Hey guys! We finally did less stuff to talk about, so it should make for a pretty short post (edit: it ended up not being a very short post... sorry). I'm decompressing from the long weekend we've had.
Movers & Unpacking
On Friday the movers came to deliver our things. They arrived around 8:45am and they got to work. The three guys took about 4.5 hours to unload everything and then Patrick and I started unpacking.
Until today, either one or both of us were unpacking at one point or another except for when we slept. I'll admit that Patrick did a LOT more than I did. I have been feeling like crap all weekend, which I'll touch on in a minute.
As of right now we have all but four boxes unpacked. We've stopped for meals and to go out and grab things we might need (the big thing for us has been plastic bins-- we have so much more storage here that we literally need storage for our storage because otherwise everything is just kind of falling out everywhere). Yesterday, I took a nap while Patrick took a break.
The other really difficult thing has been that until yesterday, it has been SO HOT. We had some kind of heat wave here and Thursday-Saturday we had high 80's temperatures (record temps for this area) and of course, being on the third floor with apparently no cross-breeze no matter how many windows and doors we had open, we were slowly evaporating. It finally cooled down on Sunday and we were able to move around without feeling like death was upon us. Today, it is overcast and by 9am we had closed all of the windows because we were finally cold. I'm even wearing my favorite slippers to keep my feet warm :)
Apartments & Neighbors
Patrick and I are convinced that the apartment is eating things. Maybe we are still delirious from the recent heat and exertion, but I have lost two plastic storage bins and Patrick has lost a vape tank, an orange box cutter, a box of alcohol wrapped in clothing, and now a giant rubber band that we were using to keep the laundry closet shut so the cats wouldn't get in there. Are we built on ancient burial grounds? I don't know what's going on, but I know I'm not going crazy. I've counted at least ten times. I am missing two plastic storage bins.
Our neighbors are... I have no words to describe them. Let me just tell you what has happened.
I had a package arrive last Friday (the 4th). We weren't arriving until the 5th, and the UPS email told Patrick that the package had been delivered to our door step, so we immediately emailed the apartments and asked them to please check their office for the package just in case, so we could know if it was actually at the door because we were worried about it being taken. The office girls checked and it wasn't there, in our mail box, or at our door step-- mind you, it couldn't have taken more than hour from when we received the email from UPS until we got an email back from the leasing office. So we took out a complaint with UPS and one with the store we purchased the item from and waited to hear back from them. When UPS finally got back with us, they said that they wouldn't do anything because the package was delivered, so we were waiting to hear back from the shipper. Thursday night (I think), we went out to get groceries. When we were leaving, we saw our across-the-hall-neighbor coming out of her apartment. I smiled at her and we went downstairs, but I thought it was weird that she didn't smile back but instead looked a little like she had seen a ghost. When Patrick and I came home, the package was on our door step and the door of the woman's apartment was ajar. The doorjamb was visible but you couldn't see inside of the apartment (and the lights were off), and I thought that was super sketchy. I tried to reason with it and convince myself that she was just holding on to the package because she didn't want someone else to steal it and then she waited to see us before she returned it. But why not leave a note? Why not give it to us herself? Why was her door open when we came home? Why was she so freaked out when she saw us? I'm not buying it and the whole situation is not settling with me at all, nor with Patrick. Unrelated to the package incident, Saturday at like 9am I had to go over there and bang on the door to get someone to answer it so I could ask them to please turn their music down a notch because we could literally feel the bass in our floor. I know it was Saturday and I know it was 9am, but I could feel it in our living room, which is at least 35, maybe even 40, feet away from their front door and across a cement stairwell. Unacceptable.
Health
My cysts started to get better the day after I went in for my follow-up and I have been searching for a pharmacy that isn't going to charge me over $100 for a prescription that I know Meijer in Michigan would fill for free. Man, I miss Meijer. I have a little while before I need the prescriptions filled, so I can keep searching. The unpacking is not helping, though. I am supposed to be keeping from moving my arms as much as possible, but we need to unpack. I have developed another cyst lower down on my armpit (I think from the stress and the strain), but it's not that bad and I can definitely handle it. I have a topical antibiotic gel that I've been applying to the area as directed but it has been making my skin so sensitive. A lot of itching and burning, which I'm going to be emailing the clinic about.
The heat definitely took its toll on both of us and I hardly did anything on Saturday, although I did help Patrick take some boxes down to the garage and I tripped over some other boxes and fell. I twisted my ankle and whacked it on the side of one of the boxes and I also landed really hard on my knee, and then I had a panic attack. They haven't been too sore until last night (weird, right?), when they were suddenly too tender to touch (I found this out by trying to cross my ankles), and while I was trying to fall asleep last night I kept having a throbbing pain behind my knee cap. It's possibly because I've been trying to cut down on the ibuprofen I've been taking because the pain from the cysts has been less, so I didn't notice the pain until the ibuprofen was out of my system.
On Sunday I took a nap and woke up to the worst allergy attack I've had in a long time, which is strange because before my nap I hadn't done much unpacking and there wasn't much dust (or, well, no more than usual). I seriously sneezed at least 30 times within only a couple of hours, my throat was itching like crazy, and it took a few hours for the swelling in my sinuses to go down. I don't want to jinx it by actually voicing my thoughts, but I'm hoping that this is just allergies and not something else from the drastic changes in weather and temperature, if you catch my drift.
