Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Things have been pretty busy, yet at the same time it feels like not much has really happened.

I've started studying for the GRE, again... I'm tired. I've been getting up extra early to study before work. Then after work I go to the gym for an hour and a half. Then home for dinner, spending time with Josh, cleaning up, and getting ready for tomorrow. Its a bit of a rut, but some of these things just need to get done.

Work has also been slow with the exception of the CVS Caremark Charity Classic Golf Tournament. The tournament was ok. I lead the volunteers who were dealing with having ice and water available for players at each hole. It was more interesting to watch some pros play live then some pros play on TV. My volunteers were nice and interesting people. I met a girl from Wilson, NC (pronounced WilTson), and it was a surprise, but definitely cool. I wish the weather had been better. It was in the low 60's, cloudy, and raining. Its interesting starting to phase out of my position. Officially I have another 6 weeks, but my replacement is coming in mid-July. I'm going to have to take time to introduce her to my contacts and get her acquainted with the organization and my work. I'm definitely sad to be leaving the Interfaith Coalition of RI, but I won't miss my office one bit.

I'm excited for the 4th of July. I want to go to a cookout and see some fireworks. It sounds rather bland, but it will be a nice break. I have a couple friends who may have some plans, so I hope that will be fun. Then on Sunday Josh and I are going to the Roger Williams Park Zoo. For those of you who don't know Providence residents can go to the zoo for free the first Sunday of the Month provided you bring identification.

Josh and I are trying to make plans to go to the Island, but his direct supervisor recently quit and Josh is helping train the new one. Which means its hard for him to take time off especially during their summer camp.

In other brief news I'm:

Applying for jobs at Duke University in NC
slightly weirded out by many of my friends getting engaged and planning their weddings
wishing I slept more
really liking my 2nd floor neighbors, they are very chill
wanting to make free time to call some friends
looking for a new arts and craftsy project, maybe embroidery

Now its off to work!

Much love to all!

So my neck muscles have seized

Yup my neck muscles have totally seized. They were much worse yesterday than today. I think I just worked out too hard and was too tired at the same time so I pushed too much. Anyways I have some down time.

The last thing I wrote about was the Interfaith Conference that I help plan and pull together. It went really well. We many wonderful speakers. Some of my favorites were Rev Jeffery Williams, Sister Eleanore Dooley, and our speaker from the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. We have high hopes that work will come out of this conference. This conference was actually trying to change and plan rather than only educate. We had over 200 people attend. Now we are trying to get more grassroots support from small congregations. Below is a photo of the Roger Williams Casino where we held the conference.


The week after Josh and I drove to NC for my friend and college roommate Laura's wedding. It was beautiful and lots of fun. The ceremony was at the Community Church of Chapel Hill (Unitarian Universalist) and the reception was at the Weathervane. It was supposed to be outside, but it was really muggy and the bugs were out in full force. It was nice to see some old friends during the visit. I was able to talk to my professor about graduate school while in Chapel Hill. Josh and I spent some time visiting our folks on the short visit to NC. Here's the link to the wedding photo slide show: http://www.lindawallacephotography.com/slideshows/Laura.Jordan/

We were pretty exhausted after the trip so we spend Memorial Day just relaxing in Providence. It was a really nice down weekend. We've started to frequent our local park, the Roger Williams Park. Its amazing how far you feel from the city on some of the more remote trails.

Josh and I have a lovely visit with Aunt Didi and Uncle Kim over in Conn. Going to the beach, play in the dirt, making shrimp and grits. I know we're going to miss our wonderful, relaxing, visits with them. We're starting to plan for our trip back south in August.

Many of the organizations I work with are encouraging the RI legislature to extent the RI Works (Welfare) program. 3,000 families will be kicked off at the end of June. We want them extended primarily because of the bad ecomony. Also the legislation from last year attempted to get people involved in job experience, over education, but there hasn't been anywhere near enough support for the individuals in the program.

Overall things are going well. Much better now that the weather is definitely nice, exculding the cold rain today. I'm working on my job hunt, trying to get a position in a lab. So if anyone knows of any psychology/psychiatry orient labs working with adolescents who have open positions let me know. I've realized this year I would have really liked to have my bass for something else to do other than cook, do crafts, go to the gym, and attempt to hang out with people.

