I'm pretty much a badass

At least, I feel like one. I think/hope that Josh will back me up on this.

You may remember that at that end of last summer I rowed my first class III rapid and was very, very proud of myself. Two weeks ago, I ran the Main Payette (all but 2 rapids) with Josh in the boat with me. So when last week hit and Josh asked if I thought if I was ready to run my own boat down the Main, I was scared shitless. Thankfully, Josh had a lot more faith in me than I did of myself. I randomly told my co-worker, Vanessa, that we would be going that weekend and invited her along. At first, I thought she'd be running her own, new, inflatable kyack alongside us. However, her IK is with her dad elsewhere. For some strange reason, she decided she'd be OK riding in MY boat (with my new b-day oars, btw), even though I'd never run the entire Main by myself.

Enter: Party on Friday night. OMG, it was insane. The party was very impromptu, and we grilled hamburgers and had a helluva time with our neighbors. Multiple bottles of liquor and several cases of beer were consumed. When I woke up to Josh, sick beside me, in the morning, I was worried that we wouldn't actually go. He assured me that we would. Vanessa arrived, and a few coffees and sandwiches later, we hit the road. Josh and our buddy Jesse ran the South Fork (despite my extreme nervousness) and we met them at the put-in for the Main. I was SO nervous about the river, and even more so because it wouldn't just me me to get wet or dumped - Vanessa would have to survive through my lack of experience. I have since adopted Vanessa's motto: "If I weren't in it for the adventure, I wouldn't have come."

And that's what it was. Josh neglected to inform me of the size of the river we would encounter; it was FREAKING HUGE!!! BUT, I did it! I managed to run the entire river without dumping myself OR Vanessa, which made me so so so so so so so proud!!! And I still am. I even threatened to call Josh's dad (rather than my own parents) to tell him about my accomplishments. (I let Josh call first the next day.)

To say the least, this was pretty much one of my greatest accomplishments over the past few years, and it makes me very, very, very excited for the rest of rafting season! Plus, I just got some amazing new semi-dry gear for the season, and it is awesome.

(I must mention that I was in charge of getting the car to the take-out. 4/5 of the way there I realized that I forgot the keys at the put-in. I am a big dork. Thankfully, our buddy Travis took the initiative to hitch a ride to the put-in to get the keys and meet us at the take-out. Part of me likes to think that Travis just really wanted to stop rowing through the slow parts. Whatever. It gave Vanessa and I the chance to run one more rapid, and Vanessa rowed, magnificently, through it. Hooray!)

Cutest thing ever

My friend Jamie sent this to me. Apparently, one of her kindergarten students has a crush on her (she's a Spanish teacher in Chicago) and wrote her this note.

Here's the translation:

"Miss Perry,

You are a great teacher, but why don't you speak another language?

Love,

Toby"

When Jamie asked him what language she should speak, he said "British."