the worst feeling

I haven't been through a heart-breaking, physically painful, can't stop sobbing breakup in a long long time. Maybe that's why this one feels so awful? It seriously has to be the worst feeling in the whole world. Or at least the worst feeling I've ever felt.

And then this song came on iTunes and it was like perfect:



So friends, I ask you this today, please send some good thoughts/vibes my way. I definitely need it.

And P.S. I love you all

arcade games + drinkz

On Saturday I drove from White Salmon to Portland (after my friend Andy’s wedding) to meet up with Dustin who was there to drop Battle Cat off at Pickle’s house for a few days. When I got there Pickle was out at a BBQ so Dustin and I decided to walk over to Big Al’s and play some arcade games and have some drinks. 

We played Big Buck Hunter (see above) and Air Hockey and Racing Games and it was good. After we had been playing a while Pickle showed up and we played this pirate shooting game. Dustin steered the pirate ship while Pickle and I shot at some bad guys. Ha.

It totally wasn’t something I would normally do, but I had a bunch of fun playing games with Dustin.

Also we ate nachos. I love Nachos.

Ok that’s all for now. Byeee!

last day of work snacks

It’s my last day of work and I have snacks breakfast (thanks office lovelies)!

Yep, a maple bar and chocolate milk. Plus some coffee from the office coffee bar, and boy, I can promise you I will not miss the coffee here.

It’s a good thing the people in my office decided to feed my breakfast, since apparently on my last day of work I can’t even pull my life together enough to show up (a) on time for work – I was 30 mins late, or (b) eat breakfast before I get here.

Whatever, judge away. I don’t care. You know why? Because it’s my last day! Hooray!

Bachelorette Party Part 2

After our day of wine tasting we were ready for dinner. We went to a nice restaurant, brought some bottles of wine, and enjoyed a meal together. I love all-girl-dinners!

At the end of our dinner a jazz band started playing on the patio, then moved inside to play in circles around our table. I think they got the memo that we were there for a bachelorette party. We loved it!

 

After that we walked around a little bit until we found the place to be in downtown Healdsburg. This bar was seriously wedding central!! There was a post-wedding-group, and two other bachelorette parties there. So naturally we had to party it up for an hour or two before heading back to the house.

   

After a drink or two (plus a shot, so I guess that makes three) we headed home. Back at the house Danielle, Kate and I sat in Danielle and Courtney’s room and reminisced for a few hours about our days in the sorority. Courtney joined in because she was also a sorority girl back in the day. Carly was in on our convo too, despite the fact that she didn’t go Greek. That’s ok, we love her anyway haha!

The last night in Napa totally made the trip for me. It was a lot of fun. I’m definitely really looking forward to Danielle and Steffen’s wedding Labor Day weekend!

The Second to Last Day

Guys, tomorrow is my last day of work for the summer. Tomorrow I say bye bye internship, bye bye Umatilla reservation and bye bye trailer park. How crazy/exciting/almost sad, right? Right.

Today my boss came to the reservation to execute wills and other estate planning documents with me. Well, actually he came into town last night and took me out to the Prodigal Son for a beer and dinner (thanks, boss).

We ended spending a ton of time today with the Tribal Court Judge. I actually did some estate planning work for him while I was here, and he apparently was really impressed. I think that means we’re BFF 4 Lyfe! We even took a picture together today – I’ll post it as soon as Doug FWDs it to me (and don’t worry about a confidentiality breach, Judge J told me that I could advertise that I did his will, and I could send people to him to ask about his experience, seriously BFF status).

We also executed a bunch of wills.

And two of the ladies from the office took me to lunch at a pizza buffet. It was really sweet of them, it made me feel even more welcome here. And to make things better I totally doused my meal in ranch like a fat kid – it was good. I think I probably burned it off tonight at the gym though, so I don’t feel too guilty.

