I LOVE OREGON. I even love the rainy weather and overcast skies, the wetness on the window in the morning, the faded sun, the shining pavement and slick leaves…I feel like I have fallen into a place where nature, culture, antiques, and nice people coincide in happiness. I did cry my first day here, but that’s because I’m a baby and I missed my family and friends already. But now that I’ve lived and breathed a bit of what Portland is, I can’t wait to get out and explore (even if I am alone).
Let’s do this chronologically, like I did in NY, and sadly, that means starting out with my crazy ass plane ride. I flew out of Cinci, connected in O’Hara (awesome airport where I had a super fresh jalapeno bagel), and landed in Portland -BUT- you know that 5 hour flight from Chicago to Oregon…well it was packed full of douche-bag. Sorry, I don’t mean to judge, or be mean, but when you are reading a book and someone interrupts you to tell you he is carrying 2 ounces of weed…well that’s just stupid!! At first I thought this guy might be nice (yey a friend?!) but alas, I was wrong. He preached about communism and guns and showed me his awesome artwork which was, infact, not awesome at all. Okay, I have to try not to complain. Anyway, after I got rid of this guy, I caught a cab and arrived at Yamhill street!
This house is divided into 3 apartments and me and my new roomie Jodi live on the upper right side of it (I get in through the back porch door). The neighborhood is beautiful and full of gorgeous large-porched, colorfully painted houses surrounded by tall trees, pots of soil, rocks, bushes, berries, bamboo…etc,etc. Jodi is really nice and welcoming and my room is gigantic, which is dumb because my two suitcases full of clothes and a pillow don’t quite fill the room. But that’s okay, my queen size bed is in a closet, so I’m cozied in.
After unpacking, I was feeling sad, so I took a walk, stared at some drippingly delightful nature, bought groceries (food=number 1 priority), and spotted some places I might like to visit.
After watching a movie and feeling tired around 6pm (I had only gotten two hours of sleep Friday night – 6am flight – and the 3 hour time change was wearing on me) I went to bed. Sunday morning the air was dry, the ground puddley, and my stomach hungry. I walked back to a breakfast cafe I spotted called Jam on Hawthorne and ordered myself a Mimosa (yep…alcohol in the morning to cure a bit of shaky loneliness and malnutrition from the long yesterday) and some lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry compote – I’m not even sure what compote is.
Yea…they were good, light fluffy creamy, with only a tint of lemon, and the sweet tang of blueberries and maple (not to mention I had sparkling wine and orange juice to help wash them down). I took the leftovers home and then ventured out with Jodi. The library was closed, so she wanted breakfast. I tagged along and ordered my first cup of Portland coffee, and it was damn good. Stumptown vanilla latte from a popular place called Genie’s. mmm. mmm.
As we drove back to the library, I couldn’t help swooning over all of the pretty houses. O, and I saw more than 2 old VW vans…sweet.
I got LOTS of books from the library. My new thing is to read, read, read this quarter. Well and write and draw of course.
We also drove to Walmart – haha – where I bought detergent and a towel. O. so. exciting.
When I got back, I did some work for Kiki Magazine then cuddled into my closet to watch Up in the Air. I fell asleep nervously thinking about work at Bent Image Lab…eeeks! What if I didn’t fit in or what if they hated me?!
Well they didn’t, and I definitely DEFINITELY felt welcome…everyone was sooo nice. I love it there and why? Um, well for one, I get to work with Nando Costa …yeaaa…that’s really cool. He’s a brilliant artist from Brazil (click here to see his work) with a wife who is also a successful illustrator and I get to work by his side for 3 months!! I wanted to improve my illustration skills and look where I landed myself – a city thriving with lush greens and nature, wet weather to keep me inside with a sketchbook, and an artist that I’ve looked up to ever since I stumbled across his work a couple years ago…PERFECT :)
The studio was overwhelmingly impressive. There were miniatures, paints, fabric, cameras, green screens, lights, HUGE monitors, lots of computers, lots of cool knick knacks sculpted and collected from old shoots, coffee, and a lot of nice people.
I had a perfect first day…and I really hope to learn a lot from this co-op. It has the potential to be the best experience of my life so far :)
P.S. Sorry if my writing is a little jittery and broken this time around…I think I’m just excited or something – or maybe I’m on a sugar high after eating my leftover pancakes.
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Comments ( 2 )
love it! pancakes and coffee looks delicious
Your Casanova added these pithy words on
Jan 05 10 at
5:50 AM
Glad you’re enjoying it so far! As always, I love the pictures and your writing. Keep posting. :)
pancakestealer added these pithy words on
Jan 05 10 at
3:28 PM
