Of course it will be a quick one

Ok so just a quick note... try to give a lowdown on all of the big happenings lately:

October 14: Go to Ringlers downtown with John, Andy, Amanda, Geoff, Dominique, Vin, Michael, British guys, etc. This is the night John ends up moving to my house for a week or so. Found out John was a Christian too, we were both reading the 4th Left Behind book!
October 15: Watch the Northwestern game in the morning with John, both of us were feeling sick so the day was pretty worthless. Biggest event of the night was going to Barnes and Noble to buy the 5th Left Behind book.
October 18: Stay home sick from work for the first time ever... ugh I had the worst cough for that whole week!
October 19: Went for a run (shouldn't have done that but the cabin fever was killing me), then went to Old C with John, Korey, and Marie... the RCGs were there too.
October 21: Went to Henry's, then Aura with John, his friend Jose, and Jose's roommate.
October 22: Went to Brazen Bean, Bar M, then Aura with John, his friend Jeff and Jeff's wife Rose.
October 23: Went to church with John for the first time.
October 26: Went to Quarterlife, the singles group at church, for the second time ever (yaaay day shift!) and the first time for John. Met my friend Katie at Elmer's when we went for food. The White Sox win the World Series!!!!!!!
October 28: Went to Voodoo Lounge downtown, met guys in a bar and gave them my number for the first time ever, both called the next day so weird! Then went to a foam party at Baraccuda with Marie, Andy, and John. Wore my cute Halloween costume... soooo fun!
October 29: Went to Aura with Tim and John... Tim's favorite holiday is Halloween, it was excellent. Make a special call to work, talk to Bryan and tell him to come out with us next week.
October 30: Went to church with John and sat with the QL crew!
November 2: Quarterlife again, this time went to The Freshman afterwards for food.
November 4: Addy's in town!!! We go to Russell Street with Danny, Morgan, Steve, Andy, Geoff, Michael, Rachel, Tim, and John. Then we were gonna go home, but we decide to go to Henry's. Then we were gonna go home, but we decide to go to Aura. LOL. Super fun night!!! Although it did end up with me in the closet -- must work on the closet episodes. And there was a great burrito... Adds will love that one. ;-) Paged Bryan to see if he still wanted to go out with us the next night, then sent pages all night telling him what he was missing out on all night. That pager has got to go.
November 5: John and Tim are worthless! We go to Old C with Bryan, soooo not fun. Then I go home and cuddle with Adds... always fun!!
November 6: The first time Tim joins us for church.
November 7: The first date with Bryan, though I didn't know it was a date at the time. Kicks of my Bugatti's OBSESSION... I love the staff there, I don't know what I'd do without that place!
November 8: Second date with Bryan, go to Old Market Pub which doesn't cut it so it's back to Bugatti's for us!
November 9: QL, followed by Chili's where I officially get Katie's and Bonnie's phone numbers!! LOL it's like I'm a guy.
November 10: PCG downtown with Tim and John... can you tell this was a great week?
November 11: CHRIS TOMLIN!!!!! AHHHH!!!! It'd been over a year. And Matt Redman and Louie Giglio, too fun!! What an awesome night of worship. :) :) Then I met up with some QL'ers at a pool hall, and John and Katie and I come back to my house and talk until 6 AM!
November 12: John and I take Katie out for a night on the town, Joe joins us! We go to Aura (OF COURSE!!) and have a super fun night. LOVE IT.
November 13: Watch the first Harry Potter movie with Bryan.
November 14: Bugatti's night, of course. And it's Bryan's birthday, so his cousin and cousin's girlfriend, and his brother, and John and Tim join us at Bugatti's. Then we go to Old C and Brent and Deborah join us. Very fun night!! And it was the pre-party planning meeting for my party that Saturday.
November 15: Harry Potter marathon... which actually is just a lot of talking.
November 16: QL, dinner at Chevy's afterwards!
November 17: Andy cooked me dinner and we watched 2 episodes of the OC at his house!
November 18: Pre-party planning... Addy and I went shopping for cute PJs, then John came over to setup, then Marie came over to help prepare stuff, then Brent, Tim, and Bryan came over just to say hello and be obnoxious. And Roommate Brad was there too, he's always fun!
November 19: Pajama Party!! Mitch DJ'ed, John had his lights going, and sooo many people were there. Friends from tons of different groups, the neighbors, etc. A really really fun night, this has been all the talk all week.
November 20: Chill with Addy and Bryan... so cute.
November 21: Bugatti's night, what else? We're "regulars" now since we've gone 3 Monday nights in a row!
November 22: Thanksgiving Extravaganza at Brent and Deborah's, so fun! FABULOUS food and then some interesting Nintendo and whatnot...
November 23: Thanksgiving Eve Service at church, then out to Cheesecake Factory with a bunch of QL'ers!
November 24: Thanksgiving! Charles makes a wonderful meal and then we watch movies together, a lovely day.
November 25: Ended up at Bugatti's with John and Tim, planning the next party, which will allegedly be a Christmas Party December 17. Don't know exactly what the dress-up rules will be yet, but I love theme parties so I think I'm always going to make people dress up. It's just too fun!

