So much to do, get caught up on

Let the recap begin!

So, last I left all of my fearless readers (like all 4 of you) it was over a month ago and I had gone to the Fruit Loop in Hood River. A lot has happened since then. Hopefully I can recount all that has happened. Ok, so I may be being a tad sarcastic. One someone doesn't have a job, school, family, etc.. they aren't usually real busy. I have done well keeping myself from going nuts, especially with the holiday season approaching, rather in full swing.

I have had the pleasure of going clubbing for the first time in like 4 years. My friend came out all the way from The Dalles so we could go eat Ethiopian food and dance the night away. It's kind of funny as she and I both realized that both times she has come out to Ptown we end up eating in a restaurant that doesn't have utensils, where you use fingers for every course in the meal. It's kinda funny. We are planning on pizza next, just to keep the streak of utensil free meals alive! :) Then we hit Aura, a snotty, overpriced, pretentious bar/club. I guess if I were 23 again and well, blonde, 105 lbs, and the brains of a toothpick, then maybe I would have fit in a bit better. After 1 drink we then went over to The Embers... my favorite drag/gay club in Ptown. A much more relaxed, fun loving, easy going atmosphere. I actually got out on the dance floor after a couple of drinks even if it wasn't all that crowded. Good times!

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I was lucky enough to get to celebrate it twice, or at least have the meal two different times. hehe :) Seeing my mom and dad is always fun. I made the stuffing for feast #1 and there was plenty left over for the second meal on Sunday when I celebrated with my Aunt & Uncle and their family (again). I just LOOOOOOVE turkey and stuffing. The food this time of year is absolutely the best. Who doesn't love pumpkin, stuffing, cranberries... yummo! Making myself hungry now.

Let's see, oh right. I am now signed up for classes at PCC. I will be taking such exciting subjects such as Math, (ooohhhhhh), Writing (ahhhhhhhhh), and History (wooo hooo). I am nervous and excited and scared and ...... Yeah, I just hope that I can keep it together and get through the next couple of years. Wish me luck!

Here's happy thoughts going out to all of my friends for everything they are going through, whether it be health related, family, relationship, etc. I am always here for you all in whatever capacity that you need it to be. :)

(kisses) (Hugs) to everyone!

-Cheers!

Fall, Friends, and Fruit

The title pretty much sums up my weekend. The idea of going to Heirloom Apple Days, in Hood River on the Fruit Loop, began last year after I went for the first time. I decided then that it needed to be an annual tradition. Looking back I can't believe it has been a whole year! My how things have changed in that year.

I met up with the fabulous Mrs. Tweet. Awww how I miss my friends! Just so you all know! We had a lovely walk around the mall before she got her hair done, and she looks FAB!


My mom and aunt drove with me from Ptown through the extremely windy Gorge, where we met up with friends in HR for some breakfast at Bette's Place. Good food and worth the wait, although to be honest I have to give Y credit for calling ahead and getting a table for our large group.

From breakfast we set out on or trip around the loop. We got off to a rocky start, while I may have said one farm # to one group of cars, the rest of us went to another farm... oops! I am so sorry for that! That is ok though because once we met up at the Lavender farm M gave me a nice push and I went to the ground with a thud! Ok, so maybe he didn't push me, maybe I kinda just tripped over my own feet... hehe :)

Two farms down we had oh so many to go. Talk about a beautiful day.. or as the joke between my mom and aunt "it was gorgeous in the Gorge". Yeah it got old after the first 10 times. lol



And the food... oh there was FOOD! All I can say is it is a good thing I ate prior to heading out or I would have gorged on far too many sweets. We shared fried dough w/ fresh apple butter, pear dumplings w/ vanilla ice cream, jams, jellies, you name it. I had told my mom about Packer's, they have a HUGE selection of very large cookies. They were nearly the last stop on the list so after each stop she would ask, are we going to the cookie place now? It was with much happiness that we got to Packer's after 5 previous stops. We sampled cookies, cookies, and more cookies. They also have a great selection of pies, fruit, and Ryan's cider.

Our last stop had us at Cody Orchards. They had a great variety and prices on their pears and apples. I loaded up! My overall haul included cookies, wildflower honey, honey crisp/hanner's/jonagold apples, and a handful of pears. I am planning on trying a pear bread, maybe some pear & apple butter, and of course applesauce. Actually I have the first batch of applesauce done already, and is it TASTY! A little whip cream or ice cream with the hot applesauce is so yummy!

I want to thank my friends and fam for joining us. It was a thrill to see you all. Just wish more of you could have made it.


I also have to make mention of the lovely Yvonne for knitting Miss Maggie's sweater. It is soooo cute! Thank you Yvonne, you are quite talented! Go visit her here: http://lavendersheep.com




Peace out all! <3 Me! :)

Open letter to my friends

Well hello out there in blogger land. I figure if I have any readers left they may be interested in what I have been up to. Well here goes a quick run down. Moved back to Hillsboro towards the end of July/August. Not something that I wanted but as we all know it had to be done. I am missing my friends in TD terribly! I want you all to know how much I miss you and that I wish things were different, but they are not and I have to move on. If it seems I am distancing myself... I am. I have to do it for self preservation. I have come to realize this. If anyone would like to visit me in Hillsborito I welcome you! We can have fun in the big city of Ptown! I have come to the conclusion that going back to TD is just not an option for me at the moment. I hope you all can understand that, and I sure you can.

