The weather is still so nice...

...I just couldn't go any longer without a bike. So I broke down and bought one. I got it used on Craigslist, only lightly used because the guy's wife was too short for the frame. I must say that even though I paid a little over half of what my old bike cost, I definitely upgraded. I LOVE THIS BIKE. I'll probably say that every time I buy a new one (hopefully not too often). I was lucky the Nagys pitched in on this one (thank you!) so it didn't hurt my pocket too terribly much. I bought it at 11:30 this morning and have been riding around all day doing errands, playing in the park, enjoying summer. It's light and fast! I almost don't want a rack on it to keep the lightness, but carrying all my stuff around in a backpack gets kinda bulky and sweaty. We'll see.

Just when I thought the worst was over...

My beautiful new bike (and my old vintage bike) were both stolen from my back porch late Thursday night. I've never been robbed before, and let me tell you... it SUCKS. I sure am glad I registered it, and I filed a police report. But realistically I probably will never see it again. I'm really feeling sore about it. It was the most expensive thing I ever bought, and I had added all sorts of accessories. In the month that I owned it (so short!), I had already ridden hundreds of miles. It is a great freedom getting away from using my car. But thank goodness I have a car now that my bikes are no more.
My landlords and I think we know who took them, because a transient-type guy has been snooping around during the last week. Then, on Saturday night my landlord's lawnmower and our neighbor's mower were stolen. And sometime during the day Sunday, he came back for the carpenter's power sanders. My landlord has taken to carrying a wooden bat around, he even taped up one end so he doesn't get splinters while beating the crap out of our prowler. I suggested setting bear traps.
I also am getting a security home alarm system hooked up in my apartment in case this thief (or anyone else) decides to escalate to breaking in. I only have one door, so I'd feel more safe if some crazy alarms went off to bring Jeff and Susan running down while the cops are on the way. Hopefully that will never happen, of course.

Otherwise life is good. I'm taking advantage of my unemployment to hike, camp, and play while it's nice out. I'm really bonding nicely with my new ultimate team, and spending lots of time with my college buddy Ian who also lives out here. Dad came and had a really fun visit. We hiked and camped out in the Columbia River Gorge along Eagle Creek. We saw some great waterfalls and had fun roughing it a little. Two weeks ago I climbed to the top of Mount St. Helens. Wow! Was that ever the most amazing feat of my life! It was brutal and wonderful. Click on the panorama photos I pasted together to get a better look. Two days after that, I rode my bike (sigh) to pick blueberries! and enjoy the beach on Sauvie Island in the Columbia River. Overall that ride was about 40 miles! Sunday I did a day hike around Mirror Lake, and up to the summit of Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain. Great name for a mountain, no? We would have had wonderful views of Mt. Hood, but it was overcast to the point of fogginess. Still beautiful, though.

and the livin's easy...more or less

The weathermen are predicting four straight days of temperatures in the mid nineties! It has already been so lovely outside, my tan is even coming back. After 8 months of wintry yuckiness, it's about time summer shows up!
Lots of fun (and not so great) big changes have been taking place in my life.
I bought a really nice bicycle so I can cut down on using my car, get in shape, and fit in with all of the other Portland citizens. It's a Trek, and I souped it up with fenders, a rear rack, and a cute little bell that I ring all too often. I'm already riding it all over town, and loving every minute of it.

I am officially not accepted into the graduate program, as classes began this Monday.

The manager at Planned Parenthood that promised me a job, gave the position away to another applicant because she is obligated to give priority to applicants from within the company. I was furious, then hurt, now just dejected. On top of it, I had already quit my other job for this. I really thought I was a shoe-in. But she is forwarding my resume to the other health centers around town and personally calling all of the managers to talk me up to them and get me interviews.

I played in an Ultimate frisbee tournament last weekend in Estacada, OR called Logjam with a really great team and had an absolute blast. I have joined a co-ed summer league team here in town (less competitive, more social). Our first game is tonight, and our jerseys are pink!

My best bud in the whole Pacific Northwest is moving to New Haven, CT tomorrow morning to attend Yale's nurse midwifery program. I hate that I'm losing her. I'm on my way to her house to help her pack up her car for the long trip.

