Adventures in Wonderland

Dream

2009-04-15T01:01:00.000-07:00

I thought a couple of you dying to read something from my brain would appreciate this. I have been having a lot more memorable dreams lately. I think it is because I wake up and think, "What the heck was that," and through trying to analyze it I can move it from short- to long-term potentiation. Keeping that in mind, it may haunt you what I have been carrying around, so be forewarned.

About 2 weeks ago I dreamt that I was the Jelly side of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Do not ask me how I knew I was more than just toast, or a single slice of jelly covered white bread because I don't know. I just remember knowing in my dream that I was missing my other half...whether he be smooth or chunky, white or wheat, spread thick or thin...I may never know. And what the heck was I doing as white bread? Sick! I wouldn't even want myself! In addition to the jealousy I felt of all my fully-condimented and bunned chicken sandwich friends, I also felt sad for my friend Jacob who was an all beef patty, alone in the world, with no bun or condiments to speak of. I knew exactly how he felt. We were nothing fancy, just an old All-American standby that everyone depends on--what a position to be in.

I remember being frusterated for several reasons, thinking:
1. I had no mate
2. I would rather be toast
3. I would rather be wheat
4. I would much rather be the peanut butter side, if I had the choice
5. And no matter what I thought, I was only meant the be with peanut butter even if there was a perfectly good beef patty, chicken, or honey side out there.

I would LOVE to hear everyone else's analysis of this sequence. I think the funniest part is seeing sandwiches running around with giant white gloved Mickey hands attached to slender arms and oversized sandwich bodies.

Just in case you were going to say it....no, I was not using drugs when I dreamt this nor am I as I write. Thanks for asking. More to come!

2008-09-03T16:21:00.001-07:00

Response to long summer

2008-08-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

God sent a message in response to my rant from yesterday via my roommate and LDS living magazine...sometimes there is no excuse for not listening. He knows me all too well.

Long Summer

2008-08-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I despise being an adult. I miss the days when I had vacations and breaks to work towards. Now it seems like deadline upon deadline is pressing down on me and there is no escape from the daily grind. I saw my first fall leaf this morning on the windshield of my car. There it was, bright yellow just screaming at me...SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION!!! It made me sad to think I was not going to be out buying school supplies or new textbooks, putting on my new favorite outfit and heading to classes to meet my new best friends or love affairs. I haven't gone to school for a couple years but this year seems to be hitting me especially hard because I was hoping to start grad school this fall. I guess I let the time get away from me this year as the projects piled up my mind was too busy thinking about carbon sequestration and how fire might affect petroglyphs than to plan where I might go or what I might study. I guess it is just part of being human to never be satisfied where we are at. I just felt like I knew where to go from here! This summer has been so confusing!

I think like so many other people my age, I miss the associations I was able to make when I was younger at the beginning of the school year. Living in a college town also brought new people to my church and work groups. Summer is the time of influx here in Olympia and the people coming home are so much younger that I have stopped trying to make new friends that move so quickly. I guess there is both good and bad in that mindset.

I did have the joy of shopping for school supplies for Zack and Noah. I remember how exciting it was to get all those new things for the first day of school! I had a blast looking for "cool" clothes and fun school gear like backpacks, pencil boxes and all the crayola products you can imagine! I think I am going to love being a mom and being able to do this every year!

My greatest joy this month has been the return of my first friend here in Olympia. Kelley has been in Mongolia on a mission for the last 18 months. It is amazing to think I have been here for so long. Long enough to make a new best friend and for her to be gone so long and back in what seems like a blink. I am looking forward to going to her family's cabin this weekend and catching up on all the good and the bad of the past year and a half. I can't wait to hear all her stories and help her get comfortable back in the States.

Also, this weekend marks the Ten Year Anniversary of meeting the rest of my family at the Ensign Ranch. I cannot imagine my life without knowing Christy, Tyler and Tracy or having Zack and Noah. With them, I feel life is complete. We have been through a lot together and are finally getting to the good parts...from weddings and babies to sending Ty off on his mission to Uraguay. We have had a couple wonderful years and are looking forward to the joys of many more! Woohoo ten years!

Woodtick

2008-06-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

I forgot to put in a plug for my new favorite music...my friend just started his own label and is amazing. I might just be partial to him because he has been playing these songs on my guitar, in my living room for months and because there are bugs on the cover. Anyway, check him out. You won't regret it if you are down with the Indie groove. Plus, who can beat 5 bucks for an EP?

www.woodtick.net or www.myspace.com/awoodtick

His myspace has an old version of the Start with a Question song.

