Thursday, November 27, 2008

I am thankful for...

... the plane ticket that my mom bought so I could come home and be with my family.
... a lifetime of happy Thanksgiving memories.
... the sunshine after the rain.
... Carmel Valley: the hills, the oaks, the smell, and the home-ness.
... seeing old friends and the feeling that even though its been months (or years) we can pick up right where we left off.
... friends in general, who make me laugh, and support me when I need it.
... giggles.
... Bennett, for having a birthday at Thanksgiving time so that I could see the whole family.
... music, chatter, and pumpkin cake.
... the holiday season, and all its reminders of how many blessings God has given me.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love and blessings!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

New Blog

I want to start by saying, that after almost two weeks of no blog entries, I was a little disappointed that when I finally wrote one, I got one comment. From my mother. Thanks for your loyalty Mom. (Patrick and Linda if you are reading this - please forgive my hypocrisy. I guess we are all at least partly motivated by the comments).

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all that I created a second blog. :) I was trying to clear out space on my computer, and my Cal Poly senior project was taking up a lot of space, but I didn't have the heart to just delete it. So I had a brilliant thought. Make a blog! I had already created all the makings of a web site, I just hadn't done anything with it, so now I have. It's a web site with positive parenting tips for foster parents (although they apply to any parent). It's not very exciting, but it was a lot of work (plus the 20 page research paper that went with it!) I don't really plan to update it, it's pretty much just... done. So oblige me and just take a little glance at it, will you? Thanks. :)

http://fosterparentresource.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Dear Blog,

I am sorry I have been neglecting you. You are important to me, I promise. I think you're valued by others as well, and I know that when I neglect you, it affects them too. I have been selfish and I apologize.

Ok, moving on. I had an amazingly fabulous time on vacation. I got some quality time in with the fam, and then set off on a nautical adventure of epic proportions. I am going to wait to talk more about the cruise when the pictures have been compiled so I can do a little photo journalism... more fun that way.

A little about the family time... Kelly and I took the kids trick or treating, which was a fun and hilarious time. (Especially the littlest boy running after the others, chanting, "oh god, oh god, oh god." Ha ha.) If Tommy had his way he would have stayed extended amounts of time at each house, trying out the kids' toys and chatting with the adults ("you'll never believe what I saw at the last house!") We had to hurry him along so he didn't get left in the dust by the bigger kids, but that made it all the more entertaining. Then throughout the weekend: Ally and I had lengthy intellectual conversations about Harry Potter, we all cheered at Ally's soccer game, Tommy and Bennett had a grand old time playing in a fountain (Tara: "hypothetically, Kelly, if Bennett were soaking from head to toe, how would you feel?"), I got to watch Ally do a triathlon (she's quite the athlete), spent some quality time with Arletta, watched Sesame Street with Bennett, and in the end, with a sigh in my heart, said goodbye to everyone. Good thing Thanksgiving is next week! :)

After the cruise (details later, promise) I returned to the land of Port. I had a lot to catch up on with school, despite the fact that I worked my tail off before I left. I also had a bit of a financial crisis. Basically, reality came crashing down on me, and it was a bit of a rough week. Hence, no blogging. But I am doing better now, remembering to trust God, He's gotten me this far after all. And, speaking of His faithfulness... I have a job interview on Tuesday! It's at a group home, and I'm a little nervous about that, I'm not going to lie, but I think it will be good experience and I really need the money. So, say a prayer for me that I'll get the job. Thanks!

So that's about all I have for you, other than this special clip that I have Bennett to thank for. It's brought to you by the letter J.
Don't forget to turn the sound off on my playlist at the bottom. And you don't need to watch the whole thing, just about a minute and a half or so and you'll get the good stuff. :)

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Cruising into my 25th Year

Just wanted to give a very brief update so that people don't wonder where I've been. The last couple of weeks have been super busy getting ready to go out of town. This weekend I've been in So. Cal. having a lovely time with my wonderful family. Tomorrow is my 25th birthday (aah!) and I'm going on a cruise to Baja Mexico with 8 of my fabulous friends. So I'm super excited about that, and there will be much to write about when I get back to Portlandia. More about my time away when I return.