Rain Check Fashion Show

Hey Friends!

So I know I was supposed to be posting some outfits and such for this month, I don't think I fully thought through that challenge. I did manage to take pictures of 3 outfits the first week, but I have a lack of internet connection at my house, so that made things difficult. Anyway, I'll get the outfits posted that I did do, and I think that will be the end of that challenge. I don't think it is my thing to post outfits of myself... kudos to those of you who do, it's a lot of work!!

Now then!! If you weren't there, the Rain Check Fashion Show went amazingly well!!! I am so happy all of my hard word paid off! We even got an article published about it in the Gazette Times!

After an all-nighter and plenty of late nights.. some parts of my collection finally came into reality! You can expect a few more of these lovely garments for the Spring Show in May!

Now to start work on the Recycled Show! Mark your calendar for March 3rd!

Dressing for different body types

This is a topic that I really need to research further. My career goal is to create an outdoor brand for women specifically for women who disc golf. As I have played with many different women at many different skill levels I have come to realize that disc golf does not create a specific body type like other sports. These women can be all different shapes and sizes, even at the professional level. I want to design for all of these women.

Because I have absolutely no experience in dressing people of different body types, it is going to take some researching on my part. The other day my sisters and I were watching the movie HairSpray, and noticed how good Queen Latifah looks in this dress:

Nevermind John Travolta dressed as a woman there...

I'm still trying to analyze all the reasons why this dress looks so good on her, because I know it would definitely not look that good on me. First of all, she has a chest and this dress does an excellent job of emphasizing this. I think the flowing fabric helps give hint to a waist and shape without showing every curve.

What do you think?

Hope Open

So I officially got everything finished up with the Hope Open this last week, I guess that means I should post about how it went.

If you don't know, The Hope Open is a disc golf tournament that I directed on October 30th with all funds raised benefiting the American Cancer Society. The event had a good turn out, I was pretty worried about making ends meet the week before when there wasn't even half as many signed up as ended up showing up to the event.

This was my second year running this event, and every year I get to witness how amazing people can be in support of a good cause. One person was telling me how important this event was to them, her dad had gone through cancer and treatment and was deemed clear of it this year, but it was a hard process to go through. She assumed that I must have been touched by this disease in some dramatic way to be putting on this event.

The truth is, I am blessed to be healthy and have a healthy family. My grandpa last year went through cancer treatment, but is doing very well now. The people in my life that are affected with cancer have been at a distance from me, so I haven't had to feel the pain that so many people have. I am thankful for that, because I know that day may come sooner than I hope. I love being able to put this simple, fun event on and have people bring the meaning into it.

There was a couple of guys who came down to play, and were so excited to play that they wore pink, brought pink cupcakes for everyone, and bottles of water! It was wonderful seeing them get so excited about raising money for this event. A brother and sister donated a pair of Blazer tickets to the raffle, which was wonderful! The raffle this year was astonishing with how much stuff people and businesses donated.

Honor Signs is the other place where I get to find out more about the people in the disc golf community. These Honor Signs are the signs at each tee that are dedicated to people in our lives who have been touched by cancer. People who couldn't make the event donated signs, and people who were at the event donated signs. I think that when we view the little circle of our life, we think that cancer has touched us in a big way. When you walk through the disc golf course and see all of these signs, it is plain to see that so many lives have been touched.

The Hope Open ended up raising over $2,000 for the American Cancer Society! It was a great event and I look forward to doing it again next year!

Here are some lovely photos that Jennifer M was gracious enough to come and take! They turned out wonderful!













I have some left over shirts, discs, and towels if you are interested in contributing! All the money from this will go towards next year's event :)




(The other benefit of running this event is coming up with a creative logo design!)

Winter Collection Preview

So finally I have produced something in my flat pattern class that I am happy to show off! This piece is a vest that I designed (specifically for disc golfing women in the winter), that will be in a fashion show in January at OSU (The Rain Check). This version of the vest is just the muslin/broadcloth version, so during Christmas break all of the yellow you see will be some lovely rain resistant fabric and the white and the rest of the inside will be some medium weight wool. I can't wait to go to the Rain Shed and see what sort of color options I'll have!

For now, enjoy these photos! Next week there should be a post about the red dress I'm making(and the Red Dress Fashion Show).

