Volunteering

The brown part to the left was a part we were already working on, still not quite to the fence at that point. this was only a 4 foot chain length fence and the vines stood about 5 feet tall.

Sorry I haven't been posting too much on here. With the majority of you being on Facebook, you have been getting your updates on me that way. But I need to be better at blogging so those who are not social networking can be in the loop as to what is going on in my busy life.

Today I volunteered for an organization called Impact NW with 9 of my co-workers. Impact Northwest’s mission is to help people achieve and maintain self-sufficiency and to prevent and alleviate the effects of poverty. We helped clean up 2 back yards. One yard was neatly manicured and only needed a few bushes trimmed back. The other yard was crazy! It had been taken over by vines. The vines stretched the full length of the chain length fence. There was about two feet of vine before you could even get to the fence. The vines went up and over the guys shed and took over all the ground cover. In the vines we found a boat oar, boat anchor, (we totally thought we were going to find the boat), two tires, a wheel barrow, the support beam things for camping tents, a roll of carpet, a tarp, and every bug imaginable. None of that stuff was visible before starting to cut back the vines. We removed ALL of the vines. It took us 5 hours. Lots of cutting into the vines, pulling and pulling to get them loose. Man, what a job. As most of you know I don't even do yard work in my own back yard. Yes, I have mowed a few times but nothing like this. The cut back vines filled 2 large pick up truck beds. I should have taken an after picture. It was amazing. You could see the whole fence, and the ground was just loose dirt. Needless to say, I feel accomplished.

Tomorrow, I am getting up bright and early to walk a 5K for Race for the Cure with 11 girls from work. That should be a fun time. It is supposed to be raining so it will be even more of a memorable experience. Hopefully, I will be good and remember to post stuff about that tomorrow.

One month from today!!!.....

...I am going to marry this guy!!

2....count 'em! Two months from today....

.....I am going to marry this guy

..wait...no...this guy!!

3 Months from today....

.....I am going to marry this guy!!

My little orange cat is only about 4 months old in this picture. He just turned 2.

Tonight is pizza and a movie night! We have a pizza place close enough to walk to. We will walk over there, get our pizza and then veg while watching "She's Out of my League"

Happy weekend!!

S'mores Cookie Bars

I got a new pan for my bridal shower from a friend who was unable to make the actual shower. It is this super awesome 9x13 metal calphalon pan that comes with a lid. The pan came with the s'mores recipe on the wrapping. Tomorrow is my co-workers b-day so I decided to try this recipe out! It was rather simple and the batter is tast-eee! I wish I could show you the inside but I need to keep these puppies in one piece for now.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

16 oz Hersheys milk chocolate (4 of the large bars or equivalent amount of smaller bars)

6 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF

In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough in a prepared 9" x 13" pan. (Reserve remaining dough) Bake 15 minutes.

Arrange milk chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit. Sprinkle with marshmallows; skatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer.

Bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 16 bars.

Enjoy!!

4 months from today.....

...I'm marrying this guy!!

Justin as bacon for Halloween...I was a fried egg :)

Blue Lake Duathlon

They put every competitor race number and age so you knew who was your direct competition

waiting for the race to start

leaving the bike tent to start my 12 mile ride

ungracefully mounting my bike after running 3.1 miles

off I go!

Today I completed in my first duathlon. "What the heck is that?", you ask. It means run, bike, run. For this race it was a 5K run (3.1 miles) 12 mile bike ride, and another 5K run. I am not sure about my finishing time because the results were not up when we left the park. Justin joined me as my cheerleader and camera man. Such a sport waking up at 6am on a Saturday to support me. I had a great time competing in this. Oh man did my legs feel like jell-o during the transition from biking back to running. I felt like I was running like a muppet for the first 1/4 mile, haha. I am already scouring the internet for more races like this one. I had a blast! Yay!!

First week of new job...COMPLETE!

