This is the way I live...

why her last name is wang

2009-04-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

vera got her chach sewed up yesterday. no babies for her!

we have been putting it off for a while...only cause we knew it would be such a pain in the ass for multiple reasons. mostly money, oh and the lil wayne concert (had to cancel and reschedule her surgery for that of course) but also cause vera is high maintenance...(i have no idea where she got that from) and we figured something simple that most cats just deal with no-problemo would be an issue for her. we were right.

it started tuesday night at 10pm when i had to take away her food and water. she ate a snack at 9:45 i gave her some fresh water, she took a couple sips than ran off grabbed her teal cheetah mouse with the black sparkle feathers and went into my room. so i put her food in the black cabinet where we store her litter and things. on top of the black cabinet is a bag of wisker likings and some small brown paper bags - {lunch bags}. not five minutes after i picked up her food was she over there scratching at the door then up on the shelf chewing on the wisker likings bag. she doesn't even really like them all that much. half the time she puts them in her mouth than leaves them on the rug. so this behavior was out of the ordinary. and anytime i would go over there to get her off she would just bite me then run to the door of the cabinet and scratch again. this went on for about an hour, until i went to bed. the next morning when i walked to the shower all of the brown little lunch bags where scattered everywhere. awesome.

dropped her off at the vet, she wasn't happy at all about this. i worried about her all day of course until i picked her up at 5:45. the vet said she did excellent. however the second she woke up and could see straight enough to notice the bandaid on her paw where they had put the iv in her she ripped it off...but that wasn't a problem. they gave me some antibotics, and several instructions - non of which were relating to licking of the wound. so asked about that. they said "oh yeah, no licking, however cats hardly ever lick...unless for some reason they are obsessive compulsive cleaners...its normally just the dogs that have a problem. but if for some odd reason she does lick you will need to get a cone for her neck." i was all like, hmm ok...well that's good then i won't worry about it...and off we went

we got home - and as soon as i opened vera's kennel she went from greasy, tired, worn out baby to perky, energetic, "thank god i am home and out of that skank ass joint" cat that ran straight to her food to make sure it was out of the cupboard to an immediate obsessive compulsive cleaner that wouldn't stop liking her stitches if someone where to put a buffet of fresh salmon and a costco kirkland chicken in front of her face.

basically she went nuts...and acted as if her sole purpose in life was to lick off those stitches. so of course not five seconds after i was home i was back in the car off to hunt down a cat cone.

there isn't one thing about this thing that she likes. but it does keep her from licking...poor girl, i do feel bad...it was a rough day for us yesterday.

brain dump pt. two

2009-04-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

so remember about this blog post? yeah...i know i know, you are all like duh we remember it...you suck at blogging these days so obviously we remember that post cause it was only like two times ago...

well anyway it is now april and that means SO much has happened...to quick recap & update you...i worked out for the entire month of january...and then i stopped (but i will be getting back on that one soon!)...tara's wedding is coming along! my dress is ordered...and so is hers! i also helped her order her wedding cake weekend before last, her wedding is going to be beautiful and i can't wait!, sister's birthday is getting closer! wahoo!! plane tickets are bought and paid for - love that story! its so official it's not even a joke, talk about best (and much needed trip) ever! vegas here we come!, crest whitening strips - totally used them, totally was a fan but not totally sure they made the most long term change in the world, verdict is still out on that one...and the dance team - coaching is my favorite :) the girls got 11th in the nation in hip hop and we also had state in march- they got 3rd...its an honor and a joy to coach such a talented team, they are a blessing!

and i can finally, officially share my other exciting news stories of 2009...that i have had to keep buried for so many reasons...

but here it is...

6. i have finally made the decision (after almost 3 years of contemplating) to go back to school to get my masters degree. yup! that's right...and i can officially say it because on monday i received this fabulous little note in my email inbox "On behalf of the MAT selection committee, Congratulations on being accepted into the University of Portland's 2009-2010 MAT cohort." WAHOO!! It is official, i am going back to grad school. i just got the official letter in the mail when i got home last night from work...i totally was going to scan it in, but i forgot it at home so that will have to come later. in short here is the deal. i applied back in january - application required some essays, 4 letters of recommendation, transcript, an interview from the MAT selection committee, and a passing test score for one of my three entrance exams (totally passed the ORELA! taking my next two tests within the next 14 days - the CBEST and the social studies praxis...which might i add is hella crazy...totally not overwhelming to be asked 150 questions over ANYTHING relating to us history, world history, government, politics, geography, sociology, anthropology or psychology. --UM YEAH, NO...NOT!...and that's not even all...there are 7 essays to. its gonna be a fun one!) anyway i got accepted. school starts in june, its a year long program and i will graduate next may with my masters in secondary education to teach high school history.

leading me to my next point...
6.5. (this is part six because it kind of directly pertains to the switching of the career path) i will be leaving this family, the rewestpr girls' family on april 30. such a bitter sweet. these past two years have been filled with so many laughs, good times, learning experiences and ridiculous adventures (you can read some here) i will miss these girls a lot!

7. and just in case changing my entire career and daily live in one day isn't enough i will also be moving out of my house and into a new house at the end of the month. so good bye old blue house that is so deceivingly adorable with your high ceilings, cute molding and hard wood floors. i sure as hell won't be missing your skank ass unfinished dirty old basement {home of wolf spiders and tarantula wanna-be's}, the homeland of sugar ants that like to invade mac computers and create $480 extermination bills, the neighbor to crazy old woman who builds bonfires in black plastic planter containers with small starter sticks in the middle of the street, puts 40 cubes of butter out on the sidewalk to feed the seagulls and randomly decides its a good idea to chuck eggs at cars as they drive by on their way to work in the morning...no i will not be missing you because i will be living in an adorable recently remodeled three bedroom, TWO full bath home that has a theatre room, bar, laundry room (wahoo!!) AND...drum roll please for the best part...A DISHWASHER!!! hells yeah woot woot {do a little dance...make a little love...} i can't wait!

needless to say may is going to be a big turning point in my life and i am so so excited about it. it has definitely been a stressful, intense, and challenging few months...full of sleepless nights, tears, anxiety, tension and anxiousness...(just ask my family...they know all about it, or friends - they also know all about it considering they haven't seen me for four months...unless they belong to the laker dance team or sit next to me in the office all day long - and trust me those ones probably know about it best) but i can finally say that i am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...and the entire journey has absolutely been worth it. the countdown has begun - 20 days and counting.

here is a picture to summarize the excitement (courtesy of my mother)

in case you ever wondered....

2009-02-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

i'm going to guess that most of you have never wondered this before...and probably you don't really care about what the world is like at 3:00am. but for the sheer fact that i got to experience it this morning i was all like i guess i will at least tell my blog about it. so that's what i'm doing.

let's be real about one thing. the only time anyone is (or should ever) be up and around at 2:30am is when they are coming home (maybe a little faded) and going to bed. pretty sure it should be illegal for people to wake up at this hour. in fact alarm clock companies should just make a deal with the world that they won't function prior to 5am...5am is gross but anything before that is just wrong.

check it...

that is the official number i read while parking at the oregon convention center this morning.

it was dark, freezing and my car windows were icy. sick. i passed 7 cars total between my house and OCC. sick. the parking garage metal gates were down, i had to use the swiper and i set the extremely loud alarm off. sick. my window decided to have an electrical issue when i tried to roll it back up from using the swiper and wouldn't roll back up, so it was left half down today. sick. i was the first person (apart from 1 security guard) to enter the convention center today. sick. it is 2:27 and i have already worked an 11 hour day. sick. i am guess you are finding a trend with this mornings activities...there was a lot of sick going around...although, in fairness it wasn't all nasty...some of it was actually kind of awesome...

here's why -- i got to work with drew carney again today!! and rose marie nicols mcgee (yeah i know right? tight ass name!! she is a speaker at the show...and drew did one of his segments on her....)

plus sister and i got approved for our new house and we sign the lease this weekend! it has a laundry room WITH a brand new washer and dryer...i feel spoiled...not to mention it has TWO full bathrooms, a fancy new bar, huge video projector screen in the basement (aka the tv!), garbage disposal...AND the best part of the whole entire house...the dishwasher!! i never realized what a luxury a dishwasher was. like most things, you never realize how amazing until you don't have it...a dishwasher is one of those things.

the new look

2009-02-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

so i haven't blogged much about the cat lately. little vera is not so little anymore...i mean she isn't huge or anything shes skinny wild and crazy as ever...and the fact that she must run everywhere rather than walk is probably part of what keeps her skinny ass so thin...she's good.

however this blog isn't about her. this blog is about my other cat. bella. i got bella when i was a freshman in college. however i got her when i lived in the dorms so she she had to live at home with my parents for a while. the plan was that she would move in with me when i finally got a place of my own, however she ended up being a really weird cat with slight mental issues. we were all afraid that if we uprooted her from the comfort of what is under my old bed at my parents house and move her not only out of the bedroom but out of the house completely and into an entirely new place she may just convulse out of nervousness and fall over dead. so we decided it was probably best just to leave her...and my mom and dad didn't mind too much considering they maybe see her once every other week when she slinks to the laundry room to eat a bite of food or the once-a-month my mother digs her out from under the bed to go to her grooming appointment. see the thing is bella is a white persian cat. she has lots of hair. lots of thick white cotton fluffy hair. that mats. hard core. nonetheless it was time for her grooming...normally when the cats go get groomed they come back looking gorgeous luscious...smelling fabulous with whispy flowing fluff fur...well this time not so much.

mom went to pick up the cats and this is what happened to bella.

she got shaved. she hates it...runs around with her tail between her legs and shivers like someone through her naked ass out into the middle of arctic blast 2008. but personally i think she looks awesome! not only does she look like she's wearing white uggs...but now when you hold her you don't get covered in eight inch long white hairs. she may have to get used to the new look. it may be a permanent one.

disney...and the results

2009-02-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

pretty sure that this past week i just experienced was probably one of the BEST times i have had in my entire life...

no joke. lets recap.

6 straight days of laughing...i don't even remember the last time i have done so much laughing...and i am pretty sure on more than one occasion i had to concentrate hard on not peeing my pants. reasons you ask? i blame these two...

i can't even remember everything we laughed at...because basically it was everything and im sure people thought we were nuts cause most of the stuff we thought was funny probably wasn't. i'm guessing it was the combination of almost zero sleep and trying to manage 24 teenagers in disney world that made us go a little nuts.
but here are some fav moments...nonetheless.
-seniorenas and jason
-being on thunder mountain when it broke (total salt) - i have a video about that...i'll post it.
-going on splash mountain...purposefully sitting in the back so we wouldn't get wet...made it through once totally dry but then the douche bags working the ride thought it would be funny to send us through a second time (literally pushed the button and sent us through without even asking - there last words "oh...sorry we are on a schedule") only this time we got NAILED by the water and were sopping wet...
-1/2 hour conversations about salt, phones, salad and dressing
-hayley's laugh
-old school disney cartoons
-waffle cone ice creams
-recycled air
-which chipmunk has one tooth and which has two
-world's best mom trophys
-monorail lines at the contemporary hotel when denise educates me on babies daddies, affairs and other important stuff...
-10second camera timers
-salt
-the skit

i love them...

also who i love...are THESE GIRLS!!!

seriously. they crack my shit up! hell yes they can drive me INSANE..but i wouldn't trade them for the world. they are adorable, funny, hard working (most of the time), silly, hilarious, sweet, and watching them dance is my favorite thing ever.

our routine was pretty much ridiculous amazing...and if you have yet to see it please go to varsity.com and search lake oswego and watch it...because i couldn't be prouder of them!!! dude learn about us being the 11 BEST high school hip hop team in the entire united states...kind of AWESOME!!!!

this was us at awards ceremony...please just look at how amazing that finals stage is!! talk about once in a life time experiences!!

i love coaching this team...i wouldn't trade them for the world!! and these are moments i will cherish forever - because i am not quite sure i will ever have a team that i love so much.

here's to the rest of the season - and making the next six weeks the best most fun times ever!!

the neighbor

2009-01-27T09:40:00.001-08:00

she lives alone (i think). she is sixtyish...she works at fred meyer...and i used to think she was weird...

back in the days of fall when she would trim her rose bushes down in the dark - and not just the dark, but we are talking 11pm dark. scissors in one hand flash flight in another...i also thought she was weird for turning on a big flood light and chopping fire wood till 10:30 at night. maybe a little more than weird, maybe a little creepy. something about an old lady with an axe out in the dark chopping stuff up is odd.

well creepy weird lady turned to crazy lady when one morning about 10ish days ago or so - while i was making some of the fav. tea before going to work i saw her out my kitchen window chucking eggs at cars. yup! that's right. eggs. at. cars...and not just a couple but an entire carton full...there were something like 35 eggs smashed in the street. wtf.

don't worry it gets weirder...

last weekend i was woken up by skwauking seagulls...about 200 of them...they were acting like someone had just thrown 30 cubes of butter into the street for them to eat...and i think maybe it had even been soaked in some sort of magic "here-seagulls-i-know-you-are-totally-obsessed-with-butter-so-come-and-get-it" juice. cause they were acting like i would act if someone were to throw 500, 1-million dollar bills onto the street. and who on earth would put that much butter on the street you're wondering? yup my neighbor.

she did it the next morning too...

i wish so badly i had pictures to share of all of this, but considering she manages to always come up with something new...like last nights chopping of fire wood - into small starter sticks and then placing them into black plastic planter pots and lighting mini bonfires in the street...i'm sure that there will be more stories to come and i will definitely be sure that my camera is ready to take some photos...

on a side note...we leave for nationals tomorrow...I AM SO EXCITED and so so very nervous. I hope my next post is an exciting one :) wish us look and send good thoughts!!

a brain dump...

2009-01-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

it is a new year...and that means a fresh start for me!!

so instead of looking back and thinking about what a bad blogger i have been...and all the other things in my life i have put on the back burner...we are going to focus on the good...the future...the moving forward...no sense bringing up old news - we all know i was a serious slacker of all things important ..but its time to move on...not my chair not my problem, that's what i always say - (sister probably you are the only one in the world that understood that. ok maybe not...maybe katie - you did...)

and just so others don't feel left out - learn about this video its hilarious shit.

anyway long story short...life is good. i feel like for the first time in a long time i am finally back on track...things will take a while to unfold and really its all about baby steps...but i think this year is going to be a very very exciting one!! for so many reasons...

i can't share all of them today...but here are some to get you started- and in no particular order

1. i am back in the gym - i know what!!? wait...i will repeat that in case you thought maybe you went blind for a sec and didn't read that right, or that you had a small stroke and your brain waves didn't process that phrase correctly...but it's true!! commitment to fitness is back and i am totally into it...being back in the gym feels oh so great! i know right? who misses working out??! but i love it...

2. i was asked to be a bridesmaid for the first time ever!! i am thrilled, excited, and beyond looking forward to all the fun times to come!! and best of all its tara's wedding!! aug 8th is going to be a fabulous day!!!

3. sister turns 21 this year...and we booked our hotel rooms in vegas!!! family tradition...big birthdays means girl trip to vegas...and if you even understand how my family does girls trips well then you would know why i am counting seconds for that favorite city of mine!!! we get to stay at paris...and yipeee im seriously so excited!!

4. i started using crest whitening strips...i have been wanting to for a long time, but just never have...one time a long time ago i did the whole professional whitening thing - where you get the bite guard and do that gel stuff...and sleep in it...but it hurt my teeth so bad it was like sharp machetes shooting in my face everytime i breathed in cold air...so i have been scared to try whitening strips ever since...but with a commitment to fitness, a wedding to look forward to and vegas...now is as good of a time as any to give them a second chance...im only three days in...but so far so good. - i'll let you know

5. i leave for florida in 2 weeks from today!! nationals baby...and i can't wait...this year has been such a roller coaster year of coaching...it has been one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life...but on so many levels the most rewarding. those girls bring me so much joy and it will be an experience of a life time to take them to disney world and watch them compete something that has taken us so many hours to construct, build, and perfect. it's going to be amazing...coaching is truly a blessing on so many levels.!!

there is more...so so much more...but so far this year is shapping up to be a great one and i can't wait to watch it unfold - i just hope it doesn't go by to quickly!!

cheers to 2009! (better late than never!!)
and my pledge to doing things i love! (including this damn blog of mine!)

ok, so once again i guess i suck...

2008-12-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

not to make excuses about anything...but here is my theory...when i spend 8 hours (sometimes 9 hours) on this computer here everyday i guess when i get home the last thing i want to do is get back on the computer when i am home to blog. it's annoying and i hate that because i LOVE to blog! it's fun to write about stuff that i like...it's fun to play with words and have the freedom to say whatever...i mean don't get me wrong, not that its anything shy of entertaining to tell the world about colons and acne and how many hops are in the latest 22ounce brew - but that's the thing, work stuff i have to do...blog stuff i get to do. and i get to do it about anything i chose!

anyway that's that. i am a blogger slacker and if you read this blog then i am sorry but that is just how it has to be - and i am finally ready to accept it rather than to be mad about it.

anyway i have lots to say, mostly cause lots goes on in my world everyday! but also i had a really awesome four day weekend. i wish every weekend could be four days long. it was glorious. plus also it was thanksgiving and i got to eat like crazy.

so hopefully someday i will get around to writing about that...but for now i will just share my day yesterday.

according to my mom, yesterday was suppose to be our luckiest day of the year...and not just year but luckiest day in a long time i guess...and that is according to the fact that i am a gemini? my mom's into horoscopes and lucky days and all that...not because she lives for all the fancy psychic stuff but any excuse to win at that oregon lottery business she'll take it...anyway i was instructed to buy lottery tickets yesterday by her...since that's not exactly the kind of stuff i care about i kind of forgot - but looking back on yesterday i think that i actually had a really lucky day...and mostly because it was probably one of the funnest (yes i used a word that isn't in websters - get over it) days i have had in a long long time, so you know what? screw lottery tickets...yesterday's activities were better than that. i got to play all day with two of my best friends. i love these girls.

we don't really get to play all that often together any more. see the thing is - laura lives in arizona too many days out of the year...

and plus i know my days with danielle are limited cause then she goes to college too...and lots of people may think it's weird that two of my best friends are so much younger than i am...but you know what i think? i think it doesn't matter because also i have my sister, and i have this other fabulous person who is almost double my age and i love her to pieces...so really i don't think it matters how old your friends are- if you are smart, you snag up those awesome, hilarious, nice and fancy bitches and never let them go! regardless of age...

so here's to my luckiest day of the year and to those special moments with my friends that i cherish every second of.

we got starbucks and went to the park....

a little bit obsessed with those fall colors...
and when things are fancy you have to play with them. like these leaves...

and we did other stuff tooooo...like go to the barrels, and to rite aid. also we made this gorgeous thing (we were all about living for it...and if you don't know what that means learn about the man)

it was a the best day...and other things that helped make it so great--that didn't get captured on film was the delicious french toast breakfast laura and i made, the fancy bracelets we beaded, the singing penguin that rang a bell when it wiggled, dressing up laura's cats with santa beards, filming music videos for facebook walls...and my night ended with yummy dinner with sister, basket and robbins ice cream and movies!

now that right there...that is a lucky day :)

the red and the green

2008-11-06T09:28:00.001-08:00

wait what?

