What, I have to pump myself???

I don't know if you're all aware of this but in OR there is no self service. In order to help create more jobs every gas station is full service. It's amazing how quickly you get used to this. It's cold and rainy but I can get gas while never leaving my car, it's nice and to top it off, it's cheap! I thought the gas would cost more since they have more employees but that is so not the case. I saw gas for $1.79 the other day! So it was a little shock to the system to have to pump my own gas again when I drove to LA. It's funny how quickly we get used to the things we like. BTW, the cheapest gas I saw in LA was $2.45.

I can't drive 65!

Sorry I've been lax in my posting. I decided relatively last minute to drive Los Angeles to pick up the rest of my stuff. I figured it's hard to settle in when half of my crap (crap though it may be, it's mine) is in LA and I didn't have a job yet and the memory of my drive up has sort of faded so it was now or never.

As you know, I got a ticket on the way to Portland last time around so I was trying to be a careful as possible when it came to driving the speed limit which in most of OR is 65. For some reason my foot doesn't like 65 or 70 miles per hour. I can easily have my foot at 60 or 80 but those in between numbers are just not as comfortable for my foot so driving took a lot of concentration because more often then not I was driving below the speed limit.

So when people asked me how long the drive was I say, well, driving time for me was about 15 hours so for you it'll be about 13, LOL. Before you say anything, no, I do not have cruise control.

Big girl in the little city or little girl in the big city

Well, I definitley prefer being a little girl but unfortunately that's usually referring to my height, LOL. I was having lunch today with my friend Steve who lives in Bend, which, those of you following my whirlwhind move know was my first choice. He was telling me today even though he really wanted me in Bend that Portland is more my style because I'm a city girl. I had another friend say when I left LA that I would be back because I was a big city girl.

This suprises me. I don't like big parties full of people I don't know, I don't go to the happening clubs, can't afford the happening restaurants and can't stand lines. What I do enjoy doing is spending time with my family, going to kickboxing, watching tv, talking on the phone, napping and spending quality time with my friends whether it's a game night, a bbq or popping a movie in and I figure it doesn't matter where I live because as long as I have friends and family near, I can always do that.

Don't get me wrong, I do love the opportunities that come along from living in or near a big city but I think I'm a small town girl at heart.

Well, I'm starting to unpack

and it's not a fun process! I am used to unpacking enough stuff for a small one bedroom apt and adding my sister's and nephew's stuff into the mix has made the process much longer than I anticipated. I did start with important stuff first, my shoes, clothes and purses are all neatly tucked away and this morning I unpacked my autographed books and ARCS (advanced readers copy of books for you non-RBLs in the crowd), My knick knacks are all over my floor, I am a girl who loves having little things here and there now I just have to figure out where and there I want to put them.

Unfortunately, I still dont' have a bed, my sis went to go pick one up for me on her way here this weekend and there was a miscommmunication:(. So once I get everything unpacked I can work on getting me a mattress. Luckily, my insomnia of the night before is gone and I had a wonderful night's sleep. I think I'm getting used to this air mattress, eak!

I do have to work with Jordan on his unpacking style. Instead of opening one box at a time he prefers to opn them all, dig through them, dump them on the floor and play with whatever catches his interest. His room is a disaster! Of course, like me, he has his priorities so his tv is set up along with his Xbox, LOL. I've given him a half hour repreive to play with one of his games and then it's back to his bedroom. If I have to unpack, so does he. Of course, while he's playing his light bright I'm playing here, yep, we're definitely related.

Insomnia

and I'm not talking the movie! As you all know, I love my sleep. But years of working a set schedule has made it so that I really can't sleep late. Even on my off days I used to wake up around 8:30 or 9. Gone are the days where I easily sleep until 10. Man, I miss those days. I console myself with naps, I do enjoy my naps. Sometimes that's what I think about when I wake up because I'm so upset about being awake, I'll think, "oh well, I'll just nap earlier." At least I get a decent amount of sleep, just not as much as I want to. But every now and again I either can't get to sleep, which usually happens when I have a lot on my mind or I wake up at an ungodly hour, usually when I either have to wake up early so I'm afraid of oversleeping or if I'm driving to Vegas because I'm so excited.

So last night my sis was exhausted so she asked me to get Jordan up for school at 6:30 (an hour earlier than in WA, poor baby) so I agree. No big whoop. I had no worries about oversleeping it's not like I was going to be late for work. Yet at 4:30 am, yes AM I was wide awake. I thought I must be waiting for the alarm to go off. I look at the time, I have to more hours, great, I'll go back to sleep. Nope, was not to be. I didn't go back to bed until Jordan went to school and I had no nap today! Needless to say, Kathy will be getting Jordan up tomorrow and I am going to catch up on my sleep!

