Goodbye Fall, Hello WINTER

Wow, I've become LAME as a blogger, and really I have no excuses.... Here's a recap of the past 2.5 months....

SEPTEMBER:
Marcy and I traveled to Colorado for Labor day and had a great time visiting friends in Denver and Estes Park. We even got to sneak in a visit with my cousin and his wife, which was so great. We were there for a wedding, and enjoyed hiking and reminiscing about our time working at the YMCA of the Rockies.


I quit Starbucks mid-September since Marcy and I were moving to South Seattle. It was a really tough decision, but it's amazing how much more time I have...which definitely doesn't help my case for why I haven't blogged......Here's my last chalkboard art at Starbucks...


At the end of September, I spent a weekend with my Girl Scout troop at Camp Robbinswold (a Girl Scout camp on the Hood Canal). We arrived on a Friday night in the midst of a massive thunder storm, which resulted in many crying wet children....BUT, we awoke Saturday to beautiful sunshine, and the Girl Scout Gods were shining upon us the rest of the weekend - it only rained at night or when we were inside - LUCKY!!!



OCTOBER:
Most of you know that Marcy and I lived with one of Marcy's clients for the year. Linden has Down's Syndrome and needs some extra help around the house, so while her parents were traveling for the year, we moved in to their house. Our year came to an end when Linden's parents got back at the beginning of October. It was bittersweet - we were REALLY excited to have our own space again, but we loved the neighborhood where Linden's family lived...and the free rent was a nice bonus :) We are loving our new place, and are finding things to love about our neighborhood every day!! Billy's favorite is the nice front yard where he can lounge and watch over the house at the same time :) Here's a few shots of our house before we moved in....




I went to the Kappa Delta Chapter at Washington State for Initiation weekend. It was great to participate in KD Ritual again - I hadn't been part of initiation since I was in college, and it was wonderful to welcome new sisters. I'm really enjoying my work as a chapter advisor and could foresee myself staying in this role for a while.

Mid-October we had a Girl Scout field trip (I'm sure you're thinking that my life is consumed by Girl Scouts - ha! It is, and I really do love it!!). We went on a walking tour of Downtown Seattle, and it was really fun to play tourist for a day. Many of the girls hadn't been downtown, so we had fun exploring all the sites and had a great meal at Ivar's on the water.


We spent a weekend in Bellingham with friends, and had so much fun. We explored the local farmer's market, ate delicious food, and went on a beautiful hike near Mt. Baker. Lovely!!


At the end of October, I turned 29!!! Can't believe it! Marcy and I planned to have a housewarming party at our new house, but little did I know that she also planned to have it double as a surprise party. Our friends teased her that she took the cheap way out by having me clean and prepare for my own birthday party - haha!! It was really fun and a great night spent with friends. And, lame as it may be...we took ZERO pictures!!!

Halloween we didn't have ANY Trick Or Treaters, so we left the house and spent the night with friends at a bar where you can bring your dogs. Billy was on cloud 9. We also watched the lame Ranger game that night - what a BUMMER!!

NOVEMBER:
I spent two weekends in Pullman at the KD house. The first one was for Council Officer Interviews. The second one was for Elections. The women elected a GREAT council and I'm excited to work with all the women next year.

We had ANOTHER (ha!) Girl Scout Field Trip. We had a lock-in at a local campground, and the girls spent the night doing fun activities, crafts, geocaching, and games. We all fell asleep watching "Alice In Wonderland" using a giant projector - it was like our own private movie theater. So fun!!

And now, here I sit, with the snow falling outside and loving it. I finally have some time to just sit with nothing to do and no excuses, so I BLOG!! Hope all is well where you are, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Hopefully I'll be back sooner than later :)

August updates thanks to my phone!

I've become so bad at remembering to take my camera with me! Luckily, since I have my phone, I can use that to remember events. It's not amazing picture quality, but it does the job...
Since working at my new job, I've discovered this awesome cupcake shop - check these out:


I went to Minnesota at the beginning of August for a family reunion. It was great to be back and see the cousins and enjoy some quality time. Of couse, I didn't take many pictures, so I'm relying on my dad to send me his. This is the only photo I got the whole weekend. Our first morning walk with Sadie:


I had a couple days after the reunion to hang out in Minneapolis before catching my flight home. I braved the crowds and headed to the Mall of America. It's changed a lot since I was there as a kid, but it was still a humorous experience :)


Marcy and I went with a couple of friends to a Melissa Etheridge concert with some friends. It was at the Paramount Theater, which is a really old theater that I love:



Our year living at Linden's house ends September 30, so we've been looking at a lot of places to live. We'd like to buy within the next year or so, but for now, I'm really excited with the place we found a couple weeks ago:

It has two bedrooms, one bath, a completely redone kitchen and living area, a full basement (unfinished, but that's FINE with me - more storage!!!), and the closets have these awesome closet organizers in them that I'm in love with. We move in next week!!!

