blizzard!!

So the weather here in Portland has been insane! The snow won't stop, I thouhgt after saturdays storm and getting 10 inches of snow was enough. But no, it's still going strong. The buses are all jacked up in the timing and since I take the 1st bus to work for both the line 9 and 19 I end up waiting 45 minutes at each stop. It sucks hardcore! It took me 2 hrs! Yes 2 hrs., to get to work yesterday and after 40 minuets of waiting this morning I got fed up and called my boss, I told him if he wants me there at work to pick me up on the way in, since he has chains. I hate starting late, it makes my shift run into the production persons shift and the back of house gets so chaotic! Vince and I are still hoping we can make it down to Southern California, the only parts we might have issues with is going through the pass in Souther Oregon. We hope to be able to make it out of our drive way sometime this week so we can go to Les Schwab and get chains before we head down.

This is our balcony off our livingroom, Minnie was sooo intrigued by the snow. This was taken Saturday and since then there has been about 4-5 more inches added to this snow bed.

We went out Saturday night to check out the storm. While we were outside we found a kitty freezing under Vince's truck. We couldn't leave the poor kitty outside so we brought it in. He/she was meowing sooo much. We can't take him to the humane society yet since we're snowed in but I'm hoping once we do the cat has a micro-chip. I would love to keep it but he's obviously someones kitty, he smells like perfume or room freshener, like he has been living inside. That an Minnie would forever hate us if we brought in another cat, lol.

My snow angel. The snow was so much different when I was a kid. I loved it, we used to go sledding all the time! Now I'm sooo over it. It was fun and pretty the first day we got like 4-5 inches, and maybe living in a city thats used to this much snow it wouldn't be such a hassle but for now I'm not a huge fan of it.

The next few are from Saturday as well, I took a walk around the neighborhood taking random snow day pictures.

We want to check these places out, they are just down the street on Gladstone but we have yet to do so. Maybe in the next couple days we will go shoot some pool at Ship Ahoy and check it out. There really isn't a while lot more to do right nowsince we can't drive anywhere...

This picture is for Caden, it's kind of blurry but I was trying to take it quickly and trying not to miss it.

Burrrrr!

Gladstone and 28th Pl., I love this tree, it's so pretty.

Down on 28th pl. near Gladstone, covered garden beds... Poor frozen cabbage.

I love my boots! They are taking a beating in the snow, but they are my only shoes that keep my feet warm and dry =)

Walking down my street. The streets are kind of creepy, they remind me of 3o Days of Night, in the early morning and past 430pm when it's dark. Early in the mornings there is hardly any cars on the roads and no one else to been seen outside. By now you can no longer tell where the sidewalks are so anyone who is out walks the streets since the snow is more compacted and easier to walk on.

The bushes to the right of Vince's truck are now covered in snow, except for the very tips of them.

Snow Day!

Woohoo we had our first snow fall this year. Today we are supposed to get 4-5'' of snow. I guess this year it will be the coldest in Portland since 1990!! Charlie was a little unsure what to think of all this "white stuff" but he quickly learned it was safe to walk on. Here are a few pictures from this morning, Vince and I plan to take Charlie on a walk later in the snow so maybe I'll get some more.

My mini snowman I made while I was at work. His nose was a sliver of carrot and his eyes were carraway seeds =)

Riverside!

Oh yeah I'm comming to Riverside!! Vince and I (and Charlie) are taking a rode trip, we will be stopping in San Francisco one night and have a little mini vacation of our own and then will continue our trip down to SoCal. We will be in Riverside/Ontario Dec. 29- Jan. 2nd. Then on the 3rd we will head back up to Portland making 1 stop in either Chico or Sacto. Man I'm so freakin' happy, I can't wait to go dancing at the BI or Stampede with Jenny!

Man, I love this place. Seriously this is like my dream property, the horses make me so happy. I'm really going to like volunteering on Fridays. For most of the day there are no classes, not up until 4pm. I volunteer 9:30-3:30, we start our day out by turning out the 27 horses in 15 pastures from there we work on various barn tasks and exercising the lower ridden horses. On my first day Lucky barged past me as I was turning him out. He was testing me, lol, I figured a few of the horses would. He ended up just running into the next pasture and was eventually moved into the correct pasture after running off some spunky energy. I haven't learned all the horses names yet but here are a few.



