Officially an LCSW! (And kicking off my 2nd 101 list with a bang)

Not even a month into my new 101 list and I've already crossed off 4 things from the list! First off... I'm now an LCSW! At least, in Utah. And I sent in my application for my Idaho license this week, so hopefully that goes through soon, too.

However, it does feel slightly anti-climatic. I may be an LCSW now, but I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time at work. I guess that's the nature of working with people and their issues... And that can be draining. Trying to avoid compassion fatigue. But it's nice to have those letters after my name now. It's so official. And it's nice to know I have that to fall back on, if I ever need to.

I also managed to hang up all the pictures in my house (thank you, Command Picture Hanging Strips, for helping me to avoid putting a bunch of nail holes in my wall). I bought a Blu-ray player. And I went to the Idaho Historical Museum with Karen when she visited me this week. The Museum is going through extensive renovations for the next couple of years, so they have a temporary location that we visited. We had the place to ourselves and we got to learn some interesting things about Idaho. And we got to dress up as toppings on a baked potato. Because... why not?

So... 4 goals down, 97 more to go. :-)

101 List- Try 2

Another new year. And instead of doing New Year's Resolutions, I am starting a new 101 list. You can view it here. Hopefully I can get more than 63 this time. Feel free to look through and tell me what you want to participate in. I definitely want friends to join me in these adventures. It's more fun that way. Happy New Year, all!

2014, by the numbers

The numbers from this year are a bit different than the past couple of years, but fun to look at all the same.

Traveling:
Miles driven in my car: 17115
States lived in: 1
States lived in/been in: 6
Countries visited/lived in: 1
Round-trip plane trips: 1
Amusement parks visited: 0
Times to Utah: 7

Work: 
Jobs held: 1
Hours worked counted towards licensure: 1967
CEUs completed: 26.5
Bosses had: 2

Personal:
Dates went on: 1
Books read: 59
Places lived in: 3
Wards member of: 2
Roommates had: 2
Pets lived with: 4
Cars driven: 1
Car windshields replaced: 1
Journals written in: 2
Blogs posted: 18
Friends on Facebook: 456
Sleep studies completed: 1
CPAP masks tried: 3

Entertainment:
Restaurants visited: 103
Times went out/ordered from restaurants: 147
Movies watched: 47
Plays/musicals attended: 2
Concerts attended: 3
Live comedy shows attended: 1

Spiritual/church:
Callings held: 3 (4, including visiting teacher)
Blessings (including setting aparts) received: 10
Temples/temple grounds visited: 7
Number of initiatories completed: 146
Number of endowments completed: 25
Live sealings attended: 2

101 List:
101 list goals completed: 17
Novels written: 1

Lives touched: ?

But these numbers certainly can't capture what was this year was. It's interesting to compare my "Year According to Facebook Statuses" post to this one. I think I try really hard to be positive on Facebook, and try to not post very many "downer" statuses. And I guess I kind of do the same things with my blog sometimes...try to focus on the happier things, and gloss over some of the harder things. My journal is where I really record more of the bad. On this blog (and on this blog post), it's probably hard to tell how hard this year was (though the 10 blessings I received could be an indication of that). But it was a really crazy year, full of things that I never would have expected, both good and bad. I do have many fond memories of 2014, but also lots that I am ready to leave behind. I am very interested to see what 2015 brings.

My Year in Facebook Statuses- 2014 Edition

It's becoming tradition. Another "my life according to Facebook statuses" post.

January

• "The Lord watches over you. You need not suppose for a moment [that] the Lord’s eye [is] not upon you. The angels [are] round about you and they will take care of you, and you may be peaceful and contented. … Every good man and woman … [is] in the hands of [the] Lord. They are before him, his eye upon them, his angels round about them that they might endure afflictions, suffer pain [and] buffeting by Satan, pass through scenes of afflictions enough to wring their natural hearts out of them, comparatively. Yet God [will] take care of them” --Brigham Young (Sept. 23, 1852, Mary Fielding Smith’s funeral).
• Tonight's bowling scores: 81, 99... and 150! What the?!? No idea how I got that last one, but it was amazing and I will treasure it forever. (Pizza bowling league is awesome!)

February

• My roommate and I are planning on going to Tahoe for the weekend of the fourth of July. Neither of us have ever been, so any suggestions on where to stay, what to do/see, etc. would be appreciated. Ready...go! 
• Some nights I miss EFY more than others. Like when I go to a dance not as an EFY counselor. What am I supposed to do at a dance when I'm not leading line dances or pairing up people during slow songs or making sure hands are in appropriate places or doing ridiculous dance moves and catching people out of the corner of my eye trying to copy me? At least I got to hear John Bytheway speak in person tonight. That never happened at any EFY session I went to. 
• Reading through old MySpace blog posts. Man... I was an obnoxious teenager. At least I'm getting a kick out of it. (Also, I'm happy to note that my writing style has improved since then.)
•  Long weekends are never long enough. Thank you for being awesome, Provo. Real life begins again tomorrow...
• Just opened an IRA and a big investment account. Weird. When did I become such an adult?

