Eight

Hello again, I’m glad to be writing this. It means that March, the 10 inches of rain it brought, and the four soaking wet, sun-deprived weekends has been rendered a memory. We’re definitely not in the clear just yet — but this month I’m hoping for slightly less rain, and just one weekend (or even one weekend day) of fun in the sun (or partial sun — beggars can’t be choosers). Or maybe that’s what July is for.

While epic amounts of rain, and washed-out hiking trails certainly hampered our plans a bit during our eighth month of marriage, we of course had fun and enjoyed ourselves, and good things still came to fruition. Our eighth month bought a few personal and academic accomplishments for me, and Alex got a raise (!!!!). We partook in some of our usual couple activities, and caught up some more with our own personal hobbies (photography for me, and finance for Alex). We also tried some new restaurants in the city, and explored our beloved little corner of the PNW some more. We even won a notoriously hard-to-get, lottery-issued backcountry permit for a backpacking trip to one of the Cascade’s most famed and beautiful locations for this July, which we are way too excited about. But the best thing that happened during our eighth month? We had to wait until April for that!

Just this Monday, April 7th, we celebrated our seventh dating anniversary, and took a long weekend to relax and celebrate. We debated between Vancouver, the San Juans, or Portland for our little mini escape from Seattle and ended up choosing Portland, mostly because of two words: VooDoo Doughnuts. I wish I were kidding. On Saturday, with fantasies about an old dirty bastard in my head, we hit the road for Oregon.

Boy, we really needed a change of scenery!

We chose The Nines hotel in downtown Portland as our home for the weekend, and I’m so glad we did. We really enjoyed the atmosphere, and every detail — from the way the fabric hung in the hallways, to the Tiffany blue chaise in our room — was just gorgeous.

After a few minutes of getting ourselves situated, we headed back out into the city, and straight for the Saturday Market. We stopped to get some food from a vendor selling elephant ears, and polished one off as we walked around the various little stands. We took advantage of the tax-free shopping before trying to get lost and see what we could see before dinner rolled around. We spent a lot of time wandering the cobblestone streets, and talking about the awesome architecture of the buildings.

We walked around for miles, and went back to the hotel when our feet were sore. We lounged on the chaise in our room to recuperate, and decided at dinner time that walking, standing, or basically moving in any fashion was not at all appealing, so we went to the restaurant located downstairs in the lobby, Urban Farmer, for dinner.

After resting for a while upstairs, we decided to go back out for a bit, and returned utterly exhausted. It was the best Friday we had in a while.

Sunday was sunny and warm (!), and we spent all day outside taking advantage of it. We did, and saw, and ate as much as possible. Some highlights were eating at The Original (where I had the most ridiculous french toast I have ever had) walking along the bridges and the waterfront, getting lost in Powell’s bookstore, and getting some VOODOO DOUGHNUTS.

That aside, we explored a few more districts, laughed about the streetcar that shook the ground, shopped some more, and took it all in. By the end of the day we were even more exhausted than we were the day before.

Monday was our anniversary! We spent the morning snapping a few pictures of random, cool stuff we liked, got breakfast at Kure Juice Bar, and were back on the road at noon.

We were anxious to get back to Seattle for a date at SkyCity restaurant at the top of the space needle, featuring an awesome rotating floor for 360* views. We ate and drank to the sights we adore so much: our city, Rainier, the olympics, the water.

I think I fell a little more in love with this place while celebrating being in love with Alex.

It has been the best seven years of my life — I’m so full of joy and immeasurable gratitude.
(Alex, you are the best husband/friend/person ever, and I just love and adore you so so SO MUCH.)

We loved our little mini celebration in Portland over the weekend, and are already planning on more long weekends away from Seattle. It was the perfect way to cap our eighth month of marriage.

I’m not quite sure what will happen during month number 9. Probably a weekend in Vancouver, some more hiking (with our big packs loaded), and camping. Oh!! But you know what I would REALLY love to happen this month?

Sunshine. ON THE WEEKEND. Just saying.

😉

See you in May!