Finland I'm here!

By the time this posts, I will be getting off the plane in Helsinki attempting to find my family. Here are pretty pictures I stole from my sister's Facebook album.

Things I'm looking forward to:

• Meeting Cami's friends.
• Never seeing the sun set.
• Visiting a country I've never been to.
• Saunas? (Debatable on the looking forward to part.)
• Seeing my family.
• Enjoying the beautiful countryside.

Stay tuned for pictures and updates!

BIRTHDAY!

And today is my birthday! And the only thing I really wanted* for my birthday today is currently being attended to:

That's right folks, my air conditioning is getting fixed. Finally. I will no longer be mooching off the basement gals by sleeping in their beds when they are out of town.

*well the only easily attained thing I wanted...there are lots of other things I want for my birthday:

1. A job I love.
2. Probably a boyfriend. Or maybe a really really great first date that turns into a second and third and forth...
3. Unlimited shopping budget to Anthropologie and other fun shopping stores.
4. Six weeks (or maybe months) of vacation a year. 

But I did take a picture of myself for Facebook with the awesome crown I will probably be wearing tonight.

Yes it's foam.

50th Anniversary

I love ice cream. 

So when they told us there would be free ice cream brought by Ben and Jerry's today, I was SOO there. Then when Jerry got on the loud speaker and announced to the entire agency in a really awkwardly awesome way that it was FREE and how could anyone pass up FREE Ben and Jerry's, I laughed out loud and then grabbed my friends so they would come down with me.

I probably should have taken another picture...

microphone holder/guy in the suit = our administrator; 

tall guy in gray = ISC president (who I incidentally escorted in the building yesterday to a meeting with my boss. we're totally tight/ he's really really nice and totally laid back and really tall); 

guy with beard giving a thumbs up = Jerry. THE Jerry.

Why were they here? It's the 50th Anniversary of my agency this year.

Pretty awesome way to help celebrate my Birthday Week huh?

PS. I might have literally rubbed shoulders with the administrator while I went to get my Phish Food. 

Pretty sure I'm on the fast track to a career in politics and development, that rub was practically a handshake which was just a handshake away from The Secretary and that handshake is just a step away from one with The President... So, I totally practically almost shook hands with POTUS during my Birthday Week. Like I said, pretty awesome way to celebrate my Birthday Week.

Birthday Week

Summer always means vacations, and swimming, and reading lots of books (I currently have three and a half to read on my kindle and a long wish list), and MY BIRTHDAY. And I plan on making all of these happen this week.

It is officially my birthday week. My birthday is in exactly 5 days. Hooray for me! In celebration of that, I am searching for cheap gold dishes online, and gold articles of clothing. Because it is after all my GOLDEN Birthday!*

(Speaking of gold, I've been slowly, and I mean slooooooowly, plucking my way through the latest biography about Cleopatra (Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Swift) and in it she ate on gold plates! "...The meal itself appeared on gold dishes...that tableware showcased both Cleopatra's adaptability and her competitive instinct. When Alexandrian luxury began to make itself felt in the Roman world, Cleopatra renamed her ostentatious tableware. Her elaborate gold and silver place settings became her 'ordinary ware'.")

Things I would like to do during this birthday week:

• bake--and I will, because I'm making my own birthday cake, I want an awesome one, ok?
• read--the goal is to finish one of the books before my trip next Tuesday (one week! eeeek!)
• swim--perfect plan for Saturday afternoon
• go to a concert--oh perfect! tickets already purchased for Legwarmers on Saturday
• go to the movies--seems like a perfectly reasonable request
• get Dairy Godmother--favorite flavor ever is there today and tomorrow (Summer Pudding)
• shop--easily done. probably after work one of these days
• have a party--done. and done.

So there you have it folks, it is going to be a great week. The only thing that could make it any better? A/C that works. Seriously, we're melting.

*for those who aren't aware, according to wikipedia, a golden birthday is: "A person's Golden or Grand Birthday, 

also referred to as their 'Lucky Birthday','Champagne Birthday' or 'Star Birthday', occurs when they turn the age of their birth day (e.g., when someone born on the 25th of the month turns 25)"

pictures taken while figuring out my new pocketbooth app and then reconfigured really ghetto-ly using Paint to make them go across the screen. i'm really cool if you didn't know. happy birthday week to ME!

So, I bought a new phone last week and decided to practice blogging on it.  So I took the opportunity today during lunch to take a couple pictures of what I deem as my daily DC. 

And if this works, I'll be able to blog from Finland, St. Petersburg and Poland in 12 days (but I'm not counting down or anything...)

Memorial Day Weekend

Because I'm awesome I took tons and tons of pictures at Duck Beach... Nope. Not a single picture. I didn't take a single picture at Duck Beach.

So here I am stealing them off Facebook and other blogs (read: Chelsea's Blog)

If you're looking for me I'm in a white shirt on the left sitting on the back stair.

We had an awesome house. I loved my house. And when I say I loved the house I'm not just talking about the actual house, I'm mostly talking about the people in it. Everyone was fantastic. And the house house was really great too.

We really had a blast. One of the highlights was the run-and-jump-into-the-pool-while-catching-a-football-but-avoiding-all-the-other-things-thrown-at-you-game.

