Sunday, August 19, 2012
Last week Dad and I visited my grandparents in the beautiful, green, slightly cold (only 60 degrees two days we were there!) state of New York. Actually, I had forgotten that I had started this blog post, so the details now might be a little limited, but at least you can see what it is that I have been up to.
We left home at about 4 am Tuesday morning to make our way to the airport. Pretty much all of Tuesday was spent traveling to there, so the adventures didn't really start until Wednesday when we (myself, Dad, Grandma, and Holden) made our way to Niagara Falls. Two years ago we went to the Canadian side, but this time we just stayed in the good ol' US of A. However, you can still see Canada in the background of some of these pictures.
Me and Grandma. Isn't she cute?
Dad aboard the Hurricane Deck. Why, yes, actually we were soaked by the time we made our way back to the top.
The sunset on the way home.
Day the next Dad and I went to Letchworth State Park. Actually we have been here before (two years ago), but decided to go again. This place is sometimes called the Grand Canyon of the Eastern United States. This day was just me and the Dad.
Aren't we vibrant?
And then we saw this deer as we were heading out of the park. Was it afraid of us passing by? Not a bit.
Our next adventure took us to Palmyra to attend a session at the temple and then spend a little bit of time in the Sacred Grove. Grandma came with Dad and I, and it was so nice to go there.
The last full day we were there (last Monday), Dad and I went to Rock City Park. We kind of arrived off the beaten path, but in the end we got there. We spent about an hour trundling along over the rocks and roots.
This is funny because when people think of New York, they always think of Long Island. We do not go to that part of New York ever. We only go to the Upstate part of New York.
A fungus among us!
And thus concludes a week in pictures.
Meanwhile, public school here has started already, and I did manage to land a job at another elementary school for this school year. However, I do not start working there until NEXT Monday. So soon I will be insanely busy working six days a week again, but I think it's OK. Also, I'm still trying to decide where it is I want to go to school next year. And, unrelated, I burned myself giving a dear friend cooking lessons last week, so I'm currently sporting a nasty large, red, blistery sore on my wrist. It's awesome!
Labels: Photography, travel, updates, work
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Yes, I'm still procrastinating my paper. Hey, it's not due until Friday. Don't judge me, yet! (You may judge me tomorrow around 8pm when I am irritated with myself for putting it off so long and I've only got one out of 3 pages written. For the record, I think these assignments -and this class- are stupid, and at this point it will be really difficult for me to fail the class. Not that I want to challenge my grade, but I just about have stopped caring about it, you know?)
Anyway. People keep asking me if I've heard yet. You know, about Taiwan, to know if I'm actually going or not. I promise,
promise that I will tell everyone in the world when I finally hear back, but as of now, the answer is still "no, I haven't." Yesterday, in a fit of anxiety and other emotions, I finally emailed ILP (again) to see if/when anyone knew anything. It's been about three weeks since I was told the school(s) were going over my paperwork and I would hear back soon. The kind (and when I say "kind," I actually mean kind; she is amazing) Taiwan Rep emailed me back this evening:
No worries! I totally understand how hard it is waiting when you want to be able to make decisions on things. The school is looking over all the paperwork right now and I should be able to let you know within the next few days. I will let you know as soon as I hear back.
I understand that there really isn't a lot that she can do to speed the process along. It's just that if I'm
not going to be, you know, going this summer, then I need to start working on Plan B
now. There's a job opening that I could be interesting in doing stuff like what I did at the Bindery when I was up at the Y, but applications have to be in by Friday. So my conundrum is thus: do I apply for it or not? I am fairly confident I could get the job (I am going to have the most flexible schedule on earth once classes let out, and I have Connections with the company), but at the same time I don't want to waste their time if they interview me, and then I end up getting this position overseas. I also don't want to be left high and dry if I
don't get this teaching job. I really am not sure what to do.
