Portland

Portlandia

The following are scribbles from my actual travel journal...

October 8th- I don't know what made me book a ticket to Portland, I guess it was that craving, that lust that those of us bitten by the travel bug eventually have to succumb to.

I recognized the feeling the second that I took a seat on the light rail, the feeling was overwhelming and completely present.  Exploration. Adventure.  Not knowing, yet being completely content.  I met a girl on the train from Denver, Katie, she's in Portland for an acro-yoga festival, she went to CU.  We kept making eye contact, she had the smile that those on an adventure wear.  I liked her, she had to get off the train because she figured out she was going the wrong way.  She hopped off with cheers of, "It was nice to meet you, enjoy Portland!"

The train makes it's way deeper into the city; a train employee chases off a clearly homeless and disturbed man, the whole train car breathes a sigh of relief.

We cross the river, we stop by a tavern and a nice looking man raises a window shade from inside the restaurant and he immediately starts taking chairs off tables.  It's his routine, this is where he lives, this is where he works.  

I come to my stop and get off dragging my suitcase behind.  I am instantly aware that I don't know where I am going as all the other commuters bustle around me.

I plug the address of my final destination into my phone, knowing that this will drain what's left of my battery.  And I begin to walk.

I come across the most beautiful park.

Autumn is here in Portland.  You can feel it in the air, the chill at the end of your nose.  It's there in the way the smell of smoke is sticking to smokers clothes, you can see it in the colors and the varieties of leaves littered across the path.  

Across the park is the cafe my friend suggested. 

I enter.  It is warm... and cozy.  A corner table opens right near the window.  I tuck my suitcase in the corner, set some things on the table to claim it as my own and head to the counter to place an order for a pesto chicken panino and a large latte.

I get back to my table, pull my notebook out of my suitcase and start recording my thoughts.  The server sets my food and latte down.  The steam rising from the cup, the notebook, this scratched table... it's so cute, so quaint.  I must instagram this moment.  Right as I'm about to post my picture, my phone dies. Reminding me to be present, that not everything has to be displayed.  Documented, yes... but displayed in the moment for validation... no.

I find an outlet to plug in my phone and I decide that I will stay here, in this cafe, drinking lattes, reading and writing until my phone is charged and my friend gets off of work and finds me and we can take my luggage back to his place.

I'm here.  I'm in Portland.

Let's Talk About Books Baby!

October

Books Bought

The Untethered Soul By: Michael A. Singer (Audible)
All The Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love By: Tyler Knott Gregson
The Girl on the Train By: Paula Hawkins
Wildflower By: Drew Barrymore

Books Read
 Purity By: Jonathan Franzen
 All The Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love By: Tyler Knott Gregson

October was a good book month for me, in more ways than one.  Not only did I read some quality stuff, but I also got to visit the most infamous and largest independent book store in the country, and I also got to go to an author event at Tattered Cover for The Girl on the Train which was fascinating and inspirational (as these events always are). 

First, the historic Powell's. This store truly is a book nerd's world wonder!  I'm not the biggest fan of used books, but it is kind of cool to be able to see things firsthand that have been elusive for years...  like McSweeney's Vol 1.  Also, who can complain about a book store that has multiple levels and rooms?  I wish I had timed my trip better because Elizabeth Gilbert was doing an appearance there just days before my arrival, and Tyler Knott Gregson was shortly after my departure.  It would have been nice to see how they put on an event compared to my home state's Tattered Cover (which rocks events).

Which leads me to Paula Hawkins.  This was a funny author event because multiple people have talked about how the main character reminded them of me, and yet, the main character is a mess! It was fun to hear the process of how she came up with this character.  She knew she wanted to have a character that drinks so much that they black out and so she worked backwards from there and was like... "What would be the saddest thing?" And then she thought how it would be pretty sad if you had been married and your husband left you because of fertility issues.  There you have it folks.  Straight out of a NY Times Bestselling Author's mouth... that scenario is just about the saddest thing.  Except for a whole other slew of atrocities that happen to the human race... like genocide, human trafficking, rape, fleeing your country and being a refugee due to the horror of war, etc.  Anyways, always fun to hear an author's process and how people received it.  Also, Tattered Cover did something I've never seen them do before they had another author (local, Eleanor Brown) interview Paula.  I thought that was interesting.

Ok... on to books!

Books bought... I keep wavering with audible.  I feel ethically I should not be buying audible versions of books from Amazon... but I like having them as options when NPR doesn't have news on, I'm caught up on podcasts, and not in the mood for music.  Am I the devil?  Maybe.  Anyways, I bought The Untethered Soul in this version so I could listen on my night drives home from yoga or while I'm at the gym.  I also joined local yogini and life coach Jacki Carr's online book club, and this was the pick after Brene Brown's newest.

I bought and finished reading Tyler Knott Gregson's latest collection of poems.  I think he has matured a lot.... they are less cliche, less desperate and more sexy.  Here's a sample...

Back against the wall

and your legs around my waist,
I kiss you again.

Early morning moans

and your longest stretching groans

I can't wait to wake.

Let's tangle them up,

twist together all our limbs.

Braid ourselves to sleep.

Legs around my waist

As I hold you in my lap

My hands on your back.

I find you in storms,

I feel you in the lightening,

I miss you in rain.

See what I mean?  Sexy.  It probably helps that this is a guy writing in the mountains of Montana on a vintage typewriter.  Dreamy.

Ok... if you are a fan of the 90's it's pretty much mandatory that you love Drew Barrymore, so of course I had to pick up her new autobiography.

Now... let's once again discuss Jonathan Franzen.

Purity took me almost a month to read.  But not because it wasn't good. As with everything I've read by Jonathan Franzen, his story lines & his characters draw you in, and yet you know that it is a book that when you sit down to read it, you want to have time. You want to be sucked in to that world.  This one was so unlike his other two I've read in the sense that I didn't feel like he was doing some big analysis of the current political events and life in the suburbs... it felt a lot less like an assigned book for school (which I love) and more just him trying a new style.  I still liked it.  As with most his books all of the characters are not unlikable, but you still find one or two to root for.

Anyways, that's all I got through this month. I don't think I'm going to make my book goal for this year (52).  I'm currently sitting at 38, that's ok.  Quality over Quantity, baby!