So, moving out and being alone has felt.. LONELY. I knew it would be and even with the help of the Magster it has still just felt lonely. I guess when you have lived with someone for so long it is just an adjustment. I have been hangin out with some new and not so new peeps in Ptown. It's been fun.

My Aunt scared us, literally died 4 times and wa brought back to life. The Dr's in the hospital are calling her a miracle. While she was in the hospital for nearly a week I had plenty of time to get used to the cafeteria food. Bleh! Actually it wasn't too bad. I even got to read a book, first one in AGES that I read. Kind of a funny story behind why I read it in the first place ask if you really want to know! hehe With that, I have gotten on a reading kick. I am currently reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, it is quite entertaining and has me questioning some of the food I will order in restaurants from now on! haha

I spent a few days at the beautiful coast and went salmons fishing. Of course I didn't catch anything, it was just fun being out on the water, getting fresh air, and getting out of dodge for a while.

Last weekend my other Aunt took me with her to a jewelery making class, beaded earrings. It was so much fun! Now, those who know me will also know that I RARELY wear any jewelery including earrings. The class was fun, I discovered a hidden talent perhaps. we'll see. So far I have made about 14 pair of varying shapes and sizes. I will be puting them up on etsy.com to sell.

Oh, last but not least... the job hunt.... It's been horrid! I have had 3 interviews out of the 100+ resumes I have sent out. 2 of the interviews called to tell me how much they really liked me and had a great interview, yet went with someone else. It's been insanely annoying to say the least! I have been trying to stay positive, it just gets to be daunting after a while.....

Magster is good, getting settled in. She is great company. Shout out to KT who's been keeping me sane! And to my Aunt C who has let me kind of tag along wherever she happens to be going. And last but not least hello out there to all my friends back "home" in TD love ya, miss ya, can't wait to see ya'll soon.

Love, Me :)

Silver lining...

Someone somewhere once said "There's a silver lining to every cloud". I sure wish that my cloud would just go away.... Having said that I am honestly not trying to feel too sorry for myself. Just a wee bit though. I just found out today that the job I had been an applicant for, just hired another candidate. Gee there's a shock. The thing that sucks about this is that I actually REALLY wanted that job. It was full filling all of the aspects in a career that I wanted. It allowed me to use my degree in video production. It was close to where I live. There was room for advancement. Just so happens that it wasn't in the cards for me today.

Moving on, I shall keep at it. Cruising CL and the help wanted, going to temp agencies, bugging my friends and former colleagues, in general searching for the elusive job that will turn into the career that I have been so desperately seeking.

In other news, it's raining today, it was raining yesterday too. The cooler weather makes me happy even if all else is going to shiznit around me.

-Peace

Recent activities

I am slowly getting settled in here in Hillsboro. I had a job interview on Monday. I am a wee bit superstitious in that I don't want to talk too much about it. Suffice it to say that posting it on my blog is a bit contrary to not telling the whole world, but hush! Let me have my little neuroses. hehe

There really hasn't been too much in my personal life going on although it seems the people around me have all sorts of crap going on. I just want all my friends in TD to know that even though I may not be there physically I am just a phone call or gchat away. Maggie has been my little shadow, going from room to room with me. She does venture outside every now and then but she prefers the ac in the house as opposed to the high 90 degree weather outside.

My cousins from NYC are coming up on Friday so I am excited to see them. We are going to bbq, should be fun. I am going to attempt making a cauliflower coleslaw dish that I had in TD one night at the Petite Provence. I am also making miniature orange cheesecakes. They are in the oven right now as my test batch. Too bad no one is here to share them with!

I had some other friends from Eugene, who recently moved back up from San Diego, stop by for a visit. We went out for dinner and caught up on old times. It is funny what 5 years will do. In that time both of my girls got marries and now one of them has a baby. It's just crazy!

Today I went with K out for Indian. It was ok, not horrible not like the super best. It was fun having someone to go do something with and get me out of the house. Thanks for lunch K! This weekend is the airshow in Hillsboro so all the planes are starting to come in. I am expecting to hear the jets practicing tomorrow. It's fun to see all the cool planes. Bryan's is right down the street from the airport so I have a short walk or max ride to go see them.

That's about it for now, like I said, nothing too exciting going on. Hope ya'll are enjoying what is left of summer.

Ciao!

Where do I go from here?

Apparently my previous post was quite the talk about town. No really, it was. Or at least that is what I am told. I was able to provide my friends and people I don't really even know with some entertainment. Happy to be of service to you all. :)

The only problem that I face now is how to keep you all reading! My life really isn't THAT exciting, or maybe it is and I just haven't been blogging about the right stuff! Like the time I went to the strip bar and the really hot chick with the dragon tattoo that ran the entire length of her body... wait no, I can't tell that story. Ok, I guess I will have to settle back into my not so cool life and blog about the really mundane issues that arise in my day to day life. That's ok, I don't mind mundane as long as it isn't asking me to be a third to it's open relationship I am cool with just about anything.

Not much has really happened since my last post and I fear that nothing that exciting will happen for a while. You never know though, I am moving to Portland next week. I will keep ya'll posted though. In the mean time, if ya happen to be in Seattle I know of a place you should check out. :)

-Cheers!

On to the back-up, back-up plan....

I don't' even know where to begin. As if things could get any stranger or more difficult for me at this point. There I was Saturday, day after the 4th and an awesome night of BBQ and fireworks. Getting my bags packed, throwing all of my clothes into suitcases, making sure I didn't leave any "interview worthy" items behind. All my shoes packed, make-up, hair products... and finally me into the car. I was bummed that my dvds didn't make it, but I figured I would pick them up on the second trip since I had to go back to TD for some Dr. appointments in a week.

