and then she went home...

Hi everyone,

The blog is back! Well, sort of. I would overview the last 3 months of my life if I didn't already know that the only people that look at this things are my family and friends who already know it. There is something theraputic about blogging, even if its silly things, that I've missed. I can't promise that I will be a punctual blogger but I plan to share my thoughts, feeling, interesting findings every once in awhile.

As we all know, a wonderful job opportunity as the Assistant Program Director for Green Iowa AmeriCorps is what has brought me back home. I'll be working as the assistant program director to transition into the Program Director position come January. I am so excited! It is a really incredible organization and I love all of the new members we are getting at our 3 sites: Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and our new site, Decorah. I really think that this position is going to open up a world of possibilities for me and really open up my eyes to importance of sustainabliity and providing an opportunity for AmeriCorps members to make a difference.

Here's da site: www.greeniowaamericorps.org

I have really been loving being home. I love it for the incredibly small things I've been missing for the past 5 and half years. For things good or bad, I'm here. I get to go see my cousin's volleyball games, see my nieces go trick or treating, or visit my grandpa in the hospital when he forgets hes 80 and not 20. Don't get me wrong, it has been a bigger transition than I could have imagined. Since I left for college, I have always been moving somewhere new. With all of that came great excitement, new friends, and roadtrips; it also came with being broke, lonely and stressed. This is the first time I'm coming back to somewhere I've already been...but its different. I'm different. My dad has said to me, "Thats the wonderful thing about home, it doesn't change. You can always come back to it" So much of that is true, there is absolutely nothing like home. But what I've learned about home is not so much its location but the people that inhabit it. I still remember being brought to tears opening a card I received from my sister one day when I was down in Texas. It said this:

"No matter what you do or where you wander, may life always lead you home again to those who loved you first, who love you most...your family.

It makes me teary-eyed as I read it to myself now. I think you really have to go out on your own and be alone before you can feel the full weight of what it feels like to go home again. I'm so blessed.

Ok, enough of that sappy stuff, right? Right. I love harvest season in Iowa. I went out and took some great shots with my 22mm camera one day when I got off work early. I'm definitely buying a new digital camera with my first adult paycheck. Woo-hoo! I'll try and scan some on here once I get them developed. Until then, here are some to capture the mood.






I thought this website was really really cool. Its all about the movement of bookworms, quote unquote white collar america, and the movement toward them getting literacy tattooes. This website is in partnership with the book they created that came out in early October. I would like to think that my tattoo was ahead of the curve ;) I think if I ever got another one it might be something along this vein. However, I never see myself loving anything more than the one I have now.

http://tattoolit.com/

Tid Bits:

~I'm so excited to go to Milwaukee for a Halloween barcrawl with my best friends in the whole world!

~I'm in the process of becoming a Big Sister with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. I think it could be an incredible thing.

http://www.bbbs.org

~I want to plan a trip this summer to go to Alaska with my Dad. Any suggestions on how we should navigate our trip? Train? Cruise? Bicycle built for two?




~I absolutely love the new season of Kenny Powers and thse K-Swiss Tubes Commercials make me laugh hard every time I watch them.



Hope it was worth the wait, folks. <3

Bits N Pieces

Hello everyone,

Since I'm busy, busy, busy tody but feel like I haven't blogged in awhile I'll keep it short and sweet. I'm in the process of creating an entire packet/program outline for this Job Skills thing. I would say you cant imagine how tidious it is to create an entire program from scratch but I'm sure plent of you have done much more. There are always so many things each day I think I need to add.

Another really exciting development that I had mentioned earlier(I think) was about the health and nutrition initiative I am looking to collaborate with from a woman in the community. I am meeting her for coffee on Friday to discuss things further but she had mentioned wanting a place for women who cant afford a place to be healthy and safe somewhere to go. It gave this idea for something like a women's santuary. Whether we team up with the local Crisis Center and offer classes to women there who were victims of domestic violence, etc. It would be so special to have a place where women can go to get physically healthy and find support and love. These are the type of people I'd love to eventually help with my counseling degree as well.

There is something about being the person that is there at people's lowest moments that feels right to me. To be the person that they turn to when nothing else makes sense. I hope that I can stay on the right path to be able to be that support for someone. What a blessed life and profession tha would be.

Remember when I said this was going to be short? I'm such a rambler.

Now for those bits and pieces!



I am usually not a big fan of forwards but my mom sent me this one about all these interesting historical facts and where so many sayings we used today came from. I love stuff like this...take a moment.

There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London which used to have gallows adjacent. Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial of course) to be hung. The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like ''ONE LAST DRINK''. If he said YES it was referred to as "ONE FOR THE ROAD" If he declined, that prisoner was "ON THE WAGON" So there you go.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor". But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot they "Didn't have a pot to Piss in" & were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence, the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all, the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs , thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: ''Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old''.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "Bring home the Bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around talking and ''Chew the fat''.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning & death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or '' The Upper Crust ''. Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of ''Holding a Wake''.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and the realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, '' Saved by the Bell '' or was considered a ''Dead Ringer''



Here is the link to the newspaper article for our grant we got. The spelled my name wrong but thats ok, it'll make it harder for the papparazzi to track me ;)

http://www.thecherokeean.com/news/2010-06-30/Front_Page/Circle_of_Ten_Council_awards_almost_120000_in_gran.html

Have ya'll see those shake weight commercials that incredibly inappropriate workout devices. Its that weight you hold in your hands and it goes up and down really fast, and, well, you get where I'm going with this. Anyway, SNL did a hilarious skit about it and its probably one of the most funny things I've seen as a digital short in quite some time. Try and not laugh, I DARE YOU!



Annnnnd bring it on home with a great quote!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”~Nelson Mandela

Shine on :)

America's Birthday in Texas

My fellow americans,

I hope your 4th of July was as wonderful as mine was! Here's the rundown minus any pictures because my bf, steph, has them all on her camera from the weekend.

Hurricn Alex brought wacky wether all weekend for us but we had an amazing time anyway. I picked Steph up from DFW Airport and we headed for dinner at Joes Crabshack. Aside from the awful, cheesy singing we had a great time. Then we went to a little local bar for a beer and see some authentic Texas. It wasn't really that Texas-ee so we headed for the lake where Ryan and all of his friends were staying for the weekend.

We spent the entire weekend out on Lake Cypress, tubing, boating and eating lots of unhealthy southern food. We played sand volleyball,horse shoes, and watched fireworks on Saturday. It was so nice that Steph got to see why I love the people and lifestyle down here so much. Everyone just takes you in and befriends you like they've known you all there life. On Sunday we got experience some great southern cooking when or campsite made 150 lbs of crawfish for us to eat. I had never had it before and it was a really fun, spicy, experience. That night we just headed back to Tyler so we could finally shower and get some sleep in beds! That morning it was back to DFW to drop Steph off. Ms. Kelly, cant thank you enough for coming to visit me, best friend! Now you just have to move down here so we can do that every weekend and be roomies again!

What's that you asked? What other great news do I have this week? Oh, well let me fill you in!

For starters, as of July 12t I'll be starting my new year of service as a VISTA Leader! It means I'll be the tier inbetween the other VISTA's and Dianna, our supervisor. It also means $200 more in this girl's pocket a month. The only shitty part in that whole deal is my student loans just came out of forbearance and the extra $200 will be put toward that each month.

Next, you are currently reading the blog of the Almond Tree Community Resource and Training Center Employee of the Month! Ya, I just get this paper certificate thing and its really not that big deal but it's a first.



Finally, I'm moving to my new place today. Ryan is coming over to help me just make one trip in his truck. I'm hoping the rain holds off so all my stuff doesn't get wet. Hopefully this new place is a better fit than the old one. I still don't think its ideal but it doesn't have any real restrictions which is perfect for something that isn't ideal, right? I'll let you know when I get all settled in.



