when you need a good day.

After so enjoying Teryll's company here in Seattle for a brief bit of time Friday evening and Saturday morning, I stumbled into one of most lonely weekends yet. Usually I plan well, so even when I don't have much to do, I am busy and having fun. No such luck this weekend. It was lonely and rough for some other reasons and well, just plain skinky.

Needless to say, this morning, I needed a good morning.

And you know what? That's what I got!  Even when I'm grumpy and not loving Jesus the way he deserves to be loved (not that I really ever do anyways) he knows what we need when we need it, and boy did he provide for me this morning!

Colorful Hands was possibly the best Colorful Hands I've had to date. We had all twelve kiddos there and everyone was totally into it. Ellie started off the morning making some delicious coffee. Soon came in the kiddos, each and every one and while they piled in I got to read a fun story called "The Wooly Wombat." We sang our good morning song and everyone participated and then... I got to read "Green Eggs and Ham" my favorite children's book of all time.

The morning proceeded with positive energy and enthusiasm. Kids were sharing and helping others and really getting into the small group activity of threading strings through buttons. During our free play time, each kid took initiative and played with many different activities--it was great to see this!

Action shot!

(the parents of the girl to the left of me wish to keep photos of her for private use only, thus I have blurred her face to respect their wishes.)

Look at our button necklaces!

Our next activity was EPIC. As a large group activity we had a newspaper snow ball fight. A newspaper snowball fight involves crumpling up newspaper into balls and tossing them at each other. It is a great way to release aggression in a positive way, and it is a ton of fun. Some of the kiddos who tend to be more shy participated with huge grins. It was so sweet to see. And, the snow ball fight went on for at least 10 minutes, this is hours in preschool time. We ended our day singing "If you're happy and you know it" with each kid actually singing, clapping, stomping and shouting hooray. You have no idea what a blessing these little pieces of participation can be. We all looked at books while the parents picked up their kids, and I just sat their and smiled. It was a seemingly perfect  morning. Just what I needed.

Ever have days like those?

ps how cute are these shoes??  ... especially being that they belong to a FOUR year old!

not too late new years resolutions

I am a big supporter of New Years resolutions, however futile their completion efforts truly are. I love thinking about personal transformation, and how the first step is simply recognizing areas that need change or improvement. We all have those areas, and though it is often uncomfortable or taboo to talk about personal shortcomings, I think that it is totally healthy, especially in terms of resolving to improve these areas.
I usually write a list a mile long of things I want to work on and like many others, I don't often follow through on all of them.  Perhaps writing these for the public to see will add an element of accountability this year?
This year, I have been thinking about what I want to work on for the last couple of weeks--concrete things coupled with slow process character things.

1. study for the GRE and take the GRE before 2012
I plan to go to graduate school within the next five years. GRE scores are good for five years, and I'd like to get this out of the way, no reason not--especially when the longer I wait to study and test, the longer it will have been since I have study and tested.
2. create more intentional lunch bags to give to the homeless
I long have carried a costco size box of granola bars around in my car to give out to people standing on street corners asking for money or food. Because as of now, my only luxury purchases are food purchases (thank you federal government and ebt cards!) I would like to use my resources to provide little bags with a granola bar, a Gatorade and perhaps a fruit cup for the homeless. I'd also like to be intentional in doing so. It is an important step in my faith that I articulate why I serve, why I love, why I give--it is all because of Jesus. Thus I hope to include "in the name and hope of Christ" with each bag. 
3. put together my filing cabinet
I have no good way to organize my important documents. This is a shame because my night stand is a wooden filing cabinet. I want to make good use of it, and aid to my sanity! 
4. be more intentional with my time
Spend my time doing things that I find important. In my bible and prayer. Maintaining and building relationships, which includes catching up with good friends, spending time keeping in touch with my brothers and Kenia and Jose, getting to know people in my community through community groups at my church and volunteering at a women's shelter (more on this in a future post!). 

5. keep trying new things, and being content being me
Self explanatory. Mostly an attitude thing!
6. create practices that will serve future me
This includes all of the above New Years Resolutions and maintaining and improving my body through healthy exercise, nutritious food, sufficient sleep and an overall positive lifestyle (including attitude!).


