every single day- and I love it. 

Did I mention that I've lost nearly 30 pounds in this past year? yikes!
I'll have to post a transformation photo or something!

Only 10 more to go!

 I just signed a years lease at this little apartment o' mine- so what are my goals for this next year? 

Well, definitely lose those last 10 pounds! 

Become secure in work. 

Cultivate the friendships that I have made up here so far. 

Find new friends to hang with! 

Explore the city and surrounding areas more! 

write and write and write 

Check out this article I wrote a couple months ago.
 

Yes- I do think that this year is going to be great. 

...and taking more photos. 

Yes, more photos are needed!

I can't tell you how happy I am that Summer is almost here!  Listen to this- it makes me happy.

 P.S. My dad says a surprise is coming for me in the mail tomorrow! I wonder what it will be!

Happy Hour: Township & Range

The Happy Hour that I went to this week was at Township & Range located on Hawthorne.

I'm going to tell you right now that it was an excellent happy hour!

Friendly staff and great prices.

Tons of seating- indoor and out.

Check out the receipt though:

Maybe that's why they can keep track of everyones orders!

I love the way they spelled my name, and also the way the described what I was wearing!

Also, can I please say how much I love that Portland is really into splitting checks for large parties?

It's really convenient and makes me want to tip more!

Weekendings.

Oh I wish I could say that I did something truly exciting with my weekend.

But, alas I did not.

My boss asked if I could work a long day on Saturday since the Mississippi Street Fair was going on.

Long day= working 10am to 10pm

Then, doing my normal 7am shift the next day.

Yikes.
Have I mentioned that I work 2 jobs?
Where has my life taken me?  But, that is another post in itself!

But, it wasn't all bad.  Met tons of nice people from the festival.

Then I took a nap as soon as I got home Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to sleep until Monday, but I had to go to book club!

One of the girls threw the most delightful dinner party, and we discussed the book we read:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.

It was a very juvenile book, but it was entertaining and we all seemed to have the same take on the book.

Please tell me your weekend was more exciting?

It's a strange and magical land.

There are so many things that are different here in the North West compared to Southern California.

A lot of it has to do with driving:

People actually do the speed limit.

Say, what?

In SoCal, if you aren't going at least 80 mph people are flipping you off and cursing you to an early death.

And, don't even THINK about using your blinker!  You won't EVER get over.

Here?  Turn on your blinker, and drivers actually let you over.

Oh the humanity!

My road rage has exponentially decreased.

The Weather:

It's over 80F and people think this is a heat wave.

It's about 108F in Southern California at the moment... now THAT is a heat wave.

80F is perfect weather.

People keep telling me to enjoy the nice weather.

I smile and say, "thanks, yea, I will"?

I'm sure that once I make it through a winter I will be like, "Thanks, YES I WILL enjoy the nice weather!"

There are also a TON of AMAZING places to eat and drink.  And oh don't even let me tell you on how I havent been working out or watching my food intake.  But, it's all so delicious!  I like how here most everywhere are independent business rather than food chains.  It's rather endearing.

The Happy Hours and places I've been to so far:

C Bar- Great happy hour, fairly good service

Relish- Great service, terrible food

Gold Dust Meridian- Great happy hour, great service

Green Dragon- Great service, delicious beer

Townshend- Friendly and great service, and delicious kombucha. I can't wait to go back!

Prost- Friendly service.  German food isn't really my thing, so I don't think I can give a fair comment.

Oba- Great service, a bit expensive.

I hope to get more pictures, but I wasn't planning to do much blogging...until I got that blog fever again! 

These are the places that I've been to since I moved here so I tried to remember to the best of my ability.

Allow me to reintroduce myself.

 You may recognize me from my other blog.

But, I feel like that blog has run its course. Many times over.

I recently moved from Southern California up to Vancouver, Washington.

I feel like I am starting over, and therefore I am starting fresh with a new blog.

Portland Saturday Market

I moved up here rather suddenly.

When I got laid off from my job back in April, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to look into relocating.

Craigslist of all places is where I found a job opportunity of a lifetime.

I landed a job at a publishing house.

Sure, I'm doing customer service for them right now- but I am hoping that this will be my foot in the door to this industry and lead me eventually to becoming an editor.

And, yea sure this job is only part time.

But, I got a second job at a cute little cafe in Portland that serves coffee and pies.

This little city has stolen my heart.  I absolutely love it here.

There are so many things to do up here, and I am having the most wonderful time exploring.

My hopes for this blog are to create meaningful posts regularly.

I am going to post about the places I go, things I do, things I create, pictures, and really hone my writing.

Please say hello!

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