Project Discover Week #3
It was a week out of the norm for us. Or at least the norm we developed the first two weeks of living in Portland. The holiday on Monday definitely slowed down the job hunt. There weren't a lot of new jobs to apply for so I spent the day taking Michelle Schroeder-Gardner's online (self-paced) course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.
I picked up some great tips and tricks which I will begin to implement. I think it is very easy to integrate affiliate marketing into blogging, we are always writing about what we love. Plus, I've been reading Michelle's monthly income reports and it's insane how much money she makes. It's inspirational!
Tuesday I spent time on the job hunt and then set-up hundred of Pinterest pins so that I can get my feed going more consistently. The more I use Tailwind, the more I love it! Now I need to create more of my own pins and get into working with group boards. Pinterest has become my number one traffic source so it will pay to give it some attention.
We also did a little shopping. We live in the northeast part of Portland, near the Columbia River, not too far from the airport or the I-5 bridge that takes you to Vancouver, Washington. It is an industrial area without a lot of shopping, so we have been visiting different parts of the city and its suburbs whenever we need something.
Remember that bike helmet I lost under the slideout that had been looking for 9 months for?
Well, I never took the replacement helmet I bought out of the package. It was like I had this weird premonition that it was somewhere in the RV… We took it back to REI and they refunded us, no questions asked!
On Wednesday we headed to Seattle for Mr. Misadventures' birthday. On the way north we checked out a few RV parks. As we are looking for jobs in both the greater Portland and Seattle areas, we wanted to know what our RV park options are if we should get jobs in Washington.
Well, it ain't pretty. The parks are few and far between. Most of what we found were super small and completely full for months and months out. One had an opening for September! Other parks are really poor quality. Not an RV-forward state. That's okay because we have lots of different options for figuring out a living situation, it was just interesting to see the state of affairs.
For his birthday dinner, Mr. Misadventures picked Tray Kitchen, a Korean restaurant we fell in love with. But we were sad to learn it closed! Mega sad face. Instead, we made reservations at another spot we really liked from our last trip to Seattle in 2015, Sitka & Spruce.
The weather was clear and crisp, perfect for walking and we had a nice pre-dinner stroll from our hotel to the restaurant. It was nice to be outside. It's been raining so much we've been stuck inside a lot. I love the tile wall on Pine Street above the bus terminal, I took photos of different words when we were here before. When I pulled out my iPhone and stood to take a photo, the first word that popped out was JOB. I'm taking that as a sign!
I wish the dinner had been worth it. Don't you hate it when you spend $100+ for a meal and it is not good and you leave hungry? Yeah, me too. Big bummer. Especially when it is someone's birthday. You want it to be good for them.
On Thursday morning we headed back to Portland. Even just 24 hours away from the RV felt like a break, so it was great. We'll be going back to Seattle at the end of next week so we have more opportunities for better meals. I don't want to knock Seattle, but I think Portland has better food (shhh, don't tell Seattle I said that!).
Now that the birthdays – his and mine – are over, we are both on diets. Our form of dieting is reducing quantity and carbs. Living on the road for a year we basically cut out bread because we couldn't find any good bread. We eat pasta from time to time, usually when I want comfort food. We eat a lot of rice, but I am switching that to quinoa. And we bulk up on vegetables. Mr. Misadventures makes great soups with tons and tons of vegetable.
We will be sitting down to big bowls of soup as we watch the Oscars on Sunday. I love the Oscars! I love movies and I love that show. I always get envious this time of year missing the job I had at Dolby Laboratories and working events like the Oscars and the Grammys. I wish all my former colleagues working in the background at Dolby Theatre the best of luck on Sunday. I will be rooting for you and for my favorite movies!
For exercise, we were able to walk twice this week. We hope to do more again next week. We're anxious to do some hikes, but it needs to seriously dry up first. Our skis are in storage so we haven't taken advantage of the snow either, but I am going to look into cross-country skiing opportunities.
Project Discover is spawned from my 2017 word of the year, discover. Besides looking for a job I am focused on three things:
- Discover(ing) Portland
- Discover(ing) Exercise
- (re)Discover My Blogging Mojo
You can follow along every week in my Project Discover Weekly Updates.
That's been my week, what have you been up to?
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Can i just say that is a freakin gorgeous photo of the skyline!! Love it!
Love that Skyline view! And thanks for the info on the affiliate course you took! I’ve been researching that a bunch lately. I’m always looking for new sources.
@Lo, I really like the course, hope you find what you are looking for!
Yes. I now refuse to pay 100 for anything that I think will be terrible and not filling!
@Amy good for you! It’s hard to know sometimes when you have had good lunch in the past!
What a beautiful view! Hope you find a job! Restaurant are so expensive now a days!
@Carole, thanks for the best wishes!
I have been researching more French-style meals in the home and read that vegetables and vegetable soups are a common first course. If you ever care to share any of Mr. Misadventure’s “recipes” (I put that in quotes because I’m guessing he often wings it), I’m all ears!
@Katie, he does wing it most of the time, but there are certain ones he makes over and over that I am sure I can jot down.
Lots happening I see.