weekly gratitude

thank you boots for running me to the viewpoint at pittock mansion just in time for sunset!

Is anyone else loving this new year as much as me so far?

We're only a week in but from what I can tell - and boy, I hope I'm not jinxing it here - but from what I can tell, that hope we all brought over from 11:59pm to 12:00am last week is working its magic.

To that end, I'm actually amazed that it's only been a week. It feels like so much as gone on already!

1. Thank you for a few days off here to finally clean my apartment! It's spectacular really the amount of crap one can accumulate in just 500 square feet, but yikes! Sensational. Already I've been able to get rid of almost an entire recycle bin's worth of cardboard (most of which were the boxes from when I moved two year ago) and two huge black garbage bags full of just plain trash and old moving/packing supplies and all kinds of other junk. Not to mention about five trash bags full of clothes and shoes to donate. Seriously, I feel like "Hoarders" could at least do some sort of "webisode" on me. But it's really nice to come home and like being here again (without the fear that my piles of clothes would spring to life with some Jim Henson style puppets or some other equally creepy scenario). 

2. Thank you "Crazy, Stupid, Love" for existing. I may or may not have watched this movie five times this week. Though I will neither confirm nor deny that, let me just say that the apartment complex where Steve Carrell and his son are playing catch is my old apartment complex in Calabasas. Ahh... Memories. Let's just say he's not really much more depressed living there than I was at the time. ::wah wah::

3. Thank you for Friday night at Produce Row! In a pre-birthday celebration for Jared, we rounded up The Camaraderie (plus the amazing Frankie & Matty and their friend Heather) for some Happy Houring at this Portland mainstay of good food and good drinks (is there any other kind of place in this city?). Smoked gouda and bacon macaroni & cheese with crumbled goldfish crackers on top - does it get better? Oh, that's right, beer & whiskey pairings. Yes. The answer is yes, it does get better. There was just this wonderful sense of happiness blanketing the evening and even though I'm pretty sure Shamoo had no idea why we were all there in terms of what the occasion was, everyone had a blast and I think Jared was kind of okay with "celebrating" his birthday. We also took the chance to raise our glasses to Jacobo (Mike's brother Jake who lives in Florida and needs to hurry up and move to Portland already) whose birthday was actually that night! 

4. Thank you for all of the exciting things on the horizons for so many of my friends: Robin is going back to school, Dean is getting ready to dive into a new career path, Mike is moving back to Portland, Blake is on the cusp of another creative endeavor, Brigette is rocking it at her job, Jodi's event business is gaining speed, Jared is gearing up to apply to all of the forest service jobs for the next fire season... It's all so exciting!

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I'll keep it succinct tonight. There are countless photos from the past week that need to be posted so if the mood strikes, pop back over and check those out in the next few days here.

Robin and I are planning a day trip up to Seattle on Tuesday which I'm really looking forward to. We've been talking about it for a while and we finally have a day off when we can just do it!

This whole week, this whole life, reminds me of this quote:

"Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures."

Oh... We are so blessed!

p.s. Still super jazzed that I got to talk to Laura last Sunday! Hey lady, if you're reading this, we need to have a Skype date or something soon. Your thoughts?