What do you think, can I do it? Will you hold me accountable (with love of course!)?
Do you have New Years Resolutions? Remember...it's never to late!

Pad Thai and a visit from Mark

This last weekend I had a visit from a great friend--Mark! Mark and I have been friends for over eight years. It is pretty crazy to reminisce and reflect on all the memories and experiences we have together. We go through phases of seeing each other more and seeing each other less and thankfully these last two months we have been in the seeing each other more phase (twice in two months!). 

One of my favorite things about Mark is the quality of our conversation. We can talk about anything, and usually end up talking about fun, slightly philosophical and totally interesting conversations. Our latest theme has been on the technological revolution and how Facebook has completely changed and revolutionized our relationships with each other. We talk about how our generation is the last generation to make friendships with limited technology intervention and how our concept of relationships are forever changed. I'm not articulating it as well as we did mid discussion, however, perhaps that's because I worked a ten hour day?

Friday night we romped around Capitol Hill--this is Mark enjoying the Seattle style hot dog in the back of a cab!

Proving Mark actually did come to Seattle. I love Pike's Place Market!

Saturday night we played darts at a bar called The Zoo. 

Anyways, having Mark here in Seattle was wonderful! We did some touristy fun things and just enjoyed each other's company and conversation! I love having people visit me because I am much more inclined to try new things and get out and explore. 

One thing we did, which was really fun was visited this huge asian market called Uwajimaya. There we picked up the ingredients to make Pad Thai (a personal favorite). Uwajimaya also had recipe cards, so it made the whole process super simple. And, let me tell you our Pad Thai turned out pretty good. Mark called it restaurant quality!

Ingredients:

8 oz dried flat rice noodles

3 tbsp oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup fish sauce

2 tbs sugar

Soy sauce for flavor

1/2 crushed red pepper flakes

1-2 Green Onion, cut one inch

1 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup ground roasted peanuts

Lime wedges

Add bottled pad thai sauce for more flavor

To Prepare: 

Soak rice noodles in warm water until soft, drain. Heat a frying pan until hot and add oil. Add garlic and brown slightly. Add egg and scramble until done. Reduce temperature if necessary. Add rice noodles to egg mixture. Turn temperature up and stir fry noodles until translucent, adding some water if needed. When noodles start to stick, add fish sauce, sugar, pepper flakes, soy sauce and green onions. Continue to cook mixture until dry. Garnish with bean sprouts, peanuts and lime.

Try it out! 

This weekend, I have another treat! Teryll, my long time neighbor and dear friend (practically a sister) is staying with me Friday night! Teryll and I have been friends for over 14 years (wow, that makes me feel old :) ).

I hope your week is going well. Wednesday, here we come!

play dough.

hey there friends!

Do any of you work with kids? Have kids? Know kids that you spend time with? Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, here is a really fun activity! MAKE PLAYDOUGH WITH THOSE KIDDOS!

Here is the recipe:

COOKED PLAYDOUGH

from COOKS.COM

---

1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 c. water
2 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. food coloring

Combine 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt and 2 teaspoons cream of tartar in a large saucepan. Gradually stir in 1 cup water mixed with 2 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon food coloring. Cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms. Remove from heat, cool and knead until smooth on wax paper. Store in an airtight container. Children will enjoy playing with the playdough!

I've made it a couple of times for my preschool kiddos at New Futures. I usually kneed in the food coloring instead of mixing it with the other ingredients. Not sure what is best. You'll probably avoid colorful hands if you mix it as the recipe suggests! Definitely try it out, it is really simple, and lasts a long time!  :)

national day o service

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day Everyone! Did you know that today is the national day of service? That's why MLK Day has such a sassy slogan--a day on, not a day off :)
Today, I was able to sleep in and get a little bit of that day off feeling. However, at 11:30, my roommate Sarah and I headed to a MLK Day Rally where there were TONS of people!

