Two Weeks of Vacation!

Starting Friday I have two weeks of paid vacation! The only downside is that Tim will not be able to take time off, which has changed my plans slightly. We had planned to go camping with his family in North Idaho, but that will not be happening now. Tim and I are leaving for a wedding tomorrow evening (Tim is the best man), and we will return Sunday in time for me to catch the train to Seattle. I am still visiting my cousin Allyson for a few days, and Julie and I will still spend the days around the fourth of July together in Seattle and on Lake Chelan. Then I will return to Eugene for our first anniversary (where did the time go?) on the 7th. But rather than go to North Idaho during my second week of vacation, I will be taking the train (15 hours overnight each way) to Berkeley to visit Aaron and Amber! I will also hopefully meet up with Reid while I'm in the Bay area and get to tour Pixar, where he is interning this summer! Needless to say, I am very very excited about the next two weeks. I am feeling the need for a significant amount of time off, and this is the perfect remedy!

I will post pictures after my fabulous two week hiatus.

Graduation Weekend & Father's Day!

Tim Graduated from the UofO with a B.S. in Business Administration (minor in Economics)

With my family - I just love them!

With Tim's family - I love them too... but I look like a midget!

We also celebrated Father's day with my dad while he was in Eugene. The weather was beautiful all weekend, and we got to play tennis (dad's gift from Tim and I was a new racket, something he hadn't bought in something like 25 years)! And we went out for lunch, took naps, played cards, watched a movie... just had a great relaxing day together. (see more pictures of the weekend here.)

I'm thankful for the wonderful people in my life!

Moving Forward...

Even as Barack Obama moves forward after the final Democratic primaries this week, I move forward in my job search. Though my life is really no comparison to Obama's - I feel like I'm on cloud nine right now, as I'm sure he must have felt when he clinched more than the needed 2,118 delegates to secure his nomination as the Democratic candidate for President.

What I'm getting at is ... I got the job at Hecht & Norman Immigration Law Offices!! I will start as a Legal Assistant on August 5th. This is good news on so many levels.

First of all, I get to quit this boring and mind numbing job for something much more challenging, inspiring, and interesting! Also, I will be able to take at least eight days of paid vacation before I have to turn in my two weeks notice. I'm hoping I can use a day or two of vacation time (combined with a weekend) and slip up to Seattle on the train to visit my cousin Allyson and her family, and also spend some time with my best friend Julie at their cabin on Lake Chelan. Tim and I will take a few days to camp at Lake Pend Orielle (in North Idaho) with his family in July. And I can take that trip to San Francisco/Berkeley to visit Amber and Aaron the first few days of August before I start the new job. I will spend June and July reading up on immigration law and refreshing my Spanish. I've downloaded long lists of podcasts in Spanish, and will be doing my best to listen to them as often as possible - surrounding myself with the language in hopes of soaking it in and pouring it back out on the job.

Though I will be stressed beyond belief for the first few months, will take a slight pay cut, and will be without health insurance for three months, I am oh so excited about this job change. It seems that all the applying, interviewing, and hoping for jobs that I didn't get in the last several months has prepared me for today. This job is, by far, the best fit of all the jobs I've applied for. The timing is perfect, and the people seem to be enjoyable, intelligent and quite cosmopolitan, really. Just what I've been yearning for. And, most importantly, this job pertains to something I actually care about, and it's a job that could turn into a career...

Truth or Consequences

As I may have mentioned in previous posts, I love Thomas Friedman. This recent Op-Ed column he wrote reaffirmed my admiration. I have recently been contemplating what stance a wise presidential candidate should take concerning oil and gas prices and our energy policy, and then what do you know... Friedman addresses the issue. What if we did as Friedman proposes, then focus the revenue generated from the gas taxes to improve, expand and provide more subsidies for our public transportation throughout the country? Sounds like a step in the right direction to me. Any thoughts?