Is it seriously the middle of August already?!

Wow. I can hardly believe it. The summer months are almost over! Where has the time gone?

My third week at Walgreens was as enjoyable as the first two. I continued with the routine retail pharmacy tasks, while also completing another patient care plan and an extra 16-page over-the-counter (OTC) medication project/review. The week flew by, and was over before I knew it!

Unfortunately, I don't have any super neat photos to post tonight...but I did have a fun weekend. This past weekend was "New West Fest" here in Fort Collins, meaning there was a huge festival going on downtown with rides, music, and a lot of art/craft booths. I spent some time wandering around, checking out the festivities. There was some pretty neat things to see, but I didn't buy anything. I did, however, find an amazing BBQ pulled pork sandwich...delicious :) Later Saturday night, Jakob, Jakob's younger sister Meghan, a friend of Meghan's, and myself when to the drive-in theater. I hadn't been to a drive-in for years! Not since we lived in Kentucky. It was fun. We took the Kiehne's Yukon, removed the back seat and folded down the middle seats, and all snuggled up with blankets and pillows in the back of the truck. We saw a double feature of "The Time Travelor's Wife" and "Harry Potter." I thought the first one was good, but way too sad for me (I'll admit, I cried). Harry Potter was fantastic (as was expected). It was fun.

Sunday was a very low-key day, and I think I needed it. I slept until 12:07pm (yes, I slept past noon...) Then I did laundry and watched a bit of the PGA tournament that was going on in Chaska. I also had to shop for groceries for the week. Like I said, low-key. Later that afternoon, Jakob and I went on a picnic by Horsetooth Reservoir. We crawled down some rocks and sat right on a patch of sand next to the water. There were a few times that I closed my eyes and could imagine myself sitting next to the ocean...and it made me really miss Oregon.

That being said, I suppose that I should announce my decision to begin the job hunt as a pharmacist in either Portland or Seattle. I really enjoyed both of those cities (especially Portland), and see myself out there after graduation. So if anyone hears of any openings out there, let me know! Ha!

This week at work has been fairly busy, which makes the time go by fast. My preceptor (aka boss)'s wife had a baby on Sunday, so he is off for the rest of the week to be with her and their new son. This means that there is a float pharmacist in for half of each day this week. It's fun, and interesting, so get to work with a variety of pharmacists and hear what they have to say about the profession. The pharmacist that I worked with last night had only been licensed for 5 days (he was brand new!), and I think he was really nervous. In less than a year, I'll be in that position. Scary! Well, not really scary. I guess I should say, Exciting!

Tonight after work, one of the technician's (Michelle) and myself attended a "Drug Dinner." This was a dinner sponsered by a drug company, promoting a new drug to treat pain called Nucynta. Basically, we got to eat a really nice meal for free and learn about a new drug that doctors would be prescribing. I thought it was cool. My meal included appetizers of chips/salsa/guacamole, a salad, pork tenderloin with rice and asparagus, and chocolate covered strawberries & flaun for dessert. All mouth-wateringly delicious. Afterwards, I took a look at the menu online...just because I was curious. My meal alone cost over $40. There were 14 people there. That's a lot of money! But anyways, now I'm fed, full, and educated.

That's about all I've got for now...it's getting late, and I want to get some sleep. Goodnight, all!

Welcome to Colorado :)

My transition from Oregon to Colorado went off without a hitch...thankfully, everything about my experience here has went very smoothly. The lady that I'm renting a room from is wonderful - very nice and accommodating, providing me with not only a room but also my own bathroom and plenty of space in the kitchen to store food and such. I enjoy visiting with her and her dog, Shadow (a 12 year old Schnauzer). And my current living quarters are less than 2 miles from my rotation site...it only takes me 8 minutes to get to work here! That sure beats the hour and a half commute I had in Portland.

This rotation is at a Walgreens Pharmacy. I've always said that I'd never work for a Walgreens store after graduation, but I must admit that I may be changing my mind. Everything about the way the store runs is so efficient, and the programs that they have set up on the computer increase the ease of providing patient care (in my opinion, anyways). So, I'm back to thinking that I have zero clue which company I'd like to job search with...and I'm no longer ruling Walgreens out.

I've enjoyed the first two weeks of this rotation. After some initial training to get used to their computer filling software, I'm now fairly comfortable with the system. I've done a lot of filling and prescription entering, some counseling on medications and OTC items, and made several phone calls to other healthcare professionals to complete tasks during patient care. I've looked up drug interactions, and completed one of my two required patient care plans (an evaluation of the medications a patient is currently taking, dosages, adverse effects, monitoring, drug interactions, etc). The entire staff that I work with is fantastic, and the environment is very laid back and enjoyable. Only three weeks left! The time is flying by again.

