Wednesday, September 29, 2010

No news

Still no news on the job front for Eric.
I am really getting tired of typing these kind of things.
We never heard back from the company that he interviewed with. Pretty unprofessional if you ask me but whatever.
He's been looking but it seems like the pool is dry for engineering work.
I'm not really sure what our next game plan is.

For me, still applying up the wazoo.
I dropped off a resume today at a store that has a cooking shop in front but also a mini-cooking school in back. It would be an awesome place to work.
The lady said she would probably be in touch with me next week about a job interview.
I could have done without the probably, ha...but I'll take it!

In other news. We biked over to the Humane Society today to get applications to start doing volunteer work. They have a running with dogs program that would be a lot of fun. Also a one on one program where you just play with a dog for hours at a time.
I fell in love with a puppy lab they had. Bella Rose. We need jobs, a bigger place, and a dog! =o) Ok, maybe want is a better word for the last two on that list.

Tonight, dinner at the Schads and then small group! Wahoo.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sunday!


I hope you have a beautiful Sunday!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Baking!

I have been on the prowl for a toaster oven on Craigslist.
We found one we want at Target, but at $70ish bucks, it's definitely out of our price range right now.
On Thursday I came across an ad for a free one in NE Portland!
All we had to do was go get it ($5bucks via train)
Not a bad deal.

Now that I had the oven, what was I going to bake?
We decided on chocolate chip oatmeal raisin coconut cookies. Also pumpkin scones and naan bread.

Cookies. Which were ok. Nothing amazing. I tried this new recipe and I thought it left them very dry. It didn't have any eggs in it, so it was almost a Vegan cookie. But I didn't use vegan butter. I just thought they crumbled easily. Not bad flavor. But needs work!

Pumpkin scones. Also not an amazing recipe. I used one off of a blog I read, and I thought they were very bland. You really couldn't taste the pumpkin at all. I ended up cooking up a honey pumpkin spice glaze to put on top because they were just that tasteless.

The naan bread is not pictured because it was a FAIL. Seriously, I need help with things of the bread nature. (MOM!) I can't ever seem to get my dough to rise enough. The naan ended up tasting good, semi yeasty but not to noticeable...but it was very flat and pitaish. We will definialy be using it for a pizza crust sub, or even spread some peanut butter and honey on it...but I want to try it again after I get some counseling from the mighty baker. (mom again!)

We spent our morning volunteering at the garden for the local food bank. I won't bore you with all the details of how the food banks work here, except that most of them have AMAZING gardens where they grow fresh produce to give out weekly.
Today we did a lot of harvesting. Corn, tomatoes, beans, some squash, watermelon, green onions and a few other odds and ends.



It made me super anxious for our garden next year. I think we are going to look into taking a few gardening classes. There is actually a program here where you can get certified to be a master organic gardener. It sounds pretty awesome and Eric might be taking the course in the future.

Church tomorrow and another WONDERFUL trail run! So excited!


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Excercise

When your not working and not applying for jobs, what else is there to do?
Oh I know! Workout!
ha.
But seriously, I have done a bad job of getting in my runs on a daily basis. That's something I am hoping to change...
I'm going to be running The Holiday Half in December.
Well, that is if it doesn't fill up before I can afford the entrance fee.

I know I have a LONG time till December, and plenty of time to train, but I am hoping to get under a 1 hour 50 minute finish time. That means not only do I need to train for 13.1 miles, but a fast 13.1 miles.

Might as well get a jump on my training while I have nothing else to do.

Today we decided to bike over to a place that I applied at, so I could talk face to face with the HR person and see if I could beg my way into a job.
Yeah, that didn't work out so well, but I did talk to her and she said she would keep me in mind.
Anyways we ended up biking 10ish miles round trip and decided to come home and change clothes (I biked 10 miles in a skirt!) and head out for a trail run.
We (well me really, but I'm dragging Eric along) are trying to do one longish run a week along with a couple normal length runs, speed work, hill training, and cross training.
Today ended up being our long run. We ran 7.4 miles total.
2.5 miles to the trail head
3.5 miles on the trail
1.4 miles home
I AM IN LOVE WITH TRAIL RUNNING!

whoops, sorry about the yelling.
I really am though.
It is a killer on the legs.
Seriously
A killer.
But it is so much fun. Mentally stimulating because your having to watch out for stupid little ruts in the ground, but you also get to take in the absolutely gorgeous scenery.
It is really hard though because it's a lot of up, down, around, up, up, up, up, dooooown, down rocks, up rocks...ok, ok, you get the idea.
I think training on the trail is going to be a great way to train.

