i ate cake for dinner

Life has been crazy this summer... I feel like my mind is about three days behind my body. I'm having way too much fun. A lot has happened since I last blogged, but I'm feeling sort of lazy so I'm going to write the Reader's Digest version.

I got accepted into the Construction Management Master's program at University of Washington. Basically that means that in May of 2009 I'll graduate with two master's degrees, one in architecture and one in construction management. Part of the reason I ended up in architecture was because I love the construction process so it seems appropriate. I actually got accepted into the construction management program at Iowa State University in high school way back in 2000, and now here I am seven years later... I love architecture but very differently than most architecture students. The technical and construction side of architecture is way more fascinating than designing and drawing pretty pictures. (I maintain that I don't DO pretty).

Two weekends ago Adrian and I went on a Hike with a few people from my church (Gift of Grace). Seven of us took a seven mile hike over on the east side of the Cascades at Ingall's Creek. It was fun to go hiking with other people. As always Adrian got some amazing pictures. Our favorite was this rock that had just a few inches of water rushing over it. It was a great place to stop and dip our feet in at the end of the hike. You can check out my Ingall's Creek Picasa album if you're interested.

Last week flew by as they have been all summer. Thursday night was dedicated to packing and getting meals ready for camping. I didn't really realize or appreciate how much work my mom must have put in getting ready for all the camping trips growing up. We headed down to the Columbia River Gorge Friday right after work. Our friend Rachel and her boyfriend Ryan came along. Adrian's car was packed to the point of near explosion. Luckily Rachel likes her boyfriend, because the back seat was a bit cramped!

Friday night we slept at Adrian and Rachel's friend Kane's parents' place. (Was that enough possessives in a row?) Adrian, Kane, Rachel, and I are all in architecture at UW. Actually Rachel graduated, but that's not the point. We woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon. Nice work Kane. Before leaving for our hike Kane's dad showed us how he makes biodiesel. Totally a sweet little set up. I found it fascinating.

Saturday was spent hiking Dog Mountain (see photos). The hike was 7.1 miles with 2850 feet in elevation change. It was pretty difficult with lots of switchbacks. Somehow I managed to get to the top without my calves completely cramping up but it was close. Note to self, avoid workouts for 3 days before big hikes. The views of the gorge were pretty great. The top was really windy and cold but the views were great. We had ourselves a good snack and headed back down.

After the hike we went swimming at a little creek. Actually it was really cold, so Adrian and I never went in above the waist, but everyone else did. Craziness.

We stopped at Kane's so we could shower to make sure we didn't get any poison oak. After that we went and found ourselves a really nice camp site. Adrian and I cooked everyone tacos for dinner. We enjoyed the fire... burned a ton of wood... then went to bed. Adrian and I got up early to make us all breakfast (egg mcmuffins, sans egg for me). I totally dig the coleman stove, even if I can barely work the thing.

We had to get on the road quick to make it back to Seattle for the Blue Angel's airshow which was part of Seattle's annual Seafair. We made it to our spot along the water with absolute perfect timing for the start of the show. Adrian got great pictures with his telephoto lens (see the pretty blue planes here). It was really really fun. Adrian knew all these random facts about them from his time in the Navy. Apparently he's even worked on their planes.

I'm sure I have a ton more I could write about, but I'll never sleep if I write it all. This summer is one of the best I've ever had and it isn't even done yet. Left this summer is a wedding down in California, climbing Mt. Adams, a trip home to Illinois so Adrian can meet my whole family (and to celebrate Meghan and Jake's wedding), and possibly a trip to Portland. We're also taking a week off before school to travel some more. We might head down to southern Utah, maybe climb Mt. Shasta in California, maybe go to Yellowstone, maybe some other national park in Montana... Probably not all of those things, but we'll see what all we can squeeze in. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Wait, I was exhausted before I started thinking about it. School should be relaxing compared to all this.

Phew, so that's my update. Most of my time outside of work is spent being all "goooooggly" over Adrian. That's my sister's word for it anyway. I think that quite aptly describes how I feel about him. Lucky for me he's quite "goooooggly" over me too.

Oh and just for good measure I find it necessary to point out to the whole world that my boyfriend not only owns the movie "Love Actually" (great movie but kind of girly), but he also owns "the Notebook" (and probably cried watching it too, who wouldn't...) Now I find this pretty amusing and cute that he owns these movies, but the other day I noticed he owns "Titanic." That's just wrong. Even if it did win lots of awards and make lots of money. I'm pretty sure he's been hiding it under his bed because I never noticed it before. What's next? Hope Floats? Dirty Dancing? Clueless?

Time for some sleep so I don't die of exhaustion before the end of summer.