Happy Sunday!

Hello there! Yesterday I went to my friend Becka's company barbecue. It was at a state park called Blue Lake and it was quite pretty. Her co-workers were all friendly and one of them brought his Cajun friend and had a SHRIMP BOIL.

Holy crap. So good.

Granted it wasn't a "real" shrimp boil with zydeco and swamplands and dancing and such, but it was done by an actual Cajun from Plaquemine so it definitely has some credibility. He even had an LSU license plate border. You can't question that. Did I mention how incredibly delicious it was? DID I??

Plus there were leftovers. Sweet, sweet leftovers. They were eaten shortly after the last photo was taken. They didn't have a chance.

Photos!

Happy Sunday, y'all!

So how the hell do I follow that post?

Ha! What should I say now?

1. It's Saturday.

2. I am watching The Simpsons on Hulu.

3. It's cool and breezy and humid and overcast and I LOVE IT.

4. Also I am doing laundry.

Maybe I will walk on the nature trail today...have I told you about the nature trail? The one next door to me? The one with all the boardwalks and creeks and trees? I haven't?

OH WE HAVE SO MUCH TO COVER.

Where do I begin???

Whoa.

This feels weird. I honestly didn't think I would be back here. There was going to be the link to my Flickr page (see previous post for that link) and I was pretty much going to leave it at that.

Something was missing, though.

Something huge.

(No, not my ass. I still have that.)

This is the perfect place for me to express myself. I knew this, you knew this. However, I have been very busy these past 10 months adjusting to life in a new state and thought I might have moved on from my blogging days.

HA! WRONG.

I still love this shit. No matter what I say or try to tell myself, no matter how much easier it is to just post pictures on Flickr, I STILL LOVE WRITING ABOUT RANDOM CRAP IN MY DAILY LIFE WITHOUT A CARE IF ANYONE FINDS IT INTERESTING.

So there you have it. But seriously look at my pictures. They're cool.

LET'S HAVE A REVIEW.

July 2008

I moved to Portland, driving with Becka through Idaho and Eastern Oregon. It was a part of the country I have never seen before and it was amazing. I felt so free!

After a couple of weeks, however, it hit me that I was not on vacation and was not going home. After some incredibly challenging emotional struggles, I began to come to terms with where I live now and what I need to do with my life (still a work in progress). Whew.

August 2008

Things simmered for awhile.

September 2008

I bought Minty. He is a Yaris. This is the only picture I have of him on my hard drive at the moment.



October 2008

I did stuff. Then it was Halloween. That's pretty much all I remember.

November 2008

This month is best left un-recounted. It was an absolute nightmare. Thank GOD it's over.

December 2008

I looked for work and gingerly tip-toed through a completely shut down city during record snowfall in the region (10 inches). I took a two-hour bus ride across town for a job interview to find out it had been canceled. That paid off in January, though. My laptop's hard drive crashed and I lost everything on it. Good thing I backed up photos to Flickr!

January 2009

I rescheduled the interview and was hired at the state office where I now work. It is a bilingual position on a six month contract and has been the best, most challenging job I have ever had. Each day I am asked to handle things I not only never thought I would, but had no idea I could! The whole process has been amazing.

February 2009

I met my boyfriend. :)

Our first date was at a restaurant in a log cabin that was COMPLETELY DESERTED for whatever reason that night. The best part of it was that he had just gotten done telling me bits of Portland lore including but not limited to the story of Dayton Leroy Rogers, a Portland area serial killer.

As we sat there.

In an empty log cabin.

In the woods.

Where nobody could hear me scream.

Best. First. Date. EVER!

March 2009

I was asked to assist with Spanish computer class instruction and lead presentations at work for groups of 20-30 people DAILY. HOLY CRAP.

It has been going well.

Becka thought she might be able to replace my hard drive and I was up for trying. She totally rocked it and now my computer works! Yay!

April 2009

Same stuff.

May 2009

My work contract is ending June 30th and there's no word on whether or not they will be able to hire me. That is a little scary.

My boyfriend and I went on a daytrip to Seattle. I love the Northwest. :)

June 2009

Here I am. Still standing, still waiting on the job thing, still feeling good. That pretty much brings you up to speed. We'll see where this goes from here.

What a crazy ride this has been.