In the Christmas Spirit

First off, I'm learning how to blog with my photos embedded, and yes, I know my last post overlapped my links a bit. It took two tries to get it to look like that, so bear with me as I learn. :)

I am getting in the Christmas spirit this weekend. I have most of my shopping done, thanks to the internet. Seriously, I think I will only have to go to the store for stocking stuffers.

I have had all my decorations up for a couple of weeks now. This year, I even got little clips and put lights in my giant window overlooking my patio. Only I and my close neighbors can enjoy, but that's fine with me. I had friends over yesterday to do some Christmas baking. We made peanut butter balls and caramels. I am very impressed with my parents' nextdoor neighbor Debbie--she makes those and about a dozen other treats every year and I got bored just stirring caramel for over an hour. While Sam and I baked, Cameron and Brad assembled a gingerbread house that i'm going to try to bring to work--we'll see if it can make the 4 block walk.

Now I need to do a little online shopping for wedding gifts for 2 weddings I have this month. As I do it, I will sit in the glow of my Christmas lights and listen to Amy Grant's Home for Christmas as I sip a cup of coffee. I wonder if it will snow again--it has snowed twice today already (with no sticking--my kind of snow) Here are a few pics of my place at Christmas:

Fall Adventures

I'm a little behind on what's been going on in my world, so here's a quick update. I moved in early September to my new condo (thanks to help from my parents). Here is are a few photos of my new place, with a little organization left to do so I can live neatly.

My living room:


My dining room (which is technically part of my living room):


In late September, my maternal grandfather passed away. I was able to see him when I went home in July, which was a real blessing. Another blessing: my brother got me a plane ticket for nearly free instead of the thousand it would've cost. One our way back to Minneapolis, we spent a little time reminiscing around Lake Okoboji where we spent a lot of childhood summers. here are a few pics.

The Nutty Bar stand in Arnolds Park where we often went right before getting back on the boat to head back "home":


My very first roller coaster:


My grandparents' mailbox:


Our beach:


I also had a few social events in October. I had a costume party in honor of the season premiere of The Office and Mark and Danielle came to visit for a long weekend as week.

Cam, Sam, Brad, and Maurice:


Danielle and Mark at Haystack Rock (from The Goonies) in Cannon Beach, OR):


In work adventures, two great things happened. I achieved my Intermediate Certification and just this past week I received an additional boost and am one of our first few Master Level Certified Coaches at InsideTrack. Additionally, we had a significant shuffling happen and the DeVry coaches moved to a building down the street. Here is a picture of the new view from the 8th floor (we were on ground level in the last office):


Well, I'll try to be a little more diligent in my posting from now on so I don't have to post a billion pictures and notes at once. :)

Praise Jesus, it's back: My So-Called Life

A month ago, a coworker let me know, randomly, that My So-Called Life was being re-released on DVD. I have been waiting for this event to happen for several years. I held on to my VHS tapes from my college days, which held most of the episodes, but really, who wants to watch VHS. So I wanted it on DVD when it came to DVD. I saw a copy of the box set at Best Buy in Spokane for $90 and figured I'd wait until it was on sale. Less than a year went by and I started looking online for a copy and discovered it would cost me $250 to get a copy from eBay. What? This was the best show ever created! How could I NOT have it on DVD. Why didn't I shell out the $90?!

I learned my lesson. It is on my Christmas list with a memo of "I will die if I don't get this this time around." In the meantime, I borrowed the original DVDs from my coworker...I couldn't wait to revisit the days of my junior year of college. Wow, those were the days.

CNN.com - The Marquee

Real Adulthood

I am embarking on stage 2 of the scary and exciting journey of "Real Adulthood". Annie, one of my first RAs in SF, used to refer to me as a "Real Adult". When she would say something about adults, and then people would look at her like "Helloooo! All college students are adults!", she'd say, "yeah, but Ann is a REAL adult." Little did she know, it would be many many years before I'd become a Real Adult.

