Animals like to pee on me.

Hello!

Long time, no talk. Goodness gracious. I have photos of food I have made recently, but I will have to wait until next time (hopefully this week) to post those. :) Today, though, I will give a quick update.

Work has been NUTS, but I love every minute of it. The staff at my school and my students make me happy every day :).

A few weeks ago we went to one of my man's friend's homes for Sunday Dinner. His mom is a fantastic cook. We had fried crappie, jalapeno hush puppies. different forms of salads (e.g., potatoes, coleslaw, etc.). It was awesome! Then we went and shot guns and had a good 'ole Southern time. It was grand.

Anyways, we were at the house (which is in the middle of some hills surrounded by farm equipment and animals and I just loved it), and I saw that they had chinchillas. I had never pet a chinchilla before, so my friend got one out. Well....... I was holding it and all was going well, then it peed on me. Urination numero uno.

I know that a number of funny things have also happened that I intended to tell you about, but I just can't remember them right now. Partly because Scandal is on my Netflix. Partly because the eclipse is going on, and I don't want to miss it. Partly because my computer is saying it might die soon, and I'm trying to get this finished.

So then this Thursday my country gentleman's friends came over. When they went outside for a second, one of them said, "I caught a frog but then he hit my hand, and it went under your TV stand." Now, they had gone to the bowling alley and brought back little arcade trinkets, so I fully thought this was one of those plastic, fake hoppy frogs. Not two minutes later, I saw a real, live frog hopping through my house. So, I went to catch it (along with another girl who was at my house), and I got it. I went to bring it outside, and what did it do?! Peed on me. Urination numero dos.

So, ANYWAYS. Saysay's mama got a new dog from his sister's boyfriend recently. It's a cutie pie. I am deprived of puppy lovin's right now (seeing as I haven't seen my pup since early August), so I was very excited. I got right down on the floor with it and not ten seconds into our play time I felt a familiar feeling.

Yes. That warm, wet, ISTHISREALLYHAPPENING, feeling. I have experienced this feeling (in recent years) myself when I was on the road and couldn't find a bathroom anywhere in the freakin' state of Iowa. See my 2012 posts for that wet and embarrassing adventure. Anyways. The dog peed on me. Obviously, I did not care because he is a precious young pup. Urination numero tres (spelling? I know that's the French way to do it.)

I just thought it was funny that I have recently been peed on THREE TIMES by little animals.

Such is life.

At least my students haven't done that yet. (Was that too much?).

Okay, so I lied. Apparently, I have more battery than I thought.

 Here are a couple pictures of things I've made recently.

Here is a caramel, cinnamon apple monkey bread I made!

Here is a lemon garlic asparagus, summer squash, and cherry tomato veggie pasta that was yummilicious :). 

Off to watch the eclipse! Love, y'all! xoxo 

The calm of cooking.

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted, I do believe. I have just been getting back into the groove of working and whatnot. I am going to begin doing some PRN work at a pediatric clinic here a couple of days after school. I'm excited about that! It will be some extra money and will give me something to do while my guy is at work during the week.

I tend to not get super creative with cooking when it's only for myself, but when Sayer has been here, I've been experimenting a bit more :). Here are a few of the new things I've made in the last few weeks:

These are some stuffed peppers. I've made them before with some spiced sausage I got from the farmer's market. This time, I used bison meat we bought at the local farmer's market. I love that place! I spiced it up with a variety of things and then cooked it with some sauteed onions and garlic. After that, I cooked some quinoa. I combined all of that together with some chopped tomato, Rotel, and shredded cheese. I threw them in some green peppers I had blanched, and then put them in a pan with some water in the bottom to continue steaming them. I topped it with a bit more shredded cheese and cooked them for around 20 minutes. Voila!

My Southern gentleman and I had a sweet tooth on this night, so I whipped out a quick (I'm talking twenty-five minutes total) monkey bread for dessert. I just grabbed a can of buttermilk biscuits, melted some butter and syrup with some cinnamon and sugar, and put some nuts in there. Yum yum.

My guy's mom came over on Wednesday night for dinner and church :). I made blackened salmon with a salad and some croissant rolls. The salmon rub was a mixture of brown sugar, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, garlic, and some other stuff. The salad I made was one that I had had at a wedding a few years ago--I haven't stopped thinking about it since! It was a mixture of baby spinach and arugula, blue cheese crumbles, pear slices, cashews, and a strawberry poppyseed vinaigrette. The croissants were just canned--ain't nobody got time for making those by hand! Anyways, we got some good girl time in, and it was a fun night :).

For Thursday night, I wanted to make Sayer a treat. I feel like I get in a rut cooking fish and chicken the same ways, so I have been researching new things to do (hence, the blackened salmon haha)! I generally keep a couple different kinds of fish, chicken, and some other kind of meat (most recently, bison) in the freezer. I like to mix it up.

For this, I took some frozen salmon fillets and thawed them out. After chopping them up, I mixed them with some bread crumbs, some homemade Cajun seasoning (thanks, Pinterest!), some green onions, and some mayo. Then, I formed them into patties and started to fry them up in some coconut oil. To put on top of it, I made some lemon garlic aoili. It was super simple! Just some mayo (I added sour cream), some lemon juice, and some minced garlic.

Saysay likes a hearty meal, so I made some homemade steak fries to go with it. I just cut up some potatoes and rubbed them down with some olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and stuck them in the oven.

I took the extra potatoes and diced them up. Then I sauteed them with some onions and green peppers so that he could use them for breakfast in the morning! Since Sayer's been working away during the week, I have been loving the time I get to spend with him over the weekends.

Cooking calms me. Cooking for others makes me happy. To quote one of my favorite movies--Julie and Julia--this resonates with me: "I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say 'nothing' I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." 

Well, I suppose that's enough for now. My guy and I are having a nice chat about church and God while he is on the road, and I don't want to be distracted (even though I'm not the one driving lol). I think if I'm going to keep cooking, I should probably get some new (nicer) plates. I only have ones with shamrocks on them, and I kind of feel like it detracts from the food (or how I want it to look). Luckily, my guy got me a Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift card for my birthday. New plates and wine glasses for me! Woo woo! Am I too domestic for a *gulp* twenty-five year old? C'est la vie. ;)

Love, y'all!

Off and runnin'...

School has started back up! It was so nice to see all of the students again today. It's the little things like getting an unexpected hug from a student that make it all worthwhile :).

This past weekend was a lot of fun. My guy got back last Thursday, and we spent the weekend hanging out with friends and family. It was one of his cousins/our friend's birthdays on Saturday, so we went to a birthday party--coincidentally, for his twin sons--and then to BWW for din din. After that we went bowling. I may or may not have thrown the ball backwards once or twice. We all decided to give up on trying and just have fun, so there was some yoga bowling, backwards bowling... just a bunch of different types of bowling going on.

Tonight, I think I'll make a pretty basic meal of chicken, quinoa, and veggies. Mmmmm mmm mmmmmmm. I'll leave you with some pictures of my vacation that I forgot to post earlier. Maybe I'll have something more exciting to say when I've wrapped my head around my to-do list. I'll just be here... making data forms and working on papers and watching The Pioneer Woman. Yea, that's still a thing ;).

Cross in the Woods Church in Indian River, MI. 

This place is so magical. 

Can you tell it's a Snapchat? No? Good. Mum taught me to play Cribbage!

STOP LOOKIN' AT ME SWAN. (But seriously, he was chasing us.)

Small World Update: One of the new SLP's in my district is from a town an hour and a half away from my hometown in Michigan. ALSO, she is friends with one of the hockey players who used to live with me and is now like part of our family. CRAY. 

Love, y'all!

It's a small world, after all.

