PDX

I'm terribly embarrassed at how long it's been since I've updated my website; things got pretty crazy for a while with work in Iowa, and I haven't written in several months, so in truth, I was scared to sit down and face the screen. But now here I am, sipping iced coffee I brewed this morning in my new Portland home, and I finally feel like it's time to start anew. I'm going to make a real effort to consistently update my site with writing, photo, and music projects in the gorgeous Northwest. 

Over the past few days, whenever I get on the yoga mat, it feels surreal to breathe deeply and just take in my new surroundings. I don't know how else to explain it, but it's like landing softly in this new space has me finally come back to myself; for a while before, I felt like I was waiting for life to happen, and now it feels like it finally is. I loved my time in Iowa, but in my final semester there, I was in the gloom. I plan to eventually write about that, but today's post will focus on the light. 

Somehow, my fiancé, Scott, and I managed to do 2.5 of long-distance while I was in graduate school. That time apart really forced us to actively communicate, which I believe has deeply strengthened our relationship long-term. We originally planned to finally get to the same place this summer, and though I feel like teaching at the university level is what I am meant to do, staying in Iowa just to teach for another semester just didn't feel right; I knew that January was when Scott and I needed to make the move. My dad got married last year to my former teacher, Deborah Reed, and moved to the Oregon coast (check out her new book, by the way--it's a sort of love letter to Oregon, and it will make you want to drop what you're doing and run to Oregon right now; it's called The Days When Birds Come Back, which is a homage to Queen Emily Dickinson), my sister is moving to Portland this summer, and we wanted to be closer to my mama and Scott's parents who all live in Utah, so Scott and I made the tough decision to leave the big city and head for the Northwest. This was an especially big thing for Scott, since he's been living and working tirelessly in New York City for eight years, and though Portland is a wonderful city, it's a whole lot smaller than NY, so we knew it'd be a big transition. 

But the landing has been soft, and the cross-country move when smoother than we could have hoped, considering it was the middle of winter after the recent bomb cyclone had just slammed the Northeast and Midwest. When I was packing up my entire life in Iowa, the temperature didn't get above 15 degrees Fahrenheit for three weeks straight, and it got as low as -40 with windchill--so the process leading up to the move itself was long, dark, and frigid, and we weren't sure what the weather would be like when we were slated to make the actual move. We monitored the forecast in the East and Midwest, and we had to bump up the moving date a couple of times, but in doing so, we were able to beat a couple of major storms, and in mid-January, Scott picked up his rental van, packed up his belongings, said goodbye to NYC, and headed for Iowa. 

He arrived with much fanfare a day and a half later the night before we were picking up the U-Haul truck, and he helped me to finish up some last-minute packing that I wasn't able to do on my own--e.g. ripping off this ridiculous triangle shelf from my wall (these are the moments we look back on and laugh at when recalling how crazy moving across the country is)--and early the next morning, we bundled up and headed out to pick up the truck in the -10-degree cold. Luckily, it wasn't snowing, which made loading up the truck a little easier, but the negative temperatures were brutal, and some of the plants I was hoping to bring instantly shriveled up when they were exposed to the cold, but apart from that, everything went smoothly. My best pal Jane helped me to wrap up my furniture while Scott was Tetris-ing boxes into the U-Haul like a pro, and somewhere in between selling my bedroom set, cleaning my apartment, doing a final walk-through with my landlord, returning Scott's rental van, lying in the floor like a plank while eating cold leftover pizza from the previous night, going back to U-Haul to hook up the trailer to tow my car, and preparing my betta fish, Vardaman, for his cross-country journey, we somehow managed to get everything done by 1:00 p.m., and we hit the road for our first night's destination: North Platte, Nebraska. 

The next day, the temperatures rose pretty drastically--it got to be almost 30 in Nebraska that afternoon, and I wanted to run around in a bikini as I hadn't felt anything above 15 in weeks--and we had a wonderful time driving through Nebraska and Wyoming, feeling grateful the whole way as we kept passing warning signs on the highway for the storm that was coming that weekend which we would just barely be missing. The second night, we made it to Salt Lake City, and though we were exhausted, we were happy to be greeted by Scott's amazing mom with the mandatory Utah cuisine--Cafe Rio--and after basically inhaling our burritos, we both quickly passed out. 

