Our Vacation

Chapter 1: The Journey

Odyssey (noun): A long series of travels and adventures.

That's the perfect term for our journey from Washington to Colorado and back. There were several reasons for the trip: visit family, see parts of the country I hadn't ever seen, take a break between college and being employed again, spend time with my husband and son doing something adventurous, and probably more that I couldn't really put my finger on.

It was the perfect time. I'd just finished a fairly intense 18-month school term to earn an Associate's degree in Library & Information Services, I was looking for a new job but hadn't gotten to even the interview stage yet, and my son was on summer break. My daughter, I should point out, was also out of school, but chose to stay home and be house/pet sitter for us. THAT was a huge relief to have the dogs and home taken care of by someone I could trust.

We plotted a course that would take us through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Colorado. We have family in Gillette, Wyoming as well as all over the Northeastern quadrant of Colorado, so rough plans were made for stops to see as many of them as possible. I also wanted to see sites like Little Bighorn, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, etc. The guys had already seen most of that on a separate trip years ago.

So we packed up the trusty van (which had been transformed from dog-hauler to people-hauler) with luggage, some food, maps, and all the technogear we'd need to survive two weeks on the road (cameras, iPods, laptop, Nook books, cell phones -- you name it). We even decided to take some prezzies to the peeps we'd be staying/partying with and chose yummy stuff from Johnson Berry Farm.

Next: We hit the road.

Back at the keyboard

After two weeks of road trip vacation, I took a day yesterday to just rest up. One of the things I was inspired to do was to change the look of the blog. I like this look because one of my favorite mantras is to "be the river." Rivers flow around and through challenges, making their own channels when necessary. I do like to "go with the flow" sometimes, but rivers have power and grace, too.
Anyway, the vacation was amazing and we saw so much of the 6 states we traveled through, as well as seeing LOTS of family members along the way. I'll be writing posts and posting pictures here soon, I just have to get it all organized.

Agility brag

I have to be honest and say that my life hasn't been completely consumed with school in the past month or so, because Rosie and I did go play agility on May 15&16. We had a blast and she earned her third championship title!

In fact, we were one of 5 teams earning a C-ATCH (that stands for CPE Agility Trial CHampion, and CPE is Canine Performance Events, the national group that promotes this style of agility)

Here's a picture of all of us. To my left (on the right side of the group to you) is my agility buddy Stacie and her dog Jessie. The two people without dogs are the two judges for the weekend. One woman earned titles on her two cockers.

And because I just love my little dog and the photographer got some excellent pics of her, I have to share another one. Rosie's still going good for a dog that is nearly 9 years old. She does love agility!!

Thanks to Nina's Photography for giving me web versions of the photos to post.

Really?!?

Imagine my horror when I discovered it's been a month since I posted!
Sorry, but school, internship, and life got very hectic for a while. Now I'm down to the last few weeks of school and most of the major stuff is either done or nearly done.
My internship has been fabulous and I've learned SO much. I can't believe I only have one week left there. I've also applied for a job at TRL in Lacey, so cross your fingers.
I also was honored at Highline CC for scholastic achievement. I'm the "queen geek of the geek squad" as CJ puts it. Actually, I am the top student in the Library and Information Services Program. I've worked hard at school, so I'm proud of the honor and my 3.98 GPA.
So now I'm wondering what life will be like in two weeks when I'm done with school and ready for the next phase.
The possibilities are endless...

Something a little different

I have never posted about food (unless it was about baking bread) on my blog, but I promised my sister that I would share a fabulous recipe I made this past week. Sorry there are no photos, it looked pretty good, but I could jazz up the presentation better next time I make it. Plus it was eaten so quickly there was not really time to grab the camera.
First, giving credit where credit is due: This recipe came with a box of Reynolds Oven Roasting Bags. I use them because it not only keeps the meat so moist and juicy, but makes clean-up much easier. So props to Reynolds!
Second, I have to say that the ingredients sound a bit odd, but the result was a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

Asian-Style Pork Tenderloins

1 Reynolds Oven Bag, large size
2 pork tenderloins, about 1.5 lb each
3/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup honey-roasted flavor peanut butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. each soy sauce and sesame oil
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
Hot cooked rice
1/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts
2 Tbsp. chopped green onion

Preheat oven to 350. Place bag in 13x9x2-inch or larger baking pan (at least 2 inches deep).
Place pork in oven bag. Mix salsa, peanut butter, flour, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, cayenne pepper and garlic in a medium bowl. Stir until smoth; spoon over pork.
Close oven bag with the nylon tie. Cut six 1/2-inch slits in top of bag. Tuck ends of bag in pan.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.
Spoon rice onto serving platter. Place pork on top of rice. Stir sauce, spoon over pork. Sprinkle with peanuts and green onions.
Enjoy!!

Quick update

OK, it's Week 3 of my internship (and Spring quarter) and things at the library are humming right along. The hours fly by when I'm working and everyone there is so supportive and happy to teach me the tricks of the trade.
Countdown: 56 days left of school!! I am finding it harder to keep abreast of my school work while working and maintaining family life, but I just keep plugging away at it. Sort of like eating an elephant: one bite at a time.
The coolest news to relay is that I got myself a Nook from Barnes & Noble. It's an e-book reader similar to (but way better than) Amazon's Kindle. Several things stand out about the Nook: You can share books with other Nook owners, there are way more titles available for the Nook (since you can download just about any e-Pub book, not just ones from B&N) and you can download books from the LIBRARY onto your Nook. I recently borrowed and read "The Art of Racing in the Rain," by Garth Stein. Great book and a fun read.
The other news around the farm is that the chickens (who are 8 weeks old now!) are in their refurbished chicken house, complete with a fenced in run with lush grass. They are very happy. I have pictures, but no time to post them right now. Tiki also went in for spay surgery yesterday, so now we're having to "manage" her and keep her quiet for two weeks. So far, so good, but she's tired from the surgery. When she's got her strength back, it should be a lot of fun. I foresee lots of walks in our future (no running and no jumping, though - BOO).
I'm off to an agility trial with Miss Rosie this weekend and Tiki will get to tag along so I can keep my eye on her...that should be fun!
That's about it for the latest news from here.

Internship, Week One

Wow, what a fascinating week! But first, let's check the countdown to graduation . . . 68 days left! (Wishing my countdown clock gadget had worked, it would be WAY cooler - sigh)

So I worked at the library as an intern for three days this week and it was a real eye-opener. The place is busy from open to close, which is a good thing, but man it keeps the staff on their toes. It made a big difference that the local schools had half-days for teacher conferences much of the week, so a lot of the kids came to the library to hang out. I think that's a double-edged sword: good that the kids like to be at the library, but hard on the staff because some of them get rowdy and aren't really there for library-type activities. The free wi-fi is a big draw from what I saw of the laptop users.

I've been shadowing different aides and learning from them, which proved to show me three different views of what goes on in the library. Next week will be more shadowing, but as I go along I do more and more on my own. The biggest learning curve is their computer system and all the functions as far as how the books are coded in the catalog (as in their status, location, even collection codes).

I've had some patron interaction, which I was amazingly comfortable with. I wasn't nervous about answering the questions I knew the answers to or directing them to the right person to help them. And all the shelving of books I have done really has taught me where everything belongs and where to direct patrons to find it.

In all, the internship is going to be a great way for me to synthesize all I have learned about libraries in theory (putting it together into the complete picture) and gain hands-on experience. The only downside is that the dogs must miss me because they go nuts when I get home. :)