Things I Didn't Know About Grand Forks #13

I'll be wearing this sweatshirt:

After I graduated with my first bachelor's degree (I know-- pretentious, right?), I briefly worked at a ski area where I used my employee's discount to buy this warm and colorful Turtle Fur undershirt. I found it today as I was cleaning out the guest room closet for my friend Nancy (of going on a date with my brother once and "Chicks Before Dicks" dinner nights fame), who is housesitting for us while we're gone. This sweatshirt goes over really well in Oregon, but I'm not sure how North Dakotans will react. 

ShepAlder Temple #46: Vancouver, B.C.

This weekend, Josh and I made the deceptively long trek to Vancouver, British Columbia in order to visit our 46th temple. We've been planning a trip since the dedication in 2010 (I mean, it's only a state and a quick border crossing away, right?) but, like with Medford, things just never seemed to work out. Since we are t-minus 4 weeks from our move, we decided this was the perfect time. (It wasn't, but, like Tim Gunn insists, we made it work). 

It's funny, because from pictures I assumed that the VBC (Vancouver, B.C. shortened for my sanity) temple was huge but when we got there it seemed much smaller. But then on the inside it seems much bigger. Generally I judge the size of a temple by three things: the presence of a cafeteria, clothing rental, and a chapel/ordinance waiting room. VBC has all three, though in much smaller sizes than, for instance, Portland. 

After you go inside, the dressing rooms and ordinance rooms are upstairs. For some weird reason, this is among my favorite dressing rooms. Maybe because there are some nooks and crannies so I felt like I could get a locker without having to fight people for a dressing stall. It's weird how I judge my various temple experiences. It also smelled really good-- like my family's summer house when I was growing up. 

There are two major things that sets this temple apart for me. First of all, there is a landscape mural in the ordinance room (which I always love), and it features both the deer and what I assume is some sort of Canadian elk (?), who are all kind of hanging out in the woods. But they are going about their business, and maybe the artist was worried that people sitting in the room would get a little skeeved by what might seem like elk and deer staring them down, which means that all I noticed was paintings of elk and deer bums. The second thing is that we spent nearly half an hour talking with the temple worker at the front desk about the Temple Riders-- a group of church members that ride their motorcycles to visit the temples. I think that's cool and I'm wondering if there are any other groups that organize around visiting temples around the country.

I didn't realize how weirdly stressed I am until I saw the pictures from the temple. In every single one, my face looks contorted. It was also raining. Depressing. 

Only SMART people in my group!

I lead a group for substance abuse recovery called Self Management and Recovery Training (or "SMART") that I talk about incessantly and it totally annoys people. But I can't help it. I also lead an anger management group which I talk about with less frequency, except to those in my SMART group, who hear about it constantly. I have reached a weird point in my psychology training where everything in my life relates to some aspect of my work. I teach Relief Society in my ward and the ladies are constantly (well, once a month for 45 minutes) hearing about some theory in psychology that they don't really care about, but that, for me, fits perfectly into an understanding of how all things are connected.

I need to cut it out, seriously, except that whenever I speak in front of groups of people these days I turn into "Group Facilitator Emily" instead of "Everyday Emily." The difference is that the former has way more optimism than the latter. Also, the former loves Cost-Benefit Analyses, problem-solving, and talking about circumventing the urge to drink/use. The latter mostly just wants to nap, eat ice cream, and talk about television shows. You can see how life could get confusing for me.

BTW if you're interested in attending my SMART group before I'm finished leading it, we meet every Tuesday at 5:30 in Vancouver, WA. June 12th is my last day. You can find out more details on SMARTrecovery.org.

Martin Luther is the Symbol of my Success

I am currently working at a Lutheran-affiliated counseling center. Once a month, we use staff meeting time to recognize the achievements of the staff and to nominate someone who was particularly outstanding. Then one of the nominated people is chosen to receive this:

Martin Luther bobblehead

This past month I was particularly awesome (but mostly I think it's because I'm moving soon), so I got the gift of Martin Luther. The tradition is that the person who gets the bobblehead gets to put it on his/her desk, but is also supposed to dress him up for the next person. The girl who had him before me, dressed him up with a little graduation hat because she recently graduated from George Fox.

So I decided to dress him up as though he would be joining me in North Dakota.

Yes, I knitted the outfit myself. If Martin Luther decides to go skiing, he'll be super stylish.

Why Ruth's Chris Steakhouse is Awesome

On Friday, Josh and I went to see Death Cab for Cutie in the city and decided that we should go out to dinner beforehand. When we were in Hawaii a few years ago we accidentally ended up at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Oahu. I loved it for one reason alone: they serve steaks cooked in butter. Ever since I found out that there's a Ruth's Chris in Portland, I wanted to go. Then Josh and I accidentally walked past it on our way to a movie, so it was in my mind when thinking of somewhere to eat. 

I put Josh in charge of making reservations, which you can do online. When we arrived, they greeted us at the door with "congratulations on your internship!", which totally confused me. Apparently Josh had written in the "special notes" section of the online reservation that we were celebrating my internship. They led us to a table covered in this confetti:

The service was wonderful. I'm sure it would have been anyway, but they asked me questions about my internship and were attentive the entire night. We ate a lot.

I am super in love with wedge salad with dressing on the side

The wonderful steak served in butter

The best part was that, since we were celebrating (and probably because we ordered a lot of food), they gave us a little dessert sampler for free. 

They spelled out "good luck" in chocolate. I promised Josh I wouldn't lick the plate.

I highly recommend Ruth's Chris, though it's a bit expensive. We had a great time and the service was excellent.

Oh, yeah, and the concert was okay too.

Josh and I meowed along to the songs, which is exactly what it sounds like

Things I Didn't Know About Grand Forks #12

There are 12 sex offenders that live within 5 miles of my Grand Forks apartment complex. This includes incarcerated offenders, because I will apparently be living within 5 miles of the Grand Forks County Jail.

low resolution and from this website 

To compare, I currently live within a 1 mile radius (because oregon.gov only plots 1 mile for some reason) of ZERO sex offenders. Josh says this is because a 5 mile radius encompasses practically all of Grand Forks, but I say it's because the cold makes people crazy.

Things I Didn't Know About Grand Forks #11

They love Olive Garden AND polka dots!

picture from this article

A man in Grand Forks recently painted his house (not his house where he lived, but a house he rented out to others) with polka dots. I love how thrilled he looks in this picture.

I already checked-- my future apartment is blissfully dot-free.