Thirsty Thursday at the Ballpark

This week the mister and I went to a baseball game. Here in Eugene we have a single A farm team for the San Diego Padres. We used to go a lot when they were at their old stadium, but even though their new stadium is within walking distance we never went before last week. 

There was something magical about watching a game at Civic Stadium. It was an old ball park with a wooden grandstand that always felt like it was going to fall down at any moment. You knew the game would be horrible but it was okay because you got to look out over the beautiful south hills of Eugene and watch the sunset. Plus, beer was cheep and they brought it to you. 

 Last game at Civic Stadium, September 2009

Now they play at the ballpark that was made for the new U of O baseball team. One of the perks of having an alum like Phil Knight (who is the CEO and founder of Nike) is that we have some pretty amazing sports facilities. In the past two years he has donated a new basketball arena, Matthew Knight Arena, and PK Park, the new baseball stadium. It's a beautiful stadium, everything is brand new and shiny, it's just not the same. And they don't bring you beer. Seriously? I mean, this is baseball! Seriously. Get it together people.

 Walking up to the stadium, which is in the parking lot of Autzen, the football stadium. We like to keep it simple.

Waiting in the beer line. Obviously the mister is super happy about it. 

 Mister and his friend James, this was right before the third base coach got thrown out. 

Nachos on a hot dog? Okay. Why not?

At least there are still the sunsets. 

Where I've been and where I'm going...

Hello Peeps! I hope you will forgive me for my recent radio silence. Let me catch you up on what I’ve been up to.

I took a little trip home

In June I went back to Idaho for a week and spent some much needed time with my family. I spent time on beautiful Lake Coeur d’ Alene with my Mom and two Aunts. It was definitely a memorable trip!       

                        

I also got to see some old friends; my oldest friend from back home lives close to my Mom so I skipped down there to meet her husband and catch up. It was the first time in 10 years and I couldn’t believe it had been that long; it was much too short of a visit.

I went to a wedding with the mister’s parents.

       

This was a lot more fun than it sounds. Right after I got back from Idaho the in-loves came for a visit. The girl that was practically his sister got married over July 4^th weekend and they came for the festivities. It was a beautiful wedding and I am so happy for Sarah and Brian. 

Congratulations!

(Oh yeah and I caught the bouquet. There is no evidence so you have to take my word for it. But I caught it, no matter what Sarah Marshall says.)

My brain went on vacation.

                The whole point of skipping summer school was to give myself a break before I start at the University in the fall. Well I have definitely given my brain a breather. You know that major heat wave that struck the rest of the country? Yeah, well, it didn’t make it this far.  Our summer just arrived last Friday, seriously. It was pretty bad. I snuck this photo when the sun graced us with her presence one afternoon.

I rediscovered Melrose Place.

               

                The one good thing about the crappy weather is that Netflix added Melrose Place to their Instant Queue.  I’m still in the first season, before Heather Locklear, so it’s been great. I had forgotten how cheesy those first episodes were. Oh the 90’s.  So much drama. Gypsy loved it.

I baked. A LOT.

                There has been a lot of baking and cooking going on up in here. Oh and I found the most amazing cookies ever. EVER. I’m pretty sure they’re the best things I’ve ever made. EVER.

                Don’t worry; I’ll share the recipe soon. But here's a picture, just to tease you. 

I had my orientation day at University of Oregon and registered for my classes. 

               

             Since I read my acceptance letter it never really felt true until I registered for classes. Now it’s real. I’ve taken the official tour, I have my student I.D. (which works, I got to ride the bus for free today. yay!), and I’ve registered for my fall classes. I’ll be taking:

SOCIOLOGY 304: Community, Environment and Society- Interrelationship of social and environmental factors in human communities, processes of community change, impact of environmental change on human communities.

ANTHROPOLOGY 270: Introduction to Biological Anthropology- Examines the biological aspects of the human species from comparative, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives. Explores theoretical and methodological issues in biological anthropology.  

GEOLOGY 308: Geology of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest- The region's geologic and tectonic history and the plate tectonic processes responsible for its evolution.

PLANNING, PUBLIC POLICY & MANAGEMENT 418: Introduction to Public Law- Administrative law, including introduction to legal research, for public administrators. Administrative procedures, implementation of policy through administrative law, judicial review, and practical applications in public agencies.

                I’m such a nerd I get a little giddy when I see my schedule. I know it will be difficult but I am super excited.

I landed a sweet new job.

               

                This is probably the best part of summer, and I actually got the news the day after I registered for class. It couldn’t have been more perfect. My friend and her mom work in this small office and needed some help so they hired me. It was almost too easy so I was a little iffy about it until today when I started. It’s legit. I’ll be working for a paper company that supplies Fraternity and Sororities across the country with stationary. It’s a local company, started by some UO grads. And they’re more than willing to work with my school schedule, so much so that I basically make my own schedule. I’ll be working Tuesday, Thursday and Friday because they wanted to make sure I had the ability to use the tutoring centers and have enough time for studying. It’s basically everything I hoped for.

                So now that you’re pretty much caught up I have lots of new post ideas coming up. I’m pretty excited. You should be too. Seriously.

I put the pro in procrastination

At this moment, this is how I feel.

Hi peeps! I'm currently sitting in my second home, the Science Resource Center, and trying to figure out what to write my paper on that is due in..oh... an hour. Since I'm such a pro at procrastination I decided to say hi to all of you instead. Don't judge. I am a very responsible student (I swear) and I know my teacher won't care if I email it to him tomorrow. Plus this paper isn't even graded. So there.

