New Years

2009:

Fabulous year. Another year at Western, new friends, new adventures. I traveled multiple times to New York, went backpacking through five European countries (Italy, France, Ireland, Scotland, England), and also recently made a trip to the Oregon Coast. Most of my time was spent in Bellingham though and I'm happy about that. I've got a new nephew and a huge family that lives here. I am blessed for sure. I continued to lead worship at my church, Hillcrest Chapel, and decided to start leading a Bible study for college women. I've grown a lot this year, and while I've certainly had a significant amount of failures (think Behavioral Neuroscience), it's been mostly uphill. And recently in my prayer times, I've been able to confidently tell the Lord that I'm content. My worship pastor and friend wrote a song called "Home" and one of the lyrics is "Whether to the right or to the left, you'll say 'Go and serve this is the way.' I'll follow you today." That right there seems to be my life motto right now, and I'm loving it. All in all, 2009 was great.

2010:

I'm looking forward to becoming a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) this next quarter. I'm taking the class at Bellingham Tech, while taking Biology at Western and a nutrition class online through Bellevue Community College. It's going to be a weird quarter, but it'll be good to get more pre-reqs finished. Hopefully I'll be making more trips, nothing quite as crazy in '09, but Hawaii, more trips to Oregon, and New York are all in store. Oh wait- kidding. I forgot. I'm going to Tuscany in June to nanny, and also to Nantucket. :) I'll be applying to Nursing schools soon, and I'm thrilled. I'll continue my Bible study and also leading worship.

Resolutions:

Last year I chose three Fruits of the Spirit to work on. They were kindness, goodness and self control. It was amazing to see God working in me in these areas. I've been thinking and praying about which three to choose for this year, and patience is certainly going to be the first one. I'm not sure which other two I'm going to choose, but I'm still thinking and praying. I love seeing the opportunities God puts in front of me. When I prayed for kindness, I found myself in situations that I had to be choose to be kind.

So for now, patience. More to come.

Connecting the Dots

My mom came up to me yesterday and told me that lots of people have been asking her what I'm doing. "Is she moving to New York?" "Is she going back to live in Europe?" "Nursing? Not nursing?" Apparently my life is confusing to people. If that's the case, read on! I'm going to connect some dots, cross some t's, dot the i's. :)

New York: As most of you probably know, I nanny for a wonderful family in New York from time to time. Since I've been able to go out there so much, I've gotten to know the cities surrounding their town of Mt. Kisco and have totally fallen in love with the whole state. I am seriously considering moving to NY either next Fall or the Fall after. I want to go to Pace University, but am applying to a few other schools around their home in Mt. Kisco as well. The Kleins have graciously offered to let me live with them if need be. (They are incredible.) So, that's New York for ya. Hopefully I'll end up there for at least two years. If I go to New York, I fully and completely plan on moving back here.

Europe: I went backpacking in Europe for a month this past Spring, and discovered that I LOVE European countries and would love to live there for awhile. Right now this isn't really an option, unless I put off school for awhile. (Not going to happen though.) It's a dream. I would love to make cappuccinos, read books, speak Italian and eat fresh pasta and do nothing else for a year. Unfortunately, for many reasons this isn't a real possibility. Boo adulthood.

Why Leave Bellingham?: I'm at Western, but WWU does not have a nursing school- which is d-u-m-b dumb. I'm applying to Whatcom as well as a few other in state schools in order to complete my RN. It's possible that I might stay here, but I'm applying to lots of other places too.

So- that should probably wrap up any confusion about my life. Right now I have three more classes to take before I can enter nursing school. (Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II.) If I can finish these by Summer, that would be sweet and hopefully I can apply to nursing school earlier. WWU doesn't offer A&P II in the Summer though. Whatcom maybe? Once again. We'll see.

Phew. That's a lot of me talking about what could be. For now, I'm trying to ace classes and work so I can make enough money to eventually move to Europe. ;)

For the love of Starbucks.

I visited Starbucks this morning for a hot cup o' joe. I broke away from my usual drink and decided to just go with a tall drip. (Pike Place Blend.) Yum. Look how cute this cup is? Love it.

The purpose of this post is to tell you that I spilt my coffee on my lap a record THREE times. THREE!! That is just ridiculous.

and also that:

A.) I love the red cups.

and

B.) I will finally give into being called the "Tornado" by my adoring parents. I suppose the shoe really does fit in this case.

Ore-Gone

White sand?? Yes please!

I have found the recipe for a great mini-vacation. It includes the following:

-Rock climbing

-A beach

-Flying a kite

-Climbing up to the top of a lighthouse

-Fresh fish and chips overlooking the harbor

-Car games

-oh... and laughing till you cry.

I went to Oregon for a few days to visit my friend Dustin. He recently moved to Salem, so the day after my finals were over, I went to go visit him! We had such a blast. We drove to Portland for rock climbing at this great bouldering gym called The Circuit. I'm embarrassed to say that my shoulders are still a little sore. What a blast though. Then the next day, we gassed up his car and drove to the Oregon Coast. We went to Newport beach. It was gorgeous, and much warmer than we anticipated it being. (Warmer = about 40 degrees.)

This is right next to the lighthouse, overlooking the ocean.

Possibly my favorite picture of all time- we went to the tide pools below the lighthouse.

Dustin looks like he's six.

Here's the lighthouse. It wasn't that fabulous of a view, to be honest, but the tour guides made up for it. (I had to keep myself from looking at Dustin because I knew if I did I would burst out in laughter.)

When we first pulled into the beach.

We had super yummy fish and chips overlooking the harbor, we climbed to the top of a working lighthouse, and attempted to fly a kite that we purchased. There was literally NO wind. I forced Dustin to try and fly it though, because I figured that we bought this stupid little octopus kite, and therefore we are going to at least try. You know? So Dustin just started sprinting around the beach yelling "Katy! It's working! It's working!" I was trying to take pictures but had tears streaming down my face from laughing.

Dustin and our octopus.

Down on the beach.

All in all, it was a super fun little vacation. Neither of us had been to the Oregon coast in years, so it was fun for both of us. And it was also nice to take a break and just have fun after weeks of sitting in that stinkin' Western library.