Brand Spankin' New Bikes

Recently both of our bikes have started to pass over to the other world. Joe's brake wire snapped, and my bike no longer has the ability to change gears or break appropriately. Soooo.....it was time to get new bikes (with the help of a little $ from a passing relative).

One Sunday afternoon, Joe and I, visited almost every single bike store in PDX (probably around 7 or 8). No luck, everything was too expensive or just not what we were looking for. About a week passed and we went looking again. We came upon a store called Bike and Hike. The funny thing about this store is that they only had biking equipment. Where was all the hiking gear? Anyways we both found what we were looking for and low and behold we have to new bikes!!!

The only negative about getting my bike is that I have already had 1 flat tire. Apparently I ran over something and got a small slash in the tire and punctured the tube. Soon I will upgrade to a better set of tires!

1 of my New Year Resos

One of my New Year Resolutions was to read the top 35 books from 2007.

Below is the list of the 35 (the bolded ones I haven't read yet!) They are in no certain order

1. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet (finished March 19)
excellent book, long read

2. Atonement by Ian McEwan (finished August 15)
took me a little while to get into the book, but once I did I devoured it!

3. The 6th Target by James Patterson (finished April 22)
quick easy read

4. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

5. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (finished May 30)
awesome book, most of hers are very easy to read, read this one on a plane ride to the
east coast!

6. Someday by Karen Kingsbury

7. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory

8. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabrell Garcia Marquez

9. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (finished June 6)
what an amazing book, very emotional and scary

10. The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards (July 10)
crazy to think about what some people do with their lives, such a great book

11. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (finished July 12)
loved this book!

12. Suite Fracaise by Irene Nemirovosky

13. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

14. Extreme Danger by Sharon McKenna (finished May 5)
this book was alright, don't recomend it unless you like her work.

15. You Suck by Christopher Moore (finished March 11)
hilarious book about vampires, nothing like the twilight series though!

16. Those who Save us by Jenna Blum

17. The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

18. The Gathering by Anne Enright

19. P.S. I love you Cecelia Ahern (finished June 1)
easy read, not one that you need to read again

20. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (finished June 2)
loved this book, really sucks you into the time period of these women

21. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (finished June 5)
I was a little hesitant to read this book b/c of his past sappy stories. This was def. sappy
but I still enjoyed it!!!

22. Oil by Upton Sinclair

23. What is the What by Dave Eggers

24. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (finished April 4)
I liked this book and wouldn't mind reading more by this author

25. The Boleyn Ineritance by Phillippa Gregory

26. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (finished May 27)
again, another excellent book by her!

27. I am Legend by Richard Matheson

28. Heart of Texas Vol. 3 by Debbi Macomber (finished May 10)
perfect beach read, made me curious about the first two in the set

29. Taming Natasha and Luring by Nora Roberts

30. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides

31. Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin (finished April 16)
reminded me a lot of the shopaholic books, easy read

32. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (finished February 20)
Loved this book :) So cute, I wanted to learn more about the conception of the circus!

33. Mistress of the Art of Death by Arianna Franklin

34. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (finished March 28)
borrowed this book from mom while on Spring Break, easy read

35. Body Surfing by Anita Shreve (finished March 20)
nothing special



Hopefully I'll start editing these as I finish them! I would mind started getting started on my next list prior to the 2009 New Year!

New Blog :)

So, after a year, I've decided to finally start a blog about life in Portland, Or.

Here goes nothing!!!

Recap on the past year:

Joe and I have done a ton of camping, hiking and canoeing. (Mt. St. Helens, camping in Mt. Rainier) We've enjoyed the weather and scenery here tremendously. It's still hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that we live on the west coast!!

I'm teaching at a Day and Residential facility for kids with behavior/mental and emotional disorders. It's been very interesting and I actually look forward to each day with my kids. Joe is working for Clark County Tv ( in Vancouver, WA, we live about 5 miles south of WA). Just recently he was promoted and is filling in for his boss while she is on Maternity leave.

I've done a lot of hiking on my own. We have an area called Columbia River Gorge. It's basically a ton of hikes situated on the Columbia River, on both the WA and OR side. One goal I have before leaving OR is doing 35 day hikes in the Gorge. I basically have a book that lists the top 35 hikes to do. So far I've done 12 hikes. I'll post more on those later.

I guess that is a pretty good recap on Life here in PDX.

I'm sure I'll post more of my rants and raves later!