So Be It.

I am embarking! Finally.

2011-05-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

OK, I have finally decided to bite the bullet and make some changes. I've been on a journey for the past few years to discover my inner activist and, after reading a cartload of books about environmentalism, I think I'm ready to embrace my desire to make my life less about consumption and more about quality.

I doubt my husband will jump on the wagon with me for the kinds of changes I'd really like to see happen, but since I'm the one that stays home and actually makes the decisions about where we buy our food, what kind of cleaning and toiletry products we use, etc. I think I'll start making some small changes and hope he doesn't complain.

We've already talked about a few things we can do that will make a small difference but are not that time consuming or life changing.

1. We have committed to only using reusable bags when we go shopping.

2. I am currently using cloth diapers but am going to "step it up" with staying on top of the laundry so they are always available for use.

3. We are switching from disposable to reusable napkins. Hey we have about a million just sitting in our closet anyway, why not use them??

We are going to start implementing these things right away.

This week I am going to try to visit several farmer's markets in the area and decide which one I'd like to frequent. We used them in Portland but since we moved I haven't actually taken the time to explore the area and choose a new one. I think I'll start with the Scripps Ranch one on Saturday, then the Hillcrest one on Sunday and the Mira Mesa one next Tuesday.

Apparently Two Years?

2011-05-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Apparently two years go by quicker than you think. Hello long lost blog. Hello anyone still attempting to read them. I checked all my blog links and I guess blogging fell of the "to do" list of everyone I know some time in 2009. Go figure.

Maybe I'll secretly start up again??

For you sweet baby... I miss you so much.

2009-05-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

5/28/2008

the last few golden leaves are clinging

tightly to their branches

like they don't want to let go

like they don't trust

what they don't know

what they don't know '

cause it's not quite winter

and it's not quite fall

and even though it's been a year

i cannot pass you by

not at all

i tell myself enough

my heart can't feel

the reason why must we into the darkest season

it's cold

getting colder

i dreamt last night of being older

i looked in the mirror there was so much grey

if i saw you tomorrow what would i say

what could you say

it's not quite winter

and it's not quite fall

and even though it's been a year

i cannot pass you by

not at all

i tell myself enough

my heart can't feel

the reason why must we into the darkest season

the darkest season

it's not that i'm not thankful

or grateful for what we've grown

it's not that i'm not living my life alright on my own

i just feel the empty space

i still feel the wind blow through

i just thought in any case that i'd always know you

it's not quite winter
and it's not quite fall
and even though it's been a year
i cannot pass you by
not at all
i tell myself enough
my heart can't feel
the reason why must we into the darkest season
the darkest season

the darkest season

- Deb Talan

This is for you audio-bookers!

2009-05-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

You all need to get The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. It's only 3 hours of listening time, and is quite entertaining. I highly recommend it. :)
I especially think that Pammy and Jen will enjoy it.

The Glory of Easter

2009-04-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Crown him with many crowns

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne,
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing,
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
those wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
For thou hast died for me;
thy praise and glory shall not fail
throughout eternity.

Revelation 1:4-18

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man,"dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

In Christ Alone
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 9:1-14, 18-28, 10:14-31, 35-37
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lamp stand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep."In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay.

Book of Common Prayer:

Let us commit ourselves to God, and pray for the grace of a holy life, that, with all who have departed this world and have died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to God alone, we may be accounted worthy to enter into the fullness of the joy of our Lord, and receive the crown of life in the day of resurrection.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We glory in your cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection;
for by virtue of your cross joy has come to the whole world.
May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance, and come to us.
Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
We glory in your cross, O Lord, and praise and glorify your holy resurrection;
for by virtue of your cross joy has come to the whole world.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;
if we endure, we shall also reign with him.

O Almighty God, who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind,that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Traveling...

2009-03-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, so much traveling!
I just got back from Alaska, visiting my sister's family. It was a beautiful thing.
Every time I go up there I think, "I could live here!"... who knows, maybe someday.
I don't have any pictures yet because we took them all on my sister's rockin' new camera. She will be sending me the CD soon, hopefully (hint, hint) so I can show you all my adorable nieces and nephew.
I love the Fraleys!!
Before that Jeff and I had a great time in Sacramento/San Diego visiting our dearly loved college buds. Also a rockin' good time. (I think I should stop using the word rockin'... it's not working so well, eh?)
Next week Jeff and I are headed to Bend with his family for some skiing and hopefully some sort of relaxation.
Honestly, I'm starting to look forward to being at home this summer!
We just have WAY to many people we love that live far away.
How about you all move to Portland?!
Come on... you know you want to....

The green light for the baby train!

2009-03-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

That's right folks. I AM SO RELIEVED!
After 16 of the most horrible, depressing weeks of dealing with post-miscarriage hormone issues, my levels are finally normal!! Woohoo. My doctor gave us the green light for trying again - this time with a little help from my friend the progesterone pill.
So, keep us in your prayers these next few months, we'll be needing them!
Oh, and please don't ask me every week "pregnant yet?!", because that's not helpful. We'll let y'all know. :)
Thanks for praying for us!

Blast from the past

2009-03-03T03:52:00.000-08:00

My sister has been gifting me movies from our childhood - and it's great!!

I love rewatching all the hokey movies we grew up on! It made me want to post a list of all the great ones we watched over and over and over.

Keep in mind that "great" is a relative term :)

Anne of Green Gables
The Gnome Mobile
Ladyhawke
Short Circuit
Batteries Not Included
Cocoon
Karate Kid (I & II only)
The Ewok Adventure
The Buttercream Gang
Stand By Me
Breakfast Club
Pretty in Pink
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
The Abyss
Adventures in Babysitting
Space Camp
The Secret of Nimh
Return to Oz
Wargames
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Willow
Princess Bride
The Neverending Story
Baby Boom
Back to the Future
Big
Batman
Dead Poet's Society
Swing Kids
Labyrinth
The Last Starfighter
The Dark Crystal
Ferris Buller's Day Off
Can't Buy Me Love

Ha! They're Great!

Did I miss any??

The Season of Lent

2009-02-28T02:30:00.001-08:00

A couple of years ago I received the Book of Common Prayer from my in-laws for Christmas. I requested it due to the prayers I had found in it at one time, and treasured. I've been gradually warming to the catholic litanies and have really valued how this little book has met my needs in several times of personal crisis. It's a little gem that a lot of evangelicals don't know very well.

I was looking up the Season of Lent, which I didn't know much about, and loved this liturgy for Ash Wednesday that I wanted to post. The Book of Common Prayer is available online if you want to explore it further.

Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103,
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10
Matthew 6:1-21

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a
season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, and had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Psalm 51 Miserere mei, Deus
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak
and upright in your judgment
Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth,
a sinner from my mother's womb.
For behold, you look for truth deep within me,
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure;
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
Make me hear of joy and gladness,
that the body you have broken may rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
I shall teach your ways to the wicked,
and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from death, O God,
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
O God of my salvation.
Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice;
but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord.
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.
Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.
Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, We confess to you, Lord.
Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.
Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:
for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, Accept our repentance, Lord.
For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.
For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord.
Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.
Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn from their wickedness and live, declares and pronounces to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel.
Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Another summer alone?

2009-02-26T22:53:00.001-08:00

So, as you all read on Jeff's blog, he will be gone again this summer. The letter we received the other day said that he will be posted in Astoria, which is closer than last time and, thankfully, they are providing housing for him (no crazy old men watching polka 24 hours a day). I've never been to Astoria, so it will be fun to have an excuse to get out there this summer.
But, for the most part, I'll be puttering around the house.
If anyone wants to come visit me, I have every other week off! My friend Liz will get out here, but I'm hopeful that a few other people can come stay as well.
Joy is probably moving out in July, which means that I'll be alone in the house for the first time since I moved to Oregon in July of 2003! I've been lucky enough to have people staying with us every time Jeff is away.
I just had a thought.... Maybe this will be the summer I finally get a dog!
I'm planning on spending a lot of time in my garden, finishing my piano book, really buckling down on my french, and finishing my french history books. If you have any grand ideas of things I can do to occupy myself, let me know!

On Modern Art

2009-02-17T05:41:00.000-08:00

Concerning the Spiritual In Art:
The Movement of the Triangle by Wassily Kandinsky

"In the search for method, the artist goes still further. Art becomes so specialized as to be comprehensible only to artists, and they complain bitterly of public indifference to their work. For since the artist in such times has no need to say much, but only to be notorious for some small originality and consequently lauded by a small group of patrons and connoisseurs (which incidentally is also a very profitable business for him), there arise a crowd of gifted and skillful painters, so easy does the conquest of art appear. In each artistic circle are thousands of such artists, of whom the majority seek only for some new technical manner, and who produce millions of works of art without enthusiasm, with cold hearts and souls asleep.
Competition arises. The wild battle for success becomes more and more material. Small groups who have fought their way to the top of the chaotic world of art and picture-making entrench themselves in the territory they have won. The public, left far behind, looks on bewildered, loses interest and turns away."

Isn't it refreshing to have a real artist, a pioneer, validate what you feel (most of the time) as you walk through a modern art museum?

The Black Hole of the Internet

2009-02-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

It's unsettling how addicting Facebook is. I'm wasting my time online when i have too much to do around the house.

The Clear Frame of Reality

2009-02-01T03:20:00.000-08:00

My husband complained this morning that I never show him my poetry book - he's not allowed to look. So, I thought I'd throw him a bone and actually post for all the world to see a poem I wrote for him a while ago, and three of my first ever attempts at haiku.

For Jeff-

Poetry has fled from me
in light of you
the clear dawn
from bitter winter
into sweet delightful intensity -
because words have become
a languid, tepid vanity
that no longer inspire like you do.
Longing attained
from the corners of my dreams
fears and uncertainties
flee from you
and finally
I am left with an intoxicating silence
that pierces my soul with relief
and joy.

Haiku 1:

memory seeps creaks
open shut rot sweet deep thoughts
a long sigh goodbye

Haiku 2:

two far-flung ships tossed
crash illusions of grandeur
burn sinking covered

Haiku 3:

fear quests longing
pretty eyes pretty teeth hide
behind smiles blinks me

My sister rocks the casbah

2009-01-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

I finally checked her blog for the first time in a month or so and found a wealth of wisdom.
Read this article she wrote about the Internet and teenagers: Pammy's thoughts.

One of the worst books ever written?

2009-01-31T08:37:00.000-08:00

I defy anyone to tell me that they thought this book was good, or even entertaining for that matter.
I understand that I'm excessively critical of most fiction, but COME ON!
This book was terrible. I couldn't even choke the whole thing down, finally skimming through the last 300 pages or so to see how Mr. Goodkind would wrap up the melodramatic mess he created. I hated all the characters, finding them trivial, childish and cliche. Story plots include a "seeker of truth" and his weapon the "sword of truth" which pronounced and affirmed the main characters "righteous anger", a heroine who could kill her victims with love, torture and oh so much more. And this is the first in a trilogy! I'd rather be shot than read them all through.
I have also just discovered that they produced a TV series based upon the trilogy that aired this past year. I'm sure they'll skip all the horrifying parts of the book (ie: torture etc.), but still.
I'm sure Jeff has more to say about this mess.

Back In The Saddle Again

2009-01-30T23:37:00.000-08:00

Let's hope that 2009 is less disappointing, more interesting, and much "fuller" than 2008. I'm looking forward to a year of growth and adventures. Jeff and I have a lot of tentative plans for this year and, while I hate New Years Resolutions, I do have several goals I hope to accomplish. One of which being keeping this a bit more updated.
I want to find a better template, so pass any helpful websites my way. I want a three column blog to synthesize all my information into an easier to read format.

2008-10-29T02:42:00.000-07:00

Begone, unbelief - John Newton 1779

Begone, unbelief; my Saviour is near,

And for my relief will surely appear;

By prayer let me wrestle, and He will perform;

With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.

Though dark be my way, since He is my guide,

'Tis mine to obey, 'tis His to provide;

Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,

The word He has spoken shall surely prevail.

His love in time past forbids me to think

He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.

Determined to save, He watched o'er my path,

When, Satan's blind slave, I sported with death;

And can He have taught me to trust in His name,

And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?

Why should I complain of want or distress,

Temptation or pain? He told me no less;

The heirs of salvation, I know from His Word,

Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.

