Seven

Here are the rules: 1. Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog. 2. Share seven random or weird things about yourself. 3. Tag seven people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. 4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So my journey begins. This may take me awhile… wish me well Sulustu

1.) WA,OR,CA,ID,NV,MT,ND,UT,AZ,NM,TX,CO,LA,AL,GA,FL,VA,MD,DE,NJ These are all the states I have been in, twenty in all. I did not travel to all of these of course in the same trip; most of them where for family reunions and working with my dad. During one of my travels, I went to Louisiana during Mardi Gras.

I was 14 years old and my sister and I were allowed to go to Mardi Gras to work all the parades in a three week period. At the parades, my sister and I shared a cart with various children’s novelties and sold them at outrageous prices. We woke up by six in the morning and traveled to different cities in LA, AL, GA, and FL. I would sleep in the van on the way to the cities and then wake up never knowing what city or state I was in. We returned home late in the evening to a warehouse full of toys and a bed on the floor. We were expecting to make lots of money. As it turns out my dad made us pay for all our own food and any other toiletries we may have needed. I think I came home with maybe 200 dollars, which is nothing when you compare it to 3 weeks of work. I guess I was too young and inexperienced.

A month later (if you include the travel time to and from WA-LA) I returned to school. That quarter I got all Fs and D’s most of my teachers said it was OK because I learned life lessons that I could not learn in school. If asked I would say I learned how to eat a crawdad, what a Hurricane tasted like, that grits taste bad with salt, sugar or with anything for that matter, don't step on a fire ants nest, don't tell people you can break a hundred, and lastly, don't drink the water !

Bountiful Bowls

I went to Center Pointe today for their benefit "Bountiful Bowls" . I meet a couple girls from school and their families. You paid 15$ and got soup from local establishments like O'Doherty Irish Grille and Soulfoul Soups. You selected a hand painted bowl to take home. During the meal a slide show was presented explaining the concept of the bowl of soup. The bowl represents your work, cars, home etc. and the soup in the bowl represents your life. Often you see others people's bowls and think how beautiful theirs is and soon you began to concentrate on your bowl and it it's imperfections. You can only see why theirs is so much better than yours. In actuality you should be focusing on the soup, this is what gives you sustenance, this is what keeps you going. They suggested that "the bowl" was just

a tool to help aid you in your life and you must be grateful for what you have. You must celebrate your life, "the soup".

Here we stand proudly holding our bowls. From left to right (Me, Paul (Heidi's paramour) , Torri (Heidi's daughter), Heidi, and Luara)

Las Vegas

My Dad took me to Las Vegas for New Years. My Dad had received a complimentary room and an invitation to a New Years Eve party in the Grand Ballroom. It was a lot of fun. I did not take very many pictures mostly because I would forget to bring my camera when I left the hotel. This is the view from our room. You can see the stratosphere in the background.

This is the Grand Ballroom. I took this picture way before the New Year's Eve party even started. I was disappointed then when I showed up and they had this really neat ice sculpture. It said 2009 and a bartender pored drinks through the numbers to serve you your drink.

I had forgotten my camera so I went back up to my room later to get it, which took about 10 minutes, got side tracked and forgot to get the camera. I decided not to go back up.

During the party we got free drinks and free dinner. The dinner was neat because they had four separate sections in the room to get food. They served Asian, Italian, and American and then a dessert section with a chocolate fondue fountain. They also had a fountain of champagne and multiple cheese and meat tables.

I actually ended up spending midnight in a glass elevator watching the fireworks on strip, with a stranger, and talking to Aaron on the phone. I never once got drunk in Vegas. I guess I did not spend enough time sitting and gambling. I did not go to any shows. I almost went to the Body Exhibit but I could not rationalize why I should pay 35 dollars to see cadavers when I have dissected them before.

I was happy when it was finally time to go home. I tried to take a picture of the strip while taking off on the plane but the plane was rattling and just gave me streamers. I think it is still interesting although blurry.

Lastly, I took some pictures of the sunset while flying out of Vegas. I love seeing the progression of the sunset and the color changes.

This last one I tilted the camera side ways to see what the picture would end up looking like. To me it sorta looks like you are in outer space taking a picture earth.

30 Years

This last monday I turned 30 years old. I remeber when I was about 18 not being able to imagine my self at 30. I thought I would be depressed that I was getting so old. I am actually happy about it. I feel I am no longer a young adult but just an adult. This makes me happy. I am almost finished with school, only a year left, and then I will be starting my career. My birthday was pretty uneventful. My mother and father both forgot to call me on my birthday. My sister Kim was the only family member to call me (my brother Barry sent me an email). I hung out in my bedroom all day because the downstairs was 62 degrees. Anyone who knows me knows that is way to cold for me. I was feeling pretty down by the time my boyfriend came home (at this time only my friends had called to wish me happy birthday). Aaron walked in the door with this most beautiful Lilly. This really brightened my day.

The rest of my birthday week turned out better. The next day my mother and father called. On Friday my sister took my brother Barry and I to lunch. We went to the Lunch Box on Francis and Nevada. This is a little to-go place with several different Asian dishes. I love this place, the food is really cheap, you get tons, it is made fresh, and it is good. The only bad thing is it is only open from 11-3 in the afternoon.

100th post

After much waiting and anticipation I have finally created my 100th post. I had been saving my 100th post for something very special. The only problem was that nothing seemed all to spectacular. After some prodding from my brother I have finally decided to just go for it. So here is a recap of some of the things I did this summer. Nothing to exciting but altogether I hope it is worthy of the title.

