Well....

Well, it has officially been way too long since I posted something on here.  At the current moment I am sick and it is hard to think much beyond that.  As my mother says, I do not handle being sick well.  :)  In general though I think it may be time for me to take a break.  I am getting into the swing of having a new job that is both demanding and long distance.  The time that I do spend at home is to sleep.  Not only that but I am not allowed to take pictures at work, ever.  And since that is where I am spending most of my time it is harder to take pictures.

This does not change the fact that I love to take pictures though.  I will continue to take pictures until I reach my goal of 365.  Hopefully it will still be within a year but it will not be everyday.  I will not be able to post everyday either.  I hope that this alteration of my goal is okay with those of you who read this blog.  Let me know what you think and thank you for your support.

Update

Hello blog followers.  I apologize that there hasn't been anything up in a while.  It is not due to laziness this time but busyness.  As you can see it is 1 in the morning and therefore I am going to bed.  The blog will be updated soon.  I have been taking pictures so no worries.  And for now I might just have to update it once or twice a week instead of every day.  I hope that is okay with everyone.  It should be updated on Monday.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Day 155

Tonight I got the opportunity to hang out with this wonderful family.  We walked around downtown Newberg for a couple of hours.  Apparently most of the stores give out candy plus there was a bouncy house among other activities for kids.  It was a lot of fun and I got to be indoors nice and early.  :)  Happy Halloween!

Day 154

Endless Possibilities.

Day 153

Auntie Kay and Mr. D's (as he's taken to calling himself) soccer game.  :)

Day 152

Day 151

In honor of Robyn (and the nice man who got out of his car, at a stoplight, to tell me I had left something on top of my car).  So, here's to a wonderful sister and the kindness of strangers.

Day 150

Day 149

So, I would say this picture describes my day pretty well.  I got a job as a resident assistant at an emergency women's shelter.  I will be doing everything from answering phones, to talking with women, breaking up fights, to cleaning the toilets etc.  It feels good to have the security of a job.  Plus it is something I want to be doing.  All in all a good day.

Day 148

There's nothing particularly special about this picture.  When I was in high school we did projects on different composition techniques.  One of them was about patterns.  Now, every time I see a lovely pattern I have the urge to take a picture.  And because of this project I always have my camera with me.  So, there you go.  Patterns. 

Day 147

Megan and I made pumpkin coconut cookies today.  Well, mostly Megan made them and I chatted with her while doing the dishes.  They are seriously soooo good!  Next, I'm going to try making them into muffins.  I think it is doable.  I'll keep you posted.  In the mean time I'm going to enjoy these wonderful (and now frosted) cookies. 

Day 146

Today Joel and Roxy got married!  It was a beautiful wedding and the two of them were glowing.  I'm not usually a fan of reds and oranges but it looked lovely the way they had it.  Everything was great.  I'm so excited for the two of them to start living their lives together.  It's been a long time coming.  They have so much love and support behind them.  So many people are praying for them.  Love them both very much!

Day 145

I love fall!!!

Day 144

Yesterdays picture and post.  The kid spent almost the whole afternoon with the hair band on her head like this and when I asked her what she was doing she looked at me and very matter of factly said, "Hippie."  Haha, I wonder where she learns all this stuff cause I don't think it's her parents...  But it sure is funny.  This is not the best picture but she wouldn't sit still for more than three seconds at a time.  Unless she wanted to cuddle, but then you couldn't see her face.

Day 143

I had an interview today which I felt like went well.  So, cross you fingers!  I hear back within the next two days.  On the way home I got stuck behind this baby.  Haha, I was kind of in a hurry but luckily it just made me laugh.  I mean, you have to appreciate something like this happening on one of the "main" roads around here, right?  Welcome to small town America!

Day 142

Boots!!!

Day 141

Watched a friends kids today while she was at the doctor.  I went to take a picture and realized I didn't have a memory card so I was left with my crappy cell phone camera.  So I apologize for the quality but the adorableness comes through.  :)

Day 140

So, I know I've skipped day 139 (Saturday) but it is coming.  Goodness I'm getting bad at this.  :)  So this picture is from Sunday.  What a cute dog.  Hard to imagine that she's around ten.  Just starting to act like a normal dog and be a little, emphasis on little, calmer.  

