Mary's Peak in the fall... #2

The Sunday after Halloween, we decided to continue the tradition and take a drive up Mary's. This time I got to drive too! When we got to the top of Mary's , we hiked to the tippy top just as the sun was setting. Best pictures EVER!

Halloween Fun!

For Halloween, I planned and schemed quietly... and ended up as a blonde bombshell. I dressed up as Lady Gaga, a creative and outrageous pop star who tends to run around half naked... even to the grocery store. Alissa was Jessica Rabbit, from Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, the movie. Sarah was Robin Hood, and Emma was a cave lady. The boys did their costume exchange and ended up wearing what others brought. Dave was a lumber jack. Romo was a horse jockey. Persons was a "ho-bot", like a robot only feminine, and skanky. Haha. Ben ended up as Dave's 80's glam rock creation, and Elan was a skimpy nurse.

It as a great night with LOTS of fun pictures. We all had a blast! I love my friends/family so much. I don't know what I would do without them. :)

Here are a few of the best ones:




The whole group from the costume exchange party

Mary's Peak in the fall...

The day after my birthday celebration, the boys decided they wanted to take their cars for a long drive. Being that both Dave and Romo, and both their cars, love to go fast, they knew it was time for another Mary's Peak Rally. Even though I was not feeling up to being in a car going very fast around sharp turns (thanks to my hangover), I agreed to be Dave's co-pilot and grabbed a 7UP for the road. Romo picked up Persons to be his co-pilot... and we were off!

Here are a few choice pictures from the drive that afternoon. Hope you enjoy!




A view of Romo's '92 GLI Jetta with Mary's Peak in the background



Dave's Legacy wagon and Romo's Jetta at the top of Mary's



The boy and I!



Romo and Persons looking very small compared to the view from the top. This is facing west looking at the Coast range.



So photogenic that little car is ...



Dave's brand newish 2006 Subaru Legacy 2.5i special edition

Getting older has it's perks :)

On Monday I celebrated my turning another year older. As the day approached, many people kept asking me how old I was going to be. In reply I would groan and say " Ugh... twenty-four."

But as the day approached, the festivities began. The Saturday before my birthday we decided to hit the town. I figured I would give myself and my family a whole week between Jessica's birthday and Halloween to recover from hangovers/sickness/exhaustion etc. We started off having dinner at one of my favorite places, Block 15, with my Coffee Culture co-workers and local hotties. We moved from there to Downward Dog, a "pub and grub" on the waterfront that has amazing concoctions. We then moved next door to Cloud 9 for a live hip-hop show. We ended the night at our usual spot, The Peacock. Dave and I were only there a few minutes before Dave realized that I needed to head home. We ended up with some great photos on the camera that night, and we all had hangovers the next day. :)

Thanks to my boys for taking me out on the town and keeping an eye on me. You are the best brothers and boyfriend a girl could have :)







My actually birthday was a relaxing and wonderful day. I woke up with a sore throat and a smile on my face that morning, and had one of the best days EVER.

Can't wait for Halloweeeeeen! My favorite holiday ever! Pictures will be up A.S.A.P.!

Monster Mash!

Every once and a while I get e-mails from JibJab about their free "sendables" that you can put people's faces in. My last masterpiece was the Hangerouters as Chippendales (see previous posting)... but now it it's time for some Halloween fun!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Summer is coming to a close...

...and it feels like we are all preparing for the fall to really begin. Over this last weekend, I went down to Medford to see my Nana for her 80th birthday (she does not look or act 80 at all. She's a hottie!) I drove down from Corvallis, and Dad and Jackie drove up from Hayward. We spent Sunday afternoon in Ashland, and went to dinner at the Rouge Valley Country Club for dinner. It was really nice to see my family and spend a few days with them. I wish I could do it more often! We are planning to spend Thanksgiving in Medford too, so I will get to get some more family time in then, and Dave will get to go too!



Jackie loves to take pictures, I caught her taking one of Nana and Dad on the park bench.



Nana and Dad taking in the beautiful summer day in Ashland.




Jackie and I have too much fun together... ;)

In other news, I recently applied for a job for the Deschutes County Health Department as a Health Educator... I'm really hoping to get it! I've been sending out my positive thoughts and energy about it, so hopefully the fates will decide in my favor!

All is well otherwise! Bring on the fall weather!!!

The Summer Belongs to Country Girls

Last Thursday afternoon, one of my best friends was in town so we decided to get some shots in for the end of the summer of the three of us girls. We went out to a park called Fitton Green here in Corvallis. It beautiful! And there's a great view of Mary's Peak.

Here's to a great summer, and hoping for a great fall!

Here are a few of my favorites...

Ragnar Relay Completed!

