Another new adventure

Yes, I am truly enjoying my time here in Colorado, but as the picture says, it is time for another adventure :)

So before I briefly summarize the last few months, I'll update you on what's next. I'm moving to Oklahoma, yes Oklahoma, for a new position :) This position is similar to what I'm doing now. I'll be a Management Trainee with the Army MWR Child Youth & School Services at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This position is more of an internship for me to gain experience & learn everything there is to know about MWR CYSS programs. Oklahoma is the duty station I've been assigned for the next 2, maybe 3 years. I am very excited for this opportunity, especially as over 2,000 people apply each year and there are just 20 positions worldwide. Oklahoma wouldn't have been my first choice (not that I was given a choice) but I just have to trust that God has something great in store for me :)

And now back to the recap of the last few months. I thought I'd be better at updating this blog once I moved into my own place here in Colorado Springs, but as luck would have it, my trusty computer crashed (typical). But even though the posts may not reflect this, it's been an exciting few months. I've made some fantastic friends here in Colorado Springs that I met through the Catholic Young Adults group. We've had many fun adventures so I'll do my best to give you a feel for each month.

February - moved into my new apartment in the Springs, flew to San Antonio for a 1 day interview for the position I'm starting in Oklahoma, starting going to the Young Adult group meetings & met some amazing people.

March - was moved to a toddler room in a different center for a few weeks at work, was offered & accepted the position in Oklahoma, spent St Patrick's Day in Denver, was moved back to school-age in a different center for Spring Break & got to go on a few field trips with the kids.

April - family visited for Easter, saw Christopher West speak in Castle Rock, took a road trip to Fort Collins & Roosevelt National Park and even drove into Wyoming, saw the Broadway Musical Wicked in Denver, worked a 12 hour day/night for a lock-in with the kids, was moved back to my original school-age center at work.

May - spent a lot of extra hours at work prepping for accreditation (we passed!), flew to Ohio to be in a friend's wedding, went to a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater, started summer camp at work.

June - Celebrated a friend's confirmation into the Catholic Church, went to a Colorado Rockie's MLB game & Chalk Art Festival in Denver, spent a weekend in Santa Fe with a college friend that lives in New Mexico, went to the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, CO, survived the scare of the Waldo Canyon wildfire that burned over 300 homes in Colorado Springs. (I didn't have to evacuate, but a few co-workers did & I had my bags packed for a few days).

And upcoming for this month, I will be celebrating the 4th of July today with a benefit concert for the victims of the Waldo Canyon Fire (due to extremely dry weather & fire danger, no fireworks were allowed this year). This coming weekend a few of us are heading to Pueblo Reservoir to spend a day boating on the lake, and my friends here are throwing a "Bon Voyage" party for me & another friend that are leaving on the same weekend. (She'll be spending a year as a missionary in Africa!)


That's the very quick summary of my time here in Colorado. I have just 2 weeks left before I spend 10 days in San Antonio, TX attending orientation for my new job & then head to Florida for a week of family vacation. The day after I get back from Florida the packers/movers will be at my apartment to take everything to Oklahoma, and the following day I'll start my drive to move there myself.

It'll be very busy, but I am excited to see what lies ahead. :)

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the decision of the Lord that endures." -Proverbs 19:21

The next chapter.

Hello from Colorado !

I have officially begun the next exciting chapter of my life and couldn't be more excited.

I arrived in Colorado last Friday after a 3-day "goodbye tour" across the country via route 80. I"m calling it a goodbye tour because I stopped to see a few friends I hadn't seen in a while along the way in Chicago & Iowa. It was definitely a long & exhausting 3 days but I'm so happy I was able to see friends along the way. This weekend was spent resting up & adjusting to the change in altitude & time zones. (and watching football, but we won't get into that...)

For the time being I'm staying with my step-brother & his family. I may have mentioned this before, it'll be about an hour commute to & from work, but I'm so glad this worked out as it gives me a little time to get on my own 2 feet.

On Monday I took my first drive down to Fort Carson. I'm typically not a fan of solely relying on the GPS, but when traveling somewhere I've never been before, it's a must. The drive was fairly simple, I think I'll be able to make it GPS free in no-time. The GPS actually didn't lead me astray until I was on base. Getting to Fort Carson quickly reminded me that military bases are not visitor friendly. Not in the sense of welcoming or friendly people, but they're not easy to navigate. Anyway, I eventually made it to the personnel office & got a few more paperwork items taken care of, then they sent me to the MP (military police) office to get my fingerprints done for my background checks. After that it was back to personnel to turn those in and get my instructions for what's next. Boy, the military sure does make everything a process! It's not too bad, just taking a lot of time. So now I'm just waiting to hear when I need to go to Oc Health for my physical & fill out more forms for the background checks (once I receive them)... hopefully I'll have my own ID to access base & will start orientation within the next 2 weeks, but that depends on how quickly everything moves along.

It's a long & tedious process, but so far everyone has been welcoming & very helpful. I picked up a map of the base (it's the biggest military base I've ever been to!) and am hoping to meet up with a friend of a friend soon for her to show me around Colorado Springs.

