More time to update blogs

Major points:

• Gave a talk in Cody. Planned it during our lunch that day. Went over very well.
• Major drama at my second job. Can't wait until this thing is over. (Quick highlights, ex-girlfriend of boss is manager while (perceived) current girlfriend is waitstaff. Big fight last night. Waitstaff was fired, manager quit. Yeesh)
  
• Had my first salt scrub. Was absolutely exhilarating. Until the effects wore off at said second job.
• Shoot, when was my last post. Not sure if there were other hightlights.
• Bought my Wii. Been having a lot of fun.
  
• Haven't gotten my WiiFit yet. There's a new version coming out on the 4th. I'm going to wait until next weekend and get the Fit then. Although I could just order it now.... oooooooo.

Yeah. I'm going to quit posting and head on over to Amazon.

Wii Musings

Not to sound ungrateful, but I thought long and hard about getting a second job. It cuts into my free time. It's dashedly hard. And, let's face it, a Wii is a fairly frivolous item. But I did think long and hard about it. A job that would last a little over a month seemed just perfect. I would make my money slowly but surely and be able to get my new toy in October. Then I found out that I get tipped out. At a restaraunt which, by Gardiner standards, is fairly expensive. And I made all the needed money for both a Wii and a Wii Fit in two weeks. In less than a quarter of the time that I thought it would. So I geared myself up for nothing? Is that why I'm feeling somewhat disappointined? And what is going to happen in two weeks when tourism falls off and I'm not making this kind of money any more?

New Job

Started a new job last week. Why? Didn't quit the old one. No. This is a job in addition to the library job. Jessica, you may ask yourself, why would you willingly take on the responsibility of working another job hostessing? Especially one in a high-stress, fast-paced environment like Pedalino's (fancy Italian restaurant here in town.) Well. I want a Wii. And a Wii Fit. I don't get out enough in the winter and I need to have something that will keep me moving. Hopefully, the Wii Fit will do that for me. In the mean time, this job is sure keeping me on my toes. Five nights a week I'm working 4-6 hours at this new job. But, after only five nights of work, I'm half-way to my Wii-goal and that's only counting tips. I may be losing an hour of sleep but, oh man, I'm raking in the dough.
After next week though, if I screw up enough for them to fire me... I really won't care. Plus, it's Labor Day soon and the tourists will stop coming to the park soon enough and my hours will then be cut. Yay!

Catching Up Part 2

Almost two weeks ago (has it really been that long already? Really? It doesn't seem like it. Instead of slowing down, this summer is getting faster) it was The Guiles's birthday. On that happy day, a bunch of us went over to her place, made pizza from scratch (thanks to Emily's crust) and watched most of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." A pretty good birthday Day I would think. More on celebratin' later.

This being Gardiner, there were also four dogs present for the birthday and they got to play as well. This is a picture of Allie and Ruffers arriving.The next day was the second annual weed pull. For the past couple of years, Heidi has put together a half-day where a bunch of folks gather and work on ridding the Mammoth area of all of the weeds that have cropped up there. This year, I worked out behind the Mammoth cabins with Heidi, Chris Overbach, Bianca Klein, Pat (don't know her last name), Keri (also don't know her last name), and Chris Lehnertz for a little bit. It was pretty fun.

Cool grasshopper I saw.

The results of doing manual labor when normally having a desk job. Oopsie.

Hiking in Jardine

There has been so much going on lately that I can't keep up. So here are just a few glimpses into things that have happened recently. I will probably have to break it up into two posts. Though I had hoped to write more about each event, it just didn't happen, so here goes:

Jessica and Maeve, the two library seasonals for the summer have been here for two months which means that they only have a month left to go. This picture is from the week that we all worked on a Monday to do some preservation training.

Later that week, we had a very successful game night with Carrie, Trudy, Emily, Allie, Mariah and Janine all coming over to play Yahtzee in the back yard. Mariah showing off her red tongue

Me demonstrating how the same drink gave me pink lips

The sunset was stunning that night

That weekend I got to go hiking with Heidi. She's been so busy lately I'm frankly amazed that I got to go out not once, but twice. The first day was on Friday and we headed out at 7 and hiked for about three hours in Jardine. It's hard to tell from this picture but we actually ran into a whole bunch of worms that were hanging off of trees by long threads. It was like going through a spider's web.

