No I didn't spell Fall wrong accidentally, I was just giving you a hint of an accent that some people use out here. I realize I get lazy with my tongue and I start using those words, my friends are sure to make fun of me for it. haha.
So, unintentionally I have left my blog on a dusty bookshelf this summer. I feel its sense of abandonment. I enjoyed this summer, marking it as one of my better summer's of my life. I had a job this summer, which I typically don't have during the summer and thus go through stress and frustration of not having one. So that was a huge help.
So many changes hit this summer. Quick recap: I quit my job at the daycare, graduated from college, went to Maine with the parents, moved in with Rachel, went to the Colorado to see my brother, started working at Wheeler Summer Camp, went through multiple job interviews for Americorps, got Americorps job, Wheeler Summer Camp job ended, and throw in a bunch of random, fun shenanigans and there was my summer! So essentially, you can stop reading now, unless you are intrigued and want more details, haha.
So I'm going to start with my Colorado trip! I went for about 10 days. We ran around doing all sorts of fun things from the Denver Zoo, a Lariat Loop which is a scenic driving route, to Golden, CO to the Red Rocks to the Butterfly Pavilion to a Rockies Game and so many other fun things. My parents also came out to see us and we had some good family time together. My brother had the fine opportunity to have his work wine and dine us and he treated us to making our desserts for dinner that night. It was a great opportunity to see his work.
After that, I went back to Providence and started my new job! Here's how a typical day would go for me. Arrive at Wheeler School and pick up Mini Bus (aka the short bus!) and drive it to a shopping center about 25 minutes away, pick up a bunch of kids, take them to the Wheeler Summer Camp "Farm" which is about 30-35 minutes away from the shopping center where I pick the kids up at. Then I drop them and the bus off and I join my group of 2nd graders. I had 2 co-counselors and a group of kids aged 6-8. My group average size was 17-25 kids which isn't too bad with 3 people. We as counselors would take our kids from activity to activity. Activities ranged from Sports to Performing Arts to Art to Nature to Swimming Lessons. In the afternoons, we usually had free swim and free electives (where the counselors put on a bunch of activity options and it gave the kids a chance to pick their favorite choice). On Wednesdays, we typically had a special guest come out and put on a show for the kids whether it be reptiles, a band, dancers, storytellers, a talent show, etc. On Fridays, we usually had closing camp activities for the week. Each week had a theme and activities in general throughout the week would revolve around that theme then on Friday we would have a big activity for it to wrap it up. Our themes included Safari, Alice in Wonderland, International, Summer Survivor, Top Chef, Talent, Carnival and Heroes vs. Monsters. After a day of camp, I would then load up my bus kids and take them back to the shopping center, drop them off, then drop the bus off at Wheeler School. Overall, it was a fun experience.
So after almost 7 long months of searching and learning to patiently wait and trust in the Lord, I finally got an Americorps job. Amazing how after I tried out for so many opportunities that the one job I ended up with was a job that I can not only see myself doing but also enjoying. So I'm excited to start that opportunity. My job will be working for Head Start (a daycare center) as a Special Resources Assistant. I will be an Assistant to a Special Resource Coordinator and together we will screen all new incoming kids (aged birth to 5 years old). If they have special needs we will set them up with therapy and lessons to help them out. I'm excited this job starts in September and will be a year long commitment.
So some random shenanigans of mine include......
Rachel and I went camping in New Hampshire, conveniently though it was thundering and lightening and pouring rain when we went to go set things up. Luckily it slowed down enough for us to set up our tent then we cheated and went into town to find supper. In the morning, we went kayaking on this river which was so fun.
A bunch of us ranging from 2-5 people at a time exploring new beaches in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Although, things slowed down when beaches in Massachusetts started closing due to shark sitings haha.
A group of 6 of us headed to Maine to stay at a friend's mom's lake house. We went on a 4 mile hike straight up and straight down a mountain, then we went swimming and kayaking although we only had 2 kayaks and 6 of us, so some of us were hauling dead weight around haha, then we played tennis, went for a walk and then we decided to wrap that day up, whew. On the way home, it was so random, we had packed a picnic, uncertain where to stop, so the lead driver pulls into a Lowe's parking lot because they saw a hunk of weeds for us to eat lunch at, however, I sighted a picnic bench, so thank you Lowe's employees for letting us use your break bench for lunch haha.