My Summer Break

Letterboxing

Every summer I try to go out letterboxing. This particular time I went with Aubrey and Shanoah. This was their first time and so here they are posing for the camera after finding the first letterbox. We only found 3 out of 6 which is always disappointing.

Deep Creek Hike

Frank, my mom, Kaleb and Shanoah and I went on a hike at deep creek. I love this place. The first time I went here was with my brother Barry. This time it seemed much different. Everything seemed greener. In addition, there were many more spots where you had to cross small ponds.


Things felt different for me also because I saw this place with a new perspective. I have been reading the Earths Children Series by Jean Auel. This is a story taking place during the period when cromagnum man and neanderthal lived simultaneously. While walking I thought about how these people would be assessing this land. I also wondered what all these plants were around me and if any of them were edible or had medicinal value.

End of Deep Creek

At the end of the creek you end up at the Spokane river. Near the end of our hike we all started getting a little paranoid. The hike took longer than expected and we were worried we would not make it back to the car before nightfall. We decided to take the dirt road back. We were traveling along the road when we noticed a trail leading back down to the creek. My mother and I wanted to take the trail but Frank was convinced that the car was just up the street a little bit. We tried to convince him the cars were on the opposite side side of the road but he insisted we go forward. We followed him onward until we came to the place he thought the cars were at. They were not there and we had gone to far to turn back. We decided to keep following the road. It was kinda funny because Frank started walking really fast and leaving us all behind. Later my mom asked why he did that and he stated he felt he got us lost and it was his responsibility to get us back safely. I thought that was sweet. When we finally got back to the cars we were are very exhausted, happy and accomplished.

Montana Trip

I went to Missoula Montana to visit my friend Staci. I only spent one night with her but it was so much fun. We went letterboxing several times. We went out to lunch and dinner several times and just talked. It was nice to catch up on everything. I really liked Missoula. There were so many people there walking around in the streets at all times of the day. We also went swiming on the last day. I hadn't swum all summer. The water was a little chilly but it was deep and refreshing. I hope I can go visit her again sometime. I wish I would have taken more pictures but it seemed I always forgot to take my camera.

Nakusp, B.C.

Aaron and I visited Nakusp early this summer. The first thing we saw was a dead bear on the side of the road. I was going to stop and take a picture but then thought it was disrespectful. It was disheartening to see the bear because I have only once ever saw one in the wild. They seem rare and special. It was sad seeing such a special animal dead because of humans.

The rest of the drive seemed long but beautiful. there was green everywhere. We saw many deer but strangely we saw no dead ones. Most of the trip was through the Rockies on this skinny little highway. This was nerve racking for me I was happy when we finally arrived in Nakusp. We stayed at the Leland hotel (pictured below). We were in Canada on business so we did not get to do to much site seeing. Not that there was much to see the town is quite small, but we did get to go to a movie for free.

I really love the small town feel. Someday I hope to live somewhere where I could bike where ever I wanted to go. I The first day there was a farmers market and I got a marble for my mother and I in a little new age little shop. We had to work the rest of the day until late in the evening. Later in the evening we walked around the town and looked at all the closed shops. Up on the eaves of the businesses were orb weaver spiders. The whole town was riddled with them. You had to be careful wear you walked or else you could run right into a web. I did not have that experience but I came so close that I was very careful afterwards.

The next day was Sunday and most of the shops were closed. We walked the beach looking for rocks for both my mother and I. Everywhere I visit have to get a rock. I think I picked up this habit from my mother. We left early to get back home.

We stoped in a town on the way back home, I forget which town , to shop at the Safeway for some items I can no longer find in the US. I did find what I was looking for plus a bonus. In Canada they have ketchup potato chips. When we were at the store it seemed that everyone was buying them. I had to get some for myself to try, seeing that I absolutely love ketchup. These chips are so strange in appearance. They are covered in a red coating and taste a little bit like salt and vinegar potato chips with and aftertaste of ketchup. I actually liked them and wish I would have brought home more. I wonder now if they ever tried to market these in the US.

Leland Hotel

The Leland hotel is the oldest hotel in British Columbia and it showed. Our room was very small and there was cobwebs on the lights. Within the hotel there is a lounge. Aaron and I had a couple drinks there. It was funny because everyone in the bar kept droping things including money. Although old the The Leland is located on a beatiful lake.

Arrow Lake

Lunch With Barry

Had another lunch metting with my brother Barry. We went to De Leon's. This place is really cool. It is a couple blocks off Division on Francis. I discovered this place sometime this last summer. They advertised "tortilla made fresh daily". I love Mexican food so I had to go in and check it out. Ever since then I have been hooked. They have this great marinaded steak called Ranchero Marinada or something similar to that. They also have a deli but I had never tried it out. My brother suggested we go there to the deli for lunch. I had asked him previously to look at a presentation on vision impairment that I had to give in class. He agreed to listen and give me pointers and we scheduled a time for lunch. The food was great and after spending an hour at De Leon's we left to go take pictures of this frozen waterfall I had seen the night before. The night before the snow was falling heavily and the waterfall glowed in the night. Coming back in the day it looked less magnificent and someone had put antifreeze in the water to help melt it and so it had a pink hue to it. Regardless, I really love this picture of my brother. He seems to be glowing. Maybe he stole the glow from the waterfall I had seen the night before. Below is a close up of the icicles. You can see the pink at the tip whcih give's it a strange appearance.

Free Rice

I just recently found this website. It seems legitimate, but you never know these days. What you do is you go to this website called Free Rice and they give you a word and you have to choose the correct synonym. Every time you get one right they donate 10 grains of rice. They monitor your vocabulary level and how much rice you have accumulated. I think it is pretty cool because you get to improve your vocabulary and help people at the same time. Check it out!