Got in my car and headed out... not before forgetting the directions and having to turn around a few miles down the road to go back to the house for them. Saying goodbye to Magster one more time.. I love that little dog, who btw is getting a bath today! hehe

Anyway, on the road, stopping in Kelso to pump my own gas and stop for some Mc D's then on the road once again. The weather was nasty, rainy and bleh! There was a ton of traffic but then, in the distance, I saw it.... SEATTLE! My heart just pitter patted at the site of a real city, the space needle and yes TARGET! Can I tell you how excited I get at the thought of being able to go to Target on a regular basis?!

I kept driving, another 20 miles to Everett where my friend lives. I made it without incident to their apartment. I was expecting a 3 bedroom... turned out to be 2 bedrooms with a large walk in closet. Hardly a 3rd room for me to live in. I was also expecting a bed... oh yeah I would be sharing theirs.... (WTF?!) Yes, sharing a bed with my friend and his gf because they all sleep different hours. Excuse me, I didn't know this bed had a spinning door on it. Sorry but I don't "share" my bed with 3 other people and who knows depending on the night and if any "playmates" each of my friends had over there could be more in bed. Uhhh, excuse me?! Did I hear you correctly? Playmate? Sharing a bed? I dont' think so!

COme to find out, my friend and his gf have an "open" polyamorous relationship. For them they are both bi which means that at any given time they may each be with another female or male or both. How on earth I was expected to fit into this I have NO IDEA!!!! I mean I am an open gal and all and to each their own. Just maybe don't expect that I am cool being your playmate. I have clearly figured out that I am very monogamous. None of this being with multiple partners kinda deal for me.

That isn't even where the night got weird... They decided they wanted to take me and another of their friends to a "club". The Wet Spot, or something like that. Unbeknownst to be this wasn't a dance club, social club, cigar club, no no no... it was a straight up sex club. You pay a membership to get in, then a cover to be a part of the night. I guess it is all legal because you sign all these waivers. However as a guest I didn't sign. So I really was taken aback.

Stepping in the door way I thought it was an odd place, low key music but it was early after all, 9 pm... people would be there and better music the later it got. Then I walked around the corner of the side wall they had blacking the doorway from the rest of the club.... and wow, just WOW!

In the middle of this large room were several BDSM implements. People tied, being whipped, paddled, suspended, watching, having sex, you name it. I was in a real life porn. At first I just felt like I had stepped out of my own skin. Was this really happening? How did I get here? With everything going on in my life my mind wasn't quite functioning at normal capacity. I just found a nice chair in the corner, listened to music and tried to zone out. Being exposed to that environment is something I think I could have lived without for the rest of my life. Not that there is anything wrong with it for some people, just not for ME!

Several hours later and we got back to the apartment. Me, I tried falling asleep in a chair in the living room, since they didn't even have a sofa. I took a few sleeping pills to help me get through the night. Passed out finally on the shared bed, fully clothed. Woke up around 11 am Sunday, showered, packed my bag, threw my stuff in my car and hit the road back to TD. Not without stopping at Northgate Mall first! *sigh Ahhh, a real mall, complete with Barnes and Noble (2 stories of paper goodness), Target, and a CPK (that's California Pizza Kitchen). I had my all time fave salad BBQ Chicken Chop salad... YUMMO! Then I was on my merry way, not looking back.

If I had known more people in Seattle then I am sure I would have stayed. But the situation that I was walking into, was anything but stable, relaxing, comforting, welcoming. I am now onto the secondary back up plan which is hitting Portland. Good 'ol PDX. I love it there, I should have just played it safe the first time around and gone there. I have plenty of my awesome friends there as well as an abundance of jobs.

There is the update for my latest trauma. Stay tuned! :D

Well maybe not

I have been informed that in order to be back from hiatus that I actually need to blog. I see that i have been neglecting my blogging duties. I guess people DO read my blog after all!! So, now that the dust is finally starting to settle and I am crawling out of my cave so to speak and joining the living once again.

For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about... it goes a little something like this: for my birthday this year I was dumped. There it is for all the world to see. Things haven't been so peachy here in the magic kingdom for quite some time, but I had hopes they would work out. M just happened to be the one who had the balls to say it first. It took me a while to compose myself and figure out what my new "plan" was going to be but for now I think I finally have one.

It goes a little something like this: Seattle looks mighty fine. I've always wanted to live there, I love the weather... bring on the rain baby! Shopping, entertainment, friends, diversity, restaurants that are open past 9:00 pm on Friday and Saturday night (other than Taco Hell), Pike's Market, an airport, clubs, more than 1 movie theater, and of course there are downsides like traffic, a ton of people, I-5, sales tax, higher cost of living, etc. I am hoping that it will be the right move. I am excited, nervous, anxious, scared, happy, sad... all rolled into one.

My life is going to completely change and that is a scary thing. Change is good and we never know what we are going to get with that change. I look forward to meeting new friends although very sad to be losing the very good friends I have met in TD. I will miss them all very much. It may have taken some time to find them, but they have all made an impact in my life. Thank you friends (you know who you are)! M, I wish you the best of luck and hope you find what you are looking for.

- Peace and love :)

Then again, maybe I am back!

Back from hiatus

Yes, I took a bit of a break.a break from EVERYTHING. A lot has changed and will be changing in the upcoming month or two. While I am not going to delve into all of that now, I just had to share a kick ass link that keeps making me laugh (which I really need right now).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9dpTTpjymE

Enjoy it!