As far as "fun stuff" goes, I've gotten to see a lot of the beautiful wilderness that Colorado has to offer. The first weekend that I was here, Jakob and I drove to Estes Park and explored the town a little bit - looked into some of the tourist shops, drove past the Stanley Hotel (made famous by Stephen King's "The Shining"), ate lunch at a local pizza joint. Then we drove a couple of miles outside of town and entered the Rocky Mountain National Forest. This place was fantastic! Not long after entering the park, we saw a bear cub walking along the top of a hill just up from the road...less than 100 yards from us! We didn't see a Mama Bear around, but she might have been keeping watch over her cub from the trees. Nonetheless, it was so neat to see a bear in the wild!




































As we continued our drive, we saw several elk (both cows and bulls), picas, chipmunks, and a marmot. We did a little bit of hiking to see some views...boy, was that incredible! I will admit though, the high elevation was not cooperating with me. I got wore out so fast and had a bit of difficultly breathing at times because the air was so thin.






































































During my second weekend here in CO, Jakob and I took a camping trip up in the mountains. My preceptor (aka boss) gave me Friday off so that I'd have three days for the trip...what a nice guy :) So we left early Friday morning, stopped at Vern's for a delicious pecan cinnamon roll, drove up the Poudre Canyon, and took the side road leading toward Long Draw and Trap Lake. The drive took a couple of hours, but the views were amazing and the trip went by relatively quickly. After setting up camp, we decided to do some moose hunting (hunting includes shooting pictures with a camera, no guns). Throughout the course of the weekend, I saw 8 moose. Eight! Wow. Six cows and two calfs. No bulls though...bummer. Oh well.























The rest of our camping trip included a few short hikes to the lake and down by the creek close to our campsite. I can't get over how beautiful it is up by the moutains. Lucky, no bears attacked us. That would have been unfortunate. I will say, though, that camping in a tent when the temperatures get down to around 34 degrees F at night is not super fun. It's actually super cold and not fun. And since there was no running water, I was an incredibly dirty girl when we got home. Ha! Oh well...at least there was an outhouse, so I didn't need to stake out a special spot in the woods to use as a bathroom.








































































And that brings us up to date...finally. My internet access is limited here, as I can only go online where I can find internet. I'm currently staked out at a coffee shop/internet cafe located in Fort Collins' Old Town (their downtown area). It's a super neat place called 'Mugs' and they have fantastic chai tea. I'll try my very best to keep this updated from now on!

A Week Without Work!!!

Between Rotation #1 and Rotation #2, I was lucky enough to have a week of vacation. This isn't typical during the rotation schedule, but I had started a week early so that I could find myself in this predicament. It meant that I had a few days to just enjoy Oregon before having to leave...and I was not ready to leave. Not even close to being ready to leave. Even now, two weeks later, I just want to go back...I love the Pacific NW so much!

Anyways, here's a rundown of what I did on my week off...

Saturday - Jakob and I drove up to Olympia, WA, to visit my high school friend Lauren Langley. On the way, we stopped at the Mount St. Helen's Visitor Center...it was gorgeous! After meeting up with Lauren, we spent some time catching up at a local coffee shop downtown. Lauren took us on a tour of town - showing us the lake, the marina, downtown. Turns out, there was also a parade in Olympia that day...so we sat on the curb and enjoyed the parade (no candy though...bummer).






Sunday - Last day in the city of Portland. I showed Jakob the Rose Garden, the Saturday Market, Powell's...all kinds of stuff. Dinner was had at Huber's Cafe, the oldest restaurant in Portland. We watched the sun set over the city from across the river, and took some photos of downtown during the night. It was beautiful. I miss that city.













Monday - Jakob and I headed to the coast. I showed him the Devil's Punchbowl and other scenic overlooks. Unfortunately, it was incredibly foggy and visibility was very limited. But it is still the Oregon Coast, so it was fabulous. We looked through a few tourist shops in Depot Bay, saw the sea lions on the bay, and walked the beach in Lincoln City. For dinner, we ate at the McMenamin's in Lincoln City...such great food. That night, we camped at a state park right on the coast. S'mores over a campfire = good stuff.



Tuesday - Woke up super early to see tide pools at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area; they were amazing...the best tide pools I've seen. Lots of starfish, mussels, anemonae...even a sea cucumber! It was slipery though, and Jakor fell into the water. Oops! Lucky it was only his pride that got hurt. That day, we also explored South Beach (just south of Newport, OR) and saw Cobble Beach (my favorite beach) at high tide when the sound of the water on the stones is amazing :) Later in the afternoon, we drove up Hwy 101, along the coast and through several small towns. We stopped at the cheese factory in Tillamook for cheesecurds and ice cream...the cheese curds were fantastic - just as squeaky delicious as curds from Wisconsin. We made our way up the coast to Canon Beach, where we walked the sand all the way to Haystack Rock. It was very sad for me to have to say goodbye to the coast, but somehow I managed it. I know I'll be back soon.




Wednesday - Spent the day packing, doing laundry, and getting ready to depart Oregon. Rather uneventful. That evening, we went to a movie at McMenamins in Forest Grove for one last show. Since it was Wednesday, I was able to get admission to the movie, a burger, and a beer all for only $10...not a bad deal.