Well, work starts back up tomorrow. I have to say that the summer flew by; however, I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect, relaxing vacation. I went to Michigan multiple times--I spent more of my summer there than down South. Let's be honest, that was my intention when taking a job at a school versus a hospital (also, the hilarious kids!). Mission accomplished, I suppose! I will put some pictures from my vacation throughout this post to break up the text (in no apparent order). I try to leave faces out in case people don't want to be shown; sorry about that! This post is longer than usual, and I know I hate just staring at words!

My uncle threw his washer directly onto the box latch. That won't happen twice!

Camping was perfect, if not more low-key than usual. We just hung around and went on the boat nearly EVERY day. Is there a more perfect way to spend a Northern Michigan summer?? I think not. I already miss my family, pup, and the mild temperatures (even though camping was exceptionally warm this year), but it is definitely nice to be back at my own house. With my toiletries. And AC. Ahhhhh....

 Airport staple: morning Bloody Mary :).

So Thursday (i.e., the day I flew back to Arkansas), I had one of those days where one must shake her head and go, "What a small world." As in, the lady sitting next to me on the plane and I sat there saying, "Wow, what a small world," for a good five minutes. That's not an exaggeration. Here's what happened:

A day on the Mullet Lake sandbar. 

The day started out like any other day of travel out of the Milwaukee airport. (SIDEBAR: THERE IS A FANTASTIC BOOKSHOP IN THAT AIRPORT IF ANYONE HAPPENS TO TRAVEL THROUGH IT. AND BY FANTASTIC, I MEAN FANTASTIC). Anyways, I go to board my flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta. I walk on the plane and the flight attendant asks how I am. I respond that I'm great and ask him the same question. He responds with, "Well, I'm fantastic now that you're here, beautiful! Love your braids! They look beautiful." (I had my hair braided so that it would dry and  be wavy by the time I reached my final destination. Yes, I looked like the Wendy's girl grown up. Braided hair, don't care). I smiled and took my seat. I ended up being seated next to two girls who were almost EXACTLY my age. The flight attendant walks up to us to offer refreshments and says, "Wow! Are y'all traveling together? Bachelorette party?! Girls' WEEKEND!?" (there seemed to be a direct correlation between the increasing altitude and his pitch and volume). We all replied that, no, we were not traveling together and had never met. This seemed very amusing to him as he continued to comment on what an odd coincidence it would be for all of us to be seated next to each other. That got us talking.

A different day on the Mullet Lake sandbar.

The middle girl was headed to North Carolina to see her boyfriend and dog. She was a physical therapist (well, in PT school) with a four-hour layover. The girl in the aisle was a speech pathologist (well, in SLP grad school). I am a speech pathologist. She was headed to somewhere in southern Georgia for a wedding and she had a forty-five minute layover. I also had a forty-five minute layover. We were very concerned about our forty-five minute layovers because--as anyone who has traveled through the ATL airport before knows--that place is cray. We had approximately nineteen minutes from landing to when our next planes began boarding. We flagged down our ever-complimentary flight attendant to ask his opinion on whether we would get to our terminal on time for our next flights. Also, Delta will check where your arrival and departure gates are, so we wanted to be prepared in the event that we needed to book it when we landed. We gave him our flight codes for our connecting planes and he looked at us, deadpan, and said, "Oh, ladies. You're screwed. You'll never make it." Silence.

DELICIOUS donuts in Kenosha, WI.

"OMG I'm kidding! You'll be fine!" He then proceeded to look up our flights and call us combinations of "sweet things", "beautiful", and "pretty lady". He once referred to me as "my angel by the window". He looked like a combination of that Carson guy from Queer Eye and Billy Idol. He might have been wearing eyeliner. Anyways, the other SLP and I were flying out of the same terminal, so at the end of our flight we said goodbye to our new-found PT friend and our eccentric flight attendant, and booked it for our next terminal. Once there, we said goodbye and headed to our respective departure gates.

My parents' beautiful front lawn on a 70 degree day (dad would want me to say we were gone for ten days so the lawn wasn't tended to).

 So, I'm walking down the terminal at the BUSIEST AIRPORT IN THE COUNTRY, and I see a familiar face. I call a name and the person looks over, says "woah! Mia?", and tells me he will be right back. That his departure gate is immediately next to mine. My dad is a hockey coach, and it turns out that the coach for the university he used to work at was flying out from the gate next door. I mean, I run into someone I have known well for YEARS, who is a family friend, and he happens to flying out in the next gate... in ATLANTA. What are the odds? Anyways, we chat and catch up and hug and he flies to the Keys, and I fly to Arkansas. Oh, also my plane was delayed. So I suppose I hadn't needed to worry about making it to my gate anyways. C'est la vie; I got my cardio in! Onward to Arkansas.

THIS CAR IS ON FIIIRRREEE. But seriously. That car was in FLAMES in Milwaukee.

In the plane to Arkansas, I got to talking to the lady seated next to me. She was going to visit a friend and had never been to the area. I was seated next to some chatty Cathy's on this trip, but I didn't mind; I can be a chatty Cathy sometimes too. So anyways, we get to talking about things and find out we are both from Michigan. She is from Grand Rapids, but now lives in Indiana. She is a recently retired para-pro who had a TERRIBLE year. Her husband passed away in a freak accidence, then her father passed away, then they wouldn't give her health insurance... there were some other things in there too. I sat there in awe of this woman who was in such great spirits, going to see a Def Leppard concert with a friend, telling me that God has a plan in everything, and that she was thankful for what she did have. Sorry for the run-on sentences, but this woman was really inspirational. Anyways, we get to talking about her most recent trip to Mackinac Island (at the exact same time I was camping in Indian River twenty minutes away) and how she went on a horseback trip around the island. I told her that I knew the family who owned the horses when I was in high school, and named who may have been working. Sure enough, one of the girls I used to hang out with sometimes was her tour guide. A woman on a plane on the way to Fort Smith, Arkansas had just had an island tour with a girl I knew from high school. We both sat there discussing our similar stories and getting to know each other and saying, "What a small world" over and over. And it is. It's a beautiful, exciting, unexpected, small world.

Aw, look. There's the front of my parents' house. This picture makes me happy when I miss Michigan.

I got home and my Southern gentleman took me out for my birthday (belatedly). We had a fantastic night and a great weekend together. He recently left for his job in Oklahoma, but he'll be back on Thursday :). I already can't wait. He's pretty dang cool. With work starting back up, my weekdays are going to fly anyway.

The Fryer Dudes doing their fryer thaaang. Can anyone say, "most delicious fish ever?" I just did.

I read Ree Drummond's book about how she met her husband, and it was adorable. I may or may not be (I AM) watching her TV show right now. Ugh, I'm a woman obsessed. The other thing I am obsessed with right now: my new Kate Spade agenda. It's adorable and rose-colored and gold and makes me feel better about life. All is right with the world. (I also read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn--girl is nuts. I am in the process of finishing I am Pilgrim right now. Great read if you like mysteries!).

Burtt Lake sandbar! Are we keeping tally of boat days? My dad and I figured it was at least 7/10. Not bad!

 Camping with some fantastic people (it's dark enough that you can't really see faces, right?). 

The Ore Dock in Marquette. How can an eyesore be so beautiful?

Love, y'all!

Travels, Tigers, and TC... Oh, MI!

Well, hello there!

Despite having the summer off from work, I have been ALL over the place. I have gone back and forth to Michigan twice (and will be making the trip again in less than a week...thankfully, by plane this time). I must say that I am having a fantastic summer, though.

In between my first Michigan trip and my second, I spent a lot of time rearranging my house, reading outside with my iced coffee or tea, going for walks/runs in the Southern heat, and--of course--catching up on all things Pioneer Woman. Still love her.

After  a few weeks of being in the South again, my love and I took a trip UP North. We had an amazing time. He loves the landscape, scenery, food, drinks, weather, and people up there as much as I do. Apart from trying local beers (which we both enjoy doing), he got to meet a few of my friends he hadn't before. We went hiking, fishing, and slept in... a lot. He needed and deserved a break :).