Marcy and I went to this awesome event at the Woodland Park Zoo called "Tasting Flight" where we got to taste wines from a lot of local wineries and explore the Northwest America zoo exhibit. It was perfect weather and definitely delightful!!

Last weekend was a Girl Scout event called GirlFest! It was a really fun event with over 6000 attendees and lots of cool activities, ending with a concert by Josh Golden, who is a Radio Disney star - the girls went CRAZY! I was responsible for decorating the Meet and Greet Room for Josh to sign autographs and take pictures. This photo isn't the final result, but pretty close. I had a lot of fun!

This weekend we're in Denver, and since I'm up before everyone else (my typical pattern), I thought I'd blog a little. We're staying at our friend, Jenny's apartment, and her dog Koda does this 20 hours out of the day:

He is SO cute!! :)

Minnesota Here I Come!!!

It's another gorgeous day in Seattle, and it's supposed to stay that way through the weekend...but of course, I'm leaving tomorrow to head to Minneapolis...where it's raining.... I'm very excited, though, because I'm meeting all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, and Bryan & Leann for our Family Reunion!!!! The last time we were all together was when my grandmother passed away six years ago, so it'll be great to all be in the same place together again.

I leave tomorrow afternoon, so after work today, I'll be packing, cleaning, and doing laundry. I have tomorrow off from Girl Scouts, but I open at Starbucks in the morning, which actually works out well, because then I'll be tired enough to sleep on the plane.

This morning, Billy and I went for our usual 3-mile jog around Green Lake. After we climbed the hill back home, I made a pit stop at Starbucks. Billy had to wait outside. This is how he felt about it.... (and I don't know why the photo is upside down...it definitely takes away from the cuteness factor...)


Have a great week!

Time Flies...

I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing by...

A quick recap of my life the past month:

It was a cold, dreary 4th of July here in Seattle. A couple of our friends live on a boat (cool, right?!?!) and we were going to watch fireworks from there, but bailed when the rain and wind didn't stop. July 5th = Beautiful...go figure :) We went on a really nice hike to Snoqualmie Falls, and really enjoyed it!!

I finished up my job at the YMCA on July 7th, and enjoyed a nice long weekend, starting at Girl Scouts on July 12th. I've been there a little more than a week, and I LOVE it. I feel totally different about this job than I felt about my job at the YMCA, and I'm so excited to be working for Girl Scouts in this new capacity!! Speaking of Girl Scouts...have you seen the new Girl Scout brand? It is totally rad and I love it!!

This weekend, some friends and I got together to watch "Troop Beverly Hills," make s'mores and pop popcorn in a kettle. It was really fun - most of the friends work at Girl Scouts, and hadn't seen "Troop Beverly Hills," which I was shocked by, so it was fun to watch it with them and laugh at what a ridiculous (and AWESOME!) movie it is!!

Today I got to take a new GS employee on a tour of our one of our camp properties, Camp River Ranch. We had a great time, and hiked all over camp, which I really enjoy. Tomorrow I'm going to visit one of our Community Day Camps (different from River Ranch because it's held at a community park and run exclusively by volunteers).

Here are some pictures I took with my phone during my morning workout the other day...I used the iPhone app "Hipstamatic" which takes "vintage" pictures - LOVE IT!!

Another New Job

Funny how the last time I posted, it was about a new job, and now exactly a month later, I have another new job.... Here's the story.

I started my new full-time job at the YMCA as a Program Supervisor of Before/After School Care and Day Camp Director in the summer. I was also still working part time for Girl Scouts and Starbucks, so my days were JAM PACKED - I left every morning at 6:00, and got home in the evenings at 6:30 or 7:00 - exhausting... The new job at the YMCA started out okay, but I never had that feeling of excitement I think you should have when starting a new job.... I thought I would give it some time, and see if I just needed to adjust. Well, the adjustment never happened. Instead of creating curriculum and supervising staff like I was told during my interview I'd be doing, I was providing direct care and felt more like a Day Care worker than anything else. Just not my cup of tea, so to speak.

