It's 2013! A bunch of things have happened in 2013. Also a lot has happened in 2012 since my last post.

Alanna moved to Philly. Woot!
Matt and I signed a lease on an apartment this past weekend.

Lalala.

Loving life!!!

Whoops.

I'm a very bad blogger. My bad!

There is way too much to recap over the last 5 months of life in Philly. I love my boyfriend, my family came to visit, Alanna was here (twice!), and I saw Allie after 1.5 years apart. Will be moving to a new house again in a month. August will mark 6 months at my new job. September will mark 1 year with the boyfriend. One of my new years resolutions to wear more dresses has been a success. My boyfriend has encouraged the dresses. Ha.

There is not much new to report. Life is peachy, I am happy. Thinking of nixing cheese from my diet... gives me what I've termed.. the bubbleguts. Every once in a while, I get terrible stomachs that can only be appeased by curling up into a ball and grumbling that my tummy hurts. Sometimes, a nice trip to the bathroom will do the trick, other times I devour Tums and Pepto in hopes of some relief. I think cheese may be the culprit. I'm so sad about it! I love cheese... though I did have some vegan mac and cheese today and it was scrumptious!

So, that is pretty much it. Oh, today is July 9th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!

Peace.


.143.

It's 2012!

So. I am waiting to make a left turn onto the major street by my house. As I'm waiting, this fool makes a left turn from that major street onto the street I'm waiting on. As he passes me, he blows me a kiss. I think this guy looked about 50. No thank you, not my type.

Anywho. I have one more day left at my current job. That means one more day to make a dent on the couch... one more [weekday] that I can sleep in before going to work. One more day of unhealthy crappy food for dinner. One more day of being cursed at and restraining children. After 1.5 years of working in residential treatment facilities... I can proudly say... I WON'T MISS IT. Ha.

I start a new job on Monday... as a children's case manager in NorthEast Philadelphia. It's a bit more of a drive for me, but I don't mind. I am looking forward to working normal hours like normal people do. I finally have a 9-5 job! Ha. And and and. I get to actually look my age when I'm working. For the majority of my past jobs, I have never been required to dress up for work in the typical business casual that most people my age are dressing up as. I went shopping for my grown up work clothes with Jessica over the weekend... I felt strange in grown up clothes... Like I was just playing dress up! I still have more shopping to do, because I only have about 4 outfits, and unfortunately, there are 5 days in a work week.

So, let's talk about 2012. It's 2012! We're supposed to die this year. So far, I am liking 2012.. I don't want to die just yet. So much more living to do! What do I want to accomplish in 2012?
+ complete a half marathon in under 2 hours and 30 minutes.
+ like my job and stick with it for an entire year.
+ maybe i'll apply to grad school this year.
+ go on a trip. to someplace new.
+ lose the weight I've put on in the past 1.5 years working in stinkin' RTFs.
+ learn a new skill. maybe i'll finally learn how to play poker. or drive a manual car.
+ wear more dresses when the weather is warm.
+ go to Las Vegas. Because, honestly, it has been WAY too long.
+

Readers... or reader. Whoever reads this. What else should I add to my to-do list for 2012? Add your suggestions!!

Bull in a china shop.

Hopefully, I can make my blogging more of a consistent endeavor for awhile. Blogging goes in phases for me... I'm really good for about 2 months, and then life happens and I'm much more interested in living and experiencing life than I am about writing about what I am experiencing. Half the time I can't remember the exact sequence of events.

Lately, I've been making a dent in our couch when I'm not working. My lazy behind has had very little motivation to do much of anything on my days off. I finally went grocery shopping last Sunday.. at Costco.. I probably bought more than I should have, but I didn't have a whole lot of food left. There are only so many things I can mix with quinoa before I just get plain bored. So, I finally got my butt off the couch and went grocery shopping. I still haven't bought milk.. Costco doesn't sell my Almond milk, and while our local grocery store is a mere 1.5 miles from my house, I still have yet to buy that milk. I miss cereal.