I will get a real update soon. I am just starting small. :)

-Peace!

Unwinding

With the end of tax season also comes the end of my employment. This is always a difficult week for me as I try to transition out of a normal daily work routine into the looking for work/keeping the house up and honing my photography skills routine. It is one thing to either quit/get fired/laid off/etc from a job and another when the job is a temp kinda deal. One that you dont' love yet don't completely hate. One where you love and adore the people you work with. One that each year with certainty on April 15th or 16/17th you know for a fact will come to a screeching halt. It's like one minute you are working your buns off making frantic calls to people to make sure they get their stuff into you for their taxes to be finished and the next you are waking up at 10 am, forgetting to eat anything until you nearly pass out around 2 in the afternoon, an in general just grasping for what to do next.

Today I devised a somewhat time line of what my days will be filled with until I have one of those 9-5 main stream job things again. I have my days so filled that I dont' know what I am going to do once I get said job. Between learning new photo editing software, taking photos, learning languages (French and Italian), doing the household chores, working out. Gee that all sounds so much fun! hehe :D

Enjoy some of the HDR (high dynamic range) photos that I have been playing with. Be thankful for your days and nights and the people in your life that love you and whom you love in return. In the meantime I will be keeping myself busy, or at least trying! :D

Ok, since blogger is not working properly you can't view my HDR images, you can if you go to my DA page at: http://amy-moore.deviantart.com/

Cupcakes galore

Although it is the end of another week and I have pretty much forgotten about blogging. So, here I am recounting this past weekend.

Saturday I spent most of the day baking cupcakes. First up was gingerbread cupcakes with lemon cream cheese and lemon curd centers (white frosting). Can you say.. YUMMO! Oh my goodness. Not to toot my own horn but for someone who had never made cupcakes before, these turned out to be so good. I would be happy to share the recipe if anyone wants it, just email me. :) Second the most difficult to make by far and from what I am told (seeing as I detest black licorice I refused to try these but made them at the request of others) pretty darn tasty too, were the licorice (black) with orange marshmallow and licorice frosting (blue frosting). Finally I chose to make the easiest recipe... chocolate peanut butter w/ Reese's pb cup centers and a chocolate buttercream frosting.



Can you say pooped?! That is what I was after creating all of those yummy delights. It was worth it though. I realized just how much I enjoy baking. I hope everyone enjoyed the cupcakes. Oh yeah, they were for a friend's baby shower. Let me tell ya, when Miss K sent out the call for us women to make some cupcakes, we responded! Lovely turn out and a lovely shower was thrown. Thank you for opening your house for all of us (you know who you are)! :)





So this was my final week doing taxes. I do have 3 more days left... since the 15th is on tuesday, I have to come back for a couple more days and then our kick ass end of season party. I will write more on that later. For now enjoy the pics of cupcakes! And if anyone is interested in the recipes email me. :)

-Ciao! :)

Airports, hotels, and a wedding

What a whirlwind this past weekend was! M's sister got married (FINALLY!) after being together for 10 years C & C got marries in Boise. I was the "official" photographer for the wedding. I was nervous as all get out as I have never photographed a wedding before. All things considered it went really well! The weather was great, most of the people were cooperative, the day went off without a hitch.

It all started for me last friday which went something like this: Get up at 6:30, went o work 1/2 day (until 1 pm), went home to pick up Maggie and load up the car, drive from Hillsborito to almost Gresham to drop Maggie off at my grandmother's, hussle to the airport, check in, disrobe and walk through security... I forgot my cell phone in my back pocket which nearly caused a security threat, grab a bite to eat since it was nearly 3 and I hadn't eaten since 7 am, get on my flight to Boise at 3:45, fly (only partially miserable due to my ears still having fluid on them), get into Boise and wait for someone to pick me up.. not because he forgot (uh huh sure he didn't!) got to the hotel where the women were having the bachelorette party.... Ok, so have you ever been the late one to party where everyone else is mostly drunk and you just feel out of place? That was me. All I really wanted was to have a good hot meal (not a deli sandwich.. no offense) and go to sleep. I was so tired I felt like all I had been doing was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Anywho, the ladies all wanted to go crash the guys party so on our way out of th hotel we ran into the guys and I ended up having food brought to me so I went back to the room to eat and crash.

Saturday was up early and snapping away. I had so much fun taking the pics. I never thought I could do weddings, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I learned a lot too. The reception was beautiful, the food was good, and our hosts were wonderful.



Sunday was spent mostly in the airport after having Jon's b-day breakfast at Elmer's. Long story short, M was to take the 2 o'clock flight while I was on the 6:30. His was overbooked, I volunteered him to give up his seat so he could get a free ticket, thus taking the same flight as me. It worked out well even though we spent like 5 hours at the airport. We ended up seeing C & C and the girls again and spending a little more time with them which is always great. Got into PDX around 7:15 waited almost an hour for our bags only to discover that mine had come in on the earlier 2:00 flight and his was lost. Yes, lost as in they (Alaska Airlines) had NO idea where it was. Not good. We finally left the airport had some food then parted ways.

Monday I was tired as all get out. Even tuesday I felt I was still in recovery. M finally got his bag delivered yesterday and STUPID FedEx just left it sitting on the front porch of the house! Idiot... Not like it had a fairly expensive camera sitting in it. Arg! Oh well, so all in all things ended well and we are onto another month.

I can't believe I only have 9 days of work left... YIKES! I am excited and sad all at the same time. What shall I do?!

