100th Post!!

**I wrote this blog yesterday and forgot to post it. I'll try to add pictures of my trips soon!**

Wow, I can't believe I have posted 100 blogs. I will celebrate #100 by telling you about the fantastic week I had hanging out with friends.

I got to hang out with Lynsey on Thursday night when we stayed at her apt before flying to NM early the next morning. It was so great to catch up with her! Laying on a bed, staying up late chatting about girl things is just good for the soul! I was sad to miss hanging out with Anna Kate, but I did see her for a minute and she is SO tall! I really think that girl will be the same height as me when she is 5 years old :)

Brad came to spend his vacation with Kory and I last week and it was SO much fun! We went to see Iron Man 2, visited the Redwoods, celebrated my new job, and went to Portland.

I went to Artesia over the weekend to be in Julie's wedding...although my travel plans were interrupted and at one point, I wasn't sure I was going to make it!

There were thunderstorms in Dallas on Friday and DFW airport was completely closed. We re-routed to Waco, which was also closed, but we were running low on fuel so we had to land immediately in Killeen at the Ft. Hood military base. We spent most of the afternoon in this tiny airport and I ate my lunch out of a vending machine. Thank goodness I had my iPhone to entertain me all day. Many more things went wrong that day, but I did make it to Artesia about 10:30 or so that night. I missed the rehearsal and dinner and lingerie shower, which was REALLY disappointing, but at least I made if for the wedding, which was the most important part. Wedding day was very fun! Julie is the most ridiculous bride I know, but I love her just the same :)

I got home about 7:30 Monday night and a couple hours later, had more friends coming to visit me! Hannah C. and Britni J. stopped by on their Western States road trip and spent the night at my apt last night. It was great to see them and catch up on life! I'm pretty sure it's been 2 years since I've seen Britni--which is crazy! I have got 5 hours of sleep or less 3 of the past 5 nights so I'm completely exhausted. It was wonderful spending so much time with friends/family, but I'm excited about going to my apt tonight and laying on the couch to watch Biggest Loser and living this small town, slow-paced life I'm used to.

Speaking of Biggest Loser, I am beyond excited for next week's Finale! I don't really know what they'll do on tonight's show since the final four is already decided, but I'll love watching it anyway. I missed last week's American Idol, so I'll definitely try to catch it this week. I just really love Casey James so much...I think he'll be a star even if he doesn't win because he'll have so many females in love with him...including Cara D.

FRIENDS :)

May is the month for friends!! Brad will be here next week, I get to see lots of friends and family at Julie's wedding in a week and a half, two college friends are hopefully staying a night with me the next week as they drive through Oregon and there is a possibility of seeing another friend at the end of May. Like most other things in life, I never fully appreciated friends my age until I had ZERO that I see on a daily basis.

Oh Biggest Loser--how I LOVE you! This week was so emotional with the make-overs. The guys looked so great! The girls didn't really look much different, but it's still incredible to see their tiny little waists after 16 weeks. I really really want Daris and Ashley to make the top 4 and then to start dating! I think they'd be so cute together. On the other hand, I am NOT ok with Sam and Stephanie. I never liked her--I think she whined too much. I love Sam and they don't make a cute couple at all.

I didn't watch American Idol last night because I was watching BL and Parenthood. However, I did have a fantastic dream about Casey James...we were definitely in love :) I listen to Kidd Kraddick on the way to work, however, and this morning they were all saying they think Casey is getting kicked off tonight. My dream was obviously an omen that he will be heart-broken today and need my love to comfort him. I prefer to watch the singing and results show the same night and fast forward through everything but the contestant performances, judges comments (unless they're annoying) and the actual results. The quality of contestants on AI this year is definitely down from previous years. If Casey gets kicked off, I will lose a lot of interest in the show...as will many other females I presume.

Last weekend was a very productive time for me! I got my apartment REALLY clean...like dusting and sweeping and beating the rugs and the stuff I don't do very often at all. It feels so nice to come home to a very clean apt. I also cleaned out a lot of junk and have quite a bit of stuff to donate to the youth group rummage sale later this month.

I can't believe I will be in Artesia in 10 days. I haven't seen anyone from there since Christmas. It's weird that I'm at a place in my life where I might see my parents a couple times a year! On that note, I can't really explain why but I have really started to feel more like a young adult lately and less like a college student. I actually like the feeling...it helps a lot at work to feel like I'm not some kid hanging out with the grown-ups.

This Friday, I have an interview for a permanent position at work. It would be the exact same thing I'm doing now, but without an ending date for the position. The only other person in our office who is a Limited Duration also is my closest friend here, so that really stinks that we have to compete against each other for the job. As long as one of us gets it, I'll be happy. I'm hoping to retire by 2011 anyway, so it's ok if my job ends :)

Weekend

It's not even summer and Kory is gone all the time leaving me here alone :( Hopefully we can hang out next weekend!