I've eaten and I can't get up

One thing's for sure, Linda T knows how to cook. The stacks of cookbooks, piles of pancake molds and specialized cooking pans should have been a giveaway (she has a steamer just for asparagus!) but the best way to decide if someone can cook is eating their food and I look forward to many opportunities to have Linda cook for me, LOL. I ate until I could eat no more but I couldn't let the last couple of bites of mashed potatoes go to waste so then I ate even more! We had a pork tenderloin, yukon gold mashed potatoes, gravy (her own recipe), a shrimp, crab and avocado salad, homemade applesauce and to top it off an orange chocolate chunk mini-bundt covered with chocolate sauce and homemade vanilla ice cream (with a couple of strawberries for garnish). I had seconds of everything but the dessert, I just couldn't fit anymore in but lucky for me, Linda sent some dessert home with me and it's calling my name.

Blessed silence

Everyone knows how much I loved my last apartment but it did have one major drawback. It was loud. There was noise constantly. Part of it was the wood floors, which I loved but they didn't provide a lot of protection from the street noise. While Willoughby was not a major street it was heavily trafficed so that meant lots of cars, honks and loud motors (rude) and on top of that, my apt was on the garbage side of the building so I conastanly heard the garbage truck coming. I swear it sounded like they were there everyday, LOL.

Now I live in little Cornelius OR and it's a world away from LA. What I am loving about it is the lack of street noise. I live in an actual neighborhood with a park and neightbors who wave at you and when the garbage man came I didn't hear a sound, it was heavenly. I think I can get used to this.

I had a sexy woman last night....

and I liked it! I also had a blood orange margarita, a lemon drop, morton's coffee, a shot of tequila and a mike's hard lemonade. The one thing last night taught me was, I will never be able ot take the party queen crown back from Linda T, LOL. Last night we got together and Linda showed me some of her favorite hot spots in Portland. It's so great having a friend who knows the city! I told her it didn't matter where we went, the company is the most important thing but of course, we had fun everywhere, whether it's happy hour (I love me some happy hour) at Oba!, a habanero infused drink with passionfruit (sexy lady) at a peruvian restaurant, at Morton's where everyone knows Linda's name (bartenders, servers and patrons!) or the neighborhood grocery store with open mics and drunk neighbors! I loved it all.

Our friend Su is coming to town in a couple of weeks and we're already planning on much mayhem. That will be another post, if it's printable, EG!

Who needs a job?

I went to a job placement agency today. It's weird being in the workforce again after so many years at the same job. Turns out I'm not qualified for much, LOL. If you need someone to send emails, surf the web and play on photoshop I'm your girl. I also have excellent phone skills and can talk for hours (big suprise). Naps are also a specialty of mine. I can't imagine why the staffing consultant said I would be difficult to place? Just because I want to work in an environment that's somewhat creative and have limited skills beyond television production. When asked about my strengths I did say I was funny. Who wouldn't want to work with someone who was funny? Personality is a big plus in my opinion. When asked about my weaknesses I didn't mention my laziness (after all, I'm trying to get a job here) but I did mention the fact that I don't have ambition and I hate busy work. Looks like the search continues, LOL.

Do you want to be my friend?

OK. And thus jordan has friends. He was so excited when we picked him up from school today telling us about his new friends. It's ok that he can't remember one of their names, he's still his friend. If only life was as simple for us older kids. The simplicity of his friendship has much to be desired. It's difficult as adults to make real friendships. My sister asked me how I did it. She is amazed by how many friends I have. Honestly, I am too.

I used to say that I had tons of acquaintances but very few friends but over the years that has changed. I know that the internet has dramatically increased the amount of friends I have (yay, RBL!) but those friendships also grow and deepen over time. They weren't instant friendships (ok, some of them were). While it's not so easy to make friends when you're an adult, the ones I make, I try to keep. I have different relationships with different people and they fulfill me in different ways so while I don't do insta-friends (too much, sometimes I just meet someone I love immediately) I do do perma-friends. Well, unless they're crazy, LOL.

Burrrrrrr

I don't know if I am going to make it through the winter. Linda T tells me it is supposed to get colder this week and boy do I feel it! Last night I had to put a turtle neck on to get some sleep, and that is under 4 blankets (but they are thin). Tonight I tried to turn the thermostat up but it wont go past 68 degrees. I went to the park with Jordan, he had on a thin jacket. I had a fleece, the jacket I took from Nancy, a scarf and gloves on and I was still cold. It even hailed today! When is winter over?
This post brought to you by Leiha's Nancy.

Home sweet home...

