Yippie.

The reason I am writing today is because I made a commitment (to myself) to publish a minimum of two entries each month, and today just so happens to be the last day of the month, not to mention the last day of the year. I've been contemplating this entry for a few weeks, but still I have nothing particularly significant to share. Instead, I will revert to my typical ramblings about what's been up over the last few weeks. (Sorry, no witty witty banter to follow.)

The week before I left for home, it snowed in Raleigh!! Granted, there wasn't much to show for it in my neck of the woods, but it sure made my day!! In fact, that week, it didn't get up to 40 degrees until four days later, and even then it was still pretty frigid. Balmy 75 degree temperatures welcomed me home on December 11th, yet it snowed again in Raleigh only a few days later. While temps here in Louisiana have followed the extremes (record breaking lows followed days later by almost 80 degree temperatures), Raleigh lucked out with a near blizzard the day after Christmas which resulted in 7 inches of fluffy white stuff on my sweet little Cajun-yota. B-)

Here goes an update on "the feces," or "thesis baby," whatever the mood mood of choice may happen to be. Thanks to all of you who put in a few requests to the god of survey research, because it sure paid off. I sent out one "last-ditch" effort and received several responses soon thereafter. By the skin of my teeth, I think I managed to grab a 40% response rate.

Since school let out, I spent much of my time working on the thesis. Several comments were made about how I should be enjoying my time or doing something fun, but the reality of it is that being home in Cajun Country, working (like crazy) at my leisure, while sitting on the couch in pajamas all day, yet still having time to watch (cable!) tv and read and visit with family...that IS enjoying my time. No complaints, really.

Thus far, I put together a 29 page draft of my Chapter 4, which I gleefully submitted to my professor on Christmas Eve (Merry Christmas, JB!)! Just as I made it about half-way through the first draft of Chapter 5, I received revisions for #4. (The ball sure is rolling...) I hope to finish Chapter 5 sometime today or at least by Monday, so that I can get moving on revisions to Chapter 4 and put together a draft of my submission for a conference in Idaho this spring. The deadline for that is January 14th, but my chair would like a draft of it by the 7th. So, we all know what Lauren will be doing to celebrate her last week at home, ha.



Never fear, I have done a few things other than work on "the feces." As typical of this season, I've spent a lot of time with family--both my immediate family (parentals and brother), and a bit of the extended bunch, as well. Some of my favorite times this holiday have been spent with the three lovely bundles--better known as the Danenberg triplets!

On two back to back weeks, I was asked to stay a night at the Danenberg home. Of course(!), I happily obliged. Even while doing other chores around the home, there is just something magical about being in the presence of three well-behaved, happy, beautiful, and fun babies! I was also able to observe an evaluation by representatives from the LA Early Steps program, and go along with the babies to their physical therapy session one afternoon. The following week, I went with them on an outing to Baton Rouge to see a pediatric opthamologist. It was the first time I was really able to experience the looks and questions that seem to follow the babies wherever they go. Either way, these babies are still the most well-behaved group of children I have encountered in a long time, and there is something special to be said for each of their unique, developing smiles and personalities. I could just eat 'em up!

Peer socialization has been pretty much non-existant since I've been home. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of online and text interaction with friends from across the country (per usual), but I haven't done anything with friends here. There's always that small glimmer of possibility that things will work out for me to visit with some of my local friends or even the college roommates, but it never quite seems to work. I'm hoping this will change whenever I get really settled into a new life sometime next fall. Plus, by then, I should have access to my car again. (It stayed in NC for this trip.)

As I close out this entry (and the year), I must say I have several things to look forward to in the coming months. We are exactly 3 months away from our due date for the "thesis babies," and I have finally started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The bulk of the dirty work has been done, so I can't wait to see it all start coming together very soon!! Discussions have begun with one of my travel buddies; we're hoping for a few fabulous adventures dispersed throughout the semester. I plan to be back in Louisiana in just 9 weeks, ready and fully prepared to celebrate the defense of my "feces" along with the birthdays of myself and my grandmother, and even cooler, the lovely Louisiana holiday of Mardi Gras (which also happens to be my favorite holiday, in general).

With that, I wish you all the best. Cheers to another new year...



Yippie.
-Lauren

A Little Bit of Winter Cheer

As the end of the semester draws near, it seems like a good time to give an update on all things thesis-y. Usually, my stories about graduate school involve some type of rant or negativity. However, tonight I'm here to write about some (perhaps rare) positive moments I've experienced recently.