Happy hump day all!

-Ciao! :)

Wedding pics here:


http://picasaweb.google.com/amymoore.74/Ceramony?authkey=G190nH8FhvA

http://picasaweb.google.com/amymoore.74/Wedding?authkey=p8yrnAO3JCQ

http://picasaweb.google.com/amymoore.74/Reception?authkey=Lc2s_GhSYGI

Quick update

I just realized that I haven't blogged for a while so here is a real short update:

1) Got sick with a *cold a week ago
2) went home for the weekend where said cold turned out to be the real flu
3) slept, slept, slept, ate, slept, pet the dog, slept.. you get the picture
4) came back to Hillsborito
5) work, still sick, dr
6) Bronchitis and ear infection, sweet
7) drugs, sleep, work, rinse & repeat
8) it's Friday.. YAY!
9) leaving for M's sisters wedding in Boise, ID. It is tomorrow and I am going to be the photog. Should be exciting. I am quite nervous!
10) Oh yeah, it is snowing and like the last week of March... We have SNOW... March, SNOW!!! Bleh!

So, there is the past nearly 2 weeks. Jealous, I know. Get over it! hehe :P
I fly out this afternoon for Boise, I just hope my ears can handle it, as it s they are still feeling plugged. I just hope that by the time I get back the weather has decided to get back to "normal", ie: not SNOW!

Ciao!

Hope ya'll have a good weekend. :)

How white are you?

Ok so maybe you aren't a white person at all, but this site is great. Go there and see how many of the items on the list make you a white person. :)

Well for some stupid reason the link isn't working correctly... so you will have to cut and paste... darn it all!

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/

Kitty at my foot and I wanna touch it!

So yeah, the Presidents (PUSA/Presidents of the USA) were in town last weekend. M and I went to see them. Killer show. They are so fun to see in concert. It was the second time for both of us and we had a great time. While standing in line waiting we met another couple who befriended us. After standing in like an hour, sitting inside waiting for the concert to start for an hour we exchanged numbers promising to call one another. It was so cute, kinda like meeting a guy/girl for the first time.

Saturday we took my parents to Kell's and had a great lunch. Decided not to pay the $20 to enter the tents and be around a bunch of drunks but to instead sit inside and enjoy the ambiance and being dry. :)

Sunday was the big Shamrock walk. Ok, so we kinda cheated a bit. Mom and I didn't sign up, Christy did (my aunt) and so did her friend. We (mom and myself) were just going to tag along and walk with the two of them. When we arrived at the walk to sign up, they were already out of t-shirts, even for the people who had signed up in advance. Kinda sucked. My aunt decided not to do the check in so we just started walking. Got about a mile in, saw a "finish" line of sorts and decided that must have been the end of the race. We instead decided to hit Mother's Bistro for their famous breakfast. I shared the blueberry pancakes with my mom and they were heaven! If you haven't been there before it is in downtown Portland and is a delight! Go now!

Last night went out with the boys for some Guinness and hard cider. The pub was good, service was slow as I dont' think they anticipated being as busy as they were. Was kinda disappointed to learn they were out of fish and chips after waiting nearly 2 hours to get food. Like I said though, beer and cider was great! Have you ever had a "Snakebite". Well that is what it was called anyway, 1/2 Guinness and 1/2 hard cider. YUMMMMMO! Anyway, happy late St. Patrick's Day. Hope ya had a safe one.

Tonight I get to go to Buffalo Wild Wings... can't wait! :D

A bit of this and that

I can't believe it has been over a week since I last blogged. Let's see... what has happened??

Gosh, not really much happened with the exception of my getting a new lens for my camera. It is sooo purty. The only major thing last week that happened was the opening/ reception of the art show in The Dalles that has some of my photographs in it.
link for the show:
http://picasaweb.google.com/crystalhuff/March32008TechnoArtShow?authkey=wilvk5MZB8c

the reception:http://picasaweb.google.com/crystalhuff/TechnoArtShowReception?authkey=LjmC1WquUww

and finally my work that is in the show, and for sale:

Art Show

Had a lovely relaxing weekend. We lit up the bbq for the first time this year and had some friends over for dinner, after that went out to a movie with the girls.. and one boy (won't name any names, Blair you know who you are) hehe :)
Then after we went to Denny's for a bit of chit chat and totally fattening desert. Good times! Sunday was spent eating at the pancake house (i loves it!) then renting a few movies and napping on the couch. Totally lazy but much needed. We watched "Into the Wilderness", based on a true story. If you haven't seen it.. do. It was actually directed by Sean Penn, it is thought provoking, heartfelt story of a young man who sets our to find himself. What are you waiting for.. rent it.. GO NOW! :)

Have a wonderful week adjusting to daylight savings time.. gah! I hate it! It is far too early for me to go to bed even, but I must.

Nighty night!

Tes of the day

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Dodgeball, food, and friends

Where to begin....

I arrived home in TD friday night after finally making it through Ptown rush hour traffic in a record 2 1/2 hour time. Arg! Ok so that is one of the very nice things about living in such a small town, anytime I want to go anywhere it takes all of 7 minutes max.



Anyway.... We got to bed early (as opposed to the normal friday 3 am bedtime), so that we could get up early for dodgeball. What a blast it was. The tournament was put together by the parks & rec, it was double elimination. The Goog had 2 teams representing... unfortunately neither won the whole she-bang! Speaking of she-bang, that was M's teams name. They actually did win one game but lost the following 2, thus eliminating them. It was fun having a whole cheering section for the guys and watching them play their little hearts out. I am hoping that at some point there will be a dodgeball league. Watching the guys play reminded me being in elementary school and playing prison ball.. ahh those were the carefree days.



