Off I go!

I start the trek home on Friday and I'm super excited! I will miss the 96 degree weather we had here today but I know I'm ready! My mom flies in tomorrow night to drive with me...so sweet. We're stopping Friday and Saturday night in Vegas to have some fun! She's never been before so we thought we might as well. Then we'll make the rest of the drive back in one day and will get into Eugene late Sunday night. We both have Monday off work so it shouldn't be too bad with a full day of driving. So, I will be out of commission for a few days but back to normal and online by Tuesday from Eugene!

Blogging for a living

So, I'm completely obsessed with coming up with an idea to blog for a living. Clearly, only a limited number of people want to read about my life, so this blog's not going to cut it; however, I've been reading so many blogs that have advertisements all over them and some people who even specifically say that's what they do and now I'm convinced I can come up with a topic to blog about, quit my job and be able to live comfortably off the wonderful living of Internet journaling. The only problem is, I have to come up with a topic people want to read about and even more difficult than that is finding people who want to pay me to advertise on my blog. Now I do recognize that this may take a long time to generate revenue, but I'm convinced it could happen. I'm sorta thinking about going with a blog on flowers. I do, afterall, have a little support on the topic from the family business and just think of all the advertising opportunities. Ok, now I'm starting to sound like someone who just finished business school....but anyways, really, if you have any ideas, send them my way!

EUG/PDX/Miriam/Donny's Wedding

As it turns out, I had a pretty busy weekend! I found out early last week that I would have an interview in Eugene on Friday and I had to fly out Thursday night to get there. The interview was with Pipeworks Studio (a video game developer) and the people were nice but it was definitely not a good fit. I would go into details but being that this is the Internet, you never know who could be reading this! Basically, to make a long story short, I called yesterday and told them I wasn't interested in being considered for the position anymore. However, it still worked out great because this weekend happened to be Donny Courtney's wedding, which also meant Blake and Miriam were in town! A free flight into Eugene and out of Portland to see friends, family and in particular Miriam, was perfect! It was so fun to see her because she's truly a little toddler now, running around, talking and full of imagination. I can't help but just adore her when she says my name in the cutest little way :) Plus, Blake was pretty busy most of the weekend with wedding stuff and Andie stayed home since she didn't want to travel while she is pregnant, so in a way I got to play surrogate mom, which is easy for a baby who doesn't cry! Donny's wedding was also a lot of fun. It was crazy to see so many high school people who I haven't seen in years. There are a couple pictures below, although most are of Miriam. Everyone seemed to be doing really well so it was nice to catch up, meet significant others I hadn't met, etc.

Dave and Donny

Kelley, Lori and Karissa

Doug, Sarah, Lindsey and Dave

Miriam and me getting our groove on all night long...that girl's a party animal!

Sarah, Miriam and Addi (Sarah's daughter)...Miriam and Addi became such good friends Addi started bawling when Miriam was leaving!

Blake dipping Miriam on the dance floor...they'd been practicing this move for weeks!

Blake and Miriam

Miriam w/ Grandma Cookie

Mims and Aunt Laurie

Movers

Well, my movers came today so I am officially furnitureless. I had to have them come this far ahead of time because it was the easiest day for me to be able to work from home and thus not have to take a vacation day. I went a couple weeks without furniture when I moved down here, so while it's not fun, I know I can do it. Plus, I'm heading up to Eugene on Thursday for a job interview, Portland on Friday to see Miriam and go to a friend's wedding and back to PHX on Sunday so that's at least a few days not having to be spent in an empty apartment. It will be nice too because I'm leaving Sophie in Eugene so I won't have to worry about her for a couple weeks. However, with an empty apartment and no dog, I'm going to have to find stuff to keep me busy!

Cave Creek Wine Bar

My friend Shannon's fiance was out of town for the weekend so a few of us girls decided to get together and drive a little ways north to Cave Creek for dinner and wine. I had never met Faith before and she was hilarious all night long so I'm so glad she was able to go with us! We were at the wine bar for maybe 2 hours and shared a cheese platter with the most amazing cheeses, a mixed bruschetta platter, a delicious salad with rasperries, mangos, avocado, grilled chicken and this interesting habanero mango dressing, and lastly, a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne! Everything was SO delicious and I'm thinking I might take my mom there in a couple weeks when she flies into town.

As we were leaving the wine bar to head to another place called Cocomo Joe's, a lady came running out after us. She asked us how old we were because she had a 27-year-old friend with her from India who she wanted to hook up with one of us! Being that Shannon just got engaged, Faith lives with her boyfriend, I am moving to OR in just a couple weeks and Jackie only dates Jewish guys, we let her know that none of us were available. However, Shannon being WAY too nice offered to go in and meet him. His name was Raj and as it turned out, they were headed to Cocomo Joe's just like we were! So, to make a long story short, the entire rest of the night became a game of trying to figure out how we could avoid Raj and his 60-year-old housemates! I can't possibly tell the story quite as funny as it was experiencing it in person, but let me just say...it was quite a night! Here's a few pics from the night:

Me, Jackie and Shannon

Faith and the guy who bought her a $100 bottle of champagne in the background

Faith and Nina

Shannon and Faith

Me, Jackie, Shannon and Faith