"you baited me with sauerkraut, that's so low"

So this quote really has nothing to do with this blog post, it just made me laugh. It's from the movie "Morning Glory" (Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton) which I watched the other day. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

I am recently going through this phase where I like writing down funny/memorable/meaningful quotes I hear on tv or in song lyrics or on movies. Most of you know I am not super great at remembering quotes (unlike Kelsey and Taylor, wow they are good), so I am trying to improve. Some recent favorites are:

"Blondes are either bad ass or fun, and you, you're a brunette"- Mark Sloan, "Grey's Anatomy"

"Who wants to go to Applebees alone?"- Vince Vaughn, "Couples Retreat" (HILARIOUS movie!)

"I'm upset, my bladder is full, there's no telling what I might do"- Michael Scott, The Office

"There are two things I know about white people: they love matchbox 20 and they are terrified of curses"- Parks and Recreation (last week's episode)

Moving on... I haven't written a post in awhile so I figured it was time. The last month has been crazy busy. I turned in my master's capstone (yay!), just got it back graded and got a 4.0 :-). I took a looong weekend road trip to Oregon, first to Portland for 2.5 days and stayed with Kelsey, then 2 days with my Grandma in Eugene. I got to have a lovely breakfast with Taylor and Alex also, and it was great to see them and catch up, although the time was much too short.

Our first horse show of the spring/summer was a few weeks ago and my student Katie competed on Keebler. It was a blast, although it was raining. The judging sucked, and she should have placed better, but it was a good experience regardless. We have another show in a few weeks, just a little schooling show, nothing fancy.

Rachel came to visit me last weekend, and we had a FABULOUS time! Lots of laughing, coffee, we went walking at Ruston, shopping at Target, and hot tubbing at the Middleton's with the view and the sunset which was amazing and super relaxing. I am so grateful for friends like her, it definitely lightened my mood and was just a good start to Spring!

Speaking of Spring, today is a beautiful day, there's blue sky and it's NOT raining or freezing cold. It makes me believe that Spring is officially here and maybe there will be an end to the seemingly endless grey skies and rain.

Life is good- I am happy. Spring Quarter starts next week, which means that it's my LAST QUARTER OF GRADUATE SCHOOL before I get my MSW. Wow! God is so good. The next few months are going to be exciting, bring some big changes and unexpected things, that's for sure. I continue to have faith in God's purpose and plan for my life, even when sometimes it seems to be in the fog. I am continually reminded of Proverbs 19:21- "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails."

my blonde moment of the day

an actual conversation in class tonight:

Kara: it's a love triangle. Or a love octagon.
Me: no, it's a love..... what do you call one with four?
Kara: a square.

girl power!

This little girl is so wise. Next president?!

sooo close!

I turned in my master's thesis/capstone on Thursday! The proof is below! It's a 250-page effort that took 6 months of work, and I can't even begin to count the hours that went into it. In case you can't read the front of the binder, the title is "Hope through Equine Assisted Learning". It's an 8-week, twice weekly, outpatient Equine Assisted Therapy program for women who have experience trauma. It is my baby. Something I actually want to do with my life and have been planning and just dreaming about it, and now it's down on paper! In a binder! With dividers and a table of contents and addendums. ooooh la la! When I turned it in I actually almost shed a tear. Yep, that's how pathetic I am (some might say nerd...)

And I had my friend Kara take this picture for proof. Yep I am a total dork. don't hate!

So now I just have one more week of class this quarter, then Spring Quarter, and then I am done in June!!! AGH GETTING SO CLOSE! Then I have to be a real adult... hmmm i don't know about this.

quote of the day

today i told two teenagers at my practicum,

"separate your bodies."

true statement.

Books by my bed.

It is no secret that I like to read. Before I go to bed I like to read a few chapters of some kind of book that is generally an easy read and isn't too intense so it's not likely to give me nightmares or weird dreams or affect my sleep in any negative way. Or get me so deep in thought that thinking about the book makes it hard to go to sleep. This means that start-finish it usually takes me between 5 and 7 days to read a book.

The other night I was reading "True Notebooks" before bed and I looked over at my bedside table and realized that there were 9 books on that table, precariously balancing on eachother like a Jenga block. Looking at the randomness of the titles it just made me laugh, so I thought I would post a picture and then a brief summary/description/review of each book. Most of these books belong in my "old-classic standards, go-to-when-i-have-nothing-else-to-read" classification scheme.

I am going to start from the book on the bottom which if I recall I read somewhere back in December, and move up from there. I highly recommend any and all of these books to you!

1- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich... an amazing book detailing an author's attempt to live on the minimum wage in three different US cities. Let's just say that she has very limited success and a newfound respect for (mostly) women of the lower-working classes. A must-read for anybody questioning the reality of the American Dream.

2- And Still We Rise by Miles Corwin... the author spent a full academic year in a mostly minority school in a low-income/gang ridden area of Los Angeles. He details the struggles of the school's Advanced Placement students and teachers struggling to succeed academically among financial ruin and the immense personal struggles of the students. Really opened my eyes to the inequality of our public school system here in the US where students across the country are supposed to be getting an equal education. Having taken AP classes myself in high school I found this book particularly interesting because I didn't have to fight book or supply shortages or have people getting shot while I was taking my AP tests in the Spring.

