Leaping

Okay, so I didn't manage to get any sort of "what we're up to" letter done for Christmas, or New Year's but thankfully I have one last chance--the Leap Year!

And there is leaping going on. I am leaping from my full-time job at ZAAZ to freelance and who knows what. Dave and I are leaping from Portland to Austin for a few months. There are smaller leaps, as well (a trip to Japan, a trip to New Orleans).

Why all the motion and movement? Last year was dark. And cold. Relatively, but that can be pretty dark and cold (and wet) up here in Portland. We love the city, and we'll be back for summer (assuming we get one this year), but we needed a break, a biggish break, and spending a year mostly in the city, the cold gray summer-never-came city lit a fire under our butts.

We don't want to leave forever, but for a decent chunk of time--longer than a vacation. For various reasons, I've been thinking of going back to freelance anyway, and Panic (where Dave works) is willing to let him work remotely for a time. We wanted a) a city warmer than here, b) a place where we know people, and c) a city not more expensive than Portland. Austin fits the bill, and so we plan to be off around the last week of March until Mid-June.

Specifically, we're renting our house to my friend and co-worker Christine, another graphic designer who (I hope) will enjoy the easy (10-minute) walk to the office, the ability to work from home, and some space in our shed/hangar to work with her printing press. We'll be spending most of March wrapping things up and throwing things out--I've given three weeks notice at my job (last day to be March 21--the equinox just before Easter :), and we've got plenty to sort and store before then. Dave will get some respite from cleaning and boxing, as he's going to be in Japan for 10 days with some of his co-workers--I can't wait to see the photos!

End of March, we'll be driving to Austin in our new-to-us Subaru Forrester, taking a southern route. We're planning to hit Yosemite (where Dave has never been), Death Valley (yikes! but warm!), Las Vegas ('cause why not?), and the Carlsbad Caverns (where I've never been). We're happy to get any suggestions from folks as to good, cheapish places to stay (including camping) along the route, and/or other cool places to visit. I'll be flying my kitty out later (god help me), because it seems like the least stressful thing for her, since I can't clone myself and just leave the clone in Portland. We're looking for a place to stay in Austin, but have backups in case, thanks to the great generosity of our friends and family there. We're really excited about seeing everyone, about being around water warm enough to swim in, about being warm, period, and of course there's the food ;).

End of April/early May we'll be going to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, thanks to Kara, my dear friend since college. I've wanted to go to New Orleans forever, and with Kara since being beguiled by her stories of her home town back in the day. Austin being close to New Orleans, she suggested we go. I'll be going for the first weekend (Dr. John anyone? And about a thousand other amazing musicians). She has booked us a room in a hotel straight out of a Benjamin January mystery. We'll visit her aunt during the week and sightsee, and then Dave will drive over for the second weekend (Stevie Wonder, people!). To say I'm excited is, well, I'm practically running a fever whenever I think about it. Time to dig out Confederacy of Dunces for another read :).

We're back in Portland end of May for a wedding, and then driving back sometime after Dave's birthday in early June. In between times we plan to soak up as much Austin as we can.

I've created this website to keep folks up to date on our doings. I'll send my posts out as emails for those as prefer it, and we'll have our photos up on flickr (links coming). My love to you all,

Molly