Away time, Home time

There is great value in taking time to get away and relax... I'm definitely enjoying the value of time off. Christmas was great - very quiet and relaxing. Over the past week I've just been spending time with my family, doing a little shopping, enjoying the company of friends, catching up on sleep, reading, playing Wii (aka making my arm sore!), and just enjoying being away from "normal life". After being in my job for right at a year, and only having taken off a total of about a week off from work, I have savored my time away from the daily craziness and found some quiet here in my comfort-filled "home".

The only struggle I find is what to really call this place. It is the home I was raised in so it is natural for me to refer to it as "home". Although I don't live here anymore, I haven't really lived here in about 5 years, and I don't plan on moving back in (I'm sure that's a relief to you Mom!). However it feels somewhat unnatural to refer to it as my parents' house - probably mostly because I walk into a room and it is so incredibly familiar and comfortable. Every room is filled with memories, good memories, sad memories, all kinds of memories fill this home. That's part of the charm of coming back to it. However the best part of being here is who I get to be with, and as I think about it more, I have decided that is really what makes it "home" to me. The three people who mean so very much to me are all here and that's what makes this location special. So while I am "grown-up" (whatever that's supposed to mean) and have a place of my own, this place will always be a wonderful mix of home AND my parent's place.

Here's to many wonderful memories to be made wherever you are in the coming year!

Happy New Year!

I made it to Medford in one piece

Tonight I am very thankful to be at my parents' home in Medford - the drive was long, but worth it. I'll post more about the drive and my new found skill - getting the chains on and off my car - probably tomorrow. I am exhausted - between the long drive, the stress of it all and just my body being sore from shoveling multiple feet of snow (not to mention the long hikes in the deep snow)....lets just say I'm so ready to jump in bed and sleep for hours on end.

Thanks for the prayers for a safe trip - I'm so very thankful to be home!

I'll be home for Christmas (no question mark included)

That's right, I'm going to make it home for Christmas. We got my car out of the snow tonight (had to dig about a foot and a half of snow away from my car, but we did it) and the chains worked like a charm. I have my car parked up in the Montgomery Park parking lot ready to go and I will be caravaning with a friend from High School all the way home. Please pray for clear roads, the other drivers out, and myself and Mary tomorrow as we head to Medford. It's looking like I'm going to get a 2 week Christmas vacation! =)

The weather outside is frightful

So just thought I'd share a few more pictures from the snow today. The plan right now is to dig out my car tonight/early tomorrow and get the chains on mid-day tomorrow and take a stab at getting out of town. We'll have to see how the Honda does.....

Today my roommate and I hiked out to the streetcar and took it down to the Pearl district to do some Christmas shopping and REI necessities for the probable chaining up and removing of chains in the next few days.

Enjoy the pictures of the "frightful" weather outside!

This is me and my car - I've got a bit of digging to do if I'm going to get anywhere in it...
Dad, do you think my car will make it? This is one of the blocks I have to make it up and out of...
Would you like to take a seat by our front door?


I wish I had a set of skis to get around on....
And just another shot of the car for good measure...
The goal is to try and get out tomorrow, but the backup is to wait and try again Christmas Eve. I've got a friend who drives a truck who can take me home late Christmas Eve or Christmas morning so one way or another I'm going to make it home for Christmas, it just might not be in the timing I'd like it to be. I'll keep you updated and maybe even post some more pictures soon. You're probably in shock at how many posts I have put up....let's just say I've actually had a little more time on my hands.

Take care wherever you are!

I'll be home for Christmas?

And it keeps coming down. Last night alone we got another couple inches bringing our total to somewhere between 10 and 14 inches in downtown Portland!!!! Everytime I look out the window I'm in shock. The studio is closed today so my roommate and I are just planning on walking down to the streetcar in a bit to try and get down to REI to get a shovel and a few more winter weather supplies. **This just in - the news just said we could get even five more inches of snow today and we might reach 20 inches total!!!!! WHOA.....still trying to figure out how I'm going to get home. Here are some pictures from outside right now....

That's my car right there on the upper left - you can no longer see the top of my back wheel.

So if you are snowed in, what do you do for breakfast? Fritata, hashbrowns & mimosas!
You gotta have some fun, right? We're praying for some relief sometime in here so that we can get out of town before Christmas. I'll keep you updated!

A week in review

Last week was a doozy of a week - things were rough at work, I ended up working about 60 hours alone last week. And in the meantime the weather was just plain gnarly. I walked to work everyday this week for obvious reasons and because of the hilarity of how I often looked all bundled up, my roommate took a picture every morning. Hope you enjoy a quick look at the different looks I sported on my way to and from work this last week.....

Day 1 - Monday
Day 2 - Tuesday
Day 3 - Wednesday
Day 4 - Thursday
Day 5 - Friday (I was really ready for a snow day this day, but no such luck)

It's going to be an interesting next couple of days. It's been a great, relaxing weekend filled with lots of rest and a little worry about how I will manage to make it home in time for Christmas (not to mention how I'll get my presents in time), but I know and trust it will all work out just fine one way or another. I'm going to get my laundry done this evening so that I can have my bags packed and ready for the first sign that the window is open to get down to Medford. The news is saying that the snow will probably still be here to an extent through next weekend - CRAZY! Please pray that there will be an open window before Christmas for me to get south safely. I'll keep you updated and try to post more pictures of the ridiculous amount of snow outside. I think we are up to 8-9 inches now!

