champion

Brian's first place trophy and some pictures of our kitchen and the table we refinished.

more...

tony danza

Today Brian had planned a pre-birthday, birthday celebration. It started with an amazing breakfast at Broder in SE portland. Mine was a lemon waffle topped with ham and eggs and Brian ate smoked trout hash. Oh man...so good! Next he said he wanted to take me up North to St. Johns to visit a park he found on a bike ride. We jumped in the car and started the drive. Then he made a quick right turn in the opposite of St. Johns...weird, then a left into the Oregon Humane Society. "Let's get you a kitty!"
We met a bunch of cats and were having a hard time decided until we met a little fellow named Tony Danza. I instantly fell in love and we decided to bring hime home. He's super sweet and playful and comes when you call him. He's also really comfortable in our home and isn't really scared of much.
We're still working on coming up with a better name...

a few updates

Haven't had time to upload any new pictures, but thought I could fill in with a little news anyway. Last weekend Brian and I drove out to Mt. Hood high school, about an hour drive, for his first real cyclocross race (the last race was sort of a fun, beginning of the season type deal). He raced in the beginner class along with about 4 other guys. They started a minute behind the C class and even on the first lab I could see Brian closing distance between a bunch of the C racers. In the end, he lapped everyone in his group and ended up finishing about midway through the C group (even with the 1 minute delay). He was the overall champion for the beginner group and received a sweet trophy. I'm so proud of him! But, I'm thinking its time to move up to the next level!
In other very exciting news, we purchased a new sofa from ikea. We're pretty happy about it and have finally set up a decent looking living room, with art hung and everything.
Work has been going great for me. I'm learning a lot and really enjoying what I'm doing. Brian has had a little time off with some classes and tests here and there but will officially start classes this coming monday.
That's all for now. More to come...

Sauvie Island

On Sunday we drove out to Sauvie Island, about 30 minutes north of Portland, for a cyclocross race. It was the first race of the season and they do it every year on Kruger's farm. The weather was fantastic. It was Brian's first cyclocross race and he finished 7 out of about 70...amazing! You can see him leading off in the pictures. He's so excited for the rest of the season and has races planned for each weekend. The cyclocross culture is really great. Lots of families were there cheering the cyclists on and enjoying BBQ corn and beer.

Multnomah Falls

Last weekend Cian journeyed through Portland on the last leg of his road trip from New York to California. Him and Inga arrived on Thursday afternoon just in time for a quick bike tour of the city and an amazing dinner at a restaurant just down the street from our house. Trout, zucchini au gratin, and potato pancakes, topped off with spanish wine...mmmmm. The next day we took a short drive out to Multnomah falls. It was so beautiful out there, even the drive out was worth it.

a couple more

Some more pictures of the house and of us exploring the neighborhood...

settling

We're here, we made it! We moved into our house the first Saturday after we arrived in Portland and, as we hadn't seen it before we put the money down, we were very pleasantly surprised! The house is amazing: 3 bedrooms, a huge basement with washer and dryer (quite a luxury for us), big yard with tomato plants, mud room, and giant kitchen. We're still wondering how we're going to fill it...although we packed quite a bit into our last place so I'm sure we'll figure it out.
Our neighborhood is just up the street from 28th, a main drag with a few shops, restaurants, and bars. Oh yes, and within walking distance to a little Whole Foods...oh, yeah!
Here are some pictures before we were really able to move anything in, lots of potential!

We made it!

Day 4 and so on

We finally arrived in Portland! The weather is beautiful, the people are friendly, and we are soooo tired! We checked out our new house on 3018 NE Couch St. It's amazing! We have 3 bedrooms, a backyard (which the crazy neighborman says he never uses), a basement with washer and dryer, tomato plants, and a sun room. Our move in date was scheduled for Saturday...bummer. But Carly offered her home to us and we are taking full advantage. This morning we awoke to an even more beautiful day and walked down hawthorne to get some coffee, tofu scrambles, and peruse the local shops. We are thoroughly enjoying a little relaxation time and looking forward to some good bike rides around the city. More pictures to come when we move in.

miles before redding

Day 3

We woke on the third day of our trip to beautiful weather and pop tarts. After packing up camp we hopped on our bikes and rode a cool trail called Shoreline where we ended up in China Camp Village. There were a couple old men there building a boat so we watched them for a while and then walked a ways down the shore checking out tons of washed up jellyfish. We took the road back to camp and enjoyed amaxing views of the bay. We then got back in the car, picked up some killer coffee at a new bike shop called Bikes and Beans and then stopped at Sonoma taco shop for some last minute Californian-Mexican food. We said our goobyes to California and then began our drive to Ashland, OR. The drive was about 6 hours total and much harder than the first days drive...although much more beautiful too.