what a difference

People ask me what brought us here and/or why we moved. I usually answer something about a lifestyle change.

Now that we've been here for two weeks, there are some things about this new lifestyle that are pretty great indeed. It's a lot of small things, but the ease of doing so many things is such, such a relief. These things aren't Portland-specific exactly, but we haven't really taken advantage of Portland itself yet.

--The dishwasher! The first couple days we washed all of our dishes in turn. And as you might expect after years of handwashing, they have never been so clean and shiny. (And also sanitized!) Also, I can be a little lazy about dishes, so putting things right into the dishwasher is pretty sweet--it does all the work for us!

--We have to drive everywhere. We were in a super, ridiculously convenient location in Brooklyn and could easily walk to any errand we needed to make. Here, we can't.

--The flipside to that is the garage. Oh holy garage, you are my favorite. It's a designated parking spot, protected from the elements! And there is storage, so much space! On Sunday evening, we made a run to the grocery store. And then we drove right back, pulled into the garage, and brought the groceries right into the kitchen. I could never go anywhere on a Sunday evening in Brooklyn with a car, because as I learned the hard way, it would take 45 minutes to an hour of driving in circles to find a parking spot.

--This was our Brooklyn Costco experience for the last three years: Go only on a Wednesday, because that's the day the car had to be moved anyway, and I wasn't about to move the car on another day in addition, and going on the weekend only makes me homicidal. Drive up to the front of the building and double park. Make 3-5 trips between the car and our lobby, piling our stuff on the front table by the elevators. Once everything was in, put everything into an elevator, and Mister M goes with it upstairs, where he either puts everything in the hallway just outside the elevator, or makes 5 trips between the elevator and our apartment. Meanwhile I go back to the car and look for a parking spot, which could take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes.

Now? Go to Costco any day of the week (though avoiding weekends is still probably a good idea). Drive home. Park in garage. Take everything inside. The end.


--We haven't done much of it, but being able to do laundry in our very own basement is also pretty fantastic. Any hour of the day, any day of the week, no worrying about machine availability, no counting out quarters, no having to run to the bank to stock up on quarters.

--Bathrooms! Plural! If one is taken, guess what? There are two more! It's amazing! (Partly because I haven't gotten into cleaning all three of them yet...)

--We can play music and use hammers any time of day--no one below/around us to be disturbed by noise!