It's a small world after all!

I was in the mall today doing some shopping trying to find something to wear for my big meeting tomorrow. I was in Forever 21 trying on some clothes when I heard someone yell out "Amanda" once I walked out of the dressing room. I slowly turned around thinking to myself, who in the world could this be? Sure enough it was Denielle Morrison, a girl I went to high school with. What are the odds? She said she was talking to her friend and said that she thought she knew me and her friend did not believe her. Once she saw the back of my shirt, which read "Morehead State University" she knew it was me. We stood there and talked for a few minutes. She seems to be doing great! She has two kids, a boy and a girl, and she is still active in the Navy. She is getting transfered in the next couple months, so her time in OKC is coming to an end.

Next purchase, Turkey Fryer

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me, and it may have changed my life forever. One of my coworkers invited me to a cookout/pool party. The main course of food was turkey, and we fried it. Only one of the guys involved in frying the turkey had ever done it before, but it had been several years since he had, and he basically just watched other people do it. We measured to make sure we had the correct amount of oil, and set up the fryer in a safe area on the concrete driveway with a fireproof tarp underneath and two fire extinguishers nearby. Not only did we deep fry a turkey, we also made corn dogs, fried pickles, cheese, potatoes, onion rings, a few jalapenos and someone threw in a Klondike bar (it didn't work). Even though the frying was a big hit, there were tons of other foods prepared including; homemade guacamole, gazpacho, grilled corn, grilled pineapple, grilled peppers, and grilled pizza with asparagus, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. All of the food was great, but more importantly Amanda and I got to meet a lot of really nice people.

It's a rough life...

I can't believe we have been in Oklahoma City for a month. At the beginning, things seemed to be constantly changing and I was concerned whether or not everything would work out. I am working at a YMCA and started out lifeguarding, but I no longer lifeguard, I am a swim instructor. It amazes me that as a swim instructor I get almost a dollar more than if I lifeguarded. My working schedule is rough. I work Mondays-Thursdays 9:30am-11:45am. I know you're probably wondering how I make it through the day...where do I find time to workout, watch five episodes of LOST a day, and work on my tan. Well, I some how manage to fit it all in. For those of you wondering about my busy days here in OKC, let me give you an example of the crazy and hectic day of Amanda Alderman.

Brian's alarm clock goes off at 6:18 am and I know I have exactly 42 minutes to sleep before I have to get up and take him to work. I get Brian to work by 7:15 and I rush home just in time to make a bowl of cereal and catch the last two episodes of The Nannie on Lifetime. Then I take a nap and my alarm goes off with just enough time to make it to work by 9:30. I teach swim lessons for two straight hours and it's harder than most of you think. But, believe it or not, I actually have enjoyed it. I have a free membership so I make an attempt to workout there as much as possible. Once I make it home around 1:30 I find time to work on my tan and lie by the pool and people watch, it's rather fun. Once I've had enough of that I come inside to watch LOST. I am addicted. I'm already half way through season 3. It is not unusual for me to watch 5 episodes a day. I know that is crazy, but this has become my daily routine. By this time, it is time to pick Brian up from work. I slave over a hot stove and cook him dinner because I know he's had a long day at work. HA! NOT! I'm not much of a cook other than sweets. Our dinners consist of frozen dinners and pizzas!

Like I said, I have it rough and I'm not sure I can keep up this pace without wearing myself out. But I will keep on because someone has to do it!

After week 1

Amanda has made the last several posts so I figured it was my time to make a contribution. Yesterday I finished the first week of my internship at Chesapeake Energy. So far it has been a really good experience and I think I'm going to enjoy my summer. The first couple of days were pretty overwhelming being in a new environment and basically not having a clue what was going on. There is so much to learn as to what a geologist does, and how the whole industry works. I am working in the North Louisiana group and I really like everyone in it. My mentor is very smart and willing to teach me, and everyone else in the group has made me feel welcome and offered to help with anything. I have a project laid out for the summer that will definitely keep me busy and sounds very interesting. Chesapeake's "campus" is really amazing. They call it a campus because it is basically set up like a college campus. There is a stream running through it, brick buildings that look like something you would see on a small college campus, two restaurants (which are amazing), and a 40,000 sq. ft. workout facility with pool and basketball court. So far it has been a good experience and I imagine the rest of the summer will be as well.