Thursday - Time to leave :( Sadness. We left nice and early, but spent most of the morning visiting the waterfalls just off of the interstate. Beautiful waterfalls of Oregon. Where, as Allison says, "It smells happy." By late Thursday night, we had made it to Missoula, Montana - halfway to Dickinson.

Friday - Drove a long way. Drove all day. Arrived in Dickinson, ND, in the night. Slept well.

Saturday - Kari Gerbig (a friend of mine from NDSU and a fellow BA...and the lovely lady who's apartment I was occupying in OR) + Jeremy Burgard = Mr. and Mrs. Burgard. It was a perfect day for the wedding...sunny, clear skies, and a perfect ceremony. Kari kept me busy as one of her personal attendants. It was so great to get to see some friends from NDSU!












Sunday - Drove all day through ND, SD, WY, and CO. Stopped at Register Cliffs and to see part of the Oregon Trail Ruts in Wyoming...pretty neat stuff. I was excited to finally make it to Fort Collins around 7:30pm. The woman that I'm staying with, Marjorie, is fantastic. I have plenty of space for all of my things, a bathroom for my own personal use, storage for food in the kitchen...it's great. She even has a dog, Shadow, who is a great companion. I couldn't ask for a better living arrangement right now.




It was a busy, yet incredibly enjoyable, week...but time to get back to work in the morning!

Last Week of Rotation #1

July 13th-17th was my last week at Lloyd Center Pharmacy. During that week, I was able to spend most of my time in the sterile lab making pain pumps, TPNs, injectable products, and other sterile products. It was wicked awesome. I really enjoyed my time in there, and wish that I would have been able to spend more time in that lab. I also finished up the PowerPoint I had spent the last two weeks putting together on compounding rules and regulations, and on Friday I gave the 45 minute presentation to the other interns and the pharmacists that were working. My end evaluation went marvelously, and I receive great reviews from my preceptor...yay! I was ready for the rotation to be over with...not quite the type of pharmacy I want to be practicing in, but still a good experience for a short amount of time.

On a note not related to work, on Tuesday of that week, Jakob (from Colorado) flew in to Portland for a visit. He was kind enough to purchase a plane ticket and volunteer to help me drive to ND and than to CO, so that I wouldn't have to drive by myself. What a nice guy. He spent most of the week hanging out with himself (after all, I had to work!), but Friday night we decided to spend some time in Portland. After I got off of work, we met at Pioneer Courthouse Square, then took the streetcar to the south side of Portland. We ate dinner at the Spaghetti Factory (yum!). Afterward, we found Portland's Aerial Tram....a cable car that took us up to the top of a hill that overlooks Portland, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Hood. The view was fantastic!!! Definitely worth the four bucks.

It felt great to be done with my first rotation, and to have a week off before begining my next one in Colorado...time sure flies by!

Long Time, No Blog...Sorry!

Let me begin by sincerely apologizing for my lack of blogging this past month...I am so sorry! I guess I got busy, preoccupied, or whatever you want to call it. But I'm totally going to make up for it...hopefully...by filling you all in on what I've been up to!

Let's see, where did I leave off? After my 4th of July weekend in Seattle, I had another uneventful weekend at work, followed by another fantastic weekend. On Friday, July 10th, Justin Miedema (from Seattle) took the train down to Portland to spend the weekend chillin' with yours truly. After his train got in around 9pm, we headed to Pioneer Square (Portland's city center) and watched an outdoor movie showing of Indian Jones (it's been so long ago, I don't remember which one...maybe the Last Crusades???). The city had blown up a giant movie screen, and a couple thousand people were settled in to watch the movie. We got lucky and found an empty couple of chairs to sit in, and enjoyed the show :)

Saturday we headed back into Portland for a day of exploration. We visited the Rose Gardens, had an early lunch from a food stand selling amazing gyros, took a trip to Portland's Saturday Market, visited Powell's Book Store (an amazing place in Portland...the bookstore is huge, taking up an entire city block!), did some window shopping, ate a second lunch of wings at Buffalo Wild Wings (it's a BA tradition, and they don't have BWW in Seattle...we couldn't not stop for wings), toured an apartment (Justin is an architect, don't forget...and it was in a brand new building!), did a lot of walking seeing the city, saw a movie (Bruno, horrible, disgusting, easily the worst movie either of us had ever seen), and had a late dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill (yes, we ate a lot that day...apparently we're glutons when we're together). It sounds like a lot of stuff to do all in one day, and it definitely was an exhausting day.

We had a little bit of time on Sunday before Justin had to be at the train station to return to Seattle, so we drove to a winery just outside of Forest Grove. Schafer Vineyards. I really, really enjoyed the wine there...they had a lot of sweet wines, and those are my favorite :) Of course, I had to buy a bottle for my collection. Before long, it was time to head to the Amtrak Station and say goodbye. Two fun weekends in a row...it was great!

