The Art Show

I drove down to Tucson this afternoon for the Fiber Art Show at the JCC to see my mom's art pieces in the show. I am so proud of my mom for moving her craft into the next phase and finally being recognized for the art she makes. Plus it was really cool to we what her friends made too.

I hung out with Alex Smythe for most of the show and it was great to see him! He is also the proud child of an artist and we discussed the various pieces and what we liked and didn't like. Even the Roleskis showed up. I haven't seen them in about 10 years so I chatted with Mark (c?) For a few minutes.

I made sure to take pictures of everything (but now I need to figure out how to put my picasa album in my post - which might require a computer and not just my smart phone, which means you have to wait until tomorrow)

After the show Caseyman, Aimee and Alex and I went out to a late lunch/early dinner at Blanco in La Encantada. It was very good and i recommend the ceviche. We walked around the mall and had great time catching up!

Casey and Aimee say hello (although they really never check the blogs so I told them I would say they said "f*** off" because they would never read this. Don't worry, they laughed)

I will post some photos here but wait for the album later

CONGRATS MOM!!!

A Real Artist in the Family!

Look what I got in the mail! Who wants to go with me?

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

So...apparently calling my parents isn't enough. I have to add it to the written record that I wish my parents a happy anniversary.

It is actually a running joke that I should not call my parents until I have read their blog. I ask "how are you?" And they say "haven't you read the blog?" "No! I thought it would be more personal and call you!" I guess they just think I come unprepared :)

Well joke is on you mom and dad! I am posting this and I still haven't read your latest blog post because i spoke to you and heard it first hand instead!!

Anyway, happy 41st anniversay! (I knew that without seeing your blog too)

That's Not Fog

Another dust storm came through the valley this evening. Although I am hesitant to call it a haboob because there was no force behind it. I got caught in this storm but it wasn't very windy. In fact it just looked like fog and I didn't feel like I was in a dust storm until after about five minutes outside when my phone had a very fine film of dust on it.

Harry Potter and My Last Crusade

So...tonight is the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two which means...I am totally in the theater right now (it is 7pm) for the midnight showing.

Why you ask? Or you actually know me you don't ask?! Because I am at the Double Dose showing which means we get to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows PART ONE at 9pm and then PART TWO in 3D at midnight! Oh, and of course the 3D glasses are Harry Potter style!

I am here with a couple of my friends from work and they said they were making shirts. Now I have never been that brand of crazed fan before, but I am totally willing to succumb to peer pressure ESPECIALLY since it is the last Potter movie. So I have attached photos of my shirt :)

It should be a fun night!!! (PS most of the people in this theater are my age or older, Haha)

11:30pm update Deathly Haloes part one just ended...only 30 minutes until Part Two! Enough time for a bathroom break and some stretches "looking at the cracks in the sidewalk."

2:30am update it can't be over!!!! Parts one and two are possibly the best of the Harry Potter movies because they follow the book sometimes verbatim. I loved it!

No Ghosts

So I dont know if I posted on here that my water heater broke...but it did. Actually it worked just fine but it rusted a hole through the bottom and water leaked out of it (I still had hot water to use) I had noticed for a couple weeks that the laminate wood flooring in my kitchen was starting to warp and buckle, but there was never any water. The floor wasn't wet, my sink and appliances didn't seem to be leaking so I didn't rush into action.

So of course that means that last week when I was catsitting for Michaela (the cat had to live with me because she was on vacation and getting all new flooring in her house) I got out of my shower one night (still had hot water) and walked into the kitchen and heard and saw the squish of water.

The next morning I locked the cat in the bedroom and called the apt management. They said it sounded like the water heater and would have it replaced that day. Apparently my water heater is in my kitchen in the dead cupboard space between the sink and stove - I had no clue. I had been thinking my AC intake duct in the hall closet was my water heater ( I didn't really look at it that closely).

True to their word it was fixed within the day with only the dirty path of destruction in its wake...maintenance men don't clean even when the vacuum is left out :).

Then I had to sign a release of entry form so the flooring company could come in while I was gone to replace my floor. They said it would be 3-4 days before they came. I figured they would call me.

Yeah...they didn't. LUCKILY I was done catsitting before they came!

Last night was office trivia night so I didn't get home until 9pm. I watched a little TV then went to bed. I have a small apartment so I don't really feel thr need to look around...because I figure I can see everything. Not the case.

This morning I woke up to see this barricade of my stuff in front of my kitchen. It took me a minute to figure out why it was there (of course my first thought a single woman was that someone came in my house as I slept or it was a ghost) and luckily I wasn't too sleepy to put two and two together and realize the floor was replaced while I was at work yesterday. Only for a second did I think they did it while I slept :).

So now I have lovely new floors and no ghosts!

Haboob!!!!

Dust storm came rolling in this evening and blanketed Phoenix and Casa Grande. I have added a picture from outside my house now (although it is nighttime), it feels like we are in an ash cloud.

Also, here is a slideshow of other people's better photos (I hope that works)
http://www.azcentral.com/photo/News/Other/858?collectionID=858&prevNext=next&next_limit=0&total=278&sel=

It's getting hot in here!

Yeah, the weathr gods heard about the summer solstice and finally realized we are supposed to be hot. We had a very mild April, May and first half of June and then came the solstice and since then it has been well over 100° and this last week especially has been over 110°! On saturday it was at least 117°.

So that means I had to chop off all my hair. I hadn't cut it since January so it was well past my shoulders and heavy. I haven't worn it down in 3 weeks. Yesterday I used some gift cards I received and went to a local fancy salon and I think I have found my new stylist! Only took 7 years of living in Phoenix to find someone better than my Tucson stylist :)

(I don't know why it uploads sideways from my phone)

End of Era

I just finished rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (as evidenced by how late I am posting this) for the first time since I bought it in 2007.

Definitely worth a second read through and now I am ready for the double header of the movie versions of the seventh book. The local theaters are showing part one at 9pm and part two at midnight on July 14th (who cares about having to be at work by 8am the next day?!).

They are actually showing an entire week of Harry Potter movies leading up to the big night. If I had the time I would do that: movies 1 & 2 that Monday, 3 & 4 Tuesday, and 5 & 6 Wednesday. But the movies are all at night and I would be out past midnight every night of our first week of annual training - seems like a bad idea.

It is really the end of an era. My generation's Star Wars. But apparently J.K. Rowling has created Pottermore ( look it up on youtube) to not only bringing the books into a digital format but also add new short stories about supporting characters.

Still, this is my last midnight premeire of all things Harry Potter. No more books or movies. It's about time!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Dad, I hope you have the day off so you can have fun today...if you don't then I hope you mention that on your tour and get better tips!

Happy Father's Day to all the other dads I know (read: people read this) Greg, Joe, Don, Dave, Matt, & Dustin!

Happy Birthday Margot!

