an idea for my next birthday present...

www.nataliedee.com

Currently Listening Oh, My Nola By Harry Connick Jr. Yes We Can see related

mini road trip awesomeness

Friday afternoon we took off, tickets in hand, for the Amphitheater at Clark County. It was  a long ride down with lame traffic. Not impressed. But we arrived just in time to catch my beloved Ben Folds! He was awesome, of course. He rocked some of his older songs, as well as some new - including his hillarious cover of Dr Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit." Ian and I were also thrilled when he did a cover of the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights."There were times when he was playing the piano and synthesizer while doing vocals, yet such talented musicianship did little to win over the John Mayer crowd (although Ben did thank them for not leaving during his set to go buy corn dogs). Don't get me wrong, I like John Mayer a lot, and I've been to one of his concerts before. But when the girl behind me cooed "oh, he's so talented!" when he wowed the crowd by whistling while playing guitar, I realized that I was probably the most hard core Ben Folds fan there. And that's ok.

After the show, we got out in record time. We got a little midnight snack at Burgerville - my first fast food cheeseburger ever! (I have a weird relationship w/cheese, and fast food cheese makes me nauseous just thinking about it, but this was real Tillamook cheese!).

We stayed the night in Vancouver, and in the morning Ian had the brilliant idea of heading down to Portland to go to Powell's Books. I was immediately on board with that idea. We had a fun time, and I picked up a gift for one of my coworkers - one of my favorite drawing books as a kid. Who doesn't love Ed Emberley's drawing books?

Then it was back into Washington...and past strange structures...is that Jesus?

Our next destination was Chateau Ste. Michelle for a Harry Connick, Jr concert with Ian's dad and Robyn. It was a sweet show, with some awesome New Orlean's style music. His band was awesome, though the most entertaining part of the show was probably the giddy middle-aged women wildly dancing and trying to get closer to Harry (I think the liberal consumption of wine had something to do with their free expression).

After Harry was done, we spent the night at Ian's mom's place. Today we checked out her garden and took her out for a birthday lunch. On our way out of town, we stopped by Ian's dad's house to see his garden and play with Edgar, his newfie that loves to slobber on Ian. All in all, it was a great weekend. Don't wanna go to work tomorrow...

Currently Listening We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank By Modest Mouse Dashboard see related

well it would've been, could've been worse than you would ever know

Last Thursday when I got back from lunch my coworkers and I were informed that there was a mandatory all-employee meeting at 4pm at a local conference center. We weren't given any details, just that it would probably go after hours.

There was some speculation about what was going on, and when I saw a herd of men in suits, I felt pretty sure that the owners had sold the company. And when they were introduced and I realized they were each from a different state, I knew it wouldn't be good news. After some lame prelude by the owners, we found out that our lovely local publishing company had been sold to Yellow Book, a giant corporation. Consequently, their production offices are in Iowa and Pennsylvania, which means that by the end of summer I'll be out of a job.

It sucks, it really does. And I've got it easy compared to some because I'm young. There are people that have been there 10+ years and planned on retiring from there. People with big families to support. The sales department will stick around, though it will change form quite a bit.

So I'm job hunting. It's lame, but at the same time, maybe it's a good thing. Maybe I can get back into my field. Maybe God has more for me than proofing phone books. But it was so comfortable and I was so good at it and they were so flexible about time off and I had finally made a really good friend there....so many good things... And it is now one of the strangest environments I've ever been in.

Since Ian just graduated last month, he's still only working part-time while looking for something full-time. I'm the main earner, so it's a bit stressful that we could potentially be living off his part-time income if neither of us find something soon.

But learning to trust more in God is good....and so is listening to Modest Mouse to help with the angst. Happily, this will be a weekend of excellent concerts, perfect for getting my mind off of things: Ben Folds (my crush!!!) and John Mayer on Friday, Harry Connick Jr on Saturday.

Currently Listening Supersunnyspeedgraphic - The LP By Ben Folds, Ben Folds see related

www.marriedtothesea.com

okay, so i only have one bachelor's degree (with no plans for any more) and i do really enjoy my job, despite the fact that it is completely unrelated to my field of study. but i did laugh really hard at this b/c i definitely feel angst towards the qualifications needed for jobs in my field.