Just Another Day in Paradise

Hey everyone. Senior year has been so busy and I've tried to make the most of it, so I haven't had too much time working on digital scrapbooking because I'm too busy taking pictures! Here is the start of my Hawaii pages though! More to come as the need for study breaks increase this week and during finals.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town...

It's hard to believe another week has gone by! They go by so quickly. There is always so much to do and not enough time. Over the past week, I've worked little bit by little bit and finally finished my first two pages of the Boten Family Christmas Eve celebration before heading up to Snowmass Village for the Christmas Day celebration with my mom's side of the family. Don't forget to click on them to see them up close.

Enjoy! And there will be more pages to come in the next week!

 

Career Fair Day

Hey Everyone,

I haven't had time to work on my digital scrapbook this week because I've been preparing for the job fair that was today at Georgetown. It was a non-profit and government career expo, and I met and talked with 12 different organizations, gaining information about potential jobs, and handing out resumes. It was a good opportunity to practice my "elevator speech" and get comfortable with talking to future employers. Now that it is finished, I can get back to working on school work and my Independent Study, which has been taken up my time.

For those of you who don't know, I'm doing an Independent Study on the pathways to poverty. Pretty big topic right? I know, I think that too! I've focused it more- there is an article from 1973 that discusses the ideas of "wicked problems." Wicked problems have no singular solution, are extremely difficult to define, and it is difficult to "test" solutions without having lasting impact. I'm going to utilize the principles of wicked problems to apply them as a way to approach and analyze the problem of poverty. I'm also making sure to emphasize the fact that poverty is not just an issue defined by the Census Bureau or a number, it's an experience that individuals and families experience with lots of consequences to influence their lifestyle. It's going to be a great project, and definitely more focused. I'm off to meet with my professor to show him my outline, and with any luck, I'll be on my way to writing my paper.

So, after a busy tomorrow morning, I'll have some time for digital scrapbooking.

Until then, lots of love.

-Jess

Updates in honor of Snow

I'm hoping for a snow day.  I figured because it's already 2 inches deep this morning, and its still blizzarding, and I can hardly see the Wren building (100 yards from my window) that they should cancel school.  I know every William and Mary student has been hoping for one- but unfortunately, it snows on Friday and Saturday and is fine and melted by Monday.  Today is the day- I can feel it.

Anywho, a few updates to my blog- most obvious, the title. Made it this morning on Photoshop Elements. In addition, make sure to turn up your speakers and enjoy the music I've added to the site. Right now, it's my favorite songs from my favorite musicals. There is a player at the bottom of the page if you want to sift through the playlist.  So enjoy the blasting of music.

That's it for now- I must go do work. If it does turn in to a snow day (cross your fingers, turn your pjs inside out, or whatever you do to get a snow day), I'll do some more digital scrapbooking this afternoon.

Lots  of love,
Jess

The 1st of many Christmas pages.

I figure I better start somewhere in my digital scrapbook, and there is no time like the present! So since the most recent holiday was Christmas and New Years- that is what I'm going to do. Here is a one page spread of Christmas Cookie decorating while at home before Christmas.

Page Kit: Shabby Princess, Holiday Magic

Changes in my Blog... yet Again.

As life changes, I feel like my blog should change too. It's now going to be a way to share my digital scrapbook pages that I'm beginning to do. Here's the first one. A collage of my favorite puppy dog.

Page Kit: DSU 160 Class Kit, Vines

Tomatoes, Peppers, and Dirt oh my!

So today was a good day at work. Now when working in gardening, how do you decide if its a good day? One of the critical factors is the amount of dirt you get on your body throughout the day. So by that standard, today was simply perfect. Emily and I spent the morning planting at the Wesley house- Tomatoes, Peppers, and sweet potatoes. With a heat advisory all day, we drank lots of water and hid in the shade during breaks. We then headed to move dirt around at another site. We finished our day getting our gardening assignments and headed out to do check out our sites and see what needs work. And oh, there is so much work to do.

Tonight, I have the night off from Archiver's so I am going to catch up on things- sracpbooking, working with my mom on setting up her computer, and maybe even watch X Men 2.

Lots of Love,
Jess

P.S. Saw the Proposal on Sunday for Father's Day- hilarious movie!!!!! All I can say is this- native chanting mixed with Sandra Bullock's version of "Get Low" :)

So a lot has changed in my life...

Wow. I know that it has been 4 months and 4 days since I last wrote. And so much has changed since then. In mid- March, my life was turned upside down. Within the past two months, I have grown so much as a person. I haven't quite figured out what I am going to do with my blog now- it just doesn't seem right to return to doing a photo for each day.  I have lots of options- scrapbooking "notebook," internship journal, or just talking about life.

I'll keep you posted.

