Why J.Spacks is sad today...

First of all, I woke up to this...

 

Yes... freaking snow.  All. Over. Everything.  Yes it is beautiful. Peaceful. Clean (looking).  All fine and dandy at Christmas time.  But for the second day of Spring?!  At the end of March?!  I think not.  I was super depressed by it.  When the sun is out I am the HAPPIEST camper on earth.  But then, when it starts to rain again, I get bummed out.  I couldn't help it; I got off on the wrong foot today.  I just keep telling myself that in a few months I will be in Orlando, hugging Micky and Minnie and drinking Butter Beer with Harry Potter.  This helps, along with lots of other happy thoughts (see end of post.)

Second thing that got me down today, a rude customer named Richard.  Long story short (okay not so short...), the guy has bi-polar disorder and is schizophrenic, which makes him a bit unstable.  He has taken it upon himself to get involved in the lives of the girls at the other location closer to his house.  (He's lonely.  I get that part.  But that fact doesn't mean we are getting paid to listen to him rant.  We are professionals, and we get paid to make espresso drinks.) Gina, one of our girls, is roommates with 2 of the girls at the Timberhill location, so he has decided to know everything about her.  She made the mistake of accepting his friend request on Facebook. Now, he knows what she is studying in school, what her boyfriend's name is, what he is studying, has shown up to her boyfriend's wrestling meets, etc.  So now, everyone once in a while, he comes by the shop looking for her, and makes rude comments when she isn't there.  Then talks loudly, and way too long at, all the other employees (except me, he already learned that lesson).  So today, he came in looking for G, and when I said she wasn't there, he said "Oooo too good to work!  Gina doesn't work enough."  Excuse the following French, but that just pissed me right off!  How dare he talk about her in that way?!  But I had to put it in perspective: he wants her attention, he wants all of our attention, and when he doesn't get it, he gets mean.  He really made me mad though... Gina was taking a final exam for school.  Eff him if he thinks he can talk about people like that and get away with it.  I usually go in the back and "do dishes" while he is in the shop, just in case I end up loosing my cool.

Then a regular's husband said some thing rude, but was "just kidding."  I almost started crying at that point.

After work I went to the grocery store.  I don't really like the grocery store.  I love food, but the store takes my money from me.  And sometimes can be frustrating with a hungry, indecisive husband at hand.  But going alone, when I'm not super hungry was manageable. AND it's quiet in the middle of the day, so I don't have to deal with people.

 (Mind you... it's still snowing, and now it is starting to stick pretty good.) 

After getting home and relaxing I felt better.  Got Dave home and fed him.   Dave left again to take a final.  So I tried to Skype with my sister.  Most every time, this always makes me feel better no matter what is going on.  But today, it got me to crack open a bottle of wine (that's not a good thing... I'm trying to loose some weight and eat healthier... drinking from the bottle doesn't help any of that...)  I love my sister. Very much. Beyond the descriptive word choices the English language gives me.  But I can tell that she is having a hard time.  And I want to help.  But it REALLY hurts my heart when I try to give advice to help ease any anxieties or worries she might have and she attacks me.

I'm what my mother termed very well, "a mother hen."  I'm the oldest child in my family.  Now, I have a total of three younger sisters, a niece with another niece/nephew on the way, and eight girl employees that I love and look after like younger sisters.  I love lots.  I have LOTS of love to give.  And most days, I am giving that love to my family and my husband.  I really want to help all my girls (and Dave) when the need it the most.  Everyone knows that my house is safe and everyone is welcome.  I want to help them feel better, to help them feel loved and to treat them the way I would want to be treated.  It really hurts my heart when I try to give someone love and affection and they turn it on me.  Twist my words.  Make me feel like I was wrong to try and give them that love and advice.  I don't know what to do.  I don't know how to react.  What do I do?

The best answer I can come up with is to wait. And keep loving.  Maybe that is all I can do.

So that was Jess' crappy snow day.  I must keep focusing on the positive!  Run!  Stay healthy!  Going to Seattle (hopefully, weather permitting) this weekend!  Going to Medford next weekend to see my sweet Nana!  Annie is moving back in May!  Running a half-marathon (yes, you read that right) in June! Maybe another in July!  Going to ORLANDO in July!  Baby Carpenter in August!  So many things to be looking forward to and working for.  These are the moments that are most AWESOME in one's life.

