The Life of Kelli

I Finally Got a Job!

2009-04-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

I just started my new job working for Department of Human Services, State Operated Community Programs. It is a stabilization home for kids with mental health issues, and my position is a Mental Health Therapy Technician. I am training for the next week and a half, and so far I've really enjoyed meeting all the people I will be working with. I feel very lucky to have a job right now with how the economy is, and especially one through the state. The job is in Salem, but I am living in Woodburn, which is just a 20 minute or less drive. I am excited to be starting my career now, and to see where this new experience will take me!

Chicago and More

2009-01-18T23:59:00.001-08:00

So here is a nice blurry picture of the Chicago sign! Unfortunately my timing in Chicago was not great, I was there when it was way below freezing and snowing and the wind made me feel like I was in a giant freezer with huge fans blowing me over. I went in the middle of December, so not the greatest time of the year. It was dark most of the time as well! I had two interviews while I was there, and they were pretty interesting, though they did not pay well at all. I stayed with a friend in St. Louis, so I didn't have to spend much on hotels, because St. Louis is about a 4 1/2 hour drive. That worked out pretty well, besides the fact that the weather was horrible. Anyway I decided to interview at two places in St. Louis as well since I was there. I really liked one of the agencies, but it was only 24 hours a week to start and little benefits so it wasn't enough to get me to move there! I had fun exploring Chicago though, and here are a few pictures of the city at night.

View of Sears Tower from the bottom

Big Christmas tree in the Sears Tower Building

A 5 story Sports Authority!

Of course I don't remember which building this is, but it looked cool lit up.

This is the Chicago Sun Times Building.

And here is a picture off the Navy Pier.

Again, it was a fun experience, but after experiencing the weather there, I'm not so sad the jobs didn't work out! I'd love to go back in better weather though, because I hear the city is really nice in the summers. So now I have decided to only look in Oregon because I really don't have money to move anywhere, especially not anywhere far away. I think it would be fun to experience another city for a few years, but I am focusing on the Portland area mostly, as it has the biggest opportunity job-wise. This is a horrible time to be job hunting, and my measly 10.50 an hour, 16 hours a week is NOT cutting it! I have at least one interview lined up for this week, and I hope to have more soon.

In other news, I got a wii for my graduation/Christmas present combined and it is the MOST AMAZING thing in the world! I love the games of course, but my favorites are the Wii Fit and Guitar Hero. It helps keep me entertained while I'm not working that much and I don't have much money to do anything. I love it! That is all that is happening for me lately. I know I don't post often, but so far I haven't had a whole lot going on! I will post again when something new or exciting happens!

I am DONE!!!

2008-12-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

I finally finished school as of yesterday - I have officially graduated! I have been at the University of Oregon for just over 5 years, and I am so happy to finally be done. I must say, the Family and Human Services program at the U of O is an amazing program, and I have really grown and learned a lot. The faculty and staff are amazing and so supportive, I couldn't have asked to be a part of a better program.I am really excited and nervous about what is next to come. I have been job searching over the last couple of months, and unfortunately the economy isn't so great, especially in Oregon. I have been applying to some bigger cities in a few other states, and so far I've gotten some requests for interviews in Chicago. I will be heading there next week to do some interviews and see how it goes. It's always hard thinking of moving away from everything I know, but I feel that it is much better to move away now when I have no obligations than it would be later. I would like to get my Masters of Social Work, but currently there is no way I can afford that. I am hoping I will find a place to help me pay for it if I work for them for a period of time. I'm not sure what will happen but I am looking forward to finding out. I am incredibly impatient when it comes to finding a job, as most people are I'm sure, so I hope this process goes smoothly!
I just want to thank all of my friends and family, no matter how often or little we may see each other, for being so supportive and encouraging of my education, and now my career path. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am without all of the people in my life, and I am very blessed and thankful for that.

Halloween in Reno!

2008-11-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

My good friend Rachael is getting married this summer to her boyfriend of almost 7 years. She lives in Reno and my friends and I thought we should pay a visit and talk about wedding stuff with her. We all decided on Halloween weekend because Rachael had a 3 day weekend because Nevada Day falls on Halloween. I'm not sure why Oregon doesn't have an Oregon Day but I'm quite jealous! Anyway, Shauna, Erica and I headed off to Reno Thursday late afternoon. Here is a picture of us in California at a gas station where we had to pump our own gas.

We're from Orygun! Wutz this crap?!

We didn't get into Reno until about 1:30 in the morning but we had lots of fun planned for Friday. We all went and saw Rachael's wedding dress and she decided to buy it. It is very beautiful! We also tried on bridesmaid dresses and picked some very nice ones out! I didn't get any pictures of them unfortunately, but I'll wait for the wedding. For Halloween night, we decided to go downtown to a club that had a costume contest and hang out there for the night, though we didn't stay late enough to participate in the actual contest.

