Intro

As most of you know, I am spending the summer at my boyfriend's house in Portland, OR. After a year of dating long-distance, we thought it was time to find out if we liked each other if we saw each other on a daily basis. This presented a variety of challenges, not the least of which is that I don't feel like I "fit" in Portland. There are a few dimensions of this (who are these people that can live without the sun for 9 months of the year?), but the two that I think I will focus on most are politics and general hippy-ness (quite different from hip-ness).

While I do consider myself politically liberal (and I'm imagining many friends and family members rolling their eyes right now in disbelief that anyone would consider me otherwise), Portland takes it to a whole other level, making me feel like I'm not green, liberal, or socially-conscious enough, or, worse, that I'm naive by seeing a more moderate approach.

Another dimension in which I feel I don't fit is that, while I don't feel like a girly girl in any other setting (and I'm again imagining many rolling eyes), I feel like the highest maintenance girl in Portland. I blow dry my hair, I get pedicures in the summer, and I shave in all the appropriate places.

So, it is with some reservations and a general feeling that I'm a misfit that I come to Portland. I specifically chose DC because I feel like I fit there, and so it's somewhat unnerving to be in a place in which I feel out-of-place. This blog will contain my comments about the quirks that make Portland Portland, and hopefully, how I come to appreciate it in the same way they do (even if I still have nice toenails).