Fabulous Visitors and Dualing GPSs

We were so happy to have our dear friends Nana and Alana (aka Tunie and Rio) visit us fora  few days last week.  It was so nice to have familiar faces around here again.  Sadly, after a few nights of wine and Banagrams, they had to leave us.  Can't wait until they come back to visit (hint, hint).

Andy was in Plano, Texas from Sunday to Thursday to visit a customer site.  He worked 6pm - midnight or later while he was there because that's when the printer was running.  In case you don't know Andy, these are not his peak hours.  He's more of a 7am to 4pm kind of guy.  He's glad to be back in Oregon where there aren't any rent-to-own tire and rim stores around. And I'm very happy to have him back.

Work is a little stressful for me right now.  Not to sound old, but, kids these days are NAUGHTY.   Thursday was particularly challenging and we actually ran out of places for misbehaving children to sit in time-outs at the at lowest point.  THEN while driving to Eugene to pick up Andy at the airport, I got lost because the GPS on my phone was showing one thing on the screen but the voice (so I thought) was telling me something completely different.  I managed to drive all the way to Eugene (in a very roundabout way) before realizing that the GPS in the CAR was talking to me the whole time and a completely different location was entered in it so while I thought it was my phone telling me what to do, it was a different robotic voice  trying to take me somewhere completely different.  I was not a happy camper. 

We're continuing Operation: Home Sweet Home and are pondering one we saw tonight.  It's a beautiful house but doesn't have the lot size we were hoping for...trying to weigh the pros and cons is almost as exhausting as trying to get six 5 year olds to stay in time-out simultaneously. 

Coastal Anniversary

Hoping the phrase "better late than never" applies here.  

We celebrated our first anniversary at a little cottage near the coast.

We enjoyed another trip the the lighthouse (no fog this time!) and some impromptu whale and seal watching on the beach followed by massages.  It was fabulous.

This photo makes it look like the leaning tower of lighthouse  but it was the photographer (it was me....shhh, don't tell) that was leaning. 

 

Andy enjoyed the fish and chips from Gracie's.

And I enjoyed this sign at the nearby convenience store. 

 When we returned home on Sunday, Shadow seemed to be very upset with her raccoon.  And proceeded to behead it. (note the headless body in front of her paws).

The Monday after our mini-vacay, I started my job.  I won't lie...the first week was rough.  I felt like each and every one of the 21 kindergartners beat me up.  I was (and still am) exhausted.  There are a couple of kiddos that are trouble makers and there is a lot of general unruliness so we're working on that.  I weighed my options and decided that bribery was the way to go.  So, we started the "Button Game" on Friday....the rules are simple.  Good deeds get a button.  The button goes in the jar (not in our mouth).  When the jar is full, we get to have a "celebration."  I'm thinking I should have gone with a smaller jar...or bigger buttons.

First Visitors!

We were thrilled to have Andy's dad, Jim and step mom, Val come and visit us over the holiday weekend!  We started off by visiting HP on Friday so Andy could show us the printers he works on.  We walked through several hallways before entering the test/lab area.  Lots of drums of printer ink, lab coats, goggles, etc.  We made our way over to see what I'm now referring to as Andy's printers.  They are HUGE.  Really impressive - especially when you see the giant rolls of paper feed through as people were printing test pages.  I wish I could have taken pictures.  We also got to see a 3D printer which creates prototypes, models, etc.  The man working with that printer looked like Christopher Lloyd's character in Back to the Future (long white hair and all) and was very happy to talk with us about his printers. 

On Saturday, we headed to Corvallis for the farmer's market and lunch.  Here is a photo of one of the blackberries we got.  The pint only had about 7 berries because they were so big. 

On Sunday, we ventured over to the coast.  When we arrived, fog had set in.  We still went to visit the lighthouse but as you can see from this father-son picture, we couldn't see much.

Andy and Jim went to Silver Falls on Monday for a hike and Andy was sad that the falls weren't flowing nearly as impressively as they were back in June when we went. 

We had a great time and were so happy they could come and visit us!  Shadow also really enjoyed the extra love and attention and decided to invite herself into their room so she could greet Jim and Val most mornings.  Labor Day marked our 1st anniversary...hard to believe!  We're heading to the coast this weekend to relax and celebrate -- using it as a good excuse to get away from the heat!   

Here's a picture of one of Shadow's favorite places to perch these days - sitting on the treadmill, right in front of the fan.

Retirement

So, the time has come where I need to retire from my full time job as a domestic goddess.  It's been a great three months but my only conversations between the hours of 8 and 5 are with the dog and despite all of her talents, she is not a conversationalist...excellent listener, though.  I start my part time job at the Boys and Girls Club in Corvallis on September 12th.  I'll be heading up after school program for the AM kindergarteners.  The hours are pretty much ideal (10am-2:30pm) and do not include any evenings or weekends (WAAAAAHOOOOOOOO!) so it's pretty much perfect.  It will still leave me time be a part time (domestic) diva.  And I'll get to talk to people during the day which will be nice...even if they are mostly 5 year olds.

Andy had to work late a few nights this week because of some problems that came up...and then his hard drive crashed.  If you've ever had that happen, you know it's the worst, and if your job is 100% computer based, it's even worse.  He was told that he will be working on the next generation of the printer so that's good, although he's not sure exactly what it will entail.

