Post Cookie Dough Post
The evening of the cookie baking and holiday merry making didn't exactly go according to the vision I'd held in my head.
I ended up in the kitchen alone baking my cookies, because Stephanie was too tired and didn't feel like making any cookies. She did help me unwrap hershey's kisses for the peanut butter kiss cookies. It was ok though. I really had fun baking since I haven't had the chance to do it in a while. The oven at my apartment isn't all that great.
My only real complaint was that Matt had his friend Ryan over so instead of enjoying Christmas music from the next room, I had to listen to them play guitar hero.
I brought egg nog, but no one drank it.
As the cookies were finished people swooped into the kitchen to try them. We didn't even get the pleasure of enjoying some cookies in front of the Christmas tree.
When I was finished baking, I was urged to try guitar hero for myself. It was my first time playing, and while I think it's still kind of dorky, I also admit that it was kinda fun. But you didn't hear that from me.
That night they blew up a twin sized air mattress for me, and put two thin blankets and two pillows on it. I crawled into bed and proceeded to not sleep a wink because I was so cold. I think icicles formed on my nose and my toes. At 5am Matt's other roommate got up and left for work, and it roused me out of my frozen mode enough to get up, put on my long underwear and an extra shirt and some fuzzy socks. I think I managed to doze a bit eventually, but when I woke up I was grumpy.
Stephanie and I had made the plan to go up to Mt. Hood where I'd snow shoe while she would country ski and have her dogs pull her. Then she invited Matt and Ryan. Then I heard Ryan mention something about going through the city so that could drop "her" off, meaning me. And I got a little grumpier, because I was part of the original plan to go to the mountain, which was the only reason I stayed over and endured one of the coldest nights of my life (but not *the* coldest, as I'm sure mercurialdawn remembers; but at least that night we had plenty of blankets and clothes and cuddling), and they were only invited as and afterthought, and now they were trying to push me out of the deal. Harumph.
I ended up going along, of course, and my mood did eventually improve. The three of them got cross country skis. I stuck with snow shoeing, which was great because it gave me the opportunity to spend most of the time on the trail alone.
We went to Trillium Lake and did part of the loop, just until the break in the trees when you can see the peak of Mt. Hood clearly, then turned around. It was so beautiful and snowy. It was a fair tale winter forest. The sky was completely clear and blue, and it was very cold. The snow was a fine powder that glittered in the sun. It clung to the branches of the evergreens. Along the trail there were areas of the track that were undisturbed and pristine. This was the best for snow shoeing since the snow shoes could really do their job. The parts of the trail that were hard packed snow were the most awkward to walk on. When I wasn't hustling along the trail, but instead took a moment to stand still, the whole world was still with me. It was utterly silent, but the silence was somehow full, like there was a lot going on, but very quietly.
The walk back was the toughest. Everyone else was a lot faster on their skis than I was on my snow shoes, but I tried to keep up my pace. Toward the last few hills though I started to fade, especially on the upward grades. When returning, the last part of the trail before getting to the parking lot is a fairly steep uphill climb. I took my time, and took breaks. Eventually Stephanie backtracked and met up with me. Everyone else was ready to go. Before too long it was done.
I was tired, but also energized. We dropped off the gear we'd rented and then ate some fantastic hamburgers at Calamity Jane's. Then we drove back to the city where they dropped me at my door.
For the imperfect start to the whole event, I was really glad that I went snow shoeing (I had a moment where I seriously considered backing out). It was one of the best afternoons I've had in Oregon so far.
I ended up in the kitchen alone baking my cookies, because Stephanie was too tired and didn't feel like making any cookies. She did help me unwrap hershey's kisses for the peanut butter kiss cookies. It was ok though. I really had fun baking since I haven't had the chance to do it in a while. The oven at my apartment isn't all that great.
My only real complaint was that Matt had his friend Ryan over so instead of enjoying Christmas music from the next room, I had to listen to them play guitar hero.
I brought egg nog, but no one drank it.
As the cookies were finished people swooped into the kitchen to try them. We didn't even get the pleasure of enjoying some cookies in front of the Christmas tree.
When I was finished baking, I was urged to try guitar hero for myself. It was my first time playing, and while I think it's still kind of dorky, I also admit that it was kinda fun. But you didn't hear that from me.
That night they blew up a twin sized air mattress for me, and put two thin blankets and two pillows on it. I crawled into bed and proceeded to not sleep a wink because I was so cold. I think icicles formed on my nose and my toes. At 5am Matt's other roommate got up and left for work, and it roused me out of my frozen mode enough to get up, put on my long underwear and an extra shirt and some fuzzy socks. I think I managed to doze a bit eventually, but when I woke up I was grumpy.
Stephanie and I had made the plan to go up to Mt. Hood where I'd snow shoe while she would country ski and have her dogs pull her. Then she invited Matt and Ryan. Then I heard Ryan mention something about going through the city so that could drop "her" off, meaning me. And I got a little grumpier, because I was part of the original plan to go to the mountain, which was the only reason I stayed over and endured one of the coldest nights of my life (but not *the* coldest, as I'm sure mercurialdawn remembers; but at least that night we had plenty of blankets and clothes and cuddling), and they were only invited as and afterthought, and now they were trying to push me out of the deal. Harumph.
I ended up going along, of course, and my mood did eventually improve. The three of them got cross country skis. I stuck with snow shoeing, which was great because it gave me the opportunity to spend most of the time on the trail alone.
We went to Trillium Lake and did part of the loop, just until the break in the trees when you can see the peak of Mt. Hood clearly, then turned around. It was so beautiful and snowy. It was a fair tale winter forest. The sky was completely clear and blue, and it was very cold. The snow was a fine powder that glittered in the sun. It clung to the branches of the evergreens. Along the trail there were areas of the track that were undisturbed and pristine. This was the best for snow shoeing since the snow shoes could really do their job. The parts of the trail that were hard packed snow were the most awkward to walk on. When I wasn't hustling along the trail, but instead took a moment to stand still, the whole world was still with me. It was utterly silent, but the silence was somehow full, like there was a lot going on, but very quietly.
The walk back was the toughest. Everyone else was a lot faster on their skis than I was on my snow shoes, but I tried to keep up my pace. Toward the last few hills though I started to fade, especially on the upward grades. When returning, the last part of the trail before getting to the parking lot is a fairly steep uphill climb. I took my time, and took breaks. Eventually Stephanie backtracked and met up with me. Everyone else was ready to go. Before too long it was done.
I was tired, but also energized. We dropped off the gear we'd rented and then ate some fantastic hamburgers at Calamity Jane's. Then we drove back to the city where they dropped me at my door.
For the imperfect start to the whole event, I was really glad that I went snow shoeing (I had a moment where I seriously considered backing out). It was one of the best afternoons I've had in Oregon so far.