I can really feel it in my legs. To much exercise today!
Dinner's on and then I'm off to do laundry and crash. I think I will sleep good tonight!


(that's me running the trail today!)

Monday, September 20, 2010

The adventure continues...


Today in the wonderful world of food processing, I blended up some peanut butter. I'm almost out of almond butter, but at this point, almonds are to expensive..soo...peanut butter is born.


And then because I had it on hand, I added some honey and chocolate powder.

It does not look very appetizing in the photo...I blame our lighting...but it tastes really good.

So four cups of roasted unsalted peanuts makes about 22 oz. of peanut butter.
Roughly.
For me that broke down to $4 in peanuts=HUGE savings.
Especially when you start to mix in flavors like coconut or chocolate or cinnamon.
Now all we need is for one of us to get a job so we can afford different kinds of nuts to experiment with.

Speaking of which, I spent the entire morning applying to places online and then calling around to see if the positions were still available.
I got a lot of...you can try back later, or we will look over the applications and start doing interviews.
Blah.

Hopefully tomorrow we will hear something on Eric's job. Good or bad, I'm ready to hear something at least!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A food processor that will change my life

The other day, we were browsing the thrift store that is literally right around the corner.
We were looking for a microwave or a toaster oven-we really need one of those.
Anyways...I was walking around the appliances when all of a sudden, I saw it.
A mint condition (ok it was a little dirty) 12 cup Kitchen Aid food processor.
I almost peed myself.
(to much?)
I dragged Eric over to look at it, and upon further investigation, (I wiped out an iPhone and goggled the value) I found out this particular model sells brand new for about two hundred bucks.
Guess how much the thrift store wanted?
$15 dollars!!!!!
Of course that was way to much money so I turned and walked away.


Um...heck no. I grabbed onto that processor so fast!
That has got to be the deal of a lifetime.
Eric can testify, I talked and talked about how excited I was to find it for hours!
I definitely think I annoyed him just a lil bit. =o) Totally worth it!

So the first thing I made with it, was coconut butter. I have never had coconut butter before, but I like coconut and I like coconut oil so...






Basically you just put however much coconut you want into the processor and blend away. Eventually it becomes kind of like a nut butter texture.
I thought it was pretty good. Kind of bland, not sweet since I used unsweetened coconut..but really not bad. I am excited to try and add things into it like spices or honey.

I am sooo excited about the adventures I am going to have with my food processor.
I will be sure to post some yummy things I try out.
Next on the list is homemade almond butter since I am almost out!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Interview, Thai Food and the Bible

Eric had an in-person interview today with a company out in Tigard OR.
That's about an hour by bus or less if you bike it.
He said it went really well. He is in competition with roughly 5 other guys-two of them already being in the company, they just want to move to a new department.
We are trying so very hard to not get our hopes up.
I don't want to talk about things we will do once he has the job, because if it's not God's will for him to get it...well, then he won't get it. I really don't like to get my hopes up and then be crushed. But then again, who does?
I just hope for Eric's sake, that he doesn't hurt to much if they decide to hire someone else.

For now we are just praying, if this is what's right...then let him get the job. If not, let us be ok with it and hopefully we will find another one.
I cannot tell you how much I want to work.
I am really, really tired of sitting in my apartment looking online for jobs, or walking around hoping I see a Help Wanted sign.
When all you do all day is surf the internet, walk around, and run or bike...it's really easy to get LAZY. I am finding myself just wanting to curl up in bed and sleep the day away

But enough about that. Just keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We can always use it!

Today we splurged a little and had an AMAZING lunch at one of the 500+food carts that are in the city.
I told Eric I was in the mood for some Thai food. The last Thai food I had was pretty gross and left me desiring more. He googled (which is what he does best!) and found us a top rated Thai food cart. I got something I cannot pronounce but it was basically spicy noodles, and Eric got the Chef's combo.



This was the BEST Thai food I have EVER had. I am not kidding you. My noodles were really spicy-actually so much so that I had to stop eating and let my mouth cool back down, but besides that...the flavors spot on. And Eric's combo was to die for. When family comes to visit, this is the first place we are taking them!

