Friday the 13th

when you have to point out it's the biggest superstitious day of the year, then something really bad has happened...
and by REALLY BAD, i am not exaggerating- i woke up on this friday the 13th to an empty drive way, the same drive way i had just seen my car parked in at 9pm last night. 11 hours later and my car was not there. at first i was really in shock, i walked to the end of the drive way and looked up and down the street, why, i don't know. did that yield any positive results, of course not. then i came back inside to wake up brandi, who had come home around 10:30 pm last night if she had seen my car when she had come in, and yes, she had. so my car went missing sometime bw 10:35pm and 6am (my other roommate, Analise left for work around 6am and she informed me that she had not seen my car when she left). 
so this is what blows my mind: our bedroom windows are right next to the drive way AND they're open to let in fresh air and yet i still heard NOTHING whatsoever. jarrod and i were awake until around 11:40, watching tv. at around 11, we saw the motion-censor lights in the drive way come on, but didn't see or hear anything, so we assumed it was just a cat or some other animal, bc that light goes off all of the time without a person walking up to it. at that time, i swear i could still see my tires in the window, so my car must have still been in the drive way around 11pm. i didn't look outside before going to bed though, bc i didn't even think to. 
as jarrod and i were falling asleep, brandi and her friend were in the dining room, right across from 2 large windows who blinds have been open for the past week or so. i assume they had the kitchen and dining room light on, at least so surely no one would have walked into our drive way while lights were on and the windows were open, but what do i know? nothing. i'm assuming though, that my car disappeared when brandi had moved to the sunroom and i have no idea when that was as i was already fast asleep.
what's crazy here though, is i am the LIGHTEST sleeper on the planet. jarrod can vouch for that, my roommates can vouch for that. if the cats could speak, they'd vouch for that. so, with the windows open, while sleeping, my car could have been taken. i just don't understand how! if someone had opened my door (which i left unlocked. i know, dumb, but i'll get to that in a bit) i feel like i would have heard it. they must of put my car in neutral and pushed it into the street before starting it up, but i feel like i would hear that too. i guess not. but you better believe i'll be sleeping even more lightly now, which sucks, but maybe it'll help someone out in the end.
so to iris, my dearest car and why i didn't lock the door: she was a piece of junk, my beloved piece of junk, but really, junk. i never worried about her getting taken from me, ever. what with the giant dent in the driver's side door, a back bumper that's falling off, and a completely black front bumper that replaced the original bumper on the front, i didn't think anyone would take a second glance at it. apparently i was wrong. very wrong. 
but what really freaks me out, more than my car being stolen: yes, i leave my door unlocked, always do while it's at the house (a habit i will change no matter if i have a junker or a freakin ferrari) i think i may have left my keys in the car. the ONE TIME i may have left my keys in the car and it disappears. how did i leave my keys in the car without realizing, you ask? well i think i had parked in the drive way and was texting, then took my keys out of the ignition, opened my door and got out. my kazoozles bag that i take to work was in the back seat, at this time i may have dropped my keys in the front seat either without realizing, or in the mindset to pick them up once i grabbed my bag. i have no idea what actually happened- i can't remember at all. what i remember is walking up to the front door of the house and turning the knob to an unlocked door, and i thought, "Hmmm, that's strange" bc i always put my keys in, even though the door may be unlocked, it's just habit to do so, and this time i did not. i walked in the house to the sound of the washer going and the tv on in the sunroom, so i assumed Analise was home and watching tv and thought nothing else of it. yes, it was her watching tv, and nothing is missing from the house. the point of this is that i remember thinking it was odd that i hadn't put my keys in the door, which is what makes me think now, that i left them in the car.
but if i had left them in the car, does that mean the person who took my car knew i had left my keys? or that i always leave my door unlocked? creeps me out, but it's probably not the case (or so jarrod believes).
regardless, with the knowledge of my keys missing, including a house key that was on my key chain, i told brandi we were going to change out all the locks in the house and she agreed it was the best thing to do. jarrod and i also bought a combination lock for the gate in the drive way, which we will be closing and locking from now on.
the rest of the day i've been trying to figure out what to do about a car. jarrod took me to a credit union to see if i could get a car loan (as suggested by catherine, who is such a great friend!) and i've been looking online at cars as well. i bought jarrod a strawberry lemonade and blizzard from DQ bc he has been with me and constantly working through all of this- he changed out the locks, has been driving me around, and consoled me as i finally broke down over my loss of one of my favorite possessions.
the bright side:
truly i believe iris was on her last leg- her timing belt needed to be replaced, which costs $400 and she had a lot of miles on her anyway, so it was her time to go. yes, i would have preferred that to be on my terms, but that's not how it happened. i will miss her dearly. she was such a good car- i put her through 2 car wrecks and thousands and thousands of miles and she never let me down. such a good car. she had a great life, and she made my life great! she contributed to who i am today and i am so grateful. from the first time i saw her on the street in front of my home in denton at the age of 16 to just yesterday afternoon when she rushed me home from a terrible day of work, she changed my life. it's weird that i'm talking about a car like it was a person, but she did have her own personality. such a great car! would you believe she only cost me personally $250?! my parent's paid $500 for her and split it with me and that awesome little car drove me all over the united states! best $250 i've ever spent! haha.
well, iris is probably in pieces now, making some shithead (excuse my language) some money. oh well, she lived a lovely life, and that shithead(s) will get what's coming to him/them some day. i hope it's terrible.

