Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads

Like I mentioned, BF planned a lovely mini vacation for us which he didn't keep secret, but which I kept secret.

We went to McMenamin's Edgefield in Troutdale on Thursday afternoon.  We started our vacation with a wonderful dinner at the Black Rabbit Restaurant.  After dinner we made our way outside to see a Prince cover-band in all of it's glittery-sequined glory.  Let me tell you that it was most awesome. 

Edgefield has a lovely balcony where BF and I sat to people watch for a while and have deep conversations about life.

People Watching from the Balcony

Deep Conversations

Effing Adorable

And then we played a rousing game of "Find the Celebrity"...

J-Wow and the Jersey Shores boys... and a new celebrity, Camo Man

After the music and balcony sitting, we soaked in the soaking pool before returning to watch part of Back to the Future out on the lawn.  It was a very full and wonderful day.


Friday we awoke and had a delicious breakfast at the Black Rabbit- I had what they call The Boxcar.  A "Boxcar" breakfast consists of a bed of crispy hashbrowns topped with a ham and egg scramble with melted cheddar cheese and sausage gravy smothering the entire thing... and a side dish of fresh fruit.  You know, for your health. 

Friday BF played softball and we didn't do much of anything.   We house/dog sat for the weekend the cutest boxers ever.  EVER. 


Sunday was the Warped Tour so we headed out in the hot heat of the day to see some awesome rock.  I feel SO OLD.  I think the average age of the concert attendee was 14. 

We got some great shots of the type of folk in company at this year's Warped Tour.

Check this guy out... AWESOME in skinny jeans and football jersey

A Kid with the right idea on a hot day... Kilt.

The crazy wasted lead singer of The Sparring out in the crowd verbally abusing their prospective fans.

We ended up leaving before seeing all of the bands we wanted to see because it was  TOO hot and too long of a wait and we are OLD.  Well, older than most of the kids there and less able to handle standing around for 4 hours to see bands we've already seen before. 

Also, I got a sweet Dropkick Murphey's shirt and BF got a DM pirate flag/banner for our house... when we have a house.  Planning ahead.


It was a fabulous vacation and I'm so glad that BF is so sweet and planned a wonderful getaway for us.

Monday Monday

I enjoyed my time off.  It was fabulous.

And then I had to come to work today.  Not that work is terrible, but today was not the best day I've had at work.

Did I mention I was gone most of last week on VACATION?  I'll post about the fun later, but I wanted to post with pictures so it'll have to wait.


Anyway, so yes, I was gone from work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I told people for WEEKS to not to try and get a hold of me during that time because I would be gone. 

I came back today to a TON of surprises at work.

First, one of the other admins took this week off and told everyone to contact me for any help during her absence.  She didn't ask me beforehand if I would be her contact person while she was out.

SURPRISE!

So this morning I had a line of people waiting to ask me things I know nothing about and a ton of emails asking about things I still know nothing about.  I emailed said admin and asked why everyone was asking me for stuff that I didn't know about.  The response was something like, "Oh yeah, I meant to talk to you last week before you left but didn't get to so I just listed you as the point person for me while I'm out... hope that's ok!". 

It would be ok if I had any clue what was going on.  But I don't because I don't work with half of these people.  Awesome.

Then I got a call from someone who I will be running a Job Fair in Seattle tomorrow with that informed me that there was a dress code for us tomorrow. 

SURPRISE!

I've already packed for Seattle since I'm leaving DIRECTLY FROM WORK this afternoon and do not have time to go get different clothes.  They will just have to deal. 


Later I was volunteered to help with a project this afternoon without my knowledge. 


SURPRISE!


 When I inquired about what the details were of this project (time, place, what I needed to do) I got multiple rude response emails and NO ANSWERS.  Also, unbeknownced to the person who volunteered me for this project I was BOOKED SOLID for this afternoon and DIDN'T HAVE TIME to do it.  You know, because I'm trying to get my job done AND leave on time for Seattle. 


It's a freakin' Monday.



I'm leaving soon for Seattle and won't have time to post pictures from my LOVELY vacation with BF until tomorrow evening, but I promise I will.

PS. You will love them so much!  We played a game all weekend called find the celebrities.

Secrets Secrets...

Are totally fun and BF has a hard time keeping them.


This week I decided to take some time off of work to hang out and enjoy the summer.  BF and I started crafting plans for my days off (some of which are listed in yesterday's post). 

Yesterday while I was at work I got a text from BF asking ,"So if i were to plan something for all day/night thursday and come home friday would that work?"

I answered, "Yes, I think so."

To which he replied," Well, you should be sure because I'm making reservations now-ish... Also, it's a surprise.  Also, it will blow your mind."

And then I got all excited because I love surprises, but hate them at the same time.  I could hardly stand the excitement of it.  The rest of the day I was trying to figure out what BF was planning and about a million things ran through my head such as:

1.  Maybe we're going to Seattle.  I don't really like Seattle.  But it'd be fun to get away.

2.  Maybe were' going to Canada... well, that's not long enough to go to Canada.

3.  I think we're going to the coast.  But where on the coast? 

4. Possibly we're going to Mt. Hood.  I don't know where to stay up there, but that's definitely where we're going.

5.  BEND!  Bend isn't that far. 


I attended a work dinner, so after work BF and I were lounging around watching nothing on tv when he says, "Do you want to know where we're going?"

And of course I say," YES!!!"

Then we go back and forth on whether or not he should tell me because he never can keep a secret from me and always ends up telling me what it is well ahead of time. 

Yes, he told me where we are going and it is not only awesome but very sweet and thoughtful of him.  I'm not going to tell you where we are going or what we are doing until I return from said trip. 