Later that evening, my friend Steve (also on pharmacy rotation in Oregon) came over to hang out and have dinner. We had pizza and ice cream downtown Forest Grove. Greatness. Before it got too late, he had to head home...it was weird saying goodbye, because we are so used to seeing each other during school, and now wouldn't been seeing one another until the end of September. I really miss my friends. Oh well...the pharmacy career fair will be here soon enough, and then we'll all be reunited once again :)

Space Needle, Starbucks, and Salmon...Welcome to Seattle!

After work on Thursday, it was finally time for my weekend in Seattle, Washington! I had been super psyched for the weekend for a looong time! A friend from college that I got to know through Bison Ambassadors (and the small group of Wednesday Friends, as we liked to call ourselves), Justin Miedema, invited me up for the Fourth of July weekend. After graduating from NDSU a year ago, Justin moved to Seattle and now works for an architecture firm. He seems to love the city, and it isn't hard to see why!

So anyways, after work I walked to Union Station, where I boarded my train to head north. It's only supposed to be a 3.5 hour ride, but apparently our train was slow because it took 4 hours. By the time I arrived in Seattle, it was 10:15pm. Justin was waiting and picked me up at the station, and then we were on our way! Before getting to his apartment in Queen Anne (a neighborhood in Seattle up on a giant hill) we stopped at a park about 2 blocks from his place. The view was incredible!!! I could see the water of the Puget Sound, the lights twinkling on the water from West Seattle across the Sound, downtown lit up in all it's glory, and Seattle's signature Space Needle. Breathtakingly beautiful. I wish I could have photographed it, but my camera doesn't like to take pictures at night...so you'll just have to take my word for it that Seattle is beautiful by night.

After dropping off my suitcase, we walked a couple of blocks to a funky restaurant called 5 Spot. Late at night, they serve a variety of meals for only five bucks! Since neither of us had eaten dinner, it worked out perfectly. I ordered a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy...yum! We ended up staying up until around 1:30am, talking and catching up. We had planned this trip when he had visited NDSU during the begining of May...hard to believe that was two months ago already!

Friday was a busy day, full of sightseeing. We began the day by walking to the park with the amazing view of the city, this time to see the view during the day. The local abc news crew was there, doing their morning broadcast live. Don't worry...we didn't do anything crazy like jump in front of the cameraman. Ha! We just took some photos and admired the city and Puget Sound. We continued our walk heading north, through one of the most perfect neighborhoods ever. The homes were massive and had a fabulous view of the Sound...and cost millions of dollars. They were an incredible sight to see. It was fun to walk past all the Mercedes-Benz cars in the driveways, the cobblestone streets, the perfect lanscaping covering the properties. Great way to start the day.

We then headed down the hill, into Seattle Center. This is home to the Key Arena (where the WNBA team plays, and where the band Green Day was starting their tour later that night). Seattle Center also houses what Justin calls the "PermaFair"...a bunch of carnival rides that are always present at the base of the Space Needle. We headed to the Space Needle, wanting to get there early to beat the rush of people that were in Seattle for the holiday weekend. Turns out, it was busy already. Luckily, Justin has a season pass for him and a guest (he gets a lot of visitors, and since everyone wants to go up the Space Needle, it was cheaper for him to buy a pass rather than a ticket everytime someone came). Since he had this, we got to skip to the front of the line (VIP status....yeah!) and made it to the top without having to wait. The view from the top was great...360 degree view of the city! Justin makes an awesome tourguide, pointing out all the landmarks and major sights of the city.

After the Space Needle, we walked towards the Sound, where we encountered a sculpture garden. We walked through this area, and took a few pictures. These pictures are compliments of Mr. Miedema...the one with the eye for design :)




Then we walked the strip along the piers, full of restaurants and small shops, and even a cruise line! We spent a bit of time watching a crew load up a giant cruise ship that was heading out later in the day...they were using forklifts to load crates of potatoes and other food. It was incredible how much was being loaded on to that boat!

Shortly after 11am, we boarded the ferry to take us across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. It's only a short 30 minute ride, but the island feels like its way far away from the city! As we got farther and farther away from Seattle, the skyline grew smaller and smaller. It made for a great opportunity to photograph the skyline! Once on the island, we walked through the small town's downtown...an adorable area filled with cute shops, quaint restaurants, a park with a gazebo, and even a little white chapel with a steeple on top. Perfect. We continued to the marina, where we had lunch outside at a place right on the water. The weather was perfect for eating outside - sunny and around 80 degrees. Now, before I proceed, I must make you aware that this meal was very significant for me. I have adamantly sworn that I will not, under any circumstances, ever eat fish. I just won't do it...too gross for me. Justin was the same way when he had moved to Seattle. However, he's slowly been learning to enjoy the creatures of the sea. If you've ever met Justin, you'd know how convincing he can be. Long story short, we ordered calamari (squid!) as an appetizer, and I ate it. I ATE IT! I ate seafood! It did come with pesto dipping sauce, so that might have been cheating a little bit, but nonetheless I ate it. And it really wasn't that bad. Who'd have thought?!