I spent time saturday and sunday getting my photographs ready for the art show. Sunday turned out to be a disaster as I spent nearly 4 hours and many, many return trips to Fred Meyer because they had no frames to fit my freaking photos. It was soooo aggravating! Finally at the last minute Chuff pulled me out of the bind I was in providing frames for the last of my photos. They look gorgeous! The art show is in The Dalles at The Dalles Art Center beginning March 1-31. This is the first time I have had my works on public display so I am a tad nervous. I hope they go well, not to mention they will also be for sale. Yay!

That's about it for now... Ciao!

Oh, and to enjoy more pics from the dodgeball game go here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amymoore.74/DodgeBall2008?authkey=NmQMnOxKzrc

What a weekend!

So the big Hallmark holiday better known as Valentine's Day came and went..... and I barely noticed it being any other day. Why is so much pressure put on this one silly day for people to show their love to others??? Anyway, M and I went to the coast for our annual Seaside holiday.



It was a FANTASTIC weekend. The company was great, the food wonderful, and the weather even better. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Maggie and I did plenty of walking on the beach. There were a TON of people. The poor pup was soooo pooped by the end of the weekend she slept the whole way home. We did have a bit of excitement on our way back home. As we traveled through Tillamook and headed up Highway 6 I was watching all of the happy cows crazing in the fields. As we got closer to the last field there were several cars parked alongside the road. I thought they were looking at the cute cows, however as we got closer I looked and saw a huge heard of elk. There were probably 40-5o elk just wandering in the field. It was a pretty darn cool sight to see.



We got home Sunday evening and decided to go see Jumper. It was a pretty fun little flick. A lot less heavy than the previous weeks film of "No Country for Old Men". Fun effects, nice locations, and some skin made for a fun but short movie night. I also picked up my pics that are going to be in the art show at The Dalles Art Center in March. I am way nervous, never had my work on display before. I hope it goes well.

I had a nice suprise monday as M didn't work and did some chores in town, we went to lunch along with some of our HR friends. Funny thing to be having lunch in Ptown with friends from HR. Then at the end of the day someone brought me flowers at work. Now, I am not usually one to say go out and spend money on flowers that are going to die in a few days... HOWEVER... they made my day! I just love gerber daisies and the roses smelled lovely. All in all a super fantastic weekend!

Today... well today I went and got my hair cut and colored. I was thinking that I was just getting high lights, oh no.... it is much cooler than simple high lights. I have (red) more like pink highlights in dark brown hair now. It is so fun! Check it out...


That is all for now, I know I am not too terribly creative, just wanted to get an update out there.

Cheers!

Day before that Hallmark holiday

Happy hump day everyone! I love weds, it means that monday is over, friday is yet to come and most important for me it means PAYDAY!!!! WOOT! So, I have some money in my pocket or bank account rather, and bills to pay. The good news is that I will still have left overs for playing. YAY!

As for my weekend wrap up... Satruday just flew by. Did the drive to TD got in around 1 am. Went promptly to bed. Woke up to a doorbell and who should it be standing there the beautiful miss Ame around 11:00. It was photo shoot day. My very first attempt at taking photographs of a "model"/ a person posing for me. This was a bit tricky as I hadn't done it before since most of my work is landscape/cityscape and animals for the most part. The second challenge was finding a suitable place to take said pics. I think that we had quite a few good shots. I am happy with how things turned out. Of course now I can say, "oh I wish I had done "x" instead"... as they say hindsight is 20/20. I think I will have at least 3 good shots to use for the art show next month along with some new stuff I have been working on.

Later that night was a friend's surprise b-day. It was a good time. The guys played Axis and Allies while the women folk chased kids and watched "Love Actually". Ahhh, I LOVE that movie, how can you go wrong with Colin Firth and Keira Knightly??

Got to sleep in a little on sunday, went to the pancake house.. YUM, for breakfast before meeting up with a few friends for a viewing of "NO Country for Old Men." WOW! Excellent movie. Once again the Cohen Bros have made an incredibly smart, well written/acted/shot film. If you get a chance go see it. It isn't a typical Hollywood ending film and actually reminded me quite a bit of one of their other greats "Fargo". Then it was time to pack up and head into the big city again.

Looks like I have also managed to avoid the plague that has been hitting everyone in TD. Makes me glad not to be there right now! haha :P Seriously though, hope you all get better soon.

Go out and enjoy your hump day and the day before tomorrow (which will never come) Oh, and let's not forget about that damn holiday that was made up by Hallmark and the fine makers of Chocolate treats everywhere.

Be good kids!

Hump day, the beginning of Lent, and other assorted goings on

Not much to report, it is hump day as well as the first day of Lent for all of you Catholics out there. Hope ya partied hard last night since you have 40 days and nights of giving something up. Although I am not Catholic, nor religious particularly, I have been known to give up something in the past for Lent. This year I think it will be WoW. It wont' be too terribly difficult as I rarely play anymore anyways. I think it is a fun test of ones will power. Just in case I can't stay away from Wow, it has already been almost a week since I have played, maybe I can give up something else like... aw screw it I am not Catholic why should I have to give up anything! *evil grin*

On a completely different note... I have discovered deviantART.com, ohhh it is so addictive. It is an artists community for people to upload their works as well as sell them. I have listed several prints so far and am really enjoying the work of others.

http://amy-moore.deviantart.com/

I have also been playing with Gimp and trying to get some photos ready for the art show. I am going to be taking some photos this weekend of a friend to hopefully submit in the show. Aside from Gimp I have found some programs working with fractals. I am really enjoying this type of artwork and being creative.

