Brewer's Game

Last night, Liz, Amanda, and I went to a Brewer's Game.

It was the first game I went to this season.

And the Brewers won against the Astros!

I was so thrilled to find out (from Liz) that the stadium offers a $4 box meal.  

The meal includes:  a hot dog, peanuts, cookies, and a small soft drink!

What a deal when typically a hot dog alone at the stadium costs $3.75.

It was a great night out with the girls!

I can't wait to go to another game and cheer with the fans.

It's exhilarating!

Bernie's Dugout.

Liz and Amanda (before the crowd came in)

Liz and I making fun of Amanda using binoculars to see far away.

The racing sausages- Polish, Chorizo, Brat, Hot Dog, and Italian Sausage.

Ryan Braun (#8) up to bat.

Liz and I at the game.

Brewers Win!  :)

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Weekend Highlights

This weekend, there were a lot of wonderful things going on!

Leann and Matt got married!

Matt and Leann's first dance as a married couple!

Lisa and I took a picture between the wedding and reception.

On Sunday, the girls and I went to Cranky Al's for breakfast.  I got a veggie quiche (pictured above).

(Below) Lisa, Kelly, Emily, Elizabeth, and I

Sunday night, Kelly, Elizabeth and I went for a walk along the parkway.

There was a beautiful sunset.

And we took pictures of the road leading back home (below).

All in all, this weekend was wonderful!  A beautiful wedding on Saturday, time with my Tosa girls on Sunday, and good memories to last a lifetime.

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Jazz in the Park

Tonight, I went to Jazz in the Park at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee with some of my wonderful high school and college friends.  :)  It was so good to see them and catch up.  After all these years, we still have a bond to each other and are able to make unforgettable memories together.  Here are some pictures documenting our night together:

The cathedral in Cathedral Square Park

Elizabeth, Becca, Emily, and Amanda

Kelly and I

Kelly, Elizabeth and I

Amanda and I

Me and Rosie

All the girls (minus Rosie): Kelly, Emily, Me, Amanda, Elizabeth, and Becca

Elizabeth with a goofy face

Some lady we caught sleeping  :)

And my future husband in the green suit  ;)  (totally kidding)

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Beautiful Views

Views from my Aunt Catherine and Uncle Brian's home

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California Dreamin'

Last time I went to California, I was thrilled to spend time with my wonderful friend, Alana, and her soon-to-be-husband Jordan.  I met some awesome ladies, who were in the bridal party of Alana and Jordan's wedding with me, and got to reconnect with my brother and sister-in-law.  Each time I go to California, I get to experience new things and always fall back in love with the California lifestyle.  I'm so excited to return to Cali at the end of the summer for 2 weeks!  After a long first-year of graduate school, spending some quality time with my brother and sister-in-law and relaxing on the West Coast will be a much needed vacation.  

Here are some pictures from past California trips:

(From Spring break 2008)

A view from a mountain near sunset

At Point Loma with Alana and Jordan about a year before they were engaged/married

Alana and I reenacting our childhood memories (this was finding a frog and throwing it into Spider Lake at Fort Wilderness)

(From my trip in July/August 2009)

View from Mount Soledad, looking out at the Pacific Ocean

My brother, Scott, pretending to fall down the cliff at Mount Soledad

Sitting on a seashell bench in La Jolla, CA

Driving to Coronado, this is the view back at downtown San Diego

The beautiful bridal party at Alana's wedding- Sarah, Steph, myself, Jessi, and Melissa

The newlyweds- Alana and Jordan!


  I'm not sure yet what I'll be doing during this trip to Cali, but I'm excited to find out!

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Thunderstorms

There is a severe thunderstorm warning tonight for my county.  This extends westward with tornado warnings.  When weather like this occurs, I enjoy watching the lightning (from the comfort of my living room), but I often wonder if a tornado will hit my hometown.  So far, we have been blessed by not having a tornado destroy the city, but it's always a possibility with the mixture of hot and cold air and thunderstorms. 

Knowing that God is in complete control of the storm and has command over the wind, the rain, and the lightning makes me feel more calm about the weather outside.  If Jesus can command the waves and wind to calm on the sea, He can certainly calm the storms outside and protect our home from harm if it is His will. 

I am always humbled by the magnificence of God, which I am reminded of when severe weather happens.

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Summer Class

Today marked the end of the 3rd week of summer class for me.  The course is 6 weeks total, so I'm already done with half...which means that our midterm paper is due in a week.  I haven't even started doing any research for it and it needs to include some outside sources.  Even though I've been in this class for, well, the aforementioned 3 weeks, I still am not in the frame of mind to complete a paper to turn in quite yet.

This being the first summer course I have EVER taken, it is definitely hard to wrap my mind around completing actual assignments over the summer in such a short period of time.  I guess the good news is that I'm at a 100% in the course so far.  Hopefully I'll get the motivation and determination to start and complete this paper sometime this weekend.....hopefully.

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Wednesday Bugs

So, today a bunch of the social workers from Children's Hospital had a meeting that we decided to have outdoors.  The weather today was wonderful (sunny, non-humid, and a light breeze).  When we ate outside the past few days, we would sit at some concrete and pebble tables with benches.  We decided today to sit underneath a large shade tree and eat our lunch/have our meeting there. 