After lunch, we stopped at a candyshop to sample some fudge before we headed back to Seattle on the ferry. Yummy yummy fudge. Of course, we both ended up buying some too. I think it's almost inevitable that once the fudge has been sampled, a purchase must be made. It's just that good!

Back in the city, we were craving ice cream (yeah, I know...lunch, then fudge sampling, then ice cream...apparently we're a couple of gluttons!). There's a place right on the pier that sells giant homemade waffle cones, with two scoops of ice cream, for only $4. How could we possibly pass that by?! So we purchased our massive cones (which, by the way, were amazing) and continued our walk. By now, the temperature was nearing 90 degrees. Gorgeous day.

We meandered our way to Pike's Market...famous for fresh seafood and flying fish. The workers at the fish stands gracefully through fish through the air to fillet it and package it, so that it's all ready to go for the customer. It was fun to watch! The market also is a great source for flowers, fruit, veggies, and a few small craft stands. It was at this market that I experienced another monumental life moment...Justin convinced me to try some fresh smoked salmon. And it was delicious :) Absolutely delicious. Maggie is going to hate me when she hears that I've been enjoying seafood...I would always make her wait until a night when I'd be out of the apartment for her to cook fish, because it grossed me out too much. Oh well!

Just across the street from the market is the holy grail...otherwise known as the first Starbucks ever! Even though I was way too hot for a coffee, and way too full for a frappuccino, I had to have a drink from this glorious landmark. So I ordered a refreshing shaken green tea lemonade. Perfect for a hot summer day :)

Walking some more, we headed to the shopping district/mall downtown. Here, we boarded the monorail (built for the World's Fair in Seattle back in the 1950s, along with the Space Needle). This quick, quiet trip took us back to Seattle Center. Just a short walk from Seattle Center, behind Key Arena, we saw a promotional bus for Green Day. We had checked about getting cheap, last minute tickets for the show (since there were still tickets available) but it would have cost us over $50, so we decided to skip the concert. We did, however, hang out at a park nearby with a gigantic fountain. We parked ourselves on a ledge and watched people getting soaked playing in the water. It was really neat to see the public space being used by so many people!


After a full day of sightseeing, we decided to head back to the "hotel" (aka Justin's apartment) and relax for awhile. We enjoyed a couple glasses of Pinot Grigio while watching men's semi-finals at Wimbledon. Very relaxing. For dinner, we walked a couple blocks to a nearby Italian restaurant (located above a fitness center...go figure!). We both had Italian sodas to drink, and the meal was delicious. After dinner, we walked all the way down the incredibly steep slope of Queen Anne to a movie theater, where we saw Public Enemy. It was a decent movie, but I thought it was a bit slow and too drawn out at times. It didn't finished until after midnight, but we were both awake enough to make the trek up the super steep slope to make it home successfully. As we were walking, we noticed fireworkes going off nearby. So we walked towards the general direction of the park with the amazing view, and got to see a couple more fireworks shoort off. Technically, it was the 4th of July. Just really early in the morning. Haha. Before bed, we spent some time unwinding while watching home shows in HGTV. Another late night...this time 2a.m...but it was a great day :)

Saturday morning I got to sleep in a little bit...Justin had given up his bedroom for the weekend, and was kind enough to let me get a little extra sleep in his amazingly wonderful bed before we headed out for the day. Day Two in Seattle began with a trip to the locks between Puget Sound and Lake Union. It was really neat to see the boats get from one height of water to another...something I had heard about, but never before witnessed. There were several really nice boats that we watched go through, including two absolutely HUGE yachts. They cost somewhere around $10 million...just a little out of my budget! But were fun to stare at in amazement. Before leaving the locks, we walked to the nearby fish ladder, and walked down below to where there is a glass viewing area. We saw several salmon making their way up the current. There were giant fish, and there were tiny fish. Another neat thing to see that I'd never seen before.

Our day outdoors continued with a trip to the beach at Discovery Park. That's right - a beach in Seattle :) It was a little bit of a hike to get there, but it felt so good to be outside and walking around. Justin carried our picnic lunches and bocce balls in his backpack; I got lucky and just had to keep up. When we made it to the shore, we found a big log of driftwood to sit on and enjoy our sandwiches. Since I'm a bit of a slow eater (apparently), Justin decided to built a sculpture out of driftwood while I finished my food. After all, he is an architect and has some pretty great design skills.

The beach was relatively quiet, which was nice. We were able to play two games of bocce ball without getting in anyone's way. I'd never played on the sand/in the water, and it was a great variation to traditional bocce ball! Even though I did loose both games, it was still a lot of fun.