How is it possible that a year has gone by?! This time last year I was in the hospital - had been since 2am - hanging out in Michaela's room for the big moment. Margot wasn't born until about 11:45 am but it is an unbelievable experience that I will never forget.

Now she has her four front teeth, yells 'da-da' at everyone, and is walking like a drunken sailor all the time! Oh and she loves pigs - hence her birthday party theme is 'this little piggy is turning 1.' It will be at peter piper pizza - my first time there since I could ask my dad for more quarters for tokens - so I am excited for some skeeball!

Of course by the time you are going to PPP for a childs party and the child is clearly a generation after you, the tickets for prizes don't seem that important. (As opposed to when the PPP party is for a child of your same generation and you can't believe the adults just gave you their 40 tickets so you can now get the 800 ticket rubber ball instead of the 775 ticket keychain!!!)

It should be a fun day (check the Crabtree blog tomorrow for pictures) and what kind of childless adult would I be if I didn't buy Margot a music kit with a drum, moraccas and bells?!? :)

Happy Birthday Greg!

I hope you are having a great day!!

Vindication!

Tonight was the second monthy office team trivia night and my team won 2 of the 4 rounds!!!

None of us had exactly the same teams. In fact, we only had three teams this time, and no one had 8 members (thank goodness). My team was almost completely different...this may be the secret of my success :).

One of our other teams won a round too, so once again, I must say how lucky I am to work with such nerdy people. Out of about 26 teams, our 3 teams won 3 of 4 rounds. It was a super fun night!

Our next trivia night (seems to officially be monthly now) will fall during a week of training our entire recruitment team so our out-of-state folks will be in town - it should be really fun!!

Who needs self-promotion when your boss will do it for you?!

So as many of you know I have been applying for jobs around campus and had a great lead with our business school - to the point that they called me to apply for one of their job postings. I went in for an interview, everything went really well, my newer job duties at my current job really stood out...yada yada yada...I have heard nothing. And that was over a month ago.

Cut to two weeks ago, a coworker who knew I had applied told the head honcho of my office about it and he seemed unaware and concerned about the possibility of me leaving (this is secondhand from my coworker).

Cut to last week when my boss' boss calls me into her office and offers me a promotion to coordinator in charge of all social media and telecounseling duties for our admissions office! With a raise! So I will no longer be an Admissions Counselor traveling to high schools. This is definitely a better option than the business school considering my interest areas in social media. So cut to yesterday when I signed the paperwork for my new position :) no announcement has been made in my office yet but I am excited for my new role for two main reasons.

1) during my campus tour info sessions I mention a statistic I picked up that says today's college graduates will have an average of 9 jobs/careers before they retire and 4 of the jobs don't even exist yet. Most universities worry about that since their main function is to prepare students for the work force, but how can they do that if they don't even know what skills are needed for those yet-to-be-created jobs?! Well in my spiel I go into how our university covers a broad skills education that makes our graduates more adaptable to the ever-changing job market and guess what? Now I am proof that what I say is true (of course I always believed it was true but I didn't have such a convenient example), because I could not have foreseen this job when I graduated yet I do think my PR background helps me.

2) my graduate school advisor was always pushing us to come up with our own value-add to higher education. In other words, why are you invaluable to your organization and what do you bring to the organization that is unique and irreplaceable. I hated that question because as someone starting out in their career I was just trying to soak up enough information to do my job well, not be the best at it and I couldn't think of what made me stand out. Of course I also didn't think creating a student-friendly (AKA not personal) facebook account and diving into twitter was all that groundbreaking and yet, I have been the only person in our office consistently looking at social media as a way to connect with students. The good news is that my bosses saw my value-add and decided I shouldn't leave to work for one of the colleges and literally created a new job to keep me within the organization. How cool is that!?! Turns out my grad advisor really does know what she is talking about :) she is also the person that told me I really could make my final project about the use of Twitter in the classroom.

I am really excited for my new job but boy, I sure do have to do a lot of planning to make our social media strategies look spontaneous!! It's a full-time job!

Team Trivia Night

So a couple months ago some of my coworkers started asking when we were going to have a trivia night. They know I play every week with the Hickmans so they wanted me to set something up.

So finally a couple weeks ago, I spoke to the quizmaster, Moses, who does our trivia night because he does trivia at other locations in the valley throughout the week. Turns out on Tuesdays he does trivia at a bar near our office. About two weeks ago I sent out an invite and sign up list to about 60-70 coworkers to create or join a trivia team. I ended up with four teams of eight players signing up!! Yeah, 32 people were interested!

Needless to say, I spoke to Moses last week and let him know about the size of our group. He gave me his email and asked me to email him with a final number the day of so he could make sure we had seating near each other.

So tonight was the night! I got to the bar an hour early to get the tables figured out and by the first round of trivia about 80% of our teams were there. I had four teammates - all of them coworkers, no Hickmans. At the end of the first round our teams got 8/10 questions correct but none of us won. Round two, one of our teams got into the tiebreaker and won (not my team, which by now had 8 members with Joe and Michaela and Casey Green, and others). Round three, two of our teams got to the tiebreaker (not mine) and one of them won. Round four, none of our teams won...that's right, my team didn't win.

Obviously that was a fluke, so we will have to do another trivia night sometime soon :). Actually, one of our winning teams had three people with/ or getting doctorate degrees so I don't feel so bad.

I am just glad that I work with so many nerdy people...it was a huge success! I will be happy to get back to the Hickmans though :)

Two posts in one day...crazy

So I spent my afternoon on an art project. I have been wanting to do some pieces involving circles and color and finally got a compass set that let's me make perfect circles. I bought a pad of canvas (yes just like a sketch pad) and made and painted a whole bunch of circles and then cut them out. I used the paint and paint pens I got for Christmas!

I used a frame I picked up from my parents' garage sale and painted it and used the matting that came with it.

I think it came out really well and can't wait to try out more projects on the same theme!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Happy Mothers Day to all my favorite moms - mostly my own. I am very lucky to have you as my mom (and all my friends agree that you are pretty darn nifty)!

I am also lucky to know so many great mothers. My Cottonwood clan: Grandma, Margie, Liz and Vada; My sister-in-law Tomoko; and my best friends Michaela and Jenn :)

Yesterday I babysat Thomas Ash (famous in the Ash Family Blog) so Jenn could go see a movie with her mom and family. It has become a Mothers Day tradition for me to babysit Thomas since my own mother goes halfway across the country every May. He and I had a lot of fun watching Toy Story and going down to the neighborhood lake to see the ducks and a turtle (I didn't even know there were turtles in that lake)!

I hope all my favorite moms have a wonderful day!!

There is no posting when you are with family

So my entire family is hanging out together in NY so consequently neither of their blogs are getting updated! They are having  too much fun hanging out to tell us how much fun they are having.

