Christmas 2008

The Arctic Blast 2008 caused some major plan changes which left me and Marcel alone to spend Christmas together. This was the first time we had spend December 25th together and we had a great first Christmas. I am also looking forward for our first married Christmas next year!!

We woke up to a white Christmas and even received some new flurries! After opening our presents, we made monkey bread, which was breakfast and lunch :) Then we went to the theaters to see Valkyrie. The adventure in that was that we got stuck on my road trying to get there. On our way home we decided to shovel out my road even more so I'd be able to get to work the next morning. As soon as we had finished we lost power. We continued inside to light all our candles and make emergency food in case it didn't come back on soon. After that was completed, the power came on and we started our Christmas dinner: ham, homemade french fries, corn and chocolate pie! It wasn't as extravagant as others, I'm sure, but for our first holiday meal, it was a huge success!

Some of the best pictures!

"Always Kiss Me Goodnight"

Marcel and his coveted new beanie

On our way out to the theater

Proud of our wonderful meal

I'm So Over Snow

I think I jinxed Portland's weather. A week before this awful storm started I said I'd do anything for some snow here and even hoped for a White Christmas. In Portland, I thought it was just wishful thinking that there would be no possible way. Well we ventured out again today--and now Kelly and I hate the snow!

Our story in pictures!

This was where we left off last night, at least with my car. Kelly's did look better but not much.

So after we walked 10 minutes down the road to the store we decided that if we were already dressed warm we might as well try our luck at getting chains on our vehicles, since they are required in our entire county on all vehicles.

Step 1: Measure the snow--this used to be fun, but it's losing the coolness factor each day!

Yeah that's right your eyes are not deceiving you. 15 inches!

Step 2: Begin using some of our awesome winter weather supplies

Again you are seeing correctly, one of our favorite piece of equipment the last 2 days has been our dust pan. Other items used include our indoor broom (why would we possibly have a big outdoor one?), a rake (as much as our parents laughed at us it came in very handy), and lastly a gardening shovel that Kelly had so luckily never returned to her parent's house.

Result of Step 2:

Look its our driveway!

Step 3: Put on chains

This part actually went pretty easily, no complaining here except Kelly did it without gloves on...Brrr!

Step 4: Drive 1/4 mile in order to get chains tightened...

This is where we stopped taking pictures, but the rest of the story goes like this:

We were so proud of ourselves for being 2 girls and shoveling all day and finally get chains on a car and we excited to finally leave our house (even if only for .25 mile!). We made it about 5 feet before we couldn't go any further. Kelly's car got a bit high centered on our snow piled driveway. Then began more shoveling with our infamous supplies. An hour later we left like we had finally made a dent in how our driveway looks so she tried to move her car. Lucky for us, our work had paid off and she was able to drive again. We were yelling at the snow for the entire 3 hours we were outside trying to unbury our cars and finally decided that for now we don't want to see anymore snow. It even decided to snow some more while we were struggling so much. I hope knowing we were out there for 3 hours makes this blog seem like what we went through. I thought the step 1, step 2, thing made it seem really easy when it was far from that way! Our goal for the day was to get chains on both of our cars and to drive around the block in each car so we're able to resume life tomorrow, but in the end we got chains on 1 car and didn't make it out of our driveway. I still feel really accomplished! In the end, I'm never again going to wish for something weather-wise again.

PS- This is now officially the worst storm Portland has had in December since 1968, and the 4th most in a season in the last 30 years. We are very grateful that we could be here to be a part of history!!

Snow Storm in Forest Grove

It has been snowing since I got up this morning and since my work shift got cancelled I have thoroughly enjoyed doing nothing but staying dressed warm and scrapbooking my day away all while enjoying the snow storm. Every few hours me and Kelly go and very officially check the snowfall with our ruler. This last time we decided to take pictures to document the adventure it was!

