So, I neglected to write a letter to go along with our Christmas cards this year. When I sat down to do it, I just didn't know what to say and wasn't really in the writing spirit so I skipped it. The day I mailed the cards out, I received a card from some friends of ours updating us on their lives and instantly wished that I had written a letter (or that I mailed the cards out a day later so I could have re-opened them and put a letter inside). Oh well. Here is my Christmas letter - or rather a run-down of the past year.
We started off the year with Craig getting a new job in Irvine. He quit his previous job of 2+ years doing IT support and some programming for a construction supply company to move on to the new job doing mostly programming at a higher pay, but at the cost of a longer drive (to and from Menifee to Irvine 5 days a week yielded about 3+ hours a day sitting in traffic.) Needless to say it was difficult for both of us - I missed him and he would often times come home and go directly to bed. After three months at the new job, Craig's friend mentioned a job opportunity in Oregon - he basically told Craig that if he was willing to move to Portland he would most likely have the position. The opportunity to advance Craig's career was an amazing one and although it took some convincing, I couldn't take this away from him. After a few weeks of phone interviews, emails and waiting - we finally got the news that Craig had the job. He left for Oregon the first week of June and started his new career while looking for a place for us to live. I stayed behind to pack and get us ready for the move.
I was fortunate enough to have been called back to my previous job (with a pay raise) last December and worked there until the end of June at which point I joined Craig in Oregon. The weekend of the 4th of July, Craig flew back to So Cal and we loaded up the moving truck and headed out on our drive to our new home in Portland! Fortunately Craig's Dad and Uncle helped us immensely, by driving the truck while Craig and I took my little car with the dogs. Overall the move took us a weekend and we somehow had the energy to unload the truck the day we arrived at our new place (after about a 9 hour or so drive). I know to most of our friends and family the news of our move was rather sudden - hey it was sudden for us too! We wished that we had been able to say our goodbyes (or rather, see ya later's) to everyone before we left but it just wasn't feasible.
So far we have been in Portland for five months and the time has flown by. We very rarely drive our cars and Craig takes the bus every day to and from work. The transit center is only a 10 minute walk from our front door and Craig's company pays for a monthly bus pass. Our monthly gas bill has dropped from $400 a month down to about an average of $30 a month for BOTH of our cars. It's great!! Craig enjoys his job (especially the commute) and I have been looking for a job to no avail. Because I have not had much luck in finding a job here I am going to take some classes this coming winter semester at the community college. Starting in January I will be taking a photography class, sewing class, and two classes toward a certificate in sustainable building (intro to building systems and environmental ethics). I am excited to get out of the house more often and am hopeful that it will keep me busy enough during the days! I also recently received an email from my previous employer about doing some contract drafting for them, so far I don't have enough details to confirm having the work yet but I am hopeful!
The summer weather here is amazing and just doesn't compare to a San Diego summer. There are a few days where the weather went over ninety during the summer and since most homes in Portland don't have air conditioning (there isn't much of a need) it was a less than pleasant experience but overall the summer weather was perfect! The fall weather was definitely much cooler but still bearable and once we got into the winter weather we actually got some snow flurries (just one day) which I had never seen before so I really got a kick out of it (actually Craig was laughing at me running in and out of the house to check on the status of snow in our front yard)!! So far I would have to say that it doesn't rain here as much as I expected it to. Sure the sky's are gray and cloudy, there is moisture in the air and you'll get rained on at random times but it's not that bad. I have been warned that February is brutal though.
We spent our fourth wedding anniversary in Seattle, which was really fun! Seattle is only a three hour drive away so now that we've walked the city it is great for little weekend trips in the future. This year was the first year we missed having Thanksgiving with any of our families - we made the best of it though and I cooked my
first turkey dinner, complete with my Mom's cran-jello goodness (I don't
know what to call it, so that's it's name now). We made sure to call our families and wished them a happy Thanksgiving. It was weird being on this end of those phone calls though. We have; however, made a few new friends up here and are having a "New Year with New Friends" party for New Years Eve at our house. I am excited to have people over for the first time (and if you know me you know I love to entertain). Our new local friends have invited us to several outings which has helped us to combat missing everyone in So Cal.
Our dog's are loving it here too! Both Ginger and Bender have lots of room to run around in the backyard and they are loving all of the time they get to spend indoors with us because of the cold and wet weather. Portland is a huge dog-friendly city and practically every park and hiking trail allows dogs (some leashed and some off-leash). We have found a few great hiking areas to take the dogs to and Bender has gotten noticeably exhausted after just a few miles. Ginger could keep running forever though!!
We are looking forward to the next year and are hoping to take a long vacation to Ireland, England and Scotland in October. We are still working out the kinks in our travel plans but are staying really hopeful (and we'll keep you posted on our plans)!
We hope you all are doing well. We love and miss you all and hope to see you when we are in So Cal for Christmas!!
Love,
Craig & Josie Gardner
(Ginger and Bender, too!)
:)
ReplyDeleteSounds wonderful.