Have a great Wednesday!

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals "Paris"

Home Stretch..

Hello all,

It's Thursday. We are in the home stretch, people. I have some time over my lunch break so I thought I'd do a littl bloggin'. The sand volleyball was pretty short-lived since the team I was on sucked but overall I had a good time. My bod was so sore the next day from working all those muscles that have been in hibernation for so long. After that I headed up to Quitman to Ryan's where we were then off to his friend's birthday/coming home party. His friend, Tee, lives in Iraq and comes back to the states periodically and was having a big BBQ get-together. Everyone loves to BBQ down here with those big black smokers. The food was amazing, the beer was cold and the company was fun so I had a great time. The night ended with Ryan playing the guitar and me eventually sneaking off to fall asleep on his boat under the stars.I'm quite the socialite.


We headed back to his grandparents who live in a lake house in Pittsburg, Texas.I love his grandparents. Ryan compares them to the folks in Everybody Loves Raymond and its pretty accurate. That Sunday we spent Father's Day out on the boat, swimming and just cruisin around. Hes gotthis gigantic motor and he boats goes around 70mph. I have a feeling tubing behind that thing may get a little more intense. I was pretty bummed I couldn't be with my own Dad on Father's Day but I guess that's another sacrifice of being away. Love you Daddio!



So tomorrow for I am going to this big Press Conference and I get to get my picture take receiving one of those big checks for the grant I wrote. I was soooo excited about the big check thing. Who hasn't wanted to do that?!



This weekend Ryan has a big important fishing tournament with one of the high-ups on the company that sponsors him, El Grande Lures. While he is off smoochin' booty I'm going to play in a slow-pitch tourny, get alot of studying done and start getting everything ready to move on the 7th. I'll namedrop Ryan's sponsor incase any of you are fishermen or women out there ;)

www.elgrandelures.com



Oh, and as part of my job skills training program I'm goin to start doing video clips with helpful tips about resme building, interviewing, etc. that will be put up on our website weekly. I recorded one last night as just a trial run and felt like such an idiot. No judgement but this is generally what they will be like with some obvious improvemets before they hit the website.



Finally,I am in love with this new band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. They are this wonderful blues, Indie, alt rock band from Vermont. Here is a video from youtube posted below. She is so cute and totally makes me want to get bangs and sing in a band of hippies. Wonderful weekend wishes to you all!

Grant-a-fo-fanta

Hi all,


...get it, Ulysses Grant....

I have wonderful news!Do you all remember me wanting to blow my brains out writing that really big grant for work? It was a capacity building grant intended for smaller non-profits to receive funds for computers, software, training, office chairs, etc. The maximum amount you could request was $40,000 and I am proud to say that The Almond Tree will be receiving all $39,995 dollars that it asked for!!! I am so excited. I began to call my family members as soon as I heard. This is the first grant I have ever written and it is the largest grant our organization has ever received. This grant is really going to do some incredible things for our organization, allowing us to build the capacity we need to start running programs, working more efficently, etc. This is also going to be something that will be great as a resume builder. Not bad for a Friday at work, eh? I've actually been really busying lately, continuing to organize the Outfitted for Success Program and all it entails. Things like this grant make me feel like I really am accomplishing things and making a difference for this organization. Now, onto the fun stuff.

We started our run at the co-ed middle loop title last night winning 15-3 or something like that. After that, I played on another team that was lacking a few players and they won blank-teen to 2 something too. I don't exactly remember the score. After that, we headed to celebrate at The Parking Lot for a couple beers. Tonight a bunch of people from our team are going to play adult dodgeball. How fun does that shit sound? I haven't played since I was in college and our softball team participated in some fundraiser, beating a bunch of sorority teams 7 seconds at a time. I love that the people I play with are into doing fun, silly things too.