Our "official" measuring shows 10 inches in our front yard, well more like sidewalk since I wasn't going to put my feet into the pile while being in my warm pajamas

Kelly's car (with mine and Amy's in the background) covered with snow. We are finding it very funny and ironic that Amy is in warm weather while her car is getting covered with snow.


My attempt to keep up with Kelly for artistic pictures! I like how my flash captured the snowflakes so well...

We've never remembered to do anything with our borrowed lawn chairs, like maybe put them in our garage, because we NEVER go in the backyard, but that is the very reason we went back there tonight.

These are Kelly's footprints in the snow when she was trying to measure the pyramid on our table, kinda seen in the picture above! It doesn't show very well either that with about another inch of snow we will officially be snowed it, at least through our back door.

Maybe for the first Christmas I'm not in Idaho I'll actually get a White Christmas!

Christmas Decorations!

So in keeping with the holiday spirit I decided I'd take a picture of how I'm decorating my house for Christmas this year. I am finally in the Christmas spirit after Zoo Lights and am listening to nothing but Christmas music, which is huge for me, and am loving all our snow!

As some of you may know, I won't be returning home to Idaho for Christmas until the 27th (I got an extra day off, it was supposed to be the 28th!) so I'll be having my first Christmas away from my parents and sisters. Marcel, his mom and little brother are headed back here in the next few days to spend Christmas with me so I'm not completely alone. They will then drive to Idaho on the 26th and we'll all drive back on the 30th--hoping the roads aren't closed between here and there. One of my roommates is already at home and the other will be going home Monday so it is up to me to supply the Christmas decorations. I did buy some stockings for me and Marcel but after I got them home and realized they weren't going to be Christmas presents from Santa I decided I don't really like them. Marcel and I are going to hit some big after Christmas sales so we have stuff to decorate next year even if I have to do it twice (we'll hopefully be moving back to Idaho mid-December 2009)

The big decorations:

I colored a Christmas tree with the little kids at work, even had so few kids because of our snow storm that we got to glitter so it even has Christmas lights and a gold star at the top! I think before Christmas I'll do some rearranging of the furniture so that our presents look pretty but for now my house has the presents for Marcel and what the 2 of us got Snoh & Coco.

P.S. If you click on the picture it makes it really big and you can look at the tree up close :)

My first coffee

Yesterday I redeemed my gift card at Starbucks for a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocoa, after having a small sip of someone's a few weeks ago at work. I've tried sips of people's coffee drinks for years and have never found one I thought I'd buy for myself knowing that I'd never drink the whole thing. This one is absolutely delicious and I'm particularly grateful to have found a caffeinated beverage that I enjoy. I will be working an over night shift at Banana Republic tomorrow from 9pm-6am, after working 24 Hour Fitness from 4-830pm. It will be a long night tomorrow but one that should be lots of fun with the help of what will be more than 1 cup of coffee!

Snow!!

WE HAVE SNOW IN FOREST GROVE!!!

Now I'm just hoping to have a white christmas which is always my hope for Christmas. My work shift was cancelled because they closed early and chances are that it will probably be cancelled in the morning as well as tomorrow was supposed to be the day of snow so it will only be continuing.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have to get dressed up warm again and go throw snow balls at Marcel. I'll make sure to take some pictures as well, because a post without a picture just isn't the same :)

Zoo Lights

Saturday night Marcel and I braved the "Arctic Chill" as the news has been calling it and went to experience Zoo Lights for the first time. We had had it planned for that night before the snow and freezing temperatures and we decided to go through with it anyway. It was a nice 35 degrees but no precipation.

This was me after dressing warm, including 5 layers on top (that includes a 2 layer jacket) and leggings (a pair of my 24 HR Fitness work pants) and jeans on bottom. My one regret was that I forgot to switch to my soft fluffy warm socks.

We spent a long time in line in order to ride a:

to see the entire zoo in lights. We weren't very good photographers while on the train but it was still beautiful and definitely worth the wait in the cold, without hot chocolate because I had just deposited all my cash--it's too dangerous to carry around!

