Not All Who Wander Are Aimless: 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?