I'm also going to play some sand volleyball tomorrow after I heard a few guys from the men's team talking about it. They asked me if I wanted to play and I thought it would be a fun time. I may go tonight where they will be playing to shake some of the rust off since I haven't played in awhile. I remember when Casey and I used to play in this 2 person sand volleyball tourny at Volleys in Cedar Rapids. That stuff is exhausting, especially if you sucked like we did, forcing each other to run all over the place. Hopefully I'll have some fun and won't get too much sand in my buttcrack ;)



Have a great weekend everyone!

So I took a month off...

Hello loyal blog followers!

After taking about a month off the blog scene I am back! For some reason, I just felt no motivation to take the time to share what was really going on in my life. I'm sure you were all missing my awesome website tips more than the daily occurances of my life but I'll take it either way. Well, here is what you missed...

~Our co-ed softball team, that I missed the 4 finals games when I was home, ended up losing our final game. The team we played was undefeated too and they brought in a bunch of really good people and sat their own players I guess. What losers. Give it a break, it's slow pitch softball and you're sitting your own players for a competitive edge. Even my psycho competitive ass wouldn't do that..Oh well, the new summer season starts tomorrow and we've moved up to middle loop. We were playing in low loop before because you have to if its your first year as a team. Our new team name is "I'd Hit That" Get it....like we hit softballs...but it sounds sexual....get it. A girl on our softball team named Elaine is all about graphic design and made these awesome logos for it. Pretty sweet set-up.



~I've decided to move from my current house. They have all the crazy rules that I don't really feel like continuing to abide by as a 23 year old woman. Plus, a single mom with 2 kids has moved in and taken over the house. Luckily, I've found a place on craigslist with this woman in her 40s whose kids have moved out and has available rooms. Its cheaper and shes cool with me having a dog. She has no rules and she seems like a real laid back lady. I'm waiting to move until after the 4th of July weekend when STEPH KELLY COMES!!!! The house I have now has more room and an extra bed and all of that so I figured I'd be better just to wait. I'm so excited she's coming to visit. Now I just need to find some cool shit for us to do. I think that Ryan is making plans to head to the lake by where he lives and I'm thinking we could tag along with that for some great times.



And here are a couple websites for your pleasure. I bought a T-shirt from the second one. For those of you who have moved out of the midwest aand have people constantly interchange Iowa, Idaho, and Ohio.

www.creepyanimals.com

www.raygunsite.com



"Iowa is home to teachers, farmers, lawyers, factory workers, and many others who work hard every day to provide the best for their families and their future."
~ Leonard Boswell

All Roads Lead Home...

I feel like I'm quite the broken record lately...I'm busy and so many things that used to be new and exciting are now routine and unblogworthy. I think that might be why there are people out there that never stop moving, addicted to the gypsie lifestyle. My good friend Kayla has just moved to LA for the summer and I am beyond jealous. It's great to hear her stories about all the new things shes experiences and I must admit, it makes me envious. I should be complaining considering all the movin and groovin I've done this past year but the grass is always greener isn't it?

As true as all of that is, I can't tell you how badly I am in need of a visit home. I LEAVE TOMORROW!!! I feel like it is the one true place I can recharge my batteries. I have been in VISTA for over 10 months now working with 2 different organizations, living in 4 different locations, meeting and leaving friends along the way. Starting over is both exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. I think that I'm fortunate enough to have appreciation for both types of life style. I know I love the life I have now, traveling, workng, exploring new places. I think it has made me an incredibly strong person in these last 10 months. On the other hand, I think that I would be completely content at home in Iowa, married with kids at this point in my life too. I think its how the old saying goes, you have to love the life you live.