Also, if you want some new music and just don't know what to look for I would recommend:

The New Frontiers - Mending (you can get part of this album on Daytrotter.com)
Pela - Anytime Graffiti
Joe Purdy - Canyon Joe
Molly Jenson- Maybe Tomorrow
Vampire Weekend - Self-titled
The Weepies - Hideaway
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Little Ones - Terry Tales & Fallen Gates EP
Meiko - Self-titled
Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death

Yeah, good stuff all around. This should get you ready for summer. Sunshine and Rain. That is how it is around here though. If you are feeling really brave, check out Fleet of Foxes. It is good for driving at night. Yeah.

Two peas in a pod.

2008-06-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

So yeah, this is him...so very handsome and wonderful I don't even know what to do with myself. Don't tell him I said that though because he will get a big head about it....
And then this is us on a walk in the rain. That is why my hair looks so good! Ha ha ha.

It's a beautiful life

2008-06-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, another month has gone by since I have been on. I am going to get good at this, just you watch. Some of my favorite things this month...I visited Montana to see Marie and her new little guy Lucas. He is an angel. He snores (which I think is freaking adorable). And he loves to cuddle. I love seeing Kale and Jack grow up. It is sad to miss it for me though! They are getting so big and so very funny! It was a little sad because Jack had to go to the doctor and he was not feeling too great. I had fun hanging out with Kale and Lucas though while mommy was away.
While I was there I also got to catch up with some old friends and go to my old work (woohoo). In addition, I got to see Amanda and Rob again as well as the rest of my family. Some of my favorite and most missed things about Montana are:

Friends and Family
The Mountains
Cheese Fries and Rootbeer spins from Hoagieville
Potato Oles from Taco Johns
Cheap gas!

I also had the chance to go and visit my other family in Spokane last weekend. It is a long drive between here and there especially on a Friday night after a long week of work, but it is always worth it in the end. Tracy & Andrew came with their baby Aydan (he is almost 1 and adorable). I had not seen them since Christmas and was excited to finally spend some time with my baby! He is such a sweet little thing. He hardly cries and loves to play. We snuggled on the couch early Saturday morning and he let me haul him around for the remainder of the day, happy as a little clam. Christy also lives there with Jack her little guy who turned one about two weeks ago. We had fun planning a party for Zack's 6th birthday. He was very excited to have the family, lots of gifts and a pirate cake--the cake had black frosting and I felt like I was reliving the gross teeth from Pirates of the Carribean 3--anyway, we had a great time being ridiculous as usual. I spent a little while running around in a one-size-fits all mumu that Christy was calling a honeymoon nighty. She is so funny. So, Sunday rolled around and Christy decided I needed a companion for the long drive home...Ben & Jerry had their own personal cooler and sat by me the entire way. Everyone needs a little Whirled Peace, if you know what I am saying.

Work has been a lot busy, no big surprise there! But it has been especially horrible since I have been fighting a cold for about 3 weeks. My roommate and I have the same thing and it is no fun! We do a dance every 12 hours when we can take another dose of meds...pretty sad. This week may be time to visit a doctor. Speaking of, I went in for my post-procedure check up today with my Electrophysiologist (heart guy). He decided he was not going to put me on any more medications (WOOHOO) but that I needed to go back on the heart healthy diet, exercise vigorously (He means sweat-gross) 3-4 times a week and avoid sugars, salts, and caffeine. Obviously, in a perfect world, that is what everyone should be doing. But now, in my world it is what I have to do. The happy part is that he told me to get plenty of sleep, always eat, and not work too hard (now I have an excuse-ha ha!). Maybe those things can wait until next week. This one is going to be a scorcher.

This weekend is the much anticipated Western Washington Young Single Adult Conference. I have been working on this since some time in February...which seems like FOREVER ago. My group is over the Saturday sessions, which includes organizing 8 speakers, getting together bios, headshots, and planning for all their accomodations. We also took on the advertising task. It seemed like a good idea at the time but after spending my nights and weekends making fliers, passalong cards, writing emails, letters, and finally creating a fancy program I have about had it! I cannot wait for this to be over! Another benefit to being finished is getting to spend more time with my boy.