Day 138

Figured I'd throw in a light post since the ones before and the one that's coming next are a little heavier.  I've started looking at fabrics for the quilt grandma and I are making.  Two observations: fabric is expensive, and people are not into purples right now.  All in all a slightly overwhelming experience and I'll have to go back.  :)

The next post (the one that is actually today's/Saturday) is coming.  It might not be tonight cause I'm still processing through it.  Be excited though!

Day 137

To be honest the lateness is out of sheer laziness and a desire for sleep winning out over promptness.  So, there you go.  I intend to catch up today though and all the pictures I am about to post were taken on the correct day just not posted.

I have recently been accused of thinking too systematically (in other words too sociological).  I want to post a reply to this both in words and in a picture that hopefully explains things a little better.

This may seem like a silly example and like it is oversimplified, probably because it is, but oh well.  It's a start.  The reason that I became a sociology major in school and have chosen to continue along this thread in my education is partly because I want to change the world.  To me, yes individual stories and conquests are important, but they make no difference if the system does not change.  John Doe may have pulled himself up by his bootstraps, but that cannot be used to refute the existence of poverty or to say that those in poverty are just lazy, because taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture allows one to see that there is a cycle happening.  Beliefs, actions, values etc. have been institutionalized so that John Doe's story is not the norm.  Yes John Doe is important, and yes his story matters, and yes good for him, but if we want that story to become the norm then we have to change the system.  The same goes for racism, sexism and all the other "isms" you can think of.  Sure we might have a black president but that does not mean that we are a post-racist society.  Women are heads of companies, serving in the political arena, and sometimes in the church but that does not mean we are a post-sexist society.

The above picture is a simple example of the way I tend to think and to view the world.  It is important to understand why the M&Ms are in the groups they are in, and why they are in groups in the first place before anything can be changed.  You can only see that they are separated into groups by looking at the bigger picture, from the top if you will.  From the side you see the individual M&Ms and may not see that there is something inherently wrong with the picture.  I tend to look macroscopically.  I have friends that have taken the other road and are social workers for example.  They, and people like them, are just as important.  They help the individual and make stories like John Doe's possible.  What we need is cooperation of the two types of thinkers.  Those who want to change the people and those who want to change the system.  Ok, that sounds super preachy so I'm going to stop before my soap box becomes too big.  But that is a brief summary of me and how I think....systematically.

Day 136

Finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett today, well, this morning around 1.  I decided to do something a little different today and do a book review.  This could potentially flop majorly but then just know that it won't ever happen again.  Also, I'm technically bending the rules a little bit with the posted picture.  I didn't take the one here but I did attempt to take a pic of the book cover and it just looked stupid so I decided to post this one instead.

Before reading this book I'd heard some rumors about it.  Not many, just that it was the new "hip book" to read.  I tend to be turned off to books when this happens.  Some sort of goofy sense of independence I guess, wanting to be different than everyone else.  The same thing happened with the Harry Potter books, Water for Elephants, and of course the Twilight series (those books are a discussion for another day, talk about a twisted and destructive relationship...).  So, with my anti mainstream attitude I ended up randomly seeing the movie with Kels before she left because it was playing closest to the time that we were standing in the lobby.  I left the theater moved, intrigued, and ready to read the book despite the fact I felt a little like a lemming.  Lucky for me while I was house sitting I saw the book chilling on their shelf just calling me to open it.

I'm glad that I read this book and I would recommend it highly.  I would also interesting recommend seeing the movie first.  Usually I flat out agree that books are better and always will be better than their subsequent movies.  In this case though both are superb.  If you read the book first you run the risk of being disappointed in the movie because so much was cut out.  But the movie surprisingly follows the plot closely.  Stuff is cut out because it is a movie and therefore has a time limit.  Reading the book second fills you in on the finer points of relational dynamics between the characters.  You begin to understand why things happen they do and get a fuller picture of the story.  The book also gives you a greater sense of the danger the characters face in the decisions they make.

