New York, New York!

"Start spreading the news,
I'm leaving today.
I want to be a part of it,
New York, New York!"

Love ya, Frank.

Well, the secret is out. I'm moving to New York in January. I bought my one way ticket a couple days ago and I'm heading out. I won't be gone long though, I'm thinking about coming home to Bellingham in June. Sooo six monthsish? Not too bad. But I feel like everyone and their mother is wondering about what this plan is all about, so this will hopefully clear it all up.

As most of you know, I have had the privelage of nannying for a great family in New York. This is the same family I've traveled with, most recently this past June and July to Italy. I love them dearly, and they treat me like gold. They are so wonderful, and I really value my relationships with all of them. Over the past couple years, Jen and I have talked about me moving out to NY. They have offered me their home, and said I am welcome to stay with them as long as I want! This summer I started seriously thinking about it, and I spent the Italy trip in prayer. I feel very confident in my choice to move to New York, and I'm really excited about it! There is no other time in my life that I can just pick up and move, so I'm going for it!

Now, I am well aware that I am dating a handsome man who lives on the West coast, and I am also well aware that New York is quite far from the little town of Sheridan, OR where he resides.I also know that both he and I are less than millionaires, so traveling back and forth will be minimal. BUT, I know that we have something pretty darn special going on, and we're really confident that we'll be just fine. (Think Skype. Lots and lots of Skype.) He has been nothing but encouraging about the whole thing. Of course we're both totally bummed about spending so much time apart, but six months isn't that long in the grand scheme of things.

In New York, I plan on doing some babysitting on the side for friends of theirs, most of whom I have already met many times over the past few years. I may also apply at the Starbucks in their town. I'm going to have to take one more class over in Westchester, so I'll get that done winter quarter. Other than that, I'll just be taking it one day at a time.

I love them.

Me and Jenny Bug in Rome.

See? We love each other.

Baby sister.

(:

Anyways, I'm thrilled to bits to be heading out and chasing this little dream of mine. Prayers are welcomed and encouraged.

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. ;)

Nursing, Nursing, Nursing!

I just registered for the Certified Nursing Assistant program at BTC for Winter quarter. Excuse the short post, but I am so, so, so excited!

New Plans: The College Update

This might not be a super interesting post, but it's all about my newest plans for schooling. As you all (probably) know, I'm going to school for Nursing. I'm not in a nursing program yet, and Western does not offer a program which is a huge bummer. So I've been looking into schools that I can transfer to.

Here is the new and improved list:

West Coast:

University of Washington

Northwest University

Seattle University

Seattle Pacific University

Whatcom Community College (don't really want to go here, but I'm applying anyways)

Biola University

East Coast:

New York University

Pace University

Cochran School of Nursing

Westchester Community College (Also don't want to go here, mainly because I would only receive my Associates degree, and I really want to graduate with a bachelors.)

So. That's the list thus far. Some of these schools are incredibly expensive. NYU? Like 45,000 buckaroos a year. Yeah right. So if I end up deciding to go to some of these schools, I'm hoping for some prayer partners to make it happen.