About a week and a half ago, I may or may not have enjoyed a bottle of wine over the successful submission of Chapters 1-3 just a few days before our joyful American holiday of Thanksgiving. While it was a quiet week in the office (as most students scattered home for the holiday), I committed to working as if it were any other week. Although I did not make much progress on my actuall assistantship work, I did make good headway with organizing thesis data and putting together a major project which consisted of an educational program plan (20 pages). When that was done, I started on an essay exam. In other words, I had a productive week despite the holiday.

[It should be noted that I am grateful for a lovely friend of mine who adopted me into her family and welcomed me home for Turkey Day. In the three years I have been away for Thanksgiving, I must admit that I have been very blessed to have warm, hospitable friends who have graciously welcomed me into their family homes on this special day. Next year, however, I am committed to being at home with my own family on this holiday--no matter what.]

Back to positive moments a la graduate school...On Monday after Thanksgiving, my three chapters were returned with MINIMAL revisions! No major overhauls, reorganizations, cuts, or additions. It was a miracle! How I put together a decent lit review (despite aches and pains generally associated with such portions), I will never know. Either way, I'm not complaining. Au contraire, I am rejoicing!

On Tuesday, I sent out a third round of reminders to participants in my study. One participant returned the e-mail with an interesting request. A 4-H program leader in [unnamed] state asked permission to use my instrument (survey) as an internal self-assessment tool for their camping programs. He asked how the instrument was designed and whether it was based on "best practices." For those of you who are unfamiliar with the "research world," a request for someone else to use your instrument is kind of a big deal.

According to my professor, it's rare for doctoral students to design their own instruments, much less master's students. (Many of the Master's students in our dept. design their own instruments, so I never thought much of it.) Someone asking to use your instrument is one of the biggest honors a researcher can receive. Needless to say, I was super giddy and excited about it all. So, if any of you come across a journal article (or research presentation/printed materials) with my name as a reference for the survey instrument, be sure to let me know!

Also this week, several of us in the office reviewed posters for an upcoming professional conference. One of our profesors is in charge of the poster submissions, so she enlisted our help during the reviewal process. While I contributed to a poster proposal for last year's conference, I'd never had the experience of reviewing others' professional work in this capacity. At first, I felt unqualified to do the job, but as I worked through it, it actually turned out okay. Basically, it ended up being a review on all the research methodology and reporting techniques that I've learned over the past year and a half. In a way, it was kind of like reviewing for the final in my advanced research methods course (which is good, considering I'll probably wait 'til the last minute to actually do that, lol). In any case, reviewing posters was a fun experience. :)

As with all things studious, it can't all be roses and chocolate. To date, my response rate rests around 35%, which is not near the 70% my advisor would like, or even the 60% she insists is necessary for publication. I've made about 60 phone calls, probably speaking with a real person in about 1/3 of those calls, hoping...begging...for people to respond to the survey. We're going to reevaluate the situation on Tuesday when my advisor and I meet with our department head to give it a practice go at analayzing the data. For me, it's not a question of whether I'm going to graduate ('cuz you can bet that I will graduate, regardless), but it is a matter of putting together a quality piece that is worth all of this work. Plus, people need this research. It's important, and therefore, I need to do a good job of it. So, if you all could pray to the god of survey research, that would be great. (If you choose to stick with just one god for now, that's okay too. *wink*)

Rather than go on about other academic obligations regarding the remainder of the semester, I'm going to leave you with this:





(I am officially addicted to phdcomics, so expect more "funnies" in the near future!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow*!
-Lauren

*It's snowed here in Raleigh yesterday!

New Year. New Season. New Blog.

New year. New Season. New blog.

.......New record for not blogging. My apologies, but I've been busy as all get out for the last two months. It seems like every time I think I've been as busy as I can be, and that it's all better afterwards, I am faced with another, even busier season of life. Speaking of seasons, the Spring season (semester) kicked off with a bang, and has been crazy ever since. Get comfy, this may take a while...

Carolina Campout (January 9th)/UNC Game (January 26th)
The day after I returned to Raleigh, I attended my first NC State sporting event, a men's basketball game. I had a lot of fun, and it really got me pumped up for the evening's activity--the Carolina Campout. Participation in this annual event is the only way students' can ensure receipt of tickets to the NCSU vs. UNC basketball, which is our biggest rival game each year. I signed up to camp with Jess's roommates and their friends; our group totaled 14 people. We put together a large makeshift tent and all huddled together for about 12 hours in the low 20 degree temperatures. There were 4 checkpoints throughout the night, and finally at 6 a.m., we were released. For our hard work and dedication, our group received 3rd and 4th row floor seats to the biggest game of the year!

