Northface Scarlet Letters in Portland: SD

I've written a wrap up report complete with photos and highlight for every city I have visited/lived in for the past 4 years, and I neglected to write one for Portland! It's not that I hated the city, it was just I was consumed with stuff like - moving, and starting a new job exactly 2 days after I quit my old one that kept me from writing my ode to Portland.

Oh Portland! I will definitely miss the city. I have yet to come across a city with so much to offer outdoor enthusiasts as Portland does. From caving to mountaineering, from surfing to snow boarding, from kayaking to snow shoeing, from hiking to climbing.. and just about every race you can think of! From naked bike rides to beer pub crawls 5Ks, to marathons to wilderness challenges. Anything you can dream up, I am pretty sure it exists in Portland! Also, one other thing I can say about the city - is people aren't afraid to be who they are, to not succumb to outside peer pressures and standards of what is socially acceptable. If they want to wear a pink, fleece bunny suit - so be it, for better or for worse. 

But, as much as I loved the outdoorsy activities that Portland offered, I just couldn't get passed the rain. I'm sorry - I know it's the modern-day equivalent of sporting a scarlet letter shamefully emblazoned on your Northface fleece - but I am from San Diego people! Enough said :) Hehe. No, really. Portland is a wonderful little city, full of charm and adventure - but it just wasn't for me. 

So, enough writing, here's a video I put together of my time in the great Northwest. Turn up the volume and enjoy! Until then, Peace out Portland. It's been real! (and in case the video doesn't work - click here to view on FB). 

A New Direction

During grad school at Thunderbird, friends and family would frequently ask what I wanted to do once I completed my degree. My standard response: I have NO idea, I'll go anywhere and do anything - just as long as it's not in Phoenix! I couldn't articulate the reasons why I hated Phoenix - I just did, and that was that. So when I was offered a marketing position with Xerox in Portland, OR - I jumped at the opportunity. Readers of my blog in the past years knew how much I loved the Oregon summers - I think I was mistaken for a city ambassador and could have been a regular contributor to a Portland hiking site with all the outdoorsy adventures I happily embarked on! But for some reason, moving there permanently was different. It was not what I expected. It was not what I wanted - the job, and the city. Don't get me wrong, Portland is one of the most naturally beautiful cities I have ever seen (in the summer when the sun is shining). The sweeping views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens towering over the city can make a nature-lover out of even the most skeptic concrete-jungle loving urbanites!

But something was missing... I was unsettled. Perhaps it was the inner Tbird spirit in me, longing to set sail on my next global adventure. Perhaps it was the 10 months of constant gray, gloom or "mist" that blanketed the city. Perhaps it was lack of structure and career development at my job. Perhaps it was a difficult breakup with the one guy I thought I was meant to be with. Or maybe a combination of all of the above? I don't know - but when the opportunity to come back to Phoenix to work for an exciting start-up in Scottsdale presented itself, I jumped on it! Not to mention to work again for one of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of working with!

How ironic is it - that the one place I didn't want to be - is the one place I wound up. It's not so bad after all. Some good friends are still here, the skies are CLEAR, and my job actually has a positive impact and works to change peoples' lives!! Can't ask for much more than that. I still am not sure what I want to do - but then again, do you ever really know?! Isn't there a famous quotes that says "often one meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it."

 Like I said, I'm pretty sure this is not my "destiny" - but I know this is a step in the right direction. It's a step forward to try something new, to break out of my comfort zone and try something different (job wise that is). The move back to Phoenix is familiar, but the circumstances and everything else surrounding my move is completely new. After all, you can never really discover your strengths or what you are capable of doing, if you don't have the balls to try something new. (i think i'll coin that one) !!

So, two months into my move - Cheers to Phoenix!