I already ate the hugs, kisses, half the gum, and I'm sucking on the mint as we speak.

Not because I needed it, but just because it was there. You know on Christmas morning you open your stocking and sometimes get good candy or a magazine or something, and the first thing you do is sample a little bit of everything? Take a bit of that toblerone, read a few pages of the magazine or book, toss the orange aside (of course) and maybe file a few nails with the new pack of nailfiles you got, all while lying on the carpet in front of the fireplace, only to return later in the day to check all your loot out again. Well, I do that with a lot of the new things I get.

I was given this yesterday at work by the Spiritual Care Services worker. Otherwise know as a Chaplain. (Apparently the Pope deemed that only males could call themselves "chaplain" so this equally educated and ordained woman has to call herself a Spiritual Care Services worker, or I think she said she goes by "Reverend." Whatever....)

Back to the posting. The "this" that I'm talking about is my new "Life Survival Kit." Take a look at it in the picture.

Enclosed within is a note explaining the contents. I think it's kind of cute. Here it is:

Life's Survival Kit

TOOTHPICK - to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others (Matt. 7:1)

RUBBER BAND - to remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out. (Romans 8:28).

BAND AID - to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else's. (Colossians 3:12-14).

PENCIL - to remind you to list your blessings everyday. (Ephesians 1:3).

ERASER - to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay. (Genesis 50:15-21).

CHEWING GUM - to remind you to stick with it, and you can accomplish anything. (Phil 4:13).

MINT - to remind you that you are worth a mint. (John 3:16-17).

CANDY KISS & HUG - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday. (John 4:7).

TEA BAG - to remind you to relax daily and go over your list of blessings. (1 Thes.5:18).

I like it. I think it's a good idea.

A good piece of flannel is hard to find

(there's supposed to be a YouTube clip here but it's not showing up and I've got to go to bed...it's late and work awaits early tommorrow.)

Okay, so I figured out how to download / upload (whatever) from YouTube, but I did this like, three days ago and it finally showed up on the blog. I can only vaguely remember why I even tried to updownload it. I think it went something like this. I'm all done school, and I don't know what to do with myself "when I'm alone." I stand or sit or stand again in my apartment and don't know what to do. I'm also more aware of my aloneness. I've heard this country song on the radio a few times that talks about a soft place to land, and I finally understand what that means. Coming home after work and not having anything in particular to do has magnified the stillness of just me in my apartment. While being busy (alone) doing BootCampIT homework at home (alone) my hobbies all fell by the wayside and I've had to try to rummage through all that nursing knowledge in my brain and find my memories from when I once had a life long long ago. Don't worry, since then I've gotten really excited about being done. Yesterday Lindsey and I went to Steveston and we were walking down the sidewalk and I felt this sense of relief and enjoyment come over me that I do not recall feeling before, well maybe in Mexico I did. I was actually enjoying myself without any worries of having to go to work, write a paper, perform in the hospital.... It was strange, unusual and good.

I've always like to sew, and I haven't sewn much the past few years. I'm also on an environmental awareness / sense of responsibility kick and so I'm really into "repurposed" items and buying things that won't fill up a garbage dump. So today I went to Value Village and bought all these old pillow cases (for the fabric) from which I am determined to make something useful and awesome looking. Perhaps I'll even be able to sell them on Etsy. I've thought about funky aprons, headbands, bags, etc. Here's a picture.

So maybe I'll show you what I've done once I've done it. I am supposed to me studying for the RN exam that is in 2 weeks (yikes) so I will have to set myself aside once again and just finish this whole school thing once and for all.

Here's pic of Kyla about to dig into a really great Rolo ice cream cake from Boston Pizza. Don't worry, I had my fork ready too - a bunch of us shared it.

It was good.

P.S. Happy Birthday Luke, again.

The countdown begins....

I turned 29 years old the other day. I can't believe it. At all. So that means I now have less than a year before I turn 30. But it's not all bad. I'm actually quite excited to see what happens in my life from now on. (But I am disappointed that it's happening at so late an age. Why couldn't I have done this when I was younger?)

