how was your weekend?

Over the weekend Ross and I took Creature to one of our all-time favorite places, Champoeg State Park. Hilarity and charm ensued. Enjoy.

grow, baby, grow

Happy Earth Day from the garden of Ross and Haylie.

*And yes, I realize that I'm a day behind. I was at the zoo.

scenes from a celebration

As mentioned previously, Ross and I recently celebrated our six-month anniversary. Being exceedingly busy people, we celebrated over two weekends.

Weekend 1

Last Saturday (like a week ago Saturday) was our actual anniversary, which we celebrated by shopping at the Farmer's Market, Fossil, and by eating at the Burgerville truck (which was deliciously and conveniently parked outside of the Portland Art Museum).

We also planted a garden, which made me very happy indeed.

Weekend 2

Saturday (as in, the day that was two days ago) we lazed around all morning...

...before visiting Oxbow Regional Park...

... and getting ice cream at Cool Moon.

Happy anniversary (again), beloved!

go team

Dear Ross,

You may remember this picture from the hike we took several weeks ago to the Audubon Society. I include it here because it reminds me of the multitude of reasons why I love you. Thanks for always making me laugh, and happy sixth-month anniversary (and yes, peanut gallery, I know that I'm six days late). I think we're getting pretty good at this marriage business. Want to shoot for a year? Just a thought from your loving wife,

Haylie

what i always wanted

I remember once visiting the Metreon in San Francisco with my Dad. The Metreon is an exceptionally intense, multi-story, movie theater right downtown. I don't think we actually saw a movie, but we walked around some of the shops in the theater and went up to the top floor. It was a beautiful day in the city and we could see a big park filled with sunbathers, and I remember thinking, right then, that this was the life I wanted to have. I wanted to live in a beautiful city and sit in a park with music and a good book and quietly let the city move around me.

Flash forward to today. I'm sitting in Jamison Square park on my flamingo beach towel. Creature is nervously peeking out from my Powell's bag (we're still working on outdoor time). I'm listening to Iron and Wine and reading a really nerdy book about the history of the Thames river and, all of a sudden, I realize that this is it. I have exactly the life that I've always wanted. Not only do I get to sunbathe in a beautiful city (with my sweet cat as a bonus), I'm married to my best friend, going to graduate school (knock on wood), and standing on the cusp of a lifetime of adventures. And as if all of that--all of that!--weren't enough, I just discovered that the snap peas that we planted on the deck are growing like fools. It's a good life, friends.

home sweet homestead

Somedays I want to quite this whole modern living enterprise. I want to move to the country, be a writer, and have a pet pig (not a pig for pork; I just don't have that in me)...

Some chickens...

Some helpful books on farming...

A giant garden of vegetables (with perhaps a few flowers)...

And this exact view.

update

Yowza. So, we've been a little busy, apparently. And we're busy still. That being said, please excuse this hasty, bullet-point, pictureless version of what's been going on in our lives:

• In January, I accepted an (lamentable unpaid) internship with the Girl Scouts of Oregon and SW Washington. I write curriculum and, once ever two weeks, hang out at a troop meeting with underprivileged girls, which I love.
• At the end of February we took a long weekend to Seattle, during which we ate far too much food and had a generally lovely time.
• Over the last two months we've received a string of graduate school rejection letters and ONE ACCEPTANCE. Now we're trying to figure out if we can afford to attend George Washington University in D.C. We really, really want to.
• This last weekend I was in Sacramento because my dad was in the hospital. It's a long story, but he turned out to have a brain tumor and had an operation on Friday. It's cancer, but he went home yesterday. He's absolutely back to normal and ready to kick this thing in the ass :o)

That's all the news that's fit to print.

Love,

Haylie and Ross