The book itself is about the town of Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s.  It focuses on the stories of three women, two black maids and a white woman who will never be the bell of the ball if you will.  In reading it I had to keep reminding myself that the setting was in the 60's.  I wonder if sometimes we become callous to stories of slavery because not only does it not feel relevant to today but we get tired of feeling shame about something that we personally did not do.  Not saying this is right or wrong.  So the book being set in the 60's was a bold move on the part of the author.  It mentions Jim Crow laws, Martin Luther King Jr.'s march, and other Civil Rights events.  It is a reminder that things were supposed to have changed and yet when the deep south is examined things were still terrible for black people and those who supported them (or were thought to).  I can only imagine what it would be like to read this book as someone who lived during that time or lived in the South and had "help."  I was not alive during this time so it may be easier for me to judge or jump to conclusions about how I would have been different and fought the culture.  Who knows for sure though?  I mean honestly, we all want to believe that we would not participate in the travesties we hear about in the history books but then again what will our grandchildren, great grandchildren etc. being saying about us?  What are we oblivious to now?  Anyway, I digress....

I recommend that you not only read this book but engage those around in conversation.  Better yet, read it in a small group or book club and process through it together.  I am sad that it took a white woman writing this book to be heard and to make such large ripples.  I'm sure plenty of books like this have been written and over looked.  Racism is not dead even if it does not look like the pages of this book.  Think about it.  Blessings of your Wednesday night!

Day 135

This is Tuesday's post.  I went to visit my grandparents yesterday and ended up hanging out there all morning.  Grandma and I have decided (I asked) that we are going to make a quilt together.  I am excited that I get a quilt and she's excited that I want to.  :)  She doesn't have any purple fabric though, it's all blue...go figure.  Everyone in my family is obsessed with blue.  Even mom's stuff was all blue before we moved into a house with green carpet.  So, I'm off to find purple fabric and maybe some green.  I'm looking forward to spending time with my grandparents.  

Day 134

Inhabitants 2 & 3

Here are the last animals I was taking care of.  Don't let the cuteness fool you.  Why just this morning the grey one scratched me from wrist to pinky tip when I tried to push him off the bed.  He is also the little instigator of all the trouble in the house.  He chases the crazy one causing her to growl, hiss, and attempt to scratch everyone's faces off.  All while I was house sitting he decided that I needed to wake up at 5am by becoming a scratching post, jungle gym, and something to rub on.  The little black one is the aloof one.  Sweet but only wants to be pet and cuddle on her own time.  

Thus ends the animal introduction along with the house sitting experience.  They came back early and I get to sleep in my own bed tonight.  Joy all around for everyone.

Day 133

This is the picture I got during open worship this morning.  I'm not the greatest at drawing but here it is.  If you want to know more ask me.  :)  Happy Sunday to everyone!

Day 132

Sorry for the lateness of the post.  I was too tired when I got home.  I spent yesterday evening testing food and eating monster cake.  No matter what the host says her pot roast was yummy.  I came back to a house full of dogs that I was watching.  Luckily they all got along and were super friendly.  Here's to good days!

Day 131

So I lied.  Continuation of the introduction of the inhabitants of this house will continue later.  Today is another picture of the child I watch.  We hung out at Chapters today because were both going a little stir crazy being in the house all day.  And I was tired of watching Backyardigans, Thomas the Train, and Veggie Tales.  :)  I got her a vanilla steamer which she drank in like ten seconds flat.  Plus the gummy worm, which was a great idea.  Thanks Jenny!  Yesterday the puppy was trying to sleep on the couch and she started poking him.  I told her he needed to sleep so we should leave him alone.  She stared at me, then looked at the puppy, then yelled, "NAPTIME SAM!" at the top of her lungs.  Needless to say the dog was not sleepy anymore.  It was pretty funny.

So even though I like this child and I like a couple other children I think I have decided I'm not really a fan in general.  Of kids or animals.  Haha, I'm such a bad female.  Sorry mom.  :)

Day 130

So, I am in the process of house sitting for a couple of weeks.  Over the next couple of days I will be introducing you to the inhabitants of this lovely home.

Inhabitant #1

This is Jaycee, the mean one.  She is as scary as she looks and certifiably nuts.  She walks around the house ready to scratch out your eyes if you get too close.  She has also pooped on the bathroom rug almost every day I've been here.  Growling at the kittens like a cougar and stalking around are her specialties.  She loves being outside but that doesn't make her anymore pleasant.  All in all the weirdest animal in the house and my least favorite.  Sorry Christie but its true.  Tomorrow we will meet the first of the fuzzy kittens but don't let the cuteness fool you.  At least Jaycee is real with people.  She doesn't pretend to be nice, cute or loveable....

