Bridges for Freeways

Our house has morphed into a state of organized chaos. 

Moving is a military family's constant. It seems like six months after the very last box has been unpacked you're already talking about when you're moving next. It starts out being so vague ("Oh, in a few years.") and whittles down into something more specific. ("May 2012") Then it becomes tangible: "Three more months,"... "A couple weeks,"... "October __." This is where we are... we're in specifics.

It's crazy to think we've been here for two years. It seems like the longest two years ever. So much "life" happened when we were up here, and my list of Things I've Learned has grown. There are definitely somethings that I will miss up here but, at this point, I'm so. ready. to. leave. 


I can't wait to trade rain for sun, isolation for people, bridges for freeways, tourists for locals, mist for fog, lack of options for too many options, 3 bedroom house for a bedroom, Seattle/ Portland for San Fran/ L.A., rivers for pools and porcupines for.... wait I'll keep that last part. I still pee my pants with excitement when I see porcupines. 

And, so, the packing and painting continues.... 

Girls Weekend

Last weekend, E, J and I had a girls weekend. We went to dinner one night, had an unexpected sleepover, spent the day around town and then topped the night off with dinner and movie. I meant to take more pictures but was distracted by the fact that the sun was ACTUALLY out. 


Being that we're in a smaller (understatement) town I was surprised that D and I have not yet made it to the OTHER side of the river to see the Peter Iredale wreck. Some of this was vaguely familiar since the last (and first) time I was at the Peter Iredale was when I was...umm... 4? 5? Something to that effect.

 View of Washington from the Oregon side. (White building on mountain top is above our house) This is a great view of the mouth of the Columbia River- only 4 miles wide! (That's big, by the way)

 Two of my favorite ladies: J and E

 The South Jetty. (A lot of my pictures are of the North Jetty since, well, we live by it)

 A hot- mess, freeeeeezing cold Wifey

 Blue skies!!!

 J

 This is the Peter Iredale wreck. (It's a boat if you can't tell) Pretty cool and a lot bigger than it looks.

 J+Wifey+E

 We spent more time taking crazy pictures than really checking out the boat.

 Me doing my fav pose

 E wind surfing

 J

 E+ J

So Sorry, February

Whoa! Where has the time gone? Not only did I not post in February but now March is almost over! 

February was a really fun month if only for the fact that I turned the big 2-5. I love that D and I celebrate birthday weeks instead of just one day. Since D had to work on my actual birthday, he decided to take me out of town a few days earlier to go shopping. Although it's only happened twice (counting this time) I absolutely love walking into a store and hearing D say, "Get whatever you want." Love. Him. 

I found a really cute pair of boots that I've had my eye on. I fell even more in love with them when I found out they were 85% off. When the sales lady announced the final price D blurted out, "Oh let's get you MORE boots!" I ended the day with just one pair of the aforementioned boots, new body lotion, and a fancy schmancy set of pots and pans. 

My actual birth- day was super special because I woke up to SNOW! For once our weather forecaster was right- we ended up with a few inches of snow that stuck around for more than a few days. It was so much fun to just watch the snow fall all day after being treated to breakfast by a great friend.

 About to cross into Astoria

 Our backyard. Snowing so hard you can't see the water!

 I watched little birds for hours.

The dogs and I went exploring most of the afternoon

 The day after my birthday, D and I met up with our friends, J & E, at our new favorite restaurant, Supper Club. The atmosphere is so fun and quirky, but I think the bar area is so cozy and cute. 

D, J, E and I had a ton of fun laughing and eating. We're so lucky to have made such good friends! 

 E and Wifey*

 J and Wifey

 Three hot-mess girls who can't take a decent picture together.

 This is the best face I could get out of five picture with D. Seriously. 

 But, two days later, I got my new favorite "us" picture... even though I took it in a parking lot before we got more goods to feed our addiction.

* I have a serious problem with keeping my eyes open for flash pictures!

Before and After

Most of the rooms in our house are painted. We kept the remaining rooms white as a way to save ourselves time and work when we have to leave base housing. (We'll have to paint every room back to white.) One of the rooms that we left white is our bathroom. 

In some ways I regret not painting it back when we first moved in. It's definitely way too late to start now because we really have no idea how much longer we'll be here. Why paint if we could be out of here next month?

To compensate, I tried my best to spruce up the bare walls with color. I'm not sure if it was today's sunshine- after weeks and weeks of rain/ fog/ mist/ clouds- that inspired a change, or if the bathroom's previous decor just got to me. Either way it's proof that $15 bucks and recycling a few your own pieces can brighten up a room... and your day.

Before: 

After: 

I love how the tangerine shower curtain brightens everything up. I also love the way the orange, green and chocolate brown compliment each other. I wish I could post the smell from the new candles- all three create a tropical scent that linger down the hall. 

Our living room has a new addition as well. We've had blue and white plaid couches since we were engaged. They were handed down to us by D's family, and have been through a few newlyweds before us. Although comfortable, our previous couches were not...er... our taste.

 We've mulled over buying new couches for a long time but just haven't decided on when the best time would be. Fortunately, our friend, J, is getting ready to move across the country and offered her three-piece sectional to us. We ab-sol-ute-ly love the new couch. D and I can actually sit together and cuddle. (Cuddle!) Our old couches weren't the best for that. 

Today I picked up a couple of new accents pillows.

Hostess With The Mostest

Today is our last day with D's family in town. What a crazy, fun week it's been! I feel like eating and playing Rock Band endlessly are about the only things we've accomplished. Fortunately the weather has cooperated a bit, and have allowed the boys to go fishing and shooting. 

This was the second time we've hosted Christmas at our house. (Last year being the first) But this was my VERY first year hosting AND cooking Christmas dinner. With a little help from D's mom I was able to pull it off. The only thing I managed to burn was a potholder. (After accidently touching it to the oven coil. No biggie!) 

Up until Christmas day I had been trying to fight some sort of illness. At first I thought it was the flu but it turned out to be a combination of side effects, sleep deprivation, sinus infection and 9 combined hours of singing to Rock Band. Lots of caffiene and Mucinex kept me going, but I ended up completely losing my voice a few hours before Christmas dinner. 

We feasted on glazed ham, salad, green bean casserole, funeral potato casserole, and rolls. 

 The gang minus three

 After dinner we enjoyed a very competitive game of Cranium. 

All in all, Santa was extremely good to Hubs and Wifey this year. Actually, I got really spoiled by D Santa by receiving a brand new camera....Merry Christmas to me!

 I'm extremely excited to take better pictures on a camera with a way better zoom lense. And I plan on taking better care of this camera since we beat the crap out of our old one. One day (waaaaay in the future) I will have my SLR camera that I've been dreaming of. 

To demonstrate better zoom/ quality- I took this picture yesterday standing in my kitchen (yes- inside, but obviously, zooming in) facing the backyard where this little island resides. 

(Insert Wifey's happy dance here)