Back in the Swing

Hey guys! Hope all is well with you and yours.

This semester is in full swing, and I'm drowning underneath the load of work they are giving me! This semester, I have Solution Focused Brief Therapy and Grief and Loss on my plate. Neither one seems like a lot of work by itself, but combined they form a migraine! :) Things at my practicum are going really well, and I feel like I am actually making a difference.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to have "date night" with my friend Amanda. It was really nice to get out of the apartment, have dinner, and catch up with someone I haven't been able to in awhile. Saturday night included "Girls' Night In" at Carrie's house, and we spent the evening drinking girly drinks, doing karaoke on demand, laughing, and eating. I couldn't have asked for a better evening or a better group of friends.

You may be asking yourself where Jeff was during all this. Well... So am I. No, just kidding. He talked Adam into hanging out over the weekend, and I know they had a great time catching up as well.

Now, just because I know you are so incredibly interested, here are 25 trivia facts you may or may not know about me:

1. I was Little Miss Kansas. The trophy was taller than my Kindergarten self.

2. I got to meet the surviving munchkins from the Wizard of Oz as part of my Little Miss Kansas duties. We had a parade, brunch, and hours of photos.

3. I was once fluent in 3 languages... 4 if you count Pig Latin.

4. My Daddy was the first to predict that Jeff and I would be getting married. He told me right after the first time he met Jeff that we were right and that it would happen.

5. I got my 4 year degree in 3 years.

6. My friends and I used to drive through Dodge and bark out the windows of the car.

7. I have sued someone and won.

8. I was banned from our kitchen until after I graduated high school due to the large amount of fires I accidently started, many of which originated from the toaster.

9. I had 30 something hamsters growing up. When they got older and sick, I made the decision for them to go to the farm. I sure hope they are all still really happy out at the Happy Hamster farm...

10. People mostly remember me by my blonde, curly hair. I am apparently a spitting image of my paternal Grandmother (who went gray overnight on her 21st birthday). I have prepared myself to go gray at any given moment on any given day, so it has been quite difficult for me to deal with the black hairs that I have found more and more present in my hair...........

11. At least once a year, I still get carded at the movies.

12. Over Christmas break, I found a tape of some of my Grandpa's old reels, and watched home video of my Mom from when she was 10 to the age of 14. It was the best gift from this year, even though it wasn't technically a gift at all.

13. I have wanted to be a therapist since I was a freshman in high school. I even have a Sigmund Freud Action Figure... IT'S NOT A DOLL ALREADY!!!! IT'S AN ACTION FIGURE!!!!

14. My parents replaced our older Chocolate Lab with a Miniature Dachshund while I was in Russia, and were banking on the fact that I wouldn't notice the switch when I got back.

15. I have met an Olympic Gold Medalist.

16. I cannot keep a plant alive to safe my life.

17. I failed art. My Mom was even friends with the teacher, and she failed me. I did a ton of extra credit projects and she finally moved my grade to a low "D."

18. I was almost suspended from school for "surfing" on the roof of a suburban. Mr Peck saw me from across the street, and that was IT. Oddly enough, though, it wasn't Mr Peck who almost had me suspended... It was Grandma Wilmore...

19. I used to drive a car that had 1 red headlight and 1 green headlight. It was like Christmas all year long!!! It was also missing windshield wipers, so it's a good thing it WASN'T Christmas weather all year long...

20. I hate roller coasters. I screamed and cried at the State Fair in Hutch until they let me off the Kiddie Roller Coaster... I was a Freshman in High School, and there were 6 year olds pointing and laughing at me.

21. To this day, one of my favorite things to do is to sit inside a sleeping bag and slide down the stairs.

22. I have delivered meals and toys to the needy on holidays, sat in the ER with a woman holding her hand while the doctors worked on her mother, listened to countless stories of rape and abuse, and broken the news to children that they would never see their parents again... yet I still cry at most movies, tv shows, and commercials.

23. I once convinced a telemarketer that a tornado had hit my house so I couldn't buy windows from her. She offered to start a collection for me.

24. I ran for 60 minutes 3 times last week.

25. I wouldn't trade any of my experiences for anything.