"ARCTIC BLAST 2008"

The true Arctic Blast they've been talking about all week finally hit. I have about 7 inches of snow at my apartment which is just totally unreal!

Here is some pictures to document the snow outside right now. I'll follow up shortly with a post capturing the last week of nasty weather...

My car is the silver one on the left. You can see the snow drift is up to the top of my back wheel. I haven't driven my car now at all in a week! And it's not looking like I'll be driving it before Tuesday at the earliest.This is the front entry way to my apartment complex - can you tell where the walkways are?
And this is the back area of my apartment complex (the view from our dining room window). You can get a better idea of the accumulation from the small patio table....crazy!!!

Yesterday a friend came and picked up my roommate and I and took us up to his parent's house where they had 14 inches of snow. The picture below is of me and my roommate up where we were sledding.....you can kinda see my face?!?!

We had a great time sledding down their hill - I can't remember the last time I went sledding - and then having Chicken Pot Pie and playing some Tripoley. It was nice to spend some time with other people and big thanks to our friend who came and drove us there and back.

Our church services have been canceled this morning and my home community is meeting at 1pm today. My home community meets about a mile and half from my place so in a little bit I'll have to determine if it's safe for me to walk there or not. The problem is we have about 7 inches of snow and then last night the freezing rain came on top so the snow is very hard on top and then you have to trudge through the depth of it.

Just a teaser for some shortly coming posts: I'll be home for Christmas??? A wintry week in review, and All I want for Christmas is I-5 to be open and clear.

Take care and stay warm!!!

Wowzers

So it's been a doozy of a week. And I mean it's been one for the record books. Needless to say, work has been brutal, however I am very thankful to have a job.... you can see the press on the front page of the Oregonian (from yesterday) if you are interested.

And I can't find the cord for my camera, so I still don't have the pictures chronicling the weather the last few days for you. But I promise I will get them up sometime. Now where could that cord be???

In other news, I've now reached a point where I'm starting to think / worry a little bit about my drive down to Medford for the Holidays. I'm not going to really worry about it until tomorrow, but it would be really great if Christmas Eve was nice and warm all the way between here and Medford. Then for about a week it can snow as much as it wants to. And then by the first of the year it needs to be clear again. I really don't want to have to deal with weather for the drive down or back up. Good thing my dad taught me how to put my chains on the car.....might be time for me to practice again.

And it continues

Okay, so I haven't had a chance to get pictures up yet.....but I promise I will in the next few days of the crazy weather! I've been walking to work on the ice the past few days and I've gotta admit - this morning it would have been very comical to watch me as I shuffled my way along. I have yet to land on my butt.... but I'm sure it is only a matter of time.

The weather people are saying the next few days are going to continue to be pretty dicey, but we will see. I personally am praying for some warm rain tomorrow and then it can do whatever it wants to do after tomorrow. Well, at least up until the day before Christmas Eve - I do want to be able to get to Medford for Christmas!

I've been extremely busy these last few days and am now going to try to fall asleep for a few short hours before we start again, but wanted to check in quickly! Hope you are staying warm wherever you are reading this from.

(A little teaser on the coming pictures....my roommate has been chronicling my bundled up "just about to walk out the door" self every morning so far this week....stay tuned for more updates!)

The Arctic Storm....

has now arrived! When I woke up this morning, there was no snow, now the snow is coming down hard, and it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon. I'll get pictures up later on today. Hope wherever you are you are warm and safe!

Snow? News?

So the forecasters are saying there's a chance for snow on the valley floor this weekend. I have to admit, I kinda hope they are right. It's been a while since I've had snow - we had a few touches of it last winter, but nothing significant. We'll have to see. Generally, as soon as the weather people say that it is going to snow, that jinxes it and there's no way it will. I'll keep you posted.

In other news, there really hasn't been much news.... life has gotten back to its routine after the quick Thanksgiving break and I'm just trucking along towards Christmas when I'm taking some much needed time off. I'm going to head down to Medford over the Christmas and New Year's holidays to be with my parents and sister and I'm excited to be with family and not be at work for a week and a half! I haven't taken a lot of time off during my first year of full time employment and this vacation will actually be my longest yet. I'm looking forward to being a little more liberal in taking my time off this year and I have a few fun trips up my sleeve....one of which I need to respond to an e-mail right now about.....

Back online

I've been busy - not to mention totally off-line - the last few days. It was refreshing to not touch my computer for 3 whole days. I was blessed to have my parents visit for the Thanksgiving holiday - we had a good time hanging out and relaxing.

Thursday my parents drove up while I made the dinner rolls. Once they arrived we headed up to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner we all went to the movie Australia - I wouldn't recommend seeing it in theaters.....it's not bad, but it's not great either. Really long movie - if you really want to see it....wait til it comes out on dvd and rent it.

Friday we all slept in and then my dad decided to take us to the Washington Square Nordstrom.... see my post below to see how I feel about shopping in large crowds =). Later in the afternoon we walked and shopped a bit on NW 23rd by my house. We shared an early Trader Joe's pizza dinner with the family and then headed to the Blazers' game. We had a great time at the game - the Blazers won and because they scored over 100 points.....free chalupas!! (I don't know if I've ever eaten a free chalupa.... any takers?)

Saturday we went back up to my grandparents to help make a dent in the Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch and then headed back to my place so my dad could head to the football game while my mom and I did a little more NW 23rd shopping. My mom and I also headed to one of our favorite spots... Ikea! We went late enough to avoid too many people and came out with a few things...

