November 24 - A Day In My Life

For Thanksgiving, we took a trip in our RV to California to visit Bill's family. It was a fun trip and a great Thanksgiving!  The Saturday after Thanksgiving was spent hanging out with family and friends.  Here are the pictures to prove it!  Good times...

We woke up pretty early for being on vacation!

Our cozy bed in the RV.

Breakfast of bagels, bananas, and juice.

Gadget eats his breakfast in the RV (he likes to hide under the chair while eating).

Visiting lifelong friends.

Gadget chasing his tail...he's very serious about it.

Time check...time for lunch!

Lunch at the tepanyaki place.

The onion volcano - it was the biggest one I've ever seen...very exciting!

After a big lunch...naptime!

Gadget enjoyed playing with Milo.

I enjoyed watching some football.

Then we went bowling!  So much fun!

And we had pizza after the bowling...yummy!

Then it was time to head back to our cozy bed in the RV.

I forgot to take a picture in a mirror...sorry!

Oregon Ducks

One of the things I was most looking forward to in Oregon was cheering for the Oregon Ducks (University of Oregon).  Bill knew this about me and when I arrived in Oregon, he gave me tickets to our first Ducks football game.  So, on Saturday, we headed south with my parents to Eugene to enjoy the game.  It was a really fun experience and I know it won't be our last game (if we could afford it, we would have season tickets!).  Here is a short video about the game.  Enjoy and GO DUCKS!!

As always, click on the HD button to watch the video on Vimeo's website with better quality.

Week 45

November 6
After church, I went out for Dim Sum with Abby, Cathy, Amber, and Mami. I'm not a very adventurous eater so this was good for me. I ate things that I did not recognize...and they were good. We had a lot of fun!

November 7
I decided to buy a new camera because the pictures on mine aren't that great. I've been spending a lot of time researching this decision. It's hard to know what to get without spending too much money!!

November 8
The first pumpkin pie I've made this year isn't even for me. Someone requested it at work for their birthday dessert. It looked and smelled SO delicious. I'll just have to make another one to enjoy at home!

November 9
My mom is here!! She has come for a visit and is already unpacked and settled in. We're so happy she's here!

November 10
Surprise - another picture of me! I looked back at the pictures of myself the other day and I look pretty much the same. Other than the length of my hair, I don't think I've changed much. Just 1 more month to go.

November 11
Of course I had to take a picture of the clock today. Other than being Veteran's Day - today is 11/11/11...so I took a picture at 11:11. I couldn't pass it up!

November 12
Big football game today. My mom and I watched the Stanford vs. Oregon game and cheered our Ducks to victory! It was a good game, but why do they have to start so late??

Week 44

October 30
It was late...my camera was downstairs and I didn't feel like getting it. I also had no ideas for what my picture of the day should be. So, Bill went downstairs and took a picture of a picture of himself. It was silly...but it was better than anything I would have come up with. So, here is my picture of the day - but it's really Bill's picture.

October 31
It was a very rough day! I stayed home alone watching Monday Night Football (Bill had to go to the airport). It was good for me to have some alone time.

November 1
I love Fall because I love everything pumpkin. Tonight I took pumpkin bars to Bible Study. They were yummy! I'm looking forward to more pumpkin treats in the coming month.

November 2
I love looking at November on the calendar...it makes me happy. That's because we have 6 (SIX) holidays in November! So many days off makes me very, very happy. We get November 3, 4, 10, 11, 24, and 28 off. And, I'm taking more time off at the end of the month so that's even better. It's a good month!

November 3
Happy Birthday, Abby!!! We had a huge *surprise* party for Abby and everything was PURPLE. It was so much fun planning it and everything came together beautifully. So many people helped to make the party a big success. Abby was surprised and everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was fun!! Welcome to the 30's, Abby!

November 4
Abby and I went to a movie. At the mall, each entrance has an animal name (it's a huge mall) and there is an animal statue by each door. We decided to get a quick photo as we exited the Hippo door.

November 5
Bill and I went to the Marine Ball, to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps. It is an annual formal event that the Marines host. It was fun. (Inspired by the purple party earlier in the week, I bought a purple dress!)

Week 41

October 9
While we were in the US, we spent a lot of time shopping. (There are many things you miss from America when you live in a foreign country.) We also had shopping lists from several of our friends for things to bring back. We were out all day and went to many fun stores - but I forgot to take pictures. The only time I took pictures was in Walmart - of the Christmas blow-up lawn decorations (for a friend in Panama). At least this picture represents the vast randomness of our shopping list...it was so fun!

October 10
Much of my focus during a vacation to the US is on food...and enjoying the restaurants I can't go to when I'm gone. So, we ate out everyday - sometimes twice a day. Here is our second visit to Shari's (a diner-type chain). I love Shari's!! And, what a beautiful Oregon fall day it was!!

