And finally...

since i didn't want to leave anyone hanging on at mt. shasta (seriously, if i ever have a kid, that child will be named Shasta), we finally rolled into Portland at 11 pm New Year's Day and silently unloaded the stuff from my teeny car into my new bedroom in a house settled on N. Mississippi Avenue. it's a really cute neighborhood. although i think i might have fallen in love with the mount shasta community. i think when i'm feeling the need for some zen, i'll go there. okay, anyway...the house is cool and has so many hidden rooms that include a sassy, 50s style bar. the owner of the house lives on the bottom floor with her 3 dogs (one is a shaggy dog lookalike, one looks like a black MAX!!!, and the smallest, penny, is the cutest baby i've ever seen. also hanging out with those guys is franklin, the weirdest beagle. he really is a strange gentleman) and then a girl who looks like bjork (minus any goose dresses) lives on the top floor. i'm in between on the ground floor by myself, but with the common living spaces. i have a blue bedroom with a built-in bookshelf upon which i placed my photo of the ravaged MS gulf coast. AND the guest bedroom is also part of my space for projects like sewing (which i have sworn to myself that i will be doing) or knitting. so all of yous readers buy that plane ticket and head up here. you have a place to stay with a real bed that doesn't blow up and sit on the floor. since being here, i have had scrumptious sushi and gone for locally brewed stout at a place called chapel pub. it's a bar in a former funeral home and it's across from the abbey which currently advertises "SIN ALL THE DAMN TIME. GO TEAM EVIL." and it's all within walking distance of my house. yes! i'm still really nervous about exploring things and getting lost, but i have obtained a Thomas Guide that has a million little street maps in it. to get it, i went to NW Portland to a bookstore called Powell's where i could have spent all damn day. it's the largest independent bookstore in the u.s. then what is the strand?

i still need a job. it's weird to have a lot of time to do whatever i'd like. i'm not used that. since 14 i have worked all the time...summers i worked, school breaks i worked...i worked close to 40 hours a week in addition to a full load of classes in college. then i started working at the ISJL when i was still a senior. i don't know really what it's like to have time to burn.

THE SUN IS OUT. hurrah!

i miss everyone. a lot. it hit me yesterday after i took k$ to the airport that i'm HERE and i'm not just visiting. i'm a ball of emotion between being excited about a new present and exploring to being nervous about meeting new people and doing new things and finding a job and reconciling feelings about things back home. and that's just it--i finally call jackson home. that's the strangest part about all of this. i hope everyone had a glorious new year. i gave a hearty middle finger to 2006 in my southern comfort-induced tipsy and a welcome hug to 2007. what did all of you do? i'd like hear holiday stories, good and bad. i've got a bit of emotional homesickness, so i'd like to hear from you either here or by email or if you want, gimme a call and i'll tell you the rest of the details of the panty-stealers. :)

Pictures coming....