Jacque's Blog

2009-11-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, Fall. You have hit us and with you comes millions of pine needles, soggy days, and cold feet. But I love you! Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love it when I can begin to put layers on and start wearing all my nice warm coats outside. And there is really nothing better than a wet weekend spent inside lazing around watching your favorite show and drinking hot apple cider.

I am throwing myself into the season and embracing the fact that Halloween is hardly over (I still have yet to actually pack all my Halloween stuff up and seal the box away in the garage) and the stores are already filled with Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise. Stu has informed me that I am not allowed to buy any ornaments, or the AWESOME light up pink flamingo for the front yard, until after Thanksgiving but we will see about that. I'm thinking a covert trip to Target is in store ;-).

I apologize for the lack of blogging but my camera is being stupid and not letting me upload my photos or even erase the 500 pictures off of my memory card even though I have hit 'delete originals' every time I connect it to the computer. And what is a blog without pictures? Lame. Anyway, with Fall comes lots of photo ops so I plan on breaking out the camera Stu has but never uses and I promise to blog more!

Because We are Just THAT Cool...

2009-09-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Every year, Lane Ferret Shelter and Rescue puts on the "Ferret Agility Trials" to raise money. Stu and I have known about it for years but we are always doing something on the weekend they are held and we end up reading about it in the paper days later. As ferret owners, we have always wondered how our ferrets would do in the competition so this year, we took Oliver and joined in on the fun.

Oliver was totally freaked out about the car drive and then the amount of people and ferrets at the trials but his number was 23 and, that being one of my lucky numbers, I was confident we would take home a ribbon!

Oliver didn't take home any ribbons though...he didn't pull any weights, even try to get out of the paper bag, and ended up turning around during the tube races but we still love him. We met some nice/interesting people, saw our vet and Oliver was attacked by a girl ferret owned by a really sweaty woman. We left after "Princess Pea" chomped on Oliver's neck and wouldn't let go. But we think Oliver enjoyed himself and plan on taking him to the park more often. It's nice to not have to hide the ferrets anymore now that we aren't renting...

Places from My Childhood

2009-09-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

After my parent's left, seems I just couldn't handle being away from them. They left my house and drove down to visit my aunt in Cave Junction. I decided that my new car needed to go on its first road trip, so three days later, I was driving down to Cave Junction too!

The crazy thing is that my cousin has lived in Eugene longer than I have and we lost contact a really long time ago. We kept giving our numbers to our moms only to have them lose them or give us the wrong number so we haven't talked in years. While my mom was visiting, I was actually able to get in touch with Sarah and we decided to make the trip to Cave Junction together (since my parent's were staying with her mom.) The drive down was the best part of the trip because I was able to catch up with Sarah and get to know her son Domanick (almost 3!)

It was a perfect summer day in Cave Junction. I have spent most of my life growing up there (ages 0-4 and then 9-16) and have a lot of memories in that town. It was weird to drive through and see buildings torn down and new ones erected and it was really crazy to have the option to stop for lunch at Subway. When I was in high school, the only thing you could eat at that was "fast food" was Dairy Queen or Giant Burger!

Right before we left to come back to Eugene, we decided to go swimming at the gauging station up the river. This is quite literally the swimming hole that I learned how to swim in. It was beautiful and crystal clear and unchanged. What a great way to spend the evening.

Summa Time...

2009-09-01T18:03:00.001-07:00

I have been putting off posting anything for a while because I was sure that I hadn't done anything this summer. But looking back on some of the pictures that I have taken and posted on Facebook, I realized that this has been one of the best summers I have had in a long time. I didn't really go anywhere or do anything unbelievable, but I still had an amazing summer!

One of the really special things that happened this summer, is that my parents came to visit me. Most of you know that my family lives in New Mexico and that I only get to see them and spend time with them for about six days right around Christmas. My mom and step dad George decided to make the trip to Oregon this summer and they spent a few days with Stu and me.

We have always been a "coast" family, spending a lot of time living near the ocean, so one of the days they were in Eugene, we made a trip to Oregon City (where George grew up.) It was quite the road trip with me missing the exit I intended to take and going a very long route which included the Tualatin/Sherwood Highway and later a really shady, random winding country road. But we made it!

The end result was us finding our way to the beach at Ocean City (and me discovering that was where the Pelican Brewery was.) George told us all kinds of stories about how he and his dad used to build Dory Boats and we found the little building his mom built where she used to can fish. After leaving Ocean City we ended up going to Lincoln City to get a late lunch of fresh clam chowder and saltwater taffy! Yum!

The next day was my mom's birthday! I haven't been around my mom on her birthday since I was in junior high so it was really nice to be able to help her have a special day. We ended up going to see the livestock at the fair (my family raises horses and other animals) and then coming home for a yummy bbq. We got my mom her favorite type of cake from Sweet Life and then headed out to the fair at dusk to go on some rides!

It was really nice to have someone who isn't a wienie (...Stu...) and who wants to go on rides with me.

It is always a little nerve racking and tiring to spend time with your family. Especially when they are staying in your home (and you wake up to old country music blaring from your tv speakers at 7 in the morning...every morning...); but I was really sad to see them go. You never realize how much you miss the people you can't be around until those first few quiet, boring hours after they leave your house.

2009-08-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

taken in the parking lot of target this evening...

Our House

2009-07-03T17:58:00.001-07:00

I have had a few friends and family members from out of town ask me to post some pictures of our new house.

the front

living room

kitchen

Dining room...we are looking into a dining room table but we haven't gotten that far yet.

Megan's room

upstairs bathroom

master bedroom

hot tub and deck off the master

Our BBQ deck. Thanks for recommending Bi-Mart for patio furniture Kenton and Katrina!

Fire pit down below. We are excited for smores!!

It is really cool because we have this little bark mulch area by the fire pit and every night around dinner time, deer come and munch and nap in our yard.

We are excited to finish furnishing the house and getting everything in order. We have a lot of work to do. I have to mention the "Man Cave" that Stu set up in the family room downstairs. Just picture our old living room and you have it. Stu was very excited about the prospect of being able to have his own room in the house that I will actually let him put up his cheesy posters in.

Moving Day

2009-07-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

On June 24th, Stu and I became official owners of a house! We had been on break for about a week so we pretty much had the entire house packed into boxes (thank you Carolyn, Jesse, Kenton and Katrina for letting us borrow those boxes from you guys!).

The ferrets were very confused about what was going on. Oliver kept trying to pry open the tape on the boxes. It was pretty funny.

It was definitely a tough day. It was super hot and while we had hired movers to help us, Stu and I were pretty much responsible for getting a lot of the boxes and other things off the truck. We were very lucky because Stu's family came down and his sister helped us unpack a lot of stuff while Stu and I were telling the movers where to put stuff. His mom was awesome and cleaned our kitchen and bathrooms and his dad brought us a couch and bed frame down from Portland. It was a very long day but it went so much smoother with all the help from the Goss Family!

Ann, Stu, Megan and me, toasting after it was all over. Champagne to celebrate our first house!

Moving day photo shoot! Stu and his sister with their glasses next to the hot tub!

Me and Stu trying to be funny...only to have Ann be "that guy" in the photo...creeper ;-)

We have a house!

2009-07-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am sorry that I posted that video before the last one. I know, I let a lot of people down who were used a certain standard of posts from me. I hope to redeem myself with this...

HAPPY EARLY! FOURTH OF JULY!!!

2009-06-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

2009-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Riley sings "Don't Stop Believing" from Ronnie Silos on Vimeo.

Cinder's Surgery

2009-05-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Cinder was diagnosed with Insulinoma and adrenal disease. It happens to almost every ferret. And if they don't have surgery to remove their adrenal glands, then they could die. This has happened to another one of Stu's ferrets in the past and having the surgery added a good three years onto his life so we decided to go through with it. Stu and I don't have kids, so our ferrets are really part of our family and it was really hard to leave Cinder at the vet, knowing that she was going to have to go through the surgery all alone. We picked her up after work and she was all drugged up but happy to see us. Our vet, Dr. Ron said that Cinder had the biggest Insulinoma tumor he had ever seen but that she should be fine. (By the way, we recommend Dr. Ron to anyone who has a pet, although none of our friends currently have any. He is the most awesome vet ever and he even remembers his clients very well. We trust him completely with our animals).

Cinder's post op picture. I know that it looks really yucky but the brown stuff is just sterilizing liquid and we can't wash it off until her tummy becomes less sensitive. She has a little cute cast on her arm where they took the IV out. That HUGE bruise on her other arm happened because she freaked out and chewed out the first catheter that they put in. Crazy weasel.

Oliver has been really confused by the recent events. He has had to stay all by himself in the cage for the first time ever and doesn't like it. He seems really concerned about Cinder and it is really sweet to see him sniff her and try and give her kisses to cheer her up. Cinder herself is doing really well. She has been eating and drinking water and taking it easy. Can't wait until she can move a little more.

Memorial Day Camping

2009-05-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

Usually, Memorial Day weekend rolls around and Stu and I are just so excited to have a few days off of school/work that we totally just relax at home. But this year, the weekend followed a long week off of work so we were pretty up for anything. Jesse and Carolyn invited us to go on a camping trip up the McKenzie river. We went up on Sunday pretty much expecting to have to turn around and go camp in someone's backyard. We were sure that with the nice weather and extended weekend, all the sites would be gone but amazingly enough, we found this awesome spot! It was actually at Paradise Campground which apparently is the place Carolyn's mom loves to camp. We were so lucky! It was right on the river and we didn't feel like we had people right on top of us. We ended up going hiking on this really cool trial that ended in this awesome pool, going to hot springs, and making hot dogs and smores over a camp fire. It was really a cool trip and we had a great time. Thanks for inviting us Carolyn and Jesse!

Scoping out a beer/soda hiding area in the icy water. It was awesome to come back from a hike and sit by the river and drink some cold beer!

"Once upon a time, this group of people went camping on the McKenzie river. Their cook roasted wieners and marsh mellows and then died. And then they ate some berries and died. Twenty years later they came back and haunted the campers at the site. With hooks. Wooooooooooooooooo..."

