Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Bing


My favorite Christmas movie is the 1954 classic "White Christmas" (see above). Nothing says Christmas more than Bing Crosby. He is the top of my list when it comes down to it. He is the epitome of class, elegance, and he is just plain dreamy! Here is the song from the very end of the movie, for those of you who may not have the time to sit through the whole movie. Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It is the eve of Christmas as I write this blog, it is so hard to believe another year has gone by. Christmas is just around the corner only to be gone again before we know it, until the next year and we think how quickly it came up and surprised us all. This Christmas is very unusual. For those of us in the Pacific Northwest it is rare because it's a white Christmas, which let me tell you does not happen often. I remember once it actually snowed on Christmas Eve, I think I was about 13, and it hasn't happened again since then that I can recall. Second this Christmas is being postponed (at least for my family) because of the weather. My family and I won't be getting together on Christmas, or Christmas Eve and it is really hard to explain how that is effecting me. I wish that we could all be together as we are every year but certainly the safely and well being of my family exceeds the need to see them all on December 24Th, seeing them on December 27Th will suffice if they are all there safely in one piece. I have always been very introspective around this holiday, often shutting myself off from everyone around me, just so I can can take a good hard look at myself and check in with where I am at in my life. After a while I am always able to pull myself out of this and rejoin reality and and check back in to life. I know why this holiday is full of joy for so many, and also why it can be very hard for others. Because during this holiday, nothing is more evident than what is truly important and what each of us truly wants. More than any physical/tangible gift, it is the seen and unseen gift of life and love that shines the brightest. May you enjoy the light of the life, and loved ones that are in your life, and may they guide and keep you safe and happy!!! Merry Christmas

Tickets

Thursday morning when I finally made it to work through all the snow and ice, I was greeted with an email from my Congressman telling me that I (along with a few others) had been selected, from all the hundreds of requests to receive two tickets to the inauguration ceremony of our 44th President Barack Obama! I am still in shock and completely on cloud nine over this amazing news. Millions of people are expected in DC for this awesome event but my guest and I are going to have tickets!!! Imagine it...........

Monday, December 1, 2008

Completely Wasted!

Ok besides the fact that the subject of my blog sounds like I went to a raging party over the weekend, I didn't. In fact I didn't do a lot this weekend, I am referring to the two hours of (completely wasted) time I set aside to watch a movie. In between the reading and other activities, I managed to watch a couple movies in my time out from life and I figured out the only thing worse than missing the ending of a good movie, is missing the ending of a bad movie! Seriously what the hell! There I was laying on my couch being lazy watching a movie that I wouldn't recommend or watch again, but I had recorded it on my DVR so I decided what better time than the present to watch it. The dang thing didn't get recorded all the way! BASTARDS!! I could go into lengths about how annoying that is but lets be honest we have all been there. I put all that time into watching this bad movie thinking it will be over soon and I will see the cheesy ending, and then I was robbed of my guilty pleasure!! It cut off right as the story was getting thick in plot...Oh well the world is still turning.

Hope everyone had a great Holiday!!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Performers from a Santa school gather in London's Leicester Square.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Inauguration!



I am so excited to be going to Washington DC in January! I will be there for the swearing in of our 44th President Barack Obama! My cousin is very graciously offering up her pad for me to come crash and spend a couple days with her! I am looking forward to spending time with her, and also to be amongst the thousands (possibly millions) of Americans to witness the transition of change(I can beleive in) and a historical event in our country!

Toys..

I know right now isn't the best time to be buying the newest hottest electronic gadget but I just couldn't help myself. Between Christmas coming up (I heard Christmas carols already in the stores) and the latest economic woes I wasn't sure if I should splurge or not, but that Oprah is just such a good saleswoman how could I not?

The newest, latest and greatest electronic that she couldn't even wait to show her audience until the "greatest things" show was the Amazon Kindle. I was so impressed with this device that I bought one for myself only a few days later (I used the Oprah coupon so I didn't have to pay full price.) So far I am very happy with it. I am fighting the urge to buy books left and right! I am trying to be disciplined and only buy books I am going to read at that moment, and not buy books that I want to read. Especially with it all right at my fingertips it could get costly if I just start buying books!! I am sure that I will write more as I learn more and more about the product. So far it is nice smooth easy reading, and so convenient.

