Sorry I haven't had too much to update you all on.... The last two weeks have been a blur as I prepared for three finals on Monday and one on Tuesday.... Which means today being Wednesday, I am officially done with Fall quarter 2008!!! I should be back in Maple Valley sometime in the next day or so...
Here are some house pics- our attempt at a Christmas card pic.... Lets just say after this photo shoot, you can expect more of a New Year's pic somewhere down the road when we have time to take more pics...
Photo Credits to our friend Tyler who came over after Grey's one night and put up with us for an hour, trying to get a decent pic- sorry they are kinda dark (it was 10:30 at night after all)...
If only we all were looking at the camera...
In a line...
On the couch...
Tyler: "I just need to get you guys to smile naturally- Tim why don't you do moon them"... Tim walks into the kitchen, comes back out 30 seconds later and moons us...
Pure shock....
Scarred for life- I already told Tim he would be paying for my Therapy....
Well, I think that is all for now... I will post the Santa pics from Falalalalalalala INN when they become available...
OK, sorry it has been a while since I last posted....
I feel like everything this week has fallen into at least one of three categories: busy, boring or necessary.......
Starting off with busyness of the week- I only worked 14 hours this week but had little time for slacking off after work, as I was still recovering from not doing an ounce of studying from Thursday night until Sunday night at 9pm because Janelle came up for the weekend to hang- no complaints there though.... Monday and Tuesday were just mostly filled with class, studying, work, INN shop meetings, Hosting at the INN and much more....
Wednesday however, things got a little interesting.... Tuesday I went and talked to my Chem professor about our upcoming chem test the Wednesday before thanksgiving. First of all, who in there right mind schedules a test the Wednesday before thanksgiving?? Everyone knows that classes end at noon and any classes before noon majority of students skip anyway. Don't get me wrong, she is a nice woman but when I looked at our schedule and saw this, I had a few choice words for her in my head.... On top of that, I was scheduled to register smack during the test which was a huge problem in and of its self. Registration times are critical and attempting to register even a minute late can cause you to loose a out on a class that you may need. As I start the Human Services Program next quarter, 3 of my classes I am guaranteed a spot in. However, one of the classes I am trying to get into that I will need to take eventually for the major is competitive to get into and as a Sophomore, I am basically at the bottom of the list. So, I go and express great concern about the time conflict- dramatizing about the low odds I have about the classes I have to get into for the HS program (she doesn't have to know that I have a reserved spot in the first three..) Anyways, I go on about maybe taking the test early on Tuesday instead of on Wednesdays, but she says that won't work and she offered that I could take it later Wednesday morning..... Fast-forward to Wednesday Morning. I get to Chemistry, and she starts out the class saying she has an important announcement. I could read her face as she glanced at me before she even started talking- she was going to say something about the test on Wednesday. Sure enough, she goes on to say that she thinks it would be better to postpone the test until the following week after dead week. Of course, it being dead week (the week before finals) professors are not supposed to administer tests this week, so she had to "ask for our permission" to change it to then. I think she figure out quickly that we were supportive when almost the whole class broke out into applause.... Needless to say, I like to think that I have enough persuasion over a professor that I could guilt her into postponing a test :) Wednesday was made even better when I went to show up to psych and class was cancelled.... This presented me with an opportunity to go home and study (and maybe watch the Notebook with Kelsy and Mary) for an hour and a half before work.... The rest of the week consisted of working, classes, and studying any chance I could manage- I even skipped Grey's to go up to the lab and study Thursday night from 9-11:30pm- can you say dedication?
Anyways, Friday night was pretty low- Friday afternoon the INN had a Turkey bowl- flag football with a frozen turkey- quite entertaining! Kelsey and I made a quick run to target, then I spent the rest of the night crocheting and watching Gossip Girl with Sarah and my small group leader Laura....
Saturday was quite eventful- starting with Ben calling me at exactly 7am to just chat about host team- he was actually surprised that I was still asleep- 7am really Ben??? Later, I had to study groups at the library, then Ben and Kurt wanted me to come with them to the mall, and help them pick out B-day presents for Trinh's party that later that night. I got home from the mall, to find the whole house decorated and ready for Trinh's party that night. We all proceeded to get ready for dinner which meant raiding Brittany's closet for something to wear, heading on out for dinner at a local Greek restaurant with the roomies and some of Trinh's closes friends... After dinner, we got back to the house to prep for the guests, who would be arriving around 9 and then danced the night away until 1am when I finally called it quits and the house cleared out....
