Hi everyone. Welcome! You are either here because you searched for PDX+romantic in your favorite search engine, you heard me blabbing around town about romance, or you heard from my mom that I was starting this blog. Moms are definitely the best free advertising around. (Thanks Mom!)

However you came to learn about PDX Romantic, thank you for coming. So without further ado, let me share with you more about this blog, who I am, and what you can expect.

Who I Am

I am Kory McDow and I have a confession to make. In addition to being a web designer, amateur photographer, and armchair sociologist, I am also a die-hard romantic. I do romantic things for my partner all the time. I get to sit around and hear her tell her friends about the latest romantic thing I did for her. It makes them smile hearing about the stories. And it makes me smile seeing her smile.

I can’t help it. I’ve been that way since I can remember. I was the kid whose first girlfriend was the nurse at my doctor’s office. (If only I was 20 years older at the time, she definitely would’ve given me her phone number.) I was also the kid who made a homemade ring box with a cubic zirconium ring in it to give to the hottest girl in 8th grade. She said no, but gave me a kiss on the cheek. Little did she know, she was starting me down this road to perpetual romance.

How I got started

That road led me to where I am today, a blogging romantic. One afternoon my partner was telling her mother of the latest romantic escapade and my mother-in-law was so impressed that she suggested that I teach other men how to be romantic. I thought she was crazy as sometimes mother-in-laws can be (not you though mom-in-law). I laughed it off until I saw the look in her eyes that only a mother-in-law could give and I knew she was serious.

And if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you don’t mess with a mother-in-law when she’s serious.

So that’s when I decided to start helping others be romantic.

I am, however, not limiting this blog to only men. Women will also benefit from my thoughts on romance. I also am not limiting the reach of this blog to Portland as those living outside the City of Roses will enjoy reading about easier ways of being romantic as well. Whether you live, work, play, or know how to spell P-O-R-T-L-A-N-D (I just told you), there will be something here for you.

What does this mean?

This means that we are entering into new territory, a relationship, if you will. My contribution will be weekly articles talking about anything and everything romantic (and sometimes other topics that I make romantic).

Your responsibility will be to read these articles, comment on them, and continue the conversation so we can grow in our relationship. As the great Benjamin Buford ‘Bubba’ Blue says in Forrest Gump,

“I’m gonna lean up against you, you just lean right back against me. This way, we don’t have to sleep with our heads in the mud. You know why we a good partnership, Forrest? ‘Cause we be watchin’ out for one another. Like brothers and stuff.”

I will be looking out for your romantic interest, but in order to avoid a muddy situation, there are a few steps we need to take:

Step 1: Subscribe.

Subscribe to all the goodness that is PDX Romantic. You have two options: You can subscribe via RSS and have the articles come to your RSS Reader or you can subscribe via Email to have the yummy-ness delivered to your inbox.

You want to subscribe for all the goodies I have in store for you. You will want these nuggets of romantic gold delivered to your inbox or RSS reader. That way, when I have something to say, you will automatically have something nice to read. And if the post doesn’t apply for you at that particular time, you can come back and check out the archives for that idea you just HAVE to implement right now.

Step 2: Be social.

In addition to reading and commenting, tell your friends about PDX Romantic. Chances are, there will be something delicious for them here as well. Raise your hand if you know someone who hasn’t been romanced in a really long time. Now grab a pen and add sending their partner an email about this blog to your to-do list.

An even easier way of sharing the love is to check out PDX Romantic’s Facebook Fan Page and Twitter accounts. You can suggest us to your friends and re-tweet us to your heart’s content.

Step 3: Use PDX Romantic as a resource.

As mentioned earlier, you should check out our archives. PDX Romantic was created not only to be my soapbox for all things romantic, but to be a resource as well. Never again should you have to wonder about something romantic to do this weekend. I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, I will share some insights on how to become as romantic as you’d like to be. We all start somewhere.

By the way, did I mention that you should subscribe? (RSS / Email)

So here it is, PDX Romantic. I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I enjoy thinking about romance and producing them for you. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next post.

Until then,
Stay Romantic.