My apartment is getting out of control dirty/gross. I HAVE to clean it this weekend! I'm obviously not being productive on the computer tonight so hopefully tomorrow I can get a lot done.

Life Update

I can't wait for the May flowers to come because we have certainly seen a LOT of April showers. My Marmot rain jacket was a bit expensive and I remember I had a hard time paying that much for it, but it is absolutely worth every penny. Plus it brings back good memories of time in Ireland.

I have been very pleased with the people who have gone home from American Idol and Biggest Loser the past two weeks. I really love Darus and hope he wins BL! I also like Ashley and Sam and Michael and would be happy for any of them if they won. As far as American Idol goes, I really like Lee and Casey and hope one of them will win it all. I'm afraid Crystal Bowersox will win and I really don't want that.

Next month I get to go home and see friends and family at Julie's wedding!! I'll be in Artesia Friday evening through Monday morning. I am very excited to see Julie and get to hang out with her and then have a day with my parents. Hopefully I'll get to meet sweet baby Dawson that weekend too!

I used to think it was the worst to be at work when it was cloudy and rainy and dark outside because I wanted to take a nap, but I'm also discovering it's REALLY hard to be at work when it's sunny and beautiful outside because I want to be out there and not in this building! So, it turns out that I don't like being at work when there is weather outside :)

We're having a rummage sale for the youth group next month so I'm trying to go through my apartment and see what stuff I can give away. I LOVE the feeling of purging my home of junk! It's an addiction for me...I want to keep finding more stuff to get rid of. haha My mom doesn't share this love of mine, especially when I lived at home with her and would do that and try to get rid of her stuff!

Back to Blogging

I have really neglected my blog since I got my iPhone. I don't want to type out a whole blog on there and that is about the only time I am online. Anyhow, I'll try to catch up on recent events.

So, I got an iPhone! :) I love it!! It's definitely one of those things that you don't realize how great it is until you have one. I can't imagine going back to a cheap basic phone now. We cooked an awesome dinner a few nights ago using Epicurious. It's a really cool app where you can search for recipes, get shopping lists, view step by step instructions, etc. This was definitely an adventurous dinner for me, but it was SOOO good!

Kory is gone this weekend to take high school kids to Acquire the Fire. He'll be back in Portland next weekend with jr. highers to attend CIY Believe. Keith Lancaster is doing an Acapella Workshop at our church this Wednesday night, so hopefully I can teach him a thing or two about singing!

We went to the coast last weekend and enjoyed a day in Newport. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

I am VERY excited that several friends will be coming to see me this summer!! Kory's parents are the only people who have visited us here so far, so it will be really fun to show our friends around this beautiful area!

Spring Scenery

Kory and I went for a walk after work one evening and took the camera to capture the beauty of this awesome place where we live. All of these pictures are within a few minutes walk of our apartments.

Spring is still too cold for me.

40 days of water is OVER and I can drink Dr. Pepper again!! I did pretty well and didn't really crave DP a lot, mostly out of habit. I think I can continue to drink a lot of water, but I'll enjoy a DP from time to time.

Talk about the butterfly effect...The earthquake/tsunami in Chile boosted the economy in Oregon! Apparently, Chile had several plywood mills that were destroyed and that work has now been given to Oregon mills. So, several Oregon operations have been able to hire back some laid-off workers and give them temporary work until the Chilean production plants can get back up and running.

I wish it was warmer already! I have been wanting to go camping for over a year now and we didn't go last summer so I have to keep waiting for it to warm up so we can go. There are several trips I've got planned for this summer including Crater Lake, the Redwoods and going to a few more coastal towns. I wish Kory didn't work on Sundays because that means we can't really go anywhere that's farther than a day trip on the weekends. Oh well, at least we live in a really cool place with a lot of worthwhile destinations just a few hours away.

Easter was pretty boring and that made me sad. I really wanted to dye eggs and get into the spirit, but maybe next year. I spent the entire day Saturday reading Breaking Dawn...and I do mean the entire day because that things is 754 pages!! It was really good--obviously I couldn't stop reading it. I woke up and decided to start it and the next thing I knew it was getting dark outside and the whole day was gone. I love books like that where you get so lost in the story and can't put it down! SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't read all of the Twilight books and don't want to know the ending, stop reading now!!!

I think the ending was a little too picture perfect...everyone lives, is happy, falls in love, etc. I think at least one of the characters should have been killed (a Cullen?) and Jacob should have just had to go on with life without imprinting. I mean, I love a happy ending, but it was just not realistic enough for me. haha I just realized I'm asking for a book about vampires and werewolves to be more realistic.

Even though it sounds lame, I really love playing Sims. Kory had the computer games and got me hooked on them. If you don't know what they are, I would try to explain them to you but that makes them sound even dumber. Basically, you get to build a family and home and live these characters lives for them. haha You can pick jobs, go to work, make friends, cook meals, sleep, swim, go on vacation, have a party, study and learn, and really do most everything you can do in your own real life. It really is fun, even though it sounds like it would be crazy boring.