The rain has begun

Just enjoying another rainy day. Did I say enjoying? I meant tolerating another rainy day. This may take some getting used to, although I think it may be better than all the slush, snow and cold of Utah!

Here is what I have been up to lately. Wes was here last week. Unfortunately he got sick and then I got sick so we spent most of the time lounging around and recuperating. We did manage to go see a good movie, 500 Days of Summer. It's a romantic comedy that is funny enough for the guy but still a little sappy for the girl. I loved it, plus the theater had beer on tap and tickets were not a complete rip off.

It's always nice having Wes home. One more 4-week stunt and then a nice holiday break. I can't wait!

My Dad and his fiance, Janice, flew into town. I was nice having them here although the cold was quite the change from the Arizona heat they are used to. We enjoyed the fall colors of the Japanese Garden and had some awesome seafood at The Fishwife Restaurant. when we drove up, I was a little leery; it looked like such a dive. Once inside, we got a look at the menu and fell in love. The food was amazing and a definite must for seafood lovers!

I'm still not working yet:( I ran into a few snags in the hiring processes and things got delayed. Hopefully, I will start working sometime next week. In the mean time, I need to start exercising more, a whole lot more, since that's kind of what personal trainers do.

Dana is coming to visit this week. I was a little spur-of-the-moment but it will definitely be fun having her here. Hopefully Sid will win her over and they will become friends.

Well, that's it, plain and simple. I can't wait to see everyone over the holidays!

Apartment

Finally, I've posted some pictures of our apartment. Sorry if these pictures and a bit disheveled but I got sick of trying to adjust them so your just going to have to deal with it.











This is the living room. That coffee table was $20 from IKEA, what an awesome deal!



This is the view from our living room. We are overlooking the Tualatin Nature Park. The view is nice but all the snakes, slugs, and spiders are not! The slugs are what really gross me out. You have to be so careful when walking to the parking lot; they are all over the sidewalk. I haven't stepped on one yet but I can only imagine the kind of sound it would make if I did.




This is our lovely fireplace and dining room. When I first moved in, my Mom and I had a lot of ideas and the orange stripes was one of them. It's just fabric adhered to the wall using liquid starch. It's really easy and great for apartment living because I can just peel it off, wipe the liquid starch off the wall and it's like nothing was there. I tried to find some great printed fabric but I had to settle with plain orange so I'm thinking of painting/stenciling something on the thicker, middle line but I'm waiting until Wes gets home to see what he thinks. Anyone have any suggestions?


Here's the lovely kitchen. It is small but it's open to the living room so I can just sit there and watch TV while I cook which I quite enjoy. Surprisingly, there is more cupboard space than we had in PA so no boxes on top of the cupboards!
















Oh the infamous washer/dryers that barely fits in the bathroom. I absolutely HATED this when we moved in but now I'm used to it and it's not as bad as I thought.



The bedroom. I was so indecisive trying to choose a bedspread...it was driving my Mom crazy. But I finally decided on this and Wes really likes it.












This is our bedroom balcony. Nothing too exciting about this...it overlooks the parking lot. It's really weird but our only windows are sliding glass doors so we don't get took much sunlight. In the living room, it is not that bad but the bedroom gets pretty dark.


Finally, a cute picture of Sid lounging on the couch. I think I might be getting the hang of all this dog stuff.

Our New Dog, SID

This is Sid, our new dog. It's he cute?!? After seeing a few dog's we adotped this sweet Chihuahua mix from Multnomah County Animal Services. He is about 5-7 years old and 15 pounds. So far, Sid and I have been getting along great. I think he will make a great companion.

Sandy Hansen, RD

I PASSED my RD exam and I can officially call myself a dietitian.
Now I just need to find a job.

Getting Settled

Wow! It's been a while since my last blog but that should come at no surprise with our big move. Wes and I had so much fun seeing everyone in Utah. We really did miss everyone and now that we live much closer, we can visit more often.

I've been getting settled into our new place. When we arrived at our new apartment, both of us were a little surprised. Since it is a lot different than our last place, we did not know what to think. First of all, we were disappointed with the minimal amount of storage. We were spoiled in Danville with several large closets. Then there is the awkward stackable washer and dryer in the bathroom; I can literally sit on the toilet and do the laundry at the same time. Even though this is not the ideal location to do laundry, it is nice at least having a washer and dryer and it is a much newer model than our last one. Finally, we were a little grossed out by the dirty balcony and entryway but after a little sweeping (thanks to my Mom) things were looking a lot better.

I was fortunate enough to have my Mom here for a fews days to help with the decorating. After some MAJOR shopping, I think we got some great stuff and the apartment is really starting to feel like home (Thanks Mom for all your help!!!). I just hope Wes likes it! There are still a lot more little things to do which should keep me occupied for the next month or so.

This week I have been trying to get into a good study routine. I've been able to go to the library and get out of the house where there are less distractions. Hopefully I can keep this up for the next 5 weeks without my brain exploding! Wish me luck!

From Coast-to-Coast With a Few Stops in Between

One thing that I have not yet talked about during our little vacation was our Philly trip with my Dad. Seeing how I got totally frustrated with the NYC pictures, I'm going to let Wes tell you all about Philly since he knows a bit more about the history and he may have more patience with uploading pictures than I do.