I had a great weekend with my parents and thoroughly enjoyed the 4 consecutive days off. Now it's back to work in the morning - and time to gear up for a busy holiday season!

Late Night Shopping

I like to shop. I'm not a crazy shopper, but I do enjoy shopping. However I do not like shopping in large crowds. I don't really like large crowds in general. I've always been that way. I don't like having to weave in and out of the crowd. I don't like the pressure of feeling like I need to make my choice quick because there is someone right there waiting to get around me, or waiting to make their cereal choice.

You know how you can enjoy shopping without the crowds? Go shopping late at night. It's great. I mean it. It's the best way to shop. Fred Meyer is better late at night, Target is better late at night, most stores are better late at night.

Now because of the not really liking shopping in large crowds, you probably won't see me out on Friday trying to find some good deals..... unless they are REALLY good deals. You have to weigh the pros and cons you see...

The preview...

If you want to see the preview for Coraline.... click here.

Coraline is the stop motion film produced at the company I work at. It will be released in theaters February 6, 2009.

A little of this, a little of that

There hasn't been too much to update on, hence the blogging silence. I'll quickly recap what's been going on around me and the thoughts in my head....

I rode the train back from Seattle last Wednesday morning. It was a great feeling to be back on a train. I had flashbacks to train rides across Europe. Some of my favorite memories from my time abroad involve long train rides with deep, or very shallow, conversations with people I will always cherish. I learned a lot about myself and what I want in my life while spending time on trains in Europe. I gained a new independence and freedom on the trains in Europe. While I can't say I learned a lot about myself on the train ride back down from Seattle, it was great to reminisce a bit.

I went in to a walk-in barbershop in the Pearl on Saturday evening because I desperately needed a haircut. I've gone to this place before and ended up with a pretty good cut so I figured what the heck. While I was getting my hair cut I was thinking up this great post about how it is important not to "judge a book by its cover" because lets just say the guy cutting my hair was ... well you can fill in the blank (and if you can't fill in the blank, don't worry, I'm about to do it for you). He was a New Yorker who likes to rock hard (he told me all about his rocker wife) and while he likes Portland, he really misses New York City. His hair was this kinda mullet-like thing (now that I think about it.....I can't believe I let him touch my hair). Now I would totally be telling you that it's not good to judge a book by its cover if you know what I mean, but the guy didn't do a good job, so I'm thinking there are times when you have to discern whether or not you should let the punk rocker touch your hair. Before I left I had him fix my hair twice because the two sides weren't even. At least now the front lengths of my hair are even..... The tricky thing is you can't really tell if the back is even until you are at home and use a flat iron on your hair. That was the moment I realized he had butchered it. So now I need to work on finding another hair person in the area. Blahhh.

In other news I got an e-mail today about there being more showings in the Portland area of the Call+Response movie I mentioned in a previous post. I'll update when I get more info on when and where it is going to be shown. If you don't know what I'm talking about.....scroll down and read about Call+Response.

Last but not least, I thought I'd share an interesting blog post from a site I hop over to periodically to check out. I thought this post from Mike Cope about a Church Shopping experiment Philip Yancey and his wife did was very interesting and worth pondering. If you choose to read it, please don't get stuck in the nitty gritty, just look at the over-arching idea. You can check the post out here.

(Update - you should be able to access the article by clicking on the large "here".... sorry it wasn't more user friendly to begin with.)

Hopefully I'll be able to check in a little later this week. Have a good one!

Sickness in Seattle

Yep, that's right, I'm sick and I'm in Seattle. Actually I'm on the downhill side of this cold thing, but still a little under the weather. And as far as being in Seattle, well, yes, I'm here for some training tomorrow and then I take the train back to Portland on Wednesday morning. That's really all that has been going on with me lately. Let me tell you though, while I was at home sick I was soooo thankful for tivo. Such a wonderful thing.

More to come later....

Disgraceful treatment

I don't really want to provide a lot of comment on the article I'm going to share below, except for that I find it to be a very interesting perspective. Regardless of my political party affiliation (of which I'm currently proud to say is "Not affiliated with any party"), everyone, from the homeless guy on the street corner, to the oil big wigs, to the President of the United States, deserves to be treated with kindness, right? Jesus was kind to the tax collector, the lepers and the Samaritan woman....

Have we Americans treated President Bush disgracefully? Maybe we have, maybe we haven't. I'm not really the judge, but nonetheless I think it is important to think about.

Side note, the author of this opinion article is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

Just keep that in mind.

Check out the article HERE.

Sealed and ready to go

That's the status of my ballot - sealed and ready to go. It is ready to be dropped off in a ballot drop box now. I took a good amount of time this afternoon to go through the ballot with the Voters' Pamphlets and a little internet research to make sure I made my own informed decision. While I'm very much a skeptic of politics and what can be accomplished, I do feel a responsibility to be aware of what is going on around me. If for no other reason than to be able to hold an intelligent conversation, it's important for me to know what's happening.

Now how did I vote? Well, there is a reason there are those curtains on the polling stations, and there is a reason in Oregon that there is a Secrecy envelope..... which is my way of saying I am making NO endorsements here.

Thank goodness this election is almost over. It seems like it has been happening forever..... oh wait, it has.

Sauvie's Island

Just a few pictures to share for my Saturday morning post -

Last weekend I went to the pumpkin patch at Sauvie's Island.....


and we went through the corn maze (the maze was called A-Maze-ing Grace...)


we managed to find our way out, without a map, which either means it was a really easy maze, we were really lucky, or we were totally awesome at the Bible trivia clues provided. Regardless of which one it was, we had a good time.