the red and the green? ...that means christmas...wait christmas? ALREADY??! i mean i know costco started selling the wicker light up raindeers and 425 pack counts of those cheap plastic-y ribbon bows after mother's day...but that's costco...and monday when i went to fred meyer's and saw the decoration isles (which a few days ago were full of harvest pumpkins, acorns and leaves - all good things fall) filled up with red and green m&m's, those mint chirstmas tree taffys, tinsel, lights and evergreen scented candles i couldn't believe that it was that time of year again...

don't get me wrong...i love it with every ounce of my heart...this time of year is my very most favorite. i love lights, and treats, and family time, and snow, and the non-stop christmas music that plays around the clock...but at the same time woah! i can't believe how fast another year went by...and to be honest it kind of freaks me out. but whatever it's fine...i'll embrace it...because embracing it means drinking lots and lots of these...

white chocolate peppermint mocas...pretty sure if clouds in heaven this time of year have a taste...they would taste something like this.

also this year i am going to try something...and no guarantees but if i write it down...and share it with the public, i figure my odds of getting it together and actually doing it (rather than just saying it) will be greater...so here it is:

i will be adopting a family for christmas...with the help of my family and friends and anyone else who feels generous this year...so far i am just in the planning stages but i have made some phone calls and been directed to the right people to contact...so working on making it happen, i will keep you posted.

halloween

2008-11-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

i changed my costume about 12 times (at one point i even had purchased an entire burlesque dancer outfit...complete with the corset, thigh high fishnets, little skirt, awesome feathery satin flower hair piece, pearls, satin gloves-but i felt like a cheap whore so that idea went away as soon as i tried on that outfit)...and in the end i ended up being a gangster...

that mean things like this happened:
1. i was writing on a paper at the front desk, heard "so what are you suppose to be for halloween...?" answered before i had lifted my head - "a gangsta" (in a pimp sorta grimy dirty voice) looked up and saw that the question had come from this huge black fed-ex delivery guy...yes it was awkward...im sure my eyes were all like gulp...blink blink** but he played it cool and replied with an "aiight...straight up gangsta"
2. sister begged me to stop at the liquor store. we live in the north portland...we'll go with the phrase, a picture speaks a thousand words...(and in this instance probably more...)

not only was it 6'oclock on a friday night at the liquor store but it was halloween...so that means the line is about 19 people deep (i didn't count or anything)...3 of them were mexican...16 of them were black...i was white...dressed like 50 cent. and it was weird.

here was the rest of my night.

pretty sure this night was awesome, hilarious and way too out of control...the stories are way too much to share on this hear site without writing a novel so for those of you that were there...i will share a few words: 503, karen, bathroom door handles, cabs, vladi, lemons and honey, 5.63 miles, and the jagermeister

update and reminiscing

2008-11-04T22:12:00.000-08:00

so i did it... i fell into that world of online that is the obsessed, can't handle a lack of communication, have to constantly be in touch with everything at all times, world of technology...and i will admit i am thrilled about it because i have been wanting this damn phone for way too long...it is this kind of phone

the blackberry kind...

and I LOVE IT! i love going to dance practice and feeling like i am not leaving the office hanging...i love leaving at 5:30 and not feeling like i will miss something important...i love getting ready in the morning and not being in a panic feeling like i need to rush to the office to check the e-mail...no no this phone lets me take my world of work with me...this glorious little piece of equipment that i have, that i have put into a cute trendy hot pink skin, is basically one of the most awesome fabulous things i own (other than my vera wang)...oooh OOOH!

also having this phone means that i have been forced to go through all of my old photos...and in follow-up to the post i did a few days ago...about the fabulous night of saturday sitting...i found this little beauty.

this is my joseph last christmas trying out the candy cane decoration as a straw...not sure what it is with this kid and drinking out of random shit...but he's totally into it...if i remember correctly this picture was taken about 12 seconds before that entire jug of odwalla was spilled all over the kitchen floor...

vote.

2008-11-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

i have never written anything at all that pertains to politics on my site...mostly because i am not a policital junky and would rather discuss the happenings of my everyday life as i find that much more entertaining...that's not to say i don't care about stuff, i have lots of thoughts about lots of things...but i just don't really like talking about them really. so i don't...at any rate i am going to post something in honor of tomorrow...it's election day so i feel like i should...

it doesn't have anything to do with sides or who to vote for or anything like that...simply it has to do with the fact that you should vote...because really, that is the most important thing, regardless of sides...

so don't be lazy...just go vote...it's important...and if that isn't enough reason...starbucks has added a little extra incentive, free coffee...

experiments

2008-10-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

there are a lot of hours i spend here at work reading blogs...and lots of those blogs are mommy blogs. (i know right? rough job having to sit at a computer reading blogs...no, no, trust me i understand the luxury of my job and count my blessings everyday that i get to do this all day long everyday with a fabulous group of awesome and talented pr girls...)

at any rate, i read lots of stories about kids...and i'll admit sometimes i feel weird, like i am a stalker or something, reading all about these peoples lives - and i have never met them before in my life...but i love it nonetheless and mostly cause i think kids are hilarious and awesome...and someday i am going to have a few and blog about them and who knows maybe my blog will be so successful by then i will have rich advertisers on my site who want to pay enough dollars so i can be a stay-at-home mom...and play and do fun stuff all day...but until then i will read about other moms that do that and get my child fix from one of my three jobs - babysitting.

so i have this family that i have babysat for, hmm...well since meggie was 2...and now she is 6! a whole 6 years old! so four years...and actually they have 4 kids...but mostly as the boys get a little older its usually just joseph (the youngest brother) and meggie and i...this was my saturday evening this past weekend...josh (the oldest) was gone for the weekend, and jonathan (the second oldest) was at a friends house...so joseph, meggie and i were left to play...our evening activities consisted of making dinner, making halloween cupcakes, making popcorn (yes LOTS and LOTS of making stuff...which means lots of cleaning for me...) and then we spent about 2 hours watching season 6 of full house...meggie currently has 3 seasons and is nothing shy of obsessed...but that's fine with me because i was one of the original full house fans and probably could watch that shit for hours...and trust me, DEFINITELY would rather watch full house than sydney white for the ninth time or the new barbie move - i don't even know the name (i feel like she is getting a new barbie movie every other month) but the one that is about the diamond castle with the old witch barbie lady trying to collect all the magical musical instruments? yeah i've seen that two times already in the past month...

anyway full house was better and actually the three of us ended up having a pretty good time! but a night of babysitting wouldn't be complete without of one of joseph's fabulous experiments...lets see...in the past i have seen a sponge bob dvd melted and burnt in the microwave (thank you myth buster for showing a marathon the night i was asked to come sit), a scene that consisted of me walking into the kitchen to find a shirtless boy wearing nothing but pj bottoms 2 oven mits and holding a wooden meat pounder looking at a AA battery bent with battery powder laying around it on the counter, and a blown up sprite can completely deformed from being shook up and put into a bathroom sink full of boiling hot water...yes my little joseph is quite the experimentalist...

i think i was out of the room...for about, well...maybe 17 seconds total? i went pee, came back and found this scene in the living room.

saturday's adventures consisted of sticking 23 straws together dragging it up the stairs to the second floor dropping it through the banister and having his little sister hold a cup of water on the main floor so he could hydrate upstairs without having to go all the way to the bathroom to get a sip of water...

a day of reminiscing

2008-10-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

so it is brittney and i in the office today...and a decision was made a few minutes ago...it was decided because of this situation:

i was in the bathroom a second ago a girl over at staccato was in there to...i was putting my hair in pig tails because my hair was nasty and bugging me (today is scrub day cause i am tired and went to america's best dance crew last night so that means i have to wear the tshirt to the office today...and pig tails go with tshirts i guess) anyway i hear "ooh that's fun!" and i was thinking what these sick pigtails? until i saw that she wasn't looking at me she was looking at the wall...and not so much the wall but the piece of paper hanging on the wall...it was a sign for the annual r/west halloween dress up and pumpkin carving contest...i came back into the office and told brittney about it...we had been discussing the other day about halloween and dressing up and going out and she is all worried cause she can't think of an amazing outfit...anyway i told her we needed to start brainstorming her costume because she would be participating in this...and as i tried to explain to her about last years adventures, burger king, sarah's finger pumpkin, etc...i thought it would just be easier to read her my blog about it...so i got on here, went and dug through the archives...and nothing! i can't seem to find it...and i swear i wrote about it...or maybe i meant to but forgot?? anyway that was annoying but the good news was i got to read about all the random adventures of those first few months of my job...its so funny reading about what i used to do and then knowing what i do now...and then for a second i got sad...cause guess what (not that you don't already know...cause im sure if anyone still reads this they do...)

but i don't even blog about my job anymore! and that is lame. because my job is awesome. and also there are times like last friday when i had two beers and a shot of crown royal at my office that just need to be written about for memory sake...

so that is going to be one of my new goals...to stay current on the blogging side of things...in work, personal and randomness...cause blogs are awesome and being dumb and not staying current is not awesome...so here's to awesomeness and my vow to be better at blogging (which i am pretty sure i have made several of in the last few months...and broken all of them...)

ps - in other news...i tried a synergy drink for the first time today...it looks like this in case you don't know about them

now i don't think the one i am drinking is this flavor...mine is cosmic cranberry...but i'm drinking it, cause well...i thought it was cranberry juice...and it is DEFINITELY not cranberry juice...it is definitely pink easter egg dye...the kind that is solid vinegar but has been mixed with some club soda, yeast and something else that make my face cringe up like a little kid when you feed them nasty skank food...this stuff is suppose to be good for you but i'm pretty sure something this nasty isn't good for you...it tastes about as good as sipping on warm tequila from the bottom shelf of the bar...only when you are half way through the bottle you're not drunk which means you can still taste the nastyness till the very end.

my laker girls

2008-09-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

so if i am not at the office...and not at home sleeping...you could probably make money on the fact that i am out at my other home in lake oswego...

doing what i love most of all...coaching my amazing and beyond talented favorite girls - the laker dancers.

these girls can sometimes drive me so crazy that if i didn't love having hair so much probably i would rip it out...in fact i had a dream last night about them and the part i remember most vivid was rolling on my stomach in the middle of the gym and pounding my fists screaming and crying...like i was two or something...i'm not sure why but i have a feeling it is something to do with the stress level i am at in preparing for friday nights game - i have no doubt that they will be nothing shy of fabulous (because they totally are...) it just takes lots of work to get them to fabulous :) at any rate, though they can drive me crazy i love them all to pieces.

i'm pretty sure i can't imagine my life without them, nor would i want to. they teach me patience, they teach me how i must force myself to relax and laugh once in a while when stressed out, they teach me that a hug and a smile can fix almost anything, they teach me tolerance, they teach me compassion, they teach me the importance of getting to know someone and learning how different people respond to different things, they have taught me how to cut music, how to side braid, how its cool to wear hannah anderson striped pants with your uggs.

they make me laugh. they make me cry. they make me want to be a better person so that they have someone to look up to or turn to if they need help.

we have our second game coming up in two days. i am nervous for it. but very excited. they danced their first game two weeks ago and they were awesome.

i am pretty sure i have found one of the things i was meant to spend my life doing...

passed out

2008-09-24T08:02:00.001-07:00

here is what happens when the wild cat runs like a crazy fool all around the house and is all like hey i have to do this really important stuff that requires me to not stop moving for one hour straight...

the wild child

2008-09-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

ok...so i know. im being such a slacker...and i dont even know why! cause i love blogging and writing and this whole world of online fabulousness...so i don't even know how to explain other than...my life is crazy busy...work is busy, coaching is busy, weekends are busy...and then when they are not...the last thing i feel like doing is being on computer sometimes cause i do that all day at work...anyway still i need to stay current because i blink and 300 new things happened that i should be writing about...

anyway this wasn't an event...it's more of a comment slash informational dumb....

it's about vera wang. she is cute. she has lots of fans...she has a sick name and she's fancy...but also i think the fancy ones are the trouble kind...the kind that god had to make extra cute so you would love them even though they bite you like you're the last piece of chicken on the earth...hang from your harm with their nails like you are a cliff and if you fall you will die...and attack like you are fighting for your life...the kind where you're in a corner and a killer is walking to you and you do any move you can think of--kicks, bites, stabs, eye poking, machetes to the boy parts...anything...vera is fierce...and not the tyra banks in faux fur boots kind of fierce...shes like half lion i think....wild, uncontrollable and extremely irritating until she runs crazy long enough where she literally just walks up to you, falls over and goes to sleep.

here shes is -- my little precious angle (of death)

oh yes, she looks cute here...in this still photo...but she scaled the wood counter to get up there...

shes a wild child for sure...but in all fairness vera isn't all crazy...and i got this fabulous kitty palace that she loves from my friend emily...(pictures to come...cause she climbs that shit like its her job) and it uses lots of her energy...plus she likes her hot pink mouse and her big nasty parrot my grandma got her from the thrift shop at the nursing home for 50 cents (she sleeps with it)...so when she is done playing with all of her toys...let me tell you, that little tiny adorable snuggly tiny meowing baby, is my favorite...i love her...

but i spank her ass a lot...

new look

2008-08-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

it's time...to learn about the world of fancy blogs...

see i have stuck with the same layout for a long time...the kind of layout that is the quick easy -pre made kind. i think i want to get into photography more and maybe even some graphic designing...i am being very inspired with a lot of blogs i have been researching at work...especially some of the mom bloggers.

it will probably take forever for me to get it underway and get it going...because god only knows getting home before nine...having time to eat dinner and depending on the night do a load of laundry, take the garbage out, put away the clean clothes, do the dishes (no disher washer...love it...that will be a luxury i will be happy to have again someday!), put the dishes away, clean the toiled, scrub the bathroom sink/mirror...yeah i hardly have any time...and mostly all i want to do is just lay and read a book when i am home and snuggle kitten...

so it may take a while to get this going...but im taking the first step...and changing the background of my blog...more changes to come...! stay tuned.

im off to bend to teach nwdc camp with durante...should be an adventure. cause with durante everythings an adventure...bet your excited for monday's blog.

vera wang

2008-08-20T19:54:00.001-07:00

meet vera wang.

we got her on sunday night ...sister and i did.

it took us 4 days to figure out her name...but we were committed to making the decision tonight because otherwise her name would have just ended up being kitty....

mostly we have a family cat name louis vuitton...we call him louis...pronounced "lewis"
so keeping in the family tradition of fancy names we decided to go with vera wang..."vera" for short.

and the plus side is that i like to talk about wangs so when she does bad stuff like begs for food...i will just say "wang NO!"

so welcome vera...to the world of fabulous bitchassness...little did you know that when you were adopted off that farm in oregon city from a mom that hunts mice in a field for a living --that you would be leaving to join a world where you wear fancy pearls, hunt mice that are only fake. and pink. and sparkly...and walk around like you are the shit with an awesome ass name like vera. cause if you are going to be my kitty you have to have a bad ass name.

thursdays

2008-08-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

i have gone back and forth with thursdays for a long time...i remember the days about when i had piano lessons on thursdays...the thing is i love to play piano...i always have...but the other thing is piano lessons were basically equivalent to getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist...minus the nervous diarrhea...but painful nonetheless...

then i remember for a few years when i liked thursdays...thursdays meant thirsty thursday...take a shower, get all cute and fancy...then go to the smoky crap ass bar down the street to get your cute clean self smelling like spilled bottom shelf well vodka and pbr from a pitcher. but something about dancing till 2am on a school night with all of your friends...trying to walk through taco bell drive thrus (doesn't matter how many times you try...they never. ever...serve you. ever)...and deciding a buffet of chicken nuggets, home made nachos, and fruit snacks (the berry shaped kind from costco) on the floor in the living room is a better idea...means that thursday nights are actually quite fun.

well...i think i am back to thinking that thursdays really aren't the greatest day...something about wednesday is when they are over you are all like sweet made it halfway through the week...but the reality is thursday still comes and it isn't really friday yet but you feel like it should be friday...cause already the first part of the week is over...and when the first part is over basically the whole thing should be over...

whatever. mostly all i know is it is 445 and this is the office this afternoon.

me "hey jules...why do have that block of cheese on your desk?"
j "i dunno. i was gonna put it in the fridge but i forgot"
question. does cheese sitting on a desk all day long cause kashi if you decide to eat it the next day? (for those just being introduced to kashi...think fiber...mixed with prunes, dried apricots, metamucil, and probably a little raw hamburger that has some bacteria on it.)

recorder "duh.nuh ...duuuh.nuuuuh... duh.nuh... duh.nuh...DUH.NUH...DUUUUUH.NUUUH"
question. why is shark week only on once a year? pretty sure discovery needs to learn about making a shark month.

me "heather? heather? ......heeeather?"
question. where's heather?

as for me? 39 minutes...not that i am counting or anything.

why i love them.

2008-08-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

laker dancers...

i love them for many reasons. here are some.

1. they work hard. not just one of them...but all of them...and also they work hard every single practice (well most of them, hehe...but no, for reals...they do)...probably cause if they didn't they know what would happen...cuts and stuff... but mostly they work their little butts off...they run till they get naucious...they leap until they hit it perfect...they turn till they can't see straight...and then they do more things.

2. they choreography amazing things. that means that the routines they perform...were created by all of us...together. coaches and dancers. and we do amazing things.

3. their technique is amazing...even if i constantly yell at them and tell them they are not dancing on their toes, or high enough in releve, or have barf pointed toes...and make them do things a million times in a row...mostly they are the best technical team in all of the state...and i love them for that.

4. i love that i can push them and they don't get discouraged...a place the bar as high as i can reach and they try to not only grab it but fly over it.

5. they are dedicated. they ask for more practices...they ask to run (even though they hate it)...they ask for choreography sessions...they ask where to take class...they ask for private technique help...they are self motivators who want to be the best they can be...and i appreciate that more than they know.

and the reasons why i love them even more...

6. they like to take silly pictures.

7. they love disneyworld.

8. they love to give and get hugs

9. when someone is crying or frustrated everyone helps to make it better

10. they love each other like sisters and like to wear matching friendship bracelets

11. they love to eat...especially brunch...and pasta feeds

12. they love uggs, boots with the fur, apple bottom jeans, tshirts with the necks cut out, and old grandma night gowns

13. they love to look at themselves in the mirror

14. they love to text message

15. they love games, and races, and obstacle courses

16. they love to dance in the car, by the car...sometimes on the car

there will be many things to learn about them i am sure...but for now learn about denise work outs to boots with the fur, running in red white and blue, pyt, 8:08 of 8/8/08, dem jeans, medium awkward, ventriloquists abc's, and missy elliot...

meet them...they are awesome.

hands in the ayyyer....