Jess and I had our technology class from 6-8 p.m. on the night of the game. We rushed out of class to grab some food at Cookout (yum) and headed over to the RBC Center for the game. Although we were a few minutes late to the game, we had a lot of fun cheering on the Wolfpack. Of course, we lost (go figure), but it was still a fun time. Just another experience to cross off my Raleigh life list. woot.

Jeff's Visit/Weekend in Savannah, GA (January 13-19)
Jeff, one of my good friends from Idaho (long-time readers have heard about him plenty of times before) came out to Raleigh for a week in January. Over the weekend, he, Jess, and I traveled to Savannah, Georgia. We stayed with Chris, a very good mutual friend of Jeff and I. Jeff, Chris, and I have worked together at several national 4-H conferences and such; plus, Chris came to visit Jeff and I in Idaho in Fall 2008. Needless to say, it was our turn to visit dear ole Christopher. Anyway, the 4 of us had a great time exploring the Savannah area, and Chris was a great host. Jeff was particularly interested in checking out the campus at Armstrong Atlantic State University (where Chris graduated from, and now works), as he applied to their Physical Therapy program for later this year. After a fun-filled weekend in Savannah, Jess and I showed Jeff around Raleigh for the last day and a half of his time here.

PREAUX LIFE MARCH in DC (January 21-24)
Two days after Jeff returned to Idaho, I headed up to DC for another long weekend. (I sure do have lots of those, lol.) On my way into the city, I stopped to visit with the folks in Youth Opportunities at National 4-H Council. (Tthese people are my former bosses, from when I was a tour guide.) It was fun to say hello to Molly and Freeman, and as always, nice to catch up on the news of what's going on in the world at Center. Afterwards, I met up with Dawn (long-time LA 4-H friend and fellow DC obessant) and two of her friends, Chelsea and Jessenia. Dawn, Chelsea, and I stayed at Jess's apartment in Mannassas, Virginia for the weekend.

The Pro-life March was way way way cool, and I was super excited to have the chance to take part in the event. It's just one of those things that most people back home do at some point in their life, and finally I had my chance. Plus, in all my time I have spent in DC, I never participated in any of the marches, so that is just another thing to experience in the great city that is our nation's capital.

This weekend was pretty much amazing for me in the area of DC tourism because Dawn and I checked off a ton of things that neither of us had seen before. Among these were: the Rose Dinner (a benefit for the Pro-Life cause), the Presidents' Church, ice skating at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden on the Mall, the Textile Museum, the Real World DC House, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, the Franciscian Monestary, and the John Paul II Cultural Center. Oh--anddd we even saw my favorite hometown band, L'Angelus play live in Maryland, too!! Needless to say, it was a GREAT weekend, and I can't wait to see my Sunshine in DC again soon!

Snoweekend??? (January 29-February 1, February 12-14)
Finally--I saw my first snowfall for the year! Even better, lots of snow was predicted in Raleigh, so Jess came over to get "snowed in" with me, and we had a grand time! To my happiness, it actually did snow a decent amount...3-4 inches to be exact, which is more than I'd ever seen in my life. Jess very much obliged my need for snow by agreeing to go on several walks each day with me, just so that I could take it all in. We also had this really awesome, impromptu snowball fight with a bunch of random people in my apartment complex. The roads in Raleigh were so bad that we even had a pseudo-snow-day off of school/work, and the public schools were out for pretty much the whole week.

The second snoweekend, came two weeks later. This time, it wasn't nearly as much snow and the words weren't treacherous. It was a pretty sight, though. I am told that the snow was better for snowman making, but I didn't actually go out and try it. (A travesty, I know!) I did get to go out and ice skate downtown on the 14th, though, which was pretty nifty.

SAAAE Conference in Orlando, FL (February 6-10)
In between the two snoweekends, myself, 3 AEE graduate students, and 8 AEE professors flew down to Orlando for the Southern Region American Association of Agricultural Education Conference. No, Agricultural Education is not even remotely an interest of mine, but here at NC State, I am surrounded by people who live, breathe, and eat it. Why did I go to the Conference, then? Well, Jess and I have been working on a project that involved designing a teen volunteer training and orientation program for the library at which we volunteered last semester. The instructor for our Volunteer Management course suggested that we put together a poster for the conference, and so we did. Since Jess and I are both in Extension Education, we took the trip as a fun way to travel together; Jess had never been to Florida, much less Orlando, so she really wanted to go.