We started in Detroit where we met my family at a Tiger's game (his first pro ball game!). We spent that night and the next day moseying around the D and took in a second Tiger's game. We then headed to the Yoop to visit friends and family there. To finish it off, we ended up in Traverse City. If you've read any of my previous posts from when I lived there last summer, then you know how much I adore TC. My guy loved it just as much as me.  We went to my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant there, the beach, putt-putt golfing (he won), go-karting (I won!), and topped it off with walking around downtown. It was during the Cherry Festival, so we tried all things cherry. The cherry beer and wine at Mackinaw Brewing Co. were particularly delish. My Southern gentleman continues to grow an appreciation for Northern Michigan beauty :).

I discovered our local farmer's market during my Southern break from Northern summer. The produce is WONDERFUL. I like to go early on Tuesday mornings (it takes place on Tuesday's and Saturday's) and pick up my veggies for the week. I like to eat/cook a lot of vegetables, and the farmer's market is less expensive than the grocery store I use. ALSO, everything is grown locally.

I like to collect cook books and have probably around 15 or so. That's nothing compared to my guy's grandma (who is a cooking/baking legend around here), but I like to look through what I have nonetheless :). Having all this time off this summer has really stoked my foodie flame. 

As I've been channeling The Pioneer Woman recently, I have been cooking/baking a lot. Cooking has always been an activity that calms me, so being able to do it at a leisurely pace has been wonderful. I love waking up and figuring out how I can combine the ingredients I've picked up from the market into something new. It's always a little pump-up to my confidence when my Southern guy tells me to "definitely save that" recipe, too! Feeding people makes me happy, and it's been awesome to have time to do that :).

Here are a few of the things I've remembered to take pictures of. I cook nearly every day of the week, so obviously this isn't everything I've made!

Blackberry cobbler (Pioneer Woman recipe)

Copy-cat sausage kale Toscana soup with breadsticks (of the Olive Garden variety)

Fresh tomato salad, spicy garlic red snapper, and chili butter corn. 

Peach-blackberry walnut muffins. 

Spicy stuffed summer squash (alliteration alert!). My guy said to save this one!

Lemon pound cake before the glaze. 

Lemon pound cake with lemon-lime glaze. Yum yum! Saysay said to save this one too :). 

Well, that's what I've been up to lately. We have a birthday party for my guy's little cousin (pretty much niece) today with some friends, so I need to go pick up a couple of gifts. Soon I'll be back in Michigan for our family camping trip, and then it's back to the sunny South for the start of work! Saysay starts his new job in a couple of weeks, so that will be an adjustment. I'm so excited for him, though. He's worked hard for it :). This summer is flying by, but I am loving every second of it. 

Love y'all!

Ree Drummond is my spirit animal.

Well, hello. It has been a while. My goodness. The school year flew by. My first year was somewhat stressful, kind of crazy, but incredibly wonderful. I love my job. I'm a bit out of school mode at the moment because I'm on summer break (WHAT WHAT), but let's just suffice it to say that my first year was good. :) I love my students and the people I work with. Also, we took my Master's thesis and turned it around into a publication submission for ASHA. My professor recently resubmitted it (after some edits), so here's to hoping it goes through! It was a work of time and love and is now even closer to my heart since I currently serve a similar population to my study. I'm proud of it. We will see what happens!

Having a summer break is fantastic, I must say. My man went to military training for most of the month of June, so I took a much needed trip to Michigan. I was able to visit with friends and family and had an absolutely WONDERFUL time. Michigan (particularly, the U.P.) in the summer is heaven.  Seriously. I spent time with my pup, went fishing, and got some good mommy time in :).

After a few weeks in a mild climate, this northern girl came back to the hot and humid South. I am learning that if I want to do things outside, it must happen early in the day. Otherwise, the sun picks up and heats everything it shines down on and the day just gets hotter and hotter until the sun goes down and then it's still hot. I have to tell ya: it is an odd thing that it does not get much cooler here at night. In Michigan, the water acts as a natural air conditioner, so it gets REAL cool at night. No such luck here.

HOWEVER, I do love the South (AND the heat, no matter what I say) :). It's really not so bad out. I am antsy sitting here looking outside at the spectacularly sunny day, but the last two times I've attempted to read my book outside have resulted in my feeling like I need a shower again. Even the wood posts on my porch-ish thing are giving off a sauna-y scent (i.e., it's stinkin' hot!). I know it's going to get warmer here, and it's not even July yet, but......

My handsome guy and I are taking a trip to Michigan in a couple of weeks! I am so unbelievably excited. So, in the meantime, I am doing things I consider "Southern":

1. Waking up early to get to the farmer's market or go for a run before it hits 90 degrees
2. Making/drinking iced tea on the porch while reading my book before it gets too hot
3. Cooking/baking with all of this incredible fresh produce from the farmer's market!
4. Decorating/organizing my house
5. Waiting out the heat by catching up on some Netflix and reading The Pioneer Woman's blog

As to the title of this post, I love The Pioneer Woman. I have been told multiple times by a variety of people that I remind them of Ree Drummond. I take that as a huge compliment. The more I watch her show and read her blog, the more I think that we are kindred spirits. I love her. I try to catch her show every day, and have been using my spare time to make some of her recipes.

Yesterday for dinner I made barbecue chicken (with an incredible sauce made by one of Sayer's family members), fiesta soup, and jalapeno cornbread. Sayer said it was one of the best meals I've made (it was also one of the easiest!), so I will definitely be making it again.

Tonight, Sayer says he wants to eat the leftovers of that soup (I won't complain)! I am going to make a kale salad with some of the greens and goodies I picked up from the farmer's market. I also might make something with these delicious peaches and blackberries I picked up, but I'll have to figure out what first.

Maybe I'll add some pictures of things I create/projects I do this summer. I've just been trying to keep busy. I'm slowly adjusting to not having anything to do; I'm not very good at sitting still ;).

Love, y'all!

Brief update... and articulation errors.

Whew! Work is busy. Busy busy busy. We are four SLP's short in my district, so we are all over our caseload limits. The district has actively been searching for SLP's to hire, but there just aren't any. I have some of the lowest numbers (with 54), and some ladies have RIDICULOUSLY high numbers (like, 77). We are all just trying to do the best we can. I heard that this may happen when I was in grad school, but you don't really think much of it until it actually happens. It's craziness, but luckily I have been keeping my head above water so far.

I love my kids. They are adorable and wonderful and make me laugh almost every day. Some days the paperwork and everything I have to do weighs on me a bit, but the students really help put it back in perspective: I'm there for them, and I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. Around 60% of my caseload does not have English for their first language. Since I serve K-3, for a number of these students it is their first real exposure to English. That makes for some pretty funny articulation errors. I have one student who is one of the most unintelligible kiddos I've ever heard, but he is SO animated and excited to talk. He is a little cutie pie who LOVES to tell stories with his hands and facial expressions. Normally I can glean what he is trying to tell me, but sometimes I can't. Anywho, here is a story about him:

We are playing "Go Fish" with cards that have numbers and sea creatures on them. Suddenly, he gets this huge smile and goes:

WOOOWWW!! A BIG fart. A HUGE fart. A MEAN fart.
Me: What? What are you talking about?
*it's a shark. So he keeps saying "fart" and his peers start giggling a bit, so I'm like... Okay. I have to get this kid saying "shark".
Me: Shhhhh... like you're telling someone to be quiet. "SSshhhhh"
Him: SSHHHHH.
Me: Yes! Now, Shhhhaaaa
Him: Shhhaaaaaa
Me: Yes! Shaaaaaark.
Him: SSSHHHHAAAARRRRRTTT.
Me: : | .
*Now I'm thinking, "crap! I don't know which was better for him to be saying: 'fart' or 'shart'". Eventually, I got him saying "shark" correctly.