 

rest in peace, my beautiful girl. thanks for the adventures!!!
-sarah-


p.s. if you're worried about me, don't be. i'm fine, seriously. hopefully i will have a new(er) car soon and until then, i have rides set up for work. the thing i'm most upset with is the fact that i left my compound bow and about 9 arrows in the trunk, which i will never see again. but that too can be replaced... eventually. 


so LESSON LEARNED and lesson taught: LOCK YOUR CAR DOORS, ALWAYS.
 

oh the adventures we have

as many of you know, sunday was easter, and a rare thing happened that day: jarrod and i both had the day off!!! :O so to celebrate such a rare occasion, we decided to go somewhere new: Bagby Hot Springs (http://www.bagbyhotsprings.org/). jarrod had heard about the hot springs from a friend at work back in november and december, and he's been dying to go there since, so this was the perfect chance! AND it turns out it's a really cheap getaway- you only have to pay $5 for parking, so you can't really go wrong there! unless.....
you don't dress appropriately.
when we left portland, it was 68 (which is actually quite warm in sunlight. on saturday it was only 55-56 when i was in the backyard in shorts and a tshirt. i love that i'm becoming acclimated to the weather here, now that it's not freezing and snowing all the freaking time) and i was wearing a skirt, tank top, and flip flops. once we made the hour trip to bagby hot springs, which happens to be up a mountain, it was 52 and cloudy. now, back to a conversation jarrod and i had while still driving through the sunshine- jarrod said lanberto (his friend from work, the one who told us about the hot springs AND slappy cakes.) had said that he and a group of friends had been trying to get to the hot springs recently, but had to turn around bc the roads were snowed in. as we were making our way up the mountain, we hadn't really seen any snow, so we weren't too worried, until we started getting closer to the parking lot for the hot springs...there was snow beside the road, but there was a worn path in the middle of the road, so the snow wasn't really a problem. once we parked though, everything changed. the parking lot was free of snow until you made your way to the trail that takes you to the hot springs, which is where you leave an envelope with $5 in it for parking. i almost bit it right then, but luckily, i caught my balance just in time. alright, so we payed and then headed back to the car to grab our orange backpack with our extra clothes (underwear) and towels and then we headed out on the trail.
sooooo....to say we weren't prepared (me more than jarrod who was wearing jeans, a tshirt, a long sleeve overshirt, and a light jacket...though, he also had flip flops on. he was in luck though, bc they're under armour flip flops and they actually have traction) is an understatement.

as you can tell, we are prepared, especially me.

happy camper. haha

so we're walking along, or jarrod is walking and i'm slipping and sliding everywhere, almost face planting or falling on my butt with every step, and yet, the scenery made the cold and loss of balance completely worth it. 

i'm not sure what happened to the origianal tree, but somehow two separate trees grew out of its stump, which is pretty freakin cool, i think.

closer to the end of the hike, i was starting to get impatient bc i was frozen and tired of trying to keep my balance, but finally, probably 30 minutes after leaving the car, we had made it!!!

