Portlandia, y'all!

We made it to Portland, y'all! We actually made it here on July 8th, which was like a million years ago (or maybe just a month ago. you decide), but it's been a mad rush to move in, apply for jobs, and post about all the road trip epicness, so I feel like I have a legit excuse for why this took so long. Also, seriously, when did August happen?!

July was really crazy. Since getting here I've been up to Seattle to visit family, gone to the Oregon coast with Hannah to see Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach, and gone back to Washington to go backpacking in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness for four days (posts on all of the above coming soon!). I also met up with my friend Julie, who I know from Emory rugby, and spent a day exploring downtown and eating Thai with her, which was a total blast. One of the things I've struggled with most about having just moved to a new city is making friends. Other than Hannah, I literally know no one in Portland, which can get pretty lonely, and pretty boring (ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF PORTLAND. I WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND, OKAY?). Hannah is working a lot of long hours and doesn't have too much time off, so I'm alone for most of the day. Since I'm not a huge go-out-and-do-stuff-alone kind of person (especially because getting to "stuff" basically means paying for a $5 light rail ticket), I've been applying for jobs, watching way too much Netflix, and praying grad school will start soon. All the waiting finally paid off--today I was also offered a job doing shipment work at Old Navy, which I couldn't be more excited about! I'm hoping I can juggle another work schedule on top of TAing and grad school this fall. I know it'll be a challenge, but I'm so looking forward to finally being busy again!

Last week we spent a day exploring downtown Portland on one of Hannah's rare days off. I had a ton of fun! We walked around Union Station, got Voodoo Donuts, went to Powell's Books (which I am totally in love with), and wandered around the city, taking it all in. We were total tourists and got not two, not three, but four donuts from Voodoo. We got a "gay bar" (because, you know...), a McMinnville Cream, a peach fritter, and a jelly donut of some sort. The peach fritter was definitely my favorite! I also got a ton of hair chopped off at a Paul Mitchell training salon, which ended up being a pretty traumatizing, hideously long (2.5 hours of hair cut, people) process. Needless to say, I'll be getting my hair recut sometime soon. Other than that I really couldn't have asked for a better--and more delicious--day!

P.S. - Note the tall, sexy Paul Bunyan who lives down the street. Hannah better look out ;)!