I just finished nursing school in December and I am in my second week of work in a specialty unit at a hospital downtown. Supposedly, the world is now my oyster. Working downtown is exciting. It seems like everyone's got style. Walking down the sidewalks I see people with cool sneakers, cute coats with matching hats, and attitude (pleasant, don't get me wrong, the kind of attitude I'd like to develop for myself). When I sit in the cafeteria I can see the ocean, and today when I was being taught by the educator I looked out and saw the big freight ships anchored out there and the sun reflecting off the water as it rose. It was beautiful. Today my self confidence also increased a bit. I'm being oriented with this woman from the UK who has something like 14 years of nursing experience. And she was more nervous than I was! Maybe it's cause I'm used to being observed and not knowing what I'm doing, but she was a nervous wreck and I had to tell her it would all be okay. It was strange to be on the other side as I am usually the insecure one. But I do understand that her situation is kind of different than mine, as she is expected to know stuff, and I am not (I can still hide behind the new grad label). So I do feel for her as well. Anyways, back to my birthday, because as Luke put it about himself, "it's all about me" (2007, email invitation to cypress mountain).

Last Saturday my parents came over and we went to see the Bodyworlds exhibit together and then they took me out for lunch. Then on Sunday night a few of my girlfriends and I went to Cactus Club for dinner. It turned out great. I'll put a few pics below. I appreciate them all so much, and each for very unique reasons. Thanks gals! And on my actual birthday Andra made me the most delicious dinner with candles and wine. It was great! Maybe one year it'll be a guy sitting across from me. No offense Andra, I know you feel the same way. Thanks also to my long lost but never forgotten friends who I don't talk to very often but who I carry in my heart every day, for remembering me (Teresa and Violetta). It turned out to be a great 29th birthday. Onward and upward.

The 6 of us

Lindsey, in all her photogenic fabulousness

Lindsey, Me and Katherine

Brenda, Amanda, and Kyla

My beautiful roses - thanks Katherine!

I don't know what's going on next door...

but it sounds like someone's stuck in a really big bathtub.

You know the sound the tub makes when you move your bum along the bottom really fast? Well that's the sound I'm hearing from the supposedly empty apartment next door, except on a much larger and louder scale. And the little old lady who lived there, who was about 95 years old, died a while back and the apartment has been empty ever since. ...as far as I know the for sale sign is still hanging outside. Since she died I have not heard a sound...until now. You see she was a very sweet and quiet lady, except sometimes she had baths in the middle of the night and I would often hear her bum squeaking the bottom of the tub at the most unusual hours and I always wondered what that was all about?

Please understand. The sounds right now are quite unsettling. It's as though the apartment is one large bathtub and someone is...well. Could it be the ghost of Mrs E?

1st Day of Work

Well, I started my new job, as an "RN" today. I'm actually not an RN yet but it was nice to see "RN" on my "hi my name is..." namebadge. I was going to take a picture of myself leaving for work but decided it would take too much time as I would have to do it myself, and I was rushed as I had to leave at 7:15am (which I haven't had to do for a while now - it was hard - ugh). Maybe I'll take a picture when I go in my uniform. A picture - you know like your parents used to take when you went off to your first day of school?

Today was just general orientation with all new staff to the health authority. I was nicely surprised to see 5 of my fellow classmates there too! We're all getting scooped up quickly! So the day wasn't too bad with all 6 of us sitting together, and some of the speakers were funny which kept us awake. AND, we got a free lunch [just sandwiches and juice, but it was free which to a recently former student is greatly appreciated, especially as it was food that I didn't have to buy or cook for myself]. It was also nice to hear about the values of the health authority. They explained how it was started by the Sisters of Providence and how the organization's values that exist today are based on the values of the Catholic faith. Even "Jesus Christ" is mentioned in their mission statement. It's interesting to hear because the medical system often dismisses spirituality of any kind, except as an acceptable adjunct to treatment that isn't taken seriously by professionals; it is never a prescription. Anyway, so I have a full week left of orientation and then I guess I start the real orientation on the unit itself, where I have to dress in my scrubs and try to act like I understand what's happening. At least I'm getting paid now, and no more schoolwork (except for the RN exam which I now write in less than a month and I haven't started studying yet). Yikes.

