Random Thoughts about Christmas & Summer

I am getting very excited to fly home for Christmas this week! I fly out Christmas Eve morning, so the airports might be pretty crazy. We'll drive to Portland after our youth group Christmas party on Wednesday night. My flight leaves at 7:25 a.m. so it's going to be a very early morning after a very late night. BUT being home with family for Christmas will make it all worth it!

We had our Christmas Service and Giving Event last night and it went really well! We had 30 families and 91 children who received food boxes and Christmas gifts. We also had a fun program with Christmas carols, skits, an awesome music video, stuffed animals for each of the kids, a children's version of the Christmas story and an awesome message about Peace on Earth from Kory. I have a few changes I'd like to make to our program next year, but it still went really well, especially for my first year organizing it.

Kabie (Kory's kitten) is a definitely a female. That girl has some insane mood swings. One day she loves being held and will fall asleep in your arms or lap and follow you around and loves affection. The next day, she runs from you and refuses to let you touch her and will go crazy if you try to pick her up. Maybe she is still adjusting to her new home and owners? Perhaps we need a visit from the Cat Whisperer. Does that even exist? I know they have one for dogs and horses.

A lady at work recently asked if I had a Master's or just a Bachelor's and I said "Oh, I just have a Bachelor's." Then another lady piped in, "JUST a Bachelor's?? What do we have? None of us have a degree period." :) Thank you! I worked stinking hard for that degree.

I am so ready for summer! Now that I know how wonderful Oregon is in the summer-time, I am planning so many fun trips and activities as soon as we get some warm weather. I am becoming a pale Pacific Northwesterner...but not in the cool, vampire way. I want to go camping on the coast, swim a lot, visit Crater Lake, go white-water rafting, see the Redwoods, hit Cannon Beach, float the river, go to SU Falls where you can slide down the waterfall, hike a 14er or two, and definitely spend lots of time chilling in the water that is so abundant around here! Oh sweet summer...come quickly!!

Kory's Xmas Present

Training

I had a great time at training this past week. The actual training was ok but the trip was really fun! :) Parts of the training were really useful and helpful, but the whole thing was not very organized and that is very frustrating for me.

We went shopping almost every day after training. I found a suit on sale at Banana Republic in an outlet/factory mall. I was prepared to pay quite a bit and consider this an investment. When I got to the register, it was on sale and much cheaper than I thought so I was super pumped about that! I am hoping to wear it to my interview soon...assuming I get an interview, I guess. I have never had a suit before, but putting that thing on makes me feel so professional and in charge! I am still not sure I want to wear one every day to a job, but it's fun to put it on in my apartment anyway.

Deb and I had a ton of fun and it was great to hang out with her so much outside of work. I still haven't really found any friends my age here, but this gal has a lot of spunk and is very young and fun, despite the fact that she graduated high school the year I was born :) We came back with a lot of new ideas to implement in our office, so we're excited about those changes.

I can't believe it's still not technically winter yet because it is COLD COLD COLD! I still haven't seen any snow, but everyone keeps telling me Oregon doesn't really get a lot of snow. Of course, they also said it doesn't get extremely hot here ever and we had like 2 weeks of 100+ days this past summer, so this year appears to not really follow the typical weather patterns. On the positive side, it hasn't rained a ton lately and I have seen quite a bit of sunshine, so that is great for my mood!

Recent Pictures

Here are some pictures I have been meaning to post recently and just keep forgetting. My cubicle at work is just about finished (now that my job could potentially end in a month :) haha) and has lots of pictures and decorations in it now.

This is my plant from home that keeps dying, so hopefully it's going to fare better at work.

The plant I had to move because it was attacking my face.

And the pretty blooms that recently appeared.

GREAT Weekend

The concert on Friday was awesome!! That band is so incredibly talented. Kory and I were both SO impressed! Unfortunately, we didn't have a great turn-out of teens, but the ones who were there really enjoyed it.

My Saturday was pretty close to my idea of a perfect day. I woke up late, took a nap, watched a movie while cuddled up on the couch, decorated my apt for Christmas and ate dinner and hung out with Kory that night. I rented My Sister's Keeper because I knew I really wanted to see it, but I wanted to watch it at home where I could cry as much as I wanted with no inhibitions. I laid on my couch under a blanket, eating popcorn, drinking a Dr. Pepper, enjoying a chick flick and just crying my little eyes out. PERFECT!! I know guys will never understand why you'd want to do that, but females will totally get it when I say it was a healing cry.

One of our youth group girls brought me a 4 ft Christmas tree and a table to set it on. She is very sweet! I put lights and ornaments on it and got it all decorated Saturday afternoon. I drank some egg nog and had a grand ole time. It's a pretty small tree and it's nothing grand or fantastic, but it makes me happy so that is all that matters. The only other decorations I have are some place mats, kitchen towels, candy bowls and the wreath, but they are all out in full force. I'm thinking I'll probably try to buy some more Christmas decorations when they go on sale right after Christmas Day.

