It's a miracle!! Only 2 weeks have passed since my last post and here I am posting again, I know I know I don't believe it either.....
Jake and I watching the Jazz vs Celtics game
I am not pleased with the turnout but
it was still a good game to watch
Since last updated I have done a little more traveling, not as exciting as one may think, but traveling from one city to the next lol I made a move from my cozy little grandma, cat infested, cold home in Brighton over to the happening city of Cambridge right at Porter square! (trust me, this is a move up for me) I met a girl through my friend Lauren back in January and she was never able to find a job so she was moving out of a sublet spot with 3 other girls... it's only through June, but hey I am in a rocking location and I am so warm all the time!! *my last house had a landlord who didn't turn on the heater... ya I know, I live in Boston and he didn't think the heater was needed*
Peace out to the purple tiled bathroom
and awkward cologne poster accommodated
with the extra large rubber ducky, oh
and don't forget the necessary palm tree
towels and floral trimming along the ceiling
The move was a lot less painful then I thought it would be, I was helped by a work mule name Jacob and all he wanted for payment was food... easy enough :) My room is great, its in the upstairs front room and has slanted ceilings...
...There are beautiful wood floors, and it is almost 2 times the size of my last room (the rug that covered all my open space on the floor in my DC home looks like a small area rug in the middle of my room) ha
I wish this could be my room forever!! The house is cute, I especially love the tiled kitchen counter and the aqua staircase ;)
I did some exploring on Saturday and I am in such a nice place, nestled right between the two best squares in the area, Davis and Harvard, I am told when it warms up and is nicer here the whole area is jumping with people, wahoo.... I am really liking Boston, not that I planned to be here longer than 6 months and from the looks of it I will be here til end of June, after that I am planning to do some traveling to Europe and Latin America for a little bit ;)
During my week of moving, I was finally able to finish a book on tape I have been working through since I moved up here in November. It's a heavy book so I didn't always flip it on in my car and there were a lot of stories or parts I listened to a couple times. The book was recommended in my college girlfriends book club (we have a online blog called Traveling through the pages, a spoof from Traveling pants) and decided to book on tape it for my drive up here... and for the next 3.5 months lol Anyway the book is called Half the Sky co written by a husband and wife, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. They travelled through brothels, villages, cities, hospitals, and clinics (in 11 different countries,) visiting women all over who have for centuries practiced cultural rituals such as selling daughters/sisters off to sex traffickers, forced prostitution, genital mutilation, gender based violence, maternal mortality and having abortions when realizing a baby was a female child. The title comes from a quote from Mao Tse Tung as a old Chinese proverb that women metaphorically hold up half of the sky.
The books theme is "Turning Oppression into Opportunity for women worldwide" There are so many local steps that a person can take to help support their cause to educate and empower women everywhere. I have always known that I needed to do more and am always in search for an opportunity to do more. After this book I have been told exactly where I can help. I am researching some of the charities and ways to help locally (simple as writing to Congress) and overseas as well. I have also decided that for my birthday (which is next week) I don't want anything because I really don't need anything. What I want is for anyone who is thinking about getting me a gift or buying a card to send to me, to take that money and apply it to Half the Sky.
Go to this website and click on the link that says "Take Action." From there you can choose from over 30 legit charities to give to. They each have their own goals or actions they are trying to do and I will bet there is at least one that speaks loudly to you ;)
I have also realized that I need to go volunteer. I have always wanted to volunteer in Africa doing something, but I have now narrowed it down I think... I want to go and work at one of the main hospitals which helps to repair women after childbirth or brutal rapings. *****Gruesome text to follow... seriously.....you have been warned.... millions of women do not get support or checkups when pregnant and end up becoming very damaged from either the child birth or from the brutal rape that made them pregnant, they end up with what is called a Fistula. This is a opening from your intestines directly through the women's vaginal wall; this results in continual leakage of feces out of the vagina, with no way to control it... This happens to Millions of women/girls every year. Absolutely terrifying. There is a surgery that can be done to help fix this, I hope to some day soon make it over there and give whatever help or support I can to these women.*****
The whole hope of this book is to alert people who are able to make a difference. This is everyone. Education for women is key. Statistics have shown that in most cases women are better at managing money/household; when these women have an education, they are empowered beyond the man. One day the authors hope people to think of sex trafficking and genital mutilation as something so foreign, old school and barbaric as foot binding is to us now a days. Back in the day, Asian women would have their feet broken and bound beginning around 5-7 yrs old, the goal to have a foot be ~3-4 inches long... women had to teeter around on their feet and have pain for life, all because the culture and men believed it was more attractive to have small feet. In the US we hear of these rituals and think it is crazy to do that, however the young girls over in Africa know nothing different and therefore need support and education. Things are slowly but surely changing in the world, but slowly is not good enough.
One of my favorite people in the world, Beyonce, has a song called "Run the World." A line in the song says "boy you know how we smart enough to make these millions, bare your children, then get back to business"
Equality is all women have wanted for years, however the modern day women says to hell with that and more women are getting higher education and surpassing the men in our lives! I have a friend who says "women lost to men in the battle of the sexes when we started believing that we actually like high heels and tight skirts" and I think, "no we let men think they won, but in the end women win; any women knows that when she puts that high heels on, it's over, convincing a guy of something and persuading it in our favor is easy as pie... and just like that, the women wins" ha ha not always but it helps ;) Women now a days are feminine, curvaceous, smart, classy, and strong... there are so many things for us to be, there is no mold or way to do it right. I hope that one day all the women in my life will have the self empowerment and courage to Just Be. There is no definitive way to be, however we each need to realize how amazing we are and rock it!!