We can't hardly contain the excitement from being at the pumpkin patch.

We had a great time and enjoyed what was probably the tail end of the clear, crisp, beautiful Portland weather. The gray skies and damp atmosphere is about to settle in for the long haul. However I can't complain because we've had a beautiful September and October here in Portland.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This weekend is pretty low key for me. Seems like most weekends are a chance for me to just catch up on life from the week. Last night I went over to some friends' place for a little get together to play Cranium and hang out. Now it's time to get a few errands done and catch up on life from this last week.

The best thing to happen to TV since the remote

Tivo. Need I say more? Whoever invented tivo.... genius. (Not to mention probably ridiculously wealthy at this point.) I recently purchased and installed a tivo and I love it. You get to watch the TV shows you like when you want to, and you get to fast forward through commercials!

The other noteworthy thing I've discovered lately is Pandora Radio. Check it out if you haven't already!

Since it is voting season....

Here in Oregon, we mail in our ballots. How do you vote on the new look of my blog? Well, you leave a comment. Do you like the new background? It is not a secret ballot, but voting starts now, and ends when I've made up my mind about the new background. Please note: voting (on the blog background) will end no later than November 4th. Seems to be a popular day for finishing voting, huh?

Yes, I am alive

So it's been a little while.... I just haven't had much to talk about, but I am still alive and kicking. What has been happening in the life of Kayla you ask? Well.... a lot of work, some more work, with a little fun mixed in there too.

For lots of reasons (a lot of which I can't really discuss in this forum) work has required a lot from me lately. I can work 50 hours a week, but I'm usually totally exhausted by the end of it. The last few weeks have been long ones, but there are good things happening and I can't hardly believe I've almost been at my job for a year! My job search was really long, very hard, and proved to refine my faith in many ways. I am continually reminding myself of what God brought me through as an example of his faithfulness. So I am again extremely thankful to have a good job where I'm given so many opportunities to develop and grow.

So what have I been doing in the few hours I'm not at work? =)

Last week I carved pumpkins with some friends -- sorry I don't have a picture of our pumpkin. I was thinking about it and I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin. I'm not a big Halloween fan, which is probably why I haven't carved pumpkins in a long time. In spite of the fact that the first pumpkin I cut into was moldy and green on the inside, carving the second pumpkin with a friend was a lot of fun.

Yesterday my roommate, a good friend and I went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze on Sauvie's Island. We had a good time and even figured out the maze without the map! (We did have the Trivia clues though to help...)

Anyway, that's what I've been up to in my blogging absence. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures of the beautiful fall colors all around here soon. Take care!

Call + Response

I went and saw a very interesting "rockumentary" tonight at the Living Room Theaters here in Portland. It is called Call + Response and it is all about slavery and human trafficking happening in the world today. In a similar fashion to the documentary Invisible Children, this film highlighted the horrors occurring around the world, and more shockingly in our own cities, with slavery and sex trafficking. It is the kind of thing that first shocks you, and then outrages you. The fact that children, as young as 3, are being sold to brothels. Not to mention that everyday products like coffee, chocolate, cell phones (the mineral required to make a cell phone function is often mined by slaves) and cotton -- are often produced at the expense of using slaves somewhere.

I recommend you see this film if you have the opportunity. You can access the Call + Response website here for schedules of when and where it is being shown. As far as I can tell it isn't everywhere, but at the very least you can check out the website to learn more. Also, take a minute to pray for the thousands of people enslaved throughout the world. From Eastern Europe, to Amsterdam, to Cambodia, to Portland.... please say a prayer, or multiple prayers, for these people.

I am challenged to rethink the action I take in my life. I must do what I can to decrease the demand for goods ultimately produced out of slavery. My roommate and I had a discussion about how you do that, and I'm certain it's not easy because no one advertises that a 6 year old child made your shirt. However I agree with what was said in the film that we have an obligation to take action, that the abolitionist movement is not history, rather it must continue today.

According to the CIA, more than 17,500 people are being trafficked into the U.S. every year.

Over 1/3 of all prostitutes in South and East Asia are children.

Wow.

I could go on and on and on about it, and be forewarned I might in a later post, but I wanted to lastly mention why this film is called a "rockumentary" . The producer (I believe he produced it) is a musician who met some girls when he was touring in Eastern Europe. After talking with them, he came to find out that they were about to be sold into slavery, they had been told they were going to get to travel the world. He decided he had an obligation to do something and because he's a musician he decided to use that as his avenue. He filmed numerous bands and artists singing about slavery, interviewed political figures, journalists, professors and international justice experts and most significantly freed slaves. He put it together to make an excellent "rockumentary".

No such thing as ordinary

It's been a little while since my last post and there are two main reasons why...

1) My work has been very busy. There are a lot of things happening at work and so the hours have been long.

2) I haven't had much to blog about. Life has seemed very "ordinary" in the sense that I'm back into a pretty regular routine and working a lot and so on. (I'll come back to the ordinary thing in a minute.)

Here's a quick list of the things going on in my life over the last week and a half or so:

• Work, a lot of work. It is a busy time and so I've been putting in a lot of hours lately.
  
• Making sure I stay caught up on new episodes of The Office. This show seriously cracks me up. "Let's get Ethical, Ethical....."
• Slept in yesterday and had a very lazy Saturday morning..... I love those recovery mornings.
• Last night my company hosted a reception for the Art Show currently happening showcasing our employees' art. I poured wine at the reception - it was a fun thing to do on a Saturday evening. I had a prime spot for people watching!

