Mercer lake and more

I spent a couple of fabulous relaxed days at Mercer Lake out in Florence. the first night I got there kind of late and was totally exhausted so I just crashed out. I spent the day lounging around with my mom, grandma and aunt ann. here is my aunt ann from Scotland sitting with my grandma Chris. My mom refers to them as the grannies.



I convinced Aaron to come out that afternoon. My mom had to take the grannies back to Eugene because they had to catch a train at 5 the next morning.
I took Aaron canoeing on the lake, he'd never been in a boat before! He'd also never been fishing before, so I taught him how to cast.



we sat on the end of the dock with our feet in the water. The water was amazingly warm. as it got darker the bats came out. I've never seen so many bats, nor had them fly so close to my head!



Aaron and I spent the rest of the night drinking beer in the hot tub while having drunken existential conversation.

the next morning was Aarons birthday. But he had to leave and go back to Eugene to go to work. my mom came back out and we lounged around some more. We took Rosie to the beach and watched her chase the birds. We also stopped at the Darlingtonia Wayside. It was so cool! I can't believe I'd never seen it before. There are a whole bunch of pitcher planst growing in the boggy forests!




eventually we left the coast and I got back in town and plugged in my phone. I had totally run out of batteries and didn't get service out there anyway. But all of a sudden I had urgent messages. the guy at the dealership had called, and Robin had called about a surprise party for Aaron that was happening right away. So I kicked into gear, ran up into the attic to find an extra sleeping bag of mine. I wanted to give Aaron one for his birthday. He's never had a sleeping bag, and never been camping.
So I rushed off to the surprise party for Aaron. We grilled and played croquet. We decorated Aaron in all the decorations, then went back to Aaron and Robin's and drank beer and hung out on the stoop.
Here's decorated Aaron in the 7-11



also, they figured out what was wrong with my car. there was gas in my diesel. I should be bale to pick it up today, I'm hoping to hit the road sometime this afternoon. if not today, early tomorrow morning. I must go rescue AL from purgatory.

almost 24 hours of adventure with Aaron and Robin

last night aaron, robin, and i decided to pack a back pack full of beers and hike through the woods behind my parents house to Mt. baldy and the ridgeline trail. it was an epic adventure. it was pitch black on the way up, we had no flash lights and the only way we could find the trail was to follow rosie and her gleaming white butt. we made it up the hill through the woods and into the meadow, where i saw a big shooting star. (there is supposedly a meteor show happening, part of the reason for hiking at night) Then we went through more dark woods and up to the top of the hill. we hung out at the top and watched the city lights of Eugene blink. then we headed down the other side of the mtn, where the trail is very pitted and rutted from mtn bike tires. by then the moon was out though, so we could see for some of the time. We got to the end of the trail and there was an ENORMOUS house being built, so we hung out at the construction site for a bit.







By the time we got back to my parents house it was really late. We found my moms "cooking" wine, just a big bottle of cheap wine, and drank some wine while watching the DVD of the pindowngirls rebar show, and then we watched bad sci-fi until we all fell asleep in the living room. It was so high school! I loved it.



then today we gathered some gals and went swimming.






Now I'm packing a bag to go back on over to florence and meet up with my mom, my grandma, and my grandmas sister (i believe that makes her my great aunt) over at Mercer Lake. the fun just don't stop.

and no, they haven't fixed my car yet or figured out what the hell is wrong with it. Hopefully they'll have it figured out by tomorrow. thats what they said anyway..... so i'm crossing my fingers

I just got nerdier

I just talked to the VW service peeps....so far they don't know whats wrong with my car. they turned the service engine light off, but its still not running right and they've been driving it around but the engine light hasn't come back on. I asked if it could jsut be bad diesel, and he said it would have to be REALLY bad, like "raw sewage bad" for it to do this. They haven't dealt with this before and they called VW technical service, but ahven't heard back from them yet. He's supposed to call me later today. Ugh. The weird part was that he asked me if I wanted to come get it, because he knew I was wanting it. I said , "Yeah, I want it but I want it working. I can't relaly drive it to california if its not working!". What is that? "Hey, want to come pick up your car? It's not fixed but you can come get it if you want."
On the fun and ultra-nerdy side of things, Braden is teaching me how to play Dungeons and Dragons. he was trying to get some friends to come over and paly, but noone could and I said I was bored so he said "Want to play Dungeons and Dragons?". We didn't do much actual playing yet, because it took forever just to get my character all sorted with the abilities and classes and equipment and whatnot. But so far I'm a halfling druid with a riding dog animal companion. I have a longbow and a spear and hide armor and I have skills in concentration, knowledge of nature, spellcraft, and survival. Pretty sweet. I still have to come up with a name for my character, and for my riding dog animal companion. I was joking with Braden that it could just be Kore-eee and Roze-eee. Yeah........

