Adventure #19: "Feel-Like-An-Adult-Day"

Have I ever mentioned that I am not one who easily sleeps in?  Because it's true.  And it's certainly going to take some getting used to, since I don't have to be at the CoFo office until 11am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  (Leaving at 7pm will be an adjustment, too, but I plan on bringing snacks to tide me over until dinner!) 

 But in case it wasn't obvious, to the left is a pic of ME on the 19th ADVENTURE DAY! I felt that a self-portrait was necessary, since I wore my favorite shirt. (Dashboard Confessional concert T-shirt for the win!) How could an Adventure Day go badly while wearing one's favorite shirt?!

 

Blog-followers (or really anyone who knows anything at all about me...) know that morning involves food.  Definitely-for-sure-without-a-doubt.  Food was prepped for lunch.  Food was made for breakfast.  Food is just the way life runs in my world.  Semi-stocked fridge is below.  With my Americorps program, I qualify for food stamps so I haven't gone legit food shopping yet (that's this weekend--woooooo!)

 

Plastic bag with Ali's lunch on the top shelf--yum!

 But what about breakfast?!  Breakfast is chill-time.  Always.  I am not a grab-a-poptart-on-the-run kinda gal.  (And if you haven't noticed, I'm really into making new words by combining real words with hypthens.  It might be a phase.  It might be long-lasting.  Only time will tell).

 

ANYWAY, banana cinnamon smoothie was calling my name so that was on the breakfast menu, along with TEA (duckie tea infuser, too!) and other protein munchies (a.k.a. nuts).  Satisfying?  Yes.  Handmade by me, the adult Ali who buys her own meal ingredients and turns them into edible creations?  Yes.  So far so good!

 



Did I mention that I watch the news every morning?  While, yes, this is a very 'adult' thing to do, I've been doing that since early on in high school.  What can I say, maybe I'm advanced?  (Haha, unlikely.  More like a curious individual who once had her head all up in the journalism world too  much for her own good.)  Oh, and the lovely TV above is the weather report.  Texas = hot.  Some days hotter.  But pretty much always hot.  (Especially in August!)

 So yes, I mentioned late start day at the office for Tuesdays and Thursdays.  What did I do with my

extra time besides not sleep?  Well, I was an adult, of course!  I scheduled myself a doctor's appointment with a brand new clinic!  Which basically means that I spent most of the time on hold with different clinics (only one of the clinics I called was the 'right' clinic with reasonable appointment availability) and then spent more phone bonding time with my old clinic to transfer my records.  Fun times.  (I'm sure you sense all of the fun being had in the pic to the right.  Isn't my facial expression overwhelmingly revealing of my state of excitement to be an adult and on hold?!)  By the way, I apologize for excessive sarcasm.  I'd like to blame it on the adulthood...but I can't.

But yes, eventually I did make it to work.  It wasn't just any old commute, though!  It was a carpool in which people trusted ME to drive.  Pretty wild if I do say so myself.  Luckily I did very little navigating myself (thanks, Luigi), but I did feel a lot like a soccer mom driving a mini-van full of people from Point A to Point B.  Being a mom is like the ultimate level of adulthood.  DEFINITELY not there, and I'm ok with that.

 

Yeah, but I safely got the crew to work (shoutout to Team Riverside carpoolin old school in Babs the minivan!).  I love getting to my desk straight away in the morning, even though there haven't been that many mornings thus far.  You know why I love it?  Because below is the extravagance that I get to see:





My desk area is an expression of who I am.  I may not loudly express it all the time to anyone and everyone I meet/become acquainted with, but each peice of my desk decor has a story, and anyone curious enough about me, can surely ask and receive what I can only hope would be a satisfactory answer.  People make memories.  I don't own a lot of 'stuff,' but I have a lot of memories, and little pieces such as those I display are how I choose to cherish each of those memories (most of which I will admit were experienced during my four years at WMU).

 

CoFo arrival means workin time for me, so productivity was to be had.  At some point during the 'work day' I had some 'field research' to work on with my super-cool 'field research team.'  (Again, what a grown up thing to be working on...field research!)  In reality, that's a code word for an awesome Austin-wide scavenger hunt that we've been assigned to complete with our randomly assigned group within one month.  I'd give you more details, but it's totally top secret.  Just appreciate the genius people pictured below.  They are the masterminds behind what will be our ultimate success!  (Haha, I'm totally not that competitive, I promise!)

 



Hmmm...what else did I do at CoFo?  Welllll, it was a pretty exciting day because we were pretty much anticipating the start of initial contacts with our assigned students from various universities.