Okay so there's the lowdown on my life... only I feel like I didn't really tell you anything about my life, just what I've been up to with my crazy-busy-ness. And I didn't even get to tell you about stuff like who I've been to lunch with or what I've been thinking or feeling or how much God has been absolutely blessing me and being amazing lately (not like He's always not). So maybe next week if I get some time. :-)

Blaaaaah

Okay, this is offically my 200th blog! Not bad for about a year and a half of blogging... that's like one for every other day. Of course my rate is way slower now, but I'm a busy little day shift bee now! My three favorite Portland restaurants are Bugatti's, PCG, and Russell St. I just decided this today. By the time Thursday rolls around, I will have been to all of them in just 7 days -- I think this is probably a first even for me. I'm so proud. :-) Everyone always talks about living downtown, and yeah, it'd be awesome... but really, I go down there at LEAST once a week, and I only have to wake up at 6:30 to be at work by 7... why would I want to wake up at 5:45 or something crazy like that? BARF. So yes, life is good... been having some HIGH QUALITY Quiet Times lately which makes me a very very happy girl. :-) :-)

My how time flies

Oh my friends, it has been so long. I'm sorry I am so bad about writing... I maybe should just retire my blog. I've been soooo good about journalling lately. Like I say, when the journal is really good the blog is really bad and vice versa. I've had a lot of clarity added to my life lately -- that is a GOOD THING! I feel calm, relaxed, and at peace. When I was first changing jobs I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off... I was always busy and had no time to myself. This past week has been such a blessing in many ways... I have been sick, so every day (other than perhaps a walk) I have been at home and just relaxing! Looots of journaling and QT, and spending time with a friend who is staying with me for a while which is fun too. I so love just sitting and talking to people for hours, hearing stories about their lives and backgrounds and the way they think. It's so interesting to me! What a joy. Northwestern football is making me very happy and it's awesome to have the White Sox in the World Series! I love fall... everything about it just makes me feel warm and cozy. Ahhhhhhh happiness!

Good Morning! :)

Okay seriously every time I sign in to blogger it tries to get me to do the AdSense thing. But don't worry... I won't do that to you guys. ;-)

I know, it's been a while. I can't believe we're already on Wednesday!! When did I last post? Must have been Friday. Friday night Andy and I went out to Urban Fondue... yuuuum so good. Definitely had a really nice night, DESPITE the harder-than-usual Portland rain we encountered. Saturday I went to Wal-Mart as mentioned, then Fuddruckers (sp?) since we were down in the "Tigard part of town". Saturday night Andy cooked rack of lamb for me, Amanda, and Geoff... yuuuuuum! Very tasty. Then Amanda made an AWESOME AWESOME two layer / swirl cheesecake... Andy said "tastes like one of those things that you'd eat at a mom and pop little pastry sthop". Definitely yummy. And lots of wine, which was fun. Sunday morning I went to buy a new bed with Marie (for her not me) and then lunch at Chili's and then a quick stop to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Sunday evening was church with Andy and Charles, and then Andy and I went to Russell St. BBQ since it's open again!!! Woo hoo to that. Soooooo good. Then we watched the OC at his house... oh, how I heart the OC. Monday I didn't do ANYTHING after work!! I talked on the phone for about 3 hours, but other than that spent the whole night by myself. I was so proud. Tuesday night I went to the grocery store with Marie and then Red Robin.

Oh, and I went on this HORRIBLE run yesterday... I ran my normal path but it was killing me... my left shin was not playing nice! Maybe cause I haven't run in two weeks... :-) But I can't help it... I was recovering from climbing and then got SUPER busy. Need to making running a priority. But there have been walks and trips to the gym, so it's not *SO* bad. I was hoping to run again today but it's kinda rainy out, so it better clear up by around 4.

Lots of meetings today and tomorrow, but I like it cause the day goes by very quickly.

Addy -- you are too cute. I know you're busy with school and all of that fun stuff... I miss you too! The tickets to Chris came in the mail yesterday!!

