fam in town

my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law are here for the week! yippee!!


outside our house


we took them to northwest 23rd wednesday night and ate at laurelwood brew pub.


Today we rode the max downtown. explored some of the pearl district and downtown. hung out at powell's city of books...






(cool sign downtown)

..and went to my favorite coffee shop, stumptown coffee roasters...



and ate superb seafood at jake's grill...




tomorrow we are going to a cabin by mount hood for some relaxin'! wahooo!!!

and now a washer and dryer

things are coming together at the moore household. that's right we finally bought a washer and dryer. we've been looking on craig's list for the last month and we couldn't find what we wanted and we finally gave in and bought a new sucker. i have to say i wasn't thrilled with this big purchase. i would rather have other stuff, but i guess i need to be able to wash my clothes!

we had the guys deliver it yesterday. i felt pretty bad because they had to take it to the third floor of our place. : [ and to make matters worse, they installed the wrong washer and dryer. not just the wrong model. it was even a different brand...and i didn't even notice! they called a couple hours later to let me know they installed the wrong one and they were coming back to replace it. whoops. too bad they couldn't have just left it. it was about twice the price!

a great book

i'm a little behind on my reading with all of this house stuff...so, i'm finally getting around to the highly recommended irresistible revolution book. and wow!!! what a book! i'm challenged by every word and am really praying that God will use shane's words to help shape the way we live our life here in portland...a new place is the perfect time to start new habits and new ways of living...and that's what i'm praying for. maybe i won't be living with the homeless in philly, but i'm ready to put all the things i've been thinking about for the past year or so into practice. more on that to come, i'm sure.

..."all around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip or dance, just don't tiptoe."

silver falls

so, i'm a little late in posting about this, but a few weeks ago when travis mom was here, they went for a hike at silver falls. (unfortunately, i had to work, but i will definitely have to go sometime) this is just an hour away from us!

the summer is splendid

now this is what i call summer...

a work in progress

here's travis' mom and i painting our living room.




and the beginnings of our living room, kitchen area (sans decorations and the kobie touch!) the actual colors aren't quite as gray in "real life."

nature in my own backyard

Just down the street from our house is Tualatin Hills Nature Park....219 acres of beauty. yesterday i took a walk down there. It is wonderful and such a great place to get away from everything and be in nature. (oregon is full of these places and i just love it! ) I'm glad to have such a great spot within walking distance!

The art of Chris Yormick

Leave Me Here, 24"x48"/2005 mixed media on canvas

how many times can i talk about our new place?

we went to the DMV today and we now have oregon license plates...wahooo!!! we are oregonians! (i have to say that i was sad to see the minnesota license go!) now i just have to take the written driving test to get my license. i'm ready to be a local. (and i can't believe i have to take a test for my license!)

trav and i have had a lot of fun playing house. it's almost like we have been set free from the cage called aparment living and we are just so excited about making the place our own. we both have our own tasks...i'm trying to decorate and set up house. (and unpack box after box) he's doing all the handy work like putting up blinds and sealing the tile.

i'm really happy with our place. even though it is in the 'burbs and it is a townhouse, i have to say i'm completely euphoric to call this place our own. it already feels like home and i didn't think it would be this fun!! everything is exciting...our refrigerator, our stove, buying blinds, using our garage. sitting at our dining room table...everything is an experience in itself. we are like kids in a candy store!

i've painted a lot and still feel like i have so far to go. It is fun watching this place come together! but i'm starting to get a little overwhelmed at all the stuff that still needs to be done before i can feel settled. (i feel like i'm going in a million different directions and now i'm back to work, so i'm trying to balance work with playing house, which is hard to do...especially since i work from home and all the stuff i want to do around the house is staring at me!) I'm hoping to make some headway this weekend...