Here we are at Rachael's place ready to go out.

Wade and Rachael, the cute couple!

Little Red Riding Hood, Cow, 50's Girl, and Butterfly.

My utter was the evening's attraction.

We had lots of fun! My cow costume was quite the hit surprisingly. I was asked to pose with several people, which was new and weird to me but whatever! Today we just hung around Reno and saw some attractions. We saw where Rachael and Wade will be getting married, and Rachael showed us her small school where she teaches. We also tried to locate some different chapels because I wanted to find where my parents got married. Unfortunately we couldn't find the chapel that my mom had mentioned it possibly being, but seeing as it has been over 27 years, it may be gone or changed or who knows. Here are a couple I found:

Chapel of Bells

The Heart of Reno

One of these just might be the same palace my parents wed in with Elvis as their witness! I hate to have to go home already, but unfortunately these fun trips never last long enough. It was really great seeing where Rachael has been the last couple years though, as well as being able to see her dress and pick out our dresses. I'm really looking forward to her wedding!

Belknap Hot Springs

2008-09-18T10:08:00.001-07:00

My friend Liz and I went to Belknap Hot Springs last week. She had never been there, but had heard it was pretty so we took a day trip. It was a very pretty day and we both got a lot of great pictures. She was looking for somewhere she could take her boyfriend, and after she saw it she was excited to show him. I have always thought it would be a really pretty place to have a wedding, and who knows, maybe some day it will be for me! Anyway, we took lots of pictures and here are some of them:

This is the heart garden.

There were lots of beautiful flowers, even though it was late in the summer. I told Liz she should come back in the spring when there are usually even more flowers in bloom.

Asian garden

Secret Garden

I had forgotten all about the secret garden until I saw the big brick wall hidden behind plants. Then I could hear water flowing and I remembered it being back there. We found it and it was so pretty! It is such a nice place to go on a sunny day. It seems so peaceful out there. We had a nice time, then had to come back and go to work! :( Sometimes reality bites!

Summa time!

2008-08-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

This summer, a wild cat had some kittens and both my mom and I have made attempts to pet the kittens and, at least I have, attempted to try to kidnap them. Unfortunately they don't want anything to do with us but they are SOOO adorable!! I caught them lounging one afternoon on my way to work, so I took some pictures.

Here they are in mom's herb garden.

This is after one of them heard me sneaking around, he had his eye on me.

Then I tried to go capture one of them and they both ran off. I wish we could get one to tame down, but I don't believe they even come up to the house anymore. It makes me REALLY want a kitten again though.

I have been able to capture some cool sunsets this summer, mostly because of the fires unfortunately, but they are still really pretty. Here are a few...

This is a sunset outside my parents' house recently, so many colors!

This one was on my way home from work one night,
I happened to have my camera so I pulled over and caught it.

And this one was on my way back from the coast along I5.

Aside from that, my summer has been going by way too fast. I finished summer school, except a few hours I have at my internship. I went to camp as a counselor for a week for Courageous Kids, and that was such an amazing experience for me. It is a camp specifically for kids that have lost a loved one, and most of the counselors there have also lost loved ones. Throughout the school year, I co-facilitate weekly support groups where the kids do art projects to help them understand their feelings of grief. I really enjoy doing that, but I'd have to say this camp was so much more powerful because the kids are with each other for 5 days straight and their stories and feelings really come out. During the weekly support groups the kids don't really get that comfortable with each other because they only see each other once a week for an hour.

Something that I really like about being an intern at Courageous Kids is that it helps me sort out my own past feelings of grief, from the time my grandfather died when I was 5. I have learned a lot about myself and what I was going through, though I never knew what was going on. It is so great to be able to share these realizations with the kids at CK so that they feel like they can relate more to me. I am really interested in grief therapy, especially using methods of art therapy, and I'm hoping to be able to get into this field as a profession in the next few years.

Second Year at Lincoln City

2008-07-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

It has been another few months since I've posted, but I finally did something fun so I have something to talk about! Last year some friends from high school and I started an annual trip to Lincoln City. So this past weekend we went on our second trip there, and it was a lot of fun! We did lots of sun bathing, eating, talking and laughing! There was also lots of shopping done, but I got sun burned pretty bad so I had to skip out on that. That's actually probably a good thing, because I don't have the money to spend I things I really don't need, like outlet malls! So here we all are on our first night there...

The Outlook Hotel In Lincoln City rocks!

Rachael and Erica on the beach.

Shauna and I almost jumping.

Day 2: Bury Erica in the sand. And make her a mermaid! (Though you can't really see her fin...)

