Wedding Planning... the anxious stage.

Now that this is all real... it can sometimes be hard to believe. I have found that being far away from my family has been the hardest part of wedding planning. All the planning business seems to come so naturally to me. We have decided where and when we want to get married. We have decided on our wedding party. i have begun making some of the decorations for the reception. We have a timeline for the next few months. But all of it seems so overwhelming without my family here. It's a damn good thing that Christmas is only next week, otherwise I would probably have a hard time. Both Dave and I work on Christmas Eve, but then will be going down to my Nana's house for Christmas. I am really excited to see my Dad, sister and Nana. Jackie will be coming home with us after Christmas and staying until after the New Year. Hopefully she can help me with some stuff, considering she is the maid of honor. After we get back from Nana's we are going up to Dave's parents to see his sister Abby and her husband Paul and have some family time with them.

I really WOULD like help with all of this wedding business, but it seems pointless at this date. We still have 284 days left until our wedding. But if you think about it, that is only 9 months and a few weeks away. SO MUCH TO DO!

But for now, a preview of our engagement photos can be found on Annie's blog at http://itakepic-tures.blogspot.com/2010/12/dave-and-jess.html . I am also working on our wedding website, so when it is a bit more complete, I will post the address.

Engaged!

So, on my birthday, Dave suggested that we drive out to the coast for lunch, and watch the stormy weather, before having to be back for my dinner with my ladies from work.

So we got in the car and drove out. We had lunch at The Chowder Bowl and then (after Dave begged me) we walked out onto the beach in full rain gear. We walked out until my favorite pair of 7 for All Mankind jeans were soaked through. Dave turned on me and told me he had a question for me. I told him I was gonna throw up because I knew right then what was happening. He instructed me to not throw up on him, then told me he wanted me to be his forever. He got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. I said yes through my hysteric sobs, and then told him that the ring felt so heavy on my hand. I think I was in shock, and the cold rain and wind didn't help haha. Unfortunately for all of you, no one was there to take pictures or document what happened. But lucky for us, it was all for us to have.

We have already set a date, September 23, 2011 and are working on booking a site here pretty soon. I will keep you all updated, however, I suck at blogging to it might be a bit delayed. I do have a wedding website that I'm working on, and I will post that link when it looks a little more complete.

Coffee Fest

So, being the crazy busy person that I am, I actually didn't take many pictures while at Coffee Fest because we were so busy the whole time. I did get just a few though.

At the entrance to the main show floor. Behind me while I took this picture was the sky bridge to the main building of the Washington State Convention Center, and to my left was were the latte art competitions went down.

Here are a few of the entries for the latte art competition on day 2. Desiree and I are convinced that we should compete next year. We could do this!

On our first night, Portland Roasting and Ghiradelli invited us to a "function" at the Seattle Center and Jimmy Hendrix museum. We walked down there from our hotel, and I got this shot when we got to the Seattle Center. We had the entire Music Experience to ourselves (there were about 30 of us), plus free drinks at the bar compliments of Ghiradelli.

I took this from outside our hotel.

On our last day we went down to the Public Market. It was Sunday, so there were TONS of people around, and lots to look at. Below is a picture of me, Garrett the manager of the cafe and awesome dude, and Des my assistant manager, friend, and little dog lover.

It was so fun! We had so much to look at and learn. It was a great experience!

Lack of blogging skills

Wow. I am really slacking on this blog thing. The point of this whole thing is to give my family and friends a place to see what I'm up to (and who knows if anyone really reads this thing). Anywho, I said I would update with all the pictures from Adam and Jamie's wedding... but since the first blog took so long... forget it. All I can say is, I bought waterproof mascara for that weekend for a reason, and I put it to good use. I cried every 2 minutes during that ceremony, I made TONS of new friends, and we all had the time of our lives.

Moving on...

Since August many things have changed in my life. Dave is working three jobs now (that's right... three). He is still delivering bread for Big River 5 mornings a week. He is also now hosting lunch Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday at Big River. And to add to that, he is now working at the Corvallis Cyclery a few afternoons a week. He's a busy boy. And that's a good thing. Because I'm just as busy.