This summer, I was asked by Dave's sisters to participate with them in a relay race up in Washington called the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage. So I started running in order to be in shape by the time the ace came around. Well, from the time I said yes to the moment it was time to race went VERY quickly! I made a countdown to put on the wall in my room... it went from 80 days to seven in no time! I ran three legs in the race (as did all all the other 11 racers on our team). The legs were 3.4, 4.2 and 4.3 miles long. We decided that our team name could be "Steve Prefontaine is Oregon's Jim Morrison" or SPOJM for short. Our team's start time was at 10 am, and we ran through the night until the evening of the next day. My easiest leg was probably the one at 4am, since it was nice and cool outside :)

I'm still sore, but it was totally worth it. I've never done anything like it, and I hope to get a few other races in before the end of the summer!

Our team put together a team photobucket, so here is the slideshow we have so far, and we have been adding pictures from everyone's cameras.

LIfe changes so fast!

This time a week ago, things were going along as they always do. Granted, everyone else around me was preparing for their changes, but it never really hit me that their changes would cause a sudden shift in my life. Alissa made it home safe from Guatemala on Tuesday, even though she was a day late getting back into the states. Emma moved back to her parents' house is Beaverton to live there while working at Intel for the next 6 months. Sarah moved back in her her parents as well, and is taking some summer classes. And Dave is gone.

Dave accepted a job commercial fishing in Alaska for the summer. He left on Sunday and won't be back until September. I miss him so much already! I have been able to talk to him every night since he left, but once they get out on the water, it won't happen as often. So I've been keeping myself busy.

I have joined at 12 person relay race team for the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage. I've been training hard for it, and am really nervous/excited for it. I'll keep you updated on how it goes!

The World of Coffee (yum!)

Since beginning my job at Coffee Culture, I have been learning about all the different elements of the coffee world from where the beans are grown and how they are roasted, to latte art and barista competitions. I have been "geek-ing out" on YouTube watching how to make latte art well, how to steam milk well so that good latte art can be made, and just today, I found a video on International barista competitions (on CNN.com of all places).



What I found most interesting about this video is the end when they mention that there is no big prize money, but that there are a few prizes put up my sponsors of the competition. These people do it for the sake of making really good tasting (and good looking) coffee drinks! I think I'm becoming one of them :)


These are some drinks I made at work a few weeks ago. The one above was a latte and the one below was a mocha. I'm getting better! Next time I get the chance I'll have my phone with me to take any pictures of masterpieces :)

Movement

So the end of April is coming, and with that, there is a lot of change going on! Jackie came to visit for her spring break and we had a blast! Even though I had to work still, we found time to go out and about and have some fun! We went to the beach one day and did long drive up the coast. We spend a lot of time with my "family" here, the Nan Ham Fam. It was great and I have a feeling Jackie had a ton of fun!

It was really nice last weekend (right after Jackie left, of course) and Dave and I had the chance to ride our matching bikes around Corvallis, and down to Willamette park, where I proceeded to get really sun burnt :)

So now I'm moving... it's been stressful, so stressful I'm now sick in bed. I'll keep you updated on that!

The hangerouters... chippendales edition

The group that does elf-yourself during christmas time has many other videos where you can put people's faces in the video and they can look really funny! Dave and his dudes call themselves the hangerouters, and I thought it only appropriate that they become Chippendales!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Can't keep Up!

Wow... I see that I haven't written in a while. Just got back from California a few days ago. It was so much fun! It was a great way to spend some quality time with Alissa before she was off to Guatemala for an internship. I took her to the airport on Thursday afternoon. It was probably one of the harder goodbyes that I have had to do... so far. Next up is Dave, and I don't even want to think about that. He is going to Alaska for the summer...

I am working on moving out of my current house, and to a less expensive, more friendly environment. I hardly spend any time here anymore because I don't feel welcome here. That's too bad. My friend Chris and I plan to move in together. He wants to move back to Corvallis, and is currently homeless, so were are trying to get this done ASAP. Problem is, I can't afford to pay double rents... especially if I am trying to save money by doing this, so I have to wait until my place is filled before moving out. I'm really excited for it though... living with Chris is going to be a blast!

I'll keep you updated on the living situation... Still working. I have had my hours bumped up to 38-39 a week, so once i move I might actually have some spare change to play with! Yay! (I hate being poor).

Hope all is well with everyone else!
Peace!

Settling into the groove...

So work is keeping me busy. I am finally adjusted to my crazy schedule, so I now have time to play and get things done without missing my bed too bad.

We went on a trip to Sisters and Bend two weekends ago with a big group of our closest friends. We all got dressed up for a themed party we threw called rednecks vs. ski yuppies. Let's just say that we are way better at being rednecks than yuppies in our group of friends.