2009-05-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a very busy month. At least, I feel like it has been very busy, although, I am not sure what all I have gotten done ;-) I realized that I needed to update the blog so here goes: a generic update on what has been going on.

-Stu and I had our 4th anniversary on the 30th of April. It was really great! We went to dinner at the Oregon Electric Station YUM and afterwards to the Hult Center to see Spamalot. Amazing. It was really a great show. John O’Hurley was pretty awesome (J Peterman from Seinfeld).

-Stu bought me a sewing machine for our anniversary! I am so excited to get started on projects! Can’t wait to go to the funky little fabric store down the road and pick something out. I have been trying to save up some money for other things lately, but soon!

-Baby Cedar was born! We went to the hospital to see Cedar, Katrina, and Kenton. He is so cute! Katrina is the first friend I have that I’ve been around since the beginning of the pregnancy and it has been so exciting! I can’t wait until our lives simplify a little bit so that we can spend more time at the Henry house!

-We know, we know…we haven’t been on a hike in like three weeks. The week after the last hike, it was horrible weather and the last couple of weekends, we have been so busy with other things that it hasn’t been a priority. I don’t know when we will get back into the swing of things. I hope soon. I miss it.

I am very excited for next weekend because I work Monday and I am going to help out in Stu's class on Tuesday (he really wants me to meet his kids since he has met all the ones in my classroom). But after that, I get the rest of the week off! Hopefully Stu and I will get some stuff done and have time to hang out with friends! Maybe get a hike or two in. Hopefully we will do something interesting so that when I do a blog update, I don't have to realize that we are boring... ;-)

2009-05-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

The kids in Stu's class are all well aware that we have weird animals living with us at home. He brought the rats in one time to show them and now all of his students apparently talk about them all the time. A few kids think that it is fun to pick a bunch of daisies for the rats so every couple of days, Stu comes home with a pocket full of flowers. The rats really like the flowers. It is very cute.

Four Years

2009-04-30T07:44:00.001-07:00

Today marks the fourth year that Stu and I have been together. Stu and I have known each other since our Freshman year at the U of O and I can still remember the first time I saw him; it helps that he was one of four guys in the Careers in Education freshman interest group. I can't even begin to tell you how many hours I spent in his dorm room, just hanging out and talking/doing stupid stuff. Stu was my best guy friend for three years before we started dating and I can honestly say that Stu has been a huge factor in me becoming the person that I am today. He knows everything little thing about me and still loves me.

Freshman year in the dorms

Being with someone who hates to get his picture taken has made it impossible to get good shots of us together. I shamelessly took this last picture from Carolyn and Jesse's blog...

2009-04-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

SCARIEST THING EVER!

McDowell Creek Falls

2009-04-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

The weather is very Oregony outside right now; wet, cold, gray...but this last weekend, we saw some sun shining through and Stu and I took advantage of it. I bought this cool little hiking guide the other day and we decided to try out a new spot. We ended up going to McDowell Creek Falls over by Sweet Home. It took us a while to find it because the guide was a little vague on how to get there and the google map directions ended up sending us out to some gravel road that ended in a "Do Not Trespass" sign with bones scattered on the ground underneath. Literally. I am not kidding. We decided that probably wasn't the turn we were supposed to take and, not wanting to meet up with the natives from Deliverance, we drove through to the other side of Sweet Home. And magically found it!

This isn't the actual McDowell Creek Falls because apparently, sometime between the hike and home, those pictures were deleted. This is the second waterfall that we came across on the hike and it is quite small in comparison. Still very pretty though.

It was a very well-maintained trail with nice bridges to cross the river so it wasn't a very challenging hike by any means.

Since we were going on a hike, I decided to give Stu his anniversary gifts early; the hiking guide and a backpack with one of those camelback water holders (we both hate carrying water bottles with us.) Since Stu refuses to get his picture taken, we will be seeing a lot of me in this blog. A lot.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T07:20:00.001-07:00

I know that this is a little ridiculous but I had to post it. When the rats want to come out and play (we let them run around in their balls or run around on the couch for a little bit to exercise them) they often climb to the tallest point in their tank. The water bottle. And then look up through the screen on top until we take pity on them and let them out. Yesterday, we didn't notice right away and a little while later, I found Miso who apparently went to sleep on her water bottle. I thought it was pretty cute.

I have a tan/burn line!

2009-04-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Stu and I went on a hike up Spencer's Butte for the first time ever! We have both lived here since 2002 and have only now gotten around to doing and it was awesome. It was a beautiful day and there were a ton of people out but that almost made it better because everyone was in a great mood and we were greeted with smiles and cheerful hellos up and down the trail.

This has definitely gotten me in the mood for doing more stuff outdoor. I know that the cold and rainy weather is back on its way so let's hope that I don't lose the motivation!

I am pretty cool.

After the hike, Stu and I had a bbq at our house. It was pretty impromptu actually. We only expected Noah but were joined by a few other friends, some we haven't seen since last summer! I love bbqing!

Saturday Market

2009-04-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

One of the things that really gets me in the mood for summer and summer weather is the Saturday Market in downtown Eugene. I don't know what it is. I never buy anything (except the occasional raspberry lemonade!) but I love going down there to people watch. I didn't get a very good picture -I always feel self-conscious about taking pictures of people I don't know so I snapped one really quickly- but here is a shot of the first Saturday Market of the season. We went with Noah a couple of weekends ago.

This Saturday, Stu and I went back and actually bought something for lunch. It is always so crowded on the lawn and I hate sitting on the wet grass, so we bought our Nice Rice and walked down to the little square on Broadway and Willamette. Stu was really excited to get honeycomb. He's been checking for it every time we go to the market since it's opened for the season.

While we were eating, someone also stopped by and gave us a little book that informed us of how we were sinning in life. Gotta love an afternoon in downtown Eugene.

Rats!!

2009-04-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

As you may know, our tomato frogs Hurley and Jemaine passed away. Poor guys. We don't know what happened (they both died at different times) but perhaps the tank on our dining table was not enough of a substitute for the rainforesty awesomeness that is Madagascar. We were sad. We considered throwing away the tank but instead...

INTRODUCING THE NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR FAMILY:

Miss Swiss (aptly named because she tries to chew holes into everything) eating a strawberry and looking kinda creepy with those eyes.

Miso (she is the sneezy one)

Lyra (named this because she is the most adventurous little girl)

I know, we don't have normal pets but Stu grew up with rats and he really wanted to get them. I am glad that we got them. I was hesitant at first because of all the stereotypes that rats have against them. But they are very sweet and constantly cleaning themselves. The best part is that while those damn weasels won't hang out with us unless they are sleepy, Lyra, Swiss and Miso love to hang out. Anyway, just thought I would put up some pictures of our new family members...cause they are so damn cute!

SPACE!

2009-04-01T11:22:00.001-07:00

This spring break has been a relatively unexciting one. It actually has been kind of nice. I mean, I know that I am going to probably look back on this break in a few weeks, when I am in the middle of a long stretch of work, and think that we really should have done something. But I am really enjoying the fact that I get up between the hours of 8-10 and don't have to rush to do anything.

One of the things we have done however, was to go the the Space Museum with Stu's grandpa. It was really fun. I like getting the chance to know Stu's family better and it was a great way to spend a yucky, rainy day.

I was a little disappointed that almost everything was a "replica" but I suppose that was okay. Haha. Stu kept laughing at me because I wanted to do all the hands on stuff and they were always filled with kids taking advantage of the fun...

I tried to get Stu and his grandpa to take a picture together and both declined so this was the best that I could get. But I was excited because we have a toy in the classroom that is a "replica" of the "replica" of a moon cruiser in the background of this picture! I am such a loser...

I tried to get a picture of my reflection in the astronaut helmet...you know, because I'm artsy like that. The museum got me all excited for Space at work. Too bad I have to wait like an entire year since we just had that theme...

Barack Obama is our neighbor!

2009-04-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Just last week, we had new neighbors move into the house next door, the one that we share a driveway with. We met most of them the evening that they moved in. Four guys who all look like they are young, probably sophomores in college (but what can I say, I look like I could be a freshman).

This scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it! I had peeked out through the blinds in our room (to see if their back light was on because it has been keeping us up at night) and saw someone looking back at me. I screamed and jumped away from the window. A few seconds later I investigated and realized what it was. I just had to take a picture. I'm sure that our neighbors saw my camera lens peeking out between the blinds and now think I'm a stalker. With any luck, they will think it was Stu... ;-)

2009-03-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-16T07:13:00.001-07:00

I have been really excited the last couple of weeks because I finally participated in Neatorama's Mystery Sale. Neatorama is definitely one of my favorite sites that I usually visit multiple times in a day. Every few months or so, they have a sale where you pay $10 (plus shipping) to get a mystery box. The item that you receive is guaranteed to be at least worth $10 and I am always jealous when they make the reveal post and it is items like Ipods and stuff like that. This time, I jumped on it because I figured that I would spend the $10 on something pointless in the end anyway and I might as well add some excitement into the whole "receiving mail" thing.

This was a HUGE mystery sale this time and they posted that it would take almost three weeks to fill all the orders because so many people had signed up. Man, I was excited. A little bummed that I was going to have to wait. But excited. And then, two and a half weeks later, I opened my front door and there was a package on my porch.

I ripped it open! I was so excited. And then I caught me first glimpse of my prize. Drinking Strawz. The straw with flexible connector pieces so that you can make some crazy straws...

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. I guess waiting almost three weeks really built up the anticipation. I have come to terms with it though...although, I have no idea what I am going to do with flexible drinking straws now that I am over the age of 12. Hmmm...

They had the Mystery Sale Reveal today and I saw that there was a number of surprises I could have received. I suppose that I am glad I didn't get Grandma??

Awesome

2009-03-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

2009-03-05T18:39:00.000-08:00

Stu and I are going to go see Watchmen tonight with Kenton, his brother Brian, and Jesse...totally a guys night out... The movie starts at midnight and probably won't get over until 3:30 with all the previews. I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday and we have no kids!!

I'm splurging on popcorn.

2009-03-05T07:07:00.001-08:00

Now THIS is an awesome picture. Great job Kenton! ;-)

Ollis

2009-03-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, Stu and I don't have kids. We have ferrets. So I can't put up cute pictures of our kids. I can, however, put up cute pictures of Oliver and Cinder.