I was recently promoted to the manager position at my coffee shop in Corvallis (might I add that was my second promotion in under 4 months. Go me). As soon as I was told that I would be stepping in as manager, I was busier than a bumble bee. My first week of manager I worked seven days, caught a mild case of strep throat, and worked over 43 hours. Yeah. Killer. Since that first week things have gotten a little easier. I am now recovering from another cold, but things are running more smoothly. There were a few mishaps those first few weeks (like the week that Food Services of America delivered us a case of Grey Popon mustard instead of our usual 30 lb. box of Ghiradelli white chocolate. I threw a fit. We still have that box sitting in the back room... we did get our chocolate 2 days late.... after I yelled (politely) at a few people on the phone.)

The last weekend of October we are going to Coffee Fest though, a perk of being manager now. A trip to Seattle with my boss, Paul, fellow manager of the cafe, Garrett, and my assistant manager, Desiree. In honor of this upcoming trip, I would like to share with you a video I found on the Barista Guild of America blog. It makes fun of how dramatic and ridiculous competing professional baristas can be.

Hope all is well with everyone! I'm really looking forward to my trip and to the holidays. I miss my family! Got to get going... Dave should be home from work soon!

The Week of the de Laveaga Wedding

So, as I mentioned in my last post, Dave's good friend (and now my good friend too), Adam, got married last Sunday. We packed up the Subaru on Wednesday after we got off of work and sped off to Central Oregon. Adam and Jamie's families has set up for us to be there with them for most of the week. There was so much to do and so many new friends. Let me break it down for you:

Wednesday: Dave, Jess, Brian, Romo, and many others drove from Corvallis to the main house (also known as the girl's house because it was were the bridesmaids stayed with the bride's parents). It was also Jake McGinnity's birthday, the bride's little bro. So a BBQ and party soon commenced. There was hot tubbing, glow-golf, and shot-gunning of beers. There was also a giant banana.

I passed out at about 11:30, the boys stayed up late.

Thursday: We awoke to a smokey house. Even though the doors and windows were closed, the wind was bringing smoke to the resort from a wild fire south of Sisters. Mrs. McGinnity (a.k.a. Boss, yup, that's her real nickname) made "egg squishy", and fruit salad for breakfast. Soon after that, the boys and I packed up all our stuff and moved into the bachelor house, a condo on the other end of the resort. We then proceeded to organize a large river float in Bend. The boys all piled into their cars and took off while I waited for Sarah to arrive at the resort. She arrived not too long after they left, so we caught up with them in Bend. By then they had realized that a float was too much effort, so we settled with hanging out at a river front park and wading in the water.

Dave and I decided to celebrate our 2.5 "anniversary" with dinner at Deschutes Brewery (alone) and had a nice drive back to Eagle Crest together. Then more hot tub action (8 dudes, and Sarah and I in one hot tub, all at once) more beers, then bed.

Friday: We woke, some of us in a more delicate state than others, to a day full of celebrations. The boys had planned an all day bachelor party for Adam and left quite early for disc golf on Mt. Bachelor, mountain biking, eating, and other boyish activities.

As for me and Sarah... we layed around. I had a nail appointment at 11, followed by lunch with Sarah, then we popped in on Jamie (the bride) to see if she needed anything. We then all went and laid by the pool for a few hours. Then we all showered and met back at 8 for the bachelorette party! We took a few cars to Bend and started at a nice restaurant called 900 Wall. We were there for a bit before we decided to move, and it just so happened that we went to the same bar as the boys! After that the parties joined forces for a night to be remembered, and forgotten ;) I was up until 3:30ish. The boys were up until 4:50. Yikes.

