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.