Christmas 2010

Prospectors

Nik and I decided to make the trip back down to Reno for a holiday with the family. It is not an easy drive and leaving Portland at 4 pm doesn't make it easier. We arrived into Reno at 2:30 am and went straight to bed. While in Reno we were on a strict agenda. Christmas Eve was lunch with the Kosach family at Prospectors, then to my Mom's to wrap presents and enjoy a wonderful dinner with Mom, Ben, Ali and the two of us. We enjoyed our dinner that ended with some holiday crackers (presents with toys, jokes, and crowns in them).

Steve, Keri and Nik (Kosach siblings)

On Christmas Nik and I woke just in time to head to his parents and unwrap gifts with the family. Nine people opening gifts can take quite a long time, but it was so much fun watching everyone and taking in the Christmas feelings. We joked about the Kosach family Christmas being sponsored by Patagonia, because everyone was getting and giving Patagonia gifts. My first Christmas at the Kosach household opening presents was so much fun. I look forward to the many to come.

That wasn't it for the day though, because Nik and I had to high tale it over to my Aunt Carolyn's for a brunch with the family (which was of course spectacular). We got to see most of my aunts family, including a set of new twins my second cousin Courtney just had. Adorable!! Then we headed on to Nik's grandmothers house to spend some time with his extended family as well. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, etc were all there and we spent a few hours catching up.

My cousin Melinda

Courtney's son Max

Again, we had to leave to make it back to Moms for our session of unwrapping. Ali, Mitch, Mom, Ben, Nik and I all had a great time opening our presents. It was a small group compared to some years, but we still had a very nice time together.

Ben's new reading glasses

Lastly, we all headed back to the Kosach house to enjoy a dinner with both families. The Kosach's were so nice and inviting having my family over for Christmas dinner. They served a traditional Serbian dinner. We all had a wonderful time and the food was delicious. Again after dinner we enjoyed the holiday crackers.

It was a fantastic holiday. One I will cherish for many years to come. Thank you Mom, Ben, Steve and Gail for having Nik and me to town. We enjoyed every moment we had with you.

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Patagonia Holiday Party

Last night was our Patagonia Portland Holiday Party. We met at Bridgport Brewery after a very successful day at work and had dinner and drinks with the entire team. This was my first time hanging out with my employees so it was a lot of fun to see them and their significant others in a relaxed environment.

Adam and his wife Meagan

Alex and Ari

Ruth and Dustin

In the past years everyone said it wasn't very fun, but since I was in charge of planning it this year, I was determined to make it better. We played the old fashioned White Elephant Exchange. There were definitely some interesting gifts (singing stockings, homemade fudge, bikes lights and a snuggie just to name a few). I think the team really enjoyed the gift exchange. My boss, Mike, won the snuggie and he decided to wear it around the rest of the night. It was pretty hilarious!

Mike in his Snuggie

Overall, I think the team really enjoyed the night (we closed the place down). It was great food, great beer and a fun time getting to see everyone outside of work. 

School Results!!

I am proud to announce that after the three months back at school and working full-time, I received a 4.0 (meaning I got an A in both classes). This just shows me I am capable of achieving work success and finishing my degree at the same time. Woot Woot!!!

Break for Christmas

I have officially finished my first term at Portland State. I must admit it was very difficult to balance work, school and then (most important) my personal life. But, in the end it was all worth it. I get a whole month off and I will be ready to go again after Christmas.
In the mean time things have really picked up at work, so it is nice to just come home after a long day of racing around on my feet... instead of heading off to school.

Nik is doing very well in his new job. He is already impressing his team and showing Everest College what he can do. We are very lucky, because our jobs are so close to each other. We are able to frequently meet on our lunch break. It makes it nice to spend a little time with each other in the middle of the day.

Nik and I decided to get into the holiday mood, so we headed across the river (basically outside of downtown) and went to a tree lot for a Christmas tree. We brought home a tiny little 2.5 foot tree. We decorated it with lights and hung some of my old ornaments. It was fun getting into the holiday spirit, because we really haven't done anything until now. The house smells like pine, we have ordered our holiday cards and the shopping has begun.

Turkey, Turkey and Tacos

Nik and I had the opportunity to get out of Portland for the Thanksgiving weekend and travel down to see family. We left Wednesday night and returned yesterday. All in all we spent over 27 hours in the car in a 5 day span. WOW!

We spent Thanksgiving at his brother and sister in-laws house and had a wonderful turkey dinner. We were able to spend time with his Baba and the rest of the family and it was great to see everyone.

Steve and Susie

Three generations of Kosach

The next day we had Turkey dinner at my Dad's house. The whole family was there including all our dogs. Four men, four women, 2 little girls, one in the oven and three dogs enjoying time together. This was to be the only time of year to get the entire family together and we were blessed that it all worked out. We had another wonderful dinner of turkey, stuffing and all the fixings and we spent the rest of the evening watching the UNR vs Boise game. It was an exciting game with the best company.

