More Space

In just under a month (provided all goes as planned) we will be homeowners! It's been a grueling two months of looking, and bidding, and hoping. Everyone keeps saying that it's a buyer's market, well, clearly they've not tried to buy a house recently in Portland. Inventory is super low, which makes the market a frenzied feeding fest on any decent house that pops up on the market in the close-in areas. This is the third house we bid on, and by far, the best. I can't wait to call it home.
 

Beautiful Weather

Yesterday's weather was gorgeous. Despite all of the sunshine, I stayed inside for a good part of the day. After reading a little in the morning for my class, I poked around on the internet to see what kind of houses were available for rent on the east side. I found a couple of addresses that seemed promising and around 3pm, convinced Jesse that he needed to drop all of his work and take a bike ride to Southeast Portland. It didn't take very much arm twisting, he'd had a pretty full day already and needed the exercise.

We coasted down the waterfront and landed at our first destination, a small house just south of Ladd's Addition. I had high hopes for this one, given that it was so close to downtown and in an awesome section of town. It, however, was a total let-down. It looked like a place that had been rented to college students and even by just peering in the windows, I could tell that it wouldn't do. The next place was equally as disappointing, as it looked like a storage locker with a front door (no wonder neither of the landlords posted photos).

With one more house left as our only hope, we rode all the way out to 57th Avenue near Mt. Tabor. It's a lovely neighborhood, quite perfect in every way -- cute house (just look at those windows!), nice back yard, beautiful street, right in our price range, and down the street from a nice park. The only down side is that it is located on top of an impossibly steep hill. That means that it would be sweet for commuting to work by bike, but kind of a drag to get home. However, the streets just west, from 51st (at the foot of the impossibly steep hill) to 39th seem to be our "sweet spot."

I still need to do a little more research on the area, like where my local grocery store might be, or what restaurants we might frequent, but as of our bike ride today, I'm sold. I just have to keep my eyes peeled for any other houses that might come up. On our way home, we both realized that we were starving, so we stopped in at our favorite Thai place, the Pad Thai Kitchen on Belmont. I'm always looking for a good excuse to ride out there, because their food is pretty awesome. Jesse got his favorite, the pumpkin curry, and I ordered drunken noodles. It was the perfect end to a pretty good afternoon.

Grand Larceny

Jesse's parents were in town this weekend for a quick visit and we had an awesome time. We went on lots of neighborhood walks, stopped at a couple of our favorite food spots, and went to a Timbers playoff game at PGE Park. Unfortunately, the Timbers tied with the Vancouver Whitecaps, which was not enough to advance them on in the tournament. It was quite heartbreaking to see the team so distraught after the game. So, we had to all drown our sorrows in some good Cajun food at Montage. I personally comforted myself with the Spold mac & cheese with Andouille sausage. We also shared a plate of crawfish hushpuppies that were outstanding.

On one of our walks through Ladd's Addition, we stopped to admire this plant that nobody could identify. I'd never seen anything quite like it before and was struck by the beautiful pink flowers and teal centers/berries growing inside. I haven't bothered to Google it yet, as I'm hoping that you, the internets, will help me come to some determination. The flowers were growing on what appeared to be a small tree, or a very well-trained bush. Seriously, I've never seen that blue color occur like that in nature. It was pretty awesome.

Walking through the neighborhoods made me long for a cute house with a yard again. It was like tearing open a wound that I thought had healed. Given that I still have not been able to figure out what I'm going to do for work here in Portland, renting will likely have to suffice. And honestly, I'm pretty okay with that solution. I went to a couple of websites this afternoon to check out what's available. Jesse and I are going to ride around a few neighborhoods this weekend to see if there is anything on the rental market that might work.

With that said, I didn't have much time to think about those cute bungalows calling my name, as I had a short interview with a staffing agency and later broke into a friend's house and stole their car. Heh. I like to leave out the part about them giving me permission and giving explicit instructions on how to break into their house and car. Even still, I was a bad-ass ninja today (avert your eyes if you can't handle the the masked facade). The photo was taken just before I (the perp) entered the premises and made off with their Matrix. My ninja status was seriously compromised by the baby car seat and smiley sunshine face in the backseat. However, if I didn't look in the rear view mirror too much, it was easily ignored. Besides, even ninjas sometimes have to transport cute babies and their parents home from the the airport from time to time.

