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 :)

Picture overload: Cabin and Halloween pics...

Sorry for the large amount of pics below, but I figured you all wouldn't mind.

The pics below are from last weekend when Kelsy, Katie, Dakota, Janelle and I went over to the cabin as well as some pics of the Halloween festivities....

Kelsy and Katie at Safeway- they thought they were cute as a 2/$5 deal...

Nice Weather- cold but sunny...

A bit blurry, but me on the swing...

Janelle on the Swing- I thought she looked like a great swing model :)

Kelsy's first ride 4 wheelin'...

Katie's first ride 4 wheelin'...

Katie and I pre-ride posing for a picture :)

Dakota's first 4 wheelin' ride...

Katie and I outside the Cle Elum bakery with our cookies...

Posing around the car- I think this would qualify as our "band CD cover". P.S. My car/lights are not on- its just the flash :)

Stromboli dinner at the cabin...

Katie's artsy picture of the road to the cabin...

Myself, Kelsy, Janelle and I down by the swing...


Halloween:

Me as Martha Stewart- fixing Katie's costume- does Martha use duct-tape??

Katie and I- I swear she didn't steal the cone. We just "borrowed" it from one of the dorms on campus...

Yes, the flashing light did work....

group shot before the party- Martha (me), cone (Katie), nerd (Kelsy) and Astronaut (Janelle)....

Janelle was a pretty great astronaut....Very Space mountain like...

Katie, Kelsy, Dakota (yoshi the dinosaur from the video game Super Mario) and I at the dance party...

At the dance party- the theme was "Narnia" from the books/movies...

Janelle tried to take an above shot at the party- kinda worked??....

My friends Megan, Issac, and BonnieJean. Definitely deserved my vote for best costume- Jon and Kate "plus 8".... Quite funny considering that BonnieJean and Issac are engaged and Issac is actually Asian like Jon.

Weekend getaway...

Hello all, sorry that I haven't posted in about 2 months...

Lets, just say life has gotten a bit busy... Right now, Kelsy, Katie, Dakota, Janelle and I are at the cabin- cozied up with blankets by the fire. The wind is a blown' outside Janelle thinks we might blow away.... I think we'll make it....

Below I included some pics of a roommate adventure that occurred last weekend to the local pumpkin patch. And when I say local, I mean out in the boonies of Everson, about what is supposed to be a 30 minute drive... The drive there however was filled with multiple U-turns and Trinh repeatedly saying, "I think the turn is just right beyond this intersection".... Trinh was supposed to have the directions on her phone- which we realized she forgot soon after leaving the house... Considering that we were leading, and that Mary was following behind in her car, I think it is safe to say that we weren't the best navigators- especially when Trinh says, "Oh, I totally think I know where we are going- I was there 2 years ago".... Thankfully, we eventually made it there by going the route that is about 15 minutes longer- but hey, we made it there and I guess that is all that matters :) Moral of the story, next time I'm leader, the navigator will definitely have accurate directions on them...

Field O' pumpkins...

Group shot with the pumpkin cut-out...

Trinh and I were the first one's to finish (without cheating I might add)

Mary and Brittany posed for a pic- Britt was rather proud of her "mustache"

Brittany in her raincoat, posing with the wheel barrows...

Group shot with the Scarecrows- Me, Trinh, Katie, Brittany, Kelsy and Mary

Feet shot- Guess which ones are mine.... Hint: the colored ones one the left :)

First one to find a pumpkin- yes!!

Trinh and I with the giant pig- about 20 seconds later my both my boots decided to leak while standing in the biggest, deepest puddle in all of Whatcom county... It was great...

Hope this feeds your curiosity for a while- Happy Fall everyone!

4th of July pics and some end of summer quarter fun...

First, for some fun here is the rubric my professor sent out for evalutating my group presentation we did last week. The presentation was about our group process, so my group the jokesters we were decided to be a caterpillar that "transformed" into a butterfly- so so funny! Here is what my professor had to say about our presentation (she loved it so much she pulled out her camera and started taking pics)- only in Human Services :)

making our entrance...

transforming into a cocoon...

Comments:
Equal participation by all group members
· Yes!

Teamwork:
· You all looked like you were having fun.
· Very much a team presentation.

Focus on process not product:
· I was laughing too hard to pay attention to exactly what you were saying….but I did get some good pictures….see below.

