It has been almost exactly one year since my big move from New York to Oregon. I can’t believe how much work the whole process was, but I know that it helped me to break it down into bite-sized chunks – otherwise I don’t know how I would have gotten everything done without getting overwhelmed.
I thought perhaps that after all the big decisions had been made to relocate to the opposite coast that the hardest part was over. I was wrong. There were a million tiny decisions left to make and as someone who struggles with decision-making it was a lot of work.
Here are 5 tips to help you manage your way through this process.
It’s been over a year since Anna and I returned from our vacation in Puerto Rico and I still want to go back.
We first considered Puerto Rico as a destination because flights were inexpensive and we knew that in April we’d be ready to leave the cold weather behind. A few quick google searches later and we had a growing list of things that we wanted to do and a hankering for some piña coladas. Continue reading
Friday morning we somehow managed to get out the door by 9:30am and on our way to Scotts Mills, Oregon to cross another item off our Summer 2016 bucket list – hiking at Butte Creek Falls.
Visiting the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon was another item we had on our summer list and lucky for us it’s one of the cultural passes offered by the Washington County Library system.
By the way, if you live in the area you should really check those passes out. We’re working our way through using all of them this summer and have saved quite of bit of money so far. Continue reading
I find the older I get, the more tiring it is to keep making excuses for myself. I need to work on living in my own truth, figuring out at why I operate the way I do and calling bullshit on myself when necessary.
Basically getting out of my own way.
Sound familiar to anyone else? This may be the #1 reason I start things that never get finished. I wear myself out trying to make something ‘perfect’ and when I can’t – I give up on it. In fact, I’ve talked myself out of projects before I even started them due to this mindset. I think that ‘good enough’ gets a bad rap and from now on it will be my mantra.
Yes! Sadly, the realization that I’m not very good at those things that I’d most like to do frustrates and discourages me.
So what would I do if I didn’t let these things get in my way?
We’ve already started doing a few things this summer that are making me happy like walking after dinner and taking time to read (actual) books every day. So I’d like to add one more thing – to be less of a consumer and more of a creator.
Adam is great example in this respect. He makes the time to write music, regularly and with purpose. Sometimes stealing 20 minutes here and there when he can find it.
My goal then for the rest of the summer is to purposefully create something every day whatever that may look like – could be taking photos, writing stories, putting together a blog post, journaling, designing stationery, making crafts, or who knows what else.
Doing it purely for the joy that fills my creative soul and not because I think it will be any good, as a matter of fact, I’m expecting it to suck. That’s right, I’m giving myself permission to be very bad at the things that make me happy and I’m looking forward to the freedom that will come along with that.
Starting right now.
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A few weeks ago I did something that I really wanted to do and also didn’t want to do at all – isn’t that the way it is sometimes with adulting? The very things that are good for us are sometimes the ones that we just don’t want to do.
Having moved to a new city within the last year means that I don’t know very many people and almost all of the people that I know best and who really know me live 3000 miles away. So I need to start making some new friends – local ones that I can grab a drink or bite to eat with.
I can’t say that I’ve ever consciously tried to make new friends before. It feels strange, like the sort of thing that should just happen naturally and I have to admit, I’m not really a big fan of the early parts of friendship building. I’m an introverted extrovert (or an extroverted introvert) and while I derive a certain amount of happiness from social situations, I really suck at the mechanics of it all…the introductions, small talk and getting to know you phase. I’d rather skip ahead to the good stuff. Continue reading
We visited the ‘Witches House’ in Forest Park last October and I’m looking forward to exploring more of this huge park throughout the different seasons of the year.
Forest Park is a wooded public park just west of downtown and is one of the largest urban parks in the country. There are more than 60 miles of trails for walking and hiking. Continue reading
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and I know that it’s a commercial holiday created to sell greeting cards and chocolates and roses and all that jazz…still, the romantic in me likes the excuse to do little something extra special for my loved ones.
Like making this cake adapted from the ever-cool Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance.
We found ourselves downtown this weekend, starving and ready to cross off another item from our restaurants to try wish list (what, doesn’t everyone have one of those?) So we headed to Next Level Burger on Hawthorne.
It feels a bit like a chain fast food establishment, but there are currently only two locations – one in Bend, OR and the one we visited in Portland. I’d already spent some time drooling over the online menu, which is all plant-based, and was pleased to see that their ingredients were organic and non-GMO. It also doesn’t hurt that they have a real focus on sustainable practices and that their employees are paid above average hourly wages. Go NLB!