Also, kiddos with an /r/ distortion (think Boston, "cah" for "car"). I've just stopped doing "fork" for now, because it comes out as a fairly inappropriate word for that age group to use. Say it in your head. I serve a pretty rough population, as well, so they have DEFINITELY heard that word before, and it always ends in hysterics. I just don't use it until they have the sound down now :). 

Yesterday, I drove up to Branson to see my aunt who was in town visiting another family who recently moved to Missouri from the U.P. We went on a Showboat Dinner Cruise, and it was so much fun! After that, we walked around Branson and saw some live music. The drive up there was SUPER curvy, but it was almost entirely through the Ozarks. The colors have just started changing here, and the scenery was incredible. It was so nice to see a familiar face from home; especially someone I love so much!

Well, I'm going to go do some Medicaid billing and review some reports (while watching "Harry Potter" of course). I hope all is well with everyone. As an update, I said "y'all" the other day; I also said "come get you some", which is another Southern saying I've seemed to pick up. We'll see how this goes ;) .

"Y'all fixin' to?"

Whew. It's been a while since I've posted. I JUST got internet, like, two days ago. I'll do a quick update.

I'm living in Fort Smith, AR. I have met some really wonderful people, and I'm enjoying it so far. It's hot, but that's what I wanted. I found a cute little duplex that's been completely redone and I love it. The only thing I'm not too impressed with is my neighbor--who smokes and has a dog that never stops barking (in a non-smoking/no pets apartment. We'll see what happens with that. I'm just a little annoyed with coming home and having my house smell like smoke, especially when it's not supposed to.

The school I'm at is great so far. Almost everyone is super nice and welcoming. They are really involved with the kids and are open to me trying whatever I want--which is wonderful! My school is 97% Free or Reduced Lunch, and a lot of my students' parents don't speak English. My Multicultural class is very much coming in handy! The district I work in is pretty big--around 17,000 students. Arkansas puts a lot of money into their education system, and you can tell when you really get involved in the schools. I definitely feel like I'm in the right place right now. As for getting here...

I had an almost uneventful trip down. I had my car loaded up with my car topper equally loaded on top. It was strapped down and ready to go--or so I thought. It kept making weird noises, so I'd pull over and check it. Then, somewhere before Green Bay, WI, I hear *plunk*. It was a very uneventful sound, but one that caught my ear. I happened to look in my rear-view mirror and I see my huge car-topper barreling through the air on the highway. Luckily, the only vehicle behind me was far enough back that they could swerve and miss it (it was an RV, and hopefully nothing in there went flying when they had to deke my topper).  Anywho, I threw 'er in reverse and proceeded to drag my topper to the side of the road. This thing was HEAVY. Thankfully, about five minutes later, a man in a van with his two teenage sons passed. They stopped and tried to figure out how to fix my topper--that wasn't happening. They then got it back on top of my car, which was a struggle. He pointed me to the nearest gas station and said that I should get some ratchet straps.

I get to the gas station... and there are no ratchet straps. I go to the gas station across the street... and there are no ratchet straps. I ask a man who has a fishing boat behind his truck--he seemed like he was from around there--where I could get ratchet straps. He said that there was a grain and feed store in the town we were by about three miles away. I thanked him and headed on my way. I get to the grain and feed store and walk in. There's a young teenage girl sitting there with three cats--I really don't like cats. I'm immediately swarmed. I tell her what I need and she goes in the back to get her mum. Her mum comes out and points me in the direction of the ratchet straps...ONE LEFT. I grabbed it like it was the last item on sale on Black Friday. Then, I had to swallow my pride and ask if anyone could help me put it on. Luckily, her husband had just gotten to work and a farmer who was buying feed had just pulled up. The two men ratched it down assured me that I could take flight before that thing would come off again... and they were right. I made it!

The only other thing that happened was my GPS failing me in St. Louis. The exit I happened to take was Stadium Dr., which happened to go DIRECTLY to the Cardinals' Stadium, on an evening where there HAPPENED to be a game about to start. Needless to say, the detour tacked a bit of time onto my trip.

That's about all that's exciting that has happened so far. My birthday was very fun. We went to the land and swam and lit fireworks and it was good :).

I'll leave you with a somewhat funny story. There a young girl at my school who is a bit rough. Very sweet, but a bit rough. Around thirty or so different languages are spoken in my district, so I never really know what to expect. This is how the exchange went. Keep in mind that she is seeing me for articulation difficulty, so pronunciation was a bit skewed:

Girl (G): Bonjourmesamies.
Me (M): What?
Girl (G): Bonjourmesamies. That means, "Hello, how are you?"
Me (M): OH! Bonjour, mes amies! Yes, that means, "Hello, my friends" in French! I kind of speak French!
G: No, it doesn't. It means, "Hello, how are you".
M: Oh, okay.
*We continue to work on articulation*
M: Say, "ra".
G: (In a throaty voice), RRRAAAAA. That's "r" in French.
M: Oh. I see. Say "the".
G: (Again in a throaty voice), TTTTHHHEEEUUUUGGGH. That's "the" in French.
NO. IT'S NOT.
M: Fascinating.

She continued to do this for the duration of our session. Funny thing in case you didn't know: apparently every word in French is just the English word said in a different accent. WHO KNEW?!

I love kids. They are fantastic and make me happy.

Oh! I went and saw Merle Haggard on Friday at the Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival. It was fun :).

A few of the teachers at my school have made it their mission to get me saying "y'all" and "fixin' to". I've come close a few times, but haven't actually done it. We'll see how long I can hold out!

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to update more seeing as I have internet.
Love y'all ;) !

Festivals and Farewells.

Why, hello there. I am now back in Marquette... for a week. I leave for Arkansas for training in three short days. Crazy!

My last few weeks in Traverse were great. I feel blessed to have had the supervisor I did--I learned so much. The patients and everyone else were fantastic, as well. The Cherry Festival was going on my last week in TC, so the traffic was crazy. I was told that 300-400,000 extra people flood the city for the event. I met up with a friend at the festival and we walked around and had dinner. I had some local fries and a delicious corndog (yea, I like 'em) and a caramel apple. Well, we split the caramel apple and an elephant ear so needless to say, I was full. Like, beyond full. The food was good and we got to hear the first bit of Thorogood's set so all in all, it was a good evening!

Since I've been in Marquette I've just been relaxing and spending time with family. It's been great. I've called on a few apartments in Arkansas, and it seems like there is a lot of availability. Hopefully I'll find something easily--fingers crossed! I can't believe that this time next week I'll be in training for my BIG GIRL JOB. Wow!

I'm looking forward to being able to share more stories with you once I move down South. It'll be a whole different world, but I'm excited about it. I'm excited for my daddio, who recently accepted a new job, as well! Lots of exciting things happening. I'll try to keep you updated.

Love, y'all.

J. O. B. and the internal compass.

Oh, hello there. I have a job. 'tis true. Here are the details:

1. It is in Arkansas.
2. It is warm in Arkansas.
3. The place I'm moving to does not get tornadoes, like, ever (this is very important for those who really know me).
4. It is at a preschool/elementary school.
5. I am very much excited about and looking forward to this new adventure.

The story is kind of funny. So, I was waiting on this other job I had mentioned and then this school asks to set up a Skype interview with me. We are Skyping and it is all going VERY well. I told them that I was waiting to hear from another school--which I was--and they said something along the lines of, "Well, if we were to offer you the job right now... what would you say?" They didn't; however, they did call my references and offer me the job two hours later. I asked if I could have a couple hours to mull it over (they were looking to hire very quickly). I called the other school (which was supposed to let me know by that same day of there decision) and nothing happened. SO.... I accepted the job. It was really too good of an offer to pass up. The other place had been kind of hit or miss with their communication anyways.