Valentine's day was on Saturday. Dave made me breakfast (it was sooooo good!), and then we went on a fun bike race together called an Ally Cat. It's like a scavenger hunt, only on bikes at night. It was way fun! One of the things we had to complete was "getting married" at the courthouse. We had to take off our front wheels of our bikes and exchange them when we exchanged our vows. We even got an unofficial marriage license. Haha. After that we met up with a group of our friends and went to one of our favorite bars, called the Crowbar.

I work about 35 hours this week. Yay! Hopefully it won't wear me out too much.

February?!

Time flies by now that I'm so busy keeping my work schedule straight. I'm either up really really early to open or up around 9 am to get ready for my closing shift. It leaves me little time to get other things done. And I have been really tired all the time, but it's getting better. When I first started doing opening shifts, I would come home around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and sleep until 4 or 5. It was like I was a vampire or something, only being up and out when it was dark. I am able to stay awake now, until about 8, then I crash hard.

Speaking of vampires, just this morning I finished reading the third of four books in the Twilight series. My friend Emma asked me to go see the movie with her, so Alissa and I went. Neither Lissa or I had read any of the books, but Emma had been reading the fourth at the time. We were so intrigued by the movie that both of us wanted to read the books. Since then they have been consuming what little free time I have had. I don't know what it is, but they are really hard to put down!! If you love getting lost in a good book, you may want to try Twilight out.

When I'm not making delicious coffee, sleeping, or reading about vampires, I do get out and about! I cut my hair really short about a month ago. I love it, and I might go even shorter next time! I also got my nose pierced. I figured, "why not?!" I can take it out if I ever wanted to get rid of it, and I think it looks good on me. Most people who know me really well didn't even notice at first. haha.

The Culture of Coffee, and other True Stories

Yes, the job is fun. Yes, I do really like it. I assumed that there would be regulars at the drive-thru every morning, but SERIOUSLY PEOPLE?! This proves to me that coffee really is a drug. I'm working tomorrow morning at the 9th street location, if anyone needs their fix. Still going strong on training, and my manager said that I am doing very well for someone with no experience in the professional espresso field.

On the bad side of life, we had a close family friend pass away this week. My Nana's good friend, Joel, found out he had cancer at the end of the summer. Nana convinced him to do chemo, so he did. Dad and I had no clue that he was even close to passing, but alas... Dave and I are driving down to Medford for the funeral Sunday afternoon when I get off of work. We will be back Monday night.

What was weird was another family that is closewith our also lost a grandparent this week. Jackie found a fish floating in the fish tank at my Dad's house. Dave found a dead rat last night in the basement of the house while doing laundry. Emma, one of my best friends, her grandmother is also not doing well, and might have to go to Ohio again soon. Death all over! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. We will have to wait and see. Tell your friends and family that you love them, and make sure that they know they are loved. Appreciate those in your life because they might not be around forever.

GOT THE JOB!

On Friday, I interviewed with a local coffee chain called Coffee Culture. Since I'm good at customer service, and I am obsessed with coffee, I figured it would be a perfect job for me. Yesterday we went shopping down in Eugene, and I got a call while we were in Buckle. I didn't recognize the number, but I (very awkwardly) answered the phone, and it was Garrett, from Coffee Culture, offering me the job (even after making an idiot of myself). I start tomorrow morning at 6:30 am (eep!) and I am really excited. So if you live in Corvallis, and are craving coffee between 6:30 and 11am, stop by the drive thru Coffee Culture on Kings.

I'm not sure yet, but hopefully they will give me full-time and decent pay. I've got experience in everything but espresso machines, so hopefully they will.

Hope all is well with everyone else! I'm really excited for this week to start, and I will let you know how it goes!

New Year. New beginnings...?

Christmas has come and gone quickly. It was a fun winter break. I got to go home, after braving the elements of the "Arctic blast" that came though and canceled my flight. I spent a lot of time with Dave's family too, which I really enjoyed. I think they like me...


Christmas at home was fun! I got to spend some much needed Daddy and Jackie time. I miss them already!

I am still looking for work. (If you hear anything, let me know!) I am waiting to hear back about a few jobs, but it's gonna take some time. I'm having a hard time in general, as a result of being jobless. ugh. I can't wait to find some purpose in life...

On the upside, I have a meeting tomorrow morning for the Alcohol Work Group at OSU. I met the Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator at OSU through my internship at Benton County. She invited me to join the monthly meetings to bring some input from a previous student's perspective. I have a lot of reading to prepare for this, but I'm really excited! Maybe a job will come of this... hopefully!

Well, I'm gonna get back to my reading with breaks of The Office episodes in between.