2008-08-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

i guess the title is hands in the ayyyer cause that was the song that i heard 12 times when we were boating...but its whatever cause basically now anytime i hear that song i think of hard core water sporting...the kind of hard core that means cutting wakes, s.i.c.k. flipping, and dominating the river.

basically pictures say it all...so lets recap.

this is danielle and i..

this is me with my hands in the ayer looking hard core i guess?

cause learn about these skills. i totally dominate...

i am totally cutting the wake even though it may look like it was about to cut me and i was about to eat shit...

ok..so lets be real here...
only michael (brother) could jump the wake, and flip...

i looked retarded. and i was bad.

i'm also pretty sure she just rode around holding this up cause it was less effort to hold it up the whole time i was out there rather than putting it up and down for every time that i fell...

but just to be fair...it was my first time wake boarding! also i got up every single time (including the first) without falling...and the only time i did fall was when i was trying to get out of the wake and cut across to the other side...so really i wasn't too horrible...and next time...i am going to just cut that shit so hard and jump as high as i can just to see how much air i get...it will make for a good picture :) just wait for it.

one thing i was good at was eating these fish

and also d and i were good at tubing. we had it down to an art..."your side...my side"..."YOUR SIDE PLEASE!" pretty sure the only times we went flying off was when our bottoms were around our knees...cause flying around with the chach hanging out ...kind of inappropriate...

this is danielle, she is really good at skiing.

catch up or something

2008-08-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

well apparently my little game didn't go so well...that probably means no one reads my blog. sweet ha.

but whatever. i don't blame people cause something about me lately is i have been so freaking busy ...my blog has been paying the price.

so in lue of my new resolution to stay on top of blogging i am going to work on also catching up...probably not on everything cause i am pretty sure even if i tired i wouldn't remember most of the stuff i have been doing there has been so much...i mean i remember the general stuff, but that's boring to write about...the good stuff is the random ass shit that happens in between all the fancy big events...

so the first catch up will be dedicated to the wild east.

i know the term is wild wild west...but we didn't go west, we went east...to hood river...that is where my first ever camping trip took place.

but really, just to be honest...i probably shouldn't count it as my first real camping trip. i mean i slept in a tent. and there was dirt, and i didn't shower...for a day...but the tent was in a field...we peed in a house...we cooked in a kitchen...we ate on a deck...at a table...we rode ATVs from the house to the field where the tents were...which also meant that instead of trekking all our crap to the camp site we drove it there...but whatever...mostly all i know about is how i had to drink vodka sprite out of an empty beer bottle cause we didn't have cups...so basically that means camping to me...plus i peed in the grass once.

here are some pictures.

this was my view when i woke up :)

this is us driving on the ATV

more views...

there are also lots of other pictures...like ones about the 17 wild turkeys we saw on the trail...what my hair looked like after sleeping a whole night in the wind storm of a tent...ones about setting up the tents...and others where i used the tent as a super man cape. but tara has those kinds...so i working on getting them and when i do ...there will be a part two to this...

one thing i decided about camping in hood river though is that in my lifetime i will try kite boarding...because i learned about wake boarding this summer...(post still to come) and i learned about surfing this summer...learn about it in this post from when i went to hawaii. i basically loved doing both of those things...so pretty sure i would like to learn about kite boarding...also i loved hood river...the town. and i bought the book twilight.

which i currently am not very far into...but i hear it is fabulous fantastic...and i will be taking it with me this weekend to the beach...so im sure i will be writing about that soon too.

random saturdays

2008-08-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

...so in response to joels comment on my "favorite memory" post...here is a long over due outline of what was random saturday night...

the theme - to be hella random...to do random things, take shots at random bars, go ro random places, and basically walk around the entire downtown portland area.

we started at what used to be newport bay on the water front...well technically brett and i started at the jolly roger...a fancy little bar that you would probably expect to see in old vegas...hella bling. we made friends with a local/regular...whatev. it was kind of awesome...

anyway then we went to what used to be newport bay...long islands and fish tacos...totally delicious ha.

then we walked to pattys but on the walk we had to take some pictures.
one because brett had to pee

and going potty under the hawthorn bridge in a public bathroom is usually always a good idea...(skank ass nasty! eew i didnt even know there were public bathrooms under the hawthorn bridge!)

emily and i also saw lots of people swimming in that sick fountain on the water front...you know, the one that looks cool but smells like ass..? pretty sure if you want stds, ecoli, hepetius, tb....that's the place you should go...i'm mean really...who says "ooh hey, its a sunny saturday evening lets go lay in the middle of the waterfront, play in that skank fountain and show everyone our love handles and fat rolls..." cute.

the picture isn't really about us...its really about those girls behind us...

anyway we saw fancy stuff...and it wasn't really the good kind of fancy stuff...
other fancy stuff that wasn't good?

naked bike parades.
"and after we are done playing in the disease infested fountains...lets go bike naked through the city...and have our wangs flapping around....for everyone, their dogs, their kids, their parents, their friends..to see..that's appropriate and not barf at all"

seriously.
that required us to turn the evening into a pub crawl.

and mostly required us to take pictures on rainbow benches and do other awesome stuff

pretty sure i could write all day about random saturday, the people we saw, the drinks we drank, the places we went...but somethings are just better left unwritten about!

or left up to imaginations - stuff like hummus and skin swords and comacauzies and dixies and construction manzanas and duck farts and pleather skirts and taras dad.

thanks joel... definitely one of the favorite memorable events. :)

on a side note...this just reminds me...that i really need to stay on top of my blogging, its kind of sad really...cause i do so much random shit...its a shame not to write it all down...so pledging to trying to catch up/stay on top...of this ridiculous world of mine. that i totally love.! cause it is fancy and fabulous and the word machete and cut and bitch is used alot in it...and those words are awesome, people should learn about them if they haven't yet...they make living lots more fun!

memory

2008-08-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

so i am trying a game. i learned about it from a blog i sometimes read...plus, i was wondering how many people actually even read my blog...if any, ha and probably not many now cause my blog is probably pretty boring considering i hardly write on it! I am hoping that next week will mark a special week...a week were i am back into the world of blogging on a regular basis! but anyway...if you are a loyal reader and are checking this...in hopes that i have posted SOMETHING? anything...? here it is...and here are the rules.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you, promise. and you will probably love it too. cause i'll remember the good kinds of memories...the kinds when once when we were little and i was with you and sister at the playground and you pooped your pants and i made you go down the slide cause that's what older sisters are suppose to do when you are little.

alright...now play the game cause probably it's fun :)

music.

2008-07-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

today is a good day. because i got a present.

so sometimes heather likes to buy me small presents. and her and julieanna were going to new seasons to buy lunch things and because i was doing stuff for portland clinic all morning i had to actually clock some hours behind the desk and play catch up...so she asked if we wanted a special treat...of course i said yes, cause i always want special treats.

so i say "bitch i live for special treats. learn about that."
she gave me a choice of edible kind or non edible kind...i told her non...and said that the special treat should be like the stretchy horses we got the day we bought seans b-day pie.

so guess what i got! you won't ever guess...but this shit is awesome and i am loving it!

that's right...RECORDERS!!! musical fancy hot pink special awesome recorder... also i got those sour patch kids...

heather loves me. and i love that recorder...and i'm going to learn to play that shit like its my job or something. live for it. it even comes with a cleaner stick.

something important

2008-07-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

well i tried to get a new favorite song added to my playlist...but the place i use on my music down there on the left hand side...didn't have the song...so i tried imeem...so do this fast...it is important.

go pause my regular playlist and then play my "something everyone should hear" imeem song...amazing grace...i thought it would be the whole thing...but it isn't...its just a clip. it is one of my favorite pianists...jim brickman and one of my favorite christian singers, ginny owens...and together this is gorgeous. this song is simply amazing.

i am having a hard day. a really hard day. this song is getting me through. i love that about music. sometimes when i am too exhausted to find words to pray...i just listen to the song and let it do the talking for me...in fact later...when i don't have to sit at my desk anymore i might just turn this song on and let it sing me to sleep...cause my eyes are sleepy. i am tired.

also 8 more days till sister comes home. and its getting to the point now were i just miss her. and because we are on the topic of her. wow, her being gone the past 5 weeks has really shown me that my life without her wouldn't be good. she helps me be who i am...i am not sure i could be me without her in my world...i don't think i know how...maybe for a little while...but i think i would forget who i was without her...

that is all...i am not making sense...mostly everyone just find this song, download it on itunes...create a playlist of it on imeem...i dont really care what you do as long as you are learning about it...because it's a good one.

and if anyone is handing out hugs today...find me...cause i could use about a thousand of them.

screeeew.

2008-07-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

this is a screw.

this little beauty made me 1.5 hours late to work. normally i wouldn't mind a late start...sleep in a little. eat a delicious breakfast...but this morning wasn't a lounge type of morning...this morning i got to hang out here...

cause that piece of shit screw decided it would be a good idea to get stuck in my tire...and then make it go flat.

i am tired. i am annoyed. and i am sick of my car being a pain in my ass...that car better learn about getting its act together or i might machete it in half...and machetes are not the kinds of cuts to be messing with.

barbed wire cuts with a drip of blood.

2008-07-14T10:25:00.001-07:00

last friday was nasty. it was ashley's last day...and i'm am not happy about this at all. i'm kind of angry actually. this morning i got to the office and hated that when i looked at her office she wasn't there and neither were any of her pictures. which basically means shes gone for reals. (although she left her miley cyrus poster on the wall...rude. i gave that to her special from tiger beat magazine. whatever.)

anyway last friday was a really fun day. even though it was her last...lets recap

we had office lunch at oba!

this is us girls driving to the restaurant. we are hella fancy. i basically love us...we are missing one girl. cause she was gone on honey moon adventures...which reminds me i need to post about heather's wedding cause it was basically one of the best times i have ever had!
anyway...here we are at lunch.

i am just posting the fancy side. mostly there were a lot of office people that went in fact lets recap one of the memorable moments...a moment that wasn't awkward at all...
julieanna - "(in a joking voice) well to celebrate ashley's last day lets go around and all say one nice thing about her! i will start...she has good hair!"
peter - "(missing the memo on it being a joke...and then taking it across the line...out the door...and across the fucking street.) i have one. ashley has great tits."

um....

anyway.
after lunch and back at the office ashley proceeded to take shots at her desk.

and the party continued at henrys later that night...

after henrys. yes i made them all go with me to hunt down the portland business journal...but it was for a very good reason! learn about it

the night was full of fun, laughs, and talk of barbed wire tattoos..
ashley - "kendall. dude. learn about how much i love you. probably we should have tattoos on our wedding fingers about something."
me - "um...ashley that might be weird."
ashley - "no bitch it's awesome. cause i'm not talking gross wedding bands. im talking pimped out barbed wire looking kinds...the kinds that stand for cuts. and a small drip of blood by it or something."
me - "oh well in the case..."

on a side note...jake challenged me to an air hockey game.

i was totally dominating...2-0 but then the dude got hella competitive. pissed that he was losing and starting smacking the shit out that puck. well my finger got smashed...and i ended up losing due to injury. but whatever we all know i am better at air hockey so it's fine.

i ended up having to leave before the party was over cause i had to choreography at lake o saturday morning (which by the way...our routine is going to be sick...the S.I.C.K. kind that chelsea uses to describe bleeding love on sytycd.)

so anyway i had to be a good...

but mostly i just love this girl and hate that she is no longer my co-worker. disgusting really.

colons

2008-07-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

don't even be grossed out about that word...and if you are, i don't even feel bad at all cause learn about how i had to write an entire article about colons...and it took five hours.

first i am not a doctor so this task wasn't even easy. i had to use fancy words like colonoscopy and malignant and polyps and sigmoidoscopy and barium and fecal and occult and other things. NASTY... but learn about how my entire article was published last friday in the portland business journal! that's right the entire thing!!

of course my name wasn't on it...credit was given to one of the doctors that works for our client...but i conducted the interview, i wrote the story and worked with the editor to get that shit published! (pun was intended...cause i have never talked about so much shit in one day than i did the day i was writing this)

check it out.

also check out the fact that friday, when it came out we left the office before it got here...and so when brittney, jake and i were taking ashley out for drinks to (not) celebrate her last day at the office...i totally made everyone search the city with me to find it. whole foods didn't carry it...but definitely found it at powells! also we were a tiny faded so it made the hunt just that much more fun. ha

anyway, i now know everything about colons and colon cancer...basically i could be a doctor. so if you need to learn about it...contact me.

the 6th of july

2008-07-10T13:05:00.001-07:00

learn about what the 6th of july should really be about.

1. bbqs

the fancy kinds that are coal kind. on sale at fred meyer. and grill the kind of chicken that is called delicious.

2. fire pits

the serious kinds that you make by hand...from "borrowed" pitch forks down the alley.

3. small fire work shows

and by small we mean fucking huge...cutting the house kinds.

thank you fred meyer.
and thank you bretts work for stealing our tanks. only small men and dinos for the battle...

thankfully "fred meyer" had missals for us to launch. and by missals we mean fire balls called roman candles that can dominate small men.

first fancy dinner in the new fancy house.

2008-07-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

i have done cooking a little in the house...i make dinner every night...couple weeks ago danielle came and we made breakfast for dinner...and i have done other small things...allies bday we had tacos, once i made tacos for jill and i...but this dinner i am writing about is delicious for reals dinner...

last week laura came over for so you think can dance, sleepover, and DINNER...good kind of dinner. the kind where i found a delicious recipe, she went to the store and we used pots and pans and even a new pirex pan to cook in!

we made honey mustard chicken, steamed green beans and garlic mashed potatoes. it was amazing yummy scrumptious! the two of us actually make pretty great cooks! we are 2-2 for our fabulous dinner count! so if you ever are in the mood for fantastic food contact laura or i. promise you won't be disappointed.

i know i know...

2008-07-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

i still owe grandma movies. its so hard to bring myself to come on computer for significant time when i spend so much of my time on it each day at work. usually when i come home i just like to work out...or pretend to work out (cause most days i am tired or lazy)...cook dinner...watch my best stuff like bachelorette (hella obsessed about it! final next week, learn about it.) and sytycd (learn about tabitha and napoleon and how amazing...)

but yes i will get videos on here soon!

mostly i need to talk about softball and how i played for team r/west finally! it was last thursday...so the blog is a bit over due...but better late than never!!

and not going to lie it was actually kind of fun and i would totally do it again :)...i mean let's be honest, it wouldn't be my number one choice of activity...i could probably think of five other things right now i would rather do. but it wasn't awful..and best part was that i actually did alright!!

i hit the ball every time i was up to bat! i only got on base once...one of my line drives was caught and then i got thrown out at first for a grounder to short stop...but i never struck out and got good hits every time! my fielding probably wasn't as good as it could have been...i believe nick was quoted saying...

"your batting is like you have played lots...but your fielding is like you have never played a sport in your life."

i didn't say thank you cause i wasn't quite sure what that meant...but whatever...

it was good r/west bonding! here are two pictures. both kind of dumb but better than none :)

also nick. our copy writer...he does weekly newsletters about the games. i have always wanted to post it on here...but because i have never played i didn't really ever make sense...but now that i have i can post it! cause i'm in it! so learn about this...they are pretty funny.

The Rag-Tag Bunch

Acting manager Nick knew his team was faced with a tough task Thursday night. After finishing an explanation of the league specific rules to his team, he had this to say. “The effort’s going to be there. But we’re missing about half our regulars, so cohesiveness will definitely be a concern. Hopefully we can gel quickly out there.”
And for one inning, R/West did just that. They held Yahoo to one run in the top of the first before jumping on them with 5 runs in the bottom half while batting through their entire order.
The middle of the lineup implemented what they called “wuss ball.” Nick and Heather, batting #3 and #4 respectively, hit the ball a combined 18 feet in the inning, but both reached safely. Power was found further down the lineup.
Geoff and Kendall – making her softball debut - both hit the ball hard each time they were up. “Well, I’m a natural athlete, so what’d you expect,” Kendall said. Their frozen ropes caught up to them, however. In the 3rd inning, Kendall ripped a liner to left that was caught and thrown back to first for a double-play. Geoff, who was doubled up commented, “I was focused on one thing…scoring. I would have been in easy if the leftfielder wouldn’t have made that nice play.”
Tyler was effectively wild on the mound, keeping the opposition off balance. Kevin, who was cleared to play thanks to a razorblade to the cast earlier in the week, started at 3B for R/West. And Amy played a nice first base, making a dandy scoop on a low throw. “I’m just glad Nick could actually get the ball to me this time,” she said. But not all of R/West was complimentary. “Nick??!?” Jessica groaned. “How many

balls got past him at short? I think he’s allergic to diving. Seriously, my new dog is more aggressive than that…and a lot quieter during the game too.
In the end, the R/West bats went silent. Actually, they were faced with the some affliction that normally haunts them, hitting too many hot shots right at people. After scoring 7 runs in the first 2 innings, they were held scoreless the rest of the way. They lost another game they could have won, 11-7. “Shoulda, coulda, woulda,” coach John Basso said over the phone. “If I was there, we would have won for sure.”
Other notes: Heather Stammer played well in the field. “That’s my girl,” Ma Stammer proudly yelled as Heather made a nifty warning track catch in the 4th inning.
“I knew I had to bring the A game; I couldn’t let my mom show me up,” Heather remarked. A big shout out goes to Ma Stammer for coming out of softball retirement to fill the final spot on the roster. But it wasn’t without controversy. Her “hot bat” and the 6,328 career hits that it’s produced over the years was deemed illegal by the umpire. “Hey, I’m just trying to keep things fair,” he said to the R/West bench.
Big ups also go out to Todd for coming out and playing. With Sean, John, John, and Bern all gone, every guy was put to use. It was a good effort by a team that was thrown together at the last minute. The only real consistency from earlier in the season was Elmer’s continued success in the leadoff spot.
R/West’s slide toward the cellar will continue next Wednesday night, July 2nd, at Delta #4…8:30, with the kickball season opener the following night.
Yep, you read that correctly.

something fancy that made me smile

2008-06-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

sometimes grandmas are awesome.

mine just got out of the hospital yesterday. she is still in special care at her nursing home (she will stay there for a while more before they put her back in her own little studio apartment...where she will be on 2 hour watch...but for now she is in the care unit). this past week has made me think lots about time, and how most days i take it for granted. i try not to but then i just get busy. a lot of days i sit at work waiting for the clock to strike 530 when the reality is i spend 90% of my awake hours here (or at least it feels like it...) and that seems just silly to spend so much of my time wishing it away so i can go and do other things. anyway my grandma reminded me all about this because well for the first time i am really starting to see that she probably doesn't have much time left...she made a comment to me about how my mom shouldn't worry about her anymore because "god will take care of me.."

yeah she said that to me when i was visiting her at the hospital saturday night. kinda caught me off guard and then i started to tear up. i didn't so much love that...mostly i know that all moments i have with her are special...because i'm not sure how many of them left i will have. hopefully lots because the truth is, though she can sometimes drive me crazy (and i say this in the most loving way...mostly because growing up i have been around her LOTS - which is lucky, not many grandchildren can say that...but it's like your mom...you love them, but they can also get on your nerves...anyway sometimes grandma is like that) mostly i just love her always.

plus she does awesome stuff like:

- practices whipping....like the kind of whipping dominatrix people do...sister and i taught her this a couple years ago...and actually that reminds me that i should probably dig up some videos of my grandma and do a post about them...for viewing pleasure...i totally am...so be on the look out for that.

- last winter i trained her how to say "whats up bitch" and made her swear to me that the next time her phone rang (at the nursing home in her little apartment) that she had to answer it "whats up bitch"...well i called her back a half hour later but she forgot to answer it that way...so i reminded her and told her she HAS to do it...well she totally listened to me because my mom called me about two hours later and got mad at me for training grandma to answer the phone that way. she said she yelled at grandma not to answer the phone that way cause what if it was like a doctor calling. mostly i just laughed.