So some sadness and bad luck, but all in all - I am loving summer sooo much!!!! I feel a hundred times happier and healthier than I did all winter. Now we just have to get dad and Julia to come see my new town. Mama and I had a really nice visit last month. Ciao for now.

Jewelrypalooza

Hey friends and fam,

Check out my etsy shop !

Etsy is a website for crafters to sell their handmade items. Everything from jewelry to clothes, dolls to cards, magnets to purses. It's great!

Thanks.

Spring is here, more or less...

In a few minutes I'm going to my friend's house for a craft night. I'm trying to decide whether to crochet, cross-stitch, draw, or make jewelry. Gee, I'm crafty!
Life in limbo is actually pretty good. By limbo I mean that OHSU has placed me on the waitlist - so I can potentially be accepted anytime between tomorrow and mid-June, or not at all. Also in limbo - we are between grants with the doula group, so I have no births going on right now. But I have been called back in for a second interview at a restaurant downtown because they were "very impressed" by me.
In the meantime, I've been traveling and reacquainting myself with the outdoors.
I visited Julia for a week, went snowboarding and snowmobiling! It was tons of fun and much needed. Then Lindsey came to Portland for a few days and we drove to Boise to join up with Kathryn for a week of reunited friendliness. We speakerphoned Abby so we could at least share a conversation as the fab four.
I'm finally playing some ultimate frisbee again with a great pick-up team in SE Portland. It feels good (and bad, pant pant pant) to play again. I have to get back into shape so I can keep up. Three hours of casual ultimate with no breaks is tough on this lazy girl!!
I'm also really excited that my mama is finally coming to visit me out here!
I took a hike with some new buddies out in the Columbia Gorge and it was so amazing. I'm in a rainforest, and it's still pretty rainy here, so everything was exceptionally green and the plush moss covered everything. Oh I just loved it!
I posted tons and tons of photos on flickr today, including finally getting up the rest of my cross country trip photos from last spring. Check it out here.
Love!

feelin better

Because both of my parents and I were so miserable about being apart for the holidaytimes, Mom and Dad bought me a ticket home! So I'm spending the end of December with them (with a few hugs and love for my girlfriends first). I feel so much better. Now my tree (photo) doesn't seem so pathetic. At least my mailbox has been getting some love. The glass globe is a Steelers Christmas ornament that I won in a raffle at the bar where I watch all the games.

It's a good place, full of die hard Steelers fans. Lots of screaming, cheering, and beer at 10AM. The early games are one of the semi-crappy things about living on the west coast. It is simultaneously a good excuse to drink beer in the morning. What can I say? Sometimes I like to shed my homebody-ness that I've adopted since college and be social.

Tonight, however, I am listening to WDVE online. Go Steelers!

Home (alone) for the Holidays

Hey. Sorry. I've been bad about keeping this up. Here's a pretty picture to make up for it. I went snowboarding at Mt. Hood on Thursday with my football-friend Greg. (We go to a Steelers bar together on Sundays to cheer on our home team.) Anyway Mt. Hood is big and beautiful. This photo is from not too far below the summit. (At the top of Cascade lift if anyone knows MHM.) The two huge snowy mountains you see in the distance are Mt. Jefferson and peeking out behind and to the left Mt. Washington. I love that you can see the clouds DOWN BELOW everyone skiing! This was around 11:30am. My muscles are still crying, it's been a while since they were used for snowboarding. Those aren't everyday moves, y'know.
My apartment is great, I love my landlord (except I don't love that his pipes wake me up in the morning when he uses anything water-related). No luck with the Planned Parenthood job, though I am still volunteering 1-2x per week. I'm applying here and there, but I (stupidly) have been slacking.
Speaking of applying: my OHSU application is in and I expect (hopefully) to hear from them about interviews sometime around X-mas. Rumor has it they try to get everything in the mail by then so they don't have to deal with it afterward. Send the admissions people lots of positive vibes for accepting me!!
December 2nd marked my 6th birth was a doula! I'm learning so much and feeling really wonderful about the support I am providing to women. I'm staying in Portland for the holidays and, since most of the doulas in my group are of the Christmas-celebrating variety, I offered to be on-call on the 25th. I hope I can be a doula for a Christmas baby! That would make up for not being with my family.
Cheers.