Over the River and Through the Woods

We made it to Forest Park last weekend! Apparently the walk to the trailhead is a little longer than I had originally figured, so we ended up walking over haf a mile just to get there. This was also our first time walking across the St. Johns Bridge, which was a fun experience. It's a lot longer than we had thought! The view from the bridge is breathtaking. We could see both Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier very clearly.

The bridge itself is beautiful, too. Its color is becoming one of my favorites. 

Here is our view a couple minutes into the hike...

Mt. Rainier is the white spot to the left of the bridge. See that tall, reddish building between the mountain and the bridge? Our condo sits right next to it. Here is what most of our hike looked like--it felt like we were walking through a jungle...

This is just a 15 minute walk away from our home. Amazing! 

More to come soon, as I had quite a few adventures over the past few days. 

Also, I got a job interview!! It's for a college coaching position and I go in next Thursday. 

My fingers are tightly crossed!

We Live in A Forest

While we don't necessarily live in the heart of the forest, I've been studying maps and trails lately and am amazed how close our home is to one of our country's largest urban forest reserves. Forest Park spans approximately 5,100 acres (5 miles long by 1 mile wide)--and it's basically our backyard! If you look at any of the pictures we've take of the St. Johns Bridge, you'll see a giant hill with tons of trees in the background. That's a part of the state park.
This picture shows just how close we are to the many hiking trail heads:

Our home is by the little red circle. The closest trail head is about a quarter mile from us, just across the bridge. Unfortunately, we still have not hiked the trail (shame on us!). However, it's in the near-future plans.
As I was doing more research about Forest Park, I stumbled upon a (true) story about a man and his 12-year old daughter living in the park for over 4 years before being discovered by a jogger and subsequently forced to abandon their camp. The father home-schooled his daughter using encyclopedias. Apparently she tested above grade-level! They grew a lot of their own food and went to town every few weeks for groceries and to collect his disability checks (crossing the St. Johns Bridge in the process). Fascinating stuff, huh?! Anyway, a fiction writer has written a book about it called My Abandonment. I am definitely adding this to my summer reading list and can't wait to explore the giant forest that is our backyard... Any other suggestions for summer reading? Some of Nick's cousins are hooked on The Hunger Games series-- I might have to borrow those.

Published!

On Sunday evening I received a very exciting e-mail... ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) sent me a message saying that they've published my thesis to their database! This means that students and researchers can search the database for my paper--and even cite it for their own research. How cool is that?!
In other news, I'm still on the job hunt. This week I'm applying for the "Community Support Specialist Supervisor" position with Catholic Community Services here in Portland (among other jobs). The job description sounds like it's right up my alley and I feel like I could do lots of good in that position-- please wish me luck as I apply! 
This weekend I am driving down to Eugene to watch Joe and Susan's three little ones--I'm sure the kids and I will have lots of fun during the few days that I'm down there. Hopefully the weather clears up a bit, though! It was raining bullets a few hours ago, but at the moment it's clear and sunny. Gotta love the bipolar weather up here.

A Nice Vacation

This week I've been on vacation and, I have to say, we had a lot of fun with the free time! It was a relaxing week remarked by beauty, adventure, and rest. After spending a few days around St. Johns, we went camping in Scappoose and spent a night on the water. Not only was it secluded, it was also dry and beautiful! Toby had a great time retrieving sticks from the creek and is getting much better under voice command. I'll once again let the pictures do the talking as they do a much better job than I can!

Cathedral Park

Everyone takes this picture, but I had to.

Katie and Töby

Park Flowers

Lichens on a lamp post. A lichen is a cross between algae and fungus. I can thank my 10th grade science teacher with a clever way to remember this: "When Alice Algae and Freddie Fungus met, they look a lichen to each other."

Scappoose-Vernonia ("Scapponia")

The bridge next to our campground

I think I am going to start "planking" whenever we go on vacation.

Our campsite on the stream

Katie shooting my Colt .22; she can shoot nickels from 10 yards!

Our target/backstop

The BLM Land on which we shot
Me and Katie (and Töby) on the bridge
Toby loves the water
Pretty Flowers on the BLM land

Mr. Larone

The bridge on the neighbor's campground

Flowers on our campsite

Skipping perfectly flat river rocks

Vacation came and went, but fortunately I have another one scheduled for next month! We will be heading to Colorado for about five days to visit with Katie's dad, sister, and her sister's boyfriend Tanner. It should be loads of fun... a real rip-snortin' time. Stay tuned!

"Ice Cream"

Nick and I are on a strict budget and allot $150 to groceries per month. This is not to say that we are living off of Ramen; in fact, it has forced me to get very creative with our meals. I have fun browsing recipes for tasty dinners that won't push our budget. I always make sure that we have several different veggies in the fridge and freezer, as well as the standard staples.
Quite honestly, Nick and I are eating healthier than we have in years. You know how they say once you begin living a healthy lifestyle, you start craving healthier foods? Well, you could say that the following recipe proves that saying true.
One of my very favorite foods, ever, is ice cream. Nick will tell you that I'm a borderline addict. I can't help it! I've been able to keep it in our grocery budget, but just barely. With this new recipe, though, I'm okay with leaving it out of the cart. Not only is this new "ice cream" cheap, but it is delicious, healthy, and incredibly simple--one ingredient!
 Okay, so I added some chocolate "Magic Shell" to this one. It was fifty cents at the Grocery Outlet though, so it's excusable! :)

 The magic ingredient? Bananas! 

 Step 1: Slice bananas into pieces. Freeze for at least 3 hours.
Step 2: Blend in a food processor until smooth an creamy. Add a splash of milk for creamier consistency (optional). I put a spoonful of Nutella in the above dish. You could add peanut butter, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, a splash of coconut milk... the options are endless.

What you get is a gelato-like consistency that has a slight banana flavor, yet tastes very close to ice cream. It's healthy, it's cheap, and it's the perfect way to satisfy a sweet tooth. This is now a staple in our freezer!

Time Off

Saturday afternoon began Nick's first week off since he started working in February. It was a gorgeous and clear 83-degree day with plenty of sunshine. We took a walk to Cathedral Park and soaked up the sun, did some reading and wandered along the shore of the river.

 Nick started a book by John Muir; I read a bit of my current book "Bossypants" by Tina Fey. Nick got me the book as an anniversary gift :). It's a fun read--Tina Fey is witty and so entertaining with her stories.

Later in the day, cousins Joe and Susan and their kids stopped by with their little ones to see our place and hang out for a while. We walked through downtown St. Johns for gelato, then Nick and Joe each filled up a growler of beer to take home. They also decided to try out the strange phenomenon of "planking" that has gotten popular around the world. I think they were pretty successful...

 They even stepped it up a notch for (layered?) planking!

 Even Tim and Mackenzie got into it!

How funny is that?! No, it doesn't make any sense. But it's so silly, how could you not laugh?! Apparently people take pictures like this all around the world at different monuments and landmarks. I guess smiling in every photo can get boring. ;)

This week Nick and I are taking it easy, although we'd like to squeeze in a little camping trip on a clear day if possible. Otherwise we've just been running errands and doing chores. Glorious, I know!

Seasons

The illustrator of this cute chart was obviously referring to Toronto's seasons, but it seems so accurate for Portland, too! I'm thinking (and hoping) we're in that little sliver of Spring. Supposedly Portland's summers last from mid-June to October (or so they say!). We've had a wonderful summer-like weekend-- hopefully the warm weather is here to stay.

The Week That Wasn’t by Sarah Lazarovic