Since all that I meet shall work for my good,

The bitter is sweet, the medicine, food;

Though painful at present, 'twill cease before long;

And then, O how pleasant the conqueror's song

Update

2008-10-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well, Jeff and i both passed our GRE. It went fine, thank goodness.
We also went down to CA and had a great time with a bunch of friends. Go to Jeff's page and read about our crazy adventure on our drive home.
I'm just able to make it through my 7 days of work... the only thing that keeps me from crashing is looking forward to my 7 days off.
El Salvador is fast approaching... I leave in two weeks.
Jeff and I enjoyed a three day weekend at the beach with my folks. It was sunny, beautiful and a lot of fun.
I'm trying to study for my next board exam, and failing miserably. Maybe I'll take it cold and see what happens :).
Otherwise, I'm just tired.
I'm realizing how fast the rest of the year is going to go....
Next week's my mom's birthday, then my birthday and ElSalvador, then our anniversary, thanksgiving, Jeff's birthday and Christmas. It's going to be a busy 10 weeks.

More later

GRE?!

2008-09-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

Studying for the GRE royally sucks.
Too bad Jeff and I can't take the exam together. He rocks at the verbal, and I'm not too shabby in the math section. Apart, we're doomed.
Jeff's possible scores: Verbal: 780 Analytical: 300
Elaine's possible scores: Verbal: 300 Analytical: 780
Writing section for both of us?? Who knows!?

Two weeks and we will find out....

Liz!!!

2008-08-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Liz came out to visit me a few weeks ago. She was able to stay for 10 days, and I enjoyed that time so much! Here are some pictures of our adventures:

We went to Seattle on Wednesday with Joy and two of her friends but Liz and I spent the majority of the day on our own exploring the city. We went to Pike’s Place Market

Went on the underground tour (fascinating – I highly recommend it to people who have never done it before) and learned all about Seattle history, crappers and whorehouses.

Here we are on the pier enjoying the bay and eating crab and artichoke dip.

YUM! On Thursday we drove out to McMinnville to visit my auntie. We picked a bunch of blackberries and apples for free at my aunt’s house, went downtown for the concert in the square (see crazy lady dancing below), visited the farmer’s market where I purchased the BEST coconut macaroons on the planet…

...and then drastically changed my hair. My good friend Stacy’s mom is a hairstylist and so I entrusted my drabby head of hair to her capable hands. This is the before, the crazy 80s rocker look, and how I’m doing it every day.

I’m super happy with how it turned out. I’ve gotten millions of compliments from people. My favorite was “Wow! That makes you look 10 years younger!” Hmmm… I don’t think I was going for 18, but OK. Now I’m joking that I’ll get carded at R-rated movies.

Saturday, mom and I took Liz to the Portland Farmer’s Market downtown. It’s usually packed, but this was just crazy. Unfortunately PSU’s commencement ceremony was on the next block, so it virtually tripled the number of people in a three block area. Yikes! We had fun though. I was stoked that I found 5 pounds of blueberries for $10, and the hugest heads of lettuce I’ve ever seen for $2. It was super fun, and we topped it off with a peach & almond tea latte at the Tea Zone. I was thinking about Pammy and Rachelle the whole time I was sipping its deliciousness! Wish you two could have been with us!

Monday was cold and raining (go figure…. It’s Oregon). What else could we do but go to the beach?! Liz and I spent several days camping on the coast last year but we didn’t get farther south than Pacific City. So, we drove the Lincoln City to Newport stretch this time. We showed Liz Jeff’s contribution to the Oregon Coast Aquarium (the mosaic wall), went to the Hatfield Marine Research Center, ate at Mo’s for dinner, and stopped at every beach on the way. At Depot Bay we saw several gray whales. It was my first experience seeing flukes, and anything that close to shore. It was awesome.

Miss you Liz! You are such an awesome friend and I LOVE it when you come to visit! Love you tons…

Take it

2008-08-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

I have the next 8 days off all you 9-5ers.....
See what I think of THAT.

Movies

2008-07-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, since everyone expects it, I thought I'd tell you what I thought of the X-files movie.

Crappy. Who wanted to see a merely semi-decent 30 minute plot that should have been for TV turned into a movie? Not me. Good news - Mulder and Scully are still officially together. That's about all I got out of that.

Boo Chris Carter!

However, since I had a gut feeling to expect nothing more than the above, Jeff and I planned for a double feature and ended on a very high, very awesome note - The Dark Knight.

The fantastical Christmas tree - concerning Erica's post

2008-07-24T04:03:00.000-07:00

Ok,
I have to explain the following comment:

Erica said...
You really do have enough stuff to decorate a tree! I just saw a commercial for the new movie and thought of you.

The other night, during Bible study, Christmas popped into the conversation. Alas, it IS only July, but oh well.... I think I was actually the one to bring it up.

ANYWAY,
Jeff and I had this fantastic idea to make "themed", Christmas trees this year. We are going to make them as nerdy as possible and since we have differing opinions about the best tree decorations, Jeff and I are going to have a contest to see who decorates the best tree. You the blog readers will determine who wins the "Most Fantastical Christma Tree" award.

Just to give you a head's up...
Jeff's tree: Magic card related
My tree: X-files.

Oh yeah. Let the plotting begin....

July so far

2008-07-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while.
We've had a lot of fun things happen this month, and it's time I shared them.
We got rid of our internet since it was way to expensive, so we are having a harder time keeping all this up to date.

Right after we got back from Hawaii we had Eric and Steve up for a visit, which was great! I worked a few days and then had a few off, so I was able to hang out while they were here. We really didn't do much but watch a ton of movies, and get through a good chunk of Flight of the Conchords. It was great.
Jeff worked really hard and completely organized the garage before they got here, so we were able to enjoy it for the first time in a while. Here's some pics of ping pong, Jeff standing proudly next to his garage "aquarium", and Jeff putting up his black lights (that's Steve's hand... I don't know). It's pretty fun in there right now.

While the guys were playing ping pong Eric and I whipped out my X-files "obsession box". It is a remnant of the old days when I was addicted. Really - addicted. I think everyone was surprised that I actually own X-files trading cards and action figures. Crazy, huh? Here's a picture to prove it.

Other very nerdy nuances about Elaine include:
I have been to a Star-Trek Convention, loved it, and would go again in a heart beat if one was coming to Portland.
Some of the best money I ever spent:

Yes, I met Chewbacca!

I also play Magic cards. Not very well, I admit, but I’m slowly learning. We are establishing a modest collection. I love anime! We own a lot. My family regularly would watch all three Star Wars in a row to discover nuances in costume changes, plot and character connections etc. We also watched Star Trek… my mother is responsible for my Voyager addiction. I am an avid sci-fi reader. I have a level 82 Sorceress in Diablo II, a Night Elf WOW character, have attempted Starcraft, Halo and various other games. I’m currently engrossed in Persona 3. I regularly check out the current issues of National Geographic, Discover, Smithsonian and Science from our local library. Yes, we go to the library… a lot.
So there ya go... I'm definitely a nerd.

ANYHOO,
After the guys left we took it pretty easy. We went with our good friends to Manzanita on July 4th to watch the fireworks on the beach. I don't have pics, but look here and see what we were up to!

July 5th was Jeff's mom's birthday. We met the family and a few friends of Joy's at their house and went wine tasting for the afternoon. We had an incredible BBQ when we got back to the house, played with a giant sling shot and water balloons, and went in the hot tub. It was a really good day. Here's some pics of the wine tasting and the sling shot!

The weather's been beautiful so Jeff and I have gone on many walks, played Frisbee, and just had a great time outside. I'm really bummed because I accidentally deleted a bunch of pictures from our amazing date the other day. Grr! I don't know how in heck it happened! I had some good pics of us too.

Anyway, we went to the art museum in the morning, had a picnic at the Hoyt Arboretum, and went out to a fancy dinner downtown. It was great!

I had this entire last week off work because of how the scheduling worked out. Jeff and I got a lot of work done in our yard, which was nice.

I also went out to McMinnville to visit my aunt. We went downtown for the concert in the square, the farmer's market, and then just hung out a bit at her place. We picked a ton of cherry's, which I'm enjoying right now actually. It was great!

Hope you all are having as good of a summer as I am!

Last Day in Hawaii

2008-07-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, this post is about 10 days late - so sue me. I've been busy.

But here it is folks - the day I burned myself to a crisp.
After packing in the morning we all decided to go to the beach to bodysurf. We were there a total of three hours and I was wearing 50 spf. Well, all I can say is I'm glad I burned on my last day in Hawaii and not my first!

Here are the fun picks of us at the beach!

AND... We developed the pics from our underwater camera.
Here are pics of us snorkeling:

Jeff and I on the waterslides at the Hilton:

And here's my favorite picture from our trip:

Day Five

2008-06-20T02:24:00.000-07:00

Today we slept in late. Jeff and I were pretty tired from driving all day yesterday. When we got up we drove down into Kona for a last hurrah at the KBC - good beer and pizza again!
We walked around Kona and picked up some fun things for people at home and split another Hawaiian shave ice.

E: "My opinion on shave ice has totally changed! I'm surprised we haven't gotten this every day."
J: "You can almost describe it as a spiritual revelation in which you realize the natural superiority of shave ice."
E: "I'll never touch a snow cone again."
J: "Snow cones are the product of a hack."

After our glorious shave ice we drove to the harbor to try to see some fish... this marlin head greeted us in the water.
We saw a boat that caught a wahoo, a few skipjack tunas and a short bill spearfish - something Jeff hasn't seen before. Other than that, it was pretty dead. We drove home.

Jack and Deb took us all to a ridiculously good restaurant, the Tommy Bahama cafe. Jeff and I split a shrimp & scallop curry with almond rice and a salad that was to die for. Mmmm...
Our sunset was really beautiful too.

After dinner we explored a few of the resorts nearby. We walked through the Mauna Loa Resort, the The Fairfield Orchid and the Four Seasons. They were ridiculous. Too bad I don't have pictures. You should google them to see the ridiculousness....
We had desert at the Lava Lounge in the Four Seasons and I had this crazy island dessert trio; lychee mousse with rose whipped cream, dragon fruit and kiwi, Hawaiian sweet bread with coconut sorbet, and a mango tart. Pretty good!!

Drove home and now I'm going to bed.

I fly home tomorrow *sigh*. Back to the grind soon.
We'll have one more fling tomorrow and I leave at 8:00pm. So, I probably won't post the last day of our trip until Saturday or Sunday since I work as soon as I get back. Grr.

P.S. Jeff wore a BROWN shirt today.

Day Four

2008-06-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Loooong day yesterday. We all got up at 6:00am to commence our full drive around the big island. We drove a crazy road that seemed like it should have been in Europe somewhere - with it's narrowness and millions of bumps and potholes.
After two hours we arrived in Hilo, the tropical, wet side of the island, and went to the Hilo Farmer's Market. Lots of interesting fruits and veggies. We shopped there for a bit, and had lunch.
Here is the market:

Jeff and I ate octopus takiyobi, chicken pad thai, spam musabi, takiyaki, lychee fruits and a thai iced tea for lunch and ate by this huge tree that was awesome. Food was really really good. Thanks to our friends Fred & Erica for introducing us to the spam musabi at home... otherwise we probably wouldn't have dared try it - and it wasn't to be missed!! So good.

We drove a bit further north of Hilo to visit a bunch of waterfalls, hike in the jungley part of the island, and swim in this cool fresh water river that had a rope swing. Unfortunately leptospirosis prevented us from swimming, and construction on the paths we were going to hike prevented us from the hike we were going to try. Oh well...

This is the area with the rope swing:

These are some of the forested areas we saw, and some waterfalls:

Jeff loved this tree:

After walking around in the blazing heat we stopped at a stand on the side of the road to sip some fresh coconut water and eat the coconut, something I've never done. It wasn't particularly good, but it was still fun to experience.

After Hilo, we drove south to the active volcano. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was pouring rain - Hawaii style. Jeff and I weren't to be thwarted again, and wrapped up in our beach towels to run and look at everything.

This is us at the steam vents. It was really nice and warm next to them.

Here is the volcano crater. That plume of smoke is hard to see, but is an active eruption. We drove back up after exploring the rest of the park just in time for the sun to go down. At night that plume of smoke is lit orange because it comes from a 200 foot shaft with flowing lava at the bottom of it. It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

This is a lava tube we walked through:

These are older eruptions that are everywhere, and are just amazing. Jeff and I laughed that bigfoot must have walked in the lava field before it cooled to much.... What else could have made this impression?!

Oh, Jeff says: "Don't trivialize something I believe!"...

There was a short hike from one part of the park to an ancient petroglyph site. It was weird. You can read the sign and see what I mean.

