5 Year Plan

One of the things that I do with clients is create goals.  When they first come into the program, we sit with them and make short and long term goals.  Then, every time we meet we set small tasks that eventually lead to completion of the larger goal.  Right now, my life is a little chaotic and I often don't feel like I am working towards the larger goals that I would like to achieve.  So, I am making a 5 year plan.  The hope is to work on all my goals and slowly accomplish each long term goal.  I know some will take longer than others, but hopefully writing them out will give me guidance and a purpose.  My goals are going to focus on five realms, one for each year.  They are: career, health, family, financial and home. 

Career:  One thing I have been doing is working on my education which will lead to my goal of finding a job I love.  I want to continue my education and graduate in April.  My ultimate goal is to become a licensed social worker and find a rewarding career making a difference.  Right now, I don't know where that will be but I will go through the doors that open for me and find a job where I fit.  Goal: become a licensed social worker.

Health:  I need to become healthier both mentally and physically.  Right now, due to my work and school schedule, my health is at an all time low.  I know that I need to start eating better and working out consistently.  Also, I sometimes feel that if I was a better runner, I would be able to connect to my parents better.  It's what they enjoy and maybe if I was healthier they would be more proud of me.  I also know that I need to start managing my mental health better as well.  Especially getting into the social work field, I know that self care is critical and have not been coping well.  Overall, I know that being healthier will effect my life positively in more than one area of living.  Goal: Run a marathon.

Family:  I want to have a family of my own.  And, I don't want to not have a family just because I am single.  So, once I get more financially settled and finish my education, I want to start looking at options to become a mother.  As of now, I have taken all of the required courses to be a foster parent, so it is just a matter of if I want to foster, adopt, or try and have one of my own.  I know this is a HUGE decision and will need careful consideration, but at the same time I know that I want to be a parent.  Goal: Be a mom.

Financial:  I haven't always been the best with my finances and this is something that I need to work on.  I know that I want to start being more financially stable as I will need to repay my student loans and would like to eventually be able to get a new car and be financially comfortable.  I also want to look at the long-long-term and start planning for my retirement again.  Goal: Stop living paycheck to paycheck. 

Home:  I know it may be sometime before I can purchase home again, but it is something that I ultimately want to do.  In the meantime, I want to get out of my apartment living and live in a house again.  I know that Zeus, Clubber and Rocky all miss having a yard, and I would like to live somewhere where I am happy to come home to at the end of the day.  It would also be nice to live in a place where I feel safe.  Goal: Move into a home. 

Inaugural Portland Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, I completed the Inaugural Portland Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon in Portland, Oregon, with my parents.  We decided to head down to Portland on Saturday morning in order to attend the expo and pick-up our race packets.  After the expo, we headed down to find the Big Ass Sandwich truck for lunch.  The sandwiches online looked amazing, and we were a little disappointed at them in person as there wasn't quite enough meat.

After checking into our hotel, we walked down to the Portland Saturday Market that was a short walk away and close to the start line of the race.  We got lucky with having a sunny day on Saturday and enjoyed the sun as much as we could.  For dinner, we got to see Rick and Sandy Bowen.  It was fun catching up with long-time family friends and we enjoyed a great meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  After dinner, my mom and I decided to take a short walk and ended up at VooDoo Donuts.

We were lucky with a late race start on Sunday and our hotel was only a couple blocks from the start line.  We were unlucky in the fact that it started raining around mile 3 and rained the rest of the race.  I am always amazed by how diverse the courses are.  We went through some not so nice industrial areas, some cute retail/commercial districts, and some expensive residential neighborhoods.  The other downfall of Portland was that it felt like it was uphill THE WHOLE TIME.  I know it wasn't, but there was a lot of gradual uphills and just a couple, fairly steep downhill sections.  My time wasn't great, but it wasn't my worse either.  However, in all the pictures, I look totally pissed off, so I need to make sure to smile more during the next run so I don't look so miserable.

After the race, we ended up back at the outdoor market for lunch.  My mom and I shared African food while my dad had a pulled pork sandwich.  Overall, we had a great trip.  I really enjoyed Portland and can understand why people would want to move there.  I would really like to go back there for a weekend in which we didn't have a race and could just enjoy the city a little more without having to go to bed early and being very careful about our nutrition prior to the run.

Snow Shoeing

For my dad's birthday, we planned a trip to go snow shoeing on Mt Baker.  It would have been a lovely trail with amazing views had the weather been more agreeable.  Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy, so we turned around after about a half hour.  The best part of the trip was stopping at Graham's on the way home for some burgers.