 



My main school is Texas State, and I have quite a few students from Austin Community College, too.  I did only end up calling two students at the VERY end of the day, but that's ok--with 80 total students, there have been PLENTY of phone calls today!  I also had a meeting type thing, giving all of us CoFo-ers info on a new system for student data.  I couldn't give away the super secret squirrel stuff, so I just took a pic of my Adventure Shoes, listening attentively during the meeting.  Matt sat next to me.  He promised to be in a REAL picture...but then it didn't happen!  Bummer.  Oh well, I snapped his shoes--and he didn't even know it happened!  Hehe.

 As a dedicated carpool driver, I drove back home to the Riverside area and found my way to the top of the three flights of stairs to the homey apartment.  Pretty nice view once one makes it to the top, I'd say.  The palm trees add a certain 'Texas' feel, right?

 

The rest of my evening wasn't so much a social affair as it was a being-lazy-after-a-long-day-of-work kinda thing.  Which is ok.  I know plenty of adults who do that.  And who says Adventure Days have to be FULL of Adventure?!  It was adventurous enough just driving on the highway to and from the CoFo office!  (...that was a joke...kinda.) 

 

No, but really.  I came to a realization that my white board calendar actually has some social events on it (Yay for that!), and I also realized that even after spending most of the day on Facebook to ready for contacting students via social media, I STILL had a yearning for my own personal Facebook time (don't judge!).

 



Calendar slowly filling up.  And laptop filled up with Facebook.

 Hey, but guess what I got to end the ever-so-exciting night with?  A Skype chat, of course!  (At this point, I'd hope that you smart blog readers out there have sense a certain trend in my nighttime routine.  Hint:  It typically involves Fish.  And not the kind that swim in the ocean.)

 

I didn't tell Fish I took the below picture (hehe, what a day full of picture-taking deviousity), but no matter, I have the full rights of the photo, so there's nothing he can do.

 

I hope my Adventure Day was interesting at the least and entertaining at the most!  I appreciate every reader I get, and I honestly still look forward to Adventure Day so much!  Who knows which day will be Adventure Day NEXT week?  And who knows WHAT will happen?!

Adventure #18: Not Your Average 'Training Day'

Waking up in the morning to a MESS in my room is...not my favorite.  It comes with the territory of moving into a new apartment, but it also immediately reminds me of all of the work that I have to do...eventually.  Oh well, I found the Adventure Shoes, and that's all that REALLY matters for Adventure Day--right?!

 

An Adventure Day Thursday during Training Week means that my roomie Aeryn and I had an early wake-up to ready ourselves and head to the CoFo office!

 We decided a picture was necessary.  I'm sure you'll agree.  (Our attire will be explained later--not really typical work attire, I know.)

 Actually, several pictures were found to be necessary, haha. 

Pic to the Right:  BREAKFAST!  We have this weird arrangement of mirrors in our dining room.  Our apartment has A LOT of mirrors.  I swear we're not narcissists.

Eventually, it was time to depart for the CoFo office and say 'good-bye' to Chuey.  He enjoys his playpen during the day--but he definitely enjoys seeing us at the end of every day when we get home, too!

 

Upon arrival at the office, we started out training with an ice breaker.  Thursday's ice breaker:  old school elementary school games.  A.K.A.:  Four Corners and Heads Up Seven Up. The throwback was pretty awesome.  Evidence can be seen in the photo below.

 Side note on CoFo:  I work with awesome people!  The passion for what we do and the experiences that we all draw from are what make this organization so effective.  Kathryn  (in the pic to the left) is one of my great new co-workers/friends.  Many more to be pictured in future blog posts!

 Morning training brought us lots of applicable information for our College Coach/College Completion programs, and to the right is a picture of an admissions counselor from St. Edwards, a private college that our collegians can attend.  There's a lot to take in during these first couple weeks, but I'm sure we'll all get the hang of it once we start working with students.

Oh hey--this is my roommate (again).  We found out that she looks like Ashley Tisdale.  Agreed?

 In the afternoon...I GOT MY OFFICE SPACE!  Look below--it's not all jazzed up yet but that is soon to change.  I get a phone and a laptop, so I'm pretty satisfied.  The squooshy spinny chair was MIA, but I shall solve that (hehe).

Now to explain the awkward attire that was referenced earlier.  We had a college fair as a part of training!  Basically, this means that we paired off and were assigned colleges/universities in Texas to research throughout the week.  Yesterday (Adventure Day!) was the day to act as admissions counselors of these schools and share what we know.  My school?  Rice University.  My partner?  Alissa!  (We made a great team!)  I'd say we rocked it out...but so did the other pairs.  In the end, I learned a lot about Texas universities, so job well done to CoFo!

