BEFORE & AFTER

We drove from Turlock, CA to Bemidji, MN in 40 hours, unreal. Google maps estimates it will take 31 hours straight on thru, so making it in 40 hours shows you how ridiculous of a trip it really was, we slept the 9 hours in two days & drove the rest of the time. UGHH, I never want to get into a Moving truck again, & i never want to move across the country again. & if you read my last post you will see all the things we had planned to see & stop along the way. Well none of that happened thanks to Diesel gas costing $3 or more & our 100 gallon tank needing to be filled 3 or 4 times a day. Sooo that ate up a lot more money than planned, sorry utah, maybe next time. 

This is what the REAL schedule was: 

9/29 left portland, saw the concert that night in Eugene & drove all night to Turlock

9/30 arrived in Turlock, spent the night

10/1 then drove one long straight shot 

10/3 arrived in MN early Sunday morning.

2604 MILES!!!!

But we're here & it's getting better. I'm doing a "before & after" of our new apartment. A pretty urban feeling apartment, in the heart of downtown Bemidji, 7,000 population by the way, above a furniture store in an old building right across the street from Bemidji Lake. Pretty sweet location, but needed some improvements.  

BEFORE & AFTER:

 kitchen

 pantry/closet room with window, door to dining room

 pantry/closet room with door opened

 dining room, doorway back to kitchen

 living room, door too dining room, window to kitchen

 living room, front door, bathroom door

 entry way to kitchen & bedroom from living room, bathroom door

 other view of kitchen, bedroom door, bathroom door

 bathroom (still in the works)

 another view of kitchen

 view from inside bedroom facing closet & doorway to kitchen

looking into bedroom from doorway

I think we turned it into something liveable & loveable. Our landlord can definitely charge more for this place once we move out!

Nicholi has a job at Office Max that he started today & I have a job at Great Clips that i start on the 25th. Exciting, cause once we get our paychecks, we can start painting this place! We are so thankful to Nicholi's family for letting us stay with them until we get our feet on the ground & our house livable. Their house is the only thing in Bemidji that feels like home right now. The weather has been warm & sunny so it's really helping me acclimate. I'll know how i really feel about living here after winter is over...

I'll keep you updated, until then.

Moving in 22 days...

IT IS DECIDED. We are moving out on September 29th. & we have a very crazy schedule ahead of us too:

9/28 Have our "Goodbye Portland" day, visiting all of our favourite restaurants & theatres etc. one last time..
9/29 Pack up the entire house into a truck, drive to Eugene, Oregon & see The Flaming Lips concert, after the concert either spend the night in Eugene or drive to Redding & stay with Auntie Sara.
9/30 Drive from Redding to Turlock to pack up Ludlow Grandparents stuff in our truck (they are moving as well & are paying us to bring their stuff up, as they will be flying) Visit with my family & stay the night with them
10/1 Have goodbye breakfast with the Norris family & drive to Salt Lake City & stay with cousins
10/2 Attempt to see General Conference & if that doesn't work, walk around Temple Square, since I've never been to Salt Lake at all. Drive to Yellowstone National Park. Stay at Old Faithful Geyser Hotel :)
10/3 See Old Faithful Geyser & Yellowstone. Drive to Mount Rushmore, stay overnight in hotel.
10/4 See Mount Rushmore in the daylight, drive to Bemidji Minnesota, arrive late that night!
10/5 Unload the truck!! & drive rental truck to Fargo North Dakota to return it

THEN WE'RE DONE! Well, then we start apartment searching like mad, apply for winter term classes, look for jobs like mad & unpack our lives into a new home. I think once that is all over, I will be very excited to be there, but not until then haha.

This past weekend was Labor Day weekend, & we had a very nice time vising the Clive grandparents in their Fox Island home, an hour south of Seattle. Nicholi's cousin Tyler Clive was in Seattle for a wedding that weekend, so we decided to come up & visit. He was staying with his grandparents who live in a gorgeous area off of the Puget Sound & they so graciously invited us to stay with them. We were treated like the utmost important guests, they served us such delicious meals & made us feel so important & welcome. The Clive grandparents have such an incredible house, oh man, it is like an museum of international artifacts. They have traveled the world & buy things that are rare & beautiful & display them in their home, in cases & under lights. They gave us a tour & explained where every last piece came from & meant to them. I really felt like i learned a lot about places a never even knew existed or could never point out on a globe. It was magical. & Grandmother Clive is an accomplished artist, photographer & jewelry designer. She is so impressive, I literally thought, "I want to be you when i grow up. These are all pictures from that trip, playing around at the shore of the Puget Sound, a few from inside their home. You can click on any picture to in large it.