Going to the Wickford Arts festival which was fun to see so many oil paintings. Then after eating supper, we went to Smith Castle, a wicked old house involved in the colonial wars located on a swamp. The facility was closed but the grounds were open and we were on a photography mission in southern RI. After we hit up Smith Castle, we went to some historic watermill then we took random photos of the bridges of RI such as the Jamestown bridge and the Newport bridge then we saw the Jamestown Windmill then we went to Beavertail State Park where they have a lighthouse and rocks that you can climb on. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous, one of the best I've seen in a long time. It was amusing, Rachel was out on the rocks taking photos, not paying full attention to the incoming waves and the tide changed on her and a big wave barreled over the top of her. Luckily, her and the camera were both safe and did not fall in.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Another Chapter Begins
Yay! I finally graduated!!!! And it was 1 year early! Because we all know how much I dislike school ;) haha.
So the ultimate tricky question now is........What are you going to do NOW?!
Well! I moved out of my apartment and moved into a friend's apartment for the summer. This is the ultimate learning experience for me in some aspects......I do not have a door, haha, and I do not have a closet and did I mention that my room is essentially 8 x 10 and is the on the third floor with a bunch of eaves covering half my room. I do love how I have a skylight! I have it open and I can hear the birds in the morning and the sun comes shining in and wakes me up so I can have a nice early start to a hopefully productive day! I've been here not quite a week, I'm almost all the way moved in and I'm loving it. I have a new roomie who loves to bake and cook and experiment with different recipes with healthy foods. I think this summer will help me to become more organized and eat better!
I also live next to a wonderful, sprawling park with a small series of lakes that make it nice to walk around in the morning on a good street where everyone seems to know each other and hang out.
I have a summer job as a Head Counselor for 2nd graders. It is for a non profit private almost kind of prep school in the area that has a summer day camp program. It should provide me with new windows of opportunity and help my resume look better. I'm excited for it and it starts in the middle of June.
Knowing me and always keeping busy, I'm taking advantage of my free time (what free time? yes I quit my old job at the end of May to give myself some!) and flying to Denver to see my bro! I am so excited to see him! It's been over 6 months.
I have been applying to different jobs and Americorps programs that will start in the fall and I'm just waiting on God to show me where He wants me to go and what job I should do.
I had a wonderful graduation, my parents flew up for a week and we went up to Maine near Acadia National Park. I definitely recommend going there if you haven't already! It is so beautiful there and I feel like there is so much to see and do! My dad stepped out of his comfort zone and bought some live lobster right off the boat and then cooked/prepared them himself (we don't like to see them lobsters jumping around banging at the pot lid to get out in that deathly hot tub). We also ran around trying to get a glimpse of lighthouses out there and we also took a small boat tour which took us around various islands and a lighthouse. It was so much fun. It was a wonderful vacation and I had a fun time with my parents! Now I just have to figure out how to get them to move out here to join me on the East Coast! :D
So the ultimate tricky question now is........What are you going to do NOW?!
Well! I moved out of my apartment and moved into a friend's apartment for the summer. This is the ultimate learning experience for me in some aspects......I do not have a door, haha, and I do not have a closet and did I mention that my room is essentially 8 x 10 and is the on the third floor with a bunch of eaves covering half my room. I do love how I have a skylight! I have it open and I can hear the birds in the morning and the sun comes shining in and wakes me up so I can have a nice early start to a hopefully productive day! I've been here not quite a week, I'm almost all the way moved in and I'm loving it. I have a new roomie who loves to bake and cook and experiment with different recipes with healthy foods. I think this summer will help me to become more organized and eat better!
I also live next to a wonderful, sprawling park with a small series of lakes that make it nice to walk around in the morning on a good street where everyone seems to know each other and hang out.
I have a summer job as a Head Counselor for 2nd graders. It is for a non profit private almost kind of prep school in the area that has a summer day camp program. It should provide me with new windows of opportunity and help my resume look better. I'm excited for it and it starts in the middle of June.
Knowing me and always keeping busy, I'm taking advantage of my free time (what free time? yes I quit my old job at the end of May to give myself some!) and flying to Denver to see my bro! I am so excited to see him! It's been over 6 months.
I have been applying to different jobs and Americorps programs that will start in the fall and I'm just waiting on God to show me where He wants me to go and what job I should do.
I had a wonderful graduation, my parents flew up for a week and we went up to Maine near Acadia National Park. I definitely recommend going there if you haven't already! It is so beautiful there and I feel like there is so much to see and do! My dad stepped out of his comfort zone and bought some live lobster right off the boat and then cooked/prepared them himself (we don't like to see them lobsters jumping around banging at the pot lid to get out in that deathly hot tub). We also ran around trying to get a glimpse of lighthouses out there and we also took a small boat tour which took us around various islands and a lighthouse. It was so much fun. It was a wonderful vacation and I had a fun time with my parents! Now I just have to figure out how to get them to move out here to join me on the East Coast! :D
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Shoot! There Goes April!
Wow! I feel that time just shoots by as the years blow by! It seems like sometimes, so many things are happening at once that you almost lose track of your priorities and then you have a heaping plate full of stuff to do and there never seems to be enough hours in a day!
I'm still working at the same place doing the same thing as a float and a school age person. I love floating around the rooms, getting to know all sorts of crazy, funny kids and all the random shenanigans that happen! I just have to discover some sort of way to not let it get boring (haha yes, boring) for me.
School is okay. It has been a rough trimester because my classes are difficult and require lots of thinking as any senior level class would expect, haha. I have a mixology class where we learn about all different sorts of alcohol, get to taste it, and then learn to make 40 common drinks. My midterm consisted of a multiple choice test, a blind tasting of 2 different drinks, doing an 1 1/2 oz free pour and a 3/4 free pour (instead of measuring it out, we had to get it to be exact) and also making 12 drinks in 12 minutes with the right garnish in the right glass all from memory. My other class is a whole different animal from that one. There is 17 students in my class and we have to run a restaurant with a lunchtime seating of 16-20 people. I'm assigned a partner, a menu theme, a menu date, and a service style. From there, we must find recipes from books, convert the recipes to the size we need them, cost them out, order the food, prep the food, set up the dining room to be a formal setting, get guests in to eat the food, and basically do everything A to Z of running a sit down place. It's hectic and time consuming! I'm also taking psychology and a career capstone class.
I'm now officially 1 class short of graduating this May however I'm praying that my 1 class worth of English Technical Writing from BSU in my high school days will be able to transfer over and take that missing spot!
I'm working on moving by the end of May into an apartment loaded with girls haha. I will live there for the summer until end of August. It should be a pretty amusing summer. I'm also trying to figure out where I am supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do with my life. For the time being, God hasn't told me exactly what and clearly He needs me to grow more with something and prepare me for whatever He needs me to do since He just hasn't shown me yet despite my stubborn ways of trying to know.
I feel a service calling to do something hands on with a community and possibly social service based dealing with kids. I just don't know what capacity God wants me in yet.
I had a wonderful birthday! Thanks to my friends for making it an unique one. My roommate made me breakfast and my friend Maria made me dinner that I had with her, her daughter and a friend.
Yes, Rhode Island was hit with some flooding. The biggest blow was to the Warwick Mall (a mere 2.5 miles from my apartment, I'm so blessed!). The Warwick Mall is near the sewer treatment center and they got overflowed and it shot over to the mall and caused a horrible mess and so all the inventory in the stores has to be trashed primarily and the all the stores have to be redone but there are rumors leaking around as if its really worth it to have the Warwick Mall redone when there's a vacant dead mall that didn't get hit by the flood that is a stone's throw from the Warwick Mall. Several areas got severely flooded and some people were deeply affected, some of our main roads and highways were closed for a few days due to flooding and it was an interesting experience for me.
I'm still working at the same place doing the same thing as a float and a school age person. I love floating around the rooms, getting to know all sorts of crazy, funny kids and all the random shenanigans that happen! I just have to discover some sort of way to not let it get boring (haha yes, boring) for me.
