my bungalow dreams have come true.

like i mentioned in my last post, we finally secured a rental in Portland after quite a stressful process. the rental market in Portland is apparently extremely hot right now, some we talked to said it's the hottest they've ever seen it. this means places are snatched up immediately {and prices are hiked, wah wah}. people are even offering more than what the rental is listed for! ftw. so obviously this was not easy to navigate from across the country. luckily we have a couple of friends out there who were awesome enough to look at places for us. i think we had them look at six different ones, yikes. and we filled out apps for all of them, paid paid app fees, got credit checks done, corresponded back and forth via email and phone, even did a Skype interview, and crossed our fingers that something would work out. whew! it felt like we were buying a house or something. i can't even imagine what that process is actually going to be like.

in the end, we were approved for an adorable 1926 bungalow in NE portland. you guys, i'm going to live in a bungalow. in portland. is this real life? and it's on 1/3 of an acre with three garden boxes and a raspberry bush, oh and a garage converted into a studio space (which i haven't even seen photos of, hah). i am rather giddy about it. it was a really stressful process and i am so thankful it's over and amazed that we came out of it with such an awesome place (at least judging by photos & our friend's reactions since we haven't actually seen it). it's really crazy how it all worked out in the end.. i won't bore you with the details, but it feels very much meant to be, even though we will be spending more than we were hoping to.

and now i've already started pinning a million ideas for decor. we sold a lot, so we're going to have quite a bit of empty space starting out. and i know it's going to drive me crazy, but i'm hoping i'll be patient because we are going to have to buy pieces slowly. also have started researching the area and have already located a community garden, two farmers' markets, a New Seasons Market, and a Trader Joe's nearby. i am kind of giddy about all of that. if any of you just so happen to live in/be familiar with NE portland, please message me! it feels a little strange not even having been to the neighborhood we're living in, hopefully we'll feel at home there!

sorry for the wordy post, i'm just a wee bit excited!

oh, hi.

wow, i don't know if i've ever gone this long without blogging! wanted to let you all know i am still alive and well. finding it hard to keep up with the blog world while i prepare for this enormous transition that is just around the corner. but i definitely miss it and feel very much out of the loop. come tomorrow, august 1st, it will be moving month {we leave august 24th}. i had to pause for a moment after typing that and stare blankly at my screen. you guys, it still doesn't seem real and i guess it just won't until we're there. i have lived here {in the mitten state} for nearly my entire life, and i am moving 2,400 miles away. i just can't wrap my head around it. but i will say that, though the moments of overwhelming sadness/shock/i feel like balling my eyes out are starting to hit, overall i am still feeling really excited for this new chapter. there is SO much to look forward to.

thought i'd share a few of my favorite instagrams of life since you last heard from me. it has been rather full. we have had a 4-day yard sale in the hot, hot heat and moved out of our house & into my parents. we've traveled to the Denver area for my friend's wedding {for which i was a bridesmaid & joel played music} & then to Manitou Springs for some majestic sight-seeing at Garden of the Gods & Pike's Peak. i finally figured out my work situation for after the move. we visited my sister & brother-in-law (and their new pup) across the state and spent a weekend up north with my in-laws. we sent out a bajillion emails to prospective rentals in Portland, filled out multiple applications, paid multiple fees, stressed the freak out, and THANK THE LORD, secured a place to live (woot woot - more on that later). with LOTS of time spent with family and friends in between, some good memories for sure. there has not been a dull moment during these last days in Michigan. hopefully the rest will be just as sweet.

stuff.

wow, have i been a terrible blogger lately. my mind has been going all sort of directions and apparently keeping up this blog has not been one of them. this season has been going so fast... we have just over two months before we make the big cross-country move. doesn't seem possible. in the meantime we have much going on (and much to plan & figure out, including a place to live in portland). in the last few weeks, we've helped my sister & brother-in-law move, traveled to Asheville for our anniversary (more on that soon), had a grad party for Joel, drove to the U.P (Escanaba to be exact) for a college friend's wedding, on top of trying to start packing, starting to inquire about rentals online, trying to sort out work transition stuff, etc etc. let's just say there's a lot to figure out yet. oh yea, and there was that time that joel helped open up for Eddie Money at DTE.

strangely, i am staying very calm lately, despite the garage sale coming up in 2 days that we are not all that prepared for and the move into my parents' house next weekend that we are definitely not prepared for. it'll all get done, somehow. and once it's done, we will be off to Denver for my dear friend's wedding and then to some very exciting, long-awaited travel plans (in celebration of Joel finishing his PhD). 

photos from our trip to the beauuutiful oasis that is the U.P. this weekend. we will miss it dearly. 

this my friends, is shaping up to me the most eventful, epic summer of my life. in mostly good ways but also chaotic ways. and eventually heart-wrenching ways. i got a tiny glimpse of the flood of emotions to come last night when we were watching real world portland (did i just admit that publicly) and the roommates were all saying their goodbyes in typical dramatic fashion to people they had known for what, 3 months? i was painstakingly reminded of the fact that i will be saying goodbye to friends i have know, oh just 10, 15 years and oh yea, the most important people in my life (second to Joel), my family. ok that's enough of that. i'll check in soon with more happy thoughts, on Asheeville. 