March

• Awesome CEU training on motivational interviewing, bike ride on the Greenbelt in gorgeous weather, and the last night of bowling league turned into cosmic bowling. Such a great day...And I'm so grateful today was approximately a million times better than yesterday.

April

• How is it only Wednesday? Blah.
• Guys! The Facebook side ads were actually helpful for once! I was having no luck finding a hotel that wasn't outrageously expensive, already completely booked, or totally sketch... but Facebook ads to the rescue! Just booked a great hotel at a comparatively good price. Fourth of July at Lake Tahoe... here we come. :-)
• Ice cream at 7am? This is an eating plan I can get behind. Delicious post-workout treat. :-)

May

•  I just got a pair of super cute heels for Aubrey's wedding. Their "compare at" price was $119, and they were listed in the store for $59.94, but I got them for $16.92 (and that included tax). I just had to brag for a minute. :-)

June

• You know it's been a long weekend when you are in bed at 8 on a Sunday night. I had an awesome time at my sister's wedding, but it's probably a good thing I don't party that hard every weekend. :-)
• Just said goodbye to my parents. That was a bit rough. Next time I see them will be when I visit them in Brazil!

July

• I'm very grateful for technology that allows my parents to still feel nearby, even though they are now over 6000 miles away.

August

• Outdoor summer concerts are the best...even when you have to wrap up in the blanket you brought to sit on due to the change in weather.
• Nothing like moving to help you realize how much stuff you have collected over the years. At least it's now all moved! Now... onto unpacking all of it...

September

• I hate trying to watch sports online. So. Much. Buffering.
• It's strangely liberating to go to a restaurant and ask for a table for one. I highly recommend it.
• It's amazing how much faster grocery shopping is when you go later at night and not right after work. If I can ever convince myself to leave my house after I get home for the evening, I may have to do that more often. :-)

October

• I loved Jorg Klebingat's talk about increasing our spiritual confidence. So grateful for answers to questions I've been asking my Heavenly Father.‪#‎ldsconf
• Alright, friends. I finally decided to make the leap and get my own place! I'm looking to be in Boise or Meridian. I'm fine with a studio, one bedroom, or two bedroom and I'm open to whatever... apartments, condos, townhouses, mother-in-law quarters, etc. However, I would like a washer/dryer, or at least hookups for them. I would appreciate any and all leads. The sooner I can get my own place, the better. (And I promise I'm an awesome tenant.) Thanks!
• Just put down the deposit on my own apartment! If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to move in two weeks. I'm super excited! :-)
• It's official...I've now worked for two years at DI! Crazy how time flies.

November

• Gotta love 13 hour work days...especially when you weren't planning on them being 13 hour work days...
• 4 people, 3 vehicles, 2 trips, and 1 stop for ice cream later, and I'm finally in my new apartment! Despite all the unpacking, organizing, and shopping I still have to do, I'm so incredibly excited!
• Guys! I have internet in my apartment! And I bought a bed! In other words... things are going great in Colette's own apartment world. 
• Pilot light's out on my furnace. No wonder my apartment was at 50 degrees when I woke up! Now the question is...stay in the 50 degree apartment until maintenance comes or venture out into the 6 degree world and run errands? I feel like this is a no-win situation. Haha.
• Washer and dryer are now bought and will be delivered in a couple of weeks! Thank you pre-Black Friday sales for being awesome. And thank you to Lowe's, for giving me an extra 10% off for a moving coupon (on top of the already great sale price) and for letting me order and set everything up over the phone to save me another trip!
• November's been a crazy month... moving into a place of my own and settling into it (including completely furnishing it), trying to get to know people in my new ward, continuing to stay busy at work, and doing NaNoWriMo. Well, my novel (if you can call it that) is a mess, but I did just finish writing 50000 words and now it's time to really celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Grateful for extended family that takes me and my siblings in while our parents are in Brazil. :-)

December

• Breaks from work never seem long enough! I had a great time in Utah with friends and family for Christmas, but it's back to work tomorrow... luckily it's only a 4-day work week. :-)

My own apartment... and sleeping (or lack thereof)

I've gotten kind of terrible at blogging. Whoops.

I'm not even sure if I mentioned this in my blog. But at the end of August, Karen moved to Utah, so I moved in to a house with a different roommate (a girl I hadn't met before, but she seemed nice enough when I got a tour of the place). It was a really nice house and a good price, but it was a bit uncomfortable. My roommate and I just didn't click. At all. But I was determined to stick it out. It felt so right for me to move in with her. Why should I give up? However, after being there about a month, I got a 30 days notice from my roommate. That was rough. I'm really not a bad roommate, I promise! But it was a month-to-month arrangement and she owned the house and apparently no longer wanted me there. So I woke up one morning and there was a note telling me that was my 30 days notice to find other living arrangements. Ouch.

