Yep. I have moved to the coffee, beer, bike, hipster, weirdest city in the US. Portland, Oregon is home.

This year has been pretty wild. I went from wandering around without any responsibilities whatsoever to working at an accounting firm with 9 or 10 hour days and being continuously busy. But hey, life is good. Let’s back it up a bit.

I got back from my New Zealand/Australia/Hawaii backpacking trip at the end of April. I walked across the stage so I could “graduate”, I moved one of my best friends to New York, I spent lots of time with my family, tons of beach trips.. all great things. I’ll blog about them later.

So a lot happening right now. How much time is really spent where though?

Let’s just walk through a typical Monday.

I wake up around 5am. The sun slowly creeps into my studio and illuminates the walls with orange.

I immediately start boiling and I throw some eggs in a pan then jump in the shower. I get out, I flip the eggs, I begin making my amazing pour over. Coffee is done, eggs are done. They cool off a bit while I throw on some clothes. I usually sit on my floor (because I still don’t have a couch) and eat while I take in the beautiful Portland morning.

I finish getting ready, make my bed, brush my teeth and I am out the door (well, first I have to dismount my bike from the wall but yeah, then I am out) I hop on my bike and ride maybe 6 blocks away to the Ace Hotel. Inside the Ace is a Stumptown Coffee. The best place to be in the morning. One 8oz americano for here please. I sit on the green couches and drink my coffee and read the news. What a nerd right? Okay at this point it is probably like 7am. I read for about 45 mins then hop back on my bike and head to work.

By the time I make it to the client site or office I am sweating. (not because I biked far but because biking when you’re half asleep is hard ok?) I head into work and do all my nerdy control testing and stuff. –Side note since 99% of my friends don’t know what my job is I am not going to try to explain it. I am in IT Advisory at KPMG, my title is Associate in IT audit and assurance – Risk Consulting. Blah blah blah. You get the point. Every 2 hours or so another coffee happens. Meetings happen. IT shenanigans happen. Moving on.

When I get off of work I usually bike straight to my climbing gym, Planet Granite. I am pretty stoked on some progress I have been making. I am moderately obsessed with climbing even though I am still a definite beginner.

Next, I have a habit of going to the Portland Gear store and buying entirely too many things. It’s ridiculous. Pretty soon I am going to have one of everything but I actually love their stuff. Check it out. (They are launching a bunch of new stuff right now so seriously… go – if you don’t like them buy me things instead.) (side note – these guys are the best. nothing to do with Portland Gear but they are great.)

I then run home and grab a snack before heading to my soccer game. KPMG has a co-ed soccer team that I play on. It has been incredible to be able to use my legs again – the first time since my surgery where I am doing high intensity sprinting!

Afterwards I generally head home, spend too much time planning backpacking trips and coffee hangouts, but that’s okay.

Okay, so that’s a Monday. Every other day of the week is just as busy, if not busier. Life is pretty wild here but I absolutely love it.

Something that has been absolutely key in my life is Reason Church and the relationships that have come from it. Reason Church is focused on being outward minded, creating a space of grace, and welcoming doubters and skeptics. So, if you know me.. you know how absolutely in line this is with my heart. Essentially it aims at loving people where they are at in life and reaching into the darkest parts of the city and of people and showing them that they are loved. SO FREAKING GOOD. This is going to have to be it’s own blog post because I have so much heart behind this church and people I have met through it. Check it out though.

I am super thankful for my incredible experience in Portland so far. I feel like I need to keep up on writing (for my own sake) because I have so many things I want to share. This isn’t an adventure post of sorts but rather just a life update. I have quite a few posts that need to happen that actually include wandering and adventures. Hold me to it people.

I have been going on weekend adventures in the mountains and to the coast and back to Montana. I spend way too much time in coffee shops around the city. I attend almost every portland festival you can imagine. I am out and about ALL the time. So happy to be in this city, so at home. I love the amazing Studio I live in, I love the people I am meeting, and I love the endless amounts of coffee shops (except they all close to early). Life is really good. Stay tuned.

Posts to come in the near future:

• Melbourne coffee
• Oregon Coast
• New York
• Actual Portland Trips
• Montana
• Dallas
• Reason

Yikes. Looks like I am super behind. I will catch up 🙂