This is the end of the road... literally. An eruption in the 80s flowed right across this part of the road, making the next seven miles completely impassable. And, sadly, the current eruption is in an area you have to hike that far in to see. We weren't planning on doing a 14 mile hike at 6:00pm, so we passed on seeing the lava flow into the ocean. And, hiking on this stuff isn't easy either. I'm not to disappointed. :)

This sign was funny. And, this was as close as we could get to seeing actual lava. That cloud on the horizon is where it dumps into the ocean.

This was our sunset on our way back up to the crater. Isn't it beautiful!?

We stopped on our way home at a black sand beach Debbie was eager to see. Even though it was night, it was still pretty cool. By extending my shutter speed I got this picture of the moon reflecting on the ocean. I think it's pretty cool.

And that was it, folks. We drove the 3 hours home and crashed at midnight. It was a lot to see in one day, but it was worth it to be able to see all of Hawaii.

Day three funness...

2008-06-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

Is that even a word?
Anyway. We had a really mellow day today and stayed close to the condo. Jeff and I got up early and walked back down to the Hilton to attempt swimming with the sea turtles. That part was awesome, but it was SO hard to see in the water because the freshwater waterfall mixing with the salt water lagoon and the temperature variability made it like swimming through mixing water and oil. The water was shimmering, and I felt like I was going blind! Needless to say, we weren't out long. We spent the rest of our afternoon in the fresh water pools, going down water slides and reading in a two-person hammock together. It was so nice. They also have a dolphin pool (like sea world) that we watched for a while.
Here are the pictures:

We walked back and finished our books, took a nap and just relaxed.
All of us made dinner together and ate on the porch. We had coconut rice, macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi, grilled ahi tuna, garlic broccoli and pineapple for dinner. It was so good I ate myself sick.

Here's pics of our sunset and all of us cooking:

After dinner we played two rounds of pass the pigs, which Jack & Deb had never played before. It was hilarious. That picture of me is totally real! I actually threw a double snouter - my first ever! Yahoo!

Is this picture real?!

Aloha!

2008-06-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

Hawaii day two!!
Again, woke up early to try and get a jump start on heading out to snorkel. We decided to drive to a prime spot about an hour south of where we are staying - Honaunau National Historical Park. The snorkeling was incredible. Jeff, Joy, Jack and I went out for about an hour as soon as we got there, and got some really good pics with our underwater camera. I'm going to have to get them developed and scan them in for you to see later.
I've never seen reefs like that before. Well, I guess that's not saying much since I've only been snorkeling in Mexico before this trip. But, you see pictures and can't grasp the scope of being there in the middle of the ocean with a reef 10-40 feet below you, a labyrinth of corals and rocks to swim through and just tons of fish swimming all around you. It was seriously unbelievable.
We definitely needed a break after swimming that long so we got out and walked to the historical monument that was across the little bay - a Hawaiian city of refuge that was at least 500 years old. Here are some pictures of us there:

After walking around a bit and resting Jeff and i wanted to snorkel more, so we went back in for another go. It was rougher the second time, but I saw a lot more. We ventured out quite a bit further than we did the first time. I casually mentioned to Jeff that if we see a shark we should squish together to make it look like one big person rather than two little persons.

Ten minutes later a white tip reef shark at least 5-6 feet long swam about 15 feet under us. I grabbed Jeff so fast, clawing at the arm with the camera on it. He, of course, was just in awe watching the thing, thinking that I was freaking out about the shark and not hearing my muffled screams of "get the camera! get the camera!". Needless to say, we missed the picture opportunity. It moved away super fast and we didn't see it again. Found out later that it probably wouldn't have mattered since the camera only has a good 4 foot range under water. No way I was going to get that close!! But wow. It was awesome.

After snorkeling we all drove north, stopped for dinner and, as you can see... the highlight of Jeff's Hawaiian vacation - Hawaiian shaved ice. :)

Jeff and I swam tonight in the condo pool until the sun went down and now, here we are just chillin. Will probably do our devotions on the patio, read some of our books and finish Stardust tonight.

Another good day in the Pacific!!!

Sweet sweet sunshine

2008-06-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... Hawaii (literally - we are staying on the big island).
We arrived yesterday! Our first goal was to find food, and we ended up eating at the Kona Brew Company - definitely on par with Portland's finest microbreweries. We had incredible pizza and beer and then headed north from Kona to Waikoloa where we are staying. Due to a mix up, we ended up in a different hotel room than we originally planned. So, the first night was kinda weird. Jeff and I did get down to the beach, but not until after dark.
Here is Jeff chillin already!

We went to bed early and got up early to head down to the beach to snorkel. The water was a bit too hazy to see much, but it was still incredible. I saw my favorite fish ever in it's natural habitat (the Picasso trigger fish)! Wahoo! After snorkeling we snuck into the hotel next door's pool and whiled away the time in the water and sunshine. Joy made us all an incredible black bean mango salad for lunch and then we drove up the street to the ritzy Waikoloa Hilton. The place is ridiculous. It's huge, and I really mean huge. We walked a loop from one end of the grounds to the other and it took us about a half hour. No joke. They had 3 different pool areas, one with a salt water lagoon that you can snorkel in. We didn't bring our stuff, but we're planning on exploring it more later this week.

This is the view from that hotel:

These are pics of us in the pool at the Hilton:

After swimming even more at the Hilton we went out to dinner at this amazing restaurant in Kona called Don the Beachcomber. Apparently Jack & Deb have eaten at this place since before they were engaged, and still living in Minnesota. It was special for all of us to be at "their" restaurant for father's day.
I loved this pick of Jack & Deb, and here's also one of us kids happy, sunned up and full of good food:

Our first sunset here:

Oh, and just some other random pics... Jeff and I in our "sexy" poses! Haha

Here is the condo we are staying in. My gosh it's amazing...

So far so good on the Hawaii trip. It's been fun! But, we do wish you all were here!!

Oh, by the way, isn't that picture of my eyeball awesome?!? Jeff took it at dinner tonight.

Leave for Hawaii!!

2008-06-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I leave for Hawaii tomorrow morning... Yahoo!
We've been home from MI for 9 days, and I've worked 8 of them, so a few days on the beach will be so welcome!
We are going to bring our laptop and try to post updates as we go, so we don't have to post a hundred pictures in one blog.
See you when we get back!!

A VERY long post about our trip

2008-06-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I just got back from Michigan, and let me tell you, it was a week of chaos. Good chaos, but chaos. I figure it's just always going to be that way when I go back home because there are so many people to see. We REALLY limited ourselves to the few people that were absolutely necessary, but I'm sure even they felt like they got the short end of the stick. We were just too busy attending all the wedding stuff for Julie. It was so incredibly good to be back there though.

Mom & Rick, Pam and Kevin and the babies came too, which was so much fun! Those little girls are adorable. It's pretty all-consuming to have them around, so it's a good thing they are the cutest, smartest nieces in the world and I love them so much. :)

We spent the time hopping from one wedding event to another, finding time to do fun things like fish on the lakes we stayed, watch movies in the Griffin's theater room, eat an amazing lunch at Pronto's (one of the sites in a new movie with Sigorney Weaver!), and visit the Henry Ford Museum.

My favorite things:

The unbelievable "Candy Mom Band" at the Henry Ford Museum- playing such songs as the ABC song and Happy Birthday with a hardcore twist. Wow.
Playing many very tense rounds of Nertz with Pam, Kevin, Jeff, Scott and Connie.
Charlotte's walk off the dock and into the lake - poor little thing kept saying "I slipped! In the water!"
Our boating adventures - our lake tour, the breakdown of the pontoon boat and subsequent time trying to keep the kiddos from being bored out of their minds while we waited for the tow, and the motor boat ride in the rain - see video below.
Seeing Liz, a lot! (and eating the Roasted Garlic)
And, of course, watching Julie getting married!! Yay Julie!

Here's a bunch of fun pictures from the trip:

Jeff & Liz fishing, Mike & Taylor, Mom & Taylor

Josh with Taylor and Julie & Quinn, Pam and Liz with their "dream cars" (ok, the dreams of the ones they actually had at the museum :)

Kevin and Jeff with their "dream" cars, Jeff and I at the wedding

Bob playing the guitar he made (took him two years!), The Shirocks with Pam and I, and a family photo

Liz and I at Pronto's (yummy garlic!), Josh and his "Wall of Courage" fundraiser for Beaumont's Cancer Center, Scott, Kevin, Charlotte, Connie and Jeff on the pontoon boat.

View from the Griffin's cottage, Charlotte and I swinging, Taylor in her life jacket on the boat.

The Lake

All of us on the motorboat in the rain!

I'm going to become pretty emotional now, so if you find it sappy, just skip it.

Do you ever notice when you see an old dear friend that, along with the absolute joy of catching up, there is a sad regret lingering in the background? I found myself wishing that I could have experienced life more deeply with the people that I love and miss. It's sad to come back and not be a part of recent memories.

So, here's my Michigan tributes:

To the Griffins:

Scott, Connie, Mike, Julie and Josh.... I can't even begin to express how profoundly you all have affected me over the years. Scott and Connie have been my second parents for as long as I can remember, and their generosity in opening up their homes and hearts has completely changed who I am - for the better. Even though I live far away, I really do think of them all daily. They are a part of my family and I cherish them all. It was SO good to be with them this weekend, SO good. I miss them all dearly, and wish that somehow our situations in life would have allowed us to remain close, like it used to be (stopping in to use the bathroom or grab something to drink and say hi - any time of day or night). Thanks for everything you have done for me, I can't express the depth of my love for you all!

The Shirocks:

Bob and Shirley swept mom, Pam and I up in their wings after dad left, encouraging and mentoring us in every way. I'll never forget or take for granted the time that Bob took out of his immensely busy schedule as a pastor of a new church to meet with me and mentor me spiritually, answering all the tough questions during that rocky time. They also opened their home to us at any time. Shirley basically forced me to grow through giving of myself to others, making me a small group leader to a group of 8th grade girls. The tremendous personal growth that comes through ministry and giving is a lesson she taught me, and one I try to continue to pursue. I am so thankful that Bob was able to be the one to join Jeff and I together before the Lord.

Liz:

Still a huge part of my life right now, one of my dearest friends. I've known her forever, almost 20 years, and she's as solid and loyal a person as I've ever known. I completely trust her and know that no matter what she's always there for me, and looking out for my best interest. I'm thankful that we can maintain such a good friendship even over the long distance. I love her!!

OK, just wanted to get that off my chest. Yay for knowing that no matter what I get to be with all these people in heaven - for eternity!

Needless to say, it was an amazing trip for me.

Memorial Day and other stuff

2008-05-26T23:59:00.001-07:00

Today has been a mixture of the good and bad for me.

I spent the morning weeding two spots of my front lawn (yuch). It looks better, but we still have a LONG way to go. As promised, here's a picture of the side yard I'm thinking of ripping up. Obviously I'm not doing well keeping on top of it, so what's the point in even trying??

We then came over to Jack and Debbies for a family BBQ that included my mom, Rick, and my cousin Jackie. It was a fun time with lots of crazy animal stories and an absolutely enormous amount of food.

Jeff and I watched the A&E premiere of The Andromeda Strain - a mini series based on Michael Crichton's novel from the 60s. I should say very loosely based. It's not too bad so far, but only part one has been aired.

I have bucket loads of stuff to do to get ready to leave on Thursday for Michigan, so I'm a little overwhelmed. We are attending a wedding for my second sister, Julie. I am really looking forward to seeing so many people I love and miss dearly. My sister and her family are also going to be there, which will be awesome.

Oh, and I found out today that they are pregnant with their third. If our baby was still alive, Pammy and I would be due the same week. Sigh. It's crazy and somewhat annoying how ironic life can be at times. It's been a hard day.

Just a lot of thoughts

2008-05-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

So a couple of things...

First, Jeff and I went to the Roseland Theatre last Monday night and saw our favorite band - Coheed & Cambria. Let's just say I was a bit out of my league. I wish my husband would have prepared me a bit more for the standing room, body surfing, jumping craziness it was. I'll admit that the first few songs I was having a really hard time enjoying because everyone was crashing into me from every angle, sweat and all. I finally realized that I'd have to get over it, and did. I ended up having a really good time. We were SUPER close to the band and they were just ridiculously awesome. The sound quality wasn't the greatest, whoever was mixing it all didn't do that great a job. But man, I'd go see them again in a heartbeat. Besides, Claudio is still my #1 famous person crush. :) I loved the mushroom hair while he was playing. I'll let Jeff tell you the technical details since I suck at that, but I'll just say... it was awesome!!

These aren't my pictures, because my phone sucks at taking them, but these are ones I found online, and look exactly like where we were and what they were like.