 but of course, the place was packed so we had to wait around for a bit, probably another 20-30 minutes. while waiting we saw a chubby man in his late 30s, nude....a guy with tattoos ON his face, and the naked woman he was with. just so you are aware, the rules at the beginning of the trail stated no nudity, alcohol or smoking. all three of those were broken, not by us, but within the first 10 minutes of us being there, we saw plenty of people breaking those rules. oh well. haha. anywho, the naked chick decided to go look through the other bathhouse (there were 2 separate bathhouses) and found a tub she wanted to move to, which opened up the tub she had been using. once her and tattoo-face left, we got in the tub, which was wooden and probably 7 feet long by 3 and a half feet deep with the water about 6inches lower than the very top. it was a relief to be warm, or hot, as it was in the beginning. as i had mentioned earlier, we were in flip flops, so our toes screamed in pain for a few minutes while they defrosted and then, all was relaxed. we stayed in the tub for probably an hour, maybe an hour and a half until we saw a group of people (3 to be exact) waiting and by that time, we knew it was time to get going, the only problem was i REALLY didn't want to get out of the heated water to go walking through the snow in flip flops. we had to get going sometime though, so it was then, or never. haha. so i jumped out of the tub and froze to death in 2 seconds. not really, but it felt like it. haha. jarrod and i dried off with our towels then went in search of a place to change. we ended up at the second bathhouse (or first, bc it's the first one you walk up to) and noticed some of the stalls were empty, so we decided to change in there.

 

it turns out there are troughs as well as tubs.

so we got dressed and then headed back to the trail where i continued to almost fall either flat on my face or flat on my bum. but once again, the beauty of the scenery was enough to distract me for most of the hike.

 

this time it probably only took 20 minutes to get back to the car, bc i think i was walking faster. i NEVER fell, not ONCE! but there were quite a few close calls. i cannot be more grateful that i made it back without a single bruise and nothing frozen, except for my toes. haha. and in the end, with all the close calls, frozen feet, and people i would never have wanted to see nude, the trip was still worth it. we had a relaxing time in the tubs, and we learned a new lesson: always come prepared with warm clothes and shoes that have traction. haha. so, lesson learned, and fun times had by all.
we have nothing planned this weekend nor next week, except maybe relaxing in the sun as it's supposed to be sunny and in the 60s again this weekend! back to the point BUT in 2 weeks, evan, brittnye, and avery will be here!!! an i already have an loose outline of what we will be doing and let me tell you, it's going to be a good time!!! :D
alright, i believe that is truly all for now.
ttyl!
-sarah-

 

mini vactions never get old and are always needed

since i said i would update today...here i am. i shouldn't have set a date bc right now i want to nap, but if i don't do this now, i won't get to it tonight, so here's to the next hour and a half (why does it take so long to write these? haha)
Ricky's Visit:
the beginning: back in january, tracy, ricky's girlfriend messaged me on facebook to let me know about what she was planning for ricky's birthday (which was at the end of march- the 28th). she said ricky had been doing AMAZING with gifts for her lately, and she had been slacking, so she had decided to buy ricky a plane ticket to visit us. i of course said, we're in! and so that's how it went, with a few hitches that were easily fixed. to go further into that: i had to call mr. patterson (gm of cinemark denton) to make sure ricky got the time off and he was actually  very accommodating, even though 2 of his other managers were going to be in a different state the exact same days ricky would be. in the end- it was just meant to be! haha.
wednesday/midnight thursday morning: we picked ricky up from the airport. from what we heard, he had a very interesting flight(s). but in the end, he said it was all worth it! (YES!) we brought him home and had some funfetti cake that i had made for him for his birthday. :) it was delicious! while eating the cake we just caught up on each other's lives until about 1:30 in the morning, and that's just when i went to bed...haha. as far as i know, jarrod and ricky stayed up until 3-3:30 talking. 
thursday: i went to work 9-5, leaving the boys to their own devices...turns out they ended up sleeping the afternoon away. typical. haha. but that's okay, bc this trip was meant to be restful for ricky, and so it was. haha. anywho, i got home from work, starving, so ricky and i looked through a magazine i bought that had cheap food in it. we decided on Little Big Burger (http://littlebigburger.com/) 

"it's the perfect size for my hands!"- me

and it was a good choice. haha. can you really ever go wrong with burgers? no. anyway, after dinner we headed back to the house and started on Game of Thrones bc ricky had shown some interest in a commercial for it that we saw on tv and i told him he was lucky bc we had just recently purchased the first season! so we watched that until jarrod got home around 1:30 or so, and then it was bed time for me. once again, the boys stayed up til 3-3:30.
friday: we all slept in, by my standards. i was up around 10 and the boys finally got up around 11:30. they showered and then we headed to Slappy Cakes. :) and even though there was a long wait and jarrod had to be at a blood drive soon, we waited it out and i'd say it was worth it. after brunch, jarrod went to work (and to get his blood drawn) so ricky was in my hands! mwahahahha. while passing by some trees, ricky remarked on how mossy everything is and that he loved it and i told him he hadn't seen anything yet! so i took him to washington park so we could go hiking through Hoyt Arboretum (http://www.hoytarboretum.org/).