Though the conference was of zero interest to us, we really had a good time with the other two graduate students, and it was an interesting experience to hang out with the professors for four days. Let's just say that I was pleasantly surprised. I'm so not a fan of Disney World but we did get to go on a "Behind the Seeds" tour of Epcot and probably the highlight of the trip was piercing Elizabeth's ears following the Saints victory! (Speaking of the Saints, I would like to take this opportunity to make a small rant about how I have been uber sad about missing such awesome events back home--snow, Saints Superbowl, and Mardi Gras. Ok, I'm done.)

Everything Else
Since Orlando, I've attended another couple of NC State sporting events, had some fun times with friends, and have been gearing up for a ridiciulously busy two months. My mom said that one day, someone asked her if she was sure that I was really in school. To be honest, it probably is kind of hard to believe that I'm really in school with all of this going on. However, I am holding steady in grad school for now. It's still not something I particularly enjoy, but with class only two nights a week (in the very middle, Tuesday and Wednesday), it's much easier to plow through those two days and enjoy the other five.

Ask me how I'm going to manage to write the first few chapters of my thesis with me being gone from Raleigh nearly every weekend of the semester, and I'll tell you that I haven't the slightest clue. However, traveling and doing all of these fun things is what makes me happy and helps me to get through it, so at this point, I truly don't care. In fact, I recently changed a portion of my Facebook profile to say "not-so-dedicated grad student" rather than "grad student with no life," lol. This is progress, if I do say so myself. (You may or may not agree.)

In any case, looking forward, there are lots of great things coming up for me this semester. One of my college roommates, Annie, will be coming up to NC next weekend, then I'm making a surprise appearance in an undisclosed state the following weekend. After that, I look forward to some time in Boise, DC, and Pennsylvania, all between now and the middle of April. It's going to be crazy, and I'll try to stop in and say hello from time to time, but don't get too worried if it takes a while. With that being said...

Catch ya on the flipside,
Lauren

"Life is Good Today"

Hi, all. Can't believe I let time get away from me, once again! Let's see if I can compress the last two months into a managable size blog.

In the weeks that followed my good news (passing my Child Life exam), my stress level dropped TREMENDOUSLY. No longer did I need to devote hours each day/week to studying for the exam, and I had also finished my volunteer hours at the library for my volunteer management course. Plus, there was some big agriculture education conference that all of our professors went to, so we somehow ended up with 1 class in 18 days. It was sweet as all get out.

My mom and cousin, Alyssa, came to visit me in Raleigh for the week of Thanksgiving. It was really a nice time with lots of forced relaxation, which I definitely needed. I tried to show them a good time in Raleigh, but I often apologized for leading a boring life, as they sat in front of the tv watching movies while I did some form of schoolwork each day of their visit. :-(

Some of the fun things we did do included touring NC State, watching New Moon, eating a very delicious Cajun Thanksgiving meal, attending the Christmas craftshow at the State Fairgrounds, and checking out a few museums downtown. Of course, I took mom and Alyssa to the Free Expression Tunnel on campus, which they loved (It's a personal favorite of mine!). My mom smuggled some boudain and rice dressing stock on the plane, so we had some legit Cajun food for Thanksgiving. Mmm, it totally made my week! Hehe.

Seriously though, it was just really nice to relax and have my lovely family around. Life in Raleigh has been a real struggle for me, and to have a break from that was wonderful. Realizing now that I won't have this chance again in the spring, I'm wondering how I'm going to make it through another semester without a piece of home. Hmm. I did okay in DC, but my mom and brother came to visit (twice), as well as my little pseudo-Cajun Sunshine, and lots of 4-H family. Plus, I celebrated my birthday and Mardi Gras in DC, with huge care packages, "boxes of love," straight from the heart! I suppose I'm just gonna hope for the best and avoid thinking about what may come. Smile.

Moving on...School ended and I've been home from Raleigh for two weeks now. In my first week at home, I spent a few days tying up loose ends with assignments and work. I'm pretty frustrated with NC State's grading process (actually I think it's ridiculous), but I manged to pull out an A and two A-, so my GPA sits at something like 3.7. Tell me how A;s translate to a 3.7, and I'll give you a cookie. That GPA says to me "a couple of B's," but of course not...at NC State As are not worthy of their full point value. I believe the phrase "FUGS!" is order here, :)

Again, I say the snow gods absolutely hate me. It has snowed in LA twice in the last two years while I have been living out of state. In both places where I was living at the time, it snowed in the days following my departure when I went home for the holidays. Only DC was generous with snow for me. In fact, my little car had half an inch of snow on it in Wake Forest; my dearest Lendy sent me pictures! So not cool man.