I can't really blame them though. When I hang out with family I forget to post too. This weekend Liz came down and spent the night with me so she could go shoe shopping - a perfect, girly cousin thing to do! She found several pairs of shoes and then we hit up the Tempe Festival of the Arts. It was perfect weather to hang out outside. I introduced her to chino bandido and then we settled in for movies at my (newly cleaned) place. Liz's visit gave me great icentive to clean up my apartment and I have been trying to keep it tidy since then. It is so nice coming home to an orderly home :)

Yesterday I got free tickets to the D'backs game that night and got my friend Jocelyn (a cool lady I met riding the Orbit bus everyday) to go to it. We both like spontaneous activities so it was fun to call her and ask if she wanted to go to the game 'right now'. Plus she just got a new job and doesn't ride the bus anymore so it was good to see her.

I haven't hungout with Michaela in a week or two so we gotta plan some quality time together this weekend. I can't wait!

Decathlon State

This last weekend was the Decathlon State Competition. I am the co-chair for our Super Quiz section. My co-chair had to work a different event the day of ours, so I was running solo! but, I think it went all right - check me out giving the decathletes directions, and then everyone ready for the event to start!





I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself - everything is so orderly! It is easy to take all the credit when you have 15 NHS students helping you out, a very well organized school, and one of your regional chairs there helping you :)

CDO won the relay - and to the upset of Mtn View, took first place overall! They are state champs! They get to go to Charlotte for nationals in April - I read that as 6 more weeks of studying the same, old material - it will be brutal for sure.

I had the most fun setting up all the social media for the decathlon competition, I used HootSuite to set up tweets and facebook updates ahead of time. Yeah, that is right, I got to schedule my tweets! So they went out a specified time even though I wrote them a week earlier. It was really fun because it made us look like we really were live updating - and we had some great feedback on our fan page on Facebook because of it. It was a good new test for me. I have done a lot of social networking with my job, but it was fun to try an new product (to me) and have it work out so well for the event!

I am just geeking out. It will be fun to do next year as well :)

I will be in Cottonwood this weekend - Saturday into Sunday, because Liz was very welcoming in letting me spend the night :) I heard Don and Karin were going to be in town (and Beth and Bruce Hickman were heading up too) which was good enough for me, but NOW I hear there will be rocky road pie so I will for sure be there! I haven't had rocky road pie in years - so I am super excited :)

I am also happy to wish Grandma Happy Birthday - and hopefully get some Canasta played as well.

See many of you this weekend!

Now all i need is a frame

My diploma finally came in the mail!

Stand Back, I'm a Professional

A couple weeks ago, my friend Jenn (of the Ash Family Blog I follow) invited me to a Bunco tournament a friend of hers was throwing. I had heard of Bunco clubs and several people I know are in such clubs but I didn't really know what it was. Bunco is a dice game played at tables of two pairs of people. Basically you roll three dice multiple times for a specific number. In the first round everone is rolling for ones. The round is over when the head table has rolled 21 ones. Then everyone moves on to twos. A bunco is if you roll a three of a kind in the number you want, for instance 3 ones in the first round. They are worth more points. The person who has won the most rounds win.
Needless to say it is a fun and mindless game so you can chat with the other players and after each game you switch partners. To join the game I had to pay $5 and bring $5 gift. At the end of the night the winner got one gift and the loser got four gifts. I came in third and got a couple old dvds. Not bad for my first time playing a game of luck :)

Then, this weekend Jenn invited me to a Hand and Foot tournament at her sister's house. Hand and Foot is similar to Canasta so you know I was all over it. The biggest difference is that you have a hand-11 cards that you play from, and a Foot-11 cards you have to play after you play your hand. Mind blowing I know! The change I had to get used to was that you can't pick up the discard pile, which of course changes your entire discarding strategy.
Now some of you may remember that the summer after freshman year of college I was hired by my high school art teacher to come over in the afternoons and play Hand and Foot with her 93 year old mother for $5 an hour. It was a super sweet deal since her mother a) drank vodka like it was water and b) suffered from slight dementia so she was willing to play for four hours straight but as the time went on she started to forget what she was doing.

This summer experience has come in handy during ice breakers and parties because no one would ever believe i have been a 'professional card player.' I barely remembered the rules so I had to laugh that I was actually going to play Hand and Foot again. It was super fun and surprisingly my partner and I won the tournament! We didn't win any prizes but we do get bragging rights- which is a big deal to the group I was playing with. The last champions have been bragging for two years since the last big game.

It has been a fun couple of weeks but I am afraid Jenn might stop inviting me to her friends' events it I keep doing so well. Luckily she is on the same softball league as me and knows I suck at that :)

Mobile Posting

OK so now I really do have my Droid X. Turns out I can even upload blogger to my apps. If any of you learn of really useful apps to have, let me or my mom know. We are all about it!

droid post

I just got a droid x. Now I can access the internet from my phone! I am definitely having a lot of fun with this! I still have a lot to figure out but it is amazing to have so much at my fingertips :)

Happy Birthday Ariana

Ok, so I am a day late in the birthday wishes, but the important thing is that my gift was not late. And I got a phone call from Ariana last night, which was really fun. I am getting a new phone this week with skype mobile but I don't know if it would connect to computer accounts. I will have to play with it. Worst case, only my mom and I can skype each other on our phones - not bad at all!


Happy Birthday Ariana!

New Developments

So about a week ago, my boss' bosses pulled me into a late afternoon meeting and told me "we think we have a great opportunity for you, and don't think you really have a choice about it"

Great opening lines eh? They went on to say that due to my student supervisory experience at the MU and my master's degree, that they would like me to supervise our group of evening student telecounselors. As well as continue to do all my other duties. They mentioned how it would help build my resume, and also would make me point person for our social media branding as well as our private social network (in which the telecounselors are student bloggers).

While that might not sound like a great offer to many of you, it actually is really great, because it does bolster my resume AND let's me get more involved in our social networking, skills I gained as a college student and for my graduate program.

My only major worry (aside from how to do it all and my counseling duties) was how I as going to work full time and supervise evening student workers? that would be 12 hours days. My bosses let me know they were hiring a part-time staffer to actually supervise those students, and he would report to me - whew! oh, and I would receive a 10% raise. The offer is good until the end of the fiscal year in June.

I am pretty excited about it!

Then this week, they posted a new position for an assistant director of communications for the department. this person would be in charge of the entire communication flow to students, as well as manage social networking, and work with other university offices to maintain consistent branding. This job sounds like about half of it is duties they just assigned me, so I am definitely applying for the job.

This would be a perfect move up for me. I don't want to get too excited though, it is highly possible they will get applicants with more communications experience than me, but I definitely don't think it will hurt me to apply. My past experience isn't so strong, but my knowledge of the department and my ideas for how we can move forward are pretty good, so I think I have a shot. I am going to meet with some people I know at the university who can give some advice on how to best approach this application, but I am excited that this new job has appeared.

