Addiction

So sometime in the course of this summer, I have become addicted to David's Ranch flavored sunflower seeds. I have never liked sunflower seeds before this. I always found them annoying and requiring too much effort than it was worth to eat them. Never really cared for the taste either. But then I moved to Lake Powell. I have to drive a lot for my job. Said driving makes me really tired sometimes. The solution? Sunflower seeds (I also tried beef jerky, but it was too expensive and too many calories).

The addiction part came after I started eating the seeds even when I wasn't driving. I eat them while I read too. I have been reading a lot this summer because John got me started on the "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind. I am on book 5 now.

I eat the seeds until my cheeks hurt from holding a bunch there at a time and then cracking them one by one. My tongue gets raw and my lips get chapped from the salt and ranch seasoning. Yet, I keep eating them. Nearly every day now. I had to buy the jumbo bag last time I was in Junction at Walmart. I buy a bag every time I stop at Chevron in Green River, just so I know I will not run out before I have the chance to buy more. It's sick. It really is. But they are just so good.

In other news, I started working a second job here at Lake Powell. I am working at the Boat Rentals office. All I have done so far is sit outside in the Greeter Shack. Basically I keep track of who has checked in to get their houseboat and who there instructor is, things like that. I answer calls on the marina radio too. But I sit a lot too. This week it's going to equal about 20 hours of overtime though, which is the real motivation for working there. I figure I am only down here for a few more weeks, I might as well work as much as I can and therefore make/save as much money as I can.

And the best news: Only 6 weeks left in Powell! It's still a little early to start the countdown, but I'm sure I will soon.

Coming up this week: Hiking in Arches NP, boating, movie night, bingo night, and finalizing the details of my event calendar for my last month at Powell. :-D <-----my excited face

bored and blogging

So I guess I am bored this weekend and in the mood to blog. They mostly have the new WiFi working at our Rec Center, so the connection is much faster and makes uploading photos and things a lot easier. I've seriously spent 2 hours uploading photos before. :-)

Anyway, due to some unfortunate events on the Colorado River at the end of July, my trusty little Nikon camera stopped working. I tried drying it out, but it didn't work. At least the batteries were still good once I recharged them and the memory card is fine (although I just managed to erase all the photos on the card when I reformatted it for my new camera-at least I think that's what I did, because now there are no photos on the card, but I digress).

Anyway, amazon.com has been my good friend this summer because I am so far from any regular stores, and let's be honest, you can get anything on amazon.com these days, as well as a bunch of helpful customer reviews to help you decide what you should get. After a reading a lot of reviews, I decided on a Samsung S860. It has 8.1 mega pixels, 3x optical zoom, 3x digital zoom, and I can make short video clips-with sound. My last camera was only 4.1 mega pixels and could make videos, but with no audio. So all around, this camera is much better and I actually paid about $18 less for it (and I think I got the Nikon of eBay maybe 2-3 years ago). It has some cool features too...it has this face recognition thing so it won't take the photo if the people aren't in focus, it has self portrait mode that allows you to take better pictures of yourself, and you can change the color and take black and white photos, green photos, blue photos, etc. Here is a sampling:

me in color

me in black and white

me in sepia

Well these are the exciting times of my life living in Lake Powell at the end of summer. :-) My office computer is not really working, so I can't get much work done. My trip is canceled for tomorrow, so I have the day off. I think I will catch up on cleaning my house and maybe go to the beach. I had a good talk with my mom today and I'm feeling better about life and about the future (I'm not sure my mom actually said much-mostly she just listened to me whine, which is sometimes the therapy I need, thanks mom). Later this week I get to go boating, shopping in Grand Junction, and I get to learn to cook Filipino food. I'm working on planning my last event calendar, so if any of you want to come visit...you better let me know soon so I can plan it into my schedule in September.

Vote for Mary

For all my blogging friends, if you have 30 seconds you can vote for my friend Mary in a photo contest she entered. She is #15 -Mary Elizabeth. Voting closes Friday August 29th at 3pm EST. If she wins, she gets $500 dollars! She is in dire need of a nice, new, professional type camera, and this would really really help her in being able to purchase one. To vote, go here.