- she says biotch...like a "bee-odge"

- she will read anything out loud that you write in a card...her mothers day card this year was especially fantastic...i will post that video as well...but here is a link to my facebook that you probably should watch...sister and i wrote her fancy things and she is pretty good at reading them out loud. grandma reading her mothers day card=hilarious

- most recently she made me these jewelries...she has really bad arthritis so crafts are sometimes really hard for her...but she started taking a beading class and she really loves it...this was part of my birthday present.

(missing the bracelet in this pictures...but it too is fancy) this beading was the fancy thing that made me smile. because mostly my grandma is so cute and she loves to make me all sorts of things...she is hilarious and awesome and laid back...she will do anything, kiss anyone, and says whatever is on her mind even if it is inappropriate...one time she even told my (asian friend) elena...when we went over to her old house for dinner one time during college...that she hates working with "orientals because the only word they know is pay day"...elena just looked at me and laughed.

my grandma is awesome. i love her and my jewelry...and the best part about the the jewels is that they have magnetic clasps...that part she was most excited about because she said for old fingers those are the easiest kinds to manage.

things about this weekend.

2008-06-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

there were lots of things that happened this weekend.

lots of good things.
like getting the living room all put together...(pictures to come soon...things are getting close now...so i can't post too much pictures because it would ruin the house tour blog...) but it looks really pretty i love it love it in there...
also i got to see some best friends saturday at nikkis graduation party. i got to go to target with danielle and laura and we bought decorations for my house and also fish mugs that are blue and plastic and nasty disani water to put inside and we snuck in to michael (danielle's brothers) baseball game to drink our waters with denise. sister had a birthday party on friday and i got to see tara and brett and ashley came and i loved it all. and we had tacos and cake at the party and fancy jello shots and mojitos. and i saw katie (sister's bff...) lots. this was out of order, but all a list a pretty great things.

the only thing about this weekend...is the fact that most of what i remember about it isn't really the good stuff. mostly i think cause this morning i said goodbye to sister for six weeks and i hate that. also my grandma is still in the hospital...and my dog molly was hella sicks all day saturday. she wouldn't eat chicken or rice or watermelon or her dog food or treats! nothing...i'm not really sure how everyone is doing this monday morning. grandma was suppose to get out of the hospital today, or at least that is what they told us last thursday when she was admitted...molly did eat breakfast this morning so maybe she is betterish. but sister is getting on that plane soon...

hmmm...its monday and i wish it was friday...i need a re-do weekend.

that or a day off so i can sit on my new awesome couch, watch movies and drink from my fish mug.

why i went to college...

2008-06-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

yesterday i learned another reason why i went to college.

so that i wouldn't have to be a furniture builder for my job.

denise took me to get my couches yesterday from ikea! wahooo! so so very excited...got them into the house...in boxes...and they looked like this.

yeeeah...so about building them. basically a pain in the ass. laura was there to help. thank god. by myself would have basically been like "oh hey let me just grab that little piece of card board and cut my wrist really quick..." but with her there it was way more fun! because i had someone to shooo him out with.

that is the cat that laura thought was mine because he was just walking through our house and into our kitchen like he payed the rent or something...we got him out but then he stood on our steps and front porch meeowing at us.

also good about laura was that i had someone to load up all of that cardboard and plastic wrap with and take to the dumpsters...we found some that weren't locked (the church had theirs locked that we first tried) the open ones were located right behind the dental office on lombard. so we gifted them with our recycling...

anyway 3.5 hours later...and about 12 re-trys because building couches really isn't as easy as it sounds....they were finished...! (just in time to sit and watch so you think you can dance on them! wahooo!)

probably i won't be building any more of those in the near future. but i am very pleased with all of my handy work :)

ps. dear all those that helped, thank you. mostly cause i think all of those boxes strapped to the top of 'groovy' wouldn't really work...and also building them by myself would have been impossible. xo

also today...i am dyslexic

2008-06-18T17:02:00.001-07:00

apparently i really should just stop working. i might be more productive not doing anything else today ...than actually trying to do something.

one of todays tasks...send an e-mail out to several people to let them know about a book signing event at bridgeport brewpub.

the e-mail looked great. the subject line that i wrote? yeah that part i just found out looked retarded...and who better to point it out to me than the editor of nw brewing news...

his response to my invite...

kendall,

thanks for the invitation, but can you tell me what kind of "singing" there will be? drinking songs, i presume?

cheers,

alan moen
editor
northwest brewing news

probably he sent me that because the subject line i sent out on all of the emails read...bridgePort brewery hosts book singing for UC davis brewing professor, charles bamforth, july 12

not that there was really anything i could do to make my dumb ass look better...i wrote him back anyway...

allen,
hmm..
well, apparently as most people will be getting their books "signed..." ?
it looks like i will be "singing"...99 bottles of beer on the wall??...

oops. if only that was sent early this morning i could blame it on lack of coffee...now however i just have to laugh about it.

:)

hopefully you enjoy book signing...as much as singing...and we will still get to see you on the 12th!

cheers,
kendall

i hope he has a sense of humor...and i hope all the other people who got my e-mail can't read today either. and the only reason i am writing about this is i have learned that documenting the embarrassing things tend to be the blogs i enjoy looking back at in a year from now and laughing at the most...but today i feel like a dumbass.

i need help

2008-06-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

normally words just spill out of my mouth and go everywhere...even when i don't want them to...well mostly when i don't want them to. then when i do want words to come out generally they don't.

like today.

(side note - you are probably surprised nothing about the house is being posted right this minute...i have a post i still need to do so maybe in a little...for now we are taking a break from the house though and focusing on work for once.)

anyway today i am working on lots of random things...sorta of being productive but held up by my brain that is apparently having issues. i think it forgot how to think. so i am asking for help. i am working on a headline for brideport brewery's summer beer release...its flavor is haymaker.

here are your options...please vote on your favorite.

1. BRIDGEPORT BREWING COMPANY BRINGS OUT A TASTE OF SUNSHINE WITH HAYMAKER ALE

2. BRIDGEPORT BREWING COMPANY RELEASES THE SUN WITH SEASONAL HAYMAKER ALE

3. BRIDGEPORT BREWING COMPANY SPREADS SUNSHINE WITH HAYMAKER ALE

4. ENJOY A DOSE OF SUNSHINE WITH BRIDGEPORT BREWERY’S HAYMAKER ALE

5. BUY HAYMAKER OTHERWISE WE WILL CUT YOU - OH YEAH AND SOMETHING ABOUT SUN

thank you.

making the homestead pretty is hard work!

2008-06-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

i finally got to have a full weekend at my new home! well...half of a full weekend, sunday was fathers day so most of sunday i was with dad and family. plus i visited grandma. something cool is that she made me a fancy necklace and earrings and a bracelet...because now she does beading...and she takes classes and everything at the nursing home. i will take pictures about them and blog it cause they are basically gorgeous.

anyway most all of the rest of the weekend was me and my new home. i did lots and lots of shopping and building. i went to target, i went to a furniture store, and also i went here...

something about this place is it is gigantic huge. i went by myself. it was slightly overwhelming and i think i got lost nine times if i counted correctly. but also i found lots of fabulous things! and i am very proud of all of them! i was even so excited and proud that i wasn't embarrassed about pushing two carts around the store.

i don't want to ruin all the amazing surprises that will be the house tour blog. but i will share about one thing. my kitchen table (and don't worry at this point the chairs weren't built...so when i finally get it all finished and the house tour blog gets posted...there will still be an element of surprise left to write about).
here is my gorgeous fancy table :)

plus i made banana bread in my new pans. first time i have ever baked banana bread before. i gave half to my grandma and half to my parents. basically i felt domestic and i loved it.

doing construction

2008-06-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

this house is a project.

mostly when you work all day long, and then you dance all weekend, and then you do morning show at 5am for work...it is hard to get all moved in! so its a process...for sure.

tonight's goal was laundry, shoes, garbage, and bookshelf. i started the laundry. i put the book shelf where it will temporarily live until i get my living room furniture. i also book the books on the shelf (eliminated a box from the living room...WAHOO!). i went to fred meyers to buy a garbage can. this was mostly a fiasco so i am choosing not to go that in depth but mostly what happened was the garbage system the land lord has us on requires us to have our own garbage can. well garbage day is tomorrow, we have tons of shit from moving in that needs to be thrown out and no garbage can. so i bought one but because i am so tired it was a much bigger deal to get that 32 gallon garbage can than it normally would be. i'm sure people thought i was ridiculous walking through fred meyer dragging a huge ass plastic garbage can and crying...whatever. i'm tired and that's fine.

mostly something i learned is that when you are tired you shouldn't do construction...because i think that is when people get hurt. and that is what happened to me when i was doing my shoes. to do the shoes i had to make this shelf thing. well first thing i screwed one of the walls on backwards and second thing after i finally got the stupid board facing the right way i was screwing it in and one of the walls decided it would be a good idea to crash down on my ankle and scrape me and cut me and make my blood drip down my leg. stupid mother fucker shelf.

anyway i finished it...finally.

it is now in the closet. full of shoes and looks fabulous.

getting closer to the house tour blog post....be patient with me.

grown up me

2008-06-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

i have done blogging about my new house but this time i actually have a picture or two...and of the inside! wahoo! because guess what, tuesday night was my first night in my very own house! and mostly the house looks like a big tornado flew through it but i am perfectly fine with that because slowly but surely it is coming together!

tuesday tara came over to hang out with me on my very first evening. we got thai take out for dinner and decided it was necessary to document the first meal!
yes yes...that is correct paper plates (thank you denise...and for those that don't know that was my happy 23 birthday present from her. they were fancy kind though. with flowers.) and plastic silverware and also we ate while sitting on boxes.

i did other things like put away dvds, line a few shelves in the kitchen with shelf paper, put some clothes away...and also i put together my bed! (not all the pillows and cute blankets are on it because i hadn't found them at the moment...) but see see?!
dear people who read this, meet my new bed in my new room...xo, kendall

i will keep updating with pictures! and once the whole house is finally put together we will put up a post dedicated to a house tour! loves it.
oh, and also, just so you know, i love visitors :)

a week in paradise

2008-06-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

...hawaii...gorgeous. hot. gorgeous. pineapple. gorgeous. sandy beaches. gorgeous. hot surf boys. gorgeous. sun. gorgeous. ocean. gorgeous. parrots. mostly just gorgeous.

to celebrate the parents 25th wedding anniversary that was in march we waited waited waited till sister was done with school for the year and finally finally got to go to hawaii...last week. and it was amazing. everyday day i did this.

wake up at 5:30 (hawaii is three hours behind)
work out and then do abs on a bamboo floor that looks out at the ocean. you can literally do crunches to the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. amazing
go to delicious breakfast buffet
put on swim suit
lay by the beach till noon
go each lunch
lay by the pool till four
go shower
sit in the favorite spa under the palm tree watching the surfers and the sunset
go to dinner
watch a movie (or so you think you can dance...which my friends is AMAZING and will im sure have several of its very own blog posts)
go to sleep

i did that everyday for 8 days. and it was the best ever.

this is where we stayed

i called it paradise but most people called it turtle bay resort. mostly cause everywhere you look there are turtles! snorkeling you see turtles...boogie boarding you see turtles...walking along the rocks you see turtles...surfing you see turtles...

yes yes you read that right...SURFING! i tried it. i really did! i tried surfing. and guess what!? i looooved it! i wasn't even all the way horrible. i sometimes did ok! and by sometimes that means only three waves in 2 hours...but one time i even road it all the way onto the sand! here is proof

also we went to a luau

it was actually really great! i have been to one before a long long time ago but i didn't remember it being that great. mostly cause i think i remember the dancers kind of being fat and bad. but these ones weren't! these ones were actually very very good!

there was one thing funny about hawaii...there were lots of wild birds.

we saw tons of chickens. and one time even saw a chicken that would fly into a tree and then fight with these two hawaiian crows (im not actually sure they were hawaiian crows. that is just what sister and i called them cause they were so nasty mean) anyway lots of wild chickens.
also a wild parrot...well kind of. he lived at our hotel during the day.

there was actually two of them. a red one and a blue one. but the red one was kind of a bitch and never really liked people by him. so we just took a picture of the blue one...and look at his cute foot. he is waving.

hawaii was fabulous and i loved getting to play with sister for so many straight hours in a row :)

paradise is fun!

playing limo!

2008-06-04T10:42:00.001-07:00

i have been gone forever i think. but now i am back. and that means i can finally catch up on what has been keeping me soooo so busy!

first things first. as promised pictures from the birthday extravaganza and how us shepherd sissies play limo! (my favorite game ever!!)

after a slightly rocky start---due to not escaping the office till 515 (thank ms. ashley...but not that it was really that bad because the afternoon consisted of making margaritas on the floor with my awesome new and fabulous blender that works like professional basically it was like the pr room turned into cabo for the afternoon...) anyway we rush rush rushed to ashleys to change...we changed in six minutes (that included taking a couple fancy sips of fancy stuff) and made it to henrys by 6! amazing i know! we are like queens of speed when it comes to getting to parties!

here were my guests

loves loves loves them alll! bestest friends ever!

after delicious dinner favorite game began!

the limo driver was a bit of a retard.

example - phone call at 8:05 (pick up time was 8:00)
dail (oh man be impressed tara that i just remembered that name cause probably i asked what it was 900 times) - on he phone "hello, i am trying to find your house."
me - "my house? um...pick up is henrys downtown 12th and burnside?"
dail - "oohhhhh...um. yeeeeah. ok i will be there as soon as i can."

he got there at 8:35

he was also kind of a crazy driver...at one point tara had her seat belt on...who decides its necessary to wear a seat belt in a limo??...yeah out of control.

but we sang lollipop real loud. and boots with the fur louder...and bleeding love and all the favorite favs! it was a very very happy birthday!

23

2008-05-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

hmmm...today i am 23. kind of crazy cause that's grown up status. for reals.

i no longer go to school i do big girl working.

as of two days ago i paid my very first rent check out of my very own bank account for the first time.

and just for fun i'll write about the fact that i am very happy and excited for all of the wonderful things in my life that have popped up in the past year! i feel proud of myself that my life is slowly coming together. that i have set goals and worked hard to reach them :)...in the last year i have graduated from college, i have started a career, i signed a lease and am officially moving out of my house to stand on my very own two feet to live with my very best friend (sister!), i co-coach 23 of the most amazing girls with one of the very best people that i know of at lake oswego high school, i have danced in the rose garden--several times (thank you lumberjax :)...), and i'm certain that this next year...year 23 will continue to bring me amazing things :)

i am so very blessed for my family, and my friends, and my co-workers...my life wouldn't be anything without them. they.are.everything!

sharing some special things about this special day!
1. i woke up this morning from a text at 5:30 am...my phone was buzzing buzzing...it read "happy birthday to you! happy birthday to you! happy birthday to sisterr! happy birthday to youu! hope your day is super fabulous! love you always! opa chow! xoxo d"
early...but i loved it! thank you danielle! hugs hugs

2. sister surprised me last friday with missy higgins...i know i already wrote about it all but here are pictures. love her. (sister...well i love missy too, but i love sister for her amazing planning...and for spending her precious money on her...too too generous.)

3. my phone rang at 7:30 am. i was blow drying my hair so i didn't hear it. and its a good thing too because had i answered it i wouldn't have been left the best voice mail of my life. it was the most best perfect way to start off my morning. it was a message from the allen family (minus greg...) it was happy birthday ...sung remixed because the ending was really high and fancy...with special messages from denise, danielle, and best of all...mike! made.my.morning! i love them.

4. grandma called me. she was so worried she wouldn't get a hold of me at work...apparently even though i tell her i can talk on the phone at work she doesn't understand...at 7:58 i got a phone call and she sang me happy birthday (tradition) her words were a tiny slurred i don't think she had her teeth in yet this morning. but i loved it loved it anyway :) she's fabulous. if you don't know lillian learn about her. she lives in the nursing home behind clackamas town center...get to know her.

5. i babysat last night. meggie made me this.

then her, joseph, jonathan and his friend sang to me (mostly cause meggie was yelling at them to do it...but jonathan and his friend had to run back down stairs right after singing to work on their x-box and couldn't stay long enough for the ten second timer record)

then meggie did the candles for me :) she blew them both out so i think that means the wish came true...and i will probably end up with two new my little ponies or season 6 of full house.

ps - i got two candles...not cause i was turning two but because i was turning twenty but she couldn't remember how many twenties so i didn't get the other number just the two. love her.

6. my work is fabulous. i got fancy flowers, a fancy delicious candle, and everyday when it is nice i talk about wanting to make margaritas up on the roof and laying in the sun...i try to convince sean we need lap tops to work up there...but we are starting off with the margarita machine first...yes yes that is right! i got a margarita maker, tequila, margarita mix, and my very own bag of ice! see see!?

because heathers birthday is saturday we get to have birthday celebrations together and i love that! the most of all loving! we had champagne with raspberries, cute fancy cupcakes, and celebrated happy hour at mint yesterday. so nice, so cute, and i feel spoiled. i love them :)

7. my family stayed up extra late last night to do birthday celebration with me after babysitting :) we opened cards and gifts and everything about family birthdays i love. last year we spent the whole day on a plane coming home from mexico on my birthday...don't get me wrong mexico is fabulous gorgeous and amazing, but having to be on a plane on your birthday is not the best favorite. anyway this year i got to open adorable kitchen things -- mostly stuff for baking baby cupcakes with (my favorite thing to bake ever!) and also a new fancy purse that i am in love with i have it by my leg right now and i just keep looking at it, also some other things...but the best part is tomorrow we are going on family trip to hawaii! in celebration of my parents 25th wedding anniversary that was in march. but we are leaving the day after my birthday which means that tomorrow and for the next 10 days i don't have to be at work i get to be playing in the sun! waaahooo!

8. my birthday present to myself! all my favorites doing a fancy dinner tonight at henrys and after dinner a limo. wahoo! that means i get to sing apple bottom jeans and lollipop at the top of my lungs wearing a dress and having a dance party. it is my favorite. and i can't wait. i will post about that (as i am certain it will need its very own post) when i get home from hawaii :)

thank you for everyone who has made me feel so loved! good thing i was born so i could do all this fancy stuff!!

it says lizzrd

2008-05-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

i don't really think this picture needs many words to explain it...it's basically one of those that pretty much says it all...you know about that phrase that says "a picture speaks a thousand words" ? yes, it would be one of those.

i will tell you that i saw this car when i was going to the high school in lake o...i'm not too sure i understand but i'm sharing about it cause its funny and whenever i see funny stuff on the road that's what i like to do.

as promised.

