Ma and Pa Lambert visit Oregon

That is right...the Lamberts came to Oregon. My mom and dad spent a whole day in airports and airplanes just to come see where the middle daughter chose to start her career. And, boy did we pack in some fun. Okay, so it was a while ago and it has taken me a while to get the pictures posted. Whatever....Enjoy the recap.

We drove down to Eugene just to take in their special-kind-of-crazy and have a Voodoo doughnut. Yum!

We drove over the coastal mountain range to Newport. We had lunch at Rogue Brewery (Again, yum!), visited the Marine Science Center, and took in the seals while shopping the Old Bayfront area. It was freezing at the coast, even though it was 90 when we left Corvallis to drive the 45 miles to Newport. The weather can change drastically when you cross the coastal range. We had planned to stay and watch a sunset, but it was too cold and damp for the folks.. and it was cloudy so you couldn't see much anyway. I told my mom I would get her a sunset before she left.

They got the tour of campus complete with landmark buildings, Benny the Beaver statue, and of course my office!

We took a trip over the Cascade mountains to spend some time in the high desert portion of Oregon. We stopped at the museum and took in some sites there.

We shopped in Sisters (too busy shopping to take pictures). We stayed the night at the boss' cabin. Naturally for an aggie, it is shaped like a barn. My dad was ready to retire here.

And then we hit up Crater Lake. My second time seeing it but my parents' first time. It was also my first time without 30 feet of snow. We were able to drive all the way around. I could have spend the whole day here. Enjoy the pictures.

We took in nature.

And when we left Crater, we ate lunch and drove to Northern California to see some tall trees. This was nice and  my parents were troopers. I think they were tired at this point but they stuck with me. Going to see the trees was mostly an excuse to get over to the Southern Oregon coast so we could see a sunset without cloud. Remember - I had promised my mom.

We found some rocky Oregon beaches - think Goonies!

And we were able to see that sunset. Here are just a few of the 40+ pictures my mom snapped in the few minutes the sun was setting.

I hope they come back soon.

Wordless Wednesday 2-8-12

I love it when it snows with no wind (Note: This was a few weeks ago. Tomorrow is 58 and sunny.)

Checkin' in on the Summer Bucket List

The question is: when does summer end? Does it end when the public schools start back? Does it end a month later when the University starts back? Does it end when the weather finally turns rainy? 

I am going to go with the latter. Oregon really doesn't have four seasons... it has the rainy season and the amazingly dry, sunny perfect season.  I posted a Summer Bucket List in mid-June when the rain cleared. Now that it is raining again, it is time to check back in and see what I accomplished during the 5 month break in the rain.

I wanted to read 20 books. I didn't do too bad on this one. I read 14 before classes started back. After summer conference, I took the scenic route to look off Vista Point and blogged about my adventures. 

I wanted to see live music at least twice. I saw Civil Wars in Portland June 21 and I saw a live band on the pier while on the family beach trip (which not only checked family beach trip off the Bucket list, but also allowed me to check off "Sit by the pool for a week and not think about work".) 

I definitely made it to the top of Mary's Peak. And blogged about it!  I wanted to attend the Association of Leadership Educators (ALE) Conference (and make my first trip to Denver) and I did it July 10-13 and blogged about it here. I drove a LOT of the Oregon coast. I have now driven from Northern California to Lincoln City, and watched the sunset, but I haven't done the northern coast. I am calling that a 3/4 victory. Lastly, I visited my friends in Columbia, Missouri, in August and blogged about it here. Amazing summer!

I didn't accomplish everything on my list. I am still finishing up the summer's big sewing project. I wanted to go to the Dahlia festival, but I missed it this year. I still plan to have supper at The Cowboy Dinner Tree, Shop the Pearl, and hit up Portland's Japanese Garden and Saturday Market. I also still need to make a few trips: Wallowa Lake and San Francisco (or Seattle). 

I think I can get 'em all!

Apparently

Apparently my 'Christmas' cactus is a Thanksgiving cactus.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

Saved by the Bell?!

Let's be honest: Most mornings I am flying out the door at the last minute and eating a granola bar once I am at my desk. Lately I have had some early mornings for trips with the student teachers or training sessions. That means I am eating breakfast in my own living room. Just for noise, I turned on the TV and guess what I found?!?

Saved by the Bell. Image credit

I LOVED this show as a tween. And, really when you are 11 years old - what is NOT to love about this show?

