Bubcket List: LIL BUB in Portland!

In recent crazy cat lady news (See also: I can’t believe I’m married), I was up bright and early to meet LIL BUB during her Portland visit at the LexiDog Boutique & Social Club last week!

If you don’t know who LIL BUB is, clearly you are wasting your time in the wrong places on the internet let me tell you. LIL BUB, a celebrity cat/internet princess dubbed (bubbed) “one of nature’s happy accidents,” was born with genetic mutations including disproportionate limbs, a toothless mouth, extra toes and a shortened jaw. In any other species, this particular combination of mutations would likely result in the nightmares of small children, but in BUB’s case, it’s the complete opposite! BUB’s scrumptious perma-kitten features and sweet personality have landed her as Number 2 on the list of Most Important Cats of 2012, over 100k Facebook “Likes” and, most importantly, provided the warm fuzzies for children, hipsters and crazy cat ladies all across the US of A! BUB’s various memes are geared at inspiring positivity and perseverance in the face of adversity. What’s not to love?

This is my photo diary of the Portland LIL BUB meet and greet.

Most Sundays, we are not out of bed before lunchtime. Here we are, up early catching the our party bus to BUB. To quote my mother-in-law, “Now I know what gets you guys up early!”

We arrived!

…With half of Portland. Even though we got there when the event started at 10:30am, an employee came outside and told us she didn’t know if everyone would be able to meet BUB because the line had accumulated so quickly.

I snuck out of line to go say a quick prayer to baby Jesus asking him to keep BUB happy and comfortable until we were able to meet her. While I was out of line, I ran into Lil Bub’s human, Mike. He was too polite to refuse a photo, but he wanted to. (If you’re reading, Mike, I was too polite to go full fangirl, but I wanted to. Also, asking for a photo is not going full fangirl.) “I don’t usually like to do this kind of thing, because it’s all about my cat, you know?” -Mike “The Dude” Bridavsky

This next photo is a lie, but that’s okay. The line actually started about an hour and a half before this point! This sign was located at the front of the room where LIL BUB was. We made it!

When we entered the little room, LIL BUB was sitting on a lime green crocheted blanket, as tender as can be. She was so, so sweet and docile; genuinely just happy to be in Portland. That, or under the influence of animal sedatives according to my husband which I refuse to believe. That’s how she is, and it’s part of what makes her so special.

Before we went, husband requested his own picture with LIL BUB, which is part of what makes him so special. We made sure that happened!

I got one too!

Finally, a photo of both of us with BUB, for good measure.

I’m not going to lie; at first there was a little internal debate over whether standing in line to meet a cat was a high point or a low point in my life, but I quickly realized that was the dumbest question ever because LIL BUB is more than a cat…she is a WAY OF LIFE. Thank you, sweet BUB, for spreading joy in Portland!

The Cold War: No sun? Add fun!

Those little white star looking things in store for Sunday and Monday? SNOWFLAKES.

Summer is over in Portland.  Almost literally, I blinked and it was gone.  Which is kind of sad, because when I moved here last January it was the dead of winter and it seemed like it took forEVER for the rain to stop. Which is true (it stopped in late July). If it’s not raining, it’s dark and cold. All day every day, for like, 9 months out of the year. And Seasonal affective disorder? Also true. I didn’t notice at first, but I was sleeping my days away — every day after work and every weekend in the dark basement until Monday had arrived again (red flag much?!).  Now that I know I am invincible fighting a battle when it comes to the weather, I pay much closer attention to what makes me feel good. This is my current strategy for beating the winter blues!

Start a project (or five).

I’m kind of glad summer is over (not really), because I would feel like a loser for wanting to stay in ALL THE TIME to work on crafts ‘n stuffs, especially if the sun was shining outside. Starting new projects has helped me stay focused on goals and whathaveyou, and it keeps a creative spark alive and well at my fingertips (so awesome I could scream!). Keepin’ it crafty also makes me…

…Get out of the house!

Waking up when it’s DARK …and 40 degrees outside… before your feet hit the floor is a challenge (physically). Finding the motivation and energy to go out on a Friday night after an exhausting week is a challenge (mentally). I’ve come to accept that these challenges will not cease, but if I want to break out of a funk I’ve gotta channel my inner Nike and JUST DO IT (yeah, I said it). It’s true though! Whether it’s running to the Yarn Garden to re-up on supplies or stopping for a hot cup of tea around the corner, get off that ass and motivate! When I do leave the house, I make sure to…

Bundle up!

Earmuffs over a beanie? Sure! Three scarves at a time? WHATEVER WORKS. I learned my lesson last year by sacrificing comfort for cute clothing and I R-E-F-U-S-E to be that naive again! When I lived in LA, stepping out of the house without a full face of makeup was *unfathomable*. Accepting the idea of makeup running down my face with the rain in less than 5 minutes is insanely liberating. Straightening my hair is no longer relevant. And I don’t care. When half of the community rocks trash bag parkas and puffy Northface jackets to shield themselves from the rain, it’s much easier to relinquish control over your own fashions because everyone else has already done it. Plus, the more I mismatch, the more “normal” I feel in my own skin. Which gives me a ton of liberty to…

Accessorize accordingly.

