Dedicated to Shaving December.

No shave November coming to an end.

I feel so clean now!

Multnomah Falls.

Today I went to what I consider to be the most beautiful place I've ever been.  It probably wasn't as impressive to everyone else there as it was to me but I found the area around Multnomah Falls to be astounding.  Maybe it's because I've never been to the Northwest before and have only recently come to see the snow topped mountains with my own eyes.  Or maybe it's just that I'm feeling jolly and thoughtful after all the good Thanksgiving food I've eaten recently.  Either way I had an amazing day out with some of my teammates.

Vista House was my favorite stop on the little road trip.

This view was amazing.  I wish my camera could capture it just as I saw it with my eyes.

Andrea at the Vista House.

Self-absorbed photo moment.

Kaitlin and the photo-op.

The river view.

The roads were a little too narrow to drive comfortably in our 15 passenger van.

The fog just added to the beauty of it all.

The Falls.

A Fall, but not The Falls.

Scenic views make me silly.

The view from the trail leading up to the top of the falls.

We were about one and a half feet from going the rest of the year without a team leader.

Cool mini-cavern.

On to non-touristy things, Silver 5 had a great time chilling out at Silver 7's pad yesterday.  Much thanks for the great food and company!

Turkey 2: Electric Boogaloo

In case any of you keep up with current events you should know that none of us saw any explosive action in Portland last night though one of us was at the lighting!

Tonight I get to eat yet another turkey meal with Silver 7 who is also based outside Portland.  Here's to stuffing myself once more with delicious food!

A Blog with Cranberry Sauce.

What an amazing Thanksgiving meal Silver 5 had.  I really don't believe I've ever eaten so much delicious food in one sitting before last night.  We are all so thankful to have had someone as generous as Yi invite us over for dinner.  Though he didn't have to, he shared not only his amazing culinary prowess but his beautiful home and view of the Portland skyline with us.

Silver 5 and Yi in his beautiful home.

The T-Day spread.

Yum Yum!

Ellen as Vanna White.



Hooray for peanut M&Ms!



Have I ever told you how much I love Brie?

I feel sorry for the food.

Snack time!

The view from Yi's living room.

A blurry but neat shot of Downtown Portland.

Kaitlin enjoying the view.

Yi has such amazing artwork in his house.

One last weird picture to explain.  So last night Andrea, Tibbs, and I were walking in Yi's neighborhood when I spotted a plastic cockroach hanging on a electrical pole.  I grabbed it down and attached was a tube.  We opened it and the tube contained a whole bunch of scribbles resembling dates and locations alongside random nouns like 'Butter'.  I have no idea what this was all about!  Strange, eh?

Silver 5 completed its second independent work project today at the Portland expo center.  We are all getting really good at standing near booths.

Well I have only 11 more workdays until I'm back in sunny California!  Here's to making these last two weeks really count!

Cyber Turkey and Real Snow.

Whenever the subject of weather comes up with one of the Portland locals I sometimes ask when it is that they first see snow.  The answer has been the same each time.  Folks in Portland just don't expect to see the fluffy white stuff until after the new year.  That pleased me as that provides a good time cushion between my leaving Oregon and the snow zone.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind looking at snow, I just have a small aversion to landscaping in it.

Luckily I have yet to do any serious shoveling on our recently place and now very frozen sod.  Instead my work time was spent yesterday canvassing neighborhoods with Portland Restore fliers.  I must admit that it felt a little wrong posting paper fliers around that advertised something as green as the Restore but I understand why it must be done.  Besides, it was a really cool excuse to explore yet another really amazing historical suburb of Portland.  If I learned anything from yesterday it's that the bigger and fancier your house the more windows you need and the less curtains you'll use.  I suppose that if you have it you want to show it off, right?  Fancy houses or not the neighborhood welcomed us in and a few folks seemed pleased to get fliers from a non-profit instead of from people trying to sell them new gutters or encyclopedias.  We also received our mid-site evaluations yesterday which meant having our Silver Unit leader flown up here to check up on us.  The end result?  We're all good as gravy.

Aside from yesterday, my work with Habitat is moving along in the same manner is has been the last two weeks.  Everyday Lents Landing is looking more and more ready to be moved in to. It is a shame that we will be leaving here just before the final touches are put on.  Even with that being the case I am so proud to know that I put a great deal of effort into something truly awesome.  Part of me is in that house now and that makes me feel pretty warm and fuzzy inside at the end of the day.

