Vida

just wanted to share a little prayer for my kids as they start class again tomorrow. i'm missing them a lot right now. especially as i work on their parts in my scrapbook. my sister comes in the room and says, "you're crying!" but the tears are only full of love.

the question i seem to get a lot. i always say...i'll find something. why? is a question i've gotten A LOT in the past year. Why don't I eat meat... in mexico they didn't understand it and due to my lacking spanish i couldn't really explain it super well either. so last week when we went on a family vacation and my brother asked i was kind-of happy because i could actually explain myself with words. i almost feel like i was rarely asked in chicago. there are a lot of vegetarians. i guess people either assume why (i think most vegetarians have different reasons) or just think 'oh another one.' so i figure this is an opportunity to explain... as best i can anyway, it's pretty complicated to put into words...in any language. if i lived on the sea i would definitely eat fish (i miss fish). if i lived in an area where i knew how the cows were raised and how they are killed i would eat meat...probably (i don't miss meat) transportation .

I remember when I started my first photography class freshman year of college and Jenny (my professor) talked to us about which cameras to buy (and which ones to avoid) the first day. She talked about the "old" Holgas . How they can be fun, but not work for the class because they take a very distinct type of picture and we wanted to make many different kinds not just the one. She said if we were ever going for that look we could get it later, but not to use for that class. Wednesday I saw them for sale in Urban Outfitters . Not sure, but I think I might want one (not from there of course-they've been around forever so of course there are much less expensive options). But I definitely want to get the camera I did buy out again and go back to taking serious pictures =) I find myself doing many of the same things I was doing right before I left, but now it's because I'm back. Not much has changed...just me. In Chicago I got to do my favorite thing. Spend time with my

so i know the most important part of finding a job is networking. luckily i have a lot of friends in the working field now that are willing to help me out and introduce me to people. here i am trying to get a job and at the same time trying not to be as picky as i want to be. the most difficult part is telling the people who want to help what i actually want to do... -i've basically stuck to all non-profits -with kids (but i didn't study it so i don't have certification) -spanish - if i don't find a job where i can use it i'm going to find a volunteer position to use it) -event planning including the one job i really liked planning retreats at a retreat center covering social justice topics -environment education ish that's all i've been able to nail down-if you can call it that. i'm setting goals for myself for how many jobs i need to apply for a day.

i was able to make a trip to Chicago this weekend, which was probably exactly what I needed and wonderful. i left friday morning pretty abruptly. i must tell this story because it's a great one. karen and i went to bed around 1:30 ish friday morning because we just had stuff to do after the muny and such. we needed to wake-up at 5. karen apparently sub-consciously turned off her alarm when it went off, but lucky for us she woke-up at 6...well sort-of lucky for us...my train left from downtown at 6:30. she looks at the time and says Lisa we need to go. I say "what time is it?" then i look while i'm asking and we both burst out of bed to the other room where i throw on clothes and she grabs most of my stuff and we both run for the door (i brushed my teeth on the train). she drove very fast and lo ng story short we made it, but i did run through the train station to my train and karen gave one of the workers a high-five that i made it. so i was off. i took amtrak f