Timbers Event

I've now been to 3 Portland Timbers' games and they are SO much fun. The next big one is on the 10th against Seattle!! We went last week to a season ticket appreciation night. We collected signatures, bought a jersey, walked on the field, saw the locker room and kicked around a ball. Here are some pictures of Bob with his brother Kris (season seats, goal kick, corner kick, goalie) and then of course Bob and I.

The biggest news is sometimes small...

... Bob and I have been playing things very casually the last few months, but since I have a job lined up...We're expecting a baby girl in early October!! I apologize if we weren't able to tell you personally or even over an individual email, so please do not hate us if we had not called/written you. I feel quite strange telling people sometimes, I know everyone is generally excited and happy for us, but it is still weird. But in case you are wondering, I have felt pretty good (I am 26 weeks), just mostly tired and joint pains plague me. Soon this blog may be filled with pictures of my belly and updates to the room, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum. Here are the fabrics I picked out and Bob's mom will turn into wonderful items for the room (for those of you paying attention, our old bedroom now that the upstairs is done.) The three patterns on the right are for the crib and the one on the left is for the curtain/valances.

Job!!

I have accepted a part-time position with the State. I'll be reviewing construction documents for health facilities in Oregon. This includes hospitals, retirement homes and facilities in between. I'll be riding my bike the 1.9 miles for a job that is 5 days a week, but only 4 hours a day. My benefits are partially covered by the state and I'll make more than my unemployment check - plus I can enjoy my afternoons and no longer job search! So right now I'm enjoying my last two weeks of going to the gym when I want and sleeping in, although I have a huge binder of paper work to start looking through. (Here is the house my office is in. I'm on the second floor and share it with one other person.)

Two week update

Sorry it has been a while and for some one without a job, what do I spend my time doing if it isn't blogging? Well, I have had 2 interviews since the last post, been looking for a futon so we have a guest room, still working on small upstairs details (now there is both a handrail and guardrail thanks mostly to my parents helping mid week) and I planted my garden. Now this is on top of the four committees I have monthly or bi-weekly meetings for all they ask of me and the continuing search for a job, as well as laundry, cooking and other household stuff, not to mention being a supportive wife to my dissertation writing, summer school teaching hubby.

Missoula and Davis

Because Bob starts teaching and we are still hoping I get a job soon, we crammed in two wonderful trips in the span of 8 days. We spent three days in Missoula (plus two driving) with wonderful friends and then were home for two night and one day before flying to Davis for a goodbye send off and Bob to check in with advisors. I only wish we could have brought more of the weather back with us. I didn't take many pictures, but here are Bob and Alden in Davis and Diana and I in Missoula.

Bin Laden

I have to say the death of a terrorist sure makes Americans act strangely. We are not celebrating the winning of the Olympics, the end of hunger, poverty or even a war, but oh how I wish we were. Celebrating a death like his only makes us look bad, it makes us, no better than he was. The debt trying to find this guy was huge and I don't see an end to it. Traveling and security is still ridiculous. I wish we could focus on issues that affect people in the US more directly - enough money for schools, to feed hungry kids and families, continued Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and affordable health care for everyone.

Spring

Spring in Oregon, always coming a bit later than desired.

Remodel updates

Here are some before and after floor pictures, an updated bathroom and bedroom. We still have more to do of course!

Memory Lane

Today, as I was filling out a job application and needed to know my CA license number, I took a little walk through my old blog posts and pictures. I also spent an hour yesterday talking with a friend from Davis and oh how I miss some things about it! I saw pictures of us moving in, camping trips, sunny days, bike paths, wine tasting, barbecues, wii playing and dear, dear friends. Now of course I love being back home in my house with my family close, that is what broke my heart in California. But those 2 years there it turns out were a lot of fun and we met a lot of great people. I hope we get to visit soon, I only wish everyone we call a dear friend was still there to visit. The nature of graduate school is of course that you all find jobs and move on. Hugs to Davis, there will always be a special place in my heart for you.

TIMBERS!

The boys, being Bob, his brothers and his dad, went in together on 2 season tickets for the Portland Timbers (Soccer). Bob and I toured the stadium and took pictures from the seats. The first game is this weekend, but the first home game is a month away.
In the seats
(We were pretty excited)








View from Standing









View from seated

Trip to the Beach

I've had a terrible cold and one day I woke up feeling even worse and Bob decided we needed to drive to the beach. It was beautiful for a March day!

Remodel update

I apologize for not updating this sooner, but the truth is, I want you to come and see it for yourself, or help us finish it, but I understand not all of you are able to do so.

