Last Saturday, Sam and I spent the day at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. If you aren’t familiar with Timberline Lodge, you may recognize it from the classic Jack Nicholson film, The Shining (a.k.a. my favorite horror movie of all time). Here we are standing in front of the main lodge. Photo credit goes to the overwhelmingly friendly Timberline staff greeter at the main doors.

While Sam went on numerous snowboarding runs up and down the mountain…

…I happily settled into one of the comfy couches in the main lodge and set to work on my Central Park Hoodie. You know, the hoodie I started 902383098 months ago. The hoodie that I have put down for periods of 3 to 6 months at a time. The hoodie that is currently 70% finished and already nearly a year and a half old, still in progress.

After ripping the half-sleeve I’d knit months ago, I started the first sleeve over again for the FOURTH time. 45 minutes later, I was the proud owner of the 5″ ribbed cuff. Hey, the 4th time’s a charm, right? Here I am cruising along, happy as a clam. Photo cred goes to Sam for this one.

We spent nearly an hour in one of the many bars at the lodge where I had by far the yummiest spiced cider I’ve ever had in my life. It was fucking DELICIOUS, and worth every penny of it’s outrageous $6.75 price.

I even snuck in some knitting time while Sam was dragging off his wet, soggy gear in preparation of the drive home. (He even let me drive both ways!)

All in all it was an awesome Saturday spent with my favorite person on the planet, and I enjoyed every second of being away from home and the change from our usual routine. Sam goes to the mountain almost every weekend and I always stay home and do my own thing - it was great to get away and do something drastically different for a day. And of course I LOVED the snow. I grew up in Alaska, and I really, truly miss it’s beauty. *For the record, I don’t miss the cold.

I’ll leave you with the photo I snapped when I realized Sam is *still* driving around with this sticky note on his dash. I stuck it there when he wasn’t looking about 2 months ago, and it hasn’t moved since. I think he likes me. =]

Despite being down and out all weekend with a horrific head cold Sam was kind enough to share with me, I managed to stop knitting and get off the couch long enough to color my hair on Sunday.

I’m very happy with the change, but I’m still sick sick sick.

Here’s hoping I’ll feel better soon; I’d hate to feel this awful during our mini vacation to Seattle this weekend. I booked Sam and I two nights in a jacuzzi suite — we deserve to enjoy it with our health restored!

I just spent a half hour looking at photos of my sister’s trip to Peru last year. I’ve never wanted to go traveling more in my entire life than I do right now.

Last weekend proved, yet again, that I’m simply not made for the kitchen.

Exhibit A displays what should have been moist, spongey, delicious lemon cupcakes:

I stress the phrase should have been. Even Sam isn’t sure where exactly I went wrong, as all it required was mixing a bit of water and cooking oil in with the pre-packaged cupcake mix. Regardless, they have all been devoured despite their blatant lack of anything resembling cupcake-like qualities.

Sam gently let me know that in no way should I ever consider a career in the culinary field; though I must admit having a live-in chef Boyfriend Who Cooks certainly isn’t a drawback.

Growing up in Alaska, carved Halloween pumpkins would quickly freeze outside in the frigid below-zero temperatures of the winter. This allowed the pumpkins to last months and months, virtually unchanging for the entire winter before melting down to become garden food in the spring.

Exhibit B dislpays the current score of Alaska - 1, Oregon - BIG FAT ZERO:

Last weekend, instead of engaging in standard Halloweenish festivities like costumes and parties, Sam and I drug ourselves out of bed at 3:45 am (did I mention he drug me out of bed at THREE FORTY-FIVE AM?! THREE FORTY-FIVE!! ….IN THE MORNING!!) and walked out the door at 4:20 am bound for Bremerton, WA.

We were on our way to Sam’s first track day since getting his MKII Supra back together after his custom 1JZ-GTE swap (that he did mostly by himself, which I assure you is one HELLUVA feat and something to be very proud of) and he was as giddy as a schoolboy. I don’t think he ever smiles quite so often and so big when he’s going racing. His happiness and excitement radiates from him, and it really is something I appreciate getting to experience.

