Thanksgiving Trip

I am leaving Oregon this weekend and will spend 10 days in NM/TX with family and friends! I am SOOO excited!!! :)

This post was not initially going to be filled with ridiculous pictures, but once I saw the above picture, I just couldn't help myself.

Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Things I Love

Here are some things I've recently discovered and totally love:

Can't wait to make this avocado-ranch dip!

Totally addicted. Just finished season 2.

NEED this owl cookie jar immediately.

Plan to make my own version of this post-Thanksgiving.

New fave app.

Twilight & Roloff Farms

**I wrote this blog several weeks ago, but apparently I never posted it. Oops!**

This weekend, Deb and I headed to Portland to see some of the locations used for filming Twilight. Though the story takes place in Forks, Washington, many of the Forks scenes are actually filmed in St. Helens, Oregon. This little town was also used to film the Disney Channel movie, Halloweentown. I haven't seen it yet, but now I definitely want to after seeing a lot of the places shown in the movie. We took a self-guided tour of both movie locations, as well as the places around town believed to be haunted by ghosts.

Charlie and Bella's house was away from the road, up a hill and very out of the way. The people who live in this house have posted signs asking Twilight fans to stay back from the house. While I understand their desire for privacy, I think I would handle it much differently. I would quit my job and become a Twilight tour guide! You could pay a small fee and I would give you a tour of the inside and outside of my house, as well as walk through all the town's Twilight locations. I would take tourists pictures with cast cut-outs, tell stories about what it was like when they were filming, probably have a midnight Twilight reading when the full moon is out...you get the picture :)  I am sure many of you are judging me for my love of Twilight right now, but I'm really just thinking like a savvy entrepreneur!

It's interesting to me that many of the businesses they used to film were changed into a different location in the movie. A hair salon became a prom dress shop, an attorney's office became a bookstore, a house became a restaurant. This probably happens a lot in movies, but I have never really followed the trail of movie sets before :)
 
They did have an Experience Twilight store downtown that understands the tourist draw of the town. They are on the right path, but I just feel like there is so much more they could be doing!

 
Later that afternoon, we met Lynsey and Anna Kate at Roloff Farms and I got to check an item off my bucket list! I love the TLC show, Little People Big World, and was very excited to meet the Roloff family and see their farm. The whole family was incredibly friendly and down-to-earth and were so grateful that people would come visit their home.

We took a wagon tour of the farm and I was very excited we got Jeremy as our driver! I just wanted to have one of the Roloff's driving us and not some random crew person. I was kind of surprised at how close everything is on the farm. I thought it was much more spread out from watching the show, but you could easily walk to all of the attractions (pirate ship, cowboy town, castle, etc.)

It's crazy that the Roloff's are celebrities, because they really are just a normal family. It is probably very strange to have thousands of people taking your picture on the weekend and then study high school geometry and play volleyball on a Monday.

Matt's Dad, Jeremy, Matt's Mom, Molly and Me

It is a little sad that we aren't much taller than her...

This trip has made me want to watch/re-watch Twilight, Halloweentown and Little People Big World so I can see it with a new perspective and compare it with what I saw in real life. I plan to be home this next weekend and relax, so I think I'll do my follow-up research from the couch this Saturday :)

P.S.
There are many more pictures from this trip on my Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027585&id=160201160&l=3564f51386

Marathoning for Miracles

I finished a marathon! Well, sort of. I ran in a marathon relay race as the second leg (6 miles) and then our whole team crossed the finish line together, which was really cool!

Prior to the race, the farthest I had ever run was 4.5 miles. That was several weeks earlier and I only ran twice in the last 3 weeks before the race. The cold weather, rain and darkness of Oregon fall had completely destroyed my motivation.

The day before the race, Jacinda and I drove the entire course of the marathon, which initially intimidated us both, but turned out to be a great idea. The race took us out to the boonies and much of our time running was out on dirt roads south of Abilene where the cows and cactus reside. A few people took the wrong turn and did the wrong route, so we were happy we knew what turns to take because of mapping it out the previous day. (There were also arrows and signs and people to help direct, so it really does puzzle me as to how they got lost?)

Jenise ran the first leg of the relay which was 5 miles. Quick shout-out to Southwest Airlines, Jenise's employer and the friendly people who carried me to TX and back. If you are flying any other airline, you are wrong :) Jenise ran mostly through Abilene neighborhoods and down one very long dirt road.

She tagged off with me and sent me around the Abilene airport on a dirt/gravel road that was a little bit slippery (with all the little rocks) and a whole lot dusty (with cars driving past us at ridiculous speeds). My plan was to run 2 miles, stop at a water station and then walk for a couple minutes, before running 2 more miles and repeating the process. I ran the first 2 miles and didn't have a water station because I just passed 2 at the starting line and the 1 mile mark. So, I decided to keep going and stop at the water station around mile 3. When I arrived, I realized I wanted to try to run through while drinking the cup of water and throw it down when I was finished because it seemed like a hard core runner thing to do. So, I kept running past mile 3 and was still feeling really good! As in, I didn't even want to stop and wasn't really out of breath.

About mile 4 I realized, "Hey! I could run this whole thing!" So I decided to just keep going since I'd already made it that far. The last mile was difficult because I was getting winded a strong wind picked up and was blowing in my face, but the perfect song came on and I picked up the pace while jamming to "Body Moving", quite possibly the best workout song EVER!

I have never said this about running before, but it was really fun! The flat roads of Texas were awesome after running on hills in Oregon. I think that is why I was able to run so much farther than I expected--I didn't realize just how much a difference it would make to be on level ground.

Jacinda and Jenise's cousin were supposed to run with us, but she had sick babies and wasn't able to make it. Luckily, Jacob (Evan has running connections in Abilene--we don't know him at all) was able to step in at the last minute. He is a marathoner, so 8 miles was no big deal for him at all.


Jacob, Jacinda, me and Jenise

We definitely didn't win the relay, but we also didn't get last, so we were pretty happy with being right in the middle!

Texas Weekend

This past weekend I went to Abilene, TX to run in a marathon relay race and see some of my college friends. It was so much fun! Even the running was fun, which is something I have never said before! More on the race in my next blog...

I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid while in Texas and really enjoyed it! There were multiple times that I laughed out loud while reading it. I saw on the inside cover that there are several other books in the series, so I plan to read those and see the movie soon.

Thanksgiving is this month and I am so excited for it! Partly because I will get to go home for the holiday and partly because it is my favorite holiday all year! Only 13 days of work left and then I get to fly to NM/TX. I actually just looked at a calendar and realized I get a 4 day work week this week and next-yay!!

My last day in Lubbock I woke up 15 minutes before we had to leave, didn't shower, had no makeup on, threw on a T-shirt and jeans and headed out the door...felt just like I was back in college! :) I realized recently that people in the South dress up way more than people in Oregon.

It is funny to watch people on a plane when it lands. Some people have that phone out and ready to turn on the millisecond the wheels make contact with the ground. I have even witnessed some who have their finger on the button, as if they have no time to spare to get back in touch with the world!