heroes and graces

i just wanted to thank you- portland- for being so good to us.
thank you to the hostess with the mostess: jobe.
he has shared his secrets, his friends, and his photos with us.
this last week has been nothing but amazing.
every few days, i have this thought 'i actually live here...i really do have anything that i ever wanted at my finger tips. and not only do i get the culture, food, and beauty of portland...the people hear are so genuine.'

my job is amazing. for those of you who care, i work at Nolita. it is a boutique located in the pearl district which translates to really fancy area wear gay men flock to walk their small dogs. even so, i have come to love my routine of taking a 20 min drive across the beauty of a river, through down town, and park in a garage only to walk a few blocks to my work. on my breaks i walk next door and sit in one of the many city parks- which has a bocce ball area, a super cool fountain like area for kids and their parents, and is bordered by a few great boutiques and coffee shops. i work thursay, friday, and saturday. and their is only four of us who work there, so it will soon become my work family. i love each one of them. and i don't think i mentioned this; but on saturday when we closed to shop- my boss promptly brought out pbr tall cans and passed one out to each of us and we sat around for an hour and just bs'd. it was truly amazing! so i am officially in love with this whole new job thing.

so after getting my schedule figured out at the shop i was able to look for a second job for monday, tuesday, and wednesday. i found one in just a few hours!! i signed up to work for a nanny agency up here. it's probably the best kept secret you will ever come across. once they check my references and do a background check (which takes about 2 weeks) they will call me each of those mornings and ASK me of i want to work. i have the option to say no at any point. so i could be with a different family everyday or i could find one family i want to stay with. either way i get paid up starting at 11.50 per hr, and some jobs pay up to $18!!! oh, and i get benefits! i pretty much was sold at that point. i only had one question for the agency: how often will i realistically get a phone call about work; her reply was...we have so many families who want help that you could make a full-time position out of this! hooray!

cheers to portland.