Relax

I have frequently been asked what the biggest adjustment has been for me since returning to the States.  My answer is simply being so busy and trying to keep up, our life was pretty simple in Switzerland.  I have been here for just over two weeks now and I think I have had something to do or someone to see every single day.  This weekend was my time away to just relax and not do anything.  It was perfect.

I pitted cherries for my Mom's pie.

Perfection!

We had dinner at a local steak house.  I ordered a bottle of El Corazon Tiger's Blood, a red wine from Walla Walla, the winemaker was a classmate of mine in high school.

We had the best waiter in town.  Check out that belt buckle!  Bling, bling.

The evening ended with a walk around the new bronze statue in front of the rodeo grounds.  It was just unveiled this past Saturday.

On Sunday I just relaxed and then drove back to Portland, like I said, it was perfect.

Photo Diary

When driving down I-84 East from Portland, I tend to get a little bored after The Dalles.  It is after this town that radio reception starts to get bad and your choice in stations to listen to is about three, there is less vegetation to look at, the temperature rises and I just get lonely by myself at this point.  This time I decided to take a photo diary of what I saw to keep myself entertained.  I do not recommend doing this since it is hard to keep your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel and take photos.  Here is what I saw.

There are now hundreds of windmills along the Columbia, many more than the last time I took this drive in July of last year.

Be careful of the Sheriffs!  They love to play hide and seek along the freeway.

Lots of wheat fields, a sign I am almost home

Only 2.5 miles left to go

Just in time to watch the sun set

Engagement Party

I have been meaning to post these photos since last Saturday and I am just now getting to it.  One reason I am having trouble posting photos is that I am without my Mac (tear).  I miss our computer so much, however, it is going to be packed this coming Monday and Tuesday and will be included in our air shipment back to the States.  I hope to be reunited with my computer within a few weeks, right around the time I also get to be reunited with Scott.

Now, back to the party.  Last Saturday Sarah and Lisa hosted a beautiful engagement party for Hilary and Jesse in Lisa's new back yard.  Huge props to Lisa and Steve for doing all of the work themselves on the new patio.  The food was amazing (again, good job Steve), the ambiance was romantic, the wine tasting was entertaining and being with friends once again was priceless.  Congratulations to Hilary and Jesse on your engagement!

Happy 1st Birthday to Ben Drinkward

Some of Steve's awesome sliders

Me with the birthday boy

Sarah running the wine tasting table (I won by the way!)

The girls

Congrats again!

Found

Have you had this experience?  While going through a box of photos and other miscellaneous items with my Mom this morning we found the most random piece of paper.  Her speeding ticket from 1973 that she got when my parents were living in Spain!  I thought it was so funny and just odd to have it mixed it with my childhood photos that I just had to document this moment.  Here is the ticket.  I must say it is in good shape too!

I also had to share this cute photo of yours truly that was in the same box, it was taken in 1981 when I was 2 1/2 years old.  The phone was a hip accessory even then!

Weekend Road Trip

Today I am taking I-84 East to my hometown of Pendleton.  It has been almost a year since I was home and I am actually looking forward to it.  I have been reading about the improvements the town has been making in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Pendleton Round Up, the community is really rolling out the red carpet.  I am also excited to sleep in my childhood bedroom and see my family, oh and the dog.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Summer

As of today, it finally feels like summer in Portland!  Thank you Mother Nature.

Slovenia

Last weekend I had the pleasure to visit Slovenia! I went there with my coworker Kyle who is a recreational fly fisher like me with a good nose for exploring.

Whenever I talked to anyone or read anything about Slovenia I envisioned a perfect little country with nice mountains and rivers full of fish. The reality was not so far off from this image. The country is about the same size as New Jersey, but has less that 2 million people. Imagine a less populated, but equally beautiful Switzerland with more natural wilderness still intact.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Flying into Ljubljana was similar to flying into Fairbanks, Alaska in June with looming rain clouds, green trees, and mountains jetting up right behind the airport. To think this gem of a country has been so close this whole time, but it took me this long to get there is the only disappointing thing about it.

Ljubljana Airport

Now let's discuss the fishing. We had seen videos and talked to people about Slovenia and they all said it was difficult, but rewarding fishing. Our morning session on Saturday made me think that they were right as I could see tons of fish holding in the river, but hooking them was another matter. I ended up hooking about 5 fish, but nothing of any size and plenty of missed fish. However in the afternoon Kyle and I had much better luck and the ironic part was that was when we fished without a guide.

Kyle and I ready for action

At lunch Kyle and I discussed throwing a "cheeseburger," at the big fish in the river -- joking that it would be the only thing the big fish would go for. Our cheeseburger ended up being a big stonefly dry which we had for chasing fish on the Deschutes.  As soon as I put that fly on the fish started rising for it and it was on.

Below is a photo of the largest fish I hooked. Probably an average sized fish by this rivers standards, but a good fish and a good fight by any standards.

My biggest fish

I definitely would encourage people to visit Slovenia while in Europe. The infrastructure and hospitality defiantly ranked as high as anywhere else I've been. Plus it feels different as there are not as many tourists and instead of visiting museums and churches you get to play outdoors as much as you want. Next time I hope that Heather will get to be there to enjoy it with me.

