I live in my car, don't tell my dad

Hello, my name is Courtney, and I live in my car.

Although we live together, and our offices are about 26 steps apart at work (yes, I just went and counted), we don’t drive to work together. ::: Hangs my head in shame::: Nor do I take the free bus to work, despite it conveniently stopping at the corner of our street, about 50 steps from our front door. ::: Closes blinds in office, paranoid about the Greenpeace protesters in the parking lot:::

Why, you may ask, do I not take advantage of these money and gas saving transportation opportunities?

Well, DJ is a man on a very strict schedule. He leaves for the office promptly at 7:20am. Every. Single. Day. He also comes home for lunch every day at noon, eats, and is back in the office at 1pm. He also leaves at 5pm; sometimes 5:30pm if he has baseball. It’s just how he works, by his schedule and the predictability of it. And that’s ok, but it’s just not how I function. Keep reading.

Once in a blue moon (no more than 10 times a year) I drag my morning-breathy ass out of bed and get in the shower before the alarm goes off at 6:41am (in time for the Moose Radio morning news), only to see him shower after me and still beat me to work. Which is annoying. Usually though, I barely stumble downstairs for coffee at 7:15am before he leaves. I then return upstairs with the coffee and do some facebooking, email, and generally enjoying being home by myself for a bit before jumping in the shower.

After getting ready for the day, I’ll pack my gym bag and a lunch. Lunches of salads, veggies and hummus, and fruit and yogurt go into plastic containers that I reuse. I use a grocery bag for a lunch bag. I schlep all of this out the front door to the car. Lets count how much stuff that is in the winter; 1) coat; 2) galoshes; 3) gym bag; 4) lunch bag; 5) purse; and 6) coffee mug. I’m a bag lady. (purse, gmy bag, coat, 2 pairs of shoes on the floor, office bag, window scraper- you never take those out of a vehicle in Montana)

I drive the two miles to work in 10 minutes, and park at the office where my car often remains until I go home. From the office I’ll walk three blocks to the gym. I’ll also walk the block and a half to a board meeting or to the Gift Corral if I have to work that night; both activities frequently keep me away from home until after 8pm. And DJ goes home at 5pm. And the last bus home is at 5:45pm. That clearly won’t work.

Sometimes I feel like I should ride my bike. I’m a great bike cop, with the spandex, Camelbak, and helmet. But then I look at my 1) gym bag; 2) purse; 3) lunch bag; and 4) coffee mug and wonder how in the hell that would work. Teetering around with all that stuff, trying to cross the busiest intersection in Southwest Montana at Main and 19th in the morning. Yeah… that’d go well.

So instead, I take my car and keep everything in it. Last night I took out 6.5 pairs of shoes (I lost a flip flop somewhere). I also had lunch Tupperware (I often bring three per day), receipts (I hate receipts!), bank deposit slips, general paperwork, work binders, Preservation Board binders, chapstick, pens, and candy wrappers in there as well. (shoes on the floor, lunch bag with 3 Tupperwares, candy wrappers in cupholder)

Yeah… um, don’t tell my dad, ok? He always judges someone about the cleanliness of their vehicles. His favorite random chore is to detail cars. He’s even been known to take apart and take out the car seats so he can vacuum under them. Once, he came storming into the house wondering why in the hell I needed seven tampons in various compartments in the red Maxima? Uh, because I was 17… He loved, most of all, detailing the ’76 Datsun. Despite the fact that usually you had to jump start it to get it running (or push it down a hill- it was a manual and you could start it that way), he LOVED waxing it, cleaning the windows, etc. Sadly, my parents sold the Datsun a couple of weeks ago in Clarkston. Wait for it…. They sold it for $1,500!!!!!! :::shocked face::: Probably because it was so pristine.

Anyway, I’m usually pretty embarrassed about how messy my car is, but I also just don’t have time to deal with it when I get home at 9pm. I bought my Altima (yes, my family is Nissan loyal, they’re great cars!) brand new in the fall of 2004 (so it was a 2005). I’ve driven it in the Bozeman winter without snow tires (front wheel drive though), across the Midwest to Lexington and back twice, to Boone, North Carolina, (tailgating in Boone, NC, in 2006, before we knew about the open container laws in the state...)Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, (in front of the hotel in Charleston, SC, on the great Kramer Family Roadtrip/ SEC football stadium pilgrimage)Georgia, and numerous trips to North Idaho and Washington. I’ve never had a problem with it, and still get a little pleasure getting behind the wheel and knowing that its mine. I’ll pay it off in September, and probably buy snow tires and have it for a long, long time.

