It's our 2 week anniversary...

...together in our WA house!

Things are rolling right along, and the work just seems to be never ending.

Eric's 4 days off began on Tuesday, and it is so much nicer having him home. Those 4 12-hour days alone were not too fun, but I guess I'll have to get used to it. His 4 nights of graveyard begin on Saturday night.

On Tuesday we drove the 45 miles to Portland, OR. Just a field trip to spend the day together and get a change of scenery. The first thing we did was find the Portland location of my favorite sushi place: Todai Seafood Buffet. Well, that was a disappointment. They just don't get the huge influx of people as the one in Southern CA, so the food wasn't very fresh. Fortunately, we had a $50 American Express gift card to use that paid for our filling, but not very satisfying lunch. Eric does have a great little sushi place in Vancouver that we've gone to before, so all is not lost. But, we've eaten at home a lot since we've been here.

After that we walked around Pioneer Place mall, which is where Todai is. A lot of stores out of business and empty. But, they did have a nice Eddie Bauer store, which are getting harder and harder to find. When the lady who helped us discovered that I had worked for Eddie Bauer, she even offered me a job, which I would've been tempted to take if there wasn't a 45 mile commute.

Then we drove to the big mall in Portland, the Lloyd Center. With Macy's gift cards in hand, we ordered the remaining pieces of our china and stemware. Ten complete place settings altogether. I know it sounds weird and excessive to want to complete the china when I don't know anyone in our new city, but that won't last forever. And part of the fun of getting married is having wedding china. It's a one-time thing, and I like being the hostess when possible and setting a beautiful table. I never imagined I would even be getting wedding china, so I'm going to enjoy it without apology. =)

We did get held up for almost an hour during the china-ordering process though, because it turns out that one of our gift cards, which was just a card in the stack that had been sitting in the kitchen for weeks--had been used fraudulently. How scary is that? That someone can just somehow find a random gift card number and use it. It has been used about 2-3 days before, online. Thankfully, the Macy's lady took us at our word with no problem and sorted it out. It was time-consuming, but she did it and everything worked out. Our china and stemware should be arriving next week.

By that time, it was time to start heading home. Bailey had already been in the house waiting for us for several hours, and we were going to stop at Trader Joe's in Vancouver on the way back to Longview. We won't get there too often, but it is good to know that there are Trader Joe's up here. Fortunately, Fred Meyers (love that store!) carries a lot of things found at Trader Joe's, except for their store brand pet supplies, which I like.

Yesterday turned into a lazier day than expected. We bought some paint for the guest bedroom downstairs and some groceries, but Eric and I had a hard time getting going. We needed a slower day.

Today my sweet husband has spent the whole day painting, painting, painting. It is nice to have the "institutional green" color gone from that bedroom. My goal is to basically duplicate the colors and decor of my CA bedroom in that guest bedroom, all starting with the walls, which are the absolute lightest shade of pink. When Eric sleeps off his graveyard shifts this weekend, it will be a good time for me to work downstairs without disturbing him.

At noon I had my first haircut in WA. Scary! I think the lady did a good job, but until I style it myself it will be hard to tell. The rest of the afternoon has been spent unpacking boxes, cutting them down and putting them into the garage so that Eric can fill up the back up his truck tomorrow and run them to the dump. Ah, the glamors of unpacking.

Meanwhile, what started as an absolutely gorgeous sunny and blue-skied day has given way to clouds and a murky sky. Everyone keeps warning me that the rainy weather in only about a week away! Apparently the week before Halloween is when everything turns to full time rain for the next 3 months and all of the leaves will fall off the trees. I'm trying to prepare myself, although I really don't mind chilly, rainy weather. I'd rather be cold than hot. But, only time will tell. I'm more worried about the pets, who will not understand why they can't go outside as often as before.

All in all, we're slowly settling into life in our new house and new city (for me.) This morning I got to talk to my mom for the first time in over a week, so that was nice. She's been on a cruise to the eastern states and Canada and was calling me from Newfoundland. Technology is amazing, isn't it? Point A is Longview, WA and Point B is Corner Brook where my mom was calling me from. I'm glad we got to talk today.


So, happy 2 weeks in WA!