Two Ears One Mouth

I don't remember when it was that I heard about Bend, Oregon for the first time but whenever it was I instantly knew I needed to go there. I assume it was from a blog and probably from Sweaty Emily or Sarah OUAL . It wasn't very long ago that I heard about this magical place with it's mountain views and bright sunshine but when we moved to Oregon I set immediately to planning a trip to my homeland. I really had no background on Bend and didn't know anything about it aside from the beautiful photos I'd seen on insta and beyond. We planned the trip for our anniversary weekend and I high fived myself again for planning a September wedding date because the weather is pretty much perfect everywhere that time of year with central Oregon being no exception. It's about a 3 hour drive from Portland to Bend but you get off the highway around Salem (roughly 40 miles south) and ride on a mostly 2 lane road the rest of the way. The weather switched regularly between clou...

Man oh man has moving west changed my life for the better. I moved out here planning to find a nonprofit or public relations job, make a nice little salary and settle into my 9-5 and hellishly long commutes from the burbs to the city. Such a pretty day today! #mthood #pdx #portland #pnw #lovewhereyoulive #nofilter #oregon A photo posted by Rennay Cooke Marshall (@rnay225) on Jan 10, 2016 at 3:39pm PST Life has a way of saying no to your best laid plans. I started out working from home for a database company based in Louisville and did a pretty good job of getting up early, getting dressed and settling into a work day. The summer was absurdly hot and since the majority of Oregonians (especially in apartments) don't have ac it made for some really miserable work days. I tried not to turn on the TV much while I was working and for a while we didn't have cable so that was pretty easy but database work isn't always the most exciting so I gave in every now and...

For the past couple of years I've dreamed of becoming a weekender, aka those people who seem like they have plans or do something fun every weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I'm doing well so far. Working from home has its benefits for sure but a huge downfall is a lack of interaction with the outside world. If I wanted to I could quite literally never use my car all week. In fact, I could get by with only leaving the house to walk the dog and maybe get the mail. But even for as introverted and socially weird I am I still can't live like that so I make it a point to go out most days. But weekends are another story. I finally have The Colonel home to talk to me AND there's always something to do around here. Saturday was the lazier of our days. The Colonel hurt his foot a little in kickboxing so we kept it low key. He slept late and I got up at my normal time, walked the dog then cuddled on the couch with my book for a few hours. Love. Then we went to a matinee ...

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...