On the note of hanging out with people I recently went to a Veg Out. This is a newish concept by my 2nd floor house mates. They are very nice. Anyways people get home from work and are tired. They commonly get together with people and watch a movie or tv. Not very good for bonding. Her idea is that people get together and entertain each other. So we had people telling stories from their past, someone talking about the apocraphal gospel, rennaissance singing, folks stories (I told a Jack tale from Western NC), and dancing. It was a really fantastic time. We kept it pretty dark except for some candles. It kind of reminded me of when Uncle David told stories about the Backporch kids (by the way when is he writing that book?).

For everyone who hasn't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing along Blog with Neil Patrick Harris, seriously check it out.


Now its time for me to go to sleep so I can wake up tomorrow and go back to work.

Until later, much love to all.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Oh my goodness the Interfaith Conference is tomorrow. We've only been planning this for 2 months. Its kind of insane. We're having over 150 people come including religious leaders/clergy, political leaders, business leaders, and community action leaders. Its going to be all day long. We're going to have speakers on housing/homelessness, jobs/employment, food stamps/hunger, and Legislative Advocacy. We're also having workshops to help people get started, rather than only learning. I have to say working with the Interfaith Coalition has been the most rewarding part of my service and it is the part I will miss the most. I've met some fantastic people who are strong in their faith and passionate about change and service.

Josh and I are driving to NC next week for my college roommate, Laura Exline's wedding. I'm kind of in shock that someone my age is getting married. I'm really happy for her and love her fiance, but the whole idea of it is a bit foreign. I know its going to be a really fun time. I'm also very excited about seeing friends whom I haven't seen in about a year/since graduation.

Speaking of Graduation, UNC's graduation is this Sunday. I can hardly believe I graduated just over a year ago. I feel like so much has happen in the past year. People have passed away, people are getting married, decisions have been made. Its just a reminder how fast life happens.

By the way for everyone who doesn't know Cinco de Mayo, is the celebration primarily in the state of Puebla in Mexico. Its the celebration of the triumph of the much smaller Pueblan militia against the much larger French Army after they refused to pay the outlandish taxes to the countries of Europe.

I hope to see many of you while I'm in CH.

Until later, much love to all.

Spring has Sprung!

Well people have been requesting I post. There have been many changes which I will try to fill people in on.

I didn't get into graduate school. I didn't get an interview. It sucks, but its not the end of the world. It just means I need to improve my application and apply again. For those of you who don't know Clinical psychology graduate schools accept 3-6% of applicants though some places accept 8%. This year with the bad economy more people applied so the acceptance rate decreased even further to 2-3%. BLECH! I was offered a position in Catholic University of America's General Psychology Masters program, but they wouldn't give me any financial support and I couldn't afford to pay $50,000 a year in tuition.

Josh has been waitlisted at UNC-CH and St Louis University, while being rejected everywhere else. This has come as a bit of a shock. Now he's trying to figure out what next if he isn't accepted into either of the schools.

If nothing else we'll probably move back to NC and attempt to find jobs in our fields to improve applications.

My office has moved. I love the new location, 4 blocks from my house. It has lots of windows and bright colors. I have a big executive wooden desk. Overall the move and comination has been good. A bit sad because I don't feel like Frank and Lindsay are really friends any more. They seem to be more into inside jokes with each other.

Josh and I are headed to my old roommate, Laura's, wedding next month! I'm really excited! I know its going to be beautiful and lots of fun. It will be nice to see CH friends. We're going to drive and bring down some of our winter things like sweaters and heavy coats.

Its finally spring which means sunshine, daffodils, and hot cross buns. I had never eaten them before this year, but I ate so many this lent. I'm glad I won't see them for almost another year. We've also taken the plastic off our windows to let in the fresh spring air and sunshine.

Now its time to go make some thai style chicken curry soup!

I've put in some photos of my old work, and Josh and I around the apartment from my Mom's visit in March!

The night before the inauguration

Last weekend Josh and I traveled around visiting the family. We spent Friday night at my Aunt Diana's house. Mostly we ate gumbo, did laundry, and relax. The on Saturday we all drove up to my Aunt Sara's in North Hampton. I think we're going to go up and visit again. We went on a couple hikes one with snow shoes. Snow shoes are definitely different. It was really exciting and also definitely a workout. We also went to East Heaven Hot Tubs. It was interesting, and very relaxing. We had 8 people in a hot tub. We would rotate around the jets and in and out of the water because it got very hot. After a wonderful chicken curry, my cousins and I danced around like crazy idiots. Hopefully pictures to come.

