Floating on the Willamette

Summer in Eugene is beautiful and there are a lot of fun things to do outdoors, which is one of the reasons why I moved to Eugene in the first place. One of my favorite adventures was "floating" down the Willamette River with our family friends Timmy and Riley. It was a beautiful day and turned into quite the adventure when two of our rafts popped and we got stuck on an island in the middle of the river until around sunset. It was one of those moments that is funny now but at the time was a little crazy. There is also a lake about 15 minutes from my apartment that I went to a lot to get some relief from the hot sun! I thought it was suppose to be cooler here! Most of my summer I was sitting in a classroom however, 12 units in summer school is a crazy idea by the way. After summer school ended I headed back to California to finish up my summer for about a month and a half, which is a whole other blog post :). So far every new season in Eugene is my new favorite season because they are all so amazing!!

Summer 2009

Wow I have some updating to do!! I don't know how I get so behind, but here it is, FALL, and I have missed an entire season on my blog. Sorry guys! Well lets get caught up really quickly. This summer was pretty amazing. I came home for about two weeks in between the spring and summer quarters and got to do lots of fun things. My family and the Cain family went to Buena Vista for some MUCH needed wakeboarding. Jim and I went to a dodger game and I got to see lots of babies!! Here are some pictures from my first trip home...

The Cuthbert...

The Cuthbert is a really awesome ampitheatre near the edge of Alton Baker Park and walking distance from my apartment. For those of you in California it is very much like the Greek Theater. The best part about the Cuthbert is right outside of it. It is placed right on a little stem off of the Willamette river with grass and trees. Tons of people just bring picnics and boats and hang out right out side the show for free and still get to enjoy the awesome music. I got to go last sunday with A friend of the Darcy family Matt and all the kids from when I lived with Debi. It was such a fun time just hanging out at the river and listening to Santigold, which I really enjoyed. Matt had brought a little blow up kiyak and took me down the river a bit. I loved the atmosphere.. it reminded me of a Greatful Dead concert from when I was little. It is times like these that I am so glad I moved to Eugene. This sunday Ziggy Marley and 311 are playing and I plan to be there!







Its hard to see in the pics but the person in the middle of the red boat is dressed like a really funny looking wizard.. like a disney character.. the kids were going crazy over him haha. Fun Sunday for sure!! After this we went back to the Darcy house (my previous residence) and sat around a campfire in the back yard.. I love the weekends!

The cat and the frog..

Here is some Hilarious video of Harlie trying oh so hard to get into the fish tank to get to the frog. She literally does this every day and does not seem to understand why she can not just get the frog! The video gets better near the end.. good stuff!! Oh and the frog is pretty cute to :)

Sun, Wine, and.... Homework?!

I have no complaints about the weather in Eugene. Spring has been an amazing season... yes we have seasons here in Oregon! Something I am not quite used to growing up in Southern California. So why would I be kept inside by homework?? Shana and I decided to pour ourselves a glass of wine, sit out in our little front yard and study in the sun. Harlie also joined us outside on her harness and leash.. she is such a scaredy cat but very curious at the same time. It is pretty entertaining.

Day trip to Portland!

Our college had a school holiday one friday so Shana and I decided to get out of Eugene for the day and head to Portland. We choose portland mostly because it is the only city in Oregon with an Ikea and we wanted to get some stuff for our apartment but we also wanted to go to the Zoo! I haven't been to the zoo in LA in years!! besides the packs of screaming kids, the zoo was very enjoyable.
























Got to love the animals!! They were so cute. The Portland Zoo had an amazing selection of animals and are doing alot of construction to bring even more! Can't wait to go back to see them. After the Zoo we drove into downtown and found and amazing little Thai restraunt .. it was the best thai food I've ever had!! It is a tiny little place.. only had about 5 tables that we saw, and we were the only ones in the place! But I have a feeling that place is hard to get into at night.. If you ever visit Portland make sure you hit Kinara Thai Bistro!





With full bellies we drove around Downtown for a while. I love the architecture and buildings.. Portland is an amazingly beautiful city. We then stopped for dessert at this crazy doghnut shop called Voodoo Doughnuts where they make Vegan doughnuts! Only in Oregon LOL. They have all different kinds .. including some with cereal on top such as fruitloops. I got one with rasberry tang and sprinkles and let me tell ya it was amazing! After the Doughnuts we got back on the freeway where we finished our day off with my favorite place to shop.. IKEA! Shana and I bought some really cute things for our apartment! I will post pics soon of that to...














Such a wonderful trip with my roommate in Portland!

Dorris Ranch

It was such a beautiful weekend that Shana and I decided to get out and go for a walk so we headed to this neat place called Dorris Ranch. It is a old Hazelnut Ranch from 1903 that is now a historical area with running trails that go between the hazelnut trees and down by the willamette river. It is a truly beautiful place. They even have days where they have "living history" when poeple dress up in period costumes and act out the days of the old ranch. It is still a working Hazelnut ranch as well. I love finding fun little places like this and exploring my new town.

Our new friends, and Harlie's new entertainment!

In the last couple weeks, Shana and I have been building up our new obsession. Our fish tank! I never thought I would love it s much, and the little fishies. It is a really nice 30 gallon fresh water tank with live plants and a new little cave that we randomly found in the dirt outside of our gym haha, SCORE! We have named the two fish we can Identify. The girl is Molly and we are hoping she will have babies soon and the boy is Noah (who wont leave molly alone!). We have a bunch more but they are so small and are still growing. Not only is it fun for us to have the aquarium, Harlie is obsessed with the fish! She sits and stares into the tank all day. Once we had the lid of and she was caught with her paws in the tank.. so we make sure the top is on at all time now lol. My favorite is when she walks behind the tank and it looks like she is in swimming with the fish. We are going to start introducing more fish within the next couple weeks. Im really excited to get a algie sucker! I definitely never thought I would become a "fish person" but it might have happened. It is just so pretty! Here are some fun pics...















Yay for Fishies!!!!

Spring is here!

The other day I was in my kitchen and I turned around to look out our sliding glass door when I noticed that our tree has exploded. It was all branches a few days ago and now it is beautiful, filled with these wonderful white blossoms that literally came over night. Shana and I were so excited that we decided to take some pictures. It makes cooking a lot more fun when we can look outside and see this beautiful tree. Spring has certainly arrived!



we keep the birdies happy

Our little front yard :)
Just driving around Eugene I can see signs of spring every where. All the pink and white trees, dafodills and tulips pop up everywhere like weeds, I feel truly blessed to live in such a beautiful city where there are actual seasons :)

New Roomate! Introducing... Shana!

So I moved into my new apartment and I LOVE it... and I love my new roomie as well! Her name is Shana, 21 from none other than Simi Valley. She is introducing me to the vegan lifestyle. I love trying the new foods but I think it will be hard to give up my meats and dairy so for now I have just added vegan foods to my diet. Today we went for a long walk along the amazing bike and walking paths just across the street from our place... these paths go from along the beautiful river to the forest to these great fields with wild flowers... and it is all just steps from our apartment. Shana also has a cat named Noodle... Harlie and Noodle are working on being friends but Harlie likes to play (pounce) and Noodle is a big scardey cat lol. Anyways life is good in apartment 115 as we all make this place home :).



Here is a pic of the bike path and the running path right next to it..