Fantanstic weekend! Then bad news...

I got back from our Mt. St. Helen's climb and camping weekend. I'm pretty exhausted, but it was great! The weather held out for us and turned out to be perfect! Not too hot and just windy and chilly at the top. None of the pictures will do St. Helen's justice: you have to see it for yourself. I was especially grateful of the view given I've climbed that fuckin' half-ass of a mountain bitch twice before, but this one time all of my effort and exhaustion was justified in being able to stand up on the crest's edge and look down into the crater. I was surprised to see how active it was: plumes of steam in several areas and areas where you could see hot sulfur had be spewing. Very very cool. Not to mention the sudden rock avalanches that would come loose around the edges of the crater. You would hear a distant rumbling (which gave me the heebeejeebees), then you'd look over and see a waterfall of rocks and dust rolling down and edges. On our way up I definitely said to myself "This is it, this is the last time I'm doing this fucking climb." Then on my way down I thought "I totally doing this again next year!"

I was happy that Ami and Julian were able to come on the hike and camped with us for the weekend. This was the beginning of their 3 month long road trip around the country! They are really stoked. They have their station wagon loaded up and pimped out to live out of for the next 3 months. I'm planning to fly to New York to meet up with them in October! I just need to get on buying my ticket....

After getting back to civilization and cell phone service I discovered that my Aunt Sandy suffered a massive stroke and is in the ICU in Vancouver. This is especially horrendous news so soon after my Grandma past away last month. My Uncle Leland, husband of Sandy, had been the closest to my grandma before she past and took her death very hard. He is now losing his wife. The news of Sandy's sudden stroke, literally shocked my Aunt Karla (older sister of Leland and my dad) so much that she ended up also being admitted to an ICU! (Apparently she had multiple underlying issues making her unable to process such emotional stress: pneumonia, fatigue, dehydration, and severe electrolyte imbalances). At least my other Aunt Mary just recently got out of the hospital after breaking her sacrum shortly before my grandma died. My dad seems to be keeping it together. Sandy had a massive clot in her brain which they treated with a blood thinner (tPA), after which she then began to bleed out into her brain. They had to take her to surgery to remove part of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain in hopes of saving tissue. Her best chance right now would be to get back to the capacity she was at before the surgery which was completely paralyzed on her right side, minimal movement on her left, non-verbal. If she doesn't begin to recover in the next 72 hrs then they will remove the breathing tube.

Also, while we were gone for the weekend, our bathroom rug grew maggots in it!

God I'm bored...

So it's a Friday night and I'm studying for my Endocrine final. I've been checking this thing and facebook every 10 min (ok, that's an exaggeration, but not by much)...will someone please write something that is going on with them, asap. I have a wknd full of more studying fun things like diabetic foot ulcerations and cushings disease (the list goes on and on), but PLEASE give me something to occupy my time with when I need a break!!

Ok, that's all from me. Jessie: to make your own post you have to actually sign in to the blog and then hit new post. I didn't realize that either.

Vegas wknd

Well, this wknd we decided to drive to Vegas. It was great, we got an awesome deal where we were able to have two AMAZING rooms at Caesar's Palace (we got upgraded for free), plus it included a spa package. There were four girls, and then about 10 guys, so while the guys went and shot guns, we hung out in the spa. I would definitely do that again! It sucked though because we have a minor quiz on Monday, and half the day yesterday the girls just wanted to study. I sat out by the pool by myself and tried studying, then sleeping, then drinking. That was pretty lame, but I guess it comes with the territory of going with medical students. Last night we tried getting into a club, but with a ratio like that in Vegas, it was pretty impossible. So, we all played craps together and Brent won a grand at poker (yay him!) I lost $60.

Other than that, nothing else is really new over here. It's actually pretty mild weather wise, which is nice, and school is just trugging along. I'm really surprised, I'm actually enjoying Endocrine. Not sure if I could be an endocrinologist, but hormones are freaking amazing. This is the last week of the class though, and then we have our final next Mon and start Cardio. I'm getting nervous for Cardio, it's supposed to be one of the hardest classes in our second year! Oh well, bring it on (and get it over with)!!

Em, how's school?!?! I want an update ASAP! Taren, Lena, Nora, seriously what is going on in your lives?! Get your butts in gear.

