Portland.

We made it! Eric and I are officially in Portland. It doesn't seem quite real yet, since we're still living with my uncle Tim for the time being. It's very surreal. Mostly for Eric, since this move is to a place he doesn't have much experience with. It's a little easier for me, of course, since I have friends here, and a history. Regardless, we are absorbing beautiful, clear days of sunshine and breeze. We have driven easily down evergreen laced highways and wound our way through high-rise brick buildings. Today, we ate fresh sushi in the industrial/chic part of Portland  (the Pearl District, or if you're hip, simply "the Pearl") and read plaques on the sides of historical buildings. But hey, it hasn't all been metropolitan meandering and summertime living. 

We have spent hours- literally- on Craigslist poring over apartment listings. Checking Google maps for location and street view (360 cameras make it easy to spot crappy empty lots nearby or overcrowded parking situations). Both together and separately we have seen about 10 apartments and driven by dozens. I've called probably 30 different properties and we've seen less than 10. We've seen the crappiest, the weirdest (Murphy beds and ancient wall-mounted phones?) and the most spectacular (view of Mt. Hood and brand new everything- comes with a gigantic price tag). 

We've found some very reasonable in-betweeners, nicely maintained older buildings with character and unique details. We'll get our dream place, if it kills us. It takes time (which Eric doesn't have and which I am not a fan of) and patience (HA) and a little bit of vision. That last part is what we both have plenty of- vision. We will make this Portland life into something daring, something smart and complex, colorful and clean. This is the beginning of something really, really good. We can smell it in the air.