To bring religion into it, I KNOW without the teeny-weeny shadow of a doubt that I needed to apply for this program teaching in Taiwan. I cannot even question it without feeling a fool. So I hope that, you know, needing to apply for it means that I will get it, but I'm not positive about it. I get this "hey, don't worry so much" feeling when I do pray about it (well, that is when I get any feeling at all, sometimes there's nothing and I think it's because I've become annoying about it). There are some days, weeks even, when I am so confident and sure that it will work out the way I want it to. But, lately, the majority of the time has been me feeling really anxious about it and preparing myself for disappointment, because that's what I do when I anticipate something I really, really want happening.
Now that I've basically exhausted that subject, I suppose it's back to the homeworks. I've got one sentence down... three pages to go?
Labels: Taiwan, updates
Saturday, April 02, 2011
For those of you keeping track (or that might just be interested), I have completed 41% of the goals listed below. Some are more in progress than others, but I feel like I am doing pretty well. Especially considering the fact that I don't need to be done with these goals until March 2, 2013. That is almost 2 years away!
1. Live in Taiwan
2. Sleep under the stars
3. Fall in love
4. Kiss in the rain
5. Go camping
6. Watch the sunrise and sunset in the same day
7. Find out my blood type (
done: A-)
8. Dance in the rain
9. Make a new friend (
done)
10. Read 100 books (
in progress)
11. Take a photography class
12. Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor
13. Go to 5 different museums (
done and then some)
14. Get a passport (
done)
15. Do something that scares me to death (
done)
16. Improve my posture (
in progress- my current Physical Therapist feels strongly about this and is teaching me what I need to do)
17. Buy a new computer (
done)
18. plant a tree
19. Make a birthday cake for someone (
done)
20. Make a custom recipe book
21. Do some volunteer work (
done)
22. Graduate College (
May 6)
23. Visit Japan
24. Sleep in a hammock (
done)
25. Teach English in a foreign country
26. Visit Choco Canyon
27. Attend at least one session in every Utah temple (
in progress)
28. Go to Maui
29. Go Paragliding (
done)
30. Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
31. Go ice skating (
done)
32. Make a quilt (
done)
33. Try a new ethnic food
34. Travel outside of the country (
done)
35. walk barefoot on the beach with someone I love
36. Blog something meaningful once a week for a month (
done)
37. visit teach my sisters every month for 6 months
38. Feed the ducks
39. build a fort while on a date
40. practice piano half an hour every day for a month
41. learn to say no
42. learn to speak a foreign language fluently
43. Exercise at least 3 times a week for a month (half an hour each time)
44. Become CPR certified
45. Save $ for every goal I complete
46. Get my own, personal stamp for business
47. enter a photography contest
48. be able to touch my toes
49. Reach out to an old friend (failed, but
done)
50. Learn how to use photoshop (or some other photo-editing program)
51. Visit Karen in Texas
52. Find a reason to wear a fancy dress
53. Get a job I love
54. Go on an "adventure" at least once a month for a year (
in progress)
55. Get some business cards that I LIKE (
done)
56. Get up by 9 am every day for a month (
done)
57. Save $5,000
58. Don't spend any money for 1 week. (
done)
59. Save a dollar a day for a year (0/365)
60. Find someone who will truly love me for who I am
61. Read the Book of Mormon in Japanese
62. Go to the temple at 32 times to do ordinances (
in progress)
63. Give someone a gift, just because (
done)
64. Sell 5 items on etsy (
done)
65. Visit Watkins Glen (again) (
done)
66. Explore a cave
67. Journal every day for a month (
done)
68. Keep my car clean for a whole month (
done)
69. Finish the blanket I'm knitting (done)
70. Organize photo collection (
done but needs to be done again)
71. Visit a butterfly garden (
done)
72. Finish my Terry Pratchett collection
73. Learn a new craft (
done)
74. Get a credit card- and pay it off every month (
in progress)
75. Try 5 new foods (
done)
76. Make someone else dinner (
done)
77. Learn to play at least one song on the guitar (
done)
78. Learn to like my smile
79. Go to Niagara Falls (again) (
done)
80. Make and actually send Christmas Cards (
done)
81. Go to bed every night before midnight for an entire month (
done)
82. Make my own bread from scratch (
done)
83. Complete my Christmas Advent Calendar
84. Visit a state I've never been to before
85. Learn to change the oil in my car
86. Make a conscious effort not to speed for one day when I'm driving (
done)
87. Finish one cross stitch project
88. Make my own quote book with all of my favorite quotes
89. Finish all the initiatories that are waiting to be done
90. Go two weeks without speaking ill of anyone (
done)
91. Learn to write with my left hand
92. Write a letter to someone I admire
93. Read "Alice in Wonderland" (
done)
94. Share my testimony with 3 people outside of church (1/3)
95. Get all of my books on my book shelves
96. Don't spend money on anything unnecessary for one month (
done)
97. Make Honey Candy (
done)
98. Get all of my dolls out on display (
done)
99. Finish Melissa's sculpture before her birthday (
done)
100. Visit 3 National Parks/Monuments (
done)
101. Buy a macro lens for my camera
Labels: goals, updates
Thursday, December 02, 2010
It has been brought to my attention that it has been over a month since I last posted. Oops. Sorry. Kinda.