So that's all so far! Nothing super exciting has happened and yet and Patrick works during the day all this week, but we'll see about this weekend. My task for today is to take a bunch of boxes down to the garage for Patrick while he teaches and probably take a nap :)
Showing posts with label portland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label portland. Show all posts
Monday, September 14, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Exploring Beaverton and Making Friends!
Hey everyone! I know I just posted yesterday but I didn't want to make one giant long post about my health and exploring, so I split it up and decided to post the health update first. I know both posts are really long and I'm sorry about that. I'm going to try my best to update more often so the posts aren't as long but I don't want to over-saturate the blog.
Health Re-Update:
I went back to the clinic for a follow-up yesterday (Wednesday). During the week, Tina (my doctor) did a lot of research for me and we decided on the following:
Now, here's another long blog about exploring Beaverton :)
So the more we explore, the more I fall in love with Beaverton and Oregon in general. I'm so excited and grateful about this opportunity and I'm finding that Oregon seems to be the perfect mix of Michigan and California, which means that it has things that both Patrick and I really like. For example, the food here is diverse. If you want Thai food, we only need to walk about a block. But if I want Zoup-- my favorite soup restaurant chain that I ate almost every single day while I was still in college in Michigan-- you can find that, too (there were none in California and it broke my heart). There are a lot more high end options if you look for them, especially in Portland itself, but it's really nice to find stuff that we are both excited to try when we go out to eat. The weather is also making us both very happy, and we're close enough to the ocean (about two hours, give or take) that it doesn't make Patrick all itchy and land-locked.
We're also in a really great area. There is a Target about three miles away but on the way there you see about 60% trees and 40% houses or developments, instead of seeing almost 100% man-made things like you do in California. Anywhere you go, it's a beautiful drive and we have been driving with the windows down every single time. Fresh air... It's sad that we didn't have it for thirteen months while we lived in Tracy.
Sunday:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Health Re-Update:
I went back to the clinic for a follow-up yesterday (Wednesday). During the week, Tina (my doctor) did a lot of research for me and we decided on the following:
- I'll be on a two to three month regimen of Doxycycline to temper the cysts and prevent new ones.
- I'll be going on Yaz birth control to suppress the androgens* in my body, which is the hormone that causes the flare-ups. I've had good results with Yaz before so hopefully it won't mess with my hormones too much, because I've been off of oral birth control for 4-5 months to try to let my body sort itself out (I was having a lot of hormone issues).
- My right armpit got much, much better since Sunday and I have almost full range of motion. However, my left armpit has gotten a lot worse. We've sent in a culture to see if that infection is more serious and requires different antibiotics. We'll reassess in a few days' time when the results come back.
- If my cysts clear up sooner than later, I'll probably be able to stop taking the antibiotics and just stay on the birth control to keep the HS in check. I'm still trying to find a pharmacy that won't drown me with prescription costs, but I have a little bit of time before I need either of the scripts filled.
Now, here's another long blog about exploring Beaverton :)
So the more we explore, the more I fall in love with Beaverton and Oregon in general. I'm so excited and grateful about this opportunity and I'm finding that Oregon seems to be the perfect mix of Michigan and California, which means that it has things that both Patrick and I really like. For example, the food here is diverse. If you want Thai food, we only need to walk about a block. But if I want Zoup-- my favorite soup restaurant chain that I ate almost every single day while I was still in college in Michigan-- you can find that, too (there were none in California and it broke my heart). There are a lot more high end options if you look for them, especially in Portland itself, but it's really nice to find stuff that we are both excited to try when we go out to eat. The weather is also making us both very happy, and we're close enough to the ocean (about two hours, give or take) that it doesn't make Patrick all itchy and land-locked.
We're also in a really great area. There is a Target about three miles away but on the way there you see about 60% trees and 40% houses or developments, instead of seeing almost 100% man-made things like you do in California. Anywhere you go, it's a beautiful drive and we have been driving with the windows down every single time. Fresh air... It's sad that we didn't have it for thirteen months while we lived in Tracy.
Sunday:
- Went to urgent care
- Took a long nap, woke up feeling a LOT better
- Went to a local mall to explore
- Went to dinner at Patrick's friend Dennis and his girlfriend Gina's place. Many thanks to the two of them for having us over and extra thanks to Dennis for cooking a fantastic home made meal!
Monday:
- Woke up and Patrick had left to go explore some more
- Patrick came back, we went to a few stores including the "baby" Powell's books. If you read my post from July that included a bit about Powell's of Portland, you'll know that Powell's is a gigantic book store in Portland itself. It turns out that there's a smaller, though also very well-stocked, Powell's in Beaverton as well
- Also went to a gigantic craft store in that same shopping center (I'd describe it as "Joann's, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby combined") and also a huge store JUST FOR ORGANIZATION AND STORAGE, which is called Storables
- Finally got to go to the thrift store (albeit briefly) and I got a couple of flannel shirts
- Went Patrick's friend Sam and his wife Lisa's for dinner. Thank you SO MUCH Sam and Lisa for inviting us into your home and many thanks to Lisa for cooking us a delicious dinner! We had a fantastic time!