Anyway. It's Wednesday. It's my day off. I decided I did not want to do any errands today. Surprising? No, not really. If you knew me, you'd probably be saying... that's about right. I did clean my room a bit. Cleaned the bathroom a bit. Then I decided instead of making another dent in the couch with my rear end, that I would make a new dent in one of the chair/couch things at Starbucks. Something about coffee houses that make me want to blog. Also, the pleasant classical music makes me pensive.

Starbucks is getting crowded. This one gentleman asked to share my table and rest his coffee on it while he enjoyed a book. Honestly, I have no clue what he really said, I have headphones on, but I assumed he was asking to use the chair... either that or maybe he was asking if the chair was clean... or if I was selling the chair... or if his imaginary friend could use it... the possibilities are endless. There are so many i's in the word possibilities. I really need to focus on my screen when I'm typing it to make sure I got all the i's. Anywho.

We are sharing the table. I'm thinking... "oh perfect, this fine gentleman can watch my laptop while I use the restroom". He looked confused when I was getting up, and I told him I was just running to the restroom. I start getting up, my foot slips on the bottom of the table, and it slides forward. His coffee doesn't have the lid on.

Let me stop and say that my boyfriend often refers to me as the proverbial bull in a china shop. I'd say that phrase is pretty accurate to describe me. I'm a plain klutz. Sunday, I dropped his phone on the floor. Then, a few minutes later, I dropped my phone and accidentally kicked it across the floor. Same day, I smacked over a cup of water at his place onto the floor. Tuesday, getting out of my car, I dropped my phone on the ground at Wawa [the 7/11 of the east coast]. My poor phone has a crack in the case. THANKFULLY, it's only on the case. Meli, you have an iPhone now. It's not like your indestructible blackberry.

So, the coffee spills all over the table. Nice Meli. Earlier, I did that to myself when I was first sitting down at the table. And I thought to myself.. "man that would have sucked if my lid to my tea wasn't on." Thankfully, only a bit splashed on his jacket, and most of it stayed on the table. I ran to get napkins and was apologizing profusely. He was a nice man and didn't comment much on it. So I went and did my business in the restroom. Upon my return, he grabbed hold of his coffee and took it off the table. "I'm going to hold onto this while you do your dance to sit back down." Glad he had a sense of humor.



Look, they even have a board game for people like me. I need to learn how to be a butterfly in a china shop. Butterflies don't break things.

Oh, that's right. I have a blog.

Oh, hello there. It has been awhile. My apologizes. Quick recap of the negatives and positives of the past few months.

- So, I did not apply to grad school, much to my dismay. I can't keep getting my hopes up about going to grad school when I know, in my mind, I'm not where I want to be professionally. I'm not happy with my current job, and that has brought me down and exhausted me, making me less inclined to work on the grad school applications. So, unlike my previous post, which seems like ages ago [september], apparently telling everyone I'm going to do something doesn't make me really do that something. Just makes me feel like I failed... failed to motivate myself and kick my butt into gear. So, my bad.
+ I set my mind on a new goal for 2012. Maybe the grad school thing will happen next year. But, for now, I set a goal to do something I've come close to achieving before. Sub 2:30 half marathon! I've signed up for a half marathon on Saturday, May 26th. I'm also hoping to lose some of the weight that I've put on since working in a residential treatment facility. The food in RTFs are high carb high fat diets. Everyone gains weight in RTFs, both staff and clients. So, signing up for the half marathon has two goals in mind... completing the half in under 2 hours 30 minutes and getting back into the shape I was in prior to working in RTFs... aka before I moved to the east coast and it was too cold to run outdoors in the winter. =)
+ I met a very sweet boy... in a bar. Now, I have been warned that I shouldn't get my hopes up over meeting boys in bars, but ya know what? I found a good one. His name is Matthew Dylan. And he has dimples. I like his dimples. =)

That is pretty much what has been going on over the past few months. It has snowed once in Philadelphia... on October 28th. It is the middle of January and all we've had is rain. And an average temperature of 45 degrees. This time last year, Rhode Island was covered in snow. What the heck, global warming?! GO away, I like winter and snow. I want to snuggle with the boyfriend and watch snow flakes falling outside. What I don't want, is to get soaked and wet in January. Bah.