I discovered that Oliver had a new favorite sleeping place: in the cushion of our blue recliner (no one ever uses it so it doesn't really matter.) Doesn't he have the cutest little sleepy squish face??

community helpers are people who help us in the community...

2009-03-04T19:19:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, I get overwhelmed. I love my job. I do. But sometimes, in the middle of a week, I really feel like I can't wait for the weekend. Days like today bring me down to Earth and make me realize that I really do have an awesome job. I get to be involved in the time of a person's life when they are learning and exploring and being shaped into the person they will grow up to be. I love that I get to be around students when they come to school and give you hugs and cuddle on you for comfort.

We have been teaching the preschoolers about Community Helpers for the last couple of weeks and we scheduled a visit from some firefighters and their fire truck today. The kids were so excited to go outside and see people who they have been learning about! The group that came was really cool and let the kids spray the water out of the hose and in the afternoon they let them climb into the driver's seat for a picture (The day is split up into two different classes, one AM and one in the PM.) The kids were great, minus spraying the one firefighter with water when he was putting out some cones to aim the water at ;-)

2009-03-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Post!

2009-03-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

Jeez, I am so bad at this blogging thing. Like, really bad. I really have a hard time coming up with things to write about. But I am trying...

This last weekend, Stu and I went to the Newport with Carolyn, Jesse (who was able to get us free admission into the Oregon Coast Aquarium), Katrina, Kenton, and Finn. It was really nice to get OUT of town for a weekend. Usually Saturdays just mean sleeping in a few hours and sitting around in our bathrobes. Let's face it. We are really lazy people. But last weekend, we were up at 6:30 (okay, maybe I hit the snooze button until around 6:50) and on the road at 8:30. It was really an awesome trip. The weather was amazing! It was really awesome to go to the aquarium with Finn because he was just so into EVERYTHING. We walked in and he was excited about the rocks and bubbles in the water from the little waterfall. It really makes you appreciate the things around you. The day ended with some adventures on the beach and yummy ice cream down by the waterfront. It was pretty much the perfect coast trip. And I even got a chili dog for lunch at the Rogue Brewery!

Jorma's Memorial

2009-01-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a crazy busy, sad, happy, exhausting weekend. Jorma's memorial was held in Port Orford so Stu and I, among many other friends of Jorma's, drove down to the place most of us have called home at one time or another. Stu and I arrived into town early and were able to make it down to the beach.

It was the most beautiful day to be on the coast. I couldn't believe it! In the middle of January and Port Orford was sunny and almost 70! And most importantly, NOT WINDY! I have lived in Port Orford for a while and the conditions are never like this, even in the summer! It was so great to walk down past Battle Rock, almost all the way to Hubbard's Creek and think about good times. I broke my ankle on that beach. I rode on a deflated mattress behind a friend's car on that beach. I've had bonfires on that beach and watched the most awesome fireworks in the world. So many memories. It was just so nice to be down there to celebrate someone's life and have it be so beautiful.

Home. I see you!

Our youth pastor Josh, his wife Evie, Tyler, Me, Sara, Jory, Amber, and AJ

This is a picture of old high school friend who came to the memorial. There were a lot more people there but this picture was taken of the people who were in youth group together. We met Amber in college and Jory didn't live in Port Orford when we were in high school but everyone else spent Wednesday nights in the youth room at Langlois Community Church ;-)

On a Sad Note

2009-01-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Jorma Lee Smith

9/11/1982-1/2/2009

trying on Tyler's bras that she had just bought in the dorms

Right after the Mindless Self Indulgence concert Jorma and Stu went to.

Riding home in the back of the car on our way home from Sacramento

Photo op in the dorms

At a party in Chase. I don't remember why we posed. We just did! Jorma in his "towel" shirt. He loved that thing!

My senior year in high school at our baptism. We were baptized together. So young!

Crashing Bandon's prom in high school.

Jorma and Rob in jail (actually on the other side of mine and Tyler's porch.)

The Port Orford Crew reunited at T-230! Joel, Tyler, Sara, JJ, Me and Jorma. I love how there is a wine cooler in the picture too. we were so classy.

I remember the first time I saw Jorma. I had been in class, in high school, and someone turned to a friend and said, "Did you know that Jorma is back?!" I asked who that was and was told that I would know when I saw him. Later, I was in the hall and above all the heads, I could see this amazingly crazy, bright red hair. It was the beginning of one of the most important friendships in my life.

We drifted apart these last couple of years, staying in contact through Myspace, never really seeing each other and I apologize for that. Jorma tried to get together and I was always busy. I should have been there for him when he needed me but I didn't know what he was going through. Jorma was one of my best friends, my first real guy friend. He watched me grow up and Jorma undoubtedly helped shape who I am today. He was one of my first kisses, he bought me my first beer, we went off to colleges together and no matter what I did, or what decisions I made, Jorma always supported me. I can't believe that I just let us drift apart like that. I am sad to think that Jorma never knew how important he was to me. I never told him.

The only thing that I can do now is to think of all the fun things that we did together. I want to think of the good times that we had and celebrate them.

I will always miss you Jorma and I love you. I wish that I had told you that more.

I remember emailing each other over and over in keyboarding class, even though we sat right next to each other.

The Fourth of July in Port Orford.

Hanging out in the back room of your mom's house, around those two huge kitchen tables pushed together.

Magic carpet rides in your backyard.

Beach adventures.

Camping at Edison with a tiny tent and air mattress.

Driving around in your mom's minivan.

Tyler.

Sleepovers where we pushed tyler and my beds together in the dorm room and managed to fit 5 people on them.

Dryer adventures. I remember that your hair started to burn. Stinky!

Hanging out at Troy's. Hot tub adventures where I ended up throwing up and had to sit in Troy's livingroom with a towel wrapped around me because my shirt was in the dryer.

Road trips to Sacramento.

Sitting in your apartment watching music videos at like 2 in the morning.

Easter Beer Hunts with Pabst cans painted red and blue. I remember you couldn't remember if the paint was toxic or not and we still drank them anyway.

T-230 and three man

Getting Fire and Spice together.

Razools.

Our nicknames we gave each other. I was Jacque-Snow and you were Jorma-smallcock. I don't remember why.

Parties up at the river.

Monday Night Dance Parties on the wall at Battle Rock!!!!!

Randomly driving to Coos Bay in the Ravy just to get out of Port Orford.

Theater together. I remember, you guys were in charge of the lights and sound and I was in charge of kissing Joel. Weird!

*There will be a memorial held for Jorma at the Sixes River Grange on January 16th, 2-4pm.

Christmas Adventure

2009-01-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, I went to see my family in New Mexico like I do almost every year. It was really fun to catch up with my younger brothers and to spend some time with my mom and everyone. This year, the weather was pretty bad so we spent most of the time inside playing board games but even so, it was nice to just spend some down time with my family. This is the only time of the year that I get to see them so it means a lot to get to spend a week there.

My family: brother Jake, Mom, me, brother Jeremey, and Stepdad George.

Stu surprised me this year and gave me a trip to WALT DISNEY WORLD for my birthday and Christmas so after I made it back from New Mexico, two days later, we were on a plane to Florida. It was an awesome trip! Our hotel was great and we were actually on the resort so we were in walking distance to most of the parks. The first night we didn't get into our hotel until 11 but were so happy when the man at the desk told us that the Magic Kingdom was having "magic hours" until 3am that we could get into because we were staying at one of the resorts! Even though we were exhausted from all the traveling and being up since 4:30 in the morning, we still went and had a blast!

A view of our hotel on the walk to Hollywood Studios

Florida is three hours ahead so we were able to sleep in until 10 there (7 oregon time) almost every morning and then stay out in the parks until like 3am (really only midnight for us) when all the other people were gone. It was awesome. We had great food and got to see some pretty cool stuff.

The second night we were there we decided to stay in and eat at Kimono's, a sushi place in the hotel next to us. It was the best sushi ever! The waitress saw me taking a picture of the delicious sushi and asked if we wanted our picture taken. We look a little wiped out. We were pretty worn.

We were pretty tired every night from all the walking we did. There were shuttles everywhere but we discovered that we could walk to Epcot or Hollywood Studios in the time it took the water shuttles to get there so we pretty much walked everywhere. It was awesome to be in almost 80 degree weather after being in Oregon with all that snow! I was wearing tank tops and wasn't even cold!

Sleeping Beauty's castle in the Magic Kingdom at night. It was beautiful!

It was definitely sad to have to leave the park the day after New Years. The people and fireworks had been so awesome the night before! But we were pretty tired and ready to get back to the ferrets and life in general. I have posted a lot of other pictures from our vacation on Facebook if anyone is interested.

Happy 2nd Birthday Oliver!!

2008-12-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

Last night, Stu and I left Kenton and Katrina's house during a snow shower that was softly covering the trees, sidewalks, and roads and this morning we woke up to Noah texting Stu that it had kept up all night! We were so excited. I don't think that we have ever showered so fast!

We walked with Noah down to the Starbucks on 12th and Washington for some yummy hot chocolate and watched cars and trucks try to drive onto the 105. Very entertaining! This truck got stuck halfway up and had to slowly back down the hill.

After we got back to the house, Stu and I ran in a woke Oliver and Cinder up. It is Oliver's birthday today so we surprised him with a giant bucket of snow! He wasn't sure at first but soon was trying to tunnel into it! Cinder wasn't very into it but Oliver was having a blast. He didn't know what to think about it and would tunnel for a few minutes and then jump out and hop around, honking and trying to scratch an itch at the same time. He does that when he is excited. Haha.

Today, Stu and I will be celebrating our Christmas together since we will be driving up to Portland tomorrow and I will be flying to New Mexico in a few days. We have a tradition of making a yummy dinner together and opening presents! Of course, yesterday, when we should have gone to the store for our dinner fixings, we didn't. And since we didn't feel very safe driving on the snowy/icy streets today, we decided to walk to Safeway. I know! The whole way!!

13th Street!!

A very happy and friendly Squirrel!

