Busy busy!

It is amazing to me that two weeks have passed by since I last wrote. It feels like yesterday that I was writing about our ongoing hot tub adventures and the garden of geranium hell. Here we are, two weeks later. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.

For one thing, I managed to survive for an entire month at my new job. I decided that I am not going to go into too much detail on this blog about the work that I do, in part because the nature of the field in which I practice social work demands confidentiality. In addition, I guess that I believe that less is the better choice when it comes to reflecting on my profession in such a public forum. What I can say is that I find myself enjoying my work more and more as the weeks pass. I feel challenged and rewarded each day in the work that I do, and I am learning so much right now.

Four years managed to fly by in the time since I completed my MSW, and I am so lucky to say that each job I have had (this is number 4, yikes!) has been a new and unique learning opportunity. This new job included! I am also excited by the fact that I am 2/3 of the way done with accruing hours for my license in clinical social work. So, if all goes well, by this time next year or early 2010 I should be sitting for my exams. The journey to getting my license has been a long one, and not alway a road that I willingly or eagerly traveled, so it is a relief to see an end in sight. My resistance still does not make complete sense to me, but I hold onto the belief that everything happens in its right time and trust that one day this will all come together to form a clear picture.

The other thing keeping me busy lately was planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law. We had the party yesterday, and apart from a couple of snafus with the weather and a garbage-can lookin' cake that was made all wrong, the event was a success (the cake was fixed, thanks to my, ahem, "assertiveness" with the bakery). The theme of the shower was "Lil' Pumpkin", so I converted our backyard space into a mini pumpkin patch with bales of straw and pumpkins and everything. I have pictures, but have yet to download them. I will post those later.

On a totally unrelated note, it just occurred to me that it has been just about a year since I last saw my brother and his family in Vermont. Mike and I went out to visit, see the fall colors, and meet my new little niece, Clarabel. She was just about three months old at the time. My sister was there, too. It feels like a long time since we were there, and I find myself counting down the days until Christmas, when I get to see them in Southern California. So, here are a few pics from that trip.

Mike & Clarabel


Dan & Veronica

Dan's greenhouse

Fall colors

Veronica & Aunt Tracy, hanging out

Sebastian

Dan, playing on the swing

Well, I hope you found a bit of enjoyment in these pictures. It is now late, and I must get some sleep. So, if there are typos or other grammatical errors in this post, I am too tired to edit right now. Have a great week!