Ok, so actually, not much has been going on. I thought I was going to be able to quit my job and start a new one come January, but that didn't work out so well, so now we are sticking it out at Current Place of Employment for about 4 more months. Maybe 5, but I'm leaning more towards 4.
After major anxiety, Dad and Mom helped me get my video for Taiwan finished up, and I was able to ship that off yesterday. I believe now I am mostly just waiting for a contract to be offered. Need to double check with my Rep.
I have applied for graduation. Come the first part of 2011, then, I will owe the school yet even more money just so that they can kick me out with a piece of paper saying I've worked hard and done very well, and here's your little degree, be gone with you! There was a bit of panic when I thought I wasn't passing Geology very well, but we've since learned differently and have come to really, really adore that Geology professor, don't you know. Seriously. Heart.
I have one more paper to write for my English class. It is due on Tuesday. Um... It's coming. Sort of.
My two stupid classes I finished up before the Thanksgiving break. Like, finals taken and everything. It is nice to have them over with. Seriously, lame classes. Very very.
Meanwhile, that's about all what has been going on over here. I mean, I got my tree up (and Drawly is afraid of it, which is the BEST because it means he won't try to climb it and knock it over and thus break it like he did last year), all my lights are finally up, and all the little Christmassy decorations that I've got are also out. Except I've got one more Nativity that I need to find a home for. I think it shall probably live on my end-table thinger in the living room.
So, happy Holiday shopping, and please be nice to all the sales people you see, and please put things away properly or give them to a sales people if you decide that you don't want them any more.
Labels: Christmas, Holiday, Housing, School, Taiwan, updates
Saturday, June 12, 2010
I am totally in love with a new movie. Robin Hood. I think I need the soundtrack, and also to see it a few more times before it comes to DVD. And then I'll buy the DVD. (Also, I had no idea who Russell Crowe was/is, other than being some famous dood. So my love of the movie has little to do with him.)
Made the Trifecta an appointment to go PARAGLIDING in two weeks! We will also be going to Timponogos Cave. That makes two goals to check off my list.
Dad and I went and applied for our passports today. Fees paid, pictures taken (awkwardness abounded at that appointment, but you get used to it when you're me). Now we just wait. I am saying goal accomplished.
I finished The Sister's sculpture. Before her birthday. Mission accomplished, and really adorable, too. Take a look at it on my
Other Blog.
I went the whole of Tuesday without speeding
at all. Very hard. Didn't even go 1 mph over the speed limit, as best as I could tell. I think I annoyed a lot of people that day.
I purchased a quilting book at work the other day (with my points, so, really, I didn't spend any money on it. Sweet.). It has a few other projects in it, but I'm super excited to find the perfect fabric to make the perfect quilt. My only issue is that I want to continue in the tradition of hand quilting, and I'm not so sure how that is going to work out. Quilting frames are not cheap, and I haven't the money with which to buy them.
