Turkey day and smiling

So.  My last two posts were downers.  Sorry about that.  This week was weird since we had/have Thursday and Friday off, so it felt longer than three days should have felt.  However my week got progressively better since my last post.

Stephen surprised me with flowers again on Tuesday.  I'd had some particularly rough sessions that day, and the flowers are beautiful.  I can't even express how much little things like that mean to me.  Ugh.  So mushy.  Much feelings.

I'd fully expected to be sad all day on Thanksgiving, but it was actually a great day.  I skyped with my family in the morning and it was almost like being at home, except that I could only see a couple of them in the frame at a time.  Haha.  I also got to facetime with them while they were at the neighbors house, and Stephen was able to join me for that.  It's kind of bizarre introducing people over video chat, but it's also amazingly cool.  Isn't technology great?

My new glasses came in the mail on Wednesday, but I wasn't able to get them from my landlady until yesterday.  I am totally obsessed with them.  They make not having contacts okay (I just have't gotten around to ordering them yet).

Stephen had been growing this weird beard/mustache thing for the past few weeks.  Usually I'm a fan of facial hair, but I'm just not sure how I feel about it on him.  Luckily he shaved yesterday, but I must say, I could get used to just the mustache...maybe...

We drove 45 minutes south to his sister's house in Salem.  There seem to be several repeat town names out here that remind me of home.  I actually had someone comment to me the other day (a grown adult, mind you...with a child) that they only recently realized that the Salem witch trials didn't take place in Salem Oregon.  HAH.  Was Oregon even *discovered back then?  I should look that up at some point...Anyways...

Above is Stephen's sister Sarah with her cutie-patootie baby.  She is seriously one of the happiest babies I've met.  SO cute.  It was really great meeting more of the clan, and eating delicious food.  I can't stop thinking about how blessed I am.  I knew God was orchestrating my cross country move, but wow, His plan was much more detailed than I initially thought.  To think that I was originally going to move in with a craigslist rando but instead ended up next door to such a fabulous family?  What would my life be like right now if I had stuck with my original housing plans?  What if I had stayed in Boston?  

I don't want to think about that.  I am perfectly content with how my life is right here, right now.  

God is good.

Life is great.

Today

Today I miss home.

I miss my family.

I miss my friends.

I miss rude Bostonians.

I miss my Karen.

I miss Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.

I miss my students.

I miss familiar streets.

I miss Machine Mondays.

I miss a lot.

Molly had a bad day

So, I started thinking of this post last night, but it's taken me a full 24 hours to think clearly enough to actually write it coherently.

Yesterday I had a bad day.

So there's this guy..

Ok blog-o-sphere.  Those of you who follow me on twitter, instagram or facebook have probably been wondering this for a while, so I'm just going to put it all out there.  Literally the day after I decided I would give up on the male-species and become an old lonely cat-owning spinster, I met this guy.  The details would probably bore you, but let's just establish that he's quite a nice guy.  He also happens to live precisely one backyard away from my front door which is pretty convenient.

His name is Stephen.

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Now, you all know that I'm not the kind of girl to just randomly talk about guys, so you can probably guess that this is going to be a short post.  There really isn't much for me to say that wouldn't be overly personal or just plain weird...but yeah.  He's a pretty great guy, he loves God, is great with little kids and makes me laugh pretty much all the time. He also makes more strange faces than I do, which is a pretty rare find.

The cat still doesn't know what to think, but has gradually grown to accept Stephen as an acceptable visitor in the house.

I don't know where this post is going; I'm pretty tired because I woke up at 4:30am because of the time change (don't ask me why my brain was ready to wake up at 5:30am, it just was) and had a pretty full day.

Stephen was too engrossed in watching Vine videos to notice (or maybe care?) that I graffitied his legs.  I'm so clever.