Saturday: We all woke up on Saturday morning really late. (And for me that's like 10:30). The boys need to get a fitting in for their suits in Bend. So we all piled in cars and drive out. We went to lunch, then went in for the fitting. All the boys had really bad gas by this point, so it ended up a pretty funny event. By the time we had finished that, and got back to the resort, it was time for us to get all cute for the rehearsal dinner. I was considered a "spouse" in Adam and Jamie's mind, so I got to attend. It was so much fun, and I even got a few tears in thanks to Gus, the bride's little sister, when she started to talk about Adam and Jamie and their love for each other.

Sunday as the day of the wedding. It was amazing. We all cried, and danced the night away. I will miss all of those people so much, and can't wait to get everyone together again!

Jackie's Second Visit and Ragnar Relay

So after a week of being away, Jackie drove back up to Corvallis (all in one day, might I add) and helped me to prepare for Ragnar. In the days leading up to the relay, I didn't have much to worry about but getting everyone together and hitting the road (I set it up this way... I have anxiety about leaving on time and being places on time...) The day of our departure finally came, and, thank goodness, I had volunteered to work a short morning shift at work. Had I not worked, I probably would have been having a heart attack by the time we finally left.

Annie, Dave's baby sister, came down the night before. Jackie was there. Sarah came over. Lissa drove up early. Kasie and Justin came and got coffee from me, then came over later. Schwartz, Persons, and little Persons all showed up (with minutes to spare). Everything seemed to be going to plan. When we arrived in Salem to meet Romo and John Wulf, the stressful bits began to bear their teeth. Romo, Schwartz and Wulf all wanted to drive their own cars up so that they could part with us after the race to go to various parts of Washington. Well did that turn out to be a fiasco or what?! A caravan 5 cars long on I-5 though Portland, Olympia, Tacoma AND Seattle is a tricky thing. By the time we got to Everett, where we were leaving the spare vehicles, Dave and I were both so frustrated with the situation that we were yelling at each other. Not to worry, 5 minutes later we had kissed and made up... per standard procedure. :)

So we got the campsite by 10pm, set up, had a snack and hit the hay. Of course, I could only sleep in until 5am. I was really tired. As I emerged from my tent, I found that Lissa was missing. Only to find her asleep in her car, because she had been up all night throwing up. Food poisoning. Awesome. We packed up quickly and set off to the starting line.


There's Dave at the start in the white shirt, pulled up black shorts and stylish head band. By 9:30am, we were off! We didn't run into any problems until the second van's night run. Lissa was feverish and unable to run... So they had to shuffle runners around in order to complete their legs. Well Kasie got hurt in the process and they fell 2 hours behind schedule. When I woke up at 5am on the grass at Deception State Park, and no phone call from the other van, I panicked. We were far enough behind that the clean up crew for the exchange set ups would be catching up quickly. I had to make a quick decision and have Sarah skip her leg, and have Dave start straight away, so as to make up for lost time. The other van was hurting so bad that they skipped a few of their third legs as well... unfortunate but we finished in a timely manner.


Team Photos at the finish :)


I am still recovering. Have yet to run... I attempted a run a few days ago... only to find that it hurt REALLY bad. For all Ragnar pictures, good and bad, check Facebook ;)

Dad then came up to visit us on the Friday after... it was good to see him! I miss him lots and lots. We are constantly attempting to talk him into moving up here closer to Dave and I, because when Jackie leaves, he is going to be really lonely. Hopefully, Dave and I can get a bigger place and maybe he can come up for Christmas and all that. Hopefully.

So now, without even blinking, we are moving on the final event of the Summer of 2010. Adam, one of Dave's good friends, is getting married this weekend in the Bend, Oregon area. We are all REALLY excited to get the WHOLE gang together and celebrate our bro tying the knot with an AMAZING girl. Lots of pictures and stories to come. :)

Jackie's (First) Visit and the 4th of July!

So last week, Jackie was here to visit with us. She was super bored at home and wanted to get away. We tried to get some shopping done for her dorm, but she has most of it done already. It was SO hot here last week so for the most part we just sat around and watched True Blood when I wasn't at work.