Annnnnyways, today is the big community meeting that we've been planning forever. I'm working as the head facilitator in front of about 70 people comprised of judges, mayors, county officials, etc. Its a pretty big deal but it should be a piece of cake. Once that is over I'm picking up the pooch and heading to see Ryan to celebrate his birthday that I'm missing May 30.He has informed me that he has the sweetest birthday date ever because its a lake celebration holiday that always has a 3 day weekend. I can't argue there...lucky bastard.

I also have a debate going with somone on the proper way to hold hands with someone. My argument is you do the "cupped" hand with strangers and interlocking fingers with people you know/love. I think the cupping sucks and they do it all the time! Ew. Let me know your thoughts so settle ths debate once and for all!




love you all, miss you all, can't wait to see some of you soon!

Blogged Down..

I'm sure noone is even following this thing anymore considering the dry spell its been put under. But if you are, mama's back! Actually I've just decided to blog to take my mind off this gawwwd awful grant that has been owning my life lately. We have so many things going on at work and it just seems like I can't find enough hours in the day. It is crazy to think that I have less than 2 months left of my first year of VISTA Service. That would probably seem like a bigger deal if I wasn't signing up for another one with the same organization but still a pretty exciting accomplishment. Go me. I guess the beauiful part about being busy is that it means things are happening, we're making moves. I just wish it didn't feel like all the moves were being made at once...



This past weekend I went to a wedding in Dallas with Ryan, a guy I play co-ed softball with. His best friend's sister was getting married and it was a really beautiful, fancy wedding. They served mashed potatoes with several kind of sauce out of martini glasses for cryin' out loud. We joked if we ever got married we were serving raman noodles out of a red solo cup with the only variance being chicken or beef flavor packets. You're all invited to this classy occassion of the future!



I'm so so so so so excited to go home in a few weeks! I'm driving back home for Memorial Day weekend and staying through the following week. I really haven't spent some quality time at home since Christmas and it is much needed. I'll get to see all of my family, my nieces softball games, etc. All the wonderful things I miss most of the time...My sister and I are planning on going to see the new SATC 2. I saw the first one with her so the timing is perfect. I miss watching episode after episode late at night with my old roommate, Steph. Wow, today is just a blog dedicated to all the things I miss I guess...



"There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.”~Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Blog Bum

Hey everyone,



Sorry about being such a blog bum, I've just been crazy busy. I'm trying to remember what I've done in the last ten days that have passed since my last bloggeroo...Hmm, well, I got to see my best friends in the entire world this past weekend at Mallory Gill's bachelorette party. I'm in her wedding in August and it was so wonderful to be reunited with a lot of old college friends and to meet some new people that'll be in the wedding.

My flight times were brutal from Texas with one leaving @ 5:30 am on Friday from Dallas/Fort Worth which is about 2 hours from where I live. I made the bold move to just stay awake the whole night instead of trying to get a couple hours of sleep and then groggily try and drive two hours in the dark in the middle of the night. Either way, TOOOTAALLLY worth it all because I had a wonderful time. On Friday I got to meet up with Steph, Mal, and Kayla and just relax and catch up at Steph's house in Plainfield, IL. That night we made bachelorette-esque inappropriate jello shots for the party come Saturday and threw a few beers back.



Saturday we took our trip into the city and stayed at a wonderful hotel right in the Lincoln Park area. It was a really old-time, classic hotel. We met up with everyone at our hotel and gave mal her presents, began drinking and then headed to out to eat a Mexican restaurant for margaritas. Then we just went bar hopping and everyone was so fun. We seriously made the party everywhere we went with our dancing and oh ya, our CRAZY WIGS. Kayla, the MOH, had a wonderful idea to have everyone wear black outfits and brightly colored wigs as a fun idea and to keep track of everyone's ass in those crowded bars.





