Putting fingers to keyboard

Over the past week I haven't had too much on my mind worthy of writing about. I have also finally gotten into the book series I received for Christmas from my mom so much of my free time that would be spent writing/blogging at work has been consumed by reading Book one of the Secret Watchers: Visions. I'll admit, I am officially hooked on finding out what lies in store for the main character Owen, his family and friends. This three book series was written recently by a teacher friend and colleague. I wish I had a novel/book series hidden somewhere in me! I would love to write a book series!! Talk about a dream come true :)

Something I have been able to make time to do over the past week is see more of my friends faces, live and in person. It has been wonderful :) The month of January was a bit crazy and overwhelming with Adam and I finding an apartment and moving abruptly. We were pretty determined to get settled as quickly as possible seeing as our place isn't huge storage wise and we (okay, mostly me:) didn't want to be tripping over boxes for weeks, months or gosh forbid...a year. It was a process that was only extended due to our conflicting work schedules, but we got it all sorted and are loving it so far. Like really loving it :) I couldn't have pictured a more perfect first place for us.

 

Amongst the moving hoopla, I missed seeing my friends. Quite a bit I must say. I have been harboring some angry, hurt feelings as of recently and had to find a way to let them go in order to feel happy with certain aspects of my life again. Thus, having the opportunity to grab a drink with Carmen, have an hour long conversation with Keli, enjoy dinner and some laughs with Mo, Keli and Merissa, have coffee and chat with Alicia and see some of our favorite people to warm and fill our home with laughter last Saturday night really made all the difference. Family and friends are everything to me. My heart hurts when we are at odds. Some issues are easier fixed than others. The winter was rough with Adam's work schedule changing from days to swing and our friendships suffered a bit from misunderstandings, miscommunications and missing out on some activities. Adam and I are determined to do our part to remedy certain things and last week was a great first step.

All in all not too much happening in the life of Rachael :) Just redirecting negative feelings and looking to surround myself with as much positive as possible for the time being as we are fast approaching my least favorite season...the season of applying for teaching jobs. Who knows...maybe this year will be my year :) What's that saying? Fifth time's the charm? ;)



A chasse', back ball change into my heart

This month marks numero cinco of my attendance at Jazzercise Portland on SE Burnside and I could not be more thrilled with the choice I made to join in on the fun once more! Jazzercise has become an hour for just me, that I both love and crave, and am guaranteed to have every day that I choose to go, which for me has been 5-6 days per week It has become the perfect after work-push aside all daily stresses-workout to get my blood pumping, muscles moving, sweat pouring, brain focused, and face smiling :) I am definitely in love ♥ and invested :)

Since starting back in September, I have had the opportunity to take classes from all of the instructors at a variety of class times and have pretty much settled into a set class schedule with some wiggle room that accompanies my weekly changing work schedule. I attend class so frequently that I am actually missed when I'm absent, which is a wonderful feeling and part of what was lacking in my fitness motivation. Not only am I keeping myself accountable, but other jazzers are helping to keep me accountable too! "We missed you in class Rachael!" Hope you are feeling better and that we will see you back in class tomorrow!" The extra personal touches that the instructors at Jazzercise Burnside have shown truly mean more than I can say. And the people...oh the people at jazzercise :) They.are.FABULOUS! Females and males, ages young to old coming to class to do one thing...DANCE. Everyone that I have met has been so kind, friendly and welcoming, which in a new workout environment can be pretty unheard of. I remember when I started being nervous that I would stick out as the new girl and that people wouldn't be friendly, that it would instead be more like the atmosphere of a class at the gym...stand off-ish with the air of, "I don't want to chit chat with strangers...I just came to workout, don't even look at me." Jazzercise is simply not like this. We are a family. You know what they say about the family that smiles, sweats and shakes it together?" :) WOW that sounds terrible as I re-read it!! HAHA! You know what I mean, dirty minds! ;) We stay together! I have a workout family now and that's an amazing feeling :)

So for those of you out there who are like me and enjoy dancing, singing, sweating and laughing with a double bonus of getting in both a cardio and strength workout in an hour long class aaaaaannnnnnd burning up to 600ish calories depending on how hard you want to work (there is always a way to do each jazzercise routine at a less intense level :) come try out a jazzercise class! It sounds like I am promoting for them doesn't it? :) I'm a fan and I can almost guarantee that you will be too after a class or two! What have you got to lose? Except your dislike for exercising and fat that is ;)

Snowpacalypse adventures

Much to everyone in the city of Portland's surprise...the weather dudes were actually right when they forecasted snow in the NW! I went to work Thursday morning to the tune of dry, chilly weather and by the time I left work at 3:30 p.m. (I got off work early since Sarah's clinic closed early due to inclement weather) it was snowing pretty consistently and Facebook had been absolutely bombarded with people cautioning travelers. I left West Linn, where honestly it hadn't even started sticking yet because of the wind and headed to Clackamas to deposit my check at the bank and make a stop or two before going to jazzercise only to find that the road conditions required me to exit early in order to put my jeep in 4wd so as to not continue to slip along the roadways! I did, however, slide into a hidden (under newly fallen snow) curb and could have sworn that I popped my tire as it looked low immediately. What rotten luck! I was just down the street from America's Tires-where I purchased my tires, and drove (carefully) to get it checked before the weather got much worse. My parent's, living just five minutes away, offered to come pick me up so I didn't have to wait the hour in a half in the packed, cold tire store waiting room. They are pretty great :) Hot cocoa, time with puppies and parents is time much better spent than in America's Tires' waiting room. Turns out I had picked up a nail and my tire was fixable! Yay! Good news for the start of snowpacalypse!

 

I made it home safe and sound in 4wd and spent the evening watching the snow continue to fall, a trek made to Fred Meyers down the block for rabbit litter and zip ties as my exercise for the day since jazz was undoubtedly cancelled. I don't mind getting bundled up though, it felt nice to be out enjoying a type of weather we rarely see in Portland :)

Friday morning Adam and I woke up to a snow dusted wonderland and spent the morning together with a nice breakfast just enjoying the lovely winter scene unfolding outside:) He still had work on Friday so we parted ways around 1:00 p.m. while I attempted again to deposit money and change my address at the bank. They had closed early the previous day and I was unable to do so. I had called to see if my bank would be closing early again and they said maybe around 3:00 p.m....they were closed by 2:00 p.m. *sigh, failed again. I went to visit with my parents and shred some old bills and such instead :) I actually thought it was pretty fun to drive my jeep along the snowy roads. I spent the rest of my Friday afternoon and evening (jazz classes were cancelled again) finishing the skeletal construction of Falcon and Panda's new bunny condo, which was a task in itself! Adam got home from work around 11:00 p.m. and "convinced me" to walk down to Tanker for a beer to start the snowy weekend off right. I was not super excited to be woken up from my couch nap, but in the end he won out and we had a good time snow wandering for an hour or so.

 

Saturday morning brought oh so much moooooore layers of soft, fluffy snow!! Holy moley was there snow! I couldn't have been happier to have only a few things planned for the day, one of which was postponed due to weather until the following weekend and the other-going out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday in the evening. Jazz was (sadly) still cancelled due to the snow:/ I'm actually starting to grow anxious without my dancing workouts! The ONLY downfall to this snowy weather. With nothing to do until the evening, Adam and I had a lazy morning then headed out for some "supplies" also known as beers, more bunny cage zip ties etcetera :) We stopped at Hawthorne Hophouse for a beer and treat of deep fried cheese curds-yep, you read that correctly and YES, they were amazing, on our afternoon walk as well. YUM!

                                                                                      

Such a nice afternoon out enjoying the snow and just wandering around our new Hawthorne neighborhood, something we haven't really had the opportunity to do since moving in a few weeks ago. Big kids playing in the snow all around :) I know Adam was excited to bounce around and have a beer or two! Thank goodness he had this weekend off from work. I probably would have been tooooooo relaxed (and bored) all on my own :)

 After calling around and around restaurant to restaurant for open establishments, my mom's birthday dinner was spent at McGrath's Fish House :) My mom, dad, Adam, myself and even Caleb was back in town for the celebratory dinner! We were the only ones in the restaurant as many were reluctant to brave the snowy and quickly turning icy roads so we had the place to ourselves. Happy birthday to you mom!! We love you bunches! Below is a picture of the 'magic' mug I gave my mom for her birthday :) Starts off plain, black mug, add a hot beverage and a fun picture appears!