So a lot of the things I've been up to, seem very ordinary. However the more I think about it, the more I realize there really isn't such a thing as ordinary. What might seem ordinary to me, may seem otherwise to someone else. So I've determined there's really no such thing as ordinary. At least not when it comes to life.

Don't park at KFC too long

For real? Check out this article if you want to be kinda sick to your stomach...

KFC Gorging Story

I can't remember the last time I went to KFC, and to be honest with you, can't think of the next time I'll partake of fried food made by Colonel Sanders.

Bailed out....

Regardless of your feelings on the bailout those in DC are working on, it is certainly interesting to watch the circus unfold. Albeit also a little scary. I enjoy taking the vantage point of somewhat cynical observer. That has actually become my favorite position to be with respect to politics - cynical/skeptical observer. But that's a whole different post sometime.

I thought this list of Senators who voted no on the bailout bill today was quite interesting. The Democratic Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden, voted No. The Republican Senator, Gordon Smith, voted yes. Interesting....

One thing is for sure -- it is a very interesting time to be watching the Washington DC circus.

"That's what she said..."

In honor of one of my favorite shows coming back tomorrow evening (The Office), I would like to share the quote of the day from my Office Calendar:

Wednesday, September 24th:

"Negotiations are all about controlling things, being in the driver's seat. You make one tiny mistake, and you're dead. And I made one tiny mistake. I wore women's clothes."
- Michael

Oldies, but goodies...

So I was looking through some of my old pictures this evening and thought I would show a few of my favorites from the last few years. (That's right, we're reaching back a little bit.)

Enjoy!

My good friend Noel and I on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland, Christmas 2006. Please note the intensity.... this is not some fun little kid ride. Also please note that Kayla, aka "Space Ranger 2" was behind when the photo was taken, but that does not necessarily mean that she lost in the end. She might have hit several targets after that to beat Noel. However this "Space Ranger 2" doesn't remember the final outcome.
Also from my good friend Noel, a birthday dinosaur cake. Everyone should get a dinosaur birthday cake at some point in their life. For me, it happened at 22 years of age....

Me, my dad and Brooke - I think this was right before we headed off to school - Brooke for her Freshman year and me for my Junior year? We went miniature golfing - I really love this picture!


Some of my favorite college friends..... Katie, Jen, Kelly and I in the group hug at Katie's graduation. Sorry, I know you can't see faces - but I love this picture because it's such a good reflection of our friendship!

And reaching WAY far back - a picture of me and one of my favorite people, Christina. We were freshman year roommates and I love her to pieces. She was a great first roommate and I will always cherish her!

Hope you enjoyed this little flashback to see some older pictures. I'm working on organizing lots of my pictures so I'll be sure to post some more if I find ones of interest. Plus, I know it's more interesting to look at pictures anyway.

The definition of a good weekend

You know those weekends that are just really good, not for any special reason, but where there's the perfect mix of rest, relaxation, fun and accomplishment? Yeah, those are the best weekends and I was blessed with one of them.

Friday night I slept, A LOT, 12 hours a lot. It was great - apparently I really needed it. Then I took it easy most of the day Saturday, taking care of some things around the apartment. Later Saturday I met some friends and went to the Maroon 5/Counting Crows concert at an outdoors amphitheater. While these bands aren't my absolute favorite, we had a nice time just enjoying being there. It was a good concert. Kinda a flashback to early in college. Sunday I went to church, had lunch with my home community, spent an hour walking around Target (one of my favorite alone time activities), and sorted through some things I'd been putting off for a long time.

All in all, a good weekend. Plus, this is a week I've been waiting for a long time.....The Office is back this Thursday!

Death of the Bamboo

For the last four years or so I have owned and cared for three bamboo stalks. These three bamboo stalks have become special to me over the last few years because they were my first plant purchase that I could actually keep alive for longer than a couple weeks. I purchased the three stalks at one of my favorite stores, the Ikea in Costa Mesa, at the beginning of my Junior year of college (as best I can remember). They lived peacefully in my college apartment, then came with me home for the summer, then back to the college apartment, then made the drive AGAIN to Medford after graduation, then traveled with me to Vancouver when I lived with my grandparents, then moved to the Studio, then stayed with me through the vagabond period this summer, and most recently moved to the new place with me a month and a half ago. Phew - if you are still with me.... congratulations.

Mind you, the entire time the bamboo has been with me I have just made sure the water was full and everything looked okay.

Well, during my recent vagabond period (the month between the Studio and my new place) a friend of mine, whose parent is a botanist (or something similar to that), informed me that their botanist parent said the best thing to do for bamboo is cut the end off and be sure to change the water weekly. So I followed the advice.....

AND MY BAMBOO.....

changed from it's lovely green.....

TO AN UGLY BROWN.

The stalks shriveled up and died. Needless to say, I'm disappointed and probably never going to listen to a botanist again. Well, I might listen to a botanist again, it just might be a while.

I should have taken a picture of my shriveled, brown bamboo, but in all honesty, I was on another cleaning spree and just decided to throw them out before I convinced myself that I could somehow nurse them back to health. So today marks the end of an era, the end of my bamboo's life, and I am glad to have had my bamboo for the last four years. =)

In the news....

No, I'm not in the news, but the company I work for had a lot of press come out today so I thought I'd share a few of the stories in case you are curious about where I work and what we are currently working on.