Tuesday:
- We had a big adventure and went to Ikea to buy the things we budgeted for: two bar stools, a dining room table with two chairs (which doubles as a desk for me to craft/write/sew/etc), a light fixture for the breakfast bar, and a few other very small items
- We spent the rest of the day putting together all of the items
Wednesday:
- I went out on my own for the first time! I have pretty bad anxiety about driving in general so this is a really big deal for me. I went to the Dollar Tree to get a couple of things (hand soap, a table cloth, and a few Halloween decorations). Patrick taught until about 3pm.
- In the evening, Patrick and I went back to the clinic (different clinic, same provider) for a follow up (which I've written about above) and we went to a really delicious southern restaurant for dinner called Miss Delta.
Thursday:
- Patrick taught until about 3pm.
- While Patrick was working, I ventured out to Target by myself. It was a successful trip.
- We went to the Dutch Store after work and got some delicious Dutch cheese and a few Dutch snacks.
- My HS is doing much better today and I almost didn't need to take any ibuprofen.
So that's it up until just now! Tomorrow the moving company will be delivering our stuff and we'll probably be unpacking and organizing all weekend. I'll continue to update every so often, hopefully more often so that these blogs aren't so darn long from now on. Sorry!
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Last Day in California, First Day in Oregon, and the Trip Between the Two
Hey everyone!
I don't know why it struck me just now to write a blog, but here we go! I decided that I would let everyone know how we're settling in Oregon the the first few days or weeks, depending on what develops in that time. Lots of my friends on Facebook have liked my statuses regarding our move and our trip, so I figured at least one of you is probably interested (it's probably just my grandma, but that's okay-- hi grandma!).
So first let me recap the last few days/weeks.
Patrick was out of town in New Jersey from August 23 until September 2, and our movers were coming on September 4, so I had a LOT to do. I wanted to make sure that I did as much as possible before Patrick came home because I knew he would be stressed out. I sacrificed my lower back for the job, but I finished everything that I wanted to finish, including but not limited to packing the rest of the kitchen, my bathroom, the various odds and ends throughout the house, all of the art that we had left on the walls. I also finished removing the nails/screws so I could putty over them and reorganizing the boxes in Patrick's office (lots of books, clothes, and those plastic three-drawer cart things that he has packed full of random things *coughpackratcough*), and finally, meticulously and cautiously individually wrapping around 30 bottles of wine. I got it all done-- and then some-- and when Patrick came home he was pleasantly surprised at how little we had to do until the night before the movers came on the 4th. (By the way, a huge thank you and big hugs to Mandy, who went out of her way to purchase bubble wrap for me and come over, one-year-old in tow, to help me pack up the heavier art pieces and move the heavier things out of the office. If not for her, I would have absolutely had back spasms the next day.)
THANK GOODNESS FOR MOVERS. They came at 9AM on the 4th and were done packing in under three hours, so all we had left to do was wait. We organized everything we were going to take with us, I bathed both cats so they would be clean and worn out for the ten hour drive, and after a long nap, we left around 10pm. By the time we stopped at Brook and Mandy's to say goodbye and dropped off the modem at Xfinity, it was around midnight and we started our trip.
The trip went excellent, to say the least. We were thankfully able to stuff every last thing we had planned on taking into the car and were still able to 100% see out of the back window and nothing was on top of or under the cats, who slept 95% of the trip and didn't have a single accident or get sick the entire ride. To say I'm proud of them, and us, is a total understatement.
We rolled in to Beaverton around 9:30AM, however our apartment complex's front office doesn't open until 10am, so we had a little bit of time to kill. We stopped at Xfinity to pick up our modem and grabbed a couple of things from Rite Aid and ended up arriving at the apartment complex at 10am on the dot.
Let it be known that the very first thing we did was lock our car in the garage with the garage door opener inside it, because we have a lot of common sense, don't you know?
We unpacked the car, got the cats settled in, went to lunch with our friend Dennis, went to Target for some essentials and Office Depot because Patrick needed a desk chair (his broke a few months back and he has been using my desk chair, which I need but also is really low quality and isn't good for him to be sitting on while he teaches all day-- plus, we let the movers take it and he teaches two days in a row before they get here and he can't sit on the floor for that), and then I had a nap before dinner.
Now that you all know what we've been doing, I'l let you know how we're feeling and how we like it so far.
Obviously, we're both exhausted. We haven't slept regularly in many days and now we'll be sleeping on an air mattress (thank goodness for Gina and Dennis, who loaned it to us-- we were honestly planning on sleeping on the floor), but we're glad that we are finally here and most of our anxiety is lifted.
Patrick was excited on the way up here because that's just how he is, but I felt differently. When I'm having a lot of emotions, I shut down completely so I don't feel any of them: this is called dissociation. This often happens when you're driving a vehicle-- you pretty much don't notice the road passing around you and your mind wanders until you reach your destination. Dissociation is my go-to coping mechanism for every scenario in my life that I feel I cannot emotionally handle. So yes, I am internally thrilled about this move, but I shut down all emotion because I'm so sad about leaving our friends behind (I did the same thing when I left Michigan, which is why I wasn't a mess then, either). I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I didn't shed a single tear about it this entire time, when usually I'm very emotional. I know it's not healthy, but it's how I cope with big life changes.