Day 129

Day 128

This picture describes not only how I felt today but where I feel like I am in my life right now.  The future seems so blurry and unsure while the present feels a little overwhelming and....wet.  I feel trapped where I am and I want to escape but there are forces keeping me here.  Mostly the fact that I signed a lease for a year.  If not for that I would love nothing more than to just take off and see where the road leads me.  I'd drive until I find some place I like then stop, look for a job and start "life-in" it.  That appeals to my heart and my spirit so much right now.  I want to be free, free to get the hell out of here.  Yet, I am stuck, unemployed and not sure what to do next.  I wish the road was a little clearer, even closer would do.  I want to be on that road not stuck behind the wet glass unable to focus on anything but the rain.

Day 127

Had coffee today with Kayla.  It's always good to have friends in your life that are honest and keep you not only grounded but push you outside of your comfort zone.  Kayla is one of these people for me.  We unfortunately don't get to see each other that often but I appreciate it when we do and I love her friendship.  Her and her husband are expecting which is wonderfully exciting.  It's always fun to see a woman who has a baby growing inside of her.  What an incredible process and experience.  I am happy for them both. 

Day 126

I made cinnamon rolls for the first time today with my aunt.  The top is before they were cooked and the bottom is the finished result.  Delish!

Day 125

Sorry for the lateness of this post.  I used a different camera and picked up the pictures from my boss today.  Yesterday I helped shoot a wedding.  It was at the Water Oasis in Newberg.  What a beautiful place!  It wasn't even sunny and it was breathtaking.  Everyone involved with the wedding was pleasant, fairly relaxed, and excited to be there.  Again, this makes for great pictures.  The below picture is right after their "First Look."  They had not seen each other all day before this point and he couldn't take his eyes off of her.  It was really cute.  :)

Day 124

I got to talk to Kelsey today and it was great.  Minus the internet which kept dropping our call.  All together we talked for about three hours.  Man, I miss her.  Sometimes all I want to do is call her up but I have to wait till we're both online.  But it's something. 

So, thanks for chatting Kels.  Love you.  Miss you.

Day 123

This is the kid I am watching now.  She is adorable and super well behaved.  I don't know how I feel about watching kids again though.  I'm working through it.  Maybe it will be a lesson in humility.

Day 122

Took engagement pictures today for Megan and Matt.  They were full of ideas and smiley.  Makes for great pictures!  :)

Day 121

Had my first pleasant experience with Tofu tonight.  Couldn't really taste it but that's better than the first time I tried it.  The rest of dinner was great.  Rice, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, and a bunch of other vegetables that were delicious all fried up together.  Mmmmm!

It looks kind of gross though....

Day 120

Practiced with the boss's camera again.  A 7D this time.  I think I'm in love!  He was also kind enough to let me use his studio.  The subject this time was Amanda.  Luckily she is patient, beautiful, and photogenic.  I couldn't have asked for a better model.  Love her and thanks to her for letting me practice (and mess up).  Hopefully I'll retain what I've learned for the wedding on Saturday.

Day 119

Haven't taken my own picture in a while so there you go.  It's me!

Day 118

Both kids had games today again.  They're playing better and better every time I see them.  Afterwards we did ice cream at Gem.  It's basically tradition.  Ending a nice, hot day, watching Sister Act with my homie.

Day 115 - 117

I had the opportunity the last three days to be out of contact with most the world and it was kind of wonderful.  I visited a couple friends who work at Ghormley (the camp I was on summer staff at two years ago).  It's off of Highway 12 before you get to Yakima.  That drive, even with nearly constant construction is so beautiful.  It's the kind of beauty where you come around a corner and suck in your breathe.  The five hour drive is more than worth it.

While I was there I was able to just chill and relax.  I read a book, watched Jane Eyre (and a couple other movies), helped make tuna noodle casserole and just talked with Trisha about everything from my current state of unemployment to theology.  It was wonderful.  We stayed up till two this morning over a cup of coffee (and water for me) just sharing stories and laughing.  I needed that break very much.  But it ended as all "get away" excursions do.  I'm back in the living room of my apartment diligently searching for a job, posting my pictures and answering the 58 emails I got while I was gone.  So, you could say life is back to normal.  Minus the job part, hopefully that won't become a normal thing or a theme.  Cross your fingers!

Mt. Rainier on the way home.  I could have stayed there all day...