I don't know how many times people have asked me what my career goals are, or where I plan to be in 5 years - I think that was because jobs like this werent invented yet for me to know that was an option.

If I don't get this job, I will certainly need to look outside the department - after all my raise is good until June, and then whoever becomes this asst. director will have most of those duties, seems unlikely it would continue for me.

January

So, I guess it is time I updated you all on the happenings of me.

Christmas came and went! I got a ton of cool stuff, and we had fun Skyping with Greg and family in NY.

New Years was also fun, I went to a coworker's house and we drank White Russians and played board games. We also had Black Russians, so as not to appear racist (substitute Coke for cream). I guess I am still in that age group where trying new alcoholic drinks is an event onto itself. The Russians weren't bad, although I find myself liking mixed drinks less and less. Not necessarily a bad thing.

My apartment is shaping up. still have to find places for a few things but otherwise all is well. I do not yet have internet at my house. I am surprised that I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. I mean, sure it is inconvenient sometimes (for instance, I am blogging from my office right now) but for the most part I use the internet for entertainment so now I just have to entertain myself in new ways.

Ok, really I am just waiting to be able to afford a smartphone, they are so advanced now that I can access just about anything online from one. I predict that before the end of this year, I will have some sort of Droid phone. I just don't know which one yet.

In other news, similar to mom and dad's retirement, classes start up again next week, and I don't have to go!!! No more school. Of course this just means that now I have no excuse not to be better at my job (give it the ol' 110%) or find an awesome new one. I have applied to several and didn't get them. I may try to get a side job for a while to make some money, but otherwise I am pretty confident that I will get hired when the right job becomes available.

I think that is about all for now folks.

'Moving On' or 'Just 20 more minutes'

So I moved this past weekend. I have yet to set up new internet service so I can't post any pictures yet, but will get to that after the holidays.

I had several of my coworkers and their boyfriends (7 people total) come help me move everything into my Uhaul, and then everything right back out at my new place. I only moved about 4 miles east of my other place, but it is in the Dobson Ranch area, right next to a park and a Mesa library. My new place is a little smaller than the last place but the living room and bedroom are both longer so I feel like I have more space. My kitchen also had stainless steel appliances and cherry wood finished cabinets so it seems fancier too, even though it is older than the other place, and seems to have been inhabited by a smoker in the past (it is a faint smell so not too bad).

After my friends got everything moved (there was only one casualty. a bookcase a friend and I were carrying fell on top of me when I tripped on the sidewalk and my foot went right through it, I am fine, but the bookcase was KIA) I promised them I would buy their drinks at a local british restaurant/pub. Let's just say it was a good thing I had sold my futon the day before.

On Sunday my parents came up with their old wooden hutch that is now my old wooden hutch. we put it right next to my fancy cherry cabinets and steel appliances, so I guess I could turn into that person that brings the property value down of the people around me. I am pretty excited to have it though - so thanks mom and dad! They had some time to kill so they helped me unpack my kitchen stuff and rearrange my living room furniture.

Here is where my 20 more minutes comes in (See dad's blog to understand that phrase). I haven't unpacked much since this weekend, so there are still several boxes to unpack and some furniture to find a place for, but I did get my Christmas tree unpacked and set up, and I got all my presents bought, wrapped, and shipped which really, is much more important.

My biggest adjustment has been getting a digital antenna and losing my cable (and more importantly my DVR). I have to go back to remembering when shows are on, and what channel they are on. But it has been fun to have more channels per station, so now I have a permanent weather channel and a traffic channel. I even have 4 PBS channels! I also discovered about 10 Spanish channels and as many religious channels. not much use to me but good to know I have choices. As soon as I have my internet connected I will be able to watch some cable shows on my computer. I have now put my computer and TV right next to each other so it is a true entertainment center. In my old place, my computer was in my bedroom, and I didn't like having to watch shows in my bed.

Hopefully I will have pictures soon! I will be in Tucson for Christmas and am looking forward to seeing some friends (yes mom and dad, Julie is in town and is looking forward to seeing you too!)

Hope you have a wonderful holiday week!!

Graduation

I am all graduated!



Wednesday night was the university graduate commencement ceremony, just for masters and doctoral students.

I didn't realize that I would actually do anything at this ceremony, but it turns out all the masters students get hooded at this ceremony. so I got to go up to the front of the stage and be hooded (sounds like being knighted or something). The process is actually called Investiture, and basically it is the university investing its authority in us. It was really moving to go up and have my hood place around my neck (in pictures it is the blue sash you see around my neck, but it actually drops down my back too).



Afterwards my parents and I went out to the Cheesecake Factory and had a great dinner!


Thursday was the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Convocation, where I had my name read aloud as I walked across stage and received my degree. This was a lot of fun, and I was able to find my graduate director and get a picture with her.


Earlier on Thursday my parents and I had an adventure - I should know better than to go anywhere with them, but I didn't. We headed over to IKEA and a few other shops near by to do some Christmas shopping, and personal shopping. But when we were ready to leave at around 2pm the Jeep wouldn't start! Wouldn't even try to start. So we had to use roadside assistance to get towed to the nearest autoshop, which just happened to be the Jeep dealership. We were literally about a quarter mile from the dealership (so it was a short tow) and then we were only about half a mile from my house. Needless to say I started to get a bit antsy wanting to get home to get ready for graduation and knowing that I could probably walk home. But it was raining, and dad was confident it would be a quick fix.

turns out he was right enough. it took about three hours from the time the car wouldn't start to driving out of the dealership. We had enough time to eat and get ready for the convocation. I am sure mom and dad will blog in more detail (and with photos) about the day.

Pamp and Circumstance

Months ago Nicole and I decided to get each other manicures for graduation since we were both finishing our degrees this December. Today was the day.

She went a little further than I did and got a maroon and gold french manicure, but since I have a job interview the same day as graduation and kept it a simple light pink. The manicurist talked me into a little design.

I made sure it was on one of my pitchfork fingers!

Happy Birthday Tomoko!

This is a gift somewhere around here for you...it might still be in the interwebs but will get to you sooner rather than later. I hear you understand the hectic life right now too :)


Have a great day!
Casey

Party Time

'Tis the Holiday season which can only mean one thing - parties! so far I have been to 3 parties (and my own birthday happy hour) and it is only the 11th!

I went to a Hanukkah party last weekend and ate latkes (potato pancakes) and donuts. I didn't know donuts were traditional Hanukkah fare, but I also don't balk at tradition. We played Dreidl with gelt - you know the chocolate coins that dad always put in our stockings? who knew he was being multi-cultural. I didn't win, but I didn't lose either. Then we played Apples to Apples which is a fun group game and I am surprised my family has never played it at a gathering before.