Front view: Has button-straps and a zipper for the closure.


Back: iPod pocket covered with the staps for an aesthetic appeal.


Close up on how the closure works.


Hope you've enjoyed! :D

Buzzzing mailbox!

Today I checked my mailbox and guess what I found? I got the package with my free disc inside!! So now I can assure you that it was not a hoax!

It's a nice disc, I look forward to throwing it in the future. Looks nice against my curtains doesn't it?


So if you are in the market for relatively cheap discs that are Discraft, DiscWing, Gateway or Lightning... discgolfstation.com is the place for you! They also carry some other disc golf products like bags and things. Take a look around the website, they seem to be doing a lot of promotions to get their name out there!

People, blogs, and links!

It's about time I update my blog a little bit. First, I would like to introduce some awesome people who's blogs I've been reading and I think you should definitely take a peek at. The first blog is Chic Steals, which is written by Carly J. Cais. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Portland Fashion Week back in October. She is full of really great fashion information, and I'm happy to have a different perspective for viewing designers.

The reason I got to meet this lady was all because of my friend Amanda, who writes Grishley's. Both her and Nicole (author of Cut & Sew) are talented young women I get to take classes with. Go take a look at their blogs too!

The main reason I am updating my links and blogs, is because a disc golf store called discgolfstation.com contacted me about posting a link about them in my blog if they gave me a disc. I was first of all, very excited and a bit surprised that they found me through my blog! They are sending me a lightweight Buzzz, and I'll be sure to post again when I actually get it!

The last new link I want to mention is a link to an online store called Yes Asia! It is so amazing! I have had a really difficult time finding some of the Japanese artists I've become addicted to over Youtube on the internet. This website not only has all of these awesome music artists, but they also have DVDs of the Taiwanese drama "Basketball" (or Bullfighting) that I watched over the summer. (Be careful to start watching, it is very addicting and not all of the episodes are available on youtube!) Maybe I can start making a list on here of what I want for Christmas/ Birthday! :D

More Disc Art

Last night I stayed up waaay too late, but I had the opportunity to delve into yet another type of artwork: the art of dyeing discs. Being in the disc golf world I know quite a few people who dye their own discs. Some people are really talented and do some amazing work that they sell, and some people like to just make their discs look different than everyone else's.

Widye.com is a company that custom dyes discs, and has donated some great dyed discs to my disc golf event (Hope Open) for the past two years. This is one of my favorites:



There was also someone who dyed me an amazing disc with the M*A*S*H* cast on it, and a neat red cross in the back. I'll need to take a picture with something other than my phone before I post it.

Here is my first dye-job from last night (You can see how messy my desk really is...):



It was a pretty easy process, especially since my friends had everything and did all the necessary research. First thing we did was take off the hot-press stamp of the logo with acetone, which is really easy if you let your disc set in the acetone for a couple minutes (just not too long, acetone will eat the disc!). The next thing was to decided what color of dye to use, then put it in a pan and heat it up on the stove. It only needs to get as warm so you can still touch it, so definitely not boiling. As the dye was heating up, I came up with my design and cut it out on some contact paper (one side is sticky- you stick it to your disc, my friends got it pretty cheap at Home Depot). After sticking the contact paper on my disc where I did not want the dye to hit, I put the disc face down into the pan so it was floating on top. Then all you do is wait for 10 - 15 minutes, and see how it looks! I think I waited a little longer and added in more dye so it was dark enough. Then I rinsed it off with warm water in the sink, took of the contact paper, and wah la! I have a pretty disc!

I'm excited to try this again in the future, when I can put some more time into thinking of cool designs and play with more than one color. Definitely different than submitting designs to a company to get hot stamped on a disc!

Of Games and People

I am a little behind on writing about some great events in my life that are worth writing about, but I will try to post them in chronological order and maybe throw in a rant or review in the middle :)

This event happened the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the form of the Turkey Triples Tournament. I had the opportunity to play in a triples disc golf tournament. If you are unfamiliar with idea of triples, it is basically three players using their throws for one group score. There are variations on how you can attain your score. In this tournament, the first round was "three-headed monster," in which each team member must contribute 6 of the total 18 drives, and for the holes that a team member contributes their drive, their other two teammates continue to play out the hole.