 

Other stuff happened (it's all kind of a blur, so forgive me for lack of details), but we did decide to head home when the fun training-ness was completed.  And I was STARVING.  But I got to legitimately cook in the new apartment kitchen, so I was happy about that meal!  On the menu:  Green peppers and couscous with black beans.  I made a large batch of  it...and ate three helpings, which basically means that I ate all of it and was very, very full.  Totally worth it, though.  (I love cooking in our new kitchen!)

My last helping of dinner--YUM!



  

Speaking of new apartment...the pic to the right is a means of excitement for me!  You will see there is my NEW BLENDER (I was able to make a breakfast smoothie this morning!) and my corgi calendar, which Aeryn graciously allowed me to put in the kitchen.  If you know anything about me, you will realize that those are both worthy of mentioning.  It means that I feel more settled in the new place for sure!
 

Further signs of comfort/progress with unpacking:  see pic to the left.  Remember that MESS that was my room earlier?  Well, I went right to work last night and continued to unpack.  (Insert cheer).  You can see the floor.  And most of the perimeter of the room.  And I'm feeling much more satisfied with life in general now that both of those milestones have been reached.

 

Fish insisted that I take a picture
of myself when he was making
me smile/laugh.  I gave in to the
request.

But since I'd had such a long, busy day, it was nice to have some regularity in the form of talking to Fish before bed.  Talking to him later and later at night seems to be a habit, but I'm going to try sticking to my self-set 'curfew' better as CoFo becomes more routine.

 

The bummer part about talking to Fish on the phone was that it wasn't on Skype.  My lovely computer decided to cause me problems with internet this week, but I'm more than happy to announce that the problem has been FIXED and that Skype is definitely accessible now.  So hey Faraway Friends--why not Skype ALi all the way down here in Texas?!  Sounds good to me!

 

Well, next week's Adventure Day will be here before you know it, so keep a positive attitude and read on about my lovely adventures during what will soon be Adventure Day #19!

 







Adventure #17: Training Day Two!



Aeryn and Chuey were GONE!

It's official:  I'm part of something so much bigger than myself.  I've signed the contract.  I've begun the training.  I've become an 11-month volunteer with Americorp.  And I'm proud to state that fact and share it with the world.  On this Day Two of College Forward Training (AKA CoFo Training), I woke up before my alarm, looked to my right while lying in my hotel bed, and saw that Aeryn AND Chuey (her adorable pug) were GONE!  No worries, though.  They had just left and come back for a quick outside venture for Chuey.

But Training Day meant start time of 9a.m.--I had to get ready for the day and enjoy my hotel breakfast before leaving for St. Edward's University to meet up with the CoFo crew!

 Pretty impressive breakfast spread, if I do say so myself!



And I'd say Aeryn and I are ready to start our day
off to CoFo!



Mmmm!  Peanut butter oatmeal with an apple and tea!

CoFo Day Two in the morning brought forth some paperwork, some awesome presenters, and so much excitement for the weeks to come.  It was awesome to hear from the founder of CoFo, Lisa Fielder, who spoke to all of us coaches, inspired us further, and showed us the following video:  http://youtu.be/3AqRKJKdY84 (Definitely worth a watch!  Check it out!)

 I also got to actually share the Adventure Shoes with all of my CoFo co-workers as part of my Show & Tell.  It was fun to share the shoes with everyone, as it is a big part of my post-grad life, and I'm happy to make everyone aware of this yearlong goal that I have and intend to keep up with.

I believe with the above wholeheartedly.  I feel honored to serve with people who so passionately believe the same.

 After much time being trained, it was time for one of my favorite times of each day:  Lunchtime!  We got treated to Whole Foods' boxed lunches which meant a delicious veggie sub, fruit, and a freshly baked cookie.  (For those of you who don't know, I'm a foodie who typically goes into detail on my food consumption during each Adventure Day.  Get used to it.)

I've heard of Whole Foods on Food Network, and it was awesome to eat food from something so well-valued in the foodie world!

To the left, you'll see one of my new CoFo friends, Stephanie.  To the right, you will see another of my CoFo friends, coffee.  Somehow I have managed to have a cup of coffee each day of training.  Let's just say I've been quite a bit jittery...



One other perk to CoFo training:  We get awesome toys at each table to keep our hands busy while we listen intently to all things CoFo.  I also appreciated pink being used as a team color for an activity.  And the fact that I was on the pink team!

