Christmas Cheer

I recently put in a proposal to do a presentation about conflict resolution at the upcoming Leadership Summit at CSM. While working on the proposal, I decided that if it got accepted I would learn how to use Prezi - an alternative to Powerpoint (I hate ppt) and use it for my presentation at the end of January.

As a way to practice, I wanted to share a little Christmas "cheer" with everyone.
Click the arrow to go through the presentation.
Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy the holiday break :)

Winter Hike

One of the neat things about the location of our new house is the easy access to various hiking and biking trails. Since it got up to the mid-forties today (yes, UP to. and yes, that was exciting!) we decided to go for a little walk through the snow. I just got a Camelbak so wanted to try it out, but since it was chilly we didn't want to go too far. So we went to one of the nearby trails and didn't stay out too long. The walk was pleasant - not too noisy, not too many people out. And the mid-forties are a good temp for walking, it turns out. We saw some pretty impressive frozen cow pies and puddles, and a lone cow that seemed to have gotten through one of the cattle gates. As the sun dipped behind the mountains its rays cast across hundreds of tracks in the snow, and we returned home to cozy up near the fireplace.

How to Love Hialeah

Today marked the last event that I had planned for the campus at my old job. It was a position that I dearly loved. While it had its challenges, my time in Hialeah will always hold a very special place in my heart. I am so thankful to have been a part of that community. This is something I've been writing off and on since before I left. Today seemed the right day to finally finish and share it.

How to Love Hialeah

In the first month that I came to work at MDC Hialeah, we hosted author Jeanine Capo-Crucet to read from her book How to Leave Hialeah. It is a compilation of short stories that talk about cultural elements of Miami and Hialeah, from raucous families to Santeras and how to live out of South Florida while keeping one’s roots in the Agua, Fango, y Factoria. I was given the book and playfully told that it would give me a good introduction to the culture in my new community. As I began my Hialeah adventure, the book did help me understand a bit of what I had gotten myself into, but nothing can compare to the lessons I learned from the students, faculty and other staff members on our mighty little campus. When people asked me, with big eyes, what it was like to be a white woman working in Hialeah I always told them that I loved it, and here are a few of my top reasons why:

Hello, Hialeah! | Pastelitos | Is it sunny? Or raining? Or both? | Anything you need, you can find in Hialeah | I am… The other white girl on campus! | Collaboration between faculty, staff and students | Help me order from Publix, please! | No, I don’t drink coffee. Yes, I know that is sacrilegious here. | Who has my keys? | Parking. Ugh. | Events in 1119/1120 | Being serenaded by students sitting in Student Life | Cupcakes in the SGA Office | Quick! We need 30 students to attend an event at Wolfson tomorrow! | Welcome Back BBQ | Exactly how many people can we fit into the office? | “Go to quarto piso – catorce quince” | PAN CON BISTEC | It’s raining – Corrinne is stuck in my office, again. Aw darn. | There are HOW MANY people sitting in the front building?! | The amazing cast of The Vagina Monologues | Meet me at ___PM AT&T time | Does anyone need a ginger pill? | Hey favorite professors! I have this neat thing I want to do on campus. Want to bring your class? | Café Cultura | Hialeah Arts Week | Doing travel paperwork with Calderin | Yes, ok, I will send my staff back to IDs | Christine, you didn’t just hear that. | Watching members of SGA graduate | Campus Campout for Haiti | the Graduation Party | Getting stalked by Public Safety on the cameras | Hearing ‘my kids’ sing at the concerts on campus | The students, faculty and staff I worked with every day.

For whatever reason, people seem to look down on Hialeah as both a city and campus. And unfortunately sometimes that seeps a bit into the culture within the town itself, I think. I heard too many times: "Oh, it's 'just Hialeah,' don't worry about it!" But I have never known such loving, passionate, tenacious people. I took to thinking of this 'diminishment' as a cloaking device that protects the community by keeping out people who don't deserve to see how excellent it is. I am so happy to have accidentally landed in Hialeah, and to have been welcomed so fully into a place that would give me so many great memories. 

For me, How to Leave Hialeah was with a full heart, appreciating the last couple years at a truly unique place, and looking to the future with a smile.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had quite the lovely day.
We started by going for a bike ride around the Dirty Bismark Loop - took 2.5 fun adrenaline rushing hours! Definitely earned our turkey. We started some bread in the bread machine before biking, so it was ready when we got back, which was awesome. And then we made Thanksgiving dinner.

It seems fitting that our meal to celebrate thankfulness was the first real meal we cooked in our new house. We have so much to be thankful for this year - family, friends, adventure and transition. And so much love. A beautiful meal to celebrate a beautiful year, and hopefully many more to come.

The New House

Welcome to chaos! AKA, our new house! YAY!
After six (crazy busy, quite pleasant, slightly cramped toward the end) weeks living in a hotel in Boulder, we have finally moved into our very own home! One of the crazy things about leaving Miami was that it took them ELEVEN hours to pack up our belongings to get them ready to move. Chris took the day off today to hang with the movers thinking it might take all day again, and it took them just about 3 1/2 hours to unpack everything. And I mean *every*thing!

The way it works is that they take everything out of boxes and just put it all onto whatever flat surface is nearby. Separated, of course, into the correct room. I had to go to work today, so when I got home I was greeted by the sight of ALL of our belongings, all over the house. Made me appreciate the eleven hours it took to pack everything up!

My supervisor told me to go home a little early since she knew I was chomping at the bit to get back here. My new drive takes me past the Coors Brewery, which is served by several train tracks and roads. That place is huge! On the way home tonight I had to pause for a train. I took that as a signal to relax a bit. I'd get there eventually...

                                 

So here's a tour of some of the house. With chaos.

Here is our master bedroom, as taken from the door of our closet. Thankfully that pile on the bed is mostly blankets and other large objects. Didn't take too long to unearth it. Through that arched doorway is a neat side-room thing. For now it will be an office, and will eventually likely be used as a nursery.

This is our master bathroom. I looove our sinks! That box on the floor is one I got the summer between my Junior and Senior years of college. It has carried bathroom stuff every move since. Chris says since we'll likely be living here awhile I should probably get rid of it. It's been a very faithful box - a playing of Taps might be in order the day it goes into the recycling bin.

Here is the guest bedroom. The bed is piled up with almost every picture frame we own. Can't wait to get them all hung up :) Out that window is a really neat view of the ridge just to the south of our town. Coming from the other side you'd have no idea there's a whole city over here.

This is .. the other bedroom. We haven't decided what it is for, yet. So for now it's just storage.

Here's the living room, with our excellent gas fireplace! A neat feature: there is a crawlspace underneath the living room, which is good for running cables, and also acts as an amplifier for the sound system. Hellooooo base! Another surprise from the crawlspace - the sellers left us a sledding saucer in there :)

This is the kitchen, currently mostly empty. The dishwasher is super complicated! It's got all these moving, configurable racks. Definitely going to take some learning. Also, my orchid (on the left) started to put off a new shoot a couple days ago. Didn't think it would make the move, and here it is having a growth spurt! Excitement.

And my personal favorite, and the first thing I saw when I got home today... The contents of our kitchen, completely laid out, all over the front room of the house. Oh, Kitchenaid stand mixer, ohhhh bread machine, how I have missed you! Now if only we could find you...

So there you have it, brave reader. Our awesome, if momentarily extremely messy, house! Will be back with more updates as we get things sorted out :)

Happy Dreaming

Two weeks until we close on the house! Can tell I'm excited because the last two nights I have had dreams about using our appliances. That Kitchenaid stand mixer never looked so good..