Yesterday was the big office holiday party at our director's house. It was the first time we had had a family friendly party and it was really surprising to realize all my coworkers' wives and children were in fact real people and not just people they talk about. It reminded me of when I met Margot and was so shocked at what she actually looked like, because in all my imaginings of her, I hadn't been able to think of her face and it hadn't dawned on me that she would have distinct features. Suddenly the nameless spouses were in front of me and I no longer had to imagine what they might look like.

Tonight I had a cookie exchange at my office-mate's house (if you didn't know, I share an office with one other person, for whatever reason my office is the only one big enough to fit two people, and therefore I am the only one that has to share. It isn't a problem because I really like the girl who shares it with me - oh which reminds me, Margie, my office mate is named Linda and she is the Northern AZ rep and visits Mingus once or twice a semester). Anyway I went to the party and there were a couple other coworkers and a bunch of people I didn't know. I had made key lime bars (from a box) and boiled cookies. the key lime bars came out fine, but something went wrong with the boiled cookies and they were sticky and chewy - did I buy the wrong oats or just not cook the sugar long enough? I brought both but on the way to the party the plate with the boiled cookies slid on top of the key lime bars. when I parked I found the key lime bars ruined and stuck to the bottom of the boiled cookies plate. I swapped out the plates and had to go in with just the boiled cookies. It was a bummer, but luckily there were so many types of cookies mine just went unnoticed for the most part. one lady made a beeline for them though and thanked me for making them because she loves that type of cookie and hadn't had one in forever.

Oddly, we have an office-wide cookie exchange on Monday so I may try to make the boiled cookies again. if they don't come out right the second time I will know it is the oats. I bought 1-minute quaker oats, but I fear they are the problem, even though my last canister was also quick oats.

I have a potluck to go to on Tuesday because one of my coworkers is also graduating this week and her parents are coming into town and want to meet everyone. I think I am going to make Grace's cheesy bread...hopefully mom remembers the temperature it has to cook at, or will have the house unpacked enough to find the recipe, Thanks mom!

The following Monday is our office white elephant exchange, hopefully in my packing will unearth something worth "regifting."

The best thing about all these parties is that I have become friendly with enough of my coworkers' boyfriends that I think I will have a nice little posse to help me move on Saturday! I have also put a few items on craigslist and have gotten a couple interested people in my old desk and sofa bed - no better time to make some cash than Christmas!

I will keep you posted after the move, and hopefully will hear about a new job in the next couple of weeks. I ended up having two interviews (both in our school of business) and one of them has called me for a second interview next week - not the one Dad and Margie helped me prep for, but a different one that is a little closer to what I do now. My interview is on my graduation day, thank goodness I already took the day off!

Quarter for your thoughts?

I am 25 years old - where does the time go?! I am no longer in my "early twenties." We just hired a new guy in my office and he just happens to share the same birthdate as me, except he is only going to be 23! That was me once...long ago...two years ago to be exact...I was the new girl in the office barely turning 23, the youngest in the office by years. Now I am the older, wiser, veteran in the office - weird!

I went from precocious to just plain knowledgeable. Boring! Must be time for a new job. I have been applying around campus and have an interview this week for a position in the business school. fingers crossed! Thanks to Dad and Margie for the tips for the presentation I have to give as part of the interview.

In other exciting this-December-is-the-most-life-altering-month news I found a new apartment! Hopefully I will be moving into my new digs on the 18th :) I will now be a Mesan, Mesanite, Mesaur(?) and living in the Dobson Ranch area just by the 60 and the 101. Sorry Greg, New York isn't in my near future yet. But this means I will be moved in prior to Christmas, so I can decorate!!

I graduate the 15th (University Commencement) and 16th (Teacher's College Convocation) and am taking that Wednesday - Friday off from work anyway, which will be nice for packing and moving that weekend, and you know, the graduating part!!

So far for my birthday, I went out with co-workers last Friday for drinks and a movie. my friend and I saw Faster, the new Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson movie. Let me tell you, it is one of the best bad movies I have seen in a long time. the ending is ridiculous, and Dwayne's character says about 20 words in the whole film, but there's a lot of eye candy and satisfying gore too.

Tonight Michaela fixed me a birthday dinner of bbq chicken sandwiches and sweet potato fries followed by a yummy devil's food cake and funfetti frosting. She got me a really neat owl/leaf motif necklace too - she must have known I would like it because I was wearing my other owl necklace today. she knows me so well :)

These next couple of days/weeks are jam packed for me. I will be happy to be moved, and happier for Christmas to come around - I can't wait to see mom and dad's 'new' house!

Moving

So I found out today that if I were to renew my lease in my current apartment, my rent would increase by $125.

Needless to say...I am moving!

Don't know where I will be moving to yet...but I guess it is time for the next living adventure.


That...or find another job. Somehow moving sounds more realistic and easy.

Thomas, M.Ed

I have officially completed my master's program! Yesterday was my poster symposium.



Since my topic was the use of Twitter as a classroom discussion tool, I, of course, had to have a Twitter page open! The middle of my poster is actually a projection from my computer of a Twitter account I created so people can see a) how easy it is to tweet and b)tweet about the day's event.

It went pretty well, not as many people tweeted as I thought would but several people tried it for the first time and really liked it. I also got several older people coming up to me to say "yeah, but what about older people like me, who are wary/timid to use Twitter?" They came to me with a defeatist attitude that they would be unable to learn how to tweet. Which is why creating a Twitter account as a class assignment is so great! not only, would they learn how to tweet, but they would be given direction and a purpose about what to tweet about.

For example in a class I took, we had to tweet about things we observed in an educational setting. So one week we would tweet about the physical location of learning (what we noticed about a college campus, or classroom, or library) and another week we tweeted about groups of people interacting (are they studying, or having heated discussion, or chatting about the drama in the residence hall?). It certainly made getting into Twitter easier for me.

I think the best part of the day was that one of my fellow graduates and I went to a local brewery afterwards to celebrate our graduation, and our graduate director came with us! Neither one of us had really had a chance to get to know her outside of class and it was so much fun! We talked about where the program was going, how her role is growing, and also what is next for us as professionals.

Mom and Dad came up for trivia and for my symposium which was so great! I know they hadn't really gotten to see what my program was about so for them to see my project but also all my classmates projects was really cool. And Dad was a total dad, he brought a camera and was taking pictures of me, haha :) Several of my coworkers got to meet my parents as well, which they were so excited about (my coworkers, not my parents - but also my parents) because I talk about my parents adventures and they all think I have the coolest parents around. Which, I kinda do :)

Trivia night was fun! we ran into one of Bruce's students at the restaurant so when we were leaving Dad went and whispered something to her. He wouldn't tell any of us what he had said so Bruce did not have a good night's sleep worrying about what she was going to do the next day at school, it was a pretty good practical joke.

We went out to breakfast with Michaela and Margot, and Margot was a happy, smily baby. She even felt Dad's beard and immediately hugged him to feel it on her face, so cute! Michaela baked a cake the day before so we went to her house for chocolate-covered cherry cake, which was delicious.

It was a great day and I am so glad my parents got to come see my final project!

Back to work today :)

The Grasshopper Becomes the Master

I passed my applied project - I get to graduate!

I have a poster symposium Oct 21 from 11:30-1pm in the student union, which is the official end of my program.

It is so nice to be done with a degree and then have graduation two months later, no pressure at all :) Graduation is December 15th and 16th.


So the big question is....now what?

Hail and Homework

So, I flew to Minneapolis yesterday. It was supposed to be a quick 2.5 hour flight and we were scheduled to take off around 3:15 yesterday afternoon. guess what hit Phoenix at 3:15? yep, thunderstorms. We sat on the runway for 45 minutes in a line of 35 jets waiting to take off and then when we were 5th in line, got hit by a blinding hail storm! yes, hail! (you may have heard about it, it was on CNN this morning) just so you know, planes do shake when hit with golf ball-sized hail.

So, the storm passes, and we are told we have to go back to the gate to get a hail inspection - should take 30-45 minutes. Great. We are allowed off the plane, so I got food, got back on the plane and then they said everyone had to deplane and the inspection would take an hour and a half!! Turns out we did have some hail damage, so I am not too upset about that delay.

So two hours later, we got back on the plane and took off. We didn't leave Phoenix until 8pm, and got to MN at 2am. Just in time to get a couple hours' sleep before it was time to get to the college fair at 8am.

The best part, was that the plane was only half full due to earlier delays and some missed connections, so I got an entire row to myself! (talk about a silver lining) I was able to lay down to get some sleep on the flight.

But so you all know, I am fine, and survived the great Phoenix hail storm of '10!


Also, I just turned in my applied project paper today!!! It still has to get graded, and may need some revisions, but it is done! Whew. Grad school all but done :)

Let's get it done

So I haven't been posting because I have spent the last several weeks out of town, at evening events, or working until all hours of the morning on my graduate thesis. All of that is almost over!

I have my thesis out to one last reader before I turn it in this week - it feels so good to be sooo close to being done!

Also, I am headed to Minneapolis for my last trip to the midwest. I am going with two coworkers and I am only going to be at the main college fair and our own evening event, I don't have to go to any high school visits. It actually feels like more of a vacation than work. I may not have any time to see Annie this trip since I have very little free time, but I will see what I can do. On the flip side I am staying downtown which I have never done :)

Also it turns out Beth (of Bruce Hickman Fiancence- Yeah I made up a word)will be in Minneapolis the exact same days as me! We may actually run into each other at the airport on the way home. Talk about a small world.

Oh yeah, mom and dad, Phoenix is supposed to get into the 80's this week, so it must be time for you to come home (oddly enough, MN will be in the 70's so I am not switching climates too badly this trip).

T-Town again

Alright alright, I haven't posted in forever. To my credit though, I haven't done anything interesting and therefore have spared you from boredom :)

This week however, I will be back in Tucson for my last recruitment trip. I am training the new guy, so we are going down together to hit up all the college fairs. It should be a good time, but it definitely feels more like one of my out of state trips, I guess because I know I won't be coming back for months and not for work anymore.

My grad program is winding down, although I still have my final paper to write. The good news is that my paper is due in October so I will actually be done with everything in the next month and then just coast until graduation in December. Oh yeah, mark your calendars for Oct 21. That is the day of my poster symposium. Basically everyone in my class has to create a poster about our topics and papers so other people can come see what we studied. It is very reminiscent of a middle school science fair. (although in actuality, middle school science fairs are modeled after collegiate poster symposiums! And yet it feels so juvenile to make a poster. this seems like a chicken and egg moment)

Happy Birthday Dad!

This year I have decided to give you the gift of saved money. Here is a list of all the places you can now receive senior discounts:

Amtrak
Everyday. 15% discount on adult rail fare with some exclusions. Ages 62+.

Greyhound
5% discount on unrestricted passenger fares. Ages 62+.

Hyatt
Save up to 50% at participating hotels. Ages 62+.

Kohl’s
Every Wednesday. 15% discount. Ages 62+. (Day may vary by store)

Marriott Hotels
A discount of at least 15% for ages 62+. Good seven days a week.

And the piece de resistance: National Parks
Lifetime free entrance to national parks with purchase of $10 America the Beautiful Senior Pass. Ages 62+.

Now get to spending that new Social Security check!

Happy birthday and happy travels :)

Love,
Casey

Girls Weekend

I have some really great friends and I got to hang out with them this weekend.

Yesterday, Joe and Michaela and I (and Joe's friend in his own car) headed up to Flagstaff for a day of his and her hikes. We got up a O-dark thirty in the morning to drop off Margot with Joe's mom and then headed up to the mountains. This was the proud new parents' first all day excursion without baby Margot so I think there might have been some mixed emotions and worry, but we were all pretty excited for our hikes. Michaela and I were going to do a nice 2mi. loop hike and Joe and his friend were going to do a much harder, longer hike up an entire mountain.

When we reached Flag we called grandma to see how Margot was doing. We didn't have to hear her response, Margot was screaming in the background. Turns out she doesn't like bottles, and so decided a prolonged, hours long screaming fit was in order. We thought she would tire out or figure out the bottle was the next best alternative so we parted ways with Joe, and Michaela and I began our ascent.

We weren't quite halfway up our hike when Michaela got the call for surrender. Margot, the diva, was not happy with her new surroundings and her screams had everyone on edge. Michaela and I began our descent and retreat back to Phoenix. Luckily for Joe, because his friend had driven himself, he could catch a ride back to town with him and Michaela and I could take their car home so Joe didn't have to leave.

Although we were a little bummed not to complete our hike (I mean I had just lathered myself in sunscreen - such a waste) we did really enjoy the car ride home singing along to CDs and discussing girl things like boobs (mostly the difference between how they feel when you are breast feeding and when you arent). Needless to say we had a great time and the point of the day was to hang out together, it didn't matter if it was on a mountain or in the car.

We picked up Margot and decided to veg out at Michaela's house. We watched movies and ordered pizza and Margot was a total sweetheart, smiling for us and chatting away. It was a perfect lazy saturday. We did get a couple pictures of our hike before heading home so look for those pics on Michaela's blog.

As for today, my coworker/officemate/friend Janell set up a girl date for a group of us at work to all go see Eat Pray Love and get drinks afterwards. Only three of us showed up but we had a ball. We all loved the movie and had some great discussions about the themes and journey Julia Roberts' character goes through. and we chatted for another two hours after the movie.

It is so nice to have girlfriends to hang out with who are interested in the books and movies that I am so we can discuss them and plan trips and get silly together. It was a very fulfilling weekend.

And I highly recommend Eat Pray Love to everyone, I didn't even read the book and I totally enjoyed it!