So yeah, at least I like the car I live in.

June 9 Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday:
1. I continue to moonlight at Montana Gift Corral, mostly closing the Main Street store at night by myself. I really enjoy being there in the quiet of the night, winding down the day and drinking coffee. But in the past two weeks they’ve had me training new hires to close. I know that it’s necessary for the company, but my job satisfaction has gone WAY down. I hate making small talk and playing the “get to know you” game. I’d really rather close by myself. Selfish, huh?

2. We’ve had some promising clouds, but no actual thunder and lightning storms yet. I’m ready for a real storm!

3. The plants went back into the garage last night, but only after I did some photography. Hopefully DJ will take good care of them while I’m in Butte Wednesday night through Saturday evening.

4. Yes, I’m spending the end of this week in Butte, and really looking forward to it! I’ll be at the Vernacular Architecture Forum geeking out over old buildings. Deal with it!

5. The VAF team made the guidebooks available via PDF on the web… which is awesome, except that it means everyone has to print off their own 200 page guidebook. Sorry City of Bozeman… I printed double sided and in grey, and AB and I are sharing it…

6. I’ve been picking cilantro leaves off of one of my cilantro plants for about two months now. I’d pick them off at the stem, and within a couple of days they’d totally grow back and replenish themselves. When the jalepeno plant DJ tried to grow didn’t sprout, I planted another pot of cilantro, so that when the original one goes I’ll have a backup. I think that’s happening now. The tops of the leaves are getting skinnier and skinnier. Look at the comparison!

7. Every night when I get home I check the snap peas, which have been growing like crazy, and branching out to curl around each other and their support stakes. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I’ve found myself “helping” them wind themselves around stakes and other branches. Duuudeee these things are creepy looking:
8. Clearly I need a little tripod for my camera, huh? (sorry for the blurry photos).
9. DJ and I worked through the scheduling issues with this summer. I’m really excited that over the 4th of July we are going to do a Montana camping road trip! Maybe I can talk him into staying somewhere with a 4th of July street dance or something!

10. I haven’t even thought about what to pack for Butte. I’d make a list while during the quiet time at Gift Corral tonight… oh wait, I have to make small talk for 2.5 hours. Damn. I wish I had the manager authority to send people home when we were slow!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Disjointed McJointerton

I’m struggling to find a word to describe the past week or so. “Disjointed” is about the best I can come up with. Nothing seems to flow, nothing seems to be as easy as I think it will be. Last week at work was maddening; super busy, then slooooowww. The disjointedness seemed to bleed into the weekend too.

First, DJ’s Mighty Mighty Blue Jays game was rained out. Dang, I’d been looking forward to a nice Friday evening watching the little league baseball team he coaches and even recruited some other people to watch with me! It’s kind of weird to sit there and watch by myself; last year one of the mom’s asked me which kid was mine… uh, the tall one with the shaggy hair and the clipboard? Later, another mom asked me if my little brother was playing. Hm, clearly I either got knocked up at 15 and have a 10 year old son playing baseball, or have a mother whose children range in age from 26 to 10. Uhh, which is better/ worse?

After the rainout, DJ and I headed down to one of our favorite restaurants, Montana Ale Works. Actually, MAW isn’t that great of a place to eat. I usually find the menu is more limited than I think it will be and tend to rotate through three items. You can’t go wrong with the Black and Blue burger, the blue cheese fries, or a house salad. Their beer and wine menu (they serve hard alcohol too) is decent, with a lot of Montana brews. Mostly we just really love the atmosphere! It’s a former Northern Pacific storage facility which has been adaptively reused to include restaurant space, more casual bar space, and pool tables. The only downside is that their parking lot is always full (I sound like such a lazy American); on Friday I swear to god we parked in Livingston and walked. http://www.montanaaleworks.com/
(Photo of Montana Ale Works, courtesy of concierge.com)

Anyway, after MAW we went home and hung out. I read and drew on the porch, wrapped in a cozy blanket since it was about 40 degrees out. I love this time of year, when the sun goes down at 10pm, and even if it’s cold cold cold I’ll try to be outside.