So here is a quick overview on what the Amazon Kindle is in case you don't want to click on the link. It is essentially an e-book. You have over 190,000 book titles literally at your finger tips that you can buy and have downloaded to your Kindle in less than 1 minute! You don't ever have to sync it to your computer, or to anything for that matter it comes to you registered and ready to go. There are no monthly costs associated with it, no fees lurking to bilk you of all your money. You buy the device, you buy the books, DONE! The books are also a lot cheaper, not to mention you don't have to drive to the store, or the book doesn't have to be shipped to you, also no trees were hurt in the process for your Kindle book! This is truely the wave of the future for reading. Also another cool feature, if you don't know what a word is (yes I run into this often, and just move past it, and try and deduct a meaning) well have no fear, you can look it up on wikipedia through your Kindle and know what the word means right then and there! Pretty nice huh? Ok, I can feel the Oprah excitement coming on.... Before I run away with my excitement let me just wrap it up and say it is pretty cool!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Pledge..


I pledge on Nov 4th 2008 (Election day) to call 5 people and ask/remind/encourage them to vote! This is a very easy thing to do and just one more way to make sure we get out and vote!

Kickball Tournament

Saturday November 1st was the fall kickball tournament. Games started as early as 8:00am, it was an all day one loss elimination tourney. I packed a bag full of clothes, and layers to change into seeing as how we would be there all day and was supposed to continue to rain all day. It had rained most the night, and had been raining most the day by the time our first game rolled around. We gathered at the field confident we would beat our first team "The Pie Rats" seeing as how we had already beat them in the regular season. We started off a little slow going 3 up 3 down in the first 3 innings but both teams started to get warmed up finally in the 4th (some of the hangovers finally started to where off, actually I think they just got sick on the field. Ya it was pretty!) We were on a high going into the 7th inning, up by two and all we had to do was hold them.......3-4 we lost!!!! Ouch........

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Halloween..


So I have two halloween parties I am supposed to attend and not one idea for a costume. Actually that isn't true I intend on re-using my costume from last year that I got in NYC for one of the parties, but can't really wear it to the other party. The theme for the party I don't have a costume for is "Famous Dead People" any ideas you have for me would be very helpful!

I was also reading this article, about good vs. bad halloween candy and it made me laugh so I thought I would pass it on. Who passes out those damn tootsie rolls still anyways?

Friday, October 10, 2008

During These Times....


I was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. The guest was talking about how she decided to go back and read about The Great Depression and researched Franklin Roosevelt, who was elected President during the depression, in order to get some sort of leadership and words of comfort during our own times of economic questioning. The fact that she had to look back almost 76 years to Franklin Roosevelt for comfort and how to help cope with such uncertainty speaks for itself. I like anything that gives people hope right now so I thought I would enclose some quotes I liked.

John D. Rockefeller said that "These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again."

"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."

"One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along. "

"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting. "

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still. "

"There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny. "

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."


- Franklin D Roosevelt

Monday, October 6, 2008

Warning: The following link does not help work productivity

So I have seen these popping up all over the web lately and found a link that lets you create a wordle of your own! They are great fun and completely counter productive in a work environment but lets face it so is most of the internet..... Don't say I didn't warn you!!

World View



I realize this article is only a view point from a few people, but I think it stands as a testament to the pulse of the world. In November, we have to not only remember to vote for the well being of our nation at home, but also for our strength around the world. November 4Th, 2008 is an important day for every American. Regardless of political affiliations, and where you stand on the issues, this is where you get to put your 2 cents into our political regime. Do not stand back and let someone else speak for you. Every vote does count and every voice should be heard. We should all Rock The Vote!!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Cruise Photo Extravaganza!!!