Anyway, miss you guys like crazy. Hope everything is going well. Can't wait to hear from you all. :)

Muah.

Back to Portland!

I had an awesome time romping around the Midwest! But I'm also so glad to be back in Portland: Hello Heat! Jesus, 95!

Em, it was so nice to see where you'll be spending the next 4. I have a picture in my head of where you are and it makes me feel like you're not too far away :0) I'm curious to know how the first week is going...

Nora it was so fantastic to see you! I love that after only a few hours I forgot that its been years that we've been apart. Kansas City totally rocks! And fuckin' Deborah Harry really rocks!! I'm already craving more Grinders Pizza.

I got some new, totally awesome, tires for my bike today! "Armadillo Skin" I'm hoping not to get any flats. Ever. Or at least not for a long time.

J and I talked today. He is registered for FULL TIME classes at LCC for the fall. I'm so happy for him. But this fits my theory that me being out of his life is actually better for him.

If anyone is down for some dumpster diving: The transformer blew at the Freddie's over here in SE and they are giving away/trashing a ton of their freezer stuff.

Mike Left

So my little visit from Michael was great. He was suppose to leave on Saturday morning... but he had a little to much to drink the night before. I took him to the airport that morning and around 10:30 (when he should have been in the air) I got a call from him "I'm not flying today". Poor guy got on the plane and once they closed the doors and started to pressurize the cabin, he instantly felt sick and actually have to utilize the throw up bag in his seat. They let him off the plane, probably because they thought he had swine flu or something. But good news that I got to bonus days with him. I told Mike from now on he should tell me he is leaving 2 days before he really is, makes it easier.

On another note, my job at LA Fitness is getting old, in terms of scheduling. I love working there, mainly for the benefits of a free membership and discounted training but there is so much drama. It doesn't help that my boss and her assistant are my age, actually my boss is younger then me. I always work Tu/Th closing and noticed there was no closers this week, called this morning and asked if she had me working tonight and all she said was "nope". You know that short answer, nothing followed by the response "nope". We'll see where that goes. Hopefully I'll be getting rid of all these college student jobs and get connected with an internship that has be doing what I actually want to do.... oh yeah, and what I'm going to school for :)

Taren, Nora, Jessie.... Where you at ladies??

Chris Ritter

First week of classes

Well, things are as boring as they could be. We've started school, it feels like we've never left. The only difference is I live with Brent, and there are kids who are even more freaked out than we are... But, my class is really social, so I've been busy every day of the week, and subsequently, are already behind.

Brent and I are doing really well so far living together (yes, it's only day 6). We've gotten the place pretty much put together. We bought a bed frame two days ago and put his bed in it yesterday. It's from IKEA, so not the greatest quality, and yesterday when I got into bed, the whole thing fell thru the frame. I felt like a fatty. We are going to Home Depot today to get wooden supports so it hopefully won't fall again (right now we have old textbooks holding the bed up!)

Anyway, just wanted to give a brief update to let you guys know I'm thinking of you. Kim, what did you end up deciding to do about J and hiking St. Helens?? I'm soo jealous you guys are all meeting up in Omaha for Em's white coat ceremony, I wish I could be there :( Chris, how is having Mike home, and how long is he in town for?

So, we either need to figure out the Vegas thing or not. I actually might "have" to go to New Orleans now for Halloween. There is a conference there with the club I am an officer for, and they need delegates. I'll keep you updated, but I'd like to know what you girls are doing so I can plan accordingly (i.e. either ask to go or just keep quiet).

Love you all, can't wait to hear from you!

Drunkin IMing

Ugh.
So last night I got home from hanging out with Lindsey and Liz at their spectacular condo they rented on the river. These are the girls I'm doing the bridge pedal with on Sunday. I had a wonderfully fabulous drunken night, but still had enough coordination to ride my bike home.

Then, there I am, lying in bed, missing J. As tempted as I am, I restrain myself from making a drunken phone call to him.

But then, I decide its necessary to just SEE if he happens to be on Skype at 2am. He is! And I literally stumble on the keyboard, and seriously, accidentally call him by double clicking his name. With my computer on mute, I didn't realized that I was calling him and by the moment I did he had picked up and I just immediately disconnected the call. Then I realized I'm a not a middle-schooler so I IMed him and he replyed.