Bands I've Seen Live

This will be an ongoing updated piece. I just need somewhere to record it before i forget them. As i see more bands, i will add them to the top of this list for easy finding. This is as many as i can remember right now, they are not in order, some i would see again in a heartbeat & some i would never see or listen to agian but.....they are what they are:

* = Nicholi & I saw them together.

Of Montreal*
Kishi Bashi*
Bright Eyes*
Loni Dear*
Titus Androticus*
Kinch
The Flaming Lips*
The National*
Shout Out Louds*
Freelance Whales*
Sigur Ros*
The Decemberists
Flight of the Concords
Regina Spektor
Devendra Banhart*
Teagan & Sara
Beck*
The Killers
The Pollyphonic Spree*
Mates of State*
The Mars Volta*
The Raconteurs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs*
Eisley
Andrew Bird
Tool
Weezer
She & Him
Fleet Foxes
Muse*
The Faint*
Death Cab For Cutie
Dr. Dog
The Strokes*(Nicholi & my first date, aw!)
Silversun Pickups*
The Relationship
The Kills
Shiny Toy Guns*
Peanutbutter Wolf*
Vampire Weekend
Franz Ferdinand
Dredge
Interpol*
The Eagles
Cold War Kids*
Dorothy & The Origionals*
The Dodos
Tv on the Radio*
Rogue Wave*
Mewithoutyou
The Like*
The Bravery*
Journey
Scorpions
The Horror Pops
Billy Idol
Jupiter is Useless* (Nicholi's Band)
Travis Vick*
Wake up Money* (Nicholi's Band)
The pants*
Circles & Circles
Verona
Lavender Diamond
Asobi Seksu*
Tiger Army*
The Unseen
The Spill Canvas
Head Automatica
Fairway*
Misfits
Dropkick Murpheys
My Chemical Romance*
The Blood Brothers
Kaiser Chiefs*
Flogging Molly
Rob Zombie
Ozzy Osborne
REO Speed Wagon
Coheed & Cambria
AFI
Atreyu
Avenged Sevenfold
Sum 41*
Real Big Fish
Angles & Airwaves
Mustard Plug
Social D
Jimmy Eat World

BEMIDJI say whaaaaat!

So I am about to do a complete 180 right now. We are now moving to Bemidji, Minnesota, in the beginning of October, yes, this October ha. So just ignore everything in that previous post. It is very sudden, I know, but we found out after registering for classes that Nicholi will not be getting instate tuition because he has not lived here an entire year. We thought since he will have lived a year in November, & that's like the 2nd month of the semester, it should be fine. But apparently it is not fine. Because he registered for all of his classes already, they will not grant him residency, indefinitely, unless he waits another year before starting school. They want him to prove he moved here for work or whatever, not just for using their school system. Isn't that stupid? We thought for sure there will be some sort of loophole or they will just be generous & let us have it, it's just one a month shy, but no. They want to squeeze him of all he's got. So that is what sparked our interest in MN again. Because obviously Nicholi is not going to be waiting another year to start, he already took a year off to do the whole wedding thing & move up here & work. & now that he has decided on being a psychiatrist, that means med school. So he does not want to put it off any further, & neither do I.

So what's in MN you ask? Well Nicholi's dad is a professor at Bemidji State University in northern MN & so if Nicholi attends there, his tuition will be entirely payed for. & if I attend, FAFSA will still cover me :) & they might even give me more than i need per semester so i could potentially be getting payed to go to school. & who doesn't like the sound of that? Actually being in Minnesota is the only real sacrifice. I have never dealt with snow, or sub zero temperatures, so yeah, I'm a little nervous. But Nicholi's parents are there & his younger siblings who I miss so incredibly much!! It will be really nice seeing them more often like I used to. Also gramdma TT is there, & Nicholi's dad's parents are thinking of moving up as well. I also have an aunt who lives in MN who i don't ever see. So there are a few great reasons to be there. & with all of us there, my parents & family are sure to come visit at least once a year right? I think so. & Bri has some family in MN & Minneapolis is a constant layover for flights to NY so Tawny & Bri will hopefully visit as well. I can see this working, definitely.