I had a four day work week packed with job training. I was working at an office with 2 other new hires. We learned tons about the credit union and how to use their computer system etc. Our trainer was fun and entertaining. I am sure it would have made for a long week otherwise. We got to tour the credit union branches that we will be working out of. Each one is a little different and the company will do lots of employee rotation if another branch is short staffed. So it was important for us to become familiar with all the work spaces. I am really enjoying it so far. This company has great morals and ethics and I look forward to a long relationship with them.

Monday I officially get my own desk, phone line, and many more things that will be customized just for me. Super excited!! Oh, and I received so much free stuff with the credit union's logo on it. They gave me a green and navy blue tote bag, travel coffee mug, pen, highlighter, mints, and I get a company allowance to buy clothing with the logo. I ordered a cardigan sweater (of course!).

mmMMMmmmmMmr

Sheri bought me this AWESOME pan for my bridal shower gift. I think Justin was just as excited about it as I was. Justin bought an espresso chocolate chip brownie mix and baked these Friday. :) They came out perfect! I cannot wait to bake more cute individual treats. I am going to use it again tomorrow to bake some treats for my new co-workers.

Bridal Shower

My bridesmaids, Stephanie and Hallie threw me a bridal shower with the help of mine and Justin's mom. We had about 10 guests at our house. Justin skidaddled and went to a coffee house to study for school. Steph and Hallie did so much work! They made tons of appetizers and desserts from scratch. Steph and my mom made homemade salsa, Steph made cupcakes with buttercream frosting, Hallie made deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, and little cherry chocolate "mice". The girls organized games with great prizes and party favors. I had so much fun. My mom's cousin Jackie and her daughter Sheri came all the way down from the Seattle area to be at my shower. It was so nice to see them.

Mother's Day Gift

I knitted my mom and Justin's mom little "mom" hearts for Mother's Day. I thought it would be fun to put it in a shadow box so it could be preserved on a wall. I think they were both pleased with their gifts. It was a fun one to make!

Mom and Steph & Baby Seanie came to visit

Mom and Steph

Justin and Sean (I knitted the baby's hat last christmas)

My mom and Steph came to visit us last Friday through Monday (Memorial Day). We had a great time together. Tons of eating was involved!! They came to visit so that they could help me pick out my wedding dress and give me a bridal shower.

Sean is now 15 months old (I feel like he was JUST born). He was such a good boy. He loved our animals and the animals loved him. It was such a great weekend!

Another year...

Today this guy turned 31 years old! Happy Birthday!! (Justin..not the goat, ha!)

5 months from today...

...I am going to marry this guy! :)

New Adventure

I have been at my current job for 2 years and 4 months, but who's counting? I am a bank teller for those who may not know. I sometimes find the job fun but it definitely lacks challenge. I know my job really well and am often working on auto-pilot. I work for a small community bank that does great things in the community. Since this position is not a challenge for me, over the last year I started looking for new opportunities. First, I interviewed with the Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington to be a Membership Manager. I know I would have done well at it, but I failed to prepare myself for the interview resulting in of course not being hired. I was okay with it and realized that position was not meant to be. About 3 or so months ago a position opened up at my current company to be a Customer Service Manager. This position managers the bank tellers and handles customer service issues with the customers. From time to time that person would be required to open new accounts for customer and/or process loans. I interviewed and was not hired. They chose another employee that was already a personal banker and had the training in opening accounts and processing loans. That was the one skill I was lacking. I know I would have been great at this too, but I do agree my co-worker was more qualified to jump into that position.