Exhibit C displays two of my favorite Race Day memories:

…and of course I couldn’t miss a Whitesnake inspired photo opportunity displaying my just-finished Better Than Bella’s Mittens on the hood of Sam’s car; Exhibit D:

…and of course I spent my free time finishing Eclipse and starting a shawl I’ve had my eye on for quite a while; Exhibit E:

I’ve been having some fun with photo editing; Exhibit F:

Oh yeah - and revenge is sweet. Sam just exploded a couple hot dogs in the microwave. I’ll let you be the judge; Exhibit G.

Saturday, October 3, 2009 - Day 1 of 5

It’s 10:30 pm of our very first night in Vegas and I must admit, we’re already lounging in bed in our pj’s. I’m exhausted from the stress of having flown, something that makes me both sick to my stomach and nervous for my safety. All in all, I did better than I thought I would, with only mildly wild nerves and not a single panic attack.

breakfast at PDX

PLANE bagel!

We flew in around 1:25 pm this afternoon after what was the bumpiest and downright scariest landing either of us have ever experienced. The pilot did an awesome job and was able to get us safely to the ground in the torrential cross winds, but not without panicking quite a few passengers who were loudly vocalizing their displeasure.

View from the 24th row of the plane

After the landing, the entire cabin literally broke into applause of appreciation for the pilot. It would have been an incredibly moving experience if I hadn’t been desperately trying not to humiliate myself by being air sick in front of everyone on the plane. Thankfully I was able to keep it together long enough to disembark the plane and felt a thousand times better once in the airport and back on solid ground.

After checking in and dumping our bags in the room, we hit the casino floor. This is both our first time in Vegas, and our first time stepping foot in a casino. I must admit it was loud, bright, and intimidating at first, but we quickly got the hang of the penny and quarter slots and even won $20.

Instead of driving to the Stratosphere with a small group of Sam’s coworkers, we decided to hit the strip. We didn’t realize just how huge city blocks are in Las Vegas until we started hoofing it, but somehow we ended up walking all the way from our hotel, the Sahara, at one end of the strip, to Treasure Island which is somewhere around the middle of the strip and simply referred to as TI. I’m not sure exactly how far it was, but it felt like miles. After waiting 20 minutes or so for the 7:30 showing of the Sirens of TI, they announced that due to high winds (you know, the kind that nearly crash your plane while landing), the show couldn’t possibly go on. We’d waited for 20 minutes for nothing. We went inside the TI casino and ordered a drink instead. 10 minutes later we were trudging our way back towards the Sahara, already exhausted with blistering feet.

We ended the night with dinner at the NASCAR café just off the casino floor where I had the best cheesesteak I’ve ever had since leaving Alaska. It wasn’t quite the delicious heaven that is a Food Factory cheesesteak, but it was damn close. Back in our room for the night, we quickly realized just how many amenities we would be lacking for the next four days - no mini fridge, no microwave, no cable TV, and worst of all no free wifi for the laptops we‘d been so excited to bring. We settled for a relaxing evening enjoying the sights and sounds of our open 16th floor window facing towards the Stratosphere, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

The Stratosphere from the 16th floor of the Sahara

Very, very, very tired.

*Days 2-5 to come in the following days. Stay tuned!

I’ve slowly but surely been writing my Vegas Vacation post (get ready, it’s going to be a long one) over the past couple of days, but haven’t yet found the time and motivation to go through and edit the 219 pictures on my digital camera. I’ve decided to include just a few of my favorite shots throughout the upcoming post, but I’m also making a photo gallery to display all of the photos with one easy click. When it’s ready, you’ll find a link at the top of my website, aptly labeled “Sin City”. There, you will be able to view all the the photos from our Vegas vacation.  Stay tuned.

Despite my best efforts to stay healthy, I awoke this morning to a pounding headache and an aching throat, both of which are still going strong. I feel like my head is underwater and I’m struggling to concentrate and stay motivated to finish my work day. I imagine this weekend will be a long one, full of bed rest and cold medicine. Sam seems to be feeling significantly better now that he’s on his fourth day of being sick; I suppose my immune system could only defend itself from his toxic germs for so long before giving in. Here’s hoping I don’t get as sick as he did, and for a swift recovery.

By the way, have you heard that Marge Simpson will be on the cover of next month’s issue of Playboy?! I can’t decide if that’s totally awesome or totally creepy. You be the judge.

