Chattahoochee Nature Center

Have I ever mentioned that I love my job? Because I do.



Yes, that is a baby turtle. It is in fact a baby bog turtle. There are only 100-200 of these little guys in the wild, most of them in the bogs of north Georgia.









The Chattahoochee Nature Center actually has a captive breeding program, where we raise these guys on the grounds, then release them back into the wild. Good luck, little ones! Go make more babies!





(And of course there's the whole raptor handling/rescue thing. Y hallo thar, cute little Ruby girl with your one eye! Did the big mean car hit you and make us have to remove your eye? Yes it did, yes it did!)

Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me

1. I'm going to be the Duke Solinus in Comedy of Errors - but not really. I'm going to be the Duchess Solina in Comedy of Errors - but not really. I'm going to be...the genie Solina? And I might be painted blue. It's not what I was expecting - nowhere NEAR what I was expecting, because really, who expects a genie? But sure, why not?

2. Interview with C2 was eh. He asked strange questions that had nothing to do with tutoring, such as what inspired me to be a marine biologist when I was 11. I also failed to mention any of my knowledge concerning operant conditioning. Blast.

That is all, as we are still waiting on those other things. But yes, now you may look forward to blue!Katie. Awesome. xD

Theater and prayer requests

A few important updates (first two are theater related, ones after that are general updates including prayer requests):

1. Just got done with auditions for Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors with North Fulton Drama Club - really hoping for one of the Dromios. I'd even be willing to cross- dress for the part! I've done it before. ;) I know what you're thinking: Whatever happened to not putting a bajillion things on your plate this year, hm? Aren't you in Murder Mystery at Tech? And designing costumes for The Producers? And planning on working at least TWO jobs?

Well, when you put it that way, it really does sound like a lot, doesn't it? I think the main reasons I'm auditioning is because A. I really would love to see NFDC people more, and B. I think I have a good chance at getting a decent part. Oh, and C. it's going to be SO much fun! I've been thinking about how most of my friends are still in college, and how I would really like to have more good friends who are working individuals. NFDC is a good way to do it, especially since Open Table Community Church doesn't seem to have small groups. So here's hoping it's as good idea as I think it'll be!

2. Speaking of costume design for The Producers, I am having a blast with it. Why did I never design costumes before? Oh, right, because it's a lot of work and it's scary because you never know if people who can actually sew will turn out to help you, thus sticking you with all the work, which is especially frightening since I don't really know gravy about actual costume construction. Sculpting foam into sausages and Nazi symbols I can do. Pleats terrify me. BUT I feel like I'm on really good ground right now. I've already got some designs done and have bought materials for construction. I've pulled things from the costume dock. I've pretty much decided how I'm going to get the costumes (dock first choice, thrift store second choice, construct third choice, rent fourth choice) and have started trying things on people. I feel like I'm in good shape - but let's not jinx it. I'm terrified that it'll get down to the wire and I won't be nearly as prepared as I think I am. Fortunately, I have darling Nikky waiting to catch me. :)

3. Still waiting to hear back from Kennesaw State regarding my admission status. I was so full of confidence when applying...but now that I'm waiting, I can't help dreading a rejection and wondering what I'm going to do with myself in the event of that happening. Pray for me, please. @__@;

4. Interview with C2 Thursday at 4:00! Pray for nerves and wisdom!

And last, but not least,

5. I think I'm finally starting to understand this whole fasting thing. For Lent this year, I decided to fast from sweets - a considerable ambition, considering I'm still working at a bakery/teahouse until this Friday, and there's ice cream in my freezer, and almost all my breakfast foods are some form of sweet pastry. But, at least so far, it's been working. Every time I'm tempted to eat sweets and stop, it makes me more conscious of God, Jesus, my faith, and how little I usually give them any thought at all. I have to think of a craving for sweets as God calling me to call out to him. It'll definitely get harder as the days wear on and my sweet tooth starts calling more loudly than God, but I'll pray that it won't turn into a competition with myself like it did last year. "Oh, there's only two more days, I could eat a cookie." "No, I can't eat a cookie. If I do, I'll beat myself up for not lasting just two more days!" Pride, you will not get the best of me this year! HaHA!