I started writing this post on Thursday night, however I realized yesterday that it was International Women's Day. Here in the states it was not celebrated beyond groups doing their own celebration, however in countries throughout the world, it was a National holiday and people were out from work!! I hope that one day the US will be able to recognize the importance of women; if we could make a whole day dedicated to women I feel like women young and old who haven't been told how important they are, will be able to see a larger picture of who they are and be empowered, motivated, and stronger.
Last Sunday after a quick 4 hours at church (I now get to go in at 730 for council meetings thanks to my church calling of being a co-chair for Family Home Evening which is a activity that we do in our church every Monday night for about a hour where we have a spiritual thought, have a treat, and then activity) I then headed over to the gym to do a 3 hour fundraiser cycling ride. The fundraiser was for the American Cancer Society.
Action shot of Kj the sweat queen
Jake riding his skinny butt off ;)
I am sure to many that riding a bike and getting exercise for that long on a Sunday does not count as a leisure day of rest, however I am a big believer in service and my being on that bike was raising money for a very important cause. I have been a Hospice nurse for just over 2.5 years and can't count the number of people I have taken care of who were victims of cancer. Each person reading this blog right now has been effected by cancer, either personally or a loved one. There is a saying I heard on Sunday that there is not a single person in the entire US who hasn't been touched in some way in their lives by cancer. I am not sure there will ever be a cure in my lifetime, however in dedication to my family members, friends, and many patients past and present I rode my heart out on Sunday!
Each hour there was a 10 min optional break if we wanted to take it. I would hop off my bike, stretch my legs, run to the bathroom, and hop back on the bike to keep it going... there was no need to rest with the energy and hope that filled that room. The teachers name was Danielle, she is intense, insane, and intimidating... I love her lol
Miss Danielle Dee
Each bike was filled and there was a time when the room was so hot and steamy that the mirrors were all fogged over ;) *I am sure it smelled superb* ha ha
Gary, another spin instructor posted up
to keep us nourished and hydrated
There were a lot of people who stopped by the table outside the room where our guy Gary was and donated money throughout the ride.
I love doing something for a greater cause, I almost live for chances and opportunities to do more for other people... not normal but it's true lol
Real action shot this time
After I showered and enjoyed half of a delicious pizza at Otto's :)
Out to pizza... Jake looks a little
worn out lol
It was one of the longest work weeks of my life, I couldn't believe that on Wednesday it was not Friday... seriously I don't know why if felt so long to me... So by Friday when I walked outside to find 10 fresh inches of snow on my car I was thrilled lol
Even though I don't love the snow, I had to snap
a picture at how beautiful and serene this whole
area is :)
Can't see but the snow was up to my knee....
this is a snow dumping
I had read a blog late Thursday night mocking DC for shutting down the entire city and canceling school from a predicted 8-10 inches of snow (they ended up having snow fall that quickly turned to slush) so I laughed and went to bed expecting the same turnout from our predicted 10-14 inches. Luckily people had been out plowing and shoveling in the morning, however no one was quite as friendly as they had been on the weekend when we had the Blizzard... I guess something about us all still having to go to work was like salt in a wound lol With my company on major weather days we are required to see only our high priority patients so I only had 2 visits to do and was able to make it to the gym by 430 pm...
My trail walking up to my patients
house, he better realize what a
good nurse I am ha ha
yeah the roads were that awesome to drive on! (when you transplant people from all over the world into a city that has been voted to have the WORST road patterns EVER *exaggeration* then you are bound to end up with a tension headache by the end of the day) I consider myself a fairly good snow driver (being from Utah) however the rest of the Commonwealth cannot say the same ha ha ha ha
The line of plows and salt/sand trucks waiting
in line to clear roads.
Last night I went to my 3rd social event in Boston Mormon culture since living here (outside of church and Family home evening), it was a friends surprise birthday party. She wanted all the girls to wear red lips and go out dancing, so what we did was throw a surprise dance party for her :) Mormon dance parties are an experience that every person in the world should try and experience at some point in their lives if they can. There is no way to really explain it, there comes a point in the party where I turned to a girl who was experiencing Mormon dancing for the first time and told her, "just embrace the awkward, welcome the uncomfortable, and enjoy!!" ha she then didn't know what to do with me either ha ha
My next week is going to be filled with getting my car "safe" to drive on the road (replacing my windshield *a requirement to be paid by insurance in Massachusetts* and making my horn make noise) celebrating with a small party at my house on Friday with cake and new friends, and then celebrating St Patricks day here in Boston where I hear things get insane and people act like fools... I can't wait to see if first hand lol
Til next time when I am a year old and wiser too,
Kj
Watching Frankenweenie last night, I noticed
that it was featuring 2 of my best girls,
Amanda Dillehay with the poodle and miss
Melissa Robel as the creepy cat girl ;)