Surprisingly, Trinh and I actually had the energy to get up and go to church this morning, and we were actually ready to go and not running late when Kurt and Jarrett came and picked us up....
OK, there you have it. A relative play by play of my week. Believe it or not, I actually have some pictures from Trinh's B-day dinner:
Trinh's turkey B-day cake
Kelsy and I hanging out in Brittany's room while everyone is getting ready...
Myself and the b-day girl at dinner.... Finally, a pic with the roomie- Liz and I at dinner (we figured we better take one then, considering we never look this cute during the actual school week...)
This posting comes, immediately after I was just outbid on eBay for a copy of Newsweek with Obama on the cover- talk about a bummer. If anyone has a newspaper, or magazine from the day after the election and does not want it- please send it my way!!
So, this past week has been absolutely nonstop starting with last Sunday afternoon. After church on Sunday, my friend Courtney gave me the contact info for a lady she works for who was in desperate need of a nanny. On a whim, I called expecting to leave a message saying that I was interested. Not only did I talk to her in person, but she had me come over to her house as soon as we hung up to meet her husband, and two kids. When I first got there the mom, Joni shared how they were looking for a nanny to start asap as her husband just got a job that starts the next day. She said how they had hoped to interview a few people over the next few days and then make a decision. Very much to my surprise, Joni and her husband Jim felt that I was right for the job. They hired me on the spot, and I started the following day (Monday). The family lives about 20 minutes away out at the lake, and I just spend the time greeting the kids as they get off the school bus, giving them their snack, starting homework and depending on the day driving the kids to martial arts or ballet. Can you say soccer mom anyone? My roommates won't stop teasing me after I had the ultimate "soccer mom" moment when I was driving them to martial arts and caught my self looking in the rear view mirror and witnessing Jonanthon pulling his little sister, Dana's hair, all the while she is holding his hat out of his reach. Without missing a beat I found myself saying: "Dana give Jonathon his hat back, and Jonathon stop pulling Dana's hair". I was quite pleased with myself when the kids instantly did as I said- can you say most well behaved kids ever? Overall, it isn't a rough gig considering I spend majority of the time sitting and waiting at their practices- at which I am encouraged to bring a book, and just study. Wow, getting paid $10 an hour to study- I guess I can't complain....
Beyond the jobfront, campus was alive with political outcries on Monday as the election neared. Between the "Western Votes" tables stationed dead center in read square, endless reminders from Professors to get out and vote (My Psych professor even jokingly offered use of her Lexus if you needed transportation to drop off a ballot). Although from what I heard, the day was complete with Christine Gregoire and Patty Murray speaking to a standing-room only crowd on campus. I was planning on skipping class to go to the speeches but was unable to because of a stupid Psych test- darn academics!
Tuesday was a pretty crazy and anticipated day, as both the general election was occurring, as well as The INN was announcing mission trips that night. In regards to the election, my house was quite excited. Mary went home to be with her Dad, and plan how they would move to Canada and/or Scotland if McCain won- needless to say I am glad the results were in her favor- I woulda missed her. When I left for class at 9 Liz was camped out on the couch watching CNN... 5 hours later I returned to get ready for work and found her in the same position. After work, I returned home to find that Liz eating dinner on the couch and still watching CNN only the room was spotless. Apparently, Brittany (the lone Republican in the house) had cleaned the whole downstairs as a result of nervousness and anxiety over the polls... Around 7:30 a few kids from my host team came over with the intentions of playing some pre-hosting card games. However, we sat down in the TV room and couldn't bring our attention away from the constant updates. The next thing I knew, they announced Obama had exceeded the 270 mark and we couldn't believe it. Sarah and I were cheering- Ben sat silently disappointed and Liz was just sitting back and soaking it all in. We proceeded to call our friends and share in the excitement (or in Sarah's case, call our friend Tim and remind him that he now owes her ice cream from a lost bet). Then, we watched McCain's speech- which I might add, was a pretty good speech- I even felt a little sorry for him and Palin...
