Memorial Day Weekend

I apologize to my few faithful readers that I made you wait so long for a new post.

As one put it, 'Where's the new stuff? 'Grass' is getting boring.'

Moral of the story: I will try to be better.

For Memorial Day, I was lucky to have the weekend off. When I realized this, I was very excited to be able to go to Packwood to their bi-annual 'flea-market.' I don't honestly know that this is what it's called, but that's what it is to me. For Memorial Day and Labor Day, the streets of Packwood are filled with endless booths full of basically: junk. It's pretty much like a giant yard sale, filled with treasures that you sometimes really have to look hard to find. But once you do, you end up getting a great deal!

The rankings of my top favorite booths this year?

The $1 T-shirt booth. This is, and always will be, my favorite. Lined on the tables are piles and piles of T-shirts. All for $1. They are all T-shirts for events that you've never heard of, but that's what makes it all the better. For example, ranking highest on my favorite shirt this year is a 'Rib Feast' T-shirt. Where this rib feast occured, I have no idea, but I wear a shirt supporting it.

They make for great workout, work around the house, or just lounge around in T-shirts. All for only $1.

Also ranking high on my list this year was the book booth, as I have really been into reading lately, and the $5 DVD's.

So to get to this great event, we left Thursday afternoon. Our friends, Tommy and Terra's parents have a campsite near Packwood, so we began our adventures there.

And let me say, we had an amazing time.

It was the first time I slept in a tent, and although it poured down rain on us the entire weekend, I absolutely loved it!




It is only while camping that you can sit around in your pajamas all day, do absolutely nothing, and eat massive amounts of food while working none of it off throughout the day.

And that's exactly what I did all weekend.

It was a great break from reality, and we had a blast.






On Saturday night, we ventured over to my grandparent's cabin on Rimrock Lake. The weekend adventures carried on, and we continued to have a blast eating even more food, playing millions of card games, reading by the fire, and relaxing in general.

Grass

Before:


After:

On Friday morning, this large truck pulled up in front of our house:


So that this man:


Could unload 5 1/2 of these:


We worked hard all day long, to change our yard from looking like this:


To this:


As you can see, there is still quite a bit of work to do: one of those being cutting those edges. But regardless, the grass is in, and I'm happy to have a back yard!

Happy Birthday to Me

Last week I celebrated my 23rd birthday.

Wow, I'm getting old.

It's kind of interesting to think about where I thought I would be at 23 when I was young.

You know, that 'dream world' that every little girl has.

In my 'dream world,' when I was 23, I was married, living in a huge house, and had a perfect little baby. I always thought I would be a really young mom: I'm not sure why, really, but I always just assumed that.

I didn't realize how fast 23 would creep up on me; however, and I'm not really even close to that part yet.

I've almost got the married part down; I've got the house thing under control (although it's not huge, it's perfect for now), and as for the perfect little baby: well, that will come with time.

Anyway, my birthday this year was somewhat uneventful, but we had a good time.






Friday night, we celebrated by going out to dinner. I am extremely lucky to have so much family close to us to be able to celebrate with!

Sprinklers

I love my house.

I love living in my house.

I love that I don't have to worry about how loud the TV is, because I don't want to wake the people above us.

I love that I have a garage door opener, that opens the door to my very own garage.

I love that we spent 45 minutes talking with our neighbor, and the fact that we even have neighbors that we can talk with about things like yard work.

All of this is what I consider the 'joys of being a homeowner.'

I have discovered; however, one small glitch. It's amazing how the 'to do' list never gets smaller when living in a house.

It only keeps growing.

Lately, that 'to do' list keeps growing when it comes to our back yard. You see, because we bought a new house, the back yard does not come included.

Currently, I like to call it 'my own little pile of dirt.'

We made a vow that we are just going to get it all done and overwith in the beginning. Sure it's going to be spendy, and involve a lot of work, but if we don't get it done now, it probably won't get done for many years to come.

