..i'm going to pack my things and go...

in a month that is.

as of Feb 1, 2009, i will have yet ANOTHER new address! (that puts me at 3 in the past year, whoo hooo!)

5337 NE 33rd Ave
Portland, OR 97211

nothing is official yet, i sign papers on saturday, but YAY!

and, clearly, when i move in next month there will be many more photos, but as people are still living there, i'd like to not be considered a stalker :P


anyway, that's the big news of the day... i may make the effort to write some sort of introspective reflection on the past year later, we'll see...ha!

happy new year :*

when it snows, ain't it thrilling?

as the news likes to call it - we're in the middle of arctic blast '08... apparently portland hasn't had this much december snow in at least 40 years. awesome.

but, actually, i am enjoying it immensely, makes me smile... not having had winter in 5 years, this is a novel experience again. and also, quite pretty.

anyway, some more assorted snow photos!

and we'd drop to sleep exhausted/then we'd wake up and it's snowing

SNOW!


i know what you're thinking here: snow? in portland? alexis, we all know it rains there but snow? and you're excited? why?

ha. well, i haven't had winter in a good 5 years so i find the snow lovely! and we've had snow off and on for just about a week now and it's supposed to continue for another week... it started last sunday - pretty heavy snow and so called it a day indoors and decided to bake! i made some vanilla-cranberry coffee cake muffins from a recipe off smitten kitchen - and they were delish, and it was superfun to use my new cuisinart handheld blender small kitchen appliance! (thanks mama!)




and the rest of the week kind of went that way, snow again wed and thurs... didn't go into work on thursday because the morning snow was a little bit crazy here in NE. but it warmed up later in the day and was actually sunny out before the temps dropped again and everything got icy! woke up to more snow this morning, and while it's a pain in the ass to get stuff done in, i have to say i'm enjoying it immensely ... sooo pretty. though puma totally freaked out the first time she was watching the snow out the window - hilarious! ohhhhhh puma :)

so at the moment, am sitting in my favorite coffee shop having had a lovely breakfast here after going to look at a rental house nearby (am looking to move in feb, when tim gets up to pdx) - so, starting that whole process again!

and that's the update... minus all the stuff you missed since thanksgiving... lol, see the pictures below - some from tgiving and some from the Tri-D holiday party!

thanksgiving, the non-pie edition (still minus emily's photos):


Tri-D holiday party (these are the lovely people i work with... but don't be scared, there was a facial hair competition going on...)






love and *.*snow*.*

tastes so good makes a grown man cry/sweet cherry pie*

*disclaimer, there is no cherry pie*

ok.

wow.

thanksgiving was...

chaos.


good chaos. but chaos nonetheless (as per usual). it was a whirlwind several days - lots and lots of baking to do and people to see! it was great to be home and the new kitchen was beautiful AND functional! hooray! got to catch up with lots of friends and see family, it was good to be home. also wandered around DC a bit with tim. but more than that there was PIE. lots and lots of PIE.




now am back in portland, and this week is starting off kind of slow... lots of cancellations (don't know what is up with that) and i am exhausted. but, things are good - and i am happy to be back and hang with my puma (who yelled at me excessively upon my return).

mostly, i just want to say how great it was to see everyone - mike and sarah, emily, karen, grace, dida, clint, patric, meg, jen, eric and meryl, min and matt, ivone, laura, miori and of course the fam: mama, craig, amy, natalie, david and the kitties :)

more tgiving pix when emily gets around to sending me photos :P

*thanksgiving*

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

updates later, and this belated thanksgiving to all those people in my life who make it more than worthwhile. thank you for everything you do.

go now, and live

just came across this... and like it. a lot.

down by the river

had a great week last week! it's so much fun doing acupuncture - i love it! have met some really wonderful people at Awakening Lotus, the patients are great and there are some interesting cases. Signed papers over at Tri-D and am excited to get started there! Lots of the learning the ropes this coming week before I head east for tgiving!

it's been a beautiful last few days and bjorn and i got to hiking on saturday - we went up to washington to hike the Lewis river trail. it was so pretty! a pretty mild hike, but awesome river with some raging falls - it was so great to get out and enjoy the autumn!

today was a good catch-up day for me, tied up some loose ends and have just 2 patients to treat tonight!

i am getting SO excited for thanksgiving, mama has already started food shopping and i am sure the baking schedule will be published soon :P i am excited to bake, to see the new kitchen, to see my family, to see old friends and to show tim DC! so much to do!

i'm feeling supersonic/give me gin and tonic/you can have it all, but how much do you want it?

what a week.

what a fucking amazing week.

i am not even really sure where to start. (at the beginning?)

monday i went for an interview for an acupuncture position that ended in me treating 2 patients - it was so much fun! loved the center, and joey - the woman i would be sub-contracting for and covering her patients while she's away - is awesome.

then clearly election night, in my opinion went the way i had been hoping (minus that nasty prop 8 passing thing in CA, ugh) and bjorn and i went over to jake and jackie's to bite our nails in anticipation! thanks for the invite guys, it was super fun! :)

then friday is really where everything got exciting - went back to Tri-D fitness and therapy - where i had interviewed a couple of times, and met with the owner and they were great and really want me to have a position there as well. it's a neat place where i would be doing both bodywork and acupuncture - but treating mostly motor vehicle accident patients and athletes, so ideal for me and wanting to do orthopedics! so, i haven't officially accepted the position but will do so tomorrow. and then friday afternoon joey called me and asked me to cover her patients - so i treated 5 people, and rebooked for next week (to see me, as joey will be away).

ok, so i know i am all over the place, and maybe you can't hear the smile in my writing. i don't even really know how to explain how it feels to be doing what i've been thinking about for SO long... to be doing something I LOVE DOING and getting paid for it. i mean, really? you can do that? ha! it's just awesome! i am on such a high, i can't even tell you. at some point i will try to sit down and write something more coheseive...but right now, so pumped.

got to meet up with zach last night for tea (and beer) - we went to PCOM together and he graduated maybe a year before me, and is living here in portland with his wife, and has a practice - so it was cool to catch up and i think we're going to set up a trade!

