Where'd I go??.....

Certainly set a new personal best for going the longest between two posts... sorry!!

Well as you can imagine, a lot has happened since February, so I'll just give you a brief month-to-month update:

March:

Went to Bend, Oregon on yet another great trip with the INN. Dare I say best trip yet. We spent all week working with habitat for humanity. Our group was great, the Habitat staff and volunteers were wonderful and the works wasn't all that bad! I made some nice contacts at Habitat and at the church we visited down there. Who knows, maybe I haven't seen the last of Bend...

Group Pic

Roommate pic- Mary, Me, Liz and Brittany

April:

Well considering I don’t remember most of April, I’m going to guess it was full of class, homework, work and internship. Oh and of course, a few visits from Janelle. One night, when Katie was feeling restless because her back is feeling better, she had it in her mind that she wanted to go jump in the fountain in Red Square up on campus at midnight. So of course, she talks Mary, Trinh and myself to go with her. Janelle came along as our “official photographer”.

Let me preface these pictures by sharing with you that according to a “reliable source” jumping in the fountain is frowned upon, but not illegal. I’m sure that makes you all feel better :)

Before


During

After

May:

If April was busy, May was much busier! Although I won’t graduate until next March, I finish up human services this quarter, which means I had to complete the capstone portfolio that the program requires. The portfolio process required me to complete numerous essays, compile them into an online portfolio and simultaneously complete a project that represents my learning or skills. Thankfully the entire thing was due on Thursday which means I’m now done with this class for the quarter.

You can check out the finished products by clicking on the two links below:

Kristina’s Capstone Portfolio- This portfolio demonstrates my learning throughout the program. Probably boring and not too exciting to look through…

Kristina’s Professional Portfolio- This portfolio acts as a more detailed, online resume that I can give to potential employers as I apply for jobs.

Well, that’s about it for now…. I sincerely hope to get more regular at this blogging thing…. Lets shoot for another post in a few weeks- not a few months… Only a few more weeks of the quarter to go!!!

Disneyland!... Not quite, but close...

So here I am in true Kristina fashion (according to Aunt Weez) :P posting almost exactly a month after my last post...

A lot has some how managed to happen since Christmas break it is amazing, and there seems to be no end in sight....

The biggest news would definitely be that I have decided to go on one final mission trip with the INN over spring break. I know what you are thinking, can't I just spend one break at home?? Well you see, that actually was the plan until I realized that this spring break would be my last chance to go on a trip with the INN because if I graduate on schedule next winter quarter, the graduation ceremony is always the Saturday before spring break- and by this point all trips will have left town...

Beyond the scary realization that I will be graduating next winter, I really wanted to embrace one last chance to skip town, hang out with some crazy kids and go on a fun adventure. Right as I started feeling this way, I had a few INN staff members approach me and let me know that they still had "A ton" of open spots on the Bend, Oregon trip and that they thought I should consider going. Just what I needed to push me over the edge, because when the trips were announced back in November that was the trip that stuck out to me. What can I say, it is Oregon after all and you all (probably) know how much I LOVE Oregon....

All that being said, I have confirmed a spot on the trip along with 3 of my roommates (can you say trouble? ;-) I believe the dates of the trip are March 20th to March 27th although I'll have to double check that... Once in Oregon, our group will be working with Habitat for Humanity in Bend, helping to build houses or whatever else they need us to do- should be fun. Although I must say, ever since signing up for the trip I have had a strange urge to find some pink/girly carhart work pants- rather strange considering I usually do not like wearing mass amounts of pink.... odd....I figure as long as they don't let me near anything like a nail gun or high powered saws everyone will be safe and that I'll actually be useful :) I am sure I will have some interesting stories for you all....

The only current problem is coming up with the remaining $425 I have left to pay for the trip expenses... Support is always appreciated and some of you will likely be receiving support letters in the next week... Ohh, did I mention all donations to the INN in my name name are tax deductable *wink*.....

Well moving on, the next few weekends are going to be a bit crazy-

-Feb. 13th is my roommate Mary's 21st birthday and Bellingham better watch out... I believe that day will be the day of Mary...

-Feb. 15th is president's day which means normal classes are cancelled but all the second year Human Services kids are all going down to Olympia to lobby for causes that we are passionate about (I am personally lobbying for stricter laws around human trafficking in Washington state, and budget restrictions surrounding adult day health services- funding for my internship). Should be a fun, but LONG day (leaving Bham @ 6am and returning around 6pm)

-Feb. 21st- the roommates and I are attempting to venture on up to Vancouver and check out all this Olympics hype. Rumor has it they won't even let you near Whistler if you don't have tickets, but I am sure that won't stop us from trying anyway. Worst case scenario, we actually get across the border and then just hang out in Vancouver with all the other tourists...

-Feb. 25th- Laura and I will be heading down to Seattle to volunteer at Children's hospital radiothon like we have been doing since high school. Should be a fun time answering phones and chatting with the radiohosts. After the radiothon I will be heading immediately down to Olympia for a student leadership conference with my roommate Katie, and some of the fort boys. Should be a good time- we will be meeting with some of the political and business figures in Washington over the weekend....

