I am blessed

I am so blessed to have a husband who is willing to be vulnerable and open with me, always ready to do whatever it takes to strngthen our relationship with each other.

There really is such a thing as a "match made in heaven."

OR VS. PA

Michael and I have been compiling two lists:

1) Pennsylvanian's Perceptions of Oregon
2) Differences between OR and PA

This is a list that we started, but I'm sure we'll add on to it as time goes on:

Perceptions of Oregon
(These come from conversations with people at work and as we meet people who find out we're from Oregon)

-Oregon has many ferns in the forest
-Everyone is healthy (that's why we don't smoke, obviously)
-We Recycle!
-When someone thinks Oregon, they think:
-Tree huggers
-Euthanasia ("Oregonians are OK with killing people, just don't cut down the trees!" This one comes from one of Michael's professors)
-Oregon Trail-the computer game and the wagons out west
-Spotted Owl
-Coffee (Thank you Starbucks!)
-Wine Country
-One of my co-workers said Michael is the epitome of what he thinks of when he imagines an Oregonian: a tall, strong jaw who could "beat him up and then go build a house" (What does that even mean?)

Differences we've noticed between Pennsylvania and Oregon:

-Squirrels are everywhere in PA
-Michael doesn't own a suit (as someone asked him, so what do you wear to weddings?)
-When it rains, it RAINS (in Oregon we don't use umbrellas, here they are needed)
-Pedestrians, be one and risk your life (In Oregon, there are new state laws all the time relating to pedestrians)
-Styrofoam-restaurants, coffee shops, to-go boxes, all styrofoam....At least paper is recyclable!
-People drink coffee from Dunkin Donuts (In Oregon that would be the last place we would think to go...but it's great here. And cheap.)
-Wawa-See previous post from last fall. Heaven in a convenience store. Not like 7-11 in any way.
-People prefer black coffee to espresso
-Flip flops may be worn at all times for any function in Oregon
-No maple bars in PA
-No turn lanes-narrow roads here (hence risk to pedestrians)
-Delayed Red Lights (Yellow means push the pedal, not slow down like in Oregon)
-No Right turn on Red
-Townships-are in counties, are made up of cities, and villages, and I still don't really get it.
-Sales tax-but not on clothes
-We have to pump our own gas (unless we drive to New Jersey, the only other state besides OR that has gas attendants)
-No bike lanes
-Croissant pronounced with a French accent
-To cut back on alcohol being available and binge drinking, they sell alcohol in separate stores (Wine and Spirits and/or Beer Yards), but only in mass quantities. 6 packs not available.)
-People go to the beach and don't need 3 layers of clothes
-People go to the beach

Pictures

Putting together our furniture.



Yes, the directions actually said to wear gloves. And yes, Michael needed them to finish the task. Those Ikea instructions are genius.



Captain Michael driving the boat.



Old Church in the middle of Annapolis, MD.
It was a joke while we were in Europe in college that we always had to stop and take a picture of the churches we saw. I guess we still do it...

Pictures say a thousand words

In case you haven't read my blog recently, Michael and I have some news. (If you have read my blog, then the following is old news).

I think the picture says it all:

And...Our New Apartment

We're so glad to be here! We are trying to figure out what furniture we need as we unpack. This is most of our stuff. To some, it's a lot, to others it's barely anything. Either way, we got it all into our living room.



The Kitchen



The Bedroom


The Dining Room


Maybe we'll post a few more pictures once we're organized.

Last pictures of the trip

There was a huge motorcycle rally in South Dakota. It ended the same day we left the area, and we passed hundreds, literally, of motorcycles throughout the rest of our trip. Even as we pulled off the PA Turnpike at our exit there were still bikers driving further east.



We stopped in Allen, Nebraska, where Michael's grandparents used to live. It was a very small town that wasn't even on the map. We had to call Michael's sister to figure out how to find it.



Sunrise as we headed East on our last day of the trip. I'm so used to watching the sun set on the west coast that it seemed odd, but it was beautiful.



Welcome to PA



The last hour of our trip. We always get really, really antsy. We were so excited and giddy to be so close to our final destination. The last two days of the trip we listened to books on CD, which definitely helped pass the time.

More Pictures #3

Still a few more pictures...



What can I say? We were inspired...



Mom and Baby on the side of the road, early in the AM.






This was the viewpoint from our campsite after we saw Mt. Rushmore. The city lights were beautiful. We were on a cliff and the wind was TERRIBLE, it kept us up most of the night.