margarita party/end of spring break

at the beginning of last week, noah mentioned that we should have a party this weekend as a nice way to end the spring break.  everyone was kind of busy and doing things so i didnt think that we were going to follow through with it but on friday, we decided that we really needed to get together with some friends.  last minute...i know.  anyway, stu, noah, and i called up some friends and had us a good old fashioned margarita party.

we really didnt think that anyone was going to show up because of the last minute notice.  stu and i figured that people would probably have other plans or want to have a relaxing weekend since it is the last one of the break.  we were pretty surprised when it was more than just me and stu and noah.  

drinking games!  colleen, derek, sarah, and half of noah.  becca was 

teaching us a new game.

ted and colleen.  they are noah's friends who moved here like 6 months ago.

it was cool that we got to see ted and colleen because they work all the time.  we havent seen them in like 3 months.  ted works the night shift (7pm-7am i think) and was actually working last night but had a break and came and ate his dinner at our house.  it was sad that he couldnt stay and hang out but at least we got to see him.

colleen, me, sarah, noah, and becca.  this is a great picture.  i love everyone's expressions.  noah wanted a picture with "the ladies."  lucky guy :-)

it was also really cool that becca got to come over and hang out.  she's my friend from work and we've been able to hang out a few times.  this was the first time that she was able to come to my house and hang out so that was pretty cool.  i really love how i work with great people who i can consider friends and spend time with outside of work.

i added this picture of "the ladies" only because i actually dont have some weird

face going on like i do in the one above.  and its funny because colleen looks like she is about ready to fall asleep.  haha.  it wouldnt be the first time there was a snoozing colleen in our chair ;-)

i dont know if you can call it a margarita party since people made them once, when everyone first got to our house and then just drank random mixes afterwards.  but it was still really fun.  we'll have to do it again some time.  we pretty much played drinking games most of the night and then ended it with an awesome jam session on the rockband.  haha.  anyway, i just wanted to post some pictures of the night.  i left out the pictures from sarah's self-portrait session...

oh yea, tomorrow is back to school/work for almost everyone i know so i hope you have all had a great break!

and we're back

crossing the bridge by the Goss' house

as all of you already know, stu and i got to take a trip to sun valley, idaho for spring break.  last year stu and i went to palm desert for spring break so this year we decided to do the opposite and go somewhere cold and snowy.  it was really nice because stu's parents have a house there so we didnt have to worry about a hotel or anything like that and actually stu's dad was in town skiing so we got to hang out and go to dinner and stuff.  

the trip there was pretty rough.  the morning started out with boarding the ferrets at our vet and finally getting on the road at 8:30.  a little later than we planned but what can you do.  the car drive was long and tiring.  we made it to sun valley 8:30 pm (or 7:30 oregon time).

it was really cool because sun valley can be a really expensive place if you need a place to stay, eat out at the expensive restaurants, and ski but there are a ton of other things that you can do while you are there that are a little more low key.  ive only been skiing once before in my life and im not that good at it so we opted out of that activity.  basically we spent the whole time hiking, shopping, visiting the resort, reading, and basically just relaxing and having a good time.  it was really cool to have a nice vacation in which we didnt have any plans or expectations and could pretty much do whatever we wanted. 

i didnt want to write too long of an entry because i know that it would be/probably still is pretty boring so im just going to list off some things that stuck out in my mind:

>pilot butte french fries for lunch on the way there

>not actually getting a ticket from that police officer who pulled me over for speeding!  it was the first time ive ever been pulled over and i was pretty sad.

>fudge spuds from the candy store

>finding a random house with the word "lubrication" on the side.  nothing else.

>meeting the neighbors dog niko

>hot tubbing

>henry, the fox i named, who kept coming back and visiting us in the back yard

>hiking on the skate skiing track, thinking that it was odd that there were no other foot prints, and later finding out that we werent supposed to be walking on it

>driving aimlessly, looking at the million dollar houses and picking the ones we'd "take"

>hunting for ernest hemingway's house and then getting sidetracked by walking a few more miles to the ski lodge.

>stu's dad telling the waitress that they had to be able to find us a table upstairs at the sawtooth restaurant because they could "shot a cannon" through it, there were so few people.  we hadnt made a reservation.  they gave us an upstairs table.

>stopping in pendleton oregon on the way home.  becoming afraid of the people out on easter morning and leaving.  and not stopping to go to the bathroom for the rest of the trip.

