Burntout, Break, Bye

Friday was my last day at work. I left really suddenly, more suddenly than I would have liked, but that's okay. And no, I wasn't fired. :) I gave my two weeks notice on Friday but they said I didn't need to do my two weeks which is fine by me. The only sucky thing is that my shift ended at 1:30pm on friday and i found out at 2:00pm that it was my last day. So kind of weird to just leave and not really have any mental prep time/closure. So that's a bit odd.

It was really hard to leave and I'm sad, but I think I've made the right decision. I've been running myself into the ground for a long time and i decided I need to decisively stop and take initiative to go the other way! So this year will be a year for that. A good break.

So one of my plans is to blog more. I hope to read a book a week and blog about it, as well as some of the other things I will be up to. What I ask of you, my readers, is that you interact with my blog. I blog to have readers obviously, but it's nice to have feedback and interaction. No, this doesn't mean you must comment on every one of my posts, but here and there, offer some feedback, etc. so I know who is reading and so forth. otherwise it's not really that fun to blog because then i'm just writing stuff to a big void. So those are my thoughts on that. So all in all, comment, and I will blog more :) And if you think commenting is stupid, please feel free to let me know. hehe..

Have great day!! I'm off to Whistler for a couple of days!

Work, Weary, Woooh!

This week we had our work conference! And while it was a lot of fun, I was utterly exhausted by the end of it!! Friday night I went to bed at 7pm (and when i go to bed THAT early, you know i'm tired!! haha) I worked 16 hours of overtime and went to the conferences all day and then did evening activities. So generally my days were 4:30 am until midnight-FUN!! Here are some pictures I took throughout the week.

Mike, one of the sales reps I support.

Sheri one of my order entry pals. We have nice daily visits where we read a page from my "i never knew that book". Quite exciting

The School Specialty version of dance, dance revolution. Fun to watch people from work try it out!

Team building activities at Trinity

These activities were conducive to some great photos.. hehe

Our formal awards banquet

Rockband groupies

Singing along to the pianos at Duke of Dublin's

Apparently it was my birthday and on my birthday it has always been a dream of mine to sing live.. haha.. so after having three songs sung to me, I got to sing!! haha.. It was fun though!! :)

Work, Water, Wain

During the summer, we have different things at work for rewarding our hard work. So we had a pool party and dinner at my mom's place. It was fun to hang out as a big group outside of work. We played some great games and had fun swimming with the underwater camera (not always the most flattering pictures, but very fun!)

It's been great to get to know a whole new group of people at work. I am blessed with many new friendships and am thankful for these people in my life! :)
Oops.. forgot the zoom was on on this one...

These candles looked great everywhere... but they did not fare so well with the rain...
Some intense catch phrase-i always love seeing how people act when playing this game because you see an entirely different side of people.
Not sure what Chrystal is passionately trying to convey here...

Dinner, Date, Done

Kristen has been living with me for the last two months and it has been absolutely wonderful! I have thoroughly enjoyed living with her, even if that has meant losing copious amounts of sleep! We watched a lot of Gilmore Girls, had some great late night chats (and even an early morning chat once when she came up at 4am to chat when I was getting ready for work). She had her last shift at Old Spaghetti Factory and so Chris and I went for a farewell dinner (we like to go have her as our waitress every Friday night). It is sad that we will no longer have a purpose for our friday night dinners... and I will miss Kristen dearly, but here's hoping she has an amazing time in France!!! :)

Kristen was even kind enough to buy us drinks on her last shift. And we don't even tip that well. But we do write great comment cards!! :)

Family, Fun, Furry

First off thought I would start with a picture of cuteness.. aka Lizzy... She's as cute as ever. and becoming better at learning the rules of the house..

Last weekend we had a family fun day. WE started at Castle Fun Park and played some mini golf. And then afterwards we went to a park for a pizza lunch and playing with the kids. I got to take a bunch of pictures of everyone, so thought I'd post a few. And remember if anyone ever wants fun shots done, let me know!!

Our mini golfing clan













ONLY 6 days until d-day for my nephew or niece to arrive... WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

Productive, Prison, Possibilities

So, in a quest to post more on my blog I will post right now.

I just finished reading 80 pages of a really difficult book on the history of the prison system and then wrote a paper on it. I just have one more 12 page paper to write before tomorrow. I'm leaving to pick Lindie up in 30 minutes, so I'm not entirely sure when I will write that, but hopefully I can fit it in somewhere.. It's just filling the 12 pages up that will be the problem. haha..

So yay for productivity on my Sunday morning!! I am always happy when I get to cross stuff off my to-do list!

I have been thinking lately of possibilities of what I should do after graduation. I could get a job. Or go to school for my masters. Or take the year off and work intermittently and travel. Hmm.. Any suggestions? Anyone have an ideal job they think of when they think of me?