Our little whale friend is out there!

And this is the sunset the night before we left!

The trip was a lot of fun, and a much needed vacation for me to get away from work, school and my internship. Ahhh... now I am about to go on a week long camp for Courageous Kids, where I intern. Hopefully I'll come back with some good stories :)

I've been tagged...

2008-05-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well I think I did something like this not too long ago, but I will do it again!

Four Things You Might/Might Not Want To Know About Me!

*I have recently become addicted to Scrabble online (scrabulous) and I've managed to get a few friends hooked as well. It all started when Brian started a game with me on Facebook, but he was incredibly slow at his turn so I searched for online scrabble. It's my one true love at the moment and it helps me procrastinate!
*I have a really high gag reflex and a texture issue when it comes to particular foods. I don't like foods like marshmallows, whipped cream, and rice because they have a weird texture to me and it makes me gag.
*My eyes are green and blue. They are green around my pupil and then blue around that.
*I have really thick wavy hair, but it drives me nuts and it doesn't straighten very well. Most people say they'd like hair like mine, but I would actually rather have straight hair that I don't have to spend so much time on.

Four jobs I've held:

*Painter for UO Housing in the summers. I got to paint smelly dorm rooms.
*Delivery driver for Papa John's Pizza.
*Office Assistant for two companies.
*Direct Support Professional (Mentor) for RISE, Inc.

Four movies I could watch over and over:

*Superstar
*Napoleon Dynamite
*Hope Floats
*A Christmas Story

Places I've lived (in order):

*Baker City, OR
*Springfield, OR
*Eugene, OR
*Again, Springfield, OR... but it's way out near Marcola so it's like another city!

Four TV shows I like:

*The Office!!!!
*Days of Our Lives (Its mom's fault)
*Gilmore Girls re-runs
*Full House re-runs

Four favorite foods:

*Spaghetti
*Lasagna
*Chicken Bisque
*Seafood Fettuccine

Where I would rather be:

*At the coast!

Treasure Hunting

2008-04-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

There isn’t a whole lot that REALLY bothers me when it comes to pet peeves or annoyances. There are several little things that bug me, but not really much that I get really irritated with. But if there is one thing that I absolutely can’t stand, it would have to be when anyone - child, adult, teenager, etc- picks their nose. Now don’t get me wrong, I did my fair share of gold digging as a kid, but it seriously makes me sick when I see people picking their nose. I don’t mean just a little flick or nose rub, I mean when people are doing some serious treasure hunting.
For anyone that doesn’t know what my job is, I am a mentor for youth in therapeutic foster care that have behavior problems and developmental delays. For the most part, my job consists of me taking them out in the community and doing different activities with them to work on their individual goals and behavior issues. Now I love this job- it is very challenging, yet incredibly rewarding. Knowing that these kids have behavior problems, I should expect to see pretty much everything, and for the most part I do. But there is this one kid that has this "treasure hunting" problem and it’s driving me INSANE!!!! I continuously offer her kleenex and napkins, but she continues to pick and dig and pick and dig. It seriously is making me gag thinking about it. Yuck!
So today was the last straw. I don’t know what I’m going to do now, maybe make her wear nose plugs or something. But here is what happened: We went to the amazing and incredibly skate world and then we decided to go to the park for awhile. It was a little chilly outside, but not too bad. Well when we got back in the car, apparently her nose must have been running or something. She was really going at it, hoping to find some gold and I reached over and got some napkins and told her to use that for her nose. She said "okay thank you". So I thought, problem solved, I’ll just make sure to sanitize the door handle so no booger germs remain. Well problem NOT solved! I took her home and dropped her off, and just as I was getting ready to pull out of the driveway, I looked down at the passanger side seat and there IT was! A nastly slimey snot-ball!! YUCK! SICK! DISGUSTING! GAG! HURL! Oh man I was about to flip a lid! I got out some more napkins and cleaned it all up but I was nauseated and gagging the entire time, as well as many minutes later. This was so gross. It wasn’t a little kid’s booger, which still makes me gag, it was a 15 year old girl’s snot ball!
I don’t know what to do about this, I have tried so many times to tell her she should use kleenex or napkins or something of that nature to wipe her nose because that spreads germs. She never really says anything in response though, I think she just likes it and doesn’t want to stop. Well it really grosses me out big time and I don’t want to see anymore nasty slimey snot-balls in my car or anywhere near me! If anyone has any suggestions to get this kid to stop, please, oh please, be kind enough to share with me!!

NEW YORK!!!!!