What’s better than the Easter Bunny? A snow bunny! Between Spirit Hoods and these super fun (warm too!) earmuff headphones, staying toasty doesn’t always have to include trash bag parkas and puffy Northface jackets [golf claps]. I look at it this way: nothing is going to stop the rain, the frigid cold or the appearance of an ominous sky. But the little things — be it a ball of yarn or a fuzzy cat hat — do help tremendously.

 

 

Portland: A Love Affair (SE Edition)

 

Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof & instant coffee, to unemployment insurance & library cards, to absinthe & good-hearted landlords, to music & warm bodies & contraceptives… & to the ‘good life’, whatever it is & where it happens to be.

— Hunter S. Thompson

 

Happy Friday Jr.! Because I’ve successfully procrastinated my way to this entry, this week’s post will be a twist on Things I Love Thursday. Getting this blog up and running has been more challenging than I expected; settling on a definitive narrative voice is difficult. I find myself tossing and turning over what you expect of me, not trusting my own process and the idea that this will eventually take the shape I want it to. But at the end of the day, this is about being honest and true to myself and my experiences and with that said,  personal happiness, fulfillment and the human journey is comforting, important and familiar to me. Even moreso after I moved to beautiful Rose City.

[ Disclaimer: There is a likelihood that I’m going to catch some heat disclosing how amazing Portland is, especially because I am a Los Angeles native, and Portland is very protective over their city (as they should be, especially towards abrasive Los Angelenos). However, I didn’t move thousands of miles from home to do Portland. I moved here to do me. So far this city has done a remarkable job making this transplanted misfit feel welcome. ]

I live in a whimsical little pocket of Southeast Portland – the Sunnyside district. Jumping off my porch steps, I am enveloped by everyday magic waving at me from everywhere. Some of my favorites…

Trees and leaves exploding with color

and beautiful houses with history

and inspiration that I don’t have to chase down with a stick

(!)

I’m inclined to believe that the architectures and landscapers here designed everything keeping the rain and gloom in mind (smart people)- the unique colors serve a remarkable purpose. I’ve never lived anywhere that could change my mood by simply stepping outside and soaking up the city’s charisma.

I believe that the gorgeous surroundings in the city contribute immensely to my overall happiness, which allows my heart to feel open to more happiness; effortless manifestation. Perhaps manifestation is equal parts intention and perspective – either way, this cycle of happiness is infectious, magical and real. I spend more time feeling fulfilled, every day, as opposed to feeling like I’m in love with the wrong city, a feeling I spent many years falsely accepting. I feel lucky to be tucked away in this corner of the Universe right now. The signs are everywhere.

 

It’s been almost a year and I still feel giddy about Portland. My love affair away from my love affair. This is the good life, and it is right here.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I’ve been waiting for this as long as I can remember. More specifically, it was about this time last year when I told myself I was going to start religiously blogging my experiences. I never did, until this moment, and it feels euphoric.

Last October, I hit a wall. Mentally, professionally, socially — everything in my life felt like it was going nowhere. The roommate who was living with me at the time had been living in LA for only a few weeks, but the anxious, superficial nature of the city had started to drive her crazy almost immediately. “The traffic alone is enough to make someone go mental, and everyone seems like they are unhappy, just waiting for something great to happen and change everything” she said. In one sentence, she had described life as I knew it at 27, and I felt like a train hit me when I realized I had been that unhappy person, in my own hometown, for as long as I could remember.

By November I had resigned from my job and scribbled “MOVING DAY” in big red letters on my calendar. On January 15, all of my possessions were to be loaded into a U-Haul truck and I would be making my way to Portland, Oregon in the pursuit of new adventures, friends, seasons, inspiration and happiness. A month before I left, I set up this blog as a means of documenting my new adventures, but picking up my pen (and hands) was impossible and I constantly avoided it. Making a departure from family and friends who had become permanent fixtures on the shelves of my life was difficult, and I wish I had blogged about the transition I underwent while uprooting my life and detaching from everything I knew to be true.

Aside from being a huge procrastinator, I’m a slave to my own fear when it comes to writing, even though I know it has been my calling since I was a child. As a writer and general loudmouth throughout high school, I left an impression on my classmates, particularly one whom I recently reconnected with while she was here on business. “Why aren’t you writing? You have so much to say!” Heather said over dinner the other night.

“I, I don’t know. I mean I do, and I guess I’m just afraid.”

“What are you afraid of? You are SO creative, people will read if you write, if only because they are your friends and they love you!”

“I constantly think about running out of ideas, failure, judgement, and not being smart or interesting enough.”

“I know we haven’t seen each other in 10 years, but I know you, Casey. Just do it! What’s even worse than taking the chance is not taking the chance.”

She was totally right, it was nothing I hadn’t told myself before, but hearing that conviction come out of someone who has truly seen me and known me for almost 15 years resonated like a bell. The next couple of days, we walked and talked around the city, feeling like no time had passed since we last saw each other. Experiencing Portland with someone who had never been here before made me fall in love with it all over again, and justified my reasons for packing up and leaving Los Angeles.

New adventures…

friends…

seasons…

inspiration…

…and happiness.

My goal as a writer – bottom line – is connection. I plan to use this blog as a springboard for contributing to the wavelength of joy that makes the Universe go ’round. If I can relate to just one person, make someone smile, then everything else is just frosting on my cupcake. Thanks for reading.