Festival Latino

Festival Latino - Tacoma - Tall Ship; Gloria

"Gloria" in Commencement Bay

Evening Picture of "Gloria"

Today the boys were with me until Kari came over to pick them up. I took them last night to give Kari a much needed break and to go out to dinner with her girlfriend on her birthday. After yesterday's open house at the college, I had no energy. I had to work in the evening at the Festival Latino in Tacoma... when all I really wanted to do is just curl up on the couch. My legs and muscles still ache from all our walking. Even Srey who is 25 years younger than I am told me today that he was still really tired from yesterday.

The canopy was set up and all the tables were there from all the 4 colleges, so our plans were going well. It just wasn't really attended well. There wasn't the people in Tacoma that they advertised. When it was in Auburn, it was a lot more lively. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Above is the Tall Ship "Gloria" from Columbia that is the big feature at this fair. We were set up in the boat house. There was the main stage in there too. For one hour there was this really great drum core that played for us. I thought that I might hear it after they were done but I was OK after about 30 minutes. In the pictures, do you see how much our sky turns. One is taken around 6 pm (with the sun), the one with more clouds in the day was taken around 8 pm, and the one at night was taken at 9:15 pm. We are losing sunlight now since a month ago we would have had that same amount of light at about 10 pm. That is always sad to see the sunset coming earlier.

Have a good evening! Until Monday...

"Next Step" at Welcome Desk

Happy August! Wow... What a day! It is a good thing that I went to bed on time last night! We started early making sure that all the rest of the signs were out and up. The canopy had to go up, the tables put up, and all the agendas, programs, schedule of classes, and rainy day changes were out on the tables. Volunteers had to be assisted and assigned. Community resource tables had to be coordinated. All I could do for the first hour was to put out fires. All three of us were running around doing things. I must have walked back and forth across the campus 12 times or more. I certainly got my walking in today!

We had according to our counts 260 people come in rainy weather (yes, it rained) to see programs, talk to instructors, go to workshops, get resources, and have lunch on us. Just as it turned 2 pm when the event was over, the sun decided to come out :-( I guess that is good for our weekend.

Speaking of the weekend. We, the Outreach team, will be working at Festival Latino in Tacoma this weekend. Srey just e-mailed me with the location where he put our canopy. I have to e-mail now all the other representatives from 3 other colleges beside "us" to where the canopy is located so we can find it. Srey will be on the first shift at noon tomorrow. I will follow at 5 pm. Lindsey has the Sunday noon shift... and then we will have another fair in the bag.

I hope you have a great weekend! I will take pictures of Festival Latino for the album and to post. Good Evening! And "Hi" Mom!

Just Plain Tired

We have been getting ready for the big Open House tomorrow. It will be from 10 am to 2 pm. All of us in our office will be glad when it is all over. But guess what? When I look out the window it is dark and looks like the middle of winter. It isn't as cold as winter but for here in July, well, I guess it is cold. It is in the 60's. All of us are really "bummed" here in the northwest. The rest of the country is having summer when we are having an early fall. Hopefully it will snap out of it and before the morning. We have our event and we don't know if it will rain or not. We have planned for both... rain or sunshine. Which of course is double the work.

If you don't mind, I think I will turn in now and get some rest. Have a wonder Friday! And if you are blog free on the weekends... have a good weekend too. Good night!

Tag... You're IT!

Did you ever play tag when you were a kid? I liked it best when we could play it in the summer time after the sun went down on my street. This reminds me of that summer pleasure as a kids... except I am not hiding. We are playing a game of tag... and I guess we can be tagged a few times. Here is my first go at this:

Six Random Facts

First I have to post the rules….
1) Link to the person who tagged you. Darylynn
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Write 6 random things about yourself.

1. Darylynn mentioned being in a movie with Elvis. I wasn't in a movie however a movie was filmed next door to our house in the 60's. The movie's name was "LUV" and starred Peter Falk and Jack Lemmon. So for a few months, they were our neighbors.
2. While I was going thru college, I was a school bus driver and hold a commercial license to this day.
3. When I was a little girl, I was a model. It was probably where I began not to feel intimated by large audiences.
4. I have been a "RAM", "Viking", "Pirate", "Eagle", "Royal", "Gator", "Panther", "Tiger" and a "Coyote". And probably a few more. Do you know what they are?
5. Riley and I share the same birthday; August 29. But did you know that I also shared my birthday with my grandmother too. Grandma Nellie died in 1993 and Riley was born in 2003. There has been only 10 years of my life that I didn't share my birthday with my grandmother or with my grandson.
6. Kari, my daughter, was born on the same day as my grandmother Nellie's first child (Gloria) was born; November 18. And I gave birth to her in the very same hospital in Upland California. Do you think my life might strangely parallels my grandmother's? (She died on July 8th at the age of 89, so don't worry :-)

4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.

5) Let each person know they have been tagged, leave a comment on their blog.

