kids and lizards

so the other day while at the movies with a friend to see this sweet documentary 'buck' (on a horse whisperer type guy) i had a random moment. after the movie, i went into the bathroom stall and saw the tiniest and most perfect lizard on the floor. he was 'playing dead' as i've seen some lizards do, so the poor little guy must have been kicked by someone and was terrified. hopefully he wasn't in pain. so i carefully picked him up and walked outside to find some green new home to relocate him. immediately was noticed by some kids, 5 or 6 year old girl and 8 or 9 year old boy and of course they wanted to know what i had in my hand. so i showed them and we had an oh-ah-moment (he looked colorful from what we could see of his belly and what kid doesn't know lizards are cool?). i then explain what i'm doing, that we need to find him a home, and the little boy knows just where to take me. or so he says. so i follow him, 'kids have their ways' i think to myself. as we get closer to wherever he has deemed 'the perfect' home, i realize he's got some big lizard in a cage or maybe his neighbor does and that's where he's taking me! it was a female lizard and 'she would just love him' he says to me. so, call me cruella deville but i'm not taking him there, so i spy some huge plants nearby and abruptly change direction. kids are fast movers, it didn't appear to confuse them, and i explained 'he just wants to calm down and eat and be free.' so mission accomplished. the best part? how quick kids are to be your friend and come along with you. the not so best part? my friend wondering wtf is megan?

:)

it's been a great week, and only one more week of spring semester left!!! ya-hoo!!!

i'm thrilled to be almost done, no surprise. this semester has been very interesting, and so different from last. for one, i've had a semester long group project to do in my performance systems analysis class. and with a client, the florida equivalent of the dmv. and for 2, the part time job. so yes, it'll feel extraordinary to finish our paper and present our recommendations to our client.

the job this semester has been a real blessing as well. not much in terms of pay, but anything is a boon! and i get to keep it, going into summer.

summer will be crazy this year. i finally found an internship, hooray again! and this will be 20 hours a week. so with my other job, at around 17, it'll be serious work to maintain that balance. but hopefully, i'll still be able to do homework on the job. my class load will be the same at full time status, but the internship is one of those classes, so the classwork should be relatively minor. we shall see.

we had a seminar yesterday for my department, instructional systems, and it was so informational. we had different workshops and a panel of speakers came from all over. these were alumni who basically painted a picure of what we could do when we graduate. so of course, it was fascinating. i gained many valuable tips, and did some networking (which i'm STILL learning is so key). lots of sweet new people to meet, and it was really just a wonderful experience to get their perspectives from their varying industries. probably the single most important thing i learned was that reinforcement/remotivation in networking. fsu is big on that. and it shows.

spring break and other good times

wow, the year is flying by! i love it. i just spent a week in leadville again, snowboarding for 3 days and relaxing on the others. it was lovely to be there, to admire the snow covered mountains and all that muted with winter beauty. and so great to catch up with old and new friends. stayed with dawn, she's like family. and her kitties too. it was delicious to just relax and do nothing and pet cats, hers and the neighbors' too. jaycie and jason had a baby girl, sloan, 9 weeks ago, and it was so sweet to see them and hold her. they're just exhausted and kept making me laugh (nervously ha ha) with comments like 'you'll get yours one day, megan!'

it was great.

also got to see maura and parkes and eat @ tennessee pass restaurant....and haz and kim, dawn and i met them at this place that pretty much sucks for mexican food, but the sopapilla are to die for. powdered sugar=yum! maura was hard to read, as she was mostly intoxicated, haha, but she gave me a big hug and was happy, so that was awesome. parkes is thinking she'll move to hawaii in the next year or so. i'm so stoked for her. she mentioned it before, last year when i lived there, and we had some good talks about it. of course, i think it's a fabulous idea....insofar as what she'll do there, i didn't ask and it didn't come up. in my opinion, that part doesn't much matter. this girl has been working her tail off for some time and deserves the chance to regroup/re-evaluate where she is headed. she indicated to me last time we spoke, that she was considering leaving teaching....of course, i'm all for that as well....

another day, dawn and i drove out to salida to do a little shopping....thrift store, technical clothing store, and hit up some hot springs....THAT was especially enjoyable....the skies were blue, and the breeze was chilly, but that hot hot water was the perfect antidote....there's a small place just above buena vista, about 40 miles south of leadville, called 'cottonwood springs' that has 3 pools, and is only $10 mon-thursday...we passed this on the way to the continental divide, at the top of independence pass 2 summers ago, so i've been wanting to go....who doesn't love a good natural spring even if it has been commercialized?

so yeah...it was a seriously hedonistic vacation. :) the last day, i left early so that i could go through the denver temple....that was wonderful and i left feeling inside as President Hinckley promised "a little bit better." hooray for the restored gospel found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!