oh, and i quit the stupid spa job as of today!

so for all of the above and more life is good right now, and only getting better...

i'm a happy girl this week.


oh, links to my 2 places of work: Awakening Lotus Healing Arts Center, and Tri-D Fitness and Therapy

VOTE!

this is going to be a crazy day for this country, one way or the other. i am not much one for politics and have never been particularly involved. however, i do believe that the right to vote is an extraordinarily precious freedom despite many of my objections to actual politicians. i think that the right to vote is part of what defines america and should be something we all do with pride. whether you love this country or hate it, if you are an american citizen, please use your VOTE to speak your mind - it is your voice.

while i don't think our system is perfect and there is potential for fraud and disenfranchizement, don't be disheartened, please VOTE. it's important. to quote rachel maddow:

"It's one thing to worry about the vote being stolen. About whether or not our votes really get counted right. It's one thing to worry about partisan Republican efforts to purge voters off the rolls who rightfully belong there. Those things are worth worrying about. But the lines at voting places. There's no wondering about that. If you are confronted with a long line on election day, your country needs you to commit to stand in it. If you are an employer and your employees are late to work on Tuesday or have to leave early in order to vote, your country needs you to cut them some slack. If you're an elections official, your country needs you to have contingency plans to your contingency plans, and frankly probably a stockpile of paper ballots under lock and key to turn to if the lines are so long as to be disenfranchising. And if you are a politician, your country needs you to abolish this poll tax, to make the right to vote equally available to every American regardless of our ability to pay whether that payment is in cash, or in time. No matter who gets elected it is time to fix this election season, this election system once and for all. Too many people bled for this right for us to see it squandered."

see her clip on 'the new poll tax' here

luckily, standing on line is not a worry of mine, as oregon does ALL of it's voting by mail. originally i had some issues with this, it just didn't feel right - no going to a polling center, standing in line with others all out to vote, no having my own election booth and filling out a vote, depositing my ballot and getting an "i voted" sticker... seems odd! but, the more i have thought about it and in line with rachel maddow's thought on the new poll tax (i.e. the time it costs to stand on line...etc) i think i like this voting by mail deal. oregon was the first state in the US to go to a vote by mail system in 1998 - this system has significantly reduced the cost of elections and truly allows all registered voters the chance to vote, despite their physical condition (if they are unable to stand on long lines or are in a hospital, etc), work requirements (maybe they can't afford to take the time off work to vote, despite going early - the lines might still be long) or any other unforeseen circumstances that may not allow a person to make it to the actual voting booth. no, voting by mail is NOT perfect - but it does allow for the greatest number of registered voters to actually vote. and while everyone may not agree that voting by mail is better, in the very least election day should be a national holiday - so we can all take the time to exercise our right to vote not at the expense of our jobs.

while i have my views on the candidates and certainly have a preference for who should win this election, i want EVERYONE who CAN to VOTE. no matter who you vote for. please, CARE - this is our country, and while it is not perfect, it is ours. apathy gets us nowhere. so please whomever you support, whatever your reasons for voting - JUST VOTE.

the falling leaves drift by the window/the autumn leaves of red and gold

can i just say that i ABSOLUTELY ADORE AUTUMN!

(it's true.)


autumn in portland is turning out to be just spectacular and i had a plan to walk around today and take pictures because right now because the trees are stunning and in full transition - the color palate is vibrant and varied, the deep deep red, the golden yellow, fiery oranges and just a few tinges of green ... and i did bring the camera when i left the house and the battery, but neglected to bring a memory card... so, perhaps tomorrow (if you're lucky).

right now i'm at this awesome little tea shop in NW, a beautiful part of town - lots of brick buildings and old victorians which somehow make me almost feel like i'm back in maine with the changing colors and leaves starting to fall... and the temperature is mild, and the sky is blue... we've been having such a lovely season. and maybe i am overly gushy as i haven't had an autumn in 4 years, and while i know i miss spring desperately when i don't get it, i don't think i realized how much i adore the transition from summer to winter. for another look at autumn from a chinese medicine perspective, please read this.

right, so i'm in this tea shop, and i am here because i went into work for 2 hours today (work? you say, alexis, i didn't know you got a job!) and this is true. it's not something i've shared, because mostly i try not to think about it - i'm living in denial that in fact i am working there part-time. i don't want to dwell on it - but it's a part-time job at a spa, and that's all i am willing to say. more on the job-front, i interviewed last week for a massage position with very possible expansion into acupuncture at a very interesting personal training facility that also does massage and movement therapy. they want to build their therapy department and treat a lot of motor vehicle accident patients. much more my style than the current gig, so i hope to hear back from them this week. additionally, i have an interview for an acupuncture position scheduled for tomorrow, so wish me luck and send good thoughts that we all like each other and that it works out!


so, that's the latest on this end. back to mama's visit - we had a lovely weekend, decent weather and got out to the gorge, the japanese gardens, and around town. it was a quick 3 days but so great to see mama and have her visit portland for the first time. below are some pictures of the gorge (again, but in sunshine this time!) and i am awaiting photos from mama's camera. thank you for everything mama, MWAH!





and, can you believe it's 4 weeks til i will be back east for thanksgiving? it's going so quickly! but i am excited for the new kitchen and for the days of baking that thanksgiving entails! though, the next 4 weeks might go a little more slowly as i have no more visitors scheduled :(. on the thanksgiving note, i also managed to coerce tim into coming back east with me - i feel like he should experience a true thanksgiving... miori can attest to it :) and also, perhaps, he wanted to see DC...

and now - i should go be productive!

represent

i've been a bit slack on posting, will catch up over the weekend re: mom's visit, etc.