It's a slow start, but I'm enjoying every minute! I'm going to share a picture I took of the view in Colorado Springs while driving to base. You won't find me complaining about my commute ! (well, not the view at least...) ;)

Today's quote is one that seems fitting for me right now. :) Thanks for reading!!

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin

2012.

New Year, new beginnings!

First things first...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I am happy to share that I have been offered a job, accepted the position and will be moving to Colorado... this week !! After a long 4 months of job searching, over 150 applications, endless emails, phone calls & interviews, I was offered a position with the Army Child & Youth Services in Ft Carson Colorado. This position is right up my alley, very similar to the work I did with Camp Adventure when I was out in the field each summer. It'll be a little bit of a transition to be somewhere completely new, back on an Army base & not knowing many people, but I am positive this is where I need to be. This is a big step for me but looking back at the "big steps" I've taken, they've always worked out perfectly with no regrets. I'm definitely nervous/anxious for this transition but am so excited to see what lies ahead of me. It seems fitting that I'm moving just after the start of the new year, starting 2012 off right!

Although the job search may have seemed hopeless & put me down in the dumps at times, I want to thank my friends & family for their support (& spare bedrooms). :) I'll continue to do my best to share this next adventure with all of you.

Many blessings to you & yours this year. I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes to start off the new year.

"Happy are those that dream dreams and are willing to pay the consequences to see them come true."

Restless.

Well, it's been about 3 months since my last post... and not much has changed. I'm still searching for a job and traveling around. Since returning from Key West I've been able to spend time with family and friends. I'm doing my best to take advantage of this down time as I'm not sure when I'll be able to travel like this again. So I've been spending time in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina, Colorado & Iowa. It's been pretty busy, but pretty low key at the same time.

I've been steadily applying for jobs, approximately 10 per week... some weeks more & some weeks less. It's definitely a waiting game, requiring a lot of patience. I've had a few phone interviews, and this past week I had my first in person interview. If anything, I'm gaining experience with each interview and seeing which jobs/locations I'm leaning towards. Hopefully something will work out soon. I'm doing my best to remain patient and know that the perfect job for me is out there... it's just a lot easier said than done.

So that's me in a nutshell for now. Just thought I should add an update before the end of the year :)

The quote I'm adding at the end of this post is just a good reminder for everyone, regardless of what point your life is at or where you're going...

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy." -Guillaume Apollinaire

It's been a while ...

As the title says; it's been a while. Hard to believe it's the end of August already, seriously sometimes I wonder where the time goes. Some days it feels like I'll never make it to the end of the week, but then days like today I have to stop and think about what day it is. And what a crazy month it's been!

I'll blame my lack of posts on the end of summer crazy-ness, and then on my luck with technology... I'll get into that in a minute.

First, the end of the summer. Wow! Things ended great !! It was a little rushed with all of the end of summer paperwork and having Dessertfest our last week in Key West, but somehow we made it and it was a success. Our theme for Dessertfest this year was a Circus - The Greatest Show on Earth. We didn't go all out in costumes like we did for Toy Story, but the gym was all decked out, nothing left untouched. The girls did a great job getting the campers ready with their songs & skits, and everyone had great feedback. Here's a picture of the Key West Camp A staff after the event. (sorry about the quality)

And now time for the end of summer reflection ... overall it was a crazy, hectic, stressful summer that at times I wondered why I'd signed up for it. But looking back, those stressful challenging times are the exact moments in which we grow. And that I did. I was humbled to learn the lesson of when to say no, and knowing when too much is too much. Not sure how I pulled it off, but I'm thankful for the fantastic staff I had in the Gulf Region. The girls I worked with directly in Key West were all wonderful, and my directors at the other sites gave me nothing to worry about. I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but I know it wouldn't have been a great summer with a different staff. It's hard to see the cloud's silver lining when you're in the middle of the storm, but looking back now I'm grateful for this experience and I know I gained & learned a lot. Hopefully my staff learned a thing or two from me as well ;)

Since leaving Key West I've been bouncing around from place to place, and will continue to do so for the next month or so. I'll be visiting my family that's spread all over the states, meanwhile applying for jobs online. Just this week I've applied to over 30 jobs. It's definitely a tedious process, but hopefully I'll start getting some calls soon :) I'm not being picky on where the job is, trying to focus on East Coast, Florida & Colorado, but I'm not ruling out anything if I'm offered a great position somewhere else. We'll just have to wait and see :)

Oh & I almost forgot to mention, I had ZERO flight trouble getting back home AND my bags arrived on time. That never happens !!! :)

As for the computer drama, my hard drive crashed on my MacBook. I can honestly tell you I've never heard of that happening to anyone with a Mac. Ever. So there's no Mac store in Key West, but I found a retailer that would do repairs. They estimated $303 for a new harddrive and it was debatable whether I'd be able to transfer the data. Since I only had 2 weeks before leaving Key West, I decided to hold off on the repairs and wait until I was in Ohio. Boy am I glad I did!! I drove to Akron to visit the apple store and the guy I talked with was surprised at the $303 quote. I was a little nervous at first because his tone wasn't leading either way, but it turned out only costing $180, YES!! Unfortunately all data was lost, I had most of my files backed up onto an external harddrive in May, but I lost my music & most of my pictures. It's kind of nice to be able to 'start fresh' with a new computer, I just really wish I hadn't lost so many pictures.

Anyway. Things are going good for me now, I'm keeping it low key, definitely enjoying some down time & visiting family (much needed on both accounts). Hopefully I'll get a job soon and be moving to a new exciting city. :)

The quote for this post is one that I think certainly applies to many of us, and for me it can almost sum up my summer :)

"The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow." - H.G. Wells

July.

It's already July 17th? How did that happen? I've been meaning to post since the beginning of this month, but clearly it caught up to me. So I'll start from the holiday weekend.

July 4th - this year the 4th fell on a Monday, so we had a 3-day weekend and worked the "Bash at the Beach" event on base on Monday evening. It was a fun time, the interns were in charge of the water play this year, which was fun as we got to see a lot of the kids we work with there with their families. I really love seeing the families come out and do things together, our only 'family' time at work is when the parents drop off their children & pick them up each day, so it's nice to see the families have time to do things together.

The only downfall to this year's event was that it was on Monday. Last year the 4th was on Sunday so we were able to watch the fireworks and hang out late on Sunday night while still having Monday off. Not that we were out too late or anything, but it was a bit of a bummer that we had to go to work the morning after the fireworks. But I'm glad it was on a Monday and not in the middle of the week. :)

Here's a picture of our Camp A group for this summer at the end of the event.

Work has been busy, typically I only go on the pool field trips with the day camp (every Wednesday & Friday), but this week the Tuesday/Thursday trips were to the beach. Per Camp Adventure policy we need a supervisor on any aquatics trips that are off-base, for extra supervision & such. I don't mind though, because this was my schedule for the week:

Monday - day at the centers... observations, paperwork & such

Tuesday - beach field trip with the 8-10 year olds

Wednesday - swimming pool trip with the entire camp

Thursday - beach field trip with the 5-7 year olds

Friday - swimming pool trip with the entire camp

Although my 'one-piece-tanline' isn't going away as I'd hoped & I'm a little behind on paperwork, I can't complain about that schedule! :)

This week has also been busy as I had some visitors to the keys! My sister Mary Anne & her husband Joe came to Key West for a week's vacation.

Sunday we went on the Fury's Ultimate Adventure, and the title describes it all. We went parasailing, jet skiing, swimming/inflatable rock climbing & snorkeling. It's pretty much an all encompassing trip for any water sports you'd

want to do in Key West.

Here's a picture of our view while parasailing.

The rest of the week was just as busy, I was able to spend a lot of time with them, show them around the island, do a few touristy things & enjoy a sunset cruise. Here is a picture of the dolphins that visited our boat during the sunset cruise. We joked that they must've escaped from Theater of the Sea or Sea World because they put on a little show for us :)

Mary Anne & Joe left last night & overall I think they had a nice relaxing week. As for me, I've got 4 more weeks here in Key West that will prove to keep me busy. We're planning our big 'dessertfest' for August 10th with a circus theme, so it'll be fun prepping & planning for that. Still no word on where/what's next come August 13th, but I'll keep you posted :)

Today's quote is from a book I received as a graduation gift from my roommate in Iowa. It has a positive quote for each day, I really do enjoy reading them. Some of them make you think or reflect while others just remind you to appreciate what you have. Here's one that'll get you thinking.

"Ideals can be like the stars; we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them." -Carl Schurz

My thoughts- Sometimes it may seem like nothing will ever be ideal, or that we'll ever be able to accomplish anything. But we still need those ideals/goals to keep us going, to chart our course by them so we know we are on the right path & stick to it.

Hump Day.

The title says it all. Wednesdays = hump day. Sometimes it feels like the longest day of the week, but once you get past it you've only got 2 more days until the weekend. Some weeks it seems that knowing it's hump day makes it that much more difficult, just gotta make it through hump day and you're almost there. Almost.

Today is not only the hump day of the week, but the hump day of the summer. Exactly 6.5 weeks completed here in Key West, 6.5 more to go. Phew! I'd say things have been going well, I'm still waiting for things to slow down... it feels like I keep saying 'next week will be better because...' but then something else comes up, making that week just as long as the one before. Things have been gradually improving, but there's always something.

Looking back on how these past 6 weeks have gone, I'd say we've come a long way. I've been given a lot of additional responsibilities than what I'd originally anticipated, which has definitely kept me busy. Supervising day camp programs off site is a new experience that I'm definitely still working the kinks out with, but as things are going well, there's always room to improve.

As I look forward to the next 6 weeks, they'll definitely be busy, but I'm looking forward to what's next, whatever that may be. I've been steadily applying for jobs since arriving in Key West, about 2-3 per week. Haven't heard much yet, but hopefully something will work out to give me a full time position in the fall.

The quote I'm ending with tonight is a good one for me here in Key West. Sometimes with the long days and busy schedules it's hard to really get to know the girls I'm working with here. It's not a bad situation, but one that leaves room for improvement. Remembering this quote can remind us that the simple things matter most in friendships.

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." -Victor Borge