Oh God The Snow

Ohmygoodnessthissnowisinsane. There's a TON of it. The roads around here are clear. Well, "clear." There's about 7 inches we got last night, and about 6.5 of it is still on the streets. But you know, compacted into an icy hell. At least it's hilly. 


Chillin got a snow day so we played in the snow! And made snow angels and a snowman but not really, (the snow was too cold for a legit snowman, this is the best I could do. [If I've done this right there should be a picture of a really sad snowman here]

And playing in the Snow!!

And our lovely snow angel.

My California family makes me realize something about Philadelphians, and well, Pennsylvanians in general. We don't turn the heat on. Ever. You're cold? Wear a sweater. This family likes it HOT. I would normally be wearing tights under my jeans in this weather and be perfectly fine (it's only 24 degrees and- I heard it's supposed to go up to 26. Toasty.) If I wore tights today I'd sweat through them in 10 minutes. In most houses I sit in I make sure I bring a sweater, but here, I make sure I have a cami on under my sweater. Yay not being from Philly! #thingsthatmakephilly

Wait, you mean that's a MORNING time?!?

Oh my Gosh. I really didn't think I would ever have to wake up this early for anything in my life. I had to be at their house at 6:15 this morning (morning!) that means I had to leave Dolly's at 5:20 and wake up at 4:15. Kill me, kill me now. It's supposed to snow tonight. Nothing says "Awesome Day!" like driving an hour in the snow. So... I'll spend the night at Natalia's or Mercy's. I just need a shower, some clean clothes, a cold beer and my Brookie. 

Adult-like and Professional

End of my first week, kind of. I mean, it's been three days. I feel all adult-like and professional. I officially have gainful employment, check that off the list… and now to move out of my mother's house. 

First Day of my New Job!

I started my new Nanny job today. My charges: Bethany and Nora. Bethany is almost 3, she goes to school for three hours each day, I will be driving her there and back then spend the afternoon with her. Nora is about 4 months old, I'll be spending most of my day with her. I'll be spending my whole day with her. I started late today because Nora had a Dr. appointment, but got to know the routine a bit and meet the chillins. Spending the night at Natalia's because I start at 6:30 tomorrow, we're going to McMenamins! Yay I'm excited to start tomorrow!

My friends' twin girls turn One!

Maia and Sela Turned one on 22 Oct this year.

What is on the Future.

First of all, I absolutely got the title of this blog post from Ali Dagnes on CSPAN booktv talking about her book, Politics on Demand: The Effects of 24-Hour News on American Politics (New Directions in Media)

Props to her.

Check it out here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/296070-1

I know it's been a while, dear dedicated readers- yes, both of you. I am SUPER busy- tomorrow, I'm watching Brianna, Jenn and I are cleaning the house, I'm having Brooke over, my mom is hosting a wine-tasting, then my friend's twins' birthday party the next day. Oh, and I still have to go through and (oh-my-gosh edit) the 322 photos I took of the girls today. (the girls are my friend's twins. they are turning one tomorrow.) Same day that my niece and nephew turn 3. Their party is on Sunday.

Baseball

So I just watched the Phillies win game 5 of the National League Championship Series (!) Tomorrow our Boys have a travel day, then Saturday (my) afternoon they play the Giants again; if they win that, they play another game and THEN if they win they go to the WORLD SERIES!! Ahh!! I'm SO excited. but if they lose either game, that's it and the Giants move on. *cough-fuckyoucodyross-cough*

Job-wise

So I can't start at PriMerica until I can get licensed. And I cant get that until I have 125$ to pay for the course. well... I'm broke. I've been taking photos a lot, but I feel bad charging my friends when I'm not REALLY a professional photographer. But today I was Blessed by the woman my best friend Brooke lives with, she asked if I would be interested in cleaning their house for 130$ !! I was like... uh, ok God, I get it, I'll do this. So I'm going to be cleaning the Sider's house and then getting licensed for financial planning with this place. Hopefully, prayerfully, I will find an (at least!) part time Nanny gig in there somewhere as well.

Church

So, basically, things are picking up. Especially church-wise. I do a lot of church stuff now. I went to and think I will continue to go to Monday morning women's bible study, and I go to growth group (it's just a small group through the church) on Wednesday nights, and church itself is from 10-12 on Sundays.