Oh, and we picked up the Armory Wars (with the special edition cover - see below) while we were there, since we've had a hard time finding it. After reading the comics and listening to the music, it's amazing how much everything makes sense. These guys are just incredible artists, and for Claudio to come up with such a complete concept work is impressive. Go to their comic website evilinkcomics.net if you want more info.

We also picked up this sweatshirt, which I love.

The rest of the week was pretty low key. I finally went in on Thursday to have the miscarriage induced, since it wasn't really happening on it's own. It was a hard day on Friday, but I'm just relieved that things are pretty much over. I feel like I can finally start moving on a bit more.

Saturday I needed to get out so we went downtown with our friend Mike for a standard trip to Powell's and Tea Zone and then the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, which was really good. I enjoyed it a lot, and am glad they took some liberties with the book to make it a more "impressive" movie. Obviously I didn't like the "love" interest deal, but hey it's Hollywood. I guess they had to go there, and it wasn't so bad that I was angry or anything. The only thing that kept me from enjoying the movie to the fullest were the three girls who sat behind us. I got so fed up with them oohing and aahhing at the introduction of every Narnian creature and commenting on Reepicheep's cuteness EVERY time he came on screen that I got up and moved half way through the film. I was hoping my husband would follow me, but I guess it only bothered me that much. I REALLY can't handle running commentary during movies when I'm in the theater. It drives me absolutely crazy. I don't mind people whispering comments every now and then but COME ON ladies!!

Anyway... I'm now at work and working hard (obviously :). It's Sunday, so it's slow. I only work 8 hours today (yay me!) and then I have tomorrow off. The family is all getting together tomorrow for BBQ, which will be pretty fun. I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day.

Summer is here... finally

2008-05-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

After months of rainy, cold Oregon weather (stay away you sun lovers... Oregon is ours!) we finally were thrust into summer yesterday. It was 100 degrees outside. Jeff and I spent a glorious afternoon swimming in his parents 85 degree pool. Everyone at work switched shifts to give me the day off of work just so we could be together and be mellow. I sure needed it. We ordered pizza and watched movies all night when the weather cooled off.

But it's got me thinking about those activities you put off all winter because it's too cold and wet outside. You should see my yard. It's so bad it's funny. I'm suprised our neighbors haven't mounted a protest in front of our house. I'll take pictures to show you how much I am NOT exaggerating. Jeff and I live in a very well manicured neighborhood with people who weed, mow, prune and trim on a daily basis. I think we should probably hire a service just so we aren't the black sheep of the neighborhood anymore. I'm actually thinking of completely ripping out a majority of the landscaping and sodding it just so the only maintenance is mowing. Even then it will be annoying to keep on top of.

Then, of course, there is the issue of the garage. It's amazing. We thoroughly organized and cleaned it last summer and yet we've been chucking stuff in there all winter and it's a big mess again. I refuse to get to the point of having floor to ceiling, wall to wall boxes like our neighbor (even though their lawn is impeccable I shudder at the sight of their garage).

I'm also thinking of starting to paint the baby's room. This may seem weird but I think it will be therapeutic. Especially since we are planning something pretty time consuming I'd rather get it done pre-second pregnancy than be stressed about it later.

I'm looking forward to actually going to the summer farmer's markets, taking long walks outside, camping with my husband and a miriad of other summery things. We already have two trips planned. We are going to Michigan for a wedding at the end of May, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some old friends. We are also going to Hawaii for a week in the middle of June. I, unfortunately, have to come back early for work but that's ok. Six days in Hawaii is better than none.

Right now I'm just happy it's warm outside.

Our Second Ultrasound

2008-05-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the email I sent out:

Hi Everyone,
First off, we love you guys. You have all been such huge encouragements to us this week.
Again, a recap for those of you who may be added to this email but weren't on the first.Jeff and I went in last Tuesday for our 10 week appt, at which they performed an ultrasound and discovered that the baby was only 6 weeks along developmentally. Our doctor scheduled a second ultrasound for today to check and see if the baby would grow to seven weeks because he was concerned about the time discrepancy.
Unfortunately, the baby not only didn’t grow, the heartbeat we saw last week had stopped and there was no blood flow to the baby. So, some time this past week our baby went to be with Jesus in heaven. We really do believe that life starts at conception, and that the second our baby died that it went straight into paradise, where we will get to meet him or her one day.
Obviously we are really sad because we love our baby a lot, but we also know that God knew the best thing for us and we trust that. Both of us being so logical is helping us a lot. We know that this happens to a lot of couples and that it is usually because there was something wrong with the development. I’d rather our baby be with God than to struggle with major developmental issues here on earth. We have been praying all week that God would be with us no matter what happened, that we’d be strong and our marriage would deepen no matter what, and that we’d be able to totally trust God. We don’t feel any anger at all, and are both going to be ok.
The sucky thing is that we live in a broken world where bad things happen ALL the time. And like Job says, “Will we accept good things from the Lord and not bad?” (2:10) God is God no matter what happens to us down here, and He is good. We trust that God will use this situation to help make us more like Him so that we can bring Him glory while we are on earth.
Please keep praying for us because it is going to be hard for a while. We have really felt all your prayers already and have been comforted so much though this. We are glad we have friends and family like you all to help us through this crazy journey that is life.
Much love to you all…
Lainey and Jeffrey :)

Work... sleep... work.... sleep... sleep

2008-05-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

This has been my life for the past few weeks. I covered a week for a gal on vacation, her shift being 9:30pm - 8:00am seven days in a row. Yep, by day four I was wishing the world would end so I wouldn't have to come to work. It did not, however, and I dragged my sleepy butt in every day and got through it just fine (except with more complaining than normal). Then, rather than play on my days off, I slept. A lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot... like 14 hours a day, at least. It's pathetic how tired I've been. Supposedly this goes away by week 12. I'm sorta doubting how I can go from feeling completely dead to the world most days to completely fine. We'll see! I hope it does because we have a heck of a lot of stuff to do. And I haven't really seen anyone much lately. I miss my friends. :)
So, there's my whiny pregnancy update. I'll post more later, about not so whiny material.

My husband the reading fiend!!

2008-04-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

By the way, in the time it took me to post my updates and read other people's updates, Jeff read AN ENTIRE BOOK. Is that not crazy?! Here's proof: he's 20 pages away from the end.... (and picking his head! Grrr...)

Progeny?! Really?!

2008-04-22T00:46:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's true.... I'm pregnant. Crazy huh? And we all said Jeff ruined himself with the hot tubs and ocean! Ha! Well, this proves everyone wrong.
Yes, we are thrilled. We've been "trying" for several months, but thought it would take longer. We've been ready for a while, though, so this has been fun. It's been crazy telling people. We've gotten every reaction from "Oh..... cool", to "Are you joking?!" to uncontrollable laughter... you get the point. I don't think people were actually expecting us to sire any young.
Here are some of my favorite first words out of mouths:
"You are REALLY going to have to baby proof your home, this place is not kid friendly"
"You are going to gain a LOT of weight"
"You need to be really careful because you aren't past the danger point yet"

Seriously, what are people thinking?! I'm sure it will only get better from here. Thank you all you lovely people who are actually happy for us, and have congratulated us. It really means a lot, especially when people respond badly.

So, as for me I'm doing fine. We are only seven weeks, so we'd covet your prayers for protection and safety. I'm not really sick, but the thought of food is disgusting most of the time (sesame ginger rice thins and ice water are my special friends), and I can't stop sleeping. I'm getting 10 hours a night AND sleeping anywhere from 1 to 5 hours during the day in naps. This is ridiculous.
But, otherwise, I'm just fine. I'll try to post updates more frequently to let you know what's going on. We love you all!

PS. I finally posted updates about the rest of our lives, see below. :) There are some cute videos of my Alaska trip.

Love you all...

Weekend

2008-04-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

I had five days off in a row this week. We told the fam, and ended up with Jack, Deb and Joy at a bed and breakfast up on Mount Hood for a few days. We spent Saturday skiing at Meadows, which was a crazy experience. I fell SO many times. I kept catching the edge of my ski on the sticky snow. I wasn't the only one having trouble, but I won't name names :). We went up to the top of the mountain to ski a green off the edge of the park but when we got there we had to wait for the driving hail to stop before we would start. It was painful! When we did brave the weather, it was a complete white-out at the top. It was actually scary because you couldn't see more than 10 feet ahead of yourself. I kept loosing sight of Jeff, who was in front, but we all managed to stick together. Once we got out of the cloud at the top we were virtually alone on this easy gradual slope (thank goodness) with about a foot and a half of powder. I've never skied powder before, and let me tell you, it's an experience. It is stinking hard to turn and my thighs were already killing me, so it was completely exhausting. But, it was actually really fun because you have no fear of falling, so you're able to try different things. It's like skiing in a huge fluffy down comforter. Now, of course, I'm SO sore, and tired.

The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at was a huge, beautiful log cabin overlooking two rivers, but I don't think we'll ever go there again. The owners lived in the cabin as well, and there was this strange obligation to spend time with them visiting rather than being able to relax on your own in more of a "hotel" atmosphere. It was not a come and go as you will place, and was pretty awkward at times. But, it was beautiful. Here is the view from our window:

I'm really glad to be home though...

Alaska - Part Two . . . (finally)

2008-04-21T23:30:00.001-07:00

The rest of my trip in the great north was excellent, but went by too quickly. Pammy and I had a great time, and even had a clear day which to enjoy the view. Charlotte was a crack up as usual, and such a handful! She is so curious about everything, yet has those big eyes that you just can't resist. She calls me Aunt Yay-yee (for Lainey), and I just totally melt when she says it. :) Here are some more pictures, and a few videos of the rest of my time there:

Pammy and Taylor at the Two Sisters Cafe (how apropos considering we were two sets of two sisters :) Aren't they both so beautiful?

The best lattes... EVER. Seriously. Mmmmm...

Me enjoying the best latte ever... with my new haircut that has bangs too!

Beautiful, wintry Homer.

You can tell someone got into the markers....

The child loves books already!

Mom bought this chick for the girls for Easter, a very good investment since the girls were fascinated for hours.

This video is a bit longer but so cute. Charlotte is talking to grandpa on the phone and sings the whole ABCs, counts to 10, sort of, and has a gibberish conversation we were cracking up at. And Taylor is so cute in the background :). I love these babies!

Alaska - part one

2008-03-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am in the "cold" part of the world. And, true to its reputation, it's snowed every day :) I'm having a nice a low-key time with my sister and the babies, and it has been so sweet to be with them again. Charlotte is ridiculously smart, and talks ALL the time. Taylor is just a darling rolly-polly fat baby, and I love her. Here are some pics of the girls:

We really haven't done much this trip, which has been so nice. My one big excitement (aside from Pammy and the babies of course) has been getting my hair cut today. It's really different and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I'll put pics up later.
We also saw a house burn down yesterday. It wasn't anyone Pam knew, but it was still horrible. It was her birthday and we got up early for the best latte I've ever had while we were on our way to watch the bald eagles being fed on the beach. We also watched the movie Enchanted, which is just ridiculous, and had to say goodbye to my mom and "second mother" Connie.
Pam and I grew up with Connie's family, and we both miss them all a lot. Our little sister Julie is getting married in May - which makes me feel SO old since I've known her since she was four! So, all of us are going to try to get out to Michigan for the wedding. There are a lot of people there that I haven't seen in years, and would love to catch up with.
Otherwise, I think my husband is doing OK without me. He had quite the exciting St. Paddy's day, but I'll leave that to him to share. :)
I'm really tired so I'll leave this as is, despite probably being really poorly written.
More later...

I do have a crush...

2008-03-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the object of my affection... don't laugh:

We are going to see them in May.

Oh, and yes, Jeff approves. ;)

Could the nerdiness be any more blatant?

2008-03-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

I had a moment of enlightenment the other night. I'll tell you the context: Jeff and I had gone to this hole in the wall little card shop called Ancient Wonders in Tualatin to play magic with a few friends. After several group games we decided that we would go up the street to Applebees to get some food. We ended up staying there for several hours with a bunch of people we'd never really met. There was one other girl there. Of the 10 of us 4 of the guys (including my husband of course) were coloring on the children's menu.
Yet in the midst of this I realized that I really liked these people. They were all very smart, quick witted and happened to enjoy a lot of the same things that I do. We were talking about sci-fi books, anime, magic of course, life experience etc. It amazed me that people who the world would look at and totally discount as having anything valuable to add are some of the most interesting people to spend time with. I never really had included myself in this group of "nerds" before, but I'll be damn sure that I'd rather spend time with them than arrogant people who refuse to see beyond the superficial. I had a really good time, and left really happy.
I would like to officially announce that I am thrilled to be a slightly weird, nerdy person who loves anime, sci-fi, magic the gathering, and video games! Bring it on.