(This is my favorite picture of the entire trip, we are at our first stop in Copenhagen, Denmark. The photo includes (from left to right) my cousins: Sam, Shelly, Emily, and myself, in front is our Grandmother. )


Okay, so I decided to switch things up a bit. Rather than go through and give all the stories from my trip I decided to put together a collage of my favorite snapshots from everyones camera that include all the places we went (except Amsterdam, I couldn't find any pictures from Amsterdam.) You will see friends we made on the cruise in some of them, but mostly you will see the pictures of my family and I as we made our way around Northern Europe on a ship known as the Splendor. This trip will not soon be forgot by any who went, either for the stress of family, and financial strain, or because it is a time that we will look back on and talk about for the rest of our lives. The time on that ship spent with my family was so amazing. I feel absolutely blessed that seven of us were able to take time out of our lives and spend it together in Europe for 2 weeks. We visited 7 countries in 15 days and faced challenges in ourselves. Did we always get along, no. Did I want to jump overboard a couple times, maybe. Do I love them all unconditionally, absolutely! If you have any questions about the photos don't hesitate to ask, and please feel free to leave comments.
Enjoy!



























Monday, September 22, 2008

McSwimmy

Saw this on YouTube!! Found it hilarious and thought I would share. The new Grey's Anatomy character, Dr. McSwimmy

Top 10 favorite things about Fall....

Welcome to Fall. I love this season! The morning after I got home I could feel it in the air, the brisk cold air, the leaves were just starting to turn colors, I couldn't believe how excited I was. Then I walked into my local Starbucks and to my astonishment they were already offering their Pumpkin Spice Lattes apparently they are just as excited for Fall as I am! This has been the most gradual, smooth transition into Fall that we have had in Oregon for awhile. Usually we are just thrown into cold frosty mornings and rain, but it has been great this year...

I decided to put together a list of my top ten favorite things about Fall, hopefully you will agree with some of them and it will make you excited for the season as well.....


10.) Rain, I am an Oregonian and I do love my rain (until January, cause I know we will have at least 3 more months of solid rain after that.)

9.) The fresh, clean feeling and smell in the air.

8) The cold air in the morning that jolts you awake and lets you know change is coming.

7.) Candles, it is that time of year when all the cinnamon, pumpkin, vanilla candles start to get put all around my house and smells themselves are so warming.

6.) Nothing says Fall more than the deep orange, red, and purples of all the leaves as they start to change colors and eventually drop to the ground decorating streets, and yards.

5.) New season means new decorations, it is time to put out all the warm colors of Fall and the Halloween decorations will be out soon too, followed by the Thanksgiving decoration rounding out the Fall decorating season...

4.) OK lets be honest, one of my very favorite (read:vain) things about fall is the new Fall wardrobe options!! (Sweaters, long sleeved shirts, and scarves, oh my.)

3.) Pumpkin!!! I probably don't need to say much more, but I love all the pumpkin flavored drinks, and the pumpkin breads, muffins, and scones!!

2.)Hot Meals, Hot Drinks!! There is nothing like coming home from a long day at work to smell the deliciousness brewing in a crock pot!! All the soups, and stews. The hearty meals are bountiful this time of year at my house!! It is perfect for all the fresh corn and tomatoes that our all over the farmers markets right now!! All the hot coffee's and Apple Cider, they warm you up from the inside ou
t!!!!

1.) My favorite thing of all is.......The combination of my list all together!!!!


** Side Note: Generally us West Coasters refer to the Fall as Fall not as Autumn. I would have thrown Autumn in there to switch things up, but I have a great friend named Autumn whom I also love very much but didn't want anyone to get confused (yes I am mostly referring to myself getting confused!!!)

Oktoberfest


I am approx 3/4 German in heritage, so I take it upon myself to fulfill my duty as a German-American to not only go to the Oktoberfest whenever possible but to support the different organizations by eating my way through the entire festival!! My family and I attended the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest. We had a feast of bratwurst, cabbage rolls, corn on the cob, pickles, BEER, elephant ears, and fresh strawberry shortcake, and yes we ate it all!!! Of course we shared it amongst ourselves (except for the brats!) It was so delicious and it was a beautiful day, which is really saying something because normally it is raining for our Oktoberfest, but this year it was perfect for timing, because fall officially hit the weekend after. Next year my new niece will be tagging along with us and I can start to show her all my favorite traditions!!

5 whole hours to myself!!!