New Table

A big shout out to Sheri Arner, Joe's mom, for giving me a new dining table! She was moving and didn't need it as her sewing table anymore.


(You can see how much bigger it is than my last table)

I don't know when but I decided a while ago that when I did get a real dining room table that I wanted to paint it turquoise. So trusty readers, it is your job to look at this table and help me decide just how turquoise I should go.



Should I
a) Paint the whole table (and chairs) turquoise
b) Paint the white parts of the table (and chairs) turquoise
c) Paint only the tabletop of the table (and chairs) turquoise

notice there is no "d) don't paint the table (and chairs) turquoise." that is because this is an Ikea table, not a priceless antique and therefore if I grow out of my turquoise phase, getting a different table (or repainting again) won't be a big deal.

Please cast your votes in the comments section! Thanks for your help in this decision :)

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

40 years is a huge accomplishment! Can't wait to celebrate when you get home :)

I am related to a movie star

So I printed out this photo of Ariana (from GaT Blog) because it is sooo adorable and I put it in a frame on my desk at work.



One of my coworkers mentioned that she looks like Boo from the Monsters Inc. movie.



Uncanny right?! I am just sayin'...if Ariana starts talking about monsters in her closet - I would believe her.

Fireworks and Birthday Cake - That's a Holiday!

So I had a really busy weekend, good thing it was three days long!

On Saturday I got to go to a wedding reception for my coworker (and soon to be new officemate) Janell. Several of us from work went to the reception which was at Janell's house, and we had a great time. She was so excited to see us because all of her family are out of town and only her parents could come, so we filled out "the bride's side" for her. We all had a really good time, and it was nice to have an excuse to buy a new outfit :)

On Sunday I drove up to Cottonwood to spend the 4th with some family. I was dreading the heat here in town and decided it was time to go on a mini-vacation. After all it is Thomas family tradition to see fireworks in a different place each year and I had been in the Phoenix area for the last 4 years! much too long in one, very hot, place. I was right to choose Cottonwood, not only was the weather much more manageable at a mere 90 degrees in the daytime, but it was birthday season!

I got to Cottonwood just in time for Dave to make tacos and enchiladas as Margie's birthday meal. Go figure they taste just like mom and dad's enchiladas - they must use the same "recipe" for the sauce :) Then two hours later Liz was having a barbeque at her house so I headed over there to see all the kids and cousins. we had a great time and at around 8:30pm we headed over to Matt's family frame shop because it is located right next to the firework launch site and there were no other people around.

We had a great 20-25 minute display and Liz and I had to laugh because we really did ooh and ahh at each firework. We even had the requisite mishap when one of the fireworks did not go off as planned, instead we saw a fire cloud - which was still pretty cool, and did not stop the show.

Today was cousin canasta day and birthday celebrations. I headed over to Liz's and trounced Liz and Vada at canasta - beat 'em so bad they were begging to quit :) It has been a while since I won so soundly, which is why it bears mentioning here. Afterwards we played Rock Band on the Playstation (turns out I was smart not to become a drummer)and then headed over to Margie and Dave's for the birthday party.

We celebrated Dick, Margie, and Lorelei's birthdays which meant we had two chocolate cakes (with chocolate frosting) and chocolate and vanilla ice cream. You know, the perfect amount. I found an incredibly apt birthday card for Dick that read: When I think of birthdays I always think of the grand redwood trees, standing tall and majestic for hundreds of years...(open card) Thanks for planting them. Dick vowed to look high and low for the perfect birthday card for me this year, hahaha. I told him the card companies must of heard of him because all I had to do was walk to a card store go to the uncle section (yes, there is an uncle section - crazy) and there was the card!

Later, Liz and Vada and I went back to Liz's house to play on the Wii. We started with bowling and then I introduced them to the Wii Fit Obstacle Course and we all had fun "running" and "jumping" in place. Then Liz's family and I went to Clarkdale for the best pizza in town before I had to come home.

It sure doesn't feel like it is time to go back to work, because I had so much fun this weekend!

Auntie Casey

I waited all day on Friday and came back to the hospital with dinner, just so I could have a couple hours holding Margot

Margot Lynn Crabtree

As I said earlier, I got to the hospital at 1am. By 8am Michaela was almost completely dilated and I was able to get out of my morning meeting.



At 11:47 AM, weighing in at 7lbs 13oz and 21 inches long...



Margot Lynn Crabtree was born!!!

Now's the time!

So it is nearly 5am and I have been in the hospital for 3 hours. Michaela's water broke around 1am and now she is about 4cm dilated.

Of course this is the day that my boss set up a meet and greet for me at one of my new schools.* I plan to attend the meeting but take the rest of the day off. So at 1 am I showered and packed some work clothes and headed to the hospital. As long as Margot doesn't come between 9-10am during my meeting I think I will be ok. This is so exciting!!!


*I recently found out that I am no longer the Tucson rep. My bosses have reassigned me to the Scottsdale and Chandler schools. I am pretty excited about it because it means I will have fewer schools but more qualified students. I will be expected to get 200 students per school to enroll, instead of 30 (at the most) from my old schools. And it means no more really early mornings or late nights on the highway.

My parents are sad that I won't be in town all the time but now that I have a cool new apartment they are more inclined to visit me

Picture it!

I finally got moved in to my new apartment and I have done a little decorating. Check out the album, I have ordered it all as before and afters and you will notice there is still a lot of after left to do (look at that word play dad!). I am woefully lacking in wall art in my bedroom, but my crafty side may soon remedy that, I just need some bigger canvas and lots of inspiration.

New Apt

Also, here is a picture of my latest Mod Podge adventure with Michaela. Check out her blog for the jewelry box she updated! This is the T from the word "Information" that hung above the MU Information Desk when I worked there. We renovated the whole building after a fire in 2007 so the letters from the sign came down. It was just a piece of wood that was painted maroon. I think this really spruces it up. And as you can see in the apartment photo album - it goes with the decor a little better now :)

New Addition to the Blog Family

I am so excited to announce that Michaela has started a blog! I have listed her under my Family Blogs because she is practically my sister and is my emergency contact for everything (since my parents decide to leave the continental US for 6 mos out of the year!...and live in Tucson the rest of the time).

Now you can all follow her life, and the addition of little Margot when she comes later this month! Check out her blog, she is awesome :)

http://crabtreezy.blogspot.com/

Moved!

So, Thanks to a lot of help from Don Ash and Joe and Michaela, I am officially moved into my new place! I still have to finish un packing my bedroom stuff, and my clothes but otherwise I am all settled!

...except of course my AC went out on Sunday (aka my first day in my new place). This would seem bad except...

I woke up Monday morning to my power out. I called SRP and they said they are closed for the holiday and will not turn on the power.

I have waited around all day today, no power. Which means the cable and internet cannot be set up. Which means, I have to hope that while I am at class tonight, the power is turned on, so the cable guy can come first thing in the morning.