Enjoy the rest of your week and those of you crazy enough to actually participate in Lent... GOOD LUCK!!!

Super Sunday

Ahhh yes, the Super Bowl. Beer, burgers, commercials... what could be better? Wait, a football game? Noooo, I am talking about the commercials! Let's face it who actually watches those overpaid (for the most part) grown men running around in tights catching the ol' pigskin? Not to mention the usually lackluster half time shows that they come up with for Super Bowl Sunday. Prince was pretty good last year, heck even Janet Jackson's nipple ala Justin Timberlake was better than Tom Petty. Don't get me wrong I like Tom Petty, but as a performer ya have to admit he is fairly lack luster.

All in all Super Bowl 42 was pretty darn good. The first 3 quarters weren't sooo exciting, but if you missed the last 2 minutes of the game thinking that the Pats had it wrapped up in their last TD, then boy you were in for a shock. Those Giants weren't going without a fight to the end, and that is just what happened. In an amazing drive down the field Manning led his team to a Super Bowl win. Those poor Patriots, having that perfect season doesn't seem so sweet now does it? All those wins for nuttin! I only wish that I had put some money on those Giants.

The commercials this year didn't have too much to offer. There is always the very cute Budweiser Clydesdales. This year I also really like the Dorito commercial with the human sized mouse jumping through a wall... made me laugh out loud. Did anyone else think those E trade commercials were a bit weird, especially the one where the baby burped up? Ewww gross. Let's not forget the "Jack sandwich". My mother was totally offended at that one and said she is going to write a letter to Jack in the Box about how inappropriate she thought it was. I just laughed at her "Ok mom, you do that", was the only respone I could muster up. haha :P

Whatever your guilty pleasure is I hope you enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday with friends or family, or in whatever fashion suited you.

-Ciao

Time keeps on slippin'

Wow, it is February already!!! I can't believe I have let a week go by without an update, I am sure all of you in blogger land have just been waiting with baited breath, so to speak, to hear of my exciting adventures in tax land. hahahaha I crack myself up!
Seriously, can you believe that it is February? I just have to pinch myself, where did January go?

On to the weekly update, as I have yet to be good about a daily blog.... Starting with the drive back into Hillsborito... OMG! Over the weekend there was a lot of snow and ice, especially in the HR area. Sunday morning I woke up nice and early so I could go out and buy some tire chains only to find out that Schwabs was closed. BOOO! Of all the shops in town only ONE, yes O-N-E, was open. They were nearly sold out of chains too by the time I got there at 11:00. Thankfully they had a set that would fit my vehicle. After breakfast at the Pancake House, a Sunday morning tradition, we got to the house where M helped me (ie; did all the work) put the chains on. Mind you the roads in TD were clear, but HR to Cascade Locks were required to have chains. I managed to get a couple miles down 84 before realizing I didn't need those silly chains and all hose big bad truckers passing me didn't have them either. I pulled them off quickly, jumped back in the car and off we (me and Maggie) went again.

Things were all good until just getting through HR and up the hills. Oh my! Ice and packed snow in both lanes on both sides of the freeway. I really should have left those damn chains on! 2 1/2 hours later, miles and miles of ice and snow, driving at 10-20 mph for what seemed an eternity, I finally reached the outskirts of Portland. Another 45 mins and I was safe and comfortably "home" in Hillsborito. I narrowly escaped several accidents as i went sliding from one late to another due to ice not to mention th idiots who think that just because they are in a 4x4 they are unstoppable. I vowed not to go back to TD if there was even the slightest chance of snow and or ice. I had my share thanks!

After having started my week off with that fun driving it was nice to finish the week on a quiet note. Got paid weds.. yay! Maggie is going to the vet today and getting her hair "did". Lucky dog. She is sooo shaggy right now and can barely see out through the fur. She is still th cutest doggles EVER though!

I think I might have to catch a flick this weekend or go to Powells or both even! Oh and isn't there some sort of football game this weekend? Whatever your plans are, stay safe and have fun!

-Ciao!

Blog test for the day

I was just reading an article on a family who has 6, yes SIX, naturally born children who are ALL moderately to severely autistic. Could you imagine? One or two, but every one of their six kids is autistic. Wow, what are the chances of that. In the article they say that the marriage was nearly torn apart.. gee ya think? Like whoa...

But then again maybe I am the f*ed up one, especially with an I.Q. score like this:

Your IQ Is 115

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Can you do better?

ARG!!!!

Ok, so I meant to post this yesterday, but was far too busy and now I am not quite as upset nonetheless I am very irritated.

Why you may ask? I shall tell you! Weds evening I was all set to play in my weds game. For those of you who dont' know it, I am a GEEK, a gamer geek. I play a weekly D&D game. Yeah, I said it get over it, it's FUN! Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, my game... since moving to P-town I have to play via web cam since the game is in TD. I have my camera all set up and finally working, FINALLY got the mic figured out. For some stupid freakin' reason it keeps getting set to mute and other random settings get changed. (Another annoyance that set the mood) I was fully connected and had all my stuff togeher, I could see the rest of the group, and just as the game started.... BAM! My comp shut down. Mind you this had been coming for a while now, I knew that something was wrong, but was assured by a certain individual that it was most likely something that me the user had done to the system to make it so laggy and non responsive. Well, when the system died and started making very loud noises, I knew I was not to blame as we had this prob when the comp had been built.... it overheated. ARG! For whatever reason it worked just "fine" for nearly a year and now it dies.

