Portland!

Over Labor Day weekend I made a quick getaway to Portland, Oregon to visit one of my best girlfriends, A.  We ate from food carts (they are a very big deal in Portland), played with A's new kitty, saw the beautiful Portland landscape, and got in lots of quality bonding.  Be warned, there are a LOT of photos.

Day 1 included a visit to YU Contemporary Art Center (which is the most amazing building, and A works as an intern there), and Ethiopian food for dinner (my first experience and it was yummy!).  We were lucky enough to also have our friend from high school and his girlfriend (H and S) visiting Portland at the same time, so we all got to spend a great weekend together.

A's lovely house

outside YU 

beautiful, right?

S, H, and A looking at the building plans (S and H both work in construction/
civil engineering/stuff that's way beyond me, so this was like candy to them)

Ethiopian delicious-ness

A and her baby Lupe

Day 2 started with a visit to the Portland Saturday Market, late breakfast at the Brunch Box food cart, a walk through downtown, and then we headed out of Portland to visit the Columbia River Gorge area.  We stopped at Multnomah Falls and then headed to the cute little city of Hood River where we ate/drank at the Double Mountain Brewery.  We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the Portland Rose Garden, downtown, and walking along the waterfront.

Saturday Market

delicious

downtown

Wahkeena Falls 

Multnomah Falls

Double Mountain Brewery 

Portland Rose Garden

I included links for just about everything we did because I highly recommend ALL OF IT if you're visiting Portland.  Thank you to A for being an amazing host/tour guide!  I had such a great time and can't wait to go back with K so he can see the beautiful city as well.

The Fair!

Just about every summer of my life has distinct memories of the Sonoma County Fair tied to it.  I have so many memories of spending every day of the fair with my step-family at their 4-H booth, going with a big group of friends and riding the rides until they closed, the FOOD, photo booths with my best friend, concerts with my mom... and the list goes on.

It's been a couple summers since I've been able to go, so when my brother invited me to go with his family I couldn't say no.

My niece and little sister having fun.

They had a few rides that once belonged to Michael Jackson and were at his Neverland Ranch.  Weird and cool, I guess?

Big brother and niece enjoying the fair.

 R and Little T on some crazy spinning ride.

 She was not excited about having to go on every ride with him, but someone had to do it.  I figured if I had to go on every ride with her when we were younger, she now has to do it for our nephew.

We ate fried food for dinner, had ice cream for dessert, won too many stuffed animals, and went home smelling like the animal barn... all ingredients for a perfect day at the fair!

Happy Anniversary!

Last Sunday K and I celebrated our one-year marriage anniversary.  The day itself wasn't really that special...  K called me that morning (which is always a good way to be woken up) and then I treated myself to a yummy breakfast:

Cinnamon roll and a Chai latte... yum!

And the rest of my day looked like this:

Homework, homework, homework.

That evening I had the usual Sunday dinner with my family/grandparents.  (Their summer goal seems to be figuring out how many things you can eat on a stick.  That particular Sunday it was a yummy chicken/pineapple kebab.)  Mostly the day was unremarkable.  I didn't even wash my hair.  

It was definitely bitter-sweet to be so far apart on a special day, but we both did our best to make it special.  When I got home from work on Saturday, these beautiful flowers and a balloon were waiting for me:

And there isn't much I could do for K, but I recently came across a care package phenomenon known as "Cake In A Jar" so I decided to give it a try.  I found a simple recipe/instructions and recruited my mom to help me (and by help I mean do all the work).  I made him a red velvet cake because our tradition is to have red velvet for all of our special occasions, and it's K's favorite.  I made two jars and attached plastic forks, and packaged them up with a can of frosting for a special anniversary package:

K and I also got to video chat that day so we took a special screen-shot to go with all of the others we've taken:

The sign looks like it was written by a 5-year old
because I had to write it backwards.