2008-03-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

Last, but certainly not least, Brian and I went to New York for two days. Originally we weren't going to stay the night in New York because it is SO expensive, but we decided it would be worth it. The cheapest hotel I found was just under $200 with taxes and it was really small and not the most pleasant, but we were only there to sleep so it was ok. We rode a "Chinese bus" there and back, and it was pretty much just a large bus driven by Chinese guys. It was cheap though and it got us there. We were dropped off in Chinatown in New York though and we had no idea where we were, so the first thing we did is hailed a cab to our Hotel to get a map. I would say probably 75% of the vehicles I saw were cabs, go figure! They are some crazy drivers too! Anyway, our hotel was only about 3 blocks from Central Park, so we grabbed a map and started walking.

This is a picture of a skating rink in Central Park.

It wasn't really that exciting, there was a cool path called "Strawberry Fields" that is dedicated to John Lennon and it had some memorabilia. Other than that there wasn't much going on in Central Park. Next we went to see Rockefeller Center.

Here it is... Again not very exciting. It's just a big ice skating rink with flags all around the top.

We then went on toward 5th Avenue and Times Square. That was where it was really happenin'! There were tons of people all over the place, and the majority of them did not speak English! It is definitely the tourist spot.

Here's Times Square. There are tons of expensive clothing stores and lots of cool little shops.

This is the Empire State Building. We did go inside but decided not to stand in line for hours and go up to the top, there were more things to see!

That pretty much took up our day. It was dark by the time we saw all of Times Square so we went back to the hotel and Brian got a hold of his friend that lives there and we went out to a Mexican place to meet up with her for a few hours. The next day, we planned out what we wanted to see, and then we had to get a cab back to Chinatown. First we looked up the World Trade Center Site.

This is all that you can see of the World Trade Center Site.

They have this Path Station that shows what the World Trade Center looked like before 911, and what it will look like in the future. They didn't show much at all though, mainly because they are working on building the new towers. It is expected to be done in 2012. We did go across the street to the Trinity Church, which was where many of the firefighters slept and ate between working long shifts.

Here is the Trinity Church. It is the oldest church in Manhatten that is still in use today. This church was protected from the debris of 911 by a tree that had fallen against it.

There is only this stump of that tree left now, and it is what is said to have saved the church.

This is a picture of a picture that was taken just after 911. Many people came in and posted pictures of their missing loved ones. They also came here for prayer and support.

After touring the church, we found the ferry to Staten Island, which also passed by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We couldn't find a ferry to Ellis Island, but we thought this would be nice also.

This is Ellis Island, where many people arrived to the US by ship.

And here is the Statue of Liberty. She wasn't nearly as big as I thought though!

It was a really great trip, and I loved New York way more than I expected actually. I didn't think I'd like the atmosphere all that much, but it turns out that really the only incredibly busy areas were around Times Square. There were always people walking around everywhere else also, but it gave me a very safe feeling. There is also always different things to do at all times of the day and night and the city is so easy to navigate. The subway system made transportation very easy and the whole experience was really great. I would love to go back again when I have more time to really spend there.

Philadelphia

2008-03-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Brian and I went to Philadelphia, along with one of his friends. There were lots of historical things to see. We went to the visitor center and got a map, and then we went on our way. The first place we saw was Independence Hall.

Brian and I in front of Independence Hall. This is right after he said in his pervert voice "I love you Kells." He isn't really that sweet, trust me!

Then we wanted to take a tour of Independence Hall but we had to wait a few hours so we decided to walk around and look at shops. Then we thought we better get something to eat so we stopped at the first place we saw advertising Philly cheesesteaks.

This is directly after Brian put a napkin basket down on our table and a cockroach crawled out. Mmmm, that made us more hungry.

Next we toured Independence Hall. THis is where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Here is the court room. Back then the defendant had to stand in that metal cage throughout the trial.

When we were leaving, Brian tried to step over this fence here and about three guards, like the one above, blew their whistles and made him exit through the proper exit. They're vicious!

Then we went to see the Liberty Bell. It was MUCH smaller than we thought, but it was still really neat to see.And finally we decided to go to the National Art Museum. It ended up being near closing time so we didn't go through it, but it was cool to see.

And of course Brian had to be Rocky and run up all those stairs while I video taped it. Unfortunately he has that on his camera. Here is Rocky though.

And here is a great view of Philadelphia from the Museum. It was a cloudy and rainy day, but it was still great to be there.

Brian's Amazing Studio

2008-03-21T21:22:00.001-07:00

Mom wanted me to take some pictures of Brian's amazing studio apartment, and by amazing, I mean amazingly tiny. It is actually quite cute, but so very small!

Here is the very small kitchen area. Hopefully he doesn't want counterspace.

And this is the bathroom. It's not too small, but again not much counter space.

This is the view of his studio standing in the kitchen as far back as possible.

And this view is from the above corner between windows. It really is incredibly small!