we walked around for about an hour and a half and marveled at the beauty. we touched quite a bit of moss and wondered, "which way is north if moss covers all of the tree?" 
once we found the car, it was off to powell's, after we finally found a parking spot. ugh.
at powell's we had a great time! 

we found harry potter in every language we could find, originally just to see the illustrations bc some of them are different from ours, and then to try to read the title. we butchered a few languages....hahaha. but it was fun. once we were done looking for harry potter, we ended up in the mysticism section and we were there looking through books forever it seemed... i was looking through an oracle book while ricky was looking through a palm reading book, which we ended up buying bc it only cost $2.50! haha. once we pulled ourselves away from the mysticism section, we wandered around for another hour or so. in the end, we ended up buying: me- hunger games (for ricky) and the cheap bastard's guide to portland (perfect!) (http://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Bastards-Guide-Portland-Oregon/dp/0762773022). once we left powell's, it was time to get ready for our evening plans: ROLLER DERBY!!! we stopped by fred meyer to get some snacks, since we still weren't hungry enough for dinner after our giant, late breakfast. armed with snacks, it was time to head to oaks park (http://oakspark.com/) for roller derby. (http://www.rosecityrollers.com/)

half time! the winner of this race won a years worth of voodoo donuts. haha.

and it was definitely one of my favorite things that i have done in portland. ricky and i had an amazing time! and although we didn't understand why the whistles were being blown (bc they were being blown constantly) we definitely knew the main part of the game and what was going on. it was such a fun experience!!! after the "bout" (bc that's what it's called in roller derby terms) we came home to drop off our snacks and then walked across the street to cartlandia for some late night dinner (it was 10:30pm by this time). only one cart was open- it was mexican food, so ricky and i both got chicken fajita burritos. they were about the size of chipotle burritos and were cheaper/more delicious. yay. once we got our food, we walked back home and started watching more game of thrones. once jarrod got home- 1:30ish again, i was ready for bed, but i decided to finish the episode we were on which meant bed time was 2am for me. agh. we were on the second to last episode, so jarrod and ricky stayed awake until 3:30 to finish it. and then they went to bed. haha.
saturday: i let the guys sleep in again. everyone was up and running by noon, so we headed to saturday market.

our living statue!

we had lunch at the carts at saturday market and then went to pioneer courthouse square, just because.

and since the sun was shining, i said we needed to get to rocky butte before it decided to hide behind the clouds.

after all of our adventuring, it was time to head home so i could get ready for work. bah. and you'll have to ask jarrod or ricky for the details of what they did while i was at work. i know they went to mcmenamins for cajun tots and drinks and then ground kontrol for fun games and some time in between they stopped by voodoo to bring home some donuts. they got home around 1:30 and actually went to bed then as well, though whether they actually went to sleep....
sunday: after jarrod got home from work, it was time to head to the beach along with catherine, and so that's what we did.

Mo's Restaurant

delicious clam chowder, just as catherine said it would be!

jarrod and catherine being psycho by getting in the water. they got in up to their knees. dumb idea, guys. :P

pacific ocean foam on ricky's hand

we hiked up to the same spot we had hiked to with my dad so we could see the best view :)

jarrod wearing my katniss backpack.

i know i didn't get into much detail about the beach, but if a photograph can say 1000 words...... then the pictures should explain everything.
monday: we took ricky to the airport early monday morning and that was the end of that mini vacation. i think it was a much needed vacation for all of us and we all enjoyed every second of it (except for the seconds spent at work, but that goes without saying).
alright....that's it for now. 
oh but wait, in case you haven't heard: gary ross will not be directing Catching Fire. hallelujah!!!! there is hope for that movie now. yesssssssssssssss.
in case you don't know my opinion of the hunger games movie: it was terrible and i hated it, to sum it up. if you'd like a longer explanation, think again, bc i can go on forever on what was wrong with the movie.
enough of that...onwards to a lazy friday night. 
-sarah-