We decided that we would go to the Dog in a Box behind Safeway for lunch because I love chili dogs! But after shopping and deciding not to get anything besides our Christmas dinner stuff since we aren't going to be in town very long, we realized that it was closed. So...we walked to the Bierstein. Which was closed. Then I deposited a check at the bank. Then we walked to the Eugene City Brewery because we knew that we didn't have anything to eat at home. It was closed. Then we walked to the bus station (Stu really had to pee) and then across the street to Pita Pit which seems to be the only thing open on this snowy day. All the while, I was carrying a backpack with canned veggies and potatoes in it. I know, I'm amazing.

It was definitely an adventure! Now I get to clean the house and do lots of laundry to get ready to go out of town. I hope that you guys all got to enjoy your SNOW DAY!

Congrats Stu!

2008-12-11T07:15:00.001-08:00

I know that everyone (all two of you) who read this blog will already be aware of this, but Stu graduated this year with his bachelors and has been kind of taking some time off from stuff and looking for a job at the same time. He decided to become a substitute for EEP to keep himself busy while looking and ended up being able to be hired for a real position in another classroom! While we at Howard are a little sad that it means he won't be able to sub in our classroom and hang out as much anymore, we are very excited that he is now part of the EEP team. (I am going to talk my boyfriend up right now...) but he is an excellent teacher and I know that he will do an awesome job. Congrats Stu!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2008-12-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

I love the Christmas season. Getting presents is definitely a plus. And it helps that my birthday comes with the holidays but mostly, I think that it is just the fun of getting to put up lights and decorate the tree and hang stockings that makes me enjoy it so much. I love that the weather in Oregon actually starts to get cold and I can bring out the scarves and warm gloves. I love that it is actually somewhat okay for me to randomly start singing songs. And I love that I get to go out and try find that perfect gift for friends. You know, the one where they open it and say, "Wow! I can't believe you remembered that I wanted this," or, in some cases, the one that makes them go into a fit of silent laughs.

This year I started the Christmas decorating early...like I do almost every year. I put up the Christmas lights before my Thanksgiving Break and made Stu suffer through decorating the Christmas Tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I think after four years of Christmases he still groans when I drag out the Christmas box but he knows me and obliges because he knows that it makes me happy. Every year we try to find new, fun ornaments and this year our tree has taken on a Europe theme but my favorite one is still the one that I made before Stu and I were dating.

Mike, Loni, Me, Stu, and Clair

Being Sophomores in college, my roommate and I were a little short on money so instead of buying all our decorations, we decided to make some. This is one of my favorite pictures of my college years. We were freshmen in the dorms and this ragtag group of people were always together. Stu was one of my best friends and you rarely saw him on the girls floor without me hanging around nearby. We were all hanging out in the hall when one of the girls on the floor asked to take our picture. I just love it! You can tell that we were all so goofy and happy. I suppose that it helps that I ended up dating my best friend in the picture.

2008-12-02T17:13:00.001-08:00

2008-11-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

I am so excited! Today marks the beginning of my Thanksgiving Break! I definitely needed this time from work. It is wonderful to be able to sleep in past 6:30 on a weekday without having to think, "well, that means that I can't eat breakfast," when I hit the snooze button. To tell you the truth, I have only been able to sleep in until about 9 in the morning but still! Exciting. My next move: to try to take a nap in the afternoon. I am always so jealous when Katrina comments on how she snuck a nap in. And yes, I know, she is pregnant so she deserves it more...;-)

No huge plans for this break. Stu and I are going up to Portland to spend the holiday with his family. Thanksgiving is going to be at his Aunt and Uncle's house this year so it should be fun. I'm hoping there is cheese. Sounds like we are going to be in Portland from tomorrow evening until Sunday morning since Stu has a doctor's appointment Wednesday morning and he wants to stay for his Gramps birthday on Saturday. I'm hoping to catch a movie and maybe play some drinking games with Megan.

Oh yeah, and lastly, I will probably be spending the entire break trying to get a hold of the Unemployment Office since I need to file for my wait week and yesterday was Sunday and I couldn't talk to a real person since they weren't working and today the line was busy from 9-4:55 and when I finally got through all the "for yes press 1, for no press 9" questions the office was closed and I once again, couldn't talk to a real person.

Anyway, I am going to be better at posting. With the holiday season going on, I think that I will have more things going on in my life! Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Eat lots of turkey!

Tamy's Wedding

2008-11-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago was my friend and co-worker's wedding to her long-time friend Mark. It was held at the Country Inn here in Eugene and it was one of the most beautiful weddings that I have been too. I'm pretty young so I have only been to about four or five but this one was definitely one of those top experiences.

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Paden

The Howard EEP Group!

Becca and me at the bouquet toss. I was making a "disappointed" face because I realized that Becca and I were the only ones that were single who were over 12.

It was a really fun wedding to go to. Most of the weddings that I have been to have been of old high school friends where I have been out of touch with the bride for a long time. In those situations, I don't really know what to do besides eat the food and pray that the cake comes soon so that I can leave because the only people talking to me are the parents who used to coach me or the little old ladies that I only knew vaguely from church who ask me what I am doing in life and look disappointed to discover that I'm not really doing anything life changing. Tamy and Mark's wedding was definitely a better experience. It was great to be able to be at this event, celebrating Tamy and Mark, with friends who I enjoy spending time with. It was really fun getting the Howard group together outside of work.

When I wasn't taking pictures with my camera, Angie was, so I have a ton of other pictures of the wedding and reception but I decided to keep myself to a minimum.

2008-11-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

YES!

2008-11-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

I thought this was pretty good:

ground zero

Halloween Season!

2008-10-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

As some of you might already know, Halloween is pretty much my favorite time of year. It was always the holiday that I really looked forward to as a kid. What is better than being able to stay out late, dress up crazy, and get lots of candy...even if you had to pal around with your stinkin little brothers...;-)

I decided to post a few pictures that I have taken during the "pre-Halloween" time:

the little pumpkin that I got from Lone Pine Farms when we went with the preschoolers to the pumpkin patch. Cinder was curious. It is now the tiniest jack-o-lantern.

my pumpkins this year. Stu was out of town so I spent the entire night carving and de-gutting pumpkins. It was pretty fun.

And the best: Stu, Megan and I went out to the Roloff Farms again this year and were able to get our picture taken with Amy Roloff!! We were the first ones too! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Man, now we have seen Matt, Jeremy, Jacob AND Amy. I was so excited!

Anyway, we are having our Harvest Party in the classroom today so hopefully I'll get some pictures of teachers in their costumes!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

I hate Fox News

2008-09-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Every year I visit my parents in New Mexico for Christmas. It is fun for me because it is the only time that I get to see my Mom and her husband, and my two younger brothers. I get home cooked meals that I don't have to make myself and I usually have a pretty good time. The only thing that I don't enjoy is that my parents watch Fox News ALL THE TIME. It drives me crazy, none more than Mr. Bill O'Reilly himself and I always get into heated arguments with my Step father over the opinions on that channel. Anyway, I saw this comic and liked it.

Crazy ?drunk? Guy

2008-09-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

So last night, Stu and I were sitting in our living room when Noah called us to let us know that there was some guy screaming outside his building. I stuck my head outside and (since we live a block away from Noah) the crazy dude was making his way down by our house. First, he attacked our neighbors fence (good thing it is strong) and then he came down to the corner, to the house across from us, and ripped their Obama sign out of their yard, went up their steps and banged it against their door. He proceeded to turn down Washington, walking in the wrong direction down the middle of the street, screaming (in gibberish), attacked another sign and then disappeared down 13th. Crazy.

Stu and I walked to our neighbors and saw that the Obama sign was crumpled and ruined, sitting on their porch. Wow. I think someone really didn't like Obama. He had attacked a couple of other political signs in the neighborhood and I am really glad that he didn't see our Obama sign on our porch. Too close for my comfort.

Anyway, it was weird and the kind of thing you only see on TV so I thought I would post it.

Weekend Surprise

2008-09-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

Stu finished his last class of his college career on Friday. To kind of celebrate, we went up to Portland to see his family and have dinner with his sister on Saturday. The idea was to just get out of town for a little bit. On Sunday, Stu surprised me by asking if I wanted to go to the coast. I have really been wanting to make it over to the Newport area because I miss the ocean but we just haven't made the time; Stu has always been busy with school and I was always busy with work. It was really cool to just decide to go spur of the minute. We ended up crossing over from Wilsonville and stopped at Lincoln City and then went down to Newport for lunch/dinner (it was pretty late by the time we made it) at the original Rogue Brewery. The funny thing was that we also decided to go through the wax museum and Ripley's Believe it or Not while we were there. It was pretty funny going through those things. I was totally freaked out in the wax museum though. It was all dark and creepy...The best part of the trip, of course, was the taffy that we brought home. It was definitely a great way to end the weekend!

the classic bridge picture

I found a Big Daddy!! You have to click on this picture to make it bigger. I didn't notice this at the time but my flash totally caught the "Big Daddy's" eyes. Creepy!! EEK!

Congratulations Mr. Glusman!

2008-09-01T17:38:00.003-07:00

As most of you probably already know, our friend Noah is getting ready to begin his teaching career in a few days! He was hired at Churchill High School teaching Social Studies and Economics (and maybe another subject but I am a terrible friend and may have forgotten) and Stu and I were able to visit him today. He was in the process of decorating his room and I took a few pictures. I hope you don't mind that I put them up Noah...I'm pretty excited for you!

Noah behind one of his desks putting up a poster

Maps!

Seattle Trip

2008-09-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was the PAX expo that Stu and Kenton have been planning to go to for months. It was held in Seattle and lasted all weekend long, and since they were already getting a hotel, Katrina and I decided to go along and have a "Girls Weekend" while the guys nerded it up.

The guys spent almost all of the waking hours at the Seattle Convention Center so Katrina showed me around Seattle (she and Kenton spent a year in Seattle) and we went shopping. Of course, I didn't take any pictures until the last afternoon when we went down to the Pikes Market so all I have are the typical Seattle tourist pictures.

The pub near the convention center where we had lunch.