On Saturday, we spent the day at my moms. Addie and Cameron decided to take the day to spend some time together while they had all this family around to watch the girls. Nik and I volunteered to watch the nieces and we had good company with mom hanging around. We made forts and played silly games with Callie and Avery. Later Zach and Nik went to the shooting range with my dad, while Sarah, my mom and I took over the sitting.  That night for dinner we had my aunt, uncle and a couple cousins join the rest of us for a taco dinner. Ali and Mariah were even able to join, it is always wonderful to see them.  It was about 20 of us and a lot of love.

Sunday, Nik spent that day hanging out at his parents house, while I went shopping with my mom. It brought back memories of all the wonderful days my mom and I would spend together when I lived in Reno. I miss that. That night Steve and Gail took their turn of making us dinner. It was delicious as always.

It was a perfect Thanksgiving with family and more family. Steve and Gail were so kind to let us stay at their house and we had some many exceptional meals with the best company I could ask for. Thank you everyone for the perfect weekend. We loved every moment of it.

Happy Birthday Nikolas!!

Nik has official arrived at the year 27. In the last year he finished his masters, played professional baseball in Germany, traveled the world and met me. It was a great 26 for him and I can only imagine what 27 will bring. We enjoyed the weekend with friends on Saturday for dinner, darts and basketball shootout. It was a blast seeing Nik's face when we arrived at one of his favorite breweries only to stumble upon a bunch of his friends waiting for us to arrive. Yesterday we played soccer in the rain/sleet at his old University with some friends and then we made slow cooker chili and I made him his favorite cake (confetti cake with rainbow chip frosting). It was cold and wet, but a lot of fun and a great way to get out even when the weather is bad. 

Today (his real birthday) the agenda was work, but of course I still had to make sure he had a good time when were together. For dinner we went Matodors, a mexican restaurant down the street. He got to open a few presents and we ha dessert at Papa Hayden's, a place famous for their dessert menu. 

Nik I love you dearly. I am so happy to have you in my life and I look forward to the many more birthdays to come. Happy Birthday Mr Nik!

Life as we are learning to know it

The weather has changed and it is officially fall almost winter. Our time change happened last weekend so it now gets dark around 4:30 PM. Yikes, that is early!! It has become very brisk in the air and we are seeing a lot more rain. I don't mind the light drizzle, because I am still able to walk to work and school. It is when it downpours that it makes everything more difficult. Luckily I work for a company that readily supplies me with the right outerwear. Wanda, on the other hand, hates the rain. We don't get it because she loves to swim and get in the water. But, for some reason she hates the pitter patter on her back when it's raining. We decided to get her a raincoat, which is slowing starting to make some progress. She doesn't like the raincoat, but we figure it is better than nothing. Actually when the hood is off of her head, she doesn't even really notice it is on. 

She looks miserable

I am very proud of Nik. He has successfully landed a new job. After only being home for about 6 weeks, he was able to score a good job with Everest College. He will be an Enrollment Counselor for high school kids. His job will be challenging, but he is a hard worker and will do wonderful helping kids who would not be going to college, enroll and get started. 

I have been busy busy with school and work. We are now headed into the holidays with work, so I spend my days running around managing my store. Then, in the evening, I jump on the street car and head to the other side of downtown to go to school. Nik has been wonderful making my lunches and dinners and picking me up after school. He has also been so helpful with Wanda, taking great care of her everyday. Now that he has a job, we will have to figure a balance of all the things we have going on. I have no doubt we can accomplish this, because we have already done so much in our short time together. 

Anniversary

One year ago Nik and I spent Halloween weekend together for the first time. We met in early October, but this was the first time we were actually able to spend some time together. He dressed as Rod Stewart and I was a baseball bat (play on words). We have been inseparable ever since. Maybe by distance, but never in heart.

In the past year, we have traveled all over the W and NW of the US. We have gone to Thailand, Germany, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy and Austria together. Nik has played professional baseball and I have gone back to school and started a career with a great company. We moved to Portland and we  moved in together. And now we are engaged. This was by far the best year of my life. 

On Sunday for our anniversary instead of dressing up and going out to the bars, we decided we would spend it out in Hood River. Hood River is about 60 miles outside of Portland. It is a small town right on the Columbia River. Windsurfing, kiteboarding, mountain biking and of course all the winter sports are very popular here. We took a tour of Full Sail Brewing, then walked around town and took Wanda swimming in the River. It was a wonderful and perfect day to the end of our first year and beginning of our years together. 

We got back into town just in time to watch the Giants play in the World Series. Yay, they won, which made for an even better ending to the best year.

