It’s a Small World, After All

Jeff and I found a kitten in our yard yesterday. We took it in, but it keeps escaping our backyard. Then coming back. Then escaping again. And in the middle of my work day today I receive a text from my aunt, who lives in Oregon.

Lyn: Do you have a grey kitten?

Me: Yes… We just found it yesterday. Trying to find its home, but can’t seem to.

Lyn: Diana [her friend who is apparently the principal at the elementary school across the street] just called and said it’s at the school. Want me to have her keep an eye on it?

That’s kind of really hilarious to me. My aunt, 700 miles away, knew where our estranged kitty was, while we hadn’t even realized she’d gone missing. What are the odds?!

Hi, Debt – I’m Jen

After (not very) much deliberation, Jeff and I decided to buy a winter vehicle! Eeeee!

The logic?

Jeff drives a Volkswagen GTI, and it has lowered suspension and it’s kind of a doozy for him to raise, then lower a few months later. Even raised his car isn’t that great in winter. It does fine for what he’s looking to do (get to work and such) but I also wanted a winter vehicle (I drive a Nissan Altima Coupe). One that would get me to the mountain. Because this year I am going to snowboard WAY more than last year. Which should be easy considering I didn’t make it up to the mountain even once. AND it will be easier in the sense that I have a vehicle that can get me there without thinking I’m going to die, or slide down the mountain backwards whilst trying to drive up it!

Also, someday I’d maybe like to own a boat – and will need something to tow it!

I’m soooooo excited! Isn’t she cute?

Ya know what I’m not excited about, though? The high amount of debt we’re in now. Haha. Jeff just refinanced the loan on his car to get some new parts, and now I have this loan. So… yeah. Awesome. But I think it’s exciting that we did this together, even before we’re married. We’re getting a head start! It’ll be good for our credit so maybe some day soon we can get a house together. :)

All in all though – I think I’m ready for winter. There were a few Labor Day sales I took advantage of, so I am now the proud new owner of a snowboarding jacket, pants, and boots to add to the excitement quotient. But like I said earlier, I shall snowboard the face off this season. Mark my words.

I will regret saying that I’m ready for winter when the first snow fall comes and I have to shovel the driveway. But for now, I shall bask in my excitement while I can.

Western Adventures

Apparently summer isn’t quite over. I jumped the gun on my last post. I guess since school is back in session, (note: I don’t even go to school) I just felt like the summer was over. Turns out, I had at least one last adventure in me. One of my dearest friends Carina came to the area for a visit. I met Carina in Portland. We were studying the same major at the Art Institute. She now lives in Seattle, so I was excited for her to come visit again (she came last fall as well).

This time we planned her trip in a time when we could do touristy fun things. And boyyyy did we. She arrived Thursday to Idaho Falls. We spent the day in town, did a little shopping, got a pedicure, made dinner for my family, then we headed to Jackson Hole, WY (about a 2 hr drive from IF). My Grandma has a condo that she so generously let us stay in for a couple nights. Friday we went on a 21 mile rafting excursion.

The morning was a scenic route where we just got to float and witness the beauty of the Snake River Valley. However, it was 32 degrees when we got up. And we were wearing shorts… soooo… there was more shivering than witnessing. But it was still pretty cool. We had a provided lunch and then headed out for the whitewater portion.

Luckily, it had warmed up by early afternoon and we hit the hoeback junction for some real rafting. Now, the last time I went rafting was when I was about 13 years old. I believe it was in June, so the rapids were a lot more active than late summer, and I ended up getting bucked out of the boat, not-so gracefully. I was traumatized… haha. So, this was the first time I’d been since (10 years later… woah), and I’m proud to report I did NOT fall out of the raft. Wooo! It was the first time Carina had been whitewater rafting, so I was pretty excited to share the experience with her.

Side Story: So, there’s nowhere in the Idaho Falls area that recycles glass. And like a good little Portland girl, I’ve been saving my glass… for about 11 months now. As you can imagine, I had quite the stock going. I’d found out a few weeks prior to our trip that Wyoming DOES recycle glass, so we took a trunk full of glass bottles (literally) and were able to recycle them in Jackson. I was pretty excited about it. But the guy said that they may stop recycling glass soon too. Sadsies.

So, after our rafting and after we had some dinner, we headed back to Teton Village, where my Grandma’s condo is and noticed that there is a restauarant in the middle of the resort’s mountain AND that there was a free gondola ride up it. So we definitely had to partake.

On Our Way Up!

View from the Top

The next day, we decided to take the tram up the mountain to see even higher views of the valley.

Atop the Mountain

They also have a waffle hut there. Turns out, these waffles are a miracle cure for hangovers. Whew!

On Our Way Back Down

THEN, we decided to drive up to Yellowstone through Grand Teton National Park. Man, what a beautiful drive. I’m sure I’ve made the drive before, but it had to have been almost 15 years ago on a school trip, so I was quite amazed at the views of the Tetons. This side of it is way prettier than the Idaho side of it.

Then we made it to Yellowstone. :)

We came in through the south entrance, gandered up to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, and headed over to Old Faithful, then out the west entrance. We only saw ONE bison, which is absurd for Yellowstone but we were still excited about it anyway. And we also saw a few elk on our way out too.