School is okay. It has been a rough trimester because my classes are difficult and require lots of thinking as any senior level class would expect, haha. I have a mixology class where we learn about all different sorts of alcohol, get to taste it, and then learn to make 40 common drinks. My midterm consisted of a multiple choice test, a blind tasting of 2 different drinks, doing an 1 1/2 oz free pour and a 3/4 free pour (instead of measuring it out, we had to get it to be exact) and also making 12 drinks in 12 minutes with the right garnish in the right glass all from memory. My other class is a whole different animal from that one. There is 17 students in my class and we have to run a restaurant with a lunchtime seating of 16-20 people. I'm assigned a partner, a menu theme, a menu date, and a service style. From there, we must find recipes from books, convert the recipes to the size we need them, cost them out, order the food, prep the food, set up the dining room to be a formal setting, get guests in to eat the food, and basically do everything A to Z of running a sit down place. It's hectic and time consuming! I'm also taking psychology and a career capstone class.
I'm now officially 1 class short of graduating this May however I'm praying that my 1 class worth of English Technical Writing from BSU in my high school days will be able to transfer over and take that missing spot!
I'm working on moving by the end of May into an apartment loaded with girls haha. I will live there for the summer until end of August. It should be a pretty amusing summer. I'm also trying to figure out where I am supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do with my life. For the time being, God hasn't told me exactly what and clearly He needs me to grow more with something and prepare me for whatever He needs me to do since He just hasn't shown me yet despite my stubborn ways of trying to know.
I feel a service calling to do something hands on with a community and possibly social service based dealing with kids. I just don't know what capacity God wants me in yet.
I had a wonderful birthday! Thanks to my friends for making it an unique one. My roommate made me breakfast and my friend Maria made me dinner that I had with her, her daughter and a friend.
Yes, Rhode Island was hit with some flooding. The biggest blow was to the Warwick Mall (a mere 2.5 miles from my apartment, I'm so blessed!). The Warwick Mall is near the sewer treatment center and they got overflowed and it shot over to the mall and caused a horrible mess and so all the inventory in the stores has to be trashed primarily and the all the stores have to be redone but there are rumors leaking around as if its really worth it to have the Warwick Mall redone when there's a vacant dead mall that didn't get hit by the flood that is a stone's throw from the Warwick Mall. Several areas got severely flooded and some people were deeply affected, some of our main roads and highways were closed for a few days due to flooding and it was an interesting experience for me.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Here Comes March
Is it just me or is this year just flying by?!
I've been slacking at this, I guess once you get so enamored with the routine of life, you get stubborn and forget to do other things like updating blogs haha. I'm in the midst of my spring break after completing a difficult trimester of schooling. I'm headed into the last trimester of school for the year and God praying, will be the last trimester of school that I ever face! I'm trying to graduate early so I have a few tests that I have to do etc. to make up the two classes I'm missing, so I hope that goes well.
Nothing too terribly exotic has been happening in my amusing life, just working like a busy bee while doing school and going to church. Church has been amazing, I have been learning so much and I feel like my relationship with Christ is growing deeper.
I'm not entirely sure of my plans for after graduation if I make that milestone this year, I'm planning to keep God at the forefront and ask Him for His guidance with what happens next.
Work is going well, we are working on the summer camp program which should be highly entertaining hopefully. I have been assigned a group of 7-8 year olds of about 13 kids as mine for the summer. I had the fun experience of taking on a class of 6 kids aged 18 month to 30 month by myself as well for the day. I'm learning that it really doesn't matter how many kids you got, there is always going to be mayhem bumbling around, how you take it is how it is going to affect you!
Anyone else getting excited for spring? I hope the weather is nice, it hasn't been the best and I think last summer we only had like 2 weeks of shine the rest of rain.
I've been slacking at this, I guess once you get so enamored with the routine of life, you get stubborn and forget to do other things like updating blogs haha. I'm in the midst of my spring break after completing a difficult trimester of schooling. I'm headed into the last trimester of school for the year and God praying, will be the last trimester of school that I ever face! I'm trying to graduate early so I have a few tests that I have to do etc. to make up the two classes I'm missing, so I hope that goes well.