Washington DC

At the beginning of the month my local, professional chapter (AIA) sent me to DC for a leadership conference. Bob joined for a little research. I hadn't been to DC since I was a teenager and a lot has changed. The buildings at the capital all have funny entrances and additions for security reasons. Not that I got to much of the capital because my flight was a day late due to weather and the conference was in a basement of a huge hotel. None the less, I
met with a Senator and some staff one day and Bob and I walked the mall one night.













We started at the Lincoln Memorial,










Then on to FDR (and his dog)










And ended with the Jefferson Memorial. What impressive men. We also saw construction has begun on the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial.

Hawaii

A brief trip to the warm island seems like it was only a dream now. We joined my family for a couple days thanks to their generosity. This wasn't our first time so we mostly hung out and it was wonderful not to have a plan every day except eating and going to the beach. We took turns cooking, shopped at a farmers market, tried some new
fruit and even saw turtles. Bob and I rented bikes to get around for a day.


Bob and Cait









Bob and I rode our bikes here










And Here










Looking for turtles




















Sunrise looking at one of the volcanoes












Last Sunset

NYE

From swords to...










Our annual game













How else do you cut onions?










Goodbye bad things in 2010


For the past 5 years or so a group of us have been spending the New Year holiday in Sunriver. Snowshoeing, playing games, wii, eating, drinking and last year we added a new tradition of burning effigies. This year's list included budget problems, endless remodeling projects and lack of jobs. If only those things would disappear as quickly as they burned...
But as always it was a good time with great friends.

Downer Blog

My apologies for the blog being such a downer. I need to post on New Year's and what we lit on fire this year, our trip to Hawaii, Washington DC and an update on our upstairs. Hang in there folks, I'll get back into it. I may have over-committed (don't tell my husband I admitted it) to a few too many committees this year...

The Unexpected

Bob and I just had one of the hardest weeks ever. We received a call last Monday morning that one of our dear friends had lost their dad. He was 62, Bob had seen him 3 days earlier, it was very unexpected. Bob went out to be with his friend and family that first day. We had breakfast with them on day 3 and saw them briefly on day four to dogsit while they headed to California. We drove down on day 5 (leaving the dogs with my parents) and stopped along the way visiting Bob's family. The service was on day 6, Bob spoke and was a pall bearer. Day 7 we drove back home, hoping to never have an unexpected funeral to go to again.
I'm not saying any funeral or death is ever easy, I've lost my share of family members and watch others grieve to know that, but the shock of this one makes it different somehow.
My heart breaks for them almost hourly as I wonder how I would get through the next day if I was them. I cried so hard seeing our friend and his sister lay their hands on his casket.
The memorial is on his birthday at the end of the month and they expect over 200 people. I am so glad our friend has this many people to love and support him through this.
So now the shock will settle into grief.

Unemployment

I've been getting some questions lately, so here is my two cents ++... More positive posts about the new year to come later, first a rant.

First I am grateful it exists, but it is poorly run and staffed. Thank goodness you can file online and have direct deposit so I don't have to deal with those people or I might hurt someone. Also, getting a check with the Employment department printed all over it and taking it to a bank, gets you a look of pity and makes you feel like you did something wrong. I didn't do anything wrong, I stimulated the economy last year!

I think I have already blogged about my initial trip to the local office for my interview, math and reading test so I won't go back to that day. I received an email around Thanksgiving about qualifying for extra job search support and was told to contact a person. I called, I emailed and nothing was returned, so I posted a question to the department and heard back promptly. Each week to claim benefits I have to answer a series of questions and every now and then submit my work search history (3 jobs per week) Well what if there aren't 3 jobs a week to apply for was my question (Since I'd like to stay in my field or one similar to it). The response was that there are over 700 unemployed architects in Oregon and I should consider relocating. WHAT? I am on 3 committees - at the professional, city and neighborhood levels, I own a home, my spouse has a job, how could I possibly relocate and start all over and hope for more networking opportunities than what I have? I know people in 3 of the major firms in Salem! I don't know who to send my complaint to, but I am still fuming after this response over a week ago. Things may be bad in Oregon, but I'm sure there are more unemployed architects in the rest of the country. Morons.
And lastly, while again grateful the check is there, it is less than 50% my salary, but still more than a minimum wage job so I can see why it is better for me to take the check than someone else's job. Does that mean I'm lazy for not wanting a $10 an hour blue collar job? Does that mean I'm abusing the system? Or just still holding out hope that something in my profession, in my town will pop up...

Cards

Once again we made our cards so we didn't send out very many - I apologize if you didn't get one. But here is what they looked like for both our Christmas and our Hanukkah friends.

Extended Family Christmas

This is my mom's family, 4 generations of us! Only one cousin was missing.