Internship!

I've started two internships in relation to school in the last couple of months. In May I, along with a half dozen other students from my cohort,  went through training to volunteer at the local Small Claims court. We did 6 hours of training specific to Small Claims (in addition to our year of education and 40 hour certificate required by the State) and then went through a series of observations, and are now co-mediating cases with other professional mediators. Small Claims is precisely what I went through during my own court hearing after my relationship with Matt, and I am so proud of myself for being able to walk into a court room every Monday and not be gripped with fear. Our courtrooms don't have baliffs, which helps, and it's very informal, which also helps. Most of the cases coming in are debt collection, or landlord-tenant disputes, but the cases we end up with are primarily personal disputes. Not quite as extreme as what happened with Matt, but in essence, two people in some kind of professional or personal relationship who got into a dispute about something. For example, an argument over a car you sold your friend on a payment plan or something. Or a couple who split up and couldn't decide who gets what furniture from their apartment. Those kinds of things. (Mediation is confidential so I can't actually talk about any real cases, but these examples would be similar.)

That's my first internship. I'm about a month and a half into it. I like it!

This is me going in to court a couple weeks ago. I swear, the expression on my face ONLY expresses my hate for my hair that morning. LOL

Next, my real internship, which I am getting credit for. (AKA paying $5,000+ in tuition for because it's required for my degree.) I'm working for an adoption agency which specializes in adoptions for older children coming out of foster care. They want me to create an adoption mediation program for their company to help the kids transition better. Adoption mediation typically means negotiating open adoption agreements between birth families and adoptive families. For example, agreeing to exchange letters and pictures once a month, or a birth day visit once a year. Things like that. It's a TON of research because they want me to do everything from research the current laws to working out the mechanics of the process to investigating other programs that are out there. Oh and fund it. It's kind of a lot. I almost played with the idea of switching my thesis/terminal project to this topic, but I don't know if I could handle it. I'm only 20 hours in to this thing and I'm already like, "Whoa." It's a lot!

Here's me at my internship! All of the volunteers work together in a room with a bunch of computers. It's a little warm in there so I am unfortunately having coffee substance abuse problems. It's a struggle!

Me at my new desk! First time working in an office in EIGHT YEARS! 

You're also welcome to check out my internship blog. It's not super exciting, but it like, exists, so feel free:  http://adoptionmediation.blogspot.com/

Lebanon Strawberry Festival Run Race Report (#7 of 14)

Race #7 of our 14 in 2014 Race Series. Time: 41:07

 

The Strawberry Festival probably could have been pretty interesting if either of us had been locals, but we both felt kind of "other'ed" in town, and didn't really feel a part of anything. We saw part of the parade, but we missed the giant strawberry shortcake that was supposed to feed 10,000 people. We just never saw anything. No booths, or anything. We had trouble finding the start too.

 It was another early race, a good hour away. It was a long, straight out and back course. I got a RAGING belly ache in mile 2 and thought I was going to literally have an accident. (aka, poop my pants). I felt awful, and wanted to quit a lot. I made it though. The weather had just started to turn warm and I think this is one of the last races I wore in capris/pants before I switched to an old pair of bike shorts I had found that work much better for me.

The one exciting thing we DID do was go to Dutch Brothers afterwards. I had never been and Sarah swore there was a Frappuccino like item that only had 65 calories. It was tasty! (Sugar Free non fat double torture!)

 

 

Elijiah Bristow Glow Run 4.25 Race Report (#6 of 14)

Race #6 of our 14 in 2014 Race Series. Time: 1:01:04

 

For this race, I was really nervous, and really felt like I needed to practice beforehand. Sarah had me meet her at her work, and then we drove out to Elijiah Bristow to practice. She had had one race there previously (I think her first) and she was going to take the lead. Of course as soon as we got there it started raining. But having driven 20 minutes and spent a good amount of time lost, we didn't want to give up. So we went on a little adventure. We didn't even walk a mile down crappy, wet trails before we realized how late it was and the park was closing. We barely ran at all- right up until Charlie Brown (my beagle, who I had brought with me) smelled something funny, freaked out, and refused to keep going. His reaction was so extreme we mutually agreed we didn't want to know what he was smelling and would head his advice. We booked it back to the parking lot and said forget it.

Side note, I'm so grateful to have a paranoid dog sometimes- He's such a little spitfire I feel much safer being adventurous when I have him around!

 

 

This was such a fun race! It was my first trail run, and my first night run. We drove first to a parking lot at Elijiah Bristow State Park, and then were bussed over to the actual trail location which was just down the road. The parking lot faced Dexter lake, which was really pretty!