The only animal we saw in person was a

and we even saw one that was just 4 months old. See

Here are some of my favorites of our artwork.

Overall it was great night and a great date before Marcel heads back to Washington for Christmas break...just in time to return to Forest Grove with his mom and brother for Christmas here with me before our quick trip to Idaho (in which we'll do Christmas and also leave him on his own so I can go wedding dress shopping!)

Photos by Snoh

The two weekends before Thanksgiving Coco and Snoh had been in Portland to watch Marcel's concerts. This is really when we noticed Snoh's new interest in photography...Here's some of my favorites! Part of Amy's movie collection!

He couldn't figure out how to hold the camera with one hand to take a picture of his own hand so I lent mine!

I had to take this one but I'm in love with it!


Back to Snoh's art! Kelly was getting her camera ready for our engagement picture session and he thought that was photo worthy...so did I!

Thanksgiving

I had a great, but very busy, Thanksgiving this year. Because of my crazy schedule from working 2 jobs we had a limited amount of time to head to Olympia. We left Wednesday at 9pm and left about 7pm Thursday so I could be functioning enough to work BLACK FRIDAY at 6:30am!

Coco (Marcel's mom) hosted Thanksgiving at her house, which never happens. They always party hop from house to house. They had tons of food, most of which I don't eat (just like at Thanksgiving's at home) and company, including Marcel's cousins who adore me!

Next we headed over to Marcel's dad's house for Thanksgiving #2--thankfully we didn't eat again, just had a small dessert on our way out. Also we were coming in as most people were going out. This was the first time we had seen him since getting engaged and he and his new wife (as of August 30th) were helpful in handing out wedding tips!

We spent the drive back to Oregon wedding planning. We know a lot more now than I would have thought we'd already know but it has been a long week or so of getting to that point. We even looked at our location again yesterday to remind our brains that everything will be great! Only 3 more weeks until I go wedding dress shopping :)

Snoh has taken a great interest in photography and this was one of his pieces of art work! It's better than any of the ones we took of ourselves. Good thing he's the 3 year old :)

Me and my soon-to-be little brother!
This trip he even said I could be his sister...How thoughtful!

Engagement Pictures

Last Sunday, we took advantage of a sunny day in Oregon (in November they don't come around too often here) and had one of my friends and roommate and even bridesmaid to take some engagement pictures at the same park where Marcel proposed. Thanks Kelly, you're the best and we'll cherish these always! We even wore clothes in our wedding colors (pink & orange) that we picked based on our flower choice (daisy).

There are tons of good ones, even of us being very much ourselves by being silly kids at heart! Here are some of MY favorites in no particular order, even a little disorganized based on how I uploaded them. I'm too tired to fix them :)

This is where he actually popped the question!

Kisses forever

I told you a better one of my ring would come one day!

Somedays this is all of his hand he'll let me have!

The classic engagement picture!

Us being our fun, silly, kid selves

Love :)

Probably my absolute favorite...
the swing I was in when he proposed!

Hooray for the swings

Wedding Update

Yesterday I turned in an application for reserving a location for our wedding. After what feels like forever of trying to pick a place, we made a very logical decision to get married at:

PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

It has been our home for the last 4 years and without it we wouldn't have ever met. We are both so proud of our university (my alma mater now!) and couldn't think of a better place to take the next step in our relationship. The plus side to being on campus instead of somewhere else is that we are also able to reserve something inside just in case Oregon weather acts up that weekend!

FYI: The date is still Saturday, May 30, 2009! Save the Date cards will be sent out shortly :)

I'm a Working Woman

I have made it through my first full week of work at both jobs. As of now, I'm enjoying both of them very much and can't wait too see how they'll both turn out.