3- The Edge of Winter by Luanne Rice... i am ASHAMED that this book is in this pile! Let's just say, classic trashy grocery store love-story that is enthralling to read yet all the while I am reading it I am just a little bit ashamed of myself.

4- The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds... about an ultra-conservative religious group (basically a cult) and a young girl's coming of age story. Makes you think about the extremities of some cults but also that success among obstacles is possible.

5- The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White... this book is in my top 5 favorite books of all time. For real! It is a part of a series written by EE White (that's her pen name, I think the author is actually a male). Rebecca defied her parents and enlisted as a nurse in the Vietnam War, and falls in love with a "grunt" (enlisted, front-of-the-line) solider. She comes home from Vietnam and must face the reality of her choice to enlist and deal with the many horrors she saw. This book does not mince the atrocities of war and yet manages to be sensitive and subtle and a great love story about the "not-so-perfect" parts of falling in love.

6- Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding... I don't even know where to start with this book. This book is AMAZING. I have read it who knows how many times and use Bridget Jones as inspiration for my own blogging. The character of Bridget is every girl who has ever had a heartbreak, passed out drunk, passed out from eating too much, struggled with dieting and self-control, and the list goes on. Fielding's witty prose makes me laugh out loud no matter how much I read it, and the blunt British honesty in this book adds to the immense humor. I highly recommend this book to any woman (or man for that matter. maybe it will help you understand us better?!)!

7- Hunter Seat Equitation by George H. Morris... so I ride horses (obviously), and this book is the bible of hunter riding. George Morris is the father of American Equitation and this book teaches classic riding style which is taught all over the country. Just a little light bedtime reading!

8- A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter... I wonder who else has heard of this book? Set in the late 19th century, Elnora is a 16-year-old girl raised in the Limberlost of Indiana starting high school in the "big city". This is a coming of age story about love, finding independence and an adult identity, and staying true to yourself. As with most Victorian-era novels, it has dark and twisty undertones that contrast the apparent light and airy nature of the story. Each time I read this book I find something that I miss and that fascinates me. Stratton Porter's writing pays attention to each detail that gives you the most vivid mental images of each scene. A must-read!

9- True Notebooks by Mark Salzman... Several months ago I wrote a blog post just about this book. And here I go again. Mr. Salzman spent a year teaching creative writing classes in a maximum security facility for Juvenile Offenders. Most of his students were facing charges for violent crimes, robberies, gang-related drug or violence offenses, and in some cases murder. This book shares his experiences and many examples of the writing that his students created. For youth who had never been given any sort of creative outlet, the experience of Salzman's class gave them license to express themselves. This book will shock you and touch your heart (I know that sounds too warm and fuzzy to be true, but it is.)

Hope you enjoyed this little summary of books on my nighstand. Pretty soon they are going to fall off my nightstand and I will have a problem (hopefully not in the middle of the night while I am sleeping.) Perhaps I should put them away in their rightful homes and do another post like this in several months.

Peace is...

So if you don't know, this year I am doing my practicum at Peace Community Center on Hilltop in Tacoma. I started in September and get to be there until June. I love it. Underscore on the love. I feel blessed to get to be a part of the lives of our amazing high schoolers and see the perseverence and strength in our kids. They have had to overcome some pretty tall obstacles to get where they are and getting to help them over some hurdles and rejoice in their successes makes me pretty happy. Last week we had a staff retreat and I was lucky enough to get to attend.

The first day we spent some time reflecting on "What is Peace", specifically talking about the mission of the community center and where we see peace in our work with the students. However this discussion expanded to where we see peace in our everyday lives, and in the moment I wasn't very eloquent with my thoughts (imagine that!). After having a few days to reflect I have come up with a list (wow, what a suprise) of times that mean peace to me. This list is in no way exclusive and I am sure there are many many many things I am leaving out.


Peace is-
... waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee
... a trail ride after a long day of work in the summer
... taking a shower after a long day of teaching lessons and standing there under the hot water for 10 minutes because I am waiting for my body to not be numb from the cold
... sitting under a blanket with some cocoa
... reading a good book before bed
... the smell of saltwater in the morning
... iced white chocolate americanos
... laughing so hard that you cry and/or pee a little
... driving out to Enumclaw towards the mountain in the morning and seeing the clouds evaporate over the mountain
... feeling safe in someone's arms
... any music by Joshua Radin
... brownie batter
... the smell of horses on your skin and clothes long after being at the barn
... sitting around with friends on a lazy Saturday when it's raining outside
... driving on I-90 from spokane-tacoma with loud music and the cruise control on
... walking on ruston way, anytime, rain or shine
... the orange color of the sky and the silence of the world before it snows
... driving down a country road with nowhere to go, just to drive
... the last class of the quarter
... soundview camp
... swinging on a swingset
... the end of our church service at manitou, standing in a circle and holding hands, and feeling a part of the community


I challenge you, where are places or times in your life where you have felt peace? It could even be just for a fleeting moment or for a little longer. It takes a little extra concentration, but I think I can firmly say that some of the most profound moments of peace in my life have been amongst chaos. This week I am going to try and slow down and find those moments of peace in each day.