This is Rhubarb, I love his blue eye.

I think this one is Twister.

And this would be Lucky, yep the one who shoved me aside. His freckles are so cute!

Aww, Lad he's pretty dang cute too!

Ahhh. =)

Forward Stride

I'm so excited, tomorrow I begin volunteering at Forward Stride. On Fridays they don't have many classes so I will actually be able to work directly with the horses a lot more, yay! It starts out at 930am and we begin turning out the horses in the pasture after their morning feeding. Then from there we work around the barn, cleaning stalls, doing maintenance, exercises horses, and various other farm tasks. This is exactly what I've been looking for. I will be volunteering every Friday 930am-4pm.

I love the words

I rocked myself

The other night I had a pretty rough accident in the house. I had taken Vince's house key Thursday since I had misplaced mine and was running late for the bus. When he got home he knocked to have me let him in. I went running down the stairs since it was raining out, but apparently I was going far too fast and flew off the 3rd to the bottom step. I slammed into the front door and fell to the ground on my left hip. Vince was so worried on the other side of the door, he was yelling to make sure I was ok, it was hard for me to respond between crying and gasping for air from having the wind partially knocked out of me. I managed to scoot myself over and unlock the door for Vince. When he came in he quickly made sure I was ok and helped me up. I felt fine after a little bit.
I felt fine until the next morning I should say. SO how in the fall I managed to rock my ribs pretty freakin' good, I was so sore. I messed up my lower back pretty bad. I need to make it into Kaiser but I have been procrastinating knoing it will be a hassle to try and get seen soon and I also don't want to deal with urgent care.

Unfortunately I really can't get anytime off work. Carrie recently was told by her dr. to stay off work for 3 weeks due to inflamed tendons in her arms and wrists. I have been working 6 days a week plus a double shift on Tuesdays. Without Carrie or myself there is no one to do the bread shifts.

I am so looking forward to my massage coming up this Saturday... Yep, Vince is taking us to get a couples massage for my Birthday at Aqua Terra(http://www.portlandcouplesmassage.com/) this Saturday afternoon. Then we're headed to dinner somewhere, we haven't decided where yet but I think we might go with the Brazil Grill. And then that night we are going to see Louis C.K. Today Vince also treated me to bday shopping, I got 2 pairs of amazing jeans (seriously I've never had a better fiiting pair!) and a super nice jacket. I know a jacket might sound boring to some but it was like the number 1 thing I've been needing. I never got myself a nice winter weather resistant jacket last year and I really didn't want to go through another winter trying to stay warm in sweatshirts (they just dont cut it in wind and rain, lol). It will totally come in handy walking to the bus stop at 5am for the next 6 months =)

I love the smell of horse in the morning

I did my training with Forward Stride (http://www.forwardstride.org/) today, so now I can officially become a volunteer. I'm so excited!! I've been looking for something to get me back on a farm and I'm happy I've found such an awesome facility. Forward Stride is a nationally accredited therapeutic equine center.

I have decided to volunteer every Friday. I'm not quite sure what my jobs will be yet, but I've gone to the training and have signed up for horse leads, side walker, horse care, marketing and pr, and office work. It's so great to be around people who are so passionate about similar things. Like one girl said today, "I miss smelling like horses."
Man, I've said that so many times, and I always get odd stares. I don't know what it is abut horses, or livestock in genral, but I love it. It's me...

Wet Leaves

Today I learned that wet soggy leaves are incredibly easy to slip. I didn't just find out once today, I found out twice. My street is on an incline and lined with trees. It's been raining for the past three days and both on my walk to the bus stop this morning for work, and then back home I ate it. Neither fall was too bad, but I think I might go out there later today and rake the sidewalk. My butt is sore and my ego is bruised, lol.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday!

To my Cali peeps

To my California peeps, please get out and vote no on Prop 8 this Tuesday. I don't live in California anymore and have already done my voting here in Oregon but I am very much opposed to Prop 8. It makes me sick to think the right to marry could be taken away from so many couples. I dont' see how Prop 8 "Protects Marriage", I don't understand why people would vote to eliminate the civil liberties of someone who is gay. So please Vote NO on 8. Voting no on 8 doesn't mean you are a supporter of same sex marriage it just means you support freedom and you are against discrimination.