Memo

Just a warning but for the next three days I will be incommunicado, with no cell service or internet.  I will be taking pictures but they will probably not be posted till Friday night or Saturday.  Cheers!

Day 114

My little sister is leaving for school on Friday so I took her out to dinner tonight.  We had a good time and I had the most amazing dish!  Now I am sitting in an arm chair watching her pack.  Takes me back to when I was getting ready for school and the living room was full of stuff as I sat there trying not to panic.

Day 113

Went to a Senior Capstone lecture tonight on maternal morality.  It was a lot more depressing than I thought it was going to be.  As I write that I realize how ignorant it sounds, of course women dying in child birth or shortly after giving birth is tragic and depressing.  What I meant however is that I felt like the speaker went out of her way to try and shock the class.  Unfortunately so does every other speaker who comes to Fox.  Maybe an exaggeration but not by much.  After the lecture I turned to Ariana saying that I feel like speakers with a cause come and work so hard to shock students out of supposed apathy that the students are left callous and uncaring.  Kind of sad really but the shock and awe angle has been played to death.  Seriously.  Instead of caring about what the speaker has to say or the cause being championed the listeners slip into another kind of apathy due to overload.  They stop caring altogether.  I don't know how this can be changed other than people defending a cause need to be real with students and share some of the triumphs too.  (There may be a better answer but I'm tired and I don't know everything, shocking I know...)

My lovely seat mate!

Day 112

From the cupcake shop down the street.

Day 111

Went to Matt and Lizzie's soccer games today.  Kids sports games are so much fun to watch.  The kids are having a blast and the parents are laughing when one of the children runs the wrong way or sticks their arms in the air to stop the ball.  Or at least that's how it should be.

It was raining but that didn't stop the kids from having fun.  Lizzie and a friend built a fort out of umbrellas on the softball fields.  By the time they emerged they were covered in mud and grinning ear to ear.  :)

Day 110

Two things can be deduced from the following picture.  1.  People always say to live in the moment or embrace the moment etc.  This is not always possible when you have bills to pay or a gas tank to fill.  That is almost entirely depressing to realize.  In other words, as much as I would just love to do whatever I want on the spur of the moment I can't.  I would be letting my housemate down if I didn't pay the rent and I would be doing myself a great disservice if I stopped eating.  :)  But seriously, at the same time I don't want to fit in to the statistic that Americans work hard and hate their jobs.  I don't want to be that person who comes home and does nothing but bitch about work.  Now the trick is finding something that will pay the bills and that I enjoy doing.  Either that or find a balance in what I do so that I do not feel the desire to complain every time I get home.

The second thing I can take from this picture is that my car needs a good cleaning inside.  Maybe tomorrow....

Day 109

Had a spontaneous lunch today with Vicky.  There were emergency vehicles parked around in the apartment complex and I couldn't get to mine so I just took off in search of a lunch partner.  Walked in to Chapters, saw Vicky and off we went.  Ironically now that I'm out of school and my schedule is more flexible (for now) I've been able to spend more time with people in a relaxed setting.  In other words over food instead of studying.  

We went to Chipotle.  My first time and turns out the only "Mexican restaurant" I like.  Not greasy or covered in beans or cheese.  Yum!

Day 108

This is were I spend my days.  Though it's looking like Friday will (unexpectedly) be my last day.  I'm too fast I guess that I worked myself out of a job.  Lol fantastic.

Day 107

I didn't actually take any new pictures today.  It was a long and hard one.  So instead here's a picture from yesterday.  Enjoy!  The kids sure did, they think they're training for the Olympics or something...  :)

Day 106

 

This is where I spent the majority of my morning.  It went well I think, not stellar but okay.  We'll see when I get the test scores back in a couple months...

Day 104

The long awaited day 104.  Traveled along the coast with Mark, Kaitlin and Ariana on our way to a party.  And though we got started later than planned and things took longer than anticipated I had a wonderful day.  We took some wedding pictures on the beach.  Some day I would love to get together a couple in their wedding clothes and be able to spend an un-stressful and un-rushed time taking pictures.  This came pretty close but we were still on a "deadline" if you will.  Anyways, it was a good day.  I borrowed a Canon 20D from my boss and it took me a bit to get used to it and it shows in some of the pictures but other than that I was extremely jealous of the quality of this camera compared to mine.  Now I've been infected with the bug for a better camera even more.  :)