Tornadoes...

This past Thursday I went to the Northside YMCA to meet my future boss and to get the rest of my paper work filled out. We discussed my trip to Utah and the experiences I had and how I liked Oklahoma thus far. I found that we had several things in common, which was very comforting. She plays on an outdoor soccer team and said that her team is always needing girl subs and I excitedly told her that I brought all my soccer gear! Once we finished chit chatting, she showed me around the Y. It was not what I expected, but it will do. Once we got to the pool I was shocked by how small of a pool it actually was. My first thought was, "wow, this will be easy". She went on to tell me that the reason the pool is not open today was because of the last tornado that hit, blew the roof off. I thought I would die right there! It had taken them over a week to fix and repair the roof. As most of you know, I am terrified of tornadoes and Oklahoma loves them. I have yet to experience a tornado or a strong severe storm, but I'm sure my time is coming. And don't worry I will blog my whole experience.

I caught the bouquet!

Ben and Jen's wedding was a blast and all the festivities leading up to the wedding was as well. All of Brian's family, mostly the Scott side, stayed at the "compound". The house was amazing and huge! Apparently, whenever something important happens for Jennifer it rains. It rained for all her graduations and they were forced to be inside. So Ed just knew it would rain because, "it's Jennifer, it always rains". Fortunately for her it did not rain and the sun actually came out during the ceremony. Greg officiated the ceremony and did a great job, this might be his new calling. The Reception was a blast, I think everyone busted a move at some point in the night. But most importantly, I caught the bouquet!!!!!!! I waited all night and prepared myself to get in my block out position to catch the bouquet. Well, the reception went on and on and it got later and later. In my head this was a great game plan for me because people had left and the majority of people left were already married and/or drunk. So, my chances of catching were pretty high! She never threw it! I was so disappointed. We took the shuttle to the hotel where Ann picked us up. While waiting for Ann, Jen and Ben came into the hotel and were hanging out with us in the lobby. I asked her about the bouquet and she said she had forgot about it and when she remembered it was too late. I told her she could just toss it to me. And that is what we did! So, I caught the bouquet! I was so excited! What a great way to end the week!

Our trip to Utah!

We just got back to Oklahoma City from Utah for Jennifer's wedding. We had a great time, but are extremely exhausted. Our first three days in Utah Brian and I went on our first backpacking trip at the San Rafael Swell which is in central Utah! We were able to share this experience with his brother Greg, cousin Scott, and his aunt Lucy. On our trip we experienced some snow, rain, hail, and sunny skies (not much). Unfortunately, I do not have any backpacking gear of my own, so I used Jen's. I have no complaints of her backpacking gear, except when I put on her rain pants. I knew they were "small", but somehow missed the "petite" in front of it. I don't know why I thought sucking in my childbearing hips (which you cannot do) would help, but I did it anyways. Needless to say I got them on and they were extremely uncomfortable, but they kept me dry! On our last full day of hiking I was focusing very hard on the the ground in front of me so that I would not fall or trip on any of the rocks. But, I can't stress enough how important it is to also watch ahead of you because rocks fly out of no where, because I ran my head right into a huge rock and if it had not been for Brian catching me, I would have fallen to the ground and could have seriously hurt myself. Surprisingly, with as hard as I hit the rock, I did not get a bruise of bump. Overall, it was a great experience and we had wonderful dinners thanks to Lucy! Here is a link to the pictures from the backpacking trip and a link to all the pictures from the weekend.