Yes, I’m still in Montana! Missoula, Montana as a matter of fact.

It has been a good 7 or so months since my last blog. I think it is about time to catch you all up on what’s happening in my life.

My Work: I am currently/still a medical receptionist at Missoula Bone and Joint. It is an orthopedic clinic with eight doctors and four PAs. I work a full schedule of four days a week and get free health insurance (my card just came in the mail about a month ago)! Jon – one of the eight Chicago area school go-ers that moved out here with us – recently landed a job as MBJ’s cashier. It’s a great job and I get a three day weekend, free health insurance, many free lunches, I work with great people (that give free medical advice), and I am learning something new everyday. One the receptionists’ son has a ranch an hour or so up north, so we get great farm fresh eggs and grass fed/finished ground beef whenever we need it. It is simply the best.

Weekends: I HAVE WEEKENDS! Ever since working at Egg Harbor Cafe in Elmhurst, IL at age fifteen, I had never been able to really experience a weekend. They are so great! Jake and I like to spend our weekends going climbing at the University climbing gym, taking bike rides, renting movies from Crazy Mikes Video (where Dan currently works), making delicious dinners, going on hikes/bouldering/snow shoeing/floating down the river (depending on the season), and playing The Settlers of Catan and Agricola. We’ve also been checking out the record stores and like to stock up on incense, coffee and tea from the local Butterfly Herbs. I seriously never knew weekends could be so great.

Music: My personal music scene is currently dedicated to The Missoula Community Chorus. I have been with this group since last Fall singing in their large, non-auditioned group as well as their auditioned, chamber group. It’s nothing like the EC Concert Choir or the Glen Ellyn’s Children’s Chorus, but we have a lot of fun and sound great. I am also a board member of this group serving as their PR and Marketing rep. So I am finally getting my foot into the world of non-profits! This Saturday we have our annual GALA event at the Keep Restaurant. It is renaissance themed and therefore I will be dressed in a big yellow dress, prancing around the restaurant singing “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme” while jingling my tambourine! Go ahead… laugh. I allow it Our concert is going to be on Saturday, April 27th at St. Anthony’s Church.

Arts & Crafts: As far as arts and crafts go, you can see what I’ve been doing based simply on my new website! Tooth fairy pillows are my current craze and they’re really pretty popular with some Missoulians. Right when I started making them, I made a few hundred bucks, but they started to die down after the holidays in December. Sarah – Jon’s girlfriend and another of my Chicago area school go-er friends – is currently working at The Learning Tree in the mall and said her boss would love for me to bring in some of my pillows! So after I get my labels made and a few more pillows put together, I’ll hopefully be selling them in a real store! I am also going to plan on getting a table at the People’s Market (which is combined with the Farmer’s Market) every Saturday morning starting Saturday, May 5th. I’m really planning on selling a lot of pillows there. I’ll keep you posted.

Other than that, life is sweet – if you couldn’t already tell. Marla and Jeff have finally gotten me interested in the Primal way of life and sent me a copy of The Primal Blueprint. So after I read through the whole thing, I might be taking a twenty-one day challenge. I’ve already starting cutting out breads and sugars (which has helped with getting rid of some unnecessary headaches I’ve been having) and have been feeling great. Jake, Pete, and I are also getting really into this whole outdoor climbing business. Before Jake had a silly incident with his hand and our new Cutco knives, we were going to the gym about twice a week. Now that his hand is about healed, we’re going to start going back sometime this week. Outdoor bouldering is the second part to that experience. I’ll have more stories about climbing as the weather warms up and as busy scheduled with choir and Jake’s school wind down.

Hope you all had a nice Easter! Until next time…

 

A whole page dedicated to my arts and crafts will be coming soon!

In the meantime, if there is something that you would like to order, please visit my Contact Me page and send me a message!

Hope to hear from you soon

So much has happened in the last week and I am excited to fill you in about it!

We have – so far – gone to about 6 different house showings. One triplex is the perfect size for Jake, Pete and I, so we’re filling out the application this week.

Last week, Arnie set me up with some interview/sit-down-and-chat meetings with Susan Patrick, the CEO of United Way of Missoula and with Amy Rue, the main chief of the Montana Meth Project. Nothing too promising as of a consistent job, but they are both going to be Great connections for me.

Wednesday morning Arnie took us with him to the Missoula Rotary Club meeting (BTW – Arnie is the dad of the Didier family – the Didier family is who we’re staying with while we’re searching for our new… lives). I am pretty sure we met everyone who is anyone while at that meeting. This was a great opportunity for both Jake and I to get our names out there in the community (including the music world).

Wednesday afternoon I got a hold of the person in charge of setting up the Missoula Osprey Baseball games and on July 8th, I will be singing the National Anthem for one of their home games. The Osprey team is the direct feeder team for some Major League team out here. I am not that up-to-date on my baseball knowledge, so I can’t tell you the team name at this time.

All throughout last week and today I have been making thank you cards from graduation and whatnot. So far I have made29 cards! With all this time I have (kind of), I have been coming up with the coolest card ideas. Email me your address is you’d like to receive one in the mail! I have a secret card design that I am also creating, but I am not letting out the secret yet… Sorry! You’ll just have to email me that you want one… or wait to find out what it is.

In other news, my plan of eating healthier and getting back into a workout routine is looking great. The Didiers have a membership to a fitness club in their neighborhood that we have been using as guests (AKA: FREE!). There are also not one, but TWO Farmer’s Markets on Saturday mornings from May through October that we have been going to for our fresh veggies and things.

This past weekend Jake and I took an overnight camping trip up to Seeley Lake. We left early Saturday morning, stopped at the Farmer’s Market for some onions and tomatoes, then the Good Food Store for some wine, and then we were off. Only a 45 minute drive from Missoula and we were in prime camping land. We took a 2.5 mile (5 mi. there and back) hike on the Morrell Trail to a beautiful waterfall! We made a sack lunch to-go of a turkey club wrap, fresh red grapes, and Simply Raspberry Lemonade. For dinner we had delicious steak cooked on the grate of the campfire, with grilled zucchini, red potatoes, tomatoes, and walla walla onions. All accompanied by a juicy Malbec from the Good Food Store. Daylight sticks around until about 10pm or so here in Montana and we were asleep by 9:30pm. After sleeping far too long, we woke up and made sour cream pancakes and organic bacon for breakfast (not the healthiest, but super delicious), with raspberries and Simply Orange Juice. We then packed up the tent and drove back to Missoula.

Oh! Last week Emma and her friends took us Frolfing, too! They call it Folfing here Katie and her friends laughed at me last night when I pronounced it like a mid-westerner. Anyway, it was on the most intense course. All through the mountains, across dirt roads, through the forests. So crazy.

So that is all for now. I’m trying to write more frequently, but as you can see, I have been pretty busy and I also know that hearing that I am busy is reassuring for some of you who thought I would be bored out of my mind. Proved ya wrong now, didn’t I?!

Peace Out, Homies.

 

Get it?! Homies?? Since most of you reading this are from my former “Home” hehe

 

Hey All! Long time, no blog post!

Well, last summer Jake and I took a two week camping trip up to the state of Washington, via the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, and Missoula, Montana. On our way back, some family friends (the Didier’s) completely sold us on the town and one year later here we are: Unemployed and homeless

But not for long. After three days of driving both our cars out here, we have finally made it and tomorrow starts our Grand Adventure (#2).

Thanks to all of you who were following our trip the past couple days! The positive encouragement is very helpful.

That will be all for tonight. We have to get a good night’s rest for our adventure to the farmer’s market and house/job hunting tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to these blogs for updates on our progress!

Have a great weekend.

We seriously ate the BEST food while we were on our 2 week road trip to Washington. And this is where I write it all out. Remember… minus one or two meals, all of this was cooked on a campfire. In 2 weeks on the road, we only ate out 3 times. Taco Bell was necessary because it was already 9:30pm and had another hour drive back to the campsite. Shrimp and Chips was a Seattle MUST. Favoli’s was a couple hours from home. So here it all is:

8.1.10

B: Mini Ham, Egg, and Cheese Bagels/OJ (To-Go)

L: Ham/Turkey Sandwiches/Grapes

D: Pasta/ Italian Pita Chips!

8.2.10

B: Pancakes/Bacon/Strawberries/Tropical V8 Juice

L: Tuna Melt(minus the actual melt)/Grapes

D: Pizza (on Hamburger Buns) w/mozz, oregeno, red pepper, yellow pepper, pepperoni, onion)

8.3.10

B: Cheerios/French Vanilla Yogurt w/ Strawberries & Grapes

L: R & Y Peppers w/ Ranch Dip/Grapes/Sea Salt Chips

D: Peanut Butter Sandwich(Jake)/Ramen(Amanda)

8.4.10

B: Scrambled Eggs w/ onion, R & Y Peppers, garlic, ham, salsa/Bacon/Strawberries/Tropical V8

L: Sandwiches/Sea Salt Chips

D: Fire Roast w/ steak, potato, red pepper, carrots, onion, garlic/Strawberry Lemonade/S’mores

8.5.10

B: Cheerios/Banana

L: Pizza Sandwiches w/ sauce, tomato, mozz, oregano, pepperoni, onion, garlic, wheat bread/Strawberry Lemonade

D: BBQ Pulled Pork w/ Fries

8.6.10

B: Banana & Cinnamon Pancakes/Sausage Links

L: Grilled Cheese on wheat w/ Onion, Red Pepper, Tomato/Peaches (from Emma’s Friend)

D: ELK TACOS! (from Arnie’s Elk)

8.7.10

B: Farmer’s Market Breakfast Sandwiches! w/ organic eggs, cheese, sausage on popeyseed wheat

L: PB&Banana on Wheat

D: Pasta w/ BESTO Pesto, Tomato, onion, olive, red pepper, garlic, sausage, mozz

8.8.10

B: Scrambled Eggs w/ onion, garlic, tomato, ham, Colby jack, oregano, basil/Bacon

L: Leftover Pasta & Leftover Pot Roast (while waiting for Whale Watching)/Coca Cola

D: Taco Bell! (1st time eating out… it was super late and super dark)

8.9.10

B: Dry Cheerios, Banana/Club Crackers w/ provolone, cherry tomato, pepperoni/Garlic & Herb Cheese/ Berry Blast V8

L: Shrimp & Chips w/ garlic vinegar, malt vinegar, red pepper (Seattle Treat!)

D: Salmon(over the camp fire!)/potato,carrot, onion, red pepper/ Oregon Beer

8.10.10

B: Berryriffic Pancakes w/ huckleberries & raspberries/Bacon

L: Snacks – slim jims/chips ahoy/chips & guac

D: Burgers by the Ocean! w/ Farmers Market ground beef, provolone, onion, tomato, cucumber, dijon mustard, mayo, guac, lettuce, bacon/AWESOME Salad w/ Farmer’s Market lettuce and veggies

8.11.10

B: Vanilla Yogurt w/ Huckleberries/Banana/Granola Bar(Jake)/Cheerios(Amanda)

L: Sandwiches (made on a car ferry!) Ham, Turkey, lettuce, cucumber, onion, gr. onion, tomato, mayo, mustard, provolone on bakery baguette/salad/V8 juice

D: Chicken Breast w/ Cranberry Sauce/Fresh Green Beans/White Rice (Debbie’s Best!)

8.12.10

B: Elk Steaks!!/Cheesy Scrambled Eggs/Bfast Potatoes/Juice

L: Bagel Sandwiches (Missoula Deli)/Coffee(Jake)/Smoothie(Amanda)

D: Salad.

8.13.10

B: Fruit and Nut Trail Mix Bar, 2 Didier-made Cookies

L: BLT w/ Egg & Basil on toasted Wheat (made in Yellowstone!)/Sea Salt Chips

D: Tacos! and Nachos w/ Farmer’s Market meat/Gatorade

8.14.10

B: Waffle, coffee/oj, fruit loops

L: Pizza Wraps w/ pizza sauce, oregano, basil, mozz, pepperoni, gr. onion, flour tortilla

Snack: Wall Drug Ice Cream! (Red Raspberry & Confetti Cake)

D: Fazoli’s!

We’ve made it! In about 2,200 miles we have gone from Bensenville, IL through parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, camped a night in South Dakota, trucked through the Badlands over to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, camped a night on the side of a mountain in Big Horn National Forest for FREE, drove through most of Yellowstone and the Teton Mountains in just a day and a half, frantically searched for a home 2 nights ago – ended up in a cottage somewhere in Idaho – and are now at my friends’ house in Missoula, Montana!

We’ve been eating the most delicious food EVER! Last night we made a fire grilled pot roast with steak, potatoes, red peppers, onions, carrots and a ton of garlic and seasoning. It tasted just like it had been simmering in a slow cooker for several hours. Yummy

Tomorrow is another big day for us. Katie and Emma are going to take us hiking around “The Big M” on some mountain, then tubing down a near-by river. I think we’ve also got some “hip” window shopping to do along with a grand tour of Missoula. Should be a crazy day.

We’ll be leaving here – a lovely guest room and fully furnished kitchen and bathroom with hot, running water – on Saturday morning for Washington! We’ll be staying in some national park or forest out there and one big day of whale watching! SUPER excited! Hopefully I’ll find somewhere to sit and blog once more in Seattle.

Peace.

Water colors were never really my best in school, but wall painting is pretty fun. Our work site is in its final phase. Today I finished off the base board/trim in the bathroom, caulked it all up, then went around two bedrooms painting all the walls right around the white colored trim. I started the job with some blue tape and a messy-try-to-get-it-done hand. After one time of doing that, I switched to a free canvas and a take-your-time-because-you-are-in-the-south-and-no-one-is-in-that-much-of-a-rush-anyway hand. It made me a lot more mellow and at ease. Especially because I was the only one in the house going around with the wall color paint. So it was my job. Sometimes I just like to do my own thing and that is that. Other times I like to do things with other people on the work site… but I’m very content doing my own thing this week. This also might be related to the fact that too much body heat in one room makes the temperature/heat index in that room raise about 47 degrees! It’s CRAZY Hot. We do have fans in the rooms that create a nice cross breeze when the windows are open. But the electric and water are at the home owner’s expense, so we try to use as little as possible.

That’s really all I have for today. I’m kind of sleepy and would like to journal tonight.

(also… if I get to sleep earlier tonight, that means tomorrow will come even sooner… which means my awesome road trip for next week will be very close! Isn’t that how it all works?)

Goodnight everyone

That’s what’s happening right now: a lightning storm. And the thunder clouds are just starting to roll in.

I think I forgot to mention last night that there are 2 huge screened in porches attached to our volunteer house. During the day it is crazy hot and humid, but at night it feels great to be outside and out of the air conditioning.

This morning when I woke up, I made my 2 egg and wheat toast breakfast for my self with a small glass of orange juice (did I mention this place is crazy clean and brand new?!).  Well after breakfast we went to Gulfport for church. I know I mentioned something about my religious views recently – at least after India – but I’m going to reiterate them now. I was sitting in the church and communion was being offered. The whole beginning of the service I was going back and forth on whether or not I should go up for communion. By the time for the big decision, every other person in the church was standing and forming a line to the front of the church. So I joined in. But I just did not feel right about doing it. I do not have the same religious views as I once did and the whole church scene is just not for me.

Why am I volunteering with a church based group on a mission trip? Well, it is not that easy to find a group of people going out to do volunteer work for a cheap price that is not religiously affiliated with something. And I was a part of the church for a very long time and I am still a part of the church. Now that I’m in college and I work every Sunday, I do not attend church as much and therefore have had time to be away and learn about what I really think about the whole idea of God and the Bible. It’s just something that I do not need in my life anymore. “My religion is kindness” is a quote from The Dalai Lam. Julie showed me this quote and I wrote it on the inside of my TOMS Shoes. Why did I write it on the inside? Because it is not necessarily something that needs to be advertised, nor does it shape who I am. It is just something that is not currently a part of my life. And I am more than okay with that. If you have questions for me about this… Don’t be shy, feel free to ask

After church today we went to the beach for a while. I honestly stayed on my towel in the sun the whole time. It was nice to just lay there without people chatting away. I really have never heard someone talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk SO much. Well, maybe not never.

I have one more awesome thing to tell you all (maybe). There is a volunteer here with the Back Bay Mission names Susie. She is from India! AND even better… (op! here comes the rain) she went to Madras Christian College for her Masters! She graduated from there a couple years ago, so she was not entirely familiar with Principal Alex, but knew his name. She said her family speaks English at home and she does not know how to tie a sari! Susie is here for 6 months on a visa and then is going back home. I talked to her tonight after dinner for a while and it was a great conversation for both of us! It pretty much blew her mind that I stayed at MCC while I was there

Okay, I lied, I have one more thing to talk about. Last month when I was in Iowa, most of us were helping flood victims who’s homes were destroyed a couple years ago. The last night we went out to a family of the church’s lake house (on a river). Well the night we got that horrible storm in the Chicago area, they got hit extra hard. The lake house we went to that night had water chest high in their game room and house. They lost a couple boats and their dock was completely destroyed. My host family drove out to get them and bring them back to their place before they started all the clean up. John – the warden/home stay dad – emailed me for the update this morning and titled it “Irony” since we were literally just there a few weeks ago to help them all rebuild.

I really do think this is Mother Nature’s way of screaming at us to stop messing with her world.

Well it’s pretty late now and my day starts at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Goodnight

We made it! Through the floods and the storm and the rain, we finally made it to Mississippi. Jake drove me to Midway airport around 4:45am. 290 was completely closed off and so were all the major roads and every underpass. There was literally no straight way to get to the airport. Everyone eventually made it to the airport and our flight was delayed for nearly an hour because of the storms. Jake eventually made home 7.5 hours later! As he was driving, all the roads were closing all around him, so he just pulled over in a parking lot. The water eventually raised all the way up to his headlights and he was stranded there. For 7.5 hours. He did get a quick nap in and later shared the lot with some other morning (which turned into afternoon) commuters.

I passed out as soon as we got on the 1st flight to Nashville. Since we took off late, we had even less time to catch our connecting flight to New Orleans. But, since there were so many transfers from our flight, they held the plane for us. So we scurried off the 1st flight and jumped right on the 2nd. I got a window seat on both! After a quick flight we were landed back in New Orleans.

You could feel and smell the humidity as soon as we got off the plane. We then drove down to the French Quarter for a quick lunch and some shopping. This is my second time to New Orleans this year already and my third time total, so I am not buying a thing! And I already got my mom a spoon from here so no need for that either

We eventually drove the hour and a half to Biloxi, Mississippi. I guess we got lost a couple times on the way, but again, I fell asleep the entire way, so I really have no idea. We are staying at the with the Back Bay Mission and this building is so nice! Everything is not even a year old and there’s a full living room area with a big screen TV, full commercial kitchen with a walk in cooler, separate areas for boys and girls, and all new bunk beds and bathrooms. It’s pretty immaculate compared to what I’ve stayed in before. Not saying past experiences have been bad – because none of them were – but this is just so fancy looking. And there’s free wireless! Although I did forget my phone charger this time. Hopefully I can take a trip to the store tomorrow to find one that works with my phone. I’m REALLY hoping for an iPhone pretty soon. We’ll see how that goes. This phone problem needs to stop happening while I’m on these work camp trips.

That’s all for now. Hope your basements aren’t flooded like mine is…

I’m back! Well… for now at least. The trip to Iowa ended up being really fun. Honestly, when I visit with my Delaware friends it’s always fun. I only get to see them one week every year. It’s always fun

So to fill you in on what happened with the house I was working on last week. Jimmy and I filled up the space where a kitchen window was supposed to go. We initially got three different instructions for the space – 1. We will have a window for this space within the next week. 2. We need to raise the window so it will fit over the kitchen counters. 3. The family doesn’t need a window here, it’s too much trouble, we’re boarding it up and adding studs to reinforce the wall. SO crazy. So we completed instruction #3, we built a wall dividing the kitchen and dining room, we started on a second window, drilled bolts into the ceiling beams (I’m not sure what this was for), and we shaved down the door frame to fit a new front door. Over all it really wasn’t that much, but the house is that much closer to being finished for the family.

I drove back with George, Mario, Juli, and Jackie early on Saturday morning – after having one last slice of Iowa Breakfast Pizza. We drove straight to my house where we had just enough time for everyone to meet my Dad and change into some warm weather clothes. Around 12:31pm we were on the train and off to the Taste of Chicago for a Two (not three) Hour Tour. Jake and I hustled them from Union Station to Grant Park, through the Taste (and Lou Malnati’s Pizza tasting), around the Fountain, to the Giant Bean sculpture in Millennium park, over through the water face walls things, and back to Union just in time for our 3:30pm train back to my house. It was uber hot and I’m sure they were all exhausted! We all had a fun time

Now that it’s officially summer, I’m getting ready for the DuPage County Fair, working a LOT at the Harbor, and really just relaxing as much as possible. Check back around the end of July when I’ll be posting about my Mission Trip/Work Camp thing to Biloxi, Mississippi!

Peace.