The past week has been very busy. We had our official merge with Serve Rhode Island, so we are now the Volunteer Center at Serve Rhode Island. I hoping things improve because right now things are kind of shitty. As an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer I will only be around for a year therefore I deserve any respect and shouldn't be listened to. My concerns aren't valid and shouldn't be considered as such. As soon as I am troublesome or my skills are considered unnecessary I'll be thrown under the bus or kicked to the curb. I was feeling a bit better about things until today when I discussed my concerns about the snow/weather with my boss and she told me that, "Right now I live in New England, and should be prepared for this kind of thing, and people around here are used to it all the time." I was just worried about driving Josh's car in the snow. Well see how it all goes tomorrow.

The InterFaith Coalition of Rhode Island part of Fighting Poverty with Faith had our vigil at the State House on the 6th. It went really well. It was disappointing that we didn't get more media attention. We had some wonderful speakers and great representation from the faith community from many religions other than the big Abrahamic 3.

Today I attended the MLK Day Scholarship Breakfast. It was really fantastic. I was able to meet some interesting people and make good connections. I was sitting between the President of the Hispanic Ministers Association and the Dean of RI College. I had a couple good conversations with the President of the Hispanic Ministers Association. He wants to see my toolkit and help with grant writing. I hope I can help him out. I definitely look forward to working with him more.

I'm very excited about the inauguration tomorrow. I hope I get to see it! Tomorrow we're having a pizza party at work for the Communication Director's birthday and hopefully watch the inauguration. Tomorrow the world will be different, I hope.

Much Love!

Long Underwear is the new Lingerie

Or at least thats what I keep telling myself. So Christmas/winter break went well but more about that later.

I'm already back in Providence. I was only in NC for about a week, and sadly didn't get to see some friends. I was able to spend some quality time with my family and Josh's family. My Dad and I were able to go hiking. Its one of those nice kind of traditional things we do. Josh's family had their Howrimore Christmas party. I cooked dinner, before opening presents. I made my Mom's Shrimp & Grits, which naturally went over like a charm. We played SingStar 2 which is a karaoke game, always amusing and the best part was everyone joined in! It was also nice to hang out with Josh's Brother's Fiance, Ginny, whom I've become friends with. Overall it was a blast. At my folk's house we had the Martins' come visit. I made potstickers one veggie and one with shrimp with a particularly awesome dipping sauce! We played Apples to Apples, which I got for Christmas from Josh's family. People really got into it! I hope to play some with friends and the roommates here in Providence. Maybe I'll bring it next weekend when we are hopefully traveling to North Hampton to see my Aunt Sara and cousins.

I returned to Providence on Monday night. Luckily all my traveling was relatively easy and hassle free. Wendesday/New Years Eve we got about 6-8 inches of snow. I'm glad I had New Year's Day and the 2nd off. This has been the longest I've been in Providence and haven't been working. I wish I could have done something fun or exciting, but I think I've also been fighting off a cold. Anyways we've mostly been hanging out in our house, and making good use of my long underware.

I realize now that I've finished all my applications and am just waiting to hear about interviews, I have a whole lot more time. I'd really like to find somegroup to dance with. I've recently realized how much I miss dancing with that kind of interaction and group work.

I'm sad to say as of now I really feel like my work here in RI is wasted. Well maybe just that I'm not being used to my full potnetial. My organization is merging with another. I'll fully describe that after the official announcement this week. Point is this has potential to be very good but also very bad. I'm hoping for the first, but honestly I've been disappointed in the lack of work and commitment many people put into their work. Maybe because I assumed that these people are involved in their organizations because its something they feel passionate about, not just a job. I see that with some of the people I work with such as my Faith Fighting Poverty group also known as the InterFaith Coalition of RI. I hope I see that more in the other work I do because right now from my experience and the experience I see others having, I don't want to work for a non-profit again. I hope things improve, but until later

Much Love to all!

Weird RI/New England Traditions

These are some interesting behaviors I've observed while living here (excluding some of the more obvious ones) :

People say Wicked (supposedly only a RI phrase)
Celebrating holidays that don't exist else where (Columbus Day and Victory Day -> previously known as V-J Day)
Obsession with Duncan Doughnuts, particularly their coffee
They call grits, polenta - which I had always thought were similar but not the same thing
Multifamily houses
Dancing Crossing Guards