So, I moved to Portland.

So, last week I moved to Portland.  Actually, it’s more accurate to say that I’m still in that moving process, but on Sunday, December 19, BoyfriendMan and I drove a 16′ rented Budget truck and headed West from Boulder, CO through Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and across Oregon.  The drive itself was an adventure as we found ourselves right in the middle of that massive storm that swept through California, over the middle of the country and has left rain and snow in its wake for the last week.  We were stuck on I-80 for 6 HOURS while two separate trucks got un-jack-knifed.  That was the first night.  The second night, we were stuck on Oregon’s I-84 for two hours because of another crash.  The fun part about that one though, is that we got to see most of the lunar eclipse, we were on the cusp of the winter solstice and had just crossed the 45th parallel – we were exactly halfway between the North Pole and the Equator.  Not a bad way to spend 2 hours stuck on the highway, huh?

We arrived in Portland on Tuesday, went straight off the highway to Ikea where we picked out some furniture, then showed up to our apartment where we started unloading.  We continued unloading on Wednesday, went BACK to Ikea where we bought all of the furniture and scheduled it for Thursday’s delivery, took Thursday off because my flight attendant uncle was in town for a layover and we needed a break (aka, we wandered around town, found a happy hour to take him to that was waaaay too good and basically rewarded our hard work for the week with far too much red wine).  Back at it on Friday, and then we spent Saturday slowing down a bit and continuing to unpack.  What semblance of a routine we’re starting to establish here includes making coffee and taking Kona for morning and evening walks (which is great, because then we get to explore various parts of our downtown neighborhood), making cheesy eggs and turkey bacon (I’ve been making the occasional exception for chicken/turkey lately) for breakfast, and starting sentences with, “Hey! We should…!”

I’m writing this from the Rogue brewery pub in the PDX airport as I wait to standby for the red-eye to Atlanta, connecting me to Huntsville tomorrow morning.  Prayers and sacrifices to the standby gods have been offered (my dad’s a NWA/Delta retiree – I love the benefits that come with that, but holy hell the standby situation can be quite the guessing game), and I’m hoping that a handful of people on this overbooked flight don’t show up or have already caught an earlier flight so that I can have a seat.  Fingers crossed for me?  Thanks!

I’m headed to Huntsville, Alabama via ATL because that’s where most of my mom’s side gathers on holidays, that’s where my parents are right now, and that’s where my adorably pregnant sister and her husband are, and I am SO excited to see my family (though I miss BoyfriendMan already, who’s staying with the pets, who are getting along quite nicely for a dog and a cat who’d never met prior to the road trip).

While I’m alternating between naps and #reverb10 catching up and Google Reader catching up and organizing how I’m going to tackle work next week in the middle of still moving in… here’s the Flickr set for some of the photos.

Enjoy, Merry Christmas, safe travels, love and light