P.S. I'll post some pictures the next time I go to the shop.

Yummy yummy food!!

2008-02-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I have just discovered that Portland has two winter markets open in the farmer's market "off season". The one that we have visited is the one in Hillsdale, about 20 minutes from our house. Both Sundays that we have gone have been cold and windy yet I'm amazed how many people are willing to brave any weather for good local produce. And, the abundance and variety was pretty impressive! I talked with a lot of the vendors, most of which are organic, and have learned a lot already about what you can grow out of season, within reason of course, if you have a green house :). The couple in the right picture sell incredible eggs from pasture fed, free roaming chickens. They are really tasty, but usually sell out in 15 minutes (so I get there 1/2 hour early to stand in line :)! We also found a guy that ranches buffalo, and sells elk that he hunts. Jeff and I have been buying the ground buffalo, and oh man... it's good. I'm SO happy we found this place, and it has become the source of the majority of our food now. Cheese, milk, veggies and fruit in season, meat, nuts, beans, bread... they have it all. So, if you live around here, I recommend going. Farmer's markets aren't just for summer anymore, thank goodness!!

Really Weird Behavior

2008-02-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

OK, I didn't think this actually ever happened in reality, but it does! And it happened to me, with a guy that is gay, which I don't understand at all.
Last night Jeff and I went with 10 of our friends to a little hole in the wall bar downtown that we really like. One of my friends started dating this guy which he wanted us all to meet. After everyone else had a few I went to the bar to get a drink with my friend Stacy. As we were ordering, this new boyfriend gave Stace a hug and proceeded to grope her! Then he reached around, grabbed me AND a complete stranger at the bar. I was so shocked I wasn't sure how to handle it, but I obviously crossed my arms in front of me so it wouldn't happen again. Unfortunately I was taken off guard a few minutes later and it happened again. Jeff didn't even see it coming either. So my question is, who does that?! And especially if you're gay, what the heck?! I'm going to have to make it pretty clear I'm not going out with that guy present if he continues to act like an idiot. People are so strange.

Hymns

2008-02-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

I love hymns. Mostly because I detest the modern, cheesy, self-focused "worship" songs that so often get sung in church today. Isn't the whole point to actually worship GOD and His work rather than our own feelings? I'm particularly partial to hymns that are full of theology and force me to think about what I'm actually singing. Thankfully, my church is pretty good and we usually sing a good mix of old and new.

I wanted to share my favorite hymn because it has comforted me on many occasions, yet never gets sung in church. So, for those of you who may need encouragement, I share this:

How Firm a Foundation - John F. Wade 1751

"How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.

'Fear not I am with thee; O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee and help thee and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
the rivers of sorrow will not overflow,
For I will be with thee, thy trials to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply:
the flame shall not hurt thee, I only design
thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I will not, no never, no never forsake!'"

"The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." ~Deuteronomy 31:8

Miss you all

2008-02-17T13:54:00.001-08:00

I just needed to post a little comment telling everyone that i miss them a LOT. Jeff and I have been missing Ryan and Rachelle, Eric and Jen like crazy. You all are so much fun, and we don't like living so far away. Then I was thinking about Lisette and Mary and Erik and it made me really sad that THEY don't live so close either. I LOVED spending time with you guys around Christmas and hope you can come up some time soon! And that all got me thinking about my friends here whom I don't get to see very much but still love and think about and pray for (ie: Cherie :). Then, I was stupid and went and looked at my sister's blog and almost lost it looking at the picture of her sweet little babies. Sigh.
It's not fair. So, I miss you guys a lot. Wish I could give you hugs (because I LOVE hugs) and hang out. You are SO awesome and mean a lot to me!

Thoughtful quotes from a strange book

2008-02-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking for about two weeks what I want to say about this book that I just read. Aside from being really dark and quite depressing, I thought it exceptionally insightful and well written. I'll leave it at that and just give you a quote to illustrate my point:
.
.
.
"This is a reconstruction.... When I get out of here, if I'm ever able to set this down, in any form, even in the form of one voice to another, it will be a reconstruction then too, at yet another remove. It's impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was, because what you say can never be exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too many parts, sides, crosscurrents, nuances; too many gestures, which could mean this or that, too many shapes which can never be fully described, too many flavors, in the air or on the tongue, half-colors, too many."
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Bust?

2008-02-06T00:19:00.001-08:00

Jeff proposes that I get a marble bust to put on my piano.
What about these?

Because classical and gore belong together!

"Yes!" "HaHa!" "Heyyyy" "Yes!"

Rambo... stoned!!

"Cause daddy's got a whole new bag"... Communism!
No, I don't support poaching. I just really like King Kong!

"Did you just zap daddy?" "No! No, no no..... I did just zap your daddy"

This is as close as we could come to beheading him.

Seriously, what's up with Hillary's boobs?!

Yes, he's pissed... and it's because of the way you play!!

The man in the moon? Or Churchill? Hmmm...
Effeminiate? YES!

It's Dante... come on.... DANTE!

And Jeff's top 10 most desired busts: (but not like it sounds)

10. Isaac Asimov

9. Captain Kidd

8. Claudio Sanchez

7. Bruce Campbell

6. Danny Glover

5. Weird Al

4. The Giant Squid

3. The Christmas Yeti

2. Alabama Vest (maker of the kazoo)

1. James Kirk or Jean Luc Picard

Just to share one more funny: Before formating, this was one quote:
Yes he's pissed.... The man in the moon??

And it's because of the way you play!! Or churchill? Hmmm...

For Pammy :)

2008-02-06T00:12:00.001-08:00

"I lay them out like this because on Tuesdays I like to challenge myself, I play them all simultaneously."

(Jeff)

From left to right:

Chopin Polonaise (Militaire) Op.40, No.1

J.S. Bach Prelude & Fuge No.5 in D Major

Mozart Rondo in A Minor

Mozart Sonata No.5 in G Major K. 189h

Rachmaninoff Polichinelle Op.3, No.4 (ed. Oesterle)

And, I did get most of this for free... No, I wouldn't presume to actually be able to play it... ever. :)

The floors... finally!

2008-01-28T15:43:00.001-08:00

Ok, here are the before and after pictures of the upstairs transformation. Crappy carpet be gone!!

The living room

Dining room

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Entry Stairway

So, how does it all look?? Jeff and I have been enjoying it immensely. We are so pleased with the quality of work we received. But, here's a crazy story.... We went to pick up our hardwood the weekend before it was scheduled to be installed. We opened our box and found, to our horror, that we had ordered the wrong wood. We still don't know what happened with the communication there, but what we got was definitely NOT what we thought we ordered. We spent a day frustrated, and then decided we liked it enough to not go through the hassle of bitching at the company and hoping we could get what we originally hoped for (we already had a conversation with our representative about what we would have to go through to get what we wanted). For those of you who didn't get the whole story, let me explain our cavalier attitude by this point. We had been desiring to replace the carpet upstairs with something new for quite some time when my aunt introduced me to the man who owned a flooring company in McMinnville. He took us through the whole process of giving us an estimate, helping us with scheduling etc. We ordered our wood in late October after many conversations with this man to set up our installation. The company we ordered from told us that they would store our materials for 45 days. After trying for three weeks to contact our installer to tell him that our materials were ordered, he called to tell us that we needed to find someone else, he was too busy! Who does that?! We had 30 days to get our floor installed before we had to deal with storing issues. Thankfully we finally found someone who would come out the first week of January and that was the weekend we picked up the wrong wood. At this point we were beyond caring. So, we really like it now and it probably ended up being a good thing in the long run anyway. The wood we originally wanted was a very dark, almost painted, no grain showing, high gloss wood. This is much more moderated and I think will be received much better when we choose to sell the house. Either way, I'm just glad it's done.

In the process we discovered an electrical issue we had to deal with and we also had a plumber come out this morning. So, it's like an entirely new house! Ah the joys of home ownership... constant work. Unfortunately we aren't like the clever Steve and Jenny who can do everything on their own :), they are amazing and their house is beautiful too. But now we know who to go to for consolation on home projects!!

Anyway, on to happier things. I also got a piano! We knew we didn't want to get it until we did redo the floors because it's a pain to move something like that all over your house, multiple times. Once is enough for now; it won't move until we do. I've been happily plunking away, but not spending as much focused time on it as I'd like due to the housework and job situations.

Joy of joys.... my new piano!!

Jeff and I are doing well, and calming down a bit more now that the dust is settling. We have a full house right now with Joy's boyfriend Stephen and his best friend Brian in town with us this week. It will be fun to have a lot of activity about. I only work Thursday and Friday this whole week and am vastly enjoying myself. Hope everyone else is as well! More later...

New Year's madness

2008-01-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

Trying to take pictures of the fireworks and slopes at Ski Bowl on Mt Hood on New Years Eve was not easy with hundreds of mostly drunk people pushing and shoving you around... let me tell you. Jeff and I were invited by a good friend to head up to the mountain with her, her family, and new fiance (congrats guys!!) for a few days over the new year. We rented skis ahead of time for a really good rate and went up for night ski on the 31st and the first. It was extremely cold, windy, and beautiful. Watching the New Year roll in to the tune of hundreds of screaming people in 20 degree weather with my BFK being sloshed around by people was... interesting. It was the first time in many years I haven't been warm in a house watching the ball drop. Though my mother did tell me that this year it was hard to watch Dick Clark's attempt to speak. It was a super fun time and yes, I kicked that mountain's butt. For my 3rd time skiing, I did pretty good! I really biffed it once at the bottom. My ski caught an edge on the increasingly icy snow. But otherwise, all went well. My poor toes were really happy when we got warm again. I think I'm going to try to find electric socks before we go again.

Otherwise, Jeff and I have been good. Christmas went well. We were really busy trying to spend time with all the family and it was fun. Saw the new National Treasure for our annual Christmas day movie. I must say though, it was pretty disappointing. Entertaining, but exactly like the first one. I had to work that night so we didn't do as much on Christmas day. I worked six days in a row and now I'm off for 10. I can't even tell you all how nice it is to just stay home and do nothing. Jeff and i have been watching cheesy movies, relaxing, eating, playing on itunes... etc.
For Christmas we received Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure from my grandma, which I was shocked to find out, my husband had never seen. He cracked up. Anyone who can't enjoy watching Gangis Khan ravage a mannequin is crazy. It's the greatest movie ever!! (Ok, not really but I have SO many childhood memories associated with that movie. It's awesome in it's own way).

Oh and one more thing. For everyone who has been asking incessantly about our flooring... we are having our hardwood installed on Saturday. I'll take some before and after pics for y'all to see.

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas Cookie Goodness

2007-12-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

My family didn't particularly have a lot of Christmas traditions but one that we did every year for as long as I can remember is to decorate Christmas cookies. One year our cookies kept breaking so we decided to use it to our advantage and made "Picasso cookies" with the pieces glued together with frosting. Once that happened we decided to get really creative and made alien cookies and so forth. We were strange. Today my mom had Jeff and I over for a Christmas cookie reprise of our growing up tradition. We made some fun ones:

Jeff made the Sasquatch (that we decided looks like a monkey), and the cyclopes in tighty whiteys.

He made the salmon on the left, the stick figure man, and the "do I look like a duck?" cookie for Joy.

This is self explanatory :)

This was at the end when my mom and my creative juices were pretty tapped out. Her red hots man is very happy but my raisin man is miserable. :)

I made the Adam and Eve cookies.

I think this is my husbands masterpiece :) Pretty impressive skeleton, eh?

I made these for my sister in honor of our previous alien cookies. And the people are, if you can't guess, Mulder and Scully of course.

Fun Times in Sacramento

2007-12-19T21:45:00.001-08:00

Our trip north went pretty well. It really helps a lot to stop halfway and visit friends. We stopped in Sacramento to be with Mary and Erik for two days before continuing home. It was so much fun! I really miss both of them a TON. Erik was done with his residency for the month so we all got to spend the days together. We went to the Sacramento Zoo which, despite its size, is a pretty impressive place. We all really appreciated how close you can get to the animals. I've never seen a live hyena, anteater or snow leopard before. I took some pictures with my phone that aren't exactly great quality, but are fun anyway:

That night we went driving to a neighborhood near Folsom that puts on a light display every year. It was crazy. I took a bunch of pictures but again, the quality sucks.

Jeff just gave me this...

