Happy 1st Anniversary

Our First Anniversary!

(Yes this post is almost 3 months late, but better late than never!). It’s hard to believe that a year has already gone by since our wedding day. Every time another month went by, we both were surprised with how quickly time flies. This year has been full of adventures, our honeymoon, moving in together, and starting our big remodel! Of course life doesn’t always go as you plan, I am still on the endless quest for a nursing job, our remodel has lasted longer than anticipated, but when life hands you lemons, you gotta make lemonade.

            To celebrate our 1 year, I started looking at all things paper to come up with a creative idea for Mark. I ultimately settled on hand calligraphy-ing our fancy Marriage certificate. It turned out great and I’m going to get a nice frame for it to display somewhere around the house. Mark surprised me with tickets to Broadway in Portland, which was totally unexpected and great. We did take out our wedding cake from the freezer to try some, and surprisingly, it wasn’t bad. We were also able to get a re-created cake from the bakery that was fresh and amazing. We also received a gift certificate to Skamania Lodge. It is a resort in the Gorge on the Washington side of the Columbia River. I thought it would be a great little getaway for our anniversary and worked out nicely as my cousin was getting married in the Gorge the following day. We started out the day with a hike in the Gorge, Angel’s rest. It is one of my favorite hikes, the views at the top are just breathtaking. After getting cleaned up we enjoyed a wonderful dinner overlooking the grounds and the Columbia followed by a walk around the grounds. The next day we drove into Hood River and went wine tasting before heading to the Bonneville Dam for a tour before the evening wedding. The weather was gorgeous, the day amazing and the company perfect.

            This year has brought us closer together and I can’t imagine not waking up to Mark every day. I know this year will bring more adventures and I can’t imagine any of them without my partner in crime! Here’s to another wonderful year! 

Angels Rest, Looking North

Mt. Hood Winery, Hood River

A bad Blogger!

Oh my,
I'm such a bad blogger. I have had every intention to write several posts over the last two months and well, clearly I haven't. I'm planning on highlighting our 1st anniversary and Hood to Coast as well as another remodel update. But for now, school work calls and I'm also fielding bids for our countertops! I'll leave you with a beautiful picture of Mt. Hood from Mt. Hood Winery in Hood River, OR.

August Already?

I can't believe it is already August! This summer has flown by. I've got a couple of posts in my mind, and I'll get to them just as soon as I finish my final paper for the semester. But in the mean time, I thought I would give an update as to what we have been up to for the summer (and why the kitchen is in the same state as it was in June)

This summer I started my Master's Clinical. I will be "working" with Clark County Public Health until graduation next May. My role there is to work on a practice improvement project and helping with other small projects during my time there. I never anticipated a nursing role in public health before, but it has been a very good experience and I am excited to be there until graduation. Needless to say, school this semester has been very tough, I have never been a fan of the 10 week semesters in which you still need to get 16 weeks worth of work in. But only two more semesters to go and I'll have my 3rd degree! 

The house remodel has reached a bit of a stall. I blame it on our busy summer schedule. We have a sink picked out, but the counters haven't been picked out yet. The floors were fixed a couple of weeks ago and while they only replaced two boards, puttied and marker-filled the other problems, it is nice knowing that we don't have to fix anything. Most of the kitchen cabinets have been secured to the walls, so we'll be able to move most of our dishes, small appliances etc., back into the kitchen.
 Now that school is over for the semester, I think we will have more time to work on the house, ie: Sarah will get to go shopping for  furniture ;)

We also knew that we didn't want to spend the entire summer working on the house, and want to be able to enjoy ourselves. For 4th of July we spent the afternoon/evening barbequing with friends and had an amazing view of downtown Portland.

We were also able to go up to Seattle to celebrate one of my best friends baby showers!! It was such a fun shower and barbeque to follow. A great way to kick-off our summer. 

The following weekend we rode in cycle Oregon weekend. It is a two day ride, where you have the option to go what I call "urban" camping. This year's event was held out of Oregon State Univ., so we camped out on campus and ate at the cafeteria. We rode 34 miles the first day and 36 the second day. For someone who never thought about riding that far, I had a really fun time. 