Oh, and one more thing... pretty much all of the things I was complaining about the other day either were resolved or at least I stopped being so upset about them. Resolved, mostly, which is awesome!

Ad Sense

I'm thinking about putting AdSense on my blog. That means you'd see the ads like you see in your gmail when you read my blog. But I'd make money when you read my blog. Hmmmmm what to do? Weigh in people with comments. I wish I was as cool as Craig (craigslist Craig) and not a sell-out. Haha.

Well, it's Friday! Woo hoo!! And I've been pretty good about doing at least some updates all week, so yay for me. It's been a good week -- busy, as expected, but I got everything done. And this weekend I will definitely have some down time (though not tons of it) which I'm totally looking forward to.

Had an awesome conversation about God last night... I love talking about God and I love talking about me, and this conversation combined the two and it just made me soooo happy. I was such a huge fan. I remember when I used to go to lunch with Katrina and she'd ask me so many questions and it was just awesome. It's times like this when I wish I'd gone on staff with GIV or become a youth pastor -- it's like I feel like I'm applying everything that I've learned over the years. I remember going to lunch with Katrina last year and how much fun that was!!! Oh man... so exciting.

Happy weekends people. I get to fix my neighbor's computer, go out for fondue, go to Walmart, have dinner at Andy's, and go to church. Should be a GREAT one!!!!

Frustrated!

I'm having kind of an irritated afternoon. Nothing is really going the way I want it to.

Vents...
1. I miss my old job. I could make a list of pros and cons about the old vs. new, but there are a lot of things (perhaps especially the people) that I miss about my old job. Maybe I'll make a list and then I'll probably feel better.
2. This is sort of related, but I'm very annoyed because two of the somewhat major reasons I took this day job have now evaporated, which makes me mad. I guess I shouldn't let other people have such a big impact on my life, but I've never been selfish in that way. Maybe I should be.
3. I was involved in this conversation at lunch that I found very annoying. I mostly just sat through it and didn't talk, but it made me uncomfortable. It felt very petty to me, like some sort of junior high rivalry. I know that wasn't the way it was intended, but it was infuriating.
4. Realistically I know I need some time to myself. I might have some of that tonight, but it's unlikely. I'm starting to feel clostrophobic which is bad because it means I will push others away for a longer time than if I'd just done the right thing and taken a night for myself this week. Maybe I need to be more strategic about making sure that I keep one night (Monday - Thursday night) to myself each week.

Those are all of my major vents... I'm sure I could make up more but those are the ones I HAD to get off my chest. Thanks for listening!

Wednesday

Yes, it's Wednesday. Should be the first day of work but instead it's already half over!!! Kinda fun sometimes.

So this weekend was awesomely fun... Doug came Friday morning and we went to the wineries/vineyards for most of the afternoon. Yay to that! Lots of fun. Then we grabbed some dinner and watched a movie and had some more... wine. :) Saturday morning we got up and got ready for my BBQ, then people came over and we ended up just making a whole night of it, the neighbors came over and it was reasonably fun. Kind of a crazy night and very emotional in many ways, but it was actually kinda cool. Sunday morning I talked to Doug and decided dating was definitely a no go! Surprising and kind of sad in some ways cause I really had expected it, but it was a good decision overall. Then my aunt and uncle came and I gave them the grand tour of the house, then we went to lunch at Henry's. After that Doug and I walked around downtown for a while, then went to church with Andy and Charles, and then went to Helvatia Tavern with Andy. Fun day! Hmm let's see. Monday I had lunch with Andy, then went to the mall with Amanda and then talked to Tim for a loooong time. Tuesday I went for a walk with Marie, went to dinner with Tim, and then played Magic with someone's who's name is being kept anonymous to protect his or her identity. It's been a good week. Today I had lunch with Alex and am having dinner with Andy. Thursday is lunch with Andy and Amanda and book club. Friday is undetermined for lunch and then dinner wtih Andy. Saturday is probably lunch with Tim and then dinner with Andy and Amanda. BUT Friday and Saturday could change if Russ comes to town. BUSY WEEK... I need to slooooow down. But I'm loving it. :-)

Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

No not seriously. I just feel like these lyrics are awesome. Story of my life lately! Good song. By Reliant K.

I watched the proverbial sunrise
coming up over the Pacific and
You might think I'm losing my mind,
but I will shy away from the specifics...

'cause I don't want You to know where I am
'cause then You'll see my heart
in the saddest state it's ever been.

This is no place to try and live my life.

