Day 1: Eugene, OR

After a great farewell breakfast with my favorite Regence peeps (thanks everyone!) Tim and I went back to the apartment and finished packing and cleaning. After a minor freak out that we wouldn't be able to fit everything in the car, we hit the road for Eugene. We were looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight. On the way we managed to dispense with roughly 3 Voo Doo Doughnuts. Once in Eugene we checked into the hotel and headed for the University of Oregon campus. We were immediately reminded of Madison. We spent a few hours walking around and seeing the sights we had an amazing dinner at a cute little Italian Trattoria. Then it was back to the hotel to relax and plan out tomorrow's trip. Thankfully we don't have far to go so we can take our time. I'll leave you with the pictures we took on campus.

Counting Down the Days

As we get closer and closer to the end of my residency and the end of our time in Oregon, I'm getting more and more excited about coming home to Wisconsin.

Of course, I'll miss some things in Oregon - and there's so much I feel like we need to do and see before we make the trek back (that's a blog post all it's own). What I'm most excited about right now is Sasquatch! Tim and I decided it was worth the big bucks and will be spending the 4 days of Memorial Day weekend in George, Washington at the Gorge Amphitheater listening to some amazing music and camping. That's right - we're buying a tent and a sleeping bag for me and everything! Real honest to goodness camping. I can't wait for it to get here!

In the meantime I'm hoping we can take some day trips or weekend trips to the coast, etc before we hit the trail back to the Midwest.

Any suggestions for what should be on the Oregon/Pacific Northwest Bucket List?

Touring Portland

My first real weekend in Portland went from potential depressing loneliness to a grand tour of the best spots on a Saturday:

1) Met up with Sara at the Farmer's Market @ PSU - Think Madison Farmer's Market but bigger with live music, wine tasting, and crepes!

2) After a good cup of coffee and a few rounds of the Farmer's Market we headed to the waterfront for the Portland Saturday Market. I expected things to be cool, but this was amazing. The whole thing reminds me of an enormous arts festival, except this happens every weekend! Lots of browsing later (oh how I wish I had more money!) and we were on our way to...

3) The Rose Gardens. Gorgeous flowers galore. There are hundreds of different types of roses and I think Sara and I may have stopped and smelled almost every one of them. We took tons of pictures too! Check 'em out!

4) After the rose garden we walked down a cute little path to NW 23rd and did some window shopping at the cute stores down there. We also had lunch at Rose's which is a quaint little soup/salad/sandwich diner that had fabulous looking desserts. We didn't have room for those, but maybe next time.

5) Next we met up with Sara's friends who were in town and went over to the JVC house. While in the neighborhood we checked out a store that has adorable bags called Queen Bee I definitely have a bag or two in mind that I'd like.

6) The highlight of the evening was definitely checking out the Kennedy School. I think it's brilliant to turn and old elementary school into a hotel/bar/restaurant/meeting space/theatre. So cool. A must return to spot!

Another great part of the day was just hanging out with fun people, seeing new places, and learning more about public transit. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Today was a dull day spent in the apartment. Not much to do/no motivation. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

PDX

Well here I am.

Friday night Tim and I left Madison with 2 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, and 2 kitties. After a frustrating 45 minutes waiting for Frontier to figure out what the heck they do with pets traveling in cargo we were on our way through security with 2 hours until departure. After a few pints at the Dane we took off from MSN to arrive about 30 minutes early in Denver. "Perfect" we thought. "Just enough time to grab a bite to eat before our connecting flight." WRONG. Apparently there was some sort of weather in DEN (one flight attendant said "microbursts" but I have no clue what that means) so the airport had closed, TWICE. Inevitably our flight was delayed about 1.5 hours. So we got some chinese and a milkshake and went to chill outside our gate. Once onboard the Airbus there was a minor freakout when the airline neglected to give us the boarding slips for Oliver and Bucky. Luckily a flight attendant was kind enough to call down and double check for us. As we took off we found out that we would be receiving free tv for the flight which was nice. I simply slept. Touching down in Portland, we claimed our bags and our kitties (best moment of the day) and ventured to pick up our ridiculous Kia Rio... power nothing but Sirius equipped... I hated that car. We got ourselves to a 24 hour Walgreens to grab the essentials for the night and trekked over to the apartment. Once their we "settled in" as best we could: no blankets, freezing apt, no pillows, you get the picture. We slept on the floor in the living room with towels and clothes as our pillows and jackets as our blankets. I kinda wish I had taken a picture.

