Is it really Halloween?

I can't believe that the day has arrived. Only one pumpkin has been carved, no costume has been dreamed up, and my house is only partially decorated. I am feeling a bit bah humbug over this years Halloween, although it is my very favorite holiday. It seems like the last several years have been against me enjoying the holiday properly. Either I haven't had a job, been in between jobs, or been working on said day. This year as we all know my lovely employers decided to end my short time with them. That being said, I was left with little extra funds to properly buy and decorate the house as well as any sort of kick ass costume for myself.

I was okay with not being the scariest house on the block. I was okay with not having a super freaky costume. I was NOT okay with my car breaking down today though. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back. It's a good thing I don't have anywhere especially important to be and that I have several friends who are also unemployed or stay at home moms who are more than willing to drop everything for their poor friend Amy. Yes, poor me. I am on the pity bus today.

Back to the not believing that Halloween is here. Wasn't it just yesterday I was planning a trip to Ireland? For that matter when did the temp change from a daily hight of 100 degrees Fahrenheit+ to being in the mid 40's - 50 with a low in the high 20's? I must say it is a welcome releif as I hate the heat and love being slightly chilled when I crawl into bed.

All was not lost in my bah humbug spirit, as I did manage to get a friend to take me to the store for sugar coated treats so the trick or treaters wouldn't feel the need to spray my house with silly string and t.p. I did get to see my friend Amy's kids in their simply adorable costumes. I must give A a HUGE thumbs up as she made the girls' costumes, one a butterfly the other a scarecrow. They were so awesome! Good job Amy!

I am making the same vow this year as I did last.... I am GOING to have the scariest house, creapiest costume, and most kick ass Halloween next year, I promise I will!

-Happy Boo day everyone!

Keeping busy

Ok, so I am going to put a link to the web site I have been working on. Keep in mind it is a work in progress and I would appreciate any and all constructive criticism and feedback. The program I am using isn't real flexible so I am limited with what I can do. Anyway, this is what I have been working on for the last week or so.

http://amymoore.74.googlepages.com/

Thanks in advance to anyone who looks at this!

-Peace

Whirlwind weekend

What a weekend it was too. Friday night after the gamers left our place, I promptly went to bed knowing that 7 am would come all too early. I was right! As the sound of my lovely alarm clock went off, I lay there thinking, "Why am I getting up at this hour on a Saturday?!?". Then it sank in, I am getting up at the butt crack of dawn (this time of year anyway) to go work out. Yes, working out at 7:30 am on a Saturday. Jealous aren't you? Feeling groggy I managed to get dressed, pick up my work out buddy Denise and hit the gym. I should have realized that while I was trying to walk on the treadmill like a trained gerbil, that my staggering around might be a sign that I was coming down with something. I forged on through a 40 minute walk and a 15 minute bike ride.

The work out was to justify the next part in our Saturday plans which was homemade cinnamon rolls with a group of Googlers prior to our trip to the Fruit Loop to visit orchards during the Heirloom Apple celebration. Our hosts for this sugary goodness of breakfast were wonderful and I thank you so much Aim & Skippy! We all loved those sticky, gooey, buns of sugary, frosting happiness. I took some of my homemade sugar free applesauce, Steph made these yummy potatoes, there was fruit, juice, milk, and coffee. It was a lovely breakfast for the 15 of us who got up that early to eat it.

Heirloom Apple DaysOct 2007

After the food filled our bellies and likely added a pound or two to our thighs, hips, bellies, or elsewhere, we headed off in a caravan of 4 cars filled with 8 adults and 4 children. At the first stop the kids each got a free pieced of fruit,went on a tractor ride through the orchard, pressed some cider, and learned that an heirloom apple is a variety of apple that is 100 years old or older. You don't' see these in stores much and the orchards are trying to preserve them, because once they are gone, there is no bringing them back. We lost one carload before continuing on as the self proclaimed "Nap Nazi" had to get back to put their little one down for the mid day nap, which I heard didn't go so well... something about all the sugar and excitement? Huh, odd that something like that would affect a small child. hehe

Next stop was more apples and pears with a petting zoo thrown in. There was this crazy looking goat who had 2 sets of horns. He was scary. Ame got a leg of lamb there, I would have NO clue how to prepare lamb. I have only had it one time that I remember liking it. She better be letting me know when she makes that thing, as I am sooo crashing her place for leg of lamb dinner! After admiring the gorgeous mountain view (Mt. Hood), petting the pigs and goats, buying our fruit, jams, and leg of lamb, it was time to head on to the next stop. We lost yet another Carload to nap time. Ya know, I am going to have to start looking into this nap time thing. I am thinking it sounds like a great idea!

We drive some more through the valley with views of both Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams, it was a beautiful sunny day with that slight chill in the air that reminds me snow is just around the corner. The next orchard was having a fun German Edelweiss celebration. They had brats, sauerkraut, potatoes w/ apples, fresh cider... it was delicious! Once our bellies were full, yet again, it was off to Packers for big ass cookies a bit of pie or ice cream and then home.