This place is small for one person to live in, but with me staying here, there is absolutely no walking room. He bought an inflatable twin mattress and an egg crate mattress cover, which is very comfortable, but it leaves no room for anything else. Honestly, I'm impressed this small place doesn't reek to high heaven, as his bedrooms always did at home, but it actually doesn't have a strong stench. Thank goodness! I will post more on our trips soon!

Baltimore and DC

2008-03-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday in Baltimore with Brian and we had lunch with some of his coworkers at a place called Bertha's. I got a pretty sweet bumper sticker that says "Eat Bertha's Mussels" because they are famous for their mussels. Baltimore has some pretty cool buildings and spots to see, but for the most part it is a dangerous city with tons of drugs and crime. But I did enjoy my time around the city and I took some nice pictures.

Brain showing his "love" of Baltimore.

Us at the Pier at Fells Point.

The National Aquarium at the Inner Harbor.

A view of Baltimore from the Inner Harbor.

The ESPN Center, huge Barnes and Noble and Hard Rock Cafe.

We had a full day in Baltimore, took a nap, went to dinner, then came back and played scrabble for a few hours with Brian's neighbor, Eva. We had a great day and then went to bed to get ready for DC.

Today, we woke up early and headed off to DC around 8:30AM on the train. We arrived in DC around 10AM and traveled around to all the memorials we could think of and even a museum.

Here's Brian napping on the way to DC.

The first thing we saw was the Capitol Building.

Next we went through the National Air and Science Museum.

These are some of the first airplanes.

The first orbital to go around the world.

Amelia and her airplane!

The Washington Memorial

The White House

World War II Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial wall

Lincoln Memorial

Brian demonstrating the dangers.

Jefferson Memorial

Where the money is made!

These are about all the things we saw. It took us 5 hours to walk around and see all of these memorials but it was a lot of fun. We really wanted to see the Holocaust Memorial Museum but we would have had to wait a few hours in line so we may go back this weekend if we have time. I got a lot more great pictures but these are the better ones I have. We are off to Philadelphia tomorrow and then New York City on Thursday and Friday. We are very excited to go! I will be updating more soon.

Pretty Sunset, Lunar Eclipse and Marvin

2008-03-06T20:45:00.002-08:00

Well I've had a few more opportunities to test out features of my camera and I'm still very pleased with it! There are so many times that I see things that I want to take pictures of but I don't like carrying around my camera everywhere because I fear it will get stolen or broken, so I usually only take pictures when I'm at home. A few weeks ago, there was a really beautiful sunset that I got a couple pictures of:

The sky at a distance.

A closer view, testing out the scenic zoom.

Also, as I was driving home one night, I noticed the moon looked different but I couldn't tell what was so different. I hadn't heard anything about the lunar eclipse, and I believe it has been since 4th or 5th grade since I've seen it, so it took me a few minutes to realize what it was. Unfortunately it takes me longer to get home living out in Marcola now, so by the time I got my camera and got down to the end of the driveway where I could see it, it was starting to get darker pretty quickly. I did, however, get some pretty good pictures, although they're a little blurry.

I liked this one because you can see the stars around the moon.

Here is a closer picture of it.

Another thing I finally got around to taking pictures of is my furry little child, Marvin! I love this bunny, even though he's a bit of a pain in the butt at times due to his messes. My friends got together last year for my birthday and bought him for me. I haven't had a pet in awhile, but I'd have to say that a bunny is probably more work than a cat or dog even! Although I don't have to take him on walks or anything, he is so messy and is not potty trained very well, even though I tried my best. He's still a lot of fun to watch though and he's so cute.

Meet Marvin, the bunny.

My favorite part of Marvin is his tuft of fur between his ears!

This is Marvin's favorite activity.

And here is Marvin's sweet pad. Yes he is a tad spoiled!

My parents are so very nice to allow me to have Marvin here, as he obviously takes up a lot of room and requires lots of cleaning-up after, which my mom does a lot of for me! Poor little guy has some kind of allergies or something and has been sneezing lots and rubbing his eyes. He seems to be getting better now, but he has had these problems off and on for a few months now. I did take him to the only vet in town that sees rabbits, and she just gave me some ointment to put in his eyes, which worked til I stopped using it. I'm hesitant to take him again and pay a big vet fee if he's getting better, but we'll see. I just feel bad for him.