On of the bars had a mechanical bull and it was sooo much fun. I do have to say I owwwned it!Everyone had all these high expectations for me because apparently I'm from "texas" now. Psshh, I'd never ridden a mechanical bull before but we all know how competitive I am. So with white knuckles, one arm in the air and my powerlifter thighs digging into the sides I rode that thing forever! What a wonderful time. I cant imagine how fun the wedding is going to be



In work related news, things are slowly but surely taking off! My "Outfitted for Success" job skills program initiative is starting to come together and I'm planning to meet with civic organization and have a kick-off for the program mid-May. Im going through the process of cataloging and doing an inventory on all the things brought in so that when people looking for things I'll have a wonderfully organized program on my hands. I'm going to be going out into various organization and seeing if they will partner with us to collect old work attire from their employees, spouses, etc. I have a feeling the problem will eventually not be if we have clothes but where I am going to put them all. What a great problem that will be though. I have also recruited the head coordinator from the Experience Works program as a part of my Advisory Committee and he has already set me p with some great connections.

I also have to go to a "Bidder's Conference" tonight for a grant that we are applying for for $25,000 that will go toward my program. It is very exciting to think of all of the possiblities and to think that when I'm done I will have hopefully created a sustainable job skills program that reaches 4 counties. Is it silly to say it makes me feel really proud? That this program is mine for the planning and it has the potential to change peoples lives, giving people the tools to find jobs in an economy that has knocked everyone to the ground...not many people get to say that about their job and I feel so blessed to be able to a this point.

Hope everyone has a great rest of your week. I'll try and have better attendance with my blog worthy news since I know reading this is what gets you out of bed in the mornings ;)

Much Love.

Short N Sweet

This is a painting by Wayne Thiebaud. He was one of the first artists to start the "pop art" movement. I based my senior artist work on him in my painting class. I did a replication of this exact painting for one assignment. I love how his work has this feeling of a simpler, innocent time and he makes his paint look like creamy frosting :)


How was everyone's weekend? I had that softball tournament and we went 2-0 before the tourny got rescheduled for next weekend because of the pouring rain. We seriously played the entire second game drenced. Not one thing on me was dry. The cool thing is only us and one other team was undefeated so we play them next weekend for the championship. I won't be there since I'll be in The Chi celebrating with all my beautiful friends but I made everyone promise to keep a t-shirt for me once we win :)

So I'm super bummed. My camera broke this past week. Every time I turn it on it says lens error and that I need to restart my camera. I feel so lost without it and not having a way to document everything I see. Luckily the prices on camera aren't as bad as they once were and maybe I can save up for one pretty quickly with plasma doe. I really wish I had it for this weekend and the bachelorette party. Damn it..

If you need cheering up like I did while mourning my camera I suggest youtubing Louis CK. It was suggested to me by my wonderful friend Ross Wiemer and the man is hysterical. I lol'd at least 15 times while watched a few clips of his stuff.

P.S. Even in the days of ipods, I still love burning CDS for my friends. Picking out the songs, ordering them so that its got the perfect flow. Ooo the little things :)



“We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.”~Unknown ( orat least unknown by me)

Love you all!

Daily Significance

Hola,

Today feels like one of those days like the bajillion other days that will come and go withoutany recollection. Sometimes it makes me feel this anxiety like I'm wasting all these perfectly good days not doing anything special, but the truth is they're inevitable. Its so naive to think that every day can be the most memorable wonderful day ever. That almost sounds exhausting when I think about it. Then it got me to thinking, every day has some significance to somebody.

I mean even though I think today is boring as shit and I'll probably never remember what I did, somewhere babies are being born, people are getting promotions, visiting foreign places, or maybe mourning the loss of love ones. And I know it's totally creepy to think this but sometimes I think about how each year the date that we are going to die someday comes and goes without us giving it a second thought.I guess the same thing can be applied to things like the date you might get married or have children too.

I still remember this poster my sister's roommate had in their dorm room when she was in college that said 365 REASONS TO PARTY. It gave some crazy fact that had happened on each day and it is the reason I now know I share my birthday with Elvis!



So I know you guys are all dying to know some of the signficant things that happened on April 15th throughout the history of mankind.(I know, nerd alert!)

*Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452


*The Titanic sank in 1912


*Jackie Robinson made his debut as Dodger and scored the game winning run in 1947



Interesting huh? I'm done with work for the week. Have a great weekend everyone. I'll have to fill you in on how my weekend of softball activities pans out.

Oh, and I thought this website was cool. Its got photo journalism pieces from across the globe. Isn't this nuts? I cant imagine 120 degrees...or jumping off a steer like that..

Pakistani boys swim in a pond to beat the heat in Hyderabad, Pakistan on Monday, June 8. Recently most of the country is in the clutches of a sweltering heat wave, with temperatures raising up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit in some cities. AP / Pervez Masih

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2009/06/daily-life-4.html#ixzz0lCd3Zqh2

Lots of love.

P.S. I'm really in the mood to go fishing. Lots of guys I play co-ed with are fishreman so I may have some "fishing tales" soon!

Lets Play Catch Up

Hi everyone,



Not to much to report here as this seems like any other Wednesday. I'm blogging during my lunch break and planning on heading to our men's slowpitch game tonight with Casper. They have dubbed him their team mascot, woot woot. We have the big East Texas Shootout Co-Ed Tourny this weekend that should be really fun. I'm excited to be out in the sun all day playing.

And now with the assistance of my camera chord I can blab about all the things I've told you I would!

I drive by this car every day on my way to work and I finally had to stop and take pictures with the flowers in bloom. It was perfect timing too becaus the next day they had mowed the grass. Don't you love when things like that happen?




I finally got food stamps!As most of you know a big part of the AmeriCorps program is subjecting yourself to a intentional life of poverty for a year. Thus government assistance is a must for pretty much everyone that participates. I had been receiving them in Wyoming but it has taken 2 months for me to start receiving them in Texas. It was like Christmas morning shopping for groceries last week. Before stocking my shelves I thought a before and after shot was appropriate...




Here is a picture I took when I was at Tyler State Park this past weekend. Beautiful!



***I get to see my best friends in the whole world in exactly 9 days. We have all been counting down the days until we reunite to celebrate our girl Mal getting hitched. It should be an incedible time.



Ok, I need ya'lls help. I have mentioned that I am in charge of creating and implementing a job skills training program. The first step I'm taking since we are incredibly low in fundage is a clothes closet for interview and businss attire. People will be able to come in and we can hopefully give them a suit and help them with their resume, interviewing skills, etc. I'm also trying to network with local businesses to see if any salons will collaborate with us to give people free hair cuts, colors, etc. I'm contacting organizations in town right now with the plan to put on a clothes drive sometime in May. I think it is something small, low cost that we can supply people with that can actually make a real difference.

The thing I need your help with is a catchy name for it. There is an international program that does this type of this just for women called Dress for Success. I thought of Career Closet? I thought that wasn't too bad. If you guys have any suggestions let me know. Any other ideas you can think of as well that would low cost, helpful program initiatives don't hesitate to let me know. I'd love all the help I can get!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law JOsh!

Have a good one everybody!

Sunday Funday

Hey lovelies,

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine was spent enjoying the outdoors, playing bush league sports, and laughing with friends. I spent Saturday afternoon up at Tyler State Park with Casper hiking all the mountain bike trails they have there. (I'm at work and I forgot my camera plug-in so pictures are temporarily on hold...) Just visualize rolling green hills and gigantic dogwood trees that only bloom in the month of April.


(Photo by pearson 251)

It was good to find a place to hike. It is definitely something I missed about Wyoming and even though this isn't as great it's a great way to spend an afternoon. There were a lot of people out fishing, canoeing, kayaking, camping, etc. It would be fun to get a group out there for a weekend to camp and have a good time. I could use the sweet new tent and cooler my mom got me on her visit too.

