End of the Year Recap

Hello all!  It's been awhile since my last post!  (I'm a terrible blogger...lucky to get one a month)  So I thought I'd just give a little update since the last one.

Thanksgiving came and went like the blink of an eye.  We had Thanksgiving at our house this year.  Good times were had by all.  We all ate way too much and then played a rousing game of Cranium.

The weeks after Thanksgiving break were nearly horrible school-wise.  I was so busy and so stressed!  Having a year off of school work and then having to do it all again was not something to look forward to.  Needless to say, I finished with flying colors.  After completing a research proposal, making an undergraduate curriculum, a final, and two juries, I made all A's!  Woo hoo to me!  Next semester will be more of the same, except I will have more duties in the music therapy clinic.  So good luck to me actually balancing clinic work with school work!

Did anybody else feel like it wasn't really Christmas last week?  I don't know what it was, but I never really got in the mood of Christmas this year.  Usually it just feels like Christmas, with all the music, the church services, the presents, etc.  This year it came and went, and that was it.  We had a good Christmas though.  Here's a pic of the family we took last year for our Christmas cards!

Aren't we cutesies?!  Anyways...mom had to work Christmas eve this year, so the siblings and I headed over to the Johnson house for some fun.  Christmas morning we woke up, opened presents, ate a little breakfast, and got cleaned up to head to Ozark, MO.  This was the year of DVDs for me.  I got The Great Mouse Detective, Fern Gully (it was supposed to be the first one but oops!), Iron Man 2, and all available seasons of The Office.  I will not be leaving a tv for quite some time!  Mom and dad also got me more rhythm instruments and a bag to use for my MT sessions among other random things.  So like I said, after our family Christmas we headed to Ozark to my uncle's house for the big family Christmas dinner.  Here are some pics my aunt took of the fam.

Me and the cousin (Alex)

Laura displaying the new tv

Andy and the other cousin (Drew)

Uncle Robert carving the oh so delicious prime rib

The magnificent feast

Uncle Robert reading Luke 2 to all of us before the meal

The Christmas table

The Christmas table full of people!

And here we all are stuffing our faces

So there ya go!  A little glimpse into my family Christmas.

 

This has definitely been a season of prayer for many reasons!  So many of my friends have either gotten engaged, married, both, or are pregnant.  So many blessings all in a short time.  Each time I pray that God will be the center of the relationship and that the couple will continually love, respect, and support each other.  There have also been many prayers of healing sent up by me.  Both my grandma and grandpa had health issues the end of this year, a girl from my church had a tumor on her brain, and a good friend of mine was in a pretty bad car accident recently.  But God is good and put his healing hand on all of them.  Things could have been much worse in each situation, but He provided the healing needed.  And it was so reasurring to look on facebook and twitter to see all of the prayers being lifted up for various people.  God is Good!!!

I cannot believe it's almost 2011!  Not quite sure what my New Years' Resolutions will be (if I have any).  But when I find out I will probably post it, kinda like a form of commitment for me or something.

Anyways, that's about it for now.  I hope everyone has had a safe and happy holiday season!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Until next time!!

St. Louis/Kirkwood Trip

Well hello again everyone!  Last weekend I went up to St. Louis/Kirkwood to visit my friend Erin (who I hadn't seen in 2 years!) while she was home for a conference.  The first night I was there, we met up with our friend/former roommate Erica to go to Bailey's Chocolate Bar.  If you ever end up in Lafayette Square in St. Louis, I highly recommend this place for a little after dinner adventure!  It's pretty much a dessert bar, with sooooo many yummy desserts and drinks to choose from.  It was sooooo good!

The next day E-Mac and I headed out to Powder Valley.  Our tradition all throughout college was to take pictures of the fall leaves around campus.  Since we weren't on campus, we did the next best thing.  Here are some of the really cool pics we got.

