So much goodness!

First of all, hi Marisa. :-) I'm so excited when I find out people read my blog!!! Especially when I blog-stalk them too!

So I had an amazingly wonderful weekend! My last long weekend. Tear. So on Saturday I slept a few hours and woke up at 1:30 feeling wonderfully refreshed. Went to a BBQ at my boss's boss's house, which was goregous and had a great backyard. Cool to hang out with some work people and just really great conversation. That night I came back home and kinda had a lazy night. Rented a movie and went to bed early like the true dork that I am.

Then Sunday I woke up and spent most of the day with Andy... we took a drive around Portland and went to a farmer's market and found a new gellato place! Then I went to church and then I went to a BBQ at Geoff's house. I met his friend Amy from California who is SUPER cool -- I wish she lived here.

Monday morning I woke up and randomly checked the "free" section of Craigslist -- the 4th item on there was a free lawnmower! YAAAY! So I call the guy up and end up going over there to get it. He even gave me a free weed whacker too while I was there. My lawn is DEFINITELY going to thank me for this. I haven't gotten to use it yet, that will have to wait until I get back from Chicago and have more time, but I think it's going to work out just fine! I also saw an add for a really nice $20 gas grill, so I had emailed that guy about that. He and I arranged for me to pick it up at around 7:30 PM. So then I met Geoff and Amy at Portland City Grill before her flight left. I had a great time with them and then headed back this way to get the grill. The grill guy was SUPER nice, had just sold his house and moved into a condo, so basically just wanted the grill to go to a good home. So we stuffed it into Jake, and then I went and met some friends at Macaroni Grill for Brandon's birthday! We had a great time and I had a lot of really good conversations that night. I'm such a sucker for great conversation!

Tuesday morning I had my Remicade. The greatest part was there was PATIENT BINGO! Apparently the hospital has it every Tuesday at 1:00 PM! How fun! So this cute 80 year old man volunteer guy convinces me to play... first I said no, but then I re-evaluated my IV bag and how much longer I had when he came back to get me to play. So I turned to channel 75 on my TV and this woman volunteer lady was calling out the bingo numbers, then if you won you called her extention and they sent another volunteer over to check your card. Needless to say I didn't win, but that's probably good... I'd feel kinda bad when I was just there for 3 hours. I'm happier than people who are in the hospital for who knows how long get to win. Then Tuesday evening I met Amanda at Red Robin for a house discussion dinner... it went REALLY WELL! I'm so excited for her to move in, we got everything worked out logistically and I think as roommates we'll work out really well. We both really need our space, and there is plenty of room in my house so that we'll both be able to do our own thing. We talked through a bunch of different scenarios so it looks like it will work out well. And I talked to Charles, my sister's boyfriend (who lives in Portland), and he said he will help me paint the house. All I have to do is buy the paint! I will probably take him out to dinner or something too, but he is so super friendly. And he said that he is going to start coming to church with me too (he thinks) so I will have a new church going partner now that Addy is gone (she left on Saturday... I guess I didn't make that update... very sad. I almost cried, and as Addy, Christine, and Charles will attest, I am "stone cold"). Then Tuesday night Vin came over to catch up and then help me with my lawnmower and BBQ a little, but I think he'll have to help me more in the future.

Doug is coming to visit in September, I'm very excited about that! I don't know what the future holds for us, but I'm excited to at least hang out with him. We've been challenged by distance for years, but it seems now that he realizes that if he wants us to have a real chance he should move to Portland. He said that, which was quite interesting. Don't know really what to think about this, but I'm guarding my heart and praying about that to see what is in store for us. I think I'm going to have a BBQ the weekend he comes to try out my new BBQ and let him meet my friends.

I bought a new computer this morning... mine has been unreliable with the battery for almost 6 months and the DVD/CD drive stopped working in January, so I've had my eye on prices for a while. Dell has some REALLY good deals, so I bought a new Pentium 4 with a 17 inch flat panel for $430 this morning. It will be so nice to have a new computer that I can depend on and have at home when my work laptop is where it should be -- at work. I'm also scheduled to get a new laptop at work in about a month, so it will be nice to have all new machines! Wow I'm a dork. I was reading my old blogs a week or so ago about how Jenn had encouraged me to fast from theknot.com, and I did an entire internet fast. I am thinking of doing that again sometime soon.

I only have two more nights left at my current job... I will miss it soooooo much. I know there are a lot of exciting new challenges and opportunities ahead, but I'm very scared. This will be a great thing for my social and personal life, but it's scary to go to a new job where I have no idea what to expect, esepecially when I was really finally getting good at my old job. I'm trying to get as much "negative" feedback as I can from co-workers this week so that I can improve as I step into my new job. Yaay for challenges and the unknown.

Laura and Randy's wedding in Chicago this weekend, yaaay! I haven't been there in over a year, which is crazy to think. Stacey is having a going away party Saturday night, so I'm going to go to that. Then the wedding on Sunday, and then my parents and sister are coming to visit Monday. Tuesday is open but I'm hoping to have lunch with Grant and then maybe catch up with who knows who else. Please let me know if you'll be in Chicago and/or available to see me that weekend! I guess it's not and/or, more of an and. :-) Wednesday I come back around noonish and then have the rest of the day off and then start work Thursday MORNING. Yikes, I don't even know how to work in the morning. Oh, and I'm veeeeery slow and irresponsible and a procrasinator, so I haven't secured anywhere to stay yet in Chicago -- so if I can stay with you please let me know. :-) I'd be very grateful.

Wow there is just so much to update... this is what happens when I'm so bad about it. I'm trying to improve, and I think I'm getting a little better, but still not what I used to be. I'll keep trying guys. :-)