photobooth friday

anatomist and I did the photobooth at Archie McPhee's one more time before I moved......

vacay and car troubles

part 1: vacay

I left Seattle and headed south, went through Abderdeen (Welcome to Aberdeen - Come As You Are), hit the 101 and went south all the way to bustling Wheeler, OR pop. 350. I got to see Angelina, who I haven't seen since last October. We hung out, played board games, went to the beach, went to the bar, went to breakfast in a town that starts with an N that I can't remember how to spell.......

this is the cabin Angelina lives in, and next to hers is her mom's, then her grandma's, then her aunt's. They're neat little cabins, and the view is pretty. You can see the bay.



We went down to Short sand's beach. evidently they filmed part of Point Break there. There were lots of hot surfer guys. and lots of dogs running around. Rosie ran around and played in the ocean. Angelina and her cousin Zane were throwing a big chunk of seaweed for her. She went swimming after it a couple of times. Angelina went surfing, here she is getting out of her wetsuit in the parking lot.



she didn't stay in very long because she saw a big shadow of something and got scared of sharks. though it was probably just a big chunk of bull kelp.

here's Ange's cousin Zane holding a wet and tired Rosie (I love how they match!) Zane is the coolest 13 y.o. I've ever met. It's kind of cool to meet smart kids.



We went to a bar called the San Dune in Manzanita. I could watch my car on the security camera. it was pretty exciting. There was supposedly an intercom, but there weren't people walking by very often so I didn't get a chance to say "Don't touch that car, Bitches!" which I really wanted to yell over an intercom. or "Don't even look at it!"



After leaving Wheeler Rosie and I continued down the 101. we stopped in Newport for lunch and to play on the beach. Rosie, like most dogs, LOVES the beach. we play frisbee, and she chases the seagulls. it's hilarious.



here we are on the beach! with my totally awesome windblown hair-do



part 2: car trubs

Everything was going along nicely, I had just been talking to Annalisa and had figured out where I was going to camp and about how long it was going to take to get there and from there to Santa Rosa. I stopped at the Rogue brewery and bought some beer. Then leaving the brewery my car sudeenly would not accelerate. It just kind of stuck, and there were huge black plumes of nasty exhaust. Right before I left Seattle I had my fuel filter changed because I had had a severe loss of power in accelerating. everything seemed fixed until Newport. I called my dad and we decided it was probably bad fuel, (I think there may be some bad biodiesel afoot in Portland) and i should fill the tank with new diesel and add some diesel additive. I made it to Waldport, where I discovered they do not have any diesel but I found the diesel additive. Then a big warning "Emissions workkshop!" came on. when I looked that up it said "reduce speed and drive to nearest dealership." I headed to yachats, 8 miles away. I have never been so happy to be stuck going slow in construction, because I couldn't go much faster than traffic was going anyway. the first station in yachats had diesel. i filled up and added the additive, but still could barely accelerate leaving the station. I hung out in yachats for awhile, calling my dad from a pay phone (yay for business 1-800 #'s) and sitting in my car staring at the ocean, with the car running trying to burn off the bad stuff and get the good stuff flowing. So eventually I gave in to the fact that I had to get to the dealership in Eugene. My Dad talked to the guy at the dealer and he said to just drive it over. It was not a fun time. It was like driving the old diesel vw van that I learned how to drive on that was a total gutless wonder. On hills you just floor it and hope for the best. I was barely making it. It was diesel without the turbo.
Now my car is at the dealer, though they probably won't get a chance to look at it until tomorrow (saturday)