This term is finally nearing the end, and I am so ready for it to be over! This has been the most challenging term I think I've ever had! Mostly the amount of work to do and the big projects all term long. But I'm down to only 3 projects/papers left! I have really loved being at Department of Human Services this term, but I am going to intern at Courageous Kids next term and I'm sooooo excited! I've already gone to 2 trainings and 2 groups early just because I wanted to. It's an art therapy grief support program for kids who have lost a parent, sibling, grandparent or other family member, and my niece Emma is actually in it. I really love it there, and the program leaders are such amazing people! I am so happy to be there, and I will be doing my senior project there as well, which I have not figured out yet. Anyway that is the latest with me. I will be on the East Coast with my brother from the 16th to the 23rd, going to Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, DC, and possibly more places if time permits. I will definitely be blogging about that!

It has been awhile!

2008-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

Well it has been awhile since I've posted something, so I decided to post some pictures I took around the house when it snowed here last week. I would have to say my favorite hobby right now is taking pictures, and I love every opportunity to be able to test out new settings with it. All of the pictures were just around the house, and it is definitely more beautiful living out in the country when it snows, with all the trees around and everything.

The sun peeking through the clouds

The house surrounded by the snow

I just liked the look of the mailboxes, though the paper didn't make it that day!

A visual of how deep it was to walk in

The pool looked really neat also, so I had to capture that!

Well I haven't had much time to take pictures other than when it snowed and we were snowed in! I moved in with my parents at the end of December, and then I started up school and my new internship at Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Program. I have really enjoyed it at this site so far, and I've learned a lot! I have a really great case worker that I shadow, and he has been excellent at finding ways to get me really involved and for me to get the best experience possible. I've been able to read case files and go to court hearings and home visits. I also got to shadow an intake worker one day, which involved interviewing children in danger and going to see the environment the child was living in off and on (disgusting and terrible, I must add!). It is really heart breaking to see, but at the same time it is such a good feeling to be able to get the kids out of their horrible situation. I could never imagine going through half of what the majority of these kids have gone through, and they are so young! It is really sad, but again it can be rewarding to get both the parents and the children the help they need.

School has been really busy and hectic this term, probably one of my busiest terms thus far. It involves so much group work and extra time getting together outside of class, as well as it has been confusing for everyone in the program having a new online course that they are just trying out this year, and a really difficult research class, as well as a class that is very unorganized with cranky instructors that don't appear to really know what they're doing. It has been really draining already, and its only half way through the term! But I'm hoping for a more relaxed term in the Spring.

Other than school and my internship, I'm still working about 10 hours a week mentoring a girl in therapeutic foster care. I really enjoy my job, it is challenging but incredibly rewarding. I experienced my first incident report this past week over some information she told me that was scary and very serious. I stressed over it all weekend and I was very nervous to report the information, but I felt so relieved and I knew I did the right thing when it was over. I think it is really the first time I can actually say I genuinely enjoy being challenged at a job and having to make serious and tough decisions. Though it can be very stressful often with the responsibility the job requires, it is so wonderful to know what a difference I am making for her. I really hope I am able to find a full time position similar to this after I graduate.

Well this is what I've been doing over the past month, and what I will be doing until mid-march. And then I will be off to the east coast traveling around with Brian! I can't wait!

12 Days of Christmas

2007-12-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by my mom to do this, so here it goes:

1. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year, no matter how bad the weather is or how mean people can be when shopping, or anything else. I never let anything bother me because I love it so very much! I love knowing that my family will all be together, and looking forward to our traditions.

2. Speaking of traditions, my favorites are the sparkling cider in my stocking from Santa each year, as well as all the candy and an ornament from my parents.

3. The ornaments from my parents in my stocking each year has really made my ornament collection grow into a full sized collection! It is so awesome to have all my ornaments be ones I received from family.

4. We always enjoy a yummy Christmas breakfast made by mom and dad after presants are opened.

5. I became pretty suspicious about the whole Santa thing. One year I asked for a chunk of gold, and lo and behold on Christmas morning, there it was in my stocking! Thats when I just KNEW he was real! A few years later I became a little suspicious again so this time I went to the extreme to really prove whether this guy was real or not, and so I asked for a real baby on my front porch that I would get to keep, and the police wouldn't take it away. Well... I got a bike.

6. My mom found herself being quite clever one Christmas and instead of putting names on our gifts she put peach, pear, plum and orange. She liked how well that drove us up the wall, that the next year she put numbers 1-4. It was awful!

7. Every year we get to open a gift on Christmas Eve at my Grandma's house, and for years its always a gift card which I love! I can always look forward to shopping after Christmas.

8. I love driving around looking at Christmas lights every year, and there are 2 houses in particular that are always decorated beautifully up on the south hills. I drive up there several times around Christmas and every time there are tons of cars lined up. Its so pretty and its fun to see everyone driving up there to see them.

9. My favorite gifts that I get are always the hand-made, crafty gifts. Both my mom and Kyla have cross-stitched pictures for me and last year Jill made a cool wiener dog that sits at the window seal, or the bottom of a door, that blocks air from coming in through doors and windows. I also have some hand made ornaments that I love as well. I just love having things that people have made for me.