So ever since I have arrived back home from my trip I have pretty much been thrown into a whirlwind of various situations that have kept me from being able to be home and catching up on the life it seems like I have now left behind. Well not any more! This weekend (Sunday to be more specific) I reclaimed my home from the myriad of dogs that I have been watching, I fought back against the evil doers of laundry, and the dreaded particle size attackers that I loathe, also known as dust!!!! I decided to come home right after my kickball game and give my house and my dog a little TLC. You should have seen it I was like the Tasmanian devil of cleaning, I was dusting, vacuuming, folding and loading laundry. I was a force to be reckoned with and when I wasn't cleaning I was petting my very neglected but still very loving dog, Salvador!!! I cannot tell you how wonderful those 5 hours were.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Lets get our facts straight..

So I watched Gov. Sarah Palin speech last night at the RNC. I was trying to get a feel for her and who she was, and what she is all about. I am a Barack Obama supporter, and even though I missed the DNC (I was out of the country) I heard it was moving and just what a lot of people needed to see and hear, but I don't necessarily dislike John McCain. There are things I really like and respect about him. His choice for Vice President is not one of them... So I thought I would post this article.
It just straightens out a few of the misguided perceptions being put out there about Sen. Obama.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Thats a big ship!

Well our first day on the ship was amazing!! What a huge ship the Carnival Splendor is!! It took me about 3 days to stop gawking at the size of our ship every time I was on land, or looking over the side of our balcony. I couldn't believe it! My Grandmother, cousins and I enjoyed the luxury of the "wrap around balcony suite" as well as the room and balcony next door, which increased the size of our already enormous balcony to gigantic proportions!! Our first day on the ship was so educational. I learned that the balconies can be VERY windy (see pictures below). I learned that on a cruise ship you are expected to eat your body weight in food per day, and they judge you if you don't. I also learned why you should not get a room at the back of the ship (because it rattles and shakes loudly and violently every time you back into or out of ports!!!) We were rudely awakened on many different occasions by this discovery and truly believed at least twice the boat was literally breaking in half, however the other 90% of the time it was without a doubt the best rooms on the ship, which was proven every time I went into other peoples rooms!!
It was a little windy!
Having the escape of the balcony was actually one of the reasons I am sure we could all maintain our sanity on a trip with family!! It gave a great escape and release every time you could step out and stare out into the great blue yonder and realize how minuscule we are and how life just keeps going with or with out us, so make the best of it.......

I didn't take many pictures in Copenhagen, Denmark. (The family did and I will be getting the disc with pictures soon, and will add them accordingly.) Here is one of the ones I did take right as we got off the ship. This was one of our few days we spent all together. It was memorable to say the least. The people of Denmark are SO beautiful. You had to look very hard to find someone that wasn't attractive and in shape. They lead some very healthy lives in Copenhagen and it shows. We had one bad experience with a bus driver, but other than that it was a very nice afternoon. The local food was delicious!!! I hope to go back and visit Denmark again one day...

In the beginning...

Well, this trip was a whirlwind to say the least!! At times it seemed to go so fast, and there were times I was wondering when it would all end. Truth be told it was an amazing trip, and it was so special to have my family around me the whole time! I was reminded how are differences however great or small bring us together and make us even better friends. I have decided to blog about the trip in a couple different blogs just so I can share more pictures and more stories also.....

So we begin in London.......

We had a great time mastering the underground, and walking all over London. The girls (seen above) and I enjoyed the local street entertainment and all beautiful parks they have....
They may look like just birds to you, but these two birds (Joey and Jenny) are great fortune tellers!! All my cousins are going to get married and have kids and live wonderful lives and then there's me, I will be happy.... at the end of my life!!! haha, Thanks birds!!














Here is Emily and I on the Millenium Bridge. This was one of my stops I requested to see..














The whole family went out to dinner the night before we embarked on our cruise. Sam, Emily and I all had so much fun we decided to stay out at the pub and continue our conversation. As the pub started to close, Emily decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel. Sam and I however decided to stay out and hang with the bartenders from the pub we were at. We closed down two pubs and re-opened another!! It was so much fun and we made it home just before sunrise, and just in time to get ready for our 3 hour drive to Dover, England!! The pictures above and below are from our night out!!! Truly a memorable evening....
