Nothing too terribly exotic has been happening in my amusing life, just working like a busy bee while doing school and going to church. Church has been amazing, I have been learning so much and I feel like my relationship with Christ is growing deeper.
I'm not entirely sure of my plans for after graduation if I make that milestone this year, I'm planning to keep God at the forefront and ask Him for His guidance with what happens next.
Work is going well, we are working on the summer camp program which should be highly entertaining hopefully. I have been assigned a group of 7-8 year olds of about 13 kids as mine for the summer. I had the fun experience of taking on a class of 6 kids aged 18 month to 30 month by myself as well for the day. I'm learning that it really doesn't matter how many kids you got, there is always going to be mayhem bumbling around, how you take it is how it is going to affect you!
Anyone else getting excited for spring? I hope the weather is nice, it hasn't been the best and I think last summer we only had like 2 weeks of shine the rest of rain.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Vroooom! It's February!
Wow, I'm a slacker, I haven't updated my blog since November! My bad!
Where shall I start?
In came December and the start of cold weather. On the 16th, on my way to a delightful cookie exchange, I got the phone call. My grandmother died (dad's mother). She meant so much to me and was like one of the people I took for granted to be there in my life. I thought she'd have at least another 15-20 years left on her. Just shows you that you can't take things for granted and to be sure and cherish the things you have! So, I bumped up my flight and flew home on the 20th instead of the 22nd. Of course, RI got a huge storm on the 20th, so I was a little delayed coming out to ID but I made it! My parents, brother, Camden, and Scott were all waiting for me :D
The following morning on Monday, December 21st, we had the memorial service for my grandmother. One of our dear neighbors from the deli is a funeral home and they hosted us. Of course, they are like family to us so it was nice to know that Grandma was in safe hands! A family friend spoke the gospel, then my father spoke a few words about taking the time to love the people around you a little more. Then a few others spoke and shared their memories.
On Christmas Eve, Scott took me flying and we went flying over Kuna, Homedale and various other scenic Idaho. It was a humorous adventure since first, we had to de-ice the plane ourselves (it was a small plane that could seat like 2-4 people) then while we were flying, our radio went out, thus we lost control with the tower and they in turn, didn't know where we were since we didn't show up on the radar and that meant that other planes could hit us. So we kept our eyes peeled! Afterwards, we had a Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Rose's house! It was wonderful!
Christmas morning, my parents and I pulled out my dad's laptop and got my brother on the webcam and celebrated Christmas through that method, haha, it was weird though to not have my brother there. It was definitely a very unusual Christmas from not having Grandma and not having my brother. I enjoyed my time at home with my parents and the rest of my family.
With my luck, when I flew out on Dec 30th, it snowed a few inches in Boise and thus delayed travel plans while I was en route. So here's how my travel went for this day, I got to Boise airport at 5:45am, to my amusement, Southwest did not have anyone running their ticket counter until a smidgen after 6am. Then I flew out at 7:10am. I had a touch and go in Salt Lake City, then I landed in Phoenix. I was 1.5 hours late and had missed my flight. They re-booked me to go through Nashville then onwards to Providence and I would get in at 10:20pm instead of 6:00pm. Excited to go to Nashville (I like checking out random airports haha) I tooled around Phoenix killing time. Then I discovered the Nashville flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers. So I volunteered myself, got myself a hefty flight voucher (over $500 bucks yeah baby!) and flew to Las Vegas and onwards to Providence where lovely Maria was awaiting to get me at 12:30am!
On Dec 31st, for New Year's Eve, I got together with my friends and we went to Maria's house, where I made crepes (my specialty apparently these days haha) and watched a movie, then watched the ball drop. It was a nice and relaxing New Year's eve.
On January 1st, I had my bags packed again (like I ever unpacked from the first trip haha) and flew out to Atlanta, GA! I was going to the Passion 2010 conference which was a few day conference all about God with special speakers ranging from Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Andy Stanley and some other wonderful people! Hillsong United also played as well as Chris Tomlin, David Crowder and a few others. WOW, what an eye opening life changing experience. The theme was Awaken and over 20,000 people attended. One of the most memorable parts was after John Piper spoke, Louie Giglio challenged us to go to our next spot without talking, so 20,000+ maneuvered about without speaking! This trip was also priceless in the fact that in my group that I went with of 25, with all the activities and events, we went nonstop from like 5 or 6am in the morning to 1 or 2 or 3am at night and we were slap happy silly or wicked cranky all the time and this made this trip truly memorable.
