well, this post may not jive completely with its title, seeing as how i have much more than a week to catch up on. but i hope that you, the two or three friends or family members that read this blog, will forgive me for that. ill just run through some of the things that stand out to me from the last month. first off, and i know some of you (mike) are sick and tired of hearing me talk about running. but when i think back on the last month, well, of course my last half marathon comes to mind. usually i like to be superficial and meaningless on this blog. but i really learned something amazing. and its cheesier than every cliche and cheesy movie you have ever seen. but its true. and it was important for me. so ive been working hard training for this half. the other two i did this year were hard and fun, but i fell short of my goal both times which i really really hated. anywho, i had set some limits for myself in my mind and i was certain that there was no way i could do what i did. i didnt run super fast by any means. but i ran much faster than i thought i could for 13.1 miles, and totally demolished my goal time. people, do not put limits on yourself. its true. you really and truly never know what you might be able to do. yes, it seems silly, but it was an important moment for me. so theres that. i had a great thanksgiving with my roommate and her fam, which is a very eclectic collection of personalities i must say. i was thoroughly entertained and enjoyed myself with her kooky funny aunt and grandpa. december flew by fairly uneventfully...the usual fun old people stories, lost dentures in bras and the like. i won a toaster oven at our staff christmas party which was an historic moment for me. ive only won something that
i really wanted one other time in my life- a limited edition yazoo single for being a member of EIS, or the Erasure Information Service. so that was pretty spectacular, and i did a good job avoiding the jealous looks from staff members that didnt win a big beautiful shiny toaster oven. we had insanely crazy weather up here (snow) which brought with it all sorts of excitement. i got to drive my roommate to work which was sorta fun. mostly cuz she freaked out every time i sped up faster than 15 miles an hour and yelled "are we sliding?!" or "is this ice?!?!" aaaahhhh roommate. we had a spectacular and well attended sweater party, with the most amazing egg nog ive ever tasted and lots of lovely sweaters. i lucked out with my christmas travels this year and made it out of pdx on one of the last flights before everything closed down. i wont bore you with details, but i almost got stranded in reno (thanks to my friends who kept me text entertained while i was sad and stressed about not getting to slc and advised me to put $20 on black while i was stuck in reno). anywho, i won over the nice lady at the so
uthwest counter with my sweet vulnerability and she got me to slc. thank you lady. and she was so very patient too. i mean she was dealing with a lot of stressful things and annoying rude people and none of the things were her fault but she was so calm and nice the whole time. it made me feel good about people that are nice and can keep their cool always. it really makes life better. so i made it home, had a wonderful time with the fam. i got a freakin nintendo ds, which had never in my life crossed my mind and i didnt really know what it was, but turns out its pretty fun and awesome and thank you to my dear bro in law dan who wanted so badly to help choose a present for me this year (cuz usually he is left out of the equation when it comes to getting my presents) and did a fantastic job. ive never been a sudoku fan but lo and behold i really love it now that i have a cool fun little stylus to write with on my little screen. i got lots and lots of delicious candy, ate amazing homemade egg rolls, cinnamon twists, fudge. luckily there was a huge new gold's gy
m just down the street from my parents (not suprisingly, almost empty the three times i went. poky just doesnt strike me as a big gym going town) so i didnt go completely insane with inactivity. oh goodness what the crap am i going to do when i have kids and cant go to the gym all the time? i better freakin marry a really rich guy so i can have some decent workout equipment at home. oh and i actually really truly enjoyed driving in the very snow covered roads. i like a little slippage when there arent many cars around. oh yeah, church back home in vancouver got cancelled two weeks in a row cuz of crazy weather, but i got to go to church in utah so im pretty sure im more righteous than the rest of my ward right now. i wonder how long it will take them to catch back up. maybe never. hmmmm. the trip back to utah from poky was very scary, I 15 sucked, we almost slid into a flying J tanker that was sliding and fishtailing all over and i am not gonna go off on the ridiculous utah drivers that flew past us on the freeway in little tin can cars, cuz this is a happy blog. i had one last wonderful day with daney and dan and mason, the most adorable sweet one year old on the planet. i had to post a pic with him and his kissy lips. that boy likes kissing. oh my its precious. ya i just noticed i pretty much didnt take pics of anything but him. oh well. anywho, we had amazing sweet pork salads at costa vida and i must continue my search for a similar restaurant here in the couv cuz they are pretty much the most delicious food ever. my trip back to pdx was much less fraught with disaster than my journey to slc, and i was pleasantly surprised when i arrived at the airport by two wonderful people with cupcakes, chocolates and a balloon. (i was only gone for a WEEK! i love you people. i have the best friends ever) and then flowers and licorice from another friend a half hour later upon arriving home. honestly, it was almost a little bit more impressive than when i came home from my mission. but not quite, cuz you cant beat all the nieces and nephews with signs and balloons. sunday was business as usual, good meetings, etc. then sunday night, i realized i had not been wearing a watch over my whole blasted vacation and it was so wonderful, but monday....it would be time to put it back on and go back to real life. its always so bittersweet. its great to be hom
e and have my stuff here and not be living out of a suitcase, and just be back to life. but also, i wasnt quite ready to go back to the daily grind. but thank goodness my d
aily is not too much of a grind. the old people always make me laugh, and it helped that i only had a 5 1/2 hour day. ya its a tough life. oh and my trip home makes me want to cut my hair so bad (thank you "what not to wear") cuz its so much more fun and easier. so heres a couple pics of hair id love to have but people wont let me have.