One of our beer buyers from our night out!!

















Who need to double fist when you can roll 5 deep!!!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Random...

~How is it that I am drinking two to three times the amount of water I used to and I am so much more thirsty now??

*I primed and painted my parents fence this weekend. It was a big job and it wasn't fun, but they helped me out on Sunday and we got the job done. Now I have spending money for Europe!!!

~I had a lunch today that reminded me of my Grandpa. He used to have the same breakfast and lunch for years!! I mean 10-15 years!!! I guess you could say he was a creature of habit....

*I started packing and I don't leave until Friday!! That must mean I really am growing up if I don't procrastinate so much anymore.....

~I talked to my friend Krista last week, I just love talking to her, but she used a word I had to look up Dictionary.com. I have had to look up 3 words that Krista has used during the course of our friendship and we have been friends just a short time now. Good work Krista!!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

One Week and Counting...

Well it is official it is one week before I leave for London to join part of my family for a vacation of a lifetime! As the time nears I am getting more and more excited!! I think that this trip will prove to be memorable to say the least!! Thankfully my flight and length of travel is no where near my previous trip to South Africa, and I will have two friends/cousins to meet me at the airport!

While I am gone I am going to miss some great things going on here in Oregon!! First I am going to miss the kickball tournament and end of season party that happens the weekend I leave. Second I am going to miss a Jack Johnson concert that I got my friends tickets to go see (I will be there in spirit!)

Although I am missing some pretty great things, I know that I will experience some truely amazing time with my family, I will visit some fantastic countries that I have wanted to see, and travel in style in one of the nicest rooms on the ship, aswell as the newest and biggest ship in the fleet!! I will FINALLY be going to London, which is something I have wanted to do most of my life!!! So all in all I think I am making out okay even though I will miss a few things happening here. Sometimes you just can't do everything.......


** Side Note: My kickball team kicked tale last night!!! We beat one of the best teams in the league and didn't even blink (ok the last inning got a little close but we owned the whole game)!!! I think I am going to sign up for fall ball, and get to play in the mud a couple times. Then it will be game on again for next summer!!! Our last game is Thrusday. I am kind of sad because it has been more fun than I could have imagined!!!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hello August!

Well it is adios to to July and hello to August!! July has proved to be a great month, and I am hopefully that August will be just as good if not better. Kickball is wrapping up only 2 more games after tonight, and I am only 2 weeks away from leaving on my trip to Northern Europe. This trip is highly anticipated and should prove to be interesting. I am lucky enough to be going with my family, which is really my first trip traveling with family outside of immediate family members, should be fun!! I am still hoping to get up to the zoo before I leave for my trip but we will see if that works out. I can't believe after almost 18 months of talking about this trip and things going back and forth, in about 14 days we will be descending upon the great city of London, and then we are headed out from there!!!

I stopped at the local farmers market yesterday and bought more fruit than any one person probably ever should. I do plan on eating all the great stuff I got, but I may end up needing to freeze some of the blueberries. So needless to say I am on a bit of a fruit frenzy right now (see picture in previous post) and I just can't believe how good they all taste!! It makes me sad to think that in a couple weeks it will all be gone, and I will have to wait another year before the summer fruit season is upon us.

Thanks to all those who made July a great month, I am looking forward to August!!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Yummy


As I sit here dining on my fresh locally grown giant blackberries, and blueberries I can't help but fall in love with the Oregon summer all over again!! We have the BEST berries in the world here, and I get to enjoy them all!!!!!!

Friday, July 18, 2008

The Dark Knight

Oh man, I just had to jump on the blogger this morning and tell everyone how awesome my night was last night. I had my kickball game last night, we lost, but I made one and a half awesome catches!!! We stuck around for the second game to watch and support our teammates who were umping the second game. So we do our usual thing after the game, drinks, food, and fun. But last night was different because everyone was talking about going and seeing The Dark Knight at the 12:15 showing and the smaller local theater. My Brother and I being ever the skeptical optimists decided to go at 11:30 not really believing that there would be a theater in the world that didn't have a line around it and sold out for this movie on opening night. We were pleasantly surprised and very wrong!!! Not only did we get in to an almost empty theater when we arrived at 11:30 but I got in for, shall we say, less than market value!!! So I rolled in to bed this morning at 4:00am and was actually on time to work at 8:30, not to shabby!!!