She was also here for 4th of July... her and I had a ton of fun with the fire works. We both had our Flip video cameras and this was the best movie of them all!

**Warning: Jackie has a dirty mouth, so it's her cussing not me :)**

She left 2 days ago, but will be back by Monday this next week for our Ragnar Relay race (Which is in 10 days... I think I might throw up from excitement!!)

Poor Blogging Skills

So I must say, up front, that lately I have had some poor blogging skills. I haven't posted anything since May (sad, really) even though there has been much more going on.

Harry Potter and I still have our daily meetings. I am currently on Happy Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the 5th book). I blasted though books 3 and 4. Again, I have found that there are some many little details and even some characters that are completely left out of the movies. I mean, if they got every scene of the 4th book (which is 734 pages long) into a movie, it would probably take days to watch. But I'm just saying... it's amazing to me. JK Rowling is such a good writer...

My little sister Jackie graduated from high school on June 6th. It was fun to have the whole family together! Dave came with me. I wish we could have spent more time there, but hopefully Dad and Jackie will come up this summer and stay with us :)

My my fierce little honor student and her Tahoe

From left: Mommy, Grandma Camille, Jackie, Daddy, Aunt KayKay and meeeeeee!

Koehler women.

Jackie atop a delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It was gone by midnight.

Dave and I have also kept busy the last 2 weekends with graduation parties here. Oregon State's graduation was the 13th, so Emma had her party at her parent's house in Beaverton on Sunday. This last Saturday my family friends, the Page's, had a party for Meghan for graduating from OSU, and Michael for graduating from high school. It was really fun, and we got to see their whole family too.

July is already filling up with plans for adventures and activities. There's 4th of July. We have Alissa's graduation party on the 10th. And our Ragnar Relay race on the 23rd and 24th. SO excited! Hopefully I will have the time to get all the pictures and funny stories up on here for all to see!

Me vs. Harry Potter

As you may know, since becoming a college grad, there is a bit more free time on my plate than I have ever had. My mom always put it well, "You need to stay busy to get things done." It's true. I need a list of things to do, otherwise nothing gets done. I have found that I have a lot of hobbies, including art and crafts. I have put together a lot of social events for friends and family, and put collages of pictures from those events together (don't believe me? Come by the house...)

So as of late, the books I have been TRYING to read have been flops (at least for me). I tried reading The Lovely Bones, but being a recent college grad in "The Great Recession" and lots of clouds and no sun will make a girl depressed, so I had to stop because it was making me more sad. So, with the movie coming out, I picked up Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Let me just say, being familiar the movie helped LOTS, because that book was a difficult read. It was like reading a college text book. NOT pleasure reading. At this point I gave up on trying to find a good book to read, because it is very rare that I can't make it through a good fiction book. But then, an idea hit me: While reading about the up coming TWO movies to cover the seventh book of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, I got the idea to tackle the entire series again before the new movies come out. My plan is to re-read each book and watch the movies in between books.

So far, so good! I have already completed the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I BLEW through it. Yes, it's an easy read, but there are many details and descriptions in the book that didn't make it into the movie that I had since forgotten. It has been many, many years since I had read it, so it was really fun to read. I have also already Netflix'd and watched the movie. Now on to the next!

I am already about half way though, but during my recent trip home to California, I fell asleep with the book in bed and I think it fell behind the bed. I packed up and left without Harry! Ugh. I'll probably just go to the library and check it out until I go back to my Dad's for Jackie's graduation. So far though, there are way more details in this book that I had forgotten about than the first. I must have breezed though it too fast all those many years ago :)

I'll keep you detailed on my project here... all is otherwise good. I have this feeling that some big changes are on the way though. :) (If it's not, I'm gonna make it happen!!!)

Walk for Water 2010

On March 21st, a few of my co-workers and myself drove up to Portland for World Water Day and for Portland Roasting's event, Walk for Water. We had two teams of ten, with all three locations of Coffee Culture represented. It was really fun! Here is the video of footage from the event that Portland Roasting put together.... gives you something to think about... :)

The Get-away!