i really wanted one other time in my life- a limited edition yazoo single for being a member of EIS, or the Erasure Information Service. so that was pretty spectacular, and i did a good job avoiding the jealous looks from staff members that didnt win a big beautiful shiny toaster oven. we had insanely crazy weather up here (snow) which brought with it all sorts of excitement. i got to drive my roommate to work which was sorta fun. mostly cuz she freaked out every time i sped up faster than 15 miles an hour and yelled "are we sliding?!" or "is this ice?!?!" aaaahhhh roommate. we had a spectacular and well attended sweater party, with the most amazing egg nog ive ever tasted and lots of lovely sweaters. i lucked out with my christmas travels this year and made it out of pdx on one of the last flights before everything closed down. i wont bore you with details, but i almost got stranded in reno (thanks to my friends who kept me text entertained while i was sad and stressed about not getting to slc and advised me to put $20 on black while i was stuck in reno). anywho, i won over the nice lady at the so
uthwest counter with my sweet vulnerability and she got me to slc. thank you lady. and she was so very patient too. i mean she was dealing with a lot of stressful things and annoying rude people and none of the things were her fault but she was so calm and nice the whole time. it made me feel good about people that are nice and can keep their cool always. it really makes life better. so i made it home, had a wonderful time with the fam. i got a freakin nintendo ds, which had never in my life crossed my mind and i didnt really know what it was, but turns out its pretty fun and awesome and thank you to my dear bro in law dan who wanted so badly to help choose a present for me this year (cuz usually he is left out of the equation when it comes to getting my presents) and did a fantastic job. ive never been a sudoku fan but lo and behold i really love it now that i have a cool fun little stylus to write with on my little screen. i got lots and lots of delicious candy, ate amazing homemade egg rolls, cinnamon twists, fudge. luckily there was a huge new gold's gy
m just down the street from my parents (not suprisingly, almost empty the three times i went. poky just doesnt strike me as a big gym going town) so i didnt go completely insane with inactivity. oh goodness what the crap am i going to do when i have kids and cant go to the gym all the time? i better freakin marry a really rich guy so i can have some decent workout equipment at home. oh and i actually really truly enjoyed driving in the very snow covered roads. i like a little slippage when there arent many cars around. oh yeah, church back home in vancouver got cancelled two weeks in a row cuz of crazy weather, but i got to go to church in utah so im pretty sure im more righteous than the rest of my ward right now. i wonder how long it will take them to catch back up. maybe never. hmmmm. the trip back to utah from poky was very scary, I 15 sucked, we almost slid into a flying J tanker that was sliding and fishtailing all over and i am not gonna go off on the ridiculous utah drivers that flew past us on the freeway in little tin can cars, cuz this is a happy blog. i had one last wonderful day with daney and dan and mason, the most adorable sweet one year old on the planet. i had to post a pic with him and his kissy lips. that boy likes kissing. oh my its precious. ya i just noticed i pretty much didnt take pics of anything but him. oh well. anywho, we had amazing sweet pork salads at costa vida and i must continue my search for a similar restaurant here in the couv cuz they are pretty much the most delicious food ever. my trip back to pdx was much less fraught with disaster than my journey to slc, and i was pleasantly surprised when i arrived at the airport by two wonderful people with cupcakes, chocolates and a balloon. (i was only gone for a WEEK! i love you people. i have the best friends ever) and then flowers and licorice from another friend a half hour later upon arriving home. honestly, it was almost a little bit more impressive than when i came home from my mission. but not quite, cuz you cant beat all the nieces and nephews with signs and balloons. sunday was business as usual, good meetings, etc. then sunday night, i realized i had not been wearing a watch over my whole blasted vacation and it was so wonderful, but monday....it would be time to put it back on and go back to real life. its always so bittersweet. its great to be hom
e and have my stuff here and not be living out of a suitcase, and just be back to life. but also, i wasnt quite ready to go back to the daily grind. but thank goodness my d
aily is not too much of a grind. the old people always make me laugh, and it helped that i only had a 5 1/2 hour day. ya its a tough life. oh and my trip home makes me want to cut my hair so bad (thank you "what not to wear") cuz its so much more fun and easier. so heres a couple pics of hair id love to have but people wont let me have.