Here's some fun trip possibilities for the future:
-Somewhere in the Caribbean with Lindie during my spring reading break
-Mystery graduation trip with Chrystal somewhere fun to celebrate (Disneyland, cruise, carribean?)
-Scotland, Wales and England with my mom next summer
-Ontario next summer for my cousin's wedding
-Quebec next summer for a pyschology conference (and visit people after)
-Road Trip next summer because they're fun... somewhere in the States- North Dakota perhaps?
-Australia to visit Dave and Karin perhaps.. not sure when but I would love to go visit!
-South America explorer with my mom in January 2010 with a few extra days to go to Antarctica (my dream come true)
-Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia
-South Korea to visit my friend Hannah
-India

Okay, enough dreaming. Any you guys think I should absolutely go on? :) hehe.. it's fun to think of all the different possibilities! I just have to co-ordinate them with the hundreds of weddings happening next year!!!

Anyway, thanks for listening to my ramblings, I'm off to the airport!

Absent, Actober, Agassiz

Hi all!

Sorry for the absence in writing on here. Things have been a bit nutso this week and every time I have thought about blogging I have not had much to think of to put on! It's November already which is absolutely insane! Seems like the fall is flying by so incredibly fast. But I'm super excited that Christmas is coming along with the end of the semester that seems to have been the most insane so far! I am hoping that November will be a bit nicer... :)

This last week has been good. Thursday I had the opportunity to lead two workshops on student leadership at a Christian high school leadership conference. I talked about what I would have done differently as a leader in high school if I knew what I know now. Very interesting to think about. I surveyed a bunch of people and got a one to two line quote from them which was great to include on there-was a good mix of thoughts from people.

Last night Kaeli and Chrystal came over to carve pumpkins which was fun. For the first time EVER I had trick-or-treaters!!! So fun!! All my life I have lived in the boons where no kids come and so it was really fun to actually live somewhere this time around where we got kids who came to the door! Very fun to see all the different costumes! :)

Tonight I went to church and then to Chrystal's for a movie afterwards. It was one of those services where you walk away convicted. Least I did. Hit me right at home-talking about the things we say about others.. ah. guilty. something to keep in mind and keep working on though!

Tomorrow Lindie is coming to visit!!! YAY! I have two papers to write before she comes (got 12 hours) so that I won't have to paper write while she's here, but I think it should work out well!!

Yesterday I also went for a tour of a maximum security prison out in Agassiz, called Kent. It was super interesting to see inside the prison and actually see what things are like and so forth. It has been really interesting in my classes lately to see perhaps where my heart leans towards working in corrections. And working with criminals. A lot of people's responses to people who have broken the law is repulsion, which is understandable based on the things people have done, and although I see the crimes committed as horrible, my heart breaks for the individual person and I am just filled with compassion for them.. Hmm.. Something I would have never ever ever thought about for myself, but the more I talk about it and think about it, I am actually interested in it. Haven't been passionately excited about something like this for a long time. Then again, this is in theory. We will see how it pans out in real life. I am starting to volunteer with a prison ministry program called M2W2 and so right now I will be going to Surrey Pre-Trial to visit with prisoners every other week. Just to start testing the waters.

Evidently I did have stuff to say. so hopefully I will get another blog post in soon! With pictures!! Have a great week! I'm off to enjoy my extra hour!

Unemployed, Umbrellas

To commemorate my last day at Starbucks, I thought I would snap some photos!! It was a great last shift. It was Sunday morning so there were extra staff there putting away the order which made it more fun. i got to work drive-thru as well, which is my favorite! So here are a few pics of me an my co-workers on my last day ever working at Starbucks!! (hopefully.. hehe)

Louis and I

Laura and Kylie working the drive-thru

Louis making my last partner beverage!

Sarah and I

Kylie and I

Laura and I

After my shift, it felt so good to be done!! Nice to have a chapter close on my life. it was good while I was there and I had a lot of great times, but I am definitely glad to be done. After work, I went home and got changed and headed out to Walnut Grove for Guatemala meeting. We got to hear a bit more about what we are going to be doing on our trip and it sounds like it will be amazing! We're actually going to be going to Belize for a bit as well! i went there about ten years ago and I'm excited to go back, because it was an amazing and breathtaking country! Beautiful-especially the beaches!!

I left my Guatemala meeting early to go to church for a worship team practice. I got to be part of a band that led worship for MBMSI's Missions Celebration Night. It was so much fun! Lots of people came out as well as a variety of people from different generations. it was encouraging to see everyone worshiping together! Afterwards my friend Heidi came over for night. We watched 'Take the Lead' and then enjoyed a nice lazy morning this morning. And now I must get cracking on some schoolwork.. gulp.

This afternoon, Desiree and I are off to Seattle. We're staying there for a couple of nights for her birthday! We're going to the zoo tomorrow! Oh how I love the Seattle zoo-i have an annual membership and love to go! So I'm sure I will have some fun pictures when I get back. Hopefully it doesn't rain, but we will bring umbrellas just in case!

Here's an updated countdown:
A few more hours until I go to Seattle!
8 more days until my last exam
9 more days until Leslie visits
13 more days until I leave for Guatemala!!

And here's the quote of the day:

The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. - Socrates