Exploring and Finding Home

On Friday Matt and I went wandering and exploring in our new neighborhood (on a GORGEOUS day, one of few Portland has seen so far this "summer"), and we are both really excited about it. I am really looking forward to living in this particular area. We have always loved Southeast Portland, but this is a neighborhood we were only slightly familiar with and have never lived in before. It's a bit further out than we've lived before, but as we wandered around the shopping area of the neighborhood, we found that we'll have almost everything we need within about a ten minute walk of our house. Our house is about eight blocks from the main drag, which, happily, is home to the following:

• A branch of Multnomah County Libraries (which rock, by the way)
• A cute family-owned hardware store
• Two (two!) Thai restaurants (this is dangerous for me...)
• A branch of my bank
• The aforementioned awesome family-owned bike store
• A family owned sausage-heavy deli that has been around since the 1920s, and uses only local and free-range meats in their products. 
• A fantastic artisan woodworking studio with a bin out back of free scrap wood!
• Several cute cafes and coffee shops
• A family-owned furniture store that has new bed sets for great prices, for when we can afford a new bed (i.e., not the futon we've been sleeping on for the last couple of years)

Among other things. Sadly, the only supermarket in the vicinity is a Safeway, which I detest, but it does house a Post Office branch, which is handy. However, we plan to do once-a-month or so supply trips to the good bulk grocery stores and get everything else at farmers markets and local shops, so the Safeway will hopefully only be used for the occasional time when we run out of something that we need immediately. The only thing I was really bummed about was that our new area was a long ways from any of Portland's farmer markets, but lo and behold, as we walked around we saw banners advertising a brand new farmer's market that will be opening the weekend after we move in, in the parking lot of a bank about seven blocks from our house!  So I'm kind of feeling like we have it made.

The other great news is that we have a move-in date, and will be official tenants of the house this Thursday, June 23rd! The downside is that Matt starts working full-time tomorrow (he will be leading outdoor education camps with an organization that teaches wilderness survival and homesteading skills, how awesome is that?) so I will be in charge of getting most of our stuff to the house on Thursday and Friday. I've rounded up a posse of girlfriends and a couple vehicles, so I'll pick up the keys Thursday morning and start the Big Move! We're so happy to be able to get in so early, so we can really start settling in and have a space of our own for the first time in most of year. Also, this will be the first time that Matt and I have lived together in a space that we have shared ownership of; I have moved into his apartment in the past, and he moved into mine last summer, but we've never had a place that was truly both of ours. We're both looking forward to it. Of course it will change a little bit when we get a housemate starting in August, but we'll have a little while to enjoy the place on our own and get all the kinks ironed out before then.

Finally, we wandered down to the Urban Farm Store this afternoon and had a look at chicks and supplies and asked a lot of questions, and came home with a bag of chick starter feed, so we'll be all prepared for getting our chicks home on Friday or Saturday. We're borrowing the rest of the brooder setup from my cousin and her husband, and will have a couple months of chick time during which we will build the outdoor coop and small chicken tractor we have planned. Sometime this winter, barring unforeseen circumstances, we will have fresh eggs from our own little backyard flock!

So there are lots of new and exciting things on the horizon for us, and at this time next week we will be in our own house, unpacking and organizing and tending to little peepers and planting a garden, all at the same time! Whew! It will be a lot to do, but I am so very ready for it.