YAY!!!/nay

My fabulous friend Jeannie is always coming up with wonderful titles for her blogs. I am not as ingenius, so I am stealing one of her ideas (yikes/yippee), and changing it to YAY!/nay. Here is a little bullet list of recent things, categorized by YAY! and nay.

• YAY!, it has been sunny for more than 7 days in a row! Sun makes me happy, makes me more motivated to go to work, and means I get to drink iced coffees!
• nay, the water in my apartment has been a little spotty this week. On Wednesday I came home from work after 9 hours covered in dirt, and we had no water (like you turned the dial and nothing came out.) Then Thursday morning, I turned on the hot water and it came out brown. As of now, sometimes it is a little brown, sometimes it is fine. I took a shower and was afraid the whole time that the water was going to turn brown.
• YAY!, one more week of this quarter! Just 2 papers to turn in next week, and then a 2 week break!
• YAY!, I am going to Oregon next week to pick up my Grandma, AND I get to have lunch with my dear friend Mallorie! I am excited to go on a mini road trip and clear my head, and to see my lovely lovely Mallorie (and of course Grandma as well!)
• YAY!, yesterday I survived the near death experience of climbing down the cliff by Kelsey's house to the beach. Many many total vertical ladders and rapelling down a rope later, and we survived. I even have some sweet bruises on my legs. Look for pictures soon.
• nay, my apartment is a mess and I am a little overwhelmed and don't want to clean it. Anyone want to magically clean my apartment for me, and organize it just as I would like it done?! :-)
• Finally, YAY!, it's Friday, which means the weekend (full of sun, studying, writing papers, hopefully relaxing a bit and hanging out with the sister!)

The End!

Reflecting on a Year.

Last weekend marked the one-year anniversary of college graduation. Woah. I, for one, cannot believe how this year has flown by. Last thing I remember it was graduation, and me, Rachel, Shanon, Meara, Kevin, Kyle, Albert, and a few others went on that ill-fated trip to Big Al's the night after graduation. hahahaha!!! This year has been challenging, for so many reasons, however I have learned a lot about myself and resiliency. And just a shout-out to Kelsey: I don't quite know what I would have done without you this year. Seriously. Would probably be much less emotionally stable if you were not here!

So, obviously this year after graduation did not go quite as planned with my job. Although my AmeriCorps experience was filled with ups and downs, I can truly say I am glad I gave it a shot. I wish I had been able to do the program and serve the kids I was hired to work with, but it didn't work out that way. In the mean time, I got to reconnect with old friends (Jackie), and stay in touch with others (Nissana), and make new ones. I also got to learn about NLF, and structures of social services, power, and social justice in Tacoma. I got to meet new people who are important in the city, learn how choices are made, and also see bureaucracy at work in many ways. When all you want to do is serve people, seeing the barriers that various social structures put in place for you to do that work makes it quite frustrating. However, I am also quite glad I made the choice to leave when I did. I am so lucky to have my job at Camp Berachah, and get to work with horses and get paid to do what I love! Sometimes I feel so lucky, and almost like I am cheating them, because I love it so much! Although I love it a lot, I am quite ready for this session of lessons to be over (1.5 more weeks) and have a break before the craziness of summer camp starts!

What else... Well, I guess no one really prepared me for the feelings of social isolation I would feel. No one really sat me down and said, "Okay, Jessica, congrats on graduating from college, but now all of your friends are going to be scattered all over the country/world, and you basically have to start over from scratch. Good luck with that one..." If I didn't have Kelsey, I would go crazy. Not even kidding. Also, it has been great to get to see Taylor more often, and of course my family. It's definitely been trying at times, but also good for me to spend more time studying and such!

Grad school: So, I am about to finish up my third quarter of grad school. It has been quite the experience so far, although I am enjoying this quarter. One of my classes right now is "Adult Mental Health Diagnosis", and we spend hours upon hours reading the DSM. Although it's a lot of reading, I feel like I have actually learned a lot about mental disorders, more than I have learned in any other class. Also, this class is the first in this program where I am acquiring new information, which is kind of suprising since it's grad school! I am starting my practicum at the end of June, which I will be doing at Nativity House, a daytime drop in center for the homeless in Tacoma (check them out at www.nativityhouse.org). This summer will be super busy, working at camp 8-5 on the weekdays, then class on Tuesday nights, and practicum all day (10 hours) every Saturday...

Well, that's a summary of the last years. Lots of lows, lots of highs... I am looking forward to the next one.

Thanks for reading!

Is my car crooked?

...I actually asked this very question about an hour ago. The story is quite amusing-- after class I went to Stadium Thriftway to get some bananas and a few other groceries. I walked out of the store with my bag, got in my car, and as I was backing up I looked in the rearview mirror and I saw out the right side of my car. The first thing that crossed my mind was "oh my gosh, something is wrong with my car-- is my car crooked?" Obviously the real reason was that I had most likely bumped the rearview mirror with my bag as I got in the car. But OH MY GOSH! I cannot believe what goes through my head sometimes. HAHA!

Sometimes I think we need these little ridiculous moments in life just to keep things interesting!

Registration

Yesterday was registration for summer quarter. I can't believe I am getting ready for my 4th quarter of grad school! Well, since last quarter's registration brought dramatic results (i.e. being forced to be with a professor I don't really like for the third quarter in a row), I set my alarm for 5:45am to make sure not to miss out. Registration opened at 6:00am, and I was READY! It was total deja-vu to my days at Whitworth, when Meara and I would plan out potential schedules A/B/C, etc.... just in case we didn't get in to our first choices. Then we would wake up at the crack of dawn and wait for good old WhitNet to load. Gosh, I miss those days!