Back to Justin's, then a quick trip to Trader Joe's (have I mentioned yet that he lives within walking distance of TJ's?! He's so lucky!) for some cherries and other miscellanious items, and then we were on our way to the Fourth of July celebration. Since the lake we were headed to was a little crazy (ok, 'little' would definitely be an understatement) and parking was limited, we decided to walk the 35 minutes to Lake Union. A couple that Justin's dad went to college with currently live in Seattle, and had invited us to spend the holiday on their boat at Lake Union. We definitely weren't going to pass on that offer! Immediately upon meeting them, I could tell that they were wonderful people. Incredibly nice, hospitable, and caring.

After a tour of the boat and a bottle of water, Justin, Jane (the wife), and I took the dingy out for a cruise on the lake. It was too crowded to want to worry about taking the big boat out of the marina, but the dingy worked great. Justin made a great captian! We spend the rest of the day visiting, grilling, eating, getting to know each other. It was so much fun! A Fourth of July I'll never forget :) When it came time for fireworks, we sat up on the front of the boat and sipped from our glasses of wine as the fireworks show took place in the sky. Fantastic. Everything about the evening was so classy...I had a great time. Jane was kind enough the give us a ride home shortly after midnight. We watched a couple more home shows on HGTV (love it), and then it was bedtime.

Sunday morning, Justin and I went to the service at his church (located just a few blocks from his apartment). It was a nice service...I was really impressed with the Pastor's sermon. I also enjoyed how it seemed slightly contemporary, yet still traditional. The music was great, too. Following church, we crossed the street and bought lunch at a bagel sandwich place. It reminded me of Bruegger's Bagels...so yummy! Drinks were purchased at the Starbucks next door (more shaken lemonade). We enjoyed our meal at an outdoor table on the sidewalk. It was another day of perfect weather...too bad the weekend was almost over!

Two o'clock came around rather quickly, and it was time for me to catch my train back to Portland. The weekend was amazing...I really really REALLY liked Seattle. I will admit, I've already done a little searching around online fore current available pharmacist positions, and there are several in the area. It might be nice if that many options are still available in a few months when I start applying for jobs :) The train ride home was decent, besides the fact that the teenage boy next to me was horrible sick and snotty and sneezy (gross!). Made it back home safely. Can't wait for Justin to visit Portland this weekend!

Rotation Week #3

A whole week since my last update...oh jeez! Oops!

The week at the pharmacy went by incredibly fast....the fastest week thus far! Then again, I did only have a four day work week (yay for having Friday off as a holiday!). Monday through Wednesday, I spent the entire time in the lab making creams, ointments, gels. I feel pretty confident in that area now...it still takes me longer than the other people in the lab, but they're been compounding for years and I've been compounding for a couple of weeks. I really enjoy my time in the lab :) Thursday I spent the day researching...all day...finishing up my research and materials for my first project. Only two more weeks left! It's amazing how fast time flies!

Tuesday night, after work, I went to the McMenamin's Grand Lodge movie theater and say 'Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.' It was a cute movie, and I love the atmosphere at this theater. Honestly, its the best place to go to see a film...I'm going to miss it.

Wednesday night was full of busy work - laundry, packing, etc etc. Early to bed, with only one more day before the weekend!!!

Sunny skies to continue all week...

Sunday was the perfect end to the perfect weekend. I slept in, made a nice breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, hashbrowns, and fresh strawberries, and took my time getting ready. Fantastic. I didn't have a lot planned for the day, so it was alright that I didn't get out the door until after 1pm.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, there are several wineries/vineyards located just a short distance away from where I'm staying in Forest Grove. On this particular afternoon, I decided to check out the David Hill Winery. The drive to the vineyards (which was less than 10 minutes, by the way...and included me having to turn around twice because I had missed where I was supposed to turn) took me into the country and up a narrow gravel road. It was hidden, up in the hills, on David Hill, actually...creative name for the vineyards then, I guess. The view was incredibly beautiful, with the hills covered in vineyards and trees. The tasting room is inside an old farmhouse, and the farmhouse has pretty gardens planted all around it. Weddings are held there every Saturday in the summer, and they were cleaning up the tents and tables/chairs from a wedding the previous day (they can't just leave everything set up because they need to be able to water the grass!).

It was very quiet, with just myself, one other guy, and two couples. Made for a very relaxing, non-intimidating wine-tasting experience. I sampled a few wines (2007 Estate Pinot Gris, 2007 Estate Semillon, Farmhouse White, 2007 Estate Riesling, a red wine that I don't remember the name of but I didn't like, and Sweet Simplicity, their estate dessert wine). Apparently, I have a thing for the whites, and the uber sweet dessert wines :) I bought a bottle of the Farmhouse White for my new wine collection (I just started it...it includes wine from two vineyards...not much, but hey, it's a start!)