but in the meantime, check out the bowdoin love on grey's anatomy



(hat-tip to court)

not all who wander are lost

but i sure as hell was. it was another gorgeous day here in northern oregon. and so i figured since it's supposed to be one of the last beautiful weekends before winter sets in i might as well get out and do something. found an awesome hike to do (vista ridge to owl point) even though it was kind of a ways out. actually, not too far from where tim and i had been camping. so i read the directions and had mapped out a route, was making good time when i came to split in the road, and this was expected, however the way i was supposed to go was VERY unfinished road, HUGE potholes and i tried it for .3 miles, and wasn't sure i could even turn around and get back, it was AWFUL. so i figured that was it, turn around, go home. but a road nearby said to "lost lake" and i'd read about a short hike there so i figured why not?

thus far the day was spectacular and the views had been nothing short of that as well. so i followed yet another unnamed national forest development road. never made to lost lake. ended up on a road that should have gone to the trail i wanted in the first place. eventually made it to the trailhead, albeit much later than i originally intended.

i don't even have words for the trail, unbelievable. not too long, moderately strenuous. the views were UNREAL. as you will see below, there are more pictures of mt hood than anyone actually ever wants to see (and this isn't all of them!)




unfortunately given the late start of my hike, i didn't have time to hang around at owl point - would be a great spot for a picnic, wanted to journal a bit, but had to get back to the car and hopefully off the mountain roads before dark!

was happily following my gps home (avoiding the scary evil road) when according to the gps there was a road and according to the road there was a river. that was interesting. eventually sorted another way home, but ADVENTURE!

look at some maps when i got home, and found the crazy route that i took through the mts...

(blue is the way there, red the way back, and the turquoise markers are the start and end pts of the hike, the blue markers are where the road ended due to a river and i had to re-route)

i am definitely going to feel this all tomorrow - am already icing my knee... it's not used to the rigors of the outdoors. but the hike was most definitely worth it despite being lost in the mountains, and giving my knees a hard time!

and the colors are much brighter now/it's like they really want to tell the truth...

don't have much to report. went to eagle creek today and did a bit of hiking.




oh, and i think i'm in love with oregon :)

in the misty morning hours she calls to me

ok, here's the recap of the past week... tim came up to visit by train all the way from san diego, a formidable task of 35+ hours. not to mention the huge delay at everybody's favorite, klamath falls. so, he arrived late last wednesday night, and we did all sorts of exploring around portland for the next week!

highlights include: powell's, washington park, japanese garden, rogue brewpub, belmont and hawthorne areas, the pearl district, crossing the washington state line, winning trivia for the 2nd week in a row, voodoo donut, park blocks, but probably the best part of the trip was our jaunt along the columbia river gorge and camping out at hood river.

we took off on a misty morning and drove along the historic columbia river highway, the views of the river and gorge looked like something out of a movie set. the low clouds, the intense greens... it was almost jurassic park. (minus the velociraptors of course). all along the gorge there are various waterfalls that we stopped at, did a little bit of hiking and took way too many photos.



as you can see, words don't really do this justice. it was just SO GORGEOUS. the green, the water, the moss... *sigh* it makes me SO happy that i get to live here. it is surreal in a way. anyway, i don't remember the names of all the falls we went to, but i tried to label them if i did. multnomah falls is the big one, it has a drop of 620 feet or so... very cool.

we headed along the gorge about 60 miles outside portland and then followed the hood river a bit til we got to tucker park. and we camped there, right on the river. it was awesome. the campsite was nice and wooded and waking up to river in the morning was such a treat. we explored the river banks a bit... a little bit of rock scrambling, and then took the scenic route home and got to see some pretty autumn leaves and a few nice views of mt hood.




and here are a couple videos from camp:

i had such a great time exploring and finding new fun places with tim (thanks so much for visiting!) and mostly just hanging out and getting to know oregon with him. hopefully the similarities to english weather didn't put him off too much, and he'll be back to visit again soon :P

and now that tim is back in san diego, i am once again left to my own devices... still working on the job thing, but have a couple of leads. as you saw in my last post, my license came through, so i am trying to work on my future regarding that. cross your fingers that something good will come up soon :)

on another exciting note, mama is coming to visit in a week! yay! (i know, it's like i run a hotel here or something...)

legalize it

this has been a fabulous and fun week, lots of photos and stories to share from tim's visit, but before i get that together and organized, i wanted to share the following:

FINALLY! i am legal! i got my license in the mail the other day, so I am officially an Acupuncturist with the state of Oregon! YAY!


more later,
Alexis Goldstein, L.Ac.

...drums...

KATRIN IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!


congrats, kat! i'm so excited for you and jake!


lovelovelove!

how could i forget to mention/the bicycle is a good invention

and no. i don't have one of my own yet. have to work on that.

this past week... more disappointment on the work front. had a few interviews, wasn't really feeling it. didn't get the job i preferred. got offered a job i *really* don't want, so i declined, but that was hard as well. so, still looking... and waiting on my license...

also hung out with nick a couple days this past week, just chilling and exploring portland. nick and i went to PCOM together but had never actually spoken to each other, and he moved up here the same time i did and is in the same sort of situation... so, it was cool to hang out and explore together.

yesterday bjorn and i headed out to rickreall (about an hour away) to watch mason race in the rickeall open (a cyclo-cross race) it was a gorgeous day out, and ryan's farm was an awesome place to have it. superfun to watch, the course went around the farm and hazelnut orchard and through the woods, and there were some neat features like ladders and the over/under. it was a little dusty out in the sun, but lots of excitement, and of course, a few wipe-outs. then a bunch of stayed the night and camped out on ryan's yard (or couch) - thank you ryan!


other than that, am planning on heading to the small business administration tomorrow morning to see if they can give me some guidance on starting my own business... seemed like a good idea. and then, of course, the excitement of my week is that tim is coming to visit! he's taking the train up from san diego (i know, it's a looooong ride) and will be here wednesday. yay! :)

oh, i forgot, our team WON trivia thursday night! whooo hoo! thanks jake and jackie!

