Providence Christian College, Class of 2011

The first weekend of May, I had the privilege to go down to Providence to watch some of my best friends graduate from college.  I waited with excitement and anxiety about this week.  It was exciting to be part of such a special weekend for my friends, but it was also difficult to grasp that I wasn’t graduating with them.  I knew that after that weekend, my ties with Providence would be broken.  Yes, Providence will always be a huge part of my life, but it’s not the same school anymore. 

• they moved from Ontario to Pasadena
• they no longer have 4Ws…they have Adovahs
• there is no Hesed hall, they have quads
• there are no handprints outside the rooms
• there isn’t a globe in the middle of campus
• the people are different

Part of me is so sad that nothing is the same anymore, but I am so thankful for the two years that I did have.  I was blessed with amazing friends who I know will be good friends for a long time. 

Moving on.  My trip was short and sweet.  I started my drive on Friday morning and made it to Pasadena early in the afternoon.  On Friday night there was a dinner for all the seniors and their families and friends.  I got to spend time with Rachel and her family during dinner.  I enjoyed catching up with the Fleemans and hearing all about Rach’s wedding plans. 

After dinner was senior celebration.  They presented academic awards, sang, had a slideshow, and heard a few of the professors talk.  It was a very joyous night filled with a lot of old memories.  After senior celebration, a bunch of us went out for drinks at a local pub.  It was fun to catch with some more people and hear about everyone’s plans for next year. 

Saturday morning was graduation.  The ceremony was beautiful.  It was very personal and uplifting.  After the ceremony, I went to lunch with Lorah and her family to celebrate.  I loved hanging out with them and spending some extra time with Lorah.  After lunch we headed back to campus and I packed up my things to head for home.  Since the next day was mother’s day, I wanted to make sure that I was home to be with my mom. 



My beautiful friends that both graduated summa cum laude



 Congrats to Providence Christian College, Class of 2011. 

Jesus, Hold Me Now

Back On Track

WOAH!  I sure have been lacking here in blogland!  I was out to dinner tonight with a friend who mentioned my blog and asked how often I update it.  I was sure that I had just posted a blog not too long ago, but now I see that I was completely wrong about that.  So here I sit on my comfy bed all wrapped up in my blankets and with a little drinky (I love a good glass of Bethenny Frankel’s skinny girl margarita!).    

Life has been pretty hectic the last few weeks.  I was just moved to a new department at work.  I am now an appliances sales associate!  I had been working in operations for over a year and a half.  I have the type of personality that likes to keep on learning new things.  I felt like I had learned everything that I could in ops so I was excited to be moving on to something new.  This is my third week in appliances.  My first week consisted of training.  I was scheduled with another associate the whole week.  The past two weeks I have been flying solo for the most part.  I get a bit stressed every once in a while when I can't figure something out.  My favorite part of working in this new department is the customer interaction.  I encountered some pretty awesome people while I was a cashier, but actually having the time to talk to the customers and get to know them is so awesome.  The one downfall of this job is that I now know all the top of the line benefits in appliances and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to buy cheap things. 

With this new department has come new hours.  I have been working about 30 hours a week plus going to school, doing all of my church stuff, and trying to squeeze in a social life.  Even though life is hectic right now, I am so happy.  I haven’t felt like this in quite some time.  It’s so nice to finally feel like my life is back on track again. 

Oh, Valentine's Day

Valentine’s day can be oh so very anticlimactic when you don’t have that special someone to share it with.  As this day was approaching I started to dread it more and more.  Not only was it Valentine’s, it was a Monday, and I had school and work.  I was thankful that I at least would be busy and not have to worry about sitting at home feeling sorry for myself.

The day turned out much better than I had anticipated.  School was school, but I enjoyed spending time with the wonderful people in my class (some aren’t so wonderful, but I love all my dearies that constantly make me laugh).  After school I headed home to relax before work.  On my bed was a pretty wrapped present and card from my parents.  I got a cute little frame and a wonderful card reading:

“A parent’s heart is always filled with wishes for a daughter, and I keep many special hopes within my heart for you.  I want you to be happy with the woman you’ve become—your gentleness, compassion, and warmth set you apart.  I want you to be just as proud as I am of your talents—the world today can really use your wisdom and your gifts.  And I want you to be true both to yourself and to your dreams and to feel fulfilled in any work or role that you might choose.  But more than anything in life, I want you to feel loved. 

Yes, every parent’s heart is filled with wishes for a daughter, especially when that daughter is as wonderful as you.”

As sappy as that may sound, it sure made my day a whole lot better.  After relaxing at home with my puppy, I was off to work.  To the surprise of all the girls at work, one of the guys went and bought a red rose for all the girls in our store.  We also all got a valentine and candy.  After work I went home and watched The Bachelor (THANK GOODNESS MICHELLE IS FINALLY GONE!!!) 

I have been in a bit of a funk lately, but am so glad that I have such wonderful people in my life.

I'm Baaaack

Is there anyone still there?  I can’t believe that I haven’t written anything since September!!  So much has happened in the last 4ish months.  I started Court Reporting school, still working at Best Buy, successfully surprised my dad with a visit from my brother, made a visit down to Providence, my Aunt Kristina and adorable cousins visited from South Carolina, and celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Don’t worry, I don’t plan to go into detail about each of these events...I will further explain a few things though.

First off, I know most of you probably know what a court reporter (CR) does, but your knowledge doesn’t go much further than, they write down everything in court.  Yes, you are correct, they do write everything that is said in court, but it goes on much further than that.  Most people think that a CR types on a regular qwerty keyboard.  It would be pretty impossible to produce a verbatim transcript by using a qwerty.  A CR uses a Steno machine made especially for shorthand writers.  An example of a Steno writer looks like this…

I know it looks rather confusing, and it was at first, but not anymore!  The average speed that a person talks is 180 words per minute, I have to be able to write at over 200 words to graduate.  We learn to type in combinations…this is what allows us to type so quickly.  Most of the time I am hitting multiple keys to create words and phrases.  Learning shorthand is like learning a different language.  Along with learning shorthand and trying to build up my speed, I also have other requirement classes I have to take.  I am currently in legal terminology.  I was really worried that I would hate this class.  Come to find out, I really like it.  My teacher is awesome and really down to earth.  Learning about the ins and outs of the legal system is so interesting.  Love the class, but I am still really worried about my midterm next week.

Well, that’s all for now…I promise I won’t wait four months before I write again.