2007-12-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

Don't know how we missed 4 and 5, but this is a GREAT album. Jeff just gave it to me. We had such a good night last night. We went to the Summit House, which is incredible all decked out at Christmas time. We had a really hard time getting a decent picture of us. I think we were both just tired and mellow that night, so these aren't that great, but here's a few anyway.

2007-12-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

My camera refuses to take a non-blurry picture, but here it is folks. I've permanently scarred my body for all earthly eternity. I hope my husband is happy! :) This was another birthday present for him, one which I did on the sly, and which I think he never actually expected me to do, even though we'd talked about it.

It's pretty low on my back and my jeans actually obscure all but the top, so it's fairly well hidden unless I choose to expose it. So far, everyone I've shown has approved, even my mother :).

It's depressing Monday

2007-12-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

This is how I feel today: http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=2075552652883M229927320Y&product_id=
This morning sucked. I hope you all have a better Monday than me and Hoops.

I basically got chewed out all day for doing things wrong or not as quickly as people liked, or not being able to do them at all because I'm not trained yet. And we were busy. Very busy.
My only consolation was that the cafeteria guy gave me free bacon with my breakfast. That almost made things better. That and it was my last day of work for 10 days. 7 days in a row is too much.

My Birthday Killings (figuratively)

2007-11-25T23:23:00.000-08:00

My birthday was a few weeks ago and I got a lot of really cool stuff and just wanted to share: Jeff gave me some sci fi books which, so far, have been good, and a cd that I love and listen to 24/7. My dad got me an LL Bean gift card with which I bought a fishing pole (YAY!), my mom & Rick got me a B&N gift card which I used to buy a few Mercer Mayer books I'm missing in my collection. Jack and Deb got my airline ticket to visit CA people. I'm debating a video game with my Target card from Ryan and Rachelle. My sister made me a journal and Greg & Angela bought me 3000, yes thousand Magic cards.... So that's me in a nutshell in case you didn't know: being with friends, books, video games, magic, outdoors and poetry.

My love of fairy tales

2007-11-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

Some of my best childhood memories are the times my sister and I would build forts to read our fairy tales. I remember climbing in amongst the pillows and blankets and reading "The Little Mermaid" with the flashlight, bawling our eyes out at the tragic ending. The passion for fantasy has not dwindled, and my sister and I are always on the lookout for new pictures books to add to our collection. A few years ago we discovered the incredible, and fairly unknown talent of Mercer Mayer to capture our favorite tales with his beautiful pictures. Yes, the Little Critters illustrator did Beauty and the Beast and many others. I was roaming online tonight and ran across his website. These pictures are a sampling of the pages from Pam and my most cherished books. Isn't he just incredible?

Well hello hello

2007-11-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

I'm a little goofy for lack of sleep right now. Just got off my shift and decided I didn't really want to go to bed. I WAS going to go grocery shopping since I've been living off of granola bars and bananas for the last five days, but they don't open when I get off of work. LAME. However, last night/this morning was my "Friday" thank goodness. I have until next Monday off, which I'm going to hopefully use efficiently to get done the stuff that has been desperately piling up since I went to CA three weeks ago. Sigh. Can't I have 48 hour days in which I can work my 10 hour shift, sleep 8 hours and still get done what I need to?
Otherwise, I'm good. I have the house to myself for a while since Joy is out east visiting friends. It's slightly weird and very quiet. I was actually able to get WOW downloaded this past weekend, so I'm hoping to play some of that real soon, which is an excellent distraction.
I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving. Mine is going to be shared with three of my families (my mom's, my step-family, and the in-laws minus my husband), which will hopefully be fun.
Ok, maybe i am kinda tired. I'm going to try and get some sleep. I've been getting lots of sleep during the day, but man, I have the strangest dreams....
More when I'm actually rested.

Trying to alter my schedule

2007-11-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

So, I'm back in California again. I'm staying at a "hotel" with Jeff down in Long Beach and trying to adjust to staying up late. It hasn't been working out so well. Part of the problem is that there is only so much entertainment I can choke down in one day, and what else is there to do on vacation? I'm used to a very particular structure to my day and throwing that to the wind for two solid weeks is a bit stressful. I had Jeff bring me some computer games for a change of distraction. He's at work right now. It really is great to be together again. It's strange the things you take for granted: having someone to wake up to and look at every day, someone who can share all your weird thoughts and make you laugh, an extra set of hands, someone telling you that you look nice. I miss all those things and more when he's not around. But anyway, we're having a good time and the weather is perfect. It's strange not to have to wear a coat when I go outside. Portland has been in the low 50s, high 40s since Halloween so I'm enjoying all the sun I can get. More later.

Me, Myself and Boredom

2007-10-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

I am so astonishingly bored right now I don't even know what to do with myself. I'm restless... so I figured I'd make a list of the top 10 places I'd like to be right at this exact moment (with my husband as my #1 companion, of course) ... not in any particular order:

1. Gatecrasher, Sheffield, UK. I could kick myself for letting this opportunity pass by. What were we thinking?

2. Sitting on the beach in Los Cabos drinking a Sol staring at the bonfire with my feet dug into the sand, thinking about the next day's activities of snorkeling at Lover's Beach and eating a fabulous dinner with crab tacos.

3. Drinking a peach almond tea latte from the Tea Zone with a huge pile of books in Powell's City of Books cafe in downtown Portland.

4. In Alaska with my sister and her family.

5. Bar hopping and bowling with my friend Stacy and whoever else wanted to tag along.

6. On the roof of the Griffith Park Observatory with college buddies, reading scary stories and goofing off.

7. Road trip to nowhere... well preferably a lot of state parks with good hiking trails. I'm particularly inclined toward White Sands, New Mexico right now.

8. Camping in Eastern Oregon, near Steens Mountain.

9. Ballynahinch Castle, Eastern Ireland then on to the Cliffs of Moher and the Giants Causeway.

10. At the Sey residence with the gang.

If I HAVE to exercise...

2007-10-24T21:30:00.001-07:00

This park is only a quarter mile from my house and contains a 3 mile loop that I love to walk a few times a week. A couple of weeks ago I was so taken with the colors I decided I wanted to take some pictures to show you all how lovely my little corner of Oregon is. Unfortunately, I took the pics a bit later in than I was hoping and these colors aren't as stunning as I'd hoped. It didn't help that it was really overcast on my walk this day. Too bad i don't have an IPod or something... Chicane would be perfect with this view.... Enjoy.

Can you see the shingles?

2007-10-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

Our roof is shallow, but you can still see how much better it looks! I'm so happy with the new shingles!

Rain, Rain, come again

2007-10-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Because we are ready for it! Our roof is finished, yay!! I'm very pleased with the way it looks, and I'm so relieved. Having it finally done gives me great peace of mind about the coming Oregon winter.

I'm the pee queen!

2007-10-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Or so they designated me at work today. I had to read over 20 urines today.... it was a thrill, let me tell you! But I did wash my hands, don't worry.
I came home to sample tiles for my roofing job on my front porch. I'd like to know what kind of person puts bright green or blue shingles on their house. I picked a dark brownish color that will go well with our house paint. And apparently he's coming tomorrow to start the job. After 4 months of phone tag, it's a bit of a shock that it's actually happening. So, that will be interesting. I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere now!
I also made a couple of meals for the week because I'm so bad about getting up in the morning to pack my lunch. Something about it being dark outside, cold in your room and nobody to wake up to makes me not want to get out of bed in the morning. I'm averaging 5-6 snooze hits. Though, I was so proud of myself this morning because I only hit the snooze 3 times! (Really, I just woke up to the first alarm, decided to skip the normal routine, and went straight to resetting the thing for a half hour later :)
Now I just have a HUGE pile of paperwork to go through. I don't ever read my mail right away, it's bad. So if I'm going to get to bed in a decent hour, I better start to plow through Paper Everest!

The simple joy of convenience.

2007-10-07T17:29:00.001-07:00

Internet is here! Hurrah! And so is the rain. I had an hour after the internet guy came to mow and weed my lawn. It is a good thing I decided to do it right away because it is just pouring out! I feel much better about that now. All I have left to do tonight is put away about 5 loads of laundry. Yuck. So, I'm going to go watch a movie now.

Teapots and fall days go well together

2007-10-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Well, aside from the horrifying dream I had last night, I'm doing better. It's not so scary in the house anymore, and I've been getting stuff done a tiny bit at a time. I'm also getting enough sleep, which helps.
Today was an interesting day. My church is offering an 8 week fitness class on Saturday mornings that I attended. The lady is totally going to whip my butt into shape. For example, she had us doing one-armed side push ups. It was hard. It's a sad thing to face how utterly out of shape you are. My consolation was to do all my grocery shopping at Whole Foods with my mom. I don't know why, but it made me feel better.
Anyway, after church my mom and I met my aunt, cousin and grandma for tea at this wonderful tea shop in Sherwood that serves the traditional high tea on china. It was really fun. I love that place.
So, now I just have to head home and clean a bit. I'm planning on watching some movie tonight, I'm not sure what. Last night I watched Soylent Green for the first time. It was depressing. Way to "1984" for me. Obviously I understand the point, but it still doesn't give you a feel good moment to know it.
Oh, and (yay for me), we are getting Internet installed at our house tomorrow. I know, it's a miracle!!!

So this is life

2007-10-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

I think I'm in a prolonged state of melancholy. Everyone has left me now, and here I am all by myself left with nothing but the hugest "to do" list ever. It's depressing. Work is still going really well and is, thankfully, keeping me busy during the day. Tonight is my first night running solo, I'm kinda creeped out.
I miss my husband, my sister, my brother-in-law, my nieces, and my friends.
Does anyone else get so overwhelmed with the stuff that they have to do that they don't do it and then make themselves even more depressed? That's how I'm feeling. The strange thing is that now that I'm done with school I actually do have a ton more free time. Unfortunately, I keep filling it with stuff, and don't really feel like I have much down time. I've realized I'm a lot more introspective than I thought I was, and that I require a lot more quiet time than I thought I did. So, I guess I'll just keep trying to forge ahead with balance. Pray for me.

I hope you get how perfect this shirt is for me.... Jeffrey bought it for me :)

2007-10-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Beginnings are strange...

2007-10-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today was my second official day of work, glorious work. The first day was eight hours of hospital orientation, and was extremely dull. Today was just more training. I start my actual schedule in November, working nights. I'm really looking forward to not having to get up at the butt crack of dawn. I'm definitely not a morning person... but I am really enjoying it so far. I also have a 12 day break the first of November just scheduled into my month. You know what that means... I get to see my husband! I'm going to try to get down to LA on the 3rd and stay through the 14th. Already something to look forward too.
My family got together tonight. There were 16 of us minus a few spouses and including 4 babies. It was good fun. I really love my family. My grandparents were here from Arizona, and it is always such a blessing to see and spend time with them. All of us girls are going to tea on Saturday, which I always love.
We also found out that my cousin and his wife are pregnant... something we weren't expecting, but are so happy to hear. It's funny to enter this stage in our lives. We were taking pictures of my sisters girls with my cousin's baby. Charlotte, the oldest girl at 16 months, was sitting in the middle of the two babies with her arms around both their shoulders and kissing them alternately. It was adorable, and reminded me of when my sister and I were babies with our cousins. Now we are all growing up and having kids of our own (except me :)... but it's really weird!
My sister and her family are leaving tomorrow, as is my dear friend Liz from Michigan. Things are going to be so quiet without them all, and I'm already sad!
So, I'll be by myself in our home. Hopefully I'll be getting a lot of reading done. This will probably be helped by the fact that my outlets downstairs have died, despite my repeated flicking of the circuit breaker. I have no clue what happened. Guess I'll be calling an electrician this week.
Miss and love you all who are far away!!!

I'm not sure how I'm feeling...

2007-09-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, I made it home alive, in one piece, and fairly responsibly....
Jeff and I had an excellent weekend with our friends in Sacramento. It was so comfortable and wonderful to slip back into catching up and being together. I hope we can see them more often!
It was, obviously, too short and the time did come when I had to say goodbye to Jeffrey. I miss him like crazy.
But, life has a way of keeping us busy and, fortunately, I have one of my best friends out visiting from Michigan and my sister and her family here this week. So, I'm enjoying the family time and the laziness of sleeping in and doing whatever I want, including visiting the best bookstore in the world - Powells, hiking, and watching a bunch of movies.
More later.

My brain is a pile of mush, and growing mushier...