I really didn't know what to do. After that rough experience with that one roommate, I was really hesitant to move in with someone random again. But things fell into place for me to get my own apartment. And as hard as that last roommate experience was, it did help me realize how ready I was for my own place. If I had moved into my own place straight from living with Karen, I think I would have questioned it a lot more. I think I needed to go a bit down a wrong road in order to find the right one.

Anyways, I really like my apartment. I don't love paying all the bills myself, but I get over it when I remind myself how nice it is to do what I want without walking on eggshells around a roommate. It's been fun to decorate and furnish how I want instead of relying on what's already there. Maybe one of these days, I'll hang some pictures on the wall and put things away enough to take pictures for a little apartment tour, but that day is not today. Also, it should be noted that I do have a spare bedroom and bathroom (and an inflatable queen Aerobed), if anybody wants to visit.

In other news, I'm still exhausted a lot. After getting the results from the sleep study (and finding out my insurance requires putting someone on a CPAP for sleep apnea before other options), I've been on a CPAP machine for close to 3 months...but I'm still really tired. I talked to my doctor about it and now they're trying to figure out what else is going on. Now that the apnea is treated, it must be something else. So I'm trying a sleep aid, but I think it's going to be some trial and error. It's not fun being tired all the time... especially when it means my emotions are haywire and I'm not able to fully think clearly. But I'm hoping we can figure something out. And I am grateful for good health insurance that is helping pay for all of this fun stuff.

101 list finale

The timeline for my 101 list just ended. I was able to cross off a couple of other things from my list before the time was up.

• Leave a note in a book in a library (Hopefully some eventually finds it and enjoys it).
• Write in my journal at least once every 5 days for the whole project (I do like journal writing. It keeps me same).
• Ask for someone's advice and take it (I'll admit... I don't have an exact time I remember this happened, but I know it had to have happened at some point, so I'll count it).
• Say yes to 10 things I'd rather say no to. (This was hard. A lot of the things were social events I didn't really want to go to, but went to anyways. Overall, I'm glad I said yes to the things I did and probably should do that more often. But it is hard for me, when in the moment of decision, I'd rather be at home.)

So, all in all, I completed 63 of my 101. Not as many as I would have liked, but not too shabby, either. And I did definitely do some things that I wouldn't have done otherwise if they hadn't been on my list. It provided some good motivation.

I do plan on doing another 101 list, but I think I'm going to wait to start it until January 1 again. I like starting a new year with a list of goals that I get to conquer over the next 2.5 years. Who needs New Year's Resolutions when you can have a 101 list? Anyone want to join me in this endeavor? :-)

Ogden, Peach Days, and Sutton Foster

(Another late-to-post blog.)

The Friday after we got back from Seattle, I drove down to Brigham City after work, where I met up with Karen (who took the TRAX up) at my grandparents' house. My grandmother fed us a really nice dinner (because she can't help but be a fantastic hostess) and then we hung out a bit and went to bed (driving really wears me out).

The next day, we went to the Ogden Temple Open House. It was the last day of the open house (and a Saturday), so it was pretty crazy. I was a bit disappointed because on the tour, we were right behind a big group that kept talking to each other the whole time, so it was a little hard to appreciate the peace there. But it was super beautiful and I would love to go back and do a session one day... if for no other reason than to enjoy the beautiful domed celestial room.

After the open house, we spotted a Farr's Fresh Ice Cream and stopped to get some and it was delicious. (And we didn't feel guilty because it was almost 11am. Definitely not too early for ice cream, right?)

After a quick stop at the Ogden hospital to get Karen's TB test read for her new job, we headed back to Brigham City to enjoy Peach Days. We mainly just went on a few rides, because we didn't have a ton of time to explore. And it was getting really hot, especially since everything was just set out on the blacktop roads.

We then went back to my grandparents' to grab some food to hold us over until our dinner plans, but we ended up having a full meal. It's really hard to say no to my grandmother's cooking, especially when it involves food fresh from their garden.

We met up with Aubrey and Tyler for dinner at Rubio's. I had a birthday coupon to use and they don't have Rubio's in Idaho! And it was good to catch up with them, even though I had seen them about a month before when Tyler had a work thing in Boise and Aubrey decided to join him.

We stopped at Julie's and hung out and watched a bit of the BYU game, and then headed to BYU to watch Sutton Foster perform. Karen and I became more aware of her when we watched Bunheads together earlier this year on Amazon Prime. (I quite liked it, minus the last episode... I don't recommend the last episode.) Anyways, it was a fantastic performance. Sutton is a talented performer and also really hilarious when she was talking between songs. I always appreciate when artists are like that. (And Karen took a picture before the performance because cameras weren't allowed during it. We were pretty far up, but still had a great time.)

And it was really nice that on Sunday, I didn't have to drive back on my own. In fact, I didn't have to drive back at all. Karen was heading back to Boise to help her mom finish some stuff with the house before it got put on the market, and since I was tired, she said she would drive. She ended up driving the whole way, as I rested and we talked. It was great and it was even more fun because Koda joined us... We laid down a blanket in my backseat and he rested there so serenely. Life is good when he's with his pack. (And wish I had taken a picture of that. It was adorable.)