The Greatest Place on Earth

Click on the flyer above to make it bigger so you can read about an awesome job opportunity for the summer.  I'll be there! 

Paperhand Puppet Intervention...with a twist

via paperhand.org

Autsim + Art + Drama + Puppets = FUN FUN FUN!

Needless to say, after going to my first Paperhand Intervention Autism group, I feel happy (Today we played a game where we had to fill the blank in with an emotion we were feeling).

This is definitely the beginning of something great, especially since I will be getting a chance to take some charge and leadership initiative in the group, as one of the few "Autism-experienced" volunteers.  I am so thankful for getting to do this every Monday for the rest of the academic year because, honestly, I don't think I could survive without even the smallest exposure to camp friends and autism every week.

--Off to work on a paper about bonsai trees and miniature plants

Love,

Monica

Look what I found

I found this picture of me and one of my campers on the new and improved Camp Royall website.  I thought it was cute and had to share.

I actually just got back from a few hours of wedding-fun with future bride (and roommate), Alexa.  I got to experience, first-hand, the ravenous spirits of moms and bride-to-be's as I climbed and clawed my way through the clumps and crowds at the wedding show/expo.  And it was all to get in (to my tummy) as many wedding cake samples as possible (that cake does taste as good as it looks).  I also experienced my very first fashion show of any kind and saw many beautiful wedding gowns and cute, colored flower girl dresses.  In retrospect, I do very much regret not being the flower girl at my godfather's wedding.  Come to think of it, I regret not being five years old anymore each and every day.

At the end of the day, I was very overwhelmed and began to quit processing any information, likening my appearance to a zombie's as I continued to accept free pens.  That being said, I can only imagine how Alexa is feeling.  She was accosted by many a hungry spokes/sales/planner person and was sent home carrying a giant men's warehouse bag full of all sorts of information.  I do wish her luck as today was fun, yet eye-opening!  Nevertheless, when the day comes, I know she will make a lovely bride.

Love,

Monica

Wish I had access to a sauna

because I'm starting to get winter nose bleeds again.  It's been about five years since my last and, no, I wasn't picking.

No love,

Monica

Plants and Civilization

My winter term class is going to be fabulously entertaining and enlightening.  The book I'm reading right now (Botany of Desire) is a fun read and I'm so excited to see what this mini-semester brings.  

For a brief moment in class my professor talked about Joyce Kilmer and his poem, Tree.  So, I looked it up (because, despite being a famous poem, yours truly had never come across it).  Here it is:

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Also noteworthy, my professor gave us a brief history about himself.  One of his power point lecture slides was titled "Who am I?" and upon clicking the space bar of his laptop, a picture of him as a teen zoomed onto the screen.  It said "Rattlesnake-Killer".  From there, he became a "Bored-Banker" and is now a present and self-identified "Tree-Hugger".  Let me just say that once you see an old photograph of your teacher holding a dead rattlesnake from the estimated seventies, you can't help but warm yourself to his/her friendship and, in my context, to their knowledge on plants and civilization.

Today's class ended with our group of students walking outside into the frigid cold, led by professor, to a pine tree where we heard some rem(b)arkable history about North Carolina's state tree.

Now I'm off to acquire transportation to buy a kazoo.

Love,

Monica

I'm back

I just rolled into Elon after spending a week and a half in MD for Christmas, a week working and New Year's at Camp Royall and some change at David's house catching up on sleep.  Getting my textbooks for my winter term class (Plants and Civilization) was an interesting experience because one of the books is a cookbook full of delicious recipes!  Maybe our homework will be to cook (doubtful).  What is more likely is that I will be reading and writing a lot of papers because class only lasts about three weeks and I have four good-sized textbooks from which to read.

In other news, the fish are alive and Orange is EVEN bigger than I remembered.  With the Christmas money my parents gave me, I will be able to buy them a bigger tank for their long futures (koi can live many, many, many years).  And in one short week, I will be starting a 12-week long Autism volunteer-ship in Chapel Hill.  The program I will be volunteering with is called "Art-to-Art" and is the drama program run in collaboration with the Art Therapy Institute of Chapel Hill, the ArtsCenter and Paperhand Puppet Intervention (I'm pretty sure that the phrase "paperhand puppet intervention" sums it up).  I am soooo excited!

Okay, now off to clean my room and read for tomorrow's class (I don't think teachers should be allowed to assign homework before the term has even started).

Love,

Monica

SNOW and random cravings

I'm spending my winter break in Maryland and we got snowed on big time.  From around 9 or 10 last night until not too long ago, the heavens dropped what looked like several tons of powdery dandruff on our heads.  My dad estimates that we have about 18 inches right now.  18 inches?!  That's  a lot of snow these days for me.  The last time snowfall came that close was that blizzard more than ten years ago.  I was little, so snowfall upwards of 2 feet seemed more like 10 feet to me and, contrary to my excitement, it was very difficult to play in.

Now, going to school in North Carolina means that everyone goes CRAZY when it snows.  And I have to admit that I am very thankful when we do get that inch or inch and a half once a year.  So far it's snowed freshman, sophomore and junior year at Elon.  Technically it's snowed senior year too, but I'm not counting that because I happen to be in a different state at the moment...

...oh, and I'm craving Yum Woon Sen so much that I just consumed the only ingredient from that dish that is in my house: lemon juice*.

Love,

Monica

*scrunches up eyes, nose, cheeks...entire face due to bitter taste