Great, just great, now what do I do? Hmmmm, well I can't edit pics on gimp, surf the net, chat with friends, NOTHING online. Ok, I will watch tv. Oh wait.... no I won't. Not because I don't have a fabulous big ass screen tv to watch, however I only have ONE FREAKING CHANNEL TO WATCH! Yeah yeah, it isn't the end of the world, there are starving kids in africa who dont' even have clean water and I am bitching thatmy comp died and that I only have 1 tv station to watch. Did I mention that the program on that SINGLE channel was.. oh lord this hurts... American Idol. Freaking shoot me NOW!!!! Yeah, and then what was on after that you may ask... the STUPIDEST game show to ever be on tv... EVER... it is something like 21 questions but with a lie detector test. Yeah, I watched it. What choice did I have? It's not like I was going to solve that dirty water and no food problem in Africa sheesh, who do you think I am???

I am a glutenous American who can't live without my iPod, computer/internet, 465 cable channels, PSP, PS3, Xbox, iTunes, and whatever else the marketing people tell me I need to be entertained with. Heaven forbid I actually read a book (hmmm), go for a walk (hell no, not when it is like 20 degrees out!), work out (not a member of a gym here yet), basically entertain myself for a few short hours. Instead I get pissed. I was sooooo angry I could have just burst. Then to top it off the dang dog wouldn't leave me alone. That damned red ball of hers... and she kept getting it stuck in places so I would have to get up and get it. I know she does that on purpose. Honestly, she does. I will be sitting in a chair and she will run up to me, instead of putting the ball in my hand, she "throws" it under the desk/ table/ chair/ coffee table or wherever else is inconvenient.

There you have it, the end of my week and my pet peeves for what set me off this week. I do have to say though, yes I am alive and thankful for that. I am also going out to dinner tonight at Montage one of my FAVE places in P-town for food and adult beverages. They have the BEST mac n'cheese. Yay, TGIF!!!

Nothing much really

*Yawn*

I was told yesterday by a friend that I need to update my blog. This is someone who I didn't even think read it! So, I guess I should do a quick update, even though not much is going on.

I am in my 3rd week in P-town and having a great time. Last week I was quite busy visiting friends, going out to dinner, going to the eye dr., and of course working. The work is mindless admin work, nothing too exciting. The people I work for though are exceptional and I love em... sooo much different than my previous employer.

After driving back to P-town from a not so bad weekend, I met up with K and we finally got my new bed. Yippeee! Ok, so it is a twin, but it is quite comfy. It took some getting used to, as in not falling out, for a couple of nights but I am getting used to it.

On a sad note, Heath Ledger was found dead yesterday in his NYC apartment. At this point all signs point to suicide/drug od. Such a sad day. He really was a growing actor and not just a "movie star". I loved him in A Knight's Tale and Brokeback. RIP Heath....

Sleep is good

Ahhh, the first week back to work is under my belt. Things are starting to come back to me. It is good. I am finally starting to settle into the house. All those new noises, smells, and Maggie pointing them out to me. Darn dogggles... scares me half to death when she hears something in the middle of the night and starts to growl. Things are looking up though as my boss has a bed for me that they are willing to give me for free. Yay! No more airless mattress!!!

It was a return of the "get home friday night/saturday morning at 2 a.m., sleep until noon Saturday, eat 1 meal, stay up far too late saturday night, then try to get up "early" sunday, have breakfast sunday before 2, then head back to Ptown. There is something I have to do so I don't feel like I am wasting so much time sleeping, goodness!

Saturday was actually kind of a day for miscommunication that ended up being a fun evening. We were going to play board games with friends who ended up going to a Chamber of commerce free meal kinda thing which didn't get over until pretty late. The no communication came on my part for not calling B & Y to tell them we weren't going to play. Well when we got home from pizza they were at the house waiting for us. I felt awful. Things actually turned out just fine and dandy as we played Settlers of Catan which I again failed to win at. Oh well, there will be other chances! I will dominate the world yet! hahaha :)

All in all it was a nice relaxing weekend, and I am back to work today. I always feel so bad in the morning when I leave for work. Maggie just looks at me with those cute brown eyes as she curls into her bed and looks sooo sad.

Off to answer phones....

1 day down....

Ahhh, the working life. I have completed my first day back at work after my short term "early retirement plan" and it was so nice getting back out there. I can't say enough how nice it is to work somewhere that you are truly wanted, where you walk in and everyone is happy to see you and relieved to have you around. It makes life so much nicer having an employer, friends, loved ones in your life who appreciate you. It took all day, but I finally got back into the swing of things. This is my 3rd season working for the CPA. I have really come to not hate tax season, it gives me a job! Yay!

I have to say though that my day started out pretty rough. I got settled into my new diggs Sunday evening. Felt I was coming down with a cold, oh joy. Tried to go to bed around 9 since I was feeling so icky. Well the air mattress, or the airless mattress as I call it, did not provide for a super nights rest. Aside from all of the different noises, not having any legal drugs to enhance my drowsiness, my mind was completely restless and I had like 3 hours sleep max. Right now I am not really sure what is keeping me awake other than the episode of LA Ink that I am watching.

Here I am with 1 day down and many more to come. Here is my little reminder to those who read my blog... GET YOUR TAX INFO READY!

-Peace all!