The second round was played as "best shot" which is exactly how it sounds. All of the team mates get to throw something for every shot, and the team picks which one they like best to get an overall best score.

As fun as this event sounds, (and as hard as I tried) there ended up being only one women's team at the event. (Actually, there ended up being a total of six women at the tournament, the other three were all part of different men's teams). My team consisted of Amber Cochran, Jackie Heider and me. We called ourselves Team Girl Squad and we competed with the Advanced Men. (Sadly, I was the only teammate who could appreciate Strongbad's cartoon!)

Our first round we set our goal to playing the coarse at par (54 total strokes, par=3 at each hole). We played most of the course at 2 over, but saved some of the difficult holes for the end where our focus and energy also dwindled, and ended up with a score of +6.

After getting some food and getting warmed up on that foggy day, we came back to play the best shot round at 2 under par! I can lay claim to 2 of the birdies (Birdie is one under par for the hole, so a 2) and the other 2 birdies I contributed a decent putt and a good drive.

The day proved to be very exciting for me, it was the first time I had ever birdied hole 15, and I hadn't played a round of disc golf since the event I ran on Halloween. More than just having fun at the event, I learned some things too. I feel like I have a very strong mindset, and have a lot of self-confidence in general. During those two rounds of disc golf, I learned that I have limited myself with how well I can play that disc golf course at Willamette Park. In my head, I really didn't think my team could play better than par. What helped me see these limitations I had put on myself, was playing with Amber. She is an up and coming disc golfer, and has a generally positive attitude towards disc golf. She helped me remember the attitude that I used to have playing that course, that one day I really could play every hole there really well. Why not? It's not like my drives haven't been getting farther and my putting range hasn't been getting longer. If I got nothing else from that tournament, it was well worth it.

Alas, that was not all I learned that day. For a long time I had been struggling with one certain relationship that seems to follow me like a shadow. Just before this event, some changes were made and I was still unsure that my decision was the right one. Now I know it was. At this event I got to see the many friends I have made over the years through disc golf. There are so many people that I know, and people that actually are happy to see me and what to know all that I have been up to since we last spoke. I have come to realize that it is really nice to be around people who want to see you. It's probably close to whether anyone reads your blog. I mean, take a look at this one, super long, should I read it? Well, I genuinely want to know what is going on in her life and what insight she can bring into mine, why not? Thanks for caring and I apologize for the length!

Split Personality?

Hello friends! Today I had quite the terrible round of disc golf. I can't say that going into it was so bad, I was excited to work on that anhyzer that Dion was helping me with to improve my drive.

When I got to the course, I was excited to see that there weren't very many people around. I got to throw a few drives on 1 and 2, but by then there was already some guys right behind me. I let them play through, and threw more drives on 4, only to realize there were some guys behind me again, except these guys were newbies with regular frizbees. I don't know what it is about people who play disc golf who really don't know what they're doing, but some how they always seem to play faster than me and not get the hint when I'm trying to let them play through.

Once I realized these guys weren't going to get the hint, I just decided I'd forget throwing tons of drives and just try to play real fast and get ahead of these guys. For some reason, I was super annoyed by these particular frisbee throwers, and I began playing absolutely awful.

Something that I have learned in my studies of Exercise Science (now finished with that degree, woohoo!) is that when you learn something new, you usually have a shift of getting worse and then all of a sudden you get better than you were originally. I find it interesting that I get the opportunity to taste that awesomeness with those first few throws, and then when I try them on my own... look out! The other annoying thing about learning something new is that it seems to tweak everything else that is related to that skill. All of my other throws are not doing well at all, and it's not like I can just go back to how I was throwing before.

With all of that going on in my round, (not to mention only one par!!!) I was not so happy. I hate the mood I get in too, it's horrible! The funny thing is, I had to confront those frisbee players behind me, who were indeed, very nice. Made some jokes about playing catch and they of course were in wonder about my huge disc golf bag I carry around. Then I finished 18, and saw that there was a girl putting on the practice basket. I of course have to go over to her and give her a flyer to promote Women's Weekends at Willamette, so I forget my round and put on a happy face. It was pretty exciting, because she actually had heard of WW@W, and had a flyer before, so maybe she'll actually come to one and there will be new girls playing Willamette on Saturdays.

Moral of the story: No matter how frustrated you are, make sure you can keep it to yourself, or be able to fake a good attitude to everyone else around you!