>celebrating easter monday with stu's family!  

i've been meaning to take a picture of this sign for years.  apparently its a sleazy bar.  i was still pretty excited!

anyway, it was a pretty awesome vacation but i cant justify it and our pictures are pretty boring.  if you want to see more of the pictures, you can check out the vacation pictures in my picture links.

we're home!

so we just got back into eugene this morning.  the ferrets were very happy to see us and now we have to run around town and shop for groceries, pick up our mail we had the post office hold, and run a few more errands.  ill post pictures and write a good entry when i get a chance to sit down and concentrate.

getting ready for 11 hours of driving!

its been a while...update:

last weekend stu and i hung out with katrina, kenton and finley.  it was really fun and im glad that we got together because it had been a while since we'd done it.  the guys played smash bros while katrina and i shopped for toys for the classroom.  i love buying toys for the kids!

on saturday, we went to the university of oregon opera concert.  a few of the singers were people who stu has class with and they were really talented.  i wish that i knew italian so i could understand them but it was still really cool and a great new experience.  also, the accompanying music was performed by the university of oregon orchestra so i really enjoyed that.

for st. patty's day, we spent the day in portland with stu's mom and sister.  we had to drop the frogs off so we stayed for dinner and ann made all kinds of themed things like green mashed potatoes.  later we drove home and met up with sarah, derek, noah, and this other stu (who my stu and sarah both went to high school with) at The Old Pad and had a few beers and some nachos and the guys played pool.

today we've just been cleaning and washing laundry, and packing; trying to make sure that we are ready to leave for sun valley tomorrow morning.  originally we were thinking that the ferrets would stay with stu's mom while we were gone but we went to our vet's grand opening of his new facility and he has a room for ferret boarding.  we decided to board the ferrets for a few days because they get to play with other ferrets and stuff and we thought that they would have more fun there than having to spend the whole time in their little travel cage.

its about an 11 hour trip so it would be nice to get started early but the boarding doesnt open until 8.  but after we lovingly drop cinder and oliver off we will be off!  im excited.  not looking forward to all the driving because i know that stu wont do any of it but still.  there is going to be a ton of snow so stu and i are planning on sledding and snow-shoeing and hot tubing...

anyway, thats been whats going on in our lives right now.  hopefully ill come back with a ton of pictures!

soooo...i checked my myspace page today and i had a message from some random journalist who was like, "hey, i saw that you went to high school with kristy lee cook and i was wondering if you could share some memories/funny stories etc with me for a piece im doing on her."

weird...

long day

today was loooong!

but good news.  i went to the bank to try and finish the whole bad credit/fraudulent cards thing and while i didnt get it all figured out (the associate helping me spent almost an hour on the phone trying to find someone who would help him help me), i think that we are really close.  it was a long process because the cards are so old and are closed accounts.  it turns out that the collection agency who bought the debt from the bank were supposed to provide me with the information that i requested from them and they didnt; they just referred me back to bank of america.  right now, i am just waiting for the transaction records to be faxed to the bank and then they will give me a call so i can go and pick them up.  once that is done, ill prove that i couldnt be making those transactions states away and hopefully ill be done with it!

sorry im so boring people; this whole credit thing just seems to not want to go away so its been on my mind a lot lately.  wish me luck that everything works out and i can get this finished by the end of the month!

i was able to get this stuff worked on today because i took the day off.  im not sure if you can call it a day off if the morning is spent at the doctors office and the whole afternoon is spent at the bank but oh well!  plus, i was a little bummed that i missed school today because it was going to be a fun day with the kids.  the fire department was coming out and showing the kids their uniforms and their truck.  so exciting!  im sad that i missed the kids reactions :(

time change

this time change thing is really messing me up.  i know that we all go through it every year but this year seems specifically hard on me...so tired.

anyway, last year i worked in two different classes, half time in each.  one was howard, the one i work in now, and the other was westmoreland.  i was pretty close to some of the people at westmoreland.  the girls were really good at planning get togethers outside of work time for dinners and birthdays and it was really fun.  true to form, after i moved full-time to howard and said, "yeah, ill still hang out," i ended up never following through with it and i really miss some of those girls.

last night i got together with a few of the westmoreland girls for dinner.  only lyn, ivy, and kathy showed up so i was a little sad that i didnt get to see anny but it was still really nice to be able to catch up with everyone.  i really got the feeling that everyone was "growing up" and moving on to bigger and better things.  kathy works at some kind of EC Cares job/toddler care position and works one on one with kids with developmental disabilities and their families in their homes.  ivy was accepted into grad school at the early intervention program at the university and this summer will be her last at EEP.  lyn currently works at a preschool program with kids ages 2 1/2 to 5 who suffer from emotional disabilities and has applied to the university for grad school and plans on working with families and children with emotional issues.  

i felt like i really didnt have much to offer to the conversation about what im doing thats new in life.  i love where im at and i know that im still young and dont have to know my calling in life right now (i mean, it took kathy a while to figure it out) but it is really becoming a reality that most people dont stay at EEP for life.  i like the position that i hold and what i do (wish i could make a little more money doing it sometimes) so im just seeing where life takes me i guess.  i definitely dont plan on leaving EEP any time soon, thats for sure.

ducks game!

so this weekend, stu's uncle billy came up to see his daughter and he bought tickets for us all to go to the ducks game. it was really fun!  he had bought them like two days before the game so the seats were waaaaaaaaaay up almost as far as you could go.  we had to walk up all these stairs and it was looking pretty bleak for us for a few minutes but i definitely have to say that it was a lot of fun.  as you can see from the picture, we were almost parallel the rafters but actually, i liked sitting up that high because i could see ALL the plays.  it was awesome to be able to tell what was happening on the other side of the court.  i almost think that i would rather have those kind of seats instead of the court ones.  the game was a really good one too!  oregon was playing arizona.  i used to go to all the basketball games when i was a student, and sit down in the pit (the big yellow shirted group to the right for those of you who dont go to games) and really get into them and i had forgotten how fun basketball games were.  it helps that the ducks won too, 78-69.  anyway, it was an awesome time and im really glad that billy thought of us when he came down!

