I've been told I stink at updating this....

...but oh well... it is amazing how fast the holidays have come up on me. I will finally get to go home for more than just a couple days! This means I will hopefully not only catch up with my family more, but get to see the whole Cutler, Holland, and Reid Walker families a little more. Not to mention all the Christmas festivities!

In Chicagoland, things are finally sort of predictable. I have been managing to get myself up early most weekdays to go to the Y on my way to work, I am working with several new families and a few of them I am really excited about because I think we may be able to make some really great steps forward. The other news at my job is that I think I'm going to try to start a lending library through our center. A lot of our families don't have easy transport to the library, so many of our families end up with little access to books. So I think I'm going to try to find donations for young children's books....any ideas let me know ;).

So my life is mostly work, study, sleep, and hanging out with my housemates. Tomorrow they have 'caroling at the bean' which some of the housemates and I are going to, and Saturday is the Polar Bear Plunge into Lake Michigan. It's a fundraiser for LVC, but since I haven't raised any money (not my favorite thing to do) I refuse to jump in the water...but I'll go cheer!

I'm sure there's much more that I am forgetting to say, but it will have to wait.

Happy Holidays!

1 week

My roomie Abby and I at the OBAMA VICTORY RALLY!

So it is one week until I go home for Thanksgiving. I am SO excited to see my family and the dogs!!! And Vickie and Josh's little one! But in the meantime some random thoughts...

This week I am attending a training on the Baby Talk curriculum, which is the curriculum we use for home visiting. It's pretty interesting, and the women who run it are super knowledgeable. And as a huge bonus, I don't have to pack a lunch and today we ate Panera! Woo hoo!

I also had three visits in one day on Monday. I felt productive. A really good day.

My housemate Kate informed us that instead of getting married next October, she's getting married next July. This means my other housemates and I will get to roadtrip to the wedding which is really exciting - far better than buying a plane ticket.

My father will be at Thanksgiving this year, as he doesn't have to work on a holiday (gasp!). SO exciting!

I am being my usual unproductive self tonight. I made it through one chapter of reading though!

That's about all here, it's finally getting cold. And we are realizing just how leaky our apartment is.

Fall in Chicago

I am not so good at updating this, as it turns out...but here's what's going on in my life in Chicago:

-Next weekend is our first LVC retreat, which is really exciting, in large part because we have a three day work week, and get to go to a pretty camp on the west-ish end of wisconsin.

-I am studying, working, sleeping, and hanging out with my housemates.

-We're all pretty politically-minded in this apartment, so I am really crossing my fingers for tuesday.

-I'm up to 10 clients! It is an adventure, highs lows and everything in between. All in all, though, I really love it. I feel like it gives me a new appreciation for how complicated life can be, and how much people pull through.

-Thanksgiving is coming up! Robin and I will drive to Kathy and Bilhenry's and then on HOME! I can't wait!



Not too much else is new here. This weekend was pretty relaxed, slept, went to class, went to a 'spooky sweater' party. Abby and I went calling for Obama this afternoon, which was a bit of an adventure, but it felt good to at least feel like I tried to do something for someone I really believe in. Our weather has been ridiculous, the middle of last week I had to scrape my windshield and this weekend it got into the 70's. So strange.

Happy Fall! If you are reading this, I am missing you!

October in Chicago

Well now the weather has decided to give us a bit of a reprieve, which is nice. We lost internet for over 3 weeks, so updates have been hard to come by. But basic updates in my life are these:

-Robin came last weekend to visit. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo which has a beautiful conservatory and the zoo is free. We also walked the magnificent mile, had a little birthday party for him, and just hung out.

-I'm up to 8 clients at my job. Once we get to 12-15, my expected load, I'll be decently busy.

-My housemates are great. We hang out at least once a week, and someone cooks each weekday so we eat together most of the time too.

-Chicago in the fall is beautiful. I like this big city more than I thought I could like any big city. Our neighborhood is awesome, I get to speak Spanish and say hello to the ice cream man Pablo when I walk by, and I can get most places I would want to go using public transit, even if it takes a while.

