I'm just going to summarize the last 2 weeks for you. It is amazing to me how helpful it is to take a daily picture in my ability to remember what happens in a week! I just bought a new camera, so hopefully next week I will be back on target with my picture-a-day goal!
I started volunteering at a place called "The Open Door". It's a type of afterschool-like program for mostly refugee families. I've been asked to be in the "arts and crafts" group. I've been feeling a little wary of adding another kid-focused volunteer job to my life. Since I work all day with kids, I've found it's sometimes nice to do something totally different for volunteering. However, this opportunity seemed to fall in my lap, and I think it will be good.
My good friend, Kristin, and I have been trying to get a vacation together for months, but we've had the hardest time figuring out where to go! We finally booked tickets to go to Whistler, British Columbia this past week. Has anybody been there before? It looks like a nice place, and it will be wonderful to spend time together.
Last weekend I went to the Greek festival here in town. I thought this would be a somewhat obsure off-the-beaten path thing to do, but it seems like half the city attends. It kind of reminded me of the Tulip festival (for those of you familiar with northwest Iowa), but from an outsider's perspective. Nice night - fun atmosphere, great food, and entertaining dancing. Made me want to take some Greek dance lessons!
I also helped a friend move last weekend. You may think I'm odd, but there's something kind of peaceful to me about moving. Well, at least helping other people move. There's something nice about turning total chaos into a brand-new order. figuring out where things should go, throwing out the stuff you don't really need, cleaning everything super-well, unpacking boxes and finding cool things you own that you forgot about, thinking about what color you might paint the walls (even if it's not your house and not yours to choose!). It also feels good to put in some good manual labor - work those muscles and be really truly hungry by the time pizza is ordered. Celebrated the end of a good day's work by fireworks put on by the Lutheran church's Oktoberfest.
This past week has been full of work committments for me. I'm generally very fortunate in my job to work only weekdays, exept for a couple of events. I've been leading a Sickle Cell Support group that meets Thursday evenings once a month, and I also lead SIBS day - a support event for siblings of kids with chronic illnesses and disabilities two times a year. This fall they happened to fall on the same week, which made me really busy! It's always a lot of work to put the events together, but the families are always so appreciative! SIBS day, in particular was a bit crazy this time - it was one of those days in which, if it can go wrong, it will (a huge traffic jam caused my whole staff and volunteer group to be 45 minutes late, technical difficulties forced us to cancel one of our biggest teen activities, one of our special guests called in sick which meant we needed to make up on the spot yet another activity, etc). However, the day smoothed out with time, and overall I think it was a success. Because I worked 12 hours on Thursday and came in Saturday, I was able to take the day off Friday. Yay! It was wonderful having a weekday for myself!
I've been feeling just a bit under the weather this week, so I've been trying to take as much down time as I can. Hopefully I will feel better next week!

I need help! Does anybody know how to add contacts to my blog? I would like to let people know that I have one now, but I can't figure out how to notify anybody! If you can help me, let me know!

I am very sad to report that I have lost my camera! Thus ends (temporarily) my success at accomplishing my goal of taking a picture a day. I figure I'll buy a new camera soon, but until then, it's plagarizing for me. I've downloaded a few pictures off the internet just to add a little color and variety to my weekly blog.

Monday: Sardines outside in the dark and Mexican train. Lots of fun!






Tuesday: shopping! Needed a new purse cuz my strap broke and a baby gift for a shower tomorrow.




Wednesday: Baby shower for Steph, a nurse on my unit.
Has anybody else ever had cumcumber water before? I've been told it's "all the rage" but I have never heard of it until we had it at this shower. It was very tasty - great for a refreshing day! I would highly recommend it! Just slice a cucumber and let it soak in a pitcher of cold water. I think some people add lime, but I thought it was good just on its own, too.
It was probably good for our staff to get together to have a little fun. We've had more than half our nursing staff quit in the past month, and our last staff satisfaction survey were absolutely horrible. Hopefully management will be able to turn things around soon! That reminds me, I love faulty interpretations! (hang in there, you'll get the connection soon). We had a going away party for our clinic interpreter on Friday as well, who also quit. Somebody hung up large banners saying "we will miss you in English" and, since her native language is Spanish, attempted to translate it into Spanish. However, the signs stated "you will be lost" instead, with brought quite a few laughs. Much funnier, we also recently posted flyers for SIBS day, which is an event we are hosting in a couple of weeks to support siblings of patients with chronic illness and/or disabilities. Our flyer, which we send all over the community, describes the purpose and activities of the day. However, in the Spanish translation, somehow the word "ninos" (meaning children) was replaced with "burros" (donkeys for all you non-spanish speaking people) in a large portion of the flyer - therefore, stating that we would, through games and activities, support their donkeys in learning new coping methods, encourage their donkeys to express their thoughts and feelings, and provide an opportunity for donkeys in similar situations to interact together. Fortunately, we caught the error just before sending it to the press. Last year, we spent a whole year with an advertisment in my clinic for a "colors of courage" program in which patients recieve beads for every hospital experience they have - a type of visual journal and a way for people to see their accomplishments and record their process. The spanish translation was written by our interpreter, who is from Columbia. She used the correct word for Courage in South and central America, which is "coraje". However, it turns out that in parts of Mexico, that word does not mean courage at all, but instead "temper tantrums". Finally, one of our patients' parents expressed her confusion as to why we were giving out beads to children for having temper tantrums. The signs were changed promptly. Does anybody else have any good translation stories to share?
Thursday: stopped by my garden to weed and pick up a half ton of tomatoes, and then the coffee shop. My menu for the week includes tomato sandwiches, tuna and tomato, BLT's, tacos with tomatoes, salads with tomatoes, chicken and tomato pizza, and maybe homemade salsa if I get around to it. Cherry tomatoes on the side with every dish. I was pleased to see that my popcorn has fertilized, which means I should get a good popcorn crop, if all continues to go well. I am excited!
Friday: movie - 500 days of summer. Rating: B. Kind of clever layout, got several chuckles out of me, unusual ending, not your average romantic comedy.



Saturday and Sunday: annual church campout. They've been doing this for almost 30 years, and almost our entire church comes out. I like it because you can really see the family dynamic of our church. We have 3 women in our congregation expecting right now, and it's interesting to hear the stories from the items they collect. Many of the items have a 18 year history circulating through all of the kids in our church. When I first stared going to Mountain Springs, it took me months to figure out which kids went to which family, since they all seem to relate to each other like aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Here's a picture of a good portion of our congregation, gathering together for our Sunday service.
I learned something new this campout as well: When toasting marshmallows/smores, but the piece of chocolate inside the marshmallow after it is toasted for a extra yummy, gooey treat!
Monday: Another pool party! This makes the 3rd weekend in a row that I've spent all day in my swimsuit! Yay for last minutes summer parties!

It's week number 2 on my picture-taking quest. It was a bit of a quiet week, so I found I had to get a bit creative to find some interesting pictures. I wouldn't consider myself to have much artistic touch with my camera, so I might have to learn some things if I'm going to compete my goal!

One interesting thing that happened this week wasn't something I personally witnessed, but it brings me back to my internship days in Minneapolis. A small tornado hit the apartment block that I used to live on. It sounds like my top-floor apartment now has a much more, um, open feel to it :). I couln't find a picture of my exact apartment complex on the internet, but here is a picture from my general neighborhood.

A pretty regular habit of mine is to go hang out at a coffee shop on Wednesday nights. It has a wonderful outdoor yard with live music and a great atmosphere. It was tough to get a picture since almost every table was filled, but here's a small glimpse.

I was also able to get together with my friend April this week. She and I ran the Salt Lake marathon this spring, but haven't been able to coordinate our schedules much this summer. It was great to grab some frozen yogert and catch up!

This Saturday I went to Bear Lake. You can't really tell from the photos, but it's well known for it's deep blue "carribean like" hue. The water was a bit chilly, but incredibly clear! Below, Angie and I are getting in touch with our inner child (not too hard to find) by creating a sand castle.

It's also famous for it's raspberry shakes, so we made sure to take advantage!

One the way home we stopped for dinner - my friend Angie was thrilled to find a quality restaurant with her name.

Now that I look at it, ice cream was a real theme this week..frozen yogert, raspberry shakes, and a quick ice cream break at work. Mmmm!