Despite having a slightly lame anniversary day (although it won't easily be forgotten), I have had an amazing first year of being K's wife.  I love that he is the one I get to share my life with, the fact that he still gives me butterflies, and that we have a million plans for our future together.  Our anniversary may not have been perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Now, if we could just get in a honeymoon before the next anniversary...  wishful thinking.

Lately...

Work has been really great.  We had some kids leave... some for good reasons, and some for not-so-good reasons.  I'm happy for the kids that get to leave (but a little sad to see them go), and really sad for the kids that are sent back to Juvenile Hall/kicked out of the program because they fell back on some old habits.  They are all such great people and just want to learn and grow and I'm so eager to help them.  I love being bombarded by all of their questions about everything from my time in the military to why metal can't go in the microwave.

School is almost over.  I have finished two of my three finals and gotten an A on both of them.  My final final (lol, sorry) is this week and I will officially be done with the semester as of 4:30 Thursday afternoon!  The semester has been so crazy and I'm happy that my schedule will lighten up, but secretly a little sad it will be over.  I've had so much fun learning about all of this new stuff and the super-busy schedule has helped me get through the last two months in the blink of an eye.  Wish me luck on my last final!

I watched a really great movie a few weeks ago called "Away We Go".  It came out awhile ago but I never got a chance to see it until now and I LOVE IT.  It's my new favorite movie.  It has John Krasinski (from The Office) and Maya Rudolph (from SNL/Bridesmaids) and was written by Dave Eggers who is one of my favorite authors.  They play a young couple expecting their first child who are looking for a place to call their home.  It is so subtle and hilarious and perfect.  If you haven't seen it, go rent it.

I haven't gotten to spend much time with my friends lately given my super-busy schedule.  I'm hoping that I can enjoy the last of this summer weather with them.  I will be moving back to Las Vegas before I know it, so I hope that we can all take advantage of the time we have together while I'm so close.  I know that once I leave it will be back to the old routine of only seeing them once or twice a year (if I'm lucky).  And the same goes for my family, because really, how could you resist these two cuties?

My niece rocking some Harry Potter glasses.

My nephew licking the leftovers of some cake-baking.

Finally... we've made it halfway!  We're about three months into K's deployment, which leaves us with three months to go!  It's hard to believe I haven't seen (not counting Skype of course) or touched him in three months, but I am so ready to tackle the second half of this deployment.

Camping... and Poison Oak

Last weekend I decided to take a quick break from my hectic schedule and go to Lake Mendocino and spend a night camping with my friends.  At first I was going to go, and then I wasn't, and then at the last minute I changed my mind again and decided to go for one night.  Well, on my way up to the lake I had a very daunting feeling deep in my bones.  I had a feeling that I shouldn't go because something negative was going to happen.  I didn't know what that thing might be, but whenever I have "a feeling" I try to listen to them.  Because they always turn out to be true.  Always.  It's like a 6th sense.  Ask K.

Anyway, I decided to ignore this feeling and pretend I was just feeling bad about going camping when I should have been doing homework.  As it turns out, my feeling of something ominous about to happen came true, when shortly after returning from camping I came down with the world's worst case of poison oak... ever... in the history of the world.  (Ok, I'm sure there have been worse cases, but when it's on MY face, I get to say it's the worst ever.)

After a visit to the doctor, some shots and a lot of pills, I am slowly on the mend, but still very uncomfortable.  But on the opposite end of this story, is the fact that I had an amazing time with my friends.  Here are some pictures:

Playing games.

Tennis baseball... apparently I'm the worst player ever.

The tennis/baseball outfield... which was other people's campsite.

9:30 am beers.

Tubing.

And for anyone who wants to see it... my terrible poison oak.  This picture really doesn't do it justice, and this is only a small portion of my problem, but there it is.

Despite the terrible aftermath, it was a great trip and I'm so glad I am actually home to enjoy these moments with my friends.  When I wasn't living here, I was always sad that I didn't get to partake in most of the festivities that they planned, but I'm trying to enjoy every minute of my time with them while I can.  Thanks for a great trip guys!