Now that we're here, I'm still ignoring the fact that we have moved away from our friends, but I am truly so ecstatic that we're here. First of all, the weather is right up my alley and I'm soaking it all in. I was laying on the floor earlier today, relaxing after moving everything up two flights of stairs (we're on the third floor), and I heard pat pat pat. I thought it was one of the cats eating from their food bowl until it started to get more steady. When I looked outside, I started crying because it was raining and I love rain so much. Next to my family and friends, rain (and weather in general, but especially rain) is the thing I miss most about Michigan.
It's also really chilly right now, especially when it's raining. We only packed summer clothing and we're both pretty cool right now, so we'll be going to the thrift store to pick up a coat and maybe a long sleeved shirt or two soon. I keep saying that when it finally snows, I'm going to lay outside naked and let the cold freeze me to death because I have missed it so much. I'm only exaggerating a liiiiiiittle bit. The worst part about living in Tracy was that it was so hot that you literally couldn't leave the house at certain times of the day. Today, we walked to dinner and did it with great enthusiasm. There is something so energizing about being able to do any sort of physical activity and not want to keel over and die after only a minute or two.
In regards to our apartment-- we LOVE IT.
In our old apartment, we could hear the people next door to us snoring through the walls. Here, the neighbors behind us have a young baby (probably around 1 or so) and we haven't heard a peep out of them. They've been home all weekend. In fact, we can't hear any of our neighbors.
The area we're in is actually really nice and we are in the back corner of our apartment complex so we don't get a lot of traffic or noise in general. We especially can't hear people running around outside (obviously because we're on the third floor), but even so, the people we do hear are very quiet and aren't shouting. We even live near lots of executive areas that have random walking trails on them and beautiful landscaping just for people to walk through, which we're excited about.
The people we've encountered so far have all been fantastic. There's something to be said about the phrase "Keep Portland Weird". I know we're not in Portland (we're about 20 minutes away), but this whole area is so chill and accepting. No one cares what you look like or how many piercings or tattoos you have or what color your hair is or if your clothes aren't their taste-- they care about who you are as a person. We walked through Target yesterday and I made an offhand comment about how much laughter I've heard so far, and it's true. The people here are genuinely happy and friendly. They don't drive like maniacs (and they use hand gestures to thank you for letting them go, like polite people do!) and they even say please, thank you, and excuse me. It's a startling difference from the Bay Area.
Our apartment is so roomy and so well laid out. We're excited to get our belongings and start nesting in it. We also have so much storage that I can't even think up an item, or group of items, big enough to fill all of the space that we have just for storage-- on our patio, in our garage, in our apartment.
And lastly, because our apartments are only about 1.5 years old, we're the second tenants to live in our specific unit. It also means that everything is still basically brand new. We have high end appliances and really nice carpet... It's just thrilling. Our apartment still has the "new carpet" smell, and we even have regular blinds instead of mini-blinds, which is AWESOME.
Today we were supposed to go to the thrift store which we had to cancel so that we could take me to urgent care (I'll probably do a health update soon), but Patrick did make it to Frye's Electronics and Bed Bath and Beyond for a few things that we've been needing while I napped (health issues = very little sleep = exhausted Brook). I'll continue to keep you all updated on the happenings with us. Have a gold star if you've actually read all of this-- I know it was a very long update!
I don't know why it struck me just now to write a blog, but here we go! I decided that I would let everyone know how we're settling in Oregon the the first few days or weeks, depending on what develops in that time. Lots of my friends on Facebook have liked my statuses regarding our move and our trip, so I figured at least one of you is probably interested (it's probably just my grandma, but that's okay-- hi grandma!).
So first let me recap the last few days/weeks.
Patrick was out of town in New Jersey from August 23 until September 2, and our movers were coming on September 4, so I had a LOT to do. I wanted to make sure that I did as much as possible before Patrick came home because I knew he would be stressed out. I sacrificed my lower back for the job, but I finished everything that I wanted to finish, including but not limited to packing the rest of the kitchen, my bathroom, the various odds and ends throughout the house, all of the art that we had left on the walls. I also finished removing the nails/screws so I could putty over them and reorganizing the boxes in Patrick's office (lots of books, clothes, and those plastic three-drawer cart things that he has packed full of random things *coughpackratcough*), and finally, meticulously and cautiously individually wrapping around 30 bottles of wine. I got it all done-- and then some-- and when Patrick came home he was pleasantly surprised at how little we had to do until the night before the movers came on the 4th. (By the way, a huge thank you and big hugs to Mandy, who went out of her way to purchase bubble wrap for me and come over, one-year-old in tow, to help me pack up the heavier art pieces and move the heavier things out of the office. If not for her, I would have absolutely had back spasms the next day.)
THANK GOODNESS FOR MOVERS. They came at 9AM on the 4th and were done packing in under three hours, so all we had left to do was wait. We organized everything we were going to take with us, I bathed both cats so they would be clean and worn out for the ten hour drive, and after a long nap, we left around 10pm. By the time we stopped at Brook and Mandy's to say goodbye and dropped off the modem at Xfinity, it was around midnight and we started our trip.
The trip went excellent, to say the least. We were thankfully able to stuff every last thing we had planned on taking into the car and were still able to 100% see out of the back window and nothing was on top of or under the cats, who slept 95% of the trip and didn't have a single accident or get sick the entire ride. To say I'm proud of them, and us, is a total understatement.
We rolled in to Beaverton around 9:30AM, however our apartment complex's front office doesn't open until 10am, so we had a little bit of time to kill. We stopped at Xfinity to pick up our modem and grabbed a couple of things from Rite Aid and ended up arriving at the apartment complex at 10am on the dot.