While at home, my life hasn't been overly interesting, but I have been up to a few cool things. I went to the first round of bridesmaid dress shopping with Victoria (bride), Anne Catherine, Hilary, and Brandi. A second round is planned with at least Dawn and Lauren D., and maybe Toria R. The happy couple (Victoria and Seth) are having an ornament exchange party this coming Tuesday, the 29th. I'm trying to convince Kyle to come as Dawn and I's date...he's plenty used to pimp status (lol), and we all miss him, plus Dawn and I need dates to the party. Heh. We sure wish he would join us...hint hint, wink wink!

I also helped Ms. Lanette Hebert (Southwest Regional Coordinator) teach a 4-H teen counselor training at the Rice Research Station in Crowley. There were 18 teens signed up for the training, but only 12 showed up. Honestly, this was probably the rowdiest group we've ever had at the training. However, I was very grateful that Ms. Lanette invited me to help, because I love the subject matter and really enjoy the opportunity to volunteer with the 4-H program any chance I get. I really wish I could be around for more state 4-H stuff; I miss being around, seeing everyone, and just generally supporting the program which is so near and dear to my heart.

That night, I went with the Vermilion 4-H Jr. Leader Club to Acadian Village for Noel Acadien au Village. It's in Lafayette, so we took a bus, but a bunch of the kids' families went to the village too. In order to get the group discount, we all had to enter the village together. To get an accurate count, we used Vermilion's tried and true method--TWO BY TWO!! (I bet you remember this well, Co-co?) With a group as large as ours, it was quite entertaining to see the jaws drop (literally!) as other patrons arrived, thinking that our line was the one to enter. It was great. When it was all said and done, we had about a hundred people in our group. Vermilion 4-H sure does it big--it's not uncommon for us to travel in packs of 100! I love my Vermilion 4-H!!

At Acadian Village, I took lots of pictures for my far-away friends. This place is very beautiful year-round, but especially during the Christmas season. If you want to see a true depiction of Cajun culture from the old days, this is the place to go. Words cannot describe it, but a picture is worth a thousand words, they say...so take a look at my Facebook album for a small glipse of the experience! :)

What else? Christmas, I guess. I had a good Christmas with the family. Nothing to exciting or crazy. Lots of little kids, which is one of the best parts, probably. Oh, and amazingggg food. My gosh, the food here is just DIVINE! Riceeeee and gravy, seafood gumbo...all of it! Today I was thinking about how our major commodities are rice, sugar(cane), and seafood...which all translate to heaven on a dish! And people wonder why we've got such terrible health practices here. I'm fully okay with that, the benefits outweigh the consequences, lol.

Gift-wise, I'm still working on getting a new phone. I've got a temporary one right now, but it sucks. Our new phone company may have good service, but everything else about it suckssss. If anyone wants to offer up an unlocked phone or maybe even the opportunity to add me as a line on your AT&T plan (I'll pay my portion!), feel free to let me know. It's just so frustrating that I can't use Twitter or googl (40404), or get photos, or anything cool. Bahhhhh. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a decent phone soon... Erm, other gifts. I got a winter jacket, that I will hopefully be able to use in Raleigh or some cool place. 'Course it's water proof, so bring on the snow??? What am I saying, snow hates me, remember? lol. Random other stuff: cute socks, water bottles, books, etc.

Now, I've got 13 days left in Louisiana. The question is, how am I going to spend them? I'm bound and determined to make a quilt of t-shirts, so I will probably get back to that project tomorrow. Also, I'm hoping for a trip to Luling to see the college folks, and perhaps even one to Arkansas for a mini-camp reunion. However, I really just want to relish in this relaxing time at home, so I don't know. I'm torn about being busy and seeing everyone or just staying home and enjoying my lovely state from the comforts of a blanket curled up on the couch. We'll see what happens, I guess.

In any case, it's going to be hard goodbye, but there are lots of things to look forward to this spring in Raleigh (and across the country, with all my travels, lol). The day after I arrive in Raleigh, I'm going to the NC State campout (more like freeze-out) to earn tickets for the UNC basketball game. Only a few days after that, Jeff will be arriving from Idaho for he, Jess, and my trip to see Chris (and AASU) in Savannah, GA. A few weeks after that, Jess, Elizabeth, Kevin, and I are headed down to Orlando for a conference. So much to do, and the list goes on....

Well, this entry once again turned out longer than I expected, but it also spanned the the time of 2 months, so I guess it's compacted and appropriate. You all should remind me to write more often! Maybe with the encouragement I'll have more incentive to do so. :-p

Off for a while,
-Lauren

Starting Now

Good news--I passed my tour guide exam!!! Yup, you got it, myself and the other three PAs all passed our DC tour guide test. Yay!! We haven't gotten our official cards yet, but it'll be great when they come in, so we can start using our licenses to get discounts at tourist destinations lol.