For our celebration of dating for 2 years, Dave totally spoiled me and took me on a short get away to one of my favorite places, McMenamins Edgefield. We booked Monday night there and stayed, then took all day Tuesday to do whatever we wanted to do. Monday we got there and had dinner at the Power Station Pub, then took a dip in the salt water soaking pool, had dessert and crashed. Our room was awesome! McMenamins is known for its funky art and rustic vibe...


The sun rising over our bed.



The lilly pond in our bath room

On Tuesday we woke up, took baths, ate an incredible breakfast, and went out to Multnomah Falls to hike. We hiked to the top of the falls. We were so lucky that it was such a nice day! :)





Dave made the joke while we were floating around the soaking pool that the next vacation we have like this might be our honeymoon. Let's hope we can squeeze another one in before then... :)

Portland Roasting and beyond...

As mentioned earlier, a few of my fellow baristas (and one baristo haha) went up to Portland Roasting Company to take a tour and brush up on our skills. We started the afternoon off with a delicious lunch at a bar and grill place that was delish! (I must find the name....). Then off to PDX roasting we went. We toured their warehouse with all the Monin syrups, Mighty Leaf teas, Dr. Smoothie containers, and, of course, bags and bags of green coffee beans waiting for their turn to be roasted. We learned how the Swiss Water decaffination process works, and where the beans come from (many people who are employed or involved at Portland Roasting have been to the farms, met the farmers and even purchased land in far off countries so that it may be used for growing coffee). We then proceeded to the roasting room and saw their whole process from roasting to bagging.



This is one of two of their roasters. This is the smaller of the two, and roasts 150 pounds of coffee at a time. It is the newer of the two, and was designed to be fully automated, but they found it was much better to just have a person operate it. To give you some perspective on the size of it, the round drum just in front of the roaster itself comes up to my waist.

Then, shortly after a potty break, we moved into the cupping room and began talking technique. Steve, our tour guide and all around coffee bad ass, made us "drip" coffee with a device called a Chemex. BEST CUP OF COFFEE I HAVE EVER HAD. I intend to have one in my house someday... but the Chemex deserves its' own blog post.



We then dove right into latte art. My fave. Steve gave us some great pointers and helped us to brush up on our skills. I feel that I have become a lot more consistent at it at work... but have yet to take any photos. Here are a few that I have taken since leaning the great art of the latte:







It was so fun, and got me all excited about my job ,and how to improve myself. I learned a lot! I'll get a post up about Chemex... but first I gotta do my research... ;)

P.S. The picture at the top of this post is of Portland Roasting's Bike delivery unit. Since the company itself is right SE of downtown, they prefer to have all of their downtown Portland deliveries be made by bike. No exceptions. (They take pride in being a very sustainable company... :) ) Even better was yesterday, when moving Sarah into her dorms at Linfield campus in NW Portland for nursing school (which starts on Monday) we saw mister bike delivery guy hauling ass past us. I think that is SO awesome!

Slower Paced

So, since the new year, I haven't really posted anything. To be honest, there hasn't been much to post about. It seems that I am trying to keep up with everyone else rather than the other way around. My little sister is (not so) patiently waiting for responses from colleges that may or may not offer her brand new paths and adventures. In the mean time, she will be turning 18 in a matter of weeks (which makes me feel really old...), and I am still trying to come up with the best birthday present ever. I miss her like crazy though. In fact, I miss HOME like crazy for some reason. Thoughts of being on the back deck at dad's house with Jackie, Dad, the dogs and a California sunset pull on my heart strings. Hopefully once spring hits, I can plan a trip down.

Annie, Dave's littlest sister is in London, and blogs pretty frequently, so we are always checking for new blogs (and there's a new one today! I need to catch up!). Abby, Dave's other sister is married and blissful... giving us fake scares on facebook with vauge status updates hinting at offspring (turns out they got turtles, not twin human babies).

