stefanie throws me a party

Here's her invitation:

Want to see Christa? Come to Stefanie and Martin's - who live just down the street from her old house in Duke Park Neighborhood - around 5pm on Sunday, December 7th. It's a BYOF and BYOB but some food and booze will be there. You know... the more, the merrier. 1711 Glendale Ave., Durham, NC 27701. Do not park in the driveway. Need verbal directions? Dial 919.810.5460. See you there!

happy thanksgiving

thanksgiving weekend has been wonderfully nice so far.

my friend kelly had me over to her family's turkey dinner, which honestly i was initially wary of. joining in some other family's holiday celebration sometimes has the reverse of the intended effect: i can get really sad & lonely, making the absence of my own family feel really sharp. i always walk into these situations with trepidation. in this case, though, kelly's family really made me feel part of their family. i even decided to spend the night with them, and i'm glad i did. it was a very relaxing couple of days at their lovely house about an hour west of portland. kelly and i thought about using that friday to go to the coast or visit a couple of wineries, but in the end we just stayed at her parents' house, lolled about in our pajamas all day, ate leftover pie and watched sappy movies on tv. and it was perfect.

i've been spending the bulk of the rest of this weekend cleaning up the old apartment (i want my deposit back) and unpacking boxes in the new house. i've needed to do a little shopping in order to get the house into shape, but i haven't wanted to venture to the stores. i finally ran to home depot yesterday afternoon, and it actually wasn't bad at all. i think i might try ikea today.

last night my new friend april invited me to a dinner party, thrown by her friend kate. april is a reporter (and recent morning edition host) at our local NPR station; i've adored her work for a long time, but we only met a few months ago when she showed up at my divaville listeners party and told me how much *she* adored *my* work. go figure.

anyway, april took me to this small dinner party, and it was the most exciting social event i've been to in a long time. there were 8 of us around kate's table, and these 8 people were so fantastic -- kate herself is a producer of a really inventive and creative live-staged radio show (i guess it's sort of like 'prairie home companion', only way more portland, way hipper and way younger). and it turns out that she's been on a couple of dates with chris, the first guy i seriously dated here. but that's another story for another post.

also at the table was the *host* of this 'companion'-esque radio program; a former member of the band everclear and his wife; a local award-winning playwright and his partner... and me. the conversation was constantly stimulating and funny, and the meal was simple and gorgeous. we sat by the fire afterward and talked about celebrity, poop, dating, books, the coen brothers -- it was just a free-flowing evening of talk and ideas, and i can't remember the last time i felt so excited to be meeting new people. they made me feel very welcome in their circle, though it was obvious that all 7 of these people knew each other exceedingly well. kate even invited me back for her new year's eve party, and you bet your sweet bippy i'm going.

i'm lying here in bed now, on this sunday morning, feeling happy and rested. i've got some great new friends, my social circle is once again expanding, and i'm in my new house. i uprooted myself from north carolina about 18 months ago, and now i feel like once again i'm starting a new phase of my life. now all i need is a date! :)

i have re-fallen forward

so it's 7:30am and i've been at work for a half-hour already. this is too early. much too early. i'm usually not here until 8.

my alarm clock has this neat little button in the back for daylight saving time. just flick the switch and the time magically goes forward or back an hour. what convenience!

apparently, during the move, that switch got flicked and i didn't notice it until i was driving to work this morning. i looked at the clock in the car, and it read 6:50. you should have seen my eyes bug out. i usually get to work at 8, not 7. my alarm went off an hour earlier than it should have. i got one less hour of sleep than i was entitled to.

the good news is that my new commute to work was really easy. traffic was light. i wonder if it will be that way tomorrow morning after i fix my clock and get up at the proper time.

it's going to be a long day.

i'm typing this while lying flat on my back

moving is hard work! i'm tempted to say it sucks, but honestly i had 8 or 9 people helping me, which made this the most pleasant moving day i've ever experienced. the truck was loaded, moved, and unloaded in the space of 2.5 hours. it was a thing of beauty.

boxes are getting unpacked and the house is coming together. it's already feeling cozy in here. i owe you some photos, don't i? i'd do that now, but i honestly can't get off the couch. my back is killing me. it didn't seem like i was working all that hard today --i took plenty of breaks-- but i think the cumulative lifting has really done me in.

a friend of mine brought over a great housewarming prsent: homemade vegetable soup, wine... and barbeque. stephen's coming over in a few minutes to watch 'the amazing race' with me. i think i'll stay on the couch and have him serve me. :^)

i wish i knew which box the ibuprofen is packed in.

i'm typing this with my eyes closed.

i'm so tired that this morning instead of milk, i accidentally poured water on my cereal. i'm so tired that in the face of unceasing pestering i almost signed up for facebook last night. (almost.) i'm so tired that i got phenomenally high at lunch from one lone pumpkin spice latte.

moving day is tomorrow. but there's not a lot to load up -- i've been packing up my hatchback and driving stuff over to the new house all week. this is why i'm tired. lifting is hard work! but in addition to physical stuff --packing and hauling-- i've also managed to buy a new fridge, a used washer/dryer, and i got a new roof this week. so my brain is tired, too.

i'll be glad to be in the new house. i'm finding myself surprisingly sad to leave the apartment, though. it represents a big step in my life, and it *is* a cute little place.

it's mine!

i got the keys to my new house last night. i can't believe it's finally mine!

the address, btw:

6232 SE Ramona St
Portland, OR 97206

hannah is coming for a sleep-over tonight. there's not much in the house -not even a refrigerator- but i did haul a futon mattress into the spare bedroom so we wouldn't have to sleep on the hard bamboo floor. i also threw a pot, some oil & popcorn into a box so we could have a midnight snack. i know we'll stay up late doing crafts and telling stories.

i should be packing

i should have probably spent this weekend packing (i get the keys to my new house on friday) but there was just too much going on.

friday night i went to see fidelio at portland opera.

saturday i met a friend for brunch (and inadvertently discovered portland's best biscuits and gravy), met another friend for afternoon coffee (pumpkin latte with actual pumpkin!, and then i couldn't decide whether to spend the evening at the portland youth philharmonic concert (their new conductor is a northwestern classmate of mine), or at chamber music northwest seeing brahms horn trio, so i did both.

sunday i went to the oregon symphony to see william eddins shake his booty while conducting brahms symphony no.1. after that i went to see marv and rindy ross (of quarterflash fame) give a house concert. their new stuff is *gorgeous* -- i actually teared up a couple of times. i loved it. and the hosts of the house concert cooked a gourmet meal for us, too, so yeah -- it was fantastic.

i did manage to pack a couple of boxes this morning, but i lost patience pretty quickly. while i look forward to being in the new house, i simply don't want to have to move there. i close on friday, but i don't have to be out of this apartment until december 4... so thankfully i'll have quite a while to get all my stuff over there.