ALSO! if you want to tell everyone about this on YOUR blog, that would be awesome too! You can copy her picture (she gives permission on her blog here) and then give everyone the link to go vote for her, I know she would be so grateful!

The photo:

a little reflection

So I'm feeling kind of stressed and a little bummed out right now, so I thought maybe I would write down a few of my thoughts...I guess for some personal therapy (and so all my friends and family can give me some encouragement I suppose).

Anyway, things are starting to get really quiet around Lake Powell. Most of the seasonal employees have left or are leaving in the next couple of days. Meal times and the Rec are no longer crowded or a good opportunity to socialize with my co-workers. I will probably have to cancel the hiking trip I have planned to Hovenweep on Monday because nobody has signed up. Sigh. I guess I'm just frustrated because I am now wishing I would not have committed to staying here until the end of September. The marina is still fairly busy, people squeezing in one last vacation before the kiddos go back to school. For me though, things are slowing down quite a bit and I hope I won't have to cancel any other trips.

I think I am also a little sad that I'm not going back to school. This has surprised me because I was so happy and relieved to finally be done last May, so I can't imagine I would want to go back.

I am coming home in just 6 weeks. But I'm not even sure what "home" is anymore. My parents moved last May, but I haven't lived with them in so long anyway (and they moved I think 2 miles). Logan had kind of become my home. Sometimes I consider Salt Lake my home. I think all along I assumed I would find a job in Salt Lake and move back there and pick up where I left off last year when I had to move back to Logan to finish school. My friend Carlee jokes about us finally getting to be friends again. It's kind of true because it has been hard to talk as often as we used to and we rarely get to hang out. Things have changed though. Carlee lives with Joe and Andrea has a new roommate and we're starting to spread out more and more. John pointed out the other day that he feels like he has made a life and a home in Logan and he is ok staying there for awhile. I could keep Logan as my home, but for some reason I am having a hard time getting excited about that.

I will soon be at a crossroads of my life where I will have to make some pretty important decisions. I'm trying to just enjoy my remaining time at Lake Powell and not stress out too much about the future and things I don't have control over...at least not yet. For those of you who really know me, you know how silly I can be sometimes and that I like to worry myself sick over things sometimes. I'm just trying to stay positive and be happy, but I feel like I will soon be under a lot of pressure.

Luckily I have really supportive friends and an amazing family that is always there for me. My parents say I can move in with them for awhile if I need to. John is 99% sure he can watch my cats for a few weeks while I am in-between jobs and apartments. I think I can always sleep on my brother's or sister's couch if I really need to (hint, hint). In my head and in my heart I know things will all work out...but in the meantime I will still be worried.

So for now, the plan is to stay in Lake Powell until my contract is up at the end of September. I will have a week or two before my temporary nanny job starts, so hopefully I will get a lot of time to catch up with family and friends and make up for some lost time this summer. Then I will be nannying in Salt Lake for about 5-6 weeks while I stay with my parents and job search. Then I will find an amazing job that I will love and a great apartment where I can have my cats and everything will be fine. It really is all quite simple, right? :-)

Reunion

August 1st was my 10 year high school reunion. Yes, I am that old. :-) I had debated all summer if I was going to make the trip, but I decided it would be fun, especially after reconnecting with some old friends via the blogging world (and facebook, myspace, etc.). My good friend Cassie was nice enough to drive me up there, even though she would be moving home the next week from Lake Powell. We got into Utah county near midnight and I got dropped of at my sister Rachel's house. She and Dan were nice enough to let me crash on their couch, even though I got in late and they both had to get up for work in the morning. My other sister, Rebekah, was also really nice and came to pick me up the next morning and shuttled me around all day. It was fun to get to hang out with her and her girls, Izzy and Lulu. Lucy is getting so big and has changed a lot since I saw her last. I'm sad I am missing out on so much back at home.