Since we don't have much to report, here are a few photos for the grandparents:

And in case you want to start shopping Christmas early, Rite Aid has some ideas for you...

Quick Update

On Saturday, we headed over to the coast for the day and visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium, complete with a sighting of one of my favorite animals, sea otters.

After the aquarium, we headed to Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport for a late lunch.  It's right across from the dock where they unload the fresh seafood.  Andy really liked the fish tacos and tuna kebobs.

 He also enjoyed his Blonde Bombshell beer.  I reminded him it would be the only kind of blonde bombshell he would ever have the chance to enjoy.  He responded with the obligatory "Yes, dear" and slight eye roll (I can't *really* blame him.)

 This sign caught us off guard.  I guess we're still not used to living on the coast.  

It's dry here and there are fire warnings throughout the state.  We're required to water the front lawn but neither one of us think it's a good use of clean water so we don't bother watering the back fenced in area.  The only down fall is that Shadow regularly comes in looking like this.

Dry grass anyone?  She proceeds to shake it all off ALL over the carpet 

(usually right after I've vacuumed).  It's a good thing she's so cute.

One last curiosity -- I was out exploring last week and came across this sign in front of an old diner. 

 

I wasn't sure I was reading it correctly when I drove by the first time but pulled off on the way back through and sure enough, Grandma's name was clear on the sign.  I imagined her giggling at the sight of it.  I love these little out of the blue reminders of loved ones.  

They remind you to stop and enjoy the day.  :)

Bonkers for Blueberries

Yesterday after Andy got off work, went went blueberry picking at this place.  They have 20 some varieties of blueberries.  We did some taste testing and then selected two varieties that we liked best and picked a few pounds.  Andy practically rubbed his belly the whole way home since he did a little binge eating while we were picking.  He pointed out to me that "they said it was ok to taste them."

The berries were gorgeous and plentiful and grow in bunches (like grapes) which I didn't learn until we moved here. 

 

Andy texted me from work today to tell me that while he was telling his co-workers about our berry picking, he realized that we are amateurs.  One of the guys mentioned he had also gone picking and came home with 27 pounds of blueberries.  We came home with 3 pounds.  Andy said we're going to have to go again so he gets some street cred back. 

Today, I went to pick up our free baking dish that we scored back in June when we bought our fancy new sauce pot.  I decided that it was the perfect blueberry cobbler pan.

 

 

 Big, beautiful blueberries.

 Right before going in the oven.

Not the prettiest finished product but DELICIOUS!

We are looking forward to the weekend!  We haven't had a free weekend together in over a month so we're ready! 

Crazy Done Right

The last few weeks have kept me crazy busy.  I headed out on a red eye to NYC on July 12th and just got back on Sunday.  It's good to be home.

I was running late on the night I flew out to New York so Andy went to pick up Chinese take out for us while I finished packing.  I opened my fortune cookie and found this:

Seemed fitting enough, given I was flying out in a few hours.

Andy opened his and found this:

Apparently, me leaving for 3 weeks was his refreshing change!?!  I wasn't sure if I should be upset with the fortune cookie gods or laugh so hard I could hardly breathe.  I went with the latter.



I arrived in NYC and had a few days to relax before Jenny's bachelorette party.  On Friday, we headed over to Fire Island for a great beach weekend!  Jen's pups went with us.

Roxie and Tony love the beach...almost as much as their Auntie A.

We had a great weekend on the island and enjoyed how different it is from the city...no cars, houses are left unlocked and almost everything closes at dark.  It was also really fun to meet Jen's friends and have a relaxing weekend.  I spent a few more days in NYC doing touristy things before heading to Iowa to visit my parents. I also got to see my dear friend Rio (Alana) twice!  During my time in Iowa, I went to Camp Tahigwa to help out for a few days.  I can't believe I used to do that all summer, every summer.  It was totally exhausting but so fun to see some of my camp friends.  They're the girls that you can be away from for months or years and pick up right where you left off. 

One of my camper's sidewalk chalk art

 After camp, it was back to NYC for the big wedding!  Jackie and I arrived late on Wednesday night.  My parents rented a gorgeous condo for the week and Andy and I were lucky enough to stay there with them.  On Thursday, went to the legendary Junior's with Mom and Dad for lunch.  We'd never been and it was so cute...and tasty!  Think diner with the most delicious cheesecake ever.

The raspberry swirl cheesecake was everything I hoped it would be

Mom tried the chocolate swirl cheesecake.

 On Friday, my mom, Jackie and I went to Kleinfeld's with Jenny to pick up her dress. 

We didn't see any camera crews but the place was hopping and a well oiled machine.

Getting the dress home was one hot adventure but luckily, we had a guy from Kleinfeld help us hail a cab.

The dress laid across our laps in the back and Jen sat in the front. 

The great dress.

Sadly, this is one of the only wedding day photos I took.  I was way too busy having fun, I guess!  The ceremony was beautiful and perfect.  The reception was also gorgeous, perfect and a hell of a lot of fun.  I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun at a wedding.  The reception was complete with a photo booth and while I didn't get any copies of my mom wearing the pirate props (Jenny, I need copies!), here are some of me and Andy.  

 Don't be shocked if you see these on our Christmas card.  :)