As promised

Remember a few months ago when I promised I would post pictures of me as a brunette? I didn't forget. I just wanted to keep you in suspense. But the wait is now over!

I think sometime in the next few months I will lighten it and eventually return to blonde. But it has been fun to try something new.


So what do you think?

Confession time....

Is it pathetic that Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" makes me feel a little lonely?

Also, I can't get Justin Bieber's song "Mistletoe" out of my head.



 




Coming soon! A picture of my new hair! And a brief summary of my first trip out of the country.

Quarter-Life Crisis!!!

The other day I posted on Facebook that I was having a crisis in which I couldn't decide what to do with my life. Since I never update my status with anything serious, I thought people would recognize that I was exaggerating a bit. But then my friend Christa told me that it actually sounded pretty serious. So if any of the three people that read my blog also saw that post, know that I am fine. I'm not on the verge of shaving my head or joining the Peace Corps or anything. Actually the Peace Corps may not be a bad idea...

Despite being "fine," I do turn 25 next month. Don't tell me it's not that old. It kind of feels like a big deal to me. And although my reflections on what to do with my life were not inspired by my impending birthday, they are getting exasperated by it. So let's backtrack about 8 months. I was working as a diet clerk, with no expectation that a dietitian job was going to be coming my way anytime soon. I started researching international volunteer opportunities (something I have done about 5 times before in my life) and found a great program in Tanzania. So I think about it, have a few arguments with my dad, and decide to go for it. I submit an application and deposit, and start planning to go this fall. Almost immediately my current job becomes available, and I know I can't let that pass me by. But Tanzania can be deferred. So I take my current job and defer my program. I can defer for up to a year with my current deposit. Which means I have until September 2012 to go. So it's been something I've been mulling over in the back of my mind whilst loving my new job.

When I go to Tanzania, I will hike this mountain.

Fast-forward back to present time. I really like my new job. And I love my friends here in Vancouver. But I am living with my parents (not so bad, but, you know, there's a stigma, need to take care of myself, spread my wings, teased by my siblings, etc) and I feel a little stagnant. I miss having a big goal to be working towards. College degree! Internship! Job! Now what? (Don't say marriage. You'll be dis-invited from my blog). I have always been fascinated by global health, especially the hunger problem throughout the world. I have no experience in this area, but a big part of me feels my dream job would be to work with a program that promotes sustainable solutions to the problem of hunger and malnutrition in impoverished areas of the world. But I really have no idea what I'm talking about because I've always lived in middle-class suburbia and I've never even left the country (Wait. I've just decided how I'm going to celebrate my 25th birthday. Watch out, Canada. I'll be coming soon!). So that is the great thing about this volunteer program: I give  2-3 months of my time and hopefully know if it is something I want to continue to pursue before I decide on grad school.

So that is the nature of my current crisis. Do I go to Tanzania? When do I go? Can I earn enough money by then (got to have enough to make car payments while I'm gone)? Fortunately, my job as it is currently won't be an issue. Since I am relief and receive no benefits, I just have to ask them not to schedule me for a few months. At least that makes it easy.


Oh, and I will be dying my hair as my official "quarter-life crisis." Stay-tuned. I might post pictures. But I make no promises.

(ps. I realize I make frequent use of parenthesizes. I have decided to make the text within smaller for your reading convenience.)

That's a little embarrassing...

....that's it's been a year since my last blog update. Oops. I'd make some grand comment about how I've been out living my life, and don't have time for trivial things like blogging or Facebook, but I seem to make time for things like "The Daily Show" so that argument doesn't really hold. So, dear friends and family, accept my sincere apology, and prepare yourselves for the thrill you've been waiting one year for...an update on my life. It is going to be riveting.

My place of employment

Let's start with the job. Have I mentioned that I got a job as a dietitian? No. That's right. Last time I wrote I was unemployed. Okay. I am living the dream. Kind of. I got a job as a relief dietitian, which means I work as needed. Which means I don't qualify for benefits. Oh well. Dad came to the rescue on that one. So far I have been getting a good amount of experience and have been LOVING my job. Really. It has been so great. What a relief to find, after 5 years of working towards it, that you really DO love what you studied. Whew. The other dietitian are great, too. We have potlucks, share recipes, and eat delicious cake when birthdays come around. So to summarize, work is awesome.





On to the next topic. What will that be...not dating. Nothing to report there. I know you are all dying to know, because what could be more entertaining than a single girl spilling her guts about the barrel of laughs that is LDS dating. But to quote The Princess Bride, "get used to disappointment." Really, the reason comes from both the fact that I am not that forth-coming about my dating life and that I rarely have anything interesting to report. Also, anybody can link over to this blog from my Facebook page, and I don't want the guys I've gone out with to know what I really think. I've got to maintain some mystery.

So, not dating. How about my social life in general? That revolves 99% around my wonderful YSA ward. I do really like my ward. I've made some really great friends since I've moved here. In fact, sometimes I wish I had more time to sit around and do nothing like I used to do (yes, I'm a loser at heart). Between FHE, institute, weekend activities, midweek fro-yo trips, and whatever else comes up, my parents and Dexter rarely see me.

In other news, I recently accompanied my ward choir as the pianist, and it was terrifying. But I live to tell the tale, which I actually won't bore you with here. It happened, though. Also, I detest my laptop. I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted in the past 4 months to pick the d*** thing up and throw it against the wall. Yes. My laptop makes me so angry, that I use minor curse words and then censor them out, so that I don't offend. The cursed little thing is currently sitting at Best Buy, awaiting my pickup, finally fixed (dare I dream?). Here is the progression of my laptop trouble: virus, Best Buy, wait for Dell to send operating system disks, give up and pick laptop up from Best Buy, find operating system disks, de-bugging by brother-in-law, freezing, backup all data by transferring bits at a time to mom's laptop, reinstall operating system by brother, transfer all files back to computer, work for a while, freezing again, progressively worse freezing, Best Buy, blue screen. So cross your fingers for me. This laptop could drive me to insanity.

I hope this update was everything you dreamed it would be after 13 months of waiting. See you all in another year! (I'll try to be better about updating, but let's be realistic....)

Because I said I would...

I promised some of my friends in Utah when I visited them recently that I would update my blog. Apparently they noticed that I haven't written in a while...so I guess there are still people that will read what I have to say. I don't usually have that much to say, actually, because my life feels mostly uneventful. So here is a list of things I have been doing since I moved to Washington.

• Finish the clinical assignments for my internship
• Went to Boston (Natick, actually) to help John and Dakin before they moved
• Studied for the RD exam
• Passed the RD exam
• Ate a cheeseburger and fries to celebrate becoming a dietitian
• Put the finishing touches on my resume
• Applied to a few jobs
  
• Played with John, Dakin, Luke, Zachary, Elizabeth, Donna, Mark, Mia, Sam, and Nate for about two weeks
• Drove down to Fremont
• Held Madeline for the first time
  
• Went to the beach
• Got my eyebrows threaded
  
• Ate at China Chili's
• Attended Madeline's baby blessing
• Commenced the drive back to Camas
• Ate at In'n'Out
• Arrived back in Camas
• Received certificate proving that I am now Katherine Stovall, RD
• Applied to more jobs
• Interviewed at Adventist Medical Center
• Left for Utah
• A whole bunch of other stuff (visiting friends, canyoneering, family reunion)
• Broke my phone
  
• Road trip across southern Utah with family, during which we drove to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and stared at multiple rather large clouds that settled into the canyon.
• Flew back to Washington
• Discovered that in a two week period no new jobs have been posted in the Portland area
• Got a new phone
  
• Began writing a blog post
  
• Realized this list was too long
• Stopped writing in list form

Anyway, now that all of the summer vacations are over, it is time to really figure out what I am going to do with my time. Because there is only so much job searching/applying you can do in a day before you run out of new things to look at. Maybe I should look into the possibility of selling plasma again...Hmmm....

And then there were three...

Weeks that is.

Three weeks until I am done and gone. Out of Utah. By April 1st. Or at least out of my apartment. The details are still a little fuzzy, like the thoughts in my mom's head. But she is getting better, and starting to make her plans.

I really can't wait.

Not that I haven't enjoyed my time in Utah, but I can say with absolute positivity that I don't want to be in Utah, doing basically the same thing that I am doing now (except getting paid to do it) a year from now. I at least need to do the same old thing in a new location.

Of course a lot of the anticipation for the end of the month is because I will then be done with my internship, done with my assignments (dare I dream?) and be able to take a deep, carefree breath of freedom. Until then I don't have much time for breathing, let alone blog-writing. But I excel at procrastination with good intentions (like getting back to work the second this post is done).

So there will be no trouble filling my time for the next three weeks. I have been wondering how I will fill my time once I am in Washington. Did I mention I was moving to Washington? Back with the folks...are my parents old enough to be called "folks"? My dad always referred to my mother's parents as "the folks." They were always old. At least in my lifetime.

Right, filling my time after the move. I always just figured I would find a job. That's what you do when you are done with all your education and training, right? But sometimes I worry that I too often make choices because "that is what you do." Well, okay, maybe not that many of my choices have been like that. But it is something I fear. I really don't want to look back on my life and realize that I missed some great opportunities and experiences because the thought never occurred to me to take a different path than the obvious. Or because I was afraid. Fear is one of my weaknesses. I really don't like to be uncomfortable.

So my thoughts have been swimming around my head, never having a chance to settle because fireside speakers, sisters, or webinars get me to thinking..."What do I want to do with my life?" Maybe I never thought about this enough because I always assumed I would just pass the time until I got married and had a family. Lame, I know. My time has been well spent for the most part- getting a degree, completing an internship. But now, for the first time, really, my life is completely open. Other than the few thousand dollars I owe my parents, I have no obligations.

And I have always wanted to travel. Badly. So now, instead of finding a job right away, I am very seriously considering finding an international volunteer opportunity, at least for a little while. Maybe the summer? Even the practical side of me thinks this is a good idea (except for being flat broke), because it would look good on a resume and a grad school application, and it would help me know if I want to pursue a career in international health and nutrition. And maybe by the time I get back the job-market will be a little more exciting. Maybe not, but at least I will have sweet memories to bring comfort through the horror that is looking for a job.

So where should I go? I have found programs that send people to Peru, Argentina, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Kenya, Uganda...and many other places. I don't think it even matters. I would be happy to go anywhere.

Anyway, I think I am going to make a trip to Best Buy, and use some more money of my gift card. Don't worry. I will come straight home afterward and get right back to work!

Time for Some Narcissism

Just a reminder to everyone to be extra thankful today, because it is my birthday. Who couldn't be thankful for the day that brought me into the world, seriously? I sure am thankful for my birthday. And I know all of my siblings were grateful for my birthday, 23 years ago, when I ruined Thanksgiving. And then again, six years later, when I asked for Little Caesar's Pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.

How could any of my siblings forget to be thankful for me when this picture is on display all month long in our family calendar, in 9x6 size, no less



Anyway, I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!