Winter '09

Already been in Seattle for 6 months. Despite some freak snow, this winter has been much more like a New England spring. I'm not missing the bitter cold one bit! Can't wait for short/t-shirt weather to come around. Life has settled into a more comfortable routine which has led me to begin dreaming of what is to come. Got excited about planning to travel the world for a year in a few years. Funny how I'm always thinking about the next adventure! Matt and I will be spending a week in Maui at the end of April. I'm ecstatic and can't wait for a relaxing beach vacation! We've just started planning more specifics and figuring out what we want to do when we're not on the beach. All I really need is a chair, book, and my kite and I'll be all set. Well, maybe a beer/cocktail too!

Work has been going great, especially as everything is more familiar. I still can't believe that I was hired for this job right out of school. I'm getting lots of practice doing counseling with adults and also learning about attachment and social-emotional health and development of children. I still laugh about my declarations early on in my MSW training that I would never work with children. I feel such joy on a daily basis as a result of being with kids. It really is such a pleasure. Makes me excited about my own, although I'm learning more and more about the challenges of parenting.

Bought a really nice used sewing machine from a woman on craigslist a couple of weeks ago. It's a Pfaff 2030, and has a bunch of different embroidery stitches. I'm still getting used to the basics, never mind all of the bells and whistles. My first project was a potholder and it came out great. I'll post a pic of it soon. I've also repaired some clothing and hemmed a couple pairs of pants. My current project is a doll-sized quilt. Exercising my creative brain is energizing! I forget what an important outlet crafting is for me.

Pics to come later.