Here is my thought process as an 11 year old:

• This show is set in a school. I go to school. So I know things!
• I wanna be Kelly Kapowski.
• Isn't Zack dreamy?
• Boy, they just got one over on Mr. Belding... again!

Let me tell you: Those same thoughts are different when you are 31 years old - especially when you are a former high school teacher and current teacher educator. I sat, watching this rerun and was mesmerized by the show... because I couldn't see what I would have possibly liked about it.

Here is my thought process as a 31 year old:

• This is a school. Where are the teachers? Are they learning anything?
• Why would I have wanted to be Kelly Kapowski? Cheerleader -really? I am really more of a Jessie Spano. No, wait.Wasn't she that girl who was in 'Showgirls'? Eww. Screech is probably the only one in the group who is gainfully employed these days.
• Zack is an over-gelled kid who acts like a jerk to adults. Does he think he is being sneaky? 
• Oh Mr. Belding, you could be my role model. Well, if you weren't partially incompetent. 

Perhaps I should go back to my granola bar at my desk and leave the morning television to the 11 year olds.

Wordless Wednesday Halloween 2011

The nieces and nephew on Halloween 2011.

(the two older ones are my sister's and the three younger kids are my brother's).

Page CXVI

Page CXVI is in the Pacific Northwest!

I had the chance to see them last night at Sunset Presbyterian in Portland. It is my fourth time seeing them perform. They are going to be here in Corvallis Thursday night, but I already had something to do so I drove 3 hours round trip to watch their 1.5 hour show. Totally worth it.

If you are not familiar with their music, here is what you need to know. They do old hymns in a new way. They are a modern and accessible version of music written before my great-grandmother was alive. There is nothing I can say that can convince you, so check them out.

I bought Hymns IV last night and listened to them on the way home. You can stream and sample all of their music off their blog site. Seriously, love them. Hope you do, too. Go listen to their music. If you are in Corvallis, check out their show.

The best part about a college town

The best part about living in a college town (even a small one like Corvallis, pop. ~50,000) is the culture. I was reading through the 'OSU Today' email this past Wednesday morning. I realized Nancy Giles was going to be speaking FOR FREE on campus as part of a diversity seminar. If you don't know Nancy, this is an excerpt from the bio that was posted on the University's website. "CBS Sunday Morning contributor, comedian and actress Nancy Giles delights TV audiences with her social commentaries and theater fans with her solo pieces. She is a funny, perceptive and provocative observer of today’s world. Her acclaimed work on CBS Sunday Morning has provided the largest audience yet for her unique blend of laugh-out-loud humor and common sense wisdom."

Credit

She had an 'opening act' in that she followed street poet Joaquín Zihuatanejo . He was awesome! He has some stuff on YouTube. You should look him up.

I went to see Nancy and she was great. She speaks the truth in an accessible way. I love her essays on CBS Sunday morning. Watch one here.

So, the best part about living in a college town (besides the football, of course!) is that on a random Wednesday morning you can check your email, find out about a free community event, walk over to said event after work, be moved to tears and forced to think while being engaged in your own community. Then head the three miles to home. Does it get any better?

wordless Wednesday 11-2-11

Fall color in Corvallis

Two.month.hiatus

It has been nearly two months since I posted. It is not that I don't have a story to share. I do. I have tons. I have been adding them to a list.. Some are even here in Blogger in rough draft form. But life got busy. The term got rolling. I was traveling. Classes needed to be taught. Excuse. Excuse. Excuse.

One of the things I remember most from grad school was this phrase: Write before you are ready.

It's message is simple, but extremely difficult to execute. You want to have all of your thoughts together. You want them all to be golden. But that isn't reality. You have to write. Some of it will be good. Some will be awful.

If it is writing that truly matters (i.e. the 10 conference submissions I am writing now) then you write and edit and write more and edit more and wind up with a completed product of which you can be proud (in this case hopefully by the December 19th deadline). If it is writing that doesn't determine your fate - like this blog- just write. Polish some. Post.

There is no excuse for not writing.

The reality is this: This blog is not a drain on my productivity. It is an outlet for my creativity. Writing this way frees my thoughts up for more academic writing. Writing begets more writing.

My issue is I don't like to write until the post is finished in my head. I don't like to "let posts go" until they are done. I need to get over myself. Time to write.