So if you're interested in what goes on at an animation studio on a day to day basis -- or at least what's going on at the studio I work at, check out these articles:

The Oregonian Article

Another online article

Don't worry there will not be a quiz later on the information contained within the articles - they are quite long. However if you're interested in stop-motion animation at all, or just interested in what the company I work for is doing, you have the chance to check it out at the websites above...

Before and After

So I thought I'd give a little "Before and After" look at the old place (the before) and the new place (the after)... although a little disclaimer - some of my after pictures already need to be updated because we've gotten a few more things put together. At some point (soon hopefully) I'll do a full tour of the whole thing completely put together. But until then, the following will have to do!

The Studio kitchen / dining room - BEFORE...

The kitchen / dining room - AFTER....

(Got the table on sale at Fred Meyer, the black chairs from Craigslist, and the red chairs were my original dining room chairs.... I have to admit, I really like the table/chairs combination....)

The Living Room - BEFORE (*please note you can kinda see my "bedroom" in the background)...

And the living room - AFTER (*please note there is NO "bedroom" in the background)...

That should give you a good visual idea of the two most recent places I've lived. I'm very glad to almost be done with the moving process for a while. This weekend we got a lot of the pictures and shelves up on the wall so the place is almost fully put together. Hopefully there will be some time to get some slightly updated pictures up soon....

Finally

I'm finally.... going to be able to keep my promise of getting pictures up! That's right, I found the cd I needed to install the software so that I can actually download the pictures from my camera. I may wait until after tomorrow afternoon to put up pictures of the new place because we have someone coming over to help put up pictures and some shelves on the wall. I figure if you've waited this long, you can wait just a little bit longer for the complete picture. Check back soon for pictures!

Chicken Spinach Pizza

Trader Joe's is my favorite grocery store hands down. One of my absolute favorite things to get and make from there is pizza. They have pre-made pizza dough for a dollar and a little change, you can buy the pizza sauce there, and then you get to choose whatever toppings you like. Last night it was Spinach chicken...... so good. If you live somewhere near a Trader Joe's, and you haven't tried their pizza, get yourself the ingredients soon and be creative. (And if you find another winner combination, let me know...)

In other "not-really-that-exciting" news, my roommate has now moved in and it is great to have someone around. We've been sharing the dinner thing which is especially nice and I'm getting re-acquainted with having a roommate. The weather has been great lately and I'm doing all I can to enjoy the weather. That has included walking or biking to work everyday. It's great to have the ability to just hop on my bike or walk to work. This morning I saw families walking to the elementary school a couple of blocks away for the first day of school. Its always interesting how much more I take in when my method of transportation is self-powered.

Cleaning Spree

Just finished a major cleaning spree.... I love it when you get on a roll and just roll with it. Now its time to get to bed for one last day of work before a three day weekend.

Soooooooo ready for the three day weekend....

Living alone

For the past 8ish months I have lived on my own. All in all it has been a great experience. When I first came to the Portland area, I lived with my grandparents while I searched for a job. Once I landed my job and got on my feet, I got my own place, a little studio close to Beaverton. While living on my own I learned a lot about myself and I'm thankful for having the time to live on my own. I proved to myself that I can be wholly self-sufficient. I can pay my bills, feed myself, take care of my own things, and all on my own! I will never wonder if I can live on my own successfully... because I've done it. While I'm very excited to have a roommate coming this weekend, I'm also grateful for having had the time to be on my own.

Some challenges of living on your own: 1) Figuring out how to cook for one. You end up eating variations of the same thing over and over again. I've learned exactly how much pancake mix will make only enough pancakes for two servings. 2) There's no one (except by phone) to talk to when you get home. While it's great to have time to yourself, you don't realize how nice it is to have someone ask about your day until no one does. (Except your great family who checks in by phone daily....love you guys!) 3) You're the only one doing the cleaning. I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to sharing the chores again. Although on the flip side, you only have to clean up your own mess which is nice.

I guess with having a roommate moving in this coming weekend I am thinking more about the past months of being on my own and also thinking about the things I have to remember about being a roommate. Like you have to remember to close doors again. And you can't just leave your stuff lying around. And it is important to do your dishes (which I'm pretty good at even living on my own).

All this talk about being a good roommate has caused me to feel the urge to clean up a little in preparation for my roommate's upcoming arrival.....

Arrested Development

I'm obsessed with the DVDs of the TV Show Arrested Development. Quite possibly the most genius show ever written. It's unfortunate we only got three seasons. Now that the Olympics aren't on in the evening, I've been watching all of Season 2 and I'm blown away again. If you are looking for a hilarious TV show to watch on DVD, rent or buy Arrested Development.

Note: If you don't get or don't like the humor on the TV show The Office then you may not enjoy Arrested Development. If you are a fan of The Office, I would be shocked if you didn't find Arrested Development to be up to par. Also note it is important to watch this show from the very beginning because most of the jokes are built upon and simply won't make sense (or be funny).

That's all for tonight. I'm still working on the pictures of the apartment. No more promises on when they will be up, but they will be up sometime.


UPDATE: Just realized this blog is starting to look more like a movie/tv review blog. I'm going to get a little more creative... any suggestions?

Broken Promise...

Yeah, so no pictures of the apartment up yet. Sorry. Please don't hold it against me. I still have to install the software to pull down the pictures from my camera and I went to do it this evening, and I think I went do it sometime earlier (probably at my studio), but I didn't install it. Now of course I need to track down the CD. Hopefully tomorrow, we'll see.