Ok, so I'll leave you with this quick story and some pics from the past month:

So Friday, I'm working, and let me preface this by saying where I work is stationed right in Red square so all of us employees were watching everyone out enjoying the amazing Spring-like weather- we were all a little envious... Anyway, so it was REALLY slow, so I was stalking some products by the window, and when I looked out the window, I noticed a guy that looked kinda like Michael, so I called over the student manager Grace, who happens to know Michael, and asked her, "do you think that is Michael?" and of course her response was, "yes, Kristina that is definitely your brother- seriously you didn't know for sure?" Oops... Sure enough, we opened the exit door and he had a direct view of me cashiering the rest of my shift from where his group was studying.... I guess I just some times forget that Michael might actually be on campus...

Some pics from the Broom hockey mission trip fundraiser night...

All the Maple Valley kids that attend the INN minus a couple... Quite a group- the two girls to my left I have known since 3rd grade. The guy in the orange jacket is one of the trip leaders for the Oregon trip and is engaged to my friend Sarah...

Somewhat of a roommate pic (plus our friend/INNtern Dave) Britt, Mary, Liz and Me ohh and Michael's roommate Jory in the Background..

Laura and I (Dakota creeping in the back) at broom hockey..

And so it begins...

Considering that I just got back up to Bellingham and had my first full day of classes today, nothing too exciting has happened yet so I thought I'd just share some pics from the Holiday season with you all...

Janelle and Katie... they were pretending to me mad at me because I was taking too long with the camera :-)

Me, Janelle, Katie and Kelsy before The Fort's (Michael's house) Christmas/ugly sweater party...

I just don't know what to do with these two....

If you ever wondered what it would look like to have pop cans freeze/explode in the fridge, take a look. This is what we were greeted with at the cabin over Christmas break.

Christmas Eve:

I try to take a picture, and he closes his eyes and picks his nose :-P

Janelle and I before Meg and Tyler's murder mystery party on New Year's... Janelle was supposed to be a astronaut and I was supposed to be a space princess (aka a chance to wear the infamous purple leather jacket!)

Follow-up to my earlier post...

Here is a new link showing the pardoned turkey "Courage" in the Disneyland parade:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2009/11/thanksgiving-day-parade-at-disneyland-park/

3 of my favorite things....

I found this on facebook because of course I am "friends" with Disneyland :)


I feel like this perfectly sums up a few of my favorites things (No Sound of Music reference intended)....

The link below is a must see short video of President Obama pardoning this year's turkey, Courage. After seeing this video, I kinda wish I could be a turkey pardoned by the president- heck, how else do you get to live at Disneyland...If the link below doesn't work then copy and paste it into the web browser....

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2009/11/the-national-thanksgiving-turkey-pardoned-by-president-obama/

If you have more time to kill- you can watch the whole thing (7 minutes long). Again, its pretty great if you ask me...

Swine flu (Swu) update....

wonder if this kid got it??

I am sure this is the first of many posts about the swu to come but here is the latest count.....

Let me preface this by saying that none of these cases have been officially diagnosed but they pretty much all exhibit the same "swu like" symptoms...

-Mary was out of commission yesterday. She peaked @ a temp. of 102 degrees.

-Scotty (our friend, and who Mary blames her illness on) also was out sick this weekend with a high temp. is now on the recovery. He came over last night for "moral support".

-Pat, one of the interns at the INN is reporting sick- and "death like" symptoms.

-Nick, Kelsy's boyfriend (and Michael's roommate) was feeling sick yesterday- again, I suspect swu.

-Trinh thinks she just has a cold. I don't believe her- I think she has more "swu like" symptoms than she cares to acknowledge.

-Janelle is now reporting that she feels sick. Although I do not know enough to call it swu, I am sensing a familiar pattern considering she spent the whole weekend here in Bellingham with the other "swu kids".

-Dakota just called me and told me she woke up this morning feeling like death. She has pretty much everyone of the symptoms of swu according to the CDC....

-Kelsy and I already deciding we are not getting sick- it just isn't going to happen to us- we are immune (power of persuasion- right??).

I even took some of Britt's 'oil of oregano' for the first and last time today. Some of the guys who live at the yellow sub swear by this stuff. You put two drops in a shot glass with some water and down it. That stuff is so potent I thought I was going to die as it went down burning. Not to mention I keep burping up oregano- GROSS! But hey, anything to prevent the swu- right? (I don't think so...) I don't care how much they say it is supposed to enhance your immune system- I'll stick to my vitamins...

Hope the swu hasn't hit hard down south yet- people seem to be dropping like flies here....

At least my roommate Liz who is studying abroad in Ghana hasn't encountered swu- just a bout with malaria (she's recovered now)...

two more pictures to add..

Considering my pumpkin got smashed about 5 hours after being carved, I felt the need to show it to you all. Oh, and below is the front yard now that the leaves have started to fall... Hopefully you all can tell what my pumpkin is...

Recognize it? It is one of the mice from the Cinderella cartoon...

Scroll down for some more cabin and Halloween pics!!!!!!

If the previous posts don't show below, go to the right hand side under November and October and click the links :)