2008-05-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

here it is...the random thing...

so ashley, my co-worker, she was very nice to upload this picture, e-mail it to me yesterday...and remind me of the day i felt like ass hole.

the day was the one after that event called r/west turns 11. that fabulous night i decided to drink
- 2 grey goose & grapefruits
- a "rita" - the signature margarita
- a r-ong island - the signature drink
- a washington apple shot
- a duck fart shot
- shot of patron
- a vodka tonic

hmmm that's all i can remember...yeah but surprised i wasn't dead? ha...me too, i laugh now...i wasn't laughing on the day after. my whole body hurt, my fingers were too sore to type...i went to work for about 15 minutes...and then went home and slept the whole day.

this is me. this is basically how i would look if i got hit by a bus cause i'm pretty sure that's how i would feel. thanks ashley for the reminder.

p.s - that was on april 22. i haven't had alcohol in a month.

a breath of air

2008-05-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

not too long ago one of my friends was reading to me from this book. i don't remember what it was called but it was something like one of those inspirational, self-help type books...and one of the parts in there said that when a woman sighs it means she is quietly screaming. it's taken me a while to really agree with that...but today it makes sense.

i've never been the type to scream. it seems awkward, weird, and obnoxious to just open my mouth and scream at the top of my lungs (though i do have moments where i just feel like it only im at places like the store, the office, dance class, dance competitions (**cough cough, state), a client meeting, most all of these would definitely be awkward places to scream...) anyway, screaming to me is often associated with anger and frustration...so what does that mean? every time i take a big breath of air i am secretly expressing anger and frustration? no not necessarily...i think the reason people scream is for that moment of relief at the end, the fresh newness that comes the moment you stop screaming...today i decided that is where signing relates to screaming...if i breath in really really big right now...and then release it. it just feels cleansing, kind of like a momentary fresh start.

i've been taking lots of signs in the last week. this week has been an interesting week for me...and i said in my post from sunday that the reason i haven't been doing as regular of blogging is because there were things i just didn't feel like writing about. i suppose today i'm going to write about them.

it isn't too often that i write these type of posts...mostly cause they are probably boring for whoever reads these...i realize it's much more fun to read about the randomness that somehow is attracted to my life (oh and not to worry...i have a random thing that can be posted on here next...thanks of my co-worker ashley.)at any rate sometimes they are helpful.

when sister took me to missy higginsin concert friday, i fell in love with the song steer. i have this song on my ipod, and i have had it on there for quite some time...but something about listening to her sing it live right after describing her reasons for writing the song made it have a whole new meaning for me...

"but the search ends here
where the night is totally clear
and your heart is fierce
so now you finally know
that you control where you go..you can steer"

this week i am moving out of my parents house for what i like to call permanent...about ready to embark on a journey that is my life, fully and completely...i am cutting the last bits of cord...and if feels new and exciting...i anticipate times when all i want to do is go out for dinner but can't afford to, times when i have to suggest going on a walk rather than the movies due to lack of funds and moments when it would be oh so great to just buy that shirt from nordstrom...but hey, forever has just as cute of stuff! i have been waiting to move out since the day i moved in. i love my family, i love having a bottomless pantry, i love our cleaning lady, i love the laundry facilities...but there have been other things that i don't love so much about living at home. things that are hard to write about cause unless you are living them with me everyday, reading about them won't really make you understand....if you know me well enough you know why living at home is hard for me...

anyway, i have decided that growing up is exciting because for the first time in my life i am starting to see that i am allowed to decide on things for myself. i understand finally that i get one shot at life, no such thing as dress rehearsals for these moments. i can choose when to be influenced by others opinions or when not to. sometimes i forget that friends and family are there to support me and to encourage me and to lift me up...when they start to hurt me, discourage me, lie to me and disappoint me i have the right to choose to fill my world with better people. i also understand that i can forgive. i can do what i want to do, always. and mostly i trust that i have been given the tools by my parents, sister, friends, teachers, co-workers and random acquaintances to take opportunities that strengthen me as a person.

i have hopes for the coming couple months...these hopes are:
1. my family will figure our our shit and after lots of years finally function normal again
2. i build a fabulous new home for my very own self with my very own money and my very own hard work
3. i do a good job coaching...i know i didn't really write about this anywhere else in this post, but officially this year i am taking on the enormous task of head coaching....i'm nervous for it, i'm excited about it, and i love it!

i'm learning to steer my own ship...and i'm totally excited about it :)

a special day

2008-05-18T07:46:00.001-07:00

today is a special day. well technically it was yesterday...but that's fine cause the celebration is today...but today's celebration marks the fact that i have officially been at r/west for over a year now...that's right people a whole year!

to commemorate this special day (and the fact that the fabulous pr department is now one year old) here is a list of 12 of my favorite best memories that have made this one fabulous special -- and for lack of better words (or for lack of keeping this blog appropriate...) -- memorable year!

(12 memories...for 12 months of gorgeousness)

1. my very first day. i was unaware we had a parking lot, unaware that if you show up before 830 you need an elevator little pass thingy, unaware that the third floor door is never unlocked from the stairwell and unaware that i was the only employee in the pr department. it was fine though i had graduated with a degree in history and a minor in theology the day before so that basically means i can run a pr department by myself. after a successful 5 hour day in the office using a login from the previous pr intern to get internet access and do important facebook messaging to my friends telling them about how i had no clue what i was even doing with anything, i went down to my car to find a $25 parking pass on my windshield...had i left work two hours sooner not only would i have avoided the parking ticket, i would have saved myself money (as what i was paid for that two hours didn't even cover my expenses) -- and i would have been able to work out.

2. my first random lunch wednesday. esparza's tex mex off of burnside. that was also the day i had my first shot of patron silver. at 12:14 in the afternoon. with my co-workers i had just met 14 days prior. at my first real job ever. weird? yeah...it was weird. also peter bought a blue eight-track cassette tape at a junk store down the street. i didn't know who peter even was at the time but that was also weird to me...mostly the only thing i knew was i wanted to make a good impression and that meant salt the lime, throw it back and secretly take short quick breaths to avoid throwing up the $18 shot sean had just bought me.

3. heather's first day...at least according to sean...it was suppose to be in june. i dressed nice everyday for 17 days straight. until i ran out of nice clothes (in hopes of making a good impression) she didn't end up starting till sometime late in july. the day she started i was wearing cut off sweats.

4. working hard riding rides

and truly one of the best days cause it was one of heather and i's first bonding days :) see? i loved her from the start!

5. my first time at bridgeport brewery...hop harvest bottling. i will admit that drinking beer at work is pretty awesome. it probably would have been inappropriate to drink beer while teaching history...so this day was also one of the days that was an indicator that i had chosen the correct career path.

6. kickball. we were basically fabulous. one time i blogged about our fabulousness that was recess time so if you want to read about our team you can go here recess time blog but basically this was us:

this picture is hard to see our faces...so here is a close up:

7: the day of franz. where i learned about the capacity of volkeswagon bugs and also that it is physically impossible to eat two slices of franz white bread in two minutes...(for all of you who take challenges seriously...then i dare you. try it...it really is impossible! r/west didn't believe it so pr team held a challenge...we had a prize package with money and beer and game factory nintendo games and bbq sauce...and even for all of those prizes not one person could do it!)

8. the day burger king came to visit.

for everyone that didn't meet him. ask to see the video of the king's trip to the local burger king. hilarious amazing and awesome filming done by non other than john gentle...r/west does halloween right.

9. the day i spent $600 at nike and all i had to do was name drop my name. that's like how famous people do it i think. probably famous people then come back to their work and place dress up too...

10. the day julieanna started. also the day i got my second parking ticket. this day was great because we were both sick--hence the parking ticket...my fever made me delirious or something and i forgot about paying the meter (?) when i took her to mothers bistro for lunch. julieanna had stomach flu. i had strep throat. we both left early. (heather was still gone in new york) and the pr department started the year off strong with no one in the office for the first week.

11. one word. < mint >

12. my favorite bestest bests! and the most fabulous party ever planned.
drinks. wigs. drinks. fancy glasses. drinks. photobooths. drinks. dj evil. drinks. cupcakes. drinks.

oh and drinks.

so many memories...so not enough time to write about them. happy one year anniversary!! my work is fabulous :) and so are the three lovely ladies i work with.
heather - who has taught me everything i know about everything! i love her to death. and i'm pretty sure if it wasn't for her i wouldn't have the amazing job that i have. (and trust me it is important to have a job you love because when you are in the same place for 8 hours a day it's important to like what you do!)
julieanna - who cracks me up, teaches me more than i could ever possibly think there was to know about social media &celebrity gossip, and she sings me "bleeding love"
brittney - i have a feeling the one who will turn me into a camper.

cheers!

things

2008-05-18T07:30:00.001-07:00

i haven't written words on here in kind of too long. not because things haven't been happening, they have...just some of the things that have been happening are not really blog worthy. mostly cause they are just kind of serious and personal, and i have considered writing about them....but i haven't felt like it yet...maybe another day...other things that have been happening have been kind of dumb or annoying to write about--anyway i don't really have a purpose for this post...the parrot is still missing, i haven't seen any naked people in lloyd center, no mint altoids for the office...however that does remind me...i did celebrate my one year anniversary at r/west last week...which that is kind of wild to think i have already one year of being an adult under my belt still feels like i just graduated, like yesterday...weird. anyway i wrote a big post about it on the r/west pr girls' blog...which if you ever want to read about us we are kind of awesome... you should add our blog to your favorite morning reads...pr fabulousness but i think i will post my one year anniversary blog on here in a minute.

anyway here are other things to update you on my life.
1. i turn 23 on thursday...that is crazy! some days i still feel like i am 19 or 20...but its ok cause i am having some of the best times ever! i love my laker dancers, i love my job, i love my sister, i love my friends....
2. for my birthday sister surprised me with missy higgins concert on friday night...i loved her, she was so cute! and so amazing...i highly recommend next time she is in your town....GO SEE HER!
3. i planned fabulous plans for thursday night....but my friends don't all know about it...so it is staying a secret...i am sure i will have a huge amazing blog post for that night.
4. in 48 hours i get the keys to my new house
5. friday i leave for hawaii for 8 days

and those mostly are the five big things i can think of to update on...that or i just don't feel like thinking of more stuff...

but i'm back to normal blogging now so my thousands and thousands of millions of billions of blog readers don't have to worry anymore. :)

the parrot trap

2008-05-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

not to be confused with the parent trap.

nope wait, i'm lying. absolutely to be confused with the parent trap. because apparently the parrot trap can also trap parents.

remember about my dad's brilliant trap? (yes the parrot is still MIA) well the white crate is back in the house...and sitting upstairs in the hallway...allie moved home last weekend from college and has been working on cleaning out her room/closet...the crate is sitting in the hall full of shit-old black high heels, pink bathrobe, white washcloth with a ballerina on it, my black taffeta skirt from when i was in the detail hip hop show last march, coconut shell bra, and kind of a lot of other random stuff. at any rate, it is in the hall pushed up against the wall outside of allies room.

last night my dad came in to say goodnight to sister and i (mostly we do sleepovers when she is home, it is more fun that way plus we just like to...we have since we were little, when i used to take her pacifier and scrape the paint off of her headboard to write words-it was repainted three times) anyway he came to say goodnight and decided for some reason it was a good idea to walk down the hall in the pitch black. he tripped on the trap. he punched a hole in the wall. and now the wall looks like this.

and so i write to some stuff...

dear dad,
i think this is what the parrot would call karma.
xox, kendall

the backyard pt. 2

2008-05-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

update on the zoo...

we learned about the parrot over the weekend...the woman at the bird shop said he was from australia and that he most likely escaped from someones house cause those kinds of birds don't just roam wild around here. she suggested that we catch him and put him in a cage, otherwise he probably won't be doing much more banana chomping in the tree he will most likely be the one getting chomped, by the hawks...so we bought a $20 used cage from this bird shop. also at the shop we met other birds...like this one

he was eating his way out of the cage. apparently parrots are really smart and are good at escaping so if you ever get a parrot double locks might not be a bad idea.

anyway we brought the cage home and as soon as we got home dad set up a booby trap to catch the bird...it looked retarded and according to my mom (who was totally right might i add) "that parrot would have to be a dumb ass to walk under that contraption your dad is out there rigging up in the yard"

i don't have a picture unfortunately...but imagine this - a white crate the size of a suitcase you would take with you to europe for a month...propped up on the two front ends with sticks, attached to one of the sticks? a rope...and underneath the crate, a huge pile of food...yeah he would have to be a dumb ass for sure..."here bird...here, come walk under this big white huge box that doesn't look sketchy at all...don't worry you won't get caught."

we haven't seen the bird in two days.

all i have to say is that if that bird doesn't come back sister and i are gonna be pissed because we were suppose to trade that bird to the cat breeder for this little baby...the one on the left...the calico one...

dad better start praying that that bird gets his shit back into that tree...and fast.

classy.

2008-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

admittedly i stole this from another blog that i read. but it was too good not to post. i'm not sure i knew we were suppose to dress up when going to walmart, but thankfully i am aware now how fancy classy walmart is! i definitely won't be going there in my sweats anymore...no wonder why i always get such bad customer service when i go there. i just thought it was cause every dumb ass in front of me in line was arguing to save money with expired coupons or get discounts for damaged packaging or cause they are trying to coordinate their 18 kids running in 12 directions...this whole time it was just my sweats! gahhh.

promise.

2008-04-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

ok so it has been decided. i have set a goal. and now i am writing about it because writing about things somehow always makes stuff more official.

for several months now i have been telling myself i am going to start getting back in shape...now i know i know, for those that know me and see me all the time i'm sure they are thinking "excuse me skinny bitch but what are you even worrying about..." so no it is not to lose weight that i have decided to do this...it is actually the opposite that has got me motivated...mostly it is my skrawny chicken arms and my weak legs that is motivation for me to get back in shape. one time about a year ago i was hella ripped and i miss that. so this morning, on my way to work, it was decided. i will be getting back into shape.

and this is how it will be done.

i'm not setting my goals super high to begin with because that i'm certain is setting myself up for failure...i have a hard enough time juggling a full time work, friend, family, dance time...and now to add working out in the mix its just another thing...but i'm ready to add it in, and i'm ready to start making it a priority so that is what makes me feel like i am going to be successful.

i was just sitting in ashley's office and we decided this.

3 days a week...i will be at the gym. gym time will include 1/2 an hour of cardio, and a weight circuit (2 arm exercises, 1 ab exercise, 2 leg exercises) these can be added or adjusted dependent on the mood/day but never can i do less than this. also gym time can be substituted for a yoga/pilates class or another work out class such as cycling/step/kick boxing...dependent upon the level of cardio that goes down it is even possible to substitute a gym day with a dance class...

this new schedule will be examined in 3 weeks and at that time we will analyze our commitment and determine if it is satisfying to continue for another 3 weeks, or if we we are ready to bump it up to something more...

at any rate it is official. mission "get-in-shape" has begun!

not the most exciting post but whatev its a blog about my life...and about the shit i do...so probably it is important to include this new goal i guess.

the backyard

2008-04-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

our backyard is sometimes a little wild.

when i was little i always wanted to camp outside in a tent but my paranoid mom never would let me because there would always be random wild animals outside.

deer.
coyotes.
raccoons.
rabbits.
mountain lion. (only once...but that one time seeing a mountain lion in the backyard was enough to scare my mom...although it is kind of sketch so probably i should have been scared too.)
turkeys.
peacocks.

anyway. today we saw a new animal. one i have never seen in the backyard before.

tonight we saw this...

a parrot.

we fed him a banana in the bird feeder and he was hella chowing all night.

i'll keep you posted, cause he is still out there and my mom wants to adopt him.

summer

2008-04-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

summer is confused i think...because it is wanting to come out but sometimes winter says "actually watch out im going to snow, hail and pour down rain today..."

so summer leaves again...

but it is putting up a fight and every once in a while we get a fabulous sunny day. like yesterday.

yesterday i was out on a drive with my mom, dad and some of our family friends...we were doing other stuff but this one part of our drive we were looking around alameda area (a neighborhood in northeast portland where we used to live when i was five) we were driving around "oooohing" and "ahhhing" at all of the fancy houses that i wished i lived in and then on the street were two little girls with their lemonade stand..

i yelled at my dad to stop but he didn't...so i yelled louder and then mom jumped on my team and we stopped...i had made a promise a long time ago that whenever i saw a lemonade stand i would always buy some...because dude, i remember the days of the lemonade stand and whenever i sold some it was seriously the best ever...and then when you get a big tip...its like "shut it down! we just made $5 lets go buy bonniebell lip gloss at rite aid!"

i made everyone in the car give a dollar and my mom ran out and bough a cup of lemonade...for 25 cents. we gave them $5 and told them to keep the change. they were excited...and i smiled.

so do good deeds...when you see lemonade stands out this summer...buy some. 25 cents won't break the bank and you will make someones day! plus lemonade is bomb.

just fine

2008-04-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

fine.

a word so commonly used its almost like habit. someone asks you a question and the quick easy response... "fine."

q - "how are you?"
a - "fine."

q - "how was school?"
a - "fine."

q - "how was your day?"
a - "fine."

fine...most normally used as an empty term that is simply a lazy response to a not so eventful occurrence. but what does fine really even mean? because i'm pretty sure it answers nothing.

day before yesterday a friend of mine informed me what fine ACTUALLY stands for:

f - ucked up
i - rrational
n - eurotic
e - motional

right? it's kind of awesome! and totally adds a more exciting twist to the ever so universally used term.

so next time you respond with "it'll be fine.."
know it's the most pleasant and calm way of saying things are messed the f@#k up, people are crazy, which makes you crazy and if you are anything close to normal you become an emotional basket case that is covering the fabulousness with a smile...because dude...that's life...and if things weren't "fine" shit would be boring.

so smile lots, laugh more and enjoy the things that drive you most crazy because those are the moments that add character to the ever so mundaneness that can be life.

eleven.

2008-04-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

eleven is how old my work turned tuesday.

eleven years old.

now it would seem that eleven isn't really a special year...it's not like ten where you fill up all the fingers...it's not like fifteen when you can drive a car...it's not the sweet sixteen...it's not the legal eighteen...it's not the good ole' twenty first...it's simply just eleven...but let me tell you what's so special about eleven...

eleven means u can hold up just two pointer fingers and it makes eleven...eleven means you can order a dozen and the fat person gets an extra donut...eleven means will and grace is on lifetime...eleven means you add a seven and you got yourself some slurpies!...eleven is a totally awesome number and totally fabulous birthday to celebrate.

beings that i work in the most amazing department of r/west...pr...we are also the designated party planning team of the group and we were put in charge of planning the birthday...so duh what does that mean? it means we get a dj...we get fancy costumes...we get a photo booth...and we create fancy drinks (the "R-ong" island : basically a special twist on the old long island iced tea...and the "R-ita" a fancy strawberry basil infused margarita)

here is the amazing team

here are the fancy costumes ...(heather and i...)

here is proof that the special drinks worked...(ashley and i...)

and though we did all of the fancy planning...non of it would have been possible without the financials...(sean-the big guy...and i...)

happy eleventh birthday r/west...
you know your job is rough when you have to party like a rockstar all the time.

mall etiquette

2008-04-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

i have yet to see a sign with rules on mall etiquette however i'm certain that these rules exist and apparently not everyone is aware of the rules so i guess that means it is now time to put them in writing so that the public can see what is appropriate and what is not for mall behavior...

the skinny on how to be when at the mall
1. when selling a product be a good representation of it...
ex. - if you are selling hair products it might be a good idea to have washed your hair that day rather than wearing a grease slicked pony...also if you are selling acne products, probably a good idea to not have acne, i know sometimes that might be mean to say but im sorry it is true how do you expect people to buy the products you are selling when apparently they aren't even working for you.

2. don't be annoying shopper that tries to return stuff after 7 years that is without tags and that has been used.
ex. - let's say you bought some dress from meir & frank...back before it was macys and you decided now after 5 years you don't like it anymore...don't try and get your money back from it...it's a different store...you have already worn it like 75 times...and the people behind you don't have time to wait for your ugly ass to argue with management about something that you probably shouldn't have even bought in the first place.

