IOWA

SO funny, I just wrote Adds this comment in her blog about how much I miss her, and then I read my comments (I don't get them emailed to me anymore because my school email is gone) and she wrote me a comment saying she misses me. THAT is true love.

So WOW it's been a while... when I'm not in Oregon I sort of forget about the blogging. Here's the lowdown:

Saturday -- Travelled almost the whole day. Left work about 5:30 AM (after a REALLY good conversation with a co-worker) and got the awesome Vin to drive me to the Max station. Got to see the sun rise over Mt. Hood, then took my flight to the lovely O'Hare International Airport. Oh how I love Chicago. And it was just a classic Chicago wintery day. YAY. Then my flight to Cedar Rapids was about an hour late (that makes 2/2 for Iowa) but I got home. Saturday night I slept a LOT because I had been up since basically 3:30 PM on Friday, with a little plane sleep in there. I also went to my beloved Panera with my mom, which I've been wanting for a long time. Soooo good.

Sunday -- Slept in super late. Yikes. Then my sister and dad and I tried to go out for Thai but the Thai places were closed and it was getting late and she had to be at work, so we went to the food court in the mall - biggest mall in Iowa, yee haw! Then my dad and I came back home and I definitely took ANOTHER nap. Then my mom and I went to Target and on a secret Christmas mission and then picked my sister up. Then my mom made me guacamole and chile con queso... her Texas specialities! YAY for my Texan roots... 5th generation Texan right here peeps! Then my sister and I got an "early Christmas present" -- season 7 of Friends for her and season 8 for me. I now officially have all of the seasons that have been relased. Once I have 9 and 10 my collection will be complete. So we watched that the rest of the night.

Monday -- Saw my sister's apartment for the first time... SO CUTE. It's right in downtown Iowa City and is just awesome. I really like it a lot! Then we actually went out for Thai food, yumalicious. Only not so much, definitely there is better Thai to be had in Oregon. Oh well. Then my sis and I went on some secret shopping missions for our parents and then to see Oceans 12. DEFINITELY not that great of a movie. Oh well, I wasn't expecting it to be. I got to have a super fun day with the lil sis though! Then we came home and had steak and twice baked potatoes... YUM YUM YUM. My mom's steak is one of my favorite foods in the WORLD. YUM. Then more Friends!

Tuesday -- Went to Panera again (I need to go like 8 times while I'm here), and then went and visited Christine at work. Then went to various random stores at the mall with my mom. Then we went to this wine store (really a grocery store with a good wine and beer selection) that actually had wine from a vineyard I've been to in Oregon. I was impressed. And they had beer from a brewery in Portland, but not a very amazing one as far as I'm concerned. I love Oregon. Anyway though and we went to a pretty cute scrapbooking store which I enjoyed, because you know me and the scrapbooking. With all of this free time (and being in IOWA) I really have wished that I had my scrapbooking stuff, but you can't take all of those scissors and stuff as a carry-on and I wasn't about to check it. Oh well... so then we came home and my mom made lasagna... yay. Seriously I love being home because it is super yum. Then we watched Friends and played dominoes, and anyone who knows me knows I'm into the dominoes. So yeah, it's been a good day. I need to work on wrapping Christmas presents and packing for New Mexico tomorrow.

So the lowdown... I miss Portland. As much as I say I hate it and have no friends, I so DO have actually a pretty good amount of friends. Being on shift actually is reasonably hard in terms of having time for people, but when/if I'm on shift 4 (the front half of the week) I'll have TONS more time to be able to see friends on weekends and my two really good girlfriends are on shift 4 so I can see them more too. So I'm totally praying for that to happen sometime in 2005. And I love all that there is to do in Portland... the coast, the gorge, the vineyards, Seattle, the breweries, the movies, PCG, Corvallis, scrapbooking, hiking, the river, etc. Some of that isn't Portland-exclusive but I think the point is it's really starting to feel like home. And that makes me smile. I guess in the best of all worlds my parents would still live in Chicago and I could see all of my friends and family at the same time, but a co-worker told me the other day "you win some, you lose some". It really humbled me, because I tend to get really mad and upset when things aren't just my way. I don't just accept how true that statement is... we don't get everything handed to us on a silver platter in life, so the sooner we learn to just chill and accept that, the better off we are. So I'm trying to accept that, and I know that soon enough I'll visit Chicago and see everyone that I so miss and love. :-)

If I don't blog until then, Merry Christmas everyone. I really do miss and love you all.