Depth of reflection on highs, lows, in betweens:
· Again, laughing too hard….I didn’t take any notes!

Visual/metaphor fits with group process:
· Amazing visual

Creative:
· Outstanding!!!!

Overall presentation (flows well):
· Too much laughing to evaluate.




Better late then never- the pics from 4th of July @ my roommate Brittany's house:

The whole gang after some softball at the field down the street...

The ferry ride home (I don't know how to switch the order of these pics :)


Pickin' some rasberries in the backyard before Breakfast the morning of the 4th. Take note of how patriotic Britt's outfit is- she wanted to be "America" and I couldn't resist lending her my sparkly blue tank top :0





Some of the gang watching the Poulsbo 3rd of July fireworks show over Liberty Bay-two days of fireworks, now thats my kind of thing.

we found a playground in a nearby neighborhood

Surprised we didn't break the slide :)

Watch out everybody! Don't worry it was just an airsoft gun for the marksmanship contest (celebrating our 2nd ammendment rights of course)...

Still Alive and Kickin' ...

This is just a post to say that sorry I haven't blogged in ages- school kind of caught up with me over these past few months and with summer school in full swing (what was I thinkin' taking summer classes.... oh boy...) I haven't officially caught up on my "to do" list..

Stay tuned as summer winds down and fall approaches- I will make my best effort to be a "better blogger"

To do list:
1- Finish thank you's (still) to all those that supported me in Boston- There comin' I swear!
2- Work on scrap book of the year so that I can clean off my bulletin board and start Fall with a fresh start...
3- Find a job for the now almost over summer. I've resorted to temporarily house sitting for a crazy family with 3 cats (2 of them are on meds- one even has an inhaler- can you say ridiculous??) and a jungle of plants for their backyard (leave it to me to get a house sitting job with plant watering responsibilities the hottest week of the year....)... Good news is that the neighbors saw me watering and hired me to take care of their "indoor" cats and two potted plants- this is my kind of gig....
4-Finish summer quarter. Oh yeah- guess I should make time for some school work- shucks darn....

Anyway, Sorry to disappoint those of you sitting on the edge of your seats for my blog updates (Hey, I know you're out there :) But I will keep you "posted" if anything exciting happens... Well, I'll try at least :)

Glad its finally starting to cool off- happy summer!
Kristina

Boston video....

Because I forgot to include this with the last post, here is a video of the trip to Boston, courtesy of the two "INNterns" Sarah and Laura that went on my trip... Enjoy- its only a few minutes long...


Boston 2009 from the INN on Vimeo.

I promise I didn't forget...

So sorry I haven't blogged in what seems like a year...


I'll try to keep it short considering I have so much to cover.

Boston was AWESOME! Over the course of the week we helped out with 11 different organizations. As a group we did everything from house demo, shoveling compost, sorting children's clothes, serving homeless individuals and helping out local Boston churches with their current needs... We stayed at a pretty sweet church- it was 375 years old... I promise for those of you that supported me- your thank you cards on the way!!! Here are a few pics of the trip and a link to a video that our trip leaders put together:

Team dinner with some of the girls- our last night in Boston. We went to the oldest pub in Boston- George Washington was a regular there...

We worked at a church that John Quincy Adams built for his father. John Adams, John Quincy Adams and their wives are barried in the basement (we actually saw their crypts). This church is the only place in the world where two US presidents are barried together- no big deal...


At the Tremont Temple Baptist church were we worked one day- the giant baptismal tank was funded by some dude with the same last name.... kinda cool...


Our group the day we worked at the Treemont Baptist Temple... Also the place where we went inside the 4-story organ that was over 150 years old- a good story you should ask me about sometime...

The woman in the white coat was from Brazil. We didn't know her but she wanted to take pics with American's so she could send them to her friends back home and tell them she had friends in America.... so funny...

Mary and I in front of the Harvard bookstore... Thats right, I went to Harvard :)


My friend Becca and I outside Cheers...

Since the trip I have been back in the swing of things back here in Bellingham- work, school, INN stuff...

Sunday I went to the mariner's game with some friends- thanks to my friend Katie who scored me a free ticket through her mom and sister that work the games. As people left the game and seats opened up, we eventually made our way to row 1, seats 1 and 2 by first base- ahh the joys of a free ticket.....

Well, this is all I can think of as note worthy for now...