Then, a job at Girl Scouts came open, I applied, and now it's my NEW JOB!!! The title is Area Manager - it's a job I've had my eyes on since first moving to Seattle, and a job I applied for in the past. I really like the Regional Director I'll be working for, and I am really glad to be staying with Girl Scouts. My reasons for leaving to go to the YMCA were not that I was frustrated with Girl Scouts, just more that I was ready for a new challenge. I know I may not have given the YMCA job 100% with still having two other part time jobs, but I think I would've wanted to put more into it had I been enjoying it more.

So, I'm finishing up my last two weeks as Day Camp Director, and then my YMCA Director will take over. She is being amazingly supportive through all this, and said this isn't the first time someone has left for the same reasons. I definitely feel badly, but I also think this is the right move for me.

I start as the Area Manager in July. I will be supervising 2,000 volunteer Troop Leaders, recruiting girls to Girl Scouting, and recruiting volunteers. I'm also going to serve on the Teen Programs committee and the Gold Award committee (the Gold Award is the highest Girl Scouting award - like the Eagle Scout). I can't wait for this job to start!!! WOOHOO!! :)

New Job and Parents in Town!!

I've had a busy May so far! My parents were in town for 8 days, so I got to play tour guide for the week. We had a blast, and even had a quick mini-vacation in Portland, which was a blast. After that, I started my new job at the YMCA. I am a supervisor for Before- and After-School Care at an elementary school during the school year and then during the summer I am the Day Camp Director at an elementary school. I am SO SO excited!! I am currently still also working at Girl Scouts, because I want to finish out the year with my girls, thus my day goes something like this....
6:30-9:00 - Before-School Care at Elementary School
9:40-11:30 - Teach Girl Scouts at Middle School
11:30 - 2:30 - Work on curriculum for Girl Scouts, run errands, plan Summer Camp
2:30 - 6:00 - After-School Care at Elementary School
It's chaos, but the extra cash I'll get from having both jobs, plus Starbucks, will be GREAT!! I'm only working at Starbucks on the weekends for now. My last day at Girl Scouts is June 22, so I'll be able to add more Starbucks hours then. Girl Scouts is keeping me on board during the summer at just 5-10 hrs. per week to write curriculum for the Girl Scout program, which I am happy to do, since I've already invested so much into it.

This weekend I went out to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands for a YMCA retreat with all the other Day Camp Directors. I had a great time....once I got there. I was going late to the retreat because I had to work at Starbucks yesterday morning. I drove an hour north to catch a ferry to the island...The woman at the ferry terminal directed me to the WRONG FERRY!! Me, having never been up there before, trusted her, obviously to a fault. We arrived in Friday Harbor, and I called my boss to come pick me up. Once we realized that I was on the wrong island, I had to wait for another ferry to take me to Orcas.... I ended up being a couple hours late, but still got to meet a lot of cool people and get some great information!! I'm PUMPED FOR SUMMER!!!

Needless to say, my hectic schedule leaves little time for blogging, but I'll do my best :)
Here are some pics from the last month....

Me teaching (my parents came to watch me teach!!!)


My 6th Graders


My 7th and 8th Graders


Marcy, Me, and Mom at Happy Hour


Argyle Winery - where I went wine tasting with my parents - YUMMMM


Dobbes Family Winery - our next winery stop - also YUMMMM


Us on our bikes!!


My parents and me at Two Tarts Bakery (one of our stops on a Bicycle Tour we did!!)


My mom and me trying on some headware at the Portland Farmer's Market


We went Geocaching on our way back to Seattle. This is my parents at the first Geocache ever - they were excited!!


My parents in front of a waterfall on our hike


Multnoma Falls in Oregon - 4th highest waterfall in the US


BILLY

Hail...In May??

I was in Pullman for the weekend visiting the KD Ladies as they wrap up their semester. Man I miss college life - done MAY 5 - I'm not even on the home stretch yet...we're done June 21.
Anyway, it was HAILING there and freezing. I remember being able to wear shorts and tank tops at the start of May back in Texas...I do miss that!!