The arctic (god damn COLD!) weather meant I had to cover and pull my plants inside. The sweet peas, and potted flowers got a couple of blankets on the front porch, while the vegetables in back got pulled into the garage. They’re too big now to pull into the mudroom. DJ kept telling me that we’d need a hard frost to kill them, but they’re flowering and getting ready to start producing fruit, so I didn’t want to stress them any more than they needed to be. Into the garage they went on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. (Photo of plants under wraps on the proch).

Saturday morning we had an early coffee date with friends at Rockford Coffee. We usually end up here Saturday morning to meet Emily, Joe, Alisha, and whoever else they can round up. It’s a nice little coffee klatch to discuss local politics, catch up, and if you’re Joe and DJ, regularly gross everyone at the table out with some sort of sexual or bodily function banter.
http://www.rockfordcoffee.net/ (Photo totally pirated off of someone’s Flikr account).

After the Rockford fun, we went home and made a list… no, spreadsheet (go figure, with DJ involved) of the to-do list before putting the house on the market. I got to work organizing and cleaning out the linen closet, and came across a sheet of fabric I’d purchased in Lexington. It’s a shimmery green, with tan stripes in it. I think I had it hanging over my balcony door. Well, one glance at that and I found myself head deep in a Crafty McCrafterton project. I made said green material into drapes for our room. DJ bought cheap blinds from Wal-Mart when he bought the place and since they block almost no light he ends up sleeping with a shirt on his head in the summer when the sun comes up early. With the need for darkness in mind, I decided to put a backing on them too. (photo of wrinkly-ass fabric).

So off to Jo-Anne’s fabric’s I went, and got this tan stuff (I don’t know fabric names people!) on 50% off. Score! Once home, I realized its almost the exact same fabric DJ's mom built our downstairs drapes with five years ago. So yeah, at least we all have the same taste. Beige, dark green, sage green, white. Our house is so neutral it could double for a psych ward!

The drapes took me much longer than I actually though they would. About six hours, total, and until late Sunday afternoon, but I think they turned out well! They’re currently hung on a tension rod, but left a lot of fabric at the top when I built them so that when we move I can hang them from a taller window on a proper rod. Again, Crafty McCrafterpants! Grandmas would be proud. (photo of completed project).

Saturday night we watched Changeling (while pinning hems for drapes), with Angelina Jolie. Duuuudddeee, tell that lady to eat a burger. I couldn’t just see all of her clavicle, I could see through them into her scapula. Regardless of her boniness, it was a really good movie. And terrified me about loosing a kid, especially at K-Mart in 1985 during a blue light special, like my parents did to me. Not to worry, I turned up in my kitty-cat coat in the parking lot.

Sunday was devoted to a delicious breakfast of French Toast, from the bread DJ made on Saturday (Baker McBakerton!) as well as Kramer Sausage. MMMM… 2,000 calories plus coffee! Then we went to the Mall to try to see Angels and Deamons… expect there was a line. Out the door. In the rain. And one staff member selling tickets. AWESOME. We browsed Barnes and Noble, then stood in a slightly shorter line before buying tickets to a later show.
We went home, I finished the drapes and DJ napped. About 30 minutes before the movie started I prodded DJ with a “we should leave”, and got the usual answer… “ok, I gotta poop first.” Every. Damn. Time.

So after that delay, we got to the movie theatre where only the front row of seats were left open. With the tickets purchased and no where else to sit, we sat front and center for Angels and Deamons, which PS, is like architecture porn for a building nerd like me. Oh my god I want to go to Rome. NOW. It was a good movie too! I’ll definitely watch it again. (photo from Sony) http://www.angelsanddemonsmovie.org/

After the movie DJ spoke with his mom on the phone (she lives about 10 hours away), and then made chicken Coeur don Bleu for dinner. YUMMMYYY. I started cleaning the bathrooms. I mean really, REALLY cleaning them. With a (old) toothbrush. And scrubbing floors by hand. Lets just say two things: 1) in a neat pile does not clean make; and 2) its shocking I have any hair left on my head after all of it I vacuumed up from behind the door. Barf.