One Disc Therapy

Last week, Wednesday I believe it was, I knew I would have a lot of free time and decided to make plans to play a round of disc golf (you know, wear the appropriate clothing, bring discs, etc.). I'm not sure what set my mood off that day, but I was in a really irritating mood. One of those where you're mad at everything and don't want to do anything else but sit there and be miserable.

I drove around a bit, made a stop at the Co-op and browsed through their discs and finally found myself at Willamette Park. I sat in my car for a while just staring at the expanse in front of me, contemplating whether I really felt like playing or not.

I got out of my car, and grabbed one disc from my trunk: my cool-colored star Eagle that hasn't been thrown much. I threw the disc a couple of times in the grassy area that is not the the disc golf course, kind of "practicing" my mid-range throw. I decided I did want to play some of the course, maybe not a whole round, and so I proceeded to tee pad 1 (still with just my Eagle).

The first few holes were awful as far as scoring goes, and I remember thinking "I probably should stop throwing right now, I'm only going to create bad habits," but I kept playing. It felt really good to release some of that bad energy I was storing up inside me.

Somewhere around hole 4 or 5 I started feeling happier and thus playing a little better. It is also at about this point in the course where some of the switch-backing begins and the fairways mesh between holes. I threw a drive on 5 with my lovely Eagle, not a great drive, but not a terrible drive either. The guy playing in front of me with his bag full of discs (he didn't have quad straps, so I guess not that hard core) complimented my good form. I'm pretty sure he thought he was just complimenting a newbie-one-discer, but it could have had to do with me being female. I suppose he could have just been complimenting my good form because it was good form.

A couple of holes after that a group of 3 were waiting at the tee to let me play through. They were all pretty inexperienced, (or just didn't throw far) and were just out for an enjoyable time with each other.

I teed off in front of them, secretly wanting to be impressive, and I threw a good drive. They joked around about trying to make me nervous and how it seemed to have no effect. I guess I did impress them.

The rest of the round went ok, I had some really great holes, and some not-so-great. By the end of the round I was happy and thinking about my disc golf game, not what was annoying me before.

I finished my one disc round and grabbed my putters so I could keep goofing around. A group of about 4 college-aged boys (probably freshman, I mistook them for high schoolers) were getting ready to tee off on 1. They asked me I was going to play alone and invited me to join them and offer any tips because they are all new. I wasn't about to attempt a round with my 2 putters, so I went and got my bag - that really impressed them!

I played an enjoyable few holes with them, they were really easy to impress. They thought it was cool that I even knew someone who has over 200 discs or that I knew someone who has thrown an ace.

So what started out as an outlet for me to get into a better mood, turned out to be a sneaky way to fish for compliments and feel really good about something. If you ever see me in a bad mood, tell me to try one disc therapy.

Signature Water Bottle

It seems that the use of a Nalgene bottle can do more than just hold water. It seems to be able to attract disc golfers to me, that may have just passed me by had I not been holding said waterbottle.

First, you should know that I have 3 disc golf waterbottles (well, three waterbottles in general, all of them relate to disc golf). Two of them are orange and have disc golf stickers plastered on in an artistic format. The other one I have is purple and is from an actual disc golf tournament.

So this morning, I was walking from where I parked my car to school, thinking about all the things I might accomplish this morning, carrying my trusty orange friend and from behind me someone says, "Disc golf is for losers!" I figured this person could not be serious, who could ever say that about disc golf? I turned to see one of my disc golf friends, Kelly Christensen, who also plays a lot of tournaments. He said he wouldn't have recognized me in my normal clothes, I guess the waterbottle tipped him off.

The funny thing is, that this is the second time my waterbottle has done this. The first time was last year when I was walking to class and Nate Sexton came up to see who I was because of the stickers on my waterbottle. It's always nice to see a friendly face, especially to start out your day. I recommend you go buy a Nalgene and put stickers that represent you on it. Seriously, go do it. :)

The Happenings of My Life

It has been a long while since I have returned to this blog to write, and in the meantime much has happened. Since my last blog, I have won another disc golf tournament which coincides with winning the Oregon Series (the series of disc golf tournaments over the summer), I've started school again, and I'm getting ready for my brown belt test.