-Thanksgiving is coming right up! I will get to see my family, Hazel Homer and Jackson, Robin, Robin's family, and Vickie's new baby! Sooo excited.


That's about it, I'm settling into my job and trying to get on some sort of a study schedule. I'll figure that out at some point I guess.



I hope the fall day where you are is as beautiful as the one here!

Still Wet

Well, it is serious about raining in Chicago these days. It has been raining all weekend, which is not my favorite, but oh well. I took my first MCAT class on Saturday which was not too fun but good to get underway I guess. Then last night we relaxed around here. We had Sojo (one of the other LVC houses) over because they are still dealing with fumigating after the bed bug fiasco the house had last year.

This morning was our commissioning service at Christ Evangelical. I was really impressed. I already knew the pastor was a great guy, because he's helped us out a lot already. But the service was exceptional I thought. A great sermon, fantastic music, a social justice type organization. Everyone was so friendly, we got up and introduced ourselves at the beginnning, and then after the service it's their rally sunday so we were invited to their lunch and festival. Abby and I sat by three adorable older women. It was great! Now for the rest of today, just chores and relaxing!

A Rainy Day in Chicago

Some days my job is very slow and I don't know what to do. This is in part because currently I have only 2 clients when I will eventually have 12-15. But still. Today started off slow, not much going on, and it's been really bad weather out, which always makes things just that much more wonderful. But in the afternoon I got to do two intakes, which is basically just the formal starting of our program, where I had to talk to the clients on the phone and get a bunch of information from them. Sounds basic and not too exciting, which it isn't. But today I did it in Spanish. This still is so exciting for me. I know I majored in the language, and therefore should be competent. But I still get excited when I can have a lengthy phone conversation that requires me to write down a substantial amount of information without making a total fool of myself. So that was the big excitement. And in addition to that, I gained two clients with those intakes! I'm on the road to productivity and real work! Exciting!

Other than work, things have been pretty good around here. We're currently having one person cook each weeknight, so whenever you come home you have something good to eat. Tonight Heather made some amazing pasta with beans and veggies. We eat a lot of pasta, rice, beans, and veggies. The biggest excitement of the week was that Joe and Jackie drove through and stayed the night with me. I didn't get to see them for very long, but it was really good to see them.

This weekend is the LVC Picnic which should be exciting, and other than that no real news. Robin is coming for his birthday October 11th which needless to say I'm very excited about!

That's all for now. If anyone reads this, comment that you do so I know 1 or 2 people read this....

Not too much to report from Chicago, I have been working pretty normal hours and we've eaten dinner as a house a lot. Yesterday I successfully drove home without killing the car (it's a manual) and parallel parked on the left hand side of the road (we live on a one way street). So that was a proud moment. And this weekend will be a long one with Labor Day, so some of my housemates and I are going to try to do something. That's about all I've got...

Settling In

I've started my job now (2 whole days!) and my coworkers are great. It's been a little slow to start, because most of my job will be as a case manager and I'm not yet qualified to do that, so there's a lot of reading and training going on and a lot of down time too. But I'm starting to get the hang of our neighborhood, where I can go, how to use the public transportation, etc. This weekend I successfully biked to the lake which was cool, and we've met a few neighbors who are really friendly and helpful.

I'm really excited to have my own cases at work and get our house all set up and add our own touches to the random-stuff-that-accumulates-when-people-move-in-and-out decor we currently have. All in all, I'm loving Chicago, and you should come visit! We have a big living room with couches you can sleep on!

Chicago!

As you probably know if you're reading this, I'm starting my year with LVC in Chicago. I am working at the Infant Welfare Society in Evanston, and i am living in northwest Chicago. Thus far it has been a lot of transitions but it is going to be really good I think. The apartment will be really nice once we make it our own (send me things to put up on the walls!)

I am copying my roommate Abby and posting some photos of our apartment to give you some idea of where I am. Our apartment is on the top floor, 4 sets of stairs up. It is in Albany Park, which is apparently one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the country. Here are a few photos: