The other half of my Christmas was just as great as the first. The only negative: my time at home was too short.
On Saturday, my family and I trekked to George, IA. We spent time with my grandparents and my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Minneapolis (who I had spend Wed with...yay for lots of time with them!). Right after we arrived, one of my Dad's cousin's and his wife and daughter came to see my Dad and my aunt, and it was nice to see them. We used to gather with my dad's cousins a lot but haven't for ages. After lunch and opening gifts, we headed to church for the early Christmas Eve service. Then we drove around a bit looking at Christmas lights, went home and ate some soup, and opened gifts. Usually after gift opening, we watch a good movie, and Mark and I had rented Batman Begins. However, I had felt queasy all night and was exhausted (the flu?) and Mark had been out too late the two previous nights, so we both went to bed before the movie was over. Who would've thought my Dad would have been the only person to make it through the movie? He's usually asleep within 5 minutes of it beginning! :)
On Sunday, I woke up feeling a little better, not fully. We eased in to the day and got things ready for my Mom's family to arrive that afternoon. Then, we spent Christmas day with them, opening presents, eating snacks non-stop, opening presents, and playing games. I was reminded of our RD Retreat my last year at Whitworth because my cousins played a rousing game of Settlers of Kattan, which we had played at the retreat. I told them the story of how we all ganged up on Alan and played the "don't let Alan win" version. :) I also played a game of Risk with my younger cousins, for which they made up the rules from their memory so we didn't have to read the directions. It didn't really work and we quit early, but it was still fun.
On Monday, my brother and I packed up our stuff and left for Minneapolis. We got in early enough to head to his apartment for a bit, and I'm glad we did because on the way out, we ran in to our cousin Karmin who lives in the same building (which in itself is such a coincidence). It was good to see her briefly. Then we headed to the airport and I began the trip home. I read almost all of my book Stitch 'n Bitch, which I had gotten the day before. An hour in the airport and a 3.5 hour plane ride makes for lots of reading time!
Now I'm back at work, wishing I was still on the school schedule/still on vacation. We rented about 6 or 7 apartments yesterday, which may be a record. This week has been busy with walk-in's looking for housing ASAP since PSU starts classes start in a little over a week. Tomorrow, Brad and Nicole come back to P-Town to start our New Year's festivities. I think this could be a shorter holiday weekend than others since Bill & Joy don't get back to town until the 31st. Oh, well, it's about quality, not quantity, right? :)
Happy New Year to everyone!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
Christmas Holiday, first half
This has been a wonderful Christmas holiday so far.
I discovered that airplane stress decreases a bit when there is no connecting flight. My goal in life is now to only fly direct flights, no lay-overs. That means I need to move to a hub like Minneapolis or Chicago or something. I'll work on that in the next 10 years.
On Wednesday, my bro picked me up at the airport early early in the cold morning in Mpls. I crashed at his place all morning and then my aunt Lori picked me up that afternoon after work. We drove around so she could show me "her world" (the hospital she works at) and then we picked up my cousin Olivia at the bus stop and when to their house. I haven't been to their house since high school, I think, and it was great to be in their cozy home. They had just remodeled and nearly doubled the size of the house, so it was fun to see the work. We chatted, Olivia and I colored, I talked to my uncle Tim about my job, and we just relaxed. Then my brother came over with his girlfriend, Danielle, who I finally got to meet. She is way cute and sweet and I like her lots and told Mark he better hang on to her. :) The only sad part of the night was that my cousin Karmin wasn't able to come over because she had to work late, and we had hoped to see each other.
Thursday I packed my stuff up and Mark and I headed out of town when he got off work mid-morning. We made a stop at IKEA so I could check out their desks to see if I'll be aable to fit one in my car next time I drive to Seattle. We also bought cheap wrapping paper and napkins (50 cents each!!!). When we got home early in the eve, we had some dinner with the parentals, and mark went out with friends while I watched Must Love Dogs with my parents.
Today, I wrapped all my gifts (it took me like an hour and a half) all morning. This afternoon, we (me, my mom and bro) went to my cousin Kristin's house because I won't get to see my dad's fam this Christmas. It was good to see her and her husband Dana and their three kids, and my aunt Jean the Bean (ok, not really her name, just afun rhyme we say with her name) also came over. We chatted. Then when we got home, my dadd's bro Randy and his wife, who just moved to Denver, stopped by to wrap gifts and see us. Which was nice because it meant I DID get to see some of my dad's family while I was here! :) Tonight I went to dinner with my good friend Tami Renner and then we went to see the movie The Family Stone. Definitely recommend it...it's a good Christmas movie.