an update on my week!

so, i know that i havent done a real post in a while so i decided to update some people on some things going on in my life right now.

first of all, some of you know that i have been battling with some credit card companies over some fraudulent cards that were taken out in my name.  somehow, like five years ago, someone got a hold of my information and used it to take out like 4 or 5 cards and ruin my credit.  i didnt realize how bad it was until a few months ago and have since then been trying to work with the companies to prove that it wasnt me who racked up like $10,000 in debt.  its been hard.  but as of monday, capitol one finally cleared me!  woo hoo!  and now i only have three more cards to work oh.  yeah jacque!

yesterday was cinder's fourth birthday.  she doesnt like much, except to sleep, so stu and i bought her a new bed for when she is out in the livingroom.  its pretty cute.  oliver really liked it because there was a little fuzzy ball attached to the roof.

i was planning on going to visit tyler and chris this weekend but i just dont think that i can afford it.  i really need to save some money up and i dont get my unemployment/taxes until around the end of spring break.  sad.  i was excited.  but i guess that i can visit her then.  bummer, i wanted to go shopping :(

tonight stu and i are going to go to the movies together.  we are going to see be kind, rewind.  its a michel gondry movie and stu really likes his work.  i personally think that it looks stupid but that probably means that it is really good.

tomorrow, stu's uncle billy is coming into town for a father/daughter thing with stu's cousin emily at the DG house.  he's staying with us and hes going to take us to the basketball game on saturday.  its weird to have to wait for someone to buy tickets, being a student so recently.  but im still pretty excited.  its been a long time since ive gone to a ducks game!

on a more serious note, i called my mom on monday to find out that her doctor had found a cyst in her breast.  scary!  i know, she went in this morning and her doctor checked it out more thoroughly and discovered that it was benign and they removed it but still...i was a little scared there for a few days.  also, this week, my mom had to have surgery on her knee.  she messed it up pretty bad when she was in high school playing volleyball and has had trouble with it ever since so today they were trying to fix that for her (one of the many knee surgeries she has had over her lifetime so it wasnt that big of a deal).

the simple pleasures in life:

+reading late at night and knowing that i dont have to wake up early in the morning

+warm socks

+playing games.  thank you kenton and katrina for making me realize how much i liked it again!

+weasel kisses

+waking up next to the person who i love everyday ;-*

+backing into the trash can every wednesday morning because i cant figure it out that the sanitation guy always throws it in the middle of the driveway.  oh yeah, and he always breaks the lid off in the process too

+random warm and sunny days in the middle of winter

+LOST

+reading a friend's new blog

+having an activity be successful with the kids in my classroom!

+listening to a song on american idol and saying, "i love this song!  what is it from?  cause i love it when i hear it!" and having stu look at me and say, "shrek."  i hang my head in shame...

+feeling like i look goooood

+survivor competitions with the stu(d)

+shopping!

+actually having something to blog about (sorry guys, tonight is definitely not one of those)

+80's music! "i wanna dance with sooooooomebody..."

+sleeping in on the weekends

+going on random road trips to see old friends

+teacher treats

+a good bottle of wine shared with great people

there are a million more things that make me happy but im preoccupied by my american idol...

i am sad about last night.

GO OBAMA!

mornings

Originally uploaded by jacque.lowenstein

this is what my mornings before work look like...

i indulge myself ;-)

This weekend felt like a really lazy weekend.  i really feel like i havent done anything this entire time but sleep.  stu and i were supposed to go over to noah's on friday night and hang out with him and sarah and derek but i totally passed out on the coach at like 8:30.  i am not even kidding.  i think that i must not be getting enough sleep during the week because i was exhausted!  i was watching stu play the LOST videogame and then all the sudden i was zonked!

on saturday stu and i packed up the frogs and went to portland.  it was stu's dad's birthday.  we ended up spending the afternoon with stu's dogs while jim went on a long bike ride and then went to McCormick and Schmicks with jim and stu's aunt, uncle and cousins.  it was pretty fun actually. i dont really know stu's dad's side of the family so it was nice to get to spend some time with them.  and then, we came home, had cake, and i zonked out at like 10.

also, stu and i got some tickets for some upcoming shows this spring and we are pretty excited!  we are going to go see ani, death cab, and the swell season.  if you watched the oscars, you got to see the swell season win best musical number.  they are actually real musicians who made a movie, Once, and then got together to tour.  they are the ones that i am most excited about.  anyway, they are long way off but still.  

oh yeah, and we are trying to figure out what we are going to do for the two weeks we both get off for spring break.  any ideas?  so far it looks like sun valley might be the choice but we are always open to suggestions!