So this is just part of my car curse, i guess. See, i got a new car so i wouldn't break down everytime I tried to take a trip. But I was really really lucky that I was so close to Eugene, and not down in Northern California or something. Now here I am, at my parents house in Eugene for a few days. Which is great, its just out of order from my original plans. But I'm making the best of it, showers and laundry. I'm going to go see my grandma today and then hang out with my mom when she gets off work. I helped her paint one of the extra bedrooms yesterday evening. and I have some boxes of crap I still need to go through, from when I moved to seattle last october. I've no idea what they contain.

here, there, anywhere

my last days in Seattle have dwindled down to 1. tomorrow is my departure. It has been a really fun last couple of weeks. So fun that it makes it that much harder to leave. I've been partying fast and furious. It's going to be really hard to leave my lovely beautiful fabulous friends here. They're so good to me. I may not deserve them, but I appreciate them. Auna has let me sleep in her living room for two whole weeks, on top of that she takes great care of me and spoiled me rotten on my birthday. and I get really drunk with her boyfriend and we talk about how awesome she is. Yay! Three cheers for Auna and Chris! and to all my Seattle peeps who I love and will miss and will come visit. and who should all come visit me in Portland.

I feel like I am breaking up with Seattle.
Oh Seattle, I love you, but we're just not meant to be together right now. It's not you, you're great. It's me. I have commitment issues. I want to see other cities. It's just too soon to settle down. We've had a lot of great times together, and I will always treasure those memories. I hope we can still be friends.

what I did in Seattle: a list
1. lived in a trailer in anatomist's backyard
2. got evicted from said trailer by the city
3. became a wrestler
4. did some underwear modeling
5. a. had many jobs b. became a barista
6. made many awesome friends

now on to the traveling: I may not be able to post much on the road, so I'll tell y'all ahead of time where I'm going
first: to Wheeler to visit Angelina, then to Santa Rosa to pick up AL, then camping in the Redwoods in Mendocino, visiting Ashland, possibly Crater Lake, then back to Eugene/Portland area to couch surf/camp in backyards/ do some local camping, look for a house in Portland

the last....week or so

I've been out and about lately. here's some pics, I'm too tired to use words.

barhopping with Spencer in Bend!


can you tell we're related?

Ween in Bend!


Auna Chris and Cori at Ween show in Bend!


Cori and Spencer at Ween show in Bend!


Raven and Jakes baby Liam in Portland!



Pulpshopgirl and Liam!

movin' and shakin'

one suv, one jetta, and one fully loaded truck. most of my possessions are now piled in a corner of Pulpshopgirl's garage, in good ol' PDX. It makes me feel like I don't really have that much stuff, when it all fits in a corner of a garage. but I am deluding myself. It is a HUGE garage.

here's Pulpshopgirls loaded truck, and Mt. Rainier


I packed my jetta so very full. this is my vacuum roped in between my seats.



after unloading everything we met up with everyone in the bar across the street from the hospital, hanging out waiting for raven to have her baby!

here's the soon to be grandparents


and some of the hot girls at the bar

packing

I'm packing up. packing for camping, packing for moving. packing heat, yo. My mom and sis are coming up tomorrow. I think they are going to save me. I am very very overwhelmed today with all this packing. thank jebus, help is on the way! and Pulpshopgirl is coming up on thursday with her giant truck. we're moving all my stuff into her garage in her new house in Ptown. the stuff that i am not packing in my car. so we've got a caravan of my mom and sis in an SUV, me and my Jetta, and Pulpshopgirl in a big ol' F250. if there is anything left that we can't fit in those vehicles I can send it down with Big D on his way to Eugene in his Dodge Sprinter. I am a lucky lucky gal to have such wonderful supportive helpful people in my life. I am eternally grateful. moving sucks, but help makes it suck much less than it could.
and you know what really sucks? packing tape. cheap crappy packing tape.

hemp waffles and soy sausage

thats what I had for breakfast this morning. with organic maple syrup.

last night I went over to Huck's for her birthday dinner. I got to hang out with her adorable nephews again. Some kids are just so dang cute they make me want kids. here is Owen wearing Huck's new leg warmers.