Let it be known that the very first thing we did was lock our car in the garage with the garage door opener inside it, because we have a lot of common sense, don't you know?
We unpacked the car, got the cats settled in, went to lunch with our friend Dennis, went to Target for some essentials and Office Depot because Patrick needed a desk chair (his broke a few months back and he has been using my desk chair, which I need but also is really low quality and isn't good for him to be sitting on while he teaches all day-- plus, we let the movers take it and he teaches two days in a row before they get here and he can't sit on the floor for that), and then I had a nap before dinner.
Now that you all know what we've been doing, I'l let you know how we're feeling and how we like it so far.
Obviously, we're both exhausted. We haven't slept regularly in many days and now we'll be sleeping on an air mattress (thank goodness for Gina and Dennis, who loaned it to us-- we were honestly planning on sleeping on the floor), but we're glad that we are finally here and most of our anxiety is lifted.
Patrick was excited on the way up here because that's just how he is, but I felt differently. When I'm having a lot of emotions, I shut down completely so I don't feel any of them: this is called dissociation. This often happens when you're driving a vehicle-- you pretty much don't notice the road passing around you and your mind wanders until you reach your destination. Dissociation is my go-to coping mechanism for every scenario in my life that I feel I cannot emotionally handle. So yes, I am internally thrilled about this move, but I shut down all emotion because I'm so sad about leaving our friends behind (I did the same thing when I left Michigan, which is why I wasn't a mess then, either). I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I didn't shed a single tear about it this entire time, when usually I'm very emotional. I know it's not healthy, but it's how I cope with big life changes.
Now that we're here, I'm still ignoring the fact that we have moved away from our friends, but I am truly so ecstatic that we're here. First of all, the weather is right up my alley and I'm soaking it all in. I was laying on the floor earlier today, relaxing after moving everything up two flights of stairs (we're on the third floor), and I heard pat pat pat. I thought it was one of the cats eating from their food bowl until it started to get more steady. When I looked outside, I started crying because it was raining and I love rain so much. Next to my family and friends, rain (and weather in general, but especially rain) is the thing I miss most about Michigan.
It's also really chilly right now, especially when it's raining. We only packed summer clothing and we're both pretty cool right now, so we'll be going to the thrift store to pick up a coat and maybe a long sleeved shirt or two soon. I keep saying that when it finally snows, I'm going to lay outside naked and let the cold freeze me to death because I have missed it so much. I'm only exaggerating a liiiiiiittle bit. The worst part about living in Tracy was that it was so hot that you literally couldn't leave the house at certain times of the day. Today, we walked to dinner and did it with great enthusiasm. There is something so energizing about being able to do any sort of physical activity and not want to keel over and die after only a minute or two.
In regards to our apartment-- we LOVE IT.
In our old apartment, we could hear the people next door to us snoring through the walls. Here, the neighbors behind us have a young baby (probably around 1 or so) and we haven't heard a peep out of them. They've been home all weekend. In fact, we can't hear any of our neighbors.
The area we're in is actually really nice and we are in the back corner of our apartment complex so we don't get a lot of traffic or noise in general. We especially can't hear people running around outside (obviously because we're on the third floor), but even so, the people we do hear are very quiet and aren't shouting. We even live near lots of executive areas that have random walking trails on them and beautiful landscaping just for people to walk through, which we're excited about.
The people we've encountered so far have all been fantastic. There's something to be said about the phrase "Keep Portland Weird". I know we're not in Portland (we're about 20 minutes away), but this whole area is so chill and accepting. No one cares what you look like or how many piercings or tattoos you have or what color your hair is or if your clothes aren't their taste-- they care about who you are as a person. We walked through Target yesterday and I made an offhand comment about how much laughter I've heard so far, and it's true. The people here are genuinely happy and friendly. They don't drive like maniacs (and they use hand gestures to thank you for letting them go, like polite people do!) and they even say please, thank you, and excuse me. It's a startling difference from the Bay Area.
Our apartment is so roomy and so well laid out. We're excited to get our belongings and start nesting in it. We also have so much storage that I can't even think up an item, or group of items, big enough to fill all of the space that we have just for storage-- on our patio, in our garage, in our apartment.
And lastly, because our apartments are only about 1.5 years old, we're the second tenants to live in our specific unit. It also means that everything is still basically brand new. We have high end appliances and really nice carpet... It's just thrilling. Our apartment still has the "new carpet" smell, and we even have regular blinds instead of mini-blinds, which is AWESOME.
Today we were supposed to go to the thrift store which we had to cancel so that we could take me to urgent care (I'll probably do a health update soon), but Patrick did make it to Frye's Electronics and Bed Bath and Beyond for a few things that we've been needing while I napped (health issues = very little sleep = exhausted Brook). I'll continue to keep you all updated on the happenings with us. Have a gold star if you've actually read all of this-- I know it was a very long update!
Saturday, July 11, 2015
The Pacific Northwest & Goodbye Bawdy Caste!
Hey everyone! I've been a little bit MIA lately with my posting, but we've had a lot going on. So much so that I can't even remember what we've done when I try to think about it. What I can remember is that we went to Disneyland a couple of weekends ago (which wasn't significant enough to post about since we go so often), we've been packing and prepping for our move, and we retired from the Bawdy Caste.