SIDEBAR: The following Monday I got a phone call from the district I couldn't get ahold of saying that they were going through HR changes and to please not accept a position somewhere. At that point, it was too late. I had.

I am extremely happy with my choice. Not only did it have better benefits and perks and such, but it's also in a preschool/elementary school. That's right where I wanted to be (the other job was at a middle school). It's in a city that is close to a few of my friends, and only a few hours away from some of my family members, so I'm really looking forward to it all!

The hospital has been great. I've gotten to see SO many interesting things. Today was one of those days where I felt like this was my actual job--as in, I felt comfortable making prognostic comments and medical judgements without the help of my supervisor. Pretty dang cool. Even though today was crappy outside (at first), the day was just beautiful. I learned a lot. The people were great. Beautiful day, beautiful life. Another exciting thing: people are calling me an actual speech therapist! I know I'm technically a student for three and a half more weeks, but still. I get little butterflies whenever someone says it or asks for my clinical judgement or says, "my speech therapist...". YAY :).

I went to Charlevoix to watch my sister's softball tourney this weekend and got to hang out with/stay at my aunt and uncle's house. I love my family so much. All of them. They are seriously the best people I could ever ask to have in a family and they are all in mine. Whadda ya know!? 

Well, I've been sitting at the coffee shop now drinking water (I finished my food a while ago) and doing work for a bit too long without purchasing something, so I should probably head home. No wine or beer for me tonight--I'm watching my girlish figure for my best friend's wedding this weekend!

Which I am very excited for.

Obviously.

Because it's going to be incredible and fun and wonderful.

Obviously.

New things on the horizon! I'll try to keep you updated. Hey! Now that I'm leaving Michigan again (in a different direction on the compass this time) maybe I will have some funny/interesting stories again. I'll be in a preschool/elementary school after all and, as we know, kids are pretty dang entertaining.Also, I'll be in the South :).

Love, y'all.

That moment when...

You don't pay quite enough attention to a job application, and you end up leaving the name of the school in your previous letter of interest for the one you are otherwise applying to. Yea. That happened. And I was wondering why they didn't call haha. FOR THE RECORD: I was asked if I wanted to work at a different location in that city, so I'm not too hurt about it at the moment. Anyways, it's a little too close for comfort to something at the moment. Vague? Sorry.

So I've been having an interesting go with this whole job application thing. It's different than I anticipated. I submitted a few more tonight, and I plan to submit yet more tomorrow. It's all a bit exciting and I'm enjoying it :). All applications are down South--as I mentioned they would be. That's all I'll give ya for now.

Other than the job hunt, things have been pretty good. I am loving TC still. I mean, how could you not? My mum and dad came to visit last weekend for my sister's softball districts; it was SO nice to see them. They are so cute, and I love how in love they are. That was sappy, I know. I just like seeing people happy, and they are happy, and that makes me happy :). Sappy, happy, happy, happy. I sound like Uncle Si from DD. Anywho, it was great to see them.

One of my best friends is getting married in a couple of weeks and I CAN'T FREAKIN' BELIEVE IT. Her fiancee is wonderful, and I'm so extremely happy for them. Also, I'm happy for her to be done with her med school boards in less than a week, which she is taking right before her wedding, because she is flocking crazy. If there were anyone in the world who could handle that with the grace and (seeming) ease, however, it would be her. She is a force to be reckoned with, and I pity the board examiners she is going to steamroll with her intelligence (I LOVE YOU, LADY!).

This has been an odd summer, I must say. A lot has happened, and yet, not much at all. I'm feeling kind of free at the moment. Not like, AHHH YES I'M FREE I'M FREE, but like, "Yea, this is cool. I'm enjoying this going home and laying on the deck and going for runs and watching movies at night and hanging by the water and enjoying the landscape and loving where I'm at and relaxing" sort of thing. Some disappointing things have happened, but what I've learned about that is that it's pointless to dwell.

Quotes that are consistent with my thoughts on life and current situations (so that I don't sit and explain a situation, because that would be boring as hell):

“And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.” “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”

The authors were George Washington, Khaled Hoseini, and Albert Einstein. Game time... figure out the order. Ready? Go!

I just finished a book that I started months ago; didn't love it, for the record. It was The Casual Vacancy. The character development and writing style were good, but I didn't love the story.

Not many stories I can share about the hospital recently. 

For the meantime, I'm enjoying where I'm at. I'm in a wonderful place with good people, great weather, meaningful lessons, and perpetual beauty (internal and external). That's what I'm still loving about being at the hospital. I'm thankful every day. Every. Single. Day. Not a bad way to be :).

I'll let you know when I know where I'll be in a couple of months (ahem*EMPLOYMENT*ahem). Love y'all.

IT'S DONE.

MY THESIS IS DONE AND SUBMITTED AND WHAT THE HELL!!??? Yay. I mean, the university may still have some edits they want me to do before they approve the publication, BUT, my supervisor said that isn't likely. SO FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES THE THING I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS IS NOW DONE.

All I have left to do before I have that pretty piece of diplomatic (wrong use of that word, but we'll go with it) paper in my hand is to finish my medical practicum here in Traverse. I'm kind of at a crossroads of thinking because I technically only have about twenty hours left of my practicum to do before I meet the qualifications for my degree...and I'll get those in like, a week... but I am here until mid-July. I am going to make the most of my time here and soak up all of the information that I can. It's a great learning environment and my supervisor is super knowledgeable--catch that pun ;)?--so I might as well learn as much as I possibly can!

Now, I guess my focus is on finding a job.. or rather, finding a place that I want to apply for a job. I'm still looking down South, but I'm finding there are a LOT of things I need to be considering. Currently, I am trying to figure out licensing in a state I may not be staying in when I am not already licensed. Also, I need to figure out if these job postings I'm seeing will take a CFY (Clinical Fellowship Year). I'm not technically nationally licensed until I finish my 9-month fellowship year. So, anywho. That's where I'm at.

No funny stories at the moment. I said goodbye to a few of my patient's today who have been in the hospital since I started. I was a bit attached seeing as they were my first round of patients, but I'm glad that they are getting to go home! Some more sad things have been happening too. One thing I am actually enjoying about the hospital is that being there really makes you appreciate what you have and who you are. It takes all kinds, my dears.

I will update again soon. I am once again in the coffee shop, having a beer. I think I deserve it after the thesis submission. A random guy walked by and winked a minute ago, but I'll take that over the musical stranger from last week.

FOR THE RECORD: he was rapping. He told me that he was in the process of composing a song that was half-folk/half-rap. He had finished the folk portion because, "that came naturally to [him]", but he was really struggling with the rapping. I left immediately after that. At least people are interesting. Again, it takes all kinds, and I enjoy almost all of them for different reasons. People are pretty damn cool. :)

Love, y'all!

Codes and coffee shops.

So, I have moved to Traverse City. Temporarily, but nonetheless, I am here. The area is beautiful; anyone from Michigan knows that. I am currently doing an internship at the hospital here and I have to say: I am really loving it. It's a challenge. It's fast-paced. I think it's going to fly by.

It has been an interesting few weeks. Some big stuff happened, and that's cool. That's the way life works, I think. You move to a new place where you know no one and just when you think you are really feeling a certain way, you start to feel that way even more. Too vague? Sorry. Basically, I am enjoying having some time to do things I enjoy. Currently, I am sitting in a coffee shop drinking wine. It's a grand ole time :).