The last thing we did was go for a walk, then haul the plants inside for another night. Yeah. Disjointed. Nuts.

Edited to add that the Blankety McBlankerton format comes directly from Madam Ali Judge, whose Multi antics while intoxicated at 1am are a show not to be missed. Welp! Ope!

Don't Stop!

Last night I did something I rarely do. I went home. At 4pm. Before 5pm. Before 8pm! It was lovely. You see, between my job with its myriad of after-hours committee and subcommittee meetings, working a second job at the Gift Corral and volunteering for AOII, which takes sometimes as much as 20 hours a month, I rarely ever just come home after work.

Usually, my Outlook schedule has color-coded appointments set onto dates way in advance. Yellow for planning related, orange for generally preservation related, green for preservation board related, blue for personal, purple for Montana Gift Corral, red for AOII. It somewhat works; I don’t think I’ve missed too many appointments or important events. I think I actually do better when I’m busy. I have more of a sense of purpose and am more inclined to get everything done, as well as make it to the gym. I come home at night feeling like I accomplished something during the day. (You thought I was kidding, didn't you?)

I do sometimes feel the drawbacks of always being so go-go-go. I mentioned to DJ on Wednesday night that sometimes I feel like I neglect him. We live and work together, so you’d think that by the end of the day I’d be tired of talking to him. Instead I often feel like we’ve been around each other all day, but didn’t really spend any time together. Getting home at 8:15pm means stuffing dinner in your face, making lunch for the next day, checking facebook, and trying to shut the lights out by 10:30pm. DJ often gets dragged on an evening walk by me, to overcome my issues with never getting to be outside during the day. I’m thankful for those jaunts around the neighborhood; I think they give us a good opportunity to reconnect.

DJ’s also been really busy with little league baseball recently, which makes it really hard to find the time and energy to go on those little walks. I understand; believe me, wrangling 13 nine to twelve year olds would be exhausting for me too. This meant that last night I WAS HOME ALONE for three whole hours. Oh my god. Awesome. Silence. No baseball on ESPN in the background. I actually walked around naked for a little bit, before realizing that I might be flashing the 12 year old boy across the street a little too much (ok, I was changing from work clothes to home clothes, it’s not like I was hanging out in the buff!) (Its ok, the boy across the street already had a high definition screening of the Sex and the City movie last fall before it occurred to me that we have a hi-def TV, it was dark out, and no blinds in the front window… some of those scenes are, um, graphic).

But last night’s home alone experience made me realize something. Without something to do, I DO NOTHING. No really, I went home with this mental to-do list of items I could knock off before the weekend: dust and organize bookshelves, clean bathrooms, dust house, put away laundry, etc, but only got the bookshelves done. Well, partially done, before DJ got home at about 8pm. What did I do instead? Watched trash TV. Something on Roku about the cocaine wars in Miami in the 1980’s. WTF? Why would I waste so much time like that when I could either get stuff done or actively relax by reading or drawing? I bet if I’d only had an hour home by myself before DJ got there I’d have gotten two or three things done. Apparently I’m really lazy at heart.

And I also took this morning off to, to stay home and “get things done”… welp, I put away the laundry and unloaded the dishwasher… that counts, right?

And finally, I leave you with my favorite sign:

Which I took in Bozeman during Homecoming of 2006. Ohmygod! I just realized dad's old Bobcatmobile is in the background! The white tahoe with the dead rat head on it!

Thoughts on Home

DJ and I met with Joe, a dear friend of ours who is a real estate agent, last night. We’re contemplating, well, probably going to, put DJ’s condo on the market. The condo next to us FINALLY sold (it’s had a “For Sale” sign in the yard since before we started dating), and we’re ready to make the leap into a detached house, with a yard, with a fence, so I can finally harass DJ into getting a dog. (That’s a whole separate post). Overall, the meeting went well and we both felt pretty positive about our prospects of selling it. We’re in a good spot; we don’t have to sell it, so putting it on the market for six months is really kind of to test the waters.

As I got ready of work this morning, I started thinking (and making a mental list) of all of the things I/ we should do to the condo before putting it on the market. Overall, it’s in very good shape. There’s not a lot on the walls, so not many nail holes. It’s already pretty minimally decorated. We could clean out our closets , have the carpets cleaned, wipe down walls and woodwork, and generally deep clean. But no major repairs. I can move some potted plants onto to front porch to make it seem more inviting.

