Finally, a completed project!

August 31st, 2008 by michelle

Some of you wonder what I actually do as an interior designer. Well, finally I can show you some photos of a project that is finally completed. Pictures are worth a million words anyway, aren’t they? This is a senior living continuing care retirement center in Medford, Oregon that had us expand and remodel their main entrance. I’ve been working on this project since fall of 2006 so it’s nice to see something finally completed (surprisingly I don’t get to actually visit or see a good many of the projects that I have worked on) The other senior living facility that I started working on when I was hired on at this company is scheduled for completion this Thanksgiving…hooray. I do have to come clean and admit that I had very little to do with the selection of furniture and accessories. We have a group of gals in our Interiors department that takes care of that. So, what did I do you ask? Well, everything else of course

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Today I biked home

August 15th, 2008 by michelle
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I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but for some reason was kind of nervous to do it.  Maybe it’s because Portland is such a bike-friendly town, seems that EVERYONE here has a road bike and some fancy biking costume and a neat-o over the shoulder messenger bag.  Well today, I rode home.  My mountain bike, shorts and tank top, helmet & sunglasses (at least those are kind of cool) and my camelbak.  
Steve was going to the 11-year old scout camp and I could have taken the bus home as usual and walked 2 miles home from the bus stop (which I have done numerous times before), but I thought today was the perfect opportunity to see what biking home would be like (in 90F + weather mind you).  I’ve even run home before, but for some reason there’s something different about biking home.
Remember when I used to bike to school?  Elementary school, junior high and even through high school and college I biked.  Well, I guess I overcame that bit of nervousness today.  12.5 or so miles in about an hour.  It takes me just as long to get home on the bus so I guess I might as well get some exercise out of it.  Don’t worry, biking to and/or from work won’t replace running. 

Stolen idea…from Annie

July 21st, 2008 by michelle

So, Annie stole an idea from her friend in Raymond, Alberta (Raymond…of all places!) and it sounded fun, so I tried it too.  I googled “Michelle is” and this is what came up:

1. Michelle is the youngest of Pam and Danny Tanner’s daughters. She is the younger sister of both D.J. Tanner and Stephanie Tanner (maybe googling my name isn’t such a great idea if this is the first link to pop up on the screen…)

2. Michelle is (in not so many words) Barack Obama’s wife (still thinking my name’s not so great to have googled…)

3. MIchelle is “a World Wrestling Entertainment Diva and a model for Bacardi and Miller Lite, and has even appeared in a steamy episode of Hotel Erotica” and “put on such a steamy show during a Super Bowl XXXIX commercial for GoDaddy.com that a second airing of the ad was pulled by FOX”  (great…this is getting better all the time…)

4. Michelle is a golf prodigy in the LPGA who very recently forgot to sign her scorecard, thus become disqualified from that event.  She cried like a baby and has become an embarassment to all (lame!  Suck it up, girl!  Who’s next on the list…)

5. MIchelle is “firmly in favour of Health at Every Size. I am a healthcare practitioner, and a student of nutrition, so that I find HAES an interesting and attractive concept on its own merits, should come as no surprise. That is my bias, as a healthcare nerd.” (well, this sounds a little more like me, but I don’t think I’m quite so educated…)

6. Michelle is “a fan of Dunkin Donuts for quite some time–and have touted their strong position in favor of immigration enforcement.”  (the only connection to me here is that I do own a T-shirt that says “Donuts, it’s best for dinner”)

So, that was my attempt today at the game of “Michelle is”.  Maybe I’ll check back in another few monhs to see if ay other interesting Michelle’s surface and give us a good name.