After McCain's speech, Sarah, myself and the rest of our host team was supposed to go down to the INN and start hosting. We were definitely late as we tried to hold out for Obama's speech but decided that we would just have to watch it on youtube later...
The INN was abuzz with excitement both inside, and throughout the surrounding streets as we watched the crowd of people cheering down Holly street towards downtown. Beyond the election, the INN kids were excited for the long anticipated mission trips video. The announcement of spring mission trips is a big deal, and tends to set the tone for the rest of the year. This year, the INN will be sending groups to Mexico, Jamaica, Boston, New Orleans, and Billings, Montana. I turned in paperwork for Boston, which will be a great challenge in itself in raising the trip cost of $950. I should be finding out within the next few weeks about whether I made of the 18 available spots for the trip....
After the INN, Sarah and I came back to watch Obama's acceptance speech, then we got a call from one of Sarah's friends. He wanted to go down and join the crowd that had gathered. So Sarah drove, and we got downtown to discover around 300 people (which apparently shrunk from the originally estimated 3,000 people that walked down from campus) cheering, hugging, and giving speeches of what they thought the future holds. It was a night I don't think I will be forgetting any time soon.
The rest of the week, campus was relatively quite. That is, with the exception of my professor's noting the importance and significance of this election and what Barack Obama has to offer the country as well as making us watch his acceptance speech. Somehow both times this happened I managed to be sandwhiched inbetween, or sitting next to the only Republican friends I had in each class- ohhh man, good times.....
Anyways, that is all I can come up with for now- hopefully I didn't bore you all to tears. I know you would all like to see pictures of me, but of course you have probably figured by now- I am slacking in that department. So instead, I will leave you with Obama's acceptance speech. A must see if you haven't already- I have seen it three times and still think it is potentially one of the best speeches I have ever seen/heard.
I know that there have been multiple requests for pictures regarding my adventures, but while I am still waiting on those, I was able to convince Kelsy to send me one of the pics she took when three of us carved pumpkins last night....
Mind you, this was the third pumpkin I have carved this year- I like to consider myself an expert on the art.... just kidding- although I was impressed with how this latest one turned out given that it was only half stenciled- half free handed....
I promise I will do my best to be getting other pics up that contain the roomies and friends from the INN....
OK, So I will be writing a more proper post later today/tomorrow (hopefully) but until then I will complete the survey that Trish tagged me in as I try to kill two hours in the computer lab between classes....
10 Years ago: 1- I was in the 4th grade. 2- I was obsessed with Beanie Babies 3- I was enjoying our new family property in Cle Elum 4- I wanted a dog.... 5- I was excited to move on to 5th grade...
5 Thing's on Tomorrow's To Do List: 1- Go to class- Music 105 (boring!) 2- Get caught up on Psych 210 reading 3- Go to a group meeting for chemistry at the library 4- Go to small group 5- Watch Grey's Anatomy with Mary and Trinh
5 Thing's I would do if I were a millionaire(we are talking multi-millions right?): 1- Travel (Greece, Germany, Italy, Egypt, London, Israel, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, and Costa Rica- to name a few...) 2- Buy a sweet house somewhere in Oregon 3-Buy a house near Disneyland complete with my own private plan that can take me to Disneyland at the drop of a hat (sorry Trisha, but I had to top you- we are talking about millions, so it is only natural that I need to compete and out do you :) 4-Go to Grad school without the fear of endless debt 5- Split the remaining money between personal investments and charitable investments
5 Places I have lived: 1- Maple Valley, WA 2- Bellingham, WA 3- Cle Elum, WA 4- Disneyland I feel comfortable claiming both Cle Elum and Disneyland as places that I have lived, given the amount of time I have spent at both places...
5 Jobs I've had: 1- Babysitting 2- Foley's Produce- cashier, shelf stocker and produce "sampler" 3- Tahoma School District- substitute childcare provider 4- City of Renton- assistant softball coach for summer youth teams 5- Leadership class- Believe me, that was a job in its self...
OK, so I apoligize for the lack of blogging that has occured over the last week or so- things got a little crazy between the huge gap I had between tests, and I was trying to hold off and wait for pictures that my friend Sarah has on her camera from the course of the week (that still have yet to come)...
