working hard

we haven't really done much today, so i don't have much to talk about, but we did try something local, so i thought i'd tell you about that. for lunch we went to Burgerville (http://burgerville.com) which is just your regular ol burger place...but then again, it isn't! just like the cafe we went to yesterday, burgerville uses local ingredients for everything they make. :) and all of their bags, wrapping, cups, etc were made from recycled products AND are completely compostable when they've been used up. each burgerville also uses wind turbine power instead of regular electricity or whatever it is everyone else uses. lol. i think it's really cool how "green" everything is here. it's nice that even fast food restaurants really care about the environment and are helping in the green revolution. that's awesome! :)

that's seriously all we've done all day besides watching the spongebob marathon on nick and taking naps. lame, i know, but i'm always lazy before i have to go close at work. don't know why, but that's how it goes with me. haha.

speaking of work, i have to leave in 30 minutes or so for my first closing money shift in which i'll be completely alone. seriously not looking forward to that bc i still don't feel i'm completely trained in any area of the theater since things are different. i won't have a problem counting the money, so that's good, but all the closing duties.... i have no idea what to do. woo. can't wait. oh and i get to work 12-10 tomorrow....can't wait for that either.

something i really can't wait for: this weekend to be over so that i can not be killed by work. :P

on a brighter note: one of my best friends from elementary school got married today. i really wish i could have been there, but it's okay. mom told me she looked really happy and that's all that matters. :) yay.

alright.....i think that's it for now. gotta go get ready for work. WISH ME LUCK!

-sarah-

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

That quote was by: Gilbert A Chesterton. Not that anything or anyone is raining on my parade, it's just been raining A LOT lately (which i love) and i really liked that quote.

So, i had today off and decided we should do some exploring since everything has pretty much been put in its place and jarrod and i both had free time. We went to this restaurant for lunch, the Arleta Library Bakery and Cafe (http://www.arletalibrary.com/) bc our roomie/landlady mentioned that it was good and it has been featured on Food Networks Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It was pretty good. :) i had the gooey grilled cheese sandwich on italian bread. yum, yum, yum. jarrod had The Witless, which was pretty much a turkey sandwich with bacon. The cool thing was they used red beets instead of tomatoes bc they only use local ingredients and tomatoes are out of season right now. there was a lot of organic stuff mentioned on the menu, so that was cool. i like that it was local, and tasty! :) it was a really nice place overall. the cook was wearing strange attire: a black t-shirt, polka dot pajama pants, and black crocs (forgot to mention he had dreadlocks, and he was white. haha) but he was really nice and so were the rest of the staff. i wouldn't mind eating there again. 

after we had lunch, we were gonna go visit the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden (also suggested to us by Brandi, our roomie). Sadly, that visit did not happen bc as soon as we walked out of that little cafe, it started POURING rain. so there went that plan. since it was raining we decided we'd go to the Best Buy by PDX (the airport) to see if they had any computer chairs we'd be interested in. no luck, but that's alright, i found some chairs in the garage to hold us over until we find a chair we want.

after best buy, we went to a place called the Grotto (http://www.thegrotto.org/) which was this really old sanctuary type place. it was pretty cool (weather wise, as well. i don't think it's made it to the 60s since last week. lol. it's a tad chilly around here). it's pretty much a huge garden and as you walk around, you see stories of the bible being played out through statues and such. it was really nice until it started raining, then it got really cold! haha. we trekked on though, and by the end of the walk, our pant legs were pretty much soaked, but i'll say it was worth it bc that place was so peaceful. i really enjoyed that. :)

here, i can post some pics that jarrod took of The Grotto:

jarrod was testing out his photographic abilities. haha.

that's pretty much been our day so far. i think in a bit we may go eat some asian food around here (bc we live in china town) and then tonight, the Festival of Roses begins with some fireworks down by the river (if it's not raining, i assume. haha). All in all, it's been a good day off. :)

that's all for now.

-sarah-

p.s. it's sunny outside right now...the weather here is kind of confused as well, but never with temperature, just with whether or not it wants to rain or be sunny. fine by me. haha. 

New Beginnings (LONG post, be warned)

There's so much to say here. I wish i had had more time before this to update, but alas, i did not. I'm just gonna go through a run through of this past week, then post some pics, sound good? Awesome!

Monday, May 16th: This was the day i was supposed to have an awesome time at the beach, but that did not happen, instead, i spent the day on last minute things for the move while Gene and jarrod's dad worked on my car all day. Jenny Bates (the BEST FRIEND anyone could ever ask/hope for) drove me around all day to complete my errands, which included: dropping off charcoal for the people who still got to go to the beach party (LUCKY), finishing up cleaning in the apartment, and just hanging around my parent's house all day. Jenny was with me for what, 10 hours? yeah, that's a great friend. anywho, around 7:30 or so, my car WAS SAVED!!! yay!!!! and dinner was served. :) A few friends came over to say their goodbyes to Jarrod and i while we had dinner and just chilled for a bit. Thank you to: Ricky, Tracy, David, Quenton, Jenny, Laura, Nicole, Michelle, Craig, Ali and my family (including the Hartfields) for making our last evening in Texas a fun, love filled evening.  