After five years of Patrick being on cast and almost two years of me being on cast, Patrick and I finished our last show as regular cast members on July 4th. We love our cast family so much and we appreciate their support in our decision. Our plan is to continue to "guest perform" (aka show up and help with tech) whenever we are in the area and are able to attend a show, but we will definitely be too far away to do regular shows once we move. We will miss doing shows (honestly, when we go too long without going to show we will start singing Rocky Horror songs when we're in the grocery store...) and we will miss our Rocky family dearly when we don't see them as regularly as we do right now. Thankfully we are leaving on good terms and everyone understands that it's simply time for us to focus on our lives and our relationship if we're going to accomplish any of our goals.
We left a bit early from the show that night and began driving north to our intended destination, Vancouver, WA. Our plan was to visit Portland. I've never been and Patrick loves going, and Vancouver was just a ten minute car ride across a bridge. It was a fantastic trip to say the least.
To say that I miss seeing green things is an understatement. In Michigan, you're never too far away from a forest full of green and a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, you'd be hard pressed to find that in California. My plan was just to soak up as much of the nature as I could and enjoy it before we had to go back to the hot, dry hell-desert that is California.
The trip up went pretty smoothly. For the first time ever in our relationship, Patrick let me drive, which turned out to be a really good thing because I'm so much better in traffic than he is, so he napped while I parked the car on the freeway for a good chunk of time because we got stuck in stand-still traffic waiting for an accident to clear up.
The sights on the way up were awesome. Of course we had to stop in Weed, California for some photos and I spent a lot of time in awe of the mountains, rivers, and winding roads as we drove.
When we finally arrived at the Hilton Vancouver, our room was amazing! I would honestly say that it was the absolute best room that we have ever stayed in. It was extremely spacious, it overlooked the river, and it was super quiet and isolated because it was a corner room and there was a stairwell on the one side of the room that could have potentially had a neighbor. It was quieter than living in our apartment (although that's not really saying much since our apartments are so loud).
On Sunday when we arrived we unpacked, went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack (I was craving seafood pasta), and then I passed out around 10pm after running off of two hours of sleep.
On Monday, I got the pleasure of meeting one of Patrick's very best friends, Dennis. I've heard so many stories about Dennis that I was just thrilled to finally get the chance to meet him and his girlfriend, Gina. We had a fantastic dinner at a place called Southpark Seafood in Portland, which was surprisingly good being that it was a more upscale menu and I was really skeptical about the "weirdness" of the food. All four of us found something great to eat and really enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, we checked out the area that all of the food trucks are in to see all of the different types of food they have over there and we popped into Powell's Books really quickly, more or less so that Patrick and I would know where these two places were so that we could make a return trip to the city.
On Tuesday we planned to go to Seattle for Patrick's birthday, but it ended up being a little bit of a bust. After a lot of annoying traffic and confusing construction, we finally made it to the EMP, which I wasn't super excited about to begin with. We were actually both really disappointed with the museum and found it to be much less interesting than we thought it was going to be. We made it through the museum in about two hours and then decided it was time to go. And no, I didn't go up in the Space Needle. I'm not even the least bit interested in going up in something that high up that spins. I mean, I got dizzy on the second floor balcony of the Star Wars exhibit at the EMP!
Personally, since I'm not a musically-inclined person and I have a very random taste in music (instead of liking entire bands, I tend to just like certain songs), I thought the music portion of the museum was boring and the only thing I truly got into was the Fantasy exhibit. The one single thing I wanted to do was use the Scream Booth in the Horror exhibit, but of course that was broken. We left tired, hungry, and bored.
After we left Seattle we hit a whole ton of traffic while we were trying to get to our destination-- Patrick's sister's house. Being that this was the first time I would be meeting Patrick's sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces, I was actually a little bit nervous (but I was more excited than anything else). I ended up having a great time and I was reluctant to leave at the end of the night.
On Wednesday Patrick and I decided to have a re-do birthday for him because he was so disappointed about his birthday in Seattle. I went off to get a 90 minute massage (I've been having a lot of back problems and terrible shoulder problems lately) and I sent Patrick on his way to get the manicure and pedicure I've been begging him to get for months. Now, thankfully, I don't scream in terror when his feet touch me! We finished the day with a really yummy dinner at a place called Who-Song and Larry's, which serves Mexican food.
On Thursday we dedicated our time to Portland-- specifically, Powell's Books. It is the largest new and used bookstore in the world. Here are a few facts about Powell's, straight from their website.
A few store facts:
• 68,000 square feet packed with books.
• We buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day.
• Approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day.
• Another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee.
• We stock 122 major subject areas and more than 3,500 subsections.
• You'll find more than 1,000,000 volumes on our shelves.
• Approximately 80,000 book lovers browse the City's shelves every day in Portland and via the Internet.
(via http://www.powells.com/locations/powells-city-of-books/)
An "interesting" (or more likely "irritating" and "weird") fact about me is that lots of choices and big things give my anxiety, which means that you would think this store would render me catatonic the entire time we were in there-- but it didn't. Powell's is so amazing at making each of their nine color-coded rooms feel like a different area that the store isn't overwhelming. In fact, it's just the opposite. When I walk into a Barnes & Noble, I freak out and usually leave with nothing because there are too many choices looming at me and all of the books stare at me at once. The way Powell's is set up is so ingenious that nothing feels overwhelming or like there is too much to look at. When we first walked in on Monday, I had no idea that the store was as big as it is because we only went into one room. They even break up the space well with tables instead of having book case after book case and row after row like a library would. We left with seven books and a tote bag to carry them in and spent more on books in one trip than I have probably in the last year. I'm so excited to start reading.