I found a photography contest to enter. Now I just need to take the Perfect Picture.
My car is still clean since I washed it last Saturday. Well, except for the fact that it rained tonight while I was at the theater, so I guess I might need to wash it again.
I have been attempting to spread the word of my Etsy Store, in an attempt to accomplish my goal associated with that. I have also relisted and listed a bunch more photos. Go look. (Banner at the end of this post links directly to my store.)
On that same note, I have ordered some new business cards from Promo Pixie (on Etsy), and judging from the image she sent me, I am going to love them. Word.
I am more than 2/3 done with the blanket I am knitting. Good thing, too, because I'm getting tired of that craft again. Also, yarn lint is getting everywhere.
I keep looking at the doll I have sitting in a box in my office and I think about getting them on display. That's about as far as this goal has heretofore gotten. Maybe tomorrow, before work, I will get a jump on this for reals.
Other plans for tomorrow include seeing The Karate Kid with The Dad and The Sister, cleaning my kitchen from when I made dinner tonight, and going to a job that will soon make me break out in shingles on a regular basis. (That is a story in and of itself, which I am not currently at liberty to blog or even talk about. Especially since I do not yet know all of the details. Someday, though, and probably soon, I will share.)
And, hey. While I'm at it, the basic rest of my schedule for the next week.
Sunday: Church. Presidency Meeting. Visits. Home Teachers are coming over. Need to schedule Visiting Teaching myself. Dinner with the familia.
Monday: FHE, weather permitting, actually sounds exciting. I may go this week, just to give the bishop a shock. No work, thank goodness, thus I will spend a good hour or so cleaning my house. I especially need to dump all the trash and clean someone's poo-box. And vacuum.
Tuesday: Close at work. Same story as always.
Wednesday: Dentist appointment to get my teeth cleaned. Not my idea of fun. Especially considering the fact that it is fairly early in the morning when I'd rather be sleeping. At least I will be able to go home and take a nap, though. Close at work, again.
Thursday: OPEN at work. Weird. Afternoon is currently promising a nice nap. Probably.
Friday: OPEN at work again! Have no other plans, yet.
Saturday: OPEN at work for the third day in a row, but only because I managed to get someone to trade shifts with me. Immediately following work, I shall drive up to the North country. I expect to get into town around 8. Not sure what the rest of the evening entails, except for sleep.
And, there you go. A bunch of side notes to keep you sufficiently satisfied, I hope, as well as updates on the goals I am working on and have already accomplished. 994 days to go! Also, a bunch of random crap about my coming week that you probably could care less about. The end. I am sleeping now.
Labels: Entertainment, etsy, goals, updates
Saturday, March 21, 2009
So, I've recently been commissioned to do, what I consider, a moderately huge project. You can see part 1 of 7 on my other blog, as well as a few new photos I have taken, etc. etc. (
See here.)
Sometime in the near-ish future I want to go to the Newport Beach temple grounds and take pictures there. I've only ever seen the temple from the freeway, but it's gorgeous. Also, I want to go to the San Diego temple grounds again, because I haven't been there in several years. Only that is a longer drive and will probably have to wait until I go to Sea World. Which I don't know when that will be. Something about having Days Off and Money to Spend and People to Go With (I would feel lame-faced to go to Sea World by myself).
Also, even though I already spend 5/7 days a week in the Parks, I kind of have this pressing desire to go and take pictures around there before the pink blossoms at Partners go away. I kind of feel lame-faced doing that alone, too, even though I shouldn't since I practically live there. I don't know that picture-taking adventure will ever happen, though. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.
And one more also: I think I'm getting carpel tunnel, because my wrists hurt. That's all.
Labels: Blog, Disney, Photography, SeaWorld, travel, updates
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Dear anybody who might be interested,
My
list of 200 plus movies (give or take) has now been updated. Go, enjoy, be jealous. Whatevs.
Labels: lists, updates
