my cup run-eth over:)

Wow!! Where has the last month disappeared too?? Between work and a wee bit of school, I have managed to spend a majority of my time surrounded by fabulous people while participating in all that Portland has to offer and l-o-v-i-n-g every minute of it! From  awesome tix to some Blazer games, checking out up and coming bands in SE, celebrating good friend's birthdays, throwing baby showers, running in my leprechaun tuxedo during the Shamrock race, and getting our Remix dancing going again I have been busy!
Enjoying courtside Blazer tickets with Mo!!! SO close to my favorite player Joel Pryzbilla!!!:) BEST.SEATS.EVER!!! I was also lucky enough to score some fabulous seats just a few rows up from these courtside seats the next week and Adam and I had a grrrreat time cheering on the Blazers!

Our ONE cancelled school day on account of snow this year:

(Falcon was not too keen on the snow haha, but can't blame me from trying:)

Out and about enjoying the awesomeness that is Portland for Chris Kay's 28th birthday ultimately led to donuts at VooDoo!!

A few classics from Janelle's baby shower at Casa de Rachael!

"Partying in your running clothes day!!!"

SHAMROCK RUN 2011:)

GO GREEN OR GO HOME!!!

Our debut performance for our new Remix dance at Hobnob on March 13, 2011!! Rrrreeeeemmmmiiiiixxxxx!!!

Oh what fun these last few months have been for this girl=) I think I will keep things JUST how they are for as long as I can!

Big, Fat, Flakes!!!

In 28 years, I still get so excited for the little things! This morning Alicia opened my door and whispered, "It's snowing!" No longer are my eyes sleepy, I sit right up asking, "Are you for serious??" Jumping up we crank up my shades and sure enough there is an inch of powdery, white goodness across our SE back yard! Nerdy?....definetely. Silly?... possibly haha, but I still enjoy these wonderful little things. It's days like these I am grateful to live in a state like Oregon where we rarely get anything, but rain so when it's snowy or sunny or stormy or any other type of weather we really get to appreciate it and get excited like a kid again! Big plans for making snow angels, having hot chocolate with schnapps in it (we are adults after all;) and bundling up in layers of snow clothes for only an inch of squishy white powder! Happy snow day everyone!!!

La vida buena!!

Only two months into a brand new year and I have very little to complain about:) *Not that I would waste your time or mine complaining in my happy place! ♥ 


Work was a bit slow going at first, but has picked up sufficiently in the last month. I'm still not sure about the possibility of a fulltime position for next year, but I am HOPEFUL! Spending most of my time at the middle school level and loving almost every minute. The kids are so challenging and I can tell most of them just want somebody to listen to what they have to say. I am more than happy to be that kind of teacher, in fact, that is the kind of teacher I always planned on being...one who is respected and in turns respects my students. Middle school can be such a difficult transition for kids and I am glad to be able to ease some of that. With the 6th graders in our district moving to the middle school next year, I am hoping that a position will open up for me:) Keep your figures crossed!!!


In addition to working more, I am also very much enjoying my present living arrangement with my awesome flat-mate (yep, we call eachother flat-mates:) Alicia and I get along famously! SE Portland has proven to be quite fun and with never-ending activities and places to visit! It will be difficult to want to live anywhere else after living in this area.


With the start of a new year has also brought a new fella:) Insert BIG smiley face here! We became friends through a mutual acquaintance around last October and after spending a bit more time together recently, realized there could be definite potential here. Above all, he is very kind, funny, and polite to me, full of great energy and makes me smile when ever he's around:) Hope I don't mess it up!


Grad school is on the down-hill slide too! Double bonus! Finishing my thesis up in the next few months and only one more class to take and I'm finished in June!!!! Mark your calendars...graduation for Fetrow in December:) Here's wishing everyone an equally great start to a new year!