Thinking through this list, I started thinking of all of the places I’ve lived. Due to dad’s career, we bounced around a lot until I was about seven, when my parents bought a house on Skyveiw in Cheney. We lived in the Skyview house for nine years, and when I dream of “home”, it’s still mostly this house. It was on a hill, with a walk-out basement where Gretchen and my rooms were. Man, that hill was seriously a killer to ride your bike up. I swear that my calf-muscles can be mostly attributed to walking home from school or swim practice up those hills. (photo of Me, Gretchen and our cousins Blair and Taylor in front of the Skyview house).

My parents sold the Skyview house in April of 1999, and bought another house on Cherry Tree Court in Cheney. The basement wasn’t finished, so that summer’s project was finishing the basement. I lived upstairs with Gretch until my basement room was finished in October. Ironically, dad took the job at MSU in November, so I don’t have many photos of this house. We really only lived there for eight months or so.

Upon moving to Bozeman, my parents leased a house (great mid ‘50’s rancher that I’d love to own again), then rented an apartment, before building our Morning Sun Drive house. Despite my mailing address being on Morning Sun for eight years, I only lived there half of my senior year of high school, during summer and winter breaks in college and grad school, and for a year when I moved back from Kentucky. It’s a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, and felt like home when my family is there, but I’ve never dreamt of it when I dream of “home”. My parents did have som gerat post-football game parties there though! (Photo of my dad making a Thanksgiving pie after beating the 'Griz in 2003. Notice all of the open cabinets and drawers in the background)

I think my Bozeman home is AOII, on 5th and Garfield. The sorority is a beautiful 1941 with a 1967 addition Colonial Revival house. It was a great place to live for four years while going to school; I walked to class and work, had a cook, someone who cleaned the bathrooms, and had a lot of great friends around. As a member of the Corporation Board, I’m now in charge of property maintenance and upgrades. It’s a labor of love. That house is really my Bozeman home up to this point. (Photo of AOII House)

In 2005 my parents bought the Harrison house, on Lake Coeur d’Alene (apparently I’m going to wax poetic about C d’A in every post). When I think of my family (mom, dad, Gretchen and now DJ too), our “home” is really in this house. I get teary-eyed at the prospect of ever selling it. It’s more than my parents, and by default Gretch and I, ever wanted. Beautiful views, fun little town, private dock, bike trail. I’ve told DJ again and again how I think my heart is tied to that house. No matter where my parents end up, and where Gretchen ends up, or where we end up, Harrison, I think, will always be “home” for all of us. I can imagine summer vacations, Christmases and Thanksgivings in Harrison. (photo of Harrison House)

I of course, also had my Lexington apartment. It was a great little pad for two years. I absolutley LOVED living alone, and would reccomend it to anyone!

When my mom and dad moved back to Washington in August, DJ and I made the choice to live in sin. Since moving into his condo, I’ve never felt like it wasn’t mine. He’s been incredible about making me feel welcome and like its mine too. We seem to have established a good rhythm of shared household responsibilities, and really, the condo is a great place for the two of us. Why sell? Well, there’s my aforementioned want of a dog, but I want a yard with a fence for it (I don’t want to walk a dog at 6:45am when it’s -32 out in February!). I’d like a yard to have an in-ground garden in. It’d be nice to not have to scrape my car for another winter. I kinda want a clothesline to dry clothes on (It’s the Sandi in me coming out. I love the smell of line-dried sheets!). Mostly, we’re quiet people, and hearing the neighbors is getting irritating.

So, with all of that written, I’m interested to embark on the home-finding and buying process with DJ. I’m ready to put down roots, literally and figuratively. I find it humorous now that this spring I planted all my garden plants in mobile buckets or pots, so if we move I can take them with me. We’ve agreed not to actually go and walk through a house to buy until we have his sold or under contract. I don’t want to get attached to something when we’re really not in a position to buy. But we’re both surfing the MLS. There are a couple of historic homes kind of in our price range, that we’d have to buy knowing we’d put time and money into. I’m ok with that. I kind of like the idea of putting elbow grease into my house, rather than buying totally “move-in-ready”.