Fiction: Prop 8 doesn’t discriminate against gay people.

Fact: Prop 8 is simple: it eliminates the rights for same-sex couples to marry. Prop 8 would deny equal protections and write discrimination against one group of people—lesbian and gay people—into our state constitution.

Fiction: Teaching children about same-sex marriage will happen here unless we pass Prop 8.

Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education. And no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it.California’s top educators including Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell and California Teachers all agree: Prop 8 has nothing to do with education.

Fiction: Churches could lose their tax-exemption status.

Fact: The court decision regarding marriage specifically says “no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs.”

Fiction: A Massachusetts case about a parent’s objection to the school curriculum will happen here.

Fact: California gives parents an absolute right to remove their kids and opt-out of teaching on health and family instruction they don’t agree with. The opponents know that California law already covers this and Prop 8 won’t affect it, so they bring up an irrelevant case in Massachusetts.

Fiction: Four Activist Judges in San Francisco…

Fact: Prop 8 is about eliminating a fundamental right. Judges didn’t grant the right, the constitution guarantees the right. Proponents of Prop 8 use an outdated and stale argument that judges aren’t supposed to protect rights and freedoms. Prop 8 is about whether Californians are willing to amend the constitution for the sole purpose of eliminating a fundamental right for one group of citizens.

Fiction: If Prop 8 isn’t passed, people can be sued over personal beliefs.

Fact: California’s laws already prohibit discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. This has nothing to do with marriage.

Fiction: Pepperdine University supports the Yes on 8 campaign.

Fact: The University has publicly disassociated itself from Professor Richard Peterson of Pepperdine University, who is featured in the ad, and has asked to not be identified in the Yes on 8 advertisements.

Fiction: Unless Prop 8 passes, California parents won’t have the right to object to what their children are taught in school.

Fact: California law clearly gives parents and guardians broad authority to remove their children from any health instruction if it conflicts with their religious beliefs or moral convictions

http://www.noonprop8.com

Updates

Wow, it's been awhile since I've blogged. Well fall is here it's cold, chilly, cloudy and wet. The leaves are gorgeous, the sun actually peaks out every now and then, and its actually not that wet compared to what it will be next month.

I had my first doctors appt. with Kaiser earlier this month, I'm all good. I was reffered to the mental health department to talk with someone about my anxieties/depression. I had my first visit with a therapist 2 weeks ago. I didn't like her all that much, she was too soft and almost spoke to me as if I were 10. I'm sure she meant well but I wasn't comfortable with her. I have been meaning to call Kaiser to get another therapist, hopefully a male since I prefer male doctors, but I just haven't been on top of it.

My birthday is in a couple weeks and I would really like to come back home for a week to spend it with family and friends but I don't think it will happen. Unfortunately money is tight for me and as much as I would love to see everyone it looks like it will have to wait. I told Vince I want to go line dancing at Dukes for my bday, but he isn't much of a dancer so I doubt we will go (if I was back home, I'd be at the BI dancing the night away with friends!).

Work is going alright, its killing my back though. The owner is loving the new things I'm adding to the menu and I'm happy to see my pastries sell out. My boss really has no backbone and wants to be friends with everyone. I'm all for having a nice boss, however we need structure especially the front of house. The biggest problem there is tardieness, oh it bugs me! 90% of the employees there show up late daily, and not 5 minutes late we're talking 15+ some people are even 30+ minutes late.

I really miss everyone back home, I've been thinking of moving back home. Unfortunatley I would be solo. Vince and I have talked and he doesn't see himself moving back anytime soon if ever, I see myself back with in the next year. Sigh.. that leaves me in a pickle.

Last night we went out to Sauvie Island to go through one of the haunted corn mazes with some friends. It was pretty fun, muddy though. I haven't made any plans for Halloween yet, I would like to go to Dukes Halloween party (but once again Vince isn't really into the whole country music and line dancing). I was supposed to have my normal Fri/Sat off and was really looking forward to it but it's Carries 1st anniversary so I gave it up so she could go off for the weekend with her hubby.

