Meanwhile...

To anyone who may have been reading this blog, I sincerely apologize for being awful at posting. I could blame it on not having internet at home or not having time at work, but really it just hasn't been a priority.

Since my last post I have completed my practicum, begun the internship portion, looked into licensure for both North and South Carolina, worked on my tan, played in my awesome golf cart, got a part time job and had LOTS of great visitors. This blog is being typed from my small but fabulous office at The Center where I have decorated with pictures of home, St. Lucia, and even a little of my own artwork.  The clients are never boring and my coworkers are even more entertaining.

Although it is great to be at the beach and be able to enjoy that whenever I have some free time, there have been some bumps along the way. People within 10 years of my age who aren't addicted to something seem hard to come by. This means all of my friends here are coworkers or neighbors and most of them are 50ish. Even though our life experiences aren't all the same I have a GREAT time hanging out with them. As for dating....refer to the line about addictions....I'm single. Another bump has been church. I knew I loved my home church, but I did not realize just how much I would miss it. The church I mostly attend here started with a great vision and mission. Right now it seems to be missing the mark and that is sadly causing a lot of tension throughout the church. Thankfully, my coworkers continue to be a place I can go to for support about church and the rest of life.

In a few weeks my best friend and her roomie, who is awesome, are coming down for an entire week!! They aren't staying at my place, but they are going to be here in town and close to my job. So I'm certain I'll be there A LOT. A week or two after that I get to go visit them in Charlotte and go to the Panthers' game! Maybe I can squeeze in an IKEA trip too =). During both of those visits I'm hoping to talk about a BIG trip that my best friend and I will be taking next year to Europe!!!!!

 Feel free to pray about getting licensed and about what happens after I graduate in December!! Thanks y'all!

Take Berkeley to Work Day :)

Life's a beach!

   I try my best not to rub it in, but I do have a pretty awesome lifestyle right now. It's currently 2:30pm on a Tuesday and I'm hanging out at Starbucks after a morning of lunch and Target shopping in Myrtle Beach. I considered some beach time and still might head out there later. My life is revolving around my internship and whatever else I want to do.
    Yesterday was my first day at my internship and it was great! The supervisor there is nice and full of useful information. The rest of the staff are sweet and friendly. My opportunities to work with kids/youth will be unending because I am the only person at the site that wants to focus on young people. Also, they may have an opportunity for me to do a part time paid position for some extra money while I'm down here! The internship process has been SUCH a pain in the butt that it makes me very happy to see how well God has worked this out.
   More obnoxious for some to hear is that due to the smaller amount of time I need for my practicum portion of my internship I don't need to work a full 40 hour week. So my schedule is that I work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays....Sweet deal!
   So forgive me while I get excited about the opportunities that are currently in my lap. I'm going to be happy, I'm going to share photos and mention my free time activities. My life will not be perfect (especially since I'm not bringing in any money until I find a good part time job) and my internship won't be easy, but I will be excited because for the first time in my life I'm doing what I love to do. If my happiness annoys you...don't read my blog, don't friend me on Facebook, don't follow me on Twitter or Instagram and you sure as heck better not get ill with me and then ask to visit!
   I hope that if you had spent years working towards a goal and when you were finally attaining that goal it was more than you ever imagined, I would be happy for you too! So be happy for me, keep quiet if you arent, or take your rain to someone else's parade.

HAPPY TUESDAY Y'ALL!!

 

Clearly We Aren't Irish Enough...

So there is definitely some Irish in my family, but God doesn't care. Things happen when and how He wants them to and we just need to suck it up and know that He knows best. But honestly, March sucks for our family. One of my grandfathers died in that month. In 2007 my mom's mom died on the 17th and a few hours after her funeral on the 21st my dad's mom passed away. In another March my mom was diagnosed with an abnormal tumor that required a major surgery.
So I guess it shouldn't have been a surprised when this March decided not to be awesome either. On March 13th I was laying in my bedroom at about 6:30am when I heard the house phone ring, which is very unusual. I listened as my parents answered the phone and hung up but nobody jumped up to do anything so I assumed all was okay. Then about five minutes later I heard someone in the hall and asked what the call was about. My dad stepped in my doorway and said "your Uncle Chuck died". I was so confused I responded with "are you serious?" Obviously he wouldn't joke about his brother dying. Although we still aren't certain what happened, we know that he fell down the stairs into his basement and died of blunt force trauma. That week and those since have been different. Even though I didn't see Uncle Chuck weekly, life feels like its a little off.
Since his death we've also learned that one of my cousins (not Chuck's son) is having a recurrence of his lymphoma and also that my aunt (uncle chucks ex-wife) has six months to live.
So say a prayer for our family as we learn to adjust to this new way of life. Pray for my cousin as he goes through intense chemo that began this week. Pray for my other cousin who just lost his dad, is losing his mom, and is having to explain it all to his young daughter. Pray for my aunt as she watches her numbered days go by and the "good days" get fewer and fewer.