I have taught Rosie to tow me on my skateboard! I'm very excited. I've been meaning to try it for awhile and she caught on really fast! She runs next to me more than she really tows me. and sometimes we get going a little too fast when she does start pulling. Here she is running along.


we're skate punks now. only we're gonna spell it SK8 PUNX!

shopping day

today I did a lot of day off type things, like dishes and laundry. and I was abducted by khya and taken downtown to go shopping. Khya got some fabulous jeans at the Levi's store. I was witness to a jeans miracle. Not only do they fit perfect, but they make her butt look great. and AND they were on sale. (that double and AND is totally intentional)



we also went to Anthropologie. we tried on a ridiculous amount of clothes. I ended up leaving with a whole new outfit. lucky for me i had some tip money to blow! I got an awesome tank top (khya got one too, they're just so cute we each had to have one) and I got a really cute skirt. It's a wrap around style.....i wanted a poofy skirt and this fit the bill. I didn't realize until after I got it home that its a size 0. that is way way smaller than i usually wear. But it works with the whole wrap around thing. and I don't think I would like this skirt if it actually fit me how its supposed to. because i like it short.
Khya and jen and I drank some wine this evening, and khya and i did a wee fashion shoot of my new outfit on my porch.

this is my fashion shoot pose



and this is my paris hilton pose (cause I'm drunk and look skanky)



and this is a my arms almost look scary buff pose



I also went grocery shopping today....at a truly amazing grocery store in shoreline called Central Market. it seems that when you're leaving you always find the best things. or maybe theyr'e just the best things because you know yor'e leaving. but this was truly a fabulous grocery store. it was like PC market mixed with Sunshine market and everything you could ever want. the best and biggest organic produce selection and organic bulk foods....... *sigh* I stocked up. and prices were the best I've seen in seattle. It was amazing.

things i like, things i will miss

Today was my last day at the camera shop. It was a good day, but really sad to leave. I reallly really like the people there. sometimes the job was aggravating, the machines all turned against me more than once, but it was for the most part an easy laid back job. with great discounts. basically I sat in the back in cut off jeans printing pictures, listening to the radio (kexp or npr) and talking on my cell phone. I also had fabulous co-workers. really really great people. and I like the voyeuristic-tasticness of printing other peoples pictures. today I printed some other peoples pictures of things that made me happy:
1. a dog licking an ice cream cone
2. a ferret sleeping in a ferret bed in a drawer
3. a pregnant bride
4. the pregnant bride and her bridesmaids all wearing large dark sunglasses
5. Mt. Rushmore
tomorrow is day 17 in a row of working. i think that beats my recent record........... I am really looking forward to monday off!
Andie mentioned that the new issue of knitty is out, I have to call attention to this amazing Sock Monkey Hat. OMG.

born in the USA

for the 4th of july Big D and I biked to Wallingford to hang out with some peeps, and watch the fireworks from the middle of the street. It was a great.

it's too early

somehow my clock got set an hour ahead, so instead of getting up at 4:45 I actually got up at 3:45. I didn't realize it until after i showered and dressed and went into my kitchen where the clock said 4:15, and my phone said 4:15 and my computer said 4:15. so here I am.
anyway, i've got some fun new toys! my dad helped me buy a Pentax *ist DL for my birthday. (It's jsut a little early) It's pretty fancy for me. I've never had an SLR with autofocus. I'm still getting used to the whole contraption.
look, it's Rosie!


here is anatomist and I on our way to REI


this is my paparazzi pic of Big Daddy and anatomist, look! they shop! they're just like us!



I scored at the REI sale. I got an awesome tent and it was really cheap. I also got a few other camping necesseties, a good little stove and a camping french press! of course I came home and set up my tent immediately.




ok, it's almost time to actually go to work. i'm a little delirious this morning.

a whole new dog

rosie is now ok around kids. better than ok even! she's awesome. i took her to my friend Sharon's nephew Ethan's 4th birthday party. there was a puppy there and Rosie played very nicely with the puppy, but even more remarkable was that she played very nicely with the human babies. I'm talking little toddler babies. the kind that walk up to dogs and whack them in the face as a petting tactic.
this is Rosie hanging out with Ethans little brother, Owen. he's the one that walked right up to her and whacked her in the face.