I had my first customer yesterday!! I let Vince take a cheesecake to work about a month ago and a lady from his work asked if she could order 3 from me. She picked them up last night and if I do say so myself they looked amazing! I'm planning on looking into getting business cards soon and a stamp so I can stamp all my cake boxes.

Well I'm off to get ready, today is the fall WCI graduation and I have a few old classmates that will be there. Take care, love ya all!

I eat Palin for breakfast!!

Voodoo Doughnuts are awesome! Vince's fave is the maple bacon bar, and I typically go for the old dirty bastard but couldn't pass on the opportunity to have Palin for breakfast

The New Kid

So after seeing Minnie miss Charlie so much we figured we would go pick her out a buddy from the Humane Society today to keep her company when Charlie goes to the park or on walks. Neither Char or Minnie have met our new kitty, right now he is in the spare room just getting used to the new smells and sounds. His name is Shadow Monkey (he came with it, just like Minnie) , but I'll probably shorten it to just Monkey, or Monk. He is 2 years old and was brought in as a stray, but was obviously someones pet before that. He is very lovey, he was in a room with about 10 other cats at the H.S. so we know he gets along with other cat. We are just unsure in our cat will actually like him and if he will like the dog. Anyways, here he is =)

The kids

These two are the best of buddies, they are so cute together. Today we took Charlie to the dog park and Moo (Minnie) waited for him right by the front door till we got back. Once we came through the door she eagerly greeted him, wrapping her paws around his neck.

Vince's Parents

Vinny's parents come for a visit next week, they arrive on Tuesday and I think they are staying for 2 week. The visit makes me very happy, it's been over a year since either of us have seen them. We don't have any plans as of yet, other then enjoying time well spent. I know at some point they will be spending some time in southern Oregon looking at houses in the area they are thinking of moving to, but I think this will be done on their way home.

Hopefully Vince will install the camera software back into the computer soon so I can upload pictures from both my family's recent visit and from Vince's family's coming visit. He's been meaning to since we moved to the new place, lol, we'll see when it happens =)

Promoted

Heck yes!! Collin asked if I wanted the position as lead baker yesterday. I was so excited!! I get to choose my days off (fri/sat or sun mon), I work 5 day blocks all beginning at 530am, yep no more 130am shifts!! I mean 530 is still pretty early but there will be no more 530 one day 130 the next, up and down type crap. Hooray! My body can now finally get used to normal-ish routine.

Better then this news though, Kevin is leaving!! I'm glad he found something that better suits him, he was becoming such a mean and negative person towards me and it was really beginning to wear on me and was also causing me a lot of anxiety the nights before I was going to work overlapping shifts with him.

Kinda creepy

So I keep having this recurring image/thought in my head of me a work and getting my arm stuck or cut off in the 60qt mixer. I have this thought like 2-3 times a day on average and it totally creeps me out. Back when I was just starting out there I got my wrist pinched under the hook when it rocked back as I reached in, but I don't know why I'm having these thoughts about getting caught in the mixer now.

Enjoy the Fair

I hope you all back home go out sometime in the next 2 weeks and enjoy the L.A. County fair. Vince and I went to the Oregon State fair last weekend and compared to the L.A. Co. fair it was kind of a let down. Jenny wanted me to try and make it out for visit during the fair but unfortunately I'm still job hunting so I just didn't have the money. I wish I could have, I always have a blast at the L.A. Co. fair, especially back in my showing days =)



The one thing that I did enjoy at the state fair was walking through the barns. Vince even patiently sat with me while I watched a few of the sheep judging classes. I miss being around livestock, especially my "ear less" lamancha goats and market lambs. I've been thinking about applying to volunteer for a 4H group. Unfortunately I recently found out Multnomah County doesn't have a 4H chapter, I would have to make it over to Washington Co. which meets in Beaverton. I

Sparkle and I in shomanship at the Norco Fair

J.J., Marina, Myself, and Nikki showing in Chapter Market lamp group at the Indio Fair

Letti and I, Showmanship at the Norco Fair

Chomper the day I bought him, he came home with me till I was able to take him to the farm.

Lolcats you always make me laugh! (loldogs too)

I could read through the lolcat and dog pictures all day. I love the "twelvity-five" in this first picture. Minnie gets this same face when she doesn't approve of something, we call it her shitteh kitteh face.