Fair Judging

I have successfully survived a county fair judging! I went through the training session last fall, and have been waiting anxiously for fair season to start so I could try my skills on the other side of the table. I judged at the Fillmore County fair today and made some extra money, which is always nice. I judged fine arts. It was so much fun to see what everyone has created in the last year! The top 2 projects were a dot painting made with the tip of a toothpick and a painted boot. After seeing all the paintings, I really want to try some of my own. I don't know if I can wait until September when I signed up for a painting class!

Getting Creative with Willow

It was so busy at work yesterday that I got paid to play with willow tree branches! I am going to be putting on a "Weaving with Willows" program later thus summer at the park. During down time yesterday, I taught myself how to do weave with the willow branches. After weaving my first baby basket, I got in touch with my creative side. What was the result you ask? Why, it was a giant spider, a butterfly, and a dragonfly! Yup, I'm just that awesome.

Rusty Firkin

There was a new addition to the family today, and his name is Rusty Firkin. Yes, he is a dog! No, that is not a child's name. After lots of searching and discussing, my parents FINALLY adopted a dog!! Rusty is a 6 year old yorkie/rat terrier mix. He is pretty cute! Loves to lick and very tiny (a whole 6 lbs), but very cute. Taffy liked him right away, but he's not sure what to think of her yet. Within a week, I'm sure they will become good buddies.

Record Snow Storm

Happy May! Time for snow? Mother nature seems to think so, considering she decided to dump 15.5 inches of snow on the ground. Its crazy! This is a new record too. There has never been this much snow in May before. So crazy, yet it is kinda fun. I never thought I would have the chance to snowshoe in May. Not to mention, did I ever think I would get stuck in the driveway! Shovels broke last month, and my dad can't work the snowblower due to his shoulder surgery. Good thing I don't have to go anywhere for a couple of days!

Birthday Fun

Happy (belated) birthday to my LP!! Her birthday was actually last week, and she is now the big 3-0! We celebrated over the weekend with a surprise party hosted by her husband. She was very surprised so mission accomplished! :) She is a fellow rubber duckie collector so I got in touch with my creative baking side to bake her the best birthday cake: a rubber duckie cake! Thanks to a garage sale I got the Wilton mold for only $1, and it was like new. It turned out pretty awesome too. And the birthday girl loved it. :)

First Sewing Project = Success!

My main New Year's resolution came true today! I successfully learned how to sew on my mom's sewing machine. I pinned a DIY ear bud case a few years ago. Today, I finally got to make it! It was a little tricky sewing in a circle, but it was really fun to learn. And it turned out pretty awesome! I can't wait to sew something else. I have always wanted a fun steering wheel cover for Cosmo. I need to find some fabric, and I think that just might be my nest project.

Happy 2013!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted. Over a year! It’s time to start back up again. A lot has happened in the past year. First, I am no longer in school. I graduated last August with an Environmental Science degree. The last 2 semesters were a challenge, hence the stopped blogging. It’s all done now! J I interned with the DNR again last summer as a Watercraft Inspector Lead. It was fun, but not quite as fun as the summer before. The state added decon units, which meant more employees. No more solitary reading during every shift, which was okay sometimes but not all the time. Also, my supervisor was new, so my co-workers looked to me with questions. It didn’t go over very well with my sup. It’s all over now though, and I have a different job with the DNR this summer! Starting at the end of this month, I will be a State Park Naturalist. I am so excited! I have a 3 day training with naturalists all across the state, and then another 4 day training with my co-workers at the park. Park of my responsibility this summer will consist of cave tours. I am so excited!!
 
Second, I traveled to Ireland over Spring Break last March. Yes, I was in Dublin for St. Paddy’s Day, and it was amazing! For 9 days, I traveled all over Ireland with my friend Bubbles and about 65 other travelers from the US. Starting in Shannon, we made our way through County Kerry, County Cork, Dublin, Galway, and back to Shannon. Some of the attractions we saw include: Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Bog Village, Blarney Castle, Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse, the Leprechaun Museum, Dublin Zoo, and Aran Islands. It was definitely an experience I will never forget! I’ll be traveling again in June for a wedding. One of my best friends from high school is getting married in South Korea. I’m so excited to travel there for the wedding with his family. It will be my first time traveling to Asia, as well as my first time traveling not in a tour guide led group.
 