At the rally there were some wonderful speakers, a couples groups of children singing and a great drum line. It was really cool to be there with some many people around knowing that we were all there remembering the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Check out this link to get more of the history (it's a video)!
After the rally, we marched. There were about 10 full blocks of people marching--it was pretty powerful. Sarah and I met up with the Youth Program Coordinators and youth from New Futures. The march went all the way down to Pioneer Place and then bussed people backed to Garfield High School (where the march started and the rally took place). Sarah and I headed home a couple blocks early, by foot, to avoid the craziness of the busses.
It was a really great event to be a part of. There were so many different social justice groups and so many people passionate about various causes. The overall themes were peace, love and justice. I can't think of much better things than that :)
I heard some "Si se puede"s being chanted along the way, which made me so happy. It reminded me of some of the great classes I took at Gettysburg College and the whole presidential election experience while in Argentina.
So whether you chose to serve today or not, I hope that in the next couple of weeks you will take time to do some service or build up your community in some way to remember the legacy and dream of Dr. King.
Here are some quotes by MLK Jr. Be encouraged today!

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.


At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love. 


Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. 


Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. 


He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. 


Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. 


And of course, the one which acts as a motto for my blog, and hopefully my life:
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.


Be inspired to stand up against injustice, and know that in doing so, you stand in great company!

Thankful Saturday: YOGA!

Hey there wonderful blog readers :)

This Thankful post is appearing a bit later than expected, thank you for bearing with me!
This week I would love to talk about yoga and how thankful I am for it! The practice of yoga itself is not new to me. My mom has practiced yoga to different degrees since I can remember. I even remember having a yoga for kids book, with great illustrations.

Practicing yoga myself however is a pretty new development in my life. I took my first yoga class last September shortly after I had moved to Seattle. I went with my two roommates, and was overcome by the power of what I had just experienced. It was a very spiritual experience, with almost all of the practice being a mental prayer coupled with physical exercise. Since that powerful practice, yoga has been completely revolutionary for me. Not only do I feel great peace during the practice (though sometimes precipitated by anxiety of trying something new), but the exertion and exercise that I receive from yoga is unlike any other I have experienced. Suffering from migraines for most of my life, I am pretty aware of certain triggers. One of these triggers is exercise. For example, when I go to the gym, I usually run on the treadmill, do some weight lifting for my legs, do an ab work out and call it good and for whatever reason, this usually results in a mild migraine. With yoga, I feel the exertion in my muscles, I know that I am pushing myself, but the result is not a migraine. Yoga is this perfect balance between relaxation and exertion. Though my muscles are being pushed and my flexibility enhanced, the very nature of yoga reduces the number of migraines, rather than triggering them! I believe that the connection between mind and body in yoga helps my body reduce the stress I naturally carry. It is powerful and wonderful! My body feels so great after yoga.

Seattle has this really cool culture relating to free things--this includes people leaving furniture on the corner of their street for anyone to take to free yoga classes. I love the sense of community that this creates. It is because of this, that I have attended practices at three different yoga studios. Over the course of the last couple of months, I have seen myself improve in balance and flexibility. I have also noticed that when I am consistent about going to yoga classes my body feels better,  I have less migraines and feel at peace with who I am. Yoga not only creates a powerful connection between body and soul, but it supports an atmosphere where growth and different levels of ability is respected and expected. Everyone is at a different point and you do what you can, challenging yourself to try more, but not causing your body pain. One of my teachers explained yoga like this, "a perfect balance between effort and ease." He said that if the practice was too easy we needed to push ourselves more, but we shouldn't never cross over to where the effort was painful.

On a typical day at a yoga studio I use four things:
1. A yoga mat. This provides padding on the floor while doing the practice.

2.

A yoga block. This helps maximize the stretch.

3. A blanket. This provides extra padding during certain poses. 4. A water bottle. Always important to stay hydrated.

Have I convinced you to try yoga yet? You should check out and see if your local yoga studios offer free community classes.

The studios I have been to in the Seattle area include:

Samhadi Yoga

8 Limbs Yoga

The Samarya Center (this places is also a nonprofit and is super cool!)

I hope I have gotten you to consider yoga in your life!

and a great Christmas too!