Well, we made it safely to OR and are slowly getting settled. I didn't get all of my boxes unpacked like I would have liked but I am close. My brothers are coming later on in the week with the rest of our stuff so I would like to get what we have settled before the bulk of it comes in. Today is about taking care of the basics (like checking in on my blog, LOL). We got Jordan registered, he starts tomorrow at 7:30am (gasp, an hour earlier). He's really really really nervous but handling it like a champ. At least when I changed schools as a kid (military child) I had built in playmates. Jordan is an only child but he had fun last night putting on the boxing gloves I brought him and trying to lay me low. I look forward to kicking his butt in basketball at the park next door. I don't care that he's 9, he's almost as tall as I am, that should count.

I've already sort of met my neighbor. She was really sweet. We waved across the street and yelled a conversation. I like having a neighborhood where we will get to know the families, that will be fun.

What is not fun, sleeping on an air mattress. Getting a bed will be raised in priority, LOL.

Moving day.....

Again! Tomorrow is it. I will officially be an Oregonian. Some of you may not know this but I used to be an Oregonian a long time ago. I actually used to live in Medford for 8th and 9th grade. Some of my memories from then are of Kimberly streaking because she hated wearing a diaper (she's 22 now, told you it was a long time ago), playing baseball in the yard with a basketball (it was a much easier target) and fruit trees. We had fabulous fruit trees in front of our yard, I loved it.

Now we're moving back to OR, Jordan is too old to streak (I'm not, EG), we'll be playing basketball with a basketball (there's a park with a court right across the street) and in my back yard, fruit trees! It was meant to be.

Since I left a lot of stuff in LA we'll be spending the time when we're not looking for jobs looking for furniture. I'll be searching Craigslist, one of my absolute favorite spots on the www, it's where I found furniture for my last place. It's hard to get your bedroom organized when you don't have a dresser. Where am I going to set my glasses down at night when I don't have a nightstand? I guess on the floor since that is where I'll be sleeping, on an air mattress. Wow, moving is fun, LOL.

But I kept the stuff that was important to me, like every letter or card I've ever received, my books, pictures, clothes, shoes and purses. A girl can sleep on the floor if she has fabuolous shoes.

Go Chloe Go!!!

I don't know about you but I am hooked on Project Runway! I blame my friends because I try to limit my reality shows (they are so addicting) but Mich is a fan and she said that Chloe reminds her of moi so of course I had to check it out and my friend Julie was a fan so I would make the long walk upstairs on Wed night and watch it at her house. Now Nancy and i are watching it together.

Of course right away I loved Chloe, how could I not? She's a cool asian chick, of course she reminds Mich of me. Nancy didn't see it until last night. She had a shirt on that said I heart me and of course I wanted it (if anyone sees it pick one up for me pretty please) and then she had this fabulous bag which I noticed right away and then Nancy was like, ok, I see the resemblance, LOL.

Now it's getting down to the wire and I want Chloe to win big time. She's so kickass! I think her major competition is Daniel, although he was showing a little attitude last night that I did not enjoy. He better check himself before he wrecks himself (sorry, I couldn't resist). I am so ready for Salvitino to be gone, that jump suit was ghastly! Almost everything he does is ghastly, why oh why do the judges keep him on? There's no way he can win it, if he does, I will refuse to watch Project Runway again, well, at least until the new season.

Clearance

Is one of my favorite words. Free, is the ultimate but when I'm shopping I look for the big red sign that says Clearance. I am not really a shopper. I don't think of myself that way and yet it seems like I'm always buying stuff. My name is Leiha and I cannot resist a bargain. At least I've gotten better at it, if I'm really not going to wear the purple taffeta dress I won't buy it even if it's at the low low price of $5. I used to do that all of the time, just buy it because the price was so good but what's the point of buying it at a killer price if you're not going to wear it?

But when you find something for a killer price that you will wear it's one of the best feelings in the world. I have bought a party dress for $3, I have bought a summer dress for $1.99 and I loved them both and still own them. Today Nancy B and I were at Old Navy shopping for my nephew and they had blazers for 97 cents. That is correct, your eyes are not deceiving you. Nancy and I each bought two blazers (1 cream, 1 camel) and spent less then a dollar on each of them. What a rush. It made me feel like I spent too much on my turtleneck sweater, did I really need to spend $5 on it? Only time will tell.

One of my favorite things

is a fruit and cheese tray. I always feel so elegant and like an adult when I order one in a restaurant. I love cheese, I love fruit and I love to nibble, it's great! It's also my new favorite thing to put out at parties and to take to parties, it's simple and elegant. It was even a hit at the Superbowl Party.

My new favorite cheese to put out is a goat cheese gouda that Trader Joe's sells. It's wonderfully mild yet flavorful. If you get a chance you should try it out. My friend Steph had it out at her party and now I don't host a party without it. Also, TJ is my favorite place to buy cheese because the prices are excellent and the cheeses varied. So the next time you have a party, think about the cheese tray. You won't be sorry.