So about the movie, amazing. The movie totally lives up to the hype, and all I can say about Heath Ledgers performance of the Joker is that you will NOT be disappointed, it was great, a bit long when you are in an old theater with no A/C but it was GREAT and well worth the complete exhaustion and emotion roller coaster I am destined to be on from lack of sleep!!! Thank you to all those guys that talked me into staying in Portland and checking out the movie, it will go down as one of those nights that reminds me to go with the flow and live it up!!!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Kick Ball!!!

Oh man I have joined a kickball league in Portland and it is 100% awesomeness!!! It includes a little bit of athletic ability, lots of teamwork and camaraderie, and even more BEER!!! We can even drink ON the field!!! So far we have a 2-2 record which for an almost entirely rookie team (with exception to our capitan) is not to shabby!!! If you are ever in Portland on a Thursday come check us out! This Saturday is our mid-season mixer, it is going to be awesome.....




I have also enclosed some pics from our outings at the bar!!!


It is so much fun even the pregnant girls get down!!!


The team (part of it atleast) after our first game, by this time we didn't care that we lost!!



Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Fruits & Veggies vs. Meat & Pies

Well as some of you may already know I have decided to do a 3 day strict fruit and veggie detox. After three days I can start implementing fish, brown rice, and oatmeal. After that I can start introducing things as I want them. I just felt that my diet wasn't what it should be and it was time to change things up and clean things out. So currently I am in day two!!! I am experiencing a few head aches which my Doctor warned me about, but also a lot of food cravings!!! Mostly I am craving sushi probably because I know I am going to go hit that up as soon as I can eat fish!!! But I was looking at my netflix movie list and read about a movie that had Kevin Bacon in it, so I started craving bacon, this morning I woke up craving a big hunk of cheese!! Don't get me wrong I am enjoying the fruits & veggies (eating a delicious pear right now) but they are not what I would consider a meal. For dinner last night I had a plum, and a bowl of edemame, and for dessert was watermelon, a delicious meal and thanks to the nalgene of water I drank with it I was full. I am hoping that the cravings will start to subside once I can eat more proteins and whole wheats. So I just have to remind myself, only one more day to go!!!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

SATC

Well finally it is almost May 30th and the Sex and The City movie opens!! My sister-in-law and I have made plans to watch the movie in the afternoon on Friday and then head over to this great place in Portland to get foot massages, then it is off to dinner!!! What a great plan huh!!! I love Sex and The City, I only watched it on DVD this past year but it was wonderful. I can't wait to see what the movie has in store for us!!!!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Where has the time gone?

Well I have taken the GRE and I have that under my belt now so when I take it again I know more what to expect. I have found a couple of graduate programs that I am interested in, but I am also looking at a couple different options right now. It seems like I haven't even had a second to breath over the past six weeks, but now as I sit to write I can't think of a thing. I am beginning to think of my travel plans for '09. I am excited for the possibilities of having the time and being able to visit my friends and family all over the US and still be able to go on at least one international trip. Cairo is on my list this upcoming year, as well as Ohio, and finally my Mom and I are going to take that trip to Savannah, Georgia that we have been talking about for a couple years. I have one trip left this year, and it takes place in Northern Europe in August. I am looking forward to this trip with a combination of hesitation and excitement, believe me it is a long story.

It seems like just last month I was visiting Mckenzie in South Africa and waking up each morning making our French press coffee, and eating our GIANT bowls of cereal while trading Zoe back and forth. When I arrived there I thought 3 weeks was so long, however by the end, I felt like I had just started to get used to life there. I knew it would be at least 4 months before I saw them again, now she could be out here as early as next month! Time just seems to fly by lately. My boss (also my mom) took 6 weeks off of work which now seems like yesterday, but she is back at work today. Someone recently told me "You can do anything for two years". What I don't think that person had any idea of was how seriously I am considering joining the Peace Corp. The length of service just happens to be two years!! It is true though, think of how many of us never thought high school would end and by your senior year you were wondering where the time went. That is what happened to me, but the time only seemed to speed up in college. At the beginning of the year we would be thinking how long this year would be, and by the end we would all be surprised at how we had accomplished everything we set out to do and so much more than we ever thought possible.