Ready Set Go!

My professor for my Theories of Personality class told us once that... if you tell enough people you're going to do something, you will most likely follow through. That way, you're not just letting yourself down if you don't follow through, you're also telling everyone else you told that you failed. So, to make sure I follow through with these applications and don't fail myself and others, I am turning to the blog world and informing everyone. I AM APPLYING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL WORK. Easier said then done.

I have always known that one step in the grad school application process would make me stop short and procrastinate.

The essays.

They're so daunting. Most personal statements for social work programs involve talking about social work ethics, past experiences, why I have decided to pursue a degree in this program... and blah blah blah. I don't even know where to begin with them. I just bought a book off Amazon entitled "The Social Work Graduate School Applicant's Handbook: The Complete Guide to Selecting and Applying to MSW Programs." Hope it's helpful ha.

Today, I'll share the personal statement for the University of Denver. Looking at it now, there are sections that I feel like I could answer pretty well. Though, other sections just taunt me.

A. Rationale
Discuss the primary reasons for your desire to pursue your Master of Social Work (MSW) degree.
B. Attributes and Liabilities
Please identify your strengths, and briefly discuss any knowledge and/or skills that you might need to improve in order to successfully complete the requirements of GSSW’s MSW program.
C. Employment and Volunteer Experience
Please Identify and briefly discuss the relationship between your previous employment and/or volunteer experiences and your decision to pursue an MSW.
D. Education
Please discuss the relationship between your undergraduate education and your preparedness to complete GSSW’s MSW program.
E. Life Experiences
Discuss how your personal experiences have led you to a career in social work. Many people enter this field because of life experiences that have resulted in a desire to help others. Often these experiences can be transformed into passions and strengths that fuel one’s career or can impede one’s ability to develop professionally. Please include any relevant life experiences and the way in which you have dealt with them. Be advised that we are a strengths-based profession, and our interest is in seeing how people have coped with their life challenges.
F. Social Work Values and Ethics
Discuss how your personal values and experiences have prepared you to meet the ethical obligation of social workers to practice without discrimination and with respect, knowledge and skills related to clients’ age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. How do your personal values relate to this ethical obligation? What are some experiences that you have had that demonstrate your willingness to fulfill this ethical obligation?

So. Average length of personal statements are 5 pages... and exceeding 7 pages is discouraged. Denver's application is due first, by January 16th. I guess I'll tackle this one first?

I'll be posting my progress on the applications here. Hope everyone here will help me out... offer feedback for these personal statements because they're a big obstacle for me.

Deuces.

On the road...

... to grad school!

I have been using the U.S. News Best Social Work Programs website as a start to my big grand research on different graduate schools in the country. So hard to narrow my list! Considering I will go almost anywhere in the US... well no correction. I will not go almost anywhere. I probably won't go anywhere near the south. Too many weather hazards and bugs. No thanks.

My list is still pretty extensive. Though, I started writing down deadline dates and information sessions at various schools. Curious?

The University of Denver. (costs an arm and a leg)
The University of Maryland, Baltimore. (realistic)
The University of Michigan. (#2 ranked social work school in the US. wishful thinking)
Rhode Island College. (surprising, right? Good program. And I fell in love with RI during those 10 months)
Portland State University. (back to the west coast, maybe?)

Maryland, Michigan, and Portland State all have the Peace Corps Masters International Program within the MSW program... makes the programs so much more attractive.

More to come. Just giving yall a sneak peek.

Time for work.