I'm trying to be pretty thrifty right now and save my money since I don't know how long I'll have a job. That is the main reason why I didn't just buy a tree. My temporary positions ends in January and I will hopefully interview for the limited duration position in the next few weeks, but I'm in the waiting process right now.

We ate at Olive Garden in Eugene last night. Gosh I love that place! Neither of us had eaten there in a year or two, so we made the trip to do some shopping and eat there. I could eat my weight in those breadsticks dipped in alfredo sauce. Yummy!

It was COLD COLD COLD this morning when I left for work! Yikes! Everything was frosty and it looked like we had a light dusting of snow last night. I get to leave work at 3:00 today to head up to Albany, OR for a 3 day training. I am not entirely sure what the training is about, but I think it's an orientation to basically teach me to do the job I have been doing for the past 5 months. Should be fun :) I am excited to get out of the office and take a trip though. I'm sure Deb and I can have a good time while we're there.

Concert and Christmas

I wrote this last Friday and forgot to post it, so here it is now.

We have a free rock concert at our church tonight for the area teenagers. The band is called The Beautiful Is Dead. Several of the band members grew up going to our church and their parents still attend. They are not a Christian group, but are just a group of Christians who play music together. We're excited about this outreach opportunity and hope we'll get a lot of community teens who wouldn't otherwise set foot in our church building.

My plant at work recently started attacking me! I looked up one day and it was growing towards my face and every day, its limbs grew closer and closer to my head. I had to move it to the other side of my cubicle so it wouldn't obstruct my view of my computer screen. It has really flourished there and even started blooming with some tiny cute flowers.

I just found out we have those lights in our office that have Vitamin D in them...SADD lights maybe? I think that is what they are called. Anyhow, because we can go a long time without seeing any sun, they give off Vitamin D and are supposed to keep us happier and non-suicidal. I suggested we get some UV bulbs as well and we can tan while we work!

Remember that dead plant I had a picture of a while back? I keep forgetting to water that thing and it has come very close to death several times. I decided to bring it to work with me because I spend more time at work than I do at home, during the week at least. Everyone waters their plants on Friday afternoon too, so I should be better about remembering to water it.

My wonderful mom surprised me and mailed me all of my Christmas ornaments as well as some lights and tinsel to go on the tree! I was SO excited to open the package the other night. I had decided against getting a tree because I would have nothing to put on there once I had one, but now I can get one! A girl in my small group told me she has an extra tree I can probably borrow this year. Ideally, I'd like a real one because they're everywhere here, but I don't have a stand either and am not sure how I'd get it to my apartment anyway. So, however it works out, I'm excited to have a few Christmas decorations in my apartment. I bought a wreath this week but can't hang it on my door because there is no hook, so I have it hanging on my porch light instead. Classy, I know.

Post-Thanksgiving Update

Thanksgiving break was so fun and relaxing for me! I can't really explain why, but for some reason, Robby and Lynsey's one-year old daughter, Anna Kate, thought I was the coolest person ever! Of course, I loved the attention and the fact that she was always looking for me, letting me hold her, sitting in my lap and giving me the goofiest smiles ever. The second I walked in the door, she walked up to me and held her hands up for me to hold her like we'd known each other for years. She has the cutest little fake smile she would flash at me every time we made eye contact. We laughed at her "stranger smile" many times during the weekend.

We went to see The Informant the day after Thanksgiving and I wasn't really impressed. It doesn't really have a plot and isn't too entertaining, in my opinion. It's based on a true story and it's really just setting up this very quirky character the whole time. It's also really hard to follow and I spent almost the whole movie just trying to keep up. I did enjoy New Moon, however. I know it's corny and geared towards teenage girls, but I am a sucker for a love story. I can handle a little cheesiness if it is a happy ending :) I'm definitely Team Jacob. After seeing him, Edward just seems like a pale, skinny, old guy without much of a personality. Yes, I'm totally shallow and Jacob's good looks don't hurt either.

My wallet went missing about a week ago. It was such an ordeal because basically my money was trapped in my bank account and I couldn't access it. I had a hold put on my checks and went ahead and canceled my debit card just in case. I had other checks so I tried to use them, but nowhere will accept a check without picture ID. My driver's license was in my wallet so I had no picture ID. I also couldn't withdraw money from my account at the bank without picture ID. So, I figured I could just get another Driver's License and then be able to get money out. Well, you have to pay for a DL and they don't accept checks, so I couldn't get money to pay for that! Ugh! Anyway, hopefully it is all worked out now, but it's been such a mess. Luckily, my wallet was found and hadn't been stolen, so no money was gone at all. It was a good way to not spend any money for about a week or so at least!

It's Civil War week in Oregon! That means that Oregon State University and the University of Oregon are playing each other in college football this Thursday. People have been talking about it for months and I'm getting really excited for it. Of course, I'm a Ducks fan and hope they win. We'll go over to watch the game and eat pizza with a very fun couple from church. They are a divided family--she loves the Beavers and he is a Ducks fan. Should be interesting!!

I just realized I haven't taken any pictures in quite a while...so this blog is probably boring you all with just stories. I'll try to take some pictures and post them this week.