It was a long day, but the day wasn't even half over as we still had a Halloween party to go to that night. Ya know what sucks about losing your job in October? Not having enough money to properly celebrate Halloween as it is my favorite holiday. After my busy day I had needed a nap and we woke up in time to go to the party but unable to find a last minute costume idea.

*sigh* I am getting old. There was a day when I would be able to not have needed a nap, then found something to make a costume out of and gone onto the party and been there until the wee hours of the morning. What happened to those days? I want them back! I hate this feeling old crap, it was around 9:30, yes that is pm, not am the following day, that I looked at Matt and said, "Are you ready (to go)?". It wasn't even 10:30 by the time we said out goodbyes and hit the road back home. I want my youth back damnit!

Sunday I crashed hard. Woke up somewhere around 11:30, had a screaming headache, trying to fend off a migraine. It wasn't pretty. M and I spent some quality bonding time (as in our asses bonding to the couch) together. We caught up on all those tv shows we love. It is great having several episodes to watch all at one time. So we have now caught up on Bones, House, and Criminal Minds. I can't wait to see Heroes tonight, love that show.

Peace out for now and enjoy the pics!

Busy, busy...

Holy moly cow! It is hard to imagine that I have been even busier since having lost my job last week than when I was working, but it is possible! I was just told by Amy (one of many that I know) that I have been a crappy blogger lately. It is true, I have been. I know I made promises of blogging of my adventures in Ireland, and perhaps one of these days I will be able to decipher my horrid handwriting and do that. For now you will have to suffer with my mindless ramblings of what is happing in the immediate past.

Today was my first trip to the gym to work out with the personal trainer.. dear god she kicked my ass. However I think she kicked Denise's ass a bit more than mine as she was still feeling the pain today during her cardio workout. It was a good intense hour of strength training, I would love to have every session be with her but I just can't swing that kinda cash. Perhaps if some of my photos start selling or people want me to photograph them or their events and I make some extra cash I might be able to swing it.

Speaking of photos, I have started building my website. It is just a simple one for now as I learn about web building etc, but I am rather enjoying it. I have also began to enter some of my photos into contests, so cross your fingers!

In review of the last few days, it was an absolutely beautiful autumn weekend. Saturday the A's and the girls went out to a local farm where they were having an Autumn festival. It was loads of fun. I had a blast taking pics of the girls as usual. Have I mentioned how much that I love fall?! It is so beautiful here in the Gorge too. I need to get out there this week now that the rains have stopped and take some pics. Anyway, made it to the pumpkin farm to get our orange balls to carve for the festive holiday next week. I also love Halloween, it is my fave holiday.

I leave you with a link to the Autumn fest pics.. enjoy!

Fall 2007

Just a quickie

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that is the sound of me screaming. I have had just a crazy last 2 weeks. Went on vacation to Ireland and had a freaking amazing time! Came home only to be "let go" from my job! This is the first time in my life I have ever been fired. *sigh* All is good though so far. Filed for UE benefits so I am in my waiting week now. Those are the major highlights. I will go into detail later. This is just a quick update as the title suggests. I do have my pics from Ireland up

Ireland

So, go enjoy the pics. I kept a daily journal from the trip that I will turn into a blog, just need to find a few moments to do it. Life is definitely crazy!

-Ciao!

Leavin' on a jet plan...

But I will be coming back in 8 days... boo! I want to be gone much longer than that. How bad is it when my vacation hasn't even started and I am already dreading coming back to work. Gah! Sometimes I hate my life and the decisions that I have made. Then I have to sit back and think, if I hadn't done things the way I did, I wouldn't be going to Ireland (leaving tomorrow), have met some of the greatest friends (in Teh Dalles of all places!), have gotten my Magster, or made so many friends in far away places.

Sleep is not something that is on my side right now as I have been awake since 3 am, muddling my way through the early morning hours here at work. I am hoping to be awake enough to drive the 1 1/2 hours to Portland tonight without incident. I am lucky enough to have family in P-town that is driving my butt to the airport so I don't have to pay those ungodly parking fees. I am flying all by my lonely to and from Dublin. It shall be interesting. I just hope I don't get stuck sitting next to some huge, hairy, greasy dude who doesn't know how to use deodorant, some whiny snot nosed brat who can't sit still, worse yet one sitting behind me kicking my seat, or some lady who doesn't know how to not bathe herself in old lady perfume. In general I love flying and don't tend to have any major issues. I wonder what movie they will have for us... good thing I have my iPod. WOOT!

I will be on the plan in 26 hours and 30 minutes! YAY!

Horses and tattoos, oh my!

Gah! I am draggin' today. Not really sure why though. I have no real ambition to do anything at work. I spent all day yesterday trying to plan out my days in Ireland. I leave in 3 days. *sigh* It's so hard for me to believe that I will be in Ireland by the end of the week. There is so much that I want to go see and do, too bad I don't think I will have enough time.