...i am not a pretty girl/that is not what i do...

we'll do this week in reverse. so hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen...

in regards to the title (an ani classic) i spent yesterday watching both a women's rugby game (thank you allison for the invite!) and roller derby. and not to imply they weren't actually pretty in the least, but 'pretty' certainly isn't what these ladies do. they're out there getting dirty, playing rough and it just made me think a lot about these absolutely athletic women who are out there competing in sport but also having a ton of fun. they were so real, and full of passion and fire and comeraderie.... and, i miss that. watching both these events (and if you've never seen either, you should see both), watching these women on these teams made me realize how much i want to be a part of something... something that challenges me physically and mentally, something that gives me that rush, something that requires teamwork - the necessary support of others for anyone to sucessful.

picking up and moving...being here without a local network, without anyone who really knows me, without someone to call to go hiking or hit the town on a saturday night, i feel kind of... very on my own. which has it's moments for sure. and i know the rest will come, it takes time, but watching those women yesterday made me realize, acutely, how great it is to have that. i think about my rugby team at bowdoin, and i don't know what i would have done without those girls - it was such an amazing group of ladies, and some of my best friends came out of playing rugby. i just feel so lucky to have experienced that, to have been a part of something like that... and i hope to do it again. though, since i've been effectively banned from rugby, i'm not sure how this will manifest... perhaps roller derby is in my future? (i'd clearly need to learn how to rollerskate first!)

back to the rewind, i went to the rugby with allison, whom i met on wednesday night courtesy of spencer (whom i met thanks to rachael who works with mom). anyway, spencer was so sweet and organized a little get together at blue moon where i got to meet him and a bunch of his friends, have a few beers and hang out. everyone was really friendly and welcoming, and it was nice to get out of the house and chill with some people (albeit strangers!). anyway, allison and i got to talking, and she's a physical therapist and somehow rugby came up and one of her friends had a game sat, so i tagged along to watch :) so fun to watch live rugby!

the roller derby was a bit of a surprise, i got a call from scott (who i don't know) who is a friend of bjorn's (who is out of town) and he had some extra tickets, and i had nothing else to do with my saturday night so i headed down to the expo center and watched some roller derby! it was a whole other world, i have never seen it, so there was a bit of a learning curve, but definitely fun to watch and both of portland's teams won, so that was exciting! thanks scott!

so, let's get all the social stuff out of the way... on thursday i met up with jake kamins and his girlfriend jackie for trivia night at a bar in NE. it was great to see them both again, and actually chat a little, and trivia was fun - i even got a few things right, ha! and a welcome distraction to a not-so-great day.

had a few interviews this past week, which i thought went really well, but didn't get a couple of jobs, and one i had really really wanted. and i was perfect for, the woman even said so in her very sweet rejection letter - but she was looking for someone who wanted to do it very long term, and that's not my 5 year plan. but i think she'll be a great contact and we're going to keep in touch. not getting that job just sent me a bit into a spin... about how i have no idea when i will get to do what i WANT to do. i want to be doing acupuncture. but, it seems so so so SO far away. and already feel like it's been ages since i was in a clinic practicing... and i miss it. SO much. i'm going to have make bjorn and mason get needles, just so i keep up with the needles :P. anyway, after much talking with mom and dad, tim and emily (thank you all, much appreciated) had a much better day on friday and a really great interview for yet another job. my interviewer told me i interviewed really well, so cross your fingers - it seemed like a great work environment and i should hear by tuesday if i made round two of the interviews...

and there you have it, albeit in a slightly disjointed fashion. here's to a new week and me getting a job :)

I am not a pretty girl
that is not what I do
I ain't no damsel in distess
and I don't need to be rescued
so put me down punk
maybe you'd prefer a maiden fair
isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere

I am not an angry girl
but it seems like I've got everyone fooled
every time I say something they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger
and never to their own fear
and imagine you're a girl
just trying to finally come clean
knowing full well they'd prefer you
were dirty and smiling

and I am sorry
I am not a maiden fair
and I am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere

and generally my generation
wouldn't be caught dead working for the man
and generally I agree with them
trouble is you gotta have youself an alternate plan
and I have earned my disillusionment
I have been working all of my life
and I am a patriot
I have been fighting the good fight
and what if there are no damsels in distress
what if I knew that and I called your bluff?
don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down
whether or not you ever show up

I am not a pretty girl
I don't want to be a pretty girl
no I want to be more than a pretty girl

-Ani DiFranco

we're back together again/ and i'm never gonna lose you as a friend...

so, i had the awesome semi-surprise of Katrin coming to visit for the weekend. she called me up thursday and said she was thinking about hopping on the train and coming out to portland for the weekend (she's in montana) and she did just that! i picked her up from the train station on friday morning and we just had an awesome weekend together!

it's so crazy to me that this is only the second time i have gotten together with Kat since we were flatmates in NZ over FOUR years ago... CRAZY! she came down to SD to visit a couple years ago and then just this past weekend... i guess i owe her a few visits out in montana (can't wait to go now that she's just a train ride away!).

anyway, it was SO SO SO great to see her and catch up in person, and recount some of our favorite NZ stories, talk about all the new and exciting things in life and explore portland and of course, drink some damn good beer. friday we grabbed brunch and then later went exploring in the belmont/hawthorne area, which i hadn't been to yet. very cool, very bohemian... went to the bridgeport brewery and had some good beer... came home, made dinner and chilled out with wine, chocolate and a movie. saturday we went to the saturday market after breakfast and a walk in the alberta area (at my new favorite coffeehouse) then wandered around downtown/pearl district and of course powell's. oh, and we decided a stop at voodoo doughnut was an absolutely necessary cultural experience and then, the deschutes brewery was calling to us! had a couple of really interesting beers... i had a preference for the bachelor's bitter, but the x-tap was liked by both of us... a lighter beer than i usually drink, but great for the warm day, and really complex flavor ... hot chilis... so interesting. never had a beer like that before. we thought we were going to have a big night on the town, but instead picked up some take-away indian and wine and watched movies all night. it was fabulous. today we ended up having breakfast over in the nob hill area (kinda pricey part of town, but very cute and some neat shops) then we spent the day in the Japanese Gardens in washington park, before i had to take Kat back to the train station...

the gardens were UNREAL. i am definitely planning on getting a membership, it was so beautiful. below are a few pictures that don't come anywhere close to doing it justice... you'll just have to come visit and see for yourself :).




and that, was my weekend. have some house-keeping things to attend to tonight, 2 interviews tomorrow, and back to job-hunting...


ps - Kat - so wonderful to have you out here, it was great to spend time with you and i CANNOT WAIT to get out to see your new house and explore MT with you :) YAY!

the 5 day forecast...

