Seriously, Snow?!

So, I just got word that I'll be staying home today. Campus is shutting down on account of the "chubby white rain" we Oregonians refer to as snow. Is it still snowing? Yes. Is it sticking? Kind of. Is it cause for ANY concern? No. Ah well. I'll clean my house and blog instead.

I think it is time I start using those fun link-thingys in my blog. So have fun, this one is full of them!

Updates since last I blogged:
1) I've got yet another part-time, temporary job (I think I might paint something on the side of my wagon "Advisor for Hire" or "Student Affairs on Wheels"...what do you think?). I'll be working at Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus as the Outreach and Orientation Coordinator (lovingly called an "OOC"). I'll mostly be working on planning the spring Preview Day (May 8th), giving campus tours, hosting high school student groups visiting campus, and going out to high schools to give the PCC pitch. Should be fun. I'm excited for the work, the opportunity to develop my skills and meet more people, and most of all I'm excited for my office! That's right. Office! With walls and everything!

2) 1/2 marathon training began last night. Yep. In the freezing cold. My partner wined and moaned and we both hobbled up the stairs after we were done on our fast-aging joints. But it was great. 30 minutes as an easy-to-moderate pace (AKA - from our house to the stop sign and back). We still need to buy one of these for our training but we decided not to let our lack of gear stop us for making the plunge.

3) We're back in the housing market. We've looked at 6 places in the Tualatin/Tigard area in the last few weeks and this weekend we're headed to Beaverton. This is our favorite place so far. What do you think? And, if anyone needs a good real estate agent, check out this one (nice glam shot, right?). She's awesome! Laid back, friendly, genuine, knowledgeable, and flexible (anyone who has had a bad real estate experience can tell you how amazing it is to find all of these qualities in one person).

4) We're social butterflies and loving it. Last week/weekend we hosted 2 dinner parties, attended 2 birthday parties, co-hosted a pampered chef party, and met friends in Salem for lunch at one of my all-time favorite places. Yum!

5) We got a new TV. Thanks to Mom and Dad for their half (that was our Christmas present)! We've been looking for one since the summer. The price finally dropped low enough that it was my present upon my return from Minneapolis. I got to watch Obama being inaugurated on it and in HD you can almost count the gray hair on his head. It is fun and for some reason even though we didn't pay for cable before and got some channels now we still don't pay for cable and get even more. Welcome back HGTV & TLC! I still don't understand the difference between digital and HD (no matter how many times my partner explains it) but I like when the TV is bright and flashy looking. :)

6) I went to Minneapolis to visit my sister (lovingly known as Teed) and we had a blast! The first day we were there we made it all the way to the lobby! Highlights from the trip were seeing this guy, going here, drinking one of these, sleeping, getting this and this done, and eating at this cool place.

7) I'm busy this week with the Oregon Women in Higher Education conference. I'm on the planning committee and have been in charge of concurrent sessions, exhibit and poster sessions, networking sessions, and the artistic interlude. The conference happens on Friday and boy will I be glad when it is over! Tired as I am about the planning and logistics, I am excited for the conference and also looking forward to seeing my graduate school buddies.

8) My mom will be in town this weekend and I'm looking forward to her visit. (If you are putting 2 and 2 together and thinking: "Gee, that's a lot of house guests and stuff going on", you are correct! Refer to #4 - we're a busy bunch). We're going to take her along for the house hunt this weekend. The woman has owned 93 houses so she'll certainly be good to have along for sage advice, not to mention that she thinks I'm funny and I like to make her laugh.

9) I'm looking forward to this girl's baby shower. I bought the CUTEST little things for baby Ella and I am excited to see this girl and this girl at the shower, too.

10) I'm newly obsessed with this drink. And in typical "me" fashion, I order it with 1 1/2 pumps of classic syrup and non-fat milk. Mostly 'cause that is the way I prefer it, but also 'cause the barista at the local Starbucks is cute, and I like to make him look up from the register and make eye contact (Shhh. Don't tell this boy!).

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
I've decided that I don't like diet cocoa. I've tried it with varying levels of water and it still just comes out tasting like chocolate-flavored water. Once I'm out of this supply and next time I'm at the store, I'm opting for the calorie laden cocoa. That will be a while yet, however, since I've turned into my mother and each time I go to the market seem to think "We're out of cocoa, I need to buy some!" and therefore have approximately 1472 packets of the diet crap at home. Sigh.

FYI - the snow has turned to slush and rain since I've started writing this blog. Thank goodness we canceled school and closed down campus!

Ciao for now and Happy Reading!

~Phoenix