Emma is a few months older than this picture and the binky (pacifier) no longer looks like it takes up half her face but this still remains one of my favorite pictures of my favorite niece. I love you little Emma Z!
Friday, September 29, 2006
favorite foto friday
Emma is a few months older than this picture and the binky (pacifier) no longer looks like it takes up half her face but this still remains one of my favorite pictures of my favorite niece. I love you little Emma Z!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
three things thursday
1. As we speak, I am getting DirecTV with DVR. Woohoo! Now, I'll have a bunch of TV recorded that I'll never have time to watch. :)
2. Tomorrow is the 2-month anniversary of the love of James and Zoey. Happy Anniversary to us!
3. It's Knott's Scary Farm tomorrow night. I think I'll be scared but I'm prepared to not react, squeeze James' hand and if needed, yell back! I love the fall. I will mark my love and celebration of the fall with our venture to Knott's Scary Farm!
2. Tomorrow is the 2-month anniversary of the love of James and Zoey. Happy Anniversary to us!
3. It's Knott's Scary Farm tomorrow night. I think I'll be scared but I'm prepared to not react, squeeze James' hand and if needed, yell back! I love the fall. I will mark my love and celebration of the fall with our venture to Knott's Scary Farm!
attending behavior
We learned about and practiced attending behavior in my Clinical Foundations class and lab this week. Attending behavior is what you do as a therapist to encourage talking and sometimes not encourage talking on say issues that are destructive or nonproductive. The categories of attending behavior are visual/eye contact, vocal qualities, verbal tracking and attentive/authentic body language. In my triad of role playing, I was observer, therapist and client. We first practiced bad attending behavior which was quite hilarious them moved onto the good stuff. Jill, Rachel and I were even observed by our Clinical Foundations TA and we all did quite well! I really can't wait to learn more good therapist "behaviors" and see clients. I love that I have no hesistancy in pursuing this career. It's a great feeling.
I also had Legal & Ethical Issues in MFT. We didn't get into too much content with the obligatory syllabus review, etc. but my reading has been good. It talked about we cannot be unbiased in our therapy. We come with values and our clients comes with values and the differing of those is the obstacle to overcome in a therapeutic relationship where if you go unchecked you could putting your values on another, etc. I've also dived into a chapter on some of the codes and ethics in the broad field of psychology from social worker to psychologist. Fun, fun!
So far I am enjoying it all! Throw in a little American Church History where we are all about the Puritans and their journey to the New World and I feel like a new woman!! I love learning and I love this career I'm headed toward! Yipee!!
I also had Legal & Ethical Issues in MFT. We didn't get into too much content with the obligatory syllabus review, etc. but my reading has been good. It talked about we cannot be unbiased in our therapy. We come with values and our clients comes with values and the differing of those is the obstacle to overcome in a therapeutic relationship where if you go unchecked you could putting your values on another, etc. I've also dived into a chapter on some of the codes and ethics in the broad field of psychology from social worker to psychologist. Fun, fun!
So far I am enjoying it all! Throw in a little American Church History where we are all about the Puritans and their journey to the New World and I feel like a new woman!! I love learning and I love this career I'm headed toward! Yipee!!
Monday, September 25, 2006
First day of school...
Today was the first day of the fall quarter. I had one class today and it was American Church History. I loved it. We reviewed the highlights of the Reformation. The cool part is that I remember what I learned in Medieval and Reformation Church History and enjoyed again journeying back to that part of history. This is a tough class with much reading, two big exams and a 15 page research paper with a thesis and all but the professor is amazing and I find that I am throughly engaged in the class. I'm no good at history but have found this class to be one of the most intriguing classes I've had to date in my graduate career. Let me tell you... weird!
Tomorrow I have two of my MFT classes. So excited! Clinical Foundations and Legal and Ethical Issues in MFT. It should scare the be-gibbers out of me for sure. I got the syllabus for Legal and Ethical Issues. It looks challenging and yet very rewarding. I am SOOO excited. Did I mention I am excited? I will post tomorrow on how excited or not excited I end up being!
Ciao!
