May and June Recap

Hi!

The biggest stress in these months was car trouble with our Forester. Derek took it in to have an inspection done and was told that it would cost a lot to have it fixed. While we figured out what we wanted to do, Derek started taking the bus to work and found that he actually enjoyed it.

The car trouble came at a bad time since I already had plane tickets leaving from PDX. We had to rent a car for the first time to make the trip up there. But it all went fine, we even got a free upgrade to a nice, new Nissan Sentra.

I flew in to Columbus without any problems, but at the time, Cambrie and my mom were in New York to see a Laura Marling show. They even got to meet her (see the picture below)! Cambrie has loved Laura Marling's music since Derek first played it for her when she was in middle school.

When they got back to Columbus, we went to the Schottenstein Center for Cambrie's high school graduation ceremony. It was the same building that I graduated in in 2008. The ceremony didn't let out until 9 pm, but we were still able to make it to Olive Garden for a late celebration afterward. 

Cambrie quit her job at Donato's Pizza a few months ago and has been working at an AMC movie theater ever since. She was able to take me to see Baywatch and Wonder Woman for free, which was pretty cool.

Because Cambrie has been taking college classes for a year instead of going to high school every day, she decided not to have a school color theme for her grad party. Instead, we got pink and gold balloons and decorated the tables with pink and donut table cloths. I made all breakfast food for the party, and in lieu of cupcakes, we had donuts. It was a hit!

We watched a lot of Netflix while making decorations in the week leading up to the party. Some of the shows we enjoyed together were Riverdale, Anne with an E, and The Keepers.

In my last few days in Columbus, I was able to eat at Mr. Sushi with my family and Sunny Street Cafe with my friend Joy and her boyfriend Dylan.

The flight back to Oregon was fine. The rental car for the return trip wasn't quite as nice. Derek was pretty cramped driving a Ford Fiesta.

When we got back home, we worked on getting our car all cleaned out and ready to sell. We ended up having a pretty good experience at a nearby dealership, Kendall Budget Sales. We traded in the Forester for a Volkswagen Jetta station wagon. We named it Goldie, and we like it a lot!

To celebrate our fifth anniversary, we tried a new restaurant, 541 Sushi (named for the Eugene area code). It was pretty good, but our favorite is still Sushi Island.

Lastly, we've started working on the dollhouse again--the inside is completely finished, so now we are making the windows. 

And now, pictures!

Took this on a walk along the Willamette River

Cambrie and Laura Marling

Look at her! So grown up!

Sisters

Freaky strawberry at Cambrie's grad party

Goldie!

Still needs windows, shingles, and edges painted

Looking pretty good (just need bathroom and bedroom furniture)

April Recap

This month, just for fun, we rearranged some furniture in the apartment. We moved the couch and TV in the living room as well as our bed and bookshelves. We had a date night at our favorite restaurant, Sushi Island. Courtney continues to walk to The Daily Bagel, Barnes and Noble, and the Valley River Center mall.

At work, I found at that, at least for this round of layoffs, my job is safe. The deal with Quest is going to mean a significant reduction in the workforce at my lab. But luckily for me, the work that my department does is going to continue to be necessary. We did lose one person from my department, but not due to layoff. Lauri decided to take another position at a company that shares our building, Pathology Consultants.

Dinah doesn't know how to feel about all this change!

Or she just wants some attention...

Courtney's fav sandwich 

Lots of flowers popping up all over

Double rainbow!

March Recap

Hello!

Not much happened this month. Cambrie turned 18 on the 2nd. Construction is still going on. I tried new recipes, including a new way to make scrambled eggs and a really delicious barbecue chicken wing dinner. We had a few date nights in March. We went to Unami, a little place that serves sushi burritos. It was pretty tasty. We also ate dinner at a new Whole Foods that opened up. I took Derek on his first trip to Menchie's for their frozen yogurt. We started watching the show Veep and have been really liking it.

February Recap

This month saw the siding upgrade construction project in our apartment complex move to the painting stage. It's been a pain dealing with all of the noise and construction workers and trucks, but it'll be worth it once it's all over.

We ate out at some of our favorite restaurants in February, including Hawaiian Time, Shari's, and East Meets West (a Chinese restaurant that we tried for Valentine's Day and really like). We continue to go to Eugene Public Library on a regular basis, this time renting a few movies. We especially enjoyed Fiddler on the Roof.

We've also bene watching a few cartoon shows like Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls. They're not only fun, they have some great music, too.

I've been witnessing an interesting transition at work. National chain lab company Quest Diagnostics has entered into a management agreement with the company I work for, PeaceHealth. In February, none of us were entirely sure what this would mean for our jobs. There were a lot of rumors going around, and generally, the announcement and early stages of the transition were handled very poorly. Since I wasn't sure whether I would be keeping my job, I attended a Quest job fair. I didn't know what to expect going in, and it turned out to not be very useful for me, as they were really only looking for phlebotomists and logistics/courier staff. We would all just have to wait and see what would become of our positions.