session day 1

the 2011 legislative session has begun! this morning began with snow! not always my favorite thing to see, but it kind of added to the excitement of the day. the office was bustling throughout the morning with lobbyists, lawyers and others stopping in with candy, fliers, etc. and asking to schedule appointments. mid-day i got to watch the house opening ceremony, which was pretty exciting. after roll call, the members voted on speaker (rep. chopp), speaker pro tempore (rep. moeller) and chief clerk. i had to learn what the responsibilities of the speaker and speaker pro tempore are (as well as the caucus and whip- lots of terms i've heard, but never stopped to think about what they mean) in the afternoon i attended the ways and means committee meeting, during which the someone from the governor's office reviewed the supplemental budget with the members. i learned that the ways and means committee deals with the operating budget, which is obviously a huge project, particularly in this very difficult year. i'm really looking forward to attending those meetings for the rest of session. overall, the day was exhausting and i still haven't even found my desk or logged into my leg email account! now i understand why legislators cannot even get around to reading constituent mail, much less respond! thank goodness for legislative aides!

(pictured is the door to rep. pettigrew's office) tomorrow i will be attending the health and human services committee meeting, hopefully finding my desk and logging into my email account, attending the agriculture committee meeting, attending the ways and means committee meeting and then possibly going to a budget review later in the evening. i had a 10 hour day today and will be working 12-13 tomorrow. it's 8pm and i just want to go to bed. how the heck am i supposed to do school work?!

here's to a productive learning experience!

changes in the new year

happy new year! our nye festivies were pretty low key this time around. maureen made a last minute trip to seattle to see us (and watch intervention) for the new year! we got a drink at the pink door late afternoon and then made our way home hang out. we made a simple dinner and then just watched fireworks on tv. we didn't even open any of the sparkling wine we bought! just one of those years.

i need to get you all up to speed on my big change...i have officially changed practicums to work with Rep. Pettigrew. i finished up my big evaluation project at united way of king county at the end of december. i got a loan to help with housing (and other) costs, and my dad got me a great suit. just before the new year, maureen and i drove down to olympia to look at some rooms for rent and check out the capitol campus. the campus is absolutely beautiful. and although seattle is surrounded by water, i was shocked at how many lakes are around olympia. it's definitely a small town, but i imagine i will be too busy to even notice. i did find a place to rent that is just 1 mile from the capitol. it's not exactly what i was hoping for, but it's short-term and i will basically just be sleeping there. from what i hear, i won't be home until after 9pm on most days, so i probably won't even be eating much there.

the legislative session officially begins monday, january 10th. in just a few short days i'm getting swept away into the madness! i will be moving down to olympia this sunday. i have been driving back and forth this week to help get the new office set up (he has moved into a leadership position, so new fancy office). i got my id badge and am getting set up with email and a parking pass. on friday i have new staff orientation. i will have to leave seattle by 6:30 a.m., so a very long day before my frantic weekend of packing!

classes started yesterday, and i am off to school again today. i'll be olympia 3-4 days a week, class 2 days a week and work 1 day a week. busy, busy, busy! i am hoping to update about my new legislative experience once a week. my dad gave me his old iphone, and i am trying to figure out how to blog from that. i can get into this site, but it won't let me upload pics from my phone. any tips?

gotta run to catch the bus! best wishes for 2011!

december opportunities

i finished finals this week. the quarter felt very, very long. i have been unhappy with the opportunities that uw has offered to date. transferring is still one of the best decisions i have ever made in my life. however, i have become increasingly anxious about whether i will truly get the experience i need to have a career in policy right out of the graduation gate.

that MIGHT all be changing...another student left her legislative position with House Representative Eric Pettigrew. Rep. Pettigrew is a very well-respected community organizer in seattle and south king county. he was just appointed to house caucus chair. i jumped on checking into whether i could move into that vacancy. well, i shouldn't say jumped as i agonized over whether i should even ask. thanks to prodding from classmates, i asked. and then had a long sleepless night while trying to figure out the best way to tell my united way supervisor. i told her and she has been very supportive. i learned the position is open. however, there are some special conditions. i interview next week and will learn about those special conditions then. currently, i am all over the board about whether i should commit. see, the capitol is nearly 2 hours outside of seattle. this means i will need to find housing in olympia. that means we have to pay rent on two properties for 3 months. that also means anthony and i will be living apart again. and i will have to commute for class. and i will have to drop 2 of the policy classes that i have really been looking forward to. and i will have to buy a new wardrobe that is appropriate for legislation making- suits, suits and more suits. there is usually as very small stipend ($250 a month) for students, but with the severe budget deficit i am assuming one of the special conditions will be that i cannot get this stipend. that is scary. very, very scary. so, i'm going to have to get a private loan to afford all this. AND the session starts in just a few weeks. so, first i have to interview, then i have to accept. and then comes everything else- finding housing, dropping classes, figuring out how anthony and i will share 1 car while living 100 miles apart, etc. ugh. this is all very overwhelming. and then i remember that THIS is why i transferred. THIS is the opportunity of a lifetime. THIS could set my career in motion. THIS could be the ONE opportunity that puts me on the road to legislation greatness. that's right folks- legislation greatness. :)

anyway, no decision yet. i'll keep you posted.