Disc golf is a little more off of my mind these days, because of the grand finale of the Oregon Series being over, but I am very excited about this year's outcomes. At the beginning of the season I was thinking, it would be pretty sweet to win the Oregon Series, but I felt I had no chance at that. After one or two tournaments, I realized I am very much in the running for this win. Lo and behold, it came to pass that I won 2 tournaments which sealed my spot for the win in the Oregon Series. Now I have next year to look forward to, as I will be moving up a division to try and give those girls a run for their money:)

Then there is school, which is the part of my life I am trying very hard to focus on right now. It's my senior year, so I'm finishing up my Exercise Sport Science stuff, and getting started into this Apparrel Design thing. It's very exciting to be so close to then end of my college career, and have a pretty good idea about what I want to do with my life.

Another funny thing about school is, not much has changed. There are still swarms of people at the change of the hour at every intersection, people who are obsessed with their i-pods, and those people who think rubber boots can be a fashion statement. With nothing really changing about school, I still feel different. My attitude in regards to classes and professors has changed, I used to be timid and afraid of even asking a basic question in class, but now I have a new found confidence and my professors and my peers are far less intimidating. Maybe its because I'm a senior this year, or maybe its something else.

The last big thing going on in my life (that I'm willing to blog about!) is karate. I am finally getting ready to promote to the next belt. The journey to brown belt has been quite a frustrating one for me and it isn't over yet. I have obstacles I still need to overcome to be where I want to be for this test, and time keeps zooming by me.

All in all, life is pretty great right now. I know that I will have plenty more to blog about :)

My First Place Weekend

Wow, what a weekend. Not only was this weekend the first weekend of August, but also a first for many other things. I won my first Oregon Series Tournament, I heard a unique pick-up line, and I rode in an ambulance for the first time.

Now for all the details. I had been looking forward to this weekend, because I knew that this could very well be a weekend I could win, and not only that, but in doing so I would beat one of the other intermediate women I had not beat before. You should also know that it just so happens that this weekend was not only the weekend of the Calapooia Classic (the disc golf tournament I speak of) but also the weekend where my high school friend Justine was visiting from Arizona and my friend Heidi's friend Kiira was visiting from Washington. Because these wonderful girls were visiting, Heidi and I had to make sure they had a good time, and of course that means going out and hitting the clubs on a Friday night!

So that was our plan. I wanted to make sure that I got to play the pre-tournament doubles, because they were at the course I had not played in the new layout. Doubles started at 6:00p at Bryant Park, I ended up being partnered with Mike, a great guy who helps run the weekly doubles at Adair. The round that I thought would take a mere 2 hours, ended up taking me 3 hours to play, and in doing so made me late for picking up Justine.

After I picked up Justine and headed to the house in Albany where I was house-sitting, we talked a little, I changed real quick and we headed right back out the door towards Corvallis, leaving Devynn behind with the dogs. (We tried to convince her to come, but for some reason she thought the dogs would enjoy her company better than we would that late at night.)

We started at McMennamins, Justine and I were the first to arrive followed soon by Heidi and Angie (Heidi's roomie). While waiting for Kiira we ordered some food and drinks and discussed all the many things there were to discuss.

Kiira arrived, we continued our evening over at Cantina and the time was about 11:30p. (My original plan was to only stay out until midnight, me having a tournament the next day and all.) We were all pleasantly surprised that the place was actually busy, and the dance floor was moving!

First things, first though, Heidi and I had a much awaited duel to get on with. Since I have started going out, I have learned that there are fun ways to drink drinks. One of them being a drink that you get a shot of some liquor in one glass and some red bull in the other glass. The way you drink this drink is to put the shot glass into the larger glass and then drink the whole thing as fast as you can. You finish first, you win. The drinks we got are called Spider Bites, so the shot is some pretty blue liquid. Angie opted out of the crazy duel, and instead took pictures. I of course, won the contest:)



The rest of the night we danced and drank water and talked, and had a great time. Sometime during the night when we were dancing, actually it was one of the time Heidi and Angie took a break from the dance floor and left Justine, Kiira and me. Now I don't think that I am that tall, but I am definitely taller than Justine and Kiira. With that in mind, I will tell you the next part of my tale.

