Author: Amy

1. monica visited me this past weekend and life immediately got 10x more wonderful. i tried to show her my version of portland through the few good friends i’ve made here thus far instead of forcing participation in misc plug and play fun time activities. highlights/mvp’s included river swims + sun bathing at rooster rock with launa, michael, and ryan, dinner + dessert with emily, maggie, and christopher, and goo gone delivery + stoop sitting with eddye and bo. fyi, universe: i would not be upset if monica decided to repatriate and make portland her new home.
2. clear skies, deep blue breaths. everyone says i came at the right time. cautiously optimistic.
3. all the murals here feel like they were painted just a few hours before i stumbled upon them. bold, unapologetic fuckers. this one is in southeast and reminds me of bowery & houston.
4. i left my [now discontinued] joe fresh aviators at michael’s 4th of july bbq east of se 82nd, never to be heard from again. rip officer marsh (may 2013 – july 2015). let the record reflect, i am very fond of these classic gold ray-ban aviators and ship most things to my work address.
5. i feel prickly and weird right now and decided that’s okay. quitting, packing, moving, breaking, hurting, healing – an onslaught of all the prickly, weird things all at once (not sure how else i’d be). at least the universe is always in its perfect order … even if it doesn’t feel like it, at all.

1.  this is a picture of me all tuckered out. news flash = it’s really difficult to feel fully nested when you’re missing major pieces of furniture and readily accessible funds to do a goddamn thing about it. this being my current steez, i now spend the majority of my penniless down time between non-rent paychecks rearranging all the furniture i do have in an attempt to prove i have autonomy over my own life space, thus pooping myself out on a fairly consistent basis.
2/3.  a few weeks ago, launa invited me to her birthday party on the coast and i said “hell yea” and justin gave me a ride and offered to show me lots of cool, coasty things. to recap, we saw a bunch of rogue sea lions, climbed astoria column, got pizza + beer at fort george brewery, and checked out haystack rock. then we got to launa’s and partied allllll night long. jk. then we got to launa’s and ate chips and chit chatted till like 9:30 and drove home. it. was. awesome.
4.  god bless the internet and its ability to foster deep, genuine relationships. seriously, because of apps like tinder (how i met jonathan) and sites like turntable.fm (how he met launa and justin and a ton of other wonderful pdx people), i moved across the country to a city i’ve visited exactly once and was suddenly blessed with an incredible group of non-work people to befriend and learn from and lean on. just in case no one said it yet today: thank you, internet.
5. the friday before memorial day i attended a killer bbq in northeast where glazed donuts may or may not have been placed on the grill and then topped with grilled pineapple. unconfirmed.

1.  happiness is canceling all my weekend plans, hopping on a plane to portland with less than 24 hours notice, and waking up with the next day’s sun in a hotel king bed next to this guy.
2.  the ace portland is everything i expected, old timey photo booth next to repurposed wood coffee table covered in meticulously unarranged succulents and mason jar terrariums included.
3.  i’m worried i won’t be able to wear converse at my new job. if you’re reading this and can confirm one way or the other, please kindly let me know. the operative word here being “kindly” because if the answer is “nope, ditch those bad boys” i may need a moment. this vvv strong, stubborn, and sensitive taurus can only handle so much unmedicated life change all at once.
4.  it’s getting hard to tell people i’m moving across the country and doing long distance with jonathan when the nearly universal response is “i never thought you’d leave new york. have you ever been to portland? long distance is so hard.” god bless the special few that fill up with pride and exclaim, “that’s awesome! i can totally see you there. ooO long distance sex is amazing!”
5.  fuck fuck fuck i’m almost 29 and i still don’t know how to cook a god damn fucking thing shit.
6.  friday, march 27 is both my last day at work and [what would have been] my dad’s 66th birthday. i keep thinking how much he would have loved jonathan and what huge kicks they’d get out of each other. i bet if he knew where i was headed, he’d be proud of me and thrilled i was moving closer to la la land (“los angeles” in kim-speak). i bet he’d be really proud of me.

*this post is brought you by a recent trip to portland to interview for my dream job.
spoiler alert: it went well.

1.  i’ve been meaning to try sweetgreen for almost a year now. i first read about it in grub street’s roundup of new healthy nyc restaurants (also how i got hooked on dimes) and finally managed to swing by over thanksgiving. i went for the ever-popular kale chicken cesear because the guy in front of me ordered it and he seemed to know what was up. good stuff. did not regret.
2.  have you heard of @coffeenclothes? it’s this instagram account run by @ryyyguy and it’s photos of exactly what it sounds like … coffee n’ clothes. i really want to be on it, but every time i think to take a photo i’m usually (a) not wearing anything interesting (b) done with my coffee (c) both. i thought my leopard print whynot entry was a solid contender, but – alas – no dice.
3.  it wouldn’t be a proper amy’s list without at least one dog pic, now would it? big ups to buddy the big blue bottle dog for being fidgety and helping me maintain dog person status elite.
4.  last friday was jwt’s annual holiday party and, much to the dismay of many, it was held in a strange, far away place called “brooklyn.” thankfully, the city folk groans died down after a few open bar drinks were had and people let the good lumberjack themed times roll. sidebar = i made a lil’ website for it so all 200 jwt offices around the world could party along via #jwt150 (the party coincided with jwt’s 150th anniversary). awww look, everyone. baby’s first microsite.
5.  oh, and morgenstern’s is making the only ice cream that matters. 2014 flavor collabs, son.