You Can Join me in my Weekend

 

Why I love Africa...

"Westerners arriving in Africa for the first time are always struck by its beauty and size -- even the sky seems higher.  And they often find themselves suddenly cracked open.  They lose inhibitions, feel more alive, more themselves, and they begin to understand why, until then, they have only half lived. In Africa the essentials of existence -- light, earth, water, food, birth, family, love, sickness, death -- are more immediate, more intense.  Visitors suddenly realize what life is for.  To risk a huge generalization: {In the west}, amid our wasteful wealth and time-pressed lives we have lost human values that still abound in Africa."

-Richard Dowden

What I've Been Up To

1. This lovely girl's wedding, wedding dinner, and reception.
2. A quick visit from my Mom.
3. Hanging out with some cousins, aunts, and uncles I haven't seen in a while.
4. Employee giving her two weeks notice.
5. Me frantically going through resumes.
6. Interviews.
7. Not finding the right person.
8. More resumes.
9. More interviews.
10. Oh yeah, and trying to teach and run my classroom on top of all that.
11. Joined a Yoga class (yes, I upgraded from my YouTube videos...)
12. Country Swing Dancing here with some friends. I'd never been before and it was super fun!
13. Two of the above friends getting engaged that night. Congrats A+J! :)
14. Hanging out with my aunt. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days + Chiptole. LOVE.
15. My cousin's son's soccer game (since when were 7-year-olds better than me at sports?! Oh wait...always...)
16. A missionary farewell party. (See what a "Mormon mission" is here.)
17. Much needed spiritual enlightenment at church after a very busy week. :)

Sheesh...that was a lot of stuff! I need to blog more...

And a few pictures for your visual pleasure:

best friends waiting for the bride

bride and groom! married for eternity!

the Blue Lemon with some family

Ryder waiting to be subbed back on to the field

"Staying Healthy"

It was "doctor week" in my Early Head Start classroom. 

And here is one of the results:

I love my job. 

Thankful Thursday

1. My new job.

I am one of the lucky few who got a job straight out of undergrad. 

And one of the lucky few that absolutely adores it. 

2. My cheap rent.

It pays off to move in with your aunt!

[We won't talk about the fact I'm still paying my old rent...

it could be much worse with expensive rent now]

3. My new friends.

I moved. 

I was sad.

Now I'm not.

[most of the time]

Enough said.

4. My old friends.

They are wonderful.

I had an opportunity to catch up with them last weekend 

at a bridal shower, and an informal reunion.

5. Starting New. 

So many new beginnings.

So many things that could have gone wrong.

So many things that have just gone right.

I am thankful to be alive! :) 

Yoga

I have decided to take up Yoga.

The problem I ran into, though, is that I don't have a gym membership and I don't really want to work one into my budget quite yet. (#nolongerapoorcollegestudentbutnowapoorteacher) (#havefunreadingthat)

So I did a little search and found a great set of videos for beginners (like me). 

This woman named Esther Ekhart put them together and in my I-know-nothing-about-yoga opinion, she did an excellent job. It really just eases you into Yoga without killing your body! I had tried Yoga with a roommate about a year ago and quit soon after because whatever video we found absolutely tore my poor body apart. It was too advanced. These are just perfect! 

Here is the first video, and if you go to YouTube you can find the other four.

Namaste!

Just Another Day at Work

This priceless conversation happened at lunch with one of my precious kids:

Me: "Fabio, how old are you?"

Fabio: "5"

Me: "Cool! We have all ages here! Ju-ju is 1, Aiah is 2, Mehrad is 3, Aleah is 4, and you're 5! How old do you think I am?"

Fabio: "Probably 6."

I love his logic. :)