Saturday morning we waited around for the Comcast guy so I could have internet. Then it was off to Target for a $400 shopping spree including an air mattress, sheet, towels, shower curtain, toiletries, a microwave and cleaning supplies. Thankfully we got to have a little fun over the weekend - we met up with Josh and went to check out the North American Organic Brewfest which was pretty sweet. Lots of people, good food, good music, and even better beer. Afterwards it was back to the apt and Winco for some grocery shopping.

Sunday was a rough day. Tim left around 8:30 for his flight back to Madison and I spent most of the day trying not to cry/ watching episodes of Bones. I also made a run over to Petco to get some things for the kitties. They are the proud owners of new collars and ID tags - they look so handsome!

Not sure what the plans will be for the week. Hoping the movers bring our stuff soon, but who knows. Start work on Friday!

Let's Cross Over

I'm moving to Portland on Friday.

The moving van will be here tomorrow to load up my things. Then Wednesday evening I will head to Madison to take my NAPLEX on Thursday. Friday night, with 2 cats, 2 carry-ons, one checked bag and Tim in tow, I'll be headed to the airport and the great state of Oregon.

I can't believe this is actually happening. I started this blog when I went to Belize as a way to keep in touch with my friends and family. I think I'm about to revive it for exactly the same purpose.

When I started looking at residencies I looked into places on the west coast because I felt like I needed a new set of scenery. Then as deadlines approached I looked into some residencies in the Midwest because I started to get scared about moving. Deadlines came and went and I only applied to 2 places: Seattle and Portland. Lo and behold, Portland it ended up being. It's a little surreal to see the living room full of boxes, my dressers empty and my world all packed away. I'm moving to Portland on Friday. For a whole year.

I hope many of you will write to me and keep in touch via facebook, email, this blog, phone calls, etc. Additionally we've got a spare bedroom so just let me know when you'd like to come for a visit!

I'll miss Wisconsin and everyone in it (hyperbole). I know I'll be back someday, I just don't know when. For now, wish my luck! I'm off to the pacific northwest in 4 days!

Picture Taking Improvements

I know it's been way too long since I've posted, but there haven't been a ton of new things going on, and I'm not evne sure who reads this anymore. Regardless, I thought I'd touch on a few things that deserve updates:

1. There are exactly 18 days standing between me and graduation. 18 days! I can hardly believe it. On that note, there are 10 "working" days until the end of this block. I've had a good time at the clinic, but with the nice weather and graduation approaching I'm finding it hard to pay attention and truly care anymore. To top things off I've got all my projects done. I'd be so nice to be able to stay home for the next 2 weeks and study for the boards, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Oh well.

2. Tim and I have been dating for 4 months now and loving every minute of it! I've also been better about taking pictures which is much appreciated by family and friends. Check out my pictures on Picasa to see more!

3. It's official - I'm moving to Portland, OR this summer. I got a Residency Position with RegenceRx which is part of Blue Cross Blue Schield out there. I'll be there for a year and I'm both excited and nervous beyond all belief! Tim's moving out with me - which is amazing (did I mention that he's amazing?) and we're actually taking a mini-vacation out there to look at apartments right after graduation. Moving across the country is a lot more work (read money) than I thought it would be. Just FYI. Hopefully we'll get it all figured out in time. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share - please!

Other than the above, things are chugging along as per usual. Now, back to rotation "work" - blah!