i teeter between tired/and really, really tired/ i'm wiped out and wired/ but i guess thats just as well

(thanks ani, couldn't say it any better.)

wiped out and wired. what i am dreaming of is a long HOT bath, a bottle of white wine, and a really comfortable bed. (ahhhh, sorry to disappoint any of you who might think my fantasies were anything but pedestrian.) i'm sitting here, on my thai mat on the floor (aka my bed) and thinking that sleep could possibly be the greatest drug in the world, if only i could get a fix.

lacking any of the above (bath, wine, bed or sleep) i figured i'd write. or type and see if it passes as writing. so, despite my previous promise to write more about things other than my own internal drama (as, i do in fact think about more global topics) tonight, you'll have to indulge me as re-process some thoughts and conversations i've had this past week.

had a really long talk with em the other day (thank you my love, you ARE my soul mate, i'd be lost without you in my life). as per usual we talk a lot about nothing, and somehow i got to talking about how i've been here just about 5 months now, and i have no friends here. sure, i have people i do things with occasionally (trivia, game night) but, i'd be hard-pressed to actually say any of them are really *my* friends. friends by proxy perhaps... and this is not to say i don't enjoy their company, i absolutely do. but, i would be hard pressed to say i felt comfortable calling any of them up to go for a hike or grab some tea and chat...etc. and i know, i know this stuff takes time, (way more than 5 months time), but it brought me to the question of HOW exactly does one make friends? no, really. it's a serious question (and i would appreciate any advice on the matter) - when you're not in school, and you live in a new place, how do you make friends? so, there's work. which is good, i LOVE the people i work with, but it's work, and while i wouldn't mind hanging with them in a non-work context, they have families and lives and yeah... i don't know. and then, well, that's really all i do. and i am hoping in a couple of months when work gets more stable, i will have time to commit to volunteering somewhere, taking yoga classes or cooking classes, etc... but, right now. notsomuch.

and as far as the work thing goes, had a short talk with brad (owner of tri-d) today - he was asking me how things were going and i said they were going well, slowly, but getting there. and that i really love working there and hope to make it worth their while, i hope it turns out to be a good thing for them too, and that's been my recent frustration - i feel kind of inadequate, that i'm not making good enough numbers, etc. he said that both he and michael (my supervisor) were really happy i was there, and they thought i was doing a great job, and just to keep it up and things would happen. (did i mention i love where i work?)

and, on another note... i'm moving tomorrow. (perhaps why i can't sleep). i'm all packed and totally ready to move. am meeting the landlord at 10 to trade lease +rent for keys, and then i am hoping i can get everything moved tomorrow and sorted as i work sunday morning and have been told by bjorn i am expected at anke and marcel's superbowl shindig. that being said, i will do my best to take photos (of the empty place) and post shortly but not sure when the internet will be connected, so i may be MIA for a few days...

and before signing off... a quick shoutout to some of the most wonderful aquarius ladies in my life: ems, nancy, barbara... happiest happy birthdays, i hope you are celebrating your fabulous selves, as i celebrate each of you in my life! MWAH!

the future's in the air/i can feel it everywhere/ blowing with the wind of change

i wish i had something to say about this historic moment in the history of this nation. but i'm finding my words, let alone my thoughts, to be inadequate. at the moment i'm content to be an observer, to be a witness, without explanation or discourse.

speaking of wind though. i went hiking on saturday as it's been beautiful and sunny up here in oregon. so, i decided to hit the columbia river gorge in the sunshine (as previous pictures can attest to it's often in cloud). this time i decided to mix it up and head over to the washington side of the gorge. found a great hike, but didn't make it far because much of the track was exposed and right on the river and the winds were CRAZY. i took a couple photos before i backtracked and found a different, slightly more sheltered hike nearby.

(i'm pretty sure i took these all with my eyes closed, because the wind was too strong)

the columbia river in the sunshine!
(apologies for blur, but closed eyes and unsteady hand in the wind...)

so after that, i retreated and found another nearby hike (which can actually join up with this one if on future occasions i am up to the wind tunnel that is the gorge). lots of winter (i.e. bare) tree action. but blue skies and some pretty views...

(oh and T- 13 days til i move...)

and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms...

i cannot believe it's the middle of january.

i'm not sure when that happened. also, it's been BEAUTIFUL here, sunny and clear. apparently this is one freak-show of a winter for portland. but, i'm not complaining!

so far the new year has been continuing on pretty well. work is going, slowly, but going. been trying to do a lot of this networking business, which is not really my style, but needs to be done. though, in regards to that - i got rejected from a networking group, HA! i am totally amused.

been doing a lot of thinking lately, and not nearly enough writing. there are some things i'd like to write about regarding health care and various paradigms, but i haven't managed to sit down and do it. i've been feeling like my brain has all these thoughts but i am somehow unable to put them together as a cohesive whole. but, writing more on broader topics than what i do in my day is a goal of mine for the coming months. however, for now, you're stuck with this.

the middle of january means i move in two weeks. and while i don't have that much stuff, and there's a lot still in boxes, somehow the thought is still overwhelming to me. i cannot wait to be in my new place and simultaneously am dreading the actual process of moving (didn't i just do this?). however, it will be nice to fully unpack and settle a bit. but, that probably doesn't happen for real til tim and i get back from SD.