Well, to me being a Real Adult means being a home owner. So, I have a condo on hold in Vancouver but a few things went down that didn't put things on hold and made me realize that I want to live in Portland, closer to work. This past weekend, I connected with a realtor and started the search and found a place I love. So I am nearing the possibility of being a home owner. Offer-wise, things are accepted, but I still need to do an inspection to make sure I want the place. It was built in the 1940s, so there is a good possibility that there will be some major issues, so I am trying not to get my hopes up. But there is a good possibility that I'll be closing on a very cute condo in NE Portland at the end of August.

In other news, I FINALLY turned in my Intermediate Certification portfolio at work. This is the first of several steps to getting a raise and demonstrating my growth and the skills I've developed as a Success Coach in the last year. I was planning to wrap things up by the end of this week, and then on Monday we got an e-mail that the process is going on hold for a couple of months while we revamp it and we had until 1pm Tuesday to submit anything we wanted to get in. Don't get me started on having 1 day notice (it gave me a chance to practice my stress management skills I'm learning from my peer coach), but it gave me the push to put in the last 2 hours to finish things. It feels good. We talk about open cycles with students and how important it is to close cycles, and this is one of them in my life. I may not get to the next steps for a while, but at least I've gotten step 1 done!

Happy July 4, all! And Happy B-day to my Dad tomorrow and Tammy on Friday!

the perfect day

today has been the perfect day for me. in fact, this weekend has been great so far. and it's not half over yet!

this morning, i met my friend samantha down by the columbia river in vancouver. we parked by the river (for free) and walked in to downtown vancouver where there's saturday market and other weekend fare. (is that how you spell that version of the word?) it was sprinkling a bit, but not enough to wreck the walk. starbucks called our name, so we grabbed some coffee and sat outside under the eaves chatting (meaning: sam coaching me as i unloaded work muck from my brain). then we decided to hit up a crepe place j & b told me about. we had yummy crepes with nutella, chocolate, and strawberries. so good. then we headed over to see our friend / coworker jocelyn and her husband chris and their fabulous new house.

all this, and i was home by 1:00. since then, i have started a freaks and geeks marathon, read some harry potter, and napped. after a little online updating, i'm heading back to my marathon and may even do a little knitting. it's a wonderful rainy june day and exactly what i need.

i am...

...going to bend this weekend to visit brad one last time

...glad brad is moving to p-town in july

...listening to old REM (memories)

...really really tired. it has been a long week and i just barely beat our benchmark for attendance.

...pleased with my application process for senior coach--what's meant to be will be

...pale and needing a tan

...enjoying the spring weather

...excited for my brother to move into his first home this weekend

...thinking about moving to portland instead (aka expanding my search)

...still moving into the condo in v-town if p-town doesn't work

...tired...so tired

...irritated with my upstairs neighbors dropping things, scratching chairs on the floor, etc but i think they are nice people and so i just live with it

...thinking next week is going to be even busier at work...and not sure how i will get everything done. good thing i have a few days before the time is here. :)

...a fan of chipotle veggie burgers. yum, yum. thanks, joy

...regularly attending my home community on thursday nights and not irritated by being around conservative christians anymore.

...almost fully separated from the negative affects whitworth had on my spirituality

...starting fresh with God

...excited for my cousins who are having babies and graduating and stuff

...STILL trying to finish harry potter...sometimes tv calls my name at night instead

...hoping you all are having a wonderful weekend!

funniest ever

this may be the funniest moment from the office yet. michael's falsetto makes me cry i'm laughing so hard.