[Pre-Chorus]
Stop right there. That's exactly where I lost it.
See that line. Well I never should have crossed it.
Stop right there. Well I never should have said
that it's the very moment that
I wish that I could take back.

[Chorus]
I'm sorry for the person I became.
I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change.
I'm ready to try and never become that way again
'cause who I am hates who I've been.
Who I am hates who I've been.

I talk to absolutely no one.
Couldn't keep to myself enough.
And the things bottled inside have finally begun
to create so much pressure that I’ll soon blow up.

I heard the reverberating footsteps
sinking up to the beating of my heart,
and I was positive that unless I got myself together,
I would watch me fall apart.

And I can’t let that happen again
‘cause then You’ll see my heart
in the saddest state it’s ever been.

This is no place to try and live my life.

[Pre-Chorus x2]
[Chorus]

Who I am hates who I've been
and who I am won’t take the second chance You gave me.
Who I am hates who I’ve been
‘cause who I’ve been only ever made me...

So sorry for the person I became.
So sorry that it took so long for me to change.
I’m ready to try and never become that way again
‘cause who I am hates who I’ve been.
Who I am hates who I’ve been.

Life is Good, Eternal Life is Better

I have that song stuck in my head. It's by Stellar Kart... never heard of them, but the first time I heard that song it was a really meaningful time -- ask me the story. Rich and Rufina are on their way over I assume, we're going to go to lunch. I think I'm going to recommend PCG, but there are lots of good places to eat downtown. I have so much to blog... I could write forever. Or I could write secret emails to you Andy... :) Seriously. I started this blog with the intention of making it one of those epics where I pour my heart out to the world... but I'm not in the mood for tht right now. Maybe tonight if I have time. For now though, just enjoy your Sunday. Kelly LOVES Sundays because Sundays are church days!!!!! :)

Hello my friends...

Okay this will be a quick one. Last weekend was GREAT... finally got my summit of a glaciated peak, so I can join the Mazamas (www.mazamas.org). Woo hoo and stuff! Very exciting... I almost teared up when I reached the top, and those of you who know me (Christine and Addy) know that I'm "stone cold" and don't cry for anything. It was such a huge accomplishment. I was thinking that even graduating from Northwestern wasn't as huge an accomplishment as this... the only other day I've maybe felt as proud was the day I got INTO Northwestern. Anyway, it was amazing and awesome and cool and makes me want to keep climbing.

I've spent lots of good time with friends this week... dinner with Tim, a movie with Marie, dinner at Andy's, Vin helping me with my house, chatting with Kristie the neighbor, Chevy's with Amanda. It's been absolutely amazing. And Doug comes tomorrow, then I'm having a BBQ Saturday, so the friend time will just keep going. As much as I feel totally lost sometimes, I kind of like not having responsibility and not having to worry about what's happening next in my life. Life just sort of goes along, you have to just enjoy the days and have fun and not worry too much about what comes next. So yeah -- life es good. Wow that is so Julius. Anyway, things are good, I'm happy, that's about it. I'll give you a better update hopefully after the weekend! Oh yes -- and I do love the new job, in case you were wondering.

And my next door neighbor is AWESOME -- he helped me fix my lawnmower and he is just awesome, so is his wife. I'm so blessed to have such awesome neighbors. And I found out yesterday that she went to a Bible study in the morning, I'll have to see what that's all about. Yay! Huge shout out to everyone who helped me with my house this week -- it looks totally amazing. It's what I've wanted my house to look like for months! It's all come together, and I'm so glad Doug and my aunt and uncle are coming to give me a kick start in getting it done. "Get er done" as my new work peers would say.

Soul Searching

So lately there have been a lot of men in my life, telling me they like me or think they like me or whatever else. I've been overwhelmed. I've been struggling. I've been learning a lot about me, these men, who people are, the way the world works, and a lot of other stuff. It's been good, but challenging. I've been close and far from God all at the same time through it all. He's definitely been challenging me and pursuing me every day. I've been challenged to be honest and straightforward with myself and others -- I think the hardest piece is being honest with myself. I'm very good at playing tricks on myself, but I also know myself well enough that I can easily look at myself and see what I'm doing. Why I'm trying to protect myself and those around me. But really, I need to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to not hurt my friends.

I've been challenged with sharing my relationship with God with people who in a million years probably wouldn't have guessed I was a Christian. I don't have a whole ton of Christian friends here, especially with working nights. I hope that changes, and that was actually a big driver of going to days. So I tend to be a little bit more personal about my faith than I was perhaps at school or other times. I want to have a "live out loud" faith, but I have struggled with that.