It was weird. Having a typed conversation with so many charged emotions and him being a slow typer and me being drunk. Ugh. It was mostly polite, catch-up convo until towards the end when we were saying good-bye and he asked when were we going to talk about our St. Helens camping weekend and I just don't know how I feel about it!

I think us not talking is absolutely nessessary and I don't know how to plan that weekend without things getting confusing, emotionally draining, and being high tension. But I really want to climb and camp that weekend, and part of me (the part that wants to be a complete selfish bitch) wants to tell him and his friends they can't go. I have the permits. I paid for them. I'm going with my peps and you're no longer invited. The other part of me (the one that is still completly in love with J) wants to just plan the weekend like we would and try to be a normal person about it.

In the mean-time....I have a pseudo-date to got see M.C. Esher at the Portland Art Museum! So I'm going to get my hung-over ass out of bed and start my day and forget about J for as long as I can.

HOLY SHIT, MIKE SURPRISED ME!

Well actually my Dad and Mike did. I'm at my Hendricks Family reunion in Blaine WA this weekend. I'm dead asleep last night and JR gets a call at like 1:45 in the morning. Shes all frantic like, like someone has just died or something, this was her reaction. She runs to the door (I'm still in bed confused), opens it and has this blank, confused look on her face, then in walks my dad...OK so whats all the fuss about, "who died!" I'm thinking!!!! 

...then Mike walks in! He surprised me! I was so confused and asleep, my response was "I look awful!"

So I am on cloud nine right now and pretty stoked we are together..... So all that talk about him being an awful planner... just disregard that, OK :)

-Chris Ritter

Hello Hello!

So no one saw my first post (see comment on Chris's original post). I'm still figuring this stuff out...Kim, how do I change the notification to go to my gmail instead of my yahoo account? I guess it doesn't really matter, but I'm set up on this thing via my gmail.

Anyway, yet again unable to sleep (it's 4am), I think I'm doing too much thinking. Em, I know where you are coming from with all of your emotions, but just remember to enjoy your first year. Mitchell loves you, every time you feel crazy girl coming on, write it here and maybe we can help first before putting all that burden onto him (or call us, I will always try to be available to at least answer calls and chat for a few minutes). Number one thing I think I forgot to tell you; don't get caught up feeling sorry for yourself about all the shit you have to do and how hard it is. He'll listen for a while, but that is one of my friends Kristen's biggest complaints about her med school bf Matt, she's got issues she'd like to discuss, but for some reason his complaints are so much more important than hers (because he's in med school and blah blah blah) so she never really gets to vent to him, but has to hear it all. They are doing ok, but I know that not feeling like a partner in their relationship (or being de-valued) has really put a strain on them, it's a common theme I've seen all last year.

Chris, I love what Kim said about just planning your birthday! I think that is a great idea. Amazingly I have nothing scheduled for the wknd of Halloween (i.e. no tests the following Monday). I love the idea of going then!! I have a feeling that people from my class might want to do that again, although there weren't as many people all dressed up and crazy for Halloween like you would have thought. We had about 30 plus people all dressed up in Viking costumes, so we were pretty noticeable. I would love it though if we could put a theme to dressing up...maybe like the superheros theme (yes, I stole this from Mikha and Greg but don't tell them, it really is a good idea)...I mean, how many times do you get to wear your wonder woman costume Chris??? Vegas with you girls would be amazing. We could also do a champagne brunch and celebrate your late birthday and my early birthday :)

Okay, this blog only took me 10 minutes to write, I was hoping to waste more time :( But, maybe I'll go shower and try this whole new curling my hair thing. I know it's retarded, but I haven't seen Brent in three weeks and I want to look really hot. Haha, how ridiculous! He is picking me up at the airport, we're going to have some "alone" time and then he's going camping and leaving me to fix up the apartment! I'm actually really excited about having it to myself to beautify, and I think my friend Kristen is coming over, so some girl time with her will be good.

I can't believe it is already Aug. Life goes so quickly. I'll keep you all posted on how things are going, the next three weeks are going to be boring with Endocrine, but then we get into Cardio and I'm sure I'll have questions to ask you Kim. Also, I'll know where I'm headed for my third year by Nov 9! I might even be up in Washington Taren!

