... a month later

My roommate said to me the other day: "Have you not had any journeys lately?" She was referring to how I have not blogged lately as the title is "Journey with Jessica" :-) I replied, "Well, adventures have taken place, but time keeps getting away from me and I haven't quite had a big creative strike lately. I think it's been about a month since I posted last." We checked, and I was right. It has been a month.

I tell ya, I almost can't keep up anymore. Okay... that's a lie. I still get everything done that I need to, have some fun, and relax. Yet, it's time to flip the calendar to the next month before I know it. Days I have sat here and thought it's about time I write again, but then I would decide to just relax a bit more on a given day.

About 2.5 weeks ago, the Danner siblings and I successfully completed the 6-week intro karate class - Uechi Ryu style. Fun, culture, flexibility, strength, mentality, and a new experience! 

One Saturday night some of our friends came down for craft and game night. We all met while at Morningside College, and this was the most of us we had gotten together in a while.

Girls crafting in the kitchen

Hedbanz - one of our favorite games in college

The boys finally decided to teach the girls one of their new games - King of Tokyo

Had fun with it

I caught up with my cousin Rebecca in Nebraska City as she was presenting at GNSEF, the Greater Nebraska Science and Engineering Fair. I participate in this science fair 7th-12th grade. Brought back some memories, and it was fun for me to see what projects students are working with these days.

Back to the science fair.... I also ran into one of my old science fair advisors who now teaches at a different school and her daughter. I used to babysit for Michayla and her brother when she was maybe in 1st grade. Man, has she grown up, too.

I made a little 40-minute trip to Peru, NE to attend the Piano Extravaganza at Peru State College, where Miss Rebecca was one of the participating pianists with her music teacher. It was fun to hear so many pianos play at once - 10-15 duets at once.

Growing up in Newman Grove, Becca and I did many things together while she grew up including some fun photo shoots in matching outfits.

As the "fill-in/floater" at work, my schedule has varied a lot over the past 4 months. One night at 9pm, I was thinking about heading to my room to read for a while before turning out the lights. I get a phone call that asks if I can come in for the 11pm-7am shift. Next thing, I was putting work clothes on and heading in for work. No problemo! 

It's hard to believe I'm that close to a 6-month mark. Starting April 27th, I will have some of my own scheduled hours on the 6:30-3 shift! Not a full-time schedule yet, but that gives me a little flexibility to still help cover some of the other shifts as needed throughout the week. It will be nice to have some regularity again for now, especially while I am taking more pre-requisite classes for nursing school. April 2nd was the beginning of the Spring term at Southeast Community College. I am taking Statistics and Human Anatomy this term, still just online.

Went in to Lincoln today with my roommates as I needed to swing by the bookstore. I ended up having a rather productive and enjoyable day. Picked up my lab books for Anatomy class; slowly ate some breakfast while I worked on some Statistics homework and a quiz at Village Inn; sold a few clothes to a 2nd-hand store; picked up a few groceries; enjoyed some afternoon dessert at Carlos O Kelly's while I flipped through my new books; visited with my brother while he was on study break at his house; went on a 2.2 mile run in the sun in a neighborhood with Preamble Lane, Constitution Ave, Minutemen Rd, Boston Dr, and Valley Forge Rd; enjoyed a little dinner at Braeda with my roommates on our way back home.

For a year of my life, I was really good about writing a blog post a couple times each week - my year living and teaching in American Samoa. Now here I am with a month in between posts.

I know a lot of people do not hesitate to agree when someone says, "where has the time gone?" I hope that in our journeys through life we remember to be thankful, smile as much as possible, do things we enjoy, take chances, help others, and spend time with ones we care about. Hope you are all having a great week. It's beginning to feel a lot like spring out there, hence my choice of the green dress for my day in Lincoln. :-)