Now I'm gonna relax a bit with the parentals and get ready for the busy Christmas stuff the next two days!
I discovered that airplane stress decreases a bit when there is no connecting flight. My goal in life is now to only fly direct flights, no lay-overs. That means I need to move to a hub like Minneapolis or Chicago or something. I'll work on that in the next 10 years.
On Wednesday, my bro picked me up at the airport early early in the cold morning in Mpls. I crashed at his place all morning and then my aunt Lori picked me up that afternoon after work. We drove around so she could show me "her world" (the hospital she works at) and then we picked up my cousin Olivia at the bus stop and when to their house. I haven't been to their house since high school, I think, and it was great to be in their cozy home. They had just remodeled and nearly doubled the size of the house, so it was fun to see the work. We chatted, Olivia and I colored, I talked to my uncle Tim about my job, and we just relaxed. Then my brother came over with his girlfriend, Danielle, who I finally got to meet. She is way cute and sweet and I like her lots and told Mark he better hang on to her. :) The only sad part of the night was that my cousin Karmin wasn't able to come over because she had to work late, and we had hoped to see each other.
Thursday I packed my stuff up and Mark and I headed out of town when he got off work mid-morning. We made a stop at IKEA so I could check out their desks to see if I'll be aable to fit one in my car next time I drive to Seattle. We also bought cheap wrapping paper and napkins (50 cents each!!!). When we got home early in the eve, we had some dinner with the parentals, and mark went out with friends while I watched Must Love Dogs with my parents.
Today, I wrapped all my gifts (it took me like an hour and a half) all morning. This afternoon, we (me, my mom and bro) went to my cousin Kristin's house because I won't get to see my dad's fam this Christmas. It was good to see her and her husband Dana and their three kids, and my aunt Jean the Bean (ok, not really her name, just afun rhyme we say with her name) also came over. We chatted. Then when we got home, my dadd's bro Randy and his wife, who just moved to Denver, stopped by to wrap gifts and see us. Which was nice because it meant I DID get to see some of my dad's family while I was here! :) Tonight I went to dinner with my good friend Tami Renner and then we went to see the movie The Family Stone. Definitely recommend it...it's a good Christmas movie.
Now I'm gonna relax a bit with the parentals and get ready for the busy Christmas stuff the next two days!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Portland weather and going home
First off, I have learned my lesson. Portland dramatizes storms. Granted, my apartment complex was covered in ice yesterday, and granted, there was slush for the last leg of my commute from the Couch/Burnside exit to the Goose Hollow building today, but man, oh man, I cannot believe that a million places and all schools closed over a day before they knew if the temps would warm up. It was rainy when I got up at 5:45 and the ice had melted mostly. But people didn't make it in to work and were afraid to drive. I even had to go feed an effing cat today because someone who was cat sitting couldn't make it in from Gresham. It was NOT THAT ICY. Ugh. I don't like cats, either, so I was NOT HAPPY when it nearly ran out of the apartment. But that whole cat thing is another story in itself.
I declared this week "holiday celebration" at work, even though my dred-locked co-worker Tim hates Christmas because of the commercialism. I jsut wanted an excuse to bake this weekend, so I brought stuff in to work. It was actually busy this afternoon because a ton of people are moving in before winter term. Oh, well. ONE DAY UNTIL I LEAVE FOR HOME!! Woohoo! It is going to be weird to work a full day, finish packing after work, and then get a ride to the aeropuerto at 10pm. It'll be good for me to be nearly-sedated so I don't stress too much. But on Wednesday at 6am, if there are no flight probelms (please, please, please!), I'll be hugging my bro and getting ready to crash on his couch for a few hours!
Hope you all have a blessed Christmas. I'll blog more from the homeland if there's anything to share!
I declared this week "holiday celebration" at work, even though my dred-locked co-worker Tim hates Christmas because of the commercialism. I jsut wanted an excuse to bake this weekend, so I brought stuff in to work. It was actually busy this afternoon because a ton of people are moving in before winter term. Oh, well. ONE DAY UNTIL I LEAVE FOR HOME!! Woohoo! It is going to be weird to work a full day, finish packing after work, and then get a ride to the aeropuerto at 10pm. It'll be good for me to be nearly-sedated so I don't stress too much. But on Wednesday at 6am, if there are no flight probelms (please, please, please!), I'll be hugging my bro and getting ready to crash on his couch for a few hours!
