Blazer Game, Bridal Show, Baby's Room! (and my exhaustion)

I have been SO busy lately!  I am working 15 hours a week at OSU Payroll and 18 hours a week at the Grocery Outlet.  I'm getting tired just thinking about it!!!  My weekdays are pretty exhausting because I'm doing so much, but it is definitely worth it to never work during the weekends!  Anyway, I just thought I would get that out there so you would all understand why I don't have time for blogging (or thinking). 

Last Friday, Rae offered Bryan and I tickets to the Blazer game that night.  She had bought them for her brother and sister-in-law, who couldn't end up going.  So we went up to Portland with her and her boyfriend Mark and had a great time!  The Blazers beat the Orlando Magic 102-87.  It was a really exciting game to watch, even though the Blazers never gave up the lead throughout the game.  Plus, we got free Chalupas AND Egg McMuffins.  Basically a great night.

Bryan and I at the game

Bryan and I stayed the night at Kyle and Jenna's house that night because Saturday was PAINTING DAY for my little niece's room.  On Saturday, Sue came up to Portland and she, Jenna, and I all went to the Portland Bridal Show while Kyle and Bryan went to see Avatar in 3-D.  (What I wonder is WHY wouldn't they want to come to the bridal show?  So baffling.)  Anyway, the bridal show was really cool!  We got there (1/2 hour after the time that they start letting people in) and had to wait in a line of probably 300 people still!  We were in line for about 1/2 hour, then we got to go in.  There were so many people there and it was so huge that we basically just went around grabbing brochures and information from people.  I also entered about 500 drawings.  Will I win any?  No.  But who can turn down the possibility of getting free stuff?  Not I.  Oh, and we also gorged ourselves on cake samples!  It was out of control!  We all got really sick...too much sugar and not enough real food to eat.  That being said, they were all delicious.

Sue, Jenna, and I at the bridal show

 

All of the stuff I got!  I didn't spread it out fully because I didn't want to have to pick it all up.  ;)

After we were done at the bridal show, we headed back to Kyle and Jenna's so the boys (and Sue) could get painting.  They got a little ladybug border for the room that has a pink and green color scheme.  They painted the bottom half of the room green, and the upper half pink.  I didn't take a picture.  I sincerely apologize.  While they were painting, I looked through some of the paraphernalia I had just been bombarded with and then fell asleep on the couch at a wonderful 9:30 pm.  I got to glance at the room when it was done, but I wasn't quite there enough to think about pictures.  I'm sure Jenna will have pictures of the room once they put the border up.

The rest of the weekend I just relaxed and did homework!  Not too much fun, but not bad either.  Then back to the normal grind this week!  On Tuesday afternoon, the Halls had to put down their 15 year old dog, Barkley (whom I also don't have a picture of...).  It was a really hard thing for them to do, but it was definitely his time.  He will be missed very much!

And...for the great news...Saturday, Bryan and I are going to go look at two reception venues!  I'm SOOOOO excited!  But I'll leave you on the edge of your seat and talk about that a different day... =)

Perspective

So today, between reading articles about the traumatic earthquake in Haiti, I saw a Facebook status update of a friend of mine.  It announced that there is an H&M going in at Pioneer Square this year.  And I quickly said, "YES, life will be so great from now on!" 

Really?  My life hasn't been great up until now?  Not until I know there will be an H&M within a two hour drive?  Not to say it's not okay to be excited about a store that I LOVE (and is really inexpensive by the way), but I just had to chuckle a bit as I continued to read about the crisis Haitians are facing.  Not because it's funny, but because I am so ridiculous.

Anyway, this realization actually served to remind me to be very thankful for everything that I have.  I have THREE jobs in a recession (that's hard to be thankful for sometimes...), I have a house to live in and food to eat (sometimes too much) for FREE (thanks mom & dad), I have a nice car, I have an obscene amount of clothes for one person, and more importantly I have a great family, a great fiance, great friends, and a great God who all love me very much!

So, in true Joy Quarles blog style (because I have blog envy), I will say, "Be thankful!"

What is maybe worse than the fact that I haven't told you anything about my life in forever is the fact that I haven't really taken any pictures in forever.  So I'm now 0-2.  Boo.  Anyway, I suppose the biggest news is that I'm officially moved back to Oregon now!  Yay!  The move was pretty uneventful.  My dad and Bryan drove over with a u-haul to get all our stuff back, which was great!  I spent that next week, the week of Christmas, settling back in to my room.  It was (and is still) quite a task; I have been going through "memorabilia" that I have been boxing and putting in the attic, but it's still sort of an ongoing project.  At least it's one less thing I'll have to do when Bryan and I get married! 

Bryan and I at my grandpa's birthday party a few days after I got home.

From left to right:  Me, my sister Madeleine, my sister Emma, my brother Jonny, my cousin Stephanie, my cousin Sarah, my sister Rachel, and my cousin Ryan.  And grandpa in the middle!

Anyway, Bryan went to Sunriver with his family for Christmas so we were apart for the holiday.  =(  On Christmas Eve, I went to communion service at Praise and then had potato soup dinner and opened presents with my immediate family!  My mom makes homemade potato soup every Christmas Eve.  Yum!  Christmas day we woke up, opened stockings, and went to my Grandma and Grandpa Green's for brunch.  We opened gifts and stayed there until about 3:00, then headed back down to our house because everyone from my mom's side of the family came over for dinner!  It was pretty crazy, and with the size of that side of the family (20+ people), we didn't get through with gifts and everything until around midnight!  It was a very busy couple of days!

Madeleine opening something on Christmas Eve

Me on Christmas Eve!  And my dad...and Emma doing something.  And Jonny trying on the OSU jersey I got him for Christmas.

Jonny and Emma.  I'm opening something in the background.

Rachel and Josh

My cousin Hillary and I wearing our Christmas presents from grandma!

On Saturday (the 26th), I picked Brittney, Tanner (Bryan's brother)'s girlfriend up at 9:00 AM and we headed over to Sunriver to join the Hall family!  We reached Bend around noon and met Sue (Bryan's mom) and Jenna (Bryan's sister-in-law) at the Old Mill shopping center.  The boys were snowboarding all day, so we spent the day taking advantage of some after-Christmas sales.  That night, we hung out at the house they had rented in Sunriver with the Halls and they Hayses (Bryan's aunt, uncle, and three cousins).  We hot tubbed, watched a movie, and just relaxed.  It was really fun!  I was bummed that we had to leave the next day, but what can ya do?

Jenna, me, and Brittney shopping at Old Mill

On the following Monday (the 28th), I started working at the OSU Payroll office again.  I am excited to be back at work mainly because I'm so poor!  I mean, really.  I worked all that week (well, until Thursday anyway).  On Thursday, New Year's Eve, I went with Bryan's family (and Brittney!) up to Kyle and Jenna (Bryan's brother and sister-in-law)'s house in Beaverton.  Jenna's parents and sister had been at their house that day for their Christmas, and we all spent the evening together playing games and watching TV.  It was really fun!  We all stayed the night there (11 people in a 1500 square foot house...yeah).  It was a bit crowded, but I'm a good sleeper so I didn't mind sleeping in the same room as two snorers (one of whom I'm marrying).  On New Year's Day, Bryan and I went shopping in the morning.  Nothing big, he just wanted to get a new pair of jeans at Old Navy.  We then headed back to Kyle and Jenna's to watch the Rose Bowl.  I had to watch the game with a bunch of Duck fans.  Ugh.  Not that I didn't want the Ducks to win, but let's just say I wasn't too upset that they didn't.  After the game, we headed home.

I spent last Sunday getting mentally prepared to start school this last week.  It didn't work, but it was a decent attempt.  I am only taking two (easy) classes this term since I'm still relatively undecided about my major.  Because of this, and the fact that OSU will still only let me work 20 hours a week, I am picking up two shifts at the Grocery Outlet every week.  What sucks is that Monday and Tuesday both I am working/in class/doing SOMETHING from 4 AM - 10 PM.  Last week I was SOOOO tired!!  If I am still barely surviving this week, I may have to change which days I work, but I hope I can make it! 

I am sure I left some crucial details of my life out, but I have to wake up in six hours so I have GOT to go.

I Haven't Blogged Since Last Year!

Yes, it's true.  I haven't blogged since last year.  And this post is not an update on my life, it only serves to make that point.  I have been ridiculously busy.  I apologize.  I'll make an effort to talk about my ultra exciting life within the next few days.  I will have to leave you in life-altering suspense until then.

DONE!!!

Oh my goodness! I haven't written in a while for two reasons: nothing has been going on, and I was busy studying for my final. Which, as of yesterday, is OVER! So now I only have four days until I move home! Yay!!!

Since the last time I blogged, not much has happened. The highlight of that time was the fact that it was FREEZING outside! Actually it's technically been freezing for like two weeks. I couldn't tell you the last time that it was above 32. But last week there were a few days that it didn't get above zero! It was CRAZY! I thought I would die every time I went outside. Especially since it's really windy here, so it was -20 after wind chill. It was pretty awesome. Not. Anyway, we're back up into the 20s now, and we have SO MUCH SNOW! Over the last couple of days we have gotten about a foot of snow. At least. I don't know, I'm not too good a judging that.

Rae's & my cars. The tire tracks in front of my car are where I had driven out a few minutes before. Such deep snow!


Down our street.


The front of our house (buried walkway!). Sorry for the crooked photography.


The mountain behind our house!

I also did some Christmas shopping last week. Nothing major, but it was fun still. It's not quite as enjoyable when you have absolutely no money! Oh well.

So I had my final yesterday at 8 AM and I am SO glad to be done!!! Now I have to spend the next few days packing. I don't have any boxes because I stupidly forgot to bring them from my parents' house after Thanksgiving, so I need to call some grocery stores to see if they save boxes for poor people who are moving (like me...). Hopefully I'm successful! I really don't want to pay for boxes. I guess at the absolute worst I could put my clothes in grocery bags; we have plenty of those. LOL. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

So, my dad and Bryan are driving over here on Friday. Fun for them! That's about all I have to talk about for now...I'm sure the big move will provide an entertaining post next week.

FYI--10 days until Christmas. WHAT!?

Thanksgiving

I have been hesitant to write this post because I COMPLETELY forgot to take any pictures over Thanksgiving weekend! Crap!!! So I'll try to keep it short because, let's face it, no one wants to read a blog without pictures.

Tuesday afternoon at about 1:30 Rae and I headed out of Missoula, Oregon-bound. The mountain passes were clear, except for a few spots of ice. Yay! We got to Albany at around 10:00...I think? Wednesday, I went to get my traditional "I'm in town" brow & lip wax from my Auntie Heather. It could be the reason I come to town...lol. Then I headed over to the Halls' and pretty much spent the rest of the day there hanging out with the fam.

Thanksgiving! Thursday, I headed to the Halls' around noon, and then we all went on to the Hays' for dinner at 1:00 pm. I stuffed myself, and I had such a great time with Bryan's family! I love them. =) Then Bryan and I headed to my parents' house for dinner part deux at 5:00 pm. Lucky for us, my family has no real concept of time, so dinner was closer to 6:30 or 7:00 pm. I'm not often thankful for the lateness, but I was that day! And how fitting, on Thanksgiving. We spent the rest of the night at my house, and Bryan left at around 1:30 am after we finished watching the movie "The Taking of Pelham 123" with my dad.

On Friday, Bryan and I did some shopping, although not until noon! We just browsed the sales, nothing major. We just hung out at his house the rest of the day, then had pizza and watched the Blazer game with Tanner and Brittney at night.

Saturday, Bryan and I had to go to Shane Co. because I found out that the center diamond in my ring was loose! We had that fixed (and got it cleaned as well--I had forgotten how sparkly my ring is!!), then headed over to Kyle and Jenna's house for a visit. They were having a lazy Saturday, and we crashed it! We just hung out and chatted for an hour or so. I don't know! Bryan and I then had lunch at Panera Bread in Cedar Hills. (We originally headed in that direction because Bryan wanted Jamba Juice, but we never ended up getting Jamba. Oops!) We then hung out at my parents' house for awhile, and that night watched "My Sister's Keeper" with Sue and Brittney. Tanner was the lame boyfriend and only came in like halfway through. Haha!

Anyway, Sunday, Rae and I had to head out early. We left at around 9:30 am. I am sad to be back but glad that I'm in the home stretch of living here! Only 16 days until I get to move home! =)

SORRY that this didn't actually end up being a short blog, and if you've actually read this far, I commend you. I should've known that I couldn't possibly NOT be wordy...sigh.

Snow!

I didn't do much this past week, and I was feeling pretty sick Thursday and Friday. Not any actual sickness or anything, I just had a several-day-long headache and felt pretty "blah" in general. Anyway, I'm pretty much over that, although now that I mention it I do have a subtle headache! Ugh...I think it must be a migraine. Besides that, things are fine! It snowed a bit this morning, so Rae and I went on a three mile walk to the river that's near our house and back. It was really fun, actually! Although it was FREEZING, it was really pretty outside and quite nice to get out of the house (I had been bumming around for a few days due to not feeling great).

We were cold! =)

Besides that, Rae and I are heading home for Thanksgiving Tuesday afternoon! I am so excited to be going home! Since it snowed quite a bit today, the two mountain passes we have to go through on the way home aren't looking too good. We're just hoping they'll be cleared up a bit more by Tuesday! Pray for our safe travels!!! =)