24 Hour Fitness is very low-key. Basically I baby-sit kids for up to 2 hours while their parents are working out, something I need to start doing again, now that I have a free membership there! I will be working the evening shift there (the gym never closes but Kid's Club does at 8:30pm) so I'll be getting a whole new bunch of kids than who I've met this week in the mornings. Also, even though it's only part-time I am eligible for health insurance benefits. It is very nice to have a job with a uniform of a provided top and any black athletic pants I choose and tennis shoes. Talk about comfy :)

Banana Republic is right up my alley. I am what they call a "Non-sell" or "Stock Associate" which means my main responsibility is working shipment days (Thursdays 7am!) to unload the boxes and individually wrapped items. Also, I work behind the scenes organizing the back stock into neat piles of matching items in size order. Everything I do there is about organization which probably one of my strongest personality trait. The uniform is far from the one at 24HF, but I've always (well since about high school) enjoyed dressing up but rarely have an excuse to do so, so it has been nice so far to get that chance. I'm excited to be starting there just a few weeks before Thanksgiving to give me a chance to get my head wrapped around the place before we get super-duper busy.

Halloween

This year is the first time in the three Halloweens that me and Marcel have been together that we have actually decided to celebrate/acknowledge the holiday. We didn't go look for costumes until the 29th and it was STRESSFUL! I didn't find anything I liked and the thought of going out scared me, because it isn't quite my scene. After another trip to the costume shop and two stops to Jo-anne's we had all the materials we needed for some unique homemade costumes (explained below). We didn't end up going out. Instead we took Snoh (Marcel's little brother) trick or treating, went to a party hosted by the pastor who will be marrying us in less than 7 months!, and went back home and watched movies. It might not be the most Halloween thing we could have done but we were together and that was the most important thing to us!

Dorothy and the Jalapeno

Brothers trick or treating--Snoh was Buzz Lightyear

A more complete look at Dorothy--even with red shoes

Saturday we babysat Snoh and some of his cousins
It was like playing mom and dad for the weekend :)

The apartment squirrel that attacked me--
he climbed up to my hip before I could shake him off!

MaryBeth & Coco--mother-in-law to-be!

Brotherly love during game night!

Vacation Recap

I have been back for about a day now after 5 days in Chanute, Kansas where my littlest sister Hannah has been living since summer. The town is very small, without much to do, but we kept plenty busy!

A small recap:
6 trips to Wal-Mart
5 new people I met--the family Hannah lived with before moving to Chanute
4 trips to Sonic for happy hour
3 nights watching movies
2 hour drive between the airport and Chanute
1 great visit

Also, not included:
*staying in Topeka for a day in the big city
*Neosho County Community College baseball World Series Game 1
*visiting a nursing home (it makes sense, trust me!)
*shopping at Maurices, my favorite store ever, which is too far away from me now
*late nights and late mornings without setting alarms

Mom, thanks for a great birthday trip! It was a blast. Hannah, thank you so much for letting us invade your apartment and even giving up your bed for us! Also, you are a pretty good gift idea giver--I never would have thought to ask for a trip to Kansas, but I had an absolute blast!

Vacation to Kansas!

It has been years and years since I've been there, but now with my littlest sister living there, my mom and I are headed on a cross country venture for a long overdue visit. It was Hannah's idea for me to receive plane tickets for my birthday and I thought it was a great idea so here we come! She's been in Kansas for more than a year and this is my first visit. Being in school last year made it very difficult to join in on any of the visits other family members took.

I'll be back late Monday night (after a trip to IKEA with Marcel when he picks me up at the airport so we can get an idea of stuff we might want to register for!!) and will have pictures up the next day!

Job Search Over

I got a call just a few hours ago with a second job offer. I'll be working part-time at:

as a Kid Club Attendant. I'm excited to be working again after a little over a month of being unemployed. How nice it will be to finally be getting a paycheck again!

I'm Employed (again!)

After almost a month of not working regularly, just a few babysitting gigs here and there, I have a job! I'm going to be working at :

It's only part-time so the job search isn't over yet, but at least I'll have a regular income again, just in time to prepare myself financially (and mentally) to start paying back my student loans in December. I don't start for about a week, but I thought I'd let everyone know that I'm no longer an unemployed college graduate :)