Of course, I’m not without my opinions and biases. DJ emailed me a link this morning of a split-level entry house; not knowing that I despise split level entry homes. I think it’s from the various numbers of split levels I lived in until my folks bought the Skyview house. I’ve often said that the day we put a split level on the National Register of Historic Places, I’m out of this business. Thus, DJ now knows what my biases are. I also don’t want to live any farther out of town than we already do, in Valley West. Isn’t it funny how Montanans will drive to Billings for dinner (2 hours) but loathe the idea of crossing 19th every morning on the way to work?

As I’ve been thinking a lot about “home” I’ve realized that for me, it’s somewhere I have a strong emotional connection. We think we’ll be in the next home for 10 years, maybe more, so it’s interesting to think about all of the changes that could happen in that home over 10 years. It seems incredible to me that both of my grandmothers have lived in their homes in Colton for over 50 years. Colton, and Whitman County, are another kind of home to me too. (Kramer Farm at Thanksgiving, 2007, with the Snake River Canyon in the background)

In the meantime, do you know anyone who might buy a lovely 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath condo, with detached garage and great neighborhood?

Summer Guests

Sunday evening, as I sat on our front porch finishing a book (Killer Angels, historical fiction about the battle of Gettysburg in 1863; don’t judge) and a beer in the twilight DJ came out and started a conversation in a way that maybe he shouldn’t have:

DJ: (holding out hands in front of himself like you would to protect yourself from an oncoming car about to smush you into the dirt) “So I just got off the phone with my dad, but don’t worry, it’s going to be ok. Don’t freak out.”

Me: (who may, or may not, sometimes overreact) “Uhh… ok.”

DJ: “What weekend are Ryne and Jen coming to visit? It’ll be ok.”

Me: (instantly suspicious, annoyed) “The last weekend in June, they get here late the 25th and have an evening flight back to Denver on the 28th. WHY?”

DJ: (dancing around kind of nervously, still with hands out, palms up in a defensive stance) “Well I think dad and Paulette (dad’s wife) are coming out that weekend too…”

Me: (Flips my shit).

We have a very full calendar this summer. After this Saturday and Sunday, the next weekend we don’t already have something on the calendar is the middle of July. After that, the appointments line up again until mid-September. And actually, appointments for this summer began appearing on the 2009 calendar at the beginning of last fall. Dude what the hell happened to long summers with nothing planned? A couple of weeks ago I emailed a childhood friend dates that they could drive 12 hours to Montana to visit us; there were 3 open weekends before Labor Day. THAT SUCKS.

I am, of course, a planner by nature. I make lists. DJ makes spreadsheets (holy hell, the spreadsheets!). It works for us. It helps us both make sure we take care of responsibilities and make time for fun. But damn there is something so, I-don’t-know, boring, about having your life so far planned in advance. Or having to use the Vacation Time Spreadsheet to figure out how much time off you can spend this summer in combination with how much you’ll accrue this winter so that you have time to have fun in 2010. Can I add that we had this conversation in March of 2009? Schweet.

I flipped my shit at the announcement of another visitor because, well, their arrival is so unplanned right now! DJ dad hasn’t been in Bozeman for five years; since before DJ bought his (our) condo. They’re going to fly into BZN, then rent a car and drive to Deadwood, the Black Hills, etc, before coming back to Bozeman, so really, their visit won’t conflict with Jen and Ryne’s visit too much. BUT, my view on it is this: if you’re coming all the way to see me (us), I’m going to make every effort to give you my full attention. Bozeman’s remoteness makes it either a lengthy drive to get here, or an expensive airfare ticket. If you spend the money to come, I’d like to spend the time with you!

And I love having visitors. We have a great guest room, which (with exception of my winter clothes in the closet- no guest ever hangs up clothes anyway) is totally empty save a bed and nightstand. It has its own bathroom for people too! It’s great, and I’m looking forward to hosting people this summer. Let me pre-cap what is currently planned:

The 10th through 13th of June I get to spend in Butte, Montana, at the Vernacular Architecture Forum Conference. Basically a bunch of old-building nerds dorking out in Butte and the surrounding region. I know you’re jealous. Actually, I’m really looking forward to getting out of the office with a co-worker, meeting up with some preservationators that I’ve come to know, and generally enjoying Southwest Montana in June. And Jenny B. has a gay guy friend who is coming. Hello, gay + stuck-in-the-80’s-Butte + alcohol + the M&M Bar=’s A GOOD TIME!