2007-09-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

I missed my flight. I was supposed to be on a plane heading to Sacramento at 4:40 this afternoon. Where was I? Sipping margaritas with my husband in Long Beach. So what happened? I have no idea. I somehow got it into my head that I was leaving LA on Friday, and planned accordingly. My poor friend was supposed to pick me up and I had to tell her how completely dumb I was because somehow I've lost all higher brain function.
The good news is that I get to spend more time with my husband. I called the airline and they wouldn't put me on a different flight without charging me an extra $100. So, Jeff decided that he'd graciously drive me up to Sacramento tomorrow and spend the weekend with me and my friends (who are excited to see him anyway). So, I'll be with him until Sunday (YAY!) at which point he will return to LA and I'll have another day with my friend before flying home on Monday. I DID double check my flight into Portland, so that won't be an issue... hopefully. :)
Sigh.
Maybe there is a higher purpose in all my floundering about lately. I guess we'll never know.... So, in the meantime I'm definitely enjoying my stolen time with my husband. I'll keep you posted on my journey home.

Isn't it funny?

2007-09-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

I've been so absolutely lazy these past few weeks that I haven't wanted to do anything at all... it's a perpetuating cycle. So, that's why I haven't taken the time to share what I've been up to: nothing. I have only read two books, have watched a ton of movies and TV, have eaten a lot and slept in every day. I have, however, been able to spend time with a lot of old Biola buddies, and have been with someone pretty much every night since I've been here. It's been great to reconnect.
I'm dreading leaving on Friday, though. I kept thinking it wouldn't be so bad to go home and work work work until Jeff gets back in December, but the more I've thought about it, the more I'm hating the idea. I'm going to really miss him!! And the time down here has flown by despite my generally slow pace while I've been here. So, tomorrow is our last date night for 3 months. We are planning on spending the day in Long Beach, and I will have quite a few hours in the afternoon to myself down there while Jeff does his four hours of internship for the day. It will be really fun to be at the beach for a while.
It's going to be a really good thing that Jeff's sister will be living with me while he's gone. I don't think I'd do so well on my own. I also have friends that have promised to take me out, and one that has said she is going to force me to learn to snowboard this fall - yipee. My last ski trip was quite the flop, so we'll see about that.
Anyway, that's the news. More later....

My own Biola remembrances

2007-09-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have to throw in my two cents...

I met Jeffrey my second year at biola, but we didn't start hanging out until the beginning of my third year, at which point he was living with the infamous Ryan Sey, whom I'd never met. Michelle and I went to go visit Jeff one Saturday morning and noticed a hideous pink flamingo outside of his dorm room. We, of course, decided to deface it and see if he noticed. He did. And thus began the flamingo war. Escalating, Michelle and I decided we were no longer satisfied merely writing on the precious flamingo, we were just going to simply steal it.

I think it took a few days before Jeff noticed the flamingo blatantly on display in our dorm window. After several rounds of stealing it back from each other, it no longer was simply a joke. Michelle and I HAD to retain that stupid flamingo, which was being safely stored in Jeff's dorm room now. We went down to Stewart and met Ryan for the first time, and stole it right from under his nose. He, of course came later that day and took it back while Michelle and I were napping, Mary unwittingly letting him in our room. Later that night they took ALL the stuff off our dorm porch, not just our stuff either. The worst was they nabbed a room key we had to leave outside because ONE of my roommates ALWAYS got locked out. At that point, it was war. I called a friend of mine living in Hart and, apparently he gathered a large pose of people to snatch it back for us. An hour later, he arrived bloodied, yes they made him bleed, to hand me back my room key. Unfortunately, he wasn't successful in nabbing back the flamingo. You'll have to hear from Ryan and Jeff what actually happened down at Stewart. All I know is that I got my room key back due to my brave friend, and then Michelle and I decided we were done. My poor courageous friend!

The cause of this? Behold the mighty pink flamingo....

Hello my friends!

2007-08-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

So guess what! We are coming down to California September 8th thru the 23rd! Woohoo! We are probably going to be stopping in Sacramento to visit the esteemed Dr. Youngdale and his beautiful bride on the way down and back, but that'll still give us a good 10 days down there! I'm super excited.

Oh, and other good news.... I got a job!! I'm going to be working at Legacy Meridian Park Hospital eventually on a night shift, but starting with several months of training on days. My first official day will most likely be on October 2nd. I'll keep you posted.

Just thought you'd all want to know about the two most exciting events in my life right now.

Can't wait to see everyone soon!! I miss you all!!!!

Thank God

2007-08-03T10:44:00.001-07:00

Just finished my last exam. Sure, I have a few things left pertaining to school. But the last bits of these past two years are exploding around my head with satisfaction. To quote a freaking awesome movie "The dishes are DONE man"!

Go ahead and laugh... I deserve it...

2007-07-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

I'm am going to share a very embarrassing, albeit hilarious, moment of idiocy that occurred on my voyage home from Alaska yesterday...

Pammy, Kevin, the two babies and I left Homer around 4:30ish to drive up to Anchorage. It's about a 4 hour drive, and I needed to be at the airport around 11:00 to catch my midnight flight home to Seattle. No, Jeff and I haven't moved. It's just that for some incomprehensible reason, flights into Anchorage are 1/2 the price from Seattle than from Portland. So on Sunday I took it upon myself to drive up to Seattle to catch my flight.
We stopped a few times along the way to get some dinner and get the toddler out of the car for a while. If you've never traveled with a toddler, it is a very enlightening experience. It's amazing how a car ride can suddenly double in the time it takes to get wherever it is that you were going. Don't get me wrong, Charlotte was amazing. I can't imagine traveling with a crabby baby... yikes.
Anyhoo, we get up to Anchorage and I settle in for my flight home. I'm a little concerned about my drive back since the only opportunity I'll have to sleep that night is on the 3 hour plane ride. Luckily, I fall asleep as we are taking off, and don't wake up until we are on our final approach. So we disembark and I'm looking all around for the exit to parking and digging through my purse to find my parking ticket, all the while calculating and bitching in my head about how dang expensive it is to park at the airport. Needless to say, I find my car no problem, pay, and am on my way home!
I hit about Olympia doing pretty well, I'm still amazingly awake and I'm super pleased with myself how well this all worked out. I'm rocking out to the cds Jeff made me and it's just about when I pass Mt. St. Helens that I realize..... I forgot my checked luggage!! AHH!
Can you believe it?!? I'm such a dork. I FREAK out, and call my mom as I usually do when I'm freaking out like that. And, of course, she cracks up. After my moment of commiseration with her, I call Continental. This is what the lady says after I relate my story: "Oh, don't worry about it, you'd be surprised how often this happens. Usually it's men though, they forget their bags all the time. Women usually just forget their glasses... . I'm ashamed of you." HA!
After embarrassing me even further she does get my bag on a flight into Portland, and I'm able to pick it up that evening, safe and sound.

I think I'm loosing my mind this year, this is the second big blunder I've made.

Ok, fine, I'll share the first one as well...

Jeff and I are getting ready to spend a wonderful day together, since we hardly ever have shared days off. We make all these plans, and are getting ready to leave the house. Since it always takes Jeff FOREVER to put his shoes on :), I think "I'll just go start the car". Next thing I realize, I've driven out of our neighborhood... without him!! I just start cracking up, and turn around to head home. When I pull up to the house there is Jeff, just standing on the steps looking completely confused. I'm still laughing when he gets in the car, and just can't stop. Poor guy just looks at me and says "I was just thinking what it was I did to make you so mad...". It takes him a few hours to recover from the shock, and yes, I'm still laughing.

So there it is. If you ever though I was a smart cookie, think again... doesn't get much stupider than that.... :)

Alaska again

2007-07-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hello hello!
My first week back in school went well. I had talked to my clinical instructor about rearranging my schedule this summer so that I could come up to Alaska to visit my sister. Her due date for baby number two was on June 25th and I wasn't expecting to actually be here for the birth. But , as luck would have it, Pammy was about a week late and scheduled to be induced the day that I arrived (Monday). So, Taylor Grace Fraley was born on July 2nd at 4:10 pm, was 7lb 7oz and 20" long.

Here are some pictures:

I love this picture of Charlotte :)

And the best picture of Charlotte ever.... she is the CUTEST thing!

I head back today, so it's back to the grind... grr... Wish I could be up here a bit longer. But, I do miss my hubby. Pammy, Scott and the girls are going to be coming to Oregon in September which will be so much fun.

Finally, a breath of fresh air....

2007-06-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, hello everyone. Finally finished my spring semester. I'm on my summer break this week, thank God. I had 6 tests in the last two weeks and I am so burned. I was starting to slip there for a while, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull off the grades. It's been a little tense. :) But now I have a week long breather before I start again. This summer is going to be a bit different because clinicals are 4 or 5 days a week (depending on the week), and the rest is an online class. I have to start studying for my board exams soon too. I have four comprehensive finals this summer that count for a third of my grade. And when I say comprehensive, I mean it... they are the entire program comprehensive. It's going to kick my butt but will hopefully prepare me!

In the midst of my busyness I've still managed to pull through a few books. Just finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Never read it before and although I thought from the first chapter it'd be pretty much the most depressing book I've ever read, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm in the middle of another thought-provoker that I'll post a blog on that later this week. I'm still ruminating it around for a while.

Otherwise, life is pretty good. I'm going to see my sister in three weeks. Hopefully baby #2 will have arrived. I'd be bummed to miss it. Jeff and I are also planning a couple trips this fall, one to CA and a family trip, destination still TBD (I'm hoping for South Europe, Greece, Turkey.... but New Zealand is another option).

Jeff and I just purchased the Planet Earth series. It's extremely well done and super fun to watch. My one complaint is that they seem a bit fixated on the poles, the Himalayan mountains and elephants. There's a bit of repeat in some of the footage. But it's still well worth watching.

I think both Jeff and I have been in a bit of a "funk" lately. It seems we're both pretty restless right now. Just waiting to get out of this rut we've been in for the past 6 months. I'm ready, more than ready, to be done with school and he desperately needs to find a different job. Please pray for us. The good thing is that through it we've grown a lot in our relationship. In case you didn't know... my husband is the coolest, ever. :) He's the most selfless, humble person I've ever met. He totally convicts me all the time just by being himself (which is a good thing, not a bad thing). Not to get mushy or anything... I just love him.

I'm going to try to get caught up with everyone this week, since I have a chance to say hello finally. Hopefully you'll hear from me. Love you guys!! I'll write more later...

Free Will Astrology?

2007-05-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

For the past year we have been ever so blessed to be read our Free Will Astrology horoscopes in class on Fridays. My friend Stacy is addicted to it. I just love the complete irony of the moronic idea that there IS such a thing as free will astrology. How can this be?
Well, to give you a taste of the fun I've had this last year, here is my horoscope from last week:

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place," said Pablo Picasso, "from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing stranger, from a spider’s web." Now substitute your own name for "the artist" in the above statement, Scorpio, and you'll have your assignment for the coming week. In other words, be alert for and open to the feelings flooding toward you from every direction. Regard the whole world as a giant classroom where you'll be taking a crash course to upgrade your emotional intelligence.

But my favorite has got to be the time when Stacy's horoscope foretold an immaculate conception:

Flora, a Komodo dragon in a British zoo, recently became pregnant and hatched five babies without ever having had contact with a male. This is the first recorded virgin birth among her species. She's your power animal for the coming weeks, Sagittarius. Whether you're female or male, you too now have the power to spawn a beautiful brainchild without being intellectually or emotionally fertilized by anyone. That of course doesn't mean you should avoid the kind of intimate interactions that would fructify you. On the contrary, I urge you to seek those out in abundance. But my point is that you don't need them in order to be a fount of creativity.

To partake in the absurdity, visit http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/
Trust me. it's hilarious....

There and back again

2007-05-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm back. I needed a full six hour nap yesterday to recover from the craziness these past few days and now I'm about 90% functional. Bottom line - it was probably the craziest trip I've ever been on. And I think I consumed more alcohol in two days than I have all together since Jeff and I got married. Don't worry I didn't get drunk and act like a fool (unlike SOME people I know:), but I did enjoy myself. Here are some fun pictures:

This is the beach right by the Yakina Head lighthouse in Newport. We had a beautiful weekend, the weather was great!

We attempted to go tide pooling, but the tide was way to far in. We had a really good time anyway. These are some of my school buddies...

After quite a few in the bar the last night... and trying to get Mike to remove his hat. We've never seen his hair.

And the highlight of the evening? Our professor burning the intrinsic system of coagulation. If only we could do that to our tests!!

Aside from the fun we had during free time, the lectures were incredibly informative and very interesting. The NW Medical Teams lecture definitely reinforced my desire to go overseas. I was able to get some information to continue researching now that I'm home.