I am finally done with midterms- atleast until the second round hits in a few weeks on Novemmber 3rd... Having just completed two tests before 10am today made for a lot of studying over the weekend... Saturday was complete with a five hour study session at the downtown Starbucks, while sunday I dragged myself to the Woods coffe shop at Boulevard Park down on the waterfront for another five hours of studying (although I have to say it wasn't too rough given that I was sitting in a big brown leather chair next to a rock fire place overlooking the bay)....
Besides studying, this week was especially social. Before the INN on Tuesday, my host team had a team dinner; complete with tacos and pumpkin carving at Sarah's (who is my host team partner). Sarah, and my small group leader Laura both live at the "Lighthouse" which is just down a few blocks from me. After the pumpkin carving, we carted our pumpkins down the street to the INN for a night of greeting. Rumor has it from the INN staff, Sarah and I have one of the best teams the INN has ever seen this early on in the year (not so surprising when you learn that both Sarah and I were leadership kids in highschool). The pumpkins made for some great laughs as students walked in the door and tried to guess the owners of the pumpkins. After the INN, Sarah talked me, Ben and a few others into coming back to the lighthouse to watch a movie. Needless to say, we did not end up leaving until 1am- and that was before the movie even started. Waking up Wednesday at 6:30 was not the easiest...
Wednesday was a pretty typical day, until Sarah called and wanted me to come over around 9 to watch the movie "Baby Mama" and bake our friend Grant a cake that she owed him from a lost bet. Needless to say, after watching a movie, baking a cake, delievering the cake to Grant's house, and getting suckered in to helping Grant fold his laundry I did not get back until 2am....
The girls in my house were quite surprised with this latest bedtime development as I am often refered to as the old woman in my house- I go to bed early, and get up early...
Things were pretty low key (and tiresome) the rest of the week until Friday night when most of the girls in my house were planning on going to The Fort's pumpkin party. However, as it got closer to heading on over there the girls in my house got tired all of the sudden and decided to bail. I called Sarah to see if she was going, and instead she talks me into going with her and a few friends down to some haunted house downtown. After the haunted house, we went to our friend Scott's and watched "The Strangers" which is pretty much the scariest movie I have seen in a long time....
After that we went home, and I didn't see Sarah for almost a whole 24 hours until Saturday night, when we decided to test out a different church over by the mall that does Saturday night services @ 6m. After church we did a Target run (where I was too poor to buy anything besides chapstick- at least my lips will look good right?)
Later Saturday night, Ben came back and took back the wii having received so much crap from the guys in The Fort to get it back. Not even three hours after taking it though, we were invited over to play wii with the guys..... I predict the wii won't last long at The Fort...
Sarah and I broke our unintentional 5 day streak of seeing eachother yesterday as we both had studying to do. We both were laughing at the fact that we only met at the INN retreat in late September and hang out pretty much all the time. Ben (who is also on our host team) was quick to point out that Sarah and I spend way too much time together- I however, disagree....
I better go and get some lunch seeing as my brain is a little fried from all of the studying and testing of the last few hours....
I will leave you with guys with a video I saw on GMA the other morning regarding Obama and McCain at the Al Smith memorial dinner- I found it amusing...
So, this week has been pretty uneventful. With classes in full swing and the continuous job hunt I haven't had too much free time to get up to any trouble. My housemates however....
So one of the girls Trinh, lent her toaster to her friend Kurt over the summer- who also happens to live in The Fort (Michael's house). But, the girls in my house were desperate for a toaster and would not consider paying for one (Let me preface this by saying we have found a rocking chair in the bushes, a couch and a record player on craigslist, and a garbage can from some friends all for free over the last few weeks). So, a few weekends ago, we went to the The Fort BBQ and Kurt had the nerve to point out "his toaster". Not a good idea on his behalf. So, after we left the backyard of the BBQ, we just walked upstairs into the apartment and took back our toaster to its rightful home. Kurt then called to declare "war". As if that was bad enough it gets better.
