Summer Sunsets

So...what's on my list for summer of 2011. I'm sure you are dying to know [so am I]. Here's what I have so far:

1. Volunteer:  I plan on devoting much of my time this summer volunteering at NeuroInstitute. This place specializes in rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries and brain injuries. The experience here has been eye opening. Not only is it something that interests me, it is something I can see myself doing in the future. The interactions and friendships with patients are extremely rewarding. It's hard for me to complain about a hard days work or a boring day after physically watching these patients maneuver their body into painful exercises and stretches in hopes of one day being able to walk again. And it is even more rewarding being there, holding their hand, while they take their first steps towards a better future.

2. Eat healthy, live healthy, be alive: After taking one of those grueling trips to the doctors where they simply prescribe to you [or make it blantently obvious] that they want you eating healthy and exercising often, I have finally taken those words into serious comtemplation. Sure, I've been healthy and active...for the most part. [Besides the occasional DQ Blizzard ;)] But now, I'm putting the pressure on myself to workout everyday. Yeh, it sounds a little crazy, but i'm not talking about an Olympic training program. I'm talking about a run around the neighborhood, a quick visit to the gym, or swimming a few laps. One thing that has definitely motivated me to keep up this lifestyle is seeing the multitude of patients I work with at the NeuroInsititue. It is challenging watching patients give up while trying to walk a few steps or become lost in conversation as they have lost the ability to comprehend. Some health related issues can be genetic, but most of your future is in your control. Therefore, I am committed to respecting my body now and for the future.


3. Textbooks: Yes. It's that time of year...again. My goal is to spend the least amount of money I can on textbooks for next semester. This will be a struggle considering the textbooks on my list add up to a total of $855.35. Nope, not happenin'. Goal price: under $200. Screw you UA Bookstore :)

4. Learn how to play the piano...again: After reading the book The Last Song, I've realized how much I enjoyed listening to and playing the piano. So, i'm taking the task up again and teaching myself. So far, the songs on my queue include: Dream by Priscilla Ahn, Gravity by Sara Bareilles, Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri and a Taylor Swift song.

5. Tackle some fears: Starting with getting my blood taken [happening tomorrow... andi'mfreakingoutontheinside!?!] For those of you that know me [or anything about me at all] you would know that I hate [absolutely hate] getting shots or getting my blood taken. There isn't any significant reason why...besides the fact that someone is sticking and poking into your skin and stabbing you with something that shouldn't be there! And I've had a bad experience dealing with the wrath of Ruth [a nurse who was not very gentle probing around my veins]. See, I'm getting worked up just writing about it. Calm down. I've talked about this subject with a friend of mine. She, as well, has a queasiness around blood and needles [see i'm not the only one!]. However, she decided to conquer her fears and donate her blood. This courageous act is on my summer to do list...just a little further down. And if it doesn't get accomplished this summer, I do have many more summers to come.

6. Tubing down the salt river: This is a must every summer. What's not to love about a 5 hour river rapid trip.

7. Tucson bound: Also on the agenda this summer is multiple trips down to Tucson to visit friends [and escape Phoenix]. Hopefully, one will be soon. One that incorporates taking down dressers x2, a nightstand, a TV stand, and moving it all into my room. Not so much fun, but something that has to be done to take one more step into actually living there!

8. Become a little more technological savvy: My goal for tonight after I post this blog. Figure out the whole damn twitter business and get tweetin'...twitten'...forget it. It might take me a little longer than just tonight. But that's why this list is entitled Summer 2011. 

Honey I'm Home...Bring me a box of brownies and a job please :)

Now that I have been home, blogging hasn't become a particular priority of mine [however not much has become a priority now that I'm home and its summer time] That is, besides the first few weeks in which I spent searching for a job and cleaning my room [wonderful summer plans].


One of the joys of being home is the discovery of an old list I made the summer of my freshman year entitled 100 Summer Lovin'. For anyone who actually reads this blog, the picture attached is for you to enjoy [and laugh at] my childhood.

A few of my favorites...


#2: Have friends over and sleep on the tramp- Impossible now because our trampoline has jumped the fence into the neighbors yard for their enjoyment and I never did get to have my prized sleep over. :(

#4: Cook dinner once a week- This task has started to become accomplished as my mom feels it is necessary that I learn how to cook now that I'll be living in a place with a functioning kitchen [I mean, I do too I just didn't want to say it...Opps. I said it]. So, what's on the menu when Caitlin's cookin'?! 1. Hamburgers 2. Chicken Fried Rice 3. Chicken Penne Pasta  4. Chicken Tacos.  5. Cereal  6. Cereal  7. Cereal [It's a specialty of mine] Appears to be a well rounded menu.

#16: Mow the lawn once a week- Pssh. Never happened EVER. And NEVER will.

#25: Find a way to make some money- Oh money money money. This leads to my persistent, depressing, frustrating, annoying, unpleasant and somewhat unsuccessful search for a job. The job searching...

Target  

Michaels  

Bed Bath and Beyond 

Tutor Time  

YMCA  

Lifetime  

Kohls  

Picazzos  

Paradise Bakery  

Starbucks  

Sports Authority  

Caregiver

Benihana

Macy's

California Pizza Kitchen

Bath and Body Works

Gap

Menchies

Orange Leaf

Old Navy

And the list goes on

And on

And on...

Until I get a call back from a program called Sciensational Workshops for kids. And become employed as an assistant teacher for a workshop that helps kids build robots! One minor dilemma... this workshop only runs for two weeks of the summer...therefore its safe to say its not really a job but its working for money which equals job [in my brain anyway]. And maybe another minor dilemma...I'm honestly not sure I can actually build a functional robot, let alone teach a six year old how! 

#44: Stop slouching- self-explanatory.

#50: Get up at 5AM and cook breakfast for the fam- Who was I when I was a freshman?! Needless to say, this didn't happen.

#5: Get an awesome TAN- I'm working on it. My skin just doesn't bronze well.

#23: Be creative...do something crafty- I plan to spend this ENTIRE summer doing DIY arts&crafts :) Our condo is in need of some art masterpieces. A few on the agenda to be tackled very soon include:
-inspirational quote canvas
-cupcake ruffled styrofoam ball
-picture frames

#33: Hike South Mountain- Did this. However, the plan wasn't exactly executed correctly. Andrew and I went to meet up with 40+ others through a group invite online, but we got there and no one else was there. We ended up still hiking only to find out the scheduled hike was for the next day. Oh well- you can never enjoy too much nature [only when its 100+ degrees outside and your sweating] [Or when you lose your phone in the desert and double the distance and time on your hike to go retrieve it and for it NOT to be there-shout out to Amy if your reading this :)]

And my personal favorite:
#39: Attempt to keep my room clean- I didn't want my room to be clean, I just wanted to attempt :)

In response to my three week absence- I'm sorry, I needed it. Well I'm actually only sorry for my 2 week absence because 1 week was spring break and I did exactly that I took a break from real life. So, I'll start there. Spring break was by no means a break, but I'm the only one to blame for the scheduled crazyness- however, it was well worth it. I spent the first half down in the dirty T because of coaching, came back home, slept in my own bed for one night, only had one home cooked meal, left the next morning for Flagstaff, road trip for three hours, stayed up ungodly late and woke up bright and early for an entire day of snowboarding, fell on my ass [multiple times] from snowboarding [the bruises have finally faded], celebrated Saint Patrick's day by wearing...turquoise?, laughed with friends, drove home, unpacked, repacked, left for Tucson the next morning, back to dorm life, back to reality. 

Which I am here now, sitting on my favorite spot on campus, the 8th floor patio on Optical Sciences building reminiscing of the past couple of weeks. [Luckily, I did find the elevator this time- so no climbing 8 flights of stairs]. So much has happened I don't know where to begin. How bout starting with all the good news I can think of and see where that leads to.

Good News: 

-Went with a friend to see the almighty Dr. Cornel West lecture on topics relevant to the state of human being. His lecture was mindblowing, so much so that I'm not sure if my writing can do it any justice. The message that stood out to me the most was that we "have to learn how to die, in order to learn how to live." It sounds so counter-intuitive, but its the truth.

- In 8 days, 18 hours, 43 minutes, and 28 seconds [yes, I'm literally counting down] I will officially have a place to live next semester with two awesome roommates! Yes, this is BIG news as I am so over dorm life- I'm ready to live in a place on my own!

-My hell week is almost complete and I have only one more test and one more paper to write! Yee...and I think I aced my bio test, but I don't want to jinx anything.

-I have officially declared a Speech and Hearing Sciences major! I now have a purpose for being in college. :)

-At practice, one of my girls handed me a sealed envelope. When I got home, I opened it and found this.

[The envelope- I mean, these are all legitimate ways to spell 'Caitlin']

[The inside of the card...adorable :)]

- I checked my mail for the first time in...awhile...and there was actually mail in it. My FREE Target Beauty Bag which I completely forgot I had signed up for.

-It's Easter soon...which means there is delicious candy hitting the aisles in all local grocery stores! Easter brings in the best candy of any holiday I know.