Tuesday, May 17th: Our departure! we had planned on leaving by 6am, but does a planned time ever work out? never. lol. and  that's alright. Jenny (yes, be jealous of how AMAZING my best friend is) arrived at my parent's house at 5:56am to see us off. We were still gathering things and loading things while waiting for ALL of the hartfields to show up (someone ended up at the apartment instead of my parent's house). Around 6:40, all the hartfields had arrived and our tear-filled goodbyes were on the way. We pulled out of my parent's drive around 7 and ended up back at the apartment bc jarrod had left some stuff :P and then we were back to my parent's house again, bc i had left my RAIN JACKET (dumb), so really, we ended up leaving denton around 8am. The rest of the day was driving (obviously) and cracking jokes back and forth to stephen and dorian with our walkie talkies. haha. i'll skip the boring driving..... arrived at Jarrod's aunt and uncle's house in Arvada, CO around 9pm (mountain time) and had some delicious sloppy joes. :) watched some news...

Wednesday, May 18th: woke up at 4:55am for showers; woke up the guys for showers...left aunt and uncle's house around 6:30 (better timing) and onwards to our destination in Nampa, ID. We made it to our hotel around 11:30pm very exhausted.

Thursday, May 19th: the last day of our "road trip"- 7 hours to go!!! We drove along.....and around 4:30 made it to our new home! :D we started unloading the trailer, cars, and placing everything down in the attic; our new home. Once we got everything inside, we made a stop at walmart for some groceries; items for the house. We ate dinner at jack in the box, then came home and unpacked a few things (the bed), blew up the air mattress for stephen and dorian, and set up the tv/cable bc stephen and dorian really wanted to watch tv. That was bed time for me and jarrod.

Friday, May 20th: yay for unpacking!!!! that's really all jarrod and i did that day. Stephen and Dorian went around exploring clackamas. That's really about it for that day.

Saturday, May 21st: My first day of work. I now work as an assistant manager at a Century Theater 16 in Eastport plaza. That day i just roamed around and got used to things. It's a very different theater, bc the concession stand is set up in a cafe setting, AND everything except for popcorn is SELF SERVE!! how cool is that? pretty cool, i say. anywho...everyone was expecting the day to be busy bc pirates just came out. They may have done 1600 (people) all day ON A SATURDAY. it was SLOW. i loved it. lol.

as for jarrod on this day: he unpacked a lot. Stephen and Dorian stayed at the house and watched YouTube videos all day (lame).

Sunday, May 22nd: another day of work, slow, again. Jarrod continued to unpack. Stephen and Dorian continued to be lazy. ;)

Monday, May 23rd: I opened at work, pretty much worked concessions all day...not too bad. Jarrod, Stephen, and Dorian visited Voodoo Donuts after Jarrod dropped me off for work. They brought back some GOOD DONUTS!!!! lol. Jarrod continued to unpack the rest of the day. Stephen and Dorian explored downtown Portland. After i got off work (at 5:45) we all went to Multnomah Falls and hiked to the top of the falls. It was beautiful. :) OH! on the way to the falls, we saw a double rainbow!

there it is. for pics of Multnomah Falls, check my facebook.

Tuesday, May 24th: I opened at work again. Worked box, then counted money (which is slightly different from the denton theater). After work, Jarrod and I went to ikea to get a computer desk and other assorted items. we're just going all out here. lol. Stephen and Dorian went to Cannon Beach (i am SO JEALOUS). wish i could post pics from that, but Stephen's camera held all of those pics, and it died. once he loads them, maybe i'll download some...or maybe i'll wait for my trip to the beach. :)

Today, Wednesday May 25th: FINALLY a day off of work...feels like i've been working forever. lol. We all were pretty lazy today...took Dorian and Stephen to the airport around 3. They should be at DFW by midnight. Strangely enough, i miss them already. i had another cry fest in the car, bc it hit me then that they were our ties to everyone back home, and now they're gone....and it's just jarrod and i. If i think about this more, i could probably start crying more. lol.

there's our day to day activities...

here are my thoughts on everything:

i'm not gonna lie, i miss everyone A LOT. even people from work! lol. i guess it'll be kinda lonely until i make some good friends (which i'm working on). it's still very surreal to me that we're so far away though. i keep thinking i'll run into someone i know or that when i walk into walmart, i'll see my parents. that won't be happening though. that's kinda sad. lol. since this move still hasn't really "hit" me yet, i don't miss things too much, but sometimes i'll think "wouldn't it be nice to drive down the street to see my parents?" lol. oh well, that's how it goes. we're living the dream, and distance is part of that. i wanted to live here, and now i do. that's quite an accomplishment. i know i'm gonna love it here, i'm already getting to the point of loving it here, but i still feel my connections to good ol texas. lol.

alright, was that post long enough for you???? hahah. now let's get to the good stuff: PICTURES!!! :)

The house

Walk in area

Our Bathroom

Walk way to the sunroom. Kitchen to the right, dining area to the left

The Kitchen

The Sunroom/Entertainment Room

The backyard and shed

the backyard

Stairway down to the basement

our living room

Shelf in the living room

entertainment center/shelf filled with movies, games

our bedroom

extra room that we're making into a study, i suppose

wardrobe/closet

stairs up to the front door

 so that's our new home....if you have any questions, just ask!
i think i'll end this post with something i'm looking forward to: the rose festival. here's a link: http://www.rosefestival.org/