Sarah got into nursing school at Linfield and is moving up to Portland on the 5th, which Alissa and I are going to help her do. Alissa will be graduating from OSU at the end of the term, which means we will probably be seeing a lot less of her, since she lives down on her parents' farm outside of Eugene. Emma is here right now, but has taken a job at Intel and will return to Beaverton in June. SOOO... all my girls will be moving away some time or another in the next few months... sad.

I have been lazily looking for jobs here and there, but it seems every time I start looking, I see the same thing. Dave has been looking for jobs much more aggressively than I, and is actually preparing to do a batch of applications this weekend. Our 2 year anniversary is coming up on the 5th. As a present, Dave booked us a night at one of our favorite spots, McMenamins Edgefield, for a romantic night alone :) I CANNOT wait!

So, while waiting for better luck in jobs, I have been embracing my current one. I work hard to make sure that I am improving every day. Tomorrow, a group of us will be traveling to Portland to visit our roaster, Portland Roasting Company, and will be touring their facilities and having some latte art lessons. I have also begun planning for this years' Ragnar Relay and I hope to be a team captain. So far so good, but the closer it gets, the more I will have to accomplish, so I'm trying to get a jump start on all my planning, so that I won't be a stress case later.

Anyway, hopefully I will have lots of pictures and stories from my adventure tomorrow, so I will be posting about it for sure. Hope all is well with the rest of the world... until then... :)

Looking back. Looking forward.

Over the last year, there has been many struggles for not only me, but also for many of the important people in my life. There have been triumphs too. A year ago I graduated from OSU, with no job and news that my family probably wouldn't be able to help keep me on my feet. I was depressed for some time, and it seemed quite hopeless in our current economic state, until I received a phone call for a job interview at Coffee Culture. I had no idea then what I was getting myself into (more on that later). Once I had a job, the challenge was to stay afloat, without boring myself to death. I eventually had to move into cheaper housing, and really cut back on many things in life. Today, I completely support myself (except for my car insurance, but that is the next thing on my list), although it is no easy task.

In June, Dave left to go on a fishing trip in Alaska. At first, three months wtih my best friend being gone was torture. I learned to be alone, like really alone, something I had a fear of. Again, another part of me that I had an opportunity to improve upon, and I become more self-reliant. When Dave came home two months early, I was here to help him get back on his feet. He moved in with me, and we found that we couldn't be without each other like that again. :)

Working at the coffee shop can be challenging at times. I have made lots of new friends, girls that I spend LOTS of time with. I have also learned a lot about people in general. We get a wide spectrum of people coming to our shop (as reflective of Corvallis itself... we have hippies, cowboys, intellectuals, and people on welfare. You name it, I've seen it). But the time and effort that we put in as a coffee shop to be the best in town, pays off. Most of us are able to do latte art (being able to make shapes and pictures with the steamed milk). We use top of the line syrups and chocolates to ensure the best taste with our espresso roast. We use fair trade coffees and teas. And, most importantly, we keep it classy. No bikinis, no cleavage. Just fast, friendly service. I can say that having a coffee shop of my own someday would be fantastic, but also a lot of hard work. It's never easy though. I have learned a great patience and understanding of others, and I have found that it has paid off. This month, we are actually going to Portland Roasting, who provides us with our coffees, for a cupping and barista training. It's always good for us to be furthering our coffee education, so that we can still be the premier coffee shop of Corvallis. Should be good!

Now, coming into 2010, Dave has graduated from OSU too, and has begun the rough process of trying to find a "real" job. If he lands one, I plan on going with him wherever he goes. Jackie will be graduating from her high school and moving on to college. We have yet to know where she will go to college, but I'm sure she will be offered academic scholarships from multiple places. I am happy with the job I am at now, although the pay is not something I am totally happy with. Hopefully Dave can land a sweet job somewhere, so that I have a chance to search for a new job in a new city. For now, I am putting my life in e hands of the fates, and waiting to see what 2010 has in store for me, Dave and my family. In the meantime, I'll try to keep up on my blogs. :)

Hope everyone has a great 2010!