Some of you may be thinking what have Emily and Brendan been doing up there in the NW? Well luckily for you a whole lot! A few weeks ago we went to the beach! We visited Canon Beach which is home to the rock in Goonies and the kindergarten from Kindergarten Cop. As if that isn't exciting enough it was Cricket's first time seeing the ocean and tasting salt water. Yum! The beach is located only 1.5 hours away from the house and to get there you drive through Tillamook National Forest (yes like Tillamook cheese). After arriving at the beach and frolicking with Cricket for a bit we had a lovely picnic on the beach and some cold white wine. Delicious! After that we soaked in some rays and walked in the surf (the ocean is way to cold to swim in). Then we went Downtown and had some fresh saltwater taffy and a milkshake. After we got our sugar high we left to go back home and I promptly fell asleep in the car.

Goonies Rock

Drive to the beach from Portland





Video of Cricket at the Beach




The rest of the week composed of regular daily activities such as Brendan working and I did school work and continued my job hunt! We also had dinner with our new friends Daniel and Lindsay at a delicious Thai resturant (Mom you will love it). It was our first time eating like city folk. We got there at 8pm and waited for and hour and a half to be seated! We ended up eating around my bed time, thank goodness it was a Friday night.

Last weekend we went to the Saturday Market which takes place every weekend. There are hundreds of booths with artisan crafts for sale. There are also food and beer booths and live music. We were able to see the local crew teams practicing on the river which looked cold and wet because it was raining.











Gyros from Saturday Market





Freshly made Corn Dog








Live Music







While Brendan was off getting his assortment of fair food I got hit on thanks to my trusty bike helmet. I believe the line was "I think it is so adorable that you wear a bike helmet". Thank goodness Brendan returned in the nick of time so I didn't have to break another man's heart.

Since I have some spare time on my hands and love an opportunity to avoid homework I have been doing a lot of baking. I started making all of our breads and cookies from scratch. Just to give you a taste of what I have been doing I have made this week I made wheat sandwich bread snickerdoodles, corn bread, and artisan bread (picture below). It has been very satisfying baking and I have really enjoyed it!











So far being together all the time hasn't bothered us. Brendan still enjoys working from him and I enjoy bugging him while he is here. As if we don't spend enough time together we had date night and went to one of Portland's best resturants Bar Avingion. I had the amazing pork chops and Brendan had seafood stew. I was tempted to try Brendan's dish until I dipped my sppon in and a baby octopus floated to the top. Ewwww.

(My Pork Chops, mmmmm)









Well, that's about all of our happenings as of now. Tomorrow we are going to the Blazers vs. Nuggets basketball game. It should be interesting and fun, hopefully we don't get beat up for being Nuggets fans. Of course we miss you all and will be home in seven short weeks for Christmas!
Love Emily and Brendan

Spider eating a bee in our backyard:

First Week of School

One week down, only ten to go! The quarter system makes school go by so much faster. I guess it also helps that my classes meet only once a week (which means I only have each class 11 times per quarter). Classes are 2.5 hours each, which is kind of hard to sit through. Brendan took some pictures of my on the first day of school.












My first solo voyage to Downtown Portland! I can make it to class in about 25 minutes but usually arrive sweaty (which is probably really helping me make friends). My first class was a nightmare, Management and Organization of Health Care. A class all about managing a health care company. When our first assignment was to write a paper about the organizational structure of a health care company we have worked with I knew I was in trouble. I have never worked for a health care organization and never planned on working for one. After talking with my advisor I figured out that I was in the wrong concentration. So, after this school year I will be in the School of Community Health receiving a Master's in Public Health: Health Promotion. It shouldn't be too hard to transfer but I do need to reapply to school. I am glad I got that figured out before it was too late.
So far I really love my classes. I am taking Environmental Health (learning about all the harmful things we do to the planet and how it affects the population), Principles of Health Behavior (learning the psyche behind changing behaviors), and Foundations of Public Health.

Other than school I have been taking Cricket to the dog park every morning. I took some pictures of the park that we go to. It's a beautiful park unlike anything we have in Colorado.





This weekend we went to a Portland Timber soccer game with our friend Chris and his Cousin's. It was an experience! The Timber's were playing in the playoffs and the fans were crazy! The mascot is a big guy who wears overalls and everytime the Timber's score he takes a chain saw and cuts off a piece of wood from a huge log and runs around with it. He also runs around with the chain saw running (without the chain on it)

Having drinks before the game

Start of the Game!

It was intense

Unfortunately the Timber's lost, but that didn't damper our fun. It was nice to get out and meet people and I think we made some friends! Woo-hoo.

Did you know that Matt Groening was born and raised in Portland?

Proof!

