I have a new blog - Aurae's New Blog. I will posting new blog entries there. So make sure to visit the new blog from now on. The posts from this blog will appear on the new blog.

I also have a new look to my website - Aurae's Website.

Hello from icy, freezing cold Oregon!
We have been hit by a snow storm, beginning last night with snow and freezing temperatures. Our high temperature today will not be above freezing. The snow is beautiful, a blanket of white over all the city. Last night I watched the snowflakes swirl their way to the ground, powdery and white. Our “white” dog frolicked in the snow, licking it and jumping around with delight.

The snow and ice made for slow travel today. We are warned to stay home if possible. Living only a mile from work, we ventured out after thawing our vehicle, inching our way up the hill. The tires spun at one time as the pavement was a sheet of ice. We made it safe but the trip home should be another adventure.

It would be nice to be at home, warm by the fireplace, with the purring cat. This cold, wintry weather is due to last all week. Residents of Western Oregon are not used to this cold weather.

I wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you spend the day surrounded by loved ones and good food. Enjoy yourself and count your blessings. We are all so blessed!
I am thankful for my family and friends, who show their kindness through unconditional love and support. With them, I feel I can do just about anything. I am thankful that God has given me so many opportunities to use my gifts. I am thankful for the peace I feel in my home, in my marriage and overall. I am hopeful that this world will take this season to heart, finding ways to express love around the world. Sometimes we take for granted all we have, and Thanksgiving is a great time to stop and count each blessing. Once the list begins, you will be amazed at all you are blessed by.
With love,
Aurae

I don't like driving in Portland but I am forced to endure it for another month. I attend my classes Friday night in Hillsboro and then drive to SE Portland to stay the night with family. The drive usually takes about an hour, even though it's about 25-30 miles. The first time I drove to SE Portland, it was dark and busy. I got lost twice, well, I wouldn't say lost, more like misplaced. I knew where I was and where I wanted to go; I was just in the wrong place. So, the next time I got misplaced again, thinking I could use a different route and end up at the same place. That's what I get for thinking at 10pm after a long day of work, class and driving.

So, tonight, I made my fifth trip to SE Portland and it was just about perfect. I still don't like driving in Portland. People drive so much faster. There are signed pointing all over the place. I am thankful that there isn't too much traffic at 10pm and then at 8am when I leave again.

There is only one thing that makes my drive worthwhile. As I come through the Sunset Tunnel into Portland and turn onto the bridge, the cityscape lights up the night sky, reflecting on the Willamette River. Every time it takes my breath away. You just don't see that site anywhere else in Oregon. It's amazing. I wish I had more time to view it and take in its glory.

I have added a special page to this site, called "Special Stories". I will post my feature stories not published elsewhere here. Tonight I posted a story about my visit to a Mennonite Farm in Pennsylvania this past July. Here is the link:

PA Mennonite Farm Story

I’ve been as busy as ever this month with my first term at Pacific in full swing now. I am really enjoying my studies in leadership and strategy. We’ve had some great discussions in class, posing challenging and intriguing questions about the status of our healthcare system in the U.S. and asking what we can do about it.

I’m now facing the start of a challenging class in healthcare finance. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around financial issues sometimes. I’ve read the chapters for class but I feel I might just have to read them over to actually start to begin to understand them. There are so many terms and acronyms that I need to learn just to be able to do the simplest problems. It will take some work but it’s one area I can improve my skills in. After my lunch with a family friend who just happens to be a physician, I have learned that financial skills are a must. So, I’m trying to have a better attitude towards finance and accounting, even though they involve math.

I’ve managed to write several articles on winter travel in Oregon but I wish I had more time to write. I know that once my classes end this term I will have some time. But it’s hard for me to not have time or energy for creative writing. At least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It was a beautiful weekend, with glorious sun and fall colors. We took a nice walk, in search of some fall foliage but were not lucky in our search around the neighborhood. Driving home from church, the variety of colors we saw was amazing: red, orange, yellow, and green all over the place. It was beautiful, especially with the bright sunlight.

