Memorial Day Weekend Plans

My four day weekend plans involve some of this:

Enjoying lots of this:

And maybe a little bit of this:

Life is good!

Bridal Shower

Last weekend was the commencement of various wedding festivities in honor of my sister's wedding - we kicked off with a super fun bridal shower for her, with all our Klamath theater friends. It's strange to think about how long we have been friends with all of these fun people.

Mom and I made these cute favors for people for the shower. Obviously, Meg's colors are red and black. Inside we put Lindt truffles - probably one of the best things ever. And yes, I did share.

Now, I know you're thinking "what a cute pic of Meg and Chris, they look so sweet." But, this picture really describes their relationship on a much more realistic level:

Ahh, sibling love. Mom and Meg and I also got together to put the ribbons on the vases that are going to be the centerpieces for some of her tables at the reception. Here's a sneaky peek:

Aren't they gorgeous? It's going to be a super classy wedding, we can't wait. Also found my matron of honor dress last weekend, but it's being ordered, so no pictures yet. Whew! I think we're in for a busy summer (huh, what a suprise - us, busy? no way!), but definatly fun-filled!

I survived the trip to Portland!

I survived our Honor Choir Portland trip! Yes, it's a miracle! And no, we weren't even allowed to drink.

We began bright and early on Thursday, leaving at the ungodly hour of eight am. Stopped at this adorable little park outside of Oakridge for food + games, get some energy out, + make sure the kids were nice and sweaty and stinky for the rest of the ride up.

Got up to Salem only an hour late for our tour of the Capital building (due to an accident on the highway) and with only minor motion sickness. None of the kids threw up (thank goodness - that would have made the trip officially the tenth circle of hell!). Got out for our scheduled ninety minute tour of the Capitol building, which was really very cool. We even walked up the 500,984,094,209,285,984 steps up to the top of the rotunda (or maybe it was actually only 122 - same difference!) The kids were relatively well behaved, especially for having been cooped up in the bus for several hours. Of course, the highlight of the trip was the ten foot square overpriced gift shop, crammed with all 36 choir kids spending money like there's no tommorow.

Lastly, headed to Portland to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, which was high on kid friendly ambience, if the food was not fabulous. Anyone who has not been there should really just drive by and pop in to see the cool restaraunt (and amazing stained glass, made by the brother of a friend of mine). Again, the kids were amazingly well behaved.

Finally checked into our hotel (Embassy Suites), amid several snide comments. Leann said later that it was probably because I looked like I was a senior in high school, but I was offended nonetheless. The guy helping the manager get us checked in obviously thought I looked like a complete idiot who did not know basics of how to handle children and thought I needed to be informed that (insert snotty tone here) "Embassy Suites has a quiet after ten pm policy, so we would appreciate it if you would follow that and inform your chaperones of that." In an equally sweet tone of voice, I informed him that the Klamath County Honor Choir has a policy of in bed by 9:30 and lights out at 10 pm, so that wouldn't be an issue. Do I LOOK like an idiot??? Don't answer that.

So, got everyone checked in into their respective hotel rooms and went down to the pool - picture 36 screaming, splashing kids in a pool, with seven advil-popping, earplug wearing, chaperones around the perimeter. Bedtime could not come too soon!

Got up bright and early to head to our first performance of the day, at Pleasant Valley Elementary School. While the kids were practically asleep on their feet, they did very well. Went to lunch, stopped at the convention center to do a sound check and ask for the millionth time if everyone had their black and white clothes for the evening's performance. We headed to OMSI to have a great time before going off to the convention center again to get changed and warmed up for our big performance! Have to admit, I was even a little intimidated when we walked into that huge ballroom filled with 2,000 people!!!!!! The kids did perfect, I didn't see a single mistake and we were all so proud of them!

All in all, a great trip - great kids, fun stuff to do, and of course Steve and Leann and I make a great team! Hooray for Honor Choir - and hooray for sleep, which I now have a newfound love of, having been rather deprived of it for some time!!

Worms

Yes, that's right. Worms. Alexander and I were playing outside today with the dogs, and he comes up to me and says, "Mandy... I have a surprise for you... a slimy, dirty, gooshey, wormy-worm!" And yes, he had a worm. Just for me. Not just any worm - a BIG worm!! And he proceeded to "play" (read: torture) this poor worm for an hour straight. Nothing I said could convince him to set the poor thing free. Alex even wanted to bring the worm inside while he ate dinner - no, thank you!! I finally prevailed, and Alex found a nice spot for the poor tramatized worm to live. I love little boys!