High: 86ºF 30ºC

Low: 54ºF 12ºC

Sunny

Friday, September 12, 2008

High: 83ºF 30ºC

Low: 53ºF 12ºC

Sunny

Saturday, September 13, 2008

High: 79ºF 26ºC

Low: 55ºF 13ºC

Sunny

Sunday, September 14, 2008

High: 88ºF 31ºC

Low: 58ºF 14ºC

Sunny

Monday, September 15, 2008

High: 91ºF 33ºC

Low: 59ºF 15ºC

Sunny


anyone coming to visit? :P

two little feet/to get me across the city...

as i was mentioning washington park earlier, check out the link. it's a wonderful park, on the opposite side of the city, but totally worth the trip... i plan on spending a lot more time there.

anyway, here are a few pictures i've been meaning to put up. the pictures of the park don't do it justice, didn't have the camera with me on my trail run through there, and that was gorgeous...

everywhere you go/you always take the weather with you

i know, popular consensus should be that it should be rainy and miserable here in the northwest so i will feel bad about moving away...

i hate to say it, but it's been ABSOULTELY GORGEOUS since i got here. sunny skies, awesome temps, no humidity and to top it all off everything is SO GREEN. which somehow just makes the nice weather that much better! ...but, if it makes you feel any better... everyone keeps telling me it's just because it's summer, and come winter i will rue the day i said i liked rain. but, we'll see. i sincerely doubt it...we all know how i kinda dig the grey-rainy weather. but worry not, i'll let you know at the first sign of precipitation!

have been trying to settle in here in portland, which is a whole bunch of mixed emotions for me at the moment. i had a great 20 hours with emily over the weekend. though WAY too short (i guess that part of our relationship is back to the status quo). we brought miss puma home from the airport and then got some delicious indian food in a cute neighborhood over in SE, and then just chilled with puma for the evening. speaking of puma, she's doing quite well in the new digs... though she was quite angry with me for a day or two and refused to cuddle... but i'm back in her good books now (after some cat treats, of course). then saturday morning em and i took the bus downtown and explored the famous saturday market! we had a great time and a massive (and delicious) cinnamon bun! yum! then em had to journey back to san diego and i was left on my own.

i have since explored a bit and found the trader joe's (essential to life) and amazing coffee shop (where i'm at right now... more on this in moment), have been running in washington park (which i wish i had my camera for, so pretty!), met up with some people from a hiking group and went bouldering at an awesome rock gym... and not to mention have gotten lost going various places all week, but also managing to see some other parts of the city. all in all it's been good.

the rest of my time i have been looking for/applying for jobs. and that's the tough part... in the last 2 days i must have sent my cv in to at least 20 jobs... mostly medical reception/billing. and i know, you're wondering why on earth am i not doing acupuncture... here's the thing, in this field there are very few opportunities to be hired... which means there isn't much to apply to. it's pretty much a work for yourself/create your own job/open your own practice kind of thing. which is great, because it's what i want to do. however, it definitely requires some financial resources that i don't currently possess... and therefore, i am currently looking for other gainful sources of employment (but will be doing acupuncture as much as i can at the same time). so, cross your fingers that i will pick up a job soon because it will make me a much happier and less stressed out alexis (and we all like that better).

so. i have to say. it's really weird not knowing anyone here, i have huge gaps of time where i feel like i would normally call someone and hang out, or go explore with... and i just don't have that here. mostly i'm doing ok with that. but, there are definitely times where it hits me and i do question myself and my reasons for moving. i don't reget it, and don't think i made a mistake, but i have questioned it. and i know this is the hard part, and once i have a job and a routine, and meet people it'll be a little less emotional rollercoaster-y. (d'you like how i just made up that adjective, ha).

oh, the coffeehouse i'm in. AMAZING. it's called random order coffeehouse and they have really good ice-brewed coffee (i know, i so don't drink coffee, but i LIKE this) and to DIE for baked goods. i had this awesome savoury muffin today - cornmeal with cheddar, bacon and green chilies. YUM. reminds me of NZ, i always had stuff like that there. they also have free wifi (clearly) and a selection of pies that looks scrumptious (i haven't yet tried one). i seriously am contemplating moving in... their motto is: don't forget to save room for pie. how could it not be an awesome place? ha!

(can you tell i am procrastinating doing real work since i wrote any entire paragraph about the coffeeshop?) *sigh* best get back to writing cover letters and looking for jobs...

get the motor running/head out on the highway/looking for adventure/or whatever comes our way...

*SIGH*

i made it. to portland. finally.

it's strange, it's been a long time coming, and i've been talking about it for soooooo long. i can't believe i'm really here. it's still a little surreal. though i just dropped tim at the airport today and so it's feeling less like vacation and more like my actual life right now... eeeeek!

other updates before i do the trip recap - i passed CA state boards, because i am SURE you were all dying to know! not that it matters, but it's nice nonetheless.

right, back to business...

the last few days at home were kind of stressful. trying to see people and get the house and car and trailer sorted. dad was in town so it was great to see him and between emily, dad and tim, my life was much more manageable - thank you all for being absoultely wonderful and dealing with my freaking out and for helping, you rock my world!

and everyone else, who came to shakespeare's or did lunch with me, etc, thank you so much! it was a pleasure to see you and i'm so glad i got to say goodbye... there's an open invitation to you all if you're ever in the pacific northwest!

so, let's see, packed up the trailer on thursday, tim was AMAZING at packing it up, we had so much more room than i thought... had lunch with amielle, dad and i got acupuncture from vasa, then dropped puma off at stephanie's for the week, dropped dad at the hotel and picked up dinner and pretty much called it a night. tim and i hit the road at about 4.30am on friday, managed to make it through LA with minimal traffic! cheryl was awesome and woke up and met us off the highway near her house, to say hi and bring us coffee (thanks babe! so great to see you!) then it was all highway all the time till we hit yosemite!

