Two Ears One Mouth

We are driving all the way to Oregon so there's definitely planning that has to go into such a trip. We have to make sure we buy enough ammunition, spare wagon parts and clothing at the general store which can be hard on a carpenter's salary. We have to stop and talk to people to get their opinion on what we're doing and how we're doing it and most of all, we have to ready the oxen. Oh wait, sorry, we're taking the trail for real by car, not on pix-elated computer screens by wagon. My mistake. via I'll probably never stop making Oregon Trail jokes so you should just go ahead and accept that. The original OT traveled from Independence, MO (where I almost booked our Day 1 hotel just for kicks) to Oregon City, OR. Our fair city of Tualatin lies just 11 miles west of Oregon City so we're going a bit further than the true OT but we're also in a car and not a wagon so I think we'll make it like the true explorers we are. And there's your...

Let's take the emotions down a notch from my last post and get back to that moving across the country thing. via As of last night we're officially not homeless! Hooray! We got the approval for an apartment in a fun little town called Tualatin which is a few miles southwest of Portland, aka the 'burbs. The apartment is within walking distance of lots of stores (including a grocery store and farmer's market, top priority obvs) and is centrally located to a lap swimming pool, 3 (count em, THREE) parks and 2 hot yoga studios. I'm pretty pumped to say the least. But back to the moving thing. The easiest way to move your stuff across the country is to not have a lot of stuff to move across the country. Seriously. Read any moving blog or website or whatever and they will tell you to sell your shit. Or donate it, or whatever you have to do to get rid of it because hauling it all is expensive and the farther you go the more expensive it is. I can't rememb...

I figure it's about time to put this out there and I'm pretty sure if you know me really well, you won't be surprised by any of what I have to say. I've been having a lot of issues lately. I've been working hard with my counselor to determine who I really am and what brings me true joy in life and it's been surprising, frustrating, difficult, fun, exhausting, enlightening, exciting and hard....to sum it up in a few words. I spent some time in Puerto Rico back in March and finally got back into doing some writing while I was out there. It wasn't anything long and certainly not anything particularly newsworthy but it made me feel good. I enjoy writing. When I was young I used to write short fiction stories on my mom's computer whenever I had free time and though a lot of them remained unfinished, they were always fun for me and surprisingly effortless to compose. Blogging has never quite been the same as my true writing and I've been working hard t...

As self centered as I can sometimes be, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. After spending almost 8 years in Louisville (holy crap has it really been that long!) I was really expecting to have made very close connections. I was expecting to have friends who upon hearing the news would start asking me questions. When are you leaving? Where will you live? Do you have a job lined up? How will you get your stuff there? Do you need help? WHEN CAN I COME VISIT? If I'd heard my friend was moving quite literally across the country, I'd like to think I would be asking those questions. Aside from my sister and 1 or 2 people I honestly haven't known for very long, nobody really seems to be asking anything. That makes me sad because in my sensitivity and dramatics, it comes off as not caring. I mean, surely they don't have anything going on in their lives that could need more attention than my move right? *I'm being dramatic here, I know people have important ...

A lot of things have changed. Like, a lot of them. The biggest thing that has (or at least is about to) changed is my location. In a few short weeks The Colonel and I will be embarking on a real live Oregon Trail and moving to Portland! It's official! We are driving the real live #oregontrail and moving to Portland! #adventure #PDX #PNW #roadtrip A photo posted by Rennay Cooke Marshall (@rnay225) on Apr 17, 2015 at 5:34pm PDT To make a long story short, we've been talking about moving for ages but wanted to do it the right way (i.e. save up money, purge excess crap, visit a few cities, pick one, get jobs etc.). You know what they say about best laid plans right? Turns out The Colonel accepted a transfer to Portland at the end of last week and now we have roughly a month to be moved the 2300 miles to Oregon. Holy moly. Interestingly, a few weeks ago I started watching My City's Just Not That Into Me  on FYI and thought just for kicks to take their My ...