Anyway, I got the classes and professors I wanted, and summer quarter is looking good. I will have class on Tuesday nights, and then just four or five Thursday nights. Also, I will be starting practicum, which I think I am doing at Nativity House in Tacoma, which makes me excited.

Also, the last few days have been sunny and beautiful, and have lifted my spirits tremendously. I love going to work in a t-shirt, and not needing a fleece jacket to walk outside. I went for a run yesterday that was marvelous, and am loving not having to wear gloves and a headband at work. Yay, summer is on its way!

Spring Fun

The last few weeks have been full of fun and adventure. Life surely has kept me busy, and on my toes. We are in Week 6 of our 12 week lesson session at camp, last week we had Spring Break Horse Camp. Mom is also settled in her new house. Yesterday was Easter, and after church Tracy and I spent a lovely 90 minutes in the rain jump starting her car with mine, driving a mile, jumping it again, and finally pushing it in to a Target parking lot thanks to the help of some god-sent men in a white Ford Focus. Yay for adventures with cars. We had a wonderful Easter dinner at home, our first holiday meal in our new house. Spring is here, although I will be excited when the sun sticks around for more than 3 days at a time. God is good, and life is good. We are blessed. I think sometimes amidst the business and excitement of life, we sometimes forget the fact that God is in control! I surely need to remember that everyday, to surrender it all to Him, because without I am nothing. I wish all of you a wonderful week!

Here are some pictures of recent fun things, so enjoy!

Mom, Tracy and I celebrated Easter in our new house

Tracy and I on Easter Sunday

Riding Rosie for a camp open house a few weeks ago


With Katie and Keebler at a horse show last weekend. I was the faithful groom.

Welcome to Spring Quarter

This week was the start of Spring Quarter, a new set of classes. I still have class Tuesday and Thursday nights-- the nice thing about this program is that all of my classes will ALWAYS be on T/Th at the same times. Which is quite convenient for scheduling!

Tuesday nights I have Social Work Practice Skills, which is basically just motivational interviewing. It is with a professor that is for sure not my favorite... this is my third quarter of having her, and it wasn't by choice that I registered for her section of this class (I registered too late and had no choice!). It is mostly material I have covered before at Whitworth, so it won't be that great.

My Thursday class is Adult Mental Health diagnosis, which I wasn't really excited about, but after going tonight I think it will be a really good class. It's going to be challenging, and there is lots of reading, research papers, and real critical thinking! How exciting! I am so thrilled to potentially be challenged again. The professor lectures just a notch above the class, so you actually have to think during lectures and rise up to her level. This is the kind of teaching I got at Whitworth, and what I miss. I am hoping that this class will help me to be more excited about this program.

Let's see.... what else is new since I last blogged?.... The job is still going well. It is SO MUDDY out there, so I will be thrilled when spring actually hits and it starts to dry out. I am still enjoying teaching and working at the barn, although today wasn't too great. But some days are better than others, and hopefully tomorrow is better...

I am also pretty excited that Kelsey is back in town! It is sad that the Wisconsin internship didn't work out, but I am (very selfishly) glad that she is back! yay for friends and fun! We had yummy breakfast at the HobNob yesterday, and if you haven't been to this amazing place you definitely should go. It's on 6th and Yakima(ish) in Tacoma... SO GOOD!

That's all for now, I think. I hope you (my few loyal readers/friends) are having a wonderful beginning of spring!

Rainbow Chip Frosting

Tonight after work I went to Thriftway to get some groceries, and made the unfortunate mistake of turning down the baking aisle. I went in search of raw sugar, for this tea that I like. I didn't find any raw sugar, but I did find Rainbow Chip frosting! And of course, what goes better with it than Rainbow Chip cake mix? So now, about 2 hours later, I am sitting here in my apartment surrounded by the smell of freshly baked cupcakes! Of course, most of you who know me know that I rarely eat baked goods, so after my 1/2 of a cupcake I won't be having any more. But wow, was that frosting good!

So, there's a lighthearted anecdote as introduction to my first blog in awhile. A lot has happened in the last 3 weeks or so. My new job is going well, I am getting in to the swing of things and adjusting. Trying to do everything right, and do the best I can. I am definitely ready for spring to be here. Teaching for 5 hours in an arena with an aluminum cover is VERY difficult when it's raining. I am getting good at shouting loudly at my students! We've had some crazy weather-- snow, rain, hail, sleet, etc, and I am for sure ready for spring!

Last weekend my mom moved from our wonderful house on K Street to our temporary home in University Place. It has been an emotional week or so. Although I haven't been too upset throughout this process, it was definitely stressful and emotional. It didn't make it any easier that we had to fight snow, rain, hail, thunder, and other eventful weather throughout our weekend of moving. I feel blessed that the move was relatively painless- we survived generally injury free, and most of the major things are unpacked. We are so blessed to have this great house to live in in the interim... But it was hard moving out of the house that we all loved so much. Yesterday I went back to check the mail, and went inside, and walked through each room, remembering all of the fun, and good and bad that happened in each place. Although I didn't spend a ton of time at that house, because during the time we lived there I was in college, it was always a wonderful place of respite that I enjoyed coming home to.

However, one big lesson I have learned in my life is that "home" is not one specific place. Home is where you make memories with people you love (i.e. family or college friends), it is a place of warmth, quiet, LOTS of laughter!, and sanctuary from the outside world. In my life, my home has been in many places, and each place I have lived has truly felt like home. Walking through the empty shell of our house yesterday reminded me of this. The young couple who bought our house must be thrilled to begin the journey of their first house, which will take care of them as it did us.

Okay, that's about as much nostalgia/tears as I can handle for tonight! Thanks for reading. I promise I won't go so long in between blogs next time. And Rachel/Kara, Shanon, you need to update your blogs as well! :-) love love!