Update and Conclusion

7/2/12 Hi blog friends!!! It's been so long! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be sitting here writing this blog. It has been a busy ten days (well, a busy month really...). Since  my last post: graduation happened, we celebrated our four year anniversary, we moved out of our apartment in portland and moved it all into storage in California, Wes' grandfather passed away and we celebrated my 25th birthday. We've seen so many faces in these last ten days... It's been incredible.  Now we are sitting here in the Sacramento airport wondering what just happened to us and what lies ahead. It was quite the whirlwind. I feel as though I am just going through the motions... 7/5/2012 Hello again!! Since writing that first paragraph a couple of days have gone by... As of now I am sitting on a train headed towards Delft! Before detailing out how are first few days in Europe have gone, I want to tell you about our new blog.  NEW BLOG??  Yes, new blog... Towards the end of our time in Portland we started discussing the idea of starting something fresh. I was very sad about the idea of ditching 26th Street Sentiments (after all, it's documented all first four years of our marriage); but really I still wanted something fresh and easy to use for our Europe travels. So we started thinking of fun new blog names... Many of you have heard it already but for those of you who haven't, I'd like to introduce you to: SOCKS!  You can visit our new blog titled "SOCKS!" at this link: Ourfriendsocks.tumblr.com So why "SOCKS!" you ask? Well, Socrates is the name of our imaginary English bull dog (shortened from the name "Socrates" of course). Since the beginning of our marriage we've dreamed of having an English bull dog named Socrates (and a husky named Aristotle but that's for another time....). Often while walking to the grocery store or other daily happenings, we'd take Socks with us. So we thought what better than a blog dedicated to him? I drew up a simple line drawing of a bulldog and together we designed the blog banner.  Anyway, we are very excited for our new blog location. One thing to note about it...  If you were on our email list you will still receive blogs at your email address. However, not all of them. We are blogging through a different website now which unfortunately doesn't do automated emails. I will have to forward my blogs to you myself. I won't have time to do this always and so you will often have to actually go to our blog site to view the latest. I will try my best to still email them to you when I can.  Thank you for your support and faithful readership over the past four years. I expect blogging to be apart of our life always... It wouldn't be the same if no one liked reading it. 26th street isn't going anywhere, it's just being discontinued. So now, go read about our first days in Europe over on SOCKS!  Love you guys!

Coffee and a baguette

Two drip coffees and two baguettes with jam please!

For the past two months or so, Wes and I have been walking to this amazing little french patisserie in our neighborhood every Wednesday morning to plan our Europe trip. It has been such a special time of intentionally meeting, plotting and planning. Today we enjoy our last wednesday morning with delicious baguettes and coffee. Tonight my parents arrive, tomorrow Wes' parents arrive, and Sunday my brothers arrive! We are so excited for all of the celebrating that is going to ensue in this next week. Until next time.... cheers!

Closure: Part III- It's here.

The next chapter has arrived! Friday marked my last day of school and my last day of work. So you could say that today essentially marks the first day of the longest vacation I have ever had. Wes will be joining me in this *total bliss* on Monday, when he completes work as well. It's a crazy time we have entered. I cannot explain to you just how manic the end of school was for me. When I wasn't at the computer lab working on a recipe book, I was at home sewing a quilt (on a machine that is so not made for such a large project), or I was at work with kiddos. I had so many late nights and early mornings and all I could allow for was energy put towards school. And now that school is over I'm faced with the reality that our move is here. It is upon us. It is no longer out there in the future, it is here!!! Because of how one-track minded I was to finish school, friday after my last final wasn't filled with celebratory emotions it was almost more like... sad for me. I honestly feel like I know we are doing the right things and that I wouldn't trade this time for anything but it feels so weird. It feels like I'm just going through the motions of how I know they are suppose to go... I'm sure I will do much digesting and reflecting once sitting by some canal in some europian country.

Until then, there is no time like the present! Our place is in a state of clutter from art projects and clutter from starting to pack up. We had our *last* date night just the two of us lastnight. It felt good to sit and have a moment together. All processing, reflecting, analyzing aside- this next week is going to be plain and simple: FUN.

We have quite the line up of lovely restaurants to take our parents to, our four year anniversary is on thursday, Graduation and Father's day is on Sunday, Monday night we have our final dinner at Avignon bar (the very first place we ate at on the day we moved up here) and Tuesday we start our caravan back to Sacramento quite early.

