October 30th

Sometimes I plan really cute outfits.
Sometimes I forget that I live in the gorge and that all my cute outfits end up like this-

EVERYTHING ends with a cardigan and rain boots. Let's be real I was wading in a 6 inch puddle today on my way to another building at my school.

PS I cheer myself up however.
Sweet potato french fries. And dinner plans for tomorrow.  :)

Monday October 29th

Basically the only way to make a day better. ♥

Sunday October 28th

I thought I would show you a little bit of my little house. This weekend is the first time I have actually ever spent a weekend alone here since I moved in in July (insane, I know). So I thought it would be fun to show my little home as a whole, instead of the little bits & pieces I have shown before.

I have one giant living room/ kitchen area-

I got this table from a garage sale for $20. It's Pottery Barn & I love it.

The blue coffee table I got at a garage sale for $20, and painted. Chairs are from my parents :) thanks Mom & Dad. Lamp was $5 at a thrift store, and bookshelves were my brothers growing up.

Yes I know Amsterdam is spelled wrong.


And then two tiny bedrooms. My clothes have taken over them both!
Room 1:

Bed frame was from a thrift store, painted. Same with the side tables. Lamps are from Home Goods. :) Other framed objects: Stamps from the Marshall Islands, a picture of my Mom and I from when I went to overnight camp when I was 12, and post card from Germany and Colorado. The bird was in the frame I got at a thrift store.

Shelves were $15/each at Ikea. Globe is from a thrift store. The colors matched my room so perfectly I knew it was meant to be.

Still a work in progress (like the giant wall in the 2nd bedroom), but all & all I love my little house. This is the first time I have ever lived alone (parents house, dorm room, living with boyfriend, living with parents, living with Lauren, Marshall Islands, Josh's front hallway floor...) so it's nice to have my own little space. I have had fun decorating and am actually somewhat sad that I am pretty much done. Maybe I need to move again? Just kidding that's not happening :) I am quite firmly planted in my new life here. xo

October 27th

I haven't updated in awhile, and it's not that I haven't been doing a lot (last weekend my Mom & I went to Zina's house and re did her bedroom, & I got a new computer!!) but that I have absolutely been in a funk lately. All year I have been dealing with this and I am hoping that this is the last date that I have to get past that will really depress me, make me cry and make me think about things that could have/would have/should have been.
It's hard for me to believe that this was me:

A year ago. No make up, a skirt, and sweating constantly. Or glistening, as I liked to say :) But it was. It's hard to believe that I spent the majority of 5 months taking bucket showers, eating white rice + whatever food was available and smiling and saying "komotada" and lots of other Marshallese words that I have since forgotten. That I was the only American on a little island in the middle of nowhere. That I lived in a little pink bedroom, was woken up by roosters every morning and kids peeking in my room to ask "school? school? school?"  That I was pretty much unfazed by cockroaches, dead fish and the most exciting things to look forward to were mail and radio check in and my weekends on Roi.

When I came home early last November I could not talk or think about the Marshall Islands with out crying or wanting to cry. Coming home early was (to say the least) a difficult & heart breaking decision. It's hard to imagine that at this time, last year, I was just starting to hear the rumblings of dengue fever, and an epidemic and I was nonchalant about the whole thing. I didn't (and no one did) realize how quickly it would spread or how big of a danger it would become. I thought that I was invincible, and I was wrong. It weighs heavy on me even as I have never doubted I made the right decision for me. 

I wanted to share some pictures that I never did get to share because when I got home last year I was just not ready. But ironically, these were taken exactly one year ago today, October 27th, 2011.  I have lots more pictures that I have started to go through and I want to share more of them later.

But for now... today I am sitting in a rainy little town in the library but here is what I was doing a year ago-
Hanging out on the dock of my little island home.♥ ♥
Now I fully plan on spending the rest of the weekend laying around watching movies. xo

October 13th

Saturday Joe and I woke up early and went to Smith Rock. It was just as cool as I expected :) It is in the middle of a bunch of pumpkin patches so it strangely comes out of nowhere... but from the signs I read it's actually the result of volcanic activity.

We walked around and down by the river for a little bit, then headed off to have pizza for lunch.

After lunch we went to Bend and walked around, then drove out to Sisters to check out more volcanic activity....
Joe was able to hop around the rocks, but I couldn't because I thought we were done hiking for the day and wore these shoes:

 

Oops.



I headed back to my parents house after that, and watched the Yankee's game with my two Mom's:
who were both very upset about Jeter's broken ankle :(

October 10th, October 12th

Highlight of my week! A great gift from my friend Aireanne, which definitely came on a day when I needed it most! ♥

Annnddd... not a great picture... but I seriously needed a system for my shoes when my Mom came up with this totally genius idea:

Cute, right? They are burlap wrapped peach boxes. Who knew they could be so cute!! :) Now I don't trip over my shoes whenever I walk into my house.



Friday I drove to Redmond to spend a day with my friend from graduate school, Joe. It was such a pretty drive!

I love Eastern Oregon, and I love fall. ♥

October 9th

Not that I don't (at times) love living alone. Mostly I adore that for the first time ever I get to live in a world surrounded by all things me :)
But let's be real mostly my nights look like this:
(I am rediculously excited that 2 of my favorite authors both came out with new books this month, not that I have honestly stared to read either.)

So I am so glad I have friends that will drive out to have dinner with me so that I can have some human interaction + have nights that look more like this:

♥  

October 7th

My Mom & I headed up to Kennewick to visit my Aunt and Grandma this weekend. We left Friday night, and are going back home today-we should leave in about a half hour but I wanted to quickly update since in about 4 hours I will be sans computer + internet again!

We spent Friday night at Target picking out new frames for Zina's office, which we made look adorable ... but you will have to trust me on that- since I didn't take any pictures at all.
We also went to a ton of thrift stores, since I am obsessed. But I only found a bunch of books for fifty cents (I get all my books at thrift stores or on thriftybooks.) I managed to pass on this candle made in a ice cream cone :)

And then went to Hobby Lobby. Can you believe that I have never been to a Hobby Lobby before. I was on overload.

I am actually GLAD there isn't one (that I know of) near me. I don't think I could handle it. (Also-----Christmas stuff? Already? Really.)



Zina and I decided to make tamales, so we headed over to her favorite grocery store-


I am stressed about the upcoming week since I have NO lesson plans done at all... But at least it's fall :)

& I have a key to get into my classroom. So I can work tonight.

October 4th

Every Friday since school started (six weeks ago, which is insane!!) two other SpEd teacher and I have been trying new local places to eat and talk about our week. This week, we all had other Friday plans & it worked well to meet on Thursday instead. So the elementary SpEd teacher and I headed over to White Salmon to meet up with the new middle school SpEd teacher --together we could serve kids K-21, I think it's funny that we are all at different levels!

Anyway.

White Salmon is really cute and apparently REALLY into their name. The town is a lot like where I live (except they are way closer to a large town-Hood River...it's large because it has fast food and a WalMart): one little street full of cute little stores.

Loved this little bookstore. And the combination liquor store/ hunting license store:

We ate at a cute little place (there are only cute little places in White Salmon, actually). 

And on our way out of town couldn't help by stop to stare and wonder what is going on in this mural. We couldn't even think of one likely suggestion.

Also, we have no idea why the city hall looks like it was transplanted out of It's A Small World: Germany style.

Oh, & THIS is why the gorge is a national scenic area-

So beautiful. I do love my new town.