I had the joy of going to church with Andy on Sunday. It's so obvious to me how God is pursuing me! Our pastor came back from his 6 week summer vacation, and it was one of the first times that I've been in Oregon for "3" of something -- he sings a song every year about his 6 week vacation, and this was the 3rd year I've been here for that song. The airshow that we had over the weekend was another 3rd of mine. Wow, hard to believe it's been so long! Anyway, so back to church. The pastor started a 10 week series on Marks of a Christian - the overview was Sunday, and he used 1 John as his text. He pointed out 3 essentials -- faith, obedience, and love. He said that most Christians are pretty good at 1 or 2 and struggle at one of the others. But, to be a Christian means to be growing in all 3 all the time! It's painfully obvious to me that I always have struggled most at the obedience part, so I'm really trying to be more obedient. There are some decisions I made a month or so ago that were hard but I've been doing okay with them so far, so I hope that continues. I also think I've really been somewhat stagnant in faith and love... those are strengths of mine but I want to build on those! I've been reading 1 John kind of over and over since then, and I have been just absolutely floored a lot... there's so much in that text, and for as many times as I've read it before and as much highlighting as there is in that particular book of my Bible, there's so much more to learn! I'm so excited for the next 9 weeks as we delve deeper! And I just so adore my church, there is always something that I'm absolutely challenged with there. That to me is one of the most important marks of a good church -- feeling like a sermon is personally challenging you, like God is speaking to you!

This is a somewhat sporadic blog. But it's all of these thoughts I've kind of been cooping up for a long time. Now I just want to share so much. I finally had my Kelly time tonight. I went for a walk with someone who I hope will turn into an even better friend tonight... I enjoy walking and talking, and she said she wants to do it more, so I hope that happens! Then after that I made sure that I didn't see any of the "boys". I actually talked to all of them on the phone, and really want to see some of them, but I can't. I needed to focus on me and God, and have that time alone. I needed a BIG chunk of it, and I haven't had that in enough time. I function much better when I've had Kelly time and Quiet Time. I feel much less confused, I know what I want, and I know some of the hard choices I have to make and hard conversations I have to have. I question Doug... as sure as I was that he was the man who was created for me... I have strong doubts about that now. I was talking to him today and just really really wondering. He will be here in about 10 days, so we'll see how it goes. I am leaving my heart open, but again with the guarding. ;-) Some other doors have very much been shut, but one particular door that I thought would have been shut before it was open has not been. One of these guys that allegedly likes me hurt me very much several months ago. It wasn't entirely his fault, but I've very much held it against him for a long time. I watched a movie with him the other night, and was VERY guarded at first. But, then we got into conversation... I learned a lot about his life, his background, the reason he makes certain choices, his faith, etc. And I shared a lot about mine. It was just good to talk, and I know that he cares a lot about me. So that's made me think -- and again challenged me very much.

I love being challenged. It's hard, but it makes life interesting and it makes me grow. I've not grown a lot in the past year or so, but I've grown VERY much in the past 3 months. I hope this continues. I like the woman I'm becoming, and I realize how young I am and how much time I have to continue to make choices that will shape who I will become.

So, this has been very KELLY. It's very much me, my thoughts, my feelings. The way I think a lot of the time, when I'm being truly honest with myself. I don't share that often with you guys, very rarely in fact. But you read my blog, so hey, you might as well know who I really am. I might end up taking this post down, but at least some of you will get a flavor of the real Kelly. Especially some of you who don't know me as well. I'm almost scared for you to see this... but I want you to know. And honestly, I know you care enough about me that knowing me more will be only a positive thing.

Thanks for reading, and more than that, thanks for being my friend.

The First Weekend!

So, the first two days of my new job were awesome. I think this job is going to be really good -- very challenging and a completely different direction than my old job. I'm really looking forward to it! The first two days were actually a little slow with online trainings and stuff, but I think that will go away very quickly. We'll see. So then Friday night I went over to Vin's, and had a great great time! I had a nice chat with Geoff and I also sat down and talked to Dominique for the first time in a long time. There have been many boys coming into my life in interesting ways lately, so it was cool to tell her the whole story! Then my sister's boyfriend Charles called and was upset, so that kind of put a damper on things. That really upset me more than it should have, but I went home at that point and talked to some other friends to just kind of vent and undwind. Saturday morning I picked Andy up from the airport and TRIED to go to Russell St. BBQ, but it is still closed from the fire. Boo. So then I came home and got a LOT done around the house and yard and kinda chilled until about 10 when I went to go watch a movie with a friend. Had a really nice time there, and then came home and slept. Today I really really want to mow my lawn if I can convince Vin or someone to help me with that, and maybe the BBQ too. We'll see. Then I'm going to church at 5 and then YIKES have to get ready to work tomorrow morning. Ew ew ew. I miss my Mondays and Tuesdayas already! But I still love being a normal person, I can see a difference in me already. But I can't stay up until 4 or 5 AM like I have been this weekend. Silly night shift friends. Hehe. I had something else I was going to say but I completely forgot it, so maybe another blog later if I remember. :-)

Wedding Pics!