It was really nice to get out of town for the entire weekend and to be able to hang out with friends the whole time! Katrina and I got a lot of shopping done (we brought about five pairs of shoes home between the two of us!) and it was pretty much the best way to end the vacation--besides the shower in the hotel room that literally felt like it was ripping the flesh off of your body. But other than the shower, it was awesome. Thank you guys so much for inviting us along on the trip!!

The Vice Prez Candidate

2008-08-23T09:52:00.001-07:00

2008-08-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Stonehenge

2008-08-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

So on the other side of the river, on your way to the Gorge, there is this little turnoff called the Stonehenge War Memorial. Now, I have no idea what Stonehenge and WWII have in common but it is a nice little place to take some pictures.

Tom Petty Concert

2008-08-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

For Stu's 25th birthday this year, his family gave him tickets to the Tom Petty concert at the Columbia River Gorge so this last weekend, Stu and I drove up for the show. I ended up taking a bunch of pictures but am only going to post a few. The weather was great so the drive was really nice and the show was AWESOME!

Driving on the 205...

Stu and I stopped at the 7-11 in Yakima (where his parents had gotten us a hotel room) because we wanted to get a 6 pack of beer to drink (tailgating of course) in the parking lot right before the show. We drove up and this guy was passed out in the handicapped parking space. I know that it is a sad picture but I couldn't help it. I am a terrible person.

The valley that we drove into in Washington. I'm pretty sure that the town's name is Ellensburg but I can't remember now.

We made it all the way to Washington without getting caught in traffic. Then we get on the dirt road (what should have been about 10 minutes outside of the parking for the show) and we get stopped by traffic. We were stuck pretty much in place for an hour and a half. This half naked man stepped out of his house to check out what was going on. I thought, since I wasn't doing anything else, that I would take advantage of the photo op!

The traffic was so slow that passengers were getting out of their cars and walking so that they could legally drink beer (there were police officers placed along the road). They would walk until their drivers caught up and then grab another beer. The guy in the mirror was too lazy so he just sat on the hood. I don't know if you can make him out but it's kinda funny.

It took to long to get to the show to drink our beer in the parking lot so we just went in. It took some shoving and backtracking but Stu and I found our seats before Tom Petty went on. 7th row!! We were so close!

Man, he is looking pretty old. But the show was great! There was tons of energy and most of the people around us were crazy/drunk/high! Even Tom was taking some hits off of something between the songs. Haha.

I Have Pictures!

2008-08-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

Today Stu and I spent the afternoon with Katrina, Kenton and Finn playing games and hanging out. I was also able to get Katrina's key to the classroom so I could grab the cord to my camera! Yeah!! I have taken a ton of pictures this break and now I can share them!! Woo hoo! Here are just two pictures that I took at the fair this last week. I already posted about the fun that we had at the fair so I won't repost but if you are interested, there are more fair pictures in my pictures link!

Summer break = lazy fun

2008-08-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

So I am officially on my second part of Summer Break. And I am definitely enjoying it. I get to sleep in until almost 8 every morning and then I have all day to do what I want. Mostly it has been to relax and read or watch movies, etc. But sometimes I manage to get out of the house.

Yesterday, Stu and I went to the Lane County Fair with Noah. It was sweet because we all got free tickets in! I guess that the people who run the fair figured it was little annoying to have all those extra people and extra cars parking in our neighborhood. So if you could prove that you lived within 3 blocks of the fairgrounds with some official mail with your address and a form of ID, the fair was free! It was a million degrees out and but we still managed to go on some rides and eat an elephant ear! We even had this creepy carny give us a free ride, saying, "It's on me man...Being a carny, its a dirty job. I just took a shower last night and I'm already dirty..."

Anyway, we got some pretty awesome pictures but I ended up leaving the cord to my camera in the classroom last week so I don't have a way to get them onto my computer. Tomorrow, Stu and I are driving up to the Gorge to see Tom Petty and I'll have more pictures so hopefully I'll get a chance to share them before September ;-)

2008-08-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

That cat is almost as big as a Van!!

Finally! I have something that I can blog about! I am very excited. Can't you tell?

Yesterday, Stu and I were invited by Carolyn and Jesse, who we have gotten to know through Kenton and Katrina, over for dinner. They are housesitting/dog sitting for some people they know so we joined them and the Henry's for lasagna and Mike's Hard Lemonade (that could have possibly been 10 years old since we couldn't figure out the sell by date). The best part about it was that one of the dogs they were watching was a little black pug puppy who wouldn't stay still for a picture. Her name was Mya. She was just too cute! I couldn't resist!

Carolyn and Katrina trying to hold Mya still for the camera. It was a team effort.

After dinner, we all went back to Kenton and Katrina's house to do cool friend stuff, you know, like eating ice cream and hanging out. We also got to partake in all the good candy that Kenton's mom brought them back from Finland.

2008-07-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that I haven't been very good about updating my blog lately but I really feel that I haven't had anything interesting happen to me in a while. Since my break has been over, I have pretty much just been working all the time. And when I am not working, I am thinking about work. I am definitely not one of those people who can leave work totally at work. It creeps in (especially when I am trying to fall asleep) and stresses me out. And I don't feel like I have a particularly stressful job usually.

This last weekend, Stu and I went up to Portland to celebrate his sister's 21st birthday. She celebrated early because she has a horse show in California for two weeks. It was fun. Good dinner and we were able to go out in the boat for the first time. It was really fun but I was too afraid to drive the new boat yet. All I would need is to crash my boyfriend's parents' new boat!

Other than the boating, pretty much nothing. I am boring. Oh, and Oliver has starting "teething" on our little green blanket...weird.

2008-07-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

It is my brother's 21st birthday tomorrow. I know! 21! I can't believe it. I mean, am I really old enough that my little brother is now going to be an adult? I'm not saying that I am that old...because I know that I am not. I'm just saying. Jake has always been the crazy one in the family. I'm the responsible one, Jeremey's the smart, quiet, youngest one who could never do anything wrong, and Jake is the one who doesn't really care so he just goes for it. But now he is going to be old enough to legally go for it.

Anyway, I just realized this morning that my brother could now go to a strip club and it freaked me out. And I have no illusions that he won't go to a strip club. Haha. Boobies and beer?? He's been waiting his whole life for this moment! Anyway, I hope that the frozen ice shot glasses work out for you Jake.

Jake's the one not being crazy and threatening you with a sword in this picture ;-)

A Whole Lot of Henry :-)

2008-07-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were able to spend a lot of time with Kenton, Katrina, and Finn. When we were on our vacation (and had the exact same vacation time), that we didn't get to hang out all that often but this weekend we definitely got in some Henry time!

On Friday, Katrina and Kenton went to watch their friend at his recital so we were trusted with Finn. It was really fun! And I think that Finn had a pretty good time. Granted, he was only over at our house for two hours (not really enough time to get bored) but still! Finn played with the ferrets, who are totally in love with him now. Oliver followed him around everywhere and Cinder kept trying to give him kisses. We also took Finn over to the little playground next to Noah's house and Stu flew this helicopter that we have. Finn even let us put on his pjs. I wanted to get him ready just in case he was going to fall asleep on the way home in the car (which he didn't, of course). I asked him if he was ready to get his pjs on and he told me no. Then I told him that Stu would help and he got all excited and stayed still the whole time! Now I know that Stu's name is totally my leverage with him!

On Saturday, Stu and I went to the Oregon Country fair with Katrina, Kenton and Finn. It was really really hot but a lot of fun! I love going there because there is great food and lots of people watching to do. I definitely got my fill of old man butt! We stayed until about 3:30 and, while we were all having a good time, I was definitely ready to go home. I was so tired!

We stopped under this tent to get some rest towards the end and there was this band playing

Katrina and Finn...and half of Kenton. Sorry I cut you out Kenton. I didn't know!

There is a man there, I swear ;-)

Finally. I mean, who could go without a nice thong/loin cloth picture?

Gypsies

One of my favorites. The Gypsies dancing to a little girl playing the fiddle.

He was on a box in the middle of an "intersection."

I have more pictures but I think that I am going to have to make an album for them.

2008-07-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

2008-07-06T17:47:00.001-07:00

The actual Fourth of July was pretty fun. Of course, I didn't take a single picture that day but it is probably for the best. Stu and I went up to his parents' house and celebrated with them. It was cloudy and too cold to go swimming or to put the boat in the river so instead, we all decided to just hang out. We had a really good dinner and a nice firework show (Stu lit them off of the dock and it worked out really nice because we could see the neighbors' who were all lighting them off their docks too). Megan and I ended the evening jumping in the freezing cold Willamette River naked. Needless to say, there was some alcohol involved. But at least I didn't complain about having to work the next day in a meeting right?? (Yes, I am aware that there was no work the next day but still).

Tomorrow is the first day of work in THREE WEEKS! I'm excited to be getting back and to see friends but not so happy about going from relaxing all day to working 8 hours a day. I'm sure it will work out. As Katrina and Kenton pointed out, we only have a few weeks of work and then it will be vacation time again and time to go to Seattle! Woo Hoo!

Fireworks!

2008-07-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

The pretty sunset!

Yesterday evening Stu and I went with Noah and Chris to watch the fireworks that were put on at the EMS stadium after the night's game. To get a good view, Noah drove us up to College Hill (which, people, is where I someday want to live and am never going to be able to afford) and we staked out a spot on the reservoir.

It was pretty early so we decided to take some of those "jumping" pictures:

Noah taking a picture of Chris. I'm pretty sure that this was an "after the jump" picture but I was having a hard time timing it!

See!! The timing was all off! But I wanted to put a picture of Noah up too! He looks like he is running in this one.

I'm pretty proud of this one even though I do look a little crazy in it!

Stu declined from getting his picture taken. But he was there! The fireworks were really good! Turns out that the reservoir wasn't the best place to watch them but Noah found a nice hole in the tree branches where we could see. It was really fun! I'm excited for the actual Fourth.

Bike Rides on a Nice Day

2008-07-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today Stu and I officially broke out our bikes. Well, to be truthful, I think that Stu has ridden it to campus a few times before today but I haven't ridden my bike since we moved into this house last August. It makes me nervous riding downtown, especially since a guy died after being hit by a car just like three blocks from here. But I decided to brave it.