i've been cooking a lot lately, and am loving it as usual. our csa box is getting more and more boring with the change in seasons, and i cannot imagine eating the same damn root veggies for the next 4 months. but, for now i'm using food blogs to get creative. at this moment i'm eating roasted beets with horseradish dressing and fried capers. if you've never fried capers, try it. even if you don't like capers. they are very tasty! and they puff up and open like flowers. they are really quite beautiful! i've been doing some cleaning, but am really itching to do more. i want to take everything out of every cabinet and drawer and shelf and clean out those cabinets and drawers and shelves and then throw away and re-organize. that kind of cleaning.

as for now, i'm craving brussel sprouts. let the roasting begin!

p.s. we had a great time in oregon for thanksgiving and will be in denver for xmas in less than a week. happy birthday dad and lilli and umeko!

seattle snow

as many of you have heard by now, seattle was hit with an icy winter storm on monday. forecasters called for light snow showers, and the people of seattle were in full panic mode come sunday afternoon. i was actually pretty surprised on monday morning to find the snow already sticking to the streets in my neighborhood at 7:30am. i still thought people were being a bit dramatic, but not wanting to get stuck downtown i left work an hour early. well, it took me nearly 4 hours to get the 7 miles home. it was disastrous! although we only got a mere few inches of snow, the roads were treacherous. very windy + very cold = very slippery commute. even our bus with chains got stuck on ice for a few terrifying moments. thankfully we made it home just fine and fared far better than others that got stuck on buses for upwards of 12 hours!

on tuesday both of our offices were closed, so anthony and i walked around the neighborhood a bit to take pictures. it was sunny and clear, but very cold. highs in the 20s is very unusual for seattle, and we've already broken some records.

and now it's wednesday. schools are still closed and buses are still running on snow routes. i had physical therapy this morning and decided to take the bus just in case my big hill climb was icy. however, the roads were in much better shape than i expected. i had a pretty uneventful trip out.

this afternoon i'm headed over to the u-district for a volunteer orientation. anthony and i are going to start cooking breakfast for homeless teens 1 sunday morning each month at ROOTS. i never thought i'd be working with youth, but somehow i've become entrenched. through my work with united way i've had the opportunity to do some qualitative interviewing with homeless youth ranging from 15-20. these are unaccompanied youth, meaning they have no parents are guardians. it's hit me really hard. much harder than i expected. and with this severe weather, it's all i can think about. there is only one shelter in seattle that serves this population (that's ROOTS). many youth sleep in the woods. these are KIDS. please, do what you can to support your local shelter. we've started picking up extra pairs of gloves and socks when out shopping. oftentimes, it's just an extra $5. blankets and food are in huge demand. but if you've got time, that's needed too. cook a meal, even just once. it might change you.

side note: we've been trying a lot of new recipes. pictured are goat cheese zucchini pizza and cranberry apple pie. (for some reason these pictures won't rotate or change size.) the pizza was phenomenal. i still hate pie, but anthony ate the whole thing in 2 sittings.

seattle's dark days

it's mid-november and seems to be dark 'round the clock here now. it actually is light in the morning by 7am, so i catch some sun on my way to work and school. however, the sun sets at 4:30 in the afternoon so it's dark by the time i get out of work or class every day. i didn't seem to notice last fall, but this year the change has really surprised me. i think part of it was that daylight savings happened while we were in MEXICO! i swear, the season seemed to have completely changed while we were away.

so, mexico...we were in cabo san lucas for just a few short days for christy and ben's beautiful wedding. it was such a wonderful break (hello sun and beach!) and such a treat to be a part of their special weekend. we didn't have too much time for lots of activities, but we did get to swim with dolphins and enjoy massages on the beach. anthony also went atv-ing. it has made me look forward to the other weddings we'll be flying out of seattle for in april, may and july. better get a new swimsuit for the bahamas in may!

i've got exactly on month left in this quarter, and i am so looking forward to a new set of classes. for next quarter i am registered for ALL policy classes and will get to take one at the school of public administration. it should be interesting to analyze policy from a different theoretical perspective. i actually will be taking one (and possibly two) more classes than i'm in right now. i'm just trying to remind myself that i will have a very light load in my last quarter and will hopefully be spending my free time enjoying the gorgeous spring weather we WILL have!

things aren't easy right now, but i'm just trying to hold on through the next few months. i sense a lot of change on the horizon (what's new for us, right?), but i'm counting my privileges and doing my best to enjoy what i can. stay tuned for the holiday excitement!