Marie commented today that as adults we should have a different name than boyfriend for serious relationships. He is more than a high school boyfriend, but less than a fiance. Any suggestions? He seems to shy away from pet names although, he has started calling me "puke of bee" charming I know. Like honey, but grosser. It actually sounds kind of cute when he says it because it all runs together like pookabee, or something like that. I went to an Open House at his work on my way out of town last week. I was scared. Sometimes I feel like I am being tested...how will I respond on different tasks, he asks? Well, I think I did okay. I didn't wow anyone but his bosses wife offered to help us get stuck in the broken elevator :) That was funny.

Sunday was a real test. His dad's father was a forester in Montana for a very long time. He came to town and wanted to meet me. I think he was a little disappointed to find out that I didn't want to be a forest ranger. I love being outside but I really love doing research more. I love to be learning more than just managing the trees. I want to know why they are growing, or damaged and try to find ways to fix them. I want to know how old they are, what sort of conditions they have been through and then predict where they are going to be in the future. Not exciting to others but very exciting to me.

Anyway, I really like this boy. He is going to meet Amanda & Rob next weekend and I am excited to see how he gets along with them. I am really excited to have him alone in the car for a couple hours. It seems like forever since we have been together...

Anyway, that is enough rant for now. Life is so exciting, isn't it? I still have not figured out how to post pictures...maybe later this week!

Why Bother?

2008-05-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

I just got home from a super long day. Sometimes I wonder why I put in all the effort? Do the things that I do really make me happy? Am I doing them to please or appease others? Then I start wondering if I am always going to be like this...do I choose to keep myself this busy? Do I know how to relax and not stress? Will my world fall to pieces if I let the balls juggle themselves for a while?

I am feeling a little tired of just moving from project to project. Normally these things excite me but many have seemed more tedious than rewarding lately. I am not sure if it is because I am genuinely not interested or there is just so much going on that I am not giving anything the proper attention to spark me to go to the level of investigation that catches my attention.

So, yeah. That is what I am thinking about tonight.

Maybe blogging is not my thing...

2008-05-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

So, I set up this blog in an attempt to avoid having to repeat the same stories countless times in emails and on the phone. Apparently, I am not too good at it. Sad. But I am going to be better...

This has been one of the busiest months of my life! Between working two jobs and my overwhelming church calling I have been lucky to get into bed. Many nights have been spent slumped over my work on the couch, or sleeping on drafts and waking up with a crink in my neck and red pen on my arms and/or face. I like to think this exciting time is coming to a close but because of my jobs, the deadlines continue to be moved back no matter how hard I work and I am constantly aiming at a moving target. The only hope I have to hold onto is that the date of the conference I am helping with is not going to change. In around 40 days it will be over and I will be free to enjoy summer without worrying about dances, speakers, workshops or advertising! I can't wait.

In addition to the stresses of my job and church this month held a lot of change in the dating arena. I had been dating Andrew since Christmas and finally came to the realization that things were not going to work out with us. It was a long time coming, but I had chosen to grow and learn rather than end things right away. I am still wondering if that was the best choice. I mean to wait, not to end it. I stand by my decision 100% as I have felt so independent and happy since that night. It is remarkable what kind of conditions we are willing to endure when there is hope of love and security attached to them . So, I did not anticipate wanting to find anyone as I felt so tied down with Andrew, but God has a funny way of putting people in front of us at vulnerable times.

I have been working with Matt on the committee for several months now and we get along really well. We are both workaholics, who think they are both smart and funny. He is a "social engineer- JD" as he likes to call himself and he is over the entire conference. I talk to him most days and we meet up weekly to do conferencey stuff. Somehow, last week he decided to invite me up with no purpose at all. We spent hours walking and talking. It was refreshing, He seems like a good guy, and he makes me happy. We spent all day Saturday together working on Conference advertising and he invited me up to family dinner on Sunday (Mother's Day). Wow. It was good. We'll see where this goes next. Could be interesting. Stay tuned!

I went to visit Amanda and Rob in Boise last week. We had a lot of fun and it was good to spend some one on one time with Amanda. It had been forever since anything like that had happened, I think since I moved here around 18 months ago. We went shopping and ate lots of good food. We also played laser tag and mini golf and my favorite skee ball. Amanda kicked my butt at Laser tag and Rob beat us at minigolf. It was not a good night for me I guess. I think had we played bumper cars I would have won. I was going to post some pics but apparently my computer doesn't want to! Oh well. Maybe I will figure it out another day!

I caved for you...no more stalking

2008-04-01T01:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
So I only have to share the adventures of the single life and the many funny and sometimes worrying stories once, I decided I would create this blog. Now we can commence all the fun and keep track of where I am spending my nights and weekends over the internet. Especially since everyone has such obviously different sleep and work schedules!