What you can't tell in this picture is that this was a football catching jump. I was one of like four people who managed to catch the ball while having a giant beach ball among various other things thrown at me. (No real pictures, but I'm still awesome.) Also, I have a great sunburn...

I'm such a ham.

Intense hot tubbing. This was more of a challenge to see how many people we could get in the tub. The water didn't cover the jets when we all got out.

Things not captured on film or recorded here:
Developing a love for The Biebs
Enjoying the beach
Late night swims in the ocean (no moon, it was dark and scary)
Awesomely Bad karaoke on the Magic Sing
Hot tub girl chats
Poorly executed dance parties (not thrown at our house)
Cheering for roommates in the volleyball tournament
Getting woken up by a bird fighting with his reflection (read: banging into our window over and over and over, at 5 am)

The weekend was so wonderful. I loved everything about it and felt much more comfortable and in my element than I did last year. (But that was mostly because I knew what to expect.) But that being said, I don't hope to go to Duck next summer. And if I'm still single (most likely) I plan on going somewhere tropical. Anyone want in?

(Also, a very special thank you to the organizers: Chelsea and Melissa! You were/are excellent organizers, cooks and friends. I love you both!)

Another reason to be friends with the bus driver...

I think I lost my metro pass,
at least, I couldn't find it this morning when I went to get on the bus.
The bus driver let me ride for free.

Lovely lovely

I had the most lovely wonderful weekend. Saturday was spent avoiding a softball game, that I could have played in, by getting a red pedicure instead. Then the afternoon was spent working on a summer tan at the pool. No burns. I deem it a success.

I spent Sunday morning getting ready to teach at church and making Snickerdoodles. The turned out mediocre. Something was wrong with the baker and her abilities to figure out the perfect amount of time for the cookies to be baked. (Convection bake, 375, 7 minutes, not the 400 8-10 minutes Betty Crocker was calling for. I'll know for next time.)

Sunday evening I made the most delicious pork recipe (Skillet Pork Saute with Peaches). I decided to cook it in my Sunday clothes with the apron. I'm so domestic...

And I feel like the weekend was absolutely perfect. Movies, pool, a little bit of dancing, baking, laughing a lot with friends and ice cream.

Needless to say, it was really hard to come to work this morning.

Procrastinator's Delight

When I don't want to do something I procrastinate it.

Example 1: Messy room? I won't even go in there until bedtime because I don't want to clean it.
Example 2: That obnoxious homework? I'll put it off until I end up staying up till 2 am to get it done.
Example 3: Job applications? I usually complete them on the deadline.

Today fortunately it worked out to my advantage.

I hate doing travel authorizations. I have about 20 steps to take and then it has to be approved by a handful of people and it's all obnoxious. So I always procrastinate it. When there are changes to an approved travel authorization it's even more annoying.

So, long story short, someone's travel was changed, he needed more money for the travel authorization. I procrastinated getting it done, and by the time I went to begin the finalizing process the plane ticket had gone down $500 and I didn't need to change anything. It was AWESOME.

This is probably the one and only time procrastination will pay off.

Eugene Weekend

I went to Eugene this past weekend for my sister Rachel's end of year activities. Highlights definitely include her last ballet recital and her piano recital, she played THIS by my favorite Polish composer.

But two things happened this weekend that let me know I am becoming my mother (in a very good and somewhat dorky sort of way, you know, things my mother might do*)

Example 1: I totally had a conversation with Andrew Wheating. For those of you unfamiliar with Oregon Track and Field (like everyone in the world except Oregon Track and Field enthusiasts and Eugene residents) Andrew Wheating runs for Oregon and is really good and really awesome. Here's what his U of O page says about him:

2008 Olympian

5-Time NCAA Champion (800 Meters twice, 1,500 Meters, Distance Medley Relay twice)

Pac-10 Champion (800 Meters, three times)

2010 Bowerman Award Finalist

USTFCCCA Track Athlete of the Year (Outdoor)

Pac-10 Track Athlete of the Year

3 School Records (Mile, 800 Meters-i, Distance Medley Relay)

8-Time All-American

Yeah, he's pretty awesome.

And I totally talked to him on Saturday after the Prefontaine Classic track meet.

Lauren: head nod, Good job!

Andrew: smiles, Hey thanks!

And there you have it folks. Me and Andrew Wheating? Tight.

Why does this make me like my mother? Because she'd probably do something like that to a total stranger as well.

Example 2: My dad took Rachel's car to work because his didn't have gas. Rachel took my dad's car to school, along with the credit card. That leaves me with my mom's minivan to drive to meet my friend for breakfast. We met at the Institute of Religion for the U of O. And what does she come pulling into the spot next to me in? A minivan. There we are 27 and almost 27, no kids between us, driving minivans. It was one of the funnier moments of my life.

Yes, I am turning into my mother because I don't think twice about driving a minivan.

Speaking of my mother. Rachel just emailed me this picture. Harry Potter World. Butterbeer. Mmmmm...

* but don't get me wrong. My mom is super cool and I want to be just like her. Maybe that's the real reason why I do things she would do...

Hot

sunburn 

hot, humid weather

broken AC

equals a miserable night

welcome back to real life.

duck beach breakdown coming soon...