Amber's 30 Firsts...and Beyond: June 2012

"Well, well, well," you're thinking. "Amber finally decided to write something." Yes, indeed I did. I know many of you wait on pins and needles to see what exciting thing I'm going to write about next, and by golly, five months is a long time to endure pins and needles! Forgive me.

You'll be glad to know that I, your old friend Amber, am a Master. I haven't yet seen the diploma, but according to my father, who is a relatively reliable source, it does exist. It was sent to the fam in Wyoming. More than likely, when I go home in August, I will find it there, framed in the hugest and most ornate frame possible, displayed prominently on some wall. Then I will have to take it down, out of the frame, and hide it in my suitcase (or somewhere else he won't find it) to take it back to Boston with me. When I got accepted to BYU, many moons ago, I found out about my acceptance as my dad came bursting into my room, disrupting my blissful nap, and bearing the framed acceptance letter he had swiped from the mail and read/framed before I could even see it. He hasn't changed much.

The last few months have, of course, been busy. Some of them very challenging, and some even painful, and others just plain great. I completed my MA thesis - but the submitting part turned out to be nigh unto a nightmare! Three attempts, and one ruined computer (water spill) later, that has been accomplished. Regarding the PhD, I was accepted at both Brandeis and UCLA. I was so delighted - my top two options! I have succeeded in fooling several people into thinking I am a capable scholar! I chose to stay with Brandeis - I like the program and people, and especially think Dr. Troen is a wonderful mentor. (In case you have forgotten, Dr. Troen is the one who figures in the famous "Amber blubbering like a baby because she couldn't figure out how to get her car insured and registered in Massachusetts" incident.) I am working on research already to get my feet wet in my topic: American Christians and their perceptions of Israel.

I participated in a really cool project for a new friend who was doing her Senior thesis on Mormon women. She interviewed and she took pics of me, as well as several other women in the stake. Interestingly, she herself is not LDS, but she is a delightful young woman and I was highly impressed with her maturity, respectfulness, and thoughtfulness. I will include a link to her project, if you're interested in perusing it. You will see some of the amazing women I am associated with out here. http://saintsproject.com/

In order to subsist for the summer, I took a job as a nanny for Katie and Chris Laughman - Chris is a counselor in our bishopric. They have a 2 (almost 3) year old daughter, Clara, and a 5 month old daughter, Maren. As seems often to be the case, the two girls are opposites in many ways. Clara is defiant, independent, and fiery. It took several days for her to warm up to me, but now she cuddles up to me as I read her stories, and we have very few meltdowns. Yet, on Sundays she still wants nothing to do with me (to be fair, I did convince her to give me a hug after Church this last week.) We play and go to the park - all kinds of fun things. Maren is generally content, as long as she is fed and knows where I am. It keeps me busy, and almost keeps the bills paid. I'm trying to find other work (tutoring) so I can get the rest of the bills paid - not the least of which is the new computer I had to buy to replace the one I soaked with water. Grr! I had anticipated being able to begin paying off some of my debt this summer, but it's looking rather grim - and the finances keep getting more tight. When the vet yesterday kept trying to persuade me to take my puppy Dovie to doggy school, I had to fight the urge to laugh in her face, or cry, or both, as I considered how much she had no idea how poor I am right now.

But on a much happier note, here are some cool things I have done in recent months: whale watching with Loni Barben; got a puppy, whose name is Dovie; went canoeing in the Concord River with some lovely friends; visited Martha's Vineyard - twice (it turns out, MV is not even a real vineyard, after all. But it is as beautiful as anyone would expect!); had my mom visit; saw the John Adams house (with Mom); did a sprint triathlon. Oh, and graduated.

With friends Emily (also Taylor) and Sylvia on a brief stop on our 24-mile bike ride on Martha's Vineyard

Testing out the ocean water. Ready to swim it!!

That about covers it. The most recent, and possibly coolest thing I have done, is that triathlon last weekend. I didn't lost the weight I intended to (heard that one before, you say? Yeah, me too. Sigh), and I didn't train as much as I intended to. And still I survived. I even ran the whole 5K at the end - stopping about every half mile for Carri and Sylvia to stretch my poor back. For some reason, it thought it was doing all the work, and kept complaining about it. My legs, on the other hand, were fine.

One of the benefits of the triathlon was that I got to go down on Thursday night with Sylvia and spend the night in our hotel, and then hang around town all day Friday, with nothing in particular to do. That, my friends, was a treat! And even more so when Carri and Kalynn showed up later on Friday evening. Our time to sit and talk was short but sweet. We had to get to bed early, and we did (relatively - but I couldn't really sleep - that never happens to me!), but I had so much fun just sitting and talking and enjoying those girls' company. I don't get the opportunity to enjoy nice evenings with girls like that very often anymore - now that I live alone and such. If I could live with girls like them, then roommates would be the ticket! It was the perfect combination of thoughtful, mature, non-drama-queen, involved in the world and serious, but super fun and relaxed people. Made me want to make such evenings happen more often.

The race itself was also delightful. I embarrassed myself on the swim - took forever! That was partly because of the difficulty of swimming in the ocean and in a wetsuit (neither of which I experienced before); partly because I can't swim in a straight line to save my life; and partly because I stopped several times to wait for Sylvia, who was having a really hard time. But we did it! The bike was fine. Again, Sylvia and I were at the tail end - she because of her ancient bike, and me because, well, I just didn't train enough, I guess! But the run was great. Painful, but great. My legs were already tired, and I expected them to feel it, but it was my back! It does that sometimes, and I don't know why. I think I haven't been stretching enough lately - that always affects my back. Anyway, as I said, the girls (minus Kalynn, who couldn't run or walk due to her stress-fractured foot) stuck with my slow and steady pace, and we had a lovely run. And talk. The day was warm and beautiful, the company too, and I just had a great time.

There you go. You're officially caught up. Isn't mine a good life? I feel very blessed with rich opportunities, wonderful friends (but alas, not rich ones) and lots of happiness. Now if I could just find someone to share all that goodness with! Let me know if you find him!