Shamrock Run! (First trip of the Spack Spring Tour)

I did it! Yay!

Even though the "after" picture above is super unflattering, I felt great in it!

Yesterday I ran the 8k Portland Shamrock Run.  I have always wanted to do it, but have never been brave enough. This year, a few of the girls from work were going to do it, so I decided to give it a go!  I signed up for the 8k, thinking I may be able to finish it.  I have been training since signing up in January, and have reached the point where I can run 6 miles easily, although I am not very fast... at all.

So yesterday was the big day.  After working really hard all week, and spending all day Saturday working, driving, checking into our hotel, picking up race packets, having dinner with friends, going to bed late because we were up giggling all night, then running Sunday morning, I was pooped!

Here is what our hotel room looked like right before bed... The purple sleeping pad in the lower left is where I slept.  Next to me on the floor was Kasie in the middle, and Jenna is there texting on her phone with the white blanket.  On the roll-away was Kirby (yes, that is blocking the door to our room...)

This picture is just a continuation... there's Jenna again in the lower left, with Zoe and Gina on the pull-out couch.  Behind where I was standing was the "bedroom" where Lisa and Rachel shared a bed.  Bodies everywhere!


My goal for the race was to do the distance in under an hour.  For me, that's fast.  We all started out together at the start line, but since I am a turtle, and many of the girls run like hares, it ended up being me and Jenna running together.  We chugged along at a steady pace, and half the time if felt like we were dodging people instead of moving forward.  There were SO many people!  There were 32,000 (yes, THOUSAND) people that participated (there were 4 events, a walk, 5k, 8k and 15k).  SO many people!

According the timing chip they gave me for the race, I did it in 57:31, making my pace 11:35.  Not very fast, but I beat my goal!

I still have yet to figure out when my next race is , but I need to sign up soon!  We shall see!

This post brought to you by Runners' High!

Yes, Runner's high indeed!  If you have ever been a runner, or played sports, then you may know what I'm talking about!


(For those of you who don't, the official definition: a feeling of euphoria that is experienced by some individuals engaged in strenuous running and that is held to be associated with a release of endorphins by the brain; Merriam-Webster told me so...) Haha, after reading this I also realized that it is said the same endorphin release happens when people get tattoo'd. Fortunately, running is cheaper and generally less painful. I wish runner's body was just as permanent as a tattoo though... :)


Lately I have been running, a lot.  I have been training to complete the Shamrock Run in Portland, which is this Sunday!  I am signed up for the 8k (which is about 4.97 miles).  Somehow, between the time I signed up for the race in January and now, I had somehow convinced myself that an 8k is 5.97 miles. So, long story short, I have been running lots and pushing myself to get up to about 6 miles for a comfortable run.  I went to the race website today and found myself pleasantly surprised that I am ready to run 6 miles, rather than just 5.  Whew!  That makes me feel better, but also makes me feel SUPER PROUD of myself!


When I am running a longer distance, I find my mind wandering.  I often try to plan out blog posts. I entertain myself by writing them out in my head, about how good it feels to run, what emotions I go through, and what I might change for next time.  But by the time I get back, I forget to sit down and type it out. It's probably a good thing though, if I tried to write after a run I may find myself over-using the (!) with every sentence, and rambling about random things.


So, with the race being this weekend, I need a new race to sign up for... suggestions?! (Dave says half-marathon... I told him I would think about it...)

A day for a Jess

I have been working my little booty off the last month or so.  I have been training a new employee, and we have been tightly staffed because of that... so I have been working too much, with too little sleep.  At the same time I have been training for the Shamrock Run.  More on all that run business later.

So yesterday, after dropping Dave off on campus to meet his group for his school trip (he will be gone until Tuesday night. Sad Face) I went home.  I realized, with Sunday being my only day off this week, again, I wanted to make the most of it.  So I packed up some things, got in the car and hit the road.

First stop was Woodburn Outlets.  It probably isn't a good thing that my two favorite stores are RIGHT next to each other.

Yes, purchases at BOTH stores. Oops.  One advantage to working so much, and already making so much an hour, is that overtime for me is cash money.  Usually I spend this money on important things, like feeding Dave, but since he is gone, and this was a day for me... In my defense, half of my Coach purchase was a present for a friend for her birthday.  The other half was for me though.  And I love everything Nike.