On another note, I've been receiving multiple postcards from across Europe lately. My new roommate is currently traveling in Europe and is sending me postcards from each of her stops. So far I have one from Barcelona and one from Nice. If only I could be sitting on a beach in Italy right now...

My new roommate will be coming back to the States and will be moving in this weekend. While I've enjoyed living by myself, I'm really excited to have someone to talk to while I make dinner, someone to watch a tv show with here and there, and just someone else to hang out with every once in a while. And while I know my mom loves our daily check-in (it's a requirement for me to call and let her know I'm home safe and sound at night) I'm gathering that she'll be relieved that I'll have someone who will wonder why I'm not home if for some reason I'm not home at night. =) Love you mom - thanks for caring!

Best things of my week and a movie review

These are the five best things about my week:

1) We have hired a temp at work to help me out. Things have been kinda crazy at work and a lot of things are changing, not to mention my job is a dual role position (HR Specialist and Assistant). While now I'm in the position of having to train someone how to do many of the duties I am accustomed to taking care of, I'm so very thankful to have the help.

2) I have purchased a couch! Maybe that is kinda sad to be one of the five best things of my week, but I now have almost all of the necessary apartment furniture taken care of. I am pledging to get pictures of the new apartment up sometime later tonight or tomorrow. (It is finally in good enough condition to be photographed.)

3) I have great friends who helped me get the couch from Ikea today and then move it upstairs into my apartment. Much thanks to Crystal and Joel for their help today.

4) A check from the Natural Gas company came in the mail the other day. I had forgotten I had to pay a deposit at my old place for it. My new place doesn't use natural gas at all. It's always great to get unexpected money in the mail.

5) I got to meet up with a couple friends multiple evenings this week which was great. Tuesday evening I had dinner with Crystal and Michelle. Michelle is a good friend from my high school days who now lives in Florida, so it was a special treat to see her. We laughed and laughed at all kinds of things and reminisced. Maybe I'll make it out to Florida one of these days soon...

And now for my review of the movie Housebunny (I saw this movie with one of my friends from church up here - she had gotten two passes to a sneak preview of the movie and she asked me to come along.)

If you saw Legally Blonde, Housebunny is a dumbed down version of that pretty much. It had a few funny moments, but it was pretty predictable and nothing I would recommend paying to go to at the theaters. Possibly worth renting if there is nothing else that looks good. They checked people at the door for cameras and wanded you down before you could go inside. Unfortunately, with the exception of how the main character remembers the names of new people she meets, the only thing I'll remember from this movie was the security to get in.

Calculus and the Olympics

One of the things I remember from my college Calculus class is discussing the rate of change in equations. I know, I'm a little (some would say very) nerdy, but I thought Calculus was actually pretty interesting and strangely useful. But that is beside the point. I'm starting to see how the rate of change in my life is always changing, but the constant is that there is always change. I've just moved into a new place (I promise I'll get pictures up once the whole place is totally put together), things at work are changing (in good, exciting ways) and I'm continuing to meet new people and experience change in this exciting period of my life. I love Portland, but moving here and settling in has been a major change. My life in the past year has totally changed, and while I really love the changes, it hasn't always been easy. The interesting thing is that my life has gone through, and will continue to, go through varying rates of change. Sometimes things change very quickly. Other times it is a very slow change. However the overlying reality is that the pieces of my life are always changing.

I've been addicted to the Olympics lately, in fact, they've kept me up way too late this past week or so. I don't know what it is about them, but I absolutely love it. I have actually waited to hook up my cable at the new place for the sole reason that I know I wouldn't watch a bit of anything besides the Olympics. I totally admire the dedication and commitment the Olympians have for their sport. Not to mention all of the years of hard work just to get to that point, and so many of these athletes are committed to sports I honestly didn't even realize was a sport. Did you see the trampoline last night? Crazy.

So that's what I've been thinking about and doing lately. Tomorrow night I'm going to go see the movie Housebunny with a friend (she got free tickets and for some reason her husband doesn't want to see it with her). I'll give you my review soon; I don't have high hopes so we'll see.....

Two little rants...

Today I was informed that someone misses hearing me rant. I guess this is a great venue for ranting.... so here are two rants for my friend who misses my rants (you know who you are).

First rant: it is so stinking hot! I mean, I love Portland (more on that in a minute), but when it gets hot here, it makes me wish I could just sit around eating popsicles all day. However I can't. So instead I come home to a NOT AIR-CONDITIONED apartment. Thank goodness they installed the blinds the other day or else I would be hotter than Hades in here. Note: right now it is only slightly cooler in my apartment than I imagine the temperature of Hades. Also please note the slight sarcasm (it really is close to the temperature of Hades).

See the thing is, in Portland it only gets hot enough to need an air-conditioner for about 2 weeks of the year. So that means we don't have air-conditioners. Which is fine approximately 350 days of the year. Today, like a good citizen who lives only a mile from my place of employment, I rode my bike to work. The to work part was nice and cool, but the to home part was not so cool. Okay, I'm starting to get sick of this rant, or maybe I'm just losing it in the heat.....

Second rant: I absolutely love living in Portland! (Are you surprised? This is actually going to be a positive rant, which might be an oxymoron, but I don't even care...) I just moved into a new apartment that is very close to work and everything I love about this city. When I first moved to Portland, I thought I would really rather live in the suburbs where it is quieter and what not. But after being in the suburbs for about 5ish months, I had an epiphany one day. I realized that everything my days consisted of was downtown (or close to it) and this city really isn't all that big and intimidating. So I decided to move closer down in. The added bonus is I live close enough to walk or bike to work. I'm super close to a Trader Joe's, my gym, my church, PGE Park, and lots of great restaurants and shops.