This tree was covered by their webs

Heidi turning back from a stream crossing we decided not to do

Which was good 'cause we would have missed seeing the Moose mama and her baby. If we had been in Yellowstone, we would have been at the bare minimum for distance from wild animals.

Me doing a stream crossing the next day on the Bighorn Trail. Note the fancy toenails left over from cousin Sean's wedding. They matched my shoes perfectly.

Indiana

June 27th, my friend Leslee married her Michael. I went back to Indiana for the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. The festivities kicked off with the rehearsal at Deep River Park in Chesterton, IN. It's got a beautiful gazebo next to a mill. It also, as you can see from the middle picture, has a sprinkler system. Michael's son Travis and the flower girl, Bella, had a grand old time that afternoon. Dinner was at a local pizza parlor in Valpo. Hadn't had pizza in awhile. After working at the K-Bar for two years kind of ensured that I've been off that sort of food for awhile. But it was good. Afterwards, us ladies went to Bon Femmes and then the Franklin house in Valpo.

The next morning, it was time for hair and makeup. It took us a little while to get to the parlor since the soapbox derby was on the same street.

Leslee getting made up

My fancy hair-do

Breakfast at Jimmy's. Local breakfast place in Valpo. Cheap, good eats. Surprisingly, we were not the first bridal party there.

Leaving Chris' house in Valpo

Me and Leslee in the limo. Yes, we were just that fancy to ride in a limo. It was nice not to have to drive, but other than that, I'll say "meh."

I walked with Michael's friend Jeremy down the aisle. He was pretty funny. It made the time go faster. And, despite the heels on the cobblestones, I didn't trip. Yay me! Travis and Isabelle walking down the aisle. They were so stinkin' cute it hurt.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Well, except for the part where the kids got bored and Travis kept trying to get "Lolly and Daddy" to look over at him. Luckily, I don't think most of the audience could hear him. By the way, I have to comment that I LOVE secular weddings. 15 minutes. Thank goodness, my silver sandals were reflecting the sun and my feet were HOT.
There was time between the ceremony and the reception so we went to Northside and played darts.

We stuck around for about an hour after the ceremony taking pictures. By that time, Travis had missed his nap and was crankier than all heck. He did not want to be in any of the pictures. Plus, he had all of these adults around him trying to convince him that he should go here and do that. Frankly, I don't blame him for not wanting to be involved. So, his cousin took him under his wing and made sure that he didn't fall in the river.



As the maid of honor, I had one duty. Leslee's only request, Don't cry. I didn't.
My toast:
Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Girl... isn't so sure. But Girl has recently made a vow to accept any and all offers... so, Girl says "Yes." Boy and Girl date. But... Girl still isn't sure. One night, girl wakes up in a panic. She LOVES Boy. Luckily, he loves her too. Henry David Thoreau once said of love, "There is no remedy but to love more." So, ladies, gentleman, please join me in raising your glasses to this boy, to this girl, to their new family, and the hope that, as they walk through life, they will only love more.

The dancing was awesome. On the left, my friend Jenica managed to pull her husband Steve onto the dance floor. It's impressive that a) she was able to get him out there and b) she was dancing at 4 (5?) months pregnant. People hung around until about 10:30. Leslee's mom and I were the last ones left. Michael and Leslee took off in the limo... and I got to go home after a lovely day.

YA Grand Opening

About a month ago, I attended the grand opening of the Yellowstone Association's new building. It's actually an old building in Gardiner. Built in 1903, the building was designed by Robert Reamer, one of the mot famous names in park architecture. he was actually pulled off the job to create and build the Old Faithful Inn.
The building was originally used as the town Mercantile. It was owned by W. C. Hall and run by his family for years. For a long time it was also known as Cecil's. There were ten foot high letters spelling out the name of the restaurant in bright yellow which was originally outlined in neon.
As I understand it, YA had been looking for a new building for some time. When the Cecil's building (housing a video store, a laundromat, and gift shop when I moved here), came up for sale, the park asked YA to buy it so that the rumored hotel/casino couldn't be built on the site. The fourteenth of June was the grand opening.

Suzanne Lewis, the superintendent of Yellowstone came and gave some opening remarks.
There was quite a crowd that showed up. I believe it was for a chance at free cake. But that might be too cynical.
Each area had a poster outlining what they do for the Association.






All in all a very nice opening and great to see the community come out and hpopefully begin to understand what the Association does and what it's about.