Birthday Weekend

My birthday this year was on Wednesday and even though I had to work and go to school, I had a wonderful birthday plus weekend to follow. Nik picked me up after school and took me to dinner at a place called 50 Plates. I thought he was super excited because on the way to dinner the Giants (who are now in the World Series) won another game against the Phillies making them one win closer to winning the National League Pennant and going to the World Series. At dinner he was acting really funny. He kept giggling and he was drinking a ton of water. I told him he was acting like he was nervous. At that point he stopped what he was doing and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes. So..... Nik and I are GETTING MARRIED!!! No plans yet on when and where, but there will be a wedding in the future.

If my birthday ended there it would have been the best birthday ever, but there was more in store for me. The next day, when I got off school I met up with Nik. He was at a restaurant near by. I was startled by my sister Sarah who had come for a surprise birthday visit. The two had secretly planned for her to come out, which was super exciting for me. I was so excited to see her because she is pregnant with her first child and I was able to see her and her little bump.

We spent the weekend going to Sauvie Island to a pumpkins patch, taking Wanda for a swim, eating, eating and more eating (hanging out with Nik and a pregnant lady can be dangerous). Then, on Friday night we had a couple friends over for a small birthday celebration.

It was a fantastic weekend and birthday. Nik and I are getting married, Sarah and Zach are pregnant and we are loving our new place. Below is an updated picture of our place now that we have our things.

Trip home to grab our things

Nik and I made a quick trip home over the weekend to pack up all of our things that have been in Reno. At our new home, we were sleeping on a cheap air mattress and we were using plastic utensils to get by. It was fine for a couple days, but we quickly grew tired of it, when our backs started to hurt and our plastic knives weren't cutting our food.

Nik drove down earlier in the week to visit with family, because he had not seen any of them since his arrival home. He was able to bring Wanda with him, which was great for me, because during the week I am way to busy to take the proper care of our little one. Wanda had fun going on hikes and playing with my Mom's dog, Luke.

I flew down early Friday morning. I left the house at 3:40 am to catch the early train to the airport. It was way way early for me, but for the $2.35 it cost me and the 7:20 am arrival into Reno, it was worth it. Nik and I had time to go to lunch with my Dad and Sheri and then have an early birthday dinner with my Mom and Ben. We had a delicious dinner of salmon, risotto, veggies and apple crisp for dessert.  Thanks Mom for the special dinner.

Saturday was packing day. Nik and I rented a Budget, and spent the day organizing and deciding what would go and stay. Mom and Ben were so much help. They really went out of their way. After an afternoon of packing we headed to Nik's parents house to watch the Giants playoff game and UNR football. It was fun hanging at the Kosach household again. We had a great time spending time with the fam.

Sunday was time to head back. I followed Nik in his car and he drove the Budget. We made the long slow drive 11 hours North to Portland. Arrival time was 8:30 and because we really did not want to sleep on the air mattress just one more night, we decided to unload the truck. It was a huge task to start that late, but it was worth it to have a comfy bed. By 2 am Monday morning we were all in. It was tiring and it was hard, but we are so glad we did it and we have everything we need.

I will send updated pictures of our place shortly. 

Starting school

After 8 long years and lots of life experiences, I have officially headed back to school to finish my degree. My new school is Portland State University. This is the first university I have ever attended. The other schools I attended were an art school and a couple community colleges. I am starting out as a senior, but I have to get a certain amount of credits before I will be officially allowed to graduate. My major is Art Studies. It was the closest major in relation to all my credits which would allow for the quickest graduate date. 

Portland State is the largest school in Oregon. There are over 27, 000 students. The campus takes up about 49 acres of downtown Portland and it has about 50 buildings. There is a huge LEED certified recreational center that Nik and I are using and a farmers market that goes on every Saturday. Nik gets to go to the rec center, because he is my domestic partner. Ha, I love Oregon laws, they are so relaxed. So far I love the culture of the school. People are very friendly and easy going. I don't feel like the oldest, because I think the average age of students is around 30. 

picture taken in the spring

I am of course still working full time, so my classes are after work at night. It works out great because our apartment, my work and school are each a mile from each other. So far this week, school has been an adjustment, just with the extra time it takes and of course homework. I think my first day I was in a little bit of shock. It was weird going back to being a student (let's face it, I am used to being the boss). Now, I feel better and will soon be well adjusted. 

Finishing school has been something I have wanted to do for the longest time. I know it won't be easy, but I will be so thankful I did it in the end. Nik has also been super supportive of me going back. I think he wants to go almost more than me. I suggested he could go as me to all my classes and they would never know. We laughed how it could work out, but of course we would never do that. Thanks Nik for your positive and encouraging words. You keep me motivated to stay on track and reach my goals. 

Wish me luck in my new adventure!