Put on ya steel-toe boots!!

The following blog was written a couple weeks ago. Its posting was delayed due to a family tragedy, but as promised...here is my opinion!




Okay, Kirk Cameron said some stuff about not agreeing with homosexuality or saying it is destructive to the family unit. SO WHAT?! Every week at work I hear snide comments about baptists, Christians, Southerners, country people, republicans, women who can keep their legs together, and people who haven't made a long list of mistakes. And although I find it rude and obnoxious, its their right not to like my lifestyle just like it is Kirk Cameron's right not to agree with homosexuality.

Homosexuality is a sin and its wrong. Its not my opinion its a fact from the Bible and therefore is my belief. I'm not saying anything hateful and I can still like a person who lives that lifestyle. I work with several gays/lesbians (and a lot more people who have no issue with it) and those are some of my favorite people at work. As I've tried to explain to others, I hate the SIN, NOT the sinner! 

Why does it always seem like its okay for anyone but conservatives to state their opinions? Or anyone but Christians? I had a conversation at work one day about the fact that all of these other religions are inclusive and accept what anyone else believes. The problem with that is by the very nature of Christianity, it is exclusive. It is not a feel good religion to make everyone happy. Its a relationship with Christ that is meant to glorify God. Its not about me or you! As a person, I'm accepting of others, but if you ask me, I'll tell you that based on the beliefs you claim the Bible says you're going to Hell.

One day at work a coworker said she couldn't stand the "Christians who think abortion is wrong, homosexuality is wrong, and Jesus is the only way to Heaven". I said, "Like me?" She couldn't believe it. How could I be so nice and think those things? Not long after that conversation I was in another with a different coworker who said she couldn't believe I was baptist and a republican because she'd never met a sane baptist or a smart republican. REALLY?! Sure it was a compliment to me, but what about the rest of my friends and family who are baptists or republicans?! Yes, Rush Limbaugh is an idiot...but I don't know anyone who makes all of their voting decisions based on what that fool says. Those people from that Westboro church who put baptist in their name...yea I don't know what book they're reading to get their religious ideas, but it sure isn't my Bible!

There are crazy, rude, mean, and stupid people in every cultural group. But just because my beliefs, by their very nature, don't say that your beliefs are right and I don't just want us all to get along, doesn't make me a bad person.

America's Favorite Pasttime!

It is officially baseball season. Now it may make me a weird chick to be excited enough to write a blog about that, but seriously, I love this sport. When I was a kid, I danced and my brother played baseball...year round (his son's baby shower was even baseball themed, pictured below). That meant that I spent A LOT of time at baseball fields.

There were naturally phases to my affection for baseball. Only for about one fall-ball season did I hate it when I was about 11 years old. Prior to that it was like an extended recess for me with all of the other siblings running around. After that age, there was an appreciation for the sport itself and the guys who played it (and those pants!): Sam Carlton (catcher & teammate/friend of my brothers), Aubrey Pruitt (catcher of middle school team), Brady Anderson (#9 left fielder of Orioles), Chipper Jones (of course) and good ol' Javy Lopez! (#8 catcher for Braves). I realize those stats may no longer be true, but that is what they were when I was interested in them.

At this point in my life, I just love the game. All of it. I still love those uniforms, especially home whites with short pants and the socks showing. I love the actually game and watching it. I love that the season starting means Spring is right around the corner. I love that it is a great way to spend time with friends outside. I love the movie Bull Durham. I love that for those few hours, most of the people in that stadium can all forget their differences, come together and cheer on their team. And I love that, at least at Durham Bulls & UNC games, the fans don't get in fights.

This year I'll be missing the Durham Bulls season because of my move to the beach. Don't feel too bad for me, I'll be enjoying the ocean. One thing I will miss though is there daytime home games. I used to bring my lunch at eat at my desk on those days so that I could spend my hour of lunch at the game. I'd walk over, pay my $8, and watch an hour of baseball. That did make it difficult to go back some days, but it was worth it. I'm sure I'll catch a Pelicans game or two and maybe even a Coastal Carolina game, but I will certainly miss my home teams!

This past weekend I celebrated the opening of the season with Melanie, Kara, and the UNCC 49ers. Both Mel and Kara went there and a friend of ours is a coach for the team. So I wore my green, clapped for the home team, and was excited to see them sweep their opening weekend.