October 11
Another day, another restaurant! Dinner at Red Lobster, if only for the CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS!! I ate so many biscuits and they were delicious. The other food was good too - but those biscuits are amazing!!

October 12
Tonight we went downtown to the Old Spaghetti Factory on the river. It was dark so we couldn't really see the river, but it's such a fun restaurant. We had one of the back rooms almost to ourselves. And, delicious food!

October 13
This is my future kitchen...I hope. Except, we're going to completely remodel it. So, this is the "before" shot and someday I hope to show you the "after" shot. We spent three hours at the house and I forgot to take a picture of the outside. Oh well! This is inside the house we hope to buy!

October 14
Yes, another restaurant. This time we stayed home and made the food come to us!! Bellagio's Pizza is what we served at our wedding and it is still one of our favorites. The chicken pesto pizza is so good. Again, I was so excited to eat that I didn't take a picture until the end...these are the leftovers!

October 15
Watching the Oregon game...in the airport. We bought tickets to go to this game (it was supposed to be in the afternoon of the day we were scheduled to leave Oregon) but then the kick-off time changed and we couldn't go (because it conflicted with our flight). Sadly, we were only able to watch part of it in the airport...and we were wishing we could have been in the stands!

Week 36

September 4
We were at the grocery store and on our way out of the parking lot we noticed a long row of cars parked against the "no parking" signs (the "E" with the line thru it means no parking). We thought it was ironic that so many cars would park where they weren't supposed to, so we stopped to take a picture. As we photographed the offenders, the little parking lot cop (on his bike) whistled at us and asked what we were doing. We pointed to the cars parked illegally and he just shrugged his shoulders and again asked us what we were doing. It didn't occur to him that the cars were doing anything wrong!!! We laughed and drove on. Parking in this country is comical!

September 5
Happy Labor Day! I love any excuse to have a day off of work. To celebrate, we grilled chicken, which was delicious, and had broccoli and fresh made lemonade. It was a good day!

September 6
I'm helping with the women's retreat by doing data entry. To keep all the papers organized, Abby gave me a nifty file. Nifty, except it's PINK. She just had to give me a pink one and now I have to carry it around! I don't like pink!

September 7
Our smoke detector had a rough day! I guess I need to clean my oven because when I turned it on...the detector went off. I didn't burn anything, it was barely cooked, but the detector went off several times. We're rethinking our decision to replace the batteries in the detectors! Hmmm...maybe no batteries are better than beeping detectors?!?

September 8
I had to drop off my ice-cream maker with Abby so she could use it for her cooking class. That gave me an excuse to visit with Abby and Jen. And, I shared my Peruvian candy with them. I'm so thankful for great friends!

September 9
We went back to Crepes & Waffles again. We enjoyed it so much last week that we wanted to try it again. They really have a great selection so we might have to go back several times before we find our favorites. This time, Bill ordered a bread bowl that came filled with chicken curry. It was a lot of food and he said it was really good. He ate it all! We might go back next weekend too!!

September 10
Here I am again! We are happy to have college football back on TV. We were able to watch Oregon play again and this time they won! Go Ducks! Or as Bill likes to say: "Vamos Patos"!

Week 35

August 28
Another grocery shopping trip to PriceSmart (like Costco). Sunday's are busy, and the lines are l-o-n-g. But thankfully they move pretty quickly (most of the time).

August 29
My alarm clock finally died. It had been working off-and-on for the last few weeks. It occasionally needed a "break" and would show weird partial numbers instead of the correct time for a few hours, then it would come back. But, this time, it didn't come back. It's been alternating weird partials non-stop. I'm using a temporary alarm clock from the guest bedroom until I find another one I like. And, just so you appreciate the craziness of my alarm clock, I've added a video clip below...it really is crazy!

August 30
Bible Study again! I really enjoy getting a chance to chat with some of my favorite people. Thanks Jen and Abby!

August 31
A package! My mom sent us goodies from Peru. We love getting packages, and when they have candy in them - it's even better! We are already enjoying the delicious treats...thanks, Mom!

September 1
Game night with Jen, Mami, and Abby! I forgot my camera so Abby used her iPad...it was really funny trying to fit us all in. And playing games was super fun!

September 2
We went out to Crepes & Waffles for lunch. I had to try their Peruvian Chicken Crepe. It said it was made "in the style of Aji de Gallina". Sure enough, it was Aji de Gallina in a crepe. It tasted OK and was fun to try. It was very interesting with the different texture from the crepe. We'll have to go back to try their vast selection of crepes and other treats.

September 3
Finally -college football season again! We were really excited to watch the first Oregon Ducks game this year. Unfortunately, our cheering did not help them win. But, we're still hoping for a good season for the Ducks and our other favorite teams!