And So It Begins...

Hello Blogging World!  I begin my journey in the blogosphere with the purpose of recording and sharing a time in my life where I am at a crossroads of sorts.  When you read novels and/or see films about a mid-20's someone feeling uncertain about their direction in life,  they generally learn important lessons while meeting a colorful cast of characters and, at least with movies, Jack Johnson-eqsue/indie band music plays in the background.  I think every day brings a slew of important life lessons if we take the time to stop and notice them. I just recently moved to Portland so there is a good chance of meeting a "colorful, quirky" character at least once every 30 minutes, and I have decided to provide a song to set the tone for every post.  As you read the next little bit, play this: Upside Down.

(Anyone reading this probably knows me personally, but just humor me with this introduction)

"Hi my name is Shelley.  I'd say I was a fairly typical human being with a few personal quirks thrown in the mix.  I just recently moved to the Portland, OR area after spending the majority of my life living near  and in the Furniture Capital of the World. I felt the pull of wanderlust, the promise of health improvements, and the welcome of my West Coast  family to leave a place I called home for more than two decades.  No matter where you are going it is always with a heavy heart if you have to say goodbye to people you love.  I have been blessed to have lived enough places and loved enough people where I am never without the feeling that I am missing someone.  On good days I look like this:

My identity has always partially been coupled with one or more food allergies, my slightly uncontrollable hair, and my somewhat overactive imagination.  The last may make me a bit of an unreliable narrator in my own life's story but no one's perspective on life is completely reliable. I hope someone, somewhere will procure at least a little bit of entertainment from my southern observations on "weird Portland," a bread lovers anguish over a grain-free diet, and adventures of all sorts during this "qarter-life" crossroads. 

(So, the song isn't over yet, but maybe you could enjoy it while doing laundry or something.)

Let the journey begin! :)