Okay, didn't want to make you wait. Here are a few pics from Laura and Randy's wedding!

Labor Day weekend!

It's been a GREAT weekend in Chicago. :-) Of course. Who would have expected anything else?

Friday night was awesome. The last night of work on my job -- sad but nice. Went out to dinner which was great, and got to see everyone one last time. Went for a run about 4:30 AM, definitely tripped and fell. So embarassing! But it was dark out so I have a sort-of excuse?!?! Hehe. Great night at work. I heart my job... very very scared about moving to the new one. Praying about that...

Saturday afternoon I came in and Tim very graciously picked me up. Then we went to Duffy's downtown for Stacey's going away party. We got to see Jennifer and her fiance Steve, Patrick, Emily, Kathleen, Stacey, Mike, Chad, Nikki, Hart and his girlfriend Becky. That was 11 of the 15 high school group friends right there! The pics above are from Saturday night -- the first is me and Tim, the second is me and Kathleen.

Sunday at the wedding there was of course Laura and Randy, Jen, Anthony, Hart, Tim, Emily, Jennifer and Steve, me, Patrick, Hart's girlfriend Becky, Nikki and her boyfriend, and Andrew Ellis! So that added another 4 people from the high school group... The wedding was absolutely lovely, lavendar which of course I ADORED. IT was a super fun time, great dancing, great food, great catching up with friends and watching two great friends get married! I thought they also did a wonderful job of blending their Catholic and Jewish faiths. I'll post wedding pics tomorrow. I love this pic posting thing!

Monday I got up and my parents and Christine came to visit, YAAAAAAY. So much fun! We went to Noodles for lunch (YUM DIDILY YUM DUM). Then we drove around somewhat randomly and then went to Woodfield. Weird, haven't been there in a while. We spent about 5 hours together, it was great to see them. Ugh, I should have taken a famliy picture. Boo to me. THEN Erin Birk came and met up with me at the mall!!!!! Yaaaay I had so much fun with her, she is so much like me in so many ways and it was good to catch up. I really want to convince her to move to Portland -- I'd have a climbing partner in crime which would be awesome. Patrick too. Both of them have expressed an interest in it so that would be totally awesome. (an interest in both climbing and moving.) So anyway, great times. Then I came back to Tim's house (he and his family have been SO kind to let me stay with them all weekend) and chatted with him and his parents for a few hours, then watched some TV with Tim. I should have called my friend Joel right at 6 PM when I got home, we'd talked about getting together but I just didn't really think of it. About midnight I go upstairs to go to bed, and he's online so I IM him. He was my mentor (boss?) my internship 4 summers ago, and we liked each other at the time though never did anything about it because of work. We haven't seen each other in 3 years (we worked at different facilites but the same company the summer of 2002), so we really wanted to see each other. So he finally convinces me to see if Tim is still up, so I ask Tim if it's okay if I go out and just stay out until the morning (so I don't have to wake anyone up coming back in). He says it's fine, so Joel comes to pick me up about 1 AM and then we go to his condo in Schaumburg. It was REALLY nice, he'd just redone it and he has great style. So we put a movie in but really are just chatting for a few hours... then we finally kiss, 4 years later. Hehehe, it was great. It was a really nice evening, good to see him. He says he's going to come out to Portland, but he is fickle so I doubt him. He says in his own online profile - ".....Oh and I never do what I say I'm going to do. I'm unreliable as a friend." So we'll see. All the same it was a good night.

This morning Joel drove me home (to Tim's house) and then we had lunch and chatted. Then I took a little nap and then I woke up and went to dinner with Patrick, then just drove around Palatine, etc. Great night, and a great end to a great trip. I'm looking forward to coming home to Portland tomorrow!! YAY YAY!!!!

The only people of the 20 high school friends in "the group" that I didn't see this weekend were John, Aileen, Julius, Kaley, and Heather. Not bad at all! - actually I think the best we've done in 4 or 5 years.