Well, that's it so far! We have taken it upon ourselves to try all the bars and restaurants in the area so when you come visit we can take you to the best of Portland!

First Weekend In Portlandia

What a wonderful first weekend in Portland! Friday night I made a wonderful dinner with fresh salmon, corn, leeks, and wild rice. Saturday we adventured downtown on our bikes for the first time. We got lost a few times but finally made it to the Downtown Farmers Market (shown above). The ride only takes about 20 min because it is all down hill.
We spent a lovely time at the market and picked up alot of fresh produce including apples and peaches. Yum! The market is bigger and busier than the ones in Colorado.There are so many vendors selling produce, cheese, bread, eggs, and meat. There is also a section solely street vendors selling anything from gyros and pork sandwiches to vegan, organic, gluten free foods. After picking up some delicious veggies and fruit we sat down and had a snack composed of a huckleberry scone (huckleberries are abundant here), locally made natural raspberry soda, and a fresh peach

Brendan at the market


Sunday I went for the most beautiful bike ride I have ever been on. I pedaled my way of a slowly rising road surrounded by farms, valleys, and small houses. When I reached the top there were several places to stop and look out over the Columbia river. On the other side was Washington! Descending down the back side you are surround by lush vegetation and enormous trees. Towards the bottom there are dozens of waterfalls that you can see from the road and even more that you can hike to. The road I was on is called the Old Columbia Hwy. It was originally built on each side of the river (one in OR and one in WA) to entice people to move to Oregon and Washington. The idea was that people would drive in on this beautiful highway and see how gorgeous the area. Well, it worked! Once I figure out how to upload images from my phone I can post some of the views.

After my epic ride we went to one of the 34 local breweries in Portland with our friend Chris. We went to Bridgeport Brewery and had some sample trays.

How curbside trash should look
(Yard Debris, Recycling,Trash)

That brings us up to today (Monday) my first day of school!
I will let you know how it goes.
-Emily

What is Public Health?

For all of you who keep asking me what Public Health is, here is a helpful video!

http://thisispublichealth.org/video_highres.html

Pictures of Our Abode

Here are some pictures of our house!

The front of the house from the street

Walking in the front door and looking right

Walking in the front door and looking straight

The Kitchen

My Walk-In Closet

Brendan's Office

Cricket

Scary Basement

Backyard


As you can see we are still unpacking!

We Made It!

After two VERY long days of driving we made it to Portland. We managed to get here safely. I did manage to get the back of the truck and the trailer wrapped around a pole at a gas station but luckily there was an attendant that drove semi trucks! Lucky us.

<---Cricket being helpful

Cricket took a turn
driving-->

We arrived Saturday night and checked into a hotel. By Monday morning we signed a lease!

Our new address is:
26 SE 30th Pl.
Portland, OR
97214
It is apparently a very "hip" neighborhood near many amenities. Whole Foods is one block away, an Indian restaurant and hot dog place is down the street, and of course there is a Starbucks on the corner. Down the block there is a movie theater that serves beer and pizza while you watch the movie, which sounds pretty great. We also live three blocks away from a giant park that has a dog park, pond, and tennis courts! So far the neighborhood has been very pleasant.
Our house it two bedrooms, one bath, basement, and a small room that I made into my own walk in closet. We have a large porch and a back patio with a small (10x10) area of grassy dirt for Cricket. I convienetly forgot to take pictures of the house, but you can go to this link and see the front. It is the green single story house.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=26+se+30+pl+Portland,+OR&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=26+SE+30th+Pl,+Portland,+OR+97214&gl=us&ei=ppO6Sqf-OovosQO40KCRCQ&ll=45.52242,-122.633965&spn=0.010539,0.020535&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=45.522495,-122.63397&panoid=jPsqCiiNfTKZ8285Pnyi0w&cbp=12,99.37,,0,5.38


I have orientation tomorrow and Friday and then school starts on Monday! The internet machine is being hooked up tomorrow so Brendan will be able to work from home. Hopefully we can poke around town this weekend. Cricket is adapting well and loves the new dog park, there are lots of puppies to play with.

Here are some things about Portland we have learned:


1. They have an extensive beer and wine selection in all grocery stores.




2. They have a mountain named after me.

3. It is illegal to pump your own gas. Someone does it for you.

4. Hip places like coffee shops, restaurants, and bars do not have signs for bathrooms or labels on the bathroom door. It's a constant guessing game, is it a closet? Men's? Women's? you have to open the door to find out.




Our first dinner at home!

So far things are going really well. Our only complaint is that we aren't hip enough and need to invest in some dark clothes. Brendan also will need to buy shorter shorts and tighter pants.
Which none of wants to see.
Good-Bye for now!
We miss all of you.
Emily and Brendan