After we got done at Powder Valley we headed off to the zoo.  Best thing about the zoo?  IT'S FREE!  We used her mom's parking pass to park really close and walked right in.  It was a glorious day for a zoo trip.  Most of the animals were out and about, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  Here's some of the furry little critters we saw.

By far the cutest guys we saw were the prairie dogs.  They were working on their different burrows and tunnels, so there were a few with huge wads of straw and sticks in their mouths, like this guy.  They were squeakin all over the place at each other!  It was so cute.  I got a little video of them.

After the zoo we stopped at Sonic for Happy Hour, then I headed back to Springfield.  It was a short little trip, but it was a bunch of fun.  Thanks E-Mac!!  :)

I cannot believe it's already the middle of November!  The cold weather has finally hit, the leaves are gorgeous, and Christmas decorations are making their way into everything.  I have 2 short weeks of school and then it's back home for good food, good family, and good fun!  Hope everyone is doing well!

Happy Halloween!

Well hello again!  I just realized it's been over a month since my last post, so I figured I would take a break from homework and studying to say Happy Halloween to everyone!

I must admit, I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween.  I hate being scared, I CANNOT watch scary movies (I slept on the couch for a week after watching The Sixth Sense), and I haven't dressed up for it in years.  But I do like the candy!  I'm having to hold out on munching down all the candy we have until tonight in case we actually have trick-or-treaters come to our door.

Speaking of dressing up, when I go to my nursing home sessions I get to talk about Halloween with all my ladies.  I ask what they would like to dress up as or what their favorite costume was.   I always get to tell them about the year my mom made my costume, along with my brother's and sister's.  Laura was a princess (of course), Andy was Batman, and I...I was a tube of toothpaste.  Mom made this long white tunic thing, pasted "TOOTHPASTE" down the middle, gave me a cardboard toothbrush, and put a lampshade on my head for the cap.  Priceless.  There's a picture floating around somewhere...probably on our fridge at home.  I think the last time I "dressed up" for Halloween was freshman year of college.  This was a close as it got...

Can you tell which one I am?  Yup...I'm the cool kid in the Great Pumpkin scrub top.  This was in my Music Theory class.  As a fundraiser for music therapy, we went around doing singing telegrams for Halloween.  One of my classmates paid for us to get our teacher Dr. Sharpe (the one in the hideous sweater) to dance the Monster Mash with us.  And of course, I have video!

And of course my video wouldn't upload.  Ohhh...good times indeed.  Maybe I'll try again later.  This year has been much less eventful.  I don't even have a Halloween shirt to wear!  I think I have one orange shirt I can throw on in case I have to answer the door and give out candy.

Here's another fun fact about my Halloween:  this is the second time I'm in an apartment (not on campus) for the holiday.  Last year I was in Jackson.  I bought some candy in case anyone came by, because I knew there were some kids in the complex.  At the end of the night I had two trick-or-treaters...they were in their late teens/early 20s...one was pregnant.  Good times.  This year cannot be more entertaining than that.

I hear a lot of confusion about when people are trick-or-treating this year since Halloween is on Sunday.  Do they take the kids Saturday night or Sunday night?  And what's up with some cities doing it one night and some doing it the next?  Silly kids in school.  Parents, live it up!  Let 'em go out Sunday night!   It'll give all  the teachers a quiet day at school the next day.

Well, that's all I have for now.  Gotta get back to this take-home essay test and study guide.  Until next time!

(PS...that's not my pumpkin masterpiece up top...found it on google.)

Fall is Here!!!

Hello again!  Man, it's been awhile since my last post!  September is nearly over, and this is my first post of the month!  I'm a bad blogger...

In case you haven't noticed, FALL IS OFFICIALLY HERE! I love this time of the year. It's finally getting cool again, the leaves are about to start changing, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back at Starbucks, and all my favorite candle scents are back! I absolutely love taking pictures of all of the leaves. I got really lucky picking Drury as my school...since it's technically a tree farm, we have some awesome changing of the leaves. Here are some of the pics I've taken over the years.