I know it's long, so thanks for reading through to the end! Maybe eventually, I'll post something about what NOT to do when you see a wild animal. Little kids at the Nature Center amuse me greatly. :)

Brief update

Been super busy these days. I took my GACE for biology, retook the GRE (more on that one after I try one last time to get a refund) - on both of which I did fabulously! At least, I hope I did. Unless the unofficial scores generated after you take the GRE are lying to me out of spite.

I'm finally about to submit my application to Kennesaw State's MAT program, I've got my wisdom teeth out, both workplaces (tahcha teahouse and Chattahoochee Nature Center - I've started handling the screech owl at the Nature Center) are treating me well, and I've started sending applications out for possible tutoring positions. I've started talking housing with my potential roommates, though I've wandered into the realm of uncertainty there. Thought I knew what I wanted, then my mother came up with something new, and now I don't know what I want. Hopefully I'll have it all figured out by March.

Right now, I'm managing the box office for Quills, a show produced by a few friends of mine and performed in PushPush Theater. You should all come see it. No, really. It closes next weekend. The first two people to tell me they're coming will get two free tickets, compliments of yours truly.

I was going to share my list of what I'm looking for in a church this time around, but somehow I feel like it needs a post all its own. So y'all can have this very tired, partially drugged (wisdom teeth were out on Monday, mind you) brief update. I think that's even what I'll call it. A brief update.

Suck less

Hm, never actually made that 5 Reasons to Love Christmas post...I really ought to learn to not make plans I can't keep. I think that's how my 'P' side function - not that I can't make plans, just that I can't keep them. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look here)For example, I woke up early today, planning on using the extra time to get some more studying in before work at 10, but I'm updating my blog instead. I also used this time to catch up on some of the links my friends posted on twitter. New Year's Resolution? Maybe.

As another example, I decided at the end of last year NOT to make any New Year's Resolutions, because I can never keep them anyway. Then I realized I do have several goals for this year - they're just goals I had anyway. The problem with New Year's Resolutions is that most people make them simply because the New Year is the time to turn over a new leaf, start fresh - but for me, that's never enough motivation. "If I don't lose 5 pounds, then I've broken my New Year's Resolution." So what? It's self-reinforcing to keep/gain weight, and knowing you've broken your New Year's Resolution is a very weak punishment.

I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to make New Year's Resolutions, just why I think it's difficult.

So I have resolved not to make any new resolutions for the New Year, but to apply myself (with fervor!) to the goals I already had. So here they are, in some sort of particular order (but not really):

1. Be intentional with my friendships. When I finally hung out with my friend Sharon recently, I realized it'd been years since I spent any quality time with her. Then I looked over the past semester and found that I'd done very little to keep my friends close, to know what they were doing and what was affecting them, to actually show that I think and care about them. No longer!

2. Spend some time with God every day. Whether reading the Bible, praying in the car, writing prayerfully in my journal, it's time I really committed to it. I'm so much more lackadaisical about my friendship with God than with any of my other friendships. It's time to be intentional.

3. Get into grad school! This one is self-explanatory. Please, oh, please, let it be as easy to get into Kennesaw State to get my Master's in Teaching as I think it is, please, oh, please...

4. Save up for an emergency fund. Wouldn't it be nice to have some money in the bank? God willing and the creeks don't rise, I'll be in grad school by the end of May and have a job that pays a little more than the peanuts the teahouse pays. Once I have some expendable income, it's going into a nice little account that I can't touch unless I really need it - in case I fall down the stairs and finally break something, get in a care accident, or God only knows what else! "Once I have some expendable income" really means "Once I have money that doesn't go directly to rent or bills or food or gas." Any money I spend on other things right now is definitely coming out of food...

5. FIND A CHURCH! This is the last one because it's admittedly a low priority right now. The thing is that I don't know where I want to find one, because I don't know where I'll be living come May as of yet, and I really don't want to drive 45 minutes to church every week. In the mean time, though, I would like to have a church to belong to, even though it'll only be for a few months. I really wish I could find something like Greater Portland Bible Church. I was only there for a few months, but I will never forget how good that church was to me and for me. Maybe next time I'll blog about what I look for in a church. Definitely maybe.

I have a few others, but they mostly fall under each of these five (except for keeping my blog with consistency, but we all know that's not going to happen). Oh and one other that I told my brother: SUCK LESS. But my brother then replied, "Katie, you're supposed to make New Year's Resolutions that are within reasonable expectations." Gotta love little brothers. Always so encouraging.