Bringing in 2012 with a splash

On New Year's Day, I jumped into Birch Bay for the 29th Annual Polar Bear Plunge.  It was my mom's idea.  It was something that she had always wanted to do, and standing out in 42 degree weather waiting to jump into a 38 degree ocean, the thought crossed my mind that she may be a little crazy.  But then again, with the hundreds of people that stood around us for the noon plunge, the idea didn't seem that crazy at all.

Trinity, cousin Grace, my mom and I all did the plunge.  And, it really wasn't as cold as I expected it to be. We were in and out of the water within 2 minutes.  The best part is now that I have done it once, it is crossed off my bucket list so I won't ever have to do it again.  But, it was kinda fun, so then again maybe it will turn into a New Year's tradition!

Survivor Mud Run

Here is a write up courtesy of my dad of how we spent the Saturday before Father's Day:


Date:  Saturday, June 18, 2011  (Fathers Day Weekend)
Destination: Survivor Mud Run, Remlinger Farms, Carnation Washington

Amy came up Friday night after work. Debbie, Amy, Devon, Jackie and I registered to run in the Seattle Survivor Mud Run. It was raining and a mild 50 degrees out. We loaded up the motor-home and picked up Devon & Jackie around 8:00am and drove to Carnation. We arrived in time to pick up our packets and made the 11:15am corral start.  The race consisted of 14 obstacles to challenge us on the 3.3 hellish mile course. We had to run through tires hoping over 4’ walls, crawled under webbing, climbed over two 12’ walls, waded through a couple deep mud pits, traverse the river, crawled through deep mud, climbed over a 20’ net wall, & slid down steep mud ravines. One of the teams was the owner of Carlile Transportation (Ice Road Truckers TV series). It was amazing how many people were running this event. This was one of the funniest events yet. Bringing the motor home was perfect. We all rinsed the clumps of mud off using the outside shower, and then all took hot showers inside to remove the little chunks of mud. Check out the before and after photos…  On the way home we stopped in Duvall and had lunch/dinner. We arrived home around 7:00pm. We all had a great time playing in the mud….

And here are a couple of before and after pictures:

It was a great day and I hope that we do it again next year!

Quick Update

I know, I have been bad and haven't posted for over a month.  I will try and give a quick update on all that has happened:

* My house sold!

* I moved into a two bedroom apartment

* I finished another quarter of school (only summer and fall, then have to decide where to go for MSW...UWT or many USC???)

* I got to go to Vegas with my mom and grandma for Tricia's wedding

* I'm taking Belly Dancing classes once a week (I LOVE THEM!!)


Um, I guess, that is all for now.  Work is keeping me busy during the day and I am actually hoping to get an evening/weekend job to earn a little extra during the summer since I am only taking two classes online.

Northwest Plant and Garden Show

Yesterday was my annual trip up to Seattle to go meet my mom and go to the garden show.  It had snowed most of the week, so I was a little worried the weather might hamper our trip, but we got lucky.  There was a crisp breeze, and it was definitely cold, but overall, it was a sunny day in Seattle.

Andrew decided to drive up with me and have lunch with us before having to go home.  It was a huge step as not only was my mom there, but also my grandma and her husband's two daughter in-laws.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about him meeting my grandma as that makes it a little more serious. I knew he would make a good impression, as he is a total people person, but now it's more official that we are in an actual relationship.

He insists on make faces in pictures; he thinks it's funny.

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Pacific Place and browsed around a little before heading into the show.  The show was neat.  As always, the display gardens were amazing and the vendors always have some interesting stuff to look at.  We were there for about five hours before leaving after a long day on our feet.  Below are some of my favorite gardens:

After the show, we headed up to Lynnwood to have dinner at Red Lobster.  It's one of my grandma's favorite restaurants and since they don't have one in Whatcom County, we decided to treat her to a special dinner at her favorite place. 

Dad's Birthday!

Last week was my dad's birthday.  I know, I have been horrible at blogging.  I am going to blame it in midterms last week and promise to try harder in the future to stay up on my blogging.  It's amazing that the quarter is already halfway over and I can't believe I was actually looking at my the course schedule for the spring quarter.