There's us three girls, dancing in the middle of the dance floor, having a great time, and this tall, very white guy come up to me and says, "Your friends are short, you wanna make out?" I was somewhat dumbfounded at this, and uttered some "No" while Justine blurts into the conversation and says, "She has us to make out with." The guy left, and left us with this funny pick-up line to tell everyone else about. He apparently was pretty interested in making out with me, because he came by another time before we left.

The night was filled with lots of fun memories, and I did not leave at Midnight as planned, but right before closing (1:45am).

And now for the major scheduled event of my weekend, The Calapooia Classic disc golf tournament! Saturday morning, I showed up early, reunited with my disc golf friends, and set about warming up before the round. The first course we were playing was one in Albany, Bryant Park, the same one I had played doubles at the night before. I was on a card with Kim Smothers, and "Over the Hill Bob". Both are very nice people and pretty fun to play disc golf with. At the end of that round I was slightly disappointed with my score of 81, because it only beat my score at that same course (in a easier layout) by one stroke. But, when I heard the scores from the other Intermediate Women's card I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in 2nd. Celeste and Rebecca had played the course with an 85, and the new girl Jackie, had played a 76. So it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Then the race for first got closer, because of a scoring error. Jackie had actually shot a 77, and her group re-counted and thought it was a 76. It ended up being a 77, so her score was adjusted to 79 with the 2 stroke penalty.

The next course we played was Timberlinn, a course I remembered well from last year as fun, but with a lot of O.B. (Out of Bounds). I wanted to shoot better than an 82, and ended up with a 78, which isn't bad, but not as good as I had hoped. Jackie still shot better than me, with a 75 (Now leading by 5 strokes). Rebecca shot an 80 to keep 3rd from Celeste, who had a tough round with a 91. That concluded day one of the tournament. I then proceeded to go to the house and sleep for the rest of the evening.

The next morning, I ventured out early, Devynn decided to join me and the rest of my family informed me that they wanted to watch and would be out at the course later. The course we were playing twice today was Waterloo, a new course to the area with a lot of rough edges still. Devynn kept score and spotted, making us feel quite professional.

Right off the bat, I stole the tee by paring the first hole while everyone else 4-ed. That round I kept playing well and driving far, making the pars come easier. Sometime in the middle of the round I counted up strokes to see that I was now pulling ahead of Jackie, I had earned that 5 strokes back and was now taking some more! She had a couple tough holes, which seemed to cause her to get a little more frazzled. At the end of round 3, I had shot a 69, which made me very happy, because I have never shot under 70 before! Jackie shot an 80 keeping 2nd, Rebecca shot a 79 barely hanging on to 3rd with Celeste shooting a 70 to come back from that previous 91.

Round 4 started off ok, Jackie took back the tee right away, and I was not playing that well. I was letting the pressure get into my head that I was now in first. After a few holes I did shake it off (with Rebecca's help) and started playing well again. At the end of the round, I was definitely in the lead, shooting a 75. Jackie shot a 79, Rebecca also shot a 79. At the end of the round we did not know what Celeste shot, but she ended up shooting another 70 taking 3rd from Rebecca.

After calculating our scores and initialing the score sheet, we started walking back to tournament central across the parking lot. My friend Rebecca is really allergic to bees. The day before her husband played the same course we were playing today and got stung 6 times. Because of this she made sure she carried her Epi-pens with her in case she happened to get stung, and before the rounds started on Sunday, she showed me and the whole group how to administer the shots if she couldn't.

As we walked across the parking lot, the thing that we thought we had avoided happened. Rebecca stopped and started messing with the back of her hair, trying to get a bee out. I stopped too, and kept asking her if she had been stung. All of a sudden she stopped trying to get the bee out and looked at me and said "I've been stung." I rushed over to her disc golf bag and pulled out the first aid kid she had in the front of it. I opened it up as band aides and various things started falling out as I fumbled around to get the Epi-pens out. I handed one to her and immediately started undoing the next one. She jabbed herself in the thigh and dropped the applicator. I asked her if she needed the next one yet, and she told me we need to wait 3 minutes. She asked for a place to sit down because she knew she was going to faint. I looked around and saw the picnic tables, then noticed my car right next to us, so I went to open the door to that.