The rhythm of love ♥ ♥

I absolutely ♥ when a song can sum up everything you are feeling at that moment in time! The Plain White T's have done it with Rhythm of Love :) My favorite lyrics from this sweet song:

We may only have tonight
But till the morning sun you're mine, aaaall mine

Play the Music low and sway to the rhythm of love

The power of the 80's love ballad

Oh the joys of the dreaded Valentines' day for the single girl! :) kidding! I was excited to find out from my good friend CK about a concert held on the weekend before Valentines' Day called Cover Your Hearts. A hodge-podge of great bands all singing their favorite 80's power and love ballads...HOW can you go wrong with that?? A group of my friends went last year and it was the best concert EVER. After last night, my first C.Y.H. experience, I completely agree! What a fabulous show!! The seven or eight bands that performed chose all the right songs and sang them with style, everything from Sledgehammer to Everything I do I do it for you:) We rocked from nine to after midnight while drinking PBR and dancing up a storm! All in all I can hardly wait until next year!!! What a fabulous way to celebrate Valentines' Day! So glad Adam, Chris, Kasey, Jenny, Scotty, Missy and Joe could be there to enjoy the great music and make some awesome memories:) Happy Valentines' Day everyone!!

A wild guess is always welcome

What an interesting start to a new year the last few weeks have been! I am happy to say I was fortunate enough to ring in the new year with fabulous friends and fun until the wee hours of January 1st. I like to think that a new year should start off around people who mean a great deal to you and whom you enjoy their company:)

 how we roll at 3 a.m.!

 Kel, Chris and I

 Our gracious host and flip-cup master, Kasey

 New friends are always fun:)

 Chris and Threat not sure what's happening

 Adam helping out the team!

My two favorite fellas:D

We may not have won, but we would win a dance off!

There have been some not so pleasant changes in 2011 as well. I found out that I will have two more semesters of my masters program instead of only one. Oh well, some things work out a little differently than planned.

Both of my sister's strength is being tested early on in this new year. For my sister Star, her physical strength in that she is having a pretty major surgury this week to fix an issue that occurred months ago with a fall. My parents are going down to support her and I am optimistic that all will go as planned and she will be able to recuperate fully.

My other sister, Sunshine's emotional strength is being tested. She is an incredibly strong woman and I know that things will work out for the best.

For me, I am happy and doing my very best to enjoy my life even though I had to start a new year by saying goodbye to a few people I thought were important friends. I am sad to see these friends go, but also realize I must do my best to surround myself with people that truly care about me. I have high hopes for 2011 and maybe even a tattoo or two in mind...More to come on that in a later post:)

Whoa! December's been busy!!

Happy almost Christmas everybody! I can hardly believe how fast the last month in 2010 has flown by. Part of the reason these weeks went by so quickly is I spent two and a half weeks doing my middle school practicum in a Social Studies class at Rowe Middle School. What a crazy few weeks that was! I ended up teaching 7th and 8th graders about four ancient Chinese dynasties-a subject I am well versed in now, and my lessons went fabulously! I can hardly wait to finish my worksample, take the endorsement test and be able to teach middle school FINALLY!! I so very much enjoy the kids at Rowe and I think they enjoyed having me teach the few weeks before break as well :) Everyone involved learned quite a bit, which is always a good thing.

Another fun new thing that happened this month was my first house and tree decorating away from home! (Not counting college of course:) Alicia and I have been roomies since the end of September and we had so much fun decorating our house for Christmas! We got a beautiful tree to display our hodge-podge of ornaments, stockings-even for Falcon and Monty, lights, and other fun decorations. I love just sitting in our living room, fire going, enjoying it all! We also hosted an ugly Christmas sweater party last weekend that was a hit. What a fun time! I could not have asked for a better group of people to come partake in the holiday fun-tivities:) Minus one couple who couldn't be there because they were in Washington, we missed you Jess and Matt!! Thought it would be fun to share some of those pics which also show our Christmas decorations, double awesome!

 The hostess' with the mostest!

 check out the window decorations!

 such wonderfully ugly sweaters!

 apparently Ben was missing his bones

 much of the evening was spent giggling

 Neil was tired

 our parents are cool :)

 check out that Dunder Miflin mug!

 playing pin the carrot nose on frosty was a hit!

Joe tricked me!