Starting to Get Settled

Well it has been several weeks since I have had the chance to post to this blog and here's why:

• I started training as a Personal Banker at Bank of America
• We moved out of Mike and Jaaaaaaaaaaannn's (that's how he says her name) and have been getting our place ready for the move
• We've had no furniture until just this week
• Every night with the exception of last night and tonight has been spent unpacking and seeing the sights and sounds (and tastes) of Portland with Katie and her dad.

This is a picture from one of the many window seats at the Portland City Grill, which is on the 30th floor of the SW 5th Ave Tower. During Happy Hour, food and drinks are very affordable :). 

I feel very fortunate to have a full time job, although I definitely miss having my 9 to 5 freedom. Oh well! The important thing is that now we can stay up here, get by, and start building some stability for ourselves. Thanks to Katie and Joe, we now have all of our furniture up here and are really making some great headway on getting it sorted. It feels great to NOT be in a 55 degree basement anymore! Video of the new digs coming soon.

As Katie mentioned below, the weather has been pretty cold and wintery. It was exciting to see it snow as it reminded us of the change that moving to the Pacific Northwest has brought us. However, like a true Californian (and probably even a Portlandian), I am looking forward to some sunshine and days without rain. Supposedly it got to a near-record-breaking 18 degrees the other night. I'm glad I was asleep for it, but I have a feeling next month's heating bill will give us both the chills! The thing is running almost constantly, but we need it. The mild summers and no need for A/C will balance it out, I'm sure.

Things that have been awesome:

• We have the luxury of cooking on a gas stove now!
• Our rent is very affordable
• We are 5 minutes away from a great pub that has live music (almost) every night
• Said pub is the one that sells growlers for $7 :)
• We have been to all of our favorite places--Plews Brews, Portland City Grill, Bastas, and Blue Moon Tavern--all within the last 5 days. Katie has had the good fortune of seeing even more of Portland with  her dad (and will probably blog about it :)

That's all I've got for now. Time to rest up for a 6-day work week..