Third Time's the Charm

3. That's it. Only 3. 3 posts so far. Well this would be my 4th. I realized that blogs don't just write themselves, although I wish. [Along with an entire list of things as well: Chem lab reports, field notebooks, exhibition reviews...]  But nothing happens in this world without perseverance [and perspiration!] It's that go-get-um attitude that has kept me going these last couple days. I got back from practice and realized tomorrow is Thursday! Where did the week go? Then I realized that tomorrow IS Thursday and that means I have an exam [however, I resorted to blogging instead of studying. Good choice. Right?] And that means the day after that is Friday [2 writing assignments due, but that's all...] Then [thank god] it's the weekend! And not just A weekend...it's RODEO WEEKEND. [Not really sure what that entails but its gotta be something good if all Tucson schools celebrate it]. I guess one could say i'm a rodeo-weekend-virgin.
This week has been ridiculous, but just comes to show that in the toughest of times you can persevere [and perspire :)] I never knew I would walk around so much in one day to get shin splints :( A solid 7 AM to 9 PM day...NON-STOP craziness! [Please college, keep those to a minimum. Much appreciated]
Lecture Lesson #2: In day's are forever ending, do your best to persevere [and not so much perspire :)]

I Can't Take it Anymore!

There's no way I could wait another 6 days to tell you the good information... WE WON FIRST PLACE AT THE VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT! And I couldn't be prouder of my girls. I honestly can't remember playing when I was 13. Actually, scratch that, I do. Mainly because I had a GOD-AWFUL coach. Who couldn't forget the Indian Runs, the box jumps, and the infamous white trash 360s. They are forever engraved in my memory. That's a reason I enjoy coaching so much. [No, not to be the worst person alive] But rather, the complete opposite. I love coaching for all the reasons it offers. I want to be a motivational leader for the younger ones, I want them to learn and achieve and improve. And I want to be there with them, guiding them along the way. [Maybe I should rethink my future career...oh wait, I still need to think of a future career].
In my news class we watched a video clip of one man shouting, "I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore!" Well, this one man convinced entire town's to say this phrase. It's a bit overwhelming how one man's voice can transfer into a sea of voices. Somewhat of an inspirational lecture.
Lecture Lesson #1: Use your voice [just not as profoundly as Dr. Amy Fountain.]

A Sticky Note

I'm going to start by saying this... you don't know how many times I typed, erased, type, erased more, type, delete entire sentence. Mainly because I didn't know how I should start this posting. But it looks like I have now (note to self- definitely going to have to improve my introductions). This entire blogging concept is overwhelming to me. Don't get me wrong, I haven't ignored this blog the past week. In fact, it's been running through my mind every day, every hour, sometimes twice an hour. With so many thoughts about the blog, why haven't I just posted something? Funny you ask because I was wondering the same. 

Yes, it has something to do with the fact that my ideas and thoughts are twisted in the shape of a pretzel in my head. Wheew, step one...tackled. I've been having tidbits of information pass through my head that would be more than amazing to write about in my blog, but my lack of transforming these ideas into words, sentences, and paragraphs has dominated the process. Wheeww, step two...complete [surprising to see I did write a sentence about the lack of being able to write a sentence...you follow me?] So, what has been going on? [this is where i'll let my brain wander, cut me some slack...it is only my second blog].

My weekend consisted of 5+ hours in a car, 6+ hours in a volleyball gym, and 30+ hours sleeping. Sounds fun, right? Of course, being it's giving me inspiration for writing the second portion of this blog.

It's always so wonderful being back home [usually...for the most part. Ok, my mom might read this one day, so always!] But this time it was especially wonderful. A funny part of life is that you don't realize you are homesick until you actually go home and don't feel 'sick'. Then you finally put the two and two together that the past 3 days spent looking through all the photo albums of family vacations and school events on your computer weren't just because you were bored. It was because you were homesick.
I was homesick for my parents warm loving embrace and good home-cooked food. [Sidenote on the home-cooked meal: we had meatloaf. we've never had meatloaf for dinner in my 18 years of existence. A clear sign my mother is showing signs of aging.] But, my mother is showing greater signs of love. After having been through a long boyfriend breakup ordeal, she was there for me, she knew what to say, and she knew what to do [a motion involving a finger...i'll refrain from saying which particular one]. Thank you mom! I take back the comment about the aging- but it's okay, you've probably forgotten already :) [I'll write it on a sticky note next time]. So, that's the family part.

The volleyball part will just have to wait. It will make it that much more exciting to tell [mainly just because it might take me another 6 days to actually spit the words out]. You can hold that to me.    

def'n: be glad of life

The main inspiration for this blog is a graduation card I received in the mail. Sure, this might sound incompetent, but to me, it's more than a card...it's an inspiration for life. Therefore, this blog is all about living. Living in the present day and living for the future. I apologize ahead of time for insufficient posts, bizarre posts, all-about-nothing posts, but that's the way life is...right?