My work has been on a pay freeze since the month before my 1st annual review. I received my review, which was fantastic might I add. I was told by my manager I would have gotten a raise had they not been on a freeze. It's one of those things you almost wish they didn't tell you. Between that and a few other things about the job I started to look outside the company and actively apply for new positions. Most criteria at banks require you to have done that position you are applying for in the your past jobs. So, I started applying for teller jobs, figuring I could move up in the new company sooner than I could at my current place. I received a call from a local credit union I applied for. They are in the top 1% of credit unions in the U.S. and #1 in Oregon. The recruiter saw that I was applying for a teller position, but she felt I was more qualified for a Member Relationship Officer position (aka personal banker). I had my first interview last Wednesday with the recruiter and it went fantastic. I studied my butt off, doing lots of research on possible questions I may be asked. Trying to master the "tell me about yourself" question. And most of all, trying to be relaxed and not come off nervous. Since the interview went well, the recruiter called me back and told me she wanted me to take a few tests. One test was a Sales Assessment Test and the other one was kind of a personality test. I guess I passed both. I had another interview yesterday (Friday) with the manager of the branch I would potentially be working at. I felt very comfortable in the interview. It ended up being with 2 managers, one being from another branch. They were impressed with the research I did on the company and seemed to really like all of my answers. I felt comfortable with them and made sure to ask my share of questions as well. That all being said, I received a call one hour later from the recruiter saying I really "wowed" the managers and they would like to offer me the position. When I had my initial interview with the recruiter we discussed what a starting wage would be, they chose to bring me in for $0.50 above that. Super exciting! My first day at the new place will be June 1st!! I am very excited to have a job that challenges me and where I can learn new things. I am grateful for the job experience I have received at my current job and all of the friends and networking connections I have made.

To celebrate Justin is cooking me dinner tonight and then we are having sparkling wine with berries. Hooray!

Cinco de Mayo 10k

After 9 weeks of training, the race was finally today!! I had a lot of fun.

Here are my stats for my 10K (6.2 miles)

Finishing time: 53 min 56 seconds

Mile pace: 8:41

Finishing place in my age group: 13th out of 77 women

Finishing place for all females: 46th out of 246

Overall place: 122nd out of 393 total runners

I am excited to do my next organized race which will be a duathlon (run 3.1 mi, bike 12 mi, run 3.1 mi).

6 months from today....

...I am going to marry this guy! :)

Ice Cream!!

Oh my gosh!! Tillamook has a new flavor of ice cream called "Sticky Bun". It is out for a limited time only. It is cinnamon bun ice cream with sticky bun dough, praline pieces, and streusel swirl. It is to die for!!! Best ice cream flavor I have had in a long time. For my California friends and family here is a Tillamook Locator <~~click. I know the cheese is sold in Ca but hopefully the ice cream is too. I feel like I should stock up before it goes out of stores. Hopefully it will still be around in May and then Mom and Steph can try it. =)

Hoppy Easter

Hoppy Easter!! Today Justin and I colored Monster Easter Eggs for the first time since we were children. We had a lot of fun. Justin is very creative and took his time making sure his monsters looked "just right". We have had a nice lazy Sunday. I am going to make us Easter dinner in a little bit. :) Hope everyone had a great day!

Hal thinks he is helping

My monster has hair

Justin's monster is going for a ride

above: my monsters

above: some of Justin's monsters

My monster eggs (above)

Justin crazy monster eggs

Hal enjoyed coloring eggs with us

Justin is hoppy

Ackerson Wedding Reception

Britton Family

From left to right:

me, Blake, Chuck, Justin, Kathy, Kari, Angela, & Bill

The Bride is having fun

Me and J

Cakes made by Angela's good friend, Sandy

The Ackerson's cutting their cake

The reception was held at Urban Studio in NW Portland. It was a really nice place. Spacious and pretty. Everyone had a great time. Now Eric & Ang get to enjoy all the great gifts they received. :)

Happy Easter everyone!!

Angela & Eric get married!

This morning Angela (Justin's sister) & Eric got married at the Multnomah County Courthouse. It was a quick fun ceremony. About 15 family members and friends witnessed their big day. After the ceremony, Justin's parents treated everyone to brunch at Mother's Bistro. (Thanks Bill & Kari!! Great food!). The wedding reception will be held this Saturday. Very excited to go celebrate!

Here is a link to view more pictures that I took this morning http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58201&id=1262031966&l=dcab4cbae5