With not a thing planned for Sunday with my jazzercise and Adam's basketball cancelled as well as postponing our family meet and greet dinner with my parents and Adam's parents since the driving conditions were sketchy at best, Adam and I had another lazy morning (not complaining, honestly:) watching some Olympic events searching for cheap Vegas weekend getaways :) In fact the only thing we decided to do was walk down to the Bagdad theater to watch the Lego movie at 1:50 p.m., my choice ;) It was funny and worth the $7/each plus the cost of a couple beers, slice of pizza and popcorn for our Sunday afternoon entertainment! Adam even laughed a few times. That's how I know it was funny since I literally laugh at everything :) The late afternoon consisted of a couch nap for yours truly while Adam watched the OSU basketball game. Kasey, Carmen and Chris braved the thawing, still semi-icy roads to meet us for dinner and a couple brews. It is always nice to see their faces, especially on a special, snowy day:) All in all I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend winter wonderland that landed itself in the NW. Such an unexpected treat! I love everything about the snow...the look, feel, bundling up against the cold, snuggling up and just the calm that it brings. That is unless you are attempting to drive in it without prior snow driving knowledge of course, then it is just plain stressful! Or if your jazzercise classes get cancelled...this may cause a bit of stir craziness. Otherwise, an unexpected snow forces a slow down of life and reminds us how to enjoy and take pleasure in the little things including the silence and stillness that is often around us :)



Call me...maybe?

Hmm...today's blog prompt is a bit ridiculous, but I'll bite :) What kind of relationship do I have with my phone? Is it my lifeline, a nuisance, or somewhere in between?

Ah cellphones. Simultaneously an item that I most loathe having on me at all times as well as probably could not live without. As far as cellphones go, I fought against societies' dire need to be online 24/7 for as long as I could manage, meaning that I didn't purchase a smart phone until the start of 2012. I was pretty proud if the fact that I made my old school flip phone work for me for that long. Really, what could I possibly need my phone for other than making actual phone calls and texting, which let's face it is how most people communicate now a days. The switch was a bit overwhelming initially, but I have grown accustomed to using my smarty phone now.

Now, just a little over two years after purchasing a smart phone, I'm fairly confident that I literally have it on me at all times. In fact, it usually is even in the same room...and that is all I will confide on that :) My phone takes great pictures that I can upload at the click of a button and yes, I have been sucked into sharing pictures by phone. It's a bit thinner than my camera, which is awesome in itself and fairly compact for packing around, but I just don't relish the extra work of waaaaiting to upload pictures taken from my camera's sim card to my computer and then being able to share them. The camera on my phone just makes it WAY too easy and FAST.

I also tend to play on my phone when there is a lack of better, more fun things to do. Online shopping has become my major means of purchasing as well :) Not that I was ever a huuuuge fan of regular shopping, but really the need to go out to shop has all but dissipated. Ordering online also makes it so I get mail that is NOT bills all the time! Double bonus! I have had to resort to bringing my charger on long work days because my phone often needs to be charged before the day is through. Many of my friends carry a spare phone battery at all times for this very reason...I'm not quite there yet. Close, but not quite.

To sum up, I have a love/hate relationship with my cellphone. I love that it keeps me connected and allows for so many options for entertainment right at my finger tips and I hate that I feel connected at all times and am almost expected-as I expect others (my mom can vouch for my feelings here...as I am constantly frustrated when I can't reach her because her cell is off or she didn't bring it with her;) to be reachable at all times day or night. Don't even get me started on the drama that ensues if gosh forbid I miss an important call, voicemail, or don't respond right away to a text message! However, I'm not sure how much I can really complain seeing as I get just as frustrated/mad when I feel like others are intentionally ignoring me. Oh well, guess I'll have to make my peace with my "arm extension" AKA cellphone and try to be more disciplined about relying on it so often :) I can totally do that...right?

Making lazy fun

It's been awhile since I've blogged a top 10 list...which I happen to love, so without further ado....I thought I'd focus today's writing on my top 10 ways to be lazy =) because let's face it, some days you just need to know how to do nothing and enjoy it.

10. Sleep in until your bodies' natural alarm wakes you :)

9. Have your breakfast in bed!

8. Avoid checking any work emails or other computer activities that may cause unnecessary stress

7. The couch or some other comfortable piece of furniture is the next logical place to land once you have left your bed :)

6. If you feel the need to shower, put pajamas back on afterwards =)

5. Make a valiant effort to take at least one nap during the day. Bonus points if you can squeeze in more than one! Sleep is healthy :)

4. Spend the entire day reading a new book! Reading is super relaxing and a great way to appear lazy while your brain is actually working a little ;)

3. Under no circumstances are you to do any chores, work around the house or run errands.

2. Take a break from normal physical activity and exercise. One day won't hurt you too much :)

1. Add some friends, family and or pets to your laziness to maximize the fun!