Third, let’s back track a little bit with some New Year Resolutions for 2013. After reflecting on my 2012 resolutions, I could have done a lot better. I was hoping to set aside at least 1 day every month as a personal day for crafting, relaxing, or a combo. That happened for the first few months. Once I started working full time in May, personal days did not happen very much. I am hoping to continue setting aside the time this year. It’s a great way to distress. I did well with my second resolution of eating more fruits and veggies. I’ve learned to eat and like a lot of different ones than I never used to like (carrots, kiwi, grapefruit, cucumbers). Maybe the list will continue this year! The last resolution was learning how to sew. This did not happen last year, but it will this year. My number one resolution for 2013 is to learn how to sew. My list on pinterest keeps growing, so I have a lot of fun stuff to create. Now I just need the time! My second resolution is to eat more natural and organic foods, especially fruits and veggies and grass-fed, hormone-free meats. Cheers to a new year! (even if it’s April and not January)

Spring Semester

I have survived my first week back to school, followed by a 4-day weekend. Hard to complain there! This semester will definately challenge my organizational skills and motivation. I only have 3 classes this semester, but 2 of them are strictly online. The one and only class I have on campus this semester is a biology class, Survey of Life Forms. I see a lot of dissecting in my future. I've been told by others that it will be an easy class, which I think is correct. Over half the dissections I'll be doing for this class I all ready did last semester in Zoology. The other things we're going over I did in Plant Biology a couple years ago. Hurray for an easy class thats mostly review! :) The two classes that I'm taking online are Genetics and Organic Chemistry. I've heard bad things about both classes, mostly that they are sposed to be the most challenging classes I will ever take. Yay! So far, neither class seems too bad. A friend of mine is taking Genetics with me, so we plan to meet up every week to go over the material together. I tend to like chem a lot, so it shouldn't be too bad either. That's the semester in a nutshell. It should be my last semester at RCTC, as I'm hoping to graduate in May. I will still have one class left to take over the summer until I officially have my Environmental Science degree, but the class will be at a different school. The end is near! I just need to focus on that tiny light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy 2012!

As another new year begins, it's time to reflect on the previous year once again. Apparently I haven't posted for awhile (not since May to be exact!), so it's time to fix that. It was definately a crazy busy year between friends, my summer internship, and the free time I had to spend with friends and family. I had 3 resolutions last year: (1) keep up with chores around the house, (2) make more homemade gifts for birthdays and holidays, and (3) better my eating and exercise habits. Surprisingly, I have done pretty well this year. Aside from the month of December, I was really good at keeping up my chores around the house. Once finals hit last month, all chores stopped due to stress from school and the approaching holidays. I'm getting back into the swing of it now, which is good. I've done well about making gifts too. Several gifts I gave for Christmas last year were homemade, thanks to pinterest! I plan on keeping that up through this year. It's so much fun to do and crazy cheap, which is always nice. My eating and exercise habits have also improved throughout the year. How do I know this? Because I lost almost 25 pounds last year! :D I also went down a pant size, so I can fit into my old jeans again, which was a very exciting day for me back in September. I have cut out a lot of sweets, but I still enjoy my chocolate in moderation. I don't think I could ever cut it out completely. So all in all, it was a great year for resolutions.

And that brings us to the new year and new resolutions. I have 3 resolutions again for 2012. (1) Set aside at least 1 day every month as a "me day." It can be used for crafting, scrapbooking, or another hobby, or to just sit back and relax watching movies. I've enjoying being able to catch up on some of my hobbies while on Christmas break, and I want to keep it up throughout the year. (2) Eat more fruits and veggies. I was doing really good at this up until around Thanksgiving. At that point, stress set in and altered my eating just like my chores. I like more veggies now that 6 months ago, so I want to get back in the habit of healthy snacking. (3) Learn how to sew. I'm sure most of you have heard of pinterest; I am also addicted to the site. I have found a few patterns for crafts I want to make, but they involve a sewing machine. So, I am going to learn how to use it and sew myself a few things. Maybe I will even be able to make a few gifts for friends and family too! As with the last couple years, I also plan to continue doing well in school and keeping up my 4.0 gpa, especially since I should be graduating this year. Here's to another great year!

DNR

I survived my first weekend back to work. In case you don't remember, I got an internship with the DNR as a watercraft inspector supervisor for the summer. I have a crew of 8 inspectors, and I will be spending my summer driving around and visiting them at various public water access points. I, with the help of my supervisor, spent Friday training in 5 inspectors on my crew. I spent a lot of time visiting them all yesterday. I also started jury duty today, or at least I was supposed to start today. I didn't have to report on my first day, so that was an added bonus. So far all has went well. Let's hope it goes well for the rest of the summer.