We Bought a House!

Technically, we bought a mortgage, but once we pay it off, we'll own a little Portland bungalow!  If you follow me on Facebook, this isn't a surprise, but it was all official on Friday, June 28th in the afternoon.  Our whole house buying process took about two months and once we put an offer on this house, it was pretty smooth from there.  I didn't want to say anything until it was official because I didn't want to jinx anything.  The Portland housing market got pretty crazy this spring and we are VERY lucky to have gotten the house we got!  I will go through the whole process in separate posts, but for now, please enjoy a tour of our home!!!!  

I'm a Working Woman

This week I went back to work after a two and half month break.  Andrez found out about a temp Administrative Assistant position for the Facilities and Property Management Division at the county.  I had an interview last Monday morning and was offered the position that afternoon!  I am definitely being challenged, learning a lot, and will be working really hard.  It has been fun waking up, getting ready, meeting people, and taking in a flood of new information!  I am working in the same building as Andrez, so we get to drive together to and from work now.  We don't see each other much during the day, but it's fun knowing that we are both there and working for the county that we now call home.

I will have some exciting news to share in a couple of days, so stay tuned!!  I hope you are all having a great week so far!  

(I also have to mention that I got to spend the weekend with one of my closest friends from Okinawa, Kelly.  I didn't take many pictures because we were out and about enjoying a sunny Portland Saturday and shopped until we dropped at the mall on Sunday.  I'm so lucky to live a couple hour drive from her!)

View from Mt. Tabor-this is a water reservoir with downtown Portland in the background.  Beautiful sunset with Andrez and one of my favorites, Kelly!

Kruger's Farm-Strawberry Picking!

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you probably saw that Andrez and I went strawberry picking on Saturday.  Growing up in Las Vegas, going to a farm on the weekend was not a regular activity.  We saw that Kruger's Farm  was having a strawberry festival, so we took the short drive to Sauvie Island to enjoy the sun and some fresh fruit.  We got to take a short hay ride to the strawberry fields and picked as many strawberries as we wanted.  The fields smelled so good and you could literally smell the strawberries in the air.  We picked a couple little container's worth and also picked up some fresh raspberries (they were picked that morning, but not by us) and cherries.  

Fresh picked fruit is about the tastiest thing!  Andrez and I ate everything we bought by Sunday night (at least it was healthy!)!  We plan on going to more farms and picking more fruits and veggies, and hopefully, growing some of our own soon!  

Sad that I didn't have any strawberries yet.

Did not know that this is how artichokes grow!

Yay, I was fruit rich now!

Our farm fresh fruit.

Pretty view of Sauvie Island on the drive home.

Lardo

There is a restaurant on Hawthorne Blvd. that Andrez and I pass every day when I take him to work called Lardo.  The restaurant itself is kind of small, but there is a large, tented seating area outside and there are always lots of people there.  They feature pork dishes, and while the menu is on the smaller side, we still had a tough time picking out what to eat because they all sounded so good!  We split the pork meatball banh mi, the double burger, and lardo fries.  Our meal was delicious, the banh mi was the standout by far!  We were stuffed when we were done and we will definitely go back for more!

Willis and Lucy

Here is your weekly dose of Willis and Lucy pictures--love these two!

Andrez and I always laugh when we take the dog's collars off because they look naked, even though it's a little collar.  

Laurelhurst Park

I got back late Saturday night, which allowed Andrez and I to sleep in, go out for lunch, and take the pups to Laurelhurst Park for a sunny Sunday here in Portland.  Laurelhurst Park is a big park with a little lake near our house in a very nice area of Portland.  We have driven by it multiple times and decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go!  

Las Vegas

It was nice getting to go home for a week to just hang out with my family and friends.  The week went by really quickly since I went to California for a couple of days, but I still got to spend some quality time with my mom, dad, and sister, which is what I wanted.  I also got to spend some time with my friends, Laura and Sarah, and got to meet Laura's newest addition to her family, Carter!!  Besides the 100+ degree weather (it was 110 on Saturday!), I had a great time and miss everyone already!

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