10. I love that I still get the same feeling on Christmas morning that I did when I was little. It still feels so magical and fun!

11. I don't like how occasionally Santa forgets to put his name on the gift from him. He still stuffs our stockings, but I have a hard time finding his gift to me, mom and dad always just claim it and put that it is from them.

12. I LOVE all the Christmas music! I play my Christmas cd's over and over, and I never get sick of them! They are always so cheery and happy! I start playing them at the beginning of December and I don't stop til after Christmas!

I tag anyone that reads this!

Chuck E Cheese's and Santa

2007-12-18T21:27:00.001-08:00

Chuck E Cheese's just opened yesterday here and I have never been before so I was SO excited to go! A few of my friends and I were supposed to take another friend to a birthday dinner, but she cancelled so we decided to go to Chuck E Cheese's instead and it was SOOOO fun!!!!! The food wasn't that great and they actually had to bring out our pizza 3 times because they messed up twice, but the real reason I was there... the games... was amazing! Then good ol' Chuck was more than willing to have his picture taken, so I whipped out my phone and started snapping away!

Chuck E posing with a little kid

Chuck E modeling for me, what a stud!

Me and Chuck E!

Shauna, Chuck E and Erica!

The only set back to Chuck E Cheese's is that there are TONS of little kids running around and not being closely monitered so I had a few little ones "helping" me out... But it was funny. So after a very fun-filled evening, we started back to our car, and what do we see???? It was SANTA!!! But wait! Santa wasn't getting into his sleigh...

Santa drives a Honda?!

Well apparently the elves are working on the sleigh, and the reindeer must be resting up for the big night ahead. There was a lot of people taking pictures and calling others telling them of the news that Santa was getting into his Honda and talking on his Cell phone. It was quite the sight!

Winter break!

2007-12-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

Well now that I'm on winter break, I have lots more free time. So something I'm really irritated about is that at the U of O (and I'm sure most other schools) when you get a (-) or a (+) on a grade, such as and A-, it drops (or adds for a +) your gpa 0.3 points! I haven't had a 4.0 gpa yet since i started college and I really thought I was finally going to get one this term, but I got an A- which is a 3.7! But my other A brought it up to 3.85, which is closer. I just think that is rediculous! An A is an A! Oh well, maybe next term.
My friend Erica came over yesterday to do a photo shoot, and it was lots of fun! I am really loving my camera and it is fun to try different things with it. Erica and her brother want to take pictures together and get them framed for their mom for Christmas, so we were doing a practice run with just her and it was pretty fun. Here are just a few of the many pictures we took:

Erica with my furry child Marvin.

Outfit number one!

Looking like a true model!

Close up mug shot in outfit number 2!

Oops! Caught her lovin the tree!

Erica's favorite hat!

I'm holding Erica's hat for her.

And back to seriousness, this
is a really pretty picture also!

And after uploading the dozens of pictures
and playing with the kodak program, we came
up with this lovely picture! Love it!

So there are so many more pictures but these are just some of the ones I like most. I have more to talk about but I will save it for another day!

My look-a-likes

2007-10-17T22:08:00.001-07:00

It's good to know that I look 5% more like Michael Jackson than some random toothless hillbilly woman my mom found online awhile ago!

The new love of my life and a little bit of updates

2007-10-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in a few months now so I thought I'd at least put something on my page. I don't really have much to talk about though, but there is one very exciting and amazing new thing in my life...
So my camera broke back in august while at the beach and luckily I had a warranty on it. So I recently got the refund back and bought myself a new camera. This new camera is delightful and I love it like I would love a child of mine. I practiced with it out at my parents' house for awhile and I'm thoroughly amazed at its capabilities! Did I mention that I LOVE IT?!?! Well I do. Anyway my mom has been searching for a new camera for a few months now and seriously mom, you should get this one! If you want to look up all of its features, it's a Kodak Z712 IS with 7.1 mega pixels and 12x optical zoom (which is the best part!) The Kodak website has all the details. I may sound completely pathetic at how much I adore and lust over this camera, but it's really the only thing I have to mess with outside of school, work, and my internship.
Here are some pictures that I took at my parents' house this weekend just to give an idea of the different things I love about it. I put them in a collage so they're kind of cut off but they all turned out really great. I also took some pictures of my niece and nephew that I'm pretty happy with.

The goose in pre-ladybug sqhoosh mode.

The Byster allowing the nasty varmets to crawl on him.

Anyway, I think you all get the drift that I'm in love with my camera. Now I just need a camera case to protect it, and upon looking for a camera case, I found a tripod, some lenses, and a rechargeable battery that all look quite lovely. Luckily I don't have the money for that!