I was hoping to get in a visit to a horse race or 2, it looks like I won't be able to though. Racing there is on the weekends while I am there and they races are both on Satruday, the days I am traveling..boooo! I did however find out about the Irish National Stud. It is a place where thoroughbred stallions are at stud, they have a breeding education program, museum, etc. It sounds a bit like the Kentucky Horse Park, where I went to school and worked for 7 months, in Lexington except it is geared mainly for thoroughbreds. It is about an hours trip outside Dublin and I am bound and determined to make it there! I have been getting this itch to get back into the horse scene. Too bad I don't make enough money to do that right now. I know people who kept telling me that one day I would want to get back into it and I was so adamant that I wouldn't. Well you were right! I guess it is true, once horses are in your blood they are always there.

Oh yeah, and I am totally getting a tattoo in Ireland. I am pretty much set on a design with a horse or dragon worked into a celtic knot. The meaning behind the horse being power, guidance protectors prosperity, magic, prophecy, the transporter to the otherworld. While the dragon is symbolic of luck and power. I want to combine one of those symbols in the Celtic knot style for hope, strength, and love, in some way.

The only problem being that there is no real meaning for the knots, as they date back for many hundreds of years and there is no dictionary to their meanings. Meanings for these designs have pretty much been made up to sell jewelry and trinkets, people have chosen to put meaning into them and whatever you want them to mean pretty much works. The only problem is I am not sure where to have it done on my body. Since I am losing weight I don't want it in my back, hip, arm, or somewhere that I might lose weight from. I am kind of thinking the ankle or on my chest where it would show only when I want it. :P I have narrowed the tattoo parlor down, now I just have to figure out how much it will cost too.

*sigh* I suppose I should get back to work... yeah well or something like that. I have so much to get done in the next couple of days it isn't even funny!

-Peace!

It's quiet... too quiet

This last weekend I drove down to my parents in Florence, Oregon so that they can watch the Magster while Matt and I are in Ireland next week. What can I say.. other than I LOVE my parents! They are the best. I don't mean that because they are my parents and they HAVE to love me and be nice to me, but they really are so supportive and helpful. I am so lucky to have them. They always provided for me and gave me what they could, making sure that I was happy and able to be involved in activities that I loved. Now that I am an adult I seem to fall right back into being that 10 year old girl whenever I am around them. Funny how that seems to happen whenever mommy and daddy are around.

So back to the 5 hours it took to get to their place. I really do like living within driving distance, but 5 hours is just too darn far, especially for a normal 2 day weekend. Add to that the nasty rainy conditions we had driving home Sunday and that made for only 1 nice day at the coast. It is funny how my parents now live at the coast and I go there fairly often, yet rarely make it to the beach. Although I am not real sad, as I am not one for walking on the sandy beach. I hate sand, it gets everywhere and sticks to everything!

I can remember being a kid and running up the sand dunes in Florence. At the bottom of the dunes is a small lake. We would race to the top and then roll down to the bottom and splash into the warm lake water. It was so much fun! Ask me to do that today and you would get a resounding "NO!". haha :P

Anyway, I digress back to the weekend. It was wonderful and as I drove out of the Gorge and into Portland, I could smell the city, people had their woodstoves burning, it had just rained too. I love the smell of a fresh rainfall. Driving down I-5 the air once again told me we were in Albany. The mill there produces an oder that is quite distinctive. It reminded me of when we were kids how someone always blamed another person in the car for having gas. Yes it is THAT stinky! We hit Eugene, Matt was asleep and snoring, Maggie was asleep in the back. It was just me, the darkness, and about 50 other cars surrounding me on the freeway. After stopping for a very quick bite to eat we headed down H-126 to Florence.

What a perfect drive it was too, not a single car in front or behind me. I love it when that happens, as that Highway is fairly dangerous. In fact, several years ago a friend of mine lost her life on it because a trucker fell asleep at the wheel, crossed into her lane, and hit her head on. So, yeah... every time I drive that particular road I get a bit more tense than I should be. We arrived in Florence at 11 and yet again the smells in the air were so refreshing I knew I was at the Oregon coast. It has a slightly salty, not quite fish like smell, it is quite distinct, I love it.

Mom and I spent some quality time together getting Maggie some of her special dog food as well as checking out the shops in Old Town Florence. They have some very cute touristy shops. I had to get the obligatory candy, no salt water taffy though, I can't stand that stuff. That afternoon we spent watching the U of O lose to Cal, then OSU lose to UCLA... not a good day for Oregon College football. Not to mention for my father whose big screen tv went out earlier that morning. He and Matt went tv shopping, unfortunately there wasn't much luck with the 2 places they had to choose from in Flo-town.

Sunday I woke up ungodly early at 5 am! Ugh, what was I thinking. It was nice chatting with dad though since everyone else was sound asleep. It was a very rainy day Sunday. I took an early morning nap, mom went to church, then we all went and had breakfast at Driftwood Shores. It was BlEh! I do NOT recommend eating there. Too bad it is the ONLY restaurant on the Florence beach. There are plenty of other great places to eat though, or go a short drive up the coast to Lincoln City, Depot Bay, or Newport.

We left Maggie behind with the grandparents and headed back home. It was sad leaving her there, not that she wont' be taken care of but my little puppy isnt' at home. As we walked into the house last night I realized just how quiet it is when she isn't around. That little dog is my life and I miss her nagging the cat, or squeaking her toys, barking at ghost sounds, and scratching at the back door. It really is too quiet.