Stone Chapel

This pic of me was taken by my friend E-Mac.  I kinda love it.

This was the sidewalk outside the house we lived in my Senior year.

The orange and red trees are absolutely my favorite.

Squirrel!  The squirrels at Drury are crazy.

Every year E-Mac and I would walk around campus taking pictures of all the trees.  Unfortunately I will have to do it without her this year since she's in El Paso.  This is quite depressing.

Time for a quick update on my life!  Not much has changed since last month.  I'm in full gear in the Masters program.  It's a little awkward in my classes since it's just me and 2 other students in all of my classes.  But so far so good!  I've had one test so far and got an A on it...my second test is this Tuesday.  I've taught one class as part of a course requirement...I'll teach another one later in October.

Sessions are going well also!  I'm finally seeing all of my clients on a weekly basis...all of them have been scheduled and assessed, so now it's a normal routine for sessions.  I'm supervising a couple of students which is both challenging and entertaining.  I feel all special and adult-like since I get to tell them what to do and what not to do.  Good times!

It seems I may be doing more frequent travels home this month!  I just got back from being home, and it looks like I may go home for the next 4 weekends for various reasons!  Oy!  I don't mind though...it's not a long drive, and I love being home.

Well, I think that's about all I have for now!  Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the beginning of Fall!  Until next time!  :)

Back to School

Yep!  It's that time again!  Time to go back to schoool!  I can't believe it.  Even though I got a longer break this year due to finishing my internship in April, it still doesn't seem like school should be here again!

This year is going to be quite different for me.  I'm a Masters student now, after practically having a year off from school.  I'm entering a program that has only 2 other students that will be in my classes.  All of the other music therapy Masters students are equivalency students, which means they still have to finish the undergraduate curriculum.  So classes will be quite...interesting, to say the least.  I'm also the Graduate Assistant for the program, meaning I get my own office and actually have office hours!  I'm not quite sure what work I will be doing...my first meeting is on Tuesday.  And on top of all this, I'm doing a few music therapy sessions a week and piano lessons for a family.  Whew!  I think I'm gonna be a little busy!

Next Tuesday is the big day!  Most of my college friends have graduated and moved on, and the rest of my friends are practically gone by December, so it will be interesting socially this year.  But I figured I could make new friends by updating my appearance.  Here's my new school haircut!

Ha!  Just kidding!  This is from 9th grade.  Aren't you glad I've grown out of this phase?  I know all of my friends and family are...they remind me constantly.  :-P

Anyway, I know a lot of you are either starting back soon or have children that have started.  Did everyone have a good first day?  What's your favorite back to school memory?  Hope the year's starting off great for everyone!  Until next time!

None the Wiser...

I haven't posted in awhile...again!  I'm kinda bad at this whole blogging thing.  But then again, I haven't really had anything going on worth blogging about.  I'm back and forth between Fayetteville and Springfield for the next few weeks.  Sessions are going well, and I'm still broke as a joke.  This week is a little different though.

I get to stay home in Fayetteville all week!  Woo!  But this does not come without a price...

I had all four wisdom teeth takenout Monday morning (8am to be exact).  It only took about 45 minutes.  I was really nervous about the anesthesia, more importantly what I would act like on said anesthesia.  But it went a lot easier than I was expecting!  Mom said the only weird thing I did on the drive home was try to clean off the clock radio display.

Recovery has been ok.  I didn't have to get stitches, so that makes things a little easier.  I have this sweet action ice pack to put on my face to help with swelling and pain.  I have to take penicillin four times a day for infection.  I was also given oxycodone, but thankfully I don't really need it anymore...down to tylenol now!  And let me tell you, oxycodone makes you loopy!

