2010 in review (courtesy of WordPress)

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 7 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 23 posts. There were 142 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 39mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 23rd with 48 views. The most popular post that day was Wedding Countdown.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, adventuresinoz.wordpress.com, facebook.com, alternet.us.com, and wedding.ebonito.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for tulips, tamolitch pool, valley of sickness, handsome man, and karena dokken.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Wedding Countdown June 2010

2

Valley of Sickness April 2009
1 comment

3

Mother’s Day Weekend May 2009

4

Holidays Part 1 December 2009
1 comment

5

Adventures with Pete and Beach BBQ September 2009

All Moved

I made this a separate post so everyone would see it instead of adding it to end of my last. Since I have moved to Australia physically I will be returning to Antipodean Adventures to blog on my new life on the bottom of the planet.
I love you all!

Wedding and Move

Wedding Party

On June the 24th, in front of all our American friends and family, Peter and I were married. Because this ceremony was not the legal ceremony it was important to us to make it an occasion that highlighted how much the people attending meant to our lives. We decided that we would have the entire audience perform the ceremony instead of just a celebrant standing in the front. Chris Chambers performed as the Celebrant/Master of Ceremonies. When the bridal party had waked to the front he invited everyone to stand and read out loud with him, from their programs, our vows. Looking out over my family friends and friends as they performed the ceremony brought tears to both of our eyes. It was beautiful and moving. I can think of no more amazing way to start our loves together than by having it affirmed and witnessed by such wonderful people.

Dad walking me down the aisle

After the ceremony we had a lovely meal catered by Moses from Via Delizia. Matt Bixby was our amazing DJ. He kept everything flowing smoothly, making announcements and coordinating with the photographer and momtwo (our go to person for the day). Later he got the dancing going and everyone had a great time. the entire day was documented by Lauren Hurt gorgeously and unobtrusively. The bridal parties flowers were created by the two delightful women of Celebration Florals.

Mr. & Mrs. Griffioen

It was a truly perfect day. Peter and I could not think of a single thing that we would have changed or done differently. Adding the the emotion was that everyone knew that soon I would be moving away to Australia. Katie’s toast had me in tears, and still does every time I think of it. Peter also made a very touching toast that had most of the audience tearing up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australian Beer Pong Team

Musketeers for the Weekend

The week after the wedding Graeme Newell, from ARI in Australia, come to stay with us for a few days. We took him along to our going away party, hosted by Beth and Ethan, and introduced him to Beer Pong. It was awesome.

Old McKenzie Hwy

We also took a couple of days to drive the Old McKenzie highway over to Bend and go out to Smith Rock so he could see some of Oregon. Peter had already taken him to the coast as soon as he had arrived.

Sahali Falls

We ended the tour with 4th of July in Corvallis where I forced a reluctant Graeme to set off a fountain.

4th O' July

Keep in mind while you are reading this that we all left the country of the 7th. There was frantic packing, massive give aways of stuff and general mayhem happening in my house. It strangely felt like after someone has died and the house and belonging has to be dealt with. I was still alive but I wasn’t taking most stuff with me so I parceled it out amongst my family. What was left was still enough to fill a 5×5 storage unit almost to the roof. The last load got dropped off on our way to the airport. Whew!

Storage Unit

Wedding Countdown

On June 24th (just a week and a bit) Peter and I will become half married! We are having two weddings; one here in Oregon on the 24th of June and one in Melbourne Australia on the 24th of July. The one here is the “half” wedding because if is not official. The Australian wedding will be the official one.

So I am feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed. This month had to deal with final exams, starting the draft of my thesis proposal, planning weddings (2!) and preparing for an international move. Needless to say I am tired but I think almost everything is done. Still need to put together wedding favors, hire a taxi van, get my father’s slacks and the flower girl dress for my niece. Sigh.

Next post should have some pictures!

Amsterdam Part 2

So Peter and I traveled to Amsterdam to celebrate Oma Annie’s 100th birthday. (Oma = Grandma).  Oma had 11 children, those 11 children had an unknown (to me) number of grandchildren. Of those grandchildren about half had had their own children resulting in 39 great-grand children present at the celebration. I would estimate that 200 people attended the party and they were all directly related to Oma. Whew!