On the third day, we hit a little snow in Idaho, but nothing too crazy until we got into the Cascades, where we drove through a full-on blizzard, but Scott handled the U-Haul with true style and ease (swoon). At the top of the peak, we passed through the clouds, and as we began our descent into Oregon, the sky opened up to one of the most gorgeous sunsets I've ever seen, and we cruised in awe while singing along to Townes Van Zandt. When we were just outside of Hood River that night, we were pulled over, but much to our surprise, the cop was super nice, and he merely told us that the lights on our trailer were out, and he knew it wasn't our fault since it was a U-Haul rental, so he just told us to drive with our hazards on for the remaining hour until we got to our hotel, and he wished the best for us in our move. 

When we reached our hotel, we were excited to see that it was located right on the river, and we had a delicious dinner that night in the dining room that was made of nearly all windows--if you're ever in Hood River, you should definitely check out the Best Western there--it's super reasonably priced, but the hotel is gorgeous and is definitely more of a kushy lodge with good food, drinks, and unbeatable views. 

The next morning, Scott and I enjoyed a fabulous breakfast as we watched the sun rise over Hood River Gorge, then we took a walk along the river itself before hitting the road for the last couple of hours into Portland. As we were preparing to leave, a guy approached us and asked us if we knew we had a flat on the U-Haul trailer (we didn't know, so many thanks to that friendly stranger), and though that put a bit of a damper on our move-in plans, we were very grateful that the tire had gone flat overnight and not when we were driving in the dark or making the slow climb through the Cascades in a blizzard. So, in order to make the move-in appointment at our new place, we brought my car off the trailer, and while Scott waited for someone from U-Haul to come replace the tire, I cruised into Portland solo, which was actually a really enlivening experience; I was pretty scared to handle the U-Haul and trailer, so Scott had driven the whole way from Iowa, and cruising solo along the river that led to our new home while blasting Lil' Peep (R.I.P.) was really cool. 

And so, here we are, 2.5, with basically 10 blurry days of unpacking that I barely remember, and now we're easing into the rhythms of this new life together. Scott has already booked a couple of jobs--he's on a shoot for Nike today--and I'm trying to find work writing, teaching, doing marketing, PR, etc. It can feel overwhelming sometimes to think about all the things I still have yet to accomplish in this new life, but I'm trying to sink my roots in gently and appreciate all these new moments. I sound like an old hippie when I say this, but if most of the plants I had growing in the Midwest could be uprooted and transported across the country and survive the shock of living and growing in a new place, then hey, I can too. 

The past six months were tough, but I feel like I'm coming back into myself; it's a new day, and I'm experiencing the rays of light and the verdant greenery in this brand new life, feeling every shoot of happiness, every ache, every bliss. I know this newness will only last a while, which is why I wanted to make this post, so I can look back at it and remember some of how it felt when it was all so fresh. I hope that here, in this new space that Scott and I are creating together, I can unfurl and find my love for writing again and consistently create, read, love, work hard, and thrive. 

PDX photos by Scott Simpson
Hood River photos by me
Manzanita photo by my dad : ) 

PDX Outfit:
Red beret from Revival Iowa City
Sunglasses by Illesteva
Golden rod necklace by Amano Studio from Moss Iowa City
Moon ring gifted from Crimson made by Mineral & Matter
Multicolored coat "Free Spirit" MINK PINK shaggy coat from Dolls Kill
Cream silk dress from Helmut Lang
Maroon knee-high socks from American Apparel
Chunky platform sandals from White Rabbit

Makeup: 
Candy K Lipkit
The Burgundy Palette Kyliner

Nails: 
Night Sky art by ChiChi at Best Nails Club

While writing this post, I listened to YOUNG by Overcoats