After I left there, I went and saw my friend Meghan at work.  She works at QFC, a grocery store, as a cashier and had to work all day yesterday.  When I walked in, I saw her, but she didn't see me.  She looked so bored ringing everyone in.  I went an grabbed and iced tea and got in her line.  She was looking around and suddenly saw me.  She was so happy to see me!  Her face was priceless.  But she was sad that she couldn't hang out. On my way out of the store, I was approached (more like yelled at) by some cute little Girl Scouts selling those delish little devil cookies.  I say devil cookies because I try to resist every year, and those cute little girls get me every time!  I used to be a Girl Scout, so I think it best to help those little ladies out!  So, of course, I bought some Thin Mints.
Then I went and saw Meghan's mom too, and we watched some TV and caught up on life.  I think we will go visit them again the weekend of the Shamrock Run.

Finally, I drove over to see Sarah over in Northwest Portland.  Earlier in the week we had agreed to have a phone date to catch up since we both have been so busy.  I think that may have been the longest it has been that we haven't called/ texted/ seen each other.  So when I got to Woodburn I texted her and asked her what she was doing.  I suggested we catch up over dinner.  She thought we would be eating dinner over the phone together.  Then I told her where I was.  When I got to her dorm, she came all the way outside to meet me and practically tackled me.  We went and had sushi and caught up on everything.  It was so good to see my bestie again.  I miss having her and Lissa around to be girlie with.  And Jackie too.  I miss my sister SO much!  There is just too much boy around here for me to handle sometimes.

I drove home around 5:30 or so.  I was about half way home when I realized that I had done everything I had wanted to that day.  It was so awesome!  It just feels good to do that when you have some time to yourself.

Winter in the Valley

So, now that the Holidays are over, usually the weather kicks it up a notch around here.  We usually get a overnight dusting of snow sometime during January or February.  Well this year, thanks to La Nina, we got a little more than a dusting of snow.  We got three days of very wet snow, then 3 days of rain, all in one week.  We woke up Sunday morning to snow on the ground.  The weather prediction had told us it would happen, but there was a few inches on the ground.  

The coffee shop I manage, Coffee Culture Annex, and our Subaru on the far right.

 I ended up having to work that afternoon because one of the girls got stuck in Roseburg and wasn't going to make it back.  Before I had to go in, Dave and I drove up to Fitton Green to see how well the Subie handled the deep-ish snow.  By the way, it is KICK ASS to have a Subaru in weather like this... it was like she was made to play in the snow.

The parking lot and trail head at Fitton Green.  The butt of Subie in bottom right corner, the only other car there was also a Subaru!

Monday and Tuesday we got some nasty snow, then rain, then snow mixed with rain.  Snow by it self: that's fine.  Rain by itself: that's cool too... but both of them together makes for a dangerous time.

The path to our front door from the drive.  So pretty!

 Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the rain came.  And it didn't want to go away.  It rained hard all night.  Usually when it rains, the temperature goes up too... so all that snow melted at the same time at the torrential downpour came down, causing MAJOR flooding all over.  A family in Albany got swept away in their car in a grocery parking lot.  The dad and the older child got away, the mother and baby, not so much.  It took them a day or so to find the bodies... so scary!  Well, for those of you who don't know the coffee shop well, we have a creek right next to us.  In the winter, there is maybe a foot or so of water at the bottom of a ditch about 7 or 8 feet deep.  But on Thursday morning it looked like this...

Sequoia Creek 

 It got about 6 inches from the top of the ditch.  Those of us that were working, were keeping a very close eye on it.  (Barista moment: Customers coming through the drive-thru would look over and panic "Ohmigosh that water is really high!  Did you see the water over here?!"  Yes, of course we did.... Oh and my favorite by far was getting yelled at by a grown man in a pick-up truck because our menu board where our customers order over the speaker doesn't have an awning and he was "getting rained on!"  It was as though he was being exposed to acid rain.  News flash friend: we live in Oregon.  We get an average of 40 inches of rain a year... it's going to be raining and you will get wet.)

We had sandbags bought and placed strategically so that if the creek did crest, we were ready.  Many of the creeks and rivers in the area were flooding streets, homes and schools.  I even heard about kids boogie boarding down Conifer Drive, which was under about 3 feet of water.  (Note to readers: one of the things we learned in the College of Public Health is that flood brings disease.  There is poopy in that water!!!!  Not just that, but parasites.  Ew!  That water is not treated or safe by any means.)  OSU and the Corvallis School district canceled classes on Friday for precautionary reasons. (Lucky for Dave!)