Anyway, life has been good lately. I've been super busy with school, and Botany has taken over my life. I have three weeks until I graduate and am trying to calmly make it through. I still have no word from the big kids school, and it is very stressful to know I am done here and have nothing lined up for next fall. Patience is not a virtue I was blessed with and I have to come to terms with the fact that this is out of my control (which is also hard to deal with). I guess I'm learning to roll with the punches, let the tide take me where it will. Something like that.

Any ideas on how to be patient?

A week in review...

Ummm...is it really Saturday? Where did this week go? Let's rewind:

Sunday: baking day and Scream marathon with Sparkles and Ashley

Monday: School.

Tuesday: Homework and housework then Scream 4 with Sparkles and friends. Oh and the car battery died at the movie theater. That was AMAZING!

Wednesday: School which included a field trip for  me and the mister getting a new battery in the car. Then an impromptu Survivor night with Sparkles. 

Thursday: Early morning bike ride with Amy and then errands.

Friday: Volunteered at an Earth Day celebration for Oregon Toxics then drinks with Sparkles and Amy. I also bought a new bike seat and lost my iPod. Wah, wah. On the plus side I did conquer a little of the fear I have of riding my bike in traffic. So that was good. And I also found the way NOT to go when I want to bike downtown in a hurry. Another plus.

So that leaves us with today. Today I joined my friend Jessika and went to Saturday Market then out to the Oregon Country Fair site for a wildflower walk. It was really neat to be out at the fairgrounds when it was empty, it is such a beautiful area. 

 It was also really cool to be out there with Jessika. I've never been to Country Fair but she goes every year so she knew what empty booths are what. She told me what this one was but I can't remember now...

The main reason for being out there was to see the massive amount of wildflowers that are in bloom around the property. It seemed like wherever we looked there was a new type of flower and, we probably looked at thirty plants. I took tons of pictures but not all of them turned out like I would like.

I'm adding here the ones that are decent and because I'm a huge plant nerd now I have the Latin name and common name on them. I'm sure nobody will appreciate this more than my Botany Buddy Ashley! Anyway, I just wanted to warn you...so now you've been warned...beware of the flowers, they have names. I think my brain is about to implode from exhaustion...that's probably what I should have warned you about. 

Oh wait...

There are two different types of Trillium... 

One of these things is not like the other!

The Giant Trillium has its flower sitting directly on the leaves while the Western Trillium has some stem between its leaves and flower. 

Show us your stems Trill!

Not to be confused with....

 That Solomon...he's a trickster!

 

 Next week I'll be working on my time management skills and I hope to do more than one post a week.

I have some new recipes to share so stay tuned!

Hello? I'm not dead!

Hello interweb peeps! Thank you for your patience and I'm sorry I've been absent the last, well...ahem...month and a half. What?!? I've been really busy with school and life and just needed a little break from blogging. But the gray shell of winter is starting to melt off and I'm ready to come out of hibernation!

During my hiatus I thought of ways to revamp this little corner of the web and am really excited to share them with all of you. So get ready for some new projects, new recipes and new ideas that I can't wait to share. 

To start off I wanted to do an update on my 29 before 29. Probably more for me and to see just how on track I am with my goals. Eekkk..this could be scary!

29 Things before I'm 29:

Read 12 for pleasure books (2/12: My Horizontal Life and Empire Falls)

Read 6 books that will teach me something

Get accepted to UO

Win a scholarship to UO

Get a job in my future field (whatever that is)

Become a better far-away friend/relative

Buy, wear and look damn good in a bikini this summer

Take a trip with the mister

Get the car into the garage

Organize all my craft stuff

Make a compost pile

Plant a garden

Spend more time with my girl friends (check!)

Bring back date night

Do something creative 30 minutes a day

Make 12 new craft projects

Take more pictures

Go on a mini-road trip with Sparkles

Have dinner with my sister

Do a body-cleanse

Put together my family recipe book

Start a family picture wall for our little family

Graduate from Lane with a 3.5 GPA or better

Go to a play

Acquire grown up living room furniture (a futon for the office sort of counts, right?)

Purge the house

Organize what's left

Become a volunteer (check, I start volunteering at Oregon Toxic Alliance tomorrow!)

Be a better blogger

Alright so I still have a lot of work to do but at least I can check some stuff off the list. Progress counts, right?

 

Stay tuned friends for new posts, I'm setting aside time every day for a new post. And please subscribe to get email updates every time I post. The gadget is just right up there in the corner. Can you see it? 

Belated Birthday Post

It was my birthday this weekend! Actually it was yesterday, we celebrated on Saturday with all our friends. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my friends? Cause I do, I really, really do. 

The plan was to have everyone meet at our house and then we walked over to the nearest bar and kind of took it over, cause that's what we do. Apparently. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the night of shenanigans:

 

The biggest surprise of the night was this cake! My mom coordinated with C to get me and Josh a Care Bear birthday cake. It's delicious.

 

The mister and the girls, Amy, C and, me.

This picture cracks me up every time! You know the Dos Equis commercials with The Most Interesting Man in the World? C is doing her impression, and obviously Steph isn't buying it. 

 Me and J, this girl is amazing.

 The birthday kids!

So now I'm 28. And how do I feel about that?

Pretty damn good. 

This year is going to be a good one.