My tires were flat after it's long hibernation in our basement but once a homeless man made fun of me for walking my bike and then pointed me in the direction of an air pump at Berg's Ski Shop, I rode my bike to campus to meet Stu after his class. It was great because the weather wasn't too hot.

Anyway, I feel like it is officially summer now that I have ridden my wreck of a bike. On that note, I really need to take it in for a tune up cause I'm pretty sure that my front brake (which is the only one that works anymore) is about ready to stop working at any moment.

I've Dropped off the Face of the Earth...

2008-06-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Or have just been on vacation for the last two weeks and I haven't done anything exciting or worth blogging about. But "people" have complained that I have been slacking so I will try my best to be somewhat entertaining.

This picture of Cinder pretty much sums up my vacation. Stu graduated and walked but is taking one more summer of French before he is actually done. So we haven't had a chance to do anything fun, like go on a trip. So I have pretty much just been sitting around and reading and being lazy. I have managed to finish four seasons of Desperate Housewives in two weeks and I am very proud of my accomplishment.

Random picture of Stu after his graduation. I love that you have to look over his uncle and aunt to see him. I know that Stu is probably not going to like that I added this picture...

One of the more exciting things that happened over our break is that Stu bought a new TV. Well, actually his Grandmother bought it for him for a graduation present. Stu has wanted a new one for a while. His old TV wasn't 1080p and it would cut off some of the picture edge on some video games that he owned and consequently wasn't able to play. So...it was probably time for an upgrade. Plus, the old one was a projection screen which made it HUGE. Here is a picture of the old TV:

I feel like this is a bad picture of the new TV but its the best one that I have. We had to build the stand and everything and each leg segment weighed like a million pounds! I am super proud of myself that I was able to help Stu build it and lift the TV onto it afterwards. Stu was a little skeptical but I came through. What can I say? I'm totally awesome. Now we just need some friends to come over and watch a movie or some Sopranos with us...*hint *hint

Stu and I also went and watched WALL-E with Noah this week. It was soooo good! It totally made me cry like three times. But not in a sad way. In an, I'm-Jacque-and-totally-pathetic way. You should go and see it though. It was great! And it made me feel really skinny and healthy!

Here is a picture of the courtyard at Noah's condo where the party was held. It isn't very exciting but I really liked the atmosphere on the place and the lighting in this picture.

Last Saturday, Noah hosted an Obama House Party. It is part of Obama's campaign to help people become more aware of the issues by bringing together groups of people in the community. A woman came and talked to us a little bit about Obama and asked some of the people attending what there reason was for joining in. It was cool because we had an age range from 20-73 and it was interesting to hear what the older generation had to say. Also, Noah's parents bought a bunch of food and beer for the party and since the majority of the people attending were elderly, that left us youngsters with a whole cooler of booze. Thanks Glusmans! And thanks for Ta Ra Rin too!

One of the more fun days that I had this week was yesterday. The "guys" (Stu, Kenton, and Jesse) went up to Washington for a Heroscape tournament so the "girls" (Me, Katrina, and Carolyn) spent the afternoon together with Finley. Actually, he was asleep when I got to Katrina's house so we watched an episode of Tell Me You Love Me. When Finn woke up we decided to eat dinner at Laughing Planet. Afterwards we got dessert at Sweet Life and took it to the park so Finn could play. It was a pretty fun evening. There were a ton of kids running around in the water fountain and I think Finn had a good time.

My war scar from the freaking slide! It was out of control. I'm surprised that Finn and I made it out alive. You are so much more brave than I am Finn!

After the park we went back to the Henry's house and watched a movie until the guys got home. It was really fun to hang out and it was nice to get to know Carolyn since I've heard stories and stuff about her and never was able to meet her.

Today I met Stu on Campus and we walked around trying to get a glimpse of the Olympic Trials. No such luck. But...we got to go to breakfast at the Glenwood. Also, Stu got back this paper he had written for his French class that was supposed to be a letter to his girl friend. The teacher's comment, "You do know that 'Jacque' is a boy's name right?"

2008-06-11T07:28:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Stu.

The Last week of School

2008-06-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

So today, Monday, marks the beginning of the last week of school for our Preschoolers. It's pretty exciting because that means three weeks of break is coming up soon but it is also a little sad. We have a five week summer program that starts in July and most of the kids are coming back for that but there are a few who are going to Kindergarten in the fall who aren't and it's a little sad that we have three more days with them. At least these last three days should be fun!

What a busy week we have! Tomorrow one of our supervisors is coming to videotape our classroom because apparently they say it is the model classroom for EEP and they want the other teachers to see it. I'm a little stressed because I just found this out on Saturday at a Teacher Appreciation BBQ (the parents are amazing and we are so grateful!). I'm sure that it will be fine but still! I hate being videotaped!

Wednesday is Stu's 25th birthday. Not that I'm allowed to do anything for it or to get him anything. I took care of that already when I bought him the BBQ and told him that it was a combined anniversary/birthday gift. But it is still his birthday and I'm excited for him. You are officially an adult at 25 right??

Wednesday is also the last day of school for the preschoolers so we are having a little carnival for them that day. Most of the day will be normal class but towards the end we will have a lot of fun activities and prizes and snow cones! I'm way excited!

And Saturday is the day that Stu graduates! His entire family will be coming so around 8:30-9am, you will be able to find me in the EMU Ballroom staking out about 12 seats with Stu's sister and aunt. I'm sure that the ceremony will be long and boring; he is a history major after all ;-). But when it is over, we all get to drive up to Portland for his graduation BBQ. Don't worry. I will be taking pictures of the event!

Through this all I am hoping that I don't get sick! I haven't been feeling that great lately (on Friday I was asleep at 8:30. Not even exaggerating) and I am hoping that I will be able to shake it off. Today I'm all hopped up on Sudafed so here we go!

Tonight Stu and I are going to hang out with Katrina and Kenton. Probably the least stressful part about the week. Although, I did have a dream last night where I hit Finn with a closet door...I'm not sure exactly why dream-katrina had him taking a nap in the closet but apparently it was still my fault. We'll see if Finn makes it out of our visit unscathed.

Randomness going on in Our Week

2008-06-02T20:59:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, Stu had a lot of studying/paper-writing to do. But before he spent the entire day in the library and I spent the entire day sitting at home alone, we went out to breakfast. We usually go the Glenwood but we decided to mix it up and go to that one breakfast place down West 11th. You know the one...Ron Jeremy's Pancake House!

***Disclaimer--DO NOT Google Ron Jeremy***

Yumm! Pork taco omelete!

I did not get the pork taco omelete but what I did get was pretty good. I also discovered that the restaurant wasn't actually a Ron Jeremy Pancake house but rather the picture on the sign is of the owner. He was our host and although a little gray, definitely could be Ron Jeremy's brother.

Today, to my great happiness, Stu and I discovered that PARTY CITY was open next to Market of Choice!! Becca and I are really excited about this store because it is the ultimate in party decorations/supplies. We were anxious for it to open and have planned on going together but I really needed star stickers and have been having a hard time finding them so I decided to look there. Sorry...but I really only looked at the candy isle and the sticker isle so we still have plenty to explore. I'm so excited!

Look what we found in the candy isle!! I had to have

Stu stand next to it for a size comparison!

Afterwards Stu and I walked over to Market of Choice and realized that we had forgotten our environmentally friendly grocery bags at home. When we told the sales assistant that she kind of laughed and told us that we could carry out our groceries so that the next time we would remember to bring the bags. We laughed (you know, thinking that she was trying to be witty and to make conversation) and then a minute later, awkwardly carried our groceries out to the car in our hands...

Backyard BBQ

2008-05-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, Stu and I went to Corvallis to have dinner with his sister Megan and her boyfriend Joey. They have a cute little house with a fire pit in the backyard so after we ate dinner, we were able to sit around the fire and make smores. It was my first ever attempt at making smores outside on a fire and I was terrible, seeing as how I would set every marshmellow on fire and then wave it frantically in the air. Megan's dog, Walter was there so I was able to catch up on some puppy snuggling! I took some pictures and Megan made fun of me, asking if I was going to put him up on the Internet and I said no, but of course, I can't resist putting a couple up here...

Stu and Joey sitting around the early stages of the fire.

Joey is making us marshmellow-roasting sticks!

Walt! Looking super cute and a lot bigger than the last

picture I had of him.

Oh, and just wanted to mention that Stu is going to be graduating on Saturday, June 14th. Congrats Stu!

2008-05-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Ah, Walmart...

This was the week of our Jerry's Walk the Diamond fundraising event. Every year, all of the EEP classrooms get together at the Ems' Civic Stadium to raise money for our program. Actually, the money raising all happens before the event, the children are sent home with packets so that they can get donations. but the day is still pretty fun. Each classroom is responsible for bringing two things that the kids can play with (we brought a bubble machine that refused to work...and a "ball pit" which the children swarmed to) and parents can bring their children to the event to play with friends and teachers. We ended the event by singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and running around the bases.

This year was especially fun because the duck from the U of O was there in the morning. The kids were so excited! The kids were all running around and playing all over the field and all the sudden (it was like a vacuum really) they were all in the same spot, pushing, trying to get to Puddles. It was really cute. And Stu showed up! Although Kenton had already left so I'm pretty sure that he was really bored...

This is essentially the exact same picture that Katrina had on her blog but I

swear I took it with my camera!

The best thing about this week though, was that it was a short week! We didn't have class on Wednesday because of Walk the Diamond and then we teachers were able to have Friday off because it was an optional teacher paperwork day. It feels like it has been the longest weekend ever! But I really needed it. I have been able to sleep in past 6:30am for more than two days! Woo hoo! So far, we have not really taken advantage of the Memorial Day weekend...but we have been able to hang out with Kenton and Katrina and also went to see Indiana Jones!

2008-05-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today is the Primary! I am so excited! Make sure that you vote! Ballots will be

accepted at drop offs until 8pm...go and do it!

A Hot One!

2008-05-18T11:23:00.001-07:00

This weekend has definitely been a hot one as most of you probably know. Unfortunately, while I love our house, it does not come with air conditioning and one side is in the full view of the afternoon sun so it gets really hot! The poor ferrets kept sprawling on one of their levels in their cage in front of the fan that I put in their room.