My Flight to the East on July 22, 2008

Flying above the central portion of the United States and the Mid-west seems like endless miles of crops, outlined by roads, creating a checkerboard of squares. Every so often a town will appear but they are sparsely scattered.

It’s amazing to me how inhabited this region is, as it contrasts with the miles of forests and deserts in the West. Flying over Oregon, Idaho and Utah give you a sense of nothingness as no signs of civilization appear for minutes, if not hours by plane.

Here in the Mid-west, even though towns are scattered, the mark of the human hand can be seen from above in the never-ending squares.

Where are we? I may not know what state we’re flying over at the moment but I’m sure we are over the Mid-west. Gone are the acres of wilderness and uninhabited land. Throughout Utah and our journey east, I was able to follow the interstate headed east. It seemed our flight plan followed the same direction as the road below.

Now, I see a myriad of roads, both paved and not. They intersect at towns, boarder farms and indicate important places.

Thunderheads tower massively above the cloud layer, as fluffy cottonball clouds float below. I wonder what it looks like fro below, as the land lay dark in its shadow. Is the thunder booming or lightning flashing below? Our captain tells us of several storms over Baltimore, which may cause a bumpy ride.

Now I see hills and treed areas which makes me wonder if we’re near the Appalachians, nearing the east coast. From my previous flights to St. Louis, I can only remember the miles of squares. This hilly landscape is new to me. From the air, this region reminds me of a multitude of golf courses, all lined up; grasslands framed by trees. Roads carve through treed areas and rivers are lined with industry. An interstate appears brightly white, contrasting with its green surroundings. The signs and marks of civilization are still clear.

Yet it makes me happy to see the wind turbines lined up on the hill below. I’m glad to see us harnessing the free and natural power of the wind.

As we begin our initial approach to Baltimore, I see a river curve with S-shapes through the trees. The hills shape waves of trees and slope down, as cities encroach up their sides. Now more cities and suburbs can be seen, with interstates and roads. Baltimore is just ahead and we’ll be on the ground in 15 minutes.

Someone I know had posted her goals for the year on her website, in order be more accountable. I told her I wanted to do the same. It’s been a few months now but I finally found the time and commitment to get mine down. I will update these in a few months.
So, here they are, in no exact order:

Lose weight
This will boost my self-confidence and make me feel like I have more willpower to shape my future. This is something I’ve wanted to do for awhile. It’s also something I have tried to do but been unsuccessful at for a few years now. I seem to try a new approach and give up too soon. Then I gain more weight. The times when I actually try, I tend to at least stay at the same weight. This is also a goal I get very defensive about and turn to denial.
So, my specific goal would be to lose 10 pounds by Christmas. That doesn’t seem too hard and if I lose more, then all the better. My next goal would be to lose 20 more pounds by May and then another 10 before our family reunion at the end of July.

Succeed with my graduate studies
This would include staying caught up with my classes and being able to finish all the readings. I want to get the most out of my classes that I can. Writing out a list of things to complete for the week seems to help with this overwhelming task of staying on track.

Implement Leadership Development Plan
As part of the assignment, I will need to implement my plan by Feb. 2009. I have already begun doing this. This goal includes increasing networking and becoming a better speaker. I am looking into joining a Toastmasters group to learn how to be a better public speaker. As for increasing networking, I guess I can just introduce myself to more people at work and try to get my CEOs involved in my studies.

Figure out what I want to do with my career
This could be a long term project. But for now, I just want to narrow down my areas of interest, with help from my professors.

Continue writing travel articles
I want to continue as the Feature Writer for NW US/ Alaska travel. This means that until December, I will have to focus my attention to writing at least 1 article per week. After my classes end in December, I will be able to write more often and write drafts to save for my next term of study.