The Hills

IMG_763
Originally uploaded by schmann.

a few weeks ago, our campus had "spirit week" at work during registration, just to change things up a bit. on "twin day", a couple of us dressed as the ladies on "the hills" because, well, Sam and I love it. here are me, Sam, and April, glamming out. you know you want our autographs. :)

3 shots

so, my dentist adventure wasn't too exciting, but i'll blog about it anyway. so, i first went to my dentist several weeks ago after being recommended to his office by several of my coworkers. and by "several" i mean, like 6 or 7. it is on the 5th floor of our building which is quite convenient. when i got there, i was shocked. none of these coworkers, who are all females, mentioned the fact that the dentist is young and attractive. maybe that's not noteworthy in portland where everyone seems to be artsy or attractive. but my dentists have always been middle-aged, kind, and parental (cue the SNL theme song to "Middle Age Man!"), so it's worth noting.

so my attractive dentist gave me two shots in my jaw and the bottom of my mouth wasn't really getting numb. i came in paranoid because the last filling i got was in spokane and i could actually feel the drilling through the novacane. so i was a little leery and told my attractive dentist about this and asked how numb i was actually supposed to feel. my lip didn't feel numb, so i had to get a third shot to numb myself up. i was still terribly nervous, which is weird because i have had a ton of work done on my mouth, metal shoved in, wires sticking out, etc., but that last filling really threw me. so at one point, attractive dentist said "can you feel that" and when i said a sort of huh-uh, he said, "you can relax your fingers then". i am a totally high-strung dental patient now.

all this happened and made me forget i even was getting over a cold, so i didn't even think about coughing. i'm sure my muscles were so tense in my throat that a cough wouldn't even have been able to come out.

so, my mouth was numb until 1pm that day and today my jaw is still sore. lucky me!

better

ok, so the best thing to do when you are stressed is unload it around someone who can help you do something about it. good thing my 8:30 appt was with my manager who could coach me. so i have learned today that i need to learn how to manage my stress better.

this weekend is going to be great. brad and nic are coming to visit to celebrate belated nic b-day. fun will be had by all. i think it's medicine a doctor would prescribe for my lingering cold. that and sleeping in my own bed instead of bill & joy's futon. that may be a hard one for me to say "no" to, though.

check back soon for possible funny stories about me getting cavities filled by a hot dentist while trying hard not to cough for an entire hour. tomorrow morning could be an adventure.

here we go again...

well, i went to bed about 30 minutes ago. but i couldn't sleep. right now i am so stressed out i can't sleep. if i didn't have an interview (for the next level up job, which i'm not sure i want or am ready for but felt like i had to apply now or else wait a year) and my 1-year review tomorrow, i would call in sick for a mental health day. i'm sure these two things tomorrow are contributing to my stress, but they're not all of it.

i actually was sick last week, stayed home for a day, and i am pretty sure it was caused by stress. and my sickness is still lingering and i'm guessing it's because i only took 1 day off. problem is, my stress would be much greater if i had taken another day off because i'd be more behind than i already am.

anyway, nothing any of you can do about this--i need to deal with it on my own. i just couldn't sleep and thought i'd jump online and look up some advice on stress management/jobs. and thought i'd blog to get some of the emotion out. thanks for listening!

SP

Create your own South Park character. It's way fun. My coworkers and I did it and now they are our IM display images!

Planearium.de presents: SP-Studio.de

If I can figure out how to blog mine, I will. Enjoy!

I *heart* the Enneagram

Main Type	Overall Self

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Scale (|||||||%) results:

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||| 38% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||||||| 66% Type 3 Image Focus |||||||||||| 50% Type 4 Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 62% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||||||| 62% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||| 22% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||| 22% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||||||||| 78% Your main type is 9 Your variant is self pres

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

hooray for eBay

I am preparing for an upcoming, yet-to-be-scheduled move to a condo or something and decided I should go through my stuff that I haven't used since I moved to Portland. So I have a million books, and a bunch are old textbooks I don't really need. So I decided to sell/donate some to Powells City of Books (largest bookstore in the world, maybe) and then I had a bunch their website said they wouldn't accept, so I though, huh, maybe I should try to sell them on half.com. If you are not a current college student or haven't been in recent years, you probably don't know that this is a fabulous website where people sell books and stuff for cheap. So I posted 10 books on the site (the only 10 that would make the walk to the Post Office and the purchase of a box and postage worth). I already sold 1 !! It may be the only one I sell, but I listed it at $15 and I'll get most of that to me. So I would highly recommend trying to sell stuff online. I'm trying to post a floppy drive on eBay (half.com's parent company) but can't seem to make it work. Still, I am thinking this is a great way to make some cash on things that are worth more than a drop-off at Goodwill.

