THIS IS A LONG & OBNOXIOUS STORY. MY APOLOGIES.

Once upon a time, I got home from a long day at work and thought, "Hey. I feel like doing something." So do something I did.
An hour later Cassidy, Laura, & I grabbed a couple big blankets and drove to our local pub/outdoor restaurant/indoor restaurant/concert hall/park/haunted hotel.
I parked my car next to this really nice motorcycle. (Quick side note about me: I love motorcycles. Looove them. Every time I see a nice motorcycle I have to stop and take a good look at it and go, "Woah! Nice motorcycle!" My parents get really annoyed every time I do so. "You're not getting a motorcycle!" They say. "We'll see about that." I say.)
So as I was getting out of my car this guy walks up to the motorcycle and starts getting on it. So I figured I would tell him how much I love his bike, right? This is how our conversation went:
Me: Hey man! Nice bike! It's gorgeous.
Then the guy turns around and smiles at me and HOLY COW WAS HE GOOD LOOKING. I was so distracted by how hot the bike was that I didn't even notice how hot the guy riding the bike was.
Bike guy: Wow, thank you!
And then I got awkward. Another side note about me: every time I talk to someone I find even the slightest bit attractive I get verbal diarrhea. It's bad, you guys.
Me: Uhhhhh, yeah. It's ummmm...really nice. Nice bike...? Uhhhhhh yeah......
Bike guy: Well, thank you. Are you going in?
Me: Yeah!
Bike guy: Cool! I'll see you in there?
Me: Yeah, okay! Of course!
Then he hopped onto his bike and rode away. And my friends laughed and explained the whole thing to me. Apparently when he said "going in" he didn't mean "going into the park to watch The Goonies on the ground with every other family in this part of Oregon." like I figured. In fact he meant "going into the bar that we were parked right in front of." My bad.
Then as we were setting up our blankets Laura said that she saw the motorcycle guy parked at the bike rack, holding his helmet in his hands, staring at me like he was waiting for us to walk into the bar with him. And I just walked right past him. Man, am I oblivious!

So here's to you, attractive motorcycle man-
I'm sorry I stood you up. Next time join us on the lawn as we watch family friendly movies. Or maybe not, that might be weird.
Yours truly, girl in the beat-up gold corolla.   

Long story short(ish): a few more friends showed up and we watched The Goonies, which is one of my very favorite movies ever and fun fact! it was filmed here in Oregon. And then afterwords we took some instax pictures.
  

THE END.

ROADTRIP PART THREE: A BIRTHDAY HE WILL NEVER FORGET.

            On August 8th we decided to go canoeing for Canden's (my little brother) 12th birthday. He was now an official boy scout, and he desperately wanted to get his canoeing badge.
          When we arrived at the river all 20 of us got situated, organized, and into our separate canoes. I went with Canden and Jack, our 10 year old cousin. We didn’t get very far down the river when we decided to stop and wait for the rest of our family. Another one of the canoes (caring two of our younger cousins and a foreign exchange student from Japan) paddled up to us to also wait. They lost control, and ran into the side of our canoe.
            Out of nowhere, I hear Canden yell, “My finger! It fell off!” Yeah right. I thought to myself. Canden was notorious for being overdramatic about things and besides, the other canoe barely hit ours. I looked over at Canden just in case, and to my dismay saw blood everywhere. I stood up and leaned over him to get a better look at his finger. You know when you cut a hotdog in half long ways, and both sides just kind of flop over? Yeah, that’s what his finger looked like.
            My instincts (and multiple years of first aid training) kicked in. I quickly took off the T-shirt I was wearing over my swimsuit and wrapped his finger up with it to try to stop the bleeding. Fearing he was going into shock, I hugged him and whispered, “It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry, it’s not that bad. Everything will be fine.” An ambulance then came and rushed him to the nearest hospital, 2 ½ hours away.
           The doctor said the canoe must have hit his finger just right, because it literally exploded. He fractured the bone and had a partial amputation, but his tendons, muscles, and arteries were in perfect shape. Long story short, it was a miracle.
           While he was at the hospital with my mom and dad, my cousins and I threw him a little surprise birthday party. We decorated the whole house with balloons and streamers, the whole getup. All of our younger cousins drew him pictures and made him cards, while us older cousins wrapped presents and made food. When he came home a few hours later, we turned on the lights, jumped out at him and yelled "surprise!" Even though his finger was all wrapped up and he was clearly still pretty out of it from the drugs, he was so happy! He couldn't stop smiling and laughing and telling us all about the new chuck norris jokes he made up. Oh, that little boy.