I picked a terrible time to get the surgery.  Yesterday I missed hanging out with my Sunday School class eating some tasty ribs and a ginormous cake.  This week is also my grandma's and my dad's birthdays.  They are going out to Olive Garden tonight.  I'm not sure if I'll go, but if I do all I can eat is maybe the inside of breadsticks and some soup.  No straws, no caffeine/carbonated beverages...all I've had for the past couple of days is ice cream, pudding, soup, and drugs.  But I'm hoping this will be a kickstart to some weight loss!

Anyway, thanks for all the prayers, they have definitely helped!  Please continue to pray for my recovery.  I hear the third day is the worst for swelling and such.  Hope everyone is having a better week than I am!  Enjoy solid foods, drinking through straws, and carbonated beverages!!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

No, I didn't just learn to go potty all by myself.  But I did just conduct my first session as a board certified music therapist!  Now I know this might not mean much to everyone else, but it's kind of a big deal to me!  Of course it wasn't 100% perfect or how I had pictured it going, but it was a learning experience.  And I did it all by myself.

For the past five years, I have had to do sessions a certain way, do a certain amount of documentation, report to certain people, etc.  Now, I'm kind of my own boss.  I don't have to ask if I did something right or wrong.  I'm not filling out five pages of documentation for someone to grade.  There's no one looking over my should to tell me every mistake I make.  I tailor the session to how I think the client will best respond.  If it doesn't work out like I want it to, it's ok.  I will just try something different next week.  The only documentation I have to fill out right now are two time sheets.  That's crazy!

It's so surreal transferring from a student to a full-fledged music therapist.  I still have that feeling like I have to talk to someone about what I should've done differently, what I could've done better.  But now it's all up to me.  I get to decide what didn't go well and what will change for the next session.  I'm the one of the people the MT students will come to with questions and concerns about how they are performing next year.  Wow!

Anyway, I just wanted to share that little glimpse of my future now.  I'll be doing a session every Friday throughout July, and I will possibly start doing nursing home sessions as well.  Bring it on!

Summertime...

It's been a little while since my last post!  In case you hadn't noticed, it's summer!  Woohoo!  This summer has started a little weird for me...since I've technically been done with school since the end of April, my time frames are completely screwed up.  And it doesn't seem to be getting much better...

I've been back and forth between home and Springfield for awhile, and that's probably what will be happening for the rest of the summer.  Right now I'm  at home, and it's been great.  It seems like I've been busier than I should be right now, but it's a good busy!  I've helped out some around the house and a church, and I've been able to hang out with some of my amigos.

Wedding season has definitely arrived!  I know of at least 5 of my friends that are getting married over the next year...3 of them in the course of 2 months!  I've been asked to play in 2 weddings this summer.  The first one was last Saturday...the next one is this Sunday!  Needless to say, lots of wedding shenanigans going on right now!  The entire month of June has been full of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, rehearsals, and of course the actual ceremonies.  Good times all around...

I'm in the process of getting "jobs" set up for the summer and into the fall.  I've been busy with paperwork and initial obligations to start music therapy sessions through a healthcare service.  I'm also looking into teaching piano/guitar lessons for a couple of families.  Hopefully that will all work out, because I'm gonna need some moolah!

Well, I believe that's the gist of things for now!  Oh I changed my layout again!  I'm not sure if I completely like it or not, but I thought I'd try it out for a bit.  Hope everyone's had a great start to the summer!  Stay cool!

Graduation

Yep...it happened...I graduated from Drury!  I now have my Bachelor of Music Therapy.  My mom, dad, grandma, brother, sister, aunt, and cousin all came to celebrate with me.  Here's a family pic that we got.

Aren't we cutesies?!

Now here's my favorite of the twins and me...priceless

I don't have a picture of me in my cap & gown because I had to trade that in for my diploma.  Plus it was so flippin hot!  I got out of that thing as fast as I could!  But anyway, the whole graduation thing was a good experience.  I sat by my good friends, listened to a boring speaker, and was one of only two people that graduated with a BMT, so I feel kinda special.  :-P

That's all I have for now!  Hope everyone's having a good week!