So, back to my dad, last week was his birthday, so I headed up to Ferndale with Zeus for the weekend.  On Friday night, my mom had made reservations at the steakhouse at the Silver Reef for us, grandma, Ed, Jimmy and Sheri.  It was the first time we were there and really fun.  My dad and I both ordered the baseball cut steak which was really good.  For a starter, I had lobster bisque and the best dessert was banana foster that they flambéed table side. And, for coffee at the end, they provided freshly pressed coffee with two types of crystal sugar stir sticks, cinnamon sticks and two types of grated chocolate to customize your drink.  The coffee in itself made for an amazing dining experience. Overall dinner was really good and I would definitely go back there again for a yummy steak.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with my parents.  I had some homework I had to to as it was midterms and I needed some things on my car fixed that my dad took care of for me.  The best part of the weekend came on the way home.  I had been thinking of getting a friend for Zeus as I spend more and more time out of the house and thought it would nice to get him a playmate to keep him company.  In Stanwood, I always see the place N.O.A.H. Animal Adoption on the side of I-5.  So, I decided to stop and see if they had any dogs that would be a good playmate for Zeus.

Long story short, I adopted two 12 week old kittens.  They are brothers who recently came to the shelter and had recently been neutered and had all their shots.  They were quarantined at first, but are now starting to be more comfortable at the house and with Zeus.  They love to play with each other and are super cute.  Rocky is more outgoing and Clubber is a little hesitant with everything, but they both seem to be adapting well to their new home.

Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas

For an early birthday present, my mom and I spent the weekend in Las Vegas.  In San Jose, we signed up to do the Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 marathon in Las Vegas on December 5, 2010.  We decided to fly out on Thursday and then come home on Monday after the Sunday run.  Our flight out of Seattle on Thursday morning was uneventful.  Upon arriving in Las Vegas, we took a cab to our hotel, the Luxor.  After checking in, we decided to get lunch and walk around a little bit.

We ended up having a Mexican lunch at Tacos & Tequila in our hotel.  There, we both had our first margarita.  After eating, we walked around the strip.  We checked out Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, New York New York and MGM among others.   For dinner we shared a pizza at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant inside the MGM.  It was kind of cool as the National Rodeo Finals were also happening that weekend so there were tons of cowboys walking around.

On Friday, we decided to walk down to the Venetian for check-in.  There was not a coffee pot in the room so I went downstairs to Starbucks first thing in the morning and got my mom and myself a coffee.  The walk down to the Venetian and back ended up taking the better part of the day.  We took our time getting there and enjoyed walking through the booths and check-in.  We wondered through a few casinos down at that end of the strip and found a spot along the canals in the Venetian for lunch.

Once we made it back to the hotel, it was time to clean-up and get ready for dinner.  Aunt Barbara and Earl had driven down to spend some time with us and planned a special dinner for my birthday.  My mom and I took a cab to the Golden Nugget where they were staying and had a nice dinner at an Asian bistro.  It was really good food.  After dinner, we gambled a little and enjoyed the Fremont Street experience.  It was fun being down there.  We spent some time with my aunt before heading back to the hotel.

On Saturday, we headed over to the Hoover Damn and see the new bridge with my aunt and uncle.  My mom and I wanted to have an easy day without much walking so we would feel good for the run on Sunday morning.  The damn was fun and so was the bridge.  I walked to Arizona and back!  On the way home, we stopped for lunch and at a store that sold metal work before heading back to the hotel.

Sunday was the big day. We got up early and had room service breakfast before heading out to the race. It was nice staying at the Luxor as the start and finish line were next door at the Mandalay Bay.  The totally shut down the strip for the event.  It was neat at the beginning as all of the hotels were showing live coverage of the race on their big screen billboards.  I started out doing good, but then ended up bad. It was a bummer, once I realized I wasn't going to beat my previous time, I gave up.  Overall, I really enjoyed the course as it went down Las Vegas Blvd from the strip to downtown and back.  It was fun running in front of all the casinos,  but I am bummed I didn't get a better time.  My mom also felt the same way.  After the run, Bret Michaels performed and then we headed back for showers.

For lunch, we ate at Dick's Last Resort.  The food was good and the atmosphere was a lot of fun as the draw for the place is the rude waiters.  We eventually made our way down through the Bellagio to the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.  The Bellagio was amazing!  I loved their displays.  After some window shopping, we made our way back to our hotel and got ready for dinner.  We eventually made our way back to Fremont Street to have dinner with Barbara and Earl.  This time we ate at a cafe in the Golden Nugget.  My mom and I were both tired after the long day, so didn't stay out too late.

Our flight left Monday morning and we had to get up early to head to the airport.  It was funny there as you could see people wobbling around and knew they did the run the previous day.  Our flight amazingly ended up landing early in Seattle.  Andrew picked me up at the airport so my mom could head directly home.  Zeus was very happy to have me home and it was nice sleeping in my own bed again.  We did have a good trip and am looking forward to my next trip to Vegas which will most likely be in May for my cousin's wedding!