3. this one should probably be rule number one but it was put as last because hopefully it will be the one people are left with to remember as most important...

**keep your shit put away in the parking lot...
ex. - if you EVER have the thought of ..."what should i do today...hmm how about go to the mall and chase three girls around the parking structure with my wang hanging out..." yeah not a good idea. first off its disgusting...second its weird...and last, i promise...nobody wants to see it...also something is that next time i see someone jerking off i will probably just go ahead and hit him with my car...i'm certain i can get away with the claim "oh i'm sorry officer but when that sicko jumped in front of my car with his skank in my face i was caught off guard and forgot to stop"...(because also something is...it wasn't even the first time!! it was the 2ND time in the last month that i have been exposed to this indecency...) so totally barf.

the rules of the mall...learn about them bitches. they're kind of common sense so they shouldn't be all that hard to remember.

um...remember about how it's april??...

2008-04-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

dear sky, do you remember about that song "april shower's bring may flowers?"...i don't think the song ever said "april snow..." i'm pretty sure snow does not bring flowers...snow brings like santa and sleds and boots with the fur...so let's remember about what today is...april 21st...and about how i shouldn't be waking up to snow?

that was my backyard today.

yeah. thanks.

how about tomorrow we are pretty. not freezing. and act maybe something like it's spring? because remember about something else...may starts next week...and may is almost summer. because allie gets out of school for summer break in 2 weeks. i don't like spring getting skipped. i like spring.

your lucky i am a forgiving person who tends to give second chances...

if i see more snow tomorrow we will definitely be having more serious words.
from, kendall.

dearstuff...

2008-04-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

sometimes things are annoying, sometimes things are a pain in my ass, sometimes things need reminders, sometimes things need to be vented, sometimes things are cute, sometimes things are mean, sometimes things are funny, sometimes things are nice, sometimes things are stressful, sometimes things are a lot of different things...

i learned about this type of writing today from a girl on twitter...im trying it. therefore sharing it...if you find it good...try it too...it may help with life.

dear sun, remember last weekend when you were pretty? could you come back so im not so freezing and grumpy? cordially, kendall.

dear work computer, could you not be so old and slow so i can get my work done better? annoyingly, kendall.
p.s- internet explorer mostly i mean you...and your illegal operations. thnx.

dear lips, i know its not as sunny this week as last week and its a little more cold and freezing but could you please not be so chapped all of time? painfully, kendall.

dear boys, im not sure if its you or your cell phones but if one or the other could start working better probably i wouldn't be so annoyed...fondly, kendall.

dear sister, you are hilarious and thanks for always letting me vent to you about life. you make shit more fun. xox, sissy.

dear cute new blue house, i love you and have been looking for you a long time. love, kendall.

dear phone, sometimes people make fun of us for being so obsessed with each other, don't let other's opinions change you. you are amazing and without you mostly i get bored. hugs, kendall.

dear to-do list, sometimes its ok not to grow longer after i check something off you... from, kendall

dear oregon dance team judges, i have been listening to your state tapes about our routine...i get that you like us off center and lots of you tell us to play follow the leader but sometimes running to new formations doesn't show off skills as well as triple turns and foutes...what did you think about those skills? confusingly yours, kendall.

dear laundry, i have work for 9 hours today...it would be nice if you could be picked up and folded when i get home...i get tired of seeing you on the floor everyday, learn about responsibilities and quit being lazy. gross.- kendall.

probably i will write more letters in the future. that is all the stuff i have to write to right now.

house

2008-04-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

here it is...our house

we found it one week ago when it had an open house. we walked in the door and knew it had to be ours.

it is cute. redone inside...modern-esch...with hardwood floors. three bedrooms. one bathroom. a big yard. a downstairs with a washer and a dryer. a fire place. it is our new home and it is fabulous perfect!

we filled out applications that day...we got the phone call tuesday night...and to make things official i did this thursday...

today i was at costco with my mom and bought new gorgeous stainless steel pots and pans (there is even a double boiler...that is fancy for steaming veggies i think...) i got two frying pans, cookie sheets and a cooling rack, and a set of baking pans for brownies cupcakes cakes and other yummy treats!

this is going to be the start of a very fun adventure...i have a feeling i am going to start enjoying parts of this being grown up world. it is kind of fun!

today.

2008-04-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

right now i am at work. probably i should be doing press release writing...

instead im in my office with ashley, brittney, and jake.

i'm drinking this

jake is educating us on beer scented candles.

and brittey (our new girl that started yesterday...) says "i love working at this place."

wipe vs white

2008-04-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

question...
what is this called?

did you say wipe board?
-or-
did you say white board?

i started my morning off with an e-mail from heather and a run through of what will happen on wednesday...the day our new pr girl, brittney, joins our office. on the schedule was a bullet point marking a time when brittney can make a list of office supplies she may need/want for her desk. such as pens, stickynotes, stapler...or a wipe board. it makes perfect sense, you write down your words...you wipe them off when you're done...hence the wipe board.

me on the other hand, if i were to have made the bullet point...my words would have read...white board. in my ever so cleaver mind i suppose i drew justification for that name via the word blackboard (meaning chalkboard)...you have blackboards and you have white boards.

i have been known to mess up words in the past....so it wouldn't totally shock me if i had this one wrong too..solid examples have included:
"forced-arch"...i've danced since i was 14. i am 22. that equals eight years of dancing...up until a few months ago dancing on my toes was called the "four-starch" apparently in my mind that evolved from fourth position and i guess made sense...whatever.
"like a rock"...the good ole' chevrolet truck commerical...sister and i used to sit in the back seat of our car...fighting over where the dividing lines were between our seats and sing about "michael rock.." until my mom turned around one day and said..."girls quit fighting...and its like a rock...not michael rock." we laughed and continued to sing "michael rock.." cause when you have been singing a song that way for already 2 years...why change?

at any rate...julieanna also says "white" board...so we had a discussion today about this at the office...it remains undecided.

i suppose both names are legit right? i'm gonna research about this...i'll let you know when the jury is back with their decision.

laughing.

2008-03-31T17:19:00.000-07:00

laughing is one of my favorite best things...this weekend i did lots of quality laughing. the kind of laughing where your tummy hurts and tears are squeezed from your eyes...where you fall over yourself onto the ground and just laugh uncontrollably.

thanks to the mac invention called photobooth danielle and i decided to play photoshoot almost all weekend...her house, my house, early morning, afternoon, night...pretty much all random times...and though we discuss all the time how we are basically family...you know you have officially crossed the line from friend to family when you can look like this and they still love you anyway.

probably people that read my blog wont enjoy this as much as i do just going back over and over to look at these pictures. but that's fine cause mostly this is my journal and i can just write about whatever i like. anyway if you have never hung out with danielle and i call us and plan a time cause we are a pretty much solid entertainment...like kind of the best. cause all we do is laugh and play and talk and i kind of just love us.

how i like to spend my relaxing thursday nights...

2008-03-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

see that dude? that random guy in the middle of all of those cars that all look the same? that was me last night.

thursday nights used to be spent doing the typical up college student thursday night activity...thirsty thursdays right? the ever so wild partier in me would usually be coerced into going to hang out at the totally fancy fabulous twilight room off of lombard in north portland...these days my thursday nights have managed to be one of the few nights a week i have to myself, to relax, hang out...to basically do whatever i want...and i have kind of learned to love my thursday nights.

this week was no different. this weeks thursday activities were going to be consumed by tanning, going to washington square...mingling around, testing teas at teavana, testing perfumes at sephora, testing lip glosses at mac, reading cards at halmark...kind of awesome i know right? not even weird to bum around at a mall just doing whatever by myself...for however long i decided...i did know one thing though i wanted to leave by eight...

well...i would have met my goal had i remembered three things.
1. that i had switched cars with my dad earlier that day...so i was NOT driving a yellow bug...so walking around the parking lot for 10 minutes looking for one wasn't going to make "groovy" randomly appear...
2. that if i did remember i was driving a silver mercedes remembering where it was parked would have been nice too.
3. lastly, the key i held...it was the one with the half dead battery...aka panic button didn't work and you have to stand within 3 inches of the door to get it to unlock...

NOT my best night...basically i was pissed...speaking in tongue that consisted of words that really only had four and five letter words...and i didn't get home till 830. mother f-er...pissing whores of death. it was a little funnier when i told danielle about it, and a little more funnier when i told my co-workers about it today...but still kind of have itchy skin and irritated anger about it when i remember how annoying it was to walk up and down the parking lot rows 13 times each in the freezing snow of march...cause also that is the other thing...since when does it snow in portland in march? what?

gorgeous thursday night. but it did get better. i made dinner, snuggled and watched dance videos of my favorite bestest bests when i got back to the house. if you haven't learned about the lakers yet...do. they kick ass.

the goodness that is spring.

2008-03-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

today is easter. and something i love about easter are the colors...pinks, yellows, blues, spring grassy green...there are flowers and bunnies and eggs and i happen to love everything about it because it is just so spring. and with spring means sun...and even though it is rainy outside i look around inside and everything is bright, cheery, sweet, fun and cute.

today's easter isn't exactly a normal easter for me. but i am ok with that because today's activities are special in and of themselves. i have spent the whole morning cooking and baking and playing with my family. i made tea. i made cupcakes. i made cookies. i have sampled too many of the deviled eggs my sister and mom have been making to insure that they were "satisfactory enough" for the guests coming today. i have played little girl and snuggled a little easter bunny that the big "easter bunny" brought for me (which by the way is adorable and from the brand "bunnies by the bay" learn about them and find some cause their fur is amazing soft...they make bath robes and i want to look into that) thus far, today's easter has been perfect, relaxing and delicious. i am loving it.

take a peak at some of the gorgeousness that has been today.

barf.

2008-03-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

barf is one of my new favorite words. i also enjoy when i hear others around me say it...it's pretty much hilarious and makes everything that is nasty... funny, and therefore bearable...my theory on life is, if you can find humor in the gross annoying crap then life will be a whole lot more fun...

examples - make fun of diarrhea, wear knee pads and a sign that says "that's right bitches...sometimes i fall down the stairs...be jealous," when you call someone by the wrong name laugh at them and be like "silly...i know your REAL name...no need to correct...its just a barf name and so i decided to call you something cuter"

however...there are still those remaining few things that really just can't be made fun of...cause they are legitimately barf...and there is no escaping them. one of those things is soy yogurt.
if you see this on store shelves...one word. RUN

this shit is for reals...nasty.
when something looks like barf, smells like barf, has the color of barf...learn about it tasting like barf before actually putting it in your mouth. n.aaaas.ty.
according to "skinny bitch" this amazingly hilarious book on healthy eating...soy products are better for your body and easier to digest...i have been eating soy milk with my cereal in the morning and actually i enjoy it...plus soy is suppose to be good for your skin...but soy yogurt? yikes...no thanks.

precious moments

2008-03-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

today is march 12...and something about today is that it has been 6 days short of 4 months since my car accident.

i have had some moments today...some moments that have reminded me just how very lucky i am to be sitting here able to write this...i'm pretty sure it isn't everyday that people can flip cars on freeways going 65 miles per hour and live through it...let alone be totally fine.

most days i manage not to think about it anymore, at least not in the way that caused me to wake up short of breath in the middle of the night...also the rain has been much less lately so when i drive to work in the mornings i don't often hear that sloshing water spray under the bottom of the car that instantly causes my heart to skip a beat and nervous anxiety to rush through my whole self.

today however is one of those days...one of those days i am forced to toss my hands in the air and thank god for not taking me that morning.

apparently i still had more things to do...more people to meet...more friends to make...more lives to touch...and for that no words can explain how grateful i am. i really am not sure what purpose that morning was meant to serve but i do know that it has opened my eyes to life. cherishing moments, being random, loving, taking advantage of every opportunity, looking for the good in all situations, enjoying the small things...

too often people are caught up in the routine that is life...distracted by the daily activities of work, stress, family, what's for dinner, laundry, who isn't calling you back, what time to leave so you won't be late for the meeting, game, movie, practice, test, rehearsal, flight...stop...just stop...breathe in...breathe out...and remember that we are given one life. one shot. one chance. one body. one time...just one...one that can be ended at any split second of any day of any month of any year...and as hard as you try to control when that one life may end...ultimately it is out of your hands. so make the most of it...value every moment...for each one is precious.

so today hug someone new, laugh at something, play dress up and take silly pictures, drive to your friends house with a flower and surprise them, send an email to someone you haven't talked to in a long time, have a dance party in the middle of the safeway parking lot to "apple bottom jeans and boots with the fuuuuuurrr", go buy a super soaker and have a water fight, give something to someone, pray, sing your favorite song at the top of your lungs holding a brush as a microphone in front of your mirror...be random...take a step away from your routine and enjoy life because you only have one shot at it...and you never know when it may end...so i'll end totally cliche and say...cherish all moments. try to live each one as if it were your last. it's important.

ssshwack

2008-03-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

i was just going to title this post wack...but that word seemed kind of ick...and then i thought about giving it a whole different title, but something about wack is that it was kind of the theme of yesterday around the office and i said that when i finally blogged about the end result of the altoid extravaganza i would title it wack. so that's what im doing...i just added a ssshhh on it so it wouldn't sound as nasty by itself.

anyway the whole office basically ended up getting involved in this thing...cause it was kind of an ordeal.

it started with me running around to buy 200 more tins of altoids (as if 400 wasn't enough) proof...check out the receipt...

it continued with me running around buying 300 boxes to distribute each bottle in (mind you my car is TINY so it took more skills than i had anticipated...) the kind of skills that basically involve shoving large things into tiny spaces...look.

basically when i shut my eyes at night, images of these flashed through my head...

i'm over it. for the next two weeks i will be living and breathing laker dancers...which is much better than mint dust in my opinion.

absolutely necessary...

2008-02-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

reallly? really. seriously? is it absolutely necessary to really have this many?

the office smells like mint. heather's car smells like mint. my hands smell like mint. my hair and clothes are infused with it and i'm pretty certain i have never seen so many altoids in one place at one time.

just another typical day at the office...

meaning "kendall...do this random job...don't ask what it's for...don't ask for instructions...don't ask where to go, what to do, how much, when, where, what, why...just get me 400 tins of altoids to fill those pill bottles you ordered and it will be fine."

...oh sure! no problem...let me just go to every store in the portland area to collect every tin of altoid that has been shipped into this state in the last year. oh it's fine. don't worry about me. it's all good. all under control. it's not a problem at all! fabulous. loving it...and totally obsessed.

(...wtf?? what seriously? ...necessary?)

whatever.

mission accomplished.

mostly i just laugh these days...because it's basically comedy.

when people ask what i do for a living i just say..."drink beer, try on xxl basketball clothes from niketown, and buy altoids...sometimes i do public relations on the side."

...don't act so suprised...

2008-02-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

i have another new obsession!

i know...totally shocking right?...

today during lunch julieanna and i went to root whole body. it's my new favorite place. it looks like this...

we did yoga. for one hour in the middle of the day we walked into paradise...breathed calming smells of lavender, listened to soothing water noises, drank fancy fabulous tea in the special tea room...it was amazing! there is even a sauna and you can use big comfy luscious robes...go learn about it...

and it is totally not even that expensive...plus you can buy packages or monthly memberships. now i want to try pilates, hot room yoga, facials, and everything else pampering and fabulous...obsessed.

options...

2008-02-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

sometimes there are people who annoy you. sometimes there are people who argue with you. sometimes there are things that are dumb...and sometimes you just need to give these people and things options so they stop being annoying and do what you say.

today my sister just texted me and told me that a girl was sitting next to her in class chomping her gum hella...

today my computer had to restart three times...

today traffic was gross..people were dumb...and i was lateish to work...

and these are just three examples from today of where giving things options would solve things...quick, easy and painless...

something about when you are little is that probably you have all written notes to people that say.. "do you like me..." and then the little boxes are below and you write "check (not the word but the actual check mark symbol) yes or no..."

basically that is what this is about...life was always so black and white when i was little...so why not just make things simple again?

today i sent these notes...

pretty much how this works is...you allow things to have free choice...but in the end their choices are options that you choose...so it's basically win win for everyone.

to do list...

2008-02-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

i guess i am in to lists these days...i've been making lists about things i love and other things i love...and now today i am going to do another list. i guess one thing about me is i am a list maker...and i always have been...i work best when i can lay everything out...look at it and just dig in. something about crossing things off lists feels rewarding and satisfying i suppose...i know lists about what i love are not really cross-off-able...but i still like them...anyway...todays list is something new...

today's list is going to be a list of things i want to do...not really in any particular order and they don't have to be any time soon...(some probably will be impossible to do soon...) but sometime in my life i would like to do all of these things...so hopefully if i am still blogging when i am like 75...i can go back and be like..."oh shit...i gotta hurry and get those other things done!"

so here is my list...
1. learn to knit mittens and a hat
2. get a good bike and go on a bike trip (like cycle oregon)
3. do a triathlon
4. buy a pair of brown uggs
5. visit italy / visit the vatican
6. get married
7. take pictures doing snow angels in a lot of snow in either a bathing suite or my sports bra and underwear
8. write a book
9. have kids
10. scuba dive
11. own some sort of house of my very own
12. cross country ski
13. coach a dance team (or co-coach a dance team)
14. watch the ball drop in new york city on new years eve (in person...not on tv)
15. learn to kayak
16. paint a big painting on canvas as a piece of art for my living room
17. see the grand canyon
18. ride in a real gondola and kiss under one of those bridges
19. learn yoga/pilate's and do it for reals (once i did it in PE class but i think i fell asleep before it was over)
20. sew a quilt
21. ride an elephant
22. get a tattoo...probably something tiny... but somewhere...some day...
23. hang out and look around (or stay!) in a vegas palms hotel sweet.
24. see rent on broadway (in new york)
25. fly a plane
26. learn to play guitar (i know a little...but i want to learn for reals)
27. learn to play violin
28. have something named after me
29. go to a celebrity party/red carpet event/or anything that is famous like...
30. rope swing into a lake
31. go on a silent retreat
32. see the sunrise on an ocean shore line and the sunset over the ocean shore line in the same day
33. drive a really expensive car just to see what all the fuss is about...like a $100,000 or more car...
34. go to the top of the eiffel tower (i know i know...i was all the way in paris...and i didn't go to the top of the eiffel tower...long story--at any rate its going on my list)
35. visit all 50 states
36. start my own business
37. read a classic novel (or 2 or 3..) - like war and peace
38. go on a road trip (3 days min...perferable a longer one)
39. go to australia
40. change someone's life for the better...and know that i have made a difference

i'm sure i'll add to this list someday...but for now these are a good start :)....sometimes i think being random and doing things you normally wouldn't do are the best ways to live life. most of the time its the small moments and the random activities you take for granite that make your life so fantastic...i plan to do all of these things (or hope that i can do all of these things...) and as i do im certain that the journey to get me to these will be the parts i will remember best. and there is one rule. the rule is i am not allowed to do any adventure alone...because also something...is it is best to look back, laugh and remember things with other people.

carpe diem!

baggy sweat pants...and the nikes with the strap...