On a side note, the other night two friends and I went a checked out a brewery that is about a half a mile from my place over in the industrial area by my place. It is a Pyramid Brewery called MacTarnahan's - it was really good. We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the evening (this was before the heat wave). If you come visit me, I promise we can go.

Okay, back to the rant.... did I mention I really like where I live? This evening, because of how hot it is, I had no desire to make a warm dinner. All I wanted was a salad. But of course I didn't have all the things to make a salad. So I just jumped in my car (my car has air-conditioning) and drove a little over a mile to Trader Joe's to get a salad and a couple other things I needed. I was back to my place in 15-20 minutes and enjoyed my cold salad. That's the kind of thing that I love about living down here. I'm so close to all the things I enjoy the most.

Hope you've enjoyed these two rants, especially you (you know who you are)!

Under construction

I'm working a little bit on the design and look of my blog, so don't be surprised if you come back and it looks different a couple times. I'm trying to settle in on what I want it to look like. You can let me know what you like, what you don't like, and we'll see if I listen or not! =)

I had a nice weekend back in Medford. It's always nice to be back in the hometown. I will be sure to post some wedding pics later this week. Okay, now I'm back to watching the Olympics while unpacking / getting ready for the week.

Bachelorette Parties & Sticker Shock

It'll just be a quick post today, but wanted to get on quickly. I've had a great day with my mom and Brooke (well, Brooke's been doing bridesmaid stuff, so haven't got to see her a ton today). My mom and I went and window-shopped downtown in Medford and then in Jacksonville. It's always fun to go look around. And today I was only looking thanks to my car being in for a new timing belt and brakes (hence the sticker-shock of the day). My wonderful mom has been listening to me as I moan about paying for maintenance on my car - one of those great things in life that you have to do, but it always stinks.

The Bachelorette party last night was a lot of fun - here are a few pics of the belly-dancing. (That's right, we did belly-dancing! It was actually a great fun thing to do for a Bachelorette party! Good job Brooke and Rachel!) I'll have to get some of the pics from the sword balancing part of the evening from someone else to post later. My camera's battery started dying at the end of the evening. Enjoy a few pics of the party and the luncheon today!

Thank you Shannon for teaching us bellydancing.... I think I still need a few more lessons!

Cupcakes from Saint Cupcake in Portland!!! Yum...

Lauren opening the champagne for the mimosas. Totally shot the cork into the neighbor's back yard and we fortunately caught her reaction.

Headed to Medford!

Two very dear friends of mine, Brandon & Lauren, are getting married this weekend and so I'm headed to Medford this afternoon. Once upon a time, as three Jr. High girls, Lauren, Brooke and I were having a sleepover. And as Jr. High girls do at sleep overs, we were up late talking about our crushes. Unfortunately at the time Lauren didn't have anyone to crush on, so Brooke and I got out our Middle School yearbook out to find her someone. Would you believe we picked Brandon for her?!?!? I know, it's crazy, but I like to think that Brooke and I had a special part in their love story =). I'm heading back this afternoon in order to be there in time for the Bachelorette party tonight and a luncheon tomorrow - it will be a great weekend. I'll get some pictures up when I get back.

As an added bonus, I get to have two good friends, Carlos & Michelle, ride with me to Medford today. Carlos and Michelle now live in Florida, so it will be great to have 4 1/2 hours to catch up with them! I'm looking forward to a day off and some time back in Medford this weekend, I haven't been down there since Memorial day, so I'm excited to get back to my hometown.

She's blogging? And what about puzzle pieces?

So for a bit of time (usually while lurking through looking at other's blogs) I've thought about blogging. However for the longest time I was convinced I really didn't have anything interesting to write about. I mean, I don't have cute kids to dote on, I'm not on a crazy world travel adventure to blog about, and I really don't lead so exciting of a life that it seems anyone would really want to read about it. But then one day I realized that at the very least I could blog as a way to scrapbook, or record, the things going on in my life, so that one day when life is very different then it is right now, I'll remember it. I haven't set a goal for how often I will blog, and I set no real expectations with respect to this blog for myself (well I've maybe set a few, but nothing I'm going to publicly declare here). Lastly, I decided to blog for my mom. She loves checking blogs, but swears she will never blog herself. At the very least, I know my mother will check my blog faithfully. (Love you mom!)

Okay, now that I've established why I've decided to blog, I guess I should explain my title. I will admit that one of my expectations for my blog was coming up with a good name. It had to at least resemble some sense of creativity or thought. I've always really enjoyed doing puzzles, in fact, I probably enjoy them a little too much, I become totally engrossed. Which is probably why I don't do them too often. I have also on occasion come to view my life as a puzzle. I don't really know what it is going to look like at the very end, but I'm totally into figuring it out and working hard to piece it together. It is really exciting to see how it all comes together! I have often wished the Lord would just show me the big picture, I wish He would let me see the end result, because I seem to think that just like having the picture of what the puzzle will look like eventually, it would be easier to put the pieces of my life together that way. But I think the Lord has a different idea in mind.

So the short of it is, this blog is about all the different pieces of the puzzle that is my life, and how they come together. It is about what I'm thinking about, what I'm reading about, what I'm doing, what I wish I was doing, what I'm planning, and whatever else comes to mind. I hope you enjoy watching this puzzle come together!