As the meeting progressed, several of the social workers noticed that there were little red spiders covering the concrete table we were sitting at.  No biggie-it's super easy to kill the spiders and they usually don't do much harm.  But then, we also noticed that there were bugs all over the place...falling from the shade tree.  First, I noticed just a little green bug on my hand, which I flicked away.  Then I also noticed a black bug on the back of my shirt and another red bug on my sleeve (both of which I also removed from my clothing). 

Soon, everyone in our group noticed that there were bugs on them.  I took two bugs out of a co-workers hair and helped my supervisor find some bugs on the back of her shirt.  So, we collectively decided it was time to go inside.  After feeling itchy and promising never to sit under the tree again, my supervisor and I went to one of the inpatient floors on the hospital.  We found a consult room to start typing up some notes from the day.  A few minutes into typing the notes, my supervisor found an ant walking near the keyboard of the computer.  After 4 attempts of killing it, the ant finally died.

Minutes later, we found another beetle-like creature near the computer.  All in all, I found another green bug on my shirt, a red beetle-like bug on my sleeve, an ant on my pants, and a small flying bug near my face.  The bugs were on our binders, our lunch bags, and hiding in the creases of our clothes.  Ugh...there were too many bugs around today!

Moral(s) of the story: Do not sit near trees that bugs fall out of.  And it's always helpful to have a friend who can "bug-check" you in spots you can't see.

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Summer Nights

Tonight, for the first time of the season, I saw fireflies in our neighborhood.  Seeing the fireflies twinkling in the dark is one of my favorite pastimes.  Just a few minutes ago, as I drove home, I was reminded again of the simple pleasures in life, including twinkling fireflies.

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WI Skies

One of the reasons I love Wisconsin.  God's beautiful creation.  :)

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Monday Afternoon

About a month ago I was diagnosed with migraines.  Today, I had a headache that gradually got worse.  I dislike headaches greatly.  They can ruin my day (in the sense that it hurts to focus on anything).  After 2 Tylenol and prayer, the headache has almost subsided.  Hopefully I can focus on school work later since I still need to finish reading about dual-disordered clients and write a short paper. 

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Blue Angels

These planes came to downtown Milwaukee this weekend for the Air and Water Show...

...but unfortunately today there was no visibility, so the show was canceled.  They are quite spectacular to see in action, though!

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Friends

Today, I was reminded yet again of how much of a blessing true, lifelong friends are.  I have many wonderful friends, but today I spent a lot of time with some of my Tosa girls.  These ladies have been a huge support and encouragement in my life since freshman year of high school (9 years ago) and have meant the world to me.  :)  Without them, life would be a lot less interesting.  

We have gone on cruising excursions, road trips to Minocqua WI, followed red jeeps to Sentry to go shopping, eaten ice-cream on stressful days, went "clubbing" as high schoolers, attended dances, dinners out, had movie nights, fun times in Whitewater, and now we are still as close as ever making new memories.  I am so thankful for the amazing women in my life who have remained friends over all these years.

I love you girls!

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Today's Cherished Moments

1. Reading outside to the sounds of birds and a warm breeze.

2. Helping clients at work who expressed true gratitude.

3. Talking about Bible passages with my dad at dinner.

4. Giving myself a mini-pedicure.

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Apologies

Dear Readers,

I realize that I need to be more faithful in writing these blog entries- not necessarily because I think I have a HUGE following who is dying to read each day, but because I wanted to document my life, and I have lacked to do so consistently.

So, what has my life consisted of lately?  I'm still doing my internship at CHW, which has been wonderful and challenging at the same time.  The summer is "trauma season", so we have a lot of patients coming in with broken bones and traumatic brain injuries.  Drownings and burns come in frequently as well, due to swimming and campfires in nicer weather.  The internship has been great- I've learned a lot about the medical field and a lot about myself.  A few things I will take away from this experience:

1.  I will not always agree with my clients' decisions with regards to choices that affect their family.
2.  We should all recognize how blessed we are if we can walk, talk, move our limbs, and understand what people are saying when they speak to us. 
3.  Nobody can ever fully understand what someone else is going through in their life.  Nobody's life experiences are identical.
AND:
4.  Good coworkers make a job more enjoyable, and bad coworkers can make a job miserable.  Luckily, I have had experience with the former at CHW and not the latter.


Aside from my internship, I am still in school over the summer.  I'm taking a course on Dual-Diagnosed Clients (those who have both a mental illness and substance use/abuse/dependence issues).  It has been a really interesting class, but may not be exactly the area of social work I plan to go into.  Only God knows where I'll end up...

Over the summer, so far at least, I have been blessed with time to read for enjoyment.  Not only am I reading my Chronological Bible (mentioned in a previous post), but I am also reading Francine Rivers' series "Mark of the Lion".  I have read her book, Redeeming Love, in the past, and fell in love with it.  My friend Rosie recommended this series after we discussed books a few nights ago.  If you like her as an author and have not read the "Mark of the Lion" series, I would strongly recommend it.  I'm only on book one, A Voice in the Wind, but it is spectacular so far--and hard to put down.

So, a thought to leave you with.  When I was reading through Job in my Chronological Bible (CB), I came across this passage and was left in awe of God, yet again.

"Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air. Destruction and Death say, 'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.' God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' " Job 28:20-28

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