Tomorrow I have two of my MFT classes. So excited! Clinical Foundations and Legal and Ethical Issues in MFT. It should scare the be-gibbers out of me for sure. I got the syllabus for Legal and Ethical Issues. It looks challenging and yet very rewarding. I am SOOO excited. Did I mention I am excited? I will post tomorrow on how excited or not excited I end up being!
Ciao!
Sleeping with Bread Monday: Moving and Magic
DESOLATION
My mom has been anticipating moving to Ohio for much of this past year. I'm very excited for and in a matter of a few weeks she will be a resident of Ohio with a job looking for a house. I am very proud of her for making this major life transition. I am very proud of her. At the same time, my grandfather is moving back to the OC and now the place where I grew up will become a memory instead of a destination to visit my family. So although I am excited, I am sad that my mom will be much further away. It's one of those mixed emotion times when you feel happy and sad in the same moment.
CONSOLATION
I went with James to his high school reunion on Saturday night. He was asked to do a 20 minute magic show. It was the first time I saw him perform. He was GREAT and such a natural. That didn't surprise me but it was fun to see him in action. It was very cool to see the smiles and wonder he brought to people's faces. It felt like just for a moment they were transported back to the time in our lives when we are amazed and awed and for those moments you forget the sometimes hard, cold reality of our modern life. I won't let him tell me the secrets of his magic. I want to be amazed as long as I can. I need amazement in my life especially going into the field of therapy. That is just one of the many reasons why I cherish him in my life. He is a joy to others and especially a joy to me.
My mom has been anticipating moving to Ohio for much of this past year. I'm very excited for and in a matter of a few weeks she will be a resident of Ohio with a job looking for a house. I am very proud of her for making this major life transition. I am very proud of her. At the same time, my grandfather is moving back to the OC and now the place where I grew up will become a memory instead of a destination to visit my family. So although I am excited, I am sad that my mom will be much further away. It's one of those mixed emotion times when you feel happy and sad in the same moment.
CONSOLATION
I went with James to his high school reunion on Saturday night. He was asked to do a 20 minute magic show. It was the first time I saw him perform. He was GREAT and such a natural. That didn't surprise me but it was fun to see him in action. It was very cool to see the smiles and wonder he brought to people's faces. It felt like just for a moment they were transported back to the time in our lives when we are amazed and awed and for those moments you forget the sometimes hard, cold reality of our modern life. I won't let him tell me the secrets of his magic. I want to be amazed as long as I can. I need amazement in my life especially going into the field of therapy. That is just one of the many reasons why I cherish him in my life. He is a joy to others and especially a joy to me.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
three things thursday
(In attempt to blog more reguarly, I am borrowing certain blogging patterns from other blogs that I have been reading.)
1) I have a hard time relaxing and not feeling guilty about it.
2) I think I am an adrenaline junkie. If I don't have a lot going on, I feel unmotivated to do anything.
3) I am thankful for my boyfriend who brings out the lighter side of me and helps me counter the above mentioned extreme thinking. I am extremely thankful for him.
1) I have a hard time relaxing and not feeling guilty about it.
2) I think I am an adrenaline junkie. If I don't have a lot going on, I feel unmotivated to do anything.
3) I am thankful for my boyfriend who brings out the lighter side of me and helps me counter the above mentioned extreme thinking. I am extremely thankful for him.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
what's kept me so busy
Today is the third day of Welcome Week. It's kinda of weird to be a part of Welcome Week for a school that I've been at for over a year and a half. Now I am "officially" a marriage and family therapist student and I'm getting acquainted with my new cohort and a new program. Today I am especially excited to attend sessions more specifically to my program. Tomorrow night will be a dinner specific for the marriage and family department and that will be a great time to get to know faculty and other students in my program. I attended a curriculum session yesterday and was a little overwhelmed at the requirements for practicum in terms of hours and what types of client contact equaled what types of hours towards graduation. I decided that it would make sense later on especially when we had our first official orientation to practicum, etc. I'll reserve my confusion for that time. Classes begin next week, Monday, September 25th. Woohoo!