2008-02-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

the difference a week can make in my world of work is basically like this.

one week ago i had already been up for 11 hours. i had already been working for 10 hours and was tired, gross, nasty and totally over it.

this week i have been up for 7 hours. worked for 5 hours...and half of those hours were spent doing shopping, dress-up, and important lunching. basically much better...much more fun...and pretty much why my job kind of kicks ass...

meet heather. my boss. well actually i think you have already met heather...but not this heather...this heather is what we call...i think..."ballllliiiiinnnn..." (or whatever. basically just a white skinny kid dressed like he wants to be in a gang, wears ice chips on his ear and puts on grillz before cruising around the town in a pimped out low riding cadillac)...heather and i played dress up with the $600 worth of nike clothes i had to buy today for a video shoot. we are fancy. and gorgeous.

i'm pretty sure a rule should exist that probably every friday should be like this.

...all is well...

2008-02-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

saturday i did something awesome. i went and slept in my old dorm room...kenna hall. from sophomore year...talk about blast from the past...random? kind of...but actually not totally cause something weird is that my sister has my old dorm room! (that...i would consider to be the random part.)

anyway we had sister/girl/party/sleepover night. we hung out. laughed. snuggled. watched a movie. played with hair. went to dinner. bought hella junk food at fred meyer. it was glorious fun. sometimes a little sister time is the best medicine for life.

one thing about that night...
we are going to play a game...look at this picture.

click on it...it will get bigger.
now the game goes like this... guess which side of the little divider bar was ours. (sorry that the picture is also missing the cupcakes, peach pie, corn chips that go with that 5 layer dip, the veggie platter and the sweet tart gummy rabbits.

if you guessed the 39 cans of dog food ... ummmmm...yeeee-ahhh.. uh, you're right!(?) good job.

the other thing i needed to show about is this...

they are addicting...hilarious. and fabulous...make some.

today is valentines day

2008-02-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

i love lots of things.

i wrote a list a couple days ago about all of the things that i love.

so probably it is not necessary to repeat those...but it's valentines day...and today is a day about love. so here are 7 additional things that i love. also, some people are bitter about today..."sad day"...(which i learned stands for singles awareness day...) but i'm over that...cause even though the rich, hot, smart, athletic, and funny guy that is going to be blessed to take care of my ass forever hasn't been lucky enough to meet me yet...there are still a handful of people in my life that i love and am thankful for...so i'm just going to celebrate that today.

anyway my 7...

1. the flowers sitting on my desk. i have two bouquets, one from my sister (delicious smelling daisy's and wild flowers)...one from julieanna (red tulips)...because they make me smile...so flowers and the thoughtful girls that gave them to me.
2. the word "probably".
3. the word "fabulous".
4. denise.
5. getting my westmoore hair tomorrow.
6. american idol night with nicki and laura...(and hopefully more in the future) because it is fabulous bonding. we eat brownies. we watch videos. we do homework. we cuddle. we take pictures on photobooth. and then once in a while watch some singing.
7. making people smile. (i know that is kind of vague/and typical...but it's true. bringing joy into other people's life makes me happy. i love making people laugh, i love giving presents, and i just plain love loving other people :)....)

happy valentines day bitches. looove it.

somethings about today.

2008-02-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

there are two things. well there are actually lots of things. because for some reason i always seem to have stuff i can write and talk about...but mostly today there are two things that are most important for sharing.

i'm not sure which one i should start with so i will start with the fancy one...and end with the meaningful one.

the fancy one is the thing i am drinking my new obsession from. ok...i know...yesterday i said i was obsessed with rubix. and i am. still...but you are allowed to have more than one obsession and my other one is this thing called tea...specifically "to life" tea...a way too expensive habit for my poor ass...kind of like getting my hair cut and colored...but it makes me happy, and being happy is most important...so it's whatever. anyway "to life" is delicious its from teavana at washington square, go there, learn about it, and become obsessed. it will change your life. but the point is that my coworkers were gone yesterday in LA and they brought me back a fancy present for my new obsession. they brought me back a mug to drink out of...and not just any mug but a high school musical mug.

look...
the front...

the back...

franz bread, one of our clients has partnered with disney to do a big high school musical promotion and that means we get to have fun fancy things...like i get this gorgeous mug...we also have the soundtrack and the second movie...basically it's awesome.

the other important thing i need to talk about is my meaningful thing.

there has been this thing on my mind lately...pretty much constantly...and its all i have really been able to think about. and what's been the hardest thing about it all is there are not very many people in my life that i can talk to about it because not very many people understand. it's not something i can talk about at work, it's not something i can talk about at home, its not something i can talk about with my friends...because it involves a part of my life i don't share with any of those people...i'm being vague but mostly i'm writing for me right now...so feel free to not continue reading...the fancy part i already wrote about..and usually i dont use this place as my journal but today i am. because today is the day i finally feel i can take a breath...i can take a breath that is full of clean fresh air...not the air i have been breathing for the past several weeks...but new air...because things are better now. they are not all better...because this is one of those fabulous things that takes time...and because i am the worlds most impatient person (we are talking...if there is a problem i can't function normally until it is fixed...) time is hard for me to sit on...but it is a relief to know that things are finally pointing to the right direction...i have fallen off that frustrating grey cloud where there are no right answers...no right ways...and finally landed on a path where i can walk towards something that makes sense...i know it will take a few days, maybe weeks to get to the end of that path...but im walking, and that's what is important...

there are two songs i have on repeat right now...
1. Missy Higgins - "Special Two"
..."i remember someone old once said to me...that lies will lock you up with truth the only key...but i was comfortable and warm inside my shell...and couldn't see this place would soon become our hell...so is it better to tell on her or lie to save a face...well i guess the answer is don't do it in the first place..."
2. The Fray - "All at Once"
..."and all at once the crowd beings to say...sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are same..."

i've been vague in this but i have a point...and my point is...there are things in life that happen...and there are two roads to take after they do...the easy one...and the hard one...something about the hard one is that not very many people take it because not very many people are strong enough to. but i challenge you to grab on to someones hand and take the hard road...because together you can make it though and in the end that road will change you for the better. try not to get distracted by the decisions of everyone around you...because in the end there is only one person you can every truly control, and that is yourself. there will be obstacles and trials and things that make you question taking the hard way...but listen carefully for those moments and people that remind you that you are on the right track...because they are around...you are never alone. everything happens for a reason. nothing is an accident. take advantage of every opportunity for growth even the hard ones. be the change. it's worth it.

my new skill

2008-02-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

if you know me you know i like to learn new things. something also is that when i start new things...i get obsessed. like think, breath, live and dream about them. last night i dreamt about pink, white, yellow, green, teal, and purple. and yes, it was kind of creepy. it kind of reminded me of that disney movie fantasia. i haven't seen it in a long time i just remember there being lots of weird swirling colors that kind of annoyed me.

anyway i dreamt about those colors...and if you don't know what those make probably you should learn about it. they make rubix. and rubix is my new obsession. i have been working on it for about three weeks now...and get ready...are you ready? cause this is big. like kind of huge...its official. yesterday i solved it, by myself, i solved the rubix cube for the very.first.time! mind you i was taught, by a very awesome teacher. her name is danielle (she dances on laker dancers) and she has patiently helped me to learn the rightdown.twistback.rightup.twistback.frontdown.doubletwistforward.frontup.twistforward.rightdown.twistback.rightup...movements of the rubix.

anyway, this annoying little box has been worked on for countless hours in florida, airports, my office, dance practice, room, car and im certain a number of other locations...and deep breath? i'm finished! it was exhilarating. love it. obsessed.

and even more impressive my record time is 4 minutes 52 seconds. i know right? that's like something only those smart, school loving, violin playing, differential equation solving, glasses and cardigan sweater wearing asians could solve. so i'm proud. (also i was just thinking that if someone where to read about me on paper...i'm kind of gross. here is what they would know. history major, theology minor, plays piano, solves rubix cube, and wears socks with high heels....ha cool. actually, im kind of surprised i have friends haha...anyway i'm over it. rubix is awesome and so are socks with high heels.)

here look at it. it's gorgeous beautiful.

a random list of things

2008-02-08T16:54:00.001-08:00

i feel like a blog slacker...but somehow the past couple weeks have just gotten away from me...plus i was gone the end of last week through monday...doing the most fabulous trip of my life...florida.nationals.lakeoswegodanceteam.the best ever!

so i to rehash back into my world of blogging i am making a random list of things i love.

1. laughing
2. taking pictures with silly hats
3. rubix cubes
4. starbucks
5. eating dinner out
6. my lake oswego dancers
7. smuggling
8. baths
9. lois and clark the new adventures of superman. if you dont know about this show become obsessed.
10. text messaging
11. getting my hair cut and colored
12. new jeans
13. my black uggs
14. dancing
15. mascara
16. my teddy bear and my pig
17. music
18. air conditioning in the summer
19. space heaters in the winter
20. the dead silence on the top of the mountain right before you ski down
21. laying in the sun
22. city lights at night
23. gummy candy
24. my baby grand piano i got for graduation
25. socks
26. french tips on my toes
27. my sister
28. smoothies
29. facebook
30. my family
31. my friendship bracelete with the laker dancers
32. vegas

i think i love lots of things. those are just some i felt like sharing :)

learn about this...

2008-01-22T16:55:00.001-08:00

if i had a champagne glass and a spoon i would be standing on my black office swivel chair clicking them together while making that raspy "uuuhhheeeeem" throat clearing sound...and announcing that finally after nine months its official...i am officially an r/west employee (well...january 2nd was actually the real official date)

but today i got me some of these!

...yup those are business cards...my very own business cards...word bitches. i'm fancy now.

what started it all...

2008-01-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

i was just thinking about how i wish i had more time to do blogging...i feel like my life has so many crazy stories that i dont have time to keep up with writing them all down...

and that kind of makes me sad because mostly going back and reading my old blogs cracks me up...its like when you go back and look at journals from when you were 12 and wrote stuff like "dear diary, today i woke up...went to school...it was boring...came home watched 7th heaven, ate a snack and went to bed...sorry this was so short i will just write more tomorrow. love, kendall" haha --i know i am not the only person that has written in a diary like this. fortunately my writing has become a little more interesting to read...mostly cause that is what i do for a living, write about stuff...events...news, etc. so now when i go back and read old blogs they are actually interesting and most of the time i just start laughing cause it reminds me of the crazy stuff i've done.

so if you are bored and feel like doing some extra reading...you can take a trip down my memory lane...to my first blog site...and what started it all...my study abroad trip to europe.

my first blog

try this...dare you.

2008-01-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

so something about my office is that i now share it with two people. heather AND julieanna...she started a couple weeks ago. love her. she's fabulous! and our office is great fun!

we also have this board in our office that is a little white board thing and we have a chart that tells what we are doing...with little magnets we move around...stuff like "in a meeting" or "at lunch" or "getting shit done"...at the bottom of the board there was some extra space so i decided to include a section called...tip of the day...

when people come in to get candy for our candy container (which by the way is VERY popular...) they read our tip for the day...

there are generally some really great ones i put up there...stuff like "if you are caught sleeping at work just lift you head and say 'in jesus' name amen'...no one will argue with you" or notorious for parking tickets around here..."if there is no parking in the lot just park your car wherever and leave your wind shield whippers on high speed and that way the patrol guy can't leave you a ticket"

anyway, today's tip of the day is..."no piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times"...yeah you think its possible huh? but nope..its not...try it...i did it with a sticky note, i did it with a small piece of paper i did it with an 8 x 11 piece of computer paper...all didn't work!

so probably you should try it.

dancing fancy...

2008-01-15T10:10:00.001-08:00

i had my first lumberjax game saturday night.

it was also my first time dancing at the rose garden. something i will admit, has been a goal of mine since i decided when i was 14 that i needed to be a blazer dancer...and honestly, it was pretty fantastic :)...i got to dress up fancy, dance in front of an arena full of people, and wear fake eyelashes. out next game is jan 24th...if you live in portland, come. promise you will love it!...and i hear the games aren't that bad either :)

blast from the past

2008-01-09T16:16:00.001-08:00

probably i should start off my blogs of 2008 with some words to the wise or some resolutions or new beginnings. but i dont really make resolutions, at least not the " starting jan. 1 i am going to make my bed everyday" kind...mostly cause i do them for two weeks and then stop and then get depressed about not being able to finish them.

no probably i will come back to doing some happy 2008 blogs...but im starting with one about a blast from the past.

remember that game M.A.S.H.?

when you write lists of like three boys you want to marry and one nasty one, three cars you want to drive and then like a dog sled? i just got reminded of that game a few minutes ago, so if you are reading this find someone around you and play it...also think of some other random things that you haven't done in a while, or things you had wanted to do but never did...

like junior year of college i wanted so bad, so many different times just to skip out, not go to class and go to the beach for the day...but i never did. and thats dumb. life is too short. so i guess this is a little happy 2008 blog after all...be random. the random things are what build the best kinds of memories...and take a friend with you, because then you will have someone to laugh about it with down the road.

Christmas part 2.5

2007-12-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

one time last year i was at washington square mall's nordstrom and i saw a pair of shoes i thought were cute. not cute enough to buy...but at the time, definitely caught my eye...

one time about a month ago i was at the post office by my work and was mailing a package...i went during lunch time so the line was 47 people deep and swilry around those velvet ropes held up by poles...you know so lines swivle back and forth...the woman behind me was dressed like she was born in rei lives on granola and drinks only water from a dark grey nalgine connected to her tiva sandles by one of those metal carabiners...the man in front of me lives somewhere between hawthorne and belmont, listens to music from music millennium, drinks his coffee at places where he can listen to poetry being read and apparently buys his shoes from brass plum.

the woman behind me - "those are great shoes, where did you find them?"
guy in front of me - "well i should say europe, but to be honest they are women's shoes from nordstroms."
me - (in my head) "haha those are those shoes that i once almost bought."

one time last weekend i was at nordstroms doing christmas shopping and i saw the shoes...so apparently it was time to blog about it.

christmas part 2

2007-12-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

the singing christmas tree...when my grandma asked me if i would like to be her chaperon for the nursing home outing to the singing christmas tree...i mean my initial reaction was "eeek...really? a stuff tree with voices coming from it? with a bunch of old people?---SURE grandma i would LOVE to go!" haha...no really...nasty right? but of course i said yes and to be honest i was looking forward to it, mostly cause i knew it would be a hilarious adventure...oh and it was nothing short of just that.

i got to the nursing home at 5:15 on the night of the show (we were all riding together in a "short" bus -- my mom went as well...) we got all the old ladies and gentleman loaded into the bus and buckled up and shortly after the laughs began and didn't cease till unloading the bus a full 6 hours later.

story 1:
my grandma was sitting next to another cute little old lady right behind me...
grandma - "wow these lights are gorgeous!"
(referring to the lights on the grounds of her nursing home...she must not get outside to see them much)
old lady next to her - "oh yes they are beautiful...much better than last year's"
grandma - "oh have you been here long?"
old lady next to her - "here at this facility?"
grandma - "yes"
old lady next to her - "i have no idea."

story 2:
we had just parked in front of the keller and started to unload the troops...the old man sitting across the isle from me apparently missed the memo on the activity we were doing as he proceeded to inquire to stephanie (the nursing home activities coordinator) about what he was doing parked in front of a building...
old man - "what are we doing?"
stephanie - "we are going to see the singing christmas tree."
old man - "yeah but where are we?"
stephanie - "at the keller auditorium down town."
old man - "i thought this was a trip to see lights?"
stephanie - "no, remember this is a show about the singing christmas tree. remember? we have been talking about it for a few weeks."
old man - "i don't want to see no show about a singing tree..."
stephanie - "well i'm sorry but that is what we are doing, if you would like we can take you back."
old man - "i'm only going to look at lights. not see a show."
stephanie - "ok well stay on the bus then and we will take you back if that's what you want."

my mom - (whispering) "you would think he would know what he was spending $40 bucks on..."

story 3:
after situating all the wheel chairs in the handicap section of the theatre my mom and i set off for some snacks...and by snacks i mean...
mom - "wanna go get a cocktail now?"
me - "duh"

to the lady behind the counter
mom - "do you have alcohol?"
lady - "no"
mom - "oh...well hmmm...i guess i will take a large diet coke"
me - "and i will have some skittles and a cookie (for my grandma)"
lady - "ok that will be 7.75"
lady - "im going to not put ice in here so you can chug it. cause you can't chug pop with ice."
mom - "um well i would like ice, why do i have to chug it?"
lady - "well the show starts in three minutes and you can't take open container drinks in there, only ones with lids"
mom - "oh well ...um...ok?"
we exchanged 'wtf' looks...and then decided to sneak our snacks in anyway...the nazi usher girl saw and said we needed to finish our drink and snacks out in the hall...
mom - "oh hell no we are giving that cooking to your grandma...put it in your shirt."
me - "mom..."
mom - "DO IT"
me - "ok"

walked into the theatre
me - "here grandma be stealth about this..."
grandma - "oh DELICIOUS! for me!?"
me - "SHHHHHH!"
grandma - "oh ok..."
me - opened up my skittles and spilled them everywhere...

nazi usher glared as i picked each of them up.

me and grandma.

it was an adventure...but needless to say the actual performance was totally better than i had anticipated...apparently the singing christmas tree is the largest choir in oregon and they were fantastic. it was a total blast believe it or not.

christmas part 1

2007-12-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

really?! it is already december 14th? what?! ok i'm pretty sure last time i checked it was thanksgiving...and now christmas eve is in 10 days? ha. i haven't even gotten christmas presents yet...wow and normally i am like christmas queen of celebration...apparently this year i just can't quite get it together...i will. i am going to start getting it together...

i mean here is the thing, christmas really shouldn't be catching me off guard i have seen snow, decorated gingerbread houses, seen the singing christmas tree, baked christmas goodies, worn an ugly sweater, bought a santa hat, helped my dad put up lights, decorated a chirstmas tree, and listened to non-stop christmas music on 103.1 since the day it started playing on the radio...no really it shouldn't be catching me off guard ha...but i guess it is...

and now i guess i will finally update the world on my adventures of christmas thus far...

we will start with snow...
i have seen snow flakes three different times already! yeah that is exciting i think! one time was for reals exciting...

this is joseph (one of the four from the family i nanny...in case you don't know...he is my curious/experimental/adventurous boy...the one that watches myth busters and decides to try all the activities like sponge bob dvds in the microwave, using a butter knife and meat ponder to pry open 2a batteries - mind you he wears oven mits to protect his hands...but yes he is busy...always) he is making an over sized snowball on the deck.

anyway it was a good way to kick off the festivities of christmas...the festivities i have managed to be caught off gear by...but it definitely set the mood for the activity we were doing inside...gingerbread house decorating! every year i bring a house for meggie and i do decorate but always it ends up being her brothers who decide the activity is actually fun to do despite the initial comments of 'decorating is for girls not boys...' (the boys always end up taking over and decorating the house. cause surprise surprise its actually a fun activity regardless of being a boy or girl) here is our finished product..

it's official i guess...it's christmas time!

a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

2007-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

amazing.

that is the only way to describe so you think you can dance tour. seriously, the best of my life! so so so good! i went last night. i went with jill, sister, morgan, and katie mitchel. it was incredible.

every single dance i had hoped to see was danced in front of me, live! humming bird/flower, sweetdreams table dance, lacey and dannys samba (or whatever...that was pretty much awesome fabulous), and holy crap my very most favorite mia's "dancing" routine with kameron and lacey, gosh everything i could name every single dance and say that i loved it cause everything was just that fantastic! it was as awesome if not more awesome than i had anticipated. the only thing that would have made it more awesome was if the sweatshirts were not more dollars than my ticket...but i'll live. mostly i just kept thinking it sucks that i can't re watch the dances today on you tube...i decided that next year they should give dvds of the show out to every ticket holder so you can rewatch it everyday, because i am currently having with drawls.

with drawls to the point of as soon as i hit "publish post" button i will probably go look up where their next city is...calculate mileage and ticket pricing and see if it is doable to follow them and watch it again tonight.

too many things to be thankful for this thanksgiving...

