Swifts at Chapman School

Even though I have some posts to catch up on, tonights events were too cool to not share right away.  When Andrez and I first moved to Portland, some friends told us about the swifts at Chapman School.  You can learn more here, but basically it's an event every year in Portland in September where the Vaux Swift's start their migration toward Central America and use this school's chimney to roost, or sleep.  Andrez's brother, Mateo, has been visiting and it was really fun to get to see thousands of birds flying over this school and park and into this chimney!

French Doors

There has been a lack in posting due to me working full time hours now (I was only working 30 hours a week for the first month).  Andrez and I have been really busy between work, getting work done on the house, frequent visits to Home Depot,  me being on the "Tour-de-Friends" as Andrez puts it, and living life in Portland!  I am taking this weekend to relax and enjoy being at home, something I haven't done in almost a month (although I'm not complaining!)!  

Last time I posted, our french doors were still being installed and below is the finished product!  Andrez and I love them, and I especially think Willis and Lucy approve.  We keep them open as much as we can to have fresh air in the house and they bring in so much natural light.  I think this is one of my favorite parts of the house now!

Our New Subaru

Andrez and I are the proud new owners of a 2001 Subaru Forester!  I didn't want to get that old of a car, but when we saw the ad on Craigslist, we went for it.  It had one owner, 70,000 miles, and is in almost perfect condition, very few dings, clean on the inside, and new tires.  We are excited to have a crossover type car/SUV that has all wheel drive and can't wait to take her to the mountains and on some road trips to Seattle and throughout Oregon!  I am very excited to finally have a car of my own!  It's funny because so many people in Portland have a Subaru and we are happy to be part of the club now! 

Blueberry Picking

After being cooped up in our house for the past couple of weeks, we finally got out with ours friends, Lester, Rachel, and their adorable baby, Ezra, for some blueberry picking at Bella Organic Farm.  We went early to avoid the heat, and it turned out to be a pretty chilly day.  It was actually nice to get outside when the sun wasn't blazing and just enjoy the outdoors with Andrez and friends (the sun came out in full force later on!).  We picked lots of blueberries and some blackberries, although the blackberries weren't quite ripe yet.  We got so many blueberries that we froze some, gave some to our neighbors, and have already eaten the rest -- they were THAT good!

We also made a little stop at Kruger Farm because Rachel wanted to pick up a basket for farmer's markets.  Andrez and I picked up some natural honey (our allergies have been bad!), fresh salsa, a mango, and the best tortilla chips we have ever had -- they were actually gluten free and we devoured almost the whole bag and all of the salsa in one sitting!

It's Friday! (House Update)

The last couple weeks have proven to be extremely busy from working, moving into our house, moving out of our apartment (who knew two people could get so settled in a one-bedroom apartment with no furniture??), and just living life in general.  On top of moving in and getting all of our belongings that made the long journey from Okinawa to Portland, we are getting some work done to our house.  We are having french doors installed in our living room, a new vanity, sinks, and toilet in our bathroom, and the inside of the house painted.  We already had the floors refinished and they turned out amazingly!  It goes without saying, but after all of the hectic-ness of the week, I'm looking forward to having two days to myself, Andrez, and the pups.  I hope you all had a good week!

Start of the french doors.

Another view.

Our bathroom and soon-to-be vanity.

The drawers to our vanity.

French doors installed with no dry walling.

The mess that is our house when we have a house full of boxes and can't put things away!  We have priorities though, our TV and couch!