What did you do at school today?

I have officially finished my first week of classes for the semester!  And I have A's in all of my classes so far!  (Hey, it's a very demanding schedule, I think I'm allowed to brag a little!)

I mentioned in a previous post that I am taking three classes this semester:  Intro to Pharmacy Technician, Medical Terminology, and Medication Administration.  My goal is to enter the Pharmacy Technician program so I can become a certified Pharmacy Technician.  My long-term goal was to go to pharmacy school to earn my Doctor of Pharmacy degree, but the fact that K will be getting out of the military about a year after he gets back, has led me down this path so that I can be finished/almost finished with school when he gets out, because who knows where we'll end up.

When I was little, whenever my parent's asked me what I did in school that day, my reply was always "Nothing..."  Typical, right?  Well, now I have an answer!  So to celebrate the end of my first week (and gearing up for the many more to come), here are 3 things I've learned so far:

1.  The meaning of anesthesiology:  "an-" is a prefix meaning "without"; "esthesi" means "sensation"; "-ology" is a suffix meaning "the study of".  So you put them all together it literally means "the study of not having sensation"!  (Also, if you weren't sure, an anesthesiologist is the person that knocks you out during surgery.)

2.  Diet supplements do not have to be evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  They do not have to be proven safe or effective before being sold.  So think about that before buying some fad diet pills.  (Although if they turn out to be harmful, the FDA can pull them.)

3.  I have started learning how to read prescriptions.  For example, if your doctor writes something like "i tsp po q8h" on your prescription, your pharmacist will read it as "Take one teaspoon by mouth every 8 hours."  It's like another language!  Whenever I looked at my prescriptions, I swore the doctor wasn't writing in English... apparently they're not!

Anyway, my classes have been very fast-paced and exciting and I am learning a LOT.  I don't know about all of you, but when I see a doctor or am getting a test done, or any sort of medical thing, there are always seems to be so much stuff that just flies right over my head.  But now I'm learning what some of that stuff means!  (I feel like a genius with secret knowledge that us "regular people" aren't supposed to know!)

I'll Pencil You In...

For the first month or so after moving back to California, I was really bored.  I didn't have much to do, so my days were mostly creating errands for myself, zoning out at my computer, and watching TV.  Of course I did other stuff, but my days were never really full.

But all that changed this week when I started school AND my job in the same week.

Now I'm really busy.  I should be doing a million other things right now that don't include blogging, but I needed a break from homework.

My classes at the junior college started.  I am taking Intro to Pharmacy Technician, Medical Terminology, and Medication Administration for a grand total of 8 units.  And yes, it is the summer semester so I have all of that crammed into 6-8 weeks of class.  Instead of easing my way back into school I'm doing a cannonball right into the deep end.  A few people have told me I'm crazy, but I like to think of it as ambitious.

I also got a job at an awesome little coffee shop right across from the school.  But this is no ordinary coffee shop.  It is owned by an organization that runs rehab programs for teens, which means the coffee shop is their vocational training center.  I do have to know how to make all the drinks/prepare food/run the register and all the other typical coffee-shop duties, but 90% of the job is mentoring the teens that come in throughout the day as part of their treatment.  We teach them job skills and how to work in the coffee shop so they will have some useful skills after treatment.  I've only been there a couple of days and I'm still adjusting to the VERY early mornings (I have to be there at 5:30 am), but I'm really excited about it and I just hope that aside from being a good employee, I can be a positive role-model for the kids.

I'm finding the only way to stay on top of this hectic schedule is to stay very organized and tracking everything in my planner.  I'm not available to video-chat with K whenever he is available, so even he has to be scheduled in to my days.  The great part about being so busy is that my days are flying by.  I catch myself wishing the time would slow down a bit so I could get my homework done, which I never would have done a few weeks ago.

If you don't hear from me much over the next month or two, you know where I'll be... with my head in a textbook, or making coffee with some kids, or sleeping.