2007-11-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

normally my blogs are somewhat light hearted and humorous....

today's blog is not a normal blog....mostly because my saturday morning was not a normal morning....

....i'm at a lack of words because it seems like every word i think about writing doesn't quite do justice to my experience....thankful....shocked....surreal....lucky....blessed....terrifying....scared...nervous...and the phrase i continually go back to..."oh my god...oh my god? oh my god...did that really just happen? oh...my...god..."

saturday morning i got in a car accident....

i have never been in a car accident before...not even a fender bender....never...nothing...

i have seen car accidents before...i have seen a really bad one...about 3 years ago, on I-5 near seattle...i saw a little black car come across three lanes of traffic, clip the front end of a suburban and watched the suburban flip in mid air and land upside down...it was the scariest thing i had ever seen....

saturday morning at 5:30 am on my way to pick up 6 of my lake oswego dancers to take them to a competition (thank god it happened before they were in my car...oh the list of thankful things....its infinite..). saturday morning i was someone's scariest thing they had ever seen.

this was me...

i know right??...can you believe it? i flipped my parents tahoe....on I-205 south. it was as horrible as it looks...in fact at this point (taken with my camera phone...my camera...i don't know what happened to it, somewhere lost....) , at this point the car had already been drug by the tow truck out of the middle of the fast lane....so it actually looked worse believe it or not from its original view...that or the shock of "holy shit i just flipped this tahoe...." and looking at it for the first time seemed worse...i'm not sure...

here is the story.
i was driving at 5:30am on I-205 south to lake oswego. i was in the fast lane...it was raining...and dark...a pick-up sped past me in the middle lane and when they did they hit a huge lake size body of water and splashed water up into my windshield...i couldn't see anything...i got really scared because i knew the free way was turning up ahead and i was afraid i was going to hit the medium and flip or something crazy...so i looked in my review mirror (mind you this is all in about 2 seconds...that felt like an hour -when you can't see anything going 60 down the freeway its a little nerve racking...) no cars coming so i switched the center lane thinking if i just hold on the water will go away and i can see again....unfortunately i didn't think fast enough to anticipate hitting the lake myself...so that's exactly what i did i hit the water and started to hydroplane...the back end of my truck started spinning...out of control....and then my whole truck started to spin and i was then facing backwards on the freeway...as i continued to spin the back end of the truck came around and hit the medium and caused my truck to flip. landing on the roof...i don't exactly remember how i got out of my seat belt the next thing i remembered was crawling out of the broken windows onto the road, i stood up, it was dark and pouring rain...i was in the middle of the freeway...i remember looking at the truck looking down at my legs and looking back at the truck, i put my hands on my head and thought "holy shit...oh my god"

there were a couple cars pulled over and a guy in a pickup truck (maybe the age of my dad) yelled over and asked if i was ok, and said "yeah i'm ok i think..." he asked again if i was sure, and i said "i think so..." and he asked if i needed help, and i said, "yeah i think i need some help..." and he got out of his truck and came over...i felt in my pockets for my phone and couldn't find it (i know right? my phone, ha please...didn't seem important....but the only thing i could thing about was i need to talk to my mom) so i reached my hand back in the upside down car...dug around a little and saw my phone! grabbed it and the guy led me across the street. i called my parents, he called the cops for me and the rest was kind of a big blur....

soooo many things...soo many could have happened...and i walked away...i walked away with nothing but a sore neck and bruised up shins...that's it! sooo many things...i could drive myself crazy with "what-ifs" but mostly im too scared to even think about them...it feels like a dream...like it didn't even happen. though when i look into the garage and notice no tahoe i know it did....i try not to think about it because honestly, it was the most horrifying thing i have ever done...the noises and visions...when they replay in my head its like a movie...its like when you are watch a part of a movie when it flashes on a person...to a truck...the headlights...back to the person...those scary flashes are what it is like in my head....and it makes the hairs on the back of neck stand up and my gut twist up....nauseating....

thankful....thanksgiving...couldn't come at a better time...

in the future, i think i'll do two things, one) not driving on the freeway in pouring rain anytime soon... two) leave crazy car flipping to the nascar racers....

nasty

2007-11-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

ok. i don't get it. cars that are skank driving down the road...seriously? because number one, unsafe, number two gross, and number three...well i dont know but there should be a rule about driving a black smoke making, bullet hole filled, ceiling fabric dangling, side mirror hanging, bumper missing, hub cab jiggling, orange spray painted mercedes on the freeway.. it is not safe. also its not safe to be driving with science goggles on your face...if your gonna drive that shit...at least dont block your eyes so you can see what's going on...probably it would be best to be alert to all things around you when driving such crap.

mostly heather and i were driving back from a lunch meeting yesterday and were afraid for our lives if we were to pass this dump in case the hub cap were to come flying off and hit the side of the car...the back bumper were to come soaring into the windshield...that or the driver whipping out his riffle and shoot us...like he accidentally shot his car 47 times...

GROSS.

take a look...cause probably its not the best picture, but you will get the idea...

today is monday

2007-11-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

to kick off the start of a week that i am anticipating to be busy busy at work today's first project of the day was to pick up the bread from franz bakery we would be using in our media mailers to boise, id.

me-"oh sure picking up the bread monday morning is no big deal at all!"
reality...47 crates of bread in my yellow groovy bug was kind of a big deal. see these are the breads...

there were lots! even if it doesn't look like lots...cramming all of the the awkwardly, over sized crates into my car...took some serious organizational power...needless to say they all made it in...and though it was a little weird feeling to be driving down the street with a crate of donuts on my dashboard, it was better than buying 28 crunchy peanut butter and 15 strawberry jellies from the hollywood fred meyer like friday's adventure...that was a little questionable, and i'm sure the checker-outer girl thought the same thing.

however i did find this book hanging on the fence while unloading the bread outside my office...

the difference a week can make...

2007-10-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

last tuesday=death.

today's tuesday=dream.

so same day of the week only this tuesday my work day has been awesome and amazing. today is officially an awesome day! (actually its been a good week so far...hopefully it will stay great! there is no reason it shouldn't so im pretty sure it will...) i got a full and awesome nights sleep last night (none of that 4am rise and shine greatness that was experienced last week) i got to work did a couple small tasks until heather asked...
h-"what are your plans today?"
k-"um...well...working?"
h-"well how would you feel if we went on a mission?"
k-"i think i love missions..."
h-"well its a secret one, cause i don't want to hear about it from sean...but i think it should be a personal day...how about i treat us to manis/pedis?"
k-"um YEAH! ok! i love that...secret missions are my favorite!"

so heather and i left the office at 11:15 went and got manis/pedis from my new favorite nail place, because it was awesome and they gave awesome messages and i don't know it's name other wise i would share but im going back so when i do i will write about it's name. it was great.

then we went to lunch...also great, and a cute little deli/bistro place right near the office! we sat outside in the 70 degree weather (that has amazingly brightened portland this week)

today = awesome.

and i have cute toes. every tuesday should be secret mission day.

one of my best days ever, part 2.

2007-10-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

i'm hella tired! i didn't realize how tired until my mind's near brush with death.

i know that getting up at 4 am means that my brain is sleeping...it will not be firing normal today, and i will not be on the "a-game" team.

and this was proved to me about a half hour ago when this happened:
it began when i got back to the office this morning at 9:30. there was no parking in our spaces so i parked in one of staccatos (the company we share our floor with) then about a half hour ago i got an email that said a towing company was coming. so crap-balls-crap i had to haul my lazy tired ass into the downpour to move my car...i moved it two blocks away in a one hour spot...and though this wasn't really that huge of an issue it felt like one because today is one of those days where i'm just tired, and grumpy and everything is 14 times worse than it should be...
when i came back in from moving my car i had two new emails...the first one from sarah and the subject line read
"emergency plan"
i opened the email and read
"The entire country is under a terrorist attack. Many buildings have been shut down in downtown Portland as part of this exercise. R/West is currently working on its official emergency plan but in the event of a bomb blowing up one of the bridges you should NOT leave the building or you could face radioactive contamination. We would seal the building by preventing anyone from going in and out and shut off the air. We would wait further direction from the city in this type of event. In the event of an earthquake you would need to get under your desk or a doorway and stay there until tremors subside. Do not leave the building as we need to account for you and make sure you are not under a heap of rubble. "

ok so i almost shit pants and thought.
1. FUCK I JUST WAS OUTSIDE!
2. SHIT HOW AM I GOING TO GET HOME!
3. SAD! I DONT WANT TO DIE, HERE, LIKE THIS, TIRED, IN THIS STUPID OFFICE!
4. i'm going to read john's followup email...

i went to my second email from john the subject read
"RE: emergency plan"
the email read,
"I'll go to the roof and have a smoke.... and inhale deeeeeeeply. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Plutonium. It's not just for breakfast anymore."

and then i was like.
1. huh? this isn't funny john...i know you were up at 4 also today, but what? are you kidding? that's not funny! what about your son?
2. is this for reals?
3. i'm going back to re-read that email...

and then i saw the word that my tired ass brain didn't comprehend...
"The entire country is under a SIMULATED terrorist attack."

and i thought
THANK GOD!

obviously, i'm tired...and obviously its a good thing im done in a half hour.

one of my best days ever, part 1.

2007-10-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

it is 10:39 currently...in the morning...though my body is feeling more like it is night time...mixed with being hit by a bus..this morning bridgeport brewery was on tv...not just any tv...but good day oregon, on fox. the whole segment...the whole segment that starts at 5:30 a.m. BOMB!!!! word bitches and hoes...that's right! i was kickin it with the kegs at 5:30 this morning. so because i have been up since 4 i am therefore tired.

but here are some things i needed to write about. first, there are ALOT of cars on the road at five am, who knew? and what are people doing out that early anyway!? seriously.. i had to convince myself i wasn't on my way to europe, or mexico, or some other trip because i think the only time i am ever up that early is if i have to catch a plane to some place far...so i kept feeling like i was going to the airport. second, i have developed a new love and passion for coffee...i never used to drink coffee but since i started working, i started drinking it, and now i love it because without it i would have not been in a good way AT ALL! trust me i am having issues enough staying on top of (i will blog about the experience proving my tiredness in a minute), and im already on my second latte. third, this machine

used for measuring oxygen in beer bottles costs $11,000. and i learned that during the segment we did in the test lab.

mostly it was a good experience, because i got to share in some serious bonding over the sunrise with heather, john, and some awesome bridgeport employees.

also i get off in 45 minutes. and that's the best news all day (except i go to the crotch doctor and that means this day definitely qualifies as one of my best days ever.)

why i talk shit...and am ok with it...

2007-10-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

i am a nice girl...ok, well not all the time...but generally. generally i am a nice girl. i spend time with my family, i value and respect good friendships, i work hard at my job, i always show up when i say i will be somewhere (or give ample warning if i can not make it).

there is one small thing however that i have a habit of doing...that isn't always what i would justify as nice...sometimes, well actually lots of times...(if we are going to be honest we might as well go full out about it)...i say mean things about people who are nasty. i make fun of ugly hair, i make fun of bad outfits, i even sometimes make fun of peoples faces (that is the meanest of them all, i know!) but before you go judging me...take into consideration the types of people that walk down the street.

prime example:
jill and i were driving down nw 23rd and saw this...

YEAH i know right!? wtf? halloween is not today...halloween is in like 3 more weeks...and so that means your super hero suit is not ok. it is not cute, it will never be cute, and so don't wear it shopping on 23rd.

i just don't understand 12 foot mow hawks, 47 face piercings, 12inch black platform pattin leather stiletto hooker boots (yup i saw those on a girl looking at the clearance rack out side of red light on hawthorn), wearing the same shirt but in a different color as your 31 year old indian (like from india kind...not eastern oregon dessert casino kind) twin sister (saw this too...in f21 it was a bejeweled under the bust line halter top with a tie in the back...one was barf enough...but matching was sick)...so don't judge me for judging...green shiny tights with pink plastic super woman boots are allowed to be made fun of.

the first annual pr challenge

2007-10-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

it's wednesday...so what better way to celebrate mid week than for heather and i to host the first annual pr challenge...

the competition?...to eat 2 pieces of franz bread in 2 minutes...think it sounds easy? (yeah me too...totally not even a big deal...in fact i probably could eat them both in 1 minute)...

the winner was going to be a given a fancy gift package including a 22oz bottle of bridgeports hop harvest, a case of kraft bbq sauce, an alien nintendo ds game, 2 dollars, a roll of stamps, a container of peanut butter, a container of jelly, a loaf of bread, and a franz bakery hat. all very nice prices...so motivation was high.

at 3:02 pm this afternoon the staff of r/west gathered in the conference room for the competition...

and for the record...it's impossible...out of 8 competitors, nobody finished...and note, r/west is competitive...we don't even mess around over here at 3rd and hawthorn...we take competition VERY seriously...so try it if you don't believe me. but trust me...it's impossible.

traffic=death

2007-10-02T11:38:00.001-07:00

did people forget that i live in portland? not la, not new york, not las vegas strip....portland...it shouldn't take me an hour and fifteen minutes to get to work from clackamas on the back road...freeway in morning traffic, ok yeah i get it...everyone is going downtown so sometimes it's crap (well mostly its crap) so i always come a back way...224 to 99 and drops me right onto mlk in front of my work...normally 25 minutes...today one hour and fifteen minutes...

road rage is an understatement...i was ready to slit tires, shoot faces, and crash into people by slamming my foot onto the gas as hard as i could because that always seems like it would be a relief when that anxiety starts to build and yelling fucking bitch whores a million times won't even cut it...that was the anger of death in me this morning...

needless to say it was one of those mornings...the kind that start annoying and then everything else just keeps getting thrown at you and you're like what the hell! seriously!? (most of the time things aren't that bad they tend to seem 10x worse than they really are) but in the moment they are bad so whatever...i need to have a time out...anger management or something...

somedays beer...today animal rights.

2007-09-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

my work is so random. sometimes i take silly pictures with my co-workers at the oregon state fair while eating elephant ears, sometimes i drink beer with tv reporters, sometimes i go shopping for office beautification, and sometimes i write about the suburban auto group saving owls...

in summary, an employee at suburban auto group on his day off was chilling around his house when he noticed a great horned owl stuck in some barbed wire that fenced the auto group (he lives across from his work...that's already kinda weird...and why he was looking at his work...i don't even know, but whatever.) he saw an owl...he knew his co-worker dennis supposedly knows a lot about animals so he went over and told dennis. dennis grabbed some gloves and a towel and went and untangled the owl. they took him to the audobon society who then informed the men that barbed wire injuries were the worst for birds due to resulting infections, fortunately however they were able to nurse the bird back to health. and now the owl is being released tomorrow at 5:00 p.m in the back field (its best to release the owls where you find them i guess) and i had to write a release about it.

don't get me wrong i love animals. i have three cats and a dog. and once i had 31 goldfish i had won at my elementary school fair. but when heather told me about it i kind of started to laugh...and she started laughing to and this is what i wrote.

"MEDIA ALERT/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
september 27, 2007

media contact: heather stammer, r-west, heathers@r-west.com

SUBURBAN AUTO GROUP RESCUES OWL. AUDUBON SOCIETY NURSES OWL BACK TO HEALTH. THE BEAUTIFUL LUCKY SILKY FEATHERED LITTLE BEAUTY HONEY GREAT HORNED OWL WILL BE RELEASED BACK INTO THE WILD TODAY IN THE BACK FIELD BEHIND SUBURBAN AUTO GROUP.

come and experience with suburban auto group the release of portland’s newest little friend back into the wild today at 5:00 p.m.

sandy, ore., - two suburban auto group employees recently found and rescued a big great horned owl that was caught in the barbed wire fence surrounding the perimeter of the suburban auto group off of highway 26 in sandy, oregon. with gloves and a blanket the two men were able to free the bird and take it to the audubon society were the wounds were treated. barbed wire fence injuries are said to be some of the worst injuries a bird can have due to resulting infections. fortunately the owl was nursed back to a full recovery and will be released back into the wild.

when: today - thursday, september 27, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.

where: the backfield of the suburban auto group located at 36936 highway 26, sandy, oregon, 97055."

we edited the release before we sent it, "tightened" it up a little bit...but sean said we should have sent the original one out...and next time we very well might because according to heather,

"nobody will fucking drive to sandy oregon in rush hour traffic for this anyway...i guarantee you"

lots of minutes...

2007-09-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

i have a lot of things to blog about. mostly because i went on a fun road trip this weekend. but this blog isn't going to be about the trip, its just a side note about something i experienced on the trip...i will hold off and write about the trip maybe tomorrow or later today because i have pictures i want to upload and they are not with me at work right now...so this is just a side note because it deserved its own entry.

i was in kennewick, wa this past weekend with jill...i got to meet the whole huge family she has (nothing shy of a total blast! it was great fun!) however to preface this enty i will say that if you are reading this...and don't already know, jill was raised mormon...she's not mormon anymore and neither are about half of her 8 siblings....however saturday morning while we were sitting and watching her little brother adam's soccer game jill's mom asked us about our plans and when we were going to visit jill's grandma. they talked about it for a few minutes, jill convinced her younger sister gina to come with us...but then leaned over to me and whispered that she hoped her mom wouldn't come with us because then we could stop at starbucks and get breakfast...(we were starving) i smiled and said yeah sounds bomb.

her mom didn't come with us so we got to go to starbucks. gina suggested mcdonalds for parfaits since she doesn't really like starbucks cause she can drink anything...but we outvoted her...only that was dumb because after we waited in the starbucks drive through line for a good 20 minutes we got to the window and learned that in kennewick starbucks won't have breakfast sandwiches or yogurt parfaits until april...that's kind of a lot of minutes to wait for breakfast and we were preeeeety hungry...so we got two coffees and a water (for gina) and went to mcdonalds for breakfast.

another new first...

2007-09-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

i have a feeling this year i will be experiencing a lot of new "firsts" and i like that. after graduating from college a door to a whole new world opened and it has been filled with nothing shy of amazing new experiences, lessons, challenges, memories and people...

i have never been a lover of change...but for the first time in my life i am starting to understand how important change really is...and starting to see that change can be (though sometimes scary and hard) one of the most best and important gifts that god can give.

last night i had another new first...i taught my very own class ever at vegadance+lab. intermediate hip hop. i was nervous...i couldn't find the volume controls...i forgot part of my routine (soon remembered it...but definitely forgot it for a second...a very loooong second)...i messed up more than once when doing it with music...but i had 7 students...and it was perfect :)

evie, jill and allie all told me it was awesome and one of my students even came up to ask me at what point in the music i started the routine at so she could go home and practice :)

i think i am going to love being a teacher.

so if you want to come experience my first, second class...come! 7:30 next wednesday...i'm teaching a pretty kick ass dance to justin's lovestoned.

change is good...and im blessed to have amazing people in my life to support me and encourage me to share my talents with others.