Just to Let You Know . . .

Normally my blog is filled with the random things I do or discover or the things that make me excited. I've never been one to write deep personal stuff online for the entire world to see . . . and not that this is necessarily going to be like that; but there's been some interesting developments here in the last couple of days and faithful readers like yourselves should probably know.

I've been in my job as development assistant for almost 2 years now. I work with an awesome little team of 4 of us: three guys my parents' ages and older . . . and then me. But honestly, we all work really well together and have really come together as a team, especially over the last year.

On Friday my boss Jon, the director of development told us that he is leaving. He got a job as the new Executive Director for Covenant Pines, a camp out in Minnesota. It's the camp he grew up going to as a kid. This was very sudden and unexpected news to me . . . and the fact that he and his wife leave a week from Saturday makes it all feel so real so fast.

It's really hard to know what my job will look like over the next few months now. I doubt they'll hire anyone soon to replace him . . . so I think my job is going to get a lot harder very quickly. Once he's gone, I will be the only person in camp that spends 100% of a work week doing development stuff. The other 2 guys have their time split with jobs they have in other areas.

There's a part of me that thinks I'll be able to handle it no problem and at least keep us on track with all of our events, news publications, letters and mailing lists. But the other part of me wonders what I'm going to be getting myself into . I'm not sure if one of the other guys will take over or not. Probably. But still whatever happens and whatever direction we go, I'm sure it's going to feel very different.

But I'm hoping that with such a loss (more than 25% of my department) we won't lose the momentum we've established over the last couple of years. I'd hate to just be status quo and just "get by" with only the necessities getting accomplished. We'll see though.

Well, I just wanted to let you know . . .

All in the Same Week

Last week was sure interesting for us mountain dwellers! This winter seems to keep stretching on and on. We'll have nice days and all the snow will melt . . . but then we'll get another storm. Like this one! We got about a foot of new snow last week. And the weekend before I was enjoying the sun by the lake. It's definitely fun though. Nathan and I bundled up and walked around the lake. It's quite a lot of work tromping through the snow . . . but we enjoy it. This week it looked like some sort of enchanted forest. It was stunning.

And theeeeen . . . just days later its so amazingly warm and looks like spring again. So Nathan and I had a picnic in Fresno. Yes . . . contrary to popular belief, there is beauty in Fresno if you look for it.



If I hadn't told you . . . would you even think it was possible that those pictures were taken 3 days apart?

Something I Need to Remember

Read that first paragraph there. Awesome isn't it? That's something I definitely need to remember. In thinking about and wondering about future careers . . . I am so quick to get caught up in the "what" I am doing or dream about doing and not the "how am I doing at it" or "with what attitude do I go about my work." I would rather be great at some not so desirable job than be awful and miserable in a "great" job.

An Outdoorsy Kind of Day

If my day off yesterday was characterized by indoor activities such as movies and baking and reading . . . today was my outdoorsy day. Realizing that the snows a comin' again this week, and that we have no conference this weekend and that it'd be nice and quiet around camp, I pulled on my hiking boots, slipped into my flannel shirt (living in the mountains that should be a staple right?), packed my backpack with my book, towel, granola bar and fruit snacks and headed off. I spent a good couple of hours lying on a nice big rock, ejoying my book "Safely Home."

It's a fictional book, but is a serious wake up call to the persecution of the Church in China. Between this book, my boss talking about his missionary friends in China this week, the earthquake, and passing the Chinese family walking around the lake right as I closed my book . . . I think I'm supposed to be praying for China right now.

Weekends and Biscotti

I absolutely looove weekends. In high school I had dance competitions on weekends and in college, I always worked on the weekends, so they never actually felt like a break. And working summer staff, I only had one day off a week. But now . . . working a full-time job Monday through Friday, I really get to discover the joy of having 2 days off. Days that aren't filled with homework. It really is fantastic.

Yesterday I spent my day doing things I love, like drinking tea, reading, laying on the couch, catching up on laundry and chores around my house, hanging out with friends and watching a movie, and baking. Here's a picture of my most recent creation (along with the great cooling racks I got for Christmas). Gingerbread Biscotti! This was a new recipe for me and I think they turned out pretty good. They don't have as much flavor as I would have hoped, so I made up my own little vanilla frosting/glaze which I added to about half of them. Yum! Come on over for some biscotti!

My New Favorite Tree

Hey check it out! This is the newest addition to my bathroom decor. A jewelry tree. My friends Katie and Aaron who just moved up here this winter gave it to me. These were the centerpieces at their wedding in December. And now they're giving them away as jewelry trees. Good idea huh? The plum colored pot and brown go perfectly with my plum/brown/white bathroom colors, and I don't think I've ever had a good way to store my jewelry (up till now it's all just been sitting in a bowl) so I'm loving this cute/earthy/practical addition to my home. Thanks friends!

Now I have a vision for a brown, purple and orange shower curtain that is somehow both earthy and abstract. That would really add some texture. We'll see if I can find something like what I'm picturing in my mind. Or . . . maybe I should make one myself. Hmmmm . . . .

Barista at Heart

I will always be a barista at heart. After 4+ years working for the Coffee Bean, then a summer at Hume N' Beans, and the occasional weekend I work in winters serving coffee . . . it's not hard to see why.

So it's no surprise that I am excited about my newest coffee gadget. This was a "just because" gift from Nathan :-) It's called aerolatte. Basically it's a milk frother. And since I absolutely loooove foam it's the greatest little tool! Everything feels fancier with a little good foam. These were some black Vanilla Ceylon teas with a little vanilla syrup and some steamed milk and foam. Yummy! Today I'm having the same thing but with chai tea instead. And with my coffee and tea and syrup collection growing all the time . . . . feel free to come by for a drink!

Not Your Average Spring Cleaning

It's been almost 2 years since I graduated from college . . . and during my spring break I, for the first time, had a chance to clean/organize/sort through absolutely everything from my entire life up until I left after college. I left So-Cal 6 days after graduating, thinking I'd be back at the end of the summer to unpack from college, but that never happened since I got my full-time job.

So all my stuff from college was still boxed in a closet (since I no longer have a room at home) as well as everything else I had once had in my room. It was a lot of work, but was such a freeing experience to simplify and de-clutter my life. It was fun to come across things and reminisce.

Some of the things that I came across (and don't worry, I didn't get rid of them) that I enjoyed seeing again, were: my tiny little tap shoes, my prom queen crown, the children's books I'd written in jr. high, all my dance costumes, lots of old pictures, and of course lots of other random stuff. I was able to get rid of so much though. I basically condensed my entire life up till the age of 22 into less than 10 boxes. Faaaaantastic!

Before

After

Spring Break

You'll have to excuse the fact that there's multiple blog posts coming from me today. I suffer from "Weekend Blogger Syndrom". I get busy during the week and only seem find time to keep up on blogging on the weekends.

The last couple of weeks have gone by really fast. This year I actually had a week long "Spring Break." Not being a student and not being a teacher I would have thought that I was done having Spring Breaks in life. But this year our staff was given some paid days off since they didn't take us on a staff retreat this year. I'm not complaining about a paid week off.

Here's a few pictures from my break:

Snowboarding with Nathan and my family (well . . . they ski)

Some egg decorating

I got to spend Easter lunch with the Pearsey fam and their Epp side of the family

The four Pearsey sisters. Love them!