Playing Catch Up I

College sure knows how to bog a student down!  I have many many updates to share.  But I want to recollect everything in chronological order.  So allow me to tell you through photos:

Some classic scenic photos of Spokane:

The before-after process of my dorm room:

Got to attend my first wedding!  The bride was proposed to last year during a football game in October.  So I went with a couple of other cheerleaders to this beautiful wedding:

The Asians got to matching in navy blue dresses!

The Bride and I.

Went to another stunt festival in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!

Had a mini-stunt fest at Gonzaga University with the Gonzaga cheerleaders!  I didn't get photos of my stunting, but these two are what I got!

A cute little house near the Gonzaga campus.

Whitworth's Fancy Feast with my freshmen teammates!

All Tied Up event with my RA (resident's assistant), my roommate, and our next-door neighbors!

Big chocolate mousse ice cream concoction at the Coeur d'Alene Resort!

My family got to come up and visit me during Whitworth's Homecoming weekend!

Another football game:

I'm to the right of the center ginger-haired cheerleader (the cheer captain).

A visit to Greenbluff is a Fall tradition at Whitworth!  These ladies are part of my hall in my dorm.

I'm the far left in the bottom row.

Me with a farm cat at Greenbluff.

At Whitworth, there is a little tradition where you have a small bucketlist to complete in order to graduate.  I got to complete the hardest item one rainy day.

I caught a virgin pinecone [a pinecone that has not touched the ground)!  I heard it crack in a pine tree, and I stuck my left hand out with my mug of coffee in it and I caught it perfectly!
The other two items in the bucketlist (known as "The Little Three") are to accidentally drop a plate in the dining hall, and to accidentally get hit in the head with a frisbee.

I got a Siamese fighting fish (better known as a betta) and named him Hank!

Took a few typical fall photos.

Got these boots for $11 and the stockings for $6 at Burlington Coat Factory!  The stockings came with a solid black pair as well.  Love bargains!

Whitworth featured this photo on Facebook!  I was so excited.  I called this one 'Leafblower Arrangements' on Instagram.

Dressed up as a black bunny for Halloween with my teammate, Sara!

Whitworth Cheer got to perform at Midnight Madness!

Close-up on me and Sara and our makeup and hair!

Here is a link to our Midnight Madness performance!  I am the black #15.  I start off as the left back tuck basket and then I am the right lib to heel-stretch, and then the middle layer for the pyramid stunts.

Whitworth Cheer made the front page of the Whitworthian (college newspaper):

There I am to the right in the black #15 jersey!

Accomplished the standing scorpion pose (it's a yoga position):



And these are from Whitworth's first basketball game against D'Youville!

Braced extension with our freshman male cheerleader, David, under me!

Heel stretches!  Mine could be a lot better, but I'm still feeling quite accomplished.

Some ending things that are the most exciting things that I do not have a photo for:
1. I got accepted to go on a service-learning trip to Eden, Jamaica over my spring break at the end of March!

2. I also accepted an internship offer with Fruci and Associates, PS in downtown Spokane for a tax season internship!  It's a paid internship and I get to work with CPAs.

I will try to keep this blog more updated with better planning.  I cannot wait for this semester to end so I can get on with my internship and my service-learning trip in the Spring.

2nd Weekend in Bremerton (Part II)

Ahhh, sorry this is so late!  I've been busy with moving back into college and doing cheer!  Here are Part Deux photos to that second weekend in Bremerton:

We went to a farmers' market in Port Orchard and I got a pound of chanterelle mushrooms for my dad!  These are SUCH good mushrooms. 

My aunt and uncle have this awesome hammock in her backyard that is perfect for sunbathing.

We went to the Bremerton Yacht Club boat yard for a boat day!

Walking through the boat yard "neighborhood."

This is where my aunt and uncle's boat lives!

Their boat!

My Uncle David steering us out!

Just relaxing!

Boat yard!

Got my life jacket on!

Not the best of photos, but it was good and windy on the front of the boat!

Horrible zoomed in photo of Mount Rainier.

Reenacting the Titanic scene!

Seals!

An abandoned sail boat.

We went for a swim for a bit, and then I posed at the front of the boat!

Towelhead reflection!

Cute little boat flag.

My sister started driving the boat!

Another seal!

My aunt made a promise to my little sister: if she graduates high school with a good GPA (3.0 or higher), they will go to New York City!

Morning walk with Ruby and Dixie!

They are so cute.

Low tide at the riverfront park.

Funny little nuts.

When the nut is broken into.

Beach day at Port Townsend!

My dad walking in the shallows.

Felt sooooo nice.