Hope you all have a blessed Christmas. I'll blog more from the homeland if there's anything to share!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Ice Storm 2005
We have an ice storm here in P-town. I think it's going to rain more tonight. It's the big news here today. So I hunkered down and finished knitting a Christmas scarf (red and white stripes). I don't think I will get a snow/ice day tomorrow even though lots of stuff is closed. Since we're an apartment complex, we never close, so I have to try to get in to work. Ugh! It's gonna be a long commute! But hopefully it'll be a cozy snow-day mood when I finally get there (pray that I make it in one piece!).
KATU 2 - Portland, Oregon
KATU 2 - Portland, Oregon
Friday, December 16, 2005
Work Motivation: for those without
I found this article waiting for me on my homepage last night. Good timing. I had already decided I need to be sure to have a good attitude and not complain with my co-worker and instead appreciate the job I have and the people I'm around. Good reminder. Thanks, God. :)
RELEVANT MAGAZINE
RELEVANT MAGAZINE
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
thoughts on this week
in one week, i will be flying the red-eye to minneapolis. i hate flying, but i like the thought of being home and spending some time with the bro in minneapolis.
last night i made chex mix. i brought half to work and will bring half of it home. i have so much cereal i think i'll make another batch for work/home. get ready, family. we'll be eating lots of chex!
i finished (i think) my christmas shopping this weekend. that feels good. dad's are hard to shop for. so are brothers. but i figured it out and all is well.
last week i decided i don't LOVE my job. i don't hate it, but i have realized i am basically just another leasing agent (the person who sells, i mean, rents apartments and does the apt administrative work) and don't get to spend a lot of time doing programming and working with the RMs, except reminding them to do things and talking to them if they forget (which is a lot). that's not the most fun. tonight i did talk to a girl whose roommate isn't paying the rent, which is stressing her out because they are both on the lease and will both go to court if they don't pay. that i can do, and i enjoy. tomorrow i have to talk to a woman about her dirty dog. it is smelly and people have complained a ton and she is very odd and her dog is some sort of ADA requirement for her to have it, but she is not keeping it clean. that will be a less-than-fun conversation. so, the community development stuff i am doing right now isn't the stuff i'm good at. i do enjoy leasing apartments, though. and i'm good at that and the customer service. but it's tiring, stressful, and not what i want to do with my life. but there's a reason i'm here at this time and place and i like the people i work with, so i am making the most of it. :)
ok, gotta get some sleep!
last night i made chex mix. i brought half to work and will bring half of it home. i have so much cereal i think i'll make another batch for work/home. get ready, family. we'll be eating lots of chex!
i finished (i think) my christmas shopping this weekend. that feels good. dad's are hard to shop for. so are brothers. but i figured it out and all is well.
last week i decided i don't LOVE my job. i don't hate it, but i have realized i am basically just another leasing agent (the person who sells, i mean, rents apartments and does the apt administrative work) and don't get to spend a lot of time doing programming and working with the RMs, except reminding them to do things and talking to them if they forget (which is a lot). that's not the most fun. tonight i did talk to a girl whose roommate isn't paying the rent, which is stressing her out because they are both on the lease and will both go to court if they don't pay. that i can do, and i enjoy. tomorrow i have to talk to a woman about her dirty dog. it is smelly and people have complained a ton and she is very odd and her dog is some sort of ADA requirement for her to have it, but she is not keeping it clean. that will be a less-than-fun conversation. so, the community development stuff i am doing right now isn't the stuff i'm good at. i do enjoy leasing apartments, though. and i'm good at that and the customer service. but it's tiring, stressful, and not what i want to do with my life. but there's a reason i'm here at this time and place and i like the people i work with, so i am making the most of it. :)
ok, gotta get some sleep!
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Couches
Check out my new couch and love seat. It only took 6 weeks to get them, but now they're here! I happen to have the smallest living room in the northwest, but they fit and make for a cozy sitting area. I love 'em. This is the view from my kitchen, and there is no artwork because I was waiting for the couches to come in so I could decide what to hang. :)
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