We’re back from our Vegas vacay after 5 days of fun and excitement and I must admit being back in Portland is both super relaxing and honestly a little boring in comparison. Sam is sick as a dog with an awful head cold and I’m back at work for the day. I’ll write more tonight when I’ve gone through our 219 pictures taken over the course of our trip.

It’s great to be back!

This morning I woke from a horribly stressful dream. It went like this:

I’m on a plane full of people. Sam is nowhere to be found, his seat sits empty next to me. Just as I’m considering getting up to look for him, the plane takes a steep dive downward. We’re heading nose first straight into the ground. Somehow, I can see the sky to the sides of me and the ground in front of me getting closer and closer, as if the plane had a huge window at it’s nose that everyone could see out of. And then, just as suddenly as the death spiral started, we were flying normal again.

The sense of relief was huge but only temporary. This sequence of death spiral and then suddenly flying normal happened over and over and over throughout the entire dream. Finally, when my brain must have convinced itself that it couldn’t possibly put me through even one more death spiral, the ground was directly in front of us and the pilot landed the plane – perfectly safe and sound – on a beautiful country road.

The unnerving part of having had this dream is that Sam and I are getting on a plane tomorrow headed for Vegas. Let’s hope the dream wasnt’t a premonition. But hey, at least everyone survived, right?

Quite literally. This was by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, even in comparison to the majestic wonders of my home state of Alaska. Never in my life have I witnessed such crystal clear water, but don’t let it fool you - it was such a frigid temperature that our bones ached from wading to our knees to cool off from the heat of the sun.

The 3 1/2 hour drive to Three Pools near Detroit Lake, Oregon is absolutely worth every mile. Highly recommended.

Heck yes I did! And I got to see Tanner Foust, though didn’t get to actually meet him. I even got a picture of Travis and I, as dorky as that made me. He didn’t seem to mind and happily smiled for the photo. I’ll be uploading the full size picture later today, as well as the Photo A Day pictures I’ve missed the past few days. Sometimes life gets so busy I don’t have a spare minute to post!

Here’s a little teaser:

The weekend was fabulous, as usual. Well, most of it. I did spend all night Saturday sick to my stomach, and woke up around 5am throwing up again. This sudden, unexpected vomitting and dizzy spells is becoming a common occurance for me, and HP and I are at a loss of what may be the cause. It seems to happen randomly. A few of our guesses for the cause of this specific instance:

• 1. Hormones - I am woman. Need I say more??
• 2. Heat stroke - While at the Rally America on Saturday, I got a severe sun burn on my shoulders and back. It’s now Monday and I’m still red as a lobster and painful to the touch.
• 3. Food poisoning - We both ate fast food dinner around midnight, but HP never felt sick.
• 4. Bedsheets spray - I’d sprayed our sheets with a yummy Between The Sheets spray before we went to bed. That was the first time I’d used it. HP LOVED it, and slept better because of it, until he was rubbing my back while I hurled for the 4th time in 30 minutes. Update: I sprayed our sheets again last night, just to see if that was what made me so sick, and I slept like a baby. This stuff is FABULOUS - highly recommended!
• 5. Overdose on pheromones (is that even possible??) - I had attended a Slumber Parties party that afternoon. ’nuff said. LOL
• 6. Diabetes. HP mentioned that people with diabetes have to pee a lot. After peeing 7 times in the one hour I spent throwing up, I’m now paranoid that I have undiagnosed diabetes. How could I have produced that much liquid at a time like that?!

Yeah, your guess is probably as good as mine as to the actual reason. As you can imagine, it’s extremely frustrating.

After spending most of the night tossing and turning with a horrible stomachache and then praying to the pocelain gods every 10 minutes for about an hour, I finally felt well enough to get some sleep. We didn’t wake up until after 10:30am, and didn’t actually get out of bed until around 12:45pm. After watching some car racing on tv, we took a nap around 2:30 and woke up at 4:45. Talk about lazy Sunday!

Alas, Monday is here and I’m back to my 10pm weekday bedtime. Thankfully, my company gives a paid day off for Memorial Day, as that day now holds a deeper meaning for me after Derek’s death in Iraq just 18 months ago.

Regardless, I anxiously await the upcoming long weekend. I plan to do some serious sleepage.