the great northwest.

today, portland, oregon is my home. i love this town. i have so many memories of walking outside on a beautiful summers day to meet friends for happy hour where we'd eat, talk and laugh for hours. i remember driving across the top level of the fremont bridge and always glancing over to see if I could spot mt. hood behind the clouds. I remember countless trips to the gorge, the coast, and sauvie island. portland is where my husband and I met, 5 1/2 years ago, although you couldn't've convinced either one of us (at the time) we had just met our future life partner. i was young, he was busy. We both had a lot of growing to do before we would be ready for each other. 

i've left portland before, when i thought i was chasing after a different path. about a year later, i sold all my things and hopped a flight to move back. i knew what I was getting into and i was choosing this town as my place to land. the only thing I didn't fully realize at the time: the one constant in this life is change.

this past year has had a lot of the change stuff. after nearly 30 years of bachelorette-hood, i married the man i will love until we die. we had some serious curve balls thrown our way, not the least of which was my husband's unexpected job loss 31 days after our wedding. let's just sum it up and say that we were forced to stretch, as a couple and as individuals. quite a lot.

as most of you know, i can do my job from anywhere, and i have. much of the past 3 years has been spent on airplanes, going wherever the work takes me. it's been a wild adventure. as part of a new husband-wife team, we are now making choices that are good for an "us" instead of a separate "me." we are both definitely learning the meaning of being a true grown-up in a town that has been noted as the place "where young people go to retire"- we've learned that no matter how much your heart is attached to people or a place, you have to be willing to flex.

we are moving. here's the irony: it's back to where I came from, upstate NY. i never planned to go back, but it's where my hardworking man was able to find a solid job after a long season of nothing really working out. those cutie pie nieces of ours? oh, they're 5 minutes down the road from where we'll be living.  we also have friends and family that are welcoming us with open arms. so, we'll leave this town that we love and jump. Take a chance on the east coast and learn to love it in new and different ways.

portland clients: I adore you guys. thank you for supporting my business and being such wonderful people to work with. east coast clients: i'm coming back. see you this summer.