For the moment, I'll leave off here, and I will continue next week with more up to date stuff! :D Gotta love suspense hehe.
Where shall I start?
In came December and the start of cold weather. On the 16th, on my way to a delightful cookie exchange, I got the phone call. My grandmother died (dad's mother). She meant so much to me and was like one of the people I took for granted to be there in my life. I thought she'd have at least another 15-20 years left on her. Just shows you that you can't take things for granted and to be sure and cherish the things you have! So, I bumped up my flight and flew home on the 20th instead of the 22nd. Of course, RI got a huge storm on the 20th, so I was a little delayed coming out to ID but I made it! My parents, brother, Camden, and Scott were all waiting for me :D
The following morning on Monday, December 21st, we had the memorial service for my grandmother. One of our dear neighbors from the deli is a funeral home and they hosted us. Of course, they are like family to us so it was nice to know that Grandma was in safe hands! A family friend spoke the gospel, then my father spoke a few words about taking the time to love the people around you a little more. Then a few others spoke and shared their memories.
On Christmas Eve, Scott took me flying and we went flying over Kuna, Homedale and various other scenic Idaho. It was a humorous adventure since first, we had to de-ice the plane ourselves (it was a small plane that could seat like 2-4 people) then while we were flying, our radio went out, thus we lost control with the tower and they in turn, didn't know where we were since we didn't show up on the radar and that meant that other planes could hit us. So we kept our eyes peeled! Afterwards, we had a Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Rose's house! It was wonderful!
Christmas morning, my parents and I pulled out my dad's laptop and got my brother on the webcam and celebrated Christmas through that method, haha, it was weird though to not have my brother there. It was definitely a very unusual Christmas from not having Grandma and not having my brother. I enjoyed my time at home with my parents and the rest of my family.
With my luck, when I flew out on Dec 30th, it snowed a few inches in Boise and thus delayed travel plans while I was en route. So here's how my travel went for this day, I got to Boise airport at 5:45am, to my amusement, Southwest did not have anyone running their ticket counter until a smidgen after 6am. Then I flew out at 7:10am. I had a touch and go in Salt Lake City, then I landed in Phoenix. I was 1.5 hours late and had missed my flight. They re-booked me to go through Nashville then onwards to Providence and I would get in at 10:20pm instead of 6:00pm. Excited to go to Nashville (I like checking out random airports haha) I tooled around Phoenix killing time. Then I discovered the Nashville flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers. So I volunteered myself, got myself a hefty flight voucher (over $500 bucks yeah baby!) and flew to Las Vegas and onwards to Providence where lovely Maria was awaiting to get me at 12:30am!
On Dec 31st, for New Year's Eve, I got together with my friends and we went to Maria's house, where I made crepes (my specialty apparently these days haha) and watched a movie, then watched the ball drop. It was a nice and relaxing New Year's eve.
On January 1st, I had my bags packed again (like I ever unpacked from the first trip haha) and flew out to Atlanta, GA! I was going to the Passion 2010 conference which was a few day conference all about God with special speakers ranging from Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Andy Stanley and some other wonderful people! Hillsong United also played as well as Chris Tomlin, David Crowder and a few others. WOW, what an eye opening life changing experience. The theme was Awaken and over 20,000 people attended. One of the most memorable parts was after John Piper spoke, Louie Giglio challenged us to go to our next spot without talking, so 20,000+ maneuvered about without speaking! This trip was also priceless in the fact that in my group that I went with of 25, with all the activities and events, we went nonstop from like 5 or 6am in the morning to 1 or 2 or 3am at night and we were slap happy silly or wicked cranky all the time and this made this trip truly memorable.
For the moment, I'll leave off here, and I will continue next week with more up to date stuff! :D Gotta love suspense hehe.
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