Our first guests arrive the weekend of June 20 & 21. My friend Erin and her boyfriend Rich are coming over to Bozeman from Spokane. Erin’s finishing her Master’s degree in Social Work at Eastern Washington University on June 13, and I’m so proud of everything she’s done for herself in the past year. Erin was an AOII with me, and Rich was a Kappa Sig who lived across the back alley. They didn’t date in college, but re-connected in November at a ‘Cat/Griz satellite party. I’m excited to celebrate with her. It’ll be a busy weekend, as DJ’s co-coach of the Blue Jays (little league baseball) is marrying a former co-worker and friend on the 20th too. I’m also really looking forward to spending some time with these two at One Shot Charlie’s Bar in Harrison, ID this summer! (Photo of Erin and I at the lake in the summer of 2007).

Between June 25 and June 28, my dear friend Jen and her husband Ryne will visit from Denver. Jen and I went to (spent two hellish years in) grad school in Kentucky together. I’m not sure I’d have made it through the program without talking to her at least six days a week. Their wedding in May of 2008 in Madison, Wisconsin (where they both went to college and met) introduced me to a number of their great friends and their college experience. I’ve been looking forward to showing them Bozeman since they booked the trip in March! Although Denver is “only” a 10 hour drive (through the wilds and hard-ass cops of Wyoming, who give you a ticket for going 77 in a 75), I think they bought tickets for like $70. Steal! Their flight lands late on Thursday night, so after getting settled in I think we’ll spend Friday morning checking out Main Street Bozeman. Maybe float the Madison Friday afternoon before heading back into Bozeman to BBQ or have dinner at a restaurant downtown. Saturday we can dink around in the morning, maybe climb the M, before driving up to Virginia City to show them the town I lived in for a three month internship. I heart VC! Hopefully we can catch a Brewery Follies show too! Sunday maybe we’ll check out Livingston and hand out before their evening flight. I’m really, really excited to see them, and have them meet DJ! Its crazy to me to think that after two years of seeing each other pretty much every day, I’ve only seen Jen for four days during her wedding over the last two years! (Photo of Ryne, Jen and I at a Wisconsin game in Cleveland, Ohio, in the fall of 2006).

I’m not sure what the 4th of July holds yet. Hopefully DJ can go fishing in Wyoming with his friend Mike; after I made him miss the trip last year to attend a wedding of f friend of mine. If that doesn’t work out, I’m not sure. Maybe VC again to camp out in my friend (mentor and former boss)’s teepee on his property. That would be fun! (VC at sunset, August 2006).


The Wednesday after that I’m making DJ come out to the lake with me for a couple of days of relaxation before going down to Colton for my cousin Blake’s wedding on the 11th. Blake’s marrying a girl from the same (small-300 people-small) town, plus they both played college athletics, so it’ll be a HUGE party. I’m actually really looking forward to it, despite the ensuing “So when are you two getting married” comments that are sure to follow. After the wedding we’ll head back up to Harrison for a couple more days of dock sitting. (the happy couple, with Zack, the groom's brother, in the background)

The next big thing planned is the arrival of Ms. Alli from Nashville, TN. Alli is another AOII co-hort, who will wrap up her thesis project this summer to complete a Masters in GIS from Western Kentucky University. HEEEYYYY, we both went to grad schools in Kentucky. We’ve actually coined the phrase Tennucky to describe the regions uniqueness (the pressure on girls to marry their first husband at 19, dry counties, abuse of prescription drugs, etc.). Alli’s trip at the beginning of August will also likely include floating a river, eating Mackenzie River Pizza, and generally catching up. We’re contemplating one major event though; hiking from the “M” to Fairy Lake in 1 day. It’s 20 miles of trail, going along the Bridger Mountain Range. Its totally do-able, but in August it’ll be hot, dry, and lightning prone. I’m totally in for doing it! We’d have Dusty pick us up at Fairy Lake to come back down to Bozeman and sleep in nice beds and drink beers in the shower. (Ashley, Alli and I, before we all drank our brains out at a Dry Wedding in 2007)

A few weeks after Alli’s visit, my good friend Katie and her fiancée Brad arrive in Bozeman from Las Vegas to tie the knot. I’m honored to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, and am really looking forward to it. They have a great group of friends in Vegas, who I’ve met, so it’ll be a lot of fun. And its in Bozeman, which means I can host things! Bachelorette party is Wednesday, rehearsal Thursday and wedding Friday. Best of all, after their Friday wedding they’re hosting a massive float of the Madison River with anyone who wants to come. Sweet!

