Next up: Seattle

I can't believe I'm coming up on the latter part of my trip! It's been so great seeing Portland with Haley (especially our awesome tour at the Oregon Zoo), then exploring almost half of the Oregon Coast with Mesha (beautiful scenery and good seafood!) Today, I'm catching a bus back up to Portland to stay with Haley for the night, and then will hop on a train tomorrow morning for Seattle to meet up with Sara and Francine.

I will have to blog my trip when I get back home, so stay tuned...

Snow!

Made it to Portland safely, and am having a great time so far. It is pretty freezing, but bearable. We woke up yesterday to find snow on Haley's car. Snow! In Portland!!

Visited Powell's City of Books yesterday which was AWESOME. A book lover's paradise. Wish you reading fans could have been there with me.

Just wanted to give a quick hello from the Pac NW. I'll update more later...

Gloom and rain, here I come!

I'm taking off on my week-and-a-half vacation to the Pacific Northwest, and am so very excited! First stop will be Portland, to visit Haley. I've only seen her once since Australia (which was five years ago!) so it will be very fun to hang out and see her corner of the west coast. Next, I'm heading over to Newport on the Oregon Coast, where Mesha now lives. We're going to do some driving tours, and hopefully some hiking if the weather cooperates, which I'm looking forward to. Lastly, I'll be going to Seattle. Sara and Francine are flying in, and we're going to spend St. Patty's weekend exploring the city. My first flying-required vacation since NYC last February, and I'm so happy to be traveling again...

And the winner is...

My friend Henny and his friends organize an Oscar Pool every year: you pay $10 for a ballot to vote for who you think will win, and the top guessers get a portion of the pool money. Although I hadn't seen all of the movies, I thought it would be fun to join in this year anyway. So, after doing some online research (IMDB and some "Oscar Prediction" sites) and after changing my vote several times (I filled out three ballots before the final draft), I turned in my ballot thinking I didn't stand a chance against the thirty other participants. I also concluded that I would never do something like that again, because it was too stressful trying to "think" like the academy and voting for who would "most likely" win rather than who I wanted to win. In the end, I enjoyed participating in all the fun, from voting to going to the Oscar party, but especially walking away with half of the first place prize. Yep, that's right, yours truly tied for first place! I went home with $90 bucks, and it was the best $10 investment I've ever made. Maybe I won't totally write off next year's Oscar Pool....

Things that irk me #2

My totally inconsiderate neighbors, who think it's okay to smoke and talk and laugh and yell and whatever else have you at ONE in the frickin morning on a TUESDAY weeknight right outside MY bedroom window. Seriously, take your damn smoking and talking and laughing and yelling and whatever else have you INTO YOUR own damn aparment, and stop waking me up in the middle of the night! We're not a college dorm, I have somewhere to be in the morning, and I NEED my SLEEP!

*whew* that felt better.
thank you for listening.

Why I love Grey's Anatomy

It cracks me up with dialogue like this:

Cristina: McSexy?
Meredith: No.
Izzie: McYummy?
Meredith & Cristina: No.
Meredith: McSteamy.
Cristina: Ah, there it is.
Izzie: Yep.
George: Now...I'll just be choking back some McVomit

Beginnings

This week marks a new journey in the lives of two of my friends.

On monday, Laura hopped on a plane and and went halfway across the globe to the land of Oz. She will be completing her Marine Biology Masters down under at James Cook University in Townsville, QLD.

On wednesday, Jen flew across the continent to the east coast, where she started training for her new job with the NOAA Corps.

I am both very happy and very excited for the two of them, and wish them the best of luck on these new adventures. Congrats Laura and Jen!

Cross-eyed is not a good look

My eyes are burning, my vision is getting a little blurry. I'm staring at my iBook monitor for too long. The reason? I've discovered the sudoko website. And I. can't. stop. I keep doing puzzle after puzzle, it's pathetic. Must. stop. !.

Hit the Quarter

Birthday was yesterday, and I've officially hit the quater-century mark. It's so unreal, I can't believe I'm already 25!!

Tuesday, the day before my birthday, I had a hair appointmnet. After almost two years of keeping up with my brown/golden highlights, I've decided to go black for a while. I just don't have the time or money to keep up with them right now, and low-maintenance hair was a much needed change. At first, it felt like I had a wig on, and I'm still getting use to seeing myself with such dark hair again. After the appointment, I went out to an early birthday dinner with childhood friends Kate and Ali, and Kate's boyfriend Brian. We all have such busy lives that I only get to see them about two to three times a year--usually for birthdays. Last time we met up was for both of thier birthdays back in August, so it was great seeing them and catching up.

Birthday day at work went amazingly smoothly, which was especially unusual for the first of the month. Instead of throwing a party this year, I opted to just do dinner with all my wonderful friends. Had a reservation for 25 at Claim Jumper, and every seat was filled. It was nice that everyone was able to come celebrate with me--thanks you guys!

So, this is it. I am officially half way to thirty. Twenty to twenty-five has brought many memories, friends, adventures, lessons, and accomplishments. It was full of love and loss, learning and growing, and I'm confident that twenty-five to thirty will be no less exciting and fullfilling. So here's to the second half of my twenty-something years!

You know you're getting old when...

...Grandpa gives you only FOUR (two $2 bills) dollars for the Lunar New Year! Although the new year is not ALL about getting those nice little red envelopes stuffed with money, it is definitely a big perk in the holiday celebrations. It has nothing to do with being greedy; I think we're all just kids-at-heart, wanting to peek into the red envelopes and see dollar bills there, day-dreaming about what new toy we can buy with it.

As you get older, the dollar amounts seem to get smaller and smaller, until one day (gasp!) you're expected to GIVE away envelopes, not RECEIVE them. *Whew* good thing that time hasn't come for me yet, but I'm getting signs that it's coming up pretty soon:
Sign #1: As mentioned earlier, gramps didn't give his usual twenty dollar bills. They were 2-without-the-0 dollar bills.
Sign #2: I got a lotto ticket in one envelope. No cash.
Sign #3: Everyone in my family keeps wishing me a happy new year and hoping that I find a husband soon (marriage=no more red envelopes for Jane).
Ah, well, I guess that's what happens when you grow up!