We skyped with my parents this afternoon and that was pretty terrific.  I think when I lived away from home, but still in MA, I took for granted the ability to drive 45 minutes and visit with my family.  I've been trying to make a more conscious effort to schedule times to facetime and skype with my family, and it's been totally awesome just getting to see their faces and hear their voices.  The internet/technology is not always our friend (either my end or their end causes the picture to blur and the signal to stall out) but that only makes the moments it does work seem all the more precious.

Oh yeah, and I also got to dress up at work this year for halloween.  You know how much I love dressing up in costumes!  I totally forgot that I would be able to dress up this year, though, and didn't think about my costume until Thursday night.  I ended up going to a thrift store and buying a child's cat costume for $1.50.  The tail was small enough to make a comfortable headband for a small child, so I just wore the ears and bow tie.  I think I turned out pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.  I got to wear the costume a second and third time at my church's harvest festival and again at AWANA tonight.  I also went grocery shopping in my costume (tonight, so days after Halloween) and no one seemed to care because Oregon is cool like that.

So, yeah...there's this guy, and we make each other laugh and each think the other is a pretty swell human being.  Now don't get all excited, we're just dating, but I thought you all should meet him.  Maybe I'll try to talk him into doing a guest post, but considering the kindred spirit that he is, it would probably just dissolve into rambling like my posts inevitably do.

Ta-ta, you beautiful person, you.

LINUS

So.  I got the cat!  He's a 5 month old brown/black shorthair cat.  He is the absolute cutest kitten I've ever seen (see Bootsie, you can still be the cutest adult/elderly cat).  Stephen came with me to pick him out, it was SUCH a difficult choice.  If I'd had the room (and disposable income) I totally would have brought home 2 or 3 cats.

It's kind of a creepy picture of me, but boy does Linus look GOOD.  He's such a handsome kitten.  He has both stripes and spots, so he's kind of like a....chee-ger?  Ti-tah?  Whatever he is, he's just amazing and so cute and cuddly.  I could go on forever, but then you'd just laugh at how much of a crazy cat lady I am (though I've been told that 3+ is what makes a person a crazy cat lady, so I'm not quite there yet).

I haven't been studying as much as I should be this past week or so, so I'm going to take advantage of waking up early and get to studying!!! (After a cuddle break....)

Kisses, peace.

October, Exams, and turning 25

I warned you I'm terrible at these things.




October has been a big month so far.  I spent something like 15 hours studying flashcards, and at least that much reading my graduate textbooks in preparation for this BCBA exam.  I don't quite know how my brain hasn't exploded from the sheer amount of information yet.  I finally scheduled my exam, which is on the 29th of November.  Yes, I am freaking out, but I also recognize that I am likely over preparing and will probably do fine/great/fantastic.

I went to an Anberlin concert with Ariel.  It was so epic, I can't even put it into words.  I wish I had seen them sooner rather than on one of their last stops of their last ever tour.  I really appreciated how sincere the lead singer (and really the whole band) was and how much he was in awe of how much the crowd loved the music.  Ugh.  I wish I could go back and relive it.  Hands down, this was the best concert I've ever been to.  I wish you could have been there too, because it was truly just that epic.  I'm probably repeating myself a lot here, but YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND...THEY WERE THAT AMAZING!!!!

This month I rejoined AWANA as a leader.  I didn't realize how much I missed working with/hanging out with typical children until I was inside a swarm of them.  I love my special needs kids, but typical kids are great too.  I remember being in AWANA, youth group, sunday school, etc. and being in awe of the "adults" (college age kids, really) who were just SO COOL.  Not to toot my own coolness horn, but I feel like I've finally achieved that status among children.  I finally look old enough (seriously, until recently, some people were convinced I was 18 or whatever) and am weird enough that I'm kind of cool.  

