Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Happy Birthday Jubilee!

Yes, I love my cat, and yes, I am dedicating a blog post to her! Happy 13th Birthday kitty!


All dressed up for St. Patrick's Day!


See her pretty green tummy! (artwork of Holly V. Green)


For her Easter pictures, take a look here!

And yes, I did give my consent to this...sort of... :o)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Grandpa Jerry's 80th birthday party!

Grandpa getting teary about his present- a book of pictures of all the buildings he's designed! (he's an architect!)


Me and little cousin Clara (who lost her front tooth during the party!)

Me and my Ian baby! He's getting so big! And having more adventures! Just look at those battle scars from running and playing!


Then, off to take cousin Jessica to the Strip for her first time ever! (she's 17, I think she's old enough... :o)


Gotta get the world's largest virgin strawberry daiquiri! In an Eiffel Tower cup!

Me with an Ent! And yes, he does talk!


Jessica with a raining tree- if you look closely, there's water falling from the branches- so pretty!

R.I.P. Holly's Lamp...

The tape just couldn't keep you fixed forever....

Monday, October 5, 2009

This is hard...

Dear Clinical Supervisor,

I'm not so sure I'm cut out to work with geriatric population. Sure, I tell you everyday that I love working at the facility, and for the most part, I am telling the truth. I love my co-workers and the residents. I love the area of speech-language pathology that we work with. But you see, my first client at the facility died yesterday. You know, the one who I called my Italian boyfriend (even though he's married :o), the one who told me I was prettier than Audrey Hepburn, the one who lit up when he recognized my face (although he rarely remembered my name). Him.

I know that it's not my fault that he died. But it still hurts that I couldn't help him get better. I mean, that's what we do. We help people get better. But he didn't.

He died because of a lot of complications, but a big factor was the fact that he wasn't eating. Remember how you had me sit with him and help him eat. Because that's what we do as Speech-language pathologists. We work with the dietitians and nurses to help people eat safely and effectively (at least that's what they tell us in my dysphagia class...) And I tried! I really did. He eat wonderfully the first day. But he wouldn't eat the second day. Or the next. And then he went on hospice care. I don't know much about the medical field, but I do know what hospice means. It means you're not going to get better. And he didn't.

You don't know much about me, but I am very religious in my faith. I do believe in a heaven, that life goes on after this one. I do have faith that there is a just and loving God who will make sure this sweet man goes where he should, that he learns about God's plan for him.

But it's hard for now.

It's hard to realize that no matter what you do, no matter what you learn in school, some people just won't get better. Not all my clients will die when they don't get better. Some will just have difficulty communicating their whole lives. Some will not realize a need to communicate, but their families will have to live with that hard reality. There will be other heartbreaks and tears over those clients who I just won't be able to help get better.

I guess it's important for me to learn that now. But for now, just know that this is hard for me. Really hard.

Your graduate student,
Audrei
(like Audrey Hepburn)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The People!

Here are some pictures of the wonderful people I saw on my trip...yes, I do realize that it's been over a month since my trip... it was just THAT amazing that I'm still putting up pictures! :o)



My mom and me... yes, that is a horse drawn carriage! :o)

David and me! Matchy- matchy in red after Mary Poppins.

Savannah, Marissa, Ribeka and me during the ultimate girl vacation!

Jennifer, Nicolas, and Ryan! Yay for cousin and her adorable family!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A new hobby...

While on a 3 hour boat tour around Manhattan, I discovered a love of taking artsy pictures! I blame it mostly on all the bridges we saw during the tour- I got tired of taking pictures of bridges the same way each time. :o)


Building near where the World Trade Center towers stood. I think it might be part of the new World Trade center...


Some building near Central Park- I forgot which one the tour guide (in our horse drawn carriage!) told us...


The Empire State Building! The perfect meeting place...

And the bridges!







When going back and looking at my photos, I seem to have a theme of try to make things look big! I do believe it is due to me being so short- I guess it's my way of portraying the world the way I see it at 5' 2". :o)

And this is a picture I wish I got a more artsy angle of- it's just so cool!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Remembering...

Some pictures from my trip to New York City.

The wreckage.

A pensive place.

Some pictures of 9/11 posted near the wreckage. This one is hard to look at for me...




It's good to remember that painful day, so that we will never forget the cost of freedom.