Easter '12

 This year, Best Buy held an Easter Egg Hunt in the store the morning before Easter for any kids and family members who showed up. We had a turnout of around 50 kids total and their family members, which was pretty good considering it was a first time deal. One of our gaming boys (Zach Pfrimmer) dressed up as the Easter Bunny and played Just Dance 3 with some of the kids on the Wii, holding competitions and giving away prizes. He was tired, and hot, and super sweaty by the end of the event.

A hidden egg

Zach dancing away...he wouldn't let the kids win

Our fearless event leader

Ulrika, taking pictures and keeping the crowd happy

Once again, I wasn't able to go home for the Holidays. This year I attended church solo. Applegate was amazing as usual, and I felt honored to know all three of the people who sang worship. Mitch used to work at Best Buy, which is how I know his wife Jess and her sister Amy. They are a very friendly group of people who truly love God.

After church I went to a small get together that consisted of a handful of the boys who I know through Drew and Casey's slowpitch softball team who were going to play football. Thankfully, Zach's girlfriend Minetta showed up too so I wasn't alone on the sidelines with my camera.

And some of my random pictures...I got bored and noticed a water fountain that was running by itself, so I took that time to wander and explore the playground a little bit while the boys played basketball.

Possessed??

Dunking

I really was there, I swear!

Portland Trip: Part 2

Waking up on a cold, hardwood floor isn't my idea of a good time. Especially when I'm still in yesterdays clothes and don't get to brush my teeth. The 6 of us practically made Dutch Bros' quota that day as we walked less than a block to get coffee.

Casey, Candace, Taylor, and Shawn

Few blocks from Downtown

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We left downtown and headed to Drew's sisters house. Now, under normal circumstances this would be a regular affair. Until I realized that this woman was Miss Oregon 2010. She's kinda like a celebrity. Stephenie Steers. She's gorgeous!! And one of the nicest people I've ever met. Definitely deserved the win.

We ran around a bit that day. Taco Bell, the mall, waiting for dinner which resulted in a very interesting game, Sushi! and then Frozen Yogurt. Rented a couple movies, back to Steph and Chris', fell asleep in a chair, woke up, came home. All in all, it was an entertaining weekend filled with a lot of firsts and a lot of smiles.

Unintentional

Cold Beer Drive Through??

Dragon Roll

He ate a lot of plates...

Steph was never surprised by the camera...

The most amazing creation ever!! It was so pretty...

Portland Trip: Part 1

When you have two friends' birthdays in one week, one of those turning 21, and they have friends from Eugene and Portland with birthdays as well, a road trip is in order. Casey, Candace, Drew, and I left Medford Friday afternoon with Eugene in sight. We got a motel room near downtown so that us girls could just walk back from the bars that we ran into while the boys were at some friends. 2 am rolled around and we all decided on sleep...we got little, but we tried.

Candace and I

Leaving Eugene, we headed for Beaverton to stay with another friend. Naturally we had to stop at Woodburn. Us girls were itching for some city shopping, and we put small dents into our bank accounts at our first location. Oh joy. But as tempting as it was, I DID resist the urge to buy something from Coach...but a few things were pretty.

Dropping off our bags, we then turned ourselves loose to look for dinner. Chevy's it was, with some Mexi food, a couple starter drinks, and some silly pictures indeed.

Chevy's

Casey, Drew, Candace

Me, Casey, Drew

He stole the camera...

After dinner we dropped Candace off with some of her friends, agreeing to meet up again later to go out. To entertain ourselves, the boys and myself drove around towards downtown to attempt to get pictures for me. Stopping in at the Rose Garden to use the restrooms led to a fun little discovery: a hockey game between the Portland Winterhawks and the Kelowna Rockets. Naturally, the three of us find a hockey game on accident. Of course, we went. It was much bigger than we were used to, and we felt proud to know a lot of the rules and things that took place.

After the game we met back up with the other group at a place called Holocene. From here, the bar hopping and running around downtown began. I had 0 drinks. Zero. None. I played Mommy like nobody's business. I carried shoes, held cards, checked phones, and monitored the walking capabilities of other folks that were unable to do so themselves. Best part of the night: seeing the boys' faces when the only place left with no cover charge was a gay bar. Talk about shock and terror. We left and headed back to Candace's friends house to play card games and try again to catch some well deserved zzzzzzs.

From here, I fell asleep out of exhaustion and the other kept playing for another half hour or so until sprawling out on the bed and floor.

Time to Rebuild

There are times in your life when you have to learn to let go. It is never easy. Everybody you are close to your whole life will tell you that it won't be. But, even though it is not easy, friends can help to buffer the damage.

I am so thankful to have been given the friends I have come close to these past few weeks. From softball games, to bowling nights, and just everyday playful joking, they make me smile.

Savannah and Me

Jeff and Shawn

Brady, Savannah, and Ulrika

The past month or so, a group of Best Buy employees has started ganging up and going bowling after work. Two of the three attempts have been pretty successful, with turnouts of around 10-15 people. Needless to say, three lanes of crazy, hyper, silly, and yes, immature, co-workers can actually be a lot of fun. These people have kept me going. I look forward to these nights more than I have anything for a long time.