I will really miss our home here in Portland, it really does feel like home, I love our little apartment with our super sweet landlords. We've also made some really great friends here who we will be sad to leave behind. I will really miss Uncle Joey, Amy & Jensen too, i loved being so close to them! Not to mention i just got this great new job that I will have to leave behind after not even 3 months of working there. I feel bad almost, but it was completely unforeseeable. I will really miss the mountains, the gorge, the OCEAN & all of our fun visitors, as well as being only 15 minutes away from every concert & venue. But we will not be there forever, just for the 4 years it takes to graduate, then we are outta there. We have taken a vow haha. Nicholi will apply for med school somewhere really fun like NY or LA & we will go wherever he gets in, but whether we are moving this October or 4 Octobers from now, we will be moving for med school either way, because there aren't any close to Portland. So Bemidji will just be a little adventure ha. I really am excited. I wasn't before, but now i can't wait. It really will be fun & new & different. One amazing benefit of this move is that i won't have to start at a jr college, i'm already accepted to BSU! Awesome! That would not happen anywhere else basically haha, i didn't even take the SAT's or the proper college required courses in high school. I beat the system! & i love that! ha

Well that is everything new for now. Until next time..

I'm a real stylist now! & summer means visitors!!

I got the job! Its been almost a month now & I absolutely love it! The salon is gorgeous, the girls are all so fun & easy to get along with! I love working with Nicole again & the manager's younger sister as well. She is the receptionist & is 26; it's so nice being around people my own age again, but the salon mom's are great too :) I really like my boss Kristy, she is hilarious first of all,very blunt & swears like a sailor ha. She is a bit intimidating cause she also is the owner but is very helpful & wants to make sure i learn everything correctly. I appreciate her.

I just made some really cute business cards & can't wait to print them. The salon is slow for me right now because I'm so new, but it will definitely pick up once people start scheduling with me & I build an actual clientele. I've been doing a lot of waxing & forgot how much I LOVE it! There is also a massage therapist who works with us named Amber, she is really sweet & charges employee's only $40 an hour for a massage. When i get my next paycheck, I'm doing it for sure! I've never had a massage before, Soooo stoked! Most of my tips go towards gas money now, & I have to deal with city traffic everyday, but it's all completely worth it. & I don't mind the drive because I go through the city everyday, twice a day now & it makes me feel like i actually live in Portland ha.

So last Sunday i gave my 1st talk in church, on Stewardship. I thought i was going to pass out right up at the pulpit, honestly. But i wrote out the entire thing , printed it & just got up there & read to the congregation. & doing it that way, i have to say, is not that bad. I knew every word i was going to say, so i wasn't fumbling for words up there, i never said the word "um" which drives me crazy when other people say it every other word in their talks. It went pretty well all & all. & the 1st counselor who called me to speak even sent me a thank you card telling me how much he appreciated my talk & was touched by it. When Nicholi spoke, he didn't get a card ;) So that felt pretty good.

Lately we have been having so many visitors!! Man it's great to have friends here, i forget how much i miss them all. First my brother Patrick was here for 2 weeks in July. Then Bri & Mikayla came for 4 days. Caitlin Clive is at our house every weekend to hang out since she is working here for the summer. Then last week Nicholi's BUY Provo friends, Jimmy & Andrew came for 4 days. & in September Leith will be here, which i couldn't be happier about. Leith is my best friend who i haven't seen since i moved up here. She's never been to Portland so i can't friggin wait! But man all these friends are wiping me out of money, just all the entertaining & dining out, it's been a blast but i'm b r o k e .

Oh and a little correction to my fall semester schedule. Since my new job is SW & there is a campus in SW i thought it would make sense to go to that campus after work & not waste all the gas driving all over Portland. So my new classes will be over at Sylvania Campus & will be as follows:

Writing 121
Math 20
Intro to Photo (non darkroom)

College Survival & Success

That last one I'm not too stoked about but i needed 1 more credit & Nicholi suggested I take it to help build some good study habits & sheeeit. Cool by me, it will probably be really boring but really easy. As long as my gpa rocks.

Okay well that's all I have to say for now. Until next time.