Last year, Ben (another Fort boy) lent Mary and Kelsy his wii for their dorm room f0r what was supposed to be a few days. A whole quarter later, Before claiming his wii back for the summer; he even went as far as buying them another steering wheel controller for the Mario kart game when he heard they would like another so that friends could play. Needless to say, shortly after we all moved in we knew it was critical that we regain Ben's wii (he himself admitted he hardly uses it). So, Sunday night one of the girls was chatting with Ben online and convinced him that once again, we wanted to "borrow" his wii. Operation successful. Ben arrives ten minutes later, wii in tow and sets us up for some Mario kart. The boys in The Fort where not happy about this. They claimed it was "their" wii. A few of the boys have been telling us that we have until Tuesday to enjoy the wii- before Ben returns to take it back. Mary, Kelsy and Liz are already working on an interference plan. We will see how that goes...
As if this wasn't enough, Kurt was wearing a red plaid shirt the other day that caught Mary's eye. Apparently Mary has always wanted a red plaid shirt and mentioned this to Kurt- he responded saying that she couldn't have his shirt. Again, big mistake. So, Trinh was visiting The Fort the other day, and of course there was the plaid shirt laying on a chair. So, when Kurt left the room she tucked the shirt into her backpack- he still has yet to notice that the shirt is missing. Although, it should be obvious when Mary plans on wearing it the next time he comes over, and shows him the pictures of her wearing it while also using the toaster :)
I was joking that our house should be called the kleptoscope (kleptomania being a stealing disorder). On the subject of house names, we had a competition last week where people could submit names for our house and the winner would receive a plate of cookies. Well, we gathered Sunday night and while the submissions were plentiful, we still have yet to come to a consensus. I amsuggesting The Fortress (Female version of the Fort) considering all of our ties to The Fort, or The Giant Peach- our house is often referred to as the peach house. We'll see how those go over...
Well that's all for now. I'll leave you with a random video that I watched in my Geology class today:
Moral of the story- don't try to ride a Sea Doo next to a glacier...
Welcome to my blog. Trisha has had so much success with Caden's blog, I thought why not give it a shot. I figured that this will be a great way of keeping family and friends updated with my life here in Bellingham.
So, to recap what is going on in my life: -Moved back up to Bellingham for school. I am now living in a house with 5 great girls- Mary, Kelsy, Liz, Brittany, and Trinh. Our house has been great so far. I am only about an additional 2 minute walk from my dorm last year so campus is just down the alley about a block, and up the hill. Downtown is also walking distance on a sunny day. The location of our house is also close to the First Presbyterian Church where the INN meets on Tuesday nights, so we have a nice, short (and safe) walk as a group.
-As many of you know, I am actively involved with the INN here at Western. Tuesday nights are just a fun time for us college kids in the Bellingham area to come together and discuss faith, community, and local service. This year, I am actually a student leader for a host team, and the local service team. Tuesday night was my first night with my assigned host team. Luckily, I am partnered with a senior Sarah- who is teaching me the ropes of being a host team leader. So far it seems like a great group of people, and we had fun handing out fliers and greeting students as they arrived. As I mentioned, I am also on the local service team. So far, aside from our brainstorming at the SHOP retreat (the student leader retreat for the INN- no one knows what it stands for, but a few of us were joking that it stood for Students Helping Other People) we haven't actually had a service event yet, but I am getting excited for the potential opportunities for the INN students to serve both at a local level, and a more statewide/global level.
-And now, classes. That school thing that brought me up here to Bellingham. I am taking Chemistry 101, Geology 214, Music 105 and Psychology 210. The first three are classes that I need to take as part of the general university requirements to graduate, and the psych class counts towards the psych minor I have almost completed. Needless to say, classes are slightly boring but manageable.
Exciting news of the day: My application was accepted into the Human Services program for winter quarter! This means, pending the results of my Washington State Patrol background-check results (wish me luck everyone :P ) I can start the program winter quarter! Finally!
Well, that is all for now. I will leave you with a random picture of my house that was taken last spring:
If only we all were looking at the camera...
In a line...
On the couch...
Tyler: "I just need to get you guys to smile naturally- Tim why don't you do moon them"... Tim walks into the kitchen, comes back out 30 seconds later and moons us...
Pure shock....
Scarred for life- I already told Tim he would be paying for my Therapy....