After I left David Hill, I headed southwest of Forest Grove about 7 miles to nearby Hagg Lake. This lake is gigantic, and I had found out about it by looking at the City of Forest Grove website earlier that morning. Soooo glad I decided to check it out! It was beautiful. And hot. I brought my beach blanket and book down to the shoreline and relaxed for a bit. People were swimming, boating, tubing, jetskiing...having a great time on the lake. On the shore, people were grilling, picnic-ing, tanning, walking their dogs...having a great time, too. There are also over 15 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails around the lake, but I didn't check those out. I just don't think I'd be a smart idea for me to go off hiking by myself. So I stayed by the water.

The afternoon flew by, and before I knew it, it was almost 6:30. I needed to go to the grocery store still and pick up a few essentials (bread, peanut butter, tea, cereal, shampoo, and vinegar to put on my mildly sunburned skin). Supper time, and soon it was time for bed. Great end to the perfect weekend.

Today, Monday, went by really fast. I was in the lab all day at the pharmacy, this time making creams. It was a bit challenging (they don't teach us everything we need to know in pharmacy school!), but it was my favorite day yet by far. I was so involved with my work that I didn't even notice when 4:30 came around and it was time for me to head home...I ended up staying until after 5pm! Oh well.

Quick stop at Trader Joe's for some apples, hummus, pita chips, and soymilk, and I was finally on my way home. Completely exhausted, tonight is going to be an early night. Tomorrow it's supposed to hit 80 degrees here, with clear sunny skies again. Yay!

The Oregon Coast

Prepare yourself...this post is probably going to be long with a lot of photos. Saturday was probably my favorite day since arriving in Oregon. Beautiful scenery. Interaction with wildlife. Fantastic weather. Ocean views. Perfect sunset. Amazing day.

I began the day by sleeping in until 8am. (Yes, 8am is sleeping in nowadays...gross!) After a quick shower and gathering of supplies for the day, I headed west. I had about a two hour drive ahead of me, and I wanted to get an early start. I timed my departure to coincide with low tide in Lincoln City, OR (a town on the coast known for having amazing tide pools). I accessed the beach at Road's End State Park, where there just happened to be a surfing competition taking place. Neat!

The sky was perfectly clear, and the water was so blue that off in the horizon the sky and water seemed to join together. I began by walking with my feet in the water, but it was ice cold (typical of Oregon at this time of year) so I retreated back onto the damp sand. There really aren't people that swim in the ocean right now...and if there are, the people are wearing wetsuits to stay warm. I kept walking until I found some rock formations...and I was greeted with very pleasant surprises. The rocks were covered in mussels and starfish! It was so neat. During high tide, these rocks aren't accessible on the sand. But during low tide, you can walk right up to them and explore. It's great. I decided to be daring and tough a mussel...and then a starfish...and then all of a sudden, I was feeling a whole bunch of mussels and starfish! They all felt the same, so I don't know why I was so inclined to touch everything. It was probably just the joy fascination of actually being able to touch a starfish in the wild. Soooo neat! The starfish were beautiful...some were red, some purple, some orange, all really cool.

I spent more than a couple of hours at the beach, observing and loving every minute of it. But then I decided I needed to head out...I had a lot of other things to see and places to visit!

I headed south into Lincoln City; I didn't stop in town...not wanting to spend money at any of the touristy shops, I was here to see the coast! South of town, I stopped at Sieltz Bay. This bay is known for being home to hundreds of harbor seals. After finding a place to park (this place way busy!), I walked down onto the sand to explore. The best way that I can think of to describe this place is a cemetery for driftwood...tons and tons of old logs that had drifted back onto shore. It smelled awesome, not because of the sea spray, but because there were a lot of families that had brought their mini-grills to grill lunches on. I found a nice spot on a driftwood log to enjoy my lunch (I had packed a peanut butter sandwich and trailmix). I have to admit, I was a little dissappointed that I didn't see any harbor seals here...that's why I had stopped. I was really concentrating on my sandwich (it tasted so good...I love JIF peanut butter), when all of a sudden I heard a really weird noise. I had no idea what it was, and it kindof scared me. As I looked up, I noticed at least a hundred harbor seals laying on the sand right across the bay from me. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! How had I missed this?! I have no idea. Apparently, they were sneaky and quiet and wanting to hide when I first arrived at the bay. All of a sudden, my sandwich wasn't as interesting. The seals looked so funny when they flopped around on the sand, and so cute as they played in the water. I was so happy that I got to see them :)

After lunch with the harbor seals, I continued my drive down Hwy 101, right along the coast. I stopped at one viewpoint, Boiler Bay, that was absolutely breathtaking. Great views of the coast, cliffs, and a cave down below that I would've loved to explore if I had more time.



I stopped at another viewpoint along the way (I never found out what it was called) with great views of Newport, OR and the lighthouse that I would visit later on.

Next stop...the Devil's Punchbowl. This unique geographical formation was created when the roof of an ocean cave collapsed, revealing a bowl that fills at high tide and empties at low tide. It was still relatively close to low tide when I stopped here, so the bowl was pretty empty. It was still really awesome though. In a bay area just below and south of the Devil's Punchbowl, at least twenty surfers were waiting to catch a wave in the ocean. I saw a couple of them get up...so neat.

