If anyone needs any books on Christian Ed, theology, or any Shakespeare books, I can't sell them to any stores and I'd give them to you for free. Just ask me what they are and I'll send you a list. If you want any, I'll send them your way (I'll even pay postage if it means I get them off my hands and don't have to move them!).

Real Adulthood

I was reading a friend's blog and realized I have been neglecting again. Fortunately, I actually have something happening in life to blog!

A few months ago, one of my students started coaching me during our meetings on home ownership. I had mentioned that I was toying with the idea of buying a condo or something, so every time we met, after we checked in on his "Action Items" from the week before and chatted, he eventually switched roles with me and coached me. He kept telling me to just get preapproved so that I knew what I could look for. So, finally, I decided to do it. I was scared, but I did it. So last weekend, since I knew my budget, I went with Brad, Bill & Joy and checked out a couple of places. I fell in love with one and ended up putting an offer on it Tuesday night. Sadly, they accepted someone else's offer, but the good news is I am working with a realtor to find something that will work for what I want and my budget. I met with my potential lender today who had preapproved me and learned some more of my options and how I could increase my loan amount to get something nicer possibly. So I'll keep y'all posted here if/when I find something. The good news is, I'm becoming a "Real Adult", as one of my old RAs used to say.

I also have started attending a Home Community through Imago Dei church. I don't actually attend the church, but I started going to the group because of Bill & Joy's continual invitation. I'm enjoying it so far. I'm not sure if I'll actually start attending Imago...I may go to a different church instead...but I don't think that will make a difference for me attending the group.

Well, I'm off to make some dinner and watch The Office (best show ever).

I'm the reason why Cliffs Notes were invented

Today, I went for coffee on my day off to do a little work on a training thing I'm putting together for my colleagues on Student Development. I bopped in to Safeway for my weekly grocery trip on my way home and as I was walking in my apt. door, I panicked and thought, "I'm a fricking yuppie!"

Yep. Picture it: I was carrying my leftover coffee and my groceries in their re-usable canvas bags after I locked up my Civic. As soon as I got in the door, I kicked off clogs, plugged in my cell phone, took my iPod out of my purse, and sat down to my Mac to check my e-mail. Man, I am too trendy. Ugh.

Now I'm going to heat up my leftover latte and sit down to read Harry Potter 5. That's not trendy. If I was re-reading book 6 in preparation for book 7 coming out this summer, now THAT may be trendy. :) Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Thank goodness for Presidents Day off work today! Hasn't happened to me since, what, 1992?

cool quote

I just remembered this great quote that's on top of my fridge in a frame. I have the book, so I'm gonna reread it.

"...I would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

calmer waters

I've calmed down a bit since my apple rant. my job is a bit tiring, but as the weekend approaches, things are looking up. make no mistake, i like my job still. it's just tough and sometimes i'm not sure if it's where i'm supposed to be. especially the last few weeks.

i'm still not really excited about my apple experience. i am toying with the idea of returning my ipod and speaker and saving my money to purchase the same things after i get a new computer. i also may keep the ipod and put my music on my work computer and just sync it there. but those two options mean i lose my $140. so maybe i will buy a little memory and speed my computer up a bit. this weekend, i think i'll go to the apple service place and see what that would cost and if it would solve things.

i do think i may be learning a little lesson on materialism. i think it's time to do some purging of belongings and refocus myself so as not to be so attached to the material. simple living was something i was aiming for at one time, so maybe this is just a reminder of that.

p.s.

