Hiking in Portland // Living Stephen

Hello everybody!

I wanted to start off by apologizing if I don't post for a long period of time (I swear like four days is a lot..) My work has scheduled me to be the "opener" which means 4AM to 1PM shifts about four times a week, and when I get home.. I don't do much of anything besides sleep and eat. Luckily for me though, I had my last open of the week, and I have two days off! Hello weekend.

With that being said, I've been exploring a lot of Portland since moving up here, and will hopefully be exploring more this weekend. One of my favorite things to do, even in California, was going hiking. I've always hated working out and going to the gym, so this is a super easy replacement for that! Luckily for me, I knew coming to Portland meant I'd be able to get a little bit of every world; I'd be able to go to Downtown for the city life, go to the towns near by for the suburb, and be able to drive about thirty minutes in every direction for nature. It's such a good mix of everything, and it lets me do A LOT of exploring.

We have been hiking a few times since living up here, and have found some really amazing places. A lot of the hiking in Oregon is SUPER green and very wet, which makes it so much more fun than the dry, hot hikes you'd find in Southern California.

The first place we went to was about two weeks after we moved up to Portland, and we went to this place called the Oneota Gorge.. which I still can't pronounce, but it was the best hike to start with. It is only about a mile long, and is the coolest adventure ever. You basically just turn off a main road, and walk down some man made stairs into a gorge. You have to climb through, what looks like a huge damn of logs and branches, into about a four foot deep pool (which there was no way around), and then at the end is a waterfall. This was definitely a wet and cold hike, but it was beautiful and insanely cool.

A few weeks later, we ended up going on this insane hike with a couple of our friends. It was totally not what we were expecting it to be all. It was called Opal Creeks, and it was about two hours away from where we live. It was such a far drive/hike, but it was one of the most amazing hikes I have ever been on. We ended up swimming in a waterfall that we found, and hiked through the most insane trees. We even rode down a natural water slide made in the rocks. We got hamburgers after too.. which made it all the better. ;)

       

The most recent place we went to was just Tyler and I, which is always so fun and nice to do together. We went to Multnomah Falls, but instead of doing the trail with the big falls (if you know anything about hiking here, you know what Multnomah is), we went on a different trail called the Wahkeena trail. It was definitely much more of a battle, but we ended up coming across some of the most beautiful waterfalls, and hiked enough to tire us both out. 

Well that's as much hiking as we have made time for. Hopefully we'll be able to find some more cool places, and try going to hike in the rain! If anyone is in the area, definitely try these ones out though. SO beautiful.

Until next time,

Stephen

San Diego to Portland // Living Stephen

Hello guys!

As I mentioned in my first post, I recently moved up to Portland, Oregon! A lot of people (in real life, and over the internet) have asked me why I took to the long trek out of Southern California and into Northern Oregon. Fortunately for me, the whole entire move was pretty easy, and I feel happier than ever in this city.

It all started the very first time I came up to Portland. My older brother, Robert, has been living up here since I was in high school, and when I finally had a steady income and enough time, I made it a point to come up and visit him. I can still remember the first time I visited, and how amazing everything seemed. The trees were so green, the air felt so clean, and the people seemed so nice. I absolutely fell in love with the city I had only seen for a week. 

As years passed, I knew exactly where I wanted to be, and where I didn't want to be anymore. I knew I wanted to get out of California and move up to Portland with my brother. What I didn't know was that I was going to be falling in love with someone right before I was planning on leaving. I met my boyfriend, Tyler, on January 12, 2012, and we haven't been apart since. I thought what I wanted was to get away from California, but he's always been so much more important, and I don't regret staying longer in California.

(From one of our first dates, how cute.)

Now we get to more recent times. As of about a year ago, Tyler and I knew we wanted to live together. We were both in a place in our lives where we knew what we wanted, and what we wanted was to be together. We had talked for months about it, and decided that Los Angeles would be the best for us.. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as planned. I didn't get accepted into the school I wanted, and I kept thinking about how much I disliked LA and how badly I didn't want to live there. We finally had to have that one talk (you know, the one talk.. that one talk you don't want to have, cause it could go really great.. or really bad). I remember we sat and talked in my bed, and just got out all the feelings we had about moving. By the end of the conversation, we both decided that LA maybe wouldn't be best, and decided that Portland might be a better option!

We ended up making a trip up to Portland in March of this year, and luckily for me, Tyler fell in love with the city! (Maybe not the rain and cold, but everything else!) We both came up to this city for a change of scenery and to find out a little bit more about ourselves. We are both going back to school, both have really good jobs, and live with my brother in his house, which has been perfect.

(My fashion sense is not as ugly as that hat I'm wearing, we were just hiking, I promise..)

Anyways, I felt like I needed to write all this out and just give a full explanation of why we moved. I'm so excited to the see the new adventures that we go on together, and to see all that this city can offer us!

Until next time,

Stephen

PS. I was going to write about the trip moving up here.. but I didn't want to write too much. Maybe another time ;)

Slowly Fading into Fall // Living Stephen

Hey everybody!

Since for some places (definitely not Southern California, but definitely Portland) our seasons are changing from summer to fall! Finally! I am so unbelievably excited for the Fall/Winter months, and to experience an actual cold winter, where it actually rains. (Trust me, if you are from California, you know there is nothing but summer.. all year round.)

Anyways, because it is a slow transition from Summer to Fall, I'm trying to change up my style a little bit, by slowly bringing more fall colors into my closet. During summer, I'm normally in a tank top and shorts, sporting bright colors and tennis shoes; but because Fall is just around the corner, I've decided to start throwing darker colors into my wardrobe.

I am definitely more of a dark blues, maroons, blacks kind-of guy, and I have always loved having hints of it in my outfits. I try to steer away from having the darker colors during the warmer months, because I always just feel significiantly warmer and more uncomfortable having the heavy, dark clothes on. I'm also HUGE on matching, so if you look at the outfit down below, you can clearly tell that it comes out with colors like the maroon. I just really love the fact that my shoes match my shorts, which matches my shirt. It all feels really perfect for a cooler summer day, where I still have the hints of summer with the white shirt and shorts, but with the darker maroon and button up shirt to  bring in fall.

I'm also super obsessed with the shirt I'm wearing because it isn't just an all white shirt, it actually has splashes of, what looks like colored pencil marks, all around it. The main color is a dark maroon (like I said, I love to match), but also has other colors like blue, yellow and green. I always just feel really excited to wear this shirt because it seems to plain from far away, but it's actually quite cool once you look closely at it.

Well I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend, and try to take advantage of the heat! It won't be here much longer! (YESSS!)

See you later,

Stephen

White Button Up Shirt: Urban Outfitters (similar)

Maroon Shorts: Forever 21 (similar)

Red/Black Aztec Shoes: TOMS (similar)

Where have you been?

Hello!

So some of you may be back from my old blog, or some of you may be completely new. Either way, I'm Stephen and this is Living Stephen. I started a blog about a year ago, feeling like I needed an outlet for my feelings and desires (mostly because I was unsure/confused of my future, and that's never a good thing!) I was in a place where I had no direction or meaning behind blogging, I was just doing it.. Fortunately for me now, I feel a lot better about where I am, and felt like I needed to start new.

If you are new, welcome! I just moved from San Diego, California to Portland, Oregon about one month ago, and I am happier than ever with where I am! It's one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in, and although I'm a little homesick, I think that this is the best place for me right now. I'm hoping that I will be able to post about my life, my fashion sense, and give you a glimpse into what I do, and how I do it!

Here's to new beginnings!