Two Ears One Mouth

I've been wanting to write a blog for quite a while but was waiting until I was in a great mood so it would be upbeat and fun! Unfortunately the times that I'm in a great mood are when I'm not anywhere near a computer or device and walking along some tree lined path/finding rivers/staring at mountains and incredible scenery while driving somewhere. In short, the Northwest is incredible and I absolutely love living here. BUT location alone doesn't change your entire life (although it seems like it would) so I'm still battling my regular issues of career, my ever changing mood and finances as we work on the moving rebound. Living far away is hard. It's kind of like I died. I don't yet have a busy enough life to distract myself in the day to day so not getting texts or calls or messages from my friends back east makes me feel lonely. The show must go on and I'm sure you are absolutely dying to know what I'm doing right now so thanks to Pinterest I hav...

Well hello there from your friendly neighborhood Oregonian! I think that's what people in Oregon are called. I may need to confirm that or wait until someone says it so I know without having to ask. Anyway, thought now would be a good time to pop in and let you know that I'm alive and well and have been living in Oregon for about a week now. I'm sure some of you think you're interested in a recap of the road trip but trust me, you're not. It was quite long and quite boring. I'm not one who loves a road trip anyway so loading me up for 5 days wasn't exactly thrilling. Here's a quick rundown for you though, just in case you don't believe it happened: Day 1: Louisville to Kansas City We'd hardly crossed into Indiana before I started crying but luckily it didn't last long. It took forever for us to leave and starting out 3 hours behind wasn't exactly how I wanted to begin the journey but it really wasn't a big deal. We made it to th...

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...

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 ...