Another Year!

I can't believe it has been a year already! You can see what a slacker I have become in the wonderful world of blogging. It is so nice to have this as a resource though, a sort of online journal/diary. I think about 2 months back I sat down and read all of my posts from last year. It is amazing the experiences that we seem to forget. Everything in our life seems so important as it is happening and then so trivial when we look back on it sometimes. I think of all the little fights I had with people or those that have come in and out of my life, that although were important at the time are a just a blip on the radar of life.

Well, since it has been a year with no word from me, I will attempt to catch up on all that has been missed since the beginning of 2010...

I started off the year as an intern with the Portland Winterhawks. I absolutely loved working with a hockey team (and still do). It was such a great experience for me and got my feet wet in the world of sports.

We quit smoking February 9th of 2010. There have been a few bumps a long the way, but it has been the best decision that we could ever have made for ourselves and our future.

I was trained as a supervisor in the restaurant. I've been trying to increase my skills and move up the working ladder, so I felt that this would improve my resume.

I took on an internship over the summer at PGE park and did promotions for the Portland Beavers and Timbers. This was by far one of the best and most educational experiences I have had. I learned so much over the summer that I can not even begin to put it on paper. This only solidified my determination to work in the sports industry. I do think that it only deterred Morgan from wanting me to work in the sports industry, given the long hours and no weekends off, but I loved it. This was definitely a trying experience as I worked almost 70 hours a week sometimes, but it was worth every minute.

While I was bound and determined to make it to Vegas for 311 day this year, that did not happen. Instead I chose to save up my money and take a great trip with my mom! We spent a lot of time mulling over our many vacation possibilities...there are so many. We eventually settled on Mexico, since we could fly there on Alaska, but the next decision was where in Mexico. Given the current situation and threat on tourists in Mexico we did a lot of research to find the safest place to go. After talking to some friends we settled on LaPaz. We chose to fly in to Cabo San Lucas (since my mom wanted to go there), stay one night there, rent a car and drive to LaPaz, then spend a majority of our time there. We returned to Cabo for our last 2 nights. The drive and everything about Mexico was beautiful. The trip was amazing! I made friends wherever I went and we had some great experiences. As you can see in the picture, I tried guacamole for the first time! I also got to go fishing and caught a lot of good fish we we had cooked up for us at the local restaurant. We stopped at Cabo Wabo and took a dinner cruise on our last night. The trip was amazing and made me want to go back again, we started planning our next trip before we left, but alas, Vegas got in the way (more about that soon).

So, one thing that I have been waiting for "forever" is for someone to come and visit me, and my wish finally came true. My best friend Emily and her sister Laura came all the way out from

Missouri, to visit little old me! We had the best time possible. I gave them, what I hope was a good tour of Portland, and I got to see a lot of things in the area that I have never gotten to see or experience before. So to list some of the things we did: saw a movie at Living Room Theaters, drove to the coast, stopped at Nehalem Bay winery, took a tour of the Tillamook Cheese factory, hiked Multnomah Falls, went to Portland City Grill, and ended at Bartini. This was a 3 day event that was jam packed full of good friend, good food, and fun experiences.

So another year, another pool trip to Vegas! This year Morgan was on my team though, so we both got to enjoy a trip together for once. It was a LONG trip, to say the least. The team lasted a couple of days, but we had too much time left over at the end to cause trouble. Although I don't know if "cause" is the right word, as it more found us than anything. I am a known trouble maker, but in this case it was other people that made the trouble. Unfortunately on our celebratory night out with another Oregon team Morgan got mugged. This was with 3 more days left on our trip and really ruined our whole experience for us. You always think that these things will never happen to you, but they can happen to anyone, and especially in Vegas, it is NOT a safe town. We managed to make the best of our situation and still enjoyed what was left of our time. We had a wonderful dinner at Gallagher's in NYNY and got to see the Sirens at TI and the volcano at the Mirage. Up until that point I had enjoyed the Toby Keith bar, the outside bar at Harrah's (where we stayed), got to see some of Old Town, and explored up and down the strip. So minus the unfortunate attack, the rest of the trip was fun. I am now on a new pool team, so I don't know that I will make it another year, but I think 3 years in a row is pretty darn good if you ask me.

We finally made the move this year and got a new and bigger place. We decided to do this right before Vegas around Morgan's birthday, which made our life a living hell for about a week, but was totally worth it. The new place is about 300 sq. ft. bigger and has a second bathroom as well as a washer and dryer. We are loving the new place and the extra space. It also has all the amenities we always wanted, indoor/outdoor pool, racquetball court, fitness center. Love it!

Somewhere over the past year Morgan got a new job! This was a blessing and was what really encouraged us to move in to a bigger and better place. He is now doing technical support for a software company and loves it. It is through a temp agency, but seems to be very stable, as they have temp employees that have been there for a couple years.

So that is a snapshot of the year thus far...the most recent news to follow.