Anyway, the reunion was at the Davis Conference Center in Layton and I went with my best friend Scuba Steve. He and I have been friends since sophomore year when we were on the swim team together. We have stayed friends all these years, but being at USU together is where we really got to be close friends. We have been though a lot together and no matter where we are and how far apart, we will always be friends. Cheesy, I know. :-)

Me and my BFF, Steve

The reunion was really fun, dinner, was good, the prizes were nice (I won some tickets to a play this fall), and it was good to see so many old friends. There were lots of people I didn't even get to talk to, but I still had fun. John let me borrow his camera for the night, but I didn't really take that many pictures because I was too busy talking I guess.

Marilee and Me

Lindsay and Me

Nate, Kaylene, Andrew, Lindsay, Brock, Angie, Jeff, Angel, Me, and Steve

Even though it was a quick trip, I am really glad I got to go. I also interviewed for a temporary nanny job while I was up there, so I at least know now what I'm going to be doing for the first few weeks I get home. I'm going to be watching a little girl named Eliza for about 6 weeks while her regular nanny is on maternity leave. This will give me a chance to me working while I job search in Salt Lake once I get home from Lake Powell the first of October. If anyone hears of any great recreation/event planner/program coordinator type jobs, let me know!

In the meantime, I'm going to try to make the most out of the time I have left at Lake Powell. I'm still having a lot of fun, but lots of people are leaving to go back to to school and I will miss them. I have some fun trips planned in the next few weeks and lots of time scheduled to be boating on the lake as well. I'll try to be better about updating my blog...but we all know I am a slacker so I won't make any promises. :-)

July activities and pictures

July was a really busy month for me and I was able to go on a lot of cool trips for work. Below are a few of the photo highlights of my trips. Unfortunately, my camera got wet and ruined on a river trip in Moab, but I ordered a new camera and it will hopefully be here soon so I can keep taking pictures of all my fun adventures.


Second trip to Rainbow Bridge with Stephanie, Magnolia, Travis, and Kenny.

We hiked beyond the bridge (which I didn't do with the group I went with in June) about a mile or so and came upon this old camp. Guides in the area say President Theodore Roosevelt once camped here when the Native Americans in the area first guided people into the area. It is a cool camp that looked like it is still used. We had fun exploring the area and climbing around the hillside.


My next trip was to Natural Bridges National Monument. This is a really cool part of Utah, but I've never been there before. Basically there are 3 bridges within the monument and some old Indian ruins and you drive this 9-mile loop where you can park near each bridge and hike in to each one. This first picture is of Sipapu Bridge. The hike in was really cool, kind of steep, but so worth it. Once you get into the canyon bottom, it cools of a lot and it's very green and you can go right under the bridge. The hike out was a little rough, so I was glad it was at the beginning of the day.

Brandt, Jess, James, Me, and Justin. You can't see behind us, but this is at an overlook for Horsecollar Ruins, which is the remains of an ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling.

This is the second bridge, Kachina Bridge. It was cool to see how different each bridge was, even though they are all so close to one another.

The last bridge we saw (and the shortest hike in) was Owachomo Bridge. We all laid under it in the shade on the cool rocks and enjoyed a rest before making our trip home.

The next week I had a trip to Canyonlands National Park. It was an overcast day, which was really nice because it wasn't very hot. The views there are truly spectacular and I can't wait to go back again soon.

View from the Grand View overlook-you can see forever, just not so much with my camera.

Good view of the White Rim

Mesa Arch

That same week I went on my first river trip in Moab. I had been looking forward to these trips for weeks, since I was able to work out a houseboat trade for 4 trips. I have to give a plug for World Wide River Expeditions because they have been really great to work with! These pictures are from the first trip, and that's where my photos end because it was on the next trip (July 29) that my camera got ruined. Thankfully, my memory card is still good so hopefully when my new camera gets here, I can put up some more pictures that are saved on the card.

On the raft with Lisa, Stephanie, Sam, Bethany, Candice, and Jessie.

With Jessie on the beach during lunch.

Our whole group after lunch, ready for some more rapids! L-R: Sam, Lisa, Curtis, Cameron, James, Candice, Jessie, Me, Anthony, Stephanie, Chris, and Bethany

Me, Candice, and Jess floating in the Colorado River

Stephanie and Me and the raft

Overall I had a great month. I've been such a blogging slacker though because things have been busy and kind of crazy, not to mention lack of internet. :-)