The body fluids lecture was given by the woman who wrote my textbook, which was pretty incredible. She was a very dynamic speaker, and I really appreciated the amount of information she was able to go through in that 3.5 hour time period. It was impressive, and really helpful.

The most interesting lecture I attended was the infectious diseases of biofilms. I'm still ruminating that one around in my head. It was a presentation of a very large problem in clinical microbiology that still has no answer. It made clinical research very appealing. I won't go into details for fear of boring you non-science people to death.

Last, but not least, the greatest thing I took away from this trip was a bit of advice given to me by Dr. Leclaire of the University of Massachusetts regarding extended education. She sat down and gave me and a few friends a large list of possibilities to pursue in the future. One of the programs she mentioned is in development by the ASCLS right now, and is going to be proposed in front of the legislature this July. It is a Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Science, a position that would be the liaison between the medical doctors and the clinical lab. It would require several years of medical training (making rounds etc) to be able to help MDs to order tests correctly, to explain the results, etc. I asked her how MDs feel about a position like this being instated and she said that all the feedback they have had has been extremely positive. How cool is that? I'm really really hopeful about this and would love to pursue it when it is started in a few years. In the meantime she suggested I look into getting a Masters in Public Health if I want to pursue the angle of infectious diseases, epidemiology, parasites, etc. since most graduate science programs don't necessarily educate from a clinical perspective. So I'm going to look into that.

It was an awesome trip, and I'm glad I went! I'm already looking forward to next year :)

The beach, and going overseas

2007-05-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

So I leave tomorrow morning at 5:30 am to head to the beach! I'm attending a medical symposium in Newport with pretty much all my classmates. I will be sharing a room with a bunch of friends, and I'm so looking forward to it! We are required to attend a lecture for extended education credit, so I'm going to three. :) In case you care, I'm attending: Body Fluids, Infectious Diseases, and NW Medical Teams in Mali, Africa.
I'm most looking forward to the NW Medical Teams lecture because it is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time now. I've always wanted to go overseas and use my talents to help people, but it's never really seemed feasible (especially since my hubby isn't really into that kind of thing). But there is a lady at my church who is a coordinator for NW Medical Teams and now I'm super excited about the possibility of going overseas! They mostly do short-term trips, about 2-4 weeks long.
As a Medical Technologist, I'd probably be doing a lot more tropical medicine type stuff (looking for parasites etc), because I'm not sure how much chemistry you can really do in a 3rd world country. There is a lot of reagents and stuff for each test, I can't see it being really feasible! But that's ok, because I love parasites, it's so much fun learning about them.
Anyway, I've decided that I'd love to take at least one trip a year for two weeks or so to do this. Just thinking about going to some random country like Mali makes me super happy (By the way, the Putamayo Presents: Mali album is awesome. I got it this past summer and is so much fun to listen to, if you like world music...).
I'll be back on Saturday.

Time is precious

2007-04-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

Had a really sweet time with my sister, brother-in-law and niece this past week. It was a huge challenge juggling all the things we had to do, especially school. So, I skipped two days... yikes! But we had a lot of fun and were able to catch up a bit. Spent most of the week being entertained by my one year old niece. She's super cute but completely exhausting to be around (I mean that in the best way :). Wish we could have had more time together. But I'm going up to Alaska in July, so it won't be too long before I see them all again. Hopefully just in time for baby number two! I'd love to be present for that. It was sad to see them go and, as usual, I cried. Sappy, huh?
I'm sure a part of it is being just so completely DONE with my life right now. I'm struggling every day to get out of bed just to get through this program at school. I'm just tired. But thankfully, the end is in sight. Only a few more months. I have a big test on Wednesday, one I haven't exactly been studying for since I've been spending every second I can with my family. But now it's once again time to buckle down and grind in. If you think about me, wish me luck!

Review: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

2007-04-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

I’ve realized several things about myself as a reader these past few months. Most notably… I’m kind of a book snob. It’s not something I’m necessarily proud to admit, but it is true. I usually come at a book very cynically. I read the story, but I’m also critiquing the author the entire time. A lot of the books that I have read recently have been kind of a let-down in my opinion. So many stories sound so much the same, and so many characters are, characteristically, flat. So, when I come across a story that allows me to be both surprised and refreshed as a reader, I usually end up carrying it with me for a while. The only two books that I’ve read this year that fall into that category have been “Lisey’s Story” by Stephen King, and this book, “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd. And when it comes to writing stories about children or teenagers, I’m especially doubtful about the writer’s ability to break out of the box.

When I started to read this book I did roll my eyes at the all too familiar cliché: A 14 year old girl struggling to find the hidden mysteries surrounding her mother’s death and, of course, her own self worth. But I’d like to say that this book completely surprised me. Not only was the story powerful, the characters felt like real people to me. They were round, full and interacted with life in a realistic but powerful way.

The story takes place in South Carolina in 1964, just after President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, and is about a white girl, Lily Owens. After growing up under the tyranny of her father “T.Ray”, and experiencing racism first hand she and her black nanny Rosalee flee home in search of more information about Lily’s mother. Drawn by one clue, she ends up in the home of three black beekeeping sisters who worship a statue of a black Madonna. There she spends the rest of the story, an apprentice beekeeper, but also an apprentice at living life.

Aside from the depth of the characters, especially the eccentric sisters, and the author’s ability to deal with that period’s issues of racism and segregation, I was completely impressed by the beauty of the language used. Here is an example: “According to August, if you’ve never seen a cluster of beehives first thing in the morning, you’ve missed the eighth wonder of the world. Picture these white boxes tucked under pine trees. The sun will slant through the branches, shining in the sprinkles of dew drying on the lids. There will be a few hundred bees doing laps around the hive boxes, just warming up, but mostly taking their bathroom break, as bees are so clean they will not soil the inside of their hives. From a distance it will look like a big painting you might see in a museum, but museums can’t capture the sound. Fifty feet away you will hear it, a humming that sounds like it came from another planet. At thirty feet your skin will start to vibrate. The hair will lift on your neck. Your head will say, ‘don’t go any further’, but your heart will send you straight into the hum, where you will be swallowed by it. You will stand there and think, ‘I am in the center of the universe, where everything is sung to life’.” I love it!

Now, there are of course some things you might have issue with. Aside from Lily’s somewhat annoying and many moments of “eyes closed, arms raised, thoughtful reflection”, the book is very feminist, and a large portion of it is focused on the idea of the “sacred feminine”. It wasn’t exactly something I could relate to, but was able to appreciate. There also is a lot of worship of Mary and, if you insert Jesus, you’d have it just about right :). I thought the spiritual ideals in this book extremely empowering in overcoming our self-doubt, feelings of worthlessness and inability to forgive. I was impressed.

All in all, it is well worth reading. In fact, I’m going to buy it. If only for the sake of reading something beautiful, I recommend it. But, coming from a crappy family life myself it also reminds me to keep on forgiving, and to find love in the world where I can, even if the place I find it is unexpected. I give it a 3 and a half stars out of 4 on the Bud scale.
Happy reading!

Anxiety Dreaming

2007-04-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Since Jenn's been sharing weird dreams, I thought I'd join the fray.

I've been feeling really weird all day. Tense. So I decided to take a nap this afternoon figuring I was just exhausted from staying up till 2 with Lisette (who was in Oregon for a wedding this weekend) and then getting up at 6:30 for my clinicals. So, I lay down and fall asleep and then dream that I'm AT my clinical with a particular professor and my whole grade is based on me properly collecting a throat swab for culture. Of course lab techs wouldn't do generally that, but hey, it's a dream. I've never seen one done (except on myself I guess) and couldn't remember how to keep it from getting contaminated, and had to make sure the patient didn't gag. I was super tense in the dream and started arguing with my prof about it when I woke up. I was still so angry at her I had to talk myself down and remind myself it was just a dream. So much for relaxing. Then, of course, driving to meet my hubby for dinner I hit every single red light possible (with the exception of one), construction, and rush hour traffic....

So that's been my glorious day. With the exception of the first two hours in it (12:00-2:00am), it pretty much has sucked.

"Next"??

2007-04-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Has anyone read "Next" by Michael Crichton? I'm slightly confused so far. I'm about 100 pages in and I'm not sure what the plot is, or who the main characters are. It's really weird.

Hope everyone's Easter weekend is going well. My friend Lisette is in town, which has been a blast to see her. Jeff's sister is also in town this weekend and we are meeting up with her tonight. Tomorrow everyone is coming over to our house for brunch after church, but otherwise we have no plans. So, Happy Easter y'all!!

My book has arrived!

2007-04-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

I got my first book from Harper Collins yesterday! It is a children's book called Thora and the Green Sea Unicorn. I am super excited! I'll post my review when I'm done with it...

Spring Break Review...

2007-04-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

This week has, unfortunately, given me the taste of the freedom from school I've been craving for oh... about 2 years now. I don't know why but I suddenly decided that I should be done. Don't worry, I'm not dropping out. Not when I'm this close to a sweet salary and a job where I don't really have to talk to people.
I had to have a end of term meeting with the head of the department at school last week. She eagerly encouraged me to go to Med school to become a doctor. She told me not to get stuck in the lab, when I could do well elsewhere. It got me thinking. But I am nowhere near ready to invest that much time in even MORE school right now. In the meantime, I think Jeff and I are going to try to take the GRE together this winter or next spring so that we can apply for Masters programs at OSU. But we wouldn't start that for a while, so I'm sure I'll be itching to be back in school by then.
Anyhoo, Spring Break has been good. I feel like I need another week off just to rest from all the work I had to do this week. I pretty much spent every day doing projects around the house. I got a TON done, but my garden will have to wait.
I had a couple friends come over to help me plant my daylilies this Saturday. In the process of rota-tilling the side yard we discovered that the previous owners had laid down a plastic tarp over the whole yard, dumped 6 inches of mulch on top, and planted in that. It is infuriating!! So we spent several hours digging through the mulch pulling out as much of the plastic we could, and discovered that my soil is basically purely clay. It sucks. It was a bear to do the little area we did and I got so frustrated I decided I'm calling in the professionals. They are going to have to basically rip up the whole side yard to get the plastic out, and then rota-till the mulch, some sand and some soil into the crappy clay soil I have, so that I can actually plant real things in there. It's going to be a huge process, but I think I'll be happier if I do it right the first time. So, that was a major bummer.
Otherwise, I got almost everything done I wanted too.
I only read one book, but I watched a bunch of movies and hung out with friends... it was good.
But, school starts tomorrow. I haven't even registered yet. Talk about putting off the inevitable! I better go do that right now.

This book is the coolest!!

2007-03-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

Lemony Snicket

2007-03-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

I found the following self-review by Lemony Snicket online, and I thought it was awesome....

"Dear Reader,
You are presumably looking at the back of this book, or the end of the end. The end of the end is the best place to begin the end, because if you read the end from the beginning of the beginning of the end to the end of the end of the end, you will arrive at the end of the end of your rope.
This book is the last in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and even if you braved the previous twelve volumes, you probably can't stand such unpleasantries as a fearsome storm, a suspicious beverage, a herd of wild sheep, an enormous bird cage, and a truly haunting secret about the Baudelaire parents.
It has been my solemn occupation to complete the history of the Baudelaire orphans, and at last I am finished. You likely have some other occupation, so if I were you I would drop this book at once, so the end does not finish you.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket"

The joys of parenting.... (Not that I would know)

2007-03-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

My sister sent me these pictures (among others) of my neice this week. First of all, I think it is hilarious that when Charlotte was throwing a fit my sister ran for the camera because she thought it was really funny. Second, I think that she is cute in both these pictures.

Harper Collins Hopeful

2007-03-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

My friend Cherie has introduced me to the marvelous world of book reviewing! Harper Collins offers a program that allows you to receive (and keep) pre-published books for free that you read and write a short review on. They have three different programs, one each for adults, teens, and children. I, of course, signed up for all three. You get to pick the genera that interests you, and when there is a book that fits one of your categories, you can request to review it. So, you only request the books that interest you. I am so excited! I just signed up today, so I have no idea if and when I’ll be receiving a book to review, but I’m really looking forward to it. Who doesn’t like getting pre-published books for free??

Webdings??

2007-03-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

I'd like to know why in heck they decided that Webdings should be one of the 8 fonts that you can use to post blogs in. Who decided that? Who is going to take the time to cut and paste in order to be able to read the idiot's blog who posted in that font?

I have succumbed

2007-03-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I decided to join the fray here in blogspot land. I doubt anyone actually reads myspace anymore and I was tired of reading everyone’s blogs and not being able to comment on them! I doubt any of my posts will be very inspirational, but maybe this will make me feel more in the loop. So, there you have it.