Swift Watch

Nik and I heard about a school nearby that has birds fly into the chimney at dusk and hundreds of people go to watch. That was about all we knew. We decided we would go check it out. We weren't even sure what kind of birds would be there and if it was going to be anything interesting. Upon showing up at the school (which was about a mile from our house), we saw hundreds of people laid out on the grass having picnics and enjoying the beautiful evening waiting for the bird show to begin.

We joined right in and within minutes there were thousands of birds flying in the air circling this towering chimney below that juts right out of the center of the school. (It has been estimated that about 12,000-14,000 birds fly in each night.) At first they were just flying around completey scattered about, but eventually they became organized and starting flying in a cyclone fashion. Soon enough, they started diving into this chimney. The amount of birds, the size of the chimney and the show they put on was something no less than spectacular. I still am pondering about how that many birds can fit into a chimney that size. It looked like smoke coming out of the chimney in rewind. Pretty amazing!!!

To be more specific about the event, the birds are called Swifts. They migrate south each fall. At sunset in September during the migration they choose a place where thousands of birds can roost. Since the late 1980s the Chapman School chimney has been one of the roosting sites. They are interesting birds and amazing aerialists. They spend much of the time in the air and hunt, drink, court, collect nesting materials and copulate all in flight.

We had a great time with each other, Wanda and the free show nature put on for us.

Moving in and moving home

I was scheduled to move into our new place on Friday the 10th. I was so ready to be closer to town and have a place we could call home. Not surprisingly, it only took me 3 loads of my little subaru to get all of my stuff into the new place. I don't have any furniture and the biggest items I own are Wanda and my bike. During my first 2 loads Wanda was so worried I was going to leave her behind. She had this terribly scared look on her face. I kept assuring her she was coming along, just not quite yet. When it was finally her turn to get in the car, she raced to the car and the look on her face completely changed to super excited. She didn't look back at the old house.

On Saturday while unpacking I received an email from Nik. They had lost their games in Germany and he was coming home on Tuesday. I can't explain the feeling of being really sad for his loss, but really happy that he was finally coming home. As bad as I felt for him, I was super excited he would only be a couple days behind me in moving in to our place. He was scheduled to come in on Tuesday night. I couldn't believe it, he was finally coming home and this time I would be meeting him at the end of security (instead of vice versa). I always get a little nervous before I see him after a long time away. This time was different, I knew he was staying for good and we wouldn't have anymore long goodbyes. I was nervous, but super excited to finally start the life together we have been planning for so long.

He walked through the security area and gave me the biggest and best hug. I could feel this gigantic weight come off my shoulders knowing that he was finally home. No more 9 hour difference, no more Skype and no more iNik. Awww, it was a good feeling. We got his luggage and off we drove to our new place. He was so excited to see it, but I could tell he was also very tired from the long (about 24 hour) plane trip. Nik loved the place (he did pick it out), but he was more excited to see Wanda (the dog). As soon as they saw each other I could tell she missed him too. She was so excited to see her play buddy again.

It has been wonderful having Nik home. It feels like we moved into our new place together and we are slowing working towards getting the things we need. Most of our stuff is in Reno, so we have been getting by with the bare necessities. Eventually we will take a trip home to get our things, but until then we will have to make do.

Our new life together has begun and we both are very happy and excited for all the wonderful things to come.

Giving Credit

I just wanted to point out that Nik was actually the one to find our new place. He found it on Craigslist while browsing places to live on the internet. I was just the one to do the ground work. Actually, Nik did not want me to give him the credit, but I wanted to say something, because even though he is 6000 miles away he was still able to be a part of the process. I think that is pretty cool! 

Also, if you want to see some videos of our place go to my web gallery. 

Erin's gallery

New Home... New Chapter

It is official. I have found us a new place to live. It is small, it is quaint, but it has a lot of character and it will be only temporary if we choose it to be. It is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment, with a tiny kitchen, a huge walk in closet and a bathroom with a claw-foot bathtub. It is a mile from school (which I start on the 27th of Sept) and a mile from work. I am super excited to be living closer to town. The short commute will help a ton during the rainy season (which apparently should start really soon). I move in on the 12th and Nik will move in whenever he gets back from Germany. This is perfect for us, because it is affordable and in a great neighborhood. Once Nik gets a job we will reevaluate the living situation and decide if we need a bigger place. Wanda (the dog) is allowed. They have a dog run downstairs and a large park nearby. We are on the 3rd floor, which might be challenging for her, but they do have an elevator. We have a covered balcony and lots of natural light. It is really cute and such a perfect place to start a life together.

Family/Dining Room

Bedroom

This phone is used to let people in the front door downstairs. 

Nik and I are ready to be back together and look forward to sharing this place together. Here comes a new chapter in both our lives. One without distance and a chance to be together, just the two of us (actually 3 with Wanda).