yosemite was AMAZING. definitely need to go back for real and spend a week there sometime. we got there in the afternoon and set up camp and just kind of wandered around and played in the river. it was really freaking HOT, like 97* and so a nice little swim was grand! crashed out pretty hard that night, and were on the road again at 7.30 the next morning... drove through northern CA and southern OR and ended up at crater lake, OR at around 7.30pm... however, when we got there, it was just about FREEZING! crazy the different climates a 12 hour drive can bring... we mostly just set up camp and fire and called it a night. The next morning, everything had frozen over...eeek! glad i had my whole life in the trailer and so had extra clothing because the weather forecast said nothing about temps THAT low.

spent the day going around crater lake, had gorgeous sunshine, and without the wind, the temp was actually quite nice... until the evening, when amazingly enough it SNOWED! not much or long, but, STILL it was still AUGUST, and SNOWING! crazy! but tim had a great little fire going, and we had soup and tea and kept warm!

monday morning we packed up and headed out, and up to portland! went through eugene and stopped at The Wandering Goat Coffee Shop (amazing, you must go if you're in eugene!) and then stopped by Bjorn's parents' place in Corvallis (he was there) to pick up a key, and then to portland! had a pretty sedate night, SHOWERED for the first time in 4 days (it was SO needed) and then had dinner and slept! tuesday we unpacked the trailer, and returned it, then spent a little time in downtown portland, visited powell's (of course) and wandered through washington park (SO pretty, didn't take photos, but will go back soon and accomplish this!). then yesterday we decided to hit up the coast since i wanted tim to see it up in oregon since we didn't make it on the drive up... drove from portland out to cannon beach and then south on the 101 to tillamook (yes, where they make the cheese, we went to the factory too!) and then back to portland. we had an awesome picnic lunch sitting on rocks by a bay somewhere between manzanita and tillamook... the weather was idea, and it was just so pretty and chill! went to a local brew pub last night and had some of the microbrews oregon is known for...



this morning had to pack up tim (who wouldn't leave me his tent... i have no idea why :P) and after brunch we went to the airport, and now i'm back home. and it's weird. starting to sink in that it's not just vacation anymore. on that note, thank you tim, SO MUCH for making the trip with me... it wouldn't have been the same without you, and i'm so glad you were there :).

i'm a little tripped out about being here and not having friends local, and not having a job yet, and all that kind of stuff is a little overwhelming at the moment. and the *hard* part is just kind of hitting me emotionally, and i knew it would... and i DO NOT regret moving, i still think it's the right thing for me, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard and that i have to go through this adjustment period... *sigh*

anyway, that's about it! now that i'm back with internet and currently have some time on my hands, i'll be updating with further adventures more often (and hopefully pictures!).

on the horizon, emily is coming up tomorrow evening with PUMAAAAAAAAAAAAA which is great, miss them both SO much!


enjoy the pictures, keep in touch and if you know anyone in portland who wants acupuncture, please send them my way! :)


and i know i've posted this before, but i'm feeling this quite acutely at the moment, so wanted to repost....

Of Movement

We live somewhere: in a country, in a town in that country, in a neighbourhood in that town, in a street in that neighbourhood, in a building in that street, in an apartment in that building.

We should long ago have got into the habit of moving about, of moving about freely, without it being too much trouble. But we haven't done so, we've stayed where we were; things have stayed as they were. We haven't asked ourselves why it was there and not somewhere else, why it was like this and not otherwise. Then, obviously, it was too late, our habits were formed. We began to think we were well off where we were. After all, we were as well off there as over the road.


We have difficulty changing, even if it's only the position of our furniture. Moving house is quite a business.

-Georges Perec

cheers!

should i stay or should i go?

seriously.

moving is hell.

*so* overwhelmed right now.

...it's a nice day /for a white wedding...

a few pix from eric and meryl's wedding that mostly i stole from ems :) more to come later!

between the bars

*sigh*

it's been a crazy few weeks. all the CAB drama with the letter saying i couldn't take the boards. the appeals, the approval but no approval letter. DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA i didn't need. needless to say i was livid and the only saving grace being that i already have my national certification and am moving in a few weeks out of state. so, i won't relive all the anger and in the end i was able to take the exam (though really at that point i didn't care anymore) but they had to fax my approval letter to my hotel in sacramento the day before the exam... whatever. anyway, exam over. don't know how i did. but didn't actually study, so it'll be an adventure when i get the results in a month, when theoretically i'll be in practice in oregon! (i have in fact sent in my application for licensure, so i'm just waiting on that...)

so, craziness in SD. got to spend time with em and viks, and clint was down for a weekend... fun to see him! then ems got her own place in la jolla, which i have yet to see, but am excited because she is taking a bunch of my stuff :). stephanie went to iraq, so it was sad to see her go, and i haven't heard from her there yet... waiting on that.

other than that, lots of work and trying to work out my trip up to OR and then what i'm doing when i get there. tim is driving with me and then hanging out for a few days in portland, so that'll be fun. just need to work out our route and if we're stopping and camping on the way...

went from sacramento back to bethesda (where i am right now). am here just a few days, going to eric's wedding tomorrow (eeeek! when did that happen?) but i'm excited to see him, and also dida, gracie and ems! yay! got to see raychel and karen too and that was a nice treat!

mostly i'm trying to catch up on sleep and enjoy the cold, dark basement because the next 2 weeks of my life are going to be insanely busy and then i have NO IDEA what is going to happen... adventure!

retrospective

so, i started sorting out my crap today. all my school stuff, trying to get rid of the un-needed stuff and organize the rest so it will be useful. and it's funny to look through old things. i'm currently going through a box of stuff from my first year in school. and there are all the typical 1st year academic things - pretty, recopied notes in all sorts of colors, organized notes...etc but then i came across some things from my clinical counseling class. disclaimer - i have to say, i HATED these classes - it was wayyyyy too much like therapy, but with your classmates, who since it was 1st semester, you didn't know yet. anyway, that said, i see their usefulness, but... anyway. so we had a homework assignment called 'life questions' which asked all sorts of things like: what do you consider your strengths? what about yourself would you like to change? when do you feel most alive? what do you want most out of life? how did you view yourself 5 years ago? how do you see yourself now? where would you like to be 5 years from now? if you could have 3 wishes what would they be? and if you were to write your own epitaph what would it be? and i'm sure at the time i was pretty annoyed at having to answer them and turn them in. but, surprisingly enough, i think i actually answered them pretty honestly and not full of my usual sarcasm and disdain for things like that... and reading it over now, some of my answers struck me... indulge me while i quote myself from almost 4 years ago...