After our bookstore adventure, we each found a food truck we wanted get food from (grilled cheese for me and a Monte Cristo on a waffle for Patrick) and we enjoyed walking through the city with our food. That night, Patrick took me to Jimmy John's for dinner, because apparently there are ample Jimmy John's locations in the Portland area and there is just one that I know of in California. If you know me, you know how much I love me some JJ's and how much I miss it since I don't live in the Mitten anymore.
The greatest thing I've found about that area has definitely got to be the friendly people. Everything is so relaxed in the Portland area-- even heavy traffic doesn't make people drive like maniacs, and the ones that do are from-- you guessed it-- California. I never once felt unsafe or like I couldn't go someplace by myself and every person we interacted with was just fabulous. I loved the state of mind up there. I loved the weather, too, even though we apparently picked the two hottest weeks of the year to go (not a single drop of rain, which made me sad). Even the two hottest weeks of the year were cooler than it is where we live.
On Friday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and drove home to our kitties and away from our wonderful vacation, which Patrick and I agree was the best trip we've probably ever taken together. I was really upset to leave-- I feel homesick about it! I can't wait to get back up to Oregon again!
After five years of Patrick being on cast and almost two years of me being on cast, Patrick and I finished our last show as regular cast members on July 4th. We love our cast family so much and we appreciate their support in our decision. Our plan is to continue to "guest perform" (aka show up and help with tech) whenever we are in the area and are able to attend a show, but we will definitely be too far away to do regular shows once we move. We will miss doing shows (honestly, when we go too long without going to show we will start singing Rocky Horror songs when we're in the grocery store...) and we will miss our Rocky family dearly when we don't see them as regularly as we do right now. Thankfully we are leaving on good terms and everyone understands that it's simply time for us to focus on our lives and our relationship if we're going to accomplish any of our goals.
We left a bit early from the show that night and began driving north to our intended destination, Vancouver, WA. Our plan was to visit Portland. I've never been and Patrick loves going, and Vancouver was just a ten minute car ride across a bridge. It was a fantastic trip to say the least.
To say that I miss seeing green things is an understatement. In Michigan, you're never too far away from a forest full of green and a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, you'd be hard pressed to find that in California. My plan was just to soak up as much of the nature as I could and enjoy it before we had to go back to the hot, dry hell-desert that is California.
The trip up went pretty smoothly. For the first time ever in our relationship, Patrick let me drive, which turned out to be a really good thing because I'm so much better in traffic than he is, so he napped while I parked the car on the freeway for a good chunk of time because we got stuck in stand-still traffic waiting for an accident to clear up.
I believe this was Mt. Shasta, which is still in California.
The freeway was a parking lot for almost 45 minutes.
The sights on the way up were awesome. Of course we had to stop in Weed, California for some photos and I spent a lot of time in awe of the mountains, rivers, and winding roads as we drove.
At some point we hit the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon, so we took a break to have a drive through and look around. It was so cool! You actually stay in your vehicle and drive (slowly) through the huge park where you can see tons of animals (giraffes included!) and even feed some of them.
This guy came right up to the car and wanted very much to get in. He even left a nose print on the window.
I don't have any closer up photos of this one because if I did, I wouldn't have been able to close the window in time so that it didn't try to eat my face. There was a lot of yelling.
Look at this big kitty! He was having a bath :D
BLEEEEHHHHH
When we finally arrived at the Hilton Vancouver, our room was amazing! I would honestly say that it was the absolute best room that we have ever stayed in. It was extremely spacious, it overlooked the river, and it was super quiet and isolated because it was a corner room and there was a stairwell on the one side of the room that could have potentially had a neighbor. It was quieter than living in our apartment (although that's not really saying much since our apartments are so loud).
The view from our room was pretty awesome! We loved watching the train go by at night.
Just a block or two away from our hotel was this amazing wall art.
On Sunday when we arrived we unpacked, went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack (I was craving seafood pasta), and then I passed out around 10pm after running off of two hours of sleep.
On Monday, I got the pleasure of meeting one of Patrick's very best friends, Dennis. I've heard so many stories about Dennis that I was just thrilled to finally get the chance to meet him and his girlfriend, Gina. We had a fantastic dinner at a place called Southpark Seafood in Portland, which was surprisingly good being that it was a more upscale menu and I was really skeptical about the "weirdness" of the food. All four of us found something great to eat and really enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, we checked out the area that all of the food trucks are in to see all of the different types of food they have over there and we popped into Powell's Books really quickly, more or less so that Patrick and I would know where these two places were so that we could make a return trip to the city.
On Tuesday we planned to go to Seattle for Patrick's birthday, but it ended up being a little bit of a bust. After a lot of annoying traffic and confusing construction, we finally made it to the EMP, which I wasn't super excited about to begin with. We were actually both really disappointed with the museum and found it to be much less interesting than we thought it was going to be. We made it through the museum in about two hours and then decided it was time to go. And no, I didn't go up in the Space Needle. I'm not even the least bit interested in going up in something that high up that spins. I mean, I got dizzy on the second floor balcony of the Star Wars exhibit at the EMP!