I apologize for all of the wordy posts these days. With the computer problems I faced and just the stage we are in we haven't taken many pictures worthy of sharing. Though that will all be changing even starting tomorrow. I will be better about documenting our packing and finally days here. Can't wait to share it with you all. Thank you for your constant support!

Two Week Countdown...

It's been busy around here! As you probably guessed, there has been little time to write. In a (very fast) nutshell, I said goodbye to my nanny job on friday which was a very emotional day; and now I'm scrambling to complete projects for finals week! The reality of only two weeks left is hitting us both, yesterday we both admitted we are starting to feel sad. It will be hard to leave, but oh how we can't wait for the adventures that are ahead. I will be finishing up my "closure" installments after finals week. So, tune in again soon for our final days here in Portland! Pictures and much better posts to come... until then, I have some sewing to do.

Rolling

Life over here is rolling on by (fast, down hill, and gaining momentum) much the way we anticipated it to. Though... I'm scared! I have a thousand things to do you guys! I'll break it down for you: 250 things that have to be done for school, 250 things that have to be done for Europe/moving, 500 things I want to do on top of those things. :)

Though I want to ensure you that even in the midst of my stress I am aware of how lucky I am to even have such problems. I'm graduating college, moving closer to family in California, and going to Europe for an abnormally long vacation. I am extremely grateful to be fussing over such major opportunities that so many people would give anything to experience. So I'm trying to rest in appreciation.

As far as Europe goes we are doing the "fine-tuning," establishing some places/people with whom we can stay. With that said, if anybody knows anybody in western Europe, Scotland or Ireland, would you please let us know?

I can't wait for this blog to turn into a European adventure blog. I can't wait to see art that I've been learning so much about over the past four years. I can't wait to see the history, feel the European sun, and meet new people. I am most excited to have so much time with Wes, and to have the same schedule for the first time in four years (Wes works graveyard shifts for any of you who don't know that). Until then, I hope you all are enjoying this almost- summer sun like we are.

My Last Month of College

As of tomorrow, I will have one month left until I turn in my last art project, write my last paper, and take my last final. It is a weird reality to wrap my mind around. I am very very excited to say the least! I wanted to share with you all something I've been taking part in both this quarter and last quarter and that is: Friendtorship. Say what?? Friendship + Mentor = Friendtorship. This quarter and last quarter I was lucky enough to fall into an art class where we actually get to work with at risk highschool students on PSU campus. And well.. I'll let the video tell you the rest. But if you are interested in seeing a class I've been taking (or just interested in seeing me eat my lunch in the background) check it out. :)
 For this class I will be completing two projects on my own. One: a quilt and two: an illustrated recipe book. *phew* you heard me correctly. They are hefty projects but special to me and I am thrilled to be making work I enjoy for my very last quarter of school.

The quilt will be comprised of one square of fabric from each of the students' homes. It will be really beautiful to see the different fabrics come together, representing each person's life.

The recipe book will be comprised of each student's favorite food and represented in a sort of "info graphics" style. I can't wait to share with you my last art projects. Until next time...

I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend.

Closure: Part II - The Weather.

News flash- I've been sick this weekend. It came on quite suddenly without warning and just in time to miss out on the most beautiful weekend this year. Which leads me to my next installment of my "Closure" series: Portland Weather. You see, as much as this blog really is for friends and family to see a glimpse of our lives from miles away; it's also about recording my feelings so that someday, long from now, when we forget the details of our Portland lives we can look back and hopefully, remember. So, to future Katie, and anyone else who is curious:

Portland Sun smells like all things good. Spring in Portland is like discovering the color green, and participating in the ultimate community activity in which every human being steps outside their closed up homes to just revel in the warmth. Wes and I went on a little walk outside today, since I've been sick on the couch all weekend, and we couldn't help but reminisce. I think the Portland sun is significant to us because it reminds us of all of those new feelings we felt when we moved here. Anyway, these were our thoughts today as we walked through our neighborhood admiring people's gardens, the tulips and the green trees. Summer is right around the corner, which means our move is right around the corner. June, we're ready for you! Until then, we'll enjoy every last drop of you, Portland.


{PS: The blog got a face lift! If you never go to the site and only read these in your emails, you're missing out on half of the experience! :) Click here to see the new fun look. As always thanks for your support.}