New New New

I can't believe Y2K was 10 years ago! Remember when we all thought there would be flying cars by 2010? A lot of big events in my life happened in the 2000's: got my first car, graduated high school, moved away from home, started and graduated college, moved abroad, got my first real job...a lot of growing up happened in the past decade, particularly in the past 5 years!

It is crazy to think about what this next year and decade will hold for me. I'm going to just think about the next year because I can't even begin to comprehend what my life might look like in 10 years. I get very excited by the thought of change and new things happening and exciting events in my life. For some people, I know that stresses them out and they just want things to stay the same. I love thinking about all the fun things that could happen in this next year...especially the ones I won't see coming at all! I would have NEVER guessed one year ago that I'd be living in Oregon right now with this job.

It was a very bittersweet thing to return to Myrtle Creek after Christmas. Before I left, I would tell people at work at church in Oregon that I was going home (to Artesia) for Christmas. Then, in Artesia, people would ask when I was leaving and I would say I was going home (to Oregon) on Monday. I definitely feel at home in Oregon and when I got back to my apartment, I had that relief that comes from being home. It's just a strange feeling to say "my parent's house" or "my parents live in NM". I guess everyone probably goes through this at some point in their life, so now is just my time to work all this out in my mind. Unless something drastic changes, 2010 will be the first time in many years that I lived in the same place for an entire year.

I rarely make New Year's Resolutions. I remember one I made in high school and that was to become ambidextrous. I actually followed through with that one and can eat and write pretty well with my left hand. Obviously, my right hand is still dominant and I use it for most things, but I think my ability to use both hands is at least above average.

I fell down the stairs at work today. Painful, but mostly embarrassing. I was trying to put the water bottle lid on right when I fell, so water went everywhere. I had to immediately go teach a class after that incident, so that was pretty lame. I have been reading Twilight and I feel like just reading about Bella's clumsiness has made me clumsy! I had never read the Twilight books--not against them or anything, just never got around to reading them, so a lady at work brought it to me to read. I really like it but it's definitely different reading the book after seeing the movie. I just picture the movie characters and scenes as I read it, but I don't mind because I HATE the picture I had in my head being ruined when I see the movie.

My job interview is tomorrow--yay! I'm so glad it's finally here. I've been waiting and hoping this day would come since July, so it's great that it finally arrived. Now, if I don't get this position, it will be quite awkward to keep working here with the other person who got the job. I feel really confident though and am planning to just get the job so there won't be a problem :)

Kory and I plan to stay in for New Years Eve and do very little! We're both so exhausted from our travels and crazy pre-Christmas schedules that we're really excited by the idea of watching movies, playing games and laying around on the couch for the Holiday. Mostly, I'm happy we'll be inside where it's warm! I just realized that one year ago I was arriving in London. Wow.

Holiday Pictures

I always made fun of people who dressed their animals in costumes, but this was so worth paying $1 for the Santa suit.

Kabie loved being in his sweater. She laid down there forever and almost went to sleep. I think she must have liked that it was warm in there.

My Christmas tree finally got some presents underneath it this past week.


Presents under the tree at our church building to give away to struggling families in our community as a part of our Christmas Service.
The kids sang several Christmas carols and were hilarious. I love that kids they can sound terrible and still be so stinking cute!

At our youth group Christmas party, one of the middle school girls did face painting. She did a great job!

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.