 

In memory…

July 20th, 2008 by michelle

Last week, our ward was hit with a terrible tragedy.  At a family reunion at Bear Lake in Utah, one of our beautiful & talented young women, Mallory Parsons drowned.  There are several reports about the events leading up to her death, but in the end, all we know is that a lovely young woman was called home to our Heavenly Father sooner than we would have liked.  Mallory was one of my little Beehives while I was in the Young Women’s program not too long ago.  She would have turned 15 this coming Tuesday.  She was friends with everyone, a very talented dancer and will be greatly missed by all.  We are devastated by her loss and our prayers and support are extended to her family.

www.kptv.com/news/16898731/detail.html?rss=ptl1&psp=news#-

Deflated

July 17th, 2008 by steve

Michelle wanted me to post this picture. The other day at the grocery store we were picking out watermelons and one of them just didn’t pass the thump test. Can you tell which one?

(I’ll give you a hint. It kind of looks like a green deflated basketball.)

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Mountain Biking Hagg Lake

July 10th, 2008 by steve

Here’s a couple pics from last weekend. Michelle and I went mountain biking around Henry Hagg Lake, which is about an hour from us. There is a 14 mile loop that goes around the lake. Some good ups and downs and zips and zags. Isn’t the girl in the bike helmet a cutie?

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100% Complete and Passed and Done and CERTIFIED!!!

July 4th, 2008 by michelle

As of July 3rd, I am officially certified as an NCIDQ Certificate Holder.  I found out yesterday that I did pass Section III of the 3-part examination, PHEW!  Yea, all the hard work has paid off…and now I get to have a bunch of letters after my name on my business card!  Yippee!

…and since nobody knows what NCIDQ means (and I sure don’t expect you to know), you can read all about it here:
www.ncidq.com

2/3rds of the way there…

July 1st, 2008 by michelle

NCIDQ results…are IN!!!!

Well, two-thirds of them are anyway…and rather unofficially too since I haven’t actually received my letter in the mail.  My two friends/colleagues got theirs in yesterday’s mail, but I am still patiently waiting for mine to show up.  We think that because I did all three parts of the test (and my friends only took the first 2 Sections of the full exam thus far) that this is delaying the receipt of my long awaited results.  When they said it would take up to 3 months to grade the exams…boy, they weren’t kidding!  So…how do I know that I’ve passed the first 2 Sections?  Well, the internet is a beautiful thing.  It’s been posted on my account on the website as “PASSED” Section I and Section II.  I’m SO SO SO relieved too.  If you know me well enough, you’ll remember that I have difficulties with multiple choice examinations and both Sections I and II were all multiple choice.  125 and 100 questions respectively, 25 questions of each Section being experimental questions that are not counted, but of course you don’t know which those questions are you have to try to do well on all of them (how mean is that???).

Haza!  Haza!!  Haza!!!

It’s certainly almost time for a full blown celebration now!  If I could only just get the test results for Section III, the Practicum, with a passing grade, then we can start out with a round of Sparkling [you insert your own favorite flavor here]!  I’ll keep you posted.  I’m sure you’re just as anxious as I am to be officially NCIDQ Certified (ha!).

 

Our Bear Friend

June 29th, 2008 by steve

A couple of weeks ago Michelle, Nancy, and I went to Vancouver Island to my cousin Ritchie’s Wedding reception.  While we we’re were there we also got to do some backpacking.  Since we are having some computer problems, we haven’t posted about the trip.  Nancy has posted an excellent summary on her blog, http://sweetntangy.blogspot.com/2008/06/journey-to-motherland.html. 

Here is a photo of one of two bears we came across on the beach.  More info on Nancy’s blog.

Fire in the Hood

June 2nd, 2008 by steve

Last night at 4:00 am the neighborhood woke to the sound of multiple explosions and a blaze of light. Just a couple houses down from us a Jeep was sending flames high into the air.

Here is a picture of the firemen extinguishing the fire. We were a little disappointed we didn’t get a shot of while the flames were towering above.

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Turns out the car was purchased a couple days ago and didn’t have insurance yet. The brother of the owner thinks it was an electrical problem from the stereo that was just installed. Who knows. Just another day in the hood.