View from my flight home yesterday:


GIRL SCOUTING IN THE SCHOOL DAY: The girls at my school are getting ready for the MSP (similar to TAKS) Tests. The 7th graders have 5 days of testing and the 6th and 8th graders have 3 - ICK! My class will only meet 3 times that week, and I'm not even going to try to teach - classes resume after a morning of testing, so I know they'll all be zombies by the end of the day....
I've been put in charge of planning Girl Scout Night with the Seattle Storm (Women's Basketball), so the new role is keeping me pretty busy, but it's fun!

GIRL SCOUT TROOP: We had a troop meeting on Monday and the girls worked to earn their Science Sleuth badge. I set up stations and the girls rotate through the stations. By the end of the meeting, they've completed 6 stations and finished the badge. This badge was fun to plan for - they had a "Crystal-Making Station," "Water Glass Musical Instruments Station," "Paper Test Lab," "Fingerprinting Lab," "Ice Cream Making Lab," and "Simple Machines Station."

STARBUCKS: I've been working more regularly with two opening shifts and a weekend shift every week. The opening shift is fun, but ask me that when my alarm goes off at 3:15a.m. and I feel differently. By the time I get there and things get busy, it gets more fun, though. Have you tried the new frappuccinos? They're going to be a huge success, because they're completely customizable. You can get a frapp with soy, non-fat, etc....coffee/no coffee... you name it, we can make it! And, along with the launch there'll be a FRAPP HAPPY HOUR every day when you can save on any style/any size frappuccino!!! YUM

YMCA: What, I've never mentioned the YMCA before....well, I interviewed for a new position at the YMCA last week, and was offered a job. I wasn't offered the original position I interviewed for, but one BETTER!! :) I'm really excited. The position is a supervisor of Before/After-School Care at an Elementary School during the school year and Day Camp Director during the summer - WOOOO!!!! I want to finish out my semester with my girls at Aki, so hopefully I can work something out with Girl Scouts. The YMCA was totally willing to work with me when I asked to be able to finish my time with my girls. I'd really hate to ditch out on them with only 8 weeks left of school....We'll see!!

Punished By Reward

I read this totally rad book, "Punished By Reward: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes" by Alfie Kohn. If you're a teacher (or a parent, for that matter), this book makes some valid points. HOWEVER, I have to say that the strict guidelines this book encourages are tough. The girls I teach come from families that have little to nothing (one of my girls turned in a financial form that said her family makes $7000 a year for a family of 5), so little tokens of appreciation seem to go further with them. I gave the "no bribery" thing a good run. I tried...I really did. And it. did. not. work. I know that in the long run I may not be helping them by offering bribes (ahem...rewards), but it's not like I'm rewarding them for every single thing they do. They have to earn it, they have to show me that they deserve to be rewarded, and they have to understand/reflect on why they are being rewarded. I'm a big believer in reflection (that's why I have my girls journal every day). That being said, my 7th and 8th graders had a rough couple of weeks, but they are turning it around. So....

Picture 110: April 20, 2010: I rewarded good behavior today.

My (Aching) Tailbone

Apparently there isn't much you can do to heal a tailbone once it's injured, and lucky me, I'm sitting (or not so much...) with a tailbone injury to boot. IT HURTS!! I was walking down the stairs (in my socks...duh...) to the basement to start a load of laundry, and with my laundry basket in tow, I slipped on the top step and slid (or bumped) all the way down the (cement) stairs. ICK!! The bruises are lovely - black and blue and disgusting, and even a slight bump in the road while I drive the car hurts my rear. Oh JOY!! I've come to terms with the fact that I'm a huge KLUTZ, but this is ridiculous....

I had all the ambition to post my pictures more diligently (especially since Wendy said she likes my "Pictures A Day" - thanks Wendy :)), but then the pain in my rear (literally - ha!) has been distracting......

Today's picture (Picture 109: April 19, 2010)....More tulips....Aren't these cool - they grow with the jagged edges like that. Tulips are quickly becoming my favorite flower!! (These particular flowers came from one of Marcy's good friends from college, Megan. She and another of Marcy's friends from college, Melissa, came to town this weekend to celebrate Marcy's birthday)

Picture 104: April 14, 2010

I LOVE this movie (almost as much as I love "The Cutting Edge...but not quite). I remember watching it for the first time with my parents and thinking it was so good. Now, when I watch it, I always get a good laugh...If you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it! We watched it last night while Marcy wrote an article for GIrl Scout magazine and I worked on lesson plans.