On Saturday, we had Kenton and Katrina over. We pretty much hang out every weekend and have been talking about having them over at our place but it just never has worked out before because we didn't want to make Finn fall asleep at a strange house. But yesterday, we decided to do dinner at mine and Stu's place and then hang out at their place afterwards.

It was really cool to have them over because Finn has been waiting to meet the ferrets. I keep putting up pictures of the ferrets and when Katrina shows them to him, he always shows interest so we have wanted him to meet them for a while. It was so cute! I am posting pictures so that Katrina can have them for her blog too! This post is going to make it look like I am stalking her son but I really didn't mean too...

I think that Finn was a little unsure about the weasels at first. This is the only picture of an adult that I took yesterday. Apparently, I don't care about anyone if they are over the age of 3...sorry guys!

Oliver has this thing for his squeaky toys. If you squeak one, he will come running from anywhere in the house to find it. We taught Finn how to get his attention. Oliver really liked Finn. He was actually laying on the floor and letting Finn pet him and play with him and he is usually running around like a crazy weasel! At one point, I put Oliver on Finn shoulders and Oliver started giving Finn kisses all over, in his hair and on his face. It was super cute!

Cinder was pretty curious about Finn and what he was doing with her toys. Ha ha. And Finn really liked the ferrets' black "ball-ball."

Because Stu and I have weird pets, Finn was able to meet the frogs too. I think that he really liked them because he kept crawling up on the chair to look in their tank. In this picture I was trying to convince Finn to touch Hurley, which he did a second later and Hurley, surprised, hissed at him...hahaha.

We were bbq-ing on the porch and, while Stu had thought that he had swept it well enough, apparently we have a gross porch, as you can tell from Finn's face after he was crawling around. Sorry we are so disgusting guys ;-)

He discovered the frog mister though and was able to clean himself up! Mostly, he was just super hot so he was trying to cool himself down.

After we finished dinner, we went to Coldstone and then over to the Henry's house to hang out. It was a really fun night and it was cool that they were able to come over and meet the ferrets and to hang out at our place for the first time. This morning, Oliver was running around trying to find Finn so I think that he is in love and they will have to hang out again sometime when it is less hot so that we don't all roast!

AWWWWWW...

2008-05-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

They look so innocent when they are sleeping!

Obama video...kind of...

2008-05-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

I was messing around with my camera and ended up setting it on video. I thought that it didn't pick up any of the sound or anything so I shut it off early but when I got home, I realized that it had actually worked pretty well! Too bad I hadn't left it on longer...

This was pretty much at the beginning of his speech and he was talking about how he had announced running 15 months ago and the democratic race had gone on so long that, since then, children have been born, learned to walk and talk, and would probably be able to vote in his election. You probably had to be there but I thought it was awesome that I have home footage of our next President!

Obama in Eugene

2008-05-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama was in Eugene yesterday and Stu and I were able to finish dinner with his family early so we made it to campus on time to see him speak. It was awesome! This is the second time that we have been able to see him when he has been in Oregon. There were a lot of really tall people there so I tried to take photos but it was pretty much a "stick my arm in the air, point, and shoot" and try to get pictures of things other than the back of people's heads. Here are a few:

This was the line of security that we had to go through. The guy went through my purse

and had me stand with my arms up in the air so he could wave that wand over me.

A picture of the crowd

There were really bright lights right behind him but if you squint, and look to the

right of the picture, you can see the next President!

I liked this one because, not only could you see Obama (kinda), but you can also

see the people hanging out of the Knight Library listening to his speech.

Walt and the Weasels

2008-05-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

Stu's sister Megan is staying with us and last night, we decided to introduce her little dog Walter to the ferrets. The ferrets have met a few dogs before; a little poodle who loves them and who they like pretty well, and a jack russell who would love to eat them and who they aren't so fond of. Anyway, it was a pretty funny experience.

After a few second of not knowing what the hell to do, Oliver and Cinder became pretty curious. Walt was super excited and wanted to sniff and lick and play with them. Oliver wasn't so sure about Walt but Cinder was all over meeting a new friend. She was pretty careful, and her tail was so puffy that it looked like a baby bottle brush (when ferrets get agitated, their tails go nuts) but she was still going in for the sniff!

At one point we let them on the floor together with Megan holding Walter's leash so that he couldn't pounce. It was fine until Walter decided to play a little rough with Oliver. haha. Walter wasn't trying to hurt him but he is so much bigger than Oliver! I put Oliver in my sweater to calm him down and Oliver was so freaked out that he actually stayed there for a few minutes. We got some great pictures and I am sure that we are going to try to get them used to each other since Megan is going to be here in Eugene all week. There may be more pictures to come!

If you look closely, you can see that Walter is kissing Oliver. And Oliver is not pleased.

100th Post!

2008-05-06T07:13:00.001-07:00

It is my 100th post here on blogger! I am fairly certain that this has been the longest time I have kept up with something journalish. I definitely gave up on my Myspace blog and LiveJournal long before this.

I can't believe it! The weather was wonderful in Port Orford (which never happens, even during the middle of summer, you can visit and there is a 85% chance that you will be caught in the rain) and it has been wonderful weather here in Eugene. I think that it is starting to leave us once again but I am really happy that there was a streak of good weather that lasted longer then one afternoon! I'm even thinking of wearing a skirt today! In May! And not freezing!

The bad part about this nice weather is that it seems that I have caught something from the coast/Tyler/Tyler's family/etc. Errrrr! I feel that I was just sick like three weeks ago and here it is again. I can only hope that the combination of tea and sinus medicine will make it go away soon.

Today, Stu's sister Megan is going to be staying with us with her little dog Walter! I'm excited to see how Oliver and Cinder do with him! I will probably have to take some pictures. Of course!

I'm leaving you with these pictures that I took at Tyler's parents house. Her mom has been collecting dolls since she was a little girl and she totally has this creepy wardrobe filled with what she has found. It creeps me out every time I go into the guest room but this time, I looked at it and found some that I thought were really cool/scary:

Awesome...glove and all.

I didn't want to dig for this one but I couldn't NOT take a picture! It's for Stu...

port orford weekend

2008-05-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

this weekend was really fun. i never get to go to port orford anymore so it was really awesome to have an opportunity to visit. the reason tyler and i went down was because her sister, signe, had written and performed in a play and it was the last night. it was an amazing play. it is really crazy because i remember when tyler and i were in theater and we would be all crazy and signe was little. now she is 18 (crazy!) and such a talented actress and even writing her own stuff! it was an amazing show! signe even had three songs in it and she was great. i mean, she was like amy winehouse only not all skanky and cracked out! i was very proud of her and she isnt even my sister.

on saturday, tyler and i pretty much just relaxed, had lunch with her family, and i got to take some pictures of port orford. i never take pictures of my hometown and that is really sad because, even though it is tiny and i felt like it was a trap when i was in high school, it is a beautiful place. and it worked out that this weekend was great and sunny! there is a link to my port orford pictures in my pictures link. you should check them out.

and I'm off!

2008-05-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

Tyler called me last night and let me know that she was going down to Port Orford, my home town, for the weekend. Her sister (this crazy, amazing, over-achiever) has written a play, is starring and singing three songs in it tonight. So it is decided that since I haven't been to Port Orford in months, make that like since September for Sara and AJ's wedding, I am going to go with her. Totally spur of the moment for me but I didn't really have any huge plans. I figured that we would hang out with Kenton and Katrina but I'm sure that they will understand that I haven't seen Tyler, or even the Port Orford side of my family, in a really, really long time.

Anyway, as the plan goes, I'm going to get off of work early and meet Tyler at my house at 1 this afternoon and then will be in Port Orford, up the glorious Elk River until Sunday morning. I'm excited. I haven't been on a "road trip" with Tyler in a long time and now we both live so far away from each other and work so much, that we never get to visit. EVER! Plus it is Tyler's little sister's prom on Saturday....do I hear a prom crashing on the way?? ;-). It kind of used to be a thing of ours...to dress in our prom dresses multiple times, and go to surrounding towns about an hour into their prom and dance it up. We even took some Bandon Prom glasses once. Hahaha. We are so cool...I'm pretty sure that they won't let 24 year old's in...

Okay, okay. So I'm going to be gone. And I know that the weather will be good here and crappy in Port Orford, like it always is...so enjoy it while I'm gone and I'll bring you back some wet, cloudy pictures of the beach!

Experimenting with my new camera

2008-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

So, I'm trying to figure out this new camera that Stu gave me for our anniversary and this morning, i decided to take some videos for the first time. Of course, the only thing that I can take pictures of or video of in the morning (because they are the only thing awake in the house) are the ferrets. But I love them so it never gets old! here is the first, and slightly boring, video taken on my new camera:

Warning: turn your volume down because my voice is BOOMING, and very manly, in this video. I blame the camera.

There isn't much to this video but it is totally Oliver. He was scratching at the 360, which he always does, and I was trying to distract him with one of his toys. He found this hacky sack about a year ago...from somewhere in our couch. We assume that since the couch was Stu's parents before us, that the hacky sack belonged to a friend or a little Stu. Oliver loves it. And when you shake it, he will come running, grab it out of your hand, and always, ALWAYS, take it behind the couch.

Oh yes, and in case you didn't notice, I tried really hard to capitalized letters and add ALL punctuation. I realize that a blog isn't Ichat...

since stu no longer has myspace OR facebook...

2008-04-30T07:12:00.001-07:00

best. concert. ever.