Anyways, the hospital is great. It is often very sad, but more than often very rewarding. Making someone tear up with happiness because you are giving them the okay to eat a chicken pot pie (when all they have been able to eat is purreed food) is pretty outstanding. I guess I have a somewhat funny story I can share that will not give any patient identifiers:

I am in the office (I have my own office, kind of! Cool, eh?). Anyways, I'm in the office. I hear, "CODE PURPLE. CODE PURPLE." over the intercom. I know that's a pediatric code. I look at the back of my card to see what it is and it's a child abduction. The exchange with me (M) and my supervisor (S) goes like this:

M: WHAT DO WE DO?
S: Meh. We'll go stand by the door over by the North stairwell. It's probably a drill.
M: Um, okay!
(follows supervisor to stairwell)
M: So, we just wait?
S: Well, I'm going to go guard the exit door, you stand here and guard this door. If it's peds, this is the only stairwell. So we should probably watch all the doors in case it's not a drill. If they don't give a description soon it's probably a drill.
INTERCOM: CODE PURPLE. MALE. 5 YEARS. BLONDE HAIR. BROWN EYES. FLANNEL SHIRT. SUSPECT IN BLACK HOODIE. NORTH STAIRWELL.
M (internally): OH SHIT.
S: Alright, I'm gonna check the door.
M (to other SLP standing by me): What do we do? Do I need to be trained? What do I do?
S: I'm sure it's fine.
M: Which is the North stairwell?
S: This one. It's the only one that goes off the peds floor.
M:

SIDEBAR: I am so surprised by this I didn't even finish my last sentence. There is a man who just randomly sat across from me at the coffee shop. Like, at my table for two. While there are MULTIPLE tables open. He just looked at me. The exchange goes like this:

Him (H):  Can I sit here?
Me (M): Um, sure? I'm about to leave so...
He sits down.
......a few minutes go by....
H: If I start making weird faces, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to come up with lyrics.
M: Um... no worries. It's all good.
.....a few minutes go by...
H: I'm sorry if I'm looking at you. I just talk to myself sometimes when I'm doing this, so I figured I should start sitting across from people otherwise I get really weird looks.
M: It's all good, dude. I get it. You do your thing. I'll do my thing. Then I'll leave.
....I'm now chugging my wine. So I'll finish this story quickly and go.

M (internally): Oh, geeze LOUISE.
RUSHING FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD ABOVE. I AM INTERNALLY FREAKING OUT.
On the outside I am the picture of calm and knowledge.
I see a face. It's a male nurse (MN).
MN: DID YOU SEE ANYONE?
M (sighing): No. Supervisor is at the bottom door looking out.
MN: K, I'll go look and see if I can see anyone on the roof or fire escapes.
M: Ha. Okay!
RUSHING FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD ABOVE. It's a female nurse (FN).
FN: DID YOU SEE ANYONE?
M: Nope! MN is up above and Supervisor is at the bottom of the stairs.
FN: Okay!
At this point I am thinking I'm going to have to turn into Bruce Lee or something. I have no idea what to do. 
M (to other SLP): Like, do I tackle him?
Her: Mmm.. No. We report it.
M: Okay?
INTERCOM: CODE PURPLE ALL CLEAR.
......... long pregnant pause......
INTERCOM: THIS WAS A DRILL.

Good, heavens. We have had lots of different codes since I've been there, but this was the one I was most directly involved in (besides the Code Blue that happened in the room next to me, and a subsequent Code after that). I am glad it was a drill.

SIDEBAR: Guy across from me is stroking his chin and speaking out loud. And rapping. I think he's rapping. 

So all in all, I am loving it here. My roommate situation is a little different (I'll post on that later), but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good. Lonely sometimes, but that is to be expected in a new city. I think once summer really picks up and there are things to do it will be better :). Hopefully friends come visit! I feel very lucky to be in such a beautiful place for the summer. I have been traveling a lot on the weekends, but I think I may actually try and stay here and explore this upcoming one. Wish me luck. I'll try to keep you updated, but strict confidentiality keeps me from saying too much about work. Now if only I could find the motivation to apply for some jobs. C'est la vie.

Love y'all.

Pink and blue and bows.

This past weekend I took a little jaunt over to the Soo for my best friend's bridal shower. Her colors are navy blue and fuchsia and as would be expected, everything was pink (and white)! She's adorable. It was her spring break from med school this past week, and she was in Marquette looking for an apartment for her clinical rotations beginning this June. I got to spend Sunday and Monday with her! It was nice. Then, as I mentioned, I had her bridal shower. It's the most I've seen her in that short of a period of time since we lived in the same city I think! I've missed her lots.

Anywho, the bridal shower was very cute. Her maid of honor did a great job organizing it, and we all had a wonderful time. A group of us went out Saturday night and had more fun, so it was a successful weekend all in all!

I can't believe I only have two and a half weeks left at my Marquette externship!  I'm REALLY going to miss it. A lot of funny things happen at the preschool, but I've come to understand both that I find things funny that others may not, and also that context is pretty important for a lot of the things that happen. Additionally, I need to keep them anonymous and some of the humor in the situations comes from which kids have done these things--if that makes sense. Anyways, here are a couple of cute things that have happened at the preschool:

Young girl (same one who is the "girlfriend" from the last story): UGH. It's just SO hot in this bra I'm wearing. (Looks to see if I'm paying attention... I don't look at her). UGH. This BRA is just SO HOT. (I nod and walk away. That girl, haha).

Young enthusiastic boy who asked a question about Tooter in the last post. This also happened during show and tell: (To child who brought show and tell) I WOULD LIKE TO TOUCH IT.
Teacher: I don't think you need to. It's not yours.
YEB: (Turns to teacher) I wasn't asking you.

The previously mentioned child is just SO good at reasoning and talking his way out of things, that sometimes you can't do anything but giggle.

I'm sure there's more, but I've forgotten. OH! I have a young one who is now insisting on calling me "Peanut Butter". Hilarity usually ensues and the kids in the class love it, but he's the only one who is calling me that (so far). You, too, may call me "Peanut Butter" if you want now I guess.

Also! Someone special is coming to visit me in less than three weeks, and I am SO excited!!

Anyways, I need to go order shoes for my friend's wedding in June. Love y'all!

Nautical nonsense and preschoolers.

Just so that I give credit where credit is due, the print I found to use as my new background is from: bespokeprints.com. Additionally, I should probably give credit to a quote that has been inspiring me lately, which also has to do with my new background. It is as follows:

“A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.” — John A. Shedd.

I love all things nautical (including anchors)--much to the bemusement of my family probably, considering I REALLY don't care for, or even like, Lake State. In fact, when I came home with a blue phone case that had an anchor on the back, I didn't hear the end of it. I bought a new case, naturally. It is now sparkly silver and gold and has been deemed the "porn star phone case" by one of my best friend's cousins. C'est la vie. Anyways, I just love my new background simply for the fact that it has chevron, a nautical feel, and NO anchor. Everyone's happy.

I have been thinking about the quote I mentioned a lot lately. Growing up in the U.P., we are in a nautical environment ALL the time. I never really realized it until I moved out West though. I'm proud of being from Michigan--more specifically, the U.P.. It's an amazing area.

SIDEBAR: I'm going to be like everyone else and just say, THIS WINTER IS BULLSHIT. Like, seriously. Okay, if we're going to get a bunch of snow, fine. Whatever. I would prefer cold to snow, but NOT BOTH. It's March this weekend and our 10-day forecast does not have us getting above zero--not including wind chill. I'm just done with it.

So the U.P. is great. In the summer, Michigan is the most incredible place in the country to be--in my not-so-unbiased opinion. This winter has kind of solidified my desire to look for my CFY (9 month clinical fellowship all SLPs are required to do) in southern states. So I've started doing that. I can't wait to be WARM, provided that I get a job down there. If I end up hating it, then hey, it's only for one school year. I've left the harbor once for the Wild West and loved it, might as well do it again in a different direction!