A new concept

The other day Nancy B and I were shopping trying to figure out what we wanted for dinner. We've been doing a lot of eating out (Nancy is not much of a cook). We decided we wanted a salad with our dinner and Nancy was quite suprised when I didn't buy any lettuce to go with our salad. I made her a cucumber, avocado and red onion salad. She was in heaven. She just never thought of putting together such simple ingredients without the lettuce. I say, life is short, don't put the lettuce in if you don't want to!

Are you ready for some football?

It's Superbowl Sunday and I will be the first to admit that I am not a football fan. I've worked the last 8 Superbowl Sundays and while surrounded by tv's had no real interest in watching the game but this time is different. I am in WA and the Seahwaks are playing! To top that off, my brother is having a Superbowl party! I wouldn't consider myself a fairweather fan but how can you not be excited for the home team? I don't watch college football either but watched the last few minutes of the Rose Bowl and rooted for USC. It's hard not to get caught up in the hype and enthusiasm. If it wasn't the home team I would still be excited about the Superbowl Party, I always love a good party.

The great things about a SB party is there is no pressure. You go dressed all casual, eat lots of food, drink lots of drinks and talk a lot of trash. Can't get much more fun than that! Even for a non-sports fan like me, it would be a blast (when I used to not work Sunday I would always go to a SB party).

My brother had me make up a betting pool chart with a 100 squares so that will make it even more exciting. Of course, I couldn't just to a simple chart, I cut out tons of pics of Seahwaks and bought some glitter marker and went all out. I'm pretty proud of my creation. So I'm hoping that the Seahawks are victorious today AND I win some money but even if neither of these things happen, it'll be a great day spent with family and friends.

You thought your commute was bad...

Today Kathy, Jordan and I drove down to Portland to look at a house. I had been emailing the owner so I had a good feeling about it so I didn't set up any other appointments (although I brought some numbers with me). Well, Kathy and jordan were up all night because he had an ear infection so they were at the hospital until 7am so guess who drove ALL the way down? I swear, Kathy is no longer a road warrior and I am quickly gaining that title, although I don't want it! It took us awhile to find the house but we really liked it and the owners. I have a good feeling about this place. They had to move because they outgrew the house, 4 little girls, very cool couple. Anyways, they do have an appt set up for tomorrow but I have a good feeling that we got the house. They pretty much said as much. So keep your fingers crossed.

BTW, the drive back, Kathy and Jordan spent sleeping. She drove into Portland and then I had to drive the rest of the way! I hope the next time I drive down that way my car is packed and I'm moving my things, otherwise the drive will kill me!

I had forgotten...

how fun it is to go to the movies with Nancy B! Today she played hooky from work (not my doing) so we, including Kathy and Dad, went to see The Chronicles of Narnia. Since we're so late seeing the movie and it was a matinee the theater was almost empty which is probably a good thing. Nancy B was laughing hysterically at the previews, I do believe she'll be first in line to see the Benchwarmers with Rob Schneider, LOL. She was laughing so much she made us laugh. And then within the first 10 minutes of the movie she leans over and says, is it bad I want to cry already? My response, thank goodness I didn't see Brokeback Mountain with her. She said she cried so much she had snot running down, ewww, I know.

Of course, then there are the "scary" scenes. Not that scary, LOL. There was a scene where a wolf popped out, Nancy jumped so high that she dumped off everything she had on her lap. Again, lots of laughter. When you go to the movies with Nancy it's an interactive experience. Now that we live closer, we'll have to go more often. Her entertainment is my entertainment (but I draw the line at the Benchwarmers, she can see that with my dad!).

Let's bring back highwaters!

OK, as of today, I'm starting a movement. It's time to bring back the flood pants I say. I am a short person (not a little person) but I'm short so all of my pants are long on me. Usually I just cut them unless they're slacks, then I'll hem them. I like to wear my pants a little long, I guess that comes from being short and just used to them being long. A few months ago I cut a pair of jeans and they were just a tad too short, not even an inch and still past my ankles yet they felt too short to me so I took the part I cut off and had them re-sewn back on and then re-cut the jeans, LOL.

In Los Angeles, wearing long pants is not a problem. In the Pacific Northwest it's a whole different ballgame. My pants are consistently dragging the ground (something I didn't really notice before) and that means, the bottoms of my pants are consistently wet, which is gross and unfcomfortable. I have since started paying attention to other people's hems and I must say, they have it down pat. I'm the only one running around with my sweats pulled up in my hands or my jeans rolled up way past my ankles. I've decided if highwaters came back (and c'mon, they're perfect for this area) then I can cut my pants without worrying that they're cut just a tad too short. Who's with me on this movement?