But here is what I want to tell you about, our move to Portland. We're so excited! (I tried to save the mapquest picture of our trip but couldn't so this one will have to do)





Day 1: We'll be leaving July 25th, the day after Wes gets into PA. We start out with an 11 hour drive, staying somewhere just outside of Chicago, IL.
Day 2: We then leave bright and early because we have to make it to Sterling, CO in 12 hours Day 3: Short 8 hour trip to Price, UT. We'll have just enough time to catch up with my Grandma and Grandpa Hansen in Elmo and have a home cooked meal with the Fausett's before we hit the road again.
Day 4-6: Leave the next day for South Jordan/Draper where we'll be for the next 3 days.
Day 7: We leave Utah Friday, June 31st for Boise, ID to stay the night with my Mom and Grandma (another 5 hour drive).
Day 8: Our final 7 hour drive to Beaverton, OR. Horray!!!! But wait, it's not over yet.
Day 9: Rent a Uhaul and get our stuff from ABF feight company. Finally, we're moved in...kind of.


TOTAL ESTIMATED TIME: 47 hours 25 minutes (in a Volswagen Beetle!)
TOTAL DISTANCE: 3036.19 miles


Can you beleive it. This is going to be one looong week.


Just in case any of you are wondering were we will be staying, I found an apartment in Beaverton. It's Arbor Creek Apartment Homes. It's nothing fancy but it will work. We got a pretty good deal, $599/month for a 9 month lease which worked perfectly for us. It was very tough choosing a place without Wes here but thanks to Dana I made it through. I am a little nervous since we haven't actually seen it but if we don't like it, we only have to deal with it for 9 months, right. I have seen pictures on the website. Heres the link if you want to check it out http://www.arborcreekapthomes.com/. I'm pretty sure it's in an okay area (or so I've heard) and our apartment is on the top floor (bonus). Two things I really like is that it has 2 decks, one off the living room and another off the bedroom, and it's near a nature park so we can easily jump on a trail to go hiking or for a nice jog (okay, so i'll probably be the only one going for a jog).

After we move everything in on the last day (August 2), Wes has to leave the next day for 3 weeks (sad). I'm still trying to get used to this living alone thing and so far, I don't seem to like it. It's a little lonely. I think I need another furry little friend to keep me company because Spud just isn't cutting it.


Once I get everything settled, I'm just planning to study, study, study! I want to take my registration exam some time at the end of August. I have seen a few job postings for RDs but my main concern is passing this test so I don't think I'm going to really pursue much until I have my credientials and licensure. This should make getting a job that much easier.

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July!!!

The Big Apple

OK so it's really done this time; all the grammar and misspellings are corrected now...I think.

Can I just tell you how annoying it is to uplade pictures so everyone better appreciate it. So lets start with NYC day 1. Dana flew into Newark Airport and we arrived at our Hotel in Secaucus, NJ which is just a short bus ride from the city and we got a great deal through hotwire.com.


















Our first stop, Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center). During our trip, we tried to see as many attractions as possible. Before we left, we bought the New York City Pass. We paid about $115 for 3 day access to some of the tourist attractions in NYC. It was cheaper to do this than pay for each attraction individually. I highly recommend it although we did not have nearly enough time to see what we wanted.

We started the day out early and went to The Bodies Exhibit.
http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/. Sorry there are now pictures but here is the link in case you are curious. This was one sight at the top of my list of "must-see" but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. If we did not have the New York City pass and got in for free, I don't think I would have paid the admission of $28.

These next photos may not seem like much--just us enjoying a donut but this was THE only place I wanted to go while in NYC. This is the DONUT PLANT. They make organic and creative donuts like tres leche, peanut butter and jelly, fresh raspberry, coconut cream, and creme brulee. This is me eating the raspberry one and Wes enjoying a PB&J. They were delicious. If you are ever in New York; you must stop by and try one.

If any of you watch the Real Housewives of New York City, You may recognize this store, Zarins Fabrics. I just had to stop and take a picture.

Now, I can't remember if we went to the Museum of Natural History of The Empire State Building next. This first picture of Wes is outside of the Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately, we only had 30 minutes at the museum before they closed. One thing we learned during this trip, is to start your day out as early as possible because everything closes as 5:00 pm! You would think that in a city like this, things would be open later.

Here are pics of the Empire State Building. Of course, Dana and I were done with this within 5 minutes, Wes on the other hand wanted a more fulfilling and longer expereince.

This is us at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Dana and I had a lot of fun posing with each figure and Wes just made fun of use the whole time.

This is at Time Square and that is the ball that drops on New Years.

By this time, we were absolutely exhaused! Our feet hurt, especially mine; we had been walking all over the city. We wanted to badly to have nice New York City Dinner. We stopped at a restaurant in Bryant Park (the center of New York Fashion Week). It was such a let down.

DAY 2: The Statue of Liberty. After a long day yesterday, we woke up at 7:00 am and headed for the Statue of Liberty. Heres us on the ferry ride.

Then, Dana had to drag us to Ellis Island. It was interesting but not my favorite.

This was one of the most memorable moments I had on New York--going to the Carnegie Deli. Check out our Club sandwich (yes, it was that BIG)

Wes has a Pastrami Sandwich (sorry, can't find the pic for that). He says that is was the best pastrami sandich he has ever had. We also had REAL New York Cheesecake. It was amazing. Wes had tongue--GROSS!

As I mentioned before, everything closes at 5:00 pm so our stop at the Museum at Modern Art (MoMA) was very breif. I really wish we could have had more time. It was interesting to see what people consider art. This is me next to a painting by Pollock. If anyone finds this painting interesting, you can watch a movie about the life of Jackson Pollock featuring Ed Harris

In a desperate attempt to see one last thing before we left and get as much use out of our New York City pass, we took a ferry ride around the island. We had an MC for the tour who mentioned "that tragic day on 9-11" about 100 times during the 3 hour. Don't get me wrong it was tragic but seriously...

Well that's it. Time to leave. This is us taking the bus back to NJ.