One year!  It’s been a whole year that we have been here.  From wondering, as we left California after 36 years, where we’d be in a year, now I know.

As we passed the “Leaving California” sign, and crossed the “Welcome to Oregon” sign, my anxiety, trepidation, and sense of adventure increased.  Had we made the right decision?  We knew nothing about Portland, hadn’t been there in 20 years.  We’d never considered moving there.  Why?  It was right next door to CA after all.  Have you ever seen an episode of “Portlandia?”

   I rest my case.

From a leaky aero bed, to settling in to our very small apartment, we have made it to today.

In every year, there are highs and lows.  Here are some of ours.

The Lows.

Most of them concern our very small loft apartment.  It’s hot!  We have huge windows, but only one opens and no breeze.  No balcony either so no outdoor space.

We’re downtown, it’s noisy!  Street cleaning takes place at 3am.  We are right above a bottle return  center.  We are above the Safeway which is good and bad.  Safeway delivery trucks are not quiet.  Traffic, buses and trains, oh my!

We have an abundance of homeless and street bums.  Why?  The Safeway, subsidized housing all around us.  The generosity Portland shows these people is legendary, so come they do.  I was coming out of Safeway one day and sitting right in a row were 5 bums.  The leader asked me for money and I said I had none.  He said “Come on!  we’re just trying to have some sushi for lunch here.”  Definitely creative.

Oh I forgot Tom’s job hunt!  That took a whole 8 months.

Now for the good!

Newcomers Club.  The best thing I ever did.  All the incredible hiking.  Multnomah Falls  Our trip to Bend and hiking Smith Rock

The Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden     All the new things to see and discover.  The wine country, Mt Hood, the Columbia River, the fruit loop

The restaurants are wonderful.  Living downtown enables us to experience so many and we can walk to them.  The Portland Art Museum is right across the street.  No sales tax!  The price listed is what you pay.  Powells book store.

Best of all are the quality of life things.  Fewer people, friendly and really nice people, less traffic, and of course all the new friends we have made.

We have obviously made the right choice!  I highly recommend shaking up your life and trying something new. We were in a rut and didn’t know it, but knew we had to do something. I have three friends who are in the throes of figuring out what to do.  Making a change is hard.  You don’t know what you’ll find, but you may just find happiness.

I know the next year will be even better.  We will be in our apartment for a bit longer and then we are moving.  I can’t wait to see where we’ll be in a year!

You can shake it up right now with new lips for Valentine’s Day.

You don’t have to go red.  There are other colors perfect for the day.  For instance:  Heartbreaker

Let me know if you want to shake up your lips!  To see  more colors, go to my website:  http://www.lips2love.com  I’m also on Facebook at:  Stevie Sells Lipstick.  You can leave me a message there.