Also, although some people out there may not like the idea of tattoos, I got a tattoo recently that is in memory of Kyla. It is on my upper back between my shoulder blades. I'm quite happy with it and I'm very glad I did it. This is a picture my mom took of it right after it was done, so it's kind of red in the photo. It is now all healed and it looks great (in my opinion anyway). :)

Other than those few things, I don't have much going on in my life... I am doing pretty well in school so far so I am happy with that. I really enjoy the Family and Human Services program at UO and all of the professors involved so that makes it much easier. My internship is at Lane School for kids that have behavior issues and that has been challenging but very fun!

Weekend in Lincoln City

2007-08-28T15:00:00.001-07:00

Some of my friends and I stayed the weekend in Lincoln City last weekend and it was the best weather I've ever seen at the coast! It wasn't very windy at all and it must have been around 80 degrees. Our view from the hotel was awesome too! Here I am enjoying the view from the balcony. Two of my friends thought that since the weather was so nice, they should go skinny dipping. While the rest of us weren't interested, the first thing that came to mind was blackmail!!!! All of us have myspace, and it would be so fun to for them to visit my page and discover my new background is a giant picture of them skinny dipping! So I got all excited and shared my idea with all of them. We went down to the beach and they went running off toward the water, as I ran behind in the pitch black turning my camera on and trying to get it ready when.... BAM!! The next thing I know I'm face first in the sand with my camera! All my evilness ended there because my camera got sand stuck in it and it wouldn't work! I then did not have my camera all weekend! I suppose that was God intervening and letting me know it wasn't a very nice idea! Oh well lesson learned... Here we are after the event, no blackmail pictures though!

The next day we went shopping at the outlet malls and then went down to the beach for a few hours. While getting ready to sun bathe, I discovered exactly how pale I am. Everyone else had nice tans, or at least a little color to them. I, on the other hand, was able to blend into the white blanket I was laying on in the sand. It's pretty incredible, really, that one can actually be THAT white! Anyway, it was a really fun trip and we have decided to do it every summer from now on. Its hard to get together anymore, especially with people that have moved away. But we all had a lot of fun, the only thing we want to change is to stay longer!

Eight Facts About Me!

2007-08-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

Jill and mom tagged me so I will share 8 facts about me that you may or may not know!

1. I don't really like desserts or sweets much, but ice cream is my one true love! And my favorite is chocolate ice cream mmmmmmmm!!! But I don't like pies or many cakes or brownies or any of that stuff.

2. I take after my mom and watch Days of Our Lives every chance I get. I work two jobs right now and I'm lucky enough to schedule my break between the two of them from 1 to 2 so I get to watch it frequently (its on in the background now)! It is an amazing show! If anybody finds this weird or thinks I'm a freak, its my mom's fault so talk to her.

3. I just noticed that my right toenail is significantly longer and shaped differently than my left one and it really bothers me. A few people have commented on it in the past but I never knew what they meant. And when I discovered it I told Jill and she acted like it was the only significant and noticeable aspect of me. Apparently everyone but me has noticed it! Now I can't stop looking at it. But I can't cut it any shorter without cutting my toe! I'm very bothered by this. Do you see it? I can't believe I never noticed!

4. I adore hot pockets and lean pockets. They are my main meal. I eat hot pockets and green beans for dinner very frequently! Want to come over for dinner some time?

5. I rarely wear makeup. I hate the way my face feels with makeup on. And when I wear mascara I always get it smeared all over the place. I always feel like foundation and cover-up are clogging my pores. And its terrible because I have dark circles under my eyes so I look like death most often. Oh well.

6. My favorite movies are Superstar and Napoleon Dynamite! I love dumb movies and I will never stop! They are so funny to me and I have watched both of them hundreds of times and I still crack up when I watch them.

7. I haven't owned a swimsuit since I was in elementary school. I hate swimsuits and I refuse to spend money on them. If I want to go in water I will wear shorts and a tank top that I already have.

8. I can't swim! Perhaps thats why I don't buy swimsuits and rarely go swimming. I can swim in my parents pool that goes down to 10 feet but thats because I can see the bottom and I know I won't die. If I were plunged into a river or ocean I'd die without a doubt.

I don't really have many people linked on here yet except my mom and sister, who both tagged me, so I won't tag anyone.

Where shall I begin...

2007-08-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

I don't have that exciting of a life, but I do have a great life. What I mean by that is that I am not married and have no kids, so there will not be any wedding pictures or baby's first steps stories, unless I am living an imaginary life or speaking of somebody else's life. On the other hand, I have wonderful family and friends who are all crazy and they never fail to amuse me. I have no idea what I may blog about, but I have family and friends on here so I thought I would join. So here I go!