Some other people had noticed by now that something was wrong, and someone brought over a fold up chair as Rebecca gave herself the second shot. I noticed Jackie on the phone and asked if she was calling the ambulance. (She was)
In a crisis situation it seems that is easier to take if you stay busy. Rebecca told me to get a hold of Kevin (her husband), which proved to be a rather difficult task, because he didn't have a phone with him. I called all of the people I knew who were at the course he was on, and no one was answering. I went through her phone and looked for people to call.

All the while I am calling people and trying to get a hold of Kevin, Rebecca faints in her chair and starts having convulsions on and off. The first time she had one and stopped scared me. It seemed normal for her to faint and her body to be shaking, but when it stopped I was afraid of what that could mean. So many thoughts ran through my head. This was the first time she met my family and they got along great, surely this would not be the only time they see each other.

The ambulance came and the EMTs started checking the status of Rebecca. I was there answering all the questions they had about her and about the situation. They got her situated and moved her to the back of the ambulance from the parking lot and it was about this time the tears started streaming from my eyes. I kept it pretty well under control, most people have never seen me cry because I have mastered this skill so well.

I was chosen to ride with Rebecca in the ambulance, and while I was waiting for us to take off, Josh or "Crawdad", helped comfort me and tell me she was going to be ok. He told me about different situations with bees and people being allergic to them and being way out in the woods and them ending up ok. When the ambulance took off, the EMT driving also helped me deal with the situation. I find it an amazing thing that comfort is always there when you need it.

My whole family waited for her in the hospital, I finally got to go in and see her. She was awake and doing well, and was ready to go find out if she kept her third place or not. Right before we finally got the discharge papers for her to leave, we got a call from her husband Kevin that he was in Albany at the Calapooia Brewing Company. (He had went there after he had driven all the way over to Waterloo and found no one there, terrible way to find out his wife had been stung.) We told he we would meet him there.

We got to the Awards Ceremony in good time, Kevin wanted to take Rebecca home right away so we said our goodbyes and she left. At the Awards I had lots of people telling me congratulations for my win and an equal amount of people asking me about Rebecca. It was definitely a unique experience, I hope that the next time I win a tournament there won't have to be anyone getting stung!

What? Washington?

So today I find myself in Washington, not exactly where I had planned to be. The original idea was that Devynn would attend her class in North Bend, while I check out the local disc golf courses and maybe a little bit of shopping. To my excitement, I found that there was a 9-hole disc golf course located in North Bend, and another 9-hole course in the nearby town of Coos Bay.

Alas, this is not how the day would go. Just before 6am, while I was still gathering up my things to go, Devynn comes into my room to inform me that she was mistaken. This class she signed up for is not in North Bend, Oregon, which is a drive of about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, it is actually in North Bend, Washington, a drive of about 4 1/2 to 5 hours. So not only were we needing new directions, but we were also pushed for time, as the class was to begin at10am.

We left immediately, I felt we had a chance of getting there in less time than predicted. I drove us up, speeding along the way where I could. (It's a lot easier to drive fast when there is no one on the road!) Along the way I had my mom look up local disc golf courses online so that I may still be able to play.

I wasn't very hopeful. The last time I tried finding a course in Washington was when Devynn and I came up to Seattle for a book signing. It ended up being a long drive, and since we took the train up, it was expensive too. Not only that, but the course was not well marked so I didn't end up playing the entire thing.

My mom began reading to me the nearby courses. The first one was in a place called Ravendell, a private 9-hole course only 13 miles away from North Bend, Washington. The next course, also private, was an 18-hole course about 20 miles away, and after that one a public 9-hole course about 25/30 miles away.

I weighed the options in my head as my mom read more information about each of the courses. At some point she mentions that the private 18-hole course is Crystal Mountain. Now it just so happens that I was recently talking to a guy aobut that course, in the interest that I might do the artwork for the upcoming tournament.

I am excited again! This is even better than playing the two little courses in Southern Oreogn! Now I'll get the chance to see this course and possibly get some great ideas for the artwork! My mom called and left a message, funny that they aren't open at 6:30 in the morning.

Happily continuing on our way, a non-stop 4 hour drive to the place in North Bend where Devynn needs to be. My mom calls back, letting me know that I can play Crystal Mountain and Dee is ther person she talked to. As fate would have it, Dee is also the person I had been talking to about the artwork, so what a great opportunity this was turning out to be!