Considering how quickly time flies by I have been thinking of different adventures and challenges I want to face and over come in the upcoming months, and years. First on the list I really want to climb a mountain. While I have many other ideas and goals for myself I am starting with this one!!!! So hopefully this August I will be on the South Sister in Oregon, and have my first mountain under my belt.

Time really does fly by, and remember to savor the choices that you make, and for goodness sakes sometimes you just have to JUMP!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Studying for the big test

Rather than just buying flash cards with vocabulary words on them, I decided to up the study time efficiency and go ahead and get flash cards with vocab AND math!!! I know it blew my mind too!! It turns out I remember nothing about math, the good news, my vocab isn't as bad as I originally thought. So as I am reading these math flash cards, I start reading about polynomials, binomials and monomials and I am hoping that whatever they are talking about isn't contagious when I realize this is all stuff I am supposed to know. I wish I had my professor from college back because I know I learned all this stuff from him and he was great. Now I am left wondering what I did with all those notes from school, I know I kept them somewhere!!!

No worries though because while I was buying the flash cards I also purchased a few books, because I can't resist. So now my one week of study/prep time will be split between reading and actually studying!! **Note to self, try and focus on one thing, multi-tasking only slows you down..
I picked up a couple books, but one of them was "The Alchemist" which I have heard of and was excited it ended up right in front of my face, so that I could remember I wanted to read that (haha).

And finally on a political note I believe I have finally figured out who I am going to vote for. Lets just hope this person makes it on the ballot. I don't know if you guys have voted in your local primaries or if they have happened yet but it is pretty big news that Oregon is even holding its primary let alone that people are actually paying attention. I regrettably will not be partaking in this event seeing as how Oregon has a closed (or open) primary which means that only registered Dem., or Rep. can vote in the primary and seeing as how I am not registered as either I am waiving my chance to vote. So I am entrusting others with this decision, because well lets face it I think I know who I like but anyone is better than what we have now!!!!!!

Ok against ALL odds I have somehow managed to post a picture!! I can hear your applause thank you, thank you!! Now in this picture you won't see ANY of the people I went to visit in South Africa or the cutest baby that I fell in love with. But you will see the lovely Kathy who is on the right sitting next to me, and Leslie sitting on the left. Kathy was nice enough to take me out on the town to NuBar where I met a TON of new people. Including the nice ladies in black sitting with us at the table. Julien who is a very attractive rugby player, sorry ladies Kathy called dibs on him. I met many many more people however I don't remember all their names. But it was a great evening and I had loads of fun!!!!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

GRE

Ok so first of all I want to say I don't think that I was meant to ever post pictures on my blog. That being said I am NOT going to give up. First it was the web browser that I was using in South Africa, then it was me ALWAYS forgetting my camera cord to hook it up to my computer, now blogger says there is an error!! That sound you hear is my head hitting the desk, over and over again!!

where was I? Oh ya..........

So yesterday I did it, after two years (actually ALOT more) of talking about it and and putting it off, weighing my options, wondering what I wanted, blah blah blah, I finally bit the bullet and registered for the GRE. This is the first step in a long line of steps in order to get me on the road to my masters. I think this is just the thing I need to push past the mental block that has kept me in the waffling stages. I am most worried about my vocabulary (wait is there a math part, crap that is what I am most worried about), sometimes my vocabulary leaves me .........wanting a bit more. So if your in the mood to help or you get the urge to try and stump me, go ahead and send me an email with a word of the day. You don't even have to know what the word means. When I bought my first GRE study books (yes it was when I was living in Denver) I made up note cards and posted them around my apartment with the vocab they said I would need to know. Lets just say, I will not Abate the importance of this test even though I Abhor standardized test taking.... Ya, I didn't get past the middle of the "A's". I am sure I will be fine though. I still have a solid 3 weeks before my test.

Wish me luck....