snowflakes

The first morning we woke up here it was seven degrees and we noticed some real snowflakes frozen to the banister and perfectly preserved on our balcony!! I had no idea they really looked like this. So cute!!

[[ snowflakes!! ]]

moving in

We moved over the pass on January 2nd, and have been doing a lot since then that I am excited to post about, but I have to go back in time to get things up to speed first. I will start with our moving weekend and work my way up from there. 

In the morning of the second, the movers showed up, and within a few hours everything we owned, aside from one suitcase with some necessities, was gone. It was a really weird feeling having strangers take away all of our things, and as always, I was sad to see our house empty knowing that we would never live there again. As soon as our things were gone, me, Pat, and Rory, who had graciously offered to help us move, stuffed ourselves in the car which was packed with as much as we could fit. I was literally smushed in the backseat and surrounded by blankets which actually made it a pretty comfortable drive.

[[ our empty house: livingroom. kitchen. office. bedroom. spareroom. closet. livingroom/kitchen. hallway. ]]

[[ the stuffed moving truck. me packed in to the subaru and ready to go. ]]

We just happened to be moving on the weekend that it had dumped a ton of snow, so the pass was really really icy and it took us a while to get to our place. We even passed a truck that lost control and was only saved from going over the cliff because of the bumper of packed snow on the side of the road... sketchy. This definitely made me feel better about hiring movers to do the heavy lifting and transporting. Rory's friend came over, and we all ate some dinner, hottubbed, and drank some champagne that my Mom bought me and Pat in honor of our big move. I should mention that while we are looking for places in Bend, me and Pat are living in Redmond in a home that is up for sale owned by his parents. Hopefully in the Springtime we will be able to find a place of our own.

[[ the first night: me and rory being weirdos. champagne toast to our new house (after the hottub, yes, we have a hottub). ]]

[[ brrr. the view out our diningroom window. ]]

The rest of the weekend was simply spent unpacking and trying to get everything in order as much as possible before we went back to Corvallis to clean our old place, have a going away party, and then make our final trip over the pass to our new home (which I discussed in my "Goodbye Corvallis" post).

goodbye corvallis

As I have mentioned a few times before, at the end of December me and Pat were making preparations to move and saying goodbye to good friends, and the town of Corvallis. A place that I had reluctantly grown to love. Even a year prior I had been aching to get out of our small college town and start a life with Pat somewhere new, and although I was ready for a new career, when it came down to the prospect of actually leaving, I was a little sad to leave it all behind. 

The two of us had really begun our relationship there, we had shared four residences over almost seven years there, we had both struggled with and graduated from college there, and made a ton of great friends and amazing memories along the way. So in the end, I was sad to see Corvallis go, but excited about the prospect of starting over together in a new place that we really really love. As we drove away from our long term home town for the last time, I was very reflective on each of the places I had lived, and who I was at that time. Although I am ready to collect new memories and residences in Bend, Corvallis Oregon will always hold a special place in my heart, so I owed it a little goodbye post.


Here are a few pictures from our last few outings right before moving. 
I wish I would have taken some pictures of our going away party, because we had a really good turnout, but I was so exhausted from packing and cleaning that I forgot. Thank you again to everyone who came out.

[[ cloud & kelly's. ]]

[[ sada sushi. ]]

[[ snugbar. ]]

[[ murphey's. ]]

Places I am going to miss/remember fondly:
Block15, Cloud & Kellys, Fairbanks, Snugbar, Murphey's, Bar 101, Aomatsu, Reeser Stadium, Monroe St., The Elements Building, the Waterfront downtown and my favorite place to sit, Francesco's, Sharon's, Tommy's, University Hero, McMenamins, American Dream, Crow Bar, and The Crow's Nest, the 35th street house, the entire OSU Campus, and yes, even though very reluctantly, I have to make mention of The Peacock and La Conga (whatever its called now) because no matter how horrible they are, I have many great memories at both.

Goodbye for now. 

pack pack pack

Me and Pat have been making some pretty good progress into our packing thus far, but have a long way to go! It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate living in a house of your own. We have already made one huge Goodwill run, and I would venture to guess we will have at least one more before we are done. It feels good to actually be sorting through things this time around though. In the past when moving it has sort of been the whole, throw your stuff in whatever you can find and worry about it later, type of thing.

Last week we tackled the office, extra bedroom, bathrooms, and we packed up all of our movies, games, and most electronics, as well as all of Pat's Rogue bottles, which required four boxes of their own! Over the weekend we got a bunch of the kitchen, the living room, and everything off of the walls. Our house is super sad looking now. The only decorations remaining are our tiny Christmas tree and stockings, which will have to come down soon as well.

Since we are leaving to start our Christmas this Friday, we both have to pack suitcases with the things we will be needing over the next week, leave out a few extra pieces of clothing for New Years Eve and moving day, and pack everything else up in to boxes. Moving day is the first, and my last day of work is Wednesday, so finishing everything up will be my job. Hopefully we will be almost all packed before we leave this weekend.

[[ some pictures from our packing progress. ]]

"trimming" the tree

Over the weekend I finally took down my Halloween decorations to put up some Christmas goodies instead. Unfortunately we can't get real tree this year (the why is still yet to be revealed) so I busted out our old fake one so that we could still have something to decorate. I have to admit, it does look a little pathetic sitting in our high ceilinged living room at a measly 4(ish) feet tall... but it still makes me smile. I also managed to put up our stockings and the wreath I made on the front door. Little victories.

The best part is that my dad brought me a little box of my favorite childhood ornaments that I have been trying to locate for a while. There is a set of little mice that I loved to play with every year and thought I had lost, so I am extremely happy that they are safely on our little tree this year. The box also contained some of the old wooden ornaments with little messages on them from my Grandparents that I used to receive every year, including my "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. :)

[[ our little christmas tree. ]]

[[ old ornaments from my childhood. ]]

sunday funday

This. Week. Was. A. Pain. In. The. Ass. ...I admit it. Seriously one of the busiest work wise I have had in a while, and the projects just kept coming from all sides. Heres to hoping that I get another day kind of like this one from last weekend after tomorrow wedding in which me and Pat are both in the bridal party. If I play my cards right I may even be able to see mi familia, and most importantly, my older sister Leah who is passing through town on her way to a wedding in Hawaii for approximately one day. Fingers crossed.

Here are some fancy schmancy springtastic pictures from last Sunday. I had to keep them in their own post because they were just oh so pretty by their lonesome.

[[ backyard relaxing. sandals and bare feet. train tracks. longboard ride. mini pool. sunbathing. tequilla. home made strawberry margaritas. ]] 

our 'new' place (tour) :: part II

I started this home posting off last week with Part I which gives a little peak into our living room, kitchen/dining room, and office. Part II, shows off the rest of the space including our bedroom/closet, guest room, and bathrooms very briefly.

bedroom
Despite these images, our bedroom is actually pretty large, or maybe it just feels that way with the high ceilings. Having a ceiling fan directly over our bed is one of my favorite parts, especially over the summer. We definitely have a lot of work left to do in the room though. There is a large empty wall above my dresser begging for some artwork, and as you can see, there are many pictures randomly placed about. The room is pretty much an assortment of all of my favorite little treasures collected over the years, and some Ikea bedding. I love it though. I think I want to paint something gigantic to go on the empty wall with lots of color since the room is super mellow and subdued right now.

Finally we have a walk in closet!! (though, I have to say it does not fit as much as I might have thought... if only I had it to myself). I love having my clothes, shoes, purses, belts, etc. all in one place though, it makes getting dressed in the morning so much easier. I also have a little rug on the floor and my Jenn hanger from Tiffany hanging up on the wall.

bathroom(s)

Nothing too exciting about a bathroom... I just figured I would include them for reference. Absinthe poster, candy dishes, my ring box, my necklaces hanging up on the wall, illustrations in gold frames. The usual. (The framed "hey there, tiger" print is one of my most prized possessions). 

hallway/spare bedroom

One of the great things about this place is that it is three bedrooms, thus allowing us to have a space for friends to stay the night. Perfect since we love having company on the weekends. Right now our friends Rory and Megan seem to be fighting over who's official room it is. A ton of my random artwork is hanging up in the hallway, and the extra room is a mish mash of everything else at the moment. I would like to give it more of its own look at some point, but for now large acrylic paintings and beaded pillows from Saturday Market years ago will suffice. 

[[ part two of our new place. ]]

our 'new' place (tour) :: part I

Me and Pat moved in to our own place back in June right before we went on our New York trip, but I have not done a post yet to show our little house off. Any new home is always a work in progress, but I like the way things are coming along. A few more empty spaces and blank walls to fill and it will be perfectly imperfect in no time. (This will be a two part post).

living room

Our living room is a huge mish mash of misc. items we have collected over the years, and some of our favorite books and things. We have Egyptian prints, masks from the Bahamas, a Tahitian weapon, and Mayan inspired calendars from Mexico all hanging on the wall. I use antique glass candy dishes to collect misc. items like keys and sunglasses on the glass table by the front door. I also have two lawn gnomes up there to greet people, (we have had issues with them being stolen in the past). We also have some of my random paintings spread throughout the house. And what living room would be complete without a ton of classic novels, design books, comics, an antique typewriter, an assortment of Buddha figurines, and a painted sugar skull? (The brass carousel figure I have has since I was a little girl).  

kitchen // dining room

A kitchen is a kitchen. Pretty standard. Although, Pat has a pretty impressive collection of Rogue bottles that adorn the top of our cabinets. (Thank you high ceilings). The kitchen is pretty small, but we love our island and all of the open space! We used two skinny bookshelves to display all of our glassware (wine glasses and such) and to serve as our liquor cabinet, as well as to display some more of Pats bottles. 

the office 

Though Pat would like to point out that I do not actually work in my offices that much, I do love having them to display all of my projects and store my art supplies. I have been wanting one of these bookshelves from Ikea for a long time, and I finally went and got one for myself. It is perfection. A great place for all of my random items. (And of course, hanging above the shelf is our signed Deftones album and prized possession). 

[[ part one of our new place. ]]

we found a house!

Me and Pat finally found a place of our very own (finally)! Ok, so we actually found the house a few weeks ago... but I did not want to say anything until everything was finalized. We went by at lunch time today and signed all of our papers and wrote rent/deposit checks, so everything is now 100%. Our official move in date is June 10th, which is coming up quickly, but since we are both busy that weekend, our moving experience might be a little bit spread out.

The house is in "Southtown" Corvallis, not our first choice, but for the size and price it really cannot be beat . Ideally we would just stay where we are now, but while Hayden is going to school that is just not an option for us. It is a three bedroom, two bath, single story home with a small backyard and two car garage. It was built around 2002 and has around 1300 square feet. (I should note that we are renting). Two nice things about the location are: 1) It is away from campus and all of the students. 2) It is right next to a bar that Pat really likes called Murphey's.

I am so beyond excited to be living in our own place again, free of roomates and able to have everything exactly how we want it. Not to mention that we can finally start accumulating some nice things for ourselves, such as furniture and various kitchen items. I am a girl, I am allowed to get excited about that stuff! I want new bedroom everything bad! I think that is what I am most excited about, and just setting everything up and making some home improvements in general.

Here a few crude shots I snapped with my iphone while we were over there earlier. (note the carpets are tan not brown, and the master closet is a walk in!). They are just starting the cleaning process to get it all ready for us.

[[ the front. kitchen. living room views. hallway. master bedroom. walk in closet. bathrooms are almost identical. ]]

There you have it. Many more pictures to follow as we start to move in!

brief weekend adventures hiatus.

My weekend adventures posts have been suffering a little bit lately. Though I did have some weekend adventures last weekend I somehow managed to end up with no imagery what so ever due to camera malfunctions... To very briefly summarize, we went to our friends Brad & Alia's engagement party Saturday night, and I went home for Mothers Day Sunday, and I wish that I had pictures to post, but that just isn't the case.


I promise I will have some for you next week, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures I snapped earlier last week of us doing some yard work in the fleeting sunshine.

[[ trees in the front yard. loki. flowers in bloom. the boys. ]]