Hunkering Down

What a wild couple of weeks, eh? In particular the election a few weeks back. On one hand, I feel SO HAPPY that 45's reign is ending but on the other, I'm nervous about what comes next. I'm hopeful that after we get through the COVID era things will calm down a bit but of course, that could be a ways off. In the meantime, at least I can say one good thing happened this year on a national level. There have been some good things going on in my personal life though!

A New Job

As some of you know, I've been doing full-time(ish) development work for a company called Kickstand since the beginning of June. About a month ago as I was aimlessly scrolling on LinkedIn, I saw a post from one of my old bosses. He along with two of my old Formstack teammates started a real estate tech startup earlier this year and were looking to bring on a Front End Engineer. As someone who used to have a real estate license, I was super curious so I reached out to him about it. After a few weeks of interviews and a code challenge, I signed an offer for Front End Engineer at Shaker.io last Thursday! I start on the 30th and I'm excited to help build a product for an industry that I once worked in and desperately needs better tech options.

Trying to Stay Connected

With winter at our doorstep, I've been trying my best to stay socially connected. As of tomorrow, Oregon is starting a 2-week "pause" due to our COVID positivity rate skyrocketing (thanks Halloween) and where I live in Multnomah County, it will be a minimum of 4 weeks. Honestly, it doesn't really change much about what my life looks like. But it's just bummer energy, you know?

Recently I spent an afternoon with a few of my babies at Kelley Point Park. I've lived in Portland 6 years and had never been up there and turns out they have free fire pits for folks to use so we had a bonfire and brought lunch and hung out. It was super nice. We'll definitely be doing it again!

We also recently did a Zoom dinner with our friends Evan and Zach. I hadn't done a Zoom social event in quite a while and it still isn't the same but hey, it's what we have right now. Evan was bummed that I didn't have much of a reaction to Hocus Pocus which I watched for the first time ever on Halloween this year. Sorry, Evan. I know you're reading this.

Weekend in Seaside

Right before election week Charlie and I decided we wanted to leave town the weekend after the election just to have something to look forward to after what we assumed (correctly) would be an emotional rollercoaster of a week. We rented a cute little house in Seaside and had a quiet nice time. I'd never been to Seaside before and while it's definitely not my ideal Oregon Coast experience, we discovered an INCREDIBLE bakery there called Dough Dough Bakery. If you're ever passing through or in Seaside, get a chocolate tahini roll. They're fantastic.

Here Comes Winter

Honestly, that's about it. Winter will be here before you know it so I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for that. Right now I'm looking forward to the holidays and the food (treats) that come along with them. It's been encouraging to see the COVID vaccine trial results. Perhaps we'll be back to somewhat normal life faster than expected? Until then, you'll find me drinking coffee out of my cute new mug and playing Yu-Gi-Oh on my switch. Cause I'm a young child at heart.

Sending love and warmth to you all. Eat some amazing treats next week! You deserve it!! 🍪💕