 My team life has been going well.  A few of us took a trip to Historic Downtown Gresham over the weekend.  Though I can't say we saw a lot of history there it was a great excuse to ride the light rail and hang out at the Delirium coffee house (now my third favorite hang out in the area).  Tomorrow means having a full belly at the hands of a generous Habitat volunteer.  Though I will miss the Thanksgiving I am used to at home, I am excited to be having a great meal among new friends.

I hope all of my readers have a great Turkey Day tomorrow!

(As I side note, I'm looking outside and it's snowing again.  How whimsical).

It's no snowpocalypse but it's still chilly!

Waiting on the light rail in our own fashion.

Hanging out at Delirium.

Me during our midsite visit pretending to be our newly mustachioed unit leader.

At the Rocking Frog with magic in a pink box.

Some of the crew hanging out at Ground Kontrol

Turf and Little Debbie.

Just when I thought I had my best day at Habitat Portland so far I end up having another amazing experience.  Yesterday we had about thirty volunteers to help lay down sod for Lents Landing. Most of the force consisted of a Habitat club from a local high school and the rest were students from Oregon State University.  All of them were eager to help and turned our huge tasks for the day into light work. Laying sod was such a cool experience.  Our site supervisor added a little whimsy to our hard work by buying us swiss cake rolls as a snack.  They resemble sod rolls, don't you know? Getting tired and muddy like that was exactly why I joined Americorps. 

My Sunday was considerably less muddy.  I went back to my favorite haunts in Portland today - Really Good Stuff and The Rocking Frog.  I've blogged about both of these places before but I still can't quite iterate how much I am in love with them.  I had the opportunity to browse through even more old photos at Really Good Stuff and also purchased some old postcards.  I don't know what my passion for pictures of people from eras far from my own but whatever it is Really Good Stuff sates my need to collect them.  The Rocking Frog afterwards served as my chill out space for the rest of the evening.  I could spend all of my free time there.  I imagine that as long as I'm buying their Ed Hardy panini and cups of coffee that they'll let me.

This is the typical ride to our build sites.

Lugging appliances to the upstairs of Jubilee Commons.

Jules, Ellen, and myself were hauling washers, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, and refrigerators.

I love wearing the rain suit.

Some of our volunteer force.

Kaitlin carrying sod.

I look like I'm hard at work!

Kaitlin and Andrea.

Post-work shenanigans.

Getting the hose down from Kaitlin.  Why didn't I take the rain suit off before hosing it down?

Fight the power.

Andrea and our site supervisor, Ev, after a hard day of landscaping.

My turn to help clean up.

Tough as Rubber Nails.

It is as though posting about my best day at my project so far somehow served as a catalyst for living out my worst one today. I can't look upon it as a purely negative experience though.  I learned a lot today by working with someone who clashes with my ideas and personality.  I think that it is no secret that I need to be more assertive with my ideas and direction.  I am constantly being reminded of things I need to improve about myself and I think that's a great thing.  Everyday I feel myself becoming more confident and prepared to handle difficult tasks.  Here's to keeping my chin up.

So what is on the horizon for Josh?  Thanksgiving is coming up quickly and though I don't really get a break for the holiday, a Habitat homeowner invited our entire team over for a traditional dinner.  In fact our presence was not only desired by him but also by two other individuals vying to serve us turkey!  It certainly feels great to be wanted.

I leave Portland on the 11th of next month.  That really only means about fifteen more workdays left.  I find it so hard to believe as it really hasn't been that long ago that we dumped all of our luggage into the van to drive up here.  I must admit that I am a little excited to be returning to the sunshine in Sacramento.  Though it will still be winter there too, I am growing a little weary of the constant rain.  I'm a little surprised that I am saying that but it is true.  A week of rain had a certain whimsy to it.  Two weeks of rain makes you feel like you're living under a giant block of melting ice. 

I can also see my winter break coming up sooner and sooner.  In less than one month I'll be sitting in my own room back in North Carolina.  Hopefully this will sate the little bit of homesickness I've been carrying with me for the last couple of weeks.


I think it's been a while since I gave you all some pictures....so here you go!




Silver 5 at the home dedication ceremony.

Lents Landing is my favorite site to work at.

Silver 5 at yet another site.

I feel good in the yellow rain suits.

That's a 5 in case you didn't notice.

At Jubilee Commons leveling dirt.

The Lents Landing mascot, Panther.

I love Panther.  She was actually asleep in this picture!

Me and Ellen installing toe kicks.  I'm getting really good with a nail gun.