Why I Need a House

Reason No. 1,897,473: Hood above my stove and cross-ventilation.

I'm tired of wearing the scent of whatever I cook. I have quite a track record of cooking smelly foods. My motto? If it doesn't have onions, don't bother. Gumbo = B.O. Even if I throw open the kitchen window, there's nothing stopping the smells from migrating into the rest of the apartment and ruining my day. So, that's where I am this morning, wearing Eau de Toasted Cumin and Onions from a pot of beans. I reek.

For some reason a few months ago, I bought a two-pound bag of pinto beans. I think it only cost $1.00, so I couldn't resist. My purchase shortly followed a conversation with Jesse about my personal opinion on ordering at Tacos Moreno (in Santa Cruz). I think that people should skip the burritos and just get the quesadilla with beans. Seriously, the beans are like crack; certainly cooked to perfection in pure lard. Granted, Tacos Moreno's carnitas is pretty spectacular too, but there's something about the simplicity of beans and cheese in a fresh tortilla. Anyway, once I got home, I realized that pinto beans are probably the most boring beans around and had no idea what I was going to do with them. Today, I decided to suck it up and just cook the darn things. I found a recipe from Bon Appetit that looked appealing. I think they're going to be quite tasty.

In all honesty, I'm using my cooking project today as a crutch. I needed to feel successful at something after finding out this morning that we didn't get the contract for the school survey project. The district went with an engineering firm instead, although I'm not sure exactly why. The suspense after our interview last week nearly killed me, so it was actually relieving to know one way or another. There will be other cool projects, I know, but still, what a bummer! One good thing today (besides the beans) is that my herbs are finally sprouting.
We'll have basil and cilantro in no time -- both destined for delicious pesto no doubt!

House Porn

When I was in D.C., I used to spend down time at work checking out Hart90's website (a rescue agency for wayward dogs). I wonder where Billy Brown ended up? I like to think that he would have been happy in Portland, bopping along on the sidewalks and hanging out at the dog friendly breweries. Anyway, Jesse called it "doggie porn" because I would obsessively send him photos of dogs that desperately wanted to come home with me.

I have grown up a lot since we moved to Portland. I now engage in "house porn" and often send Jesse links to totally cute houses that would love for us to make them our home. Today, against my better judgment (and his), I checked out the houses for sale in our area. I found a totally rad two-story house in an up and coming neighborhood. I must have been wearing my bad idea jeans, because I actually got in the car (under the guise of an errand to pick up new windshield wiper blades) to check it out. Jesse let me go on one provision; that I wouldn't come back home totally bummed and cry about the fact that we can not possibly buy said home right now. I promised.

To start, I must confess that the photo above is not a great. The house does not list to the side -- I was trying to quickly take a photo out of the window while driving (a stick shift car). I realized once I got there that this was probably close to my dream house (but not located in my dream neighborhood). For the love of god, look at those built-ins?! They're everywhere. And the house is within our ideal 3-mile radius. Totally a bikeable distance from downtown. Anyway, I came home all amped on the fact that there were still houses out there that need my love -- houses that still have awesome built-ins that haven't been painted and polished with granite counter tops.

Jesse was quick to jump to reality with "blah blah" 20% down payment and how many years (YEARS) we might have to save to reach that goal. Way to kill a Sunday afternoon. I guess he's right, I do need to be brought down to reality now and again. I think when he saw my face drop and all happiness leave my soul, he quickly poured me a beer and started back-peddling on how it totally won't take that long. I'm a jerk for evening looking right now, but I can't help but flip back to those initial plans that I had when we moved out to Portland. I was supposed to have a pretty steady job by now! Damn you economy! We were supposed to be looking for houses in the spring.

I'm okay now. I've banished all house thoughts from my head (for this week at least). However, don't mind me as I shove you over in line for that temp/admin job. There are too many cute bungalows out there calling my name!