-Jess

" Good morning. Choosing your own path is a sacred privilege. Let no one take it from you. Travel! Move around... Life is like a book that you must read. If you don't travel and move around you have only read one page! God is Love, Rev Run"

Day 13

W00! What a fabulous Super Bowl win by the Steelers.... for once in a great while, we actually had a game that went back and forth between the Cardinals and the Steelers. It was a pretty dirty game- both teams got plenty of flags, especially for picking fights between plays. On a good note, there were some great commercials. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (they lost her lips and she whips up her angry eyes), the Clydesdale romance (who wouldn't fall in love with a circus pony?), and the clydesdale showing off (dalmation had no chance!). Good time was had by all.

Finally, congrats to Tomlin (William and Mary alum!).

Day 12

Woo Leadership Conference! They lit the walls in the ballroom with pink lighting... yes, we had pink walls. We learned all about how to use all the fun technology that we pay for, how to better our chapters, and how to do our jobs. It was a good time, although very long. I also bought new quatrefoil dangle earrings. Lots of good time and memories :)

Day 11

Road Trip! Yay four and a half hour trip from Williamsburg to Bethesda for leadership conference. We listened to my High School Mix, Mix of Good Songs, and the Hot Sexy Momma Mix 2009. We as half of the Exec Board of Phi Mu had a great time riding up in my little CR-V to Bethesda to learn all about all things pink.

Day 10

Who loves a book, translated from depicted drawings on ancient Mayan society walls, to read and learn all about the Quiché tribe during the Colonialism of Mexico? I do, I do! Its actually quite interesting to learn about the creation of life and a book of advice of how these people should live. Most importantly, it illustrates the importance of environment within their tribe. Geekness is over.

Day 9

Woo my room is clean! At least for now. It won't stay this clean for long, trust me :) I would love to keep it clean, but unfortunately, life intervenes and I don't have time put everything back in its proper spot, but I will keep trying my best!

Day 8 (1/27/2009)

I started up organ lessons again this semester. Over the past three semesters, I have learned how to play the fundamentals of the organ, including the various stops which control which pipes are played, ad how to use the pedals to play additional parts. I am most excited about the piece I'm working on- its a big offertory piece that uses the flutes, violins, trumpet, and big organ pipe stops to make a huge sound- slightly "Phantom of the Opera" esque.... but in a major key!

Day 7

Jack Baurer is pretty awesome. In the TV show 24, he successfully saved the world 6 times, and now he's doing it for the 7th this season. I just finished watching Season 5 on DVD on Monday- he manages to stop the Nerve gas from being released into the LA air and prevents hundreds of thousands of deaths. He also manages to kill/ take into custody all the bad guys, and uncovers the scandal of President Logan, all in 24 hours, before being kidnapped with 5 minutes to go in the season! Thats what you get from coming out of hiding after faking your death.

Although I love this show and how it fairly accurately portrays the time scale (people just don't fly half way accross the world in 2 seconds), it is finally getting a bit repetitive on the 7th season. Oh well. I'll keep watching Jack Baurer save the world until the show is gone.

Day 6

Bamboo. It is gorgeous in the wild, but a pain in the butt when you have to carry it across campus. We are using bamboo for our advanced dance in Rhythm and Taps, as a part of a jungle-like beat song. Its a great prop to have, and its going to turn out well I think, but we have to store the bamboo some place. So... for the next 10 weeks we will be storing it in my car!

P.S. We bought the bamboo legally, we did not steal/cut it down from the local bamboo "forests."

Day 5

I went and saw the Secret Garden last night. Sinfronicron put it on in 2 1/2 weeks. It was amazingly well done- the songs were beautiful, the sets were gorgeous. I am amazed by the talent that we have on this campus.

That being said, when thought about, The Secret Garden is full of ghosts/spirits that haunt the house throughout the musical. The music is eerily beautiful, and the acting was phenomenal. Enough said.

Day 4

So I had a good reason for not writing yesterday in a timely fashion. I went to the Black and White dance party at TDX. I went out with all my sisters, and we had a fabulous time dancing until the wee hours of the night :). I love my sisters like woah- I don't know what I'd do without you!

Day 3

I thawed out some monster cookies that my mom sent me for finals in December that I had put in the freezer. They tasted fresh and new, and were quite delicious. The key to success is this: take fresh cookies, put in ziploc bags without air, place bags in freezer within 1st day of receiving/making cookies. When you're ready to eat, let them thaw for a few hours and enjoy! Yay my momma's cookies!

Day 2

Another 1st today. 1st Day of classes for the Spring Semester, 2009. Today was a light day, only one class, Medical Sociology. Looks like its going to be a good class- has a lot of policy based and framework based ideas that I am interested in applying in the future in my job. Although this picture shows just a small stack of my books, I was able to clean and organize my room today with my spare time and get my errands ran.

I'm glad to be back into classes and the swing of things- classes give me a more balanced life between extracurricular activities. Plus, I'm getting into classes in my majors that I really enjoy. Thats it for now.

Ending thought for the night: "With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity."
--K. Nair