Seasons (and sneak peaks at things I have bought.)

In which I discuss the seasons and how my perception of them is warped, yet seem to make amends with California.

In April I will be heading off to Portland for a week to do some "scouting" for my impending move. I'm terribly, terribly excited by this. Ever since we picked a date for the trip I have been planning outfits in my head (and even on paper with my shoddy drawing skills). Today I have realized that I have no idea how to dress for spring, especially not the Oregon version of it. I blame this on my perception of the seasons. I grew up with the following Californian seasons: Summer, Fire Season, Santa Ana Winds Season (which comes towards the end of Fire Season and generally before the fires are put out which usually results in half the state burning down), and Storm Watch Season (where we get three inches of rain and half the state is flooded.). So the transition form this to living in a place that actually has proper seasons is going to be strange and I imagine will result in some silly clothing choices. I have accepted this.

However this does make packing for this trip incredibly difficult. I know it will be raining (it is April and this is Oregon afterall), but I don't actually know what spring weather is like. I mean it is March and currently it is 73 degrees outside. By Tuesday it is supposed to be 80. This is normal for California, but is this normal spring weather for everywhere else? I hear all the blogs of people who live in places with proper weather that it's been a "heavenly warm" 60 degrees. Our "Winter" is when it gets down to 60. When I was in Portland last (Summer 2008) we were there on the hottest day of the year (82, and windy) and I wore a sweater, granted I did have to change that sweater to a sun dress, but I get hot easily. So what do I pack? I know I have a little while to contemplate this, but I seriously just realized that I have no concept of how to dress properly for the different seasons. I'm a little ashamed of this.

Plus I have been trying to do a closet purge/put away all my "winter" things (y'know the six scarves and 20 sweaters, 10 coats and 8 pairs of gloves that I never wore), and now I'm freaking out that I am going to need all of this for my trip, and that basically I am going to freeze. Do people wear tightsin in the spring? Scarves? Do I need a wollen coat, or just a rain coat? Can I wear open toed shoes? Can I still wear polyester dresses or do I need to pack that away (it's waaaay too hot here to even think about polyester)?

I know I'm probably over thinking all this. I mean come on, it's me. I wore those ugly little sequined slides in the rain the whole time I was in Ireland and never thought about covering my feet. I went to New York in December 2005 and I wore flip-flops on the day it snowed and didn't get cold. and I got a second degree sunburn in Mexico in April and had to wear a thin long sleeved henley the rest of the trip and nearly died from heat exahustion (it was 80 and overcast btw). I like cold, I like rain, I think anything above 75 is just indecent. But that does not change the fact that I have no idea how to dress from a real proper spring.

And somehow through all this, something hit me. It's not that I hate California. I actually like the idea of a permanent summer vacation. The world needs a California. It needs a place of eternal sunshine and warm weather; a place where dreams are made. I just don't need California. Eternal Summers have no appeal to me, thus I just don't need it. Of course this doesn't actually solve my packing problem, but it's a work in progress.

Also, thanks to a certain someone, I have realized I have just three months left here. Gulp!

On that note, excuse me if I seem to prattle on about moving.

Hey wasn't it just January?