Homelessness = bad

Well, good news! Looks like we won't be homeless next year! Hallelujah! We think we have found a place to live in Medford for the next year while Chris finishes his externship at Providence. Our good friend Carla has a friend (who has a brother's sister's uncle's niece's cousin's friend's dog... no, just kidding) who owns a dance studio in Medford. This lady is a riot - she's like eighty years old at least and was a prima ballerina for a professional company in her younger years. Anyway, she has a little house next to the studio that is going to be perfect for us - and, best of all, she'll let us have our dogs!! Hallelujah again!

And, even more good news - I can continue my world record of never setting foot in a laundromat (I have a huge aversion to disgusting, nasty, gross, slimy, icky laundromats) because the house has a washer and dryer!! And...a dishwasher!!! YES!! Could it GET any better, you ask? Why, yes it can, I reply. While I am regretting not bringing my camera to have taken pictures (well, duh, taken pictures, what else would you do with a camera...silly Mandy), I didn't want to freak anyone out by my camera toting-ness. So you will have to make do with an in-depth descriptive review.

The floors are all hardwood, newly refinished - way super duper cute! There are 2.5 bedrooms (not a typo, really 2.5, will explain later) and one bathroom. There's a huge living room/dining room space, a good-sized kitchen (WITH A DISHWASHER!!!!), and the one bedroom and bathroom downstairs. The kitchen and the bathroom are in the process of being remodeled, so it was a little hard to tell how they looked, but all the appliances in the kitchen were newer and looked pretty good... and TONS of counter space in the kitchen!

Then, upstairs (YES, you heard me right...upstairs!! I have never lived in a two-story house in my life!! That word just makes me sound rich and famous, doesn't it? UPSTAIRS [picture me saying it with a French accent]) there's a master bedroom and a little...well, I'm not sure what to call it, but it's like a half of a bedroom. It's going to be perfect for a little office or maybe a nursery?? Chris rolls his eyes when I say that. So I fell asleep last night planning where to put our furniture in our new house (but I simply HAVE to make it up to IKEA because the end tables we have right now will just not work in the new house... the house told me so) and hoping that I saw an electrical outlet in the new house's bathroom. Oh, the cruel irony, that as soon as we remodel our bathroom (after being without an outlet in the bathroom for FOUR LOOONNNGGGG YEARS) that we would move to a place where the extension cord would become my hair dryer's best friend again. Hopefully, that won't happen.

So, the packing saga continues...

FABULOUS news!

No, I am not pregnant... but I am graduated!!!!!!!! Yes, that is right, you are looking at an honest to goodness, 100%, really truly live degree holder!!!! After a seemingly endless process (no, really, I know everyone says that, but mine really WAS a seemingly endless process), I will soon have that $20,000.00 piece of paper to prove it! And maybe a pen... cause you know, the piece of paper just isn't worth $20,000.00 (wow that's a lot of zeros!), they have to throw in a pen to make sure you feel like you're getting your money's worth. So now, I have the wonderful world of unemployment and paying back student loans to look forward to!!

And the following conversation just about sums up my Western Governors University experience:

Joyce (my wonderful co-worker who cracks me up): I was talking to a young lady the other day who mentioned that she was thinking about going to this online school called Western Governors University.

Me: Ohh... what did you tell her?

Joyce: Well, based on your experiences with this school, I told her it might not be the best idea and maybe she should keep looking (Joyce is very diplomatic... I would have said, "DON'T DO IT!!! THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER!!").

Me: Oh, good. Saved another soul from the evils of Western Governors University!!

Side note: maybe I should wait to post this till I actually have my diploma (and pen) in hand, don't want them to refuse my diploma just cause I'm bad mouthing them!! Oh well.

The point of all this is, in short, I am done and boy, am I happy about it!!! Now whatever shall I do with my free time???.....

Honor Choir!

I am so proud of our honor choir!! On Tuesday, we sang for a huge crowd of people at Peterson Elementary, and (our guest of honor), the State Superintendent of Schools! She was so impressed by our performance, she invited us to come to Portland to sing at the Convention Center! While I may not be entirely thrilled at taking a bunch of fifth and sixth graders on the six hour drive up to Portland, (I don't think they make earplugs strong enough to drown out the screaming these kids can do!) I am thrilled for our kids and sooo excited! So if you are in or around Portland on May 1st, come to the convention center and watch us kick booty!!