more pictures, again

I hope everyone's Christmas was good. I finally fell asleep at 8:15 AM... but I did fit a nap in at my in-laws house, which was refreshing. Christmas day was great, and I'm thankful for my family and friends' thoughtfulness. My parents even spent weeks/months working on picture albums that span 50 years... hundreds of pictures, all scanned and labeled and touched up... something I've wanted for a while, especially now that I'm starting my own family.

I've been going through more wedding pictures, and here are a few of my favorites. It might seem a little overdone, but I don't care. It was my wedding, and I can show off all I want.

Christmas

I can't sleep.

Remember when you were little and you couldn't sleep on Christmas Eve, you were so excited? It's like that, except I'm not excited. I just can't sleep. I woke up at 4 Am and here it is, 6:30, and I'm wide awake. I'm not even cold, and I'm in my basement. The window was open, even. Did anyone hear the wind?

For those of you married persons: was your first Christmas hard? Were you homesick for the things your family used to do?

This is only the second time in recent memory I've suffered from insomnia... and I really want to go to the store and get something to eat, or drink, or play with, but being Christmas Eve, everything's closed. Oh, my luck! I don't remember the last time I had a normal Christmas.

Oh, and I've been reading "A Christmas Carol" and it's really rather amusing. It usually takes a few chapters for Charles Dickens to really warm up (he was paid by the word, so before he really gets into his story, he's just interested in a paycheck... hence, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of enlightenment, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the blah blah blah for a whole paragraph, just trying to fit as many words in as possible). This one, he jumps right in!

Okay, I'm going to try to sleep again. Wish me luck.

graduate school

Well, I officially applied for Concordia University today.
*phew*
I did that while taking a break from jobhunting. For a year and a half, my professional life has been pretty steady, and now it feels stagnant. Now, since I quit my job and I'm going on to grad school, I feel I'm accomplishing something... even if I don't have another job yet and I haven't been accepted to school. It's funny, how this would freak me out a year or two ago, or even the past 24 years of my life, but I feel so confident and right and at peace with it.

So, hallalujah for school, and for quitting, and for moving on! I embrace it!

Concordia, it turns out, is much smaller than I thought it was... it's even smaller than my high school. 1100 students! 57 faculty members! Ah, personal attention... this will be refreshing. Check it out: www.cu-portland.edu

saying good-bye

I'm quitting my job.
This makes me immensely sad. I've dedicated a year and a half of my life to improving myself and my career at Northwest, and I've outgrown it... which on one hand is a positive thing, but it's just sad how it's come about.
So, if you know of any job openings... whether it's a receptionist job, a social work job, or in education or something, let me know. I'm looking.

More pics...

Mrs. Wright

So, it all went wonderfully.
Most of my family was there, and my dear friends from college, and my dear friends from PDX, and much of my new family... and I love them all! Everything went exactly as planned, and even better in some cases... it was supposed to rain, and it didn't... I was supposed to fall down coming down the aisle or puke on the bishop, but I didn't... James was supposed to come to his senses and say "no," but he didn't... etc. etc. I was sorry I couldn't invite everyone I knew, because it really was delightful... and the music and food and ambiance and spirit was a blessing for James and I beginning a family. It's strange, how everything comes together... things that ordinarily might not be such a big deal - a gathering of friends and family, putting on a dress, saying some words in a church - how all of these things come together and create a spirit so strong and wonderful. I'd like to say how smoothly things went, and how right things felt, and how I think it's a sign that we are truly blessed to have made it through our struggles to find each other in the end.
I thank all of you for your support and love!

Mrs. Wright

5 AM

Well, it's 5 in the morning and I can't sleep. This is very uncommon. Actually, I don't remember the last time I just couldn't sleep and actually got up and did something.
I'm thinking about all the things I have to do tomorrow - not worrying, mind you, just thinking, and I can't make it stop. Tomorrow I don't have my group together, but I have an excellent backup plan if I can't get plan A working in time. I'm thinking about the wedding. I'm worried about my sick friend. I'm wondering if I'll make a good wife in (good grief!) less than 3 weeks. I'm thinking about grant writing. Grant writing, for crying out loud! At 5 AM! And I'm excited about starting school again in (hopefully) 7 months. Tell me, why does my brain want to think these thing so badly that it won't let me sleep and it knows I have to be at work in 3 1/2 hours?

For reference...

This is a baby skunk. You cannot IMAGINE how cute they are in person!

I want one!!!

