To last year...

Here's a list of 11 things I am thankful for from 2011:

11. Welcoming baby Olivia into the world! Baby O-Ro is the newest addition to my group of friends and we're so glad she's here! I cannot wait to see her grow and change over the years.

10. SO won his 2011 Fantasy Football League. After how many hours of watching and analyzing football I did, at least he now owns a trophy to show for it!

9. Completed my 2nd year and started my 3rd year as a school social worker. I love my job and I am so incredibly thankful to be doing what I love every day. You can't beat having summers off either!

8. Ate dinner in a snow globe. In the winter, my SO and I went to the Space Needle for dinner. Just as we were beginning to eat, it began to snow! The 360 degree view, plus the gorgeous snowy sky and Seattle view made it feel like we were inside an actual snow globe. What an incredible experience!

7. Completed the first full year of book club! After years of wishing I were part of a book club, I finally decided to start one on my own. Now, we range between 8-15 women per month and we've read almost every genre of book you can think of. We always have such a wonderful time discussing the book and then moving on to politics, love lives, etc. I'm proud to say that I don't even know everyone who is part of the group! It's turned into a wonderful place to meet new female friends.

6. Tried at least 12 different local restuarants. Ever since the start of the monthly dinner club, we have been exploring new and different restaurants all around Seattle. This club has also allowed me to expand my palate and try new kinds of food that I might never have tried before. I'm looking forward to seeing what this next year will bring!

5. Visited New York during Christmastime. This year, my SO and I decided to visit our friends in NYC during the beautiful Christmas season. It was so much fun visiting Rockefeller Center and sipping a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's (although that is completely overrated in our opinions!). We also had a chance to spend time with friends who we don't see as often as we'd like. NYC is like our second home and we can't wait to go back in 2012.

4. Learned to cook new Chinese dishes from my Grandmother. I can now make my Grandma's famous sticky fried rice, soy sauce chicken, and steamed fish! My stomach has been cheering ever since!

3. Rekindled old friendships and began new ones.

2. My parent's 30th anniversary trip to Europe. Although I did not go on this trip myself, it meant a lot to me that I could give my parents the gift of three weeks alone together (my older sister and I stayed with my younger sister at my parent's house). Their stories from the trip are amazing and though at times it was stressful, there was never a moment I wished they were back home.

1. My SO and I got engaged! Suffice it to say, I am waiting to share this story for a later post. In the meantime, let it be known that I am incredibly thankful to be marrying such a warm, funny, loving guy!

To the Seattle Public Libraries...

Although I love my job, you may have heard me complain about my commute. For someone who had never previously owned a car prior to this job, the 45-60 minute commute at times feels torturous; especially at the end of a very long day.

Recently a good friend of mine told me that the Seattle Public Libraries are now offering audio books and e-books that you can download directly on to your device (i.e. iPhone, Android, Kindle, etc.).

This has changed my world!

Now, instead of dreading the long drive, I actually look forward to listening to my book on MP3. Although I still don't like traffic, there are times when I don't mind because I'm at an exciting point in a story and don't want to have to wait until the next day to hear more.

Thank you, Seattle Public Libraries, for making my life just a little bit easier!

To Yashar A...

Today I read a fabulous article that you can find here.

This article, written by Yashar Ari, talks about "Why Women Aren't Crazy." Now, I'm not going to summarize the whole thing (you should read it for yourself!), but what I will say is that it lifted a small weight off my shoulders. A weight that I never knew was there.

Yashar introduced me to the word gaslighting. A term he describes as "manipulative behavior used to confuse people into thinking their reactions are so far off base that they’re crazy."

Read the article and you'll understand why this term is such an eye opener.

And ladies, next time someone tells you you're overreacting or too emotional, tell them they're gaslighting.

Thank you, Yashar A., for helping women to realize there is nothing wrong with us.

To Husky fans...

This pumps me up and makes me smile:

Go DAWGS!

To Baby E...

Today was a long day.

It wasn't long in terms of the hours I worked, but rather the nature of the concerns I dealt with over the course of 8 hours.

Luckily, there was also a beautiful bright spot in my day. Today was the first Roots of Empathy baby visit of the school year. Baby E and his Mommy A spent an hour with a classroom of 4th graders and myself and it was wonderful!

If I haven't already, I'm sure I'll write an entire blog post about this incredible program in the future. For now, I'll sum it up by saying Roots of Empathy is an amazing program that teaches kids pro-social behaviors primariliy through having them observe the relationship between a baby and its parent(s).

Today it was sweet to see Baby E come into the classroom smiling and happy to be there. The kids responded as well as I could ever have hoped. The questions they asked Baby E's mom were thoughtful and it was adorable listening to the connections they made to their own lives. You ccould practically see the empathy growing inside their hearts.

So, here's to you Baby E! I appreciate you and your mommy's sacrifice of time and cannot wait to see you grow and change over the course of the next nine months.

To a sweet child...

Last week was the beginning of the new school year.  During the first weeks, I try to visit every single classroom in order to introduce myself and explain what my role is at school.  Most of the kids already know, but it's a good reminder for them anyway and a chance to get a bit of face time with the new students.

In order to make it interesting, I always try to involve the students in my explanation by asking them questions about my job.  

Here's a peek at the sweetest answer I've ever heard.

Me: "Can you tell me about some of the things I do around here?"
5th grader: "You make kids feel good about themselves!"
Me: "Well, I certainly try to do that."
5th grader: "I know you do, because that's what you did with me!"

Thank you for your vote of confidence! :)

Warmly,
Ms. C.

To a brand new season...

For those of you familiar with my college history, you will know that I started out my career at the University of San Francisco and then later transferred to the University of Washington for my BA and MSW. Having attended UW for not one, but two degrees, one would think I would have become quite the UW sports fan over my 3 years there. Sadly, my first and only UW game while I was at UW wasn't until I attended as the guest of a friend from USF during the Fall of graduate school.

My fiance would be horrified, if it weren't for the fact that he can now take credit for turning me into a fan that bleeds purple and gold.

Now, it's Husky Football time once again. First game of the season and you can already read the multitude of "Go Dawgs" FB status messages. The excitement of Football Season is in the air!

Though I can't claim to be an expert on Football or even on the Huskies (yet!), there are some aspects of Football season that I love.

For me, Football season means weekly gatherings with good friends (i.e tailgates). It means collectively cheering for one goal and celebrating like mad when our team wins. It means smiling, laughing, and enjoying our Saturdays, rain or shine. It means singing and chanting until our voices are gone. It means hugging complete strangers when the Huskies score a touchdown. It means eating burgers and chicken wings. It means decking ourselves out in Purple and Gold.

And what could be better than that on a beautiful day like today?

GO DAWGS!