One of the many awesome things about Portland is the weekly Saturday Market, which actually happens on Saturday and Sunday. The Market just opened for 2009 as I read on one of my many Portland feeds, Neighborhood Notes.  Peter and I got to visit the Market in October 2008 and really enjoyed it. There were some colorful performers and wonderful crafters. There are over 350 artisans!

And I had the best gyro! Peter and I got some food from some of the many vendors and went down to the riverfront park to enjoy it.

Reminders of events like this keeps reinforcing our excitement… we can’t wait to get to Portland!

Portland Saturday Market - Photo © beaster725

Lately Peter and I realized we were both thinking the same thing… “Will this be the last time we ________ in St. Louis?”

Yesterday we were on our way to see The Watchmen and Peter mentioned there was a good chance this would be the last theater movie we would see in St. Louis. I laughed and told him how I had been thinking that about silly stuff… like, will this be the last time I have to buy shampoo before we leave? The last time I eat at this restaurant? etc.

It’s silly but when you have already made a decision to leave a place you find yourself “checking out” so to say. I guess this is part of that realization. And another manifest of our excitement. Oh, the day when I get to buy shampoo in Portland. Ha!

Peter and I are so excited to move, we want to do all we can to prepare now. It makes us feel productive and gets us excited!

Buttoned Up Moving.kit is designed to guide you through preparing during the months leading up to your move, as well as moving day and the weeks following.

Unfortunately it’s too early to do a lot of things, but here are some items we have done:

• made a budget for moving
• planned our itinerary for the cross-country drive
• reserved a POD
• sold some furniture we don’t need/want on Craigslist
• informed our landlord we’ll not be renewing our lease
• started packing non-essentials like books
• got our taxes filed early

Things to do (there are many, but these are on my mind):

• hold a yard sale as soon as it warms up
• secure temporary housing (2-3 month furnished rental while we’re in Portland househunting)
• make note of all the magazines, bills, etc that will need change of address notification
• figure out how many boxes we need for everything
• start eating out of the pantry more so we have to move as little non-perishable food as possible
• go get a pre-approval letter from the bank. I think we’re going to get this letter from a local bank just because that’s easier and it will affirm our ballpark house budget. Then soon after we get to Portland we’ll seek a local mortgage lender or broker. Still figuring this one out…

Writing this post reminded me that I purchased a Buttoned Up Moving.kit a few weeks ago that I haven’t cracked. I have heard good things about it so I will hopefully get some use.

And while we twiddle our thumbs in this frustrating stage of “I want to be doing stuff but it’s really too early!” here are things we do to pass the time:

• look at real estate listings! I love Estately and Peter loves Trulia. (Our Portland Map Tool queries both)
• read Portland blogs/events/news
• work on this blog :)
• make plans to see nearby friends/family as frequently as we can

In the top right corner of our site is a handy calendar that shows how many days are left until we officially move to Portland (June 1st, 2009). We love a good countdown! We figured this website would be a good place for us to keep track of all the cool things we find in Portland. If you know of any cool things we should check out, please feel free to let us know!

Peter and I met in college in St. Louis, Missouri in 2001. We married, rented a home, and started our careers here. Although there is a lot to love about St. Louis, we did not plan for it to be our permanent home. We have no family here and since we are self-employed we can work from anywhere. Aside from our friends who live here, we have no ties to the city itself. And so a year or so ago, we started discussing what direction we want to go and compiled the list below.

Things in our dream city:

• great public transportation
• pedestrian friendly
• into recycling & eco-awareness
• clean air
• natural beauty (beach or mountains)
• nearby international airport
• lots of parks and free things to do
• smoking ban
• liberal
• good public schools
• few big-box stores, more independent shops
• not a lot of snow, if any
• low humidity
• diversity
• good tech industry & venture capitalists
• friendly people
• affordable cost of living

Based on this list and our following months of research, we narrowed our options down to just a few cities. Portland, Oregon wasat the top of the list. Upon visiting it in October 2008, we fell in love. It is as close to perfect as we can imagine. And while it doesn’t meet every criteria (St. Louis is definitely more affordable), we think the great qualities make it come out on top.

Since we returned we have been setting the wheels in motion to relocate to the Portland. We plan to move in June 2009.