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. :-)

I'm here again

Hmm. So there's a picture of us coming down Hayden Glacier on Middle Sister from about a month ago. Now that Blogger has made it so much easier to add pictures, maybe I'll start doing it more often. It sure is handy to be able to post pictures. Maybe I'll take some of my house too... the reason I've been procrastinating so much on that is because I'm not QUITE all settled in yet. I still am waiting for Amanda to move in and get the whole place finished up. YAY for people moving in. I'm so excited for it to finally be settled and for us to be living together, should be good. Anyway, just checking in. Had a nice little chit-chat with Doug today, don't entirely know what to make of it but I think the moral of the story is that things are good with us, we'll see what happens when he comes up. Hmmm.

Holla

Okay what's up party people? I was just reading some of my old blogs and they are so cute. I'm so glad I blogged my last quarter of college, it's great reading about how much fun I have. I so miss GIV. Only 5 more nights of work left, then I start the new job and my "new life". Hmmmmm we'll see how that goes. :) So in 10 days I'll be in Chicago... YAY so exciting!!! I haven't been there in over a year, which I just absolutely can't believe. Seems so insane to me. Gosh, the last time I was there was for Jenn and Matt's wedding. Insanity. Hmmm, and this time is for Laura and Randy's wedding. I'm good at going to Chicago for weddings. Get married and invite me to your wedding! OH and Doug is coming to visit me!!! Yaaay he hasn't been to Oregon in almost 2 years. He's coming in September so it will be great. Woo hoo.

Yay for amazing conversations. :-)

Andy hates Ikea

Seriously. He like, despises the place.

Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration. But he definitely hates Ikea shelves. Specifically, the shelf titled "Lack". He believes it stands for lack of quality.

The problem started in April, when he moved into his new townhouse. The previous owners had above-mentioned Lack shelves in his place, both in the living room and at least one of the bedrooms. They were also crooked (I do not blame Ikea for the crookedness), so Andy had to remove them and remount them. Ikea does not provide any way to mount these shelves, so he purchased some special nail/screw things (I can't remember what they're called) and put them into his wall and they're okay. He still hates them though.

Doug, however, happens to like them, and had always spoken highly of them. So the last time I was in Seattle, I stopped into Ikea and bought some for myself. Then I conned Andy into installing them for me. :-) Seriously though, for the record, he volunteered. So he came over Tuesday night to put these puppies up, and they were giving him quite the problems. First the screws or whatever that he brought over weren't the right ones. So we made a trip to Home Depot to get better ones, and it was still a bit of a challenge. Anyway, after a good while, he finally did it for me and I was happy. YAY! Just don't come over and try to tug on my shelves. Hehe. :-)

I'm a horrible storyteller. :-( Some people are just AWESOME story tellers... and it makes all the difference. For example, this guy Doug I work with -- amazing. Me -- not so much! I'm going to work on that -- any ideas how?

Two weeks in a row?

Oh my, scandal! Blogging two weeks in a row. :-) I love it. So here's the lowdown on what's happened so far this weekend (cause the weekends are longer than the weeks, and who really cares what happened at work?).

Saturday I slept until 4:30 PM... I didn't MEAN to... I was on the phone for a few hours after work, and then I set my alarm for 12. I must have accidentally turned it OFF outright. Boo. Anyway, happily, I had told Addy to wake me up if I was still sleeping when she got home, so she did. I sort of rolled over in bed and of course my computer was in bed with me, and Vin was saying to get up and go to the BBQ joint in Northeast that we all love. Well THAT got me excited! So I got up and took a shower and put on some clothes, and Andy came to pick me up. Then we met Steve, Vin, and Mike down at Russell Street BBQ... but it was BURNED DOWN!!!! Boo. Okay, so not really burned down, but it had had a fire and is closed for a while until they make all of the repairs needed for the fire. It was definitely gutted. Boo to that. So then we decided to drive to Fremont since we were right over there, and we had dinner at a little cafe type place on Fremont. It was decent, but definitely NOT as good as BBQ. Oh well, live and learn. It was an experience anyway. Then I came back to see what Addy was doing, but she was gone (I found out later she was working out) so I chatted with Andy a while and then went to Vin's and had an actually really good chat. When I came home Addy was here so I chilled with her for a while. Good times, good times.