The next weekend, I went to Walla Walla to catch up with some more best friends for a weekend of wine tasting and celebrating new arrivals. It was a perfect weekend with beautiful weather and just a wonderful atmosphere. Picture is me and miss Lily Itule.

We are going to go spend part of the weekend in the Columbia Gorge this weekend, to celebrate our 1 yr. anniversary (can't believe its already here; another post on that later). 
 Then it will be off to Denver in a few weeks for more girlfriend time and the following will be Hood to Coast (an epic 12 person relay from Mt. Hood to Seaside, OR; also deserving of its own post). 

So far we have had a busy summer, the weather has been perfect for most of July and I'm thankful to be able to spend time with so many amazing people! Now if I can only pull myself away from the Olympics to actually write my final paper.....(Aug. 8 update: Paper is finished and the summer semester is officially over!)

Another Remodel Update

Our floors are done! Last week we had the hardwood installed and it feels good to have it finished. I would say that it looks amazing, but that wouldn't quite be how we feel. Don't get me wrong, it looks so much better than the subfloor and the forest green carpet, but its just not perfect. There are a few spots where the boards aren't quite touching and others where you can tell where they stapled it (either too hard with the tools or quality of the board). There is also one piece that is higher than the others, the whole corner is sticking up. Now I probably wouldn't have noticed all of the wrong little things for a while, but I was vacuuming all of the dust and I started to notice. Then Mark mentioned some of the spots and we decided that we should talk to the floor guys. Are we being ridiculous? The more we thought about it, the more we were told and had the expectation that it would be perfect. We shouldn't have to go around "fixing" the brand new floor. So, in the meantime we are working on putting the kitchen back together, also something we thought would be an easy task....boy were we wrong!

Of course there will be a series of remodeling recaps, but for now here are a few pics!

Kitchen before any Remodeling, even before new stove and microwave!!

Kitchen Before Floors (after painting)

Kitchen After Floors, Starting to Put Kitchen back together

Enjoy! I will be detailing the remodel just as soon as we are further along. Now its off to choosing counter tops and a sink (although we are pretty much 95% decided on the sink!)

The Big Remodel

*Disclaimer, I wrote this June 3rd*

Here is a brief update on our remodel:

In choosing to do much of the work ourselves, it has probably taken twice as long. But never the less, progress is slowly being made. We will be finishing the very last ceiling today. We had to wait a couple of weeks for the floor to come in, and now it is all sitting in the living room, acclimating. After some serious thought last weekend, we are considering having someone put in the floor. There are quite a few areas that would need a touch of leveling (you can use shingles), but that would mean an entire weekend dedicated to discovering where these spots are with a level and marking them. Originally we were going to install the floor ourselves, however, the more we thought about it and the extra work that is now involved, we would actually be able to enjoy our summer if someone else did the floor. We still need to pick out a counter top and new sink, but we know it will all be worth it soon!

Adjustments

With every stage in life come adjustments. In college it was adjusting to not being under your parents roof and taking more responsibility for yourself and schoolwork. After college, it was adjusting to life out on your own, new jobs, possibly new towns and meeting new people. The most recent adjustment in my life was going from fiancé to wife. Yes, its been 10 months, but I finally feel as though I have “adjusted” to being a wife. In the beginning it was fun, moving into “our” house and finding places for my belongings. I enjoyed starting to make a home for us. But there was still a large part of me that was in limbo. I missed not having my morning breakfast/tea with my parents each morning. I missed the noise that was always present at my parents, there was always something going on. One thing I could count on, is that I would never be lonely, because someone was always home (even if it was just the dogs). Mark and I don’t have a dog (someday maybe) and he always leaves for work in the morning, so I found early on that I was quite lonely during the day. I managed to fill my time with trips to the gym, school work and grocery shopping. But many times, I just missed having the noise around. It has taken a while to adjust, but I think I’m there now.  I have managed to make a schedule for myself as best I can and with clinical starting up, I have been very busy this semester. Our current remodel project has also taken up much of my time, as I have become an expert painter over the last month. It’s hard to believe it has taken almost 10 months for me to feel “settled” in my new role as wife, especially when I did a lot of the household tasks before we were married. But I am here now and each day I am blessed to wake up next to my best friend.

Spring is finally here!!

The sun has finally shown up in Portland and it has been amazing. Beautiful sunny, blue sky days all week and it is supposed to reach the 80's this weekend. I can tell you it is much needed after the dreary winter we seemed to have, rain and gray skies day after day. While I've always known the weather can affect your mood, this week I have noticed that everyone is happier and just enjoying life. The sun seems to have brought a sense of relief that winter is finally over and we can all start to enjoy our outside activities. The fact that it doesn't get dark until later also means that Mark and I are able to go for leisurely walks after dinner and the temperature is tolerable. I love this time of year and I'm hoping it sticks around!!

Spring?

Happy May Day, and for us Northwesterners, usually means the beginning of spring is just around the corner. Except today, the forecast is for rain, but this weekend is hopefully partly cloudy and in the 60's. At this point in the year, we all start to get antsy about some warmer weather. When I hear the weather man say that our high was 6 degrees lower than average, it does not give hope that sunshine and warmer weather are just around the corner. So in an effort to brighten spirits, here are some beautiful pictures to remind us of what is to come!

 

 

Hopefully spring will be just around the corner!!

Adventures in Job Hunting

Sometimes life has other plans for you, right now I'm experiencing that in trying to find a nursing job. But aren't there many nursing jobs out there? Well yes, there are, in fact, there is a prediction that there will be a nursing shortage in the near future as more nurses retire and the population gets older. However, with the downturn of the market nurses that would be retiring soon, are not, leaving fewer positions for new grad nurses. There are internships/residencies offered to new grad nurses, which are a great opportunity to get started in a new career. The only problem with these programs is that they are only offered 1 or 2 times a year and the application to hire process takes 5 months.

So where does that leave me? I chose to take time off from job hunting last summer to get married and go on a honeymoon. Since returning to the job hunt, the tone of the market has changed and many hospital systems require a nursing degree (preferably a BSN). I did not have a BSN, however, am continuing to work on my Masters in Nursing, and have a previous Bachelor's degree. However, the prospect of a MSN was not getting me far into the market, and I lack experience as a nurse, compounding the situation. But I was in store for some good news from the University of Portland, they were granting those students who were in my program and continuing on with the Masters, a BSN. So now I have two Bachelors degrees and will have a Masters in a year!  Since being able to put BSN on my resume and applications, I have found that I make it a little further through the application process, not being weeded out so quickly by the computer.

So, in the mean time, I am trying to remain positive, patient and persistent in the job hunt and hopefully soon everything will pay off!!

Welcome!

Welcome family and friends! Through inspiration from girlfriends and encouragement from my husband, I have decided to start a blog sharing our life adventures.Through this blog, I hope to share lots of things with you from new recipes (and probably failed recipes), updates on the current remodeling project and everything life has in store for us. With many of our friends and family spread out across the country, hopefully this will give you a little glimpse into our lives.

A brief update on what has been happening lately: 

• My partner-in-crime (Mark) and I just passed 8 months of being married, it is hard to believe how fast time has flown by!
• I am still looking/applying for nursing jobs, the market is tough right now, and I'm trying very hard to be patient, knowing the right one will come along. In the meantime, I only have one more year of grad school left until I receive my Masters' degree! 
• When we returned from our honeymoon in late August, Mark transitioned to a new group within the chassis engineering department at Daimler Trucks. The promotion to Senior Engineer brought new challenges, which he enjoys and has taken to riding his bike to work when the weather is nice!
• We have started remodeling the downstairs of our house. It is mostly the kitchen which will undergo the most extensive transformation, however, the entire downstairs is getting new coats of paint and flooring. I'll share lots of before and after pictures and update you on the progress. Since we are doing most of the work ourselves, it is taking a bit longer than expected, but will definitely be worth the wait! 

I'll try to update as often as I can and look forward to sharing life with you!