For a quick update, I've been working at a preschool in Marquette. It's wonderful. I had no desire to work with the preschool population, but now being in one that is inclusive (as in, we provide speech-language services to the kids in their classroom) it's making me consider doing this for a job. I'm a little wary that I haven't yet worked in a skilled nursing facility or hospital. Those are the environments I was, and still am, most interested in working in; however, there's something to be said for truly looking forward to going to your job every day. Here are a few reasons I love the preschool:

1. The kids are FREAKIN' hilarious. Like, I crack up almost daily.
2. The people I am working with are awesome and they make going there everyday enjoyable.
3. The kids are FREAKIN' adorable. Like, I just want to pick them up and squeeze them sometimes.
4. THE KIDS.
5. THE KIDS.
6. THE KIDS.
7. It's actually a big challenge. I thought that being at a preschool would become kind of routine and wouldn't be super challenging. I've been proven wrong. I've had to learn a ton about behavior management and strategy. I also always have to be on my feet thinking about what each child's goals are and how I can incorporate them into the classroom activities we are doing. The evaluations I've been doing are great too.
8. THE KIDS.
9. I get to play with Legos, Playdough, blocks, etc. It's great.
10. THE KIDS.

I'm starting to think that maybe it would be fun to have a job where you see so much progress in your clients. It also is great to be there during the times they are learning a ton to provide them with the best possible intervention and language learning you can. Preschoolers are at this crazy age and some of them have more negative things going on in their life than you or I do. It's extremely rewarding to be that person there telling them you care about them and making them feel good about themselves--and hopefully providing a good base for the future. It's pretty neat. To finish off, I'll provide a few anonymous things my kids have said to me:

1. (There will be a few in one number for this kid). While staring longingly into my eyes, "you're hands are so soft."
"Look at your cheekies, your beautiful little cheekies" (then pinches my cheeks).
"I just LOVE your beautiful hair" (then pets my hair).
"We're going to play house. You be the mommy, and I'll be the doctor" (I shut this one down quickly).
"Ms. Mia, do you want to know something? You're beautiful." (I say "thank you").
Later, child turns around and says, "Ms. Mia, do you still want to be beautiful?" Um.... yes?

2. Child brings show and tell stuffed animals: an elephant and a seal. We ask their names. They were Porky and Tooter, respectively. Spunky young child bounces in seat raising a hand to ask a question of the child who brought show and tell like an interviewer at a press conference: "Umm, yes, thanks. First, I'd like to ask a question about Tooter...". Proceeds with Tooter having his 15 minutes of fame and Porky being swept to the side.

3. One of my favorites so far, while talking to my supervisor and I: "I don't know if you know this, but you're going to die. You're going to get old, and you're going to die. I won't, I want to stay little, so I won't die. But you will. You're going to meet our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, up there. But don't worry, he's a pretty nice guy. And Slipknot is the devil's music." We just stared at each other.

4. Same child as #3 with another child, sitting on bean bags. I think, awesome! Perfect opportunity for some language treatment! I'll read this one like a dialogue:
Me (M): Hey, guys! What are ya up to? (Both stare at me like I'm nuts).
Boy (B): Just talking.
Girl (G): Yea, just talking.
M: Can I sit with you, or would you rather be alone?
G: We'd rather be alone.
B: Yea, and she's my girlfriend and we're gonna get married. We'd rather be alone.
M: Okay.... well, see ya. (Walk away with head down. I am not the cool kid in class). 

Later that day:
B: Ms. Mia! Look what I drew!
M: (Trying to interpret scribbles) Oh, nice! What is it?
B: Me and G up on top of a hill swinging in the sunset because we're in love. Isn't that nice?!
M: Umm...
B: (To girl) Would you like that? We'll take a picnic and walk up a hill and lay on a blanket and eat the picnic and watch the sunrise! Does that sound fun?
G: (This actually happened. Girl exasperatedly puts her head in her hands and says) Not now, we're coloring.

I'll try to update more with anonymous silly stories, because there have been many I've forgotten.

Love, y'all!

Home is where the heat is.

No, I didn't spell that wrong. We have a sauna at my house and with how FREAKIN' COLD it's been lately, I have been taking one every day. It's the only way I can really warm up. I mean, it got to like, -50 degrees in Wyoming, but it's not humid--if you're bundled up, you don't really feel it. Here, it's the exact opposite. When it's -30 degrees, it feels like it no matter what you wrap yourself up in.

I'm home. I'm all done with graduate school classes and now just have my two externships and thesis defense before I am officially graduated. CRAZY. I have to admit, I'm really missing Wyoming. That was to be expected though, I suppose. One thing I will say is that it has been a chore fitting an apartment-full of stuff into my small bedroom, but I have somewhat succeeded. Yes, there are books on books on books and we had to buy some new storage shelves, but we figured it out. My friend Shell's sister helped us unpack the car when we got back to my house in Michigan and her comment on the number of books we had to unload--which was drastically reduced as I had shipped eight boxes home already--was, "Geeze, this is like unpacking Rorie Gilmore's car." I took it as a compliment :).

Home has been nice so far. I got to see pretty much all of my family, eat delicious food, relax, spend time with my bestest friends, and spend a lot of time in the car. Like, a lot. My travels over the last three weeks have been as follows:

Laramie > Marquette.
Marquette > Soo.
Soo > Petoskey.
Petoskey > Detroit.
Detroit > Green Bay (via Chicago).
Green Bay > Marquette.
Marquette > Soo.
Soo > Lansing.
Lansing > Kalamazoo.
Kalamazoo > Marquette.

Whew. I think that's it. It's a good thing I love car trips!

Anyways, I am beginning my externship at an early developmental center this week. It was supposed to begin on Monday, but with the "Polar Vortex" sweeping through the nation, we have had triple cold days. I'm hoping to begin on Thursday. Don't get me wrong, I love the extra vacation time. I'm just getting a little bit stir crazy being in the house so much. Now that my room is all organized, I really don't have much to do. Maybe I'll start studying for my board exam...... HA. No, that can wait. Also! I found out that other than IFSP/IEP meetings or professional seminars I am able to wear jeans and casual shirts to work! Seeing as we are on the floor with preschoolers all day, this makes sense. I'm still excited, though.

As I'm no longer out West I'm not sure what kind of updates/posts I'll be doing, or how often I'll be doing them. It will most likely be little stories about my preschoolers and where I'm at with finishing school and such. Hopefully it will pick up more once I begin the job hunt, and then start said job! (Preview: I'll likely be looking down South or on the East Coast). Wish me luck!

Love, y'all!

Live authentically.

It's almost done. I am two exams down, with one to go, and I really don't know how I feel about that. In my last post I talked about things I've learned and those sorts of things. This post will be a bit of that, and then more of an update I guess.

Shell will be here on Friday night (WOO WOO), which is crazy. I just... I can't believe I'm leaving. I'm really excited to see everyone and to start a new chapter and everything, but honestly: I'm not ready to be done here. I'm just going to have to suck it up and get on with it, eh? Pretty much. Anyways, I'M REALLY EXCITED TO SEE SHELL! :)

More pondering: 
Andy Warhol said (or wrote, I'm not totally sure): “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

I both agree with and reject that sentiment. My rejection is that time really does change things. I mean, this time two years ago I was in a completely different place than I am now, and that is in direct relation to both time and the choices I made. This is something I'm trying to keep in mind lately.

When it comes to emotions and such, I am a pretty private person. I only share my true feelings with a couple of people, and I often like to pretend like I have none. Something that both time--and my decisions--have taught me is that, while this is a great strategy for self-preservation in theory, it really isn't in reality. So since no one really reads this besides my family, I'm going to theorize for a moment. I'm talking about both professional relationships and private relationships, here. For example: pretending you don't care about someone or something may have a result you expect or want and leave you feeling like you have the upper-hand; however, inject into that story you actually sharing how you're feeling--being yourself--and the interaction changes. You sort of become an outsider to this situation you've created through acting untrue to yourself.