*when do you feel most alive?
I think I feel most alive when I am in transition. The times in life when you aren't sure where you are or where you're going - being in a fall and not knowing up from down, left from right - no reference points. The emotions aren't always positive - but i think they are most real. Without that comfort zone you are really living - experiencing all emotion and possibility and i think unfortunately it's easy to get caught up in comfort and stasis and level out your living experience and while this is safe - it's not being truly 'alive'.

* where would you like to be 5 years from now?
I would live to have graduated - and either be working on a Ph.D. or have a practice somewhere. I want to keep up the good outlook on life - I want to be happy - but not content- I always want to be changing and growing - but I want to be at a place where I have balance in my life, where I love what I am doing, where I have friends, where I am in a healthy relationship - where I can be in the present and not concerned about the past or worried about the future - just being - and helping other people find that balance.

and, you know, in regards to being alive, i still agree and i think it's been the huge motivation behind my move. this feeling of stagnation, of being complacent - the idea that i need to move beyond my comfort zone, and stretch... to come up against my edge and push just a little further. and i was right, the feelings aren't always positive. but, i do think they are real. it makes me present with the here and now, and where i am, and where i am not...

and as to my 5 year wishes... i've still got a little over a year to go to see if i reach those goals, and you know what - i think i'm well on my way. and i still want all of that, and more :P but, i think i'm on track.

it's funny, i don't remember doing this exercise 4 years ago, but it was a nice check-in to find that paper today and see if i'm doing what i thought, or if my priorities have changed...

i thought the ocean/and the ocean thought nothing

...And the ones that can know you so well
are the ones that can swallow you whole.
I have a good and I have an evil,
I thought the ocean, the ocean thought nothing,
You are the welcoming back from the ocean...

-Dar Williams

just got some of the pictures sorted, hope you enjoy... it's lots of ocean photos... and sometimes the same shot but i was playing with the SLR, so forgive me. will post *about* the trip later, don't have time at the moment. have to clean up the house and then lunch with susan and off to work!

of movement

was away for the weekend (more on that and pictures in another post) and it got me thinking a little bit about travel, and why i need to. what it is about going someplace else, somewhere else... and of course, with the impending move, i was thinking about what is my drive. WHY do i need to do this (because, it IS a need for me)? and i was re-reading some of georges perec's Species of Spaces and Other Pieces and i came across this passage (see below)... and it seemed only fitting. and somewhat explained my predicament. i DO ask why... because it does become habit, and there is a lack of thought, we just are, and it just is. but when you start to ask, when there is a question, you have to move, sitting still is no longer an option...

Of Movement

We live somewhere: in a country, in a town in that country, in a neighbourhood in that town, in a street in that neighbourhood, in a building in that street, in an apartment in that building.

We should long ago have got into the habit of moving about, of moving about freely, without it being too much trouble. But we haven't done so, we've stayed where we were; things have stayed as they were. We haven't asked ourselves why it was there and not somewhere else, why it was like this and not otherwise. Then, obviously, it was too late, our habits were formed. We began to think we were well off where we were. After all, we were as well off there as over the road.


We have difficulty changing, even if it's only the position of our furniture. Moving house is quite a business.

-Georges Perec

mama don't take my kodachrome away

mama has so kindly given me the gift of a dSLR for graduation. and so, i've been looking into different cameras, and am trying a couple out before making a decision. a nearby camera shop has a 5 day trial of the Nikon D40x, with 2 lenses, so i'm testing it out. didn't have time for too much today, but managed to play around with the macro setting and puma this afternoon before i had to jet to work...



more to come over the next week :)

...under the state of a strange land...

so. it's official. i'm going to be renting a room from Bjorn as of September 1, 2008.

this means... I HAVE AN ADDRESS IN PORTLAND!!!!!!!!

that's exciting. this is really, *actually*, happening.


so, i will (of course) remind you again - but here is my address in portland as of 9/1/08:


4222 NE 76th Ave
Portland, OR 97218


yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

next step: change my phone number...

"july, july, july/it never seemed so strange..."

what's been going on? nothing. everything. i don't even know anymore.

been working like crazy. so many hours. i feel like i get home and then go to bed and it's all i have time for. my life is a mess (literally) - i absolutely need to tidy my house, but i can't seem to find the time or energy.

my schedule is a little crazy and the free time i have, i try to sleep and maybe see some friends. god knows, i haven't even started studying for CA boards (in a month! eeek!). shhhhh, don't tell.

but that being said, the last few weeks have still been good, though busy. it's been great having em around, i still can't believe she lives here (and 6 blocks from me!) - i think we're both in denial. and while our schedules are completely contradictory, we have managed to spend *some* time together. it's great not having to be stressed about spending every minute i can with her (which is usually the case when we are only in the same city for less than 24 hours!). it'll be sad to move, and if anyone could convince me to stay in SD, it'd be ems being here, but that said, we both know i have to go. at least we'll still be in the same time zone!

tim and i have hung out a lot, since he's had a bit more time on his hands, it's been good - lots of hiking/walks and boardgame playing :). yesterday we caught a day game at Petco Park, and that was fun, even though the padres didn't play particularly well. it's been ages since i've been to the ballpark, and i forgot that there are really no bad seats there even when you get the cheap tickets!

cheryl came down over 4th of july weekend, and while we didn't do anything particularly celebratory it was fun to hang out. i miss her so much! she really needs to move to portland :P.

