Before I met Wayne I had only been to a few cities in the South and the North East. I mean, I had been to other countries before so it's not like I was stuck in Florida all of my life but we were certainly much more cruise ship people than we were plane people. My first cruise was at 6 months old and I learned to walk on a house boat.

Now that I've seen San Francisco and Austin and all of those Colorado cities and now Oregon cities and Seattle, I feel like I'm much more aware of what I want in a home and how to find it. This summer we were being sent away to continue to try to figure out what types of institutions or departments we might want to work in/for. I have been extremely luck to ALSO be able to explore the type of environment I want to live in.

On this particular weekend camping plans with friends fell through so we grabbed our rental car and headed to Tacoma, WA and Seattle, WA. I was able to meet a bunch of Wayne's awesome friends from when he was younger and we had a ton of fun playing arcade games, shooting pool, and just hanging out. Special thanks to Jake and his wonderful mama for letting us crash!

Then we headed into Seattle to explore tourist style and to visit with MY friend from high school. :)

First, Pike's famous fish market and the crazy shops and the gum wall - which was disgusting but I put my gum on it anyways.

Next, the pier and some gorgeous views.

Then Mario picked us up and started carting us around the city, showing us amazing sights and food and cute towns. We found gasworks park, an old friend, PRIDE celebrations, metric tons of delicious food and beer, and a bridge troll. I also got desperately needed snuggles from his pup and had fun reconnecting!

This summer has been the most wonderful thing ever. It has been full of exploration and love and reconnection and relaxing and... perhaps most of all, reflection. I have some serious posts coming up that center around this idea of reflection and the ways that I think (or HOPE) this summer has helped me grow. I hope to use what I've learned to make me a better person and professional, less insecure, more able to contribute to solutions rather than point out problems, and truly know what it is that I want.

Being in beautiful places with genuine people is part of that. Everyone has helped me to reflect; by arguing with me, exposing me to new things, challenging me, and showing me their version of happiness. This trip was one piece of that. I'm grateful for the people and things in my life that made Washington amazing!

♥ Jessa

We all know that I can't stop raving about how amazing Oregon is, but it's not all sunshine and roses. It's hard to be away from my best friend while she's packing and moving out of my house, sometimes I'm bored without students or friends around, and sometimes it's COLD .

I spent my birthday (July 3rd) not feeling very well and sleeping most of the non-work day. So it might not be surprising that on the morning of Independence Day I was a little cranky. First of all, it was 63 degrees outside and I was SOOOO cold. Secondly, my birthday is usually super fun, I'm surrounded by friends and fireworks and food. Independence day is obviously about bikinis and BBQs and beer.

So I sulked for a minute. OK, more than a minute. But then I thought, it's silly to spend a beautiful day off being a sulk monster. I can make my own fun! So I headed to Goodwill for my birthday shopping spree, texted my coworkers, and found myself a group to BBQ with! The day turned out pretty amazing after all!

Plus, the weather warmed up to 75 by about noon and we got to see some amazing fireworks. The above picture is from pretty early on when an obvious accidental explosion happened. A ton of fireworks went off at the same time because, as I was informed later, someone left the extras on top of a table.

♥ Jessa

Apparently I slept like a crazy person last night because I'm sitting here with an ice pack on my neck trying not to move too much. Wayne says he woke up in the middle of the night and I was half on, half off the pillow - with my head tilted back and mouth wide open and arms sprawled. I blame the soreness from all of the working out he is forcing upon me for that.

You can blame him too because, even though I have a ton to show you, you'll have to settle for a few pretty pictures of things recently enjoyed.

Lettuce from a friend's garden makes a delicious dinner salad!

From not being able to walk or stretch or bend my legs to this!! I can grab my toes!

The results of my $50 Goodwill birthday shopping spree. 3 Dresses, 3 tops, 1 skirt, 2 bracelets, and 1 belt.

Tonight we're heading into Portland to see an old friend of mine who is in town. Thursday my mom gets here for the weekend! So obviously I have so much to write and show - and that's without the pictures that are already waiting eagerly to be posted about Wayne's mud run, our trip to Seattle, and my birthday/fourth of July! This summer is pretty much 100% amazing (besides the nerve pain in my neck today) and I'm excited to share it!

♥ Jessa

Our new friends took us for a day of Sake/Wine tasting on literally the best day ever. Who knew that father's day would be such a coup for alcohol tastings?! We started a local Sake brewery with a club member's only (and their guests - us) sake and food pairing. It wasn't really my cup of tea but Wayne loved it! Then, we headed to Plum Hill vineyards who just so happened to be having a Pork and Pinot pig roast!

It also happened to be a pretty incredible day outside and I was able to satiate my intense need for animal snuggles with some of the vineyard pooches running around. The next vineyard, Kramer , was having a rare vertical tasting, which is where they take wines made from the same vines in the same area from every year that they were made, consecutively. We tried 2006-2011 and were able to taste the various complexities of the wine due to the warmth/coldness/lateness of harvest/rain of the growing season. It was actually pretty intense and the family who owns the vineyard was SO NICE! They were preparing for their own father's day dinner and as the family was gathering, instead of kicking us out, they offered us food and hung out.

All of these places, by the way, have clubs where they will ship you selections of wines. I wonder how many we will join before we leave? :)

I can't wait to bring my mom wine tasting when she gets in!

♥ Jessa

Yesterday was the first day in my whole life I've been mad at Oregon. That's partially because I never had any reason to be mad at Oregon before I moved here, but also partially because this place is amazing. Check out my angst.

As you can see, that didn't last long. It quickly went from 53 degrees to about 75 and sunny. Plus, I decided to be proactive. And when Jessa thinks to herself "what could make this day better?" she comes up with a ton of ideas. BBQ? Goodwill? Beer? How about all three of those things?

I'll show you pictures of my sweet birthday Goodwill shopping spree once I wear it all. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures proving that I was just being ridiculous and Oregon is amazing. Remember how I told you that there are a million shades of green here? See how many you can find in these pictures.

A few of the days have even been hot enough that Wayne sucks down ice cold beverages and laments the lack of AC. Not many though.

It wouldn't be a blog post without a picture of Wayne doing something silly. Like hoarding every single thing on the table so that I can't get to it.

♥ Jessa