INTRODUCING....

Chou Young Phat

This is our fish...we realized this past week that we hadn't taken the time to introduce him to everyone and he is an integral part of our family! He is a pretty happy, active little guy...especially for a beta and he really likes to watch people eat! Sometimes we like to wonder what he could be thinking (if fish think?). Anyway...he is happy to meet you!

Not a whole lot...

new around here. We've had an ok weekend. We spent yesterday doing things around the house and watched the Ducks beat Stanford (not before giving us a minor heart attack in the 2nd quarter) with friends at a bar.

Today was a bit more frustrating...we drove to Portland to pick up my car, which has been up there in the shop for several weeks and we drove it 20 miles and the check engine light came back on! Anyway...we ended up leaving the car up there and will have to go get it again when it is REALLY done being worked on.

We did get a few things done though. I got some wedding ideas ironed out with my mom and Lindsey...logistics about decorating and I found a fabric I might want to use for table runners, etc.



Also, Grant and I met with a photographer. We really liked her and will probably go with her if she can meet our budget. (http://www.laurenbphoto.com/)

We also were fortunate to find some stumps I was looking for to use as aisle decorations (Grant's parents JUST cut down a tree!) Here is a picture of the idea...



Guess our whole day in portland wasn't a wash...but it was frustrating...

In other news...I hate working and need to find a way to make LOTS of money doing something incredibly fun... ANY IDEAS????

ONE YEAR!!!

We are getting married exactly 1 year from today!! Grant says it is our negative 1 year anniversary =)

We are so excited and hope the year goes by fast! Nothing else really new here! Hope everyone is well!

Wedding Website!

Grant went out last night so I entertained myself by creating a wedding website...which is just a page that gives all of our guests information about who, when, and where. I've just started it so it needs some more attention, but check it out!

www.mywedding.com/grantandnicole

The Rest of the Weekend

I raced home Saturday morning to try to watch the Michigan-Oregon Football game...I made it back around the end of the first quarter to see that our ducks were ahead! After an amazing game with lots of fun trick plays and amazing runs...we BEAT michigan 39-7!!! Go DUCKS!!! The game was made even more enjoyable by the fact that we were at Potter and Sid's and they had quite the spread of food and beverage!



Sunday was nice and relaxing for the most part. We spent the morning hiking Spencer's Butte with my new coworker Kendra...she just moved here last week from Indiana. It was an amazing morning for a hike...

JT Concert!

This past Friday I made the trek to Portland yet again...to go see my old friend Justin play in a concert! Not sure how many people know this but my friend Janelle and I used to be OBSESSED with *NSYNC so we always try to see any part of them when we can.

The show was really fun...been a long time since I had a girl's night out and since I had been to a concert...two birds with one LONG drive... I have VOWED not to drive the horrible stretch of I-5 between Eugene and Portland until Thanksgiving!

Here are a few pictures...

With my ticket!


JT...he is one sexy man!


Meanwhile, Grant was back in Eugene having a great boys night out! He was hurting a little Saturday morning, but the full day of football cured the hangover!

Working at ORI

Thought I'd fill everyone in on how my first week as a working woman went! Its been a little bit slow to get moving... this week we have had little to do and a lot of spare time on our hands. But yesterday we got trained in our main responsibility, which is called diagnostic interviewing. The study we are working on is called Healthy Weight (www.ori.org/healthyweight)and is basically looking at freshmen female college students and how their body acceptance changes over the course of two years... 1 group will get a 1 month 1x/week training class and another control group will just get a pamphlet on healthy eating. Anyway...at different time points our main tool of assessment is an interview that asks really detailed questions about eating disorders and depression so we were trained on how to be sensitive and get the information we need for data entry. Now that we have completed the training we have to listen to taped interviews and rate the answers to each question and they run stats on our ratings to see if we are up to par with the rest of the lab and how they would rate the same interview. After that we are ready to start observing real interviews and then do our own!

I think it will be a really good experience working in a behavioral research lab..very different from hphy research! Plus the people and the institute are really great! I've never heard of a job with soooo many benefits and perks! Everyday I hear of something else great! My favorite is that if we carpool or take alternate transportation to work 5 days a week we get PAID $6.50 each week as an incentive!!!

Although I think I will really like it here...it has been hard getting used to working full time again.. I've been working part time all summer. I feel like I dont have any time to get anything done... we just eat sleep and work!

SEPTEMBER 20, 2008...

Our wedding date has been set! Grant and Devin camped out in Bend to reserve Aspen Hall (see earlier post) for our wedding next year. We had originally wanted to get married on September 13, but there were people already there camping out to reserve that date... So we went with the 20th and we are SO excited!

Weekend Full of LEARYS!

Not sure if you all know this but my mom is one of ELEVEN children! She and one of her brothers are pretty much the only of the eleven that don't live in Boston where they grew up...

Anyway, this weekend my cousin got married (he lives in Beaverton) so we had a weekend FULL OF LEARYS (my mom's maiden name)... I love getting to see my mom with her family...it is an absolute blast and a riot!

My brother's 20th Birthday is tomorrow so we all celebrated on Saturday night...it was so much fun to get to see everyone and catch up...especially since we are now engaged!




Sunday was the wedding...it was really nice at a little chapel in Canby and the reception at the bride's parent's house.



Dancing with my family is pretty much the most amusing thing EVER...makes me so excited for our wedding! Check out these pictures (my brother is awesome!)

Mom & Joel


Me & Joel