WOW!

I went out and mowed the lawn today and when I came in my Weather Channel Desktop was going nuts talking about thunderstorms. It was still sunny and beautiful outside so I didn't pay any attention. Well a little while later Kobe came in off the deck and he was wet. The sun was still shining, but it was raining; big fat drops outside. A little while later I turned around and WOW! What a gorgeous sunset. It was still raining, and there was some thunder and lightning, but the whole sky was just alive with color.

Been a While?

Life has been so busy, and so much has been happening, I haven't had time to sit down and update for so long. First big accomplishment: Tom and I celebrated 7 years (yesterday) of living together in "more-often-then-not" wedded bliss. We had dinner at Castagna on Hawthorne in Portland and then came home for cake from A Piece of Cake on SE 17th. I had a small 6" chocolate cake with raspberry filling made. It is very similar to our wedding cake, except that it is covered with chocolate ganache and not roses.

We also go a late start placing our house on the market, so it didn't actually go up for sale until the beginning of April. Even with that delay, we had an offer in 8 days and got more or less full price for it. We had to give them some money to deal with an unexpected sewer complication, but at least they are dealing with it. That means we can just enjoy what little time we have left in the house. Of course my crying when I do yard work has just gotten worse over the months. I love this house so much; I keep telling Tom I wish we could just pick it up and move it. Oh if it weren't for impossible dreams!

We also have had our offer excepted on a new house in Charelston. It is really a lovely house and I think it is a good compromise for everything we were looking for and what we needed. All it really needs is some refencing for the dogs and a little bit of yard work to perk it up. It really has a bare minimum of landscaping right now.

We have also been doing a mad dash around Portland, visiting our favorite

places and seeing the things we haven't managed to see in 7 years. We are

really going to miss all of the Mcminnamen's establishments (Edgefield, The Kennedy School, The Barley Mill Pub and the Bagdad) I keep telling Tom we should franchize one in SC. I finally saw the Portlandia statue.--------->
Who knew Portland had an imitation Liberty Bell right in the middle of downtown!?

So no luck on the baby front, yet. That has been really hard. However, as so many people have told me, I am still young, and maybe if I just relax, things will happen - when I just stop thinking about it. Please pardon me while I go excise my tongue from my cheek. To my credit, I normally manage to keep a smile on my face when receiving this "advice" from those people who A) have children and B) never had a lick of trouble popping a bun in their oven. Seemingly, most of the people who shower me with such advise are the ones who wake up one morning and say "What is this bun doing in my oven, I didn't want another/anymore bun/s right now!" Oh, and by the way, being told by everyone and their 2nd cousin to "relax" really doesn't help achive the goal, it really just pisses me off.

Maybe if I were a 14 year old crack addict, that advise would come in handy. However, I assure you I am a 28 year old wife of an employed professional. I haven't thought of anything else for about 12 years. I had to wait 6 years for Tom to get on board (because that is what good wives who want their relationships based on trust do) before even getting to the "trying" stage only to still be childless without even a glimmer of hope on the horizon 10 months later. The bitterest pill is standing there, every night, and taking "the pill," even though YOU aren't the one who doesn't want to get pregnant - only to find out that you really didn't need to do that because, HEY! you can't seem to get pregnant anyway. Pardon me, but the optimist in me is going to step out of the room now for this "truly,life sucks" moment. The only thing worse was having to smile and cutely say "No, not yet!" when being asked if we have children or were we trying.
Wow, I guess that's all I had to say about that. Really it's not, but I'm sure you're sitting there making the "movin' on" gesture with your hand, so I'll do just that.

I also took a three week trip to the East Coast in March. I rented a car (I still can't get the smile off my face from driving THAT car!) and drove round trip from Greeneville to Massachusetts where Mom, Colby, Amanda, and I got to spend time with Gram-Gram and Pa-Pa, and see uncles and friends and extended family while we were there. We stayed a week before heading back to Tennessee, only for mom and I to head to Charleston to initiate the hunt for the new house.

My Mom will be here on Memorial Day with her friend Anne. They are coming to go exploring around Portland and help me pack. We are signed up to do the 2nd Annual OHSU Tram run/walk on June1st. It's Mom's first organized event, so this should be fun. Then Dad arrives on the 5th, we pick up the moving truck and Tom graduates on the 6th of June. Bill & Molly will be driving up from Truckee for that momentous evening. Then Mom, Dad, Anne, and the kids (read dogs) and I will be leaving sometime around the 10th of June. Tom will have to stay on in a rented room in The Pearl until June 21st. Crazy month, huh? To top it off we already have social engagements in Charleston. So the fun only begins when Tom arrives.