To be honest, change is hard for me. I tend to get down and anxious about it and have high expectations for myself to be perfect. Sometimes I wish I could just have a simple life where I'd live on a big piece of land and do crafts all day (does anyone remember that movie "Baby Boom" where Diane Keaton inherits a baby and moves to the country and ends up making millions off of her home made apple sauce?) Well, I wish that could be me. But my mom told me tonight about a line from the movie "Parenthood" that she watched "for the first time." I'm sure she's seen it before as I've seen it many times during my adolescence, but I decided it wasn't worth arguing over. The old grandma says to stressed out Steve Martin, "Life is like a rollercoaster. There are ups and there are downs. But I'd rather ride a rollercoaster all my life than a merri-go-round" (or something to that effect). And it's true. Life would be boring if we just did the same old thing all the time and never had any real excitement. So I have to force myself to get on that rollercoaster and ride up that first slow, big, noisy hill and head on down over the edge. I really don't want to, but I'm already stuck in line.

"Blood Diamond"

I went to see the movie "Blood Diamond" last night with my friend Andra. And I have to say that it is a movie that EVERYONE should see. It was very violent and disturbing, but spoke the truth about the lives that people in Africa have to live on a daily basis. The movie is about a diamond smuggler (the handsome Leonardo DiCaprio) who meets an African man named Soloman whose family is torn apart by the rebel militia (RUF). This man had found an enormous rare diamond while held captive in a diamond mine. Leonardo figures out about it and convinces Soloman that they can go back to the mine to get it. The movie tells of the two men's struggle to stay alive in the middle of civil war. I won't tell you much more, but the story, although I think it is ficticious with regards to the characters, tells the brutal truth of what people, and children, have to suffer through in Africa. Not just severe poverty, but rape, forced amputations with machetes, villages being burned, child soldiers (who are ripped from their parents, given machine guns, iv drugs, alcohol, brainwashed...) the threat of death at any time. It reminded me of the current brutality in Darfur. These things actually happen. How does the developed world allow this to happen to people? There's a part in the movie where the two men come across this old man in one of the villages they walk through on the way to find the diamond and the old man says something to Soloman along the lines of, "imagine what would happen here if they found oil?!" And it made me laugh. Would it be different? Worse? Another Iraq? The U.S. would sure be over there. Anyways, go see this movie - it will change you, and give you and your friends a lot to talk about.

My First Felted Project

Here is my first attempt at felting. It wasn't all that complicated, and it turned out almost as I had expected, except with a bit more vertical shrinkage than predicted. So now I just have to figure out how to put it together. I bought these metal rings at Michael's today and they're not the size I really wanted but I think they will do. The other option was to buy some old belts and "repurpose" their hardware. But, I didn't. I was a little lazy and am also hoping for something actually usuable [by this I mean not too homemade (not too embarrassing or poor looking)]. Do you think I should line it with some fabric? I'll show you the finished product in a couple days, or maybe even tommorrow.

A New Year - A New Blog

I've done it! I've started a blog. I've been wanting to start one for some time now, but have thought that there's not much point to a blog that doesn't have photos - so, thanks to the parents, this Christmas I received a digital camera and now, January 1st 2007, I am starting a blog. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm doing it. I've recently gotten myself immersed into the world of knitting blogs. So, part of this blog is my attempt to present myself as someone worthy of having a knitting blog to call my own. However, since I've never actually made another more difficult a scarf, I do not feel worthy enough to actually label myself as a knitting blogger. I would also be quite embarrassed if someone like knitandtonic or the infamous yarnharlot were to somehow come across my so-called knitting blog. (FYI - these are my two favorite knitting blogs that I check somewhat obsessively and, admittedly, I do get quite upset when I go to their ites and there is still the same old posting from the last time I checked) So, I am starting my own blog to tell you all about my very important opinions and show off my oh-so-fabulous social life, but it will also covertly be a showcase for all my crafty wares. I've named the blog "legacy" after a song by Nicole Nordeman that challenges me to think of how I will be remembered on this earth, what will I do that makes a difference, what sets me apart, makes me unique in other's eyes. For 2007 I am expecting a lot of changes (which I will tell you about soon enough) so I am also using this blog as a way of journaling my new life. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I do too.