I'm so excited for today to be over and for my vacation to begin!

Opulence...

I has it...

So I may or may not have mentioned that BF LOVES this one commercial where there is a Russian guy surrounded by gold everything, gold busts of himself, gold-upholstered furniture, etc and then very rare and expensive items.  At the beginning of the commercial he says in a very thick Russian accent,"Opulence... I has it," which BF and I find hilarious and awesome.  Of course we started quoting it all of the time. 

On Friday, as sort of a joke, I got out of work early (because it was Friday, duh) and went to the store to find some gold nail polish.  I found the perfect shade and threw a couple of quick coats on my fingernails.  My plan was to show up at BF's softball game and flash my hands in front of my face and say, "Opulence, I has it."  Which I did.  And it was awesome.  BF and I both got a kick out of it, but I could only handle the gold nail polish for about a day and a half and it promptly came off on Saturday night. 

Sadly I did not take a picture of my gold nails, but I still have the polish for future use, you know, in case I have the need to be so opulent again.


Anyway, Friday night BF had a softball game so I went to that and it was pretty fun.   After the game we met up with the team for drinks and snacks (an after game tradition now) and then we headed to the theater to see Dinner for Schmucks, which I found hilarious.  Most people that we had talked to gave it mixed reviews, and nothing higher than an, "It was funny, but not hilarious".  Boo on that.  I found it extremely entertaining and quotable. 

Saturday BF attended his cousin's wedding in Roseburg (basically BFE, Oregon) which is something like 4 hours away... or maybe like 2.5 hours, same thing.  Anyhow, I had a free day and was super productive early on in the day, but had run out of things to do by mid afternoon and after the gym.  I ended up just sitting around reading which was pretty nice since I haven't had a lot of time to do that lately. 


Sunday was another nice lazy day.  I got up and lazed around the house for the morning and then went to the gym.  BF and I ran errands afterwards and picked up some stuff for German dinner.  I made dinner (Jagerschnitzel again) and then BF and I took a lovely walk around the neighborhood. 

I'm back at work this week for only two days.  I took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off so I won't come back until next Monday where the week will explode into a million things to do and I will go to Seattle for a day to help with some work stuff there. 

BF and I are trying to make some fun plans for my few days off this week which may or may not include the following:

1. Trip to the Zoo.  I love the zoo and haven't been for a while so it'd be nice to go.

2.  Trip to the Coast- it's supposed to be nice this week so that is a definite possibility.

3. Camp for a night somewhere.

4.  Go to OMSI- who doesn't love science and things? 

5.  See the movie, "The Other Guys".


I'm so glad it' Monday AND Thursday today.

An Update

I'm still upset about this and wanted to share. 

Follow the link to the article regarding the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team.

Everybody Loves Heather

... unless your name is BFM.  Then for some unexplicable reason, you don't.  I'm trying my hardest not to stress out about it, but it's difficult.



Moving on to better things:  I GOT MY CAR BACK AND NOW IT HAS THE AIR CONDITIONING!


You guys, I drove back to work from the shop with the AC on full blast and five minutes down the road I had to turn my seat warmers on because I had goosebumps. LOVE IT. 


There's nothing sweeter than AC in the summer. Well, maybe gelato.



Also, I went to the phone store yesterday because I hate my phone.  So I told the phone store guy, "Hey, I hate my phone so I need a new one.  Just so we are clear, I don't like touch screens and I don't need anything fancy."

And he promptly said, "Ok, come this way,"  and proceeded to show me a range of phones that weren't touch screen and weren't too fancy. 

I picked the Samsung :)  (AKA, Samsung Smile).  I really like it so far.  What I really like the most is that I can hear people when they call me because the speakers aren't jacked up.  That's nice.


It's almost Friday!

Car Updates

So I got a call back from the shop guys.


It's never good when the conversations starts like this:

Car Guy:  "Hey, we took a look at your car and ran some diagnostics to see what was going on."


Me:  "Great, did we find out what's up with the AC?"


Car Guy: "Yes, and we can fix it without a problem. We also found out why your check engine light is on."


Me: "Ok, great!  What needs to be done?"


Car Guy:  "So...  ... ... I'll start with what I think you should fix now and then list what can wait for a while in case you can't get it all done at once."


Me:  "Oh... ok..."



The very nice car guy then proceeded to list off 8 different things that I should have repaired/replaced on my car.  Awesome.  The total for all of it would have been $2600.  Yeah.  Like I have $2600 in my pocket waiting to be spent on something like this!

What I am going to get fixed will cost me about $1300 and those are:

1. A blown coil which means the coil, spark plugs and some of the wires need to be replaced.

2.  AC has a low charge so they will recharge and refill the refrigerant.

3.  Replacing all of the drive belts because they are all getting cracked and worn and may break soon.

4.  Transmission fluid- is currently black and should be red so they are changing that for me.


Here's what I'm waiting on until I can afford it:

1. Replacing the timing belt- not that it's broken now, but should be replaced.

2.  Water Pump- I don't remember what he told me about it, but something.

3.  Front differentials changed.

4.  Worn struts need to be replaced.



The blessings in this whole thing are:

1.  Last week I got a free month tri-met pass from work until the new yearly tri-met passes are for sale so I don't have to pay for public transportation while my car is in the shop.

2.  I don't HAVE to have all of the repairs done now because some can wait.

3.  I got my work bonus statement this week, so next week I'll actually have the cash to pay for the repairs instead of charging part of it.

4.  I have a job so I CAN actually pay for things.



Here's to better car luck in the future.  I'm currently lusting after a  brand new Subaru or a Mini Cooper.