My New Place!!

So, it is now official, I am moved into my new place. On May 9, my dad came all the way from Okinawa to help me move out to Palm Coast. As I posted before, I recently got a job in Daytona and the Flagler county area. I start my job tomorrow! My dad, my brother and Jordan all helped me move my stuff out here. We did it in a day and it went pretty smoothly. Thanks boys!

I knew when I visited the place to pick it out, that I liked it, but as I have been here for a week it is so much bigger and nicer than I even remember. Even with all of my furniture and things in the place it still looks sparce in areas. I'm not complaining.

Well I just wanted to post some pictures of the place and the week since people have been hassling me for them.

First, these are a few pictures from a restaurant we ate at on the beach and playing at the beach.

And now a bunch of pictures of my new place :)

Master's Graduation

So this May I graduated with my Master of Education. Yay! It's so strange to be done with school. This last semester was pretty rough to get through, I was not into doing school work or going to classes :). I was happy to find out that I did get straight A's though.

I decided not to walk for graduation, but I still celebrated! The week after I was done with classes, my friends from school and I did a few fun things. For one we went to Lake Wauburg which was a blast. We went canoeing and played volleyball. We were there almost all day, which was great. We also went to Grad Bash (the picture of Allison, Isaiah and I is from that). At grad bash we got food, participated in a raffle (which none of us won !!), got pictures with Alberta, and had fun with friends. My friend Megan threw a graduation party that the girls in the cohort and other friends all celebrated at (the picture of Jordan and I is from the party).

One of my favorite parts of graduating was that as a cohort we all got matching shirts. They were very cute. They have a sketch of Norman (our home for 3 years) on the back. Very cute. Below is a picture from Stan took a group of us out to dinner as a treat for helping take care of Isaiah. It was so sweet of him, though completely unnecessary. We all love Isaiah and just spending time with him is payment enough. I was lucky enough to have that little boy sit with me during dinner too. :)

On one of our "reading days" the girls and I went arount the University taking pictures in our caps and gowns (and ugly hoods because we're Masters now ha). That was a great way to sum up the five years. While we were out walking around in the hot sun we stopped at The Swamp for a very appropriate lunch.

"breakdancing"

So for some reason last night Jordan and I decided to learn some breakdance moves. It was quite the experience and now I am super sore! BUT.. it was fun! We did the "six-step" .. which i cannot do.. but I can do the cool kick thing that can happen in the middle! This funny dance that I can do the steps really well, but apparently look ridiculous! A couple freezes (I have a picture of one to the left!) and I tried about a million handstands. My goal in life is to be able to put my hat on while in a handstand. I did it a couple times, but I don't look very smooth yet. It's coming!

Also.. Kaitlin and I did the worm some. We both go in opposite directions, so it looks cool when we do it together. The first time I did it I WHACKED my chin on the ground (not fun) but it got better. This video didn't really work because the memory ran out before we were done... but this is the VERY beginning of us doing the worm.

The changes are a'comin!

So I never write in here, but Meghan complained at me, and since I have so many changes coming up and will be moving away from all my friends :( ... I figured I would start writing in here.

I have accepted a job as a service coordinator for the North Beaches Florida Early Steps program. I'll be working in the Flagler County area, with the main office in Daytona and the evaluation clinic in Palatka. I am super excited and overly freaked out to start this job. I worked with early steps for my full-time internship in the fall, but I took on the role of an infant toddler developmental specialist. I've decided to take a job as a service coordinator for now though, because I wanted a more secure position with a salary and benefits. When I first found out that I got the job I was overjoyed and called friends and family to tell everyone!

In further news, I have made a decision on where I'm going to live. I found a great apartment in Palm Coast Florida. It's located right in between St. Augustine and Daytona. It's a two-bedroom apartment with a beautiful kitchen and bathrooms. I really feel like I lucked out with this deal and that's making me feel more excited and comforted about making this move.

Side note::: I'm still REALLY REALLY nervous about moving and this job and this change... hopefully the beach being so close will be a great comfort to me :) !!

Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!!

It's New Years Day here in Okinawa. Although my parents and I did not stay awake past 9:30 last night to ring in the first minute of the new year, we did have a good time celebrating today. Not only was today my first day of 2009, it is my last day in Okinawa. My parents and I got to go to see Tops in Blue this morning. It is one of my favorite things to go see! Basically, some of the most talented vocalists, dancers, instrumentalists, and comedians audition each year to be able to tour with Tops in Blue. They tour for 10 months with their spectacular show! They sing, dance, bring laughs, and just put on a good show. This year was as good as the rest. They also always end it with such a strong hitting patriotic punch. I love it when they sing God Bless America and the whole audience rises to their feet in pride. Something special to see. We then went to the old house that we used to live in off base, and went to a few stores around the island. After shopping, we walked along the sea wall for a while. It was a very windy day so there were actually waves and it was beautiful. We finished the day by eating pork (yuck, but I did it for tradition's sake) and black eyed peas.
New years is one of the biggest holidays celebrated here, so there is a lot of hustle and bustle leading up to this day. They sell all sorts of New Years decorations and always give lots of gifts, usually money to children in traditional New Years envelopes.
All in all, this was a pretty good trip home. It was long, but very busy. Working with my mom at her preschool for a week, visiting what seems like every shop in Okinawa, site seeing like a new tourist, and spending time with my parents, not to mention celebrating Christmas and the New Year.

I <3 Okinawa

I'm in Okinawa for my Christmas break. It is my last chance to get to come home, so I decided to come home for an extended time - 3 weeks! Well I'm ready to go home but I've come up with some lists about home since I've been out here:

When I think of Okinawa these things come to mind:

1. my favorite foods: sushi and soba
2. driving on the left side of the road
3. cocoks - where I get my nails painted on!
4. old Japanese women stop and stare at me and occasionally comment on my hair color
5. the most beautiful oceans and sunsets ever to be found
6. the nicest salespeople ever
7. 100 Yen stores
8. silly Japanese characters everywhere
9. garbage trucks that make ice cream truck music- tricksters!



Silly truths of living on a military base:

1. you stand up for the National Anthem at the beginning of a movie
2. when you come onto the base you must show your picture ID to a person with the biggest guns you've ever seen wrapped around their neck
3. everyone seems to be wearing a uniform
4. you can get everything you want at the BX or Commissary
5. no tax!

After spending this extended time with my parents, I am learning that these are the things they value most in a person :) :

1. wake up early

2. exercise daily

3. appreciate crude humor

4. love the outside

5. speak ridiculously loudly (I think they can't hear)

The ubsurd number of Christmas movies that I watched this year:

1. All I want for Christmas

2. It's a Wonderful Life

3. The Christmas Shoes

4. Elf

5. The Santa Claus

6. The Santa Claus 2

7. Surviving Christmas

8. Miracle on 34th St

9. White Christmas

10. Christmas with the Kranks

11. The Preacher's Wife

12. How the Grinch Stole Christmas

13. Fred Claus

14. The Muppet Christmas Carol

15. Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation

16. Prancer

17. Jack Frost

18. plus about 3 more Lifetime Christmas movies that I don't even know the names

*** I'm sure that I could add much more to these incredibly random lists - but this is all I have for now.