Time Travel Post #2 – Moving

About this time last year, Michael invited me to move in with him. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was an easy decision to make, despite my independent nature. I’d lived on my own for about 8 years. No roommates, completely self-sufficient.

I loved my old apartment. I had the perfect neighbor, a quiet neighborhood, and lots of storage and space! The local community pool was literally a mile from my apartment and I spent many, many, many days there swimming off my 110 pounds!

When Michael asked me to move in with him I was very happy and packed up all my crap. 🙂 I had a lot of stuff. I decided I wanted to downsize and purge as much crap as I could. It was a very long process. I had TONS of books I had to sort and decide which ones to get rid of. I donated too many carloads of stuff to count to Goodwill. It felt great to get rid of junk.

Of course moving was stressful. It was a big decision and a big life change for me. Having been on my own for so long, I worried and over analyzed the idea of giving up my own space. It turned out to be a good thing and I’ve never regretted giving up my apartment.

Of course I got a little emotional looking at my empty apartment but then I moved on (literally).

Sometimes unpacking can be fun. Other times, it’s not fun. Fat Kitty of course had to explore every nook and cranny and “helped” me unpack. 😛

This time last year Portland was experiencing a heat wave of over 100 degrees. My little apartment was NOT air-conditioned and it was miserably hot. 🙁 There seems to be a repeat this year! However, I’m now in an air-conditioned house thankfully!

Last night was very hot and I was happy to have air conditioning. Today it’s supposed to be 100 degrees. Just a reminder in hot weather: make sure your critters get extra water and don’t get too hot!

For dinner we grilled steaks outside. I made a salad and cooked the gnocchi.

I topped the salad with goat cheese crumbles. What a great addition!

I realized we were out of pesto. Bummer. I love the steak/gnocchi/pesto combo. Instead of pesto, I sprinkled olive oil on the gnocchi and shredded fresh Parmesan cheese on top.

I’ve been having problems with a tooth for a few weeks now and in retrospect, steak probably wasn’t a good choice for dinner last night. Oh well! It was tasty!

For dessert I had two scoops of light vanilla ice cream, a little light chocolate sauce and less than a handful of M&Ms. Because of my tooth I haven’t been eating a lot lately. I’ve been way under my daily calories all week. I also have to eat a lot slower, so that’s been a positive!

Finally, congratulations to our friends Dave and Kat who just welcomed their daughter Norah into the world!! I can’t wait to meet the little cutie! 🙂