And now, please prepare yourselves for a lot of photos taken at the EMP.
The following are Star Wars Exhibit Pictures:
I have tons of photos of this wedding dress from all angles because the detail is so incredible. But I still don't know who this character is/who they married. #StarWarsVirgin
The following are Fantasy World Pictures:
I really geeked out over Sirius Black's coat.
Cloak of Invisibility
Inigo Montoya, Buttercup, and Wesley's outfits from The Princess Bride
Tyrion Lannister's outfit!
(Front)
(Back)
Cersei Lannister's outfit!
(Front)
(Back)
A Dalek, which I only include for the geeks out there, since I hate Doctor Who.
The rules concerning Wile E. Coyote
#SelfieWithAnAnvil
You, too, can wear your granddad's clothes at this Macklemore selfie exhibit.
Having been there before, Patrick was expecting that there would be more "new" stuff and was disappointed that most of the things there were things he had seen before. Though he enjoyed the Science Fiction exhibit and the Horror exhibit, he was actually really disappointed in the Star Wars exhibit, which we paid extra to see, because they featured more stuff from the new movies and not much from the old movies, which is not what he was expecting.
Personally, since I'm not a musically-inclined person and I have a very random taste in music (instead of liking entire bands, I tend to just like certain songs), I thought the music portion of the museum was boring and the only thing I truly got into was the Fantasy exhibit. The one single thing I wanted to do was use the Scream Booth in the Horror exhibit, but of course that was broken. We left tired, hungry, and bored.
After we left Seattle we hit a whole ton of traffic while we were trying to get to our destination-- Patrick's sister's house. Being that this was the first time I would be meeting Patrick's sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces, I was actually a little bit nervous (but I was more excited than anything else). I ended up having a great time and I was reluctant to leave at the end of the night.
I went all the way to Washington to meet my sister in law and her family and all I got was a few pictures of their cats. Priorities, man.
On Wednesday Patrick and I decided to have a re-do birthday for him because he was so disappointed about his birthday in Seattle. I went off to get a 90 minute massage (I've been having a lot of back problems and terrible shoulder problems lately) and I sent Patrick on his way to get the manicure and pedicure I've been begging him to get for months. Now, thankfully, I don't scream in terror when his feet touch me! We finished the day with a really yummy dinner at a place called Who-Song and Larry's, which serves Mexican food.
On Thursday we dedicated our time to Portland-- specifically, Powell's Books. It is the largest new and used bookstore in the world. Here are a few facts about Powell's, straight from their website.
A few store facts:
• 68,000 square feet packed with books.
• We buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day.
• Approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day.
• Another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee.
• We stock 122 major subject areas and more than 3,500 subsections.
• You'll find more than 1,000,000 volumes on our shelves.
• Approximately 80,000 book lovers browse the City's shelves every day in Portland and via the Internet.
(via http://www.powells.com/locations/powells-city-of-books/)
An "interesting" (or more likely "irritating" and "weird") fact about me is that lots of choices and big things give my anxiety, which means that you would think this store would render me catatonic the entire time we were in there-- but it didn't. Powell's is so amazing at making each of their nine color-coded rooms feel like a different area that the store isn't overwhelming. In fact, it's just the opposite. When I walk into a Barnes & Noble, I freak out and usually leave with nothing because there are too many choices looming at me and all of the books stare at me at once. The way Powell's is set up is so ingenious that nothing feels overwhelming or like there is too much to look at. When we first walked in on Monday, I had no idea that the store was as big as it is because we only went into one room. They even break up the space well with tables instead of having book case after book case and row after row like a library would. We left with seven books and a tote bag to carry them in and spent more on books in one trip than I have probably in the last year. I'm so excited to start reading.
After our bookstore adventure, we each found a food truck we wanted get food from (grilled cheese for me and a Monte Cristo on a waffle for Patrick) and we enjoyed walking through the city with our food. That night, Patrick took me to Jimmy John's for dinner, because apparently there are ample Jimmy John's locations in the Portland area and there is just one that I know of in California. If you know me, you know how much I love me some JJ's and how much I miss it since I don't live in the Mitten anymore.
The menu at the waffle place Patrick ordered from.
The Monte Cristo waffle and a strawberry lemonade with a coconut twist.
I sent this photo of my Jimmy John's sub to my best friend Zach, with the caption "When I eat the butt I'll be thinking of you", because the butt of the sandwich is my favorite and when I'm in Michigan and Zach has Jimmy John's, he always lets me eat that part of his sandwich. Because that's what best friends are for.
The greatest thing I've found about that area has definitely got to be the friendly people. Everything is so relaxed in the Portland area-- even heavy traffic doesn't make people drive like maniacs, and the ones that do are from-- you guessed it-- California. I never once felt unsafe or like I couldn't go someplace by myself and every person we interacted with was just fabulous. I loved the state of mind up there. I loved the weather, too, even though we apparently picked the two hottest weeks of the year to go (not a single drop of rain, which made me sad). Even the two hottest weeks of the year were cooler than it is where we live.
On Friday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and drove home to our kitties and away from our wonderful vacation, which Patrick and I agree was the best trip we've probably ever taken together. I was really upset to leave-- I feel homesick about it! I can't wait to get back up to Oregon again!
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