2008-04-29T07:14:00.003-07:00

one of mine and stu's favorite movies of the year is definitely Once, a "musical" set in dublin, with real musicians as actors. we were super excited when the leads won an oscar for the song falling slowly earlier this year and we were even more excited to learn that they (band name the swell season) were coming to eugene!

it was totally the BEST concert i have ever been to! not even kidding. it was long, but totally worth standing in the same place on a sloped floor for three hours. unbelievable! i would totally recommend this band to everyone! it was awesome because glen, the lead from the movie, would introduce each song, with a little story of what it meant or where the idea for it came. at one point, he even told us about this lady who was a "ghostbuster" whose husband was taken over by two guys who had been stuck in the dark for hundreds of years before she was able to expel them. haha. anyway, it was great. the two, Marketa and Glen, started dating after the movie wrapped and during one song where the chorus was "mine" repeated, he sang and pointed to her. very sweet :-). i was able to take some pictures. they are grainy because i dont know how to use my new camera and couldnt find the night setting. sorry...

awwww!

it was cool because glen was super personable. i usually feel that most bands think that it is just another gig, get through it, and leave. but they played forever and he was talking about how nice eugene was and how he had spent the day exploring it. he was totally amazed that the pixies' black francis lived here. he asked us if we like, ever saw him just walking around, or hanging out in the market. stu and i have totally seen him, so it was kind of funny. we saw him at the olive garden and i used to teach his step-daughter at the old preschool i worked at a few years ago and he would occasionally pick her up from school.

okay, okay, i am done ranting about this band and the show. but i really wanted to let people know that it was awesome. please check out the movie Once and the band The Swell Season!

ps: here is a picture for Finley!

happy weekend everyone!

2008-04-26T18:25:00.001-07:00

its mine and stu's three year anniversary on wednesday. i gave stu a barbeque early because the weather was so nice and yesterday, stu gave me my present early. haha. i know, we are both pretty bad about waiting but we've decided that we can go out to dinner or something on wednesday to celebrate. anyway, my present was a new camera! ive been wanting one for a really long time because i always have to borrow stu's whenever i want to take pictures. i guess that stu must have been listening when i was checking a few out because it is perfect! its super nice and stu was waaaaay too generous! ive been taking pictures like crazy.

today was kenton's heroscape tournament. we usually go over to katrina and kenton's house on the weekend to hang out and play games. we've played heroscape once or twice so stu entered in the tournament and i "helped" out (but really just visited with katrina and went out to get pizzas). it was actually really fun and it was cool to see so many different ages there, all playing together. there were a few younger kids (like grade school) and they played against the older people and still sometimes won!

this is stu and kenton's map when they played against each other. i wanted an action shot ;-)

kenton playing a friend. they both look so serious!

as i said, ive been going picture crazy. here are a few pictures i took today around the house. it was beautiful when i woke up so i took a picture of the view from our porch and then a picture of the side street where i parked barry.

when we got back from the tournament, our friend chester came out of his home. he lives in our porch column, we think, with his family. i got a pretty good picture of him and a friend coming out. we made eye contact and i dont think that they liked it :-)

we were going to have a big get together at our place tonight but everyone was pretty busy or just couldnt make it so the plan is to barbeque with noah and matt and maybe watch a movie. im excited. a relaxing night. tomorrow we have the swell season concert so ill have to take some pictures of that and put them up!

2008-04-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

so...totally random and totally weird...but last night i had a dream that i was visiting pacific high school for some reason and there was this like "reunion" prom going on. i hadnt known about it so i was sad; i couldnt go because i didnt have time to buy a dress. i was sad and moaning around when tyler came up to me, handed me this yellow dress, had me try it on, and told me that there was this rack of dresses in the back that we could borrow out of. of course, yellow was my color. anyway, for some reason, i had to take it off for a few minutes and then it was gone, and i was sad again.

thats not the weird part. the crazy thing? i woke up this morning, turned on the news and there was this story about a girl who was gathering together prom dresses for girls who couldnt afford it...

true calling...preschool teacher...or psychic??

2008-04-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

i have been slacking on this whole blog thing for a while so i figured that i would update it for any of you out there who might care what stu and i are up to...

this last week has definitely been a busy one. it was nice because we only had two days of kids at work this week. on wednesday, we had an all day training at work, followed by birthday party for the director, and after that, stu and i went to an ani difranco concert. it was too much for me. i was passing out in the seats so i had to walk home early. what i saw of the show was good though.

on friday night, we went to the baniff mountain film festival with stu's dad and noah and his cousin matt. it was pretty fun. there were crazy films about base jumping and skiing and it pretty much made me feel really lazy but it was still really good.

then last night, stu and i went to the death cab for cutie concert. it was really great! it was one of the first stops on their tour so they had a lot of energy and played some new songs off of their new/not out yet album. ive been weirdly tired all weekend so i drank a red bull before the show. it didnt start until 9, which is a pretty late show and it got out really late but i was totally jazzed with energy...haha, of course...not awake when i need to be and totally awake when i dont need to be.

we have also been using stu's new barbeque a lot since i gave it to him last week. we've gotten together with friends probably about 3 times this week for dinner on the "barrrrrbie." last night stu and noah made seared ahi tuna...pretty fancy.

well, there you go. that was last week in a nutshell. pretty much just a lot of shows and some barbeques in between them. i have a whole week of work coming up but im still excited because we get a new LOST on thursday! woo hoo!

PS- i have also spent about 20 hours playing rockband this week. its out of control. but "the stus" are creating quite the stir and have a pretty big fanbase...

2008-04-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

hello...

wonderful weekend!

2008-04-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

i think that stu and i had pretty much the perfect weekend. not to mention that the weather was unbelievable!

on friday, stu and i went to kenton and katrina's for dinner and hanging out. it was so nice out that, even though we never get over there before 6pm, katrina, finn, and i were able to spend some time outside while the guys made dinner! i dont think that finn was feeling very well but he was still a good sport about playing with us and didnt seem too angry that we took some of mom and dad's attention.

on saturday, stu and i were able to meet noah's cousin matt when we all went to the saturday market/steelhead brewery. after lunch, while stu was doing his homework, noah helped me pick out a barbeque for stu. ive been wanting to get him one for a while and our anniversary is at the end of this month. since the weather was so nice, i finally got around to doing it. stu was pretty excited about getting it but probably not so excited about putting it together. im not sure that it would have gotten done if noah hadnt stayed around and helped. thanks noah!!

Stu's new barbeque! the finished product...

after we got done putting the barbeque together, we ended up having a few people over. it was really fun. we all pulled up random chairs on our porch around the barbeque and ate kielbasas. some random (possibly drunk? or crazy?) lady came over and told us that she liked our style because we still have our christmas lights up. i say, whats the point of taking them down now?? haha.

yesterday we went to the hult center and saw Cats. i was a little skeptical at first but it was really good! and the limited leg room seats weren't bad at all!

so, overall, it was a really eventful weekend and probably one of the best in the year so far!

its been a long day...

2008-04-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

so its been a pretty long day. one straight out of hell. like no other. i wont go into details but this afternoon at work was horrible. so anyway, when stu and i got home this evening after going to the store (for milk and a banana slicer--im super excited to cut bananas tomorrow!), we both pretty much just put on our pajamas and headed for the couch. we were watching the simpsons and just sitting around and relaxing when all of the sudden there was a knock on our door. not expecting anyone, i answered it. it was a small woman with her daughter.

"would you like to buy a tamale for two dollars?" asks the daughter

"um...im sorry, i dont have any cash," i answer. which is true. i gave stu my last dollar for buying the banana slicer earlier at safeway.

"how about next week?"

"um...maybe..."

"okay,"

all the sudden stu jumps off the couch saying, "i have some cash,"as he runs for his wallet. he is in his robe so he just hands the money to me and stays out of view as i pass the cash over.

"do you have a plate?" asks the girl. i send stu running to the kitchen. he comes back and we get our tamale and i close the door. i hand the plate to stu.

his response: "what?! i thought they were selling girl scout cookies!"

my response: "what did you think the plate was for?"

there is now a tamale sitting on our counter which no one is going to eat.

hillary, hillary, hillary...

2008-04-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

check this out: hillary

what a little liar...you know, you dont have to tell people a sob story to get votes, if you deserve the votes. ridiculous. i mean, no one is going to care that the other opponets have a story of someone they met who was in extreme need and you don't. and if you feel that you need one, go, read a newspaper, and seek out those people. sheesh.

on a happy note, obama was endorsed by two more montana superdelegates! woohoo! now he has 4 out 8 from that state. the best part, this endorsement happened right after both hillary and obama campaigned through that state. i guess i know who is preferred.

this is my happy little rant for tuesday morning. hope everyone is doing well!

2008-04-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

ugh. i am pretty slow and still not sure if i have alergies or a cold but it sucks. it really sucks. i mean, i dont feel that bad or anything. i dont have a fever or anything like that. i just cant breathe and its driving me crazy! i have no idea what stu sees in me at times like this. the worst thing in the world is waking up with a parched mouth and cracked and dry lips because you've had to hang your mouth open all night just to live! errrr...

okay, i ranted and now i have to get dressed for work. just warning you though, if you come in contact with me today, i might drive you crazy with all my sniffling...

KY and rubber gloves

2008-04-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

last night, stu noticed that there was something a little weird about jemaine. we went to bed thinking that it wasnt anything big and that it would go away but this morning, when i got up for work, i noticed that it had gotten worse. stu called the vet (yes, there is actually a vet for amphibians) and made an appointment for 3:30. we decided to make one for hurley at the same time because his head hasnt really gotten any better and he scraped it like three months ago.

anyway, i got off of work a little early and we went to the vet and we found out that jemaine has prolapsed anus. its just as disgusting as it sounds so ill not describe it but for all you sickos out there, you can google it. just dont do an image search. nothing good can come of that.

anyway, they fixed it. after about two hours of waiting and a $250.00 vet bill. we also were given all this medicine for both frogs (wormer and antibiotics) which we have to give everyday orally (we have to use a spatula to open their mouths because they are frogs and dont want us to stick something in their mouths). the best part is that the vet told us that jemaine's prolapsed anus could happen again in the next 72 and we can fix it ourselves, unless its really bad. we just have to put some KY jelly on the end of a q-tip and "fix him." yea, it was a laugh going to safeway today and trying to hide KY personal lubricant and rubber gloves between the oranges and fruit juice. awesome.

oh yea, and hurley is fine. we just have to give him his antibiotic and put a drop of some medicine stuff on his nose everyday for the next two weeks.

yeah...im one of those democratic types...

2008-04-03T07:03:00.001-07:00

for my 80th blog post i want to remind people that the democratic primary is going to be held in May and the deadline to register to vote in the primary is April 29th.

please register and vote!

if you are at all interested in political things, you should go and check out noah's blog

margarita party/end of spring break

2008-03-30T12:50:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-07T17:13:00.001-08:00

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).