Lately..

I know I've been pretty absent from this space lately, so I thought I'd fill you in on just a few tidbits from my life lately, via Instagram of course. My DSLR has been feeling ever so neglected. I'm thinking it might be fun to take a photography class at PSU once Joel's a professor there so that I can learn how to go beyond the Auto mode.

Spent Mother's Day in E. Lansing with all my family. Had a delicious authentic Mexican lunch followed by coffee & dessert, then moved my brother out of his apartment! He's done with college aside from one class he'll be taking this summer and is now living with my parents (10 minutes from us!), so I am excited to spend a lot more time with him before we move to Portland (which by the way, has totally not sunk in). We'll really get a lot of time together once we join him at my parents' house at the end of June.. we'll be living there July and August in order to save some money before our move. My parents are the best.

Been doing a whole lot of cooking lately to avoid going out to eat (we're working toward paying off our credit cards and this involves being very careful with our spending). On Cinco de Mayo, I made my favorite tacos - Chicken Tinga tacos. Was going to post the recipe but then decided that was sorta silly since it is verbatim what is on Nicole's blog. I highly recommend these, Joel and I go crazy over them. The chicken prep is rather time consuming, but pays out on flavor and usually lasts us much of the week, which means I get a few days off of cooking. It's great on quesadillas too.

Celebrates Magg's 5th birthday on Sunday, although I'll admit he was a little neglected with it being Mother's Day and is being out of town most of the day. But he did get some treats from Trader Joe's that he flipped out over, as well as lots of lovin'. Hard to believe out bubbers is 5 years old. I love him to pieces.

Got to spend lots more quality time with Joel while he was on break from teaching classes, which involved lots of long walks and picnics. It's been so refreshing. I am so looking forward to having way more time with him once he's a full-time professor. No more being he wife of a PhD student.. Woohoo!! Really hard to believe this chapter is coming to a close. Hoping our last summer in Michigan is filled with amazing memories. Between moving twice, standing up in a wedding in Denver and having something going on nearly every weekend, it's definitely going to be a busy one!

What have you guys been up to lately? Is your summer a packed one?

a new etsy shop obsession :: GYPSA.

i just discovered this shop the other day via Poppytalk & i am pretty much enamored. in particular, this quilt. i've decided it must adorn our future queen-sized bed that i'm hoping we will get to purchase shortly after our move (we have a full now that was mine growing up and some other family member's before that... yea, i think it's time for an upgrade). it's things like this that make me all the more motivated to continue pitching pennies in the meantime & knockin' down that credit card debt.

some other things i would really like to have prettying up our next place. they are all perfect. and also pretty reasonably priced. win, win.

speaking of our next place, we are looking to rent a 2-3 bedroom house in Portland -- for those of you that live there, do you have any recommendations of what neighborhoods we should look in? we've been told SE is a great area & we really enjoyed what we saw of it while we were there. i think this finding the right place busiiness is going to be a bit tricky, especially with the budget hubby is hoping to stay within. the plan is to go there in July to find our place/sign a lease (we move at the end of August). in the meantime, i'm checking craig's list incessantly even though it's still much to early. not a huge fan of the waiting game.

links from the week

{found my vintage wedding clutch while rummaging through bins of old stuff my mom brought over. spring cleaning is going down early over here}. 

Thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and share some favorite links from the week with you. This new year is off to a wonderful start. I'm back in a cooking kick, trying all sorts of new recipes using some new cookwear (woohoo), daydreaming about where we'e going to end up (so much excitement in our house right now!) and also I think my new year's resolution to rise early has really brought more joy, positivity and productivity into my days. Hope to gradually make it even earlier. 

 

- I've found a new go-to corn chowder recipe. Hubby is obsessed. Excited for leftovers tonight. 

- In case you're curious, so far the potential places we could be moving to this year are here, here, here, here and here. Apparently the West and NY are calling to us. The soonest we could know is early next month :o

- This is my new favorite way to prepare pork chops. Abso-freaking-lutely delicious. 

- I've just started reading this book (as part of my other new years' resolution to read before bed), and I really like it so far. 

- This carrot soup sounds delicious. I really want her cookbook. 

- Snagged this Anthro dress for free thanks to the 30% off clearance sale + the $28 store credit I received after getting a price adjustment on the present Joel got me for Christmas. A little tip: if they are out of your size online, call customer service & they will locate a store that has it & the store will ship it to you for free! 

Happy Friday friends! Hope your weekend is wonderful.