i'm sort of overwhelmed with my "calling" and if i'm supposed to be where i am right now career-wise, so big irritations like this are EXTREMELY big right now. and also i'm poor and can't afford to throw away any amount of cash, especially when it has 2 or more zeros at the end. why does stuff like this always happen to me and not to the people who can afford it?

i know my blog readers won't judge my emotional outbursts. thanks for listening.

i hate apple

i hate apple. they are taking so much money from me. i got an ipod for christmas and i still can't use it. i have ordered an upgrade of software so that i can upgrade itunes, and then it came as a DVD. some people don't have DVD players because your computers are actually good and last long and some of us didn't think it was important to pay an extra $600 for it in 2001.

so there was this software exchange deal to get CD-roms, and after finally getting my CD-Roms that I paid an extra $9.95 plus postage to get, i now find out i don't have enough free memory to install it. so now i get to spend, what, $500 or more to get 3 GB of memory so i can install OS X Tiger and get the upgraded itunes. and i don't even know where to get memory if i could even afford it. do i have that money? no. do i want to use my expensive christmas present that was so thoughtfully and kindly purchased by my parents? yes. would i rather get a new computer than spend little amounts on upgrading? yes. can i afford that? no. do i want to just chuck and break all of this stupid technology that rules our lives and makes us all materialistic? YES!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have converted like 5 people into Mac users and now i am pissed off and want to tell them all to change back, that they're just going to get robbed in 5 years after they have been all loyal to them.

Snow Day

Snow Day 1
Originally uploaded by schmann.

Today was a snow day. Or, for me, a Work-from-Home day. It only snowed about 3 inches, but here that's the equivalent of when it snows about 10 inches in SF. You should see the video online of cars that just can't stop. I'm thankful my manager called and told me to work from home--I didn't want to try getting over the bridges to get to work. I didn't even know it had snowed 'til I turned on the news to check the traffic.

I have to say I'm very thankful for this job. My last job, I would've been expected to come in to work. And it's in a hilly area that ended up being closed down because the roads were so bad. I'd have been stranded and likely my car would be smashed. Yay for a different job!

I did spend record minutes on the phone today, so I was very very productive. And thank goodness for Instant Messenger--most of my coworkers were working from home, but we still could talk to one another over IM.

Anyway, here's a pic from my patio. It's my car, though you wouldn't know it.

KG

Kathy Griffin
Originally uploaded by schmann.

Here's a picture of Kathy Griffin. Brad and I went to see her on Saturday. I had to take a blurry, flashless pic because otherwise my camera would've focused on all the heads in the rows immediately in front of me instead of on KG. I'm a pro at photography, I know.

Anyway, she was WAY FUNNY but if you are easily offended or don't like dirty jokes, you should not see her uncensored. She mainly jokes about celebs, but she does use a lot of f-bombs to do it. Brad and I, of course, loved every minute of it. We're going to hell, we know.

I'd highly recommend seeing a comedian of some sort like this if you can. Ellen Degeneres is nice and clean if you prefer that. You may want to stay away from Andy Dick, though. From KG's story, he's a junkie and you never know what you're going to get. ALLEGEDLY. :)

Parents Remodel 2

Remodel 2
Originally uploaded by schmann.

Here is the view of just the living room. Isn't it way cute? The color is a green, a very warm tone. You'll notice this is before we opened presents on Christmas Eve, because Mark and I gave my mom a diptych (2 canvases) to go above the couch on the blank wall. The room is so cozy--I love it. This view is also from the stairs.

Parents remodel 1

Remodel 1
Originally uploaded by schmann.

I took a couple of pictures of my parents house remodel to show people who remember the old look. Before, the kitchen was a little box, but a couple of years ago, my parents knocked out the wall between the kitchen and dining room to open things up. This fall, they remodeled the living room to get rid the of VERY 1990 mauve and grey wallpaper. Here's a pic of the rooms side-by side (the line in the middle is the wall between the kitchen and living room. View is if you're walking down the stairs.