I worked hard to complete my internship and classes. My supervisor was a great mentor and my team and clients expressed that they were really going to miss me, so I guess I did my job right! It was a great experience. I have been working on my thesis since finishing up everything else and Jed and I are both looking for jobs.
the last MSW semester stack!
parting gifts from my internship
We blew lots of stuff up on the 4th and hangout our with the in-laws. It was nice to be back in a place where we could shoot off "real" fireworks. In Idaho we weren't allowed to fire off anything that fired in the air or had rapport and those are the things that make fireworks fun!!
That weekend we also went to the Portland Farmer's Market at PSU and it was almost overwhelming how huge and awesome it was!
not pictured: the butchers, bakers, candle stick maker, fresh cheeses, jams, honey, and just about anything else you could want
My friend who I met in 3rd grade (Justine) got married to my friend I met in kindergarten (Kris) in July and we got to go celebrate with them!
horray Justine and Kris!!
hanging out with other gradeschool original friends: Will (2nd grade) and Lynda (kindergarten) and their significant others (Alyssa and Tom)
Once school was out we were able to finally go backpacking!!! I live for hiking and backpacking every summer so this is a big deal to me and we skipped camping last year, which was really rough on me. This year we bought some proper clothing and a few other pieces of gear to continue working on optimizing. We have gotten our base weight (everything minus food, fuel, & water) down to about 37 lbs together, which is under the 20 lbs each to be considered "light" backpackers. Next we will be shooting for "ultralight" at 10 lbs base weight each!
prepping the pup for what to expect
First trip was Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge. We only did part of it to ease ourselves back in and as Nova's first trip: 8 miles up & back w/ 700 ft elev gain. Nova did surprisingly well.
Our second trip we did on the Oregon coast, taking advantage of driving the 5 hours for one of my high school bestie's wedding. We did Blacklock Point to Floras Lake, 1 hourr south of Coos Bay OR: 10 mi in and back with minimal elev change but a rough go on 1.5 miles of loose sand. We camped at a car camp spot because there was no where to camp at the state park.
After hiking out, checking into the hotel, and cleaning up, we headed to the rehearsal and dinner, then stayed up late helping the bride and groom with preparations.
look at the pretty bouquet she made!
Then we had fun at the wedding and reception for my buddy Lynda and her hubby Tom. It was pretty awesome reconnecting with old friends too as we had lots of time to chat at the weekend's festivities.
smilie bridesmatrons!
congrats guys!!
chillin like villeins with Victoria and Justine. the rest of our high school friends are in the background.
Whenever we weren't traveling we tried to get ourselves to the Farmer's Market for beautiful local produce and occasionally lunch.
For our "big" 3-day with my dad we did 33.4 miles up East Fork Quinault River Trail in the Olympic National Park's beautiful old growth temperate rainforest. We camped at Pyrites Creek the 1st day, then day hiked to Enchanted Valley and almost to Anderson Pass and back the 2nd day, then out the 3rd day. Jed jacked up his heal on day 2 and got bitten by some really terrible bugs on day 3 so it was pretty crappy for him hiking out, unfortunately. Also unfortunate, we didn't get to take Nova as it was in the Park and not Forest, so she got to hang out with my mom for the weekend.
Enchanted Valley Chalet, built in 1931
so many berries perished at our hand
For my birthday weekend, we visited my mom and had some fun in Kitsap.
Marine Science Center in Poulsbo's petting tank
fancy ice cream/sorbet
fantastically fragrant culinary lavender from the Port Orchard farmer's market
Blackberry Festival in Bremerton
delicious delicious noms
Jed got me one of my fave characters' new game
Food adventures!
so many blueberries from the backyard
vegan cupcakes from the place where we got our wedding cake
started making bread again: whole white wheat, mmm
cilantro lime vinaigrette from scratch
black bean burgers from scratch
And for entertainment reviews: I finished the Delirium series, reading book 2 and 3. It was alright, but predictable. Horray teen dystopias! And I beat my first video game in years: Paper Mario Sticker Star, which is a pretty awesome game. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment