Jewish New Year

Last night Mark and I almost finished our puzzle. But, we don't have a new one yet, so we stopped in our tracks. I'm going buy a new one this evening. I hope to find a good one at the local toy stores. Actually I live a few miles from a Toys R Us and they seem to have a ton of puzzles, so I will try them first.

What else, I went to temple last night to celebrate the Jewish new year (Rosh Hashanah) Mark came with me, which was very nice of him because I know he doesn't prescribe to the Jewish religion. But I think we both went for the learning experience and to try some thing new.

We went to a Reform Temple called Beth El which is located on the west side of Madison. It's a nice building near a park in a residential neighbourhood. And I didn't get to look around inside the building very much because it was kind of a rush in and rush out sort of deal, but inside the main room there was beautiful stained glass with light behind. It was a pretty standard Rosh Hashanah service, I knew the songs and the stand up sit down routine and it felt kinda like my old temple in Seattle. But my family wasn't there, which felt strange to me, because I associate temple with family. I never went to temple in Bellingham, and so, never went to a temple with out the presence of my family. So, it was new, but felt familiar.

Hey, for those of you who are reading this and don't know much about Rosh Hashanah, here is a little bit of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

I need to run off to work.

Happy New Year :)

Sarah

He Loves It: The New Couch

My cat has found his new favorite spot. He loves to sleep on the left arm of our new couch. He also has taken a liking to sitting there and looking out the front window onto the main street. Here are two pictures of him in his classic pose. By they way I am sooooo glad we have a couch now. I feel like we can finally have some people over, now we will all have a nice place to sit. And it's been great for chilling and watching or broken T.V. Ok, it's late and I'm off to bed. Love you all!

Sarah

The 33 Days Project; Puzzle

Wow! Mark and I have really been busy on our puzzle for the 33 Days Project. In fact, we are doing so well and are so into it that I think we are going to finish the puzzle early this week. In fact we are almost done, we only have the edges left now. I think we're going to get another puzzle in the middle of the week. That means Iwill have to change my goal. Originally my goal was to do one 1000 piece puzzle in 33 days. But, now I have to change it to three 1000 piece puzzles in 33 days. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a Halloween themed puzzle next time I'm out. Oh, that would be sweet! I'm really excited about fall this year and am gearing up for fall activities and projects.

By the way, for those of you who haven't read earlier posts, Mark and I are completing this puzzle as part of a cancer awareness project called The 33 Days Project which was created by my friend Brynn who is a rockin breast cancer survivor. Here are some photos of our progress:

It's Late

I was trying to get to bed early tonight but, instead I stayed awake with a headache and read web comics. man my head hurts, but the web comics are so funny! Ouch. ahhaha Ouch

The 33 Days Project and Missing Home

Hi everyone. I'm totally missing home today. I dreamt about family, friends, and places in Seattle all evening, it seemed like. I think homesickness is one of those things you have to let run it's course. I think it gets better with time, but also with the establishment of community and friends. A friend of mine suggested writing letters and or postcards to combat home sickness, it seems like a good suggestion and a fun activity. However; I don't have many of your addresses. If you're interested you can send me your address in an email and I can write you. :) Also, I just started a new project today, in solidarity with my friend Brynn who is giving Breast Cancer the smack down. She is an amazing, strong, brave, and creative woman. Read on :)

A friend of mine whom I use to work with at The Seattle Children's Theatre has started a support project related to her recovery from breast cancer this year. It's called The 33 Days Project. She is going to get radiation every day for 33 days Monday-Friday, taking Saturday and Sunday off. This is a direct quote from her blog that explains how the challenge works:

"Here is my challenge for you. Do a specific action every day for 33 days in a row (taking the weekend off). The only stipulation is that it can't be something you already do (brushing you teeth doesn't count) and it should take you between 5-30 minutes. Cause, getting zapped should only take me about 5 minutes total, but the whole experience takes about a half hour."

If you go to her blog (link on the right) you can read more about the project and see what people are doing for 33 days. I have decided to participate in her project and document the progress of my activity. I'm working on a complicated 1000 piece puzzle called The Shakespeare Poster by James Christensen. I hope to finish it in 33 days. I'm also gonna take pictures of my progress and put them up on my blog. I just started the puzzle last night and it's going well so far. It took me like an hour to turn all the pieces right side up. man. But, it will be fun.

In other news, I'm working on a post about local Madison food. It's taking a while to finish, but It will be up soon.

Love,

Sarah

Recent Hobbies

Here's a post that's not about jobs and cat's and choir and blah blah. It's just about what I've been doing in my spare time this summer/ beginning of fall. Enjoy Enjoy:

I am crazy about this internet role playing game that Mark told me about a few months ago, back in Seattle. It's called The Kingdom of Loathing. Basically, you create a character and adventure in the land of loathing. You get sent on quests by the city council and you advance in levels. So the game gets harder as you go. Also, one other cool thing about it, is that you collect alcoholic drinks and you can make your own. You and drink them and have drunk adventures. But, one time I drank too much and the game told me I was too drunk to play. haha. It also doesn't take itself very seriously, it's very funny in it's descriptions of what happens on your adventures and fights. Anyways, It's super fun, and if you are looking for a great way to kill time then I suggest giving it a try. It's free.

Here is a list of other things I have been into lately:

T.V.

Greatest American Dog

In this weeks issue of Entertainment magazine they took a poll of their readers to name their favorite new network show this summer. 7% said their favorite was Greatest American Dog. I was surprised that it wasn't higher. Because I thought the show was great, it was defiantly my guilty pleasure of the summer. I just watched the session finale last night, and I wasn't very impressed, but the rest of the show was really fun. I liked the premise of having a reality TV show about people and their dogs. They all live in this mansion and compete in competitions to see who's dog is smartest, bravest, loyal, talented, and so on. You get the picture. Anyway, all thought it was cheesy at times and some of the challenges were not geared towards K-9 behavior and talents (in one episode they had dogs make paintings on large canvases and then kicked off the dog and owner who's painting wasn't very good) I ask you? can you really kick a contestant off because their pooch can't paint? And another down side to it was my favorite contestant got kicked off half way through, Laura and her white pom Preston.

But, I still liked the show as a whole. I really just enjoyed seeing all the great dogs do great things :)

Firefly

I watched the entire season with Mark and loved it! I wish it wasn't taken off the air. I can't wait to see Serenity when we get our T.V. fixed, which will be god knows when, maybe on a few weeks. But, Firefly, if you haven't seen it, is a Sci-fi western written by Joss Whedon. He also recently made this little gem, which is also super funny: http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog N.P.H. kills me.

You Tell Me...

Hey All!

I was just wondering... what should the topic of my future blog postings be? It's all well and good that I blather on about jobs and such, but I want to hear from you about what you would like to read. Plus, it will give me a new and exciting topic to write about. So, leave a comment with your question and or topic idea. Thanks :) I must give the readers what they want.

Sarah

Boo

I have a cold, already! It's not a bad one just makes me really tired and my nose is running, a ton. I blame the little darlings at the preschool. With their little runny noses. Boo. Now, I'm off to work. See Ya.

This Week's Up-Date

Hey Peeps,

Things are shaping up over here. It's been a really busy week for sure, and factor in being sick, well it takes it's toll.
I had my first class of women's choir on monday. Some really good singers, haven't really meet any of them yet, but I hope to make a few friends there. That evening I had my first Choral Union rehearsal. I have a nice little car pool arranged with my friend Kathryn from the AOS dept. It will be cool to do a choir with a friend. I got all my music and we are singing some hard stuff. The sight reading is really tough right now because I'm out of practice, but I will get better. Mark also has a key board here at home so I can practice here. I wont have to go all the way to school for a practice room.
Also, I got that job I was going for with the Red Caboose. Lisa, the director, called me last night and offered me the job. I said I wanted to take it, but also wanted to come and observe a day at the center before I made my full commitment. It's very important to see a program in action. So I went this afternoon and saw a basic day. Feel free to ask me in more detail how it went. I can say it went well, but don't want to put too much info out there on the WWW. You understand :)
Anyway, I will be a lead teacher for a after school program at Laphaum Elementary School. I started training today and will be in there with the kids next week. This week I have a sub job at C.L.P. so I wont be at Laphaum till Monday. I'm excited to have the work and glad that it fits in with Creative Learning Preschool and choir practices.

Other then that, Mark and I are going to go to a meditation class soon. I think our minds are over loaded with all the changes, school, work and so on. So, here's to mellowing out and becoming more centered.

P.S. I love the comments :) Thanks so much! It feels good to have the support and know that people are reading my blog.

Early Childhood Education Classes

Hi :) I don't now if I mentioned this, but I am also signed up to take a few classes in Early Childhood Education and Development. These are courses that all teachers in Wisconsin, who teach ECE, have to take. They are actually correspondence classes so you sign up and they send you a packet in the mail that you must read, complete, and send back to them to get graded before you can pass.

The classes are though The Education Station group and the titles of the three I'm taking are: Introduction to the Child Care Profession, Skills and Strategies for the Child Care Teacher, and Fundamentals of Infant and Toddler Care. I'm excited to take the classes, especially for the infant and toddler care because I don't have much work experience with that age group, and I will be assisting with one year olds at the preschool. AND, the cool thing is, now that I'm permanent status at Creative Learning Preschool they pay for me to take these classes. I was going to pay for them my self but then I was reading my contract last week and found out the school will pay for them. Very cool to have your education paid for. Not to mention that once I am done with the classes, my pay goes up like 5 extra dollars an hour! which is really great.

So, I will write more about this later an dhow my classes are going.

Tomorrow Mark and I are going to a local park for a dog owners picnic. It's specifically for Aussie Shepard owners. So we will meet other dog owners and ask about breeders and such, not to mention play with some dogs. Here are some pictures, oohhhh they are super cute!

Free Time

I have a little free time before I go into work to finish up some training so I thought I would blog. I have been on hold with bank of America for a while and am getting board, man they are busy today and are really giving me the run around.

It's been a busy week and quite eventful. I had another job interview last evening and another meet and greet today. The one last night went very well and I got a great feeling from the people who were interviewing me and who run the program. The interview was for a lead teacher position with a after school program called The Red Caboose. They have a site at a local elementary school and about 80 kids attended their program. The program is for kids K-2nd. I think it would be a good job. I can still keep my hours and subbing at The Creative Learning Preschool if they gave me this job. And I would get benefits! weeee! Anyways, it was a good interview, I hope to hear from them today. We will see if I get a offer.

Man, the job market here is tough!

I also had a meet and great today with Terry Kerr, Education Director of the Children's Theater of Madison. It wasn't so much for a job as it was for networking and learning more about their theatre and what they do there. She also wanted to meet me, as we have been in touch through e-mail since I was in Seattle and looking for work in Madison. They don't have openings at the moment but were very excited to meet me and hear about my teaching experience and qualifications. Terry said she would have work opening up in the future so that was good. I also said that I would be interested in volunteering and auditioning for their shows. So she told me to bring a head shot by, so I plan to do that in the future. Over all she was really nice and it's a great company. It's growing, slowly, and I think they have some really good administrators, who love the arts and know what they are doing. I hope I can get involved with them as, it's a good niche for me.

Anyway, that's the work update. I think about you all and miss you! I am still missing Seattle, but it's getting a little better. It's was rainy and 65 degrees here yesterday, made me feel more at home :)

Sarah

I Can Sing! lalala

Yesterday evening I went to a choir audition with a friend of Mark and I's from the AOS department, her name is Kathryn. Anyways, I thought it would be fun and a good way to get to know new people and she hasn't been in a choir in a long time so she thought it would be a good experience too.

We went to the music department on campus, which is nice and quite big. It took as a few tries to find an open door, but we found one and made it in on time. We went to the room where the auditions were suppose to be and meet the choir director. Then we all split up into groups and headed to the practice rooms for our auditions. I was super nervous because, well... I get nervous and it had been along time since I sang coral music let alone had a vocal audition (I didn't even get to do warm-ups) So, I was kinda freaked out. But, I went in and did a great audition. I did some scales and some pitch matching, then sang a coral song I had memorized and did a little sight reading. The person who I was auditioning with was a grad student and he was really supportive and nice, so that helped my nervous a bunch. Then when it was all done he said I was in the choir and that if I was interested I could fill out another piece of paper work and be considered for other more advanced choirs at the University. He said that I was very good and that if I had the time I should be involved in the other choirs too. I was really excited about this and said: "sure!" So, I filled out the extra sheet. And what do ya know, I just got an e-mail from the choir director of the Women's Chorus and he said I'm in his choir too and that I should show up tomorrow (Friday) for rehearsal. Ha. So I guess I'm in two choirs now, and I'm not even a university student. SWEET. Ohhh, and I have another choir audition on Sunday. It's actually a small women's group that does a capella pop music. They are called Tangled Up in Blue: http://www.uwtuib.com/home.php I don't know if I can be in 3 choirs. Ha, we will see, but I am super glad to be singing again :)

Here is a little bit about the choirs:

Choral Union
This 150-voice organization is open to singers both in and outside the university community.The next Choral Union performances are Nov. 22-23 in Mills Hall with UW Chamber Orchestra. These ticketed events will feature Vaughan Williams, Flos Campi; Brahms, Naenie; and Beethoven, Mass in C.
This choir is open to singers both in and outside the university community, and everyone is welcome to audition. Choral Union auditions are Sept. 3 (sopranos and tenors) and Sept. 4 (altos and basses) following a short 6:00 meeting in Morphy Hall, Room 2330 Humanities Bldg. Some late afternoon rehearsals with UW orchestra are Nov. 10, 12, 17 and 19. A required dress rehearsal is Nov. 20 from 7-10pm.
Rehearsals are Mondays: 7:30-9:30pm, 2340 Humanities (Mills Hall) beginning Sept. 8.
Spring semester concerts will be April 18 and 19 featuring Britten's War Requiem at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue.

Women's Chorus
A chamber group of 40 women study and perform a wealth of literature for female voices.
MW 12:05-12:55pm, 1321 HumanitiesF 12:05-12:55pm, 1351 Humanities

I Got Paid!

It's true! I am getting paid for training at the Creative Learning Preschool. I'm so happy about it that I want you to see my paycheck:

Ohhhhh, wait. You need a closer look...

Ohhh yeah! your seeing your numbers correctly. $14.55 for two days of training! I'm making bank out here. Really! You should all move and we can all make 14.55 together.

I think I'll buy a new car. Oh, and a hot tub. Always wanted a hot tub.