School

I need to really start working on my thesis so I can actually get a college degree. It's just absolutely killing me. when I think about it, I just get so stressed out that I cry. literally. I get heart palpitations, I can't breathe, and it feels like I'm literally having a heart attack. ... it's bad. I'm hoping spending time with all of these people that are generally my age, (that go to the church; no one at PriMerica is near my age) that have graduated and have almost all done post-graduate work, will propel me into working on my thesis.

Emma and Jackson

So here is a story about Emma and Jackson...

First, Emma. She is going to be three in January and she is being raised bilingual, Slovak and English. Bilingual children speak later, but when they do, they know two languages so let's not judge. Jackson will be three in October, but he's a little behind in speech. Sweet kid though, really. 

So one day we left Woody and Cameron's house, the entrance of which which is behind Lori's house. Lori is a very tiny woman. She is, really, she's maybe 5'1" and 100 lbs. her dog, Bodey is a Burmese Mountain Dog. He's bigger than me, and very well behaved, cute, fun and all of the kids love him.

Woddy and Cameron had their kids, I was holding Emma and Jackson's hands. Emma points at Lori's and says, "Bo-dey ! Bo-dey!" "Yes, Emma, Bodey lives there." Then I ask, "Emma, is Bodey a dog, or a cat?" Emma says: "Cat." clearly repeating what I said, but very factual, as if what she said was some sort of explanation. Perf.

So I turn to Jackson. Maybe I'll have better luck with the one that's a little older and, you know, only speaks one language. "Jackson, what is Bodey?" He says, "Jackson." in the same matter-of-fact way that Emma replied. 

I love these kids.

Pictures of an Autumn Future

I have always enjoyed taking pictures, but this summer I took pictures. I mean hundreds. It was amazing. The family I nanny for (my camp family) has the absolute cutest children ever so they were my main subjects. The dad had bought the mom a Canon Rebel XS and I went to town. Here are some lovelies that I captured:

Sophia Leigh

Sophia Leigh

Sophia Leigh- Scared Face

Sophia- Wellies

Emma

Emma

Oliver- Obeder

So when I got home I needed to buy one of my own. I went with the Canon Rebel T1i, and I am patiently (or not so patiently, really) awaiting its arrival in the mail.

My friend Shayne saw all of my pictures on Facebook from this summer and asked me to take pictures at her wedding reception. I agreed. Why? because I’m psychotic. I enjoy stress. I have been researching wedding photos and wedding photography, camera/lens aperture/flash uses and much more for the past month. The conclusion I have come to? I’m totally screwed.

But on the plus side, if this goes well, I may have a future in this. … But probably not. Heart you Shayne, please don’t hate me after your wedding!

Screw it, I’m good at taking photos of kids!

Starting a New Chapter

If someone were to write a book about my life, everything that took place up until now would be the first, and smallest section. It would include cute anecdotes about my childhood and high school and leaving for university and many tales of debauchery from Shippensburg. But that’s pretty much it. There would be mentions of getting through hard times; issues with my brother, run-ins with the police (not my own, I assure you), several deaths in the family and things of that nature. Things that we had to get through as a family, with my mom and dad and Jennifer most of the time.

But here is where the story turns, this is section two. Now I will be depending more on my friends and peers for support than my parents. Now is the time that I will be deciding which friends to take with me into adulthood and which friends will become acquaintances from my youth.

This will be a time of renewal, of replenishment and hopefully, growth. It is also a time of great uncertainty for me. I don’t have a job, I have no idea what I’m going to do about that or where to go or even what to think about it. I haven’t completed my senior thesis and haven’t even truly started it, I don’t yet even have a place to live when I move out on Thursday, and even with all of these things going hard against me, I am comforted with the knowledge that I will be taken care of, that there is a higher power out there that will guide me through these wary times. Now I suppose is the time for me to put my faith in that power and jump off of that cliff, hoping to land safely.

There is a fantastic quote from a television show, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” We all invent our futures, we do so with the actions and inactions of today.

Time only will tell if what I’ve invented was right. That will have to be section three.