If you're a person who likes to talk things out and get over them, frickin' talk things out. If another person is not that sort of person, then how were you ever going to get anything solved anyways?

If you are the type of person who gets wrapped up in good music and really thinking about things, then frickin' do that. If another person prefers to be wrapped up in more materialistic things, then how were you going to have thoughtful interactions anyways?

If you are the type of person who likes to make others feel special and cared for, then frickin' be that person. If another person prefers to take and not provide the same type of care, then how were you ever going to feel special in that relationship?

If you prefer to make certain people a priority, then frickin' do it. If another person sees you as more of an option than a priority, how were you ever going to form a meaningful relationship?

Basically, in both professional and personal relationships, if you aren't being yourself (within reason for the professional ones), then you are fooling the other person. Sometimes two good people are just different, and that has been a tough lesson for me to learn. In contrast to that though, sometimes opposites can work exceptionally well together if they are both willing to put in the effort--effort being the key word there. Things can be easy if you want them to be (and for the most part they should be), but I often find that the things that are always easy are not the things that are worth it. Think going to the gym: you can get into a routine and keep doing it and it gets easier and easier. If you stay in that routine, it will be easy, but not enjoyable. I prefer to mix things up, to accept that even though some days may be more difficult than others, it's worth it. I'm worth it. In relationships, the other person should be worth it to. Through some difficult things come things that are better than we could have thought otherwise. Has anyone sensed that this got away from the "professional" relationship? Oh well lol.

Update time: 

I am in the process of packing up my apartment and have now sent two shipments of boxes home. The last shipment was addressed to my family, but not really. I believe the names I used were: La, Hurricane, Fr. Joe, Josephine, Jowdy, and Magglio. :). My landlord is showing my apartment to a few people tomorrow, so hopefully he'll find someone to take it soon.
When we first moved in, he asked us not to put nail holes in the wall if we could avoid it because we live in a very old building. So I, trying to be resourceful and follow his rules at the same time, decided to use those tacky squares you can get. They held things up beautifully and were fine everywhere else in the apartment besides my bedroom. One wall in my bedroom to be exact. The paint started peeling, and I was freaking out a bit, and then I was honest and showed it to him and he was totally fine. He handed me some spackle and told me if I had trouble to let him know. Whew.
I cleaned out my closets (I brought WAY too many clothes out here) and brought the clothes to the middle school that I did my community placement at. One of the kids who made me a card when I left happened to be in the treatment room when I stopped by. I walked in and he goes, "YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK! Are you back for good!?". I told him I wasn't, but it was nice to feel missed after a few days :). I'll miss those kids and the people at the school.

Well, I have one more exam to go on Friday afternoon. It's my Craniofacial exam, and I think I'll be okay if I study all day tomorrow and the morning. I'll look over the stuff tonight too.

More pondering: 
I guess my message for this post is something that I thought I embodied pretty well, but am starting to feel like is a perpetual journey: Live authentically. It's surprising how you can get away from yourself if you don't remember to look at your life and your choices ("LOOK ATCHA LIFE, LOOK ATCHA CHOICES... Sassy Gay Friend... anyone?). You know what, though? It's also nice how quickly you can come back. After all, you're the only you ;). I'll leave you with this.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

This quote always made me think. At first I'd be like, "yea! Exactly!" And then I'd go, "But isn't that boastful?" It's taken me a bit to realize that being everything you can be, and then opening the doors for others to do that too, is probably one of the least boastful things you can do. It's kind of like being, "Yo, you're good with history and sports? I'm awesome with pop culture and music. Let's get together and form one of the most unbeatable groups in the history of bar trivia teams". By acknowledging the gifts you've been given, you can help others do the same; therefore, helping them to get out there and try things they may not have, and vice versa.

This has been way more deep than I intended. Sheesh. Love, y'all.

APA (almost) style update.

Wow. I feel like I start the majority of my posts with either "wow" or "so". C'est la vie. I have two weeks of grad school left (and two externships), and I will have my Master's degree. What the wha? This is crazy. It has been an insane semester. Clearly, due to my lack of posts. I must be completely honest though: it wasn't as crazy as last year. I think I just reveled in soaking up the time I have here with the people I've been spending time with, and I was just enjoying it all a lot. I apologize--to my family, really--for my lack of updates. Grandma told me a couple of weeks ago that I needed to post again before I left, so I decided to do it. If Gma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy (or something like that). I shudder to think of the guilt that would be laid on me if I didn't update at least once more. So here goes (I'll use bolded titles so you may decide what you want/don't want to read):

Why I don't want to leave. To be completely frank, I'm not sure that I'm ready to leave here yet for a number of reasons. Mainly, I've learned a ton about myself and I'm kind of enjoying that journey.

Friends. I have wonderful friends and people I really care about all in one place. That is never easy to leave. I go away confident, however, that my friendships will be solid. Distance means little when relationships are meaningful--that's what I keep reminding myself of. Things I've learned in regards to friends include: 1) gut instincts are generally correct, 2) you aren't going to be friends with everyone, and 3) people really are put into your life (and you in theirs) for a purpose. I'm going to miss these people dearly.

Sig-O's. I was fortunate while out here to have met a few great guys. Luckily, one of them became a very close friend--and now I'm friends with that group. They are awesome people. The other turned into something much more than I expected. He means a lot to me, and I will miss him when I head home for a few months. If nothing else though, I learned a lot about relationships and myself in them. I take that as a wonderful experience to have had. I will leave it at that.

Landscape. GOSH DARN IT. Wyoming is beautiful. I feel privileged to be able to take day trips to Colorado if I want--or to just drive ten minutes and be in the mountains. Sunsets are unreal (I've taken in a few lately), the vast amount of land is unreal, just everything. It's beautiful.

School. Yea. I'll say it. I'll miss school. I'm ready for a break. I mean, I've been going to school for eighteen years straight (that's kind of disgusting, haha), but I just don't feel like I'm done. I'm going to work for a few years, but my tentative plan is to go back for my PhD in the near future. Might as well, eh? (We'll see if I like working and having free time too much instead ;) ).

College schedule. This may sound crazy, but I'm going to miss my schedule. I worked nearly full-time all through undergrad while taking at least seventeen credits, so I never really had down time to just study, sleep in, and such. I have in grad school, and I love it! I will sincerely miss being able to grocery shop or run and get coffee in the middle of the day if I feel like it. The freedom of not working has not been lost on me.

So now I'll go through some updates about what's been happening in my life, I guess (bolded titles perpetuate):

Thesis research. Well, the research portion is almost done--for the actual thesis, that is... and just in English, but yea. Still more needs to be done for the Spanish portion and the actual paper to be submitted for publishing, but I see the light! I will spend my first few months while at home working on that so I can come back out here and defend it--and then be done!--in the Spring. Woo woo!

ASHA. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA; ie.) our national governing body) annual convention was in Chicago this year. My friend and I had posters that we presented, and it was amazing! I had three people whom I cite in my research stop by and talk to me about everything; the remaining people I cite are either at UW or I met them later in the conference. What an opportunity! It was awesome, and the food was awesome, and it was awesome. Did I say that already? I don't care. It was. :)

School. School is going well. One more day of classes and two more days of my community placement (at a middle school) and then it's just final exams!

Community placement. So my clinical community placement is at a middle school here in Laramie. It's been a rewarding--and at times very funny experience. I have learned a ton, and I was fortunate enough to have an amazing supervisor. All's good on that front, I suppose.

I feel like I've been rambling--in an organized way--and I'm not really quite sure what else to say. Maybe I'll try to post some more in the next couple of weeks. Shell is coming out to help me move home in less than two weeks, and I'm so excited to see her--not so much for the leaving part! It will be great to have her here and to have her see where I've been for the last year and a half. Soon enough I will be home, and then I probably won't know what to do with myself for a while. Such is life... and it's a great one. :)