One more thing. We started attending LIFE group at the Schads house this week. For those of you in the know, the Schads are the Hagermans relatives. Yes, it is a small world. Anyways, we are going to start going to their group on Wed nights and last night we had so much fun. Such a wonderful group of people. In fact, the whole SW Church has been really amazing. Both Sunday's we've attended, members have taken us out to lunch and we have met some sweet, kind people.
Back to LIFE group. The theme of our group for this fall is, New Beginnings. So appropriate seeing as how almost everyone in the group is going through some kind of new chapter in their life. Whether it be from a move, or empty nester's or new job. I think we are going to really enjoy getting to know the people that go to the group and they even do service projects which is so exciting to me!
BTW, the Schad's house is absolutely gorgeous. I'm pretty sure their kitchen is bigger than our entire apartment! I wonder if I can convince her to let me cook in it.....wahahaha. ;o)
(if we didn't love the group so much, we would go just to see the awesome views from their great room!..j.k....but seriously)


OK. Tomorrow is Friday and our third week here. Wow. It feels like so much longer but so much shorter at the same time. This was a super long post but I guess that's what happens when your to lazy to post more than once every couple of days.

Thanks for reading! Night!
.

Monday, September 13, 2010

This week is the week

Well, at least I hope so.
Trying to fill my brain with positive thoughts!

The job Eric has been wanting to apply for finally came online today so he is working all afternoon on filling out the questionnaire. It's a lot of questions!!

Really, no other news on the job front. Just waiting and looking and applying whenever we see something. It sure would be a lot easier to get a job if I had a major in something but I knew that...and it was the right thing to have Eric finish up his degree and have me work.

Saturday we volunteered at another biking event and had a really good time!
Free food, t-shirts, beer and pint glasses also helped!

And today I came across an ad for the 'Run like hello' half-marathon, 5 and 10k.
I think I am going to sign up for the 10k at least. I've really lost muscle since we moved and I would looove to do the half, but the race is in a month and I don't know if I can get ready for it by then.

I think Eric's almost done and then it's grocery shopping time! Btw, the groceries here are so much more than GR. It's hard to get my mind around the idea of spending lot's more for just two people. The farmers markets are also a lot more as well.
Because of that, we have been eating maybe not as well as we did in MI. Still trying to make everything but we have been eating a few more processed foods. I can totally tell a difference. Yesterday I had a terrible headache. I was basically done for the day at 3pm. We came back to the house and I slept on and off for the rest of the day/night. A priority this week is getting back to the organic, make everything ourselves meals. It may take more time, and dirty more dishes but it's totally worth it to not have headaches.

I'm off!

Friday, September 10, 2010

3 Things

Here are three things I have learned since moving to Portland, just two short weeks ago!

1. Be prepared. Just because it's semi-sunny out right now does not mean the skies won't open up and you will be caught in a rain storm. Or even if the weather website says no rain...it's going to rain. After walking two miles in a downpour you will never again forget to grab your raincoat before you head out.

2. You will get rejected. So what if you applied to 5 positions at various Whole Foods. So did three hundred other people and they don't want you. Don't take it personally. Just buck up, get your walking shoes on and put a new meaning to 'Pounding the Pavement'.

3. Get used to the idea of walking. Today alone I have walked over 7 miles. It's what you do. When you are to cheap to buy a bus pass, and you don't want to get all sweaty from biking...you walk. Expect to get in great shape and thank your Father above that you have two working legs.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

We have chairs!

Since we moved here the only major pieces of furniture that we have bought is our bed and our table. We are waiting for jobs before we invest in more furniture.

One thing we came to realize that we needed was chairs. We kind of thought we could get away with just sitting on the floor or on the bed since we weren't going to be in our apartment all day. We thought wrong.

After sitting in bed working on resumes or applying for jobs online, the very last thing we wanted to do was stay in bed and fall asleep.

So today we headed out to our favorite store...Ikea! And we bought these nice, pretty comfortable chairs for pretty cheap.

They do the trick.

When we got home from Ikea, we had this beautiful package waiting for us.
Becca sent us a house warming gift and I love it.
It's really, sooo beautiful and the colors will work wonderfully in our apartment!


Yay! Can't wait to put it up!

In other news, I have been applying like crazy. No bites yet but here's to hoping!
Eric had a phone interview yesterday and he said it went well.
He will hear something next week either letting him know they are passing or if they want to pursue a in person interview.

We have only been here two weeks but I am starting to get anxious. Just trying to remember that its in God's hands and it will all work out.


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Fun in the park

I think one of the best things about living in Portland, is all the free outdoor activities they have during the year.
Although I think it's mostly during the summer since it rains the least then.