6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Judy, Julie, Susan, Tania, Cindy, Joan

I would have tagged Denise if she was around.

Let's Talk...

Have you thought to yourself how fast time is going by? Just to make a point, it is less than 5 months until Christmas and almost 5 months to New Year's Day 2009. More than half the year has just blown by. In my heart, it feels like May but the calendar is going to read August 1st on Friday.

So, I have been going through an assessment in my head. Have I done what I have wanted to do this summer? Am I ready for the fall? Have I been keeping to the promises that I made... even those that I made last January 1st in Resolutions?

Personally, I think we make resolutions all year long. I had joined Weight Watchers, and after this time I have determined that it hasn't been working like it did the last time I lost weight in 1991. I had to stop myself and think of the reasons "why?". I determined that the Points System that they now have as a program has allowed me to have less structure. I could eat all carbs if I keep within the points that I am allowed. Although I have changed habits in the area of drinking more water and watching my portions more closely, I must admit that I now understand that it will take more activity. I need to have more walking etc in my life for exercise.

So, this week I have begun to go back to the old Weight Watcher plan and keep track of my breads, fruits, fats, protein, and veggies. I will make sure that my meals are more balanced and if I have eatten my "breads" then to eat from those selections that I haven't ate from yet in the day. I have started to take a "veggie pak" that I create each morning so that I can meet the veggie requirements and to learn to snack on food that is better for you. I am also taking my tennis shoes to walk around the campus. I have a big campus to walk (if I am on the campus)... plus I have a forest of trails to hike on there. I also can choose to go to the fitness center to walk on the tread mill. It just takes some planning.

My question to you today is how are you doing with those resolutions that you made seven months ago. If you have done well, take a bow. Reward yourself. If not, like me, what plans do you have to change what you don't think is working? Let's talk...

Rain?

OK, it is not a secret we get rain in Seattle. But rain in July is not common and we are all very disappointed that it is taking away some of our short summer. We start having a dry season after the 4th of July and we don't have rain until maybe September. And we want our two months of dry weather... well, most of us do. Some Seattlites like to see rain and is comforted by the fact it has come to visit in the middle of summer. The weather is in the 60's and the sun is no where to be found. It looks like we may have more later in the week... when we have our big event on Friday! Hopefully not. That is why we have the big events in the summer.

Well, I was listening to interviews today for about 4-5 hours. Whew... and we will have to do more. It is hard to sit that long and listen to the same questions being answered over and over.

I am glad that tomorrow means that I can work at my desk. I have many things to get done that I haven't been able to do.

Have a good evening!

Paper or Plastic?

This will be a quick post today. But the big news around Seattle is that we will be doing away with plastic bags on January 1st. It will cost .20 cents to get a bag which seems strange because I have a whole drawer of them in the kitchen. I just got my first reusable bag last week and it looks like I will have a new collection of bags to take to the grocery store. What are they doing in your part of the world towards plastic bags?

I have been in interviews today and tomorrow for the Director of Outreach. It gets a little tiring after three hours. We will have more today.

Riley must have his tonsils out and it is scheduled for August 26. I took the week off. Our birthday is on August 29. I guess it will be a good time for an ice cream birthday cake.

Have a great Tuesday! It is raining in Seattle. Are you surprised? We are.

Tomorrow is Monday And it's NOT a Day Off :-(

Our two fair weekend is over now. Whew. OK, I know that I have been having Mondays off this summer because of all the time I spend at fairs on the weekends. (Well, except for last week when I was in Vancouver.) This week we are having interviews for our Director and I have to be there on the interviewing panel. Actually, this can be very interesting. When you are on the side of where the questions are asked, there is a whole different idea about interviews that is born. I have been less intimated by them than I was ever before now. The committee is trying to find the right fit and is usually tired of hearing people say the same old things over and over. Hopefully there are a couple of people this week that will "shine" out as who we would like to have on our team to take Phillip's place.

Also this week on Friday is our big community open house at the college. We will all be trying to make sure that everything is done and that all goes well. It is a very full day and each one of us has our part to do. I wouldn't be surprised if we have some late nights getting everything done in time. So hold on... it will be a bumpy ride.

I had the boys over Saturday morning. Kari and I took Riley to get a haircut at the barber. We then went to the grocery store. I have decided that I am going back to the old Watcher Watcher program which had exchanges. I have been online looking for others that feel the way I do and I have found some... and they have some of the old information. The old program allowed a woman to have 4-5 breads; 2 fats; at least 3 vegetables; 3 proteins; 2-3 milks; 2 fruits. It also give a person some "optional calories" which I used sparingly. It seems that the point system is hard for me to keep and I allow too many carbs... so back to the old system. I started it last week. Plus I have exercised a few times too. I feel good about this change and it makes since to me. After all, I lost 35-40 lbs on it the last time I did it. On Wednesday I will put out a question that has to do with this.

Have a good week... Have a great Monday!