that's about it... just trying to figure out the logistics of moving. am in the process of changing my health insurance, phone number...etc, all that good stuff. it's actually becoming real! eeek! (T-50days, can you believe it?). still SO much to do and figure out... but i can't wait :) :) :)

*sigh*

what a week.

this past week was all over the place. started a new job at a massage clinic. which was fine, not nearly busy enough. and they're kind of disorganized. worked at acusport and blue lotus. matt's in NZ, and i'm wicked jealous! let's see, also got another job at a different spa, doing massage- which i have training for today. i'm pretty sure i'm never going to have any free time until i leave san diego, at this rate...

other than that, watched the NZ v ENG rugby game, and clearly NZ won. it was better than last week's game - they played a bit tighter and more fluidly - it was fun to watch. also got to hang out with jeremy and some of his friends yesterday at his place which was great. haven't gotten to see him since he went to china so it was a good time. i miss that kid. just finished a 14 day detox and happy to be done with that!

in other news, EMILY GETS HERE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't wait. i'm kind of in disbelief that she is ACTUALLY moving here. it's so crazy. i'm so excited. though, i have NO time this week, and so don't know how much i will get to see her :(. but hopefully we can squeeze in lunch tomorrow!

and that's pretty much the story. life from here on out is going to be BUSY BUSY BUSY and a little chaotic, and so much to still figure out and plan, and it freaks me out a little to think about it too much... so on that note, i must be off to a meeting and then training and then work...

get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down...

got out of san diego today. it was great - went just outside of Julian, CA (about an hour northeast) and hiked to cedar creek falls. it was a good hike, and beautiful falls with a big punchbowl at the bottom!

check out the pix:

hiking 6-15-08

more later. have a wicked headache...

my heart was deep space and my head was maths

well, the last month has been all over the place. most of it i spent back east on a trip of varied sorts. first i went to boston, got to hang with dr. graciela for a day, had dinner with dawn and dave and then craig picked me up and we headed west to amherst. i got to meet with his favorite prof, betsey, and hung out in his house for a few days. definitely brought back the memories, kegs and beirut in the middle of the afternoon... it was echoes of 40... speaking of, it was just my 5-year college reunion. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN??!!?? (i didn't go, but still). hung with craig for a few days til the family arrived for graduation. then we packed up and drove home to MD, the next morning in the newly unloaded car, i repacked and headed down to the outer banks, NC to spend the week there prior to Sarah and Michael's wedding!

A-MAZE-ING. it's been 4 years since i've been to the OBX, and goddamn, i've missed it. there's just something about that place... and while some has changed and it's definitely more crowded than it used to be, it's still got that feeling. it was just such a joy to be there again, not to mention to be with all the beach people, too! weird that we weren't all together in one house, but so great to spend time with everyone. the wedding was absolutely gorgeous, and it was an honor to be a part of that - thank you mike and sarah :) you both were wonderful, and i wish you much happiness and joy :). anyway, i have approximately a million pictures, here ya go:

back east 5-20 - 6-5

Sarah and Michael's Wedding

after a wonderful week at the beach, craig and i headed up to c'ville to see dad, karina and kian for a couple days. we also got to grab dinner with judy, wayne and the kids, so great to see you all! i'm sorry it was so short and we hardly got to catch up... you're just going to have to come visit me out in portland when i move :). i luckily, also caught up with court for a couple of hours - which was great. can't believe it's been a year since i saw her at dawn and dave's wedding! it's never enough time... but then it was back to MD for the night (where we had no power and i got to play in the dark for hours by myself...) and then off to the airport the next morning and back to the west coast.

and now i'm back in san diego, and the realization kind of hit me when i was away, about how soon i'm really leaving and how much i need to accomplish before then...eeeek! as far as good to be home? eh... i don't know, san diego has never really felt like home, and still doesn't. great to see my puma again, and my friends, but i can't say i really missed here...

To fall in the void as I fell:

none of you knows what that means. For you, to fall means to plunge perhaps from the twenty-sixth floor of a skyscraper, or from an airplane which breaks down in flight: to fall headlong, grope in the air a moment, and then the Earth is immediately there, and you get a big bump. But I'm talking about the time when there wasn't any Earth underneath or anything else solid, not even a celestial body in the distance capable of attracting you into its orbit. You simply fell, indefinitely, for an indefinite length of time. I went down into the void, to the most absolute bottom conceivable, and once there I saw that the extreme limit must have been much, much farther below, very remote, and I went on falling, to reach it. Since there were no reference points, I had no idea whether my fall was fast or slow. Now that I think about it, there weren't even any proofs that I was really falling: perhaps I had always remained immobile in the same place, or I was moving in an upward direction; since there was no above or below there were only nominal questions and so I might just as well go on thinking I was falling, as I was naturally lead to think.

-Italo Calvino, Cosmicomics "The Form of Space"

...yeah. kind of feel like this right now with my life. no reference points, free fall in space with no sense of direction or anything to grab onto. this post-school space is a strange one. i find myself crying for no reason. i'm not sure what it's about. and i AM excited about the future, but it's also part terrifying and i have no reference point for it, it's all new and different and i can just hope i will make it work.

"...I couldn't get out of the present except to imagine a different present, and none of the rest counted...

done. move. next.

photographic evidence is always nice.

TCM theory: check!

biomed: check!

acupuncture: check!

herbs: check!

well, kids, that's it for the NCCAOM national board exam for acupuncture and herbal medicine. now i just have to wait for a certificate (which i won't get for another month or so til i finish taking my CNT class)

it's kind of weird. i thought i'd be all excited and giddy and all these things. but it's really rather anticlimactic. i guess partially because i can't practice in CA with it anyway, so i have to wait until i move to make use of it :). speaking of moving... i need to get on that figuring out oregon thing...

but before i that i really need to grocery shop, clean my house and go for a run. and if anyone wants to take me to dinner tonight, i wouldn't be opposed :P.

i hate people.

courtesy of

www.angrylittlegirls.com

*kawaii*

quite possible the cutest thing EVER. i want one. NOW! anyway, read about this cute little puma here