This past week we went to a free concert on the water which Eric loved because they ended the show with the 1812 Overture complete with cannons and fireworks. It was SOO busy and packed but a really nice time.




Then we hit up a free movie in the park.
The movie was an American in Paris.
Classic!
Eric hadn't seen the movie before and he loved it! After every song, all the people watching would clap and it was really a lot of fun.

Summer is rapidly coming to a close though because outdoor activities are winding down.
I can't wait for next year when we have the full summer to be able to experience all the things going on!

We are volunteering at another bike event this upcoming Saturday and I'm excited. Should be a good time.

Monday, September 6, 2010

The opportunity that was..

I have decided to pass on the restaurant job opportunity.
I just don't feel right about taking a job that doesn't pay right now. I need to be focused on finding a job that will provide an income and relieve some of the stress we are feeling. Traveling back to MI took a really huge chunk out of our savings so we are hitting this job search even harder than maybe if we had more of a nest egg.

How was everyones weekend? Happy labor day!
Wow, I can't believe it's September already. Don't look now but Christmas is just around the corner.

Eric and I took a long walk tonight up to the International Rose Garden. It's probably about a mile from our house. Here are a few photos. Sorry about the quality-there from our iphones.



There were fields and field of these roses. Pretty much every single kind you can think of, in every color imaginable.
I think it's towards the end of the season from them here because they were all starting to look a little sad.

Welp. Tomorrow the job search continues, and Eric has a meeting with someone in the PSU engineering masters program.

=o)

Friday, September 3, 2010

Thursday...(already??)

All morning I was really debating whether or not to go to that informational interview about the internship. The fact that there was no pay except a cut of the tips, was turning me off a lot.
I believe this is one of those reason why God has it in place for people to not be alone. Eric made me go.

He did. He made me go and I am so glad I did!
The restaurant is this super cute little place that has an open kitchen and bar floor plan. Lot's of little tables and very lovely feeling.
I sat down with the two chefs and told them a little about me, my future plans, what I am looking for...etc...

They basically offered me the position. I think.
The ending of our interview was very odd. The one chef said something like..
'well we really need someone on Wednesdays and Thursdays...so if this sounds like something your interested in....'
And he kind of stopped talking at that point.
I jumped in with the only thing that is holding me back. The money!
Or lackthereof.
I told him honestly that I needed a couple days to think about it with my husband and I would get back with him.
He said ok, we shook hands and I left.

It was a very weird ending but I'm assuming that was his way of offering me the job? Well, I'm taking it that it was.

OK, what would I be doing? Basically everything. This is my dream job. I would be learning from the ground up. Doing everything from the dishes to the cooking, to working the bar (wine only), to serving and hostessing.
It would be so amazing.

BUT, there is no income. And at this time in our lives, an income is a very important thing.

I dont know what to do. I am praying and thinking and praying.

In other news, Eric had a phone interview this afternoon with a company that he would love to work for. Then another company called to set up a phone interview for next Wednesday.
If Eric got offered a job, then I could take this internship.
But I WILL not be putting the pressure on him.
There will always be another opportunity, I hope and you know...whatever happens will happen and I will trust that God has a plan.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Wednesday

More walking. And walking. And walking.

We were going to go for a run tonight but after all the miles we put in today, a run seemed like waaay to much work.
p.s. I have not run since before we first left Michigan. yikes.

I have an interview tomorrow for a restaurant that is hiring a kitchen intern? I don't really know anything about the position but in the email the guy said it's an unpaid internship but you get a portion of the tips?
I don't know. But I am going to go tomorrow just to find out more about it.

I also applied at Whole Foods today.
And then I called and talked to a manager who said they have over 100 people apply for this position.
I am praying for an interview but with odds like that, who knows.

We have kind of exhausted our resources for a job for Eric.
Meaning-we have gone to all the places that we could think of off hand. Now we're at the the point where we/he is searching online for postings. Still praying one of the resumes he dropped off will get a call back.

I think the week before Labor Day weekend was a bad week to begin the job search because most people seem to be out of their office. Or maybe they have heard a nasty rumor about us and don't want to hire us.

I have decided my hair needs to either grow like a weed or I am going to cut it off.
I can't take this in between business.

We went to Whole Foods tonight and bought some bulk grains.
I definitely got organic steel cut oats for .99 a pound. LOVE.



Eric has planned a run for us tomorrow morning that will probably make me want to cry and move back to Michigan.
I can't take all these hills/mountains.

Sweet Dreams!