Saturday night I went with Kalen and Stephanie to BBQ in Jacksonville and play cards. The food was soooooo good. It is nice to have some good souhern cooking or any decent homeade cooking for that matter. I brought fudge brownies I made out of a box and I went home with an empty pan so I declare SUCCESS! Stephanie made these awesome jalepeno pepper things. You gut the peppers an fill them with cream cheese and wrap them with bacon and then grill them. I am NOT a spicy food person but I actually really loved these. If anyone wants the recipe I'll ask Steph so you can give it a try.

Sunday was filled with sleeping in late, co-ed practice and bowling. A bunch of people from my slowpitch team all got together to have some pizza, beer, and a few laughs. I wore a really bright orange shirt on the chance that it could be galaxy/cosmic/blacklight bowling and it toooooootaally was. That was the good news. The bad news is that I traditionally suck at bowling.



We had two lanes going and after people started going home myself and the few guys left started playing "competitive" bowling as I coined it. You do a count down and bowl at the same time and compete against each other each frame. Obviously once I had this new found competitive aspect to bowling it was ONNNNNN. I kicked all the boys asses and would say things like "booya" or "how'd that strike taste" Obviously my competitiveness hasn't weakened but has somehow managed to make even casual bowling a shit-talking event. Love it.

Soon to come:

*Before and after shots of my cupboard
*Old cars in spring
*Tyler State Park
*Bachelorette party count down
*Brainstorming

By the way, I absolutely love baseball season.



"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." ~Saul Steinberg

Holler Atta Scholar

Guten Tag,

That means Good afernoon in German for all those wondering. See! I did learn something in German class. Speaking of German, I found this really bizarre photo from a "domesticated series" in a German magazine. The article was animals themed and the people who work with them. This is a photo taken by Albin Biblom, documenting the last of Bulgaria's dancing bears and their trainers. There is such a sadness to the entire photograph.



Sorry I'm so random. I just always find these interesting things I want to share with everyone and I figure who isn't dying to see Bulgarian dancing bears, right?

Well, I met with my academic advising person last night to see if what I have set up for my summer classes is going to work. I found out that since I did miss the acceptance deadline for February I have to be a provisional student until they begin accepting applicants for Spring of 2011 in October. The only real difference is that I can only take 9 graduate classes as a provisional student but that actually won't affect me at all. Since I wasn't a Psych undergard I have some prereq classes I have to take as part of the program and I can take as many of these as I want as a provisional student. I'm going to be taking one class each summer session and then probably 2 or 3 classes for the Fall Term. Busy, busy but happy, happy.

And now to spotlight some great finds by others. My beautiful best friend, Stephanie Kelly, showed me this website and I think its so wonderful. Its called "1,000 Awesome Things" and its a book meant to shine a light on the little things in our every day life that put a smile on our face. I actually visited the site and signed up to have them send me one of the little awesome things each day. It has cute things like finding change on the ground or channeling surfing and finding a favorite old episode you love. I always read it and think, "God, that IS totally awesome!" It reminds me of one of the first blogs I wrote on here about appreciating and loving the little things in our every day life. Check it out, it'll make you smile.

http://1000awesomethings.com/

The other gem was given to me via facebook wallpost by KC Boldt. Aside from the obvious state of crisis our country is in inregards to childhood obesity this is pretty comical. There will always be something comical about fat people and people falling down. Combining the two is ideal but this will do. I don't know if this is creepy or funny or sad or cute? What I do know is that he created an undeniable urge to grab those chubby cheeks.

No More Cupcakes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysqh1uzqGrc&feature=related

Hey, will one of you a-holes comment on something for once? I just want a "nice picture" or maybe a "fun weekend". I even checked the comment settings to make sure you could, AND YOU CAN! One comment in all this time. A special thank you to Mallory Gill for being the only commenter thus far. But the rest of you....Tisk, tisk. Is it rude to scould people that read your blog? Those rules don't apply when its just your friends and family reading it I'm going to assume.



Ok, love you all. Have a good'n.

Ash