I thought I'd finish at around 1:15 or later, so I was really surprised at my time. The race was also really hard. The head lamps we got super sucked, and mine flipped off my face and smashed on the ground about 1/3 of a mile in. I ended up running with it in my hand, instead of on my head. It was just way too cheap and unstable. The shirts were also super ugly at this one, and to be blunt, made me feel like a cow. They weren't fitted and were cheap cotton. I think it took me one more race to give up on shirts (or rather, get more discerning about which ones I buy) but this was the start of the slippery slope on this issue!

The race was packed, and the trails were covered in glow lights. It really was beautiful. It was a little spooky at times, but I really enjoyed myself! Sarah's boyfriend Mitch came along for this one too!

Garden Gnome 5k Race Report (#5 of 14)

Race #5 of our 14 in 2014 Race Series. Time: 45:27

This was another awful Corvallis race. I think it had 200 feet in elevation changes,  which didn't bother me too much (I thought), but both times I've done this area (similar, overlapping courses) I've had terrible calf pain. I ran my best mile ever (12:26!!) and then walked/limped the second, cursing everyone that passed me. I did not PR but I guess it wasn't terrible considering I walked so much of it. I was also incredibly proud I ran the first 5 minutes straight, no stopping. That's a big deal!

A car tried to run me over as I got to the finish, and I screamed at him but, we all survived. :)

My friend Sarah PR'd and went sub 30 AND was top 5 in her age group! So amazing! We got free tomato plants as our prize. :)

Girl's Night In Cheese & Dog Party

One of the things I've really appreciated about being in Oregon is having girlfriends to spend time with. So many of my friends are married with children now, that I relate much better to my class mates. We're basically free agents and are moreso in the same stage of life. While I am older, we're all still struggling with the same issues and I don't really feel the age difference so much anymore. While sometimes I am the one with the authority or life experience in regards to a particular situation, mostly we are all equals and I enjoy their company a lot.

Towards the end of the academic year, my friends Sarah and Skylar and I established a rotating girl's night. For this one, we had a cheese party! We each brought a cheese, our dog(s) and wine! It was such a great night.

We all met at my complex's dog park first to make sure all the dogs would get alone- not all had met before.

Then we headed inside to party!

Some of the cheeses we had:
Trader Joe's Chocolate Cheddar Cheese
Trader Joe's  Caramelized Onion Cheddar
Marin French Cheese Company (Rouge et Noir) Schloss
Marin French Cheese Company (Rouge et Noir) Petit Dejeuner
Marin French Cheese Company (Rouge et Noir) Garlic Brie

We also had arugala, cheery tomatoes, a sliced bagette, plain crackers, fruit,  special salami, and Sarah made a really fancy petit basque macaroni and cheese.

The dogs were very jealous.

Check out our awesome copy of "Culture" magazine- a mag all about cheese! Yum!

Such a great night with friends!

The Hop Hop 5k & Half Race Report (#4 of 14)

Race #4 of our 14 in 2014 Race Series. Time: 40:38

Back on Easter Saturday my friend Sarah and I got up at 4am and drove to Portland to run in another 5k race together!

We got personalized bibs- cute right?

I used a little energy fuel for the first time (Salted Caramel Gu!) and we raced. It was a GREAT race and definetly my favorite so far. Our goal is to do 14 races in 2014, and this was number 4 I think.

 Sarah felt like she needed some swag so she got these cool tights to race in. I declined such festivities. lol

 I like this picture of me too. In case you're wondering, no I haven't really lost weight. I lost about 10 pounds at the first half of the year ,but then nothing, and the 10 pound loss isn't really solid. I didn't change sizes or anything either. I seem to have developed a sugar bingeing problem to combat the exhaustion I am always feeling and that does not help with my calories. Feel free to try and follow me on MFP- I love checking out other people's food. My is is auntyem4 I think

 We also both got really emotional about our "Boston Strong" stickers. I believe it was the weekend before the Boston Marathon when we raced and you hear other "real" runners talk about the solidarity they felt/feel with Boston, and I didn't really relate- UNTIL we were out there at 7am, warming up and realized this experience we have in common- running and racing and suddenly we were both just hit with those feelings of grief. It was surprising, but we were happy to wear our stickers with pride!

 

I really like racing with earrings. It makes me feel prettier and faster, I'm pretty sure. ;)

 

 I PR'd at this race and was so proud. I struck up a conversation with another girl the last half of the race after I noticed we were taking turns passing each other and then walking pretty regularly. She agreed and we chatted and ran together the rest of the way- until we sprinted and raced across the finish! It was very exciting and I was so proud of myself! I official time was 40:38 and I would definitely do it again. This is currently my PR time even though I've raced since and I am still hoping to beat it! I totally got emotional when I realized I had taken almost 7 minutes off my race time and cried when I ran over the finish.

The photographer totally got me right after I crossed over when I was all weepy too! I like this picture alot.


 It was so exciting. After the race I lost track of my race buddy, but Sarah and I dyed Easter eggs and enjoyed our free catered breakfast, and our mimosas in our commemorative champagne glasses! It was great!

 We're so cute!