But then, the rain eased, and the city of Corvallis guys came out and did something (I heard something about drilling a hole somewhere... I'm not really sure.)  The creek dropped a few feet by noon.  But we are still keeping a close eye out, because it is still raining, just not as hard.

The Creek from the drive-thru window at the shop.

Anyway, I feel lucky to be living in a nice, warm home up on a hill.  Hopefully all this rain means that spring will be less wet...

A girl can dream right?!

Mountain House and Central Oregon

Hello all!  It has been a whirl wind of holiday time... but with all that winding down, and Winter Term upon us, we decided to take a trip to Central Oregon with our roommates and our friend Sarah.  Sarah's family has a house in Camp Sherman, which is about 15 or so miles from Sisters Oregon.  It is a big house so lots of Sarah's friends came along!  Te boys went up Thursday, but I had to work Friday, so I drove out by myself Friday afternoon.  It was icy and snowy on my way over, so the drive wasn't very fun by myself, but I'm glad I did it.  On Saturday we got up, went for a jog, showered and went into Sisters, then into Bend.  Fun fact: Bend has a Porsche dealership.  We went in to check out the cars they had, and I mustered up the courage to sit in the driver's seat of the Panamera.  They look like this.  It is Porsche's only sedan, but it is HUGE.  It is basically a Porsche for someone who isn't willing to get a regular sedan in order to take their family with them.  It only seats four (the back seat has only 2 seats, the middle has an elaborate cup holder with wood trimmings.)

Porsche Panamera Turbo S

But I got to sit in the drivers' seat... of a real one!  It was so elaborate and luxurious on the inside.  This particular one was a dark blue with the tan interior (Dave wasn't a fan of the tan... but I thought it was just beautiful!).  Steering wheel and flappy paddles were aluminum. I just sat in there for about 10 minutes admiring how well everything was put together.

If only I had a million dollars...

The rest of the trip was fun though.  Got to see a pretty sunset or two, and got to spend lots of time with Dave and my roommates!

In the background, The Three Sisters and Three Fingered Jack; in the foreground, Romo standing out of the sunroof of the Subaru, Dave standing outside of the car

Cascades at Sunset, Romo way in the background, taking pictures with his fancy camera, Brian and Dave chatting.

A bit of teaser...

Hello!  Just wanted to get caught back up.  As much as I tried to resist the holiday season approaching, it is now here.  I think it was the day after Thanksgiving, at work, as the girls continued to beg me to put up Holiday decor, that I finally came to terms with it.  I just didn't think that Christmas would come up so fast on us after the wedding.  But... it has!

This week is finals week.  Dave finished his tests last night, and was only half-way relieved.  He still has to grade all the final essays from the class that he is TA'ing for, which is about 70 of them. He isn't too stoked about that.  But he is on campus now, working on it, while I enjoy the complete silence of our house.   Yes, that's right, I said SILENCE.  It is very rare, in a house full of 4 grown people, 3 of which are boys, for silence to occur.  During this last term, I had scheduled myself to close twice a week, since that is what was needed for the shop.  I have found that once all the boys leave for work or school, I can watch whatever I want on Netflix, or just sit and wander the internets in silence.  I have found that this is my favorite.  I am TOTALLY aware that one day, whenever that day might come, that there will be little Spackmans running about, and I will miss this time of quiet, where I can blog in peace, to the sound of the clock ticking. So I have to take advantage (the sad truth is... after I finish this entry, I will use the rest of my quiet time before work posting schedules for the rest of December, since I will be gone for 10 days from the shop.)

Anyway, I have been very busy with work.  We have been consistently more busy this week (try over $1300 of coffee sales a day.  Yes, we sell a lot of coffee), which means that less of the side chores get done while I'm there.  And it is exhausting to have to be smiley and nice for 8 hours straight, even to the mean people.  I will be very happy to have some time on vacation, to re-charge my happy customer service battery.

In the mean time, our wedding photographer sent me some pictures to use for our Christmas cards this year (which have now been ordered!!!)  So i figured I would share them with you...  the others will be here soon!

So now... without further ado...

 ... <3