Before heading into Newport, I stopped at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. This is a state park with a LIGHTHOUSE (and I had to pay $7 to get into this one, but it was totally worth it). I visited the Visitor's Center to read a little bit about the history of the lighthouse, then drove out to the lighthouse itself. Since it was a Saturday, this place was slightly busy, too (however, not as busy as I had anticipated). This lighthouse was built around 1870, and is the tallest lighthouse in the state of Oregon. It was remodeled just a few years ago to bring it back to it's original condition...whitewashed and everything. As I waited in line to climb to the top, the guide (I don't know if I should call her a park ranger or not...she was dressed up in turn-of-the-century attire and wore a bonnet, but she was the employee in charge of guests visiting the lighthouse) warned everyone about how high of a climb it was. I wasn't too concerned, though...three months ago, I had just climbed to the town of a church tower in Munich that was at least twice as tall as this, not to mention that wicked 1.25 mile hike up to the top of Multnohmah Falls last weekend. I know I'd be ok :)
The view from the top of the lighthouse were incredible. Only one person was allowed at the very top at a time, so it was neat to be able to have that moment to myself to enjoy the view.

Outside the lighthouse, the rocky cliff beneath offered more great views of the coast. There was a trail with stairs at the end that led down to the ocean. I walked down the steps, and stepped onto Cobble Beach. Although there is no sand on this beach, and it's very hard to walk on, I think Cobble Beach may be one of my favorites. There are tons of black stones on the shoreline, so every step is very unstable, and I wouldn't recommend walking on this beach if you have weak ankles. The sound that the waves make was they roll across the stones is very unique. Every time a wave would go out and I'd hear the distinct smile, I couldn't help but smile and beam with enjoyment. Since the stones are black, they were very warm from the sunshine. I sat and enjoyed the beach for quite awhile, listening to the waves and watching the tide come in. Before leavin the park, I took a road that led my down to Quarry Cove. This is an old rock quarry that filled with ocean water and was returned to it's natural ocean beauty. I was the only one in this cove. It was so neat, and so peaceful.

Although I didn't want to leave, I knew it was time to venture on my journey. I only had a couple of hours to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium before they closed...and I really wanted to see this aquarium. I'd heard that it was super. To get there, I had to drive all the way through Newport and then cross over an old, neat-looking bridge. I found it, bought my admission ticket, and then started observing aquatic life. I saw sea otters, harbor seals, an octopus, sharks, birds, weird-looking fish, starfish, anemoneas, sea urchins, jellyfish...if it lives in the ocean, I probably saw it. I had a nice chat with an older fellow who was volunteering at the aquarium about the eating habits of starfish. Apparently, their stomach comes outside of their body when they eat their food. And they are extreme preditors...they can eat fish! I never knew! As we were talking, I even got to see a starfish "walk"...very, very slowly, of course. I stayed until the aquarium closed, and then continued on my way.

South Beach, just south of Newport, is home to some incredible, undisturbed sand dunes. Motor vehicles aren't allowed on this beach to play in the dunes, so they remain in their natural state. This beach was quiet, and different from the other beached I had seen throughout the day. I nestled myself in between a couple of dunes, where the wind couldn't get me, and buried my toes in the warm sand. I read my book for awhile, enjoyed the ocean view and sound of the waves, and was completely content. It really was the perfect day. I'll admit, I was a little bummed that I hadn't seen any whales off of the coast...but I had been fortunate enough to see so many other fantastic things that I wasn't that bummed out.

Around 7:15pm, I headed into Newport to walk through their Bayfront District. This area of town was located in the bay, with a great view of the bridge that I had driven across. There were a lot of shops and a few restaurants, lot of fishing boats (and the associated fishy smell...eww!), and docks where harbor seals sometimes sunbathe. I visited a candy store, and bought $1.50 worth of salt water taffy in flavors like strawberry, rocky road, chocolate mint, peach, and coconut. I went into a couple of art galleries, and saw a lot of amazing pieces by local artists. There are a lot of glass studios along the coast, and I think glass art is absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed looking in the shops, but I knew that the sun was setting around 9pm, and I wanted the perfect view for a sunset...time to head back to the coast.

I drove north, and decided to watch the sunset from the cliffs at Boiler Bay. I was the only person there who left the comfort of my car to sit on the grass...which made it even more serene. I brought my blanket and cozied up to see the beautiful colors. As I was sitting, watching the ocean below, I saw a spout...water shot right up in the air. I saw it again...and then I saw a back. I was seeing a whale! Right below me!!! I knew my perfect day was complete. I disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, but I had seen a whale. Incredible. I watched for about half an hour as the sun set down below the horizon. I have to admit, I don't think I can remember actually just sitting and enjoying an entire sunset before...it was a wonderful thing to do.

I drove the couple hours home, my perfect day now complete. I love this state.