Not only did I have a wonderful New Year, I had a wonderful Christmas holiday too!!
I drove south from Seattle the night of the 23rd and faced a good bit of traffic, but I made it safe and sound to my Grandma's house greeted with lots of love. I then went out to a perfect dinner :)
Christmas eve morning I headed to my cousin's house and babysat her two sweet children, Rafe and Ellie. I had a great time getting to hang out with them. That night when Allison (my cousin) and Richard (her wonderful husband) got home from work we had great Thai food take out, joined by my mom and her childhood friend Barb. It was great food with great company :)

 

Underwear fight! 

After dinner and good conversation my mom and I headed over to midnight mass where my Grandma sang. It was a beautiful service.

We got back to Allison and Richard's ready to crash. We spent the night there and woke up Christmas morning to excited children raving about the gifts under the tree. I stayed a bit while they dug into the christmas presents.

                          

I soon headed over to my dad's where I celebrated Christmas day with my dad, Carol, Grandma Mary, Grandma Caroline, Grandpa Rich and three of my favorite little men, Sean, Andrew and Matthew. My brothers were of the few that I actually purchased gifts for and I was so excited to see them open their presents up! They all raved and loved what I got them (I got exactly what they asked for, no guessing there!). It was a really special time to share with them. We also had a great meal and just a really relaxed day together.

That evening I headed back to my mom's house where we exchanged gifts. This is always a special part of Christmas for me. We open our stalkings while we sit around and enjoy each other's company. My wonderful momma also prepared a DELICIOUS pot roast meal. It was the perfect way to end Christmas day.

Can you tell I was a bit all over the place? There were definitely a lot of back and forths, as there tend to be when it comes to visiting home, but it was simply lovely and pretty much perfect in my book :)

I really treasure Christmas. I love how it brings out the spirit of giving, time with family and delicious food, but really the best part is the reason for the season, Jesus! (Check out this blog post to read more about my thoughts on this!)
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that you have time to reflect and remember those treasured moments.
Stay tuned for an overdue Thankful Thursday post tomorrow!

a wonderful week to remember

Hello everyone! It has been a long while since I've been able to catch my breath enough to write in my blog. I have lots of updates to share--you can be expecting most of those this week! The holidays sure do speed by when you don't get a month off between semesters! 

The first update I'd like to share is still fresh on my mind :) I had the most wonderful last ten days, spent in Seattle with my love visiting from New York. We rang in the New Year together, we visited beautiful spots of Seattle together, we ate a lot of great food together, but the best part of it, was that we were TOGETHER! John left on Sunday after being here since December 30th. It's the biggest chunk of time we've had together in a long while, and it was just wonderful. 

Here are some pictures to tell the story!

John and I got all dressed up to go to LoFi, a venue that was playing soul and funk music to ring in the new year. We had a great time dancing and celebrating the last hours of 2010!

They also had a photobooth, one of my favorite things in the entire world!

A bit bleary eyed, we said good morning to 2011 and headed over to Jeanne and Jim's to watch football with Maia!

One of our favorite nights was going bowling with Kate and Chris (visiting from Iowa)! John kicked our butts! Another great night that wasn't captured on my camera was our packed house Kate and Chris, Sarah and Matt and John and I playing a competitive and silly game of Cranium!

 

GasWorks Park is one of my favorite places in Seattle, and it was so great to take John their on a beautiful, sunny Seattle day!

We ate TONS of great food, including this delicious platter of Ethiopian food! We cooked with friends, made dinner ourselves and tried out a bunch of great spots in Seattle!

 We also went to the space needle and spent a good chunk of time enjoying the incredible architecture and the crisp air!

John came into work with me and got to participate in the preschool program and the afterschool program with the first through third graders. My favorite comment by Abrham, age 6, was after he found out that John was my boyfriend. He turned to me and whispered, "Kate, is that embarrassing having a boyfriend?" It was so sincere and so adorable!
We had a great time together; it was so nice for John to see my life in Seattle. And, we of course shared lots of laughs.

I think the picture below is my favorite of all the pictures taken. John just looks so striking and handsome! (Can you tell he's by Seattle's John Street?)

Without going on and on any more, let me just say, having John here was the best way to start off 2011!

I hope you are all doing well. Perhaps enjoying a bit of snow? I'm praying that it keeps coming down in Seattle! I'd love a day to sleep in and sip hot tea with no place to go :) Stay tuned for more updates and interesting tidbits!