I just had to share this picture of baby porcupines. They're so cute!!!! I want one, I want one! James said we can consider it, but if we're getting a baby skunk, too, then we'll have to risk that they won't get along, and that won't be pretty.

ready for marital bliss...

awe, we love each other!

Shoegazing

Has anyone ever heard of the musical genre "shoegazing"? Not only did I discover a new genre, I found out that I LOVE it! I already have shoegazer albums! I'm fully equipped to enjoy this new world!
Some bands you should really check out if you haven't yet:
Cocteau Twins (shoegazers)
This Mortal Coil (shoegazers again)
Massive Attack
Meg Lee Chin
Elastica
Aphex Twin
The Halo Benders
etc., etc.

Comments!

Make comments on me! Turns out, it was my template that wasn't behaving properly. I had to fire it and hire another, and James manipulated some of the settings to personalize it a little. Yay for personalization!

achtung!

It has come to my alarming attention that my blog will not post comments. You write one in, and you say, "Post!", and it says in reply, "I'm not listening, I'm not listening..." This infuriates me. James to the rescue! (Please?)

In other news...

Did you know that ancient Romans wouldn't bathe in water? Especially if they were rich? They thought it was dirty. Instead, they'd spread oil all over themselves and then have a slave scrape it off them with something called a "scapula" (it's been a while but I think that's how it's spelled) that resembles a mini boomerang with a handle.

Oh, and now James has hidden my new wedding band because I like it too much and I snuck it off to church today to show it off to Kadra. I didn't even wear it on the correct finger. I wore it on my thumb. And now he's revoked my ring-looking privileges.

And tomorrow we're going to watch an exhilirating "Under the Sea" film for Science Day!

Do you see Noah's EYES in that picture?!?!

free candy

Every once in a while, a client leaves the facility and forgets his candy in the room where I put it after he buys it from the store. When that happens, I eat it. Is that stealing candy from a kid? For instance: this afternoon, I enjoyed a delightful "Cascade Crash" Gatorade left over from someone who left two days ago. I'd like to think that she'd have wanted me to have it, but then I remember that she really didn't like me. Oh well.

What do you miss most about your childhood? I am especially sad that I've lost a lot of my sense of adventure. I loved finding hiding places and dissecting plants and keeping pet monarch cacoons.

Who is your favorite punk rock band?

exploding dogs

Tell me: What is memory? And why do we lose it? And what is the evolutionary advantage to having a faulty memory, as we all have? Can't we just pull up what we've stored in our brains, 'cause it's there, we just can't retrieve it.
Today at work I made the kids write childrens books with morals to them. We read a fantastic story by Sam Brown called "Amazing Rain," which is illustrated by the most expressive stick figures I've ever seen. Check out his website, www.explodingdog.com
Don't worry, there really aren't any exploding dogs.

Adventures in Hi-Fi, version 1.0

At work today, I taught kids what black holes and quasars are. The most rewarding feeling to me is when you feel like someone really listened to you and understood what you said, and even was maybe a little excited about. It happened for three hours today!
Ask yourself these questions:
Do you know what a binary star is?
What was the first evidence of black holes?
How long does it take light to travel from the sun to the earth?
What is a supernova?
How many stars are in our galaxy?
In reference to the cosmos, what is the "Great Wall"?
How do they know how big the universe is? (clue: it is NOT infinite!)

Do these things fascinate anyone else?

I'm thinking about becoming a science teacher. Of all the things I teach in my class (art, writing, film, music, science, self-insight, communication), science is the most fun for me. Maybe that's a hint.

Skyrockets in flight...

I have now joined the ranks of those that call themselves "Blogtastic." I feel somewhat ashamed, as most will find out my life is not anywhere near exciting enough to warrant a blog. Even that word is too exciting for me. So, I will apologize, and instead of telling you something that's going on in MY life, I'll copy and paste from someone else's blog. If you can tell me who it is, I'll give you a prize!

"ok...happy birthday to me. is it tacky to wish oneself a happy birthday? eh, so be it. happy birthday to me. and...i've crossed a threshold. i'm now...26 years old.boy, i sure do feel old being 26. well, i'm not 26.a bit older than 26. i'm...27.or more.a lot...more. and i get to celebrate my birthday flying to chile! nothing says 'good time birthday party FUN' like watching 'friends' dubbed into spanish at 38,000 feet. and for the record: colombia is a beautiful place. today we went about an hour outside of bogota, up into the hills/mountains, and it's gorgeous. i'm sorry that i can't spend more time here in colombia. oh, there are some new photos in [photo url]. happy birthday to me. and thank you for all of your very nice birthday wishes /consolations."