So here's to a year of achieving goals, not just for goals' sake, but because they are good and necessary, and to "sucking less." And who knows? Maybe I will.

Take it easy

If I'm not careful, I'll wind up with a theme for my titles here...

It looks like I will get to go to Iowa! :D To which most of you reply: "wtf, why does she want to go to Iowa of all places?" to which I respond, "Family - why else would anyone go to Iowa, unless they just really, really like snow and ice and -30 temperatures?" My dad's family is there, including my amazing grandparents that I just can't brag about enough - did I ever tell you that my grandma was the first female lieutenant governor of Iowa? Or that my grandpa had his own cattle ranch of "Zimmerman British White Cattle" until just a few years ago? Whom I'm constantly forgetting are over seventy until they say something about their arthritis, which never fails to make me do a double-take and say, "Oh right, you're old!" Then there's my Aunt Lisa, who I am just like sometimes (she was a hypochondriac too), and her incredible family, and my brilliant Aunt Beth and her family, who live in Boston but always come to Christmas in Iowa (because they're crazy like foxes). I'm not sure if the rest of my dad's family will be there, but my grandparents, Aunt Beth, and Aunt Lisa are more than enough reason to brave hypothermia.

Truth be told, though, one of the biggest reasons I was so excited for Iowa was because I thought it'd be really good for my brother to go (especially with family stuff and our cousins all being his age or younger - I'm really more the babysitter :/ ). I almost didn't go because I thought he might not be able to join us for Christmas, and I didn't want to miss celebrating Christmas with him. But we've worked it out so that we're leaving Monday and coming back...Wednesday, I think? Maybe I'll fanagle it so I can fly back Christmas day and have two Christmases. Just to be greedy. Originally, I was going to leave the 22nd and not come back until the 29th, but a shorter trip is better anyway - way too much to study for.

Best part about leaving Monday? No wisdom teeth surgery. (Right on.) Technically, I never actually canceled it, but eh. I'll call Monday and try to reschedule for a week later.

This also leads to the worst part about being an independent young adult with a part-time job - no dental insurance of my own. So I'm trying to milk what I can out of my mom's plan, and she's under the impression that I lose coverage at the first of the year. Here's hoping they've got an opening for the 28th!

Benefits are nice. Get them.

For next time, I'm coming up with Top Ten (maybe Five, we'll see how I do) Reasons to Celebrate Christmas, so we'll be getting one each until Christmas Day. I might also tackle Top Ten (maybe Five, we'll see how I do) Reasons Why I Fail At Blogging. And no that's not me fishing for compliments. :P

Take another shot

This holiday season, there are a lot of things weighing on my mind. It's like life is pounding on my door, and I'm not quite ready to let it in yet, but if I don't let it in now, it won't be back for a long, long time (or at least what seems like a long time compared to my twenty-two short years here on Earth). Thus, this very first post of my very new blog has a lot of potential to be dreary and generally gloomy - but I'd rather not. I'm never one to dwell on depressing things for long.

For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33

So even those this past year has been sucky for many of you (and praise God for the great years some have had and the good things that have happened among the bad), here is my challenge: think of a few things that you made you happy today. Just today. They don't have to be big, important things, like "the roof over my head" or "the opportunity to go to college." They can be as simple as "Brown sugar on my oatmeal this morning" or "My cat falling asleep in my lap." You can write them down here, tweet them, put them in your own blog, or just jot them down in your journal. I would even recommend writing down at least one every day. It's surprising how the little things can just warm your heart.

(And I'll confess right now, I totally stole the "Happy Things Game" from Soph :P )

Things that made me happy today:

- Hot apple crisp at the Shakespeare Tavern
- Volunteering at the Tavern with Michelle after a REALLY long time of not volunteering with her
- Getting a hug from Debbie! (Shakespeare Tavern stage manager - noticing a trend here...)
- Making plans to go see the Princess and the Frog tomorrow, omg! >w<
- My silly coworkers at tahcha teahouse
- And this was yesterday, but watching Tenth Kingdom with some of my girls! ♥
- Oh, and this too. :)

So here goes, taking one day at a time so they don't overwhelm me (I mean, it sucks getting flanked), and making Christmas as Merry as can be!