Backdrop of our fishing hole

Kyle with a nice brown

Good Eats

I feel as if I am eating my way through Portland as I reconnect with friends.  I have enjoyed seafood at McCormick and Schmicks with Jesse, a warm tuna melt and chai latte at Grand Central Bakery with Hilary and last night I experienced Olympic Provisions with Tara.  Our meal reminded me of Europe in that they are known for their meat curing and I now adore cured meats!  We enjoyed glasses of local Pinot Noir and tasted their selection of house charcuterie, english peas, octopus salad and ended the meal with a strawberry shortcake type dish that was delish! 

Another fun side note about Olympic Provisions is that my friend Fritz and his colleagues made the meat sign in the photo above.

Now, where should I go next?

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad!  Thank you for being so supportive and loving. 

Brad, Happy Father's Day to you too, we need to get a photo with you soon!

Happy Friday

via and via 

Happy Friday.  I know this photo was taken in Santorini, which takes me back to our honeymoon last October, which makes me think of Scott, which makes me miss him more. 

Jet Lag

Hello!  I am sorry for the lack of posts since I have arrived in Portland, I have been busy and also suffering from jet lag.  I thought I would kick it right away, but with working now and the never ending "to-do" list I am tackling after work, I just zonk out when I get home.

Last night I attended Girls Night Out at Fit Right Northwest with Hilary, Sarah and Lisa.  They had various vendors showcasing their products, a raffle, wine tasting, food tasting and gait analysis on a treadmill.  I wowed the Brooks trainer that watched my gait with my flat, narrow feet and damaged left ankle from high school sports, he didn't really know what shoe to recommend.  I plan to go back and have another analysis done because I am convinced there is a shoe out there that works for me.

Besides having a night out with girlfriends, the other highlight of the night was meeting the CEO of Handful, Inc., Jennifer Ferguson. I am a huge believer of supporting local companies and she started a sports bra company right here in Tigard, OR. I must say, my handfuls fit quite well too and I look forward to testing it out this weekend.

Last night was a perfect example of what I missed most while abroad, community events and time with my friends, thank you to my girls for putting up with my jet lag at the end of the night and being who you are.

First day jitters

Today was my first day at Waggener Edstrom as the Senior Staff Accountant for the firm and I had the jitters.  They quickly faded though once I started to walk around the office and meet people.  It was a really nice first day and my little bit of jet lag didn't hit until the late afternoon.  Everyone at the office was very friendly and helpful.  I must say I love how organized they are too!  Something my last employer in Europe was lacking.  I feel very blessed to have this job in such a tough economy and I know I made the right choice to join the firm.  It is also exciting to be working at the same company as my friend Tia, we already have a lunch date tomorrow in the "living room" of the office.  Here's to a new chapter in my career, I am hoping it is a very long one!

31 hrs

The first 31 hours have been busy since moving back to Portland and I must say the weather has been gorgeous.  I was prepared for lots of rain since everyone has been talking about it raining nonstop here for the past few weeks. 

Yesterday I attempted to fight jet lag and stay "up late," but I just needed to go to bed, which meant at 7pm I was out.  Due to such an early bed time, I rose at 4:45am, but that was good.  I unpacked all three of my very large bags, caught up on emails, talked to Scott (perk of him being nine hours ahead) and started laundry.  I am also happy to report I got my hair colored, went to Target (big perk to being back), got a wonderful mani and pedi, dropped off information for our mortgage preapproval process, bought birthday gifts for some special one year olds and hit up a grocery store.  Phew.... Now I am once again trying to stay up, my goal for tonight is 8:30pm!

Bittersweet

One word to describe my last day in Switzerland, bittersweet.  Bitter to be leaving Scott and sweet to be coming back to Portland.  I will miss you so much Scott, may the next five weeks fly by.  I love you.

Departing

It is official with the canton of Geneva and the country of Switzerland, I am departing.  I spent a few pleasant hours at the local government office to finalize the paperwork.  My to-do list in Switzerland is shrinking and the to-do list in Portland is growing and growing!

This is the only copy they give you, so I need to keep it in a safe place!

Destination:  Oregon, U.S.A.

Lakeside

Saturday was a sunny 80 degrees in Geneva and there is no better place to be than lakeside for a few hours.  We drove down the lake to Versoix and found a nice community beach that was ideal for people watching and working on a tan.  It was the perfect way to spend my last Saturday here.

There were lots of small sailboats out on the lake for their lessons

Scott is feeling the heat

You can just see the outline of some mountains through the masts

Scott resting after swimming around

Say cheese

Wine Collection

We invested in some more wine to bring back with us yesterday.  Thus far we have 23 bottles of various Swiss and French wines to bring to Oregon and share with other wine lovers.  The moving company said we can bring alcohol back with us, we just have to declare it and it might hold up our shipment in customs. It is all just too good to not attempt to bring back.

La Terrasse

We have a tradition of going to La Terrasse after work on sunny days in Geneva, especially on Fridays.  Last night was no exception and we enjoyed the gorgeous evening with some of our friends.  The Terrasse is a lakeside outdoor bar that serves overpriced wine and beer and a few mixed drinks.  What makes it fun are the people and we were lucky to have some good people with us.

The view of Geneva on my drive into town

One of the many swans on the lake

We took a water taxi across the lake to save time

American girls!  Ashley, Shauna, Molly, Me and Cari

My Love