I came back from Ohio a week ago today. James picked me up from the airport with pink flowers in hand. It was sooo good to see him. So good. We then went to the LA County Fair. It's been years since I've been to the fair. We had fun going in and out of shopping buildings, seeing the farm animals (in which he learned that I am still a little scared of them bigs animals!), and ate and ate yummy fair food. I think I was going to turn into a fried girl after all that fried food. It is a weird sensation to crave fruits and vegetables and water but I did after that eating frenzy.
Thursday was Disneyland day. That was a blast. I did pretty good from being sooo tired from flying, etc. We got there when the park opened at 10am and left as it closed at 8pm. The highlights were eating Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes, riding with the captain in the wheel house of the Mark Twain and getting on nearly every ride in California Adventure and Disneyland before we left. It was good too to have more time with James after being away for so long. We had sushi on the way home. That was yummy too.
Saturday was USC game day. That was fun to see my team beat Nebraska! Go boys!
Sunday was church, breakfast and to the cemetery to visit the grave of James' dad. Then we were off to a wonderful date. We got all dolled up. I wish I had a picture to post of us. We both were all in black and just looked good! We had lovely and fancy dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restuarant, attended "It's Magic" at the Kodak Theatre, where all of the world's top magicians come and show off their stuff, and then went to a party at the Magic Castle which is a club in Hollywood. It was very, very fun. The magicians were amazing and seeing many of the reasons why James loves magic so much was very special. It was a world I had only heard about from James. It was fascinating to see the variety of people attracted to magic. Siegfred was at the show and at the afterparty and we also saw Neil Patrick Harris from Doogie Howser who is a magician as well. There are actually many celebrities who dabble in the world of magic. I won't let James tell me any of the secrets of his tricks but I am catching on to a few and it was cool to see people swap magic secrets. Anyway, it was a very cool night. It was good to be with James and very fun to see a huge part of his life. I am a very fortunate, blessed and thankful to have him as a part of my life. He is a special, special man. He sees life as an adventure and brings out the lighter side of me.
It was all perfect fun. Now it's back to the day-to-day stuff but that stuff is fun too as I "officially" enter a chapter in my life that I've waited for a long time. The weekend holds an amateur wrestling match and James' high school reunion. More fun.
That's it for now...
I came back from Ohio a week ago today. James picked me up from the airport with pink flowers in hand. It was sooo good to see him. So good. We then went to the LA County Fair. It's been years since I've been to the fair. We had fun going in and out of shopping buildings, seeing the farm animals (in which he learned that I am still a little scared of them bigs animals!), and ate and ate yummy fair food. I think I was going to turn into a fried girl after all that fried food. It is a weird sensation to crave fruits and vegetables and water but I did after that eating frenzy.
Thursday was Disneyland day. That was a blast. I did pretty good from being sooo tired from flying, etc. We got there when the park opened at 10am and left as it closed at 8pm. The highlights were eating Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes, riding with the captain in the wheel house of the Mark Twain and getting on nearly every ride in California Adventure and Disneyland before we left. It was good too to have more time with James after being away for so long. We had sushi on the way home. That was yummy too.
Saturday was USC game day. That was fun to see my team beat Nebraska! Go boys!
Sunday was church, breakfast and to the cemetery to visit the grave of James' dad. Then we were off to a wonderful date. We got all dolled up. I wish I had a picture to post of us. We both were all in black and just looked good! We had lovely and fancy dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restuarant, attended "It's Magic" at the Kodak Theatre, where all of the world's top magicians come and show off their stuff, and then went to a party at the Magic Castle which is a club in Hollywood. It was very, very fun. The magicians were amazing and seeing many of the reasons why James loves magic so much was very special. It was a world I had only heard about from James. It was fascinating to see the variety of people attracted to magic. Siegfred was at the show and at the afterparty and we also saw Neil Patrick Harris from Doogie Howser who is a magician as well. There are actually many celebrities who dabble in the world of magic. I won't let James tell me any of the secrets of his tricks but I am catching on to a few and it was cool to see people swap magic secrets. Anyway, it was a very cool night. It was good to be with James and very fun to see a huge part of his life. I am a very fortunate, blessed and thankful to have him as a part of my life. He is a special, special man. He sees life as an adventure and brings out the lighter side of me.