At the end of the day, it became time to drive home to the hotel and battle the rush hour traffic that I've come to realize is part of living in the city.  Lanes and lanes of vehicles and miles and miles of patience is something that I must get used to.  Ah well, it's all part of the growth process with this new chapter of my life, right?  (Would you believe that it was actually ME who drove yesterday?!  Yup, Aeryn and I have been switching off on drivers as we carpool, but I'm proud to say that I've held up my fair share of the bargain!)

 While driving (AKA while stopped in traffic), I had the opportunity to snap a pic of my newly-modified CoFo name tag.  I wrote on the back because the front had my full name, and I wanted to ensure that I would respond if someone yelled my name.  ('Allison' might not get an immediate response from me if someone were to call me by that.)

And then, we stopped at the gas station to the right so that Aeryn could pick up a quick energy boost for training the next day.  (Good to be well-stocked in caffeinated beverages!)  Luckily I was able to navigate the lovely roads of Austin enough to find a gas station for her.

Somehow I am missing an additional picture of my evening activities, but that's ok.  I really just ate dinner, felt the need to tune into some Cupcake Wars, and got some CoFo paperwork done.  And THEN I could reward myself with some Skype time with Fish, which was greatly appreciated.  I was very-much frustrated by the frequent interruption of our conversation due to ridiculous hotel internet, but that's ok.  Fish reassured me, and we were able to maintain somewhat of a normal conversation.

I am so excited to have shared a taste of CoFo with everyone, and I'm even more excited to share my future with CoFo in the coming weeks!  Enjoy, dear readers!

Adventure #16: Let's Explore Austin!

Yesterday's Adventure Day was so complex/long/amazing/fun/epic/awesome!  My first official day in Austin, Texas, and I got to spend it seeing the sites with one of my best friends, Allie Doty.  There really is too much to tell, so I'll just add in captions where necessay, and allow you to fill in the blanks yourself.

I couldn't sleep and got up around 5am!  So I organized the counter in the hotel room.  I have A LOT of cosmetic stuff.

All dressed and ready for our Adventure Day!  Apparently we thought stripes were a good idea.  (Unintentional, of course.)

Continental breakfast, courtesy of the Austin Days Inn downtown.  It was an ok spread.

Uhhh...Doty...why did you need a knife with your breakfast?  Ah!  Right!  The yogurt!

I thought I'd give ya a glimpse of our lovely hotel room.

The first morning venture included traipsing round the University of Texas campus--we found quite a cute little nook here!  Doty was particularly fond of the giant palm tree.

The benches and statues had awesome thought-provoking sayings carved in them.

We were impressed by the tear-off mustaches for an advertisement!  (Don't we look smashing?!) 

Beautiful clock tower and architecture at UT.

What a view!

SM pic #2!  (A key chain at the UT bookstore.)

JACKALOPE!

This is me.  DRIVING in Austin, Texas!  Have I mentioned I hate driving?  Especially city driving?

The next venture:  mini golf with Peter Pan!




A hole in one!!!

"Tinker Bell, you are so thought-provoking!"

Doty got ANOTHER one!



A hole in one for Doty!!!



Ok so I FREAKED OUT when I saw this block of FOOD TRUCKS!  I watch food trucks on TV...and now I get to EAT from them!

Waiting for delicious food truck food...



FOOD TRUCK FOOD!  I got something called
a Dosa.  A crepe made of rice and lentil flour.
Stuffed with spinach, cheese, coconut cream, and veggies!
Cilantro (spicy) and coconut (mild) chutneys on the side.

YUM!

We went to Allen's Bootery.  SO MANY BOOTS!  Cowboy boots are actually pretty pricey, too.

Yee haw!

SM pic #3!  In an antique shop called Uncommon Objects (pictured below).

CANDY SHOP!  Doty was in heaven!

AND they had a decent chocolate selection!



Finding this mural was totally worth it!

Drove by my/Aeryn's new apartment!  I can't wait to move in on Aug. 20th!

Returned to the hotel for some rest.  Doty drank her root beer.  I chewed on ice.  It was fantastic.

Dinner:  Amy's ice cream!  Would you believe that they flip scoops of ice cream like pancakes?!  Crazy flavors, too--some even with alcohol in them.

I got a large sundae:  Chocolate orange almond ice cream with Reese's mixed in.  Whipped cream, hot fudge, and sprinkles on top!



Awesome wall art by where we parked!







Last night we got
some live Austin music
at the Gallery, a part
of the famous Continental Club



Ended the day with more Austin traffic.  But before conquering the streets of Austin, we found a bit of wise old advise graffiti-ed in the parking garage...

I'd say mission accomplished!

And now:  ready for many more Austin Adventures!