Updating my websites
One thing I haven't done well lately, is keeping my websites up-to-date, whether this one or NWTravelOnline or AdventureSisters.net. I know this takes times but it could be worth it. I am working on getting this website updated to include a front page, rather than just going straight to my blog entries. This will take the cooperation of my husband to use his skills and the time to do it.

Strengthen marriage and other relationships
We joined a small group at church and are doing a marriage study. I want to continue this and continue to be involved at church. I think this is one area that will strengthen our marriage. Also, it is important to talk with other couples who have been married longer – like a marriage mentor. We can continue our reading on our own.

I want to continue keeping my family in touch with each other, whether through letters, e-mails or my website. I would like to develop a new version of the Radiant Times but I know my time is limited. I would like to brain-storm new ideas on how to do this. One possibility is to start a circle letter like my husband’s family does, or an online version.

Organize office and rooms
This is an ongoing project and frustration. I haven’t unpacked everything from when I moved in last year! I need to go through all my boxes and make sure I want to keep everything.

Get yard ready for winter and then spring
Weeding, weeding and more weeding. I want to plant some garlic after I take out the tomato plants. I would also like to build another raised garden if possible. We are trying to complete a woodshed right now.

Be happy at work
This is a tough one for me. I need to learn that the work I do is important and worthwhile. I will ask for help from my supervisor with this one. This is an ongoing problem for me. One challenge for me is being open with my boss, and being able to express myself verbally instead of writing a letter. This one will work better if I better my public speaking skills.

Find a volunteer project
I’ve been looking for a volunteer project for a long time. I don’t have much extra time but I want to be able to do something, even if just a small task. So, I will continue to look for volunteer opportunities. I might try asking around at church.

Work on debt
This is another ongoing project. I brought a lot of debt to my marriage from before. We are working on this. I think we're doing a pretty good job. My student loans for graduate school have added to this but actually using some of this money to pay the higher interest rate debts might be a good idea, since these loans have lower interest rates. We'll see how this works. I am still looking for more scholarships for next year.

I was thinking about how much I like to write the other day and a strange thought came into my mind: I wondered, how many words have I written over my life? I've written since I first learned how and haven't stopped. I still have the intricate stories I wrote as a child. I have dozens of half-filled written journals, not to mention my computer files. Imagine all the notes I took and papers I wrote as a journalism student and then a graduate student in healthcare. Just today in class I think I took about 4 pages of notes. I'm still at it with a 20 page term paper due in November.

I write a lot. I write all day at work, through e-mails or meeting minutes, etc. I write for fun. I write for pay. Just on this website, which just began this year, I've already written close to 20,000 words.That's a lot, and just from blog entries. It's amazing. My pour hands will surely have arthritis someday!

We had a nice time in Bend, although it was cloudy with rain showers. We didn't get to see the Three Sisters, only Three-Fingered Jack as we climbed the pass on our way over and Black Butte as we drove back to Sisters. It's too bad because I had the camera ready to take some great pictures of the mountains.

We did, however, visit several sites we had never been to, including the Lava Cast Forest and Smith Rock State Park. The Lava Cast Forest was so amazing and unique. I'm glad we took the time to stop there. I can see why some people don't make the 9-mile trip to the site because the road is gravel. Yet, the road was groomed well and we traveled at a pretty constant speed of 30 mph. Once at the site, we found several other people, so some were adventurous, like us.


We walked the 1-mile paved loop through the lava in amazement. These lava casts of ancient trees are so interesting. The walking tour guide pamphlet gave very good information on the site's geology, history and interesting facts.



I highly recommend visiting the Lava Cast Forest just south of Bend.

Smith Rock State Park was amazing also, but we didn't spend enough time there. Now we know to spend at least half a day exploring the park and doing some hiking. The park was very crowded, with hikers, rock climbers and people just wanting to watch the activities.



On our way out, we saw the old ice cream store where Bill Sullivan stopped during his walk across Oregon.

Make sure to read my Suite101 article - Lava Cast Forest Near Bend .