Welcome 2009

YAA for the new year! Here are my new years resolutions in no particular order:

• Get back to crafting (expensive and frustrating but worth it, I miss it)
• Get back to yoga (ditto the above but way way way worth it)
• Volunteer more (I am thinking of an animal shelter)
• Save up money for a trip (I want to travel overseas in 2010)

Noble goals all! I hope I can reach them. I am already back into crafting, I worked on some cards and am practicing my crochet. Yoga will have to wait till February. I am going to be out of town for the better part of two weeks at the end of January and I want to make full use of the introductory rates at the yoga places around town. I will try to write reviews here so that I can remember what I liked and did not like about each. Saving money...I have started a savings account at my bank and plan to start putting money in it and not touch it! That is the goal any way. This is not an easy time to start saving but I think there are places I can cut back. Volunteering will also wait until February when I have more time to devote to it but I know someone who volunteers at an animal shelter so I am thinking of doing that with her. Welcome 2009 and wish me luck!

The Holidays

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Ryan and his dad joined my family for dinner although Judy, Greg and Emma were not there so we were an unusually small party. I think this may have been the first Thanksgiving without a kids table that I can remember. I almost miss sitting at the kids table.

Work has been keeping me busy and away from posting but I did take off a week for Thanksgiving and visited Rachel in PA! I saw her law school, her apt, her parents house and I was shown DC by a native! We had a great time shopping, watching Princess Diaries and twisting pretzels. I was sad to leave but it turned out that on the last day I was in PA the Transporter 3 was released so we saw it before I jumped on a plane back to KC.

My parents came for Thanksgiving but then promptly jumped on a plane for Peru and the Galapagos. They are at Manchu Piccu right now. I am very jealous! It sounds beautiful. They are with a tour agency that lets you do all sorts of cool activities like wind surfing. That should be enjoyed by twenty-year-olds at the peak of their life, not senior citizens! Totally unfair. Retirement should be for the young and then at 40 you start working again till you die.

I have been playing christmas music and decorating the christmas tree since thanksgiving. All my presents and purchased and wrapped and waiting to be given. I still have to make my xmas cookies. But that will wait until just before christmas, I will have to reserve a whole weekend for all the cookies I have to make this year. It seems I have more people in my life than ever, which is a wonderful feeling.

Thank You!

I just want to take this opportunity to give my heartfelt thanks to my fellow americans for giving me, my generation, and future generations the hope that this country can change. It is through the efforts of people like my parents, who donanated, volunteered and supported the Obama/Biden campaign that our country will become great again. I cannot express the gratitude that I feel for them and other's like them. Tonight I finally feel like a true patriot for the first time in my life, I love my country. I didn't know I would ever be able to say that but I do. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the United States and I can't wait to be a part of it! Congratulations Obama and Biden! Congratulations America!

Clay

This weekend Ryan and I went to see Clay at the Rep. This was one of the most original and creative musicals/plays I have seen in a long time. It is the story of an inner city white kid who after being forgotten/ignored by his parents and seduced by an older woman, turns to hip hop and rap to tell his story.

It is a one many play and Matt Sax wrote the play, the music and performs it all. He does a fabulous job of playing the 5 or 6 characters in the story and uses a series of subtle techniques to bring each character out.

Yesterday was the last performance in KC as the take the show to New York, where it will open in a couple of weeks. If you know anyone in New York tell them get some tickets. This is a must see!

Tough Day

I have about 5 minutes before I have to go to training session but I wanted to share a thought. Why is the grass always greener somewhere else? I am booking an author for my library and recently found out that he is also visiting my old stomping grounds at the APL before he comes to KC. It made me miss my days there terribly. It seems like it was so simple, not as much red tape as there is in this large system (that isn't even all that big). I feel like I am being suffocated by committees and asking permission for things that I would have just gone out and done at the APL. But thinking back, the APL was also not a perfect place to work either. It had a whole different set of problems. I wish there was a perfect employer where I could feel perfectly at ease. I suppose that those don't exhist but still...I miss simpler days. I am saddened about that but I was also really happy to realize that even a small town library like APL can do the same things that we do in KC! Go Ames!

New Hair Cut

Look ma! Awesome hair! After my stressful weekend in DSM I decided it was time to pamper myself and I went and cut three inches off my already sholder length hair and let my stylist go crazy with the dye! I love her by the way, she does a great job! If you are ever in the KC area get your hair cut by Alison at Chop Tops in Merriam! She does wonders...I think you would agree.

Time for some Photography

I am thinking it is time for me to take a photography class. I need a hobby that isn't work! Right now at work we are working on putting together a multimedia lab for teens and staff would need to take classes on the software and equiptment...so maybe I could take a class for free?

In other hobby news I am almost done with the bridesmaid dress. It has taken months of work and fitting and procrastinating. But I am nearly there.