Backing up a bit, this past week was our first week of "real work." Christy and Colin had their first group--middle school students from a school for "learning differences" in Georgia. Despite the challenges for working with this group of children, I truly admire the idea of creating a school for children with learning differences.

As for the PA experience, Christy and Colin did a wonderful job, even with all of their opportunities for on-the-spot problem-solving situations. Their week started out with the group's delayed arrival due to a strong snow storm that swept the East coast. Because of this, the group had to eat lunch at Union Station (they took a train here) before coming to the Center, and then two workshops were given the first night, since the Zoo was closed, and it was definitely not a good idea to do Nightview with snow-covered roads. On another day, Mt. Vernon claimed they didn't have the group's reservation, and Hard Rock Cafe mischarged the Center beforehand. Through it all, though, I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time, which is all that matters, really.

So...snow. Yup, that's right...I HAD MY FIRST SNOW DAY EVER!!! I don't even know where to start about this one. Monday morning, most people at Center decided to work from home, so the PAs got a hold of our supervisor, and she said to take the day off. Can anyone say, "SAWEET??" Cuz, yeah, that's exactly what it was. On my first ever snow day, there were many other firsts...snow angel, snow man, sledding (!), and snowball fights. I have a ton of pictures posted on Facebook, so you should totally check them out. It was just such a glorious day...probably one of the best of my life!

Nick and I didn't have a group this week, so we were in the office doing projects all week. The National 4-H Council Board of Trustees had a meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, and since I'm working with the President's team (the one who organizes the board meetings), I was pretty busy toward the beginning of the week. The Board inducted three new youth trustees, and they wanted to offer an orientation to these new members, so they asked me to design the orientation program. Victoria, one of my long time great friends from home, has been a Youth Trustee on the board for over a year, so she was invited to facilitate the orientation.

It was really cool to use my experience in designing workshops or training sessions to design this orientation, and even cooler to know that one of my best friends would be the one leading it all. This really helped my motivation and understanding in the whole concept for the orientation, and although it didn't look exactly like my original plan, in the end, I think it all worked out well. I think they'll probably continue offering a youth orienation in the future...awesome to know I helped with implementing this new idea. And, it was great to see my dearest Victoria, even if it was only for one day, heh. Plus, she'll be back again in three weeks...

So, yeah, that's the sort of stuff I'll be doing when I am working for the President's team (weeks when I don't have a WOW tour group). I'm sure they'll come up with some interesting projects. In fact, the President/CEO's assistant said that I may have an opportunity to work on some of their new international projects that relate to expanding youth programming (in the form of 4-H) in Africa. It all sounds pretty cool to me, so we'll have to see what happens.

Alas, Nick and my first group arrives tomorrow evening. It'll be a quick turnaround--they arrive, settle in, eat, and leave for Nightview in only an hour's time. Crazy, but we'll manage. The 8th graders from Alabama will be here through Thursday morning; with Dawn arriving on Monday, and more 4-H gang on Wednesday, I feel like this is going to be a crazy week. Currently, I'm trying not to think about how scared I am for my first group, but I keep reminding myself that Nick will be there for support, and I will get throgh it. I bet it will even be better than I expect, because things generally work that way when I am stressed.

Oh, I guess I should also mention that I received a letter this week from the University of Georgia. Apparently, I was not accepted into their graduate program. I was a bit disappointed, and especially frustrated to believe deep down that the reason I didn't get in is because of my GRE scores. I know I could do well in any program, but if my GRE scores keep me from being able to demonstrate my abilities, then oh well. I also realize that my previous life experiences (i.e. Idaho, DC, etc.) have evolved into culminations of events that lead up to the opportunity, or were long in the making. UGA was rather random, I don't have much stake in Georgia, and so therefore, it's probabably not where I'm meant to be.

I expect to hear more from other schools sometime around the beginning of April. Rest assured, however, I'll keep you all updated with things as they go along. And, expect another update...just as soon as I get through this week and the awesomeness of great people visiting during the best week of the entire year! Tehehe...

...Party time?
-Lauren

Points of Interest

Hm, so, it's been another 8 days, and I can't for the life of me remember what I've done each one of those days since I wrote last. I do, however, have a couple of key points that might be of interest to my few, but loyal (?...yeah I know, I'm just making myself feel better...don't bother, Loser) readers out there.