I growl, Casey smiles

Me and Ulrika

Nick, Alex, Jeff, and Brady rockin' the air guitar

As well as being decent bowlers (for the most part), some of the group think they are rockers. Rock Band competition anyone?

Drew

Casey and Drew, the boys who get me through

Group photo!

Obviously there are some of us missing to complete the whole Best Buy extravaganza, but the ones who do show up are always a blast. It's in my blood to organize these kinds of get togethers thanks to my family, but since the fam is so far away, these guys are really good fill ins. Best Buy Bowling will soon be a standing tradition within our store :)

Catching Up

A half a year later and a lot has changed. Needless to say, I have fallen behind. I am now an SOU Alumni, class of 2011. The ceremony wasn't quite as I had always imagined it. I was in the front row with some of the most amazing people I've ever met, next to one of the best friends God could have given me, and the storm cloud above us just didn't want to hold out. After a couple hours in the semi-chilly weather and hearing hundreds of names of people I had never heard of, it was over.

A handful of the Anthropology grads...Brooke, Erinn, myself, Kevin, Randi, Emma.

Can you say 'happy'?

Don't get too excited, they're empty.

Since graduation I haven't done a whole lot except work to pay off my bill. I'm an official graduate minus the degree while I owe the school, boo. Much has happened within myself, changing who I am and who I want to be. I have started looking into Biblical Archaeology, with a somewhat refined goal of going to Israel to study. Any archaeology job would be great, but I feel a pull towards showing what the Lord has done in our past and showing people His amazing works.

I am in the process of planning a huge trip to Universal Studios in Orlando with some friends from work. If we can get the group together that wants to go, we will be going later this fall, gone for 5 days, romping around 2 parks, visiting Hard Rock, maybe jumping in the ocean, and then coming back for the holiday season. I need a vacation.

A very brief session trying to cover half a year of my crazy life, but hopefully I can start keeping up with more fun events!

College Graduate

I have 2 hours before my last Undergraduate final. I'm sitting here eating Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, watching The Bone Collector, checking my Facebook, and texting a very special person...obviously my body hasn't processed the fact that I'm supposed to be cramming and focusing on this last test.

Two days ago I shared a fun morning with all of my Anthropology major friends, we participated in a 'ritual' for our Capstone final with all 4 of our department professors and ate some awesome food while visiting about whatever came to mind. I can't help but feel so thankful to have shared the past year and a half with these people. We have all shared so much of ourselves and learned so much about each other, and I hope that each and every one of them is successful in whatever they do. SOU seemed like an odd choice for me, but now I realize that it was probably the best thing I have chosen to do.

I have lost friends along the way for reasons that I can never change, but in losing them I found others. Erinn has been one of the best friends I could have while travelling on this crazy journey, and I am so very happy to have shared the stress and joy this senior year gave us. Working at Best Buy was initially a choice made to bring in a check and to learn some things on the way...little did I know that my job there would lead to a whole slew of new friends. They have supported me through my bad days even when they had no idea why I was upset, hugs all around. I'm excited to be done, but nervous because school is all I have ever known, so finishing this and starting life seems like a doorway that I can't yet see all the way through yet, but it is cracked ever so slightly.

Presentations, Awards, and Graduation

Oh my gosh, I'm a bit behind...so after the move I've determined that I have waaay too many books, which sucks, but I love them all still. I moved my entire life into a tiny trailer that is now jam packed with all of my special memories and belongings, many movies and tons of clothes, and it is going to be my home for a long time.

Other than the move I've been super busy with school and my blooming persona as an archaeologist. I recently (April 15-16) spoke at the State of Jefferson conference in Arcata, California about a student's perspective on professional archaeology, so all of the work that I have done while at Britt, and it was an amazing trip. Only a handfull of us from SOULA went, and it was a perfect sized group to keep us all close and yet allow us to converse with archaeologists from other locations and get our names out there. The presentation was fantastic and even though I was super nervous, it felt amazing to speak to a group of people who were genuinely interested in what I had been doing. While this was a professional conference trip, the three of us students did go out of the town and bonded as college kids do...had a couple beers, mingled with the locals, and called it a night by like 11pm...yep, I'm a sissy.

This spring I will be giving another presentation, this one for graduation. It will include more work from Britt regarding a local family and some of their pottery that we have been finding, and while it's still intimidating, it will be to a much more relaxed group so I should be okay (I hope).

Lastly in line for my archaeology doings this term, I will be receiving the AAUW Outstanding Woman in Archaeology award at SOU, so that's pretty cool. I have no idea how that all worked out, but I'm pretty sure it was limited selection seeing as I'm the only female archaeologist graduating this spring!! Cheeeaaaater!! But I'll still take it.

So, back to homework, back to classes, back to work, and any other kinds of things I can find to cause my brain to fry for the next couple months!