am SO excited to visit san diego and see all my friends. (i'm living in serious friend xu right now!) am feeling slightly guilty that it is under the auspices of helping tim pack and move, but more than likely will end up being mostly a social event as i have many people to catch up with (sorry tim!). while excited, i am slightly exhausted from thinking about my social schedule already...hehehe.

got to catch up with with emily and sara in the past 24 hours, and talked lots. (i love you ladies more than words) a lot about how there are just so many questions we don't have the answers for. and don't know if anyone does. however, i think the asking of them is still important. but sometimes the preponderance of questions is disconcerting and ungrounding and the ability to let go into that space of being comfortable with uncertainty is extremely difficult. it is such a reflex to reach out and try and grab a hold of some bit of a notion that we convince ourselves of as being an answer. it's so easy to long for something finite and for reassurance and so hard to sit with the ever expanding body of not-knowing and not feel completely lost. during this discussion sara reminded me of one of my very favorite quotes with which i shall leave you:

"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer..."

- Ranier Maria Rilke

Year's End

...is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on,
with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
-Hal Borland

this time of year is meant for reflection, is it not? so... on my day off, some reflection you shall get. i don't promise deep or meaningful, or even particularly insightful for that matter - but here goes...

it's funny, i started this particular blog just about a year ago, last january and while i think i'd use some of the adjectives to describe my life currently, somehow they've taken on a slightly different flavor. i was in my last term of school 3 months away from completion of a four year degree. re-reading some of those earlier entries, i couldn't believe where i was - it was surreal, an ending of something that felt endless. and there was excitement and of course anxiety about what was to come. i couldn't wait to finish school, to start the next phase of life, but i was scared about boards, about my competance, about if i would have what it took to have a practice, about finances, about moving... but all these things were still abstract, intangible, and i was unable to hold them concretely and so felt a bit like i was falling.

and here i am, about a year later. i have since graduated. passed boards. moved to portland. became licensed. started a practice. so in some ways, much of what i was anticipating has come to pass, and all with remarkable fluidity. i've been here in portland for four months, and sometimes i can't believe it's been that long, but for the most part it makes me stop and think "really? that's it?" somehow in the short four months i've been here i feel so much more that i belong, more than i ever did my four years in san diego. and maybe some of that was self-fulfilling prophecy, that i thought moving out to san diego, it would never be for me. but honestly, there's such a different feeling here, a different qi - and i really like it. and while life looks entirely different than it did a year ago (i made it here! i have a practice! i love portland!) i think my 2 favorite adjectives to describe my life are still excited and slightly terrified.

i haven't for a second regretted my decision to move, on the contrary - most everyday there is something that makes me smile, and feel so glad i'm here. i think i was stuck in SD, somehow it was stagnant for me, and here there's free flow - there's a coursing energy that permeates everything, and the rain that continually washes the city clean, keeps everything flowing. and GREEN. *sigh* it makes me smile just writing that. i miss my friends terribly, and have certainly had hard days and weeks... before i found my current jobs. earlier this week... some days i acutely feel the loss of not having people i know locally. and i know, i KNOW this stuff takes time, and while i am aware of this - some days it just hits hard.

currently my excitement is over work - i LOVE what i do, everyday. i really and truly do! and absolutely adore all my colleagues at Tri-D, they are just awesome, and i can't be grateful enough to have a place like that to work. not to mention, work out... have been training with Mox, and it's been great! aside from that stuff, am super excited about moving to my own place next month... (i signed papers today!!!) it's in a great location, lots of space, my own kitchen! YAY! and i guess, really i should qualify that - it's not really my OWN place, as tim is moving up and it will be his place too (and clearly, actually, it's really Puma's) and i am very excited about that part of it too!

and then there's the terrified... about making work, "work". building a practice is HARD, and that's fine, but i worry about being good enough, about knowing what i am doing, about getting enough patients... i worry about making friends, finding community... i worry about living with tim - if he'll like the place i picked, if we'll live together well... i worry about paying off loans and making my finances work.

so, it's just funny to me, to be in such a different place, yet in some ways a wholly similar one. that being said, i do feel much more grounded and stable than i have in a long time, and think that upon moving next month, will feel even more so.

and hal borland is right, year's end is neither an ending nor a beginning, but a going on. new year's does not mark some distinct time segment, isolating one year from the last - it just marks the going on of time. and while that means there is no "starting over" (and i know this may come as a big disappointment to some people), the slate doesn't magically wipe clean, we're not all brand new people each year (thankfully!) but it is a going on, and what makes that special is that like mr. borland says - we have all the wisdom that the past year's experience has given us. and it is our choice how to use that. none of us are the same people we were 12 months ago, or for that matter a day ago (an interesting link here to TCM theory, but that's another post) but as we often use this time for reflection - let us look back at our experiences and figure out how to use that wisdom to our benefit in the coming year...to keep learning (especially about ourselves) and growing, and not starting over with nothing, but continuing to the shape the person we are into who we want to be.

and that, my friends, is a post that is more than long enough. my best wishes for the coming year to you all - may it be happy, healthy, prosperous and full of laughter and love!

..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!