-I would like to note that it snowed in Louisiana the day before I got home, and began blizard-ing in the Pacific Northwest the day after I left. It hasn't stopped snowing since. ...And, despite various delays, all Boise travelers (Jason and Ashley to Illinios, Kim and Joey to Louisiana, Tessa and Jesse to England) have made it to their various destinations safe and sound.

-I started compiling a list of differences between here (home/Louisiana) and there (Boise/Idaho/Pacific Northwest/the rest of the country in general). One of these days...when I feel it's worthy enough, I'll post it here. Maybe.

-On that subject, though, I saw an article on MSN two weeks ago with some study that listed Louisiana to be the 50th unhealthiest state in the nation. Surprise surprise. And last week, I found another article suggesting that Illinios is giving Louisiana a run for its money as the most politically courrupt state. Again, no surprise there. The worst part is that our citizens have come to expect it, and don't care much to change things. It's always been that way...why start now? (Here's the article if you're interested.)

-As for the jobs, I found out on Monday that I was not chosen as a finalist for the Boise position. In other words, they turned me down without even an interview. :-( I'm really bummed, but what can I do? Not much. All I can do is hope to return to Boise, sooner, rather than later...and at the very latest, sometime within the next few years. Let's hope it'll be for a more permanent time period, too. :)

-The interview for the DC position went well, and I'll know more sometime after the new year. However, I did find out that Jeff (one of my Idaho 4-H friends), as well as Dawn (a Louisiana 4-H friend), and potentially some others, will be in DC right around my birthday in March, so it would be super cool if I was able to celebrate with some awesome friends of mine in the second greatest city in the nation. That's one of a few positive points drawing me to DC at the moment...even though I would still rather be in Boise. heh.

-Dawn, my LA friend who's studying Child Life (the same one who might be in DC for my birthday) told me that a Child Life program is being started in one of our hospitals in Lafayette. This is super amazing news, and I plan to contact the new Child Life person (whom I heard is just out of graduate school/internship) to learn more about the hospital's plans for the new program. I'll let you know if I hear anything more on the subject.

-It was 78 degrees here all last week, then Saturday it dropped 40 degrees in 6 hours, and now it's in the upper 30s. I know it's nothing compared to the Pacific Northwest temperatures and snow there, but at least there's some semblance of winter here now...Then again, it's expected to be in the upper 70s again by tomorrow...boo.

-Praise for the US Postal Service...Kim mailed some of my stuff from Boise on Saturday, and one of the three items arrived here TODAY! Impressive! Anddd it was cheaper than bringing it all on the plane. I highly suggest using the postal service in the future, especially with such stringent airline luggage requirements.

-Um, so, my parents (specifically, my mother) have always been huge advocates of me having as many diverse experiences as possible, especially ones involving travel. As typical for this time of year, many people have been asking what I want for Christmas and such. However, after returning from Boise, and living with "next to nothing" (though not really) for so long, I feel like I have wayyy too much stuff already, and I should be getting rid of stuff rather than gathering new things. For this reason, I told my mom that I want an experience rather than an object. Apparently, that gave her the idea to look into prices of me going to visit Tessa and England. The flight prices she found were super expensive, so in passing one day, she mentioned her idea to me. So, I started looking at prices, just for the heck of it. Strangely enough, I found some flights to England for only $530. Crazayyy?? Yes. So nowww...I'm playing message-tag with Tessa (being 6 hours appart, time-wise, is a bit difficult) to see if I might be able to arrange some sort of England trip during my time off this winter. I do still need to figure out stuff for grad school, anddd I'd like to go to family camp for CBC, so we'll see. No promises yet, but I just thought I'd throw it out there...

I am a gypsy, after all.
-Lauren

Week 5...SNOW!

Apparently I suck at updating regularly. Every time I tell myself I'm going to write often, nothing interesting happens, and when it does, I don't have time to write. Grr. The current trend includes weekly updates. I guess that's better than nothing, right?

Okay, work. Last Saturday (10/4) was my final night working in the Emergency Department. We had one patient with extreme respiratory distress, so it took a while to work with her, and she ended up being admitted to the PICU. Meanwhile, a two-year-old boy with a laceration to his head came in needing staples. My supervisor was busy working with the other patient, so I went ahead and worked with he and his family on my own. It was the first completely independent preparation and support that I'd done at all. Afterwards, I was super proud of myself for such an accomplishment! I definitely felt like it was a good way to end my rotation in the ED.

To celebrate my last night, our little group of peds ED people did a "Cajun Night" dinner. We had jambalaya, cornbread casserole, and apple pie. I was supposed to bring King Cake, but Kim had taken my food coloring to school, so the cake didn't pan out as planned. So, I guess it turned out to be more of a "Southern Night," but that's okay. The jambalaya was a huge hit, and we all enjoyed it. Mmm.