The next morning I woke up and went to MORNING church with Addy... you should all be so proud, she was. Haha. Yay for being up before 5 PM on a Sunday. Then Addy and I had a yummy lunch at Chili's and then went to the apartment to lay out. I got a lot of sun... probably the tannest I've been since Cabo. And I'm still so pale. I just don't care this summer, there has just been too much going on with the new house and crazy jobs and everything else! My skin will thank me when I'm 50. :-) So let's see, then I helped Vin with some stuff and then just kind of bummed around the rest of the night. Don't even remember what I did, but I know that Addy duped me into watching Brat Camp which is the WORST show ever. Tivo is a bad bad thing for that girl. Just kidding Adds. :-* Anyway, then we both went to bed at like 11 PM.

Monday morning I woke up around 10, and started hanging pictures and stuff around my house. Then Andy came over and worked from my house for the afternoon, so much fun! It was a fabulous day. Then we were supposed to go to Widmer but Amanda was being shifty again and Steve backed out, so Andy and I decided to go to Chevy's instead. I heart Chevy's. Then halfway through dinner the shifty girl calls and her family plans had actually been cancelled. So she got to come to dinner with us, yay! It was super fun. Then I get a call from Addy saying that our friend Dave, who's been in Russia for two years, is coming over and I better get home. YAY DAVE!!!!! So I go home and Addy is making cookies for work and we kind of tidy up the place a bit. Amanda was really tired so she went home, but Andy came over so Andy, Addy, Dave, and I all hung out for a couple of hours. So much fun. I heart those guys. Then I talked to Doug online (SURPRISINGLY good... very mushy actually. don't know what that's all about yet, but he's going to come visit in September. guarding the heart....) Anyway, Addy and I talked about Doug and boys and life and all sorts of goodness, then went to bed around midnight (though I made myself stay up reading until 2 so I could sleep late).

I woke up this morning about 12, so that was GREAT. Good girl. Now I can sleep until about 2 PM tomorrow, which is perfect for work. Today I went to the grocery store and got some sandwich stuff and dinner stuff. I've been on a sandwich kick lately, I'm enjoying it. I've been scrapbooking and organizing music most of the rest of the day. I'm thinking about going outside and talking to the neighbors, but I kinda want to wait until Adds gets home. We'll see. I also want to go for a run, but I'm waiting until it gets a little cooler outside for that. :-) Then Andy is going to come over and help me hang my shelves tonight, so that should be excellent. Don't know what else I have in store for tonight but perhaps I will inform you later on tonight. Or sometime during this week if I have time.

Only 10 more night shifts left until I go to my day job!!!!!

The Dinner of Shifty People

So last Tuesday night I went out to dinner with Amanda, Andy, Addy, and Steve. GREAT dinner! I had so much fun. We went to Outback and had a great time. We told all sorts of hysterical stories about very shifty people. It started with Amanda's cousin, who has been dating a guy for about a year and a half. Then all of the sudden she gets a call on her cell phone from a woman asking why her husband bought her flowers? Apparently this woman had been suspicious of her husband for a while, and then saw a flower charge on the credit card bill so called the flower shop and found out the delivery phone number and called Amanda's cousin. The woman was actually pretty nice about it when she realized Amanda's cousin had NO idea. Shifty. And the people have a kid and the woman is pregantn and all sorts of shiftiness.

Oh, so let me back up. The whole "shifty" word got started when we were supposed to go to dinner last Monday night at Widmer, cause they are cool and have happy hour Monday nights. Then I hear this rumor that Amanda is being "shifty" (Andy's word, not mine) and is talking about not going. So I send her an email called "shifty girl" and find out she has an alleged meeting and can't go. So we reschedule to Tuesday night.

So then after Amanda tells her story, I tell mine. I won't tell all of the details to protect the innocent (ME), but apparently the last people that lived in my house were quite scandalous. The next door neighbors had SWAT teams on their porch on two different occasions, the husband spent some time in jail, they were apparently loud all of the time (the spouses yelling at each other, the kids yelling at each other, the dad yelling at the kids, etc), and they were just a little crazy sometimes. The neighbors have apparently all been asking each other if this house is abandoned. But now I've met more of the neighbors and they're all VERY nice. Everyone in the neighborhood waves all the time, and the next door neighbor helped me move my cable from one wall to the other (he used to work for a cable company), and they're all just SUPER nice. As much as I would have thought I would have wanted to live in a more modern "trendy" house, when I walked in this place just felt like home. And it really has been. I grow to like it more and more every day! And I love having neighbors who are real people and kids playing in the street (though you have to be careful not to run those critters over) and people to give me advice about watering my flowers and all of that good stuff. It's so great! Happiness.

So anyway, that was most of the shiftiness. Andy said "this has been the dinner of shifty people" which I thought was a perfect blog title! And so it inspired me to blog for once. :-)