I'm not sure how consistent my posts will be from now on, since college classes are going to start up soon.  But I will do my best!

2nd Bremerton Weekend (Part I)

So I spent another weekend (August 8-10) with my aunt and uncle in Bremerton again!  When my Uncle David - with his daughter (and our cousin) Kandace - picked up my little sister and I on Friday (August 8), we went to a crêperie in Kingston and had some amazingly delicious crêpes.  It didn't occur to me to take a photo of them unfortunately, but they also served ice cream and one of them including a serving of Jack Daniel's whiskey!  I thought that was kind of funny.  Anyway, I prefer to tell my stories through photos and captions, so here you go!

Would you like some whiskey with that ice cream?

We visited our cousin Kandace's log house that her boyfriend built.  He has collections of so many things, including antique cookware!

My little sister petting the bear rug.

Decoration!

Overlooking the loft at my Uncle David in a rocking chair downstairs.

A huge, pretty painting!

Random knick-knacks hang from the ceiling.

I had a brownie and thought the bear would be better off with it.

My cousin Kandace and her boyfriend are working on building an outdoor patio in their backyard, and they are incorporating pretty little marbles into it!

Another scattering of marbles.

A side view of their log house.

A big, pretty, red dragonfly!

The front door and garden!

Very pretty and very fragrant roses.

We ended the night at my aunt and uncle's house with more s'mores!   The embers looked so cool after the fire died down.

NW Summer Stunt Fest 2014

So on July 27, I travelled to West Seattle for a cheer festival!  It's basically an event for people in the area to get together and stunt.  I met a guy fron Gonzaga University and I did a toss to hands!  Here's a mini photo dump:

Peter Sullivan LLP Summer Leadership Cruise 2014

I didn't take too many photos, as this cruise on Argosy's Lady Mary was a networking event with accounting professionals.  I didn't want to come off as that girl.

So on Wednesday, July 30, I drove two hours from my house to Bainbridge Island to park the car, got on the ferry as a walk-on passenger (it's free fare this way), and then walked to Pier 55 from the Seattle terminal on Alaskan Way.  There were already many people there - professionals and hopeful potentials who were undergraduate and graduate college students.  They had a table set up where they were handing out free sunglasses (I'm wearing them in the photo) and name tags with your first and last name above your college logo.  I was the only one from Whitworth University, so I knew no one and didn't have much of an idea of how to approach anyone.  I didn't bother with the other students as I didn't want to waste my time socializing when I came all this way to network.

So while we, sixty hopefuls, cruised on the Lady Mary with forty professionals, I made a new friend named Becky, who came to the States from Rwanda in Agrica to get her college education, is a graduate from a Georgia college, and is going to be studying for her Masters in Auditing this year at the University of Washington. One of the campus recruiters, Mr. Togami, saw me as I climbed the stairs to the upper deck and sought me out.  He is the campus recruiter for Spokane!  Mr. Togami explained this when he saw my confusion at his knowing my name - he's been speaking with Whitworth's Outside Internship Director about the university's annual accounting internship recruiting event.  He introduced himself, then Becky and I introduced myself, and then we all talked about travel.  Then he gave us his business card, requested for our resumes, and then he suggested I crash Gonzaga University's accounting recruiting event if he is unable to make it to the Whitworth campus.

Then we all took a seat in the lower deck to listen to Seattle University's head women's basketball coach, Joan Bonvicini, give a speech on leadership.  During her speech, she asked for volunteers to come up and give an example of leadership.  I was the last one to go up, and I shared an example involving my work in the hotel and how I sometimes have to take charge when there is no supervisor or manager on site, and how I take the time to chat with people from other departments and listen to their concerns.  I didn't stutter when I spoke, I had good posture, my voice didn't waver or fade, I didn't use any crutch words such as "like" or "um," and I even got the 100-ish people to laugh.  After Coach B ended her speech, several professionals came up to me to introduce themselves and asked me to tell more about my working at the hotel.  One of the professionals who approached me is a senior partner with Peter Sullivan LLP.  He has CPA, CHIA, and CM+AA certifications (Certified Public Accountant, Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics, and Certified Merger and Acquisition Advisor).  So his CHIA certification is a major part of what made him perk up when I spoke up with my example.  He gave me his business card, requested for my resume, and then we talked about the hospitality industry.  He and I also spoke about ethics and hospitality in general.  Then I met up with Becky again, and we got some ice cream that was being served on the upper deck.  When the Lady Mary docked back in to Pier 55, Becky and I went to a nearby Starbucks and talked for a good while until it was for us to go home.

It was definitely a wonderful day and this cruise went better than I imagined for myself, I made new contacts, and I made a new friend.