On Monday (10/6), I started working at the Mountain States Tumor Institute (MSTI), which is the outpatient oncology clinic; I'll be there until the beginning of November. MSTI is located in a separate building, but right next to the main hospital building, so I'm still close to the center of it all. In fact, it's pretty normal for us to make a trip up to the pediatric floor to see some of our oncology patients or for other random Child Life reasons. The clinical setting is very different from an inpatient one, but I think it's slowly growing on me. Things got better with each day this week. In fact, on Friday, I spent most of the day playing board games with the patients as they were waiting for their treatment. ...Work is so hard... :-P
So...guess what. It snowed on Friday!!! Yes, that's right, I've now officially seen snow!!! Wooooooooot. Oh my goodness. It was sooo...freaking...amazing!! Ah! It started snowing right after I'd gotten on the bus home from work, so I couldn't play in it until I got home forty minutes later. It was just plain torturous! Thankfully, Tessa was nice enough to play in it with me for a while, but then she escaped indoors "to make hot chocolate." (Personally, I think it was an excuse to get away from my insane excitement. lol.) I begged and pleaded with everyone I knew for someone to come and play with me. Luckily, Jason (one of Joey and Jesse's roommates) really likes snow, so Tessa called and asked him to come play with me. He came, and I had a grandddd ole time. We have over 75 pictures to prove it!! (If you want to see the pictures of me looking like a five year old snow fanatic, just let me know, and I'll send them to ya. Hehe.)

Also Friday (yes, it was a great, busy day), our whole gang went to Briana's going away party. Briana is the really sweet girl who came to have tea and crumpets on that English afternoon I wrote about. She's also lending me a whole box worth of wintery clothing items, most especially important--a winter coat. Yay. Anyways, Briana is moving to Honduras for five months to teach at a school there. To celebrate her greatness (hehe) and send best wishes, she had a Toga-themed party. Even though it wasnt my first time (i.e. summer at French immersion in Nova Scotia), dressing in the Toga theme was quite an interesting experience. We didn't stay very long, though, because the boys wanted to come over and watch a movie or something...whatever. But yes, we have pictures from the whole fiasco...some cute roommate bonding ones, too. :)
Last night (Saturday, 10/11), Kim, Tessa, and I went to Rockie's Diner, a great 50's diner located down the street from our apartment. I've been planning to eat at Rockie's since way back in July and am glad to have finally had the experience. The hamburgers are delicious (yes, I liked a hamburger, whoa), and our side items were great too. It was really wonderful for the three of us to just sit down and have some girl time. Usually the stupid boys (lol) are around, so we don't get much roommate bonding time. I'm putting this restaurant on the list of "To Do's" for when my mom and Dr. K come up to visit in November. I think they'll really like it...

Today has been a somewhat-busy, though always glorious Sunday. I love Sundays in Boise... The day began rather early with attendance at 8:30 a.m. Mass. Tessa and I usually bike to Mass but it's just too darn cold to do that anymore, so we somehow roped Kim into serving as our chauffeur.
After mass, we rushed home to start cooking breakfast, as we were hosting Fantasy Breakfast this week. In case I haven't mentioned it previously, Fantasy Breakfast originated earlier this year, and consists of an open house style brunch event. Invitations are sent out to anyone and everyone, but most especially the usual F.B. crew. Fantasy Breakfast rotates from house to house as sponsored by different individuals each week. The three of us have been to a few F.B. events over the last few months, so we figured it was about time to host it. Plus, we wanted to give Briana a final Fantasy Breakfast before she leaves on Tuesday.
In true Cajun-English style, the menu consisted of traditional Cajun and English breakfast items ranging from beignets to fried tomatoes and mushrooms, amongst other, more traditional breakfast goodies. The crowd today was rather slim, because so many people were busy or out of town enjoying the snow, but it was still fun, nonetheless. I'd say it was a success, and perhaps we'll have to host it again before Tessa and I leave in December.
This afternoon, we girls worked on our Shenanigans groupies t-shirts. lol. Shenanigans is the soccer team on which the boys play, and since we girls are weekly spectators, we decided to design t-shirts to support the team. We also serve as soccer moms/team secretaries/snack-nourishment providers/all other random roles, as needed. Thus, we now have team t-shirts and plan to wear them to the games each week. So what if it's cheesy...okay?

Speaking of soccer games...the next one starts in an hour, so I guess I better go...I'll try to write again soon!

Yay Sundays!
-Lauren