crossing my fingers. hoping and hoping and hoping that it turns out allright. i want this so bad, but i'm also scared of finances. i'm so good at saving, but not at spending or investing. but i really think this is a good investment. i am usually ok and negotiating, but i've never done any large negotiations before. a bit scary.

so much goodness and sadness.

last weekend paul & i drove to the wallowas (specifically to the eagle cap wilderness) in ne oregon, where i had never been before. we hiked 27 miles in 48 hours (3 nights) in 80/90/100+ weather. hot! summited eagle cap (elevation 9572'), went over a pass. snowline was 7500', but wasn't bad. i used trekking poles for the first time. they definitely helped with the stream and snow crossings. we arrived back in portland a day early, tired, sunburned, and content. i would love to go back. i also have to say that i love our new water filter (wedding present!) and my granite gear backpack. it is delux. what a great loading system! and so ultralight.

last night we met ethan and nicole at the portland city grill for happy hour and then returned to their place to play some games. a very nice evening.

tonight is my last book club. the color purple, which i just finished 2 minutes ago. a very good book. i'm looking forward to good food and beer.

i am also superly looking forward to spending time with amy and kate this weekend! the beer festival downtown, and hanging out in portland for possibly my last weekend home. paul's parents arrive on monday, and then we depart for madison on the 15th or so. in the inbetween time we'll be in central oregon, klamath falls, crater lake, the painted hills, fossil and other adventures. possibly summiting south sister too!

tomorrow is my last physical day at trimet. which is slightly sad. but i get to work remotely from wisconsin. and i have a cool device, which is very 24-like to log on with. it will be nice to have a month off of work. of course, that will include packing and unpacking and buying and selling and moving a ton. lots of energy.

ps. i've sold a ton on craigslist. i love craigslist. i still need to sell a wedding dress, slip, dolls and fins. let me know if you want any of those. :o)

I'm in love with this home, can I just buy it now, sight-unseen?

Today is the day for my donation to Locks of Love. Paul & I are doing it together. Currently, my hair falls to my elbows when down.

I'm nervous, and scared, and excited too. It's hard for me to even envision myself with short hair since I've had long hair my entire life! I'm scared that I'll look really silly with 10+ inches gone, but we'll see. Cross your fingers for me....I need to look good for job interviews in Madison. ;o)

A backpacking trip in the Wallowas this weekend!

hehehe

someone found my blog searching for:
"organizing your closet using a dichotomous key"

After two years of closure, Mount St. Helens will soon be reopened to climb!
I'd love to do this (as well as summit South Sister).

Also, some interesting facts from today's Oregonian article:
"...the smoking lava dome inside the caldera is growing at the rate of 10 cubic yards every 10 seconds, the equivalent of a large dump truck. The mountain is rebuilding itself at -- geologically speaking --lightning speed, he said.

"At this rate it will regain its original shape and size in about 100 years..."

I forgot to mention about 4th of july weekend. We spent it with nicole and ethan and another couple at netarts/oceanside playing lots of card games, eating good food (mmm steak) and having a bonfire at cape kiwanda. then on the 4th paul and i drove north to manzanita to watch the parade where my grama rode on my dad's motorcycle waving to the crowds. i could explain about the spectator kids next to us grabbing candy furiously and their crazy mom, but i will not for paul's sake. ;o) they did make me a bit grumpy though. i hope i'm not a mom like that.

two GREAT pieces of news:
1) erin's wedding is coming up and i'm super excited for her and ambrose.
2) sapna and david are engaged.

congratulations to both couples!

oh: and exciting piece of news #3. paul and i bought tickets for the sufjan stevens concert in milwaukie, wis in september. it's a monday night, but it should be great. we have seats a bit back from the stage, but they're in the exact center, so that's pretty cool. and we bought three tickets, so i hope that jason will be joining us. also, we're tempted to buy chicago tickets for the next night, but the 'presale' tickets were all gone, so we'll have to beat others to the keyboard on the 15th if we want to obtain them. i would *love* to go, but then again, driving 3 hours there (in rush hour too) and then 3 hours back to madison on a weeknight does not seem like the best thing to do, esp after driving the night before to the previous concert. hmmm.

i just realized yesterday that i only have two weeks left at my job. that's so soon. and i am nowhere near done with my project that i really wanted to be done with. but this year there are 5,000 more surveys to deal with (times four!), so that may be why. i will probably be working remotely from wisconsin during the month of september. we shall see.

so i didn't mention this two weeks ago, but definitely the lowlight of my summer so far (or maybe the year?) was that i got a ton of stuff stolen from our locked car when we were hiking up eagle creek in the gorge on the 25th of june. sucky sucky sucky. my third time going through identity theft now (the other two times were a fluke from people stealing mail from my college mailbox, and the second time who knows how they got my card number and rang up a dozen msn accounts....this is the first time i've ever had anything physically stolen from me, so i guess in a way that's pretty good luck to only have it once in 25 years of life so far--and I am one of those people who does not give out information and shreds everything). changing bank account, changing direct deposit/withdrawl stuff, canceling checks, writing up affidavits and police reports. it is so time consuming. not to mention losing hundreds of dollars of stuff (i just added it up tonight and it's around $800---whoa!--lots of medium items add up pretty fast, especially articles of clothing). so these past two weeks have been spent clearing lots of things up and talking with banks and all that fun stuff. but things should be looking good soon. and since we have renter's insurance we might even get some reimbursement $ (after the large deductable of course).

today i finally got my drivers liscense. once again, a not so great picture. but the dmv express at lloyd center rocks. so fast, so easy.

does anyone know--do i really have to get a new passport since my name has changed? or can i just keep using my old one and bring along my marriage liscense?

also, anyone interested in driving our car one way to madison? at the moment paul and i are taking two cars across the country, but it would be nice to find somone to take one of them for us. i'm thinking about posting something on craiglist and interviewing people for the "position". it would rock if that works out. then we could get our car there and save on gas.

i really should not be typing right now. i should be working on rounding up more stuff for our garage sale this weekend. lots and lots to sell, but just like the stolen stuff, all the little odds and ends if they sell will hopefully add up fast. we're trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible before our move. anyway, time to go work. i hope all of you readers are doing well.

first off, i must say that allergies suck. sore throat, runny nose, sneezing. i've never been this bad before, but this year i feel like i'm allergic to the world. i'm even taking a generic claritin pill each morning, but it doesn't last all day like it says it should.

Tiring weekend, but a great one. Manual labor just feels so good, so fulfilling. Spent numerous hours clearing dead sagebrush and limbing ponderosa pine and juniper near sisters in central oregon. clearing a 20' perimeter fireline (8' up all trees) on a 6 acre parcel in 102 degree weather = tired muscles and red skin. At the end of the day I had SALT CRYSTALS on my face under my eyes and on my forehead. Usually, I just get a slight powder of dried sweat, but this time it was 3d crystals. crazy cool and weird. i've never seen that before. also head to toe covered in dirt. more precisely, fine volcanic soil/dust stuck to sweaty skin. Feels great to take a shower, and also to get that messy!

tomorrow is the world cup final match, and i'll be joining the portland crowd at pioneer courthouse square to watch. i don't really care who wins though (although i have a slight preference for italy for no apparent reason), i just like watching soccer. go teams go.