You Don't Have to be in 8th Grade to be in a Spelling Bee

There aren't many places like New York where you can just step outside your building door and find a hundred things to do at a moment's notice. Portland is no exception. It's one of those places, like many others across the United States, where there just isn't a ton to do after the sun goes down. Instead, in Portland restaurants close between 9pm and 10pm and there aren't a lot of cultural events that run late into the night. This was a bit of culture shock for me. Then I realized that people get off work at 5 and it's not uncommon to be in for the evening at around 10pm. Yes, it's not the same as people getting off work at 7pm and starting to think about dinner at 9pm. Here people make their own fun and I experienced one of those evenings recently.

We had a Spelling Bee at a local bar. We got the back room, gathered a group of friends, and had a Spelling Bee master who had a list of approved 8th grade Spelling Bee words. Oh, and he threw in a few racy words just for fun. The crowd was a fun group and many folks signed up to participate in the Spelling Bee. One person even came wearing a "Mispelling" sash. Classic. The Spelling Bee began simply enough with each contestant spelling a word. We had three rounds of spelling to decide the finalists for the next round. I'm happy to say I made it through that round without a misspelled word. The next round, the words got a bit harder and I was quickly taken out on "cumulative." Apparently, it's not spelled with two m's.

As the night went on, the contestants were narrowed down to just three and I might add that they were all women. In this group, men were not destined to be Spelling Bee champs and that's ok. Once we got narrowed down to the last three contestants the words did get harder and then the rules changed. See, people in Portland like to mix it up. In this final round a word would be selected and it was up to the crowd to choose who should spell it. Things got interesting and we were all impressed with how well the contestants could spell. In the end, the winner of the Spelling Bee was someone who had won a Spelling Bee as a child. I guess some skills stay with you.

The moral of the story: "You don't have to be in 8th Grade to be in a Spelling Bee, but you should be able to spell like one."

Beautiful Days

There's something to be said for the dreary weather that Portland is known for and that is it makes the gorgeous days that more enjoyable. Though, I have to say it's not nearly as bad as people have warned me or maybe I'm just immune to it. Either way, I hope the previous statement doesn't bring an onslaught of miserable gray drizzle-filled days. Back to my point, today the sun is out, the weather is on the warm side, and the flowers are blooming. It's truly beautiful and reminds me why the Northwest really does have a lot to offer.

If I was in Manhattan on such a beautiful day I would be heading outdoors and take in the rays. Probably grabbing a book, taking the Zsash and heading over to the river or Central Park. It would be glorious. On my way home, I'd probably stop at some shops along the way to pick up some food to make for dinner. Here it's actually not so different. Portland is all about the parks. When I say all about, I mean "all about" - every neighborhood has its own park. I'm not talking about smallish parks that litter New York City like Madison Square Park (Shake Shack does add to its appeal), but I'm talking about large sprawling parks complete with luscious green lawns, huge trees, tennis courts and walking trails. The one near me actually has three reservoirs and plenty of trails that lead up into a mountain through massive trees. You don't even know you're in a city anymore and it's just a 10 minute walk away. It's nice.

While I can walk there just fine - it's about a mile away. I know because my pedometer tells me so. Don't laugh. I got the pedometer so I would get walking again. Portland can be a walking city, but it's not immediately obvious. Probably because everyone prefers to bike here. Anyway, back to the park. I can walk there, but Zsash can't really walk there and then enjoy all the trails. Today, I drove Zsash over and we walked on some of the trails and she sniffed more trees than I care to count. In short, it was great for her. For me, I got to soak up the sun, get some exercise, and remind myself how much I love nature in a place that's so naturally beautiful.

I do love nature, always have except when I was in New York I tended to appreciate it more and go out of my way to seek it out more simply because it wasn't immediately evident. New York is a landscape of buildings - many are beautiful, but there's something to be said for not having to look down a street of tall buildings just to get a glimpse of some green.

Off to read Vanity Fair on the deck. Northwest it's not so bad.

Making the Move

I arrived here about four months ago with my dog Zsa Zsa to live with my boyfriend, Matt. About a month prior to the move, we actually made the decision that we would indeed be living in Portland instead of New York. There were many reasons and loads of logic that went into the decision making process, but basically it came down to where would it be easiest for both of us. Seeing as we're both pretty independent, it became apparent we'd need a lot of living space and it's no secret that it's going to be a lot easier to fill that requirement in Portland than in New York. So I came out for a week with Zsa Zsa and we found a place that had a tiny yard for Zsa Zsa and plenty of room for me and Matt. I headed to Vegas for CES and then back to New York for a quick two weeks to pack-up and gear up for a move west. It's been quite an adventure and even a bit of culture shock. Now, four months later, here I am with a ton of observations to share and I even have a few questions I'm hoping to get answered.