It was all perfect fun. Now it's back to the day-to-day stuff but that stuff is fun too as I "officially" enter a chapter in my life that I've waited for a long time. The weekend holds an amateur wrestling match and James' high school reunion. More fun.
That's it for now...
Monday, September 4, 2006
been here 8 and 8 to go
Happy Labor Day! Weird phenomena in Ohio...everything closes early! 5pm. This would not happen in California.
It's been a full trip so far in the OH. Every day seems to fly by. Carrie and I went to take Step class today at the gym which was delightful. Emma Z took another long nap much to the delight of her parents. The girl doesn't sleep the way she should for her age. She doesn't want to miss anything. Sounds like someone else I know! ;) We ran a bunch of random errands and had an early dinner at the Chiptole. Carrie and I also played a few games of Phase 10. We've also been watching the US Open like you wouldn't believe. It sounds like a rather simple trip and it is and yet it feels very full. It is just right. I do look forward to going home because I do miss my bf a ton. Yep, I do. A lot. A lot.
It's been a full trip so far in the OH. Every day seems to fly by. Carrie and I went to take Step class today at the gym which was delightful. Emma Z took another long nap much to the delight of her parents. The girl doesn't sleep the way she should for her age. She doesn't want to miss anything. Sounds like someone else I know! ;) We ran a bunch of random errands and had an early dinner at the Chiptole. Carrie and I also played a few games of Phase 10. We've also been watching the US Open like you wouldn't believe. It sounds like a rather simple trip and it is and yet it feels very full. It is just right. I do look forward to going home because I do miss my bf a ton. Yep, I do. A lot. A lot.
Friday, September 1, 2006
the OH
I arrived Tuesday to the OH for a 2 week and one day trip. It is now the eve of day 4 and we are preparing to go to a Steely Dan & Michael McDonald concert. This at the influence of my brother-in-law who loves the smooth jazz. I had to buy a hoodie at the Target and pants at the Old Navy for the event because of course I forget that it is not SoCal everywhere!
We've been watching the US Open. John and I both stayed up until 1am to watch the Andre Agassi match. It was phenomenal. It was a piece of tennis history and it brought back memories of my days playing tennis in high school and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the much younger Andre. It was sweet. We've also hit the gym. Yet most of the time has been occupied loving on little Emma Z. She is just the sweetest girl ever. She makes the day fly by. It's been a good time with sister as well. She appreciates having an adult human to help and interact with throughout the day!
Tomorrow night is the first game for USC this season. 7:45pm. ESPN. TiVo. Carrie and John will be going out for a date night to a fav dining spot. Emma and I will watch the team coming out running and show the world we mean business. Oh, then she'll go to bed and I'll pick up where I left off. It should be golden!
Lastly, I miss the boyfriend (herein referred to as bf) very much. We talk, text message and everyday I've read on a little strip of paper the things he loves about me. He'll be getting little fun things in the mail in return. Yet it's just not the same without being with him. Absence does make the heart grow fonder and I look forward very much to seeing him when I get back. :) He is simply the best.
Until the next time...
We've been watching the US Open. John and I both stayed up until 1am to watch the Andre Agassi match. It was phenomenal. It was a piece of tennis history and it brought back memories of my days playing tennis in high school and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the much younger Andre. It was sweet. We've also hit the gym. Yet most of the time has been occupied loving on little Emma Z. She is just the sweetest girl ever. She makes the day fly by. It's been a good time with sister as well. She appreciates having an adult human to help and interact with throughout the day!
Tomorrow night is the first game for USC this season. 7:45pm. ESPN. TiVo. Carrie and John will be going out for a date night to a fav dining spot. Emma and I will watch the team coming out running and show the world we mean business. Oh, then she'll go to bed and I'll pick up where I left off. It should be golden!
Lastly, I miss the boyfriend (herein referred to as bf) very much. We talk, text message and everyday I've read on a little strip of paper the things he loves about me. He'll be getting little fun things in the mail in return. Yet it's just not the same without being with him. Absence does make the heart grow fonder and I look forward very much to seeing him when I get back. :) He is simply the best.
Until the next time...
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