Love you all lots, keep us posted!
Ash

My Tattoo!

I totally posted this picture of me on facebook because my waist looks so small!

Here is the close up. The "NW" represents where I'm from, the "16" is of course that crazy number in my life, and the two S's represent my parents' name's "Scott" and "Susan", and then they face it makes a heart... :). 

My sister Sara was asking me why I latched on to the whole nautical, anchor thing. I was trying to trace back my thoughts to when I started this whole thing and remembered is was Halloween, 2nd year at the house. I like the anchor for one because its not attached to ANYONE in my life, especially guys I have dated, but I like those pin up girls from the 20's. they have REAL BODIES, and you all know how my weight is always a topic on my life, I like that they have this hot, curvy bodies, in cute little sailor outfits....

Now you know :)

Tell me what you think

~Chris Ritter

Love being in touch with my BFFs :0)

Hey Ladies!
This is awesome and I hope we will all find it convenient to stay in touch! I'm going to set a link to the blog through my gmail homepage so I'll see right away if anyone has made a new post. I emailed all of you through the "administrator" account Chris set us up with. I'm hoping though that we will all be able to sign in with our own accounts to contribute to the blog. I got bumped off the page earlier with a message saying "Someone else has signed into this account with the same user name" and won't let me sign back in for a while. So check your email and hopefully it is as easy to manage as it should be.

Wine & cheese last night was so much fun! Lena, you were much missed. (not to mention, Taren, you are ALWAYS being missed). I truly hope that as we spread ourselves away from each other following our dreams and goals, we will always stay close!

Chris, I think you should just plan out the birthday in Vegas your dreaming of and hopefully most of us, if not all, will be able to join! Mike will figure his shit out has the time comes closer and make it happen because thats what people who don't like to "plan" do, and he knows how important it will be for him to be with you on your birthday. Oooooo, but thinking about Vegas in October: we should just plan on meeting there for halloween!!!!!!!!!!!! How freakin awesome would that be: all of us together on the best holiday of the year! Ash, I know you were in Vegas for Halloween last year: but this year it could be 100xs better with all of us girls!!!!! Chris, what do you think!?? Birthday/Halloween adventure in Vegas!!!

I'm all in

It's Em checking in for a first post on this amazing Blog. I'm so excited to keep in touch this way.
Good idea team!

My update is pretty boring... I'm presently sitting on the floor with my laptop because all of the furniture in our apartment is gone and all I have here are some miscellaneous odds and ends. I'm off to Omaha with Mitchell on Friday morning and the journey is going to be grand. Mitchell anticipates that the highlight of the drive will be passing through Sturgis, South Dakota during the "Sturgis Motorcycle Rally" (see http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com). He says it "is a once in a lifetime opportunity" and Chris said that we better lock our doors. Sounds interesting.

I am feeling a barrage of emotions right now including, but not limited to being scared shitless of starting school again, super sad to be leaving PDX and lots of fantastic friends, worried about my relationship surviving the 1700 mile distance (Chris I am taking notes from you and Mike's success), curious about the culture shock I may feel moving to the Midwest (or Middle East as Dana so named it), excited to meet new people and FINALLY set out toward this goal, glad to have such supportive friends and family, and stressed about packing and the drive.

That's the low down on me for the time being. I will try to be good about posting updates as often as possible.

Loves to you all!
Em

Our First Post...via Chris Ritter

So ladies welcome to OUR blog, compliments to Kim and Ashley for thinking this up, (and myself for getting it started). In stead of calling everyone across the country to tell your girlfriend about how much your boyfriend is your ass hole, you can share it here!

For example....

I'm turning 25 this year and want to plan and fabulous and fun trip to Las Vegas with my fantastic boyfriend Michael, but every time I bring it up he gets his panties in a bunch about planning...

...then I start sounding like a crazy girlfriend "do you plan on breaking up with me???? is that why you don't want to plan with me??!!!"

I'm not aloud to bring up ANYTHING that has to do with planning, until brings it up...


So that's a little blurb on me and how this blog will go. Post pictures and update us on the latest, good and bad :)