 

So Happy Baseball Season Everyone!! I hope my Heels and the Niners make it to Omaha and I hope the Bulls get to win a championship at home!!

Life's a Beach

The nightmare of finding the practicum and internship to finish up my masters has been awful. Because I attend an online school with 40,000 students, they aren't able to help with placement at all really. When you live in the same city as one of the top medical centers in the nation, ANY job there, even an internship is hard to come by. All of my connections are at that medical center, so they were no help. Then you have three large universities who all have students looking as well. Clearly, it has been a struggle, but I think I know why. The place that God wanted me to work didn't open until October of 2011. Frustrated and exhausted I quit looking for the month of December 2011. I needed a break and to recharge for the disappointing process. So my first day back at work, post New Years, I started the search again. Having talked to the parents we had already decided that they were willing to let me stay at the beach house if I could find something down there. With that knowledge I hopped on Google and typed in "North Myrtle Beach counseling" and one of the links was to a site that anyone can use in any city to find a therapist. It said their were four in NMB; a short list but easy to weed through. Two of them worked together, one looked super old, and the third looked nice and like someone I could learn from. I did email one of the two that worked together, but I also looked up the last one to see where she worked. The center she is at is affiliated with a church that several people I know attend when they are down there on vacation. Knowing it was a Christian place did bring a level of comfort. I email her via a less than impressive "Contact Us" page for that generic therapy site. She emailed back in less than an hour!! This has been UNHEARD of in my quest for a practicum/internship. I promptly answered her questions and things rolled smoothly from there. NOTHING has been this smooth about the process. After a couple emails and a phone interview I let her know I'd be down for MLK weekend and would love to stop by. This happened and after one hour of chatting and a tour she took my paperwork to fill out! That's right, the light at the end of this LONG TUNNEL of my masters is now visible. Not only did she want me for my practicum, but barring some catastrophe between us all, I'll also be there for my internship!! This means that my degree could be conferred before 2013 and I can put that super expensive and stressful paper in its super expensive frame for all the world to see!

I must say that this degree has not been all bad. I've learned SO much and met some of the most amazing women in America. Thanks to Facebook (and Starbucks, where I am typing this from), we'll be friends forever =D.  Not to mention the impressive counseling/psychology library I'm building and have no room for!

So in April, if LU is nice and approves everything, I'll leave my paying job and be moving back to the beach. And I'll be there until around December...don't you feel bad for me?! Haha. I know this post could illicit requests for visits and you're welcome to come.....if...1) The owners of the house (my parents) approve and 2) you're willing to pay a little something for the bills since I'll have to work a part time job to help out too. I promise to make it cheaper than a hotel =).
Anyway...I have a plan!!! It may only be through this year, but that's better than it has been! If you're itching to buy me a celebratory meal/drink I won't say no!!

Goals..not resolutions

I don't do resolutions. Few people keep them and they are simply a statement of intention. I prefer goals, something I can work toward. Today I was reading the blog of a friend who does a list of goals for every month. When it is time to create a new list she is able to check things finished, note progress made on others, and reset her goals for the month. I love it. I love a list and it seems like I'll hold myself more accountable to that list if my readers know what I'm supposedly working toward and will see it I'm making progress or not. Also, its nice that a goal is something you can make progress on. Resolutions always feel like failures because they tend to seem unattainable. Like one of my goals is to lose 40lbs this year and working toward that sounds better, in my head at least, than failing at a resolution to "get in shape this year". Goals are something to be achieved, to aim for, not a set up for failure (which is what New Years resolutions always seem to be). So in the spirit of a new start, I'll be attempting to remember to write goals for each month. This post also has my goals for 2012, because as Mel said...This is our year!!! (Eventually it will be true)

2012 Goals

- Find and complete a practicum

- Find and complete an internship

- GRADUATE WITH MY MASTERS!

- Find my own place again

- Lose 40lbs (Like most people I'll be taking pics, but until I'm closer to this 40 I wont be sharing)

- Run (or jog) a 5K


January 2012 Goals

- Either find a local practicum, or decide to try Wisconsin for a practicum. But have this decided.

- 4 workouts/week (gym or home)

- Read 2 books

-Start re-reading the DSM (I'm crazy, I know)

Okay, there they are. Some BIG stuff is in that short list, but I really want to get it done. Keep me in check and don't let me forget to tell you all how its going.

Happy New Year Y'all!



PS: My nephew turns 3 years old next Monday!!! He'll be having a Phineas & Ferb Party so the Perry hat below is perfect.