We landed in Portland June 4th with a big goal: buy a home. Yesterday it was finalized!

We are the very proud owners of a 1911 craftsman home in northeast Portland.

A very empty home we now get to decorate and furnish. I’ll be honest.. it seems really daunting. I have been tearing pages from magazines and saving images off the web for decorating inspiration for many months. But I have no idea where to start on my own.

We named our home Bauhaus! For more photos click the pic above. Feel free to share ideas on colors! I think I want to paint the kitchen a yummy green but beyond that not sure what to keep or paint over yet.

Tomorrow the POD gets dropped off. If you are going to have a POD parked on a Portland street you have to get a permit, by the way. $20 and you can only have it parked there for two weeks.

I want to give a plug to the team that made our home buying process go so smoothly. Kudos to our amazingly patient and helpful Realtor Deb Counts-Tabor with Oregon Realty and savvy broker Michael Sullivan with Capital M Lending. And thanks to all our friends (old and new!!) and family for tips and support along the way.

When Peter and I were taking our cross country drive to Portland, we were so excited about the new land ahead of us and our new, close proximity to natural beauty. “Let’s go to the coast in the next week or two!” we said. We never went. Housebuying matters took priority.

Our friend Courtney came to visit a couple of weeks ago and it was a great excuse to finally head west and make acquaintence with the Oregon coast. We decided to go to Cannon Beach. Just over an hour’s drive from Portland, we had a very pretty drive through the hills. It was a little alarming to see hillsides of tree stumps from recent logging… it’s not an industry prevalent in the midwest, so the mass tree graves kinda freak me out.

Anyway, unlike any other coasts I have been to, the Oregon coast doesn’t really give you any hints it exists til you’re right on top of it. It goes from tree-woods-wilderness to beach.

Our first stop in the town was at a kite shop. Kites are apparently a hot commodity on the Oregon coast because we saw several other kite shops the more we explored. Here’s some photos from our day at the beach.

Peter, myself, and Courtney:

Foggy Haystack Rock, famous for appearing in The Goonies and other films:

Courtney flying her kite:

After we left Cannon Beach to head back to Portland, there was a traffic jam on the only road out. We decided to make a u-turn and check out Seaside which is another beach town north of Cannon Beach. I had heard Seaside was a happening place and I know they have 4th of July stuff going on there. However I think we went the wrong way into town or missed the main strip because the town seemed rather rundown and the beach was not as exciting as Cannon beach.

Peter and I cannot wait to close on our new house.. some time this week (!!). The place we’ve been staying temporarily is… not that great. To pass the time the other day I taught Peter how to play Rummy and he taught me how to play Poker with these Diet Coke playing cards I picked up in the dollar bin at Target last week. Can’t wait to unpack our other games when we move in :)

The Northwest – specifically Oregon and Washington – have a chain called Burgerville. From the appearance it looks like a 50s-facade diner serving up greasy grub. In reality it’s a 50s-facade diner serving up fresh, thoughtful, in-season foods. Their commitment to sustainability and environment is evident through their recycled and recyclable packaging. The food is fresh and ingredients locally sourced. After our walk yesterday Peter was craving a burger. I went for the cherry walnut salad since cherries are their featured seasonal item right now. After we paid I got this receipt:

Most restaurants don’t want you to know their nutrition info. Burgerville prints it on the receipt. That is so so awesome. I love to be deliciously informed. I really hope other restaurants follow suit.

Kudos Burgerville, and Kudos Nutricate.

This morning Peter and I participated in the Providence Bridge Stride. As you may know Portland has several bridges – 11 to be exact. The Providence Bridge Pedal (and Bridge Stride) is a yearly event allowing participants to cross the bridges by bicycle or foot. This Included bridges that normally do not allow pedestrian/cyclist access. Cyclists can cross 6, 8, or 11 bridges. In the stride you cross 2 bridges by foot along a 5 mile route. That’s what Peter and I did.

We took the MAX train downtown and got off near the start of the stride and checked in. Here’s Peter in his COOL vest:

Waiting for the start time (8am)… lots of participants!

The first bridge we crossed is the Fremont Bridge which is I-405. This was the one I was most excited about because it’s normally buzzing with traffic round the clock!

Walking onto the exit ramp:

Excited to be here!

You can see some cyclists also crossing:

The second bridge we crossed was the Steel Bridge. This was exciting because I had never done it, but not quite as cool/exclusive because this pedestrian path is always open.

I’m glad I know about this spot though. Such wonderful views of downtown can be seen here. I snapped a photo but I will definitely come back on a nicer day.

We made it back to the finish line to pick up our finisher pins and hydrate. It was a fun event!