Also here are a few things I’ve learned from working on the reservation (I’ll add more later):

• how to wear/rock heels, everyyy day, even in BFE Oregon
• I love Indians in Cowboy hats
• Everyone knows everyone else on the reservation. It’s crazy. And everyone will say hi to you, even if you don’t know them.
• Old me love me (ok maybe I already knew that, but it was totally re-affirmed)
• Working 8 hour days in a cubical is really tiring
• it’s the little things in life – like toilettes in front of your trailer – that make you the cool kid in the trailer park

Ok that’s all I can think of now. Time for dinz (gotta finish up this bag of safeway select frozen raviolis – the portobello mushroom ones – SO good!).

Bachelorette Party Wine Tasting in Napa Valley

Or should I say wine drinking? Because let’s be honest – that’s what I did.

As some of you may remember I am a bride’s maid in my friend (and sorority sister), Danielle’s wedding. So this last weekend I flew down to Cali to go to her bachelorette party.

I got there on Thursday afternoon. The groom-to-be, Steffen, picked me up from the airport and we spent some quality time together before Danielle got off work, picked Kate up from the airport and met us back to their apartment. After we were all reunited (YAY) Danielle and Steffen took Kate and myself to dinner in downtown Palo Alto (they live like two blocks away – amazing). Then they took us to Yogurtland for some FroYo and it was sooo tasty! After that we headed back to their apartment to watch a movie and have a low key night.

The next day we drove up to Napa Valley (Healdsburg, more specifically) to the party! When we got there we played some games and dressed up in our bridesmaid shirts had dinner and drank at the awesome house the MOH, Carly, had found for us to rent.

The next day we woke up bright and early for some breakfast and then some wine tasting. We hit up three wineries on Saturday. The first was Ridge. This was the view from the deck where we were tasting:


And here are the rest of the girls tasting (I was taking the picture):


Next, upon recommendation from the guy pouring our wine at Ridge, we went to Bella. We all loved the fun atmosphere and pretty setting there. Not to mention that one of our tasting was paired with a snack. Win!


We also really loved the fact that 1/2 of our tastings at Bella were in the wine cellar, which I thought was sooo cool! It was right under the vineyards and the inside was beautifully decorated and felt really special and secret.

the bride and me

Next we drove to downtown Healdsburg to go to La Crema tasting room. Danielle and Steffen are actually serving their wine at their wedding, so it was really neat to go there for a sneak-preview of the wine I’ll be sipping drinking at their wedding. 
 

After all of our wine tasting we were all pretty tired so we got some amazing sandwiches at Oakville Grocery and took them back to our house, where we ate and laid in the sun and watched TV and napped until it was time to go to dinner. That post to come later.

All in all, Napa Valley Wine Tasting for Danielle’s Bachelorette Party was a success!       

dinner and music

Last night I made Dustin and I this asparagus, goat cheese and lemon pasta for dinner:

Photo credit: Smitten Kitchen

I stole the recipe from Smitten Kitchen which I am basically obsessed with as of lately. I also made us some Flank Steak stuffed with Feta & Roasted Red Peppers & Spinach (that was all Trader Joe's handy work). It was nom. On the side I had like a whole bottle of wine (whoops). But, fun fact, I googled it today and apparently a whole bottle of red wine only has between 500-700 calories. A lot, I know, but way less than a couple margaritas. I sound like an alcoholic.

Oh and Dustin was really cute and picked up stuff for raspberry shortcakes for dessert. Good job! They were yummy. He even made raspberry booze sauce to go on top (um, yum!). Now I really sound like an alcoholic. 

And P.S. here are some songs for you today. It's raining and cold in Seattle. I hope it's nicer where you are. Maybe it will be nicer at the trailer park today? I'm heading back for realzies today - after totally chickening out yesterday (oops)! Kylee: why are you still here? Me: because I hate it in the trailer park. Kylee: good reason! 

P.S. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Urban Outfitters has some great free music. So if you want some free iTunes downloads go HERE and if it's Monday you can get the free music Monday playlist and if it's not Monday you should click the LSTN playlist (then click the iTunes icon to DL). Yay for free, legal music DLs! I love. Especially when I spent 10+ hours a week driving back and forth from the Indian Reservation! Right?