The rest of the weekend, we hung around Idaho Falls, rode bikes around the green belt, played with the puppy, and ate a lot. Haha. It was a glorious four and a half day weekend, indeed. Thanks for coming to wisit C-Rizzle!

So Long, Summer…

Sadly enough, summer is almost over. And I have to say, it was a very good one this year. I was busier and more active than ever, which isn’t hard to beat considering how old me liked to have fun – with primarily TV, Movies, Video Games and Food. Granted, I still love all of those things, but I like to believe I have added a few other things to what I will refer to as my “fun arsenal”.

And now I give you a list of reasons why my summer was good times:

1. I made new friends
2. I traveled with them and with (soon-to-be) family
3. I found a wedding dress
4. I learned to rock climb
5. I learned to wakeboard
6. I added a new family member to my household
7. I settled into our house more with new (to me) furniture
8. And I had one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a long time with friends and family

And through all of it, I find constant reminders of how glad I am that I moved home when I did. I love being around for the little things like impromptu gatherings, sleepovers with my neices and nephew, and their birthday parties I used to always miss out on. It makes me happier than I think anyone realizes. It’s all still very bittersweet because I miss my pac-nw friends dearly. But I’m hoping they will soon come to visit me, and that perhaps I can make it up and over to see them again soon, as well.

Now, with all that said… there is one thing I didn’t do this summer and probably should have done a lot more of. And that’s plan my wedding. Whoops? Apparently long term planning is not my forte. Besides, the more I think about stuff, the more I just want to elope. So, I’m trying to take it in baby-steps as to not get overwhelmed (note: it’s not working). So.. here’s hoping that starts to come together soon… we shall see. Stay tuned.

Viva Las Vegas!

After several years of wearing him down, I finally got Jeff to go on a trip with me. Well, me and his family, that is. See, his dad competes in some sort of national bowling tournament every year. And this year it was held in Las Vegas. So, his family decided to use it as an excuse to all go to Vegas too, and we were invited. It took a few months of us all telling him it would be fun to get him to go, but in the end, it worked.

If you hadn’t picked up on it already, Jeff’s not much of a traveler. Or any sort of traveler. Growing up, his family never really took trips anywhere and if they did, it was for a reason. Cheer competition in California? K, let’s hit up Disneyland. Doctor’s appointment in SLC? K, let’s go to Lagoon. Stuff like that. So, as usual, he needed an excuse to go somewhere. Just so happens, we didn’t see or partake in the actual reason we all ended up going to Vegas – the bowling tourney.

So, we went!

We made all of our reservations through Allegiant Air. So, we got the plane tickets, shuttle tickets from the airport, and our hotel all in one. Then, because we booked at the right time, MGM decided to give us free tickets to Cirque du Soleil. Score! We’ve seen a few of the others (they traveled through Portland when we lived there) so, we were excited to see another.

We got there Friday, got checked into our room at the Luxor, and passed out. Haha. We’re really good at vacation. Nah, the real reason is, we hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since we’d brought Penny home a couple weeks prior. So we were pretty anxious to catch up on our sleep.

But the rest of the weekend, we Vegas’d like the best of them.

Saturday:

1. Buffet at Excalibur.
2. Walked over to Mandalay Bay and hit up the Shark Reef Aquarium. Pet the manta rays and saw the biggest turtle I’d ever seen in my life.
3. Rode the rollercoaster at the New York, New York
4. Went to see the lions at the MGM.
5. Hit the slots. Lost $120… but then one it back, plus $20 in one hit. Haha. WHEW!
6. Saw KÀ, the free-for-us Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM.

Sunday:

1. Buffet at Planet Hollywood.
2. Hit the blackjack tables at the Bellagio. Jeff won. I lost.
3. Went to Circus Circus.
4. Got stranded at Circus Circus.**
5. Went to dinner at Benihana.
6. Went to Fremont Street.*

*Fremont Street Experience:

The night was Queen themed. I have absolutely no idea why. But it was amusing, nonetheless.

**Ok. So apparently the northern part of the strip is not getting much business these days. So, taxis don’t even bother waiting for customers at the older hotels anymore. So we go to try and leave the Circus Circus and there’s a cab line about 20 people long. And zero cabs around. Zero. We wait for a few, and watch like 30 cabs drive by. So I decide, enough, we’re walking to another hotel and getting a cab. So, we walk down the strip a little ways to the Riviera. Have to bob and weave through the hotel to get to the taxi line. Luckily this line was empty. Oh wait – that’s because there are no cabs here either! So we talk to a valet and he points to a guy in a suit and says “He’ll give you a ride for $30, he’s driving this limo.” Me: “Eh, that’s ok. We can wait for a cab.” The Valet: “It’ll cost you $25 for a cab.” Me: “DEAL!” So…. I had my first ride in a limo, all because there wasn’t a taxi in sight. I was incredibly entertained for the entire drive.

Monday:

1. Buffet at the Luxor (lol – sensing a trend?)
2. Played blackjack for a few hours.
3. Killed time til we caught the shuttle to the airport.
4. Came home.

All in all, I would say it was a very nice trip. I really enjoyed myself, and Jeff seemed to as well. Especially once we started playing (and he started winning at) blackjack. We’re already talking about a return trip. So… yay! Mission Accomplished. :)