It's Almost May

I've been busy. Too busy? Probably. Let's see... I last updated this in January. I've done a bit since then...

January
- Moved to my new house. It's a 3 bedroom, 1 bath with two other people and one other dog. Harvard and I like it just fine. We've got a nice comfortable room and a view of Lake Washington.
- Snowboarded as a chaperon for my school's ski and snowboard bus. I got to go riding six or seven times this year and it was a blast. I even went off a box and landed it for the first time. I'm hoping next year I'll have the gear, time, and money to make a season pass feasible.
- Visited Bickleton for a long weekend. While there I got a 2000 Subaru Outback Impreza. It has some wear and tear but it holds more people and has heat/AC which were my main issues with my little Ford Ranger.
- Work went great! I helped chaperon a few trips to Camp Waskowitz with various classes so they could do some low ropes/team building type activities. I also had the opportunity to take a two day course on facilitating those types of activities. I'm hoping to get more training on that soon!

February
- Continued coaching basketball which had started back in November. The team really got into it's groove this month and were a lot of fun to work with.
- Played on a soccer team for the first time since I was five and did well! I'm not a regular substitute and get to play several times per month.
- Visited Bickleton again for a full week (mid-winter break). This time I did nothing while there. It was nice. I was ready to get home and get active again by the end though.

March
- Basketball season ended just as Track season began. We had a big pole vault turn out again this year. I also started a one day a week running group at my middle school which has been a lot of fun. So for those of you keep count that's three to four days a week of high school track and one day a week of middle school run group. aka fun.
- Visited Portland for a weekend. I got to see my friends Courtney and Karen (both were six months pregnant at the time). It was nice to get out of the city for a quick bit and catch up with these awesome ladies.
- Took a class at my church in which "we explored the essence of Jesus' invitation to trust and follow him. We looked at living with grace as our foundation by focusing on trusting Jesus in the contexts in which we live and began simple spiritual practices that enabled us to grow." It was a really useful class.
- Went on weekend adventures to the Olympic peninsula and competed in an orienteering race.
- JP came to visit so we hung out quite a bit and celebrated his 25th birthday!

April
- Visited Arizona for the first time since I graduated/moved back to Seattle in Dec. 2007. I met an aunt and cousin in Phoenix who I didn't know. Hung out with the family that took me in while I lived in Flagstaff. Went hiking in Sabino Canyon in Tucson. Hung out with friends from community college just like old time. Played a lot of poker with Sophia and even one some hands.
- Started seeing a counselor and have found that time to be very valuable and well spent.
- Dog-sat Chowder 5000, the Boston Terrier.
- Volunteered as a course monitor at an adventure race that combined kayaking, running, orienteering, and mountain biking for an ALL DAY event.
- Celebrated my grandmother's 81st birthday.

Coming up...
- I'm running a 5k around Greenlake with my middle school running group on Sunday.
- I'll hopefully be signing a contract for my teaching job next year in the next week or two.

Life's been good, but super busy. I want to work on slowing down a bit, but there are just so many wonderful opportunities that I don't want to miss out on! I want to help coordinate the next mission trip for my church. I want to do races, go camping, and backpacking. I want to get more training and become a better teacher. I want to travel some more. There is too much to do in this life. There is too much goodness to be taken in. There are too many cool people to spend time with and learn from. There is too much life to be had to slow down now. So I won't. =)