This was supposed to be easier than living with other people. Now I just wish I had a roommate who could stay home all day and wait for utility people.

I am still happy to be in my new place.

Oh yeah, did I mention my super awesome housewarming gift from my parents?! I am getting a Roomba!Check it out: http://store.irobot.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=3334619&cp=2804605&ab=CMS_IRBT_Storefront_011510_vacuumcleaning

I will come home to a freshly vacuumed house every day! How you ask? because this roomba can be programmed to vacuum how ever often I like. it starts on its own, vacuums, then goes back to its docking station! I haven't bought him yet - but it is going to be awesome!!...you know, when I have the electicity to charge him up :/

I hate moving

I hate moving. There are so many little things to remember to do. Clean out the fridge, call the sparkletts people to pick up the water cooler, switch over utilities (because of course I am moving only 3 miles away, but do not have the same utility companies for any of my services).

Oh yeah, and I accidently left my debit card in my car (which I never do!!) and it melted and warped. so I am 7-10 business days without that.

But the great news is that I get the keys to my new place and my moving truck today, and my friend Don (of the Ash Family Blog I have linked on the right hand side ->) is going to help me load stuff up tonight, and then Joe and Michaela are going to help me move to the new place tomorrow! Pictures to come of course. I won't get my new cable/internet set up until Tuesday, so you will be in suspense for a couple of days.

It is going to be awesome!!!

Oh, and in other news, I should get to go to Hickman Family Trivia Night again starting on Monday. I have been MIA for the whole month because of Suns games and work events (there isn't trivia night if the Suns play on Mondays). I am so glad I have connected with my extended family here in the valley, it is nice to have some local relatives to hang out with - we have so much in common! weird, I know. :)

Grand Canyon

Brett, Bryan and I went to the Grand Canyon today. We had a blast! It wasn't very windy, and for most of the day didn't even have our jackets on (although there were times we needed them). It was sunny and calm, and I have never been on I-17 with less traffic!

All day we seemed to be hopping from one viewpoint to the next with a group of Swedish Harley Davidson enthusiasts. About thirty of them had rented bikes and were roadtripping across the US and this was their stop today. Pretty cool.

Below is my album of Photos from the day. At one point Bryan decided he wanted a picture from an outcropping of rocks so there are some fun pictures of him getting there, and then once there he decided to sun bathe for a couple minutes - too funny!

Oh, and Mom and Dad, you should be very proud, I didn't have any real "adventures."

2010_05_24

Just Relax

I have taken this next week off of work because my roomies and I are moving out of our apartment. Brett flew into town yesterday to help pack up and move her furniture out of the apartment. She leaves on Wednesday. Anthony, plans to go out of town on Wednesday and come back Sunday. We have until Monday,the 31st, to move out.
Last night Brett and Anthony discussed when they should move her stuff into her storage unit - Today, or next weekend. Today because it was the only day they could borrow a friend's truck, or next weekend (when the truck would be available again) and when a)Brett is gone and b)Anthony and I are trying to move our stuff. the decision, of course, was to move the furniture at the end of the week. This was supported by Anthony, because he was going to have to help move the furniture anyway and apparently he thinks it will be easier since he is moving his stuff to the storage unit too. I don't get it.

I am wishing we could go ahead and get all of her stuff out, because then I could get my stuff out early too and we could ALL clean the living room and kitchen areas. Now it is going to be left up to me and Anthony. If ever I wondered why I was moving out, now I remember.

Brett decided to come out this weekend because it is her birthday weekend (birthday is tomorrow) so she really just wants to see friends and hang out for the trip. She will finish packing up her stuff, but somehow I think the cleaning is going to go undone.

Whatever, this is my week of vacation. on Monday we (Brett, her boyfriend, and I) are going to head up to the Grand Canyon because he is from Philly and has never been to Arizona. I haven't been to the canyon since a spur-of-the-moment trip my family took one Thanksgiving when I was in high school. I am really looking forward to it!

Also, there are some other good things. Brett has agreed to let me keep all the furniture I wanted! I thought because we had bought some pieces together she might fight me for some items but it turns out she doesn't really want them.

And, I have a week off from work!!! It is also Michaela's last week of work since the school year is ending, so I think we are going to have a couple lazy days in the pool, punctuated by slow, possibly more methodical, packing. I don't think I will be able to get into my new apartment before the 31st, so I also took the 1st off from work so I could get myself situated.

I am so excited to have the time off and get a new place. I am going to try to be Zen about everything else. It is just one week...just one week...just one week. And most of that time I will be alone, which will be nice, it also means, I get to pack everything I want of our communal stuff, and leave the rest for Anthony to take care of. I mean really, who leaves town the week you are supposed to move out?! Zen.

Join the Club

So, this isn't a crafting blog, but apparently that is all I do these days. A couple weeks ago Michaela and I got the crafting bug when we made my clock and her baby name plates. This was Michaela's first real foray into creative design because get this...she thinks she doesn't have a natural creative streak - hahahaha, that is so totally not even possible. Everyone is creative, you just have to find what you are good at.

Well, her sister-in-law Denise is a very crafty person so she invited us to her monthly craft club meeting. Her friend who hosts the meetings actually does have a craft blog - Check it out alyashcreations.blogspot.com. The craft today was decoupaging photo frames. Actually we could bring anything we wanted to decoupage, but as novices we thought we would stick with something simple. Ok, I stuck with something simple, Michaela actually did a box.

For those of you who don't know - decoupage (day-coo-pahj) is a really fun and easy process of gluing decorative paper on different surfaces. Here are some pictures of my project. I forgot my camera, so these pictures came from my camera phone. I got the paper and the frame at Michaels for $1 each. The paper is actually a lavender color because the color scheme of my new aparment is going to be black/white/tan and my yellow clock with purple and gray accents - I know that sounds like a lot of colors but most of them are neutrals. I have no idea what photo to put in it though. Also, I forgot to take pictures at the beginning, so I had already cut the paper, but tried to piece it back together so you would know what it looked like in the beginning.

So first you pick your paper and your frame.


Then you turn the paper upside down so you can trace your object around it


Then you cut out the pieces


Then you take a decoupage glue, we used Mod Podge, and a sponge brush and coat the entire back of the paper in glue, then press it on to the frame. you have to be sure to press the paper from the center to the edge to get rid of bubbles. You wait about 10-15 minutes for it to dry and then you coat the entire top of the paper (and sides to seal it down) with the glue. it will dry clear and non-sticky.



This is super easy and really fun! Plus I find this to be more useful than scrapbooking but getting to use the cool paper anyway. Mom, this combines my love of fabric shopping (substituting paper) but is easier to create something than quilting and sewing. Michaela is totally in love with this - I wish I had taken a picture of her box, it is beautiful! - and wants to decoupage any and everything in her path. I may have helped create a crafting monster.