I also turned 25 this month.  It was kind of really sad.  Like, much sadder than I expected.  Of course I realized what I was doing when I moved 3000 miles away from 90% of the people I know and love, but I didn't really think about how that would affect days/events that I take for granted.  If you know me, you know that I'm not really a birthday or celebration person.  I LOVE celebrating other people.  I LOVE finding gifts that are just so perfect for someone I know.  BUT I HATE being the center of attention on my birthday or Christmas or any other gift-giving holiday.  It just makes me feel so awkward.  Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate what people do for me, I'd just rather do it for them rather than them for me.  That being said, I was kind of surprised by how much I missed being near my family for my birthday.  I got to skype with them a couple days before, and that was great, but I do miss them (more than I would probably admit outloud, but I know some of them read this blog so they'll find out that way I guess) and it was weird being away.  I went out for a birthday drink with a couple co-workers after work (turns out 3 of us share the same birthday!) and went home, ready to just wallow in misery.  Flash forward to the evening.  I'd just like to send a shout out to my homeboy Stephen who managed to accomplish a feat no one has ever accomplished in my 25 years.  He and his family somehow managed to throw me a surprise party on my actual birthday and I had NO clue that was going to happen.  It wasn't a huge ordeal, it was his family and Bryce's family, but it meant so much to me.  It was a genuine surprise and really made my day.  

A year ago today I adopted my first cat, Bootsie.  I love him so much it's almost embarrassing.  I thought I had lost him forever when he escaped the other day, but thank God he returned to me.  I'm not altogether sure (or as sure as I was a year ago) that I'm going to become a crazy, lonely, cat lady, but I do know that my family is not quite complete.  I plan on getting Bootsie a pal sometime this month or the next, and it's going to be fantastic.  Stay tuned, the next time I update I will probably have this cat and it will be so cute.

Happy Halloween!

Update

What's up nerds!?  Portlandia is still as wonderful as ever and I'm really starting to get into the swing of things.  Things are still a little hectic at work since I don't have a set schedule yet (but I've been told it's coming soon!) but I'm gradually learning how things work out here and getting used to the new programs and adjusting to the younger, smaller, clients.  It doesn't hurt that they're all so stinking cute that I just want to bring them home in my pockets (is that a creepy thing to say?  Oh well...).

I'm also adjusting to my new church.  I wasn't sure if this would be the one when I first arrived, but so far it's seeming like a good fit.  There aren't a ton of people my age, but there's a decent group to hang out with.  I'm also so busy studying for this BCBA exam that I don't have an abundance of time to hang out anyways!  Haha.  Speaking of which, I signed up for the absolute LAST possible date to take the exam in my area, so November 29th it is!  I am excited and terrified at the same time.  So much is riding on this one, four-hour test. I know that all of the information is in my brain somewhere, it will just be a matter of calming down enough that I can make use of that information.  Prayers, hugs and encouragement is, of course, appreciated!

I finally met my backyard neighbors this past week.  They're pretty great, plus they have the cutest (sorry Bailey!) golden retriever who just so happens to love me.  He's seriously such a sweet dog, I love being able to hop the fence to get my dog fix since I don't have the room or time for one in my house.

Seriously, look at this cutie!  Awwwwww.

One scary event that's rapidly approaching is my 25th birthday!  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  I can't believe it.  I'm going to be a quarter of a century.  I have like 35 years left before I consider myself too old to function (no offense to those 60+ year olds out there.  I just don't think I'd make a very good old person).  I looked up a bunch of bucket lists and challenges of what to accomplish before 25 and I haven't finished many of them...obtain a bachelors degree, check.  earn a masters of science, check.  get married?  nope.  own stock?  nope.  have your finances in order? NOPE.  AHHH.  I'm running out of time!!!  In all seriousness though, if I honestly look back on my last 25 years, I have accomplished a lot....I just traveled across the country without a job or solid plan and everything worked out.  I know a lot of people who haven't lived outside the zip code they were born in, so I guess taken from that perspective that was a HUGE deal.  Hmm...  It's still a scary thing turning 25...but I suppose I'll just have to check in with you again once I'm actually 25.  2 more days, yo.