October 23, 2017

I am trying to keep my head above C level this week as I write a paper to analyze a leadership situation in my life as well as do a literature review for my group counseling project. I’m also working on my creative project and have expanded it to create a website to gather information and support for people dealing with anxiety. I’ll also start coaching 2 teachers at my school this week and am getting close to finishing up the site map for all the systems and supports at my practicum site. Just reading this list and knowing it doesn’t even touch on the assignments for my leadership class or all of the readings helps me get a little more perspective to remind myself to be more gentle in my self - talk. 

I sent this to my group counseling section - ha!

I also took the time this weekend to attend an LDS singles education conference for adults in the east coast. There were some excellent speakers including Joseph Grenny who co-wrote “Crucial Conversations”, a book I’ve read and had on my shelf for years…

https://www.vitalsmarts.com/crucial-conversations-training/

all the workshops I attended were excellent and Hal Gregersen was the inspiring concluding speaker and I’m looking forward to reading his book when it is published. https://halgregersen.com

My new personal and professional goal is to work on improving my communication, especially in difficult or conflict situations. This is something I’ve struggled with since I would rather avoid conflict and have dealt with it poorly in the past, but I’m learning there are skills I can work on and improve and I would welcome your help to be able to do so. 

For the conference this weekend we hosted a couple of young women from New York and had a group of people over for dinner on Sunday night. I made Grandma Neibarger’s Busy Day Soup with my own modifications of adding ground turkey, potatoes, yams, canned diced tomatoes instead of the tomato juice and green beans with a little bit of chipotle powder for flavor. Everyone seemed to like it which always adds to my enjoyment of cooking. I’m still getting used to the change in altitude since Colorado was a mile high and now I’m at sea level, but for the most part I’m figuring out how to bake things without them being raw in the middle as much ;) 

Speaking of food, this past week was Learning & Teaching week at HGSE and there was a class on Thai Spring Rolls w/ Peanut dipping sauce. I went with a couple of friends / classmates, Kiran and Sophie, and we were able to make a bunch for eating and taking home. It was a lot more delicious than the meal I had planned. 

    

This weekend was also the Head of the Charles Regatta which is a rowing competition. I only saw the practice sessions when I walked over to see what was going on but there was a marching band going over the bridge shortly before me and a lot of teams out on the water to get ready for the race the next day. There were tents set up for viewing and with lots of paraphernalia for sale so you could prove that you were there. I think it would be fun to try rowing sometime, but that’s not high on my priority list at the moment.

The leaves are beginning to turn colors, and by that I mean I’m starting to see reds. I will take some pictures this week and hope to find time to walk through the Mt. Auburn Cemetery again soon to climb the tower and get a panoramic view of the area. Maybe I’ll do that next Sunday.