I met Oma shortly after we we arrive din the country and there is no way I would have looked at her and said, “Oh ya, she’s 100 years old”. She was a vibrant, loving, wonderful woman and I am sorry that I didn’t get to spend more time with her but I am honored that I got to meet her. The outpouring of love and respect for this woman brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. Given how incredibly important my family is to me I was thrilled to discover that my new family has the same tradition of closeness and respect.  The cousins are all wonderfully close and the assorted Aunts and Uncles are involved with all of them. Children are cherished and ran rampant the day of the party with whatever adult near keeping a lenient eye on them. No one worried, no one stressed. They were all there to honor Oma and family. Beautiful.

We all formed up a few blocks away, the marching (yes, we had a marching band) tuned up and then we paraded, streets closed, police directing traffic and all, to Oma’s house. She was installed proudly at the head of the parade and we continued our march to a small farm park (goats, sheep, cows and horses) for the party. The farm was created as a learning/play area for children so it was completely fenced with only 1 point of entrance which meant the kids ran wild and parents didn’t need to worry about them. There was singing and dancing, with even Oma taking a turn at the head of the dance line, great food and an overwhelming number of people.

The dutch greet and take leave of each other with 3 kisses, 3! By the time we were able to leave my face was chafed from all the 5 o’clock shadows sported by the men by 7pm but what a wonderful (and handsome) family.

Sadly, 10 days after her birthday, Oma passed away. She had all of her children with her and, I believe, she chose that time to go, having seen and celebrated with her family, before her children dispersed to their homes.

Peter and I walked our feet off (and some weight), leaving the house at about 10am and not usually coming home until 7pm. We cycled, we toured the red light district, we shopped and best of all we went to see Molen! (Molen = windmill) We toured a working molen that produces pigment powders and saw another windmill that was a lumber mill (sadly closed on Sundays). Amsterdam is gorgeous , aside from all the rubbish everywhere from the striking garbage men. The people are friendly and most everyone speaks English. However, the food was less than stellar, very salty, really really salty.

I’ve uploaded photos of our adventures, enjoy!

Love,
Arwen

Blue Memorial Day

….was actually grey. Why is it so cold? It’s the end of May? I am ready for summer and sun and I’m not going to get any.

Yesterday I started feeling quite down. Nothing went the way I needed it to (except having my great friends with me) and I just couldn’t pull myself out of my funk. Today I caught myself being jealous of Pete going on a field trip with work and feel lonely and abandoned (from the other side of the planet? I know, it makes no sense). Why? I couldn’t figure it out. But I think it’s really the weather. I just can’t handle this grey damp anymore. Then I realized that instead of having a lovely sunny warm break from it I am moving straight back into winter! July is the middle of winter in Australia, what am I doing? How am I going to stay sane? 2 winters in a row? feh!

Wedding planning is going pretty well. 3 weeks left but still some things to sort out, like a DJ. Gown fitting on Thursday and going to try to meet with Caterer that day as well. Just feeling overwhelmed, stressed, not enough time to get everything done, sick of spending money, wish I could cancel all the contracts, tell everyone it was potluck and just relax. My whole life I’ve wanted a lovely, catered wedding with the fancy dress and DJ; now I want the kickback picnic wedding (still with fancy dress) with an ipod play list and badminton.

Amsterdam, First Post

OMG, I’m in Amsterdam!

It’s Peter’s Grandmother’s (Oma’s) 100th birthday and the entire family (except 1) is here to celebrate from all over the world. We are staying with his cousin Marco, Marco’s wife Nancy and their two lovely children, Bob and Tess, in an adorable apartment 3 minutes walk from the Museumplein (Museum Square) and 2 minutes walk from the Vondelpark. Everyone cycles here, and if you have children you just add little seats on the front and back of the bikes. I’ll try to get a picture. For a major city it is wonderfully quiet, very little traffic (since everyone cycles). Sitting in an internet cafe right now because the computer at Marco’s is acting up.

I’ll post more updates later!

Love you al!

Major Updates

Hmmmm. I wonder how many entries in the blogosphere start with “Wow, been a long time since I posted” ? The problem with writing about life is that when you have the most to write about, you don’t have the time to write and when you DO have time to write, you don’t have anything to say. So that being said, Here are thought and news that I have been mulling over since December.

Happy Birthday to Me! So in April I turned……21…..well no really, I turned 31. The funny thing is that 30 didn’t bother me at all. 31 does a bit. No longer can I bluff that I am a “twenty-something”, I am solidly into the 30′s. And don’t’ give me that “the 30′s are the new 20′s” crap. On the plus side my sex drive should be sky rocketing any day now right? I mean, I’m at my sexual peak. My clock is not only ticking it’s doing little dances and singing jingles. (Sorry if you are family and that was too much information.)

That brings us to May. Ah, dreary, dismally rainy May. Just enough sun to get my hopes up then promptly squashed by more weeks of rain. I am so tired of being wet, moist, damp, drippy…. However, this month I did finally pass my qualifying exam. That means that I am officially a PhD candidate! Now I have to pass my prelim (thesis proposal essentially) write my thesis and successfully defend it. Then, since I will be married by then, I will metamorphose into Dr. Griffioen!

So besides school what is happening? I am planning 2, yes 2, weddings, one here in Oregon and one in Australia. To be fair Pete is planning the Australian one and he’s doing a very good job of it. I also have to apply for my spouse visa, fly my pets to Australia and get them through quarantine, 30 days, also get my furniture to Australia and then settle down to produce a thesis and a baby most likely simultaneously. Whew! Even typing all that stressed me out. The really giant hurdle however was cleared today when I finally got the nerve up to tell/ask my advisor that I would like to do the writing from Australia instead of from my little cubicle in Kelly Engineering. It’s going to be hard to stay on track but I am dedicated to finishing.

Why, you ask, did it take me so long to talk to my advisor? I mean, I’ve been planning the weddings forever right? Well the truth is he scares me to death. He’s brilliant and busy and I always feel as if he is slightly disappointed in me. I couldn’t face him telling me that he wasn’t willing to do the long distance PhD student thing. I didn’t see the point in bringing it up until I had passed my qualifying exam since if I failed it would have been a moot point.

Peter made his 7^th visit and will be arrive next week (visit 8) to whisk me away to Cornell, NY (for a grant site visit with my advisor) and then to Amsterdam for his grandmother’s 100^th birthday!

So that’s the catch up. I’ll try to post some shorter things that are a little less jumbled but with everything on my plate we’ll see how that goes.

Holidays Part 1

I know that I am going to be putting up Xmas photos soon so that will be part 2. So here is Thanksgiving.  Also there are more images on my flickr account (links in the lower left). Hope everyone is having a safe holiday!

Friend Thanksgiving

Mommo and I

Gee, What’s in the oven?

Three Generations

Shelling Chestnuts

Family

He does dishes!

So does he!

Long Creek Frozen

Lichen Beard

Handsome Man

So Happy!

Randanion (Randy + Dana + Rhiannon)

Rain, rain go away….please?

As many residents of Oregon do, I suffered from the winter blues. Whether you call it SAD (Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder) or simple a hibernation instinct I find the rainy season particularly difficult to handle on any year. This year, however, I am finding it particularly tough. After an entire year without seeing winter (I left for Australia in October and returned in March) I feel the cold and the inescapable wet as an almost physical weight on both mind and body. I don’t want to do anything except eat, sleep, take hot baths, and sleep some more. However, I must go to school, play with the dog, cuddle the cat (best done while napping though) and perform other seemingly pointless chores every day. How do I do this? Honestly some days I dont. I stay in my pajamas, I drink lots of tea and cocoa and I play video games if I am not napping or bathing. (Some times I think I should grow gills the amount of time I spend in the tub.) Previous years I have battled the blues by retreating to that haven of warmth and skin cancer known as the tanning salon. Peter has made me promise that I will save my skin and future health by ceasing that uplifting practice. So I have replaced it with workout at least once a week (twice or more is best) and sitting in the sauna in the women’s locker room when I am done.

On the plus side, the complete lack of any desire to go outside has given me many long days in the office working on school and research. I have come up with a couple of good ideas and gotten some rather good experiments run.

So, how do you deal with the rainy season?