Today is Marcy's birthday. She has to drive Linden to soccer practice and drama class tonight, so we're saving our celebration for this weekend....We did go out to lunch at Belltown Burgers (YUM!) and I got Marcy a Mint Chocolate Cake (DOUBLE YUM!)

April 13, 2010

Tulips are in BLOOM!! The tulips bloom all over Seattle during the spring. There's a HUGE tulip farm about an hour north of here, so it seems that everyone has tulips in their yards. LOVE IT :)

I've been taking pictures every day, but I'm bored with putting it on my blog...Thus, if I can upload it ON THE DAY, then I will...otherwise I'll just skip uploading... :) My new goal is to actually do it on the day, because then maybe I won't be so bored with it. We'll see!!

Owls

I love this new background because I have a slight obsession with owls. I think they are so cute as cartoons and I think the actual bird is totally rad... I was definitely jealous of my Chi Omega friends in college (for my non-Greek friends, the owl is their mascot)...The Kappa Delta mascot is a Teddy Bear, which is fine, but let's face it, those just aren't as funky and cool as owls....

The City By The Bay

I got Marcy a trip to San Francisco for her Christmas present, and our trip was scheduled for my Spring Break. We went for three nights with two full days and had a blast!

Our first day was spent exploring the eclectic neighborhoods on foot, and day two was spent on bikes exploring the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, and taking in the beautiful views! The weather was perfect (Well, perfect weather minus the last hour of our bike ride....it started POURING and we were soaked. Needless to say, I became MORE than grumpy since I was soaked down to my sports bra.... but other than that....ha!)

I love the architecture of the homes in San Francisco - I was definitely humming the "Full House" theme (okay let's be real, I was singing it...Yes, I know the words) while we walked through the neighborhoods. Marcy was thrilled....

San Francisco Icon - The Transamerica Building

Marcy and me on top of the Coit Tower - a great way to see the city for only $5. We rode in the elevator that is original to the tower (1912) - definitely a little shaky and creaky, but totally cool!

The Embarcadero is a Ferry Terminal with shops and restaurants and a market on Tuesdays. Lucky for us, we were there on a Tuesday, so we had fun exploring the market and had an awesome lunch at this modern soda fountain place - YUM!

Pride flags everywhere...we were in San Francisco after all :)

We rented bikes from Blazing Saddles. This bike fanny pack, coupled with my AMAZING (yeah, right...) cycling skills definitely helped me blend in with all the other cyclists. It really was tons of fun, and I was only *slightly* sore the next day....

Marcy checking the map to make sure we were headed in the correct direction. We passed a cyclist earlier and he said that the minute we started heading down hill we should know we were going the wrong way. Um, okay....

THE Bridge - So spectacular!! We rode across it, which was incredibly windy but totally worth it!! Our total mileage for the day was 23 miles. Most of my hardcore cyclist friends think that's nothing, but I definitely felt a huge sense of accomplishment at the end of the day!!

I wonder how many people have this exact same picture

Such a sweet bridge!!

Spring Break and Easter

And once again, I slacked off on blogging....
Picture 95: April 5, 2010
The view of Mt. Rainier was beautiful on my drive to the school this morning. Love getting to see it on clear days!!

Picture 94: April 4, 2010
Our Easter Table - we had friends over for Easter Brunch at Dinner, since I had to work at Starbucks all day...

Picture 93: April 3, 2010
Getting ready for our Easter Party - I LOVE these little chicks - aren't they cute!! One of them died last year...Billy was hungry. I bet they styrofoam tasted yummy.... :)

Picture 92: April 2, 2010
My Nutella cupcake treat. I brought it home from San Fran and enjoyed every bite!!

Picture 91: April 1, 2010
We got home from San Francisco, and Billy was just a little (ha!) excited to see us!!

Picture 90: March 31, 2010
Our bicycle ride through San Francisco was wonderful!! We rode 23 MILES!! It rained for the last hour or so, but other than that I really enjoyed seeing the city via bike.

Picture 89: March 30, 2010
The dessert display case at this awesome bakery in San Francisco. YUM!!

Picture 88: March 29, 2010
These two pictures are taken from the same spot within seconds of each other. One is looking east, the other looking west. Living so close to the ocean means rapid weather changes with strong heavy winds!!


Picture 87: March 28, 2010
I finally finished this bow holder for my friend Amber's new baby girl, Brenna!!