With 8 minutes to spare, I got Devynn to her destination on time. Now to find more specific directions to this course. I called my parents, and upon further investigation, we discover that Crystal Mountain is not the mere 20 miles away like we thought, it is actually 68 miles away. So much for that idea. With no good attempt at finding another course, I decide to go find some fuel for my car and get some food.

One good thing that came of this trip is that I finally learned how to use my car's navigation system. I figured out where the nearest little town was and went to find some fuel in Snoqualmie.

Usually gas stations provide little means for an amuzing story but as I pulled up I remembered that I am no longer in Oregon, and therefore no longer in the state that requires the attendant to pump your fuel for you. I pull up to the pumps, pop the gas lid and look to the machine for answers. Wonderful! Directions on the screen! "Insert card or pull handle for cash." Ok, that's easy enough. I take out my credit card and try to shove it in the machine correctly ... "Try again." I put the card back in and remove it quickly as the instructions say, and again an error. I flip the card so the strip faces the other way and the machine starts beeping at me and reads "Get assistance from the gas attendant." I frantically push the cancel button to try and stop the thing, it silences the beeping. I look around the station, half hoping that a gas attendant does come to help because I have no idea what I am doing.

The screen goes back to the original message, which must mean it is safe for me to try again. I insert the card the flipped way this time, remove quickly, and watch the screen. Success! I look to the screen for further instruction. "Lift handle to pump gas." I remove the gas cap, as I try desperately to remember the one other time I had to pump my own gas but thankfully had someone to help me. I grab the nozzle and put it in my tank and lift the handle on the nozzle. Nothing. I fiddle with the nozzle a bit, figure out that there is a way to lock the handle on the nozzle, but still nothing. I must be missing something. I glance around the gas station again, this time looking to see who looks like the friendliest person I could ask for help. There's a guy with a vehicle behind me who is just finishing up his gas, he looks at me but doesn't seem like the helping type. Two guys with motorcycles on the other side of the pumps seem ok. They're older so maybe they'll be friendlier? I take one last look around the gas station and it seems those guys are my best bet. (Not to mention the guy parked behind me is now driving away.)

I walk over and ask for some help and they both leave their bikes and come assist me. I blame my ignorance on being from Oregon and they seem to understand. They tell me they have the opposite problem when they go to Oregon. They try to figure out how I need help and then one of the guys notice. I haven't lifted the handle. The handle refered to on the screen is the handle on the actual gas machine. The gas finally starts being pumped and my humiliation is nearly over with.

I was right about these guys being friendly. They make some conversation with me, tell me a story they heard about a guy from Oregon who pumped regular unleaded fuel into his diesel car. My tank is full, I thank them and bid them goodbye and now begin m quest for food.

Again, turning to my under-used navigation system, I find a place in town called Twede's Cafe, which has 50 different kinds of burgers! I tried the Cordon Bleau hamburger, it was great. The rest of the time I hung around town, looked at a bunch of factory stores including Nike.

Sometime after I was done eating, my mom called me to see how I was doing. She knew I was disappointed in how the day was going and suggested that we still go over to Crystal Mountain and stay the night there. After some conversation about it, I agree.

At 2 o' clock I go to pick up Devynn (which doesn't end up getting done until 3 o'clock.) I inform her of the plan and set my navigation system to direct me to Crystal Mountain. About 2 1/2 hours later, we arrive, check-in to the hotel and rest on the bed for a bit. After a few minutes of rest, we decide to go check out this place, it is after all a ski resort. I grab my map of the disc golf course and we go look for hole 1.

After a while of walking around we head back to the hotel and I get a call on my cell phone from Dee (who was playing disc golf earlier and was not at the desk when we checked in.) We decide to meet at the restaurant to discuss the artwork for the tournament.

I meet with Dee, and we talk a little about the artwork, but more about what sort of arrangement can be made for payment. I wasn't intending on getting paid for this sort of thing, it being my first real job in this line of work. We came to the agreement that we would do a little trading, I didn't have to pay for mine and Devynn's room for that night and if I decide to come up for the tournament or any other time I could get the room taken care of.

The deal was made. The next morning I went and played the course, losing 2 discs, my beloved dragon and one of my new favorites the sidewinder. Devynn did some exploring around the mountain. After that we drove home. What a weekend that ended up being! So much for planning ahead!