Yes, I'll admit, we aren't super 'project oriented' people. I'm trying to get better, because like I said: that list is only going to get bigger.

So to help achieve this goal, for the last week, Joel and Tommy have been hard at work with the first step of our yard.

They have been working hard, and after numberous trips to Lowes, countless hours digging, and one trench-digger, we rinally have the end result: sprinklers. Right now they just water my pile of dirt, but soon they will water the next step: the grass.

Stay tuned. . .

Mixed Opinions

Sometimes I find it very entertaining to see the way people express their opinions about different things.

Cutting my hair has been one of those situations to see this in its prime. Since I have cut it (which was well over a few months ago) I have, and am still getting, very mixed opinions on the matter.

Generally, the census seems to be that people really like it.

For a while, and even still occasionally, I get comments from random people about how much they like it.

I would get comments at the grocery store.

At work.

And even in the Toyota Center bathroom.

This is in addition to multiple people I do know telling me how they like it.

I appreciate these positive comments.

Then you have the people that respond to the change with, "oh wow, you cut your hair."

What does that really mean, anyway? It's not like they are telling me something I didn't know: afterall, I was there when it happened.

Then there are the people that are obviously not such big fans.

Take the patient at work the other night, for example, who stopped all conversation and started laughing every time I walked into the room.

How do I know she was laughing at my hair, you ask?

Well, the comment made by her significant other of "I really love your hair" seemed about as sarcastic as I've heard them.

Or take the small boy who was walking by with his parents, and screamed "that lady has weird hair!" As his parents were quickly hushing him, I couldn't help but laugh.

Afterall, to a small boy, perhaps I do resemble something like a porcupine.

But regardless, it doesn't really matter to me. I love my hair.

I appreciate the positive comments, and just have to laugh at the negative ones.

Afterall, everyone is going to have their own opinion, right?

Rainy Days

Normally, I'm not a big fan of rainy days. I enjoy cloudy days, but when I have things to do and errands to run, the rain seems to just be in the way.

When I have a day when I need to sleep; however, I couldn't ask for anything more perfect than this.

You see, the one (and really only) downfall I have found to working at night is having to sleep through a beautiful, sunny day. With the days starting to get nicer and nicer, I am finding it harder and harder to sleep through them. I want to be awake: to be doing things that are productive and fun. As a result, I have been finding myself sleeping less and less, and I end up being more tired in the long run.

But when I come across a day like this, where all I want to do is curl up in bed anyway, it is perfect.

So today, I will actually enjoy this dreary, rainy day.

Afterall, a little rain is good for everyone, right?

Let The Party Begin!

June is going to be a busy month in our house. Spring is quickly blooming, and so are all of the activities that come with it.

Many of my friends seem to be getting married or having babies this year: it must be a good year for change.

Because of this, I've found myself in quite the 'planning' mode the last couple of weeks.

You see, I love throwing parties for people. I haven't thrown many: mainly because there wasn't much room in our apartment for more than 5 or 6 people to sit comfortably. Now that we have a house; however, I have much more space to be able to throw all sorts of parties: something I was quite excited about when we moved in. I plan to take full advantage of this, and vowed to make a point of having people over as frequently as possible.

It only makes sense to start now. I currently am planning for a wedding shower, a baby shower, and a housewarming party. Not to mention my own wedding that keeps managing to get closer and closer.

So during the past few weeks I have found myself in the world of making invitations, choosing menus, buying decorations, and getting my house ready for the events to come.

Sure I have a ton left to do: the list never seems to get any smaller. But I am loving every single minute of it. I don't mind feeling stressed if it is, what I consider, 'fun' stress. I like to stay busy.

And this is about as fun as it gets.

So for the next however many weeks, you will find me cutting and pasting, attempting to cook, and trying to get rid of the boxes I still have left. And yes, I will be enjoying every minute of it.