I think we’re also going to head out to Washington/ the Oregon Coast over Labor Day weekend to see DJ’s mom and her husband, and his dad and wife again. His dad gave us a gift certificate for a hotel along the Oregon Coast, so we’ve got to use that before December. We might also try to catch a ‘Coug game in Pullman too. It’ll be a fun, relaxed, end of the year road trip.
On top of those items, I’ll probably head to Harrison at the end of July to help my mom paint the house. We want to hit up Red Lodge and Lewistown too, plus get some fishing in and some hiking or backpacking. It’s a lot to try to fit into a summer!
If you’re an anticipated guest, or thinking about coming, PLEASE COME SEE US!!! (Just call to ask about availability first, please J)

Introductions

I'm assuming that most (if any) readers of this blog will be family members and friends who already know me. But you never know.

I'm Courtney. I live in Bozeman, Montana. I used to live in Cheney, Washington, and am also familiar with the Pullman/ Whitman County segment of Washington (state). I love to read, swim, bike, hike, eat cheese, drink wine and sometimes whiskey. I have an amazing group of friends who I can lean on when things get rough. I hope I dish the same back. My parents are still married, and live in Washington.

I have a sister who will start her second year at Washington State in the fall. She's awesome, and will likely be the topic of posts for her hilarious and Lucille Ball-like antics. Below is Gerdy and I back in the day at Priest Lake (1994 maybe?), and again in 2006 at our parent's dock on Lake Coeur d'Alene. I'm the one with brown hair (who can't believe I'm going to publish a photo of myself in a swimsuit on the first day).

That's right. I'm 5'5" with brown hair. Gretch is 6' with blond hair. Same parents. Genetics are a bitch.

I've been dating Dusty since New Years Eve 2007-2008. First kiss at midnight in front of the Keno machines at the Eagles, on East Main Street, Bozeman. Klassy. We've been living in sin for almost a year now. He's an excellent person; patient, kind, funny, upbeat, and generally acts like an 12 year old boy. I appreciate him more and more, and again, hope I dish it back as good as I get it.

I've gotten into gardening this spring. Dusty's condo has a north facing front porch and a south facing back porch. Do or die for plants. At left(hopefully) is my tomato plant. Dude, somethings wrong with this little buddy! Shouldn't it be standing tall, branched out like a big bush? Instead of looking... like that? but its got buds on it to bloom... so, maybe? I also have snap peas, peppers, strawberries, spinach, cilantro, onions and a money plant and poppies on the south porch. On the north porch I have sweet peas, impatiens and pansies. Its fun to come home and check on them at night.

My absolute place on earth (and the photo in the blog title) is Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where my parents have a lake place. It took mom and dad 13 years of driving around the lake in a boat and a vehicle to pull the trigger on buying one. Its amazing how things happen for a reason; of all the places they looked at, were out-bid on, etc., the Harrison house is beyond what their wildest dreams were. Its on a rails to trails bike path, in a little town with a grocery store (doughnuts! Liquor! One Shot Charlie's! Spokesman-Review newspapers!), 5.5 hours from Bozeman (all interstate but the last 30 miles), and we have our own dock. I love nothing more than reading on our dock while watching the sun go down.

Here in Bozeman I am "gainfully" employed in the field my graduate degree is in. At least enough to encourage me to moonlight at a Main Street gift shop in order to have any fun money. I may end up back in school going after a PhDuh. We'll see. The current gig has a great staff, good people to work for, good health insurance, and most importantly, flexible scheduling. The boss' attitude is "work 40 hours a week, I don't care when you work them." AWESOME!

And that's about all the introducing that I can do with the photos on my work computer.